Well, at least they haven't killed me yet, Chase thought to herself as the sack shuddered and bounced. They were moving her again. They had been at this a while, a long while, and she had the bruises to prove that they'd been none too gentle about it.

If it had been a cage or a box she would have tried to escape. You knew where you stood with one of those. Something solid like that was an admission that they weren't watching you all the time, that your captors expected shenanigans, and wanted to slow you down because those shenanigans might work.

But a sack was a different sort of statement. A sack offered the prisoner no real barrier... and no real protection.

And when the world outside of the sack was guaranteed to be filled full of angry werewolves, well...

Chase didn't need Foresight to see how an escape attempt would go. And she couldn't risk it without the skill causing feedback. She knew that she'd need that skill when the time came, and couldn't chance losing it for twenty-four hours.

One last bout of self-pity rocked her, and she cried a bit as she jounced and bounced in the sack, keeping her sobs muffled. Chase knew she had fallen prey to hubris. She'd gone in expecting the wards and magical guardians of the Verde mansion to prevent bloodshed and at least slow down the werewolves, but clearly the wards hadn't presented any real obstacle. She had managed to derail what she thought was the Verde trap, but the Verde trap had been entirely different than she expected, and at best the final outcome had been a draw.

But the worst crime, the worst crime of all was that she had thought that she could handle the werewolves with nothing but words and chutzpah. And if they had been people, then she might have had a chance.

They weren't. They were only people half the time. The other half of the time they were monsters, and when you were up against monsters words didn't cut it.

The second worst crime was that she had gone in there with a plan, and expected it to work even though everyone else involved had their own plan going.

Why?

Why should she be special? Why should her plan get some sort of carte blanche to succeed even though it was one among the many? Sure, she was lucky, but that was only one attribute out of ten. And at no time had she ever been fully in control of all the variables, or been able to influence everyone she needed to influence to make sure things fell out her way.

This wasn't Bothernot, where she could clearly figure out the impact to everyone her machinations and gossip would impact. This wasn't her home town... which she saw now, was easy compared to dealing with a city full of factions and monsters and nobles. No wonder most halven shunned adventure, and things like this! You went in with your best toe forward, and then you ended up in a werewolf sack! Nobody should have to end up in a werewolf sack. That sort of thing didn't happen to reasonable halvens.

The thought made her giggle, and she tried not to. The stuffy air was making her loopy.

Would they mind if she poked a hole in the sack? She shrugged, slid out a playing card, and whispered “Foresight.”

She couldn't see too well, but she saw a shadowy hole appear and let in a bit of light. Nothing happened for the other eight seconds, so Chase let her ghost self fade away, and followed through with the slice.

Your Foresight skill is now level 39!

Instantly, cool air rushed into the sack. Chase pushed her nose against the hole and breathed deep...

...and she could smell none of the odors of the city around her.

This was the scent of the field, of fall leaves and dead grass. It was cold, and it contrasted with the warmth of whomever's back the sack was currently slung over. It also put paid to her budding headache, and let her think a bit more clearly.

Halven temperament asserted itself, once that last obstacle was gone. Self-pity did no good to help the situation, so now what was she going to do about it?

Fighting was right out. Without allies, the best she could do is throw a couple of silver cards and then die. Even with her Oracle tricks, they'd only delay the inevitable.

Sneaking away? That had more merit. But there were problems with that notion. The first being that Chase couldn't see in the dark, and her captors probably wouldn't be so hindered. She put her eye to the hole, and peered out for a long moment... nope, dark as heck. Occasionally she got a flash of moonlight from above as the sack jounced up on her bearer's shoulder, but most of the time it was hidden by tree branches that closed down like the claws of great black birds seizing their prey.

Also even though she wasn't a slouch at sneaking, she had no real way to hide her scent and she'd be up against creatures that were built for hunting down fleeing prey. No, this would be giving them an advantage, and right now she couldn't afford to do that.

Talking. It would have to be talking, and fortunately she was very good at it. But would they listen? That was the problem.

Then again...

They thought they'd won, hadn't they? Maybe? If they had found one of the skins, then they would think they'd done what they set out to do. They had to have found a skin... she couldn't imagine a reason they would have left the party otherwise.

And there, in the darkness of the sack, her captor's back hot against her own through the layer of canvas and being carried off to gods knew where, Chase took stock of her advantages, and prepared for a battle of words. Because if words failed her, she was pretty much screwed.

