Dungeon Champions

The clearest sign of our need for unity came when it was time to check out. It was like herding cats. Literally.

Nym and Sadie both decided to curl up under their bed, refusing to leave. In order to extract them, I left Skullie out in the living area and then enlisted Merielle and Zuri’s help. Merielle had to lift the bed frame off the ground while Zuri and I fetched the feline and the catgirl.

Neither came willingly, but at least they didn’t scratch me.

Britney was still in her room—with the door firmly locked—and she refused to answer my polite knocking. I started knocking harder and harder, hoping it would elicit some sort of response, but she just yelled, “Go away!” through the door.

I decided to try using the Tablet messaging system first.

Jordan (to Britnayel): We need to leave. You’re going to be charged another day if you don’t leave with us, and you can’t afford it.

There was no response. No shuffling of feet, no screaming through the door. The Tablet didn’t display any sort of acknowledgement that she saw the message, which was a little frustrating. For all I knew she could be sitting there ignoring the Tablet as it blinked and vibrated at her.

Or maybe she muted it.

“I’m about to break the door down.”

Zuri chuckled. “That would be ill advised.”

“The Fae Lodgings provide,” Merielle added, “but you do not want to be indebted to them.”

The way she said ‘them’ gave me pause. “Who—the Fae?”

Merielle nodded. “The beings who own the Lodgings and care for them. The Fae are happy to provide what we need, and supply us with food and hot water and hospitality… but to abuse that good will isn’t a good idea.”

Zuri looked away, toward the kitchen. “I didn’t realize the Fae themselves cared for the lodgings.”

“I asked around a bit in Massie’s Emporium.”

“That’s smart,” I said, flashing Merielle a grin. “Good instincts.”

The elf blushed and looked away.

“If Britney is still allowed to be in her room, can we go back to mine?” Nym looked up at me, all big wide eyes with a hopeful smile. “Sadie wants to go back to her nap.” The feline in her arms mrowed to confirm.

“We’re leaving in five minutes. With or without Britney,” I added, raising my voice so that she might hear it through the door. “You can’t go back to your room.”

“But it’s cozy!”

I shot her a glare. “No means no. Go wait on the sofa if you want.”

Sadie hissed at me, but Nym turned and walked back toward the living area.

Although, considering her bedroom was between us and the living area, I was worried she might duck in there instead.

Zuri chuckled as soon as I brought that up. “I’ll go watch her. You take care of this one.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “It would be so much easier if she were willing to listen.”

“She’s royalty,” Zuri said. “As much as she was also a lady of the Sisterhood and a sacrifice for the dungeon, she’s also used to being able to pout until she gets her way. You might need to meet her halfway.”

As the half-gorgan walked away, I turned to look at Merielle. “Any idea how to get her out?”

She shrugged. “If it weren’t for the whole Fae thing, I’d be with you to just bash down the door.”

I decided to try the telepathy aspect of my class.

Jordan: Are you going to talk to me now?

There was a pause, and I thought she was ignoring me. But perhaps it just took her a moment to figure out how to respond.

Britnayel: Why should I?

Jordan: You can play the petulant child all you like, but we both know you are a grown woman. We need to leave the Fae Lodgings, or we’ll be charged for another day.

Britnayel: My family will pay for it.

Jordan: Are you sure you want to let them know you survived the Sisterhood trying to kill you? Jasmine seemed to think that was a bad idea.

There was another long pause.

Britnayel: Do… Do you think they’ll send an assassin after me? I know I wasn’t the best child, but they shouldn’t actively want me dead, right?

Merielle tapped me on the shoulder, drawing my attention.

I smiled at her. “Don’t worry. I’m talking to her through one of my class abilities. Why don’t you go check on the others?”

THUMP.

The sound of something heavy hitting the floor in the other room was followed by a string of curses and some high-pitched giggling.

Merielle sighed. “Yep. On it.”

I turned back to my conversation with Britney as she went to investigate.

