--- Rania ---
Rania experienced a strange mix of emotions as they entered the Realms Below.
On the one hand, it was her fault that they were forced to do this. She hadn't known that the miasma's spirits would be so rude, but she should have been more careful anyway. Now they were forced to go into the Realms Below. They might all die, and it would be her fault.
On the other hand, they were going to the Realms Below! That was so cool! The Realms Below were super dangerous, and full of horrible monsters. It had treasure, too. Some really old civilizations had lived underground, and even though those no longer existed, some of their stuff was still around, ready to be looted by adventurers as was their time-honored tradition. Of course, the monsters with which those civilizations had fought their wars were also still around. Not to mention what had become of their people themselves. That was why going into the Realms Below was considered very dangerous.
She felt that while she would definitely love to go there at some point in her life, doing it now was maybe a bit too early. She was not strong enough, yet.
She was reaffirmed in this opinion when the team suffered their first casualty after only ten minutes of walking.
As they hurried down the tunnels, they were ambushed by another group of veracs. They got Whiskers!
One second she was alive, and the next Whiskers was gone!
Literally. As a spirit familiar, Whiskers simply disappeared after being killed. This caused her no permanent harm, but Balron would need to perform an elaborate ritual to summon her back. Not to mention he would have to apologize profusely for letting her die, in Rania's opinion. Many wizards were very rude and didn't do that, and just treated their familiars like mindless constructs. But Balron had looked very sad, so she hoped he wasn't like that.
The experience drove home to her that they were all mortal. Especially herself, of course. It was right in her name. She was a Mortal, just like her parents were. It was a last name handed down through the generations, to make it clear what she was. She did not understand why names like Smith and Miller were more popular than Mortal, but then linguistics wasn't one of her strong suits. Maybe it was because her parents were so very ordinary and average? They had a farm with an average amount of agricultural area, a house of their own with a typical number of rooms, and 2.5 children, just like the average for the area. They were as Perfectly Normal as anyone could be. So maybe that's why they had the name Mortal? Because it was the most default thing to call them?
Despite this reminder of her mortality, she still fully believed that she and the humanoid members of the team could handle themselves. But what about Aranea? Aranea was not a spirit. She was just a normal spider. What if a monster decided to snack on her?
And what if they encountered something scarier than veracs? There were so many dangerous things in the Realms Below. What if they all died here? It would be a terrible adventure. If she read a book like that, she would put it away and write a bad review to the author! Then she would feel bad for the whole day because all the cool characters she liked had died. The situation she was in was even worse, because she was herself, and not just a fictional character from a book, and the others were also real people she knew, and not just side characters for her own adventure. In fact she kind of suspected that if anything, then she was the side character. Maybe Atrog would be the protagonist, since he was the leader? In any case, she would feel terrible if anything happened to them.
All of them were in danger here, even Pebble. She knew that there was very little that could actually kill a spirit like him. But if the rest of them died, then Pebble would be all alone down here, forgotten by everyone and out of his element. For a spirit that was just as bad as dying.
The realms below were twisty systems of caverns that were difficult to navigate. Fortunately, House Darklight had provided them with a map of the area they used to patrol, back before the Cataclysm. Navigating the tunnels wasn't easy, as some of the markers placed by House Darklight over three hundred years ago had been moved, and new tunnels had been dug by the wildlife, or closed up again by some of the creatures capable of shaping rock. But it was not nearly as bad as it could have been.
Rania was happy that House Darklight was so responsible and helpful, but inwardly she also thought it was a bit anticlimactic. This place really felt like the kind of place that intrepid adventurers ought to get lost in.
But no, it was all perfectly straightforward. They did not even have trouble orienting themselves. As a human, Galanys was the only one without a natural ability to see in the dark, but she had used biomancy to correct this weakness years ago. It was such a common and useful biomantic spell that the government actually subsidized it for people who could not otherwise afford the services of a biomancer, to ensure that everyone was able to see in the dark.
They traveled for hours, further and further down the tunnels. Atrog said their priority was to get as far away from the influence of the miasma as possible, so long as they did not go near the dangerous areas marked on the map.
They did encounter plenty of monsters on their travels, of course, but she found they were kind of boring. The party made short work of them. She had really expected more from a place with such an ominous reputation as the Realms Below.
