Thankfully the manor seemed to mostly be sleeping. I shoved my dagger into the ear of a guard while Nimue hit him in the head so hard he crumpled to the ground even with a helmet. I winced at the loud clang of metal on metal but all seemed calm. I collected the soul embers and Nimue animated a third zombie, that was the flaw of her ability. She could only animate those she killed directly.

 

I funnelled a large amount of magic into mine to animate it temporarily. As it climbed to its feet I activated [Corpse Explosion], the zombie swelled a little as a faint red throbbing light began to glow from beneath its armour. I commanded it to follow us but to keep its distance in case something triggered it. Explosives were really dangerous and since the zombie exploded upon destruction it could potentially be as much a threat to us as to others.

 

Tiss motioned to her map and pointed to the other side of the small courtyard. We followed her, pushing the door open and stepping inside. It was hard to be stealthy with four additional zombies, one of which glowed ever so slightly but there didn't seem to be anyone else around.

 

“What's the plan now?” Tiss asked. “How many bodies do you need for your… experiments?”

 

“We might as well find this lord, there doesn't seem to be much of a resistance. Probably better than coming back when he's on alert,” I suggested.

 

“We don't know anything about this lord though, he may not need many guards,” Tiss warned.

 

“Maybe, I still think we should continue,” I frowned. “It's pointless to try and siege a place, especially one as small as this when a quick stealthy assault will work.”

 

“Ok, I wouldn't mind the experience,” Tiss nodded.

 

We continued along the hall and through another strong door before entering through the side door of a large entryway. At the end of the grand hall a large Y-shaped staircase draped in red carpet. However, what was most impressive was the painting. They littered the walls.

 

Most of them were of humans in a variety of different locations, though they all seemed like servants. It seemed strange to paint portraits of your staff but I guess if you never left the manor what else would you paint? There was one large painting of several of these naga, human bodies sitting atop long serpentine tails, all of them lounging in a jungle.

 

At the end of the hall above the staircase in between the branches was a large portrait of a man. The lord of the manor by the looks of it. The reclusive Lord Kruller. The blacksmith had given us his name but hadn't really had anything to add to what the priest had told us.

 

I walked forward, looking around at all the art. I almost felt a little bad about killing an artist this good but alas, what can be done? Granted I still had to find him first. 

 

Tiss was looking at a painting of a bear with a beak and feathers. She frowned and looked away. “I don't like this, something feels weird.”

 

I could feel a large amount of magic around me but nothing specific drew my attention. “Maybe he's more than just an artist,” I offered as I headed for the stairs. “Everyone be careful.”

 

The eyes of the lord’s painting seemed to follow me as I climbed the stairs. Linear perspective combined with the illusion of depth led to a very creepy effect that I did not like even if I knew why it existed. 

 

“Left or right?” I asked.

 

Tiss shrugged so I picked right. The hallway had several rooms coming off of it. The wood creaked every so slightly on the last few steps and I glanced back to make sure everyone was following before I turned the corner to the next hall. It was decorated and grand though not particularly long. The manor itself was using a significant amount of its space just for the grandiose entry room. 

 

I nudged open the first door as we crept along. From what I could see there was no furniture. Just more paintings lining the walls. I glanced at Tiss who seemed equally weirded out. Who kept empty rooms filled with paintings?

 

“I really don’t like this,” Tiss sighed. 

 

I pushed the next door open and was suddenly overwhelmed with colour. Bright blue sky stretched on forever over a tall rocky mountain. It was like looking through a portal somewhere entirely new.

 

“What the fuck?” I asked.

 

“I-I don’t know…” Tiss replied. “Portals require quite a lot of magic, maybe that’s what’s put us on edge?” She suggested.

 

I nodded numbly and closed the door. Regardless of anything the lord wasn’t through that door.

 

“Oh fuck,” I muttered as I looked back to where we had come from. The hall simply came to an end, the entrance was gone. We were now trapped in a hallway of doors. Suddenly I was a lot less creeped out and a lot more scared.

