CWD: GA ~ Thirteen

The next morning, they didn’t need breakfast—as it hadn’t been twenty-four hours since dinner—and Nacho figured they’d be using their skills a great deal that day. Before long, they would be eating, and eating, so much more regularly than they were used to. No reason to keep to a schedule at this point. They were good on water, but that would be the next thing they needed, which meant another fire, since the water had to be boiled for a number of reasons.

Brie stood holding one of their homemade firebrands at the mouth of the archway, where ever-more root-strewn stone steps descended into darkness. She squinted as the shadows shifted. “These torches suck. We need a decent light source.”

Nacho rummaged into his bag and pulled out six road flares. He handed a couple to Brie and Reuben. “We’ll use these for now. I would’ve brought flashlights, but batteries don’t work here. If I remember right, there are torches on sconces deeper down, it’s just that the tree here destroyed the wall.”

He pointed at a series of roots that had pushed through the rock. Reuben wiped sweat from his forehead. It wasn’t hot; in fact, it was a cold morning, but it was clear the handsome Healer was nervous. “Who built all this? I mean, this isn’t a natural cave. Someone took the time to carve all this out of stone, so are these alien ruins?”

“Don’t overthink this, Reuben.” Nacho removed some extra clothes and extra supplies that wouldn’t be too hard to replace, then put the pack back on. “I think it’s safe to leave some of our gear up top. I’ll bring food and water.”

He struck a flare and tossed it down the steps, where the spitting red light painted the root-covered walls in a fiery scarlet glow. They had enough light to see that the top steps were clear as the odor of burning sulfur wafted up to them.

They chose a marching order, with Brie at the front and Reuben in the center, since they wanted to protect their Healer. Nacho had his knives at his side, but he’d start with the bow. Depending on what they came across, it might be a worthless weapon. He thought the Deep Buggy Darkness contained a mixture of Tier zero and Tier one monsters, but obviously the more powerful creatures should be much further down.

The System decided to get chatty with them.

Hey, Players!

It sounds like you’re discussing party placement! You sure are getting chummy with these other players!

Would you like to create a party?

Yes/No

“Let’s all choose yes,” Nacho decided after a long moment. “The System checks to see how well we coordinate with each other, and that could eventually lead to bonus credits. Also, it makes trading easier if we can pool our resources.”

“Is this like opening a bank account together?” Reuben chuckled as he pretended to haughtily glare at them. “I think I’ll need to check both of your credit histories, especially the hot blond. She looks shifty.”

“I am shifty.” Brie’s joke came out tense, as she was too focused on the entrance to the dungeon, which very well might lead them to their deaths.

They all chose ‘yes’ on the prompt.

Yay! We love a good party that plans to live—and especially die—together! What would you like to name your party? Currently, it’s Untitled1, and that’s not very catchy.

Reuben actually laughed as the others grimaced at the incongruous cheeriness. “Not very catchy at all, Patrons. How about we call ourselves the Cheesy Chasers. Mr. Colby, Ms. Brie, and Nacho.”

“What about ‘The Dinner Party’?” Nacho suggested as he got into the spirit of having something that was theirs. A welcome smile flashed across Brie’s face, and she snorted softly.

“The Dinner Party it is!” Reuben affirmed for all of them. They didn’t need to say more; the name was too perfect. The healer hefted his backpack and tightened the straps. “So, uh, if we die now, we die for real, right? Maybe I should go first. I just don’t like Brie risking her life for us.”

Brie turned to menace him with her hand axe. “I’m the Berserker, Reuben. If I see anything, I’ll go berserk and kill it. Don’t worry about me. Besides, we both have the same strength. This is all dangerous.”

“Just be ready to hug her if she gets hurt.” Nacho chortled at the fact that he had just given an absolutely serious battle command.

Reuben lit one of his own road flares and held it aloft, just in time for motion from the wall roots to draw their attention. Not just the wall, but the ceiling!

“Brie, above you!” Nacho shouted as a three-foot long grub, white with a marbled pink body, unraveled from above, where it had anchored itself into the root system. The back-end anchor was a bubble gum pink, while the bitey end was white with black eyes and obsidian mandibles.

The System chose that moment to inform them that their lives were in imminent danger:

Hey, Player, welcome to Active Combat! Active Combat is dangerous but fun! You cannot access the Store, and both your Health and Mana Regen have been paused for the duration. Good luck!

