Dungeons and Dalliances Ch. 150-159

This woman just always had to be perfect, didn't she? Natalie eyed her, oddly aggravated at the elegant landing. At least she hadn't seen Natalie slam nearly face-first into the ground during her exit.

"Oh," Sofia said, orienting herself. "It's you two."

Sofia's collar was still around her neck, with the leash attached to her own belt. It had broken off Natalie's when she'd jumped through the portal. Natalie had almost forgotten about that. And her heart did a little jump, seeing the accessory.

In just as smooth of a motion as her landing, Sofia sheathed her rapier, then took one step sideways and caught Liz as she crashed down from the ceiling. She set the healer on her feet, gave her a once-over, then nodded in approval before Liz even seemed to know what was going on.

Jordan came next, but Sofia didn't bother to try and catch her—their rogue landed the most smoothly out of all of them, not even seeming to try to orient herself. Like a cat, perfectly unruffled by the violent, disconcerting arrival. She was their prowess-based class, to be fair. Even more than Sofia.

Jordan brushed herself off, then glanced at Natalie and Ana.

"Nat-Nat?" she asked. "Or Ana-Nat, still?"

"It's me," Natalie said.

And thank the heavens that all of that confusing nonsense was over.

"Good to see you two made it out fine," Jordan said with a nod. She looked around the room. "Now, what's going on here?"

4.50 - Reunion II

"I don't think anything," Natalie said, looking around. "A rest stop, I guess. A safe room." There weren't any visible indicators of danger, and a single door on the wall nearest to them led out.

The rest of the team peered around to make sure of that, but they found nothing worrying.

"Okay, then," Jordan said. "A chance to reconvene. What's all that?" Jordan gestured at the items littered around the floor—Natalie had lost her grip on them as she tumbled down, and they'd been spat out alongside her. At least the bags hadn't popped open and spilled coins everywhere.

"Our loot," Natalie said. "Lost my grip."

She collected them from the ground and stored them, to be looked at later. Scooping up one of the bags and peeking inside, she breathed a sigh of relief—the stat-boosting potions hadn't broken during the tumble. That wouldn't have been exactly fair if the dungeon had thrown them into an angled stone slide through the darkness and broken their delicate belongings in the process, but nobody ever said the dungeon strove to be fair.

"We'll look through them in a second," Natalie said. "We don't even know what they are. But first, what happened with you three? Anything important we need to know?"

"Not really. We were just, you know, fighting for our lives." She snorted. "While you two were out frolicking and fornicating. And I bet you two got better loot than us, too. How is that fair?"

"Be serious," Natalie said, though her heart rate picked up at the accusation. 'Fornicating'? That had just been a guess, right? Jordan didn't actually know she and Ana had done—well, everything they had, right?

"I am serious," Jordan said. "There's not much to say. Nothing special happened, not besides the class and body swaps." She wrinkled her nose. "I will admit that I like being back, though."

Sofia grunted in agreement. She rested a hand on her rapier, finding comfort in her weapon's familiarity. She'd been the worst off from the body swaps, Natalie knew, having to take up Liz's mantle. Sofia was many things, but a competent spellcaster wasn't one. There wasn't a much bigger paradigm shift needed than going from a one-on-one physical duelist to the team's support mage.

"Speak for yourselves," Liz complained loudly. "I kinda liked being tall, for once."

"I'm not tall," Jordan corrected. "I'm just not tiny."

"And have boobs, too." Liz glared at Jordan's chest, then down at her own, and Jordan laughed, patting her on the shoulder—which only made Liz pout harder, though her lips were twitching in amusement.

Sofia spared a quirked eyebrow for the interaction, then faced Natalie. "And you?" she asked. "Is there anything we need to know about your ..." her nose wrinkled, "adventures?"

To Natalie's side, Ana twitched, as if she'd remembered something.

"Oh," Ana said. "Yes, actually. I need some of that infertility potion."

Natalie winced.

Right.

That had been the entire reason they'd fled the challenge early.

But had Ana really needed to blurt it out for everyone to hear?

Face coloring, Natalie murmured at her, "Some subtlety would be nice, you know." She dug around her pouch to pull the monster core out.

"And you're still wearing my weapon," Ana said. "I'd rather we didn't get ambushed without having it equipped."

Natalie groaned.

"You found a new weapon?" Liz asked innocently.

