Name: Chariot Crowhaven
Lvl: 31
HP: 958/2240
MP: 48/49
Total Defense: 585
Total Attack: 166
Name: Tanalia Taymore
Lvl: 33 >> 35
HP: 4183 >> 3890/4438
MP: 54 >> 56
Total Defense: 322
Total Attack: 60 >> 96
Tanalia marched up the steps to the tenth floor.
Her inventory was quickly filling up. Between all the armor sets and weapons picked up from monsters and looted from chests, she barely had room for anything else. And there were still five more floors to go.
Chariot had taken the lead, keeping her sword drawn. “We’re coming up on the door.”
“Finally,” Tanalia groaned. “The tower didn’t feel tall when we looked at it from the ground.”
Chariot simply shrugged.
The two emerged into the circular chamber on the tenth floor. It was empty, save for one solitary chest. It was simple looking, carved from wood with bolts and strips of gold holding it together.
Tanalia and Chariot exchanged suspicious glances.
“That’s a mimic, isn’t it,” Chariot said.
“Mhm.”
“Do you want to be the one to open it?”
“Not particularly, but…” Tanalia drew back an arrow with her newly acquired Edgecaster. As soon as she shot the chest, it erupted with a vile squeal. The lid shot open, revealing fangs all along the rim of the chest, with a large tongue slithering around inside. It rose slowly as two elongated legs grew from its underside.
Mimic - Lvl: 35
The monster let out a distorted roar and ran at the two. Tanalia and Chariot both dashed out of the way of the charging mimic. It’s body was bulky and heavy. As it turned around, it swayed slightly with the weight of the chest.
“This shouldn’t be hard,” Tanalia said. She whistled to grab the creature's attention, then split her Edgecaster, and whirled both blades before charging at the mimic. It swung it’s skinny arm for her, and she ducked, sliding on her knees as she sliced at its leg before pirouetting to stand up, and delivering two more heavy blows to its back. A radiant arc of light whizzed past Tanalia, nearly cutting her before striking the mimic. She stumbled back and glared back at Chariot. “Watch it!”
“Sorry,”
The mimic swung around, whipping saliva from its slick tongue as it snarled and squealed like a rabid chihuahua. Just as Tanalia turned back to fight it, its tongue slammed into her, sending her hurtling across the tower floor. She was covered in thick saliva and gagged as she got back up. It was everywhere, webbed between her fingers, in her hair, even her ears.
“Disgusting,” she sighed and charged back at the mimic. Chariot stood in her way, hacking at it with her sword, and narrowly dodging its attacks. Tanalia double-jumped over her, the wings on her boots fluttering, and dove for the chest. She thrust both blades into the monster, spraying blood back at her as the monster flailed helplessly. Finally, it fell limp and collapsed.
Tanalia stumbled back and ripped her swords from the chest. “See, easy.” With the creature dead, she leaned her head in to see what goodies were inside.
“Wait!” Chariot pulled Tanalia back just as the mimic slammed its lid shut.
Tanalia stumbled and fell back on her butt. Chariot dashed forward and used {Lundge Strike}. With one final hit, she slayed the mimic. All of it’s monster bits dematerialized into shimmering polygons, leaving only the chest behind.
“Okay, now it’s dead,” she huffed.
Tanalia slowly rose back to her feet. “T- Thanks.”
Chariot sheathed her sword, and started riffling through the chest. “You’re welcome.” There was quite a hefty amount of gold inside, as all mimics were typically gold mines for adventurers. There was also a few small weapons, but also, a shield.
“Woah,” Chariot said as she lifted it out of the chest. It was a heater shield, one that was ornate with jewels, and embroidered gold around the rims.
“Fancy,” Tanalia commented.
“No, no, no, look at this.”
Guardians Shield
Defense: 200
Perk: Absorbs 20% of damage per hit to store for redistribution.
Damage Storage limit: 200
Tanalia’s eyes widened, and she gave a silent nod of approval.
Chariot couldn’t help but smile a bit as she equipped it to her left arm. She moved around the room with it, practicing swinging her sword around with the shield for a moment while Tanalia tried to wipe some of the salivae off of her. She sat quietly by the stairs to the next floor. After some time, Chariot returned to her.
“You finished playing?” Tanalia asked.
“I was just getting a hand for it.”
“Sure,” she smirked.
“Hey, There’s something else I think we should talk about.”
“Hm?”
“You and me.”
Tanalia rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. Maria’s right. We don’t work well together.”
