Fritz felt the icy power burn over his mind, body and spirit. His grey-barked willow grew taller, its bark darkened and the shadows its branches cast deepened into crooked lines of night. Such simple and subtle changes rendered the willow harder to make out in the rain, but Fritz could feel it there more solid and more Powerful than it had ever been before. Than he had ever been before.
It was like a door in his mind opened, he could feel the rushing and racing of his thoughts and knew he could push them, meld them into the right shapes if he put his will to it. That must be Control, he realised.
Then another sensation like the gift of sight to a blind man’s eyes. A sense of all the things around him, both more and less than tactile. It was both solid and ineffable, a vague shadow of presence. It was impossible to make any use of it yet, this new sense, but it would come in time, that he knew.
He’d seen his father be able to pick him out no matter where he hid; or catch balls and toys thrown at him from behind without skipping a beat, that was his Awareness and that’s what Fritz was feeling now, he was sure of it.
Before he could collect himself completely a rush of cool, shadowy energies engulfed him and he was offered another choice.
---------
Path Ability
Choose One
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Mimicry
Be anyone you want, change what others see, speak with stolen voices, impersonate with glee.
Take on an illusory appearance of another Human or Human-Strain.
Alignment: Glamour, Mind.
Cost: Three.
Duration: Nine minutes
Refresh: Thirty minutes.
---
You have used your considerable charm to get your way.
You have treated with Faeries.
Influenced by Trait Twilight Kissed
---
Illusory Shadow
Fake darkness, mocking light? Pseudo shadows, subdue sight.
Create a patch of illusory shadow that can block sight, even to those with night vision.
Alignment: Glamour, Shadow.
Cost: One.
Duration: Nine seconds.
Refresh: None.
---
You have treated with Faeries.
Influenced by Trait Twilight Kissed
---
Subtle Presence
A face like any other, hid within the press, slip around unnoticed, forgotten with finesse.
You are harder to notice and track, your intentions are veiled and harder to read to a minor degree.
Alignment: Glamour, Mind, Shadow.
Cost: None.
Duration: Passive, Suppressible.
Refresh: None.
---
You have attempted to be stealthy and have succeeded more often than not.
You have sprung an ambush while hidden.
You have treated with Faeries.
Influenced by Trait Twilight Kissed
---
---------
Well, those are some interesting Abilities. Fritz thought while going over the choices his path offered him. I wonder if the Shade’s Rest Trait worked with illusory shadow, he suspected it did but it wasn’t like he was going to take Shade’s rest any time soon. No, he knew what he was taking from these trait choices, still, he called them up just to go over them to spot any synergies he might have missed.
---------
Trait
Choose One
---------
Door Sense
Beyond the portal, behind the door, a brutal death or distant shore?
You can discern information about what lurks behind a Door and its likely threats to a minor degree.
Alignment: Mind, Sense.
Cost: None.
Duration: Passive.
Refresh: None.
---
You have chosen three Doors.
You discovered and traversed a Hidden Door.
---
Challenger’s Cry
Hark you mongrels! Flee you knaves! I am your death, these are your graves.
Challenge foes forcing them to attack you, foes may be stricken with fear.
Alignment: Mind, Sound.
Cost: Two.
Duration: Six seconds.
Refresh: One minute.
---
You stood in defence of fellow climbers.
You taunted fellow climbers
You challenged fellow climbers.
Influenced by Technique Arte Pugilist.
---
Shade’s Rest
Hide in secret, out of sight, sleep in shadow, mend in night.
While in the dark or when under deep shadows increase health recovery to a small degree.
Alignment: Shadow, Life.
Cost: None.
Duration: Passive.
Refresh: None.
---
You have rested in a dark place to recover from wounds.
Influenced by Trait Twilight Kissed.
Influenced by Technique “The Observations”
Influenced by Spire.
---
---------
Maybe there are some interesting tricks I could play with Mimicry and Challengers Cry? Though mimicry is better for outside the Spire, there is a lot of mischief I could get up to with someone else’s face. Still, Fritz didn’t much like the idea of pretending to be someone else as he had enough trouble pretending to be lowborn as it is.
As for Shades Rest, it was a defensive ability and he would need one of those soon but it didn’t prevent him from being hurt, it just healed him if he messed up. Still being healed was a great way to keep from dying, he felt an ache from his swordfish wound and in that moment he really wanted to choose it.
