The Visvarg, Fanv, had led Johna and Noah through the black forest into a clearing with a castle gate half submerged into the sides of the large pit. Johna had half suspected the wolf of being some kind of demon luring them into its lair to feast on. But that thought disappeared as soon as the already mana saturated air doubled in density. The mana lingering in the air of the dungeon was dense enough to make his hair stand on end. It flowed and moved inside the cave like something living. His last doubts about a dungeon strong enough to have sentient creatures were erased completely as they moved into the dark corridors.

Then the madness started. Rodents twice the size or more of their wild kin appeared and disappeared through the walls. Mushrooms that glowed and looked like water made solid, cast a dim light over the endless stone corridors. The flickering light made Johna feel as if he was at the bottom of a river.

The wolf had told them to stop briefly at a fork in the corridors. She had slipped into a side room, promising to return soon. What returned wasn't a wolf though. It was a woman. A woman as white as snow with hair long enough to touch the floor. Her head was crowned by two tall horns and her 5 yellow eyes held the same intensity the wolf's had. She wore white silken robes and greeted them with a voice that seemed to echo in both reality and their own minds.

"Aight, now I look human again!"

Fanv snickered at her own joke while her two visitors stared at her. Then she noticed a small mouse had dropped down from the ceiling onto Noah's shoulder. 

"Are you bothering our visitors? Don't be rude to them."

'Forgive me, Great one. This one doesn't seem to mind tho- EEEK'

Noah noticed the mouse as soon as Fanv started talking to it and jumped in surprise. Johna yelped and swatted the poor rodent down from its perch. They both trembled and looked around them to make sure nothing else had snuck up on them. Fanv stared for a bit then turned away and pretended like nothing happened as the guys regained their cool.

Johna felt his face heating up as he calmed down from the scare. Noah was mumbling a silent prayer to thank his luck that it was only a mouse and not something murderous that had attached itself to him for that brief moment. Johna cleared his throat and Fanv took that as her sign to start walking again. 

 The two outsiders gasped as they stepped into the throne room. The cavernous room had a ceiling so far up that the dim light from the mushrooms failed to reach it. Dark roots and branches grew from cracks and holes in the walls and floor, climbing up stone pillars or ending in bushes and trees in various places. A collection of roots ran through the middle of the room like tangled hair placed on the ground. Smooth stone slabs laid on top of those roots, creating crude tables and benches.

White banners without any crests on them decorated the walls along with the same kind of carvings and pillars that lined the corridors. At the back of the large chamber stood a massive stone throne and at its sides were huge stone archways leading deeper into the dungeon.

The person sitting on the throne was something so surreal that Johna and Noah failed to notice the hundreds of rodents, goats, birds and other strange creatures entering the room either from the two archways or from hidden openings in between the stone carvings on the walls. The creatures filed into the room and either sat dow around the tables, perched themselves on the walls or ceiling, or simply just stood somewhere to the side. All of them kept their eyes on the outsiders, watching their every movement as if ready to destroy them should they offend the being on the throne.

Fanv led the pair up to the throne and had them stand about 5 meters in front of it. She then trotted up to the side of the throne and stood facing them. The being on the throne, Maker, finally looked up to meet the outsiders' gaze. The billowing mass of hair, snakes, and wings moved and parted to reveal her Face and limbs. Then she smiled and the world seemed to stop.

Welcome outsiders, to my kingdom and home, Mageon. It is a pleasure to finally meet your kind on friendly terms. My name is Maker and I rule Mageon.

The voice that echoed from within their minds was cheerful and musical. It matched her yellow eyes in its uniqueness and mystery. Those eyes hid an ancient mind that knew things far to alien for a person to even comprehend. Johna found the voice alluring and somehow familiar yet also terrifying and awe-inspiring. It reminded him of the voice another ancient creature had used when it spoke to him. It brought up some rather unpleasant memories...

Noah was the first to speak since his partner seemed to be lost in thought over something.

"My name is Noah. I am a monk following the teachings of Mother Nature. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Maker nodded at his introduction. She had no idea what he meant by 'Mother Nature's teachings' but it sounded important so she would pretend she did. She could always ask Fanv and Mikvel about it later. The blond man seemed to hesitate for some reason. Maker considered if her form was a bit too distracting for him. Fanv had pointed out that it looked a bit too strange and otherworldly... She moved some snakes to cover up her 'naughty parts' as Fanv had called them, a bit better. The blond didn't react much. Noah elbowed him. 

"Whu- Ah. Forgive me, I got lost in thought..."

The blond cleared his throat before continuing. Maker just kept on smiling, silently noting that creating the most beautiful form she could think of might not have been the best decision for her core's appearance. Oh well, not much to do about it now.

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"My name is Johna. I am a dancer taught in the elven city Jovolon. It's an honor to meet you, Lady Maker."

How interesting! You must tell me all about your homes and experiences when we get time! I know very little about the Sentient races' cultures. Now then, what brings you here?

The outsiders looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement. Noah was the one who explained their situation.

"Are you familiar with Moonmadness?"

Yes, my visvarg suffers from it so I am well aware of its effects.

"Good good. My companion Johna suffers from it as well and due to an accident, our usual equipment used to keep him detained during the full moon is now unusable. We were wondering if you could aid us somehow. It is very important that the villagers in Ogon remain unaware of Johna's... circumstances."

