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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/DrBlackJack21 on 2025-12-20 18:15:28+00:00.
Surviving the Tower: Chapter 11
Hangovers and tower climbing don't mix. I was miserable as we were preparing to jump into the Tower once again. Currently, I was doing my best not to literally lean on Darien, who, as usual, seemed utterly unbothered by a little thing like a celebratory night of food and drink, followed by a dorm party involving more drinking. Freya was continuing her explanation. "Now, on floor two, the goblins will either be patrolling in larger packs of up to ten or be escorted by a hobgoblin, who is easily a match for a second-level Escalad. You may ONLY go up to the second level if every member of your party is level 2! If not, you must continue patrolling the first level until you level up."
One student raised their hand. "But didn't you say the Tower is all about taking chances and pushing yourself?"
Freya smiled in a slightly condescending way. "Yes, the Tower is all about taking chances, but if you take stupid chances, you'll never get to see the benefits of pushing yourself. You are not experienced enough in Tower climbing to know what chances are reasonable and what are stupid, so I'm telling you right now, going up to level two before you're ready is a stupid risk. Saving you from a stupid risk without consequence is a sure-fire way to get you all killed, so if you ignore my advice and go up there before reaching level two, I'll probably wait to save you until...at least one member of your party is dead. That way, the trauma should really drive the lesson home!"
I saw a few faces go pale as students quickly reevaluated their risk-reward assessments. I heard one student whisper to another, "She's bluffing...right?"
The other shook his head. "Maybe, but I'm not gonna call her on it!"
To my knowledge, there were only two groups with everyone at level two, mine and Lisaria's, because on the first day, we'd pushed ourselves harder than most starting groups would in a week. Well, admittedly, we were heavily stacked with some powerhouses for a team of beginners, but if half the things Elise told me were true, the entire class should be like that and should have been able to at least match our pace, if not exceed it. If anything, Darien and I were the furthest behind since we lacked all the resources growing up that everyone else in this class had been showered with, and we would have been struggling if not for that first outing Freya had taken us on. Of course, the others had already caught up in levels, but those stat points from that hours-long life-or-death struggle had made a vital difference. Though we were still lacking in the gear department, that gap would close itself as we climbed the Tower.
I looked at the stats on the NW Freya had given me: Caius Locke: Level 2. Strength 7, Constitution 8, Agility 9, Intelligence 3, Wisdom 12, Charisma 6.
Skills: Pain resistance F+, Brawler D, Mobility C-, Healing B-
I was surprised to see the new skill there, though I supposed being tortured for an indeterminant amount of time would account for its presence. For allocating my points, I'd figured I should put two points into wisdom as that was my primary stat, which I'd use for healing, then spread the other three through my combat stats, as apparently I was going to be more up close and personal than your average support. Of course, that meant I was diluting my stat pool a little, which would have a compounding effect as I leveled up unless I could find a way to close the gap, but for now, I just needed to focus on surviving another floor before I started worrying about optimising my build about ten levels from now.
The rest of Freya's speech was mostly encouragement mixed with implied threats to motivate people, and then we were let loose into the Tower in order of our current class rank. Which meant we went in second after Lisaria's group. As we passed by Freya, she gave me a look and pointed to her head. "Hey, healer boy. Why don't you try healing that hangover?"
I blinked a few times, wondering why I hadn't thought of that before now. But a moment later, I did as she recommended, touching my head and muttering "Heal." Instantly, the pain faded, and the lights of the torches lighting the cavern did not seem so bright. Immediately, my party was asking for the same, and I shared my hangover remedy with the group as we climbed the stairs, wondering what other unorthodox situations healing might help with.
By the time we'd gotten up to the first level, Lisaria's group was already retreating into the distance, having wiped out the nearby goblin patrols in quick order.
I looked after them and shrugged. It was pretty impressive how quickly they'd managed to pull that off, but it was nothing we couldn't match once we got going. Darien apparently had the same idea, because he'd already taken off, leaving the rest of us to catch up as he shouted out, "Charge!"
The next few patrols were nothing noteworthy as we plowed through them with relative speed and ease. Since we weren't doing this for experience so much as to find our way to the next level, we weren't even pulling multiple packs like before; instead, we were just focusing on any that were in between us and one of the sets of stairs we'd found the last time we'd explored this level. Typically, you had to be careful of tower stairs, as one set could take you up multiple floors even if it only felt like you were climbing a single floor, something that could be handy for a high-level group trying to clear past the lower levels, but could easily be deadly to a low-level group like our own. However, these lower levels were well mapped and didn't seem to shift over time, unlike the levels up in the mid floors and higher. So it didn't take us all that long to find our objective.
Looking up the stairs, it was impossible to see what was at the top. That seemed to be a part of the Towers' design, though trying to understand the kind of mind that could create this place was clearly a fool's errand. But knowing this section of the Tower was well-mapped, we climbed the stairs with some confidence.
Once on the second floor, the caverns had changed a little. Instead of claustrophobic tunnels, the corridors were now large and wide enough that we could all easily walk side by side and not touch either side of the cavern's walls. This would make it considerably harder for Darien to properly tank all the ads, meaning we'd have to take more care to keep our backline out of danger.
Of course, there was already a goblin patrol nearby, one of the groups of ten Freya had warned us about, and it looked like they'd already noticed us, preventing us from taking a moment to plan out our assault. Before they could begin their own charge, Darien charged in, slamming his shield into the lead goblin so hard it actually tossed the small biped up and over his companions, likely breaking a bone or two in the process. Immediately, the nearest goblins engaged this new threat. Still, goblins aren't some mindless beasts who only chase after whatever objective is closest in proximity, and while Darien had four goblins locked down and unable to leave without taking a sword to the back, that left six free to choose their targets, and they were clearly interested in the much squishier backline rather than the beefy tank who wanted their attention.
Immediately, the goblins started to stream forth, even as I saw Darien get a slash across his thigh. Bellatrix and Nyx ran forward, as Lilith and Elise launched their ranged attacks. Lilith once again opted to disable a target with shadowbind rather than do damage, making it an easy target for Nyx to run through. Alise also skewered her target with an arrow, and while it slowed the beast, it didn't stop. However, that did make the goblin an easy target for Bellatrix's massive sword, which cleaved its head from its body.
Unfortunately, the remaining four goblins ran past the two melee fighters, intending to hit the unprotected backline. Bellatrix and Nyx were chasing after, but the goblins would get in at least a couple of attacks before they could reach the ranged fighters.
Cursing, I threw myself into the fray. Using my momentum, I threw out a straight kick that likely snapped a few ribs of the goblin in front of me, and turned to throw a wide hook at another, but had to pull my punch as he lashed out with his sword at my unprotected arm. As I backpedaled, Bellatrix caught the goblin from behind, slashing him from shoulder to hip through its back, but that was about when the last two goblins reached Lilith and Elise. The arcane archer had a knife out and was brandishing it clumsily toward the goblin attacking her in an attempt to ward it away, but Lilith had no such weapon and was backpeddling while trying unsuccessfully to cast a spell as the goblin kept interrupting her hand motions with stabs of its crude spear.
Turning, I could see Darien had taken several stab and slash wounds, and was doing his best not to get surrounded, but before I could think about a healing spell, the injured goblin was stabbing at me with his sword. I dodged back to avoid the attack, then lunged forward and slammed my fist into the side of its h...
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