by Phoenix Grey
“I’m sure there will be plenty of other things for you to kill later.” Lonnell gestured aimlessly.
“Fine,” Janine huffed.
They made short work of the last of the suits of armor, Azure looted his kill, and they were all relieved to be done with the level.
“Let’s bed down for the night. It’s been a long day.” Lonnell began moving the scattered pieces of armor to the edges of the room.
“There’s a perfectly good bed in there.” Azure nodded in the direction of the room with the skeleton.
“But it has a dead body on it.” Janine wrinkled her nose.
“That body has been dead for a long time.” He thought of the practically bleached bones left behind.
“Hey, that just means more bed for us.” Lonnell teased.
“You two can go spoon each other.” She snorted.
“Spoon?” Lonnell’s eyebrows pinched together.
Azure couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m pretty sure you don’t want to spoon me, bro.”
“I don’t even know what that is.”
“So if not on the bed, then where will you sleep?” Azure asked Janine.
“I’d rather stay out here. It’s less creepy.” Her eyes swept over the pieces of armor scattered around the floor.
“Suit yourself.” Lonnell stretched and walked away from them into the skeleton room.
“These dungeons take a long time.” Janine caught Azure before he could disappear as well.
He turned back to her. “Yeah, but they’re worth it for the money.”
“I can see that. It’s just...getting a little claustrophobic. I can’t wait to be back outside,” she confessed.
Azure took a few steps toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I know it’s kind of disconcerting, and I wish I could say you’ll get used to it, but I’m honestly not sure a person ever can. This is my third dungeon, and I’m not used to it yet. But we’ll get through this, and then you’ll be one step closer to accomplishing your goal of being able to go on that quest you were talking about.”
Janine glanced at his hand, then followed it up to his face and smiled. “Thanks, William. I think I needed to hear that.”
“Get some sleep.” He patted her on the shoulder, then yawned and decided to follow Lonnell into the room.
“Hey, William,” she called back to him, making him pause again.
“Hm?” Azure looked at her over his shoulder.
“I’m glad I met you.”
His heart filled with warmth from her words. “I’m glad I met you, too.”
CHAPTER TEN
THE REALM – Day 75
“Oh yay, more doors,” Janine’s voice trailed off with sarcasm as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
There was another long hallway with three doors on each side. The walls matched the first floor minus the holes at the bottom for the rats. Two of the six doors had eerie purple fog streaming from beneath them, making it clear that something nefarious was inside. At the end of the hall, a statue blocked the seventh door likely leading to the next level.
“Well, if this dungeon has taught us anything, it’s that we should go to the end first.” Lonnell led the way to the statue.
Carved out of marble, a naked man stood on a short pedestal leaning against a tree trunk. A robe was draped over the arm nearest the tree trunk, and he held a sword behind his back with the other hand, the tip of the blade resting on the ground. Tight curls crowned his head. He was stocky but still clearly muscular.
“It must have been cold when they carved this.” Janine’s eyes were glued to the statue’s junk.
Lonnell rolled his eyes and then pressed his fingertips to his forehead as he shook his head.
Azure tried to suppress a chuckle, but it still came out, mainly from Lonnell’s reaction.
“Could you two please focus?” Lonnell growled at them. “I swear, dungeon crawling with you two is like being with children.”
“Oh, lighten up, buttercup. Don’t tell me you’re upset because he’s bigger than you.” Janine elbowed Lonnell in the side.
“Stop it!” he snapped at her, obviously not finding the jab funny.
“Okay. Okay.” Her eyes widened, the humor draining from her face as she took a step back.
“I think there’s something wrong with its eyes.” Lonnell leaned in to get a better look at the statue. “It looks like they’re missing.”
“It looks like its dick is missing,” Janine muttered under her breath, which made Azure give up on trying not to laugh because he knew the comment would only piss Lonnell off more.
“So which is it? Should we look for its eyes or its dick?” Azure smirked down at her.
