The talking and walking on floor two of the tower had carried the group across the bridge to another tall building jutting out of the blue bead ocean. A wide round plaza surrounded the spire, decorated with lines and thin triangular pools of beads pointing at the building. Corvayne suspected that the pattern was a bike wheel given the ring inside a ring shape and how thin blue tiles radiated from a central blue ring. Inside the raised pools were larger slimes, with larger stick legs letting them meander through the beads without too much drag.
Corvayne had guessed that despite the monster's size being scaled up about fifty percent, they were not going to be much tougher then their smaller cousins. The first one he got close to charged at the speed of someone walking briskly, leaving a wake of the oily beads as it scrambled at Corvayne. He jabbed it and barely felt his spear slow as it burst the monster.
The next monster wading through a pool to charge at them died to a single arrow.
Seru stepped up and punched the third big slime, taking care to step back as it spilled lime-smelling fluid all over.
Shaking one of her spiked knuckles off, she turned to the group. “Yeah, if I can kill them, they are sooooo weak.”
Corvayne nodded. “Good, it means we can go fast.”
Moving around the inner plaza, the tower at the center of the bridge intersection had both a stairway back down and one upwards. Corvayne lead the way upwards and stepped out to a twenty foot white ledge gleaming in sunlight, and he had to put a hand over his eyes to see.
Towers of white bone formed what reminded him of a desert canyon with banded towers of white and gray catching the sun. Bridges with ornate blue patterns plastered on the bottom shaded other bridges, some white arches connected pillars and walls of the canyon, others shimmering aquaducts filled with real water, and another set bright blue with orbs. There was a moment of sensory overload as he tried to parse out a criss-cross of towers, bridges, and blue and pink sky. He heard water splattering nearby, a small waterfall or fountain probably. He could see a water stream with a bridge, as well as stairs down to a stream of blue orbs. He had to be careful looking up, because this floor had a much more realistic sun that was blinding.
Wick stepped forward and started laughing. “Is this the vacation tower?”
Mister I shook his head. “Why would you want to go to a warm beach when you have sunny Cascadia just a few miles back the way we came?”
Lady Blood Claw just groaned. “We are on a time table here.”
Corvayne made a note that he wanted to get a swimsuit and go to a beach with everyone, after all he'd read that was a critical component of a vacation and it sounded fun. He shook his head and refocused. How should he move to get to a higher point where up stairs might be found?
It looked like some of the structures in this area were pools. Besides just waterfalls of both real liquid and the pods, some of the bead rivers were flowing up cliff faces. He scanned and tried to see if he could spot a tunnel into any of the pillars near him. There was a spire that caught his eye. It looked like it had a large tunnel bored into it. Also, there was a straightforward path to it. With of course, one catch to it.
“Do we want to see if those waterfalls are strong enough to push us up a cliff?”
Nyxion pointed at the stream. “Me, Corvayne, or Wick should try it first. Wick has the robe for falling slower. I can shield bounce if I make a mistake. Corvayne can survive a fall.”
The logic was sound, but Corvayne frowned. “I'd rather not break a bunch of bones. On the other hand... it does look fun.”
Nyxion put a hand to his chest and leaned back. “My word! First Lady Blood Claw is talkative, now Corvayne is ready to have fun. What wonders will we see next?”
Lady Blood Claw jerked a thumb backwards. “Icariii setting up a salad bar.”
Seru laughed hard enough she felt she had to hold her sides. Corvayne didn't bother correcting Nyx on the fun comment, instead stepping into the beads and settling into the oily squishy flow. The 'river' was about waist deep and pushed him along. The same citrus smell that the rest of the dungeon had was much stronger as the beads carried him away from the platform and into the tangle of bridges. The aquaduct he was riding had low walls, so he could look down to a shadowy beaded sea below. Glancing back, he saw Wick wading chest-deep through the beads to catch up to him.
“Hey jerkoff! You are supposed to wait for me!”
Corvayne laughed. “I'm supposed to step in front of you and make sure it's safe.”
She tossed a bead at him, which was soft enough that it just bounced off his shoulder. He lobbed one back aiming over her head, which she caught then tossed back at him. He let it hit him because he was nearing the bead-fall. Would it be a bead-up? The reverse waterfall, with beads, seemed to pull a vertical river out of a pool of beads. It didn't look like they were flung by air or a mechanical device, as the top layer in a line just sort of floated out of the pool and started flowing upwards.
