Tower Over Heaven - Floor I

The shadow returned to consciousness with a labored grunt. Sleep was always a challenge for Venerex, some part of themselves wishing to forever stay within that dreamy world. From the outlook of the current situation though, the time for dreaming was over. No sign of the others, nor could they recall how they ended up down this... well? This place reminded Venerex of times spent down inside a well. It whispered a silent curse: already, they had allowed their vigilance to slip. They would need to be more careful going forward, if they hoped to ensure their allies would reach the towers' top. Still, it wasn't very often the shadow was tricked like this, made to awaken in some strange place. Perhaps the curiosities of this tower were even greater than the stories said? The question began to swirl around in Venerex's mind, of what sort of magic or divine force could govern a place such as this. Yes, this would be great! They hoped, at least. But first, to find the others.

Taking a metaphorical stretch, the faint shadow began to run its arms and tendrils along the walls, feeling the cracks and divots. The good news was this strange place was at least dark, and they weren't too hungry yet. With few other options, Venerex began to ride the walls of the room upward (ladders always seemed such an awkward implement), curiously awaiting whatever may lie at the top.

"Ugh... what on earth did I do last night?" Tabitha had thought she had awoken from a particularly bad dream in the middle of the night, completely oblivious to her current surroundings. She reached to her side, trying to regain her bearings, and heard the cold slap of palm against mud. Her hand recoiled like a spring, just barely biting back a scream of terror, thinking she had touched some sort of oversized, man-eating slug. And then she realized she was wearing all of her gear, and that there was nothing resembling a bed anywhere around here. And that's when it dawned on her.

"Great. Somehow, the others managed to ditch me in this hole. Way to go, everyone," she grumbled, quick to refuse any blame for her current scenario when in fact, there really wasn't any to be handed out in the first place. Her hand reached up to her forehead to rub it in frustration, but then she remembered she sunk it into a fairly deep layer of mud - which was probably all over her dress and cape and hat now - so she sighed and went to adjust the brim of the hat instead. If she was going to get out of this looking like a mess, then the least she could do was straighten out the hat, for once in her life.

...Alright, what did she have on her? She still had the Emerald Eye hanging around her neck, so at least she hadn't been robbed in the middle of this nonsense... She rustled in her pouches before pulling out that useless spell book and a piece of chalk. Without much thought, she ripped out several pages from the book, folding one into an palm-sized open rectangular box, with a single flap hanging from the edge of the box's entrance. The other pages weren't treated so carefully and were crammed without much care into Tabitha's pockets. With the chalk, the young mage diligently traced a few lines on the inside of the box: the symbol of the sun, a few suppressing horizontals, and a simple alignment trigger. Slowly, a dim light began to shine from within the newly-made makeshift lantern in her hands, enough to at least illuminate the walls a little bit.

The ladder was the only way out, it looked like. She certainly couldn't climb the ladder while holding the lantern in one hand, especially with the platform heels she was wearing. Guess she'd just have to trust it from here on out... She folded the makeshift lid of the lantern as the light dimmed away, and began to climb.

...She had some stern words for the others when she finally caught up to them. Nobody gets away with unceremoniously ditching Tabitha Gale like that.

Ariana, upon waking up, was distracted by how damp and gross the room she was lying in was. By Lady Luck, this room is a mess... Thanks to lying down on her legs, her tights were covered in mud. She began to think about wiping herself off, perhaps using a handkerchief she created using her magic, before realizing that that didn't really make any sense. Before her thoughts could wander off any longer, perhaps to how lonely she was in this dark, dank room, she heard the clicking noise.

Ooh! There's probably something up there. And, without considering what could actually be up there, she started climbing up the ladder. Like her head at this moment, her whole being went woosh! as she hopped on. An observer might compare her agility and speed to that of a spider, although as far as anyone knew she was the only one there. She barely heard the suckling noise as she got up there and jumped out the "exit..." Or at the very least, to where an exit would be, if there was one.

"Urrhh..."

Les awakened breathing fairly normally. His first sip was heavy, tingling past his gills, but as he began  to blink around, he grew quiet. Where was this? While he was plenty used to sleeping outside the comfort of home, this certainly wasn't his idea of a good hidey hole... He jostled a little to try and roll into a more comfortable position- this was making his back start to ache- and recoiled immediately (face twisting and all) upon the faint squelch of muck under his legs-- the hell...? He quickly rolled up to a seat, patted off whatever of the muck he could off of his exposed legs, and sent up his voice:

"Ven? Jess? Ahoooooy! Anyone there? Are you okay?"

His voice echoed hollowly up the narrow ascent... was that a ladder? As his fingers wandered towards a rusted bar, however, he couldn't help but hear--

"GYAH!"

