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Chapter 39 – Traversing the tundra tile
🕑 Added 2024-10-08 17:41:20 +0000 UTC[Day 3 of The Dungeon Run.]
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Jace woke up in the pleasant darkness with not a single sound around him. It was calming. Welcoming. A soothing darkness. The bedroll was extremely comfortable, and he had to force himself to leave it. Stretching with a yawn, there was the usual pop as Ollie appeared.
“Hey. Ready for another day?”
“Yeah,” Jace tightly packed the bedroll and exited the tent, rapidly taking it down and rolling it up as well. Good thing I got the (Heavy) Venture Pack, he thought as he was able to shove all the items inside with room to spare. Fishing out a ration, he scarfed it down as he began walking after Ollie.
The Archmage Geomancy Skill had completely reshaped the whole cave tile, according to Ollie. Which meant it had affected 50 square miles of terrain. The sheer magnitude of the Skill shocked Jace – and worried him. The whole tile was much, much easier to traverse now. It meant that someone who went that same way would have an easy time of getting through it.
Once he had finished off his meal, he picked up the pace to a jog. The air began to grow colder as he ascended a tunnel, his legs clawing into the ground and pushing him forward. He came to a vertical tunnel with no handholds – it was perfectly smooth. Not a problem for me, he thought as he aimed the Wirecannon Arm up, fired it off, felt it latch, and ascended. Once he reached the grapnel point, he planted his feet into the wall, dug the fingers of his Anathema Arm into the rock face with sheer strength, and fired the grapnel once more.
At least following me is going to be difficult, Jace thought as he kept traveling upward. Easily 500 ft. The air grew ever colder until he emerged from the tube and was on the surface once more.
In front of him lay an enormous expanse leading to a huge, white-blue glacier in the distance. The tundra tile was covered in small rivulets of water that crisscrossed through the clumps of snow. Intermingled amongst the terrain were small patches of plants that were struggling to eke out an existence.
“Uh oh,” Ollie muttered.
“What?” Jace asked looking back at the otter.
“There are supposed to be 10 Complexes up here in this tile.” He grimaced and looked at Jace, “Complexes are normally inside buildings, caves, or somewhere else indoors. They are rarely outdoors.” He gestured to the terrain before them, “That makes them harder to find. We have the map with the gold dots, but that is a general area – it could be off by up to 100 ft. We will just be walking, get a Complex notification, and then be attacked out of the blue.”
Jace frowned, “That’s not good.” He looked behind him towards the cave tile and instinctively took a step back. There was an enormous expanse between the tundra he stood on and a mountain range with an even taller volcano behind it. But the space in between, that expanse, scared Jace to his core. It was a pure, black morass of nothingness. “Ollie? What’s this?”
“Cave tiles,” Ollie commented. “If you touched the top, black part there, it would just put you in the cave below.”
That brought Jace a little relief, and he looked at the fiery peak in the distance once more, “What do you want to bet a World Pillar is there?” He looked back to the glacier, “And there?”
“A solid guess,” Ollie replied. “Well, aside from our conjectures…we might have to use an Information Boon to narrow it down.”
Jace nodded, “Use one. Let’s see where this first Complex is.”
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[Using Boon: Common (Information).]
[Query: Complex location on tundra tile.]
[Answer: See Wayfinder map for updated information.]
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Ollie clapped his paws, and the map opened before the two of them. In addition to the purple icon marking their location, the blue one marking the portal…and the gold dots that had become small arrows. Ollie waved his hands, and the map zoomed in on the tile they were occupying. “Much better. Now I know exactly where they are.” Ollie pointed to his left, “First one is that way!”
Jace nodded and glanced at the ground, “Is this safe to run on? Will I…fall through ice or something like that?”
“Nope. The glacier, you might. But not here. This is solid ground under the snow and water.”
Jace took off at a sprint, manifesting his Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending] and Dark Matter Shield (Rank 2) as he did so.
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Flosho arrived at a large, vertical tunnel of rock. This is irritating, he thought. He could see the claw marks along the wall, and something that looked like a piton or climbing spike had made some characteristic grooves.
He had made it to the cave tile shortly after waking up that morning. It was empty of dungeons – just as his map had shown – and he even found a weird cavern with an enormous pillar that was seemingly an ancient carving of a past civilization. Inert, but interesting.
“Ribbit.” His Wayfinder flopped around in the air above him.
“Right,” Flosho replied as he put the small, metal wand into the holster on his wrist. He could retrieve it with a flick if necessary – but he would need to put his years of being a catspaw to work. He stretched his body as far as it could, placed his feet on one wall and hands on the other, and began slowly shuffling up.
