ebonymovies Chapter 8-4
Chapter 8-4
No one knows exactly how the System gives monsters their names. Certainly, many dungeon monsters bear striking resemblance to ‘fictional’ creatures from stories that long pre-date the System’s arrival on Earth.
Whether this is cause, effect, or coincidence is unknown.
Some posit that every monster in existence today originates from mankind’s own imagination, yet with the vast majority of pre-System fiction lost forever, this theory cannot be verified. In contrast, others assert that monsters were once native to Earth in some ancient era, only to be wiped out by the ascendance of humans and then ‘restored’ by the System. While not strictly falsifiable, this theory stretches credulity to its very limits.
- Rufus Veres, Level 29 Prolix Historian, Oddities of the System
This was going to be a much harder decision than my prior Skill selections, I quickly realized. Without any obvious throwaway options like Instant Replenishment, I was left with three desirable Skills. Worse, this was the last Skill I’d earn in Tier 0 as Level 9 didn’t grant one, though I would get my first Skill from my Class Evolution when I reached Tier 1 at Level 10.
That meant there was a decent chance I’d never get another chance at any of these Skills if I didn’t take them now. I’d come to the conclusion over the last few months that my Aspect would push me to take only Class Evolutions and no Class Refinements. It wasn’t hard to deduce that feeding the Aspect of Versatility would require broadening my Skills further instead of continuing to focus on developing the same ones.
Reluctantly, I ruled out Ricochet. I thought it sounded amazing, but I was afraid to make my last Skill selection as a Gunner something that was so dependent on chance. That left me deciding between Run and Gun and Pierce. Both could be incredibly useful – I knew Run and Gun was Wasted impressive, since Arlo had it. Then G’hala reminded me of something we’d learned in Skill Theory.
I replied, but I recognized what she was saying.
We’d been taught that it was generally more useful to take Skills with effects that couldn’t be achieved any other way. I hadn’t had a ton of chances to work on shooting while moving faster than a deliberate walk, but I could train for it. I debated waiting until we were out of the dungeon to talk with Wolf, but I was confident he’d agree that Pierce was the best choice.
I was very happy with my new 00 buckshot, but it was still only rated as ‘medium’ for penetration. Two mana per shot of Pierce wasn’t cheap, but should make it fairly powerful. Resolved, I selected Pierce, then asked PAST for my reward chest.
It was quite small, though my hopes of finding another Spell gem were dashed when I opened it and saw it was an omni-mod instead. I attuned it, then started cursing under my breath as I read the description.
Item: Omni-Modification – AttunedLevel: 7Effect (Armor): Quiet Steps – moderately reduces the sound you make when movingType: PassiveEffect (Weapon): Silencer – moderately reduces the sound your weapon makes when firedType: Passive“PAST, you jerk! I could have used this a couple of hours ago, you know!”
[Humans are fond of the saying ‘better late than never’, are they not, Gunner?! I will also remind you that I have no control over what items you receive! Would you like to file a complaint?!]
“Fuck your complaints, PAST! I’m still waiting on the last one!”
I groaned silently as I realized I had another decision to make.
Why can’t I just keep turning left?!
Complaining to myself was useless, unfortunately. If I wanted to use my new mod on my shotgun, I’d either lose one of the mods that I really liked, or have to spend more than half my mana to remove one.
I doubted the entire dungeon would be sensitive to loud noises. Also, it was only a ‘moderate’ reduction, and my shotgun was loud. My pistol was far from quiet, but it probably made only two-thirds as much noise to start with. I pressed the mod into my Adjudicator, watching it melt and flow into the barrel before vanishing.
The gun didn’t look any different afterwards, which was a relief. Arlo had told me there were non-magical devices that could reduce the noise from a shot, but they were bulky and had to be attached to the front of your gun. If my mod had manifested like that, my already large pistol would have become enormous and wouldn’t fit in its holster anymore.
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Then I had to explain what had happened earlier, because G’hala of course hadn’t triggered the dungeon herself. With her agreement, I fired a test shot off into the dark.
bam
With my new mod the shot from my pistol was about the volume of a loud clap. It still echoed unnaturally through the dark, but no rocks crashed down from above to drop more monsters on us. I pretended not to notice the disappointed expression on G’hala’s face. The Shaman looked contemplative for a moment, then gave me a fanged smile.
I saw a cunning gleam in my friend’s eyes as she replied.
Huh, that kinda makes sense… And I want to get as much training done in this dungeon as possible!
