In the center of the ruins of the ancient city of Belphegis, there stood a lone door. Astral projecting, Gene flew through the city, surveying the place for signs of life and in search of a path to the looming structure. Wild chimerae roamed the grounds in packs, each a strange twisted mash up of various creatures. Even in his astral form, Gene felt disturbed when he came too close to a many-eyed and many-limbed monstrosities. Their minds felt like vacuums, drawing in and distorting his senses as he reached out with his thoughts. Their eyes were vacant, devoid of consciousness but there was something there, searching.

  When a chimera suddenly turned its dozen eyes in his direction, Gene drew back into his body and jumped up with a start.

  “Chimerae, in all different shapes, sizes, and configurations,” said Gene. He tried to catch his breath as he stared at the ground in disbelief before saying, “I–I think one of them saw me.”

  The group looked at each other, stunned to silence before Eonis said, “I…don’t know what to do with that information. Some sort of soul sense, maybe? Do we vote again?”

  “No votes!” exclaimed Gene as he jumped to his feet. “We go and just avoid the freaky creatures for now. We can deal with them post dungeon.”

  He searched for any enthusiasm and from the looks of everyone’s faces, he felt like he’d just set the party up with the New Venturis version of a root canal appointment. He huffed, “Don’t pout! Let me enjoy this moment. I’ve been itching to test my metal in a real dungeon. Let’s clear this place out!”

  With stealth and cunning, they avoided the chimera sentries that skulked the ruins. Gene tried and failed to distract them with illusions but with Eonis’s new power, vine walls sprang to life. Creeping vines shielded them, hiding both their appearances and life forces. At the grand doors of the dungeon, they paused to take it in the gate and everyone tensed up.

  Occult etchings covered a pair of massive steel doors with runic writing tracing the frame. Gene froze for a moment. In the back of his mind there was a minor flash of recognition. Winnie’s thoughts filtered through their combined mental connection as she read the runes.

  “Here lies the lab of the Alchemist Cirel Dredaw,” she thought. “Enter these gates to learn the truth.”

  Gene hesitated. An eerie feeling pervaded his mind. Kyrie noticed something was wrong and walked over to place a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Gene looked back and took a deep breath.

  He gave a thumbs up and said, “Let’s do this!”

  Gene approached the door with tentative steps to the mild confusion of everyone gathered. When he touched the doors, they gave way and the ground shook violently. The doors swung open slowly and the pounding of many legged and many hoofed feet rang out around them. With no other option, they raced into the gate and began the trial of Cirel Dredaw.

  ?

  Within the dungeon of Cirel Dredaw, Silvayn had been fighting desperately for weeks. How many weeks was a harsh debate had by the group that often ended in useless squabbling. Gene realizes he’s only good with puzzles at a game table when the dm is giving hints and there are dice to roll. When faced with his own knowledge limits, Gene is dismayed to realize he’s not as smart as he thought.

  “This isn’t like the dungeons I had in mind,” said Gene sheepishly when the team had finished crawling out of a massive alembic, their clothing singed with acid burns.

  No one looked at him then, knowing that was only the start of their worsening trials. Tilting floors with sudoku-like tiles that required them to recreate the periodic table of elemental magic, platform puzzles that forced Kyra to expend all of her charges of holy strength to reconfigure, lensing riddles in rooms that would give MC Escher a migraine, and chimeras. Chimeras filled every room, acting as obstacles just to disrupt puzzle progression and annoy the party.

  Worst of all, they proved resistant to Gene’s telepathic assault. They were living scar tissue, minds unassailable to his power. He was left improvising new power stunts to avoid being dead weight. One week, he borrowed one of Kyrie’s swords and his knowledge of how to use it, relying on brute force as the two of them conducted a brutal ballet to bisect a creature with too many arms. The next week, he worked with Winnie, Kyra, and Eonis to combine their knowledge of the natural and unnatural worlds to solve a metaphysical puzzle before a chimera tried to bite his arm off. That time, Amara saved his life, blowing through her mana reservoir and fainting when she turned her attention to Gene and blocked a fatal blow with the last of her mana.

  At the end of the third week, Amara had earned 4 levels and the others earned 1 each. Sitting around their makeshift campfire, the team tended to their wounds accrued by the day, both physical and mental, and celebrated their hard won experience. Gene felt a twinge of envy seeing all of the others cheering on Amara.

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  He suppressed the feeling and decided to take a shot at testing out telekinesis. He sat alone with his legs folded and focused his thoughts. Before with his other power stunts, it was easy to handle the cognitive load of producing a branching effect from his telepathy.

  For telekinesis, he needed to visualize what that felt like. He turned inward, searching his memories of comic book characters with the power. He found himself drawn into his own mental library but rather than a grand and organized structure, Gene’s mind was a cramped comic book shop.

