The Ghost Tower: A LitRPG Adventure

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  [You have increased the skill Battle Song]

  Skill: Battle Song 14 (CHA)

  No longer the emo singer you once were

  When Flynn saw Darkness Sighs enter the room, he forgot to dodge a Kapper with an axe, but a flaming projectile hit his attacker in the head, throwing him off course to get stomped by the Grinder. She shot him a wink before joining the fray.

  In the matter of thirty seconds, the Kappers broke and returned through the tunnels. Between the initial assault, the great wurm, and this battle, they'd sustained severe damage to their numbers, which was the source of their strength.

  "Thanks for the assist," said Terran.

  Both the bone-witch and her construct bowed at the waist. "Our pleasure. They kept me in the bowels of the mines for far too long. It was good to strike back. Now maybe I can return to my home."

  Terran gestured towards the Grinder. "You're not worried about what they say about that?"

  She closed her eyes briefly. "Either they accept me for who I am, or they don't. But hiding my construct is what got me into this situation in the first place."

  Without the Kappers on their heels, they took a leisurely pace through the mines, until they finally reached the reinforced gate. To his surprise, Pools of Blood and the six other members of the council waited for them, each one more severe than the next. They looked like they woke up every morning and tore a heart out as a sacrifice before enjoying a nice breakfast.

  Flynn muttered under his breath. "This doesn't look like a happy reunion."

  "They were waiting for us," said Luna, her hackles rising.

  Darkness Sighs made no reaction, but her walk had stiffened. When they neared the high council, she gestured, and the Grinder sat with its bone arms over its knees.

  "Greetings, Father," she said.

  Pools of Blood's anguished expression was out of place within the stoic council. He looked like he wanted to rush to his daughter and throw his arms around her.

  "I thought you were dead," he said, clearly holding back around his peers.

  "She should be," said the Shade with the largest headdress, glaring with animosity. "For all of our people that she has killed. You can see with your own eyes that she is the creator of that monstrosity."

  "But Skin Eater," said Pools of Blood, clenching his fist, "that cannot be. She is my daughter, she would not do such a thing."

  "Pools of Blood is right," said Terran. "It was the Kappers who killed your people, using the rumors of the Grinder as their cover. They've taken over the mines so they could steal your emeralds."

  Skin Eater snorted derisively. "A likely story. You Offworlders were probably brought in to collude with Darkness Sighs. Without proof, there's no way we can believe you."

  "The dead Shade," said Flynn suddenly, shrinking slightly as everyone turned towards him. "She sheltered miners in her cave, those that got cut off by the Kappers, but not outright killed. A few tried to make it back here, only to get killed by the Kappers, who guarded every path."

  "A dead man is no proof," said Skin Eater almost gleefully. If he started rubbing his hands together, Terran wouldn't have been surprised.

  "Then check the other bodies," said Terran. "There are many old ones in the mine. You'll see they're not smashed or broken as they would be by the Grinder, but cut or stabbed by Kapper weapons. Compare those wounds to the Kappers we killed on the way up here. Those were killed by the Grinder. You'll see the difference."

  Skin Eater went quiet. Clearly he'd hoped to rid them of Darkness Sighs. He glanced to the humongous bone construct, a new twitch forming on his lips.

  "You Offworlder," said Skin Eater, jabbing his finger at Terran. "You've a quest given by Pools of Blood to kill the Grinder. If you want that emerald you must destroy it."

  The equally devastated glances from Darkness Sighs and Flynn made Terran decide right away. While he was certain that they could kill the construct, he knew that doing so would ruin any chance Flynn had with the half-Shade. Both of them stared expectantly at Terran.

  "I'm afraid we must decline," said Terran, hiding his inner sigh. "If we're to acquire an emerald, it won't be at another's expense. We'll find one another way."

  Your quest "Eliminate the Grinder" has failed.

  Skin Eater growled, readying to launch another insult until he caught Pools of Blood staring murderously at him. Instead, he switched his focus to Terran again.

