One Bright Idea After Another

Planning ahead of time had not made the act of killing an enemy any less nerve-wracking. It was easier, but still a rush of apprehension and primal instinct. After years of choosing ‘Flight’ over ‘Fight’, neither John’s body nor mind were used to the experience of standing his ground, let alone being the aggressor.

If the Abyss is half as dangerous as Moira and her dad make it out to be, I have to get a handle on this. These are chumps, low level mooks meant for grinding. I’m of no use to June if I panic at the slightest sign of danger. That would just prove Moira right about me.

John sighed and slumped against the wall of the cave, nudging his toes against the corpse at his feet. He’d dragged it in with him after failing to find a good place to hide it. At least it would be out of plain sight inside, even if only barely. Either way, it was one less thing to worry about.

For now.

On the plus side, the dagger it had dropped was a small but significant upgrade from the bone knives. He equipped it in his main hand and stowed the blood-slick knife and spear in his inventory.

-
Bronze Dagger
Weapon - Dagger
More akin to a short sword for the small-statured Kobolds, this weapon must have been pilfered from some other civilization, as they have yet to master metallurgy.
7 Damage, Slashing/Piercing
-

A little extra damage and a sturdy guard to prevent slip-ups like earlier went a long way towards John feeling more properly equipped. The description raised two questions, however: were there actually other creatures here, or was the weapon’s supposed history just another part of the Barrier’s design? They were the kind of questions his inquisitive mind could easily latch on to, but even he had to admit that this was hardly the place to break out a notebook and start scratching down theories. Even if he did, he’d get blood all over the pages anyway.

John wiped his hands as clean as he could get them on his already ruined pants. After just two encounters they were scuffed and torn beyond what Ashcroft would find acceptable. Destined for the garbage as they were, what more harm could a little lizard blood do? At least his blazer was tucked away safely in his inventory; slacks were easy to replace, that wasn’t. Another small blessing to calm his mind as he peered further into the dark.

He needed a light source. Fumbling around in a pitch black tunnel full of short lizardfolk with a penchant for stabbing and biting didn’t sound like an appetizing prospect- for John at least; the Kobolds would probably love it. Nothing in John’s inventory was of any use unless he wanted to start burning textbooks and throwing them down the corridor, provided he even had a way to light them. He began to pat his thighs, idle fidgeting to get his brain to focus, and found his answer there. His left hand tapped on the one item he was carrying out of his inventory, his cell phone. In trying to keep his mind in the fantasy game mindset, John had forgotten he had it on him.

Despite his tumbles so far, John was confident that his phone was in good condition. It had only taken a few encounters with Frank, and subsequently the pavement, before John had gone online and ordered the toughest case he could find. It was bulky in a way that most people might find inconvenient or ugly, but John liked the chunkiness, it gave the phone a sort of retro Sci-Fi appeal. Sure enough, his investment paid off as John pulled the phone out of his pocket unharmed. He opened the flashlight app and turned it on.

The rear LED was bright, harsh, and cast disorienting shadows on the uneven ground. John winced at the sudden change and turned it back off. He found that the soft glow of his phone’s screen was enough to let him see the interior of the tunnel without giving away his position nearly as much as the LED did. He also found it comedically fitting that his wallpaper was fanart of Leona from League of Legends, that the Lightbringer would illuminate his path.

John held up the light with a smile and examined his surroundings. The interior quickly grew cramped, low enough that he had to crouch in order to move further in. Still, he could fit. With his phone in one hand and his new knife in the other, John stooped low and crept into the darkness beyond.

Compared to the arid environment outside, the cave was unusually damp. It was enough to grow a healthy covering of moss on the walls, stretching back just beyond the point where there was enough light for John to see unaided. The floor was clear of any growth, worn smooth by the constant footfalls of countless Kobolds over many years. Fine for them, with their wide feet and rough scales, but John was still wearing his school shoes. The flat soles and moist surface made for tricky footing that only got worse as he delved further in. He gave up after five minutes of painstakingly careful walking and pocketed his footwear. Uncomfortable as it was, his bare feet and toes had better traction and were all but silent as he continued on. At least the ceiling rose the deeper in he traveled.

