Spire's Spite

Fritz broke into a crawl, scrabbling to the green glass wall where he had seen the silhouette of what could be a Treasure chest. He didn’t get far, the spinning and vertigo rushed back with a vengeance and he flopped onto his belly.

“Bert,” He cried out. “Bert a chest, look!” Bert spun, then turned to the section of that seemingly melted green glass wall Fritz was pointing at.

“Well, I’ll be climbed! There is something there isn’t there?” Bert exclaimed, grinning his infectious grin. “How do we get to it?”

“How do you think?” Sid asked while unfurling her sling. “Take turns smashing it.”

Bert moved out of the way with a sweeping bow, gesturing at the dark shape behind the glass.

Fritz watched on in bemusement as they took turns slinging wind-imbued stones and punching the wall with concussive blows. They were even making a game of it, seeing whose strikes left the most or longest cracks. It quickly turned into good-natured bickering and mocking and the cracks spread ever larger and chunks of the glass started falling away, clattering to the ground with a loud clinking.

“Fritz, tell him my crack is bigger,” Sid demanded as sweat trickled down her cheek from the exertion.

“As a gentleman, I would never deign to speak on a Lady’s crack. No matter how prodigious,” Fritz intoned regally, affecting an air of noble offence.

Sid scowled, but Fritz thought he could see a faint glitter of amusement in her eye as she did so. Bert laughed at the comment, as he readied another Ability-enhanced punch.

After a couple of minutes of thuds, slaps and thwacks, Bert turned to Fritz, “Wait can’t you make holes?” He questioned as he slumped to the ground, sweating heavily and panting lightly.

“I can,” Fritz said smugly, giving his two crew a bland smile.

“Does it work on glass?” Bert asked, an edge of annoyance in his voice.

“Perhaps,” Fritz eloquently espoused. Both of his crew glowered at him, and Fritz had to suppress the mirth he felt from annoying his boon companions.

When Fritz made no move to use his Ability or speak, Sid growled out, “Can you try?”

“Oh, of course, I was merely allowing you two to apply your plan first,” Fritz explained untruthfully. Really he hadn’t thought of it until that moment. If he had realised it before it might have been of use against the bull and the fight could have been much less difficult and dangerous. The thought made him feel guilty that he still hadn't grasped the full use of his Abilities yet.

“I’ll need to rest up first, I don’t think I could cast a spell in my current state,” He added smiling.

Sid and Bert joined him on the ground drinking the last of their water and nibbling a bit on their smoked monster fish. Clearly, they had used the majority of their stamina and magic and needed to rest up as well.

“We’re gonna have to find more water and food soon,” Sid said dully pushing her sopping fringe of blond out of her eyes.

Bert nodded in agreement and pulled off his drenched shirt, stating “Yeah and I’m getting hungrier by the moment, my much-expanded musculature demands more sustenance.”

“Those are some big words, Bert. Aren’t you meant to be the brute?” Sid asked lightly mocking the shirtless man as he flexed his arms and showed off their ever-increasing size.

“What can I say? Fritz is rubbing off on me,” Bert replied easily, looking himself over with his amber eyes.

Sid smirked, raising an eyebrow at the remark, and Bert gave her a sly grin and added, “Not in the way you’re thinking.” Then he laughed easily.

Fritz smiled along, he’d heard it all before. Fritz stood and meandered to his belongings taking out his Technique book, he thought he’d give it another read if they had downtime and now seemed as good a time as any other.

As he was leafing through the densely packed text of the journal, re-reading and re-contextualising the contents but he still felt he was missing something. Still, he read on memorising as much as he could, which he found was much easier to retain due to his increase in the mental attributes Focus and Memory.

Time passed and Fritz finally felt rested enough to make an attempt at using Stone Pit, he wondered in that moment if his Control could be applied to it as well. He didn’t see why not. In his mind’s eye, he pictured what he wanted, a deeper hole, more cylinder than sphere. He used his power to attempt to shift the glass but found it had no purchase on the green translucent substance. Holding onto the spell for a moment longer he redirected the ability down at his feet.

The spell fought him as it was cast, it wanted to stay rigid and spherical, and something about its stone nature rendered it almost impossible to bend. Still, Fritz forced the spell to change, moulding it according to his will at the yellow stone in front of his feet. The hole looked the same as any other he had cast, but as he crouched and looked at it more carefully the crater was definitely smaller across and deeper than previous holes. Not by much, maybe an inch each way, more again like an oval there than a perfect spherical indent like before.