No, Fritz decided the best way to defend yourself is to never be put in danger at all. So Door Sense. It’s not like he could actually pass up such a powerful Ability, the Power to know what was on the other side of a Door was invaluable. He was expecting this Ability much later, at ten Doors picked, just like he had learned secretly from his father's journal. Getting it this early was fantastic and quite frankly impossible to pass up. Might as well pick it now then. No point putting it off.
Fritz chose Door Sense and felt that burning cold race up from his centre and into his mind, scalding him with waves of rime. He gasped with the shock and was glad this was all happening in his Sanctum, he wouldn’t want Sid to see how easily that had rattled him. The pain was gone as quickly as it appeared so he looked at his path choices again.
No real synergies here, but I don’t like Mimicry and Subtle presence just doesn’t feel like me, he mused. The benefits of being harder to detect were obvious to Fritz but even if it were suppressible, which he assumed to mean that it could be turned off, he didn’t really want another non-combat passive. I mean sure it could be helpful in battle by making enemies less likely to go after him but a defender was meant to do that for him anyway.
The only use it would be was when skulking around but Fritz was hoping that his Perception and Awareness Attributes would grant him the capacity to discover and detect them from far further away than they could detect him. That was the expectation at least.
He read over Illusory shadow, low cost, works for a while and blocks vision. It seemed useful enough, especially in a battle. Illusory shadow, while never something I’d thought I’d pick up, does lend another layer to my trickiness when combined with Stone Pit. Blind ‘em, Trip ‘em, Stab ‘em in a shoe. He liked the sound of that. So he chose Illusory Shadow.
A cool darkness embraced Fritz, it didn’t burn but it was just as cold. A gnawing, brutal cold from the depths of night slithered inside his centre. Then it was gone, slinking away to wherever it lurked deep in the willow branch’s shadows.
Fritz exhaled and his breath came out like steam. It’s getting awful cold in my Sanctum, better get some fire-aligned Abilities next to warm this place up, he mocked. Knowing that he’d never be offered anything of the sort and if he was he wouldn’t choose it.
Last off he aligned his unaligned Attributes, might as well put them into Awareness for now. After he felt the small burst of power burn then dissipate he called upon the Spire Readout. The stark silver runes danced before him and he read.
---------
Spire Readout
---------
Name: Francis Hightide
Level: 3
Path: Spy
Strain: Human
---------
Attributes
---------
Strength: 0
Agility: 9
Endurance: 3
Perception: 18
Focus: 9
Memory: 9
---------
Advanced Attributes
---------
Awareness: 9
Control: 6
---------
Activated 1/3
---------
---
Stone Pit
Gouge the stone, shift the ground, instant craters, holes abound.
---
---------
Passive 1/3
---------
---
Trap Sense
Pits and wire, falls and fire, discover danger, before it’s dire.
---
---------
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Trait 2/3
---------
---
Door Sense
Beyond the portal, behind the door, a brutal death or distant shore?
---
Twilight Kissed
Perhaps a boon, perhaps a curse, you’ll find out soon, which is worse.
---
---------
Path 1/3
---------
---
Illusory Shadow
Fake darkness, mocking light? Pseudo shadows, subdue sight.
---
---------
Technique 2/3
---------
---
The Observations (Novice)
Whittle away, scatter survive, poor prevail, covertly thrive.
---
Arte Pugilist (Novice)
Strike, Slip, Punch, Kick, Dive, Skip, Grab, Flip.
---
---------
Strain 0/3
---------
---
---------
Fritz wanting to know what his two new Attributes did inspected them with interest.
Awareness: See the Unseen, Detect Dangers, Sense Mysteries.
Control: Override Instinct, Mould Mana, Keep Contained.
How very esoteric and not very useful, Fritz groused. But it gave him a hint at what they did, which while not good enough, he could use what little was given to muddle through all the same. Mould Mana seemed particularly telling, maybe it could affect his abilities. He’d have to test it out when he had the time.
Noticing Twilight Kissed among his traits he focused on it, trying to bring forth a description, he felt it squirming in his mental grip but was able to pull it into his mind's eye with a little effort.
---------
Trait
---------
Twilight Kissed
Perhaps a boon, perhaps a curse, you’ll find out soon, which is worse.
