The day wasn't particurly cold, at least, but being soaked all the way through in a rainstorm was not Fern's idea of a fun outing. To be fair, none of the journey had been particurly fun; but this st bit was really dragging her down.

  The aower stood silently as the raied its stonework exterior, no signs of life or movement ing from within. She'd been splittitentioween it and the irregur stoeps, making sure her footing didn't give way; even in good weather the ast would have proved a difficult one, what with the variety of angles and step sizes. But despite her stant gnces bad forth, she'd seen nothing out of the ordinary; nothing that expihe faiion of being watched that she couldn't quite shake. Maybe it was just her paranoia; it didn't feel like dark magic at work, exactly - not that she had any signifit experieh such things.

  The ing thing about dark magic - darkness in general, pared to her own light alig as a hero - was the subtlety, the iness of it all. Where the light was about raw ford direess, immovable walls and unbreakable bdes in their purest form, the dark was its por opposite: shadows, deception, misdire, fusion. She hated it - all of it. None of it made any seo her - why couldn't everyone just e out and make their iions clear from the beginning? The world would be so much better; people would talk and listen, problems could get solved, no one would have to doubt or misuand anything or try to interpret or infer meaning from the handful of words that someone could barely be bothered to offer...

  Fern sighed, and shook her head, slinging water out of her hair even as more soaked in. It wasn't a problem she had any way of solving. All she could do was hahe missions she took on - and even then, I barely do that much, her inner critic grumbled dourly as she pnted one booted foot on the final step, then another, and turo look across the bridge.

  Calling it a bridge seemed a bit too generous, holy. Without any sort of railings or battlements, barely wide enough for two adults to walk abreast - not that they ever would, sidering the danger i in unstable, unprotected footing this high up - it was more of a catwalk than anything else. She couldn't help w ossessed the inal inhabitant to struct a thing like this in the first pce; surely it could've been properly reinforced?

  The rain intensified a little, enough for her to notice it - and this time she heard thunder, and not too distant. She gritted her teeth, then spat out the taste of rainwater. Ugh, I o get inside as quick as I , before matters get worse out here. She stepped forward cautiously, testing the narre with one foot. Finding the stone firm and unyielding, she tinued a few more steps before breaking into a light jog, which was about as quick as she could move while all weighed down with soggy clothing.

  A sudden gust of wind tilted her, but Fern was already in full motion and so all she suffered was a sharp nce of pain from nding poorly on one foot, which - like all the other disforts - she pushed aside to deal with ter. She kept moving, the p raindrops hissing louder as she he tower, more stone surfaces for them to scream against. Even half-blinded by the weather she could make out the darker shape of aryway with an - somewhere she could get out of this accursed storm. And so despite everything dragging her down, she pushed herself just a little harder, just to get to shelter a moment sooner.

  Skidding through the archway, she felt the air snap from cold ao dry and paratively warm. Despite the ck of a door, some sort of spellcraft clearly kept the weather at bay; even the hissing rain sounded muted, as if heard through several thikets. She was thankful for it, but it did increase the ce that someoill lived here - though simple portal spells like this had long lifespans and very small aetheric drains, so it didn't settle the matter by itself. Leftover spells and artifacts were onpce finds in locations like this - and also, on hazards she'd been expeg, after all. Fortuhis one didn't seem to have any arms attached to it, as far as she could tell; no tangible pulse of aether, no fshing indicators, nothing really. Just a simple barrier betweeerior and interior that let her in easily enough.

  Fern took a deep breath, the out, listening to the soft drone of the rain and the quiet but more pronounced sound of her own clothes dripping steadily onto the stone floor. The warmer air felt incredibly good both inside and out; after the rain began, the temperature had dropped like a stone, and she hadn't really processed it until she felt the difference here. It probably wasn't even 'warm', really, uhe tower had some internal heating meism to make it so - but the difference soothed her tired bardless.

