“I find it’s better not to think too hard on some of this stuff,” Donut replied. “I don’t know how she hears me, but she does. Isn’t that right, Olga?”
Olga squelched in agreement.
I reexamined the map update for the water park. The ginger base camp was right at the halfway point for the River of Sloth, so we’d have been forced to take this path whether we wanted to or not.
The gingers on this track weren’t calledcannibalsbut “season pass holders.” Our quest had been updated, and we still needed to find and kill this Maurice guy.
Elle and Imani, who were in the eternal slum, still had the quest also, and they needed to find and kill another iteration of Maurice, this one called the Red Menace of Tinker Town.
Beside us, the tow truck zoomed off. We still had ten seconds. The truck disappeared through the arch, and I heard deep, booming laughter. That was Satan the hedgehog.
“Jolly good show,” he said. “Pip-pip!”
From my shoulder, Donut bristled.
[ 49 ]
Mehmet Or. Crawler#3,756,330.
Race: Human.
Class: Sipahi.
Final Level: 62.
Hello, Carl. My name is Mehmet, and we never met, but I still knew who you were even before you helped save my life at the end of the eighth floor.
I am a nobody. I used to own one of the most popular bowling alleys in Istanbul. I inherited it from my father, who had always dreamed that I would take over his business. It wasn’t a job that I loved, and it wasn’t something that made me a lot of money, but I stayed with it because that’s what we’re supposed to do. We honor the wishes of our parents. My mother was still alive that day when it happened. My wife was alive and pregnant with our third child, who would’ve been my first son. I killed her when she was in the hydra.
Please, I beg of you. Forgive my cowardice in taking a deal. I cannot risk fighting any further. I cannot risk dying. I do notknow if this is the best choice, but I am so scared, so tired. I have too much to lose if I make the wrong decision.
My daughters, Azra and Yaz, were not in the hydra. They were with me outside when it happened, but they did not come with me when we stepped into the light. I believe this means they may still be alive in that place where they’re keeping the children. This knowledge is the only thing that has kept me going, and I pray that after you kill them all, you help me find them.
And if by some chance you can’t save those of us who took the deals, please find my Azra and Yaz and tell them that their father fought to save them and that he’s sorry he’s not there anymore, but that he will love them until the very end of time.
I was never the best fighter in my group, but our mage loved this spell because it helped focus the area of effect of his own spells. I hope it’s as useful to you as it was to our party.
Drawing: An amateur picture of a bowling alley.
Associated Spell:Gutter Bumper. Casts at level 9.
“Your other left!” Donut cried as a clockwork Olga jerked the steering wheel. The truck crunched loudly and sparks flew as the side hit the edge of the tube, but we made it onto the correct path. If we hadn’t had the gyro upgrade, we’d have already flipped over a dozen times by now.
“Straighten!” Donut shouted, her voice going up an octave. “Straight! Straight!”
The original Olga had already timed out and spilled goo everywhere. The second clockwork sat on the floor of the truck behind me, groaning, back against the pile of weaponsand chains, yanking on its own tongue as wet gore sloshed everywhere.
So far, the tubes were pretty much what I had expected, though way less steep than I had feared. The first part was a literal tube, but the second half was more of a wide half-pipe at a slight angle, more like the entrance to a sewer system. These half tubes were how we knew we were on the correct path, as all the enclosed tubes led straight to Satan.
The water was about half the height of the tires, and I worried about the engine, but we’d had Hedy put some protections in place, including a raised air intake. So far it hadn’t been an issue, and we hadn’t even had to inflate the tires.
I dropped a sticky hob-lobber out the window, and I kept my head out the passenger’s side as the group of axe-wielding gingers on inner tubes approached from behind. I counted and then hit the detonator as they passed.
Bam!
A red gurgle of liquid coiled up and over the edge as body parts swirled and sloshed.