Hands of Fate - Survivors of Flight AA214

Chapter 16

Orion - Day 4 of Landing

Population of Unknown Settlement - 9

Cass and I patrolled the beach at a steady pace. I had no idea why we should rush when we had no idea of where any of these survivors spawned. I would check the area where I first spawned and Cass showed me the area he woke up to. They weren’t too far apart so if we kept walking back and forth we would find them. Further down the area would be blocked by a rocky flat where the clams I harvested were and we came upon it to look for breakfast.

I picked one up and shucked it with my knife, eating it raw like an oyster. Not worried since my new perk card “Health Inspector” would have protected me from food poisoning.

Raw Rock Clam - F

Clam Shell: Remove Chill for 1 hour

The buff didn’t last that long and the score was woeful despite my upgraded Cook levels meaning whatever scoring it gave for the Cook class card probably didn’t give much points to raw or unprocessed food. I had wondered how sashimi or sushi would fare and do. I knew a lot of effort could be put into making high-class sushi, by aging the fish and slicing it correctly so maybe it gave more buffs that way. Cass interrupted my musings on my class.

“You said yesterday you’d make me a cool weapon,” Cass said, crossing his arms while I kept track of the time with the buff that came up upon eating my clam. It was currently 9:00 am if I would base dawn at approximately 6:00 am.

“Listen, a lot came up. I’ll still make one for ya but we gotta find these kids first. Aren’t you excited? You might get new friends.” I said.

“I rather have a class than friends. They’ll probably slow me down,” Cass said, a brutal look on his face.

“You’ll make a real nerd one day. I envy the tech companies you’ll swallow up.” I said.

Following the trail of someone had led me to level up my Tracking to level 3. An option was presented to me with three cards available for me to choose from.

North Star

Always know where North is.

Track Detective

Highlights tracks and distinguishes them with colors

Scent Mark

Leftover scent trails can lead you to wild game

I selected Track Detective. Making a compass would be fairly easy once we find a lodestone and right now there was no problem with finding wild game.

With my tracking skills acquired from my Tracking card, I picked up the freshly made footprints of another person on the beach that wasn’t ours and followed them. I didn’t have to use a skill to track the prints as they were quite visible in the untouched yellow sand. My new tracking skill would allow me to see even fainter tracks and footprints that were made and even how long ago this was made. It would highlight them in faint color, this one a military green. Not vibrant mind you, just faint like seeing flashes or bubbles in your eye every so often. The tracks we were following were made by one man not so long ago. I suspected it was an old man by the way he walked with a slight limp, his right foot dragging the left.

“I just want to be helpful like you,” Cass said marveling at my skills, “I know these kids are probably going to be a huge drag and everyone will hate them.”

“Nobody will hate them, they’re kids. You’re one too. The best way you can be helpful is to stay put at base and not get into trouble. What class would you even want?” I asked.

“I want to be a hero,” Cass said pushing out his chest and doing a Superman pose. “In these types of situations, there is always a hero class.”

“What happens if you end up in a miner or lumberjack class? Herman is a war veteran with more knowledge about fighting than you and he ended up a Fisherman.” I said.

“That’s cause Herman wants to be a Fisherman, Rye, DUH. He is old, he is probably tired of fighting.” Cass explained.

“The boy’s right.” The maker of said tracks I was following grinned as he came behind me carrying a bluefish in one hand and a newly improved fishing rod in his other.

“You’ve already caught a fish? That’s amazing Herman,” I said, marveling at the bluefish in his hand, it was the size of a loaf of bread with scales that shimmered like metallic blue dimes.

“Waters here full of them. I figure it is because we haven’t overfished the hell out of the critters yet. Practically jumped on top of me. I’ll be a master Fisher in no time if it’s this easy.” Herman grinned and showed us his Level 2 Fisherman card. Cass was over the moon with envy and wonder.

“I forgot about making lunch for the crew… can you?” I asked.

“I ain’t no cook but I figure I could roast this thing over the fire and make something mighty tasty. I’ll take care of lunch and dinner while you look for those kids. Can’t do it all by yourself now. Takes a village and all.” Herman said waving while he walked back to camp.

Somehow it felt better. I underestimated Herman. With Marek here helping to build, Herman providing fish, and Anika providing science, I felt alive with hope. We might make it, I just got to find these kids so we don’t have an angry Pole on our asses destroying the camp.

“What do you have that pot there for?” Cass asked sometime later as we continued searching, pointing at the small clay pot I held.

“It’s the stew from yesterday,” I said.

“Cool. So like a portable lunch?” Cass asked.

“Something like that, it’ll give me a buff in case a storm comes,” I answered.

“Storm?” Cass asked tilting his head and looking up, “Oh right.”