Gumdrop Grub

Effective Tier/Level:?

HP:?

The Patrons liked to keep monster stats hidden, for the most part. But Nacho wasn’t fooled by the question mark next to the thing’s Tier and level value. It had taken far too long for Nacho to figure out what the punctuation meant. Even if the System View was garbage for the most part, it did have some uses.

The grub lashed out at Brie.

Nacho didn’t have a shot, but the Berserker let out a shout and spun, raising an arm and trying to activate her Defensive Whirl. It didn’t work. The grub drove its mandibles deep into the flesh of her arm, and she screamed in pain. As though she had rung the dinner bell, another grub crawled from the wall, its pale body pulsating. This one was a bright blue, but again, its segmented thorax shimmered with the glitter of sugar on a gumdrop candy.

Nacho could shoot that one, and did. His arrow struck home, causing the thing to scream and fall to the floor, curling around itself. The familiar Active Combat message popped up.

Dishing Out Damage Update! 5/5.

A second later, Nacho was given another message.

Congratulations! You have killed a Gumdrop Grub!

Level 01 Creature = 0 Credits!

Awesome!

It wasn’t awesome—he’d gotten nothing for killing the monster. This wasn’t how the system was supposed to work. Everyone got credits for killing a monster. Why wasn’t… he?

“Nacho!” Reuben’s call pulled his attention back to the fight, as three more of the grubs came curling out of the walls and ceiling—purple, light red, and green—though it was kind of hard to tell since the flare’s spitting light was on the redder side of the color spectrum.

Brie hacked at the pinkish one in the ceiling, driving her hatchet deep into the throbbing flesh. She pulled the monster down and kicked it away. It was dead, but she was bleeding.

Reuben waved his flare in the face of a third purple one. It shrieked as Brie spun and sank her hatchet into its pliant body. So far, they’d killed three of the grubs. How many credits had they earned?

The red and green grubs had anchored their bodies to the wall on either side of the hallway. They lashed out at Brie’s back, and Reuben stormed forward with his club in one hand and the flare in the other. Only, he wasn’t holding his club for long. The red grub ripped into his arm, the pain causing him to drop the weapon. With an enraged cry, the Healer pivoted and drove the flare into the beady black eye of the monster.

For a second, the staircase was dark, until the flames burned through the outer flesh of the creature. Then it lit up like a big red sparkly balloon.

That left the green one. Nacho thought about using his bow, but at this stage—being Level Zero everything—they needed credits. He had to assume that both Brie and Reuben were getting paid for their kills. Brie’s body blurred with speed. Apparently she had figured out how to activate her Combat Dash. She swung her hatchet, hacking into the green grub until it stiffened in death.

Both Brie and Reuben were breathing hard, blood dripping from their wounded arms. The berserker lit another flare and tossed it farther down the staircase. A rapid scan didn’t reveal any more of the grubs.

Congratulations, Player! Active Combat is over! It looks like your friends were wounded, but they’ll live! Have fun shopping, and enjoy your Health and Mana Regen! May your future be delicious!

“Don’t let that System message fool you.” Nacho stood ready with his bow, unwilling to use it if they didn’t get paid. “We could get attacked right away, so don’t let your guard down. Tell me you two got credits for killing the grubs.”

Reuben bent and picked up his club. “I got five credits for my flare action.”

Brie stood with her hatchet dripping the black ichor of the grub monsters. She clutched the sleeve of her shirt to stem the flow of the blood. “Fifteen credits for me. And I’m getting hungry, like I do after I’ve worked out for hours. So that’s the System, right?”

“You used your skills.” Nacho felt that was all he needed to say.

“Not that they worked,” Brie complained bitterly as she inspected her bleeding arm. “My Defensive Whirl got me a bad gash, and my Combat Dash made me faster, but I didn’t do any extra damage.”

“Welcome to the drawbacks of being level zero.” Nacho kept his eyes on the roots covering the walls and ceilings. The stone steps and root system descended… what? Another hundred feet? Five hundred? More roots were down there, as were the shadows of something else; chittering bodies in a larger cavern at the bottom.

The steam from the flare in the eye socket of the red Gumdrop Grub had filled the hallway with the smell of cooked meat.

Brie went pale as she whispered, “Is it just me… or does that smell good?”