The Worms of Our Minds

We found a ragged and battle-tested group in the lounge. It had felt pretty callous to suggest the people we left behind to leave the safety of the new Guild Headquarters and venture out into the nearby classrooms, but it had worked out. Artemis clearly agreed with my assessment, judging from how her shoulders relaxed as soon as she saw that at least a significant portion of the Guild members we'd left here were still alive. Honestly, I found that the difference between the two of us was that she held people in higher esteem than I did. When I saw that most of the people in the Tower were hanging around, not doing very much but huddling for comfort and passing time, to me that was just about what I had expected from the general public. When I suggested they explore the nearby rooms I'd half assumed they'd recoil in fear and refuse. Artemis, on the other hand, set up quests, gave people advice, pointed out dangers and let people decide for themselves if they wanted to risk it. All I had managed to do was make about half of them hungover in addition to shaken.

Chimo the guitarist seemed to have taken a lead position by now. He was a tall, skinny man in fashionable, but light streetwear, and when I had last seen him he had been smiling and taking requests on the dumb songs that most of the people here asked for. He still had his guitar strapped on his back, but now he also had a sword in a scabbard on his side and metal greaves and bracers strapped to his outfit. He wasn't smiling, his expression serious, almost angry. Most of the rest of the group were now armed in one way or another, though, as was expected, there were fewer of them. Altogether, the Guild now consisted of just under seventy people.

"Thank God you're back. It's a nightmare out there. Getting better though," he said. "Barely. But Alex figured out how to pull through," Artemis said. "It was really not just me. But yeah, we're lucky it wasn't worse," I said. "You think your excursion would have failed if you left, I don't know, one person who knew what they were doing here?" Chimo said. "Actually yes, it would have," Hannah said. "Going out was a terrible idea. Your advice got people killed," he said, turning to me. "Get off his ass. He was right. What's your level?" Artemis said. "My God, woman, who cares? We only have to survive thirty nine more hours and we will be out of here," he said. "And you don't think anything else is going to happen in, oh, say fifteen hours? You all needed to get stronger. I cannot help you with every little thing," Artemis said. "So why act like you can? Who put you in charge anyways?" Chimo said. "I am not in charge! Shit, dude, everything I know about this thing I learned in the last day and a half. I'm just trying to get people together to help each other," Artemis said. "That falls apart when you start giving orders," Chimo said. "Hey, dude-" I said. "I don't need you backing me up here, Alex," Artemis said. There was a beat of silence. Then somebody, just a dozen feet outside the door said "help," weakly. "Shit," me and Artemis said at the same time. But it was all five of us- my friends and Chimo- that went towards the injured man's voice, instead of looking around confused or backing away like everybody else.

The man we found was covered in blood, and smelled of blood, vomit and booze. And as soon as I saw his t-shirt- some metal band with an illegible logo- I recognized him. It was Zack, the same drunk metalhead that had decided to venture out into the Tower drunk and alone.

"How the fuck are you alive," I said. He raised his hand in the devil horns gesture and coughed up blood. "Healing potion!" I shouted, and Artemis rushed up with one and fed it to the man. He swallowed and relaxed, almost went limp. Then he coughed a few times, and opened his eyes wide. "How the fuck am I still alive," he said. "Do you have any lasting injuries? And what happened to you," I said. "Call me Melkor," he said. We hadn't been introduced, but he was in a shouting match with a friend last we saw him. "I definitely won't," I said. "Fine, fine, it's Zack," he said. "That's a decent metal dude name already, come on," Chimo said. "It's whatever. Where was I? Right. So, after I sort of stumbled out of the lounge, I didn't run across any danger for a while. I was sobering up, and almost thought to go back, but then I remembered that I'd refilled my flask, and took a few swigs for courage. I was just about to enter a room, when this klaxon went off and all hell broke loose. I finished off the flask, and, honestly, it's pretty fuzzy from there on out. I was laying by, like, a fairy-tale stone well, but it was full of blood, which was pretty metal at one point. I was swinging my fists at some monsters, and I think I had a sword at one point. Must have lost it. Shit, I should check the journal," he said.

