Dungeon Champions

The end of the sea battle was a decisive victory in our favor. With a colossal-sized, boss-tier elemental on our side, plus the arrival of the mer-folk, none of our attackers survived. None that I saw anyway.

“Maybe another group of adventurers will stumble on an abandoned galleon some day, and it will be because of our efforts today,” Merielle mused, elbows on the edge of the railing as she watched the island we’d never gotten to vanish over the horizon.

I liked that idea. It felt romantic. More so than the likely reality.

“You were fortunate the enemy was so reckless,” the elemental said.

She was once more transformed into her mostly humanoid-form. Zuri, being the only one of our team with the proper proportions, had lent the statuesque woman clothes. They amounted to silk scarves that strained at her chest and hips, obscuring just enough skin to tickle the imagination.

“Had they not wielded the power of storms,” she continued, “ it may have been a far more perilous battle.”

We all knew she was right. Against the team, even with sharks and mer-folk to help, a veritable army with mages and Tablet-wielders to help them would have overwhelmed us. The battle swung in our direction thanks to perfect conditions, distractions, and a few well-timed arrows.

“One of these days,” I said, chuckling, “we’re going to get an easier fight.”

My Tablet flashed.

Combat Experience Notification: You, Britney, and Zuri have earned combat experience for your contributions. Would you like to normalize this between the other Tablet-wielding members of your party to keep everyone on equal footing?

I absolutely did. The idea of managing members at different levels sounded like an absolute nightmare.

Combat Rewards: [The Society of the Defiant] has been granted 35 experience points each. This accounts for the relatively limited contributions of the team compared to outside help, but also rewards you for quick thinking against overwhelming odds.

Merielle, Britnayel, Nym, and Zuri now require [22] experience points to reach level [5].

Jordan requires [487] experience points to reach level [13].

“Tell me how you acquired that Tablet,” the elemental said. She turned, leaning her forearms on the railing of the ship. When I didn’t respond, she turned to look at me, narrowing her eyes. “Well?”

“I’d rather talk about freeing your people first,” I said, chuckling at her boldness.

“What? On this boat?” The elemental shook her head. “No. Once we’ve landed we can have that discussion.”

“Oh? Have you decided to trust us?”

“Perhaps.” She slid her shoulder-length blonde hair away from her refined features, looking me up and down. “I saw what you did. More importantly, I recognized a few of those mages as those who captured me.”

“Ah. Well, that’s good to know.” I paused. “I’m Jordan, by the way. Jordan Cash.” I turned to introduce the rest of my team. Merielle was with me, but the rest of the team was moving around, helping the sailors. I pointed them each out in turn.

Their efforts were clearly ingratiating themselves with the crew, earning smiles and even laughter.

Our new guest turned with me, acknowledging each of the women long enough to exchange a gesture of greeting as she mouthed their names.

When she didn’t provide hers, I cleared my throat, “And may I have a name to go with such a formidable, and gorgeous, elemental?”

The woman’s face warmed, suggesting a dainty blush. “Ulene. You may call me Ulene.”

I smiled, giving her a little bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you and fight by your side, Ulene. Our plan now is to get to the city of Lans, where we hope to unload these artifacts and safely release your people. Or do you wish to take the equipment off yourself?”

Not knowing what she was capable of, I didn’t want to assume she couldn’t just spirit the captives away at her whim.

“I will not be able to free them alone,” she said. Looking from me to the rest of the party again, I saw her eyes linger on Zuri. “Could I perhaps…linger with your party while we figure out how to address this problem?”

“Sure, but if we’re going to mingle with humanity, you may want to have a less ostentatious appearance.” She still had plenty of signs of being an elemental, from her golden skin to the platinum in her blonde hair.

Ulene gave me a disappointed look. “Does my form not please you?” She ran her hands up her sides, stopping just below where Zuri’s scarves struggled to hold her impossibly large and perky breasts captive. “This is a plane of magic and mysticism. Shouldn’t I be as welcome as Nym or Merielle?”

Merielle made a soft choking sound.

Next to her there was a hint of motion and a rattling sound. I leaned forward to see Skullie, perched on a crate, his teeth clattering as he laughed. The poor lich had lost most of his teeth yet again during the last fight, although his spirits seemed higher than ever.

