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  [colpse]Chapter Sixty-Two - The Dungeon Book

  “This pendium doesn’t hold as muformation as you would think, but it’s heless one of the most useful books out there. Most noble families, academies and guilds have a copy at their branch offices and mansions,” Amaryllis expined.

  “Does the Exploration Guild have one?” I wondered as I scooted closer.

  “The Exploration guild are the ones providing most of the information being published here,” Amaryllis said.

  She opehe book to a page he start and I leaned closer to read.

  The Pit of a HurapsApprox Dungeon levels 5-7Suggested levels 10+Party position: 3+ Healer Necessary.Special warnings: Poisons. Traps.

  Located south-southwest of Stormshark he Bay of Storms in nds belonging to the Kingdom of Endless Swells.

  At ToW this dungeon has seven floors. The path from floor to floor is built along a series of tall plinths above a basin of predator-filled waters. The delve room is otherwise safe. Special care should be taken while using the bridges from one plinth to the as some have trapped boards.

  First Floor: Large area with key at one end. Simple pitfalls.Sed Floor: Rows of pilrs meant to be jumped over. Pit beh tains venomous spiders (on). Key at end.Third Floor: Maze-like tunnel. Eurns to start. Key hidden within. Layout ges daily. Pitfalls, blow darts.Fourth Floor: False treasure room. Mimics. Key in one of the chests.Fifth Floor: Use keys marked with symbols on the door to open. Remainio be kept. Lesser boss is a rge brass boar. Must be baited into traps or killed with overwhelming power.Sixth Floor: Puzzle room. Bait rge turtles iing poisoned fish. Key at end of room.Seventh Floor: Dungeon Boss. Large animated bear-trap. o be baited into setting off different traps across the room. Each broken tooth summons an iron bear (unon).

  Loot rewards:Various traps. Ropes. Poisons. Fishing rodsCss reward:Master Baiter cssSpecializes iing off traps from afar and trag.

  “What’s ToW? And what’s a delve room?” I asked as I held back a giggle. I really hoped that Amaryllis didn’t pick that css, or else I’d never be able to look her in the eyes again. Instead of looking up to see her no-doubt unamused look, I looked at the maps on the page. They were small, and not that detailed, but they showed the rough shapes of each floor of the dungeon, and there were even some o the side.

  Amaryllis hummed. “ToW stands for Time of Writing. This one is nearly a year old.” She tapped a date at the bottom of the page. “So no doubt the dungeon has gai least a floor since. Some of the traps may have moved. And the delve room is the main room of a dungeon. Some dungeons have a room that allows you to access each floor. You ’t actually skip ahead, and the dungeon punishes you f, but it does mean you leave if you o.”

  “,” I said. The Wondernd dungeon in Threewells had that, then. The rge room with the shaft had to be its delve room.

  “Indeed,” she said. Amaryllis began flipping through the pages too fast for me to do much more than stare at some of the maps or read the passing names of the dungeons. She seemed to know what she was looking for.

  But I didn’t. “Ah, what kind of css do you want?” I wondered.

  “Something that will synergize with my Thunder Mage css.”

  “So ane css? Or something thunder and lightnied?” I wondered.

  She hummed, then shook her head. “No, not quite. I want something that will work well with my css, shore up some weaknesses, but not something too close. Ah, this one is iing.”

  The page she stopped at had a bit less information on it. I noticed that she had been skipping right past some of the dungeons with too many levels. They were probably a bit beyond us anyway.

  ToyndApprox Dungeon levels 4-7Suggested levels: 8-10Party position: 3+ Area of Effect Specialist SuggestedSpecial Warnings: Golems. Horde Enemies

  Located o Port Hazel, the capital of the Kingdom of Mattergrove.

  At ToW this dungeon has five floors. The delve room is built to resemble a long, rge castle room, with a gss ceiling (always near dusk) and hundreds of dust-covered boxes. All are empty. Excessive tampering or destru in the dungeon will repe boxes with traps. Otherwise safe.