When the long run finally stopped, when the night air was still again, save for panting and the occasional muttered growl, they finally dumped her out of the sack.

She wasn't sure what they were expecting.

What they got was a small figure, picking herself up off the ground and dusting herself off, completely ignoring the ring of dark shapes around her. With a final sigh, she pulled out a headscarf and snapped it open, causing the ring to draw tighter, and a few growls of warning to echo forth. But she ignored that too, and calmly fastened the scarf over her black locks, tying it under her chin.

Finally one of the coughed, and cleared his throat.

She looked up at him, squinting in the moonlight. “Yes?”

“I rather expected you to be sobbing, at this point,” said the Alpha.

“Oh, I did all that in the bag.” She turned around, taking in the scene. The familiar shapes of the carved logs, the dark mouth of the cave, the faint smell of rot... all those things told her they had returned to the dungeon that she had found three short days ago. Back where it all started, even if I didn't know it had begun at that point.

And oh, didn't that raise questions? Thomasi, surely, had known Tabita was a werewolf. How else would he have recognized the skin? Why else had he taken it? Was it truly coincidence that they had both come this way? Chase thought not. He's been playing his own game. And... I don't think I should mention him to Tabita and her pack. That's a card I can play later, if I have to.

“Well, if you're not going to sob and wail that's a relief, I suppose.” The Alpha loped over to her and squatted down on his haunches. His breath smelled of blood and dog, as he brought his face to hers, long muzzle nearly touching her chest. She flinched back, despite herself, and he seemed satisfied by that. “Though I wonder how much of this is an act, and how much is true bravery.”

“Most of it's logic,” Chase said, not daring to look away. “If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead. So you want me for something. And after that fortuna reading, I have some vague idea why... but not any specifics. Maybe you can tell me what you want from me? I'd love to do it for you then go away, far far away from here. Alive and intact. Maybe with my pockets full of gold?”

She wasn't sure which werewolf started laughing first, but it caught on fast, and soon everyone but the Alpha was literally howling.

As the sound echoed from the hills, he stood up and gave a shake, twitching and shuddering and shrinking...

...until the lean, black-haired man she'd seen at Don Sangue's final feast was standing in the monster's place. He was clothed, thankfully, and took a second to adjust his sword belt.

“Didn't you have that on you when you were... fuzzier?” Chase asked, confused.

“It's complicated. Basically it's still there, but it looks like it isn't. One of the perks of my condition.”

Condition? Chase filed that away for later usage. But the Alpha was continuing. “Anyway... my name is Mercutio. If it's gold you want we can do that. That's meaningless to us, for the most part.”

The ring of werewolves around them shuffled, and a few of them muttered. He shot a glare back over his shoulder. “For the most part!” he reiterated. “You can always get more gold.”

“But you can't always get home,” Tabita's voice rang over the clearing, and Chase turned to see the squat werewolf sitting on a ledge up above the dungeon, peering out at the forest beyond. “I want to go home, girl. And I think maybe you can help me with that.”

“I... you're her, aren't you? Tabita?”

Chase knew very well who she was, but she put uncertainty in her voice anyway. She worked better when people underestimated her.

“I am. You're a clever one, but really you're coming in late in this sordid little play. Used as a pawn by those who care nothing for you.” Tabita hopped off the ledge, landed with a meaty THUD and a casual ease that displayed a strength that made Chase shudder. Even the Muscle Wizaard would be hard-pressed to match that sort of brute strength, she thought.

“Don Coltello basically threatened me with the choice of death or helping him.” Chase shrugged. “Now he's gone.”

“And yet you told Don Sangue we were enemies.” The Alpha paced, circling her. She turned as best she could, without putting her back to Tabita.

“An angry undead whatever-he-was right in front of me, about to maul us? Yeah you better believe I told him that!” Chase laughed. “I would have told him the moon was made out of cheese if it got us out of there alive!”

“Enough. She'll help us or she'll die. Since she was so good at opposing us when Coltello threatened her, I figure we can do the same.” Tabita stalked closer. “You're a healer. Are you good with magic that isn't healing?”

“Divination,” Chase said, caught with both werewolves flanking her. “I'm both an Oracle and a Medium. That's what we do is figure things out by asking the gods and the cosmos in general.”

“Mmm. That last part, I can usually do,” Tabita growled. “I'm a Shaman. But it will take me time, probably the rest of the night to perform a dream quest. If your work is faster, then perhaps we can figure something out.”

