Tower of Rodger (Job, Solo)

Job Info:

For once the re-quip mage known as Aliarey Casady would find herself in the town of Talonia, a town where many other guildless mages like her often went. She liked it there, thinking it was a lot more laid back than the towns where popular guilds settled, and she had that feeling of fitting in. The jobs were a lot better in other towns however which was why she rarely stayed in Talonia for long. The place that occasionally brought her to the town was not the beautiful sight of the gigantic Solemn Park. It was not the loud and popular Talonia Arena where mages from all over dueled each other. It was also certainly not for the safe haven of Ald Ruhn, although the fact only the guildless could enter was a fact she thought was rather interesting. While the bar was a fun place to be at times it was also not the favored place of the gun mage. No. The place that caught her attention every time she visited was the town’s Black Market.

“Give me a discount?” Aliarey was in the middle of bargaining her way into a new weapon. It was actually a type that she was sure was quite illegal to own, but that was what made it so cool! She had to have it! The problem was that it was way too expensive for her. Her gloved hands moved to be in front of her as they came together to form a praying position. A large smile was on her face as she begged the seller of the weapon to lower the price.

“I told you before, Alia, and I’ll keep on telling. I. Don’t. Do. Discounts.” The old man shook his head as he had to once again tell the young woman no. It was a ritual by that point. She would come to town, check out his new stock, notice she can’t afford it, and then beg for the discount she never got. Perhaps she thought he’d get tired of it eventually and just give it to her. “Why don’t you just join a guild or something? Don’t they have better paying jobs you can take so you can finally stop bothering me about prices?”

Aliarey scoffed at his words. Her? In a guild? They’d probably kick her out even if she did want to be in one. Even then she had no idea which one she would of wanted to be in. They all had some sort of theme or goal going that didn‘t match up with hers. Was there one centered around gathering Jewels and spending it all on some super weapon of doom? Doubtful. “If I was in a guild I wouldn’t even be able to buy these weapons in the first place!” She yelled and slammed her hands on the counter of the display.

“So I’ll never see you here again? Even better! Please, go join one!” The old man laughed and waved her off, turning his attention to another more potential buyer.

“Uggghhh!” Alairey’s head dropped as she slammed her fists on the counter again. She’d be leaving empty handed yet again. Greedy bastard. Maybe next time he would consider going with an IOU. He’d get the full payment eventually so in a weird way it was a more accepting offer than a discount, right? The thought went into her mental storage for later. Now she needed to find something else to do since there was little point leaving town already. She turned and left the weapon market and was quickly caught by a wave of people moving towards some sort of stage set up. It wasn’t a new sight really, but for some reason people were getting really excited over it.

Aliarey followed the crowd and took a place to stand and watch. Her ears caught parts of conversations mentioning something about Beanstalk and Peapods. What was that about? Was it some sort of weird take on Jack and the Beanstalk? Was there going to be an awesome gigantic giant that would smash the place apart for the real thrill audience experience?! That would be a show she would stay to watch! Aliarey felt a wave of excitement hit her and she couldn’t help but hop in place a bit as she waited for the reveal. It was then a short man that reminded her of one of those garden gnomes came onto the stage and introduced himself as the one called Beanstalk. Two elven women followed and they were introduced as Peapods. “Oh,” Aliarey muttered as all traces of excitement painfully left her and was replaced with absolute disappointment. She should of known the best shows wouldn’t be free. Well, it was time to leave and find a place to stay for the time being, or at least that was the plan as she turned her body and took a step away from the crowd.

“Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that the famous guildless gun mage I’ve heard so much about?” A small male voice called out from the stage. Aliarey stopped and turned her blue gaze to glance at the stage. “That is you, isn’t it? Alia I think it was?” The voice had come from the gnome-like man, who was now pointing at her. It was strange for someone to call her out by name when she did not know them. Last she checked she wasn‘t exactly famous either. “Aliarey actually.” The gnome man snapped his fingers at the correction. “Right, right.” He jumped from the stage and ran towards her only to grab her hand and start to drag her towards the stage. “Say a few words for the crowd around here, won’t ya? They’ll love having someone as famous as you start the show.”

Aliarey pressed her feet down to halt the dragging motion and yanked her arm away from the man. Had the guy lost his marbles? She wasn’t famous. She was just an average mage working to fill her own pockets. “Go find one of those world class heroes or something. I’m not famous.”

