The Tin Mines of the Graystone Bluffs were a series of tunnels dug into a series of large cliffs overlooking the Atlantic just north of Starkesboro. Apparently, the Graystone Bluffs had gotten their name from the types of stone that were evident from the ocean that made up the formation. A large amount of the bluffs were an amalgamation of flint, chert, and limestone, all of which came in varying shades of gray from the almost white of the Limestone to the dark gray of the flint. They represented a decent amount of building materials for the early colonists of Starkesboro, and the only thing that had stopped the town from quarrying the bluffs for building materials on a large scale had been the discovery of tin ore in the cliffs when the initial quarrying of building materials for the Starkesboro Church was being done.
A stonemason and Lieutenant in the Colonial Militia, Robert Edmund Musgrave, had been supervising a work crew of captured Pawtucket Indians who had been forced to work for the colony after the Colonial Victory in King Phillip's War when one of the natives accidentally collapsed part of the formation they had been working on carving blocks out of onto the work crew. When the dust settled, all the natives had been killed, but the collapse had revealed a vein of tin ore. This in turn allowed the colonists to grow in wealth and I had my suspicions that Sligguth had been at least partially behind the collapse in order to get his newfound followers to stay in the area rather than spread out along the Merrimack River in search of wealth. I suppose I'd never really know the truth about that. I wasn't about to wake Sligguth up to ask, after all.
Regardless, Musgrave set up the initial tin mining operation shortly thereafter, and the Musgrave Tin Mine was the deepest in the current operation. I had been given this background by Vipera because the Musgrave Tin Mine was also where the first attacks had happened. Vipera herself had the yellow, mottled, skin and slit-pupilled eyes that marked her as a Half-Blood, along with the fangs and taloned fingers. Unlike any of the others, she was absolutely hopeless at Glamours, which when combined with her talent for Lithomancy, that is the ability to magically manipulate minerals, meant she was a natural fit for the Mine position.
"Officially, I'm the City's Mine Safety Inspector, which is another reason why I've been taking this spate of attacks seriously. Unfortunately, all I've been able to gather from eyewitness accounts was that the thing was some sort of Nine-foot-tall, Green, Ogre with some kind of stone axe that was able to bisect three miners in a single swipe and damage mechanical mining drills into inoperability." Sighed Vipera.
"Have you checked with Regulus to see if he can divine whether the Hulk is still in Army Custody or not? Because if this is Hulk-related, I'm not sure how much use I'll be." I frowned. I was strong, but I wasn't Hulk-strong, after all.
"It was the first thing we did. The Hulk was still in Military Custody during the first few attacks, which means that whatever this is, it's not that. Good thing too, because if we had to call for help from someone who could deal with the Hulk, it would bring up memories of events best left forgotten." Nodded Vipera.
"I can imagine." I deadpanned. The last time something related to superheroics had gone down in Starkesboro, Doctor Strange had driven out the Cult of Sligguth and sent the Setspawn into its current period of deathly dreaming. I can't imagine being so close to destruction like that would be a very pleasant thing to get flashbacks of.
"I have to ask, you've shown you have a talent for sorcery. Do you have any idea of what's down there?" Questioned Vipera.
"Until now, I had no clue. Fortunately, you've given me enough of a description to make an educated guess. What do you know of a place called Subterannea?" I answered.
"I've heard the name referenced as a catch-all term for the network of subterranean tunnels and whatnot that lie deep beneath the surface of the Earth, but I really don't know anything beyond that. Do you think the Musgrave Mine has been in operation long enough to break into there?" Queried Vipera.
"Nine-foot-tall Green Ogres with impossibly sharp stone weapons sounds a lot like a being known as a Molan. They're a tribal species of warriors that live in Subterranea, primitive in terms of technology, they make most of their weapons and tools out of a substance called Hardstone, a type of extremely hard, extremely, sharp, rock. It holds enough of an edge to be able to cut someone on the Hulk's level, so if this is a Molan Warrior who you somehow managed to unleash into the mine, the plan is to not get hit by the axe, because neither of us are tough enough to not be killed by something like that." I informed.
"Right. Can we try talking it down, maybe?" Asked Vipera.
"I don't speak Molan, and though I should be able to jury-rig a translation spell with Sorcery, they don't tend to listen too well. They're an aggressive people, always testing and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. The good news is that they follow the will of the strongest as a rule, so if we beat the Molan, we should be able to order them to leave the area and not return. The problem is actually winning the fight without getting gutted." I responded.
"Right. I don't suppose we could take them two-on-one and have that count?" Tried Vipera.