  "If you cannot perform the task, then we shall escort you from the Tomb. You're no use to us," said Skin Eater. "We shall escort you out."

  The council member, along with a couple of guards, led them from the mines, back to the main area. A tight-lipped Darkness Sighs followed, leaving her bone construct where it was sitting. Skin Eater gave her a sneering glance when she joined them, but her expression could have cut glass, and he stepped aside.

  The long, sad procession back to the elevator had Terran wondering how they might acquire an emerald now that this quest had failed. He hoped that Vievel might have returned. The resourceful gnome might offer a new way to gain such a gem. The only saving grace was how Flynn and Darkness Sighs stood next to each other, hands nearly touching. They stayed that way the whole way up. He'd joined Kingmakers Saga with his friends—he certainly wasn't going to prioritize his happiness over theirs.

  When they reached the Dead Forest, they stepped off the platform. Flynn started to walk away, but Darkness Sighs grabbed his hand, and while Skin Eater and Pools of Blood looked on with revulsion, she pressed her mouth to his, her hand on the back of his neck. Flynn looked like he was going to levitate off the ground. When they were finished, he stumbled back to Terran's side, a delirious look on his face.

  The elevator descended, taking Darkness Sighs back into the Final Tomb. She had a private grin as she kept her eyes locked with Flynn's until they disappeared beneath the ground.

  When they were gone, Terran slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Congrats, buddy. I think she likes you."

  Flynn started choking, grabbing his neck, before finally spitting out a large dark green gem into his palm.

  "Is that…?"

  Flynn grinned as he handed it over. "Yep. She passed it to me with her mouth."

  You have completed the quest "Obtain a large emerald gem."

  You are now level 14!

  Terran put his arm around Flynn's shoulder. "I would kiss you too, but I don't want to make her jealous." As they walked a little further, he noticed a bounce in his friend's step. "How can you be so calm? You just found a girlfriend, but you have to leave her with her father."

  Flynn lifted one shoulder. "I speak fluent tongue. The way she rolled hers against mine and squeezed my neck told me that it wasn't the last time we'll be seeing each other."

  Terran blinked. "I'll take your word for it. Now let's get back to the Glen."

  As they passed through the petrified trees, heading towards the bridge, a howl rose above the forest. On the other side of the river, the pack of gristlehounds waited as if they'd known the party would have to return eventually.

  "We can always go back the hard way," said Terran with a shrug.

  "Speak for yourself, two-legger. I'll get back just fine," said Luna. "I'll even make sure that emerald gets back in one piece."

  "No," said Flynn with his shoulders back. "I've got this."

  Terran shared a glance with Luna. "You've... got this? Like, what, the whole pack?"

  Flynn dusted his hands together. "The whole pack."

  Luna tilted her furry head. "Did your scary bone-loving girlfriend slip you some hallucinogenics with her tongue?"

  "Nope. But I got a new spell when I leveled up, and I wanted to try it out," said Flynn over his shoulder as he strolled across the bridge as if a pack of nightmarish murderous dogs made of cartilage and ligament wasn't waiting to tear him to pieces.

  The pack waited at the far edge, leaning forward, growling with their teeth bared. The lead hound, larger than the others, pushed forward onto the bridge. A co
llective energy was building, which unleashed would involve the pack surging forward to devour a cheerful, and purposefully oblivious, Flynn.

  But when the alpha gristlehound darted forward, Flynn skipped through the air as if he'd been teleported, landing directly on the creature's back. Flynn squeezed his legs and hooked his fingers into the knotty muscles on the gristlehound's neck.

  "Ride 'em, cowboy!"

  The suddenly confused gristlehound spun around, trying to get away from Flynn, while the rest of the pack snapped at him. Terran was certain that the rest of the pack would knock him off the alpha, but as they did, Flynn maneuvered the creature over the edge of the bridge, leaping off at the last moment.

