Elevated

The vote wasn't unanimous, but with the prospect of backtracking for the theoretical possibility of a different outcome was extremely unpopular. As such, the votes came down 41/52 in favor of exploring the elevator, which was updated to 47/58 when Artemis managed to convince the people of Kyrt that they were to participate in the vote and that their vote wouldn't be held against them. I was still pretty sure that they had voted the way that they expected Artemis to prefer, but if we were going to sit here and iron out every bit of social coercion and missing piece of information in the voting process, we'd probably run out of time around 20 minutes before the end of the final day of the challenge.

So then, the next step was to decide who would go first. I volunteered along with every other member of my party as well as a dozen other members of the Guild, which wasn't a great start. Eventually it was decided that one of the people going through should be a member of our party as we had access to the chat feature and the uncanny ability to find out party members. We also decided that they should not be Artemis who should stay behind until the last moment to best organize and lead the teams going through the elevator. Finally, we decided that they should be joined by a group of less experienced and hale guild members, in order to ensure that the weaker members of the guild had as much protection as we could spare.

Zack bowed out, admitting that he was probably not the best choice to scout ahead and report back in once we started to use reason rather than bravado to pick who went first, but the rest of us were pretty equally capable in that regard.

"Look, I should go. I'm the second highest level, and I have the best chances protecting others," I said. "You can die quickly," Hannah said. "Far be it from me to overstate my case, but my abilities are the best suited for a scouting mission. Therefore, this being a scouting mission I should go first, particularly as Ms. Artemis will not be requiring my services in the immediate future," Clarence said. "We're just going in circles. I'll just go and then you can keep fighting about who goes next," Chimo said. "You're right. This isn't going anywhere. Let's draw lots or roll dice, or whatever. There are reasons for each of us to go through first, so let's just leave it to chance," I said. "Just because there are good reasons for each of us to go through, it doesn't mean that they are all equally good," Clarence said. "Alex's right. No time for a presentation with pros and cons," Hannah said.

And so, we rolled dice. There was a minor scuffle between Hannah and Chimo about who could be number one, but we each got assigned a number on my four-sided die. Artemis rolled it though she looked like she was ready to do just about anything else. It came up on a three, which was my number, and my stomach dropped, even as I had argued for going into danger first. I might have no longer officially been a coward, but now that I was volunteered by fate, it didn't seem nearly as exciting.

Then the other four people to come with me were selected. Curiously, both Mr. and Mrs. Xiang volunteered first. They seemed somewhat recovered from their nap and well armed, so I was entirely fine with taking them along. The other two I had never even really spoken to before. They introduced themselves as Kristen Fairweather, a woman perhaps a few years older than me with a bob and a pantsuit and Elijah Helman, a very young, dark-blond haired man who set off my Mormon missionary detector. He seemed to be just old enough to have passed the 'no 18 or under' rule of the Tower. Since he didn't seem to be interested in spreading the good word at me just in this moment, that was good enough for me.

"Alright, everyone, what abilities do you all have?" I said. "It's so embarrassing," Kristen said. "I don't really need to know your title and class, just what can you do?" I said. "Oh! I have a sort of crafting kind of class. I can make these little pellets that explode into gas or a bit of flame. They're really only good for distractions," Kristen said. "That could be useful, though since I'm also more of a utility guy, I'd love to hear the rest of your offensive abilities," I said. "We took your advice, it was very useful, thank you. The spears are very good for killing monsters without them killing us. My better half can also do magic, and I'm not just talking about her looks," Mr. Xiang said. "Oh shush, you, you're embarrassing me in front of new people again," Mrs. Xiang said. "What kind of magic?" I said. "I can do all the rank one and two spells you gave us. The dispelling spell. I haven't tried it, because there's never any magic to use it on," Mrs. Xiang said. "And you two are good at fighting? Compared to the rest of the guild?" I asked. "Pretty good. Not the best," Mr. Xiang said. "And, Elijah, what do you bring to the table?" I said. "Me? Oh, um," he stumbled, "I've spent all of my points on defensive stuff. I- I like the idea of protecting others, it's just…" "It's alright, I just need to know your abilities and limitations, so that we can all get through it alive," I said. "Well, it's just that when it comes time to actually step in to the way of the monsters, it's terrifying, right? So I haven't managed to use my abilities," Elijah said.

For a moment, an evil, treacherous part of myself was frustrated that I had gotten the Coward class, while this guy was strutting around with who knows what kind of a tank specialization, but I stomped it down. There was unhealthy repression of your emotions, and then there was just not letting yourself be an asshole.

"It is fucking terrifying. I ran away from my allies the first time I got into a fight here," I said. I noticed that Elijah had paled at my words, and realized that it had actually been the swearing of all things that'd made him flinch.

"Don't worry, kiddo, we will be the first line. If you can find your courage, that will help you in the future, but let uncle and auntie Xiang take care of you," Mr. Xiang said. "Okay, we're as ready as we're going to be. Let's get in the elevator, Kristen, if you have something like smoke bombs, get those ready, the rest of you, follow my lead. Last chance to change your mind," I said.

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Nobody did. So, I stepped inside the elevator, everyone watching us pass the threshold. My new party joined me, and Elijah pushed the big red button. The doors closed and there was a rumbling.

