The darkness of the night was near total. So much so that even Bert, with his Night Vision Award, had trouble seeing more than a couple of feet in front of him. Eventually he brought out the amber glowstone from his pack and shone its bright swirling light in the small yard where they decided to set their camp.
Fritz pulled out the iron bullseye lantern frame he had bought some days ago and attempted to place the stone within it. The glowstone's odd and uneven shape didn't slot in perfectly in the housing but George offered to remedy that small problem. He brought out a small hammer and he got to work bending the metal into the right shape.
"It would be easier if the iron was hot," George stated with a meaningful glance at Lauren and her volcanic shortsword.
With a sigh, she handed the blade over to him and he was able to bend the frame so the glowstone sat securely in the lantern. When it was done he placed it in the centre of their camp and they set up their bedrolls around it. The focused beam of light it shed barely swirled and even though it only spat it out in one direction it was a damn sight better than the hypnotic, almost-nauseating, spinning radiance of the raw glowstone. Or no light at all for that matter.
To Fritz's mind it was a great success, and he told George so, praising him greatly for his skill in 'black-smithery'.
"Wasn't difficult," George said humbly, but he still smiled proudly.
Fritz thought about lighting a fire but it seemed the night had only brought darkness, the clear breeze carried that same mild warmth it had during the day.
Before they slept, they ate; Fritz, Bert, Rosie and Carter ate the smoked shark strips while the others ate their own store of rations.
"You say the eels are delicacies?" George asked as he munched on a strip of smoked fish, obviously not impressed with the taste.
"Yes," Lauren said. "I hear they're wonderful, their pure bodies soak in the spices, juices or wines, intensifying the flavours delightfully."
"Thought it would be the other way around, that it'd remove the bad flavours or something," Carter said.
"That would be the venom, and their blood to a lesser degree. When they've been properly prepared, which includes exsanguination and removing the venom glands. Their meat is very absorbent," She recited.
"You know a lot about cooking, for someone who doesn't cook," Rosie bluntly observed.
Lauren smiled weakly from where she sat upon her bedroll.
"A good wife should know good food, even if she need not cook it herself," She quoted in a slightly shrill imitation of some overbearing woman. Likely her mother by the imperious tones.
"They're also valuable. What kind of merchant's daughter would I be if I couldn't identify some of the more precious materials found within the Spires of Rain City?"
"The kind that runs away to Climb a Spire," George said with a sly smile.
Lauren glared at the man, who held up his hands in sudden surrender.
"No judgement here, I did the same," He admitted. "Packed up and left. Don't know if my master even noticed. Or cared."
George turned his dark gaze to the lantern and sighed.
"Why did you run?" Rosie asked. "I know if I had a steady profession I wouldn't want to risk my life in a Spire."
"'Cause they're idiots," Carter said, with a surprising amount of bitterness. "I know I wouldn't be here if I had anywhere else to be or had a steady profession or prospects."
"Are you sure about that?" Fritz asked. "I gave you a choice, you didn't have to follow."
Carter shuffled uncomfortably under Fritz's stare.
"This was the best choice I had. Doesn't mean I have to like it," Carter replied.
A small anger burnt in Fritz's gut at the ungrateful comment but he quickly quenched it, remembering how he had felt on his first Climb. When he was thrown into the Sunken Spire with nothing but a sack full of questionable supplies, he was furious too.
"True as the rain," Fritz sighed, trying to sympathise with the Carter's plight. Lest he truly become as aloof, flippant and pompous as his projected persona.
While it was true Carter had chosen to Climb, it was as he said; what other choice did he have? To starve or be swept away in a flood?
A small spark of guilt flashed in Fritz's chest, leaving him feeling like he was just like Nic and the Nightshark. Villains who exploited the weak and desperate for their own gain and gold.
He shook his head, rapidly ridding himself of the ridiculous feeling. Fritz knew he was suffering under the same fate as Carter; the whims of the powerful that shaped the life and conditions of himself and everyone in Rain City; a fate he had only just begun to question.
