"A sister?" Stew thought it must be some technical dungeon term, like the way they called the snot cap that floated on top of kombucha a "Mother." As if that didn't just make the stuff even more creepy.
"Well, perhaps a cousin, Ignis. She was the avatar of the Temple Of The Hungry Flame." Raek leaned down to look at one of the lower shelves where large jars held ingredients in bulk and also some more lively specimens that were too big for a vial like the one that held the weevils. He peered into a jar that seemed to contain a butterfly at first, but it turned out to be a small terrarium with a plant that mimicked a butterfly.
While the rogue peered at it, the plant seemed to sense the man's presence and changed until it almost perfectly mimicked his nose. He leaned closer and the plant lunged, the "nose" splitting apart to reveal a red maw filled with rows of needle teeth that clinked brightly against the glass as it tried to reach him.
Raek did not flinch. "You certainly seem to have no shortage of fine glassware. I don't think I've seen that kind of clarity outside of a royal palace."
"Sister. Cousin. This, Avatar."
"Ignis."
"Ignis. I thought that the dungeon that was here before has been dead for over one hundred years. How is she alive? I mean, she would be really old, but also, it seems like someone like that would be bound to the dungeon somehow so that they might die without it?" Stew didn't know anything about dungeons or magic or whatever made the rules around here, but Raek was already on to him being new in town, so it didn't hurt to ask the obvious question.
Raek straightened up and nodded. "You would be right there. Normally, an avatar and a dungeon exist together, and their lives are intertwined. It was a surprise when the Romans captured her alive. There has been speculation that some part of the dungeon lived on somehow, deep beneath the surface, but I believe we may have solved that mystery with you, at least, with that dungeon seed you inhabit. I have some old descriptions of the Altar's core. It might be helpful to let me have a look–"
"Not going to happen." Stew might let Raek this far, but only with precautions. He wasn't about to let him go any deeper, and no one was getting near his core, contract or no contract. Stew felt the same dungeon rage and hunger rumble deep inside of him that he felt when the wolves first entered.
It only lasted a moment, but it was strong enough through their mental connection that Raek threw up his hands in a placating gesture. "No need to worry, I won't press the issue. I'll share the notes with you, and you can make your own comparison."
Stew suppressed the feeling with some effort before attempting to reply. "Ok. Good. Yes, I'd like to see it."
Raek grinned wide as if nothing had happened. "As I was saying, the survival of Ignis makes much more sense now. She must be linked to you in some way, and not only does that make her someone you can trust, but it also means she knows more about your lineage and dungeons in general than any being short of the gods or another avatar like old Magnus himself, the avatar of the Palatine Dungeon."
"And that is how this all helps with Caesar. I can trust this person I've never met because you say she's my sister. Can she be here by sundown? Because, sister or not, I need someone to talk to Caesar today before he comes up with his own explanation for what's going on."
"Oh, I assure you he's already come up with an account that will highlight his own incredible insight and decisive action in ordering other people to rescue a bunch of muddy laborers. He's likely dashed off a metered verse and made poor Spartacus listen to five versions by now."
"You're saying he's not going to be worried about any of this. You were just telling me how important it was to tell him I'm an incarnate so he didn't jump to conclusions."
"Don't mistake his vanity for weakness. He doesn't mind making a pact with you any more than he minds crushing you into rouge. That ambivalence makes him seem very patient to some, but don't test it any longer than you have to."
Speaking of patience. The panthers were starting to get restless. Stew had to settle them down with a few soothing words, before he replied. "You still haven't told me how to contact this Ignis. Where is she, how long will she take to get here?"
"That is the interesting part. I'm sure she would be happy to hear from you…"
Oh, here's the "but." I knew there was a "but" coming.
"But she is currently indisposed. Those flying ships outside? Rome traded her to the Egyptians for ample enchanted levitating materials, if not the actual secrets of levitation. She and a huge fraction of the loot from the Altar were the price."
"She's a prisoner." Stew really missed headaches he realized. They gave weight to feelings like this, tangibility. "A prisoner in Egypt."
