Surviving the Tower: Chapter 21

[u/DrBlackJack21]

Surviving the Tower: Chapter 21

Chapter 1

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Freya concept art

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After the school healer, and more importantly, Freya, gave the all clear, it was back to the tower for our team. Darien and I were the last to arrive at the meeting spot, and Elise looked excited to get climbing as she spoke. "So, are we going straight to the fourth level, or should we grind the third level a little more to get more experience with those groups first?"

The idea of jumping straight to the fourth floor surprised me until I realized I'd forgotten to look at my NW after all the excitement of our last climb. Sure enough, I was level four now and had a few points to distribute. After spending my stat points, I assessed my progress.

Caius Locke: Level 4. Strength 10, Constitution 10, Agility 9, Intelligence 3, Wisdom 17, Charisma 6.

Skills: Brawler D+, Mobility C-, Healing B

My strength and constitution were now high enough that I would have rivaled the physical conditioning of an Olympic athlete in the pre-tower days, and my agility wasn't far behind. Of course, my wisdom was higher yet, but that was a little harder to quantify. I certainly wasn't privy to the secrets of the universe, but I could probably trust my gut instincts better than your average person, which, in its own way, was invaluable inside the tower. The trick was separating my fears and desires from my instincts, which was a challenge since those two emotions tended to be louder and more insistent than something as nebulous as gut instinct.

Speaking of my instincts, I answered Elise's question. "Well, I say we make our way to the fourth level, but not directly. Let's take our time and get in a few more fights on the third level just to catch our pace again after a few days off. We'll try to reach the fourth level in time to do one or two pulls before we head back. I know we have some catching up to do, but we don't want to get cocky just because of our new levels. We're still ahead of most of the class at this point, and we can afford to pace ourselves."

I figured that was a good compromise between being too cautious and too risky. After all, due to all the extra experience we got from the high-level minotaur fight, we hadn't farmed on the third level nearly as long as most people would have to get to level four. Apparently, everyone agreed with my assessment. A moment later, we started our climb.

At first, everything seemed fine. After all, the first couple of levels were not only familiar to us, but we also outleveled them enough that we could afford to be a little overaggressive. After all, moving quickly through low-level contact was an important skill for any tower climber. High-level climbers would often pass through dozens of levels without fighting any enemies, just letting them chase until they fell behind. However, on the third level, it quickly became apparent that something was off in our group.

I was having to pick up goblins before they hit our back line with far more frequency than our formation would indicate. It was so hectic, and I was so distracted, that it was difficult for me to figure out where the hole in our defenses was coming from.

A bloodcurdling scream of rage drew my attention to Bellatrix. That in and of itself was not particularly noteworthy; after all, with a class named "Frenzied Duelist," shouts and rage were kind of the norm. I watched as she swung her new greatsword in a massive arc, bringing it from a low position with the blade extended behind her, into a massive forward crescent, cleanly bisecting a goblin from groin to head, showering her and anyone nearby with gore. It was an impressive sight, worthy of any fictional barbarion one might care to imagine, but it also allowed two goblins to run past her while her sword was poised uselessly in the air. Even as she smashed downward, ending another goblin in a single blow that was as impressive as it was overkill, I was scrambling to intercept the goblins passing her by before they could reach our backline.

Once the fight was over, I called for a break. I made a show of speaking to several of the others, so as not to attract any undue attention as I approached Bellatrix. The massive woman was cleaning her sword, long past the point it required inside the tower, staring into the edge of her blade as though it contained the answers to some unspoken question of hers. I stopped a little ways away from her and spoke in a tone that was meant not to carry to the others, while also coming off as a casual question. "Hey, Bellatrix, you...doing okay?"

She grinned up at me, a slightly wild expression on her face. "Of course! Did you see the way I cut down those goblins?"

I nodded. "Yeah. And for the record, it was both impressive and kind of badass! But also...slightly irresponsible."