"Rosie! Want to get started on training!?" Bert yelled, breaking the tense silence while jumping to his feet.
"Yes!" Rosie responded in kind.
"Are you sure? The Arte Pugilist demands much from its disciples," Bert said, acting like some kind of martial sage.
"What does it demand?" Rosie asked somewhat suspiciously.
"It demands that you punch, punch and never stop punching! No matter what!" Bert proclaimed.
Rosie broke out in a grin that matched Bert's own.
"Teach me!" She cried.
Carter smiled gently at his sister's exuberance while Bert began to reveal the secrets of the Arte Pugilist to his first disciple. Starting by correcting her stance then going through all the exercises and drills the tome depicted in black and red ink.
Fritz turned away from the pair.
"Seeing as none of you can see in the dark, I'll take the first watch Bert will take the second," He said as the team began to relax, George even going so far as to take off his armour.
It actually hadn't been a full day yet, barely four or five hours by Fritz's estimation but he found that the rest of his team wasn't quite used to the pace he and Bert had been setting. So he let them catch some sleep.
There was some tossing and turning, especially Lauren who couldn't seem to find a comfortable enough position to lay in, but that was to be expected. She probably hadn't slept outside a proper, soft bed in her entire life.
Eventually, after the training, the group settled in around the lantern and got some rest. The mild black night passed by uneventfully with not a sound on the wind. Fritz finished his watch and woke Bert. Then stole some sleep for himself.
He was surprised that he was able to sleep as easily as he did with all the man-alikes only a hundred feet away. But he supposed it was far better than when he was hunted by goblins on his second floor. That and this entire floor had a rather peaceful energy. A feeling of quiet and calm that fell over the plateaus and valleys like a thick blanket.
He woke, and it was a fair enough way to wake. Bert was shaking him as dawn's gentle rays splashed against the village and the man-alike's stirred and stood.
The movement and shuffling startled some of the team and they looked around blearily, confused as to why they weren't at home in their beds, then remembering that they were in a Spire.
"Good morning team. Let's eat some breakfast and get moving. I want to climb at least another two floors today, three if we can manage it," Fritz declared.
"That seems fast," Carter said wiping the sleep from his eyes but looking refreshed.
"It is," Lauren said, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
She yawned then continued, "Most Minor Spire climbs can take anywhere from a week to a month. Two weeks being the upper end of average for experienced Climbers. But you want to be almost halfway done in two days?"
"Really?" Bert asked. "It takes that long?"
"You didn't know that? I thought you Climbed this Spire before," Lauren said suspiciously.
"We did, we just did it quickly," Fritz lied confidently.
"More likely that you left early," Carter said sceptically.
"What?! No way, Fritz and Bert couldn't be skippers," George protested. "They're too skilled."
Lauren frowned, obviously thinking along the same lines.
Defending his secrets and maintaining his mystery, Fritz cut them off, "Breakfast! Then we march down to the flooded tower," He ordered.
They mumbled their assents and began to eat then pack up. It took them about eighteen minutes, which was nine minutes too long for Fritz's liking, but soon they were up and ready for the trek down the hill and into the flooded valley.
As Fritz strode to the plateau's edge he waved a goodbye at a man-alike and nearly jumped out of his boots when it minutely moved its rake-claw in response.
Or had it? It was still again, maybe it was the slight breeze moving it?
It didn't matter. He returned his attention to the tower in the distance and wanting to confirm his hunch he decided to try out pulsing his Awareness again. Now that he'd had some rest and he felt mostly recovered he supposed it couldn't hurt too badly to do so. His Awareness spread out slightly quicker this time and reached the bounds of its area within a few moments.
Again the impressions pounded through his mind and seemed to rattle against his skull. As soon as his Door Sense trilled he pulled his Awareness back, leaving him only a little unsteady on his feet rather than sending him tumbling like last time. He had been right, a spot right at the top of the tower had resonated with his Door Sense.
