I close out of all the menus and head into the hallway. It’s still not very well lit, but it seems Rav has left some of the soft Mana lights he demonstrated earlier. I assume they don’t last forever, but it will help the people with under 25 Perception get around in here.

It seems that (at least for Perception) certain Primary Skills have substantial boosts in functionality when reaching level 25. In this case, it’s lowlight/darkvision that improves slowly with more levels. People below that threshold simply cannot see in the deeper parts of the Barrows, and using fire to help would just be a terrible idea. We only have one opening to the outside and there aren’t really plants in the dungeon, so we’d have an oxygen problem really quickly if we even tried to cook. Not to mention the smoke. But I think my Alchemy experiments earlier might have keyed me into an even better answer than Rav’s lights.

A quick pass reveals that Lauren is nowhere to be found. I guess it was too much to think she might start trying to make friends. Rav’s the only one on guard, and all he could tell me was that he didn’t see her leave… which means nothing. She can be borderline invisible when she wants to be.

Meaning: she either left or she’s by the lake. Given how even her bloodthirst should have been slaked by the number of monsters we killed, I bet on the latter.

Carefully picking my way down the steep decline, I stumble to a stop at the bottom. My eyes pick up the unmistakable shape of a hunched over person.

“Hey Lauren.”

-”...’

Fair enough. I push aside my misgivings about the water and join her sitting on the peninsula. After the noise of my movements fades, the natural sounds of the cave start to come through again. You wouldn’t think much would happen in a small cave like this but… the steady dripping of moist cavern walls into the pool below, the small sound of ripples running over the rocks…

It’s very pleasant.

-”How do you do it?”

“Hmm?”

-”Deal with people. All the time.”

“Frankly? I try not to. I keep people around because they make certain things easier but… I almost left the camp when I first got to it. You might have noticed that I didn’t arrive on purpose.”

She chuckles softly. -”I remember. I had hoped you’d died.”

“I bet… Maybe that would have been easier.”

-”Yeah.”

The silence hangs for a moment as I search for words.

“I… guess I kinda do this. I get close to a few people and try to forget about the rest. Interact with everyone in bursts, but have a few people that I can be around without feeling stressed. It’s odd that you’re one of them.”

-”Oh? Are we close now?”

“Well… you did tell me a lot of personal stuff. Then you kinda saved my ass from the lieutenant.”

-”Hah. So I still owe you one more.”

“Pfft. You don’t owe me shit and you know it. You also didn’t save me because you felt like you owed me. I think we’re close. For this world, at least.”

-”Maybe... Maybe so. Why did you come here, bestest friend?” Her tone has slowly changed from sad to a playful mocking, so I’ll call it a win.

“Two things. We have your hole to investigate-”

-”Phrasing.”

“-AND I need to use your alchemy kit. Which is first is up to you.”

I see her nod. -”You still think you can do it, now that I’m not crying and begging you to?” More mocking, but there’s a tinge of realness to it. I think she’s afraid that might have been why I agreed.

“One thing you’ll learn about me is that I love hard truths. I would have crushed your hope then and there if I thought it was impossible. And honestly? It might be anyway… but I can’t deny that you changed as a result of my Energy messing around with you. I mean the healing stuff, not the poison.”

She shivers slightly, rubbing the arm I’d attacked, before stopping suddenly.

-”What did you call it?” Oh. Shit. I was so used to not being open at all that when I started being at all honest I ended up mentioning it.

“Ah, Mana.”

-”No, not Mana. You think just because I don’t have a knife to your throat this time that I don’t know when you’re lying? What’s Energy?”

“It’s… just another resource. It’s like Mana but it does different things. Internal uses instead of external uses.”

Her eyes remain fixed on mine for several more seconds before she inclines her head slightly.

-”Don’t lie to me again.”

“I…” I grope for words. How can I tell her that I just can’t tell her certain things?

Oh. Fucking duh.

“I promise I won’t lie to you again. I may, instead, refuse to tell you things that I think are dangerous.”

