WOLVERINE AND SPIDER-MAN RPG ISEKAI EPISODE 10 : SUMMER
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…Water…
…he was in the water…
…no… more than that. He was water.
His hands were bloody.
…why?...
…then again…why not?...
…where was he?...
Suddenly a figure was standing before him.
Logan awoke.
He was in the inn. Spider-man and Nih were tucked away and sleeping in their own beds in the small four-person room. Feet and legs were curled to chests and hanging over mattress edges as the beds were all dwarven sized.
The faces of his sleeping companions were gently illuminated. Something in the room was glowing. Silently stepping out of bed and onto the cold stone floor, the mutant made his way over to his discarded gear. There, in his belt satchel was a forgotten soul gem. He thought he had returned them all to the Abbey of Lady Gilma but a particularly small one seemed to have been left behind.
Logan picked it up. The tiny shard of crystal was glowing an eerie violet. It was making a hollow ringing noise, singing almost. It was… so sad.
Logan looked over the tiny gem. Then without hesitation, he crushed it between his fingers.
Fading in from the darkness, a figure spawned before him.
It was a woman. She was beaten, bloody, deformed and swollen. Her feet hovered, hanging limply not touching the ground.
Logan spoke quietly.
"Hi darlin'," he said his voice warm with compassion. "You were visiting me in my dreams weren't ya?"
The broken neck of the woman nodded.
"I know your probably eager to get to wherever you're going, but before you go I could use your help. Know anything about this Summer guy?"
She nodded.
Her feet not even moving, the figure turned and started floating away from him and out the room. Logan followed her down the stairs and through the empty midnight streets of Little Monds.
Eventually he was led back to Wheznet's shop. He followed the gliding figure through the front door, into the back, down through the bloody chained filled basement and to the back room. It was Wheznet's secret office.
She stopped.
"What's in here?" asked Logan. "The authorities already cleaned this place out."
She turned to make eye contact with him, then she hovered backwards, stopped, and pointed directly below her.
Logan considered her. Then hunched down to look at the floor where she was pointing.
He found a loose slab. Moving it to the side, he revealed a hidden hole filled with letters.
He looked back to the figure.
"Thanks darlin'."
With that she disappeared.
"Snail ears. Oh my snail ears," said a calm voice as something poked him.
With a grumble Spider-man came to. In his bleary vision he looked up to see Nih smiling over him like a cat.
"Good morning my snail ears."
"Nih," he grumbled. "What?"
"I believe it is time for us to awaken."
"Mmmm,"
"Wolverine has already left some time ago."
"How do you know that?"
"It woke me up."
"You've been watching me sleep haven't you?" asked Spider-man dead panned.
"No."
Spider-man raised a groggy eyebrow.
"Well I mean, not exclusively. I've also been listening to you sleep."
"What‽"
"You talk in your sleep. It's rather adorable."
"Oh my gosh. Did I say anything embarrassing?"
"I'm not sure. I don't know what you consider embarrassing. I find it endearing that you have such a close relationship to your aunt. Who is Jay Jay? It sounded like he was quite cross with you. I can help you settle a dispute if you would like."
"Ugghhhh," moaned Spider-man face planting in his pillow.
"Now come along snail ears. Time for breakfast. You and Logan said you'd share last night's events with us."
"Oh yah," said Spider-man peeking his eye out. "You were wasted last night. Hey why aren't you hung over?"
"I am."
Still rubbing an eye Spider-man, followed by Nih, ducked as they made their way down the stairs toward the dining room.
"'Bout time you dragged your sorry asses down here," said Logan as he, Wyn and Boksee were already gathered at a table. The women both looked absolutely miserable. Wyn was nursing a hot tonic and Boksee was slumped over, her face in her elbows.
"You two look like you've seen better days," said Spider-man.
"Webs, I don't want to hear one judgmental quip out of you," Wyn grumbled pointedly.
"Oh," said Spider-man putting a hand to his chest in fake offence. "You mean I'm not allowed to scold my paladin companion on her overindulgence in spirited libations?"
"No," she said bitterly.
Boksee, still looking positively green, snickered.
"Why aren't you feeling last night?" asked Wyn to Nih.
"Oh I am."
"Well you don't seem like it."
"That's what I said," said Spider-man.
"But do not fret," said Nih as he and Spider-man sat.
Pleasantly, the dark elf pulled a ceramic bowl from his large leather satchel and set it on the table. With a hum in his voice, he then started pulling herbs and tiny bottles of liquid and powders from his bag and started mixing them into a brew. Finally, after a healthy pour of water he put his hands to either side of the bowl and magically began heating the liquid within until it bubbled and boiled.
"And here we are," said Nih waving away the heat and steam from his concoction.
Carefully, he took a long sip of the hot liquid.
"Ah, that should help. Here you are," said Nih handing the bowl to Boksee.
"You can make a hangover remedy?" she asked perking up.
"Oh yes. I've had much use for it over the years."
"Will you teach me?"
"Certainly."
Boksee took her drink and grimaced at the heat and foul taste but her face almost immediately lightened.
"Wow, I can already tell it's helping. Here Paladin."
Wyn, just as miserable as Boksee and supposedly Nih took it and drunk what was left.
"Ahhh," she groaned with relief. "You're a life saver."
"Now that we are on the mend," said Nih. "You must tell us the events of last night," he said at Wolverine and Spider-man.
"Yah. How did you two end up fighting a giant clockwork golem?" asked Boksee.
"Well," said Logan. "It started when I woke up from the worst hangover. You all were plastered off your asses and Spider-man was…"
As the server brought out a hearty dwarven breakfast of porridge, sausages, and roasted root vegetables, Wolverine and Spider-man recounted their battle against Wheznet and his golems.
"And that's about it," said Spider-man. "Wheznet died of his injuries."
"He knew Summer," said Logan. "But he wasn't Summer."
"What a scrap," said Boksee. "Sorry I missed it."