"Probably not. Single Combat only, I'm afraid." I refuted.
"Well, it's a better plan than we had going in. I'll lead you to where the last attack happened in the mine and hope you can beat the Molan." Shrugged Vipera.
And with that, she was leading me past the two deputy sheriffs at the entrance to the Musgrave Mine, who had suspiciously large caliber rifles for a small-town sheriff's department, and into the mine tunnel itself. The electric lamps that illuminated the tunnel revealed a downward slope going around twenty feet down into the bluffs, away from the sea and the river in order to avoid any chance of flooding. As we walked, the tunnel leveled out and stretched farther away from the ocean and river by roughly a quarter of a mile, passing by multiple branch tunnels, before we halted at a caged elevator that was shut with a steel chain and padlock, as if that would stop the Molan if they were determined to hitch a ride up into the entry shaft.
Vipera unlocked the elevator and we got inside, a switch was thrown and we began our descent. After about five minutes of listening to the elevator's mechanical grinding, we finally reached our destination. A sign on the wall indicated we were now three-quarters of a mile beneath the surface of the earth. The electric lights buzzed in the silence, illuminating the darkness and showing another, sloping tunnel off in the distance. Along the walls here and there were thick veins of ore shooting through the stone. That wasn't all it illuminated, as discarded tools, the wreckage of busted-up drills and jackhammers, and patches of blood were scattered about the floor in clumps, indicating signs of attacks.
Some of the blood pools were fresher than others, generally speaking, the further down the tunnel you went the older the attacks were. Vipera led me down another quarter of a mile, past two older signs of attack, before taking me down a branch tunnel that had curved off to the northwest and going down another quarter of a mile until we reached the oldest of the signs of attack. Here the far end of the tunnel had dug into a natural cavern where luminous fungi and various glowing, colored, crystals could be seen. In the center of the cavern was a gray, stone, throne-like, chair carved out of the bones of the living earth, upon which sat our enemy.
Nine feet of rippling muscle, clothed in an armored loincloth made of hardstone and the shaggy pelt of some unidentified cave creature, the Molan Warrior was very clearly male and also very clearly waiting for us. Most notable was the necklace of fanglike teeth he wore about his neck, trophies from some of the more Serpent-blooded Miners he'd slain, no doubt. At the side of the carved throne was a pile of skulls that had very clearly come from several of the slain miners, a hardstone axe leaned against the other side of the throne. As I stepped through into the cavern, his craggy, heavy-browed, face snapped up to regard me. I called upon my DCU Magic to incant an Atlantean Translation Spell.
"Can you understand me?" I questioned when it was done.
"I can. You have the stink of Sorcery about you. Your skull, I will not add to my challenge mound. Instead, I think I will line it with Hardstone and make a drinking vessel out of it, proof that I am strong enough to slay a sorcerer." Growled out the Molan Warrior.
"If you beat me, you're welcome to it." I challenged back.
"Good! You have spirit, that's something, at least! I am Lok'tor, son of Kon'jak, and we will see if you can back up your claims!" Laughed the Molan, getting up and grabbing his Hardstone axe.
I reached into my bag of holding and pulled out my Valyrian Steel Wan-Shen, taking up a guard and beginning to burn various metals within my body, along with drawing stored attributes from the various metalminds, reinforcing my body with Chi, and engaging several Matukai Techniques. I refused to use more overt sorcery for the moment since that would make my victory less legitimate in the eyes of my opponent. So fortified, I waited for Lok'tor to charge, and I was not disappointed as moments later, Lok'tor let out a guttural war cry and launched himself at my position.
Even fortified with all my mystical power, I still almost failed to parry in time, Lok'tor was just that fast. As I snapped my Wan-Shen up and around in a Matukai defensive technique, folding attack and defense into one smooth motion, I just barely managed to catch his axe on the haft of my Wan-Shen, turning about as I did so. The blade of his Hardstone axe came within a hairsbreadth of my forehead as I snapped off my maneuver. Fortunately, I was able to pull it off, and the butt of my Wan-Shen smashed into Lok'tor's floating ribs, stopping his charge, albeit barely. I whirled about with my Wan-Shen, trying to widen the gap between us to keep him in the longer reach of my polearm by pressing him back with as much power as I could muster.