"Yes, in Alexandria, to be exact, although I would say she's less of a prisoner than a pet. They feed the prisoners to her, or so I hear."
Oh, why did I think she was human? I guess because he used the word "sister," and I still think of myself as human. I'm not human anymore, am I? "Why tell me any of this then? I can't go to Alexandria, and she can't come here."
"I mentioned that I had considerable latitude to make a trade deal. I've been in contact with some colleagues who happen to be loading cargo in Alexandria. If you like, I could ask them to load an extra crate as a special order."
"Naturally." Maybe he should have let Femur negotiate with Raek afterall. "And that will cost me what?"
"Nothing extravagant. A trade agreement, nothing exclusive, maybe a mutual non aggression clause. Really no more than you've already agreed with Ba'Rush, young Garrik and myself already, only on a larger scale." Raek started to say something else then stopped himself and cocked his head as if he was listening.
Thinking he was finally sensing the panthers, Stew checked in with Boo and found that the Panther's earlier unease had grown to laser focused intensity. Something or someone was moving through the swamp using some of the same skills Raek had shown earlier.
Stew was just about to ask him what he was trying to pull when Raek said. "There's someone here. And unless you have creatures I'm not aware of, they aren't part of your dungeon."
Well, actually, Stew thought, before reaching out to Lorelei. "It looks like we have some unwanted visitors. Can you have a look?" To Raek he said. "Grab up some of that moss and shove it in your ears"
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Raek looked at the faintly pulsing yellow moss on the workbench and pulled a face. "Is that safe?"
"It's alot safer than what happens next if you don't." Stew said, then he didn't have any more time for Raek. He sent Socks to stand guard at the shack door. Sending the rest to go investigate the disturbance, but warning them to keep out of sight. If Raek couldn't sense them, then maybe these intruders couldn't either.
Socks stepped from a shadow under a leaf and eyed Raek with cold ferocity.
Raek hastily shoved the moss in his ears, covered both ears with his hands and crawled under the workbench for good measure.
A soft voice whispered across the swamp, barely audible even to the Panthers' ears. "Aaaaaaah" Then again, louder. "Sweet flesh. Tasteee bones." Then Lorelei began to sing.
To Boo, where Stew had currently focused his attention, it was just an interesting prey noise. To Stew hearing the rise and fall of the wordless tune it felt dreamy, wistful, like a whispered secret that he wanted to draw closer to hear better, to understand…
He snapped himself out of it. Maybe he was still a little human, enough to be drawn by the Rusalka's call, but not enough to be ensnared.
The intruders were not so lucky. One-by-one, three figures stood up from the brush where they had been crouching. They each wore form fitting fabric and drawstring hoods. The fabric's color shifted to match whatever was behind them, but whatever stealth skills they had been using, they simply forgot to hide and walked stiff legged and enraptured toward a pond where Lorelei rose. Their faces were slack-jawed in awe as if they were witnessing some sort of transcendent beauty.
Boo looked at Lorelei and saw her as a corpse pale woman with water streaming from hair, tangled with swamp plants, her skin coated with muck in patches. Her teeth were sharp as a cats and her nails were like long hooked claws. The latter being the only thing Boo found attractive about her. Boo wasn't crazy about water or wet things in general.
The Panthers gathered behind the trio of intruders, surrounding them and blocking any escape. The first was almost to Lorelie, who reached up both clawed hands, arms outstretched to welcome her victim into a final embrace.
"Wait!" Stew shook himself mentally, sending the message out to Lorelei and the panthers at the same time, causing Boo to sneeze in irritation. He had been at least somewhat mesmerized by the song, and had almost let Lorelei eat his best source of information about what, exactly, was going on.
"What is going on?" Eira sent to him in a sort of reverse mind reading.
"Intruders. Sneaky ones. Keep your eyes peeled."
"Nobody peels eyes. They're full of liquid," the necromancer replied.
"I mean, be watchful. There may be more we haven't sensed."
