《Shad's Journey》


 Chapter 1: Shad

    ¡°Is that all of them?¡± I mentally queried Night as my eyes roved the shadows for flickers of movement.


    ¡°Smells like it,¡± she sent back along our attunement, including a jumbled image of prone forms around her. Before I could quip about it being sight not smell, she followed up with an overpowering scent of spilled intestines and voided bowels that made me regret the question immediately. I was clearly much better at receiving smells than sights or she was better at sending them.


    Night did like to make me work for it most times, and overpowering me through our shared telepathy was one of her favorites to, and I quote, ¡®make me aware.¡¯ Trying to clear the mental smell and its subsequent physical reaction of watery eyes, I squinted and listened ¨C for what I wasn¡¯t sure.


    Being extremely low leveled and unskilled meant I was constantly learning what was an accurate assessment and completely off the mark. It didn¡¯t help that I couldn¡¯t be bothered with the leveling mechanics and normal day to day expectations of how to be in our world. Which was only realistic because Night tolerated that part of me and made up for it.


    Most people I had interacted with in this instance so far thought that made me an idiot, which worked since that was the perception I was going for. I was aiming for dismissal while still achieving survivability and a pause long enough for me to slip away before people could mess up my day.


    ¡°OK, can you find the main campfire? They were there when this started.¡± I didn¡¯t expect a response, and I didn¡¯t get one other than the sense along our attunement of Night moving deliberately west of me. I carefully wiped off and kept my short sword in hand as I started heading that way myself. My night sight wasn¡¯t leveled enough yet for me to treat this like daytime, but even at its low level I wasn¡¯t likely to trip and stab myself in the face. I hoped.


    Night had stopped moving and as I came up to her I could tell it was bad news for me. ¡°Dead, eh?¡±


    ¡°Smells like it,¡± she started.


    ¡°Original. Cool, thanks,¡± I broke in before she could send me another brain full of horrible. Having a bonded companion is indescribably awesome is what I said just six short months ago. These days I just think it¡¯s indescribable. Fleas, flatulence and foul humors accompanied me everywhere - ev -re ¨C where! It was a fair trade though, as I brought a lack of wisdom, fake bravado and a ton of hubris for my half of the equation. And Night didn¡¯t ever drop their stabby stabbies like I did, so there was that. She also had been in this instance longer than me, so while we shared the load of our day to day equally, she definitely had a paw up on me for skill levels and stats and it came through in various ways.


    Having not yet been stabbed in the face during my silent observation, I made the grand decision to bring real light to the situation and sparked up my oil lamp and set it down next to the main campfire. ¡°I¡¯m gonna brighten things up,¡± I cautioned so Night could turn her gaze. As an aside, oil lamps smelled funny, and there wasn¡¯t really an ¡°unscented¡± version. Layering that smell on top of the ones already cascading in my head and crawling up my nose was not at all enjoyable.


    The scented light illuminated somewhat decently the drenched wood, half-burnt body and stew remains that had successfully doused the campfire¡¯s former glory. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the poor soul that was part roast was not the droid I was looking for and so my eyes scanned out from there.


    Sure enough, another ten feet away, in a pose too many corpses strike in the frigid grip of death, was the person I was looking for ¨C Margaret, no Maven? Madison? M someone. Hey, Quest hunter, not long lost lover, here. Search complete, I now needed to do the homework portion. ¡°This is gonna be a minute if you wanna do other stuff.¡±


    Night glanced at me, huffed (was that a laugh?) and melted into the shadows. ¡°Good, you¡¯ve been complaining a lot and it¡¯s making me weary. Try to address that too,¡± were her parting words.


    Somewhat startled at the feedback, I reviewed the evening. We made it to the area in a decent amount of time considering I had been working on my tracking and Night her stealth. We got in no less than three games of Find It, resulting in some stuff for our deposit when we turned in our Quest. It had all been going swimmingly actually until we found the Hobgoblins.


    Unlike my past experiences with Hobgoblins, finding this group went radically different than what I was used to. Instead of being able to engage in a conversation like normal people, a huge warrior that Analyze said was Jiba ran up on Night and tried to chop her head off with their double-headed axe. While she leaped out of the way I had the misfortune of being ambushed with a hot pan fresh from the central campfire. A spatter of animal fat across my lower body was the only proof that the pan had passed by and bounced off my greave.


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    Things had devolved from there with every attempt to avoid a fight bringing even more Hobgoblins to the scene with righteous fury burning in their eyes led by Jiba¡¯s shouted encouragement of mayhem. Fortunately there were only six of them, because any more or better armed and we would have been toast. Besides Jiba¡¯s axe there were pans, wooden sticks and a couple of eating knives at play.


    Once it was clear there was only violence to be done, the fangs and sword had come out on our side. Night did most of the dispatching while Igno, a particularly pernicious pesk, shanked me in the hip before I had a chance to bring his ability to do harm to an end.


    All we had been able to see with the analyze skill were the Hobgoblin''s names, races, classes and levels. Night had wondered if they had a cursed tag or something, and that I should try to remember to ask Valen if there was another way to know so we could avoid this scenario of senseless slaughter in the future. While I was definitely not a pacifist by any stretch of the imagination and loved loot at the end of a struggle, needless violence never sat well with me and I could tell Night felt the same though for different reasons.


    With all that reflection, yes, I had been complaining and grumbling since Igno stabbed me. I touched my hastily bandaged injury, sending another glance around the clearing at the work that still needed doing. Sighing, and being pretty sure I wasn¡¯t going to get any of the results of whatever Night decided to hunt up next, I pulled out some jerky from my belt pouch and sat down gingerly to get started. Ok, Show Articles Greenvale Gnomish Burial Customs I internally commanded to the place that wasn¡¯t just me talking to myself.


    My interface screen popped open in front of my face with several potential articles, and I selected the first one, Whoops Shortie Died, and got to reading. I still needed to take the time to tweak how much visual space and opacity the interface took up but was too fatigued to do that in the moment.


    Just a few months ago this entire process of having menus blocking my sight had me running into large and obvious objects, getting massive migraines and frankly questioning the sanity of the Sentient minds capable of coming up with a system that would grant you encyclopedic knowledge that you could query whenever you wanted ¨C and it showed up in your eyeballs.


    Menus of skill statistics, leveling trackers, maps I could place markers on, journals, the list went on and on of what was available. If I wanted I could set permanent displays of my health or thirst meters versus having to call them up each time - anything really could be set that way. And it had handy dandy voice-over commands for when you just needed someone to talk to ¨C which is, I¡¯m sure, why that feature existed. I did like the part where it had ¡±mood¡± selections of how it displayed the information.


    The current one I was trying, ¡°so you think you¡¯re funny ¨C check this out,¡± was actually kind of fun. Mostly because no one could see it and it did make me chortle out loud in crowds more often than not. I could go on, but the article was short and so I was moving on to Burn Bodies for Eternal Salvation 1 of 12 to get the feel for my next steps. Looks like I wouldn¡¯t need a shovel at least, which was great because I didn''t have one.


    Knowing I wouldn¡¯t be reading the scintillating 2 through 12 of BBES, I willed closed my interface and dragged my carcass to its upright position. Fire pyre it is.


    After spending an incredibly lengthy time gathering deadfall with Jiba¡¯s axe and working on leveling up scavenging ¨C wood, I had a pile big enough for little M to safely be ensconced in the flames of eternal salvation. Fortunately for me, the rites didn¡¯t need a specific time of day, because I was exhausted, filthy and ready for some shut eye. Also, dawn had arrived, so I could snuff out the lantern and wrap this up using the natural light.


    Not waiting a wink longer, I began the ¡°simple¡± process of getting the fire going. Thankfully I did have fire starting at level 2, so I wasn¡¯t a complete new person at it (totally a noob), and after sparking everywhere but the tinder with my flint for a good half glass, I managed to get the party, err, solemn event underway.


    I then turned to the Hobgoblins and got to work dragging them into a line and setting their bodies to the proper death poses I had learned a couple of months ago from a different encounter. As a society that generally preferred to give back to the land, the hardest part of being respectful was the physical strength and endurance to get it done without my stamina tanking. Once that was done I headed back over to M¡¯s pyre and settled in to watch her move on.


    Startling awake several hours later I quickly assessed and realized M had indeed moved on to ethereal pastures, the fire fortunately had not burned down the forest around me, and Night had returned a while ago if their paw twitchy REM cycle was any indication. The reason for my awakening screamed again from a nearby tree causing me to clench my bowels in visceral alarm for a second. So rude. I side-eyed the red-plumed scavenger and rolled to my knees to get the process of ¡°awake¡± going. Clearly moving on so folks could do the next natural part of this cycle was up next.


    Gently nudging Night with a toe, I started reviewing what I needed to gather up, and which direction we needed to head so we could report back to Valen on the fate of M. The axe would have to stay since it would just slow us down from the weight and bulky shape. Skipping checking my Quest, cuz gotta pee and Scary Red Bird, I pulled everything together into my bag that I scavenged from the scene. While I definitely wanted to delay, the smell of death, cooked gnome and flatulence was enough to prod me from turtle pace to hare pace.


    I was just going to have to take my lumps with Valen, and rolling in smoky stank wasn¡¯t going to do it so creek bath first. Yay¡­

 Chapter 2: Valen

    ¡°I appreciate you stopping by to check Grix, but there aren¡¯t any new Quests today. Just the ones from yesterday, last week, and this past year are still available.¡± I informed him with a firm gaze and even tone as I motioned back towards the board he had just sauntered away from. We both knew that was the case, and we both knew that he wasn¡¯t here for a Quest.


    ¡°Or you¡¯re keeping the good ones for the noobs again,¡± he drawled. ¡°You know they aren¡¯t going to make it out of Helmsword anytime soon so you might as well post them. Why you spend time on them when most end up recycled to professions I have no idea. You would be better off investing your Guide knowledge in the 5 plus crowd.¡±


    I just continued my firm gaze. ¡°You need anything else?¡±


    ¡°No. Though I do think I¡¯ll stay as I see one of the fresh ones coming in now. This should be entertaining at least.¡± Grix chuckled to himself as he padded to the next row of equipment, leaving a clear view of the counter and the upcoming interaction while concealing him from anyone with a low perception score.


    ¡°Valen! I have returned, not at all victorious, but clean at least.¡± Shadark Ember stated as they ambled up to the double counter, deposited a clearly soiled pouch of questionable goods and presented me with a sheepish grin. I didn¡¯t bother responding since they didn¡¯t need ego stroking and got to work with the formalities.


    Pulling the Quest Update Log from beneath the counter while ascending to the counter¡¯s second tier to be eye level with the elf, I flipped to the Quest entry Shadark had accepted last week and started filling it in.


    ¡°Madison Clarden found?¡±


    ¡°Very found, may she rest in Eternal Salvation.¡±


    ¡°Hobgoblins evaded, persuaded or disrupted?¡±


    ¡°Uhmmm, let¡¯s say, hmmm.¡± They looked at their wolf companion Night then back to the form field. ¡°Terminally disrupted, let¡¯s put that.¡± I could hear a snicker from the Leather Boots section of the store. It also looked like Shadark wanted to ask something, but the snicker or presence of someone that could snicker had dissuaded the attempt. I didn¡¯t push and moved on.


    ¡°Area cleansed and ready for reseeding?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, no, not that. Forgot that part. Hmm, do I gotta go back? It¡¯s super far.¡± They blinked slowly at me, attempting to portray something. Whatever that attempt was, they clearly hadn¡¯t even started on Persuasion.


    ¡°Yes, the Quest requirements were clear. Let¡¯s review again ¨C bring it up on your Interface and tell me what it says.¡± I watched as Shadark¡¯s eyes darted around until stilling into the classic visual stance of someone reading their Interface. They were getting better at the Interface since last week I assessed. They started mumbling the Quest text while I closed the Log and returned it to its place.


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    Level 1 Quest: Find Madison Clarden.


    Madison Clarden is a Gnomish Geologist that went missing last week. They missed their scheduled ore deposit. There has also been new Hobgoblin activity near Helmsword and Madison¡¯s daughter, Frandla, suspects that Madison has been Gnomenapped. Quest completion requirements: Find Madison; Evade the Hobgoblins to collect intelligence on their activities; Persuade the Hobgoblins to return Madison should they have her and move on from Helmsword; or Disrupt the Hobgoblin activities so that they report to the Sentient and are formally Bound to their new area. If the Hobgoblins move on from Helmsword cleanse the area for reseeding.


    Reward: 1 Skill Point, 20 copper, 1 novice equipment


    ¡°Sooooo, two outta three ¨C you keep the equipment I get the Skill point and copper?¡± Shadark posed, rubbing their stomach subconsciously.


    ¡°As you know, that is not how it works. The Quest is not complete until all the completion requirements are met. There is not a time limit. Complete the quest and then return to report completion. You cannot forfeit the Quest as you have completed one of the requirements and you cannot start a new Quest because you have an Open Quest. You can get more information on Quest Rules from your Interface. Moving on to your deposit.¡±


    I ignored their face scrunching and mouth flapping while peeling apart the string from the bag they had deposited on the counter. After that little contact with the bag, I could tell it was time to take more than standard measures and pulled out my sorting tray from beneath the counter. A large square wooden tray that was both soil proof and very indestructible, I continued with dumping Shadark¡¯s bag contents into it.


    Sorting through the ash, lumps of burnt wood and random grasses I found two daggers, a broken wand, six arrows and some Lions Mane mushrooms. For a week¡¯s outing it was a pitiful haul to attempt to deposit.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you 2 copper for each dagger, nothing for the wand, 3 copper for the arrows and 5 copper for each mushroom since those will sell to Mavrich the Alchemist for Intellect potions.¡± I waited for a heartbeat to see if they would attempt to Bargain and then moved to pull together the 27 copper for their deposit. I suspected they would be spending it shortly and didn¡¯t bother to offer to credit it to their account.


    ¡°oh ok. Sure. Thanks.¡± They mumbled and watched forlornly as I moved the tray to the back counter and turned back to them. At least that look was clear.


    ¡°Is there anything else?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, thanks though, Valen,¡± Shadark said as they stuffed their coppers into a pocket. There was something about the set of their stance that had me deliberating how to get them to spit out what else they wanted to know. It also wasn¡¯t like the Shadark I knew to not just ask something since they couldn¡¯t be bothered with social norms or a basic filter on their words. While I was their Guide, I wasn¡¯t really one for prodding or encouraging codependency so it was an interesting position to find myself in with them.


    At that moment Grix slinked up to the counter and engaged Shadark before they could leave or I could decide how to get them to spit it out.


    ¡°Well, hello there. And who are you?¡± Grix queried them.


    ¡°Oh hey a catkin! I¡¯m Shad - they/them, this is Night - she/hers, who¡¯re you?¡± Shadark blurted out and turned to face Grix while shifting to stand in front of their companion. I suspected from Night¡¯s huff that they were communicating to their companion not to eat Grix, which was proven moments later by Grix¡¯s response.

 Chapter 3: Grix

    ¡°Oh hey an elf! I¡¯m Grix - he/him. You are amazingly amusing Shad. So you know, most Catkin prefer not to be called ¡®kitties¡¯ and you really need to work on your telepathy being more private. Nice to meet you as well Night.¡± I parried back with barely contained amusement. This was a live one. Who knew, maybe they would make it to the Fives. I looked them up and down. And maybe I¡¯d have a great time with Valen in bed if I leaned that way.


    ¡°So, wanna join me for an outing, Grix? I gotta hike back to, uhm¡­Six Trees River something and do a cleansy thing so I can finish a Quest. It¡¯s more fun with company ¨C no offense Night ¨C and you are clearly hanging around looking for excitement,¡± Shad said while leaning down towards me with a glint of something I couldn¡¯t quite place in their eyes.


    I snorted out a laugh after processing the extremely forward and unfiltered content of what they said. ¡°You believe that you could provide me with excitement Shad? That seems like a bit of a stretch. What am I missing?¡± I asked just in case I was missing something ¨C curiosity and all.


    ¡°Sure, reviewing: 1. You are practically dripping with self-importance that comes from well-earned experience and complete boredom, 2. You were snickering, not laughing, snickering at me while hiding behind a,¡± they paused and moved into the next aisle. Sauntering back to me they continued, ¡°yep, a boot rack. 3. I do have decent hearing if not Experience, and you literally told Valen ¡®This should be entertaining at least.¡¯ In summation ¨C you are one bored Catkin and this conversation is probably the epic highlight of your day,¡± Shad stated, at this point so far into my personal space that a faded whiff of burnt flesh walked across my whiskers and I could see that while their eyes were brown there were also flecks of other colors in there.


    Pushing gently with a knuckle on their forehead to reclaim my space, I responded with an understated ¡°Wow.¡± I glanced at Valen to assess the normality of the situation I found myself in, and her lack of expression told me what it usually did ¨C nothing helpful.


    Buying some space to think, I decided assessing the basics would be helpful. ¡°What level are you Shad? What are your primary skills? Main weapon? Do you have a weapon skill yet?¡± Let¡¯s see if Shad knew that as a Five+ I could know all that with Analyze but hadn¡¯t bothered.


    ¡°Sure sure fine. I think like 2, clearly talking, and lemme check,¡± Shad said as they brought around their backpack. They abruptly sat down on the floor, legs akimbo and promptly dove headfirst into their backpack while rooting around - making me wonder if they would pop the bag¡¯s faded seams with the forcefulness of their search. With no apparent sense of irony, their elbow moved their short sword scabbard out of the way of the bag. I think they may have been muttering to themselves until they popped their head and arm back out of the bag holding a piece of sharpened wood. ¡°Spikes!¡± they proudly announced.


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    ¡°Your primary weapon is a tent stake. Which you are leveling through wood carving I¡¯m certain,¡± I said while snickering. I patted their booted foot while continuing, ¡°Shad, I think you have a couple dozen Quests yet before I would accompany you on a ¡®cleansy thing.¡¯ However, I assure you, should you make it to the 5s, I absolutely would like you to look me up.¡± I was very sincere about being looked up, and very doubtful they would make it to the 5s, not to mention after only a couple dozen quests.


    Shad rolled up to their feet while slinging their pack back to its original location and re-adjusting their scabbard. ¡°Gotcha Grix!¡± they stated and turned back to Valen. ¡°Last chance for the two outta three deal Valen!!¡± Valen maintained an even look and didn¡¯t provide a spoken response. ¡°No? My loss! See ya next week," were their parting words as they ambled up to Night to head out into the open street.


    I busted out laughing and padded back over to Valen. ¡°How long ¨C how long has this one been on your roster?¡± I asked while trying to suppress what had turned into chortling at the amazing absurdity of the interaction I had just found myself in.


    ¡°They¡¯ve been rostered with me for two months. From what I have gathered so far I think they¡¯ve been in this instance for about six months and a week. I think what you really want to know is that they aren¡¯t exhibiting apex progression, but they also don¡¯t appear profession-bound. I started with Freelance Pathing as you would expect,¡± Valen paused, raised an eyebrow meaningfully and then continued ¡°It would have been an exciting trip for you to go with them.¡±


    I swallowed my laughter and reviewed what Valen had shared. In my decades of knowing her, she wasn¡¯t very verbose, usually dry and serious when she could be bothered to share words, and often extremely accurate. It¡¯s what made her one of the most sought-after Sentient Guides on Nevahkao by everyone who could afford her. ¡°Exciting how Valen?¡± I decided to ask.


    She adjusted her spectacles, hopped down to her main level counter and tapped her nail on it, clearly debating what to share with me. My ear twitched with suppressed mirth. I liked this game the most. The one where she would gouge out the reality of my soul in the shortest possible path.


    Valen blew out a breath that pushed her black bangs to the side of her forehead and stated, ¡°In every instance there are amazing prodigies, overpowered future heroes or creatures that defy the reality that binds us. None of us are anything but supportive side actors in their margins,¡± she said while maintaining eye contact. Dropping her voice to barely above a whisper, she continued, ¡°But sometimes, sometimes you get to meet someone that you can share a meaningful journey with.¡± She cleared her throat and finished at a normal tone, ¡°You, in particular, have been waiting for that type of excitement for the past two decades, Grix.¡±


    I grinned, flexed my sheathed claws and purred, ¡°Valen, my friend, please let me know if the patently mediocre Elf makes it to the 5s. Especially since that is the most obviously pretentious thing you have ever said to me!¡±

 Chapter 4: Shad

    Three days. Three days of walking, slinking, foraging, pretend tracking, unsuccessfully hunting, and playing tag with Night got me back to the Six River Trees. According to the Quest marker on my map that was the name of this area. There were trees, but no river so who can blame me for not enshrining the name in my memory the first time. There was a creek though, so at least there was that for water.


    It was sunset, but there was enough light to see that the scavengers had indeed been through the area and enjoyed the gift of Hobgoblin flesh. Scouting around, it looked like even the bones had been cleared out of the area which had alleviated the fragrance since our last visit. The axe was still there, and I still wasn¡¯t really strong enough to do anything about it.


    Maybe in a couple months (years?) I could afford to rent time with a traveling trader or learn skills for a mount to figure out something that could turn things like that axe into cold hard cash and delicious sticky buns. The main campfire did look usable with some minor shoring up and the cave entrance somewhat approachable. ¡°What do you want for our next play on this one?¡± I sent to Night from my crouched concealment in the bushes.


    Night started from her grooming and looked up at me. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I heard that serious tone.¡±


    ¡°We have time Night, and our biggest threat nearly pissed himself laughing at me back at Valen¡¯s. There is zero chance of us fooling Valen with a Legendary skill. Plus she seems very willing to let us Quest however we want by setting us on Freelance Pathing - which is also a remarkable cover. Hope I¡¯m that smart in a few centuries. So, anyway, it¡¯s your call - what do you want to focus on next? ¡°


    She looked at me searchingly for a few minutes and I felt her sussing out my mental state through our attunement. Wanting to move forward, I finally smirked and sent reassurance back her way. There was no one here but us that could carry a tale and I could drop my persona and just be myself with her. We should feel any passing scry attempts with the bangle I picked up on the way out of town, and if someone with enough juice actually wanted to know about me they probably already did. Since I wasn¡¯t actively working on the Quest I also didn¡¯t need to worry about the Overseers - Skill building was all automated for the most part.


    ¡°That¡¯s better. Make our camp, clear the cave of creatures and tomorrow start leveling what you are calling survival skills. You should start the cleansing in five days. You are seen as mediocre enough to take three times as long as the average Quester. I¡¯ll get dinner when I¡¯m done with my grooming. Oh, and make more potions, we¡¯re nearly out.¡±


    So that¡¯s what I did. Night had been a constant for me since I woke up in this instance soaked through and covered in mud on the side of a river. Once the pounding in my head receded, the black spots - and stupid interface - had cleared from my peepers, and my scratchy throat could make sounds again, she had been the first person I met and greeted. Her name was Nattens Varg and she was my companion for this instance. This was her 17th instance and I was her fifth companion. Apparently 5s were lucky or something. She told me she had been looking for me for three weeks and was thoroughly prepared for me by the time I arrived.


