The Pinnacle Warrior

“Damn, so that’s a troll?” Benedict said as the beast lowered itself just enough to scream at Astrid’s face level. It might’ve been more intimidating if it wasn’t nearly 100 meters away, but Benedict danced back regardless of any distance between them. Astrid chuckled as the roar echoed off the cliffs all around them. Without saying anything, she pulled her hammer from the skull of the orc warrior underneath her. Looking around, she pushed the corpse to the side, trying to create some measure of flat ground for them to fight the new arrival. The party had mostly gotten used to fighting in Purcell’s branch’s mountainous terrain, after all, it had been several months since their arrival. Even so, finding firm ground to stand on was one of the most important things that they could do in every fight. Unfortunately, as mountain dwellers, the monsters didn’t seem to have to take nearly so much care as the delvers did.

The troll almost galloped forward, using one of its inhumanly long arms to steady itself whenever necessary as its twisted, fanged face slavered at the idea of consuming human flesh. Its wide maw spread wide as its heavy breathing grew louder and somehow wetter.

“This had better work,” Skandr grumbled to himself as he prepared his lightning javelin. While running, it bent down and the beast raised a rock the size of someone’s head and hefted it back to hurl it. Astrid cursed as she took two steps forward and called for the two people right next to her to get behind her shield. She watched for the rock’s approach, the troll’s madness driving the monster to throw with a mindless precision. Setting her shoulder and stance, at the last moment, Astrid took cover behind her shield, pushed her mana into her legs, and turned the shield to have the rock go flying off behind them instead of smashing her down.

“Absolutely worth paying three times as much as we did for this.“ Astrid granted through the pain of the shield smashing into her shoulder as she called behind herself, “You finally ready?”

Skandr didn’t grace her grumbling with a verbal response, instead stepping out from behind the shield and hurling the lightning into the troll’s chest. They’d been told that troll hides were remarkably magically resistant, so they’d long since agreed that when finally they ran into one, they’d have Skandr bring out the big spells without waiting. Much of the ancillary lightning from the spell bounced off of the troll’s chest, but the core of the javelin stuck inside and made the monster twitch while it roared again before throwing itself forward. Like a massive ape, it sailed through the air and smashed at the ground just a couple meters in front of Astrid. It raised one fist again to smash into the Warrior.

Fortunately, Felix had been perfectly situated to take advantage of the monster’s low intelligence. He stepped out from, to the troll’s perspective, behind a rock and forced the monster’s attention to shift to him with Draw Anger. While the monster was forced to careen to a stop to turn its momentum towards the Bodyguard, Felix used Guardian’s Rush to close the several meter distance between them. He shouted in fury as he swung to bury his axe in the monster’s side under its ribs. It screamed as it sought to return the blow with two heavy punches of its own, but Felix dodged the first and parried the second with a twist of his axe’s haft. The monster’s entire being was visibly filled with rage as it smashed its two fists against his chest. Its gray skin reddened more and more until it was almost purple. Felix stepped back as it smashed again and again with heavy over hand blows towards him, though none managed to strike true. Astrid stepped forward and went to crush the monster’s knee with a swing of her hammer.

It quaked to the side with the blow, showing that she’d hit it, but the monster’s renowned regeneration was not fabled for nothing. The thick skin didn’t break, and after just a few limping steps, the troll resumed its attack at full force. As a further testament to its hardiness, the blood coursing down its side slowed. That was when Muti threw herself at its head.

The monster was at least 3 meters tall, but the flying Rogue took it by surprise and as her full weight sailed into the monster’s body, she managed to make it stumble. Astrid followed suit, smashing her shield and hammer into its knees to make the beast fall. With 100 kilos and Astrid’s help, the monster fell to its back. As the troll scrambled to get to its feet, Felix rushed forward again and, alongside the rest of the party, swung his axe down again and again. Blood flew as bones cracked, and the monster managed to catch Felix by the ankle. It pulled him forward, savage jaws wide open in delight, but its victory wouldn’t appear. To the monster’s surprise, the Bodyguard threw himself forward and slammed his axe through the troll’s thick neck, nearly decapitating it in one strike. Even still, the troll didn’t die as its flesh slowly squirmed to return to life, but then Astrid raised to her hammer and clobbered it in the head.

The first strike was deflected by the thick skull, but the second and third cracked bone, and the fourth finally finished the beast.

Mountain Troll slain. 50 Experience gained, split among party.

“That one was level 16,” Astrid grinned as she said as much, wiping the head of her hammer against the monster’s filthy loin cloth. “I’ve just about hit the next level, myself. How about you, Felix?“

“I’m still 7,000 off. Even working as hard as we do, that head start you had is hard to catch up to, especially now that you’re not helping me out anymore.”

Astrid shrugged as Muti evaluated the monster in front of them. Knowing what the Barbarian was thinking, Astrid reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. When her eyes met Astrid’s gaze, the Warrior shook her head in disapproval.

