Aries Constellation, The Emperor’s Ascent - 8:45 AM
The fighters in the group all had singed and battered armor, but they were still in good spirits. Ash used the Canned Armorfix I had gotten from the Dealer to deal with the gear that needed it most, but the patch job was undoubtedly effective. The door had appeared as soon as the last wave was over, and we didn’t take long to get back to the mountain.
We left the Monster Room from the other side and started up the new set of stairs. Behind me, Mercury attempted to leave the path and climb the stone, but an invisible wall stopped him. With a frown, he jumped back down.
“Can’t get up that easily, Mercury,” I said. “There’s only one way to the top, and that’s the long way.”
“Didn’t think so, but it felt like it was worth trying,” he replied with a shrug.
I nodded, understanding. Anything that could be done to cut corners should be done, but there were some things the administrators wouldn’t allow. This place was locked up tight to make sure no one got through the easy way. I couldn’t make upwards progress the same way I could get inside the Mausoleum of the Arsonist back in Etson, for example.
The climb was peaceful and served to calm our nerves before the next room. There were no enemies here. No threats or traps. Just the walk and the mountain, with most of us looking up at the beautiful sky.
Not all elements of the system were bad. Scenes like this, for instance, were awe inspiring. It was the things they were attached to that I took umbrage with.
I read the next door from a distance and grimaced. “Seems we’re keeping people waiting,” I told the rest of the group, breaking into a light jog.
“What is it?” Kayla asked as everyone picked up their pace.
“We have a co-op session with Gemini,” I answered, reading the text. It didn’t tell us exactly what was inside, but it did give some basic information. “According to the door, it’s their first room and they’ve been waiting inside for about sixteen minutes.”
“It could be worse,” Jamie said, sounding unhurried despite our pace. “They could have gotten a team that couldn’t solve a puzzle to save their own life. Getting stuck in the first room would have to be pretty embarrassing.”
“That won’t be us when we get there, at least,” Jeff said. He took and lifted Kayla’s hand. “We’ve got the puzzle champion right here. We’re going to breeze through them.”
“Unless your proclamation causes the other constellations to make our puzzles harder, that is,” Kayla gently chastised, though I could tell she was proud of the title.
“Still have full faith in you, even then,” the knight insisted.
“Alright, enough flirting, Jeff,” I said, mocking disappointment.
“Never. I refuse,” he answered, and I chuckled as I reached the door and opened it.
Once again, our surroundings disappeared in a flash of bright light. My skin immediately became hotter as the environment was lit by a dull orange glow. The feeling went away quickly as my Instant Adaptability passive started working. There was no outward change on my body, but everything was much more comfortable.
“You know how long you’ve been keeping us waiting on this floor?” a man asked, his tone not one of patience and understanding. His eyes glanced over each of us in quick succession. “Guess we know why we couldn’t bring everyone now. We got stuck with the tourists.”
I turned to face him and the twenty odd others that were with him. This was Gemini’s avatar, the Slugger Savant named Trevor Price. He had taken off most of his heavy gear thanks to the heat, leaving him in a New York Mets jersey with his name over his Patron’s symbol and striped pants but kept his metal baseball bat in hand. The dark haired man was scowling when he saw us, which I couldn’t blame him for. My crew, aside from Ash and Jamie, were already beginning to start sweating and they hadn’t been here for 16 minutes.
“Sorry, man,” I said honestly, raising a hand in greeting. “I guess we went through our door first. It was an easy few monster waves, so it didn’t take as long as it could have. You all would have really been in trouble if we got into the field room first.”
“You already finished your first quest?” he asked, crossing his arms as he let his bat dangle from his fingers. “Shit. We’re already behind.”
I nodded as I looked around. We were standing in a large enclosure with stone walls. Even though the heat was enough to make most plants wilt, there was a healthy abundance of green grass all around us along with hay and unfilled water troughs. This seemed rather normal. The rest of the area was not.
Beyond the stone walls was a maze of lava rivers cutting through the landscape. This resulted in several islands all around us, each one covered in a haze of heat. It wasn’t as hot as one would actually expect it to be, but the temperature was still going to be terrible for everyone who couldn’t deal with it.
