The Wandering Spire

"What does he mean that the gift of Immortality is a myth?" Jeze asked after she recovered from her bout of grief.

Ziplocke shrugged as he licked pepper lemon paste from his green knobbly fingers.

"Daverius wrote that he had it on good authority. Do you know anything about the Wandering Spire and the final door?"

"How would I know?" Ziplocke asked, and he eagerly accepted another spoonful of spicy paste.

"It is Abyssal in origin," Jeze pointed out.

"Oh, so you think that because I live on that plane, I should know everything? Do you know everything that happens in this world? Where does the Emperor like to take a dump? Hmm?" Ziplocke retorted.

Jeze wanted to strangle the Goblin. The other warning her brother gave her was to not trust the kings and emperors. She doubted Ziplocke would know anything about that, and she filed it away for later research along with his sources. He said on good authority, what did he mean by that? Jeze wondered.

"Okay, fine. Tell me why you think the Wandering Spire appears?" Jeze asked.

Ziplocke tapped his green, warty chin. "It is not from Goblins. We, well, we don't have that kind of power."

The Goblin sulked for a moment. Jeze read that Goblins and Imps were the lowest of demons and were often treated poorly. They did live in the demonic Abyssal plane, after all. No wonder Ziplocke wanted a two-year contract, Jeze reflected.

"It is very powerful and very complex magic, so I would bet my beautiful nose that it is the Lords of Anguish. They are the meanest and baddest of the Abyssal plane," Ziplocke answered.

"What motivates them?" Jeze asked.

Ziplocke cackled, "Nothing good for mortals. Did you not hear their title? Lords of Anguish."

"Yeah, but what would they gain from having the Wandering Spire appear every five years?"

"A lot of sacrifices. How many stupid adventurers go there to die?" Ziplocke said and then regretted his statement when he saw Jeze's face drop. One of those "stupid adventures" was her brother.

"They get to keep the souls if an adventurer dies in the tower?" Jeze asked quietly.

Ziplocke sputtered a moment and sighed, "The inside is a direct link to the Abyssal plane. A soul will be trapped there."

"Then I have another reason to go, and that is to free my brother," Jeze said, her chin sticking out with determination.

"I'm here to serve," Ziplocke said with a bow.

"Thank you. I will need to prepare," Jeze said and flipped through her brother's journal.

In it, most of the Rune patterns were for Earth aspect foci, and one interested her. The Rune structure was different from the one she had on her ring, so she would need to create another channeling tool. This pattern allowed the caster to control metal, to shape earth into metal, and Daverius wrote notes how he used it to summon earth, shape it into steel, and fling it at targets.

"Seems overly complicated," Jeze muttered.

Ziplocke, who stood on her shoulder, was nodding his head. Jeze handed him a spoonful of paste, and the Goblin slurped it up.

"Talented magic users, like yours truly, are able to string multiple foci so fast it looks like they are completing a single Rune pattern," Ziplocke boasted.

That was not important to Jeze. What interested her was the ability to shape metal and stone. She felt this could be useful when disarming traps or picking locks. Jeze copied the Rune Pattern and decided it needed to go on a bracelet because it was a longer chain than the one on her ring. She flipped through the pages to see if the pattern was a base for another spell and was delighted to discover that it was the base for an Earth aspect summoning focus. It would summon a wall of dirt, which she could shape into stone. A string of patterns that had good defensive capabilities. She preferred to cast a single focus, but stringing foci together had its benefits. The risk was greater when the Rune chains were longer.

"I feel that is too risky. Depends on too many variables and is not realistic on an adventure. What if my channeling tools become damaged? Then I would have wasted the effort and energy on nothing," Jeze reflected out loud.

Ziplocke nodded in agreement and giggled as if he recalled a memory. "That is the bane of many casters. The look of surprise on their faces as their magic failed right before they were eaten is absolutely priceless."

Jeze paused her studying and glanced up at the Goblin.

"Have you traveled the Spire?" She asked.

Ziplocke squirmed, and Jeze found it odd that the diminutive creature became nervous. She gave him a spoon of paste to ensure he did not avoid the question.

"Yes," he answered.