The Kiss of a Princess of Twilight marks you.
Alignment: Boon, Curse, Glamour Light, Mind, Shadow.
Cost: None. Yet.
Duration: Passive.
Refresh: None.
---
Ominous.
Fritz tried not to get too worried about the Trait, but looking at all those alignments he couldn’t help but feel anxious, especially the curse and the Cost. We’ve been getting a lot of these mocking Spire choices, this can't be normal.
What was normal though in a world with such vast magics, so many Spires, who knew how many odd alignments or abilities there were? Scholars and Kings alike had tried to collect and archive all information they could, but it always seemed all but the basics about the Spire’s workings were obscured in mystery and hidden by the powerful.
Seen as too dangerous for outsiders or just to keep the advantage over other Kings, Princes of the Empire or Krakosi Raiders. All he knew was that it kept the knowledge out of his hands and out of the reach of climber teams not endorsed by the local powers that be, even if they were part of the reputable climber guilds that popped up in each city.
No, not normal at all, The Duskmoth said she hadn’t seen mortals in centuries, which probably means I’m one of the few to ever meet a Faerie in this age. The thought cheered Fritz somewhat and when had a certain spring in his step as he approached the trunk of his willow.
He gave his shadowy willow a pat, its sapphire leaves had begun to take on a decidedly purple tint and he felt a distant hollowness at that fact. First the pavilion now my willow, will anything stay the same? He shook off his moment of melancholy and resurfaced to the real world where Bert and Sid waited for him. He made sure to wear a smile for them.
When he had fully come to, Bert quickly asked “What Abilities did our cunning Spy get, did you choose a water spell that makes your pants wet?”
“What's with the rhyming?” Fritz asked bewildered, a little disorientated from the strange impressions was sending him.
It wasn’t just locations and objects he was picking up but scraps of feeling, of thought? They were too confusing and nauseating to his raw mind and spirit so he attempted to filter them out. Control seemed to help him get a handle on his Awareness as a lot of the ephemeral noise died away with a bit of focus.
“Oh, I was just trying to be all mysterious like the Sanctum descriptions,” Bert explained stretching his arm over his head, testing his wounded side for pain. He didn’t wince so it seemed to work.
“Well don’t, it doesn’t suit you,” Fritz replied steadying himself and standing.
“But you can write a whole poem for Sid and I can’t recite anything, is that it?” Bert asked incredulously.
“You don’t have a poet’s soul,” intoned Fritz gravely, as if such a thing was real or important at all.
“Is that right?” Bert said eyeing Fritz's boots.
Fritz narrowed his gaze, not sure where Bert was going with this but sure it was dumb.
“That’s righ-” Fritz began, just as Bert lunged for his legs. Fritz could easily predict his movement, his Perception and Awareness easily picking up on where Bert was aiming and where his weight was most focused. He made to move out of the way and noticed his body moved much more easily than before.
Fritz found he could dodge out of the way with ease but didn’t account for the man’s wily ways as Fritz noticed Bert had cornered him with his back to the pedestal holding their statues. Bert made to feint but then followed through, an old trick Fritz was well aware of but one that Bert always caught him with.
Fritz nearly slipped out of Bert’s reach with a slide to his left but Bert caught his left leg with a surprisingly soft hand. Fritz’s boot was yanked from his foot, Bert’s enormous strength overpowering the laces easily snapping them with shockingly loud cracks.
Bert held the boot high and triumphantly proclaimed, “Now I too have the sole of a poet.” Fritz groaned, Sid groaned and Fritz fancied even the statues groaned.
“What? It wasn’t that bad,” Bert argued throwing the boot back to its owner. Fritz caught the shoe deftly, marvelling at his new level of coordination, Agility was nothing to sneeze at.
“It was that bad and look you’ve ruined my laces,” Fritz shook the shoe displaying the damage.
“Whoops,” Bert said.
“Whoops?” Fritz asked annoyed.
“Whoops,” Bert reaffirmed gravely, turning away to admire the carved visage of his statue again and hiding a smirk.
Fritz unslung his rope and cut about a foot off one end with his trusty fish blade. He began unwinding the cut-away piece, scavenging enough dark grey chord-like substance to make some new laces.
