The rock whistled through the air, forming a perfect arc just above Renny's head, and smacked into the stomach of the twisted little black-and-green man who was charging him. The breath left the goblin with a whoosh of air, and crumpled to the ground, sliding across the floor. Renny stepped to the side and let him go by.

The fourth goblin screeched, and threw his spear at Chase...

“Whip It!” Thomasi said, and with a snap of his Ringmaster's whip the spear went clattering off a wall and into the gorge below, vanishing into darkness.

Then the Muscle Wizaard was on the fourth goblin, and that was pretty much that. Chase turned away as the little creature squeaked, and stared at the bodies on the floor.

“You do this sort of thing for fun?” Chase muttered, sparing Thomasi a glare.

He had the good grace to look abashed. “Some do. I never got the taste. It's mostly those for who are obsessed with getting powerful magic items and fighting challenging monsters.”

Chase just looked at the bodies, and the black blood spreading beneath them. One of the goblins had a little bracelet. Just some little thing with charms on it.

“They eat babies,” Cagna said. “Don't mourn them.”

“So does Tabita, I'm pretty sure. Or she's done things about as bad.” Chase turned her back on Thomasi, and pointed at the low entrance to the next cave. “But here we are, on our way to help her.”

The Ringmaster sighed. “She gets to leave. You get her out of your world. It's a win-win situation.”

“And if it doesn't work, what then?” Chase scowled, falling into line behind Cagna. “Will you help us fight her? Will you help us capture her?”

Silence, just for a heartbeat. Two heartbeats. “Yes,” Tom said.

He sounded sincere.

It meant nothing.

“I wish I could believe you,” she whispered.

“If it comes down to it, you'll see the proof. Let's hope it doesn't come down to it. You don't know what I've given up for you.”

“What?” Chase looked back for the first time...

...just as Bastien yelled a warning. “Six of them! Archers too! Let's get ready to rummmmbllllle!”

“Down!” Cagna barked. Then her pistol fired, a bark completely unlike her own. “Renny, take the left!”

“I'm on it!”

This was the fifth room in the goblins' dungeon that they'd come to, and by now they had things down to a rhythm. Bastien went in first, took any hits that were necessary and drew attention to himself, while moving up to administer beatdowns. Cagna focused on taking out any magical attackers or ranged shooters, then charged in to guard the Wizaards's flanks with her shortsword. Renny had Manipulate Air going and an elemental he directed to scatter any organized resistance, and keep lone goblins busy until Bastien or Cagna could get to them. Thomasi used a bullwhip with consumnate grace, guarding their flanks and watching for ambushes. Chase healed, and threw rocks.

Cagna had set up this order, and it was working well.

To be honest, Chase had expected... something more, really. The goblins weren't a match for them. If she'd been alone she would have been in danger, but if she'd been alone she wouldn't be here in the first place. With everybody in the party combined, the little twisted creatures really hadn't had a chance.

It wasn't adventure. It was pretty much slow slaughter, with the occasional attempt to murder them right back.

Chase sighed, and then followed Cagna into the room. She and Renny didn't have to duck to clear the low doorway, at least.

The upside was that it was over quickly.

The downside was that it wasn't very challenging, so they must have been getting fairly low experience. Chase hadn't leveled once, and her throwing skill had only gone up once, for all of her rock hurling ways.

The fight was over quickly, the barricade the goblins had set up kicked apart by Bastien's big boots, and Cagna did a quick search of the area. She came up with a small wooden box.

“Yay, more treasure!” Renny clapped his paws together.

“Great,” Chase said. “Maybe it's another couple of copper pieces and a half-chewed bone. Totally worth it.”

“Oh for the love of the Nurph,” Cagna growled. “Can you not?”

“What?” Chase blinked. “Can I not what?”

The dog-woman stared at her. “We're in a dungeon. We're in a dangerous spot, and if you don't get your head in the game, you're going to get someone killed! I know you. You're better than... this. What the hell is your problem?”

A meaty hand patted her shoulder. “I've got this. Give us a few minutes,” Bastien said.

