Winters didn’t need to be told twice, keeping low behind the dwarf as he ran from one meadow to another, following the lines of streams or rocky outcrops wherever he could.
THUMP! The ground shook with the fall of a massive scaled and clawed foot, still a few hundred meters away.
“Down!” Crusher hissed, and both of them fell flat on the ground. Winters wondered just what sort of damage these creatures would deliver by stepping on him. Would his screen flash up the thousands of health lost? Or would it just say Insta-Kill!
“Crusher?” Winters hissed, his face in the dirt, as a thought occurred to him. “What happens when we die?”
“What?” The dwarf shuffled to turn to look at him. “That’s a pretty deep question there, mage…”
“No, I mean when we die in here,” Winters said. “If we got trod on. What happens to our characters?”
“Well… You’re dead, aren’t you? You get zapped back to your personal loading screen and asked if you want to exit or not,” Crusher said.
“What? So… we don’t restart at the last saved chapter, or something?” Winters swallowed nervously.
The dwarf just glowered at him. “This isn’t a platform game, noob,” he said heavily.
Right. How could I forget? Winters scowled back, as the dwarf kept on talking.
“It’s happened to me a ton of times, actually, back before I became Skullcrusher, the Duma Spy,” Isaiah, the character behind Crusher, said. “Usually, when you start gaming in Aldaron you burn through a half dozen noobie characters until you find one that sticks. I got real careful about grinding out experience in the early days.”
“Like I did with the Winter Stall?” the mage whispered as the ground shook with another almighty crash. Was it heading further away, or closer? He couldn’t tell, thanks to the dust drifting everywhere.
“Well, you levelled up a hell of a lot faster than I did.” The dwarf rolled his eyes. “But yeah, same principle. Anyway. You start again at the Place of Choosing, that barrow outside the King’s City,”
“So, even if I did die in here, I would still have a chance of remaking my character? Or finding the Ouroborax Crystals again?” Winters pointed out.
“Yeah, sure…” Crusher said.
No wonder that’s why everyone seems so relaxed in the game – even if they are angry, the mage thought. Death isn’t real in here, not really; it’s just annoying as all hell.
“But you would lose all of your equipment, skills, and spells,” the dwarf pointed out.
“Ah.” Winters saw the massive drawback. “And if I died, it would take me ages to get them back. Unless I found Grum again, and re-awakened the Lady of Efen again…”
“Ah, no. It doesn’t work like that,” the dwarf said. “Efen and Grum are NPCs. Well, I’m not quite sure what Efen is, but they live on the Odge servers as programs, right? Not in your own VRM-Alpha data. So, unless you manage to get Grum resurrected somehow – tell the Odge computers to reactivate Grum’s code – they stay dead,” Crusher said. “The world you leave behind stays the same. It doesn’t reset. It’s in that way the game-world continues to grow, and storylines mutate,” Crusher explained.
“Oh, rats…” Winter groaned, thumping his forehead on the dirt. “And here I was thinking we might have an easier time of finding the crystals if we just started again!”
“Ha. No.” Crusher was unequivocal. “Ramesh more or less made you fall into this storyline, remember. There’s no telling if he could do that again.”
“So stay alive,” Winters concluded.
“Yeah, in the game and in real life, please.” Crusher was serious, looking up as the dust settled. “Okay, we’re clear – go!”
He jumped up and started sprinting across the ground to where there was a large embankment of dirt. Winters joined him as they scrambled up and over it, skidding and rolling into a wide channel like a dry riverbed on the far side.
Only it wasn’t a riverbed, was it? Winters thought. It was in fact one of the excavations of the Gargants as they hunted for anything edible. It’s like one of those scenes from nature documentaries, when they show an area of cleared rainforest, he thought. Although, this wasn’t as damp.
Great rocks had been casually and easily brushed aside, and the ground was rucked up and disheveled. Winters could see the different geology of dirt all around him, great canvases of orange-ochre that had been underneath but were now mixing with the dirtier black and brown topsoils.
