Tower of Souls

A wash of flame swept across the bark of the tree and the underside of the wood treehouse... and nothing seemed to happen. For a second, Cam thought he saw the wood smolder, but he couldn’t be sure- but at least the bears didn’t seem to notice anything.

But Eron apparently did, as he almost immediately cast Fan the Flames again, then once more quickly.

After the third cast, Cam could barely make out a few stray flames licking at the edges of the wood- and, from the sudden shout of one of the bears, he was sure they had noticed something was off- and he thought surely the plan was a bust... Until Eron hurriedly cast the Ability twice more, and what looked like the entire bottom of the treehouse was burning merrily.

While it wasn’t a roaring fire like he had wished for, it was the more realistic outcome that he had more or less expected.

Panicked shouts rang out as the bears rushed back and forth, looking around through the forest to find what was attacking them... but it was the pained shout right as Eron cast once more that Cam focused on; From the sound of it, one unlucky bear had stuck its head down the hole in the bottom of the treehouse to try to find the source of the fire... and gotten a face full for its trouble.

Your Clone(Eron)’s ’Fan the Flames’ burned Kawe Archer for 13 damage(Fire).

Kawe Archer took 1 damage(Fire-Environmental).

Kawe Archer took 1 damage(Fire-Environmental).

Kawe Slinger took 1 damage(Fire-Environmental).

Kawe Slinger took 1 damage(Fire-Environmental).

Kawe Spearbear took 1 damage(Fire-Environmental).

A small, feral grin stretched across Cam’s face at the notifications; Aside from the damage from the Ability, he was happy to see that the stories of ’Environmental’ damage were true.

He had heard plenty- and read more- about teams climbing the Tower and using the terrain to their advantage: collapsing a wall on the monsters, or pushing them into lava, and even a few about people luring larger monsters to trample on smaller monsters! But until just now, seeing it for himself, he had always been at least a little skeptical- it wasn’t that he didn’t believe it was possible, but that he didn’t trust people.

While it was unlikely that so many reports of using the environment against monsters would all be made up, he wouldn’t really put it past people to make things up just to seem smarter or better than they were... So he wasn’t completely sold on the idea until seeing it now.

Five bears- Kawe, the notifcation called them, though that name meant nothing to him-, and all of them taking damage from the burning treehouse. It wasn’t much damage, but the fire was just getting going, and the damage would likely grow with the fire... assuming they stayed in it.

Which at least one of them wasn’t going to do.

As Eron slid around the trunk of the tree and out of sight from the hole leading up, the Spearbear- another interesting name, as Cam had just been referring to the monster as such minutes ago- leapt down, giving Cam an idea of where that entrance was.

Brandishing its spear- if a four foot long sharpened stick barely counted as a spear-, the monster looked around, searching for the enemy it knew was there... and the slightest hint of intelligence- or perhaps it was just instinct- showed as the monster put its back to the tree trunk, protecting its own flank...

Which didn’t really help, as Eron was just around the tree from it.

Instead of leading with his dagger, as Cam expected, Eron’s armed snaked around the tree to grab the monster’s small, furry wrist before yanking it around the tree... Where Cam lost sight of the fight going on... Though, from the slew of notifications of Eron doing damage- and none of him taking damage-, it appeared he had the Spearbear well in hand.

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So, instead of watching for a fight he couldn’t see, Cam shifted his focus to the panicked archers and slingers that were running around the treehouse... and to the mounting damage notifications as the fire burned away at their shelter.

And Cam quickly reassessed his earlier assumption of intelligence from the Spearbear.

As the fire continued burning out of control, the Kawe made no attempts to put out the fire- which, at this point, he figured they probably could... if they focused on doing so instead of running around. But, as seconds ticked by, each with the environmental fire damage slowly increasing, they made no effort to extinguish the flames... Instead, before the damage rose too high and claimed their lives, they began to jump from the treehouse one by one.

