Where the Predators Prowl [Ch 76, 77]

76. The Fox of Mass Distraction

Nessy’s body twitched in Adelle’s arm and then Candace shuddered, one eye losing its tint as the husky’s own sky-blues snapped open.

“That was fun!” Nessy licked Adelle and then slid out of the cheetah’s arms.

Candace murmured something and leapt over the railing, somehow slowly gliding through the air until she landed on my shoulders.

“Aleeeeec, carry me,” she ordered, sitting down.

“Um, okay,” I said as she wrapped her legs around my neck. She seemed practically weightless. “Isn’t it hard to unbind physical things?” I asked her. “How did you just make yourself weightless?”

“It works by conceptual understanding,” she explained. “I understand myself well enough to modify my conceptual state easily. For example, if I wanted to unbind the weight of that tharr dragon,” she pointed at an emerald critter sitting on a rooftop like a fluffy cat. “It would be much more difficult because I don’t know this dragon personally at all. The more I scan something with Astral Sight, the better I become at using my skill on it.”

“I see,” I said. “Could you bind your skill to me? Make me into a Binder?”

“Nu. You’re really hard to scan,” Candace said. “Your soul doesn't have an end to it.”

“What about reducing my weight in general?”

“Same issue,” she shrugged, wiggling on my shoulders, feet swinging on my chest. “Your body is hard to scan. You've got an infinite number of potential cells behind every cell. Binding or charming you is a pain in the ass.”

“Could you bind my skill to yourself then?”

“Only conceptually,” she replied. “Which means I'd be conceptually liminal-ish for a few minutes, but not physically immortal like you. Hrmmmm. This gives me a juicy idea.”

“Which is?”

“Oh you'll see,” she purred, kneading my head.

. . .

For lunch, we headed to a tourist-filled sushi cafe called "The Drowned Tower." The place featured floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Eerie, its interior filled with salvaged items from Old Denver. Battered street signs, fragments of marble counters, a rusted bank vault door repurposed as decor, etc. All of the repurposed decor was slightly warped by heat, chewed up and covered in colorful barnacles.

Lunch passed in a blur feeding each other delicious sushi and general conversation. Candace kept stealing food from everyone's plates while maintaining eye contact as if challenging us to stop her. Kristi complained about her dress whenever someone looked at her, yet preened whenever she caught me staring. Adelle focused on the food, occasionally grunting in agreement or disagreement to whatever was being discussed. Nessy was being a cute doggo, swatting me with her tail and spending every moment pawing, licking or sniffing me.

Afterwards, we headed to "Pocket Dimensions," a shop specializing in extradimensional storage solutions. The proprietor, a portly panda with spectacles perched on his snout, guided us through rows of bags, backpacks, and pouches.

"For a delving pack, I recommend our Delver's Delight 2020 series," he said, pulling down matching black bags with silver buckles. "Triple-reinforced dimensional celesteel rings, water-resistant, spell-resistant, and they come with anti-theft runes."

Candace paid for the extradimensional bags for everyone.

"Dragon's Hoard Armory" occupied a converted church, its stained glass windows depicting dragons in various heroic poses. Inside, a multitude of armor and weapons lined the walls from swords, to axes to magitek guns, and stranger implements I couldn't identify.

A grizzled wolf pradavarian approached us, his gray fur streaked with white. "Delvers, eh? What're you hunting?"

"Highway Sixty-Nine," Candace replied.

The wolf's expression slid from professional interest to barely concealed concern. "The Infinite Highway? You're either brave or have a death wish."

"Bit of both," Candace laughed. “Do you have something that can cut concepts apart?”

“We do carry concept-damaging weapons,” the wolf said. “But nothing that would permanently slice ideas or Astral beasts. If you really want to beat that highway… you’d need a legendary weapon like the Sword of Everglade.”

“Which we can find where?” I asked.

“The Sword of Everglade was lost in 1988 in the depths of Denver,” the salesman said. “Delver Knight Everglade Ishtitch attempted to shear the heart of Denver after it rose from atomic hellfire, but was himself slain by the Lawyers. His two-dimensional, idea-killing sword that could literally cut anything vanished underwater along with his entire pack. Denver was engulfed by lake Eerie in a week after their demise, its depths now impossible to scout as it is populated by the Colossus Dreadmaw’s children that constantly nip at the foundations of the dungeon.”

