Duelling Dungeons

With the matchups decided, I could finally start preparing for our next opponent.

Each dungeon was so unique that we needed to adjust our strategy for each match. Fighting a fast and aggressive dungeon, like The Dread Isles, provided a completely different set of challenges compared to a slow, methodical dungeon like The Black Sanctum.

We could still rely upon most of the basic squad formation and tactics that we’d spent weeks practicing, but I really needed to prepare everyone for some of the more unique mechanics that The Black Sanctum would be using.

I was in the middle of setting up a new training system in the middle of the atrium when someone tapped me on the shoulder, causing me to jump.

“Talia… What’s this?” Charlotte asked.

“Charlotte!” I exclaimed, spinning around to look at the woman. “You’re back! How are you feeling?”

“She’s got a full clean bill of health,” Chelsea declared proudly, before her mother could answer. “It took a while, but it looks like the medicine completely flushed the mana waste disease out of her system!”

“I’m glad,” I replied, patting Charlotte on the shoulder. I considered leaning forward to hug her, but I was still too socially awkward to know whether Charlotte would accept it or if it was even acceptable in this situation.

Once I’d finished congratulating Charlotte, I stepped back from the mother and daughter, only to realize there was a third member of their group. One that was so large and imposing that I was surprised I hadn’t noticed it before.

“Sylvia?”

“I came to talk to you about your offer, and kind of got a little lost,” the lanky woman explained sheepishly. “Thankfully, Charlotte and Chelsea found me and agreed to escort me to the central area to find you.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a lot of the staff seemed to be avoiding us. It wasn’t that surprising. Sylvia was close to ten feet tall and had quite the opposing figure. Hopefully, people would warm up to her.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Pretty good,” she replied. “A little hungry, but I’m not starving like usual. I was a little skeptical when you said The Manor had magic that suppressed my racial hunger, but it seems it’s true.”

She stood up a little straighter and gestured to the small booth behind me. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Oh, I’m setting up some training for the staff to prepare them for our next match,” I explained.

“By creating a booth to give out candy?” Charlotte asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course!” I replied defensively. “This is going to be our first time going up against a psychic threat, and we don’t have to train everyone in the proper defensive techniques.”

“Why not?” Chelsea asked.

“Because, unlike magical attacks, which you can buy counter magic items for, and martial techniques, which you can mitigate from armor, the only way to counter psychic attacks is learning to fortify your mind through repeated exposure to psychic probing and attacks. That takes months, and I don’t think we even have a psychic on staff to help everyone practice,” I explained. “So I came up with a couple of tricks that people can try to use to help them identify, and break out of, minor psychic effects.”

“By giving out candy,” Charlotte repeated.

I sighed and pulled a couple of pamphlets off the table. “Here, read these,” I said, passing them out to everyone.

Chelsea slowly unfolded her pamphlet and scanned through it skeptically. “Actively look for irregularities. If you’re familiar with the area, look for missing objects, or people in the background performing repetitive tasks,” she read. “Isn’t that how you identify illusions?”

“Outside of a psychic blast, which is meant to completely blow out your faculties, most psychic attacks are more… indirect. They’ll lock you in your own head, steal your memories, and make you mistake your friends and enemies. The effect is very similar to illusion magic, but instead of changing the surroundings, it’s all in your head,” I explained. “The main difference is that illusion magic relies upon the caster’s skill to trick their opponents, while psychic attacks force you through scenarios, and have your brain fill in the details.”

“What’s the difference?” she asked.

“The difference is in how you deal with it. With illusions, you can typically just push outside of the range of the illusion, while you have to break out of psychic attacks. The best way to do that is provide yourself with a mental shock,” I said. I twisted around just enough to grab the bowl of candy on the desk and held it out to everyone. “This was the best way I could think of.”

Sylvia reached forward and took a whole handful of the candies, shoving one in her mouth and the rest into her pockets. When she saw me staring, she shrugged. “Sorry, I’m still hungry, and this’ll help me take my mind off of it.”

After a couple of seconds, Sylvia frowned in confusion. “What flavour is this? Sour pear?”

“Read the inside of the wrapper,” I instructed.

She flipped the small piece of wax paper around and brought it up to her face. “I was right, sour pear. Who thought that would be a good flavour?”

“Someone must like it, because it was one of the options at the candy store,” I said. “I had to buy a wide selection of flavors for this to work.”

“I don’t get it. What’s the candy for?” Chelsea asked.

“It’s something to focus on,” I explained. “If you suspect that you’re stuck in a psychic illusion, you can take out the candy, stick it in your mouth, and try to believe it’s a different flavor. Your brain fills in the details of the illusion, and by focusing on a single poi,nt you have a better chance of gaining control. If you flip the wrapper and see it’s the wrong flavor, it cracks the illusion and destabilizes the psychic’s control.”

“And that works?” Sylvia asked as she bit down on the candy. After a second of chewing, she pulled out another sucker and popped it into her mouth.

“Sometimes,” I shrugged. “It depends on how much the psychic is focusing on you, and how skilled they are. An exceptionally strong psychic can keep you locked in your head.”

“How do you know all this?” Chelsea asked.

“Well… I picked up a few tricks over the years, while being subjected to psychic attacks by my mother,” I explained.

All three women stared at me blankly for a moment.

“Your mother subjected you to psychic attacks,” Charlotte finally said. “Why?”

“To learn how to identify psychic attacks, learn to resist them, and finally, how to break out,” I said. “As a Brood Mother, she uses psychic attacks, and I assume she thought it would be embarrassing if psychic adventurers easily dispatched her daughters.”

“Wait, you assume? You mean you don’t actually know?” Charlotte growled.

“My mother didn’t exactly like to explain herself, or even interact with us that much. My sisters and I were just kind of left to our own devices most of the time,” I explained.

“I knew she was a terrible mother, but not to that extent,” Charlotte grumbled before stepping forward. With her furious expression, I thought she was going to start ranting or something, but instead she pulled me forward into a surprise hug. “You did the right thing by leaving. You deserve better.”

“Thanks?” I said, slightly befuddled by this development.

“You're welcome,” she whispered as she let me go.

“I promise to read through your pamphlet later, but Chelsea and I have spent the last two days on the road, and I really want to have a shower and get some sleep. Besides, you probably want to talk to our new friend,” Charlotte said, gesturing to Sylvia.

“Wait! Before you go…” I started, glancing between Chelsea and Charlotte. “What are you planning to do now that you’re better? Are you going to take over your previous position?”

I kind of expected Chelsea to freeze; she didn’t tend to think ahead that often, but to my surprise, the girl just smiled.

“No, Chelsea’s still a little rough around the edges, but she’s grown into a fine floor boss. I’m leaving the position to her,” Charlotte declared proudly, patting the younger girl on the back. “I’ll stick around to help with training, and to fill in when you need me, but I’ve been out of the game for long enough… I think it’s about time for me to retire.”

“That’s unexpected, I expected you to want to resume your position once you healed, but if that’s your decision…” I said.

“It is,” Charlotte replied. “It’s time for the younger generation to start taking over. I’m not leaving, I’m just stepping back and letting my daughter keep doing what she’s doing.”

“Right,” I replied. “Well, in that case, I’ll let you go. We can talk more about your trip later. Maybe at breakfast tomorrow?”

“We’ll look forward to it,” Charlotte replied. “Good luck with your training plan.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “Have a good night.”

I waited until the pair had walked off, heading towards the residential area, before turning to Sylvia. The tall woman smiled nervously at me, half a dozen sucker sticks in her mouth.

“So I guess you’ve made a decision,” I said quietly. “Let’s talk.”