Eira sent back a wordless affirmative thought, like an invisible nod.
Lorelie had a disgusted look on her face. She kept singing, but she put her hands down.
The three intruders lined up along the bank and stared at her.
"Okay, we need to capture these three alive, but we need to make sure they can't attack anyone or get away." He sent out to the panthers and Lorelei. "Ideas?"
Before he could even think "oops" Fluff leapt from a shadow and sliced the achilles tendons in each of the delvers' heels, with rapid swipes of his paws, right through whatever armor or boots they wore under their camouflage suits.
Lorelei surged onto land as they fell and hogtied them with vines that grew from the ground at her touch. She tied another vine through their mouth like a horse's bit before she stopped singing and settled back into the water up to her shoulders. "How is that?"
"That was." Brutal. "Great. That was great." Stew padded Boo over to stand next to Fluff, who had settled down to clean his claws, pretending to ignore the prisoners. "Why did you gag them, though?."
Lorelei laughed and it was a disconcerting mix of Maleficent and Tinkerbell. "We won't want them shouting out any spells, now will we?"
Oh, right. "Sure, but I wanted to ask them some questions."
The three still seemed stunned, but one of them groaned.
Stew called Socks and Raek over to join the rest. "Skilled knots," Raek said.
"Good knots make for a smooth voyage," Lorelei replied.
Raek looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and something unspoken passed between them, then he turned and looked back at the three on the ground who were beginning to come to their senses.
They lay stiff and wary, eyes darting from the Rusalka, to the Spectral Panthers to Raek and back again.
Stew felt the rage and hunger rumble inside and realized it was these three that had given him that feeling before; he just hadn't recognized it. Maybe their stealth skills somehow caused him to discount the feeling as Raek's had caused him to look the other way when he was skulking about.
"Are these Caesar's?"
Raek shrugged. "Not Legion, but they could be auxiliaries or mercenaries."
He gave them a look with Stat-o-vision™.
09:18
Unnamed Delver Party - 3 Members
Delver parties, essential for dungeon exploration, consist of diverse adventurers with unique skills and roles, combining their strengths in numbers to strategically navigate traps, defeat monsters, manage resources, and engage in social interactions, ensuring a well-balanced and specialized approach to overcome the multifaceted challenges presented in the depths of dungeons.
💀 ENEMIES BEYOND YOUR ABILITIES💀
Members of this party include:
💀 Point / Wayfinder: Forti
Level 18 Ranger Tracker
💀 Center / Ranged: Bizh
Level 16 Rogue Assassin
💀 Flank / Traps: Vercig
Level 16 Rogue Thief
Stew realized it was a lucky thing they had caught these three by surprise. He was just beginning to wonder if a couple of torn-up ankles and some knots would hold them when the left most, Vercig, slipped his bonds and vanished into a tangle of swampgrass.
Fluff vanished at the same time, and there was a faint scream from somewhere in the bushes that cut off ominously.
09:22
Achievement Unlocked: First Blood!
Your dungeon has reaped its first soul. Core category limit removed. Nascent core invulnerability removed. You are now a mature core with all of the dangers and opportunities that implies. Congratulations!
Your monster, Fluff, has made its first kill!
Difficulty Bonus Multiplier - 3
3 Actions Gained!
21 Mana Gained!
Stew felt a sick satisfaction that eased his hunger, and it was almost too much for him. His thoughts reeled. For some reason, with all the fighting and killing that had happened in the forest, it hadn't struck him the same. The System seemed to feel the same way about it. This person was dead, right here inside his dungeon. Fluff had killed someone without hesitation. They had been up to no good, but the suddenness left him wondering how to feel.
He decided it was one more thing he would have to worry about later. Right now the identity of the attackers mattered the most, then the other things in this ominous message.
Apparently there was a big pay off for killing delvers, which sort of made sense for a dungeon, not that he needed the mana and actions now that he could generate his own, but the other part felt much more significant.
His core had been invulnerable? Now it wasn't.
Fluff, old buddy, what have you done?