Pocket Dungeon 4, page 3
‘Whatever the heck that is’ was clearly Liva’s newfound fascination with the stove.
I darted over to press a soft kiss to Iris’ cheek in thanks before nodding.
“Alright then,” I said. “Let’s go hang out with a scholar.”
Iris and Elaene followed me to the private elevator of the penthouse as I shoved the crystal into the pocket of my leather jacket. I’d finally managed to get the jacket back from the tiny, old Italian man who’d been in the process of repairing it for me for a little over a week.
Who would’ve thought that magical acid spray wasn’t the best for upkeeping old leather? But the jacket was good as new now, and I was more than thrilled to have it back in my possession, not only because it was my favorite jacket, but because it felt weird going into a dungeon without it.
It was like my lucky charm.
Hell, it was more than like my lucky charm. My jacket had saved me from some pretty gnarly injuries, and I’d been wearing it when I first met both Yasha and Iris. Having it back felt like I was with an old friend again.
“Do you think Trog’thukaz will know what it is you are looking for?” Yasha asked as the elevator smoothly took us down to the level of the parking garage, as opposed to the lobby of the fancy apartment building.
“I hope so,” I said. “We’ve never really talked about what the crystals are at their core before, but I’m sure it’s something he’s considered, given what he studies. And if not, he’s gotta know someone who does, right?”
“It is not an uncommon belief, that the crystals are pocket dungeons,” Elaene said. “Though I have heard some fringe theories before as to what else they might be.”
My eyebrows rose as the three of us stepped out of the elevator and into the parking garage. The air was cool below ground, and I glanced around to try and remember where exactly our two parking spots were.
The valet had taken our Mercedes Benz SUV from me after my last round of boxes, which was great in theory, but in practice, it was less ideal considering I still wasn’t used to this damned garage yet and its fancy exclusivity.
Sure, I’d had to pay for two parking spaces at the dinky little garage connected to the old apartment building, but people still snuck in and parked for free all the time.
Here, though, you had to have a fancy keycard, and there was security. No way someone was going to be able to steal our spots or either of our vehicles in here.
I doubted anyone would want to steal my old scrambler motorcycle, but still. I loved the bike, and I’d built her from scratch with my own two hands, but even I knew she didn’t look like much.
The Benz, however?
That was one fine-ass car. It was a sexy piece of machinery with more bells and whistles than I’d ever know what to do with, and right now, it was fucking eluding me in the giant garage.
I pressed the lock button on the key fob, and a very distinct click echoed around the garage.
“That way,” Yasha said before she simply took off down the row of neatly parked, expensive cars.
That was another awesome thing about having women with super senses, they could always find my lost cars for me.
We rounded the corner with Yasha in the lead, and lo and behold, there was the Benz parked right next to the scrambler bike, like I hadn’t even forgotten the number of our spaces at all.
The three of us quickly clambered up into the Benz, and I breathed in a deep breath of that still-new car smell.
Yasha had taken up her customary spot in the passenger’s seat, and Elaene seemed pleased to sit in the back as I drove.
There wasn’t any talking for about thirty minutes as we rode in relative silence, save for the classic rock gently pouring out of the impressive stereo system.
I’d been driving further and further out of Chicago proper to use the crystals, but now I was practically hitting Naperville. We did it for good reason, though. Entering a crystal sent out something akin to a beacon to every other crystal user in the general area that said “hey, someone’s using a crystal! Come get his ass!”
And I did not want anyone to come get my ass, so I made damned sure not to get into a crystal anywhere near my own damned home. No fucking thank you. I’d only made that mistake twice, but twice had been enough to let Black know my general location.
Black might have been dead now, but there were still a ton of people who were going to be vying for the power that he left behind, and I didn’t want to make myself a target until I was good and ready.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to drive around for much longer before I found an adequately secluded location where no one would bother us, and more importantly, we wouldn’t bother anyone else with the massive power surge that happened when entering the crystal.
I slid the Benz into park and killed the ignition before I turned to face the two women.
“Ready?” I asked.
“We are entering the crystal inside the vehicle?” Yasha asked and cocked her head to the side.
“I wish we could,” I said. “But I think it might fuck with the electronics in the car, like it does in a building. The best we can hope for is near the SUV, so the crystal hopefully is hidden.”
“That is wise,” Yasha said. “So no one can attempt to steal the crystal.”
“At least a little better than having it sitting out by the bike,” I agreed as I slipped out of the SUV with the crystal, as well as our parchment instructions in hand. “Elaene, are you ready to go, too?”
The Atlantean woman’s eyes moved from me to the crystal in my hand and then to Yasha as she hesitated before sliding out of the vehicle, too.
“I have never entered a crystal with someone else willingly,” she said as she closed the door behind her. “How do I do it?”
We were all a few paces from the SUV when I stopped.
“Here,” I said and reached out to grab her hand with my free one as the other held the crystal. “Just hold onto me.”
“Alright,” Elaene said and sucked in a breath. “I am ready then.”
