First Game 1: Green Means Go!

The wheel spun alongside accompanying beeps as each color passed the apex of its turning. Green, black, red and white blurred as they rotated, only regaining their distinctiveness as it slowed. The assembled group waited with bated breath until the wheel stopped with the green quarter on top.

“And ‘Green’ takes the first spot on today’s roster! That means we’ll be taking a trip to the countryside, courtesy of Evergreen Grocers!”

One of the pathways lit up, the darkness vanishing to reveal an outdoor space, filled with plants and wooden stands loaded with things like apples. Beyond them, a field of corn waved in the wind, and that very breeze wafted into the rotunda, carrying the fresh scent of the field.

“The name of the game is The A-Maize-ing Race! See that dreamy field of corn? It’s actually a maze, filled with all sorts of tasty goodies that will be sure to satisfy. But prowling the rows are a number of attendants who aren’t too keen on people taking their goods, along with a variety of traps to trip you up. And the boss of the area won’t let just anyone cross the finish line at the end of the maze!”

“So we just go in and race to the end?” Vivian asked, a hand on her chin as she digested the information.

“That’s one way to go about it!” the announcer said. “But beelineing it to the exit isn’t going to earn as many points as you could.”

“‘Points’?” Ramirez repeated.

“Indeed, points!” the voice said. “Each team will earn points for finding loot in the maze, defeating what prowls within it and for which position they are in when they reach the exit! These points will be used to determine the winner of this round and will allow the victorious team a head start in the next round. These points also are what will be counted at the end of today’s games to determine who will win the potion.”

‘He hasn’t given us a breakdown on just how many points each objective will give,’ John thought. ‘So blitzing through the maze might not be the best way to win. Plus, the loot seems to be in the maze, not at the end, so the whole point is to search every corner to make sure we get all we can for Teri.’

There was a lot more going on than a simple loot run. They could focus on searching and farming the attendants, as John was sure they would drop more food and related items, and still come out on top. Which wasn’t really his and Vivian’s goal. Sure, the potion sounded very, very useful, but it wasn’t why they were doing this.

Still, John subtly looked to Ramirez and K’mels, trying to gauge how they would tackle the maze. Would K’mels focus on gathering the stuff his people really need or would he go for the prestigious first place prize. Would Ramirez and Rowan gun for it to bolster the Order’s fighting ability since Phantom Reach remained at large?

‘I think we’ll have to focus on item acquisition,’ John resolved. ‘That’s why we’re doing this, to give the Golmerks the best start in their new lives. We can’t get distracted by the shiny super potion.’

“Now, some ground rules. First, no attacking your fellow competitors. Second, no deliberate attempts to sabotage, we will be watching. And third, a team will only complete the maze once both members are out.”

John glanced at K’mels at that point, but the goblin’s face remained a mask of open irritation.

“Beyond that, anything goes. Now, head on down to one of the three entrances and wait for the signal to go!”

There was a popping sound as the speaker turned off and John said, “Well, may the best team win.”

K’mels grunted before muscling past John and towards the field. Teri offered John an apologetic look, mouthing a ‘sorry’, and hurried after her clansman.

Ramirez was far more friendly, offering a hand to John. “May the Lady’s favor fall upon those that most deserve it.”

John shook her hand, wondering if that was a backhanded way of saying they would get Gaia’s nod today as they were her knights.

‘Let’s not think like that,’ John thought, banishing that notion as Ramirez and Rowan made their way into the field.

“You okay?” Vivian asked quietly, lightly touching John’s arm in concern.

“Yeah, just thinking,” John replied, reaching over to place his hand over hers in a reassuring gesture. “I think we should focus on loot grinding over anything else. Make sure Teri gets to go home with something.”

“You think they’re going to focus on getting points for the potion?” Vivian asked as they made their way towards the maze.

“K’mels might,” John answered. “I think he might see it as the big thing to win to show dominance. I don’t know enough about how he thinks to really gauge if he’d give up on directly helping his clan by chasing the big prize.”

“Let’s hope Teri can rein him in,” Vivian remarked. “So, we go through this maze and collect what we can. Do we fight what we find in there or run?”

“It’s likely that they’ll drop more foodstuffs or things like farming equipment, so running at the drop of a hat is probably a bad idea,” John said. “If whatever we run into is a pain to beat, or doesn’t have anything we need to get, then yeah, we bail, but if we can reasonably beat them, then we do it.”

