The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1)

by Jonathan Brooks

  * Anyway, if you can follow the Ironclad Ape here, it’ll show you down to the dining area. You’ll be the first to really try out my new Vertical Air-trap Transportation System, or VATS for short. I’m pretty sure I worked out all the problems I had earlier, so it should be safe. I’ll tell you a little more about this place on your way, but I’ll save most of it for after you’ve had your fill from the kitchen. *

  He couldn’t really object, since he knew going the other direction might blind him again; besides, he was literally starving, and he’d rather have the chance at something to eat, even if he wasn’t sure what plans the dungeon had for him. The fact that he hadn’t been killed yet was encouraging, but his luck lately hadn’t been the best. Still, he was holding out hope that he’d be able to survive long enough to escape before he was trapped there forever.

  The “Ironclad Ape” – or at least that was what he thought the voice called it – turned into the tunnel and quickly moved down it a short distance. Kelerim couldn’t move that fast, though, so he only arrived as a portion of the tunnel swung outward, revealing another tunnel intersecting it. The Ape loped inside without hesitation, with the Iron metal parts that it was entirely comprised of rubbing against each other, creating a very odd combination of screeches and squeals.

  With only a slight hesitation on his own part, he followed the Ape further into the dungeon.

  Chapter 31

  The door swung back into place after Kelerim entered, closing so softly that all he heard was a little click as it settled into place. He looked over his shoulder to see his way out blocked by seemingly solid stone, and it was only when he looked closer that he saw the miniscule lines that indicated where the door once existed.

  Movement above his head made him jerk back in surprise, as he saw what appeared to be a pair of small shears floating near the doorway. It didn’t make any threatening move in his direction, so he tried to ignore the sharp implement poised above his head and continued after the Ape.

  * Those doors were a pain to make, but I’d say the entire day I worked on them was worth it. Multiple Steel hinges support the reinforced hollow stone door shells, making them super lightweight – and practically invisible from the outside tunnel! In fact, my Small Animated Shears are able to open and close the doors all by themselves, as well as being able to lock them so that no one can get in here if I don’t want them to. *

  Animated Shears? He supposed that was a good name for the implement floating above the doorway, but everything he saw just engendered more questions. One of the new ones had to do with the different “monsters” he had seen already; he had never heard of anything remotely like them, though he had to admit that he wasn’t an expert or anything. Still, he would’ve thought the knowledge of seeing a metal monkey roaming around would’ve spread around a little.

  He slowly followed his guide down a short tunnel, before he arrived at a room with curved walls, making another cylindrical shape. What’s with the cylinders in this place? There were two holes in the floor – each of them approximately 5 feet across – but what they were there for was a mystery.

  At least until he watched the Ape that he was following jump down one.

  Kelerim rushed over – as much as his body would let him – to the hole and looked down, expecting to see the metal monkey in pieces down below; unexpectedly, he watched as the Ape gently slowed down the closer it got to the ground, alighting with barely a bump as it touched down into a similar-seeming room below. The former Blacksmith’s beard and hair were rustled by a rush of air from down below, before it died away.

  * Okay. I realize it might look a little…unsafe…but I assure you I’ve tested it with as many different weights as I could reasonably find, and everything has worked perfectly since I made the necessary changes. There shouldn’t be any reason to think that it wouldn’t work for a living, breathing creature the same as it does for my constructs.”

  The phrasing of that last statement caused him to step back in trepidation. Is she saying that she hasn’t tried this on a “living” creature before? The fact that he was not only the first person, but the first thing that was actually alive made him take a few more steps backwards. The distance appeared to be at least 40 feet down, and while that might not kill him outright, it would certainly hurt – as well as do some serious damage to his body.

  * Go on, it will be okay. I told you, it should be perfectly safe. *

  When he still hesitated, her voice took on a bit of an edge to it.

  * Believe me, if I wanted to kill you, I’ve had plenty of chances before this. Jump in now, or you’ll starve to death up here. *

  Ugh…that’s not much of a choice. It was either a slow death by dehydration and starvation, or a quick death from impact – or possibly an excruciatingly painful impact followed by hours of suffering from broken bones. He had a fairly hardy constitution, thanks to his Dwarven parentage, but something like that would be hard to walk away from.

  It was an easy choice, because he hated being hungry; he had been a day or two away from complete starvation too many times to count during his early years living in Orcrim. If he was going to choose the way he was going out, it was going to be (hopefully) the quick way. Kelerim only hesitated another few moments before he resolutely walked toward the hole the Ape had jumped down. Instead of stopping at the edge and losing his nerve, he continued walking until he felt his foot hit dead air and he dropped through the hole.

  The first few feet down through the hole was enclosed on all sides, like he was going through a tunnel, and he fell without any resistance. As soon as he passed through into the room below, however, he felt some air pushing up against him from below. The air pushing up against him soon became powerful enough that he had to close his eyes – lest they painfully dry out – which actually helped push down the scream that threatened to emerge from his throat. Kelerim expected to feel a bone-crunching impact at any time, but after a certain length of time, he realized that if he was going to hit, it would’ve happened already.

