Octophobia

Spire's Spite - Arc 2- Chapter 57

The cold grew worse over the coming hours. Even the flush of heat from the sporadic battles with the small packs of sand sharks couldn't keep them warm. The breeze was biting and their sweat served to chill them further as they trudged over the white sands.

Fritz led them, his three-piece pole now in full use as he prodded the metal length into the ground before him in rhythmic intervals. It was slow going, but necessary as they had soon discovered patches of quicksand in the stretches ...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 56

After a short rest, Fritz and his team stacked the non-charred sharks in a pile to be processed into flaky, fillets.

Then they got to cutting.

It was bloody work, but a suitably satisfying task, there was a grim triumphant pleasure in carving the creatures. Toby, in particular, was a genius of gutting the beasts. His daggers darted, parting skin and extracting bones in a blur. It was repetitive, rote, almost hypnotic, the way he laid out the cleaned flesh in ...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 55

Fritz awoke to the hustle and bustle of breakfast, or dinner, it could be either. The outside time really didn't bear much relevance on the rest and meal times of Climbers. He knew it was good to set up routines for the team to go through so as not to lose their daily rhythms. But eventually, with an hour here and an hour there slipping by unnoticed, they would be completely out of sync with the world beyond the Spire's walls.

He groaned and stretched, feeling strangely grogg...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 54

The mention of the spite soured the expressions of Fritz's entire team, save Bert who merely seemed interested.

"Makes the floors harder," Rosie stated simply, from where she sat in their circle of armchairs and desks.

"Yes but do we know how it does that?" Fritz asked.

"More monsters?" Cal hedged.

"More traps?" George suggested.

"New rules, sense shrouding, and the beasts will be more aware of our presence,"...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 53

"Wow? What?" Cal asked eagerly as Lauren perused the pile of precious objects on the long, wooden table.

"They mostly seem to be magical items. Not Imbued, mind you, though that's not so bad," she stated. "Some merely magical items can be just as useful as true Treasures."

"Even the hat," Cal asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Even the hat," she agreed, sitting back down in her armchair. "All except the gem."

"Too bad we h...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 52

"What!?" Fritz, Toby and Bert cried in unison, staring at the young woman.

"I said: I'm with child," Jane repeated, blushing furiously and wrapping her arms around her stomach protectively.

Fritz and Bert looked to Toby incredulously, his face had gone as pale as a sheet and he started to stammer.

"Wa-wa-what!?" He finally enunciated.

"You heard," she said, getting redder by the second.

"You weren't taking pr...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 51

"Wait! We can talk about this," Fritz entreated, hoping his voice reached through the clear dome that separated his team from the other crew. He sheathed Quicksilver in a show of good faith, displaying an honest desire for diplomacy and hiding his duplicity.

Larry stood in front, a brutal expression on his already brutal, slightly burnt face. Behind him and holding the staff projecting the protection, Jasper glanced around tiredly. And further behind, Toby stood in the door's...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 50

"That's not fair! We got here late and we still need two keys!" Bert yelled. A predictable reaction if a little more exaggerated than the rest of the team, which Fritz had gathered, having halted their frantic looting.

When he had interrupted them, Lauren had been looking for a way to drop the barriers while George and Cal had taken to prying off the gold gilding on many of the plinths. Bert and Rosie had been to trying to break the glass cases, and when that hadn't worked th...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 49

The longer Fritz searched the mosaic map, the more he worried. There wasn't just one key room, from what he could make out there was one on each of the five floors below the sixth. His intuition had been right on the number of floors, though not his team's position. It seemed they had come in between the second and third floor rather than between the first and second. The previous team must have been here for some time to have searched the bottom already. Or perhaps that area had very little ...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 48

"This must be your fault," Fritz proclaimed, motioning to the sticky webs covering the way forward. "Who brings up spiders in a Spire."

"Don't blame, Cal," Rosie said, puffing out her chest. "These webs must have been here far before we got here. And it's not like the Spires listen to us."

"The first is a fair point, the second is not," Fritz said. "Spires absolutely listen to us, and have sick senses of humour. Be wary of what you say within their walls." 2024-10-20 02:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 -Chapter 47

"Yes, let's go," Fritz agreed. Another shudder shook the room, sending books to the stone bricks and a wave of fear through him.

