“Oh,” I added, “I also am borrowing Professor Orden’s ring of regeneration.”
I was a little worried that she’d want it back, but it was worth mentioning. I didn’t think we had any other healing, as far as I was aware.
She nodded. “You can hold onto that for now. You’re more likely to need it than I am.”
“That’s about it for me. Most of what I can contribute is normal supplies. Oh, I did bring a flask that generates water and a cloak designed to keep the wearer warm, in case we end up camping.”
“Both good ideas.” Derek nodded. “You should stay as far from combat as you can if you don’t have a shroud yet. The improved shield sigil is a good idea, but it’s far from perfect. Orden, you want to go next?”
“Sunstone-level Enchanter. I have a variety of useful devices, but I’m not going to list every one of them.”
I frowned. “Aren’t you also a Summoner?”
Orden wrinkled her nose. “Where’d you get that impression?”
“All the teleporting?”
She shook her head. “Ah. I can see why you might presume that, but summoning and teleportation are similar, but not identical. Extremely powerful Summoners can teleport, but I can’t claim to be one. I do have a second attunement for that purpose. I’m a Wayfarer. It’s a Dalish attunement focused exclusively on mobility and teleportation.”
That answered a lot of questions, but it raised a few others. Nothing I needed to worry about immediately, though.
Orden folded her hands. “I suppose it’s safe to assume I will be able to teleport us short distances within the tower, but I require an anchor to teleport to. A person or object I’m familiar with is best. I may or may not be able to teleport us out of the tower if we are in a dangerous location. It depends on if the room we’re inside is currently sealed. You should not expect me to be able to provide us with a reliable escape.”
I nodded along with that answer. I had my return bell in case of emergencies, but it had similar restrictions.
Orden turned to Jin. “I believe you are next, Jin.”
“You may know that I carry two pistols and I am capable of using them with a degree of skill. I have several other basic items of Corin’s design, mostly focused on illusions and detection.”
Derek nodded. “Sounds good. What’s your attunement?”
Jin clenched his jaw. “Apologies, but I would rather not say. Professor Orden is aware of my situation and my reasoning.”
I frowned at that. I’d been assuming he was keeping his attunement concealed because he was in Spider Division, but this situation was potentially dangerous. That seemed far more important than a training exercise.
Orden nodded to Jin and turned to Derek. “I can confirm that Jin has a good reason for keeping his attunement private for the time being. Jin, if the situation is desperate enough, you may need to use your attunement regardless.”
Jin dipped his head just slightly. “I understand.”
Still being painfully mysterious, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. Given Jin’s encounter with Katashi, I was beginning to wonder if Jin might work for Katashi directly. Katashi was the patron visage of Dalenos, after all, and Jin had claimed to have the surname Dalen. Since he’d insisted he wasn’t royalty, that left several other options — and being a government agent or a servant of Katashi were both options that made concealing his abilities logical.
Orden turned to Vera next. “Well, if Jin is going to be pointlessly evasive, I suppose Vera is next.”
Vera shrugged. “Not much to say. Sunstone, for what little it’s worth. I’m just an Analyst. I can rapidly gather and process sensory information. Makes me good at reading through data and remembering it, but I’m not much of a fighter. Most practical skill in the tower is probably finding hidden passages, items, and that sort of thing.”
That made some sense. It sounded similar to a Diviner, but more focused.
We spent a moment in contemplation, each of us assessing the other members of the group, before Derek finally broke the silence. “We ready to do this?”
“Ready enough,” I replied. “I hope.”
Another two hours later, six of us stood outside the tower.
Sera and Derek were bristling with energy, looking eager to get inside.
We each signed a paper with the Soaring Wings at the gate.
Under Professor Orden’s instructions, Vera used a false name on the paperwork. If there really were government agents that didn’t want her going into the tower, we couldn’t afford to have them find out and send someone after us.
After signing the paperwork, I excused myself briefly to find a public washroom before we entered the tower.
While I was very close to losing my lunch over the teleporting, that wasn’t why I needed a washroom. In truth, I just needed a private location.
Closing the door, I found a utility closet large enough to stand inside, and removed the rod that was connected to my return bell. It wasn’t an ideal location, but I’d completely forgotten to ask Professor Orden where to put it. I didn’t want Derek to know about the retreat method, so I couldn’t ask while the whole group was together.
At least I’d have a way out of the tower, even if appearing here would be a little bit awkward.
Realizing that I wouldn’t be alone again for a while, I checked my book. No reply yet. Unfortunate, since I was in dire need of any additional information I could get.
With that, I made my way back to the group.
“Everyone ready?” Professor Orden asked.
We gave her a series of affirmative replies.
“Good.” Professor Orden turned to Derek, handing him a jeweled ring.
He accepted it with a frown. “What’s this?”
“Just an emergency measure. Focus some gray mana into it if you need to get us out. If I’m incapacitated, we’ll need another way to teleport out of here.”
Guess I’m not the only one thinking about emergency escapes.
I wondered if it worked exactly like a bell. The ring was too small for me to see the runes on it.
I turned my head to Orden. She gave me a nod and a grin.
I nodded in return.
And with that, the six of us stepped into the tower.
Chapter XX — Serpents
I found myself inside a circular white room, four tremendous support pillars forming a square within the circle. The pillars reminded me of where I’d first encountered Katashi. That was my destination now. He said he’d find me there, although I didn’t know if he’d be waiting there (doubtful) or simply check in at some point to see if I’d arrived.
It would have been nice to have a way to just contact Katashi and tell him to come pick Vera up at the entrance, but based on his prior behavior, I expected that any deviation from the plan was likely to antagonize him.
I considered using the book to contact the Voice of the Tower again and now that I was inside, but the Voice had been clear that I wasn’t supposed to let Professor Orden know that the book existed. This was a bad enough situation that I was tempted to do it anyway, but I decided against doing it immediately.
I did have the Jaden Box, but I didn’t have anything strongly connected to him that I could use to try to summon him…and I already knew that summoning a visage was a terrible risk.
Could I stick my branded hand in the box and use that as a summoning focus if I needed to? Maybe, but I didn’t know if I had to close the box’s lid, and I didn’t feel like losing my hand unless I really needed to. That sounded rather uncomfortable.