Spire's Spite

The Dawndove kneeled at Bert’s side, a grim expression on her exquisite features as she inspected his wounds. She nodded once.

“The curse is not particularly potent but it is persistent, it would interfere with the most basic of healing magic and the personal healing of a low Powered mortal. And there’s something else, a lingering trace of corruption, of blight, in his blood.” She explained in resplendent tones.

“He’s on the brink of life and death at this very moment, and he fights. Why do you fight?” She asked Bert, tilting her head towards his bloodstained lips, listening to some whisper Fritz couldn’t catch.

The Dawndove must have liked his answer because she smiled warmly like a ray of sunlight breaking over the horizon.

“Verily, I say to you, go forth and fight. Your cause is righteous in mine eyes,” She leant back from his face and blew breath from her lips, it swirled with gleaming motes and lines of golden power. The floral air was cut with the scent of morning dew and pine, purity and new vigour seemed to permeate Fritz’s tired body. The breath of life clashed with some previously hidden darkness that now lay revealed upon Bert’s stab wounds.

Fritz saw what he thought was the curse, dark energies roiled and trembled, then faded, blown away by the light and air. The Dawndove sagged a little, some of her glowing aura dissipated from her expenditure. She reached out an ivory finger and lightly placed it upon Bert’s forehead, it glowed for a moment then faded away into his skin.

She stood and turned to Fritz, “The curse is broken, the corruption suppressed, he is back from the brink, but will need more than my gift to heal fully. Take him to a healer as quick as you may, you have three hours at most before he’s back at death's door,” She warned gravely but not unkindly as she smiled at him.

“They’re here from a Spire, my love, if he gets to a ‘Well Room’ I believe they call it, then he’ll be fine,” The Duskmoth replied, twitching her wings.

“Then get him to the ‘Well Room’ then,” The Dawndove agreed easily.

“I don’t suppose your hospitality extends to leading us to the Door out of your realm?” Fritz asked politely, shuffling awkwardly under the alien stares of the two Faeries.

The Dawndove grinned wide, while the Duskmoth’s smile fell into a thin line.

“Did the Mortal Fritz trick you into giving hospitality!?” The Dawndove exclaimed turning to look at her darling's expression. “He did, didn’t he!” The towering woman guffawed heartily.

The line of the Duskmoth’s mouth turned into an annoyed scowl “Yes, he got me! He came in all beaten bloody and pulling his broken companion. The first Mortal in this realm for hundreds of years, how was I to know they still remembered some of the customs or would have the wits to use them,” She argued her voice more growl than purr.

Fritz coughed politely interrupting, again. The Duskmoth calmed herself immediately only giving the Dawndove a glare when she chuckled at her obvious embarrassment. She glared at Fritz and gave a chilly smile, “Yes, my seneschal shall show you the way out of my realm, let us not dally with tearful goodbyes. I’ll find you when I need you to do my favour.”

“Amy, ready a carriage we won't have Bert and Fritz trudging around our realm like peasants when they are such prestigious and esteemed guests.” She ordered rapidly. Her manner was brusque as if she wanted Fritz and Bert out as quick as possible.

There was a warbling response that Fritz couldn’t understand but was sure was an affirmative. “If you’ll follow after me?” The Duskmoth declared, turning and walking to the entrance hall from which Fritz entered. He made to pick up Bert but the Dawndove shook her head “Let me, you’re exhausted Fritz,” she lifted the limp Bert easily as if he weighed less than a pillow.

The huge ivory woman strode after the Duskmoth, near leering at her slender retreating form. Fritz couldn’t blame her, they were both beautiful and shapely but of the two the Duskmoth had the most appeal to him, he couldn’t say why though. Bert would prefer the Dawndove though and he’d argue with me about incessantly, he idly mused as he followed behind.

He followed out the throne room, out the entrance hall and to the manor's front door. Outside waiting just for him and Bert was a resplendent carriage of grey-silver wood, finer and more elegant than any he had ever seen even when he had lived in the Upper Ring as a child. Its shape reminded Fritz of a flower bud waiting to bloom. The carriage was being pulled by an enormous black hare with a set of bone-coloured antlers that met Fritz’s astonished eye with a deep purple stare.

“What you ain’t never seen a carriage before?” The huge black bunny in front of him remarked in a low booming voice, treating Fritz like some ignorant plebeian.

“No,” Fritz said defensively, so shocked by its speech that he turned monosyllabic.

“Muddy mortals,” The hare said derisively shaking its gigantic head, sweeping its great antlers and bouncing its massive floppy ears.

“That’s enough Geraldo,” The Duskmoth said curtly to the hare.

“Of course Princess,” Geraldo replied, grumpily flicking one dangling ear in agitation.