“Mostly. I have one skill that can knock me out for an hour and a half or so,” Chase said, still equidistant between the player and the Alpha. “But the more I know, the more reliable my work is. I don't have to spend time separating my assumptions from the reality, if that makes sense. Can I ask you a few questions before I start firing up my magic?”

To Chase's relief, the Alpha hesitated, then walked around to join Tabita. The ring of werewolves spread out, and slipped into the trees ringing the hillside, or headed down slope. She'd passed a test of some sort. Now all she had to do was stall... stall and maybe figure out a few things that Thomasi couldn't or wouldn't tell her.

“I think that's fair,” Tabita said. “But we can't waste too much time. This needs to be done while the moon is full, and I don't want to wait another month if we take too long tonight.”

“I'll try not to waste time with the stupid stuff, then,” Chase took a breath. “What do you need help with?”

Tabita gave herself a shake... and then she was standing there in her dwarven form. Wearing clothes this time, thankfully. She opened an overlarge purse that Chase vaguely recalled seeing at one point, and hauled out a rolled up piece of fur. She shook it out in the moonlight, and Chase's breath hissed from between her teeth as a small pair of chains on one side of it jingled.

She'd gotten one of the skins Chase had planted, and that meant that there was some hope of salvaging things.

“What is that?” Chase asked.

“My skin. My old skin.” Tabita sighed. “Do you know how I got this skin? Do you know how I got my Job?”

“No.”

“Shaman and Berserker didn't cut it. Shaman and Scout didn't work out. No matter what I did, or how many people I hunted down and ate, it just didn't unlock.”

Chase's eyes went wide, but after a brief struggle, she kept the emotion off her face.

“Shaman and Tamer... that one worked. It got me to Lycanthrope, but the downsides outweighed the upsides. Then at level ten I got rank up options, but none fit... Until I got a lead off Readit.”

“Off what?”

“A secret repository of lore. Some of it's lies, but occasionally it worked out. And this lead told about the legend of the loup-garou... as the devs saw it, anyway.”

“The loup-garou... you skinned yourself?” Chase burst out, horrified.

“I did.” Tabita smiled. Then the smile faded. “This was before I felt pain.” Now she was frowning. “Now it's going to be a different story.”

“Before you felt pain? You didn't used to? Is...” Chase swallowed, and threw a silent Foresight out there. She didn't see herself get gutted for asking, so she chanced it. “Is this a player thing?”

“You know about that?” Tabita considered her warily.

“Very little,” Chase confessed. “Cagna told me about Pwner, but I don't think she had the full picture, either. You don't die, or you come back, and you're from another world?”

“A dull world, a dreary world.” Tabita said, her voice rising bit by bit. “A world full of sheep who don't know they're being sheared, a world where the powerful and greedy won years ago, and turned everyone else into slaves, and everyone is okay with it!” Now she was stalking around the clearing, fuming, but her anger wasn't directed at Chase and that was a good thing. “A world where the rich buy up the wilds and fence them off and rape the land, ruining it forever! A world where you're not free to be what you want to be. Where you have to work jobs frantically, if you want to even survive. A world without magic, where dreams die and nobody cares because that's just how it is.” She spat.

The Alpha sat a warning hand on Chase's shoulder, leaning down a bit to do so. Chase nodded to him. She was smart enough not to interrupt, but it was good he cared. It made her chances of survival that much easier.

“You don't know how lucky you have it here,” Tabita said, finally. “How good it is here. And how little I really want to go back. But I have to.”

“Why?” Chase asked. And this was really what nagged at her. Thomasi had hinted at things, danced around them, and she needed the answer, if fate or whatever else out there was going to keep throwing her up against players. “Why do you have to go back?”

Silence for a bit longer. And for a minute, she thought Tabita wouldn't answer. But eventually the dwarf chuckled. “What does it matter? You'll deal with it or you won't. This world? This world isn't truly real. It's a game we created. Nothing but a game.”

“What, like Chess or Seven-card Spatzle?” Chase shook her head. “That's not making much sense.”

“No. Think of it like a dream, brought to life with magic. People from my world created this one. It's a Hyper-Reality... no. How can I explain this?” Tabita rubbed her eyes. “We have machines in our heads, in my world. In the real world. They give us access to made-up dreams. Shared dreams. This is one of them.”

“Wait. Everything's a dream?” Chase blinked, and followed that to its logical conclusion. “I'm a dream?”

And the pieces of the puzzle slid together.

It explained so MUCH of the players' behavior.

