His breathing rapid but even, Rain tore down the tunnel beside Tallheart, the two of them chasing Aliah as she led the way deeper into the Sparkscale Deep. They were moving at what was essentially a jog, though it was more like a sprint in terms of effort. The air was thick, and the drag substantial. Light was provided by a Fire Arrow, nocked to Aliah’s bow. They only had one evertorch remaining, and it was reserved in case of an ergency.
They were quite deep now. Unlike the Ashen Jungle, the Sparkscale Deep wasn’t uniform. The rank increased as you descended, the tunnels sloping ever downward and the air becoming progressively thicker. At present, they were on their way to a sheltered cave they’d found on a previous expedition. It was in that cave that Rain had constructed the anchor stations and calibrated his baroters. This ti, they were planning to spend the night, and likely several nights to co.
Detection pinged, and Rain shouted. “Left! Now!”
Reacting imdiately, Aliah kicked off of nothing to send herself down the indicated tunnel. She’d needed to use Airwalk to redirect herself, not having ti to slow down. Tallheart swerved after her, Rain keeping pace with him as he ran through his threat-identification sequence. “Three signals. One is a Hunter. Left again.”
Aliah swerved, taking the indicated tunnel. “How far?”
“Close. Five ters down that tunnel on the right. The other two are Workers.”
“Got it,” Aliah said, increasing her speed and pulling ahead. “Radiance, please.”
Rain didn’t reply other than to activate the requested skill, keeping the power low. Aliah just wanted it for the light.
Her arrow flared as the magic touched it, the flas easily driving back the shadows, far overpowering the subtle golden glow from Rain’s armor. Monts later, she skidded to a stop in front of the adjoining passage, drawing in a smooth motion. She loosed, and the light doubled, one flaming arrow splitting into twenty.
Rain squinted against the glare. He couldn’t see her target from where he was standing, but he could easily imagine the spinning projectiles tracing lines of fire as they fanned out before converging smoothly to spear the unfortunate monster. The effect of the combo was quite striking.
A detonation rocked the tunnel. The system chid, and monts later, a wave of hot, heavy air slamd into Rain’s chest.
Your party has defeated [Sparkscale Hunter Drone], Level 24
Your Contribution: 9%
Rain squinted again reflexively as Aliah took her next shot, but she didn’t use Fire Arrow this ti, just a regular Seeking, Drilling Multishot. She didn’t wait for it to land before firing a third and ending the battle, if you could call it that.
Your party has defeated [Sparkscale Worker Drone], Level 21
Your Contribution: 9%
Your party has defeated [Sparkscale Worker Drone], Level 21
Your Contribution: 9%
Rain dropped Radiance. The tunnel dimd as he switched to Detection, scanning for more threats. “Clear,” he said after a mont, switching to his loot-scanning sequence as he moved to follow Aliah, who was already walking toward the carnage. Thermal Regulation would take care of the heat, and the flas were already dying. His loot sequence finished, and Rain clicked his tongue. “No good scales. A few Tel in the Workers, but that’s it.”
“Mmm,” Tallheart rumbled. “More freshspawn. Disappointing.”
Rain sighed, pointing. “This tunnel goes the right way. Follow it for about forty ters, then go straight at the fork.” He activated Radiance again, needing it as the last of the flas flickered and died.
Aliah nodded wordlessly, then used Airwalk to catapult herself over the Hunter’s smoldering corpse. Rain and Tallheart followed, careful of their footing as they threaded their way past the punctured Workers, lying there like slowly deflating weather balloons. Crimson blood was leaking from the holes Aliah’s arrows had punched through their thin scales, mixing with the silvery, rcury-laden ichor of the Hunter.
Rain snorted, considering one of the Hunter’s scales that lay in his path. He stepped on it, and it shattered beneath his boot. Dozens of the things were scattered across the ground, blasted free from the corpse, along with chunks of flesh and other innards. Nothing here had enough deepened tal in it to be worth harvesting. The scales still had plenty of silver, of course, but with how much of the tal they’d already gathered, it wasn’t even worth picking them up. They were less than trash, not even worthy of Purify.
Ahead, Rain heard Aliah chanting. Clearing the Hunter’s corpse, he dropped Radiance as she finished, another Fire Arrow blazing to light in her hand.
“Hurry up,” she said, glancing back briefly, then taking off at a jog once more. “We’re behind schedule.”
