Chapter 36

We followed the mysterious man outside the Cathedral. He whistled cheerily the whole way, but said nothing to us as we exited, left the Cathedral grounds, and passed through the gates towards the Tower. Only once we were alone on the path did he slow his pace and start talking.

“Name’s Flint, so you all know.” He said with a grin, “’tis only fair, since I know your names.”

“Uh,” I looked at the others. “Thanks Flint.” I said. “How’d you know we’d be at the Cathedral?” I asked. The question had been burning in my mind. Had Ryker just assumed we’d die?

“Ryker told me.” Flint looked us over, and then chuckled. “Oh, right. You probably don’t know.” He shook his head, “I swear, the lack of information they give new Climbers has to be criminal. I get it, I do. They want everyone to pave their own way and learn as they go or whatnot, but seriously. Kind of setting everyone up for failure.”

“Er,” I began.

“Sorry,” Flint stopped his rambling. “When you’re assigned a job and check in with the appropriate guild, the guild will assign a leader, or Overseer mind you, to accompany the group on the job. That Overseer is able to see not only all of their guild members who are assigned on the job, but also keep track of Climbers who have been assigned to them. It lets them see where we are in the Tower, as long as we’re on the same floor mind you, and also how much HP we have, or essentially, if we’re alive or not.”

He motioned towards the three of us, “when you knuckleheads went and died real quick one after another, the Farm Overseer let Ryker know, and he sent me to pick you lot back up. I’m guessing, judging by that cozy little cloak and boots, you found yourselves on the other end the big bad wolf at least, and not another washout, right?” His eyes flashed with amusement. “I’m kind of jealous Roxy got the fun of wrangling Hans. Was hopeful I’d get to knock him or his groups’ heads around bit too.”

“It was a giant wolf.” Lyn replied with a shudder. “A massive thing.” Her voice dropped. “Why isn’t there any mention or warning of something like that existing on the first floor?”

Flint shrugged. “No idea. There’s a ton they don’t up and tell anyone. Maybe they want us to stumble blindly and die? Some religious mumbo jumbo about finding our way in the dark guided only by the Tower or whatnot,” he spit on the ground and I flinched. That was about as Blasphemous as he could get. If he’d been heard, he’d be punished for sure. Flint, didn’t seem to care, and continued.

“Or maybe its to try and encourage us to work together? To better share what we’ve seen and experienced? To work together to climb the Tower? Who knows. Either way, it leads to a ton of deaths every year, and a lot of lost essence.” His grin returned. “Though, at least not knowing makes you more curious, gives you more of a thrill, as you discover things on your own.”

“But you do know about the wolf.” I pressed. “You recognize the gear?”

“Oh yeah, duh.” He motioned back towards Lyn. “It’s the wolf cloak or whatnot. You found a massive wolf inside a dark cave, and some treasure chests, yeah?”

We all nodded.

“That’s the Den Mother. Where she shows up is random every week. But it’s always one of the caves on the first floor, and its always heavily guarded by regular wolves.” He looked us over. “Honestly, surprised you three made it all the way to her at your levels.”

“It wasn’t that hard.” Nyle admitted. “We had the high ground. Lyn weakened them with her arrows, and Ash and I took them out as they got close.”

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“Nice. Teamwork makes the dream work, am I right?” He held his hand up, expecting a high five. None of us reciprocated, and he let his hand drop with a sigh. “Really though, sounds like you three have a good budding group dynamic going. Keep it up, having a good team will let you go far in the Tower.”

“Back to the Den Mother though,” he continued. “Got some good news, and bad news for you three.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Good news, it’s the start of a new week. So she’ll be in the same spot all week. And her guards will respawn in the Tower every day too.”

“Meaning we can go hunt them down again?” Lyn asked.

“Yup. Now for the bad news.” He held up two fingers. “First, the mobs on the first floor are level 1. The moment you guys hit level 7, you’ll stop getting tower Experience from killing them. And the Tower isn’t dumb, the moment you have enough essence to reach level seven, even if you haven’t consumed it yet, the tower will only let you get enough essence to halfway towards the next level, before it just stops. The only exceptions, are bosses, or you know, mini bosses like the Den Mother.”

“So we’re already almost higher leveled than the first floor?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“Yeah, first few floors aren’t hard to out level in. They’re relatively low danger, which is why our good city folk even go to them. If they were drastically dangerous for Climbers, do you really think any of this,” he motioned back toward the city, “would exist? After the fifth floor, things get much more difficult.”

“You said mini bosses.” Nyle cut in. “And said the Den Mother was a mini boss? What exactly did you mean? I thought the first boss monster wasn’t till the fifth floor.”

“Every floor has secrets and unique dangers.” Flint said. “There are secret creatures of great power, known as mini bosses, spread across all floors, regardless of floor number. They’re a lot stronger than the monsters on the floor. And usually have unique loot you can acquire by killing them, if you can kill them, that is. They also reward a set amount of Essence the first time you kill them, no matter your level. And, once a week, the treasure chests in their boss chamber can be looted.”

He nodded once again towards Lyn’s cloak. “Which was another bit of bad news. Only way to finish that set now is either wait a whole week to raid the chest or kill the Den Mother and hope the final chest that appears once she dies, has what you need.”

“Have you beaten the Den Mother?” Lyn cut in. “Or couldn’t you just go grab the loot and give it to me?”

“Yes, and no.” Flint smiled, “but I like your way of thinking. Sadly, the Tower doesn’t. Gear like that has a level range. It’s based off the level of the person that picks it up, and its stat requirements to use are affected by that. Because you got it at such a low level, I doubt it has any requirements to wear, and offers you a small number of basic bonuses, yeah?”

Lyn’s eyes went distant for a moment as she checked the item in her mind, and then nodded. “It says it’s level 3, and just requires a dexterity of 1 to wear…” she glanced at us, “and provides 1 to my constitution while I wear it.”

“See, if I were to get it, it would drop at its highest level, which is fifteen by the way, for Den Mother loot. And I would be willing to bet it would require a Dexterity of at least 5 to wear at that point, maybe higher. So, sadly, can’t help you out there.”

My disappointment must have shown on my face because Flint’s smile grew wider.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t offer you the key to success against that monster. By the end of the week, if the three of you are smart and listen to your wonderful elder’s advice,” he winked, “that’s me by the way, you’ll have your revenge on her.”

We had reached the glowing white entrance to the Tower, and Flint paused. “But first,” he said with a chuckle. “you’re going to have to have this entire conversation again with Ryker.” He looked at me, “and I’m sure you know Ash, if there’s one thing Ryker loves more than his shield and Morningstar,”

“It’s giving lectures and saying I told you so.” I said weakly.

“Exactly. I’ll have you know,” his voice got soft, “I’m pretty sure half of why our team is so successful, is because we bust our asses just to ensure we don’t have to suffer through one of his lectures. I’d rather solo a floor boss, than be stuck listening to him drone on about doing something reckless and not letting him tank the boss or yada yada yada.”

I found myself both smiling, and wincing, at the same time. Seeing Ryker this morning had brought with it nothing but happy memories. But now that Flint mentioned it, there had been another side to the mentorship. And Flint was right. I’d rather be facing down the Den Mother once more, than be on the receiving end of a Ryker rant.

“Be strong guys,” I said to my team, as Flint stepped through the Portal. “We can do this.”