Chapter Twenty-Two
The journey to the Silent Plains went quick. Luna led them by an old deer trail, and they were able to avoid the occasional dangerous creature in the forest. Terran tried not to check the Heart Staff too often, but even with it riding on his back, he could sense the time remaining was rapidly depleting.
When Terran reached the edge of the forest, stepped into the fragile grasses, and looked out upon the plain, a frisson of worry tickled the spot between his shoulder blades as if he were being watched. He looked around before shaking his head and marking the feeling off to nerves.
"Let's get moving," said Terran, producing the vial from his pack. The thick, dark taste of anise coated Terran's mouth and tightened his jaw as he tried to choke down the elixir Petram had given him. Zara scrunched up her face and was trying to clean her tongue off with her hand while spitting on the ground. Newt grimaced while his whole body shivered after swallowing the concoction. Only Flynn seemed unbothered by the taste.
"Mmm, licorice," he said, licking the rim of the bottle. "You're missing out, Skully. This is good stuff. Too bad you can't taste."
"That is disgusting," Zara said between gulps of water. "I can't get the taste out of my mouth."
"At least it works," Terran said, noting the icon that appeared, indicating he was immune to decay. "Petram said one dose would last for twenty-four hours. We've got enough for everyone for four days, so let's not waste any time. Newt, do you have any thoughts about where we should start looking? Zara and I have already traveled for several days down this road and there was nothing."
"I think we should go northeast from here. Everything I read indicated the tower is near the middle of the zone. A ghostly tower should be easy to spot for miles on this flat plain."
"Northeast it is then," Terran said, locating the sun then turning a little to the left before setting out.
The group traveled northeast for several days until they reached what appeared to be the middle according to their map. Terran had begun feeling the familiar pull of an essence the day before, but the sea of endless grass spread out around them gave no signs of life, so he didn't understand why he was feeling the pull.
"We may not be wandering in circles, but this seems just as pointless, Skully," Flynn said while making faces at the skull. "What is the point of this place? There's nothing here to give any experience. You're lucky. You don't have to suffer through this since you're already dead."
Luna shook her furry head. "It's a wonder that you all have survived in this place. If you'd been one of my kits, I might have had to eat you when you were born."
The sun was setting, casting an orange hue across the western horizon. A slight breeze rustled the stems of the brittle grasses. Terran wanted to enjoy the strange, desolate beauty of the area, but the need to find the tower dominated his thinking as he stared at the Heart Staff in his hands. The settlement and the Mother Tree would not survive if he couldn't stop the disease, they each only had one more dose of the elixir left, which they would have to take soon, and there was still no sign of their destination.
Newt had his nose in a book and would periodically look up, surveying the land, then look back down at the pages. "I don't understand," he finally said. "It should be right around here. It says 'in the heart of silence and decay.' We haven't even seen any of the shellflowers or stick bugs in over a day, so I'm guessing the decay is stronger here."
"I am so sick of this place," Flynn complained, poking his toe in the dirt. "Maybe the tower doesn't exist anymore." He reached down and picked up a small rock he had been shuffling around with his toe. "Or maybe it's invisible."
Flynn's brow wrinkled as he threw the pebble in his hand in frustration. Terran watched as the rock flew through the air, then clanged and suddenly dropped like it had hit a wall. He jumped up, searching for another rock to throw. Sensing his excitement, Zara looked up from honing her axe blade. She jumped to her feet when the second rock did the same thing.
"What were you saying about being invisible, Flynn?" Terran said excitedly, running to the invisible barrier.
The familiar pull in his chest tightened intensively as his hands touched the smooth surface. He ran his hands all over the invisible barrier, sensing something important beyond. It was silky to his touch, like an expensive piece of china. There were no cracks or blemishes that he could feel. He kept his hand on the surface as he walked, trying to locate an edge like someone trapped in a dark room blindly trying to find a door.
Flynn ran to the wall and walked in the opposite direction. They met on the backside of what appeared to be an invisible circle about a hundred feet in diameter. When Terran took his hand off the surface the pull in his chest lessened slightly, but it was still there calling to him.
"I think there's an essence inside," he said to the others.
"Well, let's get in then," Zara said, swinging her axe at the invisible barrier. It bounced harmlessly off the surface and a chime rang out from the metal hitting it. "Doesn't seem like I can damage it. What is this?"
Newt had been watching in silence. "Maybe it's an illusion," he muttered.
"My Rock Leaf pendant can dispel an illusion," Terran said, excitedly searching through his inventory.
"I doubt it would be powerful enough to dispel this one," Newt said, shaking his head. "Save that for something else. An illusion like this won't be undone by a simple pendant. There has to be another way."
Flynn tapped Skully lightly against the surface. "Knock, knock. Anyone home? We'd like to come in."
Terran felt like a hand was gripping his heart and squeezing tighter and tighter the closer he moved to the invisible barrier. With his jaw clenched and his teeth gritted he scrolled through his spells and abilities looking for anything that would be helpful to destroy the barrier, but came up short. He slunk to the ground with his back against the wall.
