“No chest, no jewels, no equipment. Hell, not even any gold. That is bullshit, that is.” RedReaver slouched on the ground, eating and nursing his wounds together with Ashira. “This was a hard fight. I’d even say we’re lucky to all survive. Without my extra damage resistance, I’d be a goner for sure. And what do we have to show for it? Nothing!”

  “At least let the man finish his search before you start complaining,” argues Margos, indicating Nathan who was walking around the room looking for hidden treasure. “Anything?”

  Nathan had picked up the chem-light and was using it to light up the cracks and small tunnels, looking for something of value. Or for returning hatchlings. He’d found neither. “Nothing so far.”

  “Is anyone a bit disturbed that we’ve practically just slaughtered a bunch of kids,” asked Ashira.

  RedReaver laughed. “Monster kids. Not sure those count. Besides, they were the ones who attacked us.”

  “Well, technically we invaded their lair and attacked their mother, who they only tried to protect,” countered Margos. “I don’t think we can argue in good faith that they were the aggressors. So, to answer your question, Ash, yes, I did find it quite… distasteful. It makes the victory feel hollow. Like we were in the wrong. And maybe we were?”

  Nathan sighed. “We accepted a mission and completed it. What is done is done. Any regrets at this point are counterproductive. If anything, we have learned that some missions -or quests I suppose- might push the limits of what we are comfortable doing. You should all keep this in mind when selecting quests going forward. Are you happy performing digital genocide on sapient creatures? Or sapient creatures? Perhaps neither? No? Then avoid those quests.”

  “You don’t have a problem with this at all, do you?” asked Ashira.

  “It’s not like I enjoy it, but from time to time one has to do uncomfortable -perhaps even immoral- things for the greater good. It is not for everyone, true, but my eyes are wide open, and my conscience is clear. Besides, it is not like it is uncommon. There are a lot of games where you get similar quests. You’ve played a lot of them and done worse, I’m sure.”

  Ashira didn’t answer right away but took a couple of seconds to think about what Nathan said. “That’s true, I suppose. But this game makes everything seem so real. It’s harder to hide behind the excuse that it’s just a game when you’re not just pressing buttons. For me at least.”

  “Yeah, I agree,” said RedReaver. Sure, I’ve played the bad guy in lot of games and done horrible things in theory, but there’s a reason I normally go for the Paladin class. When it comes down to it, I prefer to do good.”

  “Is that why you’ve went for such a nice and gentle sounding name,” smirked Margos.

  “Yeah, maybe that was a mistake. I’ve used this handle for ages, but it doesn’t mean much when all you do is read it from a chat log. Now, with NPCs and players speaking it, it sounds a bit ridiculous and childish. I guess I didn’t think it through. Perhaps I can change it?”

  “If that is what you want, I’m sure you can,” said Margos.

  While speaking, Nathan had finished checking the whole room. “Sorry guys, looks like there’s no hidden treasure here. I’ve looked everywhere.”

  “That’s not actually true,” said Margos. “There’s one spot you haven’t checked.”

  “Oh? Where?”

  Margos nodded towards the mother.

  Nathan flinched. “You think there’s treasure inside the mother? That’s a bit grotesque… even for me, but feel free to have a look.”

  “No, not inside, but perhaps under?” grinned Margos. “What better place to hide any valuables?”

  Nathan scratched his ear. “You do have a point and it costs us nothing to check, but I’m pretty sure I can’t move the creature alone. Are you all up for it?”

  They all staggered to their feet and moved over to the remains of the boss. The body was doughy when they pushed, but after a while they managed to find a way to shift it just enough so that they could see beneath.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” exclaimed RedReaver looking at the simple chest standing where the boss had been. “What are the odds of you actually being right?”

  “Remember this is me you’re speaking of. I think you’ll find I’m right most of the time, even when I do random guesses,” laughed Margos.

  “Are there any traps?” asked Ashira.

  Nathan crouched and gave it a closer look. “Doesn’t look like it. And there’s no lock.” He gently reached out and flipped the lid open.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  There weren’t a lot inside the chest, but at least there were something. A coin pouch, a small, decorated silver mirror, and a wicked looking dagger. Nathan handed the pouch and the mirror to Ashira for safekeeping before he picked up the dagger. The sheet was black, and it had darkened leather on the handle. The pummel also looked to be a darker tone than normal metal. He unsheathed it. The blade had a slight curve backwards and looked extremely sharp on either side. The steel was different shades of black and grey, but it was hard to tell the details even when holding a torch close to it.

  He took a closer look.

