The moment Kryos jumped, a feeling of weightlessness overtook him. He was a feather from one of the fey dragons, drifting about on the breeze, pushed by a cold wind, in a deep, fire-dragon-red void. In the corner of his vision, his HUD scrawled with red text that matched that of the tattoo on his wrist from this rift spontaneously manifesting and marking him with this ‘call’.
[You have answered the call of a rift.]
[Rift classification: Breach.]
[Role designation: Anchor.]
[Name of Rift: The Drowned Tomb of Nofre-it.]
[Number of Chambers: 6.]
The weightless feeling departed, and Kryos suddenly dropped a foot, his feet finding steady footing. Then, the crimson surroundings vanished, and his vision adjusted to the dim chamber he found himself in.
He was standing on a circular platform made of some odd, grey-brown colored stone that crunched under his feet-claws—in fact, it was almost soft compared to most stone he’d encountered—he had had to forego sabatons, as his feet just didn’t accommodate the armor component. The walls were made of a similar substance, carved into with depictions of humans in odd dress: white robes with blocky hats in a side-profile carrying about various tasks of day-to-day functions.
Above him, there was a hole in the ceiling which let in a bit of sunlight. Glancing up and behind him, he saw the circular rift—if he had a ladder, he could get back out. He then turned to make sure no one could come at him from the rear, and he was pleased to find that there was a doorway but it was caved in.
Turning back to the front, he almost jumped when he saw Leona fall out of the corner of his eye. She landed deftly in a crouch, then stood up straight. “Well, here’s your first rift. You didn’t touch anything, did you?”
“No,” Kryos replied. “Just taking in the scenery.”
A moment later, Tavan fell down from his own rift. But, he was holding onto a rope, which Kryos tracked up to the hole above. “Emergency retreat secured,” he said.
I should have thought of something like that, Kryos thought. But then again, I am the ‘foundling’ here.
Leona took a few steps forward and put her hands on her hips. She surveyed the room, and said, “It’s usual for Menders to set up the retreat rope. Standard protocol.”
Kryos frowned. “Are you reading my thoughts?” He knew that some dragons, like the mind dragons, were capable of such feats.
She let out a sharp laugh, then glanced back at him with a sidelong look. “No. I’m just figuring you would have that question.” She looked back to the front. “Now, foundling, time to learn—I’ve already figured out this room, but Pavish will have my ass if you die out here. I bet he’s already bragging to whoever will listen that he managed to recruit a half-dragon that saved the whole mine.”
“I didn’t save the whole mine,” Kryos said as he took a step forward.
“Tales grow taller in the telling,” Tavan said as he walked past Kryos and next to Leona. “Now, foundling, like Leona said, learning time. First off, this is a Chamber. Every one of them has a challenge—whether that be a puzzle, trap, monster encounter, or the like. They are all connected: so if you were to, say, find a monster in the third chamber, it could chase you to the second or first if you needed to retreat. If you made too much noise in the first or second, it might break down whatever was between you and it. So, don’t make too much noise.”
Kryos took another few steps forward to join the two on the edge of the stone ring. He looked down as his claws dug into the stone. “Okay, what type of stone is this? I’ve never walked on something that crunched underfoot like it.”
Tavan glanced down. “Sandstone. We’re in a rift that is inspired by a desert, where such rock is plentiful.”
Leona pointed across the room. “Look out, and see what you got ahead.”
Kryos looked where she was pointing. It was just a long hallway, with two channels of stagnant water along either side which didn’t carry any scent of stagnation, but the muck on top denoted how long the water had stayed still. Directly in front of them there were a few stairs made of dark, black stone that he recognized as granite, which then led up to a raised pathway. Across the raised path was a doorway, missing its door. Oddly enough, there was a box sitting to the side of the doorway: a stone box, with the lid ajar.
His chest heated up at that. He knew there was treasure within. “Does every chamber have loot inside it?” Kryos asked as he looked at Leona.