“Then let’s go.” I grinned. “See you in a minute.”
Yasha placed her hand in Elaene’s and nodded to indicate she was ready as well, and then I managed to unroll the parchment from Trog in one hand.
The instructions were simple, and I’d already done it once before to meet up with Monty in his crystal before we killed Harper. All I did was place my thumb against the sigil drawn on the page and close my eyes.
Moving through the crystal codes was an experience unlike anything else, even the craziness of the dungeons. It was like time sped up and slowed down all at once, and the entire world around me was made of light.
By all accounts, I shouldn’t have understood what was around me, but with the power of the sigil pulsating up against my skin beneath my thumb, I did.
Trog had indicated his own code on the parchment, and the numbers were seared in the back of my mind as my body felt like it moved through the ether.
When I finally came across the right sequence, it was like a puzzle piece clicked into place.
I opened my eyes with a gasp to stare deeply into the crystal until I felt the familiar pull in my gut and the world around me went black.
When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer standing next to our extravagant SUV. Instead, I was in an extravagant-looking equipment room.
“Whoa,” I gasped and sucked in a sharp breath as I took in the new surroundings.
I’d thought the last equipment room had been fancy, with its wooden ceilings and the massive, Knights of the Round Table style table in the center of the room, but this was a step up in the right direction.
The floors were made of a smooth, flawless-looking marble with no discernible cuts anywhere on the stone’s surface, not even to make up tiles. It looked like one perfect slab.
The walls were made of a rich mahogany wood in even slats and looked like it had been made by the finest craftsman, as opposed to shoddily thrown together like they’d looked in the past.
Even the chandelier that hung from the ceiling looked fancier, and I didn’t even think a chandelier could get any fancier than just being a chandelier, but this one was something else entirely.
For starters, it seemed to be operating based on magic alone.
Instead of being in some sort of metal structure, the long, tapered candles hung in the air by themselves and formed four concentric circles. They bobbed very softly as they burned, and it was clear nothing at all was holding them up.
It was one of the loveliest things I’d ever seen, even if I couldn’t really explain how it worked.
The row of lockers pressed up against one of the walls were also upgraded, and now they looked more like fancy armoires than they did cheaply thrown together wooden lockers.
Intricate carvings lined each of the wooden doors, and they were complete with fancy little brass knobs shaped like stars.
Whoever had done the decorating in here clearly had an eye for design.
“It is incredible,” Yasha breathed out the words in a soft gasp.
The fox-woman spun around in small circles to take in the sight of the new equipment room, and her golden eyes were wide in wonder.
Something was still missing from the equipment room, however, and I frowned as I realized it.
Mimic, the chest mimic who used to reside in the equipment room of each dungeon I’d entered, was still nowhere to be found.
It was just another dungeon in the ever-growing line of dungeons where Mimic was absent, and as annoying as the chest mimic was, it was hard not to be worried by his absence.
There was something else in the equipment room that I hadn’t noticed right away, though, and it was a miracle I’d managed to overlook it.
The two bodies sprawled on the floor. They looked just like they had when I’d dragged them in three days ago.
Like, exactly the same.
They hadn’t so much as begun to rot at all.
It made sense, once I really thought about it. Time seemed to come to a halt in the dungeons. Iris had been trapped in one for fifty years without aging so much as a day, after all, and she hadn’t even known time was really passing.
For the first time, that side effect of the dungeons was a definite relief instead of a general horror, however. Because thank god the bodies hadn’t started to smell.
Elaene’s gaze followed mine to the bodies sprawled on the ground, and her face darkened. Her eyes, which were usually the color of the ocean at daybreak, went stormy as she glowered at the bodies of Archibald Black and one of his guards.
“Good riddance,” she said with a snarl before turning her focus back up to me.
“That’s the spirit,” I joked. “Come on, let’s get our equipment on and get out of here. The sooner we do, the sooner we can drag these assholes into the dungeon and never have to see them again.”
Elaene nodded and set her jaw with determination.
I’d been so preoccupied taking in the new sights of the equipment room, I’d entirely missed the automated voice speaking in my head and pleasantly informing me as to the dungeon’s level and the time limit we’d have. Thankfully, however, I could see the little red numbers up in the corner of my vision marking how much time we’d have for this dungeon once we opened the door leading out from the relative safety of our equipment room.
One hour.
I’d been hoping for a little more, especially to make sure we found Trog in enough time, but it would be doable.
Or at least, I hoped it would be doable.
After all, not only was this a level twenty-two dungeon, it was also our first triple crystal dungeon.
Yasha had already made her way over to the lockers and pulled out her preferred armored dress. She stripped off her clothes without a lick of self-consciousness, and I let my eyes roam over all that bare, golden skin as she pulled on the short dress, boots, and gauntlets.
I actually had no idea what the stats were on her armor, but clearly it was enough she hadn’t wanted to upgrade it at all with any of the other loot we’d found in the chests the dungeons provided.
One thing she had updated, however, was her katana.
