Depths of Camlan

by A. T. Gilbert

  It takes a few more moments for the room to stop shaking and the final bits of rock and dust to settle. The stairwell we're in has remained intact, keeping most of us safe, and the skeletons have now all been killed. But our sorceress is missing.

  I sit down on the steps and rest my head in my hands. We got so far. We've been through so much to get this far and now we've lost her?

  "She's still alive," TexBadass says quietly. "Get up! Move. She's still alive in there." He yells at all of us, half pushing me to my feet on his way to the rock pile.

  "How do you know?" Callidus asks.

  "You dropped on your head, son? It's my job to know. I pay attention. How else do you think I know which of y'all needs healing?"

  “Oh, yeah,” the teenage mutters.

  “Now, we need to be careful,” SteelFeather instructs. “We don’t want to unsettle anything that will make more rocks fall.”

  We carefully begin shifting rocks and debris out of the way, occasionally sending a mini landslide down, each of us holding our breath, silently working.

  “She’s still oaky,” TexBadass tells us after each slip, each of our mistakes.

  I have no clue how Erinocalypse survived that cave in.

  “Erin?” Balderdash13 calls.

  “Hello?” It’s muffled and sounds far away, but we can hear Erinocalypse somewhere deep within the rock.

  “We’re coming, Erin!”

  “Don’t rush it,” SteelFeather warns.

  After four more rocks we finally uncover her. Her yellow cloak winks out at us from the dark cave.

  "Hello?" she calls again.

  "We can see you. Are you okay? Hang on, honey," Balderdash13 reassures her.

  "I'm fine," she says calmly.

  SteelFeather and I team up to move the last rock off of the top of the pile, finally freeing her.

  "How did you survive that?" TexBadass asks. I look carefully at him—he sounds suspicious.

  “It was the strangest thing.” She sounds stunned. “I thought the ceiling would crush me but every rock seemed to miss me. It was like I had a bubble around me. I think …”

  “What?” This sounds familiar to me.

  “I think that increased Earth affinity is what saved me.” She meets my eyes as she says this.

  “Did the game tell you that?” I offer her my hand and help her climb down over the pile.

  She nods. “The earth and rock avoided me. As though it couldn’t injure me. I got a message calling me a Friend of Earth.”

  Callidus's eyes widen. "Are you sure?"

  "No, I'm not sure," she snaps. "I just told you what the game said. Maybe it was luck. Maybe it was just a glitch in the game."

  Balderdash13 wraps her arm around Erin and the two walk together to the stairs.

  "All I know," Erinocalypse continues, "is that I am definitely looking for the symbol of Fire when we get to the last section of this dungeon."

  "We probably still have another boss between us and that, though," I point out.

  Erinocalypse lets out a long slow breath, nodding.

  "Is everyone ready? Healed? Weapons equipped?" TexBadass asks.

  Erinocalypse lights the torches in the stairs before anyone needs to ask, but pauses before moving forward. She stares off down the path for a few moments, quiet and unmoving. She seems to have recovered physically from the collapse. At least, her health points are at max. But her hesitancy to take charge again makes me wonder if she’s in shock at how close she came to being crushed.

  "One more mini boss. A whole bunch of fire element obstacles. Another mini boss ... then ..." TexBadass had been counting the upcoming dungeon segments on his fingers, but trails off.

  The truth is, we're only guessing anyway. With our contact to Cho cut off, I'm not even sure how we're going to go about excising the corrupted code. Once we get to the end of the dungeon where it’s allegedly lodged, what's the next step? What do we do? How do we win this thing?

  But all that assumes we get to the end of the dungeon. Considering how close some of us have come to dying ... I catch myself. Dying only sets us back by half an hour, to the last spawn point. We know how to get here, at least. But what if we run out of time? Cho promised that we’d be pulled out after eighteen hours. What if we don’t finish our mission before then? I refuse to be a failure.

  Callidus leads our group up the new flight of stairs, everyone silent, everyone stepping quietly. It's not very far, and he stops us near the top so he can activate Stealth and go the rest of the way on his own, scouting in advance so we can plan our attack.

