Shadowcroft Academy Year 2 - Chapter Twenty-Six

Logan and Tet stood in the inner sanctum of the Tartarucha Cells.

Logan again apologized for getting such an intimate look into her life. <Can I look really quick into what might have happened in the Submerged Hell?>

<Yes, please,> the cat woman replied. <I’m curious myself.>

Logan had to sift through more recent memories, and it was weird seeing himself through Tet’s eyes.

Tet had pitied him at first, this tiny little mushroom man always getting torn to pieces in Rockheart’s Core Calisthenics class. And of course, the First Cohort was constantly talking trash about him and the Terrible Twelfth. And yet… she admired his courage. She’d known people in the Coptic Champions who’d come from Apothos-poor worlds, and as long as they worked hard, they could continue to improve. Which is exactly what Tet saw—Logan and the Terrible Twelfth improving. Right from the start, Tet recognized Inga’s genius. She couldn’t quite comprehend Marko or Treacle, but the simple fact that Inga stood by him, made Logan better in the Tet’s eyes.

Then Logan bested Jimi Magmarty and the deal was done—Tet’s pity turned into respect. Maybe something else?

Logan caught himself and didn’t pry more.

He quickly fast-forwarded through her memories until he finally got to the day of the attack. She was in the sanctum of the Submerged Hell, crystalline water streaming from magical force fields in the ceiling above. Around the central pedestal more water frothed, flowing to a whirlpool at the southern end of the room. You could dive into the whirlpool, and depending on how well you swam and how long you could you hold your breath, you could find yourself in other rooms of the underwater dungeon, at the exit, or back at the entrance. It was a fast but risky way to travel through the dungeon.

Tet had practiced navigating the channels of water, and she’d popped up alone in the inner sanctum. Except she wasn’t alone. A shadow moved out from behind a waterfall, and runes flared from the floor, lighting up the cavern and the dark water. A second later, a voice chanted strange words: Will yum yum yum ghan! Yum yum yum ghan! Yum yum yum ghan!

Tet smelled the sweet cherry vanilla one of Melvin’s pastries, and her mouth had watered. She’d assumed the kitchen ghast had come to hawk his treats. She wasn’t sure. A moment later, a wave of heat hit her like a sledgehammer, a dry fiery flame that reminded her of the kitchen ovens back at the Coptic temples—she’d worked cleaning the kitchens at one point.

Unfortunately, Tet didn’t see who hit her. Something struck her from behind so hard her skull cracked—that she could heal. It was the next blow that had very nearly shattered the emerald in her belly. Then she knew no more.

The runes were familiar—Bharooshian runes. But that eerie voice chanting? The smell of the pastries? The infernal heat?

Logan pulled himself out of Tet’s memories and back into Tartarucha Cells.

The cat woman had a troubled look on her face. <I didn’t remember the chanting. Will yum yum yum ghan!It’s strange. Why didn’t I remember?>

<You took a nasty blow to the head.> Logan itched his cap. <Looks like it scrambled you pretty good.>

<Pretty bad you mean,> Tet said.

Logan laughed a little. <Something like that. I was really hoping to see your attacker’s face, but there were definitely some clues there. Maybe Inga and the others will be able to piece them together. She’s been studying Bharooshian, you know. I bet she’ll be able to figure out what the chant was all about.>

<She is remarkable,> Tet sent. <But we are quickly losing time. Should we perhaps, focus on training while we still have access to the Cells?>

<Right. Yep. Absolutely. Let me start of by showing you my guardian form matrix, and then if it’s okay, I’d like to see yours just to get a sense of what you can do. Once we both know what the other is working with, we can start to formulate a game plan.>

Without waiting, he quickly shared his updated matrix which included all his new abilities. She had questions, which he answered, but she’d done her homework. Inkboon’s book was an excellent source of information.

Then it was Tet’s turn.