He didn't want to risk the wrath of the flood again. Quickly he and his team were packed and moving through the winding bookcase alleys. Fritz followed his Door Sense's impressions, he would pulse it and marvel at how little it strained him now, noticing as well how much easier it was to 'tune' it to what he was searching for. It must be the higher ...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 46

"For now we stay together, avoid the other crew and search through the books for anything useful," Fritz stated to his team, gathered as they were behind the lightly groaning door.

"What if they try to shut the next door on us?" Rosie asked.

"Then we cut through it again. Hey, George," Bert said.

George smiled proudly and nodded once from where he and his greatsword leant against a stone brick wall.

"We'll have to strike an a...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 45

The team were quick to heed Fritz's warning, their packs and bags already on their backs as they ran right, opposite the faraway roar of flooding water. Cal sprinted ahead of the team, leveraging his Speed to stay ahead. He held the lantern aloft, lighting the way up the curving stairs and into the blackness beyond.

Fritz was glad they had reacted as rapidly as they did, he didn't know if they had moments, minutes, or hours before being swept up and drowned. And as the saying...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 44

Fritz took his time returning to his team, strolling a circuitous route around the Well room, admiring the various intriguing sculptures and mosaics in their evenly spaced alcoves. Though he liked some of the aesthetic of the arrayed art, they gave him an unsettling sense of the uncanny, and the more he looked the more small errors he saw. Alien Landscapes that flowed into each other like mixed syrups, alike and also completely unalike his recollections of the Twilight realm.

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 43

Fritz strode up the familiar stone scale steps, two at a time, eagerly entering the Well room and searching for the font of Power within. He needed its healing energies. It was disconcerting, only being able to hear a high whine and the fast thud of his heart. The walls of room he had just stepped within were rimmed with many small alcoves set with statues or mosaics.

He rapidly located the Well, it was part of the leftmost wall. A glowing mosaic of that same scaled stone as ...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 42

Fritz surfaced at the base of the tall, wide stone pillar. He pulled himself onto the small craggy shore around it and quickly plugged his ears with wet rags. He stared around at his team, most of which had swam here much quicker than himself and had been waiting. They were deafened with rags just as he was and Bert signed a question at him.

"Rest?"

Fritz peered up at the daunting climb, sighed and signed back, "Rest. Nine minutes. Hide."

Whe...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 41

Fritz ignored the jarring notes coming from below and continued climbing the stone cliff face. His graceful hands easily found the handholds and he pulled himself up, breathing in time with the thrumming beat of the enchanting melody. Something twisted and turned in the back of his mind, but he added that sensation to the things he was already ignoring.

Nothing mattered but reaching the peak of this tall pillar and finding the singers. He needed to see them, beh...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 40

"Whoa there!" Dayn called out, rapidly approaching Fritz's team before they headed through the grey stone of the siren Door.

"Dayn, what can we do for you? We were just heading off," Fritz said amiably.

The man ruffled his brown hair and looked around at the expectant team. "I just thought I'd warn you before you went through,' he said seriously. "You might want to reconsider and take the leftmost Door, that one is more suited to new Climbers. The Door you ar...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 39

Once the team had eaten, and all had a chance to bathe, they set in to sleep. Though they didn't abandon watches, even in the brightly lit Well room. It was one of the things 'The Observations' suggested, that even in places where you feel safe you should still have that routine so as to not make the mistake on the battlefield.

Bert had argued against the practise and said it was actually just setting up all of life to be a battlefield. A stunning show of insight from the man...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 38

The real pity was the prices listed by the Guides Guild. It was little more than gouging, just as Dayn had said. Everything from know-notes to rations were at least three times the price it had been on the landing. Though that was also exorbitantly overpriced.

"Why does it all cost so much?" Rosie whined.

"Because, intrepid Climber, we have to bring all these supplies up from the surface. And that is quite the perilous task," the clerk responded.

2024-09-15 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 37

Breathing slowly, calmly, Fritz gazed around the Well room while his team chose their new Abilities. This time he carefully scanned and took in all the things he had missed before.

