The Boots Of Doom

"Soo . . . um, what did we get lootwise?" Callum said in an effort to distract everyone from his outburst.

_____

'Loot Acquired'

Goblin Helmet (Common), Goblin Ear, Beast Core (Durability:0.25/100), and 1 Silver.'

_____

Callum stared at the loot from the Goblin Chieftain; he had been hoping for better loot. The Beast Core was significantly stronger than the cores dropped by the typical Warrior. However, it was still pretty subpar.

He had grown up on his uncle's stories about dungeon diving and the great loot he had found. He tried to remind himself that this was only the first level of a dungeon and that he could still find much better loot in the future.

'This is typical of any first time. You build it up only for it to be over too soon; you say something awkward, that you hope won't be remembered, and, at the end, it just leaves you looking forward to the next time.'

Amused by his thoughts, Callum and the rest of the party looted all of the corpses. The silver, copper, and Beast Cores from over fifty goblins all added up; even if each individual corpse contributed very little.

The party gathered around a small treasure chest once they finished looting the rest of the room. It was a simple wooden chest with an iron band around it. The other two chests they had looted were Trash tier; Callum was looking forward to what was in a Common chest.

Treasure Chest (Common) (Durability: 100/100)

"I checked the chest out earlier, no traps. And it's not a Mimic as far as I can tell," Alea broke the silence.

"Lord Murray, do you want to do the honors?" Ravi gestured for Callum to open the chest.

"You guys have to have seen plenty of Treasure Chests before, why are you acting so reverently towards this one?" Callum wondered out loud as he approached the chest in question.

Callum saw that several of the party members made gestures that were religious or designed to ward off Evil; with a capital 'E'. They glanced around the room as if something would descend upon them at any second.

Ravi walked up to Callum and quietly whispered in his ear, "Adventurers are a superstitious lot. Some parties will forever abandon running a particular dungeon based on the items they get on the very first run's first floor Boss' chest."

Callum's eyes widened as he started to grasp the significance the contents of this chest actually held over the party; he hoped that this party wouldn't abandon running this dungeon.

'Wait, is there a reason that Ravi and the rest were so quick to offer to let me open the chest? Maybe in their minds, they can offload any bad omens onto me since I'm not actually a part of the party?'

He glanced at Ravi.

'What was the meaning of that glance to Boren? Why did Osmar look away, is he hiding his face from me?'

Ravi's words and everyone else's behaviour ratcheted up the pressure on Callum as he gingerly grasped the lid of the chest and began to open it; his hand trembled slightly.

'Keep it together man. This is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo.'

His hand paused when the lid was only partially lifted. It was hard for Callum to dismiss the superstitions of hardened adventurers; after all, there were malignant and Evil Spirits out there. He took one last glance at the furtive behavior of everyone else.

'I wonder what items exactly are seen as a bad omen? Just lift it up and we'll see, I'm sure that I have nothing to worry about.'

Callum cautiously opened up the chest for everyone to see; he forced himself not to cringe before the contents were revealed. Gasps and cries of dismay came from all of the experienced dungeon divers.

_____

'Loot Acquired

Simple Boots (Common), Floor Mark, Lesser Healing Potion (Trash), and 6 Silver.'

_____

Callum stared at the seemingly innocuous items and tried to figure out the cause of the party's behavior.

"You're properly fucked now," Boren said before he spat on the ground and made a religious gesture.

"The boots, that's a sure sign that you should be running far from here," Ravi gravely said.

"You're doomed," choked out Osmar as he hid his face when he ducked his head down and flipped up the cowl from his cloak.

"Do you mind if I have your axe when you die? I think I could get some decent coin from it," Alea added; her face was devoid of all emotion as she steadily met Callum's incredulous look.

Callum warily eyed his four fellow party members before he glanced at the boots; he tried to figure out what he should feel regarding this unusual situation. Nothing in his life really prepared him for dealing with this.

He cautiously lifted the object in question and studied the pair of boots. They appeared to just be a normal pair of boots; very similar to the boots he was wearing right now. His current pair had been looted from one of Count Yonge's hired bandits.

Callum realized he could hear the faint sound of giggling that started to grow louder. He quickly pinpointed the source of the giggles; Osmar was almost bent over and his entire body was shaking as his giggling grew louder.

"I'm . . . <snerk> . . . sorry . . . <gasp> . . . I . . . <giggle> . . . can't . . . " Osmar gasped out in between bouts of giggles before he collapsed to the ground and started to laugh even harder.

"Again? Osmar, you do this every time!" a frustrated Boren said, "Seriously, Osmar, you can never hold yourself together long enough to let it really sink in!"

Callum looked around and saw that everyone had smiles on their faces.

"Sorry Callum, it's sort of an adventurer's rite of passage for someone's first ever floor clear. Welcome to the dungeoneer's society, most people never clear a single floor in their life," Ravi said as he heartily shook Callum's hand.

"Glad I could be here when you popped your dungeon cherry," Alea saucily winked at him when she shook his hand.

"Aye, you did well for a first timer. I'd be glad to have you at my back in the future," Boren said as he also congratulated Callum.

It took five minutes for Osmar to calm down enough before he too congratulated Callum. Even his own party members weren't sure what was so funny; they assured Callum he always laughed that hard every time they pranked a new dungeoneer.

While they waited for Osmar to stop laughing, Ravi explained to Callum what Floor Marks were. Unlike regular loot, Floor Marks weren't something physical; it was a mark on every party member's souls. They now had the option to skip the first floor in future delves.

Each dungeon's Floor Marks were slightly unique. No matter how long you went in between trips to a dungeon, you could always choose any floor that you had a mark for when you entered that particular dungeon; the marks had no downside and were completely invisible to other people.

Once the party was ready, Alea led them down the stairs to the next floor. The staircase ended on a rocky ledge overlooking a deep pit over a hundred feet (30m) deep; the ledge slowly spiraled down the pit until it reached the bottom.

Multiple goblin parties idly patrolled the ledge; three of the parties were led by hulking goblins, which meant they were about the same height as a dwarf. The space was completely open, they couldn't pick off individual groups of goblins.

Callum eyed the goblins he could see, their levels had increased to the 25-28 range for the Goblin Warriors, Brutes, and Skirmishers. He couldn't identify the two Witch Doctors due to how far away they were, but one of the new goblins was close enough for him to identify.

Goblin Champion [M] (Lvl 30)

HP:(450/450)