  First Floor: A long, narrow pyroom. Hundreds of toys within. Upon crossing the middle of the room the toys rise and begin to charge the delver in waves. Attag prematurely awakens all toy golems at once.Sed Floor: Nutcracker room. Defeat toy knight in joust atop provided mount ht soldier golems.Third Floor: Room is filled with rge plush animals. Deceptively dangerous. Will be invited for ‘tea.’ Accept and pass. Otherwise fight. Enemies resilient and strong for level. Slow-moving.Fourth Floor: Room is built like a theater. Large Marioes act out a py on stage. Participating unlocks special reward (Toy wand, rare) Otherwise simple bat against rge wooden foes. Focus cords.Fifth Floor: Dungeon Boss. Large room filled with broken toys. Large armoured ‘teddy bear’ ire. Will summon toys from sides of the room to aid in bat. Suggest fire.

  Loot rewards:Various toys. Small children’s tris. Ented pythings.

  Css reward:Toymaker cssCss specializes in making small tris and toys and animating them with mana.

  “Oh,” I said. “That css does sound like a lot of fun.”

  “You’re merely saying that because you want to py with the toys I would make,” Amaryllis said.

  “I’m a bit old for most toys,” I defended myself. “Though I wouldn’t mind a teddy bear that hugs back. I’d call it Threadbear and I’d love it lots.”

  She shook her head and seemed about to tell me off, but a knock at the door alerted us right before it opened and our supper arrived. The book ushed aside as a pair of trays den with all sorts of small ptes with artfully arranged meats and veggies and breads were pced before us by a pair of barmaids. They left as quickly as they had e, leaving the room smelling heavenly.

  “Let’s eat!” I said as I immediately began digging in. Amaryllis went a little slower, at first, but she soon tossed her cutlery aside and began spearing her food with her talons.

  When we finally finished eating some time ter, I had to lean bato my seat to pat down my overfull tummy. There was still some food left, and I wao eat it, but there was no room.I was almost dozing when Amaryllis dragged the book closer and started shifting through the pages. “Found it,” she said a little while ter.

  “Eh?” I muttered as I sat up straighter.

  “Look,” she said as she pushed the book my way.

  The Pace of StringsApprox Dungeon levels 4-7Suggested levels: 8-10Party position: 2+ High Mental Resistand Perception SuggestedSpecial Warnings: Body Snatchers

  Located at the base of the cliffs of the indepeown of Rosenbell.

  At ToW this dungeon has 4 floors. No delve rooms. The entry point is a garden around an a pace.

  First Floor: The garden hedges. Attempting to pass over the walls summons (rare) gargoyles. Large spiders he ceilings will try to ensnare delvers.Sed Floor: The main halls of the pace. Knights patrol the corridors, held up by strings. Focus fire orings to disable.Third Floor: Ball room. Filled with child-sized humanoid puppets in dresses. Hidden onry. Will demand to dance.Fourth Floor: Throne room with a rge ‘puppet king’ that uses multiple ons and hidden partments on the body to unleash different effects otlefield.

  Loot rewards:Strings, Spider parts, Dresses.

  Css reuppeteer cssRanged trol of a siarget olem. Minion trol.

  “That sounds... kinda spooky,” I said.

  “Don’t be a coward, it’s a normal enough dungeon. And a low-levelled o that,” Amaryllis said. “And, best of all, Rosenbell isn’t too far from Greenshade. A week on foot. Less if we rent a carriage.”

  She flipped the book to the very back where a map was id out. I ‘oohed’ and started looking at it. I used to love the maps in fantasy novels, they were some of the best parts, and now I could trace my own journey across Dirt.

  “The css is a little... unusual, but I think it might have its uses, if I unlock the right kinds of skills for it.” Amaryllis stood up, then stretched her batil it popped. “I’m going to go rest,” she said.

