Dungeons & Demons X

“You're a Demon Prince?” I gestured at him lamely, “aren't you kinda... small for a Demon Prince?”

A flash of something passed through his eyes and I guessed I'd hit a nerve, oops.

“I guess you could consider me the runt of the pack,” he lowered his hand and held them both behind his back, “but, my strength was never my Strength.”

“My apologies, what is your strength then? And how, may I ask, is a Demon Prince trapped so easily in that circle?” I was very keen to find that answer, as he was either faking it and could leave at any time, or there was an even bigger baddie around here someplace that could return at any moment.

“Hmm, oh this?” He pointed at the ritual diagrams at his feet, “this is the dungeon's doing. Not to worry, I am quite well contained here.

“As for my strength?” He tapped his temple, just below the base of his ram's horns, “my strength was always my mind.” Then he grinned, showing dark black teeth, filed to a bone-chilling point. “And other people's minds.”

“If you can control other people's minds, then how come you haven't taken control of mine yet? And what do you mean it's the dungeon's doing?”

“Forgive me if I answer the second question first again,” he paused, waiting until I gestured for him to continue. It was odd, really. Talking so amicably with a Demon. “You see, I made a deal with it, I'd come take part in one of its little trials in exchange for the chance at freedom in the Magical Plane.”

“Freedom, how would you manage that? And why can you not do it yourself?”

“The answer to both is quite simple really, I can't do it myself because of the rules the System has placed upon extra-planar travellers to this plane. Particularly for those from the Celestial realm and those from the Abyss, like myself.

“As for how to manage it, well it's easy as pie, as they say. You simply come over here and remove this circle. Just a little break will do really, interrupt the ritual and I'll be able to return with you.” His face had screwed up in anger when he'd mention the Celestial realm.

“You know, pies aren't actually all that easy, I tried baking one once... And I'm getting off-track here.

“What you're saying is that you're trapped in the ritual circle-thingy, and I'm guessing all I need to do to claim the dungeon is touch them gemstone thingy over there?”

“In a nutshell, yes, except,” he gestured to the walls around us, “it's more of a runestone really than a gemstone... Because, y'know... runes...”

Apparently, Demon Prince's did sarcasm, go figure.

“Alrighty then, ta-ta,” I waved flippantly at the Demon Prince and wandered over to the runestone, keeping a close eye on him as I did so. But, true to his word, the Demon Prince did nothing.

Whether that was because he was unable to do nothing, however, was another matter entirely.

Congratulations! You have gained a new Title!

You have gained the title: Warden of the Watchtower!

Would you like to display your new title publicly?

Y/N?

Like my other title, I decided to decline to display it publicly, at least for now.

The Trial also felt, far, far too easy for what we'd done to get here.

When I turned back, I could see the inky black portal had returned at my point of entry, waiting for me to leave and return to the outside world.

I didn't fail to notice, however, that I'd yet to see a quest completion prompt, despite gaining the title I'd come for. My Trial was clearly far from over.

The Demon's clapping echoed around the chamber, “bravo, oh bravo!”

“Um, thanks? It wasn't exactly hard.”

“That's because, my dear Empress, the hard part begins now.”

Something crawled over my Garb and time seemed to slow around me, my next step felt as though I was walking through jelly and the one after that like I was walking through liquid cement.

The crawling started to penetrate the Garb, the many legs of the thing that was invading me causing pins and needles wherever it touched, but when I looked, there was nothing to be seen.

The pins and needles grew, taking over my body and as the feeling climbed up my legs and passed my hips I was plunged into a dark viscous liquid and could no longer move. The liquid that I was sinking into, or was rising around me, burned and boiled against my skin.

I still couldn't see whatever it was that was affecting me, but my body was being invaded, my mind was sluggish, thoughts unable to form properly. Dread overcame me. The pins and needles were gone, only the burning remained and as it passed my nostrils I realised the fluid I was surrounded and yet not surrounded by, was blood. The burning, boiling blood flowed into my pores and through the orifices in my head, the pain was unimaginable, my body, my soul, my very being fought back against the tendrils of the burning liquid as they quested forward in their attempts to consume me.

When those tendrils reached my brain pan and finally began their assault on my mind, the pain grew to new, never before seen heights.