The beads deepened as he reached the pool and he found he was able to swim through them sort of like a ball pit. When he got to the updraft he felt his whole body lighten and in moments he was shooting upwards, the layered tower ahead flying by as he flew up with a stream of blue orbs. Corvayne couldn't help but laugh when he heard Wick screaming behind him. Getting higher past the bridges, he saw more and more gleaming white and blue surfaces catching the sun as well as how they connected to each other with bridges. He crested with the stream as it rose above what he saw as an even plateau with white bone-like rock marked with giant blue geometric murals.
He had time to look down as he dropped with the stream and start to half laugh and half yell before he plummeted into a pool of beads, sinking about fifteen feet down before touching the bottom. He could breath but the smell of lime-oil was strong enough that he only took one gasp before kicking off and something like swimming and pushing his way back up to the surface of bead-pool. He turned around then and reached into the pool and pulled Wick out.
“Thanks Corvayne.” She wiped oil off her face.
“No problem Wick. You think they'll try it?”
He looked up as he spoke then pulled Wick out of the way as Seru landed in the pool and swam to the top as if it was water. It dawned on him that there was some sort of power at play, one that wasn't quite like raw strength. Might as well ask.
“How are you doing that?” He asked Seru as she swam up next to him.
“Doing what?” She tilted her head and blinked. Was she just acting?
“Swimming like a fish.”
“Might be the thing on my character sheet that says [Impactus].” Seru shrugged, then pulled herself out of the beads, oil just dropping off her like water. “Says something about improving 'Physical Outcomes'.”
Wick was watching her, frowning. “That's how you threw me thirty feet...”
Corvayne sighed. “If it's good, I'd like that more then shadow hands.” He felt a pair of cold fingers yank his cheek a little. “Okay okay. You guys know you always have a place uh, inside me.”
A black limb floated in front of his face and gave a quick thumbs up before it vanished. Corvayne pulled himself out of the pit as Mister I cannon-balled into the pool. He walked out of the pool as Nyxion used his shield to slow his fall and land on the surface of the pool. He dispelled it only when it became obvious that trying to walk on the beads just spun the shield in place. Lady Blood Claw took a full minute to arrive after that, and it was clear she was not happy about the ride. She had a shade of deep green covering her that turned to lime green as she pulled herself out and stumbled a few feet onto the broad top of the pillar.
Wick clapped. “Nice alien colors!”
Lady Blood Claw started throwing up off to the side of the bead river. Corvanye looked away while making a note to himself. Lime green was nauseated or sick.
Mister I stepped up to her and offered her a pill, which she took from him with a shaky green hand. “There. That will help you calm your stomach and prevent dizziness!”
Lady Blood Claw took it and swallowed a swig of water. Her skin turned teal and she looked shocked. “That worked. What was that?”
“Oh, just a little medicine I made to cure hangovers. Works very well on nausea, vertigo, and blocked sinuses, as well as buildup of humors.”
Lady Blood claw pulled out a small cloth from her pack and wiped her mouth and blew her nose, then tossed it on the ground. “I rarely found anything that worked that fast. What was in it?”
Mister I thought about it. “Horse bladder powder, a pinch of real yeti fur, lizard tail, honey, distilled water.”
Her face turned lime green again.
Corvayne made a note to ask the same question about ingredients before taking any medicine Mister I offered. He did a quick check of the surroundings. No obvious threats from above, no monsters. Sadly, the pillar he saw didn't have a huge cave, but rather was a little cove with a pool and waterfall. Probably somewhere he'd camp if this was a vacation trip. Moving his eyes past it, he did spot a raised stone with a small dot that was probably an up stairway. So he started walking, everyone else falling in behind him. With the heat and the sun, it felt a little like being on patrol in the desert, but with people he liked who liked him back.
As if picking up on his mood, he saw something kick up a bit of dust as it turned and started moving towards them. They looked like white and blue geckos. They reminded him of baby ripplers.
Mister I spotted them and cried in joy. “Monsters to eat!”
They were not very large, perhaps four feet long. He saw three trails of grit, and took his spear out. Mister I took out the insect bow and in a smooth motion fired an arrow. Corvayne heard a buzzing noise and the arrow slammed into one of the lizards then exploded in a cloud of bugs for a moment, darkening the area. When the cloud vanished, only one dust trail was headed for them. Corvayne slashed with his spear activating [Cross Skill: Whirling Axe] and sending a greenish copy of his weapon flying into the front of the cloud, blasting the monster off it's feet where it landed on it's back up, twitching once before flopping over.
