The Fractured Tower

The only good thing about the attack was that it was far, far easier to deal with it now that the players were all out in the open. When Sorin had first considered dealing with the Hellions, he’d discarded the plan because it would have taken days to dig everyone out of hiding. Now, most of them were on the streets and identifying themselves with noise, light, and heat.

If he was lucky, he’d have the whole thing settled in under an hour. The biggest issue was sorting out friendlies from hostiles. Neither faction was what he would consider to be ‘good,’ and he didn’t personally know anyone involved besides Urd. There were a few faces he’d probably recognize if he saw them again, but that really wasn’t enough to go on.

That forced him to judge situations based on nothing but the relative ranks of the combatants. Urd’s people were usually stronger. The other side was more numerous. It was a simple division, but it wasn’t foolproof, especially since what Sorin assumed to be the street faction did have a few elites pushing up into the double-digit ranks.

He quickly gave up trying to sort it all out and just focused on stopping the fighting wherever it looked to be getting out of hand. If a local was caught in the crossfire, Sorin came down like a hammer on both sides of the conflict. If buildings were being damaged, especially to the point where they were in danger of collapsing, Sorin stepped in to end things. If anyone attacked him, he ended the fight decisively.

That last one didn’t happen too often, admittedly. Even without knowing who he was or that his real rank far outstripped how strong he appeared to be, he was still presenting as a rank 18 in a city where probably less than a twentieth of the population was above rank 5.

Finding Urd was the immediate goal, but with all the distractions, it took him two laps around the city before he actually figured out where the man was. Whatever else could be said about him, Urd was no coward who sent others to fight while hiding in a place of safety. When Sorin finally caught up with him, it was to find him fighting no less than three other Hellions, all of whom were above rank 15. One of them was rank 23, marking him as the single strongest native climber Sorin had encountered to date.

Urd was probably overmatched in terms of raw power, but he was doing an admirable job of holding his own. For the moment, all four combatants were restraining themselves, minimalizing collateral damage, but Sorin knew that wouldn’t last. Sooner or later, someone would get desperate and unleash whatever they’d been holding in reserve.

The rank 23 was the most powerful person in the fight, but he moved like a ghost and seemed to have extremely limited offensive capabilities. He’d probably done most of his climbing as his team’s scout and ambusher, which was at least partly why Urd was able to hold off him and his two friends. That didn’t necessarily mean he lacked the ability to break buildings, but Sorin judged it less likely than the rank 15 reshaping the street with powerful physical strikes while Urd slipped past his attacks.

I wonder if this is the build Odric was originally going for, Sorin thought, noting the man’s offense was nothing but blindingly fast punches and kicks. He hit hard enough to shatter stone, and someone was definitely going to be repairing the area after the fight was over. Him first, then the rank 23.

Sorin struck like lightning, moving a hundred feet in a second and slamming bodily into the rank 15. Force Weaver lashed out at the same time, ensnaring the rank 23 with a net of magic, but the target easily slipped through it like it wasn’t even there. That wasn’t unexpected, but it was inconvenient.

Sorin left the pugilist stunned on the street and turned his attention to his next opponent, only to find that Urd had taken advantage of the interruption and now stood behind the man. His hand was entirely inside the rank 23’s back, and with a sudden jerking motion, Urd pulled his spine out.

Whether that was enough to end the fight was open to debate, but it would certainly slow him down. That gave Sorin the chance to decapitate the third climber, who’d been some sort of hybrid fire and ice mage with a strategy of layering ice on a target to immobilize them, then pelting them with flames imbued with kinetic energy. It hadn’t worked very well, in Sorin’s opinion.

“Urd,” Sorin said, turning his attention back to Samael’s former number two. “What are you doing?”

“Purging the ranks, Lord Sorin,” Urd said. He placed his foot on the rank 23’s face. With no spine, the man had dropped to the street, though he was still alive. Urd pressed down hard enough for Sorin to hear the man’s skull grinding against the stone street. “This is Hantso. He was in charge of what is commonly known as the Black Hellion gang here on Floor 0—the criminal element, if you will. When Lord Samael disappeared, he defected.”

“He’s the one who supplied your organization with cash and new foot soldiers,” Sorin said.

“Precisely so.”

“And now that I’m here, and because I’ve expressed my disdain for those tactics, you’ve decided to remove a troublesome element.”

“Almost,” Urd said. “I was not expecting your direct involvement here, but I did set this in motion after you confirmed you didn’t desire this part of the Hellions to continue existing. Lanir’s faction has kept an uneasy peace with us, and once he found out that you intended to carry on Lord Samael’s work against the Void Wall, he agreed with this course of action.”

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The whole time Urd spoke, he kept adding pressure to Hantso’s skull. A normal person would have been crushed already, Hantso wasn’t so delicate. It was the stone which had fractured, driving Hantso’s face below street level. Sorin could no longer see the man’s expression with his eyes, though Observer kept him informed.

“This was poorly timed,” Sorin said, not sparing a glance at Hantso. There was no room in his heart for sympathy, not for anyone who’d risen so high through the Hellions ranks. Urd was just as bad, as far as Sorin was concerned, but, for the moment, Urd was useful. Sorin doubted Hantso had anything of substance to offer.