  A good third of the pack went into the river with the alpha, and in a stunning display of acrobatics, Flynn rolled onto his feet and fired a chaos ball directly into the mass. The proceeding disarray only got worse when gristlehounds turned on each other, encouraged by his spell. The initial bites were spurred by Flynn, but the rage-filled hounds retaliated on their kin, leading to more biting, until the pack was a pile of muscle and teeth, while the newly minted Jinx wandered away from it as if he were leaving a gloriously framed explosion.

  "You were saying something back there?" asked Flynn.

  Terran watched the remaining members of the pack fight, tilting his head at the unexpected result.

  "Nope. Not a thing. I was completely silent," said Terran, running his fingertips over his lips. "Shall we?"

  They crossed the bridge, circling wide around the final members of the pack, heading back to Gneiss Glen.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The journey back to Gneiss Glen was uneventful, only in that they encountered no more dangerous creatures, but Terran could barely get a thought in as Flynn talked about Darkness Sighs and the adventure in the mines the whole way back. Luna abandoned them when they neared the settlement, giving Flynn an eye roll before she trotted away.

  Back beneath the canopy of the Mother Tree, Flynn threw his arms around Terran the moment they were about to step apart. After a long hug, a wild-eyed Flynn pulled away, knocking the hair out of his face.

  "Sorry," said Flynn, lifting one shoulder. "I couldn't remember if I'd properly thanked you."

  "My pleasure, buddy. It's good to see you in better spirits," said Terran.

  Flynn rubbed the back of his head, squinting. "We're not, you know, heading back out anytime soon?" He yawned. "That was fun and all but it wore me out."

  "You're good," said Terran, laughing, "for a few days at least. But get your rest. I have all the things I need to grow an emerald crystal. Once we find where the arborist is located, we're headed out again, all of us, I imagine."

  Rubbing his eyes with a knuckle, a sleepy looking Flynn wandered away, leaving Terran finally alone with his thoughts. As he headed towards his quarters, he found a section of tree limb covered in black mucus. The colorful leaves had grayed, and the tips crumbled at his touch, leaving a greasy residue on his fingers when he pulled away. Rather than head to his place to sleep, he went to visit Petram.

  "Welcome back, Terran the Tenacious," said Petram with a worn smile as he mashed leaves in a mortar with a stone pestle. The shaman had rings around his eyes.

  "You look like you haven't slept," said Terran.

  Petram covered his mouth with his hand and stifled a yawn. "The rot is getting worse. I've been trying everything I can think of to slow it down, but I'm no arborist. The decay is accelerating." He furrowed his brow. "How was your trip? Were you successful?"

  Terran held out the emerald. "Now I need to grow the crystal and hope that an arborist isn't too far away."

  Petram squeezed his lips together. "You know, there's no guarantee that one exists. While their talents are useful outside of the Rock Leaf Forest, it was here that they flourished. But without the Mother Tree, if there is one, they could be anywhere in the world."

  "Understood," said Terran. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

  Petram tilted his head. "The arborist is beyond a bridge?"

  Terran chuckled. "A figure of speech."

  "If I may," said Petram, holding out his hands. "I don't want to intrude on your duties as our leader, and I know you've been busy with helping your friends, but we're running into resource issues in the Glen."

  Terran put a hand to his temple. "Can you elaborate? I don't want to have to go through my interface right now."

  "Understood," said Petram. "With recent additions, we're running short on food, and the settlement is growing large enough it's harder to sustain our needs by ourselves. We also lack mundane goods like salt, leathers, parchments, glassware, and the accoutrements necessary for improving our establishments."

  "In other words, we need more trade," said Terran.

  Petram nodded. "You are sage. We have much to offer, but lack the partners."

  "More than a random trader like Vievel can provide," said Terran, receiving a nod from the shaman. "I assume somewhere like Salt Luck or Dagrath would be sufficient? Or do we need to go further or larger?"

  Petram clasped his hands in front. "Salt Luck is a port town, a few thousand people, run by a clan of sea dwarves, hearty traders, though quick to take offense and always looking for a bargain. Dagrath is a bit of a community soup pot. A council of business leaders runs the town, but their interests are often at odds, and they have difficulty finding consensus. But you can find all sorts of good and services there."