“Yes,” Leona said as she looked up at him. “How’d you know that?”
He pointed to the chest. “I can sense it.”
She frowned. “Is that just something you can do?”
Kryos nodded. “I can sense items of wealth.” He paused, and kept his mouth shut as he turned his head back to the front, pretending to study the pathway, but he was thinking.
How much should I share with people? he thought. I can chalk up the wealth sense to a Trait, since there’s no way to fact-check that. But should I keep the fact that my level is tied directly to the amount of wealth I’ve accumulated? Or do I tell people? If I tell people, then maybe it could be a reason to push for a greater division of coins and the like, instead of Magic Items. But it could also reveal a massive weakness . . . I think in this case, I go with mom’s advice: keep my knowledge to my chest.
Kryos looked down at the stairs. They looked plain, with no ornamentation. “Well, there’s nothing special about the stairs,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything off about that.” He began to move forward.
Leona grabbed his bicep and yanked him back. “Stop.” She pulled her rapier from her sheath, and poked it onto the step. To Kryos’ shock, the entire step sank down, and the second step shot forward. If he had stepped onto that first one, the second one would have shattered his knees. “Now I bet you’re wondering how I knew that.”
“Yeah,” Kryos said, utterly bewildered.
Leona crouched. “Go ahead, get down here.” Kryos did so. She then pointed with the tip of her rapier to the crevice where the first stair met the stone support on the side. “Do you see how there is a little line there? Where the stone isn’t quite flush?”
Kryos had to move his face a bit closer, but he did see what she was talking about. The bottom stair moved back into position, and the second step pulled back. “So you knew that just from a glance?”
Tavan chuckled. “Leona has good eyes and ears. Now, first rule of traps, there is always more than one.”
Kryos instantly backed up. He stood up and used his flanged mace to poke at the bottom stair. Once it dropped, and the second one shot out, he counted out the seconds it took for it to retract and reset. “Okay, so it takes ten seconds.” He stood up all the way and looked down the raised path. Thanks to the angle, he could see small areas of discoloration—very subtle shifts between the black stone, but still there, in a pattern. “And there’s a pattern to the black stone up there.”
Leona hummed in approval. “Good, you spotted it. Now the question is, what is the safe way to progress? And, how do we determine that?”
Kryos looked down at the stairs. Then looked around for something he could jam into them. He spotted a chunk of sandstone at the blocked entrance, looped his mace through his belt loop, and walked back. Lifting the chunk with one arm, he walked back and set it down. “Well, first, let’s keep this trap engaged.” He set the chunk down. The trap activated, and he counted down the ten seconds.
There was a loud grinding noise, then a clang, and then silence. “Trap disabled,” Tavan muttered. “Why’d you do that?”
Kryos looked at him. “What? Why not disable the trap?”
Leona sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes and shook her head. “Because, you might have just triggered a failsafe in another part of the trap setup, or a secondary system, or some other alternate condition. Never brute force a trap. You have to play its game.” She looked at Tavan. "This is what I get for trying to teach a foundling and giving him a chance to learn."
Kryos frowned. That’s dumb, he thought. Why can’t you just break it and move on?
Leona leaned down and grabbed a chunk of sandstone that was dislodged by Kryos’ feet on the ground below them. “Watch,” she said, her voice filled with irritation. She threw the chunk onto the raised path.
As soon as it touched the pathway, the entire stone floor lit up with a deep, green glow that hissed and popped. “Acid,” Tavan said. “Nasty bit of work.” He pointed at a few patches where Kryos had seen the pattern earlier. “Except the safe spots.”
“Yes,” Leona said. “But, count the seconds.”
Kryos was already, and by the time twenty seconds had passed, he realized the folly of his mistake. “I am imagining that this should have turned off already?”