                                                                              <<< ۝ >>>

Tet-Akhat

Guardian Core Matrix

Base Race: Feline Sandmaster

Current Evolution: Lesser Hemet-Netjer

Cultivator Class: Azure Branch Cultivator; B Class, Rank 6

Primary Elemental Affinities: Morta/Terra

Racial Abilities:

- Tomb Sight

- Feline Agility

- Leap Strike

Racial Skills:

- Feline Combat

- Fang Puncture

- Talon Daggers

- Noxious Breath

- Aloof Charm

Mistress of the Spectral Sands:

- Dune Spikes

- Sand Spear

- Grit Wind

- Sandstone Mechanisms

- Crushing Walls

- Stone Stabs

Mistress of the Infernal Legions:

- Flesh Scarab

- Mew Serpent

- Mummified Baast

- Khopesh Beetle

Mistress of the Feline Necrosis:

- Feline Reanimation

- Necrotic Augmentation

- Cryptonic Missile

- Morta Maelstrom

                                                                                 <<< ۝ >>>

Logan considered her matrix, and some of the things were familiar because he’d fought her before in their Calisthenic Core class the year before. He’d personally been the victim of her speed, her agility, her dagger-like claws, and her long fangs. However, other things he didn’t recognize.

An idea hit him. <Tet, what if you build a simple dungeon now using your skillset? You can explain things to me—sort of a quick tutorial—and then we can have a party come through. Nothing fancy, just an entrance room, a corridor, and the inner sanctum.>

Tet nodded enthusiastically. <It’s a fine idea, but you should include your own flourishes as well. A fungal feline dungeon would be interesting, don’t you think?>

Logan’s gem leapt from his belly and Tet’s emerald joined his, the two of them swirling above the pedestal. In seconds, they both had joint control of the Tartarucha Cells.

<First, I’ll show you my guardian form, though you’re familiar with some of my abilities.> Tet’s consciousness was with him on the pedestal, but she moved her feline body around so she was standing in front of the pedestal. Logan’s inert fungal form stood by, motionless as Steve the dummy.

In an instant, her form shimmered, her green eyes brightened, her black fur grew sleek, and she purred slightly. At the same time, she seemed annoyed he was looking at her, and she definitely seemed like she wanted him to keep his distance. Despite all that, Logan felt himself drawn to her. <Oh, that’s your Aloof Charm. Instead of having a scare ability, you have a charm ability. I can feel it working. Nice!>

<Am I pretty little kitty?> she purred. She both fluttered her long eyelashes at him and managed to keep that air of disinterested arrogance.

Logan would’ve felt a lump in his throat if he’d had a throat. Instead, he had to fight himself not to return to his body and run right over to pet his friend. <Okay, Tet, turn off the Aloof Charm. I get it.>

<Watch, Logan.> Tet flicked out her claws which grew into rusted metal knives covered with a thick rime of unhealthy bacteria. Logan could appreciate some good bacteria, and as something of a connoisseur, he had to admit hers looked positively deadly. “I have the Claw Daggers, but I also have the racial ability of Infectious Scratch. If the slashing doesn’t kill the raiders, the infection will. And my scratches are very hard to heal.>

<Yeah, I remember,” he sent idly. <Marko needed to go see Ned and Zed that one time. Took nearly a week to heal his guardian form properly.>

She smiled and her face grew longer, allowing for her front fangs to elongate into yellow spikes which also looked diseased. In seconds, the demure cat woman was gone, replaced by a demonic hellcat that was the thing of nightmares.

<Fang Puncture to match my claws.> Her hair was standing on end, and then she crouched, leapt, and flew high into air while doing a somersault. The claws on her feet lengthened into daggers as well and they slashed through the air before returning to normal toenails.

She landed, superhero style, which sent a shiver of excitement through his heart.

