Dungeons and Dalliances Ch. 130-139

Natalie expected a storm of outrage from Sofia, but instead, the white-haired girl stared at Natalie, her face going a deeper and deeper shade of red. That, of course, made Natalie herself blush—especially with the collar around her neck, and Natalie holding the leash. She coughed and stepped back, then added, "Please."

"Fine," Sofia said, finally tearing her eyes away. "But only if the evolution makes it worth it. A minor prowess and tenacity boost is not enough for this ... this ridiculousness."

"If it's anything like my wand, it'll be amazing," Liz said. "So I don't think that'll be a problem."

"Hmph," Sofia said.

Sofia's brow furrowed as she focused on figuring out how to 'declare' an owner. Slowly, words engraved themselves onto the silver plate on the front of the collar. When the writing finished, the group stared at the result.

"What?" Sofia demanded, fidgeting with the strap of leather, trying to look down at it. "What does it say?"

"Natalie's Pet," Jordan said.

"It is named [Pet Collar]," Liz said faintly.

Sofia had no response to that, and had also apparently run out of glares, because after a long pause, she simply turned back to the loot chest.

Natalie still held the leash as Sofia closed the chest lid, then opened it a second time, seeking their second piece of loot. She clipped the long strip of leather to her belt, freeing her hands.

Her pet.

She liked the sound of that.

4.31 - Prismatic Stalker Rewards II

The next item confirmed some suspicions of Natalie and her team. The dungeon would be providing gear that worked with [Stylish].

Jordan was more than happy to try it on, since the top provided a prowess boost, and it had been a while since she'd gotten a piece of gear. She slipped off her current upper piece of gear, then her sports bra, and finally donned the item.

It wasn't the most revealing top Natalie had ever seen, but it was far from modest—especially by the standards of armor. Two pieces of thin black cloth criss-crossed across her chest, not even fully covering her breasts—though, like Ana's robes, technically preserved her modesty. Jordan finished situating the garment, then turned around, letting Natalie—and the team—admire it.

"Doesn't really fit the rest of the ensemble," Jordan said amusedly, looking down at herself, "but I think I'm fine with that. Though, I'll miss my bra." She frowned down at herself, then cupped her breasts. "Makes fighting trickier. The things I do to be [Stylish]."

The piece of armor was, at least, much better than her previous. Not only was it a level two uncommon, thus providing natural stats, it also benefited from Stylish]—something that would shortly become even more important, since it was Natalie's next upgrade goal.

So, now they had two party members dressed in revealing attire. Ana's dress still beat Jordan by the sheer amount of skin being showed off, though that might not last for long, assuming the dungeon kept dropping inappropriate articles of clothing. Sofia and Liz seemed to be the holdouts, and Sofia more than Liz. Whether they would accept dressing scantily was something Natalie would find out in the future—probably when the appropriate items presented themselves.

Probably, they'd have alternate gear to put back on when they returned to the surface. Even Natalie would find it a bit awkward if they wore outfits like these around campus and town. Though, Ana clearly didn't care; she had worn her revealing dress to the dungeon entrance without a worry in the world.

Natalie admired that level of confidence—or maybe cluelessness? Either way, whether a pointed statement or her willingness to flaunt her body being just part of who she was, Ana truly didn't seem to care what people thought—to an impressive degree. Only practicality mattered. Or was Natalie reading Ana at a surface level only?

A few more items came out of the boss chest, the usual assortment of dungeon loot. Jordan's top was the only revealing piece of equipment. Natalie received a new pair of boots that were strong for a tank, though just a common. Liz got a new ring.

Having emptied the chest, they were ready to leave. Natalie was surprised to see that Ana had wandered away before finishing. She was looking into one of the mirrors, head tilted as she peered inside.

"Looking for more?" Natalie asked.

She glanced Natalie's way, then gestured for her to come look. Natalie did.

"Do you see that?" Ana asked. "That other mirror. It's not reflecting like it should."

It took a few seconds for Natalie to understand. She blinked in surprise. Ana was right—the image inside the other mirror, when reflected through this one, seemed to be distorted. Twisted in a way hard to describe. It was also shining faintly. Had it been doing that before? Someone would've noticed, right?

Ana approached the offending mirror. Natalie followed. The rest of the team, intrigued, also did so.