Amy, the seneschal darted into view gliding on her gossamer wings and opened the carriage door with surprising strength for such a small size. The Dawndove nodded to the tiny pixie in thanks. She lay the unconscious Bert into the carriage's plush violet and lavender silk interior, then motioned for Fritz to get in after. He strode up to the carriage thanking the Spires that it was almost over, that he was almost off the knife’s edge.

He had a foot on the grey-silver carriage step when the Duskmoth’s voice purred in his ear, “Before you go, Fritz, turn around.” He did as he was told and found himself face to face with the Duskmoth, if he had time he could have counted all her silver freckles. She grasped his cheeks with her palms, bent his head forward, and lay her lips upon his forehead kissing him sweetly. Her lips were indescribably soft and left a cool tingle as they brushed his skin then suddenly the sensation was gone.

Her hands left his face and she floated backwards on her sunset patterned wings, she waved her hand and he was drawn into the carriage, the door shutting rapidly in his face. He parted the doors lavender curtains apart and stared out the window to see the two Faeries holding hands and waving goodbye with bright smiles on their faces.

After a high whistle, the carriage lurched and began to speed away from the manor and the Faeries, it was a surprisingly smooth ride considering it was being pulled by a huge, hopping hare. The outside blurred as they picked up speed and Fritz sank into the luxurious seat opposite Bert as he lay stretched on his own plush purple bench. He settled in, embracing the comfort provided and was lulled to sleep in moments by the subtle rocking movement of the carriage.

---

Sid ran ahead of Vee, Lynn and Naomi leading the way toward the blue-green lights. There had been no conversation or even begging for a rest from Naomi since they had left Fritz behind. Sid felt guilty, and she knew why. If Sid didn’t ask Fritz to help her get the girl’s Paths there would have been more Doors for them to take, they wouldn’t have had to abandon the two men.

She worried at her scarlet scarf, pulling on one of its loose threads and knowing she’d have to fix it later. For now, she took comfort from its soft wool the thick strands warm as they passed through her fingers. She stumbled on a fissure, cursing and throwing her hand out before her for a fall that didn’t come. “Get your mind on the job, Sid,” she chided herself pulling her hand free of the scarf's warmth.

The thing she should be worried about and was keeping an eye out for was the hammer man she had let escape, he was probably too hurt to do anything with that hole in his gut. But if he had a potion or an Ability to heal they might be in trouble. Especially if he got to the doors before them.

The blue-green light grew larger and more defined, now taking the shape of Doorways as they travelled the broken plains. Finally, after almost five minutes of running the lull in talking ceased, “How... much...further?” Naomi whined pathetically. Naomi was always the softest of us, probably because her sister dotes on her, Sid thought unusually bitter. She shouldn’t be here, Fritz should, you’re just dead weight. Sid remembered Fritz and Naomi’s awkward hug and felt that same pang of anger she had when it happened.

“Not... much… longer… five… more… minutes,” puffed out Sid pulling her hand away from her scarf again as it had instinctively gone to the fabric when she thought about Fritz. Strange that, it was something she had almost choked him to death with after all.

“Five.. more…” Naomi heaved out, speaking to herself, keeping up the pace as best she could.

The four Doors got ever closer, and still there was no sign of the hammer man, eventually with much effort and struggling over the rough stone, they reached the Doorways. The Doors were cut into the stone and a veil of blue-green light shimmered over the thresholds.

They stood gasping or bent over near vomiting from the stress of the run, even their enhanced Endurance couldn’t seem to keep up with the strain they had been put through quite yet.

“Get through the Doors!” Sid yelled through her parched throat. “Now!… Rest on the other side.”

The women looked around blearily but each set themselves in front of a Door, then stepped through. Sid Stood before her own turned and searched the shattered stone plains for any sign of Fritz or Bert. Nothing. She knew there wouldn’t be and it was for the best, after all, that she didn’t.

Sid didn’t want to have to fight him for survival, not again, but she knew she would have, she would have put the idiot boy down if it meant she could live. Why am I feeling so guilty about it? I’ve done plenty of terrible things to survive that don’t bother me at all. Why him? Why now? That the things she did didn’t bother her at all was something of a lie, but she fought her conscience, wrestling it back down. Reign or be rained upon.

She spun furiously and stepped through the blue-green Doorway. Blue-green light engulfed her sight and she got a strange metallic taste in her mouth, much like the monster fish meat. Then she was in a room the with same coloured stone as the previous floor, except it was unmarred and smooth as glass.

The room was scattered with plinths of smooth stone and piles of broken stone on top or around them. The broken stone it seemed were shattered statues, statues of what she couldn’t say but she definitely saw a carved human hand amongst the rubble.

“What took you so long?” Lynn asked with a teasing glitter in her burgundy eyes “Waiting for Fritz?”