Wick put her hand down, looking at Mister I then right at Corvayne. “This tower is too easy.”
Nyxion nodded as he stepped up next to her. “Yes, unless you're afraid of heights.”
Corvayne shrugged and let Mister I go ahead to see if there was meat on the monsters. He seemed a little sad that they were super skinny, but didn't hesitated to carve himself a few cuts of meat.
It took a lot of walking to get to the distant rock with a hole in it. As it turned out, the rock and opening were larger and further away then it had looked at first glance, even prompting them to stop for a few minutes to drink and let Seru catch her breath. Corvayne was more then happy to lead the way up the fourth floor stairs as it took him into cool shade.
He stepped out of the stairs into even more chaos. Once more the exit lead him to a bone platform in the middle a ravine, this time all distances blurring into a bright white fog. At his level, above him, and below him massive blue metal bike chains formed conveyer belts moving along and sometimes through tunnels in the ravine, making him feel like he was in a vast machine, complete with distant hums and clacks and some of the low noises that made him think of trains running over the warehouse. It was also clear that there were no bridges off the platform. If they wanted to progress, hopping onto a chain was the only way. The chain near the first ledge was about fifteen feet wide and had flat tops, like if a bike chain was running sideways threaded through gaps in rocks. There was a slight lip over where the chain ran, probably a foot above the surface. The chain took up half the space in the ravine, with another chain running diagonally upwards next to it about three hundred or four hundred feet down the line.
Mister I was shaking his head. “This is probably more dangerous then the waterfall.”
Corvayne felt that was a pretty large understatement. Getting caught between chain segments when it hit a turn, or getting between the chain and the wall would almost certainly cost a limb.
Wick nodded. “If one of these chains runs into a bunch of grinders or something, we'd have to dive off them.”
Corvayne tapped his boots, then walked over and looked at the chain rolling by. “I'll scout, then run back once I find our ledge.”
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He pulled his cloak tight and hopped onto the chain facing backwards, then tried running. He stopped after he was sure he could outpace the chain, then turned around and walked forward as the chain shot past the starting platform, past a T-shaped gap in the rock, and right by the chain going up. He timed his jump to try to hit the middle of a chain segment so he didn't get pinched if it shifted. The surface at least gave him good traction and he landed and leaned into the slope to keep himself steady as the chain pulled him upwards.
The chain going up passed by another chain going back the direction they came with a platform near it, so Corvayne turned and started running down the chain. With the boots it was just a minute or so of leg work before he was back to the group.
“Okay. We can jump on that one going up, then on another going back this way. Get off on the first platform, then I think we follow the upper chain around and look for an exit or a segment we can walk around on.”
Wick sighed. “Fine. I hate this action crap though.”
Nyxion nodded. “It's been very easy so far, but places like this worry me.”
Lady Blood Claw was staring at the chain, then back at Corvayne with a look that suggested she didn't like it, either. Corvayne looked at everyone.
“Nobody thinks this is fun?”
Seru raised her hand, then jogged and jumped onto the chain. “Lets Go!”
Corvayne followed, and he turned to make sure nobody tripped. Wick went after him, then Mister I and Nyxion. Lady Blood Claw looked between him and the chain, and started taking deep breaths and clapping. He had confidence she'd step on, eventually. He turned back to people climbing the chains.
Seru lead by hopping onto the second chain, some how landing perfectly. She did stop and put her hands on her knees huffing for a moment after.
Corvanye leapt next and turned to make sure Wick made it. “We jump the chain going the other way when it comes up.” He called out.
Wick lept and landed on a joint which made her fall to her butt but not roll, her gloves gripping to the metal with a wet slap. Corvayne helped her out of the way as Mister I jumped next, then Nyxion who landed in a crouch, and finally Lady right after him who was once again light green. Ahead, the second jump backwards on the chain was coming up.
Seru started shouting. “Corvayne are you crazy? It's going backwards too fast!”
“If you don't jump, we don't know where the chain goes! Go!” Corvayne pointed. Seru lept and the chain going backwards knocked her feet out from under her, rolling her for a few lengths. Corvayne jumped and ran with the chain then slowed to keep his balance. Wick made the jump also with a stumble, but Seru was going to miss the first platform as she was still standing up.