Beanstalk was shocked at first but his face transformed into one a mischievous character would own.

“Are you not the woman that stopped the murderer Jacob Goodnight?”
“I might have done that.”
“Did you not help that old granny find her favorite book within a labyrinth  of doom filled with short evil hellions that brought absolute terror and was guarded by the very devil himself?
“That’s an odd way of putting a trip to the library.”
“What about the time you defeated the mighty Gingerbread Man and became known as the Conqueror of all Evil and Obnoxious Pastry Delicacies?!”
“I am pretty sure that is not a thing.”
“Do you not recall the time you saved the world from the monstrous beast that was the five foot chicken?!”
“That’s…wait you know about that? Hell how do you know about ANY of that period? Is my dumb iLac set to record everything I do or something?”
“Worry not how I know. Now come, and say a few words to my audience!”

Aliarey found herself once again dragged towards the stage. The crowd around had been watching the conversation and were quite amused by it all. Most already knew who Aliarey was and even though she was famous by no means they pretended she was just to be what she considered as annoying. They cheered and shouted her name to which the woman could only sigh and face palm. Really? She was seriously going to do this? They could of at least paid to get her autograph if they were going to go this far.

Before she knew it she was standing in front of a voice lacrima. All eyes were on her and a silence came over the area as people waited for her to speak.

(Word Count So Far: 1309)

It was at that moment Aliarey realized she had never been in front of a crowd before, let alone one meant for some celebrity. What were Beanstalk and the Peapods famous for again? Were they even that famous? Should she be concerned if she looked completely stupid? It would be quite embarrassing if her little speech ended up being broadcasted. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She wasn’t all too sure what she was supposed to say. Aliarey glanced over at Beanstalk, who just smiled and waved for her to continue. The two elven women standing near the gnome man looked at each other and giggled, obviously finding the gun mage‘s minor case of stage fright amusing. Jeez, it wasn’t as if Aliarey was an expert at opening concerts. How rude. “Hmph,” she grumbled and turned her gaze back to the crowd . She would put those ditzy girls in their place.

Raising a finger to the voice lacrima, Aliarey tapped it a couple of times to ensure it was working properly. Hey, it was what she had seen others do. A loud screech rang through the area from her taps and the crowd and those on stage had to cover their ears. Whoops. A sheepish grin formed on her face but soon disappeared as she forced herself to look more serious. “Uh, hi, everyone. Welcome to-” Her sentence was cut off as a loud rumbling sound could be heard from what seemed to be underground. Within moments the ground started to shake and people began to scream and run away from the scene. Great. What the heck did she do wrong now?

Aliarey’s body wavered as she tried to keep her balance from what seemed to be some sort of earthquake. A high pitched laugh echoed near her and as she turned her head she caught sight of Beanstalk laughing hysterically from where he stood. “You’ve done it! You have unleashed the Tower of Rodger!” The tower of Rodger? The question within her mind was soon answered as a large tower began to expose itself from the ground. A large trapdoor also appeared, indicating that the main part of the tower was still underground. Just what was going on?! Did the concert event and having her speak all happen because she had found Rodger’s tomb? Just how the hell did that man even find out it was her that had found it? And why did the tower react to her voice?

Several questions ran through her mind but her thought process was interrupted when the gnome man spoke once more. “I forgot to mention you are also famous for finding Rodger’s Tomb. Foolish girl. You don’t even know what you have!” The gnome man hopped off the stage and ran for the trapdoor, his two elven woman following him. “Bring the Stone of the World to me within the tower or else!”

Or else what? That question went through her mind as she watched the trio disappear within the tower. She could take a guess that the tower could probably wipe out the entire town. Was Beanstalk trying to bait her by basically holding the town’s safety hostage? It wasn’t as if she was close to anyone within the town. So what if they got hurt! Still, a heavy sense of worry pained her. The people around her were starting to make her soft. Or was it just the potential loss of the local Black Market making her anxious? She’ll just go with that in order to save her reputation.

Narrowing her eyes in slight anger, Aliarey hopped off the stage as well and followed the trail of the gnome and his elves. It was unknown as to what she would find but one thing was for certain and that was she would deal with the problem swiftly and as chaotically as she could manage. That tower was going down.

