I was, to be honest, not sure what to do about all this. Yrsha would likely expect us to have perfect manners, something I had little training in at all. It did not help that I had usually relied on Archives to avoid any mishaps. Luckily for me, Rael started speaking before I could. “First allow me to apologize for barging into your home uninvited, Lady Yrsha, but what has occurred seems to be widespread and rather serious. We are both rather off balance as it is, so I also wish to apologize for any lack of proper manners that we might inadvertently display.” Yrsha eyed Rael for a few moments, and after a small sip of her cup she put it down, her smile now gone. “I see, well, if it is so serious, then it would be better if we put the pleasantries aside for now. Please speak freely.”

I silently thanked Rael, he had helped me avoid a potential disaster right now. I took a deep breath and began explaining. “There seems to be a strong interference between the divine and the mortals who benefit from their gifts. Certain skills aren’t functioning, divine spells either have their effect reduced to nothing or are just failing. It affects even passive skills.” I looked up at her, she appeared unconcerned, it seemed like she hadn’t realized what this could mean. “Lady Yrsha, I urge you to tighten the defense of your dungeon. Since It might also mean you are no longer protected by the decree of Rubolg, at least for now, I mean.”

Yrsha nearly choked on the tea she had been busy sipping when she heard what I said. She was obviously not expecting that possibility. She shot a glance towards the open door behind her and I could hear footsteps run off at high speed. A few moments later I could see Xi speed off towards the nearest group of spirits relaxing near a small pond. The little spirit sure could move. Yrsha put down her teacup and rose to her feet. “I will admit, I did not consider that possibility. Thank you for your warning. Now, given the situation is what it is, I can only surmise you wish to make use of my divination to find out what is going on.” I nodded and drained the bowl Xi had given me in one mouthful. It barely was a thimble to me, anyway.

Rael followed suit with his own cup, though with slightly more difficulty. We both rose to our feet and followed Yrsha once more. This time she headed down a path into the forest itself. It didn’t take long for the forest to hide the view of the clearing we had just left, and the forest itself gradually changed as we walked. So this entire path had to be a “stairs room” for a forest dungeon or something, I noted as the sun set and the moon rose above us. We had barely been walking for 5 minutes, and it was far too early for the moon to rise. Yet, night had undoubtedly fallen over this part of the forest.

The path continued onward for about another 10 minutes, with side paths branching off now and then, but finally, we arrived at another, much smaller clearing. The clearing was empty except for a single pond in it, with the full moon reflecting off of the surface. Something about the pond was making me uncomfortable. Maybe it was the reflection of the moon, maybe something else, but just looking at it was giving me a headache. “What is this pond?” I asked, I couldn’t quite hide the discomfort from my voice. Rael followed up a moment later. “Whatever it is, it’s quite… uncomfortable to look at.” Yrsha looked at us for a moment, nodding slowly. There hint of a smile on her face as she listened to Rael’s terrible attempt to remain polite about the sensations that pond was giving us. “I am not surprised you have such a reaction. This pond is used to scry into the past, present and future. For those whose minds have not attuned to it, it just causes severe discomfort or pain. Only trained minds can make sense of what the pond is trying to tell, training you two lack.” She explained, as both Rael and I started to pointedly avoid looking at the pond.

With little in the way of further explanation, Yrsha walked over to the edge of the pond and sat down. Then she pointedly peered into the pond itself, her own eyes starting to shine like little full moons as the light of the reflection filled them. As she was looking, her brows furrowed and her face distorted in discomfort. Then suddenly the moon overhead changed drastically, turning into a blood moon. Yrsha gave a partially strangled scream almost at the same time. Before I could do anything Rael had rushed forward and dragged Yrsha away from the pond itself. He used his own body to block Yrsha from seeing it any longer. This caused him to carry Yrsha bridal style, which gave me a strange feeling of certainty. A certainty that I would see such a sight again in happier circumstances.

Yrsha calmed down a few moments later, though the experience had shaken her. Then she noticed the position she was in, and I couldn’t help but notice a slight blush as she hurriedly asked for Rael to let her go. Noticing what he was doing, Rael gave a similar blush and hurriedly put her down, while apologizing profusely. As amusing as the sight was, I pushed that matter aside for now as we had other things to worry about. I looked at the two as they were doing their best act of pretending like they hadn’t noticed the other person blushing. “I don’t mean to be impolite or anything, but maybe we should return to the shrine. Who knows what else might have suddenly changed in here, or why.” That snapped the two out of it and Yrsha literally vanished, I guess she went incorporeal to move to the shrine faster. I looked over to Rael and then sat down. “Get on.” I didn’t need to tell him twice.

