Octophobia
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Spire's Spite Chapter 32
🕑 Added 2024-02-15 02:00:02 +0000 UTCThe hammer and chisel made easy work of the green glass wall and they were running up the stairway behind within moments.
The stairs brought them up and into a Well Room of square pale stone bricks. The room was strewn with pillars topped with shallow basins half filled with glowing water, which reminded Fritz of bird baths, not that Bert or Sid knew what they were as what was the point of such a thing in a city of perpetual rain. Fritz had seen an illustration of one once in a book and explained the concept as they approached separate basins.
They barely listened, Sid replied with an uninterested “Uh huh,” and Bert responded with a bland “Wonderful.”
His crew were quick to scoop the water from the bowls into their hands and drink, absorbing the Power within the tepid liquid. Fritz was a little annoyed they ignored his sage knowledge but any lingering agitation was washed away when he drank the water himself feeling the cold burning energy gather in his sanctum.
He dropped into that cold star in his chest and welcomed the light rain that awaited him, he put a hand to his Willow and seized the Power it had stored for him.
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Attributes Gained
+3 Unaligned
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He immediately assigned them all to Endurance. It galled him to do so as there was Awareness or even Control that he could align to. But his experience with casting spells past his limits had left him wary of neglecting his stamina. Can always align more on the next floor.
He gave his pavilion and muddy yard a fleeting glance then left his rainy Sanctum. When he was back he saw the other two had already found the next Doors so he approached them quickly. His body was less strained and lighter than it had been moments earlier, whether it was the healing the Well Room provided of the Endurance he just aligned he couldn’t say, but he felt refreshed a ready to meet the next challenge.
Fritz nodded at Bert who without preamble stated, “One each to Agility, Endurance and Vitality.”
“Three in endurance,” Fritz replied and Bert acknowledged his good judgement with a yawn.
They turned to Sid who rapidly responded, “Essence of Air, my magic Attribute.”
“Can you get more than one magic Attribute?” Bert asked as if the thought had just occurred to him.
“Yes,” Fritz and Sid said in unison, they locked eyes, but somehow it was less awkward than before. Maybe we’re just finally getting used to each other? Sid looked away, her cheeks colouring a little and pulling at her scarf. Or maybe not, Fritz thought ruefully.
“The Doors, Fritz,” Sid said as she stared pointedly away from him.
“Right. Of course, I’ll get right on it,” Fritz announced, turning to their three Door choices that were pressed into the pale stone wall.
The first Door was boxy and made of a deeper yellow, almost orange, stone brick, carved with strange glyphs that he couldn’t read. Fritz could smell dry, dusty air wafting out from its depths. He extended his Door Sense getting the distinct impression of danger, traps and a long hallway, but not of monsters.
An excited grin spread wide on Fritz’s face Sid noticing the expression asked, “What’s got you so pleased? More statues to grope?”
Fritz didn’t even bother being mock offended and replied eagerly, “Trap room, or at least I think it is!”
“Nice, Trap Sense and by extension, Fritz, is about to be useful. Finally,” Bert mocked.
“Well let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we should check the other Doors first. Just in case,” Fritz said but thought it unlikely that there’d be an easier Door.
He strode to the second Door, a passage of natural dark, almost black stone. There was a decided heat emanating from the room and his Sense gave him the feeling that there would be both monsters, scaly ones, and intense heat to deal with.
“Not this one, too hot,” Fritz concluded as if he were reprimanding a servant who had given him still boiling tea.
The last Door was that reoccurring grey stone brick Door, with the scent of rot blowing out, but the intensity of the rotting smell was much worse than before. He wondered what his Door Senses had to say about it then used it on the ominous tomb-like entrance. He had been right, there was a profound wrongness to the Door, he saw images of shuffling corpses and felt their insatiable hunger for living flesh.
Fritz shivered. Extremely glad they had never chosen this door.
“Undead,” Fritz said simply.
Sid and Bert grimaced at his proclamation.
“It’s always worth it to avoid undead my boy,” Fritz said under his breath, in an echo of his father's tones.
Shaking off the melancholy his father’s memory elicited, Fritz strode back to the Trap Room Door, and gestured to it asking the others, “Are we happy trusting in my Trap Sense and taking this Door?”
