Chapter 3: To Enter the Dungeon
“Why--why did you do that?” Catalysta murmured. NPCs weren’t supposed to steal your experience points, at least not in any game she’d ever played. She didn’t realize how close the dwarf was to her; she hadn’t meant for him to hear.
“Lass there is much about Gamdrea you don’t know and I didn’t want you killing a Gamdrean--even an Agent of Shadow--without knowing.” Bannor clapped her on the shoulder, “We have much to discuss now that the Chateau is…'' the dwarf broke off as he watched Granden race towards the inn yelling for Gizzette, “liberated.”
Before he could enter the building, the woman in question came running out to him. She was another woman worthy of a Disney princess. Her bright red hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, and her striking blue eyes made Catalysta think she was about to start singing a catchy song. A striking difference from Chitany was that she didn’t look like she’d been abused, despite her beauty. She wore a light blue dress with a black corset, emphasizing her chest. The bottom three inches of her hem were filthy. And she was holding what appeared to be a rusty kitchen knife.
“What’s going on!” Gizette raised her makeshift weapon into the air preparing to throw it at Catalysta, but Granden grabbed her arm.
“It’s fine Zettie, everything’s fine now,” Granden said. The wild look in the woman’s eyes didn’t leave but she slowly lowered her hand.
“How is this fine?” she asked, “That’s obviously another one of THOSE Dreamwalkers! We can’t trust them!”
“Zettie, she saved us,” Granden soothed, “she’s not an enemy.”
“Dreamwalkers cannot be trusted!” The woman refused to be calmed and reasoned with. She glared around at all the villagers now gathered in front of the inn with open hostility, even towards her mother and husband. It all seemed odd to Catalysta because despite Chitany’s abuse by a Dreamwalker, she didn’t respond to Cat like this. And something just seemed off.
Gizette????? Level 13. Hitpoints: 450/450. Common village woman.
That Analyze was a little strange, and a lot less descriptive than all her previous results. Catalysta took a step forward and held out her hand to introduce herself.
“I’m Cat, I have no intention to hurt you…” Gizette slapped her hand away, wincing in pain as she made contact with Catalyst’s skin. For a moment Cat saw mottled gray skin and sharpened yellow nails. She narrowed her eyes, immediately suspicious of this woman. She stared off into space thinking, as Gizette hurled an insult at her.
“See, the Dreamwalker hurt me,” Gizette almost growled as she cradled her hand.
“Don’t be daft, girl, ye’re the one who hit her,” Bannor grunted, staring at Gizette strangely. Catalysta on the other hand removed herself from the situation and began walking toward the side of the inn so she could get to the back where the pig pin was.
“See, look! She’s walking away. She’s not even going to try and defend herself! That’s guilt that is.” The woman calling herself Gizette continued.
Liliana rushed up behind Catalysta and whispered, “What are you doing? Where are you going?”
“I don’t think that’s Gizette,” Catalysta whispered back, “Can you keep an eye on her, don’t let her run, don’t let her hurt anyone?”
“What do you mean not Gizette?”
“Well look at her dress. Both her mom and Granden said something about her being a clean freak.”
“Oh, I hadn’t even noticed. Yeah, that is odd. But where are you going?”
“I think I know where the real Gizette is. Give me a few minutes.” Catalysta continued around the corner of the inn, and Liliana returned to the group that was arguing. Cat could only really hear the fake Gizette’s whining voice.
“What do you mean she’ll be back in a bit? … How is she going to prove she’s not our enemy!? … She’s probably back there stealing our supplies and killing the animals! … It’s what all the Dreamwalkers do!”
The woman wasn’t a bad actor, but she had not played her role perfectly. Given enough time, Cat was sure Granden and Nerry would have figured out Gizette wasn’t really Gizette. They were just so happy with the liberation and reuniting with her that they hadn’t noticed. But Cat had, especially with how hostile the woman was being. And then she remembered the pig. What pig doesn’t have a speck of dirt on them?
Catalysta looked at the pig pen again and there was the Strange pig, just as spotless, just as aloof from the other pigs, and just as mournful looking. Of all the other pigs, including those Cat had returned to humans, this was the smallest. Cat did not go inside the pen, instead moving around the outside, getting closer to the Strange pig and speaking.
“Gizette?” At the question, the pig looked at her quizzically. “Gizette, I’m going to turn you back into a human.” The pig gave an excited squeal, but when Catalysta reached down to try and pick the pig up to get her outside of the pen, the pig snorted and jerked its snout at her hands. Catalysta turned her hands over. Dried blood decorated her palms.
“Right,” Cat muttered, “Clean freak. What about a single fingertip?” To Cat it looked like the pig squinted its eyes to investigate her hands more thoroughly, before it gave an obvious nod.
Her pinky was the cleanest digit, so she extended it and used Void Touch on the pig. In a few seconds a beautiful woman, the mirror image of the fake-Gizette, stood before her. The only difference was the woman’s clothes were immaculate…and she wasn’t trying to attack Catalysta.
“Uhg, I’m disgusting,”said the real Gizette, “I’ve not bathed in three or four days!” That sound more like what she was expecting. Her quest log updated again. Just to be sure it wasn’t another imposter, she Analyzed her.
Gizette: Housekeeper, Level 8. Hitpoints 185/185. Gizette is the wife of Granden. The two of them moved to Fasthaven, hoping to escape the ruthlessness of the big city, raise their kids, and live a quiet life. So far that has not worked out. Two days before Fasthaven was invaded, Gizette was captured, turned into a pig and impersonated by a doppelganger. Be careful doppelgangers are dangerous.
“You look fine, Gizzett. The others are waiting for you and we need to handle the doppelganger making a ruckus back there.”
“Sure thing, just let me--” the other pigs in the stye finally noticed her and snuffled towards her, “No, no, no! Stay back, you filthy things!” If she hadn’t seen it, she wouldn’t have believed it, but Catalysta watched as Gizette gathered her skirts in her hands and did a four foot vertical leap to get over the pig pen fence without touching it or getting anything on herself. Where there was a will there was a way.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the fake Gizette shouted, “Release me at once!”
Catalysta gestured for the real Gizette to hurry and she rushed back to the front of the inn to find the fake Gizette being restrained by her husband and Liliana sitting on the ground, looking dazed.
“You can’t just hit--” Granden was starting to say, but then he saw another Gizette behind Catalysta’s shoulder and froze. The fake Gizette struggled even harder and managed to break free and turned, swiping her hand across Granden’s face. Cat saw claws extend from their fingertips and rake over the handsome man’s face. As Granden grabbed at the gashes in agony, the imposter turned to run, but Hichard tripped her and Bannor swung his crossbow like a cudgel, catching her in a glancing blow across the cheek. The doppelganger was both stunned and unconscious.
“Oh, my love!” gasped Gizette rushing to Granden’s side. “Take your hands away, let me see.” Granden’s hands shook as he slowly dropped them. Three long gashes stretched from his hairline diagonally across his face down to his chin on the right side. They were bleeding profusely, but fortunately, both his eyes seemed intact, if blinded for the moment from all the blood. The man would have scars, his prince-like looks gone forever.
“Come on love, let’s get you stitched up and cleaned up.” Gizette had managed to not get any of Granden’s blood on her yet, and she moved to his back to guide him towards their home.
“Gizette, Granden, no. To the manor. The dungeon guardian is free, we’ll all need to stay in a place where it cannot go tonight.” Bannor stopped everyone in their tracks, even Granden, despite the blood continuing to flow from his face.
“What?!” Nerry broke the silence.