  [Dagger of the deep]

  Rare dagger - Melee

  1d4 + 2 piercing dmg

  100/100 durability

  Forged in a molten furnace deep underground, this dagger has taken on an unnatural complexion and reflects very little light. It is said that daggers such as this are sharp enough to cut through stone. It sure looks like it could.

  “A +2 dagger. Nice! Wonder how much something like this is worth?”

  “Probably more than everything else we have put together, and then some,” guessed Margos. “How do we split something like that?”

  “We can either roll dice, or we can bid for it using the rest of the loot. That will give everyone an even chance to get anything we find, while also providing a healthy discount since your cut will be the max bid. Or if just one person wants it, we can just let them have it. I suggest we discuss this further back in the village.”

  The others agreed, and Nathan handed the dagger to Ashira.

  “I’ve always thought it was weird how monsters and NPCs wouldn’t use the items they have laying around, even though they would be much better than what they use themselves,” she said as she accepted the dagger.

  “Could be that they consider it holy or something like that,” theorized Nathan, “but it’s not always the case. This mace, for example, I had to pry from the dead hands of the main goblin. Earn it the hard way.”

  “I’m not sure if a dagger would have made much of a difference in this particular fight – especially not in the hands of the mother, but let’s just consider us lucky even so,” RedReaver added. “Double so, as we almost didn’t find the loot at all if it hadn’t been for Margos here. So, what now? Back to the village?”

  “Back? Why would we go back?” asked Margos. “We’re not done yet.”

  “No? I could swear I saw a quest update as we killed the mother. Hang on.”

  They all pulled up the quest.

  Clear the mine

  Headman Bruce deNile of The Last Valley village has requested that you help clear the local mine of any creatures that might hamper future mining endeavors.

  Mine explored: 0/1

  Mine cleared: 1/1

  Reward: XP, 1 gold, reputation with the Last Valley village

  “Right, so we’ve cleared the mine, but we haven’t explored it. What does that mean?”

  Nathan was the one who stated the obvious. “There’s one more floor. Seems like we have to see it all.”

  “Ah, well, should be quick. Since we cleared it there shouldn’t be too much to worry about.”

  “Except traps.”

  “Right. Traps. Fuck.”

  Deciding to heal on the road so to speak, they walked back to the elevator and went down to the last level. For this one there was no light at all, so they used both torches and chem-lights they’d already cracked to light the way. While they’d moved quickly through the known areas above, here they reverted to moving slow and quiet.

  Nathan took point, as traps were the main worry. A worry that was quickly justified as they found several as they moved. Some obvious, some less so. Between Ashira and himself, they were able to disarm those they found, but Ashira slipped up on one and was hit by a sharp stake as she accidentally activated it. She’d healed some from the fight, so she survived, but it was a close call.

  Nathan also activated a trap; one they hadn’t seen at all.

  They were walking as normal when they suddenly heard a loud noise from above. While the others stopped and looked up, Nathan didn’t hesitate but threw himself to the side based on a feeling or instinct. That was just enough to avoid the brunt of the avalanche of rocks that were released from a false ceiling above. He still got tagged by some of the rocks, but not enough to do serious damage. It caught his cloak, though, so he needed help from the others to free it from the rocks before he could move further away. They decided on a short break after that to nurse their health.

  When they continued, they were extra careful, and managed to get to the end of the tunnel without any further incidents. They expected to find a dead end, but surprisingly they found no such thing. As on the floor above, at the end of the ‘official’ mine there was a smaller path forward that looked to have been dug by hand. The difference between this path and the one above was that it looked larger, and it looked to have been dug inwards instead of outwards. Oh, and there were a lot of lizard bodies surrounding the entrance. Like, a lot.

  “So, this is weird,” said Margos.

  “Seems like we might have a Balrog situation after all,” observed RedReaver.

  Nathan moved closer and investigated the deceased a bit more thoroughly. “Have a look at this one.” One of the bodies stood out.

  The others gathered around to see what he found. “That is a very large kobold,” Ashira pointed out.

  While hard to say exactly, the dead lizard looked to be at least two meters tall, and the simple leather clothing and the multiple small wounds didn’t do anything to hide its impressive physique. Its scales were a mix of brown and a couple of different shades of green, and it had a wider snout than the kobolds.

  Lying beside the creature was a two-handed sword and looking at the wounds of the other bodies in the area, the smaller lizards looked to have been fighting the big one. They’d won, supposedly, but it had been a pyric victory at best.

  “Hey, the quest just updated,” noted RedReaver.

  Nathan checked his notifications.

  [Quest] [Clear the mine] has been updated, Mine explored: 1/1

  [Quest] [Clear the mine] has been updated, Mine secured: 0/1