[theme music playing]
DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON
[Marcille] I'm so tired.
These stairs go on and on and it's exhausting.
Food tastes better after a little exercise.
[Marcille scoffs] A little?
[grunts] Sword, please.
Sure.
[Chilchuck] There should be a switch here.
[grunts]
[loud thud]
I don't think I've ever seen this chamber before.
And we saved a lot of time getting here.
Hm?
[Laios] Damn it.
[Chilchuck] What's wrong?
The decoration from my cross guard fell off.
Why'd you have to be so rough with it?
I-- I didn't mean to break it.
It's not your fault. It's been loose for a while now.
[Laios] I tried tying it on a string, and gluing it,
but nothing worked.
Oh, well.
Did it have some special purpose?
Nope. Not really.
[both sigh]
It was a memento, wasn't it?
A memento? Yeah, I guess in a way, it was.
[Laios] Three years ago, my sister and I were new adventurers.
To learn the ropes of the dungeon, we joined a group of gold strippers.
[Marcille] Gold strippers?
[Chilchuck] This castle was covered in gold way back when,
parties would get rich scraping off the gold.
[party leader] Hmm.
Another party already stripped this place clean.
Let's see if they hit the inside too.
[party members] Okay.
Laios, if there are monsters in there, we're not ready to handle them yet.
Yeah, but we can't make it back by ourselves either.
Huh?
[sighs]
[loud rumble]
[party leader] Would you look at that?
Poor guy.
[party member 1] Eh, the armor's all rusted.
[party leader] That's what happens if you die in a place like this
and no one finds you.
[party member 2] Over here! Look what I found!
[Falin gasps]
I wonder how much we'd get for all this armor.
They're all in good condition.
We could sell them as it is or melt them down.
[groans]
[party member 2] The armor is alive!
[party member 1] It's a monster! Run!
We can't fight these. Come on!
[both gasp]
[ominous music playing]
[clanks]
[gasps]
-[grunts] -[loud clang]
-[Laios gasps] -[whimpers]
[gasps] It broke.
Oh, no.
[ominous music continues playing]
[grunts, groans]
[gasps]
[grunts]
[gasps]
[grunting]
I killed it!
-Look out! -Huh?
-[sword squelches] -[groans]
[Laios] Anyway, that's what happened.
And that's how I got the sword.
But you died for it.
[Laios] It was my first death,
and for a while afterwards, the sight of armor would freak me out.
You know, I've read books on Living Armor,
but not one of them mentions anything about their flavor.
I wonder what they taste like.
What do you think, Senshi? How would you cook it?
What? You can't eat armor.
Living Armor is a suit of armor controlled by magic,
it's not some creature.
Yeah, I know, but what about the leather on the straps?
Ever try and eat leather? It's damn near impossible to chew.
Go catch a monster, less of a pain.
If you're so hell-bent on eating armor, you can always eat your own.
Hmm.
That's a shame.
I guess eating Living Armor is out of the question.
[sighs]
Come on, let's go.
[door opens]
Let's avoid fighting them if possible.
[Chilchuck] We'll just run past them.
I think we could do it easy. They don't move that fast.
[Laios] That's true.
What do you think? Sound good?
[Marcille] Sure.
[Laios] Any one of them could move.
So stay alert.
Here we go!
[tense music playing]
[panting]
[gasps] Oh!
[Senshi grunts]
[shouts]
[clangs, thuds]
Get going!
Huh?
-[loud clang] -[grunts]
[tense music playing]
[exclaims]
[grunts]
-[Marcille screams] -Huh?
[Marcille] They blocked us! We can't get to the other door!
[Chilchuck] What do we do now?
There's only one thing we can do now.
Go back the other way as fast as we can!
Run for it!
[all panting]
-[door closes] -[both sigh]
They're unusually aggressive.
I wonder if we did something to tick them off.
That's silly.
They don't have any feelings. They're empty suits of armor.
The only way to stop them
is to find whoever it is that's controlling them.
If someone was controlling those things,
I didn't see 'em.
Usually, what happens is,
you get too close to them and then they attack.
USUALLY
[Laios] But these ones, they moved to block the door.
TODAY
That means there could be something on the other side of that door
they have to protect.
[gasps] Like whoever or whatever is controlling them.
That's gotta be it. It's the only explanation.
Then you think it might be a monster?
I don't know. Maybe.
Normal folks wouldn't have access to magic that powerful.
What now? Unless we can get past them and through that door, we're stuck.
We'll have to find the mage or whatever that's controlling the armor.
Once we take them out, that should break the spell.
Obviously.
-I got it. -[both] Hm?
If three people distract the armor,
one of us can sneak right on by and get through the door.
Hm?
Good luck sneaking by.
Actually, I thought you'd do the sneaking,
since that's kinda your thing.
But fighting definitely isn't my thing.
Living Armor doesn't have eyes or ears 'cause it doesn't need them,
stealth skills don't work on things that aren't alive.
They don't have eyes or ears…
[foreboding music playing]
Hm.
-Are you ready? -[both] Mm.
