TDM 12

[goldmods]

【 Thank you for choosing the Golden Peacock, 5-star resort and casino. You are currently registered as a WILDCARD in our system.

As a token of appreciation to all of our guests, the house and resort have worked in collaboration with the all powerful system that transmigrates souls between worlds to bring you a special excursion! All are invited to participate in our limited time event, Tits out! A Sex Dungeon! where guests can shop, craft, adventure, treasure hunt, and battle.

During this event, sexual encounters with WILDCARD guests are worth double the payout, so please keep an eye out for our new arrivals! Other supplies, such as typically banned weapons, are also available.

We appreciate our low rank guests temporarily adjusting their living quarters to accommodate this delightful experience. Extra thanks to you for your generosity! 】

WINDING MARKET

A ROOKERY COMES SPRAWLING

A CHARMING MARKET

► The Rookery floods the main lobby and begins construction on the eve of November 15th. This wandering group of merchants has decided to set up shop! From November 15th through January 1st, the Rookery will be operating a marketplace on the ground floor of the Golden Peacock. This marketplace operates at all hours and does not close.

► This once luxurious lobby has transformed into a rustic market. Wooden shops line the walls where eager merchants promote their wares. These little stores are stocked with handcrafted goods, specialty products, and artisanal treats. Unlike general Golden Peacock establishments, shops in the marketplace are willing to haggle and trade.

► Not all of these booths are occupied. Guests interested in selling their crafts or services are welcome to open up shop. The merchants of the Rookery will also hire resort guests looking for work.

CEDAR AND PINE

► This simple marketplace embraces small town charm. The scents of wood and pine meld with freshly baked bread and leather. The echo of a blacksmith striking metal resounds through chatter and laughter. Shopkeepers call and wave from their booths to lure in potential customers.

► Weather simulation has been introduced to the first floor. Snow falls from an artificial sky dotted with lights. This snow looks, feels, and tastes like the real thing. The temperature correspondingly drops to a brisk chill, so bundle up!

► Merchants decorate their shops with winding ribbons, baubles, and bells at the beginning of December. A massive pine tree graces the central square and patrons are invited to decorate it with sparkling ornaments.

Rumor of a gifting tradition spreads, with merchants jumping on board to offer gift wrap with every sale. If you don't give someone you care about a thoughtful present then you must not really like them at all!

SPECIALTY SHOPS

LIMITED TIME WARES

PREPARE FOR DUNGONEERING

► One of the biggest stores in the marketplace is the armorer's shop. It isn't safe to go adventuring in an unexplored dungeon without protection! Come one, come all. The best armor in town is here. The marketeers in the armorer's shop swear their supplies are the best in the business. Well-crafted! Quality materials! Enchanted to ward off the elements!

All available armor is extremely slutty. Every piece has been styled to emphasize the wearer's assets and barely covers anything. Tight, sexy, and functional. Isn't it a win/win for all? Let those tits battle and breathe!

► Guests that follow the sound of clanging metal will find the blacksmith. The front of the shop offers a basic selection of knives, swords, and shields for purchase. While the quality of these weapons is mediocre at best, guests may not want to pass up the opportunity to purchase a weapon while the house is allowing it.

Weapon aficionados may meet with the blacksmith to discuss enhancing the current selection. Special materials can be found in dungeon chests or collected from monsters to improve weapon quality. Guests willing to collect these materials and have the chips to spare can commission superior products.

► Several leather shops are competing for business. One specializes in enchanted leather pouches, another focuses on offering high quality boots. Leather journals make beautiful gifts. What lasts longer than leather clothing? Nothing! Or how about a leather hair accessory for that person with long, flowing locks?

Those browsing through these many leather shops best keep their wits about them. Not all of them are selling real leather! Some greedy merchants are trying to pass off plastic junk as the real thing. A few bold charlatans willing to lie about enchantments to customers that appear uneducated about magic. Do your best to not get swindled!

DRIED AND BAKED SUNDRIES

► The dried goods shop is the most popular amongst adventurers. Those preparing to head down into the dungeon can't leave without supplies, after all! One can find a broad selection of jellies, jams, preserves, cheese, jerky, nuts, and seeds. While they aren't the tastiest, they'll survive for several days in a backpack, which is exactly what every adventurer needs!

