Chapter 2 Part 5: Going Through the Door
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Chapter 2 Part 5: Going Through the Door
They took their time after that.
The adrenaline of discovery slowly bled off as they sat in the camp chairs beneath the tarps, eating protein bars and trail mix and making half-serious, half-exhausted comments about everything that had happened so far. The ravine felt almost peaceful again, despite the impossible structure hidden a few feet away.
After a long stretch of quiet, Ethan finally broke it.
“I know we’re going to mess with the obelisk more,” he said, not looking at her, “but you want to open the door, don’t you?”
Abigail raised her hand immediately. “Guilty as charged. How could you not? There’s a whole dungeon in there, and I want to know what it means to actually get experience.”
Ethan sighed, but there was a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
They packed up the chairs and stepped back toward the obelisk chamber, careful once again to step over the glowing blue lines traced across the floor. Even after everything they had tested, neither of them felt inclined to step on those lines casually.
Standing at the obelisk, they resumed experimenting.
Abigail rested her hand against one facet, her eyes narrowing in concentration as she focused on the CLASS field of her status display. She deliberately formed the thought choose class.
The rest of the interface dimmed. Everything except the class line faded into the background, replaced by a single, centered message:
No available classes“Well,” she said, pulling her hand back slightly, “that answers that.”
Ethan tried the same thing on his own facet, getting the identical response. They spent the next several minutes trying variations—thinking at other fields, focusing on EXP, health, attributes, skills—but nothing else reacted. The obelisk remained stubbornly silent, offering no further menus or explanations.
“Okay,” Abigail said finally. “So it only listens when it feels like it.”
They were both still touching the obelisk when it happened.
Roughly thirty seconds passed without either of them moving, and then both displays faded at the same time. A new screen appeared, centered and unmistakable:
Form party with connected users? ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Members: │ │ Abigail Carter (Huntress) 50% │ │ Ethan Walker 50% │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘They both froze.
“…Did you see that?” Ethan asked.
“Yes,” Abigail said slowly. “And I’m guessing ‘connected users’ means us.”
She gestured while talking, instinctively animated—and the moment her hand left the facet, her display vanished. Ethan’s screen snapped back to his normal status readout.
They stared at each other, then deliberately tested it again. When both of them maintained contact with the obelisk for a sustained period, the party prompt returned. When one of them broke contact, it disappeared.
“Exactly thirty seconds,” Ethan said, looking up from his watch.
Abigail nodded, eyes bright. “And five facets.” She glanced at the obelisk’s geometry. “I bet parties max out at five people.”
“That’s an assumption,” Ethan said.
“An educated one, since everything in this room has five sides.”
They both focused on the prompt and deliberately thought yes.
The interface brightened as the question above it went away and a new line was added.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Leader: Not chosen │ │ Members: │ │ Abigail Carter (Huntress) 50% │ │ Ethan Walker 50% │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘Abigail leaned closer, studying it. “Alphabetical,” she said immediately.
Ethan snorted. “Of course it is.”
“Alright,” she said, grinning. “I’m going to try something.”
She focused on the leader line and thought choose leader.
Her display updated again, a new line appearing above the party window:
Who will be the party leader? ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Members: │ │ Abigail Carter (Huntress) 50% │ │ Ethan Walker 50% │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘She didn’t hesitate. Abigail thought her own name.
The interface reverted to the party screen, but the leader line now read:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Leader: Pending approval │ │ Members: │ │ Abigail Carter (Huntress) 50% │ │ Ethan Walker 50% │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘Ethan blinked as his own display updated.
“Uh,” he said, “mine says ‘Approve Abigail Carter?’”
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Leader: Approve Abigail Carter? │ │ Members: │ │ Abigail Carter (Huntress) 50% │ │ Ethan Walker 50% │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘“Perfect,” she said. “Try approving it—but don’t use the same wording.”
He raised an eyebrow, then focused and thought approve leader.
The confirmation vanished.
Both screens updated simultaneously.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Leader: Abigail Carter │ │ Members: │ │ Abigail Carter (Huntress) 50% │ │ Ethan Walker 50% │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘“Yes,” she said, entirely too pleased.
Ethan sighed. “I knew that was coming.”
They stared at the percentages for a moment.
“Fifty-fifty,” Abigail said. “That’s either loot or experience, and loot already drops physically. So probably experience.”
“Not gonna argue that.”
After a bit more trial and error, they figured out how to return to their normal status displays by thinking my status, and how to bring the party interface back with my party. Satisfied—for now—they finally stepped away from the obelisk.
Abigail glanced toward the far side of the chamber. “Are we done yet?”
Ethan rolled his eyes, smiling despite himself. “Fine. Let’s go look at the door. I can only stare at this thing for so long too.”
They crossed the chamber together, approaching the large double doors set into the far face of the room, opposite the portal. Ethan examined them carefully, eyes tracing the stonework and the frame.
“Not sure what I’m looking for,” he said, “but I don’t see anything obviously wrong. It’s just… a big door.” He frowned slightly. “It’s interesting, though. The top of it is flush with the wall, but the bottom is inset.”
Abigail followed his gaze.
“The portal frame is flush at the base and sticks out at the top,” Ethan continued. “But that thing’s only three meters tall. This door is five. If it were bottom-flush, it’d stick way out into the room.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I don’t see anything else either.”
