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Chapter 315 - The room beneath the room
🕑 Added 2021-09-18 13:00:06 +0000 UTCBefore heading into that new area of the room, the group decided to go back to the outpost and rest. In fact, instead of staying in the Wailing Valley, they returned to the Forest of Dreams since they still could cross the doorway. That way, everyone would have a nice comfortable bed and a hot shower before resting. Another benefit of that was the access to supplies. Most general stores inside the MAZE also had some climbing supplies, even in rooms with no mountains. It wasn't rare to find a dungeon or a hidden spot that could require that basic gear. However, not everyone carried rope and hooks everywhere. Most people would never even have a set of climbing gear. So, most stores started to sell that type of equipment. If they were located in a room with a lot of high walls and caves to be explored, there would be a wider range of options. The same could be said to the stores in rooms connected to places like that. Unfortunately, the Forest of Dreams store was still a work in progress, and being by a room with impossibly high valleys made it so the climbing gear wasn't on the top of the list of things to sell. They still had a basic option, but nothing with any fancy enchantments.
Just to be safe, Bonnie got three of those kits for the group. This was just a backup plan since Hera, Silah, and herself were already tasked to make a stone path from the rocks on the side of the chasm, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The group also discussed if they should let people know about this new area or not. On the one hand, it was good to have people knowing where they should look for them if something happened. On the other, if they told people about this new area, more people could potentially find the ruins. Shane was the only one who was advocating against telling the guild. After hearing Bonnie's argument that the ruins could not even be down there, she agreed to tell them, but only in the next day when they were already heading out to this new area.
This time there were enough rooms for everyone in the hotel. Hera and Silah shared a room. It's been a while since they were alone and could enjoy each other's company. The following day, Shane woke everyone up, and they headed out to the Wailing Valley again. During the night, the people in charge of the room got a shipment of mountain bikes delivered. There were 20 of them lying around, and people could rent them to move around in the room. The price was for the rent was the full price of each bike, 200 gold a pop. However, when they returned them, they could get up to 150 gold back. This was set up like that so that in case the bikes ended up destroyed or damaged, the price to fix them would already be covered by the rent.
This would help the group, even though not everyone knew how to ride a bike. Among them, Silah and Bonnie had no idea how to ride one, and Shane wasn't confident about using one in this rocky room. Luckily, whoever ordered the bikes half expected that. They had a few options with an extra seat on the back. The ones who couldn't ride would be able to travel there as long as someone strong was peddling. They would have to be careful with monsters, but the bikes had an enchantment that would ward off creatures. It wasn't that powerful, but it should be possible to scare away some of the random monsters. A large group, however, that would be an issue.
They grabbed a few bikes and headed out. At first, it wasn't that much faster than walking, but everyone got the hang of it little by little. To make things easier. Mylo was the only one alone on a bike. Everyone else had a double with the mages and Silah on the back. That way, they had an artillery line, with Mylo being the vanguard during the travel. It was a fun feeling to see monsters in the distance before blasting them away with spells as they zoomed by on the bikes. Hera had to hold herself back from laughing like a kid more than once. They were trying to keep a low profile despite it all.
A few hours went by, and the group finally reached the chasm again. Looking down, the sight was terrifying. They could see some of the second layers of valleys on the other side of the abyss. There was also a way to tell that these valleys continued under them, even if they couldn't see the opening thanks to the fog that moved under the group without being stopped by anything.
"Hera, could you make some walls to hide the bikes? Like, box them in a stone cube so no monster can damage them," Bonnie asked.
"Oh, that's a good idea. Why didn't I think of that," Hera started putting the bikes by the wall and with the help of everyone that barely took time. With everything ready, she made four stone slabs, creating a makeshift tomb for the rented bicycles. When she turned back, she saw Helena putting a harness and tying the rope around her, "Are you going first?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking about the grabbers. I might be able to use them to drag me down, well, depending on how far it is. If they are the same size as those, I don't think I can go down," Helena pointed to the wall of the valley.
"Ok, just be careful. We don't know what's down there or even if there is an actual path. This might be just a pit," Hera walked over and looked at the abyss.
"So what? We are all floating?" Alex asked.
"Well, maybe. Who knows. The MAZE is weird," Hera shrugged.
Mylo and Blue grabbed onto the rope, and Helena started to move down. Her grabbers glued her to the floor, and she started her descent. It was slow but steady. After a few moments, the wall gave in, and she was suddenly holding herself in the ceiling.
"This should be just around ten meters high," Helena's voice echoed through the abyss.