“The magical traps keeping it in the tunnels have been disarmed. It won’t come out ‘til nightfall, but it will come out. The Manor’s big enough for us all. Everyone grab some supplies or whatever you think you’ll need and get inside.
“Wait,” said Kiles, “what about,” he gestured at the downed doppelganger, “her?” It was almost as if they’d all forgotten about the creature who had fooled them into thinking it was Gizette.
“We should probably tie her up, might be able to get some information from her,” Catalysta said when nobody moved towards the prone female.
“Excellent idea,” said Bannor, “Liliana, Kiles, you two take this creature into the manor and put her into one of the beast cages. Make sure she won’t be able to get out.”
That was odd, “Why’re there beast cages in my manor house?” Catalysta asked.
Bannor looked at her strangely, “Of all the questions you could ask…no matter I’ll explain more important things once we’re inside. Beast cages are for if you capture a beast and want to tame it. Usually, they’re made for magical beasts so they should be able to hold a creature such as this. It is a creature, right?”
“A doppelganger,” confirmed Catalysta, “And what dungeon guardian?”
“Well now,” said Bannor, “That is a much more appropriate question for your current situation, but I’ll explain once we’re safe inside. Before that, do you need anything?”
“Um,” Catalysta remembered her mace, “I’m sorry Bannor but the mace you gave me disintegrated. I used some sort of skill on accident and the weapon couldn’t handle it. Really I couldn’t either. I’m glad I didn’t turn to dust.”
The dwarf stared at her a second in shock.
“So, I need a new weapon.”
“Right,” Bannor said slowly, “You go on into the manor and I will grab more weapons that might be suited to you…we’ll take care of him in in the morning.” After nodding at the Beastmag’s corpse, he abruptly left, leaving Catalysta standing alone in front of the inn. All the other inhabitants of Fasthaven had rushed off to gather their things in preparation for the night and a dungeon guardian. Cat had very little idea of what was going on, but she did know that she had loot to sort, levels to claim, rewards to go through, and notifications to read. And now she would have some time--safe time--to do so.
Entering the manor house, which still had its front door broken down, she called Aria to her.
“Mistress Catalysta, what may I do for you?”
“Um, I wanted to go over what those other Dreamwalkers dropped in loot.”
“Of course, I have tidied up the library and I have organized the loot bags in there for you, you may proceed whenever you are ready.”
“Thanks,” said Rogue hesitantly, “Can you lead me to the library? I don’t know my way around the house yet and using a map to get there would be a bit inconvenient.”
“Of course, Mistress, follow me.”
Aria took Catalysta down the hallway where the main staircase to the second and third floor spiraled upwards and turned to the left, where a beautiful set of wooden doors stood closed and unblemished from the fight that had occurred inside earlier in the session. The inside of the library looked like a different room. The shelves were lined with books, a grand mahogany writing desk sat at the end opposite the door and only a few feet away from the secret passageway to the underground tunnel. The wood gleamed as if Aria had polished it. A small lacquered chest sat on top of the desk, on the right hand corner as if it held office supplies. Cat doubted its contents were so mundane. The scattered papers from when the room had been trashed were gone and a couple reading chairs with plush cushions looked so inviting, Catalysta almost sat down in one of them. In curiosity, Cat pulled a heavy tome from the shelves and opened it.
The book was completely blank. She put it back on the shelf and pulled another. Again it was filled with creamy white pages and no words. She was sure that the books that had been thrown around previously hadn’t been blank.
“Aria, why are all the books in the library blank?”
“Mistress, the books of the Manor House’s library correspond with all the books you yourself have read, however, you didn’t give me permission to scan your memory to populate the shelves with your preferences.”
“Surely you can’t reproduce exact copies of the books I’ve read? I mean, I am smart, but I don’t have a photographic memory.”
Aria bobbed up and down as if she was laughing, “Mistress, the human brain stores a lot more information than your consciousness itself can control or retreive, but I am not inhibited by biological restraints. Your mind is also not my only method of research. Much like your console that can transport you to and from Gamdrea, I can reach into your world and interact with most frequencies and wavelengths to retrieve whatever is necessary to get accurate representations of what I find in your mind. However, before I can do such a thing, I need your permission to do so.”
“Um, sure, go ahead and scan my brain or whatever.”
Aria approached Catalysta, making a buzzing sound and a beam of light shot out of the middle of the wisp and starting at the top of her head slowly scanned down to the base of her neck. Aria hummed, it sounded like a pur to Catalysta, and when she opened the book she was holding again, it was suddenly filled with words. She recognized the scene from one of her favorite fantasy books from childhood.
“Mistress, you have a varied taste in literature. I can easily say that your library is unlike any other library in all of Gamdrea.”
“Do other Dreamwalkers have World Magic libraries that can pull books from other worlds?”
Aria was silent for a beat, “I am unaware of any other library like the one in this Manor House. If my analysis is correct, I think it is the unique combination of your Innate Talent, your own personal preferences, and this unique residence.”
“Oh, alright then,” she thought for a moment and then said, “Oh what about textbooks? What if I wanted to pull textbooks from my classes in here, even though I haven’t read them all the way through?”
“As I said previously, Mistress, I should be able to access anything that you can. I am bonded to you.” Catalysta wondered what that meant; was Aria somehow going to follow her back to the real world? Honestly, that would be kind of cool, but also if she could get her textbooks here, she would be able to study when she slept. She was such a nerd, and though study was unlikely to occur here, she’d have an option if she needed it.
“Okay,” Catalysta said, happy with her now mostly filled library of authors ranging from Austin to Jordan, and of course classic literature and her favorite Mangas, “now where’s the loot?”
“Mistress, if you sit down at your desk, you will find the loot from your victories stored inside the loot chest here.” Aria floated over to the lacquered chest and bobbed up and down above it.
Catalysta moved to behind the desk and sat down on a cushioned stool that was both comfortable and ergonomic but obviously not meant for the enjoyment of relaxing down and reading. She reached towards the box and it popped open before she even touched it. The first sparkling bag floated out for her inspection. She touched it and the bag disappeared, but items appeared on the desk before her, along with a system message.
You have received 2 weak grade Stealth potions, 1 medium grade Health potion, 2 tempered glass vials, a ring of protection +1, and 2 pieces of gold from Simeon Deathstalker.
She continued to go through the loot from all the Dreamwalkers.
You have received 1 medium grade Mana potion, 1 medium grade Health potion, 3 tempered glass vials, an empty herbal pouch, and 16 silver pieces from Magnus Arcum.
You have received 3 medium grade Health potions, 1 necklace of Spell Holding, a piece of coccyx bone (trophy), a common grade Maul, a common star pendant with the inscription “Forever love” engraved on the back, and 21 gold pieces from Gaeric Lovestohurt.
You have received 1 medium grade Health potion, a common broadsword, and an empty coin pouch from Bigolde Uwantsome.
You have received 3 medium grade Mana potions, 1 tempered glass vial, 1 scroll of Flame Wall, and 19 silver pieces.
“I see you’re perusing the spoils of your battles,” Bannor peeked his head into the library.
Catalysta jumped, startled out of her message reading, and looked down at the neatly piled items on the table, “Yeah, are these your potions?” She would definitely be able to use them, but she knew they were probably stolen from the dwarf.
“Aye, they are, but you’ve more than earned them, and you’ll need them, so you keep ‘em. I’ll take the empty vials though. Fill ‘em back up for you.”
“What about the Mana potions? Won’t they be wasted on me?”
Bannor stroked his white Santa beard, “I’m not sure, might be poison to ye, or might fill yer Void Points up. Might be that the effect will differ as you level. Keep those too. Now that pendant, that’s Chitany’s and the necklace, well Forwinn won’t be needing it anymore, so there’s no harm in you keeping it, though you have no use for it right now.”