“What are you talking about?” Chase glared. “This isn't my doing, I'm trying to... hey!” She protested as Bastien walked past her, swept her up with one arm, and carried her over to the corner of the low cave.

“So,” he said, sitting between her and the rest of the group. “Let's talk about this.”

“There's nothing to talk about,” Chase said. “We need to get there fast, seal the dungeon, and get out before the werewolves realize what's happening.”

“And give Tabita the skin before we seal it,” Bastien said, adjusting his spectacles.

Chase felt her lips twist. “Yes, that too.”

Thomasi had insisted on that part.

The Muscle Wizaard's eyes were magnified, this close to him. The glass made them seem bigger, and the kindness in them made her look away.

“It's easy to forget that you're still so young,” he said, barely a murmur. Behind him, she could hear the clink of coins as they sorted through the treasure, and Renny and Thomasi trying to figure out what this or that item might be.

“Well... yes. Not too young. I'll be sixteen next October.” Chase frowned. “So what?”

“You've gained so many levels for one so young. So much experience! And it was in a really short time. And I'm betting most of those jobs boosted your charisma, am I right?”

“Oh yeah....” she said, trying to mimic his voice.

He laughed. “See! From anyone else I might think they were mocking me. From you, it's cute. Look... have you ever really thought about what high charisma means?”

“Aside from making me better at talking with people? Not really. It only helps me when talking matters. It doesn't help me with... this. Whatever this is.” Chase waved a hand at the slaughter dungeon.

Bastien nodded. “High charisma means that people pay more attention to you. Even when you're not trying to get them to. And they feel more empathy towards you. Which means that when you're in a bad mood...” he let his words trail off.

Chase was bright enough to see where it was going. “Everyone else feels bad.”

“Yeah. And we can't ignore it, because gosh darn it, we like you! You're the heart of this group! You pulled it together, you've healed our wounds, you help keep us alive... you're the reason we're here, Chase.” Bastien removed his spectacles and rubbed them on a handkerchief. His eyes were a little misty. “My life was going nowhere. Now I have friends again, one old and three new. I can maybe even be a proper wizard someday!”

“You already are.” she put her hands on his shoulders. “And don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Muscle magic beats book magic any day!”

He laughed. “Hey, I'm giving the pep talk here!” But he was beaming now, the shadow of sadness gone from his eyes. “So... tell me what's eating you, and maybe you'll feel better. And then we can get back to it, get our heads in the game. Dungeons eat people who don't get their heads screwed on properly.”

Chase shook her head. “You really think this place is dangerous? It's more pathetic, really.”

“See, you haven't been listening to Renny. This one's easy so far because we're higher level than it. But they get deadlier the further you go. Cagna knows it. I know it. Thomasi sure as heck knows it. Nothing is safe, nothing is certain.”

She closed her eyes. “That's how they thought in Bothernot. That's what my mother would say. I couldn't stand that place...”

Just for a second, a wave of homesickness washed over her. Nostalgia, and a longing for a place where the biggest decision of the day was whether or not to skip second breakfast for more reading time.

Chase shoved it down. She'd wanted this, wanted adventure and risk and excitement, and here it was...

...and she found her eyes wandering to Thomasi. He was standing alone now, watching down one of the corridors. His face was half in shadow, but the part she could see looked saddened.

As well he should be, Chase felt a worm of anger gnawing in her breast, and realization came to her. “I trusted him. And he's... he doesn't think I'm real. He doesn't think any of us matter. We're not real to him,” Chase whispered.

“What?” Bastien turned. “Thomasi? Man, he was happy to see me when he came to us at the Masquerade! He was so sorry he'd been taken away from us. He asked me about the others, but...” Bastien's brow furrowed. “It's funny, I can't remember them so well. We all went our separate ways. For some reason... ah, it doesn't matter. Look, Thomasi's good. He cares.”

“How can he?” Chase burst out, a little louder than she intended. “It's a game! It's all a game to him. Not even a real dream.”

