I'm dead aren't I? There is literally a giant Nothing here. No body. No sensation. Just my thoughts. So either I'm dead, or I'm a brain in a jar. OK, tamp down that fear I can figure out what happened just retrace my steps. A pause as i try sorting thorugh and there was a whole lot of nothing there to work with.
YOU WERE IN PAIN. WE GRANTED YOU THE MERCY OF FORGETTING.
Excuse me hold the heck up! Who said you could go tinkering around in my head?!
YOU SAID THAT IT WAS FOR THE BEST FOR YOU TO FORGET, AT LEAST FOR NOW, SO THAT YOU WOULD NOT SIMPLY START YOUR NEXT LIFE WITH THE BAGGAGE OF YOUR LAST.
That hurt on every level. First that I stabbed myself in the back, and apparently didn't leave me any sort of notes on what to expect, or that I'd agreed to some sort of cosmic EULA I was now stuck with.
COMMUNICATING LIKE THIS TO YOU FOR PROLONGED PERIODS WILL CAUSE DAMAGE. YOUR NEXT LIFE WILL BEGIN IN A PLACE WHERE YOU WILL HAVE THE TIME AND SPACE NEEDED TO, HOPEFULLY, THRIVE. AS WITH ALL THINGS, EVEN THE RESTARTING OF THE COSMOS, THERE ARE NO GURENTEES. AS REWARD FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, WE WILL GRANT THE BOONS YOU HAVE ASKED.
Restarting of the cosmos? Wait. I'm not the only one dead but. Everything? What did I ask for? Why didn't past-me leave notes?!
GO NOW. BE REBORN.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
I am.... I. Me. The sensation of 'Self.' Where am I?
Nonexistent eyes blinked in surprise. Moments of terror. Panic. Mentally take a deep breath, because I had no body. Was I a ghost? Spirit?. Wait, no that wasn't quite right. that little purple gem. Somehow I knew that was my body. My awareness floated outside of it though. How far could my awareness float?
A skeletal hand moved. fingers flexed, palm held off the ground as the bit of wrist that should have connected to a body stood straight upright. It seemed to pause its wandering when my attention focused on it and turned.
Wait, it can sense me? the hand bobbed, fingers flexing, letting the palm move groundward before pushing back up in an approximation of a nod. OK, you can understand me, but obviously, you don't talk. Friend? Nod.
I was going to ask it something else when a beatle picked up the shard. Unbidden panic shot through my awareness. the hand quickly moved. Fingers flexing like legs might before it propelled itself, 'jumping' after a fashion I suppose, making a fist that crushed the beatle when it landed. Energy, not much just a trickle, was gained. That felt good, but it felt like that energy mostly went to undoing whatever it did to the little gem.
Apparently, I get power by killing things. So noted. Also, I need to hide that thing since it apparently is Very Important. Was that Me?
Hand... thing? Yoo-Hoo. Can you hear me?
The Hand skittered to a stop and canted itself in imitation of a tilted head. No, Thing feels.. Overdone. too impersonal. It bobbed in agreement. What to call you though? Laginn. Oh, don't look at me like that. you're a right hand and if I'm going to survive, you need to live up to being. Well. Handy. No, I don't know how I know that word, or any other words. Wish you could talk. OK. How about you- Uugh. I need more mana to give you an Order. So I'm just gonna leave you to do whatever for now I guess.
As my awareness unfocused, Laginn scampered about... Here. Stone floor. Stone walls. Stone Ceiling. Guess what? More stone! All of it was carved and worked, so I was in a building instead of a hole in the ground. Unless the building was in a hole in the ground. Places for lanterns to hang, but none there. The urns in wall niches and ... are those coffins? Yep. My awareness can go inside them. bones. rotted clothes. Hmm, are any of you missing hands? Nope. Weird. Laginn had to have come from somewhere.
MANA GAINED.
Way to go little guy. You smash those bugs! Wait why are you- Oooh I get spiders? Well. Spider right now. If I'm a crypt then I guess that makes sense. This was all very new, and frustrating. there wasn't a lot of detail. Just some bare ornimentation to keep this from looking like a stone box. the coffins were set a couple feet off the ground with lids large enough to leave a couple inches all around as a rim. For a few minutes I studied the symbols on each. All the same sort of coat of arms, but the lettering? No This looked more like a runic writing system.
