Soulweaver 82: The Raid Begins (Patreon)

Making hot water was easy when you had an infinite supply of snow, and a fire. I pilfered one of the several cookpots that hung above what used to be the kitchen, before I repurposed the table for firewood. 

I’d slowly nudged Aerion closer to the fire, rolling her over so she got heat equally from all sides, making sure her hands and feet were getting warmed by the flames at all times. I was especially worried about her extremities, since those were usually the first to get frostbitten. 

Luckily, all of her digits were pink, not blue, and the color was steadily returning to her skin.

While I probably ought to have removed her waterlogged clothing, that was a line I didn’t dare cross. No good saving Aerion’s life if I was gonna die after.

It was fine—the fire was drying out her clothes as well, and her gloves and boots were already dry.

Aerion’s immediate needs taken care of, I started warming myself, stripping off my gauntlets and boots and doing my best to warm up. Luckily, the armor had shielded me from most of the snow, so I was a good bit drier than Aerion. In my case, it was the cooling sweat that was making me shiver. Without Aerion to help, I couldn’t easily undo my cuirass, so I just warmed up as best I could beside the fire. My plate metal did a good job conducting the heat to the fabric liners on the inside.

The cabin shuddered, and snow blew in from outside. I’d managed to brace the door I’d busted with some furniture, but it wasn’t perfect, and there was a constant draft of cold air. Once our wood ran out, we’d be forced to abandon this place, and judging by how fast the fire ate firewood, that wouldn’t be long at all. I gave it half a day, tops.

Staring at the pot I’d hung on a spit above the fire as it slowly melted, my thoughts turned to the events that had led us here. The Cataclysm dungeon, the ambush, and now this. It was like one of the gods was conspiring against us, or something.

At least the ordeal had granted me some Stats. Two to Vigor and one to Dominion, bringing them to 44 and 40 respectively. I’d even gained a point in Grace, probably thanks to carrying Aerion while navigating the deep snow, bringing that up to 26.

Aerion stirred, interrupting my thoughts.

“Water,” she croaked, her eyes still shut.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Using a poker, I removed the lid of the boiling pot and scooped some out into a wooden mug.

“I added some snow to cool it down, but it’s still pretty hot. Sit up and take small sips.”

Aerion grumbled, but did as she was told, holding the mug with both hands as she sipped. 

Hot water was like magic in times like these. In just a few minutes, the color had returned to Aerion’s face, and she moved with much more energy.

“Thanks,” she said, her voice more or less back to normal. “So, we survived, huh? What happened?”

“Well, you found me, but fell unconscious before we made it to the cabin. I carried you the rest of the way. How’d everything feel, by the way? Can you move?”

Aerion wiggled her toes and tested her various limbs. “It hurts a bit, but I’ll manage.”

I let out a breath. “Good. Was worried sick you’d have gotten frostbite.”

Aerion frowned. “You seem to know an awful lot about the cold.”

“Believe me, If you’d grown up where I did, you would too.”

Aerion fell silent for a while, before muttering something.

“Sorry?” I said. “Didn’t quite catch that.”

“I said… Thanks. For saving me. I owe you a life debt.”

“Not this again,” I said, groaning. “Are we really gonna keep having these convos every time we help each other out?”

I braced myself for a drawn-out argument, but what I got instead was a small smile.

“I suppose not,” Aerion said, looking at me warmly.

“R-right,” I replied, caught off guard. “Anyway, we ought to think of our next steps.”

Aerion nodded. “I am ready to leave.”

“Uh, not to be a downer, but no, you’re not. Neither am I, for that matter. You saw how long we lasted in that snow and the wind. We’re locked down until this storm passes, at the very least.”

“What do you suggest, then?”

“When the weather clears—and I’m seriously hoping that happens within the next day, or we’re gonna freeze to death in here—we’ll be able to get a lay of the land. The Cataclysm Dungeon might have spit us out somewhere random as a safety mechanism, but I’m guessing this world can’t be too big. It is the lowermost floor of D Rank dungeon, after all. Or the outermost, depending on the layout.”

“Indeed,” Aerion replied. “They grow in size with rank. This one should not be very large.”

“Right. So I’m hoping we can make our way to civilization. Which, in this case, would be our enemies. But I’m assuming they’ll at least have heating, so that’s something.”

“Greg?” Aerion asked, looking puzzled.

“Yeah?”

“Why are we together?”

“Right, I’ve been wondering about that myself,” I admitted. 

“Cataclysm dungeons are supposed to fling delvers into far-flung locations, as a defense mechanism to split up large raiding parties.”

“Makes sense,” I said. “If I was designing a forward operating base for my troops, I’d build in a similar mechanism. Makes no sense to allow an army through. I think… It’s because the System considers us one entity.”

“Like in Dominion’s Trial…” Aerion replied, looking off into the distance.

“Right. The System is clearly confused about what you are. I’m guessing it thought of us as the same entity, and dropped us in the same location.”

“I see,” Aerion replied slowly. “I suppose it does make some sense.”

