“Oh, no, no, no!” I tried to swing my weight towards the wall as five-foot section of the platform twisted sickeningly before completely collapsing.
The world turned into a blur as I fell, wildly waving my arms in hopes of catching something to save myself. After falling a short distance, I felt my feet slam into something hard, turning my fall into a mad tumble as I spun head over heels. Razor flew from my grip as I crashed through another platform, finally coming to a stop at the very bottom of the room in a tangle of shattered wood.
“Oh… fuck, that hurt,” I wheezed as pain shot through my body, forcing me to lay still as I collected myself.
I replied slowly, waiting for my head to stop spinning.
Looking around, I realized I had fallen to the very bottom of what was once the lookout point for the tower when it still stood, the Tower’s fall having shattered the wall that now rested on the ground. Dirt was intermixed with broken stone fragments, giving a ragged, if firm terrain to move around. For the first time since entering the room, I noticed a handful of arrow slits and larger dirt covered windows that adorned the walls, casting beams of light that weakly illuminated the room.
Ugh, that fall took another 20% off my health. I looked at my greatly depleted health bar, seeing only 115 hit points remaining out of my 594 maximum. I really need to be more care-hang on, what’s that burning smell?
Pushing myself up into a seated position, I immediately planted my hand onto something hot, causing myself to yelp in pain and surprise. “Ah! Fuck!”
As I flinched to move my hand away from the heat, the motion sent a spray of embers tumbling onto the ground beside me. Quickly looking about, I instantly realized I had just fallen onto a small cooking pit that the Goblins had set against the far stone wall, where it wouldn’t set the opposite wooden wall on fire, and by extension their carefully built platforms and scaffolds that led up and out of the room.
“Of course with my luck, I had to fucking land right on top of a fire!” I cursed as I quickly tried to free myself from all the debris that had fallen on top of me, only to have pieces spark and catch fire as I moved them. “Oh shit!”
The dry and aged wood almost instantly caught aflame, spreading quickly as it began to consume the wood. Out of reflex, I began to slap the fires out before catching myself and stopping.
Hang on a second. I looked towards the western wooden wall that spanned from floor to ceiling. What do I care if this place burns down? In fact, since we’re here to cause a little bit of destruction, maybe I can help this along.
With a demonic smile on my face, I happily indulged my inner pyromaniac. I began to pile burning debris against the far wooden wall, in hopes of setting the structure aflame. If nothing else, it would damage the front section of the Tower and eventually burn itself out once it consumed all the wood in the old roof of the Tower.
While looking for more kindling, I found the broken form of the goblin that I had kicked off the platform, having landed badly from its fall. Well, at least I don’t need to worry about him down here!
Taking my eyes off the dead goblin, I resumed my search, seeing that the goblins had taken advantage of the internal space of the Tower, setting up a number of ‘homes’ at the bottom of this room, indicated by crude fences of sticks driven into the dirt or an array of stones laid out in a square. Inside the spaces, I saw lengths of crudely cut fur, on piles of dried grasses serving as beds for the goblins.
Grabbing armfuls of the rather foul smelling thatch, I threw it onto the smoldering debris, quickly being rewarded by flare of heat as it caught fire.
“It’s working!” I had to cover my face to shield myself from the heat as the fire caught onto the wooden wall and began to spread rather quickly. “Oh, this is catching fast.”
Hungrily consuming the ancient, dry wood, the fire had no problems finding purchase on the wooden wall as it began to spread outwards from the burning debris, growing in size and intensity every second that passed.
“Uh, okay. I may have overdone it,” I said worriedly to myself as I saw the pillar of fire begin to tickle the only platform leading back up and out of the room. “I need to find Razor and get the fuck out of here!”
Retreating quickly from the increasingly intense heat, I returned to the spot where I had crash landed, urgently tearing through the debris looking for my sword. It took a moment of frantically clawing through the pile before I found my trusty blade in the mess. Quickly sheathing Razor, I broke into a sprint, moving to run up the ramp before the fire spread too far.
Drace had positioned himself to hold back the goblins attacking from the lower level I had just come from, while Abaddon fought against goblins descending from a ramp above. As the two warriors kept the bulk of the goblin horde in place, Halcyon defended the rest of the party, channeling his Force Shield to provide some degree of cover on the otherwise exposed platforms. This gave our two scouts and mages a chance to focus fire on the rest of the goblins, who were almost all equipped with similar bows to the Stalkers I had just fought earlier.
It’s like I’ve stumbled into a bizarre shootout! A goblin collapsed to the ground ahead of me, as a combined spray of magic and arrows finally overwhelmed it, but not before I heard Cerril’s voice cry out as an arrow snuck past Halcyon’s shield into the lower leveled novice. Shit! I need to move faster!
