Chapter 291: Lobby Three

Kat and Lucia were staring at Rosalyn with a twin look of incredulity. Minnie was laughing her ass off, and Bren was taking notes.

“So, yeah, that’s why it took a bit to get up here. Sorry for worrying you, Kat.” Rosalyn said with a sigh, completing her recounting of the room below.

“So ye’ve got a pet giant ancient undead hound?” Kat asked for the third time.

“Yeah! She’s cute, in her own kinda way. Definitely seems like the loyal type. I can tell. Think she’s just been reeeeeally lonely.”

“Feck,” Kat muttered, dragging a hand over her scarred face, and taking a short walk off to try and figure out how to react.

“So, you found a journal here, too?” Ann asked Bren, shifting the conversation from Rosalyn’s undead taming.

“Indeed,” Bren said, holding up the bundle of stone tablets with his free hand. “Please translate as you are able to. The writing style seems to have grown more… unstable.”

Ann saw exactly what he meant as she opened the book. The angry text from the last book had been condensed, but the angry flourishes were still there. She began to read out loud.

“Alright, keeping more of these things because I guess some moron in the future might want to know.”

Bren looked up at Ann.

“What? It’s what it says!” Ann protested the silent accusation.

A wry chuckle from Bren told her that he’d been joking.

“SO, turns out I don’t just get shit like rocks and some cushions. I can do living things too! Kinda nuts! Figured it out when I was killing a deer for food. Just had a hunch and used my totally awesome superpowers on the thing. I just wanted to kill it, and holy fuck did it die, but mostly because I’d turned its chest inside out. Didn’t use magic to clean the thing. Didn’t want to mess it up more. Bitch of a job with how the bones were bent. Anyway, got that done, and started thinking while I was cooking. If I could do that, then what else could I do?”

“Dear Gods, he is an early and more powerful fleshshaper,” Bren gasped. “Obviously with a far broader range than just flesh, but the tenets are there. A grisly Path that is usually only bestowed or pursued by the less savoury or moral kind.”

Ann nodded. Sounded like a really nasty Path, even if used for good. “Seems like he’s got matter in general, which is waay crazier. Anyways, he continues.”

“So, I got to experimenting. It was fucking creepy the first few times, and I definitely ralphed, but I started to get the hang of it. With all of that, I was getting better at the stone stuff, and tried my next attempt at the apartment building. God, I miss the internet. Can’t text any of the bros to see if they’re alive.”

“Alright, there’s a break here. Think some time passed,” Ann said, turning to the next tablet.

“Jesus tapdancing Christ on a goddamn bicycle! I can make things!”

“Oh nae,” Kat groaned, coming back.

“So, I was messing around with the squirrels and I made a couple of them into a skunk! No clue how the fuck that happened, but I just kinda dumped magic into it and boom! A lot of blood and squeaking later, I had a skunk! I’ve got an idea. Wonder if I can do something for my girl, Daisy. Miss that pup. Good guard dog, let me tell you. Got kicked out of a couple apartments for her barking, but she kept shit away from me.”

“And another skip,” Ann muttered. She had the awful feeling of knowing where a story was going before getting there.

“So, uh, kinda freaking out. I tried. I really did, and she mostly came back… but not all the way right? Like her back legs are all sorts of fucked up. I tried fixing them but she kept yelping at me. I had to take that away. I couldn’t take it. I’ll give them back, Daisy. I promise. Just gotta fix you first.”

Ann noted another gap in this page. The next part ran onto the next tablet.

“I can’t do it! I can’t make her right! Her legs are just fucked! Not only that, I fucked up her other parts! I thought I could add a bear or something with more muscle because she might not have had enough for her legs? Now she’s bigger than I am! With massive arms and these terrifying claws and teeth! Fucking fuck this fucking shit! I’m trying, baby girl! I’m trying to help. You’re not alright, and I can do better. I can! Just gotta not look at her eyes. I can’t handle how much it looks like it hurts! I’d take it away if I could, baby. Just a little more and you’ll be alright. He should know how she wants to be, right? Maybe if I just help her get more magical, like some of the animals have been winding up, maybe that’ll work? Gonna try that tomorrow. Right now I just want to sleep. I hear her scratching at the door. Hear the dragging of her back legs on the carpet. It’s so loud.”

“By the Gods,” Minnie breathed. “He’s gone mad.”

“Yeah,” Ann nodded grimly. She didn’t want to keep reading, but they had to know if there was anything else. Daisy was now an absolutely pitiful existence that wrenched her heart. Anthony was fucking up and had no one there to call him out or help him out of the spiral. This was only going to get worse.

“She’s gone.” Ann almost closed the book right there. Still, she kept reading. “Daisy’s not herself anymore. I’ve made a monster. Me! Hah! I made my fucking dog a giant monster I can’t actually do anything to anymore! I don’t know what the hell I did but once I finished pushing magic into her, everything just stopped working! I couldn’t change how the muscles in her legs were attached. I couldn’t shrink her claws back down to a normal size, or fix the awful way her jaw’s set. Nothing works!

