Patrick stood up and looked around at a landscape which consisted of him looking around. He was in a seemingly endless hall of mirrors, his reflection above, below and stretching out as far as the eye could see.
“I hate these things,” he muttered. He walked forwards, his staff raised, only to slam head first into a mirror.
“Patrick!” James shouted. Patrick turned around, but couldn’t see him.
“Where are you?” Patrick asked.
“In a big hall of mirrors.”
“Same, but I can’t see you anywhere.”
For a moment, Patrick was relieved James hadn’t seen him walk into the wall. Suddenly, two of the mirrors on either side of Patrick cracked, hit by some kind of great force, and he leapt back, staff raised. Nothing else happened.
“Goddamn monsters,” Amelia growled. “Get out of my way.”
“You’re here too?” Patrick said.
“No shit I’m here, where else would I be? Why can’t I see you guys?”
“Take four steps forward from the entrance and turn left,” they both heard Grey say. Patrick did as he was told, only to find the corridor continuing onwards.
“Thanks,” he said, walking forwards. “So this is how we keep moving? One of us finds the corridor and tells the others what’s going on?”
“These mirrors all seem to have the same layout,” Grey explained, “but we’re not in the same mazes…even though we can somehow hear each other.”
“So much cool magic and they use it for shit like this,” Amelia replied.
“I wonder if these things are naturally occurring monsters. After all, who’d make something like this, and for what purpose?”
“I hope we don’t run into them on the road. This sucks enough as is.”
The mirror to the left of Patrick suddenly smashed. He could hear James’ ragged breaths and his boots skidding against the floor. The other wall cracked a little, and he heard something hit the floor in front of him.
“You guys are getting these things, right?” James asked.
“What things?” Grey responded before adding, “5 steps forward, take a-.”
Another mirror cracked, like a head had just been smashed into it.
“What the hell is going on?” Patrick shouted, as he watched an invisible fight taking place in front of him. Mirrors cracked and he could hear scuffling and panting from Grey. Naturally, the worst fighter among them was stuck in the most brutal fight.
“Grey where are you?” James asked.
“After the turn,” Grey replied, their voice hoarse, like they were being choked. Patrick noticed a sword being scraped along the mirrors before cutting off when it found a turn. On the wall just before that turn, the glass cracked twice: once as James slammed his sword into the mirror to spook the combatant, and again as Grey finished off their opponent by jabbing the end of their staff into them.
Patrick followed the sword markings to see the monster the others had been fighting. It was a humanoid covered in dripping silver, a living mirror whose true form was hidden under layers of reflections. It let out a hiss as it stumbled towards Patrick, but barely got anywhere near him before being blown to pieces.
Trident743
Firebolt
---
Mirror Slave
0/90 HP
---
Trident743
195/250 Mana
“I don’t see what you guys were complaining about,” Patrick said, walking over the creature’s dismembered legs. He followed the sword scratches, from both James and Amelia this time, eventually revealing a corner on the right.
“I found it first,” Amelia smiled.
“You just got lucky.”
“Guys…” Patrick said, looking down at his feet “I’m not the only person who’s mirrors are dissolving, right?”
“I’ve heard weirder sentences today,” James said. Patrick could see the silvery liquid beginning to pool down his feet and drip from the ceiling, and could also see the splash of footprints from the others. The water seemed to twist and turn in directions that defied physics. A twisting spiral that went from the ceiling to the floor was sliced in half by Amelia.
“Honestly, I was kind of hoping it would try and kill me,” she said. “Things around here have been way too easy.”
The silvery liquid rose up to their waists as they continued to search in vain for an exit. The liquid was coming up to their waists, forcing them to wade through it.
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“Do you guys see anything?” James said. Patrick could see the very James shaped hole in the water ahead of him. He turned around and looked at one of the mirrors.
“I’ll be right back,” Patrick said, immediately before charging into liquid.