“Are you sure you don’t want it,” asked Cat, “He was your friend after all…”
“Nah, you’ll find it a good home, I’m sure.” Loud banding started from outside the room and Catalyst stood to see what was going on, but Bannor motioned her back down and turned to close the doors. “‘S just Granden and Randor fixing the front door. Wouldn’t want it open with the guardian comes out this night.”
“Guardian?” asked Cat.
“Aye,” said Bannor, “Couple things I need to discuss with ye, and we might as well start there.” The Dwarf sat in one of the reading chairs with a sigh. “Fasthaven was built atop a dungeon, in particular a Divine dungeon called the Dungeon of Embodied Magic. In this case it is considered a Divine dungeon because of how many floors it has--five hundred. When we first came there, the only markers were hole in the ground--which is now the well in my backyard, and this giant manor house, though back then it was only a ruin with metal gates at the entrances or exits--back then it was hard to tell what this building was. Our group decided the ruins were a good place to camp as it was enclosed and easily defendable and a Cleric of the Steward prophesied that something important lay in the area. We had been sent to investigate and we needed a base camp. Well that night, we got a surprise and if we hadn’t been camping inside the ruins, we’d have all been massacred in our sleep. We were all awakened by a screeching caterwaul in the night, a caterwaul made all the more terrifying because it came from the mouths of the Catberus. Black as night with three feline heads, and about twice the size of a panther--you know what a panther is?” Catalysta nodded.
“I swear, if those metal grated doors hadn’t been there, that thing could have swiped at us. It was likely it could have jumped over the walls too, but it didn’t something stopped it, some rule about the ruins. So we knew the ruins was safe from the Catberus. We also knew then, that we were searching for a dungeon. A Catberus is only spawned when it is protecting the entrance to a dungeon, we just didn’t know what kind or where the entrance was. The Catberus watched us all night, and then disappeared in the morning. Cerberus are weakened by the sun and only come out at night you see, so we could search. Nerry spotted it going into the hole, so we knew that was one way to get to the dungeon, but we couldn’t very well get through by that route during the day, and going outside the ruins at night was suicide. There is almost always a second entrance to a dungeon location. To make a long story short, we found that secret passage, waited until night, when the Catberus returned, left Nerry up here to distract the beast and beat feet into that passage to get to the dungeon. To tame a dungeon guardian you have to claim the dungeon and to claim the dungeon you must defeat at least five levels of a dungeon. Now you can only enter a dungeon once a week, but if you don’t enter that dungeon weekly you will lose a level of dungeon progression each week you don’t go in. So if we didn’t go in to attempt further dungeon completion, the Catberus would go feral again. This was fine for a while, we were adventurers, in our prime. We built Fasthaven up around the dungeon. It thrived. We even had a product no one else did, milk that healed. But we grew old and the dungeon dives grew harder, eventually even the lower levels because too much of a risk, so we began layering magical traps down there to wall up the Catberus for its inevitable return to feral life, and we stayed in Fasthaven to watch over the entrance. The Cleric’s prophecy was still in force, we found the dungeon but we had done nothing of importance. That was for someone else. Perhaps you.” The dwarf let that thought hang for a moment before continuing.
“So when you used that passageway to escape, you broke down the barriers that keep the Chateau safe from the Catberus and now the only way for those of us here to be safe in Fasthaven is for you to go into the dungeon and retame the guardian.”
“Are you saying I could have just hid in the Manor House, waited for night and the guardian would have taken care of the Beastmage and his lackeys for me?”
Bannor chuckled without humor, “That might have worked, though you would have come back from your world to a Chateau filled with dead bodies.”
“Yeah, I like what we did much better.”
“You and me both.”
“So, what’s the plan then?”
“When night falls, the Catberus will ascend the well and roam around Fasthaven. It won’t be able to help itself. It has been trapped down there for so long. All of us up here will attack it from the Manor House, while you enter the dungeon. We have a little while to wait however until the sun goes down. This particular dungeon shouldn’t give you any issues due to your talents and the first five levels should be no problem for you. And then once you’ve claimed the dungeon, you will be able to protect the surrounding area from intruders. And if you so choose, Fasthaven can adopt you as our Patron for additional and enhancing protection.”
“Okay, I’m game. But you said you had a few things to discuss with me?’
Bannor looked down, not meeting Cat’s eyes, “Yes. Something very important. You asked me why I stole the Beastmage kill from you--I needed to make sure you understood what killing a non-Dreamwalker here means.” Catalysta waited. It meant killing an NPC. A computer generated character--extremely life-like and real feeling--but something made up of code.
“That doppelganger is the enemy, but it wasn’t wrong. Dreamwalkers tend to think we are less than them and that they’re playing a game. We are not and it is not. You have already shown compassion and willingness to help us, and I appreciate that. But we are not what you would call ‘non-player characters.’ We are as real as you are, we have family like you do, lives. But unlike you, we don’t come back when we die. You may be just here in a manifested spirit, but we are here for real and this is our world. Yours, we can see at night when we look at the sky.”
Cat stared at the dwarf, unsure of what to say. They could see earth in their night sky? Bannor knew that she wasn’t from Gamdrea? But did it really matter? Even if she was in an AI created world that was just so much electrical impulses, those residing in it were self aware and aware of a world outside their own.
Whispering, she said, “We don’t come back from death where I’m from either.” The dwarf just waited, allowing her to come to terms with the information. Finally, she nodded, “I understand.”
“Then you know that when you kill someone born on Gamdrea, you are killing a person.”
“I didn’t, but I do now. Thank you…for the Beastmage.” She swallowed and took a deep breath, “This might make helping the light a bit harder though.”
“I think you’ll make the right choices in the future. Most of those you’ll be working against will be other Dreamwalkers. And those that aren’t, well, perhaps you’ll have allies that help you with that in the future.”
“Honestly,” said Catalysta, the gravity of what she was being told swirling in her mind and she began to have a mini panic attack, “If this is all real, how am I supposed to do anything? I’m not even out of college yet.”
The Dwarf sighed. Perhaps he should have let her figure this all out on her own, but it was too late now. “I don’t know what ‘college’ is, but Dreamwalkers can become extremely powerful. You in particular have great potential with a Mystic ability. You might not be there yet, but in time, as you grow, you’ll find yourself more than capable of helping. You might not become the Stewards Champion, that honor might go to someone else, but that has not been decided yet.”
“I guess it is a little cliche to tell me I’m the chosen one, huh?” The dialogue was sounding more like a game or a novel to her now rather than a real situation. So for her, if she was to play, Gamdrea still had to be a game, but a game with consequences she couldn’t reset or remake a new character and start over. Consequences that would affect the people inside it, permanently. People she’d probably come to be attached to the longer she played.
It was a new type of game, one a person would be far more invested in than your run of the mill pc or controller game, and everything was so real. She both wanted to continue and quit at the same time.
“What if I don’t think I’m up for this?” Cat asked, knowing in her heart that she was unlikely to quit.
“It’s too late,” said Bannor, “You presented yourself to the Steward for selection, and he selected you. You’ll go back to your world, waking to your alarm just as you would after any other night. But whenever you fall asleep, nap or night time, you’ll be back here, in Gamdrea. The only Dreamwalkers that doesn’t apply to are the grays. The ones who when they touched the transport stone didn’t choose a side. You chose a side. Somewhere in your soul, you knew you were meant to be here.”
“How do you know all this?” If it wasn’t it sure continued to act like one. Giving her the rules and backstory.
