by R. A. Mejia
We wave back, unsure what we’re supposed to be doing. Are we meant to fight all three of them? Are we having a dinner party? What?
As the unknown figure gets up from his seat, I can see that his long thin frame makes him look even taller than he is. He walks over to us and holds out his hand in greeting, “I’m glad I finally get to meet you in person. You know me as your dungeon master. Here, in my home, you may call me Koorb.”
I smile as I take the outstretched skeletal hand and shake it, “Hello dungeon master, or rather Koorb. It’s nice to finally put a face to the voice. You’re not exactly what I was expecting, but it’s nice to meet you too.”
The skeleton dungeon master can’t exactly smile, but he opens his bone jaws, laughs and says, “YoHoHoHoHo! I get that alot. No one ever expects such an impressive figure to have such an amazing voice.”
Not what I meant, but no point in hurting the guy's feelings and telling him I thought he was going to turn out to be a slime or a talking crystal. I guess I’ve read too many dungeon master stories.
I introduce the rest of the group. Mary shakes Koorb’s hand, silently evaluating him. Kitsune bows from the waist in formal greeting and introduces herself with her full title. Vrax just stares up at the tall dungeon master with open amazement, and I have to nudge him to shake him out of his stupor. He quickly shakes Koorb’s hand and retreats back. Introductions finished, Koorb invites us to sit anywhere we’d like. I immediately rush to grab a seat on the cushioned couch and groan in ecstasy at finally being able to sit on something other than the stone floor. Mary flies over to the couch and lands on the armrest I’m using. Vrax tries to sit next to me on the sofa but finds it difficult to get into a comfortable position where his tail doesn’t get in the way. Koorb brings over a wooden chair with an open hole in the backrest for Vrax, and the kobold happily sits in it, his tail swaying from side to side out of the back of the chair. Kitsune takes a seat on a cushioned chair to my right.
Koorb takes a chair from the table, faces it towards us, sits in it, and asks, “What questions do you have for me Team Mary?”
I look around the room at each one of my team to see who wants to ask a question, but Mary just asks, “Why are we here?”
Koorb chuckles before responding, “Isn’t that the ultimate question? Why are we here? Where do we come from? I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer to such a philosophical question.” I hear Mary groan at the response, but before she can say anything, the dungeon master continues, “However, if you’re asking why you're in my living room and not on another level of the dungeon facing more monsters? Then the answer is much simpler. There are no more levels for you to explore.”
Kitsune points her finger at the well-dressed skeleton and says, “But you said we had to clear five levels of the dungeon before you’d show us the way out. Are you trying to trick us?”
Koorb raises his hands in a placating gesture, and I see his shoulders sag a bit as he answers, “It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I had to sacrifice the fourth and fifth levels of the dungeon to make the Dungeon Warrior obstacle course.”
“Oh, that’s not good. You’re running out of power aren’t you?” Mary asks.
I turn towards Mary and ask, “What do you mean, he’s running out of power?”
Taking on a lecturer's tone, Mary answers, “You see, all dungeons run off magical energy stored in their dungeon’s core. Anything they create uses some of this energy. Want to summon some monsters? It costs energy. Want to build a new tunnel? It cost energy. The dungeon collects all the energy it needs from adventurers it kills, though from what I understand they can also siphon off a smaller amount from ones that survive. To entice more adventurers in, and thus collect more energy, dungeons produce treasures, monsters that give experience points, and crafting resources.”
I shake my head in confusion, “Ok. I get how dungeons get the resources they need to expand, but I still don’t understand why this dungeon would have to sacrifice whole levels.”
Koorb gives a helpless shrug and answers, “That’s because we haven’t had anyone come through the dungeon in a couple centuries and we’ve been running on our backup magical power sources. So I sacrificed two levels to recuperate their magical resources to summon all the monsters you fought and to create the obstacle course.”
The concept finally sinks in. It’s like a big company closing down its branch offices because they started to run out of money and they can’t afford to keep them open anymore. It’s a sign that the company may not be doing well.
I ask Koorb, “If things are so bad then why go through all the effort to summon monsters for us and make a whole new obstacle course? Why not just let us pass through and save your resources?”
His curly afro hair shakes as he turns his head from side to side, “No. What would be the point? I was summoned and bound to this dungeon by the Aleph as its dungeon master. I was given the strict purpose of challenging adventures and running the best dungeon I could. Not creating a challenging experience for your team would be like a fish deciding it didn’t want to swim anymore. It would go against my very nature.”
I hear Stevie Shadows call out from the table, “Besides, we’ve been really bored.” The skeletal minotaur next to him nods in agreement.
Koorb nods his head, and his afro moves with him a split second later, looking like it’s nodding too. “There’s that too. You try sitting around for five hundred years, waiting for someone to visit you and challenge you to a fight. We’ve tried to stay busy, playing games, and planning strategies. We even learned to play musical instruments. Still, it’s inevitable that we’d get bored.”