► The universe-renowned baking mogul, Mama Brot, has opened a shop selling her famous pretzels. These soft pretzels, nicknamed breastzels, come in both sweet and savory variations. They are deliciously plush and melt in the mouth. It's said that one bite of one of her pillowy breastzels will send you straight to heaven. Dessert and bread connoisseurs cannot miss out!

Guests eager to get their hands on some of Mama Brot's breastzels have their work cut out for them. The shops restocks with fresh breastzels every morning, but the line to purchase starts queuing two hours beforehand. Supply runs out quickly every time Mama Brot decides to whip up a new batch. Good luck!

► Small bakeries peppering throughout the marketplace kick off December with a flurry of decorated cookies. Guests will find cookies and biscuits cut into different shapes, painted with icing, smeared with jam, and drizzled with chocolate. Hot chocolate booths also pop up, their baristas encouraging guests to gather and enjoy the snow by the center market tree with a cozy drink.

JOBS & QUESTS

A MAKESHIFT TAVERN

CALLING ALL ADVENTURERS: A SLAYER QUEST AWAITS!
Are you looking to make big coin? Do you have the strength and endurance to take on the dungeon? Then we want YOU to join our guild's quest to sLay!

The dungeon is teeming with sexy monsters that need sLaying. All you need to do to sLay is to fuck them real good! Once satisfied, these sexy monsters may drop quality loot. Join in the hunt to sLay and consolidate drops with our guild! We're happy to make trades or buy.

Yaaassss sLay all day!

JOB POSTING ONE! BIG PAYOUT FOR EASY WORK!

I am a pharmacist looking for some brave adventurers willing to go down into the dungeon and collect dongle flower milk for me. I need at least 10 bottles! This is an important ingredient in one of my popular prescriptions. I am not athletic enough to go get it myself and my supplies are running low.

Please deliver all dongle flower milk to the medical shop in the northwest corner of the market. Please note, I need FULL bottles. Do not skimp or I won't pay!

JOB POSTING TWO! HELP A WOMAN'S GROWING BUSINESS!

I am a young lady looking to expand my make-up business. I heard rumors that there's water in the dungeon that could make an AMAZING base for make-up products. But it sounds like it's super scary in there and I don't want to go. Please, someone, help!

You can bring all bottles of dungeon water to the make-up booth in the southeast corner of the market. I'm willing to pay in chips or trade some of my current products. My face masks and nail polishes are really good!

JOB POSTING THREE! PLEASE DON'T ASK WHY!

Hello. I need many dungeon slime cores, so I am looking for everyone and anyone willing to go slime hunting and gather some for me. We can negotiate pay based upon the number of slime cores brought. Do not inquire what the slimes or their cores are needed for.

Please bring all slime and slime core deliveries to back door of the Dried and Baked Sundries shop. Thank you!

JOB POSTING FOUR! I WANT COLLECTABLES!

If you're going into the dungeon, I want collectables. If you find that fabled treasure room, bring me back something cool and shiny. I'm willing to pay good money! I don't care what it is as long as it's hard to get and I can brag to my friends about it.

You can find me drinking in the tavern. I'll be wearing expensive velvet and a tiny hat with a feather.

PULL UP A CHAIR

► As a watering hole for adventurers looking for a place to kick back and relax with a hot beer, the tavern is a hot spot at all hours. Crude and sticky, there's never a dull moment at this establishment! Fights break out every night, drinking competitions are the norm, and it's the best place to gather information.

The tavern doubles as an inn, offering a dozen rooms above the bar for adventurers to cool their heels. A night's stay is relatively cheap and costs only a handful of chips.

► Guests can pick up jobs and quests from the tavern's request board. Postings vary in difficulty and payout. Anyone is welcome to pick them up and they can be completed for as long as the dungeon is active.

► Jobs and quests can be completed through the dungeon prompts below. They may be done multiple times. These job posters need a lot of supply!

► Guests can also list their own jobs and quests to the tavern's request board. While the board is typically meant to attract adventurers for hire, guests can advertise their own services this way. The bartender really doesn't care what goes up. She's too busy breasting boobily behind the counter in a corset that hikes her cleavage against her throat.

