Fritz strode up the red sands, upwards into a tunnel lit at the end by the bright light of a cloudless day. Something he had too soon forgotten in the murk of Rain City's overcast sky. The coarse grains beneath his feet crunched despite his attempt to stay stealthy while he quickly ascended out and into the open air above.
Now that he stood in the thick of the gelatinous breeze he felt his nose heat and itch from the pervasive scent. It was like burning wood, salt and squid ink. Still, it wasn't too terrible and it was somewhat of a reprieve from the rot and mould of the districts.
As he had felt in his impressions, a great, emerald-green sea lay to his left, its waves wobbling oddly rather than crashing violently. To his right, a hundred feet away, was the jungle with grey-barked trees and lush blue leaves, bushes and ferns that waved gently in the ponderous wind.
The rest of his team appeared in rapid succession. The leveless immediately began coughing, spluttering and holding their noses while looking around wildly for any lurking dangers.
"Worry not!" Fritz proclaimed. "This beach is safe for now. Take your time to get used to the air then we'll start the introductions."
As we probably should have done before entering, Fritz added to himself. Next time we'll do it right, he promised silently.
The leveless heeded his command, taking a minute or three to acclimate. Once everyone had become accustomed to the new, pungent breeze and had stopped sneezing and choking, they stared around in wonder at the lack of rain and the shining purple sky and strange red-ringed sun.
"It's so dry," Carter observed. "And it's outside."
"Very astute," Fritz said.
"Are we still in the Spire?" Rosie asked.
"Yes, and no," Fritz said. "There are many theories as to what the floors are but we can't go into them, and they're wrong."
"One of them might be right," The nameless woman hedged.
"Unlikely," Fritz said with such an air of certainty that she frowned but didn't argue.
"It's so strange but wonderful," Carter said in muted awe. "If only I were a painter and could capture this sea and sky."
Fritz couldn't help but agree, being a poet himself, but they also had to get moving, they couldn't stand around seeing the sights for too long, the sea was slowly crawling closer. The tide was coming, and they couldn't stop it. Though Fritz judged that it would take hours if not days for the water to reach them so they could take some minutes getting acquainted without risking the Climb.
"Welcome to your first floor, I'm Fritz and I'm a Scout, This is Bert my right-hand man, and he's something of a Defender," He told them.
"I do Striker things too," Bert argued.
"Yes, we're both somewhat hybridised, as I have some Controller Abilities as well," Fritz agreed.
"Now the rest of you are leveless so your names will suffice for now," He continued.
They stood around in awkward silence for some moments before Fritz turned to Carter.
"Introduce yourself," He demanded.
Carter looked nervous but the curly-haired, slouching young man said, "I'm Callum, but most people call me Carter now, so I guess I answer to that too."
Fritz nodded at the man's resignation, it was good that he could accept his newly given name. It showed real character.
"I'm Rosie, Carter's sister," Rosie provided, with a smile that showed off too many uneven teeth.
Next was the man clad in iron half-plate, his visor now up so they could see his clean-shaven face, tan skin and yellow eyes.
"I'm George, I'm an armour smith's apprentice," He said with some pride.
Last was the runaway clerk.
"I'm Lauren," She eventually said, brushing a stray strand of brown hair from her face and blandly returning any stares.
"Are you a whore?" Rosie blurted out, her eyes wide with apparent interest.
Lauren gazed at her coldly, like a displeased cat.
"No, are you?" She asked disdainfully.
"No, they wouldn't let me," Rosie admitted, lowering her gaze and staring at the sand pitiably. "Shame. I bet you'd make a lot of triads. Silver ones too, seeings you're so pretty."
Lauren's brow furrowed with irritation, then confusion at the strange compliment. She seemed unsure if Rosie was being serious and not knowing how to respond she retreated into politeness.
"Thank you?" She replied, but it sounded more like a question.
Fritz stifled a chuckle.
"You're welcome. Anyways, we're gonna be Climbers now, so what we did before ain't much to do with anything," Rosie said with a determined nod.
Fritz blinked at the oddly poignant statement and was unsure how to proceed, but carrying on with his usual bravado he said, "Now, my loyal leveless, you should ponder on what Role you'd like to fill in this Team."
"What are the roles again?" Carter asked.
"Defender, Striker, Controller, Enhancer, Scout, Healer," George listed off eagerly. "I want to be a Striker."
"I figured as much considering that you have a sword and no shield," Fritz observed with a small smirk.
George looked a little abashed at the comment but argued, "Well I didn't want to get put in the role of Defender just because I'm a smith."
"Is that common?" Carter asked.
"Too common," George groused.
"How about you? Striker or Controller?" Fritz asked Lauren.
"Striker," Lauren said simply, motioning to her carved bone rod. "Spell caster if I can manage it."
Fritz nodded, his suspicions that the rod was a Treasure confirmed.
