Marty POV, after transferring back to Djarleen’s shop.

“Damn those arrogant bastards.” I muttered to myself as I walked through the shop, oblivious to the look Djarleen was giving me. “I’ve got to get out in front of this, if there’s one thing politicians hate it’s getting called on their bullshit. Oh, hey there Djarleen.”

“Hey yourself kiddo. Things go poorly?”

“Yep.”

“Your fault or theirs?”

“Theirs.”

“Kay. First, did you get the poisons to start your four days of ritual? Second, what are you going to do about retribution?”

“Yes to the first, and for the second. . . I think I’ll head to church.” I said the last part with a grin. I had advanced far enough in the church that they would surely intervene, especially considering this issue arose out of an issue from a church quest.

“Okay, I’ll head down to the training yard then, don’t take too long.” She said as she stood, grabbing a set of keys and a hard shelled briefcase that was most likely a traveling alchemy kit. I left her to lock up the shop while I took care of things at the church.

“Hello brother, I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of an issue.” I said as soon as I saw the Cardinal. He didn’t look too shocked for some reason, but I soon found out why.

“Thanatos informed me. He took personal interest in that meeting, and was glad He did. You didn’t handle yourself too badly, but next time someone shows interest in a taboo like that, He wants you to channel some of your abilities. Namely Death’s Gaze. A part of Him always knows when his priests activate their abilities, and he will descend and either communicate with you or ask if you will allow a temporary possession.”

“Thank you, brother, and you as well Thanatos. I will keep that in mind, though hopefully there won’t be a next time. I was rather taken aback by the lack of respect for their ancestor’s body, something I assumed the dwarves would be most interested in.”

“And you would be right, though sometimes greed gets the best of people.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” I said with a grin, before getting serious again. “Speaking of greedy, I highly doubt that the envoy is done trying for the bones. What should we be doing about that?”

“Relax brother, it is being handled.” The Cardinal said with a smile. “Thanatos has followers in every city. Some are paying visits to the thieves and assassins guilds, while others are waiting to meet with the head of the clan. Should any of them attempt anything untoward, the entire clan shall receive a Divine Retribution.” I could practically hear the capitalizations on divine retribution, and didn’t want to think about what sort of retribution a god of death could visit upon a clan. Forget just the firstborns, he might take out an entire generation. “As it is, your friend Faraldo has taken some rather drastic steps to protect you as well.”

“Really?” I asked, oddly touched that the dwarf would stick up for me like that. “How drastic are we talking?”

“That is not my story to tell, you will have to ask him when you see him. Now, we understand that you have much to do before traveling to the dungeon yet again, and want to reassure you that until you return from the dungeon, your weekly quotas are suspended.”

“Thank you Thanatos. And thank you, brother. That is something that had slipped my mind in the thick of things, but is reassuring that I don’t have to worry about that as well.”

“You are most welcome. Now, go and start your training. Thanatos is eager to see how your fighting style will improve with your additional magics.” With a smile, I nodded at the Cardinal and started to head out the door before slapping my forehead.

“Oh, is there a place we can store the remains? I don’t like walking around with them on my person.”

“Of course, can you give me the bag for the moment? You can retrieve it after your dungeon tour.”

“Perfect, thank you once again brother.” I said, handing over the bag and finally taking off. I easily slipped into what little foot traffic there was, and swiftly headed down to the training grounds.

“Khaliss! Angus just arrived!” Shrik shouted, taking a break from his conversation with Djarleen. As I walked up to the group, Khaliss gave a few more directions to the spearmen he was training before heading our way.

“Excellent, we have at least half a day to practice. Did your meetings go well?”

“Absolutely horrible.” I said with a grin. “But that’s taken care of, so let’s focus on this training, shall we?”

“Perfect. Come, we aren’t going to be training here though.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Djarleen asked.

“Prying eyes who would love to steal secrets.” Khaliss said. When Djarleen and I both gave him a confused look, he clarified. “We received a human delegation today. They have poorly hidden people trying to figure out everything they can about our abilities.” As we walked, we came upon a drab stone structure built seamlessly into the wall of the barracks. “As it turns out, our abilities with stone imbue a portion of it with just enough mana to scramble scrying attempts. You’ll also have to shape your own entry and exit, unless one of you has the flight spell?”

“I don’t, and I’m fairly certain my apprentice only recently came into enough magical might to cast such a spell, so you should be fine. Why did you ask?” Djarleen inquired.

