Kaleek planted his foot in the chest of a stallesp, kicking the creature with enough force that it went skittering across the galleon’s deck, the maul in its hands flying from its grip. He reached down, scooping his greatsword from the ground in one smooth motion before lunging toward a stallesp.

The mole squeaked, backpedaling away from the charging desoph only for Kat’s Pseudopod to snake down, grabbing an ankle and yanking to the side. It tumbled over backward, slamming its back onto the deck of the galleon only to be pinned like a butterfly by a downward stab from Kaleek.

Kat danced past the two of them. A stallesp thrust a spear at her, but the weapon almost seemed to be moving in slow motion. She twisted her body to the side, slapping out with her left hand to deflect it ever so slightly before reversing the grip on her dagger in one smooth motion and shoving it through the narrow eyeslit of her opponent’s helmet.

She pulled it free with a squelching noise and a spurt of blood, wheeling around in search of another opponent only to find that the lokkel supporting Kaleek and her had finished off the rest of their enemies. One of the lizards nodded gratefully at Kat before the three of them jogged off, looking for more stallesp to kill.

Kaleek reached into a pouch at his belt, pulling out two squares of blubber. He popped one into his mouth before offering the spare to Kat. Gratefully, she took the chunk of enchanted meat, spitting the spent remnants of another cube of ‘gum’ out before replacing it in her mouth.

She began chewing, letting the tingle of the mana and stamina restorative go to work. Her left arm was still bruised, likely to the bone, and her face had a long cut across her cheekbone that was still bleeding freely. Worse still, her left leg ached with every step, her previous wound only partially healed.

Still, she was standing where her opponents were not. Already, teams of lokkel were beginning to scale the rigging, hunting the archers that fired futile shots at them from the ship’s crows’ nests. The stallesp near the back of the galleon had abandoned the poles they had been using to push off of the harbor floor, and they were fighting with whatever weapons they could find on hand as lokkel warriors stormed the aft-castle.

The situation at the front of the ship was a bit more worrying. Akkast was still engaged in a long ranged duel with the heavily armored stallesp guarding the forecastle. While impressive, their battle was inconclusive with the lokkel archer diving and rolling on the beach before firing heavily enchanted arrows that the defender seemed to more or less shrug off only to respond with a throw of its magically returning battle axe.

A trio of lower level stallesp worked the galleon’s forward catapult, one of them frantically cranking the winch that lowered the weapon’s arm while the others aimed and loaded the siege machinery. With a thump, it unloaded its payload on the beach, a rock that shattered in the air, unleashing two dozen smaller stones that exploded when they hit the sand, unleashing a maelstrom of sand that swallowed at least two of the lower level lokkel charging toward the galleon from their beached landing craft.

An elbow poked Kat gently in the ribs, drawing her attention back to Kaleek. The desoph’s armor was covered in dents, and a portion of the fur on his face was missing, leaving behind a gash just below his ear, but despite his appearances, the big otter’s smile was as bright as ever.

“The catapult is going to be a problem,” he said, nodding in the direction of the forecastle. “Thanks for the assist by the way. I could have handled the mole on my own, but it had enough friends with it that any attempt to strike a decisive blow would have left me helpless.”

“Plus,” Kaleek chuckled, cocking his head to the side to crack his neck. “I had to run interference for the newbies. Their hearts are in it, but too many of them are already dead on the beach. I know that Clan Ahn can pay for them to re-enter the dreamscape, but that’s still months if not years of time lost just to teach the furry bastards a lesson. It just didn’t seem right to sacrifice a couple of them to finish my opponent off.”

The deck shook as the armored stallesp planted its tower shield into the wooden planks, slamming its shoulder into the plate of metal to brace it in response to a particularly powerful arrow Akkast fired at the ship. The arrow exploded into light as it hit the stallesp’s defenses, sending streaks of blue mana rushed past the alien. Most scored holes in the ship itself, but at least one zipped by, boring a thumb sized hole through the forearm of the enemy trying to load the catapult.