John came to a Y-shaped intersection and stopped. No passage bore any markings or signs of light further in, leaving him literally and figuratively in the dark on which way to go. Beyond the lack of visual cues, It was oppressively quiet, more so than the most vacant library or reverent church he had ever been in. He’d expected to hear the same chittering and general sounds of Kobold life that he had heard in the Greensmoke camp, or at least something close to it. Instead, his ears were treated to absolute silence in all directions. The sensory deprivation started to call for panic; it gnawed at the edges of his psyche, weakening his resolve. John’s grip tightened. Not this time, he had a better idea.

John turned off his phone.

He listened. Too many comic books and colloquial wisdom had taught him that when one sense stopped working the others heightened.

How many blind heroes with superhuman hearing exist in media? There had to be some truth to it, right? I’m pretty sure that mysterious chemicals or years of training are usually involved but I’ve got magic on my side. I think. It’s worth a shot at least.

John heard nothing at first, or so he thought. Soon, he realized he could hear the steady back and forth of his breath, so he held it. His mind became quiet and peaceful as his concerns slipped away. He could feel his heart in his chest, up his neck, and down his arms. He could hear it too, a steady rhythm that slowly faded into the background of his awareness. Entranced by his own heartbeat, John stood completely motionless for an immeasurable moment. He could feel something else within him, just barely, something spreading from his chest just as his blood did. He wanted to touch it, he-

A noise came and the world crashed back into place.

It was faint, quieter than the air expelled from his lungs, but John’s ears caught a short grunt from somewhere far to his right. Without delay, he felt his way towards the leftward tunnel and ducked inside. John continued blindly groping down the passageway for a few meters before he finally turned his phone back on. He recoiled at the light but **** his eyes to look at the screen to gauge how much time he had wasted standing around like a dope. He was surprised to find that it was a few minutes, at most.

What the hell was that? Does meditating always feel like that?

John sighed. Yet another mystery to add to his growing pile.

-
<New Spell!>
Lifessense - Lv. 1
5mp/s, Channeled. Biomancy
Gain a vague sense of the location of living creatures within the Area of Effect.
Range: 1m radius sphere, centered on caster.
Range increases by 1m/s while channeling, up to a maximum of (Skill Lv x 2)m
-

The pop-up took John by surprise and nearly knocked him on his ass. It appeared in stark contrast to the darkness surrounding him, bright but casting no light on his surroundings. He swiped it away near instantly despite knowing full well no one would be able to see it.

Cool, but that still doesn’t tell me what happened. It might if there was something within range, but I’d have a spear in my gut if that was the case.

“Speaking of, a whole two meters huh? Real useful, Goddess, thanks.” John rolled his eyes.

An alarmed barking came from the direction John had just come from. He cringed.

“Oh, fuck me.”

John took off at a sprint down the corridor. His father had always told him his big mouth would get him in trouble one day; apparently today was the day. He ran until he found an opening to turn down and hurled his body sideways into it. He didn’t care what it was or where it led, all he needed was something to break the line of sight to the light from his phone.

Unfortunately, as far as safe havens went, it would have been hard for John to pick a worse one. The Lightbringer cast her glow on a small hollow packed with Kobods curled up on thin piles of rawhide, each asleep save one. It opened one groggy eye and stared at John with a lack of comprehension all too familiar to the Gamer. It was the sort of half-functioning haze of waking up after late-night raids, or one too many utterances of ‘just one more try.’ Regardless, John swore under his breath and spun around to the exit.

