Ruthless ~ 6!

~ 6 ~

“Anyone know how to increase the luck stat? I remember something about games of chance, but I never followed up on that.” Joe finally broke the lingering silence. The only sound for the last ten minutes had been the slow scratching of Jess’s quill on paper, and the repetitiveness was starting to drive him crazy.

“Yeah.” Bard perked up and scooted closer, leaving tracks in the dirt. “Ah’d be happy ta show yah. Its gonna cost yah, though.”

“Seriously…?” Joe trailed off as a deck of cards appeared in Bard’s hand. “What are you doing?”

“Poker.”

“I’m in!” Poppy scooted closer, and Bard nodded before looking to see if anyone else wanted to join. One of the guards at the entrance to the dungeon was staring hopefully, but a glare from Jess made him go back to guarding with a sigh.

Bard had Jaxon sit, and dealt him in. Alexis snorted, “If I wanted to take your money, you would all just hand it to me. ‘Oh, I need money to make poisons!’ Pff.”

“...Right. We’re gonna have a talk later.” Poppy’s narrow eyes were locked on a suddenly-sheepish Alexis, but only until the first hand was dealt. 

Joe looked at his cards and tried to remember what everything was worth. “Can I trade these cards for another?”

“Nah, this is Texas Hold ‘Em.” Bard snorted, then waved at the empty spot in front of Joe. “Big blind, two copper.”

The next ten minutes saw Joe losing hand after hand. He was pretty sure that Poppy was cheating somehow, but there was no way he could prove it. At the fifteen minute mark, he decided to stay in even though he only had a two and a seven. Since he had been either folding or losing badly, both Bard and Poppy stayed in till the end. Joe flipped his cards and sighed. “Two reds.”

The others started chortling, then Jaxon nudged him. “Joe, you have a flush.”

That stopped the laughing as the others leaned in to check. With a grumble, they let Joe take the coins.

Characteristic point training completed! +1 to luck! This stat cannot be increased further by any means other than system rewards, study, or practice for twenty-four hours game time.

“Nice.” Joe grinned as the notification scrolled across his line of sight. 

“Yeah, yeah. Blinds are up, now it is going to be two-” Poppy was cut off as Jess jumped to her feet.

“Done!” she walked over to Joe and proudly held out a detailed map. “Take and bind this.”

Joe gingerly took the parchment and looked it over. It was a decently-drawn map, and as soon as he had looked it over a prompt appeared.

Would you like to add the information from ‘Uncommon Quality Dungeon Map’ to your personal map? Durability: 1/1. Yes / No.

Joe selected ‘yes’, and the map in his hand converted to ashes. He shook his hand to get most of the particles off, and grimaced as he realized that he didn't have his shield active. Fifteen hundred mana was poured into his Exquisite Shell, and Joe blinked as he realized something. He had fifteen hundred and ninety mana… which was exactly the amount granted by his intelligence score. If that was the case… he looked at his Mana Manipulation skill, and saw that it was no longer reducing the amount of mana he had! From now on, it would boost the amount he had! Finally!

“There goes an hour of work.” Jess sighed as the ashes scattered in the wind, but could only shrug and wave at the dungeon. “I really hope it helps. My experience bar is hungry.”

Jaxon patted her on the arm as they started walking to the entrance. Bard was still struggling to put all the cards back in their case. “I’m sure it won’t be useless. Chin up.”

Bard tapped Joe on the shoulder, “Games o’ chance. That’s how ya train up your luck stat. Ya need ta have actual stakes, and ya need ta naw cheat, then play for a full hour. Pretty simple, compared ta other characteristics. Ya do tend ta lose ah lotta coin right away, but ya get increasing returns as your luck boosts.”

“Thanks, Bard!” Joe flipped one of the coins he had recently acquired into the air and caught it. “Poker, huh? Seems like a good way to relax at the same time as doing some training.”

“Only reason gamblin’s legal anywhere.” Bard winked at Joe, then strode forward to the front of the group. He was their tank, and they didn’t yet know what sort of attacks were going to be coming their way.

The party went past the guards, who saluted Joe before getting back into position. This dungeon was now owned by the Wanderer’s Guild, and would have a rotating guard at all times to make sure no one else snuck in. As soon as they entered the open cavern, a small minimap appeared in the upper right corner of Joe’s eyesight, and he whooped. “Yes! I got a minimap! I’ve wanted this since I joined Eternium!”

“What!” Alexis scooted closer, “Is it because of that map? It is, isn't it? Ahh, I knew that there was a reason people were quietly buying up all the maps they could get ahold of!”

“Wait…” Joe’s smile stretched across his face in a way that made Alexis compare him to Jaxon. “You mean to tell me that I can have a minimap all the time if I get a full map of an area?”

