After several minutes of explanations and deliberating, Adelaide had settled on the ‘Bulwark’ combat style. As Max ran some numbers through his head, he realized that Adelaide would be a powerhouse soon enough.
The bulwark style allowed her to add her Might attribute to her deflection as long as she used a shield, as well as increasing her Might and Vigor resistances by the same amount.
A good choice, by Max’s estimation, especially at these low levels.
As they prepared to leave, he took a look down the hallway, which revealed to him little more than the dim light of the endless corridor. Opposite of their current room was an open door, which had apparently been the room Adelaide arrived in.
As if on cue she appeared next to him, holding out a pair of the vials she had collected.
“Here. I believe they are some kind of medicine.”
Max gratefully accepted them, and examined them closely. Messages appeared in response.
Health Potion: Minor (x2)
Restores 8 HP upon consumption
He nodded thoughtfully, though the amount the potion healed unsettled him. That was almost his maximum health, and if a minor potion could restore that much…
He didn’t want think about what kind of damage the dungeon was going to throw at him.
Luckily, his deflection granted him some manner of protection, and the Fortitude spell could bolster him a bit if he got ambushed.
He exhaled and stepped into the hallway,
“We should get moving. I’m not sure how many other travelers are around and I’d rather not be at their mercy.”
Adelaide flipped the axe in her hand and strode out the door, speaking as she passed.
“I will take point, if you can avoid shooting me in the back.”
Max snorted,
“Yeah yeah.”
The pair began their trek down the hallway, Max just a few feet behind and to the right of his new companion. They tried to remain as silent as possible, avoiding the torchlight and watching for adjacent corridors.
After the first half hour, there hadn’t been any changes to the environment, and Max was beginning to get bored. Their footsteps echoed softly down the cobblestone path, strolling leisurely as the monotony began to sink in.
Max had realized, after walking behind her for some time, that she was clearly some kind of athlete. Her legs looked like they were made for kicking in doors and squatting baby elephants.
This also made him question how high her might attribute was.
He lazily twirled his sword in an arc, exercising his control over the weapon and almost laughing as he did. Since the sword was tied to his magic, the presence attribute governed his skill and damage with the blade, which was made apparent in how perfect it felt in his hands.
Like it was made for him.
Sadly, tactile activity wasn’t enough to quell his boredom. He stepped alongside Adelaide, casting a sidelong glance at her.
“So what did you do before this? Some kind of sport?”
She was quiet for a moment, and Max briefly wondered if he had overstepped. Luckily she broke the silence with a tired sigh,
“I played rugby, before. I stopped after my close friends left, but continued to strength train.”
Adelaide’s face fell as she finished her sentence, and Max began to feel a twinge of regret. She was likely in the same situation he was, and thinking about what they had left behind probably wouldn’t be good for either of them. He tried to lighten the mood,
“Well it paid off. You’re pretty good at assaulting small green men.” He said, chuckling.
She rolled her eyes, but a faint smile tugged at her lips as they continued in silence.
Moments later, as Max became even more restless, the hallway began to widen. Several yards ahead, the corridor ended with an open archway, about seven feet tall. Through the archway was an ascending staircase, but the stone was cut instead of cobbled, with fine, granite slabs that ascended into darkness.
He frowned. If this was the way up, then that meant he and Adelaide were the only two on this floor. Had the goblins simply come down from the higher levels?
Or had they been placed there?
Adelaide seemed to have her own reservations about the stairway, and approached the entry with her shield raised. Max stayed in position at her right shoulder, his mystic bow drawn and ready as they approached. The two gazed upward as they entered the stairway, watching as the steps twisted out of sight.
“A spiral staircase… could be a long way up.”
Adelaide nodded in agreement, but didn’t wait for further conversation. She began her ascent, and Max stayed close behind as they took steps in unison, a cautious and efficient climb.
They went along quietly, and just as Max’s legs began to burn from the effort, Adelaide froze in her tracks. She raised her weapon, signaling for him to stop as well.
He leaned around her, pointing the black arrow into the twisting corridor.
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“What is it?” He whispered, his eyes still focused ahead.
The young woman frowned,
“You cannot hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Adelaide’s face slowly darkened,
“Voices… fighting…”
Without another word, she darted forward, taking the steps two at a time.
Max threw up his hands in annoyance, but followed anyway.
As they continued up, Max began to hear the sounds of conflict, and briefly wondered how she had heard it from so far away. He panted heavily, driving forward and just barely matching pace with Adelaide as they pushed on.
Once they reached the top, the young woman dropped to a crouch, and Max practically fell into one. Adelaide made an impatient shushing gesture as he tried to catch his breath, and he resisted the urge to push her back down the stairs.
“Shush?! Don’t shush me! You’re the one ran up here like a soup can full of spare change!” He hissed, his voice barely above a whisper.
She made a face at him, then jabbed him with her elbow,
“Schweigen!”
“I don’t know wha-!”
She hit him in the stomach this time, and pointed ahead of them.
Just ahead, their hallway opened into a much larger room filled with platforms, staircases, and ledges. The stairs and pillar platforms all lead to another door at least a hundred feet off the ground, on the opposite side of the room.
On those stairs and ledges, was the origin of the sounds.
A young woman was sprinting up the steps, a horde of goblins behind her. She looked exhausted, her feet dragged, she stumbled, she scrambled up the steps on all fours.
The enemies behind her were ravenous, feral, surging forward in a group that couldn’t have been any less than twenty. They filled the entire staircase behind her, blocking any path back to the ground.
Max realized too late that she was climbing towards a dead end.
Adelaide watched in fear as he pointed to the top of the staircase, a square pillar that lead nowhere.
The girl wasn’t going to make it.
