Chapter 23

The next room was 10 feet by 20 feet room. The only thing that was prominent about this room was that both the left and the right wall had vertically long rectangular blocks alternating between the color white and black. The sides reminded me of piano keys. The room was otherwise empty, not even having any windows or doors. There were no obvious instructions, so I guess it was going to be another “figure the shit out yourself” room. It would have been nice had the dungeon left some idea of what I was supposed to do but I guess that would have been too much to ask for.

“So, how did you do it broski?”

“Do what Jimmy?”

“Figure out that it was the rope you needed to off yourself with. I was so sure that it was the gun myself. Ehh who am I kidding, I had absolutely no clue at all. But I know I would not have gone with the rope of all things. My second choice if anything would have been that bird since it was the only living thing in there.”

“I couldn’t figure it out either for the longest time. I thought about all the options, and nothing spoke to me about any of them. There were no clues in the room that pointed towards one more than the other.”

“Uhh huh and?”

“I couldn’t find a clue in the room. And then I remembered the door mat before I entered the room. The name of the room was desperation as it said on the mat or at least I thought it was. I mean it fit because desperation would lead you to wanting to kill yourself. But then I realized that desperation doesn’t lead you to want to kill yourself, hopelessness does. Desperation leads to innovation and sometimes making terrible mistakes. Anyways, I realized then that the word was a clue that I had been looking for, and the room was asking a question that the mat answered, if you rearranged the letters.”

“I’m so confused.”

I chuckled, “It was a puzzle room, and the puzzle was an anagram. Anagrams are words that if you arrange their letters, they make different words. Desperation rearranged made ‘A rope ends it’. Once I figured that out, I ran to the rope right away and did the deed.”

“That was just crazy smart. There is no way I would have figured that out. I wish I had you around during all my tests in school. What do you think this room is?”

“No idea yet. Your guess is as good as mine,” I said while carefully searching each inch of the room for clues.

I pressed the white and black blocks, and they made a sound. Not just a sound but a musical note. I wasn’t off when I thought these were piano keys because when they were pressed, they made a musical note like from a piano. This was some type of a music room and unfortunately, one thing I was not was musically inclined.

We had to figure out the appropriate tune I imagined in order for us to escape this room. I pressed through each individual key one at a time. Halfway through it, my high perception picked up a change in temperature of the room. I tried to focus on the air in the room and it had a higher density as well. Something was changing this room little by little. I continued with evaluating the keys one at a time but this time I realized that I was moving even slower. It wasn’t exhaustion but something else. Were the musical notes slowing me down somehow?

I stopped at one random key and focused on it carefully pulling my face close to it to notice if I was missing something. When I pressed the key, the sound was obviously created in the air, but a small amount of invisible gas was being released each time. Well, it was not completely invisible because as it accumulated, it developed a greyish green hue that would not be noticed normally unless someone was specifically looking for it.

“What’s going on Broski? I have a bad feeling.”

“Anytime I press a key, there is a small amount of gas being released into the air. I think it may be a poison, though I can’t tell for certain yet. I am pretty sure though that it is physically slowing me down. It may also be having some subtle mental effects.”

“I guess that means we can’t be pressing any more keys, right?”

“Unfortunately, I think we need play a musical song or something but to do that, I need to know what the sound each of the keys make at which point I should have it memorized. And then we must play this song that we are supposed to figure out somehow.”

I continued to press the keys one at a time. I could feel my breath getting heavier just from this minimal movement. Then, just as I finished, I broke into a coughing fit. I covered my mouth as I was taught when I was a kid and when I moved my hands away from my mouth, they were covered in blood. I broke into another coughing fit but this time I didn’t bother to hold my hands. I was coughing up blood. I estimated that I had been in this room for about half an hour pressing those keys. Perhaps it wasn’t just about inhaling gas each time but also the duration of the inhalation and being in here already for so long was making things worse.

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I tried a few different musical songs that I recalled in some way being associated with Paheli. None of them seemed to work. The air was getting thicker and thicker with poison, and I was wheezing with the most minimal movements. I thought I would remember the keys, but my mind was dull. I sat down on the ground trying to formulate a thought about getting out of here, but it was as if my mind was in a haze. I felt more intoxicated than from drinking grimlock’s poison, the stuff he called beer. I don’t know how long I was sitting down and then I heard Jimie’s voice in my head, “Gatsby buddy, you gotta get up. We need to get out of this room. If you just stay here, you will just keep breathing in the poison.”

He stayed for a quiet a few moments and then seemed to have a eureka moment, “I got it broski, take the potion. Take the potion of cleansing!!!”