(Word Count: 652
Total so far: 1961)

New Word Count Figures:
191 Words used for C Rank solo and original turn in
New WC: 461

The member 'Lumindis' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Aliarey dashed her way through the the trap door leading into the Tower of Rodger and entered a straightforward tunnel. The laughter of Beanstalk and the two women echoed through the stony structure but it eventually came to a halt, leaving the re-quip mage in complete silence except for the click clacking of her own steps upon the stone floor. Thankfully the tower had many magical lacrima lights clinging to the walls, lighting the way as she continued her pursuit. An intersection was ahead and as she came upon it her dash halted. She looked to the left and then to the right but she was unsure as to which path the trio had taken. "Ugh! Why does this crap always happen to me?!" Aliarey stamped her foot on the ground in frustration before taking the path to the right.

Her search of the trio continued for a few minutes more. A few stone gargoyles were passed by but she took no notice of the decorations aside from the fact they held onto staves that contained lanterns at their tip, increasing the amount of light along the path. It was not until she heard something quite unnatural behind her that she came to a stop and looked back. The statues were coming alive! Their limbs moved slowly and roughly as they awakened and made no effort to be quiet as their heavy stone bodies made their way towards the gun mage, the intruder of the tower they were set to guard. Clearly she had taken a different route than Beanstalk and the Peapods unless they knew something about the traps within the tower that she did not. The latter was actually quite a high possibility.

Aliarey clenched her teeth as her eyes glared at the five over-glorified rocks coming for her. "Dammit, I don't have time for this!" Her current choice of clothing started to flash brightly and was soon replaced by her Outlaw spell armor. Grabbing a hold of the set of pistols within her hip holsters, she started to fire several shots at the gargoyles. Chunks of stone crumbled off of their bodies but it still was not enough power even with the higher damage her armor provided. It slowed them down a little and pushed them back but it was far from destructive enough to destroy them. Time for plan B.

Calling upon her Mini Turret Disc, Aliarey threw it onto the stone ground in front of herself and allowed it to form into her Gatling Turret. It was a spell she used often and tended to be her main go to spell for situations that needed to be dealt with quickly. She held her hand forward as the turret formed and used her magical energy to clone a second one. An assault of rapidly fired projectiles left the barrels of both turrets and kept breaking apart the set of gargoyles. The mage was not waiting around to see if that was the end of it, however. Her turrets were always set to explode when they were destroyed or used up and that time was coming quick. It was in her best interest to get as far away as possible.

Satisfied the gargoyle problem would be dealt with, Aliarey turned back around and continued deeper into the tower.

(Word Count: 551
Total so Far: 2512)

New WC: 1012

The member 'Lumindis' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

Aliarey felt a descent as she ran through the hallway of the tower. It was likely leading her towards the deep center of it, if she could find the correct path. She had taken several turns and it seemed as if she had been going in some weirdly drawn circle. Nothing else got in her way and she never did run into the concert trio that she pursued. Giving up was a solution to her current problem, but finding the way out was impossible for she did not keep track of all the turns she had made. Going forward was the only plan that seemed worth doing.

Eventually the hallway opened up and led into a room filled with glittering gold and treasure. Why none of it was hidden in the actual Tomb of Rodger was a mystery. Aliarey felt her inner demon of greed awaken within her and force her to come to a stop. A wide grin formed on her face and her blue eyes were wide with utter excitement. With that amount of gold and treasure she would be able to buy that weapon she was looking at for sure! There may not even be a black market at the end of the day but that was just a minor detail. The important thing was to grab as much loot as possible! What should she grab first? There was no way she could carry everything out, assuming if she even found the way out. Hell.

The gun mage headed for a shiny pike of gold but stopped herself. No, she could come back for that. Maybe. Her gaze then shifted towards some rare jewels. That seemed like a good choice! Maybe the golden accessories would be good too? Too many good choices! Naturally, Aliarey went for the worst one she could possibly make. A large treasure chest sat in the corner of the golden lit room and its very presence made her wonder just what was inside. Everything else was literally covering the ground so what was so important that it would be kept away in a chest? She had to find out!

her footsteps quickly took her towards the chest, where she knelt down on her knees and used her hands to try and lift its lid. The only thing she would find from trying to open it was a large purple and slimy tongue escaping from within and wrapping itself around her arms. Several eyes popped out from what she thought were pure decorations and as the lid fully opened two rows of sharp teeth could be seen. A quick surprised scream escaped the woman as it tried to pull her inside with its tongue. Such a creature was something she had only heard about in some tall tale. How was she supposed to know they were a real thing? She placed one of her feet on the Mimic's lower base and pushed herself away as it tried to reel her in. "Oh, hell no! You can get your meal somewhere else. I'm not even getting paid for this!" Her normal weapons were out of her reach due to the tongue being wrapped around her arms, but she could still summon the ones from her magic.

