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Chapter 31: Score of a Lifetime
🕑 Added 2024-08-13 19:02:35 +0000 UTCCarrie watched the black kobold as he meticulously organized his belongings, finally pulling out a stubby spade and slowly digging through the ash, pouring each spoonful through some kind of metal grate.
Everything about the creature ran counter to what she’d been taught about Kobolds. That they were barbaric and bloodthirsty, blessed with cunning when it came to creating traps, but little else.
Loth was the picture of deliberation in every action and every word.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Looking for insects,” Loth said, feeding another trowel of ash through the grate.
“Why?”
“My vivarium has been rendered useless by the extreme heat, only useful as emergency rations. The heat has been slowly cooking them. I’m operating at less than half my capacity without the support of my insects.”
“You really think you’ll find insects in the ash?”
“Insects are incredibly adaptive,” Loth said, feeding another trowel through the grate. “despite their relative weakness, they are able to expand to fill any niche.”
“But will some random insect you pull out of the ground be able to help?” Carrie clarified.
“Every living species has some method, some tool or tactic by which it defends itself, secures it’s food and mates, whether that be the swarming proliferation of an ant, the stink of a stinkbug or the web of a spider.
“Every insect has some utility that an enlightened mind can bend towards their own ends.” Loth said. “Ends that their minds couldn’t possibly comprehend, yet quite simple to higher beings like you and me.”
With a little burst of ash, some kind of insect was revealed as its surroundings were sifted through the grate.
Loth snatched it up, and begin inspecting it as it skittered along his palm. It looked a bit like a chip of shiny black volcanic glass.
“Imagine, a being of unimaginable power and intelligence snatches you out of your world and sets you on a course that makes every action you take, everything that comes naturally to you, benefit them.”
Loth put the insect inside a barrel filled with ash and fungus carefully prepared from the nearby environment. A miniature world of Loth’s creation. “Not unlike the gods themselves.”
Carries brows rose.
“…Do you have a god complex?”
Loth froze, his clawed hand hovering over the top of the barrel, glowing with an Ability.
“…Possibly.”
**William Oh**
“Hup,” Will grunted as he jumped to the next rooftop, the roof tiles catching his feet without too much fuss.
Bri jumped next, trying not to scream as she covered the twenty-foot gap, Will stabilizing her landing.
Travis followed, and the two of them caught him.
They crossed the city like that, leaping from roof to roof, staying off the streets where the corpses stretched in every direction.
The last thing Will wanted to do was be down in those tight streets and alleys, unable to see any further than the next bend in the labyrinthine passages.
Maybe when the sun came up, if there was still no danger, they would head down to the bazaar and steal everything they could carry.
Climbers had a strong culture of ‘Finders Keepers’.
There had to be millions of gold worth of Relics and Sacrifices down there, just waiting for someone to take it.
But…the best stuff was sure to be in the Lord’s mansion.
And if the Lord was still alive, just holed up in his castle, then looting the city was illegal anyway…or at least, it would piss off a Lord. So common sense dictated they knocked on the door first before they started their shopping spree.
It took about two hours to cross the city on the rooftops, always dropping down and waiting for the unexpected after every jump.
Nothing.
Finally they got to the roof of the building closest to the castle.
The Lord’s castle had sustained significantly more damage than the rest of the city. it was covered in telltale scorch marks, melting stone, and damage from weapons.
So something without weapons killed the city…some kind of monster. And Climbers killed the Lord. Will’s appraisal of the situation was becoming more and more clear.
Another Lord had transported an unknown species of monster into the city and had assaulted the Lord’s castle while the monsters mopped up everything else.
Well, the good news is it’s not some kind of evil curse. Just regular evil.
Will scowled, inspecting the shattered shield generators on the walls of the castle and the melted shut front gate. They would have to go over the wall and none of them could jump that far.
“Hold this,” Will said, handing Bri the other end of his rope as he took the opportunity to try something.
Gravity Charge.
10/18 Charges Remaining.
“FUuuuuuck!” Will’s breath was torn from his body as he fell towards the castle tower beyond the outer wall. The good news is that the boots make Gravity Charge faster! The bad news is I think I’m gonna die!
He passed where the shield would’ve been and impacted against the tower, smashing through the wall. Will’s new boots made the landing – which should’ve shattered his legs and spine – feel like a dream.
Once his target – the wall – was shattered into a thousand pieces, Gravity Charge cut out, leaving only the momentum carrying him across the floor of the room he’d smashed into, sliding across the floor until his feet hit the inner wall.
It must’ve been someone’s bathroom once upon a time, because there was soap, mirrors, and a giant brass tub that must’ve weighed a dozen Wills. Will tied the rope to the tub and limped over to the Will-shaped hole in the wall, giving Bri and Travis a thumb’s up.
