"Oh, gods. I can't watch it!" Altia whined. "That weapon is so disgusting!"

Nero swung the still humming clockwork blade to wipe off the blood and gore then turned it off and sheathed it. "Hey, you were the one to convince me to activate it with all our pink cards."

"Guilty as charged," She grimaced.

"And I got the gist of how to attack with it to shoot the gore away from me."

"I seriously doubt that," She sang and clicked her tongue as she examined him. If Nero claimed to be a Blood-Caked Elemental, she'd be inclined to believe. There was no such nightmarish creature, thankfully.

"At least I got used to the sudden Strenght boost."

The trick was to keep the blade moving, swishing as if he was doing some small swings, to keep the boost on before he really committed to an attack. It resembled the wobbling of the serpent that dropped the weapon, actually.

"Okay?"

Altia was skeptical of the whole thing but the enthusiasm of her boyfriend was undeniable. Even though it was pushing him down some weird path where one could appreciate being covered with... that.

She felt her eyelids heavy. "I guess we are going for our third night in," She mused.

"There's nothing we can do. Let's find a suitable place to set up camp."

"Lead on. I'll get the drops. No cards." These tiny Essence crystals were pocket change, actually. If Nero fought less than three rats, he was actually paying to fight as the weapon consumed more Essence than the monsters dropped. It would only get worse if she leveled up. Again. "Waste not, want not," She mumbled as she pocketed the tiny and dimly-lit crystals.

They found a good dead-end tunnel after another dozen rats. Altia was dreading having to share the blankets with Nero right now but she wasn't exactly clean, the opposite actually.

"Your feet," Nero pointed out.

He summoned a canteen and drank a bit of water before passing it to her. Then he removed her boots and checked the bandages, removing them and tossing the yellowed rags down the tunnel. He examined her feet, took the canteen and washed them. The water stung her wounds.

"You should add the next point in Vigor. I think it is not infected, but we need to get you to a healer. This is the last piece of cloth from the shirt," He warned as he ripped the clothes she got for them and carefully wrapped them around her feet. "And we should take a week off delving to take the train to Honeywitch. See if we can trade some cards and get you some quality shoes. Your feet need them."

A point in Vigor wasn't in her build plan until the late teens. She was hoping her Class card gave some but circumstances changed.

"You are right. I don't want to level up now, though." Nero nodded. He finished tying the rags and held her foot, staring at it. She felt conscious of that and tried to yank it off of his hands. He resisted but then released. "All done. Don't put your boots back or walk around, sit on the blankets and stay there. Your shoes need airing."

"We both need a bath. One that can scrub our souls clean," She joked.

"Right. A bath. Two baths, actually. I don't think it will be pro--"

She slapped him. "Begone, dirty thoughts. It is too early for that."

"As you wish, milady. Please stand by, dinner will be served soon."

"No chicken soup. Please."

"Agreed."

He summoned [Cheese] and [Jerky] from the gray food and refreshments card deck he assembled. The only plus side of delving for so long was that they were swimming in cards. But it would add up to a loss later, as they would have to take a holiday to recover from the ordeal. To quench the thirst, a pitcher of [Apple Juice], a white card they found a while back. They ate, drank and then Nero sat next to a relatively smooth section of wall, putting his pack against the small of his back for lumbar support.

"What are you doing?" Altia asked.

"I'll get the first watch, you sleep. I won't use the blankets today."

"What? Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" He raised his arms then pointed at himself with both fingers. "I am caked in blood. You are disgusted. It is clearly better if you have the blankets."

"Sorry. I didn't think you noticed."

He chuckled then shook his head. "Don't worry. And I may be dense, but I have plus one Perception, you know. And I just can't avoid looking at you when I can."

She held her breath, then sighed. "Thank you?"

"Sleep, brave Adventurer. Carnage awaits."

The next "morning", Nero's back ached. He did some stretches, warming up his body but it only helped so much. They were at their limit, or maybe a bit past it. Altia tried to get him to lay on the blankets but he adamantly refused.

"What are we going to do?" She asked, a hint of fear in her voice when it broke.

