James need not have worried about Brody.
From the looks of things he’d taken the opportunity to drop into his Commander’s Space as well. Brody looked completely zonked.
James took advantage of the situation.
“What are we going to do about him?”
“Treat him like any other defeated foe. He’ll pay his dues, but will have to pay double if we are ever to trust him. The Guild will sort him out.” Edward responded.
James turned to Ken. “You didn’t tell him?”
“Tell me what?” Edward exclaimed.
Ken shook his head.
“Brody used a teleport card on you.”
Edward frowned. “Yes I know. Took me to the tenth level of the dungeon.”
“No, I mean yes it did, but it took you to ‘his’ tenth level. Fortunately the system still counts it as completing it quest wise. But we are going to be ejected into the Queendom.”
Annoyance covered Edwards face.
“One of the dungeon rewards, Hallow Dungeon Trait, unlocked the ability to return to the Arena without starting the Dungeon. That’s our best bet. Prax can hopefully return us to Erranoc and we are golden.”
Both faces went blank for a minute as if reading system messages.
Edward was first to respond. “Yep, got it.”
Ken nodded as well.
“Great, that’s the plan. For now, I’ll guard you while you level up. That should be our priority right now. Much to discuss later including Griffon mounts.”
“You can’t drop a bombshell like that and then expect us to leave it alone!” Edward exclaimed.
Ken sat cross-legged and focused on his system prompts.
Edward sighed and did the same.
James contemplated dropping back into Commander’s Space and watching from a window, but decided it was too risky.
Instead he gave Charlie and Squire some well deserved attention.
Given his earlier command Charlie was still on edge, but unsure where the threat would come from. He’d mostly decided it was Brody, though given how pathetic Brody looked right now, understood his confusion.
There was blood and gore through his fur. Rather than deal with that James unsummoned him, then summoned him again via the card.
Non-plussed Charlie stepped back out, no signs of matted fur or debris.
He did the same for Squire except noticed something unexpected in the system log.
System Log:
Play Card – Squire (Uncommon)
Enhancement slot (1): Augment (Swift) x3
Commander Passive: All Stats +3
Effect: Squirrel Dragon summoned
Bond Passive granted to Commander James:
While Summoned – “Aura of Draconic Mischief”
+1 Might
+2 Agility
+1 Endurance
+1 Mind
+3 Perception
+1 Will
+2 Presence
Trap Sense:
He took out one of his new cards.
Card:Requirement - Griffon Bond.
Choose from one of the following actions: (Feed, Grow, Nurture, Discipline, Train). Cooldown: 6 hours.
James wondered if he could use the action on Squire.
Play Card – Bond - Griffon
Choose One
Feed (i) Grow (i) Nurture (i) Discipline (i) Train (i)
He’d taken advantage of the additional information available.
He wanted to select Grow but decided to start with Nurture. Who knew what stress the griffon had been under during the dungeon level, and subsequent events.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
He selected Nurture.
Select Target Bond:
- Griffon Egg
He selected the Griffon Egg
The card flew to James’s right arm, clearly used.
He checked his right arm which he was starting to think of as his card graveyard.
Bond - Griffon
It really wasn’t a good card name.
System Notice – Do you wish to rename the card ‘Bond - Griffon’? (Yes/No)
More functionality that he hadn’t been told about!
He selected ‘Yes’
Enter in new name:
James thought for a minute and then entered ‘Griffon Care’.
Name accepted.
The name of the card changed in his hand.
“What are you doing?” Brody said from where he lay on the ground, his eyes open.
James jumped guiltily.
Charlie growled.
“I just discovered I could rename my cards.”
“Thanks for the tip, my lord.” Brody said.
“Let’s put that aside for the moment. Look at us. I’m wearing a full set of crocodile leather. It provides me with a magical set bonus that increases my stats. Stats! You are wearing plate armour and sneakily teleported my guild mate to this dungeon… I mean we are just people from home, where no one kills each other. We know each other for God’s sake!”
Brody nodded and got to his feet then said, “Know is a bit strong, but yeah. You want to talk with our masks off, huh?”
James nodded.
“Where do you want to start?” Brody asked.
“I don’t know. Tell me about your first day here?”
“I wish we could do this in my Commander’s Space. I have a pretty cool setup there.”
“We don’t have much time, Brody. We need to know what we are going to be stepping out to, but waiting for their level up to finish.”