As the group of them got to their feet after their jump- and, Cam imagined, a ten foot drop was quite a lot for the three foot tall monsters-, he could easily pick out the moment those further toward the other side spotted his clone. Pointing and shouting, the archer drew the attention of the others to the ongoing fight before nocking an arrow to fire...

Not that Cam was just going to stand back and let them do whatever they wanted.

With all eyes focused on the fight- and away from him- he hefted his greatsword and charged on mostly silent feet, the bare whisper of his steps lost beneath the shouts and screams. Aiming for a pair of Kawe- a slinger and an archer that happened to land closer together-, he rapidly closed the distance, hefting the heavy sword up above his head... before bringing it crashing down on the unlucky archer.

You slash Kawe Archer for 21 damage(critical).

Capitalizing on his surprise attack, he quickly brought the sword around to hack at the Slinger; Though it wasn’t another critical, adding another 14 damage to what it had already taken from the fire definitely wasn’t a bad thing. For him.

And, since these Kawe were already panicked from the fire, he already knew how to keep them on the back foot; Taking his left hand off the hilt of his sword, he thrust it out at the pair and cast the Ability himself.

Your ’Fan the Flames’ burned Kawe Archer for 16 damage(Fire).

Your ’Fan the Flames’ burned Kawe Slinger for 16 damage(Fire).

While he didn’t manage to inflict ’burning’ on either of them, the damage was nothing to sneeze at- and Cam had already run through the damage calculations for his Ability, as well as for when his clone cast it: 16 was his current damage for the Ability, assuming no Fire Resistance on his target, and his clone would deal 12 damage, a nice even 75% of his... Plus 1 extra damage, thanks to the 10% increase from the gloves they had gotten from the First Floor Boss.

Good numbers, but Cam wouldn’t take time to admire the numbers in the middle of a fight.

Whipping his sword around, Cam continued wailing on the pair, keeping them on the backfoot and locked into a melee fight with him, effectively eliminating the advantage of their ranged weapons... But, with notifications finally rolling in of his clone taking damage from arrows and slings, he knew he needed to finished them quickly and rush to help out.

Throwing out his hand once more, he bathed the pair of Kawe in flames. While the two were momentarily blinded by the flash in front of their faces, he kicked forward, catching the Archer square in the chest and knocking it off its feet before shifting his focus to the Slinger.

Raining down blow after blow, he hammered away at the nearly defenseless teddy bear looking monster... and almost felt bad about it; They really did look like cute little children’s toys... Except for the fact that the rest of them were actively trying to kill his clone, and these two would happily kill him if they could.

Kawe Slinger(Lvl. 2) has been slain. +66 Xp

Finally getting the notification he was hoping for, he rounded on the Archer as it tried to lever itself up to its feet- only for his booted foot to slam down on its back, pinning it to the forest floor.

The notification of its death followed shortly after.

Kawe Archer(Lvl. 2) has been slain. +66 Xp

With two down, and his clone still in the fight, Cam could feel the fight shifting solidly in their direction; The remaining Kawe were all injured already, and he was sure the Spearbear wouldn’t last much longer. Setting his sights on the remaining Archer, he had just taken a step in its direction when another notification- and a bloody Eron charging out from behind the tree and straight for the Archer- brought him up short.

Kawe Spearbear(Lvl. 2) has been slain. +66 Xp

Quickly shifting targets, Cam’s sword led as he charged for the Slinger, and he was slightly amused at the hint of confusion in its eyes as its original target rushed off... only for an identical looking enemy to appear from a different direction...

Just with a much larger and deadlier looking weapon.

It didn’t have a chance to react before the greatsword came crashing down on it, spelling its end- and the end of the fight, assuming Eron could finish his off... But Cam had faith in his clone.

Snorting in amusement at the thought, as it was nearly the same as having faith in himself, he methodically rained blow after blow down on the disturbingly cute looking monster.