Oh, Gods, what was that? Where was it from? Was it under him? Why was alone in a deep, muddy pit all alone with--

His heart, suddenly striking the wall of his chest, willed his body upwards: one hand flew after the other, his feet following at the same breakneck pace... but he felt it creak in all his joints. His heavy jacket, the smallest cargo he could bring himself to carry, his spear, all slowing his climb the higher he went.

As he struggled towards the top, he recalled the soaring feeling of his younger days...


"Breathe, Leszek. Remember why you're here..."


He grit his teeth-- nothing was taking this away from him, as long as he had something, anything left in his weary bones.

This was his last shot... after all.

Ariana opened the door, and her eyes went wide in shock.

Ooh… Those seem… dangerous… Somewhat nervous about being beset by a giant crab, she thought not to dilly-dally.

Creating a slope out of ice using her Miracle, the Divine Skill of the Ice Sculptor, and placing it beside the crab, Ariana would run over the slope and jump over it. Opening the hatch it was guarding as quickly as she could, she would jump down into it and close it. As she did so, the slope behind her would evaporate into thin air. Of course, all of this was assuming that she was successful, which wasn't a guarantee.

"Hergh...!!" Struggled Venerex, their hands once again passing through the valve as they tried to twist it. By the starless nights, air-tight doors were a true blight. Taking another second to calm themselves and focus their mind, Ven managed to find friction with the metal wheel and wrenched it, releasing the hatch at last. With a sigh of relief, the shadow worked its way up and out of the cylinder, roiling the dim floor with its dark essence. Pulling themselves up against a wall, Venerex finally caught sight of a familiar face.

"Leszek," the shadow spoke, a voice not unlike an air current through a stuffy room. "I'm pleased to see you sound." If the Merfolk could spot the creature in the darkness, he'd see Venerex give a small bow of the head, along with an annoyed glare at the crab separating them. Leszek's presence was one the shadow always welcomed: the carefree nature of some of their other allies wore on Venerex's sanity after too long, but Leszek's disciplined nature was much more tolerable. Not to mention, the few of Leszek's dreams Venerex had been allowed to consume were coated in long-standing pain and depression, feelings the shadow always found particularly homely.

They peered down the hall to their left and right, the darkness easily pierced by their green eyes. "This appears to be some kind of curved hallway. I see more crabs down the other paths, along with more hatches." He turned back to Leszek. "Do you have any recollection of how we appeared here? I awoke down inside a pit below that hatch, no memory of my own. I've yet to ever encounter such a power... this bodes well for this tower being all it was promised."

"Nothing of the sort, my friend in the shadows," Leszek called back-- just his luck, right as soon as he nearly busts his elbow working against the hatch, he runs into a bunch of these fellows... He had his heavy spear at the ready, strafing slowly back and around to position himself more in front of the crabs than between them. "Though whatever was down there gave me quite a scare! Hmph... this Tower's just jumping on us right away, eh? Don't worry-- we'll skewer them all and have ourselves a good meal to help clear our heads! I'm sure the others must be down those other hatches too."

Glaring at the crabs, the fisherman lowered his stance-- while his coat and carry-ons gave off the impression of an anchor, their weight holding him to the ground, the body underneath seemed to be brimming with adrenaline, just moments away from snapping forward like a loaded spring.

But he was catching his breath, as well- if the Tower kept pushing him like this, he wasn't sure he could last all that long. He could only bring so much juice, after all...

Carefully, Les took swift, leaping sidesteps in a curve around the crab farther from Venerex, ending on its left side... With a short breath, he raised broad-bladed spear to jam it firmly in the slit of its outer shell, then, as quickly as he could, rip it free- to the side- and leap back...!

"Hyah!"

"We can attempt to reunite with them once these foes are handled," Venerex agreed, giving the crab heading toward them a sideways glance. In these conditions, they weren't particularly worried about being injured, and instead decided to focus upon helping Les with his threats.

Expanding outward for a moment, like the silhouette of a massive stone striking a pond and splashing upward, Venerex collapsed into a shadow on the ground, quickly zipping toward the crab between they and Leszek. Venerex supposed the feeling of becoming a true shadow was not unlike when a bird opens its wings to soar: with their tendrils snaking behind them, Ven rode the boundary between reality and thought, a giddiness bubbling at what would soon follow.

"The thoughts of animals are bland, but I suppose I could use a snack," Venerex mused to itself as they laid within the crustacean's shadow. With ravenous glee, they opened their metaphorical jaw wide. Hundreds of tiny needles found purchase upon the crab's shadow and began to seep into it, a weak point so few were aware of. Venerex's mental probes wormed past the creature's physical body and into its essence, invading the sanctuary of the crab's mind and beginning to replace its thoughts and instincts with doubts and despair. As Venerex quietly swayed with content, devouring the matter of the animal's mind, they distantly hoped the invasion would give their friend the upper hand.

