Gamer Guild’s Dungeon (3rd Floor, Pt. 3)

--- Jon ---

“Alright, Roxanne, since this treasure thing is important to you you can take some of the kobolds with you to collect it while me and Ying clear out the way to the Boss.” He told her after taking a moment to consider the best way to do this. “Also, since I don’t like the idea of sending you off on your own, Pix!” His favorite little fairy turned to him from where she was tormenting a couple of the kobolds. “You mind going with Roxy to collect the treasure?”

Pix crossed her arms and gave him a pout.

“Yeah, I don’t like splitting from you either but Ying and I can take care of ourselves.” He reminded the little fairy who was now refusing to look at him. “Look if I really need your help I can always summon you back to my side.”

Pix turned her back to him.

Figuring he should try a different angle he pointed out how “There’ll be shinies and things for you to zap.”

The little fairy gave him a look.

Rolling his eyes he also threw out the fact that, “You’ll have about two dozen kobold minions who have to do whatever you say.”

Pix seemed to consider it for a moment before flying over to Roxanne.

“Okay, so you’re sending the healer with me… Not sure how to feel about that.” The gamer teen admitted.

“Honestly it feels like you’re blowing this whole thing out of proportion.” Ying told the other girl. “I mean Jon technically cleared a room on this floor by himself. Besides us splitting the party is bound to become a recurring point due to the size of some of the other later floors you mentioned.”

“Ugh, I guess I see your point.” Roxanne sighed before shaking her head. “So I guess we’re really doing this then.”

Ying gave the girl a look. “At this point it feels like you’re trying to procrastinate the matter.”

“A little…” The other girl grimaced.

“Right…” He coughed into his hand before turning to the kobolds. “Alright, half of you with Roxanne and Pix, the other half with me and Ying.”

There was a fair bit of grumbling from the kobolds about being split from their mistress, and he idly noted the kobolds he’d worked with were already gathered around him while snapping at any others that tried to near them. Once it became apparent how few of the kobolds were going to do what he said without further instruction he grabbed his little squad of kobolds and Wolf before getting them all to sneak towards the next room. Because while it wasn’t something he’d normally do to someone outside of his (pack) he was sick of corralling kobolds. (Though Ying and Pix are here so it’s not that out of character for me… or my ma.)

“Okay, now while everyone else lags behind to deal with that mess let’s go ahead and clear the next room.” He explained to everyone once they were alone.

“Uh, but shouldn’t we wait for the mistress and the boss?” One of the kobolds asked.

“That is a very good point… Uh, I’m sorry I don’t actually know your name.” He apologized.

“Uh, we don’t have names?” The kobold told him, sounding confused about the fact that it had to explain that. (Wait, hold on.)

“Do you have genders?” He asked, realizing he’d just thought of the kobold as an it as well as the fact that he’d technically been assuming their genders when he wasn’t considering them a massive mob of monsters.

“Um…” The kobold looked at the other members of their party before eventually blinking as they realized with some surprise that, “Yes! Males have forward horns and females have backwards horns!”

“Good to know.” He nodded, idly noting how his squad had four females and three males. “And the names?”

“Never needed them before.” The male kobold he’d been talking to shrugged. “Usually we just wake up, fight, die, and repeat.”

“You remember your past lives?” He frowned, wondering if he needed to have some… words with the GM about this, before remembering the various goblins he’d already killed. (Oh no.)

“Kind of but mostly no.” The kobold told him, seeming to have never considered such things before.

“We’ve, uh… In the main Wonderland -not the Dungeon- there’s a um, core kobold we’re copied off of. Sort of… Or was there more than one?” The kobold in front of him grimaced as it struggled to explain.

“And do those core kobolds get your memories?” He prodded, both for his own guilty conscience as well as his fascinated curiosity.

“Some of them.” The kobold frowned. “Most of it gets lost, but I think some of it gets transferred back when the GM gathers resources…”

“And I’m guessing in the same way, your core counterparts' memories get transferred to you based on the Madness spent to create you.” He concluded, using a bit of peripheral knowledge he’d picked up while looking into the Insanity of the Corrupted back in Blackwell. “That’d make a bit of sense given how Madness is composed of metaphysical mental energy.”

