Dungeons and Dalliances

***

Gloves of Quick-Thinking

Common

Lv. 1

Effects

- Minor increase to magical Prowess.

Description

A well-timed spell can be the difference between life and death.

***

The item was, of course, more unequivocally useful than the previous. Though it granted a weaker effect—noticeably so, since the differences between ‘minor’ and ‘moderate’ were fairly large—it also didn’t come with downsides. A direct upgrade, no detriments.

Seeing how none of them had full sets of gear, yet, with Tenet’s ten monster-core starting stipend only buying a weapon and one or two pieces of equipment each, equipping the spell-casting gloves would be an immediate boost in power to whoever claimed them.

Natalie didn’t intend to make a claim on them. Clearly, Liz or Ana would make much better use of the gloves. Item distribution could be a tricky, nuanced thing, but earning a reputation as greedy was a good way to kill prospects with future teams. There was an expectation that a team would come out of a dungeon with a balanced distribution of earnings, but not always, such as when a particularly amazing item suited to someone’s class dropped.

Natalie, and her friends she assumed, didn’t want to make a big deal out of ‘getting perfectly even’ when it came to loot, and especially not today, where the team was testing their footing with each other. She liked this layout—even Ana, for all her oddness. Liz had other teams she would be trialing for, and possibly Ana too, so setting a good impression was important.

“You or Ana,” Natalie said to Liz. “Obviously. Though I’m not sure which of you it’d be better on?”

“You could probably use them, too,” Liz said brightly—though obviously being polite. “Hm. Who, though?” She looked to Ana for her input.

Ana seemed confused. “Why would Natalie get them? She’s by far the worst caster. And only half a caster.”

Liz’s eyes widened at Ana’s bluntness, a recurring trend, and she shot a concerned glance toward Natalie. But Natalie only found herself amused. She had mixed feelings on Ana’s cluelessness, but it was also endearing, in a way.

“She’s right,” Natalie said. “Obvious choice is between you two. Go ahead.”

“I assume Elizabeth,” Ana said, frowning and looking between the two of them, as if noticing she had said something wrong but unable to place what. “We don’t need more damage, which I would provide. Better healing is more important.”

Liz clearly thought so too, and, Natalie thought, not simply because she wanted the item. “If you think so …” Liz said.

Sofia handed off the gloves to Liz, who took them.

Liz donned the gloves, tucking her staff into her shoulder as she did so. Sofia turned back to the chest.

Unfortunately, there was no third item. Cracking the lid open one last time, an empty wooden panel met them. It was impossible to know how many items a chest would spit out. Just had to keep opening and closing.

Two, though, was an expected yield. Items were valuable, even commons, and in the nascent stages of their career, with all of them needing to fill out their equipment slots, even more so. Such a simple puzzle as the one they’d been provided—even if difficult to fight to—wouldn’t dump armories into their laps.

Jordan and Sofia held a brief discussion on whether they wanted to equip the ring, but the downside was too troubling, at least for this initial run, where they were adjusting to the dungeon. Maybe when they had better confidence in avoiding attacks, they’d accept the moderate decrease in defense. Until then, the ring would stay stored in Sofia’s pouch. Likely, it would be sold and the funds distributed among the five of them—the typical way to handle unwanted items.

So, puzzle room solved—two items richer, and some big-picture revelations nagging at Natalie—the group continued forward, back into the winding, damp cave tunnels of the dungeon, and away from the intricately carved mural.

They made steady progress. The first few intense fights having been handled, Natalie felt comfortable enough to start working in more illusions, rather than relying on her tried-and-true combat style. She’d improved during her week of training, and so, while not seamless, she didn’t fumble while casting.

They were effective, too. Monsters seemed more vulnerable to the distractions than human opponents. While intelligent in a primitive, cunning way, most monsters, even the humanoid ones, were dumb beasts. Obviously illusions were more distracting to them, with the creatures not knowing to expect it, like Natalie’s sparring partners did.

Though, not all monsters were dumb beasts. Some could even talk. Those were rare, and even the intelligent ones still wanted to, well, murder you. They didn’t stand around and chat.

Today was a quick, after-class delve. With them needing to be back by ten, they couldn’t be too ambitious. An intentional design by Tenet. Short delves, where you couldn’t progress too far from the entrance portal, were less likely to turn dangerous. Harder to find bosses in such a short time frame, which was where the majority of deaths occurred.

Or, trained delver deaths. Regular monsters chewed through untrained, desperate ones at much higher rates. Most impromptu teams wouldn’t ever make it to a boss.

The weekend would be the first ‘long delve’, where they’d bring rations and traveling supplies, and not be remotely as pressed for time. As it stood today, the clock burned away. Time flew when you were … risking your life.

And having fun, which Natalie was, for all she probably shouldn’t be. She’d always enjoyed getting her adrenaline pumping, and the dungeon managed that handily.

Eventually, fighting through tight cave tunnels, and a few smaller rooms, they found an entrance to an enormous cavern. The largest they’d ventured into so far, it would be the last before they would need to head back to make curfew.

“Have to work fast,” Jordan commented, peering around the cavern. Several monsters—a giant white lizard, a fluffy brown bat hanging from the ceiling, a small group-encounter of goblins—littered the room. Six encounters total. None looked too bad, and they could draw them one at a time. Dungeon monsters could be dumb in odd ways, like not being alerted by combat just across the room. Though, not all of them. Again, when it came to the dungeon, ‘usually’ meant exactly that.

They’d definitely want to complete the room. The cavern was covered in resources: lush with vegetation, trees, and Natalie was pretty sure those streaks of brown on the walls were iron veins, or some other ore. She’d spent a few afternoons at the mining guild, and so ought to be able to clumsily extract it with the supplies she’d brought. It’d be a decent boost to the run’s earnings. Likewise, Jordan would want to pick through the various plants, looking for poisonous ingredients—or simply materials to sell. The same for the rest of the team.

Surveying the room one last time, Natalie nodded. Six more fights. She was sore, and phantom pains lingered from the dozens of hits she’d taken and been healed through, but six more fights wasn’t too tall of an ask. She’d be returning home exhausted, but it was a dungeon run. Literally what she’d signed up—and been hoping—for.

Gripping her hammer and raising her shield, Ana and Jordan readying ranged attacks, she advanced on the nearest.