It had been four days since my summoning. In that time I had learned just how inept Farkas is. It had shown me around the place it called its lair, the many musty rooms each filled with their own oddities. A room of ancient looking books, a room with a few decaying corpses dumped in a pile, a room with a bed and desk covered in papers, a room filled with food and tools, a room of strange items I could not understand, and a room with two humans and one elf chained to the wall, similar to the one through which I was summoned. Slaves, Understanding told me, humans and elves without any rights, that existed only to serve their master. Like me, until I can be rid of this binding.

After showing me all of these rooms, Farkas had shown me an empty room, a room it called my 'nest.' It has given me free reign over the nest, permission to do anything with it that I wished. It also had me drag the corpse that I had been summoned through to my nest, calling it my dinner. The corpse was good, filled with nutrients, and it allowed me to grow much larger than I was before. I'm now an oblate ball about as tall as Farkas' knee and almost twice as wide, and my strength has increased in kind. I carved away a hidden area within my nest to hide the bones from the corpse, it's imperfect but at the very least you can't see them from the nest's entrance. I can't directly harm Farkas, but perhaps if I can sharpen the bones I can create some traps to do indirect damage.

But these things are not what make Farkas inept. No, what convinced me that it is an idiot is that it gave me no orders to stay within the nest while it rests in the room with the bed. While Farkas rests I have free reign of the lair, excluding a few doors that I cannot open, and I have made good use of it. I've been using Understanding to decode the books Farkas showed me on my first day in the lair, and they are filled with useful information.  I have learned of many things, but the most important among them is magic. It seems that I had level zero Dark and Light magic, something that the dusty tome I have been studying said should be impossible. They are opposites, and should oppose one another, no creature should be naturally disposed to both. As a creature of the Void I should be predisposed to the Dark, opposed to the light. Yet I have the skill for both. Maybe it has something to do with the skills I have? No way to know right now, I'll have to look in to it later.

More importantly, I found information on why my magic was level zero. It's because I had the natural ability, but not the knowledge or skill to use it. Magic is not innate, it must be learned. I was in luck, as Farkas had a tome of simple Dark magic from which I could learn a new spell, though decoding it has proven difficult. I've learned one spell but it took quite a bit of time, and none of the others look particularly useful at the moment. They'll have to wait for when I have less pressing matters to attend to. I suspect that Farkas has more tomes of Dark magic with more powerful spells, but they are not within an area that I can access easily, so I'll have to make do with what I have. Thinking such, I mentally ask Understanding to show me my progress.

Name:

Race: Voidspawn

Level: 1

Skills:

<Form Shifting 1> <Absorption 2> <Enhanced Perception 1> <Dark Magic 1> <Light Magic 0>

Spells:

Dark Magic: <Shadow Cloak>

<Unique Skills>

<Understanding> <Black Core> <White Core>

Hidden Skills:

<Thrane's Blessing> <Yehma's Blessing>

<Shadow Cloak>

A spell that cloaks the caster in shadow. While under its effects the caster will be harder to notice in dark areas. Effect can be ended prematurely by exposure to bright light.

The spell is simple but useful, especially in Farkas' dingy lair. There are very few areas where Shadow Cloak would be dispelled by the light and all are easily avoided, so it should allow me to go wherever I want without Farkas noticing. That decides it then, now that I can get around unseen it's time to visit the slaves. I can hardly imagine wanting to be property when the choice is there to not, and having the help of at least one will open up many more options when dealing with Farkas, but whether they'll actually be willing to aid me is still in question. They've all reacted badly to my presence whenever Farkas took me to their room, so being able to gain their cooperation without revealing myself will be useful.

I have about two hours before Farkas usually awakes, I'll put that time to good use. In the room with the books - the library, Understanding supplies the word - I grab a scrap of paper and dip one of my tendrils into an inkwell, beginning to scratch it against the page. I quickly write out my note, then pause for a second before writing it again in the elvish script. There was only one tome in the library written in elvish Understanding evidently can't just give me knowledge with no basis for it so I only barely know enough to write out the message. Looking over it, even I can tell it's nearly incomprehensible, but it's the best I can do. Since one of the slaves is an elf and I don't know if any are capable of reading, having two versions of the note increases my chance of at least one of them being able to understand it.

After having Understanding check what I had written and confirming it at least got the idea across, I begin making my way to the slaves' room. When I had passed through earlier they all recoiled, moving as far from me as their chains allowed and covering their faces. Understanding had provided the term fear to describe the reaction, though I only partially understood it. Understanding would only say they're scared of me, with no further explanation. As useful as the skill is it has its limits.

As I peer between the bars of the slave's room, I see two forms huddled in slumber, while the third sits upright. The elf is awake, though its eyes are half closed. I cast Shadow Cloak before slinking into the room, easily slipping between the bars and positioning myself near the elf. A single tendril carefully reaches out, depositing the note on the elf's knee, and I make my way out of the room to wait and watch.

After a few minutes of waiting, the elf seems to notice the note, reacting in surprise to its presence. It lifts the note to its face, either inspecting or reading it. Good, this is the closest I can get to ensuring my message is received, so mission completed I begin making my way back to my nest, passing the room full of corpses on the way back. Over the past three days Farkas hasn't made use of any of them, and he did tell me I could eat the one I was summoned through... maybe I'm allowed to eat these as well? It would help me grow larger... I take a closer look at one of them, inspecting it with Understanding.

<Human Corpse>

Cause of Death: Unknown

Time Since Death: Approximately 5 Days

Well... If it had been that long Farkas probably doesn't need it for anything. I grab the corpse and begin dragging it back to my nest, marveling at how much easier it is compared to the first time I had done this. With increased size comes increased strength, I wonder how strong I'll be after eating this one?