"Should be easy enough to wrangle up a monster from under the sand. Then Bert can keep whatever it is busy while you blast them. Same thing with your sword, George, but it'll be a little more dangerous."
They both nodded, then noticed what he said about a monster under the sand and gripped at their weapons tightly while staring around at the red beach as if a beast would burst out of the ground at any moment.
"Calm down," Fritz placated. "I can't see or hear any monsters coming."
"You should trust the Scout. Even if it's Fritz," Bert added unhelpfully.
Fritz scowled, then quickly covered it up with a genial smile and asked, "Carter, what do you want to be?"
"I don't know, something out of the way, in the back maybe? Something that can make a lot of gold?" Carter said with a weak smile.
"Sure," Fritz said.
"I want to keep my brother safe!" Rosie said loudly and without prompting.
"You can be on grease and guard duty then," Fritz offered.
"What's that?" Rosie asked scratching at her scalp and scattering her seaweed-like hair.
"Just protect the back line and put some of this healing grease on their wounds," Fritz said throwing three tins of the putrid grease to her one by one. He then threw one of the tins to each member of the team.
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"This stuff numbs the pain and should keep a wound from going sour. It's not a potion. So it won't cure a mortal wound, but it should get you to the Well should you be injured," He added.
"Anything else before we set off?" He asked the expectant team.
There was a chorus of noes and a cavalcade of shrugs.
"Well, let's get moving then," Fritz said. "Follow me! My valiant team, for glory and gold!"
He began to stride forward, down the beach and toward the vague feeling of the Stairway up.
Bert quickly caught up, striding beside him.
"Are your Treasures all at full capacity?" Fritz asked.
Bert nodded, "I always keep 'em filled," He said. Then with a wink added, "And I'm not just talkin' 'bout Treasures."
Fritz scoffed at his friend's vulgarity; he barely laughed at all.
"Want to show off a little?" Fritz whispered as he saw the subtle shifting of crimson sand in front of them.
"Do you even have to ask?" Bert replied with a grin as he unwrapped the cloth from his bracers and let the moonsilver gleam bloodily under the strange sun.
"No, but it's still polite to do so," Fritz said affably. "Monster. Dead ahead. It will burst out of the ground. I'll bait it you punch it," He added softly as they got closer and closer to where it lay.
"Just as it should be," Bert said, his excitement building and his grin stretching wider. "The Fritz and Blitz."
---
Lauren followed the two strange but confident Climbers along with the four others of this 'team'. She stood apart from them though as they trudged over the curious crimson sand.
Watching the backs of Fritz and Bert she couldn't help but suspect she had made a mistake in leaving her comfortable, if dreadfully dull and dreary, home behind. She wondered what fae mood had gripped her so. That she chose to throw her mother's orders and plans for her 'future' to the side. Completely disregarding what was 'best for her'.
Her mother had warned her about mysterious men, but had she listened? No, she had followed one straight into a Spire.
And all he had to do was ask, Lauren nearly groaned in self-admonishment. No, that wont do, you're here now, Climbing, so act like it!
Stiffening her shoulders, she adjusted her robes and kept moving forward, resolute that she would see the first floor through. She could hardly go back home empty-handed to become an object of ridicule for her mother and her 'good and proper' sister. Who had 'found a good match, a nobleman,' and didn't 'spend all her time with her nose in books'.
No, she didn't want to bear their scorn. Their...disappointment, anymore.
Lauren gripped her Treasure tightly and some guilt pulled in her chest as she held the rune-carved bone. She ignored the feeling and thought about something else instead of dwelling on the world outside.
She almost couldn't believe she was here in a Spire. It felt surreal that she had run and joined this Climbing team that she hadn't met and more than half of whom were leveless like herself. Two of them, the sibling pair, even seemed to be from the desperate district while the smith wasn't much better, likely being from the steam district. She felt out of place with them, but that also was true most of the time, even with those of her her same station.
She on the first floor now, and it was thrilling, though there was also a sense of dread and a worry that the Climb wouldn't live up to her hopes and fancies.
"Bert right ahead!" Fritz called out suddenly. "It's coming right for me."
Snapped out of her introspection, Lauren searched the sands for the monsters Fritz had warned them about but had, so far, remained unseen.
A true test then. Was this 'Fritz' all talk or was there something behind that mystery?
Staring and not wanting to miss a thing she watched him as he stood there, still as a stone. He hadn't even drawn his rapier and seemed so unprepared but somehow also completely ready.
The ground rippled in front of Fritz and with a sudden spray of red sand a creature the size of a man burst out. It was grey and glossy, and most resembled a lobster with two serrated claws on either side of its shelled body. Oversized mandibles jutted from its bug-like head that had big pale blue orbs for eyes with long barbed stalks protruding from just behind them. It's backside ended in a fanned tail, the edges of which looked almost as sharp as it's spindly thorned legs.