There was a clearly evident clamor behind him now, one of pattering feet and irritated chatter. John could not see his pursuers, let alone count them, but he didn’t need a number to know that getting caught would be extremely detrimental to his health. He booked it further down the corridor until he found a second turn and took it, heart pounding all the way. This one was much the same as the first, only this time a few of its denizens were already awake and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. He groaned and about faced.

The third branch led to yet another den of increasingly aware Kobolds, as did the fourth, not that John even bothered taking more than a peek inside. From the sound of things, the band pursuing him was not only gaining ground but growing with each batch of rudely awoken Kobolds they passed. John heard the telltale clacking of weapons striking the cavern walls as the Black Claws riled their kin and worked up a fervor of strange hoots, barks, and hisses. At this rate, whatever dens lay ahead would be awake and ready before John could pass them.

“Good job, John!” he berated himself under labored breath. “Sneak right into the middle of their warren and wake everyone up, that’ll show ‘em! They’ll never see it coming, and they definitely won’t rip you apart and serve you for dinner, no sir! Nothing says ‘Victory’ quite like being completely surrounded! This quest is in the bag, you’re the greatest adventurer the world has ever seen!”

John wished he had a jar of oil, some caltrops, or even a bag of marbles to toss down the hall and trip up the mob behind him. He frantically scanned his inventory for something that could be put to use but came up empty-handed.

Christ, what I wouldn’t give for a flash grenade right now.

He dismissed his character sheet just in time to see an armed Kobold step out of another side passage and snarl at him, sword ready. With a less than manly shout, John equipped his spear and leveled it for impact. The Black Claw yelped and swatted away the weapon with ease, but John didn’t mind; all it meant was that the Kobold’s blade was out of the way for him to continue his charge and bowl over the smaller creature with his size and speed. Flailing claws caught his ankle and he stumbled, then fell to the ground in a roll. John cursed up a storm as momentum carried him a few feet further before face-planting on the solid stone floor. His phone clattered to the ground a few feet further away, screen down.

John scrambled back to his feet using the wall for support with a free hand, leaning on it to guide him forward. He was **** to retrieve his only light source; the Kobolds behind him were close enough that he could feel the rumble of their approach. He slipped and his heart skipped a beat.

The difference in texture registered despite tumbling to the ground again, with panic flooding every crevice of his brain. Moss! Even as he groped the floor for his phone, John followed the right wall down with his eyes to catch sight of another entryway, barely illuminated by a near imperceptible amount of light. The light was so faint that he would have missed it had his phone been up; it would have been overpowered by the soft glow of the screen, and John would have dismissed it as another den.

John snatched his phone from the ground and half-ran, half-crawled his way through the rough archway with moments to spare, the mob descending on John’s former position. He glanced behind himself to see several of the frontrunners fail to slow down enough to make the turn. What few did were swiftly overrun by those behind them who did not, but nevertheless, a dozen or so frighteningly sharp claws grasped the perimeter of the entrance and their owners shoved themselves through all at once.

John booked it down the passage like a rabbit running for the safety of its burrow. It was a straight shot towards the source of the light, a gently illuminated ladder leading straight up. Problem was, it was far, and the Kobolds were faster than him in spite of their height disadvantage. As it was, he would not have enough time to transition to climbing before they caught up and tore him down, and that would be game over. John wracked his brain for any way to stall his pursuers for even a second as he fumbled with his phone. He almost tripped when the answer hit him like a truck.

Navigating phone settings while running barefoot and at full speed was not an easy task, but John managed before he made it to his destination. He made a pivoting leap and slammed shoulders first against the ladder, aiming his phone’s LED at the ravenous Kobolds mere feet away from him.

“Suck on technology, you ass backwards cockmongers!”

It was no flash grenade, but the little diode might as well have been the sun to John’s pursuers if the immediate shrieks and howls they emitted were any indication. They stopped dead in their tracks and dropped their weapons to cover their eyes and block the blinding light assailing their senses. John took the opportunity to stow his phone, reach for the ladder, and begin climbing. A moment later the rest of the gang crashed into their incapacitated brethren and massed into a pile of fangs and scales at the ladder’s base.