Cagna shot her a glare. But Thomasi flinched, and turned away. She felt an odd sense of triumph at that, mixed with shame. This was the sort of thing her mother would do, that she'd seen other Bothernot matrons do. Get ahold of something and never let it go, inflame guilt to get the others to fall into line. They didn't see a thing wrong with it. After all, their own relatives had done the same to them, over and over...

“It's not just him you're mad at, is it?” Bastien's hands enveloped her shoulders, then pulled her into a hug. She buried her face in his beard and tried not to cry.

“No,” she whispered. “I'm mad at me for acting this way but I can't STOP.” Her voice twisted as she spoke, pain and sorrow blending together. “I can't stop and I don't want to be this way.”

“There was a time I didn't want to be the way I was either,” Bastien said, hugging her more tightly. “So I decided to be a wizard. And I never looked back. I'm not there yet, but I'm the best one I can be, and I'm better for it. Because the more I was a Wizard, the less I was the old me, that I didn't like so much. And eventually I could look back and take the best parts of old me without bringing the bad stuff along. And that's magic, kind of. I'm rambling, I'm sorry.”

“No, no, it's okay,” Chase said, letting him go. “I'm an Oracle. I'm a Medium. I'm a Grifter and an Archer, and I'm not done yet. I can't forget where I came from, but I don't have to let it rule me. And that's what it was doing. Old me was sitting in the back of my head, trying to scramble for control.” She spoke the words, feeling the truth of them as she went. And it was true, she realized. Some part of her had been trying to hold herself back, through all of this... but there was no going back. From the second she'd met her god in that rustic tavern, it had all been downhill from...

No.

No, it wasn't downhill. Her life had gotten better. She was alive because of it. Everything from there had been rising up, facing insane odds and beating them. Rising above them.

For a second she remembered Enrico Rossi, that tired, beaten man who had gone down fighting in a blaze of glory because he couldn't do anything else, knew the odds were against him and played the game anyway. Her hand felt for his cards... then she remembered that the Alpha had taken them.

I'll have to even that score. For Enrico, she thought.

Her eyes found Thomasi again. He had helped her, in his own way. He was about as reliable as a barn made of paper... but he cared. He did, even if he was really, really bad about keeping secrets when he shouldn't.

Maybe... maybe she could kill two birds with one stone here?

Halven mental fortitude did its job then, and she gave Bastien a final squeeze and pulled free of him. He let her go. “Better?”

“Better. Thank you.” Chase mopped her eyes, and headed over to Thomasi. “Hey. You.”

“Hey you,” he said back, looking down at her with wariness.

“I haven't forgiven you yet. But I'll make you a deal. I'll forgive you, if you tell me... no, you tell us everything else. Everything you're hiding that I need to know. No shenanigans! Do you accept this deal?”

His face twitched. “Yes. But I'm not sure we have time. There's a lot I haven't told you.”

“Then you can tell us the less-important parts later. The existential crisis stuff can wait.”

“All right.” He rubbed his eyes. “May I have my hat back, by the way?”

“Oh. Right.” She rummaged in her pack. “I keep forgetting to use the thing anyway.”

“Thank you. It completes a set bonus when I've got it on.” He tried to put it on, scowled as the low ceiling got in the way. “Well, that's irritating.”

She laughed. She couldn't help it. Part of it was his high charisma, she knew, but part of it was that she genuinely liked Tom. He was fun. Also he was a part of her new life, and she owed him for his part in her escape from Bothernot.

Putting that aside, she brought her mind back to the task at hand. Like the Muscle Wizaard had said, you had to keep your head together while you were in a dungeon. “So. Tabita. Tell us about her.”

“We were imprisoned together. Like most of the others she'd more than earned her place in the prison.”

“Most? No offense, but everyone except maybe for you seemed pretty horrible.”

“Compared to you and the villagers, yes. Zenobia... well, let's just say her tortures made us all look like saints.” Thomasi looked away for a second, then shrugged. “Dijornos and Speranza were probably the least worst. Dijornos was brutal and loved violence, but he was in a line of work where that was not unknown, and he could channel his aggression to constructive ends. So long as he wasn't bored he was pretty decent. Speranza could enslave people's minds, but she usually held off on that unless the need was dire. She was big into lore and story, learning people's backgrounds and working her own adventures into that.”