Sid and Bert nodded, seemingly completely sure of him, even though he wasn’t quite sure of himself. The Spires were always dangerous, even if you came prepared, and they didn’t come prepared. Whether this Door was a lucky break or a devious trick, in the end waiting wouldn’t change anything so he walked up the orange-yellow brick stairs into the dusty dark.
They quickly ascended the stairway finding themselves in an unlit room, they pulled out their amber glowstones to light their way. The swirling light illuminated the darkness revealing a hallway of stone brick and a floor of strange tiles that was carved with strange unreadable glyphs.
Fritz could tell the whole hallway was trapped, his mind buzzed every time he scanned the room, finding tiny holes hidden between stone bricks connected to small tubes riddled in the mortar of the walls. Those same walls were littered with glyph carvings, possibly a solution to the obviously trapped tiles.
“Only step where I step,” Fritz commanded.
There were two grunts of affirmation from behind and Fritz went to take a step forward onto a carved tile in front of him but as he was about to place his foot down he felt a trilling in his mind, a warning not to place his foot down. Trapped. He moved his foot to the right, over another of the glyphed tiles and felt the same trilling warning. Okay to the left then.
With his heart beating quickly he hovered his foot over the tile to the left and finding that he felt no warning, he placed his weight upon the tile. It sank beneath his foot and the something behind the walls clanked and shuddered. Grainy dust fell in small streams from over head. His heart pounded in his chest and he had to fight the instinct to run even though his body screamed at him that he had activated the Trap.
Fritz’s senses and mind were telling him differently, that everything was fine, there was no danger and he chose to trust them over his deceitful body.
“Don’t move! Stay still!” Fritz Shouted over Bert and Sid’s yells of alarm.
The clanking and shuddering stopped. Just as his senses had predicted nothing had happened, they were safe and the falling lines of sandy dust ceased pouring from the roof.
Fritz breathed out a heavy sigh and near collapsed from relief, his legs were still shaking in excitement or fear but he stood tall. I have to set a good example for the crew, he told himself.
“What was that?” Sid hissed angrily.
“Something to make us panic and trigger the real traps I suppose,” Fritz theorised.
“Oh, that’s so evil,” Bert groused, both angry and impressed at the Spires killing ingenuity.
“Oh yeah, this Spire is nasty alright. Well, make sure to follow exactly where I go, no missteps allowed, or I’ll halve your shares,” Fritz instructed as he repeated his searching steps and found the next safe tile easily.
He stepped and there was no clanking or shuddering this time, so he continued on in the same vein walking slowly down the hallway. The other two walked after him carefully watching where to put their feet.
“Who made you the Climb Captain?” Sid complained as she followed after Bert.
“There was a vote, you must have missed it,’ Fritz lied easily.
“I don’t remember voting for you either,” Bert added. “I call for another Captain election.”
“You can’t do that in the middle of a Spire! That’s mutiny and as Captain, I cannot let it stand!” Fritz cried out, his voice echoing down the hall and causing fine dust to fall from the roof for a moment.
“All who consider Bert to be the obvious and more handsome choice say aye,” Bert declared before saying “Aye,” to his own proposal.
Sid and Fritz were silent, still plodding along the hallway careful of where they stepped.
“What only one vote?” Bert said in mock astoundment. “Okay, who has another nomination for Captain?”
“I vote for Sid,” Fritz announced.
“Wait. What? I thought you just said you couldn’t let this ‘mutiny’ stand?” Sid asked baffled.
“Yeah, I wanna get in on the new Captain’s good side, it's called politics. Try and keep up would you?” Fritz explained annoyingly.
“Damn it, I also vote for Sid then, can’t let Fritz be the favourite,” Bert hastily added, slyly winking at Sid from over his shoulder.
“I refuse,” Sid said flatly. “No, Captains.”
“Fine, fine,” Fritz agreed.
“Aye Captain,” Bert replied to Sid as she scowled at his back.
Fritz padded ever forward, sweeping his eyes across the room making sure there were no other traps. It was lucky that he did so because hanging at his neckline was a thin coppery wire that stretched from wall to wall. He had almost missed the wire as its buzzing warning got lost amongst the constant hum of the tiles.
Fritz alerted Bert with their hand signals and he in turn translated to Sid in a whisper, “Wire traps ahead, around neck height.”
Sid nodded, and they continued on, stepping carefully and ducking under the lines of dull wire as they sporadically appeared.
