Theina stood with eleven minutes left, staring at a door, an actual door, and a large keyhole on its face. "This is weird," she said flatly. "I've never seen a door before."
"You have the strategy guide," Grant said. "But I don't remember any doors either. Hey, let's look for a key, huh?"
"Yeah." And around the room they went, looking for an item, any item, to use as a key. They broke every vase, skeleton, crate, everything they could find in search of something that resembled a key. There was nothing. Grant was perplexed. "No key?" Theina asked. Grant shook his head. Nine minutes.
Theina almost gave up, but walked to the door. She held her staff to the keyhole and tried a simple spell. "Dek Juka." Nothing happened. "Juk Kruz." The spell was cast and the monster blocking their path came alive. Grant quickly lunged for the attack, hitting it and destroying it easily. They continued.
----------
Three Artisan's Souls and a Healing Elixer later, they made it to the next floor. "It's too easy," Grant said. "Something's not right."
"What are you talking about? We've only got seven minutes left and two more levels to go through!" Theina practically screamed. As her player sat, she was nearly out of breath from the excitement, panting and sweating. Her hands were losing their grip on the controller. She'd come to terms with Grant's sudden lack of honesty when it came to the game, but that didn't mean she trusted him. And that'll be less if we waste time here. Come on!" If she could have, she'd have grabbed Grant's wrist and dragged him along. Grant followed nonetheless.
The next room was silent. There were no sounds. The music had abruptly been shut off. Theina looked at the timer. "The numbers, they're crapping out on me!" she said loudly. Grant noticed as well. "What's going on?"
"I don't know."
A portal appeared to them, in the middle of the room. A large red staff fell out of it. Not a treasure chest, nor a monster, but a staff. It clattered to the floor noisily in this noiseless environment. Theina reached to pick it up but noticed the open door. She picked it up anyway and added it to her inventory. She was near to maxing out her item list, coming to thirty-eight of forty. The music resumed again and the clock resumed it measure. Neither player commented, but they noticed. Neither liked what seemed obvious.
----------
Five minutes remained with they got to the next set of stairs. Neither said a word to each other up to this point since the last. Neither would start again just yet. They went down.
Theina came to the floor first. She saw a horde of monsters, all easily dispatched, but obviously intended to take time in doing so. She cast the fire spell, "Vak Rom!" and the water, "Rue Rom!" this would take too much of her precious time! "Grant!"
"Coming," he said daintily. He pushed his attack hard, casting spells when he was not dealing damage physically to some misfortunate pixels.
After two long minutes, the battle was won. They pressed on.
They found several treasure chests on their way to the next stairs, intended to distract them, make them waste their time. While Theina moved ahead, Grant dug into the chests. He said they'd divy up what was found when she had the sword later.
----------
They came to the final set of stairs. They descended together.
The last floor of the dungeon wasn't a floor at all. It was a tropical paradise. "A lot of work went into this," Theina exclaimed in wonder as she looked around. She was awed. It was a single large room. There were no doors to be had on the map, no treasure chests. There were a tangle of weeds and trees and green things all over. "There's nothing here!" Theina shouted exasperated.
"Theina, you don't think they're going to try to use this kind of interface, do ya, when they do their new upgrades? I mean, no portals, no doors, no treasure chests? Just use whatever you find and monsters and such find you?"
"I don't know," she said. "But I know that there's nothing here that shows up. We need to start looking. There's only a minute and a half left."
"Ah huh." Theina ran to the nearest bush and found a small, pathetic monster under it. She attacked first and destroyed it. Grant watched. Theina moved to the nearest group of trees and found an opened treasure chest and a character lying dead beside it. "Oh, great, there's something here that'll probably knock out my time and me while it's doing it, before I get the sword!"
"Probably," said Grant as he surveyed the body. They ran again, Theina in the lead.
Grant said while Theina was still looking around, "Wanna hear more about the Clown's Charade?"
"Sure, why not?" She replied half-heartedly and absentmindedly.
"Well, it comes from the base code of the game, right?" Theina nodded and looked behind another set of trees. She dispatched another monster. A body identical to the one near the chest lay on the ground. Fifty-four seconds. "Since it came from the original code, it's an original weapon, or armor. Or item or something, I haven't figured that out. I've just adapted it to my needs and named it the Clown's Charade."
"Who taught you how to do that?"
