The Pinnacle Warrior

Astrid didn’t know what she was expecting when she approached the other Bronze parties. Was she expecting to find old, familiar faces? No, and she didn’t. Was she expecting to be treated like a Barbarian infiltrating their ranks? No, well, maybe a little, but that didn’t happen either. Was she expecting him to be snubbed or in any way, shape, or form teased or something like that? Yeah, probably, but that’s not what happened either. At least, not immediately. 

“Damn but you’re tall! Over 2 meters, right?“ A man wearing armor very similar to Astrid’s own was the first to speak as he stood up. His chain mail hung loosely off of him, not belted for real use. It almost seemed like he just was getting more time in the armor, as opposed to being prepared to get into a fight.

“Yeah, I’m a bit over 210 centimeters. And, for your information, there is a woman behind the towering figure.” Astrid answered with a wry grin as she stepped forward, extending a hand in the hopes that the strange man would find some reason to stop being quite so… strange. He was about average height, something like 180 centimeters, and what Astrid could see of his frame under his loosely hanging mail was that he was broad shouldered and didn’t skip out on any meals either, his belly pressing into the mail almost as much as his chest.

“Yes, there is, and that’s why I was so interested. I’m Paulie Warrior, leader of my party, Five Spears. Nice to meet you.” He shook Astrid‘s hand as he introduced himself, and Astrid looked around, seeing not a single spear.

“Astrid Warrior, and we haven’t thought of a name for our party just yet.”

“You really oughta! Since you’re here, you’re right next to being Iron tier, and Iron parties have to have names.” Paulie answered with what seemed to be his characteristic energy. “Nice to see a fellow Warrior out here in the Dungeon. You nervous about the Trials?”

Astrid blinked twice, looking at the other people sitting nearby. She hadn’t paid attention to who had been talking before she approached or what the general atmosphere had been, she’s been too concerned with how people would react. Maybe she should have, because she wasn’t sure what kind of a read to get on these other delvers. There were six people sitting around the fire, one next to where Paulie had been sitting before he stood to shake Astrid‘s hand. That woman looked like a stereotypical mage or caster of some sort, wearing lightly enchanted robes with a wand hanging from a strap on her hip. The other four wore a mixture of metal and leather armors, looking about the same quality as Astrid’s party’s own equipment.

“I’m sorry, my name is Chloe Healer, nice to meet you.” The woman by Paulie’s vacated seat stood to extend her hand. She was somewhat petite for a woman, and Astrid towered over her as she gently took her hand. Chloe smiled, her face framed by lightly curling blonde hair as she looked up.

“A Healer? I’ll make sure to definitely not get on your bad side.” Astrid joked, making Chloe smile just a little bit. Astrid knew it wasn’t a smile of genuine amusement, but an acknowledgment of the attempt to be funny, and she felt her ears burn a little with embarrassment.

“I do have to ask,” one of the four people Astrid hadn’t been introduced to said, “but with you, right there, that’s a real Barbarian, right?”

“Muti is one of our party members, and she’s not a thing. If you’d like, you can talk to her like a person, or you can continue pointing at her like some foreign creature like a child would.” Astrid could feel the distaste from the man who’d spoken, his finely featured face twisting up in disgust as he pointed with a limp wrist at Muti. His disgust shifted from Astrid’s party member to her as she stood with her shoulders squared and looking down at him. everything about the man was delicate, his facial features, his build, and, seemingly, his armor. Though glowing with enchantments, the metal was thin, a single breastplate with a pair of bracers, seemingly more for decoration than anything more practical.

“You’re a fool for giving any measure of trust to a Barbarian. I suppose we can see why you were the last to arrive. After all, you’re a bit slow.” He sneered as he said it, looking at the rest of the delvers’ expressions to see where they stood. Nobody reacted, except the man directly beside him, whose piggish face twisted into an ugly approximation of a grin.

Astrid squinted, scoffed, and looked at Paulie. “I guess I know this one’s Class. Prig, right? Anyways, I’ll talk to the rest—”

“My name is Caelum Count, and I will be given the respect that is due my station!”