It took about five minutes all told to cross the hallway and find themselves at the next Stairway up. Fritz looked back in shock, surprised at how...easy it had been. No triggered traps no last-minute rush, just a steady advance and then it was over. It had been stressful of course, but his Abilities didn’t lead him astray and they succeeded.
He waited for the other shoe to drop, deeply distrusting of the ease with which they passed through the rest of the hallway. But nothing happened.
“Fritz, you okay? Can we go up now?” Sid whispered her eyes worried and searching for hidden danger.
Fritz nodded and turned, putting one foot on the stairs and heading upwards. They sighed in relief as they climbed the staircase, leaving any talk for the Well Room where they would be safe to speak.
This Well Room was similar to the hallway they just left, a small square room with a dark stone obelisk, glowing with silver light, in its centre. Dust swirled through the air and Fritz coughed as some of the gritty substance caught in his throat.
They made their way to the obelisk and placed their hands upon it, claiming their due. Cool energy seeped into Fritz and he quickly fell into his Sanctum greeting the rain with a satisfied smile. He slid his hand on his willow’s smooth grey bark and felt the power coldly burn him from within.
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Attributes Gained
+3 Unaligned
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He thought on where to assign these new attributes, maybe Control? Maybe Endurance again? But Awareness called to him, a siren song that teased him with the secrets of the unseen. That and it probably saved him in the trap room. He assigned all three to Awareness and left his Sanctum to continue his Climb.
“That floor was surprisingly quick,” Sid commented as she rose from her own Sanctum.
“And easy,” Bert rejoined.
“Preparation, Awareness and the right Abilities can make Climbing far less dangerous,” Fritz espoused. “That’s why Guides can command the exorbitant fees they charge as well as generally an extra share in a Climbing team. When floors can be chosen for what you’re team is good at and you can avoid the deathtraps many a team is willing to pay extra.”
“I can see why, that was what five minutes and we cleared an entire floor? Easiest Attributes of my life,” Bert confirmed.
“Yeah, well this Spire is more dangerous than most and we weren’t prepared so it’s no wonder we’ve had such a hard slog on the earlier floors,” Fritz reflected.
“Are you likely to get any more Guide abilities, Fritz?” Sid asked suddenly.
“I think so, I think Treasure Sense is close, as I’ve discovered two chests in one Climb and I already have two other Sense aligned Abilities.”
“Treasure Sense?” Sid said incredulous. “Is that a real Ability? I always assumed it was an overblown rumour.”
“Oh, it's real. My father had it in fact, not that it matters though, I don’t have that particular Latent Trait for the Spire to empower.”
“Latent Traits,” Sid spat. “So unfair.”
Fritz nodded in agreement, even though he had one now from his entanglement with the Faeries. He still resented those who were given or inherited Latent Traits. He sighed knowing his anger wouldn’t help him in the long run and stewing on the unjustness of the world was counterproductive in his current predicament. It could wait until he was out of the Spire and maybe not even then could he do anything about it. Yet.
“That was the fifth floor, right?” Bert asked. “How many more do you think we have left, think it’s as tall as the Rain Spire?”
“No, not as tall as the Rain Spire, it’s probably a Minor Spire. If it were a Lesser Spire the Nightshark would have taken over Rain City with all the extra Powers and Treasures he could acquire from it. So to answer your question I think we have five more levels,” Fritz estimated.
“Makes sense,” Bert said nodding.
“Speaking of five more levels, shall we get going?” Sid suggested motioning to the Doors with impatience, probably bored of the current topic.
Fritz nodded shouldering his traveller's pack and walking to the next set of three doors. He looked them over first with his normal senses, then with Door Sense and Awareness.
The first Door was an arch of what used to be living wood covered in a grey and gold mould. It reeked like a baker’s flooded cellar after a month of stagnating. He felt that this one would be infectious and knew that they walked through this Door too would succumb to the mould and spread the spores. Fritz shuddered at the vividness of the feeling, he suspected that his heightened Awareness must be making his Door Sense more potent.
He crossed this Door off his list immediately, maybe if they had antidotes for poison or infection he could choose this Door but as they were it would be a death sentence and not a pleasant one at that. He could think of few ways to die that were worse than slowly being consumed by mould.
He turned to the next Door, a tunnel of natural rock of red streaked with white and a ramp of white sand. Blowing out of the entrance were hot winds, dry as the hallway, with a scent of salt heavy on its currents. He sensed deprivation, wandering and barren emptiness. An endless expanse of sand and salt.