Jordan: There’s no way for me to know. I’ve never met your parents, so I can’t say what they would do. However, I couldn’t imagine a situation that would cause me to think it’s okay to sacrifice another person like that, so I’m sort of leaning toward ‘they might’ as an answer.

Britnayel: Zuri said something similar.

She sighed through our connection.

Britnayel: I just want to go back to the way things were before all this.

Jordan: There’s a popular saying where I’m from: “You can’t go home again.” Here it’s literal, but the sentiment is that going back to a place from your past won’t be the same. Things change.

Britnayel: But I want to. I want to see my father’s smile again when I burst into the room. I want my mother to scold me for dragging dirt through the bedroom because I’m still wearing my shoes. I want to see my siblings again and just… forget the Sisterhood and that they tried to kill me.

Jordan: You may want those things… but what do other people want? Are they willing to just forget, or are you going to walk into a hangman’s noose the second you stick a toe through the door?

The telepathic voice in my head grew angry. It wasn’t a tone, since I wasn’t actually hearing her voice, but more a rolling wave of emotion.

Britnayel: You’re being rude.

Jordan: I’m being practical. You might be a childish brat on the surface, but I can see who you are underneath that. I’m talking to Britney, right now, the woman who just wants to be hugged and told that everything is going to be all right, and so if you come out here I’ll do just that.

There was a long pause.

Britnayel: Pardon me?

Jordan: If you come out of your room, I’ll give you a hug and tell you everything is going to be all right. And not just that, I’ll also help you live up to that.

Miraculously, the door opened. It was a slow, deliberate motion, as if she wanted to be able to slam it again if I wasn’t standing right there, waiting. But I was, arms open.

Britney threw the door aside and ran to me, burying her head against my chest. It was clear she’d been crying. Between learning that her family had approved of her being sacrificed to the dungeon, to whatever conversation she’d had with Zuri this morning, to my conversation now, it was clear this was all weighing on her.

She sobbed—big wet cries that soaked my shirt—and I just let her. I did what I said I’d do: I held her close, whispered that everything would be all right, and even pet her hair. My fingers brushed against her wings as I did, and I was surprised by how soft the feathered appendages were.

Britney made a soft sound against my chest.

“Why are you so nice to me?” she moaned. “The Sisterhood taught us that no one would care for us. That men would hurt us, not rescue us. Why are you different?”

I smiled and leaned back so I could look at her face. Her eyes were puffy, but there was a sharpness to those gold eyes that let me know she was coming to terms with her situation.

“Because the Sisterhood lied. You know it in your heart of hearts. I can’t say for certain that all men in this world are great, but the ones I’ve seen so far are fine.” Sweeping my hand across her face, I tucked a strand of stray hair behind one of her pointed ears. “They wanted you to be afraid. To not go looking for help. That kept you compliant, thinking it was you against the world. And now you’re learning the wool was pulled over your eyes. The world never really works the way people in power say it does. You need to think for yourself.”

The celestial’s face grew cold. “How do I know you aren’t doing the exact same thing? You seem awfully happy to take in a bunch of women you’ve never met before and push us toward a goal.”

I didn’t have an easy answer to that, so I shrugged. “You’re going to have to trust me. Or trust me for now, and watch everything I do like a hawk to make sure I’m not screwing you over.” I grinned at her. “A little paranoia is healthy, and keeps you living a long life.”

“But what do you want from us? Do we all need to be like Zuri?”

And there it was, the crux of the problem.

“I didn’t ask or demand that Zuri share her time with me. And I wouldn’t ask that of any of you. We all agreed to be together because of the Tablet. Nothing more.”

“But… But that doesn’t make sense!” She poked me with a thin, boney finger. “You’re supposed to demand! People don’t just do nice things for others without wanting something!”

“I’m learning how my class works. That’s what I’m getting out of it. If you all want to join me on my ultimate quest to repay the kindness that got us this far, then I’ll gladly have you along. But there’s no minute tit-for-tat sort of transactions here.”

