Chapter 15: Chipmunk Fire Dungeon

It took until ten o’clock the next morning to find out where Zach had been hanging out. All the while Thomas drove up and down the road and through parks, he cursed himself as an idiot for not getting the guy’s phone number to text him. Zach seemed to live a vagabond life, and there was a good chance he had moved on to another town.

His mood wasn’t helped by the lack of sleep; the nephews were understandably upset about their father’s lost hand, and last night Derek seemed to be in a state of shock. No one had done the cooking, so Thomas had sprung for pizza for the boys. Then this morning, he had driven them all to school, as Derek hadn’t been up to it.

Thomas was just thinking about what he was going to do if Derek didn’t snap out of it soon when he finally caught sight of Zach. The fire juggler was walking alongside one of the side roads that led down to the beach.

Once again thankful for the lack of tourists, Thomas found a parking spot and pulled over.

“Hey, it’s Tom the mana man,” Zach said, far too loud for Thomas’s liking, but his grin was wide and welcoming as he came over. “You got any more Reds for me?”

“You went through them already?” Thomas asked.

“What can I say? That was good stuff. I’ve been meditating, and man, I feel strong.” Zach flexed some muscle, and Thomas actually saw a little heat haze coming off his arm.

What did high-quality fire mana crystals do to a person? He set that question aside for later.

“Actually, I had another business opportunity for you. One of my party was injured last night, and just when we found—” he broke off to take another look around to make sure no one was within hearing distance. The area was clear, but just in case, he stepped a little closer and lowered his voice. “We found a dungeon that’s not on the list. It’s unguarded, and I need help clearing it.”

Zach’s eyebrows went up. “Color me interested.” But then he proved he was no fool when he asked, “Did that person in your party go down trying to clear out this mysterious dungeon?”

Thomas shook his head. “No, another one. My brother was doing a solo run.” He rolled his eyes for emphasis, but then he grew serious again. “He lost his hand in the process.”

“Yow,” Zach winced in sympathy. “Yeah, I’d be interested in running a dungeon, but it would have to be fire.”

Thomas grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that because that’s exactly what it is: fire and… chipmunks.”

Zach laughed. “That sounds so stupid, I’ve got to see it. Hold on, let me get my weapon.”

He was surprisingly into this. If Thomas had been in his shoes, he would have been extremely suspicious, asking a whole bunch of follow-up questions, and likely wondering if he was being set up. But then again… the man could juggle living fire, so maybe he didn’t have much to worry about.

Zach returned shortly, holding a long… was that a cane? No, Thomas had seen enough martial arts movies to recognize a quarterstaff.

“That’s your weapon?” he asked, unable to hide his surprise.

“Sure is.” Zach effortlessly twirled it in his fingers in a fluid motion that made it look easy. “I got into it at my high school Glee club.” He grinned at Thomas. “That’s where you meet all the ladies.

Thomas got the pleasure of seeing Zach’s mouth fall open when he came to the doorway of the fire chipmunk dungeon. He turned to Thomas. “Holy shit, it really is a level 2. And there are no guards inside. How did you find this?”

The last thing Thomas wanted to do was reveal that he’d found it from a map from a rare drop, so he said, “Rumor from the internet, weirdly enough. I don’t know how the government has missed it yet.” He shrugged. “Well, it won’t stay undiscovered forever. You ready to go?”

Zach started to nod, then visibly hesitated. “Uh… well, now that I know this is real, I should tell you that I’ve never done a level 2 dungeon before.”

“You haven’t?” Thomas was a little surprised. “I thought you were level 2 yourself with your fire tricks and all.”

“Nah, man.” Zach squinted at him. “Wait, you mean you are?” He whistled lowly at Thomas’s nod. “I’ve been able to absorb fire mana and crystals for a while now. The thing is, I use a lot of my mana as soon as I get it, with no time to let it sink in, you know? That slowed my process.”

Thomas didn’t know, but he nodded as if he did. “Well, it makes sense that having level 2 mana would tip you over the edge.”