Logan had seen her do such moves before, and he’d seen the daggers, but now he understood how lethal they could be. <So that was Feline Agility and Leap Strike. No wonder you tore us apart in Core Calisthenics.>

Tet sighed and the demonic visage faded until she was just good ol’ Tet again. <I was just about to get my scorpion tail and auxiliary pinchers, which would have been scorpion pincers sprouting from my shoulder joints. Cracking my core has pushed me back, and I’m heartbroken about it. Hopefully the damage isn’t irreparable.>

<Don’t worry. We’ll get you back there,> he reassured her. <Remember, I lost a leg and managed to push through the pain and trauma. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close. I know what you’re feeling, but I also know there’s a way forward. I’ll help you just the same way that Sergeant Major Baker helped me. The only way to get through this is to keep moving forward. Come on, let’s set up our inner sanctum.>

They expanded out the inner sanctum, transforming it into a large cavern with rocky ceilings. In the Tartarucha Cells, manipulating stone was easy. Tet’s Dune Spikes were gritty javelins of stone lining the bottom of craggy fissures in the floor. Logan  spawned a think layer of Mucal Film fungus to conceal the deadly pits. Matching his fungus to the sandstone wasn’t easy. Tet helped, but she didn’t have an eye like Marko.

Tet showed off some of her engineering skills, namely those skills found under Sandstone Mechanisms part of her matrix. They put a Crushing Wall trap in the corridor connecting the entrance to the inner sanctum. One wrong step and a pressure plate set into the floor would activate, caving in a portion of the wall and crushing the unsuspecting hero beneath three-tons worth of sandstone. She also added two Stone Slabs at either end of the corridor. The idea was the slabs would slam down while the walls came together turning anyone caught in the hallway into unfortunate meat paste.

In the inner sanctum itself, Tet used her Sandstone Sculpture ability to erect two statues, one of a cat woman and the other a mushroom man. She also added an ornate fountain of the Shadowcroft castle itself. Instead of water, she added her Scarab Swarm insects, thousands of inch-long black beetles with polished jade wings. Another trap, and a deadly one. When the prospective Raider came close and peered into the basin of the fountain, the beetles would swarm out, devouring them in seconds.

Tet didn’t want to summon her Khopesh Beetle, since the huge tank-like beast would take up most of the room. She did summon two of her Mummified Baast warriors, though, which turned out to be burly cat-headed warriors armed with ornate bronze shields as well as magical khopeshes—the sickle-like swords of her people. Their skin was withered and dry where it wasn’t covered in classic mummy bandages. They were fearsome things indeed. She coated them in a fine layer of sand, so they appeared like they were just more statues in the room. At their feet, Logan used Rapid Growth to sprout the delicious Opal Truffles and the addictively attractive Ashvein mushrooms.

Both were world-class lures, sure to entice even the most stalwart dungeoneer.

With a thought, he summoned a pair of his own spore wargs , so they could leap out to surprise the hapless simulated dungeoneers.

They added secret alcoves on either side of the entryway into the sanctum. There they stationed a collection of skullcap waddlers, and Tet’s mew serpents—the half-cobra, half-cat beasts that Tet had turned into a floor boss in their Minion Management class. Logan upgraded Mariah Carey, giving her a few extra inches and at least fifty pounds on her mates. He also whipped up a batch of Crimson Coral—a jagged pink-red mushroom that was razor sharp to the touch—so his fierce little mushroom men would have weapons.

Lastly, Logan summoned three Kurrybooboos. Frankly, they were adorable. Plump creatures around two feet tall, with a glowing blue mushroom caps. They had stubby arms and stubby legs, which looked like they belonged on a kid’s plush doll. They would bound into the air, floating around like dandelion puff balls caught in a stiff breeze. They congregated around the pedestal, frolicking and dancing without a care in the world. Just looking at them made Logan grin, and Tet was immediately infatuated with them. She cooed and psp-psp-psped at them as though they were cats, instead of the other way around.

<They are not very intimidating,> she said as she scratched beneath the head of one of the Kurrybooboos. <But they are very cute,> she admitted, rather begrudgingly.