So the healing potion was working, and the rough reunion was put on hold for a while, while everyone was flabbergasted at Zack's survival. Apparently he had gained the Drunken title and the Punk class, which helped explain some of his survival, as punk is apparently hard to kill, and the drunken title lets you keep fighting, so long as you don't sober up too much or die instantly. It was still a miracle. Almost more of a miracle was that he had gained five full levels, now being level 6, just one lower than myself and higher than everyone but me and my friends.

I had some house- and bookkeeping to do. The first thing I did was add as many of the higher level people to my party. I was split between adding one of the Lieutenants, or the two higher level guys we'd just met, but in the end decided that the officers would likely stick with Artemis anyways, and so, for now I added Zack, Chimo, Hannah, Artemis and Clarence to my party. We all gained a new sense pointing at all the rest of us very subtly in our subconsciousness, and if we focused on that feeling it became very clear.

The chat function worked very much like an online chat, one where history was erased when it reached the top of the page. There was always an empty space to write at the bottom of the page, and once you finished writing a line, it would move up, eventually moving the top line off the page and into the aether. That was both an advantage and a disadvantage, and certainly a reason to keep spam to a minimum. Clarence's handwriting was surprisingly bad, but everyone was legible.

Then, I copied all of my spells to my spellbook. This raised my Arcane Scribing skill to 2, and by now I was pretty confident in drawing the sigils. I also had the scroll-case from Glouach that I hadn't opened and his little rod that I hadn't identified.

First, the case. As expected, it contained the scroll for one spell inside it.

Mind Worm: Psyche, Tier 2, Rank 1 Below is the sigil for the Mind Worm spell of the Psyche school. This spell conjures an incorporeal, parasitic mental construct in the form of a carnivorous and congnivorous worm. The worm will do ongoing damage to the mana, hitpoints and the soul of the target, for as long as the target doesn't pay direct attention to it. Most intelligent creatures are capable of destroying a mind worm once aware of it.

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Requirements to upgrade the spell to Rank 2: Kill 0/1 Creatures with Mind of 3 or higher with this spell

Gross and terrible. I was just happy that the squid man hadn't been familiar enough with the spell to cast it off-hand, and copied it over to my spellbook. I wasn't kidding myself with thinking that I would never use something so fucked up. I had already killed people before. Whether by brainworm or ice-shard, I didn't really see the difference.

Then I checked over the rod.

Rod of Depths This rod is a re-chargeable magic item. Point it at a creature and speak the command word engraved near the bottom of the shaft and the target will be subjected to the Crushing Depths spell without expending mana or effort. This can be done up to four times in a 24-hour period, depending on the humidity of the air surrounding the rod.

Chimo and Artemis had by then gotten over their fight, and Zack was crashed in an armchair. Even Hannah was helping out some of the lower level people with basic fighting drills. My own deadline was coming close, and I didn't want to ask for anyone else's help.

But I still had one responsibility. I had to get rid of the Coward class. It had turned out relatively useful in the end, but since I was already focusing on spellcasting so heavily, it wouldn't fit. And besides, who wants to be a coward?

"Hey, Hannah, can we talk?" I said. "Your quest. Can it wait?" she said. "I have to get it done today. That's getting close to half-way through, and I still need to find three or four hours to nap before I go there," I said. "I know I promised, but listen," she said. "That's what I wanted to talk about. I think it's best if I go alone. Chimo has a point, we need as many strong people together as we can get. You're probably the strongest one I know," I said. "We cannot lose you," Hannah said. "I do not intend to die. Besides, if it all goes well, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," I said. "Didn't you get bisected immediately after saying that, Obi Wan?" Hannah said. "It's a class thing. And a guilt thing. It shouldn't be anything too difficult," I said. "Sure. The Tower is always so straightforward," Hannah said. "I don't want to put you in danger either. And you will be a lot of help here," I said. "Shit. I guess I really was about to tell you why I couldn't go now anyways. Go then, good luck. If anything at all smells off, you use that new fancy chat system and we will get to you as soon as we can," Hannah said.

