Chapter 24

We began to clean up our temporary camp near the exit of the stairwell. It felt good to eat and replenish ourselves, though I would be out of mana until we rested for the night. My thoughts drifted back to the beast that had attacked us and how it had one of those red stones. I began to wonder how, exactly, they were tracking me. The only way would be through the stone in my bracer. If that were the case, then whoever it is would have the ability to access my gem and thus my location. It would be no different than how we tag a target on the map screen, only, in this case, they can see where in the Dungeon I am and then manipulate things.

If it weren’t for the fact that every instance seemed an attempt to kill me, I would assume my abilities were being tested. With the Arachni Queen it was a much more difficult fight. However, except for the swarm of monsters that overwhelmed us on the fifth floor, each instance was nothing more than we could handle. Perhaps it’s an attempt to get me to lower my guard, but I can’t be certain. For now, all I can do is protect those I care about, and let Tyr know of these interactions.

I called for a raven and wrote a note detailing the fight we just had, as well as my assumptions about the fifth-floor misdirection and the fight with the umber hulk. Satisfied with everything I put down in the note, I sent the bird off on its travels while I focused on assisting with cleaning up our camp site. We were about two hours away from the nearest village, but with some adjustments, I was able to extend that time to four and a half hours. It would give us more orbs and ensured Cassandra and Katie were able to collect more ingredients. Cassandra decided to move to the rear of the party and Katie joined me up at the front. She was seeing less time fighting than she was spell casting, and I knew that her mana would be running a bit low.

“I am looking forward to fighting alongside you,” She said with an excited smile. “It’s one thing to spar against one another, it is quite another to fight side by side.”

I nodded in agreement. “Exactly. We will need to get used to fighting alongside one another in order to build a dynamic. I am sure that you have noticed that when Amenthia or Cassandra fights with me, we play off each other’s movements. It allows us to be more effective in dealing with the threats around us. I have started building the same with Enti, though she mostly provides long range support. I have also gotten a feel for Darius’s fighting style and will get some opportunities to work with him on that for the Champion’s Challenge. All that is left, is to work with you.”

Over the next four hours we made simple work of the mobs we came across and I was surprised at the natural rhythm that Katie had when we fought. Cassandra was a bit disappointed at the lack of ingredients this time around, but Katie had found an abundance of things to use for making potions. Happy with how the end of our day turned out, we dropped off our orbs, collecting roughly nineteen thousand gold and returned our equipment to the armory. A quick jaunt in the transit tubes had us home in a flash and we decided to pop in for the evening meal before heading upstairs.

We popped into the dining hall and collected our food, before grabbing a nearby table. As we were sitting down, the doors to the dining hall opened, and in walked Darius surrounded by those I would expect to be his usual party members. There were four of them, each engaging one another as they walked down the center of the room. To Darius’ immediate left was a tall female orc with an athletic build. She still had her armor on, which seemed to be plate mail that had a lot of wear and tear to it. She had a light green skin tone, probably a shade or two darker than Katie. At her side was a long sword with an ornate grip and cross guard.

To his immediate right was a stocky dwarf, covered in thick, hide armor. His beard was short and patchy, while his hair was braided behind him. The chestnut-colored queue fell to just above his shoulders while the beard was only an inch or two long. He was armed with two hammers hanging from either side of his belt and seemed to be in conversation with the person beside him. The target of his conversation was a human woman dressed in various loose, flowing robes. In her hand was a long, elegant staff with a ruby housed at the top. She had long, flowing blond hair down to mid back and kinda reminded me of Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, if she was a spell caster.

Beside her stood a cat like creature that reminded me of the Tabaxi from Dungeons and Dragons. She wore a simple, leather armor vest, and what seemed like leather shorts. They stopped at mid-thigh exposing her lean, digitigrade legs. Her arms were bare, with only her Pact House bracer on them. Her auburn fur was thin and seemed to cover all of her exposed body. Her eyes were hazel and large on her face, her ears were moving around, homing in on the various sources of sound around her. Her tail moved about freely behind her as they walked, always seeming to come close to touching a table or person before darting away. On her back was a Great sword not unlike the one that Cassandra used to use, before she got her new one.