"A man lost his life in it. It wasn't a game," said Spider-man seriously.
"Dwarf," corrected Wyn.
"Uh, right, dwarf," said Spider-man.
Boksee sighed but nodded.
"Right," she agreed.
"Don't be such a buzzkill," said Logan, his fanged teeth ripping off a hunk of sausage.
"You're one to talk," said Spider-man.
"Did the authorities turn up anything useful in the investigation?" asked Wyn.
"No," said Spider-man. "Nothing we didn't already know about."
She sighed.
"So there goes our lead. Back to square one."
"Nwwww," gargled Wolverine through a full mouth.
"What?"
He swallowed.
"I said nope." He threw out a stack of letters onto the table.
"What are these?" asked Wyn as the entire party looked surprised.
"Not sure. Can't read 'em. There's some schematics, I know that."
Wyn took them.
"How did you get them?"
"Ghost showed me."
"Who's Ghost?" asked Spider-man.
"What? No, I mean a ghost showed me."
"A ghost showed you?" asked Boksee skeptically.
"Yep."
"I saw it," said Nih.
"What?" asked Wyn.
"Yes. She woke me up."
"Ew! It was in our room?" cried Spider-man.
"Yes."
"Why didn't ya come?" asked Wolverine.
"I wanted to sleep some more."
"Anyway…," said Wyn perturbed but getting back on track. "The writing's all in dwarvish," she said disgruntled. "Anyone know it?"
"I know gnomish but that probably doesn't help us," said Boksee.
"We could just ask a dwarf," said Spider-man.
"I can read dwarvish," said Nih.
"Oh thank goodness."
"Though only at a conversational level I'm afraid. And my pronunciation is very poor."
He took the paper and read it over.
"It says,
My Dear Friend Clockwork,
The newest pieces you've sent me fit perfectly. I am truly fortunate that such a skilled mechanist has joined me on my cause. Below are the final pieces I believe I will require. As you have seen, I have gone ahead and sent you a…" Nih Struggled to figure out a word for a moment. "Oh! …vessel of mana. I believe it should be enough for you to finish your excellent work.
- Yours Truly, Summer
"Huh," said Logan. "So old Wheznet wasn't even one of the season guys."
"Oh yah. There's more than the two of them. If there's Spring and Summer, then there's got to be Autumn and Winter right?" asked Boksee.
"Logically, I'd say so," said Spider-man.
Wyn was looking over a few of the other letters.
"Oh here it is!" she said pointing out a stamp. "These letters are from the Ozero Lake outpost."
"Where's that?"
"Around Ozero Lake somewhere," said Boksee.
"Obviously," said Wyn rolling her eyes. "Let me take a look," she said rummaging through her bag and pulling out a large scroll. She unrolled it to reveal a map. After looking it over for a few minutes she spotted it.
"Here," she said pointing. "Looks like it's about a two-day hike to the south west."
"Oh my aching feet," said Spider-man.
"Stop your whining," scolded Logan.
"Hey, I get like zero arch support in these things," said Spider-man pointing to his socked feet.
"So you've said," said Nih.
"So looks like we got the trail again," said Wyn.
"But are we really going to follow it?" asked Boksee. The group looked to her surprised.
"Are you serious? We've come all this way."
"I know but I've been thinking. I mean, Adaliz was no joke. We just barely made it out of there. Logan almost died."
He scoffed.
"Do we really want to go looking for trouble? Just throw ourselves in there like that? Like you said Spider-man. It's not a game," she continued.
Spider-man and Logan looked to each other.
"We understand if you don't want to," said Spider-man. "But Wolvie and I have to follow it. It's the only lead we have on how to get home."
"What do you mean?" asked Nih.
"Oh yah, we never told you. We…uh…we're from well…somewhere very far away. Very very far away. So far away we never even heard of Strana."
"And we have no idea how we got here," grumbled Logan.
"What do you mean?" asked Nih again.
"We just woke up in the river one day," said Spider-man.
"In the river?" asked Wyn. "Never heard that part."
"Yes you did," said Spider-man.
"Yep that river in Ashen," said Logan ignoring him. "Woke up. Didn't know where we were. Found a town. Started taking quest so we didn't starve."
"You make it sound so casual," said Boksee.
"Anyway," continued Spider-man. "We found this amulet in some runes in Ashen. Wolvie's sure those runes on the river had something to do with it."
"Still sure."
"And Lord Adaliz, aka Spring had the same amulet," Spider-man tried his best to explain.
"And Summer has one too. Remember the marks on the tree," said Wyn.
"Oh yah."
"Maybe they all have one."
"Oh and there's something about the forty-year-old bones of a crazy philosopher," added Boksee to Nih's confused face.
"Oh yah that too. Anyway long story short we have no idea how we got here and we think the season guys might have something to do with it. That's all we got," said Spider-man with a sigh.
"Even if it weren't our one lead, ol' Adaliz was up to some dark shit," said Logan. "You saw what he was doi'n' to people. I ain't gonna let anyone out there treat people like animals…or worse. No matter what world I'm in, I'll stop it. And I'm bett'n his pals are up to something just as bad."
"We already know they are," said Nih. "Who we believe is Summer almost killed the Warrark tree."
Wolverine huffed.
"There you are with your tree again. We are never gonna agree that a tree is the same as a human."
"Then we must agree to disagree. Anyway. As I said. I will definitely be accompanying you. This Summer fellow damaged the tree and the entire Warrark forest."
"Ugh, always could use another man I guess," said Logan. "Uh, elf. Even if he's fight'n for a tree's honor."
"And I'm included here too right?" asked Spider-man. "I mean what else would I be doing?"
"I'm not letting you three wander off without me," said Wyn with a chuckle.
"Well sounds like you all have your minds are made up," said Boksee. "Guess ol' Summer better watch out."
Using their new but well-earned wealth of coin, the team resupplied. After which, they said their farewells to their dwarven friends and departed.
