I slammed the door closed behind me as I walked into my small apartment, silently cursing the...
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I slammed the door closed behind me as I walked into my small apartment, silently cursing the name of my boss and his general linage.
That bloody bastard!
You kind of had to admire the pure fucking balls on him, though. When I was told that we were going to do a major project I was happy. I mean, I could use my talents for once instead of just shuffling papers and actually got to set up a real network for a client. I was trained as a network tech but I was hired for administrative duties. Boring, but I did them quite easily.
That quickly turned to ash, though, when two days into planning the network, he called in sick.
Meaning I had to do the work of two people. That I had only done in theory before, this was my first 'real' network infrastructure. When he came back to work the project had gone over-time but I was almost finished.
That utter bastard fired me 'for being unable to preform the duties required'.
It turned out that the fucker had been looking for a cause to fire me for over a month before the project started, but my contract wasn't 'at will'. He needed a reason.
So he created one.
Fucking asshole. That shit couldn't have been legal. Tomorrow I'm calling the union.
I sighed and walked over to my small refrigerator and pulled out a can of soda before I dropped down on the couch, resting the cold can against my forehead.
At times like these that I wished that the taste of alcohol didn't make me feel nauseous. This would be a perfect time to get smashing drunk.
Sitting up, I popped the can open and took a sip, leaning back against the backrest. Right now, fuck looking for a new job.
I really couldn't be arsed giving any kind of fucks.
I was all out of fucks.
Sighing, I put down the soda can on the small table, putting my feet on it as I picked up the remote and turned the TV on. Some kind of cooking show. It would suffice.
Something caught my attention at the corner of my eye and I reached to pick up the small wooden box.
It was about the size of a shoebox and made from dark wood, the lid containing one of those puzzles where you slide pieces around to form a pattern. According to the guy at the fleamarket it had belonged to his grandmother and he had never been able to get it open.
It didn't make any sounds when shaken, though, so it was likely empty.
So instead of breaking it open, he had decided to sell it.
Well, it was cheap and looked neat, so I picked it up. The dark wood and the silver painted symbols was kind of cool. If I was ever able to get it open I could keep candy or something in it.
Unless it was something like in that movie and summoned a bunch of demons when opened. Unlikely, though, as the guy selling it said that he had seen it open before his grandmother died.
I kept one eye on the TV as I idly started to slide the wooden plates around.
Huh. Wonder why I didn't notice that before. It wasn't random lines on the plates, they formed a maze. Well that made things a hell of a lot easier! I thought it was going to form a picture or something. D'oh.
As it turned out, it didn't get that much easier. But at least it was possible for me to open it now other than by pure chance. Even so, though, it took me almost two hours before I heard a small click.
Grinning in triumph I sat up fully to put it on the small table before I hesitated.
Strange lockbox with silver symbols on the sides, a labyrinth-themed lock puzzle mechanism on the lid sold to me from some guy on a fleamarket.
Okay... That triggered all of my 'be careful' instincts.
Seriously, I think I saw a horror movie like this once.
No, I'm just being silly. This is real life. Unfortunately or I would be living on a spaceship.
Damn it.
But then again, that was what the characters in movies and stories thought as well.
I gave the box a wary look. I was likely being silly, but I am an adult. I'm allowed to be silly at times.
What's the use of being a responsible adult unless you are allowed to be silly when you want to?
Standing up, I left the box where it was and walked to get the handle of my mop and taking cover behind the couch before reaching to poke the lid of the box.
There was no mystic mist or flash of light or emerging tentacles.
I chuckled and put the mophandle down before moving to sit back down. Silly over, let's see if there was something in there.
The box contained a single item, a yellow crystal the size of one of those small flashlights. Maybe two decimeters long and three or so centimeters wide. One half of it was covered with a silvery cylinder covered with what looked like some kind of occult symbols. On one side of the silver part there was a single red stone.
I frowned and picked it up, turning it over.
What in the world? Maybe I was more right than I thought when it came to the box containing something dangerous.
Maybe his grandmother was into some kind of new age shit?
That red stone kind of looked like a button though.
I froze and stared at the crystal thing in my hand. If it started to vibrate when I pressed that stone, I'd throw it through my window and burn my hand off.
It was with great trepidation that I pressed the red button. I think I would have preferred demons.
But I got neither demons nor ick. Instead the crystal lit up in a bright yellow light and a beam lashed out from it, shooting into the middle of the room where it stopped and grew into a... what I could only describe as a portal.
The hole in space grew until it was two meters tall and a meter wide and between the yellow glowing borders, I could see a misty wood. The air was suddenly full with the scents of nature coming from the hole in the air.
I had simply frozen, staring at the impossible thing before I looked down on the crystal again. I pressed the button again and the portal collapsed.
I pressed it again and the beam shot out again, reforming the portal. This time it showed something that looked like the inside of a cave and it smelled damp.
This was simply not possible.
Things like this did not happen.
Pressing the button again caused the portal to close.
I think it might be time to freak out now.
AN// Many thanks to The Grey Rook for betaing this section. While this is a SI, it is a alternate me that actually managed to get a job straight out of school. Now, it don't matter overly much, it simply changed some minor things such as living in a different place and such. No relation to the game Dungeoncrawl, this was inspired by doing rift runs in Diablo 3, but it's not a Diablo fanfic.
That bloody bastard!
You kind of had to admire the pure fucking balls on him, though. When I was told that we were going to do a major project I was happy. I mean, I could use my talents for once instead of just shuffling papers and actually got to set up a real network for a client. I was trained as a network tech but I was hired for administrative duties. Boring, but I did them quite easily.
That quickly turned to ash, though, when two days into planning the network, he called in sick.
Meaning I had to do the work of two people. That I had only done in theory before, this was my first 'real' network infrastructure. When he came back to work the project had gone over-time but I was almost finished.
That utter bastard fired me 'for being unable to preform the duties required'.
It turned out that the fucker had been looking for a cause to fire me for over a month before the project started, but my contract wasn't 'at will'. He needed a reason.
So he created one.
Fucking asshole. That shit couldn't have been legal. Tomorrow I'm calling the union.
I sighed and walked over to my small refrigerator and pulled out a can of soda before I dropped down on the couch, resting the cold can against my forehead.
At times like these that I wished that the taste of alcohol didn't make me feel nauseous. This would be a perfect time to get smashing drunk.
Sitting up, I popped the can open and took a sip, leaning back against the backrest. Right now, fuck looking for a new job.
I really couldn't be arsed giving any kind of fucks.
I was all out of fucks.
Sighing, I put down the soda can on the small table, putting my feet on it as I picked up the remote and turned the TV on. Some kind of cooking show. It would suffice.
Something caught my attention at the corner of my eye and I reached to pick up the small wooden box.
It was about the size of a shoebox and made from dark wood, the lid containing one of those puzzles where you slide pieces around to form a pattern. According to the guy at the fleamarket it had belonged to his grandmother and he had never been able to get it open.
It didn't make any sounds when shaken, though, so it was likely empty.
So instead of breaking it open, he had decided to sell it.
Well, it was cheap and looked neat, so I picked it up. The dark wood and the silver painted symbols was kind of cool. If I was ever able to get it open I could keep candy or something in it.
Unless it was something like in that movie and summoned a bunch of demons when opened. Unlikely, though, as the guy selling it said that he had seen it open before his grandmother died.
I kept one eye on the TV as I idly started to slide the wooden plates around.
Huh. Wonder why I didn't notice that before. It wasn't random lines on the plates, they formed a maze. Well that made things a hell of a lot easier! I thought it was going to form a picture or something. D'oh.
As it turned out, it didn't get that much easier. But at least it was possible for me to open it now other than by pure chance. Even so, though, it took me almost two hours before I heard a small click.
Grinning in triumph I sat up fully to put it on the small table before I hesitated.
Strange lockbox with silver symbols on the sides, a labyrinth-themed lock puzzle mechanism on the lid sold to me from some guy on a fleamarket.
Okay... That triggered all of my 'be careful' instincts.
Seriously, I think I saw a horror movie like this once.
No, I'm just being silly. This is real life. Unfortunately or I would be living on a spaceship.
Damn it.
But then again, that was what the characters in movies and stories thought as well.
I gave the box a wary look. I was likely being silly, but I am an adult. I'm allowed to be silly at times.
What's the use of being a responsible adult unless you are allowed to be silly when you want to?
Standing up, I left the box where it was and walked to get the handle of my mop and taking cover behind the couch before reaching to poke the lid of the box.
There was no mystic mist or flash of light or emerging tentacles.
I chuckled and put the mophandle down before moving to sit back down. Silly over, let's see if there was something in there.
The box contained a single item, a yellow crystal the size of one of those small flashlights. Maybe two decimeters long and three or so centimeters wide. One half of it was covered with a silvery cylinder covered with what looked like some kind of occult symbols. On one side of the silver part there was a single red stone.
I frowned and picked it up, turning it over.
What in the world? Maybe I was more right than I thought when it came to the box containing something dangerous.
Maybe his grandmother was into some kind of new age shit?
That red stone kind of looked like a button though.
I froze and stared at the crystal thing in my hand. If it started to vibrate when I pressed that stone, I'd throw it through my window and burn my hand off.
It was with great trepidation that I pressed the red button. I think I would have preferred demons.
But I got neither demons nor ick. Instead the crystal lit up in a bright yellow light and a beam lashed out from it, shooting into the middle of the room where it stopped and grew into a... what I could only describe as a portal.
The hole in space grew until it was two meters tall and a meter wide and between the yellow glowing borders, I could see a misty wood. The air was suddenly full with the scents of nature coming from the hole in the air.
I had simply frozen, staring at the impossible thing before I looked down on the crystal again. I pressed the button again and the portal collapsed.
I pressed it again and the beam shot out again, reforming the portal. This time it showed something that looked like the inside of a cave and it smelled damp.
This was simply not possible.
Things like this did not happen.
Pressing the button again caused the portal to close.
I think it might be time to freak out now.
AN// Many thanks to The Grey Rook for betaing this section. While this is a SI, it is a alternate me that actually managed to get a job straight out of school. Now, it don't matter overly much, it simply changed some minor things such as living in a different place and such. No relation to the game Dungeoncrawl, this was inspired by doing rift runs in Diablo 3, but it's not a Diablo fanfic.