“I was once an acolyte of the Stewards Church to the Creator. We all received divine inspiration about the contest between Dun and Roon. It was what made me leave and solely pursue alchemy. That was over sixty years ago. I couldn’t believe the Steward would play with the lives of those he was supposed to protect. But he isn’t the Creator.” The dwarf gazed over Catalysta’s right shoulder, remembering the past, “And then Dun sent you when we needed you.”
“Am I a renewal of your faith in him?”
“Not entirely. He still turned the fate of Gamdrea into a game. And the acolyte path is closed to me now.” He chuckled. “My oath to you still stands though. I am here to help you as I can.”
“Okay. Got it. I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all the light can ask. Incidentally, how much time do you have remaining with us this day?” The dwarf looked pleased. His explanation had seemingly started out bad, but the Dreamwalker seemed to be taking it in stride now.
“That’s a good question,” Cat pulled up her menu, searching for a clock of some sort. She had wondered about the time variation between Gamdrea and the waking world. She didn’t see it anywhere on her UI, but there was a little question mark up in the right hand corner, almost invisible. She thought at it and a search bar appeared before her. She again thought what she was looking for, Ingame Clock to Real Time Clock. A small clock and timer with a little plus sign appeared before her and she mentally added it to her UI, situating it just above her log box.
Earth Time: 2:03 AM
Gamdrea Time: 6:38 PM
Wow, she’d been playing for over four hours already. Time flies when you’re slaying evil. She had her alarm set for 7:00 AM, “I guess I’ll be here for a little less than five hours.”
“Excellent! Gamdrea’s days and nights are slightly different from your world. We do have seconds and minutes, however, we have twenty-six hour days.”
“So I won’t always be here at the same time of day?”
“Exactly, though I’m sure most Dreamwalkers enter Gamdrea at varying times every day.”
“Yeah, depends on their sleep schedule I guess.” Cat wondered if Gamdrea made people eventually want to sleep more or less.
“Our main hang up right now is your level. You must be level 10 to enter the dungeon, and you’re still level 1. Do you think you gained enough experience to increase your level to that?” Bannor looked doubtful, “If not, we will be okay for another day I believe. When you return on the morrow we can take you into the woods to level you up once the Catberus has returned to its den.”
“Oh, right!” Cat said excitedly. She nearly forgot her notifications and quest log, “I’m not sure what level I’m at right now. I have several messages to review and stats to allocate.”
The dwarf still looked skeptical as to whether or not she’d reached level 10 in the limited time she’d been there, but he said, “Wonderful. I’ll leave you to it then. Come and find me when you’re done and we can move forward. I’ll go check on our prisoner and make sure the others are prepared for the night.”
“Sure thing,” Cat said as she started with her quest log. Bannor left the room, but Cat didn’t notice; she was already absorbed in the information that populated before her eyes. She decided to collect her quest rewards first, since that would get her even more experience points and that would enable her to level even more. She was unsure how leveling worked in Gamdrea, but for most video games the first ten levels were pretty easy, and despite what the dwarf said and how she initially felt, she still felt like she was in a video. Albeit a highly realistic and an all senses included one.
Your Charge: Find Agents of Shadow 7/7 - Complete, Kill Agents of Shadow 6/6 - Complete, Solve the Problem 1/1 - Complete. Rewards--2,500 experience points, +50 Charisma points when interacting with the residents of Fasthaven, +250 Renown, Ability to Bond a Settlement Unlocked, Title gained: Hero?
Helping Hands and Hooves: Find Terrorized Women 4/4 - Complete, Find Humans Turned to Animals and Return them to Human 6/6 - Complete. Rewards--1,500 experience, +25 Charisma points when interacting with all residents of Fasthaven, +10 Charisma when interacting with non-hostile animals, Control of Fasthaven may be offered to you should the subject be broached.
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Spotting the Spotless: Figure out the Strange Pig 1/1 - Complete. Reward--500 experience points, Maximum Charisma scores reached with both Granden and Gizette.
Born Not Made: Liberate Fasthaven without leveling up your base character 1/1 - Complete. Reward--Celestial Bag of Infinite Holding.
Next she reviewed her notifications.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 7.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 8.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 9.
VOID has increased to level 11.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 10.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 11.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 12.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 13.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 14.
You have gained enough experience to reach base level 15.
Catalysta opened her menu to her character sheet, finally ready to initialize her level increase and get more information about what she could do--without having to worry about being attacked.
You have 70 stat points to distribute.
Your Constitution has been increased by 10 stat points.
Your Stamina has increased by 10 stat points.
Ever since she saw her VOID ability and then her level ups Catalysta had been thinking about how she would distribute the stat points in the back of her mind. Obviously, she was going to be a melee fighter to do damage and VOID didn’t seem to be linked to any of the changeable stats--at least not yet. She might eventually need to add more Intelligence to her character to be able to learn more skills, but currently, she had plenty of slots to learn new things. So she wouldn’t put any in that during this allocation. She thought the same for willpower. Most games linked Willpower with paladins and she had a rare class opening for that, though she had no idea when she’d be able to investigate that path further. And with her inability to use mana, along with the magic based dungeon ahead of her, Willpower was also low on the totem pole. The rest of the stats would be more useful to her--at least that’s what she guessed. She added 20 to Strength, 16 to Constitution, 14 to Endurance, 10 to Agility, and 10 to Dexterity. With this level up she tripled her Health Points and Stamina, and likely opened up several weapon and armor options for herself, though she wasn’t sure what kind of weapons would be available to her then. Done allocating the stats, Catalysta looked at her newly updated character sheet.
Catalysta Angelwing, Level 15. Experience to next level, 1,700/1,900
Hit Points: 780/780
Stamina: 360/360
Void Points: 430/500
Alignment: Chaotic Good, Agent of Light
Race: Human.
Subrace: Dreamwalker.
Innate Talent 1/1: ACADEMIC.
Innate Ability 1/5: VOID level 10. Wild Magic does not affect you; you absorb 100% of mana used in Wild Magic. You have no resistance to World Magic. You have 50% resistance to both Infernal Magic and Divine Magic and absorb half of the mana used in spells originating in Infernal or Divine Magic. The amount of mana absorbed from Mixed Mana will be variable and consistent with how much Wild, Infernal, or Divine mana used in combination for the spell. VOID supplies no resistance to Celestial Magic or Science effects. With all this in mind you will or will not be able to use certain magical items, armor, or weapons or will only be able to use them to partial effect, all depending on the Magics used to create them. (Description updated after magics explained by Bannor Luckypot)
Innate Ability Skill: Void Touch Level 2. Void Points Required 195. Targeted attack that drains mana, usually from an active spell, but may also be used against pure magical creatures.
Innate Ability Skill: Void Vortex Level 1. Currently a passive ability that draws all the mana from an AOE attack to the Dreamwalker. It will also work on magical creatures that are made of Wild Magic. Level this ability to be able to toggle on and off. You don’t want to be going into a big city with this active as it will drain every attempted spell within twenty feet of you. You might make some enemies.
Innate Ability 2/5: ???
Innate Ability 3/5: ???
Innate Ability 4/5: ???
Innate Ability 5/5: ???
Current VOID Points 430/500.
Class: unassigned. (Multiple classes unlocked. Please visit a Steward’s Church to the Creator to choose your class.)
Class Skills
Celestial Barrage Level 1: (Locked. Become a Celestial Paladin to get the skill description)
Current Buffs:
Dun’s Chosen. For being chosen of the Steward you receive a 200% increased experience boost for enemy kills, a 200% experience boost for skill and crafting levels, a 50% increase in chances to find rare materials from monster drops, chests, or to find resources in the wild, and 25% chance to trigger special effects during crafting or skill use. Additionally, you have an increased natural healing rate of 50% and will recover from wounds much faster than those around you. This buff will disappear on your first death.