“This place is too damn big,” Rain said, following.
“Mmm,” Tallheart said, matching his pace easily. “Do not complain. At least you have sothing to do in combat. I am rely here.”
“Hold up,” Rain said, raising a hand. “There’s sothing in there. Several sothings.”
Aliah slowed, then stopped, facing forward warily. They were in a familiar section of tunnel, almost at the cave that was their goal. It was just beyond a crack in the tunnel wall ahead, too narrow for the larger varieties of Sparkscales. It was an excellent place to hole up for sure, and it appeared that sothing else had co to the sa conclusion.
“What are they?” Aliah asked, not taking her eyes off the tunnel ahead.
“I don’t know,” Rain said, his identification sequence having just finished. “Whatever they are, there are about twenty of them.”
“Hmm,” Tallheart said, crossing his arms.
“There are so corpses in there too,” Rain said, still scanning. “Scavenger Drone corpses. Just a few. Looks like whatever’s in there can hold its own.”
“Okay, stay with , but not too close,” Aliah said, creeping forward with her bow at the ready. Reaching the crack, she had to turn sideways to negotiate her way through. Tallheart followed, then Rain, clenching his fists nervously. She wouldn’t have a lot of room to draw her bow in there. The monsters were out in the cave, not clustered at the entrance, but if they had ranged attacks, she might take a hit or two before she could retaliate.
“Woah,” Aliah said, “What the hells?”
“What do you see?” Rain asked, squeezing through the crack after Tallheart and trying to see past him. The cervidian was having a hard ti of things, thanks to his antlers.
“Flying slis,” Aliah replied. Her bowstring thrumd, and there was a flash of light.
Your party has defeated [Stunner Jelly], Level 17
Your Contribution: 5%
Rain breathed out a sigh of relief upon seeing the listed level. A quick burst of Detection revealed that the others were all the sa type, and he relaxed further. Finally, Tallheart got himself unstuck with a little help from his hamr. Rain squeezed out of the passage after him, then gasped, seeing the monsters with his eyes instead of his magic.
Stunner Jellies were enormous jellyfish, floating through the air like it was water. Their gelatinous bells glowed a vibrant, fluorescent purple, as did their long, reaching tentacles. Those were already beginning to fuzz with bizarrely-silent lightning as the creatures approached.
Aliah’s bow twanged, and the nearest Jelly exploded, bringing noise to the cavern as Aliah’s Fire Arrow splattered luminous fluid across the walls and the ceiling. The flas died almost instantly. Whatever the monsters were made of, it was apparently non-flammable.
“Let’s try this,” Aliah said, loosing another shot. Her arrow split, the twenty flaming projectiles spreading in a fan rather than converging on a single target. They struck hard, hamring into the wave of oncoming jellies, shredding health but not killing outright. Instead, the bolts pierced, continuing on to spear into the second rank.
Aliah fired again, barely bothering to aim. Many of the projectiles missed, veering off course thanks to the disruption of Fire Arrow, but it hardly mattered. She simply kept up the barrage until the last ding had sounded in Rain’s mind and the floor was covered by a gelatinous ss of shredded, still-glowing jelly flesh. More of it painted the walls, like soone had tried to create the world’s largest Jackson Pollock painting using the contents of a rave’s worth of glow sticks.
Tallheart rumbled. “A sha. They were quite beautiful.”
“Yeah,” Aliah said, lowering her bow. “I feel kinda bad. I think I’m turning into Rain.” She snorted, pointing. “They were dangerous, though. Look. They were tough enough to take out a whole pack of Scavengers.”
Rain looked, sweeping his gaze over the dozens of bodies scattered around the cavern floor, buried beneath a healthy coating of glowing sli. He grimaced. “Ew.” Many of the Scavengers looked to have been partially digested, their scales missing, leaving them as nothing more than lted hunks of flesh, too far-gone for Detection to identify as corpses.
There was a sudden clang, and Rain glanced at Tallheart, seeing that he’d set down his tal carriers and was working to remove his mobile forge. He looked back at Aliah as she gestured vaguely at the ss.
“These...slis...probably slis. Jellies. Whatever. They were able to hold out here. Makes feel better about this cave. If a Hunter had gotten in, it would’ve fried all of them to a crisp.”
