Chương 40: 39. Don't Get Distracted

Now that we've upgraded our classes and aren't running for our life or bleeding to death, I can properly explore my surroundings. Maybe it's the lighting, but I feel like the stone here is different.

"Vi, am I crazy, or have the rocks changed?" I ask.

"It's not just you," she confirms.

"The color is different—more brown than gray. And do you smell that?" I sniff the air, then immediately regret it.

"Ugh, it's kinda hard to smell anything other than myself. I really need a bath."

"It's dank—kind of earthy," she explains.

"Like how you'd expect a cave to smell. It was weirdly sterile before. I just didn't notice until I had something to compare it to."

"I'll take your word for it," I shrug.

"What about these lanterns?" I walk over to inspect one of the softly glowing lamps lining the cavern. There are several of them concentrated in the entrance alcove, but there are enough of them spread out to illuminate the entire place. Now that I get a closer look at it, what I thought was a glass case is actually some kind of solid, translucent crystal. The core of the crystal glows with a bright white point, but quickly softens to a warm orange glow.

Brighter than the candles, but actually a bit warmer in color than candlelight.

"There's no flame in them," Maggie declares.

"But they are pretty strongly magical. Less than the candles, but not by much. We should take them." The crystal lamps are each about the size of my head and secured to the wall by heavy black metal sconces. It even looks like the metal was forged around the crystal. Whoever made this either really didn't want anyone stealing the crystals, wasn't worried about having to change them, or both.

"Yeah, I don't think that's happening," I deadpan.

"Where would we even put them?" Other than the lamps, the rest of the cavern outside of the alcove is totally empty. The alcove itself doesn't have much except for the statue and the doors, neither of which seem to have been touched for a long time until I came along and started bleeding on everything. There's even a bloody handprint on the base of the statue that looks like mine, though I have no memory of ever touching it.

It still gives me the heebie-jeebies though, so rather than bother with the statue I turn my attention to the doors. They are huge. I mean, I already knew they were huge, but now that I've got the time to properly appreciate them, they really are enormous. Ten feet tall and wrought from the surrounding stone, with ornate looking carvings that form curling reliefs reminding me of a goat's horns.

More of that black metal forms giant hinges as well as some rather thick and now slightly bent bars at the top meant to hold it closed. They're still more or less performing that role, but they've been visibly compromised by Vi's earlier stunt.

"Vi, I'm five feet tall and probably like ninety pounds at this point," I observe.

"How the fricking frack did you open that door?"

"It's a little hazy, to be honest," she admits.

"I uh... just pushed."

"I'm pretty sure I remember you 'pushing' a furrow into solid stone," Maggie says.

"You might not know how to do it on command, but I'm almost certain you instinctively pushed your skill into giving you more strength."

"Maybe. All I remember pushing is the door."

"Fair enough," I shrug, finally turning to the part that I've been putting off.

"So about this statue..."

"It's an [Angel]," Maggie says, as if telling me the sky is blue.

"Or something like it. Inactive, I guess, but it gives me the same error when I try to measure how magical it is." Yeah... My magical sense isn't as refined as Maggie's, but even I can feel a sort of weight to the statue just from being near it. Its featureless face seems to stare straight into my soul, and I can't stand to look at it for too long. At least it doesn't have the same mind-bending hypergeometry that the active [Angel] did. Or the Stalker.

"Well, if it's asleep, I don't see any reason to wake it," I say with a shrug.

"Time to look around." Before I leave, I try to recover as much of the scrap cloth as I can from between the doors, but it's pretty jammed in there. Once that's done, I hoist the candle-burrito onto one shoulder, and balance Nipper on the other. He's getting bigger. He and his siblings were barely palm-sized when they hatched, and grew to hand-size within just a few hours. Nipper kinda slowed down after that, but he's still managed to get about as long as my forearm.

He nibbles on my hair idly as I march into the center of the cavern. Normally I'd be annoyed by that, but we already chopped it all off anyway, so what the hey?