“Wow. The Controllers even programmed what the dirt looks like,” Winters couldn’t help but say.
“Yeah, I know,” the dwarf muttered as they scrambled and trudged to the far side of the trench. “Although, not really. Most of Aldaron, like the NPCs, are run on computer code, right? So I read an article on Wired a few years ago about how they just patched in the findings of geographic surveys into the game, and got algorithms to model it. So, this is all based on real science. Real weather, real dirt, or whatever….” the dwarf said.
“The Odge computers must be powerful,” Winters conceded.
“The largest super-computers in the world. Only a matter of time before they get strong A.I.,” the dwarfish spy said. “And considering Odge’s track record with science experiments…”
“Yeah. Look out, Sarah Connor,” Dean could only agree as they got to the far embankment of dirt and started climbing once more.
“Hopefully we’re out of the procession of them now,” Crusher said as he hauled himself up to the edge – to stare straight into the small, rhino-like face of a Gargant.
“Ah.”
*
“Don’t. Move,” the dwarf said through clenched teeth as the great creature stared at them.
Winters didn’t think he could, even if he tried. He hung onto the edge of the rocky siding beside the dwarf, his entire view hindered by a wall of scaled blue and gray. It was almost too big to make sense of, too big to be a living thing, were it not for the slight movements of the small eyes, and the shakes and quivers that rippled across its scales.
“What do we do?” Winters hissed.
“I have no idea,” Crusher said.
“The compendium said they’re attracted to movement and noise. That anything alive is fair game…” Winters said
Snort. A blast of warm air hit them, almost pushing them back into the excavated trench as the thing suddenly huffed in their direction.
“Maybe not speak, either…” the dwarf at his side whispered very, very quietly.
The Gargant ahead of them slowly lifted a leg larger than a tree trunk, and scraped the floor with it.
“Is that what it does when it’s about to charge?” Winters couldn’t stop himself from whispering in horror.
“I don’t know. Who knows. We’ve never asked them…” Crusher said.
HUFF. Another snort in their direction, and the thing waggled its head from side to side. To Winters eyes, it didn’t look very happy at all. In fact, he would positively say it looked annoyed.
Just backing up again now. Steady there, big guy…” Crusher started to edge himself back down the hill of dirt into the trench, but as soon as he started to move there was a rush of air and a trumpeting noise from the thing that Winters thought would deafen him.
“Oh crap,” the dwarf had a brief moment to say, and then, “Run!”
The Gargant lurched forward with its two front legs and head lowered as the dwarf and the human mage threw themselves back down the embankment into the dirt below. There was a grinding, rumbling noise as the Gargant ploughed its head into the dirt behind them, and the ground shook as the two characters jumped to their feet and ran southward down the trench.
“Oh crap oh crap oh crap!” Winters was saying as the ground underfoot started to rise and roll like waves. Within just moments he wasn’t running so much as stagger-jumping from one boulder to another, with the dwarf just a little bit behind him. There was a wall of dirt and noise erupting behind them, a
s the ground lifted higher and higher-
Jump!” Winters cried out, grabbing the dwarf by the arm and leaping as far as he could. The pair of them tumbled and flew through the air to land, skidding across the untouched dirt plain beyond, as behind them the Gargant continued ploughing its destructive path, thinking it had crushed them in the tidal wave of rock.
-6 Health!
“Get up, Crusher. Run!” Winters was saying when he had finished rolling head over heels. They had somehow managed to land on an undisturbed patch of the plains, further away from the Gargant that was now quickly advancing through the ground past them.
“Which way?” the dwarf said.
THUD! Another Gargant was nearby, turning around in slow motion to see what all of the commotion was.
THUD!
“South!” Winters started running for the only bit of cover he could see, a tiny stand of straggly plains trees that had somehow managed to avoid being trampled on. “We have to hide!”
THUD! Another deafening boom from somewhere behind them, but neither character was going to pause to look back. They skidded into the shade of the tree, pressing themselves to its trunk as a roar shook the ground.