Rain nodded in agreent. This was the first evidence they’d seen of their mining operation upsetting the status quo. The Sparkscales were dominant in this bio, having killed or displaced Hababas, Stunner Jellies, and whatever else naturally spawned here. Their population had clearly snowballed until it filled up all of the available essence capacity.
According to Tallheart, such uniformity wasn’t uncommon in bios that hadn’t seen awakened in a while. Unlike predators in a natural ecosystem, monsters wouldn’t starve if they hunted their prey to extinction. Usually, there would be mitigating factors that kept things a little more balanced, such as the narrow entrance to this cave. It had been enough for the Jellies in the short term, but long-term, the Sparkscales would likely regain control.
“Did we bring those empty potion bottles?” Aliah asked, shaking Rain out of his contemplation. He looked up to see her crouched near one of the larger globs of glowing ooze.
“Good idea,” he said, guessing her intent. Any source of light was valuable down here. He slipped off the heavy water canteens, then shrugged out of Aliah’s pack, setting it down much more gently. While he rooted around for the potion bottles, he used Detection to sweep for loot, finding plenty of Tel and Arcane Crysts scattered through the ss, but no GranTel or GranCrysts. He tossed the bottles to Aliah once he located them, but was subsequently distracted as he spotted Tallheart wading into the carnage.
The cervidian’s boots made horrible squelching noises as he plowed through glowing ooze and half-digested at alike. He stopped near a corpse that still had most of its scales, then turned and kicked it like a football. The unsettling projectile flew a short distance before landing on bare stone with a wet clatter. It rolled for a short ways, leaving a glowing trail of purple ick before coming to a stop beside Tallheart’s stuff.
“Damn it,” Aliah said, and Rain shifted his gaze back to her. Her gauntlets were covered in luminescent ooze up to the elbow. She stood, then whipped an arm through the air in an attempt to dislodge it, but this only served to spread the ss further. She turned to look at him. “This stuff’s worthless. It’s too gloopy to get into the bottle, and it’s already losing its light. Go ahead with Purify, Rain.”
“Yeah,” Rain said, seeing that it was true. The glow was already fading. He activated Purify, not worried about the magic dissolving anything of value. The spell barely worked on Scavenger Drones in the first place, thanks to their scales.
As the rapidly-dimming ooze evaporated, Rain knelt once more to rummage in Aliah’s pack. He erged with two items, a flask and a lamp. The flask was made of Heat Copper and bore the sa rune sequence as the Pan of Frying. Rain pushed a trickle of mana into it, then waited for the Fatbird tallow inside to lt. It only took a few seconds, and once it was liquid, he filled the lamp carefully, then inserted a wick. Recapping the flask and tucking it back into the pack, he extracted a spark lighter, then lit the lamp with a couple clicks.
During the day, spawns were relatively unlikely, even in complete darkness. The lamp, feeble as its fla was, would make them less likely still. At night, it would be nowhere near enough for a cavern of this size, but in conjunction with a Fire Arrow, it would do for now. Aliah had summoned one of those while Rain had been occupied, tossing it to the floor and leaving it to burn. Assuming it was a real arrow and not one made with Endless Quiver, it would stay lit as long as she remained focused. Unfortunately, it would go out instantly if she were to try and light another one.
“You were right,” she said, seeing Rain looking at her. “We should have brought more torches.”
Rain nodded, smiling behind his helt. I told you so. He knew better than to say it.
“Torches are a luxury,” Tallheart said, still gathering Sparkscale corpses. “These scales should contain enough tal for chains. I am already working on the problem.”
“Great,” Aliah said, walking toward him. “Here, let help you with that. Get the slter going. I’ll get the rest of the bodies. Rain, you want to get started on the alcove?”
“Work, work,” Rain said in his best orc voice, his impression enhanced by the heavy air. He smiled to himself, shifting his stats balance toward Strength and reaching for the mattock hanging from his belt.
I’m gonna break this thing.Deepstone’s no joke.
Sparkscale Scavenger Drone
Class: Sparkscale
Level: 16
Aspect: Arcane (Lightning)
Bounty
0-29 Tel
0-2 Arcane Crysts
~4kg Iron
~1kg rcury
~75g Silver
Health: ~6,500
Natural Armor
Hardness: ~500
Saturation: ~1,000
Resistances
Light: 0
Heat, Cold: ~100
Dark: ~200
Arcane: Lots
Attacks
Teeth
Damage unknown
Unable to damage hardness-enchanted adamant
Electric Pulse
~2,000 Arcane damage, ~1m range, 3s cooldown
Description
Scavengers look like piranhas the size of chickens. Like all Sparkscales, they can swim through air like it’s water. They co in packs and seem to operate on a similar behavioral model to Kin. They swarm their prey, latching on with their teeth while timing their electric pulses with each other to combine the damage.
