Broken Lands

Chapter 319 – The Mountain

Sophia expected the remaining ice beasts to stop moving when their controller and animator died, but they didn’t; they were apparently full monsters in their own right, not just constructs controlled by the Hunger. It wasn’t much of a problem, though it did mean they’d have to be careful as they approached the rest of the zone; the monsters could be anywhere there was snow. From what Meadow said, it was something to be careful of but not something to worry about, because without a Hunger, there was nothing to organize them and they’d only attack things they saw.

Killing the rest of the small monsters the Hunger threw at the expedition before it died also answered Sophia’s concern about where the extra snow came from: it appeared nearby whenever anything died, even ice beasts. It wasn’t much for each monster, and the amount didn’t seem to depend on how big the creature was, but it added up quickly when you killed a swarm of locusts. It didn’t come from the body, either; it just appeared over a patch of ground nearby, as if it had fallen from the sky.

“As far as I can tell, all of the ice beasts are dead,” Arak announced through the shadows. It was a little unnerving, but Sophia had to admit that it was useful when you didn’t have a technological solution like she used back home or a mindlink like the one Dav held for their team. “If they aren’t, either kill it or yell for assistance. Those who need healing and healers, head towards the middle of the expedition. Yes, Windspear, that means you. If you don’t come on your own, I’ll have the rest of your group carry you. No, you don’t get to go on because it isn’t that bad; your butt is bleeding so get your butt to the middle. Maybe you should invest in armor that actually covers your rear next time. Get over here.”

Sophia snickered as she watched a man in blue-dyed leather clothing holding a long spear make his way towards Arak Shade. The injury she could see was to his left thigh, rather than his ass, but it was entirely possible that there was another injury she couldn’t see. It was very obvious that his pants weren’t armor. While there was a darker pattern on them that looked sort of like some of the enchantments Sophia had seen around the town, the pants didn’t radiate magic the way they would if they were enchanted.

Sophia shook her head. “Did he put on the wrong pants or did he actually think those were armor?”

“Windspear? Hard to say,” Meadow answered. “He likes to dress in, ah, elaborate outfits, but those are expensive so he skimps on his actual gear. He’s probably spent more on stuff that doesn’t do what the sellers said it would than it would cost to actually buy the good stuff, but he doesn’t listen to anyone about that. Not even his team.”

Sophia nodded. She’d known people like that. They weren’t people you wanted on your team; even if they were careful enough that they didn’t actively endanger anyone else, you ended up having to rescue them from their own mistakes at some point. If they couldn’t learn better, it was better if they were limited to lower-threat situations.

That was probably why Arak was making an example of Windspear, now that Sophia thought about it. He was probably near the end of his patience with the man and wanted him to shape up. If nothing else worked, maybe ridicule over being bitten in the ass would. Sophia kind of doubted it, though; lots of people never seemed to learn that their equipment came first. 

Dav, Jax, and Ci’an were already on their way to the open space where Arak Shade stood, along with one person from Meadow’s team; Sophia was pretty sure that was Rockfist himself. Sophia knew they’d all have healed fine with Dav’s Overflowing Health Ability, but this way Dav could heal others, as well.

“Good, it looks like everyone’s mobile. We’re going to move out and get a ways away from this space; teams Rockfist, Flying Stars, Golden Orchid, and Sky-Descending, you’re in the front. Take us up the mountain; we’re going to check the peak first.” Arak paused, then seemed to backtrack. “I didn’t say it earlier and I should have. Well done, everyone. I see a few areas we can improve, but that may be the best early horde defense I’ve seen in a long time; you all treated it like a real fight. Nothing got through the outer shell and there were no major injuries. We’re going to take this zone apart for whatever it holds, then move on to even better rewards.”

Meadow laughed. “He always sees things to improve. We must have done really well if the only one he’s calling out is Windspear. Come on, let’s get moving; the faster we find the exit, the faster we can get out of the cold.”

“Find the exit?” Sophia frowned at the more experienced woman. “Do they hide?”

“Not really,” Meadow admitted. “Not the main one, anyway. Thing, is, there can be more than one exit. If there is, only one of them leads deeper into the Maze, and we definitely want to head deeper right now. There may also be other things to find; you never know if they’re dangers or opportunities, but they’re usually worth looking for.”

