"That's not fair! We got here late and we still need two keys!" Bert yelled. A predictable reaction if a little more exaggerated than the rest of the team, which Fritz had gathered, having halted their frantic looting.
When he had interrupted them, Lauren had been looking for a way to drop the barriers while George and Cal had taken to prying off the gold gilding on many of the plinths. Bert and Rosie had been to trying to break the glass cases, and when that hadn't worked they had turned their attention to the huge cage, which was just as indestructible if not more so.
"When have the Spires ever been fair," Fritz espoused bitterly. "They set the trials, and you pass or you die."
"So where do we get another key?" Lauren asked.
"The key will come to us," Fritz announced arrogantly, then changed his tone to something more sober. "The other team will have one."
His crew shuffled uncomfortably, looking to each other and waiting for someone to object to the murderous implication.
"Now, I know what you're thinking," Fritz began, trying to assuage their anxieties and comfort their consciences. "The raider was bad enough, but fighting a full team of thugs, some of which are Climber veterans, would be a death sentence."
Fritz took a moment to let his words set in while he searched their faces. When he saw he had hit near the mark, he continued, "It is not so. These blackguards won't be higher than level twenty, save perhaps Larry. They'll be nothing like a Journeyman from Krakos with exotic Powers gained from the Spires of the Countless Isles. They're weaker by far and thrice as ignorant."
"I don't like the idea of hurting fellow Climbers, again," Lauren said sourly. "Though you have said that they're coming for us one way or another, and I for one won't suffer, or let anyone in this team suffer, any indignities at their hands."
"Well said, Lauren, I could have hardly put it better myself," Fritz said.
George sighed resignedly, "Who knew that the monsters and traps would be the easy part of Climbing."
"Don't let it shake your faith in mankind too much," Bert said. "We've just been unlucky."
"True as the rain," Fritz said, then muttered quietly, "unlucky my entire life."
"You gotta do what you gotta do, and I won't let them rob me," Rosie declared, her eyes as hard as flint.
"Same here," Cal agreed, his own expression just as grim.
Again the richly decorated chamber shook.
"How's the treasure on this floor?" Fritz asked.
"Terrible," Rosie spat.
"That bad?" Fritz asked, somewhat surprised.
"Yes, all the books are behind invisible barriers, the cage bars are only plated gold, and all the displays are encased in glass," Lauren provided.
"Tough glass, likely the same kind as the roof. My blade did nothing," George added dejectedly.
"I only manage to crack one with Concussive Blow," Bert supplied with a smug smile at George, who took the taunting gesture gracefully, smiling back himself. "I would have kept pounding on it but I held back. I need to preserve my Stamina after spraying so many times."
"Disgusting," Lauren scolded, while Cal choked down a laugh.
"A wise choice. We'll need you at full strength to fight our foes, your job will be tying up Larry," Fritz explained. "As for the rest of you, well, let's go through the plan. We'll get back to looting, if we have the time."
---
Larry trudged through the ash, boots thudding and parting piles of still-hot soot. The room had gone up in flames only minutes after they had stepped into its webbed passages. Nothing of that maze was left, all was blackened or burned away along with any riches that may have been found.
"Those backstabbing bastards," Larry said, spitting to the side as a tendril of smoke slipped through Jasper's wind dome.
"They're dead, every single one of them," Tara fumed. "Especially that fire-breathing bitch."
Larry had never seen the woman so angry. But she had good reason to be. Her left arm all the way up to her elbow was wrapped in runed bandages. And although Jane had done what she could with her healing magic and soothing grease, the woman's hand and forearm would be a mess of burn scars. Much like Jane's face and neck, but worse. At least the Healer's power leant some amount of pain dulling, otherwise, Tara would be whining far more.
She wasn't the only one to suffer from the sudden inferno, Fred lost all the hair on his left side as well as his ear, and Larry himself lost his eyebrows and suffered some minor singing. Only Jasper's quick activation of both his staff's Dome of Protection and his wind Abilities had saved them from being incinerated. Larry might have been alright, his Tough Skin, Durability and Grit would have seen him through. Bruised, battered, seared for sure, but not broken, his steel-laced bones could endure.
