Argus desperately tried not to look down as he slowly clambered up the crack-laden wall, his claws acting as tiny climbing hooks that helped him avoid sliding back down again. He had preemptively taken off his shoes and tied their laces around his harness, freeing the large talons on his toes to give him a firmer grip. Even with his seeming advantage, a lack of experience and cautious movements were slowly widening the gap between him and Lucy, deepening the pit of shame forming in his stomach. Each time he tried to move faster to catch up, a wave of vertigo had him hugging the wall with his pupils constricted in panic. If he could sweat, he would be dripping buckets. His eyes kept darting to Lucy about 10 feet above him, her face calm and her movements precise and measured, a polar opposite to his frightened crawl. Hissing to himself, he grit his jaw and moved another few inches upwards. He would make it up this damn wall, and then he would eat some of that heavenly pandemain bread, even if he had to arm wrestle Mona to get it. He needed something other than the taste of stale, tainted air in his mouth, and the bread seemed like the perfect compensation for his troubles.
While Lucy didn’t focus on Dexterity as much as Quinn, it was high enough to make the climb easier than she had initially anticipated. Closing her eyes for barely more than a second, most would see it as a slightly longer blink. To Lucy, it was a glimpse at the path Quinn had taken; every detail from the exact cracks he held to the same tiles he stood on. She could even roughly tell how much stamina he had expended, and she was jealous to see it wasn’t very much at all. Running a quick calculation based on the rate they each lost their energy, she scowled at the realisation that Quinn could out-climb her by more than 6 freaking hours. That was a gap she knew she couldn’t breach any time soon, so for now she focused on what she was good at; learning from those around her. Closing her eyes once more, she held them shut as she tried to move in time with the mirage of Quinn in her mind. It was harder with Quinn because of his speed and natural grace, but that was exactly what she wanted; she needed the challenge. She reached out, feeling her fingers slip into a gap barely wider than her hand itself, and pulled herself upwards just as he had. Her Mind’s Eye skill had many useful tricks, but this was perhaps her favourite. She would need it, if she wanted to keep up with Quinn, and perhaps Argus if he got out of his own head. She smiled to herself as she looked down at the struggling scalekin. Maybe… after this was over she would-
Mona let out a small grunt as her fingers pierced into the stone wall, widening a crack barely larger than her thumb into a better purchase for her large hands. Precision and grace was fine for the others, but Mona had to use the tools she had at hand, with the two she relied on the most being her actual hands. Her strength-enhancing Might of the Mountain was a very common ability for dwarves to gain with nearly any class, but she had been blessed enough to receive it at Rare quality, massively improving its output and versatility. Instead of just enhancing her entire body in a passive state, she could actively burn her mana to empower specific parts of herself, allowing Mona to make her own handholds with barely any effort as she crawled up the wall like an arboreal beast.
With an Endurance just over 60 points, she could have already made it to the top, if she didn’t hold herself back in case the others needed help. That was her role in the team, and she would gladly serve it, even if it meant jumping into that cesspool at the bottom of the pit. She had just reached the top of the vertical section of their climb, and was preparing to start making her way sideways when she heard a panicked squeal from beneath her. Looking down, she saw the cause of the noise with distressing ease. Fucking Argus, she thought to herself. There was always something with him…
Quinn was chuckling to himself as he watched Lucy trying to copy his movements up the towering edifice. Some of the cracks that he had used were too small, and they kept breaking her focus and forcing her to find her own way up. He didn’t know if it was a skill or natural talent, and he wasn’t going to ask, as he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. Mona had reached the peak in record time, her bestial strength allowing her to almost crawl up the wall like a giant ant. She was coated in a thick layer of grey dust that swirled around her in a choking vortex, occasionally causing her to cough with a volume that filled the chamber with a trembling fury. Luckily, it seemed that if there were any depth-dwelling creatures in the murky waters, they likely couldn’t hear it over the sound of the roaring waterfall and crushing waves.
Just as Mona reached the top, he noticed that Argus was moving more erratically than before. He knew his friend couldn’t fall too far; only to the last “checkpoint” of the rope, but even just a few feet were enough to take serious or possibly lethal damage. After a moment, Quinn realised with amusement that his nice shoes, the ones that Argus had tied around his harness, were slowly slipping free. Argus had clearly noticed this, and was grappling with the tough decision of saving the shoes or himself from a painful fall. Just as he thought he was going to watch his friend risk his life for a pair of polished boots, Argus surprised him. He saw the scalekin stare up at Lucy for a few moments, before his long neck curved downwards, resting his head on the wall as they both watched his boots tumble away into the depths below.
“A bit dramatic, aren’t you Argus.” Quinn muttered to himself, a relieved look on his face as he had truly thought he would dive for the boots instead. He respected and appreciated his friend, but Argus had a level of pride and greed that put even some nobles to shame. Without Lucy around, he would have already been caught by the enforcers or the street gangs, and likely have a debt bigger than the city’s bank could hold. She reigned him in, keeping him somewhat grounded so he wouldn’t go too deep on his bets. However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t successful; he was a bit of a coward and a little… enthusiastic at times, but he wasn’t a fool. He had more money than Mona, who actually worked for a living. Besides, he and Quinn couldn’t get “actual jobs”, for one very simple reason; their classes.
Identifying someone’s class was a common and often legally required practice in every part of the world, from being hired by a legitimate business or company, to buying dangerous, magical or even just expensive items. Leaving or entering most cities and towns was the same, unless you could slip in and out without being seen, which was usually harder than it looked with wards and protections being standard practice. He knew that he would most likely never have an actual job, considering the simple fact of who would be willing to hire a thief. It would be monumentally foolish to trust him with coin, merchandise, tools or items of any kind, and honestly he couldn’t really blame them. He often wondered; would he trust himself, if the roles were reversed?
