The Dungeon Con_One Foot in the Grave

by Marty Myers

  “ Thanks for showing me the hole. I found a few other things down there I would like to share with everyone.” Hank focused and teleported both chests from the cave outside into the room. They looked like they were falling to pieces here in the open air, but Hank wasn’t too concerned about the condition of the chests themselves. He said, “ I found a small boat and three smugglers overturned at the bottom with these chests. The bones are out at the entrance awaiting me. I checked and they were all followers of the Darkness in life.” The old man and the swordsman who had dropped the coins in the hole walked over and studied the chests. “ Yes,” the younger man said. “ I can see that working with you is going to do all kinds of good for us Wreckers.” The older man carefully opened the crumbling chests and said. “ Hank if you would learn I can teach you some chants we wreckers have developed to protect the treasures we find in the seas from the kind of damage that bringing them up on dry land can cause.” “ Yes I would very much like that,” Hank said.

  “ Now I hate to have to run, but I can not maintain myself at this distance indefinitely. I must return to my dungeon and relinquish my hold upon Birch. I realize we have not split the haul yet. So I propose that I trust my fellow wreckers here to go over it and split it evenly with me while I am away. In the meantime I will take the remains I found home with me.” The old cleric Rhodes nodded and said. “ Yes that is more than agreeable Hank. When will you be returning to us? I will try to return within the day. But I am not always the master of my time so I can not guarantee it,” he said. “ Just know I will return as soon as I can.” With that Birch stood up and walked out to the three sets of bones and then Hank and Alastor brought them home.

  Chapter 28

  Hank felt immensely relieved as soon as he was back within himself in his dungeon. It was as if he had finally stopped holding his breath again. He took three deep breaths despite he and Birch not needing them. Then he carefully relinquished his possession of his prized wight. As he did so he looked carefully studying Birch and found that his core essence had gotten a boost from Hanks prolonged occupation. He wasn’t sure if it was just the activation of his mindscape talent or if it went further than that. He would have to test him sometime soon to see if he could determine what had been improved.

  He quickly went to work and cast preservation spells upon the three sets of bones he had retrieved. He felt they were filled in equal parts with both dark and water essences. he surmised this was from their having lain so long on the sea floor. This was an added bonus as they would take to any of his dark castings with added potency. Hank then raised them up and took stock of their condition. Yes! he thought as his new minions looked almost supercharged to his senses. He teleported them up to his sunken hallway on the second floor where their watery essence should also grant them another advantage. If he was right and they performed as well there as he thought they would he might just create more underwater areas in his dungeon for the adventurers to contend with.

  It was just then that he felt Llywelyn’s presence call to him as she finally managed to bridge the gap to reach out to him. She had been trying to contact him ever since she had felt the connection between them come to life as he stood before the Lord of the Seas and he had weighed his apology against the wrong done to him and had received her fearful apology as well. She had immediately tried connecting to him again but the distance was too great for her to reach him by herself. Now that he was within range again she connected and stormed into his mindscape like a tempest filled with both concern and wraith.

  “ Hank,” she cried, “ what did I tell you about disturbing a Lord! He could have destroyed your soul utterly should you have angered him. Even the Darkness could not have stayed his hand there in his own Demesne.” “ I know that now,” Hank said as he grabbed a hold of her and hugged her tightly overcome with emotion. “ Honestly I don’t know why I am taking all these chances. I could spout off something about how I had it all under control or that it wasn’t as dangerous as your making it out to seem, but that would all be a lie. I was taking a big risk just now. At least two of them actually and I don’t know why. I didn’t used to be like this before coming here,” he said as he tried to figure out what was going on.

  Llywelyn looked at Hank, really took a long look at him and saw that he was telling the truth. His aura showed that he believed what he was saying. She also could see that his aura had been changed subtly. It was very hard to make out what had been done but she had shared his aura intimately recently and she could tell it was different somehow. “ Hank there are changes to your aura and I think to maybe to your core as well. I can’t tell what has been done to you,” Llywelyn said. “ I will be there fully soon. Sometime tomorrow the Darkness plans to open another gateway to you and then you and I will be able to go over you more thoroughly and figure this out.”

  Hank said, “ why is the Dark opening another portal here so soon. I know he doesn’t need to do that to come operate upon my body.” “ Well,” Llywelyn said, “ there is some bad news I am afraid. A group of angels was discovered searching the skies in the lowlands of the kingdom your in. They were led astray by one of the Dark’s minions who led them haring off to the north in pursuit of a false trail but it has alarmed the Darkness that the forces of Light are getting so close to discovering you. We had hoped that they wouldn’t find you or at least that it would take them a lot longer before they did. Now it looks like its only a matter of time before they do.”

  “ The Darkness wants you brought up to full strength as soon as possible and has ordered me to work to get you into top shape. Hank,” she said, “it’s crucial that you must not give yourself away in any way now. They were so close that its possible that even your scrying the area in the kingdom could have given you away to them.” Hank was alarmed at hearing this. He knew he wasn’t ready yet. He only had a few memories from Llywelyn of fighting off angels but he knew from them that he was no match yet for opponents of their caliber.