Vivian nodded before pulling out a notebook from her choker. “Paralysis arrays would be a good fit then. Both to make whatever’s in there a stationary target and to restrain any we don’t want to fight.”

“We need to think of a better way for you to prepare your arrays in advance,” John commented as Vivian began to carefully tear out several pages of predrawn arrays.

“Or I have to get better at speed drawing them,” Vivian said. “If I can master that, then stuff like these would only be the last ditch backups.”

“Always good to have a backup,” John remarked. The transition from the rotunda to what could be mistaken for a farm was seamless and John looked back to see they were stepping out of a simple looking barn. Turning his attention back to the maze, John saw that Team Order and Team Golmerk had already taken their positions at two of the three entrances presented to them along the wall of ten foot tall corn stalks.

“Alright, contestants! On your marks! Get set! And gooo!”

Out of the corner of his eye, John saw K’mels shoot into the maze, Teri following him with an annoyed look on her face. Past them, Ramirez and Rowan also dashed into the maze, though they moved in sync and at a slightly less frenzied pace. With a nod to Vivian, John led them into the maze, adopting a speed slightly behind that set by the Order members.

“How deep in do you think the first bits of loot will be?” Vivian asked as they rounded the first turn.

“I’d say probably a few turns in. Same for any hazard or monster,” John replied before a wide smile made its way across his face. “Which is why I think it’s time to send out our scout.”

John barely had to touch upon his link to Candle for the fox spirit to come darting out of his aura, her tail wagging about like a tornado as she zoomed around them. John let her dart about for a moment before directing her to race ahead of them. The spirit let out an excited yip and took off. Even with only a fifteen meter range, she could round corners before them and let him know if there was something there.

A flash of aggression filtered through John’s bond with Candle, one that he immediately knew meant she had encountered something dangerous. Rather than risk her, John pulled on their link like it was a leash, urging Candle back to him and Vivian. Thankfully, she obeyed his command and ran back to him, jumping up onto his shoulders.

“Somethin up ahead?” Vivian asked as she held out one of her arrays.

“Something that Candle thought was a threat,” John said, summoning his sword. With his other hand, he patted Candle’s head, “Good girl.”

The happy noise from the spirit was a bit subdued, and her posture was still tense, leading John to think whatever was around the corner was something threatening. Though at Candle’s size, a lot of things probably were, but better safe than sorry.

Vivian lightly touched John’s unoccupied shoulder and quietly said, “I can peek around the corner. See what’s up.”

John blinked. “You know, I forgot you could do that. Now I feel a little silly sending Candle out.”

Vivian smiled at John. “It’s okay. You wanted to test out a new move. It was a bit cute actually. Like you were playing with a new toy at Christmas.”

John felt his face warm slightly but held his tongue. He could take a bit of embarrassment from his girlfriends. It was certainly better from them than his so-called peers.

Vivian flexed her fingers and the air just before the corner rippled as she bent the light bouncing off of whatever was down that path, resolving into what John could only describe as an imitation of a dog.

It was in the rough shape of one, with fur of layered straw making it look like a collie. But its legs were slightly too long and out of the normal proportion, making the thing look like it had been stretched out. Equally stretched out was its tail, a scythe on a long handle that bobbed in time with its slow gait.

John tried to cast Observe on it, only for it to fail.

“Guess light bending isn’t going to let us cheat with Observe,” John said with a sigh.

“At least we can get an idea about it before going in for more info,” Vivian remarked, letting the spell end. “How do we want to tackle this?”

“I’d rather not waste one of your paralysis arrays on something we don’t know is a threat or not,” John said. “I’d hate it if we can just burn this thing with one Fiery Pursuit.

“Fire might not be the smartest thing to use here,” Vivian pointed out, gesturing to the corn all around them.

“There’s a part of me that wants to say Gaia would turn off fire tick, and another that says she would leave things as real as possible just to see how we’d handled them,” John groaned. “Especially since I lean into Pursuit for ranged attacks. And I don’t want to rely on the water spirit’s element generation without testing it first.”

“Then we’ll have to get close then,” Vivian said, before looking at Candle. “Maybe Candle can sneak and deliver the array?”

“It’s an option,” John remarked, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. “Between me taking its attention, her small size and your light bending, we can pull that off easily, I think. But first, we try it the old fashioned way. Think you can mess with its vision?”

Vivian nodded, and John felt her mana fluctuate a bit as she readied to manipulate the light around them in whatever way was advantageous. With a mental command, John had Candle jump back onto the ground and creep up to the corner. He told her to stay there until he gave her a signal. Thankfully, she obliged. He could only hope that if he had to bring her into combat, she wouldn’t lock up.