Okay, reality check.
I picked up the crystal wand thing and looked it over. I didn't recognize any of the symbols, nor could I see how it had been put together.
This thing apparently opened some kind of portal at the press of a button. Where to, I had no idea.
Still, nothing had wanted to eat me yet, so the place couldn't be that dangerous.
I had not touched it since yesterday, instead I had defaulted back to what I always did when I had something that bothered me and was too much to handle at once.
Video games to take my mind off it, letting it churn through my 'background processes' if you will.
But now it was time to take a closer look at this impossible thing and I was back on the couch.
I aimed it at the middle of the room again and pressed the button, causing the yellow beam of light to beam out and form a two meter tall and a meter wide hole in space.
The yellow glowing circle revealed what looked like some kind of dusty canyon under a red sun. The air smelled dry and dusty and even two meters from the portal I could feel the heat of the sun.
I quickly scrambled to press the button again, causing the portal to snap closed while I wished really hard I didn't just get a lethal dose of radioactive agents.
Okay. Let's be a bit more careful than that.
I collapsed on the couch with a sigh, putting the crystal portal thingy down on the table. What in the world should I do now?
Should I hand it over to the government? They had the resources to handle something like this.
Did I sell it? If I managed it safely, I could make a epic fuckload of money. This might be the most advanced technology on the fricking planet. It's likely a thousand years ahead of what we can build now.
Hell, it is almost for certain not made by human hands.
Which mean that it was alien.
Holy crap, I have alien technology!
I took a slow deep breath at the crystal device. It might just be me being paranoid but trying to sell it to anyone might be a really fast way to getting disappeared, if not outright killed if the wrong sort of people found out about it. The fact that this thing existed and if this did, it would be likely that other artifacts existed. And as I never heard about any... that pointed towards bad news.
Even if they didn't make the artifact and I suddenly disappear, if this knowledge got out, it could destabilize diplomatic relations. That ruled out the government and selling it.
So what did I do?
Should I put it back in the box, lock it and then just toss it in the ocean?
I picked it up again, turning it over in my hands before I shook my head. No.
I couldn't do that. If I did, I would never forgive myself. This had to be done, even if I could never let anyone know what I found out.
Something like this simply couldn't be stored away in a box somewhere without being examined.
Nodding to myself, I sat up and put the portal device back into it's box, closing it.
If I'm doing this, I am doing it right.
Just jumping through the first portal would have been idiotic even if I had never seen Sliders. Who knew how long they stayed open?
What if it didn't reopen here after being closed? So far it seemed to open to random spots.
No, I was going to do this right.
Full documentation, methodical research.
Standing up I picked the box up and walked over to put it away in a drawer before heading to boot my computer up.
It was a bit strange how calm I felt about this, but I was pretty sure it had not fully hit me yet on what the hell I just discovered.
It would likely hit me later when trying to go asleep.
First things first...
I started with firing up my browser and my word processor before starting to write down a list on what I might need and what I could get.
Expedition:
Some kind of weapon. That would be difficult in Sweden, not to mention expensive even if you went the legal route. I didn't even know where to start illegally. Might have to improvise. Firearms was out. Aluminum baseball bat? In any case I needed something for defense. Wish I knew how to use a bow.
Helmet.
Good Camera(Gopro? Some kind of head camera.)
Small laptop with good battery. Check, have that.
Good bag and clothes fitting for it(Visit military surplus?)
Food.
Water.(Water purifier).
A good knife(multitool?)
Flashlight.(Headlamp?)
Reliable fire starter.
I frowned and glanced at the drawer. Not that I planned to go through it any time soon. There was SCIENCE to be done first. Everything else would have plenty of time to arrive after being ordered.
Better take a few days to figure out what to bring and what kind of experiments to run before I did anything and do it right. Because ending up trapped on a alien planet would kind of suck a bit.
AN// kinglugia is the one that deserve thanks for betaing this section.
I picked up the crystal wand thing and looked it over. I didn't recognize any of the symbols, nor could I see how it had been put together.
This thing apparently opened some kind of portal at the press of a button. Where to, I had no idea.
Still, nothing had wanted to eat me yet, so the place couldn't be that dangerous.
I had not touched it since yesterday, instead I had defaulted back to what I always did when I had something that bothered me and was too much to handle at once.
Video games to take my mind off it, letting it churn through my 'background processes' if you will.
But now it was time to take a closer look at this impossible thing and I was back on the couch.
I aimed it at the middle of the room again and pressed the button, causing the yellow beam of light to beam out and form a two meter tall and a meter wide hole in space.
The yellow glowing circle revealed what looked like some kind of dusty canyon under a red sun. The air smelled dry and dusty and even two meters from the portal I could feel the heat of the sun.
I quickly scrambled to press the button again, causing the portal to snap closed while I wished really hard I didn't just get a lethal dose of radioactive agents.
Okay. Let's be a bit more careful than that.
I collapsed on the couch with a sigh, putting the crystal portal thingy down on the table. What in the world should I do now?
Should I hand it over to the government? They had the resources to handle something like this.
Did I sell it? If I managed it safely, I could make a epic fuckload of money. This might be the most advanced technology on the fricking planet. It's likely a thousand years ahead of what we can build now.
Hell, it is almost for certain not made by human hands.
Which mean that it was alien.
Holy crap, I have alien technology!
I took a slow deep breath at the crystal device. It might just be me being paranoid but trying to sell it to anyone might be a really fast way to getting disappeared, if not outright killed if the wrong sort of people found out about it. The fact that this thing existed and if this did, it would be likely that other artifacts existed. And as I never heard about any... that pointed towards bad news.
Even if they didn't make the artifact and I suddenly disappear, if this knowledge got out, it could destabilize diplomatic relations. That ruled out the government and selling it.
So what did I do?
Should I put it back in the box, lock it and then just toss it in the ocean?
I picked it up again, turning it over in my hands before I shook my head. No.
I couldn't do that. If I did, I would never forgive myself. This had to be done, even if I could never let anyone know what I found out.
Something like this simply couldn't be stored away in a box somewhere without being examined.
Nodding to myself, I sat up and put the portal device back into it's box, closing it.
If I'm doing this, I am doing it right.
Just jumping through the first portal would have been idiotic even if I had never seen Sliders. Who knew how long they stayed open?
What if it didn't reopen here after being closed? So far it seemed to open to random spots.
No, I was going to do this right.
Full documentation, methodical research.
Standing up I picked the box up and walked over to put it away in a drawer before heading to boot my computer up.
It was a bit strange how calm I felt about this, but I was pretty sure it had not fully hit me yet on what the hell I just discovered.
It would likely hit me later when trying to go asleep.
First things first...
I started with firing up my browser and my word processor before starting to write down a list on what I might need and what I could get.
Expedition:
Some kind of weapon. That would be difficult in Sweden, not to mention expensive even if you went the legal route. I didn't even know where to start illegally. Might have to improvise. Firearms was out. Aluminum baseball bat? In any case I needed something for defense. Wish I knew how to use a bow.
Helmet.
Good Camera(Gopro? Some kind of head camera.)
Small laptop with good battery. Check, have that.
Good bag and clothes fitting for it(Visit military surplus?)
Food.
Water.(Water purifier).
A good knife(multitool?)
Flashlight.(Headlamp?)
Reliable fire starter.
I frowned and glanced at the drawer. Not that I planned to go through it any time soon. There was SCIENCE to be done first. Everything else would have plenty of time to arrive after being ordered.
Better take a few days to figure out what to bring and what kind of experiments to run before I did anything and do it right. Because ending up trapped on a alien planet would kind of suck a bit.
AN// kinglugia is the one that deserve thanks for betaing this section.
I looked through the portal in front of me. It looked relatively clear.
The area was clearly artificial with walls and floor made from cut stone. To be frank, it looked like a damp dungeon.
Smelled like it too.
Raising my phone I took a picture through the portal. I'm not rushing into this. If I was to run what was basically a Stargate program from my living room, I was going to do it right. Well, as right as I could.
I would have wanted a geiger counter as well but I had no idea how to use one other than tictic was likely bad and they looked complicated. They were also expensive so, sadly, that would have to wait.
Besides, if this thing was giving off dangerous radiation I was likely dead already.
Switching apps on my phone I started recording, "Experiment five. As previous experiments have shown, the portal collapses automatically after two hours. The current destination shows a primitive, but clearly artificial environment consisting of grey brick. It looks like some kind of underground tunnel.
"This is the second of these I have observed so far and it is possible that the crystal device only has a limited number of destinations. However, it is not identical, just similar."
I had decided early on to do the recordings in English to make sure that as many people as possible could take part of them without translation just in case something went wrong.
"I will now proceed with the biological specimen transfer through the event horizon." I said and put my phone down, picking up the small plastic box containing a small white mouse.
There was no reason to worry about gas exchange. If the atmosphere was dangerous, I would already been infected or killed. I could smell it, after all.
But there was no guarantee that you could just step through safely. Hence, experiments.
I reached into the box and grabbed the small mouse before putting it in a second box that I had attached to a stick.
"I am now moving the specimen into the portal." I said, slowly extending the wooden stick with the mouse in a box through the portal.
I carefully lowered the stick and then pulled the string going along the handle to make the lid pop off, dumping the small rodent onto the floor.
It quickly scrambled away into the shadows.
Nodding, I picked up the phone again. "The biological sample seems to have survived without having taken any damage." I reported. "Proceeding with experiment six."
Picking up the next part I looked it over one last time. A digital thermometer combined with a camera and a strong flashlight, mounted on an electric remote-control car.
I would really have preferred something that could stream me video, but there was only so much I could afford. If I could find something to sell, I could buy one of those streaming quad-rotor things, but I would just have to improvise with this thing for now.
I did find one of those 'wifi' streaming robots online for a decent price that crawled around on tracks.
It wasn't perfect, but that assuming radio waves would pass through the portal, I could set up a powerful wireless router on my side and drive it around safely for quite some distance.
But for now this would have to work.
I took one more look through the portal to make sure that nothing else had changed before I reached through it for the first time and put the remote control car down on the rocks while being very, very careful not to touch the sides of the portal.
Earlier experiments proved that they destroyed anything they touched. Closing the portal around something... well, it went about as well as you could expect for the object that was in the way.