“Yeah, I have no idea what that means.” The kobold admitted.

“Er, right, uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck as he realized he went on a bit of tangent there. “So given how you guys can remember it, are you and your fellow dungeon monsters okay fighting and dying like this?”

“It’s just a game, and it’s not like we’re really dying.” The kobold pointed out, getting several nods of agreement from the other kobolds. “Honestly, I’m pretty sure we remember more than we think we do, it’s just it all blurs together when it’s the same thing a hundred times a day.”

“Yeah, that sounds… like a thing.” He grimaced awkwardly. “So, um, does the GM know you guys are sapient if she’s sending you to die like this?”

“Damn, you’re really into this existential shit aren’t you.”

(Well, given how I killed a cult’s god…) “I’m just worried if you’re being treated right or not.” He redirected.

“She treats us fine, given how we can’t die like you guys and we all enjoy fighting.” The kobold assured him. “That said, going off of my original’s memories we’re usually not alive long enough to need our own save files since we’re still them when we die and they get our memories.”

He considered that for a moment. “Does that mean you’ll need your own save file now that you're diverging from your original?”

“Uh, yes and no.” The kobold answered after a moment of thought. “My memories will return to the core, and if he wants he can ask the GM to make a new save file for me since he’s got his primary slot and his autosave slot.”

“I see…” (I also can’t help but wonder how many non-Wonderlanders have given their constructs an interview, asking for their thoughts and opinions on their rather unique sub-existences. Actually thinking about that,) “Would you like to have your own, um, save file, you called it?” He asked, coming to a stop.

“Might be interesting.” The kobold admitted scratching at his chin. “Though I’d have to seriously deviate from my main-self to do that.”

He turned to the rest of the kobolds. “How about you guys?”

“Uh, technically we are him so our memories would probably get put into the same file.” One of the other male kobolds pointed out.

“Then that just means we have to work to differentiate you guys.” He argued, before turning back to the kobold next to him. “Let’s start with… Kenny.”

“Kenny?” The kobold repeated with a blink.

“Yep, Kenny the kobold. Short for Kennith.” Because if he named the kobold after something he wanted to protect Jon was more likely to keep him alive as long as he needed to deviate from the core kobold.

He turned to the other six kobolds before narrowing his eyes. “And you six are… Jillian… Rosy… Edith… Sue… Anthony and… Bruce.” He named them, each after someone important from Camp Bet. (And that I actually want to keep safe.) Which is why none of them were named a derivative of Alexander or Roger.

The kobolds looked torn between staring at him in awe and freaking out between each other as several quietly asked, “Is he allowed to do that?”

“I don’t know!”

“But he’s not the GM!”

“But, but he named us!”

Wolf brushed against his leg before looking up at him with a sense of approval.

He scratched the top of her head and turned towards the door now standing between them and the next room. Like before he gently pried the door open to peek inside. “Alright, Kenny get over here so we can start showing the GM how special you guys are.”

The squad of kobolds turned to the now named kobold who swallowed nervously before making his way over. “W-what do you want me to do?”

“What do you see in here?” He asked in response.

“Um, two Warriors and two Shamans.” Kenny noted quietly.

“How do you think we should deal with them?”

“I, um, what?” The named kobold blinked.

“Right, that might be a little much. by yourself right now” He admitted before turning to the kobolds and explaining that, “the two warriors can take a beating and the shaman can heal them, and if Roxanne is right they should have some kind of snaring effect going for them now. What do you guys think the best method of dealing with these guys is?”

The kobolds looked amongst each other before Sue raised her hand. “Um, we can try the trap thing again?”

“It’s not a bad idea.” He nodded, mentally noting the fact that (I’ll have to show these guys how to make an actual snare since we don’t have any traps to cheat with.) “But that’ll still leave three more.”

“Um…” Anthony stepped forward. “We can gang up on the goblins.”

“Always a good idea, but how do you want to do that, because there are three of them and nine of us. Meaning even if Wolf and I join different teams that still means three of you will be fighting one on your own.” And while he didn’t say it out loud, they’d seen how that would turn out a couple of rooms ago.

“What if you and Wolf fight the Shamans!” Jillian suggested.

