Picking a best team to go on another tower run wasn't quite as easy as Corvayne expected. Grunt waved him off, pointing to himself then the truck, and they couldn't find The Spider.
Still, with Undine rounding the group out, Corvayne went with Wick, Lady Blood Claw, Hari, and Nyx. This was after a hour or so of making sure they had their gear on and making their way to The Nose. Standing in the stone hallway leading from the hole down to the dusty plains over to the Magus marked door, Wick addressed them.
“Our goal is to see if this tower floor has ties to the Pilgrims. No heroics, slow and steady and fucking careful. I'm going to stick in the middle and use [Rewind] to fix injuries. We do five floors, ten if we do well and the opposition is easy. Any hard floors we go around.”
Undine shifted her view. “No other healers?”
“Mister I cooked us a whole slew of potions. We don't plan to go up too many floors to where the monsters start co-coordinating, so I'd rather have Hari and Corvayne working to spot problems. Between that and my talent I think we'll be alright.” Wick pulled her robe a little open showing off her camo pants and a potion belt flush with red vials.
Corvayne nodded. “Nyxion takes very little damage with his shield, his repulsive magic, and the range from his whip. I have very solid fundamentals and some recent powers that help me fix myself. It's important to also note that from what we've seen, the ability for monsters in the towers to use tactics and tracking is-”
Corvayne tried to wait to pull a shard of glass out of his arm but couldn't help it and plucked the bloody fragment out before switching to Agility “-They usually wander around until they see or hear something that pulls them over to us.”
Hari smiled. “And the rest of us have stealth or flat out invisibility so it's less likely we will be targeted before Nyx or Corvayne.”
Undine frowned. “We lack ranged attacks then?”
Wick smiled. “Everyone is packing guns, with Lady sporting a bow. Think crossbows but-”
“I've seen flintlocks... not reliable but at least a good way to soften something.” Undine shrugged.
Corvayne wondered if Undine had identified their gear. Probably not, since Hari was wearing the living dress. She didn't look uncomfortable, so it likely meant the dress knew it wasn't play time. Corvayne's mind drifted a little thinking about Hari in the dress until he re-focused. Wick wanted him to act as group leader, so he resumed checking everyone.
Nyx met his eyes and nodded, patting his shield belt and activating levitation, drifting over to the breach.
Lady Blood Claw had been quiet since hearing that Undine insisted she was a member of some long lost race, and turning to check if she was okay, he could see her looking at the image of The Pilgrims and other races standing on the roadway etched in stone. Corvayne knew light gray meant she was anxious, and he put a hand on her shoulder.
“Lady, you ready?”
She snapped her head over and in a moment looked determined. “I want answers too.”
He smiled at her, and she managed a small smirk. Corvayne moved on to Wick, who had an odd look on her face as she was looking at the murals as well. She had her staff, potions, her freezing short blade, and her pack. She looked at him and for a moment he felt like he was looking at a stranger, then she shook her head and smiled at him, and he smiled back.
Undine was checking her own gear after casting [Understand Languages]. Corvayne offered a hand to her as she finished double checking knives and scrolls. “Given how effective Hari is, I'm looking forward to working with you.”
The older woman's eyes crinkled as she met Corvayne's gaze with a stern look, and for a moment he was sure she was going to shank him with one of her knives. After Corvayne counted five uncomfortable seconds Undine grinned and took his hand. “Same, I've heard your class is... interesting.”
Figuring she was just doing a little banter, he smirked and shot back, “We'll just have to see then, won't we?”
He saw the older woman nod at him, so Corvayne considered the banter finished and double checked his own fire breathing dagger, side arm, and assault rifle he was packing, his potions, his cleaver, and of course his spear.
Set, he pushed his way through the Magus marked door and into The Tower once more. The world blurred, and he stepped into what looked like an ornate black metal hallway. His first step he saw the hall was in fact a forest of dark metal, rendered in brass so dark it appeared black at first glance. Hints of still reflective surfaces added a hint of gold to the surroundings, though any time he stopped moving it resumed looking like endless halls to him. Corvayne looked all around for threats, and looking up saw, suspended in the branches that formed the ceiling, various dim lights. The orbs shedded multifaceted shadows onto a floor that looked like it was made of the same material as his chain mail, something like a combination of stone, wood, and metal. Glowing orange letters, similar to the one-way locks in other Towers, flitted through the trees. Looking back, Corvayne saw that this instance was not another one-way climb, the archway between trees hinting at the corridor they just left. He moved away from the entrance and scanned for movement, listening to faint sounds of water flowing.
Wick stepped in, and blinked. “I feel weird. Don't go in too far... lemme check something.”
In moments she pulled out a few random looking detectors, probably radiation and gasses. She looked almost disappointed. “Nothing wrong... what do your shadow hands think?”
Corvayne didn't think it was scientific, but the shadow hands pointed the way forward and gave a shrug and thumbs up. “They... uh... think it's fine.”