But everything so far showed that it always stayed open for two hours unless closed with a second press on the button, so I felt safe enough to put my arm though it.
Resisting the urge to touch the rock for a second, I pulled my hand back and reached for the remote of the small car, sending it driving down the corridor as I followed the light with my eyes.
I drove it as far as I dared. I didn't want to lose the signal.
By that time I could barely see it's light.
Damn, I wished I had one of those streaming robots! It would be a lot easier if I could see what that damn car was really doing.
There... I think I have turned it around. The light was getting closer again.
No, it stopped again. Sigh.
I fiddled with the controls until it started moving again. It went slowly until it got close enough for me to see more than its flashlight, but after that, things went smoothly.
Stopping the makeshift MALP by the portal I reached through and picked it up, checking the numbers on the thermometer.
The minimum temperature was less than what I saw by the portal. Made sense, the air there leaked between the dungeon-like area and my apartment. Still, fifteen degrees C wasn't too cold.
Hell, I'd gone around in T-shirt in worse temperatures.
Taking one last look through the portal, trying to see if I could spot the mouse before I pressed the button on the crystal device, causing it to snap closed.
Time to review the footage.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
The area was clearly artificial with walls and floor made from cut stone. To be frank, it looked like a damp dungeon.
Smelled like it too.
Raising my phone I took a picture through the portal. I'm not rushing into this. If I was to run what was basically a Stargate program from my living room, I was going to do it right. Well, as right as I could.
I would have wanted a geiger counter as well but I had no idea how to use one other than tictic was likely bad and they looked complicated. They were also expensive so, sadly, that would have to wait.
Besides, if this thing was giving off dangerous radiation I was likely dead already.
Switching apps on my phone I started recording, "Experiment five. As previous experiments have shown, the portal collapses automatically after two hours. The current destination shows a primitive, but clearly artificial environment consisting of grey brick. It looks like some kind of underground tunnel.
"This is the second of these I have observed so far and it is possible that the crystal device only has a limited number of destinations. However, it is not identical, just similar."
I had decided early on to do the recordings in English to make sure that as many people as possible could take part of them without translation just in case something went wrong.
"I will now proceed with the biological specimen transfer through the event horizon." I said and put my phone down, picking up the small plastic box containing a small white mouse.
There was no reason to worry about gas exchange. If the atmosphere was dangerous, I would already been infected or killed. I could smell it, after all.
But there was no guarantee that you could just step through safely. Hence, experiments.
I reached into the box and grabbed the small mouse before putting it in a second box that I had attached to a stick.
"I am now moving the specimen into the portal." I said, slowly extending the wooden stick with the mouse in a box through the portal.
I carefully lowered the stick and then pulled the string going along the handle to make the lid pop off, dumping the small rodent onto the floor.
It quickly scrambled away into the shadows.
Nodding, I picked up the phone again. "The biological sample seems to have survived without having taken any damage." I reported. "Proceeding with experiment six."
Picking up the next part I looked it over one last time. A digital thermometer combined with a camera and a strong flashlight, mounted on an electric remote-control car.
I would really have preferred something that could stream me video, but there was only so much I could afford. If I could find something to sell, I could buy one of those streaming quad-rotor things, but I would just have to improvise with this thing for now.
I did find one of those 'wifi' streaming robots online for a decent price that crawled around on tracks.
It wasn't perfect, but that assuming radio waves would pass through the portal, I could set up a powerful wireless router on my side and drive it around safely for quite some distance.
But for now this would have to work.
I took one more look through the portal to make sure that nothing else had changed before I reached through it for the first time and put the remote control car down on the rocks while being very, very careful not to touch the sides of the portal.
Earlier experiments proved that they destroyed anything they touched. Closing the portal around something... well, it went about as well as you could expect for the object that was in the way.
But everything so far showed that it always stayed open for two hours unless closed with a second press on the button, so I felt safe enough to put my arm though it.
Resisting the urge to touch the rock for a second, I pulled my hand back and reached for the remote of the small car, sending it driving down the corridor as I followed the light with my eyes.
I drove it as far as I dared. I didn't want to lose the signal.
By that time I could barely see it's light.
Damn, I wished I had one of those streaming robots! It would be a lot easier if I could see what that damn car was really doing.
There... I think I have turned it around. The light was getting closer again.
No, it stopped again. Sigh.
I fiddled with the controls until it started moving again. It went slowly until it got close enough for me to see more than its flashlight, but after that, things went smoothly.
Stopping the makeshift MALP by the portal I reached through and picked it up, checking the numbers on the thermometer.
The minimum temperature was less than what I saw by the portal. Made sense, the air there leaked between the dungeon-like area and my apartment. Still, fifteen degrees C wasn't too cold.
Hell, I'd gone around in T-shirt in worse temperatures.
Taking one last look through the portal, trying to see if I could spot the mouse before I pressed the button on the crystal device, causing it to snap closed.
Time to review the footage.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
The footage didn't show much, in the end.
More of the tunnel and heavy wooden and metal doors at each side from time to time. Same gray stone walls.
However, I apparently spent three minutes running it against a door at the end of the tunnel before I turned it around and headed back.
Well, that's just the price to pay for not streaming video.
That was a week ago and I had finally gathered everything I thought I might possibly need.
"Okay... Let's see." I said as I knelt down to do a final check of my surplus military backpack. "Couple of days worth of food, three liters of pure water, water purifier, bathroom supplies, fire starting materials, lighter, matches and fire piston thingy. Extra set of clothes along with winter jacket and sleeping bag. First aid kit. Small laptop with good battery. Manual laptop charger."
I checked it all off on the checklist before closing the backpack.
"Lightweight tent." I then continued, strapping it to the backpack.
I estimated that the expedition would only take a maximum of forty minutes to give me all the buffer in the world in case something went wrong, but I had watched Sliders.
Just in case, if the worst thing happen and I got stranded, I didn't want be unequipped.
Okay, next would be me.
"Good boots, socks, underwear, surplus military pants, black t-shirt. Military vest, pockets stuffed with small useful items." I quickly went through them and checked against the list. Most of them contained candy, but there was also a pocket knife and a small torch, pen and paper.
Everything seemed to be in order.
"Belt...good knife, hard drive for the head camera. Secondary, manually charging torch."
I think that was everything.
I nodded and started to get ready, putting my surplus military flak helmet on before adjusting the GoPro camera in place and turning it on before sliding a second thing around the helmet above the camera.
Headlamps were way too damn useful not to use. Keeping my hands free could be really important.
I shrugged the backpack on and did a couple of bounces to check that it was comfortable enough, if a bit heavy. Then I draped the length of rope diagonally across me over my left shoulder.
Rope was too damn useful not to bring.
Finally I picked up my last piece of equipment. A heavy-duty crowbar, a full meter long. Just as good a weapon as a baseball bat and way more useful for other things as well.
If it was good enough for Freeman, it was good enough for me.
Honestly, I would have preferred a gun, but even if I technically could get my hands on one, it would take six months of courses to do. Not waiting that long.
Not that I wanted to be waving one around during first contact anyway.
I took a slow deep breath and then reached for the last piece of equipment and picked up the Crystal Device.
Okay then. Let's go.
I aimed it at an empty spot and pressed the button, causing a portal to open up to show a misty forest.
Nope. I need somewhere that might have something useful. Okay, new planet and everything, but what could I find there that I can actually examine?
Also, forests had animals that might want to eat me.
I closed it and opened it again. Dusty desert.
Nope. I needed artifacts.
I kept zapping until a brown tunnel showed up. It was dungeon-like, but not exactly like the other one I explored with the MALP before.
The fact that this one was clearly laid and carved stone was about the only thing they had in common. This one had more carvings and was clearly built in a different style, if just as dark and damp.
This place did not look inhabited. While there were a couple of torches on the walls, none of them were lit.
Still, even abandoned, it should contain interesting artifacts.
As horrible as it might sound, hopefully something I could sell. All the equipment I bought was quite expensive for me.
"Come on, Malpy. Let's have a look, then." I said and picked up the MALP and remote control before stepping through the portal and looked around.
Interesting, I was at the end of the corridor and the portal had opened at the end of the tunnel. Was it built for this?
Maybe the device was broken and jumped between pre-programmed locations, or maybe there was something missing.
Putting down the MALP and a weight, I drove it down the tunnel about five meters, causing a string of green fishing line to unspool behind the malp as well as check for traps ahead of me.
Good, it worked. That would guide me back if I needed it.
Making sure the Crystal Device was secure in my inner pocket, I slid the large crowbar into my belt before I started to slowly and carefully follow the MALP into the dark.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
More of the tunnel and heavy wooden and metal doors at each side from time to time. Same gray stone walls.
However, I apparently spent three minutes running it against a door at the end of the tunnel before I turned it around and headed back.
Well, that's just the price to pay for not streaming video.
That was a week ago and I had finally gathered everything I thought I might possibly need.
"Okay... Let's see." I said as I knelt down to do a final check of my surplus military backpack. "Couple of days worth of food, three liters of pure water, water purifier, bathroom supplies, fire starting materials, lighter, matches and fire piston thingy. Extra set of clothes along with winter jacket and sleeping bag. First aid kit. Small laptop with good battery. Manual laptop charger."
I checked it all off on the checklist before closing the backpack.
"Lightweight tent." I then continued, strapping it to the backpack.
I estimated that the expedition would only take a maximum of forty minutes to give me all the buffer in the world in case something went wrong, but I had watched Sliders.
Just in case, if the worst thing happen and I got stranded, I didn't want be unequipped.
Okay, next would be me.
"Good boots, socks, underwear, surplus military pants, black t-shirt. Military vest, pockets stuffed with small useful items." I quickly went through them and checked against the list. Most of them contained candy, but there was also a pocket knife and a small torch, pen and paper.
Everything seemed to be in order.
"Belt...good knife, hard drive for the head camera. Secondary, manually charging torch."
I think that was everything.
I nodded and started to get ready, putting my surplus military flak helmet on before adjusting the GoPro camera in place and turning it on before sliding a second thing around the helmet above the camera.
Headlamps were way too damn useful not to use. Keeping my hands free could be really important.
I shrugged the backpack on and did a couple of bounces to check that it was comfortable enough, if a bit heavy. Then I draped the length of rope diagonally across me over my left shoulder.
