Chapter 4: Turning the Tables
The infect ability wasn’t a Tier 1 spell. It didn’t seem to have a time limit or any other restrictions. DM’s plan was to infect his goblin and then send it outside the dungeon. He extended an appendage and applied the effect through contact.
“Exit the dungeon and then scout out the area immediately outside the entrance. I’ll be watching. If you encounter any monsters, try to defeat them. If you encounter humans or the like, run away.”
The goblin jogged away. DM was able to split his attention between his surroundings and the goblin’s surroundings fairly well. Most likely, he could only use this ability to monitor one target effectively at a time. He was most interested in how useful it would be if used on an enemy that “escaped” the dungeon, but for now he’d stick to goblin scouting.
The goblin climbed the final stairway out of the dungeon. Success. He was clearly in the middle of a forest. The dungeon entrance was fairly well hidden in the side of a hill. If it hadn’t already been discovered by multiple groups, DM might have considered camouflaging it.
Nothing stood out in the area immediately surrounding the dungeon, so DM commanded the goblin remotely to proceed in the direction that was most likely southeast. After a few minutes, the goblin encountered a spider. The goblin had no way of knowing what level the spider was, but he drew his dagger and prepared for combat.
DM tried using his sensing magic. Success! The spider was LVL 1, same as the spiders that initially spawned in the dungeon. The goblin dealt 6 damage to the spider. The spider countered and dealt 3 damage. The goblin’s second strike dealt 5 damage and defeated the spider. It picked up a couple of coins and a spider core and put them in its inventory.
“Nice, I got experience from that.” It wasn’t enough experience to level DM up, but just knowing that he could send armies out to fight and level himself or the dungeon was quite comforting. Of course, defense was the priority for now.
The goblin continued southeast. After about 10 minutes, a large city came into view. DM instructed the goblin to stop before exiting the edge of the forest. It was still a 10 or so minute walk from the edge of the forest to the city entrance through plains.
The goblin scouted the nearest city entrance from afar. DM shifted most of his attention to the dungeon console and lost track of time. An hour or so later, he noticed a group of five adventurers exit the city via the goblin’s vision. As they came closer to the goblin’s hiding spot, DM became able to sense the five adventurers who didn’t look any older than the four which slaughtered him recently.
Name Michael Species and Class Human Swordsman LVL 2 HP ? MP ? STR ? DEF ? MAG ? MDEF ? AGI ? LUCK ?
The other four, two male and two female, were all humans at LVL 2 as well. Perhaps the Guild had sent them to go conquer a certain freshly-spawned LVL 2 dungeon. DM ordered the goblin to return home.
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The plan was similar to how DM dealt with the slaver. The minions would all hide around the periphery of the room and DM would stand in the center. Sure enough, he received an alert that intruders were about to enter the dungeon.
He tracked the party on the console. They cautiously explored Floor 1, looting both of the treasure chests. On the second floor, they explored the side rooms before proceeding into the boss chamber. The door creaked open. As they filed in, all five of them shouted out their thoughts seemingly at random.
“That’s the boss!”
“It’s kinda gross.”
“Remember, it can take your sword away!”
“The Guild said not to believe that!”
“Well, still be careful.”
“Like I said, why didn’t we see any other monsters?”
“It’s a shame we won’t get more experience, but let’s take down the boss at least.”
“Oh, look! It’s running away, just like the other party said!”
“This will be easy.”
The group fanned out to surround DM and pin him in the corner of the chamber.
“Remember our formation! Get ready.”
Just as the group was about to launch their attack, DM called for aid. 7 creatures sprinted at the party from behind them.
“B-Behind us!”
“Oh my god!”
“Reverse the formation!”
The party completely ignored DM as they struggled to rearrange themselves. He reshaped his body slightly in order to increase his number of appendages to 5. They each reached out and grabbed an adventurer by the neck.
DM wondered if he could simultaneously charm five targets. While he tried, the minions worked to suppress the adventurers and prevent them from breaking free.
It took a bit longer than previously but, one by one, each adventurer succumbed to the charm touch ability.
“Take their weapons and armor away.” DM was looking forward to the meal. In the meantime, he questioned the party. “Who’s the leader?”
“I am,” the swordsman Michael declared. Nobody argued with him.
“Explain the circumstances that led to you challenging this dungeon.”
“Okay. Another beginner party like us recently discovered this dungeon and defeated the Dungeon Master. The Guild told us they raised the dungeon’s level up to 2 and that it would make a good first conquest for us after our initial training.”