I was tortured for aeons in that first moment, and every moment thereafter, my flesh flayed by barbed and biting venomous snakes, swords were driven underneath my nails. I was tortured to death countless times. Burnt alive in great vats of my own blood, forced to eat terrible horrors, strange tentacle creatures caressed me, leaving behind stinging acids, violated me and ripped me apart. I was crucified in an endless field alongside other unfortunate souls.

My mind, my body, my psyche and my soul were shredded apart countless times, then reformed, only for the cycle to repeat. Over and over and over again, each time slightly different, each time my torturers invented new and excruciating ways to kill me.

Civilizations rose and fell, a Galaxy burnt itself to a cold hard death whilst I was tortured.

And then it was over, just as quickly as it had begun.

I was myself again, my mind reformed one final time. But this time was different, instead of being shoved together by uncaring tortures, it was put together by a loving mother-figure. The worst of my memories from that time were excised like a surgeon removing a tumour. The pain faded and with it, the last vestiges of that place faded too. I still remembered bits of pieces of that time, but it was like it had happened to someone else, the memories dulled and the pain removed.

The tendrils that had invaded my body were being pushed out. Something was fighting back, helping my bodies natural defences. Helping my mind resist the horrors that the bloody tendrils promised.

I don't know how long it took for my saviour to beat back the tendrils, but when it finally did I collapsed to the floor, beaten and broken. Unable to move until I had collected the last shattered remnants of my mind.

When I did finally pull myself together, I was covered in sweat and shivering, goosebumps rising on my skin.

I rose from my position, curled up on the floor, on trembling limbs. I wiped the sweat from my brow and stared at it as it drip-dropped from my shaking fingers, fascinated.

The sweat glistened oddly against my alabaster skin, skin that was of an even paler hue than I was used to. I hadn't had much of a chance to inspect my new body since I arrived in Elmeron, since I put that Gar-

Oh shit.

I panicked, running my hands over my decidedly naked body as realisation overcame me. The Garb was gone, my constant companion and greatest irritation had abandoned me and I still had to get out of here in one piece, somehow. Looking up from my body, I could see it there. Still shifting, still changing to strange suits and impossible dresses.

But it was removed. Gone. And my protection removed with it.

“Well, this is interesting. You're not the Empress at all are you?” Right. The Demon Prince was still here, I'd just been ignoring his gaze until he spoke, forcing me to recognise his continued presence.

“Technically I did marry the Emperor, I believe that does make me the Empress. But no, I'm not Duchess Aelwinel whatsherface.” My response surprised me, the words forming and leaving my unmarked lips before I could consider them fully. I was still reeling from my ordeal but I had a Demon to deal with, I forced my shaking limbs to bring me to my feet and faced him, unbowed.

He was clapping again, but it seemed a bit less sarcastic this time. If clapping could be considered sarcastic.

“Impressive, very impressive. Why I can see you'd have done well working for the Abyss. Perhaps we shouldn't have cast you out, eh?”

“What?” I was confused, I didn't remember being cast- “Oh! That damned message when I first arrived. That was you guys!”

“Not me personally, no. But I guess you could say it was my team. Though I would be hesitant to term those squabbling imbeciles as a team.”

“I have a question if you don't mind?” I had the perfect opportunity to learn how and why I was here in Elmeron and I wasn't going to pass it up. I'd already confirmed he was still trapped in the summoning circle, and while I guessed the assault on my mind had come from him. He'd damned himself as a mind controller already, after all. But whatever he'd done to me hadn't worked and I was free of his presence.

It was time to get some answers.

“Not at all, I don't mind. Not much to do here, anymore. Oh! But first, I already introduced myself earlier, if you would be so kind as to give me your name?”

“Right, er sorry. I've kinda gotten used to using the Duchess'. I guess I should get used to using my own again.

“My name is Martha, and I'm not pleased to make your acquaintance.” I didn't hold my hand out to shake either. Perhaps this was impolite of me but he had tried to take control of my mind.

I was getting kind of sick of not being in control of my own destiny at this point.

Fortunately, he wasn't offended by my comment and only chuckled instead, and prompted me to ask my question.

“My question is quite simple, really. How did I get here, and why?”

“Hmm,” he pondered and scratched his chin for a few moments before he responded, “The how is easy enough to answer, Atashi Niko was contacted by one of the upper-tier Celestials, he based his game on this world and then the Celestials messed with the terms & conditions a bit so you'd willingly come here, knowing hardly anyone would read them, and those that did would think it was just some marketing scheme or something.

