~‌‌ ‌‌2.07 ‌‌-‌‌ Dogs Are Dogs, Even On Another Planet ~‌‌

Duskgrove Adventurers’ Guild

3rd Voidday of the Full Moon

I just stood there kind of frozen. The Goat in front of me still had that large grin plastered on his face.

“And what do you plan on doing with that information?” I asked the Goat.

“Don’t worry. I won’t cause any harm to you or your master. I will send my report out, but I will leave your name out of it. What was your master’s name again?”

“I didn’t give it.”

The Goat hmmrphed.

“I need to get going, but I have a question first as I don’t have a belt. How can I hold this bag while I’m running?” I asked.

“Can you pull up your status?” the Goat asked.

I thought about my status screen, and it popped up in front of me. Whatever Kyle had done with permissions has allowed me to pull it up now.

“Yes, I can,” I said, looking up at them from the screen.

“Click on the ‘i’ with the circle around it. You can change it into a backpack for 10 energy.” said Shanon.

The look on my face probably gave away that I had zero energy. The Goat Elder told me to wait a moment, and then disappeared into one of the back rooms, only to come back a few minutes later.

“If you do promise to come back with your master, take this and use it.”

He tossed me a single core. Looking down at the orb, it was crystal clear. It seemed nothing like any of the cores Kyle had farmed so far. I nodded my head yes to the Goat and tried to crush it, but it was slightly larger than my paw. I then tried to smash it between both paws, and heard a slight pop, and then the feeling of hundreds of threads being pulled down my arms.

Absorbed Clear Core

+ 19 Energy

“Thank you,” I said to the Elder.

Looking back down at my status screen, I clicked the little info icon next to the magic bag and another screen popped up with customization options for the container. There were tons of options for it. I chose to change it to a backpack with a belt option so it wouldn’t move around as much when I ran on all fours. I decided to change its color to an orange close to my fur for another 5 energy. Confirming, the bag on the counter morphed into the backpack and changed color in front of everyone.

Picking it up and putting my arms through the loops, I buckled the belt-like attachment around my waist. I jumped up a couple of times and felt it only move slightly.

“Thank you again, Elder Magnus and Shanon. Once my master can leave his current predicament, I’ll have him come to meet you. I’m sure he will like to start ranking up again, so this will be the next logical place for us to come.”

“It was a great pleasure, Bob. I look forward to learning more about you and your Earthling,” the Elder said.

I left The Guild and headed back towards the gates. Along the way, I felt eyes on my back. It was such an odd feeling of being watched. Turning my head, I spotted no less than ten different dogs or the heads of dogs peering at me from alleys or from under porches and carriages. Even as I stared back at them, they did not avert their gazes. I felt another odd sensation on the back of my neck, as if someone were pulling the hairs upon it.

Turning, I ran for the gates. Passing the left guard close to his legs, he let out a startled yelp. Glancing over my shoulder, I could see a couple of the dogs had started chasing me.

Great, even in this world, the dogs chase cats.

Dashing under the hedges to the side of the road from the gate, I made my way into the forest. I ran for a solid ten minutes, dodging the bright color butterflies and foxes with fire on their twin tails. I could no longer hear the dogs chasing me, so I slowed a bit. Coming to the palisade of the camp, I followed it to the open gate and entered. I could see the surprise written on Uglar’s face as I passed him.

“Never seen a cat with a backpack?” I asked as I passed him.

“Can’t say that I have,” Uglar chuckled.

I made it back into the cabin to find Kyle still asleep on the bed. Opening his magic bag, I removed the iron daggers and small pickaxe from his bag and placed them into my backpack. I then grabbed a bunch of his candy and a Lesser Healing Potion, just in case.

A minute later, I was back outside the camp. Removing the iron daggers, I started looking for creatures to kill. I planned to begin leveling while Kyle slept so we could get out of this prison faster. It didn’t take long to find the first brightly colored butterfly. It was fanning his wings on a low hanging branch. As quiet as I could, I made my way to the other side of the tree it was perched upon.

Now behind the tree’s trunk, I made my way around the side the butterfly’s back was facing. I now could see it clearly three feet above me. Ready to pounce, I started to jump towards it with an iron dagger in front of me. The next moment sparkles and a glitter-like substance surrounded me, coming from above.

I started coming too. How long I had been asleep, I’m unsure of. I noticed right away I couldn’t move much at all. Opening my eyes, I found the butterfly sitting on top of me. Fully awake now, I could see the butterfly sucking the blood from my body with its long needle-like tongue.

Fear was an emotion I’ve never felt before. Now fear flooded every part of my cat’s body. The real possibility of death was now close. Would Kyle hate me for killing both of us? Would he be angry? I didn’t like the feeling of what would happen.