"On a contract?" Jeze said.

The Goblin squirmed some more, and now Jeze was giving him her full attention. She had a jar of paste and a spoon ready. This was not going to be avoided.

"Yes, and before you ask. Half a dozen times," he said.

Six? How old was the Goblin? She wondered as she fed him paste. She needed to think about how to best ask her next question.

"Did you make it to the final door?"

Ziplocke squealed with a laugh. "By the Hells no."

Jeze narrowed her eyes. "What happened to your contracts?"

"They died," the Goblin answered with a casual shrug.

"You are not very good with your contracts!" Jeze exclaimed.

"Hey now! The Wandering Spire is very dangerous, as you are aware. Besides, they were dumb as coal."

"Where did they go wrong?" Jeze asked.

Ziplocke hopped off her shoulder onto the desk next to Daverius's journal. He casually skimmed its pages before answering.

"You and your brother have the right idea. You must be prepared. You can't expect to muscle through the floors. You need to find a balanced party," Ziplocke replied.

Jeze nodded and fed the Goblin some paste. She needed to make more if she continued to have conversations like this. But that didn't concern her at the moment. She was more interested in what Ziplocke said and what her brother had written. Daverius wrote about the Adventurer Guild and their role classifications and rankings. But something caught her eye, and she wondered about it.

"Is it true that only a team of five can advance to the second floor?" She asked.

"Technically, the first floor is considered floor zero. It is a free-for-all. Filled with a horde of monsters. Your realm's kings and emperors initially believed that the Spire was an invasion force because of the amount of baddies that swarmed out when the Spire first arrived. Once you make it to the center, there is a portal. It only allows five people to travel together to the same destination. Any more will be separated and sent to a different spot."

Jeze looped back to Ziplocke's statement and asked about a balanced party. She gave him a spoonful of paste.

"My previous contracts made their team only Strikers. They wanted to kill things fast, but the Spire has more challenges than just monsters. It is filled with locked doors, puzzles, and traps," Ziplocke answered.

Jeze turned back to her brother's journal. Daverius wrote about the role designations the Adventurer's Guild had put together. This was to aid in proper team formation. Strikers were anyone who could do a lot of damage. It could be Runic Magic or if a strong fighter wielded an enormous poleaxe. Her brother wrote the following on the roles:

Strikers are important because the Wandering Spire has large monsters that are heavily protected and durable. A team needs to be able to kill them. Especially the Floor Guardians.

Hmm, Jeze wanted to ask about the Floor Guardians but continued reading her brother's passage.

Protectors are those that can stand in the front and withstand damage. This can be through skill of arms like with armor and shield. Or through Runic Magic. The Earth Aspect is very good for protection.

Healers are necessary to keep the party alive. They are physicians, herbalists, and often Life aspect masters.

Scouts can utilize stealth, pick locks, and find traps. They are often the most agile and able to get to the hard-to-reach areas. They offer the most utility.

Leaders make the plans. A good leader should be able to fill in at least two other role designations. They need to be charismatic because the Spire will test the team's resolve.

"What do you know about the Floor Guardians?" Jeze asked.

Ziplocke shuddered. "Each Floor has a portal that will teleport a team of five to the next floor. It is guarded by a Floor Guardian. They are typically large demons with anger issues."

"How many floors does the Wandering Spire have?" Jeze wondered.

"It is rumored to have ten. The highest I have gone was the sixth," Ziplocke answered.

"Only ten? How can that be? I read that the Wandering Spire's top is beyond the clouds," Jeze stated.

"Remember, I told you that the Spire is a direct link to the Abyssal plane. The physics are different than here, the material plane. Plus, the ceilings can be very high on each floor," the Goblin answered.

"Tell me more."

"Each floor is completely different. It could look like a dungeon, a forest, or a frozen tundra. Each Spire is different, so I can't help you prepare ahead of time. When you go through a portal, it takes you to a random location on the next floor," Ziplocke said and then licked a spoonful of paste.

Jeze finished scribing the Rune patterns that interested her and closed her brother's journal. The Wandering Spire was set to appear in about five months near Mount Dragon. Enough talking and reading, she had work to do.