Time Since Reckless Self-Endangerment: 1 Day 8 Hours

Goal: Kill 'Baby Boots'

As Nic arrived at the Dungeon his hopes fell.

Humans had already made their way there. A camp had been set up beneath the enormous tree with the portal in its trunk, a swirling blot of transdimensional energy that rippled in blue-white colors. The whole tree was made of alabaster wood with faintly translucent limbs and blue crystalline leaves.

Humans had filled the clearing around it with tents. A green medical pavillion where a single overworked healer tended to several unconscious, pale warriors. Red tents where crafters worked mend armors and forge new weapons. A small wooden statue of the goddess Pathos had been set up and covered in flower crowns.

“Fuck.” Nic croaked.

“There’s a silver lining. Nobody has conquered the Dungeon yet. If they had, there would be a name on the tree. The names of the victors are always marked around the portal.”

“Good. Then I just need a way inside.” Everyone here would have Shards. While he was somewhat confident in his abilities, trying to break past six or eight Shard-holders was the kind of reckless mistake that would cost him a reset of Sophia’s counter. Or his life.

Watching them, Nic saw that the adventurers outside the dungeon were hauling in barrel after barrel of water from the river. Two bored looking guards stabbed their spears at any predatory fish that wandered too near as the laborers filled their barrels and began to heave them back towards camp.

The barrels were being loaded onto a cart and sent in through the portal. The perfect way for him to slip inside.

Better yet, one of the men stuck on barrel-hauling duty was familiar. Matteos sweated in the midday sun, but his rocky skin and massive frame kept him well ahead of the rest. Slowly but surely he was running laps around the smaller workers stuck with the onerous task.

Waiting for Matteos to be alone for a moment, Nic slithered out of the undergrowth and popped up in his path.

“Nak!” Matteos dropped the barrel to the ground and leaned down. There was a broad grin on his face to see his friend again. But that grin faltered as he looked behind him. “Listen. I think you can understand me, so- be careful. Not everyone here is friendly.”

“Hi Matt.” Nic croaked. He held up a finger to his mouth, the universal sign for keeping a secret, and then slipped the tiny wyvern from his shoulder into Matteos’ hands.

He was sad to leave the little guy behind, but he'd be back for the wyvern.

“My! The little lizard has a little lizard. And- ow!- this one bites…”

As he looked up Nic scrambled into the barrel with a slosh.

“What are you doing?” Matteos stared down the surface of the water to where Nic curled in the bottom of the barrel. Nic raised a thumbs-up. “... Alright.”

Lifting his burden again, Matteos carried Nic deeper and deeper into the camp. From his underwater hiding place Nic could only hear the distant and muffled voices of the camp laborers getting louder and louder. The barrel was set down with a clunk.

A shadow crossed over the surface of the water, but Nic’s ability to wedge himself flat meant he could only be seen if someone looked directly down.

“Alright, send ‘em in.” With a jolt the cart started forward.

And Nic went through the Dungeon’s portal. For a moment all he could see above the water was a shining tunnel of light, and he felt weighless, like he was floating in null gravity. Then a crashing sense of vertigo, as if he was falling for miles.

The tunnel ended abruptly and the cart’s wheels groaned as it dropped into bright red sand.

The air was instantly different. Full of Essence. Strange, unruly Essence.

Nic dug his tiger-claw into the barrel’s side and broke open a small peephole. He figured he was doing them a favor since his presence would poison the water anyway. What he saw were red sands in all directions. Huge dunes of red rising up like frozen waves, and troughs full of shadow that offered respite from the blazing sun. The portal was seated in a wall of dark yellow stone that rose from the desert and extended endlessly in both directions, with a single gatehouse guarded by two towers. A thin oasis of shallow pools and scrubby little grasses skirted the wall…

And beyond that was desolation.

He poked more holes into the barrel, eager to see more.

The Dungeon was a barren place. Huge crystals of bismuth rose from the sand, their blocky spars decorated with straight-lined spirals that shifted colors from pale yellow to deep blue. Their metallic-sheened rainbows glittered in the light. Stone mesas dotted the earth like anvils. Ruined windmill towers stuck out of the sand, the blades still turning in the lonely wind.

But there was no life to be seen.