"A guy I know at the University. Anyway, I threw it into a useless Twin Blade weapon I had in Elf's Haven, and it gave me so much power. It was like having you raised from level 1 to level 1 million in one second. Theina, this thing is so cool!"
"Yeah? It's also SO ILLEGAL!"
"Yeah, details. Anyway, I talked to my friend at the University, and he said that I could sell a friend of his the code for it. His friend's also a Wavemaster, like you. He's also in this event." Forty seconds. Theina pressed on. Grant trudged behind, still talking. "But he doesn't just want the code, Theina. He wants the sword. But I can't give it to him."
"I'm not going to hand it over if I find in. Speaking of which, help me out here!" she demanded.
"I'm not saying to hand it over, Theina. I'm saying you never had it to begin with."
"What?"
Grant attacked with a "Dek Do!" and then a "Rai Don!" Theina was taken aback. Her character lost almost half of its life.
"What the hell?!?" Theina ducked behind a tree.
"Come on, Theina. The Clown's Charade isn't just power, it's profit too." "But not without the Wavemaster's Sword. See, if you are killed and leave, nowhere does it say I have to leave too. In fact, the sword is probably somewhere near the entrance."
"Screw you, Grant! Cheater!"
"Kettle!"
Theina bit off curses. Fifteen seconds left. She ran.
Grant followed, casting spell after spell, missing her just barely. He caught up with her and struck her with his twin blades. She lost another couple hundred life points. She kept running, always searching for the hidden treasure.
She found it, the hidden Gott statue, the hidden treasure chest. She thrust herself at it and into Grant's waiting blades. He had been just faster than her. She had already given the command to open the chest.
"Four. Three. Two." Grant smiled and pulled out the treasure. "One."
Something happened. Grant was frozen midway from coming up with the sword. Theina tried to move, tried to cast a spell, anything, but found that she couldn't.
The next thing she knew, her screen was flashing the words, "System Error. Please try again later." The player's mouth hung open. She couldn't speak. She instead of a startled, "Ah!" at the screen, then huffed. She pulled at her controller, yanked hard. The computer tower came around and the cord pulled out of it. She screamed and threw her controller across the room. The silverish controller hit the wall with a dull thud, then hit the padded carpet floow. She screamed again. "YOU DIRTY BASTARD!" she yelled out. She screamed every obscenity she could think of.
"You have the strategy guide," Grant said. "But I don't remember any doors either. Hey, let's look for a key, huh?"
"Yeah." And around the room they went, looking for an item, any item, to use as a key. They broke every vase, skeleton, crate, everything they could find in search of something that resembled a key. There was nothing. Grant was perplexed. "No key?" Theina asked. Grant shook his head. Nine minutes.
Theina almost gave up, but walked to the door. She held her staff to the keyhole and tried a simple spell. "Dek Juka." Nothing happened. "Juk Kruz." The spell was cast and the monster blocking their path came alive. Grant quickly lunged for the attack, hitting it and destroying it easily. They continued.
----------
Three Artisan's Souls and a Healing Elixer later, they made it to the next floor. "It's too easy," Grant said. "Something's not right."
"What are you talking about? We've only got seven minutes left and two more levels to go through!" Theina practically screamed. As her player sat, she was nearly out of breath from the excitement, panting and sweating. Her hands were losing their grip on the controller. She'd come to terms with Grant's sudden lack of honesty when it came to the game, but that didn't mean she trusted him. And that'll be less if we waste time here. Come on!" If she could have, she'd have grabbed Grant's wrist and dragged him along. Grant followed nonetheless.
The next room was silent. There were no sounds. The music had abruptly been shut off. Theina looked at the timer. "The numbers, they're crapping out on me!" she said loudly. Grant noticed as well. "What's going on?"
"I don't know."
A portal appeared to them, in the middle of the room. A large red staff fell out of it. Not a treasure chest, nor a monster, but a staff. It clattered to the floor noisily in this noiseless environment. Theina reached to pick it up but noticed the open door. She picked it up anyway and added it to her inventory. She was near to maxing out her item list, coming to thirty-eight of forty. The music resumed again and the clock resumed it measure. Neither player commented, but they noticed. Neither liked what seemed obvious.
----------
Five minutes remained with they got to the next set of stairs. Neither said a word to each other up to this point since the last. Neither would start again just yet. They went down.
Theina came to the floor first. She saw a horde of monsters, all easily dispatched, but obviously intended to take time in doing so. She cast the fire spell, "Vak Rom!" and the water, "Rue Rom!" this would take too much of her precious time! "Grant!"