She looked at him and sighed. “Yes, probably. We could wait longer to see, but because you broke one part of the trap, you broke another part. So thanks, foundling, you just made our jobs way harder. Because now, we have to jump from safe spot to safe spot, and if we fuck up, we don’t have the little bit of activation time to rectify the error.”
Kryos looked at the two tepid troughs of water. “Why not just try that? Both those trenches run down to the end of the hall also.”
Leona grabbed another chunk of sandstone and tossed it into the water. Kryos winced as he saw that the water was not water, but in fact more acid, as the entire bit of rock fizzed away with a hiss and pop. “Yeah, no, that’s not an option.” She rolled her shoulders and sheathed her rapier. “This is going to be a matter of Agility now—for all of us.” She glanced at Kryos. “Which means for you, mister bulky, this is going to be tricky.”
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Kryos deactivated Singularity Stance, and Tavan glanced at him. “What was that?” the Mender asked.
“Oh, a defensive Skill that makes me harder to hurt and move, at the cost of my Agility,” Kryos replied. He pulled the shield off of his arm and slung it over his shoulder to rest on his back. “Okay, so just jumping from safe spot to safe spot. Easy enough.”
Leona hopped onto the now-stable second step thanks to Kryos disabling the trap. With expert ease, she hopped from clear step to clear step, making her way across the thirty-foot hallway with poise and grace. Kryos was very impressed, and found himself in awe of her dextrous nimbleness. She made it all the way across, and crouched next to the stone chest—and that heat in his chest flared to a jealous rage.
She better not take my treasure, he thought as rage flared through him.
She stood up. “Looks like coins and gems.” She glanced back at the other two. “Who is next?”
Tavan looked at Kryos. “You should go next. I can heal you if you fumble.”
Kryos got onto the second step, and then gauged the distance from clear spot to clear spot. It was about a six-foot jump, but the clear spot was only big enough for him to get a single foot on it. He wouldn’t be able to hop, stop, then hop again: he would have to almost sprint across from spot to spot. The hissing, bubbling acid made him pause for a moment, but the knowledge that he had a Mender, someone whose job was to keep him alive was right behind him, made him feel more secure.
Taking a few rapid breaths to pump himself up, he took his first jump. His foot skated slightly, as the rock didn’t give any purchase for his claws, and he quickly retracted them so his feet would get a little more grip. One of his toes hit the acid, and he bit back a scream as he felt the scale and underlying flesh sizzle. He had to keep moving, and so he ran—long, leaping strides as he ran-jumped from open spot to open spot.
He made it across, and only suffered a few acid-burns to his heels and toes.
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HP: 135 / 140
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Kryos was panting, and he re-extended his feet claws. Leona looked down at him, and commented, “Didn’t know you could do that with your feet.”
He sat down and pulled his feet up to his mouth, blowing on them to help them cool off from the hot acid burns. “Yeah,” he said in between puffs. “It’s handy for gripping”
Tavan hopped over a few moments later. “And just like that, Chamber cleared. When we exit the doors, we get Experience.”
Except for me, Kryos thought, as his eyes went to the stone chest and locked onto it. But, I add the loot in there to my bag, and I might get enough wealth to go up a level.
He began to reach for it, but Leona slapped his hand away. “What was that for?” he asked, looking up at her.
She frowned and crouched down next to him. “Look, foundling, I don’t trust you—yet. And everyone has heard stories of your type of half-dragon. They’ve got a reputation.”
Kryos knew the reputation well enough. His mom and dad had warned him of the prejudices people would hold against him. “Okay . . . but I am not those other people . . . I’m me.” He felt that heat in his chest, the yearning to grab that treasure, but he held back, and scooted himself on his rump away from the chest. “So, how does this work?”
Leona shoved the stone lid off of the chest. “Well, we take all of it out, then we figure out value, take away ten percent—as the member who has been with the Irontrail the longest, I’ll hold onto it to give to Pavish when we return—then we split it three ways.”