It was fast like it had a running start to its leap and it sped towards Fritz like a runaway carriage.
He, however, just stepped to the side and let it fly past him. His step had been small, almost like a shrug, but it was too precise and far too smooth to be natural. Fritz's eyes trained on the lobster unerringly and he smirked as it thudded onto the ground a few feet away with a splash of sand.
Bert was on it in a moment, his fist rippled with clear waves and broke the creature's shell with one strike, sending small shards of grey flying. The lobster shrieked like a kettle's whistle and tried to dig back below the beach with its claws. He didn't let it, his mighty kick swept it off the ground and he laughed as it soared a full nine feet into the air.
The monster fell full on its shelled back, flailing its nine thin, barbed legs as it struggled to right itself.
Unfortunately, it had landed only a few feet from Fritz who just shook his head and pulled free a long curved dagger made of too-white bone from his belt's holster. A claw swiped at him as he stepped towards the scrambling monster. He dodged it and its raking legs effortlessly, then plunged the blade deep into a crevice in the creature's softer, segmented underbelly.
The terrible shriek stopped suddenly and the legs slowed, twitched then eventually stilled. The charming smile Lauren had come to expect from Fritz didn't come, rather his brow creased and he glanced intensely around at the sands. His hand went to the elegant silver hilt at his hip and he finally drew his rapier. She saw the blade wasn't quite right or what she had envisioned. Its length was slightly jagged, black as tar and had a line of opalescent silver running down its centre.
"More of them! Form up!" Fritz ordered, and they did so, Lauren standing behind the armoured oaf and the two district dredges with their shields. She hoped they knew how to use the shields. If not, well... better them than her.
"Bert three to the left! I've got the three on the right! Leveless shields up, hold the line!" Came Fritz's next order which was just as easily followed. She noticed there was some shuffling and eyes wide in fear, but she couldn't blame them. Her own heart was pounding and she felt the impulse to run. Not to flee in terror but just to move.
What happened next was something of a blur, more of the lobsters leapt out from the trembling sands only to be met with Fritz's strange black sword and Bert's rippling punches and kicks.
Bert was a bull, he charged right into the foul beasts knocking them away with kicks and shattering their shells and claws with quick compact blows that often rippled with force. He laughed the whole while, even when a lucky leap from a lobster caught him from behind, cutting a terrible gash down the back of his left arm. It was unnerving, the wound only seemed to push him to smash them further and punch them harder.
"More!" Fritz called out and she turned to see how he was fairing.
Lauren tried to follow Fritz's strikes but couldn't. It was like her eyes just slid away from the sword and it was like his whole arm became a dark blur to her senses. He slipped around tearing claws, spinning and stepping in such a way that kept the lobsters swinging wildly. Clawing at and catching only air. Then his blade would darken, disappearing again only for the monsters to slump as thin black blood poured from the seams in their carapaces or shriek and retreat as their eyes and stalks were sliced clean off.
Soon Fritz was standing still and searching the sands. He pointed to a space just in front of their scared group.
"One coming up, be ready!" He said as if he expected them to deal with it.
But they were leveless, how could they fight such a thing?
She didn't have time to think as the monster burst from the sand and dove towards Carter.
His shield was up and his spear's tip clattered harmlessly against its shell, sliding until it stuck in a crack. The claw came down on his shield and bit into the wood. There was the sound of snapping twigs and the iron rim bent, but it still held fast. The lobster's bulk hit Carter and sent him sprawling to the ground with its weight pressing down atop him. He struggled to get free but he was trapped between its shell and the sand.
He yelled and fought with all he had, nearly lifting the beast off himself before it came right back down. If he had been muscled like Bert maybe he could have thrown it off, but those district kids had lacked the will and work ethic to train their bodies. Now he suffered for it.
Rosie acted, she levered her spear into a crack in the tough shell and pushed, causing the creature to scuttle around, turning its claws towards her. George stepped in and his sword came down towards the lobster's head but caught upon its carapace dampening the cut's force, rending a deep furrow where the blade had struck and hacking off one of its its strange stalks.
Claws tore through the air, George screamed and swung his sword wildly as his iron-clad arm was seized with brutal, crushing strength. Rosie put all her weight into her spear but lost her footing and fell when the monster turned again. Furiously she scrabbled to her feet and took up her hatchet, swinging it erratically. The undisciplined strikes skittered off the creatures hard body, leaving only rough lines on its shell.
"Get out of the way!" Lauren heard herself yell as she levelled her Treasure on the lobster.
She Activated the bone rod and the strange runes burned bright like hot coals. Roaring fire geysered forth from the rod's tip and with it a burning tar that stuck to the monster's carapace and kept the flame blazing. The heat was intense, and she could feel her own skin begin to tingle just by being near the searing gout.