“Did you encounter the other party which previously defeated the dungeon?” The warrior nodded in response. “What did they tell you?”
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“They said that the dungeon was easy until the boss chamber, however, the boss stole their sword and then fought with it. The Guild told us that tentacle monsters aren’t able to do that so they were probably lying to cover up a mistake.”
“Did they say anything about the tentacle monster trying to communicate with them?”
“No, we didn’t hear anything like that.”
Another adventurer, a black mage from the looks of her, jumped in. “Wait, their black mage told me that the tentacle monster was waving at them and it was very suspicious.”
DM more or less got the gist of what had transpired in town between this report and the one from the slaver. “What does the Guild plan to do about this dungeon on a go-forward basis?”
“I think the Guild is going to keep sending LVL 2 beginner parties like us to level up here. They said it’s an ideal location for a low-level dungeon.”
DM used his infect ability on Michael. “You will return straight to the Guild and report that you defeated the dungeon. If anyone asks, your weapons and armor were damaged and they’re being repaired. Avoid discussing anything else and return home. The other four will return straight home.”
The adventurers acknowledged the order. This wouldn’t solve DM’s problems by any means, but it would buy him some time and allow him to gather some intelligence. DM wasn’t sure how the kids would react after the charm effect wore off. Hopefully, the infect ability would reveal that soon enough.
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With the adventurers on the way home, DM went to town on the armor and weapons left behind.
>Absorbed sword (T1).
>Gained 2 STR.
>Absorbed staff (T1).
>Learned ability, Fireball (T1).
>Gained 2 MAG.
>Absorbed staff (T1).
>Learned ability, Heal (T1).
>Gained 2 MAG.
>Absorbed bow (T1).
>Learned ability, Projectile (T1).
>Gained 2 AGI.
>Absorbed knuckles (T1).
>Gained 1 STR.
>Gained 1 AGI.
"That takes care of the weapons…" DM started absorbing the armor.
>Absorbed leather breastplate (T1).
>Gained 2 DEF.
>Absorbed leather breastplate (T1).
>Gained 2 DEF.
>Absorbed robes (T1).
>Learned ability, Fire Guard (T1).
>Gained 2 MDEF.
>Absorbed robes (T1).
>Learned ability, Ice Guard (T1).
>Gained 2 MDEF.
>Absorbed cloak (T1).
>Gained 1 DEF.
>Gained 1 MDEF.
>Absorbed enchanted shoes (T1).
>Gained 1 AGI.
>Absorbed rabbit’s foot (T1).
>Gained 1 Luck.
The gear was pretty weak overall, but it added up. A couple of other items didn’t seem like they’d give DM any benefit if he absorbed them, so he let the dungeon absorb them instead.
While he was waiting for Michael to finish his transit to the Guild, DM stopped to think about his previous encounter with the five adventurers. He had been trying to ignore it, but he felt some impulses when he had the adventurers at his mercy. Rather than send them away, his instincts were calling for him to keep them restrained…
He didn’t come close to acting on his tentacle monster impulses, but the affair worried him. What if the impulses grew stronger with time? What if they grew stronger as he leveled up? Would he eventually lose control? The problem likely wasn’t as bad as that ‘man eater’ property he could have ended up with, but still…
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Michael entered the Guild. Several fellow adventurers looked his way then went back to what they were doing. He approached the counter to report in.
“Oh, back already? How did it go?”
“It went well. We conquered the dungeon and came straight back.”
“Congratulations! Where is the rest of your party?”
“Things got, uh, messy, so they went to clean up.”
“Yikes… Well, that’s understandable given what type of dungeon it is. Did you lose your gear?”
“My gear was damaged so I had to drop it off for repairs.”
“Oh, I see. I’ll take care of the paperwork for your party.”
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Michael returned home without encountering any problems.
“Back so soon? How did it go?”
“It went well. We conquered the dungeon and came straight back.”
“I was assured this was a safe quest so I’m happy to hear it.” Michael’s mother returned to her chores. He entered his small bedroom and shut the door.
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“I’m so jealous that they can all enter a nice city like that and I’m stuck in this damn dungeon!” DM shouted to nobody in particular. The feed was still going strong but Michael was just sitting in his room not doing anything. Likely, the charm would wear off soon.
“Hm, I didn’t test it yet, but can I give remote orders to them while under the effect of charm like I can for my minions outside the dungeon?”
