Chapter 10
Jay woke up to being poked in the ribs. “I'm up,” Jay groaned, not actually up at all.
“I don't believe you,” Dag said. It sounded like he was smiling when he said it.
The poking continued. Jay finally grudgingly stood up, stretching out his arms as he yawned. “Yay. Final room clear day!”
Dag grunted, handing him a magic cup of coffee which Jay drank thankfully. After which they cleaned up the camp, again leaving some of their belongings there. Dag had mentioned that the area they were in was never really frequented as there was nothing for miles of any interest. Without the need to lug everything along with them they were safer not carrying a burden in case of combat or traps.
“Don't make it a habit though. Its a bad one and not something I would normally do.” Dag had said, peering at him with feeling.
Jay took point, taking the lead spot and looking for traps. At one point he actually found one. After he disarmed it by putting a pin in to the device he turned to Dag. “Really?” he asked.
“Had to make sure you were paying attention.” Dag said.
“When did you even have time to activate the trap?” Jay asked with exasperation.
“You were sleeping. I did it while making a sweep of the perimeter.” Dag said simply.
Glad that he had been keeping a watchful eye out for traps as he had been ordered to Jay continued, finding the way clear up to the only closed door left. The final room.
“Ok. Listen up. And by that I mean pay attention to what I am about to tell you, because its important and I don't want to die. Ok?” Dag demanded forcefully.
Jay nodded. This didn't sound like what he had been expecting at all. Traveler dungeons were empty except for traps usually.
Usually.
“Don't make assumptions that you know what is at the end of any dungeon. Go in expecting a knock down drag out fight. Or a fiendishly impossible puzzle. Or a murder pit. Expect everything but safety.”
Jay groaned. “You're a barrel of sunshine, anyone ever tell you that?”
“Shut up and pay attention,” Dag grunted at Jay. “Now let me tell you what I found in the next room when I was last in there.”
Jay stopped complaining and waited expectantly. “What was there!”
“Nothing.” Dag replied. “There was a table divided in to squares that could switch position with other squares. Each square was plain with no markings on its surface. At the side of the room with the entrance was a large square block of stone, six feet square. At the far end was an empty pedestal. There was nothing else in the room and no way to activate the table other than moving the squares. Nothing appeared on the pedestal no matter what I tried.”
Jay nodded, building a mental model of what it must look like, then mentally preparing himself for entering the room as pictured.
“Traveler dungeons just don't work for non-travelers. I didn't expect to be able to activate anything but I sure as hell tried. With you here, I'm hoping that things might be different. Now how different they may become is the real question. I have zero idea what is about to happen. There are no current public tales of active Traveler dungeons. I'm as interested to see what happens as you are. I just hope we survive the experience. Although Traveler dungeons are usually inactive for people, with you here who knows what will happen. So get ready to think on your feet ok?” Dag finally finished, going quiet once again.
Jay nodded, his face becoming serious and more focused.
Dag motioned to Jay to get started and Jay took out his trap tool and checked the door again. Finding it clear he opened the door and stepped inside.
Jay found the room exactly as described. It was already bright with lit torches. “Nice touch.” Jay said. Dag glared at him as Jay's voice broke the eerie stillness.
“What?” Jay asked. “Its not like this place is a library or church.”
Dag considered that for a moment then shrugged, motioning Jay to continue.
Jay stepped over to the block near the entrance. It wasn't one uninterrupted block but a condensed block of stone made out of various pieces that all fit together perfectly to form a block. He tried but couldn't move any of the pieces he could make out. Dag visibly cringed when Jay touched the block but remained quiet.
Dag watched silently as Jay moved on to the other side of the room. Jay investigated the podium finding it to be for all appearances a regular stone podium, white in color, about five feet high, its surface empty of any objects or markings. Finally Jay moved over to the table.
Dag caught a look of surprise on Jay's face and quickly asked, “What is it? What do you see?”
Jay stared at the table. “Aren't the tiles supposed to be plain?” he said, waving at the table.
“They are.” Dag said, moving over to him and looking down at the table but keeping his hands clear.
“No, they're not.” Jay insisted. “I can make out an image on it, all scrambled up.”
“I don't see anything,” Dag insisted.
Jay thought back to his character sheet where Traveler Interface had been listed. Maybe this was what it was talking about? “I think I can see Traveler only images that are restricted to Travelers. Something called Traveler's Interface?”
