Gamer Guild’s Dungeon (1st Floor)

--- Joshua ---

“Right, if it doesn’t matter which one I pick then I’ll take the… chains.” He decided, stumbling over to the pillar in question.

(“Huh, what a coincidence…”)

“What?” He blinked, weakly grabbing the chains off the pillar.

(“Oh, nothing…”) The voice assured him as the chains burst into pixels. (“Wait, uh, give me a second… we’re experiencing some, uh… technical difficulties and… got it!”)

The world seemed to shift underneath him as the pressure on his head suddenly disappeared as if it was never there, leaving his mind as clear as it’d been before he’d walked into the dungeon. “What… what was that?”

(“Depends on what you mean.”) The voice seemed to shrug. (“The pain was because my Wonderland wanted to reject you for some reason, that I am legitimately curious about given how it's never happened like that before. And if you mean the fact that it disappeared so quickly then…”) A blue screen full of icons appeared in front of him. (“I rolled you up a game character!”)

“Uh, thanks?” He said, not entirely sure what he was thanking her for given how even if his mind was clear the last few minutes were still… confusing.

(“No problem!”) The voice chirped.

“Right… So, um, how exactly is this supposed to work?” He asked, looking at the screen and noting how half of the icons seemed to be empty.

(“Video game rules. Play the game, get skill points, and spend them to unlock new skills.”) The voice answered. (“Only I had to tweak a couple of things to get my Wonderland to accept you… Which is weird, in that completely cool kind of way.”)

“Uh-huh.” He nodded understanding the first half of that while also -personally- acknowledging the fact that he didn’t know nearly enough about Wonderlanders to make a call on the second part. “So what exactly did you… tweak?”

(“Ooh, ooh, I made you a custom character!”) The voice squeed. (“Oh, but don’t worry I left a few blanks for you to fill in for yourself if you want.”)

“Right, um… I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that.” He admitted, before experimentally clicking on an icon that was neither empty nor greyed out.

On the screen in front of him a little cartoon video of himself appeared next to the icon showing him throwing a black line of some kind at a monster and pulling it towards himself.

(“Well, for whatever reason my Wonderland wouldn’t accept you as just a regular player. So instead I ended up taking the Chain class and… remaking it into a new class based on what I’m picking up from your own brand of Madness. Which was enough to work through whatever error we were getting.”) The voice explained. (“Though admittedly I’m a little fifty-fifty on if a couple of things translated right, or if they’re going to come out different than intended.”)

“Hmm, well subverting expectations is half of the show.” He shrugged, since in all honesty he hadn’t been intending to make this a test of his own powers rather than the guild’s.

(“Ooh, you’re a performer?”) The voice asked with a fascinated tone of, well, voice.

“I guess that’s one way to put it.” He admitted, knowing that while he hadn’t had his big debut, he was (absolutely going to be a star.)

Giving a few of his other available options a look, he decided to go with that first one figuring it’d be useful if he didn’t have to chase down his enemies in a fight.

(“Ooh, Chain- Er, I mean… Ink Pull?) The voice sounded confused, before dismissing whatever was bugging it. (“Uh, anyway, good call. That one is kind of the bread and butter of the Chain class, which yours is based on.”)

Feeling something scratching at the back of his mind, he looked down at his arm as something like a glop of bubbling ink wrapped around his arm. He flexed his hand and wrist a few times before giving into the itch and slinging his arm forward, sending out a sling of ink that quickly retracted. (Interesting…)

Rolling his shoulders he flexed his wrist again before swinging his arm and flinging out the ink in a whip strike, that he repeated once, twice, and thrice. (Very interesting…)

“Figured using this thing would be a bit harder than that…”

(“Ah, that’s because I implant memories of how to use each skill into the power-ups.”) His fellow Wonderlander told him, causing him to blink.

“Wait, we can implant our memories into things?”

(“It’s a bit tricky, but it's not all that different than implanting emotions.”) The voice seemingly shrugged. (“Admittedly, how you do it is probably based on however you built your wonderland. So it might be easier, might be harder.”)

“Huh…” He considered that for a moment, before finally realizing (I’m talking to a Wonderlander. A real Wonderlander. They probably know all sorts of stuff that can help me and the cabaret out!)

“It’s a… theater, of sorts.” He admitted to the voice in half-truth, figuring that Wonderlanders were rare enough that letting a few of the more obvious details slip wouldn’t hurt him. (Especially if it gets me some solid advice about this whole Wonderlander thing. Because as much as I hate to admit it, Avery doesn’t know nearly as much as I wish he did.)

