Bearer of Burdens smiled and waved, glowing. “How did you all sleep?”

Lady Blood Claw, olive green with exhaustion, just flipped her off.

Brines looked somewhat tired, even with his stamina aura flaring. “Are those other girls going to join us for breakfast?”

Corvayne shook his head. “Spears had to eventually drink the girls to sleep. So... late start. I'm in charge of bringing the three of them back to the land of the living, but I'm going to at least wait to be done with breakfast.”

Bearer walked backwards, seemingly with eyes on the back of her head as she adjusted her trajectory to walk through the door to the main bar area. “You and Spears are already parents then? Maybe let Auntie Claw take the kids and have a little night for you two to work on a third.”

Lady Blood Claw growled, turning orange with flashes of red suggesting annoyance she was barely bottling up. “If you were HALF as funny as you thought you were, you'd be be twice as funny as you are.”

“Thankfully, of the four of us, I only care if I find myself funny.”

Brines perked up. “I think you're funny honey.”

Bearer put him in a little headlock and rubbed her knuckles in his hair gently. “Not while mommy is talking.”

He looked embarrassed but Bearer just whistled and sat down. Nyx sat next to Corvayne, looking energized. “Okay, Corvayne, you know how I've been looking for interesting girls here, right?”

He thought of his own night. “I have a pair of very interesting ones in my room. Want to trade?”

“For those messed up princesses? Hardly. I guess you have a type. Anyway... no... I found a table with a slime cat-girl and slime-elf... and sat right down and asked if they wanted drinks, or to get drunk.” Nyxion wiggled his eyebrows.

Corvayne didn't want to hear the entire story. “And you bedded them?”

Nyx clearly wanted to tell the entire story. “They had a third lady friend, a stern looking elf warrior who glared at me, so I was looking at an uphill fight when she joined the table...”

Corvayne ordered eggs and bacon for everyone, with extra juices for Spears to absorb, as well as a smoothie for himself as he had a small headache, likely from yanking curses out of people. “So you bedded them.”

“Corvayne, please. Bedding them makes them sound like it's sport. This was... an art as I kept the two laughing while melting their elf friend's heart, plying her with drinks as well to loosen her-”

“You realize, that if you found their table, it likely means they they were looking for a guy like you in the first place?” Corvayne asked, accepting his drink and taking a sip. The cold definitely felt good right up until it started making his headache worse.

“Yes but Corvayne? I had to help them realize how much they ALL wanted a guy like me. Especially that elf.” He grinned, giving Corvayne a friendly punch on the shoulder.

Corvayne cleared his throat. “I know you did, since out of the corner of my eye I see the elf looking at you.” He motioned behind them, where a silver haired woman was quickly turning around, her pale ears turning red as she pretended she hadn't been spotted.

“A cherry on top! I wonder if we'll see her again. Well, anyway with all that rest and extra clarity I have, the boss should be easy.”

Bearer tapped her plate, speaking with her mouth partially full. “Dunno about that. There's going to be a pair of them since we have eight. Or a double sized monster.”

Corvayne cracked his fingers by flexing them. “As long as we are not blindsided like with the Dragons, I feel we are going to be more then a match for the fight. It's fifth floor.”

Once the rest of the party was up, it was time to step out of the Inn and into the next arena.

The scenery this time was a sort of dark metal or plastic chamber, lights and panels and little details breaking up what looked like smoothed black shapes, all forming a chamber that reminded him somewhat of two cupped hands.

In the center were two machines, suspended about five feet above the floor and resembling to Corvayne a sort of mechanical spider egg hanging from a long length of tubes. The pair of fat sacks were made from rubbery material studded with clear sensor arrays and actuators and what looked like segments in their bodies that would likely house weapons.

Most likely inorganic. [Sundering Strike] and [Sundering Blade] together would be his best offense. “I could trigger a rust storm fairly quickly, but I might knock myself out.”

Bearer grinned. “Before or after you used your big-bad robot buster?”

“After.”