“Well, we needed ventilation so the only permanent exits are in the ceiling. This way only a powerful earth mage could get in, and we would surely detect something on that scale.”

“I understand the secrecy, but have you taken countermeasures to familiars?” I asked.

“We have a different solution here than other places, but yes. You’ll meet her soon.” While we were concentrating on Dharkiss, Shrik gave an elaborate flourish with his wrist and made it look like he was pulling back a curtain for everyone. As his claw tips brushed against the stone, it seemed to melt and pull back just like a curtain, drawing a smile from Djarleen as he bent at the waist. Walking in, there were several pools of light from the aforementioned holes in the ceiling, but the rest of the building was cast in darkness. Once the light from the door closed, Dharkiss gave an odd call. “Pss Pssss.” Two silvered eyes flashed from one of the upper corners of the room, startling Djarleen and I.

I immediately switched to darkvision, but got absolutely no indication that something was there. Switching to Mystic Vision, I saw a silvery feline shape flow through the air to start rubbing against the scales of Dharkiss’ shins. Whatever it was, it came up to mid-thigh on Khaliss. I couldn’t quite get a fix on any other features, as they kept flowing. Even the edges were indistinct in mystic vision.

“What the hell is a nightliger doing here?” Djarleen hissed, but I couldn’t quite tell if it was awe or fury.

“This, is Inkler. Inkler, these two are Djarleen and Angus. They have clearance to use this room as they need. Understand?”

“Mrowwwww.” The cat thing replied before flowing over to us and sniffed our legs before making a chuffing noise.

“Don’t worry, she’s as tame as nightligers get. Alnoss managed to find one when she was a wee kid, and managed to raise it somehow. While not quite at the monster tamer bond level, Inkler is highly intelligent and incredibly protective.”

“I think I get it.” I said. “She guards this room, and her ability to flow through shadows makes this the perfect hunting ground for her. So she instantly takes out any familiars that might make it in, and some poor mage gets a bit of a backlash for his troubles.”

“Mostly. She can recognize magic scents, for lack of a better word. So if she kills a familiar, she will know the mage if they ever cross paths again. Now, can you explain this bit of ritual you two are going to go through?”

“I’ll do it.” Djarleen cut me off before I could say anything. “Angus is attempting to get a drastic boost to his poison resistance. First we are going to be doing small doses of Khaeling’s Immobilizer, keeping the effect going until he eventually starts drinking it instead of getting it injected. That should take about a day. Then we switch to different concentrations of Ravishing Gluttony for a day. The last two days will be taken up by building an immunity to Death’s Knell.”

“What does the second one do?” Shrik asked. “The first and third are rather obvious.”

“A curious one? I like that. The second one drains you of all three attribute pools: health, mana, and stamina.”

“Huh, now I get it. Thanks.” Shrik said.

“Thanks Djarleen. Now, for the first day I will be mostly paralyzed. While I can’t physically move, I will be able to use mental abilities. So to start, I’m going to try and finally perfect silent cast, as well as work on something new for the dungeon.”

“I see, and the second day?”

“That I haven’t put much thought to. The best I can think of is to borrow a few of your trainees and work on battlefield control. Other than intensive sparring, I can’t think of much else that would push my limits.”

“Are you looking to use the resources the poisons are affecting?” Khaliss asked with a smirk.

“Yes. That way I have some experience trying to manage debuffs while mid battle.”

“Very well, I will have a program for you to endure come tomorrow. That gluttony poison, you said it attacks health, mana and stamina Djarleen?” He asked while turning, and I immediately started panicking. The last time I had seen that smirk, I spent a very sore week as I got to practice parrying.

“Yes, but Angus needs to stay within ten feet of me so I can keep applying it as needed.”

“Hmmmm, I’ll see what I can do with that then, but it might have to limit things.” While he was pondering, I was mentally thanking Djarleen for saving my bacon. “Well, I’ll leave you two to get your stuff done. Good luck to you both.” He tapped Shrik on the shoulder, and they both left as I turned to figure out how we were going to do this.

“So, what’s the first step?”

“Take a seat. I’ll walk you through the first hour, then we start with your own training.” I started to conjure up a stone seat when she interrupted me, “No. Cross legged on the ground if you please. Do you have the meditation skill?”

“No, it isn’t something I have acquired yet.”