“Seru! Second platform!” He called behind him, running forward as Mister I had turned and ran backwards suprisingly fast for his age, then lept and landed on all fours.
Wick flew by him. “Bad idea!”
Nyxion was next and he took a nasty spill like Seru did, rolling and forcing Corvayne, who was trying to run in place to watch everyone, to leap over him. Lady Blood Claw was further behind him, and she lept a little too early, skin changing from light green to dark green as she lept.
Corvayne saw her hit the chain with her shin and trip spinning, then start to roll sideways off the chain. He ran and crouched, grabbing her arms as she started to slip and throwing himself on his belly. His hands flared with pain as he grabbed a bone spur, ripping his palm open, but he clamped down through the pain and now blood to catch her wrist with a hand, using his other to grab her free arm.
He felt himself shift forward a little when he tried to lift her. She weighed more then he did!
His shadow hands sprang out from his sides and started clawing him backwards, slowing Lady Blood Claw dragging him down, but he was looking at her eyes, wide with terror as she struggled, trying to get her feet onto the side of the chain.
He heard a clicking noise growing louder and turned to see that the chain was going to go around a bend, and what looked like a set of gears. He had to get her up or drop her before that, otherwise she was going to end up as paste.
“Calm down!” He shouted, trying to get more traction with his legs to move his elbow. He felt something pressing down on his whole body, like he had clamped onto the metal. With the strange new leverage he could bring his legs in to pull Lady's arms up and she caught the bottom of the chain then used her feet to help him pull her onto the chain. Nyxion had lept back onto the chain and helped him pull her up. The cruised around the curve, and Corvayne turned to check for a trap or anything.
Instead it continued into the mist. He helped Lady Blood Claw stand, and she grabbed him and Nyxion into a hug which he felt was odd but patted her back. Her could feel her shivering, and he saw her skin fluctuated between deep blue and a teal color. He glanced across her back to Nyxion, who was giving him a look. He saw a platform coming up.
Corvayne looked between them. “Let's jump off, we can regather here.”
He felt Lady Blood Claw clamp onto his arm. Her grip was strong enough it hurt.
“I'll jump with you. Okay? We're going to get off the chain and won't do any more riding. In ten. Nine...”
They formed a line and leapt together, landing on the ground. She pulled her hand away and walked to a corner of white rock and sat down, burying her face in her knees. Nyxion walked over and sat next to her.
“Corvayne, my thanks. I didn't expect her to have any problems with this. Can you go grab the others? I got this.”
He flexed his hands to make sure he hadn't broken anything, wincing as the wound he got from catching Lady Blood Claw stung. He glanced around the platform and saw it had a path leading into another rift that the platform bridged. That was good, there were probably exits in those cliffs. At least they'd be off the chains. He stepped back onto the chain in the direction it was going, then once he had his footing turned and ran backwards, boots of running letting him fly down the chain. He slowed near the turn, as he didn't want to hit anyone who might have jumped after them. A good decision, as he had to stop as Wick came around the corner.
“Easy dungeon my ass!” She called out. Corvayne pointed to the platform and then stepped off as the chain arrived. Seru and Mister I followed a little after that.
Corvayne had to agree with Wick. They might have made things harder for themselves. “Okay, no more mid chain direction swaps.”
Mister I laughed. “A rare miss from Corvayne!”
He felt his cheeks heat up. “I make mistakes all the time.” After saying that, he couldn't help but look at Seru. She caught his eye, looked angry for a little bit, then smiled made a kissy face at him. Wick, meanwhile, was frowning at him. Great.
Still, with everyone on firmer ground, he lead the way into the canyon path. Once more the bone colored stones were layered in spiny shapes where it hadn't been weathered down to smooth curves. The sound of the gear clicking on the chain faded. The canyon had running water about forty feet under where the stone ledge hugged the side. Blue trees with white leaves grew from the walls.
Wick actually stopped them and pointed at the tree. “What's the point of a white leaves on a tree? It reflects all light that makes no...” She looked at everyone else. “Nevermind.”
A path started on the other side of the ravine from what looked like a downward stairway. A few large slimes with legs stood in their way but didn't so much as scratch the group, spear and arrow and Wick's spells popping them and sending limbs clattering off the edge. Corvanye heard roaring water as the canyon came to an eight way intersection with a large stone bridge shaped like a ring granting access to each of the gaps. In the center of the ring was a while plume of falling water. Corvayne lead them through the cool mist spraying off the falls and around to the opposite crevice. It wasn't too long a walk before he saw another cave with stairs up.