“How did the Layers even bring someone down who could cut anything?” I asked. “How do they attack?”

The salesman leaned against a glass case containing celesteel daggers. "Lawyers don't attack directly. They sue you."

"So, like, did they take Everglade to court?”

"Exactly," he nodded grimly. "One minute you're delving, the next you're served papers. The summons itself is a trap. Touch the paperwork, and you're bound to appear to the nearest court controlled by the dungeon. Miss your court date, and judgment is rendered against you by default."

"Which does what?" I asked.

"They foreclose on your existence," the salesman said flatly. "They own you, take your body, your soul, everything. Once someone is owned, they become new Layers."

“So did Everglade become a lawyer?” I wondered.

“Yes. Back then Denver was at its full power. He and his team were basically flooded with Lawyers from all sides and served lawsuit after lawsuit as he sliced them and nearest buildings to shreds,” the wolf said.

“The lawsuits bind themselves to ya like Astral shackles,” Candace added. “They create a conceptual weight of sorts on your soul. This weight creates binding loops which tear the body from the soul, trying to drag it to separate courts in different locations.”

“Everglade was able to bring down about seventy skyscrapers before he fell,” the wolf nodded.

“The lawsuits accumulated and his soul tore into a hundred pieces, departing from his body,” Candace said. “In 1988 Denver was still a new thing and the Lawyers were good at hiding what they were in the Astral. Nobody had personal Astral anti-lawsuit shields back then.”

"Yep. We offer tourists a variety of Conceptual shields nowadays," the wolf agreed, pointing to a wall of small colorful shields, bracelets and necklaces. "These block you from being bound in the Astral by Denver."

I walked to the wall to look at the shields. Many of them appeared to be woven from dragonscales, others had etchings of dragons in them.

“The dragonscale ones work really well within twenty clicks of Cascade then they slowly begin to decay,” the salesman explained. “The others are imbued with Astral dragons that nip the lawsuits off you. They will work anywhere on the continent as long as you insert crystal mana into the fuel container. The mana gauge here lets you know when you need to add more crystals to the artifact.” He pointed out.

We spent another hour selecting weapons and shields. Kristi chose a massive celesteel hammer with rune-etched edges with art of dragons that could damage conceptual bindings and dragonscale-packed, shape-adjusting bullets for her grandfather's Decimator. Nessy got herself a microphone with dragon-etched shoulder pad speakers that would amplify her musical ability to disrupt concepts. Adelle selected heavy-duty gauntlets with dragon flames and teeth etched into them. Candace got herself a harpoon gun that extended the range of her Binding powers to whatever the wire-connected arrow struck.

For me, Candace acquired a concept-damaging celesteel knife and a handgun with dragonscale bullets. 

"I can't believe we spent twenty thousand on weapons," Nessy said, glancing at the casual way Candace had handed over her card.

"Totes worth tho. Being broke is for poor people." Candace replied.

"That makes no sense," Kristi muttered, tugging at her revealing dress.

"Stop fidgeting," Candace rolled her eyes at Kristi. "Nobody's looking at you."

"Everyone's looking at me," Kristi hissed back.

"Nu-huh. They're looking at me," Candace corrected, striking a pose. "I'm mega-fabulous."

“You’re mega-annoying is what you are,” Kristi huffed.

“You’re just salty ‘cus you lost to a fab-fox,’ Candace grinned. “Try harder next time!”

Kristi opened her mouth to retort, but her phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen and frowned. Candace flitted around the raptor and also glanced at her screen.

“Yo dad sounds mad,” she said.

“Yeah, no shit,” the raptor girl tried to grab the fox, but failed to do so.

"You should tell him you're out with your awesome pack, wearing almost nothing," Candace suggested from Kristi’s other side.

“Damn it, how do you keep escaping me?” Kristi snapped, her claws nearly catching the elusive fox.

“I’m getting better at reading your swings in the Astral,” Candace grinned. “You’re very fast but you’re also too predictable, too obvious.

“Candace, leave Kristi be,” I said.

“Why? I'm not bullying her,” the fox bobbed, “I'm helping her learn through playful nipping! She gotta learn to stop telegraphing her moves. Anyone with a Foresight skill can basically smack her around way too easily.”

