Over the course of the next week, business was surprisingly good. Word of mouth went a long way towards helping Dungeon Inc grow their social media presence, and soon enough they were booked solid. Zack had yet to finish adding more rooms to the dungeon, so they could still only fit one dedicated party at a time, but he assured the others that this would change very soon.
Finally, on the tenth day of their newfound business, Zack invited the others to stay after closing for a special surprise. Greg was reluctant, eager to get home and relax. Chandra, however, was curious.
“I need you all to run the dungeon just like any other adventuring party. I already set it up as normal,” Zack explained.
Alex and Greg shared a look with one another. “Why?” Alex asked. “If you’ve got something to show us, why can’t you just, you know, show us?”
“Because you need to experience it the way I want customers to experience it!” Zack insisted.
Alex finally threw his hands up in defeat, tying his trusty sword to his waist. Chandra was already in wolf form and ready to go. Greg was the last one to get ready. He didn’t bother changing out of his apron, given it was already armoured and ready for a fight. He took a shield in one hand and a heavy hammer in the other. Despite using a katana last time he ran the dungeon, this wasn't the first time Zack saw him with the more defensive set up instead. It seemed as though Greg was becoming this group's dedicated tank.
The trio cleared the meadow easy enough. The monsters gave them almost no trouble now that they knew what to expect. Chandra occasionally ran the dungeon during slow periods, and had reached a breakthrough twice for her trouble. Greg, to Zack’s surprise, had reached one all his own from managing the forge. Alex was the only one among them who hadn’t hit another level up.
Once the meadow was cleared, they stood before Thumper’s room. They weren’t surprised to see it unchanged, the semi-camouflaged hare sitting in the grass and waiting for challengers. A Medibold waited by the entrance, blinking up at them in greetings.
“Aw, who’s a good little robot” Chandra cooed, removing the kobold’s hat and giving them a pat on the head. The kobold wagged its tail happily and leaned into the head pat, squeaking in delight.
“I really hope we don’t have to fight those things,” Greg said quietly. “They’re way too cute to kill.”
Zack grinned mentally, his wisp already hovering at the other end of the room. A door that most definitely hadn’t been there before was now fiercely guarded by Thumper. This time, Greg was the one who pulled Thumper out of the grass, activating his Holmgang spell to drag his target by a limb. The hare squeaked in protest, but there was very little he could do against the three stronger combatants.
When the boss died, Zack triggered the first of his newest spawners, giving it a flick. Suddenly, a loud rattling sound made the others jump, as a wooden treasure chest dropped from the ceiling and landed on the ground. It popped open at a kick from Greg, who gazed at the contents within in delight.
Inside the chest was a collection of large, dull coins. Alex pulled one out curiously and turned it over in his hand. They were about twice the diameter of a two dollar coin, and emblazoned on one side was the Dungeon Inc logo.
“What are these?” Alex asked, admiring the strange tokens.
“Those are Dungeon Tokens,” Zack declared proudly. “They’re a temporary currency I’ve developed as a way to reward adventurers.”
“Temporary?” Greg asked. He flipped a token over and was surprised to see what appeared to be a countdown timer. There was a large thirty in the middle, coupled with a single hand that rotated around the circumference of the token.
Zack bobbed in place. “One of they quirks about how my stuff works is I can give objects I create a temporary lifespan. In the case of these tokens, each one will last a month before evaporating into base mana components.”
Chandra bit down on a coin, licking the material. “Huh. Wooden coins,” she declared.
“Yup! The last thing I wanted was to give people an excuse to crack down on us for making fake money,” Zack confirmed. “With wood, these tokens hold no value outside of my dungeon!”
“That’s actually really clever,” Greg said, the compliment genuine from the usually reserved orc.
“Wow, way to sound surprised, big guy,” Zack snorted a laugh.
Alex cocked his head as he extracted the full count of coins from the chest. There were nine in total, three for each of them. “That’s a lot of coins, no?”
“Not exactly. I haven’t worked out the exact exchange rate yet, but the idea is that we could equate one token to one dollar. That way a full party of four people could come in, get twelve coins, and then have enough for one extra health potion since they cost ten dollars for extras.”
