Chapter 211: ...Claw's Nest (12)

World: MSS - Loading...

***

Sitting around in a circle, we listened to Stole’s story.

“After the ship broke, I don’t remember much.  Just water.  Lots and lots of water.”  She sat with her legs crossed, hands on her ankles.  The arbalest leaned behind her.

I noticed that her cheeks were sunken, and there were black bags under her eyes.

“You didn’t find anyone else?”  I asked.  With Stole’s talents, she should have been able to find someone by now.

“No.”  She sniffed.  “Too far.  And the paths are all twisted.”

So that’s what was messed her up.

It made a lot of sense.  The Spire had multiple levels, as well as corridors that twisted in on itself like a maze.  No matter how good of a Wayfinder you were, there were limits.  Just becase your compass points north, doesn’t necessarily mean the path there is easy.

It also explained the lack of sleep.  I had found Kyrian shortly after, and found Freier and L’teya too.  Thanks to that, we were able to take turns keeping watch.  Stole had been all alone until now.

“And you survived till now?  By yourself?”  Freier’s tone was soft.

Stole shot the elf a nasty look.  “Yeah.  What’s it to you?”

“Stole.”  I said sternly, careful to keep the edge off.

Stole closed her eyes, taking a few seconds to calm herself.  “Yeah.  Right.”

Right after Stole calmed down, Freier took a few moments to look the girl over.  Even administered a few basic spells to get her up to speed.  Now, the only thing Stole really needed was rest –both for the mind and body.  Fatigue is one thing in MSS that there’s no shortcut for.

I gestured for her to continue with the story.

“After that, I looked for everyone’s location.  You and Kyrian were too far, so I headed for the person who was nearest to me.”

“Who?”  Kyrian demanded.

“Sis Aurora.”

“Thank the gods.”  The moment those words escaped out of me, I felt something in me deflate.  Then it immediately rose again, “What about Skaris?”

“They’re all alive.  And on this island somewhere.”  Stole answered.  “I can sense Skaris and the Holy Knight.  The old man orc too.  They’re together.”

“You saw them?”  Kyrian, again.

“No.  But I can sense them.”

Finding Stole was a godsend.  Her talent as a Wayfinder was unmatched and just the peace of mind she brought to the party was worth more than her weight in gold.

“Oh, thank the Light.”  Kyrian relaxed too, in a way I haven’t seen him relax since we arrived on this island.

“So Arrosh, Skaris, and Zenom are together.”  I mulled over that.  “What about Aurora?”

“She’s traveling with someone too.  Atleast two… maybe, three people.”  Stole shook her head.  “I didn’t catch her scent, so I can’t be too sure.”

Between Arrosh, Skaris, and Zenom, I didn’t need to worry about their survival.  Atleast, not from anything that they could kill.  Zenom could both tank and heal, while Arrosh was a wayfinder.  With Skaris’ outstanding damage, there wasn’t much that could get in their way.  Hell, if they found a Mage willing to cooperate with them, they might have the highest chance of clearing this dungeon themselves.

Next to this one, of course.

Freier, a high-leveled cleric.

Kyrian, a DPS-centric Mage.

L’teya, a tank-bruiser.  Probably the weaklink of this party.

Stole, a long-ranged artillery support, plus a Wayfinder.

And me.  A DPS and Tank Assassin that could fulfill both roles.

I was feeling good about this.

The only worry now was Aurora.  She was a tank, without [Aura].  Meaning she’d atleast need a DPS to partner with her.  If she could find a healer, that’d be better.

“Are they all above us?”  I pointed upwards.  “In this Spire?”

“Yes.  They weren’t here when I got here.  And there’s no other way up… so…”  She trailed up.

That meant that everyone who wanted to go up had to solve the puzzle in this room.  Though the chalice smackdab center was dead giveaway.  I had a few theories.

 Stole looked like she wanted to say something.

“What is it?”  I asked.

She fidgeted, shooting looks at the elven priestess.  The priestess got the hint.

Freier stood up.  “I think I might take a walk.”

