Making our way back down the short corridor to the main spider room, I suddenly remembered the gem in my bag.

"OH!" I said rather loudly and suddenly, causing Brutus to fly in erratic circles to avoid something.

"What?! What is it?! Are we under attack?! Did you see something?!"

"I just remembered I can add that gem to my sword."

"Did you have to yell about it? I almost peed!"

"Sorry Brutus," I said, trying to hide a smile.

I took the gem out of the bag of holding and looked at it for a moment. Then I pulled the longsword and looked it over. The slots were on either side of the cross-guard with the pointed end of the teardrop shape facing up. I had seen them when inspecting the sword during the attunement. I held the gem up to the slot to see what would happen.

Nothing. It almost fell out of my hand when I was holding it to the slot.

"Am I doing something wrong?" I asked, fumbling to keep the gem in my grasp.

"Let me check."

I waited while Brutus hovered in the air looking at the gem and slot.

"Ah, there we go, you need to place it into the slot and inspect it at the same time."

That made no sense, but I wasn't the expert. I held the sword flat so the slot faced up, placed the gem into the slot and moved it slightly so that it would fall into the space, and looked at it, activating my inspect skill.

Fill Slot:

You are attempting to add a gem to an empty weapon slot. Would you like to equip Longsword of Knight's Resolve with the Fire Gem?

Yes No

Thinking yes, the gem clicked into place even better than I had placed it and a small light shone from the gem for a moment and traced around the outside of the gem as well, seeming to seal it in place.

"That was pretty cool looking, but I was expecting something a little...flashier."

"Try hitting something with it."

"Like what?"

"Anything. If you want we can go back to the big spider."

I swung the sword at the stone wall. Nothing. I agreed that going to try the sword on the spider corpse would be worth the time. We weren't in a huge hurry anyways. We made our way back to the spider corpse and I stood over it with the sword in my hand. Not really sure what to expect and not truly expecting much, I swung the sword down at the body of the spider.

As soon as the sword blade hit the spider, the sword became enveloped in flames and began to burn and cut at the same time through the corpse. I could smell the charring of the corpse and the sword sliced through it like butter. Or would have.

What followed was not my proudest moment. As soon as the sword caught fire, I screamed, dropped the sword, jumped about five feet in the air, hit the ground at a funny angle, tripped, and landed flat on my back. Picking myself back up, I walked back up to the sword and grabbed the hilt very carefully. I expected the flames to be hot and burn my hands, but I couldn't even feel the heat coming off the sword. Clearly, it was on fire because it was burning the corpse, but I felt nothing. Apparently, there was something that protected the wielder from any harm or discomfort from the flames. Now that was handy.

I pulled the sword from the corpse and moved around to another side. I needed to get more adjusted to that flame. The fire went out after holding the sword away from the corpse for about five seconds. I swung again at the carcass, and again it burst into flames the moment it touched the corpse. This time I held onto the sword and it easily cut through the corpse burning the flesh the whole time.

"This is freaking awesome! I could get used to this. Though, it is a little weird to think using the logic from earth, that someone was just leaving a perfectly good and really sharp sword just lying around."

"That is really cool, but we should probably get moving onto the next area to work our way out of this dungeon. Also, that is not the correct logic for Hogarth. Here the Dungeon would have likely spawned the loot as a reward for the kills you managed to get. It was a lot. Seventy-five smaller spiders and one brood mother by yourself."

"You're right Brutus. Sorry. We can head that way now."

Making our way back to the spider room again, I kept the sword ready.

"Time to try the last exit."

Brutus flew in circles around me nodding his ascent and showing some excitement. His little nub of a tail wagged the whole time. It was odd seeing his tail still cropped even though he was reborn. I guess he got to keep the same form that was most comfortable for him.

We walked up to the last doorway and used the new sword to try cutting through the webs which caught fire when the sword did and we walked through. The hallway beyond was much longer than I had expected it to be. It curved back and forth and then ended in a large iron-banded wooden door. There was an ominous feeling emanating from the door. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it definitely unnerved me. There were carvings in the iron around the outside of the door. The carvings looked like bears in the wild. Like something you'd see in a gift shop in Alaska after going on a guided tour. One catching a fish, one walking in the forest, another standing on a cliff.