A WHOLE NEW BASEMENT

GOOD LUCK, NEW ARRIVALS

A TRENDY RENOVATION

► Low rank guests will be delighted to find that the basement has been completely renovated! Basement and maintenance floors have been converted into a realistic dungeon complete with gray stone, torchlight, and the echo of crawling monsters. Low rank suites have been temporarily adjusted to match the aesthetic.

► The communal bathroom has also been styled into a medieval latrine. Low rank guests can now enjoy bonding together over a communal trench and chamber pots. A helpful sign has been posted on the door advising guests to be wary of slimes coming up through the piping.

► Low rank guests that aren't happy with their living arrangements can check out the rooms above the tavern. They need only chat with the bartender and pay a fee for each night they wish to stay. It's up to them whether or not they think a dungeon filled with monsters or a raucous tavern is better for their beauty sleep.

NEW ARRIVALS

► New arrivals find themselves waking in various locations throughout the dungeon. Unlike low rank guests who have dungeon suites, new arrivals wake randomly in the upper and lower levels of the dungeon. Anywhere is fair game.

► New arrivals are considered dungeon monsters. In fact, wildcards are the number one hunted monster for the extremely popular sLaying quest! They'll have to keep on their toes if they don't want to be sexily sLayed.

► Stepping away from resort standard, wildcards wake dressed to embody their role as an erotic dungeon monster. The house knows that its guests have eclectic tastes, so monster costumes range from skimpy strategically placed furs to full body suits.

► What are dungeon monsters without drops? Wildcards will also wake with a pouch of valuables for adventurers to collect. These items can vary from useful ores, gemstones, and chip vouchers to random items like condoms, vegetables, and shiny rocks.

UPPER DUNGEON

START THE DESCENT

FLOOR 1

Heading down the stairs from the marketplace leads to the first floor of the dungeon. This is where all low rank suites have been condensed. Corridors are generally dry and well lit, with twisting ivy and torches lining the walls. Some guests say that it’s an improvement over the previously dreary, dirty basement.

Only a handful of monsters are brave enough to come close to the surface. The ones that do have low IQs and are easily defeated.

---

► Barrels, crates, and chests can be found in corners and intersections. Low value materials, like perishables and basic clothing, can be found inside. This may or may not include the personal items of low rank guests misplaced during renovations. Whoops!

Watch out! Mimic chests love to hide amongst these crates. Opened mimic chests chase nearby guests, desperate to thrust their slimy tongues into any reachable orifice. They’re also quite dumb, happily repopulating areas where other mimics have been beaten. It isn’t uncommon to find a new one where an old one had been just yesterday!

► Sprigs of mistletoe grow over doors and dangle from the ceiling. Nothing happens when someone passes alone. The enchantment is only triggered when two or more people intersect. Those who cross under the mistletoe may find themselves unable to leave its proximity. As if an invisible bubble has appeared, attempts to leave will be rebuffed.

The mistletoe enchantment can only be broken by kissing. Some mistletoe may be satisfied with a brief kiss while others may require its victims to use tongue. Get ready for some smooching!

FLOOR 2

Multiple stairways across the first floor lead down to the second. As guests head down, they will find the temperature dropping and light dimming. The stairwell opens up to a reveal crumbling archways, staggered levels of ruins, and rich moss blanketing over stone.

This dungeon floor has several gaps between ruins and multiple pockets of open space. Old wooden bridges creak in the wind. Leaves flick across, carried on steady breeze. Treasure chests and harpy-like monsters can be found throughout the ruins.

---

► Adventurers need to cross multiple bridges to make it to the next portion of the dungeon. However, they will find that they cannot cross these bridges alone. All bridges in this area vanish the moment someone steps out solo. Luckily, falls to the ground are cushioned by a thick blanket of moss.

Adventurers must step forward together, hand-in-hand, in order to cross. Guests that stop holding hands while crossing, hesitate, or mistrust one another will find the bridge vanishing from beneath their feet.

► Wind speeds spike dangerously at random intervals and send the floor into sub-freezing temperatures. During these times, it is advised that adventurers take cover, because they might end up blown away. There are sporadic abandoned campsites in caves and alcoves where guests can wait out the wind.

These campsites serendipitously offer a cozy bedroll. One cozy bedroll. With howling winds knocking out torchlight, the only way to keep warm is to cuddle up and share body heat. Oddly enough, the furious winds only calm down after adventurers snuggle. Weird!