<Hopefully, that will keep dungeoneers from trying to kill them,> Logan replied. <They are pretty delicate and they can’t hurt a fly.>

<So what is their purpose, then?> she asked. <I haven’t seen them before.>

<One of my newest additions after advancing. And they might not look like much, but they’re great team players. Basically, they’re small versions of Ned and Zed. They release beneficial spores that can rapidly speed up healing.>

<Hmm. I approve,> she said, before giving the Kurrybooboo a little pat on its mushroom cap. The tiny puffball chirped in appreciation then resumed its bouncing dance around the pedestal. <They will be a strange sight if the raiders make it to our sanctum.>

<Good,> Logan said. <If they pause even for a second, it’ll make them easier to kill.>

Logan and Tet swept their minds through their tiny dungeon and realized their entryway needed some work. Logan grew clumps of Eyelash Stinkhorn and Gem-studded Puffballs. The explosive puffballs might just take out one of the raiders while the stink bombs would drive them into the trapped corridor. Logan would also be in the entrance, hoping to be the stick. Tet would be the carrot, using her Aloof Charm to beckon them onward.

With their dungeon ready, Logan and Tet brought in a full party of C-Class Raiders, seven in all, the usual cast of characters. The Cavalier Mage, Sir Rosencrantz Brandybutter, would lead the party. With him would be the barbarian, Arfgar of the Hill People, the resident ruffian who came dressed in chainmail and skins lugging around his collection of axes. They’d bring in a thief, Daggers McFinn, the rat-faced weaselly man who wielded daggers and short sword with equal ease.

They also include the Magnificent Morty Mercutio Mimsy who looked more like a creepy uncle than a mighty sorcerer. He came standard with beard, robes, and staff. Rounding out the party was the cleric, a harbinger of Illumina Pate, the Bald Phoenix. Her real name was Lindarval Lanathandyx, but the students just called her Feathers, partly because of her cloak, partly because she wasn’t too bright.

Speaking of dim, Logan and Tet decided to add in two other adventurers—Sir Mediocritus who was mediocre in every sense of the word and an additional sorceress, Hallsee the Sad, who could shoot bolts of destructive energy from her hands. However, she mostly just moped about and complained about how they were all going to die. She and Treacle would’ve gotten on famously well.

“Haven’t seen a configuration quite like this one before,” Sir Rosencrantz Brandybutter said over one shoulder. “Let us proceed with caution,” I say. “Let these monsters play their hand to our tune.”

“Nonsense!” Arfgar bellowed, shouldering his way to the front of the party. “Arfgar is not afraid of any puny dungeon!” He drew a wicked half-moon ax and stormed forward.

“Uh, I’m not sure that’s the wisest thing,” Sir Mediocritus chimed in. The mediocre fighter tried to catch up to the barbarian before he could get to far from the rest of the party. “Perhaps we should wait. Sir Brandybutter is out elected party leader after all.”

Logan grinned as the two crept within range. Hiding in the mushroom forest that filled the entrance, Logan thought about using his new narcotic spores, but he never had the chance.

“I listen to no one!” Arfgar grumbled, turning and shoving Sir Mediocritus away, and right into a clump of glimmering, Gem-studded Puffballs. The mushrooms exploded, hurling crystalline debris in every direction, while simultaneously blasting Sir Mediocritus into pieces.

“Bloody hells! We’re under attack,” Sir Brandybutter called, drawing his sword. “To arms! To arms!”

Hallsee the Sad spotted Logan first. She flung her magic missiles into the tangle of mushrooms, flushing Logan out into the open. He stood tall and proud, a huge dark mushroom man in his full fungal exoskeleton, shining armor, his ruby shield covering his left arm with a silver short sword in his right fist.

Sir Brandybutter’s had the visor of his helmet. “Odds my bodkins! What manner of fungal deviltry is this?”

Well, Logan at least impressed one member of the party. Good ol’ Rosencrantz.

Arfgar stumbled into the Eyelash Stinkhorn, and the entire party let out gasp at the awful stench that filled the air. Logan had served in Iraq and the smell that emanated from the Stinkhorns was like a porta-john that had been left to fester for a month in the desert sun. Rancid. Logan wasn’t the fearsome creature he wanted to be, just yet, but his stinky mushrooms made the entire party flee into the corridor.