"So...bears in the next room? Not so sure I want to fight bears. Also, this room actually feels funny."

"Bears shouldn't be too difficult with a flaming sword. As long as there aren't too many of them in one room. And with the difficulty of this dungeon, I would expect there won't be. And that feeling is because this is likely the boss's room. So expect it to be harder than the last few fights."

"Great, just what I needed, a harder fight. What do you mean by the difficulty of this dungeon?"

"Well, every dungeon has a difficulty rating, and that usually decides the type of monsters inside. Since what we have found so far has been mostly goblins and that spider room, I'd say the dungeon is still a fairly young dungeon. Meaning it has not had a lot of time to grow, gather new creatures, and become more dangerous."

"Dungeons gather new creatures?"

"Yes. They can take the remains of creatures that die inside them or within a certain distance of them and create those creatures by absorbing them. But let's leave dungeon theory for another time. We should focus on this room next."

"You're right. Thanks, Brutus. Now, what should I expect from a bear? Big claws, teeth, lumbering, large creature, anything else I'm missing?"

"That pretty much sums it up. Your flaming sword should help in keeping it at bay as well. Bears aren't especially fond of fire."

"Alrighty then, let's kill this bear."

I pushed on the door and began to walk forward. Only to almost smash my face into it trying to move it.

"It's a pull, Callan. The hinges are on this side of the door."

"I knew that."

Then pulling on one of the metal ring handles, the door began to creak as it opened.

"Guess there won't be an element of surprise. A can of WD-40 would go a long way down here."

As the door swung open, I got my first look inside the room. It was a massive chamber, circular in shape, with lavish furnishings around the outside of the room. It looked like someone was setting up for one of those medieval dinner tournament restaurants with armor on the walls, and tables filled with food lining the walls. Across the room at the far side, there was a throne sitting atop two steps with a man sitting in the chair. He looked a little ragged, but as though he used to be handsome. He had a beard that was starting to show age with a salt and pepper coloration, he was rather hairy with an impressive set of chest hair and hair running all down his arms and legs and he wore only a loincloth. He sat on the throne with his chin in his hand resting on the arm of the throne and next to the throne sat a large two-handed axe.

"That...wasn't the kind of bear I thought they meant," I said, still staring at the man with a bit of confusion.

"What does that mean?" Brutus asked.

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"Nevermind, I don't want to explain it to you."

"Have you come to celebrate my birthday?" Came a booming voice from the man sitting on the throne.

This was so unexpected, that I just stood there for a moment in shock.

"No one ever comes to celebrate my birthday. No one remembers it's my birthday anymore."

"Um...well...we could celebrate your birthday with you if you like," I replied awkwardly.

"Truly?! You would come to celebrate with me?" The man sat up from his slumped position at the mention of guests for his party. "We have food, mead, and much merriment we can partake of. Come! Join me! It has been so long since any would celebrate with me."

This is kind of creepy. I'm not sure I like where this is going, but I can at least play along to see where this goes. Maybe I don't have to fight the boss if I enjoy a party. One of those alternate endings some games give you the option of taking where you can either choose the diplomatic route or the violent route. I usually chose the violent route for the extra experience, but this was my actual life I was playing with now. It couldn't hurt to try the diplomatic route.

"Sure. I could use some food and mead. And who doesn't love a good party, am I right?"

"Verily! Let us partake!"

The man stood up and motioned for me to join him at one of the tables. I noticed as he stood he was rather tall, at least seven feet if not more. The food looked amazing. I could smell the cooked ham, the roasted chicken, the mashed potatoes, the fresh salad, and there was a cake at the end of the table with cherries set atop perfectly formed frosting swirls at even intervals spaced atop the cake. It all looked wonderful. So, why was I getting an odd feeling about it all?

I took the egg from my back, sat it against one of the walls off to the side of the room, then sat down at the table and thought I heard someone calling my name, but it felt like it was a hundred miles away. I ignored it. I began to pile the food onto my plate with the man sitting across the table from me with a huge grin on his face. He genuinely seemed happy to have a guest to celebrate with. A comrade one might say. I was just putting the first chicken leg in my mouth when I felt a sharp pain in my hand.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?!" I screamed indignantly.

"Pay attention, Callan! Are you even looking at what you are eating?!"

"Of course I am. It's...."