"He's a vampire."

Oh, one of those blood leeches?

"Geh!"

Johna winced at that blunt exchange. Noah looked a bit uncomfortable as well so Maker quickly tried to gloss it over.

We are very open to all races so do not worry about us judging you! We have a plan for tomorrow night and including you in it would not be much of a problem.

Fanv cleared her throat and Maker quickly added:

We will require something in return from you, however.

Johna squinted his eyes and hesitantly asked what she wanted in return.

Bring us a door, complete with hinges, lock, and a frame. We would also like a padlock and key. If you could include blueprints of it all that would be great!

The outsiders blinked. What?

"Oh, and some tools! Hammers and nails and maybe a saw?"

"Metal toolss, we sshall make even better chairss with toolss!"

A half-elf and a half-elf-half-spider added. Their bodies from waist to head looked almost identical. Siblings maybe... Noah grumbled to himself a bit, trying to come up with a plausible reason for asking for the things the Dungeon Lady wanted from the villagers. Johna agreed to Maker's terms, half expecting her to add 'and a firstborn infant!' or 'your soul' at the last second.

After some explanations on how they would restrain a raging vampire and a visvarg the deal was struck, complete with an awkward handshake with the overexcited Maker and the arachne who made it all possible. The arachne introduced himself as Samuel, Sam for short, and after figuring out what limb to use in a handshake, and laughing about the question "are you two siblings?" for a good 5 minutes, Noah came to the conclusion that he liked the creatures of the dungeon. They were cheerful and curious and almost like children in the way they acted and argued about things. Johna wasn't too fond of the creatures though, mostly because Maker kept subtly asking him to spend the night in the dungeon. He had the feeling she was trying to either seduce him or adopt him. He wasn't sure if she knew the difference between the two either.

It took alot of politely declining various offers, to leave the dungeon and go back to the village. 'No, he would not like to have a 'guest-cave' in the dungeon.' 'No, he would not like to try eating a Bloodclover.' The name itself was bad enough and the flower seemed to squirm as a rodent squeezed the red liquid out of it and argued that it might be filling for a vampire. 'No, Noah will not stay here either. No, Noah, you won't. Stop petting the goat, it looks like it's going to bite your hand off.', 'No, I don't eat people. No, not even the eyes. No, I don't want you to save any for me if you ever come across a dead human.', 'Noah, for the last time, I know they seem like nice people but we really should be going now. No parties. Is that rat on fire?'.

Johna was practically wheezing after having to wrestle his way out of the friendly crowd to get out of the cave system. Noah was having the time of his life, being able to talk to the dungeon's animals thanks to Maker. The happy monk and creatures took turns asking each other things about their races, habits, and lifestyles. Johna had to drag him with him. Fanv guided them through the tunnels and the part of the forest that bore the signs of being part of the dungeon, chatting happily with Noah. The monster-woman and monk were discussing if Maker could potentially create grapes trees and if said fruits really were grapes if they'd evolved from mushrooms. They both sighed and complained when they reached the edge of the dungeon's influence and they had to part. Noah was humming happily as he and Johna made their way back to Ogon.

"Hey, do you think we could visit them even after the full moon? They're pretty fun to be around."

Johna suppressed a groan. He really wasn't feeling up to another meeting with the merry monster group.

"They're a bit too... energic... and weird. I'd rather not."

"Not that weird considering their races and backgrounds."

The monk seemed to think otherwise though. He wholeheartedly enjoyed their short stay at the dungeon.

"That beaver exclaimed that it wanted to become a monk when you told it about your class."

"Haha, could you imagine! A monk beaver! The dams he would build with the help of magic!"

"I don't think magical animals is the best idea. Those rats were full out burning. They could do some nasty damage."

"You're so grumpy. Is it the vampire side talking or are you just tired?"

"A bit of both... That Dungeon Lady reminded me a bit of Zedrick..."

"Really? I thought Zedrick was all cold and dignified all the time. 'A smug bastard' I think you called him. Maker seems pretty childish. Full of life."

"Yeah, their personalities are total opposites."

"Then why did she remind you of him?"

"Dunno... Gut feeling? The way they talk- or more the way their voices sound. It pulls you in, lulls you into feeling both calm and scared like they're something much bigger than you and can do whatever they want with you... And Zedrick sort of did..."

"He had no right to turn you into a vampire. I doubt Maker would even consider doing such a thing even if she could. She seems way too nice to force anyone to do things they don't want to."

"Yeah, but Zedrick seemed nice at first too..."

"He hypnotized you. It was a Skill that made you believe him. If Maker ever uses a similar Skill on you I promise I'll get us far away from there, ok?"

"What if we both get hypnotized, though? You wouldn't-"

"Zedrick is what? 300 years old? And his Skill can only affect one person at a time. Someone having a Skill stronger than a 300-year-old vampire's Skill is pretty much impossible unless they're a 300-year-old powerful creature themselves. Every Skill has requirements to unlock that matches the strength of the Skill. Maker would either have to be older and have done more things than Zedrick or she would have to have done something world changing to unlock such a strong Skill. I highly doubt she has, and if she did then you most likely wouldn't even notice something wrong. You'd still be there itching to do her bidding. You're being paranoid."

"I guess... Just promise you'll do something if things start going wrong."

"I'll swing you over my shoulder and run a mile away at the speed of lightening."

"Maybe not that much..."