  He was embarrassed to find stacked boxes upon boxes of books. He approached and flipped one open to find a long forgotten memory of when he tried to cut his own hair in the 5th grade and discovered a new geometric shape. He tore the pages up without a second thought or consideration for what it would do to his mind. When his mind didn’t collapse, he smiled to himself, feeling victorious.

  He forged ahead in search of his media memories and focused on what he was looking for. The room seemed to expand as a table emerged from the ground. On top of it, 10 boxes appeared with the label “Pull List” on the side of it. With an unconscious thought, he pulled a chair from thin air and began to read.

  He flipped through scores of pages depicting the power in various colors, configurations, and strengths. One moment, it was delicate enough to pick up a penny, the next it was a brute force that could lift a falling tower. To him, it seemed the power to enforce your will not just on the mind but on the body as well. When he felt like he had a clear picture of how it would work, Gene exited his mind space and focused his thoughts. He opened his eyes and stared at the mug on the ground below him. He thought about it moving, about his thoughts forcing it to move, and then he reached out with his mind.

  Hero System Notification: You have used a Power Stunt to activate Telekinesis 9. You are now Fatigued…

  Gene’s shoulders slumped when the Hero System spoke but he had long since gotten used to the sensation. He was focused on the new one. The mug rose into the air, held aloft on imperceptible psionic energy, and the others turned to look at him.

  “Ah! You’re moving stuff like I do!” gasped Amara.

  “Similar,” said Gene with a smile, moving the mug towards her. He moved to join the group and Amara plucked the mug from the air before he continued, “Let me tell you a story about a fantastic team of four and the woman who’s the strongest of them all.”

  That night at the fire, Gene regaled them with stories from the Fantastic Four comics, projecting illusory scenes to enhance the experience. The tension eased that night and sleep came easy for the tired adventurers. Without the need for sleep, Gene spent the rest of the night practicing telekinesis and brainstorming power stunts in preparation for the day.

  ?

  In the fourth week, Gene’s telekinetic techniques improved rapidly. He tweaked the power with every stunt, making adjustments to the power to blast areas and increase the amount of weight he could wield. After clearing a room of chimerae by dropping a massive pillar on them, he began to ponder how to reconfigure his current powers to include telekinesis.

  With a sigh of satisfaction, Gene walked over to Winnie where she worked hard to decode the multi-layered arcane puzzle that locked the room. She was frustration incarnate, fumbling over lines of magic and cursing loudly when she failed and had to pull away before the magic devoured her hands. She jumped back and screamed, startling the others before she walked over to Kyra in defeat, requesting healing for her hands.

  He smiled and tried to lighten the mood, putting his hands on his hips, asking, “Winnie, do you know anything else about Cirel? I’m trying to figure out if we can find an angle on his puzzles or gain an edge in some way. Like was he obsessed with the number four and now all of his puzzles are multiples of fours.”

  Winnie groaned in reply. She gave Kyra a small thanks before returning to her work and saying, “I only know what we’ve recovered so far in the dungeon, that the mad alchemist bathed in the blood of his enemies, wore forbidden armor, and commanded a dread golem.”

  Gene frowned and watched the tiny woman work before asking, “Liris gave up a secret for an answer right? Could I ask the Keep–”

  “Don’t!” Winnie’s thoughts screamed loudly through their mental connection, cutting Gene off to his surprise. “Don’t say its name and don’t offer anything to it.”

  She stopped to stare at Gene and he froze in shock before she thought, “When it comes to the Keeper of Secrets and you, I will broker the deals. With everything that’s happened, I’m in an imbalanced pact. The Aeon wants more than it can provide for what it asks.”

  Only Winnie knew what she meant but the weight of her thoughts beared down on them all. She was frightened and the fear stiffened her hands as she failed to decode the locks again. She slammed her hands on the wall in frustration.

  “I need to take a break,” she said before walking away.

  Gene watched her go but before he could think of following, Eonis was on his feet in pursuit.

  “Give her some time,” said Kyra. “This is a problem of magic and proficiency. I fear Winnie has yet to encounter such a challenge.”

  “The dungeon?” asked Gene.

  “Balora,” replied Kyra. “This puzzle is but a minor nuisance but what’s waiting for her in Balora will test her craft in unimaginable ways.”

  Gene looked toward where Winnie and Eonis departed and his heart sank. He knew things were tense but he had no basis for just how tormented Winnie felt. He began to feel guilty about the dungeon. Sure, she needed to claim the relics within but truthfully, he hadn’t been focused on that when they entered. He just wanted a fun distraction away from the warzone they had been embroiled in.