Fatigue hit him at once, both in mind and body and he sat heavily, staring at the hole he had created.

“You missed, idiot,” Bert pointed out.

“Doesn’t work on glass,” Fritz replied. “But look this hole is slightly deeper.”

“Great,” Bert said stoically. “And what does that mean?”

“Oh, I was just testing the Control theory. Seems the Advanced Attribute also works with Stone Pit, just not as well as Illusory Shadow. There was a lot of… resistance,” Fritz explained.

“I’ve read that some alignments are harder than others to shape,” Sid said offhandedly. “Too bad your ability doesn’t work on glass though.”

“Truly. Well, back to smashing! Sorry, you’re so useless, Fritz,” Bert said without a hint of apology in his voice and a sly grin spreading across his rugged features.

And get back to smashing, they did. It didn’t take much longer for them to clear enough of the wall away, shattering a small hole then expanding it big enough for Fritz to crawl through.

“Why me?” Fritz whined, trying to shirk any more work.

“Because you’re not the tallest or the thickest,” Bert reasoned.

“I’m thicker than her,” Fritz rebutted.

“Not by much, Fritz, and not where it counts,” Bert said glancing meaningfully at Sid’s burgeoning hips. Fritz looked away from Sid quickly, not wanting to get caught staring.

It seemed that whatever deprivation their poverty-induced malnutrition had wracked their bodies with was slowly being restored by the Spire’s magic, even those they suffered far before they got their Powers. Fritz held out a vain hope he might recover another inch or two of height, Bert on the other hand didn’t seem too fussed about that, he seemingly desired more muscle instead.

Fritz capitulated and begrudgingly crawled into the tight hole they had made in the glass. It was only five feet long but it was uncomfortable, the jagged glass digging into him but not piercing the oilcloth they had wrapped around him for his protection.

He seized the dark chest-like object then called out, “Got the chest! heave ho!” In a bad impersonation of a sailor.

Fritz felt them pull on his legs and he was dragged out quickly holding the Treasure chest. It was just as strangely light as the last one he had found but this one he was out of the dark and could get a clean look at it was banded with silver, not bronze.

He gasped in awe, Sid and Bert joined him with a low whistle and an appreciative “Nice,” From Sid.

“Who wants to do the honours this time?” Fritz asked as he sat up, eyes locked on the lightly glowing chest.

“Oh, can I,” Sid piped up eagerly.

“All yours, Lady Sid,” Fritz agreed magnanimously, he would have bowed if he was standing but settled for a gracious nod of the head.

She rolled her eyes, but a smile still lit her face prettily, and she put her hands on either side of the chest and lifted its lid.

The incandescence flowing shafts of light poured out, just like the last chest but Fritz fancied that these rays of brilliance were brighter and more refined than those that came out from the bronze chest. What would opening a gold or even platinum chest look like? He wondered absently, then brought himself back to the present to see the first item Sid removed from the chest.

The first item was a small steel mallet of sturdy make, and with it was a pointed object of some black metal Fritz couldn’t identify.

Sid’s smile fell, and she said softly, “It’s a hammer and chisel.”

Bert and Fritz looked upwards at the roof in unison. A small horror coiled in Fritz's gut as his thoughts raced and it felt like a pressure bore down on him. It’s listening to us, no doubt about it. We have to be careful. Do all Spires listen? What does it have in store for us? Or is this some sort of joke that we just don’t understand yet? Fritz shivered and he saw a similar shiver go down both Sid and Bert’s backs.

“Ominous” Bert bemoaned.

“Creepy,” Sid intoned.

“Terrible,” Fritz groaned.

They waited in silence for a few moments longer lost in dark thoughts until Fritz shook off his own fear and shouted out, “More Treasures! What’s next in the chest!?” Shaking them from their malaise, it even raised his own mood to hear his bright voice echo off the green glass walls.

“Chest, Chest, Chest,” The echos repeated.

Bert and Sid smiled at him gratefully, and he smiled back. It felt like whatever cruel will they were subjected to just a moment ago had evaporated and they were able to relax. Fritz didn’t even realise he had been so tense.

Sid reached into the chest again, pulling out a small box of red wood. It was about the size of Fritz’s torso and had a fine latch and hinges of silver. She lay it next to herself, not wanting to open it right away and instead reaching for the next object in the chest. She went on like this not really inspecting the items as they were pulled out and set aside.

