DD - Book 2 - Chapter 1 - Game Day

“What the heck is this?” Chelsea yelled, bouncing off the couch and pointing at the display. “Are they really allowed to do that? Have an enrage mechanic for the entire dungeon?”

The girl was so worked out that her messy main of yellow-orange hair was puffed up and her reptilian tail was wagging a mile a minute. 

She and I were sitting in one of the larger staff lounges at the Wailing manor, along with the rest of our friends, to watch the latest confrontation league match. Even though the league had only been active for a couple months it had already become a tradition for us to book one of the comfy lounges, and sit down to watch it together.

“Yes, the confrontation league allows dungeons to use any established mechanics in their matches,” I explained. I didn’t actually look up at the girl when I answered, I was too busy taking notes on the crystal tablet sitting in front of me. “I did warn you that this would probably be a slow match.”

“You did,” Charlotte, Chelsea’s mother, replied as she pulled her daughter back to the couch. “How did you know that the Sanctum would try and draw out the match, and trigger their dungeon wide enrage mechanic?”

“Because even though the league tried to make the matches as fair as possible, after the first couple rounds it became quite apparent they overlooked a few things, and they’d need to implement new rules,” I said. “Everyone knows the rule changes are coming, we just don’t know what they’ll involve, or when they’ll arrive.”

“Not everyone…” Bella muttered, before stuffing a handful of popcorn in her mouth. The banshee was floating above the couch, just out of reach of everyone else. She claimed it was so she could get a good view of the screen, but I was convinced that it was so she could protect her snacks from my eternally hungry partner, George. Despite being the size of a large dog, the spider could be extremely sneaky when food was involved, and Bella still hadn’t forgotten the last time he stole her entire tray of sandwiches. “I watch a dozen delves a day, and keep up with all the major announcements, and I haven’t heard anything about these supposed changes.” 

“And even if there are rule changes coming, that doesn’t explain how you knew that the Sanctum would try and draw out the match,” Luther said. The poltergeist lifted his mannequin-like body up like a puppet and moved it over to the table and sat it across from me. His current porcelain mask wore a look of curiosity, but I knew that he could change it the instant no one was watching. “Care to explain?”

When I didn’t answer right away a hand covered in pink tinged turquoise scales darted in and snatched the tablet right out of my hands.

“Kass… I was in the middle of a thought!” I whined.

“You promised that you would try and spend more time just watching the matches, and having fun, and less time taking notes,” the slender naga snapped.  When I tried to grab the tablet back she simply passed the device from her lower hands to her upper ones, and raised it over her head. She must have thought I’d jump for it, because she coiled her serpentine tail and raised herself up even higher, keeping it well out of my reach.

“No fair, having four arms is cheating,” I pouted.

“You could turn into your Arachne form and grab it, if you really wanted to,” Kass replied. “But we both know you won’t.”

The six arachnid legs on my back twitched at the taunt, and for a moment I considered changing, just to prove her wrong. She was right though, I avoided using my true Arachne form whenever possible, and right now, it wasn’t worth it.

Across the room Sullivan chuckled. Our friends were used to watching Kass trying to manage my bad habits, and the big Dullihan was no exception. When I glanced over at him, doing my best to put on a mask of disappointment and betrayal, he just tucked his head under his arm and laughed harder.

Kass looked down on me knowingly. “Your friend asked you a question.”

“Right,” I sighed, giving up the act and sitting back at the table. I took a moment to gather my thoughts before looking at Luther. “From everything I’ve heard Nor’goth is one of the best strategists in the league, and he probably pays as much attention to all the rumors and developments as I do. One of the changes that the league is rumored to be considering is placing restrictions on unique mechanics, and gimmicks.” 

I gestured towards the display, which showed a dense black fog pouring into the Elder Woods. The defenders were doing everything in their power to prevent it from progressing, but they weren’t having much luck. “Nor’goth has a massive ego, and I figured he’d probably want to show off the mechanic before he lost access to it. Personally, I think it’s a dumb move, all it does is bring more attention to the enrage mechanic prior to the rule update, he just couldn’t help himself.”

“I have no problem with having unique mechanics,” Bea huffed, her antennae twitching furiously. “But they should have made the mechanic entertaining. All we’re doing is staring at a wave of fog, we can’t even see what’s happening.” 

“Yeah, I doubt the fog was originally part of the mechanic, but Nor’goth wanted to hide his trump card,” I muttered. “I doubt the league will ever go as far as banning a mechanic, just force everyone to tone them down, so Nor’goth added a large flashy effect to attract everyone’s attention. They’ll be forced to remove it, of course, but the enrage effect will get by relatively untouched.”

“Devious,” Bella muttered, throwing some popcorn at the screen. “And all they had to do to make sure this trick worked was fight the slowest, most boring match of the season.”

“And draw the ire of the queens,” Luther added. “The Sanctum better hope they have plenty of supporters on the council, because the twin queens won’t appreciate that Nor’goth made them look like fools.”

“Yeah, but at the end of the day they only have one seat on the council, and most members will be thinking about the entertainment value. In the end, they’ll be overruled,” I said.

“Still… I’d hate to be the next adventuring team to go through the Elder woods, or their next confrontation opponent. The fey are going to be completely riled up,” Charlotte shuddered. “And there’s nothing scarier than an emotional fey.”

“Thankfully they’ll have a couple weeks to calm down. This is the last match before the mid season break, so we’ll be back to hosting adventuring parties for a while,” I said.

Bella glanced down at me curiously. “You’re strangely calm right now. I would have thought you’d be excited for the break, using that time to shake up our defenses so we have a couple surprises ready when the matches resume.”

“Oh, I plan too,” I replied, grinning, “I’m just trying to restrain myself a little. If they do intend to implement some rule changes, they’ll probably announce them in the next few days so everyone has enough time to adjust before we start up again. There’s no point in making a whole bunch of plans now, only to find out I have to discard them due to rule changes later.”

“That sounds completely reasonable,” Bea declared, “but also completely out of character for you. What’s the real reason you’re waiting?”

“I threatened her,” Kass smiled. “If she didn’t spend the time up to the rule changes relaxing, I wouldn’t introduce her to Silvia until after the season was over.”

“Which is completely unfair!” I shouted, throwing my hands into the air. “You already promised you would!”

“I did,” Kass’s smile deepened. “But I didn’t give you a timeframe back then, did I?” 

“No… and I hate that you’re shrewd enough to use my logic against me,” I pouted.

“Don’t worry, you only have to hold out for a couple more days, then you can plan to your heart's content,” Kass said, before patting me on the head, and handing my tablet back to me.

I nodded slightly, placing the device onto the table in front of me. “Just a couple more days,” I sighed.

On the screen I could see the fog pouring into the last few floors of the Elder Woods. The fey hadn’t found a way to slow its spread, and unless something changed soon, the match was probably going to come to an inevitable end soon. 

I shook my head, and reached for the plate of sandwiches I’d left to the side, not taking my eyes off the screen. When my hand touched bare porcelain I turned to look. 

“What happened to my snacks?” I asked.

As soon as I did the sound of multiple legs scrambling for purchase, skittering towards the door, told me all I needed to know.