It took a good hour, and he was trembling with exhaustion as he reached the top, huffing and puffing. The cold wind made him hiss, and he pulled up his cloak, cinching it tightly around his face and waist to keep the biting frost out. Ah. Claw-prints. A fellow…wait. He knelt and peered closely at the claw mark…and felt his stomach sink as fear settled in his gut. Gods above…
He had seen those types of claw marks before. On another world. An enormous, flying, winged and scaled creature who dwarfed the size of a city. Granted, these claw-prints were much smaller – but Flosho had no doubt in his mind.
This was a dragon of some type he was tracking. A bipedal one. And given the amount of water in the print’s base – he was only a few hours behind them.
He stood back up and looked in the direction of the tracks. It’s okay. I can take them. He slipped his wand from his wrist-sheath and began following the tracks. I have lightning in my paws, if I can see them – I can kill them. He grinned and picked up the pace a little bit.
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The miles passed in minutes, and Jace entered the edge of the area Ollie had directed him towards. “Hold up here,” Ollie stated. As Jace did so, the otter moved forward slightly, “Okay. Complexes in the open generally mean a sudden attack. The creature could manifest from any direction.”
“Right. So, Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3).” The tower shield vanished, and Jace’s body was covered in the purple nebula of the shield, hugging him closely. “Where’s the pedestal?”
“You will see it when you enter the area.”
Jace took a deep breath and nodded before walking forward.
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[Warning! You are about to enter a Complex!]
[This location has been marked by The Cosmic System as Tier 2.]
[Number of foes to clear out: 1.]
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[Quest: Defeat the Frost Wyrm.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Rare (Equipment Augmentation) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
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The terrain was the exact same. To Jace’s eyes, there was no difference between where he was just standing and where he now stood. The air was a little colder, but negligible. He scanned the sky and saw nothing.
Something trembled under him. Instinct told him to move, and he did so – jumping to the left as the ground erupted. Dirt, chunks of rock, and clumps of ice bounced off his shield and he winced slightly at the noticeable energy drain.
An enormous, white, scale-covered creature emerged from the ground – a massive pair of teeth jutting forward to engulf him. Crap! Starfire Stride! Jace jumped back, and as he did so a line of neon-purple flames surged up from where he had been standing. As he kept retreating from the rushing maw, it crossed into the flames, and he was momentarily stunned by the incredibly loud roar of pain that hit him point-blank in the face.
Thankfully, the momentary dazing effect faded and Jace was able to regain his bearing as the creature reeled back. Now that it was upright, Jace got a good look at it. It looked like a lizard. One covered with scales that were a dull, off-white color. Well, except for the trail that was scorched and charred to a blackened crisp, the few scales falling off and revealing a purple flesh underneath. The head was frilled and had teeth that were as big as his arm lining the edge like a serrated knife.
Jace ran forward with as much speed as he could muster – circling the creature and ringing it in flames. As he ran around the creature, he sliced it with his sword, leaving a glowing line of purple and crimson nebula that slowly, inexorably spread.
The creature began to submerge, retreating into the hole. “Oh no you don’t!” Jace shouted as adrenaline took over. He stabbed his blade into the creature and braced his full weight against the weapon as it tore a gash along the creature’s side.
There was an enormous blast of air that flung Jace back – ripping his sword out in the process – as he cut into some type of lung or air sac. He was able to get his feet under himself as the creature writhed around in pain before collapsing. “That was pretty easy,” Jace muttered as he walked over to the creature.
“Look out!” Ollie shouted.
The creature whipped in a circle. It was playing dead? The creature slammed into Jace with the full weight of its body behind it. The equivalent of being hit by a semi-truck going fast. Jace was flung into the air and felt extremely tired as the world tumbled end over end. He crunched into the ground – and thankfully felt no pain. But he was just…so sleepy.
He felt his eyes fluttering shut, but Ollie was right in front of him, and the bright blue kept him from sleeping. “Get up!” Ollie shouted.
Jace groaned and pushed himself to his feet. The Frost Wyrm was still alive – but with no way to take in air, and the crimson miasma spreading…it was just a matter of time. Jace just sat there…waiting.
The Wyrm eventually succumbed and crashed onto the snow. In front of it, the golden pedestal appeared. Jace groaned and stood up, walking over to the pedestal, and grabbed the orb.
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[Quest Completed: Defeat the Frost Wyrm.]
[Time Limit: N/A.]
[Reward: Rare (Equipment Augmentation) Boon.]
[Sender: The Cosmic System.]
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As he put it in his backpack, he looked up to Ollie to order him to dust the creature.
But a bolt of blue entered the corner of his vision.
