A Salamander, but Mighty

POV: Tamara

She had continued to run even when the only sounds that reached her ears were the rhythmic and peaceful dripping of the dungeon, which with its pools of luminous water, its mosses and mushrooms was very reminiscent of a serene and peaceful landscape; she began to progressively slow down and a few meters later she had completely stopped in front of one of the many luminous pools.

I attacked first, maybe I shouldn't have? She couldn't help but ask herself. Now that she was no longer focused on escape, the pain in her head was starting to feel like an annoying, hot throbbing, it hurts… everything hurts…

It wasn't the first time she had been hurt, there had already been times it had ended worse than this, it didn't change the fact that she was just a girl, a simple, normal girl who had had a very, very bad day . She looked around for Velen's reassuring presence or perhaps to try to get Luchael's attention to play a tune on his mandolin, but there was no one around her.

Tamara was alone, alone and abandoned in a fold in time and space.

Luchael will come get me, I just have to hold on.

But what if he doesn’t?

Tamara shook her head and squinted to push the intrusive thought out of her mind. Near her there was a puddle of bright water, ideal for drinking a few sips of water and clearing her head after that bad encounter with the trio of adventurers.

She brought her muzzle closer, opening her mouth and dipping the tip into the luminous substance; it was refreshing, slightly sweet - even if you couldn't define it as sugary - and already that very human gesture was helping to cheer her up... at least until she opened her eyes and noticed her reflection slightly blurred by the bright water.

What a horrid face, there's nothing left of me at all.

She stopped drinking and raised her head, bent her neck to admire herself in that reflection of light: the blood of the rodamuse she had killed was still on her black muzzle, the blood of the dead monsters had mixed with her own, which had fallen from the wound caused by the human on her head. Eyes as black as the abyss looked back at her.

Tamara clenched her jaw, sadness, anger and desperation mixing inside her heart in a strange mixture that exploded all together in a single moment.

“AAAAARGHHH!!!!!” She screamed as she planted her paws in the glowing water and slapped it around, creating bright splashes around her until she could take a few deep breaths and stop her body from whatever unreasonable and dangerous thing it was doing.

Stop! Stop, damn it! They might hear me!

And what if they hear me? Is killing me any worse than this??

She knew she shouldn't think that way, her family wouldn't want to hear her give up, it was also true that Tamara doubted they would want to see her live like some kind of big lizard hated by everyone.

I can't continue like this, I can't even talk to anyone except Velen...

Exhausted both physically and mentally, Tamara collapsed near the pond. The dungeon wasn't really so dangerous that she could never let her guard down, sure, groups were still dangerous, but single targets had quickly become the perfect target for her ambushes and not a real threat.

What if I could get a better body?

The hynarl she had faced the day she was separated from Luchael had a vaguely humanoid shape, from what she understood, the monsters' bodies developed based on the chosen Feats. Maybe Tamara would have been able to gain a more human form if she leveled up further? If some sort of hyena monster had done it, why not her?

Yes, but how much further should she have to level up? How many monsters would she still have to kill? Just thinking about the taste of monster blood in her mouth and the rubberiness of their raw flesh was enough to make her stomach twist. Those were operations that she could do more easily when she “activated the autopilot" and began to perform basic functions such as walking and attacking monsters almost without thinking.

An [Opposable Thumbs] Feat wouldn't be bad, for starters.

She tried to focus on something productive rather than risk having another mental breakdown and increasing the risk of receiving unwanted attention, she remembered that she had leveled up just before meeting the three adventurers.

“Status,” she said softly.

___

[Tamara Parker][Salmadrer][Monster (lv.9)]

[Health: 21/80 (70)][Mana: 4/50 (40)][XP: 1785/2570]

[TRAITS MODIFIERS]

Well Fed

[TRAITS]

[2 points to place]

► Dexterity: 12 (14)

► Faith: 6 (8)

► Knowledge: 8 (10)

► Resilience: 14 (16)

► Speed: 11 (13)

► Strenght: 11 (13)

[FEATS]

► Acid Spit 1

► Greater Reach I

► Growth (Lesser) I

► Improved Reach I

► Scale Armor (Lesser) I

► Scratch I

___

Umm??

Tamara noticed something strange about her status: why did her health points increase instead of decreasing? She had been hit on the head, and with a certain force too, she should be on the verge of staggering in pain again... but no, her health points had increased, and her mana points had remained unchanged even if she spent them all for melting that ax handle.

Now that she thought about it, the wound on her head hurt less too.

She took a look around and noticed that the wounds on the rest of her body had also reduced, the suspicion she had was legitimate, so she tried again to throw water on herself, doing everything she could to get it everywhere and give herself a good wash: not only was the blood on her washed away, but her condition also improved further, bringing her health points back to 30 and her mana to 8.

“Velen? Is it normal for the water in the dungeon to heal me?” She asked aloud.

Frustration and desperation began to boil again and threaten to explode again from the recesses of her mind. Tamara began to breathe in and out deeply, she had to stay calm and continue to think logically, or she wouldn't make it out alive. She distributed the two points on Strength and moved on.

The water must have healing effects, if you think about it it makes sense, otherwise the monsters in the dungeons wouldn't have time to heal from their wounds before being attacked by the adventurers again the next day or an hour after, she thought trying to concentrate on the task at hand hand rather than on something that, at least in the short term, could not change.

Tamara tried bathing in the luminous water again, until it became clear that she was no longer getting any benefit even though her health and mana bar had not filled. To be precise, both bars were filled exactly halfway.

There's probably a daily limit to how many times a monster can heal itself with this water, or maybe there's a limit to using the same pool? She asked herself mentally.

That wasn't a problem since Sleepy Swamp was dotted with similar bodies of water practically everywhere; Tamara had to walk for just ten minutes before finding another pool large enough to accommodate her. She immersed herself in it, but without getting anything, not even a signal from the System with a countdown warning her when it would be possible for her to be treated again.

Note to self: try again tomorrow. She concluded to herself.

It's really true that not being hungry, being clean and not feeling pain are good for the psyche: Tamara felt regenerated, the problems that were bothering her were still present, but at that moment her stress level was low enough to make them manageable. Her large, completely black eyes observed the meanders of the dungeon, she was lost in it and every direction seemed identical to her, yet she seemed to be able to instinctively sense that her distance from the dungeon's exit had increased.

Now that she was thinking about it – and she was doing everything she could to not allow her intrusive thoughts to prevail –, how far was the dungeon? Did it expand infinitely in every direction? Was it on multiple floors? Was there any limit? Not being physically below Stanbroodge it was not possible to guess its width or shape by imagining the geography of the surface.

While I'm in here, I might as well explore it, she thought, excluding from her thoughts the fact that she wanted to put more distance between herself and the adventurers sent there by the Guild, and therefore, it would be harder for Luchael to find her, if he was even interested in looking for her at all.

He probably has already found a nice replacement for me, maybe this time it's even a real person.

...Shut up. Shut. Up.

Tamara began walking willingly towards the deeper parts of the dungeon, there, she would have time to level up further and ensure that the adventurers would have a chance to bitterly regret trying to kill her the next time they encountered her.