Madga nodded. The fighter's Brawler's Physique Skill granted him some distinct advantages, and his Body Tempering had enhanced his senses well beyond what Magda could perceive. But even his powerful senses were defeated by the distorting veil of the Foglands' magic.
>
>
They both knew that meant little. Magda was tempted to believe the boy had lied, but that knife was impossible to fake. Giving herself a little shake, she focused on the problems she could solve.
>
The Tin Ranks would have gotten far enough by then. Time to do their part.
The day wore on as Felix and the others navigated across over thirteen rooftops and passed-through structures barely strong enough to hold them. While it astounded Felix that much of this was still standing, it still meant that nearly everything was on the brink of collapse. Most of the time, it seemed hope and probably magic was all that kept the worst of them together.
Regardless, they had made it.
"So this is it, huh?" Felix stared upward at the tower, an impressive construction that rose at least fifteen stories and was utterly covered in complicated statuary. A number of flying buttresses supported the lower levels of the tower, adding width to the base of the building. Felix eyeballed the distance between their three story ruin and the nearest bit of the tower, estimating perhaps twenty feet or so separated them. Whoever had once inhabited these structures had obviously been important, too much of a big shot to be rubbing shoulders with common folk. "Think we can make it?" he whispered.
Atar scoffed, but Vessilia simply smiled, her teeth bright and perfectly straight. Felix felt his pulse pick up as his thoughts turned.
How do they have such nice teeth? Do dentists exist here?
Vessilia backed up without a word, then took a running leap off of the edge.
WHOA!
With a powerful rush of air, the spearwoman leaped nearly twenty-five feet, easily clearing the distance and landing amid the crowded statues. Felix gaped.
"Dragoons, ya know?" Evie remarked, pushing up his hanging jaw. "Me next."
"Wait," Felix said, riffling through his satchel until he pulled out his brightweave coil. He unraveled it and handed Evie an end. "Here, take this."
"Sure," Evie shrugged, smiling herself. "Always happy to help the less capable." She held onto one end of the rope with one arm as she unwound her spiked chain with the other. After taking a run up herself, Evie threw her chain out, the end of it moving faster than Felix could track. With a metallic clank, the links struck and wrapped around a weather-worn oblong statue. A simple tug, and somehow Evie sailed through the air, propelled by some force directly onto a ledge above.
"How did she...?"
"She's cheating, sort of," whispered Atar. He had long ago collapsed his metal rod and was looking after Evie with something close to envy. "Her Born Trait has to do with altering the weight of herself and her chain."
That's seriously cool.
"Do you mind if I...?" Atar gestured to the rope in Felix's hands.
"Oh! Sure, yeah, not a problem. You go first." Felix handed the brightweave coil to the mage, looking up to see that Evie had tied it off around another statue. It was elevated now, the rope reaching back at an angle to their roof. "It's an enchanted rope, so you--"
The coil suddenly knotted every five feet or so, creating an easily climbable surface. Atar's hands flared with orange Mana as he fed power into the rope.
"Oh yeah. Of course you know to use it."
With Felix steadying the rope from behind, Atar was able to cross the distance relatively easily. While the mage might have low values in most physical stats, he apparently had more than enough to climb the rope.
Pit glided across the distance, jumping first to gain some more height, and climbing up the outside of the tower until he reached the Tin Ranks' level. Last to go, Felix gripped the rope and sent a pulse of Mana through it. The rope began to coil up, and once the slack was gone, Felix took a breath and jumped off the side of the building.
Swinging, Felix fairly flew toward the lower tower walls, and braced himself to hit. With a thump he landed feet first against the tower wall, low enough that he was below any statuary. The magically coiling rope yanked him up the wall, like a slow moving grappling gun. Unwilling to just hang and wait, Felix complemented the magic rope by climbing with his free hand and legs the rest of the way.
Sadly, his Free Climbing didn't bump up at all.