The final floor looked more like the sort of landscape he had come to expect from the previous tower, with flat white capped floating islands linked by giant white and blue wheels. The sky was a deep blue with lighter spots suggesting features floating far away. Light blue chains, the same size as the ones they had rode on the previous floor, spun the titanic wheels at a very slow pace. The size of the wheels meant that Corvayne could see they had little parks growing on them, in blue and white trees. From islands higher then the one they were on, he could see there were trails that wound under the islands as well.
Seru whistled and took out her phone. “It's a shame I can't just Insta-Snap all these places. The view is fantastic.”
Corvayne thought about. “Maybe if we do a massive info dump.”
Nyxion laughed. “Until you do, people will just think it's a weird CGI mashup of a salt flat and your bike.”
Wick was thinking. “If we can deal with the monk... we should buy this house. It's not as populated as the one back in the park, but having our own Tower? That's how the big noble houses keep each other in check.”
Lady Blood Claw wasn't joining in, instead following the paths across the blue horizon that would take them to other islands. Her skin had been charcoal for a moment, but turned light green as she frowned. “We... we have to get on those wheels, don't we?”
Corvayne sighed. “Yeah, I mean, we could try to look under the island, but I think at best we'll find a chest if we spot a path to the underside. Still Miss Blood Claw, would you rather take your chances with the bottom of the island we are on, or riding one of the two wheels we are connected with?”
“Don't patronize me!” She snapped, then softened her face, her skin turning emerald green with wavy blue a moment. “Sorry Corvayne.”
“It's okay. That back there was my fault. We'll go slow. If we need to get onto the wheel, I'll give you the do-over scroll that supposedly pulls people back up. Deal?”
They walked across a half mile of flat stone, with only a pack of 8 regular slimes as resistance. Given how easily the little stick-legged monsters died, they didn't slow down to fight them, just kicked the monsters out of the way as they passed.
Wick scooped the last slime up, this time with a towel to hold it in place. “I wonder if this tower is designed so that a child could complete it or something? Is it new, or just that easy?”
Lady Blood Claw growled a little and Wick added quickly. “I mean we did the chains wrong, don't get angry about that! Aside from one slip up, it's night and day. A pack of goblins could fight just about any number of these slimes.”
Seru pointed at the wheels. “Oh yeah, it's all easy until you fall off that... The other tower was much safer!”
Mister I poked her side. “Perhaps your memory suffered... if not for me having both magic and non magic ways to fix you, you'd be dead on floor seven of the other tower.”
Seru gestured. “Yet a few days later I'm back to perfectly healthy. If one of us gets flung off the wheel, they dead. No, double dead.”
Lady Blood Claw put a hand on Seru's shoulder, nodding. “Someone else gets it.”
Corvayne chose then to switch his focus to watching the edges of the platform, eventually spotting a ramp about four feet wide that dipped along the underside of the island. Spoke-like white rocks fastened the path they were following to the side of the island, but it was still a jarring view to see nearly endless blue with only a sunlit white island below them breaking up the blue.
Corvayne reached a fork, where the path split between going forward and spiraling further down. There was also an entrance into the interior of the island, which he took. The rough path quickly went downwards into a chamber where a massive slime covered in white and gray stone spikes was inching it's way around the floor. Not even counting the spines layered around the huge blue blob, it's body was as tall as Corvayne was. Corvayne took a step back around the corner, pointed at Nyxion, and motioned for him to come forward.
Nyxion saw the threat, drew his mace, and Corvayne walked behind him, ready for the monster to make it's move. The giant slime quivered then compressed itself, turning into an orb of spikes and rolling at Nyxion. His shield stopped the boney construct in it's tracks. He swung his mace and took a spike out, but with his shield and reach he couldn't get at the monster itself, which was rolling backwards off the shield.
Corvayne stepped to Nyxion's side and shuffled his two handed sword into his hands. He spun and activated [Sundering Blade], his sword shearing off more then a few of the hardened spikes on the slime's side. He pivoted into the space he had opened by shearing off the spikes on the side and brought his blade upwards using [Sundering Blade] again, slicing off almost ten of the creatures spikes. He stepped back as the monster tried to spin again, and got stuck on it's now mostly flat surface. He could see oozy psudopods trying to push it back to upright. Nyxion scored the next hit, bringing his mace down through a spine and shattering the armored plate the slime had retreated into. That first wound started the monster gushing goop, and a few more bashes with a poke or two from Corvayne's blade and the thing stopped entirely. The scent of limes became overpowering as blue fluid spread across the floor.