  Her eyes started to close, before she forced them open. Maybe a little too soothing. She couldn't afford to fall asleep here, not before she'd cleared the tower. She could take a nap once she'd done her job; not until then.

  Steeling herself with another deep breath in and a measured exhale, Fern gnced around the tower's interior. She couldn't make out much without a light source, and there weren't any windows to help her, but the archway she'd e in from offered just enough illumination - even in this awful weather - to paint the dim outline of a spiral staircase at the opposite end of the room. From what she could see, it curved up and to her left; ter-clockwise along the inner wall of the tower. Presumably it did the opposite as well - it wouldn't make seo have the rest of the tower below this point be empty, surely - but she couldn't see sharply enough to be certain.

  Shrugging off her traveling pack, she gingerly lowered it by the straps until it rested on the floor, then uhe rear buckle and ope up. Exploration could wait a moment; she o take stock of what she still had before running into the unknown.

  First out came the thickly insuted bundle of the transfer bea. She exami and breathed a quiet sigh of relief to find it both dry and intact, then sat it against the wall, atop the pile of its own packaging. As long as she could keep it safe, she could move on with life.

  , the remainder of her supplies. She wi the sight of that ragged gash in the small satchel, and ope up: just a single densed energy bar and two emergency tabs, all that had survived the journey. She'd packed retively light, and she aying for it now - but at least she'd made it here. Everything had to e sed to pleting the mission.

  Fern quietly she energy bar in half and stuffed one pieto her mouth, chewing rapidly while ing up the remainder with one of the tabs and slipping the little buo her jacket. She'd need both of those sooner rather than ter, no doubt. The other tab she popped into her mouth, washing it and the rest of the energy bar down with as rge of a mouthful of water from her hip fsk as she dared indulge in. Instantly the tightly-packed aether iab burst out, making her shudder violently as it forced its way down the rest of her body, overing the searing pain in her legs and that one ankle she'd twisted on the way in, overwriting it with warmth and fort. Almost too much; she felt her eyes closing on their own again, and harshly dug her nails into her arm to make them stop.

  The emergency tab wouldn't solve her problems, not pletely; but it'd push them off a little longer while givihe magical fuel she o make things happen ierim. Everything else iraveling pack would only slow her down - mostly camping supplies, which she no longer needed - so it was time to be on her way.

  Another deep breath to steady herself, in and out. Fern's clothing was still mostly wet, but no longer audibly dripping; the drier air of the tower seemed to be slowly overing the effects of the torrential downpour at st. That, at least, inspired some fidenbsp; Everything would be okay. She could do this.

  She stood up, straightened her back, shifted her weight to either leg to make sure both were funal - they were, the tab still doing its magic for now - and said a silent prayer to the pao watch over her while she worked to restore her good name. Theepped forward: owice, a third step nding her in the ter of the tower.

  The floor beh her fshed suddenly, a searingly bright pink circur smear - out of which erupted tentacle-like s that snagged her, rapidly winding around every inch of the damp leather of her boots aly pinning her in pbsp; Before she could even reach for her sword, her gloves suffered the same treatment - the s not painfully tight, but ed too snugly to let her move her fingers even the slightest amount.

  No no no, not like this. Not here. Not now. Please, no.

  Fern tried tle, to pull away, but the s refused to budge. Ihey reversed dire, slowly but inexorably dragging her down to one knee, pulling at her wrists until they were pio the glowing stones. Without her sword as a focus, she couldn't cut through them - and even with the extra aether, she was just too tired to fight their pull. Maybe they were draining her aether - she could feel the pain, the exhaustion already starting to creep ba, and the tab shouldn't have run out already.

  Gods, it was so unfair! After everything she'd put herself through, to end up like this before even really starting...

  "Mistress," she heard a voice call out from above - serene and uurbed - "your uninvited guest has arrived."

  "Oho!" The response call grated on her ears - cheerful, dripping with malicious glee. "I'll be down soon."