While they spoke, the others in the man’s party began filing into the common room. The inn doubled as a bar, of course. Adventurers needed a place to blow off steam after fighting for their lives.
I need a log book. There’s no polite way to ask him for his name otherwise.
“Mighty kind of you, consider it a deal,” said the unnamed man.
Ryker turned to one side and tapped an Enchanted Glass with a finger. “Show them the entrance to the dungeon,” he commanded.
The glass lifted up and began floating away.
“Fair journey,” Ryker said. He had no intention of putting his back to any of these individuals.
Dark black eyes evaluated Ryker, before breaking away. The group followed the floating glass as it moved. It bobbed along towards a hallway situated between the inn and the bar.
After they all vanished, Ryker locked the front door of the inn.
“Come get me if anyone else shows up,” he said to the Minotaur, not even pausing to consider if it understood him.
Quick as he could, Ryker got into his office and sat down on the bed. Wynne simply appeared as if it were completely normal for her to teleport in.
“They’re evil!” she said excitedly. “We can kill them without a worry. Right?”
“I thought they might be,” Ryker said, calling up his control spells. “Wasn’t sure, but glad to hear my instincts weren’t wrong. Also, we need a log book. Something that they have to use their card on to record who they are. Maybe even their skills and ability level. Part of the price of getting in. Know of anything that’d work?”
“No, but I’ll work on it. I’m supposed to check in with the other Fairies soon anyways,” Wynne promised.
Nodding, Ryker focused on his vision spell.
And suddenly he was looking down on the group. They were still in the first room, making last minute preparations.
“—en we follow the plan,” said the man Ryker assumed was the leader.
Moving to the front was the only man in chainmail. Flanking him were two men in heavy leather armor. The leader went into the middle. Taking up the rear was the woman in the black robe.
“She’s a priestess,” Wynne said. “She’ll be who they rely on to sustain their health.”
Every group needs a healer. Though… most don’t bring a priest of an evil god.
“Any thoughts on who they are?” Ryker asked.
Below, the group of five rapidly cleared through the beginner rooms. Tearing straight through to the edge of the “fringe ruins” room.
“I’m not sure… but… they have no goodness in them. As a Dungeon Fairy I can sense auras to a degree. They all have bad auras in one way or another. Whatever their intention is… it isn’t good,” Wynne said.
The party slaughtered everything they came across. Whether the Hobs were unarmed, ran away, or fought. There was no mercy.
No quarter.
Pausing when they saw the patrol of six Hobs at the exit, they took a moment. The man in chainmail grumbled under his breath, but said nothing aloud.
“Oh calm yourself, you blood-crazed fool. I just need a moment to let my mana recharge a touch. Then we’ll be off,” said the woman.
“You be quiet, Sharon. You’ll keep that adder’s tongue in your mouth!” shouted the mail-clad man.
The two in heavy leather armor seemed mildly perturbed at the exchange, and eyed one another.
“Now, now. Let’s all be calm. We didn’t plan on doing this dive, but now we don’t have a choice. It’s a beginner’s dungeon. This is probably the last room. We’ll be done with this, and head back down the road,” said the leader.
“What?!” shouted the mail-clad man.
“The innkeeper mistrusts us already. I could sense it. We’ll not have an easy fight with him and his beasts. I’m sure we’d win but we’d take losses. But… we could lay in wait and take out the others,” explained the leader.
“Huh,” said the woman. “Well, we did plan on killing them anyways, we’re just doing it out of order.”
Ryker frowned in thought. Then it dawned on him.
“They don’t have a wizard. They found out about the dungeon from someone else. They rushed here to steal the finder’s fee, kill the other group, loot them, and head back,” Ryker said with a dark chuckle.
Wynne’s sigh was full of disappointment.
“Think anyone would miss them if I decided they needed to die?” Ryker asked curiously.
“No,” Wynne said immediately.
Focusing back on the group, he found they were engaged with the Hobs. It was going their way and handily. None of the Hobs were down yet, but it was clear they were being worn down.
Quickly as he could, Ryker built an alcove off to the side. Inside of it, he put down a pack of six runes that matched the better geared Hobs.
Activating those runes, he cut a doorway into the alcove for the Hobs to get out through.
Looking back to the adventurers, he found that they had finished off half the Hobs. They were completely focused on the fight.
In fact, they didn’t even notice when the six extra Hobs ran down the priestess. Her shriek of pain was cut short as several different short swords were slammed through her ribcage.
She fell to the ground as the Hobs rushed the rest of the group, their clawed feet turning her into a bag of broken bones.
Her death was swift, if agonizing.
There was a rush of magic that flooded through the dungeon, the core, and Wynne. From Wynne, it went to Ryker through the bond.
In addition to that, there was a flash of memories of the woman’s experiences. Her magic. Her skills.
It was knowledge he had known nothing of, but which was now as firmly in his mind as if he’d studied for years. It wasn’t everything she knew, but Ryker could tell it was everything you’d need to start down the path of becoming a priestess of the first rank.
