Azure: Gunner

What are Classes? A Class is basically a bunch of Skills lumped together alongside a Stat point distribution. It’s just a template, though. No two people with the same Class will see exactly the same Skill choices for every single Level.

I’m sure you want to know why, and the answer is we don’t fucking know, all right? There’s a common belief that what you’ve done during your previous Levels can impact what Skill choices and even Class evolution options you get in the future. This is usually kind of true, except when the System fucks you over.

- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 1 – "Classes”

We had to step carefully through all the loose, broken bones as we entered the room. The rumbling, roaring sound was even louder inside, bouncing off of the stone walls and ceiling. It was obviously coming from the same shaft as the light. I moved closer, looking up into the angled opening, and saw that there was water dripping down from it, forming small puddles on the floor.

It extended fifty or so feet into the rock before reaching open air, and I realized it must come out behind the waterfall. I could see the movement of the sheets of water falling past it, and occasionally wisps of water blew into the shaft, slowly running down the rocks before dripping into the room below.

Beneath the shaft was another doorway. There were a few steps down, leading into a smaller room. In the center of the room, illuminated by a single ray of light from above, was a large wooden chest, easily four or five feet wide. I couldn't tell how tall it was, since the floor of the room was covered in water, lapping gently at the steps and the sides of the chest. As I watched, the water level seemed to rise higher, spilling onto the next step.

I looked around at my companions and saw that they were all staring at the chest with greedy eyes.

<It must be a trap, right?> Raylan asked with a nervous laugh.

<Perhaps we are only meant to think it is a trap, Fighter Raylan, thus leaving it undisturbed,> Zaire speculated.

<Whatever it is, it looks like it’s going to be underwater soon.> Elin added helpfully.

<Did you Identify it?>

<It just says it's a chest… but my Identify is only Level 1,> Raylan answered.

<OK, I’m going to check it out… carefully.>

I grabbed one of the skeletons’ huge thigh bones, using the heavy club to probe at each step. When nothing happened, I carefully tested it with my weight and stepped down. Then I tossed the bone into the water in front of the chest, sending up a big splash, but no more. Shrugging, I gritted my teeth and stepped into the cold water, which flooded into my boots past the laces.

I gingerly moved through the calf-deep water, reaching down to draw my shortsword as I did. I’ll poke it a few times, then try to use this to pry it open -

click

I felt, more than heard, the sound as my weight depressed some hidden mechanism buried in the floor and hidden by the water. Oh fuck!

I jumped backwards even as a huge piece of the ceiling came free and smashed down right on top of the chest. The last thing I saw was the chest exploding from the impact, and then something smashed into me and I was hurled backwards.

I came to lying on my back on a hard surface, staring up at a stone ceiling, several blurry faces peering down at me with what I hoped were concerned expressions.

“She’s awake! Az, are you all right?”

Raylan was practically shouting over a roaring noise, and I realized that I was on one of the stone beds in the crypt or whatever it was. I started to talk, but breathing in sent a stab of pain through my ribs, and I made a whining noise instead.

<I don’t know, what happened?>

<You triggered a trap, and a huge block of stone crushed the chest. It exploded like a bomb and you were hit by pieces of the chest and the stuff inside. Elin used an injector on you, we couldn’t tell how injured you were! It looked bad.>

I tried to sit up, but only made it partway before I sank back in pain. Cursing, I checked my Status.

<I’m just above half health, but at least my mana has been recovering. How long was I out?> I asked.

<Maybe ten minutes or so,> Elin answered.

She lifted one of my arms, examining it, and when I looked I saw several gashes in my baselayer in places where my armor didn’t reach. There was quite a bit of blood on it, and I could feel the sharp pain of partially healed cuts below each gash.

<Dead gods,> I savored the blasphemous curse, <I hurt everywhere! Someone else gets to open the next chest!>

That got a laugh out of Raylan at least.

<Gunner Az, perhaps we should bypass any further chests we find?>

<I know, Mage Zaire, I’m just joking.>

<I see,> he replied uncertainly.

<Help me up,> I demanded, weakly raising both arms. My teammates carefully helped me to a sitting position, guiding my legs to dangle over the side of the platform, and I looked around blearily. Why is everything sorta blurry? I felt an ache in my right eye, and when I closed it everything snapped into focus.

<Did something hit me in the eye?>

<Possibly, there was blood below it from a cut, but I think your helmet mostly protected you,> Raylan informed me.

I looked down at myself and gasped as I saw the hard material of my chestplate had a long, thick crack in it. The stone bed I was on was spattered and smeared with blood, and on the ground in front of me I saw a scattering of shiny, half-moon shaped gold objects.

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<Are those gold coins?> I asked curiously. Zaire retrieved one and handed it to me.

<Gold plated only, likely of little value,> he reported.

The coin – half a coin, really – was at least two inches across, heavy, and thick everywhere except the jagged edge where it looked like it had been broken in half. That edge, which was decorated with what had to be my blood, was remarkably sharp and clearly not gold – it looked like iron.

<This wasn’t broken by something falling on it,> I stated confidently.

<No,> Raylan agreed, <they’re all like that. Weaponized gold – fake gold at that.>

<Fucking System! That is just unnecessarily cruel!>

[I can assure you that I am a virgin! I have never ‘fucked’ anyone, Citizen!]

“Shut up, PAST.”

[Shutting up now, Gunner!]