As we returned to the main clearing, we found the place in total chaos. There were fox spirits everywhere, but something was off about them. Strange black/purple energy was slowly rising off of them, and they were attacking everyone and everything in sight, including each other. A solar eclipse had replaced the sunlight in the clearing, adding to the chaos. Yrsha was running all over, doing her best to stop the fighting, her expression a mix of terror and determination. As we arrived, she looked over at us with a pleading expression. She didn’t even need to ask before I skidded to a stop and gently motioned for Rael to get off. “I can try to stop them from fighting, but it will probably be unpleasant for them.” I told Yrsha as I grabbed two spirits, one in each front paw.

Yrsha looked at me “Do it, better to try than to let them continue like this.” I nodded and directed my gaze at the clearing itself. STOP FIGHTING, NOW! The mental command was powerful enough to even make Yrsha flinch and grab her forehead, despite not being the intended target. Then again, I had just gone wide spectrum with it. The effects on the clearing were immediate as the strange energy that had suffused the spirits burst away from them, ripped out by the command to stop attacking the spirits. Then the energy slowly coalesced into a strange shape in the center of the clearing. Then it took on a strange, disconcerting form whose corpulent and abhorrent mass was beyond description. Yrsha and Rael fell to the floor, clutching their heads from the sight of it.

I felt a sudden pang of pain for a moment. Then the mental immunity part of Penumbral Psionics kicked in and repelled whatever it was trying to influence me with. I looked at Yrsha and Rael. “Sorry guys, it’s for your own good.” SLEEP! Both of them fell over, unconscious, along with every spirit in the clearing. The… Thing was unaffected, though I saw a ripple go through it as my mental command hit it. Resistant then, not immune. I suddenly realized this was my first fight with no help of any kind, I didn’t even have Archives to offer advice. Not that it mattered right now, that Thing had to die. It had incapacitated the others practically instantly and was a clear aggressor towards this dungeon and everyone in it.

The major problem right now was everyone who was sleeping all over the clearing. That meant I would have to somehow get the Thing out of here and into an area where we could fight more freely. The Thing for its part apparently didn’t need to think much before it burst towards me, one of its many mouths opening up in a gleeful smile. I tried to dodge out of the way but it was too fast. It was like getting hit with a mix of a beach ball and water balloon. The impact didn’t even hurt as it just bounced off. The Thing spun backwards before halting in midair. It seemed confused, well I was not gonna question good fortune, whatever it had attempted to do hadn’t worked.

Before it could recover, I pounced on it and clamped my jaws around one of the bigger growths on the Thing, then dragged it out of the clearing. Partway through the Thing realized what I intended and tried in vain to break free. But whatever this Thing was, it was not a physical fighter. It did not have the strength to contest me and while it was larger than a human by a fair margin, it still was smaller than me. Once back in the hallway I gave the Thing no quarter as I tore into it with vicious abandon. I let out all the pent up frustration that had built up since I arrived in this world. It was a vicious rampage that didn’t stop until the Thing was just an ugly smear on the floor.

It had tried to stop me, but its physical strength was nowhere near enough to get past my defenses. This Thing wasn’t a frontline combatant at all. Despite this it could stay alive far longer than it should have been able to. It kept screaming and gibbering until I had crushed and ripped every bit to shreds. Then, and only then, did I feel the usual influx of power from gaining EXP. As I did, the strange eclipse abated, and the Dungeon returned to normal. It was only then I noticed how foul the damn Thing had tasted. It tasted like every bad tasting thing in existence rolled up into one. I nearly hurled right there, but I bit it back. I could get rid of it later, right now I had to check on everyone.

I walked over to the unconscious Rael and Yrsha, then paused. Now, who should I wake first? Yrsha was an unknown if she had gone insane like the spirits, then fighting her would be a potentially bad or outright catastrophic idea. However, I knew I could take Rael on in single combat, and he didn’t have any magic, so he would probably be the safer bet. With that in mind, I nudged Rael awake carefully. The effect was immediate as he sprang to his feet with a frankly shocking speed, sword drawn and a wild look in his eyes. Then, after looking around for a few moments, visibly relaxed and sheathed his sword again.

