His stomach growled as he woke, slouched against the wall. Cole stands, the pain in his head gone, replaced by a quiet voice urging him to climb the tower. Stumbling forward past where he was given the initial message, another one appears.

[Floor 1: An Entertainer's Agility]

[Trial: Survive the treacherous hallway in front of you.]

An odd nostalgia washes over Cole as he brings up his own menu, the muscle memory engrained within his brain. Quietly observing the transparent blue panel floating in front of him, he navigates to his status window, pulling it up in front of him to check his stats and skills.

[Challenger: Cole, Jester]

[Trait: Adaptive]

[Strength: 6]

[Dexterity: 21]

[Endurance: 12]

[Insight: 16]

[Magical Power: 0]

[Skills: N/A]

[Blessings: Fool's Agility]

Cole, disturbed by his lack of skills, checks the description of his prescribed trait and blessing, grinning as he recognizes the gift he's been given.

[Trait: Adaptive - Your past life was one of constant peril; as such, you've been molded to reflect this. You will gain proficiency much faster than others and have a natural insulation against elements you've been repeatedly exposed to!]

[Blessing: Fool's Agility - A Fool's job is never done! Those unmoved by your words shall be entertained through pure spectacle! You will become naturally flexible and much more athletic!]

Finished with his confirmation, he closes the window, stepping forward and staring out into the hallway.

The straight passage ahead of him, barely lit by the torches, was rather barren for something described as "treacherous." Cole took a few steps forward, fully expecting to see something at the end of the hallway, but still nothing. Cautiously, he grabbed a torch from the wall, slowly making his way down the hallway. Click! As Cole shifted his weight onto his front foot, it pushed down the marked stone slab, which he had failed to notice prior. Cole stood still, wondering what had triggered as... Swish! ... Clang! An arrow, one shot at such a deadly velocity it probably would've taken his arm off had he been a step to the right. The arrow stuck deep in the wall behind him, he continued forward, treading even lighter than he had before.

As he stepped off the plate, he noticed a peculiar scratch running across it that matched a few other stones around him. "I'm going to regret this..." Cole clenched his teeth as he intentionally stepped on a scratched stone, triggering the mechanism again with an indistinguishable Click! ... Swish! Another arrow whizzed past him, piercing the one that had hit the wall before. Shivering through his apprehension, he continues forward, slowly stepping over scratched stones, reaching around halfway through the hallway. Just barely catching the glint of a wire in front of him, dangerously close to his face, he steps back. Click! ... Swish! The arrow scrapes past him, this time tearing his tunic, leaving a small gash on his side. Blood slowly dripping from his side, he stumbles forward, ducking under the wire.

He stops to nurse his wound gazing infront of him as he does so, being careful not to put too much pressure on it he grits his teeth and wipes the wound with the ripped side of his tunic. His bright red blood soaking into the torn part of the tunic. he noticed the multitude of glinting steel wires ahead of him. The complex web of wire accompanied by the several scratched slabs ahead of him would require careful precision to traverse; luckily, it's one he's afforded with his abnormally high dexterity due to his blessing.Slowly ducking under the first wire, Cole slowly makes his way through the web as his wound continues to drip. He steps over the second, careful to avoid the pressure plate across from it. He stops to rest for a second before continuing. He squeezes between two of the wires and crouches beneath another, his newfound flexibility affording him ranges of compression he didn't think he'd have. He skirts past another wire before finally stumbling over the last wire and collapsing onto the hard floor as his foot snatches on it. He braces himself against the wall as he stands back up and looks back at the deadly, though rather short, passage behind him and the few drops of blood that leaked from him as he maneuvered around the wires. Reaching the end of the hallway, the torches that lined the walls behind him extinguish one by one as the torches that run along a staircase's walls light themselves in front of him, revealing his means of ascent. An alert from the tower appears as he looks up the now lit-up staircase, the top of it trailing out into a well-lit room.

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[Congratulations challenger! You've completed the first floor. All of your wounds will be healed, and your equipment will be repaired!]

Cole's flesh stretches across the gash on his side as he reads the alert. The skin twisting together and forming whole new skin where it used to be prior to his wound. His blood fading and his tunic restructuring itself much the same his as skin. He runs his hand over it slowly the side that had the gash which now much to his surprise shows no sign of his previous injury, as if it were never there.

