Kat held the crossbow to her shoulder, admiring the sleek curves of the carved ivory stock. She closed one eye, resting the weapon against her cheek as she adjusted her stance slightly to take the weapon’s weight into account.

She pulled the trigger, taking note of the smooth, well oiled action as it released the string, a flexible but iron-hard strand of chaos elk sinew. With a satisfying thwack the bow kicked gently against her shoulder.

“That’s genuine sawtooth shark hide on the grip and trigger there,” Kat turned to take in the speaker, a ten legged spider that loomed over her, rubbing two of its forelegs against venom-soaked mandibles. “I had that imported from the fourth floor. Sawtooths are a lot smaller and rarer than megalodons, but their hide is unmatched. Waterproof, rough and durable, there’s no way the crossbow will slip out of your hands during the heat of battle.”

Kat rapped her knuckles against the ivory that made up the core of the weapon, taking note of the deep thunk that indicated that it was made of solid bone rather than hollowed out to save cost.

“Ah so you’ve noticed!” The spider rubbed its forelegs together excitedly. “The crossbow’s body has been carved from a single dire monocorn’s tusk. It’s hard and durable enough that you can use it as a club in a pinch. Alas, this model isn’t yet enchanted, but I can easily tell that it would be perfect for a discerning shopper such as yourself.”

“Really?” Kat asked, glancing up at the fur covered pseudo-arachnid. “It seems like a good weapon, but why would you say that?”

“Because,” it answered, reaching down with two of its legs and deftly push either of curved metal bars that held the crossbow’s string inward until they were flush with the stock, locking with a click. “Your weapons and armor are those of an agility based fighter. This weapon can fold up fairly easily for storage. It's large enough to do damage to some of the bigger monsters, but also compact enough that it won’t impede the flow of combat if you end up using those knives of yours.”

“Also, just between you and me.” It leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially to Kat while it stared at hre with a dozen unblinking black eyes. “You’ve been eyeing up my crossbows the entire time you’ve been shopping, yet you don’t have one on your back. You need a crossbow, and you need it now.

“Given the quality of the rest of your equipment,” it continued motioning toward Kat with a spare leg, “I suspect you have access to enchanters, and they’re probably more talented than anyone I know. This model is made of quality materials and it’s good enough to get you to wherever your enchanters live. Once you’re there, you can pay to have whatever enchantment you want laid on it.”

“How much will it cost?” Kat asked, reluctantly setting the crossbow down on the stone counter in front of the spider-creature. “I’m not going to pretend I don’t want it, but my entire team is about to set out on a fairly long journey and I need to save enough marks for supplies.”

“For this prime piece?” The spider spread its legs wide, it's fanged head grinning unctuously. “You would be stealing prey from the mandibles of my young for less than one hundred marks.”

Kat clicked her tongue, taking one last look at the crossbow before turning away from the table. She made it two steps away before the sales-being called out to her.

“Wait!” It hissed, sounding almost pained. “Wait. I can’t go below one hundred marks, but I can throw in a shoulder holster and ammunition for it. If you’re so keen to go, it surely must be helpful if you could simply buy all of your quarrels and accessories in one spot before leaving.”

“What kind of bolts are we talking about?” Kat asked, rotating and walking back to the stall. “Are we discussing simple metal cored shots or something more unique than that?”

“For you my dear friend.” The spider leaned forward, lowering its head to the same level as Kat’s, “I could make it twenty standard shots, five dazzlers, and five piercers. The dazzlers and piercers have minor enchantments on them that require mana from their wielder, but their effects are worth it. Dazzlers screech and emit directed flashes of light, distracting their targets.”

“Piercers simply ignore a portion of a target’s armor,” it continued, legs deftly snagging a nearby quiver as well as a handful of arrows from a display case. “Not a large portion mind you, but enough to overcome the crossbow’s weaknesses. It’s hardly a heavy arbalest capable of punching a bolt through a fangspan of metal armor. It is more of a lighter, portable model. Piercers will let you counteract that shortcoming against moderately armored foes.”