"Yes."

"Where is it?"

"Inside Natalie."

Everyone paused.

"It's a buttplug," Ana said calmly.

"Oh, fuck off," Natalie said. She passed over the infertility potion core—which Ana took, then drank a dose from. If there was one upside to being subjected to that challenge with Ana, it was that she had learned a lot about the girl. She could tell when she was being screwed with. Or, with more reliability than before. Ana wouldn't ever be 'easy' to read, with that stony mask of hers.

The team took Ana's two announcements—the need for the infertility potion, and the buttplug—in varying ways. Liz, with wide eyes and a flush, as if wondering whether Ana was joking. Sofia was likewise flustered, though masking it with a vague disdain directed entirely at Natalie. And finally Jordan, with that aggravating smirk she wore so often these days, as if she wasn't surprised at all.

Natalie eyed her in return, giving her a warning look that promised she would be taking out the day's frustrations on her if she kept teasing. The smirk deepened, and Jordan wiggled her eyebrows, suggesting something along the lines of, 'I can't wait for you to try'. Her best friend was really too much of a trouble-maker, recently. Shameless woman.

"A buttplug," Sofia said flatly. "You found a buttplug. And it's a weapon. That you're wearing."

"It didn't swap with our bodies," Natalie defended herself.

"At least it's hands-free," Jordan said. "That seems useful, for a casting weapon."

"That's what I said," Ana agreed, giving Jordan an approving look, as if pleased to have finally found a kindred spirit—someone who was focused on what was important.

"I'll give it back in a second," Natalie interrupted, cutting off any further discussion on the topic. "When we have some privacy. I'm pretty sure we won't be ambushed. This is a safe room."

"We think it's a safe room," Ana pointed out.

"Nat just wants an excuse to keep wearing it, I bet," Jordan said.

"I would much rather it wasn't inside me," Natalie growled at her. "It's distracting. And I've had enough of all of that from the challenge room."

"You? Have had enough?" Sofia asked, crossing her arms disdainfully. "You realize that we know you, right? A pervert like you will never 'have enough'."

Natalie couldn't help but feel like she was being teamed up on. "Anyway," she said, "if there's nothing else important, then we should talk about our loot, shouldn't we? Then get moving. It's getting late. We need to get back to campus."

Jordan gave her an amused look, making it clear she'd seen through Natalie's desperate deflection, but she ended up agreeing, anyway. "She's right. Let's get up to speed, then get going. Starting with Ana's weapon, actually. I'd love to know more."

Natalie glared at her, but it did need to be discussed. The team deserved to know every item that they earned, so it could be doled out appropriately. Not that she thought Liz would be contesting Ana for ownership of the buttplug—even if she didn't already have her wand.

So, it was time to have the item talk. And beyond just what they'd already found, there was the ink vial, the necklace, and the arrow. The last one especially concerned her. It had come from completing all three tiers of their last challenge—probably the most intense encounter Natalie had faced. So just what would it do?

4.51 - Three Rewards

Before they got to the new items, Natalie had to catch the team up on what she and Ana had earned in the previous rooms: the stat-boosting potions, the cleaning liquid, and, of course, Ana's buttplug. The latter Natalie outlined herself, rather than showing the item off for them to inspect—for obvious reasons.

The team was happy to have gotten an infinite supply of magical cleaning liquid. Any delver would be. Fighting monsters was gory business, and a material that instantly freshened them up was much appreciated. And it would be convenient to have for day-to-day life, too. Especially for Natalie.

Since the vials were self-replenishing, everyone got one, which they would ration out as needed. There was a single downside to the potion, though—it left behind residue. Using the cleansing liquid left them looking like they'd deliberately oiled themselves up. A glossy sheen on their skin. It stuck around for a decent amount of time, too. Nearly a half-hour before it faded naturally—though it could be wiped off, if with some difficulty.

Seeing her teammates oil themselves up, even mostly clothed and in a non-sexual way, was an unexpectedly erotic sight, to Natalie's dismay. She doubted that was a coincidence. The dungeon obviously liked screwing with her.

Finally, there were the stat-boosting potions. The team was getting used to finding unbelievably good items, but that didn't mean they could shrug their shoulders and be unsurprised by them. Permanent stat boosts were incredible, no matter how small. Even more than that, there was the implication they might get stronger ones. In lower levels of the dungeon, that 'minor' boost might become a 'greater' one. It was a form of passive stat scaling that most delvers simply didn't have access to. All else equal, that meant they would outpace their classmates. How long before they were the strongest in their year, if their fortunes kept like this?