Fritz suspected that this new way to use his Awareness would come in very handy, especially when he aligned more Attributes to it. Though he wouldn't do that yet, he felt his Memory and Focus needed to be shored up first so he could use the full power of his Awareness without suffering. He wouldn't want to be overwhelmed again. But that was also after he levelled out his Strength, so he could finally not feel as heavy as he always did now due to his bones.
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So many Attributes so few points, he lamented inwardly, feeling the ache in his joints doubly this day.
Plodding down the terraces was far easier than climbing them, which came as a relief to Fritz and the team. Though there were still some issues; a small slip here or there or the shriek of Rosie as an eel came near.
"Why do you got to be such an eel squealer?" Carter groused.
"Why do they always got to be chasing me!?" Rosie yelled. "Carter carry me!"
"Get off me frog-face," Carter said Heaving his sister off him when she tried to jump onto his back.
She splashed into the pool and sat up quickly, glaring at her brother. An eel circled around her curiously. It nudged her submersed shoulder with its snout then swam away slowly as if it had merely come to greet her and now had other more important matters to attend to.
"They're not exactly aggressive," Fritz observed. "Just ignore them, Rosie."
"Yeah, they're nothing like gutter eels," Bert said. "These ones only bite when you grab them."
"Hate them eels," Rosie stated.
"Agreed," Fritz said absently rubbing at a bite scar on his wrist. "Almost worse than skulg."
"Almost," Rosie echoed.
Bert grinned, "At least these things aren't full of eel-intent."
Fritz groaned, as did Carter, Rosie and Lauren. George however laughed uproariously, slapping his armoured thigh in mirth.
Bert offered Rosie an arm up and she took it reluctantly, then they continued down to the tower with George still chuckling and mumbling, "Eel-intent, that's good."
Another one, Fritz grimaced.
Once they had descended the last terrace and were now standing in calf-deep rather than waist-deep water, they began a sloshing, splashing sojourn. It wasn't far to the tower but it took them an hour of trudging, and only took that long because Fritz was able to lead them around the various holes and hidden troughs of silt that would suck them down and hold them as sure as any giant squid. He, of course, was pretending to use his six-foot pole but was relying mostly on his Trap Sense to keep them out of danger.
As they got closer to their destination Fritz could make out more of the details of what he assumed to be a false Spire. It was made of long planks of dark wood and bent slightly in the light breeze, like a drunk man struggling to stand on a street corner. Even this far from it Fritz could hear it creak ominously while the wind whispered through its ramshackle scaffolding.
Once they reached the tower's base and stood upon the wooden foundations above the waterline Fritz called for a rest. He hadn't felt the dread of being hunted since the last floor but it was still good to be cautious, especially on the last stretch. The Sunken Spire had taught him that much at least.
He cloaked himself in dusk and stealthily made his way within the shadowy structure. On the landing there was nothing save some large wooden buckets with rope handles taken with rot.
There were uneven steps set into a staircase up so he walked up them with as light a tread as he could manage. The staircase cracked, creaked and the steps were too tall to take comfortably but he continued up without much worry, trusting his Trap Sense to trill when he was about to make a wrong move.
The first floor was empty, as was the second, but on the third he found something. Three somethings actually. The skeletal remains of man-alikes with one of their number dressed in differently dyed sackcloth robes. Its rough garments were dull grey but were probably once the colour of the sky and it held a wooden hammer in one hand rather than the claw-rakes the other two did.
Its elongated and bumpy bones were marred with grooves while the other two had their malformed skulls caved in by some blunt object long ago.
Had they killed the builder of the tower and been slain in return?
Fritz quickly searched the bodies, tearing away their robes and stirring the thick dust that lay upon them. He covered his face and nose but still the smell of sawdust wafted around him.
Beneath the grey robes, there in the misshapen skeleton's chest was something that resembled a lump of coal. An Aberrant Seed? Fritz reached into the rib cage and seized upon the cold stone only for it to turn to ash in his hands, seeping out between his fingers more like water than dust.