    I, on the other hand, didn¡¯t know how many instances I had been through, how many companions I had journeyed with or what my name was. I did know I didn¡¯t sleep great with the nightmares and all and that I had a simmering rage that popped up its head any time I was asked to do things in proscribed ways. I was plagued with random moments of fear that gripped me in a state of freeze stronger than any of Night¡¯s farts triggered my flight response.


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    Night said we could figure all that out later, and it did feel like these random flare-ups were getting more manageable as we mapped the triggers. So she named me for the sparky shadows she saw in my soul and got me oriented to surviving in this instance without her. Which is just mean, but eh, I truly believe she knows best. She also had me practice calling her Night even though I wanna call her Vargie¡­which is probably why she insists on Night.


    So for the next five days I worked on fishing - and not catching, built some ineffectual traps - one of which I did walk into, yes that is correct, and collected ingredients for minor potions. The potion part went best of all, but I think that¡¯s just because I had more experience in it. Which, you know, Sentient and all that jazz. I was glad my skills couldn''t go backwards. Or at least I didn¡¯t think they could.


    Importantly, Night and I got some tracking and hunting in together which built up our Synergy. Night informed me that we needed pinnacle companion skills if we were going to survive the instance and move to the next together. The way she said it and looked at me when she did, well it did not encourage argument and also stopped me from asking what happened to her last companion.


    Five days into my leveling spree at Six River Trees, where I maybe leveled once, I packed up everything and returned the area to how it had been. I knew the cleansing would make that last part moot, but it still felt like the right thing to do for some reason.


    ¡°Stop delaying. Bring it up and let¡¯s get it done,¡± Night encouraged me.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, fine. Clearly not your eyeballs or brain.¡± I really didn¡¯t like the Interface.


    Quest Check: Open Quests¡­¡­.


    Cleansing area incomplete. Cleansing initiated.


    Reviewing gains¡­..


    Analyze - Plants - Level 4


    Scavenging - Herbs - Level 3


    Hunting - Level 2


    Fishing - Level 1


    Trapping - Level 1


    Tracking - Level 1


    Bows - Level 2


    Alchemy - Level 4


    Stealth - Level 2


    Synergy - Level 1


    Intelligence +1


    Endurance +1


    Agility + 1


    Dexterity +1


    Gains applied. Cleansing complete.


    Sentient updated. Area ready for reseeding.


    Quest Complete. Report to Guide for Logging.


    ¡°You get your gains?¡± I quickly asked Night.


    ¡°Yes. As you would know if you looked at my status.¡± Night was laughing at me again.


    Not caring one wit about that I closed out the interface and took a couple of deep breaths. I could feel the gains settle in my brain and body, and while not unpleasant since they were more of an affirmation of the work already done, it also wasn¡¯t comfortable. Growing pains and all that I guess. I smirked at my own joke and glanced at Night.


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s go. You need to work on cartography on the way back. The bark you prepared and the ash sticks should work fine to get you to level 1. It¡¯s a stretch but I think if you can focus you¡¯ll gain the skill by the time you report to Valen.¡±


    ¡°Gotcha. Ok, expect a lot of smudges in your fur and on my face.¡± Prepared, we set off on the scintillating walk back to Helmsword. At least there weren¡¯t any Red Scary scavengers this time.

 Chapter 5: Valen

    I looked on as Mavrich inspected the Lions Manes, debating what type of tea I would like to enjoy with him. While Mavrich liked a black tea, I was partial to the greens, so we often ended up sharing teas with hints of flowers and herbs so we were both compromising. Maybe rose hips today. That could help Mavrich¡¯s shoulder stiffness as an added side benefit. I hopped down from the third level counter where the Lions Manes were and headed towards the back. Mavrich would be a while with those mushrooms.


    ¡°Rose Hip?¡± I sent over my shoulder.


    There was a minute of silence then Mavrich¡¯s voice floated back to me, ¡°Make a big pot, we have a lot to go over.¡±


    ¡°About the mushrooms?¡± I asked in surprise.


    ¡°No, the elf. But more importantly, the companion. Nattens should be expediting the instance, not slowing it down. It''s not going to be less painful for either of them with more time in between,¡± he rumbled back. ¡°She should know better.¡±


    Glad that Mavrich couldn¡¯t see me with my eyebrows rising more with each word he spoke, I set the water to boil. Seems like I needed to take a minute with the steeping and readjust my plan to include Mavrich going forward. I also needed to figure out how much he already knew. Direct was always best with Mavrich. I sighed. This was going to be a darker mid-morning than originally predicted.


    ¡°What would you tell Shadark?¡± I asked and settled in for the answer.


    ¡°Tell them? Tell them! Nothing!¡± Mavrich spat. ¡°She can just show them, just open the bond and take them through it. They were fully bonded the last four instances, which never happens, and you know this is their 5th! If Nattens wanted they could be power leveling and clearing this instance for a pinnacle.¡±


    I could hear Mavrich¡¯s breath getting hitched with emotion, and knew that some of this was more about his companion then anything Night was or was not doing with Shadark. Companion bonds were complicated for a lot of reasons. It also explained how that had escalated so quickly. Maybe I should switch to lavender tea¡­


    ¡°What would it gain either of them to achieve a pinnacle on this instance?¡± I prompted.


    I heard grumbling and knew it was time to bring the tea and sit down to hash this out. Pulling together the service for mixed company, I strolled back out to the main room. I placed the set down on the table under the window that opened out into the crisp mid-morning sunlight of Helmsword¡¯s middle merchant district. Yes, the subdued sounds of bustling adventurers and trade might be helpful to sooth this conversation along.


    ¡°Come join me,¡± I motioned him over. I watched him gently set down the now crumbled mushroom, dust his scaled hands off and stride purposely towards me. So to business it seemed.


    ¡°When are you going to finish it?¡± Mavrich interrogated me while claiming his seat and his cup, not breaking eye contact.


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    ¡°When you are ready to join me, and when they are together. We¡¯ve talked about this,¡± I responded in an even tone. ¡°It does nothing to ¡®just get it done¡¯ and that also changes nothing. I know that it is difficult to watch over and over while they ¡®fail¡¯, ¡®failures¡¯ that any of us could have prevented with well timed advice or some tough love. Yet, for them, each failure is an opportunity to get closer to what they crave - meaning. Meaning for why they are going through all this in the first place. For them, reading philosophy will not have the opportunity to stack up against lived experience.¡± I paused, seeing the shifting expression in Mavrich¡¯s face in that last bit.


    ¡°You want them to join the Sentient? That¡¯s surprising,¡± Mavrich leaned in. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°No love, not join them, supersede them,¡± I said as I raised my tea cup to my lips, letting my glasses fog from the tea steam to hide some of the merriment in my eye for his impending reaction.


    Mavrich spit out his tea in amazement ¡°Superc¡­! No! Valen! What did your Sight do to you?¡±


    Debating how long I could keep his incredulous gaze, and quickly moving on from that stray thought, I returned his gaze with an even one of my own. Counting off on my fingers, I recited, ¡°This is Nattens¡¯ fifth instance of her fifth companion, this is Grix¡¯s fifth of 5s, Sasha¡¯s fifth Guide pathing, my fifth Mythic and your fifth immortality.¡± I turned my palm and it¡¯s five upright digits towards him. ¡°These elements always exist, though names are different and circumstance adjacent, but this is the fifth decade that they do not care. At all. Not even a little bit.¡±


    I paused, took a deep breath and continued as evenly as possible, bringing 318 years of knowledge into my next words. ¡°And we owe it to them. All of us are here because of what they gave up. Even if none of you remember what they sacrificed. My Sight reminds me, helps me find what we keep losing. That¡¯s what my Sight does to me, Mav.¡±


    I took a deep breath, ¡°You remember that they know each other - Shadark and Night, were bonded, that this is their fifth instance together and that they are above average levelers so could reach pinnacle. You know that they could path Guide, Everheart or Draven to name a few. You know that eventually their synergy will trigger Shadark to know also, to remember, to regain the memories of their last four instances together,¡± I affirmed.


    ¡°What you don¡¯t remember, don¡¯t know, is what they, Shadark, among others, sacrificed to keep this,¡± I motioned to the room, the city, the instance, the worlds, ¡°from imploding into chaos brought about by idiocy, immaturity, selfishness and naked greed.¡±


    I stopped and sipped my tea while the wheels in his head turned, not quite creating smoke from his ears, but close. That was another frustrating part of the instances. None of us remembered enough, just pieces that the Sentient seeded so we could path properly for their plans.


    Few knew that they wanted the return of Midrin and the Age of Skills, or they believed they did. Dire conflict, power leveling, overpowered people and epic journeys. So they seeded complacency and mediocrity so that a Midrin could rise on the backs of others struggles. Maybe that will come to pass. I wouldn¡¯t stop it, yet I wouldn¡¯t help it along either. Coming out of my own introspection I glanced up at him.


    I found his gray eyes waiting for mine, tinged with sadness and pain. ¡°I don¡¯t remember. And I know I don¡¯t want to remember.¡± I waited as I sensed there was more. ¡°Why don¡¯t I want to remember Valen? I¡¯ve been in this instance for three decades. I hesitate to even ask as, although I am one made of fire and passion, I feel cold dread at the prospect of knowing. I feel fierce and angry and enraged at this game you play, and still I can¡¯t bear to know. Is it guilt? Shame?¡± he implored me.


    ¡°I won¡¯t tell you,¡± I assured him. ¡°And Nattens will not be telling Shadark either. Sadly, they may learn soon enough anyway. We¡¯ll have to wait to see if it destroys them or the instance.¡±

 Chapter 6: Mavrich

    Wrestling the feelings Val¡¯s words stirred up, I cast my gaze out the window to attempt to ground in some normalcy. All I wanted to know was when she was going to finish her Quest, and she had dumped all this in my lap. Knowing that wasn¡¯t an accurate reflection of events didn¡¯t matter to me at this moment, though it would later. Trying desperately to distract myself, I zeroed in on the way that Vadrick¡¯s blue cloak swayed as she danced among potential customers to hawk her general wares across the plaza. From close inspection, I could see that the hem was frayed and had been taken up to prolong its longevity.


    Taking a deep breath I invited Yaro¡¯s lunch offerings from down the street to crawl up my nostrils, the one of crisp duck slathered in sweet tangy sauce making my mouth salivate slightly. While I couldn¡¯t see it, I knew there would be tiny seeds covering the final product as had been the case most times I procured kabobs from there. Imaging the texture had me running my tongue over my incisors - incisors that wanted to nash and bite from my frustration. This wasn¡¯t working.


    ¡°I think I need to move. I would stay for more tea but I¡¯m not fit for company anymore.¡± Casting a glance at Valen to confirm she understood, I rose to my full eight feet and headed out to the street. Tight muscles, itchy palms, heavy guts, and rampant irritation prodded me to seek a dry, hot, and quiet spot - and I knew just the place. Making an abrupt turn towards the street¡¯s launch zone, I sped up and dodged around a group of adventures heading towards their Guides. As my foot touched the zone my wings snapped open and I launched sideways into the air, letting the trapped growl I had been holding escape.


    I needed more distance from town before really cutting loose since I was tired of the teasing that I wasn¡¯t a proper Drake with all my yelling, screaming and cursing. Not that any of my tormentors knew what constituted a Drake since I was usually the only one they met outside of the storied portrayals in this small town. Of course, I knew I wasn¡¯t the representative of my kind, yet others couldn¡¯t seem to understand their racist behavior when they assumed so. This line of thinking was also not helping settle my soul.


    Letting my wings cut into the air forcefully, I continued to gain altitude and expanded my senses to check if I could now use any of my skills. With the closest flyer well out of range, I let loose my Keening Strike to the sky, pouring as much of the sadness and pain I felt into it. Thankfully, my stamina was topped off because I could tell I would be spamming Strike as the first had barely let out some of what I wanted to express healthily.


    So I pumped my wings, vented my spleen, and continued heading away from the sun toward Coalwark Mountain. After a solid three glasses of this, I started my descent toward the windshorn crags. Fortunately for me, no one was currently occupying one of my favorite sunning spots so I got to stretch myself bonelessly towards the noon sun. Feeling the hollowness and fatigue after a good cry drift around my body, I shut my eyes to remember. Or maybe to forget.


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    I snapped my lids back open not two seconds after closing them before the fur-lined image could finish coalescing. Quickly moving on, I invested into a solid tantrum next, feet and hands smacking the ground in alternating bursts of indignation, fury and ineptitude while being gentle of my left shoulder. Only once my breathing was ragged from my exertions did I assess internally again.


    I let the tingling in my limbs slowly subside as my gaze roamed between the disturbed pebbles and cracked rocks that surrounded me. Focusing in on the air that brushed across my exposed scales, I stretched to embrace the whimsy of the light late spring winds.


    ¡°That¡¯s working,¡± I muttered to myself. Dredging up a sigh at the simplicity of my ways, I wondered, yet again, what would be my purpose for this immortality. Every time I sighed I thought of it and I didn¡¯t interrupt it this time either since it felt like the perfect capstone to my recently departed anguish. Intellectually I understood that I was the one to set that purpose, but in my guts I knew that I had no say and had to just wait it out. Patience wasn¡¯t my strong suit once I was prodded out of my mellow state of being.


    Avoiding getting riled up again, I brought up my current Alchemy Quest to distract myself. As I was already out of town I might as well collect what I was missing.


    Opening Quest Menu¡­


    Current Open Crafting Quest¡­


    Crafting Quest - Alchemy: Complete the potions and turn them into the Local Crafters Guide for verification of quality.


    15 potions of minor strength - 9 of 15 complete


    10 potions of minor sure shot - 10 of 10 complete


    10 potions of minor duelist¡¯s edge - 0 of 10 complete


    Reward: 350 Alchemy experience, 3 mid grade herbs


    I closed out the menu while thinking back to where I had last seen Ashwagandha. Doing the duelist potions next felt like the right decision as they required quite a bit of concentration and that would help me pass the time with less ability for my mind to run its own side program. Creating potions that had people shit their brains out instead of amping up their focus and reflexes would be a quick way to lose a Tier, so not only would it be absorbing work but I might actually have fun with it.


    Finally remembering that I had seen the shrubs of orange-red fruits in Little Falls, I glanced towards the sun to calculate the daylight and flight times there and back to Helmsword. Since I liked the absurdity of it and was still trying to convince myself I was fine now, I went ahead and stuck a digit in my mouth for moisture and thrust it into the air to assess the wind direction and speed.


    Satisfied after setting my mini-map toggle on in the left corner of my vision, I walked off the ledge and cracked my wings open to grab the updraft and start heading west towards Little Falls.

 Chapter 7: Brigdaine

    Turning away from the stream of Guerisseuse¡¯s flight towards Little Falls, I reread the dispatch that had arrived from Arroch earlier in the day.


    Overseer Brigdaine,


    Valen is moving forward with her quest as expected, and the Queenslayer is being remembered. Increase oversight on Instance 4,578 Alpha Path, particularly seeds WFR490 Grix, PLD978 Sasha Redroot, ANB631 Mavrich Guerisseuse, GRM005 Andune Roke and QLP483 Valen Lumiere. Update Companion directives to protocol Omega 16 and initiate RGN cycle TRFS5000. Suppress Queenslayer memory fragments for at least two decades until EJU535 Vinlou Treebane completes her 5s. This instance is now your priority and all side activities should cease for the foreseeable future. Resource allocation is authorized and success is not optional.


    Victory of Mirin and may the Age of Skills grace your instances,


    Overseer Arroch


    It was all well and good for Arroch to pass along the directives, but over half of that instance was already in shambles. Upon receiving the missive I had delegated my other instances and pathing duties to focus on I4578AP, and Mirin¡¯s hairless balls, what a shit show I just got handed. Treebane wasn¡¯t even in the instance yet since she was still completing her current one, with pizazz I might add.


    Plus, the only way there was to suppress memory fragments was to destroy them - so that was going to be a bloody, traumatic mess for everyone involved or nearby - which pretty much would have me walking the knife''s edge not to create a destroyer of worlds, never mind a queen slayer.


    As if that wasn¡¯t enough, both Lumiere and Guerissuse had either outright rejected their companions or managed to avoid the bond synergy completely, Redroot was not engaged with the Sentient but was instead power leveling through her Goddess while her companion was benched, and the Queenslayer path was complete chaos - possibly literally with the capitol C of Chaos - even before I turned my attention to destroying a single memory fragment.


    I wasn¡¯t sure who that companion thought she was helping and maybe it was no one but herself - but it did look like she was fucking herself over too. I had noted to the logs earlier that 17 was at least one too many instances without a purge before recycling. And I couldn¡¯t even get started on Grix without throwing my hands in the air. He may be going for his most outrageous instance yet and I couldn¡¯t initiate his companion at all. So, sure, Age of Skills blah blah fuck this noise.


    I looked over to my desk and saw that I did still have the booze unopened. That was something at least - though I felt mixed about it - uncertain if there would be any relief in the next couple of decades and not wanting to start that as my sole road to coping when I had enough funds and sense to mix it up. Fortunately it was such a brief time in the overall scope of things. I would just have to up my ¡®everything good and fun¡¯ quotient which meant Brask would be quite pleased with my upcoming tavern bill.


    I knew I would be successful in all of this, so Arroch was correct in that at least. There was a reason I was an overseer and residing within the inner circle of the Sentient Council. I had achieved the Sentient Overseer title more than three millennia ago and had most of the skills associated with it evolved, merged or maxed out at Pinnacle Mythic. Only three other beings were more capable than me in clusterfucks like this, not counting the Pantheons of course, and it was my turn after the dung heap Madrisella had to sort last era.


    Getting my shit together while mentally scrolling through my applicable skills, I mentally reached out to Llonri, ¡°Gather all of the sub-administrators to the Sighted Garden in two glasses. They all have new assignments and opportunities to update their Quests. Have them download and sync all HUD monitoring, including companions, for the seeds listed in log I4578AP.2.v206 to include complete pathing options, skills trees, and creative mode editing for fast response times. Leave Roke and Treebane out of that directive as only you or I should be mucking about with those. Any personnel that can¡¯t complete their current Quests by the meeting need to be assigned to a new Overseer and we need replacements immediately. Arroch approved funding. Confirm receipt.¡±


    Having a hunch that I had just blown his fur back I braced myself for the scathing response I was sure to get. Like clockwork I received images of headless chickens darting around a courtyard fruitlessly and a very tall ursine being kicked in the balls by an undersized sprite. Llonri was extremely adept at conveying imagery via his telepathy and he always liked poking at my height. Four feet is not short and he isn¡¯t really that tall but whatever he needed I guess.


    I knew Llorni would make sure the people we had short-listed cleared their Quests so they would have a chance at the achievement. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn¡¯t every day we actually took a shot at creating an instance with a true pathing for Age of Skills. Most of the overseers were too complacent - gathering or wasting their wealth and amusing themselves with their power.


    Ever since Oniuk fell to the Queenslayer it was just a few of us oldies keeping vigil to get this shit back on track. We were the shepherds of an amazing system, and the Sentient was worth preserving. While most of the Sentient Guides had the ability to quickly assess this, most weren¡¯t worth the eyeball space that title took on their Title screen.


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    It was another reason it was a good thing Redroot was part of the convergence - she was the only Guide in that instance that would make sure the players stayed synced with the Sentient, and unless she had a crisis of faith her Goddess would make damn sure of it or She¡¯d be sleeping on the fucking couch. Unlike Lumiere and that Freelance Pathing bullshit - what the actual fuck was that about!


    Assessing I still had a glass to go I started pulling up the summary stats for everyone I had to assign oversight for.


    Grix


    Catkin Rogue


    Rogue Skills - Journeyman Rare


    Profession Skills - Expert Uncommon


    General Skills - Expert Rare


    Path - Adventurer Noble - Journeyman Rare


    Level - 5+


    Sasha Redroot


    Dwarf Paladin


    Paladin Skills - Expert Legendary


    Profession Skills - Journeyman Legendary


    General Skills - Apprentice Mythic


    Path: Guide Acolyte - Expert Legendary


    Level - 10


    Valen Lumiere


    Gnome Sentient Guide


    Sentient Guide Skills - Expert Mythic


    Professions Skills: Pinnacle Rare


    General Skills: Expert Mythic


    Path: Sentient Guide Sub-Administrator - Apprentice Mythic


    Level - 50


    Mavich Guerisseuse


    Draken Alchemist


    Alchemist Skills - Journeyman Uncommon


    Professions Skills - Novice Rare


    General Skills - Journeyman Common


    Path: Merchant Crafter - Journeyman Common


    Level: 0


    Adune Roke


    Elven Ranger


    Ranger Skills - Apprentice Common


    Profession Skills - Novice Common


    General Skills - Novice Common


    Path: Freelance Adventure - Novice Common


    Level: 0


    Vinlou Treebane


    Cross referencing instances¡­.


    Human Mage


    Mage Skills - Expert Mythic


    Professions Skills - Expert Mythic


    General Skills - Journeyman Legendary


    Path: Ascendant Conqueror - Journeyman Mythic


    Level: 50


    I took my time and dove into sub-menus, skill trees and ability points to make sure I had a firm grasp of everyone¡¯s progression - or lack thereof.  Mentally assigning sub-administrators to each person, I would be looking forward to who thought they would be a good match for whom. Arroch could call them seeds all he wanted, but time and experience said that they were fully fleshed-out people who had no kidding actual experiences and treating them as any less would result in critical failure of a seed.


    Having reviewed the people, I turned my attention to the overall instance itself and its statistics. I was very quickly surprised that it had so many Mythics, dungeons and Major Quest lines available. The Legendary items in the random gen alone would make most administrators jockey for oversight privileges. Shit show. I didn¡¯t need to see anymore right now to assess it - Absolute Shit Show.


    Closing out all my interface screens, I rolled my eyes and rolled down my sleeves. It was time to meet with the team and get a plan together for this instance to be harnessed.

 Chapter 8: Shad

    Finished with the map marker for Helmsword, I shoved my final charcoal stub into my pocket. It was incredibly challenging to concentrate on drawing a map and walking without running into things, go figure. Later I should check if there was a skill for that. I ambled to the side of the road and took off my backpack so I could put the final bark-o-map piece away. I would find out when I next reseeded something, but I was pretty sure I had indeed made it to gaining the cartography skill at level 1.


    Once Night joined back up with me I would also ask her since she loved telling me all about status stuff and what I should focus on. Which, all sarcasm aside, I appreciated since more often than not I would be happy to identify flowers and try to figure out fishing or something.


    I grabbed my water bottle for a drink and looked to the northeast gate of Helmsword. It hadn¡¯t changed from the other times I had looked at it on other return trips - still the same black and gold emblemed flags curling in the slow breeze, the same arrow slits ready to end any ambitious attackers and an open gate welcoming the trade that flowed through for a pit stop in the city¡¯s market.