Rope was too damn useful not to bring.
Finally I picked up my last piece of equipment. A heavy-duty crowbar, a full meter long. Just as good a weapon as a baseball bat and way more useful for other things as well.
If it was good enough for Freeman, it was good enough for me.
Honestly, I would have preferred a gun, but even if I technically could get my hands on one, it would take six months of courses to do. Not waiting that long.
Not that I wanted to be waving one around during first contact anyway.
I took a slow deep breath and then reached for the last piece of equipment and picked up the Crystal Device.
Okay then. Let's go.
I aimed it at an empty spot and pressed the button, causing a portal to open up to show a misty forest.
Nope. I need somewhere that might have something useful. Okay, new planet and everything, but what could I find there that I can actually examine?
Also, forests had animals that might want to eat me.
I closed it and opened it again. Dusty desert.
Nope. I needed artifacts.
I kept zapping until a brown tunnel showed up. It was dungeon-like, but not exactly like the other one I explored with the MALP before.
The fact that this one was clearly laid and carved stone was about the only thing they had in common. This one had more carvings and was clearly built in a different style, if just as dark and damp.
This place did not look inhabited. While there were a couple of torches on the walls, none of them were lit.
Still, even abandoned, it should contain interesting artifacts.
As horrible as it might sound, hopefully something I could sell. All the equipment I bought was quite expensive for me.
"Come on, Malpy. Let's have a look, then." I said and picked up the MALP and remote control before stepping through the portal and looked around.
Interesting, I was at the end of the corridor and the portal had opened at the end of the tunnel. Was it built for this?
Maybe the device was broken and jumped between pre-programmed locations, or maybe there was something missing.
Putting down the MALP and a weight, I drove it down the tunnel about five meters, causing a string of green fishing line to unspool behind the malp as well as check for traps ahead of me.
Good, it worked. That would guide me back if I needed it.
Making sure the Crystal Device was secure in my inner pocket, I slid the large crowbar into my belt before I started to slowly and carefully follow the MALP into the dark.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
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I slowly made my way down the tunnel, the only sounds accompanying me was the whine of the electric car and my own footsteps.
It didn't take long to reach a corner and I stopped the remote control car to peak around it.
Great job, genius. You have a headlight on your head. I'm sure there would have been no way for anyone to see me, walking around with a ton of lights down a dark fucking tunnel.
Sadly, that thought didn't strike me until after I had already done it. Luckily, though, the tunnel was clear.
Nobody there, but there was a sturdy wooden door in the left wall about five meters further away.
Damn it, be more careful.
Think or you might get killed. Or worse, trapped.
Stepping around the corner again, I drove the RC car down it, following in it's track about five meters behind, driving it past the door.
When I reached the door though, I stopped to look over it.
It looked very solid and very old. A pair of heavy metal hinges on one side, black metal bars across it, holding the solid oak planks together. A big heavy handle.
The door looked like something that would had belonged on a very old and solidly built barn, if thicker looking.
Putting the remote control down on the floor, I checked my wrist watch timer. Five minutes passed, thirty five minutes left before I have to start back.
I pulled the crowbar from my belt to hold in my right hand as I reached out to start to slowly push the dusty door open.
While the design looked human enough, who knew what kind of aliens I could run into. Of course, the dust on the handle and in the corridor did point towards this place being long abandoned.
The door started to slowly creak open and I gave it a push before stepping back and taking cover against the wall.
The door hit the wall with a creak and a wooden thump and then there was silence other than my breathing.
I carefully peeked around the corner into the room. No use bothering with the headlight then, if they didn't notice the door opening, they wouldn't notice the light either.
The room was dusty, I could see barrels, a table and chairs, empty bookshelves and a chest. No windows. Nobody in there.
Considering the dust on the door and corridor, I really would had been surprised if there had been somebody in the room.
Even so I let out a relived sigh. No aliens was better than aliens wanting to eat my face. Still, this place really did not look alien.
Even disregarding the lack of high tech, it looked like something you could expect to find in a medieval castle.
Walking into the room I looked around. No, it looked exactly like it did a second ago. No writing on the walls, no large red buttons or glistering jewels.
The room just contained old furniture and nothing else.
Honestly, you would think exploring distant worlds would be more exciting. I mean, this could have been Earth for all I knew.
Actually, it could be Earth. But considering the portal once opened to somewhere with a red sun, I kind of doubted it.
How old was this Crystal Device? Was this some kind of proof that humans had spread through the galaxy far in the past?
Pushing that theory into the back of my mind for now, I crossed the room towards the chest as I knelt down to feel along the edges, giving the lid a small tug.
Locked.
Muttering a apology, I jammed one end of the crowbar in beneath the lid. If my archeology teacher saw this, she would have had my scalp.
But I only had enough thirty minutes and there was no way to say if I would ever find this world again so I didn't have time to try to fiddle a lock open. There was a lot more of structure to examine and I needed to get this open, check inside and then move on.
I put my weight on the crowbar and the lid snapped open with a groan of metal and snapping of wood.
Putting the crowbar down on the stone floor, I pushed the lid open and peaked inside.
Empty. Well, almost empty. Reaching in I picked up a bundle of cloth only to find that it contained something.
Closing the lid again I put the small bundle down and started to unwrap it. Ooh, nice find. It contained a piece of armor.
It was a pair of those forearm covers. Sure, it was a pretty simple looking pair and they were only made to cover the top of the forearm with a wide strip of metal attached with leather straps, but considering the condition of the rest of the room, the condition of the vambraces was pretty remarkable.
The metal was bronze like but it wasn't eroded or rusted or anything. If you replaced the leather straps, you could likely wear these into combat.
Wow, very nice find.
A loud crash behind me brought my out of my thoughts and I grabbed the crowbar as I span around, getting up, stumbling as the backpack almost caused me to lose my balance.
What was that?
Whatever it was, it killed my MALP. The light in the corridor is gone.
There was a scraping sound, slowly approaching as I squeezed the crowbar in my hands. Swallowing I forced myself to speak up.
Possible first contact. Don't screw this up!
"H-hello... I come in peace!"
Oh, great job there, Kirk.
I was saved from more snarky comments by my own brain as the source of those sounds shambled in through the open door.
The skeleton was wearing a torn and almost completely decayed set of leather armor, a sword in it's right hand, it's left arm was missing at the elbow.
It didn't do anything but start to shamble in my direction, raising it's sword slowly above it's head, so I did the only logical thing I could think of during those circumstances.
I screamed in terror.
AN// A bucket of thanks to macdjord for betaing this section.
It didn't take long to reach a corner and I stopped the remote control car to peak around it.
Great job, genius. You have a headlight on your head. I'm sure there would have been no way for anyone to see me, walking around with a ton of lights down a dark fucking tunnel.
Sadly, that thought didn't strike me until after I had already done it. Luckily, though, the tunnel was clear.
Nobody there, but there was a sturdy wooden door in the left wall about five meters further away.
Damn it, be more careful.
Think or you might get killed. Or worse, trapped.
Stepping around the corner again, I drove the RC car down it, following in it's track about five meters behind, driving it past the door.
When I reached the door though, I stopped to look over it.
It looked very solid and very old. A pair of heavy metal hinges on one side, black metal bars across it, holding the solid oak planks together. A big heavy handle.
The door looked like something that would had belonged on a very old and solidly built barn, if thicker looking.
Putting the remote control down on the floor, I checked my wrist watch timer. Five minutes passed, thirty five minutes left before I have to start back.
I pulled the crowbar from my belt to hold in my right hand as I reached out to start to slowly push the dusty door open.
While the design looked human enough, who knew what kind of aliens I could run into. Of course, the dust on the handle and in the corridor did point towards this place being long abandoned.
The door started to slowly creak open and I gave it a push before stepping back and taking cover against the wall.
The door hit the wall with a creak and a wooden thump and then there was silence other than my breathing.
I carefully peeked around the corner into the room. No use bothering with the headlight then, if they didn't notice the door opening, they wouldn't notice the light either.
The room was dusty, I could see barrels, a table and chairs, empty bookshelves and a chest. No windows. Nobody in there.
Considering the dust on the door and corridor, I really would had been surprised if there had been somebody in the room.
Even so I let out a relived sigh. No aliens was better than aliens wanting to eat my face. Still, this place really did not look alien.
Even disregarding the lack of high tech, it looked like something you could expect to find in a medieval castle.
Walking into the room I looked around. No, it looked exactly like it did a second ago. No writing on the walls, no large red buttons or glistering jewels.
The room just contained old furniture and nothing else.
Honestly, you would think exploring distant worlds would be more exciting. I mean, this could have been Earth for all I knew.
Actually, it could be Earth. But considering the portal once opened to somewhere with a red sun, I kind of doubted it.
How old was this Crystal Device? Was this some kind of proof that humans had spread through the galaxy far in the past?
Pushing that theory into the back of my mind for now, I crossed the room towards the chest as I knelt down to feel along the edges, giving the lid a small tug.
Locked.
Muttering a apology, I jammed one end of the crowbar in beneath the lid. If my archeology teacher saw this, she would have had my scalp.
But I only had enough thirty minutes and there was no way to say if I would ever find this world again so I didn't have time to try to fiddle a lock open. There was a lot more of structure to examine and I needed to get this open, check inside and then move on.
I put my weight on the crowbar and the lid snapped open with a groan of metal and snapping of wood.
Putting the crowbar down on the stone floor, I pushed the lid open and peaked inside.
Empty. Well, almost empty. Reaching in I picked up a bundle of cloth only to find that it contained something.
Closing the lid again I put the small bundle down and started to unwrap it. Ooh, nice find. It contained a piece of armor.
It was a pair of those forearm covers. Sure, it was a pretty simple looking pair and they were only made to cover the top of the forearm with a wide strip of metal attached with leather straps, but considering the condition of the rest of the room, the condition of the vambraces was pretty remarkable.
The metal was bronze like but it wasn't eroded or rusted or anything. If you replaced the leather straps, you could likely wear these into combat.
Wow, very nice find.
A loud crash behind me brought my out of my thoughts and I grabbed the crowbar as I span around, getting up, stumbling as the backpack almost caused me to lose my balance.
What was that?
Whatever it was, it killed my MALP. The light in the corridor is gone.