  He kept his eyes closed, however, so it was a shock when the air buoying him up suddenly ceased, and he fell – three inches. The surprise landing was enough to make him open his eyes as his weak body stumbled and went to his knees, but he caught himself before he kissed the stone with his face. But he did it anyway, as he thanked the Creator over and over that he was alive.

  * See, what did I tell you? Perfectly safe! Now, follow my Ape again, because you’re not done yet. *

  Not done yet? What does she— His question was answered before he even thought it, as he looked up to see the metal monkey falling down another hole, which he noticed had a small stone plaque nearby with a down arrow carved into it. He looked around to see another hole with nothing next to it, as well as a denoted circular carving in the floor that had an up arrow on another plaque. He seemed to remember a similar stone sign next to the hole he just jumped down, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it because there were more pressing concerns at the time.

  Kelerim slowly got to his feet, wincing at a slight pain in his knee from his fall. He resolutely walked over to the hole the Ape fell down and without hesitation he threw himself in. Whatever nerves he still had left were completely numb, so freefalling a couple of feet and then getting picked up by strong wind currents barely fazed him anymore. Everything that had happened to him since he woke up in the dungeon had been so far out of the realm of normal, that he was beginning to think he really was hallucinating.

  He kept his eyes slit against the wind, so he was able to estimate a little better when he was approaching the floor. The sudden cutoff still made Kelerim stumble a little, but he caught himself before he fell to his knees again. Looking around, the room appeared almost exactly like the previous one, and he somehow wasn’t surprised to see the metal monkey jumping down another hole. He’d gone that far already, so it didn’t take much motivation to follow after, though he did pride himself on staying fairly steady on the next landing.

&nbs
p; Instead of going down another hole (which he did notice existed), Kelerim instead followed the Ape toward an exit tunnel. It appeared almost exactly the same as the one he had come through up above; in fact, it could’ve been the same one except for the fact that he knew he had descended somewhere around 150 feet, so the likelihood of that being true was very small. He considered that it was still possible that everything he saw was all a hallucination, but he was beginning to think that everything he had experienced was all real – he just didn’t have that good of an imagination.

  The smell of cooking meat wafting through the doorway leading to another tunnel almost brought him to his knees again, but the thought of food kept him moving. He followed the Ape into another room in a blur, as he sought out the source of the delicious smell, which he quickly found on a stone plate placed on a stone table close by. Lots of stone around here, he couldn’t help but think inanely, as he sat on – what else – a stone chair.

  Steam still rose from a slab of meat on the plate and Kelerim wanted to just shove it in his mouth, but he also noticed a stone cup of what appeared to be water next to the plate – and he practically dove for that first. Fresh, cool water soothed his parched throat, only to form a heavy pool of the liquid inside his stomach that started to fill him up. He stopped before he wanted to, because he knew from experience that his stomach couldn’t hold much after a prolonged period of near-starvation – and he wanted to fit some food inside.

  * Oh! I forgot to get you a fork, hold on a moment. I’d get you a knife, but I can’t create one of those; I’ll cut it up for you, though. *

  Kelerim was about to pick up the meat and start tearing at it, but a stone implement started to materialize out of thin air next to the plate. It looked like a very short trident, which he had seen a few members of a warband use before, though it was rare; other than the resemblance to the weapon, he had no idea what it was or what it was used for. Strangely enough, the sudden appearance of it didn’t startle him as much as he thought it probably should. I really am growing numb to all of this.

  His food was then manipulated in the same manner, but instead of something appearing, it was taken away. Thin lines were removed from the round-shaped hunk of delicious-smelling steak, until he was left with over a dozen bite-sized pieces that he wanted to shove into his mouth. Instead of using his fingers, however, Kelerim was conscious of the new stone trident next to his plate, and his tired mind finally caught on to its probable intended purpose. He picked it up and used it to stab a piece of steak, lifting it to his mouth.

  The chunk of meat was cooked perfectly, and though it didn’t have any extra seasonings, it was probably the best bite of food he had ever had in his life. He quickly ate another three bites, barely stopping to savor the taste, but had to stop after only eating a total of four sliced-up pieces of the steak. He was disappointed that he couldn’t eat more, but his belly was already uncomfortably full; a thin soup or stew was usually better as a first meal after a prolonged period of starvation, but he was happily satisfied, nonetheless.

  Kelerim sat back and put the tiny trident down, looking around the room with fresh eyes. Apart from the table and single chair, he could see a low slab of stone across the room, and next to it stood another stone box with a sheet of copper lining the top of it. And right next to that, a strange stone pedestal was standing with an odd extension over the top of it. What was the weirdest part of the whole arrangement was the fact that it was all low to the ground, as if whatever it was intended for was short-statured. Maybe there are Gnomes here after all – or maybe even Dwarves.

