Sigil online hellions, p.14
Sigil Online: Hellions, page 14
"We're trying to figure out what's going on with our NPCs," said Riley. "We thought some monster-players might be up to something down here."
"I thought the same thing," said Shadow. "I'm not stationed here, I could care less about your city. But I was meeting up with… a few people. Our meetup was in Gargantuan, so here I am. The two people I was supposed to meet weren't where they were supposed to be. I figured there's something weird going on, and monster-players were the most likely suspect."
"And monster-players are underground," said Riley.
"Exactly," Shadow confirmed.
"So here we are. You came alone?" asked Riley.
"Well, I'd say that my habits tend to lead to having plenty of gear," she said. "Not to mention, I'm probably the top five percent as far as levels go. I can take a hellion, or two."
"You didn't do too well against us, and you had a level advantage back then," said Todd with a smirk.
Shadow narrowed her eyes at him. "You want to test me, down here in the dark?" A sly grin curled the corner of her lips.
It was in that moment that Riley remembered how Shadow's powers worked. She could manipulate shadows, and bend them to her will and cause them to damage her enemies, or entangle them, or many other things. In a lot of ways, her powers were very similar in functionality to Todd and Erica's, since she could manipulate things around her. And therein laid the current problem. Sure, they were surrounded by cement and earth that Todd could move, but it was low damage and cumbersome for all of them to navigate around in such close quarters. Erica could manipulate plant life, but again, these were all very physical constructs. Shadow, on the other hand, was able to move things without mass, but that could take a physical form. Not to mention, they were utterly surrounded by shadows, which made Shadow Witch far more powerful than she'd been in the last two engagements.
Riley also knew that Shadow had quite the level advantage on them. And just like how Riley had plenty of gear to augment his own abilities, it was even more true for Shadow. She may have even found items that made her incredibly more powerful than the last time they saw her.
All of this led to his next decision.
"We don't want to fight you," said Riley. "But would you be willing to join us? Obviously we have no interest in each other's survival, but we're after the same thing. Let's call a truce, for now."
"Sure," Shadow said, without taking much time to think about it.
"Really?" Erica asked, looking over to Riley, then back to Shadow.
"It makes the most sense," said Riley. "We're fighting hellions. We need all the hero players we can get. Even if one of them is an anti-hero."
"I've been running around aimlessly down here," said Shadow, moving the conversation along. "Seems like you guys have a better method of travel."
Riley turned and looked back to Todd and Erica. Neither of them were wearing happy expressions.
"If you keep digging down, you might hit something, I guess," Shadow spoke up again. "I'd suggest heading through this wall over here," she said, gesturing to the one on her left. "I haven't been able to find any meaningful way to go in that direction, but I've heard some sounds coming through the wall. Not sure what sort of sounds, but sounds. That's the only lead I've got."
"Then let's do it," said Riley.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Erica.
Riley looked back to her. "We haven't much of a choice. Shadow knows we're here anyway, and the longer we wait, the more damage the monster-players can do to our city."
"And personally, I couldn't care less about what happens to you all," said Shadow. "This isn't my city, but I do want to find my friends."
"Then let's go," Todd said, in a less than enthusiastic voice. He turned and without wasting a motion, he manipulated the earth and concrete and started forming a tunnel.
Riley turned his attention from Todd to Shadow. "After you," he said.
Shadow shrugged. "Certainly."
Chapter 16: Heroes In The Dark
The group of four moved at a slow pace through the tunnel. The darkness seemed to envelop them, which made Riley uneasy with Shadow Witch in their party. Thanks to the above level that they'd just come from, there was a little more light than there had been when Todd made the hole in the ground. But with each step they took, the light stretched thinner and thinner.
Crch.
Thmp thmp.
"You hear that?" Erica asked.
"Sounds like it's coming from ahead of us," said Riley.
"Told you there was something this way," said Shadow. "Sounds like it's still some distance, though. Crazy to think that there's as much underground down here to equal the city above."
