The Ruby Magician

FLOOR 3

Group: 5/5

Quest: After finding an exit through the infested sewers more obstacles await. The city has succumbed to dark forces, but there is still hope. Some fight on and continue to try and protect the citizens from stronger, more numerous foes. Foes that have broken through their lines. Foes that stand in your way from the last line of defense at the city’s walls.

After meeting for breakfast, the group quickly decided to keep climbing. Despite the somber news of an entire group dying inside the tower, they didn’t feel right piddling around the city. Tasha and Cedric argued that they could train and practice for the other trials in the training hall, but the other three argued they could do the same thing while facing monsters instead of dummies. Climbing meant they could earn rewards and improve their score in the trials, since their parchments were marked to track their climbs to add to an overall score.

So, into the tower they went.

Not being able to climb the second tier limited them. The second floor was immediately out, and the first floor was too easy. They’d climbed the fourth so many times that they wanted a break, and their mood was already sour. Something different was not only more than welcome, it was needed.

That left the third floor. It wasn’t anything special, but it was different enough to be the floor of the day. And, as Wyn was quick to point out, the locked room was interesting enough to see again.

Immediately after going through the portal Wyn adjusted his new gear. His helmet fit him just as easily as the Hat of the Magi, and he altered it to look like a Mage’s hat. He wanted to grow accustomed to looking like a Ruby Magician. If he was going to embrace the class, he wanted to show it off.

Daniel would be proud.

Similar to before, the entrance of the floor was in a dungeon cell. It wasn’t nearly as disgusting as the sewers on the second floor, but it was still musty and dark. Wyn shook the Mushroom Lantern on his belt, and the glow produced a dull red light like a bleeding, dying torch that extended farther out of the room.

“Trap formation?” Tasha asked. She raised her wand and cast Torchlight, giving more light for them to use. A ball of light brighter than a lantern hung above her head a couple of feet.

Wyn started to respond but then looked down at his left forearm. His Ashen Gallidium Shield was in its dormant state, where it was smaller than a parrying buckler. The matching weapon in his right hand was currently a dagger.

His equipment was different from before, which meant he was more flexible with his positioning.

“We might need to adjust our formations,” Wyn said. “Now that I can be more defensive with John, we’ll need to reorganize.”

“I still need to take the lead,” John said. “Maybe instead of reorganizing we just add a formation? Since you can provide more protection now, you could guard the back alone. It’s not much different than before.”

“I agree,” Cedric said. “Like a more defensive-oriented formation in case we need it. You can support John at the front while Marcy and I will bring up the rear and Tasha will stay in the middle.”

Wyn agreed. It was a good idea, and their previous formations were still useful. They moved on in the trap formation they were used to, and Wyn told himself that depending on how it went with his new gear, they could always adjust later.

Moving through the dungeon was straightforward. It was slow with Marcy checking for traps, and they surprisingly found more this climb than before. The first room they entered had a rockfall trap that Marcy disabled right away. Apparently if it was triggered, a load of heavy rocks would fall from the ceiling at the first half of the room. It could be deadly if a group was caught unaware. The second trap was a few rooms later, where the floor was a series of square stone tiles that hid a few triggered plates. Marcy showed which tiles to avoid, and they proceeded without issue. She didn’t know what that trap did, but it certainly wouldn’t be pleasant.

Wyn knew they needed to find the room with a chest that contained a key to advance. The first part of the floor was confined and small but relatively simple. They backtracked a few times with rooms that held nothing, and his lantern showed no hidden passages or magic at all. After half an hour, they finally found the room, and it was guarded with three large Ashen Dogs.

“Enclosed attack formation,” Wyn called, and swapped places with Marcy. As the Ranger stepped back, she fired a magical arrow at the middle dog. It was completely blue, like the color of the deep ocean water. The arrow exploded in a small swirl of water, drenching the Dog and splattering on the other two. The water seemed to trap them in a vortex of water that was growing with each second.

Before entering, Marcy restocked her supply of magical arrows. She was like Wyn with her class, where she could use some spells and had skills but not nearly as many as classes that primarily utilized one or the other. Instead, she had added flexibility of being able to use special arrows. She didn’t have an unlimited supply and always kept a lookout for them in the trading hall. They were one of the more popular and simple items that could be crafted, and she found a batch of elemental arrows she found useful. Her quiver already made regular arrows at a steady rate, and having magical arrows afforded her more variability and attacking options.

Wyn changed his dagger into a mace with only a thought and a sliver of mana. While he was more comfortable using blades, the Dogs had tougher hides similar to armor, and he thought a blunt weapon would be slightly more effective.

John moved to the left and began hacking away at the Ashen Dog, while Wyn moved to the right. He immediately gripped his weapon with both hands and brought it down hard on the Dog’s head, where it connected with a sickening thud. The Dog twitched and yelped in pain, though two more heavy swings silenced it.

The middle Dog started to lose itself spinning around in a small cyclone of water, but was quickly silenced by an arcing bolt of lightning.