There was a scraping sound, slowly approaching as I squeezed the crowbar in my hands. Swallowing I forced myself to speak up.
Possible first contact. Don't screw this up!
"H-hello... I come in peace!"
Oh, great job there, Kirk.
I was saved from more snarky comments by my own brain as the source of those sounds shambled in through the open door.
The skeleton was wearing a torn and almost completely decayed set of leather armor, a sword in it's right hand, it's left arm was missing at the elbow.
It didn't do anything but start to shamble in my direction, raising it's sword slowly above it's head, so I did the only logical thing I could think of during those circumstances.
I screamed in terror.
AN// A bucket of thanks to macdjord for betaing this section.
Scrambling backwards away from the shambling terror my backpack hit the wall and I almost stumbled.
Shit!
Trying to get away I was suddenly jerked to a stop. My backpack had caught on something.
"Fuck!" I yelled and tugged, trying to untangle myself from the straps but the ropes draped across me and it were getting in the way, slowing me down.
I managed to just barely wriggle out of the shoulder straps and rope, ducking down as the skeleton slammed its sword against the stone wall just where my head had been a second before.
Crawling out of the way I rolled to the side, quickly scrambling beneath the table and out the other side.
By the time I was back on my feet and could get my eyes back on the horror again, the skeleton had started to shuffle in my direction again, slowly raising its sword once more.
Actually putting something solid between me and the scientific impossibility.
What in the actual undead shambling fuck!?
The skeleton ran into the table and started to shuffle along the edge to the right. It waved its wide short sword in my general direction, but it acted like it could barely lift the weapon.
What the hell was that thing?
I slowly moved to the right, mirroring the skeleton-like creature... no... the undead skeleton. Call it what it was.
It was a fucking necromantic horror. As in undead walking minion of evil.
It's bloody dead, just not dead enough!
What do I do? What do I do?
Calm yourself. It's just an undead skeleton.
...yeah, just an undead skeleton. Trying to kill me.
Stop. Calm. Think.
Yeah... have to think. I'm smarter than it. That's how you survive. Out-think it. First, a weapon.
Trying to keep from panicking, I kept the table between me and the shambling necromantic creation as I looked around for where I dropped my crowbar.
Rushing to grab it by the chest where I dropped it, I gripped it in both hands, facing the skeleton as it started to round the table, shambling in my direction.
Okay. Slow. Armed. I have better reach.
Come on... a little closer.
It started to raise its sword as it got closer and I stepped in, swinging hard with my crowbar, catching its sword mid blade, ripping it out of its hand and causing the blade to clatter across the stone floor before I took another step and swung again, just as hard and higher.
The undead creation didn't react as I swung at its skull, which shattered as if it was an old vase. When its skull was destroyed it simply collapsed in a pile of bones and old rotted armor.
Panting softly I slowly lowered my crowbar, staring at my former adversary.
I killed it... It's dead. Deader.
I think.
I gave the pile a poke with my crowbar, staying as far back as I could. It didn't move.
Okay. Stay calm, you can panic when you get away from here. Back at home.
Reality check: So not super technology. Magic wand portal wand thingy.
Okay then, let's change paradigm. I'm not an explorer of a fantasy dungeon. Stop thinking like one.
Closing my eyes for a moment I took a slow, deep breath before letting it out again. Time to start thinking like an adventurer and then get the hell out before you get your brain eaten by an Illithid.
Go by the Adventurers' motto:
Keep calm and loot the place.
Opening my eyes again I quickly snatched up the vambraces and put them on the table as I kept my head on a swivel, keeping a good look around as I moved to untangle the backpack from the torch holder it had caught on.
Stuffing the vambraces into it, I took another look around before quickly retrieving the sword of the skeleton.
It didn't look rusted or overly damaged so I grabbed that in my right hand as I put the crowbar in my belt before shrugging my backpack on.
I glanced back and then left the rope behind. It made it too hard to get out of the backpack and almost got me killed, I had to leave that behind.
Carefully I peeked out of the room, short sword in hand as I looked both ways down the corridor, listening.
No sounds... but I didn't hear that thing coming either.
Something glinted in the light of my headlight and I quickly moved to snatch up the malp camera before I turned and ran back the way I came.
I didn't stop before I was safe in my living room and could close the portal behind me.
AN// A couple of buckets of thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.
Shit!
Trying to get away I was suddenly jerked to a stop. My backpack had caught on something.
"Fuck!" I yelled and tugged, trying to untangle myself from the straps but the ropes draped across me and it were getting in the way, slowing me down.
I managed to just barely wriggle out of the shoulder straps and rope, ducking down as the skeleton slammed its sword against the stone wall just where my head had been a second before.
Crawling out of the way I rolled to the side, quickly scrambling beneath the table and out the other side.
By the time I was back on my feet and could get my eyes back on the horror again, the skeleton had started to shuffle in my direction again, slowly raising its sword once more.
Actually putting something solid between me and the scientific impossibility.
What in the actual undead shambling fuck!?
The skeleton ran into the table and started to shuffle along the edge to the right. It waved its wide short sword in my general direction, but it acted like it could barely lift the weapon.
What the hell was that thing?
I slowly moved to the right, mirroring the skeleton-like creature... no... the undead skeleton. Call it what it was.
It was a fucking necromantic horror. As in undead walking minion of evil.
It's bloody dead, just not dead enough!
What do I do? What do I do?
Calm yourself. It's just an undead skeleton.
...yeah, just an undead skeleton. Trying to kill me.
Stop. Calm. Think.
Yeah... have to think. I'm smarter than it. That's how you survive. Out-think it. First, a weapon.
Trying to keep from panicking, I kept the table between me and the shambling necromantic creation as I looked around for where I dropped my crowbar.
Rushing to grab it by the chest where I dropped it, I gripped it in both hands, facing the skeleton as it started to round the table, shambling in my direction.
Okay. Slow. Armed. I have better reach.
Come on... a little closer.
It started to raise its sword as it got closer and I stepped in, swinging hard with my crowbar, catching its sword mid blade, ripping it out of its hand and causing the blade to clatter across the stone floor before I took another step and swung again, just as hard and higher.
The undead creation didn't react as I swung at its skull, which shattered as if it was an old vase. When its skull was destroyed it simply collapsed in a pile of bones and old rotted armor.
Panting softly I slowly lowered my crowbar, staring at my former adversary.
I killed it... It's dead. Deader.
I think.
I gave the pile a poke with my crowbar, staying as far back as I could. It didn't move.
Okay. Stay calm, you can panic when you get away from here. Back at home.
Reality check: So not super technology. Magic wand portal wand thingy.
Okay then, let's change paradigm. I'm not an explorer of a fantasy dungeon. Stop thinking like one.
Closing my eyes for a moment I took a slow, deep breath before letting it out again. Time to start thinking like an adventurer and then get the hell out before you get your brain eaten by an Illithid.
Go by the Adventurers' motto:
Keep calm and loot the place.
Opening my eyes again I quickly snatched up the vambraces and put them on the table as I kept my head on a swivel, keeping a good look around as I moved to untangle the backpack from the torch holder it had caught on.
Stuffing the vambraces into it, I took another look around before quickly retrieving the sword of the skeleton.
It didn't look rusted or overly damaged so I grabbed that in my right hand as I put the crowbar in my belt before shrugging my backpack on.
I glanced back and then left the rope behind. It made it too hard to get out of the backpack and almost got me killed, I had to leave that behind.
Carefully I peeked out of the room, short sword in hand as I looked both ways down the corridor, listening.
No sounds... but I didn't hear that thing coming either.
Something glinted in the light of my headlight and I quickly moved to snatch up the malp camera before I turned and ran back the way I came.
I didn't stop before I was safe in my living room and could close the portal behind me.
AN// A couple of buckets of thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.
I admit, I'm not a fighter. The last time I got into a fight was something like sixth grade.
Fuck, I'm not even all that brave.
So the fact that I had to fight an undead impossible fucking necromantic horror kind of bothered me a bit.
As in, as soon as I had the portal closed, I calmly and quietly freaked the hell out before collapsing into my bed to fall asleep once the adrenaline rush faded.
What followed was a couple of days spent watching the recordings from the cameras.
Honestly, when seen on the screen... shaky headcam or not... while still horrible in its implications, that shambling skeleton was nowhere near as scary as when I saw it in person.
It was slow and looked very clumsy.
The skeleton moved like a classic slow shambling zombie armed with a sword. Hell, the way it swung its weapon it looked like it was barely strong enough to lift it.
If I had been thinking clearly, I could likely have taken it even if I was unarmed, slow and weak as it seemed to be.
I could have sworn it looked faster and stronger in person.
Shock or illusion?
I was going with shock and surprise.
But the question was: what would I do next?
I sighed and let my head drop to rest my forehead against the table next to my teacup. What the hell do I do now?
Reality check: The Crystal Device opens a portal to some kind of fantasy realm with magic. For all I know it might open it to one of the actual DnD worlds.
And as sad as it might sound, the different realms of Dungeons and Dragons were actually some of the better options out there. At least those contained about equal amounts of good and evil beings.
What if the world it opened to was something like Diablo? Where the evil guys were evil, the neutral guys were evil and the good guys were dicks and/or evil.
But... didn't just the fact that it clearly opened to a world with magic make it even more important than if it had opened to alien worlds?
Because functional fucking magic. A completely new thing that, as the Crystal Device had shown, clearly worked on this world as well.
If I managed to learn it and get it here... fuck the Randi Prize, even though that would be nice. If we could bind fire elementals or something to use for heating water... hello unlimited bloody energy. Even if that didn't work, undead skeletons were clearly a thing.
Skeletons in a giant hamster wheel were also free energy. Even just that could save the world. That's not even going into other possible stuff like if you could figure out how the Crystal Device worked and could replicate it to use portals for transporting goods and people.
No more need for airplanes.
Hell, if there was no range issue it could give humanity... if not the stars, then the asteroids and planets of the sol system.
Raising my head I looked at the empty teacup. No... I simply couldn't stop. I had to continue, there was too much to gain.
All I could lose was were my mind, life and quite possibly soul if there was such a thing.
The possible gains, on the other hand, included things like, say, the stars and the continued long term survival of the human race. Not to mention what treasure I could find on the way.
I reached across the table to pick up the shortsword I had stolen from the dungeon. The leather around the handle was old and fragile, but that could be replaced, same as on the vambraces.