  "It sounds like you prefer Dagrath," said Terran.

  "I lived there for a time, since they welcome all peoples, given you can find a way to make a living. It would be easier to deal with them," said Petram. "There are many hands that all would benefit from trading, while Salt Luck is run through the Salthammer clan. Arabast can be quite finicky, and his wife, Gloricia, is thought to be a dangerous influence."

  You have been offered a quest: Find a trading partner for Gneiss Glen

  Reward: Increase wealth, morale, and population of Gneiss Glen

  You'll have to micromanage your settlement much less too!

  "Thanks, Petram."

  The shaman nodded sagely. "Good luck with the crystal growing."

  "These aren't too different from the ones that I grew for the portal, so hopefully it's not too hard," said Terran.

  On the way to the crystalline conservatory, he noted other places on leaves and limbs that had the black mucus. When he entered the main chamber, a lively debate was in full progress.

  "If we invert the crystal, using a brass with silver inlays connection rather than a straight brass and add a sap-based glue, we could increase the range of the divination," said Newt, who paced around the far side of the room, opposite Zoras, who had his chin firmly planted in his cupped hand.

  "I think that could work," said Zoras, eyebrows wagging with thought. He looked up, his mouth twitching into the semblance of a smile. It was a little horrific, but Terran was willing to overlook it for the effort. "Our crystal bard has returned, a successful trip, I imagine."

  Terran flicked the emerald to the old scholar, then nodded to Newt. "I'm ready to plant it."

  "Do you wish to rest first? By the dirt on your armor, it appears you only just returned," said Zoras.

  "Judging by the rot in the trees, I don't think I have time for rest," said Terran, thinking about his empty hammock. Before Chanterelle left, she'd made spending time in the settlement enjoyable. "Besides, I can rest while the crystal grows."

  Newt cleared his throat. "I, uhm, developed a mixture that will speed up crystal growth considerably. Maybe a few hours at most."

  Terran rubbed his eyes. "Well, that'll give me a chance to level up, maybe catch a nap, I guess. So thanks?"

  Newt tilted his head like a confused dog. His friend had never been good at sarcasm.

  The other items to grow the crystal were already at the conservatory. Zoras carried them on an ornate tray to the Mother Tree. At least this part didn't require singing.

  Using their h
ands, they dug a small hole beneath the roots of the enormous tree, placing the emerald, conch, and shellflower, along with extra sap and loam to help the growth. When they were patting the dirt back over the hole, Newt pulled a small vial from his inner pocket and poured it over the freshly dug earth.

  "That's it?" asked Terran, receiving a nod from his friend.

  Back in the chieftain's hut, he stripped his leaf armor off, using a wet rag to clean off the dust and old sweat. Then he applied the same technique to himself, until the worst of the grime had been removed. If he had more time, he'd have gone to the pond for a swim, but he wanted a moment of peace. He loved Flynn like a brother, but he tended to let his mouth run on a never-ending stream of consciousness, and the dual excitements of finding a class and a girlfriend had made him extra verbose.

  Sitting on the old rug, he poured himself a mug of tea and examined his character sheet. Adding stat points was usually the easiest part of his decision, but he'd noticed a problem during the fights in the mines. He'd come close to running out of mana, which was dictated entirely by intelligence. While the Circlet of Leaves gave him improved mana regen, and the bard songs were lower mana cost compared to their effects, he'd kept running up against his limits.

  Not wanting to commit yet, he examined the Champion's Path that he'd unlocked during the adventure in the mines. It appeared there were three different options he could choose from within the Champion's Path, which was a nice change from his Earthen Mage and Crystal Bard classes, which mostly required his abilities to be discovered.

  Georealm (Champion's Path) [unpicked]

  Worldwalker - Travel through hidden pathways to distant locations

  Earthblood - Utilize the connection with earth for more power

  The two ability trees had intriguing descriptions, but he didn't know what was involved with each one specifically. While it appeared that he could choose the Champion's Path if he wanted, not knowing anything about the other two—Way of the Leaf and Arbor-Hearted—left him reluctant to decide.