Chapter 13: Invitation to the Empire
While Alenia’s arm was tangled up, a second tentacle wrapped around Daphne’s waist and tossed her away. She rolled once on the floor and sprung back onto her feet.
“You DARE grab my arm!?” Alenia screamed to the tentacle which had sprouted from the floor behind her. “There are far better places to grab!” She flicked her wrist, and the dagger flew across the room, burying itself into a wooden cutting board. “I’d say I killed two wolves with one arrow.”
“What?” Daphne was still trying to catch up with everything that had happened.
“Daphne, dear, after that, I’m pretty sure I understand the nature of your trauma. I will help you, but first you should go back and join your friends.”
As the tense situation relaxed, Daphne collapsed down to her knees, breathing heavily. “I thought…”
“Oh, it’s silly that you’re letting all this bother you. Nevertheless, I want to see you made whole. Before you go…” She turned back to address the tentacle. “You never infected me. I didn’t insist on it before, but right now, it will be better if I’m infected, no? Unless you want Daphne to stick around for what happens next. I want to experience that interesting ability of yours again, after all.”
Daphne didn’t notice any change; however, Alenia seemed satisfied.
“That’s better. Now, run along Daphne. And as for you…”
Daphne decided she didn’t want to know, so she ran out of the room.
----------------------------------------
The next weeks proceeded calmly. Daphne stayed with her party in her village, receiving counseling from her fellow elves and also spending some time on rest and relaxation.
Kat, as party leader, brought her group on various quests around the capital region. Many times, they received comments or just odd looks due to the fact that Vulp was simply a member of the party. After all, Vulp had become quite famous in the Holy State. Still, all the girls were comfortable with the current organization of their party. Ultimately, Kat was the one who seized the opportunity to break them free from their original bondage, even if the method was rather haphazard…
Sasha’s party drifted from town to town, seeking out any information they could find on the mystery dungeon. At Ardreth’s insistence, they kept their objective secret, only gently prodding for information as they went. So far, they hadn’t learned much else aside from their previous discovery that the wyverns seemed to be originating from that dungeon.
Barney had actually registered as an adventurer in the Union, hoping to find new information sources as he earned money the old-fashioned way. So far, he couldn’t find any evidence that the Union was planning to move against the Holy State or anyone else. Even setting aside their utter defeat following an unjust invasion of their neighbor, the arrival of a dragon at the Upper Gordu Dungeon took the wind out from under their sails. It seemed like the national priority was now to avoid upsetting their new draconic resident.
Although DM couldn’t witness it directly, he figured out that Thaw had arrived at the Twin Cities and was questioning the prisoners. Although they were Union residents, most of the captives were Guild members that happened to be brought along during the Union’s invasion. Once Thaw was satisfied that they were really innocent and posed no threat to the Guild or the Holy State, she would release them back across the Nar Union border.
DM had been taking it easy, enjoying some quiet time after all the activity recently. He took a break from his latest game of chess against the console to check his stats.
Name Dungeon Master Species Tentacle Monster (Tier 3) LVL 12 HP 1156 MP 3625 STR 135 DEF 103 MAG 96 MDEF 82 AGI 63 LUCK 2 Abilities
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Offense Touch (Charm T6, Pain T1, Experience T1, Pleasure T2, Poison T2, Slow T2, Berserk T2, Mana T2, Health T2, Paralysis T2, Stone T2, Confusion T2, Sleep T2), Projectile (T1), Ice Shot (T1), Affection (T1), Tentacle Slap (T2), Fireball (T3), Ice Spear (T3), Lightning Bolt (T3), Air Blast (T3), Earth Spike (T3)
Defense Guard (Poison T1, Ice T1, Charm T3, Fire T2), Reduced Damage from Monsters (T1), Reduced Damage from Males (T1), Shield of Protection (T1)
Utility Bonus Damage to Monsters (T1), Infect, Heal (T1), Sense (T2), Antidote, Regenerate (T2), Absorb Equipment (T3), Disguise, Float, Spawn Tentacle (T2), Howl (T1), Hide, Root Attack (T1), Bonus Damage to Humans (T1), Sprint (T1)
DM was on the cusp of leveling up yet again. Apparently, there was some restriction if DM acquired too much experience at once now, preventing him from leveling multiple times in short succession. He wasn’t sure if that was because of his link to the dungeon as it leveled, or if it was like that for all people and creatures on this world above a certain threshold. Either way, he suspected he’d be able to level again once he gained a little more experience. He’d received a tremendous amount during the siege of the Twin Cities and especially the clean-out of his two dungeons.
