I was standing there gawking through the door. On the other side of the door was a full tavern. There was a barkeep wiping out a glass, and about five, 4-tops from my angle. Up above the bar was a railing that looked like it was for a walk going to rooms.

Blink walked right through the door and turned and looked at me with one of her patented sassy looks. I unfroze as I felt blood drip down my hand and walked on through.

I was pulling with me the bag I had just gotten and the best of the cuirass from the lot of them. It like the halberd was the only one that wasn’t called rusty. When I got in, the door closed behind me.

The barkeep set the glass he had been working on down and looked at me. “Welcome to the first floor safe room. Come on over here and I will get you a drink and answer any questions I can.”

As I walked toward the bar, I asked, “Are you real? Like another human?”

The barkeep laughed, “No! I am part of the dungeon.” He smiled at me and pointed at the bolt in my shoulder. “You should do something about that. It looks like it hurts.”

“It does hurt, so you are like the creatures out there?” I asked as I pointed behind me with my good arm.

“Kind of, I’m part of the make up of all dungeons. The creatures are based off of things found or could be found locally.”

“So you are part of every dungeon?” I asked as I sat at the bar.

“Yes, and no. I’m not at everyone right now but there is a me at each one. If you go to another one and meet me there I will remember you. That being said if you tell someone to tell me something when they go in I wont remember you from that remark. It’s odd and I am not fully sure how it all works only that it does work.”

“So what all do you do here?”

“I can get you a drink or a room. I also handle any sales that you might have for us on this floor.”

I winced as I shifted. The bolt was doing me no favors. “Can you get this things out of me?”

The barkeep sighed, “Sadly that would be against the rules of what I can provide.”

He smiled real big and said, “That being said I can sell you just about anything to drink!”

“I am safe in here no monsters going to come through the door and kill me?”

“Well, you brought one with you but other than those from the outside you are safe.”

“So the orc that drove us in here could follow me and kill me?”

The bartender started to laugh with just a little chuckle and then turned into a full-blown belly laugh. As he was trying to get control of himself, he got out, “They are unwanted here and would be confronted with everything we had.”

With that, I pulled my knife out, and I stripped the fins off the bolt. Then I worked to get my mail shirt up and around the protruding wood. I was in pain when I was finished, but I had it clear.

I had to stop a few times to heal myself along the way, and I ordered a whiskey. When he asked what kind, I asked for a Crown Black, and he laughed and poured me a drink. It wasn’t Crown; it wasn’t even close, and it might not have been whiskey, but it was brown and burned.

“That my good man wasn’t even close to Crown Black. What was that horrid stuff?”

“It is the only whiskey we have something called Proper 12.”

“Never heard of it but if shoe polish was drinkable that was what you gave me. How did you get it?”

“Travelers bring things they think are useful or funny and will leave them for the dungeons.”

“Well time for the fun part.” I muttered. “Shot of your strongest!”

The bartender used the same bottle to pour out another shot. This was a greenish-purple that started to fizz and pop. He smiled and said, “That should do you good.”

“Blink! Get your scaly butt over here! I need you to pull this thing out my back!” I bellowed as I tossed the drink back and then slammed my shoulder onto the bar top.

My vision blurred and went all sparkly for a moment before a white-hot pain shot right through the inside of my shoulder. I felt the bolt break through the skin on my back, and blood started to pour down my arm.

Then I felt a yank. I went toward my right where the tug was coming from. Blink was upset; that much was evident with the emotions rolling off of her. Then I felt the bolt get yanked again.

“Youuu almost, most got. It out you lovable killer!” I slurred as Blink ripped the bolt the rest of the way out.

She dropped the bolt in front of me.

“Oh look Blinkie Winkie there’s a chew toy for you! Sooo nice of you to find it. Maybe we should make it into a necklace to keep!”

I tried to stand up and felt that, for some reason, my right foot wanted to be in front and to my left. My left foot thought it would be fun to try to get up to the bar. Now why I thought my foot should be on the bar, I wouldn’t be able to explain to anyone, but it was the right place to put it. Even if that meant that I was trying to lay on the stool.

I ended up toppling off the stool and finding the ground with my face. “Oh, look, spittoons!” I tried to spit, but only a little dribble came out and got caught in my large mustache.

As I tried to push myself back up, I slipped on the blood from my arm and went back down to the ground with a rather large oof! “I think I might take a room right here on the floor!” I half said, and half yelled as I waved my left hand in the air.

“Nope! Rules are sleeping is done in a room. Can’t have patrons passing out down here and then getting upset that their face hurts in the morning.” The bartender said as he started to lift me up.

“Noooo! I want another. I am good!” I started to struggle with the rather large man. I pushed myself off of him and staggered back to the bar holding on with both arms. I began to act like I knew how to tap dance. “See me good. Me mean I. I! ME!”

“Your drunk and falling down. Now if you don’t want to sleep I’m not going to force you up to your room but you can’t just pass out here. Besides if you die up stairs I get more experience.”

“What!” I shouted with a question. “I’m not going to die I just feel a little tipsy and lightheaded.” I said as I found my feet didn’t hold me up anymore.

Blink came down the bar to me. Her tail was swinging back and forth like the tremendous big cuddly killer lizard assassin that she was. Her tongue, which I don’t think I had noticed before, was forked, and she used it kind of like a snake. Maybe she was a snake with feet.

“Blinkie poo are you a snake with legs?” I asked in my sweetest voice.

“NO,” I felt banging around in my head like someone was playing with a whole cabinet of pots and pans.

My grip, which I thought was so great, turned out to be lacking as it slipped. I fell not quickly but somewhat slowly as my hands tried to hold onto the bar top. There was an awful squeaking sound as my hands pulled against the polished wood.

“I’m sinking! I’m sink…”

Right as I was trying to say my second sinking, I felt this wet mess lick my shoulder. It was all rough and nasty, and I hated it, but I felt it. It hurt a bit, but then it ended, and so did my grip on the bar.

I fell right back down and managed to use the foot rail as a pillow on the way down. Which didn’t feel good at all.

“Ha! See I’m fine my head didn’t even hit the ground. Floor MY head DID NOT hit the floor!”

I blinked a few times, and then there was tremendous pressure on my gut as that big pet of mine landed right on me. I spewed all over everywhere but somehow still couldn’t get anything into the spittoon.

I saw Blink’s big toothy mouth coming closer to my face. “Sweetie!!! Blinkie!!! Don’t kill me. I don’t know what I did but don’t kill me.”

I felt rolling across the bond, a feeling of me being dumb and her needing to make sure I lived. Then she licked me again.

“Dumb, Lazy, Sleep.” was all I heard as I felt myself passing out.