A quick flash of light later and her Ember Revolvers were within her hands. She fired a shot within its opened mouth and as a result it released her as a reaction from the burnt pain it felt. More fire based shots were fired at the creature as it hopped around frantically. It ran into another corner and pretended to be a chest once more. Aliarey could only roll her eyes. It wasn't as if she would be fooled again by the same exact one. The rest of her fire based ammo was used to finish off the creature and the ember revolvers left the normal plane to return to her personal storage. She then left the room behind, suddenly having no desire to take any of the treasure for fear more would just try to eat her. The whole Rodger thing was starting to get on her nerves.

(Word Count: 690
Total so Far: 3202)

New WC: 1702

The member 'Lumindis' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

((Don't see a max roll requirement so forcing the boss with this post))

The descent into the tower's center continued for several more minutes undisturbed. Perhaps Beanstalk and the Peapods had cleared the way of the other guardians of the structure. Still, Aliarey could feel the muscles within her legs burning from the constant running and the amount of time it was taking to find that annoying concert trio. There was no time for a break though and so she kept going until she came upon an even larger opening. Sounds of battle echoed through the halls and she thought she could hear the voices of Beanstalk and the elvish women from before. Finally. A new rush of adrenaline coursed through her and her running pace picked up speed. That is, until she noticed a set of five dormant stone gargoyles standing at the entrance of the room. Aliarey attempted to skid to a halt but her speed had been much too fast and all she managed to do was cause herself to lose her balance and fall forward, crashing right into one of the statues and landing on her butt on the ground. Again with the statues. At least they were not the hell hounds from the tomb.

Before she could regain her composure and stand once more, her eyes saw the statue she crashed into start to awaken and move. The other four soon followed the pattern. Aliarey vs Team Gargoyle round two was commencing. The way she destroyed the first set would not work this time. Her Mini Gatling Turret was, at that particular moment, unusable. A different strategy would be required to deal with the gargoyle guardians. She rolled to the side as the first awakened gargoyle slammed its lantern staff down in an effort to injure her. The second lunged forward as she stood up and knocked her into the nearby wall. Those gargoyles were much too close for the likes of her, a ranged magic user. Grabbing onto the arm of the second gargoyle, Aliarey mentally concentrated her magical energy within her hand and forced it out into a small explosion, destroying the stone arm. With its confusion she knocked it away and jumped back as the other four gathered.

Aliarey grabbed onto the assault rifle that was strapped to her back, aimed it at the closest gargoyle, and fired. That one went down easily enough, crumbling into pieces. Her magic quickly reloaded the weapon as she used it to take down another. There was no time to do it again though as for some reason the gun mage felt her limbs become heavy, as if they were turning to stone. It must of been an effect caused from being smacked by the one that ran her into the wall. "You've got to be kidding me," she grumbled as she dropped her weapon on the ground. Just as she was thinking death by gargoyle while being turned to stone was a stupid way to die, the three gargoyles burst into pieces as a giant shield slammed into them. Her eyes blinked with great confusion at first but her eyes widened as she saw the owner of the shield was a giant minotaur. Okay, she would much rather deal with the gargoyles. Bring those back.

The large creature made no effort to attack her though and simply turned around to enter the large room from whence it came. Another wave of confusion coursed its way through her but she was not going to complain. With the gargoyles gone her limbs returned to normal and once she had her rifle back in her possession she followed the minotaur inside the room. Inside she found Beantalk and the Peapods at the center of the room with the minotaur that had helped her and a second one standing nearby. A large pillar also stood at its center and seemed to have an empty round slot upon its surface.

"About time you got here," Beanstalk commented with a slight hint of frustration within his voice, although a gleeful smile quickly replaced it. From what Aliarey could tell he and the two elves must have defeated the minotaur guardians and now somehow had control over them. "If you had trouble with some normal gargoyles I have no idea how you even got the Orb of the World." Aliarey looked to the side and if she had been in some cartoon an oversized sweatdrop would likely be placed at the side of her head. "Uh, right. That was actually pretty easy." She refused to comment on the fact she only destroyed the tomb hell hounds by causing a cave in rather than actually defeating them.

