Dungeons and Dalliances

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.”