My study was interrupted by a notification.
DESIGNATE CHAMPION?
That ... sounds important, but I only have enough mana for one or the other. Where are you coming from anyway? Ooooh, Spawners. Makes sense. the spider spawner looks like a bit of webbing stuck in the corner. The ... Hand? Spawner looked like a pile of bones. That one made less sense to me since they all looked like ribs, shins, and a skull that sat on top of the pile.
Eh. Whatever. Is there any way to get more information before picking? No. Well go with my non-existent Gut then and pray to whatever gods are out there this isn't a one-time thing.
MANA GAINED.
While the metaphore of an RTS was an apt comparison I get the feeling what was going on was far less like playing a game, and that this was jsut how my mind filtered the incoming data. Even so, I had mute the notification, and then all future instances of that notification. If I got notices for every beatle and bug killed I'm going to lose my mind.
Also another skeletal hand, but this one wasn't mine. It didn't outwardly look any different than Laginn, but it scuttled right to the little gem... heart? Core? Core works. It went for my core. Wait Stop that! My spider fired silken line at it, which snapped. Laginn moved to block the intruder. the two danced about, one trying to get past the other.
Alright now that it's not essentially sprinting. Try tying it down now Spiderbro. Yea that's right how're you gonna tapdance outta this one? Especially... since my spider decided to go overkill and cacoon the boney thing. Spiders need to drink their food so is he just doing that to protect me?
Aww. thanks big guy. I poke at the webbing that was the spider-spawner. Alright, Minions cost mana to make, good to know. Still, I have enough for this 'Champion' thing since the other hand gave way more mana than the bugs did. that was the first spider had a very orb weaver appearance, which pleased me. Black Widows were overdone anyway. It was larger than normal spiders, but still had the whole fat body and spindly legs combo going on. Here Spiderbro, have a few more friends. Wait aren't spiders solitary?
Huh seems this lot, if not chummy, at least aren't trying to murder eachother. Better hold off on hitting that button til I get more space.
Alright. Laginn. Spiderbro? I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what a Champion is or if I'm going to get to make more. However, I have an idea. It takes mana for me to order you lot about. I'm hoping if I make a scion either the scion can relay orders at a discount, or just make things a bit more efficient.
Both creatures bobbed on their appendages to show they understod me.
Good. laginn, you'll have to wait. Sorry buddy but I do have something I want you to do that's kind of important. Spiderbro. Wait no. lemme look at you. Wish I knew what spiders were. Are you a girl? The spider bobbed on its legs, doing a pushup. Is... that a yes? Another pushup.
Charolette? It's a female name so... Oh you like it? Well Charolette, you're my, hopefully first, Champion. I know spiders aren't social by nature, but you're all apparently my underlings so I'm hoping this works. Maybe see if you can get the others to set a few trip lines?
No I don't think they'd stop anything larger than bugs. but maybe if you guys feel threads being pulled you can swarm and wrap anything bigger? OK cool, I'll leave you to figure that out.
Laginn. I can feel stairs going down. You're faster than Charolette so I want you to have a look around. I think I'm getting bigger, or at least the bubble that feels like 'me' is, and I want to know more about what I'm expanding into.
Augh. I need to secure that shard... Gem thinggie. Charolette. Laginn. Ideas? Huh. I don't think Laginn can open any of the coffins up. Maybe stick it in an urn for right now? That sounds promising. Charolette picked the chip up. And I stopped holding my non-existant breath when I didn't feel like I was being manhandled. OK, that only happens if Other critters pick it up. Good to know.
I had Charolette rest on the back of Laginn as he hopped up onto one of the urn alcoves. drop the shard in, which admittedly was a little worrying, but it was maybe a couple of centimeters at worst not like, a dead fall from a building. I don't like that the top's open Charlotte, can you web that up?
Ew no now it stands out. After detection wires are strung I'm going to have to ask Charlotte to get the spider brigade to start webbing all of the containers. Except for that one over there. If anything's going to search it may as well look somewhere obvious.