The mess below gave John a few precious seconds head start. He pulled himself up with his arms as much as he pushed with his legs and climbed like a monkey on adderall. The ladder was small and rickety, but built into the wall and stable enough to support his weight as he ascended, skipping several rungs at a time with each step. It was still dim, the sun must have been low in the sky and only barely cast any light directly into the hole, but that alone was enough for him to see his way up and the evening sky above that spelled freedom. John was confident he could make it even though the Kobolds below had begun clambering their way up after him. His long limbs served him well this time; the stout lizards had no chance of catching up.

Several full minutes of climbing later, John began to feel less positive about his odds. His lungs were burning and fatigue was starting to slow him down. On top of that, his oxygen-starved brain had dealt a hit to his coordination; his fumbling hands had slipped a few times now and John had to will himself to focus on each and every sluggish step, lest he plummet to the eagerly waiting mass of fangs still chasing him. Worse still, the ladder’s stability decreased the higher he climbed. Every so often a poorly made rung would snap beneath his feet and he would have to compensate with his arms. John’s body felt on the verge of shutting down altogether, the precious few yards left to reach the top felt impossible to climb.

“You can… do this,” John panted self-assurances between labored breaths. “Don’t quit… you got this… so climb, motherfucker! Climb!”

With a roar of triumph, John breached the surface and flung his torso over the edge. He dragged himself out of the hole while sucking in lungfuls of fresh air. Never again would he complain about running laps in P.E.; marathon ladder climbing was the most exhausting exercise John had ever endured. He lay flat on his back with his chest heaving. His escape would have been pointless had the sun not still been out; his limbs felt all but useless and utterly incapable of defending himself.

Unfortunately, that great, celestial defender in the sky was beginning to dip below the horizon. John had a scant few minutes before the Kobolds still barking inside the tunnel were free to emerge and make a meal out of him. As drained as he was, John’s reprieve was temporary so long as the hole remained unsealed. He flopped his head to either side in search of yet another large rock to use against his enemies.

If it’s stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid.

John crawled to a rock that looked sufficiently weighty and rolled it into position as quickly as he could manage, which was not quick by any stretch of the imagination. Still, it was fast enough to tip it over the lip of the hole before the sun disappeared. It did not fall for long before it smashed into the skull of the topmost Kobold.

18 damage, crushing

It wasn’t lethal, but somebody in line must have fallen because a second damage indicator and a few experience points popped up somewhere deep beneath the surface. More importantly, it bought John time. A peek down saw a bundle of his pursuers further down, bracing against the walls to prevent themselves and their dazed comrade from falling any further down, all complaining and shouting in their incomprehensible language.

Not big enough, damn.

In defiance of his noodle-like limbs, John dragged his leaden body over to the largest rock around. He was running on vapors, beyond even what felt like the final burst of strength he had used to finish the climb, but somehow John shoved his weight and scrambled his legs enough to get the the small boulder to roll. It was just about the right size to plug the hole as far as he could estimate beneath the fog of fatigue; all John needed to do was **** it into place and let physics take over. He just hoped his heart didn’t explode before he got that far.

It didn’t, even though it was beating fast enough and hard enough that John could feel it in his head. With a shout and one final heave, his plan fell into place. For a moment John choked as the boulder slipped from view and into the hole, worried that he had misjudged the size again. A hearty THUD and a long string of damage indicators set him at ease. The numbers grew larger the further down they went until they exploded into a cloud of experience points at the bottom. A curious look in found the rock wedged into place several meters down. John wished he could have seen the results of his handiwork, and some part of his gamer brain lamented the loss of all that loot, but most of all he felt an overwhelming wave of relief. It was followed immediately by the crushing weight of his overworked body.

“I am Uhjonser, Rockdropper…” he quipped to no one and collapsed completely.