Nyx walked past him to take the front. “It's not to late to swap her out for Spears.”
Lady Blood Claw sounded annoyed. “You need to start thinking with your brain again.”
The noble stopped and smiled at her. “Oh! My once oh so loyal helper... Might you be projecting unspoken feelings onto me?”
Corvayne made a gesture for quiet. “Enough. Let's show Undine what we can do.”
Bringing up the outsider, who was watching this all with folded arms, seemed to help remind the two of their pride. Still, even as Nyx lead the way into the trees, Corvayne saw Wick was looking at him with what looked like anxiety.
“Hari, Undine... what's your readings here?”
They both cast their [Investigates] and both women called out, “Yellow-Green.” so Corvayne fell into place behind Lady Blood Claw, leaving Hari and Undine to keep Wick out of trouble in the back half. After trudging past a few rows of trees he checked to make sure they were following.
Undine hiked a little forward to match his pace. “Do we need to map here?”
Corvayne shook his head. “As long as we find a path upwards, after five floors we can exit where we came in. That being said... if we get really lost I have a power that can give me directions.”
Still, as they walked for the better part of an hour through the dimly lit metal forest, Corvayne was pretty sure he'd be hard pressed without his compass power to ever find the place they had come from. He saw some signs of clockwork life and a non-aggressive palm sized furry slug, but no real monsters.
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He was about to call for a short rest to assess if he needed to invoke his [Compass] when he caught a faint sound of running water.
“There's a river or waterfall somewhere near here. Let's see if the floor opens up and we can spy a place to go up.”
Corvayne called back, causing Wick to pull her head up. Lady Blood Claw also seemed to jerk a little hearing his voice, perhaps having been lulled into the quiet pace of the floor. He could guess what was up with Lady Blood Claw, having been in her shoes several times over the last few months when he had to try to scramble to understand some new piece of his past floating to the surface. Wick, on the other hand, had been alternating between hurrying to try to get into the middle of the group, face gripped with terror, then moments later sagging with some unseen relief as she strode through the black metal trees, seeming at peace.
The ground started to dip a little, and ahead he saw faint blue light as the trees opened a small gap and he could see the sky of the floor for the first time. He stepped out from the canopy and saw stars. Billions of them, so many they shone like moonlight onto the ground. He could see other segments of the floor as black shadows against the stars, gleaming with orange-gold lights in spots.
Standing near the water was a shaggy figure, looking something like a towering beard with a huge blade. As Nyx stepped from the clearing, the figure raised it's blade, then started stomping at him, set up to strike. Nyx put his hand up, and there was a wave of darkness, causing the figure to falter a moment. The next moment Nyx's gold serpent whip flicked out, and the monster stumbled and fell apart as Nyx put the whip away.
“Good warm up. Where's the rest of the monsters?” Nyx asked as he turned around, grin on his face. Moments later his brow furrowed as scraps of the monster started to reform, and it stood back up.
Wick stepped forward and pulsed a blast of jade energy at it. The entire figure was blasted apart as [Disrupt] tossed what looked like shards of cloth everywhere.
“Hari, can you ID it?” Corvayne asked as he tracked some of the bits slowing and starting to roll back together.
Hari cast the spell, and frowned. “It's an 'Endless Shambler'. Level 3 but-”
Undine interrupted, “Advancement is a better term! I hate calling it levels! We are not houses.”
Hari muttered something about wiring her mentor's jaw shut in elvish before clearing her throat. “It's going to keep coming back to life, so-”
Corvayne swung his spear, saying aloud, “[Storm-Thrust]” as he did, blowing the scraps into the river. The monster reformed as it was swept away.
“From what we see, this floor seems to be a test of dealing with constant pressure. Or the ability to explore and find the exit without getting cornered by a pack of them following you.”
Undine shook her head. “Wouldn't a powerful creature like that be keyed to some wizard? Otherwise, what's feeding it magic to keep coming back?”
Hari responded. “The Tower seems to be a test of different aspects. I think since we've seen floors based on stealth, as an example, it is populated with powerful monsters that require avoiding but were made with a flaw to make it possible to hide from or escape them. Or floors where there's less monsters, more practical obstacles exist. So it's likely something inherent here fuels them.”
Wick tapped Corvayne's arm as Hari was speaking and pointed backwards. Corvayne blinked and saw what she had seen. “There's another pair of endless hairs shadowing us. I propose we find a crossing then knock them into the water, or find an edge and knock them off that.”
Corvayne watched the monster's blade start to roll itself in the direction the monster he had tossed into the water was going, and decided to take them upstream. A few minutes of treking up increasingly steep hills and they found a point where rocks in the water would let everyone cross. Hari offered her hand to her mentor, but Undine put her nose up and cast [Blink] to cross, then looked shocked when Hari showed off her new version of the spell that she had been working on with The Spider.
“No chant? And what the devil did you do with the mana threads? It's so sloppy! It's... genius!”
Corvayne ignored the incoming magical theory lecture and offered a hand to Wick, who took it without thinking, still looking concerned.