Kat shook her head, eyes on the battle between evolved warriors as she responded. “I’m not sure I want to venture up there without Dorrik. Right now it looks like even stray shots could do a number on us. I’m not even sure we’d be helping Akkast out. Frankly, we’d probably just force them to scale back their attacks to avoid hurting us.”

“Agreed,” Kaleek replied, eyeing up the battle. “The first evolution and silver tier skills are around when the abilities you pick up in the dreamscape begin to match modern technology. I honestly can’t think of any way to help Akkast out without getting both of us killed, but on the other hand, that sort of planning is more of a ‘Dorrik problem’ anyway.”

“We should probably find them then,” Kat responded, wincing slightly as she lifted her left arm to shield her eyes. “It’s not like them to leave us on our own for this long unless something came up.”

“That’s true,” Kaleek agreed. “They certainly wanted to give you a piece of mind after you let me throw you onto the stallesp ship. Half of the charge up the gangplank they were lecturing me on how irresponsible I was for putting you at risk like that. I’m not entirely sure they realize how much of your waking time you spend stabbing people.”

“Found them,” Kat remarked, motioning with her dagger. Dorrik stood with their back to a mast, one stallesp attacking them from either side. One of the fuzzy aliens wore chainmail made from some sort of dull grey metal, a handaxe with a pick on the reverse side in either hand. The other stood a half step back, holding high a scepter that glowed with ruby light.

“Race you,” Kaleek said cheerfully, breaking into a jog. “I’ll take down the dual wielder and you handle the spellcaster. Last one to drop their enemy has to carry the other’s loot out of the next dungeon.”

Kat didn’t respond, instead activating Cat Step and racing past the desoph. He barked something in protest, but she wasn’t paying enough attention to actually hear his words. Just before she reached her target, the stallesp spun around, raising its scepter high and shouting an arcane activation phrase in a guttural and rasping tongue.

She stutter-stepped, feinting to the left before throwing her body to the right. Just as the alien fired, sending a beam of reddish purple energy burning through the air and ripping a hole in the ship’s deck, Kat reached out with Pseudopod, gripping its wrist and jerking upward.

The hair stood up on the back of Kat’s neck as she raced past the pulsing streamer of raw magic. The stallesp snarled at her, trying to wrestle control of its weapon back from her spell as she faded to its right, aiming a quick thrust from her dagger into the creature’s unprotected side.

It spat out another command phrase, a harsh ball of consonants and edges. Just before Kat’s blade bit home, a glassy oval of force sprang into being around the stallesp, stopping her knife cold. Through her Pseudopod, Kat felt her spell lose its grip on the alien as its shield brushed the mana construct.

It leered down at her, pink nose twitching as it swung the scepter in a downward angle. The weapon wasn’t firing a beam of energy anymore, but at the same time, the ball of crackling red energy gathered around the mace’s head looked like it would all but rip her in half.

Without thinking, she ducked, stepping forward under the blow until she was almost pressing her body against the wall of force protecting the stallesp. Before it could react, she cast Dehydrate, targeting her opponent’s face.

A squeal of pain confirmed her suspicion. Whatever magic was protecting the stallesp, it only blocked physical attacks, it ignored her spell entirely.

The stallesp took a half step backward, its beady black eyes shrively visibly as Kat’s spell stole all of their moisture. The smooth feeling of the alien’s defensive field against her skin faded, replaced by bristles of its coarse fur.

She pushed, slamming her upper body against the stallesp, left hand wrapped in its fur while the knife in her right slid into its side. Kat kicked her right leg out, shifting her hips slightly so that it would have room to pass the mole before hooking it backward at full force, sweeping it into the back of both of the creature’s knees.

It collapsed to the deck, Kat landing on top of it. Her knife moved like a sewing needle, stabbing in and out of the strugglin alien a half dozen times before it weakly swung the scepter at her, the red energy around its head fizzling and guttering as the stallesp lost focus.

Kat hopped backward, eyes trained on her opponent. It lifted its head from the ship’s deck, eyes unfocused and blind as it searched futilely for something. Then it fell backward, unmoving.

