Stepping Up, Draft 1, CH 62 (Patreon)

Tibs raised his arm. The shield of ice took the fist and cracked, but remained whole. “You okay?” he asked Khumdar as the cleric slowly got to his feet.

He nodded. “The blow took me unawares, it will not happen again.”

A series of small explosions caused the Brute to stagger back.

“Get moving,” Mez called, “I can’t send anything larger with you two so close.”

Carina kept the other Brute busy. She couldn’t lift it, and her air slices weren’t as effective, but anytime it raised a foot to move, she unbalanced it, effectively making it impossible for it to approach her.

Keeping his shield between them and the closest Brute, Tibs followed Khumdar as they stepped away. The explosions slowed, but became larger; only they didn’t have as much effect as hoped for.

Jackal yelled happily as he pounded away on the Bigger Brute. Two rock-beings smacking each other to little visible effect. Tibs wasn’t sure Jackal was even trying to destroy it.

The explosion was large enough Tibs felt it around his shield.

“Finally,” Mez said.

Tibs turned and ran for Carina’s Brute. While their need to get close to cause damage was a flaw in their creation, the Brute didn’t run out of strength, unlike the Runners, who depended on their reserves to power their abilities.

“Give me room!” He yelled to Carina as he felt the air buffer him. He absorbed the shield and made a sword. The wind died, and he sliced at the Brute’s legs. The cut wasn’t as deep as before; Sto had increased their resistance to all the elements. He rolled out of the way of the coming fist and coated the ground under the Brute’s feet with ice, but it didn’t move to come after him.

Sto had changed how they fought.

That was the biggest problem with this fight for Tibs. He’d expected it to go as the previous ones. Distract the Brute, then get it to slip and end up on its back, giving them time to bash it with minimal risk.

Sto said they weren’t alive in the same sense as Tibs and his friends, but they could clearly think.

“Stay down,” Khumdar said, then he swung his staff. He was too far to connect, but a wave of darkness left it and impacted the Brute, causing it to stagger and step on the slick ice.

Once it was on its back, Tibs was slicing at it as it maneuvered to get to its feet. It didn’t protect itself and Tibs added many cuts and Khumdar got in a few piercings before stepping on a patch of ice and nearly losing his footing.

“Step away,” Carina called.

Tibs did as instructed. Carina had a ball of air between her hands so tightly packed with essence, it was visible as a swirling mass. Once he and Khumdar were away, she shoved it at the Brute and it exploded on contact; the air ripping into the cuts and breaks the two of them had caused, and it flew apart.

The sorceress was panting, hands on her knees.

Mez wasn’t out of breath, but the reserve in his bow was nearly depleted.

“Jackal,” the archer called. “Are you planning on ending your fight? We can’t get to the third floor until you do.”

“You guys done?” the fighter answered back.

“Yes,” Mez replied, then lowered his voice. “He’s just showing off, isn’t he?”

A fist through the Bigger Brute’s head and a grinning Jackal was the answer.

“I was waiting for you to be done,” he said.

“Of course you were,” Carins said, still panting slightly. “That’s why you waited until Mez called to you. You didn’t even notice we were done, did you?”

Jackal grinned. “I was kind of busy.” The grinding of stone against stone kept anyone from answering. “And that’s our stairwell to the third floor.” He rubbed his hands together and headed for it.

Just inside the opening, on their left, was an ornate chest.

“Stop,” Tibs said as Jackal reached for it. “Let me look it over.”

“But we won,” the fighter protested.

“And it is this kind of thinking that has led to many great warriors’ death,” Khumdar said.

“What he said,” Mez added.

Tibs first looked for a lock; there wasn’t one. Then checked for traps. He found something. He wasn’t sure what it was. He hadn’t seen something like this before, either from the teachers or in his own training. The left hinge had a pin attached to it that went into the chest. The way it was attached, as the cover was lifted, the pin would push in and…. He wouldn’t know until he opened it. But not with the pin in place. He made a small pick and pulled it out of the hinge, then took it out.

He showed it to the others before opening the chest.

Attached to the back wall of the chest was a crystal vial with a dark green mist inside.

“There’s a lot of air packed in there,” Carina said. “It wouldn’t take much for it to explode.”

“There’s corruption too,” Tibs added. He sensed more carefully. “Earth and more I can’t tell apart. Whatever the result is, it can’t be good. This would have cracked the crystal and the air would have sent all of it into the face of whoever opened the chest.”