Then Nic looked up.

Suspended above the earth was an enormous river of floating water. It snaked through the air connecting a half-dozen small islands of stone, all of them brazenly ignoring gravity. The sunlight turned whole sections of the river to brilliant gold, and he could see winged figures dart around the islands, wheeling through the air like birds.

At the far end of the river was an enormous palace, a floating ziggurat with green life spilling down every step. Hanging waterfalls of green descended from the lower layers, and the river poured directly through the front gates.

Welcome To

The Scales of Sand

Rise to the heavens

Guide your ship to the Hall of the Sun

Slay the Master of the Hall

(Optional) Slay the False Gods of the Ruins to gain their Boons (0/4)

--or--

Slay the Native interlopers (0/4)

Make a sacrifice on the Altar of Night (0/1)

Present yourself to the Master of the Hall for your reward.

Nic was guessing the second set of quests was only available to him due to his status as an Invader. However, before he had time to ponder the two routes, somebody shouted:

“You idiots! The barrel’s leaking like a sieve!”

Without waiting to be discovered Nic made his move, bursting free. The guards were too stunned to react as the barrel toppled over and a small axolotl missile dove to the ground, shooting away on all fours.

He dove for the cover of the small leafy grasses and the tall palm trees that surrounded the wall marking the dungeon’s edge. There was water and life there, and he was confident he could survive, whereas the open desert threatened a slow death.

The sand was hot like a bed of coals underfoot, and he was glad to leap into a shallow pool.

A few moments later his head poked up to watch the aftermath of his escape.

Behind him the water caravan’s guards were still gawking. Their overseer swore and cursed, striking them with his fists, and had shouted himself red in the face by the time they took off again. The lonely cart trundled towards a distant shape on the horizon- an enormous stone face of angelic beauty that lifted from the dunes, tilted up towards the sky to gaze out with golden eyes.

He’d seen a similar statue at another human camp, and had a good idea what he was looking at. “Is that the Tutelary Statue?”

“Yes. A guide and a shelter to humanity. Once you make contact you can learn the Zone’s rules, and its not impossible the Spirit will bestow a quest. They’re usually aligned against the Invaders, but you’ve helped Natives before and might be recognized as a friend.”

“If we’re very lucky they’ll have summoned a merchant here, and you can trade some of your excess Shards.”

“If we’re lucky, I’ll get there alive.” The desert was vast and hot. His soft-skinned body wasn’t designed for retaining moisture. Getting across all that burning earth wasn’t going to be fun.

Dipping down into the pool, Nic rested. He let the sun slowly travel across the sky and night descend. When everything was cool and quiet he reemerged, feeling the lingering heat in the sand as he took his first steps. The cart had helpfully carved him a track through the desert and towards the camp.

He couldn’t help but pause to stare at the river floating above. It sparkled in the starlight. How did he get up there..?

Shouldering his pack, Nic set off.

---

For the first hour Nic was alert for any signs of ambush or movement in the waste.

By the second, he wished something would attack him just to relieve the tedium.

By the third he’d simply stopped thinking. He put one foot in front of the other in a dazed state, and small fireflies surrounded him as he wandered the wastes.

That was when the tremor ran underfoot. Before Nic could react the earth gave way, collapsing into a conical pit with sides of extremely fine, quick-flowing sand grains that refused to hold his weight. He struggled and flailed but with every motion he was being drawn down towards the bottom of the pit.

A huge pair of jaws surfaced. They were like the jaws of a steel trap, serrated loops whose teeth fit together into a gnashing band.

Inch by inch he approached, slowly now that he realized his own movement was drawing him closer.

A barb-covered blue tongue shot out and Nic reacted instantly, raising his shield. It slammed against the tortoiseshell surface and before it could draw back, Nic slashed his tiger-claw across the vivid blue muscle. There was a scream from below and another tremor that sent Nic tumbling down the walls of the pit, closer and closer to the jaws…

Snarling he flung a spore-lob down. It landed at the bottom of the pit and the creature, immediately sensing danger, began to bury itself, digging down frantically until it vanished from sight.

Nic was just about to turn and try to escape the sandpit before it returned, when an enormous quake from below made the entire pit collapse downwards, plunging him into an underground cavern.