She nodded to herself, wiping the blood off of her dagger onto the armor of her thigh as she turned back to her companions. Without help from the caster, the axe-pick wielding stallesp was being pushed backward by Dorrik. Even without using Psi abilities, the lokkel was simply faster, stronger, and in better control of their body than the flailing mole.

When Kaleek arrived a second later, the fight was all but over. The stallesp’s eyes widened, and it squealed in alarm, but it only managed to block one swing of the desoph’s greatsword. The second crashed into the side of its chain armor, sword glowing red as Kaleek activated a skill.

Kat winced as its bones audibly crunched, snapping under the impact of Kaleek’s blade. The stallesp was thrown forward, axes dropping from its now slack grip only for both of Dorrik’s swords to flash in the Tower’s fake sun, drawing a neat X across the crippled alien’s throat.

Dorrik flicked both of their blades downward, spattering the deck with mole blood before nodding at Kat. They cleared their throat. When they began speaking their voice was a little rougher than usual, clouded slightly by uncharacteristic emotion.

“It is good to see that you are well, Miss Kat. Your rash actions… concerned me, but ultimately you were right. Kaleek and your intervention broke the stalemate and saved the operation time and resources.”

“Still,” the lokkel continued, their crest rippling with amusement. “I would prefer if the two of you did not rush to act so much in the future. Things may have worked this time, but you should not rely upon Kaleek’s judgment when risking yourself. He does not have the best record on this front.”

“Hey!” Kaleek pressed a hand to the chest of his battered and dented armor. “I wasn’t the one fighting two descenders at once. Speak for yourself you big lump of scales!”

Dorrik cleared their throat, their tail swishing in what Kat could only assume was embarrassment.

“Regardless,” They continued, trying to ignore Kaleek’s indignant squawking. “We have killed three of the oppositions’s leaders, and I cannot spot any descenders other than the evolved stallesp on the forecastle.”

“Four,” Kat corrected. “I got jumped by a mole using some sort of spiked combat gauntlet before I ran into the two of you. I finished it off before moving on to help Kaleek.”

“Oh?” Dorrik asked, their crest undulating with mirth. “You needed help Kaleek? That is not something I would have inferred from the way you were speaking about my encounter with the two stallesp warriors.”

“Err.” The desoph froze, whiskers twitching for a second before he responded. “As you said Dorrik, regardless of what happened before, the only opponent worth our time is the evolved stallesp. We should probably put together a plan to stop it before the catapult next to it kills any more promising lokkel as they storm the beach.”

Kat raised a hand to her face, pretending to dab at the cut on her cheek as she hid her smile. There was something simple about fighting in the dreamscape. In the real world, outside of Whippoorwill, there was always the question of who she could trust. Almost any operation could easily be a setup, leading her into a trap.

Here, things were simpler. She knew who the bad guys were. Rather than worry about logistics, betrayal, or someone attacking her while she was unprepared, Kat’s biggest concerns were figuring out the most efficient way to kill them.

Dorrik tapped one of their upper claws on the side of their dark, scaly muzzle, eyes trained on the fight between Akkast and the stallesp. The fury of their conflict had dropped, both parties running low on mana and stamina. Still, Akkast’s arrows exploded against the mole’s shield with enough force to rock the entire galleon, and the buzzing crackle of the creature’s great axe made Kat’s hair stand on end. As worn out as the combatants might be, Kat still knew better than to tackle either one of them solo.

“I think I have it.” Dorrik lowered their hand, turning back to Kaleek and Kat. “If Kaleek challenges the stallesp head on, I should be able to support him enough to keep him in the fight for at least a minute or so. So long as we fight defensively, Akkast’s arrows should be able to keep it off balance enough that it can’t strike a decisive blow.”

“I doubt my Psi abilities will be able to do too much through the cocoon of enchantments woven into the stallesp’s armor,” they continued, “but I should be able to disrupt its attacks enough for Kaleek to avoid the worst of them.”