While the circular stone room was filled with tents, wooden chairs and tables, there was also a two-storied structure of white stone and wood beams with an orange tiled roof. It didn't belong and was incongruent in the extreme. He wondered for a moment how he had missed it in his first search of th...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 36

The red and gold canopy was wet with dew and small droplets would fall when branches waved in the gentle wind.

"It sure is hot!" Bert said, grinning, trudging through the humid jungle.

The team grumbled, this was the third time he'd spoken that particular truth.

"Must you?" Fritz said, grating at the reminder of the uncomfortable heat.

"I must," Bert replied.

Fritz glowered, he'd get the aggravating idiot bac...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 35

The creature stalking him sliced into his arms and disappeared into the bleak, grey forest. Fritz tried to flee but the monster followed. It had three faces, sixty faces, nine hundred faces. All faces of those he had killed, and had fallen to his blade. Quicksilver howled, it was like a thousand swords drawn all at once. Countless discordant tones in a sharp, cold song. It looked different, felt different, and yet it was the same. The beast pounced again, lamenting their deaths, blaming him w...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 34

On wobbly legs, Fritz strode through the small section of red and gold jungle. His whole body ached while his brain felt like it was trying to escape his skull with small, cold claws. Dark veins stood out on the too-pale skin of his arms and the cuts he had taken. The venom had soaked deep into his flesh, burning and cramping his muscles. Thankfully, the bleeding had stopped, the newly formed scabs, however, had an almost green tinge and the flesh around was bruised black. His heart would ski...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 33

Vaa'gur's grin of sadistic elation was replaced with a grimace of savage fury. Fritz's slid back and out of his opponent's reach, his shadowy body solidifying after a heartbeat. He could feel his newly acquired Passive take its due from his Dusksong mana.

Three minutes until it refreshes, better flee to the others.

The raider's face scrunched, and he retched, spitting as the stench of the ghost potion overwhelmed his senses for a moment. The foul con...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 32

Pain. Three, no, five kinds of pain. Black, silver, white, dark-green, blue-green. They swirled in Fritz's mind like solid plumes of smoke, gnawing at him like fanged worms. He screamed and bit down on the leather strip in his mouth. He fought the infectious energies as they tried to wrap him in terrible tendrils. With force of will he held them an inch, or was it a mile, away from his soul.

The agony threatened to split his mind and break his hold, his Focus steadied his tho...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 31

The offerings, while useful at any other time, did nothing but flare frustration in his chest while his Sanctum's stormy sky thundered. Annoyed, he fixed his attention instead to his six Attributes left to align. Following through with his previous plan, he brought both his Focus and Dusksong to twelve. Knowing he needed more magical reserves and recovery, that and the Focus to help him reign in his Senses.

He felt the changes wrought to his willow, and himself, as he had bef...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 30

Fritz's head swam as he breathed in more of the numbing air, but he didn't dare take his eyes off the raider approaching or his savage grin.

At least he looks hurt, Fritz observed, searching over the man's ragged appearance, and the tearing of his black armour and the many cuts he had taken on his skin.

Lauren slumped to the side, unconscious. Bert seemed to barely notice the poison as he clasped the bar of soap with the Golden Seed hidden withi...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 29

The team followed Fritz as he strode down the brazier lit, and surprisingly smokeless, halls. They turned this way and that as the branching corridors presented themselves, winding as they did to deny any angle from which an arrow could be loosed. Focused as he was on his Trap Sense, Fritz nearly walked past a hidden passage, even though he was specifically searching for one.

There was just too much to pay attention to. He had to listen for the whooshing of wind that preceded...

Spire's Spite - Arc 2 - Chapter 28

"Let me heal first," Fritz said, staggering towards the floating diamond that he assumed to be the Well. The worried team parted before him, allowing him to touch the head-sized, pulsing gem.

Cool Power flowed down his arm and into his centre. And in a moment of desperate need to recover his ability to walk, he focused on the hole in his thigh, willing the energies to concentrate there rather than spread out. To his great surprise, his nudging worked, somewhat. It was like diverting one...