    I did like that there were no status checks or restrictions in this city, and it¡¯s one of the main reasons Night suggested we use it as our hub until we out-leveled the area. That unexplainable squirmy feeling in my gut told me that we didn¡¯t really want to draw attention to ourselves and that we needed to balance that with Questing - which I only had access to in cities.


    How the hell we avoided notice was a mystery to me outside of ¡®don¡¯t set shit on fire,¡¯ ¡®don¡¯t kill people in the street,¡¯ ¡®don¡¯t kick the guard captain in the crotch and laugh while running away,¡¯ and my personal favorite ¡®don¡¯t dine and dash.¡¯ One would think that the above were obvious, yet in the over three months I had the pleasure of observing Helmsword and her regulars, I had watched adventurer after adventurer blatantly violate these clear-cut guidelines. The results of which often played out with said adventure dangling from guard captain Shaneera¡¯s oversized gauntlet with their feet hopelessly scrabbling for purchase as she carted them off for a reduction.


    I did quite enjoy watching those interactions for a lot of reasons, not least of which was the pure fancy unleashed when I imagined her roughhousing me. But alas, it was all pretend as I wouldn¡¯t actually act on any such intentions outside of my brainscape since, like most, I was very heroic in my mind and mostly impotent in reality.


    As I felt Night getting closer, I stashed my water bottle and my wandering thoughts away. Hopefully, this trip to Valen¡¯s wouldn¡¯t include any curiously bored Catkin or, frankly, any others so that we could dig out more knowledge from Valen.


    Night and I needed to forecast out some next steps - our foundation for mediocrity was solid, and it was time to start leveling our weapon skills so we could roam a little farther out safely as just a pair. While my facade of flippant ineptitude wasn¡¯t exactly exhausting, which on its own was a somewhat disconcerting reality, I still wanted to keep it to a minimum so I had less story deviation to track over time.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a minute, get in line once you are done dreaming of orcish arms flinging you about,¡± Night instructed me playfully once she got in range.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, you just can¡¯t wait to see if the pack is in town so you can frolick,¡± I shot back after my gear was secured and sword adjusted with its peace tie visible for inspection. ¡°Were you successful in filling your belly at least?¡±


    ¡°Of course, your copper is safe for your consumption on foolish baubles and sticky buns - though you will share the second,¡± was the snarky response as she slid in line next to me, strategically placing her head under my hand for some ear scritches.


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    The guards let us through on our turn, and all teasing aside, we headed for Valen¡¯s instead of wandering off for our stated preferred activities. Weaving around folks in the plaza was the most excitement of the entire jaunt, and half a glass later we were pulling up to Valen¡¯s counter for me to complete my quest for real this time.


    My intent announced boldly, ¡°Three of three this time Valen!¡± I waited while the gnome adjusted her spectacles, eyed me wearily and climbed up to the second tier of her wooden counter. She seemed off today, but I couldn''t put my finger on why. Once the Log was opened to my Quest and her quill ready she bothered to look me in the eye. ¡°Let¡¯s review. Madison Clarden was found, the hobgoblins were ¡®terminally disrupted¡¯ and you just had reseeding left to do. Is that now complete?¡±


    ¡°Yep, reseeding complete Guide Ma¡¯am!¡± I reported cheekily to see if I could get a twitch out of her. An abysmal failure if her next words were the measurement.


    ¡°You are awarded 1 skill point, 20 copper and 1 novice equipment. Bring up your interface and select the skill point. You may have any novice item in the store, or you can attempt to utilize your 20 copper to upgrade it to Epic item,¡± her look between this and her next sentence let me know the likelihood of that happening, ¡°or you can bank the item, skill and copper or any combination of them. What is your preference at this time?¡±


    ¡°I know what item you need next, so you should plan to take that, and you¡¯re broke so grab the copper, but bank the skill point,¡± Night advised unsolicited from the patch of sunlight in front of the doorway.


    ¡°Bank the point, gimme the copper please and thank you, and hold tight on the item!¡± was my overly energetic response to Valen. ¡°What item and where is it in this maze of a store?¡±


    Rolling onto her side, Night¡¯s tail beat a gentle staccato on the floor as she huffed back, ¡°Third aisle from the right side of the counter, middle shelf, you can¡¯t miss it.¡±


    Noticing Valen¡¯s flat gaze as Night and I exchanged information, I pranced purposefully away from the counter and followed Night¡¯s directions. The shelf in question showcased skill books, and my brow raised in appreciation as my finger traced over the subject matter arrayed before me. ¡°You know how to treat a person right my friend, but I don¡¯t think these are novice in the least. You realize my bartering is level 1 right?¡±


    ¡°Other side silly,¡± Night let me know after checking what I was looking at through our synergy.


    With a flourished half-pirouette - one should always work on their agility - I found myself eyeballing an assortment of pouches, bags and containers. So boringly practical was my first thought, and correctly imperative was the fast follow-up. Sorting through the sale offerings I confirmed, ¡°Any in particular or just be ready for more of anything?¡±


    ¡°You had to leave that several gold''s worth of an axe behind because of the bulky shape. You need something that will roll up to fit in your other pack but can expand out to accommodate a range of shapes and also be able to attach to your main pack without getting snagged on things.¡± Night sent along with accompanying images of us flitting through the woods with the axe I had left behind attached to my back.


    Appreciating how graceful I appeared in her imagining of us, I sorted through until I found something matching the criteria. Leveraging Analyze - Item the information pulled up that I could unveil at level 4 of the skill.


    Collapsible Sack


    Item Level: Novice


    Item Quality: Uncommon


    The Collapsible Sack was made hastily by Apprentice Wenlix to complete a Quest. Since Wenlix is no slouch, it turned out as Uncommon. It won¡¯t bring home the dragon¡¯s hoard, but it could haul the dragon¡¯s head. Enchants: Self-Repair, ??, ?? and ??. Upgrade the Sack to unlock additional enchants.


    ¡°Nice find - the self-repair enchant alone is worth it,¡± was the excited response I felt from Night after she read through the description. Since that was good enough for me, I closed out my interface and strolled back to Valen¡¯s counter. Steeling myself internally while attaching my imprudent grin to my elvish mug, I placed the sack on the counter and leaned in for the next bit.

 Chapter 9: Valen

    After having suppressed my eye roll at Shadark¡¯s antics, I noted the Quest rewards in the log and set my quill down. Deciding to skip the charade since we were essentially unmonitored and out of range of most people¡¯s hearing with the raucous singing from the tavern next door, I pierced right to it. ¡°Next you want a martial quest, and you have a question from last time. Spit it out before someone wanders in.¡±


    Over Night¡¯s chuffing, I heard Shadark mumble about pacing. I took the opportunity to pour over the two of them and tracked the fluidity of Shadark¡¯s movements since their last visit and the easy way that Night had laid out to block the only visible entrance to my shop. Appeased that their growth had continued on the Freelance pathing, I continued to push Shadark past their character portrayal before Mavrich showed up for tea.


    ¡°I understand your veiled hesitancy, but I am not in the mood for the performance Shadark. I have actual responsibilities to attend as your Guide, and if you are going to coast around then I¡¯m going to have to step up the pressure on you both.¡± I said while leveling my gaze towards Night whose ears were pivoted my way attentively.


    ¡°Fine. The hobgoblins - they were led by a 5+ named Jiba who had no interest in anything other than Night¡¯s head separated from her body and getting his compatriots to dangle my entrails outside my body. That¡¯s new for Night, especially this close to a starter town. Is there some skill I can pick up that will let me identify or avoid the terminally inclined?¡± they asked with a level of seriousness a devout priest of Hernious could appreciate.


    After thinking it over and remembering the seed area, I had some follow-up of my own before answering that I shot off rapid fire:


    ¡°How did you approach?¡±


    ¡°Standard - weapons secured, friendly swagger, hands to the side with a gift of rabbit in each, charming grin on my face,¡± they acted out in what they must have thought was a hilarious portrayal.


    ¡°What were they doing?¡±


    ¡°Couple were around the campfire with the target - relaxed, cooking, chatting. Two on the outskirts towards the creek - again relaxed, one fishing, the other gathering water. Didn¡¯t see Jiba until post approach.¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    ¡°Hi there party peeps was the attempt, but we were only a few steps in when the shit hit the fan.¡±


    ¡°Did you analyze any besides Jiba?¡±


    ¡°Yep, all level 0s except Madison who was 5, well, and Jiba at 5+ as mentioned. Range of classes, nothing extraordinary. And they didn¡¯t smell weird according to Night,¡± they added as an extra tidbit.


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    Pursing my lips, I informed them both, ¡°You need to level Analyze more - as you suspected. There is not another way to unveil more information otherwise without specific spells or potions - neither of which you can wield or afford until you reach Rare in the respective skills, and by then Analyze should be high enough based on your current build.¡±


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s move on to the next part. You should rightly be alarmed that you encountered a non-standard seed so close to Helmsword. I am seeing other indications for concern as well that I won¡¯t get into as it is mere speculation at this time. My recommendation is you deviate from your current course for the next couple of Quests and get embedded in a team so you can both increase your abilities and increase your wealth. I have sent several Quest options to you, review them in your interface now, and then review the Board. Return with your choice.¡±


    I dropped the last bit while turning away to hide the disquiet in my eyes from our brief interaction. Shadark clearly remembered nothing still and I needed to do my part to keep it that way as long as possible for all our sakes.


    I heard them shuffle off to the board taunted by Night¡¯s chuffing at their dislike of their interface. While Night teased them about it, I understood Shadark¡¯s deep-seated wariness of the system lodged inside them. Intrinsically, even when one couldn¡¯t recall the memories of past instances, one couldn¡¯t survive an instance without knowing the interface was the base of all angst that was carried forward and would be experienced unceasingly.


    I narrowed my eyes at Night, and once she looked my way, I motioned for her to go join Shadark in their Quest review. They rose and had just finished stretching when Shadark wandered back with a Quest paper in hand. Night¡¯s tongue lolled out of her mouth in mischievousness as she settled back onto her haunches.


    ¡°What did you choose,¡± I asked dispassionately while hoping sense had reared its head to overcome the elf¡¯s stubborn facade of mediocrity.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ll approve,¡± Shadark assured me as they deposited the slip with a flourish on the counter. I picked it up and triggered the prompt to make the Quest visible for acceptance between the Sentient and the Quester.


    Level 1 Quest: Clear Drugal¡¯s Bane


    Drugal¡¯s Bane is a Level 0 to 5+ Dungeon with five floors housing randomly generated creatures, mini-bosses, and the final boss himself, Drugal the Despicable. Adventurers are encouraged to attempt the Dungeon in groups of five with mixed units - unless they like death or dismemberment of course. Quest can be completed after clearing the second floor, with additional bonuses for every subsequent cleared floor. Mini-bosses must be completed before moving on to the next floor. Creatures are considered non-sentient, while mini-bosses and above are clones of historical figures. Duration ranges from 2 hours to 2 months.


    Reward: 1 Skill Level per floor cleared; random chest manifest each floor; carryable loot; 1 Skill Book on completion of the entire Dungeon.


    Not a bad, if surprising for them, choice. Carryable loot with their recent purchase was a smart move, and being able to complete after the second floor showed Night¡¯s experience coming into play. They could walk out with better gear, stronger skills, and more experience in party delves. Yes, I would be upgrading my assessment of their survivability after this visit.


    ¡°Do you accept the Quest of Clear Drugal¡¯s Bane?¡± I intoned formally.


    ¡°You betcha! Watch Out Drugal - here comes your Bane!¡± Shadark affirmed with two thumbs up and a ridiculous smirk on their face. The lengths they went to attempting to get a reaction out of me were respectable, but no match for centuries of pranksters past. I solemnly Logged their choice and returned their exuberance with a stoicism that knew no bounds. ¡°Is there anything else?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yep, indeedy - you know people. Got any suggestions on who to join up with for the run? Thinking healer, fighter, spellcaster, and tank, preferably most with Companions for twice the firepower. Then I can sit back and ID the flowers and cave ¡®shrooms,¡± they said while pivoting to a pose of nonchalance that concealed readiness and coiled expectation. Picking up on their vibe, I turned towards the doorway as Night gracefully prowled to the outside entryway.


    ¡°Yes, actually, I do. Mavrich, please come meet Shadark.¡± I said as I felt resignation settle in the depths of my soul as the Sentient¡¯s second pre-pathing clicked into place. Seemed like I would be dancing with a capable Overseer on top of everything I was already juggling.

 Chapter 10: Mavrich

    I paused just inside Valen¡¯s shop and sucked in my surroundings to assess what I had been invited into. This was not going to be our regularly scheduled tea. Valen seemed and smelled calm, though resigned, and the wolf that had padded past me scented more amusement than anything else.


    That was irritating, but the enigma before me was an elf that was casting off a superfluous portrayal of airheadedness while also holding themselves in a way that suggested I could walk out without my family jewels if I leered too close. A fun contradiction and nice to see they hadn¡¯t lost their touch. Slightly irritated at a perceived game, however, I groused while moving forward to the third-tier counter, ¡°And who would Shadark be Valen?¡±


    Placing my thirty-five completed potions of various remedies on said counter, I shot the elf a look that demanded straightforwardness and plain speech. The memo flew over their head as I expected it to. There was no recognition in their eyes, and Nattens had removed herself from the scene so I expected no complications there.


    Rocking back on their heels with their thumbs looped through their swordbelt, they tossed to me, ¡°Hey there tall one, I¡¯m Shad, they/them, and that was Night, she/her. Whatcha go by?¡±


    ¡°Air or ground usually,¡± I said with a full dose of obtuse injected into the four words while peering down at them from my severe height advantage. While solidly built of lean muscle and a well-placed curve here and there was evident on the elf¡¯s frame, I didn¡¯t think death or severe injury would be coming from this one anytime soon. It hadn¡¯t over the last several decades I had poked at them to see when they would break in the other instances we had been in together.


    Turning away from Shad, who smelled like jerky and - was that mud? - for some unknown reason, I faced Valen to get my business cleared so I could give Shad my full attention. ¡°My Quest is ready for logging Valen.¡±


    Valen deftly flipped open the Log, updated my Quest and doled out my reward while Shad watched on with a serene veneer. It would be interesting to suss out who Shad was now and how much had carried forward to this instance. Collecting my reward and stashing it in my pouch, I asked Valen the only reasonable question at this moment, ¡°Shall we sit and share tea together then while we get acquainted?¡±


    Not deigning to answer, Valen wandered off to the back. I would probably be served a weak grassy green tea in revenge. I motioned Shad towards the table by the window and assumed my usual seat. They hesitated for a moment before gliding forward to assume the chair that they correctly guessed was not Valen¡¯s. While this silence was a fun power struggle, it was beyond my tolerance for uncomplicated relations and demanded that I act.


    ¡°Why is Valen introducing us?¡± I summarily decided that was the fastest path forward.


    ¡°We¡¯re, Night and I, needing to join a team to delve Drugal¡¯s Bane and I was looking for party recommendations. Would you be a good recommendation to delve with? Valen seems to think you would be. You seem big enough to hold most things at bay at least,¡± their eyes took their turn to flit around my stature and assess what potential could be stored beneath my scales and inherent in my wings.


    After letting them look their fill, I sat back and clued them in on an important detail, ¡°If so, I would be support. I¡¯m an alchemist not a fighter. That said, I do have a full delving party for when I, or they, decide to do Dungeons. Drugal takes parties up to 10 if I remember correctly, and, just your luck, our group is scheduled to run again in four days.¡±


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    I paused and cleared my throat, ¡°I can check with the team if you can tag along and if they would gain anything from running Drugal¡¯s, but I¡¯m not sure what you would be bringing to the party, Shad?¡± I let it hang out there and got up to unnecessarily help Valen with the tea service. I had nearly slipped up and been too familiar whilst looking in their eyes, getting lost in those little sparks of color and the hints of mischievousness I remembered so well. Oh, how I forgot the depths of absence I felt over the stupid elf and their ingrained playfulness.


    Valen wordlessly handed me part of the tea service and conveyed I needed to tread more carefully, another needless reminder I might add. As we returned to the front room I saw that Shad had arranged themself to have a leg swinging in a lazy arc over one of the arms of the chair, cleaning their nails with one of the daggers from their baldric. As we approached they stopped humming a tune under their breath and sat up slightly.


    ¡°Well, dragon man, I don¡¯t bring much your team would find impressive. I¡¯m a level zero with minimal weapons skills and no cash. I¡¯ll need to be carried for most of it after the second floor and absolutely plan to be shameless in accepting anything your party is willing to offer my way. I don¡¯t have a dungeoneering kit nor can I afford one, and I like to sleep in. I am known to be a great time and a peerless travel companion. Now Night,¡± they motioned towards the wolf resting out front, ¡°on the other hand, is distinguished at ambush tactics, stealth takedowns, trap spotting and using common sense which leads to her being a great boon on delves I¡¯ve been informed.¡±


    The elf conveyed all of it with such cheeky confidence that the disparaging remarks took a second to sink in. I glanced at Valen then back at Shad. I saw from the corner of my eye Valen nestle back into their chair with their hands wrapped around their teacup doing the fogging trick to their eyeglasses. From this angle I could see the merriment however and suspected that this routine had played out to provide her with a sense of deja vu.


    Exhaling out the potential roil of emotions, I again went head first to where I wanted us to go. ¡°So, to clarify, you expect us to bring you along for your companion''s sake, plan to mooch off of us, but hope that your jokes will make it alright? Again, what¡¯s in it for me or my team.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you insist on usefulness, I do a decent job on finding things so I expect you¡¯ll walk out with more carryable loot than usual and you being an alchemist will have some immediate returns as I tend to trend towards finds with herbal applications. How¡¯d the Lionsmane work out?¡± I narrowed my eyes as they swiveled in the chair to a more formal seated posture and donned an inquisitive look.


    ¡°Fine, they worked out fine.¡± The inordinately pleased part of them could dial it back a bit, because even with the new additions of ¡®gain¡¯ there wasn¡¯t a lot here for me to work with. They seemed to settle down as they watched me mull through what could be possible.


    I was going to have to rely on karma, old favors and, frustratingly, I couldn¡¯t even pull Sasha in to make it easier because the dungeon max was level 5+. I was going to have to bring Chad as our tank on this one - and I suspected Shad and Chad would be like oil and vinegar.


    For the rest of the lineup to even out personalities and roles, we could have Samir fill the arcane battle mage role, Kiaralongh the fighter role with her Warden class and there was no way I was doing a potentially two-month dungeon run without Reev. Between his ability to break down components, cook amazing from nothing and stick an axe in anything that moved funny, it wouldn¡¯t be worth doing without him. I know fives were more balanced, but as far as I was concerned Shad was the addition here.


    Satisfied with my roster line up I grabbed my teacup for a victory sip. Milliseconds before the liquid hit my open mouth and ready taste buds, my nostrils warned me that I was indeed being served a revenge tea of weakly infused water. Powering through, I leveled a gaze at Valen and her fogged spectacles and downed the entire cup in one go.


    Placing it gently down on the table, I rose to my feet and informed Shad, ¡°I¡¯ll get back to you in a few days, and you should plan to meet being ready to go in four. It¡¯s Mavrich, he/him, and you better bring your A-game to this delve.¡±

 Chapter 11: Shad

    I watched the drake, Mavrich, glide out of Valen¡¯s place, and turned to her while depositing my drained tea cup on her oaken table. ¡°Thanks for that, it¡¯ll speed things along nicely. Any tips?¡± I rose to my feet stretching out my back. Antics had costs.


    ¡°He is as straightforward as he seems, and it will be imperative that you provide immediate benefit to the party so they will consider clearing the dungeon of dangers for you and Night beyond the second floor. I think even you can pull that off since, while outwardly nothing is interesting about you, your ranger build should allow you immediate successes in that dungeon - as I am sure you were aware,¡± Valen shuffled about while bussing the tea service.


    ¡°Was there anything else?¡± she asked as she turned away from me to continue her day.


    ¡°Nope, all good. Thanks again!¡± I took the hint and walked away. Bending down outside the doorway, I ran my hands through Night¡¯s fur and asked ¡°Well, thoughts? You were awfully quiet - I missed your patter of incessant observations of inability.¡±


    Night¡¯s response was to rise to her feet, shake loose her relaxation and cock her head at me. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of time for that. And we have four days, let¡¯s make use of them. The drake, Mavrich, didn¡¯t mention the capabilities of the party, but if he saw your bow, which is impossible to miss, then he probably built the team around you. They will be expecting you to primarily be able to damage things quickly since you lined me up as a scout. We need to up your perception so you have a chance to do just that. Time to go people-watching and get in some bow training which will be a fast way to work on the fundamentals for those skills. Might as well feed two birds with one scone at the guild training grounds.¡±


    I laughed out loud, adjusted my gear and stepped out into the street. Slipping into the foot traffic with a large predator was always an enjoyable experience for me, as even the hardiest of adventurers gave a respectful distance. I let Night weave us through street after street to arrive at the Adventurer Guild. I pulled out of the flow of traffic and inspected the building before us.


    Solidly built of dark gray stone, it was a squat square affair with a main entrance and several side entrances with clearly marked purpose nailed above their doors on brightly painted signs. The second story¡¯s barred multi-hued windows glittered in the sun while showing off the heroic deeds of many an adventurer. Looked pricey to be a member of, and very defensible. I rated it 4.5 stars with room for up or downgrading based on what we found inside.


    Rejoining the flow of foot traffic, I strolled cockily into the side entrance that had training dummies painted over it and was immediately inundated with the sounds of overlapping conversations interlacing a myriad of purposes. Heading straight to the counter with an air of well-meaning and entitled exuberance, I arrived and settled my bow on the counter before the attendant. Her horns were wrapped in bright ribbons and bells that were tinkling softly as she scribed away in a ledger, and if she stood she had to be at least one and a half times as tall as me.


    Hunched over as she was, my head was level with hers and I could smell an aroma of cedar wafting off her short shaggy reddish fur. I leaned forward over my bow to capture her attention and noticed that the muscles on her arms had the definition of one who wielded gigantic weapons which was a fun image. A giggle burst free at the image of this Minotaur berserker in flowing sheer pants and dangling bangles wielding a massive bastard sword and swinging it around like a child playing at flying while a gentle serenade resonated from her horn bells.


    At my not-so-muffled giggle, she paused in her writing and slowly roved her eyes up my frame. I hadn¡¯t ever had the opportunity to experience that happening to me - having someone rake their eyes up my body with the tip of their tongue caught playfully in their teeth - and it was absolutely a brain-stopper. My eyebrows and heart rate rose higher with each millisecond her eyes slithered up my torso, arms, neck and face until her gaze landed on my own.


    I felt distinctly disrobed and wasn¡¯t quite sure that was a fair trade for a giggle, but also really not mad in the least. Was it the gaze, was it the way her body shifted suggestively closer to me sending even more of that intimate cedar aroma to wrap around my loins, was it the frank and open dedication to slowly and attentively devouring every inch of me that her eyes roved over? No, I couldn¡¯t place what exactly melted me, but there was zero denial of my liquefaction.