“Is it coming?” Winters said, his heart hammering.
“I don’t know,” the dwarf at his side said and risked a look.
The Gargant was turning, lifting its head to snuff at the ground for the squashed ruins of its prey – but there was nothing. Another roar and a drum of its two front feet on the dirt as it turned around, huffing and snuffling. Don’t find us, don’t find us, Winters was praying.
But no such luck. The Gargant made a hollering, hooting call and started to trudge, slowly at first, towards the tree. Maybe it had smelled them, the only other mammals on the plains at the moment, or maybe it was just picking on the trees for being the only living thing that wasn’t rock or Gargant. Either way, it was coming for them.
“We’re going to die,” Crusher wailed. “We’re going to die, and then Lady Jay is going to die, and it’ll all be for nothing…”
I must be able to do something. There must be something – this is a game! Winters thought desperately, seeing the Gargant (which wasn’t even the biggest of its kind) speeding up in a charge towards them. It hadn’t lowered its bone-snout to the dirt, so it hadn’t committed entirely, yet.
The mage thought of the magic spells he had. The worst was probably Ether Bolt, or Lightning Storm – but neither could do as much damage as a hundred trained dwarf warriors with axes.
But I have the Green Ouroborax, he thought. “Crusher – do you remember what Ramesh said, about the Green Ouroborax controlling life?”
“Plant life,” Crusher said.
THUD-THUD-THUD. The run was turning into a gallop, and the Gargant was flicking its snout from side to side. The ground was shaking underfoot….
“Well, we’ve got a plant…” The mage flicked to his inventory.
*
Winters Inventory:
Quarterstaff.
Hammer of Grum +5 STR, +3 Artificer.
Troll-Hide Gauntlets, +3 against fire.
Orcish Scimitar, +3 STR.
Buckler Shield, +7 CON.
27 Silver bits, assorted bone dice, and a troll’s tusk.
Dagger.
One-Pot Cook Set (Pot, Spoon, Knife, Firelighter, and Flint).
Gray Traveling Cloak (warm).
Green Cloak (Ritual).
Cream Tunic.
Scribe’s Set (Parchment, Paper, and Ink).
Winter’s Ring (Protection against Fire).
A Compendium of Aldaron.
Green Ouroborax.
*
“Aha!” Dean seized the only item he was interested in and held it in his hand. It looked dulled, the inner green glow that it had washed over the lake gone the second Ramesh the Red Hand had thrust it below the waters.
How do I activate it? What do I have to do? Winters held it up and looked at it. It didn’t do anything. Its inventory listing didn’t say anything.
THUD-THUD-THUD!
“Mage…? Whatever you’re about to do – do it fast!” the dwarf at his side was hissing.
“It’s activated, but not unlocked. Ramesh said it went silent after the lake…” The mage spared a look ahead of him, to see the Gargant snort one final time before plunging its bone snout to the ground like a digger on the front of a tractor. Immediately the sound of a roaring, crushing, and crunching filled their ears, and the giant foot-beats started to speed up as it entered its final charge, straight towards them.
The crystal looked dead. The crystal looked empty, Winters thought.
“I wonder if I can…” Sliding into his inventory screen, he could see his list of items, his statistics in varying states of ill health. And there, glowing a faint purple, was his pool of Mana, the same eldritch essence that powered his magic.
Maybe it needs to be plugged in. Maybe it needs juice, he thought desperately, clicking on his Mana pool.
*
Do you want to:
- Cast a Spell?
- Check Your Recovery-Rate?
- Send to Green Ouroborax?
*
“I knew it!” Winters had never seen that option before in the Mana section of his character sheet, but he knew it must have been activated as soon as he had gained possession of the crystal. “Yes. Yes, I do.” He took over forty Mana points – more than half of what was available – and dumped them into the Green Ouroborax in his inventory.
The effect it had was staggering.
Suddenly, the Ouroborax started glowing. A green light flared out of it, illuminating the tree and the charging Gargant and everything around them. Inside his character sheet, a new list of options appeared.