He frowned.
Had it been here too long? Did it rot away? Would the Hound's Seed turn to ash like this, in time?
Fritz shook his head discarding the thoughts.
Stairway, he reminded himself as he searched. He could feel it vaguely above him so he continued up the stairs after wiping the ancient ash from his hand on the grey robes.
He was right in assuming the Stairway was at the top of the tower but wrong in suspecting any danger. The stairs up were right there filling fully a tilted frame with no monsters or traps in sight or sense for that matter.
With a shrug, Fritz returned to the team to find them sitting around and chattering. They were relaxed, too relaxed having taken off their shoes, drying them and their feet out.
"Who's on watch?" Fritz nearly growled, appalled as he was at their attitude.
The team jumped in surprise.
Fritz knew Bert was actually keeping an eye out but he felt it a good opportunity to remind the team to be on their toes lest they mess up and get someone hurt or killed.
"Thought you were," Rosie said.
"I was scouting. You need to be alert when we're on a floor, triply so when we're right next to a stairway. You never know when the Spire will try to trap, trick or kill you," Fritz said seriously.
"I know it's your first Climb, but remember: We're always in danger in a Spire," He added darkly.
"Sorry," Rose said. Which Carter and the team echoed.
"Right, just make sure to assign watches next time," Fritz said. "The way up is clear, the stairs are a little rickety but it should be fine. Let's us sally forth."
They began to stand and put their boots and gear back on while Lauren looked over the pools with some longing in her green-yellow gaze.
"What's wrong?" Fritz asked.
"Just thinking about all the gold we're leaving behind," She said.
"Gold?" Bert asked.
"The eels are worth three gold dead and nine gold alive," Lauren explained.
Bert's eyes glinted.
"What about the venom?" Fritz asked avariciously.
"About a gold triad a vial," Lauren said.
"Change of plans," Fritz said. "We're going catch some eels."
---
"You said you weren't going to use us as bait. And why's it gotta be me?" Rosie asked as she stood in the flooded valley and the eels slowly approached her.
"Because for some reason. Who can say why? They love you," Lauren stated.
Rosie grumbled, scrunched her eyes closed and waited. Fritz plucked the eels from the water as they came close then flung them into one of the wooden buckets they had taken from the tower. His hands were quick and skilful enough to avoid the blind biting and he barely felt any warnings from his Danger Sense.
Guess I'm slipperier than an eel nowadays, he smirked to himself.
The eel flailed and writhed, hissing and spitting as it slowly suffocated in the clean air. Bert grabbed the twisting thing and forced its glassy fangs towards an open jar. Its pure venom dripped forth, collecting at the bottom and looking more like liquid crystal than the poison they knew it was.
They had decided on not bothering to keep the eels alive as it would be far too much hassle to carry up eight more levels. But some dead ones and some harvested venom, those were a far easier burden to bring along.
They repeated this delicate dance six times before Fritz noticed something ominous.
The man-alikes were on the move, striding down from their terrace-top villages and their pool farms.
Determined to make the most of this venture, Fritz continued to snatch and fling two more eels into the bucket. It seemed the more of the wriggling things they gathered the faster the 'farmers' moved, they were nearly running now.
"Man-alikes are coming," Fritz warned his crew. "Lauren this is another chance to use your Treasure, try and hit as many as possible."
Lauren nodded stiffly.
"Oh and, Rosie, Activate your ring," Fritz ordered offhandedly.
Before she even questioned the command her ring pulsed with that almost invisible blue light.
"Why?" She asked belatedly.
"You'll see," Fritz said with a smirk, hoping his guess about the ring's Ability was right.
He was right and they did see. Eels, ten of them, then thirty, then nearly a hundred started swimming straight towards Rosie. It wasn't their lazy gliding either but a roiling, coiling swarm of the white-scaled things swarming towards them in a frothing wave.
