CA Chapter Fifteen

Vexxx and Tess both voted to turn right when they reached the mountains, while Alpha thought they should try climbing up and see if they could find a pattern to the sequence of biomes, or anything that looked like remnants of civilization. Toggle agreed with Alpha, and Myles abstained, of course, and so they ended up in a tie.

“The gnome’s vote shouldn’t even count,” Vexxx insisted for the tenth time. “Obviously, he’s going to vote with you, so it’s like you get two votes. Plus, he’s just an NPC, anyway!”

“A Native,” Tess insisted, planting a solid elbow in the boy’s ribs, but gave Alpha a stern look as she did so. “He’s partially right, though. Toggle is just saying what he thinks you’d want him to say, right Toggle?” She transferred her gaze to the gnome, who was once again trying to hide behind Alpha.

“I… I…,” the gnome stammered, shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably as everyone looked at him. “I think Mistress is right!” His little face set in a stubborn expression, and they could all tell that he wasn’t going to budge.

Absently, Alpha reached up and stroked Orah, where the snake lay coiled around her neck, practically indistinguishable from a well-crafted necklace or torque. Her fingers paused as they traced the graceful curve of the serpent’s head, and she tucked her fingers under Orah’s smooth scales and lifted her up. The little pink tongue flickered out and tickled Alpha’s fingers as she shifted the snake so she could look in her eyes.

“What do you think, Orah?” She ignored Vexxx’s groan as he realized she was asking another NPC, and a pet this time. “Or what does Quezal think?” She lifted her eyes to the sky and said, “Oh great and wise Quezal, what do you think we should do? Should we climb up this nice, tall mountain so we can actually see what’s going on in this place, or should we randomly turn right and take the long way to get somewhere when we already know where we’ll end up?” She honestly doubted anything would happen, but at least if Orah did something, she might be able to spin it to look like the snake agreed with her.

Quezal has heard your prayer! He is pleased that you have finally sought his guidance in this important matter!

Your Relationship with your Deity, Quezal, has increased by 10. It is now 91 (Faithful).

The Blessed Creature, Orah, has grown along with your bond with your deity, Quezal.

Orah is evolving!

Orah suddenly began to writhe in Alpha’s hands, and she nearly dropped the serpent as she twisted into a large, spiral ball that turned back in on itself until Alpha couldn’t distinguish the snake’s head and tail from the rest of her long body. In the center of the spiral, two bumps formed beneath the snake’s smooth, alabaster scales, then four damp, rainbow-feathered wings burst out in a flash of light and fluttered weakly. Orah’s body lifted into the air slightly, but fell back into Alpha’s hands a moment later.

“What the-” Vexxx’s question was drowned out as Tess squealed and leaned forward to peer at Orah more closely.

“Oh my gosh,” the dwarf exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth as her eyes widened into gleaming O’s of amazement. “She’s gorgeous!” Tentatively, she reached out and stroked one delicate, feathered wing. Orah’s head lifted, and she hissed tiredly. It sounded more self-satisfied than upset, but it was the first sound Alpha had ever heard her produce.

Very carefully, Alpha lifted the snake, who was noticeably larger than she had been before. Staring into the mismatched blue eyes, which looked more like brilliant sapphires than ever, she said, “So, can you fly now?”

The snake tilted her head, tongue flickering out, and all four of her wings flapped awkwardly, ending up in a tangle. She hissed, looking distinctly displeased, as she tried again.

Alpha stroked her back sympathetically. “Maybe it’ll take a little practice? You can do it.” Tess nodded enthusiastically, bouncing on her toes as Orah tried a few more tentative flaps. At last, though not without a few clearly unplanned dips and bobs, the serpent managed to rise and remain hovering in the air, wings beating so quickly they were nothing more than a rainbow blur in the air above and behind her.

Immediately, Orah hissed and headed east, following the ‘right-hand wall’. Alpha sighed, Vexxx whooped, and Myles didn’t even try to hide his grin as they all followed the flying snake.

(===||:::::::::::::::>

It took more than four hours for them to find the solution, and by then Tess was ready to admit that maybe Alpha had been right. Vexxx, however, was stubbornly determined to prove he’d made the correct choice. He had crossed over to the swamp side of the line, and spent most of his time loudly commenting that his boots were wet, but at least he didn’t have to fight the tall grass that caught and dragged at everyone else’s legs. He was also happy because he finally got to zap the fairies who attacked him without anyone getting after him for it.

Alpha was just turning her head to tell the big-mouthed mage to stop talking for five minutes when she saw him vanish. He took a step forward, and halfway through it, he disappeared as if he’d crossed behind a wall, then reappeared a few steps later. His noisy half-whining, half-bragging didn’t so much as pause, though.

Alpha held up a hand. “Whoa!” She stared at Vexxx. “What did you just do?”

He stared at her, obviously perplexed by the question. “I was just letting you know, again, that it’s better over here. Once you get used to having wet feet-”

Her hand sliced sharply through the air, cutting him off. “No, you ivy geranium, what did you do? You disappeared for a second.”

Vexxx glowered at her. “I did not. I was right here the whole time.”

She shook her head. “You vanished. Here, go back a few steps.” She took two steps backwards, and Vexxx let out a surprised sound.

“Where’d you go?” the boy asked, then stepped forward and poked his head over the intangible line that separated the grassy sward from the marsh. His brown eyes widened. “Whoa! You’re still there!” He leaned back again. “Nope, I definitely can’t see you from here.” Turning around, he jogged back a few steps until he vanished from sight as abruptly as before.

By leaning from one side to the other, they quickly discovered that the strange gap was about three feet wide, and that anyone standing on one side of it was completely invisible from the other, though it otherwise looked exactly like every other part of the seemingly unending boundary. Vexxx, of course, wanted to dive straight through the strange spot, but Alpha grabbed him by his loose purple robe just before he tried it.