They acted as they wanted, they did what they pleased, because to them it was nothing more than a dream. Just something to pass the time between wakefulness and slumber, with no real meaning or consequences, no matter what you did.

“And there's the existential dread,” Tabita sighed. “Try to get over it quickly. We still need you to do things.”

“If it's a dream...” Chase said, knowing that she probably wouldn't sleep again for a few nights with all of the questions now chewing at her. “If it's a dream, then why can't you wake up?”

“That. That right there is the ten million dollar question,” Tabita said, sitting down on a log and kicking a goblin skull down the slope. “This isn't the first game of its sort. It's a cheap darknet feelie, an uncensored gray area sort of game, but even the cashgrab devs who made it weren't dumb enough to turn off the safety protocols. You can't! They're literally wired into our heads!” She raised her hands, and slapped them down on her meaty thighs. “The worst that could happen is that you'd get adware piped onto your retinal HUDs until you got a malware scrub! Hell, I'd just purchased advanced antiviral for that, I expected that. But... well, it's more than that.

“Things are more real now. Like ludicrously more real. Pain, I feel pain now. All the pain. Before it was muted feedback. Just annoyance, letting you know your character was in trouble. Now... it hurts. And I don't know why.” Tabita's voice dropped to a whisper, as she spoke the last words. “Nobody could code that. There are no receptors rigged up to even DO that sort of thing. And it's more than that, there are details, insane details...” She reached down and scooped up something in the darkness. “This twig. Before when I picked up a stick, it would have the same basic shape. It would do that because the developers were lazy. But now each twig is different. Each twig is individual. Who would DO that? Who would waste the computing power to...” she shook her head. “It's crazy. And I wonder if I'm the crazy one, maybe? I wonder if this is somehow another world, and not a dream, despite everything.” She turned to look at Chase, and her eyes were wide and wild in the moonlight. “And I need to go back, need to go back and see. I need to make sure that this is the dream, and the other world is the reality, because if I'm wrong or confused somehow then I've done some really, really horrible stuff and I don't know how the hell I can live with myself.”

“It's not you,” Mercutio said. “It's the beast.”

“The beast that I wanted to be!” Tabita stood, and glared at him until he lowered his eyes. “The beast that I made of myself,” Tabita finished, softly.

Chase swallowed. “How will the skin help you do that?” she asked.

“It might not. But it's the best chance I have,” Tabita held up the fur. “I was killed and skinned in Arretzi just before the... whatever-the-hell-it-was happened. Call it the crash.”

“Okay... still not seeing how it will help you.”

“So you see the words, right? I'd be surprised if you didn't, everyone can now.”

“THE words? Yes.” Chase frowned. “What do they have to do with this?”

“I'm getting to that!” Tabita snarled. “Players like me, we can see additional words. Including the patches. No, shut up, don't ask. All you need to know is that the patches tell us when they affect our jobs. And the Loup-Garou job requirement got waived. Now you don't need your skinsuit to change. Skinsuits are not supposed to be IN the game. But here it is...” she shook it. “And it still has magic within it! Just as I'd suspected!”

“Ah,” Chase said. It had magic within it because she'd had it enchanted.

“It's a glitch,” Tabita continued, ignoring Chase's response. “And if I do the right ritual, and put it on, I just might glitch out of the game!” She stood, and her shoulders sagged, dragging the skin on the ground. “Might. Might is the keyword, here. It's a long shot. I won't lie.”

She looked up then, and her eyes were yellow and practically glowing in the moonlight. “That's where you come in, Oracle. You divine me up a future where that happens and tell me how to get there. And Mercutio will make you the richest halven in this little fake Italy.”

“All right,” Chase said, holding out her hand for the skin. “Let me see what I can do.”

And she did. She pulled out her cards and did several readings, she studied Tabita's palms, she lit candles and studied the patterns left in the smoke. And after Tabita and Mercutio started getting restless, she lay down for a Short Vision.

But what she saw made no sense at all.

A dark room, with green pillars, and numbers and pillars flickering by overhead. Werewolves in those green pillars, and Tabita in the center of it all, cutting, cutting, cutting at her skin. Chase looked away as the blood flowed, and her gaze went on endlessly, staring into a dark void.

It was a place not meant for sanity. It was a place that couldn't be, and she didn't know what it meant, and then the vision started to fade...

...No! She thought. And then she remembered she had a skill for this now.

“Focus Vision,” she thought, and her view snapped back to the room.

