//------------------------------//
// 71 - Measure of a Hero 
// Story: Bind on Pickup 
// by David Silver 
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Spike hoisted his brand new staff, now with this very artful orb with an asymmetrical wing design on it as the party stood in front of the door to the floor seventy boss. He tried not to sweat too hard, because he knew he was nervous. Everyone seemed to have their game face on that day, standing ready to go, because nobody knew what exactly a boss past floor sixty was like.

In fact, there wasn’t even a boss on floor sixty, just those personal trials on floor 59, which they never had to repass on the next runs.

But they were there, with new equipment, ready to challenge the next tier.

The doors opened, and in front of them stood two figures, each at least eight feet tall.

They looked like… almost like beast tribes, but like most monsters (other than the fake adventurers they fought) they were not quite beast tribes. Specifically both of these had long serpentine tails ending in spades.

Which looked an awful lot like dragon tails…

They stood in reflection of each other, both wielding a scimitar in opposite hands, and the other hands had what appeared to be short magical staves, although with different designs. Attached to their belts were something distinct: guildchains. Including unfamiliar class gems.

"Son of a!" burst out Smolder as she drew her knives in a readying twirl. "You did this on purpose, damn dungeon. You're making fun of what you took from me!"

"We'll crush them to paste." Garble slammed his hands together. "That'll teach 'em." For once, no argument came in reply, the two siblings in complete agreement in that precious moment.

Spike edged forward, staff in one hand, shield attached to the opposing arm. "I don't like it. They could do anything. Expect them to be tricky."

"Complete agreement." Tabby raised her shield high, her heavy mace off to the side. "Divinity watch over us and smile on our efforts this day."

When the party advanced into the room proper, the doors slammed shut, and the two figures literally lept into action, shooting a shower of sparks in midair from their staves, and coming crashing down, and the battle had begun.

Blocks and absorption came down from the two divine lords in the party, protecting their members as the scimitars sliced furiously at the party, a flurry of blows that Spike struggled to keep up with, and might only have because of the attacker’s size making the attacks slower and easier to notice.

From beside him, Garble rushed in, “This attack will be turned back, and this time I’ll show you mine,” cutting a wide swath of energy, which struck the attacker but they were already busy backflipping out of it, alongside it’s twin.

Out of the corner of his eye, Spike saw a similar situation with Tabitha and Smolder, with the defended attacks and the barely striking attacks.

The twins however, seemed to cast a magic spell and rebound off of the air itself back to the party, bearing down on Tabitha, who instead of parrying with her shield sent up magic to withstand the flurry of blows.

“A-Aiden!” Sandra’s somewhat startled call came, pelting fire magic on the twins as well, who seemed unphased, however the scorch marks told a different story.

One of them pressed the attack while the other started pelting the party with magic. It seemed to be some kind of magical bullets, not elementally charged, as darts kept striking the party, Spike doing his best to bat them away, but they came too frequently and too quickly to easy deflect to the side.

"Rock Defense," uttered Tabitha towards Spike, who nodded in solidarity, the two moving more in lockstep to form a barrier with no back, their fronts facing away from one another to create a sphere of protection.

The battle continued, the sometimes concentrated and sometimes multifaceted assault bearing down on their tanks, while the attackers did their best to match the attacks. They had to pitch in at the peak of their form. A single mistake would--

Garble landed with his heavy blade on the ground, just a second too slow. The enemy was already twirling to lash out at him. "Cheese it!" He called, vanishing a moment later.

An instant later, the rest joined him at floor 60s teleport point.

Smolder swatted him on the shoulder. "What was what?! You didn't even get hit!"

"It was, you know, a hunch." He rubbed one arm with the other. "They were just about to do something. Something big. I could… feel it in the beat. They moved back and were ready for the crescendo. We were too slow. We had to have already beat them by then, or we lost."

"I admit I am impressed." Tabitha nodded slowly, her arms crossed. Her mace was hung at her belt and her shield strapped on her back. "You saw and recognized a boss' signs before being hit the first time. You might have saved us today."

Sandra tucked her staff away, letting out a soft breath. "Seriously?" She was looking at Tabitha. "You mean that?"

"Why would I kid? I know Garble would not have fled if he didn't mean it. We head back, melt down what we got, and we try again. We have to crush them, fast. I've seen bosses like that. You do it in time, or they win."

“How do you know about stuff like that?” Smolder cocked an eyebrow. “We didn’t see any of those on the way up.”

Tabitha folded her arms. “The tower is not the only kind of adventuring there is. Monsters building up mana over the course of a fight to end it quickly is something that happens in monsters in the wild.” She rolled her hand around. “And I’ve heard some stories about the higher levels.”

Garble butted in with. “And you didn’t think to share them?”