That was when it happened. She noticed a faint blue glow in the edge of her vision. Always just at the edge, even when she turned her head. She knew what this meant: It was a sign that a Mind Warper was nearby.
She was so excited! Atrog had talked about this at length back in Northpass, and she had very responsibly chosen not to listen. Now she would see the Unspoken Plan at work. It was going to be great!
"Oh gods no!" Atrog shouted. "It's not just a Mind Warper! It's an Elder One! Our plan won't work on one of those!"
Rania of course knew that this was definitely just an illusion and Atrog had not really said that. Yes, it was true that judging by the exact shade of blue she could see, this was an older and much more intelligent member of the Mind Warper species. But then that was what they did: They warped minds. They made people see and hear things that did not actually happen. They hid in plain sight, disguised as your own allies. You could not fight them without risking injury to your friends, but if you did not deal with them quickly enough then they would drain you mentally until you died.
Normal Mind Warpers were not all that smart. They were actually more like animals that acted on instinct. It was only the older ones that developed sapience. They were much more dangerous foes. They could read your mind, and know what you were planning to do. Since they were smarter than almost any humanoid, making plans against them was almost impossible. The military usually dealt with what they called Elder Ones by just killing everything in the area. It was the only way to be sure, they said.
But Rania was certain that Atrog had made a really good plan. No way was the plan she had not heard going to fail just because the Mind Warper they encountered happened to be smarter than normal. It was probably just making her think that the others were panicking to make her lose confidence. But she would not be confused so easily.
She knew that she was not very smart herself, but she thought it might be fun to try to figure out what genius plan Atrog and the others must have come up with.
She knew a lot about Mind Warpers. Her fey acquaintances had told her all about them when she asked. In fact, she knew so much about them that she understood that she knew nothing.
Mind Warpers were an ancient species controlled by something sort of like a hive mind. Many millennia ago, before recorded history, they had gotten into a fight with another civilization that used curses a lot. Some of those curses lasted indefinitely, and since Mind Warpers were a hive mind, each of them inherited all of the curses. These curses put many strange and seemingly arbitrary restrictions on the creatures.
They had to announce their presence with the blue glow Rania had noticed. That was well known. Her acquaintances had added that the glow was orange instead on the second Tuesday during a leap year. Very relevant information, that. Mind Warpers also couldn't directly attack someone physically unless they were attacked first, or unless the person said at least five sentences in a row with an even number of words.
There were many, many rules like that. Not knowing these rules made Mind Warpers appear very chaotic, but if you understood what restrictions their curses imposed on them, then all of their behavior was actually quite logical.
It was kind of like the fey, really.
Rania had considered learning the Mind Warper's rules when she had first heard of them a few years ago, along with a dozen other creatures with similar behaviors. But her eyes had glazed over while trying to learn them all. She had initially considered it her duty to learn all she could, since she had done the same with the rules that governed the fey.
In her mind, it would have been speciesist to learn all about the fey and then ignore all these other creatures. But when she realized that she couldn't memorize it all, she had rationalized to herself that since these creatures mostly wanted to eat her, or do unspeakable things to her, she wasn't under an obligation to learn their rules after all. Multiculturalism should go both ways, and creatures that didn't respect that mortals don't like to be eaten shouldn't be able to give her so much to learn, either.
Since she didn't want to memorize all of these rules, she had asked if there was a trick to fighting them. Her acquaintances had said that Mind Warpers were very smart, but also prideful and emotional. If they could be made to lose their composure, they would start acting irrationally.
So the trick was to make the Mind Warpers angry. She thought about it, but she could not think of a way to do it. But Galanys was very good at riling people up, so she was probably already hard at work.
There was no doubt in her mind that her friends were aware of all of these things as well. Most of the things she knew, she had heard from her acquaintances and not from military dossiers, but her teammates were really smart and probably had trustworthy sources of their own.
She was pretty sure that an Elder One could not be as smart as her teammates. All of them were really just so intelligent! No way was a stupid monster going to be smarter than them. As she thought that, she noticed a faint change in the shade of blue at the edge of her vision. She knew that this was a sign of the monster's emotional state. Clearly the rest of her team was already hard at work getting the Mind Warper riled up so that it would start making mistakes. They were so much smarter than herself. And so much smarter than the Mind Warper, too. Oh, there was that discoloration again.