Dag grunted. “Never heard of it. But if you say you see something then I believe you. What does it look like?”
It was at that time that Jay broke the cardinal rule of Dungeon Diving. There were many rules but there was one that was considered almost sacrosanct and followed by just about everyone. One does not touch anything until they were sure of what it does – or at least until everyone is aware and prepared to react. Jay reached down and touched one of the tiles, almost as an afterthought.
Dag was neither aware nor prepared for Jay's ill conceived idea of reaching out and touching something he didn't yet understand. Part of the problem was that Jay had already touched something when he touched the stone block to no effect. He just assumed he could touch anything without repercussion.
Immediately the stillness in the room was broken by a loud gravelly grinding as the six foot square block of stone began to unfold itself. The stone made a screeching sound as it scraped against itself, still unfolding. Dag swore at Jay, “Why would you touch something??”
Jay shouted back, “Isn't that what I was supposed to be doing?”
“Look! You were supposed to look! You don't look with your hands! Gods man! Its like you're trying to get me killed on purpose!” Dag growled as the block finished unfolding in to a large angry stone man. Well, they assumed it was angry as the head was just a stone block with no features, but it seemed to radiate anger.
Dag drew out a short blunt club and gave the stone creature a smack in the knee, putting it off balance as he dance behind it. “Fix the image. FIX THE IMAGE.” he yelled as the stone man circled around to face Dag.
It hadn't yet seemed to fully get up to speed yet, and still seemed a bit unsure of its footing as the stone creature faced Dag who had to look up to see the head of the stone man.
Jay still couldn't figure out what the image was of. A building of some sort perhaps?
“What are you doing?!” Dag yelled as he dodged a heavy blow from the stone man, who had somehow gotten even taller as its body finished unfolding even further. “Gods how big does this thing get!”
The stone man connected with Dag sending him sprawling across the room. Turning to face Jay the creature began slowly walking towards him. Dag got up and took a running leap, cracking the creature in the back of the head with his club. The creature immediately forgot about Jay and turned to pursue Dag, who had danced back out of the way and was slowly leading the walking hulk of stone back towards the entrance. “Any time now would be great. Earlier I meant you shouldn't have touched anything – now that its too late touch away! Touch! Do something!” Dag yelled at Jay.
Jay finally had it. It was a temple. Moving quickly Jay began swapping tiles. The table only allowed one pair to be swapped at a time and each swap took around five seconds. In short, it was taking forever.
Dag dodged another blow but the dodge put him in a bad position. Right in front of the stone man's other fist. Dag took a blow right to the face and a bloody tooth flew across the room, landing with a -plink- sound on the table Jay was working on.
“Ew, gross Dag!” Jay yelled over the loud grinding of the stone man's movements.
“Think about how I feel!” Dag yelled back, wiping the blood off of his mouth, taking a moment to spit.
“Almost done!” Jay almost screamed, his arms shaking from the adrenaline rush. Fine movements are difficult to make under intense stress but Jay was doing his best. He screwed up the last four tiles and had to do them again but finally they heard a light sound ring off of the walls.
'Ding!'
The stone man had grabbed Dag and was in the process of trying to pull his head off of the rest of his body as Dag screamed when it suddenly stopped what it was doing, dropped Dag, and returned to its original position before hunkering down back in to a solid block of stone. Finally it was quiet once again.
Dag was a mess, his face bloody with a few teeth missing. “What the fuck Jay.” Dag said almost quietly.
“In my defense I didn't realize I shouldn't touch anything.” Jay said but no sooner had the words left his lips before Jay realized how awful that sounded. Even a five year old knows not to touch things that don't belong to you. Taking a new line of reasoning Jay tried again. “I should have known better. I am very sorry Dag. Are you ok?”
Dag glared at Jay out of one un-swollen eye, the other screwed up shut and already turning blue and purple, the bruising already coming in. “That could have gone better. But it also could have gone worse. I'm guessing you won't do that again?”
Jay shook his head too hard, making himself momentarily dizzy before he forcefully stopped himself. “No touchy ever again. Got it.”
Dag sighed and reached in to his bag. Taking out a bright red potion he tried to open it with his teeth before thinking better of it as he winced in pain. Using his hands he popped the cork and drank the entire thing in one go. Shortly after Jay witnessed a miracle as Dag's injuries began to rapidly heal. Dag groaned in pain as parts of his face and skin shifted around, a tooth forcefully regrowing. It looked very painful.