Light in the Darkness: Due to the disparity in numbers between the Light and the Dark, your status as a Dreamwalker and basic information is hidden from everyone, unless you reveal yourself to them. Any Dreamwalker you kill will remember nothing of the individual that caused his death. Revealing yourself is not recommended as it will leave you vulnerable. Choose your allies wisely. This buff will disappear when you reach level 100.
Current Skills:
Find Magical Trap level 2: Times used to increase level of this skill 12/50. You can sense magical traps up to 25 feet away from you and can sometimes tell how dangerous a trap will be based on the color aura you sense. From most dangerous to least Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
Identify/Analyze level 3: You can look at an item, weapon, monster, or person and be able to understand basic information about them. In order to use this skill, you must have the object of your focus in your sight for 3 seconds. Times used to increase the level of this skill 7/20.
Fighting Stance Level 1: You are a novice but you understand the basic way to stand in a fight to keep your balance and bolster your strength.
Dodge Level 1: You are novice but you understand you shouldn’t get hit by an attack if you can help it.
Clubs/Maces Level 1: You are a novice but you can use any type of club or mace without hitting yourself as long as you meet the stat requirements.
Ambidexterity Level 1: You are a novice but you can use a weapon in both hands equally.
Dual Wield Level 1: You are a novice but you have a full sized weapon in both hands if you meet stat requirements.
Counter Level 1: You are a novice but you know that when attacked you should fight back. It’s all about timing.
Unarmored Combat Level 1: You are a novice but you are unafraid of fighting without protection.
Small Blades Level 1: You are a novice but you can use blades that are less than two feet long without hurting yourself.
Bleed Level 1: You are a novice but sometimes you can pinpoint areas to attack that are more likely to continue bleeding after you remove your weapon.
Throw (adapted) Level 1: You are a novice but you are able to throw non-traditional objects at enemies to cause damage.
Stun Level 6: You are still a novice, however your ability to Stun an enemy will trigger 5% of the time, this is multiplied by 20 if used in conjunction with a Sneak Attack. Stun will last between 30 seconds and 3 minutes.
Light Armor Level 1: You are a novice but you are able to use basic light armor such as leather armor or studded leather armor.
Sneak Level 1: You are a novice but you are able to sometimes move stealthily.
Dash Level 1: You are a novice but you sometimes are able to have short bursts of speed to perform attacks or maneuvers. Cooldown 5 minutes.
You have no other skills at this time.
Titles:
Stubborn--You can be extremely focused at times. You have a 25% extra chance to be able to ignore pain and finish what you started.
Run Before You Can Walk--You’re always ready to leap ahead even when you shouldn’t. You have a 50% chance to trigger your luck when doing things it is improbable for you succeed at.
Punisher--Criminals should fear you. You do an extra 10% damage to those who break the law or hurt others.
Hero?--You have started a path on your way to the world calling you a hero. You have a 5% chance of people recognizing you as someone who can help even before you introduce yourself. This title may be upgraded as your fame grows.
Base Stats
Strength: 34. Your strength determines which weapons you can wield and which armor you can wear, it also is a factor in determining how hard you can hit.
Intelligence: 16.
Willpower: 11.
Constitution: 39.
Endurance: 36.
Agility: 24.
Dexterity: 24.
Luck: 20.
Coordination: 18.
Charisma: 16.
You have reached 91 Charisma with all the residents of Fasthaven.
You have reached Maximum Charisma with Granden and Gizette of Fasthaven.
All in all Catalysta was quite happy with her gains, but she wasn’t done. She need to take a look at that Celestial Bag of Infinite Holding. Focusing on her new item, which had appeared on the desk in front of her when she accepted the quest awards, she saw that it looked like a basic bag made from a large square of leather with a leather strap to keep it closed. She then used Identify on the item.
Celestial Bag of Infinite Holding: This bag was made especially for Catalysta Angelwing by the Steward Himself. The bag was made with 99% World Magic and 1% Celestial Magic. The Steward sacrificed some of his strength and will be weakened for a time after making this. Less people may be healed because of this; do not take this gift for granted. Once equipped, this bag may not be unequipped; it will disappear as a physical object and become a menu option for Catalysta called Inventory. This allows Catalysta to carry and store an infinite amount of items. Once inside inventory, stored items weigh nothing. Living specimens will die if placed inside inventory. All other items (including picked herbs, prepared food, and prepared potions) will remain exactly as they were when they were first placed in inventory. Because equipping the bag creates Catalysta’s inventory, it will become part of her and her ability, VOID, will extend to her inventory. This may have interesting effects on some magical items. The items only carry capacity limitation involves liquid. Liquid must be in some sort of a container to be put inside the Celestial Bag of Infinite Holding. No item stored inside the Celestial Bag of Infinite Holding will drop upon death, unless the item is marked ‘Stolen’ and then there is a 50% chance of it dropping. Certain quest or task items may also drop on certain occasions.
Catalysta didn’t even need to think about it, she immediately selected the Celestial Bag of Infinite Holding and equipped it. True to the description the basic looking bag vanished and she immediately touched the other items on the desk and sent them to her inventory with a mental command. Then she brought up her inventory screen with another thought. That was more like it; Catalysta had no idea how she was supposed to manage drops, money, quest items, potions or anything else extra she had to carry without an inventory bag. This solved problems that would have cropped up sooner or later. A gridded box with fifteen slots filled popped up before her, including the money the other Dreamwalkers had dropped. This was also nice because gold was heavy. Selecting the Star Pendant a notification popped up.
New Quest: An Heirloom of Love--Return this to Chitany or Hichard. Reward--50 experience points and maxed out Charisma scores for Hichard and Chitany. Will you accept this quest? Yes/No
Cat selected ‘Yes’ without a thought. She wasn’t going to keep that anyway. She also wasn’t going to keep the empty vials. Those would go back to Bannor as soon as he had the supplies to make more potions. Next she selected the empty coin bag, ready to throw it away as trash, but another notification popped up.
New Quest: The Distraught Husband--this coin purse was once full with the hopes of a man trying to save his wife’s life from a wasting sickness. The Agent of Shadow stole it when the husband was on his way to buy a cure for his wife. Find a way to help this man and his wife. They live in the city of Lebia and run an Inn called the Armored Turtle. Rewards: Variable. Will you accept this quest? You have three months to complete this quest. Yes/No
Cat still didn’t even know where the city of Lebia was, but surely it wasn’t that far away if the Dreamwalker had still been carrying the purse around. She decided to accept the quest. She would have felt guilty saying no.
Everything seemed to be in order. She stood, and no sooner did Aria appear in front of her, “Mistress, I have noted an anomaly. There are two individuals in the Manor House with the name Gizette, one has been placed in a beast cage. What would you like me to do with the security system?”
“Oh, can you make it so that if the one in the cage tries to escape, the debuffs will trigger? That one isn’t Gizette, it’s a doppelganger by the way.”
Aria blinked on and off a couple times, before stating, “Orders received and in place.”
“Good job, Aria.” Catalysta could have sworn the ball of light glowed brighter for a moment, as if it was happy, before it winked out.
She left the library, giving it a last fond look--she’d always wanted her own library--before closing the door behind her. Making her way to the kitchens, she found Bannor and Nerry in quiet conversation. They stood in front of what Catalysta would have guessed to be a kennel for a large dog, only the cage seemed much sturdier. The doppelganger, still appearing as Gizette, was awake and glaring through the bars at them. Cold eyes shifted to Catalysta when she appeared in the doorway.