SPAWN RESOURCE NODE?
...I have no idea what that is, but it'll complete the little bit of misdirection. Sure I guess. A few coins suddenly appeared inside the un-cobwebbed urn. I guess that'd be handy if someone somehow managed to find their way in here. Better they grab some coins than to grab me and take me to a pawn shop or something.
I've got a handful of spiders patrolling my little crypt. Laginn has gone downstairs right to the edge of my awareness. Huh. Bigger room. Much of the same though. Alcoves for urns, hangers for lanterns. A lot of cobwebs and dust, but no new spiders. Where'd that hand come from? I can feel Laginn smash another bug.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
This is weird. All of it. I can't perceive anything really past the next set of steps or much past part of a hallway going deeper. If I'm a crypt why am I not all of it? Do I have neighbors? Hands don't just up and walk about without magic. So I obviously have neighbors of some sort.
Worries for later. For now. my spiders are weaving silkin line. Laginn is patrolling about. I even spawned a few more resources and.... wait I can spawn a chest? Yea stick you right There. Right smack dab in the middle of the room. Big Notice Me chest Ignore everything else.
No Charolette I don't want you to make nests around it. Have a couple of spiders patrol it. Have a few lines stretched across it to-
NEW TRAP CONSTRUCTED.
Wait that's interesting. if I'm reading, not the right metaphor but go with it, this right I just made a conditional. Whoever opens this chest suddenly has a guaranteed chance of an encounter. Hope I have time to tidy up before that sees any use. For that matter why would anyone come here? This is a place of the dead, not an amusement park you send the kiddies.
CLAIM CORPSES Y/N?
No! I don't want dominion over the bodies here. I just don't want people messing with them! Dead is dead and it's called 'laying someone to rest' for a reason. Nobody is touching the people here.
I have no idea where i am, what I am, or what i'm doing. If this is some Isekai nonsense, the least the ycould have done was let me keep my memories, and give me the owner's manual for whatever Here is.
if this isn't? Beats me. That'd make thinking a whole new activity and my thoughts feel too organized for all this to be 'New' new.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
It's been days, at least it felt like days. Without windows I only had the doings of my critters to act as any sort of clock. Spiders have been almost too efficient at clearing out the beatle population. Charlotte's grown from something the size of a large marble to something the size of a golf ball. Frighteningly large by the standards of every spider I knew, but even then she shouldn't have been able to web up that hand. Here seems to have its own rules compared to... to...?
...?...
Why can't I remember? I have conceptual frameworks to hang off of. My reaction to being prompted if I want to take the local dead as my own proves that. Logically 'they're dead nobody's home thus the bodies are up for grabs.' Logically it would have even made sense, as even shambling mindless undead would be a far better guard than spiders and Laginn.
However, also thinking logically, that also attracts attention from the sorts of people who want to remove the un from the undead and they would be very... Very displeased with whatever had disturbed them.
Emotionally? What came to mind was abject horror at the notion. Leave the dead alone. Using a corpse without permission gained when they were alive is just.... No.
Besides, I'm in no rush. At least I don't think so. Laginn caught a rat sneaking about. Weird thing is it wasn't near Laginn's patrol. Twitched one of the spider's trip lines and suddenly Lagainn was on it somehow lifting it up and then smashing it down on the ground til it stopped moving. He didn't teleport. I didn't see the movement. It was almost like he'd followed the spider's silkin line.
I didn't know enough about this. How do I- Wait. laginn, go over there, do the whole teleport thing. Ah yea right OK that uses mana. Can you.... Not do that unless it's an emergancy?
EXPAND?
Sure, but where? I don't like the idea of going Out. Sure anyone from outside can open the crypt's slab door, but for now, I imagine I look pretty normal to whatever's out there. Better to stay hidden until I have something more substantial. Which leaves the hallway going out and stairs going down. Better to take the hallway. Kinda dumb to open myself up to more problems. Plus the stairwell represented a chokepoint anything coming in has to get past. Having spider silk hanging loose as the alarm is good. People expect cobwebs in these places.
The hallway was a t-section. One of branch lead to a Biiig. Center... presentation... thing. Wait, is this a kind of in-mausoleum church? Some kind of monument? Laginn, over here! A roving skeleton somehow made hissing noises. Hey, are you friendly?
