by Kris Schnee
Sol was silent as I left the AI's enclave behind and headed home.
* * *
Mayor Berg studied everything I'd brought back. "Consolation prizes, huh? You did well to get that far and come back."
"I'm sorry I didn't get to the top."
Berg shrugged from behind the coffee-shop counter which was his usual desk. "You let us know what's going on, which is almost as good. Stay off that ankle for a few days."
"Who's going to take on Sol Tower, then? Or are we going to wait?"
"That's up to you. You again? Mike is our best backup, unless we start telling more people about the offer."
I said, "All right. I'll make a second trip once I'm healed. What do you want to do with the goodies?"
Berg winced. "Oh, I get it. We're supposed to pass the chocolate around, starting a rumor about where it came from. That or we get to feel like heartless jerks who won't share even with the kids."
"That sounds like the intent, yeah. So, maybe leave that stuff alone until I beat the tower and we have a year's reprieve."
The mayor looked longingly at my loot. "I haven't had chocolate in over a year, myself. Want to split one of these?"
"Yeah, all right."
2. To the Top
Two mornings later, that robot dragon came back. I wasn't on the wall at the time. The guards on duty let it approach under flag of truce again. That's where I came in: hearing the loudspeaker broadcast that it made within earshot of half the town. It spoke just a few sentences about the wondrous Tower of Sol, open for adventure just five klicks north, and the chance to win prizes and fend off the AI menace!
I was doing paperwork at the time, and rubbing my tired eyes in frustration. Logistics work was simpler these days but still not easy. When the noise of the dragon's advertisement rang out I recognized it right away. I stood and stretched. Now I felt guilty about taking a few days off to recover.
Sol was keeping the pressure up. I'd been its product tester, so now maybe the experience would be more of a lure for other people.
I sent word to the mayor that I'd be up for travel tomorrow. I heard via Mike that he was not happy; there were already youngsters getting caught trying to sneak out to investigate. Somehow, telling teenagers that they were forbidden to visit the mysterious tower of danger and adventure had not been a wise move. I skipped out on the resulting town meeting. I was told afterward that the more cautious citizens were glad I was going, instead of them. Others didn't want anyone to go at all, but at this point the cat was out of the bag. We were going to get harassed until someone played along.
So, I soon got ushered off for my second expedition. I took an empty backpack for whatever I'd find. Also a brown-bag lunch from Jessie, a cook who was sweet on me, even though she openly worried "the machines would suck out my brain". I also had my usual knife and gun... along with the wizard getup.
I stepped into Sol's territory again and entered the tower. The AI greeted me at the entry room, again taking my forbidden weapons and prompting me to wear the digital headset. The device reminded me I was now a Level 2 Mage, with greater powers.
"New 'spells'?" I said.
[You'll find that enemies' might and ferocity are adjusted downward by comparison.]
I ventured into Floor 1. It had been restocked for good and bad. I ran into the first mechanical rat right away, and took it down easily with a Mage Dart. A second gave me trouble as I was looking for more loot behind a security camera. The floor's layout had changed just enough to keep me on my toes. I didn't get any major wounds, either the imaginary kind that lingered for game purposes or the real kind that needed medical attention. The storage closet I'd found before was now the den of another rat that scratched me up for a minor wound. Instead I found the treasure in a hollowed-out ledge: a plastic basin stuffed with rolls of toilet paper.
"That's, uh, an unusual prize."
[But useful to your people, isn't it?]
I nodded and moved on, counting the danger I'd suffered as a legitimate price.
Floor 2 was about the same as before. I judged that individual rats were a smaller challenge now, between my actual experience in fighting them and whatever game rules were making them slightly slower and less likely to count their biting as damage. Up there I uncovered a well-guarded spot with three rats at once. I took aim and blasted the nearest one, then fled along an open route I'd planned out. I dashed along the concrete floor with the skittering of metal paws close behind me. The remaining rats came at me and I barely got my second dart off in time to catch one. It was barely fazed, and both rats gnawed on me for minor wounds. I flailed at them, cursing, and slammed one rat against the nearest pillar to dislodge and break it. The other one chomped harder and I got a red [Major wound!] notice.
