We finally learned the trick and timing that made it possible for us to sneak past most of the patrols. Bob and Beag had become adept at ferreting out patrol patterns and the timing between each pass. By using the Shadow Realm, I was able to teleport each of the party members to new locations. It was time-consuming but better than aggroing the entire temple.

The Murlocs seemed more like Dungeon spawned mobs than Gloria. They were locked into rigid patterns of action with no chance for divergence, almost as if they were following a script. They only seemed to move and react to a set of instructions the System had given them.

It was the first time I thought that the dungeon we had entered might not be another world. If not for the interactions we had with Gloria, I would be certain. I opened a chat with Sieph to discuss it without Gloria’s knowledge. She had been able to join our party, but most of the functionality had been grayed out for her. We thought it was the same mechanic restrictions System had placed that made the use of her necklace by one of us impossible.

The discussion with Sieph did nothing to alleviate the concerns that were piling up. I knew there was nothing we could do about it, and I didn’t like that.

Chat Channel: Ryu/Sieph Note: Channel has no password restrictions

Ryu: Sieph, do their actions seem strange to you?

Sieph: How?

Ryu: Their patterns. Their movements. Even their attacks. Everything follows the same pattern, there is no deviation to some script they seem to be following.

Sieph: I hadn’t thought of that, but now that you mention it. Why do they all attack exactly the same way when they are triggered? You would think at least one of them would try to run and warn their superiors.

Ryu: Exactly. It’s as if nothing else exists for them but the area they are patrolling and attacking anything that interferes within the area of that patrol. Almost as if they have no real intelligence.

Sieph: You think they are dungeon-created mobs and not real?

Ryu: The Murlocs are, I think. But Gloria? She may be a dungeon-created NPC, one modeled and created using advanced programming. Maybe the System is using a template or pool of real people, mixed in with the standard spawns.

Sieph: So, does that make Gloria a more specialized NPC or does the Dungeon use people as actors for certain roles.

Ryu: I hadn’t thought of that, but what are the chances that we just stumbled across someone that needed rescue and could lead us directly to where we wanted to go.

Sieph: The Dungeon wants us to succeed?

Ryu: More likely, the System. If we do, it gains the chance for a major update. The first for this planet and Talahm.

The discussion with Sieph did nothing to alleviate the concerns that were piling up, it only added additional questions and possibilities. I knew there was nothing we could do about my suspicions, but at least Sieph was aware of my thoughts. With both of us looking to understand what we were involved in; it might make things easier.

I was hoping, in fact, that the people we were killing were simple dungeon constructs, it would make killing them and harvesting them easier. There would be none of the moral concerns that killing innocent people that happened to be placed in our path. The Sidhe could be cruel, the more monstrous of us reveling in that cruelty, but we weren’t wasteful. Waste simply wasn’t sustainable for a person that might live forever.

We would do what was necessary, but killing innocent people simply because they stood in our path was something only Mab might do. And she had been insane towards the end when she had sunk that low. Even the Morrigu, practically battle goddesses by this point, were able to control their urges.

“This is the last of the ruins,” Bob informed us as we skirted around another building that must have been someone’s home at one point. . There had been very little left standing for the Sunken Temple. A few pillars, mostly. There was no reason to travel through shadow from this point forward, we had reached our goal.

Except for the Temple itself that looked as well cared for as the day it was built, there was nothing to suggest this was anything other than a standard dungeon floor. But even with the Gods of this world banished, assuming this world was real, the Temple was protected by a divine aura, a void of deepest black that pulsed in time to the movement of the ocean currents. We had stayed as far away from that aura as possible, even facing off and killing Murlocs in order to skirt the edges.

Beag and I were strangely drawn to that void. It resonated with us the same way that Shadow did, and we found it hard not to answer the siren call of nothingness that seemed to beckon us. The aura was part of the Divine mantle of a God, and to accept that siren call would be insane. The aura might not have intelligence, but it was a physical manifestation of X’Xz’s anger.

We might survive thanks to our powers of Shadow, gifts from the Sidhe Tuatha de Danaan, but I wouldn’t test it. I couldn’t be certain my thoughts weren’t being influenced, and my belief we could survive not a trap left as part of the aura’s offensive capabilities.

A water barrier that was cloudy and surrounding the zone we were in seemed to clear as we moved past the area System considered part of the Sunken Temple zone. It was like watching a window to the world open. It seemed to show nothing at first until suddenly revealing what had been hidden all along. For the Sidhe, this was nothing special. We used our powers of glamour and illusion to warp light and make invisible what we would most protect, as a matter of course.

Recognizing that the dungeon was using proximity to disable glamour was such a standard use of spellcraft that even I with the powers of glamour and illusion that all children were gifted with could replicate the effect.

The area that had seemed to be nothing but more water was instead a coral reef. Colors ranged across the spectrum. Greens, browns, pinks, yellows, reds, purples, and blues vibrant and prolific. An explosion of color and form that had formed and proliferated.

The colors were based on the algae present within the living tissue that comprised the millions of tiny animals that comprised the coral’s structure. Polyps of immense size and wondrous shapes had transformed that algae to create an artist’s canvas of color, the scenery beautiful enough to rival anything found on Talahm.

There were even a few sections of coral that radiated the softest fluorescent light, glowing softly in those areas where larger coral colonies had arisen and created deep shadow. The coral reef seemed unbroken, unspoiled, or farmed by anyone since it had grown into an atoll. That assumption, verified by Gloria, was supported by System held true.

[You have left Zone: Sunken Shrine and are about to enter Zone: Lionfish Atoll]

[Note: A Zone Pearl is required to activate the barrier and allow passage]

[Proceed: Yes/No]

We didn’t have any choice but to click yes. Not unless we were willing to admit defeat and look for a new dungeon. And that wasn’t likely to happen. It perfectly suited the zones for this dungeon for our levels, and the buff the water applied made our progress as easy as if we were walking on land.

[Barrier lowered.]

[Note: Dungeon Boss [Cirein Croin] Spawning in…]

[5]

[4]

[3]

[2]

[1]

A swarm of silverfish seemed to expand, a pinprick of light the only warning we had as to location. There had to be hundreds of the small silverfish, perhaps a thousand. For most adventurers, they would have let their guard down, but we recognized them without using [Identify]. The [Cirein Croin]. A monster out of Sidhe legend. Sieph and I retreated cautiously in disbelief. This monster was too powerful to be considered a dungeon mini-boss.

We were only level 5, how were we supposed to fight and kill a sea monster that could hide within the bodies of this school of fish, yet transform into a creature so fierce and large, that there had been eye-witness accounts of the creature swallowing seven blue whales in one bite.

We were screwed unless the dungeon was going to severely limit the [Cirein Croin]’s natural abilities.