On their way over, something odd happened.

Only a few feet away from the suspicious mirror, Ana tripped. Natalie caught a flash of stone embed itself back into the floor—it had raised in an instant and snagged Ana's foot, silently and swiftly. Ana wasn't clumsy; she was a delver as much as any of them, and didn't trip on flat ground.

The dungeon had summoned it. And not even as a reasonable trap; there'd been no indicators. It was pure chance, and proximity to Ana, that Natalie had even noticed.

Ana stumbled, trying to catch herself, but failed. Natalie tried to grab her, but also failed; it was just too unexpected of an event.

Ana fell face-first into the mirror, unable to arrest her momentum.

Except, she fell into the mirror. Literally. The dark-haired mage sank straight into glass, then disappeared as she passed through. Her form vanished entirely, the mirror rippling briefly before settling.

A portal?

It had happened too fast for anyone besides Natalie to react—and even then, Natalie hadn't been able to do anything. The team froze. A half-second of shocked silence descended.

Natalie did something she recognized as reckless, but her feet carried her forward regardless. She rushed in after Ana. It wasn't what an experienced delver ought to do. At a minimum, she should have talked with her team—decided whether following in after Ana, through a potential trap, was smart.

At the same time, there was no way Natalie wouldn't try to help, dangerous or not.

There was some logic supporting her, at least. It might be a trap, but it had been one offered in a completely unfair manner—the dungeon had deliberately and silently tripped Ana, with no indicators. The dungeon wasn't typically that unfair. So, it couldn't be a lethal trap. Not that Natalie necessarily organized those thoughts before rushing in after Ana. She reacted more by emotion than logic. She'd always been reckless.

She hit the mirror, then, as Ana had, sank through the glass. The world went black, and then she was falling, air whistling across her as she plummeted.

She blacked out.

Consciousness returned in an instant, though she awoke groggily, confused, slumped on a tile floor. It took a second to take stock of herself mentally. Her body felt strange, her skin cold and bare. With some effort, she cracked her eyes open and pushed herself into a kneeling position. She'd been falling. Had she landed hard? Nothing hurt; she just felt groggy.

The sight that met her was ... confusing.

At first, she thought she was looking into a mirror. After the room before, and the dungeon level in general, another mirror would hardly be surprising. But the Natalie that looked back at her, also groggily waking from her tumble through the mirror-portal, hadn't raised to sit in the same position as her.

Natalie looked down at herself.

She saw Ana's cleavage, exposed by her flimsy mage's robes. She looked at her hands. Thin, delicate fingers, missing the callouses that came with constant heavy weapon training. With a sinking feeling—and the disorientation starting to make sense—she felt her face, then ran a hand through her hair. It was longer than it should be. She brought it forward to look at it. Silky black locks. Ana's hair.

Ana's body.

"This is unexpected," Natalie's clone said, voice flat but curious—familiar, but in a way hard to describe. Natalie understood a second later. Ana's voice. Or, her voice, filtered through Natalie's own mouth.

"It seems," Ana-Natalie said, "that we'll be borrowing each other's bodies for this challenge."

4.32 - Swapped I

"What the hell?" Natalie said, the shock piercing through her grogginess. She stumbled to her feet, the motion feeling extremely odd. Not just because of her limbs, which were shorter than they should be, but all of it. Her breasts, which were smaller—though not by much—her hair, her general build, and most importantly, that she no longer had a cock.

She'd already gone through the experience of gaining it, so she wasn't quite as baffled by losing it, but the heavy weight of it sitting between her legs had definitely become familiar. So, no longer having the weapon squished into her panties was, again, odd. Disorienting.

Then, at seeing Ana—in Natalie's own body—staring down at her own crotch, frowning, Natalie realized the opposite was true.

Ana had a dick.

"This is strange," the mage commented idly. She adjusted her pants, then winced as never-before-felt sensations fired through her. "Oh. And it's getting hard. I didn't mean to do that."

What the hell was Natalie supposed to say to that?

"What the hell. Oh gods, what's happening?"

The only reasonable response at a time like this.

