Page 1581

((Triple Wednesday -- Page 3 of 3))
Hector started running again. ‘Now what do we do?’

‘Good question,’ said Garovel. ‘Back to plan A, I guess. Stay alive until someone saves our sorry asses.’

‘Agh... I really hate plan A...’

‘Well, I’m open to hearing a plan C, if you’ve got one.’

‘Er...’

‘Plan A, it is.’

‘No, hold on! I can think of something!’ He racked his brain, feeling like he really could think of something, for some reason. Like he was forgetting something, maybe. Something important. ‘Uh...! Hmm...!’

Shit. Why wasn’t it coming to him? It was almost like there was a giant, man-eating sludge monster distracting him.

‘Don’t strain yourself,’ said Garovel as Hector launched himself over the large gap in the second floor and ran briefly along the wall before landing on the other side, still running. ‘Okay, are you just trying to show off, now? Because I was already impressed.’

Hector was hardly listening, though, too caught up in his multiple focuses. While it was true that the Scarf of Amordiin was helping him to understand where he could move and how precise that movement needed to be, he was beginning to realize that there was another aspect at play here, too.

His own armor was helping, in a weird way. Even though it was bulky and heavy as shit, it was also adding a ton of momentum. His undead strength had made it easy not to notice, because it made the armor not actually feel all that heavy, but he was sensing it more and more now. It was almost like he could relax his whole body and just let the armor keep carrying him forward.

He wasn’t actually going to do that, of course, but it was an interesting feeling nonetheless. And it required a light touch, too. A very precise use of his own strength. Too much, and he would overcome the momentum and simply move normally, but with a deliberately weak application, that momentum could be preserved--and even harnessed, as he had just proved to himself by running along the wall.

But all of that was quite a lot to process and think about while still conversing with Garovel, keeping track of where the worm was, maintaining the cooling effect of his armor, AND trying to remember whatever it was that he felt like he was forgetting.

So it was no surprise, really, that he was not entirely succeeding at a couple of those things, at the moment.

He was letting his focus drift into too many things simultaneously again. Hector didn’t need a repeat of what had happened in that previous treasure room in order to realize that he was on the verge of fucking himself over.

Focus. Prioritize.

He knew where the worm was. Because he had to. That was the top priority. And he knew where he needed to go in order to keep ahead of it. That was pretty much the same priority. He could lump those two thoughts together.