Unfortunately, he was tougher than I was expecting as well, instead, merely taking the hits from the haft and butt of my Wan-Shen and a slice from the blade of my Wan-Shen along his right side in exchange for smashing the back of his Harstone axe into my face. Stars exploded behind my eyes and I tasted blood in my mouth as I was sent flying backward to smash into a stalagmite of Hardstone shot through with nodules of tin and stibnite, cracking several of the nodules off and sending spiderwebbing cracks through the hardstone. I just barely got my Wan-Shen up in a wild slash on instinct that managed to press Lok'tor back away from me. If I hadn't done that, I would have been a goner, as it was, my nose was smashed sideways, my lip was split, and I had a cracked orbital bone and bruised skull.
Shunting the pain aside with a Matukai Technique I got to my feet and snapped off a parry as the Hardstone axe came whirling back in, catching the axe under the head on the blade of my Wan-Shen before flicking my blade in a circular movement aimed at disarming Lok'Tor. If he hadn't been strong enough to flatten me like he had, that likely would have worked. Instead, Lok'tor kept his grip on his axe, backpedaling as I thrust out multiple times in quick succession. A slash thrown into the mix suddenly managed to catch him off guard and carve a gash along his left forearm, but now my Wan-Shen was just out of position enough for him to get a kick in. His chitin-plated, leather boot smashed into my chest, cracking two ribs and bruising my sternum, sending me stumbling backward and tossing wild slashes out to keep Lok'tor at bay.
I drew further on my Matukai techniques to keep myself in one piece and shove the pain aside to keep fighting, but I knew it wasn't going to last. Even if I succeeded in beating Lok'tor, the moment my Force Techniques gave out, I would pass out. I had to win now, which meant I had to go for the kill and stop holding back on more overt sorcery. With a grunted mystic incantation and an arcane gesture, a pyromantic fireball burst forth from my mouth, even as I was already incanting a spell that would use aeromancy to feed the flames. The conflagration that ensued burned swathe of luminous mushrooms along the floor of the cavern into a carpet of ash and seared Lok'tar's flesh.
Even as that happened, I was already moving, incanting mystical syllables to throw a number of aeromantic wind blades at Lok'tor, cutting deep into his chest and shoulders. He howled in pain, swinging out wildly with his hardstone axe and decrying my use of sorcery as cheating, but I'd be fucked if I cared. I was already starting to flag on my Matukai techniques, the stress of holding a busted-up body together well enough to fight such a dangerous opponent, while simultaneously casting magic and using the force to shunt aside the pain of my busted-up body was quickly draining my capability to keep going. This would end one way or another in the next few moves so I had to make them count.
I charged in, incanting a mystic syllable as having a tendril of water coalesce out of the moisture in the air, wrapping around Lok'tor's leg and pulling. The sudden tug on his leg off-balanced Lok'tor enough for me to move in with my Wan-Shen and skewer him through the torso with my polearm. I felt slight resistance as the blade went in and caught on the tough, thickened, bones of Lok'tor's ribs, even as his hardened, leathery, skin posed no obstacle thanks to the earlier conflagration burning much of it off of him. Then the blade went past the ribs to cut into the kidney and liver before exiting out of his back. Unfortunately, for such a tough son of a bitch, that wasn't going to be quite the end of him.
With a snarl through blood-flecked tusks, Lok'tor grabbed onto the haft of my Wan-Shen and began pulling himself along it, rupturing his spleen and carving through intestines in the process. If it would get him close enough to me to kill me with his Hardstone axe, he didn't care. Wisely, I dropped my Wan-Shen and skipped backward as far away from his position as I could. Denied his mutual kill, Lok'tor let out one final howl of rage before using the last of his strength to hurl his Hardstone axe at me. It flew end over end, inexpertly, not balanced for throwing in the slightest. It still had plenty of strength behind it, however.
As Lok'tor slumped over dead, the haft of his Hardstone axe smashed into my arm, breaking the radius in the process. That was too much, the combination of multiple cracked ribs, a bruised sternum, a cracked orbital bone, a bruised skull, a busted nose, a split lip, and now a broken arm had finally overwhelmed my Matukai techniques. With a strangled scream, I sank to my knees, vision blurring out in pain as tears streamed from my eyes.
First, everything went white, and then I fell to the ground unconscious. . .
XXXX
I opened my eyes to see that I was once again in the white bedroom where I'd begun this journey, though this time, I wasn't alone. The white-clad form of the Beyonder grinning at me. The Jheri-curled asshole clearly thought that my fight was amusing, or at least that's what it seemed like, but I honestly couldn't be arsed to yell at him about it. I was too busy wondering if the fact that I was meeting him meant I'd bit the dust or not. Of course, he wouldn't answer my question about that if I didn't ask, since he seemed perfectly content to just smirk at me like he was currently doing.
"All right, so I fucked up and got the shit kicked out of me, big deal. Am I dead or not?" I queried.