“Deal,” Kat replied, flashing the sales-creature a bright smile as she extended a hand to transfer the marks. The fur on its leg tickled slightly as it brushed the limb against her.

The minute her money was transferred over, the spider flashed Kat a grotesque grin and handed her the purchases. She nodded before slinging the gear over her shoulder and stepping away from the merchant’s stall.

“That was a pretty good price you got on the crossbow,” Kaleek’s remark drew her attention to where the desoph was leaning against one of the stone pillars in the adventurer’s hall. Casually, he brought a wood skewer to his mouth before tearing off a chunk of the still sizzling meat. “That crossbow is worth at least one hundred marks on its own. The bolts are worth at least another fifteen.”

“Thanks,” she agreed, adjusting the strap holding the bow to her shoulder slightly as she wove her way through the heavy foot traffic of the crowded marketplace. “I heard the merchant tell someone else that they were planning on ascending to the seventh floor in order to get away from the instability bleeding over from the fourth floor. I figured they’d be liquidating stock and that I could get a good price if I played hard to get.”

Kaleek tore the last chunk of meat from the skewer, flicking it out of his fingers and into the bustle of the crowd. Casually he stuck his fingers into his mouth one by one, licking the juices from his fur.

“What?” He asked, shrugging at Kat’s glare. “The litter disappears with the next reset anyway. I’m not even inconveniencing a cleaning robot.”

“Fine.” Kat shook her head. “It’s still unsanitary and disgusting, but that’s hardly a surprise. Now where’s Dorrik, I’m ready to head out.”

“They’re just outside the exit,” the otter responded, motioning with one of his hands for Kat to follow. “When I left they were plotting out our course down to the fourth floor. They sent me back in to let you know that we have all the heat amulets we’ll need for our fight with the Wooly Spider.”

“I’m not excited to fight that thing again,” Kat shivered. “As unpleasant as the boss monster itself was, the blizzard elementals were almost as miserable. Fighting a cloud of ice crystals on top of a glacier isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”

“I’d help but you know how hard it is for me to catch those things,” Kaleek shrugged. “Plus, you can probably just use them as target practice for that new crossbow of yours.”

Kat cocked her head, mulling over the big otter’s words as the two of them exited the building, walking out into the mountaintop village. Near the exit to the adventurer hall Dorrik waved a single hand at the two of them from where they were talking to some sort of bird person.

They approached Dorrik as the lizard wrapped up their portion of conversation, dismissing the avian just as they arrived. The lokkel gave Kat an approving once over before handing her a shiny brass medallion.

“I’m sure you remember how these work,” they remarked, handing another metallic circle to Kaleek. “Once we descend the spire to the fifth floor, simply twist the interior knob and the enchantment will start siphoning off your mana and converting it into warmth. As a reminder, the further you turn it clockwise the warmer the enchantment. Just be aware that it can only produce so much heat per jaunt in the dreamscape.”

“I have a couple of spares if you burn out,” Dorrik continued, tapping a satchel slung over their shoulder “but we still need to make it all the way across the glacier to the next spire. Remember, our goal is to make it all the way to the fourth floor before we wake up. I’d prefer not to get stranded on ice wastes for another night if possible.”

Kat nodded firmly, shivering in anticipation as the three of them made their way to the village’s exit. The ice wastes were a special kind of awful. Flat glaciers as far as the eye could see, dotted only by the occasional rocky outcropping with small towns huddled around them.

They had parkas, but the waterproof fur coats were too heavy to wear in combat. Dorrik would hand out once the three of them made it through the Wooly Spider, but the howling winds and sharp ice crystals of the fifth floor were still miserable. Without any cover to break up or slow the weather, gusts would roar across the ice plains, grinding into travelers like a massive belt sander.