While the blade had some damage to it and some parts were slightly rusted it was still sharp. With the lack of a crossguard and the wide blade it actually looked more roman than classically medieval.
If I was doing this, I would need it. It was the closest thing I had to a usable weapon and not just a heavy piece of metal to clobber things with.
I had no idea how to actually use it, but it had to be better than a crowbar. I'll bring one of those too, but a smaller one.
In any case, I needed to rethink how to do this. Less exploring, more Adventurer smash and grab. Hell, if I could find enough gold, I might be able to hire a PMC or something to do it for me.
Leave the smashing and grabbing to the professionals.
But until then, I had to handle it on my own. I could ask my friends for help but... No, this was my risk to take.
I couldn't risk anyone else's life on this.
First of all, start going to the gym and sign up for martial arts classes. If I was doing this, I might as well learn to do it right. I need a gun too. A shotgun would seriously have ruined that skeleton's day.
Need to sign up for classes for a hunting license.
I nodded and put the sword back down. Even if I don't find any gold, I should be able to find other stuff like this sword to flog on ebay to pay for rent and food.
One month of practice and training so I don't get myself instantly killed, then we try again. Not enough to get the gun, but I can't wait the six months or so that would take, but I can at least get started on the process to get one while I work.
Armor. I need some armor as well. I also have to make sure that nothing escapes back through the portal either. Last thing we need is an Illithid skulking around the city.
Sigh... there goes a lot of cash. I better find something good soon.
AN// Many thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.
Fuck, I'm not even all that brave.
So the fact that I had to fight an undead impossible fucking necromantic horror kind of bothered me a bit.
As in, as soon as I had the portal closed, I calmly and quietly freaked the hell out before collapsing into my bed to fall asleep once the adrenaline rush faded.
What followed was a couple of days spent watching the recordings from the cameras.
Honestly, when seen on the screen... shaky headcam or not... while still horrible in its implications, that shambling skeleton was nowhere near as scary as when I saw it in person.
It was slow and looked very clumsy.
The skeleton moved like a classic slow shambling zombie armed with a sword. Hell, the way it swung its weapon it looked like it was barely strong enough to lift it.
If I had been thinking clearly, I could likely have taken it even if I was unarmed, slow and weak as it seemed to be.
I could have sworn it looked faster and stronger in person.
Shock or illusion?
I was going with shock and surprise.
But the question was: what would I do next?
I sighed and let my head drop to rest my forehead against the table next to my teacup. What the hell do I do now?
Reality check: The Crystal Device opens a portal to some kind of fantasy realm with magic. For all I know it might open it to one of the actual DnD worlds.
And as sad as it might sound, the different realms of Dungeons and Dragons were actually some of the better options out there. At least those contained about equal amounts of good and evil beings.
What if the world it opened to was something like Diablo? Where the evil guys were evil, the neutral guys were evil and the good guys were dicks and/or evil.
But... didn't just the fact that it clearly opened to a world with magic make it even more important than if it had opened to alien worlds?
Because functional fucking magic. A completely new thing that, as the Crystal Device had shown, clearly worked on this world as well.
If I managed to learn it and get it here... fuck the Randi Prize, even though that would be nice. If we could bind fire elementals or something to use for heating water... hello unlimited bloody energy. Even if that didn't work, undead skeletons were clearly a thing.
Skeletons in a giant hamster wheel were also free energy. Even just that could save the world. That's not even going into other possible stuff like if you could figure out how the Crystal Device worked and could replicate it to use portals for transporting goods and people.
No more need for airplanes.
Hell, if there was no range issue it could give humanity... if not the stars, then the asteroids and planets of the sol system.
Raising my head I looked at the empty teacup. No... I simply couldn't stop. I had to continue, there was too much to gain.
All I could lose was were my mind, life and quite possibly soul if there was such a thing.
The possible gains, on the other hand, included things like, say, the stars and the continued long term survival of the human race. Not to mention what treasure I could find on the way.
I reached across the table to pick up the shortsword I had stolen from the dungeon. The leather around the handle was old and fragile, but that could be replaced, same as on the vambraces.
While the blade had some damage to it and some parts were slightly rusted it was still sharp. With the lack of a crossguard and the wide blade it actually looked more roman than classically medieval.
If I was doing this, I would need it. It was the closest thing I had to a usable weapon and not just a heavy piece of metal to clobber things with.
I had no idea how to actually use it, but it had to be better than a crowbar. I'll bring one of those too, but a smaller one.
In any case, I needed to rethink how to do this. Less exploring, more Adventurer smash and grab. Hell, if I could find enough gold, I might be able to hire a PMC or something to do it for me.
Leave the smashing and grabbing to the professionals.
But until then, I had to handle it on my own. I could ask my friends for help but... No, this was my risk to take.
I couldn't risk anyone else's life on this.
First of all, start going to the gym and sign up for martial arts classes. If I was doing this, I might as well learn to do it right. I need a gun too. A shotgun would seriously have ruined that skeleton's day.
Need to sign up for classes for a hunting license.
I nodded and put the sword back down. Even if I don't find any gold, I should be able to find other stuff like this sword to flog on ebay to pay for rent and food.
One month of practice and training so I don't get myself instantly killed, then we try again. Not enough to get the gun, but I can't wait the six months or so that would take, but I can at least get started on the process to get one while I work.
Armor. I need some armor as well. I also have to make sure that nothing escapes back through the portal either. Last thing we need is an Illithid skulking around the city.
Sigh... there goes a lot of cash. I better find something good soon.
AN// Many thanks to DonLyn for betaing this section.
Taking a slow, deep breath, I started to check over my equipment. When it came to armor, it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
A pair of sturdy biker leather pants and knee-high reinforced boots. A long-armed t-shirt covered by a stabvest covered with a green 'military' vest of many pockets. I was also wearing those vambraces I looted, the rotted leather straps replaced by nylon ones. I would have gone for a leather jacket as well, but then I would have melted from the heat, even in a cool dungeon.
I still wore that surplus army helmet with the headlight and GoPro camera on it.
A empty laptop backpack on my back finished out the gear I was wearing. All in all, it cost me a pretty penny to put together, but it was a investment on keeping my inner parts my inner parts.
I was still going to bring the rest of the gear but it would be laying on the ground next to the portal back. Just for emergencies.
Everything I had collected so far had been uploaded to Youtube and set to go public in a day unless I canceled it.
Notes and letters had been written and left on my kitchen table, explaining what had happened, just in case everything went wrong. All data I had collected was also on my table.
If this killed me, at the very least my friends and family won't be wondering what happened.
Taking another look around, I tried to make sure I didn't forget something. I had moved the operation from my living room to a large rented storage unit with a sturdy metal door, thick walls and a lock on the inside.
What if something got around me and was able to escape out into the world?
Fuck that. I did not want to be responsible for an orc tribe rampaging through the Swedish countryside.
Somehow, I think the police would have a bit of a problem with that. So would I, for that matter.
I walked over and shrugged on my green vest of many pockets before picking up the Crystal Device and my shortsword.
I paused for a moment before I aimed the Crystal Device towards a empty area of space and pressed the button, causing the yellow portal to open and reveal a desert.
Nope. I need something constructed. And somewhere I won't melt into a puddle wearing this stuff.
So I closed it and kept zapping.
Forest.
Plains.
Mountain.
Oh, nice, a beach. It was ages since I was to the beach. Still, nothing containing artifacts in sight so I had to keep looking.
There. Dungeon or castle. Clearly constructed in any case.
Putting the Crystal Device into my inner pocket I slid a smaller crowbar into my belt before picking up the bag of useful stuff and walked through the portal into the dark dungeon.
Well, not quite as dark as I first suspected. There were slits in the gray walls far above my head, letting daylight inside.
I put the backpack down and shifted the shortsword between my hands to momentarily free up my right hand I set the forty-five minute times on my two wrist watches.
I believe in redundant backups for my redundant backups. So I pulled out my phone and set the timer on that as well before I took the sword in my right hand again, reached up with my left to turn on the headlight before I started slowly down the dimly lit tunnel, trying to keep quiet.
That was proved somewhat difficult considering the fact that these boots was not exactly made for sneaking.
Damn, I needed something that worked for both sneaking and protection.
Even so, I tried my best to keep the footsteps from echoing too much through the structure. It didn't take long until I reached a cross section so I paused and pulled out a white chalkpiece and drew a arrow down on the floor pointing towards the portal.
That done, I stood back up and listened hard. Nothing but the wind outside and the sound of dripping water.
Okay then.
I turned right. Turning left can cause you to miss meeting important people. When I doubt, turn right.
That tunnel proved to be shorter than I thought, continuing only for another ten or so meters before it stopped by a sturdy wooden door.
I glanced back into the dim tunnel before I simply tried the handle, giving it a push, causing it to slowly swing open to reveal a room with high, barred windows, mostly empty bookshelves, a bunch of furniture, a pair of zombies and a weapon rack.
Sweet, there should be some nice lo...
Wait... what?
I did a mental double take as the dry-looking walking corpses started to shuffle in my direction, their arms raised as they let out a moaning sound.
Swallowing, I clenched my shortsword tighter in my hand. I had spend the last month's worth of tv watching time sharpening and polishing this thing to the best of my ability.
Taking a couple of slow breaths to keep calm I started to move towards the undead horrors.
Zombies. Why did it have to be zombies? I hate zombies!
AN// All the buckets of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
A pair of sturdy biker leather pants and knee-high reinforced boots. A long-armed t-shirt covered by a stabvest covered with a green 'military' vest of many pockets. I was also wearing those vambraces I looted, the rotted leather straps replaced by nylon ones. I would have gone for a leather jacket as well, but then I would have melted from the heat, even in a cool dungeon.
I still wore that surplus army helmet with the headlight and GoPro camera on it.
A empty laptop backpack on my back finished out the gear I was wearing. All in all, it cost me a pretty penny to put together, but it was a investment on keeping my inner parts my inner parts.
I was still going to bring the rest of the gear but it would be laying on the ground next to the portal back. Just for emergencies.
Everything I had collected so far had been uploaded to Youtube and set to go public in a day unless I canceled it.
Notes and letters had been written and left on my kitchen table, explaining what had happened, just in case everything went wrong. All data I had collected was also on my table.