The mentions of deities awakening from their slumber was, of course, troubling, but for all they knew, it was the dungeon messing with them—no proof had ever been provided. Natalie was starting to doubt that, though. She really ought to look more into those implications. But where to even start? And her schedule was packed enough as it stood. Maybe leaving it to Ana was best: she was clearly far more educated on the topic. She'd been the one to describe the Reverie to them in the first place. She would be much more effective at digging up information on the topic than Natalie.

Sofia, Jordan, and Liz also displayed their earnings. They'd been through their own ringer, though of a completely different type than her and Ana's. They'd found several pieces of pretty decent gear during their adventure. Nothing as broken as the lewd equipment that Natalie's class influenced to drop, but still an impressive haul.

Finally, they got to what everyone was most interested in: the final rewards from her and Ana's misadventures. Even Sofia, despite all her disdain for Natalie's class, couldn't hide her interest. She'd always been the most invested in loot, the first to scurry over to a treasure chest, and that intrigue extended to the lewd equipment too. Even if she found it—or pretended to find it—offputting.

Natalie pulled out the first of the three items, and the team all peered at it, eager to read the description.

***

Vial of Lesser Carnal Ink

Description

An ornate glass container filled with dark violet ink. Can be used to refresh and modify existing carnal markings.

***

"Wait," Natalie said. "Carnal markings. Like—?"

"Like from the challenge room," Ana agreed, sounding interested. She took the item from Natalie, turned it side to side, then looked down at her stomach. "It's nearly faded, but I can still see it." She traced the womb-like tattoo scrawled on her lower stomach. The ink had indeed almost disappeared, despite only twenty or so minutes having passed. But it could be renewed, with this?

"Sorry?" Jordan said. "Carnal markings? Ana has a tattoo? Catch us up?"

"The last room required us to—" Ana started.

"Don't worry about it," Natalie said loudly. "It doesn't matter."

Ana gave her an odd look, but didn't continue. Natalie scrambled for a way to explain the situation without revealing ... all of that.

"Oh, please," Sofia said. "We all know you two fucked, so just tell us what happened. Or at least what's relevant. What is that thing?" She gestured at Ana's fading tattoo.

Ana gave her a questioning look, and Natalie hesitated.

"Okay," Natalie said. "Whatever." She waved her hand for Ana to speak.

The mage turned to Sofia. "The last challenge required us to repeatedly bring the mark-bearer," she gestured at the tattoo, "to orgasm."

Everyone looked at Natalie, who admired a particularly interesting part of the ceiling.

"It captured and funneled that energy to break open seals that held rewards. This item, it seems," Ana wiggled the ink vial, "allows us to refresh the mark. And modify it. Though what that means, specifically, I have no idea."

"But not create new ones?" Jordan asked.

"It says refresh and modify. So I assume no." Ana studied the marking on her lower stomach, moving aside her flimsy strips of mage robes to get a better view—and also nearly flashing her teammates in the process, which Ana didn't seem to care about at all. "So perhaps there's future markings to come?"

"But what will that one do, then? The one you're wearing?" Liz asked. "If it 'broke seals' earlier, what now?"

"That's the question. I have no idea. Regardless, it's worth refreshing before it disappears."

She held the ink vial out.

"So, can anyone assist?" Ana asked. Her attention gravitated to Liz, the last to speak. "It's easier than doing it myself. If you don't mind?"

"M-Me?" Liz asked.

"Or anyone," Ana said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Uh. Sure." Liz swallowed, then stepped forward and took the ink from Ana. "There's no pen, though."

"Your finger is fine."

"It's, um, in a pretty intimate place. You're sure?"

"I trust you won't take advantage of me," Ana said solemnly.

Delivered in that stony monotone, Natalie snorted—because she knew Ana was teasing Liz. Liz just seemed panicked about the request, or at least that Ana didn't seem aware of what she was asking, which was equally funny.

Natalie appreciated that the attention was off of her, too. The whole, 'Ana had needed to bring her to repeated orgasm' was still flustering her. At least Ana hadn't shamelessly given out the exact details, which was why Natalie had been worried in the first place.