[This is will not be something provided often! Try to be more careful next time challenger!]

[Calculating further rewards based on clear proficiency...]

[You identified the cause of arrows! +2 Insight]

[You noticed the wire without direct contact! +2 Insight]

[You cleared the floor with minimal injury! +1 Endurance]

[The one closely aligned with the fool appreciate your agility! They see it fit to reward you further!]

[Continue onwards brave challenger!]

As his stats increase, Cole feels bolstered. With every point of insight, the thin wires behind him seem obvious compared to before, even the dark hallway and the once murky darkness at the top of the staircase much clearer. Though he does feel a bit more bulky he can't notice anything immediately different regarding his "Endurance". "Interesting.." Cole steps onto the staircase, slowly walking up the stairs and into the well lit room at its landing.

The room is well lit, unlike the prior one, it's much more boxier and compact. The room is properly furnished too, unlike the barren passage before; a few shelves decorate the walls, and a large counter sits in the middle. Just before Cole can properly examine anything in the room, he's interrupted by another window.

[Floor 1.5: An Old Fool's Shop]

[A challenger's ascent is not filled with constant tribulation! There are rest stops between each floor where you can consult with those aligned with your patron!]

Just as Cole's eyes glaze over the end of the text, it disappears. Disturbingly lanky arms with a checkered purple and black pattern running along its sleeves reach from below the stone floor through the space, an impossible feat. The black-gloved hands feel around the counter, gripping it with sharp talon-like fingers, digging into the wood as the arms bend and contract pulling up its main body. An unsightly mess of torn purple and black fabric throws itself from the floor and onto the counter, bending over it as it finally orients itself leaning back gazing down at Cole. The small room barely contains the being it's long arms folding in to its lap as it lurches over comfortably. A quiet voice humming in a low tone as it speaks "Greetings."

The creatue is a vile miss-use of finely crafted though worn fabric, magic, and whatever trickery could make such a dingy monstrosity. It's entire body covered in the pattern except for certain randomly placed squares of full color either black or purple. Some of the fabric on it's torso is torn showing it's hollow interior. Cole's mouth agape in awe rather than fear the being looms over him showing it's face in full detail. The head is nothing but a stump wearing a mask, which despite its obvious wear looks like it was crafted masterfully. A sole tear drop dripping from an eye etched into the middle of the mask the creature hangs its head near Cole. "Why do you not respond child?" The soft voice betraying it's nightmare-inducing appearance. "I-" The monster cuts off Cole before he can speak. "Save your words, i care not for them at this moment. I'm his Liege's aide, Maestro, and though this compartment has been long abandoned by him i can tell he's chosen you as his proxy." A moment of silent passes as the being pulls out a small leather pouch from seemingly nowhere and handing it to Cole "Take it boy, may it and it's contents assist you further."

Before Cole can even utter a word the being leaves as quickly as it arrived, the husk of fabric lowers itself back through the floor silently and dissapears much faster than it arrived practically falling into whatever allows it to transverse space. Cole seeing no reason to pester the suprisingly gentle giant lets him leave without a word and decides to check out the bag setting it on the counter. From the pouch a small leather kit with miscellanious tools inside of it, a wrapped dagger, and a few vials of a viscious red liquid. One thing from the bag stands out from the others, a glowing piece of parchment, just holding the thing brings up a window.

[Jester's Ashes]

["And he though devout in his servitude did not withold his tongue, speaking freely as was his privilege"]

[Through some circumstance you've happened upon an excerpt of your patron's tale. Good luck in its reconstruction, Jester's Patron.]

Not thinking to much about it Cole quickly stuffs it back into the satchel alongside the other items leaving only the wrapped dagger. Cole grabs the dagger and carefully unwraps it pocketing the cloth as he never knows when he'll need a bandage, no matter how unsanitary it may be. The dagger though a bit dull would come in handy if he got into any sort of conflict so he clutches it tightly.

Treading to the other side of the room the torches that lit up the staircase coming down extinguish as the ones for another flight of stairs light up infront of him showing his path of ascent yet again. Cole wastes little time descending...