“Ahh, there is the man I wanted to see,” Darius exclaimed as he neared our table. “We need to get some introductions out of the way,” he said casting glances at his friends, so let’s get some food and join them, eh?”

The group nodded and walked over to collect their meals before returning to our table. Thankfully, the tables are nice and long so we could space out a bit without feeling cramped. Cassandra remained across from us, but Katie moved to sit next to Amenthia. That had Darius and three of his friends with Cassandra, while the feline member of their group sat beside Entivala. After kissing Cassandra hello, he turned his focus onto me.

“So, as you all know, Pathios, here, accepted Tyr’s offer to participate in the Champion’s Challenge,” he said gesturing to me with his fork. “We were supposed to meet sooner, but that stunt in the Dungeon threw those plans off, so I figured now was as good a time as any to have everyone meet. So first, I will have Pathios introduce himself and his companions, then I will introduce you to him.”

Everyone nodded silently in agreement at his suggestion and then all eyes at the table fell upon me.

I took a deep breath and said, “Though I am sure you have heard of me, given the business with Jonta, the dragon and a bunch of other incidents, I will introduce myself. My name is Pathios Daxion. I have been doing my best to try and learn about what I have forgotten and be a valuable member of this Pact House. Amenthia, here, has been my guide since the beginning and has been instrumental in my current success. I don’t know where I would be without her and I am thankful each day for her support.

“Next is Entivala. She was added to our group during my final trial, in which I had to kill Trethraz. She has been a boon to our group and has made us all the more effective in dealing with threats in the Dungeon. I am sure Darius has told you all about Cassandra, so I will finish with Kat’ilth’ana. She is an old friend of Entivala and was led astray by Torvius’ family. She attempted to kill both Amenthia and myself, while kidnapping Entivala to return her home. She was caught and is bound to me until Tyr believes her punishment is concluded. Since then, she has been made aware of the lies she had been told and is working with us instead of against us.”

There were a few moments of silence from the newcomers as they shared glances and processed what was said. The feline woman next to Entivala decided to speak first.

“Hello there, I am Ilthvana,” she said in a soft, accented voice. “I am a Corthal from the southern kingdom or Rashan. I have been here for a year or two and was lucky to meet this group of people when I joined. While I can’t speak for the group, I am happy to know that Jonta will not be participating. He was a slimy thing, always trying to convince women to do things either by words or by force. That said, you also have an air of imminent danger around you, which worries me. We have heard of some of the close calls this group has put up with, and I wonder if the same danger would befall us?”

“I am Dilbar Stoneshaw,” announced the proud dwarf, though he sounded Slavic instead of the Scottish accent many in my world would assume him to have. “I have been fortunate to work with these fine people for most of my time here, and I had no love for Jonta either, but I don’t know you. I have seen the good you have done, the dangers you have faced, but I don’t know who you are as a person. I can’t trust those I don’t know, so until that is done, I won’t be comfortable with you working with us.”

The female orc leaned towards me, “I am Grishta. I have seen you in the training room, often teaching these ladies various moves I have never seen before. The moves are as if you are dancing while you fight, and I can see the devastation they could do if used against an opponent. You watch my back, and I will watch yours. The rest of it doesn’t matter to me but fuck us over and no amount of fancy moves will save you!”

“I am Silvia Balkholm,” the woman in the robes announced. “I have known Darius since before we joined, and we were lucky to both end up in the same House. We have worked together to grow as adventurers ever since. We took great pride in our ability to level and take care of any challenges that got in our way. Then you came and put everything we had done to shame. Darius has been astounded by your tactics and cunning, but I only believe it is blind luck. I am not fully convinced that you will be an asset to us without your women to protect you.”