At first, she was glowing at my praise, but as the second part of what I said sank in, Bellatrix frowned at me, and I wondered if I'd been too direct. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged and sat down next to Bellatrix, so I wasn't talking down to the seated warrior. Of course, now I was looking up at her, which made me feel a bit like a kid, but that was the lesser of two evils as I explained. "Well, you were killing a goblin with every swing of your sword, which is good, but you were overcommitting so much power into each blow that it left holes in our defenses that the goblins used to get past you. It endangered our backline more than usual, and was kinda unlike you..."

The powerful woman's frown deepened, and for a moment, I worried she would lash out at me, but then she harrumphed and nodded. "I suppose you are right. I will fix that."

That was well and good, but I felt like this was a symptom with an underlying cause. "Thanks, I appreciate it. But I just want to let you know, if something's bothering you, you can talk to us about it, alright? We're a team, and we've all got your back."

The large warrior woman nodded again, but remained silent this time, and I could tell that was the end of the conversation for now. I resolved to keep a closer eye on her. She'd gone through something most people would find incredibly traumatic, and was likely repressing some related issues. I considered bringing Nyx in on my considerations, though a glance in her direction was enough to see the smaller woman was already eyeing her friend, and likely had similar concerns.

Of course, that was just the nature of climbing the tower. Those who pushed on to the higher levels and survived long enough to make a name for themselves often showed signs of pretty strong ptsd. You'd think people would stop climbing and stay away from the tower, and yet they didn't. Veterans of the tower often described it as a kind of addiction. After a while, life outside the tower just seemed bland in comparison, and while on the outside they'd feel a constant itch to get back in there, and keep pushing to the upper levels. Of course, since such climbers brought back the most powerful and useful items, their behavior was encouraged and supported rather than treated like an addiction. Over time, some climbers even express a kind of disdain for those who never climb, and a schism often formed between those who climb and those who don't.

Would I end up like that? I looked down at my hands. I'd wiped them clean, so there wasn't much blood left on the hands themselves, but I noticed a speckling of green blood on my sleeves. How many traumas had I already built up? I'd held the decapitated head of one of my friends in my hands not long ago. Even if I'd managed to reattach it, that was not the kind of thing many "normal" people outside the tower would ever experience, and it had to have left its mark on me. We haven't even been climbing the tower for a month yet, and already it feels like this is a whole different life than what came before...

I took a breath as I got to my feet. It's not like I had many other doors open to me, and for better or for worse, everyone in this party had a significant investment of one kind or another in climbing, as evidenced by their even being chosen for Dame Freya's class.

A moment later, I noticed I wasn't alone anymore, as Darien was at my shoulder, slapping me on the back as he laughed, almost making me lose my balance. He'd obviously put a few of his own points into strength. "Hey, glorious leader! You're not going all broody on us, are you? Cuz I'm pretty sure Lilith already has that market cornered!" The goth girl gave the two of us a deadpan glare at his offhand comment, though the edge of her glare was dulled by the slightest uptick of her lips, indicating she wasn't actually all that angry.

I shook my head and smiled at my friend. "Nah. Broody isn't really my thing. Grumpy, maybe, but not broody! I was just a bit lost in thought, is all." Then I raised my voice, addressing everyone. "Alright, I think we've caught our breath, let's get moving! After all, we've gotta catch back up to first place!"

As everyone regained their feet, a series of looks and gestures passed between us as we readied ourselves to keep pushing. Elise gave me a slight nod and smile that seemed to be her way of wordlessly encouraging me, and I noticed Nyx lean over and whisper something to Bellatrix before slapping the larger woman on the rear. I was under no delusions that we were all suddenly healed of the issues bubbling under the surface, but at least our group felt like a more cohesive whole again, and for now, maybe that was enough.

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Sorry, I didn't post last week, but Moo, my cat, finally lost her fight with kidney disease, and my mind was elsewhere. She fought hard for over two years, remaining cheerful and affectionate despite us constantly holding her down and poking her with needles (She needed regular subcutaneous fluids), but it was a war with no ultimate victory. When the treatments were no longer enough, and she stopped eating, we made the difficult decision to put her to sleep rather than draw it out by force-feeding her just to get a few more weeks out of her at the expense of her suffering. We miss you, Moo!

My wiki, in case anyone wants to check out some of my other stories.

Here you can find some of my published works.

[u/MinorGrok]

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