Chapter Eight: Cleaning the aqueducts

The greenish water flowed by calmly, as the lone lilty woman pushed the gate open and walked along the stone path. As Meeth Crym looked around, she could see nothing. It was only as she drew closer to the water, that a strange creature appeared. It bobbled up and down as it cast its spells, causing Meeth Crym to whince in pain. She had to jab the creature several times before it yield to her blade. When the creature was defeated, she continued to walk along the path, only to be attack by a couple of mu. Meeth Crym sighed to herself "Today's going to be a long day."

As Meeth Crym drew closer to the creatures, one of them got the drop on her and stunned her. She was left paralysed just long enough for the pair to give her a good nip. But as soon as she was able to move, she sliced at the creatures, and they soon fell to her blade also.

On the other end of the room, was a sign placed next to a huge stone block. Clearly the block was there to prevent anyone from entering, but she needed to know why. Why would anyone want to stop people entering the aqueducts? When she turned her attention to the sign, it became all too clear, all too quickly. The sign read: 'Due to the appearance of a giant monster, a heavy block has been placed across the path. Strong persons may be able to pull the block out of the way. However, we do NOT recommend going in. It's dangerous in there. Seriously.'

Meeth Crym sighed again "Today will definitely be a really long day." She knew now that she was almost defiantly in the right place. The buffasaur would be found somewhere in the aqueducts, and so would Eryll's cure. But there was also another problem, clearly this creature was powerful enough, that it attracted other monsters to its side. After all, the stronger the creature, the more aggressive beasts were to be found. So Meeth Crym stretched her tiny body, before she grabbed hold of either side of the block and pulled with all her might. She was almost taken aback by how easily the block moved, but she quickly remember who strong the lilty people where, so really, it wasn't all that shocking. And just like that, Meeth Crym entered into the next room.

As soon as Meeth Crym walked through the archway, she was attacked by a skeleton like creature. As she looked over the creature, she wondered if they had always been a skeleton, or if perhaps, long ago, they had been like the lilty, selkie, yuke and clavat. Regardless, of whatever the answer could be, all that mattered right now, was that she dealt with the creature. Strangely enough, it too fell quickly to her blade. She then sighed once more, "If things are going to be this easy, what's the point of even fighting these guys."

As Meeth Crym walked further into the room, she stumbled upon another sign, and it read, 'If you wish to open the door, strike this post again and again!" Seemed simple enough. She did as the sign told her, but much to her surprise, instead of the second gate opening, it remained closed. And the post pushed itself back. Meeth Crym looked around the room, perhaps there was something else she needed to do to help open the gate. She noticed that in the far corner was another sign. Perhaps this sign would be the answer to her questions. But as she approached, the tiny and adorable mini movers appeared, clearly trying to stop her. But the poor things where far too weak. Instead of killing the poor things, she picked them up and through them into the barrel that was in the very corner.

With the army of mini movers dealt with, Meeth Crym could once again turn her attention to the sign. Which read: 'Below the pedestal is a switch. Step on it quick when the cover goes up!'

Meeth Crym paused for a moment. She quickly figured out that she was supposed to beat the post until the cover flew up, and then jump on the button. "Easy enough." She said to herself. So she ran over to the post, and began bashing it over and over again. Till the blue orb glowed. As soon as it began glowing, the platform flew up, revealing a huge button. Meeth Crym ran as quickly as she could and jumped on the bottom. It made a loud clicking noise, and the gates flew open. And just like that, Meeth Crym moved on to the next room.

Much to her surprise, this time Meeth Crym wasn't attacked straight away. But as soon as she moved closer to the giant orb, a strange yellow creature appeared and began attacking her. She tried jabbing it a few times, in hopes of killing it, but it wasn't work, the creature didn't even seem fazed. Not to mention the amount of pain it was causing her in return. She was being backed up into a corner when it accrued to her that she could try and use magic to defeat this strange new creature. She cast her mind back to what Larkeicus had taught her, and much to her amazement, she was able to successfully cast blizzard on the creature. As soon as she released the spell, the creature let out a fellable cry, before falling to its fate.