"What do you mean?" Erica asked, glancing over to Shadow.
Shadow Witch kept her gaze forward as she walked a couple feet behind Todd, Erica and Riley behind her.
"The underground almost mirrors the city," said Shadow. "As far as how much space is available for monsters. They can't build anywhere they want. At least, not yet. They can only build in certain areas underground. But in those areas, they can make their lairs and nests. They can't build outside the cities yet. Oddly enough."
"There is a lot of blank space outside the cities," said Riley. "I keep hearing that the devs plan to do something with it, but the Hellions expansion practically ignored it. So I take it you've been researching what hellions can do?"
"More or less," said Shadow. "I just wish I could make a hellion and keep Shadow."
"If you were a hellion, would you fight other hellions?" asked Riley.
Shadow turned her head and glanced back to Riley, the corner of her lips curled. "I think you know the answer to that." She turned forward again, just as more dull thumps could be heard coming from straight ahead.
"Have you fought many hellions yet?" asked Erica.
"Of course," Shadow responded, as if the question was absurd. "What about you three? Still sticking to fighting the in-game monsters?"
Riley grit his teeth a bit from the way Shadow spoke. "We've fought and killed our fair share of hellions."
Erica glanced over to Riley. The darkness was encroaching further and further around them, obscuring their vision.
"Wouldn't suppose you have something to light the area?" asked Riley.
"Like I need the light to see," Shadow snickered.
It took Riley several seconds to realize Shadow's meaning. Did she have some sort of dark vision? If so, that would certainly put all three of them at much more of a disadvantage than he'd thought. Of course, it only made sense that someone who PVPed so much and whose powers were literal shadows would be able to see in the absence of light.
"But you know who could really light up a place like this?" said Shadow. "Your old friend, Glint. Has she started running with you yet?"
Riley's brow furrowed as Shadow mentioned Glint.
"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to play dumb, but it was apparent that Shadow knew something.
"Well she's not with us anymore," said Shadow Witch. "I figured she might've hit you up, like she has a bunch of other guilds. She's a tricky one, for sure."
Riley listened carefully to the words Shadow Witch chose. He didn't get the feeling that Shadow and Glint were working together, to get Glint to spy on them. If anything, it sounded as though Shadow was suspicious of Glint for some reason. Perhaps he needed to speak to Glint a little more and find out what she might know, or at least, what she could do. Had she gotten some items that helped make her more of a threat to Shadow? He had no way of knowing. "Well, she's not running with us," he said. But he didn't allude to the idea that maybe she would be in the future, since it was still up in the air if Laura and the others would be welcoming of her.
They continued to walk for several minutes in relative silence, except for the sound of the ground moving as Todd manipulated it at will.
The sounds they were able to hear were gradually getting louder.
Without warning, blueish light streamed into the tunnel as Todd pulled the dirt away from ahead of them. The opening widened further and further, now that they had reached… something.
Erica went to the right side of Todd, while Riley and Shadow stepped around him on the left.
"Really?" Erica muttered under her breath, as each of them stared at the sights before them.
"It's… trees?" Riley asked, blinking.
Standing before them was a forest of trees. The trees ranged in height—some were only a couple stories high, while others stretched even further. The dark blue leaves created a glimmering canopy that prevented them from seeing any sort of roof or ceiling to the chamber they were in now, as surely they were still underground. The blue light they were seeing was from numerous apple-like fruits hanging off the branches. The 'apples' were translucent blue, emitting plenty of light around them that then reflected off the leaves. The trees themselves were made of a deep black bark, almost like pillars of obsidian.
But it wasn't the tops of the trees that held their attention, it was the base of the trunks.
At the base of many of the trees were several large sections of blueish amber. The sections were easily as tall and wide as a person, because within each one of them was a body.
"Are those our NPCs?" Todd asked, pointing to the nearest tree, where four of the amber-like pods were situated against the base, seemingly nestled into the tree itself.