Colette awoke to darkness and for a moment wondered how she had wound up back in the ocean. With a few moments more of inspection, she realized that there was air and a sickening feeling she knew from only one time before but she would never forget. Mud. Slimy, not quite liquid, not quite solid, useless as far as she could tell. The only good thing about it was the typical dark color, but with no light at all there were no colors to be seen and none to change to.

As she rose, there was a sound followed by a sudden brightness that drew her eyes instantly upward. A hole in the ceiling? Something... no someone... It looked like Ariana, but then the hole closed again and left her in darkness, but it appeared like the elf was still in the room with her. There was a thing on the wall, apparently sturdy enough to hold on to, seeing as Ariana hadn't fallen. "Ariana? Was that you?"

Though still slightly wary, remembering now that they were all being tested and that this could be a trap (in addition to Ariana being above her), she made sure her helmet was on properly and moved the direction of the ladder she had seen, making quick work of the first few rungs, but waiting to hear a response before heading all the way up.

James woke with a surprising amount of composure for a man trapped in a cylinder of stone. Taking a few deep breaths, he frowned. How had he arrived here, exactly? He recalled the journey up to the tower, but anything past that was... blank. It was a concerning state of affairs, and he took a few moments to collect his thoughts as best as he could - but to little avail.

Oh, well. No use worrying about what he was missing. Spurred upward by some vague hint of danger below, the farmer steadily ascended the ladder. After a long and awkward pause as he fumbled with the latch mechanism, he pulled himself out of the hatch onto the ground above.

He looked first left, then right, saw the monstrous guards standing there, and sighed.

"Morning, James," Les called out, his eyes moving from the man in the periphery of his vision to the crabs he had just engaged. "You'll help us with breakfast again, won't you? Get over here!"

That was effective... good, then these crabs weren't any different from the usual fare, save for the size of the blade he needed to crack them open. Though now that James was awake and- hopefully, at least- shocked right into a fighting state of mind (though he was definitely more the collected sort), he had to wonder... maybe he could make this a little easier.

With a new idea rolling around in his head, Leszek continued to strafe back and around, pulling his body through the strap of his spear to put it away for the time being... and in a moment, he had procured his grappling hook-- whistling a high-sailing note to catch the swordsman's attention again.

This time, he spun his hook around a few times to get some speed going; then bouncing forward on his feet, his upper body steady the whole way, he flung it towards the crab between himself and James, aiming to catch its larger pincer...!

"...Keep watching my back..." the fisherman muttered, in no direction in particular. Wherever Ven had gone, he was sure the fellow was hard at work. They had their own way of hunting: while it was no work of martial spectacle, it was quiet and certain as death- like the sickness eating away at his bones. Though, admittedly, he found them an oddly comfortable presence in spite of it.

Just as Tabitha reached for the hatch and pried it open by a hair, the Emerald Eye lurched back and pulled back down towards the mud, pressing the chain it was on against Tabitha's throat. Thankfully, it wouldn't ever tug hard enough to ever choke Tabitha, but sheesh, that was uncomfortable... she squeezed a finger in between her and the chain to loosen it. Honestly, it was as if the Emerald Eye had a mind of it own. Which it honestly probably did with they way it acted sometimes, but could it learn to keep it down for once?

But she wasn't stupid enough to ignore the signal. She took a cautious peek outside the hatch... were those, giant crabs? Eugh, gross. she didn't even like eating regular crabs too much, much less fighting giant ones. Trying to crack the shells of those things just ruined her appetite all the time... Either way, she definitely didn't want to be next to either of the two she could spot from here.

Hmm... a distraction, maybe? It actually wasn't that dark up here, so maybe... She reached into her pocket for the mini paper lantern again, flipping its lid open to let the light shine before doing her best to chuck it out the hatch and towards some corner of the hall. It wouldn't fly that far because, well, she didn't have the best throwing arm in the world, but hopefully, the crabs would chase after that and leave Tabitha a route to get out.

She kept the hatch open by a crack, eyes on the lantern as it would patter and bounce along the ground, waiting for the crabs to move and give her a chance... though, her arms were starting to ache from both climbing the ladder and keep the hatch lifted. That was really annoying.

"Ooo! Colette! It's so nice to see you!" She took a moment to consider what this meant.

If Colette is here, that means that the others are probably in the other hatches... So after exiting the hatch we should probably see more of them soon...

Wait a second, I'm dawdling. We need to get out of here!

"Colette, since you're so good at throwing things, after I open this hatch, try and throw one of those rocks out! I bet that the crabs up there are still clawing at it! But hurry, the others are probably in danger. We don't have any time to waste!"

Once Colette confirmed that she was ready somehow, she would open the hatch.