Ana cleared her throat, seeming uncomfortable at whatever was going on between her legs. Even through Natalie's thick adventuring leather armor pants, she could see the bulge appearing. Her cock wasn't easy to hide—not even when soft, to be honest. Eight inches wasn't on the small end, and she was pretty thick, too.

And it was Ana's now.

And Ana's body was hers.

A headache appeared. She looked away from Ana, who was squirming in place, having to deal with new sensations firing through her. It was too much for Natalie's brain to handle. As much because Ana had a cock, as that Ana had her cock. She placed a hand on her forehead and tried to steady her spinning thoughts.

"I guess I'll just ignore it? Hm. It's rather difficult."

"You knew?" Natalie asked.

"Knew?"

"That I had one." That was another reason behind Natalie's discomposure. She'd thought Ana had been clueless about the addition between her legs. Instead, it seemed Liz had been the only one in the party not to figure it out.

"I suspected," Ana said. "Especially recently. I've caught you adjusting yourself once or twice." She frowned down at her crotch. "And I understand why you would need to. How big is this thing?" She tried to pull open her waistband to take a peek, but with her belt and gear on, she couldn't quite manage.

Of course, at Ana trying to catch a glimpse of her own cock, Natalie protested. "H-Hey. Don't do that. That's mine."

Ana paused. "Right." She stopped trying to peek in, though she did awkwardly try to adjust her erection for a second or third time. "I apologize. I'm not sure how to handle this."

That made two of them.

"Okay," Natalie said, trying to take control of the situation. "Okay. So. We're in each other's bodies."

Ana gave her an odd look. As if Natalie's discomposure was unwarranted. Of course Ana could take it mostly in stride. The never-ruffled, nearly expressionless practical woman. Natalie, herself, could not. Ana had Natalie's dick between her legs. And not in the good way.

"Yes," Ana said. "I assume we've entered a challenge room. I consider that fortuitous, considering the strength of Elizabeth's wand. Perhaps we'll get something of equal worth."

The implications of that sunk in. A challenge room. Like what had happened with Liz.

So that meant—?

They would need to—do something?

While in each other's bodies?

Another wave of disorientation washed through Natalie. She wasn't against it, but the unexpectedness of this development—of wearing another person's body—was too much to handle. She swallowed.

"Nobody else followed us in?" Natalie asked faintly, forcing herself to focus on what was immediately relevant. The dungeoneering aspect of this misadventure. She looked up at the ceiling—since it had felt like they'd fallen in. But there was only smooth ceiling, no apparent hole.

"Perhaps they did, and the dungeon paired them up separately. Or perhaps they didn't." Ana shrugged. "It's irrelevant. We need to worry about ourselves." She tilted her head. "But that means you followed me in? It didn't force you?"

"Well. Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because you might've fallen into a trap. I wasn't going to let you handle it alone."

"That's impractical. And reckless."

Natalie grunted. "I know. Just happened." Natalie had recognized the stupidity of rushing into a potential trap even as she was doing it. "Would do it again, though."

"Hm." Ana studied her, and Natalie couldn't make out what the expression meant. It was even more difficult than usual, thanks to the fact it was Natalie's face. She'd only half learned to read Ana's subdued expressions, much less filtered through someone else's face. Her own face. "Anyway," Ana said. "We should figure out where we are."

Natalie shook off the last of her disorientation—or what she could of it—and moved to practical matters. Body-swap or not, they had fallen into a dungeon trap, or some kind of challenge room, and they needed to figure out what it was, and how to escape.

"And this is yours," Ana added.

Natalie looked over; Ana was struggling to drag along her warhammer. Natalie stepped forward and grabbed it. She hefted it up and rested it on her shoulder.

"We kept our skills and stats, then," Natalie said.

"Just our bodies are changed," Ana agreed. "That's probably a bigger deal for you. Casting doesn't require much coordination, but your new limbs might affect you. My crystal ball, please?"

Natalie handed it to her.

"Can you fight?" Ana asked. "How is it?"

"It's getting better," Natalie said. Initially, her new limbs had felt exceedingly odd. She was adjusting fast. The dungeon's work, smoothing things over.

Giving her hammer a test swing, she checked her footwork and coordination. After appraising her new body for a moment, she said, "Yeah. I can fight. Feels weird, but not enough to mess me up."

"Good. Though," Ana said, "there might not be much fighting to do."