“But can the seven of you take the Warrior?” He asked them, before adding, “Without anyone dying.”

The kobolds looked a little downcast.

“Right, let’s see here…” He told them, beginning to think aloud as he plotted out what the kobolds could do. “So the goblins are probably your size and a half… Yeah, that could work.”

“What could?” Kenny asked as innocently as the real Kennith would.

“Okay, slight change of plans.”

---

The door to the room was kicked open in a fashion few would use three floors into the dungeon, and from the space behind it half a dozen arrows flew out erratically. These did little more than grazing the warriors and one of the Shamans, though given how their job was merely to distract the goblins from the small horde of kobolds rushing into the room, that was all they needed to do.

The horde split in two with a squad of four going after one Warrior and three going after the other. In each group two of the kobolds skidded around the Warriors to get behind them while another hissed and growled at the goblins threatening to attack them should they turn their attention to anyone else. While they did this the fourth kobold of the first squad -Kenny- jumped on the back of the third kobold of his group who helped launch him into the air in a maneuver Jon had had them practice several times before sending them out.

On his downfall came the tricky part of the maneuver as he grabbed the goblin by their head and forced them to fall backwards. An attack that was aided by the fact that the first two kobolds of their squad had positioned themselves in a crouch behind the Warrior, forcing them to topple backwards with an audible thud before the third kobold jumped onto the goblin’s chest before attacking the Warrior’s neck with a knife Jon had given her.

Seeing their compatriot explode into a swarm of lights the other Warrior roared before grabbing the kobold in front of them and throwing her at the other squad of kobolds. With that distraction gone the goblin turned to the two kobolds crouching on the ground and completely missed the wolf rushing into the room. At least until the kobolds in question had grabbed the Warrior’s legs and said Wolf had jumped onto the goblin’s back while biting into their shoulder and letting the kobolds throw the heavier dungeon monster onto their stomach.

While all of this was going on the Shaman were kept under fire by a series of arrows, keeping them from aiding either of their fellow goblins let alone each other when the first squad turned their sights on one of the Shaman and swarmed them.

Seeing this sent the second Shaman into a panic, one prevalent enough that as they began to cast a more combat oriented spell than their usual healing magic, they failed to notice both the fact that the arrows had stopped as well as the figure appearing behind it. Or rather they failed to notice until said figure wrapped his arm around the goblin’s neck, place a hand atop their head, and- *Snap.*

He caught a potion falling from the swarm of lights even as he shook out his arm feeling a little funny after pulling that off. (Note to self stick to weapon kills, the blood apparently makes me less squeamish.)

Shaking his head, (and suppressing that odd revelation) he turned his attention to the rest of his team as they gathered up the loot from their various (kills)/(takedowns).

“Alright, good job everyone.” He clapped, giving their efforts a brief applause. “See what you lot can do with a bit of effort and coordination. Even set to a lower level than these guys you took them out quick and cleanly without any injuries.”

The kobolds all gave his words a cheer as they offered him the loot from their various exploits.

“Huh, give me my knife back and you can have this one.” He told Sue as he plucked a knife one of the Warriors had dropped from the pile.

“Ah, I see the victor has already collected their spoils.” Ying commented from the doorway of the room as she finally caught up to them, the boss kobold and a dozen others following her.

“Yeah, these guys did a good job.” He told the kobolds as much as her.

“I’m glad. Roxanne was panicking over the fact that you left us behind.” Ying smiled with her not so subtle jab.

“Isn’t this supposed to just be a game?” He asked while motioning for them to go ahead and continue towards the next room. “She seems really invested in winning.”

Ying rolled her eyes. “As if you have any room to complain.”

“I’m not that competitive.” He frowned, recalling several times where he’d let the kids at camp beat him at things both in the past summer and the ones before. Truthfully, his Ma brought out the worst of his competitiveness. (Well her and-)

“I seem to recall a very morbid game you had with Quartermaster Rogers involving who could kill the most Corrupted towards the end of Summer.” Ying told him while examining her nails and turning them into claws.

“That’s different.” He explained with a twitching smile.

“How so?” Ying asked with barely contained amusement.

“Because I refuse to lose a fight to a drunk.” He lacked pride in most things, but he didn’t lack that much pride. (Then again maybe I just don’t like him that much.)