It was tougher than any other rope Fritz had disassembled but that made sense as he had found it here in the Spire. He was a bit frustrated that his first piece of Treasure was being used in such a way, but he didn’t see any other solutions and wouldn’t dare go barefoot in a Spire, even with Trap Sense. All manner of creepy crawlies or other nasty things might cover those floors.
Sid sidled up to Fritz and asked if she could have some of the leftover strands of dark chord.
“For what?” Fritz asked.
“Garrote,” Sid said easily. He handed them over with a shiver and an unconscious rub of his neck.
“Fritz, you didn’t tell us what Powers you took,” Bert reminded him as he was finishing tying his new laces.
“Yeah, I should probably test them out,” Fritz conceded, excitement building in anticipation. “I took Illusory Shadow.” Fritz concentrated on the ability and could feel its cool magic begin to manifest, he felt he could place it within about eighteen feet of himself. So he did so, he placed it right on Bert’s dumb grin.
A sphere of darkness appeared swallowing Bert’s head and upper torso, it was about two feet wide and tall and hovered in place with the occasional wispy tendril of shadow writhing on its edges. It appeared as if someone had cut a hole in the world and filled it with black ink.
“Argh, I’m blind!” Bert yelled in surprise, waving his hands through the impenetrable blackness of the orb. “How long will I be blind Fritz?”
“It should last for nine seconds, but I’m not sure if it sticks to what I hit. Can you walk out of it?”
Bert strode forward and the orb stayed behind, floating where Fritz had conjured it. One thing Fritz noticed was that the floating darkness didn't cast a shadow, which meant it wasn’t blocking the light, but it still seemed to block his, and Bert’s, vision somehow. Weird.
Sid noticed where he was staring then up at the darkness with a quizzical look on her face, then asked, “No shadow?”
“Illusory Shadow,” Fritz shrugged, not really understanding it himself, but just accepting it as it was, some sort of pseudo-shadow-illusion-thing. Trying to figure it out would probably mean research about similar abilities on the outside.
“Odd ability choice, pretty weak, Fritz,” Bert said scratching his head, and peering around the dark sphere.
“It’s not weak, it can blind,” Fritz argued but thought the ability was a little underwhelming himself.
“What kind of role are you aiming for, Fritz?” Sid asked not unkindly but the worry she had In her voice offended him a little. “I ask this because your choices don’t seem very synergistic.”
Fritz sighed, pushing away the anger as he acknowledged her point. She was right his Abilities did seem a little hodge-podge, even to his own eclectic designs.
“It’s not a big deal, but at this rate, I think I’m something of a Scout Controller hybrid. Not exactly what I wanted to be,” Fritz admitted sadly.
Then with a sudden intensity, he stared hard at Sid “Can I trust you, Sid?”
“We’re climbing together so I think you have to trust me,” Sid said a little put out by the question.
“I mean, outside the Spire,” Fritz continued his eyes attempting to drill holes into her soul.
She shuffled, worried at her scarf and thought, she came to a decision after a tense couple of moments and nodded, “Yes, Fritz you can trust me.”
Fritz searched her features, noting that she could be quite pretty, well she would be if she could clean up all the mud and dirt smudged on her skin. He didn’t let the errant thought distract him, that’s not what he was looking for. Fritz was searching for honesty, for any sign he could trust her.
He tried using his new Awareness but that just made him more uncertain as obscure ripples and muddied impressions caressed his mind.
Shaking away the ephemeral fog of Awareness he instead used his final tactic, he trusted his gut instinct. A couple of days ago Fritz wouldn’t have trusted Sid with a mouldy fish pie, now though, after all the things they had braved together. The blight hounds, goblins, beetles and worst of all Steve's crew. These battles they had overcome together had brought them closer than he had suspected.
His gut said, trust her. And with that visceral affirmation he let his stare and his wariness fall away. He would tell her more of the truth that was Fritz, he decided. No half-truths here, the Faeries may appreciate it but Sid sure wouldn’t.
“The Trait I chose, it would get me in a lot of trouble with the Guide’s Guild if they knew I had it,” Fritz explained.
“No way! You didn’t,” Bert shouted in giddy delight.
“I did,” Fritz said a smile growing on his face as he watched Bert literally jump for joy and start punching the air as if fighting invisible opponents.