“Leaving two extra coins over, therefore encouraging them to come back to run again and get more tokens,” Chandra said, flicking her ears in thought. “That’s a smart idea, Zack.”
“Again, why do you sound surprised?”
The look Chandra gave him spoke volumes.
“Aha. Right.”
“Is this all you added?” Greg asked, pocketing his share of dungeon tokens. “You’ve been working on this alone for over a week.”
“Just wait, there’s more!” Zack chimed in delight.
Alex leaned into the chest and pulled out what appeared to be a metal key. “Is this for that new door?”
“Yes sir! You asked me before how we can ensure that a group can handle Thumper before they can proceed to other rooms? That’s how.”
Alex cried out in surprise as the key suddenly bit bit. He dropped it in alarm, noticing a tiny thorn sticking out of the metal. “Dude?”
“Relax, it doesn’t actually draw blood,” Zack assured him. Sure enough, when Alex checked his finger, there wasn’t even a mark. “Greg, why don’t you try to pick it up?”
Greg did as he was told, and cried out in alarm as the key bounced away. “What the hell!?”
“It’s a safety measure, to ensure that keys can’t be shared,” Zack explained. “Each key will bind to the first person who picks it up, and escape anyone else who tries to touch it. It also has a one month lifespan, same as the coins. It’s expiration date is written on the side.”
Alex smirked as he bent down to pick it up. “That’s amazing,” he laughed. Curiously, he held the key out for Greg to take. As the orc’s fingers approached, the key leapt from Alex’s fingers and flew backward a dozen feet, landing in the grass. This earned a laugh of delight from both Chandra and Alex, while Greg sneered in frustration.
“Does that rule apply to tokens, too?” Chandra asked.
“No, the tokens aren’t bound. The way I see it, since tokens are used to buy stuff, it’s okay to share those around. If someone wants to run the dungeon a couple dozen times, then give all their tokens to a newbie, that’s a net a win for us. We get a return customer, and a new customer at zero extra cost.”
“I definitely like that, but I have to imagine some people will get bored spending their tokens only on potions,” Alex pointed out, pocketing the key.
“I’m working on an idea for a gift shop or prize counter,” Zack declared. “That’s a bit harder, though, since I don’t exactly have cool stuff to give away.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“I can work on getting you new materials to work with,” Greg said. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, some felt and stuffing couldn’t hurt. The kobolds are cute. Imagine how excited people would be to have kobold plushies?”
“Oh my god, yes please,” Chandra wagged her tail eagerly. “I would literally die to have a whole litter of the things.”
Zack snorted a laugh, which the others shared. Chandra’s cheeks couldn’t be seen beneath her fur, but her ears twitched in irritation.
“You’re really gonna like this next part, then,” Zack said, bobbing towards the door. “Alex, would you do the honours?”
Alex held his key out to the door, and watched as it slid open. He held his breath as the tunnel beyond lit up, revealing a kobold with a clipboard. They were dressed in a cute little suit that fit their slender body perfectly. Unlike the medibold, this one had a softer appearance to his hide, which was green in colour. When Chandra bent down to pat it on the head, she pulled away in shock.
“It feels waxy,” she said in alarm.
“Ah, yeah. So I don’t really have the right material for the kobolds. This one was made using the carnations’ flesh as a material. It’s part plant, as a result,” Zack explained.
“Name?” the kobold asked, in a croaky voice.
That earned another bugged eye look from the others.
“Oh yeah, also this one can talk,” Zack beamed with pride.
“How did you manage that?” Greg asked, staring at the kobold suspiciously.
“It really wasn’t easy. I had to study the stooltoads, figure out how their voice boxes worked, then integrate it into this kobold,” Zack explained. “Again, really not the most easy thing.”
“Name?” the kobold repeated.
“That’s amazing,” Alex said, crouching over the peculiar kobold. It had bright yellow eyes. “I’m Alex. These are my friends Chandra and Greg.”
The kobold quickly checked his clipboard, before nodding. “Reservation for three. Wing one. Seven pm. You are late.”