“Technically a game of ‘who’s the better killer’ isn’t a fight.” Ying informed him with a smirk. “Especially given when you two had your final round of the game.”

(The violence blurred together as a growling sound kept emitting from his throat. Every part of him demanding he push himself harder even as he chopped through the Mad Wolves, and stomped the skulls of the Corrupted Corpses under foot. The beast within raging beneath the blood red light of the lunar eclipse.)

“Yeah, please don’t call it that.” He grimaced, not wanting to think about what those ‘games’ said about him as a person. (I really shouldn’t have let Rogers goad me into that mess. I knew he was a bad influence, and that nightmare just underlines it.)

Ying ‘hmmed’ but didn’t continue that line of thought, something he was just as grateful for as he was the fact that Wolf was brushing against his leg in sympathy.

After a few moments of silence their fairly large party found their way to another door and another room full of goblins. Figuring that another room meant another meant another lesson for his kobolds he took a quick peek inside before turning back to his team. “Okay, so we’ve got a Warrior, two Rogues, and two Shaman. Any suggestions?”

“How about since you and your kobolds took care of the last room, I’ll take care of this next one?” Ying suggested, taking her own peek behind the door.

“Um… I guess that’s fair.” He admitted. (Even if it does throw my plan with the kobolds off a bit.)

“Quite.” Ying grinned while taking on a number of her more draconic features. “I actually had an interesting idea on my way here and these goblins are grouped up in just the right way for me to try it.”

“Okay…” He nodded, feeling a strange sense of wariness. One that proved fairly well founded when Ying began to visibly spark as the scent of ozone filled the air. (Oh, that’s not a good thing.)

Quickly and quietly he herded the kobolds away from Ying, a feat that was even more difficult than his previous efforts corralling the dungeon monsters given their awe at the sheer amount of Anima Ying had flowing around her.

“Jon.” A voice that was more growl than speech began. “Would you kindly open the door for me?”

Moving quickly he rushed towards the door before throwing it open and throwing himself in the opposite direction. And not a moment later, thunder roared throughout the tunnels of the dungeon as his hair stood on end, his heart pounded in his chest, and (the rain fell all around him, in the wake of Ying’s destruction.

Everything ached, and yet somehow numb.

He tried to move but none of his limbs responded.

Everything was hot, and yet so, so cold. It made him want to close his eyes and give into the darkness creeping in from the edges of his blurred vision.

He heard Pix crying as a pink light began to circle him and the soothing cool-warmth of her magic soaked itself into his already soaked bones.

As the numbness slowly fled his limbs he forced himself onto his hands and knees before making his body stand and assuring Pix that,) “I’m okay.”

“Was a bit worried with how you threw yourself.” Ying admitted as she passed him by.

He blinked, taking in his surroundings and noting that he was in a dry cave tunnel rather than a raining forest clearing. Shaking his head clear, he reminded himself that, (I’m okay. I beat Ying. I saved her from the Corruption. I’m still alive.)

Staring at Ying for a moment -(She’s still human. She’s still human. She’s still-)- He took a shaky breath before following after and forcing down any memories relevant to that night.

“So lightning breath?” He found himself asking, more to distract himself than out of actual curiosity. (Though he was still curious.)

“Ah, yes. I had the idea while I was left to wander the dungeon on my lonesome.” Ying verbally jabbed once more. (He forced himself not to flinch.) “I remembered one of Miss Edna’s lessons on how my Storm and Dragon affinities might give off better outputs if I were to merge them together. In this case by using my lightning as a breath attack similar to a dragon’s rather than simply manipulating it as I generally do.”

“Yeah, I can see how finding a conceptual overlap might help.” He nodded, figuring it was probably similar to how when he accidentally got the concept of [New Moon] while trying to figure out the concept of [Shadows].

“Anything of value?” Ying asked the kobolds, causing him to realize that she had in fact managed to one shot the entire party of goblins with that attack.

(Wonder if it’d hurt as much as her old roar?)

He buried that thought deep and dark.

“Hmm, a couple of goblin ears and another potion.” Ying told him after accepting the loot from her kobolds before pausing to examine the blue potion. “Actually, do mind if I try this? That last attack took more out of me than I was expecting.”

