“Oh, you look… Um good,” Tiss said when she saw me. Apparently completely distracted from her revelation.

 

“Do I?” I asked with a smirk. I couldn't help but tease her a little. Either she had a thing for four arms or I had been a little too distracted to notice her metaphorical drooling previously.

 

“Anyway,” she said loudly, turning bright pink. “I think we're in a painting that's connected to other paintings.”

 

“How does that work?” I asked, grabbing my clothes.

 

“I… I don't know, but it's like we are opening the back door to pocket dimensions of some kind.”

 

“Like a movie set, the front is an illusion,” I nodded.

 

“I don't know what that is but maybe,” she replied.

 

I sighed, unable to properly wrap my chest with the position of my new arms. I had overlooked that and unless I wanted to remain topless 24/7 then I was just going to have to live with it digging into my skin until I found a bin or something to hold it differently. “Wait, if these paintings are pocket dimensions… what about the creatures inside them?” I asked nervously.

 

“The demon,” Tiss gasped. “He's collecting living things.”

 

“Fuck,” I muttered.  “So how do we get out here then?”

 

“We go through the painting,” Tiss said. “If it's some kind of liminal space we break through the other side.”

 

“Plains or mountains?” I asked.

 

“I’m scared to find out what's in them,” Tiss sucked in a breath.

 

“Well, the demon came out of one, it's theoretically empty,” I reminded.

 

“What about the room of paintings?” Tiss frowned.

 

“I don't know,” I groaned. Magic puzzles were not my forte. “How do we even break through them?”

 

“Explosions?” Tiss asked, looking back at the zombies.

 

“Will that work?” I asked.

 

“No idea.”

 

“Well, it’s worth a shot,” I sighed.

 

I walked over to the first door and opened it fully. It hadn't changed. It was still a blank room with paintings on the walls. Knowing that this manor was full of tricks I was hesitant to enter but this room felt like the odd one out. But what choice did we have? 

 

Before Tiss could stop me I entered but kept the door open. The paintings all seemed like generic paintings of scenery though they looked far worse than any I had seen before. I glanced back at Tiss to relay what was in this room when suddenly the painting flew off the shelf and wrapped around me, tackling me to the floor. “What the—”

 

“Mimics!” Tiss yelped as the other paintings seemed to peel off the wall as mouths and eyes appeared on them.

 

Something sharp dug into me and I winced. I activated [Imbue Nightmare] and the mimic wrapped around me screeched. It released me and scampered back before shrinking and changing until it blended in with the wall as it quivered. Seeing this the other mimics paused.

 

This wasn't a trap, the mimics were prisoners here just as much as the demon was. They just happened to mimic what was around them. Just as the mimics began to advance again I activated [Channel Death]. All four of my hands glowed with green flame sending the mimics scurrying away. They were ambush predators and I was the scarier thing in the room.

 

I slowly backed out of the room, keeping my fiery hands up between me and them. As soon as I was out Tiss slammed the door as I dismissed the flame.

 

“Oh gods,” Tiss sighed with relief pulling me into a hug.

 

“I’m fine,” I told her and tried to use my bottom arms to hug her back but they just kind of slapped at her. Fine motor skills were something that would take some time.

 

“I apologize, I should have gone first,” Nimue said, seeming conflicted.

 

“Don't worry about it,” I replied. “It was actually quite informative. Despite what the paintings might show that room was only so big, which makes me think—”

 

“It's actually much smaller than it looks,” Tiss finished and I nodded.

 

“So we go into the door the demon came from and blow our way out,” I said. No sooner had the words left my mouth than the five other doors swung open simultaneously. “Run! Someone doesn’t want us getting out of here!” I yelled and took off towards the end of the hall with the demon’s door.

 

A large tiger emerged from the mountain room, it took me a second to realize that the reason it looked wrong was the fact it had a person's face and a large tail of quills. Whatever that was, I didn't want to spend time trying to figure it out. Out of another door was something that couldn't be called anything other than some kind of raptor dinosaur. I really hated this place.

 

I scurried by, blasting a moving scarecrow that emerged from the plains with a bolt of green flames before wrenching open the demon’s door.

 

“Go, go, go!” I yelled as Tiss scurried by, followed by Nimue and the two guard zombies. Unfortunately, the explosive zombie who had been ordered to keep its distance from us was tackled by the lion with a human face just as dozens of vines burst out of the door across from it.

 

Detonate

 

The resulting explosion knocked me off my feet into the demon’s room as the hallway was engulfed in a fiery blast.

 

[Level Up!]

 

I hopped to my feet and slammed the door, taking a deep breath and smothering out a bit of my hair that was smoking. 

 

“Wow,” Tiss laughed. “I levelled up from that.”

 

“Me too,” I laughed as I looked around. My laugh immediately stopped. Endless rolling gray and red hills stretched beneath endless black clouds. It was a terrifying sight and If I didn't know it wasn't real I would probably be losing my shit by now. “How the hell do we get out of here?”

 

“I… I don't know,” Tiss frowned.

 

“Nimue, look for an invisible border of some kind,” I said before checking my options of skills. I took my time, looking for something that would get us out of here. However, only one skill had the possibility to interact with pocket dimensions, it was also something I had been wanting for a very long time.

 

[Return to the Grave] 

Allows you to command your undead to burrow into the ground and become stored away in a pocket dimension exclusive for your undead. Any undead in this pocket dimension can be summoned as long as there is ground for them to burrow out of and you can see the location.

 

I laughed, finally, finally, I could have undead anywhere at a moment's notice. If I could somehow see outside of this painting then maybe I could get us out. It was that or blow up a zombie and hope it could get us out however if creatures were trapped in here then probably not.

 

“Morgan!” Nimue called. “There seems to be a border here.”