  She said, “ please promise me you will refrain from scrying anywhere nearby for now,” she said. “ And if you do come across any angels shut your scrying down immediately as they could sense it and try tracking you down through it.” Hank said, “ of course. But I know the Darkness has placed the strongest of wards on my dungeon to hide me from them. They will not find me so easily.” She said, “ regardless if angels were to get close to the castle above they could pierce his obfuscation as the light specializes in revealing the hidden.”

  She said, “ after I look you over tomorrow we must do everything we can to strengthen you Hank. Have you thought more on my suggestions for getting more minions of your own.” Hank said, “ yes that is why I went to the Lord of the Seas. I know you could feel some of our meeting but the rest of it went very well. I have his permission to recover the Dark Ones lost in his seas and to claim them. As well he has given me permission to claim the remains of any who chose no patron amongst the lords. He has accepted me partnering up with the Wreckers. They know where many of the wrecks are and under our agreement I will be able to retrieve the remains of Dark Ones and half the treasure from our salvage.” Llywelyn was astonished by Hanks news. She had thought Hank had been lucky to escape his encounter with the Lord of the Seas intact let alone garner any sort of support from him.

  Hank pointed out of his mindscape view to where the three newly made skeletons were settling into the sunken hallway. Llywelyn could see through his senses that they were prime examples of minions raised within a heavily saturated dark essence environment. Llywelyn said, “ they do look very promising, but three more minions is hardly enough.” “ I know,” Hank said, “ but these three I found by accident just proving my powers to the Wreckers, they sank in a rowboat of the coast of the island. If I can find and claim three just at random like that how many more can I gather to myself once I scry an actual full-sized sunken ship.”

  “ Besides I have already accomplished the dangerous part of this plan. The rest is just going to require moving s
tuff around now.” Llywelyn found it hard to find the flaw in Hanks reasoning. “ Very well,” she said, “ I know you have your heart set upon being mainly a dungeon of the dead. Still will you not consider adding some of the other options we have spoken of to your forces?”

  “ Very well,” Hank said to soothe his new girlfriend. “ You said you would bargain on my behalf with the Spider Queen. If you still think that is a good idea I will agree to it,” he said. “ Only I don’t know too much about keeping spiders.” Llywelyn said, “ great, I will see about arranging it. Do not worry I will share my memories and knowledge of the spiders with you when we meet tomorrow. If we are lucky I may even be able to set up a meeting with her by then.”

  Hank said, “how should I make their areas within my dungeon? Should I have something ready for them by tomorrow?” Llywelyn said, “ Just have a large tall chamber ready initially for there arrival. You are so proficient at expanding your dungeon space I don’t see you having any problems carving them out their own niche in within your walls. Once you have my memories you will be much better prepared to actually create the spiders’ lairs.”

  Llywelyn said, “ Unfortunately I must leave you now if I am to get everything ready for our visit tomorrow. Please be careful. You can expect us sometime around midday,” she said as she disappeared. Hank stepped back out of his mindscape and returned his attention to Alastor and Birch. For them, it had been only a matter of second or two since they had returned. Hank quickly checked his dungeon’s condition and found some minor annoyances due to the guards’ unruly behavior. He decided he could deal with those later as he felt time slipping away from him.

  Hank was determined to grow strong enough that the angels or anyone else weren’t going to be able to come here and put an end to him. He needed more minions, more power and more time in which to master his abilities. Hank split himself into two selves again and one of himself went back into his headspace to practice his necromancy and master all the Grimoire’s chants that he could.

  “ His other self stayed out here and spoke to his friends. “ Okay I just spoke with Llywelyn, apparently angels have been spotted in the kingdom not far away from us. The Darkness is worried that they are going to find us too soon. He has commanded her to get me powered up and ready for them as soon as possible. They will be opening another portal here tomorrow around midday to transfer more of the Darks minions here and for her to meet up with me.”

  “ We are almost out of time guys. If I am going to control the majority of the troops within myself we need to gather as many of them now as quickly as we can and get them settled in here before either the Darkness stocks us with his own bad guys or I get explicit orders to stop scrying and teleporting. Llywelyn has already all but ordered me to stop scrying anywhere nearby our area for fear of giving away my position.”

  Hank looked at them and said. “ I am going to go all out now in getting us our own host.” Hank said to Birch, “ are you okay with me possessing you again? Birch nodded. “ Like you said Hank we need to do this now before its too late. I already feel much better and we have only been separated a short while so the strain must not be as bad as we feared.” Hank focused on the chant and this time it felt far smoother as he settled into his friend’s body.

  With Alastors help once more they scryed the Wreckers cave directly and teleported Birch and Hank there. The Wreckers were startled, some jumping up before seeing who it was appearing among them. Hank said, “ apologies everyone, I have managed to return much more quickly than I thought I would be able to, but my time is limited each trip.” He waved away the Wreckers counting out their last hall. “ I am not concerned about getting that right now. I know you will get it divided. I do desperately need to continue getting minions though.”