“Awe, Catalysta, so how many levels will we need to raise you in the morning?”
“None,” Cat smiled, “I’m at 15.”
“You gained 14 levels since I saw you last?” Nerry was dumbfounded and forgot about the enemy near at hand for a moment.
“Well,” Cat said, “I had some of the levels when I first met you, I just hadn’t leveled up yet.”
“Still…”
“That’s excellent!” Bannor quipped, “Now we just need to discuss this one.”
“It’s still wearing my daughter’s face! The vile creature,” Nerry growled her mind back on the doppelganger.
“Now mother don’t be like that,” the Gizette Doppelganger said sweetly, the smile that played across perfect lips did not reach her eyes. Cat moved forward to get a better look at the monster human.
“It is unsettling to be sure,” said Bannor, “Perhaps we should have just ended it, but I thought it might have some information for us.”
“You’ll get nothing from me, light lickers.” She cooed at Bannor and then turned to Catalysta, “Come a little closer there Dreamy.” She beckoned with her index finger, sticking her hand through the bars. Remembering what happened when she touched the Doppelganger before, Catalysta struck. Her hand streaked out and grabbed the monster’s wrist, pulling her against the bars of her prison, trapping her so she couldn’t get at her with her other hand. The effect on the monster was immediate. Without even activating Void Touch the doppelganger’s skin began to lose its human-like appearance, starting at the wrist and creeping up the arm spreading everywhere. The creature began to shriek, an unearthly wail as its gray, mottled and scaly skin began to appear, green veins visible and bulging spider webbed across its body. It thrashed in the cage, trying to twist its arm out of Catalysta’s firm grip. Despite the creature’s obvious pain, Catalysta didn’t let go. Both her agility and strength gains She doubted the doppelganger would shed its form willingly. A health bar appeared above the creature's head, draining as Catalysta’s touch drained the magical creature’s spell. When all traces of its disguise was removed, Cat released the monster’s wrist. The doppelganger’s hit points were at exactly half, but it no longer looked remotely human. It was bald and naked, though it had no genitals or nipples, with jagged cauliflower ears and solid black eyes. It looked like a demon out of a horror movie. Since its disguise had been stripped, Catalysta used Analyze on it.
Doppelganger: Level 13, Hit Points 225/450. This humanoid monster can take the form of any human it touches, male or female, and sometimes can use the skills of the person it impersonates. Have no fear of it impersonating you, as your nature would kill it if it took your shape. Most doppelgangers are aligned with Shadow, however there are a few who just want to be left alone, or who want to be accepted by human society; they are rare. Doppelgangers are considered a Magical creature both Wild Magic and World Magic are equally intertwined in its DNA and are linked to its available Hit Points. You have discovered that it is Weak against your Void Vortex. Fun Fact: doppelgangers can only reproduce with the help of humans and they lay eggs.
“Well now, that was handy,” Nerry nodded sharply, happy the monster was no longer wearing Gizette’s face.
“So what’s the plan regarding it?” Cat asked. Her buff that kept other Dreamwalkers from being able to see what she was would mean nothing if this monster made it back to who she assumed was its master. The creature wasn’t dumb and had figured out she was a Dreamwalker, just by how powerful she was, when the other Dreamwalker’s had immediately dismissed her.
“It didn’t actually kill anyone,” Bannor started, watching the now frail looking demon sob in the corner of its cage.
“No? But it did cook part of Forwinn, or had you forgot?”
“That’s no worse than when I thought it was actually Gizette doing it.”
“This thing would have as soon as watched us die as take a bath!”
“I think we should sleep on it and make a decision of what to do with it in the morning, but I think someone should watch it to make sure it doesn’t escape.” Bannor hitched his trousers up, though they hadn’t needed readjusting; you can take first watch Nerry. The older woman glowered at the dwarf but did not argue.
Cat looked at the miserable creature; it was her enemy but she couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for the state it was in currently. The thought vanished quickly though, replaced by the idea that it would make the perfect distraction for the Catberus. Was that something an evil player would do? She decided that action would be kind of cruel, so she didn’t say anything.
“Come with me, Catalysta,” Bannor waved her to follow, “Let’s make sure the doors and window are secure.” Catalysta glanced at the back door which was already barricaded with simple wooden wedges that would make it extremely hard to open the door. Hopefully the windows framing it would hold. Glass didn’t seem structurally sound enough to keep out a monster, but then maybe it wasn’t glass or maybe the Catberus just had to follow certain rules.
The two of them went from room to room on the bottom floor but every window was closed tightly and they moved to the second level where most of the living quarters were, each with a door to a balcony. None of the doors to the balcony were in jeopardy and the windows were secure. They left off the third floor because Bannor didn’t think the Catberus would be able to get that high. As they walked down the stairs to get to the bottom floor Catalysta spoke to Bannor about gear. She had been silently considering it the entire time they were checking that the Manor was secure.
“Bannor, do you have another mace or club? The one you gave me kind of…disintegrated.”
As the dwarf stepped down to the bottom floor of the manor he looked over his shoulder, “Disintegrated?”
“Yeah, I think I sort of channeled some Celestial power and it couldn’t handle it.”
The dwarf’s eyes looked like they were about to bulge from his head, “Celestial?! Well of course it couldn’t handle that, it’s a common weapon!”
“Look, I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry I broke your mace.”
“No, no, I’m not mad, just surprised is all. How are you even still standing? Penalties for that kind of power without a related class are steep.”
“Yeah, no, it didn’t feel very good. Took off a lot of my health. And I couldn’t move for a while, but the biggest thing was I was left with only a dagger.”
“Aye,” said Bannor, continuing into the main foyer where Granden and Randor were still shoring up the front door. “I made Kiles move my little armory here, just in case we might need it. He should be about finished, especially since I’m pretty sure his sister was helping him and uh,” he coughed, “directing him.” The foyer was wide with several sitting chairs, a large fireplace and two rooms off to each side--one being a large dining room and the other being what Cat imagined a small ballroom might look like. She was very confused as to why a manor house for a Chateau, in the middle of a forest, with no nearby neighbors, would need a ballroom for, but hey, maybe Forwinn had been an optimist who eventually wanted to partake in high society.
It was to the ballroom that Bannor directed her. Out of view from the door she found several armor sets and a multitude of different weapons.
“Can I take some extra sets of armor too? I’d like to train more than just light armor.”
Bannor looked at her, sucking his teeth, “Where you’re gonna put them? Carry them on your back while you’re fighting?”
“Oh, um, no. I received a Celestial Bag of Infinite Holding for completing a quest from the Steward, so I could basically hold everything in this room and more and not have any issues.”
“What?” there was obvious skepticism in the dwarf’s voice.
“Watch,” said Cat, shaking her hand in a ‘hold on’ gesture. She went over to the dull set of full plate mail piled on the floor and touched it, mentally commanding the set of armor to move to her inventory. It vanished from the floor and she looked back at Bannor expectantly. Again the dwarf looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.
“By the Steward,” he whispered, “Yes, you can take whatever you need. None of it is higher than common, but it’s all a good starting place for you. That pile you just collected is Heavy Armor. You’ve already got Light Armor on, I suggest the scale mail over there for your Medium Armor.” He pointed at another pile of dull green armor that was a little ways away from where the full plate mail had been. “Can I ask what your new strength score is?”
“Sure,” Cat replied, “It’s 34. It’ll probably be my main stat for a while, though I’m sure I’ll need all of them at a certain level eventually.”
“Ye’ve more than doubled your strength.”
