One Hour Earlier

Sophia let out a contented sigh, awash in bliss as she slid beneath the stress-obliterating water of the hot springs. She was naked for the first time in nearly two months, and far more importantly, she was clean.

She had spent the last twenty minutes scrubbing layers of muck and grime from her skin, hair, and clothing. Now she had nothing to do except sit back, relax, and enjoy the wonderous experience.

Some enterprising individuals had discovered a cluster of springs just a few minutes away from the main campgrounds. They had chased off the local predators, set up some simple privacy screens, and placed guards around the perimeter. In exchange for some empty glass bottles and a bit of dried meat, Sophia had purchased an hour to herself in a private pool. She paid the price gladly, eager to enjoy a bath for the first time in her new life, not counting her dunking in the river. She had wanted to come here yesterday, but the line was so long that she hadn’t been willing to wait.

She had plenty to worry about, both before and after her team entered the Tower of Rizzen. But not just yet. For now, for a few marvelous minutes, all that existed was the paradise of hot water and the joy of being clean. For the first time in memory, Sophia finally felt like her old self. Or a presentable version of her new self at any rate.

She leaned back, let her muscles relax, and closed her eyes, listening to the melody of the marshlands. She must have fallen asleep, because she came back to herself with a start when words from outside the privacy screen reached her ears. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to interrupt, but your time has run out. If you want to stay longer, I’ll have to charge you for another session.”

“No, it’s fine.” She stood up and began shaking the water off her skin. “Give me a second to dry off and get dressed, and I’ll be right out.” Her clothes were still damp, but her silk robes would dry quickly beneath the coppery light of Drezen’s sun, since she didn’t need to wash them to keep them clean.

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After pulling on her boots and gathering her gear, Sophia left the hot springs with a sigh of regret. She stopped to thank the young woman who was serving as an attendant, waved to the guards on duty, then went about her day.

She would meet up with Nick and the others in a few hours, then decide what to do about Jim and his crew. But before that, Sophia wanted to take a closer look at the tower. To get a sense of the structure and the doors ringing its base before proceeding any further down the path they had chosen.

With her thoughts on the future, she retrieved the shovel that she had borrowed from Nick earlier in the day, walked over to the base of the tower, and began contemplating the statues adorning its surface. Once she had a sense for the overall layout, she started following its perimeter counterclockwise, walking away from the main press of bodies and toward the boundary of the marsh.

Something about the number of doors and the number of parties didn’t sit right with her. If the entrances she had counted so far were representative of the tower’s arrangement as a whole, then there weren’t enough doors for everyone, no matter what Jim said. It seemed out of character for the System to offer a challenge that wasn’t at least theoretically possible to overcome.

It made her “there’s something more to this” sense tingle, and Sophia had learned to rely on her instincts since the System had arrived and upended her life. It was the only reason that she’d survived her tutorial and her early days on the bog.

She stopped to ponder the matter while staring up at the endless expanse of dark stone. Sophia was by no means an expert on the System, but this setup went against what she knew of its nature. If there aren’t enough easily accessible entrances, there must be some that are either hidden or in hard-to-reach places. Probably both. Sophia slowed her pace and began examining the stonework, looking for concealed doorways that were either disguised or placed out of sight from ground level.

Eventually, she spotted what appeared to be a narrow window about thirty feet up from the base of the tower. Her eyes traced the wall between the ground and that position, looking for a path that might let someone get up there. If people climb from statue to statue, they should be able to reach it. Especially if they have a grappling hook or another form of climbing gear.

To test her theory, Sophia grabbed ahold of the nearest statue, a rendition of a winged beast that was so realistic it looked like it might come to life at any moment. After waiting to make sure that it hadn’t responded to her touch, she picked out her next handhold and started climbing.