Thinking quickly, Ryker pulled out one of the dozens of empty beast cores he’d practiced his spells with. Channeling all that information into the core, he watched as it filled up. And up.
He wondered if it would be enough to contain everything.
Right about when he was getting ready to toss the thing aside before it exploded, it stopped.
He now held a beast core with everything that the death priest had left behind.
I wonder what I can do with this.
Checking in on the fight again, he found the adventurers were battling in a crazed fashion now. They were chugging potions, activating items, utilizing abilities that were ferocious. Class abilities specific to their profession. Skills that would take time to become available again—as long as a day in some cases. Those would be things they more than likely hadn’t planned on using.
Suddenly one of the two in leather armor dropped from a spear pushed through his guts. Before anyone could react to help him, another Hob stomped on his skull, the thin metal helmet splintering under the force.
Another down.
Another overwhelming flood of information, skills, and techniques rushed towards Ryker.
He was ready this time. In fact, he was ready for all of them. He’d taken out four more empty cores. No sooner had Ryker felt all that information than he channeled it into the core.
Switching his attention back to the fight as the core filled up, Ryker watched.
There were only four Hobs left of the original number. They were all from the ambush group. They were up against three adventurers. Three adventurers who had lost their healer.
Realizing their situation was not ideal, the three turned and ran through the exit doorway.
Deciding to end this game, Ryker slammed the gates down that the original pack of Hobs had been guarding. They clanged shut behind the adventurers, breaking off the Hobs’ pursuit.
Taking a second, Ryker dismissed the extra Hobs, and resealed the alcove.
“What the fuck was that?” shouted the mail-clad man. “You said this was a beginner dungeon!”
/>
“It is! The wizard said it had never been sensed before. That it was new!” yelled the leader back.
There was a quiet sigh from Wynne. “Do you think they’ll kill each other?”
“Maybe. They won’t be leaving anyways. Only a matter of time. In fact…” Ryker moved to the exit, and blocked it shut. There would be no escape for those three.
Next he riled up all the inhabitants of the Hob city. In about ten minutes those three would simply be corpses.
Which bothered Ryker not at all. They were scum to begin with.
“That’s not very sporting of you. Be glad you’re not a dungeon core, they’d be unconscious for doing such a thing. They’re forced to have an opening, an exit, and a clear path from the dungeon to them,” Wynne said.
“Interesting. Seems rather… strange… to have rules like that. Almost arbitrary.” Ryker canceled the vision spell and settled back into the normal feelings of the core.
“Let’s see what those two had while the other three get dropped,” Ryker said.
Pushing at the core, he had it absorb the two corpses entirely. Immediately it knew the patterns for a human. It also had several new additions to its armaments, mostly from the fighter.
The priestess had had only a staff that had a minor enchantment on it. He’d mess with that later, see if he could pull it apart to figure out if he could learn enchanting from it.
In addition, the ability to make robes and heavy leather armor was obtained. Several herbs he didn’t have yet, a handful of potions, and some coins. Mostly copper, though there were a few silver and a single gold coin.
Normally… normally dungeons don’t drop coins… but maybe I want it to. Maybe I want it to put out some coinage. They can buy my supplies with it.
Wouldn’t be hard to have runes for coins. They’re fairly simple.
There was a flurry of activity in the dungeon, and suddenly three blasts of knowledge came speeding into Ryker’s mind.
Immediately he pushed out three cores to take all of it. He didn’t want any of that knowledge and he’d rather try this out for now and see where it went.
He had the dungeon quickly absorb the three fresh corpses. Much of their gear was very similar. Leather armor, a few weapons. A shield. A good deal of clothes they were carrying in their packs.
The only real positive addition was the chainmail and arming sword the front-line warrior had. He’d be giving those to some Hobs and Minos and fleshing out their kit some more.
All in all, he’d profited greatly from these blackguards.
Wynne made a musical noise that got his attention.
Cracking open an eye, Ryker peered at her. “Yes?”
“Nothing. That was just… very different than what I was made to expect. A dungeon shouldn’t be able to do what you just did. It’d suffer terribly for it,” Wynne said, almost sounding like she was complaining.
“And?” Ryker asked, not understanding the problem.
“Half of a Fairy’s job is to provide a moral compass. Most dungeons aren’t even human,” she said.
“Okay? And? Whatever. If you have time to complain, you have time to go open the exit again and get it reset. I made some changes that I want to undo. Oh, but leave the alcove. I liked that,” Ryker said evilly. “I’m going to go fiddle with the Hobs and Minos. I want to change a few things.”
Moving back into his dungeon headspace, Ryker surfed into the outer fringe rooms. The crumbling outskirt, as he called them.
He rearranged the runes for Hobs into more ideal locations, then he began modifying their kits to be more like to what he wanted.
His dungeon was meant to be a story. Something interesting and different.
To that end, he began to dress Hobs accordingly to that story. The vast majority of those in the outskirts he gave simple weapons and clothes. On a few of them he even put a couple of copper coins.
Taking hold of the cores he’d filled with the knowledge of the dead, he began to experiment, testing out modifying the Hob’s runes, giving them skills they might not normally have.