I nodded, “All fair points and I will answer them all right now, if you like. First is Ilthvana. Yes, there seems to be a hidden threat that is following me around, but to be honest, it has been going on since before I joined the Pact House. I was simply the one that brought it to light. As for Dilbar’s statement, you have every right not to trust me, as trust must be earned. Just don’t let that lack of trust blind you to the possibilities my participation will bring. I expect you to be on edge until you are certain I am not a threat, and I plan to do the same.

“Grishta, if you ever want to join us and learn, just come on over. You seemed familiar but I couldn’t place it until you said you saw us in the training room. As for your assumption that you could take me in a fight, there is only one way to know now, isn’t there? And finally, Silvia. You need to get used to being overshadowed by someone. One simple rule is it doesn’t matter how great you are; at some point someone better will come along. I know I am not the greatest, since I am sure there are individuals that could probably put my abilities to shame. If any of you are uncertain of my abilities, why don’t we meet in the training room tomorrow and I can demonstrate my skills?”

Silvia turned red and I could see my words had upset and frustrated her. Dilbar and Ilthvana seemed mildly curious, while Grishta looked to be salivating at the idea. I glanced over at Darius and saw a smirk on his face. I guess he expected this to happen and was amused by it, though Cassandra, Amenthia and Entivala were staring daggers at the blond. Even Katie looked to be slightly pissed off at her comments.

“We will see,” she snapped back at me. “I will not subject myself to being around you any longer.”

Silvia abruptly stood up and began walking away, before stopping and looking back at the table. I guess she expected everyone to side with her and leave the table as well, but instead, they were engaging us in conversation. She stomped away and even managed to slam the dining hall door while she was leaving.

“Sorry about that,” Darius said with a sigh and shake of his head. “She is like I was when we first met. She was used to being part of the most successful party to hit the Dungeon in the last fifty years. Mind you, that is specific to this Pact House, but it still is a thing to those in the Pact House. Your party has taken that mantle; you also took Jonta’s mantle of top ranked adventurer. You are netting more prestige and gold than anyone in the house, though I know why.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I am getting used to it. The problem is that whenever a person is good at something, there are always those who are jealous or envious. Those people lash out in subtle or even extreme ways to try to steal or obtain what makes that person successful. It will always happen and only get worse the more successful we become. The choice is to either ignore it and push forward or retreat, and I have no intention of retreating.”

We talked for a little while longer and then said our goodnights to all of them. I told Darius to bring the others just after the morning meal. With our plans set, we returned to our room and entered to find it undisturbed. We checked on the egg and, other than feeling warm, we had no other indicators as to if it were okay and when it would hatch. Katie got right to work on her potion brewing and told us not to worry if we wished to do anything. We settled for gentle love making instead of anything wild and I enjoyed the feeling of my ladies in my arms as I drifted off to sleep.

My sleep was dreamless, which rarely surprised me anymore. When I woke, I was alone in the room and a quick check of the map showed they were showering at the moment. I stretched and began to gather my things when I heard a noise behind me. I turned to look and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I returned to getting the last of my clothing when I heard more motion and then a thud. I turned to see the egg was no longer on the table. I dashed around the bed to see it rolling around. The surface was swelling from the inside for a moment then disappearing and becoming smooth once more. Cracks began to form on its surface, and I glanced at my map, hoping the others would be back in time.

A loud cracking sound pulled my focus away and I looked to see part of the shell was beginning to push away from the rest. Unsure of what to do, I rushed over and helped peel away the top. I was shocked to find not one, but two baby dragons pushing their way out of the egg. I pulled along the sides of the egg and the shell split in half, helping them to emerge. They were each about the size of a cat, with silvery white scales along the hide and darker grey scales along the tummy. There were no horns or spikes on their bodies, at the moment, but I was sure that in time they would emerge as the dragons grew. It was then I noticed a pair of blue and of green eyes staring at me. There was an intelligence I didn’t expect there, and I wondered how the two would regard me.