"Nope. Just unconscious, I thought I'd pop in to let you know that I hadn't expected you to try and take on Lok'tor on your own. Vipera would have been enough support to help you avoid this situation, Lithomancy would have been pretty deadly in a cavern like that, you know." Grinned the Beyonder.
"Right. I guess trying to emulate Thor and go for Single Combat to settle things was a pretty stupid decision." I allowed.
"Thor's strong enough to get away with stuff like that, you're not." Pointed out the Beyonder.
"Hey, Spiderman was able to beat Molan Warriors one-on-one. He and I are roughly similar in terms of capabilities, at least when I've got all my magic enhancing me like I did." I grumbled.
"Spiderman has his Spider-Sense to help him, plus he has experience fighting opponents that are a lot stronger than he is." Insisted the Beyonder.
"Right, fine. I fucked up, is that what you wanted me to say? Fine, I admit it." I snapped.
"Hey, don't get snippy with me. I just stopped by to tell you that you're getting close to the end of what you might think of as the prologue or tutorial stage of this little journey. Once you have control of your Tower, you'll no longer be stuck in the bubble I put you in. You'll be fair game for any villain who wants to have a crack at you, just like anyone else." Informed the Beyonder.
"Some bubble. Not only have I had to deal with Lok'tor and all the issues in Starkesboro, but I've fought no less than four Supervillains just getting here. You call that a bubble?" I retorted.
"I do in fact. None of the challenges you've faced yet were outside of your capability to handle at the moment you faced them. I made sure that most of the opponents you'd faced were in your league and that for the few that weren't, you'd always have an ally nearby capable of helping you out. That isn't going to remain the case once you have control over your tower. Once the training wheels are gone, you'll be in the same boat as any other newbie Hero. Just giving you fair warning, here." Explained the Beyonder.
"Fine, thanks for that, I guess. Anything else?" I asked.
"Nope! You should be waking up any second now! Vipera was even kind enough to give you a lift back to town and help patch you up. Like I said, training wheels, though not for much longer." Chuckled the Beyonder.
And with that, the vision of the Beyonder, the white bedroom, and everything in it disappeared from my sight as I was called back into the land of the living. . .
XXXX
I opened my eyes and sat up, taking a shuddering breath as I did so. Looking down, I saw that I was covered in bandages, with an IV pumping an alchemical healing solution into my veins, though my power of Comprehension revealed it to be a slow-acting one. It was more of something that supercharged the Body's capability to heal itself than anything like a regular healing potion. Thankfully, it looked like most of the work had been done while I was out and I spent the next ten minutes using Alakhestry to finish the job. Once I was back to full capacity, I looked around to try and get my bearings.
The small cot I'd been laid in was surrounded by crates of beer and the red-painted walls and black wood moulding were similar enough to the Barroom of the Adder Lounge to let me know that I'd been laid up in the back room of the local watering hole. The question was, for how long? As I wondered that, the blonde, Glamoured form of Sheriff Hydrophia Bromfield entered from the barroom. It sounded like the Viper Lounge was packed, which meant it was nighttime. Given that I'd gone into the Mines with Vipera at around eleven in the morning, after having been to the Old Cannery at nine, meant it'd been at least most of a day.
"Hey! You're up! That's good, we don't have enough Alchemical capability to make proper healing potions so we weren't sure when you'd be up and about!" Grinned Hydrophia.
"How long was I out?" I questioned.
"Three days. It's Friday night. Vipera said you went in to deal with the Mines on your own, which sounds like a hell of a story. That axe she brought back from the mines is really something else too, better than steel even though it's made of some kind of rock. She's kept that plus a selection of gemstones and mineral nodules from the cavern you cleared for you as a token of our appreciation. Also, Ophidio spent the past five days copying down the various arcane grimoires he found in the treasure chamber in the Library, he's giving you the copies and your pick of any one of the magical objects in the chamber as well." Answered Hydrophia.
"Thanks. Any words on whether you might see your way clear to letting me borrow a boat to go looking for my tower?" I queried.
"As a matter of fact, there is. Regulus is letting you take his personal boat with a crew he hand-picked to let you go look for it." Responded Hydrophia.
"You know, it occurs to me that you're all being awfully generous." I frowned.
"You really didn't get a good look at what was in that cavern, did you?" Asked Hydrophia.
"No, sorry. I was too busy trying to not die." I refuted.
"There were enough gemstones and ore veins in that cavern alone to reverse the town's recent economic slump. Then there's the treasure from the Library Treasure Chamber to add on top. Not only that, but you also cleared the Gremlins out of the Cannery and made the mines safe again. Honestly, Starkesboro's in a better position to grow economically now than at any time since Sligguth's death." Informed Hydrophia.