(“Ooh, a theater! That sounds like it could be fun!”) The voice seemed to smile. (“And if it’s like that then maybe you could store memories in like… recordings or something. It’d be super cool if they were old time-y film reels instead of the modern stuff.”)

“Yeah, that does sound kind of cool.” He agreed as he remembered Avery once mentioning some film reels about the old boss. (Those must’ve been memories he stored within the Wonderland.)

(“Anyway, we’ve put the game on pause long enough.”) The voice told him. (“We need to get this game started!”)

“Alright.” He smiled, feeling some of his fellow Wonderlander’s enthusiasm through the world around him. (That’s definitely something to make note of.)

“Through these doors, right?” He asked, making his way to a second set of stone doors.

(“Yes, oh, wait! Give me a sec, only get to do this for a handful of my players.”) The voice seemed to cough before taking on a different tone. (“Our story begins with our young adventure stepping forth alone into the guild’s dungeon, in an attempt to find his fortune in this world.”)

“Are… are you narrating?” He couldn’t help but ask.

(“Well, I’m GM and that’s kind of my job man.”) The voice pointed out.

“Whatever.” He shrugged, only to frown before looking at the air around him. “Just make sure to make me sound like the star that I am!”

The voice made a snorting sound. (“Sure, sure.”)

Eyeing the air suspiciously for a moment, he eventually turned his attention back to the stone doors before pushing them open and finding himself glad that his super strength had returned to him, making the job significantly easier than before.

(“Stepping into a tunnel of dirt and roots, our young hero found himself intaking an animalistic scent informing him of just what his first trial would be.”)

“So, the first floor is an animal dungeon of some kind? Got it.” He nodded, continuing down the tunnel until he found a large open room with a small furry creature in the middle.

“Rats?” He asked upon recognizing the creature. “The first floor is a rat dungeon? Seriously?”

(“Hey, hey, hey! The rat dungeon is a classic adventures trope and is great for giving players a tutorial!”) The voice defended against his incredulity.

“Fine.” He sighed, before giving the thing a second glance. “I’m guessing since there’s just one this is supposed to be the ‘how to attack’ tutorial?”

(“Yeah, I tried having more than one for this tutorial but… People are idiots.”) The voice told him in resignation.

“Yeah, that tracks.” He agreed, before flexing his wrist and flicking it towards the rat with the intention of pulling it towards himself. And as the rat flew towards him he decided to give something a try before toonifying his hand and slapping the rat into the ground. An action that shattered the little beast into hundreds of pixels.

(“Ooh, what was that?”) His fellow Wonderlander asked, once more in awe of him. (As it should be.)

“My Toon Hands, it makes my hands bigger and allows me to hit harder.” He explained before noticing something on the ground. “What’s this?”

(“Oh, tutorial drop.”) The GM answered as he picked up a rat skull that was bigger than the rat he’d killed. (“Enemies randomly drop items, some are immediately useful like potions or equipment and others are only useful if you get to certain checkpoints like that skull.”)

“Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind.” He told the GM before stuffing the skull in one of the surprisingly spacious pockets of his slacks. “Wait… when did I change clothes?”

He’d been intending to switch into his toon clothes once he stepped into the dungeon, only avoiding it to keep people from seeing his toon identity before he was ready. A plan he’d completely forgotten about with his headache, which is why he was mildly alarmed about transforming without meaning to.

(“Oh, right. This is your first time in someone else’s wonderland.”) The GM remembered. (“Whenever you step into a realm of Madness you’ll automatically transform into however you see yourself in your Wonderland. Such as that dapper outfit you’ve got going.”)

“I see…” He frowned, starting to make his way down the next tunnel. (If I automatically transform in a ‘realm of Madness’...) “Does that include anywhere that a Wonderlander is using their powers, or just instances like this dungeon or an actual Wonderland?”

(“Anywhere with enough Madness really.”) The GM answered as if they hadn’t just admitted that he could be outed by any Madness user.

(Shit does that include Chris?) He grimaced. (No, wait the GM said ‘enough Madness’ which means Chris would have to be using his powers a fair amount to trigger my transformation. Which is also probably why I haven’t transformed around him given how little he uses his own powers these days.)

It was still something he’d have to watch out for, but at the very least it was more of a situational concern than an immediate one.

(“A veritable swarm of rats blocked our heroes path, drawing him away from his fantasies about the future and forcing him to focus on the task at hand.”) The GM narrated, forcing him away from his thoughts and back into the moment.

