Ur’Tiko drew himself up to his full height. “Ur’Tiko is very useful! Old human is the not useful! Not even know Ur’Tiko!” The goblin went over to the doorway into the building and looked out. He soon realized the doorway itself was not covered by the white light. He took a few steps outside, but the white light seemed to have him surrounded. It wrapped around the whole of the building, which Ur’Tiko verified by walking the entire circle. The old woman followed him but didn’t say anything until they were back inside. Both of them had tried poking the white light too, but nothing had come of it.
“Well, that was enlightening.” Ur’Tiko did not know what that word meant, but the way she said it sounded mean. “We are trapped with each other.” She sighed. “Very well, let us begin with manners. You are Ur’Tiko, I am Leonora. Now, where am I?”
Ur’Tiko looked at her, this Leonora. “In building, with white wall blocking the exit.” It had been such a silly question.
“If I can’t get useful answers, little boy, there will be trouble. Now answer me!” The woman raised her hand like she was going to smack him, and Ur’Tiko cowered. However, when her arm came down, it passed right through him. She looked at the hand as if it had betrayed her. Then she just growled and paced away for a second.
Ur’Tiko understood frustration. He had seen it in other grown people. He didn’t know the word frustration, of course, but the emotion was fairly common when those of the People who had grown into other races had to deal with those who were still goblins. Goblins were of different minds of how to deal with the upset grown ones. Some preferred to run, others to scream– preparing for when they would be grown enough to fight back – or posture, but Ur’Tiko had always found it helpful to be helpful. “Building is in Dead Wood. Ur’Tiko hear name from Ur’Gornun!”
The old woman stopped pacing and looked at him. ”I used to go gambling in Deadwood. I can assure you that nothing like this was there.”
“Perhaps I can help with this.” A new voice joined the conversation. Strolling in the door as if it had walked through the dome of white light. Ur’Tiko just stared at the stranger. It looked like it was supposed to be eight inches tall, but was instead eight feet. There was a stretched out feeling to the creature, which didn’t appear to be either human or one of the People, so Ur’Tiko had now exhausted all frame of reference.
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Leonora only glanced briefly at the green grubby child, apparently named Ur’Tiko (dreadful name), that was her only companion in this new hell. Not that she deserved to be in hell, for she had lived a solid, faithful life and could not understand what had gone wrong to see her land here. The thing that had just entered the room was neither angel nor demon as she was expecting them to look, but it at least spoke in a more sensible cadence.
“I do hope that you can. I still am not clear where I am! This child tells me it is something called Dead Wood, but I have been to the town of Deadwood, and it looked nothing like this!”
The creature looked back at her. It had eyes that were entirely black, as if they were one massive pupil. The eyes were overlarge and slightly almond shaped in a head that was taller than normal. Head shape, strange eyes, and even the eight feet of height were still not the strangest thing about the creature though, which also had two pairs of wings that were fluttering quickly behind it as if she were a dragonfly hovering.
“You are not in any town called Deadwood. You are in The Dead Wood. It is a forest of a certain kind.” Like with Ur’Tiko, it was obvious that that wasn’t the words the creature said but somehow, Leonora was able to understand the meaning of it.
“Ur’Tiko say so!” The green thing piped up.
The creature focused on Ur’Tiko for a second, a look of confusion warring with disgust. “What is one of those…” It pulled what appeared to be a slate of crystal out of thin air and poked at it for a moment. “How is this…” It continued to talk to itself. Leonora would have been annoyed at the rudeness, especially with how unhelpful its answer had been, but she was familiar enough with the appearance of a lackey who didn’t know what was going on either. She started working herself up to demand to speak to a manager. She knew that her grandchildren always had to stifle laughs when she did so, but it was the easiest way to cut through an ignorant lackey’s obfuscating. The only thing that had her hesitating was the profound unnaturalness of all of this. She had just been starting to adjust to the green child when this creepy thing had walked in, now it had just conjured up that crystal thing from nowhere. It threw her off her stride.
The creature walked over to the pedestal that was the only thing in this large room. Although now that she saw more of it, it wasn’t walking at all but rather hovering, as if it were that very dragonfly that its wings suggested. It set the crystal slate on top of the pedestal. “Well, I can see we’re going to have to do some unusual things to get this going the right way. Goblins are useless before Level 10, so we’re going to have to accelerate this.”
It turned to look at Ur’Tiko and waved a hand. A streamer of white light emerged from its palm and moved over to form a pile in front of the child. The pile swirled for a moment and then dissipated, leaving behind a brown furred fox.
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“Kill it.”
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Ur’Tiko looked in horror at the tall thing. “But it’s a fox! It’s not for killing! Not enough good meat, too many claws. Besides, it’s cute!”
The creature looked at him a moment without speaking. After a beat, it shook its head. “Very well, if that is too cute to kill…” It waved a hand and the fox was covered by a flash of white light. When it faded, the fox was gone. In its place was a writhing ball of tentacles. “Kill it.”
Ur’Tiko looked with skepticism – not that he knew the word, but right then he definitely knew the emotion – at the hand-waving creature and then at the tentacled creature. He was supposed to kill this? He looked down at the little stone shiv that was his only weapon.
“Kill it. It has been given a blessing that will get you to a useful level and I have made it so that it will not fight back.” The creature’s voice took on a tinge of impatience, so Ur’Tiko hurried to do what it asked. That tone usually led to problems. Already the other person in here had tried to hit him, even if she couldn’t.
Ur’Tiko rushed forward and, unlike what he expected, the tentacles made no move to attack him. They almost seemed to get out of his way and he was able to reach the center body and stab it with the shiv. It took a few stabs, but eventually the thing died. As Ur’Tiko backed away, the whole of the tentacled mess and its blood – including that which had spattered on the goblin – glowed with a white light which then flew towards his stomach. When it disappeared into him, he was … more.