Really, Mind Warpers were not all that smart in her opinion. The young ones were basically animals, and only the Elder Ones were really able to plan.
A Mind Warper needed to be about a hundred years old to be called an Elder One. In her opinion that was just embarrassing. Humanoid babies were able to think at a much younger age than that, so clearly they were smarter. At the same time, a hundred years was really not that old at all. That did not deserve the title of Elder One.
In her opinion, they were Middle-aged Ones at best.
She briefly imagined a Mind Warper with a receding hairline and a pudgy belly. The thought made her giggle. As she did, she noticed the discoloration flare up again.
She was very glad that she hadn't listened when Atrog explained the plan. Mind Warpers could read minds. If she knew the plan, she would probably mess it up in her head and let the Mind Warper find out about it.
It certainly did not look like they were following a plan, though. As far as she could see, her companions were all panicking and fighting each other. But Rania suspected that this was just an illusion. Middle-aged Ones often created illusions of their victims' worst nightmares to drive people insane. She knew that fighting within the group would be one of the worst things she could imagine, so it made sense that the illusion would be about that.
She felt Aranea crawl out of her cloak and down her arms. At that moment, Balron telekinetically flung a rock at Atrog, but the orc dodged and the rock kept sailing towards her. It hit Aranea, squishing and killing her instantly.
She was shocked and horrified, but only briefly. Her friends dying was the worst thing she could imagine, therefore this was obviously an illusion.
In her opinion, Middle-aged Ones really ought to be smarter than to focus on a person's worst nightmares. If they went for like the fourth or fifth worst nightmare instead, maybe it would be less obvious. As she thought that, she noticed the discoloration again. Simultaneously, she saw Galanys pause in the middle of her argument with Atrog, and shoot her a look of pure hatred. That was probably another illusion of the Mind Warper, trying to sow dissent among her allies. But she was onto the creature's game, and she had full confidence in her team. Galanys did not hate her. This was a fact.
Really, Rania thought, she ought to be thankful towards the Mind Warper for helping her cope with her fears. Experiencing illusionary Aranea's death just now had been terrible, but it also taught her an important lesson about being careful and valuing the lives of her friends. In the future, she would take greater care to protect Aranea, since the little spider was so vulnerable.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
She felt grateful towards the Mind Warper for making her realize this. It might save Aranea's life in the future.
As she thought this, the discoloration intensified. She again noticed Galanys stop in the middle of her argument and look at her with clear anger in her face. Maybe the illusion was defective?
She noticed illusionary Galanys grasp her head with her hands and shake it in annoyance. The discoloration flared up again, and suddenly the nature of the illusion changed.
Her friends were no longer arguing with each other. Instead, they were all panicking and acting like they were fighting or talking with invisible people. Probably the Mind Warper had given up on trying to convince her that her friends would ever fight each other, and now focused on the slightly less scary nightmare that they would be confused and helpless instead.
If the Mind Warper had already given up on that part of its illusions, then that must mean that the secret plan the others were enacting must be going really well.
As she thought that, she noticed yet another discoloration. Her team must be getting closer to enacting their plan!
Illusionary Galanys then said something weird. She repeated that really bad pickup line that the noble who was bad at sex had said back in Northpass. Then she groaned and put her head in her arms. Rania did not know what was going on there, but she was sure that illusionary Galanys had her reasons for doing things.
"Rania!" She suddenly noticed illusionary Atrog talking to her. He, or rather the illusion of him, had stopped panicking and was looking at her.
"Have you tried talking to Pebble, Rania? Maybe he can help? Maybe spirits are not affected by all this." He looked panicked, and gestured around himself at something she couldn't see. Illusions, duh. Of course they would be seeing different things.
But he did have a point! Atrog was so smart that even the illusionary Atrog was smarter than the Middle-aged One!
Oh, there was another discoloration. Much stronger this time. Galanys whipped her head up and stared directly at her.
So she took the advice to heart and asked Pebble what was going on. He was usually so talkative, so it hadn't even occurred to her to ask when he didn't volunteer anything. But Pebble only said that he was sorry, but he couldn't help. The curses had some really convincing arguments not to tattle on what was going on.
