“Who said that!”

I drew Veritas and spun around, trying to look in all directions at once.

“Show yourself! How long have you been spying on me?”

My! You’re quite high-strung, aren’t you? If you stop jumping all over the place and swinging me around, we could have a reasonable conversation.

Swinging me around?

I looked down at the sword in my hand. Sunlight glimmered brightly off its blade as if it had just been sharpened and polished. Tentatively, I spoke.

“Veritas?”

Indeed. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.

The voice was distinctly feminine. Well, my benefactor had called the sword “she.”

You may sheathe me if you wish. I do not believe there is danger nearby. However, if you would like to continue our chat, you’ll need to keep your hand on my hilt.

Gingerly, I sheathed Veritas but did not remove my hand.

“So...you can talk.”

Good-natured laughter echoed in my mind. I realized that Veritas had not been speaking out loud. It was not my ears that received her communications.

Yes, I can talk. In a manner of speaking. I am sentient and can give you more aid than simply cutting your foes to pieces. I have certain abilities that may come in handy as we travel, and I can give you advice. I think you will be in need of it since you seem to know so little of the world around us.

Stunned at this sudden revelation, I focused on Veritas and attempted to use Identify on her.

Veritas

Legendary

Weapon - Type conforms to the bearer.

10-15 damage. Scales with bearer.

Abilities:

???

The lettering for these words were golden. It made me realize that the description for every other item I had Identify’d had been gray except for the Bag of Holding. That had been blue. The color seemed to denote some kind of meaning.

I deduced that gold was good.

“I see you have some kind of abilities? Why can’t I see them?

Well, a girl’s gotta have some secrets.

“What does it mean that you ‘conform to the bearer’s needs’?”

It means I’m versatile.

Suddenly, I felt the shape of the sword and the scabbard change. It lengthened until the tip was dragging on the ground, and it weighed roughly three times what it had before. Veritas was was now a greatsword.

Do you prefer this?

I examined my arms. Though wiry, I did not exactly have mighty thews.

“Ah, I think longsword makes more sense for now!”

I thought you might feel that way. If you ever feel the desire to try something different, just let me know.

Veritas shrank to a curved short sword then thinned to a rapier and finally back to a regular longsword. No matter which shape she took, she was beautiful and obviously deadly.

“And your description says that your damage ‘scales with bearer’? What does that mean?

Her voice expressed a definite smug satisfaction.

I’m considerably more powerful than any normal weapon. However, your ability to wield that power is limited by your skill and level. As you get stronger and more skilled, you will be able to handle more and more of what I can give.”

Intrigued, I asked, “How powerful can you get?”

From where you are currently? Let’s just say, you have a lot of room to grow.

That was fair. After seeing the events at Spiral Castle, I could hardly argue with that assessment. Veritas’s voice in my head became brisk.

Paol, might I make a suggestion?

“Of course. I would be grateful.”

You need to become stronger. Killing an orc--

“Three orcs,” I corrected her proudly.

Very well. Three orcs, she said dryly, will not be enough. If you are to survive, you need to develop and grow.

I agreed, “But how?”

I have the ability to sense hidden things. There is a place nearby that might be able to help you, if you are brave and determined.

“O-kay. Don’t keep me in suspense. What is this place?”

Do you know what a Dungeon is?

“No.”

Dungeons are...locations that give people the opportunity to fight, strive, and triumph. In exchange, the challengers gain experience and are granted money and items--treasure. Dungeons are usually underground, though that is not always the case.

“What’s the catch?”

I said you have to fight. There will be monsters and traps in the dungeon. Sometimes puzzles. All of these must be defeated as you traverse the dungeon. Experience and treasure are not free, and you will risk death to gain them.

I gulped. “Is this really necessary? Maybe I could just kill a bunch of animals on the way to Paravel. That should help me level up, right?”

Yes, that is true, but your gains will be small. When we arrive in Paravel, you will still be quite weak. The Dungeon will make you strong, if you can survive it.

“And what happens if I die?”

Do you know your spawn point?

“My what?”

The place you will spawn--resurrect--if you are killed.

“Uh, yes. A prison cell in Spiral Castle. But wait! Spiral Castle is destroyed! What happens if I die? Am I going to appear twenty feet under the ground in the middle of rubble and rock?”

I shuddered at the thought.

No. Respawning is always in a location that can actually receive a person. I’m not certain what would happen if you died right now. I think you would either respawn on top of the ruins of Spiral Castle or else a new spawn point would be randomly chosen for you.

“I see. If I came back on Spiral Castle’s ruins it wouldn’t be so bad, unless there are unfriendly survivors.”

There is always the chance that more troops have arrived. The occupying force that you saw was small and meant to scout and prepare the castle for the troops coming after. The smoke from the destruction of the castle was visible for miles. I would not be surprised if a larger company of orcs is picking through what remains of the castle even now, trying to figure out what happened.

“That doesn’t sound like a good option.”

No, it does not. Moreover, possibility number two is so random that it would be unwise to trust it. You might spawn in the hot springs of Balor Bator, surrounded by nubile young women enjoying their rest after a hard day’s work. Conversely, you could resurrect in another prison cell hundreds of miles away, surrounded by undead that are ruled by the Lich King Andromedas, an awful being with a taste for torture.

“Right. Torture. Not my idea of a good time.”

I freely admit that there is no guarantee of success when challenging a Dungeon, but if you survive, you will be considerably stronger and in a much better position to achieve your goals.

My goals? Did I have any goals?

With my help, I believe it unlikely that you will come to an ignominious end in the dungeon. And though there is risk in attempting the dungeon, there is also risk in remaining weak as you travel to Paravel. I believe your respawn point is likely to still be at Spiral Castle, from which we are only a day’s travel. If the dungeon proves to be too much for you and you are transported back to Spiral Castle in the next day or so, there is a chance that no one will be there yet and you will only have lost a day's travel. However, if you remain on your current, more conservative course, then if you should be killed days from now--while still weak--and return to Spiral Castle, you will have lost many days of travel. The likelihood that the ruins of the castle are occupied will also be higher.

Veritas clearly knew a lot more about the world than I did, and her reasoning was sound. She was urging me to get stronger, and after my experiences over the past day, that made a lot of sense to me. Besides, I couldn’t help but trust the warm, friendly voice in my head. Hopefully, that voice was real and not a sign of incipient madness on my part.

I took a deep breath. “All right, where is this Dungeon that you sense?”

Go west but angle north. As we get closer to the entrance, I will be able to give you more precise directions.