"Can you get to the floor?" Shane asked.
"I can. Just give me a minute or a few," Helena replied and kept moving.
Hera and the others just waited while the mage moved through this second layer of valleys. The rope, which was 20 meters long, was 3/4 of the way down when noises of something were crushed and ripped apart.
"Is everything ok there?" Hera asked.
"Yeah. Just some spiders who came out to play. Gimme a minute," Helena replied with a chipper voice.
More noises of limbs being pulled apart echoed through the abyss. Bonnie leaned over the chasm, "Aren't you supposed to be a mage that focuses on removing a monster's senses? What the hell are you doing down there?"
"I'm removing their sense of touch and taste," Helena replied.
"Just be careful. And those are just stragglers, right? Not a nest?" Hera yelled. It was one thing to fight a couple of monsters, another to face a horde of creatures on her own.
A few minutes later, the rope became loose, "Ok, got it. You guys can come now."
"Do we rappel down?" Blue asked.
"It's an option," Shane leaned over the ledge, "Can you help us, Lena?"
"I can just come down to the ceiling," Helena replied.
One by one, the group headed down. When only Mylo remained, Hera created a stone platform coming from the edge of the ceiling. That way, he could climb there and drop to the ledge to be in Helena's sight. The mage only could use the grabbers when she saw the target. This second layer of valleys had one very unique characteristic. Even though the ceiling was made out of stone, the sunlight could still pass through it. They couldn't tell if it was an illusion or not, but since it was already past noon, they weren't anything they could do to check it out.
"How are we going to go up again?" Bonnie asked.
"I… don't know. We'll figure that out when we come back. Let's start exploring. Maybe we'll even find another way up," Shane replied.
"Did we just get stuck?" Blue asked.
"Don't worry. Worst case scenario Silah, Bonnie, and I can make some stone slabs as a stairway on the side of the walls. I think we can make it tall enough," Hera replied.
"We'll think about that later. Let's keep going, everyone," Shane said.
The group started walking. In here, things were very similar to what they were upstairs. Long valleys connected to other valleys. However, the monster activity here was much higher. While on the top floor, the group could see a large group of creatures fighting each other in a specific area. Everywhere else only had a couple spiders or a few stragglers that were hardly an issue to deal with. In here, things changed. Just at a glance, the group already had to decide whether they would try to sneak by all the traps created by the trapdoor spiders or if they would just attack the monsters before they were attacked by them.
A preemptive strike ended up being the majority vote. Everyone who had long-range attacks would bombard the traps in hopes of killing the monsters, while Mylo, Alex, and Blue took care of anything that managed to survive and fight back against the barrage of spells.
Their progress here was much slower than the progress on the top floor, but they were still moving at a good pace. Shane was thrilled with everything they were found. The howling wind was much louder on the bottom floor, and the area was filled with cobwebs. It wasn't enough to be a nest, but then again, the ruins didn't have to be by a nest. What they were looking for was just a place filled with webs.
The hours went by quickly, with the group exploring the area and killing any monsters that attacked them, but there weren't any signs of the ruins anywhere. No paths, no constructions, nothing. When it started to get late, they discussed the possibility of sleeping here, but that didn't seem to be a good idea. Even if they had a large group, there was no need to make camp in a place filled with monsters if they could just head back and sleep in a safe area.
Going back to the chasm, Helena used her grabbers to help Hera, Silah, and Bonnie build that makeshift staircase using the stone spells they had at hand. It took close to an hour for the structure to be completely done. Heading up, they grab the bikes and head back to the Forest of Dreams to rest.
During the next few days, this is how they spent their time. Searching for the ruins in both floors of the Wailing Valley. As time went by, Shane started to get more and more frustrated until one day, before heading out from the outpost, she pulled Hera aside.
"Hey, can you call, you know who?"
"You mean who I don't know who?" Hera chuckled.
"Yeah, you know what I'm saying."
"I do. Yeah, I can make a box for me with the stone spells and use the other one. What should I ask? I'm assuming the ruins, but any specific ideas?"
"Try to get as much information as you can. If I have to ask for something specific, I ask them to reply with 'hot or cold' then I can zoom in the answer instead of having them take away time because of a question," Shane said.
"That's a good idea. I'll keep that in mind. Any other suggestions?"
The two of them talked for a few minutes, trying to figure out the best line of questioning to get the information about ruins and how to get there. When they felt they had discussed enough, Hera walked away from the outpost and created another box, but with herself inside. She followed that up with the soundproof barrier and sat down to call the guide.