‘If things get hairy, I can manifest behind them,’ Senka suggested as John readied to step around the corner and confront the monster.

‘That’s a good fallback idea,’ John thought back. ‘But, I think if we need an ‘ace in the hole’ move, Vivian’s idea will be the first option. I already have Candle out, and if this guy’s a pain to deal with, the boss might be something we’ll need to save mana for.’

‘Sometimes, I hate that you have facts and logic on your side,’ Senka playfully bemoaned, purposefully going over the top with her lamentations to alleviate some of the tension around them. ‘Don’t put yourself into a position where my intervention becomes needed.’

‘We’ll try not to,’ John replied and tightened his grip. He’d guessed that there would likely only be a second once he cast Observe. Sure, it hadn’t attacked Candle, but John reasoned it might not have seen her as a threat or her retreat quickly de-aggroed it. If they were to move forward, they didn’t have the option to retreat.

A second after John had stepped into view of the now named Straw Hound, its tail whipped about violently and the straw around where its mouth would be bristled. Then it bounded at him, its too long legs letting it quickly close the distance between them.

It leapt at John, its muzzle opening to reveal tendrils of straw that coiled about, ready to ensnare him. Now, John darted forward, passing through a thin layer of Vivian’s mana, breaking whatever she was projecting at the hound. His guess was it put him several feet further back than he really was which meant his rush forward put him right in the best spot to run his blade through its torso.

59 DMG

His blade parted straw and cracked wooden bones as it impaled the animalistic golem. Nearly every inch of straw that comprised its flesh rippled with irritation as John’s attack **** the hound to the ground. Tendrils of straw lashed out and tried to pierce John, but were unable to penetrate his combat coat.

John was not keen on testing if the scythe tail would prove a better weapon and quickly brought his blade up to block an undulating strike from the weapon. The repurposed harvest tool surprisingly lodged into the wood of the greatwood sword and John wrenched with all his strength to unbind their blades.

‘I would not advise trying to block that again,’ Senka remarked.

‘Yeah, no kidding,’ John shot back, his eyes flicking to the slight chip in the wooden blade. ‘Think that scythe has some bonus against plants?’

‘That seems likely,’ Senka answered. ‘Do you want to switch?’

‘As much as I don’t want to burn so much mana in the first fight, I’d rather that than risk breaking another sword in the middle of a barrier.’

With a thought, John stowed the greatwood sword and Senka’s vessel appeared in his hand. At the same time, John manifested his wind spirit, and with a boost of twelve mana, powered up its wind manipulation to a level that pushed the hound back, dealing a few more points of damage.

A pleasant cool ran across John’s body as Senka’s mana filled the empty portion of his mana bar and Wrapping Shadows manifested around his arm. He shaped the dark mana into a blade and dashed back into the frey.

41 DMG

A thrust pierced the hound’s shoulder and John followed it up by willing the wind spirit into its face. Even under its own power, the wind it generated was enough to pick up dirt and other plant matter from the ground and batter the hound’s face with it.

It didn’t do any damage but did draw the monster’s ire and it tried to attack the spirit with straw tendrils with little success. As it opened its maw in an attempt to clamp down on it, John struck, sending the flexible mana blade into the faux mouth.

45 DMG
EXP withheld until game completion.
Loot added to the pool.

The straw hound collapsed into dust that blew away from the wind spirit before John pulled it back into his aura. Vivian walked up to John, eyes carefully sweeping over his body.

“Didn’t take any damage,” John attested. “You can see my bars.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to be sure,” she replied, placing her hand on John’s chest above his heart. Her eyes drifted to John’s shadow cloaked arm. “So that’s the new thing you got with Senka’s mana.”

“Yeah. The scythe chipped the greatwood blade, so I think it might have had a bonus effect against plants and the like,” John explained. “So this was the better weapon to use. But going forward, I think paralyzing any more would be more efficient. It only took three hits to take out, about one-fifty hit points but like no defense. Locking it in place and whaling on it would probably be the fastest way to go.”

Vivian nodded and made sure to have an array at the ready. Wrapping Shadows faded but John kept a hold on Senka’s vessel. Candle bounded forward, eagerly yipping as she began to move down the now cleared passageway. Laughing at the excited spirit’s exuberance, John and Vivian moved forward.

They may not have been gunning for the big prize, but that didn’t mean they would drag their feet. Teri and her people deserved their best effort.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.