Artemis and Clarence saw me off as well, and I was out in the hallways on my own for the first time since I found Chum in the library. They now looked like a war zone, the walls scorched, scratched and befouled by crude graffiti in paint and blood. That the interior still reminded me of a school even with all of this damage made the image particularly grim. We'd fought through the halls several times now, and it was not nearly as intense as the first time, when we'd had to fight for every fifty feet, or else hide in a classroom, but I was on my own now.

Having seen the power and the grace of our melee fighters, I better understood Chum's comment about it being difficult to work with a Mind based build. I was more clear-headed and sharp than I ever remembered being in my life. I could perceive and take in all of the details of the hall, I remembered the path to the library exactly and the spells I knew were all within a moments reach in my memory, but I still walked like I had walked on Earth, if I had to move my body to react to a threat I was still only slightly quicker than the couch-potato that I had been back in my apartment, and if I got hit by a heavy stick I would be just as dead.

I had magic, and that was amazing, but magic was all that I had. It was a powerful tool, but, hell, if I tripped over running away from a creature, I could fall on my face, break my teeth and nose, and lose probably half of my hit points that way. I was the definition of a glass cannon, aside from my abjuration spells, which all had serious limits. The invisible wall was excellent, but it couldn't block off the entire hallway and it still took me three or four seconds to cast. The shield required me to consciously see an attack coming and intercept it, and the seal door spell, of course, required me to be behind a closed door.

No, Hannah and Artemis had saved my life over and over again. I was willing to admit that I was a potent tactical asset, but without the front-line to support, I was just a guy that could throw icicles. I would be worse than a guy with a gun, if I didn't have the invisible magical wall.

So when I say I moved cautiously towards the library, I mean I was bordering on a panic every step. And when I say I was moving ahead slowly, I mean that I ran out of breath after jogging for only a dozen minutes, when both Artemis and Hannah could have sprinted to the library without having to catch their breaths.

I took a special care with corners. The tactic served me well, as when I reached a corner where I had to turn right, I took a moment to stand still and listen carefully. I was so focused on my hearing, in fact, that when I smelled it, I gagged. Smell like rotting meat marinated in a teenage weightlifter's armpit sweat came over me. Then I heard the movement, heavy, sluggish maybe a few dozen feet around the corner. I had no idea what the fuck it was, but I was willing to take the chance in assuming that it was a monster. Let that be a warning to trading card game convention goers everywhere- not taking a shower may lead to magical ice shards cast at you without warning.

I bet on it being much taller than me when I cast my now signature invisible barrier spell. I whispered the incantation and made a low wall covering nearly the entire width of the hallway, leaving as little space on the sides as possible. Then, I moved into view, staff and rod raised to the sides, mid-cast of the icicle spell.

The creature looked as grotesque as it smelled. It was reminiscent of a yeti, but gaunt and long-limbed. Its fur was yellow-white, and its face was like that of a chimp stretched over a football. It was also covered in sores, rotting patches of necrotic flesh, deep enough that I could see bone in several patches on its monstrously long arms. It screamed and charged as it saw me, but the low-rank icicle spell took only a second or so to cast. The icicle went through the thing's chest, but it still came charging at me. The barrier trap worked. It ran straight into the wall, which was just under knee-high for it and fell face first.

This was just according to plan, but I hadn't thought of how tall the creature would be, splayed out flat with its limbs out. I just jumped out of its way, and it crashed into the floor face-first, groaning in what might have been pain, but it was now less than a foot away from me. It grabbed me by the foot, but just didn't have the leverage to swing me around, beating me against the wall like a meat-puppet, but it did drag me down to the floor next to it. At this distance the stench was a goddamned tactical gas attack. My eyes watered and ruined my sight, I would have thrown up if I had had more than a few fruit to eat in the last few days, and I had to consciously force myself to breathe in.

It went for a bite. I cast the icicle spell and split its head apart along the line of its mouth. It died, I rolled and kicked away from it. It really sucked going at this solo. But I lived, and so I kept going. I killed only two more monsters on my way to the library, both lower level and easier to fight than the troll thing. I found the library open. In the doorway between the hall and the library there lay a body of a monster. It was one of those nasty little spike gremlin babies.

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