I trailed off as I looked down at what was on my plate and the table in front of me. Cobwebs suddenly were covering everything. The food was rotten and moldy and there were maggots in it. I jumped up from the table, spitting and rubbing my tongue from the bite I had taken.

"Dammit! What the hell happened?!"

"It's cursed, Callan. There is a spell used to deceive people into eating the food. It probably would have killed you!"

"Thanks for the save Brutus. That is not the way I want to go."

"What is this? You do not like my hospitality? You shun my offer of food, drink, and celebration?!"

"You just tried to poison me?!" I said more indignantly than I meant to.

"Poison you? You are the first person I have seen in years. Why would I do that? Do you dare to accuse me of not showing proper manners to a guest in my domain?! Ungrateful cur! You will not show me disrespect such as this!"

As he said this he seemed to get larger. His anger boiled over and he let out a roar from across the table. Suddenly he got a lot taller, at least nine feet tall, and began to get wider as well. The hair spread and grew rapidly across his body until he was totally covered in it. His face began to elongate and his teeth turned into long sharp predatory teeth.

"Oh, shit!" I said, staring at him. "What the hell is that?!"

"Werebear!" Brutus practically yelled. "Get back now!"

His warning came just in the nick of time as I jumped away from the table and tucked into a roll on the ground. The man finished changing into his bear form and pushed the table forward into where I had been sitting like it was a kid's plastic picnic bench. He walked to the throne and grabbed his axe, which now comfortably fit in only one hand. Also, I had no idea bear hands could hold an axe, but there it was. Though looking slightly closer at it, his hands were more of a hybrid of bear paws and human hands. They were definitely hairy like a bear paw, but the fingers extended out like human fingers much longer and more slender than a paw, with long dangerous-looking claws on the end of them.

I spent so much time looking at his hands, paws, whatever they were, that those were about all I had time to take in, as his transformation was complete and he hurdled towards me with his axe in his hand. This was probably the most frightened I had ever been. It took everything I could to throw myself out of the way in a dive to get out of his path. He crashed hard into the wall behind me with a thud that made the whole room shake.

He stood back up slowly holding one massive hand-paw-thing to his head. Now that was interesting. That felt a little like a game mechanic. Maybe I can do this if I play it smart. Looking at him again I saw how truly bear-like he was, with his now muzzle full of sharp teeth, and his ears had shrunk to those cute little round bear ears that flicked back and forth, and he had that little bobtail. The werebear roared again and began to charge, which snapped me out of my examination and forced me to focus. I watched, waited for my timing, and as he got close, I dove out of the way to miss him and this time tried to position myself to roll after the dive so I could get back up and hit him a few times with my sword before the dizziness wore off.

Pain blared to life on my side. I was in so much shock from the sudden pain in my side that I lost control of my dive and hit the ground face first and the wind was knocked out of me. I gasped in a breath trying to center myself and rolled over. I felt a thud again reverberating, but tried to figure out what had happened. I put my hand on my side and it came away bloody. Brutus flew over to me and looked at the wound.

"He got you with his claws. Why did you try the exact same move on him again?"

"I thought I found a pattern in his attacks so I could attack him while he was stunned like in a video game."

"Why would you think that?"

"This whole dungeon has acted kinda like a game made by someone else on earth."

"Look, everyone here is real, most things can even think for themselves and find your patterns too if you give them one. You can't be predictable!"

"Got that now. I'll be better."

I cast Minor Healing on myself, which stopped the worst of the bleeding and started to close up the wounds. It was still sore, but I could move now. I jumped to my feet and reached into my bag for the daggers and jar of poison as I began to run around the edge of the room.

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm going to poison him with these daggers and the spider poison."

"Are those weapons magic or silver by any chance?"

"No, why?"

"WEREBEAR! What part of that don't you understand?!"

"Most of it I guess?"

"Werebear...like werewolf...as in turned into that creature magically...as in immune to any non-magical or non-silvered weapon damage?"

"Well, shit..."

"Yup. Now put that poison on the longsword."

"Why?"

"It's magical Callan!"

"Oh, right. That makes sense. Won't the fire burn it off?"

"MAGIC CALLAN MAGIC! It'll be fine! Just do it already!"

"Alright! You don't have to yell!"

"Clearly I...DUCK AND ROLL!"