Nope! It tried stomping Laginn. So no sorry bonehead even if I could put you on the payroll I'm not here for workplace drama. Laginn scuttled around but because its opponent was ALSO undead there wasn't a lot that could be done.
Wait. It's a skeleton. a human skeleton. OK human... ish. Eh close enough. There's this spot on a person's back they can't reach. I tell Laginn to go there and grab it while I alert Charolette.
Good. The Skeleton was too busy focusing on dislodging Laginn to focus on silk being spun around its legs. This was beyond comical. Spidersilk is strong, but it shouldn't be able to find anything this big. And yet? When the skeleton moved, it slammed into the ground. The problem was how to finish it off? Charlotte and her crowd weren't really doing anything with bites, which made sense. Boney undead.
Laginn you utter genius. It snapped its fingers to get Charolette's attention, then pointed at one of the ornamental statues. Wait do you have enough strength to do that? Charolette looped the line around and around before handing a woven string of the stuff to Laginn as a quartet of other spiders joined in. All pulling.
the Skeleton, to its credit, was working to free itself, and had it been living? Might have managed it. As is? it only managed to start pulling the silkin bonds apart when its skull caved in.
Ba-dun-dun-dun-dun~
Laginn even managed the double snap at the right time. Just how well do you hear me there man? I had no way to smile, or even any idea about the song that was stuck in my non-existent head, but we did it! Wow. that was a decent infusion of Mana. Enough to upgrade the spider lair a few times Tarantulas? Yes Please!
And I even upgraded the Hand spawner so the hands it spawned were clad in grey flesh instead of being bare bone, as well as made Laginn a Champion. He didn't get any bigger, but the flesh covering him looked less Dead than that of the other Hands. I supposed that meant he had more get up and go than them?
That took most of what boney boi had to offer up. OK. We're still good. No problems. Between several pairs of hands and Laginn supervising the mess got cleaned up. Decorative hoisted back into place and the bones ... dissolved? Well, maybe it was a construct rather than magically animated.
That left me to ponder the rooms I'd just gained. What I was going to call the chapel plus a couple smallish rooms ajacent to it one way. My crypt the other way, and th last way leading to a staircase headed down. Then there were the creatures I'd seen. Other than beetles, a few flies, and other bugs the only invasive things feel like leftovers. Like someone blew through a dungeon that had been here and all that's left are the stragglers.
This was a rather disturbing possibility. Not enough mana to make more resource nodes.
I need to sit down, or... whatever the equivalent of 'sitting' I can do anyway. Everything's moving. just. One thing after another after another.
Crypt. Some kind of central congregation area with a pulpit. Threadbear carpeting in that main chamber. I've never been good at drawing outside of strait edge and grid paper. Now? I don't even have hands.
My awareness moved back to the urn my crystal was in. Huh. Growth. Neat. Still plenty of space, and time, but I'll need to move it at some point. Probably put a resource node there when I do as a sort of memento for anyone thinking to check.
How can I see? I have no eyes. Same way Langinn sees maybe? Does he see? Maybe he has a sort of seismic sense. Better question. How does Charolette see?
I breathe. the air feels stale here. Not Rancid. Just, unmoved and stale. Is that even air? Maybe it's the mana of the place? I remember reading something about places becoming home to ill things if the chi of a place was allowed to fester, but that was fung shui, decorating. Not... I guess dungeon craft does have some similarities.
Food for thought I suppose. I'm tapped out.
And of course, that's when company makes itself known. An old voice grumbled from somewhere beyond the stairwell. Crap. Craaap. I'm tapped out. No, I don't want you attacking as they come in Charolette. Hang back. I don't know what the rules of this place are. If I am the new guy in an old dungeon maybe being overly aggressive is what got the last guy removed.
Stocky, ruddy red beard shot through with grey. Studded leather armor. Lone Dwarf grumbling. No party, at least where I can tell. No Laginn hang back. Watch. "hrmph. That's new." The old dwarf eyed the treasure chest in the room that's a t-section between my crypt, and the big center room.