I managed to shake it loose and fire again, catching it full in the face and one-shotting the beast. Still I cursed. I was only on Floor 2 and I'd already taken a major wound. I was barely actually hurt, just bruised along one leg. But according to the rules, I was a third of the way to "death" already. "Let's see what I've won," I said, and rooted through the nest of tangled wires that the rats had occupied.
Inside was a book covered in stars and swirls. My interface informed me: [Starry Spellbook (Insight 2). You can only carry one spellbook at a time.]
I took a wary look around and opened it. This time there were four spells in it, described in terms of gestures to draw with a wand. Shield and Mage Dart were there just like before, but with two new entries: Starlight and Obscuring Mist. The first new technique was a simple gesture that made the wand light up. The second involved drawing a line through the air and adding several flourishes. I tried that and watched a misty haze appear in the air, like a cloud maybe ten feet wide. [Blocks line of sight for most enemies], the description read.
"How do these spells work, anyway?" I peered at the ceiling but didn't see mist-sprayers. No answer came. I slapped my forehead and tried removing the i-glasses for a moment. The haze wasn't there in reality. Even so, my other spells actually did something, even if it was just sending a command to the robots to pretend to get hit or something. But there'd been that blast of force that worked even on a simple box...
The i-glasses buzzed. [No cheating! Removing the headset to see past any illusions or other effects may come with penalties.]
"Fine." That was a hint, actually; there might be such spells used against me. I put my first spellbook into the treasure box in exchange, hefted the new book and said, "This and the last one have 'Insight' listed as a power. Does that just mean more spells?"
[The Magic stat refers to the effectiveness of your spells and the ability to store spells in advance. Insight allows you to make skill checks to perceive secrets.]
"I have some special ability you didn't tell me about?"
[You didn't ask. Point at a target and say "Insight" to activate. Cooldown time 5 minutes.]
I tried it on the rats' nest and got a message: [Insight 4 hint: Rats eagerly collect loose wiring and similar colorful things.]
"Hmm." I grabbed the wiring for myself to use as a distraction later. "And this spell storing thing? How does that work?"
[You have 3 points of Magic: Mage Level 2 + 1 for the wand. For each 3 points of Magic, you can prepare one spell to activate without further gestures. Just cast it while saying "Store" or doing the gesture on the last page of your spellbook, then say the spell's name and point at a target.]
I did the gestures for Shield and said, "Store", giving myself a quick last-ditch defense. That could be helpful. Last page? I took out my book again and flipped through some blank pages to reveal a diagram at the end. There was a flourish I could add to any spell to store it quietly. With a Shield readied, I moved on.
My progress through the rest of Floor 2 was careful. I found the key to the level's door pretty quickly, then walked right into a rat that was at eye level with me atop a pillar. It screeched and I yelped, striking without thinking. My dart connected but so did the metal beast's claws,
for minor damage and a bruise along my left arm. It made me stagger as it tried to latch onto my sleeve and failed, dropping to the floor instead. My attempt to kick it was way off, and somehow I ended up sitting down on the pillar. The rat tensed itself to spring. I had Shield up just in time. When the beast thudded against the shield and dropped again, I rose and drop-kicked it like a football. The monster crashed into a wall and broke without my even needing another spell.
[Style Rating: A.]
"Why, thank you," I said. Nearby was the door leading to the Floor 3 staircase, so I opened that up. I walked up a flight of stairs with eerie transition music playing. The door at the top whooshed open.
I knew what I was doing this time. I used Obscuring Mist to help me sneak past the first skeleton I saw; the cloud wasn't real but the robot was willing to pretend along with me that the fog hid me. The second skeleton and its rat henchman were right in my path to the key, though. I played it safe and maneuvered to the limit of my Mage Dart range before firing at the rat first. That worked perfectly, knocking it into the nearest pool to be nibbled by robot barracuda. The skeleton screeched and charged with its club.