And as he asked I felt it, a drop of water land smack on my shoulder. I placed my hoodie over my head and looked above to see dark clouds slowly trickling rain down. I grabbed Cass and then swigged on my pot of stew.

Muskrat Stew - D

Hide of the Muskrat (3:00)

Grants a brief shield against rain and water

Cass looked annoyed as I carried him and started running back to camp. I covered his body with my own, the buff making a mini shield that made the rain slick against my skin and “armor” like a layer of oil was covering my entire body, and said, “I have to drop you off at camp.”

“I don’t mind rain,” Cass shouted over the pouring rain.

“You’ll get wet, cold, and sick. Just stay put at camp,” I commanded in a voice that demanded no talkback.

When I came back the front walls of the shelter were finished while Slate acted as a door. Outside the shelter, red water containers were collecting rainwater. Slate moved aside when I greeted him and quickly back into place before the wind and rain came through. Inside all the survivors except Marek and Alex were crowded there. Anika and Ethan had moved the hourglass inside while Bianca was consoling a sobbing Roza who was muttering to herself in Polish. The survivors had moved most of the other non-water pots and other tools, inside.

“Where’s Marek and Alex?” I asked.

“He went out looking for his kids. Took my jacket and Alex as a guide,” Herman said, a dour frown on his face.

“We tried to stop him but he insisted,” Ethan said.

“Please, you got to bring him back,” Roza cried. Both she and Bianca looked drenched and barely managed to escape the storm.

The winds were pushing hard and testing the golem and Marek’s handiwork but the shelter held. Rain was getting in though, with small puddles forming in spots on the leaf flooring near the walls and clay pots catching other leaks.

“I’ll go look for them,” I said, swigging some fresh water and making my departure. I left the stew pot after finishing it to refresh my buff and took my knives. The makeshift Golem door parted away as I left.

I heard a female voice shout “Stay safe!” as I departed and activated my Tracking skills. Even without my skills, I could see freshly made footprints in the now mud. Two heavy and flat pairs of footprints which I assumed belonged to men, one with a pair of Air Forces and the other with a pair of boots ran down the path into the forest.

“Those idiots,” I muttered to myself.

The path the two took diverged from the markers I left and instead of going up the hills to the river, it would wind down to the stream. From there there was a clearing with a tree stump that led to a cave. Now I saw three more pairs of footprints converge and go into the cave. The three tiny ones that went into the cave were made earlier and came from the beach and the two adult men’s footprints were made just recently. I couldn’t believe Marek and Alex actually found them. They must be seeking shelter from the storm in the cave.

A light emanated out to the cave entrance, drawing me in. I ventured forth and slate gray walls led to a rusty iron door with two stone torches embedded in the wall lit next to it, their fuel source unknown. Touching the iron latch to the door made a new card appear in my palms and I picked it up.

Thornhill Dungeon

Greetings Holder

Now that Thornhill (Current Founder: Bianca Thornhill) has reached a population of ten people in your colony you are granted access to a Dungeon (LV.1)

On the back of the card it read:

Every day the dungeon configuration is randomized and enemies and loot are refreshed. Venture deeper to gain more rewards or turn back if it’s too much.

Leaderboard of Thornhill Dungeons

Alex Ryder - Floor 1

Julian Zajac - Floor 1

Marek Zajac - Floor 1

Natalia Zajac - Floor 1

Peter Zajac - Floor 1

Overall Leaderboard of the Veiled Realm Dungeons

Lian Xin - Floor 21

Han Xin - Floor 21

Tao Xin - Floor 21

Aurelian - Floor 19

Seraphina - Floor 19

I had no idea who those other names were but I recognized the names of those under Thornhill Dungeon. Was this place called Thornhill just based on Bianca’s last name? It didn’t matter. The converging tracks led past the iron doors. Whether I liked it or not I was going to have to dive into this dungeon to get the five out.

When I passed through the dungeon, I examined the floor. Several tracks of large four-legged creatures looked to be patrolling the area, and three tracks belonging to small children diverged to a pathway on the right. Since all of the children had no classes they had no clue this place was a dungeon and probably thought it was safe enough to venture in. Two more tracks went after them, though the tracks were made more recent.

The first level of the dungeon had hallways several stories high and lined with mossy rock pillars with vines with purple flowers growing from them. The halls of the dungeon were made of smooth flat dirt and wide enough to let a school bus through. It was a maze of stone and floating lights that your hand would phase whenever you reached for them. The lights were like wisps that moved like searchlights through the hallways of stone. Most of the areas of the dungeon were well-lit but some paths led towards dark corners, rooms, or dead ends which the people I was tracking were avoiding, instead choosing to stay in the path of the light. Using my Tracking card skill I located the direction in which the three kids went, the two other men going in a different direction at the fork in the hallway splitting into two corridors.