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    Her sultry expression cleared faster than a firebolt cast by a Mythic Mage as she noticed she had my attention. Eyes shifting to absolute authority and immobilizing me while she barked out, ¡°now that we¡¯ve cleared that out freshie, stop leaning on me counter, show me yer Guild badge and tell me how long ye be renting the space for. They¡¯re horns, lots of folks have ¡®em, and plenty of ¡®em chime, eh?! I ain¡¯t got no time fer yer games elf. Or I can keep undressing you wit me eyes and see how long ¡®til my wee hubby comes over and pounds ye inna ground, yeah? He be more threatened by the people with the dangly bits up top fer some reason.¡±


    Floored at being so expertly manipulated and in stunning need of a cold shower, I started a slow clap while forcing words out to form, ¡°uhm¡­no, no badge¡­.new. Hour? No¡­.half day.¡± I desperately cast about for Night so I could ground, then with a dawning horror realized how much teasing I was in for later.


    Not waiting for me to gain equilibrium, the attendant spat out while haughtily smiling, ¡°Fine. Unaffiliated rate be more. 3 silver.¡± She thrust her hand out to receive the payment. My assessment of the priciness of the establishment was spot on, and appreciation of her skill allowed me to fork over the 30 copper from my anemic coin pouch without hesitation.


    ¡°Third entrance on the left through the right door. Showers off the main halls¡¯ fifth entrance on the left. Enjoy yer stay,¡± were her unironic words as she pointed to an archway to the right of me. It seemed money in hand had lowered her need to ground me into a hormonal paste which I was grateful for. Note to self, no counter-leaning here.


    Picking up my bow and leaving my stuttering libido at the altar of her superior capability, I walked off with the hope that one day I could match the performance of that experience. I found myself heading to the appointed spot with a refrain of whatever that was it happened so fast. What was that? That was amazing. Where am I right now? Is that cedar smell gonna stay with me forever? I don''t even like cedar. I need to focus.


    Upon arriving at the training area, I shook off the last vestiges of my wistfully unique introduction to the adventurer¡¯s guild and got to work being as skilled as any ranger was with their bow skill at level 2. That is to say, not very. I would benefit from instruction, but had successfully depleted my funding. And if that is what the attendants were capable of, there was no chance I could connive an instructor to impart their knowledge to me at a freemium.


    Wandering around the training room, I ran my hands over the multi-shaped targets and guessed at their distances. I could appreciate that some targets were moving at various speeds and there were even simulated terrain areas for practice that would both push me and be interesting enough to keep me engaged while grinding through skill leveling.


    Meanwhile, Night had padded into the space and engaged in no-holds-barred roasting - mentally bombarding me with hyperbolic images, copious evergreen scents and tidbits of pretend dialogue that underscored just how much she had enjoyed watching me squirm while getting handed my hat. And sure, it was well-deserved feedback, for some level zero to walk into an adventurer guild with any thought that they could fool anyone inside.


    That was the high point of my next four days before meeting up with Mavich. Night and I fell into a routine of training our various skills. We would sit in the canteen people-watching and telling each other character background stories of everyone we saw around meal times then Analyze them to see if we got any of the details right. At night we snuck around after the guards for stealth and perception practice, and in the early mornings we scavenged herbs outside of town to sell which allowed us to afford more time in the training room.


    Each day I was extremely respectful and serious while interacting with Heda - the name of the minotaur attendant I learned - and I did not receive a repeat performance of our initial interaction.


    Night informed me that we were leveling at a decent pace, and apparently I had picked up the Cunning trait. I had jokes about linguists she groaned at and asked me not to share with others and never out loud. I appreciated that my wisdom was now receiving a percentage boost from my new trait. Night said she would let me know when I got the trait Not Funny which she assured me would equally decrease the percentage of my intelligence.


    We agreed to disagree, and I silently blamed it all on Heda who had let me know in no uncertain terms that I indeed did have a libido. Alas, I did need to leave my jokes behind and go bring my A game to something somewhere someone¡¯s Bane. Good thing I had my Quest map marker.

 Chapter 12: Were supposed to carry this fool?

    ¡°Hey there, are you part of Mavrich¡¯s maudlin marauders?¡± was my quip as I broke through the final vestiges of barberry to the large glade in front of the dungeon entrance. So painful for such colorful things.


    ¡°Mavrich¡¯s what¡­? I beg your pardon! Are you the elf that is joining us for this run? I was expecting dismal, but I didn¡¯t realize I was also getting uncouth,¡± the human formerly leaning against a lounging lion responded indignantly.


    ¡°No, that was witty. I like this one,¡± was immediately injected into the conversation by a muscular ursine juggling ice shards with tiny sparks of fire, eyes appraising the state and grade of my equipment.


    Strolling up and pacing around me, a broad-shouldered dryad responded to the ursine¡¯s words with a deadpan delivery of, ¡°You would Samir. You would probably crush this one though.¡± The dryad wrapped her hand around my bicep and with a gentle squeeze decided, ¡°for a zero you seem fine. We won¡¯t truly know your mettle until we need to know it. Name¡¯s Kiaralongh, she/her. Don¡¯t shorten my name, we aren¡¯t friends. My companion is Scree. I didn¡¯t name him.¡±


    Smiling at the dryad, I began to respond when I found a ridiculously large lion head with big ass teeth filling my view. ¡°Stand still, it¡¯ll be over in a second.¡± With that ominous statement rattling in my head, I froze as I felt Healing Breeze pass through me. ¡°Engli, they/them, that one is Chad, he/him.¡± An image of a constipated human in full plate mail drifted into my head with the introduction. Registering all my scratches were no more, my sphincter relaxed, consequently allowing my jaw to work again.


    ¡°Thanks Engli - for the touch-up and the intro. I¡¯m Shad, they/them, and Night, she/her, should be along shortly.¡± I thanked Engli with a slight head tilt to go with my words. I brought my attention back to the others to reassess my standing. The dryad looked like they were in no rush to continue talking, the human was still squirmy, and the ursine looked like she wanted to bench press me or Levitate me to see if she could.


    I set my pack down and double-checked my gear was secure and smirked. ¡°Go ahead Samir, you know ya wanna!¡±


    I heard an amused chuff as I was summarily picked up with one hand and tossed in the air. I didn¡¯t realize she was gonna move quite that fast and an eep most definitely escaped into the world. As gravity did its thing to my flailing limbs, my fall was suspended and became a gentle float down.


    I got a front-row seat to an evil glint in her brown orbs as I drifted down to eye level. With my peepers widening in response, I was tossed back into the air, even higher this time. I heard Compress barked out - which did indeed compress all the air around me to stop my descent. This yo-yo continued for a good ten minutes as Samir rotated through her skills and different ways to physically toss me into the air. Wondering when she would break a sweat or burn through her mana, I tried not to whimper each time the wedgy I received two minutes into my dare got worse. Me and my big mouth.


    A growl reverberating through the area marked the end of Samir¡¯s fun as Night stalked into the glade with murderous eyes. An amused half-elf with a ferret on their shoulder and a multitude of blades on their person followed behind Mavrich who was smiling at our antics. All signs pointed to me having made the right call in the invite to treat me like a stuffed sack of chaff.


    Samir¡¯s companion, whose name I hadn¡¯t caught yet, lumbered into Night¡¯s path with a frank air of no. Not deterred in the least, Night literally walked into the bear¡¯s side and started the long climb over them. ¡°Ok, slow down, Night, I¡¯m fine. And you know it was my idea.¡± I desperately picked my undergarments out of my ass and hoped the world would stop spinning soon.


    ¡°Not ¡®ok¡¯, not ¡®you¡¯re fine.¡¯ These people need to respect us Shad. You¡¯re being more special than usual here,¡± was angrily thrust back my way with an undercurrent of frustration.


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    Cocking my head to the side and sussing her out through our synergy, I could say nothing other than, ¡°woah, hey sorry buddy. I¡¯ll, well, not straighten up cuz that¡¯s out, but, you know, be less ¡®special.¡¯¡± Night had fully finished summiting the bear, who had been extremely tolerant I might add. She dropped down in front of me with a sharp bark and daggery eyes.


    The half-elf, now sans ferret, came around the side of the bear, who turned with him. He cocked an eyebrow at Mavrich and flourished a bow my way. ¡°You must be Shad, I¡¯m Reev, he/him and Fergie, she/her, will be around. Mavrich said we would be having the pleasure of watching how you do on your first run - that right?¡±


    Returning the bow, ¡°Yep, err, yes. That is correct. Appreciate it,¡± was what I pulled together.


    Samir came to rest on her companion and shared, ¡°Rakshasa approves as do I. What of the rest of you? Weigh in so we can kill them or move forward.¡±


    Not liking the sound of that but seeing the mischievous glint in the ursine¡¯s eye, I glanced around at the others.


    ¡°Sure, should be interesting,¡± was Reev¡¯s vote.


    Kiaralongh started packing up the camp and made gestures that appeared to communicate why not, let¡¯s go already.


    Mavrich had brought me here and bothered to get everyone else here was his reminder of where he landed. I turned my attention to the human who had not really unclenched his disdainful pucker this entire time. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to carry this fool? I¡¯ll go along because Engli likes ¡®your scent¡¯ but know that I am watching you elf.¡± His words were laced with the contempt he clearly felt for me.


    That settled, I picked up my pack and adjusted my kit for action - knives loosened, armor tightened, quiver accessible and bow strung. Taking the second to stretch and make sure Night was ready to go, I saw the others taking similar steps.


    Mavrich was handing out potions, poisons and elixirs like candy. When he got to me he also threw in a potion belt, correctly assuming I had no such thing. Watching me fumble for a few seconds, he grabbed it out of my hands and then expertly applied it to my body like an exhausted parent swaddling a 16-month-old. Impressed I thanked him with a head-nodding thumbs up.


    Trying to keep my verbals to a minimum so I didn¡¯t piss off Night more, I sidled up to the dryad who was heading purposefully to the dungeon entrance. She paused just outside it and turned to assess me. Apparently passing her inspection, she let me know, ¡°right - so we don¡¯t have to figure it out while you are flailing about. Night is point with Scree for scouting. Chad, Engli and I are up front, Fergie, Samir, you stick to the middle, and Rakshasa will guard our rear. Questions?¡±


    ¡°Uhm, yes actually, I have just one, what biome are we getting into here?¡±


    A ridiculing laugh accompanied Chad¡¯s scornful words. ¡°Biome? This is Drugal¡¯s - we won¡¯t know until we¡¯re hip-deep in it. He lived 5,000 years and built and killed in all the biomes in that time. His spawns could be anything from ghouls to golems, and his traps were legendary. Try not to shoot one of us and just enjoy the ride elf.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s random gen, yay,¡± I muttered while securing my pants more firmly in my boots. Samir smirked at my comment as she walked ahead of me to form up and link with each other through touch. As soon as everyone was in place, Night paced forward through the entrance.


    Coming through after Samir with Fergie on my head, I stumbled to the side so Rakshasa could fit. I had been smacked with a wall of sticky humidity and the splatter of mud and water having horrible weedy children. The smell alone would make this rank as a Rare dungeon - rot and muck and something slimy smeared in.


    I spammed my party buffs before I choked on my own vomit. ¡°Ranger¡¯s Stance. Hunter¡¯s Sight.¡± Increasing our agility, dexterity, endurance and perception any tiny bit wasn¡¯t ever really a bad thing.


    I heard everyone else doing the same. Chad popped off Lion¡¯s Heart, a nice stability buff that would let us endure the horrendous smell and anything else that was eroding our constitutions. I felt Engli¡¯s Healing Breeze tuck away the riot in my guts and saw a soft blue glow coming off the hatchets in Kiaralongh¡¯s hands. A dryad with axes - wouldn¡¯t have guessed that one.


    Yep, two minutes in, if that, and I knew this floor was a no fun zone and ranked on my get the fuck out real quick list. I hoped this party knew how to clear dungeon floors strategically so that thought could be more than a desperate desire. If not I - well, if not I was just in for a lot of swamp ass and boob sweat. Not yay.

 Chapter 13: Swamp Shenanigans

    Lifting a scaled foot out of the muck and settling it back down resignedly again after realizing there was no dry place to put it otherwise, I girded my resolve. While unpleasant, we should get through this floor just fine and probably with a certain amount of disappointment because of the level difference. I watched the rest of the party sort themselves out and settled my wings more comfortably. I would need to watch everyone for rot afflictions and leverage my keen eyesight to support our scouts since their sense of smell would be ruined at least.


    ¡°Everyone be on your guard. Swamp levels are notoriously tricky, and we can expect everything from poison, swarms, pitfalls and potentially Rare creature spawns. We will be looking for a temple of some sort for the mini-boss,¡± came from the front as Chad shared from his interface.


    ¡°Sounds delightful. You heavy ones wanna shift any of your gear before we move forward or you ok getting armpit deep in this muck?¡± Reev offered to the group, eyeing Chad and Engli¡¯s full plate and various carry sacks.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine but Engli will take you up on it,¡± was Chad¡¯s response. Reev passed me by with a fist bump and a quick ¡°this is fun Mav¡± as he went to unburden and redistribute the lion¡¯s gear. That settled I swept my gaze over everyone one more time checking for issues. The poignant reality that it was, I would have to most closely watch over myself and Shad as the two level zeros in the party.


    We set off single file away from the entrance into the mangrove tree-riddled and cattail-laden floor. I could hear Chad squelching up front and was glad that Reev could roam free of the formation to support Night and Scree. Five minutes in and I felt Engli pop up a barrier shield around us and Kiaralongh signal for Samir to prep some fire. Pulling out an acid vial, I saw Scree winging back from the left with a decent-sized swarm on his tail.


    ¡°My turn! Fire Break!¡± Samir gleefully flung the spell between Scree and the insects and immediately the smell of charred bugs wafted over us while their husks floated down to join the peat. ¡°Awww. That was too fast. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    I smiled at her antics and replaced the vial as we continued on, tracking that Shad had taken the very brief stop to harvest some bogbean, popping some in their mouth and stowing the rest. Seems like they were actively working on holding up their end of the bargain. We would encounter quite a bit of material on this floor that was harder to find around Helmsword because of the climate difference.


    Continuing on, our next obstacles came and went in much the same way as the first. As a group we were too strong for this floor to challenge us. Night lived up to her professed trap finding, Engli¡¯s shields keep smaller critters at bay, Kiaralongh chopped the shit out of anything Chad funneled to her that got through the shield, and Reev came back with other creatures'' blood splattered here or there on his armor every once in a while. Our biggest struggle came when Chad tumbled into a sinkhole he attempted to hop over because he tripped on a mangrove root.


    At what I assumed was day¡¯s end, we searched for a dry strip of land large enough to house us so we could rest. There was no such strip, or patch, or jut of land. So we continued on. The smell, the oppressive heat, and the slog started chipping away at my mood and I could tell Shad was struggling as well. ¡°We need to stop and rest Chad,¡± was my exasperated rebuke to our Tank.


    ¡°What? Why? I can¡¯t see anywhere we could remotely settle and it¡¯s safer to keep going Mav,¡± was the startled and indignant response.


    Kiara turned back and roughly grabbed Shad by the chin to inspect their eyes, startling the elf into unsheathing their dagger in defense. Before things could escalate, Kiara just as swiftly let go and strode purposefully my way. Handling me the same, she reminded us, ¡°they are zeroes and this biome is pernicious. Engli needs to monitor and heal them more often. Shad, do you have any mana skills? You¡¯re stamina is shot.¡±


    Looking back at Shad curiously with everyone else, I saw them smirk and shake their head in the negative. ¡°Yeah, no, not a wink that would help here. I¡¯ve Analyzed seven different plants that Mavrich could probably turn into something useful, but we¡¯d need space and time for that to happen. And I only collected a few since I don¡¯t have the time or experience to be wandering about.¡±


    Nodding, Kiaralongh turned to me next. ¡°How stocked are you on stamina and mana potions?¡±


    ¡°If we all get to the fifth floor we need to pace our stamina potions immediately, but we should walk out with dozens of mana potions remaining,¡± was my instant response. I had churned out mana potions in the last four days, but didn¡¯t have as many stamina portion ingredients on hand.


    Briskly accepting the reality, Kiara continued, ¡°Fine. We need to stop every glass or two to heal them and let their stamina build for a quarter glass. It won¡¯t hurt the rest of us and could give Scree more time to range further out to try to find the temple. We should expect more swarms on the breaks.¡±


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    ¡°I disagree. The weak sauce can post up on Engli and Rakshasa so we can keep moving. I have mud in my joints and midges in unspeakable places,¡± was Chad¡¯s rebuttal.


    ¡°Offer your own companion pretty boy, Rakshasa is no mount,¡± Samir growled in response, enlightening me that I wasn¡¯t the only one with fraying nerves.


    ¡°I¡¯m a little too tall to play knight on either of your companions,¡± I broke in while motioning at my eight-foot-tall frame, expanding my wings to their full glorious span and pointing at the gear strapped to me in various places.


    While I was doing this, Shad tossed Fergie onto Engli¡¯s shoulder and moved to their mid-back to clamber up. They kept getting stuck in the mud and eventually everyone stopped arguing to watch them try hopping up over and over and over again. They were like a tiny dog trying desperately - and repeatedly failing - to bring their favorite toy onto the couch. What none of us expected was what happened next.


    ¡°FuUUUUUUU¡±


    Shad was pulled under the mud as Samir, Reev and Kiaralongh darted forward to converge on the location of their shriek. Engli had whipped around, bit into their lower arm and was trailing their rapid path deeper into the marsh. Exasperated, Chad uselessly tried to Taunt whatever had ahold of the submerged elf while Fergie hissed and chattered from Engli¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°I need a target! Pull them up Engli!!¡± was Samir¡¯s not so sage advice that would leave the elf one arm less and suffocated no doubt. Fortunately the lion ignored her and continued allowing Shad to be dragged under the muck while keeping their arm secured in their mouth.


    ¡°Bah, enough! Grasping Roots!¡± cracked out as Kiaralongh¡¯s skill triggered thorned roots to rise out of the water carrying a very constricted elf. Watching in disgust as Engli released their arm from their maw, I saw a black and red snake twined around the elf like a Maypole ribbon. The swamp snake¡¯s teeth were also embedded in Shad¡¯s ass, and I quickly checked my interface to see if that was going to have a more poisonous outcome than the standard for an open puncture wound exposed to decayed plant matter, fish carcasses and fetid swamp water. What I found did not match with what I was seeing and I decided that I could mention it to the group later.


    As soon as the swamp snake cleared the water Samir pierced it multiple times with Ice Shard after Ice Shard to avoid injuring the roots or the elf. Kiaralongh had the roots pull Shad back over to us as the snake slowly released its stranglehold on them. Teeth were still firmly embedded in their ass though.


    ¡°Hold on friend,¡± Reev whispered to them while pulling a blade to disentangle them. I couldn¡¯t tell through the mud, plant matter and snake corpse just how injured they were and they seemed to be struggling until Reev touched them so that was a good sign. Night crashed onto the scene at that moment, wild-eyed and furious, absorbed the tableau and sprinted to where Shad would eventually land.


    ¡°Swirling Vortex.¡± I watched as Samir¡¯s water and air-based skill power washed the muck off Shad, though it did look somewhat painful. The vortex was followed by the green glow of Engli¡¯s Verdant Spring embraced them as soon as Samir¡¯s skill ended.


    ¡°fuck. ow. fuck. ow. thanks. fuccccccka,¡± was whimpered out as Reev diligently cut away the last bits of the now very stiff serpent and pulled the head, and atrociously long teeth, off of Shad¡¯s rump. I rubbed my own haunch in sympathy. Watching Shad shakily clamber down out of the roots and stand with righteous suspicion in the water again, I turned to Kiaralongh with a burning question, ¡°So, did Chad do that on purpose?¡±


    ¡°What! I wouldn¡¯t¡­.,¡± he started.


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± Kiaralongh confirmed, brooking no argument. She settled her hatchets into their hip holsters and thoroughly inspected Shad¡¯s arm, ass and rib cage. Satisfied, she marched into Chad¡¯s space ¡°Don¡¯t demure, it''s fake and we all see through it. You offered up Engli like a pony after insulting Mavrich and Shadark. Get your priorities straight or get out at the end of the level. Got it?¡±


    ¡°Fine. Sorry Mav. Samir can you get Shad onto Engli so we can go already?¡± was Chad¡¯s dismissive agreement.


    "Engli, Shad will need another pass once your cooldown is done," Kiaralongh requested of the lion.


    Shad watched the whole interaction from a very still place which gave me chills of foreboding for Chad¡¯s future. Bending down, they started pulling their scattered gear that had snagged and broken free in the drag fest out of the water and mud. They didn¡¯t comment at all, on any of it. Night head-butted them to get them to pause, which worked and earned the wolf a few moments of some fingers through fur for reassurance.


    Samir waited warily by Engli for them to finish, and once the elf stiffly strode up to them she offered cupped hands for a boost onto the lion¡¯s broad back. ¡°Thanks.¡± Vaulting up with the aid to a much different result than the last attempts, Shad gently patted Engli¡¯s shoulder and scooped up the still agitated ferret, Fergie.


    I was not excited about being correct - they were indeed oil and water and we were seeing the beginning of that combination.

 Chapter 14: Yep, still a swamp

    I offered the space between my soaked tunic and battered leather armor to Fergie, and not surprisingly after a quick sniff the ferret declined. Instead she settled in against my hip, remarkably close to where Igno had shanked me a few weeks ago. The ferret donned a serious demeanor while scanning the water all around us for other hidden surprises. Smirking tiredly to myself, I reached out to continue ranting to Night who had returned to her scouting duties.


    ¡°That was such a dick move. That guy is a total asshole. If his companion wasn¡¯t so stellar I would rage stab him. Do you think I could make a dent?¡± I seethed to her.


    ¡°Sadly, no you couldn¡¯t,¡± was her realistic response. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s worth the expenditure, and I¡¯m pretty sure his companion is reviewing the critical errors in judgment that recently occurred with him.¡±


    ¡°Fine. In good news, most of our rations are toast, and I won¡¯t be able to assess what isn¡¯t trashed until we get to for reals stop somewhere,¡± was my next pertinent update to Night. ¡°Keep an eye out for edibles please and I¡¯ll see if Reev can pair up with me to break it down quickly if it¡¯s of the fauna persuasion. I¡¯ll flit out for flora myself if it¡¯s not too far from the group.¡±


    ¡°See if you can salvage any of the ingredients you already gathered and pass them off to Mavrich before you take another uninvited dunking. I dislike pointing it out, but the one person I don¡¯t see going under is an eight-foot-tall draken with claws that could shred everything I¡¯ve seen on this floor so far,¡± Night advised.


    ¡°You ok up there?¡± Reev asked as he swung by to check on Fergie. Unclear if he was talking to her or me, I looked down at the ferret. She weaved about like she was sending over an earful, and his well-timed grimace let me know that was most likely accurate. His eyes rolled up to mine, and I smirked and gave a floppy thumbs-up in response.


