A Werewolf In Under-Town

“You okay?” Levy asked as they portal back to their cave.

Shaggy nodded idly as he checked his link with his pack. “I’m fine. The kid is kind of right. We want nothing to do with that nonsense. We both know I’m not geared toward the spy shit. I’m a werewolf.”

Levy glanced at him from the side of her eye, but stayed quiet as she turned back to the portal. A purple glow suffused her hands, and she raised them up at the large portal. Shaggy assumed she was making the changes that Slink had requested. Looking around, Shaggy sighed. Their quiet little underground cave was about to get a lot more crowded.

He took in the three buildings they had built when it was just them, his pack, and the teens. The circle of trees was growing thick again, and more grass gave some color to the dreary cave. There was a storehouse built far behind their house where they stored excess stuff for the Legion. Just beyond that was the eastern wall of the cavern, and Shaggy thought it would make a good place to build out. They could get the mages and Lackeys on that while Shaggy and his pack went topside.

The portal started to ripple as someone passed through it, and Shaggy grinned as he waited for his pack. But he frowned when a shock of red hair appeared. Xiv’s face was down and she had her eyes closed as she went through the portal. By her side were SenSor and Cutie, with Mell bringing up the rear. Cutie and Xiv were the only two with their eyes close. SenSor looked a little sick, but Mell was strolling like nothing had phased her. Portal travel is always a little stomach turning. But Mell just smiled as she watched her friends collecting themselves.

“That wasn’t that bad. Little stomach-flippy, but I’ve had worse.” Mell grinned as she pushed her light blue hair out of her face.

“What the hell are you talking about? That was worse than some theme park rides.” Cutie complained, still unsteady on her feet.

Shaggy groaned as he asked. “What are y’all doing here?”

“We came to help ya out, boss-man.” Xiv said, trying to smile.

Shaggy rubbed his face and looked at Levy. But she was still waving her hands in the air. She gave him a smirk from over her shoulder but said nothing as Shaggy looked over Xiv’s group. He was about to tell them to go back through when the portal rippled again. He waved them away from the portal as Cekrass’ massive green chest pushed through the portal, followed by the rest of him.

Stanley came next. The tall lanky blonde was grinning happily as he trailed after his lizard friend. Tom stuck his head through first before he stepped through quickly. The short, dark-haired man scampered around to Shaggy’s side and said nothing as Vick and Sybil came next. The tall cowboy had his rifle strung over his left shoulder and was talking animatedly with the shorter woman. Sybil was dressed in an odd mix of armors. Her chest piece was a silver-metal piece, but her arms and legs were this odd black leather. Shaggy could make out purple runes on the leather, but he didn’t know what they were.

Rita came next, her heavily armored form passing through the portal and scanning everything. Her sword hung on her hip and Shaggy noticed that she had finally purchased a proper scabbard for the thing. Her armor was the same silver-metal as Sybil’s, but it had a light blue glow at the joints. Rita gave Shaggy a nod as she finished scanning for threats and moved to take her place on his left side. Shaggy was about to ask Rita about all the packs new upgrades, but the portal rippled again and a black-haired, pale woman stepped through.

Ephemara’s short form stepped from the portal like she was taking a walk. Although Shaggy could see the telltale signs of sweat running down her face. His second-in-command had clearly run all the way to the bar when the call went out. Shaggy grinned as he thought about Slink’s request to have Ephemara hand things over to her protégé. His pack picked up on his mirth as Ephemara snapped her gaze to him.

“I told Fiona that I was leaving!” Ephemara complained as she adjusted her leather jacket. “Slink and her can get the reports settled. Under-Town is shifting, but it’s nothing dangerous yet. In fact, this is the best time to transfer over the position.”

“Don’t give up your day job just yet. This is just a little side-job to keep us rowdy wolves out of the shit. You can still keep your spymaster job if you want,” Shaggy said as Ephemara moved to his right side.

