“You fuckin’ idjit! Spit that out! Worse than a hound in the caves!” Velua shouted as she rushed over at Dum, trying to get the dwarf to spit out the cupcake that he had just stuffed into his face. She would have thought there would be some hesitancy considering what had just happened to his brother, but it seemed the man was living up to his namesake. He was a fool who was eating a potentially poisonous cupcake after having watched his brother die. How the three of them had gotten to adulthood was beyond her.
She grabbed him around the waist and began to try and force a Heimlich to make him vomit it up. Dle approached and reached back, punching his brother directly in the stomach in an attempt to make him vomit from the strike. The two of them were doing their best as Molin began to charge up a greater cure poison spell that he hoped would save the fool’s life. The last thing that anyone was expecting was there to be a system notification.
Ingestion Buff!
Greetings from Apple-world!
You have ingested a(n) {Infested Cupcake}
Bonuses from {Infested Cupcake}: The [Weird] tag is activated.
Weird Weird World
The Snozberries taste like Snozberries!
You have ingested something with the [Weird] tag. You will now roll on the [Weird] affect table to see what the benefits or repercussions are.
Velua paled as she saw what was on the notification, quickly pulling herself off of him and grabbing Dle by the wrist. “Dum… everything is gonna be alright. Just stay calm. Think good things ‘nd pray to the gods.” She said in a calm and steady voice as she made sure to yank back the remaining MeltBlaze brother to ensure that he wasn’t going to die from being within the affected range.
“Wha’s about to happen to me? Wha’s going on?” Dum asked with a frown as he began to sweat, watching as the notification changed to a spinning text box that would show him glimpses of all kinds of things that could happen. He had never heard of this effect before and certainly didn’t like the way Velua was acting about it. He was hardly a dungeon delver, more of a mercenary by trade and that meant his effects were usually restricted to magical items and the occasional curse if he did a job wrong.
“It’s the [Weird] effect. That tag can make anything happen. A rare item in Whispering is the Weirding Rock. One time use, and yer a damn fool to use it. Seen… terrible things happen.” Velua said with a bit of worry and a fearful look as she kept Dle from being too close to his brother. There was no telling what could happen. A ding sounded through the room and Velua couldn’t help but cringe at the fact that it was made. “What’s it say?” She asked pensively, looking at him as he read over the notification.
Weird Weird World!
Age before Beauty, my dear.
Blush of Kindness
Effect: For every good deed you have done, gain a month of youth. For every bad deed you have done, lose a month of life.
Warning: Effect begins once this notification closes.
Velua frowned, not understanding why there was a strange little description under the title of each of the notifications that they had been seeing. Before this dungeon, she had only ever seen the title and the description of a notification. Now it seemed like the notifications were trying to reference things or speak to them in some way. “Well, thas not so bad. You lived a good life, right?” She asked as she looked at Dum, hoping that the dwarf had lived a kind and generous life before he came out to this dungeon.
“Yeah, live as good as anyone can.” He said confidently, running a hand through his blazing red beard and looking at himself for a moment. He was still dressed in the suit that the fey had glamoured over them, and couldn’t help but think about how nice it would look without the beergut he had developed over the last decade. Not to mention his receding hairline would fill back out with the beautiful locks that had wowed the ladies when he was younger.
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“Come to papa! Sweet youth!” Dum shouted excitedly before tapping away the notification, confident that he would be young again thanks to the effect.
Blush of Kindness
Good Deeds: 3,568
Bad Deeds: 8,924
Total Years: -445.33
Dum screamed as the weight of his sins was made known to him, the evil he had done in his life finally catching up to him after coasting on the blessings of his family. He had done good in his life, any dwarf past his eighties had to have done at least some over the years. But Dum Meltblaze had spent his life as a mercenary for a reason. Because shady dealings were so much more gratifying in the moment. Between taking any job no matter the moral dilemma and taking advantage of whatever or whoever was around, he was destined for a very miserable afterlife.