Spears held a hand up. “I can try to hit one with a pink slime bullet... but that's going to take a while to chew through something metal.”

Corvayne thought about what he'd do, and what the enemy could probably do. “They will likely be able to lift out of the way, but we have Gravity to chase... Nyx have you been able to try your Fear effect on anything that is 100 percent inorganic before? I think we could have you try to float high and fear them towards the ground to open. I take the left one-”

“Our left or their left?” Bearer asked.

Lady spun her by the shoulders to face the two monsters. “Left for us, who are talking and will be facing them.”

“Okay. I just don't want you freaking out that I was supposed to know it was stage left.” Bearer laughed. “I'll take the one on the right then. You guys just go after left left.”

Spears ran a clip of bullets through her body. “No need to goof off.”

“Okay. You can make popcorn while you watch me fight something that doesn't likely have a single scrap of magical damage.”

Brines started playing peacemaker. “I'll keep us all up with auras, and try to stay where Nyx and Bearer can cover me if they get shooty.”

Bell had been sort of just following, but looked over at the figure. Corvayne hadn't seen her looking as tired even when she had been tied up for a few days. Her ragged voice croaked. “Guns?”

“Likely. Robotic enemies like high tech weapons.”

Corvayne saw her sort of nod in a way that made him sure she didn't actually get it, but her and Tutu looked like they were still dazed from whatever pulling the vine had done to them. “Just stay back, we'll do most of the work here.”

Lady Blood Claw cracked her neck and shoulders, then flexed her fingers. “I'll follow up, Corvayne, if you can't break it fast. I think we're over-planning. Two level five bosses is still two level five bosses.”

Corvayne turned to her. “I am also trying to think about how we can work as a team. Right now, I get the impression we're all just doing our own thing.”

Bearer nodded. “Great idea. You've got ten seconds to figure it all out before I start killing the bosses.”

Corvayne smiled. “I was about to say, ready.”

He turned and could hear Bearer skipping across the metal as he strode forward, monsters starting to shift away from one another and unfolding their forms, hatches hissing open to extend jointed arms and a pair of guns on mounts that could swivel to aim. Corvayne sped up, charging [Sundering-Strike] and [Sundering-Blade] with his spear before the monster had a chance to warm up and extend all its weapons. The first jab applying [Sundering-Strike] bit into the rubbery sack, leaving a gash of rust around the gap it left, and of course there were tiny robot spiders inside. Corvayne shifted his stance to pull his spear out and down as he activated [Sundering-Blade], trusting the blast of rust from the wound to damage or kill the tiny robots with scalpel limbs leaping out of the wound at him. A moment later the boss let out a low grinding moan as a red dust storm exploded to life inside it, flinging flakes of damaged metal from the cut Corvayne had made.

Nyx meanwhile applied his fear to the few stragglers that had slipped out, goading the tiny spiders to the back of the room and giving Bearer room to slam the boss over and over.

Lady Blood Claw followed up as the storm vanished, using a spinning slice to run through the damaged metal monster, sending burning rubber and mechanical spiders out in a starburst pattern and filling the room with the smell of burnt pennies after her flaming blade cleaved through.

There was a sharp crack as Spears blasted a rife round high into the left boss, damaging the servos above it. Pinkish goop started to spurt from gaps in the guardian's umbilical to the ceiling, the deflated sack trying to lift itself above them to drop whatever remained of its spiders onto Corvayne. He started to back up, but hardly needed bother, as a few seconds later it fell to the ground with grinding noises as it gouged the metal in the chamber.

There was the crack of other bullets being fired, and Corvayne saw that the more intact egg was trying to blast Bearer, but failing as she kept using the same attack over and over, dashing forward and springing back and somehow phasing through attack after attack.

“Do you think if we let them combine, they'd-”

Bearer's mouth was moving but nothing came out. She only stopped using [Springwind] for a second to shrug before battering the boss again and again, freezing and slashing it and battering it with each strike. Corvayne didn't miss Lady lowering her hand, no doubt silencing Bearer before she could give The Tower any ideas.