“Yeah.  That’s a good idea.”  Stole said flatly and change her target to L’teya, “Maybe you should go with her.”

L’teya gave me a confused look, then innocently pointed to her own face.  “What did I do?”

A hostile tone, mixed with confusion.  I sighed.  If this room was what I thought it was, I needed Freier and L’teya’s help.

But I understood where Stole was coming from.  Up until a few days ago, they were enemies.  And now, we were treating them as allies.  Tentatively, but allies nonetheless.  Kyrian caught my eye and coughed into his hand.  He understood what was needed here: cooperation.  If we wanted to catch up with the others, we needed the two with us.  

Maybe need is a strong word.  Freier, we needed.

L’teya… we didn’t.  But I had hopes.

“For now, just pretend they’re part of the party.  Mercenaries we hired.”  I tried to placate Stole.

She pursed her lips, then nodded.  “If you say so, Mister.”

“So I do not need to take a walk?”  L’teya asked.

Freier was caught at the awkward position, standing up and taking a step away from the group.  She looked to me for direction.

“Just sit down.”  I said.  “And remember what I said earlier about your position.”

She nodded and returned to her seat.

“I saw Delas and his people walk through here.”

“Delas?”  I asked softly and couldn’t help but glance in Freier’s direction.  For the priestess’ part, she was deathly still and the veil didn’t help in reading her expression.  But anyone in her position would be sitting on the metaphorical pincushion.

“Yes.  He was with a dwarf woman, and the giant moose beastman.”

“Astelion Giantler.”  Kyrian nodded.

“Yeah, him.  I think he’s there Wayfinder.”  Then Stole smiled.  “Delas was wounded.  Real bad.”

That caught my attention.  “How bad?”

“Burns.  All over him.  He was bandaged from head to toe.  He looked like he was barely alive.”  Stole said smugly, “The priestess had to stay near him the whole time.”

It had to be Skaris.  So the two groups had already fought against one another.  And Skaris had apparently wiped the floor with Delas.  I felt a surge of pride.

“Priestess?”  Delas’ priestess was right here.

“Ah right…”  Stole sniffed.  “They had the Church Priestess with them.  The one who stays next to Zenom all the time.”

“Cecilia Lightridge.”  I muttered.

Fuck.  That changed things.

By killing Coum, I’d changed Delas’ party dynamic a lot.  Without a mage, I doubted his party had the utility necessary to get far in this dungeon.  Firepower could only get you so far… you needed a good mix of healing, scouting capabilities, as well as tanking ability to dungeoneer successfully.  I’d killed Coum and Freier was right here.

But they somehow managed to get their hands on Cecilia.

I wasn’t close to Cecilia.  But I’d spoke to her more than once, and the priestess never did anything wrong to me.  But more than that, it felt like I owed Zenom to do something for her.  It felt like he’d do the same for my party members.  He already kind of was, being the defacto healer-tank for the party with Skaris and Arrosh.

“How’d she look?”

“Hurt.”  Stole growled and the anger was naturally directed at Freier.  The beastgirl spoke about Delas’ party while looking straight at the elven priestess, “They beat her.  She was limping, like her leg was broken.  Bruises on her face too.”

Shit.

Lety spoke up.  “We’re talking about the human assassin?  The one who this one belonged to?”  She hooked a thumb at Freier.

True to barbarian fashion, Lety didn’t give a shit about anyone else’s feelings in conversations like this.

Freier didn’t respond.

“No need to feel bad.”  Lety shrugged.  “It’s not you, who’s doing the deed.”

“Can you say the same about your own former comrades?  When Slaveborn faces off against them?”  Freier spoke softly.

Lety scowled.  “That is not the same, priestess.”

“All the same.  But you spoke truth.”  She lifted her head high, back straight with a hint of pride to the motion.  “What Delas does is my business no longer.”

“Yeah, but if you were there,”  Stole snarled, “You would be part of it.  The only thing that’s keeping your hands clean is the fact that Mister over there took pity on you.”