Well, that was a bit terrifying. Good thing he didn’t take a swing with it. Before I could even say a word Rael spotted Yrsha and ran over to her and carefully lifted the sleeping Core into his arms and gently woke her up. The expression on his usually steely and bearded face was remarkably soft. He woke her gently, and though she was equally panicked at first, she seemed to calm down when she recognised Rael. The two kept looking at each other for a while, lost in each other’s gaze. I couldn’t help but tease them a bit. “You know, I know we should check on your Spirits and all Yrsha, but if you two want to get a room, I could manage on my own…”

The effect was immediate. Both Rael and Yrsha snapped out of their mutual staring and got to their feet. Both of them were beet red, which wasn’t that surprising, given the situation. Yrsha spoke up first, trying her best to put on an air of dignity and appear proper again. “Y-you are right, w-we should get to work checking on my little ones.” She glanced over at Rael, who had suddenly gotten VERY busy making sure his armor straps hadn’t come loose. Seriously, an ancient spirit and a professional adventurer behaving like teenagers. That was actually rather cute. Guess neither was that experienced in the ways of romance. Not that I was one who could talk, having been a total shut-in for the entirety of my adult life. Still, there was a spark there between the two, as strange as it may seem. Honestly, I suspected it might have been for a while, seeing as the two knew each other from way before I met either of them.

I shook myself out of my musings, there were more important things to do right now. The small fox spirits were luckily fine. Whatever I had done to draw that Thing out of them had left them perfectly fine, it seemed, or so Yrsha claimed. I would have helped with the check myself, but the only magic I had that would have been useful was the Divine type. So it had been no surprise for me when attempting to cast nothing had happened. Then, with everyone back to their normal self, Yrsha did a quick sweep of her dungeon to ensure everyone else was fine. With that taken care of, we returned to the tearoom to continue our conversation, although with a new topic. “We were lucky. If that Thing had run rather than fight, it could have caused utter mayhem.”

Yrsha shook her head. “It would never run, not when it had more potential victims around.” I looked at her, Rael was still deliberately doing his best not to. The next question I asked was obvious. “What do you mean?” Did Yrsha know what that Thing was? Yrsha downed her cup of tea like it was some kind of strong whiskey and got a refill before she explained. “You said it charged at you and seemed surprised when it bounced off, that means it was expecting to possess you like it had the others.” That made sense, but didn’t explain why it didn’t work on me, it just didn’t add up. “As far as I know I have no skills that protect me from possession, so why couldn’t it possess me?”

Yrsha looked surprised at me. “You don’t?” I shook my head “Not unless Possession counts as a mind affecting skill I don’t. I mean, I didn’t even feel its attempt starting, it just bounced off on its own, so it’s not like I resisted the attempt.” Yrsha now looked as confused as I felt. She then just shook her head before she composed herself and looked at me with a serious expression. “Well, as it stands, Pearl, it would seem I owe you a debt once again.” I looked over at her “Think nothing of it. That Thing was attempting to attack us all.”

Yrsha sighed before she slowly shook her head. “I… can’t accept that, Pearl.” Right, she was a stickler for decorum and proper behavior… Well, I did have an idea on how to resolve the situation. “Then how about you accept the alliance and help me out with a small experiment of mine, and we call it even?” I finally asked. Yrsha looked… a mix of annoyed and intrigued, before she, with another deep sigh, nodded. “That’s… acceptable, I suppose. Though I will clarify that I am accepting it like this only because I suspect you would refuse any other attempts.” I couldn’t suppress a smile as she said that, causing yet another sigh from her. She then tilted her head. “So what’s this experiment you wanted to try?” she asked, now rather curious about what I had in mind.

Once I had explained the thought I had, Yrsha seemed intrigued. “Dungeon creatures invading dungeons and fighting to help the other dungeon grow stronger. Hmm, it’s an interesting concept. And if it works, it could give us some obvious benefits, as we won’t need to rely on outsiders to grow stronger. Very well, I see no reason not to accept to partake in this test of yours. Send the Duergar through the portal when you have found your volunteer.” I gave a single nod in response and smiled at Yrsha. “I will do that. For the time being, I think it’s best that I return and make preparations for the first trade cart to go through the portal. I will send the volunteer with them if I have found one. You should probably prepare a spot for him to fight. It’s better if we have a designated spot than to cause collateral damage.”

Yrsha gave me a smile “True, well then Pearl, see you around I hope, and Rael… Take care.” Rael, who had been silent since he regained consciousness, cleared his throat. “Take care, Lady Yrsha. I... I will probably join the trade cart from time to time, to help with the lifting. So I will see you around… I hope... If you’d like…” Seeing the usually stoic and level-headed Rael like this was amusing. He didn’t have much experience in the way of romance, that was for sure. I glanced over at Yrsha, who had turned around, so she wasn’t facing Rael. She was smiling as he spoke, and also slowly getting a blush. Well, with luck it would work out for them. Either way, how their fumbling attempts at courting one another ended up was none of my business.