“I can’t handle it. I can’t. It’s too much, and I can’t stand her always looking for me. She’s always there. She always seems to know where I am. Even when I shut the door on her, I know she’s following where I am. I can’t stand how she greets me like a normal fucking dog.”

“I sank the building. I put it all underground with Daisy in it. That’s not my dog. I can’t even put her out of her misery. So I guess I just get to start all over again. Fucking” There was a gap where it looked like Anthony had lost his train of thought or lapsed into grief. “Gonna start all over. Build the building. Make it liveable. Make it good. Gonna go out and see if there’re other people anywhere. I’m all alone, and I don’t think that’s doing great things to me. Maybe I can make a hockey team!”

He signed it off with just a plain “Anthony Briggs”.

“We’re keepin’ Daisy,” Kat growled. “I don’t give a feck if we ‘ave tae blow open the mountain tae get ‘er out.”

Ann was in full agreement. Long term, maybe they couldn’t keep the hound, but there was no way they could leave the poor thing to this fate, abandoned by her old owner and creator.

“Aside from the grisly details, one thing interests me,” Bren mused. “He said that Daisy could not be broken or modified. He’d done something that rendered her completely stable. Especially with our impression of his capabilities, that is an incredible achievement. It also makes me reconsider what Daisy is. I do not think that she is undead, but deathless. A small, but important distinction. There are incredibly few creatures that I know of that fit this classification.”

“Yeah! Dragons are one of ‘em!” Rosalyn agreed excitedly. “Well, not really deathless, but they don’t die from natural causes. Dragons can technically live forever, but a lot of them bow out or are killed by other dragons in territory disputes or by other people if they become a problem. The near invulnerability might just mean it takes something on the level of a God to actually deal meaningful damage to Daisy. I wonder why she looks so sick, though? Same with her legs kinda rubbing off. Maybe her skin grows back, and she just pulls herself around enough that it doesn’t come back all the way? Maybe. Lucia put a hole in her skin, too, so I guess that’d work. I wonder if General Polaris or Remmi could hurt her?”

“I also don’t think Anthony really tried that hard to kill her,” Ann guessed. “She’s still his dog. It was literally driving him insane that he could still hear her. Even if it was horrible, he wanted to help her.”

“Sad,” Lucia nodded.

Ann cocked her head. “Really? Thought you weren’t big on attachments?”

“Not that. Daisy. Suffering avoided if can. Spoils meat, but also cruel. Should have killed her. His life worse. Her life much worse.”

Ann knew it was the hard truth, but it still hurt to hear. She hated Old Yeller, and this was definitely a parallel situation. It was always dogs in books that broke her the worst.

“I think the diseased stuff might actually just be living on her. Minnie, did any of that stuff look like cave gunk?” Rosalyn asked.

“Now that you’re pointing it out, yeah. A lot of that might have just been slime and some of the goopy plants. Can’t imagine her diet down here has been anything but weird spiders and underground creatures. If she even needs to eat, that is. Could explain the weirdly yellow drool. Wait, so she might just be a big, freaky dog under all of that?”

“That’s the idea.” Rosalyn shrugged. “I wanna save her. Maybe we can bring her back to Godrin’s cliff?”

“Shit, you make sure she’s safe around people, and I’ll adopt her myself. Could always use something to watch the shop at night,” Minnie laughed. “After we see if she can get cleaned up. As is, I don’t think she’d be allowed.”

“Alright,” Ann sighed. She was happy with the outcome. They couldn’t take Daisy with them on their adventures. Ann wouldn’t allow it. Even if she was nearly unkillable, the poor thing had been neglected and abused enough. She wanted her to have a nice rest of her life. “I’m good with that. Hope she’s not as much of a pain as my friend’s dog was when giving him a bath. Not sure we’ll survive.”

“Fer now, think we should focus on survivn’ these floors. Gonna need tae clear ‘em out if we want the claim, right?” Kat asked Minnie.

The woman nodded solemnly. “The more danger, the fewer groups might consider the risk worth it. If we can clear out this building and make sure that the second is clear without Daisy, then we’ll be fine.”

Kat scoffed. “Ye think anythin’ survived ‘avin’ a hound like tha’ in there? Dinnae think a mouse’d be safe.”

“Ghosts,” Lucia shrugged.

“Ghosts,” Bren nodded.

Kat heaved a huge sigh, theatrical enough it got a giggle from Ann. “Let’s figure out what’s wrong wit’ this level.”

Ann took a good look for the first time since they’d been yanked out of the floor. It was actually a pretty nice lobby now. The architecture had changed. The side reception had moved to the centre of the main floor’s back wall. Stairs led up from each side of the desk, spiralling up into the ceiling.