It was then that Shaggy realized his entire pack had moved to flank him. Stanley and Cekrass were at the far sides. While Sybil and Vick were the next step closer, followed by Rita and Ephemara. Tom had his back. The wiry man was even now looking behind them. Shaggy didn’t know what threats his pack expected, but it made him smile all the same.

Ephemara slapped his shoulder. “You're not getting rid of me, boss. Now that I’m number two, I have to manage your pack.”

“You're number three!” Levy called from her spot near the portal.

“Not among the werewolves.”

“Wife trumps wolf, Ephe.”

Having no response to that, Ephemara stuck her tongue out at Levy’s back. Shaggy heard Levy snort as her magic seeped back into her hands. Xiv’s party watched the entire scene until Mell had to get a question out.

“Can you do that? Like, bite other players and turn them into werewolves?”

“Don’t know. The notification only mentioned what happened when biting the ‘Unwilling.’ But there would also be other issues. Like, how they fit in with the pack and how well they worked with all of us. Which is why I have a kind of marking system. It gives them some of the werewolf powers and it’s the first step to joining. But I’d also need space in my pack.”

“So you don’t have space.”

Shaggy kept his face neutral as he glanced at his Werewolf Pack tab.

Pack Size: 7/10

“Nope.” Shaggy lied, as he glanced at a smiling Levy. “You done, babe? We got stuff to do and people to see.”

Levy grinned, but said nothing as she walked over to him. They had agreed that she wouldn’t be getting the bite. She had no interest in playing a werewolf and was more than happy with her magic. Of course, that meant Shaggy had to find three more people for his ranks. He had his pack out looking for candidates, but he wasn’t sure about marking a player yet. Lackey’s had Loyalty scores after all.

Xiv coughed into the awkward change in conversation before asking. “So what are we doing, boss?”

Shaggy sighed. “I’ve got some contacts topside I want to get in touch with. But this place also needs to get set up as quick as possible. We have a large construction project coming up and we need supplies and such.”

Turning, he addressed his pack. “Y’all know the game plan. Find it and buy it. If you can’t buy it, steal it. If you can’t steal it, find someone who can.”

His pack gave him feral grins, but they all stayed still. Shaggy blinked and waited for questions or comments. But when nothing came, he sent them all inquisitive thoughts. It was Ephemara who broke the silence first.

“We have no problem with any of that, boss. But first, you know you have to show us, right?”

Shaggy rolled his eyes. “I can’t do it on command yet, Ephe. You know that.”

“Still. Why don’t you try it, boss? It will give the pack some inspiration.”

Groaning, Shaggy brought up his stat sheet and give it a look through.

Lycanthropy Mutation Tree

Attack Lvl 19*

Canines Lvl 2

Claws Lvl 15

Demon Claws Lvl 17*

Sharpness Lvl 16*

Serrated Edge

Convex Edge Lvl 5

Burning Edge Lvl 3*

Bone Claws -

Defense Lvl 15

Tough Bones Lvl 5

Reinforced Bones Lvl 2

Enhanced Evasion Lvl 4*

Utility Lvl 18*

Partial Transformation Lvl 13

Limb transformation Lvl 4

Hybrid Form Lvl 1*

Regeneration Lvl 30*

Limb Regen Lvl 3

Pain Suppression Lvl 5

Points: 0

General Tree

Toughness Lvl 32*

Thick Skin Lvl 17*

Skin Resistances Lvl 5

Skin Durability Lvl 6*

Rawhide

Demon Leather Lvl 1

Dermal Armor Lvl 5

Shifting Plates Lvl 5

Defense Lvl 2*

Reflexes Lvl 25

Quick Hands Lvl 15

Manual Dexterity Lvl 5

Shadowboxing Lvl 5

Quick Feet Lvl 5

Slide Move Lvl 4

Mind Lvl 25

Enhanced Focus Lvl 5

Perception manipulation Lvl 3*

Mental Defense Lvl 5

Psychic Barrier Lvl 3

Points: 0

His Hybrid Form was still at level one. That was despite him trying to dump loads of points into it. Thankfully, he didn’t waste any points. But they also wouldn’t go into the ability at all. Shaggy and Levy had brainstormed why, both in and out of the game. But their leading theory was that he unlocked the ability before his Utility Tree was the right level. So he couldn’t raise it until Utility was high enough. Which is why he had dumped a fair number of points from the Cog Raid into that portion of his tree. But he also made sure to spread the love around as much as possible.