“It’s too heavy, and it’s not worth it. We’ll only take the two fangs from the bottom jaw and then the ear as the trophy. The rest of it’s not worth the weight of carrying it that far.”

Muti rolled her eyes but nodded as she pulled her heavy–pommelled dagger free and smashed the fangs free from the monster’s lower jaw. She and Skandr had been excited to reach level 15 earlier that day, but that was far from enough to convince Astrid to drag the entire corpse back. Especially not when the orc materials were, per kilo, more valuable. The damn sled didn’t work in the mountains, so on the first two floors, it was worth bringing along, but now that they were nearing finishing with the fourth floor, the party had gotten used to, once again, journeying with massive backpacks. Huge packs that, over the couple of days where they’d delve through floors of the branch, were stuffed full of various trophies and materials until they were each dozens of kilos.

“How’s everyone holding up?“ Astrid asked, feeling fine herself. She, Muti, and Felix would be fine with this amount of hiking and hunting, but Skandr and Benedict didn’t have the benefits afforded to the physically–Classed party members with much higher Fortitudes.

“I’m tired, but that’s nothing new.“ Skandr shrugged as he felt the gazes of the rest of the party. “If we’re going to keep pushing, then let’s keep pushing. If we’re done, then we’re done, but don’t have my opinion sway yours by much.”

After nodding in acknowledgement, Astrid looked at Benedict and raised her eyebrows. With himself being the decision maker, the Bard sighed dramatically as he hung his head. Then, knowing he didn’t have any space to complain, he raised his hands in surrender.

“I know when I’m beat. And, I wouldn’t mind getting myself one of those troll hide undershirts, so I figure we keep going for now.” He looked meaningfully at Felix as he said it. The Bodyguard smirked and shrugged as he patted his chest. He still wore the drake’s scale armor, but the party had recently invested in a pretty pricey underlayment to the armor that’d been amazingly effective. The whole of his armor became notably stronger and more protective from the addition, and though the troll hide didn’t grant any attributes, it was far and away the most magically beneficial piece of equipment the party now owned. Between his axe, armor, and mana–blessed iron bracers, Felix’s equipment as a whole was notably better than the rest of the party’s. Regardless of any comparison, everybody had gained significant benefits from the money they made dominating the dungeon in Kznietch as well as tearing through the orc raiders and warriors found here in Purcell.

“Yes, you’re lazy, and you want to not feel tired,” Felix countered, “but this does a whole lot more than that. It repairs itself and my armor, it protects me, and—”

“Yes, yes. That’s why I want it!” Benedict rolled his hand through the air dismissively. Astrid did note that he rather conspicuously did not hold his enchanted flute that gave a boost to every sound based Skill while he complained. As if not drawing attention to it would make the rest of the party forget it.

Thinking of equipment, Astrid herself looked much the same as she had ever since she bought the shield, but for something only the more observant would notice. Her greaves now bore small, unobtrusive lines where the commissioned enchantments had been engraved. The enchantments gave her no bonuses to attributes, but instead, she could push a small measure of her mana through her legs to make her stance sturdier and more immovable, as she’d done to keep from being blown away by the troll’s thrown stone. Once she finally reached Iron, she was going to retire her trusty hammer and get one that was much heavier. At that point, the enchantment in her greaves would really show it’s worth as she could swing something magically dense fast enough to send herself flying without worry. That combined with a permanent Steady Load bonus? It made her grin just thinking about it.

“If you gain the courage to stand on the front lines, then I will help convince the leader to purchase a new undergarment for you.” Muti grinned as she stood from dismembering the troll’s head. “After all, it is the frontliner who is prioritized in gaining new equipment. That is why he is so favored by the leader. Perhaps Felix will share his bravery with you, if you gain the strength to beg it of him.”

“I didn’t say it’s unfair that he has it, I just said that I want my own. I bet you want it too!”

Muti and Benedict both good–naturedly bickered back and forth as Astrid, Felix, and Skandr watched. The Lightningmage shrugged helplessly when his eyes met Astrid’s. His equipment too had seen change, though not so marked as the rest. Despite the frivolousness of the purchase, Astrid had allowed for the extra payment required to dye his armor. Now, it was a dark, nondescript brown. Even so, the striations from its make remained, the sections originally dyed red now a darker hue than those that had been previously green. 

In keeping with his previous declaration that he would become more of a mage than a Skill-based caster, Skandr had paid extra at the time of commissioning his own enchantments so that, as they were placed on his armor he was permitted to watch and learn the enchantments being applied. Though Spellcraft couldn’t create lasting enchantments, he could begin to understand the general function of the enchantments being applied to his armor. That gave him enough inspiration to begin to apply various ideas in his path moving forward. One such change that’d occurred could be found on the knife he’d always carried—it’d changed, and the new one’s bone handle was carved with several runes to better allow him to briefly pseudo–enchant the weapon if necessary.