Britney huffed. “It still doesn’t make sense. You’ve saved our lives, given us hope for the future, and gave us all Tablets. That ensures our lives can only improve from here. And yet you want nothing in return? It doesn’t make sense!” She stomped a foot at me, frowning.

“Would you like me to demand to kiss you?”

The celestial froze, looking up at me with wide eyes. “W-what?”

“Simple question. If what you need to move on is some sort of exchange, I’ll demand you kiss me. Then you can continue hating me, right?”

“But…w-why would I want that?”

I shrugged. “Personally, no idea. But it would give you the closure you need, right?”

The celestial blushed and pulled away. “I… I d-don’t want that.” She wrapped her arms around her body and glared up at me. “Don’t ask me for that.”

I gave her a knowing smile. “Okay. Offer rescinded. Are we ready to go then?”

Confusion flooded her face, but Britney nodded. “I just…need to get dressed.”

“Meet us out in the living area in five, okay?”

She nodded, a little too quickly and scooted around me to go back into her room. Britney paused at the door, mouth open as if she wanted to ask something, and then blushed once more, before darting into her room and closing the door tightly behind her.

The click of the lock made me chuckle.

Three other voices joined me.

I looked up to see Merielle, Zuri, and Nym standing at the end of the hallway, all laughing quietly or hiding it behind their hands.

***

Teleporting back to the clearing near the dungeon was just as easy as entering. One moment we were walking through the glowy doorway, and the next we were in an empty spot in the middle of the woods with no sign of the Fae Lodgings anywhere. Not a branch or leaf was out of place.

“Well, that was super cool,” I said.

“I really hope we can go back there again sometime,” Nym said, her voice a bit wistful.

“We have four more scrolls. While we should try to ration them, I think it’d be okay to use them as a treat sometime.”

While the others chatted about how we should use the scrolls, I took a moment to pull up the region map. It was a lot more simple than the detailed map at Massie’s and didn’t provide much in the way of landmarks or details. But it was clear that we were relatively close to Boulibar Bay—about a half day walk—and so I wanted to get going.

The others agreed, and we were off.

We walked through the woods, chatting as we went. I stepped back and watched the others. Zuri was clearly a professional at keeping everyone moving, and it was likely she did this long before I came into the picture. Merielle was clearly used to fielding questions and taking point, acting like the tank of the group. Nym and Sadie were constantly distracted by things, or trying to run ahead, only to get scolded by Merielle.

Britney marched forward, head high and shoulders back, as if she were in a pageant. Since she was no longer wearing her glass shoes, she didn’t get stuck in the undergrowth, but when branches snagged her dress or brushed against her the wrong way, she went out of her way to stomp on them as if punishing them for daring to touch her.

It was amusing to watch, but not very productive. We had to slow down to accommodate for these mini tantrums, and I wanted to keep going. After a round of discussion about reasonable adjustments—her changing to a pair of pants, her maybe not enacting revenge on every stick, and her riding piggyback—in which she shut down every suggestion, I had enough. I put Skullie in my pack and then lumbered forward.

Without warning, I scooped Britney up and tossed her over my shoulder.

It was undignified, uncouth, and uncomfortable, according to the shrieking princess on my shoulder, but our pace picked up considerably. Nym and Sadie fell in line as well, determined to not be hoisted up on the other shoulder.

When Britney finally adjusted to this new normal, things were fine. She still huffed and asked to be let down every three seconds, but we made good time to the road.

Once there, I let her down gently and was rewarded with a kick to the shin.

“You’re an ogre.”

“Nope. Changeling.”

“A brute, a monster,” she continued, as if I hadn’t said anything. “You can’t treat me like that.”

“I’d have done that to anyone who was struggling the way you were. And I made all sorts of suggestions before picking you up. If you didn’t want to be picked up, you should have chosen one of those.”

“I didn’t know that was going to be the outcome!”

“And now you do.” I grinned down at her and threw her a wink. “In the future, you’ll think differently about things, yes?”

She looked like she wanted to argue more, but then the wind left her sails and she nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Let’s get moving.”

