The Starfighter Invitation

29 party progression

The inevitable arrow led us to another cramped, rough and simple corridor, even narrower than the first entrance tunnel. I paused well short of the simple opening.

"I’m presuming more lasers, not necessarily with any warning. A whole series of shield training."

"With only occasional warning, according to four of my guildies who are two stages ahead of me," Althea said. "They took turns shielding their group to get through, but in the fourth stage the bolts hit so hard that they couldn’t always hold the shield, and they wiped."

We all glanced up and back, to the distinctly creepy collection of silver flying things waiting for us to die. It was bad news that the impacts increased in strength.

"How long were the sections?" Lewit asked. "The same as the first?"

"Longer each time, but that might depend on the path you pick." Althea shrugged. "If we follow a similar progression, we should be fine for this stage, but we may hit a wall further on."

"Let’s practice taking turns with the shields first, and decide what to do about the later stages in the next rest area," I said, then added silently to Dio: "Are our Cycogs allowed to project shield shapes or anything like that?"

[[No, we’re just here to snigger at suitable intervals.]]

"I’ll remember to pay you no attention, then."

Before entering the tunnels, we chose a squad formation to make it easier to shield everyone at once. Setting a rotation order, we activated our focuses so we could practice swapping off shields for a while. Then we started out.

Our formation was immediately stymied by the tunnels, which refused to widen out, but merely branched and branched again, and left us trailing along single file.

"Perhaps it is best if we shield even if it doesn’t open up," Arlen suggested, and so we started our shields in the order we were walking, and just in time, too, because we weren’t even halfway through a rotation before a shot slammed into Lewit’s shield and made us all flinch.

"Where?" I said, because I hadn’t even seen it.

"Above," Lewit said breathlessly, when there was no immediate second blast. "Let’s go quick. That was heavy."

"Swap after every strike," Althea ordered tersely, as we all tried to see where the shot had come from and trot at the same time.

"Ceiling’s too uneven," Lewit added, as we rounded a bend and Althea hastily took a left. "Don’t think we’re going to get any warning."

I’d just taken over shield, and let out a little Oof! as another bolt made me stumble. In the low gravity, the impact definitely rocked me, but it was certainly easier than trying to balance a Skid at the same time. It was the winding, constantly intersecting tunnels that were the real obstacle. The choice in path wasn’t marked in any way, and there was no handy mini-map or quest pointer telling us which direction to head. I doubt we took the quickest way through, but it wasn’t too much longer before, without any warning, we trotted out into another big open cavern.

"Ah, we have done well!" Arlen said, with a delighted little dance step.

"Not too bad," Lewit said.

"No injuries, at least." Althea was frowning. "But the problem with that set-up is that we’re swapping off shields regularly, while randomly being hit. I took three shield strikes."

"And I none," Arlen said. "Yes, it is a good point."

"We can try changing shield-bearer only after a strike," I said, a little dubiously. "It depends on how long the gaps between shots are."

"It’s being struck that’s the big energy cost."

We took a quick break, and decided that all of us were still up for continuing. I read the Challenge description and found it identical, except that "Choose a Path" had been replaced with "Find your way down".

"Keep an eye out for slopes," Lewit suggested.

"They are not wordsmiths, these Cycogs," Arlen said, with a light chuckle. "Have you noticed how little music there is, in Challenge or out?"

"No zone themes," Lewit agreed. "A hint, maybe, that they’re more machine-like than they let on."

"Or don’t have ears," I said, amused. "I think music the way it’s usually used in games would have given away too much, anyway. My Cycog, at least, doesn’t like spoilers."

"Give away?" Lewit repeated.

"Oh, I see!" Arlen said. "The spritely tune means the safe zone. Then we venture somewhere new, and there are dramatically rising violins to tell us to expect danger. Drums arrive, and build tension…"

"I’m tense enough," Althea said, flatly.

Arlen laughed, and began to sing a high, clear rendition of The Dragonborn Comes.

"I think if that was playing while we were trying to get through these Challenges, it’d distract me terribly," I said.

"Yes, no distractions," Althea said. "Let’s get on."

"You have a great voice, Arlen," Lewit said, as we started into the entrance tunnel.

"I once was an excellent soprano—and here in this game I am again, which is most amusing. But for now I will be quiet, because I do not care for even a temporary death."

That was a common feeling, and we walked shoulders hunched to a four-way junction, and took the right-hand path. This time it opened out into a corridor similar to the first of this gauntlet series: comfortably wide, curving, with a series of regularly spaced laser ports on either side.

"During the first stage, those things shot faster than I could run," Lewit said. "If we’re going to be handing off the shielding job to each other, I think maybe we should stick to a walking pace."

Althea hesitated, and I said: "We can start out at a walk and speed up if the hand-off is easy or the strikes take too much of a toll."

"Yeah, let’s try that," she said, her red ponytail bobbing as she nodded.

Since the corridor had widened, we reverted to our originally planned formation—me beside Imoenne at the rear, Lewit beside Arlen in front of us, and Althea taking point directly in front of them. Althea took a hit almost immediately.

"Definitely heavier," she said. "And that came from before us, not beside."

We paused while Lewit built a shield over the top of Althea’s, and she let hers drop.

Lewit’s suggestion about sticking to a walking pace proved to be wise, because when it came time for me to take my third hit, I only just held it, stumbled in the weak gravity, and lost my shield. If we’d been moving faster, we might have trotted into the activation range of the next laser port before Imoenne could raise the next shield.

Thankfully, the gauntlet stage was only slightly longer than the first, and we were nearing the end. My relief at the Challenge completion message was balanced by an awareness that I looked to be the weak link of the team.

"Ouf, this is my limit!" Arlen declared. "I must rest before I can go on."

"Same," Lewit agreed.

"Wouldn’t be safe to go on at anything less than full strength," Althea said, paused, and then added: "I’ll be going ahead with my guildies for the rest of the gauntlet."

This was something I’d entirely expected, as soon as she’d mentioned four guild members who’d died during the next stage. They’d want to be full strength before they went on.

"It’s been great partying with you," I said. "Good luck getting through the rest."

"You too," she replied, then laughed. "I feel like I should shake hands or something. I don’t have the etiquette for gaming being so tangible."

I promptly held out my hand, and we smiled and shook, then she waved and headed toward the tram waiting area.

"I might be in the same sitch," Lewit said. "Most of my guild is playing catch-up, but the frontrunners are nagging me to wait for them so we can take on the System Challenge together."

"Most of my guild are playing around in Earth’s satellites, so far as I can tell," I said. "I’ll have to see where they’re at when I log back in, but currently there’s only one that looks likely to get to Mars any time soon. Send me a tell if you’re still looking for a group next login, because I don’t know how I’ll go hurrying them up. Otherwise, good luck."

"Luck to you, too." He laughed. "I won’t be waiting too long for my guildies, either. Tons of us weren’t on in time to get any of these first-to-rank awards, so everyone near the front wants to get to this System Challenge before anyone else."

With a wave, he followed Althea. I smiled, and shrugged, then gave the twins a thoughtful glance.

"Want to join a guild?"