Just as Wyn said, it took about two days of traveling through the forests and fields of Southern Strana. The roads were long, the forests lush, green, and endless, and the night's campfire warm and welcomed. Long days of walking finally yielded their reward, a small wooden sign with the words Ozero Outpost gracing their path. A few more hours and a lone wooden tower emerged amongst the lakeside trees.
With heavy steps the team approached the door and knocked.
A surprised but cheerful pair of outpost men eagerly welcomed a set of visitors inside.
Nih and Spider-man stood around the small central room. Logan was looking over some maps and Wyn and Boksee were seated on a couch next to one of the outpost men.
"By thunder," he said. "You all are a sight for sore eyes. I haven't lain eyes on a lady for six months."
"You're too kind," said Wyn shortly.
"So what can we do for you two gals?"
"You know we're here to," said Spider-man.
"Is the elf a male or female?" whispered an outpost man to Spider-man.
"I'm male," said Nih pleasantly.
"Darn. I can never tell with dark elves. I was hoping she was just really tall."
"You'd like that wouldn't you Varn?" asked the other outpost man.
"Is that racist?" asked Spider-man.
"I've been called worse," said Nih.
"Doesn't mean you've got to take it," said Spider-man.
"Anyway," said Varn apparently. "What can we do for all of you?"
"We were looking for who mailed these letters," said Wyn handing them to them.
"Oh, said Varn. "Yah, it's a dwarven recluse. He has one of his servants deliver his mail here every so often. He's the only fellow that lives up this way."
"Do you know where he lives exactly?"
"Only that it's about a day's travel to the south."
"Hm, looks like we're going to need a tracking ranger," said Wyn. "With maybe the hound's nose of a werewolf barbarian," she added on winking toward Wolverine.
"Got somethin' in your eye tuts?" said Logan deadpanned.
"Well," said Wyn standing. "Best to put the road behind us."
"You don't have to leave so soon," said Varn.
"Gentlemen, to the woods!" she declared ignoring them.
The outpost men waved them on as the adventurers departed into the forest.
Not too far along, and Boksee was able to pick up a trail.
It was much slower going than the clear path of the road, but with only a few hiccups, the team was able to steadily follow the foot trail and the small markers the servants must have left to find their way.
Another night of camping and the team suspected they were getting close to their destination.
"So, Summer," said Boksee. She watched with joy as she spotted, in a tree, a miniature wyvern bringing back burnt meat to its dragonlings.
"It's a season," said Spider-man.
"A nice season," said Nih.
"A hot season," said Logan.
"You guys are so bizarre," said Wyn.
"So Summer," said Boksee again a little more firmly.
"It's a…"
"Don't you do it," she snapped at Spider-man, who laughed. "Do you think he's a wizard like Spring was?"
"Well, Summer said they had a shared cause," said Wyn.
"Yah but Wheznet was kind of in on it, and he wasn't a wizard…right?" asked Spider-man.
"Right," said Wyn.
"I think the most important question is what do we plan to do with Summer when we encounter him?" asked Nih.
Logan gave Spider-man a look.
"Well…" said Spider-man.
SPIDER SENSE!
Spider-man grabbed his head and screamed as he fell to his knees in the dirt.
"Kid what's- "
An enormous explosion erupted in the distance. In an instant they were engulfed in a wave of burning ash and rammed by the shock wave. The team went flying.
Logan came to.
His eyes fluttered opened then quickly shut again as tears welled up behind his lids. He was face deep in hot ash.
Reaching up to wipe his eyes, he found that something large and heavy was laying across his back. He was pinned under a tree, and he was alone.
"TEAM!" he barked.
He tried to push the tree off him but it was too heavy. He tried to cut himself free but he wasn't able to turn himself into a capable position.
He snarled, panted, clawed and felt himself verging on feral.
Suddenly a metal boot clonked beside him.
"Hold on Claws," said Wyn.
She forced a fat branch under the tree and with their combined strength, were able to roll it off him.
Logan shot up with a snarl, claws ejected.
"Easy barbarian!" shouted Wyn.
He looked to her. She had a bloody gouge across her face. He looked to the forest. Trees were felled and snapped all around them.
"Where's everyone else?" he barked
"I don't know yet."
"Kid!" shouted Wolverine starting off through the mangled landscape. Wyn ran to catch up behind him. "Darlin'! Elf boy!"
"Here!" called a weak voice.
Wyn and Wolverine looked at each other unsure if either of them had heard anything.
"HERe!" the voice called again with more force.
They took off toward the sound. Jumping across and under felled trees, kicking up clouds of fine ash with every step, they finally spotted Boksee limping toward them.
Logan ran up and grabbed her.
"Darlin' ya hurt?" he demanded.
"Yah," she panted. "Landed on my leg wrong. A few bruises. Where's everybody else?"
"We…"
"We're here," said Nih.
Nih being supported by Spider-man made their way toward them.
"You hurt?" asked Logan.
"I'm not," said Spider-man. "My head's killing me but I'm just a little scraped up."
"I think I've broken a rib," said Nih breathless. "Or two. I'm glad to see we are all still in one piece."
"That's one way to put it," said Wyn.
"Let me take a health potion and I'll tend to the rest of you," said Nih as Spider-man helped him sit.
He rummaged through his large satchel and pulled out a thick crimson vile. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself then tipped the bottle downing it. He grimaced and shivered moaning in pain, grabbing his ribs but in a moment the pain visibly subsided.
"Can you not heal yourself?" asked Spider-man.
"No. Healing doesn't work that way. I add mana to the injured's body. I can't add mana to my own body."
The group nodded as Nih stood.
"Everyone on the ground. Gather around me," he instructed.
"I'm good," said Logan.
"Right. The rest of you, to me. I perform a group spell."
Wyn, Boksee, and Spider-man sat on their knees around the druid.
Putting his hands together, Nih started singing in elvish. After a few lines his hands began to glow a warm red. He tossed them, like he was showering the group with flowers and, in response, his magical aura flowed out in a wave that encompassed the three other adventurers. Their wounds glowed the same red then did a good bit of healing. It hurt but not as much as health potions did. Not back to a hundred precent, but a lot better, the team stood.
