Chapter 29: The Plan
Over the course of thirty minutes, DM applied his affection skill. Barney was already charmed and didn’t resist. Meanwhile, with Barney in tow, DM moved towards the console so he could check on the status of the intruders.
The party of knights was progressing slowly towards the entrance, pace set by needing to carry two exhausted mages. On floor 3, they encountered the lone intruder who had entered the dungeon during DM’s battle with Barney. He was listed as a LVL 22 swordsman.
DM moved a couple of hidden minions around so he could monitor both parties directly. At first glance, the swordsman carried two impressive swords crossed on his back. Looking closer, DM recognized him. He was the Guild Master. Wouldn’t the Guild Master be tied up dealing with the aftermath of the failed attack on his Guild branch? Why would he suddenly come to the dungeon? Was he here for DM? For Barney? For another reason?
The two parties exchanged a few words on floor 3. The knights politely explained their situation and inquired as to why the Guild Master was in the dungeon, violating the Lord’s orders to stay out of the Lower Gordu Forest.
In a rare humble display, the Guild Master apologized and explained that he needed to speak to Barney about a matter of grave importance to both the Guild and the Lord. The knights decided not to inquire further and provided a brief description of what to expect over the next several floors. They parted ways.
By the time the Guild Master reached the boss chamber, Barney had already been released from DM’s grasp and ordered to hide out of sight. The charm was maintained, at least for the time being. However, even if the charm were released, DM expected Barney to remain loyal on account of applying the affection skill so thoroughly until now.
As the Guild Master entered, the nearby morphling quickly took the Guild Master’s form. Hopefully, the Guild Master did not get a look at Barney’s visage before the transformation.
“Am I supposed to be fooled by a morphling that looks like me?”
“…No. This morphling takes the form of nearby humans to allow speech between visitors and the dungeon master.”
The Guild Master’s eyes widened a bit when the monster actually spoke to him, but he quickly recovered as though he was already half-expecting it. “Fine. Is that T2 tentacle monster the dungeon master?” The Guild Master pointed at DM.
“…Yes. That is me.”
“Where is that assassin named Barney?”
“…I took care of him.”
“Why did you let the knights go?”
“…From what I could tell, they were uninvolved in Barney’s assault on the Guild.”
The Guild Master lowered his brows while contemplating what to say. “You consider yourself on the side of the Guild in this conflict?”
“…I’m hardly a member of the Guild, but a few of your members are now my acquaintances. I don’t want to see them attacked by the Lord’s assassins.
“Do you really seek friendly relations with the Guild as Thaw said?”
“…Yes. I don’t like hurting adventurers but I also don’t like when they try to hurt me. …As I told Olivia a while ago, I am seeking friendship and collaboration.”
“Olivia, huh? I… owe her an apology.”
“…What happened to Olivia?”
“When I received a report from her in writing about her encounter in this dungeon, I informed the Lord, dumb as that was. He detained her, contrary to my wishes, and I haven’t seen or heard from her since.
“…Is she still imprisoned by the Lord?”
“Probably. Why do you care?”
“…She is one of the acquaintances I mentioned. Although she acted foolish, she seemed to care deeply about the adventurers. …I respected that.”
“I’ll consider these friendly relationships you want so badly on one condition.”
“…What is it?”
“Take care of the Lord.”
DM always hesitated a bit when responding to someone in a conversation. It was unavoidable since he needed to relay every line to his morphling. This time, the delay was longer than normal on account of DM thinking hard about what to say.
“Well?”
“…The Lord seems to be our common enemy. I’m not opposed to eliminating him, but could you tell me why he’s acting this way?”
“I can’t say for sure. He’s always been a crazy son of a bitch, but until recently I never would have thought he would have sent his man to literally bomb the Guild.”
“…Perhaps he’s reacting to pressure from the capital or the church or somewhere else?”
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“Maybe, but I’m not here to discuss political matters. Just tell me, can you do it?”
“…Most likely, I can. I’ll be taking a risk, though.”
“With Barney eliminated, the Lord won’t have anyone else to do his dirty work. I’ll do what I can to ensure this doesn’t blow back on you or me.”
“…Barney is defeated, but not eliminated.”
“What?”
Silently, DM ordered Barney to approach.
When the Guild Master laid eyes on Barney, he reach his arms over his shoulders and drew both swords. Bloodlust permeated the chamber.
“…Please wait.”
“I came here to take care of Barney. Don’t interfere.”
“…Barney is already under my control.”
“He’s charmed?”
“…Yes.”
“That’s not good enough. Even high-tier charm effects can be removed given enough time.”
“…There’s another reason. Can you keep this just between us, and perhaps that dwarf I met?”
“Hah. I can’t promise I’ll even tell Thaw whatever you have to say, but yes, go ahead.”
“…I’ve applied affection to Barney as well.”
This time, the Guild Master paused, likely searching his memory. “Affection? What, exactly, is that?”
“…As I suspected, it is not well known. It seems to be a skill tentacle monsters can learn at a high level. …It increases the affection the target feels towards the caster but does not allow for communication at a distance through the mind.”
“Can it be removed?”
“…Yes, but it is difficult to remove just like high-tier charm effects. The main advantage over charm is that the person acts normally instead of single-mindedly trying to obey the most recent order.”