The first place was the obvious one, the one Arak had already identified: the peak of the mountain they started on. It took a surprising amount of searching before they found a crack in the mountainside that turned out to be a narrow cave opening. Nestled at the back of a relatively shallow (if still snowy) cave was a stone door nearly the same color as the rock that surrounded it. When the door was touched, it disappeared, turning into a blue shimmer like an opaque version of a science fiction force field.

Doorway colors were consistent, and blue meant it led to a link. That was all it meant; it could be farther into the Maze or it could be along the sides. There was no way to tell without going through it and into the link, and sometimes you couldn’t then return to the node without a lengthy wait. Cooldowns like that weren’t common, but they were something an expedition had to be aware of. If they scouted the link, the entire expedition might be stuck having to go through it whether it was the right direction or not, to avoid splitting up.

Instead of sending anyone through the doorway, Arak had them search the mountain to see what they could find in an hour. Those who could fly or otherwise travel quickly were grouped together with scouts they could carry, if they didn’t have scouting Abilities themselves. It was obvious Arak had the plan made ahead of time, because he simply called it out once they were all at the peak.

Jax and Ci’an were to fly up high since they had the best vision of the group; several other names were called out, but Sophia only vaguely recognized them as scouts. None of them were from team Rockfist.

Xin’ri was given a slice of the mountain to search. She was only supposed to look for anything obvious; in a wide open landscape like this, it wasn’t worth hunting for anything hidden. You could spend the whole expedition doing that and not find anything. 

Sophia was given a similar task, but she was given an additional task: to summon one of the larger echoes to carry Meadow. The echo could follow limited instructions as long as it stayed close enough to Sophia, so was supposed to stay near Meadow as she hopped along the mountain, performing a quick check for strange vegetation every time she stopped. Meadow normally did that as they traveled, but flying would be far faster than trying to wade through the snow.

Neither Sophia nor Meadow saw anything other than snow and rocks until they crossed below the tree line. After that, Sophia still didn’t see anything, but Meadow had her stop several times so that she could gather small patches of plants. She talked while she gathered, and Sophia had to admit it was somewhat interesting.

Wintermint was useful for fevers of all sorts, as well as adding a nice zesty flavor when cooked. It would probably end up in some of their drinks later in the expedition if they ended up in a desert area, because it helped keep you cool if it was prepared properly, and Arak Shade knew how. Meadow denuded the plants of all of their leaves but left the stems; while there was no evidence that zones needed to be kept in good shape to regrow resources like wintermint, Meadow didn’t see any reason to be wasteful. The plants would survive long enough to grow new leaves, and nothing else on a wintermint plant was useful anyway.

Coldfrost acorns could be used to make a highly nutritious flour, but no one was going to do that unless they ended up stuck in place for a long time. They were also used in cold-resistance potions, but that would mean carrying them back to Mazehold. Meadow was going to grab only a couple of handfuls to use for some of her Abilities, because magical seeds of any sort were useful, until Sophia mentioned that she could carry some as well. 

Sophia was pretty sure she should have made her pack seem smaller than it was; she hadn’t expected to end up carrying enough coldfrost acorns that they were actually acting like a small deep freezer. Meadow, on the other hand, was thrilled; apparently, she normally grabbed large quantities of coldfrost acorns any time she found them if they’d used enough of their supplies to carry them for exactly that reason. The ability to keep things cold for days or weeks was extremely useful on an expedition, and none of the crafters in town specialized in long-term chilling enchantments. 

They’d just stopped for something Meadow called iceroot when Dav told Sophia that they could end their search; Yvonne Brighteyes had found another exit, and Arak was calling everyone back if they hadn’t found anything. Sophia asked about Meadow’s gathering and was told they should finish getting the iceroot.

Iceroot was the best of their three finds, from what Meadow said. It could be used in a lot of different ways, but the one that was relevant to the expedition was that when it was ground and then boiled, it served to aid alertness and prevent drowsiness. It really required a skilled healer or mage to get the amount right; too little iceroot would have no effect at all, while too much would have the opposite effect and make you lethargic, sleepy, and in serious overdoses could actually make someone freeze solid. 

Meadow had never seen that happen. She wasn’t entirely certain that it was real and not just a story to keep people from overusing it to not sleep at all, but she’d never been brave enough to risk it. Taking it with the help of someone who knew how to manage it was completely safe, as far as she was concerned, and it was totally worth it for the expedition. Night guards that fell asleep while they were on watch was far more dangerous than a drink that would keep you awake.