“You’re right,” I said. “Maybe you will be accepted with no problems. But…what if you aren’t? What if your… I mean, our enemies might be waiting for us at the port. Do you wish to risk our safety and your imprisonment for such a small thing?”

My slip up softened her expression slightly. “Perhaps.” Her body rippled, taking on yet another form. Her blonde hair remained streaked with silver, but her eyes dimmed to sky blue. Ulene’s skin lost its ethereal glow, and her proportions, while still stunning, became less exaggerated. Zuri’s silks fluttered to the deck, the strained knots at the very end of their lives.

Ulene was now dressed in a flowing white gown that seemed to flutter in a non-existent breeze. The sides were cut out, with a length of golden rope around the waist, providing a tantalizing glimpse of hip and thigh, while remaining somewhat modest.

“Is this better?” she asked.

“Better?” I shook my head. “Safer, for certain.”

That earned me a nod of approval. “Well worded, cunning scholar.”

“I am a cunning linguist,” I said, not thinking.

Skullie began snickering once again.

Merielle and Ulene looked confused. The elf took a step closer to me. “What does that mean?”

“And why did that one laugh?” Ulene asked, pointing at Skullie.

“Well… er…” I coughed, looking around desperately for a distraction. Zuri was carrying a crate across the deck, and I pointed at her. “Oh wow, that box looks really heavy. I should go help!”

I was barely two steps away when I heard Skullie stage-whisper, “You know, I know what he meant. And I’ll be glad to tell you. But first…help me check Zuri’s nets those sailors drew up for her? I’ll regenerate my teeth faster if I have material to work with.”

Chuckling at his ingenuity, I caught up with Zuri. The crate she was carrying wasn’t all that heavy, but I took it from her anyway and caught her up on recent developments with Ulene as we walked.

Nym joined us halfway through. At her inquisitive look, I started over from the beginning.

“What are your thoughts about her?” Zuri asked when I was done.

“None yet. She seems friendly, but something about her attitude reminds me of Britney. She’s a little aloof, or maybe arrogant. That might just be a cultural thing. Or maybe it’s because she’s so damn powerful.”

“I think she may like you because of your”—Nym dropped her voice to a mumble—“Legendary Tablet. A lot of high-society folk only respect others like that.”

It wasn’t something I considered, not that it mattered.

According to Captain Drake—who met up with us as we helped the sailors move supplies—we had only gone a couple of hours off course. We’d be able to make it to Lans more or less on schedule…if we were in traveling shape. The problem was that there were tons of repairs to help with. While the boat could limp along, it wouldn’t be doing so for very long without some serious work.

Now that the captain knew Britney could fly, he requisitioned her help with replacing an entire mast. She seemed both honored to help and frustrated to actually need to use her flight. When she caught me looking her way, Britney forcefully looked the other direction, but not before I caught the edges of a very exaggerated pout.

“Once we drop you lot off,” Drake told me, “I’m going to swing back around here for salvage. If we’re lucky, we’ll net replacement parts and goods. Those dead mages, assuming the mer-folk didn’t pick ‘em clean, likely have stuff we can sell to cover the extra damage, too.”

Part of me was jealous. There was an urge to join him on what would have amounted to a side-side quest. But I decided what was more important was for our team to deal with the dangerous artifacts and continue to gain levels.

My party agreed.

Based on my inherited memories, I guessed that we wanted to be around Level 8 at the lowest before we went into a truly dangerous dungeon. And 10 would be a lot better.

That evening, the team gathered below decks. Ulene opted to stay in the cargo hold, saving Skullie from further watch duty in case the mysterious mist figure showed up again. I was sure we hadn’t seen the last of him.

It was nice to have a quiet night to rest. We ate a simple meal and I brushed Nym’s tail after she asked. The catgirl was practically a puddle when Merielle suggested she go through the siren haul.

She started with the wand. Lifting it, her eyes flashed and her Tablet appeared.

“I don’t know if I have much use for this,” she said, before sharing the details with the rest of us. It was very water focused, and I could immediately see why she wasn’t excited. Still, it had a lot of utility and I was certain she’d find a use for it at some point in the future.

This continued through the rest of the items.