"I shook his hand and he took my ear, I'll kill him," Fred growled, his friendly demeanour abandoned and his Liar's Face inactive.
"Look, it's not worth it," Toby explained exasperatedly. "The man's as wily as a stinging eel, nothing good has ever come from chasing him."
"Or crossing him," Jane muttered darkly, her mounting regret obvious on her face.
"That so," Larry said, stiltedly.
"It is," Toby said sourly.
Normally Larry wouldn't have carried such cowardly Climbers, but the Nightshark had ordered him to. It turned out the girl was a Healer, a rare and precious thing in Rain City. And she and her man were inseparable, so he'd been forced to bring him too, up this Rookie Spire to get their Gold Awards and Powers.
And it wasn't like Toby was a bad blade, he was 'fine', according to Tara who was a good judge of such things. But the man's moods were dark, and he had that shifty look you couldn't trust. Larry shrugged inwardly, everyone in the crew had that look, except Fred, and that was only because of that damn Trait.
It chafed to be babysitting like this, but what the Nightshark wanted, they got. And Nic, the lazy bastard, had named him to do this task instead.
"There are doors ahead," Jasper predicted. "Not wood."
Soon they were in front of some tall steel doors and Larry pulled the matching key from his pocket. He was glad they took the time to find the hidden room. Without Jasper's insistence that they find it, they may have been locked out. He stared at the thick metal and concluded his Borer-bone Club could definitely batter down the doors with a couple of strikes, but he may as well use the key. No use wasting the Treasure's mana, or accidentally collapsing the stone frame and maybe flooding them all.
The key slid in with a satisfying thunk and he turned it easily. The mechanism behind the metal clunked, and Larry pushed on the door with one hand, expecting it to open as easily as all the others. He was proved wrong, the steel was solidly stuck in place. Larry pushed harder, leveraging more of his Strength and Momentum. He could hear hinges creaking, groaning, as he applied more and more force.
"What's wrong," Jane asked.
"The arseholes messed with the doors," Larry spat. "Fred, help would ya."
Fred stepped forward and leant his Strength and Might to the effort. Slowly the doors ground open, creaking and cracking the whole while. Another shudder shook the floor, and Larry activated Crushing Blow, driving the magical force into a punch that beat the door open another inch. Even though he was striking with bare knuckles he felt no pain, just a heavy resistance.
"Watch it," Fred whined. "You almost got me."
Larry ignored the man and slammed the door again. With a clang and a screech, the door swung back, whatever was gluing up the hinges finally giving way to brute strength.
"There we go," Larry said leading the way through the door. "Just needed a bit of elbow grease."
"Almost got me again, prick," Fred grumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, good work captain," Fred said with a cheery smile. Larry nodded.
Fred is a good lad there's no way he'd call me a prick. Must have misheard.
"Alright, let's get through this. And be on your guard. They've broken the agreement, so there's no trustin' them," Larry reminded his crew. "Kill them outright if you have to."
"Really? Even the girls?" Fred asked and his smile faltered.
"Yep, even the girls," Larry said. It was all well and good to keep them alive before, but now they'd acted against him and his crew he had no use for them.
"Good," Tara hissed, readying one of her daggers in her good hand.
"What's up ahead, Jasper?" Larry asked.
"Stairs up into a room, not as large as the previous one, there are people within," Jasper said, almost dreamily. "They are scurrying about. Maybe looting? It's very... chaotic."
"Not waiting to ambush us?" Toby asked.
Jasper nodded. "Not waiting."
Toby frowned and glanced at his woman, who scowled, whispered and shook her head slightly.
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"Got something to add?" Larry asked the pair.
"No," Toby stated in that sad tone.
"Nothin'" Jane added.
Larry stared at them, but just as Jane was about to speak Tara let out a yelp.
"Bastards!" She cried stepping off the stairs, sitting on the stone and prying a piece of metal from her boot. "Stupid thing went right through."
"I told you that you should wear heavier boots," Fred said.
"And I told you to shove your opinion up your arse, where it belongs," Tara said scathingly.
Fred was about to retort when Larry put an end to the talk. "Stop. We're going up quiet like, and that means silence. You can fight once we've dealt with the others and we're in the safety of the Well Room. Jasper, is it close?"