Kitsune gestures to our group and asks, “Then we come along and give you a chance to show off? Is that why you insisted on the musical performances before we fought you?”
Stevie and Ryan don’t answer, and I think that the dungeon master would be blushing if he had cheeks as he answers, “Well, you can’t blame them can you? They’d been practicing for a long time and never had a chance to perform before anyone before.” Koorb turns his head and glances back at the two level bosses. They nod conspiratorially and motion for him to continue. Koorb turns to us and asks hesitantly, “The guys want to ask what you thought about their performances?”
Mary snorts once and blurts out, “No man should ask a woman what they thought of their ‘performance’?”
I look around to see if anyone else understood what Mary meant. Kitsune is blushing, and Vrax is hissing in laughter. Vrax sees I don’t get it and whispers, “She means sex.”
It takes a moment for the double entendre to sink in and I feel myself blush. You mean women think about that kind of stuff? Do women sit and compare men’s performances when we’re not around? Does that mean they talk about things like size and shape too? The implications of this revelation blow my mind.
Koorb just laughs at Mary’s joke, “YoHoHoHoHo! Quite right Mary. No man should ask his woman about his ‘performance’ if he wants to keep a healthy ego. However, these guys wanted to know what your group thought about their musical performances.”
Happy to change the subject Kitsune quickly answers, “I thought they were great. I haven’t had such a good time listening to music in a long time.”
Mary and Vrax nod their heads in agreement. I nod my head as well but also add, “From where I’m from, there’s always music playing everywhere. I’d forgotten how much I missed it until you guys reminded me. Your performances…” When I hear Mary giggle I amend, “Your musical performances were stellar. Thanks.”
I look over at Stevie and Ryan and see broad grins on their faces. Well, I assume they’re grins since Ryan is a skeleton and always has a grin and Stevie is made of shadows.
Koorb nods, “It’s good to hear that you liked their music. Now did you have any other questions?”
I raise my hand, and when Koorb nods at me, I ask, “Who are the Aleph and how do you have access to their stuff?”
Koorb sits back in hi
s chair, scratches his bony chin with a finger before answering, “Well, I don’t claim to be an expert on the Aleph. They summoned me here to this dungeon from my world seven hundred years ago. Everything I know about them, I’ve gleaned from listening to them talk as they traveled the depths of the dungeon they had me manage. I know they’re a reclusive people that had lived underground here for a long time before I was summoned. I know they created this dungeon artificially using their advanced magical resources and crystal based technology.” He sighs and finishes, “Lastly, I know they disappeared for some unknown reason five hundred years ago, leaving me all alone.”
Stevie and Ryan yell out, “Hey! You weren’t all alone. You had us!”
Koorb turns and waves dismissively at the two, “I love you guys, but you know what I mean. There wasn’t anyone left to come down to our dungeon. We were alone and rendered useless almost overnight. We waited and waited and waited, but no one ever came again. Then a few years ago I sensed life forms moving above us in the city the Aleph used to live in. I don’t have any control up there, but I’d hoped it meant the return of the Aleph. Instead, it turned out to be a group of refugees who didn’t even know the dungeon was down here.”
Mary asks, “How did you know they were refugees if your dungeon didn’t extend into the city?”
The dungeon master turns to Mary, “The refugees, or thieves, or whatever you call them, started dropping the bodies of people they robbed down the holes that appear in the tunnels above. Those bodies dropped right into the territory of my dungeon. Occasionally, the people they dropped weren’t quite dead, and I could ask them some questions before they died from their injuries. You folks are the first who came down here not suffering from mortal wounds.”
Remembering how I got down here, I think about disagreeing with the statement. Instead, I ask, “So, the Aleph used you to give their citizens experience points?”
Koorb nods, “Not only that, but they had me create nodes on certain levels of already processed resources. Heck, there used to be a whole level where they had me grow the crystals they used in their magic. My deepest levels were also used as a type of bank vault and storage facility. They stored all kinds of stuff down there. I can’t use any of it, but I have a full record of every item. That’s how I got that crystal forge for you. I figured someone should get some use out of the stuff.”
I quickly give my thanks for the item even though I haven’t had a chance to use it yet. Then I ask the question I believe we’ve all wanted to ask, “Since we beat all the levels you have left, does that mean we can go now?”
The dungeon master looks back at the two level bosses before turning back to us. Instead of answering, he waves his hand, and a doorway opens up along the wall behind Kitsune. From where I sit, I can see stone stairs leading up. I can’t see how far they lead, but if they go all the way to the surface, they’ll be quite a few steps.
After making the stairs appear, Koorb says, “There it is. Those stairs will lead you to the surface, from there you’ll have to make your way to civilization on your own.” I get up, ready to start the journey to the surface immediately. Koorb holds up a hand to forestall me and says, “However, if you’ll hold off on your journey till the morning, I can gather some supplies for you along with the special gifts I promised. It’ll also give Wendy the Wight a chance to respawn. I know she’d want to say goodbye to you.”