"Thanks," said Spider-man.
"You are welcome my snail ears. I only have enough mana left for three more major spells. I do have a potion of mana but I'd like to save it unless absolutely necessary."
"Understood," said Wyn.
"Come on everyone," said Wolverine. "Let's look into this."
The team started toward the blast zone.
"Wait, we're walking toward the massive explosion?" asked Boksee. "It just took out the forest. We were just barely out of its reach here."
"Gotta figure out what the fuck that was," said Logan matter of fact.
"We'll be dead if it happens again," argued Boksee.
"Yah," said Spider-man shrugging. "But what are the chances of it happening again?"
"Hm fair," said Boksee.
The team ventured forth.
The forest was mutilated and bent. The further they walked the more damage there was. The ash that blanketed the ground grew thicker and thicker, rising all the way to Boksee's knees. Eventually it began to rain from the sky like filthy snow.
"What could have done this?" asked Boksee. She gasped as they came across the first dead animal. The mother wyvern was skewered onto a tree branch.
"An abomination of nature," said Nih staring down at the dead creature with hatred.
The ground and the ash that covered it was getting hot now. The trees became burnt and blackened, some with fires or hot embers still glowing. Charred corpses were visible every so often burned or twisted onto the trees.
Cresting a hill they finally saw the source of the explosion.
The adventurers' eyes went wide. Their jaws slipped open. Breaths caught in throats as they stared.
Wyn was the first to speak.
"What is that?" she gasped.
Completely engulfing the ground below in a lake of shadow, rising hundreds of feet into the sky like a great black monolith, a massive spire floated stories above the ground. It was surrounded by spell rings and rotating rune stones. At the top shifting glass lenses slowly moved in and out of place and at the bottom, what appeared to be the barrel of a canon loomed ominously above the land below.
"That's a super weapon," said Spider-man wide eyed.
"What's that?" asked Wyn turning to him with a start.
"Just what it sounds like tuts," said Logan. "It's a weapon that can do damage on a huge scale. That's what just blew up this forest, and I'm bettin' in one shot too."
"By the divine," she gasped.
"We've got to stop this thing. Here and now," Spider-man suddenly declared. "If this thing got anywhere close to a city…"
"It won't," growled Logan. "Alright team."
He and Spider-man steeled themselves. The rest of the group looked at them in disbelief.
"Are you all insane?" cried Boksee. "How are we supposed to stop it‽ We're just a party of adventurers! And not even high-ranking adventures. Our best is a bloom'n silver! We've got two sapphires! We're five people. We'd need an army of platniums to take that thing down!"
"Look," said Wolverine. "Me and kid, we may not be the best adventurers out there, but what we are, are a couple of guys that make work of clowns like these weekly," he said throwing a thumb at the super weapon.
"Wolvie's right," said Spider-man. "And you're right too. A team of adventurers couldn't take this thing down. So today, you all are super heroes."
"What does that mean?" asked Wyn.
"You wanted to know what we did back home," Spider-man said looking her dead in the eye. "Well this is it. We stop the bad guys. No matter what."
"I ain't sure I'm no hero," said Wolverine looking to the side. "But kid's right. You don't fight for money, or even for the glory, most people don't even know you ever did anything,"
"Some people even hate you," added Spider-man.
"You fight for the people beside you. You fight because it's right."
"You fight the fights only you can. Right now we are the only people that can take this thing out before it gets loose on the public," said Spider-man pointing behind him. So we have to be the ones to do it. That's what it means to be a hero. No matter the odds, you give it a fight."
"Even if you three dip out, kid and I, we're goin' in. Right?" Wolverine asked to Spider-man. He extended a fist
"Do you even have to ask?" he said bumping it. They gave each other a quick nod.
Nih, with a serious and even frightening demeanor none had ever seen from him before stepped forward.
"This thing is an abomination that could destroy the very balance of nature," he snarled. "If there's a chance of taking it down, I'm in."
Nih firmly put his hand in the pile.
Exhaling, Wyn took a long look toward the spire. Then she frowned in determination.
"Purging darkness from this world is what I swore to do. I'm in too," she said putting her metal clad hand in.
The team looked to Boksee.
She made a face and sighed.
"We all are probably going to die," she said making a concerned face.
"There's usually a strong chance of that," said Spider-man.
Wolverine chuckled.
Boksee put her hand in the pile.
With a great deal of apprehension she declared.
"Ol' Summer better watch out."
Spider sense!
"GET DOWN!"
Spider-man yanked his entire team to the ground in a poof of ash.
A bright molten beam of red energy shot down from the spire. The team closed their eyes and shielded their heads, curling into balls as a wave of ash and debris thundered over them. It was fiery hot and abrasive as it scraped across their skin, but they were unharmed.
The team raised their heads to see a huge hunk of earth was cleaved from the ground. Lava pooled at the bottom of the new crater.
Their eyes went wide.
"Ok," said Spider-man as the team huddled outside, or at least they hoped it was outside, of the current blast zone. The second strike had been much smaller, more concentrated than the first. Otherwise, they would have been dead.
"So for a thing like this we have to take it down from the inside, just like the golem," he continued.
"We take it down strategically," said Logan drawing on an ashy rock. "It may use magic but it's still just a machine. It's gonna have parts that do certain things. We gotta figure out what those parts are. Which are the most important and how to absolutely fuck them up."
He finished his drawing of the spire.
"Oh oh, can we call it the fire spire?" asked Spider-man.
"What?" asked Logan.
"Well we gotta call it something."
"We ain't fuck'n call'n it that."
"I like it," said Boksee.
"As do I," said Nih.
Logan groaned.
"Fine. Whatever. What do we know about it so far?" he asked.
"It's got an array of lenses at the top," said Spider-man. "I'm betting the fire spire refracts sunlight into a beam and uses it as the primary source of combustion. Which lenses used determines the power and width of the blast."