Corvayne used [Reap] to create a wave of shadow to kill the spiders, and by the time he had eliminated the stragglers the bosses were both dissolving.

“I still think that dragon was harder than anything else I've seen on floor five.”

Spears shrugged. “This also would be bad for anyone who couldn't kill lots of little monsters.”

Corvayne was about to comment but everything went black as the world became swirling clouds. He fell into his mindscape and landed on his feet in the quasi-real world that might be his brain or soul or whatever. He'd expect the last few months to find something that represented him to have changed from the last two months of war, but the swirling storm and towering stone gates and endless thorns were the same, as was the lightning wraith's greeting to him.

“NOT. READY.”

It once more shot up into the air. Corvayne considered flipping it off, but as he watched it vanish into the clouds he just wondered what its deal was. Perhaps just a waste of time. Whenever he was 'READY' it would probably reveal what its function was, so instead of worrying he strolled up to the fragment of Growl-Whine, her hooded form sitting near the the panel that he had gained [[Understanding]] from. Her twisted form gave him a single wave.

He looked at the gates first. The obvious new gate looked to have a slightly reddish color to it, and wiggled a little. The bouncing ball above the arch let him know what he was looking at. Rubber, unless he was totally reading the clues wrong. While the rabbit-wolves of floor five stretching caught him off guard the first time, he couldn't see the point of becoming entirely rubber. Not interested.

He felt slight tugs from all the gates. He had three options. The first was to keep buffing his shadows. Of all his skills, it was the one that seemed to be giving him the most options when it came to fighting with each upgrade. The shadow limbs turning into bouncing death rays alone helped him shore up one of his biggest problems, being how to fight multiple non-trivial enemies. What else would powering them up offer? How many times could he go through the gate?

Gravity was sort of the same thing, but not quite as appealing. He did want to fly, eventually, but he had machines to at least help him now.

The third power he had, the compass, was the second real option. It was an entirely different tool for solving problems, and while he was still wary of what would happen when he ran into a grand master Watcher, he otherwise felt like he had more tools to handle something on the level of Argyle now. He could fix his lack of direction, literally, with more power in his compass. Even if it simply helped him navigate Tower floors, it had proven its worth well over. A passive radar would be fine, but perhaps it could also pinpoint weak points, or even guide him across the towers and over worlds to things he didn't know he needed, an arrow to point him to the heart of the mysteries he was trying to solve.

The third option was a reflection of that. Since unlocking [[Understanding]] he felt like there were moments where he just thought a little more clear. It felt like whatever curse was working to make it harder to remember details of the system was slipping more and more often. What was clear to him was the power in Pacts, especially ones that might aid him in both fighting and exploring his past.

“Growl-Whine, do you have any advice or... insights as to what I should be doing?”

The figure spoke slowly, its voice tinged with a hissing hesitance as if it was picking its words with extreme care. “[[Growth]], [[Understanding]], [[Unity]]. Were the ones we used. Before this.”

“Are those for long term growth?”

The figure thought about it and nodded. “Good words... but... maybe better ones for... Corvayne.”

Ah. He thought of how his style of fighting and Spears-Like-Water differed, both with spears and. She went all in on elemental combat. Corvayne had some of those now, but felt like he had overcome his problems by being versatile. Even if every Pact he made was only as strong as the first one, he'd gladly take three effects like them.

He stepped up to the pillar and put his hand onto it. He considered how he could spend his power. More [[Understanding]] for sure. Could he split it between that and [[Growth]], [[Unity]], and [[Understanding?]].

The pillar drew something from him, while also weaving something into him. Moments later he felt like he had just woken up another step, catching details of the islands around him in the curled thorny mists. That wasn't the only change he noticed. He saw Growl-Whine straighten a little, her form seeming less twisted now, the clothes she was wearing less shabby.

He felt like he had just a bit of energy left, so he walked out through the already opened gate of shadows.

[[Understanding 7]]

[[Growth 5]]

[[Unity 5]]

He smiled as he opened his eyes. He couldn't wait to see how the new Pacts changed him.