  Waiting on the steps with the others, I'm ready to fight and move forward. I don't hear anything from above. Callidus does his job well.

  Suddenly he pops back into visibility at SteelFeather’s elbow.

  “Dios mio,” Balderdash13 puts her hand on her chest.

  “Sorry. Hey. So. Yeah … I don’t know what we’re walking into.”

  “What did you see?”

  “A dark pit.”

  SteelFeather and Balderdash13 exchange a look.

  “What d’ya mean a dark pit? Like, a hole in the ground? Hell fire and gnashing of teeth?”

  “No. So, up at the top of the stairs there’s a small stone platform and then it just drops. A sheer cliff. Total darkness. Could be twenty feet or could be, like, four thousand. I dunno.”

  “And since you were invisible,” I suggest, “you didn’t set off any sensors or anything that would reveal an enemy, right?”

  Callidus shrugs. “Yeah, probably.”

  “Well then,” I say, rolling my shoulders back and standing up straighter. “I guess we’d better go see what it is.”

  I move to walk up the stairs but TexBadass stops me with one fat hand on my chest.

  “Where’re you going?”

  “Let me by, dude.”

  “We have a system, SirAsh3r. There’s a way we get this done and I’m not gonna let you ruin it.”

  “Come on. We don’t even know what we’re walking into. How can we have a system for it?”

  “Because this is how it works, son.”

  I’m not sure he could have fit any more anger and disdain into the word ‘son’ than he did just now. I close my eyes for just a brief moment, trying to control my temper. But I can’t. I’m too impatient, too tired of following along when really I should be the leader.

  "Who came closest to winning the Camlan Challenge? Me. Who figured out how to get us into this dungeon in the first place? Me. Who has absolutely nothing to go home to if I can't prove I'm of some worth to Toterra Online?

  "Me."

  "Look man," SteelFeather tries to intervene.

  "No," I interrupt him. "I'm tired of this and filing in to the next chamber in our same order as always isn't going to help us. It's not going to help me. I believe in my ability to figure this out. Do you?"

  I look at each of the others who have now clammed up and stopped protesting.

  "Good. Let's go."

  They move aside and let me walk up the stairs first. My bow is equipped, arrow nocked, and I am more ready than I've ever been to take on whatever comes next.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The next cavern is bigger than I expect. It’s dimly lit by the torches in the stairway we just left, but tall and deep enough that we can’t see the limits of the room. It feels like we’re surrounded by shadows.

  “Anyone else expect a Balrog to climb up out of the pit?” Balderdash13 whispers as she carefully leans out over the edge.

  “Wouldn’t that be a fire creature?” Callidus asks. “I thought we were looking for an Earth boss.”

  “I thought lava was Earth element?” SteelFeather offers.

  “Shhh.” I hear something, way down deep in the crevice.

  I look around the enormous space, for a hint, a clue, something to tell us what the next step should be. Presumably we’re meant to move forward, either now or after we kill whatever is moving down below. How do we get it up here? />
  “What d’ya—”

  “Shhh,” I interrupt TexBadass. “Just give me a minute to Focus.”

  I stare hard into the darkness. There’s something there. I can feel it. Something is very slight taking shape before my eyes. It takes me a second to recognize it.

  Attention: You have unlocked Passive Ability Focus Level 2

  Reward: + 70 XP

  Attention: You have unlocked Active Skill: Power Perception Level 3

  Description: Sensing the presence of magic is not enough. Now, look for red indicating traps and enemies, green indicating your way forward, and gold for everything else.

  Requirement: Focus Level 2, Magic 15 points

  Reward: + 90 XP

  Congratulations! You have reached level 22!

  You have one attribute point to distribute.