  “ There has been a report that my dungeon may be discovered soon. Can you point me to a likely salvage where I could gather many remains for one of our first targets.” Rhodes, the old man he had initially contacted said. “ I know you mentioned wanting to target pirates but have another idea for you. I am an old soldier and I fancy something of a historian. Anyway early on during the war leading up to the second Great Ban, there was at one point where a lot of troops being moved around the Synod Sea. The Dark’s scheme in the old world had left many of the new nations out of place to field any force to oppose him. Everyone was scrambling to get their troops in position to fight another war between the Darkness and Light.”

  “ Some of these forces were of course lost at sea when their ships were attacked or when bad weather caught them. One, in particular, comes to my mind. It was a troop carrier loaded down with the sorriest lot of soldiers ever to be shipped out to sea.” Hank said, “ I don’t know why you would think of me gathering up sorry soldiers even though skeletons are mostly unaffected by their previous personalities a tiny bit of their battle prowess can yet remain and bolster the constructs performance.”

  “ No that is not what I meant Hank. I mean they were miserable being sent out to sea. For you see, they being Dwarves and nothing short of a Great War against the Darkness could lure them out onto the waves.” “ Yes,” Hank said, “ But I can’t take those dedicated to the light nor to any other Lord to serve me from under the waters.” “ Well that is the thing I was getting to,” Rhodes said. “ This lot of dwarves was most unusual being that they were a Warband of Dark Brotherhood Dwarves being sent back from the new world from a hidden colony there to go defend the Darkness. These Dark Dwarves have since been all but eradicated from the realm but in those days they still vied and fought their brethren deep under the mountains and were renowned for their formidable warriors and berserkers.”

  As he had spoken Hank had been swept away by memories of hearth tales meant to frighten young dwarfs. How two twin brothers had squabbled over inheriting their father the king’s crown and how they had fought a war amongst their people over who was the elder. How one had finally turned from the Light and took his followers away off into the night after being denied the crown. How they had returned much later changed forever into a warped reflection of the dwarves and tried again to take what they considered their place in the world.

  Hank was both repelled and attracted by the idea of retrieving these fell warriors for his own cause. He knew the dwarven kingdoms would already be against him if they knew of one of their kinfolk had been taken to empower Hank in his task to build his dungeon. He doubted any amount of wergild would pay them off if they knew of the dark deed. Hank decided he didn’t have time to hesitate if he could gather an entire war band of stout minions it would go a long way towards solving his own problems.

  “ Okay that does sound like a good target, but what of the Wreckers, would a troop transport have something for you as well?” Rhodes nodded. “ Indeed it should have been carrying a hefty war chest with which to pay for expenses and their own men.” The old man then pulled out a map and unrolled it upon the table. He and Birch weighed the ends down and then he pointed to a point upon the map. This hereabouts is where their ship is said to have sunk in a storm.”

  Hank said, “ you have spent years as a Wrecker and know the seas. Would you be willing to join my scrying attempt as I try to find the position of the Wreck.” Rhodes said, “ I would, but in this case, I have a better candidate here with us.” He motioned over a younger man with a peg where his right leg should be. “ Robere here knows that area well.” Hank checked the man out and asked, “ are you willing to scry for the ship we are looking for.” “ Yes,” the man said nervously, “ but I know nothing about magic.” “ That is okay I and my imp will be doing all of that, you simply need to help direct where we will be looking.”

  Birch said, “ relax, Hank will not harm you. Just sit down and give us your hand.” Robere did so, flinching when he felt Birch’s cold dead hand take his own. Hank meanwhile focused upon the man and then upon the scrying Alastor was already doing. With a little effort, Hank sent them into Birch’s mindscape at the scrying pool. He could see the questioning glance
s of his friends as they looked over at the man. Robere here doesn’t know anything about magic,” Hank said. “ Here we all stand within an illusion meant to help us all visualize scrying together for the wreck.” “ Of course master,” Alastor said “ startling the man with his deep voice and demonic appearance.” “ That is not an imp the man said in fright. “ I have seen imps before, they are small little demons meant to carry messages.” Birch said, “ don’t worry about it. He has just grown a lot recently.”

  Hank spoke up, “let’s get started every minute is precious to me.” Hank chanted and looked into the pool where an image of the island they were on currently was shown. “ Where do we need to go Robere,” he said. Thinking about it Robere’s mind began their view of the image to moving out into the ocean. Hank meanwhile tried to focus his senses upon looking for anything of dwarfish origin that might catch his eye. His stolen memories were not old enough to have actually encountered any of the Dark Dwarves. He had only tall tales to compare them to what he did know of Dwarf kind.

  As they traversed the ocean Hank felt his cord stretching further than he had ever gone before. He now knew it wasn’t likely he could have reached all the way across the sea to the old world even with his talent’s range. Maybe in time, his talent would continue to grow to reach that far if he lived long enough. Hank brought his mind back onto the task at hand. It was odd that his two selves were now so far apart. Of course that wasn’t entirely true he was never far apart from himself he was just splitting his attention between two points of view but still, the idea of it was unnerving. Ugh, Hank still gave himself a headache contemplating this aspect of his new life.