Even with their heavy winter clothing, the three of them were in for an unpleasant experience. Still, Dorrik had a point. If they were going to the fourth floor, their only options were to hurry through the frigid wind storms or to try and find cover after their battle with the floor boss and wait out the night so they could try fresh and rested the following day.

She grimaced as they waded into the soupy mist, following Dorrik’s lead as the lokkel guided them by memory back toward the location where they had first ascended to the sixth floor. One night on the glacier sounded bad. She was more than willing to make it a little more miserable to prevent it from expanding into two.

Finally, after just under an hour of descending the mountain, the three of them came upon the stark white tower that marked the spiral staircase heading down. With a series of curt nods, the three of them assured each other of their readiness and began their descent.

After five or so minutes, they passed through the actual rock and soil of the Tower’s floor. Kat shielded her eyes as the bright light of the fake sun reflected off of the massive ice sheet, almost blinding her.

The great blue-white landscape just past the guardrail stretched on endlessly, its flat expanse only broken by occasional piles of boulders and the stone rings of dungeons. Directly below them lay the massive snow-drift that Kat knew from experience concealed the Wooly Spider.

On their first encounter, even with foreknowledge of what they faced and a plan on how to defeat it, the floor-boss had managed to inspire both awe and fear as it had exploded from the drift in a cloud of snow.

Worse, there would be dozens of fist sized ice crystals embedded in the snow and inundated in the spider’s mana. Almost impossible to see, they would animate, guiding the howling winds into an impromptu blizzard that would conceal the Wooly Spider and buffet attackers.

This time, Kat thought, removing the crossbow from her back as they neared the bottom of the staircase, the party had a plan and they would be ready. Just before they exited the tower, Dorrik stopped and turned to Kat and Kaleek.

“It is time.” They nodded solemnly, reaching up with one hand to begin fiddling with one of the three heat medallions around their neck. “Make sure to leave your non combat gear in the spire and activate your enchantments. The minute we step out of the staircase, the Wooly Spider will wake up and we will need to act quickly. Miss Kat, are you-”

“I’m ready to cast Water Jet at moment’s notice,” she cut in, pressing the tab on the bottom of her crossbow and releasing the catches on its limbs. The curved stretches of metal holding the weapon’s string snapped outward, locking into place.

“Good.” Dorrik cracked a smile. “Let’s do this fast and clean. The last thing we need is some sort of injury that slows us down enough that we can’t make it to the fourth floor today. As much as I hate the ocean, the great glacier is worse.”

Kat nodded fervently, reaching up to twist her medallion into the on position before loading the crossbow. Almost immediately, she felt a trickle of her mana begin feeding into the necklace as the brisk air around her warmed like the blacktop on a sunny day.

“Enough flirting,” Kaleek grunted, stepping past the two of them and out onto the icy expanse of the fifth floor. “It’s time to get down to business and get messy.”

“Gross,” Kat muttered, hefting the newly loaded crossbow to her shoulder as the Wooly Spider exploded from the nearby hill of snow.

“Indeed,” Dorrik agreed, drawing both of their swords and sprinting out into the growing clouds of snow and ice.

A second later, she joined him. Even through the cocoon of warm air provided by the medallion, the cold air hit Kat like a bat to the chest, the dry air clawing at her throat as she finished casting her first Water Jet at an upward angle.

The blast of water cleared a major chunk of snow from the sky, revealing a pair of the glittering blizzard elementals before it froze high above the battlefield. In one smooth motion, Kat sank to a knee and lined up a shot from her crossbow.

The weapon thrummed in her hand, launching a metal bolt through the translucent core of one of the flying elementals. Somewhere to her left there was a muted flash of purple light as Dorrik fired a pair of Ego Shards in quick succession, shattering the other blizzard elemental.

Kat grabbed the small lever on the side of her crossbow, grunting as she heaved back on the string. Mana swelled inside her, and another spray of water tore yet more of the omnipresent snow storm from the sky.

This time, only one of the diamond-like elementals was revealed by her spell, and Dorrik plucked it from the sky with Ego Shard before she could finish loading her bow.

