Dungeon Walkers 1

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “No!” Stern shouted as he regained his footing. He threw the dagger from his wounded hand and ran for the slime.

  The third tentacle, which was shorter than the other two, slapped the blade aside, losing another few inches in doing so. The longer two tentacles lashed down at Pawly only to meet hers. Her clawed tentacles raked through the pseudopods, breaking them and covering her in acid. Her yowl of pain tore at Stern, but Pawly didn’t stop— she lunged the last few feet, her overly large paws leading her forward.

  Stern knew he wouldn’t make it in time— he watched in horror as Pawly slammed into the slime, her claws ripping it open. Her yowl was cut off as a stream of acid hit her face on. Stern didn’t think when he threw himself forward, ready to rip the cores out of the mob with his bare hands if he needed to. His dagger slashed down as the slime deflated. He stared into its liquid body and saw Pawly fully engulfed, her teeth crunching on the cores.

  “Go home!” Stern yelled the words, jerking his hand sideways out of fear of hitting Pawly. He stumbled, tripping over the dying slime and going head over heels rolling across the room.

  When he could get his orientation again, he saw the glowing orb waiting in the middle of the room. Hand aching from the burn, he ignored it and summoned Pawly in a panic. Pawly appeared next to him and lunged into his chest. She was purring as she slammed into him, knocking him onto his back.

  He grabbed her and hugged her to him, his hand throbbing. “Reckless... stupid... idiot!” he choked out.

  Pawly purred loudly and licked his face.

  Stern felt the wetness of his tears streaking his face and knew he was being stupid, but he couldn’t help it. She’d come back from death before— she couldn’t die if he was alive, and he knew that she’d merely be sent back to wherever she waited, but her pain cut him like a knife to his soul. Her determination and rage over him being injured had reverberated in him, but the pain she’d endured is what he felt the most.

  He had no idea how long he lay there holding his best friend, but eventually, she stopped grooming him and huffed into his face. Sniffing, he let her go and wiped at his tear-streaked, tongue-cleaned face. “Sorry...”

  A chuff and headbutt to his chin were her reply.

  “Others will never understand us...” he said softly. “They’ll only see you as a summons, not as my friend.”

  She chuffed and headbutted his chin again.

  “Yeah, I know you’ll do anything for me, but that doesn’t mean I want you to get hurt or die. I need something I can call my own so that I can be useful in other ways besides letting them use you.”

  Pawly purred, getting off of him.

  “Yeah… I need to go collect the perk and shards,” Stern said as he sat up.

  Pawly was sitting under the orb, just staring at it. She turned back to face him and waved a paw.

  Stern chuckled weakly. “Okay, I get it. We can’t have dinner without finishing the dungeon. I’ll call you back when I’m out. Go home.”

  She faded away, leaving Stern alone. The room felt emptier and he shivered at the idea of being without his friend. Shaking himself, he rose to his feet. He had things to do so he could summon her back.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ria gave him a tentative smile. “I’m glad you made it. You might wish to salve your hand.”

  Blinking, he looked down at his stinging hand. The red skin and small blisters dotting the entire back of it made it look diseased. “Oh, right,” Stern said before he pulled out his tin of salve and covered the injury. Flexing his hand slightly, he sighed as the medicine began to work. “That feels better.”

  “Had a hard time?”

  “‘Slimes are never fun,’” Stern said, quoting his father with a harsh tone.

  “Did your friend get badly injured?” Ria asked with concern.

  The memory of Pawly being engulfed inside the big slime came back to him, causing him to wince. “Yeah.”

  “You unsummoned her right away, didn’t you?”

  “I did, but she was still…” Stern trailed off, not wanting to think or talk about it.

  “I apologize. Would you like to see your perks now?”

  “I’d like to spend my points first,” Stern said. “I want to pick up some soul shards.”

  “Ah, the remainder of Cyra Walot’s shards?”

  “How many pieces are left?”

  “Another Walker group spent most of their points picking up two of the four pieces not long ago.”

  “Can I get the remainder?”

  “It would only leave you with five points,” Ria said. “The breakdown—”

  “Skip the breakdown. I’ll take the shards.”

  Ria’s lips curled up at the corners and she nodded. Two softly glowing gems appeared on the counter. Stern looked down at them and saw how they would form half of a heart if placed beside each other. With reverence, he picked them up and placed them into his pouch.

  “You’re doing a good thing,” Ria said softly.

  “This is what all Walkers should do,” Stern replied, “especially down at these ranks. This was her first dungeon, wasn’t it?”

  “You know the answer to that.”

  “It had to have been. Her shards would cost more points, otherwise. It’s always four shards, but the cost varies based on how advanced they were... I was prepared to run through the dungeon all three times and pay for another team to get the fourth shard if it had been needed.”

  Ria stayed silent, watching him.