Tet let the stone drop, and it crushed Hallsee the Sad. They’d started off facing seven raiders but were already down to five. As the party ran, the walls lurched inward—

Mimsy cast a levitation spell to the lift the rock into the inner sanctum, saving the invaders from being sandwiched between the heavy slab walls.

Unfortunately, Logan was now trapped in the entry room. And Tet was too busy retreating to lift the stone slabs. Logan’s guardian form stood lamely in the entrance, without anything to do. Luckily, he could transfer his consciousness into one of his waddler. In a blink, he stood with Mariah Carey and the other waddlers, all armed with Crimson Coral short swords, waiting in the secret alcove. Another part of Logan could see what was going on outside in the main room.

The sorcerer, Mimsy, gulped at the sight of the carefree Kurrybooboos frolicking around the pedestal where the gems slowly spun. “I don’t know what those things are, but they’re so cute, they must be deadly.”

“First things first.” Daggers McFinn motioned around the room. “There’s a trap in the floor, and I don’t like the looks of that castle fountain!” The thief had earned his keep, detecting both the Mucal Film and Tet’s scarab fountain. In the end, however, his trap detection skills didn’t matter at all. The C-Class adventurers saw the Opal Truffles and the Ashvein.

“Ashvein?” Arfgar let out a roar of pleasure. “Knight boy, did I ever tell you about time I did Ashvein with two dozen women while we were trapped in the snows of the Partyridge Peaks on Sangretta?”

Sir Brandybutter looked aghast. “Look here, chap, I don’t need to know about your lurid exploits! We’ve lost two of our party, so far, and I daresay we must—”

<Now, Tet!> Logan sent.

Both he and the cat woman unleashed their minions. Her Mummified Baasts broke out from among the rest of the statues, their khopeshes raised high, ready to kill. The raiders scattered in every direction, thoroughly unprepared for the ambush. Logan’s spore wargs darted between the legs of the cat mummies, harrying the dungeoneers, ensuring the couldn’t regroup and form defensive ranks.

The skullcap waddlers and the mew serpents tumbled out from the walls, hitting the doomed party from behind. Tet raced out from behind the statue that looked remarkably like her. She had some definite sculpting skills.

In Waddler form, Logan joined Mariah Carey in stabbing Mimsy to death before he could cast a single spell. Tet breathed out her Noxious Cat Breath fumes right into the face of Arfgar of the Hill People. He fell to his knees, clawing at his throat, gasping and wheezing. Tet, in her demonic form, ripped out his throat with a swipe of her dagger-long claws.

Meanwhile, the mew serpents circled Daggers McFinn before he could run, crushing his limbs, as one of the giant snake-kitties quickly bit off his face. He didn’t survive the experience.

Sir Brandybutter raised his sword, making a valiant last stand—he always made a valiant last stand no matter the odds—but it was shattered by one of the cat mummy’s blades. The other Mummified Baast drove its khopesh into his chest, crimson spurting out in an arc. He wheezed and slumped to the floor, dropping the hilt of his broken sword. Logan had been hoping to see the Kurrybooboos in action, but they’d sacked the raiders so badly that they hadn’t even had a chance to land a blow.

With the party mostly dispatched, Tet finally raised the other stone slab to let Logan come ambling into the room.

Her laughter filled his head. <We probably should’ve made them a lot higher classed. That was too easy.>

Sir Rosencrantz Brandybutter lay on the ground, bleeding profusely, still alive, but barely.

Logan walked over and knelt beside the dying knight.

The Cavalier Mage smiled weakly. “Good show, chap. Good show.” He paused and squinted at Logan. “You know, you seem familiar to me, though I don’t know from where. Have you grown? It would appear you’ve grown. And changed color.”

Logan nodded. “Yep.

Brandybutter frowned. “Well, my fungal friend, my compatriots and I were outclassed from the beginning. However, I ask you… how fair was it for us to face two B-Class dungeon cores? Fie on you, sir. I say fie to you!”