Wait, did anyone come up the stairs on the other side? No. no stairs, just a storage room. I think. My awareness gets kinda thin there.
The dwarf putting a hand on the chest catches my attention. His eyes are closed as he mumbles something. "Minor artifact inside the chest. Nah I'll come back for it after I do a full sweep, but it's looking likely something set up shop after Damala."
Wha?
The dwarf continued. "Several resource nodes. Low-level spiders." A pause. "Turning from the side room into the main chamber." Several hands paced him, and only when I gave the go-ahead did one of them advance. "low-level undead hand." He batted the hand away, sending it into a wall.
Sudden notification from the hand's lair about an active respawn timer. Good. I'd be annoyed if that was permanent, and I got some mana anyway. Probably far less than if I'd won, but it feels like this guy is checking things out after some big thing happened. I'd probably get stomped. I mean, he isn't proactively chasing after the other Hands. So I wave the lot of them off to go back to their patrol routes.
"Interesting. The dungeon had the opportunity to swarm with minions. Am beingpassivly watched." He moved from the side room with the chest to the main 'chapel' area. "Moving into the main hallway.... and not seeing a whole lot here. Some fungal resource nodes, Individual spider instances in high corners." He inspected the central pulpet. "No hidden switches or traps so far."
Cut me some slack man. I'm still cleaning the place up I haven't had time to lay out a proper welcome. "Strange. This may indicate this is not the dungeon's sanctum." The dwarf moved into the other side room. "Even less here. No nodes, no encounters. Moving on."
Ditto with the little room behind the pulpit. Probably would have been somewhere to change into and out of officiating robes or the like if this were an actual chapel. "Loot laying out undefended. Low-level robes."
Wait. What? Was that mine or something from the prior owners? Meh, if it's low level probably mine. "No obvious switches or puzzles. Tempted to class this as a Toybox." Oh, come on that's just plain rude!
"Going back to inspect chest." He started to open it, causing several spiders to drop from the ceiling. "Gah! Chest is boobytrapped!" The dwarf's professional calm faltered as he swatted at the arachnids. Funny. Even after he got clear of them his movements were sluggish. "Confirming lingering slow Debuff." I saw the dwarf pull a bulbous glass jar, maybe the size of a grapefruit, out of the chest and inspected the red liquid in the corked bottle. "Minor healing potion." A wry grin as he pocketed his spoils.
"Taking the other route. Should lead into an exit point from the underground." Charolette reared on her thin legs, pedapelts flared wide as she scuttled towards the Dwarf. "Spider Scion sighted." When he swung at Charolette, instead of flying into a wall she clung to his mace, climbing down the haft as Laginn approached.
No, I want to see how this plays out.
"Room probably contains dungeon core. Can confirm two scions. Spider and undead hand, flesh-clad variant. Currently in boss encounter with low-level spider scion."
Charolette tapped his helmet with a forelimb and hopped away, causing the dwarf to grin. "Nimble little thing. Wonder why you got that name." His foot came down. Missed. Again the boot. Bro, come on she's obviously out speeding you.
A third stomp, this one causing the ground to shake, splaying both Charolette and Laginn prone quickly followed by a second stomp, causing Charolette to get smashed, causing a respawn timer to start by the spider-spawner. I grimaced, I've got nothing but the wanderers if he goes after... did he call it my Core?
Instead, after he stomped Charolette he glanced about the room before checking the un-webbed urn. "Boss XP collected and urn looted. Monetary reward appropriate for encounter levels displayed." What concerned me is he stared right at the urn my core was in. "Core in a non-obvious location but it feels close."
He lightly touched the stone slab blocking the exit, speaking as he stepped out of my awareness. "Crypt door appears to only open from the inside. Suggest-" And suddenly his voice turned unintelligible; like I was trying to hear him through the water.
Well. that gave me food for thought. Mostly kind of insulted though. Fine I don't have much to offer, but I'm not going to give up my stuff for nothing, and ... the whole looking unimpressed thing. I'm pretty sure I've only been alive, or active, or whatever you wanna call it, for a day. Cut me some slack or leave me some notes.
At least I have mana enough to do some expansion and lay in some additions.
Project Make this place not suck is a Go.