“We manage.”
“Managing isn’t enough. If we want to stay a team, then we need to learn to work together, that’s what Maria said.”
“Are we not already?”
“No, not in the way she means. We’re working together right now to clear the tower, but we’re not working together.”
Tanalia silently stared at the knight.
“I don’t hate you if that’s what you think. You just get on my nerves sometimes.”
“I seem to be pretty good at it, and I still have no idea how. Sometimes I’m not trying at all, and I still succeed.”
“Are you that blind?”
“Just tell me,” Tanalia sighed.
Chariot frowned and glanced away. She took a moment to think. “Well, for one, you rush head first into everything without thinking, like what just happened. You didn’t stop to think if the mimic was dead.”
“I assumed it was.”
“Okay, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t dead, you nearly got hurt. I don’t like seeing you guys hurt, so please, just think about taking things slow.”
“Just move on, what else bothers you?” Tanalia crossed her arms and leaned up against the walls.
“You're rude, occasionally snarky, you're immoral—”
“Immoral?”
“You have no problem breaking the law when it is to your own benefit.”
“That… is true.”
“I know it is. Regardless of all your issues, and regardless of how badly I want to hit you sometimes, I want us to work together. I think Maria’s right.”
“About what?”
“Her plan. I believe it can work. But for it to work, all three of us are going to have to work together. She suggested that I focus on dealing with heavy blows and defense. I can do that. You focus more on offense, dealing with light attacks and quick blows. I know you aren’t open to strategy. You would rather charge in like a barbarian and worry about the consequences later. But that’s a problem. There’s a reason none of us could hit The Ringmaster back at the Greensbolt Theater. We were all trying to attack him in our own way. We were uncoordinated. Maria is right, if we work together, we can defeat him.”
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Tanalia stared quietly back at the knight. She knew she was right, but a small part of her didn’t want to accept it. She had never been much of a supportive member of any team. People just got in her way. She was fast, agile, moved like the wind around enemies, and stung them before they knew what had hit them. She could dash through the trees like a snake weaves through the grass, but her teammates had only slowed her down. But, Maria was right. For as much as fighting The Ringmaster frustrated her, she was never going to succeed without help. The only way she was going to get any help with taking him down was by working as a team. That is the only reason they came together, to bring down a common enemy. So long as they accomplished that, her goal would be complete. She could leave them and be on her own again. The few weeks of freedom she had had while Maria trained were nice, and though she longed for the freedom to remain, she had a mission.
“Well?” Chariot asked.
Tanalia pushed off the wall and sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll try it.”
“Thank you,” Chariot smiled. “We can practice with whatever enemies are on the remaining floors and from there we should have enough of a rhythm down when we face the final boss on the fifteenth floor.”
“Lead the way.” Tanalia bent forward and gestured to the doorway. She figured playing along with it for now wouldn’t hurt too much. Even the thought of justifying changing how she did things didn’t feel right. It certainly took some getting used to. The next floor up, she dashed forward into the arena of monsters before remembering what Chariot had said and fell back. Tanalia stood behind Chariot and waited with her as she meticulously attacked the monsters on the subsequent floors. It felt like they were moving up the tower much slower. She could easily see three or four different ways she could rush into each room of monsters and take them all out swiftly and effectively. When it came to simple monsters like ghouls and deathbats, she would hide behind Chariot, and let her shield absorb the damage while she sniped them with her Edgecaster. It was… different, to say the least.
Before heading up to the final floor, however, the duo stopped. They both drank enough healing potions to fill their health bars, and enough mana potions to ensure they had enough for whatever fight lay ahead of them. On top of that, Chariot drank an endurance potion, as well as an ironskin potion, while Tanalia opted for an archery potion and a swiftness potion. Once they were set and ready, they ascended the final set of stairs together. Sunlight spilled down the steps, casting a warm orange glow against the stone.
As they reached the top of the tower, a strong gust of wind nearly toppled them. Tanalia balanced herself easily, but Chariot needed to flail her arms to steady herself. Sitting at the center of the tower was the humanoid creature. It was crosslegged, and naked, though it had no discernable features to gender it.
Both the knight and Tanalia drew their weapons and stood at the ready. The creature was motionless, its head bowed. Its skin was lightish pink, like burned flesh healed over, and it had the horns of a goat. Slowly, it rose its head, glaring back at the two women with eyeless sockets, and a mouthful of crooked fangs. From it’s back a set of large leathery wings unfurrowed, and it slowly rose to stand on its feet.