"Sounds like something ol' Wheznet would have had a hand in creating," said Boksee.
The team nodded.
"So if we take out the lenses we take it out?" asked Wyn.
"That," said Spider-man or we just weaken it. Or maybe make it explode."
"Well that could be something we want," said Nih.
"What else?" asked Wyn.
"The spire itself is built like a gun barrel," said Logan.
"What's a gun?" asked Boksee.
"Oh, um. It's like a hand-held canon. We got 'em back home. Point is, it funnels the blast. What are the rocks for?"
"Those are rune stones," said Wyn. They serve as a stabilizing site for spells.
"How are they floatin'?" asked Logan. "Is it magic?"
"Yes," said Nih. "The fire spire seems to be controlled by a series of spells. The rune stones keep them in place but there must be a central source of mana. It's what's fueling its power and by the size of it, it must be a truly monstrous source. The largest source of mana I've ever seen. It must be what the tree was drained for."
"What could hold so much mana?" asked Wyn.
"Mana vessels are typically crystals," said Nih. "It must be quite a gem."
"That makes sense," said Spider-man. "Refracted light through a crystal to form a laser beam."
"Can we take out the crystal?" asked Logan.
"No," said Nih. "It will explode. That one will definitely explode and kill us all."
"No, but literally. Can we actually take out the crystal? Like physically take it out of the spire?" asked Spider-man.
"I suppose it would depend on how it's kept in there," said Wyn.
"It's probably floating," said Boksee. "Right?" she asked to Nih.
"Oh yes," said Nih. "The runes are floating so the source is floating."
"Magic," said Spider-man nodding.
"Magic," groaned Wolverine.
"If we take out the runestones will the source fall?" asked Wyn.
"I believe so," said Nih. "It will also destabilize the spells."
"Ok," said Logan. "We take out the light. We take out the stones. Is that it?"
"The falling mana vessel may fall to the ground. If it shatters it will explode," said Nih.
"What kind of explosion are we talking about?" asked Logan.
"I don't know," said Nih. "I've never encountered a mana vessel of this size. As I said, all I know is that we will most certainly die."
"Well that's great."
Logan thought for a moment.
"Alright. I think I've got it. Here's the plan," he said drawing in the ash.
Completely engulfed by its monstrous shadow, the team stared up at the floating spire.
"Right team. We gotta do this fast," said Logan over the cranking sound of it. "We got no way of knowin' when that thing will fire again or when it might start gettin' its legs under it. Everyone ready?"
"Ready!" they shouted in unison.
"Go!"
Nih ran towards the hovering base of the spire.
"By the gusts of the plains," he shouted sliding down the crater. "By the winds of the storm, by the gale of the hurricane. Blow!"
He sent out a storm front of wind cooling the small pit of lava beneath the spire just as he landed on it.
He stared up directly under the barrel of the spire. A flaming red crystal, the size of a boulder loomed in the shaft hundreds of feet above him.
"Hm," he grunted.
"By the soil that builds form and the water that brings life, may these plants bend and grow!" he commanded in a booming voice. "GROW!"
He began to twist and spin willing deep roots from the edges of the crater to emerge and spread and reach toward him in a growing woody spiral.
Spider-man, using all the strength of his spinneret, sent out a web line and was able to snag the very bottom of the spire. He flung himself up to it and in a full sprint, started running up the side. Gravity fought him the entire way and eventually he lost too much momentum. Halfway up the spire and he was forced to crawl.
This thing was as tall as a skyscraper.
"Hey! What what's that?"
There on the side of the spire. It was a…well…a cockpit. It was a room built into the side.
Spider-man gasped.
He webbed over to it, broke a window and entered.
The room was empty.
"Huh," said Spider-man. "No one's driving," he said surprised.
He hopped out and continued his climb.
"And you're sure these can knock 'em out?" asked Wolverine to Wyn holding a spare bow and quiver.
They had stayed back on the hill.
"Yes. Runestones are very delicate when in use. A few direct hits should do it."
"Alright. Darl'n," said Logan grinning at Boksee. "Take the lead."
"Right," she replied pulling her bow. The hot ashy wind whipping around them, the three lined up. "Archers! Ready!" declared Boksee. The adventurers lifted their bows. "Aim!" They quickly lined up their shots. "Release!"
They let loose their arrows. Logan's was caught in the wind and thrown high. Wyn's found a stone but only clinked it and ricocheted off. Boksee's arrow landed in the direct center of a rune. The magical energy the stone contained was ready to burst out of it. The arrow rattled the comparably weak stone and a bright red crack formed across it.
"Nice shot!" shouted Wyn.
"That's it Darlin'," said Logan.
Boksee inhaled, her face blushing.
"Men, release at will," said Boksee.
Eventually Spider-man's hand reached the rim of the sleek black spire and he yanked himself up.
"Phew! Hadn't had a climb like that in weeks," he said putting his hands to his hips panting. "Phew! Alright," he said looking out over the top of the barrel. It was as big as a basketball court. "Web this boy up. Gotcha."
Sending out support lines Spider-man began weaving. He ran across the lines he wove, back and forth, back and forth, over top of the dark chasmic shaft of the barrel and filled it with more and more lines. A beautiful spider web began to form. As the spider worked, one of the glass lenses began shifting into place.
Down deep, deep below him the aperture of the spire barrel began to twist open. He looked down to see he was bathed in the red glow of the crystal.
"Woah! No! No!" shouted Spider-man.
Nih was growing and weaving his roots below. They were rising spiraling up, up towards the bottom of the barrel.
The crystal began glowing more vividly.
Nih looked up and gasped.
"It's about to fire!" screamed Wyn. "Take out those runes!"
The archers continued to release.
Wyn would hit every so often but her hits were ineffective.
Boksee found her mark the most often but each rune required more than one hit. All but one rune had cracks but all of them had yet to break.
