by Erik Rounds
Their enemies varied by level, the highest of which was at 38. Fortunately, level progression in Etheria seemed to be linear rather than exponential. A level 10 fighter could kill a level 30 spawn, although doing so would be a time-consuming, difficult, and dangerous feat. RPG systems which used exponential stat growth would make such victories near impossible.
As such, the party was able to take on the mobs of the tower. Pan tried to pull one at a time with her handgun, but more often than not they had to fight multiple enemies at once.
The most dangerous enemies were those of significantly higher level. As they were exploring the first floor, they spied a level 140 tree monster patrolling a corridor.
Elder Treant (Level 140)
It might be best to ‘leaf’ this guardian of nature alone.
ATK 133Mag ATK 229
DEF 98Mag DEF 100
Such a fight would have been over before it started. Fortunately, there were plenty of shadowy areas to hide in that allowed the group to bypass the tree without engaging it. The level 140 creature seemed out of place in a level 30 dungeon. Lord Level Designer often placed higher-level monsters in lower-level dungeons, just to keep the delvers on their toes.
Treasure chests were common in the dungeon and offered moderate loot, ranging from a small amount of GP to foodstuffs to common household items.
The second floor was much like the first, except that there were more trees and butterflies than before. It was like the entire dungeon was an indoor arboretum. Tasha would have described the dungeon as beautiful if it hadn’t been trying so hard to kill her. This floor took them only an hour to clear—they got lucky and took the correct passages that led to the stairway to the third.
The monster spawns tended to be either animals, birds, or plants in nature. Tasha had lost count of the number of giant butterflies that she’d killed on the first few floors. Fortunately, she had managed to reach level 31 as a result of the nearly nonstop combat. She increased her mana by 1 and her strength by 4, bringing it up to 29 points. She already had a very high agility at 46 points but wasn’t doing as much damage with her attacks as she would like.
The entire party was exhausted by the time they reached the fifth floor. Although there were no windows in the tower, Tasha’s internal clock told her that it must be reaching bedtime. Fortunately, on the fifth floor they came across another NPC inn. The inn was a large shack housed in a clearing in the maze. It wasn’t the elaborate NPC town that they discovered in their travels, just three NPCs who sold food, items, and managed the hotel. This seemed to be meant as a rest stop for adventurers and nothing more.
Days passed in this manner. They fought monsters while exploring the dungeon, mapping out the circular maze as they went, always looking for the elusive staircase to the next level. Every five levels there was a rest stop—an inn with a place to purchase consumables, rest, and recover their strength. Often the team needed to backtrack to the last inn when they didn’t make sufficient progress to reach the next rest stop. Besides the dungeon bathrooms, the inns were the only location in the dungeon where the mobs wouldn’t hunt them.
The higher-than-usual enemies were rare but ever present. So far, they had managed to avoid any direct confrontations, but there were several close calls. By the time they reached the end of the nineteenth level, Tasha had lost track of the days. How long had she been in this strange twisting maze of monsters and wildlife? Death lurked around every corner, hid in every hidey hole, and dripped from the ceiling above. If not for the comfort of her friends, she could see how the dungeon might have robbed her of her sanity. Even Trista’s nonstop jabbering about being stuck in a jar helped to keep her grounded.
There were numerous treasures in the dungeon. When she had entered, her GP was all but depleted. Now, these many days later, she’d already collected over 23,000 GP. Dungeon exploration was dangerous but certainly lucrative. The NPC merchant didn’t sell any gunblades, otherwise she would have upgraded.
She had leveled up two times since the first floor, bringing her to level 33. This time she elected to take two hearts and focus all eight points on agility. With an agility score of 54, she could easily put Olympic gymnasts to shame. She could probably outrun a speeding locomotive, even without invoking Sprint. Tasha imagined her couch-potato, out-of-shape self at home, sitting on her sofa with a controller in her hand. How much had she changed since then, not only in terms of her body shape, but also as a person? When this adventure was done, would she ever be the same?
