See you, I thought to my party as I walked to the stairs. Or whatever the fancy nautical term for stairs is.
Sorry you'll miss all the excitement, Sampson thought.
Oh, I think we'll have excitement enough, Xavier thought.
He was right.
* * *
Bilging wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be. The difficulty was that the River is acidic. (Obviously. It's in the Deep; of course, it's going to hurt you.) Sampson occasionally thought me pictures, wide views of the world of unending water. I was experiencing my own view of unending water, just less wide.
Isaac Black thought us a wide, detailed image of distant shapes in the world. Incoming.
Looks like humanoids, Anthony thought, and shouted so loud I could hear it well through the treated wood above. "EVERYONE! ABOVEDECKS NOW! We're going to have boarders!"
I got above deck just in time to see the first wave of monsters jump off their fish and onto the deck. Others crawled up the hull. The creatures were like merfolk I had seen in old children's books—except in no way seductive. When someone is trying to stab your guts onto her trident, it is no longer enticing. There was no frontline or back, just chaos and stabbing. I drained the nearest Merfolk Knight, and a Merfolk Mage shot a Bolt of Ice at me. But I had resistance, and Sampson cut it down with one stroke.
But the greater threat was the Kraken.
All I saw was the tentacles—they struck out without warning and swept the deck. Two reached into the masts to pull sailors off. The mantle came up next, but one perfectly-thrown dagger from Isaac Black scored its face. It bled, badly, but in rage it thrust a tentacle deeper inside. Two delvers were caught by it; they screamed as they were dragged across the deck. Their bodies dissolved as they were pulled off the ship.
"No!" I screamed.
But no. Their heartstones sunk without a trace.
Then just as quickly as it appeared, the Kraken let go and submerged, leaving behind murky clouds of blood. We were leaving its depth. The Merfolk were cut down one after another—
And we were at the riverbank. It had all happened so fast.
* * *
"There, it will be OK," Elise told Isaac Black as we stepped off the plank. The ship shrank to a model again, and Anthony held it with some degree of distaste at its state.
"If I had... just one moment sooner...," he groaned. "Hadn't stopped to think about the price of the dagger—"
Elise grabbed him, then hugged him. "Seriously. Chill out. They're not dead dead. And we can't survive like this. We have to keep going."
"She's right!" Anthony shouted. "We're going!"
* * *
I waited with impatience outside that 30th Lock, as did many of our superparty, for the one unqualified party to finish. I felt utterly disconnected from what was happening inside—telepathy and scrying spells were disrupted through the walls of a Lock. Figures.
Isaac Black and Elise were talking. "You ever gone beneath?" Isaac asked her.
"Not yet," Elise replied. "Why?"
"Below this it starts to have so much blue. The crystals make such beautiful lights on the walls."
The doors swung open to a scene of chaos. Two injured delvers sat against the wall, and shards lay everywhere. "Wind God," one delver said. "Most of us bit it."
"Ouch," Anthony said, and for once I saw sympathy. "Mr. Kenderman, you're a Tier Two. Start healing."
"Got it," I said. Perfect Cure. Heal Deep Wounds.
I almost slipped on a shard, then looked down in horror. I had never seen shards before. They looked somehow wrong, like a work of art that had been destroyed. I felt most strongly that heartstones were never meant to broken—but there they were.
“I can't take this anymore,” the other delver said, shaking. “I could have saved her if I had just—just...”
“If you've got Return, take the shards and leave,” Anthony said. “It's only going to get worse as we go down.”
"I got a Wind God for my 30th, too," Isaac Black told Elise. "Winds were as sharp as knives. It's why I never go without air resistance, now-a-days."
* * *
The twenty-three of us remaining stepped into the 31th. It was beautiful indeed.
"Now to—" Anthony began.
Andy thought a vivid image to me of a cross-section of the Dungeon, and us digging downwards.
You tell him yourself, I thought back.
"Sir," Andy said to Anthony. "Let's Dig for Victory."
"Doesn't work down here," Anthony said. "The monsters follow you down the hole."
"But we'll be trailed by monsters anyway, no?" I asked.
Anthony scowled. "We'll be trailed by more if we do that."
"As it happens," Isaac Black said. "We're in a superparty. We can have a rear guard to guard the holes we leave behind."
Andy smiled. Anthony scowled more. "Fine," he said. "It's reasonable, as long as you're in the rear guard."
"I'll be fine," Isaac Black said.
Is this healthy for her? I thought to Elise. I mean, her parents died this way...
How should I know? Why not ask her how she feels?
I thought about it, but couldn't bring myself to ask. And then it was too late, as Andy tore into the ground diagonally, carving steps as she went. We followed, passing the spoil like a bucket brigade behind us. In moments Andy cried out in delight, and she crashed through into the next Floor.