 

“What do we do?” Tiss asked, looking around nervously.

 

“I don’t know,” I replied. Nimue sent one of the zombie guards to open the next door. We didn’t really have any other options besides doing so.

 

This door opened into a large plains biome, stretching as far as the eye could see. Another portal.

 

“Wait,” Tiss said before the door was closed. “Let me go through.”

 

“Why?” I asked, not liking that idea at all.

 

“Trust me,” she said, taking my hand.

 

I nodded uneasily as she stepped through the door, not letting go of my hand. She waved her free hand and created her map. “It’s not a portal, we’re still in the manor,” she said with a frown before stepping back out. “If it had been a portal then the map would show somewhere new.”

 

“Clever, so this is all an illusion then,” I hummed, now looking at the hallway differently.

 

The right door at the end of the hall opened and a figure emerged. Her head brushed the ceiling as she slithered on a long serpentine tail. Otherwise, she looked vaguely human beyond the horns, red skin and six arms all holding blades.

 

The woman flicked her tail angrily but paused when she saw us. She barked something in a language I did not understand and pointed a blade at us.

 

“Do you speak… naga?” I asked Tiss who was pale.

 

“That’s… that’s not a naga, I don’t know what that is,” she said. “Some kind of demon maybe,” she offered.

 

The demon woman said something else and raised her other swords towards us.

 

“Oh that’s bad,” I winced.

 

Using her tail like a spring she sprung forward with surprising speed. I pulled my dagger and stepped in front of Tiss. Except the demon wasn’t going for me.

 

Nimue brought up her shield blocking several swings however there were simply too many attacks to block at the same time and she stumbled back with a hiss. The demon followed up giving us no time to respond before driving a sword through Nimue’s leg causing her to cry out.

 

My green flames soared toward the demon and collided with her back, eating away at her red scales. She hissed and turned to face me, my unholy magic was not particularly effective against a demon.

 

The guards lunged forward but with four arms she could block all their spears.

 

Nimue muttered something and her leg wound glowed before a radiant sword matching the demons impaled her tail leaving an identical injury. The demon screeched and spun, hacking off the head of one of the zombies, thankfully not the explosive one.

 

I ordered that one back, I couldn’t risk it detonating in such a closed space. I activated [Imbue Nightmare] on the demon causing it to stumble but I could feel that she was too powerful to be stunned for long. 

 

Nimue used the opportunity and swung but only managed a glancing blow as six swords quickly recovered. I used [Channel Death] again this time targeting one of her blades but the bolt whizzed by missing its mark.  

 

The woman swung around at nothing and I noticed Tiss who seemed to be speaking into her hand. Tiss might not have been able to stab things but she was very useful in a fight.

 

I lunged forward drawing my sword and channeling green flames along it. Even if she blocked my feeble attacks I hoped that her blades would be damaged.

 

I didn’t even make it close to her before my legs were swept out from under me by her tail and I smashed into the floor painfully. Melee really wasn’t my strong suit. Nimue thankfully seemed to be managing to hold her own despite being so overwhelmed.

 

Nimue just needed an opening. I used [Imbue Nightmare] again and ordered the three zombies to throw their spears. One spear missed, one bounced off her scales but one landed true, wedging itself into her tail. She howled and thrashed, Nimue’s sword glowed with radiant energy as she brought it across, slicing the demon's head clean off.

 

The demon crumpled to the ground as black blood oozed from its neck. We all didn’t move for a moment, even those who didn’t need to breathe were catching our breath. The zombies retrieved their spears and after glancing at Tiss, who was unharmed, I went to Nimue.

 

“Hold still,” I said as I began to stitch the wound closed on her leg using soul embers. It was a slow process especially because I needed to seal her skin back together even after it was sown. 