Zach brightened. “All right then, let’s do this!” He clapped his hands together, enthusiastic in a way that made Thomas a little envious. All he’d been feeling prior to tackling this dungeon was a low-key sense of dread. But that wasn’t going to stop him.

Together, they walked to the entrance door. He made sure to enter right after Zach. After all, it wasn’t like they had one of those clocks that showed the time since the last turnover, and he definitely did not want to end up in two different dungeon instances. But his luck wasn’t that bad; he and Zach arrived in the safe room together. Thomas spent a moment gearing up, and Zach’s eyes widened a little when he saw Thomas’s curved dagger and the pen knife. He wasn’t going to walk around in the open with gear like that.

Catching his gaze, Thomas asked, “What is it?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you’re a little more serious than I thought you’d be. Makes sense if you’re part of a fancy party, though,” he added. “Hey, why aren’t the rest of them with us? I know you said your brother was down. What about the others?”

That was a good question, and the real reason was that Thomas had been lying about having a party. He only said, “This dungeon scared them off. Believe it or not, people don’t like getting burned.”

“Well, you just need to know what you’re doing,” Zach said with an easy smile. “You ready?”

Thomas took a bracing breath. “I’m ready. Remember, I almost got a blast of fire to the face the second I opened the door.”

“Heard,” Zach said, as if he worked in a restaurant. Then he turned to the entrance door. As he did, Thomas swore he caught a flash of red mana in his eyes.

Zach opened the door.

They were both treated to the vista of a burned-out forest in front of them. The air that swept in was hot, dry, and acrid with the scent of charcoal.

Zach stepped out first, and a cute little chipmunk crouched on the bark of the nearest tree blasted a stream of fire at him, three feet long. If Thomas had been standing where Zach had been, he would have been badly burned.

But Zach only held out his hand with his quarterstaff vertical in front of him. The fire parted around him in two separate streams.

Luckily, Thomas had the common sense to stay right behind Zach, so he only felt the wash of heat.

After about ten seconds, the fire ended. Quick as a snake, Zach changed his grip to the end of the staff and smacked the chipmunk before it had another chance to shoot more fire at them. The end of the staff struck dead on, and the chipmunk dropped as if he had just swatted a fly.

Zach pumped his fist in the air. “All right, first kill!”

Thomas let out a breath. “Good job.” But he was nowhere near relaxing yet. Who knew what waited for them deeper in this forest? He already missed having a guide to reference.

Zach reached down and grabbed the chipmunk’s body, shaking it as if to check for any mana crystals. Nothing fell out, and for a second, Thomas was surprised. Then again, he occasionally did get stiffed with no rewards.

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Zach didn’t seem surprised at all. He shrugged before tossing the little chipmunk away.

“Keep your head on a swivel. I bet this forest is full of those little guys.”

That was true. The path through the burned-out forest was faint and easy to lose if they became distracted. Unfortunately, distraction came in the form of chipmunks that would happily flambé their faces. The one thing that they had going for them was that the creatures were about the size of a child’s hand. They weren’t physically threatening. They were wood brown with black stripes running down their bodies, which would normally provide a scary amount of camouflage… except now they stood out against the ashy ground and charred trees. There was no green foliage to hide in, and nothing left unburned. It was utter devastation, with the chipmunks being the only sign of life. Also, they only seemed to have one good blast of fire in them before running dry.

It sure would be useful to have had that in a guide…

The guide!

Thomas stopped mid-step and had to resist the urge to slap his forehead. “Jeez, I forgot,” he said, starting to pat his pockets.

Zach continued walking a few steps before realizing Thomas wasn’t following. He turned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing bad.” Thomas pulled out a little notebook and a pencil he’d taken from a mini-golf competition. Quickly, he started jotting down notes. “You know the Crystal Flea Market?” At Zach’s nod, he continued, “Well, there’s a guy who sells dungeon guides there, and he’ll pay you for information.”

“You’re going to tell people about this dungeon?” Zach asked, surprised.