-[Marcille] Let's do this! -[Senshi] Yeah!
[Marcille] Come on, you rusty buckets! I'm right here!
Come and get me!
Ah! Bad idea!
Don't fear, missy!
-[loud thud] -[grunts]
[grunting]
[loud explosion]
Aslam!
[suspenseful music playing]
-[door opening] -[grunting]
[door squeaks]
[gasps]
[foreboding music playing]
Oh, fantastic. There's one in here too.
[squeaking, clanking]
[Laios] This one looks different from the armor in the other room.
There doesn't seem to be anyone here doing the controlling.
I get the feeling this one's the strongest.
[thuds]
[Senshi grunting in distance]
[Laios] I can't call the others for help.
I'll have to fight this thing on my own
and figure out what the armors are protecting.
[intense music playing]
-[grunts] -[thuds]
[Laios] I'll try chopping off an arm or a leg,
maybe that will slow it down.
[Laios grunting]
[loud thud]
[groans, gasps]
[grunting]
-[gasps] -[sword clangs]
[groaning]
[gasps]
Dammit! [grunts]
[loud thud]
[grunts]
[Laios] It was protecting its shield.
What the…
What's that stuck to it?
Wait. I've seen something like that before.
[children giggling]
[Laios] That's right.
[laughing]
[Laios] It's a…
[loud blast]
[gasps]
An egg case!
That's what it was protecting.
Eggs!
What kind of eggs are they?
Do they belong to whatever is controlling the armor?
[Chilchuck] Living Armor doesn't have eyes or ears
'cause it doesn't need them.
[Laios] I knew it.
There's more to these things.
If it has no eyes or ears…
why did it bother picking up the helmet and straightening it?
Why did it turn its head to track our movements?
Why has it got eggs?
I know why. There's a creature in it!
There's no outside force controlling them.
They move instinctively and deliberately to protect its eggs.
They're alive!
That means they can be killed.
That means…
we can eat 'em!
-[Chilchuck grunting, screaming] -[Senshi] Take this!
There's too many of 'em!
Ah!
Oh, no!
[Senshi grunts]
-[whimpering] -Keep moving! If you stop, you're dead!
-[Marcille] Behind you! -[both gasp]
-[Marcille] Aslam! -[groans]
Huh? Wait! Wait, no!
[gasps, screams]
[clangs]
They can share their parts?
Not fair!
How is that possible?
-[loud thud] -[gasps]
[grunts] Hurry up, Laios!
We're getting swarmed in here and things are looking bad!
[Laios] It doesn't stop if you chop off its head.
But if it's a living thing, it can be killed.
My options are slashing at its organs, make it bleed to death,
suffocate it, starve it.
What am I saying? Those will take too long.
First things first, I need to find out what kind of creature is inside.
Maybe it's a Slime,
but they don't move with precision, they just ooze.
[Laios grunts]
Maybe it's a horde of insects?
No, I would've heard them scuttling around inside.
Maybe there's a big spider in the helmet using its legs to move the armor.
I wonder if that last one is it.
I'm not gonna find out standing here.
I can't overpower it, so…
I'll outsmart it.
Yeah, this will do!
I'll draw its attention and get right up next to it.
[grunts]
I got it!
Now, let's see.
[gasps]
It's empty!
If there's nothing here,
why'd that other one even bother picking its helmet up?
[Laios] It's coming.
Uh-oh. What do I do?
-[loud thud, rumbling] -[gasps]
Huh?
Wait. How can it not see me hiding over here?
There's something about the helmet then.
[gasps] What's this?
[sword rasps, clinks]
-[clangs] -[squelches]
What the heck? It's a mollusk!
And right between the layers of plating.
That's why cutting parts off the armor didn't work.
There's a colony of these in it!
It's still looking for its head.
All right, then…
Here!
[grunts]
[sighs]
Now we're talking.
This must be filled with them.
[grunts]
Looks like they connect to each other at the joints,
then expand and contract like muscles to move around.
But which one laid the eggs?
Guess if they're hermaphrodites, they all could've laid them.
-[Marcille screams] -[gasps]
Now is not the time to think about that!
[grunting]
[Laios] Give me!
[Marcille] Let go already!
Hey, guys! Get over here!
[all] Do we look like we can?
[grunts]
-Huh? -Uh?
[sighs]
Hm?
What was that? And why did they go chasing it?
[Marcille] Whoa.
-So, it was a mage after all? -Nope. There was no mage.
[Laios] This so-called Living Armor isn't controlled by magic,
-but by the creatures inside. -Huh?
[Laios] Check this out. The armor has two layers,
and look what's sandwiched between them.
That makes the armor move.
-[groans] -Hmm.
[Laios] In the armor, these things link together,
they form groups that act just like the muscles do in our bodies.
On their own, they're weak,
but together, they use the armor like a structure,
and that is how they can move like us.
-[screams] -[Laios] They were aggressive with us,
'cause we happen to show up after they laid their eggs.
Seriously? Those icky things hatch from eggs?
Uh-huh! Born from eggs! Isn't that amazing?