Before we left Yrsha did a quick check on the rest of her dungeon, but apparently had found no further disturbances. It would seem we had stopped the Thing before it could cause any more mayhem, but even so Yrsha would not risk attempting to use the lake again. I can’t say I blame her, given her description of what she experienced. I can’t really fault someone for “Not wishing to have my head put in a wise then twisted intending to squeeze my sanity from it.” A strange, but probably apt description of what was going on, given Yrsha’s view on decorum and details. I approached the portal, and it flared to life once more with only a slight nudge on my end. Huh, this was easier than I thought. With a last farewell, we stepped through and back into the dungeon.

When we returned, we found Mordred and Indella, both of whom looked worried and more than a little haggard waiting for us just on the other side. Before I could even ask what happened, Indella told us what had transpired. Even her thoughts sounded tired. *Something attacked us. I do not know what it was, but just looking at it made my head feel like it was being split apart.* Shit, here too? “How bad is it?” I asked.

Mordred took a deep breath as he answered. “We were lucky. The Thing popped up inside Talka’s nest, so the amount of damage it caused was minimal. I shudder to think what would have happened if it appeared in the village or the camp, as it was the Hive handled it with minimal losses. There were just too many Striders around for its assault to work. The only reason we even knew about the attack was because Indella and I were passing through as it appeared.” He massaged his temples for a moment before he continued.

“Though I… will admit I remember little of the fight, as short as it was. The Thing overwhelmed my mental faculties just from me looking at it, it was that wrong, the mere sight of it made my mind deny its very existence. Apparently, its influence caused me to go crazy, and I attacked the Striders bare handed. They thankfully knocked me out before I caused any damage, realizing I was not acting like myself.” Mordred seemed quite relieved. Not surprising at all, Talka and her children could have ripped him apart. Then again, if this attacker was anything like the one in Yrsha’s dungeon, then the purple glow in his eyes would have been a dead giveaway.

So, the Thing had appeared where Indella and Mordred were, that was strange. Could it have been targeting Indella because of her link to me? But then, why did Indella experience a splitting headache while all I felt was a light annoyance? I pushed the thought away. There were too many unknowns to form a proper theory at this point. Besides, I had other news to share. “I see, that’s good, I have a feeling it could have gone far worse, considering how it went down in Yrsha’s dungeon.” This earned me some concerned looks. “Yes, there was also an attack on Yrsha’s dungeon. We handled it, and we have an alliance with Yrsha now as a result, and she has agreed to my idea. With a bit of luck, we might get a stable income for my dungeon.” It was hard to gauge the reaction of those two, given their current state, though I could sense a modicum of happiness from Indella.

I was about to continue the conversation when Flint, followed by a scarred and battered Duergar, walked up to us. “Sorry fer intrudin Melady, but ye have yer volunteer here.” He nodded to the Duergar beside him, then with a polite nod turned around and left, leaving the Duergar behind. He looked at me with a calm, stony expression. “Heard ye were lookin fer a volunteer to a potential suicide mission. Figured it wouldn’t be as boring if I was ded, then when I am on guard duty, so what do I need ta do?” I needed a few seconds to wrap my head around what he just said. While I was processing it, Indella piped up. *So… let me get this straight, you prefer… death… to guard duty?* He looked at her with the same expression. “Aye. And so would you, if ye had ta look out over this cave day out day in.” Huh… Note to self, get the guards something to entertain themselves with off-duty later on.

I explained the entire thing to the Duergar, who introduced himself as Granite after Indella poked him about his name long enough. He also seemed far more interested as I explained it all. “Hmm, a worthwhile idea and it would give a delightful distraction from havin ta stay put on da wall all day. Ye can count on me, Melady I will give them a fight though, just so ye know, not just gonna keel over fer them.” I nodded “Fair enough, as mentioned you will join the first trade cart through the portal then. Rael, would you mind going with him?

Rael looked at me with a surprised expression and blushed profusely when he saw the knowing grin on my face. “… Fine” he said at length, then turned around and marched off. Indella looked at me with a confused expression. *What was that all about?* I chuckled. “I don’t think it’s my place to say, if you want to know ask him.” Indella looked at the retreating Rael once more before shrugging. *I will get the first trade cart ready. Anyhow, Lienru served up a lunch while you were away, so go get what’s left of it before it gets cold.* Lunch time already? Had it really been that long? Well then, since Indella had already eaten, I would be crazy to say no to the remaining food.