"I can't say, but the map suggested this was the last floor, so it can't be that far," the man responded.
"Then let's go show these bastards what messing with us gets them," Larry growled, and his team nodded, following up the stairs.
---
Fritz and his team were in position around the entrance, hiding behind the various bookcases and plinths only thirty feet away. They were only able to spend ten minutes looting before he had sensed their foes and had to take their places and enact his plan. Though he felt they had been lucky with their finds.
"This is stupid," Rosie muttered, as she and Bert continuously waved makeshift fans of siren silk in wide arcs, stirring up the wind.
"Shh," Fritz hissed from his place behind a stone pedestal that held a precious piece of pottery behind a dome of glass.
He tapped nervously on the bow in his hand and made sure to be careful with the arrow he held, especially its venom-slick head. Periodically he would pulse his Awareness, but he was relying more on his ears, he heard the clang and the clunk of the door below and soon a stifled cry of pain. Someone had found the caltrops.
Fritz waited for a moment before signalling that their foes were close, and when he did Rosie and Bert dropped their fans and took cover, slipping into the hidden formation. They watched the stairway, ready to spring their ambush.
Larry crested the stairs first, all grim confidence and stony fury, the great bone-club held before him in both hands. The bulky, grey weapon was nearly as big as the man himself, and blocked any clear angle for an arrow to speed through.
Fred was the next one up, behind and to the left of Larry. He still had that confident, friendly smile, even though his face had been burned, and he held his single-handed hammer loosely. His other hand was empty, but his forearm was armoured with an inscribed bracer of some dull grey metal. Apart from that they were both armoured as they had been, Larry with the leather and breastplate and Fred with the muddy scales.
Neither would be a good target. He had to wait until someone far less durable came into view. Fritz didn't have to wait long, as the two front liners strode forward Jasper cleared the stairs and peered around with a bland stare. If they could take him out first this entire fight would be far easier.
The Scout-mage took only a few steps forward before halting and saying, "Stop. There's something wrong."
Fritz took his chance, he activated his Gloom Strike, bent the bow while pouring in the shifting shadows into the arrow he nocked, then loosed it at the wind-mage. The shadowed shaft sped through the air, unnoticed and whistling as it sought his foe. Fritz's aim was off, he was no great archer, but it still struck Jasper in his thigh and he let out a yell of pain.
Immediately, the air mage wrapped himself in some kind of shield that enclosed him in a bubble of spinning wind. He then reached for a pouch at his side, grasping for some potion. Quickly Fritz pulled another envenomed arrow from the quiver, nocked it and loosed, this time the arrow met the shifting winds and was flung away harmlessly. Unfortunately, that was all the attention Fritz had to spare for the man, from the corner of his eye a dark shape darted from shadow to shadow, seeking to slip around to the back of his team.
Another figure, this one blurry and indistinct, leapt over and past Larry and Fred. It looked like they were made of a multicoloured mist, translucent and in the dull hues of their gear. They headed straight for where Lauren lay in wait. Fritz saw a hint of violet in that human-shaped cloud and concluded it must be the dagger-wielding woman.
Lastly, he saw Jane lurking in the arch of the entrance, staying back and out of danger, worry writ plain on her scarred face.
Fritz felt a dagger enter his throat and his heart, one after the other with barely a moment between. He rolled away from his sudden attacker, Toby, whose daggers slashed through the space he'd just been in. Fritz activated and swung his bow like a staff, its, now black metal, limb cracked against Toby's leg with a bone-jarring force and the man fell to a knee with a grunt.
"Come and get me!" Larry roared, and Fritz felt his gaze be pulled to the brutish man.
Fury welled up in his gut, and even if the anger felt wrong, false, he couldn't help but think everything was this man's fault and that he should rush at him and kill him. For a moment he saw red, and while distracted he ignored the thrown blade that was spinning towards his shoulder. The cold of Umbral Phase washed over him and doused some of his fury, he used that second of intangibility to gather his wits. He pushed at the irrational, intrusive anger, and its coiling grasp broke. He realised he'd been in the grip of some kind of taunting Ability, and his shadowed legs were still striding forward to face the grinning man, leaving his back open to Toby.