The prig seemed to want to say something else after that, but Astrid wasn’t the only member of her party who bristled at his declaration of his Class. In fact, Muti was the only one who managed to keep her cool entirely, while Astrid took two quick steps forward, flanked by Felix. Quickened Steps’ influence washed over them as the crackling of electricity made itself known behind them.

“I’ve met only a single noble who deserves my respect, and it’s been years since I saw him.“ Astrid felt the line was impressive, even though she’d only really met the Viscount back in her hometown. “Maybe if you can earn some respect, you’ll get it, but if you’re going to, like so many with other noble type Classes, act like you’re superior, you’ll find yourself entirely without allies in the Trials. I can’t imagine that there’ll be too many Kin, Barbarians, or Hiveguards excited to let you try to, through influence of your Class, push ahead of them. Since you’ve burned this bridge with us, I’ll wish you good luck in entering the Trials and succeeding all by yourself.”

Astrid turned to address the others at the campfire, snubbing the prig again, but though Paulie and Chloe both smiled approvingly at Astrid‘s words, there was another displeased with her reaction. The man right next to Caelum, his lackey who’d laughed at his joke, activated a Skill, trying to force her attention towards him. She felt the turning of her body before she fully realized what’d happened, and Astrid flared some of her mana with her Fortitude guiding the mana to purge the Skill’s influence. Felix flashed forward with Guardian’s Rush out of the corner of Astrid‘s view, his knee smashing into the frontliner’s face.

Both fell in a tumble as Astrid turned and looked at the two men both scrabbling in the dirt for a second. Felix, as the aggressor, had the upper hand, but Caelum stood obviously ready to use a Skill of his own to turn the tide back in the favor of his ally.

“Felix. Get up. You, nameless arse-licker, if you use another Skill on me or a member of my party, I won’t pull him off, but will instead join him.” Astrid commanded, and Felix immediately shoved off the other man’s face to stand. The other frontliner spat dirt out of his mouth as he glared at Astrid, but she didn’t care to respond. Instead, she locked eyes with the moronic Count whelp.

“I will not be disrespected by plebeians. You don’t have a prayer of gaining a boon from the Great One, only those who already have one can!” Caelum sounded, in every way, like a child, and Astrid laughed in his face.

“Sounds like I’ve got a pretty good chance, then. Now, I repeat for you what I said to him. Try any of this again, and I’ll be joining in, not stopping the fight. I can’t imagine that there’s a member of the Guild around here who’s going to fault me for breaking limbs when you start to use Skills on me and my party. Keep being an idiot, and you’ll get yourself killed. Call your dog back on his leash and keep him there, and we won’t have problems. I can treat you like a Human, but that’s all you’ll get from me for now. Maybe if you’re worthy of something other than my contempt, you’ll get it, but until then…” Astrid waved her hand dismissively as she said it.

Caelum’s face twisted as he pointed up at her and hissed, “If you survive the Trials, you’ll find yourself in a ditch, wishing you bowed to me before long.”

Astrid just stared at him, blinking slowly as he turned on his heel and stalked away, his frontliner following behind him. They strode into a tent, closed the flaps with a snap, and, seemingly, made no more sound.

“Chloe, I’m sorry.” Paulie’s voice cut through the slightly awkward silence left in the wake of the Count’s tantrum, “I told you I didn’t think we were allowed to tell the prigs that, but I think we are.”

“I told you we should just put him in this place as soon as he started running his mouth,” the Healer smirked. “Now you’re on dish duty and have to deal with me telling you I told you so for the entire time we’re in the Trials.”

“I mean, you were gonna find a way to make me do it anyways, so it’s basically the same either way.” Paulie’s voice was accepting, and he reached over, grabbed Chloe’s hand in his, and pressed his lips to her knuckles. Once he’d done that, he turned to Astrid and nodded deep enough to almost have it be counted as a bow. “Thank you for putting the arse in his place. Most of us wanted to do it, but… well, he is a Count.”

