Climbing through the open grate and into the sewers, I summoned my weapons into my hands before making my way into the dry darkstone tunnels. Pausing after turning a corner, I spoke out into the dive room, “Lydia, I need you to repeat each step of the directions that Anaya gave me back in the vineyard.”
“Sure thing, Sugar. After entering the sewers turn right…”
My Eyes of Theodora turned the tunnel into black and white outlines as I continued through the maze of tunnels. Following Lydia’s directions, I soon found myself at an black iron door that had been bashed down and left in a wrecked heap outside the room.
Beyond the door I found a thoroughly wrecked chamber that looked like it might have once been some kind of guard station. There were two frames that might have once held cots, a table that had been thrown into the corner of the room and an empty chest. The symbol of the bound heart had once been engraved in the far wall, but someone had defaced it by removing large ragged chunks of stone.
A scraping echo somewhere in the sewers behind me prompted me to press myself into the nearest shadow. After several long moments with no more sounds I continued into the room. Searching the chamber for any sign of useful items turned up nothing. Sighing of annoyance, I turned to leave. Something caught my eye and I paused in mid stride. A small icon was carved into the wall below the Heartrose symbol, obviously ignored during the room's destruction.
Someone had left a perfect carving of a vertical line topped with a semicircle… The symbol for powering on computers and electrical devices. Walking up to the wall, I knelt in front of it. With another glance over my shoulder I reached out and pressed my avatar’s finger to it. There was no sound at all as the wall descended with a hiss opening a tight corridor into a room lit by an azure glow.
With a final look back over my shoulder I squeezed through the tunnel and into the chamber. The sight before me was truly confusing, and I stepped back in shock.
A dive chair?
The blue glow that filled the chamber seemed to be coming from nowhere. The room itself was otherwise unadorned but suspended from the ceiling in the center by black iron chains was a rudimentary wooden dive chair covered in tattered and rotting cushioning. More disturbing was that there was a figure reclined in the chair. I carefully approached and examined the body.
The figure was wearing rotting leather armor and clothing. It was a skeleton with its gloved hands tightened around the hilt of some kind of blade that had been driven into its own stomach.
Reaching out to grab the weapon I muttered, “Is this some kind of Easter Egg?,” but as my hand brushed the gloved hand there was a sudden flicker around the walls.
What had been featureless blackstone walls turned into screens filled with brief static and the chamber was filled with the deafening hum of electrical energy. Stumbling back, I cursed as the wall screens resolved into a field of endless white. After a moment a woman faded into view on the pure white wall.
“Welcome Remnant. Thank you for taking part in the Dark Spiral Alpha Expedition,” she said in a chipper and welcoming tone.
The woman was human with chocolate colored skin and eyes the color of brass. She was wearing an all white bodysuit with a golden circle patched onto the breast. She had her hands folded in front of her and her gaze seemed locked on the dive chair.
Narrowing my eyes at that, I stepped forward and spoke to the strange figure, “My name is Florin. I thought this was the Beta?”
The woman’s eyes searched the chamber but did not focus on me. She spoke softly, “I’m sorry Remnant, I can not see you to perform an identification scan. Could you interface with the dive chair?”
Reaching over and looting the skeleton I said, “It’s occupied. Are you an AI?”
The woman maintained her ready smile as she said, “I am the AI Help Bot for those venturing into the Dark Spiral during our Alpha effort.”
“What kind of support are you free to offer?,” I asked with a nod.
Her smile never ceased as she said, “I am able to provide data on all the areas that participants have uploaded from their research journals and basic interface and system information.”
“What can you tell me about L’Chasse and its people?”
Her eyes continued to scan the chamber in an unnerving way as she said, “L’Chasse is the latest civilization to be consumed by the spread of the Spiral phenomena. It is inhabited, predominantly, by the Haithe. They are a humanoid race with long pointed ears and skin that ranges from albino to the darkest range of the purple spectrum. Their people have strong sexual dimorphism, with female Haithe being larger and stronger on average than males. Their society is matriarchal and polygamous.”