He gripped at his beard as the curling red hairs faded to grey before beginning to tear off of his face in plumes of dust. His skin sagged on his face as liverspots covered his bald head. “No… I was… I was a good man! I swear it!” He wheezed out as he fell to his knees, a horrible crunching sound coming from his bones as they no longer had the strength to hold up the weight of a dwarf in full armor. He reached for the notification still hanging in the air, hoping that there would be some way that it could undo what was happening to him.
His vision began to blur, his eyes going white as cataracts formed massive white spots in his eyes, his face a sagging mess as he shuddered toward where he knew the notification was. “Please. I-” He gurgled out something incomprehensible as his body began to visibly rot. He only had a maximum of a hundred and twenty more years, and once that time was up his body began to decompose. His consciousness was still trapped as his organs began to fail and horrible sensations ripped through him begging internally for it to end. His skin tightened against his skeleton as his eyes pooled out of their sockets, tongue turning to a thick slime that poured out of his still-open mouth. Holes pockmarked his flesh, showing the spots where decomposing insects would have burrowed into a feast and multiplied. Occasionally a rainbow worm squirmed from one of these openings and fell to the ground in front of the corpse.
With a squelching noise the body collapsed fully to the ground, a wave of stench coming off of it before disappearing as time continued to rush forward on the body. The only thing left of the dwarf was a skeleton and all the items he had on his body, it seemed that only the dwarf was rushed forward. The things on his person were spared.
Velua was doubled over vomiting after the display that had appeared in front of her, the contents of her stomach cast upon the ground near the puzzle disc. It was a horrid sight, and far worse than any of the quick deaths that the tag could have offered. She couldn’t believe that the dungeon would have such a nefarious trap in place, but it was clear that it was not playing for the sake of their safety. While it did have a script and act that it was putting on, it was far more violent than anything Glittering Melon ever allowed. She was shaking as she felt Molin pat her back, looking sick as well while avoiding looking at the remains of Dum MeltBlaze.
The two of them were caught in disgust and shock, but the remaining brother, Dle was in agony. He was silent, trembling with sadness and rage as he approached the skeleton of his brother. He had lost two of his siblings with this stupid mission, and if he wasn’t careful then he would lose his own life as well. He would have prayed to the mountain that he would see his brother in the Deep Hall, but the fact his sins rendered him to dust was more than enough proof that no such event would happen. He was without his older and younger brother now, rage across his face as he felt like he should rip out his beard.
“Get tha fucking statue in place. Gotta get this done.” He growled out as he stomped towards the disc and began to move the remaining statue. He was not going to let his brother’s sacrifices go in vain and would make sure that their family climbed to the echelons of wealth that they had always deserved. So long as he finished his mission, no matter if he died or not; The MeltBlaze family would rise to the ranks of noble. No longer would they be simple forgemasters, and instead they would be recognized with wealth and land.
Velua and Molin were stuck in place, mourning the horrific loss of Dum for a moment longer as they dealt with the shock. Velua wiped her mouth of sick, and with her other hand tried to rub away the tears that pricked at the corners of her eyes. She had always wanted to leave the mountain, and this was supposed to be her foray into the real world. She understood now that she was not meant to lead men, as they would only die in her lacking care. She delved into dungeons alone, and she would have been happier to risk the swamp alone rather than have five deaths on her shoulders now.
“He’s right. We best be gettin’ to finishing the floor. Otherwise, who knows what the dungeon might do.” Molin whispered to her as he gave one last pat on her shoulder before helping Dle finish the puzzle so that they could continue forward. Velua remained stuck looking at the remains of Dum for a moment longer, feeling the sinking ache in her heart as she accepted his death. She turned as she heard the last of the statues slide into place, giving a small sigh that it was done.
Once the four statues were in place toward cardinal directions, the remaining two began to slide around their accord. The ghost with the Tower symbol upon its breast was facing toward the entrance to the room, while the skeleton with the wheel was facing the exit. She was certain that the symbols must have meant something, but what they could mean escaped her. Some strange reference that was like the blurbs of text happening in the notifications. This dungeon was an extraordinary place, full of terror and mystery.
She turned towards the door as it began to slide open, taking a deep breath as she prepared for whatever horror happened next in the dungeon. She just needed to get this mission done. If they got the hammer, then that meant no one else had to die under her watch.