Kryos nodded. “Okay.” He kept his eyes glued to Leona, watching for any sign of sleight of hand, which he was quite good at, as his dad loved performing those types of tricks for him when he was a child. His dad tried to teach him, but Kryos was too clumsy and gave up trying.
Leona pulled out several coins, gemstones, and pieces of jewelry. She began stacking them into piles, and then muttered to herself as she moved the gems and jewelry around. “Okay, now the ten percent.” She moved some of the coins to the side, scooped them into a small pouch, then put that into a side-pocket on her pack. “Now, the thirds split. Any preferences?”
“I’d prefer coin,” Kryos said.
“Anything for me,” Tavan said.
Leona nodded. “I’ll take the gemstones then. Tavan, you’ll have the jewelry. We’ll have to mix and match a little bit.” She moved the loot into their little piles, then gestured to Kryos’. “There you go, foundling.”
Kryos rolled up to a kneeling position and slid his Trader’s Pouch to his front. He opened it, and shoved the treasure inside.
[Your Hoard has reached the EHV (effective hoard value) to qualify for a level up!]
[You have gained 2 levels! Level 3! Level 4!]
[Choose 2 Stat Points to Allocate!]
Excellent, Kryos thought. Put one into Vitality, and one into Essence. I want to increase my HP and my MP.
[Confirmed!]
The pain in his feet lessened, and he felt a little burst of energy course through him at the improvement to his stats. He sealed up his Trader’s Pouch and stood up, unslung and re-mounted his shield, then grabbed his flanged mace. “Okay, so once we go through this doorway, you both get Experience?”
Both of them paused putting their loot into various bags or compartments, and looked at him in confusion.
Ah, Kryos thought, shit. Me and my mouth.
Leona didn’t say anything, but Tavan frowned. “Do you not?”
Kryos chose to try and pass it off as his inexperience. “Well, I mean, I guess me, too, since I’m an adventurer now. Is it just an adventurer thing, or could anyone who goes in a rift get the Experience from clearing a Chamber?”
Tavan’s frown vanished and became a more understanding, neutral look. “Ah. Well, yes, anyone can. Not just adventurers.”
Leona gave him another hard stare, then stood up and shouldered her light pack. “Alright, into the next Chamber. Anchors go first.”
Kryos nodded, checked his MP—which was full—and activated Singularity Stance once more. He slightly crunched down into the sandstone floor, and moved into the next room. It was a large, hexagonal chamber, with niches along the walls where statues stood like silent sentinels, looking at the center of the room. Four of the sentinels were broken and smashed, while two were still in relatively good condition: painted in gaudy, bright green, blue, and red, and made up like the figures on the walls in the first Chamber.
At the center of the hexagonal room, on a raised platform, was a chest just like the small one they had opened—but larger. And at the far end of the room was another door, but that one was closed. “What’s in here?” Kryos asked.
Tavan muttered, “No clue. Leona? Any traps you can see?”
“No,” she softly said. “But I’m using Seafoam Steps.”
Up until that point, Kryos was aware of her being nearby, as his general spatial sense could pick up on her presence. But the moment she said those words, he couldn’t feel that presence any more. He looked to his right, and saw her almost skating along the floor with smooth, fluid steps, making no noise whatsoever—under her boots he could see what looked like rushing water.
It must be a Skill that lets her move about silently, he thought. But maybe only when she’s not directly observed?
Kryos moved further into the thirty-foot-across room, and when he was within reach of the dais, two things happened. First, the door behind them slammed shut as a granite slab slid down from the ceiling with a tremendous thud. And second, the two statues that were standing silently moved: their limbs coming to life as they articulated and stepped out of their niches. Above, in the center of the room, a hole opened up, flooding the room with light.
“Combat encounter!” Tavan shouted as he backed up to the door. “Kryos, your time to shine! Keep their attention!”