During the battle, Meeth Crym had been hurt rather badly, so she cast cure on herself, which quickly made her feel better. She then walked to the certain of the room, and studied the orb. Just off to the right of it was another sign. She was beginning to wonder who left all these signs lying around. Whoever they were, they had no idea how helpful these signs where. She walked over to the sign and stood in front of it to read what it had to say. The sign read: 'Cast thunder on the yellow orbs, fire on the red ones, and blizzard on the blue ones. Something good is bound to happen!'

She stared at the sign, it was strange, but never the less, she listened to what it had to say. She closed her eyes and focused on casting thunder, and after a couple of tries, she finally was able to cast it on to the yellow orb. In doing so, the orb disappeared, and lifted up the platform, revealing another hidden button. And just like before, she jumped on it, causing it to open the gate for the next room.

Instead of going straight through to the next area, she decided to look around a little. To the far right of the room was a huge stream of water, and on the edge was a staircase like design. She decided to dive head first into the water. As soon as she landed within the water, the strange water creature from earlier began attacking her. After landing the final below, she continued to swim around, till she discover a chest sitting neatly on a platform. She quickly threw the lid open and grabbed the loot, before continuing her swim.

As she got to the other half of the room, she was attacked once more by a strange looking creature, it was like the yellow one, only blue. And the creature seemed to be guarding a chest. With the desire to discover what lay inside, she decided to try and attack the creature with fire. As soon as her spell hit the creature, it cried out before disappearing, clearly she had made the right move. With the creature defeated, she grabbed the loot, swam around a little more before heading back to the staircase. When she was standing back on the stone, she headed towards the gate and entered the next area, lance in hand.

Much to her dismay, the next room seemed to be a complicated puzzle. There was a switch, plenty of platforms floating within the water, and another block just sitting there. As soon as she approached the block, a red creature appeared. She had already beaten two of these creatures with spells, so she tried casting blizzard on it, after all, ice would beat fire, right? Much to her surprise, all it did was freeze the creature for a short time. The creature seemed more agitated then hurt. So in her hurry to defeat it, she tried casting thunder, and by pure luck, it landed a hefty blow, killing the thing instantly. And with the creature now out of the way, she could fully explore the room she was now in.

The first thing to catch her eye was another chest, sitting prettily on a tower, she hoped her way up and flung it open, taking all the loot it held. Then, as she jumped down, she noticed another sign, which read: 'The aqueducts have become infest with cute little monsters. They aren't very dangerous, but they're so playful it's getting hard to clean up down here. We need adventurers to drive them out. For details, please visit the town Quest Shoppe. Posted by the Keep Our Water Clean Committee'

She started at the sign blankly, someone had left a sign about a quest within the aqueducts. She slapped her forehead, who was going to be able to read that? No one was even down here. The quest was almost never going to be completed. She figured it was probably one of the pair who had been standing by the fountain complaining about the smell. But that didn't matter right now, what mattered was solving the puzzle.

Turning her gazing back to what was important, Meeth Crym walked over to the switch and bashed it. As soon as she did, it glowed yellow, moving a platform into place. She then hopped down and pulled the block on to the platforms. As she got to the end of the second platform, she discovered another switch. She bashed the second switch, which moved the platform she was standing on. But instead of being able to push the block along, she noticed the fact that the last platform hadn't moved an inch. So she dived into the water and swam to the other side, only to be attacked by another skeleton.

Meeth Crym sighed loudly, "Really, how many of you monsters are down here?" Thankfully Meeth Crym had grown stronger, so it only took a few blows before the creature fell. With it now dealt with, she strolled over to the last switch and bashed it, which finally made the last platform move. She walked on to the platform and pulled the block, before jumping across and flicking the switch. The last platform moved once more, allowing her to push the block on to a strange looking button. The button made a loud clicking noise, signalling that it had done something, though what, she wasn't sure.