Scavengers have been seen carrying fallen Sparkscale scales and other objects in their mouths, possibly to bring back to their hive.
Sparkscale Hunter Drone
Class: Sparkscale
Level: 24
Aspect: Arcane (Lightning)
Bounty
0-3 GranTel
0-1 Arcane GranCrysts
0-2 kg Valis
0-250g Atantum
0-50g Adamant
0-30g Rykir
~200kg Iron
~40kg rcury
~20kg Lead
~10kg Silver
~30g Gold
Health: ~175,000
Natural Armor
Hardness: ~10,000
Saturation: ~100,000
Resistances
Light: 0
Heat, Cold: ~2,500
Dark: ~5,000
Arcane: Probably Lots
Attacks
Passive Fulmination
? Arcane damage/s, ~2m range, always on
Lightning Bolt
~20,000-40,000 Arcane, 10m range, 5s cooldown
Description
Hunter Drones are murderous, horse-sized, spiky, floating, electric catfish. A constant aura of lightning emanates from a pair of long whiskers near their mouths, and they can use them to launch more powerful lightning bolts on a short cooldown. Hunters are typically encountered alone or escorting a small group of Worker Drones.
Hunter scales can contain deepened tals, though the concentration varies wildly. They also contain a significant quantity of mundane silver and a lesser quantity of gold. Speculation: Hunters accumulate additional deepened tal in their scales over ti. The older the monster, the greater the reward.
Sparkscale Worker Drone
Class: Sparkscale
Level: 21
Aspect: Arcane (Gravity?)
Bounty
0-5 Tel
0-1 Arcane Crysts
~8kg Iron
~1l Water
~1kg Lead
~500g Nickel
~100g Zinc
Other trace tals
Health: ~80,000
Natural Armor
Hardness: ~1,000
Saturation: Negligible
Resistances
Light: 0
Heat, Cold: ~500
Dark: ~1,000
Arcane: Probably Lots
Attacks
Levitation
Combat applications unknown
Description
Sparkscale Worker Drones are enormous, zeppelin-looking fish with tiny mouths. Their scales are finer than those of their smaller brethren, and while they contain traces of iron, they do not provide significant protection against magic. Worker Drones have been seen levitating rocks, but the combat applications of this ability have yet to be observed. Unless accompanied by a Hunter Drone, Worker Drones attempt to flee. They are deceptively fast given their size and shape. For their level, they present little threat.
Unlike Hunters and Scavengers, Worker Drone blood is red and contains water. Their flesh is spongy and distinctly unpalatable, with a strong tallic taste. Eating it is inadvisable, particularly for anyone susceptible to heavy tal poisoning.
Stunner Jelly
Class: Sli?
Level: 17
Aspect: Arcane?
Bounty: ?
Health:
Resistances: ?
Attacks
Shocking Tentacles
Effect/damage unknown
Capable of harming Sparkscale Scavenger Drones
Description
Glowing person-sized jellyfish. Can float in air and move without any apparent thod of propulsion, not even that pulsing thing jellyfish do. Purple and translucent.
Co in packs?
When killed, their jelly gradually loses its glow
Possible chemical/alchemical uses?
Study is a low priority
Should I have tasted it?
Waving away the updated monster dossiers, Rain summoned a terminal, then committed the changes to his ntal repository. His revision control system was still a bit of a work in progress, but he’d needed to do sothing. He had simply too many files now, and the list was only growing. The docunts had started as a way for him to order his thoughts, but they themselves were starting to beco a hassle to manage. Of course, he was perfectly capable of rembering each one down to the exact sequence of key-presses required to create it, but that was a problem in itself.
That level of detail simply wasn’t sothing a human mind could hope to comprehend. Not all at once. Even now, Rain could feel the growing weight of his accumulated knowledge lurking in his subconscious, pressing on his thoughts as a constant distraction. Even without Winter running, he still found himself getting lost in the noise from ti to ti. Only after being without the spell for weeks had he realized just how bad his ntal state had gotten. Fortunately, the changes he’d been making to his interface were helping, locking that knowledge away behind layers of structure. At least, he hoped.