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Michael received an order to take the pillow from his bed and throw in on the floor. He complied without giving it a second thought. He sat there for a few more minutes until he suddenly shook his head.
“What happened…?” He searched his memory. The party approached a dungeon and explored it. They entered the boss chamber, and then… There was a battle? They conquered the dungeon, right? His memory was vague, but he thought he reported to the guild that they succeeded. “Why can’t I remember exactly what happened?”
While he continued to sit there in a daze, he heard a visitor running up the stairs. She pushed his door open and charged in like she lived there.
“Michael, what happened?”
“That’s what I want to know!”
“Didn’t we fight that tentacle monster?”
“Things got crazy and I’m having trouble remembering, but I know I already reported completion to the guild.”
“So we really did conquer the dungeon? I don’t even remember walking back!”
“Me neither,” Michael admitted.
“Let’s go check on the other three.”
“Okay.”
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Gathering the group wasn’t difficult considering they were already all looking for each other.
“Could we have been charmed?”
“Oh, some tentacle monsters can do that, right?”
“Yes, I think so. I didn’t think they could at such a low level, though.”
“Does that mean all five of us were charmed? How is that possible?”
They all looked at each other hoping someone could answer the question.
“I mean, it’s a LVL 2 dungeon, right? That’s confirmed, right? There’s no way we could all be that outmatched. I don’t even remember struggling at all getting to the boss chamber.”
“Wait.” The archer’s gears were turning. “Why didn’t we have any trouble getting to the boss chamber?”
“We didn’t run into the random monsters?”
“No, that doesn’t make sense. We were exploring thoroughly to make sure we didn’t miss any loot, right? If we didn’t encounter difficulty out in the halls, then where could the monsters have been?”
“All in the boss chamber?”
“If there really were a whole dungeon’s worth of monsters in the boss chamber, on top of the Dungeon Master, that could explain why we lost, especially if we were caught off guard.”
“But if we lost, then…”
There was another long pause since nobody wanted to complete the question. Eventually, Michael, as leader, took the reins.
“If we lost, it makes no sense why we all returned home safely. I even reported completion of the quest.”
“Maybe bad things were done to us and we were only released after that?”
“I don’t think so,” said Michael. “We got back from the quest very quickly, according to the Guild and everyone else.”
“Could there have been a dark wizard or someone else in the dungeon that sent us away?”
“That’s possible. I don’t see how some LVL 2 monsters could have done this.”
“Wait, guys…” Everyone turned to look at the white mage, who had been mostly quiet until now. “How do we know we’re not still under the effects of magic?”
Everyone’s eyes widened in unison, then Michael addressed the white mage. “Quick, heal us! That might help, right?”
“Uh, it might, or it might not. Also, if I’m still under some type of enemy influence, that could be a bad idea. We should all go get checked out.”
Everyone nodded.
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“Aww, I thought I might get away with it. Well, it was a lot to ask for,” DM admitted. Although the prognosis wasn’t great, he was enjoying spying on Michael. This was basically his only form of entertainment since his reincarnation other than playing dungeon tycoon, fetch, and getting brutally assaulted by enemies he couldn’t bring himself to kill.
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“What’s this? My word!”
“What is it?”
“Everyone is fine except for you, Michael.”
“What was it!?”
“You’re under the effect of… infect?”
“Infect? Not charm? What’s infect?”
“I’m—I’m not even sure. Hold on.”
“Shouldn’t we heal me first!?”
“Just wait until I figure out what this is. I don’t want to inadvertently harm you.”
The healer took to his books and eventually found what he was looking for. “This is…”
“Well, what is it!? Am I going to be okay?”
“Infect: Inject a small, harmless parasite into target. Caster can remotely monitor vision and hearing of target. Easily detected or removed by healing magic.”
“Ew! Get it out of me!” While Michael panicked, his friends maintained cooler heads as they questioned the healer.
“Could a dark wizard or someone like that use infect?”
“Anything is possible, but I don’t think so. Not unless it controlled a monster capable of using the ability infect.”
“What monsters can use infect?”
“It’s quite rare, but tentacle monster is one.”
“You mean…”
“Hey, Michael, maybe a dark wizard is controlling the Dungeon Master?”
“Whatever! Just get this thing out of me!”
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“Well, they’ll probably be more on guard for infect in the future. Still, I learned a good deal. Also, a rumor of a dark wizard may spread… I’m not sure if that helps me or not.”