Matthew Nesheim
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Chapter 26: A Series of Tactical Decisions
🕑 Added 2023-06-23 17:00:03 +0000 UTC“I didn’t know we had stumbled into someone’s personal fantasy land,” Calista said.
Lefty shrugged, “They say that the new neural jack is really something. I’ve heard it’s almost like real life.”
“Whoever owns this place needs to go outside,” Calista muttered.
“As much as I agree with you, I don’t think that’s their plan tonight.”
“Clearly.”
They crept down the hallway until they came to a four way intersection. The lighting of the hallways was such that she couldn’t see much farther than a few meters of stone walls and torches.
“Which way?” She whispered.
“I dunno,” Lefty answered.
“I thought you wizards were supposed to be smart.”
“I thought you delvers were supposed to know your way around a dungeon.”
“Not if we’ve never been there before.”
“You know, asking me which way you think we should go is kinda like asking me how I want to die.”
“You really need to give up the coward shtick. It’s not working.”
“It’s a work in progress. I haven’t been playing this character that long.”
She sighed and looked again at the found hallways before her. Left, right, or straight on. One way is as good as another, I suppose. Then again, if I go left, I’m basically headed the same direction those two guards took the succubi. She wondered briefly if she would regret her decision if they ended up walking in on something she didn’t want to see. But then again, she thought, if we catch this Severin in a compromised position …
She took the left. A few meters down the corridor, Lefty spoke up from behind her. “Oh, so we’re headed toward the hedonism.”
“I’m simply being tactical,” she whispered back. “If we catch him with his pants down, we’ll have the advantage.”
The wizard giggled, “Well I suppose that depends on how well armed he is.”
“That was not constructive.”
“You’re constructive.”
A few minutes later, they reached another intersection where they could hear the voices of the trolls. They hid behind a corner and waited.
“I don’t know how he does it, man,” Smithey said.
“Does what?” Smith asked.
“Keep up with all these women.”
“You mean these digital representations of women that populate a virtual reality world that aren’t really real?”
“Yeah, those.”
“Because for a second there I thought you were referring to real women.”
“I mean, there’s the one he keeps upstairs, but I think she’s pretty aware of what’s down here.”
“Is she? Have you ever seen her down here?”
“No, have you?”
“If you haven’t seen her down here then what makes you think she knows about it?”
“Well, how wouldn’t she?”
“Well, it’s not like the top floor is connected to any of these floors. I mean, you can get to the caverns, but that’s about it. Honestly, I don’t think she’s been down here at all.”
“Are you saying she doesn’t know he’s having virtual hoochie-coochies with the digital representations of the whatevers?”
“You mean the women. The digital women.”
“Right, the digital representations of the digital women in the virtual thingy that we work in.”
“No, I don’t think she knows anything about any of this.”
“Do you think she’d care?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking what you think. You’re the married one.”
“I would say from a gentleman’s perspective that it is bad form to display your affinity for pornography to your romantic partner.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“I thought you said you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t. That’s why I asked.”
“So you’re thinking now?”
“Not if I can help it.”
Both she and Lefty stayed close to the wall as the two trolls strolled past them, the butts of their spears tapping against the stone as they walked. When the trolls’ voices again faded, she leaned back and whispered, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
The wizard took a deep breath, “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, then I’m not thinking what you’re thinking, I’m thinking about you thinking what you’re thinking because I don’t know if I want to walk in on what you’re thinking.”
She looked back at the empty space where she assumed Lefty was standing, “If you’re going to depend on me to make all the plans, then I think that precludes you from mocking said plans.”
“I never agreed for you to make all the plans.”
“Oh really? I just asked you which way you wanted to go and your response was that I was the delver and you weren’t.”
“Yes, but if your interpretation of that is that you get to make all of the plans, then I believe you’re committing something of a false equivalency.”
She did her best to glare at her invisible partner. “Okay, first, we’re in a dungeon and not a parliamentary debate and so I’m going to veto you from using words like ‘false equivalency.’ And second, unless you have a better idea, I’m going to march down that hallway to look for the boudoir.”
The wizard’s voice was mocking, “You are intimating that there is a lady’s dressing room somewhere on this level of the dungeon?”
“I am saying I am going to go look for wherever they dumped off those two succubi. So, yes.”
“What if the succubi eat one of us?” Lefty asked. “They both looked very unpleasant.”
Calista sighed, “Of course they’re unpleasant. They’re demons. And besides, if they eat one of us, it’s likely to be you and if that happens, I promise to hire someone very nice from my guild to come back for you.”
“This sounds like a bit of a raw deal. What if we just followed the trolls to see where they end up?”
“They work here. They’re probably headed to their break room or something.”
“What about the old lady in the picture?” The wizard asked. “I thought we were trying to find her so she could tell us where to go next to get out of this place.”
“Okay, I’ll admit that she appeared to be useful, but you never know about NPCs in a place like this. Especially NPCs who were dumb enough to get themselves imprisoned in a painting. Furthermore, she was rude. So, I guess I’ll say that if we run into her along the way, we can see if she has anything useful for us. Until then, I’ve decided I’m gunning for the boss and that’s that. So there. Are you in or are you out?” She asked.
There was a pause as Lefty thought about this. “Screw it, let’s go.”