She reached out and touched the door.
Nothing happened.
Abigail smiled, drew her Glock, and glanced back at Ethan. “Want to open it together?”
He pulled his own pistol from its holster and stepped up beside her. She grabbed the bar on the right-hand door. He took the left.
“Three,” she said.
“Two.”
“One.”They pulled.
The doors swung open smoothly and without resistance. Both of them stepped back immediately, weapons raised, scanning the opening.
Nothing lunged at them.
“Well,” Abigail said, peering into the darkness beyond, “that was anticlimactic.”
“Even I can’t argue with that,” Ethan said. He squinted down the passage. “If I had to guess without measuring, I’d say it’s about five meters by five meters.” He jerked a thumb back toward the obelisk. “About half the height, and everything else here has been even meters. No lights in there either. I can see maybe fifty feet, but I don’t see anything moving.”
Abigail holstered her pistol. “Looks empty from here. Let me grab the big lights. You keep your gun out. You do have your knife ready in case the gun doesn’t work, right?”
Ethan snapped the clasp on the machete at his side. “Ready.” He nodded toward the tunnel. “You stay to my left and behind my line of fire. Hold the lights high and forward.”
They switched gear quickly. Two powerful flashlights cut through the darkness, pushing visibility much farther down the corridor. About a hundred feet in, Abigail caught a shape branching off to the left.
“Tunnel to the left up ahead,” she said.
“All worked stone,” Ethan replied. “Same as the chamber.” He paused. “Let’s put one light down here and switch to the headlamps. Use your phone to record. I don’t want to stay long.”
He smirked. “Well, not as long as you do.”
“Since we found one outside,” Abigail said ignoring him, “my guess is slimes on the first floor. Gotta watch the ceiling. I don’t want to lose my hair to a not-cute slime.”
“Not cute?” Ethan asked.
“The one on Chairman was brownish and gross. Not like the anime ones. Just a pile of goo. Nothing cute about that.”
They finished strapping on their lights. Abigail took Ethan’s pistol and covered the corridor while he adjusted his own gear.
“Take the shotgun and birdshot rounds,” Ethan said. “If it’s a slime, that’ll work better than my Glock. I’m not knifing one again and ending up in a tentacle fight.”
She grinned and pulled the familiar Remington from his pack, loading birdshot, then buckshot and a couple of slugs—just in case.
Ethan checked his range finder. “Corridor’s five by five, and it is thirty meters to that opening. I looked earlier, by the way, and a hundred feet is more or less thirty meters.”
They moved forward carefully.
As they approached the left passage, their lights caught a green puddle tucked into the corner just inside the side tunnel. It shimmered faintly.
“A green slime?” Abigail whispered. “They come in different colors? That means attributes! So green is what Air or Wood? The brown one was Earth I bet.”
Ethan shrugged. “Maybe, but later. Let’s see if it moves, since you were so loud.”
“The slime began to approach, moving in a way that was neither a walk nor a slide.”
“Looks aggressive,” Abigail said, setting her stance.
Ethan stepped back and to the side. “Ten yards. Fire when it hits ten, I’m clear.”
It continued forward, steadily closing the distance.
“That is really weird to watch,” Ethan muttered.
Abigail waited, then squeezed the trigger.
The shotgun blast echoed violently through the stone corridor. She pumped the action immediately and held, watching.
The slime burst into drifting blue motes and vanished.
“Damn ear protection,” Ethan said, wincing. “That was loud.”
Abigail grimaced, rubbing one ear. “Yeah. Worth it.” She scanned the floor. “Did it drop anything?”
“Can’t see from here. Not to mention if it is the same size, the manacite is only one millimeter.”
They moved closer and spotted the faint blue glow. Abigail handed Ethan a ziplock bag.
“Grab it,” she said while still watching the hallway. “Then let’s head back. I want to see what the obelisk says about our XP, and I’m not firing again without better hearing protection if I don’t have to.”
“No argument from me.”
They returned quickly, closed the door behind them, and stepped back into the obelisk chamber.
Abigail almost flew over to the obelisk and pressed her hand to a facet.
“I got two XP!” she exclaimed.
Ethan checked his own screen. “Same here. So four total, split evenly.”
“Looks like it.”
She smiled, already backing away. “Let’s call it for today. We’ve got tomorrow free, and we should prep properly if we’re going to spend real time in here.”
Ethan nodded.
They packed up, loaded the ATVs, and headed back toward the garage—both of them keenly aware that they had only just stepped across the threshold.
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@daermadm said in Chapter 2 Part 5: Going Through the Door:
“The slime began to approach, moving in a way that was neither a walk nor a slide.”
this shouldn’t be in quotes - its not speech
somewhere nearby, there’s a confused Orc wondering what the hell just assploded down the hall…
so far, i’m liking the flow of the story
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@dwarf said in Chapter 2 Part 5: Going Through the Door:
@daermadm said in Chapter 2 Part 5: Going Through the Door:
“The slime began to approach, moving in a way that was neither a walk nor a slide.”
this shouldn’t be in quotes - its not speech
somewhere nearby, there’s a confused Orc wondering what the hell just assploded down the hall…
so far, i’m liking the flow of the story
that came from a pass where the AI said WTF were you typing… i think you mean this and gave me that line back. i copied pasted the quotes on accident.