Wolverine couldn't land an arrow. He was a good shot but it was so far away, the runes were rotating, and the wind was so strong. He snarled in frustration.
They weren't going to make it!
Spider-man was furiously exploding globs of silk over his web, running along his lines above the raging red crystal.
Spider sense!
Spider-man bent backwards as an arrow flew through the air where his head had been.
"Hey! Watch it!" he shouted. Of course, no one could hear him up here.
Wyn finally landed a shot. Her arrow dove deep into a crack Boksee had created. Finally the first stone exploded!
The spell rings surrounding it faded from existence
The entire spire shuddered and shifted. It lost its balance and started tilting sideways.
"Fuck!," exclaimed Logan. "No one said it would tilt!" he shouted sending another arrow.
"How were we supposed to know‽" cried Boksee.
The tower started making a whining noise.
"KEEP FIRING!"
Down below, Nih wasn't sure whether to run for his life or to try to shield himself. As such he froze, his red eyes going wide in the fiery red light of the canon.
Then the tower started tilting sideways knocking him out of his trance.
On top of the spire Spider-man swayed.
"Woah!"
He lost his footing a fell down the shaft. He managed to catch himself on a web line before he hit the crystal. It was hot.
"Get out, get out, get out, get out!" he screamed flinging himself onto the wall of the shaft and running for his life.
Another rune exploded as Boksee's arrow found its mark. Then another!
As more and more runes were destroyed the spire lost more and more of its balance.
It fell so far sideways that it took out a pair of runestones by itself.
The tower was falling!
If it hit the crystal if would explode!
"Take out that last rune!" shouted Wyn.
Inhaling, Logan lined up his shot.
Nih was desperately weaving his net of roots below, trying to keep up with the tilt of the spire.
The crystal was a violent pulsating red.
HERE IT CAME!
Futily, Nih fell to his knees and threw his arms over his head.
Instead of unleashing its fury upon him, the tower instead went dim.
Nih looked up to see the top of the barrel was completely black.
On top of the spire, Spider-man had succeeded. He had covered the light from the crystal.
Logan fired!
He aimed extremely low and to the left. As it had the entire time, the wind caught his arrow. It threw it up and to the right. To his own surprise his arrow landed! The last rune exploded.
The spire and the crystal were in free fall.
The tower was falling sideways. The crystal was bouncing and scraping down the barrel throwing out sparks.
Nih twisted his roots up to it.
Catch! But not a clean one.
The crystal landed in his net of roots but it wasn't in the center. It crashed through the sides of the roots and smashed into the ground. A thin point of the crystal was cracked.
An eruption of red-hot energy exploded out of the crystal in a beam that carved a hole into the side of the crater. By the grace of the divine, it had missed the adventurers.
Spider-man ran down the falling spire. Just before it hit the ground he leapt off sending out a web parachute. He floated down quickly as the massive skyscraper collided with the ground. As it hit it sent up a cloud of ash so thick the adventurers were completely blinded having to hide their faces in their clothes to breathe.
Spider-man, still in the air was tossed by the shockwave.
It took several long minutes of blindness and struggled, claustrophobic breathing but eventually the ash resettled.
The three archers looked over their work.
The spire was broken in half, lying sprawled across the burnt barren forest. Chunks of broken runes were just barely visible in the thick ash. The fiery red crystal was dull and laying in a nest of roots. The roots were already beginning to envelope it by their own initiative, feeding off the abundant mana.
"We did it!" screamed Boksee.
"Yah we fuck'n did! Ah ha!" cried Wolverine grabbing her off the ground. He spun and tossed her in the air like a toddler. She screamed in joy.
Spider-man, who it turned out had landed close by, ran up and grabbed Wyn, spinning and tossing her too.
"NO NO!" she cried flailing.
Wolverine laughed as Spider-man put her down.
Nih walked up. He was drenched in sweat that made the ash stick to him in wet clumps.
"Hey elf boy. Nice work," said Wolverine.
"Thank you."
He turned to Spider-man.
"My snail ears…I would like to be tossed.
Spider-man gave him a look. Then he shrugged. He held up his hands.
Nih ran to him and leapt into his arms. Spider-man threw him in the air and caught him. Then held him over his head and spun around doing the lift.
The tall dark elf laughed in happiness, his arms outstretched and his robes flopping around as the shorter man spun him over his head.
"Well that's a sight," said Wolverine.
Boksee and Wyn laughed.
Standing in the ruins of their conquest, the team took a moment to regroup.
"Well we took down a super weapon. I'd say you all are official bonafide super heroes now. And we've still got some daylight left," said Spider-man looking at the sky. "I'd say we're doing pretty well."
"Yes, I'm still not sure what being a super hero means," said Wyn.
"Neither do I. But can we stop being super heroes now? I don't want to fight anymore super weapons," said Boksee.
Logan chuckled.
"Sure darlin."
"We haven't even met Summer yet and I feel like we've already battled an army," said Wyn getting back on track.
"That's super hero life for you," said Spider-man.
"But now we have to find him."
"Well he's got to be nearby," said Boksee. "He must be within distance to control the fire spire."
"I'm surprised he wasn't riding it," said Spider-man. "There was a cockpit but it was empty."
"What in Strana's a cockpit," asked Wyn.
"Is it where you keep the roosters?" asked Boksee.
"Ha, no. It's like a room that you use to steer a big machine."
"Are things like this normal where you're from?" asked Wyn astounded.
Wolverine and Spider-man looked at each other.
Wolverine shrugged.
"Kinda," said Spider-man.
"Well if he wasn't in the rooster pen," said Nih. "He likely has a base nearby. Someplace he could see what was going on even if he wasn't in direct control."
"Someplace like that?" asked Logan. He pointed to a far hill. A single black tower stood upon it.
"Yes," said Nih pleased. "Like that."
Still shin deep in ash, they made their way toward the tower.
"Here we are going through the front again," complained Spider-man.
The tower was on a baren hill. The trees were all destroyed. There was no cover.