“I figured, I’m immune to most magic anyway, and I can’t cast spells so the main things I needed to increase were my hit points and my ability to hit hard in a fight.”
“I can see your reasoning. When you get back from the dungeon we should discuss what classes ye’re considering. Some of them have certain minimum requirements ya see.”
“Understood,” Cat placed the scale mail in her inventory, “I’ll cross that bridge later.” She moved to the line of weapons and added a hammer, a mace, a club, a spear, a quarterstaff, a couple short swords, and a longsword to her inventory. Then she equipped another mace.
“Hopefully, I can give most of this back to you when I come back from the dungeon, but I’d hate to be in there without a weapon that has some reach. I’m not a fan of fighting with daggers. You have to get too close to the enemy.”
“Aye, you don’t strike me as an assassin type.”
“Speaking of assassins, what do you really think about that doppelganger in there?”
“What do I think?” Bannor grimaced, “Doppelgangars are vile, evil creatures for the most part. I’m sure there are some that are good ‘nough, there’s outliers in every race, but most of ‘em are, well, monsters. When a doppelganer reproduces, it finds a couple that has their own baby--any will do, orc, human, elf, dwarf--and it puts their baby in place of the unsuspecting parents child, allowing the newborn doppel to transform before they steal the real child.”
“What happens to the kids that are taken?” Catalysta asked, thinking the doppelganger’s method sounded like the myth about Changelings.
“The worst of ‘em, eat the children, the best of them just leave them for dead in a place they can’t escape on their own. And it’s only the best because sometimes they can be recovered from that…death not so much.”
Cat swallowed in disgust, “But you don’t know if our doppelganger is guilty of those crimes?”
“I don’t really know if I care. It is working for Shadow, killed Forwinn, and impersonated Gizette. Seems to me like it would do exactly as its ilk given the chance. But, like I told Nerry, I want to sleep on it. Even if it’s a monster, it’s still a life, still a sentient being that is currently helpless and locked up. If it had died in its attempt to escape, we would be no worse for wear, and I would sleep much more soundly knowing the monster was dead. But it’s different since we took it prisoner.”
Catalysta nodded to Bannor’s words as a bright ray of light glared through the window, at the perfect angle to make her flinch and squeeze her eyes shut. Bannor, glancing through the glass and seeing how low the sun was in the sky, turned and shouted, “Is everyone in the house and accounted for? Everyone to the foyer for a head count! Nerry you stay with the doppel. I’ll be in to check on you shortly.”
“I forgot to ask,” Catalysta said quickly, “What about the animals, like the cows and your cat?”
“They’ll be fine. The Catberus only goes after the self-aware--those that can think.” Bannor said shortly, worried about his fellow villagers. Cat wondered if that meant a dolphin wouldn’t be safe with a Catberus on the loose, which was silly because she didn’t even know if dolphins existed in Gamdrea. And who knew how close the nearest ocean was or if oceans here had salt water, or if dolphins in Gamdrea even lived in salt water. But either way, she was glad the animals would be safe. She definitely wanted to try some of the milk those special cows made in the future.
“I’ll go and watch the doppelganger. That way Nerry can be in here.” Catalysta pointed her thumb towards the kitchen and Bannor nodded. Cat jogged through the open door past Hichard and Chitany who was clutching a young boy and girl at her sides. Cat would give her the pendant back later, when things were calmer. She peeked her head into the kitchen to see Nerry sitting on a wooden stool and glaring at the caged monster as she leaned against the wall two strides away from it.
“You go on and listen to Bannor,” said Catalysta, “I’ll watch it.” The woman nodded silently, grimly, and stood to leave.
The doppelganger chuckled from where it huddled in the corner of its cage, “You won’t survive this war little Nerry, the dark consumes all, and the night will devour the day.” Nerry paused, before turning to spit on the creature. Then she grimaced at Cat and left.
Cat in turn took up her seat against the wall and stared at the doppelganger. It stared right back with its unnerving black gaze.
“Do you have a name? I mean a name you haven’t stolen from somebody.”
“Piss of light, why would you want to know that?”
“I don’t know, we keep calling you ‘it’ or ‘doppelganger,’ might be easier if you had a name.”
“As if I want to make things easier for you…”
“No problem, I’ll just give you a name then. I think I’ll call you Mutt, you know the bastard offspring of--”
“My name is Sekka.” The doppelganger growled.
“Now was that so hard, Sekka?” There was silence for a beat as the two continued to glare and stare at each other. After a moment, Catalysta continued, “Sekka, why?”
“Why what Dreamwalker?”
“Why didn’t you kill Gizette when you took her shape?”
“Didn’t want to spoil the meat. We had another pig to eat first and I was trying to figure out how to keep her alive while we ate parts of her. The first pig died too quickly.” Sekka’s mouth quirked up in a full toothed grin--long needle teeth packed tightly together of which Cat could only imagine how painful such a bite would be--before it turned quickly into a frown.
Congratulations you have found your second Innate Ability: CONFESSOR.
“How did you get me to say that!” Sekka was irate, “I didn’t want to say that!”
Ignoring Sekka for the moment, Cat pulled up her character page and quickly found the new information she was looking for.
Innate Ability 2/5: CONFESSOR Level 1. You can pull information from those who do not wish to answer your questions. All you need to do is make eye contact with the target for more than five seconds as long as your willpower is equal to or greater than that of the target. This is a Rare ability. You have no need for torture or guesswork, you can get right to the point--if you have the stats.
Catalysta smiled, that would be quite helpful. But willpower? She was lucky that Sekka’s willpower wasn’t higher than hers.
“So Sekka, you enjoyed killing Forwinn?”
“Oh yes,” Sekka nodded emphatically, “the best part was when we castrated him and let him bleed out, and then when he was too weak to fight I started carving him apart. The Dreamwalkers were a bit squeamish, aside from Gaeric, but the torture was delicious.” The doppelganger flung his hands over his mouth and glared at Cat as wave of cold anger mixed with nausea threatened to overwhelm her. She no longer cared that the creature was trapped and prisoner.
“Who sent you here and why?” Catalysta’s conversational tone was gone.
Sekka’s hands could not stop the words from coming, though the words were slightly distorted, “The Master sent us to secure the dungeon. He wanted to keep it out of the hands of any potential light enemies.”
“And who’s the master?”
“He’s a Dreamwalker like you. Much much more powerful. I don’t like humans but if he’s going to make the night rule the day, I will do as he says.”
“He just wanted to secure the dungeon, not use it himself?”
“The dungeon here is deep in Dun’s territory. He cannot just waltz in. He sent a small company of lower levels to remain unaware. He has no need of this dungeon, he already has his own Infernal rarity dungeon, just as powerful as the one here.”
Sekka’s onyx eyes would have been shooting lasers at Catalysta if it had had the ability, instead it spat venom filled words, “You won’t survive this war, just like all the other Dreamwalkers who chose light. You will fall and both worlds will forget about you.”
Nerry reappeared in the doorway as Catalysta said, “Sure.” She looked to the older woman, “You back in charge of this thing?”
Nerry nodded.
“Not that it matters,” said Cat, “but its name is Sekka.”
“You’re right,” Nerry grimaced, “It doesn’t matter.
“CATALYSTA!” Bannor bellowed from the other room, “Come here. Night has fallen and I want you to see the Catberus.” The two women nodded to each other and Catalysta gave Sekka one last resolute glance before she answered Bannor’s call.
