Pocket Dungeon, page 12
“Alright,” I said slowly. “I’m following.”
“I am from Arcadio, where most families have an inherited crystal that is passed down for generations,” she explained. “It is a small country made up mostly of deserts. There is little in the way of sustaining a life, much less a family. It is why the crystals are so important to us. They provide us stability and jobs, a way to support our families without working in the water mines.”
“Water mines?” I couldn’t help but ask. It was only the first out of a thousand questions that were bubbling up in my mind all at once.
“Yes,” Yasha said. “As I said, Arcadio is made mostly of deserts, which makes water a hard resource to find. Centuries ago, an explorer discovered massive caves that extend underneath the sands. There are small rivers inside the caves. It is how we get water. But the only way to access these caves and mine shafts is through a dangerous series of tunnels. Many water-miners die every cycle thanks to the dangers and hazards of the position. Nearly as many as the dungeon slayers we lose each year.”
“It sounds like Arcadio is a hard place to live,” I summarized.
Yasha’s plump lips curled into a small smile. “You would not be wrong. Being chosen as a dungeon slayer is a great honor, one that usually goes to the first son in the family, but this generation of the el-Nasir family is without sons, and so the honor went to me.”
“That’s impressive,” I said, and I meant it.
“I have been trained my entire life for this,” she said like an agreement, but her eyes fell to her leg. “Some things, however, could not have been foreseen.”
“I guess it would be hard to try and train your way out of an injured limb,” I said.
Yasha gave a small, nearly mirthless laugh and nodded her head. I imagined that her leg had to be causing her some serious pain, but other than her issues walking and her clear distress at the situation, it didn’t show on her face. The striking angles of her jaw were set in determination, and her high cheekbones and golden eyes seemed to hold a good amount of pride in them. But her lips were pouty, and her fox ears twitched ever so slightly, as if she wasn’t as confident as she appeared.
“I have managed no gold,” she continued with a sigh. “And so when I return home, it will not be a joyous reunion. I will be labeled as a disgrace. Not only am I not the firstborn son, but I failed to bring back anything sustainable to my family from my second dungeon. And I will be unable to fight until my leg is healed. It… will not be a good life for me.”
“Come back with me, then!” I blurted out. I had no idea where the words had come from, but I knew I didn’t want Yasha to be in trouble. She had saved my life in the dungeon just as many times as I had saved hers. It didn’t feel fair that she would be punished by her family for something she couldn’t help.
“What?” Her already huge eyes were even wider with shock.
“Or I can give you some of my gold,” I continued as I tried to play down how eager I was to keep her around. “I just don’t want you to be in a bad situation. I owe you one. You helped me with the dragon and with the goblins.”
Yasha stared at me with her golden eyes. Her pupils were dilated, and she reminded me a little of a cat at that moment, though I knew she was clearly part fox. I had plenty of questions about that, too, but I could save those for later. If there was going to be a later.
“You would do that?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said. “Why wouldn’t I?”
A small smile glossed over her lips. “You must know that most people would not. A kindness like that is rare. You are offering me an escape from my duty and punishment, and if I declined, you offered me the gold that you earned yourself.”
When she laid it out like that, I supposed it did sound more impressive than it really was, but to me, it just seemed like the right thing to do. She needed help, and I was able to provide that help. I’d be an asshole not to.
“I could at least help you heal your leg?” I suggested. “I’m not sure what medicine is like in Arcadia–”
“Arcadio,” she corrected gently.
“Arcadio, but I know on Earth, where I’m from, there are lots of places where you could get it fixed,” I said. My mind was still reeling from the whole ‘oh, by the way, I’m from an entirely different world’ thing that was going on, but it was not the most pressing issue at hand. I could have a meltdown over what that meant for my entire worldview after everything was hashed out with Yasha.
I was the king of compartmentalization.
“Our medicine is… not the best,” she admitted slowly. “If I were to go to one of the larger countries that border Arcadio, I may find more help, but that is unlikely.”
“I’m not trying to force you or anything, but I think you should know that the offer stands,” I said. “I’ll let you think about it while we sort through this loot, alright?”
Yasha smiled at me, and it was like a punch in the gut. She really was beautiful. Her features were sharp, and incredibly, well, fox-like. She had high, slanted cheekbones and a firm set to her sharp jaw and narrow chin. Her face was shaped like a heart with her long, light-red hair framing it perfectly.
Her ear twitched, and I fought a smile of my own.
“Thank you, Wes,” she said. “That sounds like a very good plan.”
“Alright, then,” I agreed. “Let’s get a look at this loot.”
I began to pull treasure chest after treasure chest out of my pocket and set them each on the island in the center of the room next to where Yasha sat.
I hadn’t had a chance to really open and investigate what was in any of them this time around. It made the entire thing feel that much more exciting as I opened the first chest, like it was Christmastime or something.
The first thing I noticed was a shit ton of gold. It practically filled the chest to the brim. I couldn’t be sure which battle this had come from, but I had a feeling it was the one with the dragon wyrmling. Then I realized that it would take ages to scoop out each individual gold piece, so instead, I just tilted the chest up onto its side and sent the gold scattering out onto the island in a loud, jingling waterfall.