I’m not going insane. I’m not. There have been other Dynamos, and I haven’t heard of any of them going bonkers, so…
He sighed.
I have to stop dwelling on this. I’m doing the best I can, and the files are helping. I just need to keep my mind tidy. On that note, what’s next on the todo list?
…
Sort the todo list, maybe? Yeah, that’s probably a good place to start.
Before Rain could open the docunt, a breath of wind washed over him. Aliah had pulled open the door to the alcove, entering with a Fire Arrow held in one hand. Rain squinted at the sudden light, watching her through the tal chains dangling from the ceiling. Spaced in a quarter-ter grid, the chains were Tallheart’s solution to monster spawns. If there wasn’t enough free space, it didn’t matter whether it was light or dark.
Aliah stooped and made her way inside, parting the chains before her and making them clink softly. “What are you two still doing in here?” she asked, raising her visor. “It’s almost ti. And why did you put out the lamp?”
Rain shrugged. “I was working on my interface, and I don’t need light for that. I figured I might as well save oil. Tallheart’s asleep.”
“I am not,” Tallheart said from sowhere behind him. “I am ditating. It is not going well.”
“I told you, you need to stop trying to force it,” Rain said, craning his neck around to look over his shoulder. “You have to let go.”
“Hmph,” Tallheart snorted without opening his eyes. He paused, tilting his head, his antlers disturbing the chains with the motion. “Your thod did not work for . I am having more success with mine.”
“Sure you are,” Aliah said, her voice dripping with skepticism.
Rain smiled. She and Tallheart had started sothing of a competition. It struck him as a bit counterproductive, but listening to them heckling each other about their lack of progress was nothing if not amusing.
There shouldn’t be anything stopping them except themselves. I an, hells, I’ve got the attention span of a hyper-caffeinated gerbil. It should be easy for them by comparison. Tallheart has a point, though. The thod might not be the sa for everyone.
“By the way, Rain, I ranked Equipnt Mastery again,” Aliah said, bringing Rain’s gerbil brain back on track. “It’s at thirteen now. Damn skill takes ages to level. It’s even slower than Sll Bound Item was.” She snorted. “Good riddance. Such a useless skill.”
“I know, right?” Rain smiled, summoning a spreadsheet. “Let just update this real quick. What about Stacked Shot? Still at six?”
“Seven,” Aliah said. “Not that it matters.”
Rain nodded, entering both skill levels. He scrolled down to the bottom of the spreadsheet, watching the numbers change as the formulas were reevaluated. It was his mind doing the math; his scripts just co-opted the system’s low-level functions to push the effort to his subconscious.
He said casually, as if it was nothing.
Chuckling, Rain watched patiently as the changes slowly rippled their way down the sheet.
Man, this is really starting to chug. I need to do so more optimization work. That, or make myself multicore sohow.…
Wait…
Multicore? Yes! Multicore! High-rank lairs are supposed to have subcores sotis, aren’t they?! If lairs are like souls, I could—
No! Bad Rain! No getting distracted. Todo: multicore.
Now, where was I?
Rain refocused on the spreadsheet, the calculations finally finished.