Ignoring the bubbling mess they had made, Corvayne walked to the back of the cavern to a path that lead down to an opening out the bottom of the island. Right before it was a treasure chest. Figures. He covered himself in his cloak and used his shadow hands to open the chest. No trap this time, thankfully.
Inside were five scrolls, a small blue metal rod, and four wood carvings. He picked up the first figurine, an elf woman with a staff playing a harp. It matched the features of the only elf he knew, though she was far too serene looking to really be Hari. He couldn't help but smile looking at it anyway. Another was a goblin, holding wrenches in each hand in a sort of combat pose, grinning. That felt like Mosh, but his buddy wasn't a fighter like the statue was. The next was odd. It was a stocky figure sitting on a pile of defeated foes, but looking over his back. It looked like grunt, but again the attitude felt wrong. It looked... regretful? The final was carved in darker wood and bulkier. A woman with a spear, laying on the floor of a cage, eyes closed, hands clasped together.
Looking at the scrolls, he saw that was 'uncurse item', three labled 'identify' and one 'slowfall'.
Nyxion had followed him in. “What did we find?”
Corvayne put the scrolls away and showed Nyx the figures. “I think the tower left these for me.”
“They look like your allies and... a girl with a spear. It looks like your indestructible one. Can I see that?”
Corvayne handed the spearwoman over, and oddly enough Nyxion treated it very gingerly, in a way that he did not seem to care to do for most things.
“Do you think it's the same girl you fought? The water one?” Nyxion held the statue up.
Corvayne caught something odd in Nyxion's voice. He rubbed the bandage over his eye. “Maybe. I don't know if the boss monsters are real. It felt like was her, that it knew me, though.”
“What was her name?”
“Spears-Like-Water. Her friends called her Spears. She got pissed when I did. It's odd she's in this collection, as she didn't like me at all.” Corvayne frowned. She had been acting weird after he won. Was it just a figment of the dungeon, trying to act out some secret hope?
“Hmm. Well, if this is correct, perhaps she is in trouble? She seemed like a strong fighter, close to your own level. She might be very useful.” Nyxion's voice wavered a little.
Corvayne shook his head. “I don't know where she is. She did ask for help... but we have to help ourselves first.”
Lady Blood Claw fell in with him as he retreated out of the slime chamber. They had to step around the remains of the slime as well as Mister I, who was jarring the slime.
The alien woman spoke gruffly, in a low voice. Her eyes moved to Wick even as she spoke to Corvayne. “If we reach the inn, you can buy information there. Including about the spear-girl you fought. It's going to be expensive, especially if you're just dealing in money.”
“I got things I can barter with, I found a bunch of little gems from killing ghosts, Hari and Mosh mentioned they would fetch a good price. Thanks for the heads up.”
He stepped away but she reached out and touched his arm, stopping him. He looked over at Lady Blood Claw, who was a dark blue once more. “Thank you... for helping me.”
She looked embarassed. Corvayne smiled at her, partially because he was pretty sure he figured out another one of her moods. “It's no problem. We're friends, right?”
Her skin flipped to pink for a moment then light purple as she nodded. “Of course. I still appreciate it.”
Corvayne moved past a now smirking Wick to see if he could get lower on the island. As he suspected, the lowest point spiraled into a cave with a stairway down.
There was a small platform where he could address the others following him. “We can try going down then finding another two stairs up, or just suffer the wheels.”
Nyxion gestured forward, and Corvayne shrugged and walked down a flight of stairs that should have taken him out the back of the rock and off into space, but instead wound into a dark space. Corvayne slowed as he saw something bright orange ahead, then stopped when he had a view of a room carved out of the staircase before the actual door back to the fourth floor.
Wick poked his back. “What's ahead? Why did you stop?”
Corvayne took another step forward then stepped to the side to let her see into the blue stone lobby. Before the archway leading to a brown-looking tower floor was a glowing orange exclamation point floating in the air. Under it was an animated image of a line of skulls, and a stick figure running away. The figure stopped running, and the skulls caught up and the little figure fell over, and became a skeleton.
“The tower is warning us. If we make a mistake on the next floor, we will die.”