She was a bit upset about this, but she knew better than to argue the point. These were important cultural differences. Sometimes spirits just thought like that, and it would be rude of her to get mad over it. Besides, maybe the curses did have genuinely good arguments? She hadn't talked to them, so how would she know? She trusted Pebble to know best.
"I'm sorry, illusionary Atrog." She said. "But Pebble says that he can't help us."
"I know that you are just an illusion," she continued, "but I hope the real you finds a way to beat the Middle-aged One soon!"
The blue glow in the corner of her vision suddenly flared up much more intensely than before.
"Stop calling me that! I'm not middle-aged!" Galanys shouted. She was suddenly standing directly in front of her, with an expression of pure fury in her face.
Also, a second, identical Galanys was standing directly behind her.
All of her illusionary friends looked at the Galanys in front of her, then at the Galanys behind that one.
"Oh shit." said the one who had just shouted at her.
Then the Galanys behind her stabbed her in the back.
She started shrieking, and the illusion broke. The Galanys was revealed as a Middle-aged One, now bleeding profusely.
The creatures were not physically impressive. Just a lot of tentacles on a small torso, supporting an overly large brain. Seconds later, it was a bloody smear on the ground.
"What happened?" Atrog asked Rania as he wiped the blood from his sword. "Did we really just kill it?"
"The blue glow has disappeared." Balron responded. "It must be dead. That's the one thing they can not fake."
"You did it!" She shouted in glee. "You killed the Bad Guy, and all according to plan!"
She had no idea what the plan had been, but clearly it had worked. Maybe an Unspoken Plan worked even better if it was never talked about, even after it had worked? Would talking about it now retroactively make the fight harder? She tended towards a no, but she was not quite sure. Spirits often used anthropic reasoning like that, but it was the kind of thing where asking about it could change it, so she decided it was safer just not to ask.
Atrog looked around in confusion and took in the faces of the others. Everyone looked exhausted. They were only now coming back down from an adrenaline high. Except for Rania, of course. She had never panicked at all because she had complete faith in the plan.
"Let's rest for a bit, and talk about all this weirdness later." Atrog decided. "I really can't think well right now, and there shouldn't be any other predators in the area. Mind Warpers tend to kill everything else."
There was a general murmur of agreement as they all sat down and started to rest.
The others were talking about their experiences, but she unfortunately could not spare the time to listen. No doubt they were just congratulating each other on how well their plan worked. But Pebble had started talking to her, and he sounded distraught, so she knew that she needed to talk to him first. Her friend needed her.
Pebble was sorry for not helping her earlier. He didn't know what had come over him. The curses had asked him not to help. He refused them at first, because he did want to help. But then they had started trying to persuade him, and to his eternal shame it had worked! He still didn't know why he had found their arguments so convincing at the time.
Rania did not know either, but she was sure it was because the curses were evil, and not because Pebble was bad. He was a good friend to them, and she said as much. She hugged the rock to her chest and promised she would always be there for him.
When she looked up, she noticed that the others were also hugging each other. They had tears in their eyes, no doubt from joy over how well their plan had worked.
Rania joined the group hug, and they all silently embraced each other. She thought it was very nice. She just wished that the other party members could join in. But Pebble did not have a real body to hug and Aranea was squishy and might get hurt, and Whiskers wasn't currently alive.
Only illusionary Aranea had died. Real Aranea stayed safely un-squished in her cloak. She thanked the Middle-aged one again for reminding her to be more careful with her spider friend. Unfortunately, that meant no group hugs for her.
After the hug, the group continued to rest for a bit. Balron used the break to cast a variety of cheap divination spells, "just to be sure", when he suddenly stilled.
"Oh damn. That's not good." Balron said.
"Hm?" Atrog replied eloquently.
"I just checked for necromantic energy in the area." Balron continued. "I'm getting the distinct signature of captured souls nearby."
"Are you certain?" Atrog asked in shock.
"Yes. This is a very simple and reliable spell." Balron responded. "And if these souls were bound with an approved spell, I would be receiving the signature for that. This doesn't carry any signature. It's unlicensed necromancy. Those souls may be in enormous pain right now."