“Miss Kat.” Dorrik pointed a claw at her. “Will need to strike the killing blow. I would advise the use of Shadow to keep the warrior from noticing you. The moment it drops its guard, attack. As an aside, I would not suggest waiting too long or relying on Penetrate. Kaleek and I should be able to hold the stallesp off, but it is not an enemy we can face properly, even with assistance, so I would urge haste.”

“As for Penetrate,” the lokkel continued with a very human-like shrug. “It will do damage, but the skill is far from a panacea. At higher levels, armor is commonly reinforced to prevent the skill from delivering an instant death blow. In short, you will hopefully have the opportunity to pick your target. Aim for an unarmored spot. I would vastly prefer to not get murdered after you deal a severe but non-fatal blow to the stallesp.”

Kaleek locked eyes with Kat, and they both nodded before turning back to Dorrik.

“Well,” the otter replied, hefting his greatsword over his shoulder. “No time like the present.”

He broke into a jog toward the galleon’s forecastle, followed a second or so later by Dorrik. Kat watched them run before taking a deep breath. She reached into her carrying pouch and pulled out another cube of ‘gum’ before popping it into her mouth. Then she refreshed her casting of Pseudopod, and cast Shadow.

The light around her darkened, blurring as her spell fought with the Tower’s fake sun to obscure her shape. Kat took a deep breath, clearing her head, and activated Cat Step, relying more on the sound and vibration canceling aspects of the skill rather than the burst in speed as she made her way toward one of the two staircases that led up to the forecastle.

As soon as she reached the upper level, Kat dropped into a crouch, sneaking behind a table covered in maps and paperwork that was bolted to the galleon’s deck. Everything shook around her as a burning arrow slammed into the stallesp’s shield. Up close, Kat could see a number of dents and discolorations where repeated attacks had worn away at the large chunk of enchanted metal.

Kaleek charged in, his legs glowing dimly red as he swung his sword at the heavily armored mole. Just before the blow landed, he jerked to the side, a bolt of crackling lightning flashing through where the desoph had just been standing as the stallesp summoned its axe.

It thrust forward with the shield, seeking to ram the distorted wall of metal into Kaleek only for a field of purple energy to wrap itself around the stallesp, slowing its motions for a fraction of a second and giving the desoph enough time to backpedal.

The stallesp swung its axe, a crackle of burning energy the only warning before Kaleek barely got his sword into position to block the almost blindingly fast attack. The axe hammered the desoph’s sword to the side, leaving the otter almost completely open to a follow-up attack only for Dorrik and Akkast to strike at the same time.

It pivoted, raising its tower shield to deflect the arrow only for it to dissolve into a tar-like substance that spattered across the metal surface. The stallesp shifted its grip on the axe, catching one of Dorrik’s blades on its handle but letting the other sword through.

The strike barely mattered. Dorrik’s sword clattered off of the stallesp’s armor, leaving a silver smear as it cut through the substance coating the mole’s plate. Then they jumped backward, joining Kaleek a half dozen paces from their opponent.

Without saying anything, the two warriors circled until they were on opposite sides of the stallesp. The creature squeaked in frustration, twisting its body so that it was facing the beach but could keep an eye on either of Kat’s companions. It rotated its hand, spinning its electricity shrouded axe and building momentum as it waited for one of its three opponents to make a move.

Another arrow came sailing in from the beach, and Kat exploded into motion.

The stallesp raised its tower shield, catching another dose of dark viscous liquid as the projectile exploded just before contact. Kaleek attacked from the other side, swinging his greatsword in a heavy overhand blow that Kat had seen shatter the armor on any number of dungeon bosses.

Their enemy’s axe blurred into the air, leaving an after image as it blocked the attack with a thundercrack even as the stallesp rotated slightly to accommodate Dorrik’s charge. It raised its shield, arm shuddering slightly from exertion only for a red glow to suffuse the stallesp.

Dorrik countered in turn, glowing bright purple as their left sword feinted forward, clinking against the stallesp’s tower shield only for their right to slip past its guard. The blade almost twisted in the air, slipping around the shield only to curve back in. Dorrik grunted, exertion covering their face as the point of their sword found a weak spot in the stallesp’s elbow armor barely punching through the dark metal to draw a line of blood from their overpowered foe.