"Alright, let's test out this new skill." [Skill - Inner Compass: You always know which direction you're facing, and can faintly sense what lies down a path.] The directional sense is kind of weird, honestly. I need some kind of reference point, so I arbitrarily decide that north is directly away from the doors. Aside from them, there are two exits to the cavern, one on the northeastern side of the room, sloping slightly downwards, and one to the west, which is more or less level.

I can tell the slope just by looking at them, even though it isn't obvious, so I'm pretty sure that's part of the skill. The second part is even weirder, though. It's like... a mix of intuition and reason. I know based on my map and Vi's observations that the northeast passage is vaguely in the direction of the stream's projected path, and I can almost feel the skill lighting up in my head to confirm that line of thought.

It's not telling me there's clean water down that path, but it is telling me I'm right to think there might be. Even more compelling is the fact that the lamps continue down the western path, but not the northeastern one. Whoever went through the effort of lighting this place must have come from that direction, which the skill confirms likely means it will lead to a way out. I almost start running down the lit path then and there, but I have a faint premonition about it.

Just a vague sense of unease when I look down that path. Nothing here is safe, but that way feels particularly dangerous somehow. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. All in all, a pretty handy skill! If a little hard to grasp.

"I think we should go down the dark path first," I say, before quickly explaining the premonitions the skill gave me.

"I think that's wise," Vi agrees.

"We'll want to secure a water source first, and it would be good to scout the area. Even if the lit path leads straight outside, that doesn't necessarily mean safety. We don't know what's out there." Maggie just shrugs disinterestedly, happy to go along with whatever while she focuses on whatever it is she does when she's not in front. Not being in front is... kinda weird? It's like I'm there, but not there.

I can remember the things I say and do while Vi or Mags are in front, but it feels like I'm remembering it from their perspective. I can't say I like it much, but I also feel a bit bad hogging the driver's seat all the time. I'm trying not to, but I still can't help but feel like it's my body, rather than ours. I'm still kind of agitated about giving up my hair, too, but I had my moment to mope about it and I'll be okay. With candle in hand and Nipper at my side, I set off once more to explore the unknown.

* After a few minutes of walking down the narrow passage, I really start to see what Vi means. The caves really do have an earthy smell to them that wasn't present before, like something halfway between soil after a rainstorm and a mildewy old rag. The dirt and rubble is also softer and looser compared to the rough but solid floors from before. You'd think that would be better on my poor feet, but it's more like jagged gravel than actual soil—somehow both more unstable and more pokey. In short, it sucks to walk on.

However, it also leads me at last to the first sign of plant life. Or rather, not plants but...

"Mushrooms?" I ask, raising an eyebrow critically at a greenish white patch of fuzz spreading across some rocks.

"Fungus, yes," Violet confirms.

"Don't get too close, most spores are not healthy to inhale."

"It's about as edible as the rock it's growing on," Maggie adds helpfully. Not that I was planning on trying. It's a pretty big colony, taking up a sizable chunk of the wall and floor here before extending off into the darkness.

"Does this help us somehow?" I ask.

"Not on its own, no," Vi says.

"Fungus can grow just about anywhere, but I suspect it means that whatever was keeping our food from rotting doesn't apply up here."

"Darn."

"We should keep an eye out for any lichens or mosses growing among them though," she adds.

"If we can find those, it's a sure sign we're getting close to the surface." I know what moss is, but I don't think I'd know a lichen if I sat on it. I trust Vi's judgment, though, so I'll stay on the lookout. Just as I'm about to leave the curious patch of white mold alone, I notice something moving out of the corner of my eye. I whirl around to look for it, but see nothing unusual in the dim candlelight.

Frowning, I hesitantly reach forward with the candle to poke at the debris, but before I get that far a long brown thing with way too many legs comes scurrying out from under the dirt. I shriek and fall backwards into the fungus patch at the same time as Nipper nails the centipede-like thing with one of his threads. I don't have time to inspect the hand-sized bug any closer before Nipper reels the webbing back in like a fishing line and swallows it.

