Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

centralized over his face. A bubble formed over his mouth, nose and eyes. Somehow the hybrid-Nth was able to filter out most of the fumes. It was like breathing through a thick cloth but it was clean.

Taking a moment to clear the tears that had welled up with the coughing and irritating gasses, Gus saw that the mask allowed his hand to pass through but it maintained its shape. Once he was ready, he continued his descent.

The path descended downward until it opened into a large dome-shaped alcove. As the light diminished, Gus’ display clicked and the darker areas farther away were highlighted with a green tint, revealing the contours underneath. Gus was glad he had so many stat points allocated into perception.

Looking upward, Gus could see the remains of something large and man-made upended and wedged into the rock. It was entrenched so tightly that no light filtered in from around the edges. With his augmented vision, Gus could make out panels and some seats along one end of the cavern. The drones were inside and the yellow paths on Gus’ display showed their journey as they crawled like little spiders along the roof of the chamber, having shifted from their flying mode to this quieter stealth mode.

Irregular rough walls of porous lava-rock were illuminated by the hellish orange light of a roiling magma pool along the right edge of the alcove. An ominous shadow played across the far wall, writhing and snapping like Scylla from Homer’s Odyssey. The majority of the creature making the shadow was enshrouded by the dark, and Gus felt a deep sense of dread. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn’t this.

He crouched and sought to hide behind something, but the layout of the cavern offered no real cover. Only the general darkness appeared to have masked his arrival. Gus felt sweat slick the surface of his spear as his hands reacted to the adrenaline pumping through his veins. This… thing was something different altogether. Gus sensed that this monster was the driving force behind the zombies and their attack on the Manor, and was glad that they had all been cleared away.

Gus stared at the black mass, trying to activate Wreck-ognize. The only information he received was a name:

The One.

Level: ??

HP: ??/??

Description: ??

So helpful. Gus had no idea what weaknesses this thing had.

Gus gave the mental command for Nick to roll the playlist.

You have created a song-chain!

RE: Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton

Damage vs zombies/Dark Nth increased x 1.

“YOU!!!” The One shouted mentally.

Before he could react, Gus felt something like greasy tentacles wrenching his mind open. A voice in his head rasped like heavy stone scraping across the floor, low and grating. He dropped to his knees from the intensity of the mental attack. The attack felt like tentacles probing deep into his brain and Gus felt his muscles turn to mush.

Before he totally fell on his face, dark whips emanated from the being and lashed his upper arms and hung him there.

“I do not know how you have come this far. But you saved me the trouble of finding you. Come, puppet, let us claim my domain!” the voice commanded, and Gus was hoisted to his feet by the black tendrils. Gus could not tell what the tentacles were made of but they supported him without gripping him tightly.

The figure elongated, stretching and sliding like a slug up the incline, carrying Gus ahead of it. The movement was painfully slow, and Gus could not budge against the tentacles that kept each limb secured. His soundtrack continued to play as he hung helplessly.

Vegan Zombie by Zach Selwyn

Damage vs zombies/Dark Nth increased x 2.

Gus struggled internally against the tendrils in his mind. He began to get angry at the powerlessness he had felt the majority of his life. His brow began to furrow in fury, and he clenched his jaw in both determination and rage. The thing calling him a puppet had triggered something inside of him. He had felt like that was accurate for his past life; other people pulling the strings, and him dancing along at their whims. No more. With a surge of emotion, he shouted back mentally, “GET OUT!”

The resistance must have caught the creature by surprise because it lost its hold and Gus pushed the influence out and away from him. With control of his faculties again, he activated Dodge and slid free of the jelly-like appendages holding him.

He landed nearby along the cavern wall. Gus removed his naginata and readied it in front of him. The tendrils attempted to bat at him, but they lacked substance, like getting hit by a gelatinous wiffleball bat. Gus sheared off some nearby tendrils with his spear, and they fell away, splattering against the cavern floor. The writhing mass undulated and more tendrils extended and formed. They braided in a manner Gus recognized from using Ether Weaving. Gus jumped just in time as a braided tendril slammed into the cavern wall, blasting chunks of the soft porous stone from the impact. The thicker tendrils were going to be packing much more of a punch.

Gus had to survive long enough for the playlist to ramp up damage modifiers. He stabbed out at the tentacles, slicing some that came close. More often, he was forced to hop around the bumpy surface near the wall, evading attacks and trying not to twist an ankle. His attacks were doing practically no damage. He would have to figure out something different. He would run out of stamina long before this thing did. His pathetic slices at tentacles didn’t move the red health bar to show even the slightest of slivers. He needed to do more damage!

Monitoring his stamina and MP bars, he began dodging and ducking. He had to hold out as long as possible before using an ability to escape. Tentacles jabbed into the rock around him like black lightning strikes. Gus dodged and evaded partly on instinct, trying to avoid