Bert laughed as he saw them approach and brought out a net from a sack. He cast it out in front of a gaping wide-eyed Rosie, who then shrieked and scrambled up and onto the tower's foundation.
The net quickly filled to the brim and Bert heaved the net in, dumping the whole lot of eels in the bucket with a roar of laughter.
The man-alikes were now sprinting and were faster than they had any right to be, slipping through the water as if gliding. They raised the claw-rakes in fury, and from them, Fritz could hear a whisper of such pure and distilled vitriol it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
"They're coming," Fritz reiterated. "Carter, Bert, take the tub of eels. Lauren stay with me. Rosie go!"
They followed his orders rapidly as soon as they saw the horde of man-alikes sliding toward them and the tilted tower from all directions. They ran, then quickly but carefully ascended the stairs and leaving Fritz and Lauren behind. He heard the sloshing of the bucket for some minutes until it was cut off suddenly, likely due to passing through the Stairway.
"Run once your spray stops," Fritz said. "Ready?"
"Ready," Lauren replied, her brow furrowed resolutely.
Fritz prepared his own Ability, grasping the shifting Dusksong in his centre.
When the swift tide of tall creatures came within thirty feet Fritz yelled, "Now!"
An intense heat blossomed beside him, and the spray of burning tar spat from the rod's tip, covering the man-alikes and water below with unquenchable flame. Fire danced on the shallow lake's surface and steam billowed, obscuring their vision.
There was a sputtering of embers and the flame ceased spewing. Lauren ran.
Fritz followed, weaving his Illusory Shadow in the tower's door frame like a thin pane of shade. Immediately the light from the fire was cut off, the bright beyond muted in greys and blacks. The man-alikes cared not if they could see where they were going, or if they were on fire for that matter, and piled through the door, tripping and falling in a burning pile.
Fritz fled. Urging Lauren to move quicker up the rickety stairs.
Once they had reached the second floor, smoke rose through the tower's many holes and they both began to cough. Lauren's pace up the stairs slowed and Fritz felt the phantom bite of a claw-rake. He stepped out of the reach of a vicious chop and pushed the woman in front of him forward, almost causing her to trip.
"Fritz!" She yelled.
"Go! Faster!" He yelled back.
With an unladylike growl, she hiked up her battle robes and began to take the too-tall steps in twos, stomping up the steps and causing them to creak worryingly.
Fritz didn't have time to care, he spun on a scorched man-alike as it was raising its claw-rake to strike again. He pulled an iron throwing dagger from his belt and activated Gloom Strike, wrapping the small blade in wisping shadows. He threw it underhanded right at the monster's face, hoping to bury it in one of its mad eyes.
He was wildly successful, the man-alike didn't even see the dagger coming as it plunged into one eye socket. It fell back in surprise rather than pain and toppled down the tower, taking its fellows with it in a flailing ball of limbs.
Fritz spun and continued up the stairs, easily catching up to Lauren's panting back with his graceful steps. Just in time as in her frantic running she slipped, her boot sliding right off the tilted wooden step and into the smoky air.
Lauren tumbled sideways, but Fritz was there, his hand skilfully gasping her arm before she could fall in truth. She was lighter than he expected or maybe he was just heavier and stronger than he previously assumed considering he was barely jolted by catching her wrist and arresting her movement. With just a tug she was sent safely into his arms.
They were face to face and she stared into his eyes with pupils as wide as dinner plates.
"Excuse my indiscretion," Fritz said as he began to employ one of the grappling manoeuvres outlined in the Arte Pugilist. He rapidly ducked and heaved her onto his shoulder.
She would have screamed if the wind hadn't been driven from her lungs from the sudden tackle. Fritz lifted her without much trouble and he ran upwards. His grace and Awareness guided him, while his Trap Sense warned him of particularly weak boards. Smoke filled his lungs and he spluttered and coughed.