The pouch ended up being an extra-dimensional storage space with a wide variety of spell components, aquatic food supplies such as dried fish and kelp, and a thin spell book covered in tourmaline and aquamarine gems.

Nym immediately opened it and flipped the pages.

“Do you understand the language?” I asked, still not quite certain how spellbooks worked.

Skullie answered for her. “The magic language is like math,” he said in a know-it-all tone. “It’s universal. The descriptions of the spells might be in Siren, but I’ll help until her Tablet kicks in and fills in the details.”

Yet again, I found myself amazed at the utility of possessing a Tablet.

There were four new spells in the book. Copying the spells to her Tablet was something that would take a lot of time, and so Nym and Skullie focused exclusively on that.

While they worked on it, the rest of us worked on helping the crew repair the ship…and on recovering.

Not that we weren’t productive. Every minute of downtime was an opportunity to train. Using the ship’s motions and confined spaces, I ran the team through all-new routines, ones focusing on mobility and situational awareness. We needed to be ready to deal with anything, and the uneasy limping of the ship across the choppy water was the perfect playground.

The crew was mostly amused by our training sessions, although we were sure to hold most of them in our cabin so we wouldn’t be in the way. But in the late evening and early morning hours, I had my party running relays and makeshift obstacle courses while the crew watched. Some of them cast bets of who would win, or who would fail.

Ulene joined in watching, but with a more critical eye. More than once, I caught her looking from me to Zuri, her lips pursed as if about to say something.

She never did.

We went to bed exhausted the last two nights of our trek, which felt right. I knew we needed to make every moment of potential training count. Still, I missed the earlier moments of casual, romantic camaraderie we’d found earlier in the trip.

Blessedly, we sighted our destination on the third day after the fight, signaling an end to oceanic voyages and sea monsters.

Nym’s Findings

Wand of the Oceans (Lesser): This epic-tier magical item comes with three enchantments. These benefits become available after an owner has held the wand for [1] hour. They are as follows:

Waterbreathing/Airbreathing: The owner may breathe in either an aquatic or air-based environment without harm. This benefit applies so long as the wand is in the possession of the attuned person - meaning it need not be held.

Water Movement: The wielder may move underwater freely, at full speed and with [high] levels of speed and maneuverability. This benefit applies so long as the wand is in the possession of the attuned person.

Aquatic Enhancement: All [water-based] spells are cast [2] levels higher and cost [2] fewer mana (down to a minimum of 1). The wielder may change their spells elemental types to water on the fly, for free. For example: Nym may now change Scouring Blast to Sand Blast, altering the heat/fire component to water. If she does, the spell will cost [3] mana instead of [5]. As the spell has no level-dependent aspects, it would not otherwise be enhanced.

***

Watery Death

Cost: 16 Mana

Range: Medium

Duration: 40 Seconds

Area of Effect: 1 target; magic resistance applies

Damage: 1 point of [Endurance] damage every [3] seconds.

Details/Effect: This spell creates a ball of water on a target’s head. This is normal water, although the volume is always beyond what the creature could drink or naturally consume - meaning it outscales stomach volume. While the ball is in place, the target’s vision and hearing are [obscured] they are [muted]. Every [3] seconds, they suffer [1] point of [Endurance] damage. If their [Endurance] reaches [1] they become unconscious. If it reaches [0], they die. Various circumstances, such as vigorous activity, may cause the damage to repeat faster as the target runs out of oxygen.

Healed by Water

Cost: 20 Mana

Range: Touch

Duration: 16 Seconds

Area of Effect: 1 touched target

Details/Effect: The target of this spell must be at least [60%] immersed in water. They gain [Regeneration: 1] - allowing them to regenerate limbs and restore lost hit points at a rate of 1 per 4 seconds. Note: It may take multiple castings to regenerate limbs.

***

Alter Liquid

Cost: 5 Mana

Range: Close

Duration: Permanent

Volume Affected: Up to 1 gallon of liquid per 2 of the caster’s levels.

Details/Effect: The caster transforms one type of liquid to another, up to the maximum volume. Note: The caster must have tasted the target liquid before to create it with this spell. This ability will not work on magical liquids that cost more than [4] mana to create.

Speak to Aquatic Life

Cost: 3 Mana

Range: Touch

Duration: 1 hour.

Details/Effect: The touched target may speak with aquatic life.