Then it pulled back, showing a cave lit by guttering fires, a throne room strung with thatch and bones, and dead goblins all about. And a green light shone behind the throne, a doorway closing on the void, a hole in the world sealing... just as Mercutio went charging through it, leaving the goblin massacre behind and hurtling into the darkness.

That's the room that Renny told me about! Chase thought. The core chamber.

Your Focus Vision skill is now level 2!

Your Short Vision skill is now level 9!

With a gasp, Chase sat up.

The moon was a lot higher in the sky than she remembered, and then two shapes blocked it, a squat silhouette and a tall, lanky one.

“Well?” Tabita asked.

“I know where you have to go to do the ritual,” Chase said. “The dungeon. The dungeon is the key. Well, any one would work, probably, but this one's right here, and time is short.”

You are now a level 6 Medium!

CHA+5

LUCK+5

“What does the dungeon have to do with anything?” Tabita frowned.

But Mercutio's eyes grew wide, white in the moonlight. “I've heard something about dungeons. That each one has a vault that's between worlds...”

“That sure matches what I saw,” Chase said, and explained her vision in detail.

“That's it, that's got to be it!” Tabita said. “It's probably supposed to be a dev-only room, but... well, something's wrong. So it'll be a glitch on a glitch! That's my best shot at getting home!”

“Well, it is what it is,” Chase shrugged.

“Did you see Mercutio there?” Tabita asked. “How MANY werewolves in pillars?”

“About six, and no, I didn't see Mercutio there,” Chase admitted.

“All right. Then that settles it. Stay here.” Tabita pulled Mercutio to the side and spoke with him. He didn't like what she had to say, and they argued for a time, breaking into low, guttural growls at one point. But finally he raised his head and howled, a long, high call that made Chase shudder to hear it.

The call was answered, from all around the forest. And inside of ten minutes, the pack had assembled again. After a brief bit, Tabita chose six of the pack, formed a party, and marched into the cave without a backward glance.

Chase read the anger and humiliation in Mercutio's stance, and said nothing.

But he must have read something in her body language, because he marched over, and unceremoniously picked her up.

“Wait, what? Hey! Hold on!”

“If she succeeds, you go free and I'll make you rich. If she fails or dies, you'll die,” Mercutio said, his earlier civility gone. “Until then, you wait with us. And just so you don't get any ideas...

Chase cried out as he pulled her silvered cards from her pocket, handling them deftly with gloved fingers. “I'll be keeping these,” Mercutio finished.

“I wasn't going to use them anyway!” she shouted. “I'm not insane! You'd pulverize me!”

“Keep remembering that, and you might just live through this after all.” Mercutio said. Then he turned, as something small pelted up the hill, something that crashed its way through the underbrush. “What? Tollen?”

“Torches! It's an army!” Tollen Wheadle rumbled, still half-beast. “Coming from the road!”

And Chase exhaled with relief, staring out into the darkness and seeing faint pinpricks or light. The compass had done its job. The tracking spell led her 'allies' straight to the werewolves.

Her relief died in her throat as Mercutio whirled at the sound... and though her charisma let her quickly rearrange her features, his perception was just too good. His eyes narrowed. “You. You did this.”

“How could I do this?” Chase protested, backing up. “I've been with you the whole time!”

“Yes. Yes you have...” he growled. “We've covered our tracks every time, we've made sure to turn the farmers whose lands we crossed, and we've avoided light, and other things that would draw attention. The only difference is that you're here.”

“Hey! Hold on!” Chase held up her hands. Her back hit the side of the cliff, and Mercutio stalked closer. “I'm trying to help you! I want gold and to get out of here. Do you honestly think that those people won't murder me horribly as well? Silver arrows through the heart will kill me just as bad as they will you!”

He scrutinized her for a moment. “There's a simple way to test this. Tollen, go take her out into the woods, down by the creekbend. If the hunters turn toward you, then kill her and return. If it stays after us, bring her along and hit them from the rear.”

Chase folded her arms. “This is a waste of time, but okay.”

“Girl, do you really think I need your agreement to do this? Do you think I care?” A hint of the beast crept into Mercutio's voice, and she didn't have to fake the fear that must have shown on her face.

“Come on then,” Tollen said, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her back so hard that she stumbled. “Let's go!”

Chase weighed her options, glanced a final time at the Alpha's face, and decided to let her fellow halven pull her away from the obviously angry and possibly-still-going-to-eat-her werewolf.

You are now a level 11 Halven!