“Maybe all three?” She shrugged with a smile.
“Good Gods, you two are going to drive me crazy. Let me know when you’re done.” Lonnell gestured for them to get over their giggling fit.
Azure coughed, trying to regain a serious composure. “So, I guess we should start searching the rooms for its eyes.”
“Sounds good to me,” Janine agreed as she finally tore her gaze away from the statue’s genitals.
“Since we’re already here, let’s work our way backward,” Lonnell suggested, walking over to the last door on the right.
“No arguments here,” Azure said.
Lonnell led the way, opening the door to reveal a chest on a pedestal.
“Ohh, loot. Despite all these damn puzzles, I think I like this dungeon.” Azure pushed his way to the front.
“We have found a lot of cool stuff.” Janine followed him in but stepped to the side so that one of the men could open the chest. “I never find stuff like this doing Monster quests.”
Lonnell approached the chest, practically forcing Azure out of the way with a sharp look. “This one is mine.”
“Fine. Fine!” Azure held up his hands in surrender as he backed away.
Lonnell flipped open the lid to the chest. Inside lay a small porcelain figurine on a hemp rope. It didn’t look like anything impressive, and for a moment Azure felt sorry for his friend for scoring so poorly in the loot department until Lonnell picked it up and his eyes widened. “Oh, wow!”
“What?” Both Janine and Azure edged closer.
“This thing has to be worth a fortune.” Lonnell turned to them, holding the necklace up.
“But it’s not made of anything valuable.” Janine raised an eyebrow at it.
He passed the necklace over to her, and her eyes turned into discs as well. “Oh, holy shit.”
“The suspense is killing me.” Azure made a grabby hand gesture toward the item.
He had no idea what to expect when Janine handed it off to him.
You have received the following item:
Pendant of the Adept
Vitality: +11
Intelligence: +10
Strength: +7
Agility: +11
Dexterity: +6
Charisma: +10
Luck: +9
Type: Jewelry
Durability: 7/7
Item Class: Rare
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.0 kg
Traits: +5% resistance to Fire Magic, +2% resistance to Water Magic, +2% resistance to Air Magic, +2% resistance to Disease, +4% resistance to Poison
“Oh my God.” Azure’s mouth dropped open for a second. “It’s like leveling up ten times.”
“More than that if you consider how many points bonuses it adds,” Janine said, still marveling over the item that now dangled from Azure’s hand.
He turned to Lonnell. “I’ll buy it from you.”
“I’ll offer you double what he offers you,” Janine quickly stepped in.
Lonnell shook his head, reaching forward to take the pendant back. “It’s not for sale.”
Azure’s whole being ached as he watched his friend place the pendant around his neck. A side glance showed that Janine
was probably feeling the same. With the pendant, she wouldn’t need to wait to level up to 15 to go on her quest. It would have given her the same benefits plus more instantly.
“Well, you’re tanking from now on,” Azure said a bit grudgingly.
“Are you sure that doesn’t go to one of us?” Janine continued to argue. “I mean, you did get the Airian’s Demise Scroll.”
“It’s a quest item. It doesn’t count.” Lonnell kept his hand wrapped around the figurine as if he feared one of his party members might try to rip it from his neck.
“Well, you better be careful with it.” Azure tried to wave his own jealousy away. “With a Durability of only 7, it will probably need to be repaired fairly often.”
“Trust me, I’m going to be protecting it well,” Lonnell assured them.
“Good. Cause if you die, I call dibs,” Azure muttered under his breath, though not so low that Janine couldn’t hear him.
“Not if I get to it first,” she grumbled, and they both shared a look and chuckled.
“I’ve known him longer. Seems that gives me more claim.” He stepped up next to her to continue their banter.
“Oh my Gods, you two!” Lonnell sighed, pushing between them to leave the room.
“Glad you know you’re leading the way through the rest of the dungeon now.” Azure gestured before him.
