Stepping Up, Draft 1, CH 63 (Patreon)

The attack came out of nowhere.

The tunnel had widened until they could all stand side by side, and Tibs had wondered if this would be a room when he felt the essence above them shift and creatures dropped on them.

They were fast and numerous; wielding swords and shields. Carina and Mez were the most disadvantaged, and the others did their best to create distance for them, but the creatures swarmed on all sides, forcing Tibs, Khumdar, and Jackal to surround them.

Tibs got a sense of lean creatures slightly taller than he was, with dog-like faces as he slashed at them and blocked too few of the attacks. He iced the floor, but they didn’t fall because of the claws on their toes.

Mez got in a few shots, but most missed as one of them jostled him as they deal with the…. would Sto call them Doglings?

When finally the fight was over, Tibs panted. He let go of water and used his essence to stop the bleeding, then looked to the others. Jackal’s body had cuts and scratches, but the stone went all the way through.

“I need to practice purity,” he said, wrapping the cleric’s injuries. “And work out how to heal.” He stepped away and channeled water again. The wrap on Khumdar’s injuries remained.

“You’re starting to bleed again,” Mez pointed out. The wraps around Tibs’s cuts were gone. They’d changed to water.

“This is why,” he said. “What I use on you stays because I don’t keep a connection to it, but I don’t know how to break it on mine.”

“Switch to your essence,” Jackal said. “You have your bracers for when you need another element. We need you in one piece.”

“Can’t you just heal yourself now?” Mez asked. “It’s the first thing clerics learn, right?”

“Only, it isn’t as simple as pushing the essence into someone,” Carina said. “I grew up around clerics. I’ve seen them work at getting it right.”

“Unfortunately, watching others struggle to achieve a result does not impart knowledge of how they succeeded.”

Carina nodded.

“I studied the clerics when they healed, but all my time’s been taken getting a handle on water, so I haven’t tried what they did.”

“Now seems like the right time,” the archer said.

“No,” Jackal replied, “if something goes wrong and Tibs injures himself worse in the process, it puts everyone at risk. We stick with what we know works. Now, anyone knows what happened?”

“I think the dungeon’s using the same kind of doorways it made for us to jump floors to keep the creatures out of Tibs’s sensing range,” Carina said.

“Smart woman,” Ganny commented.

Tibs studied the reserves on his bracers while the others debated. They weren’t assigned to a specific element. Sto had set eight because those were how many he knew Tibs would be able to wield, and like him, Sto hadn’t known getting all eight would let him change his vast reserve from his element to the one he channeled.

Could he make use of that?

He emptied water out of the bracer and into his reserve. Switched to his element and moved some into the vacated reserve. He smiled as that part worked. Now to test the next one. He channeled water again and used the reserve to wrap one of his cuts. That one injury used most of it—he’d forgotten how costly it was with how vast his reserve was; but while it took more concentration, it showed him this was possible. Could he take this one step further?

He let go of water, refilled the reserve with his element, then wrapped all his injuries. He attempted to switch to water slowly, but there was no transition. It was one or the other. He lost control of his element for an instant, but once his core was all water, he didn’t need focus for it, so regained it. In that moment, the wraps had deteriorated, but not fallen apart. Fixing them took most of the reserve, but then he stood and smiled.

The others watched him.

“You did something,” Carina said.

“I found a way around the problem.” Tibs pointed to his not bleeding injuries and his eyes. “I don’t need the reserve for water, so that’s in there and it lets me keep hold. There isn’t enough left to make a wrap in a hurry, but that hasn’t been something we’ve needed often.”

“You’re sure you don’t risk losing the wraps?” Jackal asked.

“I can’t be certain until it’s put to the test, but maintaining them takes less concentration than actively using another of the essences from the bracer.”

“Alright, I’m good with that. Carina is confident the dungeon can drop creatures on us anytime it wants, so—”

Stone grinding against stone sounded ahead. It sounded again and again.

“That isn’t a door,” Carina said.

“It sounds like someone shuffling, or injured.”

“One of the Dogling?”

“Gnoll,” Ganny said as the others looked at him.

“They’re called Gnoll,” Tibs corrected himself.

“The dungeon needs to get better at naming things,” Carina sighed.