If it was anything like Liz's challenge room, they'd be getting tired and sweaty, but not from combat. Natalie might normally be excited for that, but this situation was—well, a bit much. Especially with Ana, who she knew the least well out of everyone in her party.

At least this might fix that. A great opportunity for getting to know each other. Bonding. If in a more intimate way than usual.

Oh, gods.

Finally, Natalie looked around at the room they were trapped in. It was time to determine what, exactly, the challenge was.

4.33 - Swapped II

The room she and Ana had fallen into matched the theme of the rest of the dungeon. Polished tiles for the floor, glass sculptures scattered around the edges, and a generally clean, elegant construction. Notably, there were no mirrors. Though the glass and tile were reflective enough they could serve as a makeshift one.

Peering into the crystalline bust of some chiseled man, Natalie inspected her new face, tracing her fingers across the contours of her nose, jawline, and lips. Ana's body. She'd really traded with her. No matter how hard she tried, that wasn't something she could simply move on about. She'd been through several weird situations in the dungeon by now, but this one took the cake.

To her side, Ana was inspecting her face, too. Though the dark-haired mage was stoic and able to take things in stride to a degree Natalie nearly didn't understand, she was at least curious. So, not wholly unaffected. Just not affected like she should be.

"Only one exit," Natalie said, tearing her eyes away from the reflection. "Suppose we should get going. See what's in store."

Ana nodded. "We don't have a healer. Nor Jordan to check for traps. So be careful."

"I know." Natalie wasn't happy about that. She'd grown to take Liz for granted—both her heals and the impressive strength boost. Jordan, too. At the same time, Natalie had trained to spot traps herself, as did any delver, for situations like this. Being split up wasn't the most common event, but hardly something that never happened.

And that was assuming this challenge included traps and combat. Liz's challenge hadn't, though generalizing from a single event might not be smart.

Lugging along her hammer—which felt much larger than usual, since Ana's body was noticeably shorter than her own—Natalie headed for the only door. She scanned for traps, but found nothing. She glanced at Ana, who had her crystal orb drawn and at the ready. Seeing her own face and red hair looking back made Natalie pause, then shake her head. She turned forward and opened the door.

It led into a hallway. At the end, another door stood: this one with pink trim. Natalie repressed a groan. The color pink couldn't herald anything good—not considering Natalie's class.

There was also a plaque of silver metal on the wall to the side of the door. Natalie couldn't make out the writing on it, not from this distance. There was a bin made out of white marble to its left. Lastly, on the door's right, a steel ladder led upward to a trap door on the ceiling. She eyed it warily. An exit?

Making sure to scan again for traps or threats, Natalie and Ana approached. Arriving, she peeked into the marble bin. It was empty, and large enough to fit both of them easily if they climbed inside. Natalie doubted it was some random piece of decoration, so she read the silver plaque, next. Ana stepped closer to also take a look.

It read:

'Armor, clothing, and consumables not permitted past this point. Place into the container. Items will be returned after exiting the challenge.'

"At least it's not being cryptic," Natalie said dryly. Liz's challenge room had also included instructions.

"The ladder's an exit," Ana commented. "There's another plaque. Look."

Natalie did. Indeed, in a smaller silver plate to the left of the ladder, a few words were inscribed.

'Exit. Forfeit future rewards.'

Like Liz's challenge, it seemed whether she and Ana wanted to pursue the challenge was entirely their own choice. That made sense not just because of Liz's precedent, but because Ana has been practically pushed into the mirror by the dungeon. Dangerous traps were avoidable, and there wasn't any way Ana could have stopped her entry. Natalie could have, of course, by not jumping in after her, but the original logic held.

Still, how they were consistently being given a choice by the dungeon felt strange to Natalie.

Natalie looked up at the ceiling. "You know," she said. "For a dungeon that's killed millions of people, you sure care about consent."

"I would think that's your influence, not the dungeon," Ana said.

Which was a fair point. Even so, that the dungeon gave them an option to interact with these lewd challenges felt out of character. The dungeon was absolutely brutal—more than happy to kill, maim, torture, and worse. Forcing them into lewd scenarios wouldn't have been anything egregiously worse. Gross, yes, but compared to being murdered? Not exactly on a different level from what the dungeon was already known for.