“Delaying would only allow the issue to grow. The city will recover from this, but the damage would be even worse next month if I allowed Hantso to keep building his strength.”

“I would have preferred to defer this conflict until after we’d resolved the issue of the Void Wall,” Sorin said.

“My apologies, Lord Sorin.”

“Please stop calling me that.”

“My apologies,” Urd said again.

The conversation was interrupted by a sickening crack. Hantso’s arm jerked once, then he went still. Both Sorin and Urd looked down at him to make sure he was actually dead. Then Sorin said, “That reminds me, the rank 15 who was messing up the street is only stunned.”

“I can deal with him as well, unless you have some other reason for keeping him alive.”

“No, that’s fine. I was just busy with the other two and hadn’t gotten around to finishing him off.”

Sorin felt no pity for any climbers this powerful openly fighting in the middle of Floor 0. All complications aside, he would have been fine with taking out Urd’s forces, and for much the exact same reasons. Practically overruled that sentiment, though. He still needed Urd’s help.

“I do need something,” Sorin said. “Or rather, someone. They have to be at least rank 18.”

“I see the urgency,” Urd replied.

“Not many candidates, right? I don’t guess there’s more than a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty people that fit that criteria, and most of them already have their allegiances to this family or that.”

“Or to the Hellions themselves.”

“Right,” Sorin agreed. “Thus, this attack of yours came at the worst possible moment for my own plans. I’m hoping you’ve got someone in mind who’s handy on the front lines and willing to work with a group of strangers. The team currently relies on me for battlefield control, but with our time being so limited, I’ll be moving ahead solo to clear floors in front of them.”

“I’m afraid I haven’t quite grasped all the details,” Urd said, “but I think I understand what you need, if not completely why you need it. Fortunately, the man you want to speak to is the leader of the military arm of the Hellions. His soldiers are the ones who fight to hold back the Void Wall, and he’s in charge of the climbers who fit your criteria. None of his people are in the city for this, so there’s no need to worry about them dying while we stand here.”

Sorin didn’t really want a climber whose whole build was mutagenic soulprints designed to make them more efficient at fighting the void. The narrow focus meant they needed to be carried through challenges they couldn’t otherwise overcome, which was the opposite of what his team needed.

On the other hand, someone had to be the climber who carried new recruits. That person would likely be the perfect candidate. Almost perfect, Sorin amended. They probably won’t be able to pass through the Antechamber with us, which will complicate the logistics a little bit.

“How much time can you spare?” Urd asked. “I really shouldn’t leave the field in the middle of this battle, but the fighting should be over in a few hours.”

“Not that much time,” Sorin said.

“If you would be amenable to assisting, we could rout the major pockets of resistance quickly. I would feel more comfortable leaving my lieutenants in charge at that point and could arrange the meeting with my counterpart. His name is Lanir.”

Sorin wasn’t amenable, not really, but he ground his teeth and gave a sharp, precise nod anyway. Every minute that slipped away from him meant more work in the future, and taking the time to prepare for the climb was one thing, but this whole debacle grated on him.

“Lead the way. Quickly, please.”

* * *

Urd was as good as his word. Half an hour later, there were a few dozen less climbers in the tower, and Sorin stood in front of a man who looked like he’d been built out of stone blocks stacked into a pile and then wrapped in skin.

He could almost have been the product of some combination of mutagenic soulprints, but Sorin didn’t know anything that could turn a person into that. No, the reality of it was that Lanir was really just all hard angles and flat planes. It gave him a severe, almost hostile appearance, and the man himself had the bearing to back that up.

“I believe I understand the situation,” Lanir said after Sorin explained what he needed and why. “Our carriers actually don’t have much to do at the moment. Hantso’s branch was responsible for finding the recruits and getting them ready to start moving, so of course we haven’t had a lot of work of that manner coming our way lately.

“That having been said, there are only three carriers above rank 18. Two of them are at the Void Wall, overseeing what few climbers we have left. The third... Well...”

“Well, what?” Sorin asked.

“He’s young,” Lanir said bluntly. “Rank 19, so close enough for your purposes. All carriers have builds that include survival, control, and healing abilities, so he can definitely serve as your front line. But I question his judgment. He needs an experienced leader to keep him out of trouble.”

Yoru and Nemari can probably keep him in line.

“Does he listen to orders, at least?”

Lanir nodded. “Oh, he will. I don’t think it’s any sort of maliciousness. It’s just his interpretation that sometimes leaves the rest of us scratching our heads.”

Sorin glanced over at Urd, who remained silent off to the side, then back to Lanir. “And this is the best you can offer?”

“I don’t think you understand just how desperate things are on Floor 24. We need every available body up there. We’ve already lost our hold on Floor 25, and it’s all we can do to keep from being pushed down again. I was actually trying to figure out how to get this guy up the last few ranks quickly enough that he could help, so if you’ll have him, this works out well for everyone.”

“Alright. It doesn’t sound like a perfect fit, but it’s probably as close as I’ll get. Let’s at least meet the kid before I decide, though.”

That was how, ten minutes later, he found himself standing in front of a man who was in his early 20s, almost a whole foot taller than Sorin, and had to be at least three hundred pounds of solid muscle.

“Heldigar?” Sorin asked, his jaw dropping.

“Huh?” the guy grunted. “You know my brother?”

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