It was only floor one so how bad could this place be? It certainly gave me the creeps and so far there were no monsters, following the tracks to a right turn. Down more wide corridors with many pathways that led to even narrower pathways, I would follow the path of the three children, their footprints now looking more frantic as if they were running. It looked like a four-legged creature roamed this maze of stone hallways and followed the three children after catching a scent or sight of them. Panic-stricken my body moved in greater haste and came inside to see a long scaly tail attached to the charcoal fur of a giant rat, the size of a cougar, sniffing a giant treasure chest at a dead end. The rat was ferociously clawing and biting through the wood of the chest with its yellowed stained incisors, spitting out splinters with every gnaw. Inside the chest, I could hear faint sounds of wailing and children screaming.

Slowly I crept behind it and readied my throwing knives while it gnawed away at the screaming chest. One came out shorter than I wanted and dug itself straight into the right hind leg of the creature. Another quickly came out when the rat turned around to face its assailant and dug into its left eye. A loud hiss came that tore the air and pierced my ears causing me to wince. I threw my last knife at it to hit straight at its gullet. Sensing an opening, I drew my main long knife while it was stunned and dug it right through its skull. Another two stabs through the top of the head and my knife was completely done, the blade cracking away from the hilt, lodging into the skull, and breaking on impact.

With the animal killed, I acquired two more skill cards to my growing collection:

Stealth - Level 1

Path of the Dagger - Level 1

In addition to my new skill cards, my Throwing Weapons skills had leveled to 3 presenting with three options:

Deadly Shot

Increase chance to deal a critical strike with a throwing weapon (120s CD)

Ricochet Shot

Throwing weapons that miss have a chance to bounce back dealing a smaller amount of damage

Quick Draw

Draw your throwing knives 10% quicker

After selecting Deadly Shot, I fetched my throwing knives and cleaned them on the fur of the dead rat. Examining the corpse of the rat to make sure it was dead, the flesh of the rat was rotted and dark magenta, near black. It looked like flesh that had been festering for weeks, constantly being revived and infused with some ichor. A blue magic card with a coin appeared before the corpse and two coins came into existence out of the card. The card disappeared after leaving only the two coins on the ground which I studied. The coins look like poker chips made of glass and in the middle, blue strands etched a portrayal of a jester’s face. Pocketing the two coins, I opened the treasure chest find three young children with their hands over their heads, tears streaking down their pale white faces. They yelped before coming to the realization the person in front of them was another human being.

“Are you guys Marek and Roza’s kids?” I asked, forgetting all their names, to which they nodded.

With that, their sobs stopped and relief came over them as they met their rescuer. I helped them get out of the treasure chest and they handed me a new knife, which one of the boys held as a last resort, as a reward which they said they found in the chest. The long knife sheathed in a leather holster boasted an ivory handle adorned with intricate bronze inlay attached to a straight blade of copper.

Copper Knife of Quickness - D

Attack Speed increased by 10%

“Let’s get you kids back to your dad. He’s in here somewhere, I’ll find him.” I holstered my new weapon.

The two boys were drenched from the outside rains, the brown hair on their bowlcuts darkened to black and dripping with water. They had at least jackets on to protect them from the cold, granted they weren’t waterproof jackets. The lone girl of the triplets however had nothing but a pink t-shirt and overalls both drenched, and her shivering legs could barely hold herself upright as the dungeon’s chill air hit her body. I took off my hoodie, wrapped it around her and the three followed carefully behind me like little ducklings. I followed the foot tracks they made back to start and came to a fork where the two male footprints diverged from the children.

"Listen if you see danger, stay behind me or run back," I commanded.

Past a maze of long corridors, we followed the tracks to another dead with an open empty chest. At this point, the tracks turned around back to another fork and towards a large open room. I warned the kids to hide back and hide in the treasure chest if something happened as we came forward, cursing and shouting out ahead. Another much larger rodent than the one I had slain before stood near the center of the room, its back full of spiky hairs up its spine. A yelp came out of the group of children at the sight of the new giant rat. The rat didn’t notice our approach, its back turned to me as it was facing Alex and Marek. Marek had his fists up but Alex held a plain copper sword in his shaking hands.

The children retreated to the hallway we came from and I readied my knives. As the giant rat rushed forward to charge the two men, I pulled out my new skill Deadly Shot, and a bolt of obsidian struck the hind leg of the creature. The rodent recoiled, bared its fangs, and fixed its full attention on me. My Deadly Shot was now completely blacked out, so I threw another knife without it activated which I threw for its eyes but the creature bore its head down in a headbutt charge. With my new looted Knife of Quickness in an extended hand, I batted the knife before me side to side furiously like a fly swatter at it as it came charging. My swings were desperate and frantic but whizzed through the air making a whistling sound.