Chancing a quick glance over the side, I found the fire practically leaping up the wall as it burned faster and faster. Oh, please be an exit somewhere up top!
Gritting my teeth, I quickly checked my health, seeing that it thankfully regenerated just over 40% in the time it had taken me to climb up the goblin made structure, giving me a little bit more confidence in jumping back into the fray.
Putting power into my sprint, I charged the crowd of goblins that had their backs turned to me, hopping over a trio of dead goblins as I ran, their bodies riddled with arrows and magical burns. Lowering my shoulder, I plowed into a goblin aiming its bow at Drace, sending it flying off the platform and into the fires below.
“Lyr!” Drace shouted out in surprise as my timely assistance caused the goblin’s arrow to fire high over the warrior’s head. Seeing the look of urgency on my face, he quickly shouted back. “What’s going on?!”
“We need to go up! Quickly!” I shouted at the Warrior, ruthlessly shoving a goblin from behind, sending it falling off the edge of the platform. “Don’t worry about killing them! Just knock them off! The fire will take care of them!”
“Fire? What fire?” Drace couldn’t help but follow the descent of the goblin I had just thrown off the platform, instantly spotting the growing blaze climbing up the wall. “Holy hell, Lyrian! What the fuck did you do?!”
“Fuck! I knew it was getting hot in here!” I heard Caius shout over the noise of combat. “Not again with the fire!”
“Aw yeah! This is getting to be my kind of party!” Constantine’s laugh boomed through the room. “Lighten up, Caius!”
The four remaining goblins having finally caught on to my presence and clearly able to understand our shouting, recoiled from Drace, looking down at the now raging fire below. I saw a flash of panic cross their stunned faces as the significance of what was happening caught up to them, followed by a howl of rage. Almost as one they all ran from Drace, charging directly at me intent on avenging their now burning home.
Note to self: setting someone’s home on fire understandably puts you at the top of the aggro list! I drew Razor as I sprinted towards the goblins, ready to meet their charge head on, carefully calculating the timing of what I was about to attempt.
As the distance between the goblins and me closed, I quickly triggered Blink Step, teleporting me barely five feet forward, directly in front of the leading pair of goblins. Once again I crashed into the smaller Goblins, my sudden teleport catching them all off stride. Barreling directly between the four goblins, I felt a dagger pierce into my thigh as I shoved my way through the goblins, pasting the left most goblins hard against the wall while sending the two goblins on my right sailing over the edge of the platform and into the fires below.
Running past the other goblins, I felt another dagger tag me in the back as I ran towards Drace, shouting at the warrior to move.
“Go! Go! Go! We need to start going up!” I urgently motioned towards the ramp that Abaddon had been fighting at, seeing that the goblins had retreated upwards.
“What about-” Drace started to ask me something before a thunderous echo of a Pyroclap filled the room as Halcyon dropped his shield, centering the spell on the two goblins I had just ran past.
Wasting no time to zero in on the two exposed goblins, the rest of the ranged group members quickly overwhelmed the pair, sending them crashing to the ground.
“Lyrian, what did you do?!” Freya shouted out at me as the rest of the party started to press forward along the platform.
“I’ll tell you later! Abaddon, go!” I shouted at the concerned looking lizardman, who stood at the base of the ramp leading upwards, watching the fire below. “MOVE!”
“Moving ssounds good!” the aspiring warrior hissed, my shout finally pierced through his shock. “Follow me! Don’t ssstop for anything!”
I nervously watched the group charge up the ramp, waiting for everyone to go ahead of me. Bringing up the rear, I spotted both Huxley and Cerril for what seemed like to be the first time in hours. Both looking terrified while following Drace as he awkwardly crab walked up the ramp. I noticed Cerril favoring his blood-soaked side as he walked, having already pulled the goblin arrow free.
“Go! I’m right behind you!” I waved the puma ahead as we both charged up the ramp, finding that the goblin design followed the same pattern as below, forcing us to run the length of the room before ascending to the next level. As we climbed higher, smoke began to fill the entirety of the room forcing me to hold my breath as climbed.
“Heads up!” Halcyon shouted, a clap of thunder echoing through the air above me, quickly followed by spray of debris and a pair of screaming goblins falling past me. “Keep going, jump!”
“Ah!” I covered my face as shards of wood from the blast glanced off my helmet, forcing me to focus on the path ahead of me, keeping my eyes turned downward. As I ran, I caught sight of the now blazing inferno below.