I'd expected for the elevator to go up or down, because, you know, elevator, but that was not what happened. The box shook and rumbled, but I couldn't actually feel any movement, horizontal or lateral. I looked at my new companions and all of them looked as confused as I felt, until there was a ding and the door opened. The heat from outside struck us like a drawn sword. I started sweating, then the sweat dried off instantly, and I was left heaving for breath for a moment. It wasn't furnace hot, or even sauna hot, it reminded me more of that one trip I had taken to the Grand Canyon in my late teens with my parents. We had gone in the summer, because common sense didn't get invented until after my parents generation, and couldn't bear more than 15 minutes in the sweltering heat. Rather, me and mom couldn't, while dad insisted that it was fine and we'd get used to it and should go on a hike. I remembered sending him an article about a German family dying of heat exposure a few weeks ago, and he insisted that he had no idea why I was showing it to him. If I had explained it, I'm sure he'd say we had never actually gone to the Grand Canyon.

The point being, it was hot, desert hot. And it was bright. For the first few seconds while our eyes adjusted, we couldn't see much of anything outside of the elevator. Then, we saw halls of white marble and sandstone, pillars on the left hand side and white-washed wall on the right. Through the pillars we could see a sort of a garden square, in fact, it was perfectly square in shape as far as I could tell. In the middle of this square there was a fountain with a pool, and around the pool there were beautifully patterned rugs, just about large enough for one person to sit on each, set about a handspan apart from one another. The room fit… five times four, minus one or two, so a little under twenty rugs arranged around the fountain. The floor in the square was covered in fine white sand, deep enough to form a pattern without exposing the floor.

The bright light came from above the square and for the first minute or so I was convinced that it must be the sun overhead, but, of course, they were very powerful electric lights, or something that looked very much like them.

"Alright, no obvious threats. Does everyone have water?" I said. People looked at one another and looked guilty, "It's fine. I'll try a spell for the heat in a moment. Worst case, we drink the fountain water. It'll be better than passing out from dehydration." "What is this place?" Kristen said. "I'm more or less guessing, but I think it's still a school. See the rugs? And when I scried on the notebook, it was also in a school that looked different," I said. "So it's the same thing as before?" Mrs. Xiang said. "Well, the weather's different," Elijah said. "It would make sense if there was a test of some sort. We'll figure it out together with the rest of the Guild, give me a moment," I said.

First I cast the fire resistance spell. It cost almost no mana relative to my mana pool, and while it didn't help as much as I would have liked, at least the burning sensation from the lights above was immediately reduced. I wondered why that was, but didn't know enough physics to make a good guess. I expected it had something to do with radiation, but wasn't heat itself a sort of radiation? Or was it just atoms moving quickly? Was that the same thing? My improved mind attributes didn't put knowledge in my head that I hadn't had before, so I was left without a clue, as I retrieved my Journal and flipped over to the Chat page.

Chat

We've arrived safely. It's really hot here, but nothing instantly deadly. It looks like it might be another type of a school, but none I have ever seen before. -Alex

Did you go up or down? -Artemis

Neither. Or, well, I don't know. I couldn't feel any directional movement. May be a teleportation or a conjuration or something. -Alex

Two experiments a pattern do not make. I shall be proceeding with my own team hereafter. -Clarence Phillips, Esq.

3===D -Hannah

Absolutely not. -Hannah (actually)

I like big butts and I cannot lie. -Hannah

I know your last name. -Hannah

Sorry, just a joke. -Zack

(Transcribed like this it made Zack a lot worse than he actually was. This side conversation was in fact ongoing in the margins while the rest of us talked. The penis was also much better drawn.)

Clarence will send an update with his location once he's through. If everything seems to be as expected, we'll send everyone through in groups with at least one higher level. -Artemis

We'll start exploring. I'll be sure to check this page often. -Alex

Be careful. -Hannah

That- why would you impersonate me for that? Be careful, Alex. -Hannah

"Okay, they know we're through and they'll start sending other parties. Since we didn't end up where the notebook did, it's a safe guess that everyone will end up in a different set of hallways. So we should explore," I said. "Shouldn't we check if we can get back?" Elijah said. "That's actually a good idea. It could send us to a different, more dangerous set of halls is the only thing," I said. "We should check. Would be useful if we know we can escape back to the main Tower," Mrs. Xiang said. "All agreed?" I said. Everyone responded in the affirmative, though Kristen seemed a bit frustrated about it. I didn't take her for much of a direct horizontal democracy enjoyer, but I couldn't hold it against her. "Let's all get back in to the elevator thing," I said and we did. I went to press the button, and found that it was not there. Where the button had been, there was now a hologram or an illusion projecting a perfect visual replica of the button, but it didn't work.

"Worth checking," Mr. Xiang said. "We'll go over every inch of this room first, then if we find nothing, to the next," I said.

We did so. The sand was about five inches deep all through the square. Each of the rugs was made of a soft, warm material, that might have been silk. The water in the pool was very clear and ice cold. I licked a drop off my finger, knowing that it was all but certain that we'd have to drink it to survive within the hour, and, at the very least, it didn't immediately deal me physical damage. It didn't seem like there was anything at all worth finding in the square, and we were just about to move on to the next room, when Elijah shouted "Look what I found," and held up a clay tablet with neat cuneiform inscriptions.

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