“How did you know it’d be trapped?” Mez asked.

“I didn’t.” Tibs used water to feel around the crystal container. “But the Sto’s comments in the pool room reminded him there aren’t any rules about how this works. It isn’t because we defeated the boss that he can’t then add a trap.” He found the ties holding it. “I should have been checking every boss chest we found, but either Sto didn’t think of it until now, or he didn’t want to overdo it on the first floor.”

“A bit of both,” Sto said.

“Jackal, I’m going to try something with earth.”

“Tibs, I don’t think now’s the time to channel an element you haven’t practiced with.”

He shook his head and raised his arm. “I want to try to use the reserves in my armband without letting go of water.”

“Haven’t you tried that?” Jackal asked.

“I didn’t bother wearing them since any attempt to only use my element’s reserve led to me channeling it entirely. If I can make this work, I’ll have more versatility, but just in case, be ready to talk me out of staying with earth.”

He placed a finger on the crystal container and carefully pulled earth essence out of the armband’s reserve. Training with sensing and manipulating gave him the experience with splitting his attention, but this was slightly more difficult since he could feel himself also reaching for his personal reserve. He never had to worry about it before.

He coated the container with earth and sighed when he stopped.

“Still you?” Jackal asked.

“I’m always me,” Tibs replied. Using water to break the ties and taking the now rock-covered crystal container. He couldn’t tell if it broke, but it didn’t matter. The stone would keep the gas from spreading.

“Tibs,” Sto said as he pocketed it and stepped away from the chest.

“Yes?”

“That’s mine.”

Tibs smiled. “Not anymore. Think of it as another reward from the chest.”

“No, No, maybe,” Jackal said as he pulled out items. Two sets of clothing. Nice enough, but not enchanted. The maybe was a set of boots with air woven through it. “Anyone needs amulets?” He took out two, then set a crystal bottle with a yellow liquid in it. “This is new.” Then he took a set of two leather bands out. “Now this is interesting.” He slipped them over each hand and they covered his knuckles.

“Oh, I really wish that hadn’t made it into this chest,” Sto said as Tibs picked up the bottle.

“Any idea what it is?” Mez asked.

There was…. “No. This is nothing I’ve felt before. I think it’s essence, but I’m not sure.”

“The guild is sure to know what it is,” Khumdar said as he added it to Mez’s pack.

A boom had them look at Jackal who’d punched the wall. The fighter grinned. “You guys mind if I keep these?”

“Didn’t you just use them?” Mez replied. “Which means we kind of don’t have a choice?”

“Right, sorry. I just wanted to test if they did anything more than protect my knuckles.”

“They go boom,” Carina said. “That was air detonating on impact.”

“Like he’s not already strong enough,” Ganny commented.

“You’re the one who said it’s all got to be random,” Sto replied.

“I prefer this to you giving them whatever Tibs asks for.”

“Down we go, then?” Mez asked, then headed for the stairs.

“Anything else on them?” Jackal asked Tibs.

“Yes, but I can’t tell what.”

“Metal would make them harder,” Khumdar said.

“You’ll have to get someone at the guild to tell you more about them,” Carina said.

“I’m not giving them more coins,” Jackal replied. “If they go boom, then I’m happy with that.”

They caught up to Mez, and at the bottom of the stairs, Tibs sensed the doorway at the back. Activating it, he looked at the bridge. “We can come down to the third floor directly,” He announced.

“That’s a lot of loot we’d be missing out on,” Jackal said.

“This floor will have better loot,” Carina said. “Although I’m not sure how this will work.”

 Tibs joined them. Instead of the usual room, the space ended with three halls, each going in different directions. “Are we supposed to split up?” he asked. His friends looked at him. “I was asking you. Sto doesn’t give that kind of help, anymore.”

Ganny let out a bark of laughter.

“He was tricking me,” Sto replied, and Tibs smiled.

“If this is about splitting us up,” Carina said, “I feel there should be five tunnels, not just three.”

“Then is this about picking the right one?” Mez asked.

Tibs studied each entrance. “There are no hidden doors that slide down. So we can come back and try another one if one doesn’t have anything.”

“Can’t the dungeon just close it behind us, anyway?”

“He can’t make changes in a room while we’re in it,” Mez pointed out.

“But is this a room?” Khumdar asked. “And would the same rules apply to a hall or tunnel? As Tibs mentioned, the rules are not necessarily what we think.”

“The dungeon said we it can’t make changes,” Jackal said.

“But was it being honest?”