To me, it didn’t really make any sense, but I kept that to myself. We had bigger fish to fry right now. Like getting out alive.

“You rest up,” I said, gingerly getting to my feet. “Get warm and dry. I’m going to scour this place for anything else I can burn.”

— — 

The storm finally let up a half day later, which was fortuitous, because there wasn’t a lot left in the cabin to burn. 

Both Aerion and I had conserved out energy, sipping on boiled water, munching on our snacks from her backpack, and catching some Z’s when we could. On the cold, hard surface, sleep wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake dismembering the bunk beds for firewood.

We opted to use up Aerion’s rations first, both because it’d ease her load, and because food outside of my Spatial Inventory perished faster. 

With how cold everything was, I doubted that would be a huge issue, but it was still preferable to depleting my own reserves.

Stepping outside, I wondered if we’d stepped into another world altogether. “If you’d told me there was a gale-force storm here just a few hours ago, I’d have called you a liar,” I said, admiring the scenery.

The sky was a rich blue, the snow was pure and driven, and the sun was out. Or more accurately, suns—there were three, but all of them were tiny in the sky, and I could look at them with my naked eye.

Or at least, I did, until Aerion smacked my back. “Don’t look at the sun. You’ll go blind.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Well, the good news is we’ve found civilization,” I said, pointing into the distance.

“And the bad news?” she asked.

“We’ll have to scale a jagged mountain to get there.”

An entire mountain range loomed before us, barely a mile away. Built into the rock, all the way up, were metal buildings. Some spewed black smoke, while others looked like observation decks. 

Whatever it was, there was a large operation of some sort within that rock, and given what we knew, I was willing to bet that was where our enemies were coming from.

No wonder the commander wore thick furs…

“I can’t believe we never saw this,” Aerion muttered, craning her neck.

“In a whiteout like that? We could barely see fifteen feet! Let alone a mile. We could’ve been right next to it and we wouldn’t have seen a damn thing. Only question is… How do we get inside?”

“Perhaps we’ll learn  more if we venture closer?” Aerion asked.

“Fair enough,” I said, scanning the area. The whole range seemed peppered with those structures. “Worst comes to worst, I suppose we could find some rocky outcropping by the mountains to hunker down at. Just wish we had a compass, in case the weather rolls in.”

“I doubt we’ll get turned around so much we miss those mountains entirely,” Aerion said.

“You would be surprised. Let’s hope we never have to deal with it.”

“The weather looks good for now, and I have recovered. I say we push forward.”

Aerion, with much gusto, hefted her pack and proudly stomped off into the snow.

She made it about two steps before she punched through the soft snow, getting stuck up to her knees.

“Right,” she said. “Forgot about this. It will be slow going, but it’s only a mile, as you said.”

“Uh, how about no?” I said. “Look, treading deep snow all the way there is just going to wear us out, even with our stats in Vigor.”

Plodding step after step in deep snow was so much harder than it looked. I’d made the mistake of underestimating it once after a snowstorm. It hadn’t even been three hundred yards from the bus stop back home, but even that exertion had nearly killed me.

“The last thing we want is to show up there tired and winded. Especially if we find ourselves in a fight. Not to mention the frostbite. Without proper boots, we’ll be lucky if we keep our toes.”

“What do you suggest, then?”

“Snowshoes,” I said confidently.

Aerion blinked and stared at me like I was an alien.

— — 

My elven friend watched on curiously as I worked to strip the backing off a chair I’d taken apart for firewood. The backrest had been made of some thatched reed material, which felt perfect for my needs. I didn’t know nearly enough about snowshoes to build one myself, but I was plenty capable of punching a couple of holes and tying a few knots with the small length of rope I’d packed into my Spatial Inventory.  

Some people said duct tape could solve just about any problem. I didn’t have duct tape, but I figured rope was nearly as good, so I’d stashed some for the trip. I just never thought I’d have to use it within a day of arriving.

I strapped the makeshift snowshoe to my steel boots and took a few test steps.

“Well, not the most glorious of snowshoes, but I figure they’ll suffice.”

“Fascinating,” Aerion said, analyzing my handiwork closely. “They distribute the weight of your body, allowing you to float atop it. I’ve heard of such contraptions in Wisdom’s territory to the far north, but I’ve never seen one in person.”

As usual, Aerion was freakishly fast on the uptake when it came to anything mechanical. So much so that she managed to build her own set in half the time as I did, and hers looked a lot better, too, being shorter in the front and longer in the rear to allow for easy movement.

While we only needed them to last a mile, I Initialized both sets for three points per set. They granted us a ‘Stomp’ ability that increased the damage of anything we crushed underfoot, but I largely ignored that. These basic abilities were practically useless next to the stuff my [Uncommon] and [Rare] equipment granted. I mainly just wanted them to not crumble after a few minutes of use.

With the triple suns high overhead and snowshoes strapped to our feet, we set out. Two delvers about to raid a mountain fortress, alone, and all I could think about was how many stats I’d gain from this trek of ours.

“Stop smiling,” Aerion said. “It’s weird.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

I realized, somewhat belatedly, that I might have something of an addiction.