"Uh..." I stare at our weird little pet in shock as he happily munches on his prey.

"Did either of you know he could do that?"

"Nope," Maggie confirms.

"That's the first time we've seen him attack something smaller than himself." I stand up and brush myself off, noting that the mushrooms left quite a lot of white powdery residue on my clothes and grumbling as I try to get rid of it.

"Aw man! Does this mean I'm gonna get mold growing on my jeans?"

"I think it depends on the fungus, but we probably should wash them if we get the chance," Violet says.

"As if they didn't already need washing," I mutter darkly before giving up and continuing down the path.

"So I guess there's bugs here too. I mean, bug-sized bugs instead of giant ones."

"Yeah..." Vi says distractedly.

"This whole area feels a lot more alive than the last one."

"Isn't that because of the Stalker?"

"Possible, but I wouldn't rely on that assumption. Why was that place sealed behind those huge doors?"

"Again, I feel like the giant hyperdimensional spider monster is a strong candidate," I point out.

"Point," she concedes.

"But something tells me there's more to it."

"And here I thought Mags was the intuitive one," I tease her.

"I just don't think we have enough information to make conclusions," she replies defensively.

"You don't need lateral thinking to see how things don't all add up."

"Trust your gut, Violet," Maggie stage-whispers, her voice warbling like she's trying to imitate a ghost.

"Join the dark side!"

"I'm not going to be abandoning rationality and empiricism any time soon, thank you." I roll my eyes and leave the two to their banter as I continue down the tunnel. The slope starts to become more pronounced, and I actually have to keep a hand on the wall to maintain balance as I carefully make my way down. It was pleasantly warm back near the alcove, but the air around us gets noticeably colder as I descend, and before long I can hear the tell-tale babble of moving water ahead of us.

I almost gasp when the cavern opens up before me. I'm met by a huge open space, the walls and ceiling covered by a whole forest of fungi and illuminated by the soft glow of bioluminescent mushrooms ranging from greenish blue, to candle-orange, to outlandish pink in a surreal neon display of underground life. Splitting the cavern is no mere spring, but an entire river, several meters across, flowing lazily across the cave as it reflects the scintillating display of the mushrooms above.

Across the river, something at the edge of the water notices my arrival and scurries away into the darkness before I can get a proper look at it.

"It's beautiful," I observe with awestruck wonder. I'm almost, almost glad to be down here, just for the opportunity to see something so amazing.

"Don't get distracted," Violet reminds me, though I can tell her heart's not in it.

"It is nice, though." I nod and approach the edge of the stream carefully, trying not to rely too much on the spotty illumination provided by the mushrooms. I don't see any sign of the creature I spooked off, even after tossing a few candles across the river to light up the other side. I'm not sure where it went, but I can't see far enough to tell if there are other pathways further beyond.

What I do know is that the passage we took to get here had a bit of a curve to it, and that the river runs almost perfectly south to north, confirming that it's probably the same stream.

"How does that little spring turn into all this?" I ask, peering off into the distance where the river continues north through another dark tunnel.

"It's a lot slower here," Violet notes.

"But you're right, this does seem like too much. Maybe it has other tributaries?" Wait.

"If the water is slower here... does that mean it's safe to swim in?" I hedge. It's cold, but not nearly as cold as the source was. As long as we don't stay too long, dry off quickly, and get back to where it's warmer...

"That depends on how deep it is," Violet says, "and whether there's anything dangerous living in it, but..." She hesitates, and I practically start bobbing on my toes in excitement.

"But...?"

"It's probably safe, yes," she confirms. I actually physically jump with joy, pumping my fist in the air and nearly startling poor Nipper off his perch.

"Yes!" I cry.

"Yes, yes, yes! Finally!"

"Don't get too excited, Allie, we still need to—""Too late," Maggie interrupts.

"I don't think she's listening." At long last! I can wash my hair! I can wash my clothes! I can take a motherflipping bath! This is now officially my favorite place in the entire world. [Level up!] Pathfinder is now level 1. +2 Awareness. +2 Will.