And I'm the one who found out about their secret!
Until now, everyone thought Living Armor was controlled by magic!
Wait till we tell the world about them. We're gonna blow some minds!
You see that?
How when he talks about monsters, he gets crazy eyes?
It creeps me out.
Hey. Don't be rude.
Senshi.
We can't eat the armor, but I bet we can eat these guys.
They look pretty dang nutritious, don't they?
Huh?
Whoa! [groans]
There's no way anyone's eating that mysterious gooey gunk!
Oh, Marcille.
The first bite of a new food is always mysterious.
Where's your sense of adventure?
[Marcille screaming]
That's a stupid adventure!
[Senshi] I'll fix 'em up.
[both gasp]
Never cooked them before,
so I can't promise it'll be any good.
Aw, thank you, Senshi.
Hell no!
What if those things are loaded with poison?
I'm pretty sure any creature that poisonous
wouldn't bother with hiding in a suit of armor.
What the heck kind of meal do I make out of them?
See that part?
When I tried to pry it open with my hand, it wouldn't open.
I ended up making a cut right along there,
it couldn't close after that.
[Laios] You know how a mollusk
has that adductor muscle thing to close their shells?
That's what that is.
[Senshi] So these are like shellfish.
I got an idea.
We'll need to pry them out of the armor first.
-[Chilchuck groans] -[Marcille whimpers]
[light music playing]
Oh, no.
[Laios] It drowned.
[Senshi] I guess we can't clean off the sand that way.
And they didn't come from the sea, so maybe we don't need to.
Not sure if its organs are safe to eat,
so they're going in the trash.
I'll slice these ones up to make soup.
Then, heat some oil,
add critter, seasoning, and medicinal herbs for a stir-fry.
-Hm. -[sizzles]
The helmet critters…
-Ah! -…steamed.
[groans]
And these, classic style all the way.
[sizzling]
[Senshi] It's ready!
DWARF-STYLE LIVING ARMOR STIR-FRY LIVING ARMOR SOUP
GRILLED LIVING ARMOR
STEAM-BAKED LIVING ARMOR
[Laios] What are you gonna try first?
[Marcille] Uh… the soup, I guess.
Wait, does anyone have an antidote for food poisoning?
[Senshi] Well, it doesn't smell bad.
[Chilchuck] Pretty sure what I'm smelling is iron.
[Senshi] Laios.
-Here. -[chuckles]
-[sizzles] -Ow!
Hm?
Why is everyone looking at me like that?
You wanted to eat Living Armor, so there it is, eat up.
You discovered them, you get the first bite.
Such an honor.
[Chilchuck] We'll leave his corpse if he dies, okay?
[Marcille] Okay.
[slurps]
[Laios gasps]
-Did he die? -Did he die?
It's delicious!
[Laios] Oh, my god! The flavor, it's so good!
It didn't taste like anything at first, but then, oh, man!
How long does food poisoning take to make you sick?
It depends on the food.
-Mm. -[gasps]
Hm? Hm, not bad.
Could use a condiment or three maybe.
How did those come out?
-Uh… -Huh? Uh…
Well, at least these were stir-fried with medicinal herbs.
Hm.
Uh, and?
-[Chilchuck] It doesn't taste bad. -Uh?
[Marcille groans]
[sniffs, groans]
Huh? Uh-huh.
How is it, Marcille?
[Marcille] They kind of taste like mushrooms.
I know, right? [chuckles]
I'm trying the steamed ones next.
I bet these will taste better than the grilled ones.
[Laios] It tastes like mold.
Guess the helmet's stink got cooked into 'em.
[retches]
-[Marcille] Here. -[Senshi] Mm.
In all my years of eating monsters in this here dungeon,
I never would've dreamed I'd eat critters like those.
I doubt anyone dreamed Living Armor was really a type of shellfish,
a weird type born from an egg case.
Wouldn't it be neat to see what they're like right when they hatch?
I bet they're so small you can barely see them.
[Laios] As they mature, they form their outer shells,
and find others like 'em.
They figure out how to move, start exploring, make colonies.
Maybe they line up like we saw 'em right before they mate.
Something tells me they're hermaphrodites
and the biggest, healthiest colony lays all the eggs.
Wait! I just thought of something!
Whenever I saw suits of armor holding hands,
I thought it was a dungeon prank!
But maybe that was a mating ritual!
Someone needs a nap.
[Laios] I was scared of Living Armor for so long,
turns out it was just a fragile, delicious monster.
Hey, I'm sorry your old sword got broken.
-That one's pretty neat though. -Hm.
[gasps]
[squelches]
-[Marcille] Hey, Laios! -[exclaims]
If you're taking that,
want me to check it to make sure it's not cursed?
No! Don't trouble yourself!
It's not cursed at all! Really!
Totally not cursed!
[Marcille] Like you can tell.
Don't blame me if it turns out you get cursed.
[Laios] Wait up! I'm coming!
[narrator] So, with a new sword in hand,
their journey continues.
And as they descend into the dungeon,
the other three have no idea their party has gained a new member.
[closing theme music playing]