Business was returning to usual as Olivia arrived with a fresh batch of recruits in tow. Apparently, the Guild’s good showing during the recent battle had improved their image in the eyes of the rest of the citizenry, encouraging more young adults to join. Of course, Olivia would never miss that opportunity to enlighten them on the ways of becoming an adventurer. DM was perfectly happy to let them wander around the top levels of the dungeon as always, picking up some experience and leaving behind a few old items as a form of payment.
DM received an alert, despite the fact that Olivia and her newbie adventurers were already in the dungeon. Perhaps more people from the capital had journeyed to the dungeon to request DM’s aid. Alternately, it could be that the malnourished son DM recently discussed had recovered, or his health had failed him, and this was the follow-up visit.
After a few moments, a woman entered the dungeon by herself, which was unusual. Rather than gape wide-eyed at the chamber, as most first-time visitors did, she simply walked over to Olivia to talk. She could give Olivia a run for her money in the looks department, despite dressing like a rugged adventurer.
Olivia explained that all requests to use the dungeon or communicate with the dungeon master should be routed through the Twin Cities Guild Branch.
The woman apologized for not following the usual protocols, but requested Olivia deliver a written message to the dungeon master, to which Olivia agreed. The woman pulled a note out from her pocket bearing a foreign seal. After entrusting it to Olivia, she departed the dungeon.
A minute later, a morphling sauntered into the room. “…May I?”
Olivia handed over the note the morphling, who carefully removed the seal and unfolded the outer layer of the document. The message only took a minute to read.
“What is it?” she asked.
“…An invitation. The Zarakhelese Empire is interested in the same arrangement as we have here in this dungeon and that the Nar Union now has with the Upper Gordu Dungeon.”
“Arrangement? Like for training new adventurers?”
“…Yes. Specifically, they’re inviting me to take control of that dungeon over the border, west of Gulukkhath, and make it suitable for training.”
“Oh, that’s great, isn’t it?”
“…It will be nice to seize the dungeon with permission this time. Last time, the Union kind of overreacted.”
“Yeah…” Olivia had survived the war intact, but she didn’t have fond memories of it either. “What are you going to do?”
“…I wonder how the Empire learned of this so quickly. Do you know if their Guild branches communicate with yours? …Or the Union’s?”
“Sorry, I don’t know anything about that. I can ask when I get back.”
“…Thank you.”
There were two things DM wanted to do right now but couldn’t. First, he wanted to take advantage of Vulp’s connections to learn more about the leadership of the Empire, especially the central region where this dungeon resided and also where Sasha’s party was investigating. Second, he wanted to send a party to this new dungeon, undercover, to explore it and report back on anything they learned. Unfortunately, with Kat’s party still being in the capital region, he didn’t have a good way to accomplish this. Sasha’s party was too far away from this dungeon, and it was too risky to try to give them new orders anyway. Perhaps a new request was a better way of putting it in their case. Regardless, allowing them to continue investigating the suspicious dungeon farther to the southeast was probably the better move, anyway.
DM was trying to remain well-behaved, but another option was for him to infect a random adventurer and secretly watch them explore the dungeon. From that, he’d get an idea of the dungeon’s layout, types of monsters that spawned naturally, and perhaps anything else unusual about how the Empire utilizes dungeons.
Judging from what Grummanonth told him, acquiring new dungeons eventually increased the chances of unlocking the ability to spawn more dragons. Having more folks to actually speak with would be really nice. Grummanonth was still the only person he could have a conversation with directly, not needing an intermediary or to use charm. DM also hoped leveling up the dungeon would unlock access to higher-tier versions of monsters, including some capable of having a conversation. Time would tell.
DM was feeling a bit blind without the ability to spy using, primarily, Vulp and Bandit. He didn’t really care what Harold was up to, and he still had access to the Church via Vera, who was back in the Twin Cities. He also needed Lupy to return before he could learn much else about that organized crime ring that she was associated with. In theory, he could just infect some more people, but once again, he was trying to play nice with humans. Infecting everyone left and right was probably a bad idea. Using charm, doubly so.
DM started to plan his visit, no, invasion into a new dungeon.