  The real reason made itself known a moment later, as a foot-and-a-half-tall metal “person” moved off to the side, where Kelerim hadn’t even noticed it because it was standing completely still. It had the general shape of a person, but it was completely made of metal, though not iron like the Ape he had seen – which, now that he looked around, he found that the metal monkey was gone. As the little metal person walked to the stone pedestal, another stone cup appeared in its hand; after touching the upper extended portion of the column, water appeared and flowed down into a bowl-shaped reservoir below, which was interrupted as the cup was introduced to the stream.

  The next thing he knew, since he lost track of the metal person as he watched astonished with his mouth hanging open – after everything else he had seen, water appearing from thin air was oddly the most impactful – he was being handed another cup of cool, refreshing water, even though his previous one was still—

  Gone, apparently.

  The place where it stood was empty, so he placed his new one on the table where it had been. It was quite bizarre, but he was starting to get used to the bizarre. The “construct” – if he remembered what the woman called it correctly – walked back to the other side of the room, where it stood unmoving, apparently waiting for some sort of instructions.

  * Alright, I hope you enjoyed your meal, though it looks like you didn’t eat much; I hope it wasn’t because it didn’t taste good. *

  “Not at all – it was delicious. I just can’t fit a lot in my stomach until I can start eating regularly,” Kelerim responded, his throat now soothed and feeling much better after having some water. “You were going to explain—”

  * Yes, now that you’ve eaten, you’ll probably be a little more receptive to learning a little bit more about me and where you are… *

  Chapter 32

  Sandra hadn’t realized how much she missed being able to talk with someone. Winxa was around, of course, but she was in the role of a mentor more than anything, but she still considered the Dungeon Fairy a friend. However, it was hard to relate to the small figure because she was so different from the other races; she was more akin to a talking creature than anything else. Not that she thought of the Fairy like that, but it was the closest comparison she could think of.

  The Dungeon Core had been glad that Kelerim had finally woken up, as she was starting to think he was going to eventually waste away and die – and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. Sandra’s Repair Drone was able to fix some of the damage that the lack of sustenance in his body caused, but it could only do so much; eventually, he was going to have to eat and drink something, and she was happy that she was able to provide it for him.

  Kelerim was remarkably accepting of what she had to tell him about her dungeon and her current driving purpose – crafting, of course. Either that, or he was still in shock over what had happened to him, or the seemingly frightening descent down the VATS. She was glad she hadn’t told him the details of numerous constructs she ended up smashing against the floor and ceilings in her attempts to get the Air-based traps to work correctly. She had a feeling he wouldn’t have taken that first step and would’ve starved to death up top; though, in all honesty, she would’ve found a way to feed him, but it was strangely encouraging to see him willing to risk potential death for a meal.

  After she was almost done, she realized she hadn’t even told him her name.

  * …and so I spend most of my days crafting. Hmm…what else? Oh, it just occurred to me that I haven’t told you my name! It’s Sandra, by the way. I don’t know if I’ve told you before, but I used to be Human before I was reincarnated inside a Dungeon Core. *

  Kelerim finally stirred from the exhausted-looking, blank-faced expression he had been wearing while she had been talking. “It’s nice to…talk to you, Sandra. Thank you again for saving me from those Bearlings and keeping me alive while I was asleep – though I still don’t know why I was out for that long. I’m Kelerim, and I’m a—”

  * Half-Orc/Half-Dwarf, I know. I learned all of that when I created the bond with you. Winxa told me that your prolonged sleep was probably my fault, because I formed the bond while you were unconscious. Of course, she had never seen anything like what I did before, but it isn’t unreasonable to think her assumption was correct. *

  He looked confused, which was understandable because the Dungeon Visitor’s Bond wasn’t something he could n
ecessarily feel or even see – unless he looked down at his chest. He hadn’t mentioned the massive bronze-colored gear tattoo yet, so Sandra hadn’t brought it up either. “What bond are you talking about? Is that like a slave bond or something?”

  Oh dear, she hoped not. The thought hadn’t even occurred to her that Kelerim might think she marked him on purpose, as if he was her property. From what she could tell, the bond allowed communication between them – for which she was thankful for – and told her Dungeon Monsters not to attack him; she hadn’t really dug into it any further, though.

  * Not at all! I created the bond as a means to get around the fact that you were formerly considered an invader, so that I could keep working on my dungeon while you were here and preventing my constructs from automatically attacking you. It also had the benefit of allowing me to talk to you as well as giving my Repair Drone the ability to heal you, nothing else. Well, other than the tattoo on your chest. *

  He obviously hadn’t seen it before, because his confused look was back for a moment, but then he finally looked down at himself. “What the heck is this!” Kelerim screamed out and got up out of his chair in a flash, staring down at the glittering gear and the now-ragged hole that was made in his clothes. Sandra was surprised he hadn’t seen it previously, as it was hard to miss; nevertheless, his reaction wasn’t entirely unexpected – she did permanently mark him without his permission. Then again, she couldn’t really obtain permission, but she did save his life – so she considered it an even trade.