Icarus Awakens

Murdon cursed once more at the Upswell. He cursed it for what he had lost, what he’d had to do in Eido’s absence, and the path it had set him on. He cursed it whilst he stared into the small fire built amongst the grass of the valley when it had turned to late evening. Two others, Quala and Janice, were with him. The smallest of miracles was that they had caught up with the guardswoman and joined forces before she ran too far, though they’d still traveled far before coming to rest. You could make it to Roost’s Peak in a day if you pushed, and didn’t care about attracting monsters.

The problem was the days they’d need to reach Roost’s Peak and then return. Hagain wouldn’t have much time. The Tyrant, whoever it was, had plans. They all had plans. Tyrants manifested in power vacuums and upheavals not only because they could, but also to fulfill the dark machinations their class evolution inspired. They could take many forms, from the king that ruled with an iron fist to the snake that puppeted figureheads to conceal the true mastermind. The latter was likely the spawn of Murdon’s recent troubles and the topic of the conversation.

“It can’t be Jonus. Lograve saw him torn apart,” Murdon snarled weakly. “In the moment at the bridge, I considered it as possible, but Jonus is dead.”

Quala’s caring eyes looked to the side as she carefully asked, “Murdon, could it be Lograve?”

“No.”

“But could it-”

“The dead would return sooner than Lograve would betray me.” Murdon’s tail beat the ground in rejection of the possibility.

Janice was standing unsteadily on her spear as she spoke. “They can, though. No one here can do it, but-” She sighed as she realized that wasn’t helping. “Do you think it was that avianoid, sir? The one that informed you about the camp rules?”

“It could be. It could be anyone. Besides Lograve,” Murdon added testily. “My mind almost goes to that strange human, but no. Whoever this was had to be in Hagain to direct what happened.”

Silence fell as the three pondered that. What was there to say? The fire had been burning brightly when they’d started trading theories and was now halfway to embers. The truth was anyone could be a Tyrant if they assumed they were capable of anything. It was the problem Murdon had had with Daniel, assuming everything. The conversation on the identity of the Tyrant was pointless.

“Forget who it is,” Murdon broke the pause. “What do we think they can do?”

Quala ran a hand through the feathers on her head. Hair, and the avian equivalent, was something that puzzled Murdon. “I don’t know much about Tyrants, but it’s clear there’s some kind of influence power at work that’s affected the other headmen. Most likely charisma based.”

“Why aren’t we affected?” Janice asked. It was a question she’d posed Murdon too, but Quala had a different answer.

“It depends on the kind of influence ability. Some spread like disease, person to person. Others are location based, sight based, it varies. I would be immune to most of my level and inconsistently so until about mid level five. Even if one of the level threes was behind this, they wouldn’t be strong enough to bypass my defenses.”

“A self-cleansing power?” Murdon asked.

“Iron Mind.” Quala tapped her head. “Resistance to fear, charm, and other mental effects. I awakened it this level and wisdom is my highest attribute.”

“I don’t know about you Commander, but I don’t have anything like that,” Janice said with a bit of worry. “What if I’ve been affected?”

Quala passed a glowing hand over Janice before shaking her head. “No, there’s nothing active on you.” The hand turned towards Murdon. “Or you. I’d detect it. It’s how I knew something was going wrong in the first place.” They processed that for a moment.

“There’s a limit,” Murdon theorized, and Quala nodded in agreement. “It’s either quantity or the method.”

“It has to be the method. Uh, sir,” Janice quickly added, but Murdon waved away the formality and urged her to explain. “If the Tyrant could affect anyone, but only a limited number, they’d hit you with the power. Or me, to get to you.”

“But there were the plots,” Quala countered. “The camp rules, the monster attack. Those were aimed at weakening the public’s opinion of Murdon. If the influence was limited by method instead of numbers, they wouldn’t need to go that far.”

Damn it, Murdon thought. He’d hoped changing the topic would lead to a revelation, but they were talking in circles again. They were fair points though. Why had the Tyrant done what they had, and why hadn’t they tried going after him? That gave him an idea. “Janice and I have been working ourselves to death ever since the Upswell. What if there just hasn’t been an opportunity?”

“Could it be spread by sex?” Quala asked, causing Janice to choke on her waterskin. “I’m being serious. If the evolved class was a Bard, it could be something along those lines.”

“I don’t know of any level three Bards left in the region, at least not any when this all began,” Murdon said, not quite meeting Quala’s eyes in a sudden fit of bashfulness. She'd offered the possibility in a clinical way, but it'd still gotten to him.

“And?”