“I didn’t come up with the name,” Sto said.

“That sounds too heavy to be one of those,” Jackal replied.

“I didn’t either,” Ganny said. “This is something another dungeon came up with.”

Tibs closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. Having two sets of people who couldn’t tell when the other was talking was a pain.

“Tibs?” Khumdar asked.

“Sorry, too many conversations.” He looked at them. “That sounds like one creature. Are we checking it out?”

“Oh definitely,” Jackal said, grinning. “If it’s big and lumbering, I want a go at it.”

“Let’s not get overconfident. It could be a decoy,” Carina said. “The dungeon had plenty of creatures that can move silently, or it can simply drop them on you while you’re fighting.”

“How many coins did we get?” Tibs asked.

“Thirty-six,” Mez replied.

“Along with a rapier,” Jackal added, then walked toward the sound.

The others kept their distance, and Tibs remained aware for any of the shift in essence that could warn him a doorway was opening. Around a bend, they stopped as the creature came into view. It was tall, taller than Bigger Brute, but not as massive. It was still blocky, like the Brutes and Whippers but leaner, and without a whip or weapons.

“What does the dungeon call this one?” Mez asked. “The not Big Brute?”

Khumdar chuckled.

Tibs looked up at the lack of response. “He isn’t saying. He must have gotten busy with something.”

“Hey dungeon,” Jackal called. “Are you going to miss another time I win a fight against one of your creatures?” He grinned at Tibs. “I think it’s too embarrassed to watch.”

“Or it’s busy getting more creature ready,” Carina pointed out. “If you’re going to take it on alone, get to it.”

Jackal didn’t hesitate. He ran at the golem and punched it in the head once, twice, and a third time before it reacted to the first impact. It was slow. Too slow, Tibs thought, to have any chance. When he was stone, Jackal was slower, but not that much.

“I think this is a failed attempt,” Jackal called over his shoulder.

“Pay attention!” Mez yelled, but the golem’s fist connected and, while slow, the force was enough to push the fighter a few steps back.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Carina mused as Jackal threw himself at the creature. “Tibs, what can you sense?”

He focused, then shook his head. “There’s too much essence in the air for me to get much. Earth essence, my essence, others.” He shrugged. “Maybe Jackal’s right.”

“It can take a pounding,” Mez said.

“The dungeon is aware of how much Jackal enjoys hitting its creature,” Khumdar said. “It would create some with that in mind.”

“Okay, but how long are we letting this go on?” the archer asked. “He might be having fun but I’m—”

“Don’t finish that,” Carina warned. “We’re given the dungeon enough ideas already.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry,” Ganny said. “You aren’t going to be bored for long.”

“Finally!” Jackal yelled and a chunk of stone landed close enough Tibs made out it was part of the golem’s face, but the other side was smooth, instead of jagged, as if that side was hollow.

“Abyss!” Jackal exclaimed and stepped back.

Where the stone was missing, a face was revealed. A human face with pale blue eyes and brown hair. Only half was visible, but Tibs recognized her.

“Pyan?” Jackal asked, shocked.

“You have no idea,” a male voice said out of her voice, “how happy I am you’re reacting that way. It makes carrying this weight around worthwhile.”

“Who?” Jackal stammered.

“Come on Jackal, where did you think I’d be if I wasn’t watching you fight?”

“Sto?” Tibs called, his voice breaking.

“Yes.” Pyan’s face smiled in a way he’d never seen her do. “Now, hit me again so I can get out of this. I didn’t realize it would be impossible to break it from the inside.”

“Oh. I am going to be happy to pound you into dust for doing this,” Jackal replied angrily, then he on it, hitting hard enough pieces of stone flew off with each strike.

Tibs wanted to look away, but he kept staring as Jackal attacked their old friend. He knew she was dead, that this was just another creature Sto made, but each time Jackal hit the stone body, it hurt Tibs. Jackal had never been this vicious with her. Their fights had always been filled with joy.

Now, Jackal was out to kill her—him, Sto.

“Shouldn’t we stop him?” Mez asked.

“That is not our friend,” Khumdar stated.

“Then how come it looked like her?” he demanded. “Everything in here’s made of stone! Maybe the dungeon never killed her and it’s just using essence to… I don’t know, control her. Jackal’s going to kill her!”