The road was wide enough to fit all five of us walking abreast with a good two feet of space between us. It was made of tightly packed gravel and stone, worn smooth by constant use. Checking my borrowed memories told me that trade wagons were the common patrons of the road, but there were clear signs of adventurers and pilgrims traversing it. Smooth, flat stones lined the edges of the road to guide travelers and also prevent erosion.

There were markers at regular intervals, carved out of stone and marked with strange symbols. They warned of various nearby hazards, and updated those on the road about what was nearby and in what direction. At crossroads, the markers were larger, and looked more like highway signs.

By the time we made it to the outskirts of Boulibar Bay, even Zuri and Merielle were dragging. Britney and Nym were practically shuffling zombies, and I made a mental note that these ladies didn’t have my stats. We’d need to take more regular breaks in the future.

Instead of pushing into the town, I coaxed my team off to the side of the road to rest under a large tree. It had big, broad leaves that allowed us to enjoy some shade from the midday sun.

When everyone was settled and passing around a waterskin, I turned to them. “We’ll rest here for a few and then head on in. What’s the best way to get access to more quests?”

My Tablet flashed with notices for the Adventure Historian skill. Tapping the screen, I found several paragraphs of information. A symbol on the screen allowed it to broadcast my insights to the party’s other Tablets—effectively sharing the information seamlessly.

Skimming the text, Zuri said, “It says that factions with the right influence and membership can generate quests.”

I was looking under a different paragraph, but stopped to read along with her.

* * *

Quests - Factions (Adventure Historian): Factions with significant ties to the Fates, access to Tablets, or with influence in the world may generate different types of quests. As a [Battle Scholar], [Jordan] may affiliate with these groups and either acquire existing quests, or generate new ones to help his party gain a variety of Tablet-awarded rewards.

* * *

“That’s incredible,” I said, recognizing that my class had far, far more potential than I’d first thought. And that was already a lot. If I could simply affiliate with people and then self-generate quests that granted experience and awards, it lent us a degree of freedom I could barely grasp.

Still…did we want to associate with a group this early in our travels together?

I said, “Hmm… yeah. While we aren’t under a strict timeline, I don’t want to immediately dive into schmoozing a faction, especially with the experience you had.”

Merielle said, “According to this section, your Tablet may auto-populate with locally available quests, specifically attuned to Tablet Wielders. It says they’ll give better rewards and experience, but may be more difficult.”

“Hrm. Second.” I skimmed to the section she was reading. “Ah. Yes. I see. As long as they haven’t been taken by another Tablet Wielder, or have been abandoned, we’ll qualify. Same rules as Massie’s.”

Nym had gone a little cross-eyed at the wall of text. When I finished, she gave me a wide-eyed look. “We could just wander around and collect quests. That sounds super fun.”

I shook my head. “No wandering, not yet. Part of our goal should be to ingratiate ourselves with the people of the town.” I combed through my memories. “We want to establish a base of operations, and we can’t do that without the Mayor’s approval. So we need to work our way up the food chain to him.”

A voice echoed from my back. “Why don’t you ask a gate guard?”

I fished Skullie out of my pack and raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“Look for the Gate Guard section of your Tablets.”

We all hunched over to find what he was referring to. Even Britney took an interest in this one.

* * *

Quests - Gate Guards (Adventure Historian): City leaders, much like Kings, will possess Administrative Tablets. They may use these Tablets to pass quests to their vassals and Inner Circle. Official city guards are special. Although they have no Tablets, they gain an ability to pass specialty quests to Tablet Wielders on behalf of their leaders. These quests could include requests to help with local monsters, locate missing merchants, or even tasks within the city itself. Warning: Not all leaders will have this ability, and not all city guards will be able to issue quests.

* * *

“Skullie, this is perfect!” I reached over, petting his bare head. At my touch, the skull shifted enough for me to see what looked like a hint of leathery flesh growing across the scalp. He was regenerating.

Making a mental note of the recovery, I turned to the others. “That sounds good to me… what do you all say?”