Atrog drew his sword. "This can not be allowed to continue. Do you have any idea where they are? Or what is waiting for us over there?"
"Yes to the first part, no to the second." Balron replied. "I can pinpoint the location. It isn't warded against detection at all. It's actually quite close by, just down this tunnel." He pointed down one of the many pathways. "But with how low my mana is, I don't want to waste it on a general divination spell to find out what is waiting for us."
Rania did not know much about necromancy, except that there was the good kind and the evil kind, and it was important to know the difference. This was definitely the evil kind, and she was going to help stop it.
"We could rest and recover for a bit first?" Galanys suggested.
"I can't keep the spell up indefinitely." Balron replied. "If we take too long to recover, whatever or whoever has those souls may be gone and we will likely not find them again."
"This is a risk that falls outside of what you all signed up for." Atrog said. "I can't rightly order you to help here. So I'm putting it to a vote. Show of hands. Who is in favor of risking our lives for this?"
Atrog and Rania immediately raised their hands. After a few moments of deliberation, Balron followed suit.
"You are rubbing off on me." Galanys grumbled to Atrog, but then she did raise her hand as well.
To Rania's joy, the vote was unanimous. They all wanted to save them. She felt so proud of her friends, and she saw that Atrog thought the same.
They quickly planned how to approach this. It was difficult for Atrog and Balron to sneak, due to their armor and equipment. Despite this, the party decided to stick together. Better that they all be discovered, than that Rania scout ahead, and be caught alone and without backup.
Following Balron's directions, they carefully rounded a corner, and noticed the source of the necromancy at once.
They found themselves in a relatively large cavern, with no other exits in sight. One corner was littered with Mind Warper bones, and in another corner were several small sacks of adventurers' equipment.
Propped up against the sacks were two mutilated corpses. One was a young and strangely muscular elven woman, the other a male gnome with very pale skin. Both corpses had their arms and legs removed, which were nowhere in sight.
Somehow, that was not the most attention grabbing part of the cavern.
That role belonged to the young dragon that was standing in the middle of it.
It was about three meters long from its head to the tip of its tail. Its scales were pitch black, and it wore several pieces of leather over its body, like a harness. Rania also spotted a small holy symbol attached to it. It was the symbol of Brytius, the god of learning, teaching, and self-improvement.
The clothing gave her pause.
A not-so-silent part of her was internally screaming about how awesome it was to encounter a dragon. That was one of the most important events in the life of any adventurer worth their salt. Encountering a dragon was always a very important part in any adventure book Rania had read, and it usually resulted in an epic fight.
But Rania also knew that not all dragons were evil.
Dragons had a much greater variance in mental traits than other species. There was no such thing as a "normal" dragon. They had so many quirks and eccentricities, that even the most ordinary dragon would be considered mentally divergent by the standards of any other species. Most of those eccentricities were perfectly benign. It didn't really hurt anyone when a dragon was obsessed with collecting novelty vases, for example. The problem was just that dragons were really big and powerful, and if something strong enough acts weirdly enough, it would almost inevitably end up getting people hurt.
Nirras the ancient, one of the most famous dragons ever, was pathologically greedy. He accumulated a hoard of gold, and slept on it for no real reason. Then one day he decided that since nobles were considered valuable among mortals, kidnapping them would be a good addition to his hoard. That's how the whole stereotype about dragons sleeping on hoards of gold and kidnapping princesses got started. It was all just because of one particularly strong dragon, with pathological levels of greed. Of course it didn't help that many young dragons took him as inspiration later and started to emulate his behavior.
Most dragons were perfectly fine, if a little eccentric, people. Rania felt like she understood what that was like, so she knew what she needed to do here.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you!" She said to the dragon. "My Name is Rania. What's your name? And are you a Good Guy or a Bad Guy? Because I have to say, those corpses over there do not give the best first impression."
Rania noticed Galanys frantically pulling on her sleeve, and shouting at her to get back, but she stood her ground.
"*Hello*" She suddenly heard in her head. It was thought without a voice, but she could clearly make out the words.
"*It is nice to meet you, too. I am pleasantly surprised you did not attack me on sight. My name is Dov.*"
"Are you hearing that, too?" Atrog asked. "I can hear it in my head. It says its name is Dov."
The others confirmed that they could hear the creature, too.