Without Lauren slowing him any longer, save her small weight and her pounding fists on his back, he was able to quickly navigate his way up and up and up until they had reached the Stairway. The choking air was taking its toll, his head spun and his eyes stung, blurring with tears.
In a haze strode through the Door and onto the wooden stairs beyond. He kept climbing this time in a trudge rather than a run and eventually found the Well room.
There was noise, someone coughing out words. Fritz breathed in the clean air and his head cleared somewhat as he was able to make out the meanings of the rasping tones.
"I said, put me down you ruffian!.. Villain!... Brute!" Lauren demanded.
Fritz complied setting her down on her feet gently.
Lauren's face was as red as a boiled lobster and she shook with rage that covered the obvious aftershock of terror. Her lips trembled and her eyes were streaked with tears.
"My apologies," Fritz croaked.
She spun and stalked away without another word. She was akin to a cat, outraged at being manhandled with her back and shoulders stiff and straight in dignified fury.
Bert sauntered up to Fritz placing a commiserating hand on his shoulder, "Brute huh. I'm starting to think our Paths got mixed up."
It wasn't a good joke, or even a joke at all, but Fritz chuckled then broke into mad peals of laughter and Bert joined him.
The team looked at them oddly but said nothing, George shook his head and smiled.
Once they had done with their mirth Fritz scanned the Well room. It seemed to be the inside of a huge, empty temple made of wood. It was adorned with brightly painted red pillars and a tall white statue in its centre. Fritz almost leapt backwards when he saw the effigy, a fantastically lifelike and large clearblood eel, carved of pristine pale wood and poised as if it were a snake ready to strike.
It glared blindly down on the team congregated at its base and Fritz approached on wobbly legs. Now that the excitement was over he felt his energy drain right out of him. Still, he made it to the statue and sat heavily, laying his back on its scaly carvings and turning his head from its judging stare.
Surreptitiously he pulled in the power of the Well and felt it pool in his centre, causing the star in his centre to burn ever colder and brighter.
He pretended to nap, and the others seemed content to let him do so, caught up as they were in their own conversations.
Rosie complained loudly about her 'ring of eel attraction'.
"You should be happy anything's attracted to you," Carter remarked.
With a slew of choice insults from Rosie the siblings began to bicker again in earnest.
Fritz ignored them and fell into his Sanctum, eager to see his new offerings.
In his Sanctum it was raining and his arm ached dully. Still not fully healed, but far better than it had been before. He clenched his fist and found it numb but nimble. He turned his mind to the power still swirling in the cloudy sky around and above his willow's twisting branches, entreating him to put it to use.
With a thought, he acknowledged the power and the offerings poured into his mind.
---------
Active Ability
Choose One
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Word of Courage
Heed my cry, hear the call, face the terror, standing tall.
Empower an ally's Resolve and dispel fear.
Alignment: Boon, Mind, Sound.
Cost: One.
Duration: One minute.
Refresh: Five minutes.
---
You have given orders and rallied your team.
Influenced by Mind Aligned Abilities (Trap Sense, Danger Sense.)
Influenced by Mind Aligned Traits (Door Sense, Cloak of Dusk.)
---
Lacerate
Splattered scarlet and open veins, the rushing rivers of red remains.
Your strike deals extra damage and causes increased bleeding.
Alignment: Blade, Blood.
Cost: One.
Duration: Strike: Three Seconds, Affliction: Nine seconds.
Refresh: None.
---
You killed many 'Leaping Lobsters' through blood loss.
You inflicted many bleeding cuts.
Influenced by Technique 'The Observations'
---
Water Strike
Wrapped in water, clubs and blades, crush your foe, like crashing waves.
Your strike deals extra damage, cools heat and quenches flames.
Alignment: Water.
Cost: One.
Duration: Strike: Three Seconds.
Refresh: None.
---
You have killed many 'Leaping Lobsters'.
Influenced by Spire.
Influenced by Sanctum.
---
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Attributes Gained
+6 Unaligned
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Now what should I choose?