Finally the process completed itself and Dag stood up, stowing the empty potion bottle in his bag. It had taken roughly ten minutes for the healing to work. Not fast acting enough for combat but perfect for post combat healing. “Whats done is done and whats broken is fixed. Lets not worry about it. Just stop being stupid, ok? Act with intent!”
Jay tried to internalize that but didn't convince Dag that he gotten it. Dag growled then sighed – quite an emotional outburst coming from him. “You're going to get me killed you know.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“No I won't! I might make mistakes but I try to only make them once.” Jay said simply. “I'm doing my best.”
“That's what worries me. It only takes once.” Dag replied, walking past Jay towards the podium, which now held two items. One was a brilliant white gem. The other a small gold chest. Dag motioned to Jay.
Jay moved with intent this time. He took out his trap tool and swept the podium for traps, trip lines, anything out of the ordinary. Finding nothing he nodded to Dag. “All clear.”
Dag reached out to pick up the chest but his hands went right through it. The image didn't appear illusory. It looked real and solid. It just wasn't solid when Dag reached for it.
Dag looked at Jay with a raised eyebrow.
Jay tried picking up the gem. Immediately he was inundated with notifications, which he set aside. He tried to hand the gem to Dag but Dag's fingers would pass right through it. Jay set it on his palm and was immediately shown a prompt which refused to go away.
Do you wish to absorb Traveler's Upgrade Stone? Yes/No
“I want to use a Traveler's Upgrade Stone, right?” Jay asked.
“Yes,” said Dag. “you absolutely want that.”
Jay focused on yes and was given a choice of two options.
1. Identify / Inventory – these two abilities are inextricably linked and will count as a single selection. This ability will allow you to view identifiable information using your Traveler's Interface as well as converting your current inventory system to the Traveler's Inventory System.
2. Soulbinding – this ability will allow you to permanently bind objects to your soul. While items already possess the ability to be bound to you Soulbinding takes things a step further allowing the link to continue even through death.
Jay explained to Dag what was happening and Dag looked ecstatic. “This is amazing. Take Identify. I'm pretty sure you're not immortal yet.”
Jay nodded. “What, did my constant fear throughout the last few days give it away?”
Dag grunted. “Yes.” he stated simply.
Jay took a moment and selected option 1. He felt suddenly hot and without warning everything went dark. He immediately panicked. “Its dark!”
“No, its not.” Dag said. “I think you just went blind.”
Jay grabbed at his head his face showing a look of pure terror, still unable to see. Before he could verbalize his feelings his vision swam with a notification over a field of black.
Initializing...
When Jay's vision finally came back he could see as normal. Everything looked the same until Jay focused on Dag.
Dag – 20 Fighter
“Hey, you're a level 20 Fighter! That's badass!” Jay suddenly said, finally able to see Dag again.
Dag smiled, which was more scary looking than pleasant. “Great! You're starting to catch up to the rest of us!”
Jay checked his bag and found that it now showed an inventory screen with each item taking up a slot. The bag held 15 slots total and already had items stowed inside.
Picking up the chest Jay put it in to his inventory watching it take up a slot before he focused on it and removed it back in to his hands. Jay nodded, finding that his inventory worked exactly as he had expected it to before moving on to the chest. He focused intensely on the chest and was rewarded with information.
Traveler's Dungeon Chest – Legendary read the letters hovering over the small chest. The chest was made of metal in various shades of gold and brown and banded with miniature metal strips. It fastened shut using a magnetic tab on the front. Using one finger he tried to open it, which started a sequence of events Jay was helpless to stop.
Traveler's Dungeon Chest – Legendary: You have successfully completed a Traveler's Dungeon. For your actions during the clearing phase of this dungeon you have been awarded one pick from the following selections. You may not minimize this prompt or save this choice for later. Please select your reward now!
Dag could read the item's name and rarity but could not read Jay's notifications so Jay read it out loud to him. Dag nodded, “You usually get a chest at the end of the dungeon, but its usually something everyone gets to use. Its not usually locked to you.”
Jay saw three panels. The first two had white borders, the last however had a golden border. Jay described what he was seeing to Dag as it happened. “What do the border colors mean?” Jay asked.