“Tsch. This will be that much harder then, but you will likely get it by the end. Alright, now that you’re seated we can begin. Close your eyes, and follow along with my voice.” As I did what she asked, I felt her hands rest on my shoulders from behind. “Clear your mind as best as you can. Let go of all thoughts, instead start with feeling your body. Starting with your toes, imagine that relaxation is an energy, and you can manipulate it right now. It starts at your toes, small waves flowing through your muscles. Feel it, as it washes away all tension. Slowly moving up your body.” As she described it, I could actually feel the ghost of a sensation, elusive as it was. Any time I tried focusing on it, it would disappear. I stopped, content to do the mental equivalent of watching it from the corner of my eyes. Constantly flowing up my body in waves, whatever it was eroding flowed out and downward. Once it hit my waist, I was relaxed to the point where things started to get weird.

Djarleen’s voice was a background murmur that was swiftly ignored. I had unknowingly timed my breathing to coinside with the waves. Breath in for three waves, hold for a wave, and out for four waves. Tension, angst, worry, all disappeared under that cleansing wave as I hovered on the edge of sleep. Once the waves had covered my entire body, I got a popup notification.

Ritual started!

You are attempting to begin the Greater Poison Immunity Ritual. This will take several game days, and you must work on the ritual for at least 8 hours of game time per day to be successful. All notifications (barring emergencies) will be blocked, though you will still be able to gain skills. The results will depend on how well you followed the ritual instructions. Do you wish to begin the ritual?

Yes

No

I clicked yes, and the box disappeared, as well as everything from my screen display. It was like I was truly living in the game world.

“Good, very good. For now, feel your body. Memorize it. Learn how it is connected, feel your magic flow. Feel the interplay of everything, and memorize it. Understanding will come, but you need to be able to find your way back to this, your normal.” I did what she said, feeling everything. It had gotten so quiet I could hear not only my heart beating, but my blood flowing through my veins. The soft susurration of my breathing along with the occasional creak as my joints moved slightly under miniscule contractions of my muscles. Eventually I could feel my mana, a small core of it inside my heart, pulsing in time with the beat, sending mana out to my body through the blood. I lost track of time, until I felt a needle pierce my neck. I could feel something within it flow rapidly through my body.

“Good luck, it has started.” Djarleen whispered, and I felt her presence back away. I could almost see the poison with my mental eye, attacking the connections between nerves. No, not attacking, simply invading. They would block it, like detritus blocking a storm drain. Unlike most storm sewers, I didn’t have alternate routes for the nerve signals to go through. How in the world was I supposed to gain a resistance to this? I couldn’t move. Wait, I couldn’t move the major muscles. Other things, like my heart kept beating.

Ok, that was one part. How do I counter it? I can still have bodily functions, but needed to clear the jams. Shadow mana! I started manipulating the mana inside me, having it move out from the blood to hunt through my body, finding and destroying the blockages. And so began the fight. I would clear it, and as I fought Djarleen would add more and more. Eventually I got to the point where I didn’t have to actively fight the potion, and opened my eyes.

“Well, well, well, look who’s showing progress!” Djarleen cackled evilly. “It only took you four hours to get here, and now we get to do the fun stuff! Start with those lovely clockworks Shrik was describing to me. I will be slowly adding more poison, increasing as you are able to make more and more complex things.” Smilling, she jabbed me in the neck once again with a large needle.

I got to work, and eventually had one entire wall covered in an intricate array of gears and belts, formed of only stone and shadow. Once I had that going, I started my own personal project. It took me the rest of the day, but what started out as a misshapen ambulatory blob eventually had resolved itself into a copy of me, down to the last detail. I had it going through forms, practicing my fighting style. By this point, Djarleen was almost constantly hitting me with new doses of the poison.

“Djarleen, I got this.” I said, reaching out and grabbing the last of the flask she had been dipping her needle in and chugging it down. “Aaah.” I said, smacking my lips as I handed her the flask and standing to do battle with my shadow. Unfortunately, this proved too much. I just couldn’t split my mind enough to attack and defend. Instead, I stood back and had the shadow mirror my movements, slowly walking through all the katas I knew. When Djarleen called time for the day, I let the shadow go with a massive sigh of relief. I logged out for the day, sending my apologies to the group via email that I wouldn’t be making our normal dinner at the café, instead heading home and dropping right to sleep.