Ur’Tiko had grown up around the People. He had known of growing all his life. It had been the whole reason that he had followed Ur’Gornun, in the hope that he might grow faster and stronger. He had experienced small growths all of his life as he hunted, but this was something categorically different than he had experienced before. The world was sharper, clearer. For once, he looked around and understood that he was separated from his people and needed to look after himself. It was no longer about getting back to the Ur.
“I still don’t understand what is going on.”
The floating winged creature before him laughed. “Perhaps, but you just called yourself ‘I’ for the first time in your life, so we can get started.” It gestured towards itself. “You may call me Sherry, although you will only see me this once. I am an envoy of the Great Mother, sent as a blessing to a new child to help you find your way in this world.”
The old woman, Leonora, Ur’Tiko remembered her name was, snorted. “Well, I’ll take Sherry over calling you strange floating creature, but I’m hardly a new child.”
Sherry nodded. “No, your soul has indeed already lived a full life, but your body is new. This is all your new body.” The creature waved at the space around it. “The Great Mother has seen fit to bless you as the guiding spirit for one of her children, a dungeon.”
Leonora folded her arms and scoffed but Ur’Tiko fell to his knees and clutched his head in his hands. He missed the next few exchanges between the two of them as he reflected on his woe. He had heard of dungeons from the elders of the People, but they were places of death for all but the strongest. He was a goblin, the weakest of the People, he wasn’t ready to challenge a dungeon yet. He wasn’t an orc or a troll. They were the ones who belonged in dungeons, not him! He would find only death here.
Ur’Tiko hugged his knees and rocked back and forth, oblivious to his surroundings. Which, if he had had the brain-space to process it, would only have proved how unready he was to be in a dungeon. It sounded like the voices around him were angry, but he could not focus well enough to understand what they were saying. Images of the other goblins being cut down in the attack on the human fort played through his head as he imagined what it would be like to die in a dungeon. He wasn’t even fully grown yet. He knew that if he had had some more years, or perhaps some special training from Ur’Gurnon and Ur’Kils, that he could have grown up into an orc like them. It was what all the goblins in the Ur tribe had wanted. Then, perhaps, he would have been strong enough to raid a dungeon. It was said that for those strong enough, a dungeon could be a source of great strength and even wealth. But for those not strong enough, it was only death.
He was focused on his breathing and trying to calm down when he felt a presence hover over him. “Get up already!” Ur’Tiko looked up in shock to see the winged creature looking down at him with her arms crossed. “Useless goblin, pay attention!”
“Leave him be.” The woman’s voice was exasperated as she appeared from behind the creature and made a shooing motion. “Didn’t you tell me a goblin is like a child? Clearly, you’ve never managed children. I had eight, so I’ll take over. Go away, you oversized dragonfly.” With an odd look on its face that Ur’Tiko couldn’t decipher, the floating creature did exactly that. The human woman sat down on the ground in front of him. She moved with a spryness that made her seem much younger than her looks. “So, your name is Tiko then.”
“Ur’Tiko. I am part of the Ur clan.” Ur’Tiko tried to inject some pride into his voice as he defended his place in the clan. But in reality, it just came out with a whimper.
“Oh. Very well then, Ur’Tiko. My name is Leonora, if you don’t remember.” He just nodded. “You collapsed as soon as the messenger said dungeon and you seem quite scared now. Why?”
Ur’Tiko had trouble saying much of anything. It was shameful to be so scared, but it didn’t change that he was. In the end, he barely managed to give any verbal response, and it was barely coherent. “Dungeon … death.”
He heard the winged creature, the messenger according to Leonora call over from the other side of the room. “He was a juvenile goblin until he killed the summoned creature. Dumber than many of the monsters you’ll be able to summon. His experience of the world is stunted.”
Ur’Tiko felt a flash of anger at the creature. “Ur’Tiko not dumb! Dungeon means death.”
“Not for you.” The woman said and reached out a hand. Ur’Tiko flinched as if he expected to be slapped, but it seemed more like a comforting gesture. Either way, it passed through him just like the slap earlier had. “Oh. Right. I can’t touch things.”
“Yet.” The floating messenger, who Ur’Tiko remembered was named Sherry now that he was getting over the shock, responded. “Once the Dungeon is up and running, you will able to be corporeal again as the final boss. You’ll still be the Dungeon Spirit too, working together with…” It sighed and pointed at Ur’Tiko, “the Dungeon Master to design and operate this place.”
Ur’Tiko perked up at that. “Ur’Tiko is Dungeon Master? But Ur’Tiko is not great warrior or shaman!”
“Trust me, I know.” Sherry remarked acidly. “But nonetheless, here we are. Somehow, you were the only sentient inside the summoning sphere when it completed. A Dungeon needs a Master, so it latched onto you. The Spirit can do nothing directly for a Dungeon, it needs a Master to make all the designs and selections.” It looked back and forth between the two of them. “This may be the oddest pairing I have seen in service of the Great Mother. You will either achieve great things or be destroyed quickly. We’ll see.”
“Not helpful.” Leonora snarled at Sherry. “Now, you said something about choices we would have to make.”
“Yes. The goddess sends me to offer new Dungeons guidance to ensure that they form successfully. Now that I have both of your attention, we can begin.” It gestured at the tablet. “Ur’Tiko, pick up the control slate. The Dungeon Spirit cannot physically interact with the Dungeon so you will be the one who has to do it.”
Ur’Tiko looked at Leonora, who nodded waved him forward. He walked over the tablet sitting on the pedestal and picked it up. The crystal of the slate lit up with words. Ur’Tiko was illiterate, so the symbols meant nothing to him, but somehow the meaning was still conveyed.