My reluctant eyes opened when I heard him, I focused myself and brought the potion out of my pack, nearly dropping it due to weakness. The effect of removal was quick, and all the feeling of weakness was gone. I was breathing normally again. I knew I couldn’t stay too long in this room again. The potion had cleansed my system and removed the poison but if I stayed in here, the room would continue to poison me.

I had tried all the songs I could think of that may have been associated with the mad god. I was never very musically inclined, so I hoped I had not screwed anything up. And then it hit me, a moment of clarity. I don’t know if I was not able to think of this before because of the poison or maybe I had just never thought of something outside the box.

“I feel like you have figured it out. You have figured it out haven’t you broksi?”

“Yes, but I feel like I have to answer in form of a question.”

“huh? Oh, the music in the elevator. It’s the theme song to that game show we heard in the elevator.”

I was not musically inclined, but I did have high enough intelligence to be able to accurately remember the song and the sound that each of the keys made. Still, it took me a couple of times to get it right. I went and played the tune on the keys. It was terrible the way I played but it was in order, and it worked well enough. A door opened at the very end of the room.

Congratulations on Finishing the Sixth level of Dungeon 621. At this point you may collect your reward and exit the dungeon or move forward to the next level. Warning, if you go forward to the next level, there is no returning to previous level. You also may not leave before the completion of that level.

I was given an option of choosing between 3 rewards. All three were black and white keys. Each one opened a different item. The first key opened a jewelry box, the second key opened a shoebox and the third opened a tall Armoire. Nothing special stood out about any of them. They lacked any special design and were made of basic dark wood. I wasn’t sure about the jewelry box. It would be great to have another necklace or a ring that was magical, but I wasn’t sure when the curse of the coin would set in. I still had the boots of the lost wanderer. Not the best boots ever but the stamina bonus helped. My robe had been destroyed unfortunately so maybe the armoire would be the best option. I hoped it contained a robe or even a cloak. I went ahead and picked the key and opened the Armoire. Inside was a navy-blue cloak. I examined it to see if it gave off a description.

Blu Bard’s cloak

Item Type: Magical Cloak – Rare Unique

Alignment: Any class

Material: wool

Durability: 250/250

Description: This cloak belonged to the one the only Blu Bard. Blu Bard was a bard and a pirate who sailed his ship all over Seven seas looking for adventure. His ship docked on many ports, and he dropped his anchor wherever he could. He broke many hearts during his adventures, but his last adventure ended when he himself ironically died of having a heart attack after it was stabbed by a jealous husband of one of his conquests. This cloak provides 20% reduced damage from non-magical blunt and slashing attacks. It provides 10% magic resistance. The wearer can also cast the Best of Blu Bard’s blues once/day.

Spell: Best of Blu Bard’s Blues

Spell Type: Enchantment

Cost: 200 MP

Duration: Duration of the song (9 minutes) or until song is interrupted

Cooldown Period: 1 day

Effect: The caster may charm a target whose willpower is less than the caster’s charisma by saying the incantation “You are my bud blu!”. The incantation activates a song which charms the target that only the target can hear. The song lasts for 9 minutes or until it is interrupted or the target unable to hear. The caster can telepathically send basic instructions to the target in the range of 10 feet. The target will perform the instructions to the best of its ability until sent other instructions, or until the spell ends. The charmed target cannot be ordered to kill itself.

I thought about all the levels I had finished and how difficult they were. I could not imagine anyone under level 50 making it past even the first level. The first level required high Intelligence to be able to remember the best way to finish the slide puzzle. It also required speed and dexterity to be able to move the pieces because every second counted. With me at least, I needed the health to survive the electric blast and the willpower to be able to get back to working on the puzzle. Now that I think about it some more, even a level 50 would not have been able to finish that puzzle. Most individuals with classes focused their attributes on either the physical or the non-physical. You didn’t see too many warriors investing points in intelligence normally nor did you see too many spell casters investing points into physical speed and such. The second level did not seem difficult to me but that was only because I had a spell to dispel the illusion. A normal warrior would not have had those perhaps not even most mages. And then have the ability to remember the details of the image to finish the puzzle on the wall. The third level was even more difficult because I was trying to dodge a giant golem. I would have been squished had it not been for my speed and dexterity. My spell Dash saved me a few times as well. Perhaps a strong enough warrior could have taken on that golem, but I doubt it. I think a warrior would have had to have been over 100 in levels and ascended to have taken on that thing and defeat it.

All these rooms were extremely difficult, but I made it through them. Now I had one more left and I imagined this was not going to be any easier. If anything, I expected this one to be the most challenging in some way or another.

Perhaps, I should just exit as Jimmy had suggested. I mean surviving this dungeon was a difficult task and was it worth it to maybe get a chance to talk with the god?

I have been known to take some strategic retreats against certain overwhelming odds before, but I have never backed down from a challenge. So is it worth going through this next dungeon level?

Hell yeah!