“Right, so first is basic combat so I’m guessing this is supposed to get people used to dealing with more than one enemy.” He thought aloud, upon seeing that the ‘veritable swarm’ was really only five copies of the rat he’d previously crushed.

(“Eh, pretty much.”) The GM admitted. (“Unlike the last room, the swarm gets bigger the more people are in your party, so it’s also about party tactics which since you’re doing a solo run…”)

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“Isn’t relevant to me.” He nodded, before rolling his shoulders as he began to flex his wrist. “Still this should be easy enough.”

He slung his (Ink Whip) forward and began hacking at the rats with a series of strikes that while not as damaging as his Toon Hand appeared to be, was hitting multiple targets at once.

“Hey, question.” He told the GM after vanquishing the last rat. “How much damage does my… Ink Whip do? Compared to the other weapons back there anyways.”

(“Eh, kind of low, but most of your attacks are AOE so depending on how many enemies you hit, you’re only slightly below average.”) The GM answered as he picked up whatever random junk the rats had dropped. (“Honestly, the chain is built more for crowd control than DPS.”)

“And I’m guessing since I’m by myself that means I’m at a disadvantage.” He frowned, knowing that most ‘control characters’ were regulated to the back line be it for the sake of support or causing steady damage. (Which is pointless given how I don’t have a front line to tank for me.)

(“A small one, but don’t forget you’re technically a whole new class, so that doesn’t matter as much for you as it does other people.”) The GM tried to assure him as he made his way to the next room.

“Right…” He sighed, figuring he’d deal with that problem when it came to him. “So what's this next room about anyway?”

(“Oh, hold.”) The GM coughed, before continuing in their ‘narrator’ voice. (“As our hero continues into the depths of the dungeon, he began to feel the mutative magic in the air that created the many menacing monsters of the dungeon.”)

“Mm, boss fight already?” He figured the first floor would be more than just three rooms, even if it was the easiest of the dungeon's floors.

(“Heavy unit tutorial.”) The GM corrected.

“Gotcha.” He nodded before creeping into the room with a rat the size of a rottweiler. “Okay, that’s a big rat.”

(“Kind of the point of a heavy unit.”)

“Right, so what’s the difference between a regular unit and a heavy?” He asked, before realizing he could use this question. “I mean from a Wonderlander standpoint. I already figure Heavies have more health and damage, and maybe a special ability or two depending on the floor.”

(“There’s not really a difference?”) His fellow Wonderlander admitted. (“I mean they cost more resources to make, but honestly I’m kind of specced for the whole Minion Master build. I’m guessing you don’t have too many minions?”)

“I’ve kept it to a handful of dreams for now.” He answered, figuring that even if he was ‘inexperienced’ as a Wonderlander he didn’t want the GM to realize he’d been one for less than a month. “Figured a bunch of Boss dreams are better than a cheap zoo deck like yours.”

(“Spoken like someone who needs to get good, scrub.”) The GM laughed. (“But in all honesty I don’t actually have too many dreams, since I put more points into upgrading my waking party.”)

“Makes sense.” He doubted outfitting an entire gang was cheap on the resources. (In fact I definitely couldn’t pull that off given what I’m working with right now.)

(“Right, either way, why don’t you deal with this thing so we can get a move on!”) The GM rushed him.

Figuring there was no reason not to, and that he was admittedly interested in what that ‘skill’ he unlocked could do, he flexed his wrist before throwing out his ink whip with the intent of pulling the rat to him. An idea that while on paper was good, proved less so in practice as he ended up under the giant rat trying to bite and claw at him.

“Shit! Fucking! Shit!” He cursed, toonifying his hand to punch the rat off of him. “What the fuck is the point of a skill that puts an enemy on top of you!”

(“Yeah, I didn’t really calibrate for your super strength adding to the strength boost that naturally comes with my power ups.”) The GM admitted sheepishly. (“I-I’ll fix that on your next level up.”)

“Wonder-gah!” His sarcasm was cut off as the giant rat reoriented itself and lunged at him once more. “Fuck!”

Eyes widening, he toonified his hand once more as threw out a sloppy uppercut into the rat’s head, shattering it into pixels before a little tune unrelated to his own began to play in his ears. “Wha-what is that?”

(“Victory music.”) The GM answered as if it was obvious. (“Oh, and that second tune means you leveled up!”)

“I did?” He blinked before shaking his head. “Er, cool… I guess?”

(“Yep.”) The GM agreed. (“Already fixed that bug you had, and made a new skill based on your big hand thing and this chain technique I know.”)

“Thanks?” He said before shaking his head and picking up what he assumed was a potion vial of some kind. “These things safe to drink?”