Not only that part was different. The rug was rich and plush. Moth-eaten now, considering how long it’d been down here, but the former quality was clear. Lavish embellishments Ann recognised as a poor man’s idea of wealth festooned the moulding and six columns that separated the main walkway from pods of couches and chairs. Everything sparkled in some way or another. Taking a closer look at one of the pillars, Ann realised that there were tiny versions of the light crystals mixed into the swirling patterns. It was honestly really pretty. Sure, the overuse was tacky, but a smaller application would be a gorgeous centrepiece for a room.

The doors were different as well. Before, they’d been one or another type of swinging door, either a bar handle or a knob. Now they were proper hotel doors, with a pushed carousel as well. The walls were lined with frames that once held paintings, all made of precious or glittery metals. Ann swore one was pyrite. Getting the flaky stuff to shape like this had to be magic.

Ding!

Ann’s head snapped towards the sound. The bell on the reception desk. It was brass, and plain, but clearly well-used.

No one was there to ring it.

“Ann?” Rosalyn said, nerves lilting her voice.

Ann followed her outstretched hand as she pointed at an empty frame, tatters of canvas still hanging in its corners.

A face. Gaunt and long dead. He regarded them with empty sockets and a rictus grin.

“Ghosts,” Ann breathed.

“Shite, more o’ ‘em!” Kat said, her voice low.

Ann noted two more in her field of vision, coming up from the floor or down from the ceiling. All human. All very dead. None of them spoke. All just watched.

“Guys, I hope you brought some anti-ghost weapons or whatever,” Minnie said with a nervous laugh.

“Does iron still work?” Ann asked, watching one of the ghosts pull itself from the wall, shoulders showing a strange deformation.

“Aye. Not like I’ve got any on me.”

“Shit, Bultrite work?”

“Nae.”

Shiiit. They had some salt, but they’d left it back in camp for cooking! Guess they’d have to run?

One ghost pulled completely free, revealing a very inhuman lower half. Where his legs were, they split off into two trunks of flesh that ended with thick nails still on the lumps. Each was lined with layers of toes, like shingles on a roof. Useless, now that he floated there, but if that’s what he’d been like, Ann felt a chill.

The others were similar. Parts of them were still human, but they’d been twisted. Not in the way that Warping usually tried to mash things together, though. Ann supposed Warping could do this, too, but she’d not run into it yet. Still, she knew who’d done this. Anthony.

“Welcome to the Granthony Hotel,” a voice chimed in, a cheery voice that did not match the ambience. “How may we harm you?”

Ann saw a man at the desk, dead like all of the others. His face was pulled into a permanent smile, his bones and cheeks pulled outward into cartoon grotesqueness. His eyebrows were similarly deformed, arching upward far further than they should. His look, otherwise, was immaculate. No hair and a trim suit gave him an official and important look. He waited for a moment as the party tried to figure out how to respond, then slapped the bell next to him.

“Welcome to the Granthony Hotel!” His voice was even happier. “How may we HARM you?”

Ann felt her ears flatten back. The other ghosts were approaching them. None were making a move, but she started edging towards the stairs. Up was their way to the minerals. Up was proof. Then they could fucking leave.

DING DING DOOOOONG!

“WELCOME TO THE GRANTHONY HOTEL! HOW MAY WE HAAAAAARM YOOOOU!” the attendant screamed, his voice distorting into a deep rumble.

“Feckin’ RUN!” Kat yelled.

Minnie was the first to the stairs, grabbing onto the railing and launching herself upwards.

Ann was right behind her. As she made her approach, the receptionist’s arm pulled up from behind the counter, showing an elongated limb that split in two, with two hands at the end of each branch. The four hands grabbed at Ann as she ducked under them and tried to strike. Her hit made some kind of contact, but it was like hitting a spider web. There was token resistance, but she still punched through the ghostly limb. She’d try a smite next time, if she could. Right now she needed to make sure nothing surprised Minnie.

The others were right behind her. Boots hit the stairs hard as everyone ran for their lives.

“FLOORS TWO AND THREE FOR LONG TERM GUESTS!” the man continued to scream. “FLOORS FOUR AND FIVE FOR OUR SEEEEASONAL GUESTS! SIX AND SEVEN FOR THE SHORTEST STAYS! EIGHT AND NINE ARE FOOOORBIDDEN! THE MASTER CLAIMS HIS OWN DOMAIN!”

Ann’s hands shook as she made it to the second floor. The little bell’s massive bongs still rang from below as she and Minnie came to a stop on the second-floor landing. Instead of the dingy normal stairwell, this had seating, decorations, and lighting before opening up into the hallway for rooms. No doors to keep things out here.

“Fuck, do we check the rooms?” Ann asked. “Kat? Do we check the rooms?”

“These…” Another massive bong drowned her out. “THEY’RE NOT FOLLOWIN’ US FAST! WE GOTTA CHECK ‘EM!”

“SHIT!” Ann yelled back. “Alright, fuck, follow me, I guess?”

Minnie nodded, falling back behind Ann as Bren and Rosalyn crested the landing.

Ann ran to the first door and yanked at the handle.

It opened easily.