  Shaking his head, Stern sighed. “Perks?”

  “Of course,” Ria replied. Three sheets of paper appeared as her hand passed over the counter. “Here you are.”

  Stern took a slow deep breath and picked up the first page. Thick Skin; good for ignoring the barbs of life. Your physical skin will become thicker, letting you brush off the least of troubles.

  “Didn’t expect to see this again, much less in the lowest ranking,” Stern said. “It’s a valuable perk. Doesn’t help against acid, though, does it?”

  “It is,” Ria agreed, “and no, it doesn’t.”

  He set down the page and picked up the second. Acid Resistance; water that burns? What the heck? You will be able to ignore minor acid and resist potent acid.

  “That makes sense, considering the slimes,” Stern said grimly, “but this would affect just me, and Pawly’s the one who needs it most.”

  Ria stayed quiet as he set down the paper.

  “And last we have...” Stern said as he picked up the third page. Improved Companion 3; best friends never stop giving. An additional improvement to your companion. Improvement based on the summon.

  “Which can, again, be anything,” Stern sighed, setting it down.

  “Perks are never easy to pick,” Ria said softly, her hand resting near the second page.

  “Take it,” Stern said, nudging it closer to her. “It’s the one I’m definitely not taking right now.”

  Ria’s hand passed over the paper and it vanished. She brought the other two together in front of him. “You’ve had this choice once already.”

  Stern exhaled as he looked at the two perks. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

  Ria tilted her head. “What?”

  “Something my father says,” Stern coughed. “If you start something, you should finish it.”

  His hand landed on the third page and he willed it to be his. The page burst into golden light, and Stern inhaled sharply as it flooded into him. Grabbing the counter as he felt his entire soul being altered, he shook for a few moments until it was done. When the moment passed, Ria was gone. Alone in the shop, Stern exhaled and wondered what Pawly would get as an upgrade now.

  Leaving the shop, he was in the room at the bottom of the well shaft. The sun was bright from above, and he figured it was the afternoon, at least. He stepped over to the side and summoned Pawly to him.

  Pawly appeared, looking around curiously.

  “My new perk is another improvement for you,” Stern
said, crouching down. “Going to do just the new one so we can see what it is, okay?”

  Chuffing, she headbutted his knee.

  The fingers of his right hand twisted through an arcane symbol. Pawly shimmered when he finished and was suddenly a foot to his left. He stared at her, but when he blinked, she wasn’t there anymore— she was now six inches to the right of where she’d been.

  “That is… wow,” Stern grinned.

  Pawly looked at herself, then at the cats that were appearing and disappearing around her, and meowed in confusion. The copy of her also opened its mouth, but no sound came from it. Pawly raised her right paw, and the copy did, too.

  “Wait, that didn’t come from where I see you,” Stern said.

  Pawly headbutted his chest and Stern’s mouth fell open as he saw her eight inches to his right, then seven to his left. Closing his eyes, he reached out and found her directly in front of him. He petted her and opened his eyes— she was still directly in front of him.

  Pawly chuffed and backed away. A few seconds later, she was suddenly a foot to his right.

  “Wait, if I touch you, does it stop the effect?” Stern held his hand out. “Pawly, stand under my hand, please, then make a sound?”

  Pawly shifted and chuffed.

  Stern lowered his hand to her head and scratched her neck. The moment he did, the false Pawly vanished and she appeared in front of him.

  “Wow. That’ll be interesting against some of what we’ll be fighting. Not the slimes or other things that are blind, but anything that uses sight is going to have a bitch of a time. Let’s see if it stacks with your other abilities. It should, but we should always verify.”

  His left hand and fingers wove through the patterns, and Pawly was suddenly larger with twin tentacles. The duplicate matched her perfectly, making Stern grin.

  “Man, the reach on those tentacles is going to be even better now,” he laughed.

  Pawly chuffed and rushed him, crashing into him and knocking him onto his back. He laughed harder as she began grooming his hair. After a minute, he reversed the improvements and she was directly on top of him, no longer large or tentacled. Sitting up, he gave her a squeeze and let her go.

  “Okay, I’ve got to get the shards to the temple. Call you back for dinner?”

  Pawly chuffed, jumping off him and sitting down to wave a paw at him.

  “Go home. See you soon.”

  He watched as Pawly faded away. With a sigh, he got to his feet, dusted himself off, and went to the ladder to climb up. He was glad the ladder extended above the lip of the well, as it made getting out easier.

  The guards gave him wary looks, but stepped aside.

  Seeing the leader of the group he’d spoken to before going in, Stern smiled. “Afternoon. How did the run go?”

  “We completed it,” she said tiredly. “We picked up two of the shards.”

  Stern reached over to the left side of his belt and pulled out a coin from the slot on the back. “Will a large silver be enough for you?”