“It was quite ingenious really, as much as I hate to praise anything they have done, but messing with the fine print in contracts is basically something we demon's invented.”

“Wait, if it was the Celestials then why did I get a message stating the Abyss had dismissed me?”

“Right, hmmm... that goes into a bit of the explanation for the second part of your question.

“You see, when the gods decided they didn't want to rule you guys anymore and created the System they also left behind a way to contact them using it. An Admin key, if you will.

“Unfortunately, beings originating from the Celestial or Abyssal Plane aren't able to use that key, and we soon figured out that nobody from the Magical Plane could either. In fact, the researchers in each Plane discovered that it would require someone from outside the System. The only place the System doesn't reach is the Physical Plane, where there is no magic or mana for it to use, so many millennia ago we began making inroads into the Physical Plane and enticing mortals to cross.

“We were shocked and a little surprised that though we could entice people to crossover, they had to join us of their own free will. So whenever one of us found a new way to bring more and more mortals over – it was just a few each time for the first few dozen centuries – the newcomers would split into two sides and those sides would fight it out, inevitably that evolved – or devolved as some would have it – into battles of Champions.”

“That sounds... Wow... That's a lot to take in at once.” I paused to go over the new information a few times in my mind, but not for too long. I was finally getting some answers and I didn't want to let up for too long lest he changed his mind and stopped being so friendly.

“So umm... A few follow-up questions come to mind from that, but I guess you probably won't answer most of them.” He grinned at that and gave a nod, so I gulped and carried on, hoping not to push the Demon too far, “so I'll ask what I feel is most important, why are people still being brought over if it has been going on for thousands of years and do you have to choose a side or can you be neutral?”

I winced and pursed his lips, “yeah... The fact that no one has discovered how to access the Admin key yet has caused some very inventive new tortures over the years, a popular one in recent times is playing pop songs from the Physical Plane. Heh heh... But I digress, whenever a Champion wins, on one side or the other, they then go looking for a way to get the Admin key... We know it's a Title, probably from the dungeon... But Elmeron is a very large world and we've yet to find it. And whoever manages it first, well, we'll just call back our gods and take control.” He grinned and starting cackling madly for a few minutes before breaking out coughing and continuing as if nothing had happened.

“As for choosing sides, I did mention free will was paramount earlier, yes? People are enticed, to one side or the other through promises of great riches and such-like but if they decline then they are free to do so, heck some of the best fights occurred due to one of the Champion's closest allies betraying them for the other side, or being outed as a spy the whole time.

“Good times.”

I sat down on the cold marble floor for a while, considering all the information he had given me, processing it, finding out that everyone from the Physical Plane were just pawns in a game between two groups of... Demi-gods? If the gods were truly gone, or in hiding, I figured demi-gods was the best way to describe the rulers of the two Planes. Anyway, finding out we were just pawns in some great game they played, didn't exactly help my ego.

“Why are you telling me all this?” I asked a few minutes – or it could have been hours – later, once my head had stopped spinning so much at the revelations.

“Because I want to recruit you, of course!” He answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Me? Why me?”

“For a few reasons, for one the Demon who dismissed you before obviously misjudged your tenacity, to survive this long with [Sod's Law] as a Trait is quite impressive, not mention that the other two are pretty powerful,” it was here I realised he'd [Inspect]ed me at some point without me noticing. “Not only that, but you managed to kill off the Emperor in this tiny corner of the world and set yourself up for his throne, while under pressure from said Trait! And lastly, because you held up so well under the torture! Even if you have forgotten most of it by now, that you are not a gibbering wreck on the floor speaks well of your character and your mental fortitude.

“Taking it all into account, I believe you'd make a great Champion of the Abyss, and I intend to present you as such at the next council meeting, once you and all the other candidates have grown into your powers a bit more, of course.”

I snorted, “it shouldn't come as much of a surprise, I've felt excruciating pain before, literally back-breaking even.

“Even so, me a Champion for the Abyss... I'm not sure... Would I gain access to ancient and powerful magics?”

“But, of course!” He chuckled evilly again, “we wouldn't offer less to a Champion of Ours! Of course, you'd have to grow to some power on your own first, nothing comes without a price.

“In the meantime, however, I could offer you another race upgrade to an Elite Race, as you are already a planar elf variant, I could quite easily specialise you further into an abyssal elf. Should you choose to follow me, of course.”