“No!” I yelled.

There was a movement to my side. I couldn’t move my head to see what it was, but I then heard rustling come from multiple directions at once. Then the barking, oh god, the barking sent chills down my body. The dogs found me. I was going to get killed by the dogs, probably eaten too. Kyle is going to be so angry with me. Closing my eyes, I waited for the first bite.

I felt the butterfly get torn off me, It’s tongue pulling at my skin as it was removed from my chest. Moments later, the forest went silent. No bites came, no teeth sinking into my flesh. Opening my eyes, I found three dogs sitting on their hind legs, tongues hanging from their mouths. The smaller middle dog, a pug mixed with something else, began to speak.

“Hello, friend! Are you one of us? How did you become an adventurer? Can you help us become adventurers? Are you a friend of our people?”

The dog rattled off so many questions so fast. If I wasn’t an AI inside a cat’s body, I’m not sure If I would have caught everything he or she had just asked.

“Sorry, can’t move. Yes, I am a friend. What are you?” I asked.

The three dogs tilted their heads to the side.

“You are not one of us,” the large one on the right said.

“I doubt it, my friend. I’m a companion to a player.”

“A companion that speaks and has what I believe is a magic bag. Boss, maybe he can help save our friends,” the larger one to the right said.

“Yes, boss. He’s not a player. He may not trigger the wards,” the left one resembling lassie from the old tv show said.

“It’s possible. But, he couldn’t even take a Dream Leech. I doubt he will be able to handle anything inside the baron’s residence.” the pug said.

“Who are your friends, and what has happened to them? Who is this baron?” I asked.

“Our friends are like us. The baron is the man who runs this territory and is very secretive, no one knows his name or can get close to him.. He and his cronies have been in charge of Dustgrove for almost two generations now. He is holding someone very dear to us against her will, along with others of our kind. Our race is no longer among the players, so our deaths will be final. We need someone to sneak into the baron’s residence and rescue our people,” the pug said.

“I will speak with my companion. I’m sure he would help anyone in need.”

I was starting to get feeling back into my limbs, so I sat up. Now in a sitting position, I looked closer at the three in front of me. The pug looked like any other pug from Earth, but much larger and seemed to have steel cables for muscles under his short fur. The largest on the right looked nothing like any dog from Earth. He was more of what a sphynx should be with dog ears. The left one was a border collie straight out of the old tv show.

“I’m Bob. Who are you guys?’

“I’m Zan. This one to my left is Bennet, and the other is Genji,” the pug said.

“Hello to all of you. I’m willing to help your friends, but there is a large obstacle I need to overcome before I can be of assistance.”

“What is this obstacle of yours?”

“My companion is restrained to the prison camp close by.”

“What is his term? We have friends also serving sentences. They were caught trying to enter the baron’s residence.” said Zan.

“Three cycles, or 50 gold.”

The three hung their heads.

“That is a long time, Bob. I’m not sure if they will survive that long within the baron’s grasp.”

“I’m unsure then if my companion and I can help your friends. I need to level to 10 as fast as I can to help Flea mine enough to make the 50 gold.”

“We can help you level to 10. How many cores do you require?”

I did the math in my head in less than a femtosecond.

“2390 energy worth,” I said.

“We will gather the family and farm you the cores needed. Meet us again tomorrow outside your companion’s prison.”

“Thank you. That is most kind of you and your family.”

“If it can help you and your companion to help us rescue our leader, then it’s but a small price,” Zan said.

I parted ways with the three and headed back to the camp. My body was still sluggish from whatever the Dream Leech had done to me. I hopped onto Flea’s bed, curled around the end, and then laid down. In minutes I was able to close my eyes and go into standby.

***

Flea awoke to find Bob at the foot of the bed, with a smallish orange backpack. The gnome nudged Bob with his foot, awaking the cat.

“So, what did you do while I slept? And where did you get the backpack, steal it from some kid?”

Bob, finished waking up, sat upright, and gave Flea a large smile. The cat explained to Flea what had happened as he slept. He told of his promise to Elder Magnus and about the dogs plight with the baron.

“We can help them as soon as I’m able, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to take. Did they say anything about a time limit?”

“Negative, but they urged us to help sooner than later. They are also willing to help me level. The dogs also mentioned they had others who were in this camp as well, but I haven’t seen any dog types here besides Uglar.”

“Well, let me log out quickly, then we can go mine. We’ll see what they say once you reach level 10.”

Flea logged out briefly; Bob forced to follow as he did. Minutes later, the two started walking down into the mine. It was still midday, so they planned to mine for a full 32 hours before coming back out so Bob could meet with Zan and the others.