I stepped out, falling a short distance. My blood was already pumping—I could understand the rush of a DfV.
"Next!" Andy said in joy, and before the superparty had regrouped she was already digging down the next hole.
* * *
The 35th Boss was almost a joke: a spindly Praying Elephamantis. It was enormous, sure, but Elise's first dagger caught it in one of the bulbous eyes. The other eye spewed a ray of light at us—or at no one, because it tilted in pain and hit the wall instead. Elise's other dagger missed, but an Archer Hero struck one arrow through its eye from behind, and it was totally blind. It was just a matter of poking it to death from afar.
When Anthony and Isaac Black stepped inside, they stared around at us. "How did none of you die?" Anthony asked. "You were in here for ten minutes!"
"Extremely lucky shots," Elise said. "Then very carefully killing it."
"Anything can happen in the Dungeon, I suppose," Isaac Black said.
* * *
Our luck ran out next boss. No one except Isaac Black was 40th Qualified, so even Anthony was with us.
The 40th Boss was the most beautiful monster I have ever seen, a perfect creature—like a fox with twenty tails.
The Celestial Fox gracefully flew into the air and danced, and then flames spewed everywhere. I was too entranced to hide my face from them, and the Deep wounds blinded me. And the pain—it pierced all my resistances and I collapsed in pain. Even when I felt the Experience, I still couldn't do anything but writhe.
"Alex! Alex!" Elise called, shaking me. "You're a healer! Heal yourself."
"Perfect Cure!” I shouted, and touched my own eyes. When I looked around, I saw too many of us had died. "How much did I miss?" I asked.
"An almost total wipe," Anthony growled. "You idiot, we needed you!"
"I'm sorry!" I said.
"Whatever," Anthony said, and looked around at us fifteen survivors. "We've still got enough."
* * *
"And here it's do or die," Anthony said at the 45th.
One more Boss after this, I told myself as we got in formation. My eyes still ached.
"Wait!" Anthony said. "Let's rearrange the parties."
"What?" I asked.
"No, not yours," Anthony said. "We've got too many holes."
Repartying, and accompanying arguments, took about two minutes, until Anthony muttered his reluctant satisfaction.
"Here we go!" he said, and walked to the Lockstone, which immediately knocked him across the room.
"What?" I asked. But there was no time for confusion: the Crystal Go
lem was on to us. A humanoid shape of clear, multicolored crystal, stomped slowly but unstoppably towards us.
I have been scared in many different ways in the Dungeon, but the Crystal Golem was unique. It was resistant to everything. Any attack did piddling damage, or bounced off entirely. Even Andy had trouble hurting it. It was slow, of course, but it just walked on and on, punching anyone in its way. One delver got too close and was shattered; another fell and continued to writhe in pain until the Golem stomped a final time on his chest.
“Stay back!” Anthony ordered.
"How was it already awake?" I asked.
"Someone must have touched it by accident!" another delver replied.
"Listen, guys," Elise said. "How about we Rogues just nail it from behind?"
We fanned out to produce a large number of backstabbing opportunities, but too soon Elise and the rest ran out of daggers. The Crystal Golem hadn't run out of health.
Then a boulder appeared in its hand, and it hurled it at a Rogue Princess, shattering her instantly. A Gladiator Champion charged it, but it grabbed him and hurled him into another delver, shattering them both.
"This is ridiculous!" I cried in desperation. And fear.
Anthony shook his head. "Stay calm. Even if we're smarting, we're smarter than it."
"Can we use its thought-rules against it, somehow?" I asked. "Wait, does all our front line still have that slowing aura?"
I could see everyone look at themselves. "We do," Sampson said. "Let's try to slow it to death."
And so we did. Our front line surrounded it, and it slowed to a stop. It still moved, but we pounded it, eventually into dust.
The nine of us remaining looked at each other.
"That was way closer to death than I ever wanted to be," I said.
"Good," Anthony said, "because we're stopping."
"What?" I asked.
"We can't go on like this. Too many casualties. It's the first time I've ever said this in my life, but... sorry." He looked around at us. "Rush's over. Anyone here's not making it down."
No.
No.
NO!
Chapter Twenty-Five:
The 50th Floor
"There's no way," I groaned as we sat in the common room, three futile weeks of delving later. "We're too weak to make it ourselves."
"I still think we could beat the 50th Boss by ourselves," Sampson said.
"Sure, if we survived literally the entire depth of the Deep getting there."
"We could run the Abyss," Xavier suggested.
