ROBs and Sidekicks Part 3 (Patreon)

Myst used his Save and Load ability to create another 'save game' then stepped through the portal into a dusty workshop that looked like it had been recently looted. He pulled his flashlight out of his pocket and examined the metal door that had runes carved into it as the girls followed him through the door. "Could be worse."

"Where are we?" Dawn asked as she glanced around the room, glad that her gear let her see in the dark.

"If I'm not mistaken, we're under Tara's dungeon in an abandoned dwarven workshop," Myst explained as he walked over to the metal rungs on the wall and started climbing.

"You know you can fly, right?" Hermione asked with amusement.

"I'm not an expert," Myst replied as he continued climbing, not seeing a point in making a fool of himself or hitting things because he wasn't used to flying.

"Fair point," Dawn said as she followed Myst up the ladder, looking forward to seeing how much she could boost some of her gear.

Myst opened the trap door then floated the rest of the way as it was easier than climbing the rest of the way into the stone room. He glanced at the small black stone on the table then walked over to the door and glanced into the hallway. He stared at the piles of ash and bone that he could see covering the hallway. "That's a lot of dead kobolds."

Dawn finished climbing out of the access tunnel then conjured a small floating ball of light to illuminate the room so Beth and Hermione wouldn't be stumbling in the dark. She gave the moderately organized room a once over then walked over to check the hallway, pausing when she noticed the ash and bone fragments covering the hallway. "What happened?"

"I'm guessing magic, lots of magic and fire," Myst replied as he turned to look at the section of hallway that wasn't covered in bones and ash. 'Here's hoping we don't run into any insane magic users.'

Hermione floated out of the shaft and closed the trap door behind her. "Should I find something to hide the trap door?"

"Nah, anything we covered it with would look more suspicious," Myst replied as he started walking down the hallway, reasonably sure he knew which direction he was supposed to go.

"Fair enough," Hermione replied as they followed Myst and Dawn's floating ball of light down the hallway.

"We're lost aren't we?" Dawn asked ten minutes later as she studied her map on her HUD.

"Yep," Myst admitted, willing to admit his sense of direction sucked and that everything looked the same in the narrow tunnels.

"You realize the Gamer ability comes with a map function, right?" Dawn asked with a grin.

"I'd forgotten," Myst admitted as he mentally pulled up his map.

Beth turned to look at Dawn. "How come you didn't say anything?"

"It was sort of amusing," Dawn admitted as she continued walking down the hallway. "Besides, we're almost there..." she trailed off as a group of adventurers walked around the corner, four men and one woman in robes. "Hello?"

"Did you find anything interesting?" one of the two people in robes asked as he studied Myst's group suspiciously.

Myst shook his head. "A bunch of dead kobolds and ash, I'm starting to think playing with the spiders would have been more interesting."

The man with a shield and sword snorted. "Fuck that, we already lost two groups to the spiders."

"Fair enough," Myst admitted as he studied the group that looked to be in their early twenties. "We're heading back and grabbing a beer, best of luck with the temple."

The guy in leather armor frowned as he glanced between the four people wearing jester's caps suspiciously. "Are you with the shop?"

"No, we're just exploring, why?" Myst asked, wondering why they thought they were connected to Tara's group.

"Most people don't wear jester hats," he replied, trying to figure out what they were hiding.

"Ah that, there's a kobold near the temple, he respawns every ten minutes," Myst lied, not seeing a problem with sending them on a wild goose chase as he was fairly sure they were with the guild of assholes given the way the rogue was sizing them up.

"Thanks for the information," the female mage said with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes.

Dawn smiled coldly at the group, half expecting them to start shit as they walked past.

The rogue shivered as he caught the way one of the girls was looking at him, he'd seen cats look at mice the same way, just waiting for them to move so they could rip them apart. "We'll keep an eye out."

"Have fun," Dawn said cheerfully as the group walked past.

Myst watched the other group until they vanished around the corner then turned and continued walking towards the exit.

"They looked a bit on edge," Hermione whispered after another minute of walking.

"Just a bit," Dawn agreed, a touch disappointed that the other group hadn't given her a reason to loot them.

Myst smiled when they reached the room with the coffin that led down to the spider level and the ladder to Tara's dungeon. "Just a second." He glanced cautiously at the broken statues on either side of the open door without sticking his head into the room then scanned the polished stone walls for anything that shouldn't be there. "Okay, we should be good," he mused as he walked into the room and started climbing the ladder.