  “Ah, I should go to sleep too,” I replied. The filling meal had done a number on what was left of my energy, and the sun was about to set outside besides. “There’s a shower here, right?”

  Amaryllis snorted. “There is. Enjoy yourself, I’m going to get ged.”

  ***

  I woke up to a sniffling noise, like two pieces of cloth rubbing together. It was faint, and I decided that it had to be from some other room in the inn. It was a busy pce after all. That, and I had just had a nice warm shower and was tucked under a veritable pile of cozy-warm bs. Moving was not an option.

  I was almost back asleep when I heard the snuffle again. It sounded as if it had e from Amaryllis’ side of the room.

  Carefully, I turned around and snooped out of the top of my bs and looked around.

  Other than e who was curled up o me I couldn’t see anyone.

  Then Amaryllis’ bed shook and the sniffle returned.

  Someone was g. Quiet, lonely sobs, the sort that are trying very hard to remain quiet but just ’t help but escape.

  Pulling e up, I sat on the edge of my bed, then stood up with the kitty cradled to my chest. I was gd that I chose to sleep with some clothes on for a ge. It meant that I didn’t lose all of my warmth as I padded across the room.

  Amaryllis had her head buried in her pillow, eyes closed and face pressed into the soft white fluff.

  “Amaryllis?” I asked.

  She tensed.

  Swallowing, I pced a hand over the bs where her shoulder was. “Amaryllis?”

  “What’s wrong, Broccoli?” Amaryllis asked.

  If she was trying to sound self-assured she was doing a poor job of it.

  I, oher hand, didn’t know what to do. When I was sad and lonely I asked fs, but I wasn’t sure if that would happen with Amaryllis, and maybe her problems weren’t the kind that could be fixed with lots of hugs and cuddles. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  I winced. “Oh, okay,” I said.

  “Go back to bed,” she muttered.

  I did as she asked and sat on her bed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to bed,” I said.

  “Your own bed, you moron!”

  Sighing, I plopped a disgruntled-but-too-sleepy-to-care e on Amaryllis’ other side, then glomped do of her. There were a bunch of bs between us, so I did my best to make my hug as awesome as I could make it.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m giving you a hug. It’s supposed to make you feel better.”

  “It’s not w.”

  I chuckled. “I think it is,” I said. “Did you want to talk about it? That makes it feel better too.”

  “The only thing I want to talk about is how stupid you are,” she grumped.

  “We talk about that too, if you want.”

  Amaryllis was quiet for a very long time, but she didn’t squirm and she didn’t fight off my hug, so I stayed where I was even as my back started to get a bit chilly.

  “It was just a nightmare,” she said.

  “Nightmares be scary.”

  “It was... the cervid. They took me, and my family didn’t want me back. Which is ridiculous.” She snorted and it didn’t sound as if she thought it was all that ridiculous.

  “That’s awful. But it didn’t happen, right? And even if your family didn’t want you, you’re still my friend. And friends are a family that you pick.”

  The room was quiet for a while, and I thought that maybe she had goo sleep when at st she spoke. “Do... do you want to get uhe bs?”

  “If you want?” I asked.

  “My... my sisters used to do this. It was immature and childish, but when one of us had a nightmare--”

  “I get it,” I said.

  It took some doing, and I tried to be fast not to let all the warmth escape, but soon enough I was tucked up beside Amaryllis and hugging her close. Her wings were surprisingly soft from so close.

  “I’m a mess,” Amaryllis said.

  I snorted and fired a bit of ing magic at her. “There, now you’re not,” I said before tightening the hug. “It’s okay. Go to sleep.”

  “Idiot,” she muttered.

  “Yup.”

  The night grew darker as more lights outside the window were snuffed out, but it was okay.

  “Thank you,” Amaryllis said.

  I fell asleep smiling.

  ***

  AnnouI was inally going to shove the world map right into this chapter, but I think having it as its own post might be better!

  We should be catg up with the Ebook versio week!And we'll be catg up with the Patreon version in.... November... My baight be too big.