Sitting next to the block, was a sign, seeing as the task was complete, she saw no reason why she shouldn't read it. The sign read: 'Many switches here are rusted shut. If stepping on them doesn't make them budge try pushing something heavy on top.'

Meeth Crym slapped her forehead, she'd already done that, the sign was practically useless now. She decided to wonder around the other half of the room, there was a locked gate on oneside, and a raised area near the block. So she decided to walk back over to the block, jump up a little, so she caught hold of the top and then climb on top of the block. Now standing on top, she jumped a bit higher to help get hold of the edge on the ledge, and pulled herself up. Much to her relief, there, standing in front of her were a pair of open gates. She sighed with relief. And like so many times before, walked through the gates.

As soon as she entered the next room, the gates slammed shut behind her. Meeth Crym jumped in shock. She spun on her heels and grabbed the rusty gates, trying anything she could to pull them open, but they wouldn't budge. Sighing, she realised that she was being forced to work through another puzzle. She gazed around the room, there were streams of faster moving water, and plenty of ledges. There were also the orbs from earlier, the yellow one was closest, there was also a blue one and red one on the other side. Splitting each area was a huge metal fence, if she wanted to get out, she was probably going to have to pop all the orbs. With that set in mind, she began with the closest, and casted thunder.

As she jumped across to the other side, she was attack by a little blue creature. Another one of those strange element based things, she knew from earlier that to defeat it she would need to cast fire. And just like that, it fell, allowing her to focus on the task at hand. As soon as she popped the remaining two orbs, the gates leading to the next part of the room opened. Today was turning out to be an extremely long day.

She walked towards the gates, and hopped over on to the next platform, a mu jumped out and attacked her, but thankfully it was easy to deal with. Like earlier, she had another three orbs to deal with, yellow, blue and red. And just like earlier, she popped them one by one, opening the last part of the room. She was beginning to wonder why anyone would even design an area like this. It felt more like a training ground then an aqueducts, but then again, she didn't really understand the town folk.

As she walked to the last part, she noticed a chest, and guarding it were the tiny mini movers. She picked them up, and dropped them in a small hole in the ground, preventing them from bothering her further. She then turned her attention to the chest once more and retrieved the loot.

All she had to do now, was make her way over to the last area with the strange log things. She guessed she'd have to bash them or push them in to the wall. But right now, she had to figure out how to get across. The gap was too far for her to jump, and the water was moving too fast for her to get a cross. The only thing she could do was do a running jump and hope she got lucky. She sucked in a deep breath and ran, jumped and just barely landed on the edge. She had to balance herself out, but once done, she could continue on with completing the puzzle.

As soon as she was on the other side, a strange lizard like creature appeared and began attacking her. It blocked her attack with easy, and was dealing heavy damage. She had to move to a safer distance, and cast blizzard to freeze the thing. When it was frozen, she began stabbing it with her lance, allowing her to finish it off after ten or twenty minutes. Sweat was beginning to drip down her face. But with the creature gone, she could focus once again.

In front of her was the log thing, and a sign. The sign read: 'The main gate is malfunctioning. If you became trapped inside, push this into the wall.'

Meeth Crym rolled her eyes. But at least she knew her hunch was correct, in order to move on to the next area, she would have to push the thing into the wall. It was a little harder than the block, but it moved soon enough. Sadly this meant she would have to retrace her steps in order to leave the room. Which meant she had just waste what felt like nearly an hour or so in this area for nothing. She jumped along, all the way back to the gate she had entered through, more annoyed than ever. Today really wasn't her day.

As she left the room, into the other puzzle room, the other gate then unlocked for some reason. Apparently that room was needed after all. She was really beginning to question the people behind the design of the aqueducts. Seriously, what was the point of designing something so complicated? Nevertheless, at least this meant she could carry on with her mission. So she jumped down and headed through to what she hoped was the final area.

In the next room, as she feared, it was not the last room, and yet another puzzle. There was a shut gate, hiding a chest and some strangely large key. And then there was the blue pedestal thing from the forest. But no key like block to be found. As she walked further into the room, she was attacked by the pink little guy who could only be defeated by casting thunder. And as soon as it had been taken care of, two of the lizard like guard creatures appeared.