"Indeed. It is no exaggeration to say that you have saved this town." Came Regulus' aged voice from the doorway. I turned to see the old Half-blood leaning against the doorway with a grin on his face.
"I don't know if I'd go that far." I demurred.
"None of that. We wish to thank you and you will accept our thanks in the spirit it was intended." Huffed Regulus, good-naturedly.
"Ok, you're welcome." I replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of my head.
"Now, come gather your rewards and meet your crew, I imagine you will wish to sail for your tower as soon as you are able. It would not do to not know the men you will be sailing with." Nodded Regulus as he turned and headed back into the barroom.
I followed and soon found myself being heaped with praise, material rewards, and free drinks. Of the material rewards, nodules of all kinds of metal ores and gemstones from the cavern, more than enough to refill the metals lost to my Allomantic enhancements, along with a selection of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, jades, and topazes that were obviously worth money. Those went into my bag of Holding, along with the Hardstone Axe of Lok'tor. From the Library Treasure Chamber, copies of tomes of spell lore including tomes on Dutch Elementalist Magics, Huron Tribal Herbalism, Wabanaki Confederacy Healing Magics, Portuguese Magesmithing Enchantments, Danish Mental Illusions, Mayan Necromancy, Asian, American, and African Totemic Magic, Vampiric Blood Sorcery, and Old Kheshattan Rituals all were given to me and went into my Bag of Holding, even if I wouldn't use some of them. Finally, I selected the Orichalcum Mage Gauntlet for my magical item reward, which also went into my Bag of Holding.
With that done, the atmosphere turned more into something like a party atmosphere as free drinks were constantly pressed into my hand by grateful townsfolk. I met with the Captain, First Mate, and Bosun of the crew I'd be taking with me to sail around in hopes of finding my Tower. Captain Mike McKay was a good-natured man whose greenish cast to his skin and slightly enlarged canines belied his Serpent Blood. He was fond of cigars, the rarer the better, and could have been a smuggler in a previous life. Likewise, First Mate Elizabeth Perkins was a cheery woman who was quick with a joke, whose canines were just a touch too large to be within human norms, and whose eyes had pupils that were slitted. The Bosun, Jeremy Turner, had none of the outward features of Serpent-Blood, though his preference for rare steak seemed to point to some trace Serpent-Man ancestry, his taciturn demeanor hid a dry wit that only came out after several drinks.
They would be leading the eighteen crewmembers that would help me find my Tower aboard the Brigantine Sailing Vessel Surprise Fortune. Apparently, it had been a former sail training vessel for the Canadian Navy that Regulus had bought mere weeks before Doctor Strange had shown up to drive the Cult out of town and send Sligguth into his deathlike dormancy. The ship had still been on the way from Halifax at the time so the handover had taken place a few days after the dust had settled. In that time, she'd been kept painstakingly maintained thanks to Regulus using his own personal funds to do so.
Though a sailing ship, even one built with a steel hull like this one, might be seen as antiquated, the fact that she also boasted diesel engines and generators, a shallower draft than the various fat-bellied fishing trawlers that made up the bulk of the town's fleet, and was seaworthy enough for a sovereign nation's navy to use, made her the best choice. By this time tomorrow, Captain McKay, First Mate Perkins, Bosun Turner, eighteen able seamen, and I would be taking the Surprise Fortune out to sea, hoping to find my Tower. Once I'd found it, and cleared it of any squatters, the training wheels would be off.
I just hoped that I'd have time to get a little Magesmithing and researching in before inevitably being dragged into the wider drama of the Marvel Universe. . .
XXXX
AN: So yeah, we're closing in on the end of what would be the origin story and introductory arc of Jan if this were a proper comic book and not a weird Multicross CYOA fic on the internet. As stated by the Beyonder, once he's gotten control over his tower, the training wheels come off and he'll be just the same as any other newbie hero would be. Fortunately, he hasn't come out of his origin story with bupkis to show for it. Even before getting his tower, he's already gotten a shitload of loot from helping out Starkesboro, and he'll have also been able to shake some of the drawback-imposed rust off of his abilities. Whether that will be enough to deal with the next arc remains to be seen.
At any rate, the next chapter will be the start of the end of the beginning. The search for, and claiming of, Jan's Wizard Tower will be more than one chapter. It might even be three, but most likely it will be two. It depends on how drawn out the first two chapters are. Once that's done, we will officially be done with the prologue for Jan.
Stay tuned. . .56