(So you can’t spam it at me anymore, good to know.) Part of him wanted to snipe.

“No problem.” He said instead, as he once more reminded himself that Ying didn’t really remember what happened while she was Corrupted. (And I have no intention of telling her.)

The draconic teen downed the entire bottle before shaking her head and telling him, “It tastes like blueberries.”

He could only really shrug at that.

“Right.” Ying flexed her hand a bit while letting off a few sparks. “I suppose we should be on our way then.”

“I suppose so.” He agreed, still feeling a little out of it.

“Everything alright?” She asked him.

“Just uh, wondering how Pix and Roxanne are doing.” He lied before frowning. (Actually, now think about it, how are they doing?)

--- Pix ---

“Everything is on fire! How is everything on fire?!” The human her humans had befriended cried while cowering with a number of the weaker kobolds.

(Because anything is possible with enough willpower.) Jon taught her that when he killed the Twisted King despite being a mere human.

Idly she noticed a goblin trying to make a run for the exit. Just as idly she gave it a zap, earning both cheers and amusement from the fun kobolds as it fell writhing on the ground.

(This is fun.) She’d have to reward her human after this by letting him serve her muffins and milk. She knew how much he enjoyed that.

--- Jon ---

“I’m sure they’re doing fine.” Ying assured him as they continued through the tunnels.

“Maybe but I don’t really like the idea of leaving Pix alone with a stranger.” He admitted. “I remember DeSade telling me that earth born fairies are worth a lot in the right circles.”

The draconic teen scowled, remembering several of his stories about DeSade. “He wasn’t trying to buy Pix from you was he?”

“No, since Pix was healing me and I was dealing with the Corrupted, he wouldn’t try to take her from me.” He disagreed while trying to figure out how to explain his darker mentor’s thought process. “Given how he usually acts, it was probably a warning to be cautious with her in public, and after seeing some of the people lurking around Blackwell I can’t really disagree with him if he was.” (The Beast of Blackwell’s cult proved that.)

“Hmm, well while I doubt Roxanne would attempt to harm Pix given what I’ve seen of her, if worst comes to worst you should be able to summon Pix to your side shouldn’t you?” Ying reminded him in a mix of care and pragmatism.

“Yeah, but… I’m just regretting letting her out of my sight is all.” He sighed. “With her there’s no telling what kind of trouble she’ll get into when left on her own.”

--- Pix ---

“Mistress Pix! Mistress Pix! Mistress Pix!”

She couldn’t help but smile as her kobolds continued to cheer her on as she strangled the Goblin Shaman and several of its compatriots with the vines it’d summoned.

Honestly the only part of this little adventure she wasn’t enjoying was the fact that the girl Jon had sent with her was having a fit of some kind, and that the kobolds cowering behind her weren’t properly praising her the way her kobolds and Jon did.

Thinking about her human got her tummy rumbling.

(I wonder if Jon packed snacks?)

--- Jon ---

“You’re worrying about nothing.” Ying told him. “I’m sure the worst trouble she’s going to get into is demanding you give her more snacks when she comes back.”

“You’re probably right.” He admitted. (Well, hopefully I packed enough baked goods to get us through the day.) With Pix involved, the answer was a hard maybe.

After a few more moments, -During which he did a mental inventory of their snacks and tried to calculate the food consumption of a fairy with possibly a literal magical black hole for a stomach.- their party came to a large door at the end of the tunnel.

“I guess this is the boss door.” He told Ying. “If I’m remembering right, Roxanne said there would be three rooms on this path with the last one being the boss room.”

“She did say something along those lines.” Ying nodded before crossing her arms as she gave the door a look. “Since we’re already here, do you think we should start the boss fight without them? I mean it shouldn’t be too difficult without them.”

He considered it for a moment, because while they could wait for Roxanne and Pix to join them for a guaranteed victory, they could also fight the boss as they were. And if they were lucky it would be an actual challenge while they had their split party debuff going. (Though if it’s a challenge I’m looking for perhaps I could solo the boss without any help.) (That might be a fun hunt.) (Though in that case, Ying might want to take care of it herself.)

Giving it a bit more consideration, he eventually nodded as he came to a decision and told Ying,