Of course, having the ability and using it were two entirely different things. Shaggy had done his level best to recreate the feelings he had when transformed. But reaching that state of total empty was a surprising challenge. Shaggy had never liked meditation or other such nonsense. So the idea of emptying his mind to the point of absolute clarity was a pain in the ass for him. Of course, Levy had her own ideas on his Hybrid Form too, but he didn’t know if he agreed.

“Why don’t you try my idea then, love?” Levy said happily. “You keep trying to go all zen-monk on it, but I don’t think that’s the right tack.”

Shaggy groaned. “Yeah, but what does ‘feed the inner wolf your emotions’ even mean?”

“Like I said, you suck at clearing your mind. So I don’t think that’s what happened with Cog. I think you were so pissed that I died that your inner wolf woke up and got pissed, too. So when you two were in sync, and your emotions were at their highest, your inner wolf absorbed those emotions for you. Then it used those emotions to power the transformation!”

“What are they talking about?”

“Shush, SenSor. Shaggy’s about to try something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, but I bet it’ll be cool.”

Shaggy ignored the peanut gallery as he looked inward. He could feel the roiling mass of emotions and hunger that was his wolf. It no longer sat in a cage. Instead, within the landscape of his mind, the beast sat happily in an imaginary forest. Shaggy gave it a mental poke.

“Hey!” Shaggy called mentally. “You eat emotions now? You want some annoyance? I got that in spades. How about some mild anger?”

His inner wolf rolled over and ignored him. It yawned, its enormous mouth showing off its rows of shiny white teeth. Shaggy flicked one of the wolf’s demon horns.

“Hey, dingbat! Rise and shine. We gotta practice this shit, right?”

The inner wolf cracked an eye and glared at him, but Shaggy just glared back until the giant wolf eventually got to his feet and huffed. Shaggy agreed, but practice made perfect as they said. Focusing on his emotions at the moment, Shaggy took the mild annoyance he felt at having to perform for his pack and sent it toward the wolf.

The enormous wolf’s nose huffed angrily, and he batted at the emotion with his paws. Shaking its head, it glared at Shaggy. He gave the beast a mental shrug and tried to think of another emotion. But he wasn’t really feeling anything at the moment. Shaggy opened his eyes and gave everyone a sorry look.

“It’s a no go. I’m just not feeling it.”

Feelings of disappointed reverberated from his pack. But the same was heard from Xiv’s group. They groaned and whined as they missed out on a show. Levy stepped closer to Shaggy and stared down at him.

“What, specifically, did you try? Just so we know.”

“I just threw my current feelings at it.” Shaggy shrugged.

Levy rolled her eyes. “Of course that didn’t work! You gotta try the same emotions you felt during the Cog fight.”

“Yeah, but I don’t feel any of that right now.”

“Of course not. But you still have the memory, right? So try to remember it and see how the beast likes that.”

Shaggy sighed, but he went along with the idea. Returning to the small grassy glade where the wolf lay, Shaggy wasn’t surprised to see the big thing glaring at him. He gave it a mental shrug and tried to remember everything he was feeling when Cog killed Levy. No matter how many games they played, Shaggy didn’t think he’d ever get used to seeing his wife die. It was the same for Levy, to hear her tell it. Something about being in full immersion made it even more real.