Flynn stood next to him juggling Skully and two of the empty elixir bottles. Terran watched the items float through the air like a patient being hypnotized. The repetitive pattern of the arcs they created as they were tossed into the air was mesmerizing.
"Gah! Stop it, Flynn. I can't think with you fidgeting," Zara yelled.
Startled by the words, Flynn missed catching one of the bottles. As if in slow motion, everyone watched as it shattered on the ground, breaking Terran out of his daze. Seeing the shards of glass on the ground nagged at the edges of Terran's thoughts. There was something that kept slipping past his grasp. He continued scrolling through his spells hoping that would jog the thought loose.
"Shards of glass. Broken glass. Ghost tower," he thought to himself over and over as he read each of his spells.
After carefully going through everything a second time and still finding nothing, he screamed in frustration. The wall at Terran's back trembled like a shiver down his spine at the sound. Had he not been leaning against it at the time, he wouldn't have noticed. The vibration shook loose the idea he had been trying to grasp.
"What if I can break it like an opera singer breaks a glass?" he said, jumping to his feet.
Terran took a deep breath and belted out his signature note using his Vocal Slam. The barrier seemed to shimmer at the sound, but there was no change. Terran reached out to touch the surface, hoping to find some imperfection had been created. He sang the note again with his hand pressed on the invisible obstruction. This time he could feel the trembling, but he knew it wasn't enough to break anything.
"You know songs usually have more than one note," said Flynn, casually standing with one hand on his hip, a smirk on his lips.
"Unlike your banter," said Luna, tongue hanging out.
Zara snorted while Flynn rolled his eyes.
"Only certain notes sung at intense levels will break glass. You have to match the pitch of the sound it makes when you hit it," Newt said. He grabbed an arrow out of Flynn's quiver and struck the tip of it against the wall. "Sing that note," he said as the air filled with a small chime from the wall being
struck like a tuning fork.
All of Terran's training with Jondar and the glass orbs paid off when he easily matched the note. His excitement diminished when still nothing happened and the illusion remained.
"You'll need to be much louder," Newt suggested.
Terran planted his feet and took a deep breath like he was going to have to hold himself underwater for several minutes. When his lungs could hold no more air, he sang the note as loud and strong as he could. The air immediately began to shimmer and vibrate, so Terran pushed harder. He felt the veins on his neck protruding and his lungs burning as he held the note.
The vibrations got more intense, and a small imperfection appeared on the wall directly in front of Terran's mouth. The change encouraged him to dig deeper and sing even louder until a crack on the surface reached out like a snake slithering across the glass. As it spread, other cracks appeared until an area about a foot wide directly in front of Terran looked like a spiderweb strung across their path.
Terran's face was beet red and his lungs were on fire. He was running out of air, but refused to give up. Just when he thought he could no longer hold the note, the spider web of cracks in front of him erupted outward, shattering the illusion and exposing a stone tower at least a hundred feet tall.
You have increased the skill Battle Song.
Skill: Battle Song 16 (CHA)
You're loud enough to break glass with that voice apparently.
You have increased the skill Bardic Endurance.
Skill: Bardic Endurance 8 (CHA)
You may survive for at least a few minutes if there's ever an oxygen shortage.
Terran had no time to catch his breath or read the new notifications, as a massive black creature exploded out of the newly exposed giant double doors in front of them.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Shards of glass from the shattering of the illusion littered the ground, crunching under the hooves of the massive creature as it strode closer to the group. Several shards had impaled themselves into the dirt, creating jagged, protruding weapons to be avoided, and a few were continuing to fall from the sky, indicating the height of the illusion.
As the creature stalked closer to the group, it stood upright and unfurled wings as black as night. It was at least twenty-five feet tall and even wider with its wings unfurled. Massive demon-like horns protruded from its forehead, and like the rot fiend, its skin oozed, with bugs crawling all over it. It stood on two powerful legs, wielding a gigantic scythe in its two hands.
A large piece of glass fell from the sky, lancing one of the creature's wings, causing some damage and creating a hole in the leathery webbing. As it roared in pain, Terran took a deep breath and used his analyze skill.
Tower Guardian - level 20
I don't think they want visitors here.
The ground shook as the massive guardian lunged towards Zara, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her towards its toothy, evil-looking maw. It inhaled deeply, sucking the life force out of Zara. A white light flew out of her mouth and into the creature, and a large chunk of her hit points disappeared. Having healed all of the damage from the glass impact, the guardian unceremoniously tossed Zara to the ground. In the space of a few seconds she was already down half of her hit points.
The guardian was much faster than Terran had anticipated for something that large, and it tried to grab at Luna, who was nipping at its heels. Luna spryly jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the claws on the ends of its long, bony fingers. A familiar black gas billowed out of the guardian's mouth when it roared in anger at the near miss, covering the area in a black mist that slowly dissipated.
You are immune to rot decay.
Seems Petram's brews are stronger than any ale.
"Did you see that?" Flynn called out. "Remind me to buy Petram a drink when we get back."