“It has to be a level three. Tyrants gain more power than most, but even so, what has happened cannot be the work of a level two.” Murdon thought for a moment. “There’s ten? Twenty of them? Likely a few more than we started with, but I would doubt any fresh level three for the same reasons.”

Janice cleared her throat having recovered from near drowning. “Well, if you’re right sir, that does narrow it down. We should have thought of that sooner.”

“Hardly. That leaves us with most of the headmen and a handful of the stronger fighters. A Builder and librarian in Roost’s Peak though I think we can discount them. The rest were already at the top of the list.” Murdon shook his head and returned to the earlier point. “Assume both Janice and I wouldn’t have had the time to be affected by this influence ability, that still leaves you, Quala.”

“I told you I’d be immune.”

“But would the Tyrant know that?” Murdon pointed a claw to her in emphasis. “You’re the strongest healer in the region and that would make you a priority target regardless of how the power is limited. An attempt must have been made.”

Quala frowned at that and looked into the fire while she thought. Her eyes widened for just a moment as a memory surfaced. “I know what it is. Not who,” she quickly said as Murdon’s gaze grew intense. “If you’re right, there’s only one time I can think of that an attempt like that was made. It was when I was in a tavern. Some of the townsfolk were talking about you and somehow it turned into this conspiracy about you being a Tyrant. I thought it was odd at the time, but it was right near the start. With what had happened to Eido it just seemed like people’s fears getting the better of them. No one was talking about burning down buildings.”

Murdon absorbed this knowledge and nodded. It wasn’t the bitterest pill to take. The influence ability being based on rumor and conspiracy agreed with what he’d seen so far, even if it was an ill omen for the future. Something like that could spread beyond the Tyrant’s immediate area, across even great distances if combined with messaging powers. “Hmm. Rumor. Reinforced by a Tyrant, yes, that matches what we’ve seen. Quala, could you cleanse…” Murdon trailed off as he finally saw the look of horror in Quala’s eyes.

“Murdon, that happened in Roost’s Peak.”

Murdon stood, scattering the fire with his tail. “No more breaks. We’re getting there tonight.”

…

The music playing in the mine was a godsend. It became audible just as they reached the first branching path in the mine. Daniel only knew because the other tunnel became visible as Kob charge crawled through the first one. Most of the mine cart tracks went down the second path, leaving two to accompany Daniel as he walked further into the mine.

“This is probably a trap,” Tlara warned balefully.

“It’s not, that’s Evalyn playing.” The confidence in his voice made Tlara raise an eyebrow.

“And you’re sure how?”

Daniel shrugged. “I know the song.” He did, and he tried to hide the embarrassment that came with that knowledge. The muffled sound coming through Kob’s mass was an accordion cover of the song Daniel had played Evalyn to catastrophic effect back when he had a chance with her. There was some improvisation to it since she’d only heard the beginning, but the core of the song was the same. In Daniel’s defense, the saxophone opening of the piece was a widely known romantic meme in his world, and Evalyn wouldn’t have known it was meant to be ironic. Either way, he was just happy Evalyn wasn’t singing the lyrics.

Tlara squawked lowly in a way that could have been a grunt and said, “Doesn’t sound like Bard music. Doesn’t feel like it at least.”

That was an odd thing to say. The music sounded like, well, music to Daniel. What’s the difference? he only thought because chances were Tlara wouldn’t tell him. “She doesn’t sound far. Maybe we should go ahead of Kob to get to her?”

“Protection,” Kob’s voice caused a small earthquake, but the tunnel walls held. That sparked fresh anxiety in Daniel as he realized Claire’s effect on him was slowly wearing off. At the same time, the music stopped.

“Kob?” the voice of Evalyn distantly asked.

The section of tunnel around Evalyn was a sight to behold. The otherwise flawlessly cut walls had been broken by something, causing the tunnel to collapse in on itself. She had been trapped in the collapse. Mercifully, it was in a pocket in the rubble instead of under it. Still, the vine giant needed to shift the earth to get to her and make a passage through. This was a slow process, exacerbated by the impact of Kob’s level disparity.

While they did that, Evalyn explained what had happened and Daniel tried not to look at the mess on the floor. Their team had planned on training in the passes surrounding Roost’s Peak as Daniel’s had until they’d been approached by several of the garrison who’d asked that they investigate the rumor of lost andorite. No one had been excited about fighting underground. Unfortunately, Gadriel had been the first to respond and had heartily agreed.

That had been about a week ago. The first few days were eventful. No metal, just fighting. Evalyn was almost level two from the earned advancements. Then, late two days ago, they’d explored the secondary passageway and everything had gone wrong. Someone had called out from deeper in the tunnel and Gadriel charged into the darkness to help. Half of the group followed without thinking and the ground exploded around them.