Felix retrieved his coil, directed it to unknot and loop around his shoulder, and climbed the last few feet up into what appeared to be the fourth floor window. It was dark in here, the afternoon sunlight fighting to penetrate much farther than a few feet, though Felix could make out a large room supported by several round columns. The others were waiting around, though Atar and Vessilia were busy inspecting the far wall, eyes bright in the darkness.
"Took ya long enough," Evie jibed, her voice still not much more than a whisper. Felix grinned and dusted his hands.
"Not all of us have magic weight powers to give us a boost," he joked. Evie grinned even wider, green eyes flashing. Then she looked down. At Pit, who was on his haunches at Felix's feet.
Felix read the nervousness in her body language. He wondered what freaked them out so much about Pit. Was it just that chimeras usually attack them, like they said? Felix reached down and skritched the tenku's neck, causing his back leg to twitch uncontrollably.
"Don't worry. He's a good boy."
Evie's eyes flashed back up to his, then looked away. He wasn't sure if she was embarrassed or what, but she quickly diverted her attention.
"Hey you! Quit gawking at rocks and let's get going!"
"There are murals here. They are exquisitely detailed!" Vessilia's smile was wide as she turned back to them. "They've hardly been weathered at all!"
Intrigued, Felix made his way over despite Evie's groan. Vessilia excitedly gestured at the walls where Atar was busy fixedly staring. In keeping with the architecture of this city, the carvings were everywhere. The spots where the ceiling and floors met the walls were the most heavily detailed, and Felix could see repeated patterns of greenery and small four legged forms among the friezes. The center of the walls featured a sort of scrolling scene, moving across lush natural vistas like mountains and rivers and forests. Felix stepped up to one and ran his hands across the surface, feeling the very slight bas-relief detail worked into the stone.
Wow. This is incredible.
In fact, the designs and markings reminded Felix heavily of the underground dungeon where he had been imprisoned. He glanced at the floor beneath him, scuffing dirt and dust aside to see the neatly made edges of pentagonal tiles. He looked back up at the main sculptures, the sprawling depictions of nature and picked out a few small figures dotting the landscapes.
Just like under the mountains. Same tiles. Even similar small figures. Did the same people build both? They're pretty close to each other, so that would make sense.
Yet everything in this city and even under the mountain had been made for people much larger than the small figures depicted. Why?
"Ahem, I like uh, rocks as much as the next gal, but we need to get some distance from the ground," Evie said, starting to walk toward a shadowed alcove. Pit was right behind her, and she gave him a wary glance. "Harn said the Hoarhounds are powerful trackers and I really don't want to wake up to find an ice wolf chewing on one of ya."
The three of them reluctantly followed Evie, discovering that the alcove was actually a series of winding stairs. In fact, it was two series of stairs built into one: the main set of stairs was made for a human (or human-like) stride, while a path along the center was made for much smaller legs. It was two steps for every one.
"Fascinating," Atar murmured.
It was very dark in the stairwell, and Felix had to flare his Manasight to see. The stone all pulsed with a dusty brown laced with flashes silvery gray. That's metal, same as the bits of armor I've seen. So iron, probably? He wasn't a metallurgist, so it could have been titanium for all he knew. Analyze told him nothing, only that it was "quarried stone." Light carvings decorated the outer wall of the stairwell, scrolling vines and leaves twisting and knotting together in an intricate design, and his Manasight could pick out other flashes of metal and stones in the dusty brown earth Mana. He could Analyze those, though: bits of green copper, blue lapis lazuli, and even a smattering of actual silver. The colors swirled and shimmered within the earth Mana, dimming and brightening in turns like a distant night sky.
It's even more beautiful in Manasight than my normal vision. Felix looked around, enjoying the shift and flare of Mana as it flowed through literally everything in this world. It's like I'm standing on empty air filled with colored light.
"Oof!"
Felix ran right into Atar's back, who tilted into Vessilia. The spearwoman was braced, though, and kept everyone on their feet.
"What's in Avet's name is going on?" Atar whispered, furiously.
Felix could see that Evie was holding up a closed fist. She made several quick gestures and Felix could feel the other two change their stances. Atar looked back at him, eyes wide, and mouthed two words.
"Someone's here."