The raptor sighed, seemingly not arguing with the fox.

Nessy trotted beside them, blue sundress fluttering in the wind. “C’mon, Kristi! Let’s go flying! The storm’s rolling in, it’s the perfect time for urbexing! We’ve got a few hours to kill before dinner with my fam.”

Kristi glanced at me.

“Don’t worry,” Nessy said. “We got plenty of lawsuit shields and we won’t go in too deep. Also, I very much doubt that an Astral lawsuit would be able to stick to Alec’s liminal soul.”

“Ye,” Candace added. “You need to let out some steam before you explode. Punching Denver is a good time. I got us beer!”

“Woo!” Addie fist pumped. “Alcohol n’ breaking shit.”

“Fine.” The raptor girl gave into the combined encouraging assault of the trio.

. . .

The Nemesis took off from the Cascade pier, its shields humming in front of my face, keeping me from swallowing dragon-bugs. Bigger dragons chittering in annoyance scattered out of our way as Kristi punched the Glider towards Denver, her body pressed against me from behind. Her chest felt warm and soft against my back as she was still stubbornly wearing the diamond dust dress. Neither of the girls put on any armor, wearing dragon scale bracelets, as the Lawyers of Denver didn't use physical attacks.

We soared over the black sand beach, then out across the choppy waters of Lake Eerie. The ruins of Denver loomed ahead, getting bigger with each passing minute.

"Which one?" Kristi called over her shoulder.

"That one! Land at the top!" Nessy pointed to a relatively intact skyscraper closer to shore. Its top forty floors rose above the water, windows shattered, every wall crack and exposed beam covered in barnacle growths and dragon nests.

Kristi banked the Nemesis glider around and above the building, blessing me with a lovely view of our delving destination. The skyscraper's crown and a section of the top floor had collapsed inward, creating a massive cerulean pool catching the sky's reflection. A thick ring of sand had accumulated over decades of storms, winds, and nesting dragons around the pool.

Over the decades, nature had reclaimed the skyscraper’s roof. Lush birch trees sprouted from the sandy rim. Flowers bloomed in patches of vivid purple, scarlet, and yellow.

Dozens of dragons perched along the building's edge or fluttered around the miniature ecosystem. Tiny ones no bigger than hummingbirds and bees darted between flowers, while cat-sized specimens lounged on branches. A cluster of larger dragons, each roughly the size of a dog, dove into or bathed in the rooftop lake, sending ripples across its crystal surface, emerging with little goldfish in their claws and mouths.

Through the lake's clear waters, I spotted the remnants of office spaces, desks, and filing cabinets now serving as underwater shelves for aquatic plants and flocks of goldfish.

Kristi brought the glider down on a flat section of the rooftop sandbar. As I disembarked, the sand crunched pleasantly under my feet.

“Damn,” I let out. “I can see why this place is a tourist trap.”

“Yeppers. The dragons grind at the building, reducing its dungeon-y nature,” Candace commented, climbing out of the bag. "S’ their little paradise, a fuck-you to Denver and everything ‘dat it stands for."

77. Legally Unhinged

Adelle sniffed the air. "Anything dangerous here?"

"Only if you've got legal tendencies," Candace winked. "The deeper, sealed up parts of these buildings can still hold pockets of Denver's influence, but they’re few and weak."

Beyond our skyscraper, the vast expanse of Lake Eerie stretched to the horizon, its surface glittering under the afternoon sun. The scattered ruins of Denver jutted from the water at irregular intervals, some as merely broken stumps, others as towering, but worn mega-structures still reaching for the sky.

Nessy’s hand entwined with mine as we stared at the surreal landscape ahead. The storm finally reached us, thunder rumbling overhead. Pitter-patter of soft rain broke out across the surface of lake Eerie and then rushed over the smaller rooftop lake with a thousand ripples.

"Shall we head inside?" I asked, eyeing a doorway leading down into the building's interior.

“Let's!” Candace declared.

We approached the doorway leading downward, Adelle taking point with her claws extended. The stairwell beyond was dimly lit by patches of bioluminescent moss growing along the walls.

“Does Denver not have a dungeon core?” I wondered as we descended. “Why is it so different from other dungeons?”

“Nope,” Nessy said. “It’s kind of like mold.”

