Chp 51: A Talk (Patreon)

Thanks to Agony declaring my reaction to my core abnormal, I had a lot to think about. Unfortunately, that was the only new information I had, so I was running in mental circles. It took me about half an hour to realize it and bring my new anxiety under control. Once it was, I had something else to think about. 

Steve had yet to write back and Agony hadn’t said anything about how long it had taken him to reply. I hadn’t known either one long, but I felt like something was off. Agony I felt would have apologized and I had the impression Steve would have responded just to say he didn’t have time to read it and would get back to me later.

I tried to call both of them but nothing happened. Looking in the lower corner of my vision at the mystery countdown, I wondered if it was ticking down time I had left. Someone had tried to replace me before, now it looked like they were trying to cut my communications with those who were part of chaos in an administrative capacity. 

Shit.

For the first time in a while, I called a group meeting with everyone in the dungeon. To keep up the fiction with our new settlers, we met at night. I transported those who lived outside to the bone brigade breakroom.

I’d been expanding it and adding furniture and decorations slowly over time. It was four times larger than my original design with a second-story balcony and grand staircase. I’d moved the parody of Washington crossing the Delaware painting to the landing. It gave a majestic impression until you actually started looking at the figures in detail.

I’d expected that at some point there would be complaints. That the wry and sometimes crude humor I’d put into decorating the common area would offend. Like most things, when it hadn’t, I’d been bothered. I’d wondered if it was a sign the skeletons couldn’t express themselves fully.

Now I knew them a little better I realized I’d been operating under a bias. The one that people from medieval-ish time periods were all prudish. I sighed and laughed at myself. Shakespear was loaded with dirty jokes and some of the earliest perceived Roman writings were foul graffiti on walls. 

I couldn’t know why they did or didn’t mind something unless I asked. It was a problem I’d noticed and ignored for a while now. I laughed again, knowing no matter how I’d been before, I’d been on the road to being a shut-in until recently. Looking around the nearly full room I sighed, knowing it was time to start talking.

Explaining all the recent happenings took time. How I’d been human as far as I could tell, how I suspected the system affected my mind, there was a lot. Then I had to get into the really weird bits, starting with the 24 incident.

Despite the short notice and dense subject matter, everyone was gracious about listening. Except for the hounds. They came and curled up next to me and went to sleep. I looked at them with affectionate annoyance. 

Their ability to read the room was nonexistent. The heavy atmosphere was completely lost on them despite how they knew the severity of some of what I was talking about. Unlike the rest of us, they weren’t given to worrying unless something was happening at the moment. I envied them for that.

When I finished my recap, the skeletons talked amongst themselves for a while and I waited for questions. Some of them knew more than others, like Dawn and Henry, but I hadn’t laid everything out clearly in one go for anyone before. They all had a lot to process.

Talking about it also reminded me of some things I’d been trying not to think of. Like what had happened to 24? It was weird, but I thought about her from time to time and was a little worried. I didn’t think Steve would delete her for no reason. Unfortunately that was all I felt confident about. What he might do outside of that, I had no idea.

Honestly, I wasn’t even certain what she was. She could have just been a humor nerfed copy of myself, but there was no guarantee. It was entirely possible she was the system equivalent of a virus or malware. That didn’t stop me thinking about her as a person though. Much like with the skeletons, I accepted if something seemed sentient then it should be treated as such.

I was lost in my own thoughts when I heard a rustle of fabric. Looking up I found Aaron waving his hand almost frantically to get my attention. I’d instituted the hand-raising rule for group meetings. Everyone could talk amongst themselves until I acknowledged a speaker.

“Yes, Aaron?” I asked and the room fell politely silent. More than a couple of skeletons rolled their illusory eyes though. It looked like Aaron still hadn’t made many friends.

“Can you draw the runes out?” Aaron asked impatiently. He’d had his nose down in a book for a while and I’d assumed he wasn’t listening for most of the talk. It seemed I was wrong, he might have been taking notes. I felt like I’d been mean with my presumption, but not that much.

Aaron got on people’s nerves for being arrogant and rude, but he didn’t bully others. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t summoned him to my chamber of machinations for a talk. Mediating every single personality conflict would do myself or anyone else no favors. 

“Yeah Aaron, I’ll do that when I get a minute,” I agreed unenthusiastically. I’d tried looking the runes up but the system had failed to identify them. That meant they probably weren’t something from the world but native to the system. Even so, if he wanted to study them, I wasn’t going to refuse without a reason.

“Jaccob?” I said to acknowledge one of Henry’s helpers in the tailor shop. He was a halfling and one of the recent skill-focused additions to the skeletons.

“Mistress, why are you telling us this?” He asked, his expression disturbed. This was his first group meeting outside of the new summons orientation I’d held when I bought him and the others. His only question at that time had been if he could eventually have his own shop. 

“I...” I started then had to stop. His response was one of the reasons I’d kept some things to myself before. I didn’t want to worry anyone when I had so little information and less ability to do anything about it.

“Knowing what's happening might be confusing or scary, but I’m your Dungeon Master. Our lives are intertwined and not telling you robs you of having a say in matters. Or at least being aware and able to express your thoughts and feelings,” I said. Coming up with something uplifting on the fly under current circumstances was a bit beyond my abilities. Honestly, I thought about adding they could feel free to be pissed off at me. I refrained because I doubted they needed encouragement on that point. 

Dawn didn’t at the very least, going by the way she was glaring.

“It’s okay if you can't think of a question right now or don’t want to ask it in public. Just text me and head it with “Core” as the subject. I’ll do my best to reply quickly,” I said as the idea occurred to me. The room didn’t immediately empty but the skeletons nodded and kept talking amongst themselves for a while. Eventually, the ones from the town asked to be returned to their homes so I started on that.

By the time I was finished, the bone brigade breakroom was nearly empty. Those who remained in the dungeon had mostly returned to their crypts. Dawn and Icarus were the only two left in the room. Icarus hung back while Dawn came forward with a determined expression.

I braced myself for what she might say or do. Once she was close, she lunged, pulling me into a bone creaking hug. Stunned, I remained still for a couple of beats before hugging her back. 

“You’ll be okay,” Dawn said reassuringly. I felt like a failure for being comforted by someone I was supposed to be looking out for. The amount of comfort it gave me overrode that feeling quickly. 

“T-thanks,” I muttered back.