Interestingly enough, the claims made by the young Merchant over half a year before had been correct. The material and method of make used in his jerkin was uniquely suited to enchantment. The separate stripes of leather could be uniquely tied together through their enchantments to allow for them to complement each other. The explanations that Skandr’d made about the Enchanter’s work flew over Astrid’s head, but most nights since then, when he wasn’t actively working on some new spell, the Lightningmage was theorycrafting different ways to add onto the enchantments on his armor, as well as how to improve them wholesale when he could finally move on to purchasing a new piece of equipment.

“Yes, I am a coward, and proud of it!” Benedict’s shouts pulled Astrid from evaluating her friend’s equipment. “If a Bard is forced to stand on the front lines, then the rest of the party has failed spectacularly!”

Muti waved her hand dismissively, turning her attention back to higher up the mountain. This Dungeon branch worked and looked vastly different from the others, reinforcing the reality that the Dungeon was something entirely separate from the world itself instead of being something buried under the Earth. Here outside of Purcell, each subsequent floor was found higher up the mountain. The first two floors were hills, the first rolling, the second craggy. The third and fourth floors were mountainous, the fourth more of a struggle to ascend than the third, though neither particularly steep or sheer. However, given that the Dungeon went to seven floors, Astrid was sure that the Boss floor would be absolutely precipitous.

“Do you smell anything nearby?“ Astrid asked the Rogue as she stepped forward to stand beside her. To the eye, Muti’s equipment had changed the most. She’d still been in irregular gnoll leather when they’d left Kznietch. Once in Purcell, the party’d agreed it was her turn to be upgraded. It had been a struggle to find someone willing to work with her, though. Most of the craftsmen refused as a matter of racist principle, but finally, they found a shop run by an older man. When they asked, exhausted and barely holding back rage, if he would make armor for Muti, he’d asked one simple question.

“You got gold?”

With that answered, he shrugged and took a long pull from a pipe whose smoke glowed with a strange red light.

“You’re payin with gold, I’m makin new armor. Whaddya need?”

The stubborn man, who they would come to learn was named Rikard, had made Muti’s armor with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, considering his gruff demeanor. The thick yet pliable leather was a mottled brown and green. Astrid hadn’t heard of the creature he said it came from, but that hadn’t been for long. As soon as she showed some interest in the origin of the leather, he’d said, “Now, it’s from a monster that ambushes anything it comes across. My people up in the north, they call them stone shades. It’s a stupid name, they’re not made out of rock, they just look like it. Not ghosts neither, so it’s just them being stubborn and stupid, but maybe that’s just the way all we northmen are. Anyways, stone shades, properly called Tzezitiliakta, blend into whatever they’re hiding on. In the mountains, they look like just another rock on the mountain side. In the plains, they look… kinda like rocks, but like they belong. Then, if’n anyone gets too close, they jump out and cut ‘em into ribbons. We’ve never been able to find out where the damn Dungeon branch is that they keep crawling out of, but the mountains are generally uninhabited and wild, so that’s nothing new. ‘N there’s not so many of ‘em that we need to get a whole party put together to find and eradicate the origin. Anyways, I’m getting distracted again. It’ll help her hide as well as keep her hide from getting too messed up in the process.”

After the rambling explanations, Rikard’d been the consummate professional, and he’d obviously enjoyed the process of equipment creation. Then, once the Rogue had gotten the hang of her new equipment, the Armorsmith’s words and choice of material had been proven correct. Before, Muti’d been able to hide from gnolls while wearing green in a red field. Now, the hues of her armor slowly shifted to match her environment, so long as she provided a bit of mana to it. Paired with her Stealth, Muti was nearly impossible for the monsters to notice, especially the stupid ones like trolls and orcs.

“There is nothing nearby,” Muti answered as she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the troll corpse. “However, the stench of another troll remains strong, so there is one more on this mountain.”

“Let’s take care of a couple orcs until we find it, shall we?“ Astrid patted Muti firmly on the back as she turned to the other party members. Despite the teasing and laughing that they all shared, they all remembered where they were, and were ready to continue delving at the slightest notice

Astrid said nothing as she nodded in warning to the rest, and they all went silent as she turned to follow Muti, the Rogue walking with a cat’s grace up a particularly precipitous path.

***

“Three orcs, and a troll nearby.” Muti reported as she stepped out of Stealth behind Benedict. She wrapped a hand around his mouth as he jolted, but it was an ever more common occurrence with her Stealth combined with her armor.

“Is the troll close enough to hear the fight as we get started with the orcs?” Astrid muttered.

“It is better to assume that it is.”

“Fair.“ Astrid replied to Muti. “Ready?”

Felix, Benedict, and Skandr all nodded in assent while Muti merely faded back into Stealth as she stalked to the right. Astrid grinned as she called out to the Rogue, “Bring them in.”