"Looks like it might be," said Riley.
"Hmm," Shadow murmured, as she walked right out into the forest. Her shoes crunched softly against the sharp dark blue grass.
"Shouldn't we be careful?" asked Erica, stepping forward. "Didn't you say there were guards in the last lair you went into?" she asked, as she looked to Riley.
"Yeah," Riley confirmed. "And a boss."
Shadow didn't stop moving until she reached the nearest softly glowing blue pod. She reached out and ran her fingers along the transparent cocoon. "Hmm," she murmured again. "I bet they're siphoning off energy, somehow. But… what are they producing?" she asked, as she tilted her head and looked up into the canopy above. "The fruit?"
Riley walked towards her, but his gaze was flitting around to the many trees around them. Was there a chance they’d already been detected? If so, what sort of monsters might come after them? If this was an actual lair, then it stood to reason that the hellions who owned it were probably around in full force.
"Maybe they use the fruit to gain experience, or power?" Riley mentioned. "Or, they're feeding the fruit to something else, like some sort of boss monster or something."
"Could be," said Shadow. With a thought, she drew the nearby shadows together and formed a spike, which she then drove into the nearest cocoon. The outer layer cracked like glass. With her next thought, the spike shifted and pulled apart, breaking the cocoon further, causing a wispy mist to flow out and fall to the ground, only to disappear.
Shadow reached in with her hands and shook the occupant of the pod. The woman had dull orange hair to her shoulders and wore a simple blue tank top and a pair of blue jeans.
"Hey, wake up," Shadow urged. She reached out and patted the woman's cheek. "Wake up."
The woman's blue eyes opened. She blinked rapidly before her gaze settled on Shadow. "Who're you?" she asked. She then glanced around some more. "Where am I?"
"What do you remember?" asked Shadow. "Are you a player?"
"I doubt she's a player," said Riley, who was now standing just off to the side of Shadow, attentively watching what was happening.
"I… I'm a citizen of Gargantuan City," the woman said. It was an in-game indicator that the woman was an NPC. NPCs never blatantly said that they were such, as everything had a sort of loose masquerade to it, to allow for a more engrossing experience in-game.
"How'd you get here?" Shadow asked, leaning up and giving the woman some room.
"There was an orange light," the woman said. "I was at my desk in the office, and an orange light emanated from behind me. Before I could turn around and see it, I blacked out."
"Orange light?" Riley asked, crossing his arms as he tried to think. "Some sort of energy weapon? Something that stuns or knocks out NPCs?"
Shadow reached out and helped the NPC from the pod. "That's all you remember?" she asked.
The woman nodded. "What… should I do now?" she asked.
"As an NPC, she probably has no way of getting back to the city," said Riley. "Unless we create a tunnel, we can't get her back either. And, well, there's nothing but pods all around us. This forest is probably large enough to allow them to abduct the whole city. We could be at this for hours, if not longer."
"I can try and make a tunnel," said Todd.
Shadow turned her attention to Riley, then Todd. "You wanna save all these NPCs, and send your ground mover off on tunnel duty?"
"Yes," said Riley.
"You realize that to abduct all these NPCs, there has to be either a pretty powerful hellion, or a bunch of them. And you think we can save all of them before someone notices?" Shadow countered.
Before Riley could reply, a loud crack sounded in the distance.
Bang bang.
Bang bang.
Bang bang.
The sound rang out through the trees and didn't seem to be all that far away.
"Red?" Riley muttered, hearing the telltale sign of the loud bangs that Red Shotgun's powers made.
"Is she here?" asked Erica, looking to Riley, then out to the direction the sounds came from.
"If she is, she could be with others," said Riley. "We can leave the NPC here for now. Let's go meet up with anyone else that might be down here, they might have a plan on saving these NPCs."
Shadow sighed. "Sounds like a terrible plan, but whatever. Your show, I guess."