She was wrapped up in those thoughts when the staircase to level twenty finally came into view. At the end of a glowy-moss-filled corridor sat the staircase leading upward to the twentieth—the halfway point of the dungeon. Unfortunately, blocking their path was another out-of-depth mob. This one was a mid-sized rabbit with glowing red eyes that radiated malice.
The Omnihare (Level 240)
The ultimate rabbit-themed enemy. Second in speed only to the Omnitortoise.
ATK 333Mag ATK 221
DEF 177Mag DEF 229
The Omnihare wasn’t patrolling. It simply stood by the edge of the staircase, staring forward with ever vigilant eyes. There were alcoves that they could hide in while it passed, but the creature never moved on its own.
For a long time they watched it, trying to devise some way past. Finally, Ari offered a suggestion. “I have a plan for how to get past the Omnihare. Tasha, Pan, Kiwi, and Slimon can all hide in one of those shadowy alcoves. I’ll get the rabbit to follow me down the hall, and once it passes out of sight, the rest of you make a break for the staircase.”
A look of concern appeared on Tasha’s face. “You mean to want us to use you as bait? I don’t think you could outrun it. I have the feeling the Omnihare will move quickly. We would be using you as a sacrifice.”
Ari grinned. “It doesn’t matter. In case you’ve forgotten, I’m not real. If it kills me, I don’t suffer an experience penalty or resurrect as a new person. Pan’s summon ability will cool down after half an hour, and she’ll just summon me again. I’ll admit that dying isn’t pleasant, but sacrificing myself for someone I care about isn’t that bad.”
“You are real,” said Pan.
“Sweetheart, I’m well aware of my transient nature. As much as I’d like to believe otherwise, I have no existence outside of your mind. I’m just a storybook character playing out his part.”
“Pffpt!” Sir Slimon contributed helpfully.
Kiwi nodded in agreement. “Slimon is right. Now is no time to discuss existentialism. Whatever the case, Aralogos can be summoned again—he won’t be lost. I say we go with this plan.”
Tasha and Pan reluctantly agreed, and the plan was put into effect. Watching the Omnihare for any sudden movements, the team slowly made their way into one of the alcoves and hid behind a protruding wall. Once the rest of the team was in place, Ari moved toward it and tried to get its attention. The trick would be to pull it from as far a distance as possible, then he would have to take off running. A level 240 mob would almost certainly kill him with either one or two hits, and it would probably outrun him. He would need to lead it away from the others before that happened.
As soon as he was as close to the mob as he dared to get, Ari picked up small pebble from the ground and threw it at the rabbit. The rabbit came to life, its rule-based mechanical brain perceiving him as an aggro target. Aralogos took off down the corridor, running at a fast clip, but his speed was nothing compared to the rabbit’s. The rabbit followed Ari around the corner.
Without wasting any time, the team dashed toward the staircase. Tasha watched as Ari’s hearts began to plummet in her combat HUD. He was barely alive but hadn’t died yet.
They reached the stairwell, and the team began to climb, but Pan paused. There was a chest in a second alcove by the staircase that hadn’t been visible from a distance. It was emerald green and lined with jewels. The thief within her couldn’t bypass such a treasure.
Without pausing, she changed direction, da
rting into the alcove toward the chest. As she undid the latch and opened it, light glowed from within. She grabbed the small object that appeared without looking to see what it was. All she knew was that it was a floppy black circle. She would inspect it later.
As she was about to turn back, she noticed the flashing red indicator on her HUD that indicated that Ari was dead. A lump formed in her throat as she turned back toward the stairwell, but just as she was about to run toward it, she saw the Omnihare only a handful of paces from her. It was staring forward absently, once again guarding the stairwell. It had killed Ari and returned in record time. Tasha, Slimon, and Kiwi made it to the next floor, but Pan had allowed her greed to overcome her.