Sid looked away from the woman’s face and Naomi sniffled at the comment and Vee gave Lynn a reproachful slap on the shoulder. What she had said and then the reality of Fritz and Bert’s fate sunk her face turned ashen.

“I didn’t mean it, I-uh, sorry.” Lynn apologised to the room at large.

Sid sighed taking in the rest of the room, it seemed the plinths and pedestals had held up statues but most of the statues had crumbled or been broken. Some, however, stood undamaged and whole, statues of… them, she realised. One was Sid standing tall with bow drawn, one was Vee's shield and fin blade in hand. Naomi’s was similar to Vee’s and Lynn’s was just Lynn standing straight-backed, hands clasped behind her.

The unbroken statues radiated the Well Power, she could feel it pulling on her like she pulled on the threads of her scarf. She walked slowly towards her own statue her gaze locked on it. The carving was impeccable, but who she saw there wasn’t actually her, it was a better her, who she wanted to be and the Power to make it true.

She placed her hand on her carved knee and Power surged through her hand, up her arm, into her chest and into her sanctum, the wind inside her roaring in triumph.

“Whoa,” She said as the tiredness, scrapes and cuts from the run across the plains, was blown away by the Power soaring through her body. She turned to see the other girls also touching their respective statues and grinning in relief and revelling in their Power.

Sid sat down hard, arranged her position into one of relaxation, back against her statue's plinth. Then she sunk into her sanctum riding the winds of her spirit.

She landed softly on the hill and gazed out at the great rolling plains of golden grass that was her sanctum, she felt the breeze, the countless winds that all met here on this golden hill. She could feel the Power on the new winds that roared across her sanctum and she guided them over her and her hill.

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Path

Choose One

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Archer

Bow bent, arrow flys, nock again, foe dies.

A user of bows, rain arrows on your enemies from a distance with great precision.

Aligns six points to the following Attributes:

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Perception.

Activates and aligns six points to the following Advanced Attributes:

Grace, Reflex.

Gain one Path Ability Choice.

---

You killed many goblins with bow and arrow.

You fought with a bow and arrow against fellow climbers.

You landed four arrows into a monster’s vulnerable point.

---

Shanker

Skulk in alleys, stalk your prey, brandish daggers, stab away.

A specialist in stealth, daggers and other small blades.

Aligns six points to the following Attributes:

Strength, Agility, Endurance, Perception.

Activates and aligns six points to the following Advanced Attributes:

Speed, Reflex.

Gain one Path Ability Choice.

---

‘Shanked’ a fellow climber.

Influenced by Technique ‘The Observations’

Influenced by Spire.

---

Air Elementalist

Call and cast, winds and sky, gust or gale, fall or fly.

A mage with abilities that call upon elemental air for summoning or wielding the wind.

Aligns six points to the following Attributes:

Agility, Perception, Focus, Memory.

Activates and aligns six points to the following Advanced Attributes:

Control, Essence of Air.

Gain one Path Ability Choice.

---

You used the Wind Strike Ability to kill many goblins.

You used the Wind Strike Ability on more than one type of weapon.

You used the Wind Strike Ability on a fellow climber.

Influenced by Sanctum.

---

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Trait

Choose One

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Cutting Wind

Winds slicing sharper, than daggers or knives, Invisible blades, severing lives.

Adds a cutting effect to Air attacks and Abilities also passively increases their sharpness and penetration to a minor degree.

Alignment: Air, Blade.

Cost: None.

Duration: Passive, Suppressible.

Refresh: None.

---

Used Wind Strike Ability to great effect.

Influenced by Sanctum.

Influenced by Spire.

---

Scapegoat

Don’t look over here, it was him not me! Blame all the others, so that you can flee.

Make your target think someone else is the source of your next attack or Ability.

Alignment: Mind.

Cost: None.

Duration: Strike: Three seconds, Affliction: Nine seconds.

Refresh: Nine minutes.

---

Influenced by Spire.

Abandoned fellow climbers: Fritz and Bert.

---

Heart of Air

Wind swirls in your centre, both hollow and blurred, like the heart of a zephyr, and as free as a bird.

Activate and align nine points to the following Advanced Attributes: Grace, Essence of Air.

Align nine points to the following Attributes: Agility, Endurance.

Alignment: Air.

Cost: None.

Duration: Passive.

Refresh: None.

---

Used Wind Strike Ability to great effect.

Influenced by Sanctum.

Influenced by Air Aligned Abilities (Wind Strike, Fleet).

---

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Attributes Gained

+3 Unaligned

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What a lot of choices, far too many, she couldn’t make up her mind right now, she needed to mull it over. So she flew out of her trance and back into the aching world of the Spire. These choices were to shape the rest of her entire life so she should take it slow and really think it out, no rash choices here.