    ¡°Wanna hunt shit later?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sure, and we could also do it now. None of that is going to really dry,¡± his hand gestured that ¡®that¡¯ meant my entire body, ¡°and if Rakshasa is amenable you could attach what¡¯s left of your extra gear to her harness.¡±


    Engli cocked an ear back and cast another Verdant Spring on me. While I hadn¡¯t been holding the pain incredibly long, it was a marked relief and I sent feels of gratitude to them.


    As I hopped down, I thanked Engli for the ride and companionship. I stepped to the side to let the others pass until the bear arrived. She looked at me approvingly and turned to the side, which gave me access to the straps that I could secure my meager provisions to. ¡°Thanks, Rakshasa. All set.¡±


    Reev adjusted the axe on his back and slid free two blades from his sheaths and flitted forward and to the right of the group. Seeing Kiaralongh¡¯s nod and some hand signs I didn¡¯t know the codex for, I slipped off after him and activated Hunter¡¯s Steps. I had replaced my broken bow string on Engli¡¯s back, and I was satisfied with the result as I slid a blunt-headed arrow back into it. Before we moved out of range, I reapplied Ranger¡¯s Stance and Hunter¡¯s Sight to the party.


    Seeing Reev blur from my sight, I made a mental note to ask him about his stealth skills later. Not two minutes later I nearly pissed myself when he reached out and touched my shoulder since I had unknowingly passed him.


    ¡°Easy there friend. Ok, we should be far enough to make plans without pulling any critters to the group. Watcha wanna hunt and what should I know about your skills? Depending on that I¡¯ll let you know what ya need for mine.¡± He let his stealth skill fade as he addressed me and pulled a pipe from a pocket.


    I raised an eyebrow and inquired, ¡°What are you planning on pulling with your pipe scent?¡± Since he just laughed and kept packing the leaves into his pipe I addressed his questions instead of pursuing that line of inquiry.


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    ¡°I need to restock food for Night and myself, and she eats a ton of animal proteins. I can veg for a while so I won¡¯t need that much and have been gathering as we go to supplement. I also need to work on leveling my skills so I can keep up on floors 3 to 5 and rank up to Uncommon for my class skills.¡± I paused, saw his go on motion, and continued. ¡°Right now I¡¯m apprentice common there and novice common in the rest. I¡¯ve had more time with daggers than my sword, and bow most of all, but none are above 2.¡±


    He lit his pipe, thought for a few minutes - or just enjoyed the smoke, I couldn¡¯t tell - and then knocked out the remains to fizzle into the swamp water.


    ¡°Sounds doable. I¡¯ve been seeing some gators which should do for the food and the skills we can tackle while engaging the tribe of shamblers that are several glasses from here. I have a spate of stealth skills and can increase damage output on flanking moves. So we¡¯ll want to have you primary the beasties and use the terrain for funneling. All of these are gen, so we don¡¯t have to worry about friends and family coming after us for whose mom we offed. We will want to pull them one at a time when we can.¡±


    He looked at me, and then he Analyzed me. I waited for him to be done messing with his interface, but felt a ping from mine. Sighing, I popped it open and saw a party invite. Huh, thought we had already done that. I accepted and sent him a friend request - might as well. I also took the moment since I was in there to place map markers for the notables and create a side-quest path to the tribe. I checked my meters and signed - yep still teeny tiny and not at all full. Ignoring the 25 unread notifications from the day so far, I shut down the interface and closed my eyes for a few seconds to readjust my sight.


    Reopening them, I took a deep breath - a huge fucking mistake in this damn swamp - ack!


    ¡°Hahahahaha - did you just forget where you are Shad! That was amazing!!¡± Reev snorted and had tears in the corner of his eyes for a completely different reason than me.


    Retching a bit, I grabbed my water bottle and swished some stale water around in a bid to knock loose some of the smell that had latched onto me with the precision of a leech. Taking pity on me, Reev handed me part of a trail biscuit.


    ¡°It has honey, should help. Not as good as milk, but it¡¯s something.¡±


    Shoving the bar into my mouth, I bit off a chunk and handed back the rest.


    ¡°No, really, please keep it and your slobber,¡± he laughed. ¡°I knew I was going to like you. But get your shit together so we can go, ¡®k?¡±


    ¡°Sounds good. Thanks for the save - and the save.¡± I smiled back and waved the gnawed bar at him before putting it in a hip pocket for later. ¡°Let¡¯s go terminate some swamp people and net us a gator.¡±


    After the estimated three glasses had passed, mainly because I still needed those rest breaks, we came upon the village. Reev was out there scouting the area. I was holed up in a tree trying to do my own version of scouting. On the way over Reev had taught me some of the basic signals he thought we would most likely need. He also taught me some I think he just wanted me to know so he could constantly chat with me - which was fun once I caught on.


    From my perch, there were 19 of the overly large humanoid creatures shambling about. Guess that''s why they were called shamblers. I hadn¡¯t seen any glints of steel on their persons, but they did seem enamored with a good thwonking log that in scale could be called a club I guess. I also wasn¡¯t fooled by their shamble shuffle steps either - bet they were fast ones.


    Their spacing put them in groups of 3 or 4, and they didn¡¯t have a pattern to their movements that I found yet. They also had clear sightlines everywhere, and dry ground. I was really, really jealous of that dry ground. Leading up to the village was the same morass we had been dealing with, so there weren¡¯t any great approaches. So great news for us all around.


    I quietly ghosted back down the tree to await Reev and firm up a plan. Bet he would love mine.


    After another jump-scare courtesy of Reev, he phased into view with a huge grin and then turned serious. ¡°Whatcha got Shad?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing based on your build you''re faster than me, and you can stealth waltz your way into their village?¡± I asked to confirm.


    ¡°Of course, yeah. Why?¡± He was almost too eager in response, but that worked.


    ¡°K, so! You head on in and post up in the first house to the right of that mangrove tree stump. There¡¯s a group of three by that one. I¡¯m gonna shoot one and I need you to knife one after I get the first one down. That should confuse the third, and if not use the doorway to block him out til I can get there. Sound good?¡±


    ¡°Uhm. You heard when I said flank right? Not frontal assault? How fast are you?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not fast at all, but I¡¯m incredibly risk tolerant and absolutely hate getting stabbed so you¡¯ll be ok. Promise.¡± My pinkie hung out there unmet as he looked at me considering. With a laugh and a wink he faded out of sight again which I took as agreement.


    I mean, we both had tons of healing potions. It should be fine.

 Chapter 15: The Shambling Shamblers

    It was not fine! Not fine at all!


    I ducked again under the swing of the club trying stoically to clobber me and flicked my dagger out into the shambler''s rib cage area. I didn¡¯t see if it landed, but the slight stumble and irritated growl spoke to some kind of success. Pulling another knife, I danced us closer to a corpse from my earlier ministrations hoping to delay my demise and trying to set up a flanking opportunity. As I had suspected these beasties were fast, and many a missed archery attempt laid in evidence in the scattered arrows resting - sans blood stains - on the soggy ground all around me.


    Catching up with me again, the shambler went for a slugger shot this time and barely missed sending my face out of the park. Another flung dagger bounced uselessly off his thick hide, and I knew I couldn¡¯t stick to the current game plan. He was not planning on stumbling over the body and onto my dagger anytime soon.


    I pulled my short sword, Stabby, sent a heartfelt prayer to the Goddess of deflection and misdirection and silently triggered my Title Been There Done That, No Shirt Though. The buff immediately increased my survivability +10%. Normally I wouldn¡¯t let this one go active with someone else around, but Reev hadn¡¯t seen me fight before and shouldn¡¯t notice the change. I also triggered Pinnacle¡¯s Rebirth for a stacking +10% to everything as I knew that while my Title may let me get through this village alive, it wouldn''t let me actually reduce the number of opponents.


    My two strongest skills in play for the next 59 minutes and counting down I needed to get to work. I dodged another clubbing and began disassembling my current opponent¡¯s ability to brain me dead. I was still an apprentice in the arts of war, skills or no skills, so it took another three minutes of stabs, slices, knicks and pokes before the shambler crashed to the ground with an inability to rise again. I switched from Stabby to my stiletto and cautiously thrust away the last of their resistance.


    Confirming no one was about to eat me, brain me or smash me into the next instance, I took the time to wipe down my blades on the marsh grasses and assess my newest round of injuries. The tingling from being slammed into a tree earlier was fading from my left side, and the gash above my right ear was calming down. Remembering not to breathe through my nose and grabbing bandages and ointment from my pack I quickly field-dressed the injury. I had about six hours before I had to worry about infection if my guesstimate was accurate.


    While there had been nineteen original shambles in the village, we were now down to six. Sadly, the last ones were just gonna be all pain. There was a group of five and then a very fast, very alert, very over-leveled - though not miniboss - Scary Scary to get through. Collecting the unbroken arrows that littered the ground I monitored from the corner of my eye the group of five as it turned into a group of four. I¡¯d had a feeling that since I soloed this last one for so long that Reev got bored and decided to enact his own version of clearing the village.


    Arrows collected, I clambered up the nearest hut¡¯s wall to the roof and positioned myself for more attempts at archery. I would need more power to accommodate for the distance. I did not want to play ¡®don¡¯t be the mole in whack-a-mole¡¯ again! I whispered out Seeker¡¯s Shot as I released my arrow. The combo did a decent job of lodging the arrow into the shambler''s armpit and releasing an angry retort from her. Shifting her club to splat you now position, she stalked towards me with murderous intent and I responded with more Seeker''s Shots peppering her hide as she drew closer.


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    As Reev had foretold, I was able to pull her from the group, now down to three, and have her close on me without backup. Once she was close enough that I could see the yellow of her eyes clearly, I knew that my measly strength had a better chance of impacting more deeply. I aimed for center mass and let loose for a final devastating effect as her gray-haired seven-foot frame crumbled to the ground. It had left a hell of a blood trail but this was my only path to victory since I wouldn¡¯t be one-shotting anything any time soon.


    I scrabbled down from the reed roof and collected what I could from the newly spent arrows. I tossed the repairable ones into my loot pile at the edge of the village and assessed that we could fully loot later. I just needed the temporary stash in case my fatigue got too bad for me to get the basics done. I wasn¡¯t wealthy enough in materials to just leave stuff I could salvage behind yet.


    Looking over the group of five was now the group of none. I could see the smudged blur of Reev heading my way. Huh, those stacking buffs were helping in more ways than I would have predicted.


    ¡°You look like shit. But you did ok. My plan for the head gal - k?¡± He asked but didn¡¯t wait for assent before continuing - which, fair, he was probably taking the most risk on this one. ¡°She looks like a caster on top of a barbarian and if she can freeze us in place we are done for.¡± He paused and I saw his eyes start twitching as he delved into his interface. ¡°hmmm, no, no. Ha! Unlikely, nah uh, nope. Uh uh - not trying that! oh, maybe¡­¡±


    Reev¡¯s eyes focused on me with something calculating and primal and I straightened up to bear it the best my little elf self could.


    Relaxing slightly, he reached over and gently brushed some unmentionable stuff off the side of my face. Realizing it was just an excuse to get closer I ponied up and leaned in.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna have to be bait,¡± he whispered. ¡°Yummy, juicy, harmless elf bait.¡± So intent on what he was saying, I reacted milliseconds too slow as he slathered something very, very foul across the other side of my face, neck and torso.


    Frozen in something between what the actual fuck and I¡¯m gonna rip your innards out through your throat, I tilted my head and requested answers with my eyes. There was zero chance I was opening my mouth if any of that could get close to entering it.


    ¡°Yeeeah, soooo. That¡¯s a bit of shambler parts you have on ya now. You¡¯re gonna run up to her, and then run really really fast away - I recommend past her since turning would take too long. You have the equivalent of an irresistible Taunt covering you now. You are most definitely gonna get zapped with some kinda spell, but you should be ok.¡± That he delivered that all very calmly was impressive, I would have been cracking a grin if our situation was reversed.


    ¡°K, hang on a sec,¡± I mumbled through a tiny crack between my lips. Popping open my interface in a rare move of caution, I pinned my stamina and health bars to my lower right visual field. I also trotted back to my loot stash and stripped off any gear that I would not be using in the next five minutes - including Stabby. Less for her to grab my dear. ¡°Ready! You?¡±


    The rapid fade of Reev¡¯s form was indication enough and I shot forward with pumping arms and maximum effort into each footfall. Feeling less than heroic as I had to yank my feet out of the squishy ground every several steps I knew I had her complete attention when literal lightning streaked my way. I thought zapped had been a metaphor!


    Zapped was also a bullshit understatement for the sheer agony that ripped through my innards and punched out of the foot still barely connected to the ground. Losing all control of my body, I could smell my flesh crisping, which, in the putrid environ we were in, spoke volumes of how horrible this was.


    I couldn¡¯t remember ever seeing my meters flash with such criticality or vibrant color before everything went dark for me. I knew with certainty that my meters wanted me to know hands down that this was definitely, definitely, not fine. As things slipped away I felt my Trait fizzle out against the onslaught and hoped that Reev knew some first aid.

 Chapter 16: Why? Just why?

    Sound faded in and out, and everything hurt, in an overcooked pasta kind of way. Hard, implacable, irredeemable.


    ¡°...don¡¯t think it was a good idea. You knew they were a level zero....¡±


    Consciousness slipped again, and her name pulled me forward slightly. ¡°Night, they¡¯ll be okay if you¡­¡±


    Those were the only two snippets of conversation that stuck since the cold putrid ground claimed me. I could tell I had tried and failed to be a corpse, and I was very glad I had not been successful. My gummy eyes wouldn¡¯t open, and I didn¡¯t yet have the energy to move my tongue from its parched place in my mouth.


    It was too hard. Everything was still too hard. I could feel that I was on a pad of some kind, and blankets were over me. I could smell and hear the fire nearby, flickering heat against my left side. Maybe it was nice just to be.


    Wait, what?


    I felt myself being lifted and realized I had lost some more time. The water trickling into my mouth created a desperate feeling in my skin. I needed it to rehydrate my tongue something fierce. The arm holding me was warm and furry. Not Mavrich then. Why couldn¡¯t I see yet. Huh, smelled like a pleasant musk. Samir? Yes that was the ursine¡¯s name. Before I had enough to drink I slipped back into the dark.


    Warmth against my right and something heavy on my legs. There was something over my eyes, damp, soft. Couldn¡¯t lift my hand but felt my fingers twitch. Yay I had fingers.


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t Engli¡¯s skill fixing them faster?¡± was rumbled from near my head.


    ¡°Engli¡¯s not a God. You got them electrocuted! By a 5+! Against a zero! That they can even twitch after half a day is a blessing and you should be thankful. I won¡¯t get in Night¡¯s way if she decides to eat you!¡± Definitely had to be Chad spewing that.


    Sounded like I could nap more. I felt pretty dire, but a bit less fuzzy. I needed to tell Night I was ok. Just a little brain focus, no big deal. Oh, but there was the sucked downward feeling. Be right back I guess.


    ¡°Twitch your fingers in my fur if this is coming through Shad.¡± My hand spasmed and then my fingers slowly closed - one on air, the other on what felt like fur.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been out for a day and a half. Engli just cast another heal on you so you should be regaining more motor function soon.¡± I could feel her still hanging out in our synergy like she was waiting for something.


    ¡°I¡¯m waiting to see if you slip deeper into unconsciousness again. The last three times I started sharing how stupid I thought you were, you decided to see how comas work.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like you should skip the I¡¯m an idiot part? I¡¯m sorry if I scared you.¡± I winged that thought her way as I felt life coming back into my limbs as she had predicted. I had the itchy sensation of healing skin on a lot more of my body than I remembered being zapped.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t synced enough yet for us to join up in the next instance. You need to work on your survivability if you are going to just do stuff without thinking. You were supposed to be grinding your skills and getting rations, not playing lightning rod. I also have no idea how you are going to repay the lion for all of the healings they have given you.¡± Night sounded exasperated but also resigned. It was weird, like she wasn¡¯t surprised I acted this way. I was surprised I had just gone with what Reev had suggested without even pausing to consider it!


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    Night interrupted my musings. ¡°You should open your eyes. The draken has been worried.¡±


    I tried real hard to open my eyes. They just felt glued shut. I managed to push with all my might. Changing tactics, I pulled off a minor rotation of my head which caught someone¡¯s attention at least.


    ¡°The elf twitched Mavrich.¡± It sounded like Kiaralongh.


    I felt a warm scaled hand slide into mine, palm resting under my fingers. ¡°I¡¯ve always found it easier to come back through slight movements. You can move your fingers and I¡¯ll keep it simple.¡± I twitched a digit in response. ¡°Good. At least you can understand, that¡¯s an improvement. I¡¯ll skip the part Nat¡­your companion has probably already shared. Are there any areas of intense pain left?¡± He waited. Oh, I needed to try to evaluate.


    Sending my attention through my body, I noticed a lot of shit that would need more time to repair, but nothing critical. Remembering my meters, I focused and saw my health and stamina bars were both only a quarter full. I kept my focus on them and watched until I saw the slight tick increase to confirm that. I understood more deeply what Night meant about owing the lion. It wasn¡¯t normal for people to lay still for a day and a half and only a quarter of their meter to be filled. From what I had seen earlier, Engli had the skills of a journeyman healer. Shifting my focus again, I could feel the aftereffects of healing potions and the bitter aftertaste I knew came from Elixirs.


    Right. Yeah, I had so nearly recycled from this instance.


    This was worth words at least. ¡°Thank you all for saving me.¡± My voice cracked and sounded like an infant farting through bagpipes, but it was audible.


    I felt Mavrich shift positions next to me, which let me realize I was on a platform off the ground. The musky scent also was back so I imagined Samir had joined us.


    ¡°Why? Just why?¡± She was asking a reasonable question, and coming from her it affirmed my assessment of how close it had been.


    ¡°I have nothing to justify it really. I misjudged our level difference and what that really meant apparently.¡± Unvarnished honesty felt best here.


    ¡°You are an idiot.¡± Mavrich sighed at me.


    ¡°He¡¯s not wrong. Go back to sleep. Next time you wake up you should be able to move about so we can start advancing again. I told Mavrich to go through the gear and take all the herbals and parse out the loot here to the others. It should pay towards some of the healing costs.¡± I couldn¡¯t, and didn¡¯t want to, disagree with any of that.


    Tapping Mavrich¡¯s palm, I mumbled out, ¡°K, gonna nite nite again. Back soon.¡±


    The next time I woke up it was to the smell of a gator stew. It took me a minute to get my eyes to stay open and be able to focus. Kiaralongh was patiently holding a bowl in her lap that I assumed was wafting the stew scent my way. Her gaze seemed to be a mix of encouragement and patience, which was super helpful for my sluggish brain. I levered myself up and realized there was nothing to brace against. After flopping back to my prone position a few times, I could finally manage a seated position.


    Samir swung by at that point and dropped my waterskin into my lap. Looking between it and Kiaralongh, I realized I wouldn¡¯t be doing anything other than croaking words until I hydrated a bit. Hoping her patience would last, I worked at the cork of my water bottle until I could free it and take some feeble sips.


    ¡°Thanks, Samir, Kiaralongh. I¡¯d love to try the stew please.¡±


    ¡°You are still weak elf, so take your time.¡± She settled the bowl on my lap and placed an oversized spoon in my hand. Appreciating the thoughtfulness, I got to work on the stew. Chewing was an effort but the bowl proved to be more broth than meat so it worked out. I did manage to get through the stew, though I did make more of a mess than I would have liked.


    Kiaralongh took the empty bowl and spoon from me and cocked her head thoughtfully my way. ¡°You nearly recycled yourself spectacularly. Your companion, Mavrich and Samir have shared their thoughts about it. Here are mine. You are now mine until we leave this dungeon. You will be leveling your class skills. You will not be leaving my side. You seem aimless and lacking purpose.  That changes now. Or you are leaving. I understand from Reev that you are working on your Ranger skills. I''ll believe that when I see it. Get up, take a piss, wash yourself and then come tell me your choice.¡±


    Kiaralongh got up and walked away. I felt through my synergy for Night and just felt her frustration. Got it, move the meter more visibly on my skills. Check.

 Chapter 17: Remedy or Retire

    I watched as Kiara walked towards me after leaving Shad¡¯s side. I had been delving with the dryad for a couple of years now and I appreciated her straightforward nature quite a bit. We had become friends in truth two years ago after an incident with an uncontrolled fire from a beserk mage. I finished sealing the vials I had been working on and put away my crafting supplies. It had been a relief to claim this strip of mostly dry land while we waited for Shad to recover from their second misadventure.


    ¡°Mavrich, I told the elf they needed either a goal to pursue or to retire from the dungeon. I think it is best for the party.¡± Kiara crossed her arms and looked at me levely.


    ¡°There is no part of me planning on arguing with you, Kiara,¡± I told her. ¡°I appreciate you weighing in with Shad and helping their recovery. When do you estimate they will be ready to continue? I am hoping, selfishly, that we have another day here so I can make more stamina potions for us.¡±


    I watched as she glanced back at Shad shuffling pathetically upright and towards our latrine pit. Turning back to me she shook her head gently. ¡°We¡¯ll be leaving in a few hours. Samir and Scree won''t take long to find the temple now that we have a base. Level zero or not, they survived something they shouldn¡¯t have. Some skill or trait is involved, and I won¡¯t pry on that. When not scolded by their companion, I''ve noticed the elf says a lot but imparts little - is there anything I should know? I plan on making them power-level their class skills the rest of the floor and having Samir stand down from clearing the threats.¡±


    Returning Kiara¡¯s serious look with one of my own, I balanced my speculation with facts. ¡°They are capable of whatever they pursue, as you have seen, but are very susceptible to acting without thinking too deeply. You can use that to further your goal. They seem aimless, probably most frustrating to me.¡± I paused and then corrected myself. ¡°That aimlessness is for us though. I think they are pursuing something we aren¡¯t aware of, but that¡¯s just my gut speaking.¡±


    ¡°And will they pursue their goal or leave do you think?¡±


    I thought back to my last instance with Shad and Nattens. ¡°Unless their companion abandons them, I imagine Shad will achieve their goal. It just may be incremental instead of grandiose.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I prefer to have my students achieve consistent success for their efforts and suffer setbacks in small doses.¡± Kiara grew silent as she took in everyone¡¯s activities. I saw her eye sweep pause on Chad. Our tank was oiling the leather on Engli¡¯s harness and sneering at Samir wrestling with Rakshasa. ¡°He¡¯s going to be more of a problem than usual. You knew that and still invited him. Why?¡±


    Impressed again by her astute insight, it took me a moment to respond. ¡°Honestly, I figured he would push Shad out of their comfort zone. Engli is always a balance for their companion, which has proven true so far here. Shad will have to deal with the fact that Chad will endanger them through his sheer entitlement constantly. And if Shad doesn¡¯t deal with it, they will continue getting hurt and Night will force the issue.¡± I shrugged at Kiara¡¯s frank stare.