“Yeah, probably not my wise choice to push him quite so hard,” Astrid agreed, Benedict making a disgusted noise behind her, “but I wanted to stick up for my people and things got out of hand. I’m not going to apologize, it’s not gonna matter anything to him anyways, but I wish I hadn’t started on quite so awkward a foot with him. I should’ve let the resentment build up more naturally.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” one of the other people said with a laugh. She’d almost forgotten about him, and he wore dark leather armor, an unstrung longbow within arm’s reach for him. Beside him sat another woman in similarly dark armor, and neither seemed particularly concerned with the scene that’d just played out in front of them. “The naturally grown stuff is a lot more bitter than the quick buildup resentment.”

“Oh, Aaron, you didn’t like him either?” Paulie laughed as he sat back down on the log that had served as his chair. “You never talk to me, so I couldn’t say for sure what your opinion was.”

“I don’t know if I could say that I’m too fond of you either, so I don’t know why you’re acting like we have some great long-standing relationship.”

“Aaron, quit your dramatic persona.” His companion spoke as she reached out and flicked him on the head. “I’m sorry everybody, Aaron can be a little bit prickly, and he seems to think that generally acting aloof is a good look for a delver.”

The leather–clad man glanced at his companion and seemed to reconsider his choices. He grunted and spoke, his voice much warmer than before, “Aaron Ranger, looking forward to looking out for each other in the Trials.”

“And I am Cassandra Shieldsman.“

Astrid happily took a step back and allowed her party to introduce themselves to the other two parties, though she couldn’t help but continue to wonder why the Five Spears were called as much, given that even when the rest of both parties came out out of the tents and introduced themselves, there didn’t seem to be a single spear user in sight. She didn’t care enough to ask for the rationale found behind everybody’s choices for names for their party, and instead, she socialized for a short time before retiring to her party’s tent. Muti and Felix both followed her, though Benedict and Skandr continued conversing outside. Stripping off her armor for now, Astrid wrote a brief letter, one that she didn’t suspect she’d be able to send any time soon, and set it aside. Then, finally, she sat down to take a look at the brief that Lars had promised her would be waiting for her.

First and second floors: three monster types. Goblins, wargs, and kobolds. Wargs are wild and tamed, goblins and kobolds are at war. Goblins range from level 7 to 16, kobolds from level 6 to 14, wild wargs range from level 5 to 12, 17 to 19, domesticated wargs range from level 8 to 17. No goblin alchemists or kobold sorcerers found, possibility of irregulars extant, but unlikely. Occasional hobgoblins and dragonborn seen, but infrequently. Four settlements on the first floor, two on the second. Path from first to second floor typically guarded by a pack of wargs and goblin knights. Path from second to third floor typically guarded by a pack of wargs and kobold bomb throwers. Skill descriptions for each monster are found arranged alphabetically in the glossary.

Third floor: one monster type. Orc. Range from level 8 to 17. Populated by warbands, each one commanded by an orc captain. No settlements, entirely wandering civilization. Possibility for irregulars, but unlikely. Path from the third to the fourth floor, typically guarded by two merged warbands of at least 10 in number, with two captains.

On and on the pages went, with Astrid skipping over the specifics of the breakdowns of the approximate attribute levels of each monster, of their Skills, of their general tactics, and more. Each page was the testament to the efforts of multiple groups of delvers, who, for nearly the whole year, had gone into the Wandering Trials, not with the intent of being able to get the boon themselves, but instead paving the way for those who came after. Every individual word was a testament of somebody else’s effort, and Astrid smiled her thanks at the unknown delvers who had laid out specific instructions on every floor all the way to the forty first.

“So we’ll need to get at least two floors a day for the first couple weeks to try to beat records.“ Astrid muttered to herself as she flicked through the papers, glancing over explanations of cockatrices, lesser basilisks, trolls, monstrous insects, werewolves, lycanthropes (there was a difference?), ogres, and more. On the forty first level, the final page in the breakdown floor by floor, a familiar foe was described.