She seems to accept this.

-”Alright. Try to fix me, doc.”

“Sure. Give me your hand.”

-”You want to hold my hand?”

“Y- I mean no- I mean what? I need contact to look inside yo- ok this is going nowhere good, and yes I can see your smirk, you fuck. Give me your damn hand.”

----

Just as before, it is much easier than it should be to move Energy in and take a look around. I know she must have a Power store in her somewhere, so I make it a point to find it, just to get a lay of the land. It actually takes a bit of searching because I have to keep dealing with the void snatching some away and moving the feelers I have, but eventually, enough feelers find it accidentally that I realize where it is.

The hole. The hole that sucks in Energy is also where her Power is.

I quickly look at my own Power stores and see nothing of the sort. I may need to look at Rav again, just to make sure, but it seems like it’s just Lauren…

And if it is, why? Is it caused by the Power or is the Power just exacerbating an existing problem? Is it something to do with wounds inflicted by the Shades?

Normally I’d just move all the Power like I did with Rav, but all the way into me. Like, stealing her Power temporarily just to see if I could then repair the void. There’s a chance it’s just happenstance that they’re located in the same place but… in this game, things are usually done by design. However, its location makes it impossible for my Energy to get any of the Power out before being pulled into the void, like escaping a black hole

Zathis told me that something here, a part of this game, corrupted the Dwarves…

Could it have been Power?

But then, why doesn’t it do anything to me? Why didn’t I see it with Rav when he was missing his hand?

I don’t think I can solve this now, but I have a lead.

I leave Lauren with about ¾ of my Energy pool and pull back into reality-

To find her, totally relaxed, in my arms.

The moment must have surprised both of us, because as I open my mouth to say something I shouldn’t, she shoves me to the side and scrambles away.

Normally, this would not be a problem. Normally I do not sit next to pools of scary dark water.

My arm plunges in as I mistakenly try to stabilize myself against a liquid, and it’s only frantic grabbing with my other hand to Lauren’s armor that keeps me from toppling in. She, of course, rapidly bats my arm away, but I’m safe again so it’s fine.

“Uhh, so you might get this question often, but what the fresh hell was that?”

-”Shut.”

“Seriously, that water was really cold-”

-”SHUT UP.”

“Fine, but if my arm had been eaten by a water monster I would have been glaring at you the whole time I healed it back.”

-”Is this all a joke to you?”

“No, water monsters terrify me for real. I’d probably even swear at you too.”

-”You’re a dick.”

“...Yeah? I figured that’s why we got along at all.”

-”Can you stop?”

I sigh, loudly.

“Look. Energy seems to have a much stronger effect on you than anyone else I’ve seen, so I’ll explain something to you so you can stop wondering: Energy is making you feel that way.”

-”What?”

“Weird about me. I know it relaxes you and makes you feel happy. That’s what it does.”

-”What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s… back home, before all this, I could still kinda use Energy.”

-”You could faith heal people.” Her sarcasm was very clear.

“I said kinda, ok? The most I could do was convey small bits of emotion. Make someone feel encouraged, happy, relaxed… hurt, sad, angry… It was only very little, and it couldn’t be done frequently. Honestly, I thought it was fake for the longest time because it could so easily be attributed to the randomness of human emotion. But here? It’s much more potent.”

-”Especially for me.”

“Well… as far as I can tell. I mean, half the reason Kaythe follows me around is because he likes my Energy” *Clack* (untrue)

-”Ok, it makes sense for a tiny monster like it, but why would it affect me particularly?”

“Because you’re hurt.”

-”I’m fi-... yeah. Ok. Being emotionally… hurt… is making me susceptible to Energy?”

I shrug. “It’s all hypothetical. All I’m trying to say is that if you feel comfortable and hap-”

Her eyes narrow at me -”Shut.”

I raise my hands in surrender. “I won’t read into it, that’s all I’m saying. We’re good. We’re friends, I think.”

She nods. -“Y-yeah. Fine.”