“Hey!” Max yelled, “You have to jump! Jump to the next one!”
The girl looked back, but he couldn’t make out her face, she was too far, too high.
The girl reached the top, spinning in a circle as she realized her predicament. She seemed to panic, letting out a short scream of frustration as she sprinted toward the edge.
Max watched as the girl flew to the opposite side, her arms outstretched, grasping at her only lifeline. His heart dropped as he took note of the girls trajectory, and he put a hand on Adelaide’s shoulder,
“Close your eyes.”
The young woman audibly swallowed, and turned away.
He forced himself to look as the girl fell, her first impact a sickening THWACK on the edge of the stairs.
Adelaide cringed away from the sound, and Max felt his stomach churn.
The poor girls head and arms snapped back, completely limp as she plummeted, and she struck the stone floor with the awful sound of flesh at terminal velocity.
Max thanked whatever deity above that her death had been quick.
He took a shaky breath, nudging Adelaide and gesturing to the horde of goblins that now stood at the top of the pillar. The creatures jeered down at the body of the girl, cackling, spitting, and doing all manner of insulting things.
“I think she bought us some time. I can see the way up from here, so I’m willing to bet she was ambushed.”
Adelaide stared into the room, her face a hollow mask as she spoke.
“She did not have time to think.”
Max nodded. The path didn’t look terribly complicated, just long and tall.
It was also almost entirely stairs, which Max wasn’t a fan of.
A nasal yell interrupted his thoughts, and he spied a few of the goblins, eyes locked with his as they began to descend.
“Welp, time to go.”
Adelaide grunted her assent as they darted forward, Max taking the lead.
“Up the right path!” He called, taking the steps two at a time and throwing glances over his shoulder.
The goblins hadn’t even reached the bottom of their stairs yet, and that gave him some hope. He continued pushing, trying to pace his breathing as Adelaide ran alongside him, their steps echoing across the chamber.
They reached the top of their pillar, and Max spun hard left, climbing the next flight and trying to put as much distance between them and the goblins as possible.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up.
He felt it, like an itch in the back of his mind, something telling him he needed to turn around, that something was wrong. He immediately planted his boot and stopped as a crude arrow whizzed past, the wind behind it ruffling his hair. Instinctively he turned, slapping his palm onto Adelaide’s breastplate and willing the only other spell he knew into effect.
The Fortitude spell immediately took root, a faint orange symbol glowing on the armor as Max increased her deflection. She froze, giving him an odd look as another arrow bounced off of a thin, orange aura, inches from her forehead. It spun as it fell to the floor, and her eyes widened in response.
A message appeared in Max’s mind,
You have negated a critical hit on an ally.
“Go!” He yelled as more arrows rained down, pinging off the stone structures and whizzing past their heads.
Max pondered as he ran. They hadn’t shot at the girl, and he doubted they were smart enough to save their ammunition for less futile prey, which meant…
He stole a glance toward the wall, and his theory was proven correct. The stone ledges were lined with goblin archers, though none of them seemed to be very competent shots. He and Adelaide must have just entered their range, as they hadn’t bothered them at ground level, nor the poor girl that had entered first. Even with their poor accuracy, they had superior numbers, and fifty arrows in a small space were bound to hit something.
Adelaide suddenly ducked in front of him, raising her shield and deflecting an arrow that would have pierced him milliseconds later. They continued their climb, Max keeping his eyes on the archers as they rushed along the outcroppings.
They were getting closer, hopping from ledge to ledge, closing in on the pair as they made their mad dash to freedom.
An idea came to mind.
He ducked behind Adelaide, barking a command as he did.
“Take a knee!”
He yelled, patting her back and casting Fortitude a second time. Instantly, the glow surrounded her again, and he summoned the bow.
He had five seconds.
Adelaide dropped to a knee and raised her shield. Max kneeled behind her and began loosing arrows, one after the other, into the swarm of archers. The messages began to appear in his mind.
Goblinoid Specialist killed (x1)
He tried to hold back the macabre excitement bubbling up in his chest as he struck them, over and over, the arrows seemingly following his will as he fired.
“Keep it comin’ you little bastards… give me more.”
Goblinoid Specialist killed (x7)
Level point gained
He cackled to himself as the archers fell, tumbling to the floor below. The arrows of the enemy pinged off of Adelaide’s armor, no longer protected by his spell.
Goblinoid Specialist killed (x12)
Level point gained
Adelaide grimaced as an arrow rebounded off of her breastplate, and she called out over the sounds of battle.
“We have to go!”
Max didn’t listen, but instead stood and began walking up steps, never ceasing his onslaught. He gritted his teeth, the muscles in his arms starting to burn as he loosed arrows as fast as his body would let him. The goblins fell at his very whim, and the counter ticking up in his mind drove him wild.
“COME ON! I’VE GOT ALL NIGHT!”
Goblinoid Specialist killed (x16)
Level point gained
He dropped his arms, panting for air as he continued upward, practically challenging the horde to face him. The bow shifted back to a sword as he dragged himself up the steps, pointing at the remaining goblins as they frantically tried to ready their weapons. The arrows fell short, some turned and ran, tripping over the bodies of their fallen comrades.
“I’ve… got something… for you.”
Max said in between breaths, trying to maintain his hunger as he approached. His vision started to go dark, and he fell onto all fours, trying to steady himself.
Something took hold of him, grabbed him under his arms and began dragging him up the stairs. He barely noticed as he grinned at the messages in his mind,
Intimidation Skill: +3
You have frightened “Goblinoid Specialists”
The ache for more was strong within him, the hunger of a man driven by ambition, the desire to push himself to the limit of his newfound power.
Winning wasn't enough.