“And I would gain more powerful magics as an abyssal elf?”

“That's correct, you'd keep all your current affinities, but gain a vast improvement in anything pertaining to the so-called 'dark arts', blood magic, soul magic, death magic and of course abyssal magic.”

“That's very tempting, Zel.” And it was, if I gained more power, an elite race better access to magics, I didn't care if people shunned them, with my terrible Luck I'd need to embrace power wherever I could find it. “How would I go about becoming an abyssal elf?”

“Well my dear, I'd need you to do a few tasks for me, back in the Magical Plane. I did explain that nothing came without a price after all.”

“What kinds of tasks?”

“Nothing that you would baulk at, I assure you. First, though, there is a couple of things you could do for me here, if you want any chance at the power I promise...”

“In here? What could I do for you in here?”

He gestured to the summoning circle he was still trapped inside, “to begin with, do you mind letting me free of this thing? It's quite cramped in here and I could do with a good stretch,” a small smirk played at the corners of his mouth as he spoke.

“Oh my god! I'm so sorry! There I was, insensibly demanding answers of you while you were imprisoned. I'm so, so sorry! How can I help?!” The poor, handsome demon had been trapped, confined to a tiny space while I was practically interrogating him, I felt shame that I hadn't offered to free him earlier. What had I been thinking?!

“It's quite alright, dear. All you need to do is make a break in the circle, just wipe away a bit of the blood and I'll do the rest.”

“Of course, of course! Here!” I jumped up from my seated position nearby and ran over, the Garb following me, almost like a forgotten puppy.

I quickly used my foot to brush away the horrible lines on the ground, freeing the poor soul that had been trapped inside. No living being should be trapped, especially not one so cunning, handsome, wise, handsome, charming, and kindly as this one! Oh, and did I mention handsome! Those horns of his were doing funny things to my lady-parts.

“I really am sorry,” I grovelled, “I was being so insensitive. Can you find it in your bountiful heart to forgive me?”

“Not to worry, my dear. No harm was done, you are forgiven.”

“Thank you, thank you.” One such as me wasn't worth the forgiveness of such a handsome and forgiving demon as this!

“Now, I think it is time to make our leave of this place. Come,” he gestured to the inky portal that still swirled and marked my escape from these chambers.

I followed the demon Prince through the portal, as the Garb followed me.

We came out into the large cavern that marked the underground entrance to the Watchtower. The cavern with all the mining carts and tracks.

The Warden's Trial.

Complete the Warden's Trial.

Reward:

8000 EXP

Bonus Reward:

Total Kill count: 0

Total EXP awarded: 8000

Due to special actions, you have gained:

Resistance +1, Willpower +2. Luck -3.

I dismissed the quest completion prompt that appeared when I exited the dungeon, as I had more pressing concerns, namely that Verrick, Belloff, Sarian and all the other High Dukes stood in front of me and the Demon Prince I'd brought back, and I was very much not the woman they were expecting to return, not even close.

"Err, hi guys," I waved nervously, "so it's kind of a funny story actually..."

I was so fucked.

It went about as well as I expected. Which is to say, not at all.

Thankfully, there was a seven-foot-tall horned Demon Prince available for me to shift the attention to. I took advantage of that fact, especially as whatever mind control effects he'd had me under had ceased the moment we stepped out from the inky portal. Apparently, I had to earn the right to be his minion on my own merits or something. Ugh. No thanks.

Obviously, the reason he'd been able to mind control me without all that torture and without me noticing was that the Garb with its magic resistant effects had timed out and removed itself from me.

I was very thankful that I no longer considered him handsome.

I shuddered at the memory of those last few minutes in the dungeon.

The demon had been very demanding, first off ordering someone to find him a woman with 'grapes growing out of her head and wine dripping from her nipples' and to take him to the Throne Room as being Emperor sounded like it could entertain him for a little while. And wasn't it such fun being free?

Disregarding his first 'request' – was such a thing even possible? Because that did sound like it could be fun – I'd apparently, somehow, gotten a Demon Prince crowned Emperor, a much worse option even than the traitorous Master of Ceremonies.

Thanks very much [Sod's Law]!

Anyway, Leris and Belloff had led the jubilant Demon out of there, probably with the hopes of distracting him with his first demand so much so that he forgot about the second.