Navigation or Survival floor? Might be possible with my high perception.
The last Door led into a cave of pure quartz, looking naturally formed but polished to a gleaming sheen, there was heat, but it was moderate and humid, more like the goblin tunnel than the Door beside it. From within the white tunnel he could hear the high, chirruping cries of beasts, and felt that the tunnels ahead would be stalked by solitary monsters. He felt for more information pushing his new Awareness harder than he had with the last Door.
For his efforts, he got the instinctual feeling that the monsters were ambush predators and well-suited to their environment.
Fritz stepped back and relayed what he had discovered to Bert and Sid, finishing up with, “I think we can either choose the middle door or the last door, thoughts?”
“How does our food and water look,” Sid asked, running a hand through her grimy blond hair.
“Sparse, it’s not time to starve. Yet. But we’re getting close. A couple of days, maybe less considering how much food I’ve been needing to eat,” Bert replied stoically.
“I’m all for having another easy floor, but what if the barren Floor takes too long to cross and we starve or more likely die of thirst?” Sid thought out loud, squeezing at her water skin checking its fullness.
Fritz agreed, he did relish the idea of another floor without monsters hunting them down but they were being somewhat pushed into a corner.
“I agree with Sid,” Bert tried to say seriously, but there was a grin spreading across his face that he quickly suppressed. The madman is probably excited to fight more monsters, Fritz observed.
“Fair enough, the ambush tunnels then?” Fritz said, shrugging his travel pack into a more comfortable position.
Sid and Bert nodded.
Fritz strode to the quartz tunnel and his crew followed.
The heart in the tunnel was stiffing but bearable, the walls of quartz radiated the warmth so Fritz stood away from them trying to retain what little coolness he could. The stairway opened up into the sixth floor, the tunnel widening enough that three people could stand abreast and the roof extending to at least twice Fritz's height. The air was heavy, almost like it was raining and the roof and walls were covered in drops and trickles of water that made the floor slightly slippery.
Not slippery enough to slip up anyone from Rain City, they were far too used to the slick cobblestone streets or in Fritz’s case the perilously wet and smooth tiles of roofs. He caught a drop of water on his finger and tasted it. It was stale, and ever so slightly salty, more than good enough to drink in Fritz’s mind.
“Wait here, ambush predators, I’ll scout ahead. If I’m not back in twenty minutes then follow. Maybe collect some of the water while I’m away, seems okay to drink,” Fritz calmly ordered, leaving his pack behind for his crew to guard.
Fritz didn’t need his amber glowstone to see ahead, the cloudy quartz was lit by shafts of light that the crystal seemed to eat and scatter causing the walls, floor and ceiling to shed a soft glow. Fritz made his way forward, through the gleaming cloudy white caves, he almost felt like he was walking through the inside of some great leviathan’s bones. The humidity was already begining to take it's toll, it had only been a couple of minutes but he was already drenched in sweat and it dripped to the gleaming ground.
The tunnels weren’t entirely uniform, they wound and winded, occasionally there were fallen hunks of quartz that measured from the length of Fritz's leg and some that came to his shoulder either lying in piles or standing alone.
Fritz kept his eyes and ears open and he passed by another pile of fallen stones. He noticed that the roof was also not particularly smooth, with cracks and quartz hanging precariously over Fritz’s head. Strangely enough, these stones didn’t radiate any kind of response from Trap Sense, but he still got a bad feeling about them. He made sure never to walk directly under them giving both them and the fallen stones with a wide berth when he could.
He had been stalking the way ahead when from behind he felt something. He stood still and listened and heard a sticky, slapping and sucking noise that was following in his tracks. He turned, then crouched behind a hunk of fallen quartz, watching and waiting for his pursuer to appear.
The slipping, sucking and slapping continued to get ever closer, it was like hearing someone roll a toffee in their mouth and never swallowing it down. It was disgusting to listen to, and it felt even worse to speculate about what was making it.
From the turn in the passage, he saw a piece of fallen quartz moving ever so slowly, shuddering as if being dragged. It stood at about equal to Fritz’s sternum and was as wide as both his arms outstretched. Following Fritz’s trail unerringly the quartz jerkily slid closer and closer with those incessant sticky, sucking noises it made as it moved.
Then he saw it. As it unfurled from its quartz-like shell. He had never been so shocked so scared of something that resembled a creature so common in his city.
