THE STORY SO FAR
Will Sutton/Pioneer was sent back to the first time he heard of the Tower by a unique Item he discovered during the failed final battle of Humanity on Floor 51.
He began to Climb, working to build his own power and reputation so as to have a base from which to share his knowledge and improve Humanity’s chances this time round.
Along the way, he saved and recruited Okembe Okafor and Katherine “Metrodora” Winters, as well as adding the uncle/niece pair of Unk and Daphne to his team, and together they began to push their way up.
On Floor 3, after saving him from a group of criminals forcing the boy to steal for them, Will also recruited Blanik, the Acrobat. Together, they fought the Hidden Bosses of the Floor and gained access to Floor 4. They named their party the Chancers, as each of them felt they were receiving a 2nd Chance thanks to Will’s intervention.
Along the way, after an attack by assassins of mysterious provenance, Blanik and Unk were shaken and decided to take time off. Blanik, in particular, is uncertain if he will ever return to the Tower.
Sharing some of his future knowledge with other important and promising Climbers, Will and his party led the way to Floor 4 and the founding of the Clan System. He started Towerfall, and began the process of building. The Tower went public, earlier than in the first timeline, and Pioneer became a celebrity figure at the head of one of the largest and most powerful Clans in existence.
Now, with the basic stabilisation and recruitment handled, Will has sent out the call – his party is coming back together, and their next goal is Floor 10.
Prologue
“SECRET HUNTER” MARCO – FLOOR 2
Rubble battered off his shield, but Marco didn’t worry. The Hintfinder’s Monocle [C] had shown him exactly where the entrance would open, and his Kinetic Reduction Shield [D] would keep the large chunks of stone from hurting him in the meantime. As he waited for the large statue to finish crumbling, taking a dainty step to the left to dodge a particularly big boulder, he spared a thought for the other Climbers out there on the Floor.
Right now, they were probably fighting fodder mobs and wandering around at random hoping to stumble upon Hidden Events. That, or they were just skipping these lower Floors to head straight for 4. He had to admit, the way that Pioneer and his Clan had begun organising and civilising the Tower did make freely moving between Floors a lot easier. He had few issues, with a fully linked Recall Sigil for all available Floors and enough Coins to afford the cost, but he had to admit the English man had done some good for the rank-and-file.
Marco wasn’t a team player. Never had been. A combination of his autism, hyperfocus and ego had ensured that despite making a good amount of money he’d always struggled to find friends. Well, he would have struggled if he’d tried. He’d never had a problem with being alone, since it just gave him more time to practice his skills and learn new things. One such new thing had been the existence of the Tower, accidentally scraped from a low-level DoD server he’d been crawling in the background.
The prospect of new secrets, of a new route to power and influence, and most of all the prospect of a world that could offer experiences unlike any on Earth, had mixed perfectly with the realisation that he’d probably be getting a visit from some men in black once they traced his crawler. He’d figured out how to access the Tower through pure trial-and-error, picked Rogue as his Class, and never looked back. Until Pioneer came onto his radar, and the quality of Climber began to sharply increase, he’d hoarded his secrets completely. Even now, after being convinced to share some details and begin selling the things he discovered to the Clans, he still kept most of the good stuff to himself. Too few Climbers, even in Pioneer’s own Clan, realised how much potential they ignored every time they went up a Floor.
The statue had finished crumbling, by this point, so he stowed away his shield and walked casually across the distance to the now visible trapdoor. He wondered, briefly, how many hundreds of Climbers had passed the big stone troll on their way to Floor 3. None of them had opened the way to the Hidden Dungeon, which suggested they hadn’t even bothered to explore. Other than that “Treasure Dave” figure from the Bold Explorers, it seemed like proper exploration was still unpopular.
Reaching down and pressing a hand to the cool wood of the trapdoor, he activated his most useful Skill.
