My work at the convenience store is starting to feel a bit tedious compared to the dungeon diving I do. But it’s steady income, and I feel like I owe Mr. Smith for giving me the job and helping out my family. So, I stick it out and make the most of my time there. When business is slow, I either finish up homework or just practice the System skills I have. Improving the skills is just a matter of putting in the time to practice. The higher the skill, the more practice is required.
Dungeon diving starts to become a regular part of my schedule too. Now that Lillian and I are closer in level, the two of us can work together in a group to clear dungeons. The contacts that Lillian made at that Halloween party work for our benefit, and we get tips on some small new dungeons. While these smaller dungeons aren’t particularly challenging, they provide enough XP to get me back to level 8.
November also brings Thanksgiving, a special holiday for my family. During Thanksgiving, all the extended family gets together. That means uncles, aunts, great aunts, great uncles, and of course the myriad of cousins. I’ve known some Hispanic families where Thanksgiving looks like a family reunion with hundreds of people attending. Our Thanksgiving isn’t nearly that big, but there are still close to fifty people who attend every year. I know that other families have turkey and mashed potatoes, but one of the delicious staples of the Hispanic version of the holiday are the tamales. All the women get together to form a tamale making line the night before, and there are hundreds of tamales made with a variety of fillings. Red and green sauces combined with pork, chicken, beef, and cheese. There are also a huge variety of other dishes. Spanish rice, beans, chili beans, enchiladas, corn on the cob, and more.
My college finals happen right before Christmas break. Most of my finals are simply harder versions of the midterms. However, the Anthropology final is interesting. It’s another presentation project, but this time it required a lot of study and observation. The project requires a 5-7 page paper and a presentation. It’s a mini-study on one culture, and it’s practices. Such things like marriage practices, burial customs, ritual activities, or subsistence systems were all fair game to research.
I chose to look at the Gaelic speaking communities of the Republic of Ireland. I’ve always wanted to visit there since I saw the movie The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. I used the portal system to establish a connection to an out of the way location in the Gaeltacht a collection of small communities where Gaelic is a primary language. Specifically, I went to Donegal. Yes, it was expensive to get the portal information, but with Lillian’s connections, it wasn’t too hard. The actual portal fee was the least expensive part. Still, I justify it to myself because it’s for school.
The visit to Donegal was fantastic. There were castles, and the scenery was amazing. I walked everywhere and found that everyone really does speak Gaelic. I mean, they speak English too, but the everyday language is Gaelic. It was just fun to sit somewhere and listen to people. I bought a program for my phone that tried to teach me some Gaelic so I wouldn’t sound like a complete tourist but I’m afraid my Gaelic was so terrible it made several pretty women fall over with laughter. Still, I made some good observations about the community. Even though the area is tourist friendly, there’s always a different relationship between residents. Everyone seems to know everyone, and a personal recommendation means more there. Also, when trouble starts, as was the case when I saw a bar fight started, the battle lines were very clearly drawn between locals and tourists. There is pride in the area and the country's history as well as deep pride that they’ve kept the national language alive. In my presentation, I emphasized that more than anything that helps define this community. Language, our ability to convey ideas and thoughts, is a fundamental binding force culturally. So, it makes sense that a community that’s dedicated itself to keeping alive an ancient language in everyday speech is bound together.
Of course, I got an A on the Anthropology final. After all, I made a montage video of it including background music by Flogging Molly.
The last college final marks the end of the Fall semester and the beginning of my Christmas break, a two-week holiday period until the beginning of the next semester.
While I still have to work, it’s nice to have a small break from school. However, there’s no rest when it comes to clearing dungeons.
Lillian and I head to a mall in Kansas where there are reports of some unusually aggressive shoppers. There we find a dungeon with a twisted version of the north pole. The two of us fight a myriad of monstrous Christmas figures, including a rabid Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, a murderous Frosty the Snowman, and some very stabby elves. The final boss isn’t St. Nick, but Krampus, the folklore counterpart to Santa Claus. The seven-foot half goat, half demon creature is covered in chains that jingle whenever he moves and a wicker basket on his back. He throws flaming coal as a ranged attack and has a nasty area of effect debuff called ‘Naughty Children’ that he starts the fight with. His main weapon is this massive two-handed birch branch that does some serious damage when it hits. When Lillian and I finally get him down to 10% health, two pale, creepy red-eyed children crawl out from under the wicker basket and attack us. When the fight is over Lillian, and I are more than happy to leave the dungeon. I luck out on the Absorption of the monsters. I get a spell called Ice Needle that doesn’t do major damage but slows an opponent’s run down when it hits. I also get Krampus’ amazing debuff ability.
Ice Needle - Level 1
G
Active
You gather the cold around you to form ice in the shape of a thin needle. The ability does minor damage, but also slows the damaged opponent down. As the ability grows, so the does the size of the needle, the damage done, and the amount an opponent is slowed.
Naughty Children - Level 1
E
Active
Krampus punishes naughty children. When activated, this debuff affects all enemies in a ten-foot radius, causing a living being to cower and beg for forgiveness. It allows spell resistance, and a will save. On a failed save the creature cowers in fear. On a successful save, it's shaken for a brief time.
Reading the magical ability, I’m glad that both Lillian and I have high Wisdom stats. That helped save us from the debilitating effects of a failed save. Though even when we saved, we still lost some of our attack power.
In addition to gaining a new ability, I get 2223 XP and 750 credits from clearing the dungeon. Lillian is happy to convert the credits to dollars, and I find myself $1125 richer. The extra money is helpful since I still haven’t finished my Christmas shopping.
Thankfully, I’m already at the mall, and Lillian is happy to help me pick out presents.
Chapter 33
Christmas isn’t as huge an event for my family as Thanksgiving is. Instead, it’s usually just my mom, Marie, and myself. My mom has always gone out of her way to make the holiday feel special for us. When I was younger, and we didn’t have much money, the three of us would make our decorations out of construction paper. The whole house would was covered in misshapen cutouts of Santa Claus, snowmen, Christmas trees, and gingerbread men. Along the ceiling, we’d hang colorful paper chains. Mom would then cook our favorite foods on Christmas morning, chilaquiles for me and sopa for Marie.
This year’s not that different. Sure, we’re doing better financially, but Mom and Marie still spend days leading up to Christmas decorating the house. Marie’s craft skills have improved over the years, and she makes some very pretty ornaments out of popsicle sticks. Christmas morning, the three of us open our presents and I’m more excited to see how my mom and Marie react to what I got them than I am to open my gifts. Marie screams when she sees that I got her tickets to see a band she likes, 98 Backstreet Directions. Personally, I can’t stand the boy band. Mom opens her gift but doesn’t seem as pleased with it. I got her one of those Shiatsu foot massage machines.