They were left with a small pile of items: four vials; three of which contained stamina draughts and one health potion, three well-made travellers packs, a set of white and blue clothes, a belt, a ring and a small piece of hard paper.

When the final item, the piece of paper, had been removed the chest began to fade away, becoming ghostly transparent, then gone, slipping away into nothingness. They looked over the small pile of Treasures greedily, expectantly, then inspected the items one by one.

The tan-coloured cloth traveller's packs were lightweight and functional, complete with leather buckles and straps so they could be carried on one's back. They were much roomier than the assortment of haphazardly made, ragged bags and sacks the crew were currently using. There was even a little loop where Fritz could coil his rope safely and securely. The amount this pleased Fritz seemed to annoy the others however as he lovingly put his rope into place on the loop.

The white and blue clothes were a soft material, not exactly silken but close to it and had a distinct heaviness and toughness to them. They were comprised of a set of white baggy pants and a sky blue sleeveless vest with a familiar silver fist emblazoned upon it just over where someones heart would be.

Bert's eyes widened as he noticed the crest and he looked to Fritz with a pathetic attempt at puppy dog eyes.

Fritz scoffed and threw the garments at him saying, “Take them. No one else but you would want the mad Brother’s fighting garb.”

Bert walked behind the bull and immediately undressed, slipping on his new outfit out of sight. He walked back and Fritz had to admit he cut quite the figure, or would have if his hair wasn’t matted and there wasn’t grime all over his pale skin.

Sid looked him over for a moment but her attention was quickly drawn back to the Treasures.

The belt was made of matte white scales from some kind of exotic serpent or some stranger beast and had a clasp of jade sculpted to give the impression of a fang. Sid handled it gingerly like it might snake and slither from her grip and bite her. She offered it to Fritz, who just shrugged in response so she laid it on the ground again.

The ring was forged of dull steel, unmarred and unadorned. It barely even glittered like steel should. Sid put her eye to it, “What do you think it does? I reckon it’s probably magical, but I haven’t seen much like it,” She inquired.

“I have seen something like it. The King’s Scale Guard wear them, but I can't be sure as I don’t tend to be invited to the palace these days,” Fritz said absently as he was pondering over the ring.

“Wait, you’ve been to the palace?” Sid exclaimed, her mouth slightly open.

“I thought it was underwater,” Bert said intrigued by something for once.

“They raise the palace halfway for special occasions. They unflood the great hall when all the nobility need attend the King, not just those of the illustrious Merfolk strain,” Fritz explained. He had completely forgotten he hadn’t told Sid his whole story.

He reflected he had been unusually comfortable with his secrets around the woman but shrugged off his worry. If she was going to betray him she’d have done it already, plus she’d have to get through Bert. He didn’t really distrust Sid any longer but his memories from his time in the gutters still tried to warn him to be cautious. He purposefully ignored them.

“Anyway, I’ve seen these on the King’s elite, might be something the same or similar but who can say,” Fritz said, moving the questions away from his past, he was still uncomfortable talking about it, even after all this time. Even with Bert.

“Any idea what it does?” Bert asked.

“Not really, maybe a protection or Perception ability?” Fritz theorised.

“Well we can find out,” Sid said holding up the piece of firm paper between her fingers. It was of a pale off-white and had tiny glyphs written in its corners, they formed a small border enclosing the blank space in the centre.

Fritz recognised what it was but before he could express his excitement Bert spoke up, “We can?” He looked curiously at the paper she held and stroked his chin running his hand over his emerging pale gold beard.

“Yes. This is a know-note,” Sid proclaimed, a smile stretching over her face.

“Is it? Wonderful!” Bert stated, obviously trying to play off his ignorance.

Sid’s face fell and Fritz smiled blandly.

“You do know what a know-note is? Don’t you?” Sid asked, concerned.

“Mmm,” Bert hummed in affirmation, nodding along as if he were thinking, Fritz knew he wasn’t.

Sid glanced at Fritz, and said “Didn’t you teach him anything?”

“I taught Bert everything. How to read, count and everything I know about the Spires. But, unfortunately, as you will soon discover, it's like teaching an eel how to waltz,” Fritz commented without much heat, he’d long since accepted Bert’s strange selective learning.

“Impossible?” Sid questioned.

“For anyone else, maybe. But for me, merely... difficult,” Fritz boasted.