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Argus’s situation was more complicated than Quinn’s, but also more amusing. While it was true that Argus had had jobs, the problem was that he could usually never keep them for very long. The list of reasons he had been fired was long and ridiculous, ranging from showing up drunk, flirting with customers, gambling on the job to even having an affair with his manager, causing the end of a business partnership and a marriage on the same day. He preferred to be what he called “self-employed”, which Quinn thought was for the best. It was odd to him that being a lying, sneaky weasel was somehow safer than Argus being an “upstanding citizen”. A panicked squeal broke through Quinn’s musings, bringing his attention back to his climbing companions. Perhaps Argus should have tried to catch his boots after all…
Around 75 feet below Argus, the miasmic soup was churning like a pot over a fire, massive ripples spreading across its surface as the geysers seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. It was like the drainage pipes were becoming blocked over and over again, with each eruption seeming to only briefly halt the massive buildup of pressure. A swathe of giant rats, each the size of a round and squat hound, were falling from the geysers and clawing their way up the wall in a feverish frenzy. The sounds of gnashing teeth and enraged squeaks were so loud he could barely hear himself think, and it took him yelling with his hands in a cone around his mouth to carry his words across the ocean of noise.
“ARGUS! FUCKING BOOK IT!” he screamed, immediately checking his surroundings for something, anything to get the horde’s attention. The rats would have a harder time getting to him due to the constant deluge of tumbling waters, so hopefully all they had to do was reach the walkway and take a few turns to get away. Unfortunately, they had to finish their climb first, something that the rats seemed to have much more experience with. The mass of squirming vermin were crawling up the wall and over each other like the blades of a razor, sweeping towards his companions with a terrifying hunger and determination. Lucy might make it in time before getting hurt too badly, but Argus was just too slow. They had to do something, and they had to do it now.
Mona stepped onto the walkway and simply ripped her harness off, the toughened leather tearing like paper as she took in Quinn’s condition. Her wily friend was staring slack-jawed at the wave of rodents, his large eyes flicking back and forth as he seemed to be puzzling out a solution for Argus’s imminent demise. A primal fear was evident on his face, and Mona felt the same, but her panic slightly lessened as she looked at the stone wall in thought. The material was heavy and durable, but it often broke into jagged chunks and pointed shards during her climb. As neither of them seemed to have any great ideas, she decided to try her usual method of solving problems; force. Stepping beside Quinn, her meaty fist collided with the tiled wall, causing chunks of stone debris to fall around her feet as she threw a few more quick jabs. After only four punches, she had a moderate pile of ammunition for her impending barrage. If the vermin wanted a meal, she would see how they liked chewing on stone instead.
Quinn stared at Mona in confusion, then understanding as he too picked up a few pointed shards of stone. He couldn’t match Mona’s strength, but he could throw with pinpoint accuracy, hopefully hitting vital and crippling spots instead of crushing them outright. His Deft Hands skill was useful in many areas of his work; picking pockets and locks, cracking safes (when combined with his high Perception), even throwing a punch when his back was against the wall, and hurling needles, daggers and darts were no exception. The few times Argus had talked him into going into pubs and taverns, he had played and usually won darts and other games of accuracy for petty coin; shamelessly and easily conning the other patrons by pretending to be and, sometimes actually being, drunk. Thinking of those times where he could actually relax, where he wasn’t afraid to cut loose, a raging fire was stoked in his heart as he tried to calm his shaking hands. He quickly rummaged through the pile of stone rubble and grabbed as many needle and dagger-like fragments he could find, some minor scratches and thick layers of dust completely ignored as he poured all of his focus into how to protect that idiot. He would save Argus, and then he would hold it over him for the rest of his life, because that was what friends did.
Lucy looked down at the rising tide of hungry rats and blanched, the panic and terror building in her heart only partly held at bay as she focused on a solution. According to her calculations, Argus wouldn’t make it the 20 feet to the top before they caught up with him, and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t make it to the walkway without at least a few bites and scratches. Even if she made it, that would mean leaving Argus behind, a reluctant thought that was quickly purged as the gears began ticking over in her head at lightning speed. She had to buy them both time to get away, something a quick glance showed Mona and Quinn were gearing up for as well. Pulling out her beaming crystal, she channeled a tiny stream of mana into her fingertips, causing the crimson light to fire out towards their starting platform. The front line of the frenzied beasts had already stormed past it, but she saw with delight that around a third of the creatures on the wall literally leapt at the chance to chase the escaping snack. They ripped and tore at each other to catch it with no regard for each other or themselves, as Lucy saw more than one rat get turned into a shredded lump of meat in their unthinking desire for the “shiny”. She danced the light in enticing shapes and occasionally moved up and down the wall to lure more into the gleaming trap, and she even managed to attract a few at the front, causing them to slow and hinder the rats that were more focused on the larger meal above them. She just hoped the others could delay them further, because if they couldn’t… then she may have to pull out one of her hidden aces, one that she would much prefer to keep to herself…
Argus glanced down from his terrified scramble with morbid curiosity as the rabid swarm of rats went from an organised wave to a chaotic storm of claws and fur. While most were still out for his blood after alerting them with his “noble sacrifice”, many others were plowing through and knocking around their dedicated brethren as they chased the red beam, effectively keeping their snapping jaws just out of reach. But Argus didn’t need to be as smart as Lucy to see that they were steadily getting closer. More than once he had to send out a sharp kick beneath him to drive them back, one of his fast strikes managing to knock the latest beast into the pit below. If he was going to die, then at least he would take some of the rat bastards with him; he was petty that way.
