Chapter 91: Forbidden Insight

Standing at the base of the stone pit that had been strewn with the gorey evidence of Porkchop’s battle with the Cystic Failure, Kaius stood at the edge of a particularly large pool of viscera and bile.

The pooling fluid in his boots from cutting open the corpse of the monster had been forgotten, his focus on the artefact that Porkchop had spotted in the mess.

Kaius grinned as he looked at the grey leather satchel that had flown free from the corpse of the Champion, the bile that had spilled free from the chest of the oversized teratoma giving the artefact a wide berth.

“Thank the gods it had some kind of cleanliness enchantment, eh?” He said, leaning forward to hook the point of his blade through the carry handle of the bag. He moved carefully, not wanting to slip into the puddle as he pulled back from his stretch.

“Check it up stairs?” Kaius asked, looking over to Porkchop. “It stinks down here.”

“Yes please.”Porkchop replied, eager to get away from the caustic scent of biowaste, alchemy and bile.

Taking a moment to clean his blade and return it to its sheath, Kaius led the way up the stairs. Taking the steps two at a time, his eyes kept drifting to the bag he held, finding it difficult to resist simply identifying the artefact that he had found. He didn’t though, it would be unsporting to take a peak without waiting for Porkchop to be ready.

That said, hedidwonder what there was to the artefact. In his heart of hearts he hoped it was a spatial bag, though he knew that even if somethingwasleaning on the scales for them that was highly unlikely. They were rare finds in the Depths, something that even experienced delvers who explored far deeper than layer two would be lucky to get at all. Yet if somethingwasshifting their drops in their favour, what else could it be? He could think of no other artefact in the shape of a bag that would actually prove useful for them.

Reaching the top of the staircase, Kaius rushed onto the wide stone gangway that lined the edge of the massive pit. He took a seat, patting the ground insistently for Porkchop to join him.

“Ready to find out what it is?” He asked, turning the bag over curiously. Opening it was tempting, but it would ruin the surprise.

Porkchop grunted, excitement and curiosity flowing over their link. Kaius grinned and focused hisTrue Sighton the item.

Ixian Self-packing Dimensional Tent:

Uncommon

You want the good stuff, eh? I know just the thing. It’s factory made, but one of those fancy ones where every line worker is a skilled artisan. Easy to carry, easy to pitch and repack, and it should keep you warm and hidden while you’re out of the city. Not here! Outside if you want to test it. Nearly ruined my displays, yeesh.

Made from dimensionally attuned materials, this bag contains a self pitching tent designed to provide a safe harbour out in the wilds. Trigger with mana and stand back. Objects left in the tent are vented out when repacked.

Depths-wrought Artefact

Auxiliary Equipment (Tent)

Camouflage II, Shroud I, Weather Resistance I, Self Repair I, Self Cleaning I

Kaius stared at the description of the item in confusion, before looking back to the boxy grey leather satchel. He turned it over in his hands, confused. This was their loot? It was a little… odd. He couldn’t exactly see how it would help them at all.

“Well? Is it one of those fancy dimensional bags?”Porkchop asked expectantly, leaning forward to prod him with his nose.

“Not…exactly?” Kaius said with a shrug.

“What the hells is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a tent.” He replied.

“A tent?”Porkchop asked in disbelief.

“A tent.” Kaius nodded.

“What the hells good will a tent do for us?”Porkchop growled, staring at the bag like it had betrayed him personally.

“Well, I mean, it’s not exactlyideal. Gods knows I would have preferred something that will actually help us in a fight, but having a camouflage comfortable tent that can pack away like this will actually be pretty handy. Especially when we get out of here and end up travelling cross country.”

“It’s a bloody tent, Kaius,”Porkchop growled.“I don’t care if it can turn bloody invisible. I killed that Champion solo and I wanted a trophy. A tent is not a trophy.”

Kaius laughed, giving his friend a commiserating patt on the shoulder. “I know, buddy, but you know thismightmean that we never have to sleep without a mattress again right?”

Porkchop stilled at his words, mulling them over.“Maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty. A tent isn’t so bad. Should we go test it out? There was a fair bit of open space in the lab we entered here from.”Porkchop said, suddenly a whole lot calmer when a comfortable place to sleep was put on the table.

“Lets.” Kaius said with a grin, grabbing the small bag by its carry handle as he pushed himself up to his feet.

They walked back to the laboratory space that they had entered the Champion arena from. It was a wide open space, a row of desks lining one of the walls, with a strip of tanks full of bubbling black liquid adjacent to them. Thankfully, they’d managed to kill the room's resident flayed horror relatively quickly when they had first entered, relegating the pool of viscera and strewn flesh to a single corner of the room. It left them plenty of clean stonework to test their tent out on.

“Might want to stand back a bit, the description mentioned that.” He warned Porkchop as he strode purposefully to the centre of the room. Porkchop halted just past the doorway, looking on with curiosity as he set the bag down.

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Leaning on his mana manipulation, he felt the artefact immediately. It had some sort of inscription, waiting for a trigger. He instinctively knew that all it would take was a little touch of mana and it would activate, no channelling or infusion necessary. All the mana it needed was already there. He imagined that it must draw it in from the atmosphere. Something to consider, if it meant that the tent needed to recharge for a while before use.

Leaving the bag where it sat, he backed away until he stood next to Porkchop. If he didn’t haveMana Manipulationhe would have needed to be within touching distance. Something thatmighthave caused issues depending on the severity of the description’s warning.

He reached out with his skill, triggering the formation on the artefact.