They pulled the rope tight and began climbing, swinging over to the outer wall before scaling it. While they climbed, Will turned around and inspected the room he was in with a closer eye.
This had been a woman’s bathroom, if he had to judge by the soap and bathtub, fluffy towels, razors, etc. This’ll make Bri and Carrie happy, Will thought, looking for the door.
It was on the opposite wall, slightly splintered where his feet had slammed into them on his first landing.
Will pressed his ear to the door, listening for the telltale signs of alarms being raised.
Nothing.
Pretty sure they’re dead then. Will’s entrance had not been quiet.
He opened the door and peered in the hall.
Faint blood splotches and weapon damage, suggesting the fighting had gotten all the way inside the castle.
Will opened the door and crept into the hall, looking both ways before he went towards the dead end, intent on clearing every room behind him before he pushed deeper into the castle.
Office, cleaning supplies, office, wha-
Will paused by a window in his methodical clearing of the hall.
In the distance, he could barely make out the edge of something moving. Some enormous thing seemed to be rotating. Will could only catch the metallic edge of it because of the darkness, but judging by the curve he could make out, it had to be at least as big around as his entire village.
No way.
Will studied the rotating screw for another couple minutes before shaking his head and getting back to work. He checked the next room and found another office.
A fancier one this time.
There were trophies on the walls, bits and pieces from high-floor monsters, relics that had been collecting dust for years. A desk made of expensive-looking wood, and a chair with a pretentiously high back.
This must be the Lord’s office.
Will went to the shelf full of Relics and did Climbers everywhere proud.
He started looting.
Will went through about half the shelf before he noticed one of the Relics was missing. There was a conspicuous rod-shaped patch of clean shelf.
Somebody else already got the best loot, Will thought, clicking his tongue. Will craned his neck, scanning the surroundings for any sign of other looted Relics.
Just this one, huh?
That implied that it hadn’t been a simple robbery for the sake of making money. Whoever had smashed this castle had wanted this one specific Relic, likely to complete a Build that granted unimaginable power.
Looks like becoming a Lord is basically painting a target on your own back…Still wanna do it though.
In the meantime, might as well grab the rest of Travis’s dad’s stuff.
Will grabbed a display of six rings, then two amulets, a bangle and a small dagger, dumping out all the bullets in his Phantom Hand before shoving the loot inside in one go, then turning back towards the hall.
9/18 Charges remaining.
Will froze in place, his eyes landing on an odd trophy on a high shelf near the door. It was a glass dome with a wood foot, with something pale floating inside.
It was a gigantic larva suspended in preserving fluid, about the size of two fists pressed together.
Bullet Wasp Larva The plaque helpfully read.
Will knew for a fact that Loth wanted that.
He got up on his tippy-toes, pulling the ornate fluid-filled glass stand down and inspecting it.
The larva was curled in on itself in death, showing no outward sign of why Loth wanted it so badly. The larva was bulky, and Will didn’t have that kind of space in his Phantom Hand.
But Loth wanted it, and Will owed him gear twice over now, so he tucked it under his arm, even though he knew Travis was going to cause a stink about robbing his dead parents.
Shame they didn’t have any Relic Worms. Will thought, creeping back into the hall, where Travis was peering out from the bathroom.
“SOAP!” Will heard Bri’s astonished whisper from behind him.
“What were you doing in there?” Travis asked, glancing down at the trophy under Will’s arm, his eyes narrowing. “That belongs to my father.”
“If he’s still alive, I’ll give it back to him,” Will said. “I don’t think that’s likely, though, because quite a bit of his stuff has already been looted.”
Travis frowned stalking past Will to peer into the office, scanning the partially emptied shelves.
“Put it back.”
“It’s got a Sacrifice that will help my Party with their Build.” Will said with a shrug. “Unless you want a giant dead bug for sentimental reasons?”
Travis scanned Will up and down, his gaze lingering on Will’s pockets and pouches.
“Fine. If he’s alive, you give everything back.”
“This is all I got,” Will lied, raising the bug.
“I don’t believe you, but I’ve never been here before, so I have no idea what was here originally.”
Me neither, most of it’s gone,” Will said with a shrug.
Sorry dude, you’re not in my Party. Will had learned his priorities. If Travis had been in his Party, he might’ve gone about things differently.
They checked the other doors and cleared the hall before opening the door to the main hall. It had been shattered by the foot of a high-level climber.
Brianna was grinning like a maniac, a pillowcase stuffed with all sorts of toiletries slung over her shoulder.
“Gonna brush my teeth, gonna clean my clothes, oh yeah…” She half whispered, half-sung to herself as they stalked down the stairs.