AGL+4

CHA+4

CON+2

DEX+4

INT+2

LUCK+4

PER+2

STR+2

WILL+2

WIS+4

COOL +5

MENTAL FORTITUDE+5

Then it was down the hillside, through the trees, and Chase's recently-improved agility let her move without stumbling too much as Tollen practically dragged her along. She knew better to complain, or look back, or do anything to make Mercutio change his mind. He could and would gut her right there and then, if he knew what she'd done.

And he'd almost guessed it, she thought, feeling sweat gather at the edges of her headscarf. With only the barest suspicion, he figured out that there was some sort of tracking effect in play. He just thought it was me, and not the skin.

“You're afraid,” Tollen whispered, as the silence of the dark forest was broken by distant gurgling. Water ahead, the creek most likely. “You're afraid and I can smell it. Don't be.” Tollen said. “I won't kill you.”

“You won't have to,” Chase said, putting confidence in her voice. “I'm not the one who drew them here.”

“Then why are you afraid?”

“Because I'm alone in the woods with a werewolf. And because you almost killed me earlier tonight, Tollen Wheadle, and I'm not sure why.” She stared at him, unable to see very much of him beyond a shadowed shape, in the darkness of the woods.

“That were... that were the beast,” Tollen said, his voice rising a bit. “It needed to feed. Needed to hunt. I took care of that after they took you. You got nothing to fear from me, Berrymore.”

“You killed someone,” Chase said and the words hung in the air as the water ran merrily, dark and hidden.

“They deserved it,” he said, but she caught the hint of uncertainty in his voice.

“Did you deserve it, when Tabita attacked you? When she burst out of the summerhouse at nightfall, and tore into you?”

A hiss of indrawn breath. “How did you... no, it doesn't matter. I'm stronger now. Better. Don't have to hide in the woods to get away from stupid people who talk too much and won't let me be. I can hide in plain sight, and ain't none the wiser.”

“So long as you kill a few every month, that makes it all right?” Chase knew she was pushing her luck here, but this was Tollen Wheadle. She knew enough of his buttons and triggers to avoid them. And this was a vital chance to learn things that the other werewolves wouldn't tell her. “Nevermind that,” she said, as he growled. “What I can't figure out is how you did it in the mansion. Or how Tabita killed Giuseppe, for that matter. There were supposed to be magical wards and guardians and things like that! Everyone told me about how magical the Verde family was, but that manor did NOT live up to its reputation.”

“Oh. That.” Tollen seemed to relax a bit, judging by how his shadow shifted. “It is pretty secure... but the Thieves' Guild here cracked it decades ago. Mercutio paid them a wompload of gold for the pass phrases. After that, so long as we didn't target any family, or go to the secure vaults there weren't nothing the guardians could do and the watchers looked the other way.”

“She was never after Maddalena Verde.” Chase closed her eyes.

“Would have taken her if she could have. But the old biddy was supposed to be a Conjuror. Bad odds on a good night. And that weren't a good night.”

“No.” Chase picked her way towards the water sound, stopped as she came to a break in the trees. Moonlight glimmered on the water.

Tollen moved up behind her, and put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched.

“Been thinking about it,” Tollen said.

“About what?”

“You and me.”

A trickle of unease crept down her spine, and she stepped back from him. “I don't think we should have this conversation.”

“That's the thing,” he said, stepping closer. “I think we should. I can't look at you, I can't smell you, I can't hear you without thinking of meat, Chase Berrymore. Even with the kill I had, even with the beast sated... I want you. I want to sink my teeth into your throat and chew.”

It wasn't what he was saying.

It was the fact that he was saying it matter-of-factly, that he was saying it like the most natural thing in the world, that filled her with dread.

Chase started to run through her methods of stopping him from tearing her throat out, and came up short. There... weren't many. And he was a scout, with high, high perception. She mouthed “Silent Activation, Foresight,” and let her ghost self try to deflect the conversation. She watched as he ignored her and his ghostly form stepped closer.

“Silent Activation, Foresight,” she muttered again, and tried to bluster. It worked no better. And the pain in her chest rose, as paradox threatened.

But the third try, that was the charm.

“Is that what you told Friatta Costello?” Chase asked, standing her ground. “Is that what you did to her?”

Tollen flinched backward. She saw him slink back into the shadows, away from the open patch where the moonlight shone over the brook. “I didn't mean to do that. That were a mistake.”

“Then why did you kill her?”

“They sent me! They sent me to find out who had ordered the skin! But she didn't know.” He sighed. “I went in, pretended to be a customer looking for a new sheath. Tried to chat her up. Sending ME to chat someone up. Don't know why they expected it to go well.”

