The Crossroads

8 | Discoveries, And Quite A Few At That

WC: 2544

Etho explores the Fortress and uncovers more than what he intended to find.

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The Fortress was an imposing structure made entirely out of red bricks, like the ones Etho had seen in the Black Market and the Ruins's broken door. Bridges expanded out from the main tower in the center. Some led to nowhere. Some led to smaller towers scattered around. At the other end of the Fortress, vibrant colors of deep crimson and bright teal peeked out from the otherwise monotonous color palette.

As soon as Etho stepped foot on the red brick path connecting to the Crossroads, his inner alarm system started ringing loudly, sensing a hostile environment. This wasn't safe territory, it seemed to say. Get out. While you still can.

It didn't help that he occasionally saw red bricks with skulls carved into them on the walls.

But he had invisibility on. He was safe. Nothing could see him...for the next 8 minutes.

So he'd best make the most of his time here.

Etho hadn't gotten far in when he heard the first hostile, unknown sound--a metallic clang of something nearby. Since he couldn't be seen by anything--even himself--he decided to brave it and get closer to the sounds.

Bad idea. He entered a small tower where the sounds were coming from on the way to the main tower and nearly got scorched by a rogue fireball that was shot from up above.

It hit the floor next to him and burst into a small explosion of flames, close enough that the fire burnt the edges of his new combat boots.

Etho jumped away, his heartbeat quickening.

Well, invisibility apparently didn't mean invincibility. That off-course fireball had nearly hit him, just out of luck.

He climbed a narrow, winding staircase that spiraled up inside the tower and emerged on the very top to see a fire-ridden rooftop. Every single inch looked like it had been badly burnt. Scorch marks stained the floor, and a cage of sorts was placed in the center. Actually, it was the only part that wasn't damaged by fire.

Metallic-looking creatures floated around the cage. They had golden rods the same color as their bodies hovering around them. They seemed to glow with a bright orange aura--kind of like the color of fire. Etho realized with a jolt that the odd cage in the center glowed with the same color.

As he watched, three more of those creatures appeared out of thin air. And they immediately started spitting out fireballs in every direction.

Etho ducked down back into the lower parts of the tower and left quickly before one of those fireballs actually found a target.

Checking to see if his invisibility was still on, he ventured deeper into the Fortress, towards the main tower and away from the relative safety of the Crossroads.

Seven minutes left of invisibility, maybe...? He had to be out soon, and he had to gather enough information about the Fortress that this wasn't all in vain.

Well, he had something already. But it wasn't going to help them in the slightest. More likely, it would mess up the whole ordeal.

He reached the main tower, which was similar to the smaller one he'd seen earlier, just that it was divided into more levels. Each floor he came across seemed to be its own little realm; they were so different from one another that Etho was surprised they were all in one single tower.

The ground floor was a brewing area of some kind. Etho had never made potions himself, but there was an old brewery in the slum sectors back at the Keep, and it looked something like this.