Dungeons and Dalliances

"Token of Eros?" Vanetta said. "Eros, as in … ?"

She sent a sideways glance to Natalie. The expression was a little too curious, and it gave Natalie a sudden suspicion that Elida might have shared some information about who she was, or at least hinted at certain things about her class. Which annoyed her, but also smoothed over some explanations, should they become necessary.

Instead of answering the hidden question, Natalie bent forward and scooped the coin off the ground. She held it in her palm in such a way Vanetta could also inspect the item.

It was made of dark-pink metal with a light purplish tint. She didn't think it was erotite. The coin was large, around two knuckles in diameter, and thin relative to its size. The side facing them had a detailed rose engraved on it. Flipping it over, a less appropriate design was revealed: a nude woman's bust. Natalie's cheeks heated up. That confirmed it meant Eros in that way.

***

Token of Eros

Description

The primary currency used in the City of Eros, most often found in the fallen ruins of Elysium. Cannot be carried outside of the dungeon.

***

"Uh," Natalie said. "Wow." She didn't think she'd heard of an item that refused to be removed from the dungeon before. And what did the rest mean?

"Ruins of Elysium?" Vanetta said. "That's what this place is called?"

"Guess so?"

"What's the 'City of Eros', then? Where is it?"

Natalie shrugged. The more important question, she figured, was what happened in a place called The City of Eros.

"And currency for what?" Vanetta asked, perplexed. "It can be used to buy something?"

"No clue. But I bet they're worth collecting. Did the other Wraith drop one?"

Vanetta jogged to where the other monster had died. Sure enough, she scooped up another of the dark-pink coins. She carried it back to Natalie, and the two of them inspected the new bit of metal. The front face had the same image of a rose, and the back also had an inappropriate design—except this one male rather than female. Vanetta hastily flipped it over, embarrassed.

"Well," the rogue said. "This is strange."

"Very," Natalie said—though she couldn't say she was half as surprised as Vanetta was. Unfortunately, these sorts of bizarre developments had become all but her standard.

Lust was influencing this floor, without a doubt. But how exactly? What did this token mean? And the alluded-to city?

"I don't think our plan has changed," Vanetta said. "We need a vantage point. Maybe we'll be able to see the city in the distance."

Natalie nodded. If nothing else, they had been given a vague goal. Collect more Tokens and find the City. Even if they didn't know the use or nature of either, it was obviously what the dungeon wanted from them.

Tucking the token away, Natalie raised her hammer and led the way.

A few more encounters with those ghostly beings ensued, and each one dropped a Token of Eros, sometimes multiple. Some of the Wraiths were humans, but some were beastly: the third fight included both, an axe-wielder on horseback that was especially difficult to take down.

When they had reached the crumbling tower, they were the owners of three and four Tokens respectively. Each Token had a different image engraved onto the back, all sensual in nature, and some less appropriate than others. Whatever Vanetta thought of the lewd images, she didn't voice aloud.

The tower jutted fifty or sixty feet in the air, and where Vanetta scaled the structure with ease, Natalie took a little longer to find footholds and ascend. Eventually, she'd reached the top and found a place wide and flat enough to sit on. She took in her first comprehensive sight of the sprawling ruins of Elysium.

They were larger than she'd assumed. Large enough that, if Elida and the rest of the team had been dropped in a random location, they could have spent months wandering around before finding each other. And that was just in the limited view of the horizon she could actually see; her sight was occluded by natural dips and raises in terrain, along with the structures and ruins themselves. It was possible they went on much further than what she could see.

Thankfully, they wouldn't need to wander around; there was an obvious destination. The twilight sky above them provided more moonlight than the typical night, but it was still mostly dark out—and so the light emanating in the distance was easy to pick out amid the otherwise dimly lit ruins. It was too distant for her to study in detail, but she spotted intact buildings and the yellow glow of light.

"The City?" Vanetta asked.

"Maybe," Natalie replied. "Definitely our destination, either way."

"What do you think those other buildings are?" Vanetta commented, gesturing to another point of interest.

While the City was the clear immediate goal, there were also enormous buildings far less decayed than the rest of the ruins, spotted in various places across the landscape. One seemed to be a tower much like the one they had climbed, but not weathered by centuries or millennia but instead hale and whole, the top of which Natalie had spotted looming in the distance even from the ground.

"Bosses?" Natalie suggested. "Or mini bosses. Places to find loot. More difficult hunting grounds," she summarized. "With better rewards. Or maybe something we find at the City will tell us." Undoubtedly, they would be dangerous.

"Should we visit one first?" Vanetta asked. "So we have a proper stock of Tokens before arriving?"

"Think we'll get plenty of those just during the trip," Natalie said dryly. "We've got a lot of ground to cover." And the Wraiths had been popping up with plenty of frequency.

"Still," Vanetta said.

"I'd say yes if there was one on the way, but they'd all need a detour." At least the most obvious points of interest. "And maybe they're designed for whole-team encounters, not just the two of us. Think it's best if we just make it to the City first and see what's going on. That's where Elida and them will be heading too."

Whatever Vanetta thought of Natalie's analysis, she didn't say. She nodded and began to climb back down. Natalie hoped that meant she agreed and wasn't simply ceding to prevent an argument. The girl was hard to read.

She wouldn't have minded sitting atop the ruined tower for a bit, studying the landscape in more detail, but it seemed Vanetta was antsy to get a move on. Either to reach the City and find out what was happening with this strange realm or simply to continue gaining Tokens and experience.

Either way, Natalie followed her down. They had progress to make.