    Kiara nodded when I didn¡¯t add more, accepting that¡¯s what would be said. ¡°I¡¯m guessing three glasses before we leave. Thank you, Mav. Let¡¯s see if we can¡¯t get this elf to the second floor in one piece.¡±


    Once Kiara had walked away I decided it was a good time to check my interface to see what she was in for. I selected party composition and scanned the information.


    Samir Zorlu


    Arcane Battle Mage


    Level 5+


    Companion Rakshasa


    Chad Fortescue


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    Paladin of Eunomia


    Level 5


    Companion Engli


    Kiaralongh Nahele


    Warden


    Level 5


    Companion Scree


    Reev Sicario


    Assassin


    Level 5


    Companion Fergie


    Mavrich Guerisseuse


    Alchemist


    Level 0


    Companion [redacted]


    Shadark Ember


    Ranger


    Level 0


    Companion Night


    Scrolling down to Shad¡¯s information, I selected their class to see that overview.


    Ranger


    Apprentice


    Class Weapon Skills: Bows, Daggers, Swords


    Class General Skills: Marksmanship, Dual-Wielding, Throwing, Tracking, Trapping, Hunting, Fishing, Skinning, Butchering, Camouflage, Slinking, Perception, ??, ??, ??


    Class Terrains: Mountain, Forest, Swamp


    Class Triggered Skills: Ranger¡¯s Stance, Hunter¡¯s Sight, Hunter¡¯s Steps, ??, ??, ??


    Class Traits: Cunning, ??, ??, ??


    Class Titles: Track It, Trap It, Hunt It, Shoot It, Stab It, ??, ??, ??


    Seeing Shad''s class titles, I couldn¡¯t help the guffaw that broke free. Clearly, the elf had renamed them - something we could do to personalize our classes. It was also interesting that they had unlocked so many skills, traits, and titles that they hadn¡¯t used yet. I didn¡¯t see anything that explained how they survived the lightning bolt. I supposed I could ask Valen about it when we returned to Helmsword.


    I exited the interface secure in the knowledge that I hadn¡¯t misled Kiara. Shad would indeed be able to keep up with reasonable goals through the dungeon, and appeared to be underplaying their abilities slightly. Of course, our skills were paltry compared to the rest of the party.


    Before I could switch to my next activity I noticed Shad heading my way. Taking pity on them, I moved to meet them. Seeing the relief in their eyes, I responded with a sympathetic smile. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you moving about. You look like you need to rest again though - why don¡¯t we sit by the cookfire Samir set up?¡±


    Samir clearly heard the conversation, stopped wrestling with Rakshasa, and made room for us to join her at the fire. Not as chatty as Reev, Samir wordlessly filled us cups of tea from the pot nestled in the rocks. Thanking her, I turned to Shad and waited for them to settle down and have some sips.


    I pulled up the floor map on my interface and projected it toward Shad and Samir. ¡°We¡¯ve mapped about 45% of the floor between all of us. While you were out, Shad, we decided to split the party and use this village as a hub to open the rest of the map. Samir and Scree are going to do that scouting. They will leave as many creatures as possible for you to grind. Samir could solo this floor so they won¡¯t be in danger as long as they don¡¯t enter the mini-boss temple without us.¡±


    Night came over and settled behind Shad while they reviewed what I was saying and showing them. The elf leaned back and looked thoughtfully at Samir while Night appeared to communicate with her companion. ¡°Could you take Night with you? We would like to work on our synergy and attunement distance, and it would be an opportunity to do so if I can stay here safely while she is protected with you.¡±


    Samir didn¡¯t hesitate to assure them. ¡°Yes, that is easy enough. I would ask that we add your Collapsible Sack to Rakshasa¡¯s harness in case we need it.¡± Shad nodded agreement in turn.


    Pleased at the exchange, I weighed in to do my part to keep Shad on track. ¡°Once you get Samir the sack, I need you to help Reev break down more of the gator he brought in earlier. While Samir and Kiara focus on your class skills, Reev and I will push your general skills.¡±


    Shad gave me a tired but determined thumbs up, levered themself up and headed towards their gear. Presumably, they were getting their butchering gear and the sack for Samir. Glad we were remedying the crash course Shad had been on, I lifted my gaze to the dungeon¡¯s ceiling. The impenetrable mist of a cloud layer met my gaze and absorbed my hopes. Onward.

 Chapter 18: Break it down

    Reev caught my attention as my gaze returned from the misty ceiling. I checked that I had my alchemy kit and extraction tools in my vambrace of holding and sauntered over to him.


    ¡°Shad isn¡¯t the only one that could work on leveling here, Mav. How about you work through the organs and other bits that¡¯ll work for your craft and I¡¯ll have Shad work on skinning and butchering for our meals. They¡¯re big gators after all.¡± Reev imparted this while pulling his pipe from the pouch at his hip and started packing it with a pleasant-smelling leaf. ¡°Besides, I want to catch up. I¡¯ve been running around with the elf when I want to know what happened between you and Obsidienne.¡±


    Instant rage flooded my system at her name and I puffed out a bit of flame to have a small release valve for the immediate turmoil in my body. ¡°I¡¯ll extract the components, but I¡¯m not talking about her. If you push I won¡¯t speak with you the rest of the floor.¡±


    Reev lit their pipe and thoughtfully took a long pull to provide more time for my nerves to calm. Exhaling the smoke into the form of a draken, his sad eyes communicated begrudging agreement. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll be quiet about it for now, but you need to talk about it eventually. You reset everything, and it''s gonna catch up with you.¡±


    I knew that Reev was correct, and I wasn¡¯t ready to explore that piece of heartbreak. Determined to work through the rest of my rage, I turned to the gators that Reev had laid out. There were three of varying shades and sizes laid out on their backs, and Reev had understated by calling them big. That would give us easier access to the bits I needed at least. ¡°We should let Shad get the claws so they can do dual-level extraction and butchering. I¡¯ll focus on the core organs. Have them get us some water first and purify it please.¡±


    I pulled out of holding a bucket, a screened filter, a barrel, a cauldron and a hanging rack. ¡°This should allow them to pull off the last part. Samir looked like they made the fire big enough to share. Based on what Kiara said we have about two hours to get this done.¡±


    ¡°That sounds right, I¡¯ll go get the elf, Mav.¡± Reev strolled away and slipped from my mind while I approached the medium-sized one of the bunch.


    I pulled out and set a semi-stiff ground cover to place the components on. Arguably firmer than the morass we had spent the first day in, there was still some squishiness to contend with and I didn¡¯t need the eyeballs rolling off into the swamp. Bone saw firmly in hand, I took a second to admire my vambraces.


    They were originally a prize Samir and Rakshasa won at the capital companion tournament. On a whim, she gifted them to me, saying they would look better on me than her. I was indeed fond of how they looked against my indigo-colored scales - the vambraces were studded leather and dyed a deep black. I used the left one for all of my profession equipment, materials and finished products. The right had all my day-to-day supplies, weapons, and the items we needed for the delve. The holding capacity was that of a minor mansion for each one - which was not something anyone below level 10 could usually attain.


    Smiling grimly to myself as more of my rage leaked free from that side distraction, I turned to the gator with a vengeance and got to work. I sawed through the sternum and worked my way down to expose the cavity and the parts I needed to harvest. I wasn¡¯t proficient at butchering quite yet, so I took my time and hummed to myself to reign in my remaining rage. After switching amongst the tools needed and maybe carving more aggressively than I needed to, I pulled all the organs free from the first carcass and moved on to the second.


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    While I was working on the second, Shad came by to collect the water-gathering materials and work through my request. The second gator was not as fruitful as rot was embedded in the lower cavity ruining everything from the stomach down. Fortunately I was able to harvest the heart, brain and eyes of that one. By the time I was ready to start on the third Shad was breaking down the first and cursing softly to themself while doing it. I paused to watch them and realized their toolkit was underwhelming for the task they were attempting.


    ¡°How did you even get a skinning skill with that knife, Shad?¡±


    Momentarily stopping their hack job, they sighed and wistfully told me, ¡°I found this knife on a corpse a month or so back and just skinned anything skinnable. That¡¯s how. Are you offering to let me use one of yours?¡±


    I didn¡¯t miss the plea in their tone and remembered the blatant promise of moochiness from them. ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t. It is entertaining enough that I feel calm again, so when you get to the part where you segment the meat for our meals I will lend you a cleaver. I don¡¯t want to see you using your short sword to make steaks.¡± They continued with their task halfway through my sentence and I smiled at their antics.


    Reev returned and assessed our processing. ¡°Try not to ruin the third skin, Shad, you could sell it to get a better skinning knife back at Helmsword. Also, here¡¯s some salt from Chad¡¯s stash. Do you have a preserving skill yet or should I do that part?¡±


    The kidney came free and I set it to the side while listening for Shad¡¯s response. I chuckled at their pantomime and mumbled negative and kept going on my beast. Feeling my component extraction skill level up, I decided that working through a rage could be productive at least. ¡°Looks like you are up for that part Reev. I¡¯m nearly done harvesting the components and storing them won¡¯t take long.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me. Samir, Scree and Night should be at the edge of Shad¡¯s range soon so I imagine things will get entertaining here.¡± I raised an eyebrow to inquire more and Reev laughed, turned towards Shad and elaborated. ¡°Well, Shad, if you are as proficient in your attunement as you are with these carcasses, I would lay money down that you will make a right mess of it all. Trying to pay attention internally and externally seems like it would be hard for you.¡±


    The gentle humor in Reev¡¯s voice clearly took the edge off the teasing as Shad¡¯s response was a short ¡°Sure, yeah, whatever. Carving, thinking, blah blah.¡±


    Thoroughly amused, I popped out the gator¡¯s brain and started cleaning my tools and sorting the components to store and the ones to purify so rot wouldn¡¯t set in. I was hopeful to get more alchemy in but didn¡¯t see enough time left to brew anything properly. I made quick work of purifying and storing and wandered away from Shad and Reev to wash up.


    Splashing warm water on my face from the barrel of water Shad had set up, I let loose a final gust of lingering rage. I knew I felt that way because of the grief she had spawned deep in my soul. Obsidienne being alive made it all the worse, as I knew she could pop up at any time and insist on sowing more havoc in my life. Reev wasn¡¯t wrong to try to get me to talk about her and our separation. I just felt too much shame that I missed her and wanted her back.


    Shame because everything about who we were together is what needed to be left behind.

 Chapter 19: Well, arent you full of surprises

    ¡°They found the temple.¡± Shad¡¯s voice broke me out of my morose musings.


    Kiaralongh approached the hunched-over elf and solicited more details. ¡°Show us your map and mark them on it, Shad.¡±


    Wasting no time with a response, Shad set down their ¡®skinning¡¯ knife and projected their map towards Kiaralongh. I walked up to get a better look.


    ¡°Where are we on this?¡± I asked as Reev came over.


    A blinking dot appeared, showing our location after their face scrunched a few times with a constipated look. Engli pushed me to the side to get a better view and we assessed what the screen showed us. I noticed how detailed the path between us and the rest of our party was and couldn¡¯t stop the question from bursting free. ¡°What level is your synergy with Night? Can you see through each others¡¯ eyes already?¡±


    The map screen flickered with Shad¡¯s startlement, but they answered readily enough. ¡°No, I can¡¯t see through her eyes. Don¡¯t know if she can see through mine. Why do you ask?¡±


    Chad butted in to inform them, ¡°It¡¯s because the route is so clear but you didn¡¯t walk it. You should be able to show fuzzy landmarks from what you sense through the synergy.¡± He stepped forward and pointed at a particularly clear patch a good glass away from our position. ¡°This looks like a thick mangrove area, and clear pathways are demarcated. Kiaralongh, show what your map looks like.¡±


    ¡°My synergy is at level 5 with Scree,¡± Kiara told Shad as she projected her map over Shad¡¯s. "Your map route is more detailed than mine, and my synergy is the highest in our party, which is one reason Scree is our scout.¡±


    As Shad¡¯s map fizzled away and their body language displayed perplexed thought, I realized we may be treading dangerous ground for the elf. ¡°Night seems like they have some advanced scouting skills. Perhaps she is the one filling in all the details versus the synergy. We can ask when we meet up. We should pack up and head out. That took them two and a half glasses and will probably take us longer as the larger party.¡±


    My redirection worked for Kiara, Chad and Reev, but I noticed that Engli and Shad still seemed to be mulling it over. Stepping up my efforts, I turned to Engli. ¡°Can we store some of this gator meat with you Engli? I¡¯m sure Reev will store the unfinished bits, and I don¡¯t think Shad has any items of holding. Is that right, Shad?¡±


    Shad squinted their eyes at me and frowned. ¡°Yeah, no. None at all. Just my bags and what fits in them. And I¡¯m not sticking raw gator meat in ¡®em. Hell to clean.¡±


    ¡°Engli says fine,¡± Chad hollered from where he was re-equipping his plate mail.


    Reev returned and chuckled at the mess of gator surrounding Shad. ¡°Well, did you make some progress at least?¡± Not waiting for the answer, Reev starting storing the bodies.


    ¡°Sure. Absolutely. I¡¯m epic-level amazing now. Watch out carcasses!¡± This was accompanied by the elf¡¯s bloody double thumbs up.


    I surmised two skill levels of gain by translating Shad''s speech in my mind and examining the scattered claws and pieces of gator skin. It was extremely fast, actually¡ªgood to know they took Kiara seriously. I glanced up to notice the dryad also inspecting Shad¡¯s progress and nodding to herself.


    ¡°Go wash up, Shad. We¡¯ll finish packing this up and then I¡¯ll come collect my equipment and stow it.¡± As the elf traipsed off, hopefully to clean up, I pitched in to help Reev load up Engli and store some of the loose bits myself. With the last bit stored, I stood up and stretched to my full height. Shaking out my wings and resettling them I grimaced at the muggy air and dampness clinging to every crevice of my body. I hoped the next floor had a better biome and room for me to fly.


    Eager to clear the miniboss and move on, I moved to collect my tools near the fire. Shad was shaking the water off of themself and I dodged the stray droplets that were flung about with abandon. Stepping around the elf, I dumped the water from the barrel into the firepit, thoroughly dousing it.


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    ¡°Do you have to worry about root fires in a swamp?¡± I found Shad looking at me earnestly and was surprised to get a serious question from them.


    ¡°Uh, no. Did you read about the biome in your interface at all, Shad?¡±


    ¡°Nope, not even a little.¡± Their grave look spoke volumes about how they felt about their interface.


    ¡°Do you have the cognitive osmosis skill yet, Shad?¡±


    ¡°Uhhh, hmm. Share stuff in our brains? No, don¡¯t have that. You?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I do have it. It¡¯s quite useful to share knowledge with other crafters.¡± I let my laughter settle and continued, ¡°I can download what I know to you quickly and it may trigger you gaining the skill. It will hurt though - for you. In return I want you to collect 10 different herbs for me from this floor on the way to meet up with our party. Sound good?¡±


    ¡°Can I give you ones I already collected? If so, I¡¯m in. What do I need to do?¡± They bounced in place eagerly which brought my amusement level up again.


    ¡°Yes to the already collected herbs. And, well, you should probably sit down so you don¡¯t topple over. Also, are you already packed and ready to go? You will probably be disorientated for half a glass and not fit for much.¡±


    ¡°Oh, hang on a second. I wanted to grab a steak for Night as a present when we meet up.¡± The elf darted away from me and Kiara joined me as I waited for them to return.


    ¡°Dangerous chance to take here, Mav.¡± It wasn¡¯t a rebuke per se, but the warning and curiosity were clear.


    ¡°Seeing that map gave me a hunch. I think they will be gifted with the mind talents but not develop traditional elemental magics. This will let me know if that¡¯s correct.¡± I informed her quietly while we watched the elf dart about the camp.


    ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll go ask Rakshasa if she can be ready to watch over Shad should it go more poorly than normal.¡± Shad came loping back up to me as Kiara turned to go.


    Greeting me with an exuberant smile and plopping to the ground, Shad appeared to brace themself.


    Briefly cocking my head to the side and then shrugging, I channeled my knowledge of the swamp biome through the skill and directed it toward Shad. The result was impressive. Blood immediately trickled from their ears, eyes, and nose in spectacular fashion. Shad¡¯s eyes rolled up into their head and they keeled over to faceplant into the spongey ground. I bent down and rolled the elf onto their side and unfolded their body. Checking their pulse I found it thready and erratic.


    ¡°Engli, can you please cast Verdant Spring on them?¡±


    The lion wandered over and did just that, then curled around the elf to see the result. It made Shad seem tiny in comparison, and the solidity of the image was reassuring.


    ¡°Whatcha do to them, Mav?¡± Reev had their axe in hand and was eyeing the scene with amusement.


    ¡°Well, I think they just picked up cognitive osmosis in one go.¡± There may have been some jealousy in my voice.


    ¡°We¡¯ll give them a quarter glass to wake up, otherwise we are carrying them out. I want off this floor. My joints are soggy.¡± Kiara walked impatiently away from us.


    Knowing that wasn¡¯t like her, I linked up with her and whispered, ¡°you ok?¡±


    ¡°Fine. No, actually, I¡¯m not. That should have taken five attempts, and moreso shouldn''t be possible for their level. Who the fuck are they, Mav? What have you gotten us into? Can Samir take them down if we need to?¡±


    ¡°Good point.¡± I paused to assess if I knew. I didn¡¯t. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know, Kiara.¡± After another thoughtful pause I continued, ¡°they seem genuine and I think this isn¡¯t our first instance together. My gut says they won¡¯t be bad for us. Plus their reaction to the skill transfer leans towards them actually being a zero.¡±


    She looked me over quickly, sighed and turned to face me. ¡°Good enough. Let¡¯s go pick up the elf and go. My joints are actually soggy.¡±

 Chapter 20: Nice mind skill you got there

    I felt my body swaying from side to side and my mind screamed at me with a piercing pain. On the next downward sway, my stomach joined the protest and expelled its meager contents out of my mouth and up my nose in a disgusting display of dismay.


    The swaying stopped immediately and I heard a chorus of angry buzzing swarm me. Attempting to lever myself up - why was I upside down - I found my arms too weak to obey me. I felt myself positioned upright which created a disco of sparks behind my eyes and the pounding of my heart cavorting across my brain. After that faded from an all-consuming nightmare, the buzzing solidified into comprehensible words.


    ¡°...give me the cloth. They¡¯re going to choke on that soon and it¡¯ll be worse. I need Engli to ¡­¡±


    Maybe Samir was saying that. I didn¡¯t know, but I felt a cloth roughly swipe out my nostrils and mouth, for which I was both grateful and embarrassed. What the actual fuck had happened to me!?


    On the heels of that thought, the muggy air of the swamp triggered the realization that I knew it was muggy because of its proximity to bodies of water and that we were in a low-lying area subject to high levels of rainfall and humidity. This pain was not worth knowing. The factoids continued rolling by unbidden in a patchwork of esoteric knowledge and random tidbits that Mav had collected and sent my way in his decades of experiences with swamps.


    Feeling a rare burst of anger, I seized control of my body, opened my eyes - and promptly slammed them shut again. I felt the whimper crawl out of my throat and the anger flee from the searing pain the light had brought. The whole right side of my skull increased its palpitations to an alarming degree and I felt a chill roll down my body. Desperate to make it stop, I reached out and feebly gripped whoever was holding me upright. With intense concentration, I pushed back the pain to focus on hearing.


    ¡°...just hang on elf. Engli¡¯s on a cooldown and you keep spewing back up the potions. If you need to focus on something you can¡­¡±


    Giving no fucks about focusing on something other than this all-encompassing pain, I stopped listening. Facades be damned, I needed to end this pain now before my brain boiled and worse shit happened. Going by memory since using my interface felt like a primed minefield, I grabbed the first healing skill I thought of and triggered it.


    ¡°Airmed¡¯s Cerate.¡±


    I felt whoever was holding me let go and rapidly scoot back as the ointment appeared and formed over my body. I felt all my senses were immediately muffled as I flopped unsupported to the ground. The pain slowly receded to manageable levels as the smell of lard, honey and lavender wrapped around me. Slowly releasing the tension from my muscles I groaned with relief as the shell cracked and started falling off me. I would be digging pieces of wax out of my clothes for the foreseeable future. Worth it.


    Cracking open an eye I was met by the hot breath of Night hovering over my face. She looked like she was trying to hide what I had just done while simultaneously realizing how futile it was. I meekly patted her closest body part, a paw, and smiled resignedly at her.


    Firmly pushing Night to the side, Kiaralongh¡¯s face appeared in my view with a stern tell me right now look.


    ¡°Hey, hi. Sorry I vomited on someone.¡± That seemed like an appropriate response.


    ¡°What was that skill? I didn¡¯t know level zero rangers had complex healing skills in their builds. Enlighten us.¡± Apparently, Kiaralongh didn¡¯t think it was an appropriate response.


    Pivoting my eyes, and only my eyes, down, I found the glint of steel to go with the scent of weapon oil I had caught. Aimed at my throat based on the angle. Well, that escalated fast. My roving eyes quickly picked out the rest of the party encircling me with a mix of surprise, curiosity and hostility in their body language. I mean, sure, usually ¡®innocent folks¡¯ bilking a party would let them clear a dungeon and then rob them blind, but that wasn¡¯t my modus operandi!


    Feeling a prick in my skin from the knife at my neck, my eyes snapped back to Kiaralongh. ¡°The skill is Airmed¡¯s Cerate, novice level, and as you saw it covers the caster in a paste that absorbs all injuries and soothes them. At novice level it has a thirty-day cooldown.¡± I shifted slightly as the root digging into my back let me know staying in this position would create another need for healing or at least a nice stretching session I bet I didn¡¯t have time for.


    Kiaralongh took that as an opportunity to plant their knee in my gut and apply their considerable weight to it. ¡°You didn¡¯t respond to the second part. How do you have that skill? Only pinnacles bring random skills forward, and you don¡¯t strike me as someone pathing with an actual goal or purpose. Explain.¡±


    I was secretly frustrated that my facade continued to crumble, but preferred to keep the remaining pieces of fragile trust with the party than preserve it. ¡°Yeah, no clue. Valen and Night keep telling me to roll with it and ¡®it will all be explained in good time,¡¯ etc, etc. I can do some shit, can¡¯t do other simple things. It¡¯s a random spinning wheel of ¡®Surprise!¡¯ Can you get off my bladder, I gotta pee fierce now.¡±


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    Levering herself up, Kiaralongh narrowed her eyes in contemplation.


    Samir weighed in helpfully and sauntered away from my rumpled form, ¡°I can disable or off them both if need be, Ki.¡±


    Chad, not one to be left out of sharing opinions, imparted to Kiaralongh that, ¡°I haven¡¯t trusted them this entire time. If they have these skills they should stop wasting Engli¡¯s charges of healing. They get injured more than a training dummy at the adventure¡¯s guild, and I haven¡¯t seen a useful contribution to date. I say we kick them out after the miniboss and finish the dungeon without them.¡± Arms crossed and pompous air in place, Chad¡¯s head swiveled for Mavrich¡¯s thoughts.