“And Vaffanculo?” Her lips curled as she remembered the Necromancer. “Please don't tell me about his good qualities.”

“He was in this for the stress relief, I think. Honestly a pretty horrible guy all around. Self-centered and shallow.” Thomasi shrugged. “I still didn't want him dead.”

“What does death mean to you, exactly?” Cagna asked. “We might have to kill Tabita here. I'm not looking forward to her coming back a decade later for vengeance.”

“It's...” Thomasi rubbed his chin. “Okay. Without going into too many details, we used to be able to revive from death after a few hours of time. Also, we had things called tokens that could bypass even that waiting period, and let us respawn at a time and place of our choosing... well, from any waystone we'd touched, anyway.”

“I thought those things were just for teleporting?” Renny asked.

“For you, they are. For us they have a few more uses,” Thomasi shrugged. “Anyway, not all of us bought tokens when we had the chance, and it's pretty easy to blow through the meager amount you start with. Which is a problem, because there's not many ways to get more of them now. You can't just go out and buy them anymore.”

“What about reviving regularly?” Cagna asked. “If it only takes a few hours, that's still a problem.”

“You don't have to worry about that,” Thomasi said. “I do. You see, it doesn't... it doesn't work anymore.” He sat on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest.

“Something stuck in my mind,” Chase said, moving up to him. “Back in the village. You didn't want to kill Vaffanculo because it would send him to a fate worse than death.”

“Yes,” Thomasi said. “If you choose revival, you get dropped into a gray place. You can talk with everyone else who's waiting for revival. Or you can pay tokens to revive early. Those are the only things you can do, the only options you can see. And Chase...” he looked at her, and his face was filled with dread. “Some of the people in there have been waiting for revival for a very, very long time.”

“Oh no,” Renny said, putting his paws on Thomasi's arm. “It's like soulstone madness!”

“That's hell,” Thomasi said. “Plain and simple. Dijornos told me about it... he died a year after the revival stopped working, and was there briefly. They've gone mad in there. It's screaming, and babbling, and threats, and thousands of voices talking all at once, and you can't shut them off. If you weren't mad before, that place will do it. I don't want to send Tabita there. Even after what she's done.”

“She made herself a monster,” Chase said. “But... what you described? Nobody deserves that. Not even a monster.” Chase let out her breath in a sigh. The others echoed their agreement.

And as they did, Thomasi relaxed. He chewed his lip for a moment, eyeing Chase, then seemed to come to a decision. “The good news is that it won't here, no matter what we do. She has at least enough tokens for one more revival. Which also means that she won't waste time or effort on vengeance.” He nodded to Tabita. “If the rest of the pack dies here, she'll cut her losses and revive, probably on another continent. She was one of the few of us who traveled a lot before she got incarcerated. So if we have to... yes, you can kill her. I won't stop you, and I'll help as best I can. Although... it probably won't come to that.”

“No?” Chase asked.

“I'm taking a leaf from how you handled Pandora.” Thomasi smiled. “All we have to do is pop this dungeon, then leave her for the Camerlengo and Pwner to sort out.”

“Pwner?” Chase frowned. “He's got no way to find her.”

The others shared a look. “We forgot to tell her,” Bastien said.

“To be fair, we were busy and she was sulking,” Cagna offered.

Chase frowned, but it was true.

“Pwner's waiting outside,” Thomasi said. “I cut a deal with him back at the Ball. Remember when I asked you to leave him to me?”

“Oh!” Chase blinked. He had, hadn't he? That seemed like almost an eternity ago. Then she shot Thomasi a glare. “Hold up. What kind of deal did you get from him?”

“A temporary truce, and he used his magic to get us here before the army. In return, he gets to take a whack at Tabita without interference from us.”

“Sounds fair. I'm fine with that, actually.” Chase nodded. “And he's here, so that'll fulfill my bargain with Zenobia and the Doge.”

