Chapter 24 - Games of Skill

“Bella, have you seen my tablet?” After a few days of skirmishes everyone was taking a day off, and I was planning on doing some analysis. I was sure I’d left my tablet on my desk, in my office, but when I came in I couldn’t find it.

The banshee looked up from the screen mounted on her desk, which was again displaying multiple dungeon runs, and finally acknowledged my presence. “Oh right… Kass took it. She said, and I quote, ‘I know you’re planning to work on a day off, and I won’t allow it. If you want your precious notes back, report to the games room immediately. Muhahahahaha’ end quote.”

I eyed the banshee, who had already looked back at her runs. “She didn’t actually laugh like that…”

“She did,” Bella replied, without looking up from the screen. “She does it occasionally when she’s planning something.”

“Wonderful,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Where do I find this game room exactly?”

“Take the main residential hallway until you pass all the lounges, then turn right into the connector. It’s hard to miss.”

“Right, well, have a good time with your streams” I said awkwardly. Bella just waved good-bye as George and I left.

Since it was mid-morning, most of the halls were fairly deserted. There were a fair amount of people in the cafeteria, and the lounges were almost all booked up, but not that many people in the halls. When I arrived at the connector Bella mentioned, I followed it a short distance to two sets of opposing wooden doors. One had a plaque that read ‘Library’ next to it, and the other ‘Game Room’. I hadn’t been aware of the library before, and I made a note to check it out once I’d retrieved my tablet.

I pushed open the heavy doors into a giant, well appointed room. There were dozens of small tables, with people sitting around playing cards or dice games, dart boards, and at the far end of the room a couple massive tables. I could see Kass at the closest one, along with Bea, Chelsea, and Calliope. At the other end of the table, reading through a tablet, was Luther.

“Kass… I hear you ‘borrowed’ my tablet,” I said, as I approached the table. I nodded to the other girls, who were all glancing at smaller tablets, and nibbling at a platter of snacks on the table.

“And you won’t get it back until we’re done here! Sit, time for a round of dungeon delve!” It felt like she nearly dislocated my arm in order to pull me into a comfy chair next to her. “I even brought a mass of blankets for George to relax in.” She continued, gesturing to a loose pile of fabric under the table. My spider immediately went to investigate, shoving blankets around, restructuring the entire mess until he made a rough nest shape, before settling down.

I was going to ask exactly what Dungeon Delve was, until I saw the tablet in front of me, and a more pressing question came to mind. “Why does this say ‘Talia, Weaver of Tangled Webs’?” I asked, turning the tablet so everyone could see.

“That’s your character stats. We just got them, along with your official figure.” Chelsea explained excitedly. Her face fell slightly when she saw my confusion. “You do know what Dungeon Delve is, right?”

“Vaguely,” I replied. “But I’ve never seen it, or played a round.”

“In that case, allow me to explain!” Luther announced from the other side of the table. I jumped, because I’d almost forgotten he was there. “Dungeon Delve is a mix of strategy and adventure, which allows the players to challenge a dungeon designed by the master, that’s me, using either official characters or generated ones.” He stood up and gestured to the shelving behind him, which was completely full of dozens of figures, tokens and boards. “The game is endorsed by both dungeons, and adventurers, so you can get sets that contain entire adventuring teams, or dungeon layouts with tokens for the staff, and figures for bosses.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He took a pair of figures, which bore more than a superficial resemblance to me and George, onto something resembling a chess board. “The point is simple, to get from there.” He set out a set of seven additional boards of different colors across the table. “To here.” He said, pointing at the final tile. “Assuming you can deal with the various defenders and traps along the way.”

I stared at Luther, wide-eyed for a minute, before holding up the tablet again. “Are you saying this is ‘Official’? Why do I have adventurer stats?”

“All bosses come with adventurer stats,” Bea explained, while nibbling on a piece of melon. “Some adventurers even have boss stats, although not all of them. There are rules in place so you can pretty much make an adventurer of any race and class.”

I stared at the board, then at the tablet in my hand, not quite believing. I’d heard of Dungeon Delve, I just hadn’t expected it to be so… in depth. When I’d seen it previously, it was usually a couple of people in the corner of a pub, playing with wooden tokens on a board. Nothing like the ornate set in front of me.

“Luther is an addict,” Kass said with a giggle. “He owns all the professional, and advanced sets. He keeps them here, because there isn’t enough storage space in his room, but he’s more than willing to let people use them, if they’re careful.”

“He plays fair, but we’ve never been able to completely conquer a professional level dungeon, until today!” Calliope declared, as she popped a siren and a crab figure on the board next to mine. Bea gathered up the remaining pieces and spread them out on the edge of the board, like a little adventuring party at the start of a dungeon. “Since he has all the sets he mixes up the floors from several different dungeons, in order to make a new experience every time.”

“I know I technically got you here by blackmailing you,” Kass said with a smile, as she passed me the snack tray, “but I wasn’t going to let you be the only one working on this rest day. Just try to enjoy yourself.” I nibbled on a cracker while she leaned over and tapped a control on the tablet I was holding, “All the basic rules are included on every player’s information tablet. If you have any questions, just ask. It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of things.”

I nodded blankly, as I tried to take in all the information that had just been thrown at me.

Luther lifted one of his hands, and a dozen figures lifted from the shelf and settled on the first board, a mix of what looked like skeletons and dog headed statues. “Let's start with something simple, shall we? The opening floor of ‘The Tombs of the Last Dynasty’” I could hear the amusement in his voice, even if I couldn't see it with his porcelain comedy mask. The other girls all groaned at his choice. “Let us begin.”

What followed was five hours of surprisingly simple rules, devious traps, tough enemies, and complex bosses. And at the end of it all…

“Awww… we were so close,” Chelsea whined, as she pulled the blanket off her lap and draped it over her head. “How were we supposed to know the ‘Twin Queens’ had an enrage mechanic.”

“We should have known,” Calliope replied, “It seems like most tag team bosses have one, it would make sense that the dungeon masters would too.”

Kass just smiled at the discourse between the two girls, before turning in my direction. “So, what did you think?” she asked.

“I need more information on our opponents,” I replied, eyes glued to the final board.

“That’s not exactly the answer I was expecting to hear.”

I shook my head, then locked eyes with Kass. “I’m sorry. It was an absolutely amazing experience, I can’t believe I’ve never tried this before,” I said with a smile. “But it also highlighted how little I know about our opponents. I really should get some basic information about their staff, and layouts, so I can make some basic plans for each of them.”

Kass sighed, “Fine, I’ll even help you, but not until tomorrow. Delve days end with dinner, and relaxing in a lounge. No exceptions!”

I glanced at the other girls, who were nodding at me, then cracked a smile. “Ok, fine, that’s fair.”

As George roused himself at the mention of dinner I stood up and pushed in my chair. I thought my brain would be stuck on getting information about our opponents, but surprisingly it was more obsessed with Dungeon Delves, and wondering when I could play again.