Privately, Chase agreed. The loner Scout was one of the least charismatic people she'd known back in Bothernot. “And what happened, exactly?” Chase asked. She kept her voice gentle and neutral. No hint of judgment.

“She didn't know. It was her mother did the work, back then. But her mother was dead. It was just her and her father, and she was lonely. And then she...” Tollen's voice hitched in his throat. “She said she was lonely. That her father was dead drunk. Wouldn't hear nothing. And she leaned into me, and her throat was right THERE.”

“Ah.” Chase said.

“It was indecent! Didn't even know if I was married or not!” Tollen snarled. “She weren't no good woman. Just a loose city trollop!”

“And now she's dead,” Chase said.

“Which brings us back to you and me,” Tollen said, and moved back into the light.

Damn him. Damn his single track mind... Chase took a deep breath. “There isn't a you and a me.”

“No. But there could be.” Tollen considered her. “One bite and some time is all it takes. Not even a full night.”

“Did Mercutio tell you to offer me this?” Chase said. “Because I don't want it. I have trouble keeping full anyway, I don't want to have to go running all over the woods on top of that.”

“No. But I know how he thinks. We ain't letting you go. You know too much. You're with the pack now.” Tollen stepped closer. “I'll have to smell you every day. Every night. And Berrymore? You smell delicious.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking another step. Her foot splashed in the water, and she was thankful for her shoes for once.

Then... then she had an idea. Not a great one, but it was worth a shot. She squirmed her foot, tore it loose from her shoe, and stepped deeper into the creek. Mud and rock under her foot, and she felt around with her toes as Tollen advanced on her.

“Two ways this ends,” he said, his voice dipping lower, heading toward the beast but not quite there. “I'll kill you. Or... you join us.”

“Mercutio said he'd let me go,” she protested.

“Mercutio might. We won't. Your scent is on my mind. In my head. And the others, the others you beat up... it's there, too. We all want you, Berrymore. We all want to feed.” That last word rattled into a growl.

“And what would Gammer Wheadle say about this?” Chase asked. Nothing... nothing... there! She stopped moving, her foot on a rock that was just the right size.

“Gammer Wheadle ain't here!” Tollen said, stepping all the way into the moonlight. The leer on his face was horrific to see.

“Oh. Well, in that case...” Chase bent into the stream, swept up the rock, and yelled “Rapid Fire!”

Tollen barely had time to blink before three rocks slammed into his face, with audible crunches. He fell backward, crying out, and Chase backed up further into the stream, squirming out of her last shoe as she shouted over and over again “Bad Fortune! Bad Fortune! Bad Fortune!”

You have inflicted 47 points of fortune damage on Tollen Wheadle.

Your Bad Fortune skill is now level 7!

Tollen Wheadle resists your Bad Fortune curse!

You have inflicted 48 points of fortune damage on Tollen Wheadle.

Your Bad Fortune skill is now level 8!

By the time Tollen was on his feet again, Chase was across the stream, and down about a hundred points of her own fortune, from casting the spell as quickly as she could. But it paid off, in the end.

Your Bad Fortune is ineffective: Target has no fortune.

“Berrymore!” Tollen shouted, and grew, grew a full foot and a half as he expanded and his skin swapped out for fur. “You're MINE.”

“That's no way to talk to a lady!” a cheerful voice called from above. “I cast fist from Off the Top Rope!”

And Chase laughed, laughed in hysterical relief, laughed as a massive form plunged from the trees, elbow first. Laughed as Tollen Wheedle disappeared under the mountain of flesh that was the Muscle Wizaard. She laughed until she cried, then sat on the ground and shook while Renny and Cagna rushed over and folded her into their embrace. She even ignored the words that rolled by.

You are now a level 7 Medium!

CHA+5

LUCK+5

All told it only took about a minute and a half to get over it. Her cool was far too high to let it get to her for too long, and she had stuff to do. Finally she patted the dog-woman's arm, and stood.

“Ahem,” another familiar voice cleared its throat, and Chase looked up into the moonlight.

“Thomasi,” she said. “I was wondering what was keeping you.”

“I had to make sure his attention was properly directed elsewhere.”

“I helped! I masked Bastien's scent!” Renny piped up.

“And Cagna's the reason we were able to pick up your trail in the first place,” Thomasi continued. “So it was a team effort. Sorry for the delay though, we had to stop by our old campsite up the ridge a ways. I had to retrieve the skin.”