For a moment nothing happened, then the bag tried tohide.True Sightrefused, revealing to him the true workings of the artefact. He leaned closer, curious. For an impossible instant the bag seemed to fracture. Folding across impossible lines, tessellating through unmentionable and indescribable spaces thatshould not be. Icy daggers stabbed into his eyes as the hellish display continued. He couldn’t look away, a strange cacophony of sounds swirling around him as the rent in space started tosing. They were watching. Waiting for him behind the veil. So friendly.

**Ding! True Sight has reached level 15!**

The bag folded through itself, beckoning as depth phased through height to reveal an impossible volume yawningthroughandout. It called to him. Touch it.

Touch it.

TOUCH IT.

Air displaced with a pop, and the spell was broken. Kaius fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Was he screaming? What was that noise? He snapped his jaw shut, wiping at his tearing eyes with shaking hands. They came away red.

Porkchop shoved his head at him, the noise in his skull resolving into a voice.“Kaius! What happened? You started moaning and staring at the tent.”

“Huh?” Kaius said, looking up at his friend uncomprehendingly before looking back to where he had triggered the bag at the centre of the room. It was gone, lost to the impossible voices who lived behind the thin veil that the artefact had breached. In its place an oddly tall and narrow canvas tent. It was tall enough for him to stand in, but so small he doubted he would fit curled up in a ball. Odd.

He couldtellthat it had shifted its form to look closer to some alchemical still or something similar, but try as it might to get his eyes to accept its lies,True Sightpierced the illusion with ease.

“I uh, saw something.” Kaius said quietly, turning his attention back to Porkchop’s concern. “I thinkTrue Sightlet me see something that Ireallyshouldn’t have.”

He took a shuddering breath, trying to purge the impossible images from his mind. “New rule. No usingTrue Sighton dimensional artefacts.” He groaned, rubbing his eyes in a vain attempt to ward off his splitting headache. Thankfully, the memory seemed to be quickly fuzzing as his mortal mind failed to digest what it had seen.

“Maybe we should just leave it behind? What did you see?”Porkchop asked, concerned.

“I literally could not describe it if I tried. I don’t even think I understand it, it keeps slipping away from me. I think it's fine though, the Depths doesn’t give away cursed artefacts. At least I don’t think it does. Pretty sure I just looked at something I wasn’t supposed to.” He explained, grabbing Porkchop’s shoulder to steady himself as he pushed up off the floor.

“Can you see it? Or does it look like a still to you? I’m not sure if it’s selective or if I can only see through it because of my skill.” He said, eying the tent’s projected illusion.

“I think it’s both? I can only see the still, but I can tell it’s a tent somehow. And where the entrance is.”Porkchop replied.

Kaius nodded before he approached. Pushing open the flap of the tent revealed a surprisingly opulent interior. One was that far larger on the inside, large enough that he could lie end to end twice over with room to spare in any direction. Though, the height hadn’t changed much. A massive feather mattress layered with warm looking plush furs dominated one side of the tent, while the other held a small table set up with an enchanted stove. A thick rug covered the entire bottom of the floor, looking soft enough to sleep on.

Stepping in with Porkchop close behind, Kaius stared around the space in wonder. It was theperfecttemperature, the kind where he knew he would feel at ease whether he was naked or fully armoured.

Porkchop let out a chitter of delight, drawing Kaius’s gaze as he dived on to the mattress. It held up to his abuse, and Kaius laughed as his friend groaned in pleasure as he sunk into the soft bedding.

“I take it back. This is great.”

“Looks like it,” Kaius grinned. “But maybe hold off rolling around on the bed when you’re covered in unmentionable slime?” He asked, cocking a brow at the mess his friend was leaving on the layered furs.

Porkchop gasped in horror, leaping off the bed to stare mournfully at the stains.“I ruined it.”

“Nah, it has self cleaning. But we should get going. Both of us are pretty covered, and nice place to sleep or no, it would be good to find a rest stop to get clean and get some more food before the end of the day.” Kaius said, eager to get moving.

Porkchop groaned.“Thank the Matriarchs. If I managed to taint it with abomination juice I would have never forgiven myself.”

Porkchop sniffed, wincing as he got a nose full of the viscera that coated him.“A wash does sound great.”

Kaius smiled, leading the way out of the strangely expanded tent. Thankfully, whatever horrors he had seen when the artefact had shifted were not present inside the warped space. They backed away from their latest toy, giving it plenty of room for whatever happened next.

“Don’t watch this time.”Porkchop warned.

“Believe me, I wasnotplanning on it.” Kaius said as he turned away, reaching for the artefact with hisMana Manipulation. He triggered the mechanism, squeezing his eyes shut just to be extra safe.

There was a little pop of displaced air, but nothing else. No calls from beyond, or impossible geometry breaking his understanding of directions.

“It’s over.”Porkchop said.

Kaius sighed in relief, turning around to find the grey satchel sitting exactly as he had left it. He could tell that whatever reservoir of mana it used to facilitate its unnatural transformation had been drained. It would need to recharge before they could use it again.

“You want to carry it?” Kaius asked, nodding towards the straps and hooks that lined the barding on his hips, designed to secure extra saddlebags and other equipment.

“Sure,”Porkchop said.

After securing it in place, they exited back to the arena where Porkchop had fought the Cystic Failure. Several other exits lined the stone walkway that surrounded the top of the room, offering them plenty of options to explore further in the hopes of finding a place to rest.

He opened a door at random, hand glowing gold as he reflexively snapped off anExplosive Arcane Needleinto the knee of the skinless occupant of the room.

“More horrors.” He groaned, drawing his sword.