Fortunately The Omnihare hadn’t seen her. She lifted up the hood of her invisibility cloak, vanishing into the darkness. Could she sneak past the Omnihare while using it? There was very little space around the rabbit for her to squeeze past, but she was very small and had high agility. She took a single step forward, and as soon as she planted her foot on the ground, the rabbit’s ears popped up, and its head turned to stare into the alcove, straight through her. Pan froze. The rabbit continued to stare through where Pan was for several minutes before giving up and turning to face straight forward.
Carefully, Pan inspected the object that she had taken from the legendary chest.
Portable Hole
Artifact-tier item, indestructible
A portable hole can be resized by the user and creates a hole of extra-dimensional space twenty feet deep. To use the portable hole, place it on any flat surface, either horizontal or vertical. Cannot be added to inventory while objects are stored inside.
Now this was a useful item, but could it help her out of her current situation? Slowly she brought her foot back and quietly placed it on the ground. She took the hole with both hands and pulled it in opposite directions as far as her arms would stretch. It expanded as she pulled on the edges but retained its floppy circular form. Pan then slowly crouched on the ground and spread the portable hole onto the floor. She extended her hand into the floor and found that her invisible arm met no resistance.
She backed away a single pace and removed her hood, making herself fully visible. “Hey!” she cried out. The Omnihare’s eyes perked up, and it looked directly at her, baring its fangs.
The absurdly overpowered bunny hopped directly at her, and just as it was about to reach her, it fell into the portable hole, disappearing from sight. Without wasting any time, Pan gathered up the portable hole, reduced its size, folded it up, and stuffed it into her pocket. She then walked past where the rabbit had been and joined her friends on the next floor.
It was a foolish risk, she couldn’t deny that, but now she had a powerful artifact that she couldn’t dare again use given its extremely dangerous occupant. Perhaps she would be able to dispose of the mob at some point in the future. The mob might even despawn once they left the dungeon.
After rejoining her friends, they stopped at the inn. Once an hour had passed, Pan was once again able to use her summon ability, and Ari rejoined the party. They had made it more than halfway up the tower, but they still had fifteen floors above them.
The continued to climb the dungeon, one level after another, carefully mapping out the maze to find the proper route, every hour hoping to find that elusive stairway to the next level.
They were on level twenty-four when everything changed. The circular maze was gone, and in its place the floor was filled to the brim with water. There were bubbles of breathable air scattered throughout the floor.
Tasha walked to the edge of the bubble that encircled the stairway and extended her arm into it. Ripples of water emerged from the point where her arm intersected the water. Tasha likened the surface of the bubble to the event horizon of a stargate. When she drew her arm away, it came back dripping wet.
Ari pointed at another air bubble some hundred feet away. “I think we’ll have to swim for it.” He turned to Tasha. “How long do you think you can hold your breath?”
“I dunno. Maybe twenty, thirty seconds?”
“Really?” He looked doubtful. “That should be barely enough to reach the next air pocket.”
Tasha always tried to hold her breath when watching TV shows where the stalwart protagonist swam for long periods of time. She always ended up exhaling before they reached the surface.
“Aren’t there any spells for water breathing?”
Kiwi scrolled through her menu. “Probably, but I don’t know any of them. I could cure you partway. That should oxygenate your blood cells, giving you more time to make it through.”
Tasha nodded slowly. “And you know about sciencey stuff like oxygenating blood cells, how exactly?”
“There are scientists in Etheria. Even if most of our technology is magic-based, it doesn’t hurt to have at least a basic understanding of the universe.”
“Pffpt,” Slimon said, offering to test the waters.
“Be my guest,” replied Tasha.
Slimon hopped through the air bubble’s edge and formed eight tentacles behind him. He was able to move through the water quickly in much the same way as an octopus. A small school of carnivorous guppies swam up.
School of Murder Guppies (Level 33)
Weak individually, but deadly as a group.
ATK 50Mag ATK 0
DEF 61Mag DEF 21
The collection of murderous rainbow fish attacked him, but he knocked them away with his tentacles. Finally, he reached the next air pocket.