The creature screeched as it was being cooked alive within its own shell. In its agony, it let go of its prey and began to wail. George and Rosie grabbed Carter by the shoulders and heaved him away from the staggering inferno that was the lobster.
They all stepped back, scrambled back in Carter's case, and watched as the thing burned, bumbled around, then fell still. Crackling merrily like a fireplace and stinking like a coal-baked squid.
Lauren was as stiff as a board. As were the rest, all wrestling with their own thoughts, fears and regrets, much like she was, she supposed.
The quiet didn't last long.
"Too easy," Bert groused, with at least six of the creatures scattered around him in crumpled, shattered heaps that leaked thin, black blood.
"Regretfully, I have to agree," Fritz intoned solemnly, standing in a field of five dead foes. Though those ones all seemed to have died from precise strikes rather than crushing blows.
"Everyone fine?" He called out.
Lauren noticed she was trembling, that she had a death grip on her searing hot Treasure. She dropped it quickly, looked at her hand and the angry red line down her palm. She knew she'd be getting blisters for sure, but she nodded her head anyway and joined the others proclaiming their safety.
"I'm fine," Lauren had said. But was she?
She'd now seen her first monster, killed her first monster, a horrible lobster thing that she knew would have gutted her if she got close. Did she feel fear? Yes. Did she feel pain? Yes. Did she feel alive? Oh, yes!
---
George's arm ached and he hadn't landed the final blow, far from it. But he still felt victorious, he had saved Carter and nearly killed the enemy with one strike; if it hadn't moved at the last second and ruined his attack's angle. He cursed the beast and thanked his armour and its maker, himself, for its protection.
He'd have to bang out the dent from his gauntlet but that was far better than having his bones broken.
He looked over their vanquished foes and to the two who had slaughtered most of them. Then he looked to the rest of the team with their awe filled eyes and slightly gaping mouths.
By the looks on their faces, it seemed the other's hadn't had the slightest inkling of how deadly Fritz was. When they looked at the carnage the pair had wrought their respect seemed to grow by the second. Had they been fooled by Fritz's foppish appearance and disarming demeanour?
George had known the dashing man had to be strong, he'd seen the silver bones he brought into the smithy. His father had thought nothing of it though, said that Fritz had probably stolen or bought them from a Jastil merchant. But George bet the old bull was wrong, that Fritz had indeed slain whatever monster they came from.
There was something in the man’s fascinating eyes when he looked at the bones, a deep self-satisfaction or smug triumph that his father seemed to mistake for false bravado.
George had felt the weight of the bones, their strength, their density and he couldn't even imagine the kind of terrible beast they had come from. Something truly dreadful and deadly. He quietly hoped to slay a monster like that so he could take its parts to forge his swords.
How wondrous that would be!
"You're a scout!?" Carter asked Fritz incredulously.
"Yes, of course," Fritz stated.
"How did you kill so many, when you're not a Striker?" Rosie joined in. "Carter almost died to just one."
"Please, it's the first level, these were easy foes," Fritz said brushing away her words. "Sure, the sand thing is a bit tricky, but once they're out of the ground they're slow and stupid. Next time get it on its back and stab its soft belly. Just like any lobster or crab really."
"Think they taste good?" Bert interjected.
"They probably do!" Fritz exclaimed excitedly.
"Too bad we have no butter," Lauren stated.
"Butter?" Bert asked.
"Oh, yes, butter," Fritz nearly moaned. "You can't tell me you've never had butter."
"I can tell you that because it's true," Bert said.
"Okay team, get to cracking, we're having lobster for lunch," Fritz ordered.
He watched them tentatively pry apart the beast's shells and scrape our the grey, gooey flesh, then joined the fray themselves. Only Lauren abstained, not wanting to get her hands dirty with the guts of monster lobsters.
Thinking of monster meat and then materials, George looked over the fallen foes. His eye for metals was good, but these claws and carapaces were not metal and didn't seem all that tough to him. But maybe they had something else?
"Think they have any good materials?" He asked the group at large while opening the underbelly of one of the lobsters. One of the team had to know something about monster parts.
"Oh, I have something for that," Lauren piped up.
She ruffled through her pack, pulling out an assortment of small but necessary things for a Climber: food, water, blankets, soap, make up, perfume. Though he doubted the need for the last two.
Maybe the perfume would be useful to combat the lobster stink on my hands, he thought as he pulled another lump of flesh from one of the dead creatures and slopped it into the pile they had been making.
Lauren pulled out a lens of glass encircled with bronze and held it to her eye, it glowed dimly with white light and tiny glyphs for a moment then she peered at the lobsters through its clear centre.
"Their eyes seem to have the most mana density," Lauren hedged.
"You heard the lady," Fritz said. "I need a sack of eyes!"
With that, they got to work.
George grinned, this was it, his very first floor and it was easy.
What would the next floors hold?