"Of course I wouldn't," Liz stammered. "So, yeah, okay, if you're fine with it, then ... I guess there's no problem ..." She twisted off the ink vial's cap. "I'll just trace it?"

"Here." Ana hooked her thumbs into her panties, then slid them down so they were out of the way—so they were sitting maybe a quarter-inch from exposing her entirely. Then she tugged her robes to the side, giving Liz a clear workspace to paint on. The shamelessness, and lack of hesitation, was demolishing the poor, easy-to-blush healer: Liz's face was flaming red in an instant. She swallowed visibly before dipping a pointer finger into the ink vial and getting down on her knees—putting her face-level to Ana's crotch.

"I'm not ticklish," Ana assured her. "So don't worry about that."

"Right," Liz said, sounding a bit strangled.

It was vindicating that Ana's behavior was as effective on Liz as it had been on Natalie, if not more so. Though, making Liz blush wasn't particularly difficult. Still, Natalie took her wins where she could get them. Ana was simply skilled at putting people off-foot—which was only sometimes intentional, Natalie had learned.

Whether this was intentional? Natalie couldn't actually tell. Probably half and half.

"It collects orgasmic energy," Jordan said. "Maybe without seals to break, it'll use that energy to do something else."

"That's my hope," Ana agreed. "Or perhaps it'll do nothing. Experimentation is needed. And if it's inert, then we can try modifying it, using the ink. We'll need to find an expert on arcane markings, though."

"Shouldn't be hard. Not in Aradon."

Ana nodded in agreement. She shivered as Liz, down between her legs, traced her finger across the faded lines, quickly bringing the womb-like tattoo back to prominence.

"That's gonna be awkward to explain," Jordan said dryly. "Still planning to wear your robes out around town?"

"Perhaps I'll need to cover up," Ana said. "The tattoo does turn this outfit rather scandalous."

"It wasn't already?" Sofia muttered. She shook her head, then turned to Natalie. "And the next item, then? Let's see it. While they're finishing up all of that."

4.52 - Three Rewards II

As Natalie pulled out the second piece of loot, she tried to ignore how Liz was on her knees, sensually finger-painting Ana's pubic region.

Maybe Ana found it a strictly practical encounter to be in, not worth embarrassment in the slightest, but she was alone in that. The rest of them were blushing with various intensities, seeing Liz down on her knees, tracing a finger around Ana's lower half. Especially since the mage was holding her robes out of the way, panties pulled down so they could see the mound of her pussy—and a quarter-inch more would expose her entirely.

Natalie wondered whether this was one of those intentional or unintentional bouts of cluelessness. Probably a bit of both, but she expected more the first than the second. Jordan might not be the only instigator of the group, just the one who was more direct about it. There was no way Ana wasn't doing this to mess with everyone.

Digging out the necklace, Natalie held it up for the team to see. Liz looked over and identified the item too, pausing as she digested the description.

***

Treasure Hunter's Necklace

Rare

Lv. 2

Effects

- Rarity Boost. Item-bearer has increased odds of finding items of higher quality.

Description

A delicate silver chain adorned with a radiant gemstone pendant.

***

"Oh. That's ... surprisingly not disgusting," Sofia said. "It came from the challenge room?"

"Yeah." Natalie was also surprised by the non-lewd nature of the item. And, obviously, the effect. "Boosted loot rarity? We're already finding rares almost every day."

"We'll have our first epic in no time," Liz said. She shook her head in incredulity. "A level-two epic. Really, Nat really must be blessed by a goddess. That's the only way all of this makes sense."

Natalie was still coming to terms with that ridiculous possibility, so she ignored the comment.

"It does take up an equipment slot, though," Jordan commented. "That's a pretty big downside."

"We should still equip it," Natalie said. "Better loot is worth being a bit weaker. But who?"

"Whoever benefits from items least, probably," Sofia said.

"And that is?"

Sofia hesitated. "I'm ... not sure."

Items were crucial to all delvers, so it was a tough question. Natalie wasn't sure, either.

"Either you or me, Nat," Jordan said. "I have the worst gear right now, so would lose the least in the immediate term. But you could also wear it, because you're the strongest, and already at risk of outpacing us. One less gear slot isn't that big of a deal. Maybe even a good thing, to keep us nearer in level in the long run." Jordan shrugged. "That said, tanks might be the most gear-reliant class, so maybe not. Dunno."