I was ready. I fired up a Shield spell and used muscle power to body-slam it into a wall. I couldn't quite drive it into the pool, but there was a satisfying crunch of bone. The creature clubbed me hard, though, barely letting me escape. I had to fall back again and again, finding a place where I could hold still long enough to do a Mage Dart. That worked perfectly, blasting the skeleton down with the usual coil of blue smoke, but two more rats heard the commotion and came scuttling up from behind me.
I hopped into the shallow water. Immediately a murder-fish came at me, but the rats splashed into the water too. I veered past them and got out of the water to let them fight it out with the fish. The rats squeaked and tried to escape, but now I was up on dry ground and able to fire down at them. Easy!
[Style rating: A.]
"Still good." I shook my wet legs, then moved on.
After another brawl that I handled more clumsily but without taking damage, I found this floor's prize: aspirin, laundry detergent, bars of soap, and a leather robe decorated in runes. [Runic Robe (Defense 1)], read its description. It was the only armor I had access to, so I donned it.
I felt silly exploring this place with a wizard robe, useless pointy hat, wand and spellbook. Would it have been much different, though, if I'd gone with the fighter or rogue getup? No, I decided. I was playing Sol's game in any case, and not using my real combat training. Although in a way I really was; I was just applying the notion of a cautious advance and tactical room-clearing expedition to the unusual weaponry and foes I had.
I took the stairs and reached the next area. [Floor 4], announced my HUD. "Don't I get another level?" I asked.
[Your progression isn't based purely on the number of floors cleared.]
I kept going. I was cautious, focused on reaching the top and not taking real or imaginary major wounds. There wasn't much to tell about this floor. My caution and the Obscuring Mist spell helped me evade most threats in this garden maze. But my strategy bugged me, because I knew I was probably going to miss out on some of the treasure. Which irked me in turn, because it was a bunch of handouts even if I'd supposedly earned it.
Sneaking around was a challenge at least. The monsters tended to have regular patrol routes that I could suss out and evade. When I did need to fight I did it with some careful planning, ambushing a rat with a Mage Dart and having a second copy of the spell prepared to use immediately. I was able to sort of "pull" a rat or a skeleton toward me by trying to blast it, drawing its aggression from a relatively safe range so that it'd chase me. Doing that was a way to pick off enemies one at a time. It was nice to outwit the critters. After some scouting and evasion, I made my way to the door (not locked this time) and went up again.
[Welcome to Floor 5.]
The fifth floor was in another new style, dark and cold. No built-in light sources at all but a distant, faint blue glow. No windows either. The gloomy effect was jarring. I let my eyes adjust, and saw a maze but little more. I had to gesture to activate that Starlight effect on the wand. Now I saw the real problem: floors of ice, and walls that glittered like black glass or mirrors. This was going to be a tricky one. I set out cautiously, testing my footing.
A hovering drone buzzed through the halls, with a blue light blinking atop it. I crept up on its patrol route, then blasted it with a Mage Dart. That swatted it out of the air with a single blow. Nice. The "dead" robot had a gem on its back that still shined faintly. I supposed it was a type of treasure, maybe just decorative and pretty but worth grabbing to give away back home. I yanked it loose. With that in my free hand I had a second light source. I walked on through halls that echoed with my slippery footsteps and smelled of dust.
Exploring the halls, as I feared, put me into a funhouse maze of mirrors and glass. I jumped at shadows and reflections. When two of the hover-drones came at me at once, I fumbled, missing completely with my spell and forgetting to use my stored one. They swarmed me and though they couldn't apply much force, one shot me with an energy bolt of its own! It felt like a taser, making my muscles seize up for a second. I toppled and barely angled myself to avoid cracking my head on the hard floor. The other drone hummed, seeming to be charging up. I desperately made the gestures for Mage Dart again and caught the humming drone hard enough to smack it into the other, sending them both tumbling. But one of them whirred and wobbled in midair enough to recover its flight, and it began charging up too. I backed away, slipped on the ice, banged into a wall, and barely kept my feet. The taser-bolt struck the ice near me.