If this killed me, at the very least my friends and family won't be wondering what happened.
Taking another look around, I tried to make sure I didn't forget something. I had moved the operation from my living room to a large rented storage unit with a sturdy metal door, thick walls and a lock on the inside.
What if something got around me and was able to escape out into the world?
Fuck that. I did not want to be responsible for an orc tribe rampaging through the Swedish countryside.
Somehow, I think the police would have a bit of a problem with that. So would I, for that matter.
I walked over and shrugged on my green vest of many pockets before picking up the Crystal Device and my shortsword.
I paused for a moment before I aimed the Crystal Device towards a empty area of space and pressed the button, causing the yellow portal to open and reveal a desert.
Nope. I need something constructed. And somewhere I won't melt into a puddle wearing this stuff.
So I closed it and kept zapping.
Forest.
Plains.
Mountain.
Oh, nice, a beach. It was ages since I was to the beach. Still, nothing containing artifacts in sight so I had to keep looking.
There. Dungeon or castle. Clearly constructed in any case.
Putting the Crystal Device into my inner pocket I slid a smaller crowbar into my belt before picking up the bag of useful stuff and walked through the portal into the dark dungeon.
Well, not quite as dark as I first suspected. There were slits in the gray walls far above my head, letting daylight inside.
I put the backpack down and shifted the shortsword between my hands to momentarily free up my right hand I set the forty-five minute times on my two wrist watches.
I believe in redundant backups for my redundant backups. So I pulled out my phone and set the timer on that as well before I took the sword in my right hand again, reached up with my left to turn on the headlight before I started slowly down the dimly lit tunnel, trying to keep quiet.
That was proved somewhat difficult considering the fact that these boots was not exactly made for sneaking.
Damn, I needed something that worked for both sneaking and protection.
Even so, I tried my best to keep the footsteps from echoing too much through the structure. It didn't take long until I reached a cross section so I paused and pulled out a white chalkpiece and drew a arrow down on the floor pointing towards the portal.
That done, I stood back up and listened hard. Nothing but the wind outside and the sound of dripping water.
Okay then.
I turned right. Turning left can cause you to miss meeting important people. When I doubt, turn right.
That tunnel proved to be shorter than I thought, continuing only for another ten or so meters before it stopped by a sturdy wooden door.
I glanced back into the dim tunnel before I simply tried the handle, giving it a push, causing it to slowly swing open to reveal a room with high, barred windows, mostly empty bookshelves, a bunch of furniture, a pair of zombies and a weapon rack.
Sweet, there should be some nice lo...
Wait... what?
I did a mental double take as the dry-looking walking corpses started to shuffle in my direction, their arms raised as they let out a moaning sound.
Swallowing, I clenched my shortsword tighter in my hand. I had spend the last month's worth of tv watching time sharpening and polishing this thing to the best of my ability.
Taking a couple of slow breaths to keep calm I started to move towards the undead horrors.
Zombies. Why did it have to be zombies? I hate zombies!
AN// All the buckets of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Panting softly, I sat down at the table, trying to catch my breath.
Damn, I thought my stamina had gotten better since I had started to really work out, but that took a surprising amount out of me.
Even so, taking those two down wasn't hard, just... tiring. For one thing, the first thing I tried, stabbing one through the head, didn't help.
It just kept trying to kill me. What kind of sick bastard made zombies where destroying the brain didn't kill it!?
Stupid genre-savvy necromancers.
Not even actually taking the head off one of them stopped it from coming, it didn't even slow it down. It must have sensed me some other way.
While neither of them was actually fast enough to catch me, there were two of them and they simply didn't stop coming.
At least, taking their hands off at the wrist was possible with the short sword, but it wasn't until I was able to get around them to grab a heavy battleaxe from the weapon stand that I was able to actually disable them.
Disturbingly enough, the blasted things was still trying to get to me even if they were in stinking pieces on the floor.
I couldn't even put the poor bastards out of their misery! Nobody deserved being turned into that.
I just had no idea how to actually re-kill them.
I did my best trying to avoid looking at them or I might have been sick. At the very least, I was reasonably sure that the damn things weren't infectious.
Fantasy settings normally didn't do zombie plagues but had to have them raised manually. In any case, I had been as careful as I could. They never actually touched me.
Avoiding looking as the pieces of dead things on the floor, I got off the table and walked over to the closest bookshelf.
Damn. On close inspection, the books were mostly destroyed.
Even so, I picked up the two most intact specimens and put them in my backpack before I took another look around the room, keeping a eye on the open door just in case another one of those things decided to come say hello.
Honestly, other than a pair of battleaxes and a empty chest, there wasn't much here. I looked up at the window three meters above my head. I would really like to see what was out there, but I had no way to get up there safely.
I really needed to get one of those quadrotor things with a streaming camera. So, damn, useful.
Picking up the clean battleaxe into my free hand I started back down the corridor, taking a big detour around the squirming things on the floor.
Yeah, if those things had not been as dried out as they were, I would have needed therapy at the end of this. It was disturbing enough as it was.
Moving back through the crossroads I followed the 'left' path instead. That also ended in a wooden door a after about ten meters. I stopped, leaned the battleaxe against the wall before pushing it open.
Oh.
It lead to the outside. It opened to the top of a tower but I didn't have much time to take in the view before four skeletons turned in my general direction and raised their crossbows.
I just barely managed to slam the door closed before a quad of thumps hit it. Yeah, how about we don't go out there. While I wanted to have a look around, that seemed like a good way to get dead. Let's not try fighting four archers at once, even if they were skeletons and I might be able to rush them between reloads.
The risk/reward was bad for that one.
Leaving that alone was probably for the best. Were they smart enough to open doors? The last one I encountered really wasn't, it could barely figure out how to get around a table.
Something for future raids would be doorstops, some way to seal doors behind me.
Picking up the battleaxe I continued to the crossroads and turned left, heading straight down relative to the portal. I rounded a bend and only a few meters later the wall had crumbled down, blocking the path but giving me a view of the outside.
Oh.
Wow.
I was in a fortress in the middle of a large and dark-looking forest. I could see skeletons in the courtyard and the large central tower had green, glowing windows.
I had a sudden, strong suspicion that that tower might contain the big boss of this place. How about we don't do something that might attract the attention of the nice necromancer/lich/big cheese.
...Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here before somebody figures out I'm in his tower, looting his stuff and killing his dudes.
Quickly turning around, I headed back and through the portal with what little I had managed to loot. A quick look around revealed that nothing had escaped into the storage unit, so I pulled the Crystal Device and closed it before calmly putting the backpack on the table, laying down the battleaxe and sword next to it before I sank down and laid down on my back on the hard floor.
Holy crap. I did it. I not only survived, but I got some loot out of it.
I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath.
Let's see if I can do it again tomorrow.
AN// Many of these 'thanks' to Grey Rook. Chef! We require more thanks!
Damn, I thought my stamina had gotten better since I had started to really work out, but that took a surprising amount out of me.
Even so, taking those two down wasn't hard, just... tiring. For one thing, the first thing I tried, stabbing one through the head, didn't help.
It just kept trying to kill me. What kind of sick bastard made zombies where destroying the brain didn't kill it!?
Stupid genre-savvy necromancers.
Not even actually taking the head off one of them stopped it from coming, it didn't even slow it down. It must have sensed me some other way.
While neither of them was actually fast enough to catch me, there were two of them and they simply didn't stop coming.
At least, taking their hands off at the wrist was possible with the short sword, but it wasn't until I was able to get around them to grab a heavy battleaxe from the weapon stand that I was able to actually disable them.
Disturbingly enough, the blasted things was still trying to get to me even if they were in stinking pieces on the floor.
I couldn't even put the poor bastards out of their misery! Nobody deserved being turned into that.
I just had no idea how to actually re-kill them.
I did my best trying to avoid looking at them or I might have been sick. At the very least, I was reasonably sure that the damn things weren't infectious.
Fantasy settings normally didn't do zombie plagues but had to have them raised manually. In any case, I had been as careful as I could. They never actually touched me.
Avoiding looking as the pieces of dead things on the floor, I got off the table and walked over to the closest bookshelf.
Damn. On close inspection, the books were mostly destroyed.
Even so, I picked up the two most intact specimens and put them in my backpack before I took another look around the room, keeping a eye on the open door just in case another one of those things decided to come say hello.
Honestly, other than a pair of battleaxes and a empty chest, there wasn't much here. I looked up at the window three meters above my head. I would really like to see what was out there, but I had no way to get up there safely.
I really needed to get one of those quadrotor things with a streaming camera. So, damn, useful.
Picking up the clean battleaxe into my free hand I started back down the corridor, taking a big detour around the squirming things on the floor.
Yeah, if those things had not been as dried out as they were, I would have needed therapy at the end of this. It was disturbing enough as it was.
Moving back through the crossroads I followed the 'left' path instead. That also ended in a wooden door a after about ten meters. I stopped, leaned the battleaxe against the wall before pushing it open.
Oh.
It lead to the outside. It opened to the top of a tower but I didn't have much time to take in the view before four skeletons turned in my general direction and raised their crossbows.
I just barely managed to slam the door closed before a quad of thumps hit it. Yeah, how about we don't go out there. While I wanted to have a look around, that seemed like a good way to get dead. Let's not try fighting four archers at once, even if they were skeletons and I might be able to rush them between reloads.
The risk/reward was bad for that one.
Leaving that alone was probably for the best. Were they smart enough to open doors? The last one I encountered really wasn't, it could barely figure out how to get around a table.
Something for future raids would be doorstops, some way to seal doors behind me.
Picking up the battleaxe I continued to the crossroads and turned left, heading straight down relative to the portal. I rounded a bend and only a few meters later the wall had crumbled down, blocking the path but giving me a view of the outside.
Oh.
Wow.
I was in a fortress in the middle of a large and dark-looking forest. I could see skeletons in the courtyard and the large central tower had green, glowing windows.
I had a sudden, strong suspicion that that tower might contain the big boss of this place. How about we don't do something that might attract the attention of the nice necromancer/lich/big cheese.
...Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here before somebody figures out I'm in his tower, looting his stuff and killing his dudes.
