After I met with Shau I was able to head to the Dungeon to see how Mutnep was doing and to discuss letting others know of her existence. I had planned to do so the day before but was too busy to do so. I again took my squire with me to the dungeon mound, leaving him near the entrance while I went below.
“Welcome Amondo is Rachana not with you today.”, said the voice of Mutnep that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere in the small room between the two doors where the dungeon had first scanned him over a week ago.
“Not today, if she came we would have had to take Elean or another servant with us and in that case, I am unsure how effective your illusion would be.”
“As I said before I cannot guarantee that they would work but I believe it to be the case, perhaps if you were to experience them for yourself you would be reassured.”
“That sounds like a good idea, do you need any time to prepare.”
“No you have already seen what is beyond the second door but I would ask that you try your best to forget it and see whether or not you can believe what you will now see in its place.”
With that, the second door in the small room opened and where once there was a downward sloping ramp now was a small ledge and beyond it a huge gaping hole in the ground more than five metres in circumference with a long plank of wood the only way across it. It looked as real as anything he had ever seen before and even though he knew that wasn’t the case he still feared what might happen if that plank of wood was to break as he was crossing it. It took all of his courage to make use of that plank to cross the hole and once he did so the hole and the plank vanished and was replaced by the downward facing slope that had been there on his previous visits.
“So what did you think of that?”
“Impressive at the time it seemed so real that even though I knew it was not I acted as if it were.”
“Do not worry I need not make so impressive an illusion and keeping things hidden is easier than making them appear.”
“Can you show different people different things in the same place at the same time?”
“No I cannot I am afraid but I can make someone think others are still with them while they have gone elsewhere.”
“Can your illusion of say me carry on a conversation with them without them recognising something is off?”
“That is where things get complicated I am afraid, the more information I know about both sides of the conversation the better.”
“Then perhaps it is better for me and Rachana to bring with us someone whom we plan to tell the secret of your existence the next time we visit here together instead of someone I want to be kept in the dark.”
“That might be a good idea but if you do so then please pick them wisely and I must ask you to wait until I have scanned them before actually divulging the secret.”
“I wasn’t planning to do otherwise, now while you say you are a magical construct if you can create an illusionary copy of a real person to fool another do you have an illusionary image that you can appear as so that I can interact with it instead of just simply a voice coming from the ether?”
“I was programmed with several that I was allowed to choose from when I was first powered up but beware it isn’t that of a human or any other race know to exist but rather a made-up one. With that I’m mind do you wish me to make use of it to interact with you and anyone else you let into the secret?”
“That seems like a good idea, don’t you think but best to witness it for myself before coming to a final decision I think.”
“That’s probably for the best, my illusionary self will be appearing in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
Once the voice reached one an image of a being quite unlike any he had ever seen before materialised in front of him. In some ways, it looked a lot like an elven female especially when it came to the ears but it was slightly smaller than most elf’s, had one less digit in each hand, there were no sign of breasts on her torso and the pupils of her eyes looked like those of goats.
“You look highly unusual but not like something I imagine we cannot get used to knowing. How are things progressing with the conduits are you ready to make use of my wards ring yet.”
“I have run into some minor unexpected difficulties but nothing I cannot fix given more time. I had hoped to be ready by tomorrow, but it will I think take four or five more days to get everything ready so just to be on the safe side return seven days from now and we will attempt it then. If you plan to bring anyone else other than Rachana with you then please limit it to only one other, for the time being at least.”
“I will return in a week then but before I leave I have several questions I would like to ask you.”
“I will attempt to answer any question you might have for me but beware you might not like my answer and while my databank covers a wide range of information it is not all-encompassing and was last updated a few months before the portals closed.”
“I will bear these points in mind, now for my first question how long has it been since the homeworld was destroyed and the portals closed?”
“It has been two thousand three hundred and fifty-five years, three months and eight of this planet’s days since that time.”
“For the most part most humans on Cundus worship the same gods and goddesses, was that the same on the homeworld?”
“By the time we fled that was the case, there was some variation in how they were worshipped and others didn’t believe in the Gods and Goddesses. That is not to say that others weren’t worshipped earlier in history.”
“In that case what can you tell me about Kashca and Prowdr?”
“Sorry I cannot find any mention of any kind of religious figure by those names in my databank, cross-referencing, data found. Gods by those names feature in a series of books by the Author Kreigor Maljor.”
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