“I’m next,” said Pan. She swam to the next air pocket with little difficulty.
“I hate water levels,” Tasha grumbled as she took a deep breath and stepped into the water. Halfway to her target, she was attacked by a shark. She let out a gasp, which came at the cost of air. She started swimming faster toward the next air pocket, but it was slow going. Pan tried to shoot the shark, but the bullets slowed to non-lethal speeds only a few meters after hitting the water’s surface. It seemed that Pan’s firearms wouldn’t be of much benefit in this situation.
Should she use her gunblade? Maybe she could try a lightning spell… Her extensive experience with Pokémon battles led her to understand that lightning attacks were super effective against water creatures. Of course, in this close range, it would affect her as well. She was running out of options, and out of breath.
Just as she was about to try casting a lightning spell, Aralogos was there. He punched the oncoming shark in the nose, knocking it away. That might have been enough to discourage a real flesh-and-blood shark, but it only drew further ire of the ethereal construct. The shark came back, and Ari punched it another two times, killing it. It dissolved into mist that was absorbed into the water. Ari grabbed hold of the oxygen-deprived Tasha and carried her to the next air bubble.
When she awoke minutes later, she was fully healed.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the water level. They located the stairway to the next level right away. The problem was that it was behind a set of locked doors. The trick to this level seemed to be to find the three keys that unlocked the water gates. They found the first one being guarded by a school of murder guppies. The second one was on a pedestal behind a series of flaming fire pinwheels. The fact that the fire persisted underwater wasn’t lost on Tasha. That appeared to be a function of video game logic. Her own fireball spells wouldn’t work, but dungeon’s obstacles seemed to possess some special quality.
Slimon did most of the precision swimming and fighting. Pan and Tasha were nearly useless underwater, but Ari was able to help out. Kiwi found that she could use lightning attacks on the water from the safety of an air bubble. The trick was to lure the enemies close enough for it to have an effect.
The final key ended up being a drop from a kraken monster. It wasn’t easy to bring that creature down, but fortunately there were air bubbles that they were able to attack from.
The twenty-first through twenty-fourth levels were also water levels. It took several days to
clear all four water levels, but finally they made it to the twenty-fifth.
Levels twenty-five through thirty-four were combined into one vertically designed level. Huge trees wound upward, creating a climbing maze. Fortunately Tasha and Pan had high agility scores, allowing them to move from branch to branch with relative ease. Slimon was able to use his tentacles to climb the trees. Ari wasn’t able to jump nearly as far, but he could climb a rope with the best of them. Slimon carried Kiwi from one branch to the next.
Mapping this level out was more difficult due to the three-dimensional nature of the maze. They found the door without much trouble, but like the water levels, it was locked behind three doorways. The tricky part would be in finding the keys.
After two days of exploring, they finally found the last key to unlock the door. It was set upon a glass platform at the end of a vertical corridor. They could see it but lacked any way to reach it. They tried everything. Pan tried using Steal, but it was out of reach. She tried shooting it off, but it was fully obscured by the transparent platform. Slimon wasn’t able to reach it, and the edges of the walls were too slick to grab on to.
“If only one of us had the ability to fly,” Kiwi mused.
Tasha’s bottle started talking again. Or more accurately, it was the small captive fairy ninja who started talking. “Hellooo… Did you idiots forget about me? Let me go, and I’ll fly up there and get the key for you.”
“Yeah,” Tasha agreed. “If only one of us was able to fly.”
Pan nodded her agreement.
“Come on, morons, just let me out! You can’t leave me in this bottle forever. Just let me out already.”
A thoughtful expression took root on Tasha’s face. “I have an idea.”
“Does it involve letting me out?”
“First,” Tasha explained, “I’ll get on Ari’s shoulders, then Pan will get on my shoulders. Finally, Slimon will throw Ari as high as he can straight up. Once we get as high in the air as we can, I’ll jump from his shoulders and perform a double jump, then Pan will jump from my shoulders and reach the key.”