“I’m coming Orion!” Alex screamed as he charged with his sword.

One of my slashes through the air caught the giant rat on its nose as it charged, its hot blood splattering over my face. The creature then let out a loud hiss as a sword thrust from Alex ripped through its spine. I slammed the knife down as it seized on the monstrous rodent’s skull, the knife this time easily breaking through its skull and ending it. Loud pants came from the two slayers of the giant rats as we both watched its final swan song.

I saw a huge grin on Alex’s face and then he reached in his palms to pull out his new class card. The painting on the card depicted a warrior pulling out a sword out of the stone and the description on the class card read, “Hero.” S Class. I congratulated Alex genuinely feeling happy for him but at the same time on high alert, scanning the dungeon for more enemies.

Marek cried out “Dzieciaki!” and ran past the two of us towards his kids. Tears were in his eyes as he gathered his children in an embrace. We let the father have his reunion as we studied the gold coins that were dropped near the floor when the rat died.

In the main room where we fought, there were two sets of stairs side by side in a wall. One that led down into darkness and the other that led up to light. A treasure chest glowing blue light was placed in the center before the stairs and I let Alex do the honor of opening it. First Floor First Completion Chest was presented to us as a card. When the chest opened it presented 3 cards to choose from.

Leather Cuirass of Healing - D

Will heal wounds on your chest slowly

Boots of Stealth - D

Will make less sound as you walk

Quiver of Lightness - D

Arrows and bolts stored in this will weigh 10% less

Alex decided to pick the Leather Cuirass on his initiative and the treasure chest disappeared leaving a few of those glass coins which we split. My total now came to four jester coins.

“I… I mean we can share it,” Alex said apologizing but a wanting look in his eyes as he held the Leather chest piece.

“You can have it,” I said shrugging. “It makes more sense for a melee fighter class to have it. I’m more ranged anyways.”

“Thanks,” Alex nodded, picked up the armor, removed his jacket, and put the chestpiece over his damp shirt. The way Alex wore it made it look like he had hockey pads on at a casual pickup game and not a fantasy fighter. “It’s pretty light.”

Marek was carrying his daughter with his two sons behind him and greeted me with a nod. It was the first time I ever sensed any goodwill coming from him and I gladly accepted it. Alex paid the family no heed as his gaze drifted to the dark stairways that went down, his look one of hunger. This was only the first level. The rats for all their terrifying appearance were slow, stupid, and had little in the way of armor or protection. It would only get harder from here.

“I think the two of us can go further, Orion,” Alex said, determined.

“Not today, let’s get Marek and his kids back,” I said patting him on the shoulder.

Disappointment etched the lines of the Hero’s face in a frown but he nodded and the six of us took the doors up to the light, through a familiar iron door to find us outside of the dungeon and in the cave once again.

The torches on the door behind us extinguished and Alex prying the door latch found it to be closed for the day. I could see him examining the leaderboard of the dungeon with determination.

“Who are these other people? These Xins, Aurelian, and such, Orion?” Alex asked.

“I think we probably don’t want to find out, not yet,” I said.

Alex was deep in contemplative thought as we rushed back to base camp in the dying storm. I asked him what his class skill perk was and he showed me it was “Man of All Seasons.” He would learn more skills quicker and they would degrade slower. Alex already had a level 1 Path of the Sword skill card and also had a level 1 Pottery and level 1 Crafting card in his deck. I thought about how much Cass was going to freak out when he learned about Alex’s class and asked him not to encourage Cass.

“Orion, we going to do it tomorrow, right? The Dungeon.” Alex asked.

“I don’t know. I have a lot to do back at base. We wasted-“ and then I looked at Marek apologetically, “We had to spend a lot of time finding Marek’s kids. It’d be selfish of me to forget my responsibilities here.”

“I need a party man. You can be ranged, I’ll be melee. If we get a healer like Ethan, we can go far I think,” Alex begged, again another look of greed and anticipation in his eyes.

“We’ll talk about it after we get back, with the group,” I said.

It wasn’t quite dark yet as our party made it to the main shelter past the now-paused kiln. The rains and winds were now easing, and the once shaky shelter held firm in the distance. Marek was carrying his daughter with Herman's raincoat on, her arms wrapped around his neck inside the shelter of her father's embrace while he held the hands of his two sons. The golem stood aside as we made our approach and inside a mother reunited with her children, cries of joy and happiness erupted, and we ate fish that Herman caught together. For a while we forgot our troubles and the tent was filled with mirth, the sound of children, and a group of people who all felt like true companions. I didn't realize it at the time but those were the good times. Everyone who sat at their eating faced one direction together. As for myself, I faced a huge problem being caught between wanting to go deeper into the dungeon and helping the community.