I resisted the temptation, trying to focus on the danger. G’hala countered, saying it was much more likely the dungeon released two monsters every time I shot instead of doubling with each wave. That actually seemed much more believable, otherwise things would get out of hand fast.
I took a minute to store my pouch of explosive shotshells and replace it on my belt with the one that held my speed-loaders and some loose pistol shells. Once I’d reloaded, we set off from the door room back the way I’d come. We stopped at the next chamber, which had been unoccupied. We stood just outside the room, poised and ready.
I took a deep breath, then yelled out ‘HEY!’ at the top of my lungs. The echoes boomed around us, and then two large slabs of rock fell free from the ceiling of the room, crashing into the ground and breaking into smaller pieces. A horror lay coiled up on top of each one, and once their beds had crashed into the floor they abruptly came to life and attacked.
We each took one of them, and the Level 3 monsters were dead in moments. They had no barriers and their scaled hides were no match for our weapons. I shared a fierce grin with G’hala, and we returned to the doorway and repeated the process. By the fourth round, the room was too hazardous to fight in – broken rock, pools of slick blood, and long serpentine corpses were everywhere.
We fought the next pair in the tunnel, then threw their bodies back into the room with the others. It turned out the room had a total of sixteen monsters hidden away behind the ceiling in four rows of four. After they’d all been dispatched, the room looked like a scene from a nightmare, and the ceiling was a patchwork of gaping holes.
Quest Update:Optional objective completed – clear a room of hidden horrors
I high-fived G’hala as we shared a grin, then turned to pick our way carefully through the mess. Unfortunately, the next room we cleared did not result in a notification, though of course we got the Essence from the monsters. I insisted it was time to return to the original path downward, and she reluctantly agreed.
As we picked our way back through the first room we’d cleared, G’hala came to a sudden stop, and I nearly ran into her broad back.
I almost insisted we leave it alone, remembering the last time I’d tried to open a chest in a dungeon, but I also didn’t want to disappoint the excited orc at my side. Besides, this time I had Perceive Traps! And the chest was way smaller, which definitely made it safer, right?
I had to stand on G’hala’s muscular shoulders to get a closer look at the chest. I couldn’t find any sign of traps, but I wasn’t about to take any chances. I pulled my rope from my Inventory and looped it around the chest, then retreated with G’hala to the far entrance. With a mighty heave, we pulled the chest right off its ledge and sent it crashing to the ground.
The chest landed on rock and partially shattered. I carefully pried apart the remains with my cutlass. Inside we found a nice leather pouch containing a set of potions in metal vials, undamaged by the fall. There were two health, two stamina, and two mana potions. I added one of the health and stamina to my pouch and gave the rest to G’hala. None of us would be using random mana potions, but maybe they were worth selling.
At G’hala’s insistence we checked the ceiling of the other cleared room, but found nothing. Then it was time to get back to exploring, and we returned to the room where we'd fought the clawed horror. Since we’d both arrived there by taking only left turns, we kept to that pattern as we explored deeper into the dungeon.
We encountered several more slithering horrors – these were all Level 4, but lacked the arms of the first one. That must have been an elite, because the others went down much more easily. I soon holstered my pistol and returned to using my cutlass. I was carrying at least a hundred rounds of 410 shotshells plus another fifty 454 Casull bullets, but I had no idea how many monsters were ahead of us.
After dispatching a half-dozen horrors, we reached another room with a door. This time, there were four plates, which briefly sparked hope that we’d soon be united with two more of our teammates. But where were they? Considering how many ‘extra’ monsters I’d had to kill, I would expect anyone else to be there ahead of us.
We tried calling out down the nearest tunnels, but the moment we raised our voices too loud the echoes started and we actually triggered the release of a couple more horrors. They didn’t last long, and there was still no sign of our friends. I walked up to the nearest pressure plate and started examining it.
Once I finished, not finding anything unusual, I moved to the next one and stopped abruptly. My Perceive Traps Skill was nudging me, and when I looked up over the plate I spotted a trio of suspicious holes in the ceiling. They were well-camouflaged, but not perfectly. After checking the other plates, I realized that there seemed to be two trapped ones and two hopefully-safe ones.
Using my trap-finder, aka big stick, and G’hala’s totem together we were able to depress one of the ‘safe’ plates without stepping on it. Nothing bad happened, so we tested the other one, then each stepped onto one of them. With a rumble, the door slid down into the floor.