By the time I reached the top level, my eyes were watering, and my lungs were beginning to burn. Blinking through tears, I saw Freya leap across a shattered section of the platform that lead directly into the stone wall. Stumbling forward, I tried to keep my head as low as possible while running towards the remaining group members.
Yes! A stairway! I felt an intense wave of relief wash over me as I saw Halcyon leap across the shattered gap just behind Freya, revealing a passage heading further into the tower. With True Sight cutting through the smoke, I risked a glance upwards, seeing that nearly everyone had made it, leaving only Cerril, Huxley, and Amaranth on the ledge ahead.
Wasting no time, Huxley followed Halcyon over the gap, quickly followed by a coughing Cerril. My heart leaped into my mouth as I saw Cerril stagger on the edge of the platform, windmilling his arms to catch his balance. Just before I thought Cerril would fall, Huxley’s hand shot out, grabbing the man by the collar and pulling him down the stairs out of sight.
“Phew.” I couldn’t help but exhale as I motioned to Amaranth.
Flicking an ear at me, Amaranth shot forward leaping across the gap easily. As soon as he landed, Amaranth glanced back, a look of panic crossing his face as both of its ears pointed forward towards me.
I felt the platform around me suddenly shudder, the sound of cracking wood filling the air. A huge gap opened along the wooden edge of the ceiling as the wooden wall began to pull itself apart, sending me reeling backwards into the wall.
This place is coming down! I pushed myself forward as the platform shuddered a second time. Forcing myself to run against the pull of gravity, I stormed across the shaking platform, leaping into the air towards the stairway.
Flying through the smoke, I landed hard beside Amaranth, rolling to a stop. Looking back behind me, I saw the entire wooden roof of the Tower tear itself free as it collapsed from the burning blaze right on top of the goblin village below.
“Fuck! That was close!” I gasped heavily trying to suck in fresh air. I felt a wave of energy surge into me, the same instant a message flashed across my vision.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 11!
Chapter 43
“Whooo! Level eleven!” I heard Constantine exclaim as I slid down the smooth ramp with a set of stairs hanging overhead. Sliding to a stop as I gently bumped into Amaranth, I saw the rest of the party ahead of me, crammed into one another as the stairway twisted to our right with another flight of stairs above us leading even deeper into the Tower.
“Okay, maybe that wasn’t so bad this time,” Caius whispered cautiously.
“Don’t say that!” Halcyon slapped Caius on the shoulder while waving an arm at me. “You’ll give him ideas!”
“Lyr!” Sierra turned to hiss at me as I came into sight, her eyes boring into mine. “What the fuck?!”
“I, uh…” I looked around nervously, to see everyone except Constantine and Amaranth glaring at me. Constantine had a broad smile on his face as he gave me a wink, followed by a thumbs up.
“Don’t stop, Lyr.” Sierra cupped a hand to her ear. “I’m curious to know just how the Tower just happened to fucking catch fire and why you were running like a guilty bat flying out of hell!”
“So, uh, after I fell.” I looked at all of the unsympathetic faces, seeing everyone covered in ash and smoke. “I landed right on top of a dragon, you see… and it wasn’t happy that I woke it up.”
“A dragon?!” Zethus exclaimed excitedly as he squirmed to get out from under his friends. “There was a dragon in there?!”
“Ha!” Constantine barked a short laugh at Zethus’s naiveté, while Sierra just rolled her eyes.
“No Zeth, Lyrian’s just full of shit.” Freya shook her head, a small grin crossing her face.
“Oh,” Zethus replied, sounding disappointed.
“Seriously, Lyr.” Drace looked at me pointedly. “What happened?”
Looking at the big warrior, I let out a sigh. “I fell on a cooking pit, panicked when some debris near me caught fire. Then instead of putting it out, I decided to pile it against the wooden wall to set the place on fire.”
Everyone looked at me with an incredulous expression on their faces, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.
“Okay,” Drace finally replied,
shaking his head slowly, breaking the spell that had everyone fixated on me. “At least we hit level eleven.”
“Is fire a regular thing with these guys?” I heard Freya whisper to Sierra, as she jerked her thumb in my direction.
“It’s starting to be.” Sierra rubbed her eyes as she spoke. “Constantine suggested setting fire to the forest once…”
“It would have saved time!” Constantine grumbled. “Fucking spiders.”
“Oh dear…” Freya cast a sympathetic look at Sierra while patting her on the shoulder. Before they also began to untangle themselves and follow the rest of the party, who had begun to climb up the adjacent stairway, which angled upwards.
Waiting for my turn, I quickly brought up my character sheet looking over the much-anticipated bonuses a new level always brought. I haven’t had a chance to check, but it looks like we do get experience for killing other players, a little bit more than a regular monster at the same level.
Ascend Online Page 53