  Name: SirAsh3r

  Level: 22

  Strength: 25

  Intelligence: 25

  Dexterity: 23

  Stamina: 23

  Magic: 25

  Skills: Woodcraft 3, Slash 2, Club 3, Paddle 1, Climbing 1, Stealth 3, Archery 7, Power Perception 3, Backstab 1

  Abilities: Initiative 2, Focus 2

  Professions: Cooking 2

  Affinities: 12% Earth; 16% Water

  Fame: 350

  Achievements: First Explorer of Lake Galavant, First Explorer of Foyle Forest, First Visitor to Allynton, Friend of Water

  Awesome. Freaking finally. I assign my new attribute point to Magic and give my attention again to the green glow I notice across the gaping dark hole. The path continues over there. I see an unlit torch on either side of the path, very faintly illuminated in my Power Perception glow. Something is going to happen once those torches are lit.

  "Erinocalypse, across from us and a bit to the left, the path continues and there are two torches on the wall. I don't know if you can see them—"

  She fires her spell roughly where I am pointing but misses.

  “Close. A tiny bit higher and to your right.”

  She misses again.

  “Just a little bit more to the right.”

  The third attempt hits it. With one torch lit, Erinocalypse has enough light to see the other torch and lights it on her first attempt. The room is silent and for a brief moment I wonder whether there’s another step we need to take. Then we hear it.

  Lighting the torches has woken some creature deep in the earth below us. At first it just sounds like rocks grinding against one another, maybe being disturbed or tumbling as the creature starts to move. It takes a minute for me to realize what I’m hearing is actually a low growl.

  It's difficult to tell how far away it is and even with more torches lit we can't easily see the bottom of the pit. I rush back to the stairwell, grab a torch off the wall and toss it over the cliff into the darkness.

  As one, we creep to the edge to look down.

  We have now climbed up several levels since originally entering the White Rock Ravine. But even taking that elevation change into account, the floor of this crevice is far below us. The lit torch hits the bottom, almost goes out, before burning brightly again, illuminating the rocks and stone at the bottom, though it looks no bigger than a match.

  The growl persists.

  “Where is it?” Erinocalypse asks. She has an attack spell ready to cast but has nothing to aim it at.

  I shake my head. I can hear it, but I don’t see it. We don’t have any other way to illuminate the pit. Are we supposed to go down there? Is the boss hiding among those boulders? I carefully inspect the edges of the cliff and the stone walls going down, looking for another sign of magic, or a laser or some clue about what we’re supposed to do next.

  “Oh my god,” Callidus says.

  My eyes dart to him and then I follow his gaze down into the pit.

  The stones are getting noisier. The growl continues, but now it's amplified, accompanied by the sound of stone scraping against stone. One by one the enormous boulders scattered across the ravine floor shift and adjust, and their true form begins to take shape.

  As the rocks shift and settle the creature begins to form. Slowly, rock upon rock, it grows ever taller in the dark gloom.

  Name: Master Biolith

  Level: 30

  Description: A creature made entirely of stone, the Master Biolith could crush you to jelly.

  I don't even know where to start. How do you destroy actual rock without a jackhammer or corrosive acid or something? Water can wear it away after, oh, a couple thousand years or so. How the hell are we going to defeat this?

  As the creature stands to its full height, it notices us, perched on the cliff overlooking its home. We must look so tiny, so fragile. The monster raises its boulder-fist and brings it crashing down on the cliff. Callidus and Erinocalypse easily move out of the way in time.

  “Well, it’s slow. That’s one weakness at least,” I say.

  "Damn," SteelFeather whispers, as he stows his sword and changes out his weapon. "Glad I saved this." He equips a large hammer, the kind a blacksmith might use. It's only a level 12 weapon, but the tank is smart. Better to try to crush the rock than dull his sword on it.

  "I have nothing," Balderdash13 says. "I have nothing. You guys, I have nothing. What good is my axe going to do?"

  “You have a healing spell, right?” I hope I can calm her down. She’s not going to do us any good panicking.

  She nods.

  “Ok, great. Use those. Help Tex. We’ll need it.”

  I try to say this as calmly as possible, as I realize I don't have any useful weapons either. My little knife is a joke, hitting this thing with my Club will barely register and I can picture each and every arrow just bouncing off the rock without any effect whatsoever.