She gestured and a map of the L’Chasse region displayed beside her, “While there are many settlements in what remains of their homeland there are only two cities, Lothin and Braithe.”
The two cities were highlighted on the map, Lothin in the open plains near the center of the region and Braithe in the mountains of the east.
She continued with a cheery air to her voice, “The Haithe society is largely medieval although they have grasped basic magical and early industrial concepts. Their magic schools are based around creating ancillary limbs formed from force energy and the summoning of bird-like creatures.”
“The cities of Lothin are headed by a political structure surrounding the female led noble houses. Haithans value strength and military ability and many of their…”
Cutting her off, I asked, “What about the cult?”
Her eyes turned in my direction but still could not focus on my exact location, “What cult? Please provide updated information, Remnant.”
I laid out the information I had learned about the cult in L’Chasse and the Remnants I’d encountered so far.
She finally said, “Scanning…,” and trailed off her eyes looking into the distance and moving rapidly.
After a long drawn out silence she gestured toward the wall beside her and it was suddenly filled with a scrolling list of names in black. Almost none were proper names. They looked like gamer handles. The list suddenly paused and a name was outlined in red followed by another that was displayed next to it.
“Lady of Flame” and “Heartrose”
Watching the woman intently she seemed to be reading a file I could not see, “Lady of Flame, real name…”
She was cut off as she turned and said, “Sir, Is there a problem?”
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I stepped forward as she said, “No sir, I was just helping this Remnant…” She cut off again.
She finally said, “I understand sir, but this Remnant indicates the Alpha has…”
The strange AI woman recoiled and raised her hands in a pleading gesture, “Please don’t sir. I was outside the hierarchy for too long. I will end the…”
The woman was suddenly thrown to the ground and started to scream. I moved to the wall and called out, “What the fuck is going on?”
She started to scream as someone or something unseen grabbed her by the head and hefted her off the ground and into the air.
“Please… please, please… I didn’t…,” a violent cracking sound cut her off as something wrenched her head so violently that it turned to glare at me with wide empty eyes. The body dangled there above the ground for several long moments before the screens stuttered and went black leaving blank stone walls once again.
Through panting breaths I spoke up one last time asking, “Hello, what happened?”
There was no response.
Staggering back toward the exit, I looked down at the body in the dive chair one last time before making my way out and into the sewers.
“What the fuck was that? This game’s meta plot was insane. At least I gathered some information about the region.”
Back out on the misty wet street, I found Mystal and the guards waiting for me.
Sighing and gesturing in the direction of the gate and our camp I said, “Let’s get back.”
With that we set out and nearly an hour later ascended the broad stairs up to the makeshift gate that protected the camp from the fallen city.
As we entered the gate Mystal paused and studied my face for a long moment before asking, “Do you need to talk about it?”
“About what?”
She gestured at my face and asked, “This.”
Realizing that my smiling mask had slipped and my worry was on full display, I quickly reapplied it, “Just a little tired is all.”
Without warning she leaned in and wrapped me in a hug. I sighed and looked down at the strange mist creature, gently patting her on the back, “Don’t worry about me, go get some rest.”
Feeling eyes on me I looked up and across the yard of the makeshift guard station to see an angry Valerie glaring at me with her arms crossed. Mystal was taking off across the yard as the broad muscular woman approached and stared down at me, “Things go well out there?”
Giving her a tight and forced smile I said, “We found a fortress in the lower city that has actual cultists in it. As soon as Sakurai and Nomura return we are going to hit it and gather as much intel as we can.”
She nodded and looked over to Mystal as the creature banished her guards back into the mist surrounding her and pulled it back into her body, “And how did things go with our young monster?”
She looked down at me with a cold glare, “It looks like you got to know each other.”
The events in the strange Heartrose waystation were still weighing on me. I decided to finally have a good talk with Valerie about Mystal. Rubbing the back of my neck I smiled and stepped into her space rather than recoil from the accusation, looking up and into her golden eyes I said, “Let’s not play childish games Val. Mystal is young and friendly. Her mind certainly has not strayed toward what you are implying.”