Their interaction with the Demon made it obvious that the Imperials didn't want to clash with the Abyssal Prince. This led me to believe he was far stronger than he appeared if he could cow Verrick and even the boisterous dwarven High Duchess.

I was 'escorted' to a nearby office just outside the recently claimed Watchtower by an even-dozen Watchtower guards and an oddly calm Fenrick. He rebuffed any attempts at conversation. The guards remained stoic, too, as they practically shoved me inside what seemed to be a strategy planning room. Wasn't I technically still the Empress? I had married the Emperor before he died... From the moment I'd stepped from the dungeon, however, they hadn't been treating me as such.

There wasn't much in the room, bare stone walls surrounded a large conference table, made of some kind of grey slick stone. Sturdy oak chairs lined the walls around the table.

On closer inspection, I could see a map inlaid on the surface of the table. The table was perhaps twelve feet in length and four feet in width. At the 'top' of the table, the word 'Eddersland' was gilded in brushed bronze. I was finally getting a look at the land I was now living in.

The top and bottom tips of the land brushed the edges of the table at either end, the sides were about a foot from either edge. It was surrounded by light blue, obviously water, 'Ald Lake' was inlaid on either side, confirming my suspicions.

On the land, glowing borders representing the colours of the six High Dukes divided up the country.

A seventh colour, about a third of the way to the top, glowed purple and marked the much smaller borders of the Imperial Capital, Edderton, and the Watchtower, which bordered the northern tip of an inland lake, Eddersloch – they really want all out on the naming theme... - The high dukes each controlled roughly equal sections of the land, in the north-west was Flink, in Geral's colours, in the north-east was Craddock in Verrick's colours, in the middle section Inglsemar the west was held by Leris while Deburrow and Freylder held the east.

The two elven Dukes were neighbours in the south, Sarian ruled Ellikir in the west and Fenrick ruled Vernekstow in the east. The Imperial Capital was nestled in the four corners where the central Dukedoms met the Northen ones.

I could tell this map was magically enchanted to be interactive as when I pressed my hand to one of the Dukedoms the borders would glow brighter briefly but then dull without any change. I didn't have the permissions to change this map at all, which was a shame because there wasn't any cities currently marked on the map, nor any significant landmarks.

A mountain range split the north-east of the land off from the rest, the mountains lining the map from Flink in the north-west to Denburrow in the east. A forest filled most of the south-west of the map, bordering the plains that Fenrick ruled over.

The rest of the map was fairly evenly split between hills, plains and woodlands.

I studied the map for perhaps half an hour before getting bored and sitting in one of the chairs, twiddling my thumbs.

After another half an hour I finally got up and knocked on the door, a gruff and blushing guard opened it for me and I convinced him to bring me some supplies so I could make myself some socks. so I had something to do. He returned with those items, and a fairly basic robe that reminded me that I had been naked up until that point, I'd gotten too used to not worrying about such things because of the Garb.

This action led me to acquire my first skill since I'd donned the Garb.

Congratulations! You have gained the skill: Crocheting.

Dexterity +1.

And that was how I learnt my grandma had taught me how to crochet and not to knit.

I'd increased it to level 3 and received 50 EXP – I was holding off on leveling for now - before someone finally came to see me.

Verrick led Sarian and Geral into the room. Two guards followed them and stationed themselves just inside the door after they shut it behind them. I put my lumpy creations into my [inventory], which caused me to pause in shock as the items I'd left in there earlier had disappeared.

"That's right, someone removed everything that wasn't yours from your [Inventory]," Verrick smiled grimly, "which was, of course, everything. I'm sure you can keep your scarf, though."

"Uhh... it was a sock actually..." He was being surprisingly genial, no yelling or screaming. Not yet at least, considering Sarian's lobster-like visage, I figured we'd get to that soon enough.

"Let's ignore your dubious creations," he smiled and winked slightly, trying to put me at ease. He collected himself as Geral whispered something to Sarian, obviously trying, and failing to calm the fuming high elf.

"Let's start with your name, shall we?"

"M-Martha." I stammered, Sarian's glare causing me to stammer.

"Okay, Martha. How exactly did you get here?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I think someone in the Abyssal Plane kicked me out of a teleportation while I was travelling from my world and I ended up here."

"So you are a new arrival from the Physical Plane then." Geral said, looking like he'd won a bet of some kind.