“Those panel colors are the rarity of each option. The order is white – common mundane, green - uncommon magic, blue - rare, purple – very rare, yellow - legendary, red - artifact, and more after that but you won't see those perhaps ever. All save for white are magical. For now the thing to focus on is the yellow one you described. That's gold, legendary.” Dag said, taking a swig of water from a bottle he had stuffed in his bag.
Panel one showed a white border, mundane. “So why would you ever pick a mundane item over a legendary?” Jay asked.
“Upgrade stones. You can take a white border, mundane item, and with an upgrade stone add utility and abilities to it. Many legendary items started out as mundane and only acquired legendary status after numerous upgrade stones being fed to it. Just because an item is mundane doesn't mean its worthless. If its something you need you'll have the opportunity to use upgrade stones to build it in to something that is uniquely yours. Why bother trying to buy a legendary item that isn't even suited for you when you can build up your own perfect for you version?”
“Didn't you say upgrade stones were hard to get?” Jay asked.
“No, I said they were rare as a resource. With a good group you'll be able to get them fairly easily with enough teamwork.” Dag said, waving off Jay. “Enough. Back to your choice.”
Panel one showed a long trap tool. It was black in color with a red handgrip.
Trap Tool of Light – Trinket – this trap tool is not designed for actual use but for display, on your person or using the included stand. It occasionally glows gold, showing off your prowess with a trap tool. This is a trinket and for amusement only.
That didn't seem too fancy. Or useful. Jay moved on to the next selection.
Panel two, also bordered white, showed a tray much like the one he had held earlier while mapping. This one however had straps and dangled off of a stand just as it would when worn. It would have been extremely useful, allowing Jay to have a surface to write on without using his hands to hold it up, if it weren't for the fact it was only six inches in height.
Basic Map Tray Model – Trinket – this map tray is not designed for actual use but for display using the included stand. While this model does not have an active effect it may be used as the basis for a larger version if shown to a skilled crafter. This is a trinket and for amusement only.
Jay thought that was interesting and told Dag about it. Dag didn't seem too impressed. “If things work out as I think they will you won't need that. A Cartographer with just the skill would find it helpful but as we're shooting to make it one of your Class Features I don't see you needing it.”
While Jay didn't entirely follow Dag's line of reasoning that was fine by Jay. Dag held a wealth of knowledge and experience. Jay would defer to him for now as he had done nothing but coach Jay to advance since they had met. Dag wasn't always helpful, but he did force you to learn a lot in a short amount of time. Usually learning things the hard way made the biggest impression according to Dag.
Jay shrugged and moved on to the last panel. This panel glowed gold with moving sparkles and held an interesting item that Jay had never heard of before in an RPG. After reading the description he couldn't figure out why – it sounded like a lot of fun.
Toy Chest of Class Choices – Trinket – THIS IS A LEGENDARY ITEM - this toy chest is not designed for actual storage but for display and play. The chest will spawn one magically animated toy for each Class Choice you make. The toy is permanent, is stored inside the chest, and will resemble the Choice you made. Choices made before owning the Toy Chest do not count and will not be granted a toy.
Opening the chest will cause the contained toys to spill out on to a surface and engage in play, each toy according to its own means. The chest and toys may not be stolen or handled without the owner's permission. Permission is always temporary and must be renewed after each session. The chest and toys may be loaned to a person for one hour, during which they may play with the toys. At the end of the hour the toys will return to the chest which will magically return to its owner.
Closing the chest will also cause the toys to return to the chest and the chest to return to its owner. The chest and toys may be permanently gifted to another but only willingly. Any use of force, skills, abilities, items, or persuasion will cause the transfer of ownership to fail.
Jay read the panel out loud and Dag chuckled. “Now that is worth keeping. I've heard of those toys. They come in different types, and there are other chests that generate toys from different sources, like general skills for example. They're all legendary and extremely expensive, prohibitively so. Most people will only ever see one in a museum or royal collection. By the time an owner of the chest is thinking to sell they have usually become too attached to do so as each toy holds significant meaning, reminding the person of the time and manner in which it was originally generated.”
“Also,” Dag continued, “the ladies and children love them. They're magical toys, whats not to like?”