“Probably?” Alexis smirked as Joe started getting all wound up. “Dude, calm down and focus, please. You have the tendency to get all scatterbrained when you find something new to play with. We are in a dungeon, right? Oh, right on cue…”

You have entered a level nine recurring dungeon. Use caution, as self-sacrifice is the way forward… but may require more than you can give. Keep an eye out for the resources, as well as the protectors! This dungeon will only remain until it is cleared, after which point the area will reset and be unenterable for twelve hours!

“So are we always going to get vaguely ominous notifications whenever we enter a dungeon now?” Jaxon swatted at the air, likely swiping the screen away. “Is it just me, or have things slowly been getting more dangerous in this, um, zone?”

“I know that I’ve seen a creature level up.” Poppy offered easily, keeping his eyes on the walls as they walked. “It seems likely that we aren't the only things getting stronger. I heard a rumor about a boss encounter, in fact. People were trying to bum-rush it, so they just charged back in whenever they died. By the time they realized that it was getting stronger, there was no way anyone in the area could beat it. They had to call in an entire guild just to bring that bad boy down.”

“Which means that the reward for actually beating it was almost worthless, I bet.” Alexis chimed in. “Looks like there is a monster ahead?”

Joe started, looking at the minimap. “Shoot, yeah. It’s marked, I was just really getting into that conversation. My bad.”

“Remember what I said about focusing?” Alexis archly reminded him. “What is that thing? Looks like an overgrown eye as a body with tentacles instead of limbs?”

Memories of days long past playing DnD sprang up in Joe’s mind, and he let out a quiet whimper as the creature spotted them. Luckily, it didn't seem to be a copyrighted creature, but as it saw Bard… both the creature and the Skald had a slightly purple aura pop into being around them. Jaxon ran at the beast, screaming, “Kill it with fire!”

He punched the creature right in its overgrown eye, but the beast didn't even blink. Bard, on the other hand, screamed bloody murder. “My nose! What hit me?”

“Everyone stop!” Joe ordered instantly. “It isn’t moving, and I’m betting that the dungeon description meant that the only way to hurt the enemies in it would be to take damage. Let me try my scan.”

He stared at the creature, activating Intrusive Scan and holding it for the maximum five seconds that he could.

Evan the Everwatch.

Highest stat: Willpower

Ongoing effects: Levitation, Boneless Body, Damage Trade II, Instant Stasis, Self Damage = only Damage. 

Joe waited for the weak points to appear, but no red appeared on the body of the Everwatch. “Alright… looks like it has a ‘Damage Trade’ effect, and level two means that… it gives all damage done to it to it’s target, and only takes half of the damage of its target? Let’s- ahh!”

He had turned around, and found that Bard was covered head to toe in a blood red aura. It took a moment before Joe realized that he was currently seeing the weak points of the Everwatch. “Well… it’s in stasis, so we can’ hurt it. Let’s just go around?”

“Joe.” Alexis pointed at the creature’s tentacle, which was wrapped around a small bronze key. “I have a feeling that this is as far as we go if we don’t beat that thing.”

Looking at his minimap, Joe saw that there was a door around the bend of the tunnel. He went and looked at it, confused as to how the dungeon could have been mapped out if… ah. “There’s an inch gap under and over the door. Plenty of room for snakes to move around, plenty to stop us from going forward.”

He touched the door, and a notification appeared.

You do not have the orange key!

“So it’s gonna be like that, huh?” Joe shook himself. “I can’t stand it when dungeons force you to fight the monsters. What if I just wanted to sneak through and empty out the treasure room? That seems like it should be a viable option!”

“Can someone jus’ stab me so we can get ah move on?” Bard demanded, taking off his armor so that it wouldn't get damaged by his teammates. Jaxon reacted instantly, punching Bard in the face hard enough that the Skald dropped to the ground and had his head bounce off the stone floor.

“Two hits for the price of one!” Jaxon crowed as a PvP aura appeared over his head. He pulled back his foot to kick the fallen Skald. “I hit you, you hit the floor!”

“Jaxon, stop!” Joe demanded. He was watching the Everwatch, and his Dungeoneer title showed him that it’s health hadn't decreased at all. “Self damage is only damage… Bard, you gotta do the damage to yourself, or it won't count against that thing.”

“Oh, come on. Ah have’ta… gah, keep that healing spell handy.” Bard pulled back his axe and swung it at his exposed leg, pulling it to the side at the last second. “Ahhh mah brain sure doesn’t want me hurtin mahself.”

“Now we know why the dungeon said that it ‘may require more than you can give’.” Poppy muttered to Joe, who simply nodded.

“If you can’t-” Alexis started, only to be cut off as Bard closed his eyes and swung downward with a bellow.