“Explosives? Like, uh.” Daniel paused. Dynamite’s probably not the word they use. “Like a bomb? Not an ability?”

Evalyn wasn’t visible at this point, concealed by both rock and wriggling vines. “I think so. I still don’t know why they would set a trap.”

“Did they think you were monsters?”

“They called out to us for help.” She sighed and continued. None of them saw who’d done it, they’d had bigger problems. The explosion had opened a cavity in the rock that sloped downwards. When she’d recovered, Gadriel, Thomas, and Lograve were missing and presumed to have fallen down the pocket. Evalyn and Tak, after taking a moment to discuss, decided to return to Roost’s Peak for help. “We knew you should be back soon and neither of us had anything that would let us climb back up if we fell,” Evalyn explained as if defending herself in court. “Better that people knew what had happened than we all get stuck down here. I guess Tak made it back?”

“If you could call it that, sure,” Tlara said, looking with unease at the walls around her. “They blow this section up too?”

“No, that was the monster’s fault.” Daniel looked at the remains on the floor puzzled. They looked like they belonged to one of the moles, maybe a higher level variant, but several had dug through the tunnel further up and hadn’t brought it down. He brought that up and Evalyn sighed. “I’m not sure, but I think this part of the mine was weakened by the blast. We’re not far from where it happened. Is Tak ok?”

“He’ll live. Probably,” Tlara said airily.

“Are you ok?” Daniel asked.

Evalyn’s accordion played a few more notes and rocks shifted to reveal her as if in answer. A few scrapes, but the Bard was otherwise untouched and as unnaturally beautiful as ever. “Ok enough.” She looked at her rescuers and didn’t see everyone she was expecting. “You’re missing people?”

Daniel could tell Tlara was going to say something bluntly and cut her off. “We fought a level five and things went bad. We nearly died. They’re healing. Khare’s, uh, in Kob right now.”

The Bard nearly dropped her instrument. “A level five? Are you all insane?”

“Oh, Kob fucking is.” Tlara laughed over the sound of shifting rock. Kob was almost through the collapse. “They leveled up to five. Tripled their level disparity and now they can barely move.”

“We both leveled up too. Not sure about Khare or Sigron,” Daniel added.

Evalyn smiled and said, “I guess my charms won’t work on you now. Probably for the best.”

Tlara looked between the two, misreading the familiarity. “I thought you said you didn’t fuck?”

“Ready,” Kob interrupted all of them, signaling that a roughly one meter wide passage had been cut through the collapsed rubble. Rocks had been forced into the larger pieces of stone once forming the walls, and the passageway appeared stable. The Beastmaster took one look at the darkness beyond and scowled.

“Fuck that. We found the Bard and it sounds like the others didn’t make it. Time to cut and run.”

“We can’t just leave them,” Daniel and Evalyn said at the same time, causing Tlara to narrow her eyes. “You haven’t found a level three monster yet,” Daniel added.

Tlara looked into the darkness once more and huffed. “Fine.”

Daniel was regretting his decision by the time they reached the site of the explosion. The thought of the walls collapsing around him more and more became the center of his focus. He wasn’t quite paralyzed, it was just a good thing Kob was moving so slowly, or else he’d be the one dragging them down. The tide of fear was being kept at bay only by the thought that it couldn’t get worse than it already was.

The dark hole in the earth proved otherwise. Instead of collapsing the tunnel, the explosion had opened up an undiscovered chasm within the mountains. It ran perpendicularly to the original and at a sharp drop. If it hadn’t been there, none of the original team would have survived the trap. Instead of death by fallen rocks, the three missing members had merely suffered a fall. At least, that’s what they all hoped.

“How far down do you think it goes?” Evalyn asked quietly, standing close to the edge. Tlara answered by tossing a loose piece of rubble down. It quickly disappeared into the darkness.

Daniel took another sip from his waterskin. It was like a water bottle, but it quickly imparted a strange taste he had yet to get used to. It didn’t matter, his mouth was too dry for him to notice.

“Do you have any beasts that could help?”

Tlara glared at Kob as she answered Evalyn. “I did.”

“Do you have anything?” Daniel found the ability to act through curiosity. Evalyn was the only one of the adventuring party he hadn’t seen fight.

“I can’t charm stone at this level.” There was a hint of humor in her voice, but otherwise, the Bard was serious. “I know we have to, but how are we going to get down there without falling ourselves?”

“Climb,” Kob answered, sinking roots into the ground to spread their buff.