FLOOR 3

Lush vegetation dominates the third floor. Pathways are challenging to follow beneath overgrown flora. Ancient trees twist between crumbling pillars. This dungeon forest is teeming with sexy floral monsters that blend with the brush and provoke adventurers with sensual whispers. Isn’t it amazing how accurate they are in pinpointing your kinks?

Monsters on this floor love to tease and fondle guests passing through. Adventurers cutting through the forest may end up groped by branches, leaves, and flowers. Or more! These floral monsters can get very handsy.

---

► Treasure chests can be found throughout the dungeon forest. The floral monsters will try to protect them, but none of the monsters in this area are particularly strong. Wood nymphs seduce guests away from chests and vines will lash out to slap their hands. Chests on this floor are valuable, offering high-quality potions like elixirs and panaceas.

Not all potions are good. Some bottles are decoys that cause unwanted effects. The three most common decoys are love potions, hatemance potions, and flora potions.

LOVE POTION: A magical liquid designed to make the person who drinks it fall in love with the first person they see.

HATEMANCE POTION: A magical liquid designed to make the first person who drinks it fall into hate, coupled with passionate sexual desire, for the first person they see.

FLORA POTION: Liquefied chlorophyll designed to temporarily transform anyone who drinks it into a sexy monster. Monster need not be plant-based.

► An invasive species, the dongle flower, can be found in large number in the center of the forest. This flower’s fleshy petals phallically cone into one another and stand erect from a small cluster of leaves at its base. This flower is mostly known for its milk, which can be collected by pumping its petals. Those unfamiliar with this breed of flora may mistake it for a human penis, but closer investigation will confirm that it is indeed a plant.

Getting to close to the dongle flower comes with risks. This flower is notorious for ejaculating its milk when stimulated. Dongle flowers in close proximity may trigger one another and cause a chain of milk ejaculations. Dongle flower milk has analeptic properties that heighten virility, sensitivity, and sex drive. The more milk, the more potent.

LOWER DUNGEON

HALFWAY DOWN

FLOOR 4

A slope leads the way down to the fourth floor. Adventurers must be careful with their footing to avoid taking a spill because the path is steep and uneven. Why are these stones sticking up so much, anyway?!

Guests not watching their step may end up triggering a trap. After a trick stone sinks beneath their weight, a rumble echoes throughout the dungeon. This echo the ominous prelude to a giant boulder crashing down and rolling after them! (There is a nipple painted on the boulder.)

Those that don’t want to get squashed by the boulder may have to throw themselves off the ledge. Depending on where they decide to jump ship, they will end up in a different chamber designed to test their mettle.

---

► CHAMBER ONE: An unfurnished room with no windows or doors. This chamber is deep, making it difficult to try and scale the walls back up to the path. Lone adventurers will end up stuck until someone else joins them, because the trap will not trigger until two or more guests are inside.

Once at least two guests are trapped, spikes spring from two opposing walls. They slowly begin to close in and a booming voice declares: BE EMOTIONALLY VULNERABLE OR DIE!

The floor will give way for guests that comply. Those that do not and cannot get out of the room on their own will be spiked. They may escape with injuries or die. If the latter, they will revive in the Broken Wing clinic.

► CHAMBER TWO: This chamber is divided into multiple parallel rooms. These rooms are designed to facilitate a specific kink between the guests trapped inside. They might be furnished with toys or vacant with only a gloryhole in a partition. Regardless, every room has a door locked shut with a bulky padlock.

After two guests have entered a booming voice declares: EXPLORE KINK OR REMAIN TRAPPED FOREVER!

Padlocks will drop and doors will open for guests that comply. Those that do not are doomed to be trapped forever… or figure a way out through demolition. That disembodied voice is going to be really salty when adventurers realize that last option exists.

FLOOR 5

Water commands the fifth floor. Adventurers must tread through dark and damp tunnels that lead into flooded chambers. Pools and rivers run throughout, with some areas reaching depths of 50 feet. Treasure chests are submerged but are worth the effort, offering ores, metals, and rare stones that can be used to enhance weapons with the blacksmith.

Reverse mermaids live in these waters. They enjoy swimming alongside adventurers and spreading their legs to show off how good they are for fucking.