Though if she were being truthful two of the choices seemed to call for her, both marked with the Influenced by Sanctum explanation. Though there were another two that had her scowling and scratching her head. I ‘Shanked’ someone and abandoned Fritz and Bert, Really? Is even my Sanctum trying to blame me? Or is this a trick of the Spire?

There was also one last choice, one that depended on the path she chose. So it looks like I should choose a Path first, then see what choices that gives me, then pick a good synergistic pair of Abilities. When she had first come across the word synergistic it took her some time to learn how to read it and what it meant, now though she liked saying it. So she did so, quietly of course.

There was a crack, then a rumbling from one of the whole statues. Sid recognised it as the hammer man's image set in stone. A fissure ran down its middle then it fell into jagged pieces shattering on the ground in a series of loud thumps and cracks. She stared in shock, horror creeping into her tight chest. Did he just die, is that what these statues represent?

Sid spun her head searching for Fritz and Bert’s statues. She found them easily and just as in real life, they stood together and on the same pedestal. Sid almost rolled her eyes at that saccharine little detail. It was bittersweet, thinking that at least those two got to die together, that they wouldn’t be alone at the end. Like she was.

She wandered before the statues, looking up at Fritz’s handsome face and self-satisfied smile, formed perfectly in the stone. Then to Bert’s grin and rugged features, whatever had carved this couldn’t catch that wild light in his eyes though. Nor the strange air of mad hope that Fritz carried around with him. The presence and purpose to not only say the impossible was possible but then to also prove it.

Sid sighed, chest aching, and sat again, watching for Vee, Lynn and Naomi to wake from their Sanctums. Lynn came out first, grumbling something about, “Dumb Path choices.”

Next to resurface was Vee, and she smiled joyously and began talking excitedly about her, “Dancer Path” and all the great Abilities she chose, Sid tuned her out, not really caring about the details. She had her own Path to contemplate and she wasn’t much closer to her choices.

Last was Naomi who gave a reserved smile and confirmed she got a herbalist Path, where she had found time to pick herbs was anyone's guess. Maybe it was Sanctum Influenced like Air Elementalist or Cutting Wind? That was the more likely reason Sid suspected. The girl chatted amiably, excitedly and began even laughing and speculating on all the things they could do when they left. When they left.

Sid's heart sank at that thought, she had expected to climb alone when she started the Spire, but now she felt it would be lonely. Not to mention wildly dangerous without someone looking out for you, something she had already begun to take for granted. She sighed and joined the girls, chatting with them and taking the time to loosen her chest bindings and remove her breastplate. No one here but us girls right, no more need to hide.

The talk continued hopes were shared, and they spoke about their future.

“I’ll be a great Dancer, maybe I’ll even get to perform in the upper ring,” Vee said hopefully.

“I can be your bodyguard and maybe have a couple of prizefights here or there, my Brawler Path will be good for that at least,” Lynn added with a lazy shrug and a confident grin.

“My sister will be shocked but mighty pleased with a Herbalist to help out,” Naomi beamed.

They turned to Sid smiling, “I don’t know what to pick just yet, but I’m gonna climb the rest of the way, to the top of this Spire, even if it kills me,” Sid said defiantly. They kept on smiling at her but he could see cracks in their facades, they were worried and would try and talk her out of it. So she headed them off saying.“No, you can’t change my mind, but do any of you want to come?”

They couldn’t meet her eyes they shook heads, looked away and muttered apologies. Sid had been expecting it but it still stung a little.

“It was bad enough getting this far,” Vee said placatingly, Lynn and Naomi nodded in agreement.

“Thanks for helping us get this far, do you have anyone on the outside that you want us to contact or watch over?” Naomi asked timidly.

“No, just you guys really, oh and Tallie,” Sid said shaking her head “You can tell her I’m gonna make it to the top of a Spire, Golden Climb.”

“You can tell her that yourself,” Lynn said slapping Sid on the back, then pulling her into a hug. The rest seeing their chance all piled in on the hug and began to sob. Sid cracked and started weeping, mostly from relief, the pent-up stress and horror of the floor she suspected, but it was also sad leaving friends even if it was only for a short while.

After their crying stopped they parted wiping their red eyes, even Lynn seemed to have joined in the communal cry, much to Sid’s surprise. They said a final goodbye and they left through the exit Door, taking the stairs down and disappearing from Sid’s vision.

Sid sighed and made her way to the Fritzbert statue, “Stupid name,” she mumbled to herself. She sat in front of the stone effigy and pondered her Path, Abilities and Attributes. Before she could come to a decision she dozed off. It was to be expected, she was exhausted. So she slept.

---

“I thought you said you wouldn’t wait for me, Sid?”