Scaling down the crevasse, Daniel learned several things. The first was thanks to his Quick Mind ability, which allowed him to estimate the slope between 70 and 75 degrees from the pull of gravity. That had surprised him given that the description of the feature hadn’t mentioned anything about doing math for him, but when he had wondered how steep the surface was an answer came a minute later. It felt like he’d tasked a background process in his subconscious. Similar to many powers he used, Daniel wondered what it could do at level nine. No automatic answer came after that mental question.

Then there was the descent. Daniel discovered that hating heights came to him far more easily when Claire’s spell wearing off combined with the anxiety of being deep underground. The darkness below defied the torchlight. No one was going to waste a light source by tossing one down, the sparking sticks were magical items. Obviously, and very minor ones, but valuable still. Another thing he would have to look into making if he ever got out of here alive.

Kob’s climbing buff had a new development as well. Instead of clunky, magnetic boot-like movement, the vines wrapped around him now afforded something close to a normal walking pace. This was complicated by the descent growing narrow enough at points that he had to crawl, a terrifying experience made even worse when Daniel wondered how long it would take him to die if he got stuck now that he had Regeneration. That he could move at all was thanks to Kob above him, threatening to envelop him should he stall.

The giant’s attributes were still a partial mystery to Daniel. One was level five now, and whatever it was tied into the climbing feature that could be spread to allies. As Tlara had frequently reminded them, Kob’s dexterity was only in the 20s. Beyond that, it was hard to tell. Daniel could ask Kob to share their statistics through their identification feature, but he didn’t fully understand how that worked and was not in the mood to figure it out now.

The only new development that didn’t confuse or crush Daniel’s mind was the music. And oh, how that was a revelation on its own. When space allowed, Evalyn played her accordion as the group descended. It wasn’t the music from home, that song here would be comedically absurd, but a light driving melody. Simple and repetitive, and something that Daniel felt would let him run for hours. His steps covered more ground, his pack was lighter, and exuberance pushed against the fear inside of him. Fear was winning but Daniel would take any assistance he could get. That included the notification on his phone that had appeared when Evalyn first played, which accompanied the notification from Kob’s buff.

Alert: You are under the effect of a friendly Feature: Grapple Vines and a friendly Ability: Lightfoot Song

-

Lightfoot Song (Ability, Dexterity or Charisma, Domain: Enchantment, Bardic Music: Instrument/Voice, Level: 1):

You possess the Power to instill alacrity in yourself and allies. Through the use of appropriate music, you may improve the travel speed and evasiveness of friendly Creatures in a short radius around yourself. This effect scales with your dexterity, and with your charisma to a lesser extent. This is an Acoustic Ability that does not function if the target is not receptive. This is a Magical Ability that does not function in an area of Magical Suppression.

Grapple Vines wasn’t in his Encyclopedia, but Lightfoot Song was one of the powers Daniel had read about in Lograve’s library. It felt odd to him now that he hadn’t advanced from that particular study session. Daniel made a mental note to ask Lograve about that, placing it right under the one constantly reminding him not to die. In any case, the music was revolutionary. Not only because it was the first magical song Daniel had heard, it was the first time he’d considered the use of buffs in combat. Sure, Kob had given him and the others the ability to climb before, but that had only led to disaster.

Another tight spot came up and the feeling of stone at his back froze the breath in his lungs. Close your eyes and keep going, Daniel told himself. Thinking about something else was good. Thinking about the vines wrapped around his hands and feet, and the possibility of getting wedged between stones forever, was very bad.

Bards were amazing. For more reasons than the fact that the one with him now still shone with beauty despite being stuck in a cave for over a day. The added dimension of their music had Daniel rethinking everything he’d thought about fighting in this world. If Bards could improve travel speed, surely they had songs that affected other traits. Music that could increase strength, reduce damage, maybe even music to stop people from dying?

That would have to be at level nine, Daniel thought. He could only guess though. Without having a clear sense of any power above level three, there was no way of knowing how the power scale of this world worked towards the top end. What could someone at level nine do, and how many were there in the world? Gadriel had mentioned an ability that could sunder mountains when they’d first spoken, but that had been said off-hand and the Hero was probably exaggerating. Unless he wasn’t. Kob was level 5, ostensibly halfway to the pinnacle. Was what they’d showed thus far true examples of that kind of power, or had the gestalt been holding back?

“How far are we going to fucking go?” Tlara complained. She was below Daniel, with Kob and Evalyn above him. The formation made sense, it kept the strongest at the edges to protect the weaker fighters, though it meant Daniel had to be careful where he looked. “In case you forget we have to climb back up too. If we find something dangerous right now, we’re fucking dead.”