"*I'm afraid my vocal chords are not working properly right now, so this is the best I can do. I am telepathically speaking to all of you at the same time. As for the corpses over there, those are my siblings.*" The dragon spoke telepathically, while indicating the corpses of what were clearly an elf and a gnome.
Rania recognized the face Atrog made at that. He made that face all the time when she talked to him. She felt a strange sense of kinship towards the dragon.
"*No. I'm not insane. Obviously those aren't dragons. I'm not a dragon either. Wait. That makes me sound even more insane without context. I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I have been stuck here for months, and I'm so glad to finally have people to talk to again. When I first noticed you, I thought you were hallucinations! Or maybe illusions. My telepathic abilities normally protect me from simple illusions. That's what allowed me to hunt the Mind Warpers in the area for food.*"
She pointed at the pile of bones in the corner with her claws. It looked like she had killed and eaten dozens of the creatures.
"*But then an Elder One showed up! I am not strong enough to fight it. So I hid up here and waited. Is it gone now? It must be gone, if you are here.*"
"Yes, it is gone. We killed it." Atrog replied.
"*You killed an Elder One? That's amazing!*" The dragon smiled, but its many teeth just made that look scary.
"Can you please explain how you got here?" Atrog asked. "All of this is a lot to take in and I am not yet convinced that you are not just another illusion, after what we just went through."
"*Oh, of course! Let me start from the beginning then. My name is Dov Shan. I am not actually a dragon, but a shapeshifter. My siblings and I are princes and princesses of the Shan Kingdom, and we were genetically engineered. Our species is called Davlash. We can shapeshift, with some caveats. A lot of caveats really, but we are working on it. My siblings and I were adventuring in Oruk. It was supposed to be a learning experience, to help us get stronger through adventure. Just like our parents did. They didn't just inherit a throne, you know. They worked hard to earn it.*"
Rania could clearly feel the sense of pride coming from the not-dragoness through the telepathic connection. Despite the explanation, she found it difficult to think of the being in front of her as anything other than a dragon. Dragons were cool, but she had never heard of a Davlash before. What even was that?
"*We overestimated ourselves. We ended up in the Realms Below. My siblings died. But don't worry, my parents can bring them back. They gave us some artifacts they found in the Cursed Lands that make resurrections much easier. Just in case.*"
"Is that what is giving off the necromantic energy signature? That looks illegal." Balron asked.
"*Yes, it is! They are really old artifacts, from way before Ossor was founded. But they are perfectly safe! They are like prototype phylacteries of a sort. If you die while wearing it, your soul is kept safely stored inside.*" Dov replied.
Rania was amazed. She didn't know such a thing existed. Resurrection spells were usually super expensive, and often it didn't even work because the soul had already moved on. It was just the sort of amazing loot that she would expect experienced adventurers to find, in a place with a name as cool as The Cursed Lands.
"*I am lost down here. I have been dragging my siblings' corpses around with me, trying to keep them safe while I'm looking for an exit to the surface. I had to remove their limbs and build a harness for myself to make them easier to transport. It has been horrible. But our limbs grow back so long as the main body is intact, and resurrection gets so much more difficult if there is no body left for the soul to return to. Gods, I'm getting sick just thinking about what I had to do to stay alive down here. It has been weeks since I have last seen the sun! Please tell me that you can help us get out of here.*"
Rania could feel Dov get more and more emotional and distraught as she continued to explain what had happened. Atrog and Balron still seemed hesitant to take her word for it, but Galanys wordlessly approached the not-dragoness and wrapped her in a hug. After some hesitation, the not-dragoness returned it.
The others then started asking Dov some questions, but Rania barely noticed. She had just been overwhelmed by a realization. She stood there for almost a minute coming to terms with it, before she suddenly blurted it out:
"You are a dragon! And you are also a princess that we rescued! And you have a mission for us! That's like three really great adventuring things all rolled up in one! This day is awesome! I no longer even care about the stupid Middle-aged one! This was so worth it!"
"Great. You broke Rania." Atrog deadpanned.
"*Oh no. Has she been affected by the Mind Warpers? Do you need help? My telepathy can be useful for that.*"
"No thank you. That's not because of the Mind Warpers. Rania is always like this."