Chapter 1.64 – Information
The symbols kept leading them through the woods, but it was careful and perilous. When Qaerlyz had said this floor had the most bosses out of any, Fiona didn't expect to run into one within minutes.
The first boss they saw only by luck - Annabelle had sent Willy out to scout, and he almost crashed into the boss just above the canopy. An enormous bird of prey, with wings that dwarfed Qae's, eyes burning with dark fire, similar to Ash's blackflame, keeping a keen eye on the forest floor just where the group was about to head down.
Not suitable for Fiona, and not suitable for the melee-focused party. Half the group had no way to fight a flying boss properly, and with the help of Willy, the disembodied floating phallus helped them navigate around what seemed to be the birds' territory. Willy had also spotted plumes of smoke off in the distance, and in complete silence, with careful steps, they moved there.
The second boss they saw, was an ogre. Liddy shuddered and came close to Fiona for a hug, and she carried her friend as they kept their distance. Forest of giants indeed - would anything in here be suitable to Fiona? Giant she could handle, but there was a distinct lack of hot women, and she was thoroughly disappointed.
They navigated carefully through the forest, hearing more than seeing other bosses - First priority was to find one of the towns, and as they got closer Willy & Qae both reported large wooden walls, adventurers coming and going, and a thriving little town up ahead. Circumventing potentially suitable bosses, instead of accidentally rushing into something worse than an ogre or a hawk - and ograwk? - seemed sensible to Fiona.
If she had to fuck bosses please just make them hot. Provide tower, provide. Some kind of hot faerie or something. Or elf. Mmm, she thought about Tialah. She hoped Qae would let her borrow her pet again in the future. She looked at Ash, her dark gray and black tail swishing over her scandalously tiny short shorts.
Maybe they could swap pets... Fiona smiled to herself, daydreaming as Tamlin pulled her quickly to the side, Fiona blinking realizing she'd almost walked into a tree.
"I will heal you, but not for being an idiot." Tamlin chided, as Liddy giggled.
"Focus Fiona, this is a reasonably dangerous floor - we have to keep our wits about us." Qae said, flapping her wings again. She mostly tucked them together as they walked, but every time there was room she stretched them out.
"Well we're here" Liddy piped up, as she rushed ahead towards the town. Qae had explained that the towns here had been built by climbers - even if native tower dwellers sometimes occupied them. It seemed tower dwellers from towns - like Tialah - would be able to traverse the tower, but anyone from a floor like Perthi would... Well Fiona had found out what happens when Perthi tries to enter a portal. It was far nicer than Fiona expected, the main road was from nice uniform cobblestones. While there wasn't a consistent architecture, the houses inside had been built with care - small little huts scattered about haphazardly, whoever wanted a permanent residence setting one up wherever they felt like it. As they walked past a couple of guards standing inside very tall walls, built from very tall trees Fiona took it all in.
It seemed climbers weren't even questioned entering - they guards stood next to a thick rope, holding up an iron barrier.
Holding the enormous creatures of the Forest of Giants seemed to be the only thing they cared about holding in, as plenty of climbers went in and out. It wasn't anywhere near as populated as Climbertown, but it was busy. Qae spoke briefly to a tall red-headed elf man, spiky hair and two curved swords on his back, and they were pointed to the largest building in town, sat in the center at three stories, multiple chimnies with smoke billowing out.
As Fiona got close she read the sign "Guffson's Woodland Beer & Grub (no relation)". The (no relation) had been added as a separate sign hanging under the first, in small text. She giggled.
As they walked into a dwarf nearly identical to the one in their previous in, introduced himself to them
"Hey! Welcome - What do you fancy? Grub, beer, room? One each?" The gruff voice spoke up from behind the bar, almost shouting at the party.
"Uhm, one room? For all of us?" Fiona spoke up, before looking back at Tamlin who seemed to have suddenly gone stiff. "Oh, uh - two. One one person and one for five." She corrected.
The bartender raised one bushy eyebrow but didn't comment further. It couldn't have been an uncommon thing, as he immediately produced a key for a five-person room, and one for a single.
"Do you have any information regarding currently active bosses?" Qae asked after they'd handed over an initial deposit.
"The board has any boss that we have not received a defeat report on - defeated bosses have a pile on the table next to it." He said absent-mindedly, doing the time-honored barkeeper tradition of exposing information to travelers while cleaning out glasses and his bartop with an only slightly less filthy rag. "A defeated boss will respawn by the towers will every four days on this floor, so if you particularly want to fight one for a specific reward - can always wait."
As they walked over to the room, Fiona wondered. It did make sense that bosses respawned - even just in this town there must have been hundreds of climbers, and there were multiple of these towns. Floors would be empty quickly otherwise. Did they hold grudges though? She made a mental note to ask Qae, as they headed over to the notice board, covered in little scraps of paper with boss descriptions, map locations, and what rewards people had received upon completion from them. Some even had little portraits of them to help people identify - the wall was covered, so many options.
Just as Fiona was about to walk forward, Annabelle and Liddy in a collaborative effort stopped her. Annabelle spoke up.
"Me and Liddy have decided if you don't know what boss we're going to see." She smiled a mischievous grin, Liddy's twin smile next to her.
"But... I need to know if I would. You know." Fiona stuttered. She didn't even get to pick the bosses she'd be fucking? That was... Unfair. Unreasonable.
Kinda hot.
"Fiona" Annabelle tutted. "How many monster fucking scenarios did we play out? I know you, babe, trust me. It'll be fun. You and Ash go upstairs, try the bed out, and we will pick." She looked at Tamlin. "Would you like to help pick which monsters Fiona will be using her ability on?" Qae was already looking over the board with Liddy, presumably from a strategic view and not a strictly horny one. Tamlin looked a bit flustered but shook her head.
"I will ask around for Gertram first... THen if you haven't decided I will come and help. It sounds... Fun" The honesty of the woman aside, she clearly wasn't entirely opposed to the party's style and they might have to just take it. She was clearly a competent healer. And she had her priorities right and didn't let the hornyness run away with her.
"Ok... But I get to veto!" Fiona said, loud enough to attract several confused glances, as Annabelle rolled her eyes.
"Fine. But you won't. We'll find some hot ones that will absolutely ruin you, you'll love it. Now Ash - distract her."
Fiona spluttered out more protests, trying to add caveats, as her pet somehow aggressively cuddled and rubbed her towards the stairs and up to the shared room. Hed rubbing into her, tail wrapping around and pulling on legs and quietly pleading, please mistress I need pets so bad.
Before long Fiona was out of the common room of the inn and hadn't even noticed.