“Yes,” Sto replied.

“He’s got no reason to lie,” Tibs said. “The rules are there for everyone, and I’m the only one who hears him. I think we’d be able to notice if he lied.”

“Remember, the dungeon is about making us stronger,” Carina said. “There have to be rules for Runners to work out. But I think Khumdar’s right. Here the challenges might be working out what’s a room and what isn’t, so we can figure out what rule we’re working with.”

“Whatever it is,” Jackal said, “We aren’t going to figure it out standing here. I say we pick one and start walking. We’ll see what happens.” Before anyone could comment, the fighter walked into the central opening.

Tibs followed.

“Jackal,” Carina called in exasperation, but was quickly next to them, the two others in tow.

The hall was more reminiscent of the way the entrance was the first time Tibs went in. Uneven stone walls with rough floors, although those were even, and the light came from everywhere instead of torches or the light stones that were still used there. The width varied, from being able to fit four abreast to going down to two, and it turned left and right with no sense Tibs could make.

After a few minutes of uneventful walking, they came to an intersection. With one junction on their left, and the other more of a bend aiming to go right.

“Is the goal to have us die of boredom?” Jackal asked.

“Or hunger?” Mez added. “If we get lost, that will be a problem.”

Jackal placed a hand on the wall. “We won’t get lost. It’s all stone essence, so I can remember the way we take.”

“Tibs, what can you tell us about what’s ahead?” Carina asked.

Tibs extended his sense. “Little. Ganny knows I can do this, so going forward, there’s essence everywhere. Some places it’s denser, so that might be a creature, but I can’t tell from here.”

“So we need to pick again,” she said. “I’m thinking Mez’s right. This will be a maze.”

“Then we go that way,” Jackal said, making the right and freezing as something clicked under his foot. He was stone as everyone else moved away. “I think we’ve been taking something else for granted,” he said when nothing else happened. “If there are no rooms, then traps can be anywhere.”

Tibs looked around the fighter’s foot. The roughness of the floor made noticing this was a tile harder, but Jackal was right. Tibs hadn’t been looking. Locking it in place was simple. He poured water in and iced it. He studied the walls and ceiling, but saw nothing resembling the other end of a trap.

“Is it just a decoy?” Tibs wondered.

“Maybe it sends a signal to some creature?” Mez offered.

Tibs sense, but got nothing useful. Even the denser spots hadn’t moved. Maybe those were decoys, too.

“I guess that means Tibs had to take the lead,” Jackal said.

Looking for taps everywhere would slow them down. He studied the tile, then looked down the length of the hallway. If Sto had made it, there would be a pattern, but he didn’t know how Ganny worked.

He advanced slowly, looking for more tiles. When he found one, he covered it with water. There was no point in wasting time figuring out how they worked. He wanted to get them through to the end. On the next run, when they didn’t bother with the second floor, he’d take the time to study them.

They reached another branch, this one resembling a ‘y’, and he could see trap tiles along both of them. So the branching didn’t represent a change in the traps. The essence was also the same as far as he could sense.

“We’re going to die of hunger,” Mez said.

“We can go back,” Tibs replied. “The doorway leads to the second floor.”

“Unless that trigger closed a door behind us,” the archer replied.

Tibs opened his mouth, then closed it with a shrug. That was a possibility. Maybe he’d missed whatever system Ganny had set up to lock them in. “It doesn’t feel right,” he said. “Preventing us from leaving feels more like looking to kill us instead of challenging us.”

“I’m not sure how having us walk around with only traps is a challenge.”

“There will be more,” Khumdar said, “of that, I have no doubt. Mayhap this is about maintaining our alertness.”

“Hey dungeon,” Jackal told the ceiling.

“Ganny,” Tibs corrected him. “This is her floor, so she’s the one making the decision.”

“But this is still the dungeon, so it’s the one doing all this,” the fighter replied.

“Jackal,” Carina said, “when you want something at the inn, do you ask Kroseph or his father for it?”

Jackal considered it. “Good point. Ganny, just a reminder that fighting is part of how we’re supposed to be tested.” He then looked at Tibs.

“Okay,” She said, “I will answer this one. There will be fighting. And I don’t want to hear any complaining by the time it’s all done.”

“You’re going to get your fighting,” Tibs translated. “Possibly more than you want even.”

Jackal shook his head. “I will never get enough of fighting.”

“Is it too early to point out that this is the type of saying that has doomed entire adventuring parties?” Khumdar asked.