He was not the only one affected, the whole team had rushed from their places, with Bert far in the lead as his blurring form streaked toward Larry with thundering footsteps. The man met him with an all-too-fast swing of the enormous club that, with a terrible crunching, sent Bert soaring, then falling to the red carpet in a tangle of bent and broken limbs.
As much as Fritz wanted to run to his friend's side he knew it was the wrong decision, he had to do what he could to defeat his own opponents and trust in his team. Even as he concluded this Bert's bones began to snap and crack back into place, and the yellow glow of The Amulet of Repose suffused his body.
Three blossoms of pain sprouted over Fritz's spine, and he stopped in place and spun, drawing his two blades in a single graceful motion and battering two throwing daggers from the air with ringing clangs. The last he simply slid under as he rushed his foe with a flurry of stabbing strikes. Toby's own blades were swift and troublesome, catching his blades and diverting them just enough to dodge.
To Fritz's dismay, Toby was fast, faster than himself by far, the man must have Aligned a lot to Speed. He also had a tricky style where he would interweave dagger throws and feints while stepping back, then he would lunge forward with straightforward stabs for the eyes, throat and gut before hopping back again and taking a defensive posture.
While Fritz was saving the remaining half of his mana for the fight to come, Toby wasn't bothering with such considerations. He constantly used his Abilities, his dual daggers would shine with the blood-red glow of Lacerate or would suddenly be sticky with what looked like the Power of Venom Strike.
Even though Fritz could see every blow coming, it was difficult to keep up with the man's blades. Though he still let none of the daggers touch him, they simply couldn't, not with his Danger Sense warning him and his Grace honing his movement to such an incredible degree. However, he couldn't dodge every blow, yet, and he was forced to parry. Their blades sparked and clanged as they met, as each sought to gain an advantage.
They clashed, once twice, then thrice. Fritz found the rhythm, saw right through his former crewmate's style. Quicksilver caught Toby's dagger, and with a flick of his wrist, Fritz slipped the long blade around his foe's defence and towards his heart. It was as close to a perfect riposte as Fritz had ever performed, but it still wasn't enough to kill. At the last moment, Toby managed to spin slightly, the blade took him in the chest, passing by his most vital organ by an inch and instead piercing a lung.
Toby spat blood, wheezed and immediately attempted to flee, throwing himself back recklessly and letting Quicksilver's edge tear through him as he pulled himself off the bloody, black blade. Fritz wouldn't let him go, not again. He smiled, revelling in his victory and pounced forward, catching up to Toby's fleeing back and the ridiculous, black cloak he still wore. Mortal Edge sliced right through the fabric and cut a long line of red into his back.
Toby staggered into the shadow of a plinth and darted away as swift as an arrow in flight into another spot of shade right beside Jane. It had to be some sort of Ability and Fritz couldn't help but be envious of such a power. Toby fell, clutched at his wounds, and Jane laid her hands upon him. Tears streamed from her eyes as a soft, green-white thread speared through his wounds and sewed them shut.
Fritz halted his pursuit, caught off guard by a sudden swell of sympathy that caused his spite to sputter. He didn't have time to dwell on it, there was a high-pitched cry to his side which forced him to turn his attention to the battle around him.
"Stay away!" Lauren screamed, her water barrier slipping over her form while the knife-wielding woman stabbed downwards with a crystal dagger shimmering with a wavering white luminescence. It parted the seaskin shield like a hot knife through butter, cutting through Lauren's long sleeve and the skin below with ease.
Flame bloomed, but the blurry dagger-woman leapt over the fire breath with a startling back flip, landing behind Lauren. Fritz tried to run to them, but he was too far away to help.
Just as the woman was about to strike again, Rosie was there, Interposed and flailing madly with her shining pick and red-rimmed hatchet. The woman was too quick and her body too indistinct to be hit cleanly, but a chop from the pick glanced off her shoulder it left a bright mark. Around the seal of white light, the woman's form became clearer and more solid, revealing the bandaged state of her left arm.