The throne hall was a slaughter.
High-level Climbers and parts of High-level Climbers were strewn about the throne room, including a richly dressed one near the center of the room, surrounded by a sphere of destruction.
He hadn’t gone down easy.
Travis knelt down, inspecting the corpse.
“I hadn’t spent much time with my father,” he mused, standing back up. “Every once in a while he’d ‘visit’ us. His children would be lined up for inspection, and he’d stalk past, not giving any of us a second glance before disappearing into his bedroom.
He spent more time with the older kids, but I don’t think they really knew him that well, either,” Travis said. “I’m not even sure he wrote the letter condemning me for my choice of Sacrifices himself. I think it was probably a secretary, one of my older siblings, maybe. I don’t know if me acting out even reached his ears.”
“Where’s his loot?” Will asked.
Travis turned on him with a snarl.
“You-“
“Where’s all their loot?” Will interrupted, gesturing at the surrounding Climbers, who had been relieved of their valuable gear.
“Obviously the people who attacked took-“
“Then why didn’t they clear out the upper floor?” Will mused.
He didn’t have to muse for very long as a glint of light caught his eye.
A spear emerged from the darkness, carried by a pink, shiny hand about half the size of a man’s.
“Hold it right there, humans.” The Jibleya said as more of them emerged from the edges of the room. Jibleya had somewhat distended translucent pink flesh with shiny skin stretched tight like a grape. They were industrious folk whose skin and flesh was naturally resistant to poisons and acids, so they tended to steer towards alchemy.
From the other side of the throne room, a half-dozen kobolds emerged from beneath the tufted stools that, in retrospect, had been far too neatly arranged given the amount of battle damage that had filled the room.
Damnit.
Bri clutched her pillowcase full of toiletries to her chest protectively as they circled around them.
“Why you no wait for humies to touch body!?” The closest Kobold hissed at the Jibleya.
“They were about to figure out we were here,” The Jibleya said. “We decided to move while we still have the element of surprise.”
“You ruin good trap!” The kobold spat, hunched over it’s spear and eagerly jabbing it in Will’s direction. Will and Travis took a half-step away from the Lord’s body.
The kobolds run the gamut of colors: Red, rust colored, metallic, brown, green…No black though, and they moved with an odd twitchiness that spoke of barely formed thoughts constantly being interrupted by new sensory information.
Like an animal.
“Who are you people and what do you want!?” The lead Jibleya said, gesturing towards them with their spears. He was wearing fine Relics that Will could only assume came from the nearby corpses.
Looters, like us.
“We’re Looters.” Will said with a shrug. Will figured Travis’s relation to the Lord of the city would only serve to complicate things.
He could have played the game of claiming to be the people who had destroyed the city, but it seemed like it might backfire if they didn’t buy it. As fellow looters, they were at least starting on neutral footing.
“This our find!” the kobold leader said aggressively.
“It’s true, we got here first,” The Jibleya said. “By Tower Law, loot belongs to those who discover it.”
“Well, we discovered the upper floors first, so everything we took from there is ours by law, then.” Will said with a shrug. “I know you guys haven’t been up there yet.”
“’Law’ not stronger than pokey spears! How you not get stopped by traps, Looter?” The nearest Kobold, a creature slightly shorter than Loth asked, poking Will in the armor with his spear for emphasis.
“We came across the rooftops.” Will said, brushing the spear away from him.
“Hah. Haha. HAHAHAHA!” The surrounding Kobolds broke into uproarious laughter.
“You lucky! Lucky humie! Streets trapped good. REAL good, to catch the Tangled.”
“…The what now?” Will asked.
“Did you not see the bodies on the way in?” the Jibleya leader asked, cocking a shiny eyebrow.
“No, I saw them. I just didn’t know what caused them. Was it these Tangled you’re talking about?”
“Let’s just say that normally, Jibleya and Kobold don’t get along…” the jibleya leader said. “But there’s a lot less of us than there were a week ago, so we can’t exactly afford the luxury of fighting each other for loot anymore.”
“This is everyone?” Will asked, scanning the two dozen or so individuals.
“Used to be a lot more.”
“I didn’t see anything I’d describe as Tangled on the way in.” Will said.
“They sleep at night,” The Jibleya leader said, pointing towards the center of the city. “They like to sleep near the water storage. It’s cooler there. During the day they spread out and fill the city. Every day it seems like there are more of them and less of us…no matter how many we kill.”
“You could just leave?” Will said with a shrug.
“And abandon the score of a lifetime!?” The jibleya leader demanded.
“We be gods among kin, even…sharing with berry-people.” The kobold leader said, growling out ‘sharing’ with a level of disgust reserved for people who dislike traps.