“It’s just been ten minutes Tlara,” Evalyn, currently struggling to get through the narrow gap Daniel had passed, retorted. “We could almost be there.”

“The longer we climb, the harder it is to believe those idiots survived.”

“Hey!” The Bard reached a point where she could stand but didn’t resume playing. “We don’t leave people behind.”

The sight of Tlara glaring now was odd. Mostly because she was standing on a nearly vertical wall, but a small part of that was due to it being directed at someone other than himself. The intensity in the eyes was the same, like a tight laser directed away from him. They didn’t burn to look at when pointed away. “Not for long you won’t. Taking risks like this is just going to get you-” She didn’t get to finish the sentence.

In an instant the earth began to shake, scattering rocks that only loosely clung to the wall. The roots anchoring Daniel and the others were stronger and kept them in place. He suffered a small strike to his back, but that barely stung. Everyone took a moment to collect themselves. In Tlara’s case, this was spent formulating the perfect ‘I told you so’. The second, stronger earthquake preempted her.

The only silver lining was that Daniel wasn’t carrying lightning bolts or spines. They were useful but incredibly dangerous. He added figuring out a way to make them safer to the list of things to do should he survive the fall. The passage they had been climbing down had almost broken apart from the violent shaking. Kob’s roots had allowed Sigron to withstand a strike from a level five opponent. The Octyrrum’s power was beyond them. All it took was moving one limb close enough to a wall to slow Daniel’s fall, the problem was the walls wouldn’t stop shaking. The result was an ungraceful descent punctuated by periods of almost slowing to a stop.

Someone’s torch had fallen out of their belt loop, illuminating the next hundred meters or so below Daniel. With surprise, he realized it was his. His side was bleeding slightly from where it had scraped against the rock, and that blow had taken both the torch and one of his daggers.

Evalyn sailed by as Daniel latched temporarily onto another wall. The Bard was tumbling through the air, also bloody from where she had roughly made contact with the sides. Still alive, she was screaming loud enough to make that obvious, but completely disorganized in her movements. Daniel had at least been able to keep relatively oriented towards the ground, allowing him to anticipate when he would hit the wall.

The question as to why he was able to do that briefly crossed his mind before the wall he was sliding down broke apart and he was in free fall again. The difference between his ability to control his fall, and Evalyn’s, was stark. The only comparator he’d had before was Tlara, whose wing arms allowed her to ignore the need to use Kob’s vines. She’d still struck the sides of the passage twice, but was now below the light of the torch and racing to the bottom. What would be at the bottom? Daniel thought. Worst case, it would be giant spikes of earth that would impale him just before the tunnel collapsed.

Daniel felt that fear should be arresting his movements. Claire’s ability had completely worn off by this point and death was chasing him to the bottom. He had been stunned the first few moments of the fall until the first impact, jarring him into action. Now, something else emboldened him. Evalyn was falling too fast and another narrow section had been revealed by the torch.

Following a strange instinct, the Artificer drew himself in and pointed down. Flailing as she was, Evalyn’s speed wasn’t the fastest it could be. With seconds to spare, he grabbed her in a flying hug that altered their trajectory from the center of the tunnel. Whatever power was allowing him more freedom in the air, perhaps the parkour one, had combined with his Quick Mind feature to reveal just the angle he needed to push them over the hole in the shaking rock.

Kob’s vines, centered on the clusters around their waists, stuck like velcro to the walls to slow down the ludicrous speed both were going. Trying to immediately do so would break their backs, so each vine only tethered for a moment before letting go. It was reminiscent of how the devil root core’s minions slowed their fall and was further evidence of how improved Kob’s power had become.

Unlike the rest of the tunnel, the section that greeted Daniel and Evalyn following the narrow junction began to slope horizontally. More surprising was that the earth had finally stopped tearing itself apart. Kob’s vines were afforded more leverage in the still earth and halted the two just before the end of the tunnel. The splintered remains of the dropped torch, still fizzing with occasional light, and the dagger he’d lost earlier welcomed them on arrival.

Daniel looked at Evalyn in his arms, realized he’d pulled off a feat worthy of some kind of super spy, and fumbled terrifically as he looked for a pithy one liner. “I guess it’s a good thing you fell for me this time.” His voice being hoarse from screaming didn’t help the delivery.

The Bard chuckled and gave him a sympathetic look, Daniel glad to see she recognized it for the joke it was rather than something else. “Level two or not, you really need to work on your charisma.” It was at that point both realized Tlara, who had been below them, was not among them. That turned their attention to the mouth of the tunnel and they finally heard the sound of distant fighting. “Your timing as well!”