En route, the party introduces themselves to the master. He, in turn, supplies them with a name they can pronounce comfortably—Thadius. He tells them of his story, how only those that were in this colony were able to escape his homeworld before the Shepherds razed it, how he lost his family.

  “Even with all this strength I wield in my hands,” Thadius finishes up his lore dump, clenching his little fists, “I was still powerless to protect my people, and now my failure is complete. The last of my kind. There is still time for you to turn around and flee.”

  “We are not abandoning you, Master. There’s still a chance we can save them,” Elisa says, her voice way more emotional than normal. “Fuckers messed with the wrong penguin creatures.”

  “Penguin?” Thadius asks through me.

  Elisa nervously laughs while waving her arms around. “Nothing. Just talking to myself.” Then she hisses at me, “Don’t make me look bad in front of Master Thadius. You know very well when I’m talking in character and when I’m not.”

  “Oopsies. Honest mistake.” I receive a threatening, and extremely cute, growl in reply.

  Khi brings the party back on track. “Plan?”

  Erysis grins. “Scenario two, fifth variation.” The players check their group chat to refresh their memories. Or at least their wandering eyes indicate to that. I’m not so petty as to peek. ...Yet.

  “I know you’re trying to psych me out,” I say. “No way you have so many plans prepared.”

  “Lucius,” Khi says, “I’ve been training to lead our country and our army since I was a child. Erysis and Nexen are B-ranked adventurers. And Elisa is an Archmage and was in charge of the whole planet.”

  While starting to stroke my chin, I release a contemplative hum. “Good point. ...That should do it.”

  Erysis asks with suspicion, “What did you do?”

  “Slight balance changes.”

  Three accusing looks are directed at Khi. The beastfolk defends herself, “Don’t fall for it. It’s psychological warfare. He’s trying to divide us.”

  Four accusing looks are directed at me. Evil laugh, engage. Elisa lightly kicks me under the table. I shoot her a grin, and with my dastardly plan foiled, get back on track myself.

  Thadius guides the party to a cave. The opening is dark, obscuring everything within, almost as if darkness is seeping out. Nexen clocks some tracks, confirming that all the colonists walked in.

  Without further delay, the players enter. Khi and Nexen are in front. The cybernetically enhanced beastfolk has her newly acquired rifle ready. Nexen is lighting up the way forward with a flashlight attachment on his shotgun. Erysis and Elisa are in the back. Erysis’ character has no weapons currently equipped but is threateningly tossing and catching a ticking grenade in her hand. Elisa somehow convinced Master Thadius to let her carry him. Her character has a satisfied expression on her face as she is holding him in her arms like a plushy. And so does the elf, clutching a recreation I already had prepared.

  As the winding and twisting tunnel brings the party deeper into the earth, Elisa’s character and Master Thadius start showing visible discomfort. As they go even deeper, so do the rest.

  “The darkness of the tunnel shifts and swirls as if alive,” I say. Nexen’s character sweeps the beam of his flashlight around, the shadows a touch slower to disperse under the circle of illumination. “Your thoughts are harder to take shape, get lost in the darkness of your mind. They shift and swirl like the darkness, uncertain and carrying with them illogical fear. Whatever it is you are walking to, it beckons with malevolent glee.”

  Thadius soon says, “I’ll try my best to fight against this vile influence.” His head lifts up to look at the augmented elf. “Will you assist me?”

  “Yes, Master,” Elisa answers. “Let’s try shielding everyone.”

  “With the assistance of Master Thadius, you succeed. A warm sensation drives away the darkness clawing at your minds.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  No more than ten seconds later, another source of light meets the party’s. Purple and dim. They silently approach a widening, revealing a vast cavern, illuminated in more purple. A Shepherd is chanting unknowable words in a language that cannot be learned. The colonists are arranged around her and are swaying gently to her voice, their eyes unmoving but not empty. The enemy alien’s Psi is touching each one, a pulsing purple glow.

  “We haven’t much time,” Thadius whispers.

  Erysis cracks her neck, her character mirroring the movement. “Then let’s do this,” she says and issues a command.

  The grenade she was using to menace me with leaves her hand, sails through the air, and impacts a sickly purple shield. The silvery cylinder detonates in a muted explosion, raining something dark over the Psi manifested. A net falls on top of the barrier and anchors itself into the stone ground with a staccato of secondary detonations, pulled against the energy but not deforming it.