“It’s bigger than the last time I saw it,” Bannor said as Cat reentered the ballroom. The dwarf pointed to the window where a large black shape paced back and forth under a half mooned sky. Catalysta got right up close to the glass, inches from touching the surface with her nose and looked more closely. The creature was twice the size of a full grown mountain lion from Earth, with three heads. One closely resembled a lion with a black face a white main, another looked like a tiger with white stripes on black fur, and the middle head closely resembled a jaguar but its markings were a slightly different shade of black. Its tail had a white tuft of fur on it and its underbelly was also white; the rest of its body was solidly black. If it hadn’t been so terrifying, Catalysta might have thought it beautiful.
Catberus: Level 35, Hit Points 15,000/15,000. This mythical beast is the guardian of the Divine Dungeon of Embodied Magic. It is considered a magical creature, however it rarely uses magical attacks as its fierce bite and sharp claws are enough to rend any enemy it might have. It was created with 25% Divine Magic and 75% World Magic. It can be tamed. Taming condition: Conquer 5 levels of the Divine Dungeon of Embodied Magic and maintain ownership of Dungeon. If ownership of the dungeon is lost, the Catberus will become feral again. Note: this creature has a very good sense of hearing and smell.
Catalysta blew out a breath of air, “Twenty levels higher than me.”
“That’s a bit more than when we faced it too, don’t know how she got so much stronger, being trapped down there.”
“Well when I went through earlier today, there were a whole bunch of offshoot tunnels. Maybe it found some enemies to fight.”
“Aye, maybe, but it’ll make your task harder. We might not be able to hold her attention as long as I thought--”
“We should use the doppelganger,” Catalysta’s voice was ice.
“Now, I told ye, I wanted to give it the night--”
“It enjoyed killing Forwinn, Bannor. It called cutting off his genitals and eating him alive, delicious.”
The dwarf’s face drained of color, his ruddy face almost turning the color of his beard, “How did you…?” He couldn’t find the words.
“I have another ability called CONFESSOR. Sekka couldn’t help but tell me.”
“Sekka?”
“That’s its name.”
“I didn’t know they had names.”
“Well, doesn’t really matter that it has a name, it’s about to be kitty chow if you’ll agree.”
“I,” Bannor paused only for a second, “think that would be justified based on its confession. How do you propose we go about it?”
“Assuming the Catberus will attack it?”
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t, probably make short work of it, actually.” The dwarf did not appear in any doubt that the Catberus would attack the doppelganger.
“Then I say we take Sekka to the third story. I’ll wait at the passageway entrance in the library. You guys make sure you get the Catberus’ attention, unlock the cage and throw it out the window. You signal to me that it’s done and that’s when I’ll make my run for the dungeon entrance.” She paused, letting her plan sink in before continuing, “I’d have bows ready to take out the doppelganger if the Catberus decides it would rather come for me instead. And, well, I’d like a warning yelled into the passageway before you close the door behind me.”
“How do we get it up there? The cage doesn’t have handles,” the dwarf looked upset at the prospect of getting too close to the doppelganer to where it could claw him or change into him.
“Stick a couple quarterstaves through the bars and lift it without even touching the cage.”
“Genius,” the alchemist commented. “This shouldn’t take long, you go ahead and wait in the library and I’ll get Granden, Hichard, and Kiles to help me. And I’ll have Lilian and Gizette relay the message to you and close the door behind you.”
“I like it,” Cat said, “Let’s do this, it’s time to enter a dungeon.” Bannor disappeared through the door and Catalysta heard loud clomps on the staircase and muffled speech. She took one last look out the window, seeing three pairs of glowing eyes--one set blue, one set red, and one set green--staring straight at her.
“See you soon Catberus,” she whispered, before returning to the library to wait, this time, leaving the doors wide open behind her.
“Aria?” Catalysta called the wisp to her, “How do I open the hidden passage?”
“Mistress the level is here.” Aria bobbed up and down near where she had entered the book case previously and Cat searched the area, removing a few of the books, to see a small shifting piece of wood with a tiny lever under it. Hopefully the door would swing open silently as it had before. The Analyze had made a point of saying the Catberus had very good hearing. Eventually, Gizette came to stand in the doorway, looking up the stairs, waiting for the signal to give Cat the go. The whole process might not be completely necessary, but the Catberus seemed like an intelligent animal and she didn’t want to make her move too obvious to the mythical creature. Catalysta stood poised ready to move at a moments notice.
She saw Gizette nod and pulled the lever as the woman said, “Go.” The door swung open and Cat heard a dull crash from somewhere outside. She heard a screech as she took off down the corridor. She was moving far faster than she had the previous time she had been in the cool, but humid dark passage, and rather than being in pain and focusing on that, she was in a hypervigilant state as she streaked through the Catberus’ territory. About halfway to the open room with the glimmering portal she had found before, she heard Gizette scream.
“IT’S GOING BACK DOWN THE WELL! HURRY!” Then an echoing thud reverberated the passageway; she must have closed the door. There was only one way to go. Only one option.
She was flat out sprinting in the dim corridor, seeing a faint light from the lit braziers that framed the dungeon entry. With a few steps to go to the open room the floor trembled slightly as something heavy hit the bottom of the well at the other end of the path. Catalysta rounded the corner like she would round a base sensing that the Catberus was right behind her. She activated Dash for all that its one level was worth and put on a burst of speed. The monster behind her roared in frustration as she momentarily escaped its wrath, but Catalysta felt the air move behind her, as the feline’s claws barely missed her. She was out of time. She dove for the shimmering portal entrance at the same time as the beast took another swipe, easily tearing through her leather armor and grazing her.
Searing pain ripped through her back and she rolled after her dive trying to get at the wound. Trying unsuccessfully to make the burning stop. She couldn’t help herself; she let out a kean of pain, thinking the beast was about to finish her off. The waves of intensity wracking her made her unaware that she had successfully passed through the portal.
When further pain and death didn’t come, she stopped her wild movements. Her eyes closed, she gritted her teeth and tried to slow her breathing as the pain slowly became a dull throb--not gone, but not quite so extreme. As she calmed down, she opened her eyes and saw that her health had plummeted to 353/780 from that one attack. If she hadn’t dove for the entrance she’d likely be heading for a respawn. She was sure the Catberus had had taken even more of her health than what it was showing currently because she could feel her health regeneration working. She decided not to look in her battle log; she didn’t want to know how close she had been to death. There was no way she would have survived if they hadn’t used the doppelganger as a distraction. No way she would have gotten inside the dungeon. No way she would have been able to get as far as she had towards helping the people of Fasthaven.
She sat up, opened her eyes and found herself in a circular room with torches spaced evenly around the room. A large stone tablet stood in the middle of the room between the glimmering silver portal she had entered from and another sparkling gold portal. That was the portal to the first floor of the dungeon; at least that was what Catalysta assumed it was.
As her health slowly ticked up, Cat stood and examined the large stone tablet. Immediately a notification appeared before her.
Welcome to the Divine Dungeon of Embodied Magic. You have entered a different dimension where time moves differently. For every hour you spend in the dungeon, a second expires outside. You may only enter a floor if you are within 10 levels of that floor. For example if you are a level 22, you may not exceed floor 32 in your run. Every five floors there will be a rest room for you to recuperate and initiate level up should you gain enough experience to do so. You may only gain 10 levels in a single dungeon run and will only be able to enter the Divine Dungeon of Embodied Magic once weekly. Because this is your first time in the dungeon, you have a 100% chance of the monsters dropping something upon their death. Please enjoy your time in the Divine Dungeon of Embodied Magic.
She sat down on the floor and leaned against the stone slab. She would wait for her heath to regenerate before she braved the first level of the dungeon. Afterall, she didn’t know what she would face and she wanted to be in top form for whatever it was.