"I was thinking exactly that. We are tired, and tired Adventurers make mistakes. Mistakes in a Dungeon are fatal. I think we should warm up with some rats and go to the snake area. Maybe killing something above our level will improve the drop rate, I am not sure."

"Sounds like a plan. Do you think you can wield 'that' against the stone serpents effectively?"

"It's a weapon meant to shred armor! You saw what it did to the Dungeon wall and the snakes' skin is way softer. I think I can slice one clean," He boasted.

"Thank you for being so confident," She cooed. "It is really reassuring." She wanted to kiss him but no way she'd do that in those circumstances.

They broke camp and went on, trudging the rat caves. Altia watched Nero fight alone, wondering if he was developing or reinventing a whole new fighting style centered around that nightmarish weapon. It was a good experiment. Essence drops were based on who was nearby, not on contribution to a fight. Her "high" level was dampening the drops as her device drew in more energy from the dead monsters before it could crystallize.

She noticed something odd. In this last fight, the sword incessant buzzing faded and came back, like a horde of angry giant wasps driven to paint the world red.

"Is something wrong with your sword?"

"No. I was trying to keep it on the least possible to see if it would save some energy but no good. Once you turn it on, it is paid for a whole minute whether you use it or not. I'm no [Gadgeteer] but I think it has to do with how the Arbitrium channels power to the weapon."

She took a moment of pause then nodded. What he said made sense and she was wondering if it had anything to do with his improved Reason. She could tell the effect of the first point was way sharper than the second, by how her coordination improved when she added Dexterity.

"Stone serpents?" She suggested. Altia wished for nothing more than to find the second bloody silver card and get out of there. With Nero or not at all. "Bloody card," She mused. "Sounds right."

They descended the tunnels until the ground shifted from loose bits of stone to sand. Smooth, plane sand. It was the same dark gray as the walls but it was too smooth. Like purposefully smooth. Maybe it was the serpents' doing, to hide their tracks and whereabouts. She thought about tossing the cudgel again but they never went back to pick it and had no idea how to get back there. The Dungeon might as well be infinite sideways as far as she was concerned.

Nero tossed rocks to lure out some serpents but had no luck. They moved ahead carefully, stopping to pick up the rocks and toss them ahead. A serpent popped from the sand with uncanny speed, between Nero and herself. Altia had her dagger in hand and tried to stab the serpent. As the dagger scraped the rocky skin of the serpent, all it did was to deflect its pounce enough so it missed her.

"Altia!" Nero shouted, the characteristic buzz of the sword coming from his side. The sword traced an arc of silver in the dim light and went through the snake, pausing for a moment as it pushed along and ground the stone skin of the reptile before finding the soft flesh underneath and cleaving through. Dust and gray blood splattered against the wall but the serpent was dead.

Altia's device lit up. Nero's didn't.

For defeating an enemy above your level, you gained +1 Agility.

The glow was noticeable against the eerie dim of the Dungeon. "An accolade?" Nero asked. Altia nodded. "What Stat?" She noticed a sliver of hope in his voice. 'Hope I didn't level up', she mused.

"Agility."

Altia moved around to test it. The world seemed to move slower now, for her. She found it easier to walk over the sand, to go where she wanted. It was odd but she found no problem with her balance. Maybe because her Dexterity was already on the positive.

"That's wonderful, Altia!" Nero exulted. "You'll be harder to hit."

His devotion felt so sweet. She wanted to hug him and cover him in kisses. If he weren't so disgustingly dirty, maybe even something more than that. It would have to wait, though.

"We should move. I can swear I can feel the sands shift," Altia tittered.

"Okay. Stay close to me. I don't want a monster between us."

"Me neither," She grinned.

Altia almost latched to Nero's back as they move carefully on the sand, probing the ground with the skipping pebbles. Another snake jumped and Nero bashed it, without enough time to rev up his sword. That damn contraption had so many negatives she was regretting forcing him to spend the pinks on it. But what was done was done. What happened was rather funny. The teeth caught onto he serpent's craggy skin and the serpent twisted in the air, wrapping itself around the weapon and trying to find purchase to bite Nero's head. He punched the fangs away with his buckler and then the weapon finally crushed the rock bits that snagged the teeth, coming alive.