Patrick had no idea what he was doing. The silver here has not dissolved in the way it had in the tunnels, meaning he was half crawling and half swimming through gelatinous goop. Soon, he broke free, rolling out onto the floor of the room where the mirror box had been.
Mirror Slime
Destroyed
What it was now was 3 giant slimes, each a quarter of the size of the mirrored box, their jelly-like bodies shifting constantly. Red glowing eyes were watching him, moving through the silver. There was another one that he had jumped out of which was currently dissolving. Patrick stood up, brushing the sludge off the rim of his hat.
“Gonna be honest,” He said “The weirdest thing about all this is that my hat stayed on. There’s no health on these things like that giant eye...so that means there's a specific place I’ve gotta hit.”
The slime closest to Patrick leapt towards him, opening its mouth. He could see a solid silver cube inside it, constantly moving around within the slime but remaining static in shape. Patrick smirked, standing his ground and throwing a firebolt straight at the cube.
Trident743
Firebolt
---
Trident743
175/250 Mana
---
Mirror Slime 2
Destroyed
The slime collapsed and the box shattered. Grey pulled themself out of the shards.
“I have no idea what you did, but I’m glad you did it,” they said. Another slime tried to eat them, but Grey quickly dodged to the side. “I don’t know if I have enough power to break these boxes.”
“I know, I was looking for Amelia.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Any idea how to get the others out while you don’t have fireball?”
“Yeah, actually. It may not seem like it, but I have two other skills.”
Patrick held out his hands and daggers appeared in one of the giant slimes, constantly stabbing at the glass box.
Trident743
Dancing Daggers
---
Trident743
165/250 Mana
The daggers didn’t break the box, but they created enough of a dent for James to rip open a hole and pull his way out, the slime disintegrating like it did for Patrick.
Mirror Slime 3
Destroyed
“I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this,” James said.
“We’re out of ranged attacks,” Grey reminded them.
“We don’t need them,” Patrick smiled as he held up his staff. “You said that this game would bend the rules of combat if it made sense. It just so happens my last spell is called…”
Trident743
Shatter
The mirrors inside the final slime cracked but didn’t break. The creature smirked and leapt towards Patrick.
“Well,” He muttered, “3 out of 4 isn’t bad I guess.”
GlassAngel
Piercing Blow
Amelia flew out of the box like a bullet, skidding across the ground with her sword raised as she carved a hole through the monster. She stood still, not looking back as the mirror slime disintegrated into sludge behind her.
Encounter Complete
All Party Members gain 2000 XP
All Party Members gain 1500 Gold
Trident743: Level 5
Trident743: New Skill: Hypothermia
“I’ve always wanted hypothermia,” Patrick growled as he wrung out his cloak to get the slime out. “That makes that fight so worth it.”
“You pretty much carried us through that,” James reminded him. “Don’t be so pissed off, you did great. Oh, and you can stop posing now Amelia.”
Amelia hauled her sword onto her back. “Thank God, I had no idea if the creature was done dying or not.”
“Couldn’t you figure that out from when we got our XP?”
“Animation might still be going. I’m probably not going to kill a monster from the inside again. If I do it once, I’m going to do it right.”
The group walked out of the room, out into a massive spiral staircase. Looking up, they could see multiple staggering humanoids that looked like zombies. Their skin was a pale light blue, they had barely any muscle mass, and they were all staggering towards the party.
“Still better than the last guys,” James said, taking his position at the front of the party “Alright, let’s keep moving!”
James Stats: Level: 5 VIT: 150/300 STR: 15 DEF: 25 DEX: 10 SPL: 15 INT: 1
Amelia Stats: Level: 5 VIT: 200/200 STR: 25 DEF: 15 DEX: 10 SPL: 5 INT: 0
Grey stats: Level: 5 VIT: 30/150 STR: 10 DEF: 15 DEX: 10 SPL: 30 INT: 0 Healing Pool: 430/600
Patrick stats: Level: 5 VIT: 100/100 STR: 30 DEF: 10 DEX: 15 SPL: 25 INT: 0 Mana: 165/250
