War Room

Chp 53

When I’d realized what was probably happening in Stromholt, I sent out a mass text with the update. I also invited anyone interested to show up in my chamber to discuss the new information. Ten of the combat skeletons showed up in addition to the usual group of Henry, Dawn, and Chris.

Chris, and Andria, I corrected. When Chris noticed he entered the room alone, he popped back out and grabbed her. She didn’t look happy to be present, but I chalked that up our last real encounter being antagonistic. I probably should have made an effort to try smoothing things over.

“Andrea, feel free to have a seat,” I said in a neutral tone, gesturing at the couch. I’d expanded the old one and made an extra in anticipation of a larger than normal gathering. I’d also added a black and violet rug with coffee tables. It gave the middle section of my chamber a high-end lobby vibe.

Most of us didn’t normally eat or drink, but I passed out a few cans of chaos beverage to interested parties. I also placed a juice and a cup of water in front of Andria as a courtesy. She didn’t seem bothered by it, and even took a drink of the juice without comment. I took it as a sign she was starting to get a little more comfortable with things materializing out of thin air.

Everyone outside of Andrea and Henry mingled and chatted a bit before finding seats. Once they did, all eyes turned toward me curiously. The group was a blend of those with and those without illusions of life. A condition which was a personal choice at this point, rather than a result of needing to wait to set it up.

I wasn’t sure when, but it seemed they had gained the ability to turn it on and off independently, even though I still needed to set it up. An interesting turn of events, but not one that made me feel uncomfortable. It made things a bit easier day-to-day, since they could make the choice and not have to wait.

“Alright, so from what I’ve gathered after examining more of the hero party’s gear, there were other items that don’t match up with local tech standards. Some of it might be because of the influence of other worlds, but some of it is outside that scope,” I explained and laid the items out on the coffee tables. Some of the skeletons picked them up to look them over, but the majority didn’t.

“I don’t think this changes anything in the short term, but it needs to be taken into consideration since I’ve no intention of being friendly with Stromholt, dungeon or not,” I added. The fact they enslaved demi-humans had been enraging. That they were most likely brainwashing or planning to brainwash the unenslaved human population as well didn’t lessen my ire.

“Do you intend to attack them?” Solch, an elven archer asked. He was something of an unelected leader among the elves that had chosen to live in the town.

“I’m not in a position to. I’m leaning toward infiltration and defense building for the moment,” I explained.

“Why is that?” he asked, curious. My offensive capabilities weren’t something any of us had tested before.

“Primarily because I can’t release anyone from the dungeon freely. Even if I stock up on offensive abilities, they simply won’t reach,” I explained. There was more to the issue, but I’d get around to that in a minute. Solch nodded, seeming satisfied by the answer.

“I’ll go as a scout,” Andrea said flatly. I looked over at her and had to suppress a sigh. Stealth was technically her specialty, thanks to her blessing. Unfortunately, her goals and personality didn’t give me confidence she’d be able to fulfill such a mission. That she was a former hero party member who was supposed to be dead didn’t even make it into the equation. It was a hard no.

“That's something we'll have to discuss later,” I replied, trying not to sound annoyed. She looked like she was about to say something, but stopped as Chris elbowed her in the ribs lightly. Andrea glared at him, but then looked away, expression softening a little. It was an odd little exchange, but I let it go for the moment.

“Is there something else you want to deal with first?” Nastith, the first dwarven tank, asked with a wry grin. He was an easygoing sort and respected in the dungeon league.

“Dr. Satan,” I said simply and received a round of nods. They all knew about him and his preference for spreading pestilence. It was something no one who had ever been living would easily overlook.

“I’m not sure what fighting another dungeon will be like, but we’ve had less contact with him so we should have the element of surprise. I want to know what I might expect before going after a dungeon that could be highly entrenched in a hostile country or even a city,” I added. This earned another round of nods after a thoughtful pause. They knew what I could do, but not how other dungeons might respond to hostility.

“Have you found him?” Dawn asked and I smiled at her. It was the question I’d been waiting for. Dramatically, the floor between the coffee tables lowered a few inches then split, opening to reveal a detailed relief carving of the map. I could almost hear a howl of outrage from Felix that he wouldn’t get to see it.

I’d been anxiously waiting for the meeting and spent my nervous energy on presentation props. The bits of flooring I was just moving myself with the system. Eventually, it would be cool to put in a mechanism to cause it to do the same with all the whining and gear noises. My method was silent and underwhelming to my own eyes.

The rest of the room didn’t share my lack of enthusiasm.

“Shit!” Andrea hopped back, half climbing up the back of the couch. She was a beat slow, Chris was already behind it, peering suspiciously at what was being revealed. The rest of the skeletons tried to behave in a more dignified fashion, while Henry was biting back laughter. He’d yelped the first time when I’d been practicing my little trick before the meeting.

“Felix traded his map data for the weeks just before he was infected until he reached here,” I said serenely, pointing at a glowing red line painted on the topography. He’d only made the concession because those places were already on regular maps. Despite his position, he still had a craftsman’s pride concerning map making. He wouldn’t give up new discoveries easily.

“Based on what the disease’s data said, he’d have been infected somewhere in this area,” I said as I drew a small glowing green circle around an x. Using my interface caused it to seem to appear out of nowhere. This didn’t shock anyone but Andrea.

Henry gave me a quivering tight-lipped smile as I drew it in the interface. I didn’t have to be in physical contact with an object to effect changes, though the closer I was the easier it was to control. The circle didn’t need to be perfect though, and I was enjoying being dramatic.

“It's not a small space to explore, but because he was the first victim, the exact date of his infection was marked in his information, which means it happened around here,” I explained. It had been recorded like an achievement which was almost as awful as it was useful. The date had been given but not the time and the catkin moved fast.