“We have a lot to talk about,” Chase said, not taking her eyes off the man. “But there's no time. Tabita's in the cave. Now is our chance to take down Mercutio and the rest of the werewolves. All we have to do is hold them until the Doge and the Camerlengo arrive, then get away in the chaos.”

“No good, I'm afraid.” Thomasi shook his head. “We passed by above and upwind of them while we were looking for you, and caught some of the conversation. Mercutio's gone into the dungeon to warn Tabita.”

“What? No, he can't... he can.” Chase realized. Like a fool, she'd told them that any dungeon would work for their purposes. They could escape and try the ritual in a month, at a new dungeon.

“Yes. It's over. I'm going to leave them the skin as a peace offering, and a note asking them to leave the country,” Thomasi said. “It's probably the best outcome that we can get out of this.”

Chase turned around, and thought. And after a moment, the answer rose up... along with anger. “No. Not good enough.”

“Don't fight me on this. If she has a chance to get home— ”

“Not good enough!” Chase shouted, and stomped up to him, glaring up at his wide, wide eyes. “We're not dreams! This isn't a game! You don't get to murder us or turn packs of us into monsters and get away unscathed!” Still keeping her eyes on him, she knelt and started picking up stones from the creek, finding the ones just the right shape and size for throwing. “This ends here and now, and they go down. And I'll do it with or without you, do you understand me, you... you... Player?”

“Oh cheese us.” he muttered. “She told you.” He seemed to shrink... then rallied. “Look. It's a moot point. They'll withdraw into the dungeon and wait us out. Wait the army out, for that matter. It's full of goblins to eat, probably has water to drink as well, and they're off in their own private instances. There's no way to get them out.”

“Actually, there is.” Renny spoke up. “Do you remember what I said about sealing dungeons?”

CHASE'S CHARACTER SHEET

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Chase Berrymore

Age: 15 Years

Jobs:

Halven level 11, Cook level 4, Archer level 7, Grifter level 12, Medium level 7, Oracle level 13, Painter level 2, Teacher level 5

Attributes / Pools / Defenses

Strength: 65 Constitution: 38 / Hit Points: 103 / Armor: 10

Intelligence: 66 Wisdom: 111 / Sanity: 177 / Mental Fortitude: 55

Dexterity: 128 Agility: 66 / Stamina: 194 / Endurance: 0

Charisma: 199 Willpower: 54 / Moxie: 253 / Cool: 65

Perception: 79 Luck: 202 / Fortune: 281 / Fate: 40

Generic Skills

Archery – Level 1

Brawling – Level 8

Climb – Level 15

Dagger – Level 2

Dodge – Level 12

Fishing – Level 14

Ride – Level 10

Stealth – Level 14

Swim – Level 7

Throwing – Level 27

Halven Skills

Fate's Friend – Level N/A

Small in a Good Way – Level N/A

Cook Skills

Cooking - Level 15

Freshen - Level 10

Archer Skills

Aim – Level 6

Demoralizing Shot – Level 1

Far Shot – Level 1

Missile Mastery – Level N/A

Quickdraw – Level N/A

Rapid Fire – Level N/A

Razor Arrow – Level 6

Ricochet Shot – Level 10

Grifter Skills

Feign Death – Level 1

Fools Gold – Level 1

Forgery – Level 1

Master of Disguise – Level 3

Old Buddy – Level 1

Pickpocket – Level 1

Silent Activation – Level 29

Silver Tongue – Level 18

Size Up – Level 4

Unflappable – Level N/A

Medium Skills

Bad Fortune – Level 13

Crystal Ball – Level 2

Focus Vision – Level 1

Fortuna – Level N/A

Good Fortune – Level 8

Palmistry – Level N/A

Séance – Level N/A

Stack Deck – Level N/A

Oracle Skills

Absorb Condition – Level N/A

Afflict Self – Level 1

Diagnose – Level N/A

Divine Pawn – Level N/A

Foresight – Level 39

Influence Fate – Level 4

Lesser Healing – Level 43

Omens and Portents – Level N/A

Short Vision – Level 8

Transfer Condition – Level 9

Painter Skills

Fast Dry – Level N/A

Painting – Level 5

Teacher Skills

Lecture – Level 20

Red Ink – Level 1

Smarty Pants – Level N/A

Unlocked Jobs

Farmer, Herbalist

Gear

The Charlatan's Chapeau

Light Leather Armor – level 5