Releasing a heavy sigh I continued, “And neither is mine. It’s like I told you the first time we met. I am here to descend the Spiral and to save this world. I’m not here to fall in love or to take advantage of Mystal… or anyone else.”
Her expression hardened and after a long moment her eyes grew distant as she responded, “Sorry I questioned your motives.”
With a nod, I affirmed, “I understand. Mystal does look exactly like you. I imagine it is unsettling to just be around her, much less see her hugging some Remnant like me.”
“It is a bit strange, yes.”
I grabbed her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, “It’ll be alright. Hopefully there will be some clues in this fortress to what happened with your family.”
Her black lips broke into a small smile, “Let us hope so.”
Valerie departed to go check on Mystal and I leaned against the gate and checked the items I had retrieved from the corpse in the Heartrose Waystation.
“Swindler’s Gloves
Type: Light
Slot: Hands
Requirement: Agility 30
Rarity: Common
Tier: F
Armor: 30
+8 Agility, +4 Charm
Fenworker’s Pants
Type: Light
Slot: Legs
Requirement: Spirit 20
Rarity: Common
Tier: F
Armor: 45
+10 Vitality, +5 Spirit”
The Swindler’s Gloves were soft and thin black gloves that seemed like they would be more fitting worn by a butler or as part of a rich partygoer’s outfit. The Fenworker’s Pants had thick brown leather pads on all sides of the thigh and knee and were cut off below that. I put on the gear and then decided to finally check my extensive notifications, prompting Lydia to start reading them out. It seemed that I would quickly have to decide what ten skills I would be elevating to Expert.
There were six skills that had hit the cap of Trained level nine and now had the message:
“Would you like to advance this skill to Expert? Note: You have additional experience queued for this skill.”
The skills were: Acrobatics, Stealth, Unarmed, Blades, Light Armor, and Rune Carving which had rocketed upward due to the use of the wards during the day's grind.
It was clear, given that Dual Wield had only gained one level when so many others had advanced by leaps and bounds that the experience requirements for Expert abilities were much higher. The choices were not actually as difficult as I was anticipating. I locked in Rune Carving, Blades, Unarmed, and Stealth bringing my total to five. The real choice came down to Acrobatics versus Light Armor. Choosing the former would mean that I would become a purely dodge focused DPS and the latter meant that I could tank a few hits at the expense of speed.
Checking my Vitality, I found that it was currently twenty four. It sat at my third lowest stat after Strength at nine and Reason at eight. Yeah, I could see myself tanking maybe two strong hits from an equal level creature. A critical hit would obliterate me.
Muttering and scratching my head I muttered to myself, “Looks like we are going all in on Acrobatics and hoping our crazy regeneration keeps us alive.”
I chose Acrobatics as my sixth Expert skill. With that Lydia dictated my skill ability changes:
“Dodge:
Roll with It! Even when you fail to dodge an attack your ability to roll with the strike reduces the damage by 10%.
Silent Movement and Light Blade Synergy:
Backstab. If you strike a creature from hiding double the amount of initial damage and any damage over time effects.
Martial Arts:
Hobble. Activate hobble to slow a target's movement speed by 30% for 30 seconds. This ability is opposed by the creature’s Vitality and Acrobatics ratings.
Rune Carving:
Carving Genius. You now have access to the Lesser suite of explosive wards. You may use Quick Ward once per minute rather than once per day.“
My level had skyrocketed from seventeen to twenty three and I now had over one thousand health. In the process I had gained bumps to two stats, which I quickly applied to Agility and Charm. In addition I got to choose another Blood Dancer ability. The only difference was the option that had replaced Surging Blood:
“Blood Berserk: (Modification to Surging Blood) By expending 30% of your Essence pool you fly into a fury. Your attacks cause 20% more damage but you in turn take 10% more damage from all attacks."
Blood Berserk might be useful if I had chosen Light Armor over Acrobatics but the last thing I needed right now was to take more damage. To swing things a little further into the survival category I chose a debuffing skill.
"Mesmerizing Dance: (Modification to Crimson Dance) While in your Crimson Dance stance all enemies within fifteen feet of you must oppose your Charm with their Spirit or suffer a -10% to all damage.”