“Yes, but now look! This eel can dance,” Bert said absurdly, he jumped up and did an odd sort of shuffle that emphasised the movement of his hips and stomach.

“Did Fritz teach you that too?” Sid groused, contorting her face into a scowl. Fritz could see that she was attempting to hide her amusement, trying to keep her rough, serious and stoic exterior in place. She glared for some tense movements until finally breaking down, letting loose a raucous laugh, high and free, that subsidised into small giggles as Bert continued to ‘dance.’

“No I learnt this from a girl at Tallie’s,” Bert replied, finishing up his gyrating with a barrage of hip thrusts. He sat back down wiping sweat and grime from his forehead.

Fritz shook his head. “That is the sort of thing he decides to learn instead,” He sighed in overblown weariness.

Bert grinned infuriatingly, taking Fritz’s exasperation as the compliment it was.

Sid broke into giggles again, and they waited for her mirth to die down before they continued with the inspection of the Treasures.

“You were saying something about no-notes?” Bert reminded Sid as she regained control of her laughter.

“Know-notes can be used to discover what kind of abilities are imbued in a Spire Treasure or other magic objects,” Sid explained still smiling.

“Even potions?” asked Bert.

“I think there are specialised versions for that,” Fritz supplied. “Most climbing teams would bring some of those with them, can't know exactly what a potion the Spire gives you does unless you have an Alchemist or someone similar with you. Also helpful when buying from dodgy back-alley potion sellers, never know if what they give you is the real deal.”

Bert nodded along, “So we can find out what these can do?” He gestured at the obviously magic ring and belt.

“One of them, yeah,” Sid said. “They can only be used once, then they rot away. There is a little trick you can do with them.”

“Oh really?” Fritz inquired, keeping an eye on the pale paper.

“Yeah, so to use the know-note you touch it to an object then activate it and if the item’s magic it’ll write out what it’s imbued with. But if you just place it on an item you think is magic it will-,” Sid griped the paper firmly and held it against the white scaled belt.

“Will what?” Bert said, staring at the paper.

“Maybe you can’t see it but it’s tingling. Here,” Sid handed Bert the know-note and he took it with trepidation, then did as Sid did, holding it to the steel ring.

He smiled as he obviously felt something from the know-note, then pulled it away, not wanting to risk activating it and having paper waste away. Bert then pressed the know-note to his new vest just over his heart and grinned wide.

“My vest is magic,” Bert excitedly exclaimed, then placed it on his thigh. “Pants too,” He added handing the know-note back to Sid.

“The question is then, what do we use it on? Or can we just use them without knowing what they do?” Bert asked pensively, taking the subject seriously.

“We can use magical objects without knowing but it might be dangerous. What if it's a ring of Flood or something?” Sid pointed out.

“Is the wooden box magic?” Fritz inquired, looking over at its polished, red wood and silver clasp. Sid slapped the paper to the box and shook her head. She flipped open the latch and swung the lip open.

Sid gasped and flinched, and spun the open box to Bert and Fritz when they were startled by her reaction. They were staring at themselves, or a reflection, the box's lid was lined by a pristine mirror. Unfortunately the faces within could not be called such. Fritz grimaced and Bert’s excitement fell away as they stared upon their grimy features and filthy hair.

Inside the box, under the mirror, was a drawer, with something like a false bottom. In the box was a brush, comb and ivory-handled, bright metal razor. Fritz was able to pull away the top draw revealing a wonderfully soft, white face towel and three bars of light pink soap. Fritz grabbed one of the bars of soap and sniffed it.

Nothing. Not even the normal scent of soap. Completely scentless soap, what in the Spire’s was the point of that?

“What you got there, Fritz?” Sid asked.

“What we all needed most of all. Soap,” Fritz replied, throwing Sid one of the pink bars. She snatched it out of the air deftly, despite Fritz’s poor throw.

“Too bad there’s no water,” Sid groused, a note of longing in her tone. “What’s in the rest of it?”

“It’s a shaving kit,” Fritz supplied. “The Spire wants us nice and presentable when it kills us.”

“Why would it bother?” Bert complained.

“Who knows why the Spires are? Who knows what the Spires see? Who knows what the Spires know? Only that they be,” Fritz recited his tongue gliding through the well-worn rhyme.

There was a moment of silence after he finished speaking.

“So do we use the know-note on the ring or belt?” Bert asked.