“Is that for me?” Mimic spoke up.
I practically jumped out of my skin as the chest mimic scuttled around the island to plop itself down in front of me. When he sat, his legs tucked back up under his chest-shaped body and disappeared. He looked rather fucking goofy with his arms still out, but I wasn’t going to mention it.
“Oh, hello, Mimic,” Yasha said.
“The gold isn’t for you,” I told the chest mimic once my heart stopped racing a mile a minute. I’d sort of forgotten he was even in the room. All of my attention had been raptly held by Yasha.
“There are two of you this time!” Mimic exclaimed. “That’s unusual!”
“Is it not common for people to finish dungeons together?” I asked while I began sifting through the mess of gold. I decided I might as well dump all of the chests out at once, and it was only a little bit because I wanted to see the giant pile of gold.
I began the process of tipping over the other four chests. They spilled out onto the table next to Yasha in a heap of gold and other loot that made my eyes practically bulge out of my head. I was more than thrilled to see it all.
“Not usually,” Mimic said. “Most people are a little too bloodthirsty for that, but you’re something special I think!”
I wasn’t sure how to take a talking treasure chest calling me special, but like everything else that had been happening, I tried to take it in stride.
“Uh… thanks?” I said.
“No problem!” he chirped.
I shrugged and turned my focus back to the treasure in front of me. I’d thought the haul I’d gotten from the first dungeon was impressive, but this was something else entirely.
I saw both armor and weapons mixed in with the overflowing pile of gold, and my eyes practically bulged from my head at the sight.
The first item I grabbed was a sick-looking cuirass. It was made of a stiff, deep brown leather with shimmering gold metal bands edging the piece. There was an embossed drawing of a flame at the center of the chest. Despite how heavy duty it looked, the piece of armor weighed hardly anything at all.
According to the green text name hovering above the item, it was the “Fire Smith’s Leather Armor.”
I felt a jolt of excitement. This was the first item I’d found that didn’t have white text above it.
I reached out and tapped the name. It was still weird that I was able to do that at all, much less that it worked, but in the blink of an eye, the stats for the piece of armor appeared.
Fire Smith’s Leather Armor:
Hit Points: +2
Dexterity: +1
Wearing the Fire Smith’s armor provides immunity to fire damage, but increases damage taken from cold.
“Well, that certainly would have come in handy thirty minutes ago,” I muttered. “Here, do you want to see?”
I held out the armor toward Yasha. The fox-woman blinked like she was surprised at the offer before taking the piece of armor from my hands.
She turned it over and ran her fingers across the embossed flame in the leather. I noticed that her nails were strangely sharp, and I figured it might have had something to do with the whole “fox” thing.
I wasn’t able to keep my questions in any longer about the gorgeous, fox-shaped elephant in the room. I cleared my throat as I grabbed the next piece of loot from the pile and tugged it free.
“Does everyone on Arcadio have… tails?” I asked. It was about as scientific as I could make the question. This shit was so weird, and the last thing I wanted to do was be insensitive while trying to satiate my curiosity.
Luckily for me, Yasha smiled. It was the first time she had really given me a full smile. Her canines were sharper than any normal human’s, but for some reason, I found the trait endearing.
“Yes,” she chuckled. “Though not all are Vulpinus like I am. There are plenty of other races, just as I am sure there are plenty of other races in your world as well.”
“That makes sense,” I agreed. “Though our races usually fall down to things like skin tone and region as opposed to… tails.”
“This is your first time seeing someone with a tail?” she asked, like that was a totally normal question to ask anyone.
“Yes.” I had to bite back a laugh. “This is definitely the first time I’ve ever come across someone with a tail.”
“Strange,” she mused. “I have never met someone without a tail before you.”
“I suppose there is a first time for everything, then,” I teased.
I let Yasha examine the leather armor I had given her while I moved on to the next item I saw in the pile. It was a large, wicked-looking knife that was shaped like some sort of talon.
I had never seen a curved blade like that before. It really did look like it was an actual talon cut right off of a large creature. The weapon was approximately the size of my forearm with a shining silver hilt. There was an intricate, overlapping carving on the hilt that made it look like it was made of scales. The blade itself was a slightly different shade of silver. It didn’t feel like it was made of metal, though. Instead, it felt more like… bone.
It wasn’t until I focused on the green writing above the item that I realized exactly what I was holding.
It was a “Talon Blade of a Silver Dragon Wyrmling.”
I had been given one of the talons of the dragon wyrmling I defeated in my treasure chest. That was cool as hell.
I switched over to view the item’s stats as I continued to stroke my fingers over the intricate hilt of the knife.
Talon Blade of a Silver Dragon Wyrmling:
Damage - Average
Attack Speed - Quick
10% Bonus to fire damage
The Talon Blade is tough enough to pierce the hide of any creature. Use it carefully or suffer the consequences.
It looked like I was getting a pretty handy set of weapons to use against fire. Did that mean there were going to be more fire creatures in the dungeons? Or was it just some sort of coincidence?