(“Red tastes like cherries and blue is blueberry flavored, but you’re missing like one HP so it’s kind of pointless to take them now.”)

“Huh… is the HP thing you do an actual scanning ability or are you making a joke?” He asked starting towards the next room.

(“Scanning ability.”) The GM seemingly shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Is it accounting for my healing factor or is it like my current well being?” He prodded, maybe a little too obviously, but at the same time he might be able to learn something about one of his more important powers.

(“It accounts for your healing factor.”) The GM answered in a distracted tone. (“Roll for perception.”)

“What?” He frowned in confusion.

(“You don’t notice anything.”)

He blinked before looking at the space around him. “Uh, what?”

(“You still don’t notice anything.”)

“Okay… should I be concerned about this?” He felt the need to ask.

(“Still not noticing anything.”)

“Alright, you’re making me kind of paranoid here.” He admitted, as he cautiously continued through the tunnel.

Something landed on his head.

He sighed. “The perception thing was for an ambush wasn’t it?”

(“Yep.”)

With that confirmed he stood perfectly still before swiping at the thing sitting on top of his head. A thing that decided to retaliate by climbing down his face and “Fuck it’s in my shirt! It’s in my fucking shirt!”

Little claws began to nick and scratch at his skin as he tried to beat at the small vermin clinging to him, “Get it out! Get it out!”

Eventually one of his panicked swipes managed to strike the rat crawling in his clothes, pixelating it in a single blow. “Fuck do the pixels have to sting too?” He whined, shaking his shirt out.

(“Well it’s a disruption of condensed magical energy so yes.”) The GM told him with a fair bit of amusement. (“And so glad that actually worked on someone, was scared this was broken or something.”)

“What do you mean?” He gasped, coming down from his… fight. He was going to call it a fight. (Makes me sound more badass than a freak out.)

(“Oh, nothing important.”)

“Whatever.” He sighed, before stepping into a room with a large chest in the middle. “Ooh, treasure chest.”

(“I don’t have to explain how this one works do I?”) The GM joked as he made his way to the chest.

“Nah, I’ve played enough games.” He told her, eyeing the chest. “Which is why I know not to simply trust this.”

(“What?”)

With a swift kick he knocked the chest open before leaping back and preparing for a fight. When no fight began he cautiously looked around the room before suspiciously eyeing the chest again.

(“Okay… I think this is the first time someone has reacted like this…”) The GM admitted with a bit of confusion.

“Then that just means they aren’t genre savvy!” He scowled, eyes narrowing at the chest.

(“Uh, what do you mean?”)

“Traps and mimics.” He explained.

(“Really, you think I’d use traps and mimics on players? On the first floor?”) The GM scoffed, before quietly adding.

“Ah!” He cheered having caught her. “So you would use traps and mimics, just not on the tutorial floor!”

The GM’s silence was telling.

“See it’s not paranoia if you are in fact out to get me!”

The GM’s continued silence was now as damning as it was telling.

Eventually his fellow Wonderlander shook away the shock of having been caught before audibly sighing. (“Just, just take the coins from the chest, and head to the next room. You’ve just got the boss and then you’re done with this floor.”)

“Right,” He nodded with satisfaction before doing just that. “So, what is the boss anyway?”

(“Wouldn’t that be telling?”)

“I mean, what kind of boss is it? Bruiser, minions, sneaky ambusher?” He explained, before realizing, “Actually, more important question, is this one of your Boss Dreams?”

(“Huh? Oh, no, no. I do have a couple of Boss Dreams on the deeper floors but I can maintain the smaller floors by myself.”) The GM told him. (“And while I do have more than the few wandering this dungeon, they’re usually restricted to the monster families I’ve invested a little more into.”)

“Interesting.” It really was given how he only had a single Boss Dream himself. And based on what she was saying, she used her Bosses to expand and maintain her Wonderland and Dungeon beyond her natural limits. (Which I guess makes sense, since Avery is supposed to manage the Cabaret when I’m not there.)

(I’ll have to think on it a bit more, but I think I’m starting to get an idea of what Boss Dreams are supposed to do.)

With that final thought he stepped into a large room with a series of stone steps leading up to a small throne with a small anthropomorphic rat sitting on it, wearing a crown and holding a scepter.

It took one look at all of this and said. “Alright, going to call it now. Minion boss.”

(“It’s the rat floor of course it’s a minion boss. What else were you expecting?”)

“I don’t know, like some kind of were-rat bruiser or something.” He shrugged.

(“...”)

“...”

(“Oh, no. You failed your stealth check.”)