---

► Slimes ooze along the ceiling and plop into the water. They float along like jellyfish, but will direct themselves toward adventurers they sense nearby. Slimes vary in size and color, though the majority are small enough to cup between two hands. The mother slime, a giant slime hidden deep in the depths, occasionally appears to absorb adventurers into her gelatinous body.

Small and deceptively cute, these little monsters are attracted to adventurers and eager to ooze all over them. Different colored slimes and their secretions cause various physical reactions. Slimes can be mixed to create combination effects.

CLEAR SLIME: Clear slime is an aphrodisiac that can also be used as a lubricant.

PINK SLIME: Pink slime amplifies shyness and embarrassment.

PURPLE SLIME: Purple slime triggers sexual aggression and sadistic tendencies.

YELLOW SLIME: Yellow slime may enhance dominate or submissive inclinations.

MOTHER SLIME: Secretions from the mother slime trigger a breeding rut/heat. The more contact one has with the mother slime, the more intense the rut/heat.

► The water in this dungeon has unique properties. Adventurers that soak for long periods of time may find their skin clearing up, their hair becoming shinier, and their features becoming dewy and radiant. This water is imbued with beauty magic that intensifies the sexiness of those who drink or bathe in it. Everything they do, even sneezing or scratching an itch, will be tinted in a pink glow of attractive glamor.

Guests that soak for too long run the risk of becoming powerfully distracting. Beauty can be bewitching, so take care to not charm other adventurers into becoming obsessed admirers, lest you become an unwitting Helen of Troy!

Drinking the water comes with an additional potential side effect. The drinker's voice has a 25% chance of becoming hypnotic. They may be able to entrance others or cause them to orgasm through dirty talk alone.

FLOOR 6

Drying off won't be a problem after getting down to the sixth floor! The temperature jumps to a sweltering degree and light glints off silvery glass. Orange and red flicker and dance. Stepping into the yawning mouth of this massive floor reveals a giant pit of blazing fire beneath a twisting mirror maze.

Muscular minotaurs prowl, prepared to kidnap adventurers and whisk them away to their dens. This maze is also equipped with traps and enchantments designed to redirect guests back to the beginning entrance. Adventurers will need to use creativity and ingenuity to navigate this labyrinth while battling intense heat.

---

► Guests can take cover in small chambers at maze corridor intersections. These rooms are also sweltering but, happily enough, there are magical air conditioners available! Two plates on opposite sides of the room must simultaneously be stepped on in order to activate the ice enchantment.

Comfort comes with a price. Something strange happens when magic sparks: the adventurers standing on the activation plates have swapped bodies! They won't be able to switch back immediately, either, because the ice enchantment has a cool down period. Their options are to either wait it out or go find another room with an unused ice enchantment!

► Adventurers that successfully navigate their way through the maze will find a long corridor leading to a massive shining door. They've found the exit down to the treasure room where riches upon riches are waiting. Money, money, money!!

Guests that let their guard down while walking to the door may end up shot with an arrow! In classic dungeon fashion, holes in the wall open and launch arrows all the way down to the entrance of the treasure room.

Getting shot by an arrow will trigger lust at first sight! Forget about everything else and look at your fellow dungeon crawler. Aren't they so erotic? Don't you really want to fuck them right now and forget about all that treasure? Or perhaps they're still rocking around in your swapped body. Isn't it suddenly tempting to fuck yourself?

TREASURE ROOM

IT DEFINITELY ISN'T CURSED

FLOOR 7: THE BOTTOM FLOOR

The final floor of the dungeon is a massive chamber glittering with precious gems, metals, and enchanted valuables. Piles and piles of gold coins are stacked as far as the eye can see. Treasure chests line the walls, overflowing with sparkling jewelry. Anyone that’s ever wanted to swim in piles of gold can finally make their dream come true.

Guests can take whatever they can carry. They have to make their way back up through the dungeon with it, so hopefully they came prepared!

---

► Brave adventurers that managed to come this far deserve worthwhile gains. Those who enter the treasure room are welcome to pick up special treasures from the following selection. None of these items are game breaking, so players can pick up multiple or mix and match.

ECHO STONE: A small stone that fits in the palm of a hand. When tapped, it sends out a soft pulse that outlines nearby exits, hidden passages, or alternate routes in shimmering light.

EARRINGS OF FATE: A matching pair of diamond studs. If shared between two people, the wearers can sense each others’ location all times.

CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY: Shimmering silver fabric as smooth as water. Wearing this cloak grants invisibility.

THONG OF BRONZE: A bronze thong. Wearing this thong increases power, endurance, and speed, but only when worn alone.

RING OF PROTECTION: A simple gold ring enchanted to protect the wearer. While this is useful during battle, it also can act as birth control and prevent sharing diseases.

CLICK LOCK LOCKET: A simple golden heart-shaped locket. The wearer can open the locket and give themselves temporary body modifications for up to two hours at a time.

MECHANICAL MOUSE: A mechanical mouse that registers its master with a drop of blood. A little friend that can scout, transport small items, and fit into tiny spaces.

BRASS COMPASS: A small brass compass with delicate gears. It doesn’t point north. Instead, it points to the carrier's deepest desire or the object they seek the most.

FEATHER OF FLIGHT: A delicate feather that feels lighter than air itself. Grants the ability to fly for a short period but the user must have it in their possession and activate it. Works in bursts, such as allowing them to jump across wide gaps or avoid a deadly fall.

HAND OF LUCK: A small, silver broach shaped like a human hand, fingers outstretched in a gesture of good fortune. The hand grants increased luck to the user, influencing dice rolls, odds, or even the outcome of risky decisions. However, it only works once per day. When it activates it may make other things worse.

► An iridescent door glitters at the back of the treasure room. Written on an aged scroll pinned to the wall is an explanation that this door can send adventurers home. They will have abandon their companions for this opportunity, because one who uses the door must pass through alone. The scroll explains that the door will only work once within a span of several hours, making it impossible for anyone else to immediately use it. There is also the risk that it will never work again.

Of course, the door isn't really sending anyone back to their world. Guests that decide to take the leap will find themselves walking straight into their suite upstairs. The scroll didn't specify which home!

OOC NOTES

INVITES | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS

▶ BLANKET CW: alcohol; altered states; anonymous; aphrodisiacs; BDSM dynamics; body swap; breeding kink; classic tropes; costumes; cum play; dubcon; death; enchantments; erotic plants; erotic monsters; entrapment; hypnotism; noncon; temperature play; traps; weapons; violence; voice kink

▶ All characters on the TDM are WILDCARDS, which means they have not yet been assigned a card value. Suits will not manifest until characters are accepted into the game.

▶ All TDMs are game canon. This TDM acts as the game's November event and is designed to provide content for players through the mods' December break. The marketplace and dungeon will ICly conclude on January 1st.

▶ Current characters may top level on the TDM. Any current characters posting to the TDM should note they are current in their subject header. The top level directory is for new characters only. We want to make sure new characters are prioritized and receive attention!

▶ Smut threads that take place on this TDM can be used for rewards. If both parties in the smut thread join the game, you may retroactively apply the character's initial card values to your 52 bank. If one character does not join the game the thread will not be applicable toward rewards (as that character would not have a card value). The character that does join would still receive a small payout for the encounter. Hopefully it was a fun thread regardless!

▶ We ask you to kindly add content warnings to your threads as appropriate.

▶ If you do not currently have permissions and kinks listed in your character’s journal we suggest leaving a note in your top level of any limits or boundaries for other players to reference.

NAVIGATION • LOG • NETWORK • OOC • MEME

Comments

[workingslacker]

[ Don't ask! Don't ask, don't ask. It's not something you want to get involved in or know, so don't - ]

Is that what you're concerned about? You'll end up trying to go "home" and end up in a state of non-existence?

[ Well. It's not like he knows the state of his initial body... ]

[hersatz]

[That gets a laugh out of her, faint and more like a dry exhale of breath than anything else. It's eerily soft against the metallic clinking of the jewelry she's shuffling through.]

Non-existence? If it doesn't send me "home", then what I'm going back to is a corpse. So you can see why it might take me a minute to think about it.

[workingslacker]

[ Woah woah. So she had been somewhere else? So it's an either or situation? Cale blinks for a moment, watching the young lady carefully. ]

Define "home."

[ Because things are not adding up here. Maybe to someone else it might not make sense, but Cale's gears are starting to spin. ]

[hersatz]

What do you mean, define it? Home? The place where you live, where you go to school, where your friends are? Home, where you're supposed to be?