Riley thought it strange that Shadow wasn't putting up more of a fight on the matter, if she didn't feel it was the best thing to do. But for the most part, it didn't really matter since there were more pressing concerns.
"Sounded like it came from that way, let's go," Riley said as he turned and ran off ahead, further from the way they'd come in through the tunnel.
"So I'm not making an exit?" Todd asked, as he quickly ran after Riley, with Erica right beside him.
"Not yet!" Riley called back. "We need to find out who else is here and team up with them!"
"Nothing about this feels right!" Erica said as she followed Riley. "How did they abduct all these NPCs in such a short time?"
"I'm sure we'll find out!" Riley said, as he raced between the thick trees.
After a minute of running, Riley spotted a partial clearing. It was the only clearing he'd seen so far, and most prominent were the three hero-looking figures standing in the middle. They were speaking to each other, but Riley was just a little too far to hear what they were saying. "Looks like some paragons ahead," Riley said to the three behind him, as he entered the clearing and headed towards them.
"Hope they're not anti-heroes," Todd grunted as he ran to keep up.
One of the three figures heard Riley running toward them and turned in their direction. "Who are you?" he called out.
"We're here to help! And find out what's going on," said Riley. "Where's Red? Is she with you?"
The person who had first called out to them was a man in his late thirties, maybe early forties. He had short blue hair and sharp, angular facial features, and a muscular physique. If Riley had to guess, he imagined the player had power over water, or maybe something to do with blue energy.
"Red? Who's Red?" he asked.
Riley stopped about ten feet away, giving him a perplexed look. "Red Shotgun," he said, looking to the blue player, then over to the other two.
One of them was a woman in her thirties. She had dark skin and smooth black hair to her chin. She wasn't dressed much like a player. She wore a pair of black pants and white shoes, along with a purple T-shirt. She had on several intricate bracelets and rings and also a necklace, but other than the jewelry, she appeared almost like an NPC. Perhaps she was one?
The other person in their group was a seemingly younger girl, probably in her late teens or early twenties. Her arms were down, her hands clenched into fists. She was fair skinned with blonde hair, but it was tied back in a bun. Most notable were her black boots, which seemed to crackle with prominent and visible electric energy.
"I… I don't think she's here," said the man in blue.
Riley glanced around. "But I heard a—"
Movement in the distance caught his eye before he could finish speaking. With the clearing they were in, he was able to see partially over part of the canopy around them. A dark shape rushed up above the treetops. It was then that Riley noticed the glittering cave ceiling far above. In a way, it was almost like a star-filled night sky. He wasn't sure how high above it was, but it was high enough to make the forest feel even more immense.
Regardless of the sight, Riley's attention remained on the dark shape, now plummeting towards them. "Something's coming!"
The group of three all turned their heads, just as the object slammed into the ground nearby.
"The hell is that?" Erica said from behind Riley.
The man in blue's eyes widened. "One of the hellions!"
The hellion had a lobster-like main body. It had a deep blue chitinous outer armor, like a shell. Two large pincers loomed on either side of it. But that was where its similarities to a lobster ended. It had four legs total, each one more like a bird's talon than a crab or insect leg. Its feet clutched the dark dirt beneath it. It had two beady eye stalks that shifted and turned, looking amongst the gathered hero players. Without warning, one of its pincers pulled back and swung out. It was too far to hit anything in melee range, but as its pincer came forward, it closed suddenly in a sharp bang. A burst of flame spouted from the space in front of the pincer. It shot out towards the gathered hero players.
"Get back!" the blue-clothed player yelled, as he swung his arms up. A sheet of ice materialized in front of him, and with another swipe of his hands, the ice sheet was thrown toward the oncoming flames.
Riley sidestepped and rushed off to the side to avoid the attack. The ice-powered player's sheet of ice smashed into the oncoming fire, creating a sharp hiss as it evaporated mid-air, creating a cloud of steam. Luckily, it was just enough to abate the flames, causing only a wave of heated air to assail the now seven-strong group of players.