 

I glanced over to see Nimue standing with her hand out at what must be the border of the painting. So it really was just a cell that was disguised to look bigger.

 

“Can you cut through it with your sword?” I asked. It was worth a try.

 

Nimue drew her sword, it glowed with holy energy as she swung it at the barrier. It skidded across the invisible wall but nothing happened.

 

“I don't know if an explosion will do it,” Tiss sighed.

 

“We might not need that,” I grinned as I looked carefully along the border. “If we are in the painting then this wall is the glass that covers it but since it's a painting, it won't be perfect.”

 

“Here!” I said, pointing to a spot that didn't look quite right. There was a speck down almost at ground level. A speck that didn't seem to fit into space, a speck of the world outside.

 

“Nimue, I can get you out of here I think but you need to break through the glass so we can leave,” I explained.

 

Nimue nodded.

 

“Right well… start digging,” I trailed off and activated [Return to the Grave].

 

Nimue hesitated a moment before doing so. She didn't dig, she burrowed, leaving no tunnel behind her. She dug with surprising speed as she practically sank into the earth head first until she was gone.

 

“That's new,” Tiss commented at my side and I nodded.

 

I reached out mentally, still thankfully able to reach her with [Call of the Mistress]. I peered through the tiny gap and called upon Nimue to arrive there. All I could see was a fleck of stone and I only hoped we were on the ground floor.

 

I stood back up nervously and Tiss wrapped an arm around me. The seconds seemed to tick by and I was becoming increasingly agitated. As long as I could reach Nimue with [Call of the Mistress] then I could bring her to me but that would just put us in the situation we had been in. worst-case scenario, assuming I could get her out but not us then she could go get Ruba and Jackal but that seemed like a bad idea. They wouldn't really be able to help.

 

A deafening crash suddenly erupted around us and the sky and barrier fell away revealing the real world beyond. Nimue stood there covered in dirt with her sword out and a grin on her face.

 

“Yes!” I cheered and urged Tiss forward. We all spilled out of the small painting growing and stretching back to our normal proportions as we tumbled onto the floor of the entry room. There was now a large tile shoved over to the side revealing the earth beneath, Nimue had had to break through the floor.

 

“You did it!” Tiss grinned.

 

“We did, I wouldn’t have known what problem needed to be solved without you,” I replied. “And without Nimue, we wouldn’t have been able to break free.”

 

“I am more than happy to be of assistance however I really did not like that place,” Nimue replied with a frown.

 

Before I could respond I noticed the large painting of Lord Kruller was glaring at us with a scowl. I wondered… if we could be in the paintings then…

 

I activated [Corpse Explosion] on the two zombies. “Break through the glass of that painting and then detonate,” I told them.

 

Keuller’s eyes went wide as the zombies charged towards him. “Get down!” I ordered and grabbed Tiss, pulling her tightly against me as a deafening explosion shook the room. A scream of agony pierced through as the shockwave reached us. Thankfully two small explosions were far more targeted than the zombie who had the time to grow to full strength.

 

As the dust settled and I pulled us to our feet in the rubble I couldn’t help but laugh. Windows were shattered, tapestries burning. The carpet was entirely on fire. I could see Kuller’s corpse lying on the stairs smouldering, it was delightful.

 

It only then occurred to me that the ensuing fire would probably kill everything trapped in paintings unless we acted fast. Also, I wanted Kuller as a zombie, his ability to make pocket dimensions would be infinitely useful.

 

“Tiss, Nimue, grab the paintings!” I yelled rushing forward towards the stairs.

 

“Morgan!” Tiss yelled.

 

I had a really bad track record with fires. Why had I taken the thing that would give me explosives? I cursed myself as I ran up the stairs right beside the railing where the carpet didn’t reach.

 

I raised my hand channeling soul embers into Lord Kruller’s corpse. It lurched upwards only partially on fire. “Jump over the balcony!” I yelled at it. The jump was more of a flop but the result was more or less the same as it crashed into the non-flaming floor below.

 

“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” I hissed as I hurried away, the flames licking at me.

 

Nimue had her arms full of paintings, piling them up as she ran around. Tiss was having far less success but in the end, before the smoke got too bad we were hurrying out with all the paintings, I just hoped there weren’t others elsewhere.

 

The manor may have been built with stone but it was full of flammable things. It would not survive the coming fire and people would surely notice. Though I wasn’t sure if that mattered that much. Someone would surely be dispatched to Llyne to inform them but they could be intercepted.

 

For now, at least we needed to get the hell out of there. We made our way towards our little camp as quickly as we could, granted with so many paintings it wasn’t particularly quick. Ruba was fast asleep underneath the large webbed cocoon. A cocoon far larger than it had been the last time we had seen it.

 

“What do we do with the paintings?” Tiss asked as she put them down.

 

“Keep whatever beasts are there, they will be useful as minions. The people can make their choices when the town does,” I said.

 

“Oh… ok,” she replied.

 

Tiss and I were opposites in a way. She was an idealist, she wanted things to be better but didn’t necessarily understand the horrors that would go into that. Destroying things was the easy part rebuilding was the hard part and I wasn’t sure Tiss understood that. 

 

Things were only going to get messier from here, people were worth more to me dead than alive and messages would need to be sent. Collateral damage would be inevitable and atrocities would be committed.

 

Tiss would rein me in but this would be war and war was never a good thing. You cannot be victorious if the vanquished do not consider themselves so. Sloffanil had to be brought to its knees before anything could be done and I hoped Tiss had the stomach for it.

 

For now, I had an invasion to prepare. The resources from this village would be our starting point in the Wildlands so I could not afford to make mistakes. I had plenty of soul embers, plenty of bodies in the graveyard and plenty of imagination.