  In the next instant, the purple glow in the cavern is replaced by a blinding white, as electricity, tinged with blue, assaults the floating alien and her protections.

  “Roll for initiative.”

  When the last die settles, Nexen’s character dashes forward and to the swaying colonists. He grabs as many as he can carry and dashes back.

  Erysis does the same. Though she can carry fewer of the small aliens, she still looks like a sentient fluff ball.

  Elisa delays her turn.

  Khi collects an impressive amount, almost doubling the number they’ve rescued thus far.

  My alien monster uses her barrier to shred the crackling net into pieces. A dagger of Psi is aimed at the currently helpless Master Thadius, and as a consequence, at Elisa’s character. Fortunately, the elf counters the attack, her blueish glow clashing with the purple into a puff of nothingness.

  As my lips move, a voice leaks from all around the room, flowing down to the player’s ears, soft but cloying. “Why interrupt the inevitable...” For a moment, the voice becomes sharp and cruel. “Slayers.” Then it goes back to the sickly-sweet fakeness. “Do you not know the Wisdom?”

  The players look at each other, and after some thought, come to a decision.

  Nexen asks, “What is the Wisdom?”

  The alien’s thin lips curl into a satisfied sneer.

  Master Thadius forces out a whisper, still straining against the influence, “Do not listen to its lies.”

  “Lies?” the Shepherd asks. “We tell no lies. We guard against the untruth, as the Wisdom proclaims. Only through sacrifice will life prevail. Only through suffering will we gain the strength to make it so. Will you let me complete the culling?” Nexen dashing to save more enthralled colonists is the answer. The Shepherd’s voice starts to fade. “What a waste. You would have made fine Shepherds. ...Just as he was.”

  “Master?” Elisa asks in confusion.

  Thadius lifts his quivering brown eyes at her, the effort exerted evident in his gaze. “I have... many mistakes I need to pay for, young one. Let that price be...” His power surges, driving away the purple and staggering the enemy. “Ultimate.” The fluffy alien goes limp in her arms.

  “Master!” she exclaims in worry. Then the elf turns to me. “Is he alive?”

  “For now.”

  “We are on another timer,” Khi says.

  Erysis grabs the next batch. Elisa pulls some more with her blue glow. Khi goes to the farthest from the party and tucks them under her arms.

  As the enemy recovers, she turns to her cybernetic opponent.

  The following round proceeds much the same. Erysis and Nexen relocate as many as they can, and Khi dashes back. When Elisa counters another attack, receiving more backlash than the previous, the round ends with only a few remaining people to rescue.

  Nexen gives me a smile. His character rushes for the alien and blasts her in pointblank range with his shotgun. A cloud of incendiary sparks impacts my monster’s face, temporarily blinding her.

  Erysis pulls out a grenade launcher and shoots a canister with an echoing ‘thunk’. The projectile lands near the Shepherd’s feet but does not do anything more than spin in place a couple of times.

  Elisa delays her turn again.

  Khi runs to the remaining penguin-like aliens, and when she has them all in her grasp, jumps. Snaking blue lines propel her next to the party.

  The elf’s character tanks a psionic blade that leaves her unsteady on her feet and then constructs a blue bubble.

  Nexen retreats to the party and the unmoving group of colonists, easily passing through the enveloping shield, and placing a device on the ground, adding another defensive layer of his own.

  Erysis takes a knee and aims. Three canisters ‘thunk’ out of her grenade launcher in quick succession. Every surface of the cavern is a melted mess, cooling down from a bright orange. The players are relatively unharmed, but the protective shields flicker and fade. A bubbling black mass has taken the place of the enemy. She reforms into a familiar monstrosity.

  Khi’s character leaves a blue streak as she collides with the Shepherd, causing her to tumble away. Nexen aims a shot with his handgun and pierces her head, the bullet leaving a faint blue line in its path that quickly fades. Erysis ‘thunks’ out another canister out of her grenade launcher. It explodes into a frigid mist, blanketing the bulging skin of the enemy alien with white frost.

  My monster tries to stand up, but instead, she cracks into frozen chunks.

  ***

  While the players are celebrating and enjoying the cheesecake I made—including Erysis, which Nexen was very proud of finding out—their characters are celebrating too. The Hothouse is a few hundred occupants heavier, but fortunately, they aren’t heavy at all. Elisa’s character is demonstrating that quite well, being buried under a fluffy pile. Much to the real elf’s pure delight.