“It sounds to me like you’re in need of extra hands.”
The kobolds and Jibleya glanced at each other then back up to him, seeming to contemplate Will’s words.
“…Perhaps even some leadership.”
Comments
Owen Allen
They get upgrades every 10 levels? Nothing to do with 5s
Ben B
I think it’s a red herring as it seems too obvious, and instead she IS a baker, but as she started to say before she cut herself off…she’s a very special type of baker. A type of baker that requires insane strength. Possibly a combat baker!
Donovan
Loth is becoming an S tier deuteragonist. That chapter intro where the audience got a chance to look into Loth's mind set was perfect and I am now rooting for Loth slightly more than Will.
Redc05
I have a question, do they gain an upgrade every 5 levels ou only on levels that end in 5? Because if it is the first one, why did he not choose another upgrade and then use the relic worms on 10? And if it is the last one, why would there be 2 primary abilities when only one recieves the benefits?
Cameron C
That's a solid point, but could also indicate the kind of racism we see from humans toward kobold and other species for the same reason. But yeah, that does come across more than maybe I had thought initially. I just really like the myths / tall tales we get about Will in the various chapters. :)
Redc05
That would have been kinda racist thoe, they are people after all.
Cameron C
I almost feel it would be fun to have a passage above this about how will tamed monsters to work together with dark magic, something in that vein.
Zach Schmidt
“William Oh is ever a shrewd negotiator; He knows that violence is not always the best solution to his problems. When surrounded and outnumbered by a reviled band of looters, he graciously took over as their leader to guide them on a more righteous path. “
Zach Schmidt
i’m convinced Bri isn’t actually a baker, mainly because of the comment about her incredible strength in one of the previous chapters as well as the ease with which she killed the armored snail when they weren’t looking. I think she is actually a lords daughter that was traveling incognito.
chris
Just for fun, Item speculation. For Will: Grasping Scarf(Torso)- +2 Kinesthetics, +1 Focus. Passive: the tassels at the end of this scarf float around the wielder making them harder to hit. Active: for one charge the scarf will become animated and will act as two extra limbs for one minute. For Loth: Management Monocle(Head)- +1 Focus, +3 Acuity. Passive: All minions are slightly more efficient when doing directed tasks. Active: for one charge all minions that you are directing overclock their efficiency to technically be stronger that you for 10 seconds but become weaker than they usually are for one hour after use. For Travis: Angler's Ring:(Hand) +3 Kinesthetics, +1 acuity. Passive: Slight increase in luck for deflecting attacks. Active: For one charge you gain an awareness three seconds in the future. For Carrie: Butte Belt(Belt)- +3 Strength, +1 Resistance. Passive: All day there is an ablative shield of damage equal to 1/4% of your total resistance per day that wears down over time. Active: For one charge your temp ablative shield deals 1/4% retaliatory damage for 25 seconds. For Brianna: Pantaloons of Plenty(Pants)- +2 Focus, +2 resistance. Passive: Pockets!: the generous pockets of these pants have a capacity equal to a steamer trunk and you can always find what your looking for. Active: for one charge you can duplicate one non-magical item in your pockets.
Exrotes
So with Loth being the only shown Black scaled Kobold and Travis being nobility my current headcanon is that every one of Will's party members is gonna end up being rebellious children of Lords/Ladies including Carrie and Bri assuming they don't die/leave after this arc ends.
Exrotes
Kobold Looters on this floor makes me realize that there must be a Kobold Stronghold on this floor and if the party wants to sleep at an Inn and eat food cooked by someone else they'll probably have to go there assuming the band of "friendly" looters survive.
Cyrus McEnnis
Oh gods teeth. Kobolds are dangerous enough without someone giving them "leadership". Before you know it this group will be giving the rest of the tribe PowerPoint presentations on the power of properly preparing for protection of their perimeter.
Cyrus McEnnis
/80's power ballad that is William Oh's theme song intensifies
austin kutz
They were. The alchemist that Calvin commissioned his vials from was a member of that race. Funny character but we only saw him/his family like twice and then never encountered their race again
Barkeep
Don't think so. Intelligent species I think of are the...goo water spider people?
Macronomicon
indeed. liked them so much i recycled them.
Ryan Naquin
I recognize the Jibleya. Berry people good with alchemy and poison. Were they in wake of the ravager?
Macronomicon
:(
Andrew
Thank you!
Kenny
No intro courtesy of Jason :'(
Deinos
Why do I have to think of Ewoks suddenly..
Mondred
Also called it about the shoes and gravity charge.
Mondred
this,” Will said, handing Carrie -> Bri
Macronomicon
Anyway, Here comes the leveling montage!
Macronomicon
I did it again. Son of a...