Dawn followed Myst into the room and looked at the stairs in the coffin. "Where do the stairs lead?"

"To a level with giant spell casting spiders, I'd rather avoid it," Myst replied as he finished climbing the ladder.

"Fair enough," Dawn replied as she flew up the shaft and landed next to Myst.

"Fun," Beth muttered sarcastically as she followed Dawn up the ladder, fairly sure she didn't want to deal with spell casting spiders without better gear or training.

"I'm sort of glad that Hagrid isn't here, he'd probably want to save them," Hermione mused as she floated up after Beth.

"Probably," Myst agreed as he headed for the room with the magic well. He glanced at the sign warning about blizzards then continued into the snow covered room and walked over to the young woman with a lock of white in her brown hair. "Hello, can we use the well?"

Morgana smiled at the group wearing jester hats. "Of course, you'll just have to toss something in for the archmage."

"Sounds fair," Myst replied and 'saved' his 'game' so he could just reload it if he got cursed.

Morgana handed him a pair of blue soft leather gloves. "Just drop them in the well then you can drop anything you want into it."

"Sure," Myst replied as he opened his character sheet and dropped the gloves into the well. He smiled when he didn't feel a sense of weakness as the blue gloves came flying back out of the well. He caught the gloves then handed them back to her. "Do you want something from each of us or just one for the group?"

"Each would be nice," Morgana said, hoping she could talk them into it without causing a fuss.

"What else do you need tossed in?" Myst asked as he 'saved' his 'game', glad that he wasn't actually risking anything. 'Gamer's mind should cover mental issues and reloading the save should cover anything physical.'

Morgana put the gloves in her belt pouch and pulled out a black silk shirt. "You might as well toss this in, we're going to need to get it decursed."

"Sure," Myst tossed the shirt into the well and grabbed it when it came out. "I don't feel weaker, so it's probably fine."

"Good," Morgana replied as she examined the shirt with a magnifying glass. "Two more?"

"Yep," Myst agreed as he 'saved' his 'game', rather amused that he hadn't actually gotten cursed yet.

Morgana stuck the shirt back in her belt pouch then handed Myst a token. "Try this."

Myst tossed the token in and scowled when he felt a wave of weakness wash over him. 'At least it's noticeable.' He focused and reloaded his save, causing everything to reset. He reached out and set his hand on the well, wanting to make sure he could duplicate it. He flicked the token into the well, hoping the delay changed the outcome. He scowled as he still felt a wave of weakness wash over him. He reset his save then handed the token to Hermione. "Your turn."

"Sure," Hermione replied as she tossed the token into the well, trusting Myst to keep her from getting cursed. She caught the token when it came back out and looked at it with her sunglasses. 'Not bad, it gives people an aura skill that grants immunity to fear and shares their fire resistance with any ally within twenty feet when they use it.'

"Did it work?" Myst asked, wanting to make sure she hadn't lost any strength before he used his save ability.

"I don't feel weaker," Hermione assured him as she handed the token back to Morgana.

"You'd notice," Morgana said as she pocketed the token and tossed Beth a purple bracelet. "Go for it."

Beth glanced at Myst then tossed the bracelet into the well after he gave her a nod. She caught the bracelet when it flew back out and handed it to Morgana. "We're good to toss things in, right?"

"Feel free," Morgana replied as she examined the bracelet with her magnifying glass.

Myst saved his 'game' again then dropped his legendary sword into the well, smiling when it flew back out of the well without any feeling of weakness. He checked the sword with his sunglasses to make sure it wasn't just cursed then 'saved' the 'game' again and tossed his hat into the well, fairly sure he was going to have to fake getting weaker now and then if he didn't want her to get suspicious.

0o0o0

Myst couldn't help the smile on his face as he walked into the shop area of Tara's dungeon and saw the adorable small blue dragon that was peeking over the counter. 'Nothing quite like seeing one of your stories come to life,' he mused as he walked over to the counter and started checking price tags for the various magical items scattered around the table, making sure he touched the more interesting weapons so he could duplicate them.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Blue asked as she studied the unfamiliar group.

"We saw a couple of people with jester's caps, are you selling them or can you find them in the dungeon?" Myst asked, wondering if he'd get a straight answer.

"We have a spell that turns hats into jester's caps and gives them a couple of magic abilities, if you're interested, I'd be happy to cast it for you," Blue offered.

"How much?" Myst asked, curious how much she'd charge and a bit surprised that she'd given him a straight answer.