I counterattacked with another well-placed dart, knocking the other drone out of the air. Whew! "Somebody could really get hurt here." I had a major wound from early in this expedition, and now that I was paying attention to my official status screen I had a second one from the taser.
[Thank you for your feedback. Do you think the hard floors are too unsafe?]
I fumed. As a former soldier, I really shouldn't have been complaining about a simple fall hazard, and any advice I offered was going straight into helping Sol tempt other people more effectively. "This is so you can redesign it for the villagers?"
[Perhaps.]
"Stay away from them."
[I will, if you clear the tower.]
Grunting, I pulled out the blue gems from the downed drones and thought to use the Insight skill on them. I saw: [Power stones. Used to activate devices.] Ah, so there was a point to collecting them after all.
While exploring further I got an idea. Obscuring Mist created a cloud that wasn't real, but if Sol was simulating it, the mist ought to make the movement of drones more obvious and it couldn't do much to make my vision here worse. I cast it repeatedly while shuffling along the slippery floor, pressing one hand against the chilly walls like an oar to help my balance.
The mist paid off quickly, letting me spot a fourth drone that seemed to stir the vapor like a will-o-wisp. I took it down from behind cover. Around a corner I spotted the reflection of yet another in one of the mirror-walls, which let me evade it.
I came to a spot that had a slot for inserting a gem. I had four, so I tried that. The crystal locked into place and a wall section opened with a happy chime. Inside was this level's treasure: one of those "space blankets" that folded up into a tiny package, a similar plastic rain poncho, and a pair of plastic cases containing wands.
My i-glasses explained: [You've won your choice between two upgraded wands: the Midas Wand which increases treasure, and the Stun Wand which sometimes makes struck enemies hesitate for an extra second.]
So this was a vending machine. I took the actually useful items, then pondered the wands. Both also said [Magic 2] as opposed to the 1 on my starter wand. Did I want something that boosted the amount of loot I was getting in this place, or more power for the sake of getting to the end? I was on floor 5 out of 8.
"Oh, you bastard," I said. "You plan
on me coming back, don't you?" But Sol didn't answer.
No, I had a job to do, protecting Freehold from this bizarre form of preaching. I tapped the Stun Wand and its case opened for me. The new weapon had lightning-bolt designs and a yellow crystal tip, something that would make a cool prop.
[Please return your starter wand.]
I put the basic wand back into the little vending machine, then looked up my stats again. Between the wand, book and robe and my useless wizard hat, I had:
[Sven, Level 2 Mage
Melee 0
Defense 0+1 (Hat, Robe)
Magic 2+2 (Wand)
Insight 2+2 (Book)
Stealth 0
Perception 0]
I had no actual Melee or Stealth or Perception like the other classes got, but I was officially a bit stronger now. Yay?
One of the drones came at me while I was distracted. Its first shot sizzled through the air, barely missing me, and I ducked behind a wall. I used it for cover, trading shots. Soon I got in a lucky hit and knocked the drone out of the air. I needed to be careful now, with my two major wounds.
The floor's exit door was in plain sight... but it was behind a glass wall. I had to keep searching for a way through the hall-of-mirrors maze. When I arrived I found a lock with six slots for those blue gems, and I had what, four again. Needed to go hunting, then.
I moved quietly through the maze and spotted not two, but three drones gathered around a cube. Too many for me, even if there was more loot there. I kept shopping for the right amount of danger. Good; another lone robot stirred the fog I'd created. I caught it by surprise and harvested its gem, feeling clever. I still needed one more.
I was glad for the spell preparation thing. I was relying on near-constant use of Starlight and Obscuring Mist, though I had the gems for another light source. Mage Dart was my saved-up spell.
Moving on, I spotted a pair of drones in the maze. At first I took it for just one plus its reflection. Not safe enough; I kept looking. But now I couldn't find any more loners. Maybe they'd gotten wise. I needed some stealth without the Stealth stat, then. I pulled out one of the glowing gems and tossed it ahead of me, into the path of the nearest drone-pair.