I ignored the acidic debuffs and focused on two health bars—mine and the sundew aberration. When the last salvo of magic attacks ended the sundew’s life, it dropped me. Since Hot Air counted as a blessing, it didn’t require prestidigitation. Using it, I stopped myself from falling and levitated to the ground. I guided the blessing to land me as gently I’d place an infant into its crib—a fitting description since my limbs had recoiled into a fetal position.

  My friends healed me until the acid, blindness, and paralyzation debuffs ended.

  Charitybelle pulled me into the star chamber as Fabulosa zapped at the carnivorous vegetable.

  My teeth chattered as I regained control of myself. “W-wh-what sh-she doing?”

  “She’s trying to get it off the ceiling. Even though the stairs switchback, we can’t reach its corpse from the upper landing.”

  The thing eventually landed at the base of the stairs with a wet plot. Fabulosa wiped the back of her hand against her backside. “Eww. I have plant goo on me!”

  I dripped from head to toe with the stuff. “And you’re complaining to me?”

  Fabulosa laughed. “It’s not my fault you don’t watch where you’re going.”

  “Ugh-huh. Yeah. I’ll remember this next time I save your hide.”

  Fabulosa turned to Charitybelle. “You know, it’s sad when gallant knights show no gratitude to the damsels who save them.”

  Charitybelle shook her head. “Now-now. Don’t fight, kids, or I’ll have to separate you.”

  Fabulosa tossed a white core to me and wiped her fingers again on one of the new tabards she bought in Grayton. “All yours. So far, it’s the only loot left in this dungeon.”

  I grunted in mock appreciation.

  “I don’t think so.” Charitybelle cast Detect Magic, reached inside the plant, and pulled out a small pebble.

  Fabulosa and Charitybelle watched me. Whatever expression I made amused them, and the pair shared grins at my expense. They knew how much I wanted this item.

  Charitybelle handed it to me. “Grats.”

  “Thanks, guys.”

  Fabulosa shrugged. “I can’t even use arcane. I’d like one for primal magic. Is arcane even useful for anything?”

  Fabulosa’s joke didn’t faze me, and I answered her. “I can load 10 more damage into Imbue Weapon and Magnetize for 10 seconds longer.”

  I checked my available powers, but it unlocked nothing new. This item increased spell power but not my arcane skill rank. Two arcane spells I hadn’t taken yet could benefit from this item—Move Object and Mana Shield. Even so, casting 10 ranks higher might become a big deal one day.

  We finished a Rest and Mend before climbing the stairs. Using Detect Magic, Detect Stealth, and Mineral Communion, I ascended slowly to avoid dangers. I saw visions of a pair of gnolls climbing them, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. The gnolls had sniffed out and avoided the sundew’s trap.

  As we climbed the hairpin turn on the stairway, I examined where the sundew aberration perched. Kobold bones littered the landing beside it.

  The savvy plant had avoided tipping off potential prey by keeping the area beneath it free of debris. Plants spitting out bones amused me as much as the idea of them doing housekeeping.

  The top of the stairs opened into a hall with as much floor space as the star chamber, but its low ceiling made it look far less impressive. Broken and decrepit benches and tables cluttered the room. Its architecture reminded me of the naga temple—complete with identical pillars.

  Someone had pushed the upended tables and benches against the east wall, clearing the floor of everything except the remnants of a dead creature. Lifeless tentacles radiated from the shell of what looked to be a giant snail.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Charitybelle cast Scorch on the remains to ensure it stayed dead, but the spell elicited no reaction.

  The remains contained rows of teeth, and we found more than two eyes on the carcass. Judging by the smell and state of rot, the thing had been dead longer than a month.

  Fabulosa made a sour face as she inspected the corpse. “Assuming I’m reaching into its mouth, there’s no core again.” She backed away from it, wiping her arm.

  I did not comment on the gore and plant goo covering her fancy sleeves.

  Charitybelle stayed at a distance. “That means the gnolls will have cores when we catch up to them. I hope we find them when they’re fighting something nasty.”

  I observed visions from Mineral Communion. “This isn’t a fresh kill. The kobolds killed this thing a while ago. Same as the scorpions below.” I scanned the stones for answers. Their memories projected scenes of the thing slithering around the room. It wasn’t possible to know the timeline, but I saw kobolds looting the corpse before the scene flickered away to views of the lizardfolk using the place as a dining hall. “The gnolls didn’t spend much time up here.”

  I guessed this place served as a monastery of some sort. The lizardfolk lived here and performed institutional functions. I couldn’t say whether it operated as a school, sanctuary, or research facility, but it had something to do with astrology or the worm room below.

  A doorway led east, while the western wall opened into a debris-strewn hallway. Fabulosa approached the hall, so Charitybelle and I followed her. Eight more doors hung from the ceiling aligned the hall, half of which stood closed. Judging by the undisturbed trash, neither the kobolds nor gnolls explored it.