  Blinking, her wolf ears twitched. She stared at the coin for a moment before looking at his face. “Really?”

  “Rescuing souls is the right thing to do,” Stern said softly. “I take it you agree?”

  Fumbling at her pouch, the lykian rushed to pull Cyra’s shards out. “Yes. Yes, that’s fine.”

  “Easy,” Stern said with a grin. “I’m not going to change my mind.”

  With the shards in her hand, she held them out to him. “Here you go, sir.”

  Stern took one, dropped the coin into her empty hand, and then took the second. “And there you go. I hope you all stay safe and find joy in your runs.”

  “I can’t wait to tell them,” the wolf-eared woman grinned. “Umm, I’m Sarah. Sarah Kalma. My crew is Sharp Ears.”

  “Stern, no crew,” he replied. “Enjoy the night, but spend it wisely.”

  Sarah raced away, clutching the large silver coin tightly.

  Stern turned to find the old woman heading his way with hope in her eyes. “Grandmother,” he greeted her with a smile. “We should go to the temple.”

  Her eyes began to sparkle and then tears fell. “You… you did it?”

  “I have all four shards. We just need to take her to be reborn.”

  Hobbling the last few feet to him, she hugged him, crying into his chest. “Bless you, bless you! May the Goddess shower you with praise!”

  He let her hold him and cry for a moment before he patted her back. “Come on. The sooner we go, the sooner Cyra will be returned to you.”

  “Of course,” she sniffled, releasing him and hobbling away.

  Stern fell into step beside her, a smile on his lips as her happiness radiated off her.

  ~*~*~

  Reaching the temple, Stern followed the older woman inside. The interior was identical to all the other temples he’d ever been in, but he frowned, as the temple was busier than he’d expected it to be. All but two of the slabs had people on them, and five of the acolytes were moving from person to person.

  One of the acolytes came to them with a worried expression. “Greetings. How can we help you?”

  “We have shards to be restored,” Stern said.

  Seeing his face, the acolyte stepped back before exhaling. “Apologies. Shards? From the dungeon here?”

  “My granddaughter,” the old woman explained. “He pulled her out.”

  The acolyte blinked, then looked back at Stern with new respect. “Do you have them with you?”

  “In my pouch,” Stern said. “Do you want them, Sister?”

  “Please. It will take us a day to bring her back,” the acolyte said. “We’ll start as soon as I can get one of the others to assist me.”

  Stern handed the acolyte the shards. “Here you go.” Turning to the old woman, he smiled softly. “She’ll be back with you soon.”

  “Thank you,” she sniffled. “Here are the coppers I promised.” She started to dig into a worn pouch.

  Stern stepped back toward the door. “Keep them. Celebrate her return. May the Goddess bless you both.” Without waiting to hear a reply, he stepped outside and walked quickly away.

  As he put distance between himself and the temple, he exhaled— the pain he’d felt inside the building had been hard to ignore. Hunching as he walked, he did his best to ignore the stares, thinking about cleaning up at the inn before having dinner with his friend.

  Maybe I’ll check in on Cyra tomorrow before leaving? I should see what she has to say about Skippy. It’s not really my place to interfere, but that asshole needs to learn a hard lesson...

  Chapter Fourteen

  The temple won’t be done restoring Cyra until midday at the earliest, Stern thought as he walked downstairs. I’ll put off leaving until tomorrow, then. It’ll take me a week to reach Whitewater, meaning following the river upstream... It’ll have nice scenery, at least.

  “The pup is here,” a gruff voice said.

  Stern’s head whipped up and he found Gustav and his crew sitting at a table, having breakfast. “Morning,” Stern said.

  “Morning, indeed,” Melia, the dark-skinned angelic woman, smiled. “When we got in last night, it was said that a lone Walker had gone into the dungeon to retrieve shards.”

  “More than that,” Stella, the elf, added, “he paid another crew handsomely to pull out the parts he couldn’t get during his run.”

  “Then, he takes the old woman waiting for him and delivers the shards directly to the temple himself,” Jaq, the shark-blooded lykian, grinned, revealing all of his triangular teeth.

  “It’s been interesting to hear,” Gustav added. “I’m betting there’s a story there.”

  Stern paused, feeling friendship, comradery, and happiness from the table. He looked down at Pawly before continuing his way off the last few stairs. “Not much of a story, to be honest.”

  “You say that, but I think there is,” a feminine voice said from behind him. “I’d like to hear it, please, Walker.”
/>
  Stern went still. He glanced back and saw the bard from Brightstone. He’d been so focused on the crew that he’d missed her coming up behind him. “I… guess. Let me grab some breakfast.”

  “Join us,” Jaq said, motioning at the food-laden table. “Since Suzana’s convinced you, we’ll pay in food.”

  “She convinces most people,” Melia grinned, giving the bard a wink.