“Pity?”  Freier laughed.  “Your precious party leader kept me alive to heal his comrades.  You, the Vetilius Knight, the lizard beastman.  He has assured me again and again, that if I should become more of a liability than his incessant need to keep his people safe, my head would roll.”

Kyrian frowned.  “Stop, all of you.  There’s no need for this.”

“Mister, let’s just kill her now.”  Stole’s hands inched towards the arbalest.

Freier on the other side, didn’t move.

L’teya reacted with violence though, baring her teeth and hand moving to her axes.

Now was a good time to show all of them who was in charge.  

All three of them, adventurers with distinctly different personalities.  There was a distinct cattiness to the fight, which I didn’t want to attribute to sex, but couldn’t subconsciously think that it was because they were all girls.  Which was good.  If it was men, it would’ve been worse.  Much worse.  Blood would have been shed already.

People think girls are vicious.  Yeah, well, at least they’re willing to talk it out first in most cases.

Most men in MSS reach for their blades.  Me included.

Regardless, I had half a mind to use force to subdue all of them; to ingrain in their minds the difference between my strength and theirs.  Maybe not Stole, but perhaps L’teya and Freier needed reminding.

But the room puzzle had to be solved.

“Kyrian’s right.  All of you, stop.  L’teya, you especially.”  I snapped, “Stole.  Stop aggravating them.  Treat them as mercenaries.  No more, no less.”

Stole scowled but obeyed.

Lety looked at me.  “Your beastman girl keeps starting it.”

“First, she’s not mine.  She belongs to herself.  Second, it’s a given; considering who your company has been for the last year or so.”  I sighed.  “And she has a name.”

L’teya scowled, looking exactly like Stole.  But she folded her arms, well away from her axes.

“Stole.  More about the room.  Did you see Delas’ party solve it?”

She nodded.  “The chalice in the middle.  They filled it with blood and then a monster came out.”

Fuck.  As I expected.

The mid-boss of the dungeon.

Depending on how we dealt with this, it could affect the overall difficulty of the dungeon…

All the clues were here.  Claw’s Nest, Chalice in the middle of the room which would be activated by blood…

“They filled it to the brim?”

“No.”  Stole shook her head.  “I couldn’t see exactly.  But just a droplet from each of them.”

“Did you see the monster?”

“I hid once they started fighting.”

I nodded in approval.  Some monsters might be able to sense her.

“Ok, we’re going to rest for now.”  I slapped my knees and stood up, “I’ll stand first watch, then Kyrian and Freier.  Then L’teya.  Stole, you can rest the whole time.”

She didn’t even answer.  Walking over to the nearest corner, where she could keep an eye on Kyrian and I, she took out a raggedy sleeping bag and promptly fell asleep.  I felt a pang of regret go through my chest and resolved to get my party members some better sleeping bags once we got out of here.

They were alive.  

All of them.

I just needed to get to them.

It made a world of difference.  Running towards an unknown factor, hoping in vain that they were alive and that my efforts weren’t wasted.  Now I knew: every step I took, everything I did, it wasn’t useless.  It was to get to my party members.  There was a clock, but it was a clock that was assured that everything I did would matter from now on.

Adventurers at this level know how to rest.  As soon as the word left my lips, Kyrian took a spot near Stole and dozed off while leaning against the wall.  L’teya stayed on the opposite side, though not too far.  Within a minute, the room was full of snoring.  Mostly from Stole and L’teya.

If only the two of them could get along…

My [Hearing] picked up Freier’s footsteps.  “Slaveborn, a word?”

“Speak.”

“I’d like to make a proposal.”

“What is it?”

“My healing services.  Freely given.”

I scoffed.  “Big words from a prisoner, priestess.”

“What I mean is that when the opportunity comes, I won’t try to escape.  In the chaos of battle, you won’t need to leave your back guarded around me.  When we find Delas or other [Players] from the Guild, I won’t return to them, nor will I offer my services to them.  I’m not just offering my skills as a Healer… but my loyalty as an adventurer.”

I heard ringing, like someone had just slammed a gong next to my ears.

“You mean…”

She nodded.

“Make me one of your comrades.  I’d like to join your party.”