It wasn't nice. The Clockwork Sword, capital letters intended, wasn't a nice weapon. It had all the elegance of an angry swarm of carnivorous teething locusts. The snake that wrapped a coil around the blade? Well, let's just say Nero found a not-so-fun way to make a small AOE attack. The snake was already halfway dissolved when it hit the ground, dropping a slightly larger Essence.

Altia picked the crystal and took a good look at Nero. The canvas of carnage was upgraded to two colors now, red and gray mixing into disgusting tones of eww.

And so they moved through the sands. Snakes would jump, Nero would crush them with the sword. Altia measured the Essences and they were in the positive even after figuring out the thirsty weapon's consumption of energy. It was a double-edged weapon, in more than one way.

"We are taking a week of vacation," Altia croaked, "But you are spending two days marinating in soap."

"Warm soap?"

"Yes, why not."

They laughed. The situation wasn't so bad if they could laugh. They resumed their trek through the sandy tunnels, fighting ambushing snakes here and there. Nero got bitten once but he had [Antidote] ready. Altia noticed these were without any visible slope. Different from the rat caverns, there was no visible hint at which way led to the boss. And she was sure she saw that stalactite before...

But it had no serpent wrapped around it before.

"Above us, serpent!" Altia shouted and the monster dropped on them.

It was twice as long and thick as a normal serpent, weighing at least ten times more. Altia drew her dagger and raised an arm to protect her face and the serpent gladly bit the offered limb. The rest of the monster fell on her, knocking the ape-kin girl to the ground and pinning her against the sand. Her arm was burning and the serpent kept pumping venom into her blood. She was fainting but could hear the buzz of Nero's sword grinding against the serpent's stone skin.

"Altia?" Nero's voice sounded muddled. "Altia, can you hear me? Please, talk to me!"

Nero sounded like he was crying. He didn't cry when he found out his level cap was zero, why would he cry now? Altia could only wonder. She was dreaming, but not a good dream. She was floating in a place of oppressing darkness, amidst an ever-encompassing sadness.

"Altia! Please fight! I need you. Please!"

She wanted to be with Nero. Why wasn't she answering back when he called. He seemed so far away and she wanted to take just a nap before she could go there. So tired...

Sudden nausea and she opened her eyes to see the cavernous roof of the Dungeon, the blasted stalactite still there. Altia shrieked then vomited her soul out. Gore-covered arms hugged her. It was disgusting but warm.

"Nero? What happened? Can you please tell the Dungeon to stop spinning?"

He didn't let go. She was too weak to fight back.

"Oh, thank the gods! I thought I'd lost you. Sorry, I gave you too many potions."

Something came to mind. Alchemical poisoning, when one imbibed too many potions, too fast. She glanced sideways and saw at least a half-dozen empty bottles. by the color of the leftover concoctions, [Healing Potion] and [Anditode]. None of them used magic so they never used any of the [Mana Potion] they found.

"The huge serpent?"

"Dead. I'm sorry I didn't see it."

She tried to smile but was afraid it was a grimace. "That's the trap. The Dungeon trains you to look at the floor but then big one comes from above."

"Hindsight is prophetic," Nero mused.

"Did it drop anything good?" She asked to Nero's surprise.

Altia was an Adventurer through and through. A raucous, daring lot. The perils of death past were just campfire stories because they survived them. But the glee of the loot present and the promise of loot future everything that drove them forward.

And the shit-eating grin in the gore-caked boy was everything she needed to know. Nero picked something up then showed her. A gleam of silver hope in the gloomy Dungeon. She feebly raised her arm and saw her own silver card still slotted. They were finally going home.

But not before she recovered enough to walk on her own legs. There was no reason not to spend a bit more time inside the Dungeon. If the serpents didn't get them while she was unconscious, they wouldn't do so now.

Nero [0/0]

Strength: +1 (+4 when swinging the clockwork blade)

Vigor +1

Reason: +1

Perception: +1

Altia [3/179]

Endurance: +1

Agility: +1

Dexterity: +2

Willpower: +1