Duelling Dungeons

“Why are you staring at those tablets so intently?” Bella asked as she floated by me. “I know the opening minutes of a match are important, but I think you can afford to blink occasionally.”

I glanced up at her, squinting slightly to deal with the blurriness at the corner of my vision. “I’m not watching to see how the fights are going,” I explained. “Those engagements went about as well as I expected. I was looking for spies.”

Bella raised an eyebrow. “You knew that Voss was going to lose?”

“Well, I didn’t know he was going to lose. I figured that fight could go either way. Without the effect of the poisons and plagues, Voss had to fall back on his brute strength. We took out the Mutants in exchange for the oozes and the horrors, which was the overall goal,” I told her. “We’d be in better shape if Voss won that fight, but without access to a good surgeon, Rogu’s going to be in bad shape for the rest of the match. He can’t ‘heal’ his limbs back on.”

“How did you get the Horrors in there anyway?” Bella asked. “They act aggressively towards everyone who approaches them.”

“Not everyone… they can be directed if you know the command words. I got them from Lanivia before the match, and had Calliope move them when we were shuffling forces. She barely got them in place before Roku and his entourage arrived,” I explained.

“Is that why the Mycellium people weren’t there to help Voss?”

“I admit they may have made a difference in the fight, but considering how much poison and dark magic The Black Sanctum is going to be throwing around soon, I figured it would be better to hold them back for now. Even if they were there to help, the forest was going to fall sooner or later; it’s the only way for The Sanctum to progress deeper into the dungeon,” I said. “Honestly, I would have liked to save Voss too, but if we sent someone else in there to replace him, they probably just would have gotten sick from the toxic gases before the end.”

“So you sacrificed Voss, the oozes, the horrors, and the dryads, for just one group,” Bella grumbled. “Not a good exchange.”

“Not the dryads!” I exclaimed, shooting to my feet. “I’m not heartless. They retreated to the gardens as soon as Voss went down. The oozes… Well, there wasn’t a better place to put them, and unfortunately, a toxic slime isn’t that great against a dungeon that specializes in dark, toxic environments. I would have saved them if I could, but we do have floor limits, and we needed someone to try and support Voss.”

“I still don’t think it was a good exchange,” Bella huffed.

“It wasn’t,” I admitted. “But it was necessary. Don’t worry, Voss will be back soon as we take care of our first tier two floor. I still have plans for him!”

“Of course you do!” Bella muttered before flipping onto her back and lounging in the air. “How did Kass and Sylvia do?”

“Even better than expected!” I replied excitedly. “I was a little worried about not including Calliope in their group; having someone around that could purge toxins would have made that attack safer, but thankfully, no one got stung! I expected them to have problems with Lionia, but it turned out she was even easier to goad than I thought. I still feel a little bad about asking Sylvia to taunt her like that, but it was the safest option.”

“You also asked them to slaughter the scorpions, her babies, without mercy,” Bella pointed out.

“They’re all okay!” I replied indignantly. “Thankfully, everything in the dungeons are just projections, a simulacrum. I never could have made that call if I knew real people were getting hurt.”

“I know… You still ordered it though…” Bella said.

“And I feel guilty about it,” I admitted. “But they’re the ones who brought them to battle. I just thought up a way to deal with them.”

Bella glanced at me, never once leaving her reclined position, and sighed. “I know. I’m just giving you a hard time. There are a lot of families that work together in dungeons. Look at Chelsea and Charlotte. They’ve learned to separate what happens in the dungeon from real-life, I guess Leonia just wasn’t able to ignore her maternal instincts.”

“It’s a good thing too,” I muttered. “Because if she wasn’t so emotional, she’s one heck of a fighter. Probably would give Sylvia a run for her money in a one-on-one.”

“Speaking of which… Sylvia sure put up an impressive performance. Based upon her practice matches, I was worried that she might have some first-match jitters, but it looks like she stepped up when it counted!”

“Yeah, I was a little worried about her. I figured putting her with a familiar face would help, guess I was right,” I replied, before glancing over at Bella.

The banshee just nodded her head casually and continued to stare at the roof.

Kass and I were the only ones who knew about Sylvia’s background, and I wasn’t planning to share with anyone else without Sylvia’s permission. Thankfully, pretty much everyone else thought her original performance was due to nerves, and putting her on the attack helped to calm some of her anxieties. Hopefully, I could keep her with Kass and on the attack, through most of the match.

“What was it you were saying earlier?” Bella said after a minute. “You were looking for spies? I’m sorry, it sounded so absurd at the time, my brain just kind of skipped over that part.”

“It’s not absurd, it’s a completely valid concern,” I replied indignantly.

“That the enemy would have spies in a dungeon that they’re currently fighting on,” Bella replied dryly.

“Okay, out of context it DOES sound a little crazy, but I’m dead serious. What I was looking for wasn’t someone skulking in the shadows, watching the fight, but something out of place like a raven, or a cat, or something… an animal that could act as a Psionic tether,” I explained.

Bella stopped floating on her back, sat upright, and gave me a skeptical look. “You’re going to have to go into a little more detail, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Right, I forgot you guys don’t have the same experience with Psychic powers that I do,” I muttered. “In every match that Nor’goth participates in, either clash or otherwise, he never moves from his sanctum at the top of the ziggurat, yet as the matches progress, The Sanctum’s defenses grow stronger and stronger. Not physically, mind you, they just seem to be better prepared to deal with what’s coming,” I said. “Part of that might be adaptation from their team, they’re all skilled fighters after all, but I suspect part of it is that Nor’goth is feeding them information as the match progresses—exact team layouts, who is injured, and things like that. Sure, you could guess who would lead an attack, and what the targets would be based upon the opposing team’s roster, but that information should become less reliable as the fight goes on, not better. I suspect Nor’goth is leading his team in real time.”

“Can he do that?” Bella asked.

“My mother could. She would send her familiars through the Abyss and watch what everyone was doing through their eyes, like a living surveillance system. Nor’goth might not be as powerful as she is, but he should be able to use some of the same tricks,” I explained.

“And… if he is doing that, and you do catch something watching, what are we supposed to do about that? Do you have a plan?” Bella asked.

“We could try and mix things up between floors, negate their intelligence between floors, but that would also negate a lot of my previous plans,” I replied slowly. “Honestly, I have the beginning of a plan on how to deal with Nor’goth, but I’m hesitant. There’s no guarantee it will work.”

“Willing to share?”

I paused for a moment, then shook my head. “As much as I’d like to, it’s already a long shot, and as far as psychics are concerned, the fewer people that know, the better. If Nor’goth somehow manages to pluck the idea out of your head, it’ll fail for sure.”

“You don’t trust me?” Bella asked in mock horror.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I’m afraid of what Nor’goth can do. Besides, maybe I’m just being paranoid, and it’s all a coincidence. We’ll have to wait and see,” I said.

“Right… speaking of which, it looks like we’ve pushed into the next floor,” Bella said, pointing at one of my tablets. “And I bet you’re dying to watch what comes next.”

I shot her a grin. “Always.”