[As opposed to...what, exactly, one might ask.]

Where things are normal and — I mean, no one would ever call a place like this resort "home", right? And even this dungeon wouldn't be "home" to someone who did! We all just woke up like this one day, that's not normal even to the people who live here all the time, is it?

[workingslacker]

[ Cale's lost all interest in the stone. One hand rests on his hip while fingers touch his chin. Does she even know what she's implying? That what she defines as home is not the same location as where this "corpse" is. ]

Are you someone that has died?

[ Just a guess. But if Choi Han can transmigrate and if there's at least one time regressor here - ]

Not to be insensitive.

[hersatz]

[There's something in the way he says it that makes her pause in her efforts, silver chains and gold coins sliding from her fingers as he, too, abruptly becomes the most significant thing in the room. And it takes Penelope a long second to place precisely why — until it occurs to her that she'd tried to have this conversation before, hadn't she, or something very like it, with people who'd claimed to care about her and understand her when she'd known all along that they were just characters in a video game she'd fallen asleep playing the night before she'd woken up in the body of a villainess.

Those conversations had been frustrating, in a quiet way, with how they'd shown her that they had no way of even beginning to comprehend her situation.

This one is eerie in how it almost seems...opposite. Like he understands too much, and is trying to bait her about it somehow.]

So what if I am?

[...Ah. There it is. That's her misstep, isn't it.]

— so you're wondering why I still considered the door. Because a dead person would've already known they had nothing to go back to, so it wouldn't mean anything to them. Right?

[workingslacker]

[ Well that saves him some time if she's already figured out the contradictory nature of her question. Someone who has well and truly died likely won't consider the door unless they know, for sure, that they'd be alive upon returning. But she, instead, had eluded to the fact that it's an IF NOT THIS then THAT situation. ]

You also mentioned the possibility of being somewhere else other than home prior to here.

[ At least he's in a relatively good mood. Now, Cale might not have exactly been very open about his own history with transmigration... But that doesn't mean it's a secret. He just doesn't want to deal with the issues that it would present should he try to explain it to the people back home. ]

It's also the reason I'm not even considering the door. I, in particular, don't want to go back to where I was born.

[hersatz]

Mm. It's not like that place was much better than home, but at least at home things make sense.

[She hesitates, getting to her feet and folding her arms over her chest.]

Why don't you want to go back to where you were born?

[workingslacker]

Isn't it obvious? My current situation is much better than my previous one.

[ That and, well. Cale had been an avid fantasy reader back when he had been Kim Rok Soo. Who wouldn't want the chance to do exactly what the protagonists that he's read about do?

...Okay, so in reality it's because he has no attachments left. Everyone that had ever meant anything to him are long gone. Now Cale has things he kind of cares about - even if he doesn't fully realize that yet. ]

To be fair, you and I could be in the same exact situation if we walk through that door. I just have no desire to find out.

[hersatz]

Well, isn't that lucky for you. Maybe I'd feel that way too if I could live somewhere that everyone didn't think I was a villainess.

[Who even uses the word "villainess" in normal conversation save for an extremely rare subset of contemporary youth highly invested in one very specific type of media? Hmmm.]

...You know, talking through it like this, maybe that door really isn't worth it. No matter which one it was, I'd still have brothers who hate me and a father who doesn't care. At least here nobody's trying to kill me because I said one thing wrong or stepped one foot out of line.

[workingslacker]

[ Hmmm! That's quite suspicious. Just as suspicious as - ]

Or a minor antagonist that only was mentioned briefly in the first chapter?

[ Honestly, Cale wouldn't mind returning back to where he had just come from. He's actually gained a lot and there's so much more that remains to be done. However, the risk that he could return to his original body? Hmmm. ]

It isn't worth it in the long run. If only one person can go through, that's suspicious enough. [ Now he regards the door fully. ] My guess is that there is some trick to it.

[hersatz]

[Chap...ter...? What the hell?]

...What's your name?

[A normal person would have one answer to that question. An abnormal person...well.]

[workingslacker]

[ A normal person would have only one answer. But neither one of them are really normal people now are they.

And yet - ]

Cale.

[ Yet the look in his eye says that he knows that's not quite what she's asking. ]

[hersatz]

Huh. That's pretty strange. Because that sounds a lot more like the name somebody would give a minor antagonist only briefly mentioned in the first chapter.