Quickly turning around, I headed back and through the portal with what little I had managed to loot. A quick look around revealed that nothing had escaped into the storage unit, so I pulled the Crystal Device and closed it before calmly putting the backpack on the table, laying down the battleaxe and sword next to it before I sank down and laid down on my back on the hard floor.
Holy crap. I did it. I not only survived, but I got some loot out of it.
I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath.
Let's see if I can do it again tomorrow.
AN// Many of these 'thanks' to Grey Rook. Chef! We require more thanks!
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10
I stepped forward, yelling as I slammed my shield into the face of the small monster and he/she/it/ fell back in a splatter of blood and teeth. "WILL YOU FUCK OFF ALREADY!?"
It and its friends yelled and squealed as they ran away into the forest, disappearing out of sight in seconds. Considering that they were bright red, that was kind of impressive.
I dropped to one knee to try to catch my breath for a couple of seconds before I forced myself back up to start running again.
Fucking hell, I needed to work more on my cardio.
After two weeks of raiding through the portal, I decided to try something else than castles and dungeons. For one thing I was sick and tired of undead. It's almost like that damn thing was 'leveling up' or something. First time I ran into one skeleton. Then a couple of zombies and a bunch of skeletons.
Now when I went into one, I could run into anything from zombies and skeletons in every room I entered to undead abominations with way too many limbs and claws. One bear-sized fucker with three arms reminded me of one of those abominations from World of Warcraft.
I even ran into a mummy once, in what looked like a Indiana Jones version of an Egyptian Tomb. It was only by pure luck I was able to avoid the first arrow trap.
I heard the click and threw myself back. Then I very carefully made myself through it, but when I ran into the first actual enemy and Mummy regenerated its head by absorbing sand into itself after I took it off, I noped out of there.
That was a couple of days ago, on my last trip though. On the plus side, though, I picked up a bunch of gear, among others my new shield, a scabbard for my sword and a variety of other weapons stored back in the storage unit.
Also, I had gotten way better at this 'killing things' business. That didn't mean that these undead-filled dungeons started to get easy though. No, they somehow got harder. More and more difficult enemies.
So I decided to pick something different. Let's see what's in that forest.
Oh that was a great fucking idea.
They red goblins/imps/gremlins/thingies came rushing me again, thirty or so strong, yelling as they ran, stone weapons held high above their heads.
I quickly lashed out with my shortsword, my brand new spear having already been lost when I first encountered these fuckers.
The blow caught one of them across the shoulder, cutting deep and it screamed, falling onto the ground. Like before, the rest scattered, screaming as they ran away into the forest and out of sight.
I slammed my sword down into its chest to put the thing out of its misery before I started running again.
There was something to say for zombies and other undead. Fucking hell. I had explored the forest for almost thirty minutes, trying to find something worth taking back when I stumbled onto their camp.
They were primitive. Huts and fire, but nothing more advanced than simple stone tools.
I tried to retreat before I was spotted, but it was too late. Basically all of them grabbed weapons and zerged at me.
If they weren't as cowardly as they seemed to be or if they believed in ranged weapons or tactics other than 'GET HIM', I would have been fucked.
Even so, almost every time they rushed me, they got some nicks or bruises in. If this continued for much longer, they would wear me down.
Now, normally I would have felt bad for killing the indigenous population but considering that they tried to kill me first I felt thoroughly justified at killing them right back.
Panting hard, I rested my shoulder against a pine tree for a second. Just a little longer. Just over that hill. Then I never return to a forest ever again. Not without a flamethrower.
At the sound of yelling I stopped running and turned again, readying my sword. Just need to survive this and maybe one more rush.
But before they got close enough to strike there was a load roar from behind, causing them to go yelling and yelping in the other direction and our of sight.
I spun around, my sword raised.
I couldn't see anything. Oh crap, that came from the portal. I quickly started to run again. Trying not to gasp too loudly for breath, I reached the top of the hill to look down at the small dip in the ground that contained the portal.
What I saw however, caused me to very quickly hide behind a tree.
Oh, crap.
Very carefully again I peeked back out. Something like looked like somebody had mixed a hairless grizzly bear with a gorilla and added some T-rex into the mix was nosing at my survival kit.
It looked more curious than hungry, so I kind of doubted that something with that kind of teeth was very interested in the dried food in there.
If that thing wanted to eat me, it would fucking eat me. With my spear I might have had a chance, but with just a sword?
Yeah, I was a snack.
And it was between me and the portal. Damn, damn, damn! Maybe I could distract it, lead it away somehow and then get back?
Okay... calm. What to do? Okay... find a rock to throw. Distract it...wait... what is it doing?
The monster had apparently stopped being interested in my bag and was now wandering towards my portal.
No...nononono. Not that way!
If that thing got out into the general population... the police would take it down sooner or layer, but how many would it slaughter before then? Locked door or not, that thing looked like it could rip open an armored car.
There were no rocks! Why are there no rocks to throw! Helmet... sword... shield? No, I would need those if it went after me. Not that I would have much of a chance anyway if it did.
I hesitated and then reached into my inner pocket and pulled out the Crystal Device and looked at the monster lumbering towards the portal. It would fit through, if barely.
I had never dared to close a portal from this side. From the other, it never opened to the same spot again. What if it didn't from this side either?
What if I closed it and I was stuck in a endless maze of worlds?
The monster reached the portal and sniffed at the air before starting to enter it.
Out of time.
I raised the Crystal Device and pressed the button when the monster was halfway through, causing the portal to snap closed, cutting the creature in half.
AN// Grey Rook looted a Epic Thanks for betaing this section!
It and its friends yelled and squealed as they ran away into the forest, disappearing out of sight in seconds. Considering that they were bright red, that was kind of impressive.
I dropped to one knee to try to catch my breath for a couple of seconds before I forced myself back up to start running again.
Fucking hell, I needed to work more on my cardio.
After two weeks of raiding through the portal, I decided to try something else than castles and dungeons. For one thing I was sick and tired of undead. It's almost like that damn thing was 'leveling up' or something. First time I ran into one skeleton. Then a couple of zombies and a bunch of skeletons.
Now when I went into one, I could run into anything from zombies and skeletons in every room I entered to undead abominations with way too many limbs and claws. One bear-sized fucker with three arms reminded me of one of those abominations from World of Warcraft.
I even ran into a mummy once, in what looked like a Indiana Jones version of an Egyptian Tomb. It was only by pure luck I was able to avoid the first arrow trap.
I heard the click and threw myself back. Then I very carefully made myself through it, but when I ran into the first actual enemy and Mummy regenerated its head by absorbing sand into itself after I took it off, I noped out of there.
That was a couple of days ago, on my last trip though. On the plus side, though, I picked up a bunch of gear, among others my new shield, a scabbard for my sword and a variety of other weapons stored back in the storage unit.
Also, I had gotten way better at this 'killing things' business. That didn't mean that these undead-filled dungeons started to get easy though. No, they somehow got harder. More and more difficult enemies.
So I decided to pick something different. Let's see what's in that forest.
Oh that was a great fucking idea.
They red goblins/imps/gremlins/thingies came rushing me again, thirty or so strong, yelling as they ran, stone weapons held high above their heads.
I quickly lashed out with my shortsword, my brand new spear having already been lost when I first encountered these fuckers.
The blow caught one of them across the shoulder, cutting deep and it screamed, falling onto the ground. Like before, the rest scattered, screaming as they ran away into the forest and out of sight.
I slammed my sword down into its chest to put the thing out of its misery before I started running again.
There was something to say for zombies and other undead. Fucking hell. I had explored the forest for almost thirty minutes, trying to find something worth taking back when I stumbled onto their camp.
They were primitive. Huts and fire, but nothing more advanced than simple stone tools.
I tried to retreat before I was spotted, but it was too late. Basically all of them grabbed weapons and zerged at me.
If they weren't as cowardly as they seemed to be or if they believed in ranged weapons or tactics other than 'GET HIM', I would have been fucked.
Even so, almost every time they rushed me, they got some nicks or bruises in. If this continued for much longer, they would wear me down.
Now, normally I would have felt bad for killing the indigenous population but considering that they tried to kill me first I felt thoroughly justified at killing them right back.
Panting hard, I rested my shoulder against a pine tree for a second. Just a little longer. Just over that hill. Then I never return to a forest ever again. Not without a flamethrower.
At the sound of yelling I stopped running and turned again, readying my sword. Just need to survive this and maybe one more rush.
But before they got close enough to strike there was a load roar from behind, causing them to go yelling and yelping in the other direction and our of sight.
I spun around, my sword raised.
I couldn't see anything. Oh crap, that came from the portal. I quickly started to run again. Trying not to gasp too loudly for breath, I reached the top of the hill to look down at the small dip in the ground that contained the portal.
What I saw however, caused me to very quickly hide behind a tree.
Oh, crap.
Very carefully again I peeked back out. Something like looked like somebody had mixed a hairless grizzly bear with a gorilla and added some T-rex into the mix was nosing at my survival kit.
It looked more curious than hungry, so I kind of doubted that something with that kind of teeth was very interested in the dried food in there.
If that thing wanted to eat me, it would fucking eat me. With my spear I might have had a chance, but with just a sword?
Yeah, I was a snack.
And it was between me and the portal. Damn, damn, damn! Maybe I could distract it, lead it away somehow and then get back?
Okay... calm. What to do? Okay... find a rock to throw. Distract it...wait... what is it doing?
The monster had apparently stopped being interested in my bag and was now wandering towards my portal.
No...nononono. Not that way!
If that thing got out into the general population... the police would take it down sooner or layer, but how many would it slaughter before then? Locked door or not, that thing looked like it could rip open an armored car.
There were no rocks! Why are there no rocks to throw! Helmet... sword... shield? No, I would need those if it went after me. Not that I would have much of a chance anyway if it did.
I hesitated and then reached into my inner pocket and pulled out the Crystal Device and looked at the monster lumbering towards the portal. It would fit through, if barely.
I had never dared to close a portal from this side. From the other, it never opened to the same spot again. What if it didn't from this side either?
What if I closed it and I was stuck in a endless maze of worlds?
The monster reached the portal and sniffed at the air before starting to enter it.
Out of time.
I raised the Crystal Device and pressed the button when the monster was halfway through, causing the portal to snap closed, cutting the creature in half.
AN// Grey Rook looted a Epic Thanks for betaing this section!