"Fifty gold," Blue replied with a grin.

'I'm not sure if that's cheap or highway robbery considering the jester's capstone doesn't cost you anything,' Myst mused as he started pulling coins out of his belt pouch. "Any side effects?"

Blue nodded. "The bells make it a bit harder to sneak but you'll be immune to confusion and silence so it's worth it."

"I'm not worried about sneaking around." He finished counting out the two hundred gold then took his hat off and set it on the counter. "Besides, we're planning on heading to Grimsong to decurse a couple of items," he explained as Hermione and Beth dropped their hats on the counter.

"Makes sense," Blue agreed as she collected the coins. She picked his hat up and used her jester ability on it, changing it into a 'proper' jester's cap. "That should do it, give me a second to do the rest."

Dawn used her shape changing to match her magic disguise then took her hat off and set it on the counter next to Beth and Hermione's hats. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Blue replied as she worked on upgrading the rest of the hats. "Confusion is a pain in the ass and silence is a good way to get killed if you're a magic user."

"Most status effects are a pain in the ass," Myst said as he picked his hat up and put it on. 'I'm not sure I need the protection from confusion with Gamer's Mind but the silence immunity is nice.' He smiled when the door to the training area opened and a set of identical red haired elf girls walked out wearing matching black shadowy leather pants and white silk shirts that didn't do a great job of concealing their breasts.

Beth smiled as she checked the girls out. "Twins."

Dawn shook her head. "We can't take you anywhere."

Myst glanced at the viking helmet the girl he was reasonably sure was Metal was wearing then looked at the two swords that hung from her belt. He glanced at the large warhammer Melanie was carrying hooked to her belt. 'That's new.' He glanced at the rings on their hands. 'Just a little closer,' he mused as Metal and Melanie walked over to the counter.

"Any trouble?" Blue asked as she turned to look at Metal.

"No, Tara's working on shooting targets," Melanie explained as she studied the new people.

Myst used his Chrono Break power when Metal and Melanie glanced at the rest of the girls rather than him, causing everyone to freeze and a faintly glowing circular field to spring up two meters away from him that marked the boundary of his ability. "Sorry, not sorry," he muttered as he reached over and poked Metal's swords, helmet and ring with his finger so he could copy them.

He used his sunglasses to examine Melanie's hammer, more than a little surprised at what he found. "Where the hell did you get a decent knock off of Thor's hammer?" He shook his head when he noticed the part about making a feast and unlocking a Beast Master class. "I don't remember that in the story."

"Weird." Myst glanced at his feet, trying to make sure he could get back in a similar position then stepped over and poked Melanie's ring and hammer so he could copy them. He turned his attention back to the counter and worked on touching the rest of the items on display so he could duplicate them. 'If I wasn't worried about the various gods using it as an excuse to banish them early, I'd leave them something useful,' he told himself, feeling a bit guilty about copying their stuff without giving them anything for it.

Once he finished touching everything on display he floated over the table and poked Blue's shadow cloak as he wanted the shadow spells it could teach people. 'Sorry, the shadow raven and cat are too useful not to grab, damn near perfect spies.' He turned and worked on touching all of the valuable items under the counter, being careful so he didn't move anything as he didn't really want to leave any evidence that anyone was messing with their stuff.

Myst finished poking the collection of cursed or suspect magical items then floated back over the desk and got back to roughly where he'd been standing and unfroze time.

"I need to talk to Morgana about the swamp gloves," Metal explained as she turned and left with a bounce to her steps.

"Going to try your luck with the dungeon?" Melanie asked Myst's group.

Myst shook his head. "I'm fairly sure we burned all of our luck using the well."

"If you'd like to sell something, I can help you out," Blue offered.

"No thanks, we only picked up a couple of minor curses which means we can take everything to the dungeon in Grimsong and get it decursed without too much hassle," Myst explained.

Beth snorted. "Looking like a satyr isn't minor."

"More like a sasquatch, it doesn't give you hooves," Myst said thoughtfully.

Hermione shook her head. "You're not helping your case."

"Point," Myst admitted. "On that note, best of luck with the rest of the adventurers, we should get going."

"Thanks and have fun," Blue offered, happy that she'd managed to make two hundred gold without having to actually trade any of their magic items.

"I'm planning on it," Myst replied as he headed for the exit, looking forward to seeing the city.

"Do you think we'll have enough time to run the dungeon before I have to get back?" Dawn asked as they left the dungeon, her gaze jumping to the various wagons and carts in the clearing and the people milling around that make it look a bit like a ren faire.