Rosie saw the obvious injury and grinned, she didn't need to be told how to fight dirty. She targeted all her attacks to that crippled side, suddenly forcing the woman back. Unfortunately, this dagger wielder was a far more practised, skilful, fighter than Rosie, or even Toby, in fact, he recognised some of the man's new tricks in her style. She was also faster, and more precise, and even wounded as she was, her strikes were deadly and she was on the attack again. Rosie started taking cuts that sliced right through her scales.
Though it seemed the tide had turned against his two teammates, it didn't stay that way for long, Lauren spun and turned hateful, tearful, burning eyes on the woman who had cut her. Then stepping out from Rosie's protection she breathed a torrent of flame. The dagger wielder was caught mid-way through dodging a scarlet-hued pick when the fire engulfed her left side, searing again what had already been seared.
She screamed in terrible anger and agony, then fled, leaping away as the fire clung to her flesh and smoke coiled from her scorched armour and burning bandages.
Two down, four to go. Fritz thought as he turned to the desperate fight George, Cal and Bert were embroiled in. His team-mates were already battered, obviously having traded some blows with the foes before them in the seconds he'd been preoccupied.
Cal charged and swung his flail at Fred, but before he could reach them man he was sent flying by a sudden gust of wind. He was blown away to the other side of the room where he landed with a distant thud. Bert was on his feet again, contesting his might against Larry, trying to meet another of the powerful swings with his Bull Rush and Concussive Blow and being knocked back again, only for George to step in with his shrieking, shining greatsword.
The attack was aimed at Larry's arm but was blocked by the mighty grey bone. Club met sword with a shower of sparks, and George was driven back a whole six feet by the opposing force. Then Fred was on him, striking the armoured man on the back with his hammer. A great boom echoed from the impact, far more than was normally expected and the metal bent inward and seemed to ripple, tolling like a bell. George groaned and staggered forward, almost into another swing of the club, but fell to a knee just in time for it to whoosh over his head.
Fritz darted forward to help George while Bert attempted another charge. He predicted something would slam into his chest and quickly dodged around Jasper's wind-bolt. Sprinting now, Fritz closed in on Fred who held his hammer over George's head and prepared to swing down and collapse the man's helmet and the skull beneath. Fritz couldn't let that happen, but he was still too far away.
Activating Mortal Edge and wrapping it in Gloom Strike's shade he threw his dagger. This time his aim was true, the curved blade spun end over end through the air, on a collision course for the man's throat. Only for the man's bracer to glow with a dim blue light, a round shield of rippling water gushed from the metal, rising up and getting between dagger and neck. The blade sunk into the hovering disc of water, then was washed away like it had merely stabbed the ocean.
Though the attack didn't injure it distracted the man. When the bracer had activated it yanked his arm up, throwing off his balance and stopping his strike.
Mortal Edge fell to the floor, and Fritz kept moving. Fred turned to face Quicksilver, blocking it deftly with his shield made of water, which seemed attached to the bracer. Stabbing that shield was odd, it tried to pull his blade from his grasp and send it tumbling. Luckily, Fritz maintained his grip.
The hammer came down and his Danger Sense felt the blow land in multiple locations, which was wrong, it should only hit one part of his body and break the bones there. He looked into the man's face, watched his eyes, trying to predict where the man would strike. He saw a glance at his arm and stepped so it was no longer within Fred's reach. Though Fritz took no chances and activated his barrier ring just in case. It was good that he did, the hammer came down at a different angle than he had predicted, his earlier guess being proven false.
He twisted out of the weapon's path, but was still clipped by the pulsing hammerhead. The boom thundered again, shattering his shield and sending him sprawling. His head struck the cushioned ground and his ears rang while his vision swam. His hands were empty, he must have dropped Quicksilver. Another strike was coming, again he couldn't tell where he'd actually be hit, Fred must have had some ability that messed with your senses, one that ruined Fritz's evasive defences.
Instead of trying to figure it out he went with intuition, relied solely on his Awareness to roll out of harm's way. Any moment he thought his skull would be crushed, but he fought on through the haze. There was nothing else to do, his Umbral Phase wouldn't be refreshed in some time. Again he rolled, trying to get to his dagger or his sword. Fred wouldn't let him, the man was toying with him, keeping him away from both his weapons while raining blows that he had to dodge or he'd be killed.