“A list of spells!” Winters saw.
*
Green Ouroborax:
You can only choose ONE power per use. Strength depends on Mana expenditure.
Summon Plant Ally
Animate Plant
Kill Plant
*
Well, Dean saw that they already had a plant ahead of them in the form of the tree, so instead of summoning or killing it, he chose the Animate Plant, and hoped that twenty Mana would mean it would be strong.
THOOOM! The ground was shaking as a wall of dirt grew towards them, pushed by the Gargant. Rocks and boulders the size of their heads were flung high into the air. They could hardly see the monster behind the turmoil of earth, but they weren’t looking for it anyway. Instead, Winters’ and Crusher’s eyes were on the green light falling on the straggly stand of water-starved trees. They quivered in the glow, as if reacting to something incredibly nourishing for the first time.
“What’s happening!?” Crusher shouted, as the trees started to move. They started to grow.
Please be enough! Winters gritted his teeth, as the tree grew higher in seconds. It put out long branches that ended in cruel, palm-like sharpened fronds. Within a heartbeat it was taller than the Gargant, and in another few seconds almost as tall as the Malorn tree the Shrine of Oak was built around.
“Woah!” Crusher shouted as something burst from the earth near his hobnail dwarf boots. It was a root, already as thick as his arm, plunging into the ground as easily as if it was a swimmer cutting through water.
Explosions of dirt all around as more roots suddenly grew, some snaking over ground, some forming solid hoops and arches at chest height, head height, higher…
“Oh my God…” Winters saw what the tree was trying to do. It was knitting its branches with its roots, and it was still growing. It was forming a dense wall of vegetation, easily as high as the wall of rocks and dirt coming towards them…
“Is that going to be strong enough to stop that thing!?” the dwarf said.
“I don’t know. But just to be on the safe side…” Winters and Crusher started running backwards on the far side of the wooden barricade, watching as it grew thic
ker and higher than many castles’ outer walls. Thicker than the walls of the King’s City itself.
BADA-THOOOM! They were thrown off their feet when the Gargant struck the living wall.
-3 Health!
It was all either of them could do to keep holding onto the ground as it shook behind them. They heard the cracking of rock, the splintering of wood. Dust and dirt filled the sky and fell over them until they were covered in a thick layer of orange sand from head to foot.
“Urk.” Winters coughed. “I’m not dead.”
“Same here,” Crusher said at his side, rubbing his eyes and patting the dirt out of his beard to get the worst of it off. They turned to see how their living wall had worked, and saw what was now a mighty earthwork. A ridge of rocks and earth taller than a house, latticed with wooden roots. As they coughed and panted, Winters saw the tree affected by the Green Ouroborax was still growing, and now green shoots were appearing high on the top.
Congratulations! Baby Gargant Defeated! +2500 XP!
“Huh? Did you just get that too?” Crusher gawped. “About twenty-five hundred XP… I didn’t do anything.”
“No way, Crusher – that was definitely, certainly, a group effort.” Winters collapsed onto his back, laughing. If they had both received twenty-five hundred XP, then that meant the Gargant alone was worth five thousand! That was insane!
“Well, time to spend it later, noob…” Crusher said, nodding to the sound of thuds from the other side of their living wall. “You know what the game said. Baby Gargant. Its mom and dad are out there right now, trying to dig it out.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” The mage shook his head. Behind them, the next tree line wasn’t too far away. They should make it before the other plains monsters overcame the wall. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 26: Hearth
Hearth was not what Dean was expecting – but then again, he thought it hard to say what he was expecting in a virtual fantasy game.
“I thought you dwarfs lived underground?” the mage Winters said to his smaller colleague beside him. The pair stood on a stone causeway that stretched like a carpet through the trees, down the rise of the hill and towards the structure in the distance. Even the dwarfish road is amazing, Winters thought, looking at the way each stone – none of them rectangular or square — was exactly placed next to all of its fellows.
Tales of the Gemsmith Page 27