The Need of a Map
Elmo was sure he missed something while he was lost in his thoughts. Kim and Elin somehow seemed closer than before, but at the same time, farther apart. Not only that, but her hood was down now, letting him see her azure hair. Part of him wanted to ask what happened while the larger part of him was scared Kim would take offense and take it out on him.
The only positive thing about it was that he was pretty sure it wasn't going to affect him. At least right now. Especially since he had no idea how big this dungeon was or what else to expect. In some games he'd played, the dungeons were only a level, while others, the dungeon was the entire game. The announcer had stated that the first challenge was a dungeon crawl, but that didn't tell them how many challenges there would be or how long each challenge was expected to last.
He also had toyed with the idea of checking his stats, but didn't want to walk into a wall while focusing on it or worse, into Kim or Elin. So, even though he was pretty sure he'd leveled up, he couldn't do anything about it right then.
However, he did notice that past Kim and Elin, there was a branch in the hall. Which meant that they should reach Jonas again. Even though Elmo couldn't say if Jonas would be interested in him, the was he was interested in Jonas, he liked being around Jonas, if only because he didn't scare Elmo as much as Kim did.
Yet, when they reached the branch, Jonas wasn't anywhere to be found. There didn't seem to be any sign of him either. Though, at least there wasn't any sign of danger. Elmo tried to keep that in mind while he struggled to know he was still stuck being around Kim.
"Huh, looks like Jonas took one of these paths," Kim remarked, looking down both of them as they led off into the distance.
"How far do you think they go for?" Elin asked, her tone full of wonder.
"Probably to another room or something," Elmo remarked casually. How far they went didn't bother him. What did bother him was the fact that he didn't know which path would take them to where they'd want to go.
"Well, regardless, which do you think Jonas took?" Kim asked.
"Is there a way to know?" Elin asked, looking around.
"Only if he left a mark or something," Elmo replied. "I mean, I don't think any of us has a skill, spell, ability, or whatever that would let us know where he might be…"
Kim and Elin looked at Elmo as he trailed off when he suddenly realized about an aspect he'd forgotten that he'd seen in most video games.
That was the mapping feature. "Tutorial," Elmo said, not bothering to explain to his team.
"What options are their for a map?" Elmo asked.
Elmo sighed. "How can I then know where I've been already? It makes it so this challenge could go on and on with pretty much no end. Is there anything else I can do to get a map of this place?"
Elmo just shook his head and didn't say anything else.
After a minute, the tutorial spoke again.
Elmo sighed. "No, nothing else right now."
After that, Elmo sat on the ground, his back against the wall of the corridor.
"that sounded frustrating," Kim remarked.
Elmo just shook his head. "What are we supposed to make a map with?" Elmo asked, not planning on responding to Kim's question.
"We could always draw it on one of us," Kim suggested. 'If nothing else, if I cut into the skin of one of us and then have Elin heal them, maybe the scars would form a map so we can reference it."
Elmo shook his head, trying not to wince from the imagery or from the idea that he could be the one who has the map 'drawn' on him. "It could work, but then how would we determine which floor would be where and what would we do if the path we were charting went much farther than we'd expected?" Elmo asked, looking up towards Kim.
"Tutorial," Elin said suddenly, startling Elmo.
He didn't hear anything, but wasn't really surprised. After all, he didn't seem to hear the tutorial voices for anyone else's systems that he'd been close enough to hear them conversing with the voice.
"Where can I find materials for making a map?" Elin asked after a minute.
"Is there a way for me to use any of my spells to allow me to create a map?" she asked again while Kim and Elmo waited patiently, just watching her.
Eventually she sighed. "No, nothing else. Thanks."
Elin then sat on the ground, next to Elmo, looking rather disheartened.
"No luck, huh?" Elmo asked.
Elin shook her head. "No, they wouldn't even tell me where I could find materials to make a map," Elin despaired.
"Well, lets see what we can find then," Kim said, causing both Elmo and Elin to look at her. "I'm sure there's probably going to be something we can work with somewhere."
"where do you think we'd find it at?" Elin asked.
"Haven't a clue," Kim replied. "But just sitting her not doing anything isn't going to get us what we need for that."
"Which path would you suggest we take?" Elin asked.
"Well, lets look closely to see if there's something Jonas may have left to let him know, if no one else at least, which path he'd taken," Kim said. "I mean, I doubt he has any materials to make a map himself, so wouldn't it stand to reason that he would have left a mark somewhere around here that would tell him where he'd been?"
"You're right," Elmo said, getting up from where he'd been sitting. "He'd have to carve or scratch something around here to indicate which direction he'd taken."
Elmo wasn't sure how long they'd searched for, but eventually they found an arrow carved into the stone, pointing towards the corridor on the right.
"I guess that should be our path as well," Elmo said, after pointing the arrow out to Kim and Elin.
"Well, at least we now know which way to go," Kim said. Then she turned to Elmo and Elmo suddenly felt like running, since he had no idea what she was looking at him for. "Good job, kid." Kim patted his shoulder. "I might have to think of you as a useful man, rather than just a man."
Elmo wasn't sure what to make of that exchange, but it at least felt like he was in Kim's good graces right now. Though, he couldn't help but wonder how long that might last. After all, he couldn't dispel the fear he had of her, and wasn't sure if he ever would be able to do that or if she wouldn't go back to being hostile towards him.
"What would you need to make a map?" Elin asked Elmo as they started down the hallway the arrow indicated.
"Well, I'll need something to write with and to write on," Elmo started, considering what materials those items might be useful with.
+++
Jonas sighed. He couldn't say how far back it'd been since he'd made a choice when the corridor branched out. However, he was rather certain that he'd taken too long on this path.
However, he at least had arrived at a room. The corridor turned into the room, although he could still pass by the room and stay in the corridor, but he was pretty sure that he'd be visible from anything in the room if he did pass it by. The downside or this room at the moment however, was that he could see at last three minotaurs in the room from his angle.
He could also see a set of stairs that led down from above, although he had no idea where they led to. He could also make out what looked like a body of someone at the base of the stairs and a splattering of blood. He was pretty sure he'd found where Charles McCoy died.
Although, he couldn't be sure, but it looked like there might have been part of him missing, but whether that was due to how he was killed or something else, Jonas couldn't be sure. He was too far away, and with the constant light in the dungeon, he couldn't even try to hide in shadows and go into the room to see what he could find.
Regardless, he decided he should start heading back to where the paths branched. Maybe they'd be able to find something they could work with down the other path. Though, if nothing else, it would at least take them away from the minotaurs.