“Analyse”
The fact that Skills could improve if you understood them properly had been the first secret he’d shared with Pioneer. Of course, the man had already figured it out for himself, but it had earned Marco some goodwill with someone that was already very powerful. His own core Skill was already at D Rank, though his lower-than-average Stats meant he hadn’t reached the rank himself yet. It wasn’t really fair on the other Climbers, in all honesty. He’d spent two months on the First Floor, not even looking for one of the Exit Portals, and scouring it so deeply had rewarded him with the perfect addition to his Sheet.
Information flooded his mind as the Skill triggered, his awareness extending into the wood of the trapdoor and then down into the Dungeon below. Monster details, room layout, traps, loot, all of it was filtered and shuffled into its place inside his brain. He couldn’t learn everything from the Skill – he got a lot of noise and false positives mixed in with the useful details, and the nature of the Boss was completely hidden from him – but the information he did receive made him grin.
Secret Hunter Marco [E]
Class: Rogue/Fence
Bloodline: Coward’s Ichor
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Strength: 11 (+0.3)
Endurance: 12 (+10.4)
Agility: 26 (+0.5)
Reflex: 20 (+0.6)
Mind Power: 18 (+0.5)
Mind Depth: 19 (+0.6)
Skills: Dodge [F], Hide [F], Analyse [D], Appraise Value [E], Escape Blink [D], Verbal Trick [E]
Spells: Mana Spike [F], Mana Wall [E], Mark Target [E]
Bonded Items: Hintfinder’s Monocle [D], Spatial Ring [D], Protector’s Robe Top [E], Protector’s Robe Bottom [E], Kinetic Reduction Shield [D], Thunderwolves’ Gauntlet [C], Amulet of Survival [E], Shield Ring [E], Animated Daggers of D’lir [D], Enhancement Cloak [E]
Tower Coins: 8213
Even with the 3% bonus of the Enhancement Cloak and the +10 Endurance from his Protector’s Robes, his Stats were still way below where they should be for his level of knowledge and time invested. Between the Items he had Bonded, and the consumables in his Spatial Ring, that shouldn’t be an issue and was why he’d not bothered much trying to improve them. He knew of several Dungeons, Events and other methods that could get him more Stat points, but he could get those anytime. In their meeting, Pioneer had encouraged him to spend more effort on it, but he’d also given Marco so many leads to follow that greed had won over pragmatism.
Shrugging, he drew a Draught of Temporary Empowerment [C] from his ring and chugged it down. It tasted like oranges, though with a cinammony tint at the end. He felt the surge as all of his Stats increased by 15, and he didn’t even begrudge throwing the vial away and noting that it was his final dose. He didn’t know how Pioneer had been aware of this Dungeon, but since the man clearly had an Item similar to Marco’s own monocle, the details weren’t important. What was important was clearing this thing and reporting back. He’d been promised an extra 15% on Item purchases from Towerfall in return for guides to a few lower-Floor locations, and the prospect of all those Coins – and the dollars they’d become if he did decide to go back to Earth for longer than a few days – set his mouth watering as he dived down the hole.
LUKE HOLTZ – EARTH
“I don’t care! You bought the thing and you drank it, so stop complaining! We have more important issues.”
Luke shook his head, removing the hand he’d raised to a potted plant and letting the soft wiggling of its leaves cease. Jeremy wasn’t taking the latest report from Towerfall well.
“How did they get a copy of the contracts we haven’t even started using yet!? You said he never leaves the fucking Tower, but clearly his followers do, and they’re fucking us!”
When Jeremy got ranting like this, it was best to keep quiet and let him run out of steam. Luke had already explained everything, including the countermeasures they were employing, and had stressed that things weren’t as bad as they seemed, but it had rebounded off his best friend and boss with no effect.
“I want him dead. I’ve said it before, but now I mean it. Do it Luke, call up all those thugs you’ve been forcing to carry you up the Tower, and get him gone.”