When we’d first met, she’d been using a blade called Night Caller, and it had been impressive enough on its own, but after the horrible dungeon that was seemingly floating on the ocean, she’d found the blade’s twin in one of the chests.
When combined, Day Bringer and Night Caller formed a whole new blade entirely known as Twilight, and it was way more powerful than either of the katanas were on their own.
I didn’t have to think much at all to recall the item’s stats and flavor text. It was one of those things that just made sense in the dungeons, like it was cataloged somewhere in my mind I could only access here, and there was no denying that my recollection skills definitely got better with practice.
Day Bringer
Damage- High
Speed- Fast
Skill Level Required- Incredibly High
When paired with its twin, Night Caller, the two blades merge into one, seamless weapon that may be separated at a whim. They hone the skill of a warrior within the wielder, just as the warrior hones the edge of the blade. Combined, the two blades become Twilight, as deadly as it is beautiful.
While I hadn’t seen the stats for Twilight itself, I knew the combined blades functioned similarly to the Opal Twins, the weapon that seemed made for Elaene, in the fact that the blades could be separated and used as two, or joined and used as one.
I tried to recall the stats for the Opal Twins too, and made the decision to mentally double-check the stats and flavor text for everything we used in the dungeon this time around, just to help hone the skill. Who knew, maybe one day it would come in handy to be able to know just what something could do at the drop of a hat.
Opal Twins
Damage - High
Speed - Quick
Skill Required - High
Two halves of the same weapon, the Opal Twins will serve you well if you understand their call. There is balance in all things. Find it. Kill what breaks it.
Yasha strapped her wicked katana to her hip before grabbing the Braided Sphinx Hair Whip and looping that along her belt as well, and the Effervescent Orb.
I mentally ran through what I could recall of their stats.
Braided Sphinx Hair Whip
Damage- Average
Attack Speed- Quick
Adds a bonus to wisdom and intuition. When in doubt, the Braided Sphinx Hair Whip holds the answers.
Effervescent Orb
Harness the magic of the orb to create a weightlessness all around you. The effect will last as long as the magic remains in the orb. But be warned, if the magic burns too low, there is danger to be had. Once drained, the orb requires a full 72 hours to recharge itself.
“Here,” I said to Elaene and passed her not only her Opal Twins, but the Cloak of Protection as well.
Cloak of Protection
Strength: +3
Dexterity: -1
Take 10% less damage from all attacks while wearing the Cloak of Protection.
The fabric was a heavy, deep blue velvet with metallic threads embroidered through the material to give it an otherworldly shine. It would also, as the name suggested, offer some protective stats to Elaene.
“Take these as well,” Yasha said as she passed the other woman the Tanned Beginner’s Gloves and Timul’s Belt.
These, I definitely had memorized.
Tanned Beginner’s Gloves
Stamina: +1
Dexterity: +1
Stealth: +1
Timul’s Belt
Hit Points: +3
Stamina: +1
Dexterity: +3
“Oh, and this too,” I said and passed the Atlantean woman the Megafauna Gator Armor set.
Megafauna Gator Armor
Hit Points: +5
Stamina: +4
Constitution: +2
Dexterity: -3
Elaene’s green-gray eyes were huge as she tried to juggle everything we’d just passed her, and I nearly laughed as she managed to make it over to the large, magnificent table that took up most of the room to dump the items on the surface.
“This is… quite a lot of armor and weapons,” she said as she slowly began picking up each item we’d given her and looking it over.
I figured she was checking out the stats on each of the items for herself.
“There’s still more we can give you,” I said with a grin. “Like these Leather Boots of Swiftness and The Oculus.”
Leather Boots of Swiftness:
Speed: +7
Dexterity: +2
The Oculus
Damage- Average
Attack Speed- Quick
See the world as it is. Look through the hilt of The Oculus to illuminate your surroundings and increase your vision.
“What is The Oculus?” she asked and looked up from the armor, which, as the name implied, was made out of the hide of the megafauna gator who’d once tried to make a snack out of me, Iris, and Yasha.
“It’s a dagger with a small stone in the hilt,” I said. “If you look through the stone, it illuminates dangers in the dungeon. It functions similarly to my Pauldrons of Wisdom, but I don’t have to remove them or hold them up to my eye to use their ability.”
I handed her my pauldrons so she could read their stats herself, but I knew them by heart already.
Pauldrons of Wisdom
Hit Points: +1
Stamina: +3
While wearing the Pauldrons of Wisdom, you will experience new sight. Notice things that others do not while fending off enemies.
“Are you sure you don’t want it?” Elaene asked Yasha once she handed me back my pauldrons and looked at The Oculus, who had busied herself by swinging her deadly katana in slow, almost lazy circles.
“I do not enjoy The Oculus,” Yasha said with a wrinkle of her freckled nose. “My senses are quite strong already, and using the dagger muddies them.”
“So it’s yours if you want it,” I said. “But I always make sure to let Yash know what’s going on if I see something standing out.”
“And you’re certain you don’t mind if I use all of this?” Elaene asked.