"And what did you do to my daughter!" Sarian yelled, standing up and sending the oak chair crashing into the wall behind. I was glad I was seated on the opposite side of the table from him.

Once he'd calmed down a bit and promised not to interrupt Verrick's interrogation any further, he sat back down.

His glare never subsided.

More yelling and screaming, along with a little spittle when I explained what happened to Duchess Aelwinel, Geral interrupted a spell he had begun to cast and dragged him from the room for about twenty minutes, before returning.

Verrick and I sat in silence the whole time I waited.

He was practically foaming at the mouth when he returned, but he didn't try and attack me again, so in fits and starts, and with Verrick's encouragement, I began explaining my story of the last few days.

They were very interested when I explained about Elbellkioff's betrayal, and Sarian had to be escorted from the room again when he found out that it was his daughter who had approached the traitorous Master of Ceremonies, he didn't believe me at first but, all I had to go on was what Belloff had told me.

When he returned, he still refused to believe his daughter hadn't been an innocent that was pressured into the MoC's plans, but at least he'd stopped with the yelling.

When I got to what I'd done with the Duchess's corpse, Sarian did attack me, lunging over the table and grappling with my robe before anyone else could react. I was thankful that he was far too angry to use any of his spells by this point, otherwise, I probably would've been electrocuted on the spot.

The Geral and the two guards dragged him kicking and screaming from the room before he remembered he was a spellcaster, leaving me and Verrick in peace. I continued my story, telling of what happened in the Warden's Trial. As I spoke of the horrors I saw, of what I still felt and that time, Verrick's demeanour softened. He handed me a handkerchief to wipe my eyes and waited until I was ready before allowing me to continue in my own time.

"And then I was left to wait in this room for a few hours, I was only given clothes when I asked the guards for some crocheting supplies."

"Yeah, sorry about that... We were a bit distracted when the demon threw a fit because we couldn't procure a girl with wine coming from her nipples-"

Wait, so you could find one with grapes on her head instead of hair?!

"-and killed a few of the nobles that had survived the Ashen legions' attack.

"Then, he remembered his other demand and made his way directly to the Throne Room. And I mean directly there's a bunch of walls with a demon-sized hole in it leading straight to the Throne."

"Wait... He didn't... Did he?" I almost didn't want Verrick to answer me, unfortunately, he grimaced and rubbed his brow with his hand.

"I'm afraid so, as soon as he sat upon the Throne, the System recognised him as Eddersland's new Emperor by Might."

"By Might?"

"Ah yes, as a newcomer you wouldn't know how this works... Basically, there are three ways to rule over a populace, and thus to succeed the Throne. This first, and most common is Rule by Right, this is when there is an obvious heir that steps up when the previous ruler died, and that's how it used to work here. The next most common is Rule by Might, where someone is so strong, either in personal Might or via their alliances, that nobody can oppose them. The third, and least common, is Rule by Vote-"

"Ah, I think I can guess how that one works, thanks."

He nodded, "right, I heard your world had started going that way a few centuries ago. The nature of this world and the dangers it possesses makes Rule by Vote far less common, and it is even rarer for it to last even through its first generation.

"But this information is hardly important right now. Not for you at least." He got up and opened the door, pausing to look back at me, "I'll endeavour to get your current position resolved as soon as possible, I understand a lot of people, especially Sarian will be vying for your death whatever the consequences. But, I think you were put into a hard position with few options. You could have done better. You should have done better, but I don't blame you." He winked at me, "plus you somehow gained control over the Watchtower, that's given you a good position to negotiate from.

"I suspect the best outcome you can hope for is leaving the Palace with your life intact."

And then he was gone, the door swinging shut softly behind him, and I let out the breath I'd been holding.

I wasn't dead yet, half of my had expected me to be killed shortly after I was discovered, but here I was, still alive and kicking.

Opening the door left me face-to-face with a hall full of grim-faced guards. Yes, still alive and kicking, but definitely a prisoner, even so.

I sat back down in my chair and pulled out my at attempts at sock-making. I sighed, and pulled the ruined footwear apart and started over – Verrick was right, it did look more like a scarf.

More hours passed, enough that I'd finished my third pair of socks, the mustard yellow creations were the first ones that looked wearable. When I finished them, I reached level 5.

During this time I finally dealt with the flashing [Insert Name Here] on my Status screen, I was already outed and the flashing was getting kind of annoying every time I reflexively checked the screen – probably once every ten minutes or so, having stats in real life was kinda cool.