The Abyss is a notorious side dungeon in the lower Deep. Each floor of the Abyss is unique when it is entered, full of far more treasure—and danger—than anywhere else that can be found. The normal rules of the Dungeon are suspended. Bosses wander the halls or are spawned by traps. And, of course, the Side Dungeon slowly disintegrates, forcing the party to move, and move quickly.
It's also called the Party Killer, for one simple reason. The heartstone or shards of anyone who falls into one of the many chasms inside the Abyss will appear somewhere at random. Many who fall have never been found. A party that goes in is unlikely to have all its members when it comes out.
Did I mention that there is only one way out? At the 5th Floor of the Abyss, after defeating the Boss, a strange teleport pad is created. It can teleport the users to anywhere they name—and some who have named impossible places have never reappeared.
"No, it's not worth it," I said firmly to all of us, especially myself. I couldn't bear to be broken apart after so long together.
"We could Dig for Victory," Andy said. "Dig holes between Locks, like in the Boss Rush."
"I suppose we could Dig for Victory," Elise said. "We're qualified to get that far; so as long as we kill the 50th, we can go along with the superparty."
"That's insane," I said. "Sorry, Andy, but you do realize that a DfV would get us killed? We won't have Isaac Black to guard our rear, and we can't Return if things go wrong."
"We can't Return even if we went there normally," Elise said.
"If we kill the Boss..." Andy said.
I sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't think we can take that risk. We're just... not..."
"Why are all of you so emo?" Alice Black asked us.
"We didn't make it," I said. 45th qualified—any other delver would say that was stupendous. But... not 50th. Not in time.
She tapped her lips. "Do you feel you could take the 50th Boss on your own? Just your party?"
"We've been talking about that. As it happens," Xavier said. "I just made Master of Magic. I think I could try it."
"Black Knight Grandmaster," Sampson said. "Working on getting the other."
"Grim Knight Grandmaster," Andy said. "Mine Forewoman."
"I already had Rogue Queen," Elise said. "Now I'm a 20th Rogue Queen."
"I'm feeling left out," I said. "I haven't got a Tier One yet."
“You’ll all need to have a Tier One; the 50th Boss’ll wipe you otherwise. It’s not as if you all need a Tier One, though.” Alice Black closed her eyes, then looked at me. "Are you willing to sign a non-compete agreement? I can get you Black Hierarch."
Whoa. That was incredibly generous. "Sure," I said.
"Listen," Elise said. "Are you saying you'll take us down? I don't think we can make a delve that deep on our own and then fight the 50th."
"Basically," Alice Black said. "Might as well get a few extra levels in the process. I hope you've all read our 50th Policy?"
"I didn't see anything in the handbook," I said.
"It's simple. Open every chest. You never know. One might just have a shard."
* * *
I didn't know how I felt about signing a non-compete agreement. It was the sort of thing that books on freelance delving swore up and down was a terrible idea. But... I don't know. I couldn't not sign it. Or... No 50th qualification, no superparty, no— No. I had to do this.
Alfred gave a raised eyebrow to us, but he took the keys and went to the triply-locked door. "Go on," he said, and walked back.
"Thanks so much," I told Alice Black as we entered.
"You're welcome," she said.
I didn't know what I expected a Tier One classtone to look like, but it was like any other classtone. I pressed my hand.
And there I was, 1st Black Hierarch. A Tier One subclass.
I realized something irrevocable had happened—if less great than becoming a delver, then just as permanent. I was now Tier One—and would be, until they disbanded or released me, a liegeman of High House Black.
"We'll have to do this tomorrow," Alice Black said as we left. Had her first Tier One not been so momentous? "I suggest you prepare. Get a few more levels. Fill your new spell slots. Be ready."
* * *
The next day, both Adrianne and Alice Black were waiting by the teleport pads, Alice atop a pile of crates and Adrianne on her chair. "Are you seriously both coming?" I asked without thinking.
"Absolutely not," Adrianne Black said with a slow sigh. "I am the only one available to cast Enter Dungeon powerful enough to get to the 25th. Unless you plan to delve to the 25th by yourselves?"
"Oh, lay off them," Alice Black said. "Ready for your big day?"
We all nodded enthusiastic agreement.
"Good. I'm going to polymorph now. Don't freak out, OK?"
She closed her eyes, raised her hands, and then she disappeared in a swirling black cloud.
The dark cloud resembled molten bronze nearly black in color. Yet after a moment, I could see through it.
Alice Black was—
I'm going to have to interrupt myself. The following description will sound horrifying, and it wasn't. Scary, yes, but not ugly. Unnerving, but not hideous. Every detail, every oddity, seemed only another aspect of a transcendent, terrible beauty.
First, the wings, four, great and black, covered with eyes, and with a human hand under each. The sound as they beat was like a river crashing through, greater than the 30th River.
The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within Page 24