Kryos immediately activated Pressure Field, and the air around him warped and shifted as all of the dust and particles slammed down into the floor. He stepped up onto the dais, knowing the value of having high ground, and held the shield at the ready as he angled himself so that the shield could take hits from one of the approaching foes, and his mace shaft could deflect blows from the other.
Both opponents wielded oddly curved swords, but carried no shields. “Buff incoming,” Tavan said as he ran over to the dais, jumped onto it, and scrambled on top of the chest behind Kryos. In his mad dash, he tapped the half-dragon.
Kryos was covered in a weird, goopy green substance that felt quite slick and immediately grossed him out. It was just like the time he had been sneezed upon by his mom while she was in her massive, true dragon form, and had absolutely coated him in snot: but this had no smell. “What is this?” he asked as the statues moved closer in their plodding approach.
“Biofilm,” Tavan replied. “Think of it like temporary HP.”
Kryos raised his shield as the statue on his right brought its sword down. The blow sent shivers down his arm, and he felt his teeth shake from the impact. But, he stopped the strike dead in its tracks, and shoved back, pushing the statue off balance.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Leona appeared behind the statue and drove a triangular-bladed, thick dagger into the joint between the arm and the torso of the statue. She then hopped off of it, and ducked away below the dais, out of Kryos’ line of sight.
She must be specialized in hit-and-run, he thought.
He had to turn and meet the other statue, who swung its sword horizontally. Kryos got his mace’s shaft in the way, but was only able to deflect the sword swing up and away. The impact still jarred him, and he saw some of the green ichor slough off of him. The blocking he was doing would have injured him, if not for this temporary health Tavan was covering him with.
Kryos kept his sure footing, and got his shield back into place for the first statue’s next strike, which came in overhead again. He blocked with the shield, and spotted an opening—there was a crack where Leona had impacted it, right along the sword-arm’s side. He brought his mace around, slamming into the limb. Thanks to Mass Instinct, his strike carried additional impact power, as the moment of the strike, the weight of the blow increased.
Crunch!
The entire arm was blown off by the might of his strike, and the sword and arm went falling to the ground as the statue was sent reeling.
But Kryos had left himself open, and the other statue slammed its sword into his back. He felt intense pain as the Biofilm was fully consumed, his armor was crushed inward, and his back was heavily bruised from the single strike that sent him staggering forward a step—almost falling off of the dais.
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HP: 92 / 150
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Kryos managed to stabilize and turn around, getting his shield in the way with his other hand holding the mace behind it for support for a follow-up strike which drove him down to a knee. He managed to fully block the hit, and thankfully this one didn’t shake his teeth, as the additional stability from his other arm supporting the shield kept him sturdy. He shoved back as he stood up, and took a few steps forward as he pushed: sending the thing off balance. As the thing staggered back, Leona appeared again, right behind it, and stabbed with that thick, triangular blade into a spot right where the leg met with the hip.
Crack!
The hit must have been very lucky, or she had some Skill that amplified the harm she did to targets that were off-balance, as she jabbed a sizeable hole in the stone which then crumbled under the weight of the statue that then toppled to the ground.
Kryos turned around once more to face the other statue, which had now stood up and grabbed the sword that had fallen with its other arm. He moved over with a few steps and raised his mace up high, bringing it slamming down onto the head of the construct. The stone shattered under the mighty, overhead swing, and the entire statue just crumbled to bits. “The head is the weak spot,” he managed to get out in between pained huffs of breath.
Glancing back, he saw Leona had already taken advantage of the other statue being down, stabbing down into the joints with her thick dagger. She had effectively turned the thing into a limbless torso. “My rondel isn’t good for things without joints,” she breathlessly said as she backed away. “Do the honors, Kryos.”
He moved over and brought the mace down on its head, smashing it to bits, and the entire thing crumbled.
The room was quiet, and then a few seconds later the doors on both sides of the room opened. “Chamber cleared,” Tavan said. “Good job, and good teamwork.”