Merielle nodded. “Actually, I’d heard that before. About city guards, I mean. The Sisterhood talked about them during one of our Tablet classes. I’d totally forgotten since we were so far away from the chance of earning one…” She trailed off, looking at her Epic tablet.

“Part of me worries how a dungeon monster knows so much about civilization,” Zuri said, although she was smiling when she said it.

“I had a life before I became a lich!”

“And I’m sure it was marvelous.” The half-gorgon winked at me. “I’m willing to try the guards.”

I flashed her a warm smile and looked at Nym and Sadie. The feline was asleep, curled up in Nym’s lap. Nym was fighting to keep her eyes open, too.

“Good with you?”

“Later, yes.” She rubbed her eyes and yawned wide, flashing sharp canines. “Not right now.”

“Of course,” I said, petting the top of her head. “You rest.”

The catgirl leaned into my physical attention, softly sighing. Sadie stirred in her lap and made a frustrated meow, but Nym just stuck her tongue out. “No pets for sleeping kitties.”

I chuckled. “Does Sadie want pets?”

“Yes, but she can’t have them.”

The feline had other plans in mind. She leaped from Nym’s lap, and by instinct alone I caught her in my arms. She rubbed her face against my hands, arms and chest, anything she could reach.

“Be like that, then,” Nym said, glaring at the feline but not getting up. “He pet me first.” She sniffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sadie, unbothered, continued to rub her face against me as aggressively as she could. I adjusted her so she could curl up in the crook of my arm while I scritched between her ears with the other hand. She purred so hard it made my arm ache.

I then turned to Britney. She’d been watching us all this whole time, and I’d been keeping an eye on her. The expression on her face—before it turned to sullen indignance—was one of desire. She wanted to be touched casually, to banter and joke. What was holding her back?

“Do you think we should approach the gate guards?”

Her answer came quickly, as if she’d prepared it ahead of time. “Why are you asking each of us? We’re just going to do what you say.”

“Do you not have an opinion?”

She scoffed. “I didn’t get to have one about coming to this dump, did I?”

“That was your own choice. You walked away and wanted time alone. We respected that.”

Britney frowned, almost as if she were unable to come out with an argument against that. “Fine. Well, if you want to talk to the guards, be my guest. I don’t really see the appeal of working our way up from the bottom. Shouldn’t we just go to the Mayor’s office and schedule a meeting with him?”

“Can you do so without your name and pedigree?”

Britney paused. “Well…no.”

“I sure can’t. And I don’t think Merielle or Nym or Zuri could either.” Each woman shook her head. “Maybe my Tablet could get us in, but it wouldn’t make the Mayor willing to see us. Instead, if we do some early quests, we’re doing two things: getting easy experience and learning to work together as a team. Those are two things we desperately need.”

The celestial gave me a thin-lipped frown. “I hate how right you always are. Why can’t you be wrong sometimes?”

“I don’t know everything. Especially not about this world. I have the memories of another man in my head, and he was very knowledgeable about how the world worked. But also? These things are common sense. I’m a higher level than all of you combined. That means we need to get your levels up, and the easiest way to do that is to complete quests. Otherwise we’d have to go back into a dungeon, and you missed the conversation earlier where we said that wasn’t a good idea until we were more coordinated. Which is the second part of the goal: learning to work together.”

“Oh.”

“It’s healthy to want to know the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ behind decisions. I encourage asking questions and improving your own reasoning.” Still petting Sadie, I smiled down at Britney. “But challenging me when you don’t have a good argument won’t get us anywhere and just wastes time.”

“Honestly, I’m thankful for it.” Zuri stretched, a head-to-toe gesture that caught my attention. “This rest was well deserved.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I forgot you were all lower level. We’ll adjust more in the future.”

“Not like we said something,” Merielle hedged. “We’ll work on being more communicative in the future, right ladies?”

Everyone nodded or made small sounds of agreement.

“Are we ready to go then?”

“Five more minutes,” Nym said. Her eyes were closed and her head was resting on Merielle’s shoulder. “Just…five more minutes.”