41st floor: two monster types. Drakes and lesser rocs. The drakes range from level 22 to at least 30, the highest confirmed level. Suspected range to level 37 at least, past the second watershed of Iron. Exhibited signs of elemental breath and physical fortification with mana. Lesser rocs range from level 21 to at least 32, the highest confirmed level. Suspected range does not reach beyond the level 36 watershed, with only limited wind magic proficiency exhibited. No irregulars of either species sighted, probability or irregular appearance extremely low. The lesser rocs nest on the cliffs, where the drakes approach to hunt their eggs and young. Passage to the forty second floor appears to be guarded by a drake matriarch and her nest. Approach was never made to the matriarch.

Astrid felt her eyebrows raise, wondering how this was a possibility for her to fight through. Supposedly, everybody would be starting on the same level, and would proceed to blitz forward as fast as they could to get as deep as they could, but Astrid couldn’t see any possibility for her and her party to kill a level 37 in the next month. Maybe, if they were lucky, they themselves could reach the beginning of the second watershed in that time, but seven levels in four weeks was a tall ask and highly unlikely to occur. Then, could a group of five level 28s kill something that much stronger than them?

“There’s gotta be something I’m missing.” Astrid muttered to herself as she put the brief down and settled onto the cot she’d been sitting on. With her hands behind her head, she saw as Muti grabbed the brief, squinted at the words, and sighed before handing it over to Felix. He flicked to the same page Astrid had just dropped, and he sucked in a quick breath between his teeth.

“Level 37? That… isn’t going to be possible while we’re down there.”

“No, I don’t think so. At least, according to what I know. There’s something that we don’t know about the Trials, and I guess we need to go speak with Lars to get some more information. Or maybe Greely, since I think he’ll understand enough to answer our question.”

Felix nodded and stood alongside her, and Muti, having never sat, fell in step behind them. As they walked out of the tent, the sound of laughter greeted them as Benedict continued telling a story that had Skandr as well as the other parties’ members laughing.

“I don’t want to be a party pooper,” Astrid interrupted, “but how much experience is this giving you? Because if you manage to get yourself disqualified the day before we go into the Trials, I will beat you to death with my fists.”

Benedict scoffed, looked at his experience notifications, and blanched. “That’s the end of that story. I’m probably just going to keep my mouth shut until tomorrow.”

“How close are you?” Astrid insisted. 

“107 away.“ Benedict‘s answer came in a soft voice.

“A lesson in prudence, I suppose. Astrid, I’m grateful you thought to stop him.” An old man’s voice pulled Astrid’s attention, and she turned and saw Greely standing in front of a nondescript bush. She couldn’t say how long he’d been there, but she bowed towards him.

“Thank you for being here, Greely. I have a couple questions for you, if you wouldn’t mind answering them.”

“I suspect there’s something you don’t understand about the Trials. Is it regarding how far others have managed to go?”

Astrid squinted and nodded slowly. “I suppose this is a common question?”

“To those who have not been told yet but have read the brief, yes. Simply said, the Wandering Trials are, beyond the opportunity for a boon from the Great One, an accelerated experience gaining opportunity. While within the Wandering Trials, all experience comes at four times its usual rate.”

Astrid felt her jaw hang open, and shook her head in disbelief. Then, after a few seconds to collect herself, she nodded slowly and said, “ That answers my question. The only other question is this: are we going in tomorrow?”

“Yes. Right around midday. Be ready.”

The old man went quiet after that, his apparent goal in coming complete, and then he faded Into a pillar of leaves and disappeared before everybody’s surprised eyes.

Paulie blinked several times to pull his attention away from the disappearing old man, and said with a laugh, “Yeah, that was about our reaction when we heard it. You excited to get in there?”

“Yeah.” Astrid answered. “I’m going to… read the brief better then see if I can get some rest. Because tomorrow… everything will begin in earnest.”