As I looked around, Bethany slid off of Corwin and pulled out a pitcher of iced tea from her inventory. She retrieved a cup, filled it, and slowly moved behind me, where she offered it to Trevor.
He arched an eyebrow at her. “What’s this?” he asked.
“Bethany’s a Tea Witch. She brews potions,” I explained. “She’s also deaf, so, if you want to thank her you do this.” I brought my open hand to my chin, palm towards me, and then moved it towards him.
He nodded and took the glass, doing the motion before sniffing it. Bethany beamed before pulling out more cups to pour.
“Uh huh. People can still be deaf?” Trevor asked, still unsure.
“If they were born that way,” I said, not going into Bethany’s whole situation as I turned my attention back to the space outside of the enclosure.
In the far distance past the lava rivers were stone trees. They looked to be imitating pines, but that didn’t matter so much as what was lurking between them. Rock-like wolves with glowing red eyes prowled in the shadows, not daring to come out from their cover. There were enemies in this room.
Trevor’s eyes lit up as he took a sip. “Hey, the heat’s getting better!” he exclaimed before chugging down the rest. Wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, he dabbed his skin with his hand and grinned when it came back dry. “Hey, everyone, you gotta try this tea the girl’s got!”
“Can't we get soda instead?” somebody asked only to get chastised. Relief was relief, even if it came in a beverage they didn't care for.
I had a quick word with Bethany after she finished passing out tea to the members of the guild who weren’t already fine in this heat before turning back to the Gemini team. “Sol Ligatus’ resident Tea Witch says the first round’s on her,” I announced. “Bethany here’s also got healing potions, resource potions, heat and cold resistance potions, antidotes, remedies, and more. She’ll be selling them once we get to the safe zone.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Alright, bet,” Trevor said as his team started lining up. There were some who were skeptical at first, but the text box descriptions of their drinks didn’t lie.
“Also, there’s stone wolves in the forest.” Raising my hand, I pointed towards where there was a larger group than average hiding out. The Slugger Savant turned and squinted. “I’m not sure when the quest is going to drop, but I’m pretty sure they’re—“
<<<>>>
[[Emperor’s Ascent: Aries Cooperative Room]]
Gemini Players: 23
Sol Ligatus Players: 7
The Steelstone Farm has long been the place to go to collect high quality metal wool that could be used for a wide application of uses. That is, however, until the flock found their way out of their pen. Now they find themselves in dire straits. It’s not the lava, though they can survive that, but the things that hunt them.
Rust Wolves have a craving for Steel Merino that causes them to lose all sense of self-preservation. Their very bite oxidizes anything made of metal, turning it into food for them. Weapons, armor, and items won’t fare any better than the animals do.
And now that the sheep are loose, the Rust Wolves are in the perfect position to take from the flock what they will. However, this small stone fence is more than enough to somehow keep them out. The problematic part will be getting the Steel Merinos into it.
Objective: Secure the sheep in their pen.
Reward: 10 points per sheep saved, 500 points to the players who save the most sheep.
[[Notice]]
There are 100 Steel Merinos still waiting to be saved.
<<<>>>
“—Probably going to be important,” I finished.
The sound of bleating sheep could be heard from all directions as they materialized on the islands surrounding us. Given that our enemies were made of stone, I retrieved Vermon’s Smash Stick from my inventory.
<<<>>>
[[Equipped]]
Vermon’s Smash Stick
(+8 Strength, Smasher passive acquired)
[[Passive]]
Smasher
When attacking an object or structure, deal 50% more damage.
You have learned the Smasher Passive. Increasing the bonus damage to 75%.
<<<>>>
“Mercury, tell Bethany to prepare potions for injured people. Ash, I know you carry a lot of scrap metal, hammer us up some bridges to make getting back easier. Everyone else, make sure they don’t get their jaws around your metal weapons, focus on saving sheep first,” I ordered quickly. “Get it done!”
Trevor swore as he saw how quickly we reacted, the little bit of instruction being enough for the Mills, Jamie, Mercury and I to head in different directions. “Grab as many sheep as you can!” he yelled. His faction hesitated for just a moment before running off.
It was easy to tell which was a well trained, tight knit guild and which was mostly a bunch of people thrown together. They’d get better, though. This was only the first section and growing pains were both expected and necessary.