“What did you choose, Fritz?” Sid asked in trepidation, fear mixing in with amusement at Bert’s antics.
“Door Sense,” Fritz said, watching the words stun Sid. She sat down hard, looking at him with equal parts wonder and horror.
“Why are you still in here? You should get to the Guide’s Guild immediately,” Sid asserted disbelievingly. “They’d take you in and join you up, you’d have the best training they can provide. Which for the Guide’s Guild is a lot, they’re the wealthiest Guild in the known world. You could make so many Triads.”
Fritz held up a hand stalling her outburst. “The Guide’s Guild killed my mother, ransacked my home and carted me and my siblings into an orphanage. They robbed me of everything I had. I. Will. Never. Join. Them,” Fritz was clenching his fists and near spitting the words through gritted teeth by the end of his explanation turned rant.
Bert looked on concerned and Sid frowned at him while wringing her scarlet scarf.
“You're being blind, Fritz,” Sid started, then Bert cut her off, shaking his head.
“Don’t bother, he’s set to do this his own idiot way. Fritz’s pride is a terrible, foolish thing.”
Fury started to build in Fritz as they belittled his choice to never work for the Guide’s Guild, he could hear his heart beating in his ears feel the heat on his face and just as he was about to yell. Bert piped up, “But that’s why I trust him, why I love him as my brother. There are worse things than pride, far worse.”
After Bert’s declaration, Fritz felt his anger fizzle and his fury slip away into a mild shame, he had gotten a little carried away, thank the Gods for Bert. Without him, he might have just sprinted up the spire alone to spite Sid’s words. Which would have gotten him killed. Internally, he cursed Memory. It was making those agonising recollections of life before the gutters far too sharp to hold for even a moment.
“Sorry,” Fritz said, wiping a tear from his cheek. “I just can’t join them, not after what they did to me and mine, no matter the wealth or privilege I could attain. Plus it’s not like the Nightshark is gonna want to let me go to them, I think he’d do a lot to keep someone with Door Sense around.”
“He’d save a lot on Guide’s fees that’s for sure,” Bert added.
“So Sid, now that you know all that are you still willing to climb with us?” Fritz asked halfheartedly.
“Yes,” Sid replied rapidly. “With Door Sense, we’ll have a much easier time, not knowing what awaits you on the other side of a Door is one of the most dangerous bits of climbing. And Fritz, thanks for trusting me, I’ll make sure you won't regret it.”
“So, we have me as the defender, Sid as the Striker and Fritz as a scout,” Bert said summarising. “What equipment and more importantly how much food do we have left?”
Fritz shrugged and the three of them began to catalogue their equipment and talk over their new strategies and synergies. When they had done that they found they had food for at least three days, Fritz found he still had the cursed dagger and offered it to Sid and Bert.
“Nah, I had a look at the Arte Pugilist and now that I have Momentum and Vitality it mentions benefits to those Attributes, plus the reduction in concussive blow’s cost from the unarmed bonus will let me keep my stamina high,” Bert said reasonably, well it would have been reasonable if he wasn’t going into combat unarmed and unarmoured.
Fritz was going to argue but saw the determination in Bert’s amber eyes. Sid merely shook her bow at Fritz emphasising that she would be staying back and shooting her arrows. Fritz found himself wearing Bert’s scale shirt and wielding his fish bade with the cursed dagger in his other hand, he might be able to use it as a parrying dagger, even though he was way out of practice.
“When should we go? Doesn’t look like a time limit on this Well Room unlike the last one,” Fritz inquired of the rest of the team. “I had a luxurious nap in the Faerie carriage but we have been fighting battle to battle since the goblin floor. Feels like an age ago to be honest.”
“We should rest when we can,” Sid matter-of-factly. “Let’s get some sleep and when we wake we can have breakfast, then check the Doors.”
Just like that they parted. Sid decided to sleep on the opposite wall from Fritz and Bert. Can’t blame her really, but it still stings a little.
“Do we need a watch?” Bert yawned.
“Nah, we’re safe as we can be in a Spire,” Fritz said catching Bert’s yawn.
“Why you gotta jinx us like that,” Bert groaned, then lay down on his own oilcloth about three feet away from Fritz.
Fritz yawed again and felt himself start to dose off, despite his anxiety, tomorrow we climb. I hope we survive.