Ag'drorath: Demon of Lakeside Village Tower - Lvl 45
“Who?” Tanalia raised an eyebrow.
“The demon who loved the girl,” Chariot said.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“The demon who loved the girl, from the story.”
“What story?”
Chariot narrowed her eyes at Tanalia. “The story of Lakeside Village.”
“The village has a story?”
“You’ve spent a month in this village and never bothered to learn of its history?”
“No!”
“What have you been doing for the last—”
The demon let out a shrill roar, forcing the two women to cover their ears. It growled and stretched its wings before marching toward the two of them.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Chariot growled, and ran to the side to dodge the first attack from the demon.
Tanalia leaped out of the way as it ran up, and slammed its fist into where they once stood, cracking the stone. Tanalia double jumped behind the beast. She tried to keep her distance, firing arrows at the demon as it marched menacingly at her. Its fists would smash the tower roof, shattering the smooth surface, and kicking up dust and debris. The demon hurled fireballs from its hands, Tanalia evaded them as best she could, but even she wasn’t fast enough. One struck her hip, and she was sent rolling across the tower roof. Chariot quickly got in front of her, raising her shield as a follow-up attack collided with it.
“Get up,” she yelled.
Tanalia rose to her feet, and peeked over the knight, firing an arrow, and striking the demon. The two worked in unison. Chariot would try to divert the demon's attention onto her so she could absorb its attacks with her shield, while Tanalia did most of the damage. Tanalia turned to dash at the demon, but as she saw Chariot move in front of her, she backed off. They fired an arrow instead, hitting the demon’s side while Chariot moved around the beast, blocking and dodging its swipes. As the demon clawed the air, it left behind streaks of fire. Chariot tried to use her shield to block the attracts, and the gold only grew brighter. When it started flashing, Chariot bashed the demon with the shield and dished back all the stored damage. The monster staggered health bar significantly dropping.
The demon spread its wings and started flying upwards.
“Keep an eye on it,” Tanalia said and readied an arrow. The ethereal string felt strong in her fingers as she pulled it back. Her aim followed the demon as it circled the tower. She aimed just ahead of where the demon was and fired. The arrow struck the demon's chest, and it roared, circling upwards to swoop down at Tanalia. She rolled to the side and disconnected her bow. As the demon flew past her, she swung, letting out an aggressive cry as her blades sliced through the demon's wing.
It crashed and slid off the side of the tower. It’s claws scared at the stone as it tried to get a grip on anything, but it simply fell over the side. Tanalia glanced back at Chariot. The two cautiously approached the edge of the tower, but as they did, a bright light shone from its center. The demon rematerialized, crashing into the tower roof as if it were still falling.
Its health was nearly halfway depleted.
The knight and Tanalia could only keep up with what they had been doing. Chariot distracted the demon while Tanalia slashed at it, and fired arrows from afar. Her new Edgecaster was making swift work of its health.
The demon pulled back its arm like it were about to hurl a ball, and a flaming skull materialized in its palm. As it hurled the skull, it let out a deafening screech and a trail of fire in its wake. Tanalia tried to jump out of the way, but the blast radius of the skull was far larger than she had assumed. The moment the skull hit the ground, it exploded, sending her flying over the edge. She double-jumped back toward the ledge and grabbed at it. She held on by the tips of her fingers, straining. She tried to get a foothold, but there was nothing, the walls of the tower's outer layer were too smooth.
Chariot hurried over, and knelt, extending her arm out. Tanalia took it and was hoisted back up. “Are you alright?” Chariot asked.
“Barely,” Tanalia gasped for air. “Thanks.”
“Do you have any bombs on you?”
“Of course I do.”
Chariot simply gestured to the demon with her head, and Tanalia grinned at her. She withdrew the explosives from her inventory and juggled one of them in her hand. With a little bit of slime, she had a sticky bomb.
The demon roared as it hurled another flurry of fireballs. Chariot blocked several of them while Tanalia dashed around the side of the tower, and hurled the sticky bomb at the demon. It clung to its leg, the fuse hissing. Tanalia then tossed a second one and just as it landed on the demon's back, they both detonated.
The explosion shook the air, and the demon fell to its knees. It’s health was nearly drained. The demon turned and glared at Tanalia. As it raised its hand to hurl another fireball, Chariot aimed her sword at the demon and tangled it in barbed vines. Its wrists and torso were wrapped up, and subsequently dug into as the beast struggled against its binds. “Quickly! Kill it!”