“I what now?” He blinked.

The rat king suddenly screeched while pointing its scepter at him, causing two clouds of pixels to swarm through the air before coalescing into a pair of giant rats running straight for him.

“Oh. Oh shit!” He cursed, throwing himself out of the way of the lunging rats. (Okay, minion boss. Since it summoned them, that means it can probably replace them. Should see if I can hit it, before I try killing its minions.)

Plan set he rushed up the stairs, while keeping an ear out for the giant rats behind him. (Just like running from the bullies at school.)

As he neared the throne, the rat king hissed at him before scrambling on top of it to try and get out of his reach.

“Yeah, no.” Deciding to trust that the GM had fixed the prior bug -and that it actually wouldn’t be too painful in this situation- he flexed his wrist before sending out his ink whip to grab the dungeon boss.

The rat king screeched diving out of the way and off of the throne, as his whip shot through the little monster’s previous location. “Shit missed.”

Stumbling for a step at his failed attack, he lost track of the giant rats behind him just long enough for one of them to tackle him into the throne from behind.

“Fuck!” He cursed, elbowing the beast behind him before shoving it off of him.

With a bit more breathing room he turned around and shakily stood on top of the throne, all while keeping an eye on the three rats behind him.

“Okay, let’s try this again.” He told himself before leaping off of the throne and trying to stomp the rat king, an action that caused all three rats to scatter away from him.

“Not this time!” He shouted before sending out another ink whip towards the rat king and actually managing to catch it this time.

“Yes!” He cheered reeling in his catch, before toonifying his hand and smashing the rat king into a cloud of pixels.

This victory was of course short lived as one of the giant rats decided to avenge its king by once more tackling him to the ground and trying to claw at his face.

“Damn it!” He’d been hoping the minions would die with their summoner!

Blocking his face with his forearms, he waited for the giant rat to pull back before grabbing it and bringing it in for a few strikes with his elbows. The third of which caused the weight on top of him to disappear in a storm of pixels.

Groaning as he got to his feet he turned towards the final rat and nodded. “Just you and me…”

The rat hissed at him before rushing him in the same maneuver he was pretty sure the other two had used on him. Which is why he found it significantly easier to roll out of the way, before lashing at it with his ink whip in a flurry of quick strikes that shattered the beast into lights.

“Fuck… Is this really something tourists sign up for?” He groaned as he felt his heart beating to a familiar tune inside of his chest.

(“Eh, usually I have the monsters set to easy for non-Deviants.”) The GM admitted, talking for the first time since his fight started. (“I’ll then raise it to normal or hard depending on if the person I’m dealing with is a regular Deviant, or a known mask.”)

“Yeah, that, uh, that makes a little more sense.” He nodded, as he began picking through his loot, finding another rat skull as well as another potion. “So, um, what next?”

(“Floor stairs are behind the throne. You’ll find the floor treasure and then stairs will take you to a shopping slash break room.”) The GM told him as he made his way back up the room’s stairs, before finding a short tunnel to a room with three treasure chests.

“Okay, looking at this I’m guessing, weapon, armor, and potion chest.” He commented, looking the room over. “I’m also guessing, I can only take one.”

(“Yep.”) The GM confirmed. (“Oh, also since you’re a Wonderlander you could also cannibalize the Madness of whatever you collect for your own Wonderland if you want.”)

“Really?” He asked in surprise. “You don’t mind?”

(“Eh, I honestly make more Madness then I can use through the guild.”) The GM seemingly shrugged. (“That’s part of the reason I blow so much of it on events like this.”)

“Huh… That must be nice…” He grumbled under his breath, since aside from his Malice vials he still didn’t know how to gather Madness. Something that seemed so fundamental to being a Wonderlander that he didn’t feel comfortable bringing it up with the GM.

(“It is.”) The GM agreed shamelessly.

(Should’ve figured they can hear everything I say in their dungeon.) He grimaced.

(“But don’t feel bad. The only reason my Madness maker is doing so well is because my friends put a ton of effort into helping me out in the waking world.”) The GM admitted with a touch of fondness. (“I wouldn’t be making half as much Madness without my party backing me up.”)

He merely ‘hmm’d’ at that, not really knowing what to say since he didn’t really have much in the way of friends himself. (Even my thing with Anne is more, due to being mutual outcasts than actual friendship…)

(“Still,”) The GM began, coming out of her memories. (“If you want to move onto the next floor than you’ll need to go ahead and pick your prize.”)

“Right.” He nodded after shaking his head out of his thoughts. “I guess I’ll take the Madness."