“Next time we’ll make it more of a challenge and upgrade you, I promise.”

“That’s all that I can ask,” Sir Brandybutter. “To die after a battle well-fought is the most a Bharoosh noblemen such as myself can hope for.”

Logan faltered. Sir Brandybutter was a Bharoosh noblemen?

“Wait, you’re from Bharoosh?” Logan asked.

Sir Brandybutter coughed a little. “Back when I was alive and adventuring, yes, good, man, yes, I was a native of that misty world of cliffs and intrigue. Why do you ask?”

Logan asked him about the chant that Tet had heard. Will yum yum yum ghan.

The Cavalier Mage rolled his eyes. “Why would you jest with a dying man? Yum, yum, yum? Sounds like a delicious chant, but certainly nothing of Bharoosh origin. No, villain, I have no idea what you are talking about.” Brandybutter let out a final gasp and died. Again. His Apothos returned to the inner workings of the Tartarucha Cells.

<That is… disappointing,> Tet noted. <Though it was smart to ask him.>

<We’ll get answers eventually,> Logan replied, standing. <And at least now we know not to waste time trying to find a Bharoosh chant.>

<On an unrelated note,> Tet said, <we performed remarkably well against the invaders, Logan Murray. We can only hope that we do as well in our siege of Vralkag.>

<Yeah, but the run wasn’t perfect. My guardian form was stranded in the entry chamber. There are definitely places for improvement. Let’s debrief.>

Using the few minutes they had left, Logan and Tet quickly talked through we’re things had clicked and the things that had fallen apart. The floor traps had been a bust, and they needed to figure out a way to better utilize having two guardian forms. After making some quick notes, they moved on to talk about how their upcoming assault of Vralkag. Logan reorganized his spores forming a rough map of Vralkag with the markets to the north, the more residential houses to the east, with the town hall in the middle, and the two adventurer inns to the south. They’d have to destroy both the town hall and the two inns to completely neutralize Vralkag.

Tet pointed to the Unlikely Unicorn in the southwest corner of the city and the Game of Bones Inn in the southeast. <Those will be fortified as will the town hall. And we will not be facing C-Class raiders. I would imagine that Professor Zantho will upgrade the guild members to their maximum settings. It won’t be easy.>

<You’re not wrong,> Logan agreed. <And Professor Zantho knows I’m not comfortable with murdering the civilians. My guess is that she’s going to try to use that against me.> He drummed his thick fingers against the stone pedestal. <If I were her, I’d probably fill the Inns and Town Hall with civilians. We have to destroy those locations to complete the quest objectives, and if they’re filled with civilians, we’ll be forced to fight them and probably kill them. Which I want to avoid, because I don’t want to be a war criminal no matter which world I’m on.>

<Why?> Tet asked, cocking her head curiously to the side. <Why spare the civilians at all? They are simulations. Not real.>

<In my experience, you fight the way you train. If I make an exception now, because it’ll make things easier, then I’ll wind up making that same exception when it’s not simulated. And I don’t care what Professor Zantho says—civilian who aren’t hostile are not my enemies. If a Dungeoneer ventures into my realm… Well, they know exactly what they’re doing and I’ll do what I have to in order to protect the Tree of Souls. But killing people because they might be a threat in the future doesn’t sit right with me. Ultimately, I want to preserve life, not destroy it.>

<A noble goal,> Tet replied thoughtfully, <but how will we accomplish such a thing—especially if Professor Zantho is set on making you violate your moral compass in order to pass her test?>

<I’ve had a thought about that,> he said slowly. <Let me ask you a question, Tet. I’m assuming your Mummified Baasts can do what normal cats can do, right?>

<What do you mean?> she asked uncertainly.

<I want your zombie kitties to pee all over the place,> Logan sent. <We’re going to win this through the power of urine.>

Tet actually sighed through her core gem. <If anyone else suggested such a thing, I would immediately scratch them to pieces. However, I’m listening.>

Logan went over the plan.

They had two weeks to perfect everything. Time to get grinding.