Then, Kat was Leaping, Pseudopod curled behind her as she landed on the mole’s upper back, left hand grabbing the ice cold metal of its collar while her right thrust her dagger upward toward the narrow gap in its armor where the alien’s squat neck met the back of its skull.

The stallesp bellowed in defiance spinning backward in an attempt to dislodge her even as its entire upper body glowed red. Kat activated Penetrate just as her knife struck, dismissing Shadow and gathering mana to cast Overpressure only for the mole’s fur to harden into diamond hard bristles.

Kat’s left hand erupted into agony as the needles that had been the creature’s fur punched through it, shredding meat and scoring lines across her bone. It was almost an afterthought as her knife lodged itself in the same thicket of armored hair. Penetrate pushed the blade forward just enough that she drew blood, but the attack barely left a scrape in her opponent.

It spun again in another attempt to dislodge Kat, lashing out with its axe to try and keep Kaleek at bay. Somewhere to her left, Dorrik had slipped past the shield it was struggling to wield properly now that Akkast had coated it with gunk. She knew that their swords wouldn’t be enough to kill or even cripple the evolved warrior, but at a minimum, they should be enough of a distraction to draw its attention away from Kat.

She let go, allowing the momentum of the twisting stallesp to send her flying even as the Pseudopod that she’d snuck across its body struck like a snake. The spell buried the blade it had been carrying into the front of the surprised mole’s throat only for the force of Kat’s soaring body to yank back on the tentacle gripping the knife with the force of a hammer, pounding the weapon past its hilt into the Stallesp’s neck.

A half second before Kat hit the wooden deck of the galleon, she triggered Overpressure. The creature erupted into gore, its lifeblood spraying across half of the forecastle as the mangled mass of arteries drained themselves dry around her knife.

Then she bounced off the floor, the impact knocking the wind out of Kat as she skittered to the very edge of the raised portion of the ship. Her shoulder and right side slammed into the railing with a dangerous ‘snap’ from either her body or the ship itself.

A wave of red haze washed over her, and Kat let her body relax slightly as she began mouthing the words to Cure Wounds I through gritted teeth. Whatever else was happening in the battle, she was out of it for now. It barely mattered to her whether the stallesp was still standing. It wasn’t like she was in any position to challenge the creature.

The spell cast without a hitch, draining Kat’s mana reserves dry as it stitched her ruined hand back together. In the real world, even after her healing, the limb would have been crippled to the point of requiring a chrome prosthesis, but at the very minimum the bleeding stopped, silencing the insistent blinking red warning in the lower left portion of her vision.

She exhaled, letting the tension leave her muscles as Kat gingerly pulled herself to her feet trying to ignore the near constant pain from her left hand, left calf, and right shoulder. She turned her gaze to the rest of the fight and sighed with relief.

Kaleek and Dorrik were making short work of the stallesp manning the catapult, but the main threat, the heavily armored evolved alien, was face down in a slowly growing pool of its own blood. Hesitantly she limped toward her companions as they killed the last of the moles on the upper deck, ignoring the cheers from below as the lokkel forces finished mopping the last of the sporadic resistance.

Dorrik saluted her, raising a single bloody sword above their head as she shuffled toward them. Kaleek nodded, a lazy, sated grin on his face, as if he’d finally managed to gorge himself on the level of bloodshed he’d always sought.

“We did it,” Dorrik said, reaching forward with one of their lower arms to catch Kat as she stumbled. “We achieved something impressive here today Miss Kat, and I can assure you that eyes further up the Tower were trained on this battle. Your actions have been noted, and great things will be expected of both you and your people in the future.”

“Better yet,” Kaleek remarked, draping an arm over her shoulders as they watched the end of the battle. “Not only did we not need Akkast’s help, but we were the ones to give them the assist.”

Kat burst into laughter, ignoring the spikes of pain from her injured side as she leaned into both of her friends.