The tall, blonde man stalked across his office, golf club in hand, and roughly shoved it back into the stand with a huff. It wasn’t really the contracts being leaked that upset him, it was the fact that they’d been rejected by three promising candidates for new senior members, and all three had joined up with either the Bold Explorers or Towerfall. For some reason, since he emerged from nowhere just a few months ago, Pioneer had been on the warpath against their organisation.
“He’s quite possibly the most powerful single Climber in the Tower right now. He’s fought off no less than three assassination attempts that I am aware of, two of which involved trained soldiers who had been given every resource available. His party, though they seem novice, are also a much bigger threat than anyone initially believed. His Clan, as well as the two he’s got tight links with, make up the strongest and largest faction out there. I can’t just take a few thugs up and beat him down, J. You know this.”
That just provoked another incoherent noise of rage, and Jeremy flopped down into his chair like a toddler. Despite being a ruthless businessman and capable of effortless charisma, behind these closed doors he behaved the same way as when they first opened a lemonade stand at 12 years old. Luke had long become accustomed to handling Jeremy’s more wild tendencies, reigning in the endless ambition and aggression and doing the calculations and grunt work.
“Right, well then increase recruitment. Start buying up Elite Class Guides and offering people them in return for signing up. Close one of the offices in some state nobody cares about like Montana if you need extra capital. Speaking of which, how long until we can get a proper exchange rate on Tower Coins? The commission we’re giving to those fucking Chinese bastards is bleeding me dry.”
Luke nodded at that. Unlike the efforts to legalise and protect Climbing, which had gone near effortlessly thanks to the unity of purpose in the most influential Climbers, efforts to systematise and enhance trade between Tower goods and Earth goods were stalling. Pioneer and his Clan had no interest in it, seemingly without a care in the world about what went on outside of the Tower, and the FCA had been spread thin. Somehow, the Excellent Jade Alliance were farming enough Coins that they could act as a bureau de change for their Earth money, but both men resented the fee that using this service incurred.
“I need more mercenaries. There are rumours that Floor 5 will be opened up soon, and we need to be at the head of the pack if we want to entice people into signing up. Gaethon is useful, but the other ones are glorified gangbangers.”
Jeremy waved that off.
“Whatever, you’re in charge of Climbing, I’ve no interest in it. Hire whoever you need to, but make sure their contracts are tight. If we’re going to make someone actually strong enough to be a threat, they need to be financially and legally neutered.”
That was another point of agreement, so Luke didn’t challenge the words. He reached into the Spatial Bag that hung from his waist, and took out a silver vial that was shaped like an arrow.
“What’s that?”
Luke didn’t answer, just taking off the stopper and handing the vial to Jeremy. One of his men had found a Climber wounded after taking on a Hidden Event, and after finishing him off had brought back this little treat. Luke had already drunk the other of the pair, and he’d been excited to bring the other to his friend.
“I’m not drinking it until you tell me what it does.”
Luke shook his head in mirth.
“Fine. It’s called the Potion of the Sentinel, E Rank. Gives you night-vision and reduces your need to sleep by 10%.”
Quite frankly, the potion was even more useful than the bastard Bloodline he’d wasted so many Coins on. That was another reason Luke shared Jeremy’s ire for Pioneer, since the fucker who’d sold him the Bloodline had bought it from the man.
At his explanation, Jeremy grinned in satisfaction. He’d refused any Class or Bloodline that Luke could find, seeing no reason to rush things when he had no intention of Climbing himself, but things like this were exactly what the CEO wanted. He drank the liquid, grimacing at the medicine-like taste, and shivered as he felt it take effect.
That had successfully disarmed the man’s anger, and Luke spared himself a tiny pat on the back at effective handling. Now they could have a more productive conversation. Pioneer was a threat, but one they needed to build up to taking on carefully. Luke discarded the now empty vial and pulled a laptop across the desk. Pulling up spreadsheets, he fell back into accountant mode as he started to run through the latest finances and payroll for the Full Clear Association.
It wasn’t all glitz, glamour and being handed final hits on Bosses, much as he wished it was.