"Coming," he said daintily. He pushed his attack hard, casting spells when he was not dealing damage physically to some misfortunate pixels.
After two long minutes, the battle was won. They pressed on.
They found several treasure chests on their way to the next stairs, intended to distract them, make them waste their time. While Theina moved ahead, Grant dug into the chests. He said they'd divy up what was found when she had the sword later.
----------
They came to the final set of stairs. They descended together.
The last floor of the dungeon wasn't a floor at all. It was a tropical paradise. "A lot of work went into this," Theina exclaimed in wonder as she looked around. She was awed. It was a single large room. There were no doors to be had on the map, no treasure chests. There were a tangle of weeds and trees and green things all over. "There's nothing here!" Theina shouted exasperated.
"Theina, you don't think they're going to try to use this kind of interface, do ya, when they do their new upgrades? I mean, no portals, no doors, no treasure chests? Just use whatever you find and monsters and such find you?"
"I don't know," she said. "But I know that there's nothing here that shows up. We need to start looking. There's only a minute and a half left."
"Ah huh." Theina ran to the nearest bush and found a small, pathetic monster under it. She attacked first and destroyed it. Grant watched. Theina moved to the nearest group of trees and found an opened treasure chest and a character lying dead beside it. "Oh, great, there's something here that'll probably knock out my time and me while it's doing it, before I get the sword!"
"Probably," said Grant as he surveyed the body. They ran again, Theina in the lead.
Grant said while Theina was still looking around, "Wanna hear more about the Clown's Charade?"
"Sure, why not?" She replied half-heartedly and absentmindedly.
"Well, it comes from the base code of the game, right?" Theina nodded and looked behind another set of trees. She dispatched another monster. A body identical to the one near the chest lay on the ground. Fifty-four seconds. "Since it came from the original code, it's an original weapon, or armor. Or item or something, I haven't figured that out. I've just adapted it to my needs and named it the Clown's Charade."
"Who taught you how to do that?"
"A guy I know at the University. Anyway, I threw it into a useless Twin Blade weapon I had in Elf's Haven, and it gave me so much power. It was like having you raised from level 1 to level 1 million in one second. Theina, this thing is so cool!"
"Yeah? It's also SO ILLEGAL!"
"Yeah, details. Anyway, I talked to my friend at the University, and he said that I could sell a friend of his the code for it. His friend's also a Wavemaster, like you. He's also in this event." Forty seconds. Theina pressed on. Grant trudged behind, still talking. "But he doesn't just want the code, Theina. He wants the sword. But I can't give it to him."
"I'm not going to hand it over if I find in. Speaking of which, help me out here!" she demanded.
"I'm not saying to hand it over, Theina. I'm saying you never had it to begin with."
"What?"
Grant attacked with a "Dek Do!" and then a "Rai Don!" Theina was taken aback. Her character lost almost half of its life.
"What the hell?!?" Theina ducked behind a tree.
"Come on, Theina. The Clown's Charade isn't just power, it's profit too." "But not without the Wavemaster's Sword. See, if you are killed and leave, nowhere does it say I have to leave too. In fact, the sword is probably somewhere near the entrance."
"Screw you, Grant! Cheater!"
"Kettle!"
Theina bit off curses. Fifteen seconds left. She ran.
Grant followed, casting spell after spell, missing her just barely. He caught up with her and struck her with his twin blades. She lost another couple hundred life points. She kept running, always searching for the hidden treasure.
She found it, the hidden Gott statue, the hidden treasure chest. She thrust herself at it and into Grant's waiting blades. He had been just faster than her. She had already given the command to open the chest.
"Four. Three. Two." Grant smiled and pulled out the treasure. "One."
Something happened. Grant was frozen midway from coming up with the sword. Theina tried to move, tried to cast a spell, anything, but found that she couldn't.
The next thing she knew, her screen was flashing the words, "System Error. Please try again later." The player's mouth hung open. She couldn't speak. She instead of a startled, "Ah!" at the screen, then huffed. She pulled at her controller, yanked hard. The computer tower came around and the cord pulled out of it. She screamed and threw her controller across the room. The silverish controller hit the wall with a dull thud, then hit the padded carpet floow. She screamed again. "YOU DIRTY BASTARD!" she yelled out. She screamed every obscenity she could think of.