In seconds all three monsters were dead, their bodies disappearing back into the tower. All that remained was the chest, which John opened without hesitation. Pulling out the key, he smiled and pocketed it.

Finding the hallway only took a few more minutes as they worked through the dungeon. It was dimly lit, long, and narrow, just like before. Two doors were on either side of the hallway, and the winding staircase sat in a small alcove at the far end of the path.

The group immediately walked up to the right door, where the wolf head symbol showed itself. It was three wolf heads staring directly at them with pointed ears and fangs from their top jaws. John found a large keyhole above the heads, and Wyn figured it would shift to the single wolf again. He walked back into the hall while John opened the door but stopped.

The other door, which was dull and lifeless before, now shimmered with red magic that rivaled the portals at the end of the floors. The color was exactly like the color glimmering from Wyn’s lantern, and the effect caught him heavily off guard.

“John, stop,” Wyn said.

John pulled the key away before using it. “What are you -” he started, before pausing. He stared at the other door. “That didn’t glow before.”

“No it did not,” Cedric said, walking up to it. He looked closer at the section of stone wall that met the door, and ran his fingers along small, indiscriminate arcane scripts while his scepter floated in the air beside him. “Holy shit. It’s just like before.”

The others ran up to the door to look closer. They all stared at in fascination before looking at each other. Then they started laughing.

“Another secret room!” Wyn said. “I can’t believe it!”

“This is incredible,” John said. He started bouncing on the balls of his feet. “And on the third floor again. Maybe there’s a connection?”

Tasha pulled out a small book from a pocket and flipped it open. “The last door was a different color. I believe it was green? We need to mark down what happens inside to really see if there’s a pattern. This is something new that translates across seasons that hasn’t been recorded before.”

“We aren’t telling anyone about it, though,” Cedric said. “Who knows what could happen if we expose Wyn’s lantern.”

Wyn silently agreed. He didn’t want to be questioned further about meeting the Avatar during his first climb, but more than that he didn’t want to lose the item. A part of him believed it would be taken from him, possibly to study or even abuse.

They all stood back while Tasha wrote some notes. Wyn checked his potion belt to prepare himself but also to steady his racing thoughts. He hadn’t needed to use a single one during their climb, but now wondered if she should rearrange them. His belt allowed him to carry four potions, and he carried two mana and two health potions. Would it be better to add a mana potion instead? He could be more liberal with his magic, and saving the one health potion for emergencies might be helpful. They could always leave if it became too much.

He sat down his backpack and started the exchange. “Everyone get ready. We’ll go in a few minutes.”

John sat down his backpack and Marcy drew some more magical arrows from it, replacing standard ones from her quiver. Cedric and Tasha both pulled out a few mana potions to have in reserve.

“We don’t know what’s on the other side,” Wyn said when they all agreed they were ready. “We could open the door and immediately be met with monsters. Tasha, be ready for a Calling depending on what we see. John, I’m staying up front with you. Start an Aura the moment we see enemies and keep it up. Yell if you need mana.”

After more agreements, Wyn opened the door.

Similar to the last secret room, inside was dark but spacious like a slightly smaller training hall where the torches were unlit. Here, though, it was completely empty. Wyn’s lantern made a large area around them glow in a strange hazy red that reminded him of the sky of the current season. Tasha cast another Torchlight and the space around them brightened, making it look a bit more normal.

Fifty feet across the room was a red glowing crystal that hovered a few feet in the air. It looked almost the same as the last crystal, except this one was ominous with its color. The stone walls and floor looked like they were bleeding in an eerie effect.

Wyn stepped forward beside John, blade in hand. He mentally commanded it to shift into a longsword, while at the same time expanding his shield. This was it. This was the test he’d been waiting for for his new gear and set bonus. Excitement bubbled up within him and he took a few deep breaths to settle himself.

The crystal seemed to sense their preparation and began glowing brighter. A red misty cloud formed behind the crystal and Ashen Dogs began to trot out of it. As they began to cross the large room, John activated his Squire Aura, coating himself and Wyn. Wyn then activated Speed Up and checked his mark. Hardly any mana was used. The added effects of his skills and items made activating the skill cost hardly anything, and he almost laughed at the revelation.

He grew serious when he realized the Ashen Dogs were still being summoned. There were at least a dozen in the open room, and more kept stepping out of the mist, two and three at a time every few seconds.

“Horde formation,” Wyn said, practically yelling it. The first Ashen Dogs were nearly on them, and he and John moved forward to meet them. As they did, he saw Marcy and Cedric out of the corners of his eyes fan out and began peppering the freshly summoned monsters with attacks.

The first Ashen Dog Wyn met expanded its jaws to bite him and raised a paw to slash at him at the same time. He raised his shield but felt the world slightly slow down. In his mind, he processed everything in his vision far faster than he was used to. It was as though time around him was slowing down, though he knew the opposite was true. The change nearly disoriented him, but he adjusted quickly. His shield felt secure as he swept the Dog to the side and stabbed at it with his sword, aiming at its chest. The sword pierced deep with his enhanced strength from John’s Aura, and he felt the monster go slack as the weapon was buried deep in its body.