The gnome-like man motioned to the empty space on the pillar. "Now hurry up and put the orb inside or I'll set this tower to destroy the rest of the town. I didn't have that over sized cow save you for nothing!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't remind me." It really was embarrassing to be saved but such an annoying and short man along with his ditzy groupies. How they defeated the two minotaurs she'll never know and she really didn't want to ask or else she's just look even more pathetic. Aliarey had placed the stone orb in her personal storage dimension long before since it never had much of a use to always be with her. She never even knew what it was for before now and still she wasn't sure what it would do once placed within the pillar. Oh well, she was a take action sort of woman, not a questioner. The Orb of the World appeared within her hand as it transported into the normal plane and without any more delay she stuck it into the empty slot of the tall pillar.

Nothing extraordinary happened once the orb was placed. No rumbling for the opening of a secret room, no crumbling of the ceiling to reveal it was all a trap, no ambushes of more guardians. No. All that happened was a small door magically appearing below the slot of the orb. The door was much too small to travel through as it was simply a small square similar to that of a safe. Inside the safe was nothing more than a book and a small ring. "That's it?! You made me come all the way here for some ring and a dusty old book?" At that moment she wanted to smack the trio with that very book until they were unconscious. What a waste of time for both parties.

Beanstalk took hold of the items with a large smile upon his face. "I finally have! The sky ring!" A maniacal laughter escaped him but was cut off as the room they were all standing in started to shake. Oh, of course the trap only happened once the treasure was taken, not when the lock was forced open. The tomb raider game was getting old. Aliarey leaned onto the pillar to keep her balance but Beanstalk seemed to have lost his. He fell to the ground, dropping the book and letting the ring bounce until it reached the room's exit. Feeling the need to be spiteful, Aliarey grabbed the book, clumsily made her way to the exit, and grabbed the ring. "Have fun being buried!"

Aliarey left the trio inside the room and made her own escape. What? It wasn't as if she were some saintly protagonist in a story that saved even the villains. Heck no! They could get themselves out. Making sure the town didn't go kaboom was her good deed for the day and she only allowed for one majorly pain in the butt good deed into her quota. Anything more than that and whatever being that moved people in its chess game of controlled life was pushing it, and she'd be sure to hunt down that being and shoot them point blank in whatever face they had.

Luck, as selfish as it was in her case, was on her side for instead of needing to remember the way she came all she had to do was go through a secret passage that had opened up near the center room. The roaring sound of the doorway being revealed and opened had caught her attention almost immediately. More so because she thought it had been another sort of monster to add to the chaos. Taking the items from the safe must have revealed it. Or so she could assume. That's how it worked in the stories, right?

The pathway ascended and soon she felt a wave of fresh air hit her as she ran out of the tower. No traps or last minute obstacles stood in her path. That was weird but there was no time to really complain about it, not that she should really now that she thought about it. Aliarey continued her escape to give herself distance from the tower that was now falling into pieces. Once she felt safe enough, the blonde and the other surrounding citizens stoof by and watched. It was all they really could do. "I still don't get why whoever builds these things makes it so the entire thing is destroyed just because someone takes something. Seems like one huge waste of effort..."

"I'm still confused on why that was even built under this city." One person added.
"Or why we... never even noticed it. Don't we have maps of the town for this sort of thing?" Another chimed in.
"It's probably best if we don't think about this too much. I already have a headache."
A unanimous agreement was a made between them all as they nodded their heads and said shrugged those thoughts away.

As it was crumbling, the trapdoor leading into the structure closed, leaving whatever was left inside. Unknown to the gun mage and the rest of the town, Beanstalk and the Peapods had made their own escape and she was likely to run into them once more. But that was a tale for another day. Maybe. She wasn't saving a page in her diary for it. She supposed there would be a day when they could just blast through that trapdoor and explore that stuff more, but eh. No one was really that curious to bother. Maybe they could just hire someone. Not her though. Definitely not her.

"Hey, Aliarey!"
"If you're about to ask me to hand over the ring and whatever this book is, forget it. I can probably sell it for more than you're offering."
"Actually I was about to ask if you still wanted to do that speech thing. It kind of stopped in the middle and you were doing so great!"
Aliarey paled as she remembered that. "Pass. And if there ever comes a time where someone tries to get me to do that again, shoot them for me. Or shoot me if I try. That means I lost lost my mind and so forgot about all of this mess."

(Word Count: 1824
Total: 5026)

New WC: 3526