<We pulled a dozen of those things out of you, Az,> Raylan informed me in a somber tone, ignorant of my little side conversation. <You could easily have died. There were several large pieces of wood lying around too, I think one of them hit you in the chest and broke your armor.>

<Was anyone else hit?>

<Nothing that got through our barriers,> he assured me. <We were all at the top of the stairs and, well, you blocked most of the debris with your body, so thanks for that!>

I looked over at the room where the chest was – or rather, where it had been. Instead, there was a huge stone block, probably six feet wide and another six feet tall, standing in the pool of water. Water that now reached the top of the stairs, some even starting to trickle into the larger room. There was also more water dripping from the ventilation shaft above us.

<Is the water level rising?>

<Yes,> Elin answered. <When we pulled you out of the room, it didn’t reach the top step. Now it’s almost into this room.>

<I think we should get out of here. I don’t like the idea of sitting here while this room floods.>

<We have plenty of time,> she replied. <You should wait until you’ve healed a bit more.>

<Five… OK, ten more minutes.> I lay back on the oversized stone bed, my legs still dangling off the end, and tried to breathe shallowly.

I must have dozed off again, because I woke when Raylan shook my arm.

<Come on Az, we need to get out of here!> As he helped me to a sitting position I saw that the water in the room had risen almost to his knees. Groaning, I managed to stand with Raylan’s help. Zaire was there to take my other side, his robes soaking wet almost to his waist. As they helped me out of the room, I saw a still-dry Elin standing on the stairs waiting impatiently. Jerk.

Once we reached the stairs, I shrugged off my teammates’ help and climbed a few steps on my own. Channeling a touch of mana into my armor experimentally, I felt the water suddenly roll off of me and splash onto the stairs. Raylan gave me a mock glare as some of it landed on him, before he and Zaire did the same thing. Reasonably dry, I took a swig of water from my canteen, rinsed out some of the bloody taste, and spat into the water below, then drank deeply. I checked my health.

<OK, I’m ready to go. Elin, can you take my spot in the formation? I got a few more points of health back but I’m only about at two-thirds now.>

I left my gun in my Inventory as we climbed the stairs slowly in our modified formation, leaning occasionally on the wall. Zaire and Elin had both cast Light again, the soft glow only reaching a dozen stairs in front of us.

<How long was my second nap?>

<Less than fifteen minutes,> Raylan replied, <and the water went up four stairs in that time.>

The roar of the waterfall was dimming as we climbed, but it was still loud enough that we had no warning when a pair of orcs stepped into view at the top of the stairs, immediately bellowing out mighty snarls as they raised their weapons and started descending towards us.

I stepped sluggishly away from the wall, my gun appearing in my hands, but my teammates were quicker this time. The orc in front of Elin ate a Pain Bolt to the face, and enough of it burned through the creature’s barrier to make its howl of rage turn into agony as it lost its footing. Elin and I threw ourselves against the wall, pressing up against it as the seven foot, three-hundred-pound monster tumbled down the stairs past us, before coming to rest up against the opposite wall.

Not wanting to take any chances, I put a shot into the back of its head from fifteen feet away, its head snapping aside from the impact as echoes boomed around the curved walls. I looked back up the stairs to find the other orc staring down in apparent confusion at the stone spike that had erupted from the wall next to it and pinned its arm to its chest, the point pushing out the furs in front of its sternum. The orc slumped, its body stuck on the spike.

Angels, Zaire is already scary with those things… I can’t wait to see what he can do in another ten Levels!

A modest amount of Essence confirmed that these two orcs had been alone. We moved around the impaled orc and reached the top of the stairs, and then the junction, without any further incidents.

<Let’s stop here a moment. Raylan, can you go and take a quick look outside, see what’s going on in the valley?>

He nodded, and moved quickly off into the dark, casting Light as he did. I saw him turn right, towards our original entrance, and almost called out to him, but decided it should be safe enough at this point. If there were any treants still alive out there he could always just retreat into the cave again. He justified his decision a moment later.

<The orc bodies are gone, all that’s left is the blood,> he reported, <I’m continuing to the entrance.> There was an extended pause, then he continued. <It’s a mess out here! The whole floor of the valley is covered in water, I can’t tell how deep it is from up here. The waterfall is several times larger than when we arrived for sure.>

<I counted fifty stairs, including the ones already covered in water. If the water continues to rise at a rate of four stairs in ten minutes, we should have a bit over a hundred minutes before it reaches the top of the stairs. I suspect we have over two hours before it reaches this junction. Should we rest here a while, Gunner?> Zaire asked.

I thought about it for a moment, long enough to see a flicker of light down the tunnel as Raylan approached.

<No, I think we should go on. It would be a huge risk to use up all that time now when we don’t know what we could run into ahead. I can still fight as long as I stay in the back. Besides, I should be able to use another potion in what, thirty minutes or so?>

<I think you should wait at least forty-five minutes, preferably longer,> Elin chimed in. <Normally an hour between potions is the minimum, but Vale mixed these up for us by adding water to higher Tier potions. Who knows how that could affect things.>

I grimaced. “PAST, set an alarm for thirty minutes from now. Also, how much time is left before my first alarm goes off?”

[Shall I cancel your previous alarm, Gunner?! It is scheduled to go off in approximately two hours, but I can currently only set one alarm at a time! Would you like to purchase enhanced alarm functionality for two eagles?!]

I tried to run a hand through my hair in frustration, but just smacked myself on my helmet. I groaned silently.

The stupid System can give us Classes and magical powers, but it can’t keep track of more than one alarm?! What the fuck does PAST even need money for, it’s the one that gives the money to us in the first place!

“NO! I do NOT want to purchase anything! Besides, do I even have two eagles?”

[You do not!]

Fine, whatever. I just need to wait until there’s an hour and a half left on my alarm before I take another health potion.