My analytical brain desperately wanted to know some of the crunchy numbers and statistics of the dungeons and how the loot was dispersed, but I had a feeling that was the sort of thing I was never going to be handed an answer to.
Some things could only be gained through experience.
I mean, I had just learned that apparently other people could be in dungeons at the same time, and that there were, also apparently, other fucking worlds in our universe. It felt like everything I thought I knew about literally the entirety of existence had just been tilted on its axis.
I was going to take a very, very long shower when I got home where I could disassociate and try to come to terms with what the fuck this all meant, but I pushed those thoughts aside for now as I passed Yasha the Talon Blade.
“Oh,” she murmured. “This is wickedly sharp.”
“It’s from the dragon we killed,” I explained. “Or at least, I’m assuming it is. It would be a pretty strange coincidence if it wasn’t.”
“I believe it is,” Yasha agreed. “You slayed the dragon, of course it will provide some sort of trophy.”
She spoke with confidence, like this thing usually happened. I mean, I suppose it already had once for me. I got Golen’s shield and sword, after all.
“We slayed the dragon,” I corrected, and her little fox ears twitched in what seemed like a happy way as she sent me a smile.
I reached into the pile of gold and fumbled around for the next item buried in the treasure. This time, it didn’t appear to be a sword or armor. My brow furrowed in intrigue as I scanned the white text name floating above the small vial in my hand:
Giantess’ Potion of Strength.
The vial was about the size of my palm and shaped like a flask. There was some sort of murky red liquid sloshing around inside that looked a little too much like blood for my liking. The cork stopper of the vial was held in place with melted black wax.
I switched the name over to the stats to give it a read.
Instead of the standard layout for stats that I had seen before, there was a simple line of description.
Giantess’ Potion of Strength:
Drink this potion and increase your strength to that of a giantess. The effect will last less than a minute. Use wisely, brave travelers.
Huh. That was kind of cool. I supposed I had only expected to find things like weapons in here, but given all of the other fuckery that was going on, why wouldn’t there be other magical shit? This whole thing felt vaguely magical, after all.
“I got a potion?” I told Yasha. I took the blade back from her and passed her the vial. She held it up to examine it in the dim firelight of the room.
“I have not seen a potion like this before,” she mused.
“Have you seen many potions?” I asked.
“A few,” she explained. “Before my time as the crystal keeper, my father would bring out a few of the things other than gold, like the potions he would find. They always had strange effects.”
I hadn’t thought of potentially bringing out anything other than the gold from the dungeon, but it was an interesting prospect. I would set it on the back-burner for now, though, because I doubted I would need to increase my strength to that of a giantess in the regular world.
Chicago was pretty high on crime, but not Godzilla-sized crime.
I grabbed the last item from the pile of gold to examine. It was a pair of boots that looked like they would be approximately my size. The leather was thick and far nicer than anything I had ever owned. It looked as if they had been carefully hand-stitched together by the finest craftsman.
According to the white text over the item, they were “Leather Boots of Swiftness.” I had a feeling I already knew what that meant, but I switched to the stats anyway.
Leather Boots of Swiftness:
Attack Speed: +7
Dexterity: +2
That was an impressive boost in speed. I hadn’t seen a number in the stats that large yet, and I wondered just how fast the boots would make me if I were to put them on.
“What are those?” Yasha asked.
“Speed enhancing boots,” I explained. “Presumably, they will make me go fast.”
I hated that I felt like fucking Sonic the Hedgehog as I said it, but at least there was, like, a ninety percent chance Yasha had never even heard of Sonic the Hedgehog.
“Those look useful, indeed,” she mused.
“Anything for me?” Mimic chimed in. I had nearly forgotten that the chest mimic was there at my feet.
I cleared my throat. “Uh… No, not this time, either. Sorry. I just keep getting cool stuff.”
“Ah, you’ll get stuff you don’t want eventually.” He could have tried harder to sound a little less dejected, but then again, why was I taking to heart what an actual talking chest said to me? Clearly, I had started to drink the Kool-Aid.
“Will you arrange all of this in the lockers again for me?” I asked. “You did a really good job last time.”
“Sure!” Mimic exclaimed. It was like he was happy to have any sort of job to do at all. “But you should probably take all that gold with you!”
“Believe me,” I said. “I planned on it.”
I began the process of stripping off the leather gloves I had put on before embarking into the dungeon. I set them alongside all of the new weapons and armor I had received this time around, as well as the weapons from my previous venture into the dungeon.
It took less time than I expected to collect every stray piece of gold and slip them into my pockets. I still couldn’t help but be amazed that my pants were able to stay up at all with all of the coins inside, but I tried to keep count as I packed the gold away in the pockets of my jeans. If my estimation was right, I’d managed to garner about one hundred and fifty coins this time.
Holy mother of hell, I was going to be rolling in money like Scrooge McDuck after this.
I drew a deep breath as I turned to face Yasha where she sat on the island.
“Well,” I said. “Have you figured out what you want to do yet?”