“It’s more of an interdimensional infestation than a dungeon,” Candace explained. “Most Systemfall Dungeons like Highway Sixty-Nine grow inward as they consume delvers. Denver grows outward, skyscrapers blooming from a network of underground pipes as it turns people into Lawyers. It’s a Syntropic infestation, violating causality, opposing entropy, operating outside of the parameters of our reality, getting all this power to expand endlessly from elsewhere.”

We reached what once had been an office space. Water stains marked the ceiling and walls. Remnants of shredded, rotting paperwork lay scattered across the floor, yellowed with age. Desks stood in somewhat orderly rows, many still holding ancient computer monitors and office supplies covered in moss and barnacles.

“Hows come there’s so many barnacles?” I wondered. “This floor is way above the water.”

“The skyscrapers slowly grow upwards from the lake like corals,” Candace said. “This part was deep underwater at one point.”

Nessy crouched down, examining a photo frame on a desk. She wiped dust from the glass, revealing a picture of a smiling family. Candace grabbed the picture frame from the husky, intently staring at the 80s photo of pradavarians with bright eyes and warm smiles.

"Can you imagine working here?" Nessy walked to a window, gazing out at the watery expanse. "Going to your office job each day, not knowing you're inside a monster?"

“Didn’t this building grow from the lake?” I asked. “Who even worked here?”

“It did,” Candace said, picking up a barnacle-covered stapler to show me the faded Pawco 88 logo on the back. “But it’s also an exact copy of what Denver used to be in 1988. Its Syntropic nature doesn’t allow it to shift too much from that hardwired initial concept, a savestate of sorts.”

Candace moved along the office pawing at everything in sight, eyes flickering silver.

"Stop touching stuff," Kristi growled. "Everything here could be conceptually contaminated."

“Naw,” Candace said. “Denver spreads via Lawyer-held lawsuits, not via touching.” 

She hopped on a desk, pawing at a barnacle-covered monitor and then pulled out a case of beers from n “Dig in!”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Adelle grabbed a beer and chugged it.

“Does anyone else want one?” Candace cracked open a beer, slowly sipping it.

“No,” Kristi said. “Don’t want to be drunk in case we get hostiles.”

“I don’t know what you’re expecting. There’s no hostiles here,” Candace said. “Lawyers don’t hostile anyone physically. They’re wussies.”

“Don’t care,” the raptor huffed.

“Ness?” The fox offered a beer to the husky.

“Nah,” Nessy shook her head. “It’d mess with my sniffing. I want to enjoy my date with Alec in as much sensory detail as possible.”

“Ya all are such squares,” Adelle chugged another beer, crushing it on her forehead. “I’ma go smash some stuff.” She declared and immediately went to obliterate a few flickering monitors, sending sparks and plastic bits flying as she laughed.

A small, crimson dragon fluttered in through a broken window, landing on a desk near me. It tilted its head curiously, sniffing the air.

"Hi there," Nessy cooed, approaching slowly. She held out her paw. The dragon sniffed it cautiously before rubbing its head against her fingers. "Aww, what a cutie!"

The dragon relocated to her shoulder, rubbing its face against hers.

“Let’s go lower,” Candace said after a few minutes of watching Addie smash computer desks. “I think I scanned enough stuff here.” The fox vanished the beer case into her dimensional bag and jumped off the desk.

She led the way through a shattered glass door into what had once been an executive office. Furniture lay scattered and broken, covered in a thin film of dried salt. Algae bloomed on the walls, and small crabs scuttled across the floor.

We went down the stairwell and into another floor.

One of the computer desks had computers growing out of it, merging with the wall and going up like mushrooms, monitor screens flickering with dim excel sheets.

“Heh,” I smiled. “A monitor Bloom. Reminds me of waking up in the nameless city and meeting you.”

“Yeah,” Nessy’s paw squeezed my hand. “We should visit Calvin.”

“Say what?” I blinked at her.

“He might still be out there, manning the Mini-Mart,” Nessy said. “In a doomed world without pradavarians. Bet he'd love to meet all of us.”

“How would we even find our way there?” I asked.

“We’d have to find a place with a really thin physical framework and draw a door,” Candace said. “We’d need some extra-Syntropic chalk though. We should make some.”

“What?” Kristi’s head snapped to the fox. “You want to cross dimensions?”

