Chapter 5.

As they stepped into the dungeon they reached received a title.

Taste Testers.

As the first party to find the Dark Wine Cellar, you will receive 10% experience bonuses to your attempt to clear it.

“Do we have a light source?” Jake asked as he looked over the dungeon’s floor.

“I sort of know the song for light, but I won’t be able to do another song at the same time.”

“Jade, do you know what would be funny, if you rolled up a two-headed character and then one head could sing about light and another one could be useful!” Michael said with the tact of a younger sibling.

There was a moment of silence before Michael said, “But you could also show one face to other people like you do…”

“Michael, stop or I will unplug the router.”

Both of them then muted for a few moments while John sighed loudly and at length. They returned and Jade said with a forced cheerful voice, “Let’s clear the dungeon.”

Jade’s character then began to sing in an unsteady warbling song and all of their drawn weapons began to glow in a flickering and unsteady way. However, it was enough and they progressed through the room. The first room had a number of broken barrels in each of the corners and the ground was stained with long dried wines and other liquids. The ground underneath might have been gray originally, but now it was stained deep red, purple or a sickly yellow.

They reached a door.

“Who wants to open it?” Jade asked as she continued to type and keep her character singing.

“I guess I will. Be careful, lots of dungeons have traps in them.”

“Good luck John,” Jake said as he watched his friend cautiously move his character up to the door.

There was a pull, but the door stayed shut.

“Maybe we should pick the lock?” Jade asked in a subdued voice.

“I don’t think any of us has lock picking tools,” John said as he stepped back and unhooked the axe from his belt, shifted to a double hand grip and began splintering the door.

It took a little while, long enough that Jake had muted the in-game sound again as Jade’s character’s singing was annoying. Slowly, John’s axe work paid off and the door fell apart. With a push of his shoulders the remaining pieces fell into the room. They all, except for John, started moving forward, before a spike fell from the ceiling and buried itself in the fallen door.

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“Well that was lucky.”

The room had a number of old and worthless looking crates and a few bottles glowing with power with names such as ‘Aged Elixir,’ ‘Commandant’s Favorite,’ and ‘Fallen Imperial Potion.’ These were snatched and the crates broken. The next door was a partially open, so Michael pushed the door open with his character’s spear and this turned out to be an excellent idea as a blade neatly cut the last three feet of his spear off.

“It broke my spear! I didn’t know that could happen to spears.”

“Didn’t you see the spears getting broken in the fight outside?”

“Yeah, but those were the enemies. I didn’t think our stuff could get broken.”

“It does Michael. But there is something else interesting, the light went out on your spear when it got broken. I don’t know if that will ever be helpful again, but I guess that might be important in the future.”

After a little whining, Michael was convinced to stick his broken spear through again and when no blade came down, they went through. The next room had a further intact bottle, but the majority were shattered and the ground was covered in shattered clay and glass. The next doorway was open, but it took nearly as long to go through as the one that had to be cut down as they threw rocks, glass and prodded with their sticks for some trap to go off. Finally Jake lost patience and stepped through, without a trap being activated.

The room was empty of valuables. The far door was a closed, but it was not strong looking. They looked at it nervously and then John stepped up to the door and raised his axe. Just as he was about to strike, the tiles he stood on angled backwards and he began slipping towards the edge. With cry echoing in their microphones, he worked his controller and managed to avoid falling into the spike pit.

Heavy breathing continued for a few moments before John said, “Nearly fell out of my chair.”

“So how do we get in?” Jade asked as she started her character through another song.

“I think I’ve got it, lend me the axe John,” Jake said as he set his sword down and the lighting in the room changed.

John picked up the sword and after unmuting himself said, “Scared my mom. That is so embarrassing.”

Jake waited, readjusted his controller and then went forward. The tiles didn’t move when he first landed and he landed three hits, before it started moving. He kept moving forward, keeping his character from sliding down and finally the door counted as broken and he was able to force his way through. As soon as he crossed the threshold it snapped back as it had before. They followed nervously, but the trap-door remained unchanged.

“My controller is getting to sweaty to hold,” Michael said with a nervous laugh.

“Gross,” Jade said with feeling before saying, “But this is exciting.”

This room had a low table and it was surrounded with cushions. The majority of them were in fairly good condition, but Jake didn’t think anything that bulky would make for good loot. The cups around the table were a mix of copper, bronze and silver, while at the far end of the table, a gold cup remained. All were empty.

“This feels like a trap.”

“Should we take the cups?” Michael asked as he moved around the room.

Jake used his axe to bump one of the cups over, but nothing happened. After a long wait, he bumped another, and still nothing happened.

“The gold one is probably trapped.”

“Michael use your stick to knock it over,” Jade ordered as she began having her character start singing again.

Michael moved forward and used what was left of his spear to bump the golden cup. Nothing happened and they started laughing as they gathered cups up.

“This is so tense,” John said before adding, “I am getting a stomach ache. Why can’t we just fight monsters.”

They searched the rest of the room for a few minutes and finding nothing else of value they approached the door. Jake poked at the tiles with his axe, but nothing happened. He then opened the door, and was pleased to see that it was unlocked. Then a pop-up flashed across his screen.

You Have Been Poisoned!

Your character has touched a contact poison and is now poisoned!

Before Jake could respond to that, the constructs began to activate.