Dread built within Fritz, desperately he rolled again, completely at the man's mercy. He hoped his friends were fairing better against Larry, but from the sounds of it that wasn't the case. Larry laughed, and bellowed, while Bert yelled back in fury and Rosie was shrieking her battle cry. Metal clashed against stone, bones broke and gusts of powerful wind kept blowing past, repelling thrown rocks and Lauren's flames.
All Fritz could do was keep Fred from the other fight, surely they could take down Larry through sheer numbers. Just as he thought so, Fritz rolled over a long, thin stick, his arrow. It snapped under his weight and he snatched it up by instinct.
Looking around, he saw Larry, who had been surrounded, raise his club. It began to thrum with power, the stone beneath the carpet echoing its drumming pulse. He swung it down at the ground and it crashed into it like a falling mountain. A terrible tremor rocked the entire floor sending Fritz's whole team to the ground and throwing Bert, Rosie and George like rag-dolls. The glass case nearest the shockwave shattered, a shower of glass rained to the floor with the display's contents. The fist-sized, glittering, rose-red gem rolling away.
The wind was driven from Fritz's lungs and he wasn't even that close to the impact. Still, the moment gave him an opening as Fred staggered from the enormity of the blow. Fritz lunged, tackling the man about the waist in his moment of distraction, bowling him over and to the floor. The other man was stronger and Fritz let himself be grabbed and tossed bodily, he'd already achieved his aim, having driven the broken arrow into his opponent.
Fritz rolled backwards, got to his feet, retrieved Quicksilver and retreated. Fred stood groggily with a perplexed expression on his face and a thin shaft stuck in his leg.
Fleeing, Fritz called out an order, and those of his team still standing heeded his words, disengaging their foes, then trudging to his side. Cal, Rosie, George and Lauren gathered around him, bruised and bloody, then as one they turned to their opponents. Bert lay some distance away, face down and unmoving. There was a momentary lull in the fighting as each side surveyed the battlefield and what was left of the teams glared at each other.
Larry panted and sweat, his armour was scuffed and his arms shook slightly, likely from the strain of swinging the ungodly heavy club. He saw the losses his team had taken and worry flashed in his eyes.
"Dome!" Larry yelled.
A transparent bubble of power burst forth from Jasper's staff, enclosing the space around him and his team.
"You got us good, I'll give you that," Larry panted. "But you're out of luck, 'cause we came prepared."
Cal threw a stone, and it bounced harmlessly off the spherical wall. Lauren tested her flames against it, splattering the dome with crackling orange. Soon the fire dissipated, leaving not even a scorch mark.
Larry laughed, "Won't come down til I say so." The statement had the ring of truth so Fritz signalled for his team to stand down.
The brutish man rooted through some belt pouches, pulling out a red and a yellow potion, he drank them down one after the other. Jane helped the burnt woman, pulling, prying really, the charred armour from her skin. She whined piteously and bit down on a strip of leather, writhing in agony. Toby stood gingerly, healed, though with some obvious lingering injury.
This was a terrible predicament, Fritz had hoped to take them by surprise, and beat them in one fell swoop, but they had only managed to wound half of them. And now they were healing, restoring their Stamina and refreshing Abilities, while his crew looked on exhausted and without similar resources or respite.
Bert groaned, then struggled up from the carpet. He was a mess of purple, swollen flesh, and his bloodshot eyes stared dazedly from a puffy misshapen face. Standing again, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his muscles, the bones beneath cracked before sliding back into place.
The enemy team looked on in disgusted, horrified awe and Fritz's own teams' expressions weren't much different.
"Bloody skulg," Fred spat, his face growing paler by the second.
Fred was right, the shelled creatures were absurdly hard to kill, and in his current state Bert much resembled one. Truly the man should be dead, not slowly getting better by the minute like he was.
Bert grinned bloodily, spat and said, "You'll have to do better than that."
"Jasper, throw me the Juggernaut elixir," Larry ordered, his face contorted in concern.
"Are you sure?" Jasper asked warily, "You know it's a last resort."
"I ain't takin' no chances," Larry retorted. "These folk have to die."