“I see. And Barney is fully under its effect?”
“…Yes. It took a while, but I applied the skill fully.”
“Barney is no weakling. How the heck did you defeat him? Your dungeon hasn’t even been here that long.”
“…His stats were somewhat better than mine, but I surprised and outwitted him.”
“Just what the hell are you?”
“…Did Thaw not tell you what I told her?”
The Guild Master frowned. “She didn’t say much. Just that you were intelligent and were seeking friendly relations.”
“…This is another secret, but I also told her that I was a human that was reborn with my memories in this form.”
“I’ve never heard of that happening before,” the Guild Master admitted. "Do you know why it happened to you?”
“…No.”
The Guild Master sheathed his swords. “Anyway, you’ve already agreed to eliminate the Lord. Swear to me that you won’t allow Barney to act against the interest of the Guild in the future.”
“…Well, for so long as the Guild and I have friendly relations, Barney will not harm the Guild. I have no desire to harm your branch or its members.”
“Fine.” The Guild Master turned to exit the dungeon.
“…What will happen to the rest of the Lord’s family? Who will take over?”
“We’ll worry about that after your work is complete. For now, eliminating that maniac before he can do something else crazy is the top priority.”
“…Very well.”
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DM would need to weaken his defenses if he was carrying out a mission in the Twin Cities. He had some puzzles in mind for locking doors, so in a pinch he could slow parties down, or outright repel them, simply by relying on his more advanced knowledge. Normally, he wouldn’t rely too heavily on that manner of defense, but these were desperate times.
First, he needed to interrogate Barney. Since the man was charmed, a morphling intermediary was not currently needed. Still, Barney would forget this conversation once charm was released, so DM decided to keep it brief.
“Did you come here to eliminate me by relocating my dungeon using the dungeon console?”
“Yes,” Barney confirmed. He didn’t show any remorse since charm, rather than affection, was dominating his mind right now. Likely, he’d respond differently to the question once charm was removed.
“…What was your plan for after the dungeon moved?”
“I would end up somewhere random, so I would exit the dungeon and then seek out the nearest settlement or city. From there, I would work my way back to the Twin Cities, however long it took.”
DM was astonished that Barney was willing to go through with that. “Isn’t that incredibly risky? Couldn’t you end up in a dangerous place or on the other side of the world entirely?”
“Yes. The Lord had assured me I would be properly rewarded for completing this mission.”
DM changed topics slightly. “Why is the Lord trying to eliminate me?”
“I don’t totally understand his motivations myself. Our arrangement is, I complete the missions he assigns, and he overlooks whatever I want him to. If I had to guess, he’s currently trying to eliminate anything within his domain that he can’t control.”
“Do you know why he’s suddenly trying to eliminate me and the Guild?” DM asked.
“No, but I think he’s under a great deal of pressure from the capital and the Church. He hinted at some type of operation against the Church as well.”
“All right. I’m not going to spend too much time trying to get into the mind of some Lord who’s about to die. Barney, I need to send you back, but what excuse can you use for why the dungeon wasn’t moved?”
“I’m not sure what he will accept. Unless we eliminate all the knights, we can’t argue that the dungeon master’s chamber was inaccessible.”
“Will it work if you claim that the dungeon console wasn’t functioning properly? Perhaps it was sabotaged by the strange dungeon master, for instance?”
“I don’t know how the Lord will react, but there’s really nothing anybody can say until they send someone else to check it anyway.”
DM released the charm effect and routed his dialogue through the morphling again. “…Barney, we are going to eliminate the Lord of the Twin Cities. Wait, what’s his name?”
“Eddie Pool.”
“…Uh, I see. So, we’ll eliminate Lord Pool without revealing our involvement. …I'll need you to pretend to still be in his service.”
Barney nodded. “I can do that.”
“…You’ll need to convince Lord Pool that the dungeon wasn’t working properly and you were unable to move it. Oh, and there’s something else I should make clear.”
“What is it? And what should I call you?”
“…Call me DM. My policy is to avoid hurting innocent people whenever possible. …Don’t be cruel or eliminate people unless I agree or if it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Roger.”
DM outlined a plan where Barney would scout out the Lord’s manor (practically a castle) and allow DM to secretly infect key people. DM would also deploy a multitude of infected bats to provide aerial surveillance. Once preparations were complete, DM would secretly off the Lord whenever the best opportunity arrived.
Barney was instructed to carry something to write with at all times. Without a method of telepathic communication, it would be difficult to provide updated orders to Barney. A passing person could be momentarily charmed and used as a mouthpiece for DM, but such methods were risky and also unacceptably rude to the innocent people involved. Instead, DM would use a tentacle to charm Barney when he was alone, direct Barney to jot down instructions, then release the charm effect. Barney would destroy the evidence and execute his orders.
According to Barney, the Lord was not an impressive fighter by any means. Overpowering him wouldn’t be challenging. The key would be to take him down while no witnesses were around. Eddie Pool was famously untrusting so few people would be near him for long, at least. Barney needed to be careful not to lose the Lord’s trust prematurely or the plan would get set back.
In addition to infecting Barney, DM gifted a few abilities: regenerate T1, sense T1, and fireball T2. The assassin was elated to receive abilities from his friend.
“…As I said to you recently,”
Barney tilted his head.
“…Let’s begin.”