    Reev cut in as Mavrich seemed to swell with indignation. ¡°Now look, it¡¯s clearly a misunderstanding. Shad has been contributing quietly the whole time, and Night has also been doing her fair share. The elf is clearly inexperienced with groups, causing some of this friction. I, for one, have plenty of things I¡¯m not running around telling y¡¯all about my build. And I won¡¯t be the only one, eh?¡± Reev¡¯s meaningful glance had more weapons lowering and shoulders relaxing.


    ¡°Fair enough. I won¡¯t apologize for being suspicious, Shad. We¡¯ve had two back-to-back revelations of you holding unexplainable or over-leveled skills. I will need some assurances that you aren¡¯t an Overseer plant in our group or planning on stealing from us.¡± Kiaralongh resheathed her dagger and glanced over at Engli. ¡°Please clean the rest of your vomit off of Engli so we can continue to the miniboss. We¡¯ll be there in half a glass. I will think on what assurances we can gain reasonably by then.¡±


    Rolling over and then upright, I sidled past the dryad to do as she bid. I quietly jumped up and down in place to shake more of the cerate out of my clothes and then went to my pack still strapped to Rakshasa. I turned and headed Engli¡¯s way after pulling out my canteen, Night¡¯s steak and an older shirt I could use as a rag.


    ¡°Sorry for vomiting on you Engli,¡± was my whispered words as I carefully knocked free the repulsive remains from his tawny fur. The last bits fell free and I dried off the evidence with the cleanest corner of my shirt I could find. I held up the steak to him as a peace offering.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t want Night¡¯s gator steak. You just unlocked a 5+ skill as a level zero, there are bound to be consequences. But also gains. I¡¯m glad to be able to speak with you directly more easily.¡±


    Hearing Engli¡¯s amused and scholarly voice echo through my head froze me in place. We weren''t maintaining eye contact for a telepathic bridge. This was not the skill I had unlocked. C¡¯mon!


    ¡°You aren¡¯t the only one full of surprises, Shad. This one is from my end, not yours. I can talk to whomever I wish at whatever distance I want to without maintaining eye contact. I am both an empath and a telepath. It¡¯s less of a strain if the recipient has mind skills in the level 5 build range. I usually just don¡¯t bother. You seem to be receiving a hard enough time from my friends that I am taking pity on you. You¡¯re welcome.¡±


    I laughed to myself as my limbs loosened up again. A cheeky lion. Who knew. Spontaneously grabbing Engli¡¯s head, I kissed him on the nose and smiled into his eyes. ¡°Thanks buddy,¡± were my parting words as I stood back and assessed where the hell we were.


    I cleared my face of any emotion as I noticed Mavrich approaching me stiffly. ¡°Hey, big guy. Sorry I keep keeling over on ya. I guarantee it is not intentional.¡± Night joined me and leaned into my hip supportively as he came to a stop in front of me.


    He just stood there. Silent. Tall. Brooding.


    Throat cleared, I tried again. ¡°So, uhm, we¡¯re nearly to the miniboss. Will we be using the standard formation to approach it?¡±


    One of his brow ridges raised meaningfully at me. His arms crossed over his chest, and his foot started tapping impatiently. ¡°What did I tell you last time?¡±


    ¡°Last time? Last time, uhm.¡± I wracked my brain for what he was seeking. Anger coalesced as some memories came to the surface, perhaps not the ones he alluded to. ¡°You said I may be disorientated, for half a glass! I was out for two glasses by my count and was being attacked by my brain! What the fuck man! And you said you were a zero too! How did a zero give another zero a 5+ skill!!!¡±


    Startled at my outburst, Mav answered instinctually. ¡°Because I¡¯m not just a zero. I reset my class. I was a level ten before, and have a lot of general skills that didn¡¯t get wiped with the reset.¡±


    I spluttered, ¡°How is that even possible! Why would you do that?¡± I started pacing in frustration.


    He reached over and laid his large hand on my shoulder and leaned down so our eyes were level, effectively halting me in my tracks. ¡°I¡¯m immortal Shad. I can reset everything as often as I wish. As to why, I won¡¯t discuss it. Now stop deflecting.¡± He paused and let out a deep breath.


    ¡°I said you needed to level and that I was going to help you. I have helped you. And now you owe me ten herbs by the end of the floor. Regardless, I came over here to make sure you were ok. What I told you last time was that I cared about your growth. So, are you ok?¡± He straightened back up and I realized the stillness was him holding back emotions.


    Deflated, I shook my head in the negative. ¡°Nah, but I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I leaned into Night and pasted a grin on my face. I also belatedly handed her the steak I had so carefully procured for her.


    ¡°Ok, well you have a few more seconds to wallow and then you need to arm up. Samir saved you a lot of critters to grind for experience.¡± He stood companionably by me while I just chilled out for a few moments. The swamp view of reeds, mangrove trees and bug swarms dancing about the thick air was not really relaxing, so my respite was really short. I belatedly pieced together that the whole party was together and that a lot had happened in those two glasses I was out.


    Shaking it off, I checked that Stabby was loose enough for a quick draw, my quiver was full and my bow string ready. I looked over at Mavrich, patted Night affectionately and drew myself out of my relaxed poise. ¡°Let¡¯s finish this and get off this damn floor, eh?¡±

 Chapter 21: Taunted Turtles

    ¡°This floor is not doing you any favors. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen you injured so frequently the entire time we¡¯ve been together. You should have Samir discreetly analyze you.¡±


    My stride stuttered as Night dropped that little piece of information my way. Fortunately, my class build allowed me more grace than the average ballerina, and I continued forward smoothly. ¡°And what, pray tell, do you think she may find?¡±


    Night ghosted in front of me, hopping to the next spongey patch of terrain. Looking back, her message sent some irritation up my spine. ¡°Well, Kiaralongh has been eyeballing Chad, and the lion is always around conveniently healing you before we can process what is happening.¡±


    ¡°Seriously? C¡¯mon, Night! The snake was Chad - though I shouldn¡¯t have been hopping up and down like that; the Shambler was my dumb ass not pausing to think; and this last one is squarely on Mavrich. Besides, it was one peck on the nose. Don¡¯t think I miss the jealousy mingled into your ¡®concern.¡¯ If you want me to be more affectionate with you, you just have to say so.¡±


    Her hackles sprung up and a snarl ripped through the air, causing the rest of the party to ready weapons and search for the cause of Night¡¯s outburst. She stalked up to me and blasted me with, ¡°You conceited, self-involved, pompous breadmold! I¡¯m jealous, rightly, that you unlocked a mind skill and a path there, not that you were affectionate with that damn cat! Not a single part of me is insecure about our connection or that we will Bond. I just need to keep your stupid ass alive long enough for it to happen. So get Analyzed and tell me what Samir finds.¡±


    Totally floored, I stood rooted as she turned and stalked away. The party took the hint and continued on as well, with Mavrich eventually prompting me to keep walking. Keeping my bow ready so my thoughts could mull, I tried processing the most recent events. I could see my actions were brash, but they didn¡¯t feel manipulated.


    Ever since I woke up in this instance I had floated from event to event just going with the flow. I had some goals that I worked towards, a quest here or there, some items to acquire once I secured the funding. My ultimate purpose was to survive. I could see, on reflection, how my recent actions were not supportive of that purpose. Huh. Maybe I would get Samir to take a look. And apologize to Night for besmirching her honor.


    Setting those thoughts aside, I focused on the scene in front of me. The temple came into view as we broke through a stand of mangroves. It was a tall rectangle of a building with a smattering of columns around it. Some columns were broken off with thick vines twisted around them, others still stood tall and proud in their dark marbled glory. The whole structure was half-submerged and crumbling to the elements. If I had to guess, the building could easily take half a day to cross - in its pristine state.


    Rakshasa and Fergie, catching up to me, let me know that I had stopped moving forward. It felt like a good time to apply the buffs I could offer, so I did, firing off Ranger¡¯s Stance, Hunter¡¯s Sight and Hunter¡¯s Steps in quick succession. I also switched to intentionally moving with Stealth active so I could maximize my usefulness in the next bit of our journey.


    ¡°The creatures Samir saved for you are up here. Move to the front so you can take care of them.¡±


    Heeding Night¡¯s instructions, I worked my way past the others on the narrow juts of drier land until I pulled even with Chad. He was fully blocking the path forward and was oblivious to my attempts to pass him quietly. Rolling my eyes at his entitlement, I slid into the moist environ and held back my disgust as I continued forward. I felt like an overstuffed toad lumbering along with my bow over my head and prayers guiding my feet to avoid leeches.


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    Once I was a few feet past the front guard position, I slipped into a stand of reeds and searched for the critters that Night had told me about. Feeling her slip into my sight, I expected her to weigh in scathingly about my ineptitude. Either she was getting slow or my tracking was getting better. I found the group of marsh turtles before she could point them out.


    The group was wedged into a defensible position, and most were camouflaged from casual observation. I triggered Analyze and the return information was heartening. They were all level zero like me, and they had defensive class builds. It looked like there was one fighter, but no mages among them. Samir had done me a solid here.


    Considering Night¡¯s recent feedback, I pondered the best approach. The environment was too wet for me to plan to use fire against them¡ªnot that I had any worth mentioning. Their shells were too sturdy for me to break through in any reasonable time frame, and my archery skills were too low for me to finish off more than one that way. These just weren¡¯t creatures I should be soloing. I backed down from the reeds and made my way back to Night.


    ¡°Hey, we should ask Chad to Taunt them out of the hole after I take the fighter down. From there I can get a few more. He should be fine until I whittle them down, right?¡± I cocked my head at her expectantly while removing some slimy marsh grass that had wrapped around my leg.


    ¡°That¡¯s reasonable. They would just entrench more if Samir or I engaged them, and Kiaralongh would probably accidentally kill them while trying to assist you. Go ask him.¡±


    Emboldened by the soundness of my plan, I walked up to Chad, who was waiting bored next to Engli. Before I fully arrived, he straightened up and eyed me with disdain. ¡°Are you done yet? I swear if you make me stay in this swamp longer than necessary, I will be most put out.¡±


    ¡°Actually, I need you to help move this party along. I¡¯m gonna take out the fighter of the bunch, then need you to Taunt and tank the rest.¡± I looked him up and down in my best impression of doubt. ¡°If you can hold them.¡±


    If his brisk stalking into the marsh was any indication, that made him enraged and flabbergasted. I quickly scrambled to take out the fighter. Thankfully, I had practiced taking out moving targets at the guild before this delve, as I had to shoot on the move. Chad braced and taunted the turtles before I was in range. The fighter of the bunch crashed into the muck with a couple of arrows as evidence that it wasn¡¯t just a nap on his part from my ministrations.


    Chad continuously banged on his shield with his mace and danced about to keep the turtles back successfully from gnawing off bits of him. Sighting their ungainly necks snapping at him, I slowly whittled down their number and my quiver. There wasn¡¯t anything else soft enough exposed above the water line and their eyes were well protected by their brow ridges.


    At some point Chad started taunting me while he Taunted them, and it got a little more chaotic as I stowed my bow and pulled Stabby out in a frenzy of unexplained anger. Clambering around in the muck, marsh grasses pulling down my agility, I desperately dodged gnashing beaks that snapped my way faster than I would have liked. Glad that Stabby and I were old friends, I thrust her squarely in the closest turtle¡¯s mouth. I danced back from the enraged retaliatory blow while slightly grossed out by the papillae that Stabby raked against on the way out.


    Switching to slashing also led to no concrete gains other than a latticework of future badass scars on the turtle''s tough hide. Still enraged and being prodded verbally by Chad, I stowed stabby and pulled out a dagger for each hand. With what was supposed to be a fierce yell, I flung myself onto the turtle''s back in an attempt to lodge my daggers into its brain. Instead, I assed over teacups into the swamp on the other side of the turtle. Coming back up for air, weeds sticking to my face in a slime-ridden embrace, I scrabbled back upright and assessed.


    I couldn¡¯t get purchase to stab them to death and Stabby wasn¡¯t strong enough to break through. I had to use my bow. Determined to ignore Chad and end this as humanely as possible, I rearmed myself with my bow and picked off the antagonized turtles. It was amazing and anticlimactic in the end, but it got the job done. I sighed in relief as the last turtle crashed to the ground with a mud-splattered squelch.


    I heard slow clapping and turned to see the rest of the party posted up a couple of feet away in various positions that made it clear they had been watching the entire time. Not missing the opportunity, I performed an ironic bow that jettisoned more muck out of my tunic and vambraces.


    ¡°If y¡¯all can help me loot them and store the carcasses for later, we can move on.¡± If I had to loot these all myself we would leave a lot of lootables behind. Reev and Mavrich quickly alleviated that concern as they stored carcass after carcass in their various items of holding.


    I hopped to it and quickly retrieved some of the more usable arrows for the next leg - the temple proper.

 Chapter 22: Ghastly Ghoul

    Standing up and moving aside to let Mavrich collect the last turtle, I placed the arrow I had collected back in my quiver. Pleased to have endured an encounter without the need for healing, I shuffled aside to wait for my place in our formation to arrive. I groaned inwardly as Kiaralongh paused beside me, her eyes trained on the temple.


    ¡°You did well enough. Stay in the formation, and you should also survive the miniboss. Depending on what it is, it will go down quickly to our combined might. We haven¡¯t really unleashed yet, as there has been no need on this floor. All of us are oppressed by the heat and unintended drama we find ourselves in. Don¡¯t give me another reason to doubt you, clear?¡±


    ¡°Yep, got it. Stick to the middle, do my ranger thing, don¡¯t court danger.¡± She was already moving on as I finished speaking. Fergie hopped over to my shoulder as Samir passed, nestling in and wrapping his little ferret paws around my ear and hair for stability.


    Taking that as my cue to continue, I followed after Samir and approached the temple at an angle. Watching party members disappear into the darkened entrance raised the hackles on my neck. Having no alternative, I kept moving forward and felt Rakshasa closing in behind me. At the last moment, Reev popped up in front of me, giving me a jump scare and nearly knocking Fergie loose. Not abashed in the least, Reev smirked at me while Fergie clambered over to his shoulder.


    While appreciating the loosening of tension their antics had created, I still kept my guard up. I felt the temperature plummet as I crossed the threshold to the temple. Watching my breath curl away from my mouth I squinted to make out the space. It appeared we had arrived in a large hall with a very tall ceiling. Details such as color and materials were masked by the dark, but it looked like it had been a well-appointed feast hall at some point. Tables and chairs were strewn about in various states of decay and destruction. Platters, plates, goblets and tableware were littered about, and some bobbed near me in the stagnant water.


    As quickly as I assessed that, I also noticed the party spreading out and popping off skill buffs and defensive spells. I scanned about desperately to find what had alerted them while drawing forward to stay in my area of the formation. Rakshasa firmly pushed me more quickly with her head. Apparently, I wasn¡¯t going fast enough. Trusting the bear to have my back I picked up my pace to close the gap between myself and Samir. As I did so she gleefully started arcing swaths of roaring fire into the room.


    Illuminated by Samir¡¯s spell, I saw the miniboss for the first time. It was fifteen feet tall. And it was gross. Much grosser than the swamp we were in. Clothed in a tattered mage robe, melting flesh ran off its bone structure and dripped into the water below. It cackled and flung black spells from a putrid gnarled wooden staff towards the group. The spells and the miniboss smelled like raw sewage had a baby with spoiled milk and left it out in the sun to mature. The cackling was like fingernails slowly running down slate and made me shudder in a way I couldn¡¯t firmly describe while remaining on this side of sanity. So this was one of Drugal¡¯s infamous ghouls.


    I watched, entranced, as the party engaged with the ghoul with well-timed attacks and counters. Engli¡¯s defensive barrier was a dome of pure blue light that encapsulated the stationary members of the party. Kiaralongh, Scree, Reev and Rakshasa harried the ghoul in melee like a choreographed opera whose only end was death.


    For the first time, I saw Reev unleash the axe normally strapped to his back with great effect as he cracked through the ghoul¡¯s right femur. As the ghoul stumbled, Scree didn¡¯t hesitate to blast it with a sound attack that interrupted its next casting. No slouch, Kiaralongh¡¯s hatchets tore through the left tibia, bringing the formerly tall ghoul crashing down to a much more reasonable height.


    The ghoul howled in rage as it caught itself from completely going prone. That howl was a sound attack that shattered my ear drums and left me on my knees in a stupor. Chad redoubled his efforts to pull the ghoul''s attention, buying all of us time to shake off the skill effects. Samir, being higher leveled, quickly clambered back to her feet and riddled the creature with ice spikes to assist Chad¡¯s ploy.


    Staggering up, I nocked an arrow and sighted on the beastie. Hoping to prevent future sound attacks I fired for its throat and was satisfied when my arrow ripped straight in. That quickly turned to retching disgust when the arrow and the throat sloughed off and dropped into the quagmire. Two baleful eyes locked on me and it levered its staff my way. Having none of that, I pulled myself together and fired off another shot while skittering towards Engli¡¯s barrier. I slid through the muck and into the dome as the spell splashed its greasy magic to my former position.


    Mavrich hauled me up by the arm as I watched Reev descend from a jump that snapped off the ghoul''s head from its neck. Adrenaline coursing through me at my near miss, I watched the skull roll to a stop in front of Chad with my arrow lodged in an eye socket.


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    Samir purposefully left the barrier and headed to the rest of the remains. Unceremoniously torching them into oblivion, I hoped her doing so would alleviate some of the foul odors that were clinging to the space.


    As Engli¡¯s healing spell washed over all of us, sound returned to my awareness. The sounds of Samir¡¯s fire and my breath reached me. I was panting like an overheated hound. Looking around, I realized that the fight was over. I mean, I had seen it end, but I was still surprised. Was that 90 seconds? This was supposed to be the big miniboss. My level disparity, compared to the others, sunk in in a different way than before. This had been no contest for them, whereas I had been on the knife¡¯s edge.


    Putting the arrow I still held in my hand away, I went to join Samir. She smiled at me as I approached while still supervising the incineration. ¡°Good job, Shad. Most can¡¯t actually attack on their first miniboss. You should feel great about your contributions!¡±


    I searched her face for signs of her pranking me and didn¡¯t find any. Mirth was definitely there but not mockery. It was so disjointed from my own assessment that I couldn¡¯t help being surprised. ¡°Thanks, Samir. That means a lot. Hey, on a different note, can you analyze me and lemme know what you see?¡±


    ¡°Come join me - I¡¯m asking Samir to Analyze me.¡±


    Night padded up as Samir shrugged and assessed me with her skill. A frown formed on her face, quickly replaced by her usual countenance of amusement. After indications of her interface being closed, she quickly gave some hand signals to the group. I caught some that Reev had taught me¡ªdanger, shield, stealth¡ªbut missed most of them and their meaning. Quirking an eyebrow and moving a hand discreetly towards Stabby, I pivoted so Night could protect my flank.


    ¡°Calm yourself elf. I¡¯m calling Ki over. And who taught you our sign?¡±


    ¡°Reev did when we were hunting together. And why are you calling Kiaralongh over?¡± I shifted slightly again. I couldn¡¯t pretend to defend myself against either of them, but I wouldn¡¯t go down without trying either.


    ¡°Because someone has enthralled you, and she may have a skill to break it.¡± She placed her hand firmly on my arm as she imparted this to me. Rakshasa lumbered up and placed herself between Night and the rest of the party, squelching into a sitting position that made me squirm a little in sympathy.


    Night¡¯s low growl reverberated in my head along with her admonishment. ¡°I told you it wasn¡¯t normal. Ask her for more details.¡±


    I found that I couldn¡¯t ask. Like, I tried, but the words floated away, and I found myself looking quizically at the hand placed on my arm.


    Was Samir making moves on me? Yes please. No, wait, that wasn¡¯t it. I looked up to find Samir smiling at me sympathetically. I felt hot, uncomfortably so. Something wasn¡¯t right. I looked away to find Night. Oh, she was right by my side. Why was my hand clenched around Stabby?


    I felt disorientated and agitated. I startled when Kiaralongh grabbed my face. She was always grabbing me by the face.


    ¡°Tell me, Samir.¡± Her breath rolled intentionally over my face and she kept looking into my eyes like they would tell her something. I mean I guess I could project my interface at her.


    ¡°They are enthralled. It¡¯s an expert skill casting, and has something to do with fortune and befuddlement. I can¡¯t quite make out all of the details, but it seems quite pernicious. It doesn¡¯t feel like something a Guide would place to protect a pathing. There are several of those entwined with this one, so it will be a fine thread to pull.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?!¡± I tried unsuccessfully to break free of their holds. That didn¡¯t sound good at all.


    ¡°Gently, Shad. All Guides cast skills on those they guide - protections, locators, experience gains. Valen would not harm you.¡±


    Not overly reassured, I tried to ask more.


    Kiaralongh was really close to me. ¡°Can I call you Kiara yet?¡± I leaned into the hand gripping my jaw. She smelled like evergreen trees and mint.


    Samir laughed next to me and shook me gently. ¡°If this wasn¡¯t so serious I would want to stretch this out to see what else the elf would get up to.¡±


    Kiaralongh let me go and grunted acknowledgment to Samir. She appeared to be searching her interface and had a grimace crawling across her features. I reached out internally for Night and felt her solidly in our synergy, a calm bulwark of assurance. Why was I confused?


    I looked to Samir and she winked at me lasciviously. My brain fumbled an adequate response while my brows climbed to my hairline in surprise. Was Samir flirting with me? Not saying no to that. Wait.


    Feeling a creepy sense of deja vu, I turned away from Samir just in time to see Kiaralongh fling a handful of powder at me. Startled I inhaled it before I could stop myself. I saw Kiaralongh dart forward to catch me as I crumbled and my vision blurred out.

 Chapter 23: Levels and Loot

    I caught the sight of Shad collapsing out of the corner of my eye. Immediately concerned, I launched forward to see what was happening and, if necessary, protect the elf from a sudden demise.


    Kiara gently brought Shad to the ground as I drew close. As I inspected them I could see no obvious injury. I looked more closely and I saw flecks of glitter dusting the lower half of their face. ¡°You dusted them? Why?¡± My concern deescalated as my curiosity crept forward.


    ¡°They are enthralled, quite skillfully, Mav. They were getting agitated and Ki needed room to assess more thoroughly. The wolf signed off as a good path forward.¡± Samir leaned over and opened an eyelid on the prone elf. ¡°They¡¯re pretty deep in. We should have several glasses, Ki.¡±


    ¡°Mavrich, what do you know of their Guide and how long they have been in this instance? Do you know of anything that would explain why someone would lock them out from fully utilizing the Sentient and also lead them to have more random encounters of Chaos than a normal seed would produce?¡±


    Kiara squatted down next to Shad and held their wrist lightly while monitoring their heart rate. I hadn¡¯t seen many people dusted before, and I was glad Kiara was taking precautions.


