Where There's a Will, There's a Way
...
Hmm… The only thing left is to organize the troops… But that's the easy part...
"Berri!" Kaalhyme shouts excitedly to one of the men who followed him up. "You're good at talking to people, so I've got a special job for you!"
"You go back down to the commander's soul and bring out all the Bandit and Guard Wills," the domineering captain instructs, "Convince the old Palace Guards that we've been wrongfully detained, and that we need their help. They're more organized and disciplined than the bandits, so they'll come with me to the armory to hand out weapons."
"What about the bandits?" Berri asks.
"You'll have the Bandit Wills wait by the lower floors for the Guards to pass the weapons down to them," Kaalhyme responds, "They like to murder people… and now's a time for murdering!"
Berri's black hand reforms into a solute, then it slowly sinks down as it concentrates on communicating with the other Wills. Spiritual entities can't just address a crowd like a person can with physical vocal cords; instead, each individual has to be thought of before you can talk to them.
At least the process is easier when you're close to that spirit.
Thus, Berri has to spend quite a bit of time spreading the word among the Wills.
With Berri doing his job, Kaalhyme and the others focus on going back up and spreading out through the floors within reach – carefully inspecting the layout to see if there's anything unusual before they get started.
Lastly, they check on the construction progress for the spirit stone wall. "Good job, men!" Kaalhyme congratulates them, "You caught them in the act before they got too far into their construction. We should have enough time to get the job done!"
Once that's done, they make their way up to the armory.
With there being multiple Aura arms, they can't go all the way up to B19 (Haalfrin's maximum reach). In fact, with 10 arms out like this, they can only go 3 floors away. This isn't normally a problem, though, since each successive floor above them gets larger and larger, meaning there's more hunting ground.
So, to reach Floor B25, they have to combine their Aura arms, fly alongside each other, and use the extra Aura to reach even further up.
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An old man is wearily hauling a bucket down the hall, minding his own business, when he feels the creeping chill the rumors are talking about. Suddenly feeling cold, he puts down his bucket and rubs his arms. 'I gotta get out of this place. My grandkids always told me I need to quit this job… and maybe they're right?'
Before he can pick his bucket up again, the faint chill suddenly multiplies 10 times over. What was a subtle creepy feeling before became absolute panic. "Ah!" he shrieks as he falls on his side. "I'm gonna die!"
If a spirit mage had been here, they'd have seen 10 black strands come together and combine… This old man was simply unlucky enough to be touching the mega strand when it formed.
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The warehouse on floor 25 has guards patrolling the tall shelves. This is normally known as the area to work in when you don't want to actually work, because there's nothing to check here – no prisoners to watch… nothing. With there being no cells here, everyone on this floor thinks there's no need to pay attention to anything.
If the posted spirit mage had been doing his job and keeping a watch out, he'd have seen a long black tendril snake its way up from the floor just a few dozen feet from him…
The black arm then drifts to the side, as it searches for the teleportation gate. Once it finds the gate, Kalastros's Will prepares to follow through with the plan to destroy the teleport circles and replace them with his own.
Kalastros then slides down the black arm and makes sure that their safety line is mostly in the bedrock, to prevent the enemy spirit mages from actually seeing them in the open.
The old mage knows that the Warden will probably be able to tell when the Teleport Circles are broken, so he has to prioritize claiming the most valuable Floor first before he risks the enemy commander putting a stop to them.
Naturally, Kalastros was told by the master strategist to focus on the floors closer to Haalfrin, since if they fight close to home territory, they'll be able to split off into more strands and spread out, rather than stupidly clustering themselves together, where they can be blasted away with one fell swoop.
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Knowing that Kalastros's operation is going to take some time, Kaalhyme is sure to make his companion wait for just after the guards change for Kalastros to get to work. Each floor is on a shift, so he has lookouts at each teleport gate to watch and see when a mass of employees come and go.
Once a floor switches out, he sends Kalastros to go claim the portal. "We don't want the employees to try using it, only to figure out that the thing isn't working. It would be bad if they all complain to the enemy commander all at once!"
For the first couple of destroyed teleport circles, the maintenance crew up in the Warden's tower thinks that something must have gone wrong. So, they don't tell the Warden immediately – instead opting to send some people to fix it before telling their boss later. No need to bother her with every minor thing, right?
However, when Floor after floor loses their Circles, the mages in the tower start freaking out. They'd be absolute idiots to not realize that something's wrong.
As soon as they send a sacrificial lamb upstairs to deliver the bad news, Warden Prella slams her fist on the table and spits out, "YOU! That Monster's making his move! Sound the Alarm! Get everyone going!"
She bites her fingernails and looks out the window over the barren lands and the defensive structures around the topmost layer of the Pit.
'It's nerve-wracking not knowing what that monster is planning,' she thinks anxiously.
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Some of the Wills posted as scouts see the loud chiming going off in all the hallways, and they keep note of the guards piling out of their barracks on their designated floors.
A moment after that, Kaalhyme hears the news, and he urgently says aloud, "Master mage! You're done with this phase of the operation now! They know we're here!"
"I'm almost done with this portal!" Kalastros answers back after a pause. Then, Kaalhyme hears, "Aarg! Get back! I'm trying to rescue the Haalfrin!"
There's some loud explosions and the sounds of terrified guards… and a moment later, Kalastros says to Kaalhyme from the other Floor, "I'm a 4th Circle mage. I'm not so helpless. I can keep going."
"Good job, master mage!" Kaalhyme beams with joy. "I'll go ahead and call the army now, so be prepared!"
"Geez," Kaalhyme mutters, "I wish I had such a powerful, dependable mage with me back then." He pauses. "Back when? Hmm… I don't remember. Anyway…"
"Berri!" the Will's captain commands, "It's time! Bring up the legion!"
If any spirit mages had seen the black tendril snaking its way through the floors, they'd have been blown away at the sight of the black arm… changing.
The dark Aura suddenly lights up a brilliant silver as thousands and thousands of Wills rush up top frantically, as they all know they don't have much time to lose.
As the Wills start to pile up on Floor B25, the black hand starts to bulge larger and larger as they all gather together. Then, they all push outward as one, and the end of the tendril balloons out.
The guards sitting down gambling and drinking suddenly feel a sense of dread, and they stand up in a panic. If they had had their alarm crystals on their necks, they'd have been notified of the enemy attack at least a couple seconds in advance.
Plus, the mages specifically have been told about how this is a spiritual attack – not some random haunting.
Burping and rolling off his barrel in shock, the spirit mage scrambles to his feet and activates the spell on his eyes… When he does, he sees the entire storeroom lights up with so many Wills that he can hardly see his feet.
"KILL THE SPIRIT MAGE!" Kaalhyme shrieks out.
…And before the spirit mage can put up much resistance, every piece of equipment in the storehouse lifts up and rushes at the man, turning him into a bloodstain before he can even call for help.
"Ignore the other guards; they'll only slow you down! Also, get to the portals as planned!" the 'captain' Kaalhyme orders. "Remember which floors you were assigned to. Don't deviate!"
A loud chorus of voices shout out, "SIR YES SIR!"