aliah_heavy_archer.ods
B
U
I
Text Color
Cell Color
A
B
C
D
E
1
Rings
Boost
Modified Boost
2
Empowered Rings
[x3]
3.36
10
3
Equipnt Mastery
[x3]
3.36
10
Stat Total
(soulstrain)
4
20 All Stats
[x4]
80
240
1,440
5
6
Base Stats
Item
Accolade
Jack
The Aliah Number
7
63
240
10
2.6
813.8
8
9
Vital Pools
Regen
(/hr)
10
16,276
339.08
11
12
Skill
Ranks
Formula
Value
aning
13
Thickened Plate
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Durability Multiplier
14
Hardened Plate
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Hardness Multiplier
15
Heavy Resistance Enhancent
6
[1 RNK/10]
1.6
Resistance Multiplier
16
Deep Plate
6
[1 RNK/10]
1.6
Max Saturation Multiplier
17
Skill
Ranks
Formula
Value
aning
18
Fire Arrow
10
[(5 to 10)*RNK*(1 FCS/200)]
380.18
Avg Heat Dmg
19
Arrow Affinity
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Elental Dmg Multiplier
20
Prismatic Arrow
4
[1 (RNK/10)*(1 FCS/100)]
4.66
Elental Dmg Multiplier
21
Skill
Ranks
Formula
Value
aning
22
Deep Durability
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Durability Multiplier
23
Deep Hardness
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Hardness Multiplier
24
Empowered Mainhand
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Enchantnt Multiplier
25
Empowered Offhand
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Enchantnt Multiplier
26
Empowered Amulet
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Enchantnt Multiplier
27
Empowered Armor
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Enchantnt Multiplier
28
Empowered Rings
20
[1 RNK/10]
3
Enchantnt Multiplier
29
Equipnt Mastery
13
[RNK*5%]
65%
Item Strain Reduction
30
Skill
Ranks
Formula
Value
aning
31
Drilling Shot
10
[1 (RNK/10)*(1 STR/200)]
6.07
Physical Dmg Multiplier
32
Seeker Shot
10
[(RNK*90)(1 FCS/200)]
4562
Turn Rate (deg/s)
33
Sharpened Arrowheads
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Arrow Dmg Multiplier
34
Strong Draw
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Draw Weight Multiplier
35
Piercing Shot
10
[RNK*5%]
50%
Hardness Ignore
36
Endless Quiver
10
[RNK]
10
Copy Duration (minutes)
37
Sniper Shot
10
[1 (RNK/3.33)*(1 STR/100)]
28.41
Physical Dmg Multiplier
38
Bleeder Shot
10
[RNK]
10
Bleed Duration (minutes)
39
Multishot
10
[RNK*2]
20
# Arrows (10% dmg each)
40
Stacked Shot
7
[1 RNK]
8
# Skills
41
Skill
Ranks
Formula
Value
aning
42
Healing Word
10
[(10 to 20)*RNK*(1 FCS/200)]
760
Avg Healing
43
Airwalk
10
*
*
Complicated
44
Fire Affinity
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Fire Keyword Multiplier
45
Heat Mastery
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Heat Keyword Multiplier
46
Chanting
10
[1 RNK/5]
3
Spell Multiplier
47
Channel Mastery
10
[1 RNK/10]
2
Max Spell Multiplier
48
Energy Well
10
*
*
Complicated
49
Recharge Bound Item (Alternate)
10
[10*RNK*(1 CLR/100)]
913.8
Charge Rate (mp/s)
50
51
Base Damage
Physical
Magical
Combined
Item Strain
52
Unmodified Draw Weight (kg)
285
285
53
Draw Distance (m)
0.63
0.63
54
Bow Efficiency
0.79
55
Conversion Factor (dmg/J)
2.21
56
Base Shot Damage (approx)
1,537
1,537
100
57
With Sharpened Arrowheads
3,074
3,074
200
58
With Strong Draw
6,149
6,149
400
59
60
Fire Damage
Physical
Magical
Combined
Item Strain
61
Firebolt Arrow Enchantnt
400
400
26
62
With Fire Arrow
780
780
51
63
With Heat Mastery
1,560
1,560
101
64
With Fire Affinity
3,121
3,121
203
65
With Empowered Mainhand
6,241
6,241
406
66
With Arrow Affinity
12,483
12,483
811
67
With Prismatic Arrow
58,110
58,110
3,777
68
69
Shot Damage
Physical
Magical
Combined
Item Strain
70
Drilling Shot
37,315
58,110
95,425
6,203
71
Sniper Shot
174,706
58,110
232,816
15,133
72
Multishot
12,297
116,220
128,517
8,354
73
74
Stacked Combos
Physical
Magical
Combined
Item Strain
75
DS
1,060,290
58,110
1,118,400
72,696
76
DM
74,631
116,220
190,851
12,405
77
SM
349,412
116,220
465,632
30,266
78
DSM
2,120,580
116,220
2,236,800
145,392
79
80
With Chanting
Physical
Magical
Combined
Item Strain
81
M
12,297
348,660
360,957
23,462
82
DM
74,631
348,660
423,290
27,514
83
DSM
2,120,580
348,660
2,469,240
160,501
Shaking his head, Rain saved, committed, then dismissed everything but his HUD before looking back up at Aliah. “The strain for a full shot is still way too high, but I don’t think you needed to tell you that. Your damage is just too insane.”
“I know,” Aliah said with a smile, offering him her hand. “I’m kinda terrifying. Now co on, we should all be out there for nightfall. That ans you too, Tallheart.”
