Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 17: Towering Skylord

Note: Story starts in Achatina, The Island ABC order for Section I, and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Microraptor, next chapter in Pachyrhinosaurus.

Chapters to the end of Section I: 8

This is Cave Chapters: Part ⅕: The Skylord Cave

Two hours after Sodden entered the cave, he left holding the artifact in his hands, a broken shotgun, and two dead Basilos and three injured ones. He rose up to the surface and got off. He gave the injured, bloodied, and bruised Basilos some meat then put them in cryopods. Sodden put his broken and damaged gear in his bag, threw out his pteranodon, got on and took off towards Nudon to prepare for the last 4 caves, the Skylord, the Cunning, the Immune, and the Strong, the four deadliest caves.

He arrived at the base after an hour and landed near the castle, where Red was sitting on the stairs to the castle. “Oh, you’re back! So that’s it for the three caves.” Red said. Sodden hopped off and put his pteranodon in a cryopod, then walked to Red. “Yeah. We got four caves to go.” Sodden said. Red got up just then and walked to the castle door. “Come in with me.” Red said. Sodden walked into the castle with Red and they walked to the forge room. “This is where we grind for weapons and saddles, and upgrade our weapons. It took us 5 weeks of grinding just to make the god shotgun and upgrade it. You’re gonna need some good stuff. These four caves you have left are the hardest.” Red said. He walked to the big map on the other end of the room. “These four red dots show the four hardest caves. The one in the northwest is the Skylord cave, full with death spikes and freezing-cold water. It’s not that bad. You can take a shortcut to the left leading you to the artifact. You just need a grapple to get up that ledge. Then the cave in the east, off the shore of the wetlands is the underwater cave holding the Artifact of the Cunning. The creatures are way worse in there, so it’s all about speed to get through. Just be smart of where you’re going. Then the cave in the redwoods is the swamp cave, hosting the Artifact of the Immune. The cave is full of poisonous fumes, insects, and arthropleuras whose acid spit can destroy armor insanely fast. So bring a gas mask, a good Megatherium pack, and you’ll be fine. And finally, the cave just besides the ice river and near the mountain… well… we’ll get to that later.” Red said, pointing at the red dots. “What’s with the cave near the mountain?” Sodden said. “Yeah… there’s no core counter to this cave. It’s called the Ice Cave. We’ll think about that cave later.” Red said. He proceeded to leave the room, but Sodden grabbed his arm. “Wait. You didn’t give me supplies for the Skylord cave.” Sodden said. Red stopped at the door and turned around. “Yeah, okay. Nameless’ base is at the top of Whitesky Peak, so you can’t fly past the mountain without Nameless seeing you. You have to use the icy cliffs. You should fly besides the icy caves and close to the water to ensure they don’t see you. Then cryopod the pteranodon to make sure Nameless doesn’t find him.” Red said. “What if they decide to raid us again?” Sodden asked. “Well… our Rexes are ready for battle again. And we have the god shotgun. Hopefully we can hold them off if they do come. Since they don’t have their leader, hopefully it’ll be easier.” Red said. “I hope so.” Sodden said. Red walked to someone at a smithy, and whispered in their ear. They took some metal and arrows, and crafted two grappling hooks. Red walked to Sodden and gave him a primitive crossbow. “We have a plan to hold off Nameless if they come, so you do not have to worry about us.” Red said. Sodden nodded and walked out of the room and out of the castle. He threw out the pteranodon and got on. He took off and flew towards the snow.

Sodden rode his pteranodon close to the water, behind the icy cliffs of the northwestern Arctic. He approached the cave’s entrance below the rocky cliffside just north of the mountain. Sodden rode towards the path and hopped off at the bottom of the path. He put his pteranodon in a cryopod and walked into the cave. His ascendant flak would stop the cold from decimating his health in the cave, so he could roam easily. He went left into a tunnel that led further left, and found a small room with a path narrowing and a pit with death spikes. Sodden aimed his crossbow to the ledge and shot the grapple at the roof. He grappled up and touched down onto the ledge, shot down some bats, and opened the artifact container. He took out the Artifact of the Skylord. He jumped back down to the path then ran towards the cave exit. He got out, threw out his pteranodon, and right away took off to fly towards Nudon.

As he approached the base, he saw Gigas falling down the hill. He saw that the wall was slightly damaged, and someone stood on a Giga in front of the wall, shooting down the Gigas that came. Sodden flew closer, and gasped in shock as he saw Rod on his Giga. Rod turned and saw Sodden coming. “Oh, hi. Good to see you again. Uh… we’re in a bit of pickle here. Nameless’ Gigas came to attack us.” Rod said. Sodden landed, put his pteranodon in a cryopod, and took out the god shotgun to shoot down the Gigas. The god saddles the Gigas had broke after six shots and Sodden ran under the Gigas, who were focused on Rod’s Giga, and went behind the walls. He climbed up to shoot down the remaining Gigas.

After Nameless lost their Gigas and retreated, Sodden had left on his pteranodon to take down some creatures, like a Otter, Pachy, then a Oviraptor. After an hour, he returned to talk to Rod. “Well… can we talk now? So I hear you’re doing the caves.” Rod said. “Yeah. You gonna help me with the Cunning cave?” Sodden asked. “Of course. That’s a hard one. Fighting and standing against the creatures is a no-go. We’re gonna have to depend on speed. A Diplocalus would be good. It’d give you oxygen, so you could wear the normal flak armor and be fine. I have a few really good ones.” Rod said. He took out a cryopod and handed it to Sodden. “That has one of my best Diplocaluses in it. Hopefully it helps.” Rod said. Sodden nodded then went to his pteranodon, but before he took off, Red walked up to him. “Hey. Be careful there.” Red said. Sodden nodded. The pteranodon took off and they flew east towards the Caverns of Lost Hope.

Three caves to go…

-RelatingHen8906