Chapter 3

Getting Started

“Very well, Jeremy, Rogue it is,” Boggan said. Jeremy felt something flash in the corner of his eye. His stat sheet changed.

Name: Jeremy Wilkins

Race: Human

Sex: Boy

Age: 10

Character Class: Child-Rogue

Level: 0

Hit Points: 7

Attributes:

Strength: 5

Endurance: 5

Vitality: 6

Dexterity: 4

Agility: 5

Perception: 4

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 5

Will Power: 4

Charisma: 4

Mana: 1

Skills:

Identify (Level 0)

Sneak (Level 0)

Detect Traps (Level 0)

Spells:

None.

“You are now a Child Rogue, Level 0. Your life of adventure begins! Now I know you are eager to level up and start killing monsters, but first, there is the matter of your equipment.”

“Equipment?”

“Exactly. Fortunately for you, Jeremy, you get a 100 gp (gold pieces) bonus for being from a new world with no dungeon experience, a second 100 gp for having no equipment or character class, and a third 100 gp for being brave enough--- or something--- to enter this dungeon by yourself.”

Boggan pulled up another holographic image, this time of tiny weapons and assorted gear. “I strongly advise equipping yourself properly before you continue.”

“This is off subject, but I have a question,” Jeremy said, studying the tiny images. “Where in a dungeon do you go to the bathroom?” None of the games he'd played explained this.

“An excellent question,” Boggan said. “The answer is wherever you want. The dungeon absorbs any refuse and bodily waste you might excrete. Go ahead and go. See what happens.”

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Jeremy needed to go. Being trapped in a strange and dangerous place filled with monsters was hard enough without needing to pee.

He nervously went to the edge of the cavern opposite the teddy-bears, unzipped his pants, and let er rip. Urine trickled down the cavern wall, pooling on the floor in front of him.

“And notice,” Boggan said from behind him. “It's gone. Not even a smell.”

Jeremy started to object, but then he checked the floor again. Boggan was right. The floor was as dry as before. His pee had vanished.

“Now, to get you outfitted.” Boggan pulled up the holographic image of hundreds of tiny weapons hanging in the air in front of him. Above the image was the number 300 gp. “First, you need a weapon. An adventurer isn't much good without a weapon. Have a look.”

Jeremy touched an image of a weapon. The image expanded to full size with the words “CHILD'S CHEAP SHORT SWORD. Rusty. Poor quality. 10gp.” Another one, a large attractive black knife, said, “CHILD'S KNIFE. THE RAVEN'S CLAW. Charmed. +2 to hit. 20,000gp.” This reminded him of shopping online. “Remove everything over 300gp,” he said. Most of the weapons vanished.

Something else occurred to him. “I killed a teddy-bear before I was pushed into the dungeon. Do I get anything for that?”

“For killing a very weak monster outside the dungeon?” Boggan sniffed. “I think not. To get money from the dungeon, you have to kill monsters inside the dungeon. You did get a small amount of experience, though.”

Jeremy shrugged. It had been worth a try. “How much experience?”

“Check for yourself,” Boggan said. Just focus on that part of the stat sheet.

Curious, Jeremy focused on his stat sheet, where it said Level: 0. He was able to expand this part of his stat sheet.

Level: 0 (17/100) exp.

Experience represents the life force absorbed from slaying monsters and will allow you to advance to higher levels. Each level gained will make you a more capable adventurer.

“Seventeen points? That's it?”

“That is actually a surprisingly large amount, considering how weak the monster was,” Boggan responded.

Jeremy sniffed and went back to studying the dungeon store inventory. “If gp is really a gold piece, your prices are completely unreasonable.”

“Our prices are highly competitive, Jeremy,” Boggan said. “You will not find a better deal in any of the other dungeons.”

“In my world, I could buy hundreds of weapons for what you're charging for that rusty short sword,” Jeremy responded.

“You might be surprised. New worlds seldom have any weapons of quality.”

Jeremy sighed and turned back to the weapon selection. What did he want? Certainly nothing large and unwieldy like the broadsword for 200gp. He looked through the limited selection of knives until he found. “CHILD'S HIGH QUALITY LONG KNIFE. Charmed Edge. 268gp.” That looked the most promising.

“I'll take that knife,” Jeremy said.

“Excellent, and you will want armor as well,” Boggan said.

Images of weapons were replaced by images of armor.

“Under 300gp?” Jeremy asked. Three remained. “CHILD'S POOR QUALITY LEATHER ARMOR. A little better than bare skin. 10gp.” It didn't look like much, but seemed better than an oversized shield and some kind of armor made from an unknown creature's skin for 50 gp.

“That knife and that armor,” Jeremy said, pointing out the two items.

“Splendid,” Boggan said, and suddenly Jeremy was wearing surprisingly heavy leather armor. A knife rested on his hip in a belt sheath where he could get at it quickly. Jeremy pulled out his knife and admired it. He promptly cut his finger while testing the edge. He had 22gp left.

“I might suggest you buy some new shoes,” Boggan said.

That made sense. His right shoe was ruined with the toe part flopping around whenever he took a step. He bought some low-quality, soft leather boots for 10gp.

“And as a bonus, here is a basic dungeon survival kit.” Boggan tossed him a small leather pack.

Jeremy pulled on its leather straps, opening it. He took out a small water bottle, some dungeon rations, a roll of soft paper, and what looked like a tightly rolled-up blanket.

“You will notice all of these items are endless and self-repairing,” Boggan said. “After you drink the water, the bottle refills. The same with the food and the other items. Also, there's twice the space inside the pack as there is outside, so it will hold lots of stuff.”

Boggan reached up with his tiny hand and patted Jeremy on the back. “And your adventure begins! Remember what I told you, follow the red path, don't get eaten by monsters, and you'll be home in no time!” With that, Boggan vanished.

The six teddy-bears instantly came to life and charged him from across the large cavern.