This Used To Be About Dungeons полностью

“Clothing might be nice,” said Hannah. “Something that protects against the elements?”

“A dress that would stay warm in winter,” said Verity.

“A dress I would look good in,” said Mizuki, frowning a bit. “I don’t know why, but every time I put on a dress, I look like a goon.”

“Ay,” said Hannah. “And it’d take magic to make that not happen, you think?” There was something very innocent in her expression that made the insult all the more funny, and Mizuki cackled.

“I would like an animal, I think,” said Isra.

“A dungeon animal?” asked Hannah. “They’re dangerous, ay.”

“You’ve said,” replied Isra.

“Well, just so you know,” said Hannah.

“Anything from an egg is much less likely to be dangerous,” said Alfric. “And given you’re a druid, you’ll know better than we do what kinds of things might have a good disposition.”

“I’d like flight,” said Mizuki. “To fly into the sky, like a bird.” She spread her arms.

“I think I’d enjoy being a fish,” said Verity.

“Bein’ a fish?” asked Hannah. “Not just swimmin’ and breathin’ water like one?”

“I suppose either would be fine,” said Verity.

“Alfric,” said Mizuki, looking at him. “Are you thinking that’s not practical?”

“Oh,” he said. “No, it’s very practical, but I’m not dense enough to think that’s why Verity wants it. There are underwater dungeons. Every hex has a dungeon, or at least very nearly, and a great many of them are underwater, given how much area the oceans cover. But for us to tackle one of those, we’d have to all be able to breathe underwater, and honestly, underwater dungeon clearing has always sounded hellish to me.”

“People do that?” asked Verity.

“It’s my uncle’s specialty,” said Alfric. “He’s got an entad that gave him gills, and the rest of his party has similar.”

“But no sky dungeons, huh?” asked Mizuki.

“There are,” said Alfric. “But only in the sense that there are places where a dungeon entrance rests on a floating island.”

“Floating islands?” asked Isra.

“Far to the west,” said Alfric. “A long way away. I’ve also heard there are some far to the east, beyond Tarbin, but it might just be the same set once you’ve wrapped around the world. There’s some disagreement on that score, I can’t remember why. And possibly more, I suppose, if you could go north past the Barrier Storms. I always wanted to, when I was a child.”

“You didn’t always want to be in the dungeoneering business?” asked Mizuki.

“Oh, I wanted to be lots of things,” said Alfric. “But when I was old enough to read, I read stories about the people who’d died trying to explore past the Barrier Storms, and I learned that all the pirates had been captured or put down three hundred years ago, and that the whole of the planet that could be explored had been explored, and that left the dungeons as the one thing I wanted to do.”

“I wanted to be a musician,” said Verity.

“And… now you are?” asked Mizuki.

“I’ve gone back and forth on whether it’s what I want to do with my life,” said Verity. “I like being a musician, but I’m not thrilled with being a bard. In the long run, I don’t have any idea what I want to be. Perhaps just this.”

“Well,” said Hannah, “I got into bein’ a healer from a sideways angle. I had thoughts of bein’ somethin’ else, part of somethin’ more, and alienist seemed right to me until I learned more of the gods. Then there was just somethin’ about Garos that set my thoughts aflame, and if you’ve got the mindset for it, then the best thing to do, for your role in society, as it were, becomes healin’.”

“I wanted to be a mother,” said Isra.

There was silence for just a bit.

“A mother?” asked Mizuki. “Just that?”

Isra nodded. “When I was five years old, I saw a woman taking a herd of her children to drink from a well. It seemed very nice.”

“I don’t think ‘herd’ is the right word,” said Alfric.

“What is the word?” asked Isra. “There were many of them.”

“There isn’t a word, funny enough,” said Hannah. “Is there?”

They all pondered this for a bit.

“Maybe it’s the way you said ‘herd’,” said Mizuki. “Like you were talking about animals, goats or sheep.”

“Mmm,” said Isra, frowning.

“And you, Mizuki?” asked Alfric. “What did you want to be?”

“Oh, I don’t think I wanted to do or be anything,” said Mizuki. “I think I was disappointed when I found out that you needed to do something. Seemed to me like it would be better to sit around all day, play with cats, go catch frogs, swish sticks through the air, read a book, take a nap… I guess I’ve always liked cooking, but when I was ten, we found out I was a sorc, and it was pretty clear that was the job that would let me do what I wanted, so long as I helped people out with things from time to time.” She shrugged. It felt like a lame answer, after what they’d said. Or if not lame, then at least immature. She was very aware that she wasn’t a hard worker, and maybe that accounted for some of the difference.