“Wick, if you have something you are worried about, I'll help if I can.”
She looked around and looked at him and blinked, and Corvayne could swear she was looking at him like a stranger. “I feel like I've been asleep a long time and you're part of a dream.”
Corvayne wasn't sure he understood. “Do you want to go back?”
She shook her head, not bothering to take her hand away. “I... I cannot begin to describe how I feel. But do not fret. I will pull my weight here.”
Corvayne mentally tried to think if she had sworn in the last hour or so. “Wick, I'm a little concerned right now, to be honest.”
“Those monsters are slow, I'm sure we can walk faster than them, and we can punch holes in a group if they flank us. It seems disrupt is also-”
Corvayne shook his head. “I'm not worried about the tower. You're speaking to me in a very formal manner, which is unusual... One moment.”
Corvane left her on by the bank and took a few steps back to Hari, lowering his voice, “Can you cast [Investigate] on Wick and tell me if she's got anything odd going on?”
Hari twitched her ear and retorted in Elvish, “I assume you mean something other than stats and a class that I can't see and she will not speak of?”
He gave her a little nod and she did as he said, then hummed. “Nothing wrong I can see, besides being just as tangled as it was before.”
So much for a system answer then. Corvayne ruffled her hair. “Thanks Hari. Sorry to foist intrigue on you.”
Hari smiled while fixing her hair. “Wick's paranoia actually extends to herself too. She's asked me to look at her abilities several times.”
Corvayne looked back at Wick, who was standing on the lip of the rock surveying the tangled black steel forest below, sometimes gazing up to the stars. He sighed and kept his voice low.
“That's why I'm worried. She hasn't sworn and isn't keeping an eye on Undine, which is what Wick usually would do with a stranger in the mix.”
Hari bit her lip. “I feel foolish for not seeing it myself. I agree she is acting odd... but she's definitely not a doppelganger. Identify is really hard for them to spoof.”
He met her earnest concerned expression. “I didn't think she was a doppelganger.”
Hari thought about that, then narrowed her eyes and he felt her use [Investigate] on him, the same sort of feeling he had when he knew someone was watching him. She read something and Corvayne saw her shoulders sag a little as she relaxed.
“Good, I was worried for a moment because that's also what a doppelganger might say.”
The little stop to ford the stream made Corvayne want to get the trip over with, and he burned some of his stamina to point to an up stairway, then felt a tug leading him further up the dark hillside they had been climbing.
“Our path is up.” He called out, and took a spot near Nyx who started floating up the switchbacks, now with little tufts of black and gold grass along worn paths.
The group quieted as they paced up a hill that seemed like it just kept generating more rises. The stars rotated slowly in the sky and Corvayne could see what looked like asteroids and planetoids in the distance, but no signs of a moon or sun. A few times they'd attracted the undying monsters they had seen before. Hari would bind them to set Corvayne up to blast them either into the stream or just off the hillside, sending them tumbling down with a clatter of rocks.
Corvayne made them take a break when they reached the stairs to floor 2, walking back to the path they had taken to gust away any of the strange tatted cloth creatures. He didn't see a tail, but Undine approached him while he was glancing back to see Wick speaking with LBC.
“So far, not much to show eh warrior?” The older woman folded her arms, and Corvayne tried to figure out if it was bravado or small talk, deciding to error on the friendly side and go with the latter.
“I try to not show off unless it's needed. Wick and Hari would complain if I keep picking up girls.”
Undine chuckled, then looked serious. “If you plan to try to fight whatever destroyed the Pilgrims, I want you to leave Hari out of it.”
Corvayne paused. “The Magus? I'm not seeking him out by choice. Lady Blood Claw might, but my only goal is to be strong enough to marry Wick. We're here because the Pilgrimage might work against the curses I have.”
The old woman tilted her head. “Can't you just ask a priest to dispel them?”
“I'll try that when I get into town, but if Mosh and Mister can't fix them, and Hari can't find them... well, I can sometimes see what percentage of power the curses have, and I guess I'll try to get a different priest to remove them and see if it works or at least offers improvement.”
“Hmf. Well, you don't seem that cursed. But I suppose many a fool has said the same about swords that end up stuck in their hands. You think there's a solution in this vast mess?”
Corvayne just shrugged. “The Pilgrim who wrote all that went this way. We might not be able to follow them all the way, as the tower gets stronger... but there's also no urgency to agonize over the information we have. We don't know where any of those five colored points are, for example...”
Undine laughed. “Well, I could have told you where one is. The black ring is deep under the Imperial Palace.”
Corvayne looked between his group and Undine. “It might make sense then to turn back and-”
“Nonsense! This place has answers. I feel it in my boots. So pick your strawberry ass up and help me get them, and I'll help you figure out how to sneak into the most well protected place on this miserable disc.”
“You mean miserable globe?”
Undine snorted and stomped away muttering, “Of course, I end up in the party with a Round-Worlder.”