“What?” The fox asked. “It’s good practice. Plus having gate-chalk is handy for escaping tight situations. Don’t you want to see the Systemfall-devoured ruins of a world where Prads don’t exist?”

“Not particularly,” the raptor said. 

“Die!” Adelle yelled, pulverising the monitor bloom with her fists. “Aha ha ha ha! That one was actually worth some XP!”

Kristi rolled her eyes at the demolition-girl cheetah.

After the fox pawed everything within reach and the cheetah demolished anything that was glowing we continued down the stairwell.

Our footsteps echoed in the damp concrete passage as water dripped from cracks in the ceiling, forming small puddles on the steps.

"Stick close," Kristi ordered, her tail swishing behind her as she descended. "This area might not be structurally sound."

Adelle grunted, bringing up the rear. "Smells funky."

“Don’t worry so much,” Candace said. “Denver is waaaay sturdier than other places. The extra-syntropic walls don’t allow the building interiors to decay that much.”

The next floor down was partially submerged, water lapping at the doorway. We entered into the slightly submerged office, light rays from broken windows cutting across the water. The storm outside had passed, sheets of rain slicing across the waves.

“Weee,” Nessy splashed happily through the flooded office space, pausing to examine waterlogged paperwork and barnacle-covered desk knick knacks. The crimson dragon remained perched on her shoulder, occasionally nipping at her ear.

"Great," Kristi muttered, following the husky with a wary look. "Now I'm wet too."

"That's what she said," Candace snickered. “Unbind weight.”

She floated up onto my shoulders. “Onwards, my steed.”

“We’re not gonna get electrocuted, right?” I eyed the water.

“Nah,” Nessy said. “This area of Denver is pretty safe. The building treats everyone that comes in as ‘potential clients’ to try to bind em’ with a contract or two. I’ve been here often with… my friends. Breaking stuff and murdering concealed Lawyers is really easy XP.”

I trudged into the water. It was warm, like a pool in the summer.

"Aww. You're so adorable," Nessy cooed at her shoulder dragon. "I shall name you Sparkles!"

"Sparkles?" Kristi asked, clawed hands gripping her rapier.

"Because her scales sparkle," Nessy clarified, stroking the dragon's head with one finger. "See?"

"Hey," Candace called, pointing to a door marked 'LEGAL DEPARTMENT' at the far end of the room. "Wanna see if there's anything fun in there?"

"No," Kristi said firmly.

"Yes," Candace replied. “Ads, can you plow through that door?”

“Can do,” the cheetah replied. She walked across the water and casually punched the door, making it detonate inward.

Blue-tinted lighting flickered from overhead as we entered the previously sealed office. I noted that along with the functional lighting, this office had intact windows and closed blinds.

"Ah," a slightly dry voice came from within. "Visitors. How may D&D&D Co be of service?"

I saw that the Lawyer wore a gray suit. Barnacles clung to his shoulders and back, forming uneven patterns. His glasses reflected the overhead light oddly, hiding his eyes. 

The dragon took off from Nessy’s shoulder with a screech.

The man sitting behind a rotting desk yelped. 

“Pesky beast!” The Lawyer swatted at the dragon, ducking down. “Be gone!”

The dragon spun and opened its maw. A stream of brilliant fire flared across the office, igniting piles of paperwork on the Lawyer’s desk.

“No! My subpoenas!” The Lawyer cried out. “I’ll sue you!” 

He chased after the dragon, unsuccessfully trying to bring down the flying critter as it darted across the office, igniting shelves and drawers full of paperwork.

“See?” Candace elbowed me. “Completely harmless.”

“You!” The Lawyer gave up on chasing after the dragon. “You’ve brought this pest into my office! I’ll…”

“Sue us?” Candace grinned, the harpoon glinting in her hand. “Not if I sue you first!”

She pressed the trigger and the magisteel arrow whooshed across the air, pinning the lawyer to the wall.

The conceptual dungeon Sentinel cried out, flapping weakly on the wall like a pinned butterfly.

Candace leapt off me, landing in the Lawyer’s now empty chair, sending ashes and sparks flying from the remnants of the burning paperwork. She spun in the chair and faced the Lawyer.

“Bind Self to Law Firm,” she grabbed the handles of the chair. 