Her third casting of Water Jet revealed nothing though the crisp and clear sky, wreathed in a glittering corona of ice from her previous spells. She adjusted the heat on her medallion, increasing the flow of mana to the enchanted item as she prepared yet another Water Jet.

In the distance, the Wooly Spider shrieked in anger as Kaleek’s greatsword sheared through one of its legs. Kat shook her head, a smile on her face as the howling wind carried the desoph’s mad laughter to her. He glowed briefly red, activating some martial skill before charging at the floor-boss once more.

Kat ducked, reacting entirely on instinct as a baseball sized chunk of ice zipped through the air where her head had been only a moment before.

With a frustrated grunt, she cast Water Jet yet again, hosing the elemental from the air along with a large cloud of snow. The chunk of ice bounced off of the glacier’s snowy surface skittering past her as she brought her crossbow to her shoulder.

The weapon twanged, and Kat clicked her tongue in frustration as it deposited another glittering rod of metal into the glacier rather than her moving target.

Her foe wobbled as it took off, extra layers of ice from Kat’s spell throwing off its balance as it tried to take to the sky once more. This time, she cast Gravity’s Grasp, slamming the monster into the ground a second ahead of her third bolt. This time, the quarrel shattered the chunk of ice, letting its mana out in a flash of blue light.

She turned, surveying the battlefield. The omnipresent blizzard that had so hampered their movements in the first fight was all but gone, destroyed by the high pressure blasts of her Water Jets. Now, with all of their foes exposed, the battle was progressing at an almost casual pace.

The Wooly Spider was struggling to keep up with Kaleek’s quick, sure motions while Dorrik made short work of the last blizzard elemental. Their swords cracked through its icy hide, ending the howling windstorm that surrounded the three of them along with the monster’s life.

Kat heaved back on her new crossbow’s lever, loading a piercer into the weapon. Once again, she went down to one knee and closed an eye as she sighted in on Kaleek and the Wooly spider.

The desoph danced just out of the monster’s reach, grinning wildly as a red glow around his legs let him move with the grace of a dancer. The Wooly Spider howled in frustration, stumbling as it tried to pursue him on its five remaining legs.

She pulled the crossbow’s trigger, hissing as it reached inside her and yanked out a glob of mana to fuel her attack. The bolt left a faint green afterimage as it blurred through the air, ignoring the floor boss’ thick pelt to bury itself up to its fletching in the creature’s abdomen.

Clench a fist, Kat followed up with Overpressure, focusing on the wound left by her attack. Yellowish white liquid exploded outward, fountaining from the injury and drawing another screech of rage from the spider as it stumbled once more.

Kaleek took advantage of the distraction to jump forward, bringing his greatsword down in a guillotine blow on the back of the monster’s neck. It fell to the ground, legs spasming once as its severed head rolled gently away from its torso.

With a sigh, Kat drew her knife and jogged over to the former floor-boss’ corpse, cutting into its fur covered flank as she sought to free her enchanted arrow. Thirty seconds later, she held the sticky yellow bolt up in the icy air, grimacing in disgust.

“All of that and no floor reward,” she grumbled, wiping the bolt off on her thigh before returning it to her quiver. “I think I can see why the lower levels aren’t overrun with higher level players. Descending is risky, but mostly it's a tremendous waste of time.”

“Yup,” Kaleek agreed, kicking one of the spider’s severed legs out of his way. “Really, the only productive thing to come from this trip will be the chance to fight higher level opponents to polish off our skills.”

Kat sighed, glancing toward the silver glitter of her other quarrels, buried in the now dull ice crystals of the blizzard elementals.

“Come now,” Dorrik called out, shrugging on a parka that they’d retrieved from the spiral staircase to the sixth floor. “Our journey on the whole may be a waste of time, but that doesn’t mean that we have an abundance of time to waste. Even if we aren’t waylaid on our journey to the next staircase, it’s almost a three hour hike.”