Meeth Crym ran around, avoiding the creatures' attacks and casting spells to defeat them. When they finally fell, one of them dropped the key to the pedestal. She sighed, thankful that she didn't have to search for it. She then walked over to it, picked it up and lobbed it into the pedestal. As soon as it slid into place, the gates opened. She was really getting the hang of it.

As she walked through to the next area, she felt as if she had been slapped in the face. She was practically back at the beginning. Sure, she'd walked through a different gate, and yeah, there were a couple of chests for her to loot, but that didn't make up for the colossal amount of wasted time. She was just about ready to give up and head back home when she noticed that the final gate in the area had also been unlocked. She looked around, if she walked through to the next area, there could be something she'd been looking for. And besides, she'd already wasted plenty of time, did it really matter if she wasted even more by continuing to explore? With that set in mind, she decided to head into the next area with hopes of something more interesting lying within.

As luck would have it, it was another puzzle. "Why?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She knew she'd have to carry the giant crates and drop them on the rusted buttons in order to complete this area. And there was also another post based switch. She decided it was best to try and move all the crates on to the bottoms. She picked them up, one by one, till only two buttons remained. She had also picked up the strange lock, which she figured was what the key from earlier was needed for. But she had to focus on sorting out the puzzle.

With no more boxes around, she figured it was time to beat the post. So strolled over and began to hack away at it. As it glowed, she heard the sound of something moving. She turned her gaze, and before her saw a lift like thing with another box. She raced over and pick it up before chucking it into place. Just as it landed, the gates to the lift closed. Meaning she would have to beat the post again to get the last box. So that's exactly what she did.

Much to her surprise, things weren't going to be as easy as she believed. For in the other lift, was a skeleton defending the block. It charged at her, becoming a bit of a hassle. By time she had defeated the thing, the gate had already shut. Forcing her to beat the post up once more. Thankfully she was able to grab the last crate with easy and dump it on the button. As soon as the last button was pushed down, finally, a far louder click rang out. Clearly another gate had been opened.

Meeth Crym ran all the way to the other side of the room, which lead to a large staircase. She climbed the steps, all the way to the top. And there, before her lay the gate she was looking for. "You better be the last area." She warned, before walking through.

She was hardly even surprised to discover the gates closed behind her as soon as she entered. But at least she was in the area with the huge key. She jumped down and grabbed it, along with the chest inside the loot, before turning her attention the button and the sign.

Meeth Crym pushed the button, before reading the sign. The sign read: 'You can use this key to open large locks.'

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Meeth Crym snapped, clearly no longer wanting to play this adventurer game. It was annoying, and she was tired. If this place didn't have the buffasaur, she was just going to have to try and find it another day. There was no way she was going to keep running around for nothing.

Meeth Crym stormed through gate after gate, right up until she was standing in front of the huge lock. She was about to place the key inside, when she spotted the sign. Funny, she hadn't really noticed it earlier. Though she was pretty sure it was going to be useless, she couldn't help but wonder as to what it could tell her. So she decided to read it, and it read: 'Danger! Giant horned beast ahead! We REALLY recommend not opening this door, even if you do find the key. Run away! Foolhardy adventurers enter AT THEIR OWN RISK.'

A smile pealed its way on to her face. Now she understood. The reason this place had been so complicated was to try and keep people out. Anyone insane enough to make it this far, was surely going to be an adventurer. And this sign told her that a horned creature was behind this gate. Surely that would mean she'd found what she was looking for. At last, after all this time, she was finally going to be able to save Eryll. At last, she had finally found the buffasaur.

With new found desire, Meeth Crym twisted the key in the lock, and opened the gates. Head held high, she strolled through. She looted the chest, and pushed the log things into the wall one by one. Now, finally, she was going to defeat the buffasaur. Everything she had done, had been leading up to this moment, one way or another, this creature was going down.

With her head held high, Meeth Crym walked through the final pair of gates.