Lonnell ignored him, stopping in front of the room across from them. The purple fog coming from beneath the door made him wait for the rest of his party to catch up.
“There be a ghost inside, I bet,” Azure surmised.
“Be ready with your amulet.” Lonnell stepped aside for Janine to take front and center when he opened the door.
The humor dropped from her expression as she prepared herself to face whatever was inside of the room.
Lonnell wrapped his hand around the door handle and looked back at Janine. “Let me know when you’re ready.”
She gave a nod, and he opened the door. Inside stood a menacing looking skeleton with a longsword clutched in its hands. Its eye sockets glowed a dark shade of red, its bones translucent with purple smoke coming from them. Floating a few inches above the floor, it seemed to be walking on air.
Azure quickly Analyzed the skeleton while Janine used the amulet on it.
Level 8 Ghostly Skeleton.
“I’ve got this,” Janine called back to them as soon as the amulet had done its work to give the skeleton a less ethereal form. Taking up her ax, she charged in to put an end to the threat. A few hacks of her weapon did the trick, and the skeleton crumpled to the floor like all the rest, leaving its sword behind to be claimed.
“Maybe I won’t be tanking after all.” Lonnell smirked at Azure as if he had just told some great joke.
There was nothing else of interest in the room, so as soon as Janine finished looting the skeleton, they moved on to the next.
In the third room they entered, there was another statue. This one appeared to be a younger version of the first. It had no arms, and its legs were cut off at the knees, making it quite a bit shorter, though it was mounted on a black marble pedestal to make up for the lack of height. A cape with animal teeth around the hood covered a mop of messy curls. The expression on the statue’s face was happy yet mischievous. One of its eyes was carved out of marble, while the other had a blue glimmering stone in its place.
“I guess we pluck out its eye,” Lonnell said, not sounding too sure.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Azure shrugged. “I mean, it would seem so. What else are we supposed to do.”
“We should definitely prepare for an attack or trap. I doubt it will be that easy.” He glanced around, clearly suspicious of the room.
Janine’s eyes were once more locked on the statue’s genitals. “He did not grow much. Poor kid.” She shook her head.
“Would you please!” Lonnell chastised her.
“What?” She gave him an innocent look.
Azure shook their argument away and drew his Bergen’s Glaive. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Be serious for once,” Lonnell barked at Janine a final time before stepping up to the statue.
“Fine. Jeez.” She sulked, pulling her ax from her belt and preparing for the statue to come to life.
They waited as Lonnell stuck his hand in the statue's eye socket. For a moment, the gem didn’t seem to want to give, but after a few grunts and tugs, he was finally able to pull it free with an odd popping sound.
“That took a bit more effort than I had imagined,” Lonnell confessed as he stared down at the eye.
When it was apparent that the statue wasn’t going to spring to life and attack them, Azure and Janine relaxed a bit.
“What does it say?” Azure inquired about the item description.
“Quest item.” Lonnell closed his hand around the gem. “Let's move on.” He led the way out of the room.
“I feel like that was way too easy,” Janine whispered to Azure as they left the room.
“Dungeons just be like that sometimes.” He shrugged. “Besides, we’ve already gone through a lot of shit. We deserve something to be easy.”
Speaking of easy, the next room had another chest in it. Azure and Janine shared a glance, greed in their eyes from thoughts of the epic item that Lonnell had looted from the last chest.
“Rock, Paper, Scissors for it? Or is this one yours since you’re technically next in line to loot a chest?” Janine said.
“Are we going in order now?” That was awfully nice of her to suggest, he thought.
“It’s up to you.” She glanced over at the chest, clearly hoping that he’d want to Rock, Paper, Scissors for it. He liked that she was fair. It made him glad they’d partied up.
“I think this one is mine,” he decided finally, letting greed get the best of him. It did make more sense for them to go in order from here on out.
Azure wiggled his fingers as he stepped up to the chest, more than a little excited about what he might find inside. Flipping open the lid revealed a mound of copper coins. Hundreds of them.