“Okay, okay. So it started when I drew a Commander card of myself in the store. The store vanished and I was given a choice to play or pass. Obviously I chose to play.”
James nodded.
“I then went through the tutorial quests and found myself in the middle of a fort.”
“Wait, did you get a system guide?”
“You too? Yeah, it’s name was Bob.”
“Bob!” James exclaimed. “I’m betting we had the same guide somehow. Or maybe a clone. Anyway, continue.”
“Yeah, so I appeared in the middle of an abandoned fort and Bob had already left, so I had no idea what to do. I was level two, had my starter death-marked card but that would only work once, and a dagger in my hand. Oh and my Commander’s Space.
“Look, I play Dungeons and Dragons so I wasn’t completely lost. I knew I had to fight to level up, get skills, powers, etc. I looked around for blobs to kill.
“That’s when a full-blown Knight rode into the fort and said he had a quest to find me. Talk about a cool start to an adventure!”
James could see where this was heading now and sighed.
“What?”
“I had someone similar. His name was Rock. He gave me a quest to level up fighting in the forest to level five and then follow the path to the village and Guild Hall.” James explained.
“Oh, that must have been tough. That didn’t happen for me. They told me I was special but needed training. I was taken to Queen Gweneviere Leonisis, though at that stage she was really only a Lady.
“I was given magical gear, trained from sun up to sun down for the first two days. Most of that was how to deal killing blows. It made sense when we went hunting in the nearby dungeon.”
“Oh, did the dungeon react to your presence, rising from the ground?” James asked.
Brody continued. “No, not that one, but that did happen elsewhere. This was a different, carefully curated dungeon for young knight training.. Level one was basically aggressive sheep. Level two was goblins.”
“You don’t need to go through it all.”
“Okay, well mostly I was power leveled. Yes, I dealt the final blow, but I was not really ever in danger.
“Okay, I get it. You mentioned that Gweneviere Leonisis was a Lady and became Queen. It was only seven days. How’d she manage that?”
“I don’t know.” Brody looked a little sheepish.
“You don’t know? How could you not know?”
“Hey, I was training! I was learning new magical abilities, bonding with Dandelion, and learning how to fight. In between that, I was being taught court etiquette. There just wasn’t any time!”
James took a deep breath. Making Brody feel defensive wasn’t going to help. Had he been any better? Mostly he hadn’t known what Anne had been up to, though she seemed to trust in him more.
“Calm down, calm down. Did anyone explain to you the way the worlds and the contest works? Did you get told you had to win this or they would never be freed from the resets?”
“Yes, they did.” Brody’s smile faded. Just a fraction. “Wait, what do you mean by resets?”
Rather than explain he handed over the letter from Anne.
“Oh, oh! I really screwed things up for the Queendom. I should have followed her instructions. It felt, no feels, like a game. I decided to stop following and take charge. I feel so foolish.”
Brody handed back the letter.
“Well, my gain I suppose. The thing is, we don’t know enough what the real rules are. Anne and Gweneviere Leonisis may be being fooled in turn. Sixteen combatants feels a lot like a round number. What’s the chance that the previous reset was seventeen. Really?”
“I see your point. So, now I’m your vassal, and it seems like you winning is my best chance at keeping these cool powers. What would you have of me?”
“Level up if you are eligible and haven’t. Accept that trait. My plan is to exit the dungeon, turn around, re-enter and then head to the Arena floor. Hopefully we can barter for passage back to Erranoc. At worst, we can take on your Commander’s dungeon and go to the Commander’s Hub.”
“Makes sense.”
“What can we expect when we exit? Guards? Knights?”
“The dungeon entrance has been encircled by the town of Camelot. That name is another reason I thought this a game, to be honest. There’s usually a few guards, but they are there mostly to keep boisterous youths out.” Brody’s voice had returned to one of confidence.
“Okay great. By the way, do you have a death-marked card I could have? I’m out of cannon fodder.”
“Ha, taxes already!” Brody plucked a card from his arm and handed it to James.
Card: Goblin Spear Thrower
Category: Rarity: Aspects: Slots Required: Abilities: Traits: Crafter: Size: Weight: Level Requirement: Uses Remaining: Quantity:
James checked over the additional information available.
Spear Throw - (i)
Skirmish Retreat - (i)
Cowardly Cunning - (i)
Pack Tactics - (i)
Despite the recent discussion, James decided to wait until Edward and Ken were done with the level ups before setting up his enhancements.