    ¡°Valen has them Pathing Freelance which doesn¡¯t line up with what you are describing. While she is more than capable of intricate enthrallments, Valen stated to me she would like to see Shad supersede the Sentient, not be blocked from fully utilitizing it. She also said she would let Shad float along the river of circumstance and not interfere. She hinted at something more, but it sounded decades off.¡± I sighed and scratched my scaled cheek ridge. ¡°As to the Chaos piece, that explains a lot of what we are seeing. While what has been happening is explainable, Shad doesn¡¯t strike me as someone who is foolish and has been plagued by a fool¡¯s worth of misfortune.¡±


    I took in the scene around me again while deciding if anything else was helpful to add. I looked to Nattens and saw the wolf had curled up next to Shad, her body language that of the patient hunter she was. I debated reaching out to the wolf for her thoughts and knew it wasn¡¯t worth it. Nattens and I had never really gotten along my gut told me, and I trusted my deep-seated instincts when it came to companions.


    ¡°What do you need to move forward, Kiara? And how quiet are we keeping this? The rest will notice the elf is down again soon enough.¡±


    ¡°Valid point. If asked, tell them Shad is processing their gains from their last reseeding to now, which, with the mind skill, would explain their state. It is also somewhat true since I will be uncoiling a skill suppression from their being which tends to trigger consolidations.¡± Kiara¡¯s shrug understated what the process entailed, but I didn¡¯t feel like pushing her on it. Shad had been very resilient so far.


    ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure how much time I will need, and I want to have a firm grasp on the skill¡¯s signature so I can recognize the owner or owners of it in the future. Encourage the others to finish collecting more carryable loot, attend to their Skill level and find their random chests. It will save time later if Reev also tracks down Shad¡¯s chest.¡±


    I nodded my agreement and went to do just that after another glance at the unconscious elf.


    Samir stood and whispered to Rakshasa to stay with Shad and protect them, and then she sauntered off across the soggy ground to take Kiara¡¯s advice.


    I looked around and didn¡¯t see Reev, which was not at all surprising, so I headed toward Chad, figuring the half-elf assassin would pop up when he was ready. I chuckled to myself as I realized I had stopped noticing the squelch of mud and decomposing foliage that worked between my clawed toes with every step I took. I would make a point to check Engli, Rakshasa, and Night¡¯s paws to make sure they didn¡¯t have any cuts that could lead to rot.


    Arriving next to Chad, I cleared my throat as I realized he was deep in his interface. Once I had waited several minutes with no recognition or acknowledgment from the paladin, I moved over to Engli. The lion was cleaning their paws, which was a perfect opening for me. ¡°I would like to inspect you to make sure you aren¡¯t going to be afflicted. Do you have any spots that have open wounds, even tiny ones?¡±


    Engli considered me. ¡°I do actually, on my hind leg between my toes. I¡¯ve been keeping it clean since I don¡¯t know of a way to protect it other than that. What would you suggest?¡±


    I took my time to consider. In the swamp, every footfall was met with stagnant water, decomposing material or slimy mud. Closing the wound seemed like the best option. ¡°If I can use my assessment skill I¡¯ll know for sure. I¡¯m leaning towards a tincture of deterge followed by a quick seal skin skill. Would it be ok to assess you?¡±


    Engli took their time answering. Assessing people wasn¡¯t taboo per se, but it was also an intimate practice held by family, close friends, or lovers. We were none of these to each other. Narrowing their eyes at me, they decided, ¡°I trust you to respect it as if I had asked the same of you.¡±


    Not one to drag something out, I triggered the skill Alchemist¡¯s Assessment and brought up my interface to read through the information. I modified it to show me an image of Engli with the injured areas color-coded for severity and descriptor text available on zoom in to highlighted areas. I had it set up to cross-reference my inventory and recommend the most efficient curatives.


    In addition to the wound on Engli¡¯s paw, there were some bruised ribs, strained neck muscles and stress fractures on their right shoulder. I knew that bruised ribs, left untreated, could take weeks or longer to heal. I triggered the skill again to glean the age of the injuries and layered that into my interface. I had been right to do so, the ribs were injured three weeks ago, the right shoulder and strained neck muscles were a week-old injury. The stress fractures and cuts - there were several - were from the past three days.


    Besides the deterge tincture, the skill recommended I provide an ossium potion to aid in the bone repair. Happy with the results, I closed my interface and dug the two out of my vambrace for Engli. ¡°This blue one is a deterge tincture. It will wash out any impurities before I cast my Seal Skin skill on you. The second, this yellow one, is the ossium potion and will help your bones heal faster. You can take them back to back with no ill effects. You will be thirstier than normal. Any questions or concerns?¡±


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    I observed Engli using their analyze skill on the vials I held. Not offended in the least, I waited to see if they would move forward with my recommendation. If Engli did move forward, it should level my Crafters Consultation skill and tier it up from Apprentice to Journeyman Common. Those 100 levels between the ranks had come quickly.


    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s do this. It will be refreshing to have less pain if I am to continue being a pack animal for Shad.¡±


    Pleased, I quickly provided the potions and cast the skill. I felt the tier up and smiled. A job well done. ¡°Thank you Engli. When Chad is done, please let him know that Kiara has requested we collect more carryable loot, find our treasure chests while watching out for Shad¡¯s and deal with our skill level before we attend to the cleansing this floor for reseeding.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s already doing the Skill level. I¡¯ll let him know about the rest, Mavrich. Thank you for easing my injuries. I will let you know if any others arise that my own skills wouldn¡¯t soothe.¡±


    I worked my way towards Reev, smiling at the compliment and proud of my progress. I wanted to catch him before he flitted off again, so I hailed him with a hand sign and a bright grin. I had assessed correctly that Reev would stick around for the combination.


    ¡°Whatcha got Mav?¡± He danced from foot to foot with a trace of impatience.


    ¡°Just passing on word from Kiara. She is hoping you can track down Shad¡¯s chest and help us increase our carryable loot. I imagine you have already dealt with your skill level?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Seeing Shad bite it so hard from that lightning, I spent my skill level to acquire a general body resistance skill. I¡¯ll have to get more specific once I can rent time in a training hall, but it should help in the short term. I could tank that attack for another floor, but I don¡¯t think I could after that, and we have lots of dungeon to go. And can do on the rest. I see Shad is down again. We should build them a hammock and harness it between Rakshasa and Samir.¡± He chortled as he finished saying it, and I too found it an extremely entertaining image.


    ¡°Whatcha gonna do with your skill level, Mav?¡±


    ¡°I am planning on leveling my potion potency skill. I have a long way to go to get it to Expert without this reward as it¡¯s only Journeyman 17 now. All of my other profession skills are further along.¡± Reev nodded in agreement with my choice, and I appreciated the validation. Free skill levels were incredibly rare and not to be wasted.


    Reev said nothing more as he turned to do more looting, and I took the opportunity to move towards the chest I had spotted earlier with an image of a whimsical purple-hued dragon floating above it. Placing my clawed hand on the cover, I felt the catch release. Opening the lid, I was pleased to see five items inside. Triggering Analyze, I identified my first floor rewards.


    Boots of Levitation


    Item Level: Expert


    Item Quality: Rare


    These Boots of Levitation would have been super handy for you at the start of this level! But hey, no time like the present. Get it - present. Ahem. The user can levitate up to one foot above a surface.


    Amulet of Sensing


    Item Level: Journeyman


    Item Quality: Uncommon


    The Amulet of Sensing can protect one of your senses from being influenced by skills or the environment. Holds five charges per day. Can be upgraded for more charges and more senses. Recommend you use it now for your sense of smell. For reals!


    Cloak of Cooling


    Item Level: Expert


    Item Quality: Uncommon


    This would also have been refreshing a couple of days ago, eh? Le sigh. A familiar deep black, this shiny cloak did indeed come from the swamp snake your party destroyed earlier. Waste not, want not, I say!


    Bag of Bounty


    Item Level: Apprentice


    Item Quality: Journeyman


    Nothin¡¯ to see here. Quick, hide me! 500 platinum shinies!


    Cunning Cucurbit


    Item Level: Expert


    Item Quality: Rare


    Seems funny to get a piece of an Alembic, but there you have it. When paired with Journeyman and above crafting skills, this cunning cucurbit is designed to have better heat spread and retention. As your skills level the cucurbit will adjust so that you don¡¯t outlevel it. You looked like your tools could use an upgrade. You¡¯re Welcome! Keep going and who knows, you may walk away with a whole set.


    Remember, these filters are changeable in your interface. Just sayin¡¯ - you chose this.


    Collecting the items, I opened my interface to check my quest reward notification settings. Finding the setting prompt of ¡°tell me more big guy,¡± I remembered that I had changed it the last time I went on a tavern hopping tour with Valen. Playing with the options and test prompts, I updated it to ¡°just enough information for now¡± and closed out my interface.


    These were good rewards. Really good rewards for the first floor. If the others received the quantity and quality that I did there was little doubt they would want to clear the entire dungeon. I wrapped the cloak around my shoulders to immediate effect and started whistling a jaunty tune as I triggered the amulet to protect my sense of smell. What a blessed relief! Taking a deep breath while I could, my mood soared.


    Now we just needed to get off this floor so I could fly!

 Chapter 24: Onto the next floor

    Eager to leave this muck-infested swamp biome, I strolled up to the miniboss spawn area and looked at the rest of the party that had gathered while I was reviewing my loot. Reev had returned and was fiddling with his interface while chatting with Fergie. Chad was pacing in irritation while Engli was stretched out on top of a dry jut of land. Rakshasa, Samir, Kiara, Scree, Night and an unconscious Shad were gathered together off to the side. It looked like people were just waiting for me.


    This was quickly confirmed as Kiara cleared her throat and gathered our attention.


    ¡°We are ready to move onto the next floor. Shad¡¯s companion has collected their loot and we just need to reseed the floor to access the gate to the second biome.¡±


    Samir stepped forward and projected our party interface to the group. Deftly scrolling through the dungeon information, she selected the Reseed option next to Drugal¡¯s Bane¡ªFloor 1. A progress bar appeared, and a list of all of our gains populated our individual interfaces if we had not already initiated the process. The elf would wake up with a doozy of a notification list.


    Our surroundings flickered across our senses as the bar filled¡ªsound imploded and reset, scents disappeared rapidly and then resurfaced, the light faded and stabilized, the taste of sulfur receded and adjusted, and the feel of mugginess vanished before reappearing. Always most disconcerting for me, my emotions wavered from the area''s confining oppressiveness to a neutral state and then back again. A rolling sound like distant thunder accompanied the creatures respawning, traps resetting and loot regenerating across the floor. Even the areas we hadn''t ventured into would be reset for the next party.


    Once the progress bar for the reseeding reached 75%, a cabin materialized on stilts to the left of our current position. The stilts raised the cabin floor slightly above the reeds and stagnant water, and I could make out a waterlogged staircase to the porch of the dilapidated building. On second glance, it might have been more of a shack than a cabin.


    Samir hoisted Shad onto Engli''s wide back, and we worked our way over to the exit.


    ¡°Let¡¯s let Chad and Scree go to the front, then have Rakshasa and Fergi go through. Engli and Mavrich stick with me, and Reev and Night bring up the rear please.¡± Kiara¡¯s adjustments to our formation would allow us to bottleneck the entrance to the second floor.


    As a party, we were seasoned enough to prepare for a multitude of scenarios and flexible enough to shift with most of the surprises that adventurers faced in dungeon shifts. With Chaos potentially in play, I appreciated Kiara moving to a more conservative formation for us.


    Chad and Scree had already stepped into the shack as I drew even with Engli and Kiara. I placed my hand on Shad to help stabilize them on the lion¡¯s back as we stepped into the shack and were immediately drawn into the gate for the second floor.


    As my foot touched down from my long stride, I felt the gentle prickle of ferns on my sole. The scent of moss and decaying wood met me before my vision acclimatized. Stepping aside to let the last of our party through, I scanned the area around me and noticed the moss I had smelled hanging from branches of tall pines, spruces and firs. Much to my delight, the sounds of woodland birds replaced the incessant humming of insects, amphibians and reptiles from the swamps. I knew the soundtrack of this biome would fill in more as we traveled deeper, so I closed my eyes to bathe in the temporary lull I was being granted.


    ¡°Stay focused Mavrich. We haven¡¯t assessed yet. Now that noses should be back online, we¡¯ll need you to help with the situational awareness more this floor than the last.¡± Kiara gave me a sympathetic look as she made her request.


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    Grunting my agreement I narrowed my eyes and hoped for an anticlimatic beginning to the floor. ¡°We¡¯ll have a much better line of sight as well unless we get into thickets. I will also leverage my keen eyesight to our ends.¡±


    She nodded at me in acknowledgment. ¡°Find us a defensible position, Scree.¡±


    The bat took off immediately and the rest of us stayed alert, quiet and huddled together.


    After a quarter glass, Chad broke the silence and projected his interface map to the rest of us. ¡°Ok, there should only be a few options for a miniboss because of the biome type. Drugal was more known for the extreme climates and this is too moderate to be any other than either Fell¡¯s Grace or Pilout¡¯s End.¡± The map appeared to be of an area a couple of hours wide, much smaller than the swamp we had just come from.


    ¡°So we should expect a ruined wizard¡¯s tower or a fortified cave system? Either of those will be tricky for us to navigate Rakshasa and Engli through.¡± I looked at Samir and assessed her height with those two options in play. The thought of low-hanging archways, decrepit staircases, and vine-encrusted walls filled my imagination.


    She hunched her shoulders playfully and winked at me, ¡°Yes, I imagine there will be some ducking in my future. Do you have any lightfoot potions, Mavrich?¡±


    ¡°Yes, several. I''ve kept some on hand since that delve where we had to build a hoist to get Rakshasa and Engli to the exit.¡± I removed some from my vambrace and passed them to Chad, Kiara and Samir. I went ahead and slid two into my potions belt, and restocked the mana potion supply while I was at it.


    "Let''s hope for the cave then - Pilout''s End. While the spiders will be a deadly nuisance, we should have more room to navigate." Reev chimed in with measured hope, knowing we probably wouldn''t get that lucky.


    Chad flicked the map closed and brought up the potential creature list for us to review. ¡°It would benefit us to sneak attack or range attack most of these. There should be a lot of traps, poisons and status conditions we will need to look out for. We can expect swarm conditions in most of the spaces with larger creatures mixed in. I don¡¯t see any magic immunities which is good. If we do find any we should update the index for the next delvers.¡± In addition to the spiders Reev had mentioned, there were wisps, fairies, ents, gnolls, and cursed deer to add to the list of potential foes. The list was actually quite long once you added in the normal woodland creatures that could populate in this biome.


    ¡°Seems like we should let Night lead, followed by Reev and Shad.¡± Kiara sighed and looked at the still unconscious elf. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow while her eyes darted back and forth under her lids. ¡°Scree found a rock outcropping that we can settle into while we scout the floor. So far, everything he has seen is at level 0. Chad, I¡¯m sending you a pin for the party map. Please keep it updated on this floor.¡±


    ¡°Have there been any airborne threats, Kiara? I would like to stretch my wings and that location is not so distant that I would be out of the party''s range for long.¡± I squirmed slightly while I waited for her to finish checking with her companion.


    ¡°Scree reported nothing to date, and if you go silently you should be fine, I agree. I will have Scree stay there so I can monitor you more easily.¡±


    Her assessment was all I needed. I stepped away from the group and sprang into the air. There was just enough break in the tree cover for me not to get tangled up as I rose above the canopy and angled over to Scree and our next base location.


    Shaking off the last vestiges of swamp from my scales and senses, I scanned my surroundings looking for threats to the party. What I observed aligned with what Scree had reported back and Chad had warned of. Level zero creatures were thick in the trees, on the ground and in the waterway I could see to the west of us. While easy to dispatch even by me in low numbers, their ability to bring superior numbers to bear could overwhelm the most cautious of groups.


    Arriving in the air above the outcropping, I saw Scree silently circling a little lower than the air currents I was currently utilizing. I climbed to a higher altitude and a more expansive view. As I took in my surroundings, I pinged markers for everyone to fill in our maps. On my fifth circuit, I finally saw our target - a jagged, gray-stoned, and crumbling tower peeking through the foliage.


    Seeing Scree descend and the rest of the party arrive, I sighed and folded my wings to plummet back down to join them.


    It seemed we would be tackling Fell¡¯s Grace.

 Chapter 25: A concoction of common sense

    As my clawed feet touched down amongst the blue-starred herbs, I pinned my mini-map to the bottom left of my visual field. Red dots speckled the map to keep track of the creatures I had marked as potentially hostile. Turning my attention outward again, I noticed Night wasn¡¯t among the party.


    ¡°Mav, can you swap with Samir on watching over Shad? I would also like to free up Engli, and you will be able to monitor as well as protect them with your skill set.¡±


    Kiara¡¯s request wasn¡¯t unrealistic but missing a key detail. ¡°While that was true a year ago Kiara, I no longer have my martial skills. I am simply an alchemist, no longer a berserker. I will be able to keep watch and monitor them, but protecting us may be a stretch if we get swarmed.¡±


    She paused in adjusting her hatchets and turned to me more fully. ¡°Well reminded. I will wait to pull them until Scree is back so that we can keep an open line of communication. Fergi is out gathering components for you. I thought you would take advantage of crafting while guarding?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that would do me well. If Rakshasa is willing to stay, we would be aptly defended, even should the miniboss head our way.¡± I looked to the large bear to see her thoughts on the matter.


    She plodded over to Shad and plopped down. Answer enough for me. ¡°Thank you Rakshasa. I feel more secure with your presence.¡± I gave the bear a fond caress that turned into scratches in her preferred spots.


    ¡°That¡¯s settled then. I¡¯ll request Scree to fly between the two groups. We plan on making short work of this floor. If the elf wakes up, have them do some action that will trigger skill gain so they can get some contribution experience from the party.¡± Kiara strode away and Samir, Engli and Chad followed after.


    I pulled open my interface to review my open quests. I skipped by the dungeon quest, sitting quietly in my party quest slot, and moved to the two I had acquired from Valen before leaving Helmsword - a crafting quest and a profession quest.


    Current Open Crafting Quest¡­


    Crafting Quest - Alchemy: Complete the potions and turn them into the Local Crafters Guide for verification of quality.


    15 potions of minor stamina fill - 2 of 15 complete


    10 potions of minor mana fill - 10 of 10 complete


    10 potions of minor health fill - 0 of 10 complete


    Reward: 350 Alchemy experience, 3 mid grade herbs


    Profession Quest - Alchemist: Level up ten core profession skills to Journeyman - 8 of 10 complete.


    Available Skills:


    Potion Potency - Expert 1 - complete


    Foraging - Journeyman 83 - complete


    Elemental Manipulation - Journeyman 59 - complete


    Herbalism - Journeyman 45 - complete


    Brewing - Journeyman 43 - complete


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    Acute Alchemist - Journeyman 37 - complete


    Transmutation - Journeyman 27 - complete


    Crafter¡¯s Consultation - Journeyman 2 - complete


    Stunning Salves - Novice 92 - in process


    Component Extraction - Novice 87 - in process


    Tinkering - Novice 35 - in process


    Acquired Tolerance - Novice 22 - in process


    [expand]


    Reward: Profession upgrade from Novice Rare to Novice Legendary.


    Reviewing some of my top profession skills, it looked like I could complete upgrading stunning salves while the rest of the party cleared the floor. Completing crafter-type profession quests wasn¡¯t normally done during dungeon delves, but I had a distinct advantage in that I had joined and been a productive member of this party before I started this new profession.


    ¡°Rakshasa, let me know if you need me to do more than focus on crafting or if you need a break. I am very close to leveling my salves skill, and have a couple dozen potions to craft. I will start with the potions to see what Fergie returns with before turning to the salves.¡± Rakshasa nodded amiably and I started pulling my crafting components out of my vambrace.


    Shad had successfully harvested materials on the last floor for stamina and healing potions. I pulled out the sphagnum moss and milkweed for the healing potion and the red mangrove bark and pieces of turtle for the stamina potion. As I was removing the supplies, I noticed I also still had some bogbean left and wanted to create a concoction of common sense that would buff wisdom stats.


    I quickly got to work extracting the necessary components from everything and separating them out into areas for each potion. Like when I ate and had everything neatly divided on my plate, I liked my alchemical ingredients to have their own separate space. I watched my component extraction skill level as I broke everything down and had the satisfaction of leveling it after extracting from 47 moss, 84 milkweeds, 36 barks, 16 pieces of turtle and 15 bog beans. I only had a few more bog beans left to extract, so I finished those and rechecked my skill. It sat at a respectable Journey 7.


    I looked around and assessed that I had spent a glass and a half working on breaking down everything. I checked in with Rakshasa, and confirming she was fine and there was nothing interesting to report I switched to combining and creating the potions. I excitedly, and carefully of course, brewed the minor stamina potions first since they took the longest to set and would need more focus than the healing potions.


    So many reasons for my excitement - the scientist in me looked forward to comparing the stamina potions to the ones I made before leveling potion potency to expert. The jaded berserker part of me found validation in the profession switch with each successful crafting, skill level gain and quest completion. The teammate part of me felt pride in the concrete contributions. Yes, my chest swelled as I masterfully - at a journeyman level - performed my profession.


    Storing the stamina and health batches, I turned my attention to the concoction. Leveraging tinkering, elemental manipulation and transmutation, I took the bogbean extracts and mixed them with an intellect potion and perception potion. Fortunately, I had several of everything because it failed time after time as I honed the ratio of the three main ingredients. Down to my last two bogbean extracts, I shouted in joyous triumph as I created the minor concoction of common sense!


    Fergie popped into my field of view and chittered at me - both to admonish that we were hiding and to stop being so loud, but also apparently to fawn over the spoils they had harvested and brought back for me.


    ¡°Sorry Rakshasa, Fergie - I got a bit overexcited.¡± They both seemed quick to forgive, and I waited a few minutes to see if I had drawn any unwanted guests to my area. Seeing Scree silently wing by on one of his scouting loops, I decided I had gotten lucky and stowed the concoction.


    I crouched down next to Fergie to review his findings with my analyze and herbalism skills. ¡°Oooo, nice find here. Ah, yes these mushrooms will be very beneficial for a number of different crafts.¡± My interface was updating as I went through and I was tagging the ones I would want to keep out and which ones I would want to store.


    He chittered and drew my attention to some roots and I narrowed my eyes and scanned them more closely. ¡°Fergie! This is a rare find indeed. I¡¯ll be able to make a salve for headaches and one for sinuses.¡± I continued energetically reviewing the ferret¡¯s finds and praising his keen eye and careful culling which brought the pristine ingredients to my capable claws.


    He rushed off again after I selected the ingredients for the sinus salve that would level my stunning salves skill and complete the requirements of my profession quest. Knowing time was against me to complete it before the rest of the party returned successful, I dove in gleefully.


    Yes, I made the right choice when I became an alchemist. How many people could say they made concoctions of common sense as the highlight of their day?