Someone knocked politely on the door and waited until I came over and opened it myself. I was surprised that they hadn't just barged in, I was basically a prisoner here, after all.

I blinked in shock when I saw who'd come to retrieve me, I hadn't seen her since before I entered the dungeon.

"Hi." I managed and blinked again when I noticed the empty hallway behind her. Where did all the guards go?

"Follow," she grunted, her face forming a grimace. It was clear I was no longer considered a friend.

"So, um... How's Alfred?" The woman was the guard who I'd spent well over a day hiding from invaders with, protecting each other's backs. Trusting each other with our lives. There was no sign of that camaraderie now, in fact, Deliza ignored my question entirely, her ears twitching in annoyance.

Wait, her ears?

"Wait... Where are we going? And are you a beastkin?" I blushed, as she turned to glare at me, "s-sorry, I didn't mean to be rude but you're the first beastkin I've seen... those ears... are you a bearkin?" I guessed, causing her to growl in annoyance. Not a bear then, how was I to tell the difference?"

"A boar..." She finally muttered, "I am a boarkin. As for where I'm taking you... It's where I've been ordered to take you, where you deserve, traitorous scum."

Gulp.

I wasn't getting any sympathy here. Nevermind, I hadn't really expected to get any, but it had been worth a try.

I followed her down empty hallway after empty hallway, each turn causing more goosebumps to form on my arms and the hair on the back of my neck to rise.

Where is everybody?

I tried to ask her that question, but I was just ignored. I didn't try to run either, I'd seen her fight, I wouldn't get more than a couple of steps away at most.

The hallways we'd been following were the dull grey stones of the servants' halls, we walked for perhaps fifteen minutes before we descended a large stairway, the smell rising up below causing me to wrinkle my nose in disgust. Think rotting meats and dead rats and you'd be pretty close to what I was smelling.

The smell didn't seem to affect the boarkin in the slightest and she led me right at the bottom of the steps and stopped before a large opening from which the nasal-destroying smell was coming from.

"What is this place?"

Instead of answering me she just muttered something under her breath and shoved me into the rubbish pile beyond, a massive metal door crashed down from the ceiling behind me.

The walls of the room I'd found myself in were made of the same metal, surprisingly clean considering the pile of trash in the middle of the room. I could see more of the squiggles that made up runes covering the walls in here and I felt a sinking feeling as my brain finally recognised the words she'd spoken.

The words, not spoken in the Imperial Edderslandi language I was becoming accustomed to, but instead in a local beastkin dialect, were, "good riddance to bad rubbish." And looking around at my current location I could see I was taking part in a bad cliche.

Someone had decided to 'take me out with the trash'. And considering the walls around me, I guessed I was in a trash compactor.

"God damn it!" I ranted to whoever must be watching my demise, railing them on the terrible cliche they were perpetrating, and how as 'Warden of the Watchtower', they couldn't kill me, otherwise, a quest for the position would form.

But, whoever was watching, if anyone was, ignored my ranting, then the pleas that followed.

Finally, after a bout of self-deprecating begging, my voice grew hoarse.

Whoever had sentenced me to death obviously didn't care about the consequences.

A little while later, as the tears started to evaporate from my face I finally looked up to see my environment had changed.

The runes on the walls were glowing a harsh yellow-orange colour, a colour that was reminiscent of the lava I'd almost fallen in countless times in the dungeon, and the room was heating up, the air growing almost too hot to breathe as the liquid around me began to boil.

Finally, after a tortures few seconds, with my lungs burning from the inside and the blood in my body beginning to boil, the rubbish around me caught on fire, and the incinerator I was in killed me.

You have died!

Spend the last few moments until your Soul passes-on to reflect on your actions during your life!

Better Luck next time!

*

Status HP: 0/490 (+9.4/s) MP: 319 (+1.1/s) ST: 421 (1.3/s) EXP: 10951 Total Level: (8) Class Level EXP Req Name Martha Anwcus Mental Stat Physical Stat Social Stat Traits Elf (Planar) 8 4500 Age 26 Control 58 Agility 70 Bargaining 60 Regeneration Race Elf (Planar) Resistance 56 Dexterity 59 Charm 50 Status Quo Party N/A Spellpower 51 Strength 70 Leadership 53 Sod's Law Guild N/A Willpower 64 Vitality 71 Luck -496