Tanalia dashed at the demon and swapped her swords for her dagger. She used {Night’s Edge}, and slashed the blade through the air four times, each strike leaving behind shimmering trails of black light. The streaks converged simultaneously, launching at the demon, and slaying the beast.
Chariot released its binds as it roared out in pain before collapsing. It layed still for a few moments before finally vanishing. It’s body disintegrated into an array of polygons and sparkles.
Name: Tanalia Taymore
Lvl: 35 >> 38
HP: 2890/4438 >> 2940/4821
MP: 46/56 >> 56/59
Total Defense: 322
Total Attack: 96
Demons Heart Acquired
Demon scales x3 Acquired
Demon Horns x2 Acquired
Demons Fury Acquired
Dagger of Ag'drorath Acquired
Potion of XP Acquired
Chariot strolled over, breathing a sigh of relief. “Is that it? We finished the dungeon?”
Tanalia nodded and slowly sat down before collapsing. She lay breathless, gazing up at the orange sky. “That took longer than I thought it would.”
“It would have been quicker with one more person,” Chariot said. “Speaking of, did it drop anything for her?”
“I’ll check in a minute.”
Chariot rolled her eyes and layed down beside Tanalia. The two sat in silence, with nothing but the wind rustling their hair. Finally, Tanalia sat up and groaned as she opened her inventory. She skimmed through the newly added boss drops. “There are some ingredients. Did the old dwarf ask for a demon heart?”
“I can’t remember,” Chariot said quietly. “We’ll bring it to him anyways.”
“There’s… this?” Tanalia opened her palm. A book materialized in her hand, and she passed it to Chariot.
“Don’t read that!” Chariot quickly said and snatched the book from Tanalia. “It’s a spell tome. Demons Fury.”
“So we got something for her at least. That and some potions of xp.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Chariot sat up. “She hasn’t leveled up once since we came to Lakeside Village, has she?”
“Nope.”
Chariot opened her menu, and chuckled. “Oh, we’re way ahead of her. She’s level twenty-one, right?”
Name: Chariot Crowhaven
Lvl: 31 >> 34
HP: 1980/2240 >> 2010/2454
MP: 28/49 >> 38/52
Total Defense: 585
Total Attack: 166
“All that’s left is this,” Tanalia said and pulled out the dagger. It was an evil-looking blade, made from black glass with a handle that felt just as sharp as the blade.
Dagger of Ag'drorath
Damage: 55
Chariot rose to her feet. “A dagger isn’t bad. It can replace your old one.”
“Mhm… replace it…”
“It’s a stronger weapon.”
“I know but… I can’t.”
Chariot crossed her arms. “Well, do with it what you want. I’m not interested in it. Come on, we should be getting a move on. We still have a long walk until we get back.”
“Let’s just camp out at the base of the tower tonight, I’m too tired to walk back.”
Chariot shrugged and started making her way back towards the stairway.
“Oh!” Tanalia said, “So what was the demon deal?”
“Right… “ Chariot sighed. “I heard the story from an older man down by the docks a few weeks ago. Before the village was founded, a Mythari girl would come to the lake to bathe. One day, she was found by a huntsman. He would return day after day to watch her bath, awestruck by her beauty. When he finally approached, she was startled, but they soon found solace in each other's company. But the huntsman learned that the Mythari girl was arranged to be wed to another. They decided to run away but were captured by the girl's soon-to-be husband. He learned that she was with a child, and he became furious. The huntsman was punished, and he was cursed to turn into the most vile evil in the world, and imprisoned at the top of this tower. He could never truly die, and never truly escape the tower, for if he flew too far he would end up right back at the summit. So he was imprisoned on top of this tower, tormented by his view of the lake. The girl married the man she had been arranged to be engaged to, and they built a house on the edge of the lake. The man wanted the huntsman to watch from the tower as they grew old, and after centuries, a village sprouted. After that, there was the disappearance of the Mythari, and the huntsman was left alone into humanity moved into the village. Now he remains here as the boss of the tower.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? That’s all you have to say?”
“It’s a sad story, but I was expecting something a little more.”
Chariot scoffed. “You’re unbelievable sometimes. I still can’t believe you’ve spent a month here and never heard that story.”
“I never asked.”
“I’m aware.”
“Spent more time gathering enough slime to make more sticky bombs.”
“Wonderful…”