  We used Magnetize to force the doors open. When rust hadn’t glued them shut, they moved easily. Behind them lay small dormitories with multiple beds. The ancient furniture looked brittle, broken, and crude, like everything else.

  Beyond one door, an unexpected gust of wind and a glare of daylight greeted us. The apartment featured a window overlooking a steep mountain cliff, and we admired the view. Without direct sunlight, the mountain breeze chilled us, but the gorgeous scene of the valley made for a pleasant break in the dungeon crawl.

  Fabulosa nudged Charitybelle. “That’s quite a view. I can see why you enjoy scouting through Chloe’s eyes.”

  Charitybelle smiled but seemed unimpressed, having seen more of Miros through her hawk. To her, this window offered only access to fresh air. She casually pointed out the window. “We’re looking west. We’re in the Highwalls, but if you look north, you can see a little of the Bluepeaks. They look bigger from this altitude, don’t they?”

  Fabulosa nodded and stared.

  I put my arm around Charitybelle and enjoyed the view. “You could piece together an atlas of the continent one day—at least, its interior.”

  Charitybelle flashed me a quick grin. “That’s not a half-bad idea. I might do that.”

  While the window refreshed our spirits, the gamer in me consciously marked it as an emergency exit if things got hairy. Of course, in such a situation, I had two mechanics for soft landings, Hot Air and Slipstream, and my companions had none. The fall might not be fatal, but an already injured player might not survive the jump.

  Only one of the eight rooms contained valuable items. We found them inside the guts of a monster called a fungal crawler.

  The crawler rated as an easy-green monster whose opposition proved more manageable than the sundew. Not only had we been prepared to fight it, but its susceptibility to slashing weapons and fire made it fall quickly to Fabulosa’s saber and Ignite Weapon.

  Its only attack involved spore releases.

  We avoided it by holding our breath and withdrawing to breathe. Stationary monsters could be so much fun.

  The fungal monster held another white core and two glass bottles fancy enough for perfume. The game identified them as potions of corrosion and healing, the latter of which restored 100 points. We gave them to Charitybelle since she had the lowest health and the quickest trigger for heals. Even though my Restores gave 76 health and hers 60, the sixteen-point difference wasn’t as crucial as timing.

  We’d grown into an efficient team. My Prismatic Shield gave me enough health to sustain big hits, so I tanked while Fabulosa delivered damage. It wasn’t perfect. I hated how my shield shaved off ten points from my offensive spells, but with only two, it wasn’t a significant loss.

  The description of the potion of corrosion implied that the liquid could melt metals, making for a versatile toolkit option. Charitybelle took both vials into her inventory. I cast Detect Magic and saw a glow buried under the debris in the hallway. I pushed aside some scraps of filth and pulled out a pair of Gauntlets of Stamina +2.

  Fabulosa took the metal gloves. “Let me see if these are worth wearing.” She tested Shocking Reach on the fungal crawler corpse with gloves on and off and learned that they lowered the damage by half a dozen points.

  Watching her gave me an idea. I activated Magnetize and inspected each item of our equipment. Objects with strong magnetic fields interfered with primal spells. Players could mix and match spells and items, but certain combinations created discord. Magnetize could optimize the game’s open class system.

  The spell showed ferrous metal in Fabulosa’s bracers. I closed my interface. “Fab, take off your bracers.”

  “Why?”

  “Trust me.”

  She gave me a questioning look but unlaced them. I explained how they watered down her primal spells.

  “I reckoned they were hard leather.”

  “They’re leather wrapped around bands of iron.”

  Fabulosa unequipped the second bracer and zapped the fungal crawler corpse, causing slightly more damage. “But they give me ten armor.” She wrinkled her nose in indecision.

  “If we replace them with regular leather, you’ll get at least five more armor. So you’re trading a few points of extra damage, maybe double digits if you crit, for only a few armor points.”

  She zapped the crawler one more time to punctuate her decision. “Thanks. I never realized this was an issue.” She offered me the +2 stamina gloves, but I motioned to give them to Charitybelle.

  Between my pearl and these gloves, this dungeon felt worth the trip—and we hadn’t even explored its lowest level, the seashell room beneath the heavy grate.

  We retraced through the hallway and into the big dining hall by the snail corpse. We opened one last unexplored doorway to an apartment the same size as the dormitories but without beds or features like lost papers, magic glows, or valuables. The room looked empty.

  After playing with Magnetize, I switched my concentration to Mineral Communion to search the space. I grinned when the spell revealed a secret door and pointed it out.

  Fabulosa’s jaw dropped. “I have to say, that’s a handy little spell.”

  Mineral Communion revealed memories of a lizardperson using the doorway. It wore an outfit different from the rest, probably the resident headmaster or high priest.

  I pushed the secret door upward enough to lift it off a catch, allowing it to swivel open. Its heavy brass hinge hung from the side like a standard door. “Let’s hope this leads to the chief lizard’s treasure room.”