  Wait. How could I have forgotten? Since I just leveled up, I am finally able to use the Bow of Elements I've been carrying around. I save the Bow of Foyle I got from Gemma, stowing it for the last time a little fondly. That weapon got me through a lot.

  I equip my new bow and read the item’s details and instructions as quickly as possible. Thank god I’ve been putting attribute points into Magic.

  The Bow of Elements allows me to shoot arrows imbued with whatever element I choose—provided I have at least twenty-five Magic attribute points and ten percent affinity to the element. I check my stats and realize I can use this for Water or Earth arrows.

  I have no idea how this is going to work, but I guess now is as good a time as any to try it out.

  “Look at the joints,” Erinocalypse calls. “They’re lava. Molten rock. That’s got to be the weakest spot, right?”

  She fires off the same Surge of Air spell she used to shield us from the pollen earlier, shooting a veritable gust of wind at the monster.

  This thing is the size of a small skyscraper and yet Erinocalypse’s casting halts it in its tracks. It pushes against the wall of wind emanating from our sorceress, stumbling to regain its balance once she ends the blast.

  “We can do this, you guys,” she calls. “It’s not invincible. Everyone get ready!”

  Chapter Thirty

  The rock creature reaches its huge hand toward Callidus, who screams and flattens himself against the back wall to avoid it. I realize he too has no way to defend himself against the behemoth.

  Just as the boulder gets close, he activates Stealth and vanishes from sight.

  The boss roars in frustration.

  "That's great, Callidus." I have no idea where to direct my comment, but he can probably hear me. "Keep doing things like that. Maybe we can confuse or frustrate it into making a mistake."

  Meanwhile, SteelFeather uses his enormous hammer to smash at the stone hand. It cracks and splinters, but doesn't shatter. We're a long way from taking this creature down.

  "The joints," Erinocalypse repeats.

  I ready my first arrow on the Bow of Elements. Water or Earth? I want to know what both will do.

  As I nock the arrow, I get a game message asking me to choos
e my element, with Air and Fire grayed out.

  I select Earth and wait.

  Nothing happens.

  Or, rather, nothing noticeable happens to the arrow I'm holding. Since I didn't notice any other instructions, I guess ... Here goes. I aim for the monster’s chest and let fly. The arrow crashes into its mark like a hammer or another stone. It’s not terrible, not unlike the damage SteelFeather is inflicting.

  “Goddamn it, Asher! I said the joints!” Erinocalpyse yells.

  Okay, fine. Yeah. She’s right. Fine fine.

  I ready another arrow, this time selecting the Water element and aiming for its lava shoulder joint.

  I hold my breath and shoot.

  The arrow flies through the air, right on target. It's hard to see from this distance but just before the arrow hits the lava making up the creature's shoulder, the tip transforms into a bucket-sized ball of water. As it makes contact, it breaks apart, like a water balloon. Where the water hits, the lava cools to inelegant rock. It doesn't affect all of the joint, or even most, but as the stone monster continues to move, bits of cool lava crumble off.

  This could work. A little at a time, but I can help break this thing apart.

  I'm still standing near the stairs where we emerged and I realize SteelFeather and Erinocalypse have spread out to opposite ends of the cliff. Erin uses Surge of Air to keep the rock monster on the other end of the pit, where Callidus and SteelFeather bait and smash it.

  I watch for a few moments to try to get the timing down. The boss moves so slowly it’s not difficult to guess its next move.

  "SteelFeather," I yell. "The next time it makes a grab for you guys, focus your smash on its wrist. Go for the joints."

  “Oh? We’re supposed to go after the joints? Who knew?” Erinocalypse calls out. I can practically hear her eyes rolling.

  The tank adjust his weight and rolls his shoulders, readying himself for the next attack. As the stone monster lifts its giant hand above the players, I carefully aim a Water arrow at the lava holding the hand rock to the arm.

  It hits as the arm lowers, cooling the lava just in time for SteelFeather's heavy hammer to smash into it.

  A good half of that connection breaks.