Charles walked up the stairs, back towards the main hallway of the dungeon while Rodrigo followed close behind.
They’d spent the rest of the night together in the head engineer’s room, then poked around the area until Charles had found a concealed door. From there, it didn’t take long for them to find this staircase and begin to trudge back towards the rest of the group.
One of the unfortunate things about his husband’s potions was that they took awhile to wear off, and Charles was forced to endure the entirety of their walk back pantsless – he’d been so foolish to let Rodrigo give him that cock growth potion in the middle of a dungeon. Now, pants that had previously struggled to make it past his bulbous ass were also having to contend with the foot long cock slapping around between his thighs, and they just couldn’t stretch enough to accommodate. That meant that, for the moment, Charles was going commando.
Which wasn’t to say it was the first time his friends would see him like this but, again, why would he take that potion in a dungeon like this? He kept thinking back to it, but his memory of the head engineer’s room was so fuzzy. Truth be told, he couldn’t even remember drinking the potion – all he had was the vaguest sense that was what happened. And besides, what else would cause his cock to grow this big?
Maybe there had been some trap that had interfered with his mental abilities?
In any event, no sense worrying about it now. What was done was done, and just up ahead, Charles could see light at the end of the hallway.
Charles stepped out of the passage and found himself in another, much more familiar hallway – the hub room that he’d departed from yesterday. And just like yesterday, he could still see the paths leading up, down, and to a variety of other locations scattered throughout the dungeon, including the door that had led him to Rodrigo.
Walking over to the corridor that led to the magic hole room, Charles turned the corner and found himself walking into a room full of effeminate anthro canines.
To the left were a group of German Shepherds, short and lithe, they were splayed out in a pile of bodies writhing on top of one another. To the right, a group of plump bulldogs staring listlessly towards the entrance. And then, in the center, a massive wolfdog. Standing next to him was Veles' body, though from the look in his eyes that body was likely the only part of him that present. Then, sitting at feet, was Palseks and the feral polar bear that used to be Geoffrey. The last thing that caught Charles' attention was the small, white weasel that the wolfdog was slowly bringing up to his mouth.
The wolfdog looked up at Charles right as the weasel reach its mouth.
"Well, well, well. Look who interrupted my breakfast," the wolfdog said as it tossed the weasel to the side. "Well, perhaps its for the best. I believe that creature was at one time royalty, and my master might want to return it to a more useful form."
The weasel landed face first on the ground and began to stumble away in a daze.
“Not so fast,” the wolfdog said as it grabbed the weasel again, “lets make you something more useful.”
The wolfdog focused its gaze into the weasel’s eyes as it found itself forced to stared back. Its body instantly went limp as its flesh vanishes, leaving behind a long tube of white weasel hide.
The wolfdog tossed it over towards the group of German Shepherds, “here’s something new for you guys. Maybe one of you can use it as a loincloth or a cumrag?”
The wolfdog smirked as it looked back towards Charles.
“You’re the real Charlie aren’t you?” it said, “I can sense it you know. I’d tell you that it was my master, Ajax, who gifted me with the power to invade lesser minds and warp them to my will, but we both know the truth.”
“Finn.” Charles said in an impassioned tone that conveyed what was assuredly their mutual disappointment.
The wolfdog grunted.
“Yes Finn. I used to be Charlie, but then I lost. Finn respawned me as this, as Charlon.”
The wolfdog looked his massive body over. Part wolf, part pitbull, every muscle in his body was so taunt that the fibers and blood vessels supplying them could be seen pressing out against his skin.
“But I know I’m not real. I know I can’t go back. When Finn respawned me, he made another Charlie, he made you. Then he put Charlie’s mind in that body.”
“So you’re… what? An NPC?” Charles interjected.
Charlon just shrugged, “I don’t know. I remember being Charlie, but I’m not anymore. I don’t feel any animosity towards you or the rest of the group.”
He paused as he gestured towards the anthros sitting around the room, “to tell you the truth, I didn’t want to do any of this. I just want to go to home, to get out of this game. But I can’t. Now I’m no different than the hag or Oswin. This is my world and my life. I’m enslaved to the master of this place, and my master has commanded me to stop you here, and so I will.”
Charles reached down to dagger stashed on his calf and loosened his body into a fighting stance just as Charlon gave the command.
“Palseks. Geoffrey.” The wolfdog said, “attack.”