The pinned lawyer stared at the fox girl, hollow, sunken gray eyes now visible under his glasses.

We trudged closer to the fox, weapons pointed at the Lawyer.

“Sup Denver?” Candace asked.

“What do you want, fox?” The Lawyer angrily hissed.

"I, Candace Ian Rhinehart, a Lawyer of D&D&D Co hereby file a class action lawsuit against Denver Incorporated, D&D&D Co, and all affiliated entities for emotional damages, ecological terrorism, and being a general nuisance to reality."

The lawyer's mouth opened in a perfect 'O' of surprise.

"You can't—"

"I submit as evidence," Candace continued, slapping her paw on the charred desk, "Exhibit A: The illegal expansion of your corporate entity without proper environmental permits, resulting in the deaths of approximately 2.7 million residents of human and pradavarian heritage."

“W-huh?” The Lawyer sputtered. “You…”

“What?” Candace grinned, paperwork manifesting in her hand out of nowhere. “Did nobody ever try to sue you as your own Lawyer, my dude?”

She walked over to the Lawyer across the water, rolled up the paperwork into a tube and smacked the Lawyer’s face with it.

"This is preposterous," the lawyer choked. “You can’t sue me!”

“Sure can,” Candace grinned.

The Lawyer’s pale eyes went wide with horror as he saw something we didn’t.

“You see the court date, yes?” Candace swatted his face again with the rolled up legal paper. "I demand punitive damages… of one hundred trillion dollars," she declared.

“What? No!” The Lawyer choked. “You… we don’t have any finances! The damned Omnids drowned us, terminated all of our accounts!”

“How unfortunate,” Candace shrugged, swatting the Lawyer again. “Why don’t we make it payable in the form of information to start things off smoothly. Specifically: the exact location of Everglade's sword."

The Lawyer twitched. Candace raised the newspaper again. 

"OBJECTION!" the Lawyer screeched, trying and failing to get off the harpoon’s arrow. "LACK OF STANDING!"

"Overruled," Candace said. “I’m a Lawyer of Denver. A Conceptually Legally bound entity. The Sword of Everglade, my dude. Where is it?"

"ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE!" the creature shrieked.

“Krist, Ads,” Candace turned to the prad girls. “Let some air in here, will you?”

Adelle walked over to the nearest window, tore the blinds off and obliterated the one-way mirror glass with a punch. 

The little dragon fluttered out of the burning office, screeching wildly. More dragons responded from the outside, flashing into existence with fiery pops of dimensional teleportation.

Kristi smashed another window with her hammer, letting in more sunlight.

“Unbind Lawyer 53-03-19 from Lawyernet,” Candace smacked the Lawyer again with the paper.

“No, no, no… they’ll burn me alive!” The Lawyer cried out as more dragons appeared outside, fluttering into the office. “You can’t cut me off! I won’t get saved properly, won’t be brought back!”

Adelle and Kristi demolished more windows. Nessy stood by my side with a judging look of a very annoyed husky.

Dragons fluttered into the office, big and small. The Lawyer’s eyes drowned in panic.

“The sword,” Candace barked. “Tell me where it is!”

“Reconnect me! Reconnect me and I’ll tell you!” The Lawyer cried out as a watermelon-sized dragon set his head on fire with a flash.

“Rebind to Lawyernet,” Candace smacked the Lawyer again.

"The sub-basement! Floor minus sixty six," the lawyer blurted, his eyes filling with tears. "Western tower on Logan and E 12th Avenue, Vault B-713! But it’s deep underwater and—"

“The safe’s password,” Candace barked.

“444-444-126!” The lawyer cried.

"Thanks!" Candace chirped. "Aight, toodles!”

She jumped away from the dungeon Sentinel.

The Lawyer screamed as a hundred dragons of various sizes converged on him, brilliant rays of dragonfire blasting across his figure. His suit ignited and then his entire body caught fire, skin peeling, revealing something between pink flesh and compressed paperwork underneath comprising his ligaments and bones. He trashed, burning and melting away.

The entire building around us suddenly shuddered with a deep, resounding groan, barnacles and cracked panels raining from the ceiling.

“What the shit was that?” Kristi barked, feathers standing upright.

“Uhm,” Candace’s ears flattened. “I might have… accidentally awakened Denver by stealing a job from one of her Lawyers.”