Hmm... Is it possible that I'm giving her too much information? She was always a bit anxious... Oh, well.

Colette took in all the information, including the noise beneath her. If Ariana was to be believed, then she would likely be real since being sandwiched between two types of enemy seemed likely. She continued up the rungs. "I can hear something down near the bottom of the hole. So we should move quickly."

She held onto the rungs with a few arms and leaned back, prepping one of her spheres to be thrown once Ariana opened the hatch.

The edge of the farmer's mouth ticked upward a bit.

"Gladly. Maybe we can try crab today?"

Seeing Les grabbing one of the crustaceans' claws, James took a single step forward. In a motion so smooth it almost escaped the eye, his clenched fists swung an imaginary handle upward. A line traced itself along the floor, and a blade of wind suddenly struck the underside of the crab, hopefully giving Les the force he needed to turn it over...

"Oh! Right! The squelching noise! I'll open up the hatch right now. Throw that sphere of yours and get out of there!" Ariana would open up the hatch, and after Colette threw the iron sphere at the crab, she would see if it was dead or there was some way around it. If so, she would jump out and get away from it. If not, she would take her rapier out of its sheath and stab it in its abdomen, hopefully finishing it off. After that, she would jump out. That way Colette could, too.

Colette moved up one more rung, preparing to exit, before something grabbed her from below. Not quick enough...

The first thing she did was stretch upward as far as she could, arms and suckers grabbing purchase on anything they could reach as she tried to pull away from whatever was holding her. Should she make it up to the top she'd try to open the hatch and get out.

The second thing she did (regardless of the degree of success on the first action) was look down to try and see just exactly what was down there.

"Hmph, not bad," Venerex noted as James and Les dispatched the crab. James... the shade hadn't gotten much time to get to know the farmer, and what they had learned slightly unsettled them. Minds were things they were quite used to seeing and quickly understanding, but the machinations of James' mind escaped the shadow's cursory examinations. His actions and manner were so often contradictory, one moment collected and graceful, the next, fascinated by some silly time-piece or something. He could at least respect James' background and duty as a guardian, but it almost made his demeanor more inscrutable for them. Thinking about it made Ven want just a moment or two inside the man's brain, just to see how everything was working. And maybe a taste or two, just to make sure he really understood it all.

Wait, what were they doing? Right, the crabs! Returning their thoughts to the present, they could feel renewed power coursing through their form, fueled by the thoughts of the crustacean they'd probed. Good, this should be enough.

Focusing their mind upon the tangible and real, Venerex forced a portion of their body across the boundary and into the physical plane, creating a thick tendril of darkness. With a patient, silent motion, the tendril snaked up behind the crab, before suddenly binding itself around the creatures' eyestalks and shaking them violently.

"Gentlemen! If you would?" the shade called out, having hopefully put the already-distressed crab in a vulnerable state (and hoping their allies would deal with it before it snipped their tendril).

"James! It's so nice to see you!" Ariana exclaimed. "Oh, but no time for pleasantries. Let's finish these bothersome crustaceans off!" Knowing that she was vulnerable and shouldn't expect to get a clear shot on a crab again, she decided to make use of her usual fighting style.

Ariana raised her hand and whispered a brief prayer to Pallas. Ice would rise out of the ground and circle around the crab that had lost its claw. Knowing that it might not be able to break through the ice using its smaller claws, hopefully this would keep it trapped long enough for everyone to escape. Then, if she could, she would step back and create a spear out of ice, before throwing it at the crab that was currently hogging Ven. If the spear hit, it would disappear, although the enclosure that the crab was trapped in would remain.

It slipped her mind at the moment that Colette was taking an awfully long time to get out of that hatch...

Les let out a hearty whoop as James summoned his invisible sword to knock the crab over (he always got a kick out of that) and Ven emerged from the shadows to further disorient the one on his other side... then a blue spear dropped on it from above! He almost felt bad for the other one-- that was terrifying!

With a glint in his eye, the fisherman released his grip on the rope and started forward, slipping his spear back into position... Then, about two meters away from it, he stepped from a strafe into a forward hop, then twisted around in midair- dropping his spear clean through the crab's exposed underside!

"Alright, good work, everyone!" He cheered, drawing his spear back out and pressing his foot to the crab, just to make sure it was fully dispatched-- "James, go on ahead-- I think the girls're finally gettin' up..."

He definitely saw that heavy steel ball bounce past his vision earlier, while he was working the rope... hew, reminded him not to mess with that Collette, even if she was pretty shy... With the ice popping up around the crab farther down and Ariana finally showing up- flying through the air- in the far reaches of his vision, he half-expected to see some runes pop to life on the floor, or at least the point of Tabitha's hat... actually, backing up, where was Collette?

"Oy, Stargazer! Where's the owner of this cannonball?"