“Wait, the Doge is involved?” Cagna looked up.

“Yes. Also I'm technically under arrest.”

“Oh don't tell me that. Wait, I'm off duty. Okay, you can tell me that, don't tell me that tomorrow.”

“What? Nevermind,” Chase frowned. “Hold on. Only a temporary truce?”

“Yes. Once Tabita's off the field, it's open season. He'll probably go after me.” Thomasi looked her in the eyes. “And this is the important part. If he does, you must not interfere.”

“What? No, hold on—”

“You must not.” Thomasi thundered. She took a few steps back, surprised. He lowered his voice. “Do not. He's lethal. He's designed for assassination, and I'm not just talking about the job. He'll kill you. And you unlike me, you don't have any way of reviving.”

“Actually...” Renny said, then shut his muzzle.

“You don't. Not here at any rate, which is the same thing,” Tom shot the little fox an apologetic look,and ruffled his head.

“You have a way of reviving? You have tokens?” Chase asked. Then she frowned. “You can't lose them, can you?”

“They're only physical when I trade them. Big old golden coins, and so valuable...” he looked wistful for a second. “No, I can't lose them. Not unless I give them to someone else. Which I won't,” Thomasi shook his head, and held up two fingers. “By my calculations I've got two fast revives left. If Pwner kills me, so be it. You know where to go, and I'll meet up with you later.” He shot Chase a look.

She nodded. “I don't like it. But if we have to... I still don't like the idea of you just letting him kill you.”

“Now who said anything about that?” Thomasi smiled. “I'll fight back, or try to escape. But... frankly, this is what he does. I'm outmatched.”

“You're sure you can't talk your way out of it? Use some Grifter tricks?” Chase frowned at him. “I've sized him up. His willpower isn't good...”

Thomasi hesitated... then shook his head. “There's something you don't know. It's complicated.”

“Then enlighten me!” Chase threw up her hands in frustration. “That's the deal! You come clean, and we can do this! This isn't the time to keep secrets!”

The Ringmaster frowned in irritation. “I'm not! I'm just trying to work out how to say this... okay. I think I have a way to put it. Bear with me. Simply put... our physical attributes limit and affect us, to a degree. But our mental ones don't, not as much, anyway.”

“What?” Cagna furled her lips back from her muzzle. “Why wouldn't they?”

“Because our brains aren't really here! And that's the complicated part and don't ask me about it. Things like perception, that's partially tied to our brains, so the best this world can do is sharpen our senses, but it's still on our brains back at home to tie things together. Intelligence? Wisdom? Sure, they affect what our skills do, but they are at best an influence rather than a limitation.”

“So what you're telling me,” said Chase, eyes going wide, “is that even though Pwner's willpower comes up as relatively low, he's free to ignore my charisma, and he's not as likely to be fooled if I lie to him.”

“Yes,” Thomasi said. “That's why I couldn't work a better deal. Without the system influencing how charisma interacts with willpower, it's his brain against mine, so to speak.”

The ramifications were horrific.

“No wonder the Camerlengo fears you,” she said, slowly. “You're unpredictable. You're chaos.”

“Even the better among us cannot be controlled, not truly.” Thomasi nodded. “Some spells can force us not to do things, but those are only temporary. Nothing can truly make us do things that we don't want to.”

Chase nodded. Then she offered him a smile, and a pat on the knee. “It's all right. I didn't do what my folks wanted me to do either. That's their problem, not ours. They can just deal.”

Thomasi stared at her for a moment, then laughed. “Birds of a feather! Equals, then! I'm good with it.” He stuck out a gloved hand, and she shook... and then the others gathered around, and they spent a second shaking hands and laughing, tension released in hysteria. “Well.” Thomasi said. “We shall not be hanged for nothing. All right. Any more questions?”

“Just a few,” Chase said, sparing the goblin bodies a glance as they dissolved. From what Renny had said, they'd be respawning soon, so time was even shorter now. “Since I know now that I can't depend on charisma alone, I need to know everything you can tell me that might give me an edge over Tabita...”

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 28

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

Light Leather Armor – level 5