Something shattered, and as the dust fell, Tibs saw Pyan roll back to her feet. She stretched. “Finally. Now we can get this fight going.” She wore the same leather armor as she had the last time Tibs had seen her, when she still mourned Geoff. If Mez was right and that was her, did it mean Geoff wasn’t dead either? How about the other people the dungeon had eaten?

“That’s not Pyan,” Carina said, her voice cracking. “It’s just a copy the dungeon made.”

“How do you know?” Mez demanded.

Jackal threw himself at the other fighter, but she easily stepped out of the way and struck him and he staggered.

“Pyan couldn’t hit Jackal hard enough he’d feel it in his stone form,” Tibs said.

“But…” Mez trailed off. “It’s all stone.” He sounded like he’d lost hope. Was there someone else the dungeon had eaten the archer had cared for?

“It’s all we’ve fought,” Carina said. “But we’re the ones who assumed that’s all there would be. No one said it’s a rule. We should have known better,” she retorted.

Jackal was trying to strike her—no, Sto. But Sto was too agile in that body. He moved like he’d trained in it. Or had lived in it.

“Fuck this,” Mez snarled, and the arrow hit with an explosion that sent Jackal flying back.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Sto said, now in his normal voice, the one only Tibs heard. Pyan’s body dissolved where it landed, leaving behind the full set of her armor. “Tibs, tell Mez he had no business getting involved.”

“I had it!” Jackal yelled, storming in their direction. “You had no business shooting!”

“See,” Sto explained. “Jackal feels the same.”

“Business?” Mez replied. “That was my friend it used. My friend you were happily pounding on.”

“Happy? Did I fucking look happy? I was going to make this fucking dungeon pay for using her face like that. I was going to break each and every bone in that flesh sack it made and make him feel it all!”

“Okay, that’s excessive,” Sto said.

“Jackal,” Carina said.

“No! I was going to make it suffer and Mez here just went and killed it.”

“Tibs? What’s going on?” Sto asked.

Tibs looked at the empty armor. It felt like she’d just died.

“I couldn’t stand watching you hit her!” the archer yelled.

“That is enough,” Khumdar said as Jackal raised a fist over his head. With the words came lethargy and Tibs fought to remain standing, to counter the essence, but it took too much energy. He sat down. “I do not know if turning us against each other was the dungeon’s place, but regardless, we cannot allow this to happen.”

“I think we made a mistake,” Ganny said.

“I don’t understand,” Sto replied.

“I’m not sure I do either, but this isn’t what we thought would happen.”

“What did you think was going to happen?” Tibs demanded, although he couldn’t tell if the anger he felt carried through the exhaustion.

“I thought you’d enjoy watching a good fight,” Sto replied. “I thought Jackal would like fighting Pyan again. She always talked about how good their fights were. I don’t understand why everyone got so angry.”

“She was our friend!” Tibs snarled.

“And you got to see her again.”

“No, we didn’t.” Tibs got to his feet, energy returning. The others were doing the same, watching him. “I got to watch you in a creature that looked like her. I just to watch Jackal try to kill her! I got to watch her die again!” He wiped at his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Tibs,” Ganny said, “I didn’t realize it would affect you like that.”

“Didn’t any of the others react like this?”

“We didn’t do this with the other teams,” she said, “this was a special treat for you and your friends.”

“Well, thanks a lot,” he snarled back. The others were looking at him. “Sto and Ganny didn’t realize this would hurt us,” he said with a dismissing wave.

“Tibs,” Sto began.

“No! You don’t do this to me and expect me to be okay with it. You know how it hurt.”

“When they die, but—”

“It still hurts!”

“But I—”

“Leave it, Sto,” Ganny said softly. “I don’t think this is something we can just fix.”

“We’re leaving,” Tibs said and headed away.

“But the rest of the floor?” Sto demanded. “There’s so much more.”

“No one touches the armor,” Jackal said. “I don’t want that floating around the world.”

“Wait, why are you giving up loot? Jackal, it’s great loot, there’s more. Why can they hear me? Tibs, tell him there’s more loot. Please.”

Tibs didn’t respond. This was the best way he knew to hurt Sto, and he wanted him to suffer.