"You want us to walk three miles around and then walk straight up toward it?" grunted Logan. "Ain't like there's anywhere to hide."
"We could try to be stealthier," he complained.
"Spidey, we just took down his big bloom'n weapon," said Boksee. "It also sort of exploded. I think he knows we're here."
"Yah but… Look out!"
He pushed Nih out of the way. An arrow just barely missed the two of them as they both tumbled to the ground.
The grouped looked down at the arrow stuck in the ashy dirt. There was a piece of parchment wrapped around it.
"It's a message," said Nih getting back up.
"What's it say?" asked Boksee as Wyn unwrapped it.
She turned it around to reveal the word:
"Welcome."
"What a welcome," said Spider-man.
"Well, he definitely knows we're here now," said Boksee.
"Boksee, Nih, to me," said Wyn.
She pulled her enormous shield from her back and held it over the three of them like a testudo.
"What about us?" asked Spider-man.
"There's only so much room," said Wyn. "You can dodge and Wolverine can take an arrow or two."
"Hm, fair."
Their defenses weren't necessary however, as no more arrows were released.
They reached the door and looked up at the small black tower.
"Do we knock?" asked Boksee.
"It's against my religion," said Spider-man.
"How curious," said Nih.
"That was a joke."
Wyn tried the latch. It was open.
With some apprehension, the adventurers stepped inside.
The tower was…nice. It was dark and windowless, but that was par for the course with dwarves. But it was furnished with a beautiful ornate collection of seats, lamps, dressers, and statuettes from a wide variety of cultures and races. Despite this, it all complimented each other. The owner seemed to be particularly fond of pastoral landscapes.
"Uh, nice place?" said Spider-man.
"I'm downstairs," called a voice.
The group almost jumped as one.
After finding the stairs past the kitchen, the party made their way down toward the voice. They entered into a large cavernous forgery. It wasn't currently operating but it was clear it was in frequent use.
A single dwarf, somewhere around the equivalent of his early forties and rather unremarkable looking with skin tanned from blacksmithing and light brown hair, was sat at a workshop desk at the back of the room.
Wyn took the lead, followed closely by Wolverine.
"Summer I presume?" she asked.
The dwarf didn't look up.
"You know you should really know who your host is before you enter his home," he said calmly.
"Just answer the question bub," growled Wolverine ejecting his claws. "Or are we gonna have to get persuasive."
The dwarf gave him a look.
"Curious," he noted. "Though it is quite rude to unsheathe yourself in front of someone without express permission."
"Quit your fuck'n yapp'n and answer the question!" he barked, his sharp teeth snarling.
The dwarf sighed.
He turned his chair to face them and put a leg on his knee.
"Yes. To my equals I am indeed known as Summer."
"Pleasure," said Wyn.
"So Summer, you wanna explain the super weapon on your front lawn?" asked Spider-man.
"Aw yes," he said taking a deep breath. "My infectorum. You've destroyed… decades of work. Well I suppose I owe you some level of thanks. It's better that my beautiful creation's flaws were exploited here where there were no consequences then say… while I was sieging a city or such. It is now a horrid bother that I've killed off all my workers."
"You killed your workers‽" demanded Spider-man.
Summer smiled.
"What do you think I first test fired on?"
The team gasped.
"You can't trust slaves not to keep their mouths shut when regarding their master's creations," Summer explained. Then he sighed, his face becoming deadly serious.
"So, it was you. You lot. You killed Spring. How in Strana did a band of misfits like you five kill one of the ascended?"
"You're really asking that after we took out your super weapon?" asked Spider-man.
Summer turned away. He picked up an arrow from his desk and twiddled it between his rough fingers.
"Spring," he said calmly. The season of rebirth. From the soil comes life given anew from the death of winter. Spring by his skill, knowledge, and very mana could give life, a rebirth to the fallen. You in your dullness and ignorance snuffed him out. You killed spring.
"He was a pompous little aristocrat who could control bones," said Logan. "Don't make it sound so fuck'n impressive."
Summer didn't even look at him.
"Look," said Spider-man. "We just want to talk. We have some questions. We just want answers."
Again, Summer didn't even look at him. He smirked and twisted the arrow between his fingers.
"Do you cretins understand the essence of summer? Growth, industry, a time when nature is warm and open. A time for work, for play…and for war.
"Summer has been the season of war for as long as dwarf knew how to pick up a rock," he continued. "We have traditions meant to protect us from invaders when the days grow long and hot. Rituals that do nothing but offer a comforting word to sleep by. I am Summer. I am war. Let me show you what they are afraid of."
Summer leapt to his feet throwing out his arms. A halo of ethereal blades formed around him.
With another flourish of his hands a barrage of arrows came screaming towards them.
Wyn leapt to the front and managed to shield Boksee and Nih. Spider-man just barely managed to summersault out of the way but an arrow grazed his thigh. Logan cried out as an arrow lodged into his shoulder.
Pulling a pair of war hammers from his back, Summer leapt forward, his ethereal blades swirling around him. His target, the one he had already hit.
An arrow still lodged in his shoulder, Logan dodged backwards as the dwarf lunged at him. He was able to dodge the hammers, catch the swords on his claws, and strike back with his bad arm.
The war mage effortlessly ducked, evading Logan's attack. His ethereal blades spun and attempted to decapitate him.
From across the room, Spider-man webbed Summer from behind and wrenched him backwards saving Wolverine. He moved to ram his foot into his spine but the mage twisted into the pull. Suddenly Spider-man had to dodge a flying dwarf swinging his hammers and floating swords directly toward his skull. He flipped and bent and twisted his body as the ethereal blades and Summer's war hammers swung at him.
Wyn, Boksee, and Nih, their own weapons drawn ran at Summer.
His attention on Spider-man, the war mage twirled sending out a wall of fire at the three.
Wyn threw up her shield.
With a gust of wind Nih was able to direct the fire around him.
Boksee was burned.