Shaggy recalled watching Levy get stomped by Cog’s massive armor. The look of shock on her face, the pain, and then her calm features as she got cubed. Next came Shaggy’s own shock, his emotional turmoil, and then his rage. The wolf perked up at the feelings and Shaggy tossed the memory into the black wolf’s face. The giant wolf barked happily and snapped at the memory. Shaggy felt the feelings disappear, and he became eerily calm. The wolf was standing now, eager and hungry for more. Shaggy sent the same memory again, but it rang hollow even as the wolf snapped it up.

So Shaggy searched his brain for more angry or emotional memories. Some were from games. Other instances where Levy or good friends had died suddenly. But then the memories flooded in from the real world. Being picked on at school, getting into fights, arguing with his parents and sister, leaving home, returning years later. Years upon years of short jokes.

“Shit, I might have a complex.” Shaggy chuckled as he watched his inner wolf eat it all.

As the wolf snapped up each memory, Shaggy realized that his feelings about each incident were mellowing. He was becoming almost serene as the wolf at his ate the raw emotions. That same clarity from the fight with Cog was hitting him again. As they did, his wolf was growing bigger and bigger. It was too late when Shaggy realized that the wolf was actively getting closer to him. With a sudden snap of its jaws, the wolf swallowed Shaggy whole.

He threw himself back, trying to get away from his inner wolf. Shaggy blinked a few times as he noticed he had actually jumped backwards. Levy and the others were staring at him as he tried to collect himself. Shaggy raised his arms and hands to check his body, but when he did, he saw his arms were long and wolfish. He had burst from his t-shirt and his large hairy thighs were tearing at his jeans. His shoes had exploded, his feet now furry, black-clawed appendages.

“Holy shit, boss.” Xiv and Ephemara said at the same time.

Shaggy merely nodded as he ran his lanky arms across his broad chest. He was taller than Cekrass and even broader across the shoulders. His muscles were tightly coiled and ready to spring at any moment. He spotted his long snout, but at least that was familiar by now. The legs were strange, but also something he could grow used to. As he was examining himself, his friends and Pack drew closer. Shaggy was about to preen when he felt the transformation wear off. He tried to hold on to it, but the wolf wasn’t responding. It was when he was shrinking back to size when he figured it out. The wolf had joined with him. That’s why it wasn’t in his mindscape anymore. They were literally one. He felt his wolfish passenger roll its eyes at him as it went back to its own little grove.

“Aww, Dog-man is gone.” Mell snarked, although she was still wide-eyed at Shaggy transformation.

The others didn’t pay her any mind though as they rushed Shaggy. Ephe and Levy rapidly asking questions. The rest of his pack also through in the occasional query, but Shaggy couldn’t answer any of them. He felt like he’d just gone twelve rounds at his parent’s dojo. The thought brought back the unhappy images. But Shaggy immediately tossed it to the wolf and let the calm feelings wash over him.

Levy, seeing that he was having an issue, ordered everyone around. “Hey! Give him space, it’s a new ability. He might not have a full handle on it. Back off.”

Immediately, Shaggy’s pack formed a ring around him and moved a few steps away. He could still feel their curiosity. But he placated them with a few warm feelings. Levy moved closer and whispered in his ear.

“Are you alright?”

Shaggy grunted, but nodded. “Yeah. Damn wolf is almost therapeutic. But I can’t hold it for long. It’s like I’m trying to fight a heavyweight when I am still in middleweight class. I just don’t have the energy to maintain it. I think I got a pass during the Cog fight. But that was also over really quickly.”

Levy nodded. “Good to know. But at least now you and your pack have something to fight toward. Right?”

“Definitely.” Shaggy grinned as he caught his breath and stood.

They had gotten slightly off-track with everything. But they still had plenty of time to get things underway. His pack turned to him as one, and Shaggy nodded happily.

“Okay, y’all got your show. You ready to work!?”

He got a series of affirmations and joyous feelings. Behind his pack, Xiv and her friends were also cheering along. Shaggy wasn’t sure what they were going to do. But at least their cave had more players in it to run defense while he and his pack were out scouting the neighborhood and meeting his friends. First on Shaggy’s list was an overeager alien arms dealer with a penchant for disintegration weapons.