I watched with my aura as the Gemini started grabbing sheep, only to find how heavy they were. The wool of the Steel Merino wasn’t the only metal to worry about, their whole bodies were. While their Constitution wasn’t all that high, they were still hard to move around. Getting the ones near the fence was necessary, but none of Sol Ligatus went for the easy ones.
All of Sol Ligatus, on our own, decided to head towards the outskirts. There were fewer sheep out here, but they still populated the furthest islands. More importantly, that was where the danger was.
The Rust Wolves hadn’t started moving yet. There was likely some hidden timer on them. Maybe they would become active once enough sheep were saved or a certain amount of minutes passed. When didn’t matter because we knew they would based on the description.
I jumped over the lava rivers, avoiding the sheep that blocked my path. They were docile. My approach didn’t cause them panic, but they moved away from me as they ate dirt straight from the ground. It was pretty easy to herd them when they simply walked away from the players. Corwin would probably have gotten a bigger reaction, and I turned my head to look that way.
There was no surprise as I saw the Evolution Hound bounding through the lava like water, making his way around the sheep that were certainly wary of his presence. Kayla commanded him, leaping over the rivers like I was, and Corwin started moving towards the Steel Merinos to push them towards the pens.
They needed some prodding to get into the molten rock that flowed between islands, but they did, and they came out the other side glowing bright red while remaining uninjured. It was not a fast process, either, but it gave Kayla time to prepare for the enemies, Drakefang Dagger in hand. It wasn’t metal, so it would be safe to use.
Landing on my final island, I tied Vermon’s Smash Stick to my arm with the Vambrace of Wires’ Cable Conglomerate to have both hands free and started grabbing sheep.
<<<>>>
[[Equipped]]
Vambrace of Wires
(Unique Item; +5 Strength, +5 Constitution, Cable Conglomerate skill acquired)
[[Skill]]
Cable Conglomerate
The Vambrace of Wires contains 50 feet of braided wire rope. At your mental command, any to all of this rope may be ejected from any spot on the item. It moves according to your thoughts and returns to the vambrace as easily as it is ejected. You may choose to unravel the rope into up to 7 wires and control each one individually. You may also choose to cut the rope at specific points, though you do not have mental control of any pieces no longer attached. This skill regenerates wire rope at a rate of 10 feet per hour, and any pieces removed from the vambrace disappears at the same rate.
<<<>>>
Focusing more on psychic power and skill, my Strength wasn’t nearly as high as the other fighters from the guild. With the stat just over 50, I had to use both hands to grab a Steel Merino and lift it up. I ran towards the pen, but it wasn’t my destination. Just before I reached the lava river, I took a heavy step and spun. Using that momentum, I tossed the sheep like a boulder to the other side.
Before it landed, I Constructed a thin slide at just the right angle. It landed gently in the dirt, mildly confused, and stood up and started eating with its fellows. There was no time to dwell on a job well done, because there were still more.
I jumped from island to island to create a buffer from the Rust Wolves, which could surely jump over the lava rivers, and their prey. The 500 points for being one of the people who saved the most sheep was tempting, but ultimately it was such a small amount that I’d rather focus on the main goal.
The work continued unabated for a few minutes. Gemini started getting their act together as Ash began handing out makeshift bridges she smoothed out with Pustibule’s purified hammer. Even though the sheep could go through the rivers, it was much easier to get them to cross something solid.
Some of the more powerful fighters, like Trevor himself, started coming out to the edge like we had. An extra line of defense would be nice for anything that got past us, and I was grateful they figured that out without being told. That said, the avatar was only a couple of islands away, likely trying to keep an eye on me to figure me out. It was probably something his Patron wanted, too.
He was in for a treat, then, because I had picked my destination based on the biggest concentration of Rust Wolves I saw. Not only would he have a chance to figure me out, but I wouldn’t mind if he joined in.
Clearing off my final island, I turned to move one closer towards the pen and start the process over again. My plans were dashed, however, as a cacophony of howls rose from the forest in all directions. I stopped and pivoted, bringing Vermon’s Smash Stick back into my hand, as the Rust Wolves began to emerge en masse.
<<<>>>
[[Notice]]
The predator’s hunt begins.
<<<>>>