Myst shrugged. "We should be fine, we've got at least an hour and we're as durable and dangerous as Starfire or at least close considering we've got her powers but not her skills."

"In that case, let's go," Dawn said as she floated off the ground and flew into the air, eager to finish the dungeon trip before her sister got back and complained that she'd gone on an adventure without her.

"Works for me," Myst replied as they flew into the air and headed north at a decent rate, trusting his sunglasses and durability to keep him from having trouble with bugs. "I could get used to this."

Hermione laughed and realized that Harry might have a point about flying, if only because she wasn't worried about crashing now that she could face-plant into the ground at a couple of hundred miles an hour without a scratch.

Dawn grinned as Hermione lost her hat and her illusion of clothes vanished. She caught the hat as it tumbled through the air then flew up next to Hermione and held her hat out. "Here!"

"Thanks!" Hermione shouted over the wind as she grabbed her hat.

Myst was just glad that he was flying above the treeline because he was distracted enough by the view that he probably would have taken a branch to the face which would have been embarrassing, if nothing else.

Hermione waited until she could see the town/city in the distance then slowed down and put her hat back on, mostly because she didn't want to listen to people complain and they had a limited timeframe to loot the dungeon to the ground if they wanted to avoid Dawn getting in 'trouble' with her sister. "How are we getting inside?" she asked when Myst slowed to a stop.

"Good question," Dawn agreed as she twisted in the air so she was vertical and stopped.

Myst gestured towards the spire they could see in the 'middle' of the town. "The entrance to the dungeon should be at the top of the spire which means we just have to fly over the walls and into the dungeon before someone shoots us down."

Beth stared at Myst for a couple of seconds then looked at Hermione. "Please tell me you have a better idea."

Hermione laughed. "Sure, we get Myst to turn us invisible then we just sneak in."

Dawn grinned as she pictured making a dash for the spire. "That gets my vote."

"Seems legit, let's head down to the tree line then we'll fly back up," Myst suggested as he made four copies of Melanie's ring and handed one to each of the girls. "Here. On the off chance that my spell fails or gets dispelled, you should be able to use these to escape."

"What does it do?" Beth asked as she slipped the ring on her finger.

"Holy shit!" Dawn blurted as she stared at her Observe popup, wishing she had a way to stack more than a couple of enchantments on something.

"It doubles your casting speed, reduces the mana cost of spells by 40%, grants waterbreathing, lets you see in the dark, boosts your dexterity a fair amount, makes you immune to life drain and lets you use invisibility and shadow walking," Myst explained.

"How the hell did they manage a 40% reduction in mana cost to everything?" Dawn asked, wondering what type of tricks the locals had.

"The well is awesome and this world's enchanting system doesn't have the same limits," Myst explained as he replaced his anti-regeneration ring with his copy of Melanie's ring, sticking his old ring in his inventory.

Beth nodded. "We should probably pick up some books, I need to learn enchanting."

"Same," Myst agreed as he flew down to the trees to block the town's line of sight as he didn't want the town to see them vanish. He carefully cast the group invisibility spell he'd 'learned' from Genie and sighed in relief when he realized everyone could still see each other, even if they were sort of ghost-like. "That should take care of sight, they might have wards up but nothing we can't push through."

"How close do you think you can teleport us?" Hermione asked, not sure how well Beth could sneak.

"No idea, let's find out," Myst said as he 'saved' his 'game' and took his jester's cap off. "On the off chance that this works and someone notices us, make a dash for the entrance."

Beth took her jester's cap off. "What happens if they don't?"

"Then we sneak into the dungeon as quietly as we can." Hermione pulled her hat off and stuck it in her inventory.

"Sounds good." Dawn said as she pulled her hat off.

"3, 2, 1." Myst teleported the group to the balcony, feeling a bit disappointed when none of the guards on the balcony even noticed them. He was half expecting the guards to jump them or at least react as they snuck towards the entrance but none of them did.

"So much for the guards having extra senses or the ability to see invisible people," Beth muttered once they made it into the dungeon and she looked around to make sure no one was around.

"Do you have a map?" Dawn asked Myst, hoping he had some idea where they were going.

"No but I have an auto-map and a vague idea where to go," Myst replied with amusement as he headed towards the cliff he could see, fairly sure there was a shortcut at the top of the cliff that would let them skip a couple of levels.

"We're screwed," Dawn joked as she followed Myst, looking forward to finding some decent loot.