“I didn’t know which were true!” Tabitha protested. “I can’t tell you which is which. Are stories of people being turned into animals true or exaggerations? What about finding a tribe of friendly goblins? It could happen but it sounds real sketchy.”

Sandra scratched a cheek, a musing look on her face. "If it was like Twilight, I suppose it wouldn't be all bad." The others began to look at her. "What? She managed pretty well as a horse with all kinds of magic. Not the worst fate in the world."

Spike lifted his shoulders. "Somehow, I doubt that's what would happen, so let's not let any of us get turned into animals." He fixed Tabitha with a look. "And no, dragons are not animals."

"I wasn't going to say anything!" And she vanished.

The others poofed after her, hopping down to the first floor to turn in what they had gotten. Smolder took point through the town, striding with purpose. "I'm still surprised, Gargar. I figured you'd be really mad about doing the whole ten floors again."

"You kidding." He snorted with obvious irritation. "I'm furious! But… better that than not doing anything, right? It's not a game anymore, so we have to, you know, assume the worst. I don't like it, but we have to get past it."

Smolder danced around, hopping backwards so she could smile at her brother. "That's way mature, Bro. Let's see if we can't squeeze a little out of what we did get."

“So what did we get?” he said.

Smolder blinked. “Well… we learned how hard it was to hit them?”

Garble snarled in agreement. “I can’t count the number of times I tried to score a good hit and I grazed them instead.”

“Experience will help,” Tabitha chimed in. “I’m sure of it. Those enemies move in strange ways, and I’m sure we missed opportunities to counterattack. The pace was… much faster and stronger than before.”

Punching his fist into his palm, Garble nodded. “I’ll have to pick up the beat faster. I can do it, just a faster tempo.”

Spike gestured towards Tabby. "We did pick up material stuff, on the way." He turned the same hand towards their smithing friend's shop. "Let's turn it in, and think about where we did well, and where we could do better."

The party strategized and got their smith to craft for them until late at night, resolving to return another day. "We can do this," swore Spike.

"Without your princess' help." Garble stuck out his tongue, but was soon up in his bunk. It was sleep time.





Day two, second attempt. The party strode in, with a few new glittering pieces of gear, ready to assault the twins yet again. The way up? They knew those tricks, and they were equipped. Even the advanced savagery of the new levels were no match for them.

"We beat these two, we get a checkpoint," noted Tabby as she swung her heavy weapon testingly. "Everyone ready?"

Sandra nodded as she pat the side of her golem companion. "I think trying to rely on Aiden was a mistake. We need another person in melee to throw them off balance and let us get some good hits in, and Aiden wasn't dealing nearly enough damage."

Smolder whistled softly, twirling her daggers. "I like the way you're thinking. Whichever one's focused on the golem, I'll be on their back. Let's make this the last try on these guys."

With a communal cry of certainty, they advanced to battle.





"She's learning."

There, standing atop the defeated form of the boss, was the true enemy. The one who was the tower. "We meet again," noted Spike, avoiding a question. "I was wondering if you were going to come again, after our last chat."

He stepped down off one of the two twins, eyes on Spike. "The closer you draw, the less I can look away. The tower is focused on you, and so too must I be. Those are the rules. We must abide by them, even you, dragon of another world."

“So you’ve said,” Spike looked at the cloaked man. “You took some pride in keeping agreements.”

“One thing the tower is excellent at is keeping agreements.” The man’s smile broadened. “Even agreements you didn’t quite agree to. The things that will haunt a whole life to come.”

“Right…” Spike said, warily, letting the silence hang in the air.

“Fine then, I can be sociable. I see you picked up another member, one from Sandra’s storied past.” He looked aside at the frozen face of Tabby, caught in mid cheer, most of the rest of the party looking equally jubilant in their victory. "I thought she had left the story."

"She wouldn't take no for an answer." Spike chuckled a little, thinking about it. "Really, we tried to get her to not come, but she wasn't having it. Look, I know you like being shady, but we're this close, why… let's just set the cards on the table." He had almost asked a question, but caught himself.

"You draw close." He leaned in towards Spike. "I can feel the freedom."

"Freedom of victory," stated Spike.

"Ask your questions. The time for timidness is long past. Freedom of the life I chose without knowing."

Spike was quiet a moment, pacing left and right before the man. "Alright… So, cool, we talk, like normal people." Not that there was much normal about the guy that Spike could tell. "I don't want her… killed, or hurt. We're all making it through this."

“That’s not a question.” The man folded his arms. “If you want to get on with it, ask your question.”

"Wait, we were just talking, like normal people." He frowned at the man, mistrust blossoming quickly. "Look, you want a hero. You want a big heroic… thing." A little smile appeared as the thought grew even as he said it. "What could be more heroic than coming through this, against all the odds? Against every sign that all was doomed? That sounds pretty heroic to me."