Knowledge they wouldn’t have gained naturally.
They were magical constructs after all.
Mindless, really.
The personalities of the dead were fairly dark, and so he refrained from instilling those into the Hobs here. They were displaced citizens. Refugees.
The weak.
His dungeon story was starting to take shape. The outskirts now had appropriate inhabitants with skills, gear, and locations. He’d have to wait on the personalities.
Shifting his focus into the main Hob city, he did the same. Though for quite a few of those in the keep, he instilled some of those dark personality traits. He changed their gear. Modified their skills. Made sure everything lined up with what he wanted it to be.
Right up to the point that he had no mana to work with again.
He was lucky, honestly. If he was a dungeon core with this little mana, he imagined it’d be hard to function intelligently.
Shoestring budgets and hopes.
He had done what he wanted to do though. This was a Hob city underground. One on the verge of collapse, but it had the potential to survive. Or that was the appearance it gave off.
Nodding to himself, he found his thoughts were right.
Shaping up quite nicely.
Now if I could only force them into behaving a certain way, with certain memories.
Well, another time.
For now, I think we’re ready for the first real group of actual adventurers.
With a few minor tweaks, that is.
And no one will even know we just did a service to the world.
Chapter 4 - The Opening Moves -
Ryker spent the next day purchasing more humanoids that would fit his vision for a dungeon. This time he bought a number of Hobs to act as caretakers for the inn, as well as a single farm animal of every type, which were quickly fed to the dungeon.
For the dungeon he picked up a Gnoll and a Kobold. They were both prime examples of their species. That being something like a large humanoid hyena, and a short humanoid lizard.
The rest of his money he spent on gear, items, and other bits and bobs, mostly to give to his dungeon, then eventually sell out of his inn and the store. His plan was to use them in the second phase of his dungeon build out.
Wynne had situated them rather quickly into the inn, their patterns appearing within an hour of having brought them home.
She’d also managed to magic up a guestbook that required people to log in with their cards. It’d only record their name, date, and affiliation.
At least publicly.
Privately it also recorded their entire card, but that went to a separate book in a hidden chamber in his office.
She suggested charging a silver for entry to anyone who didn’t use the guestbook, and a copper for anyone who did.
It made sense, and he didn’t see a reason to argue with her. She was trying her damn hardest for him, and seemed hellbent on their goals.
Sitting on the front porch of his inn, Ryker watched a curious dust cloud on the horizon. It had appeared several hours ago in the far distance. If he didn’t miss his guess, and it really was an easy guess, they were heading right for him.
People riding that hard and fast for him were either up to no good, or fearing no good.
Wynne swung her legs back and forth from where she sat on the banister.
“Think it’s the Royal Guard?” she asked.
“Possible. Definitely someone who would be in a rush to get here. A dungeon almost always creates a boom in the economy. Then a swift change in the number of adventurers. Our offer, even without monetary value, would have perked up her interest,” Ryker said with a grin.
“I don’t want to hide anymore,” Wynne grumped. She folded her arms over her chest, her face clouding.
“Okay? Then don’t. It’s not like they’ll know what kind of Fairy you are without seeing your card. And it’s not
like I’ll be telling them. Not to mention our bond would be pretty obvious to anyone who poked around at either of us with magic. You’re just my personal Fairy,” Ryker said.
He didn’t see an issue with her not hiding. He’d never bothered correcting her to begin with, as he figured it was something she wanted to do.
“What? Oh… ok. You’re right… I guess. Okay, yes! I’m your Fairy. You bought me just like the others,” Wynne said happily. Her legs began swinging back and forth again, her momentary anger gone.
Smarter than a normal Fairy, but still a Fairy.
Over a gentle rise came the recognizable shape of horses. Horses with riders.
“Either it’s the Royal Guard at a breakneck pace… or someone came for those criminals after all,” Ryker said dryly.
“They have banners,” Wynne said.
Must have better eyesight than me.
“Blue and gold banners,” she amended.
“Queen then. Apparently she took our letter seriously. Very seriously,” Ryker said. Blue and gold were the queen’s colors.
He was impressed and gladdened to see half of his worries would end as soon as those soldiers arrived.
“What say we get a nice lunch put together for them since they’ll probably arrive around that time. And get the washrooms ready. Glad we picked up those extra real Hobs now. They do great work as help and can help out in a pinch with a brawl,” Ryker said.
“Okay. I can start on that. You play good host for them then,” Wynne said, darting off into the inn.
Ryker only nodded his head. At the distance they were at it’d probably be a few more hours.
That and it looked like they had slowed down a bit as soon as they saw the inn.
If they really do plan on being here for the long term, we’ll need to build a garrison. Should probably have a whole bunch of materials made before they get here. Act as if I’d had it prepared, but not built.
Sighing, Ryker gave up on his relaxing sit and got to work.
***
It really did take till just after noon for the horsemen to arrive. By then, Ryker had summoned up enough materials to build a garrison. That and probably half a town.
Dungeon Deposed Page 4