She screamed as she flailed backwards her face and hands blistered and singed.
"Darlin'!"
Logan ran to her. She was writhing on the ground screaming.
As his healing factor pushed the arrow out of his shoulder he rummaged through her bag and found a lone health potion.
"Here darlin'," he said.
Wyn, Nih, and Spider-man were in a triple battle with Summer, his blade halo fending off their attacks from all angles and forcing them to dodge.
Boksee screamed through clenched teeth.
"Open!" growled Logan grabbing her jaw and squeezing. He managed to pour the thick red liquid between her lips.
She snarled and sobbed as her skin began to heal.
Summer landed a hit on Nih, his war hammer nailing him in the side.
Nih gasped as he went down.
Spider-man and Wyn were caught in a violent dance with the dwarf. Duck, attack, the clank of shield, duck, attack, attack, ATTACK!
Wolverine snarled. With an enraged roar, he threw out his claws and charged toward Summer. He leapt through the air, his blades moving to plunge into the dwarf's back.
Summer ducked under him.
Suddenly Wolverine was stumbling. Instead of shredding through Summer, his claws peeled through Wyn's metal armor.
"AAHHHH!" she screamed.
Stepping underneath him, Summer threw Logan off his feet and hammered him in the back of the skull. Wolverine went down.
Blood started dripping from Wyn's mangled armor but she was able to stay on her feet.
It was just her and Spider-man again.
Constantly blocking his attacks with her shield, Wyn spun around the dwarf on one side desperately searching for an opening. She found none. Her blood flung from her wounds with every movement. On the other side Spider-man was dodging the halo of twirling and slashing blades. Every so often a blade would graze him. He was beginning to accumulate wounds. He couldn't find an opening!
Nih pulled himself from the ground, clutching his side.
"Fae of the mangled woods!" he cried. "This dwarf is the one who ruined you! Grant me your revenge! Instill me with FIRE!"
Nih suddenly erupted in bright blue green flames.
It burned from his eyes and mouth. He roared spitting out a flame like a dragon.
Spider-man yanked Wyn and ran them both out of the way as Nih sent a massive breath of fire toward Summer.
The war mage whipped around, his eyes going wide. He threw up another wall of fire and was able to save himself by blocking the attack.
Nih leapt forward through the flames, his clothes burning and singeing, to spit fire directly in Summer's face. The dwarf dodged running underneath the elf, knocking his legs out from under him.
He ran directly into a heavy swing of Wyn's mace. In a flail of his arm, his ethereal blades leapt up and caught her attack.
Spider-man rammed him in the back sending the war mage flying.
He landed on the ground hard. Before he even skid to a stop, he was flipping over, his war hammers catching another of Wyn's attacks as she tried to bludgeon him from above.
Nih's fae fire faded. He fell to his knees utterly depleted of his mana.
Wolverine came to.
He spat out a glob of blood and jumped to his feet.
Wyn fell from hers. Summer kicked her in a knee forcing her back. She fell to the ground gripping her leg and bleeding wound as Summer leapt from the ground.
"No you don't!" Wolverine snarled
The enraged mutant charged toward him, this time swinging low.
He dove deep and sliced sideways. Summer was able to dodge but not completely. Logan's adamantium claws finally tasted flesh. Blood squirted into the air. The dwarf screamed. Then he swung his hammer landing another hit on Wolverine. This one Logan could take. It rammed through his arm but his metal bones were unbroken despite his flesh splattering.
With his good arm he slashed again but was caught by the ethereal blades. He kicked at the dwarf landing a hard blow to his gut. The blades swung at him. He threw himself backwards out of their reach. Slash! Another hit landed on Summer! Slash!
With the dwarf's attention on Wolverine, Spider-man finally had an opening.
He sent out a line and webbed him in the face. Before the war mage could react he yanked him off his feet but instead of toward him this time, he spun him in a circle slamming him into walls and pieces of the forge with all his strength.
Blood splattered. Tools clattered to the ground as the dwarf was swung around and around!
After several violent rounds, Spider-man finally let go sending the war mage crashing into his own weapons rack.
Wyn was back on her feet.
She and Logan both seized the moment and barreled toward him.
The dwarf tried to stand, blood running down his face but he collapsed.
"It's over Summer!" bellowed Wyn.
"Say hi to the boys in hell!" shouted Logan.
Wolverine raised his claws. Wyn reared her mace. She swung directly toward his head.
Her mace landed, but not on Summer…
Spider-man's red glove was suddenly clenched around the long handle of her mace. In his other hand, was Wolverine's wrist. Spider-man panted holding his team mates still over the fallen dwarf.
"Spider-man!" snapped Wyn.
"KID!" barked Wolverine.
"You don't have to kill him!" shouted Spider-man.
Slowly, Nih and Boksee made it back to their feet and made their way over to join them.
Wolverine and Wyn glared at Spider-man, both their pink and blue eyes filled with a savagery and fire. Spider-man held his ground.
"Kid," growled Logan deathly cold. "Move."
"No," said Wyn.
Everyone looked to her surprised.
"He's right. We need information."
She lowered her mace from over her head but still held it at the ready.
"I'll never talk for you!" Summer snapped. "I rather you kill me!"
"No," said Spider-man commandingly.
He turned to the downed mage.
"There's no point in killing you. What's done is done. Look… you've done terrible things. Horrible things. Unforgivable things. But I'm not forgiving you. I'm giving you mercy. I'm giving you the chance to do something good at least. Help us. Just answer our questions. I'm giving you a chance."
Spider-man held out a hand.
The team watched in apprehension.
The dwarf considered him, his topaz eyes darting over the younger man. Then he reached up and took his hand.
Spider sense!
Spider-man moved to jump but the mage held him fast. In that split second of delay, with a clench of the mage's hand, an arrow was magically sent streaking through the air from behind. It embedded into Spider-man's back jutting straight through him and out his gut. Blood exploded from his mouth.
The team gasped as Spider-man fell in a pool of blood.
THE END