 

It took far longer than I would have liked and afterwards, she still had a few other injuries that needed to be repaired. It was far cheaper in soul embers than animating the dead but it took far too long to be used during a fight. I was just waiting for something else to jump out while I was working. If only I had another pair of hands… I glanced towards the demon, that was an option.

 

Tiss spent the whole time pacing and trying to figure out what was going on as I had Nimue hack off the demon’s smallest set of arms.

 

“Tiss,” I said, placing my hands on her shoulders to stop her moving. “We will figure this out, just try and not panic.”

 

“Ok, ok. I just don’t know how we are going to get out of here,” she sighed, deflating.

 

“As requested,” Nimue said, approaching and holding out the severed arms to me. She had cut them off along with a large chunk of muscle so hopefully, I could try and replicate the demon’s multi-arm anatomy on my own body. I didn’t know how well it would work but it had a lot of potential.

 

“Gross,” Tiss winced as a glop of blood oozed out.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't share her sentiment and caught myself licking my lips. Rotten bodies were revolting but after eating that guy and gaining [Flesh Eater] fresh bodies looked like potential dinner.

 

I took the arms from Nimue and sat down against the wall. As much as now wasn't a great time I didn't know what condition the arms would be in when I was done. I took my hat and cloak off and unwrapped the bindings around my chest. Nudity wasn't much of a concern right now.

 

I took one of the arms and placed it against my torso before pushing the muscle over to reach around me. The arm being red wasn't ideal but remembering how I had replaced my arm I wasn't too worried. Adjusting the height so the arm wouldn't be in the way of my other arms but also not too low I found a good stop at the bottom of my ribcage. Considering the anatomical strangeness of what I was about to do I really hoped that magic would sort everything out. The problem now was lining both arms up so they would be even.

 

“Tiss? Can you come hold the other arm?” I asked, glancing over at the kobold. 

 

Tiss jumped and looked away. “S-sure,” she replied and approached.

 

“Nimue you too, I need my hands free,” I added.

 

With Nimue and Tiss’ very flustered help I managed to get them to sit how I wanted so I could begin to sow. If repairing injuries took a long time this took ages. Stitching muscle to my flesh was weird but not really painful, just uncomfortable. The orange threat began to take hold, holding the arms to my body though they were simply dead weight. Tiss was surprisingly talkative while I worked, mostly trying to puzzle out how this trap worked.

 

“So the manor has a bunch of doors that open to somewhere else but it's not actually a different place geographically, that doesn't make any sense,” she puzzled.

 

“I know far less than you,” I replied as I ran my glowing fingers along the seam leaving unblemished smooth skin. The only difference was the change in colour and the slightly disproportionate limbs. I frowned, I was done, they were attached as well as they could be but they weren't part of me yet. “Nimue, can you chop off another arm,” I asked. Last time I attached a new limb I had to have a snack.

 

One swift chop later as I had said snack.

 

“I’m going to not watch this,” Tiss said before turning around as I dug in. Part of my mind knew this was revolting but subconsciously I very much enjoyed it despite logic. I tore away the skin and flesh easily and swallowed it down, the black blood had a strange tang to it and I only hoped that demons were not poisonous.

 

Pain suddenly flared through my torso as something shifted. “Fuck!” I winced as my abdomen cramped, except I had never had cramps like this before. I realized why as my muscles grew and shifted. The arms darkened and turned gray with pops and cracks. I clenched my jaw and squeezed my eyes shut as this change rippled through my new limbs until it finally stopped. When I opened my eyes I had two new arms that looked like they had always been there, like they hadn't been stolen from a demon.

 

I could feel from these new limbs but moving them was really weird. Like trying to move your hand once it's fallen asleep. Thankfully magic had seemed to be the solution and my torso looked unchanged beyond the arms emerging from the sides. I raised my new arms and gave myself a double-high five with significant effort. Still, once I mastered my new limbs they would be amazing.

 

“Oh!” Tiss exclaimed. “I just figured it out, we're in a painting!”