Just as Brutus said that I dropped into a duck as the axe head passed over my head with an audible whooshing sound, and clanged into the stone wall hard enough it got stuck. As I ducked, I used my feet to push off hard to my left trying to avoid opening myself up to an attack from his other hand-paw-thing.

As I came up out of the roll into a crouch, I opened the vial of poison and quickly poured the contents onto the long sword. I tossed the vial aside and spun around. I could see the werebear fighting with getting the axe unstuck and I took that moment to reach in and slice across his back with the sword, continuing to move past him so as not to stay still where he might swing at me. The sword ignited with fire as soon as it hit the werebear's flesh and it began to part. I could tell immediately that this weapon was not going to cause any bleeding effects with that kind of cautery power, but it still seemed to leave the poison in its path. Where it had passed, the skin not only sizzled and looked burnt, but it started to turn a greenish hue.

The giant creature roared in pain and anger and abandoned its axe still stuck in the wall. I did not account fully for its reach and as I tried to continue past it, I got caught by a swinging arm. Fortunately, I had put my sword up to try to catch it. Unfortunately, this creature's strength was clearly much higher than my own and I was sent flying. Since I had managed to put my sword up and braced it against the bracer of my off-hand, the damage I took from the strike was not as much, and I even was able to score a cut on the werebear's forearm. Unfortunately, I had taken about forty damage from the first claw strike and had healed only twenty-five of that damage with my spell. This latest attack took off another fifteen damage leaving me with about one hundred and fifty health. Time to change tactics a little I think. I got to my feet and sent a shocking bolt toward the bear. It cringed and slowed in its movement for a second before appearing to become even angrier than before and rushing towards me.

"Uh, oh. I think that made it madder. Well, let's see if we can roll with it."

Instead of running around the room this time, I ran full tilt towards the werebear. As its arms were coming in to strike me, I pulled down into a baseball slide and jammed my sword upward catching it in the gut and drawing a line down its stomach. Unfortunately for me, I didn't aim the slide correctly and was caught in the stomach by a werebear foot and the claws on those were stabbed into my gut as well. This did have the added effect of tripping the werebear, and as it struggled to keep its footing, it turned to the right and fell onto the ground as well, pulling its claws from my gut in the process. I began to bleed fairly rapidly at this point from my stomach. I took a look at my health bar. Down to fifty health in one blow there and dropping with the bleeding! I cast minor heal on myself and the dropping health slowed but didn't stop. The pain in my stomach was excruciating. His claws must have really done a number on me internally. My only saving grace right now was the poison seemed to be getting to the werebear as well and it was slowing down. It even paused momentarily to vomit from its sickness.

My health hit forty and was now showing red, which I guess meant I had dipped below twenty-five percent of my total health left. I cast Minor healing again on myself and the twenty-five health made my HP go back up to sixty-five and change back to yellow. It was still dropping, but much much slower now. I could live with that while I dealt with this hairy bastard.

I got to my feet, clutching my stomach as I rose and I sent another shocking bolt at my opponent. Down to barely over half my MP left, I sent one more shocking bolt at him and then went to cast minor healing on myself again, when right before I could do that, the werebear swept my legs out from under me with his leg. I had gotten closer than I meant to at that exact moment and fell back and hit my head. The room spun for a moment while I tried to clear my head. I saw a shadow come over me and looked up at what had to be the hulking swaying figure of the werebear. As my vision cleared I could see the monster raise its arms with those sharp claws at the end of its hands over its head preparing to strike. This would definitely be the end. Even if I rolled I was going to get caught and my health wasn't high enough to take those claws full force like this. I brought my sword up to cover my face pulling my knees up to protect my gut from what was sure to be a death blow.

But it didn't come. I opened my eyes to look at the monster and it was swatting the air near its head at something. It was Brutus! Flying around the werebear's head and shouting at it to get its attention. And it seemed to be working. I quickly got to my feet and with a loud angry roar of my own, brought the long sword up and jammed it through the underside of the werebear's chin and into its brain, flames erupting from where it entered, then exited the head, and then burning from behind its eyes. The bear went limp and fell backward, wrenching my sword out of my hands as well, watching as the bear's corpse began to smoke slightly.

I fell onto my butt as well and cast one more minor heal on myself as I let the shock and relief of the moment wash over me at the same time.