"And you're sure it's this way?" {Yes. Three minions above, sensed. Fastest path, here.} But no matter how he looked, Arc only saw a narrow pipe lined with traces of excrement. "Can't you do anything about this?" {But Arc told Kat not to exert herself.} That pout was unfair, but true. Kat had stabilized for now, but Arc still didn't understand where she got her energy from. Until he did, he didn't want to risk her spending too much of it at once again.
Arc sighed, resigning to fate. "Fine, then. Let's go." He obediently began to climb through the filth. Thankfully the pipe was made of many overlapping ceramic segments, many of which sported large cracks, giving him plenty of handholds. But Arc discovered his fingers and toes stuck to the walls decently even without those. It took less than a minute to scamper up the pipe, which terminated in a tall but narrow room with walls made of wood. Faint light issued from the cracks, the first light Arc had seen that came from a source other than Kat's body.
The wooden latch was high enough that Arc would have to jump to reach it, but thankfully it didn't come to that. The door swung open with only a bit of friction the hinges. On the other side, an astounding sight... There were no walls or ceiling. Above were countless tiny lights, as well as one big light that was bright enough to illuminate all the surroundings.
{Arc, Kat's scared...} It probably couldn't be helped, dungeons are supposed to be indoors and underground after all. "We need to find those minions, right? I'll make sure to protect you." Nevertheless, he decided to keep a roof above his head as much as possible for Kat's sake. There were several massive constructions nearby, some emitting strange lights and/or sounds. Arc dashed to the nearest dark and silent one. The inside reeked of beasts and their waste products.
"Which direction?" Arc lowered his voice to a whisper. {Minions, coming this way.} They did not have to wait very long. Around the corner came a minion carrying something large and... A pair of self-ambulatory trousers? No, there was a suspiciously minion-shaped lump in each leg. The three were were moving swiftly in an erratic pattern best described as a 'scarper'. A few seconds later, it was obvious what they were fleeing from.
A half-naked, light-brownish-pale-pinkish giant had appeared. It was three, maybe even four minions tall, with limbs as thick as one's torso. Its bellows were deep and loud. It seemed its size made it clumsy as it tripped rounding the bend, but that didn't make it any less terrifying.
"In here!" Arc called to the minions and ushered them into the building. Their leader ditched his load and followed Arc up to the rafters, the pair dragging the others literally by the seat of their pants.
The giant barged in and started ransacking the place. He had knocked over a water barrel and was digging through some urine-soaked straw when other, more fully-clothed giants arrived. Two weren't enough to restrain him, but the third managed to knock him over and held him on the ground until he submitted.
A tiny wisp of red light played along the edges of Kat's medallion, quickly being sucked into her gem and absorbed. It was faint enough to be hard to see even in pitch darkness, and not even Arc noticed it. All eyes were fixed upon the berserking streaker.
The other giants dragged the first away, but none of the minions were willing to leave their perch just yet. The pair of pants suddenly fell, making a bit of noise as they struggled to move in different directions. When this strange dance failed to attract any more giants, their fearless leader grinned and jumped after them. Wait - he didn't knock them over on purpose to test the waters, did he?
He got busy wrangling the pantaloons while Arc descended with more caution. Arc heard muffled (yet suspiciously hollow-sounding) 'clonk', but was too busy visually checking his footholds to look. When he reached the bottom, the pants were collapsed such that its occupant's upper bodies where sticking out through the waist. The leader was delivering a vicious noogie with each hand as he berated them.
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"Gubbins an silkies unwatched snatchonly! Blingies plus! Slinkerkin lootmax, scarpmin!" ...Arc was barely able to follow that. Barely.
There'd been no time to think about it before, but the head minion was wearing some garments which probably did not belong to the male giant in a fashion akin to a toga. The material was lacy and probably could have been considered white in the past.
Now that Arc was looking closer, did these minions seem bigger than before? Slightly redder too. It was probably a trick of the light. After all, before the only source of illumination was Kat's aura, which is faint and blue-tinged. Up here, even the moonlight reflected off the ground and buildings drowned it out.
When Pantimus the Perverted had finished taking the phrase 'rubbing in the lesson' a bit too literally, he turned back towards Arc. "Nownow, who youis? Gabquick er, wat ken if!" Instinct warned of an implied threat in that. It was warning Arc not to act like a equal or better, and just fall in line like an obedient little grunt. (Well, in mob at least.)
Arc was flustered; the hormones he felt were both strong and foreign. Conflicting urges to hide and to obey drowned out his ability to think clearly. Talking wasn't his strongest suit to begin with, but at least with Kat he didn't feel like he was about to panic.
"I- I am-" "Wat? Now gabright." Any rebuttal Arc may have been formulating was lost at the sudden interjection. At least this time instinct provided some help. "Arc! Arc is!" But not much. "Arkywho? Fancykin youis thinken, wat?" Arc had hopelessly lost the social conflict, and began involuntarily glancing at the exit. "Nono, unaway getten youis." Pantimus scowled, but the Pantaloons looked giddy - like kids at a circus just before an act.
{STOP!} Kat's voice seemed to shake the earth itself. {Arc is Kat's. Kat is Master.} Her glow intensified for a moment, and the belligerent minion was briefly haloed by a pink fog.
His expression immediately changed. "Master! New Master!" He began to make exaggerated, but not insincere bowing gestures in Kat's direction (which was only coincidentally the same as Arc's). The others were disappointed in the lack of a show and began to gripe, but after their heads were forced to the ground they started playing along.
"Tribute for Master!" Pantimus recovered his earlier load and presented it to Kat in a semi-formal manner. A faint light played over it for a minute. {Scanning... Object identified as Bread; composition 40% wheat, 40% rye, 10% oats, 10% other. Classifications: consumable, food, nutrition. Instance condition at ~80%.} Indeed, it was a partially-eaten loaf of black bread. But what was up with that monotone?
"Orders, Master?" The minions looked eager: Arc supposed he better explain the situation. "We-" {Seeking, gathering minions lost. Back underground.} The location of the pipe Arc had emerged from pinged in the heads of all four. "Master, we obey!"
"Runt carrystuff." The bread was unceremoniously shoved in Arc's hands before the other minions raced for the sewer ingress. {Sorry, Arc. Kat had to use power.} Her voice was back to its usual softness, and Arc whispered back. "No, it's okay. You... saved me back there." {Kat saved Arky-minion?} Hesitation. "...Yes."
There were no words cute enough to describe Kat's reaction.