Readying himself for the next monster, Wyn noticed several things at once, all because of his improved mental processing from his Speed Up skill. Combined with the new reduced cost of using the skill, he theorized he could activate it much more than before and still be efficient with his mana.

It was perfect.

He realized Marcy was now flying from her new cloak, raining down arrow after arrow on Ashen Dogs near the red crystal. Cedric was shooting lightning all throughout room, and his boots were glowing. He must have activated their effect to be ready to escape at a moment’s notice. John was slashing through Dog after Dog with his sword socketed with an aquamarine gem, cutting them down like a farmer scythes wheat.

They were fighting not just well, but excellently. Like a cohesive unit.

All of this was happening around him while he moved to the next Dog. He lunged at it with a stab and pierced it while it feebly tried to raise a paw to attack. Another quick attack killed it. It was a slash that made the Dog’s paw swipe look pitifully slow.

Not only was he processing things quicker, but he was of course moving quicker, too. He didn’t know by exactly how much, but this next advancement of Speed Up was incredible. It was as though he was fighting like a third-tier Climber.

Over the course of a minute the Ashen Dogs finally started slowing down. They didn’t give the group any difficulties as they appeared to be the same challenge as the ones from the first floor, but Wyn assumed there had to have been at least sixty or seventy of them. He stopped counting after the second dozen one he personally killed. When John toyed with the last one to give them time to recover, the rest of the group collected themselves similar to their strategy for last month’s horde. Saving the last opponent meant the next wave of enemies would be delayed, giving the others time to catch their breath.

As Wyn looked around the room, he realized that wouldn’t be possible. Treasure drops littered the room, and he instantly saw at least three items that were glowing green. On a glance, he also noticed two dozen items scattered about. That wasn’t even the piles of copper boots or silver cloaks that shone in the red light.

All four of them began to pile up the items while John kept taunting the last Dog. Wyn stopped helping gather and then began scooping up as many items into his pack as he could fit. He counted four potions and over a dozen monster drops, as well as a dagger and belt.

John killed the last Dog before long and ran over to scoop up most of the gear as his backpack was more suited to hold equipment. The moment the last monster died, the crystal dimmed to an almost imperceptible glow.

“Good start,” Cedric said, keeping his eyes on the crystal. “I think we can handle horde waves.”

In less than a minute the crystal began to brighten signaling the next wave. It was faster than the last room. John’s Squire Aura was still active, as was Wyn’s skill.

Wyn stood and readied himself. “Depending on what comes out, Tasha, bring in a Calling. Marcy, summon a Deathhawk if it’s a serious enemy.”

As the five Climbers took their positions, the crystal began pulsing in a red wave of light. The mist around it returned, and instead of Ashen Dogs emerging, three Ashen Warriors stepped out. They looked similar to the fourth floor setup, not as imposing or deadly as the sixth floor versions. Their lack of full body armor and variation of equipment reminded them of the first tier enemies.

Behind the three opponents more walked out in a steady stream. Wyn stopped counting at a dozen. They had only ever faced up to nine of these enemies at a time on the fourth floor, and he was sure there would likely be twice that many here.

“Tasha,” Wyn said.

“On it,” Tasha responded, as a large runic mark appeared under her feet.

Marcy placed a trap on the ground towards the right side of their group, and Wyn overlaid it with a Wellspring. According to his mark, he still had over three quarters of his mana left. If he could fight a good number of enemies inside his trapped circle, there was a solid chance he could recover to full. Knowing that, he stepped forward with John and activated his new second tier spell he’d been wanting to try - Decay. As his Ruby Magician runic circle appeared under his feet, a misty cloud appeared around him. He knew that the range of the spell was the cloud, and that any enemy inside it would deteriorate while he was healed. Due to his class upgrade, healing himself also meant his mana would regenerate, which was his primary goal. Knowing he was rapidly regaining his mana meant more spells to use.

On the left side of their group, Cedric placed a large storm cloud in the area. The dark grey cloud hovered and began rumbling with thunder, ready to strike any enemy that ventured too close. The combination was their preferred setup for the Ashen Warriors they fought on the sixth floor, and it made a great funnel to keep enemies focused on Wyn and John while Cedric and Marcy attacked errant monsters or stragglers.

The first three Ashen Warriors began trotting over, their swords and spears readied at their sides to attack.

“I’ll pull up another Aura right away if it goes down,” John said. He took a deep breath as another, deeper red aura enveloped him. It was his Focus skill.

This would be a serious fight. But Wyn expected it. He wanted it.

Tasha’s Arcane Aura spell finished and Wyn felt the magically protective aura coat his body. He looked past the closest monsters and saw nearly two dozen Ashen Warriors already in the room with more walking through the mist like a portal from hell.

Wyn brought up his shield and readied his sword to the approaching enemies. It was time he put his equipment and skills to a real test.