After we squeezed our way free of the hideout, I scrambled my way back up onto Gig’s shoulders. Yeah sure, choosing to be hauled around like somebody's pet pretty much meant I was tossing away whatever shards of dignity I’d managed to scrape back together by that point, but I’d learned long ago the dignity was for chumps. I was getting a ride.

~~~~~

Gig must have decided she was in the clear regarding the bathhouse incident because she was striding down the boardwalk like she owned it. She cheerfully pointed out various points of interest as we went.

We were on the lowest level of the settlement and it seemed to be mostly relegated to warehouses and workshops. I could see why when we passed a tanner unceremoniously dumping a vat of used curing slurry out into the pit. I’d guess it was a choice between having the less pleasant industries down wind or down stream as it were. It reminded me of Mount Royale’s waterfront district only if everyone was short and green. Well not quite everyone. The vast majority of the people we passed were goblins but there were a handful of other types occasionally to be seen in the mix.

Among the outliers I’d noticed were a small cluster of copper scaled kobolds, standing head and shoulders taller than the crowds around them, arguing over something or other with a warehouse attendant. An orange coated knoll with a doggy grin plastered across his canine features, chatting amicably with customers as he sold some kind of meat on a stick from behind a portable grill. I even spotted a cobalt-furred Gremlin darting between legs in the press. Seeing the diminutive creature nearly get stepped on several times in the few moments I’d watched them made me glad I’d chosen to catch a ride with Gig.

Overall the signs of an eclectic element in Pitfall’s population made me a bit more optimistic about my cover as a Changeling helping me blend in. Being an outsider rather than the outsider was only going to be to my advantage.

Something I took note of among the hussle and bussle was that coin of all shapes and sizes was changing hands. Fists full coppers, silvers, even no small amount of gold exchanged for the necessities of everyday life. The value of currency was definitely skewed compared to what I was used to from my old life. Not to an absolutely outrageous degree, but still markedly noticeable. This told me one very important thing, my two fucking copper were even more worthless then I’d frist thought.

I’d also have to make a point of getting my paws on some real coinage. Because while Dungeon Points were looking like they’d be incredibly useful, some of the street vendor’s we passed smelled down right mouth watering and, to a one they had signs stating “Coins only”. Let it not be said that I am not a Rat of priorities.

I also finally got a good look at Pitfall’s lighting solution. From a distance they had just looked like big round lanterns hanging from the undersides of the levels or stuck on polls. Up close however they revealed themself to be hordes of palm sized brightly glowing beetles clustering atop of some sort of feeding cage.

Curious I gave them a closer look with [Delver’s Insight]

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[Monster type: Beacon Beetle]

[Level: 0 ] [Hp:1/1 ] [Mp: NA ]

[Title: Dungeon Fauna ]

[Perks: Dung Eater, Luminescent, Procreater ]

[Drawbacks: Spawnless ]

[Dungeon Points: NA ]

Level zero? It seems I wasn’t quite the absolute bottom of the dungeon barrel afterall. Also, what was the deal with that [Dungeon Fauna] title, not to mention [Procreater] and [Spawnless]. It sounds like they are basically just normal bugs?

I guess it kind of made sense. There were lots of plants in the Dungeon that just seemed to do their own thing, even if they didn’t register with [Delver’s Insight], so a creature in the same vein wasn’t really that far a leap. Still, Fauna, Mobs, Dennisons, Invaders, I was going to need to find a book on Dungeon taxonomy at some point, that or, I was going to have to write one myself, just to keep it all straight.

I shrugged off the problem to deal with another day and went back to sightseeing.

Aside from one shop that simply advertised itself as “Traps! Traps! Traps!”, that I made special note of to investigate later, nothing much else caught my eye as we navigated our way around to the opposite side of the ring.

~~~~~

Between the surprisingly busy thoroughfares and deceptively wide circumference of the shaft Pitfall was settled around, it had taken the better part of forty minutes to reach the shop Gig lived above.

Now, when Gig told me she had a place above a shop I’d pictured a room among the second floor apartments that were, in my experience, all but standard with shops. That was not what I was met with when Gig proudly pointed out her home to me.

Perched like a fancy hat directly on the shop’s roof, she’d somehow managed to cobble together what looked like an entire tiny cottage for herself. Little planter boxes under the windows, a miniature picket fence, crooked stove pipe and everything. It was honestly adorable. It was enough to hit me with a minor pang of jealousy.

Seriously, I was two for two with goblins having nicer apartments than I’d had. I bet Tim lived in some kind of chicken palace. Find fancier digs was getting added to my list damn it.

The shop itself was a great deal more unremarkable. A plain box of a building huddled against the cavern’s wall. A long shuttered window which looked like it could be propped open to do Business directly on the street and a closed door to the side of it. The only adornments were a sign hanging above the door that read “Dinkum’s Deals” and a smaller plaque below it stating “Dungeon Merchant”.

“Welp. Here you go, Boss!” Gig proclaimed as she snatched me off her shoulders and dropped me to the ground. “You got Points so Dinks shouldn’t give you a hard time.” Already scurrying up the ladder on the side of the building leading to her cottage, she added. “Gonna change. I’ll catch up with you there.”

Sighing to myself I just shook my head at the girls' antics. Though I couldn’t really blame Gig there. With all the mineral water her clothes managed to soak up having had the time to dry, her outfit was looking more than a little... crunchy.

I debated just waiting for her to finish up, but in the end the siren song of a junk shop was just too great to resist. With just a little help from [Rat Bastard] I pushed my way past the door and entered the unique realm of mystery and possibility that lay within.

Fuck, I loved junk shops.