That was more than enough for Jay, as he had already almost made up his mind. Dag watched as the Traveler's Dungeon Chest disappeared, with a Toy Chest of Class Choices replacing it. The toy chest was about six inches long, four inches wide, and four inches tall. The top opened as normal whereas the front of the chest fell forward making a ramp. No toys came out.
Focusing on the chest Jay was given a notification, “Error, no toys available. No Class Choices have been made since ownership was established. Please make a Class Choice to generate your first toy.”
Jay read the notification out loud and Dag nodded. “Working as intended,” Dag grunted.
Jay turned to leave the room when Dag shook his head. “You're not even close to done yet. Stow the chest and get out your map kit.”
Jay did as he was told and spent a half hour working on his map, making a new section for the end room, drawing callouts with description of the fight, puzzle, monster abilities and weaknesses, and rewards offered. “Do the rewards always show the same?”
“No,” Dag replied. “But sometimes there is overlap. I think that items are drawn from a pool with additional options based off of personal past actions. Your rewards were obviously based on what you did the past few days, with the exception of the Toy Chest. I would usually beg you to keep a legendary item hidden but since this one can't be taken from you things should be fine. Great luck on your part though!”
Finishing up the map Jay sprinkled it with sand. He put away everything while it dried. Finally he brushed off the sand and rolled it up, placing it in a tattered map case Dag had loaned him. “Done,” Jay said.
“Well,” Dag said, “I guess its time to head back.”
“Back where?” Jay asked. “I mean I'm guessing that means back to Chos'n but I'm really not sure where I'll be staying is what I'm really asking.”
Dag nodded. “I'll see you get a room in the Adventurer's Guild. They have plenty of empty rooms and I have a bit of pull there. You'll get a room, don't you worry. You will need to pay for it though, there's rent, although its a lot less than you'd find elsewhere, such as one of the two inns.”
“Thank you,” Jay said simply. Dag had been incredibly helpful and although Jay didn't know Dag well he could tell by what he did know that Dag didn't just help people for the fun of it. Dag was not a normally helpful person it seemed. Jay wanted to know why he was helping him but was afraid of the answer, or even worse, afraid Dag would stop helping him. Jay left things as they were and stopped himself from asking, although he did wonder where he would find money for rent.
Dag read his facial expression with almost spooky accuracy. “The map,” he said, not offering any further explanation.
Jay thought about the map. Why make a map in the first place? They already cleared it and didn't need a map anymore. Really they didn't need one in the first place as they searched every single one for traps anyway. The only reason for the map must be Jay's training, and if Jay was done training with the map there was little point in holding on to it. Maybe he was supposed to sell it? That seemed like it made sense.
Again Dag watched Jay before making another comment. “Copy.” he said, turning around.
Ah, Jay thought. He'd sell a copy. Wonder what it'd sell for he thought to himself.
They walked back to camp, Jay checking for traps the entire way but finding nothing new. They quietly packed up their belongings and Jay noticed his pack seemed heavier. He looked over at Dag questioningly.
“You're carrying more. Bedroll. Map kit. Some rocks.” Dag said.
“What the hell Dag, rocks!?” Jay said upset, moving to go through the pack.
“Stop.” Dag said. “Leave them in there. And before you ask because I said so.” Dag glared at Jay.
Jay sighed but obeyed. Dag had not once in the past few days since he had met him, not one single time, had he led Jay astray. Every comment and word had been for Jay's improvement. With that kind of track record Jay just couldn't work up the energy to argue.
Dag extinguished the lit torches around the room as Jay began climbing.
They each scaled the rope, one at a time. Jay went first, then Jay's bag which Dag tied to the rope and Jay pulled up, dropping the rope back down after untying his bag and setting it aside. Dag tied his bag to the rope and then climbed up himself, pulling the rope and his pack up before untying both ends of the rope and returning it to his bag.
Dag had Jay help him drag branches back over the entrance hole until it was once again blocked off. They policed the surrounding area smoothing out any bent plants or shrubs until any signs of their passage was removed. “Leave it as you found it.” Dag said.
Jay nodded. It was a good philosophy in general.
Without another word or pause Dag set out towards Chos'n. Jay couldn't tell what direction they were heading and had no idea how Dag did. Without Dag Jay would have been lost. It would be hours before they arrived home, and Jay was looking forward to settling down in a room and resting. Dag turned his head at one point, “Stay out of your notifications.” They walked on. It was going to be a long day.