Terran fired a Vocal Slam directly into the guardian's chest, doing a small sliver of damage. At the same time Newt used his gravity abilities to toss shards of glass from the ground at its head. The guardian tried to bat away the flying shards, giving Zara a chance to swing her axe at its leg and Luna to bite its back.
The team didn't have time to be excited about their ability to work together before the creature easily grabbed Flynn, brought him towards its mouth, and drained half of his hit points, healing itself back up to full.
"We have to find a way to shut down that necrotic breath," Terran yelled.
"Easier said than done," Flynn responded, picking himself up from the ground after being drained and tossed like a used tissue.
"Just stay out of his reach," Zara said. "One more grab and you and I are toast."
Terran continued to fire Vocal Slams at the guardian as Luna agilely lunged in and out of range, biting at the beast's ankles. On the few occasions that it was busy batting away glass shards, Zara would take a chunk of its health with her massive axe.
Flynn found a pile of supplies stacked against the wall of the tower and hurled a chaos ball at them. The crates and barrels on the bottom of the stack collapsed as the top barrels rolled off towards the guardian's feet. As it sidestepped to avoid the rolling barrels, its foot landed on a large shard of glass. The guardian roared in pain as it freed its foot, dripping tar-like blood on the ground.
The move brought the guardian within grabbing distance of Terran. With lightning-quick speed, it reached out to seize Terran and drain his life. Terran rolled away from the clutching hand just as Armor of Misfortune triggered, forcing the guardian's claws to narrowly miss, cutting through empty air. Terran scampered out of reach.
The beast roared in rage. Thinking it was distracted by its oozing foot, Zara lunged in to swipe at the guardian's leg. Zara misjudged her timing. The beast opened its clawed hand to grab the berserker, who was now in reach. Newt reflexively used his gravomancer ability to push Zara up onto a nearby balcony while pulling the guardian towards the jagged shard of glass that was in the ground in front of him.
The shard of glass cut through the guardian's left side like a lance through a quintain. Flynn tossed a chaos ball at the balcony Zara was trapped on twenty feet above the action. As the balcony gave way from the wall, Zara roared, focusing her own rage, and brought her axe down on the guardian's neck. In a single move she severed the beast's head and managed to land on her feet. Black blood oozed from its neck until the beast fell still.
You have defeated the Tower Guardian.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were part lynx with a landing like that, Zara," Luna said, licking her paws clean.
"Thanks. Seems like I've been learning from the best." She winked.
Terran reached down to loot the corpse. "There's a pendant here. I think you might want this, Luna," he said, holding the ornament out for her to see.
Pendant of Secrecy
+2 to stealth skill
You might learn some secrets if you're quiet enough
"Think it might be worth wearing a collar with this on it?" Terran asked Luna.
"Only if we call it a necklace, not a collar," she said, narrowing her eyes at Terran.
"Here that, Skully? The cat's going to wear a collar."
Luna reached out and swiped the skull out of Flynn's hand. "First of all, I am not a cat," she snarled.
"Sorry, sorry. I was only kidding," Flynn said, retrieving the skull from the ground with his eyebrows raised. "I guess the lynx doesn't have much of a sense of humor," he mumbled to Skully.
"Perhaps we should put a collar on you," Luna said to Flynn.
"Okay. Point taken," he relented.
Chapter Twenty-Four
In the aftermath of the fight, Luna trotted to the open doors at the base of the tower. The fractured glass, no longer warping sight around it, reflected the brown grassy plains beneath a pale blue sky and the five of them, nursing their wounds.
"We're going in here?" asked Luna, sniffing the air, her tail held low.
"What did you think we were doing?" asked Terran as he approached
the darkness.
The lynx sat on her haunches looking up. "Maybe we could just tear the whole thing down, destroy everything inside."
When Terran looked down at her, he knew the memory of their last encounter with Grimchar was front and center. The necrochanter had been draining their life force and he would do the same if he caught them.
"I would if we could," said Terran. "But I have to free the essences inside as well, and we really don't know how to stop the rot. Destroying the tower might not be enough."
Luna lowered her head as they stepped inside. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, the details blooming into existence as he blinked away the light from outside. An enormous painting across from the entrance greeted them, showing a triumphant Grimchar, absent signs of rot, leading an army of Crag Trolls, Rock Leaf Elves, Barghests, and other formidable creatures against a massive cavalry of fierce warriors in bone armor and bird masks.
"That's the Howling Wind," said Zara as she stepped by his side.
"He looks younger in that picture," said Newt, gesturing towards the titular figure of the painting.
"Strange, there are Rock Leaf Elves in his army," said Terran, frowning. "And this isn't anywhere around here."
"We don't know how many cycles this world has been through," said Newt. "It's possible he's been here longer than we think."
"Yet failing to ascend to godhood this whole time," said Terran.
The rest of the space had a gothic look, with thick, dark curtains and high-backed furniture. Other paintings adorned the walls, each displaying a new scene with Grimchar at the center.
The Ghost Tower: A LitRPG Adventure Page 19