Tallheart grunted, and Rain heard a chain rattle behind him as the cervidian moved. Rain accepted Aliah’s hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet, and the three of them left the alcove, moving out into the sheltered cave. Rain took the Fatbird lamp with him, relighting it, for all the good it would do.
As many tis as they’d visited the Sparkscale Deep, they’d never been this far down after dusk, so they were unsure how vigorous the assault would be. In the shallower tunnels, every ti they’d co down at night, they had faced heavy resistance. It was debatable whether that had been Rain’s soul acting as a lure, or just the natural aggression of the Sparkscales in patrolling their territory. Regardless, this cave was rank 24, the equilibrium point. In theory, that ant no taphorical blood cloud leaking from Rain’s taphysical wound, nothing to attract the sharks.
Rain still felt nervous as he glanced at Tallheart. The smith looked utterly unconcerned. Of course, the antlered smith wouldn’t have flinched if a dozen DKE Citizens had been bearing down on him. That made him a bad example. Aliah had closed her visor after leaving the alcove, so he couldn’t read her expression, but she was a bad example too. She’d lived in a place like this for nine years.
Sighing, Rain kept his mouth closed and his concerns to himself, setting his lamp down where it would be out of the way. Yes, there was no guarantee that the larger Sparkscales couldn’t break through the deepstone if sufficiently motivated. Yes, there was nothing to stop Scavenger Drones from swarming in through the crack to bury them. Yes, they wouldn’t be able to flee if sothing went wrong.
The risks were there; there was no denying it. Aliah was right, though. She was terrifying.
Or rather, her power was, especially if you were a monster. She was level 31, with an optimized combat build, and thanks to Tallheart’s general ridiculousness, her equipnt was closer to gold. On her own, she was stronger than an average team of silverplates. Even if the rank-24 bio threw everything it had at them, she’d still win. She was more than strong enough. Beyond that, it wasn’t like Rain and Tallheart were helpless. For his part, Rain still had plenty of essence left. His hoarding had paid off, and with the higher pressure in this cave, his core was running much more efficiently.
Realizing that his hands were trembling, Rain clenched his fists.
We’ve got this. We don’t have ti to be pussyfooting around.
Rain’s eyes latched onto the ti.
07:59:43 PM
Silently, he watched the seconds count up.
Here we go.
Unlike in the Ashen Jungle, there was no visible change to herald the coming of true dusk. The seconds displayed on Rain’s HUD simply rolled over, then kept counting.
One minute passed, with not even a blip from Detection.
Two minutes.
Three.
“Okay then,” Aliah said.
Rain was proud of himself for not letting his panicked shriek escape his mouth. He took a second to recover, raising a hand to his chest before rounding on her. “Don’t do that!”
“Nervous?” Aliah asked, amused. She looked back at the crack, then yelled, making full use of her awakened lungs. “Hey! Fish, fish, fish! Co and get us!”
“Aliah!” Rain gasped, his ears ringing as he gaped at her in horror.
“Oh, relax,” she said, glancing at him. “This was always the plan. If we can thin them out tonight, the hive won’t be as defended tomorrow. Assuming we can find it.”
“Yes, but…” Rain gestured, half-expecting to be interrupted by a monstrous roar.
Instead, all he heard was a low, rumbling chuckle.
“I am going to sleep,” Tallheart said, turning away and heading back for the alcove. “Wake if—“
He was interrupted by the thrum of Aliah’s bow, then an explosion.
Your party has defeated [Sparkscale Scavenger Drone], Level 16
Your Contribution: 3%
Light flared beside Rain as Aliah drew a fresh arrow. The burning corpse of the Drone lay in the narrow passage, having entered silently while Rain had been looking away.
Two seconds too late, Detection fired, and Dozens of signals appeared in Rain’s mind. “More coming,” he said, his tension replaced by resolve as adrenaline flooded his system. “Full pack of Scavengers.” There was no place for fear once the fighting started. Fear kept you alive, but it could just as easily get you killed.
Aliah fired again, and another detonation rocked the cavern.
Your party has defeated [Sparkscale Scavenger Drone]x3, Level 16
Your Contribution: 4%
“Three for one!” she shouted in satisfaction. “They’re all grouping up in there. This is going to be ea—“
“Don’t you DARE say it!” Rain shouted, stopping her before she could doom them all.
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