I was ready to make up some bullshit, but instead I just told them the truth. That if more than one team didn’t finish the race, we were pretty sure we’d have to race against our friends in further heats.
Jasha nodded. He stood, cracked his back, and tossed his cigarette into the water.
“This is a good reason. And is an honorable reason. Do you have materials to tow?”
[ 5 ]
I hada long plank of wood out, and I was in the process of reinforcing it and attaching the wheels. I had pulled Rend out of storage, and the large meatball immediately moved to the side of the road and fell in the water, trying to eat the pieces of manatee gore. I’d had to jump in to haul him out. The damn thing weighed a literal ton. Now I had him sitting on the cart, using his weight while I secured a crossbeam. He giggled furiously every time the drill made the board vibrate. Donut was complaining loudly about how much he now smelled because he’d gotten the bug’s innards on him.
I had Donut keep Mongo in the truck. We weren’t allowed to steal each other’s vehicles, but it was good to have security just in case. Mongo was not a fan of the arrangement. He had discovered the horn on the food truck and he kept banging into it.
Unfortunately, the horn wasn’t a normal honk, but a recording of a gangster’s voice saying,Make way for the big shot, followed by a chicken squawk and the rat-a-tat shooting sound of a tommy gun.
It was funny the first time. By the twentieth time, I was ready to go over there and rip the whole horn out.
Across from me, the two bugbears were energized with the thought of not yet dying. A part of me felt bad about this arrangement because I knew I was helping them now, but I wouldn’t think twice about letting them die during the next race. I supposed that was the point. The cruelty of this all was a feature, not a bug. At least they knew this, too, and that somewhat eased the small amount of guilt.
It felt like regression, having to fight against NPCs, especially after the chaos of the last floor. They were using awakened NPCs for this floor because it actually helped the storyline, not hurt it. If the NPCs knew they’d be “safe” at the end of this, many would be willing to do anything to win. But at the same time, the very nature of the floor meant most would end up dead. It was like a purge of the problem-causing components.
We still had five hours to complete the race, and so far nobody else had come down the road.
“Who are the other teams?” I asked the bugbears as I quickly worked.
“It was dark, and we didn’t get a good view of them,” Jasha said. “We only met the triplets, who are now dead, and the other team. Team Sparkles.”
“Team Sparkles?” Donut asked. She was peering back the way we’d come. “Was that the unicorn? I think they’re coming now.”
Sure enough, a light appeared a moment later. My minimap didn’t have them, but I could soon see the outline of the tumbleweed thing with a unicorn head coming up.
“That’s them,” Jasha said.
As the silhouette approached, I tried to figure out what I was looking at. The “tumbleweed” part wasn’t rolling but just moving along the ground, like it was magically gliding. Not fast, but at a steady pace. The head of the unicorn popped out the top, and the second, smaller, rodent-like creature rode on the unicorn’s head.
“Whatisthat thing?” I asked.
“The mount is biological,” Jasha said. “It’s an Avernus Creeper. A plant that walks on the ground with thousands of little feet. Almost like bug.”
“Aplant?” Donut asked as the thing approached. She moved to the center of the road, keeping the under-construction trailer behind her. Her tiara glittered, and I knew she was using her Sniper ability to examine it better. The light was coming from aTorchspell similar to Donut’s. “I bet Mordecai would know all about it.”
“Don’t know how that thing is steering it, honestly,” Jasha said.
“So the unicorn isn’t the mount? It’s the racer?” I asked, watching it approach. “That’s weird.”
As soon as I spoke, it was close enough for me to properly examine it.
Avernus Creeper.
This is the biological mount of Team Sparkles for the purpose of the tenth floor.
This is a tangle of not-quite-sentient vines. Under normal circumstances, these things are pretty bad news. They’re loosely related to the Gehenna Brambles you guys loved from the sixth floor. They’re almost impossible to kill because even a tiny branch or thorn off one will rapidly grow to full size. Luckily for us all, this particular shrub is limited to half size and is being prevented from procreating outside their garage.
“Names are Dwight and Lucienne,” Jasha said. “We met just before the race. Lucienne is the small one. She’s got a mouth on her.”
The round bunch of brambles came to a stop. Donut remained in the middle of the road.
“Yo, fatty, get out of the road,” the unicorn shouted down at Donut. He had a surprising voice that did not match his colorful exterior. It was a deep, surly, three-packs-a-day Boston accent.
“Fatty?” Donut asked, incredulous. “Are you talking to me?”