[...]

Maybe it's yours now. But was it yours when you were born?

[workingslacker]

Just like "Penelope" is a name suited for someone destined to be a villainess, right?

[ Oh he remembers that profile, young lady. Now there are quite a few things slotting in quite nicely. It's interesting. ]

It was Kim Rok Soo.

[hersatz]

[HOLY FUCKING FUCK.]

But there wasn't any character named Cale in —

[what. the. actual. fuck.]

You mean something like that happened to you, too?! How often does crazy stuff like that happen! That's not normal! It's absolutely crazy!

[workingslacker]

[ Aaaand there it is. The reaction of someone who has realized that they are not quite unique in their situation. ]

Don't you think you should share your own birth name at this point?

[ As he hasn't uttered his in... Well two years at this point. Though, really, he doesn't much think of himself as Kim Rok Soo. ]

Actually, the novel I woke up in? The novel's protagonist is a someone who was transported into that world. So I have to think that this sort of thing happens more than we realize.

[hersatz]

Mm. It's...Cha Siyeon.

[Even just saying it out loud, it feels like it belongs to a stranger. That's not normal, either, is it? She's not supposed to think of herself as Penelope at all, is she???]

It was a novel for you? It was a video game for me. Wait, so does that mean you were never in danger of a "game over" if you did something out of line?!

[workingslacker]

A game over - no. [ Why would it? It's like he had just been dropped into the setting - ] What do you mean out of line?

[ Is this world of hers operating like an actual game? What the actual fuck? ]

[hersatz]

You know, like...if you give the wrong answer in a game, so your score goes down?

[Her tone goes eerily flat — not disturbed, not self-pitying, just controlled. Nearly emotionless, in how matter-of-fact it turns.]

The villainess starts the game with a favorability rating of zero. That makes sense, right? It's not as though she's the heroine. She doesn't start out liked or with any goodwill at all. You could say she's on her "last chance" with everyone. And if she missteps and the favorability drops below that, into the negatives, then it's "game over".

[workingslacker]

The game mechanics are still in play? Are you serious?

[ Isn't that just setting someone up to fail? ]

What happens if there is a game over?

[ Cale can only assume that it means death. Or, maybe, a reset. He's pretty sure that there have been situations in which that had been the case. The person playing the role of the villain has to keep at it until they get it right.

What a miserable existence, if you ask him. ]

[hersatz]

Hah...when I first woke up, I didn't even have free dialogue unlocked. Just the multiple choice options.

[YEAH. YEAH.]

Mm, well, there's so many options. A fork embedded in the throat, neck broken on the table, pushed out a window, head cut off by some madman with a sword, mauled by a bear, poisoned with toxins or just some moldy food...

[She shakes her head.]

There are an awful lot of ways to die, aren't there? I found a lot of them when I was playing the game in my apartment. But avoiding them is a lot scarier when it's the real thing. And the one time it finally came to that...well, I guess what happens is you wake up in some weirdo hotel and told to play its games.

[workingslacker]

You had forced dialogue. As in, you could still see the UI?

[ You know what? He can suddenly understand why she would be conflicted going back to that. Cale doesn't think he would want to deal with all of that. Too troublesome. Too many ways to die.

And chances are, like him, there hasn't been someone to really talk to about it. ]

None of that mirrors my experience. I woke up like this and decided I was going to avoid getting beaten up. [ Sounds simple, right? ] I imagine that if I die, then I die. I had been using the events of the novel to my advantage up to this point.

[hersatz]

That's right. And the favorability ratings of the target characters, and when something was a main story quest, and what the rewards were if I succeeded...

[AND IF YOU WOULD DIE IF YOU FAILED...BUT YOU KNOW...]

So in other words, you had it pretty easy, huh?

[workingslacker]

In comparison to that? Absolutely.

[ That's far too much work for him, thank you. The fact that she's been able to actually stay alive is... Well that really only speaks to how much she had played this game before and how skilled Penelope must be to navigate those situations. ]

I ended up as a man with a pretty face. Rich, but not inheriting the title, which means I'm free to really live as I please. So all of that nonsense is not my idea of a good time, thank you.

[ Not that it's been all cupcakes and rainbows. There is still a war to deal with in the end. ]