“Well, this is different.” He quirked his head back, not unhappy, but a little confused.
“That is some serious coin.” Janine peeked inside.
Azure sucked in a breath. “I wish it were a bit consolidated, but beggars can’t be choosers.”
He reached inside of the chest, ready to scoop up a handful of coins to place in his Bag of Holding. As soon as his hand was all the way inside, the chest slammed shut.
Citical hit! Level 13 Mimic delivers 75 damage. You are bleeding. You will lose 5 health every second for the next five seconds.
Blinding pain raced through Azure as his health instantly dropped by 30%. Shock began to set in from a mix of agony and disbelief. Jagged teeth grew from the lips of the chest, the opening turning into a sinister grin. Blood painted the pile of coins inside its gaping mouth, and on top sat Azure’s hand, detached from his body.
Scream after scream erupted from his throat as he looked at the bloody stump that was his arm. Jets of red sprayed out from the wound, covering the mimic. It seemed perfectly content bathing in the blood of its victim, its body bouncing around on the pedestal like a dog happy to see its owner.
Janine had taken several steps back, eyes wide as she screamed from the horrific sight. Lonnell was the only one keeping his composure.
The mimic leaped from its pedestal toward Azure, and Lonnell quickly placed himself between them, barely able to block the monster with his staff. It turned itself onto its side and snapped at him, large teeth wrapping around the staff. A few coins spilled from its maw and rolled onto the floor, stained crimson with Azure’s blood.
“Get yourself together!” Lonnell called to him.
“I’m missing a fucking hand!” Azure yelled back.
“I can’t hold this thing forever!”
Janine had somewhat recovered and was by Azure’s side, reaching into he
r bag with shaky hands for healing potions. She lifted one to Azure’s mouth. “Drink.”
Though he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the bloody nub at the end of his arm, Azure drank. Several drops of the potion spilled down his chin, wasted. Still, it began to work.
Through the pain, there was a tingling sensation. At the end of his arm, the blood began to crust, the bleeding slowly reducing from a torrent to a trickle. It was too late to stop the damage, though. He’d lost all 25 Health points from the status effect. It amazed Azure that he hadn’t lost more.
Janine dumped another Potion of Minor Healing into his mouth, making it feel like ants were crawling all over the wound. Azure clutched his arm to his body, gritting through the pain.
“You’re going to have to pay me back for these,” Janine told him as she fed him a third Potion of Minor Healing.
Thankfully, Lonnell had gotten that pendant when he did, because he was currently engaged in melee with a foe that was several levels higher than him. Without it, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. As it was, he was doing pretty well to hold the mimic off, though no leeway was being made in harming it. They were currently engaged in a battle of tug-o-war over his staff. The poor weapon was suffering all kinds of abuse, the wood deeply scored from the mimic’s sharp teeth. Lonnell would be lucky if it didn’t break.
Shakily, Azure tried to get a grip on himself. “I’ve got this. Go help him,” he told Janine, scooting back against the wall so that he wasn’t in their way.
She nodded, standing to pull her ax from her belt and join the battle. Seeing her approaching, the mimic let go of Lonnell’s staff and backed away, restrategizing to take on the two enemies at once.
Azure didn’t have time to pay attention. He was too busy focusing on digging into his Bag of Holding for more Potions of Minor Healing, which was incredibly difficult to do with only one hand. Silently, he chastised himself for being so dumb, even though deep down, he knew that the same thing could have happened to any of them. They hadn’t encountered any mimics up to this point. Only chests filled with wondrous treasures.
Fear of the future was his most prominent emotion. Blessedly, the mimic had gotten his left hand, but how was he supposed to go on one-handed? Wielding his Bergen’s Glaive was now entirely out of the question. And he doubted he’d adjust to being crippled anytime soon. Hell, even opening one of the healing potions was a pain in the ass. Azure had to use his mouth to pull the cork out.