“I don’t actually care if you get yourself sent to respawn,” she grumbled, glaring, “but I am worried that if you do, you won’t be able to keep your mouth shut, and you’ll come back here with a dozen of your little friends and half the players in Veritas on your heels.”

Vexxx pulled himself up to his maximum height, which was still a good three inches shorter than Alpha. “I can totally keep a secret! I want to get the first dungeon clear, and if a bunch of high-leveled jerks come in, they’ll blow through this crazy place in an hour. Plus, that guy D3th Angel isn’t even my friend. I was chillin’ with my girl Oblique when that guy came up and broke my vibe. You know what I’m saying?”

As usual, any prolonged interaction with the lightning mage was giving Alpha a headache, so she just nodded and said, “Fine, but at least throw a rock through the weird hole in space before you stick your head in, okay?”

Vexxx shrugged, but picked up a rock from the muddy two-inch deep water he was wading through, and tossed it at the space between them. It flew through the air without a problem and landed on Alpha’s toe. She barely felt it, but that didn’t stop her from glaring at him.

Then Tess muttered, “I’m tired of listening to you two argue,” and walked into the gap, instantly disappearing.

Alpha felt her heart stop in her chest. ::Tess?:: she sent over party chat. ::Tessle?::

There was no response, and Tess didn’t come back, so Alpha pulled up the party list. Tess was on it, but grayed out, with the ‘Maximum Distance Exceeded’ tag next to her character name.

“Crocus!” Alpha snapped, taking a step toward the completely innocuous place where there was apparently an invisible door that sent people at least a mile away, if not to another zone entirely. Before she could go any further, however, Vexxx darted through from his side, vanishing as thoroughly as had the dwarf. Alpha started to take the next step, but Myles grabbed her arm.

Tilting his head toward Amy, who stood silent and nearly forgotten, Myles said, “Hold her hand.” Glancing down, he added, “And carry Toggle.”

Alpha’s eyes narrowed. “We’re going to be separated, aren’t we?”

The ever-unhelpful AI tilted his head and smiled, but refused to answer. Sighing in exasperation, Alpha scooped Toggle into her arms and grabbed Amy’s hand.

“Come on,” she told the woman, and stepped through the portal.

Instantly, her [Darkvision] kicked in, casting her surroundings in dull, faded shades of whatever colors they would be in the light. Of course, since she was completely surrounded by rock walls, that just meant everything was a lighter shade of gray.

::-still,:: said Tess’s voice over party chat. ::I’ll come to you.::

::Hell no!:: Vexxx said, sounding entirely too excited. ::You can hold still if you want, but I’m following this wall.::

Alpha felt a flood of relief. ::Is everyone all right?:: she asked. ::No monsters or anything?::

::Nah,:: Vexxx responded instantly, overriding whatever Tess’s answer would have been. ::There are these creepy, animated stone heads all over the place, but they just look at me and then close their eyes again. I tried poking one in the eye, and a big stone hand swatted me for fifty health, but whatever. It didn’t count as combat, so I’m almost back up to full.::

::How did you even have time to do all that already?:: Alpha asked tiredly. ::No, don’t answer. I don’t actually care. Tess, you good?::

::Yep,:: Tess answered promptly. ::Almost fell in a pit trap on my second step, so definitely watch out for that. I haven’t seen any blinking heads or revenge hands, though.::

::Hand of Retribution,:: Vexxx corrected unnecessarily.

::Whatever. Myles? You here?:: Alpha asked.

::I am,:: Myles said, sounding distinctly amused. ::I’ll just wait here until someone comes to find me.::

“Of course you will,” Alpha muttered out loud, before switching back to party chat. ::Sounds like a good plan. If we all start wandering around, we may just keep missing each other.::

Carefully, she released Amy’s unresponsive hand, then set Toggle down, and he clung to her pant leg with thin fingers, staring around. As an NPC, he couldn’t join the party, so he hadn’t heard the rest of the conversation. “Everyone’s fine,” she told him, “just separated. Tess says there are traps, so be careful.”

Toggle nodded, his large blue eyes glowing slightly in the complete darkness. As a gnome, he had [Darkvision], as did everyone else except for Vexxx, but obviously the mage had a light source, since he could see well enough to poke inanimate objects. Toggle actually looked excited, and she wondered if he was happy to be in a dungeon, even if it wasn’t the one the gnomes called home.

“I can detect and disarm traps, Mistress,” he offered. “Handling traps is an essential skill for gnomes.”

She smiled, relieved. “That’s great, Toggle. Um, do you want to lead, then?”

Toggle shook his head, big ears flapping. “Oh no, Mistress! You should lead!”

Alpha shrugged. “You’re the one who can find traps before we trip them. Makes more sense that you go first.” She gave him a wry little smile. “I trust you.”

“Oh, Mistress,” Toggle whispered, and it was hard to tell, but she thought a big, glistening tear trickled down his cheek. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” she said, “since you’re probably about to save my life.” Changing to party chat, she told the others about Toggle’s skills, and Tess confirmed that she would also wait to be found.

At first, Vexxx didn’t respond, and when he did, he sounded more than a little uncomfortable. ::Yeah, one of those hands just tried to crush me. I, uh, have a sprained ankle and a Dizzy debuff. I’m just gonna wait until those clear up, but no promises after that.::

::What did you do to piss them off this time?:: Alpha asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Vexxx mumbled something inaudible.

::What?:: she prodded.

::You know what?:: the young mage said sulkily, ::It doesn’t matter. Just don’t, like, mess with the heads when you get here.::

Alpha laughed and motioned for Toggle to lead on.