It was still a much smaller area to search than the three days worth of his travel that matched with the estimate based on the incubation time. Particularly since he’d been following a narrow road through a swamp. He hadn’t deviated from it so the inflection points were limited.

“I don’t think it will undo what Dr. Satan’s already created, but I want to make sure he can’t unleash any more horrors on the world,” I added. It would have been nice if everything he’d made died with him. I wouldn’t count on something like that, however. There was a difference between being hopeful and asking to be disappointed.

“What's the catch?” Dawn asked. To her left, Chris and Andrea were both settling sheepishly back into their seats.

“As I mentioned before, no one can leave the dungeon freely,” I said uncomfortably. It made me recall the hounds saying the local temperature would kill them, even if they could leave. The shiver was for what would have happened if I’d let them go and they survived. I’d thought they ate what they killed originally, but it turned out they just liked the pop and sizzle of flesh in their mouths. Love them as much as I did, releasing them into the world at large would have been a crime.

“So the only way for anyone to participate is to be appointed as a guardian to someone I’m in a contract with,” I added. I honestly didn’t want to test if they could leave on their own. Partly because of the risk to their wellbeing and partly because I couldn’t predict what would happen if they succeeded. I liked them, but my dungeon was a highly controlled environment. It wasn’t impossible some of them would go back to doing what had earned them their evil alignment once outside of it.

“Andrea is one such example, but for this to work, I’m going to need to recruit more people. That means either coming up with a convincing fiction or letting them in on my secret,” I continued, then looked toward Henry. We’d already discussed the point and I’d talked him around to honesty being the best policy. He hadn’t been happy about it, but had come up with a good recruiting method.

“T-those interested ch-ch-choose someone among the li-living they- they want to-to work with,” Henry said neutrally, but spoiled it with an unhappy expression. He’d have rather not involved outsiders, let alone bring them in fully, but had agreed it wouldn’t work without them.

“Will we start scouting Stromholt now or after?” Nastith asked. He liked to go without an illusion of life and was sipping a can of chaos beverage. It was weird to watch it slosh down his throat and disappear. I’d never seen the process in action before, even though Chris was fond of having one when he came around to hang out.

“Now, once some details are worked out,” I said. Chris put a hand in front of Andrea’s chest as if anticipating her trying to bolt to her feet. Going by how her lips thinned into a painful-looking line, I felt like he wasn’t being overly cautious.

“Since recruiting comes first, it probably won’t happen too quickly and we'll have time to talk. So I think it’s fine to break here for today. Any objections?” I asked and received none. Henry glanced at Chris and Andrea before giving me a knowing look. He left with the rest of the group, chatting with them quietly.

That left me with Chris and Andrea. Chris was looking toward the door like he regretted not going with the others, but he didn’t get up. Andrea was just glaring.

“Until I know how large and influential the dungeon is, along with its location, no one in a contract with me is going near Stromholt. You’d probably trigger a warning and then you’d be fucked,” I said bluntly, cutting Andrea off before she could start. Her mouth hung open for a moment before she closed it.

“Your contract involves a training period. By the time it’s up, I might have enough information to deploy you, but that's still months off,” I added.

“Would you even if you did?” Andrea asked with obvious suspicion. I couldn’t exactly blame her, as I hadn’t been accommodating to her self-destructive tendencies so far.

“It depends on a lot of factors that won’t be known until then. Overall? It depends, you're not low on my expendable pawns list so I’m not going to just throw you away,” I said, feeling a little nasty.

“Where do I rank then?” She shot back. My eyebrow went up, though no one else could see it. Treasure your life a little, child.

“The list’s over there,” I said. It took her awhile to realize the section of wall I’d pointed to was blank. Chris' ears were bright red and he was shaking from the effort of not laughing. An effort I wasn’t accustomed to seeing him make. It seemed he really wanted to let the joke play out fully.

“I don’t see it,” Andrea said, confused.

“Because there isn’t one,” I said and then didn’t hold in a sigh. I was telling the truth, but not completely. She didn’t seem to think her own life had any particular value outside of being a weapon for vengeance as far as I could see. I wasn’t going to feed that world view.

Being honest with myself though, I’d tested the level reset function on her before using it on Elim. I’d have regretted it if anything happened to her because of it, but that didn’t excuse the fact I’d used her as a test subject.

“Very funny,” Andrea muttered, expression crumpling. I froze, guilt surging as I caught a glimpse of wetness. I knew I was being a little mean but I hadn’t expected tears.

“Love, she’s saying you're not expendable,” Chris said gently, leaning over to say it almost too quiet for me to hear. I was taken aback, it wasn’t like him, but I wasn’t going to complain. I didn’t imagine she’d want to hear anything from me just then.

“Don’t!” Andrea said, pushing Chris away from her. He didn’t resist, but she started slapping at him, suddenly in a rage. Surprised, he caught her wrists and a split second later her sudden anger collapsed completely. She broke away from him to hug herself and cry.

“I want to see my mom!” Andrea shouted pitifully. Chris looked as shocked as I felt. I just hovered in place, struck dumb. We both listened to the girl weep in mute horror for far too long. That was when I felt like I absolutely had to say something.

“Okay,” I said, my mouth moving faster than my brain.

“Liar, you just said-” Andrea started only to choke and start sobbing again. Chris looked at me with helpless pleading, wanting me to keep going.

“You can't go to Stromholt, but I’ll think of a way to lure your family somewhere you can meet them,” I said as the idea occurred to me. She’d said ‘mom’ but it wouldn’t be safe to exclude anyone.

“Really?” Andrea asked me, suspicious but a little hopeful.

“Yeah, promise,” I said. Chris looked relieved, which was nice, because I had no idea how I was going to pull this off.