I look at the other members of the team and see tired faces and sagging bodies. I know they’d all start the journey to the surface this instant if I asked them too but that would be unfair. We’ll all tired from the strenuous day we’ve had and could use a good night's sleep. I tell the dungeon master we’ll stay the night and a cheer goes up from the level bosses at the table. The dungeon master makes another doorway appear, and he leads us down a well lit hallway with a series of doors along it. He tells us it’s their dorm rooms and opens up two of the rooms for us to use.
The rooms are simple but comfortable looking. There’s a single bed in each and a nightstand next to it. A magical crystal light hangs from the ceiling illuminating the space. The moment I sit on the soft bed, my body feels heavy and the tiredness from the day's activities hit me. Before I can think anymore, I lay down and fall asleep.
Chapter 4.17
My growling stomach wakes me the next morning and won’t let me go back to sleep. Which sort of sucks, because for the first time in weeks, I got to sleep in a real bed and I was enjoying it. Oh, well. Nothing good lasts forever.
I have to push Vrax’s tail and legs off of me as I get out of bed. Man, that kobold just sprawls everywhere when he sleeps. Having fallen asleep last night in my clothes, I don’t even have to get dressed. I roll my neck and do a series of small stretches before leaving the room. As I walk into the stone hallway outside, the odor of cooking food reaches my nostrils, and my stomach reminds me again that I forgot to eat dinner last night with a loud growl.
The sound of someone whistling a jaunty tune reaches my ears as I peek out from the hallway and I see the back of the dungeon master’s afro bobbing as he flips something into the air with a spatula. I’m not sure what Koorb is making, but it smells great.
He must have some kind of super hearing skill because he calls out, “Good Morning Armon. Care for some fishcakes?”
Walking through the living room, I take a seat at the table and answer, “Yeah. That sounds great. I didn’t know you knew how to cook.”
The dungeon master laughs, “YoHoHoHoHo!” He plates the fishcakes and sets the dish in front of me with some silverware. I can see that he’s wearing an apron over his black suit that has a logo on it that says “Skeletons get the best boners.” I snicker internally as he adds with joviality in his voice, “I don’t eat anymore personally. But before I was summoned to this world I cooked all the time for my crew.”
I take a bite of the fish cake and moan involuntarily at the delectable taste. I see an icon appear in the bottom right corner of my vision. I smile slightly. Not only is the food good but it gives a buff. I look up at the watching skeleton and say, “Foods great. Thank you. You were talking about your crew though? Were you a manager or something?”
Koorb opens the jaws of his skull slightly, which might be his way of smiling, and answers, “No, I was a pirate captain. I had a small frigate and a crew of two-hundred. We sailed the seven seas seeking the rarest of treasure.” As he goes back to the small recessed kitchen I hear him mutter, “Those were good times.”
As I finish my second serving of fried fish cakes, the rest of my group stumbles into the living room. I smile and wave at them. Kitsune and Vrax take seats at the table and eagerly eat the food served them. Mary flies over and lands on the table near me, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She asks for a cup of coffee and is pleasantly surprised when a small cup of the dark brown liquid is served to her. Mary takes a deep breath through her nose and inhales the rich aroma of the bitter drink. As she sips from the cup, I can see the immediate change in her attitude as she perks up.
Once we’re finished with breakfast, the dungeon master clears away the dishes. My group still sitting at the table, he asks us, “I suppose you’ll be leaving us this morning?”
I look at my team and see small nods. I answer, “Yes. While we appreciate your hospitality, we have important tasks that need to be accomplished.” The dungeon master's shoulders sag when he hears me, so I quickly add, “Though, we’d love to come back and run the dungeon again once we’re done.”
He stands up straight and tilts his head before asking, “Really? You’d come back?”
Mary looks up at Koorb and says, “Sure. Even if it only has three levels, this dungeon is awesome. The levels are challenging without being too hard. The mining resources are great. But what really puts it over the top is the Dungeon Warrior course. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of another dungeon that has a non-lethal obstacle course like that. People would be willing to come from far away lands, just to try their hand at that level.”
There are enthusiastic nods from everyone at the table.
Vrax gives a sharp toothed grin and adds, “Mud bath great for scales too.”
Mary adds, “We can even try to spread the word about your dungeon, so other people will visit too.”
The dungeon master gives a great laugh of joy and dances around in a circle before saying, “YoHoHoHoHo! You don’t know how happy it makes me to know that you will come back. The dungeon has been empty and lonely. It’ll be fun to have more people visit. If enough people come, we’ll be able to gather enough energy from them to start adding more levels.”
He stops his dancing and looks at each of us, “I’m glad you found our dungeon. I’m extra glad none of you died!” He walks into the living room and opens a cabinet. He pulls out four packages wrapped in colorful paper and tied with string. Carrying them over to the table, he places one of the packages in front of each of us.
Mary’s eyes light up when a package is put in front of her, and she immediately begins to rip the colorful wrapping away to reveal a small wooden box. She opens the box, which is a quarter her size, to reveal a large silver ring covered in arcane script with a blue gemstone set in its center.