Alex blinked in surprise, then turned up to Zack. The dungeon wisp silently followed the kobold deeper into the dungeon. The others soon joined him.
Zack was particularly proud of this new room in his dungeon. He had purposely designed each of various wings to have a theme to them, and their respective entrances were designed to reflect that. Thumper’s wing was designed to look like a garden entrance, keeping in theme with the lush idyllic meadow. The next nearest entrance looked like it belonged to a horrible spider. The entrance was covered in sticky webs, complete with a calcified giant egg right outside for extra emphasis.
Three other entrances lined the room. One looked like the front door to an elegant manor. Another was covered with ice and snow. The final entrance looked like a castle gate. All three of these rooms had a sign posted out front denoting they were closed for construction, and would open soon.
“Zack, this is…” Alex breathed, looking around in bewilderment.
“This is what I’ve been working on,” Zack beamed in delight. “Right now the spider warren is the only wing open for adventurers. I don’t have monsters that thematically fit the castle or manor yet. I’m working on something for the tundra, but it might be a bit before that one’s ready for adventurers.”
All three of his friends stared at the room with wide eyes.
“How?” Greg finally found his words, his jaw hanging open.
“Hmm?”
“How did you do all this?” Greg clarified.
“Oh. Well, the Medibolds allowed me to take my focus away from the runners in the meadow,” Zack explained. “And I don’t really sleep. It gives me a lot of time to work. The mall already had all these shops isolated from one another, which gave me space to work from. I extended my influence and… Well, I won’t bore you with the details. The point is that each of these rooms are part of my dungeon, and each one will be geared towards adventurers of a certain level.”
Zack sent his wisp towards the spider warren entrance, the web covered door opening as he drew close. “The idea is that each room can serve adventurers within five levels. The meadow is great for levels one to five, while the spider warren is better suited for levels six to ten.”
Alex stared down at the key in his hand, then looked around the room some more. “Zack, I think we need to move stuff around again,” he said quickly.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Zack asked.
“This idea is perfect, but we need our customers to have direct access to each room in turn. I think it might be better not to force customers to wade through the meadow each time they come in,” Alex explained. “What if instead, we use this room as a hub?”
Greg’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, yeah! I like that. We can move the forge off to one side, and that gift shop idea off to another.”
Zack mentally made a face. He didn’t quite like the idea of giving everyone direct access to his entire dungeon. Some part of him felt like they needed to earn the right to attempt the other rooms. That was the whole reason for his key, after all.
Then, an idea struck him.
“I still want customers to prove they can handle Thumper before we let them try the other rooms,” Zack said. “But I’m willing to let any team that has Thumper’s key bypass the meadow entirely.”
Zack flew over to a wall beside the meadow and got to work creating a new door and hallway. The new hall flowed alongside the meadow and opened up in the lobby. It created a separate entrance that both his friends and prospective customers could use to access the dungeon hub. Then, he added a clause to the doors that prevented them from opening without Thumper’s key present. One last little nudge of magic collapsed the space within the hallway, making it smaller on the inside. This would allow anyone who passed through to reach the other side in a couple steps as opposed to walking the full length of the meadow.
Zack flinched at the mana cost. It was going to eat into his upkeep, but he was pulling more aether than he knew what to do with. It would have to do, for now.
“That seems prohibitive,” Chandra pointed out. “It might work if you wanted to have a progression system, but that’s not the goal of our business. We offer people the chance to fight monsters and experience that adventurer lifestyle without the necessary education. For the layman, locking them until they cleared the meadow might push them away.”
“But… I wanted more challenging rooms,” Zack grumbled.
Greg tapped his chin in thought. “Well, why do each themed wing need to have only one room and boss?”
Zack’s wisp lit up at the question. “What do you mean?”
“What’s stopping you from making a second floor to the meadow and adding more challenging monsters to it?”
Zack hovered quietly in place for several moments, before letting out a string of expletives.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Alex asked.
“Nothing, nothing’s wrong. Jean-Claude, throw your hands up in frustration for me,” Zack ordered. On command, the green kobold tossed his pen and clipboard into the air. “I should have thought about adding floors to my dungeon sooner!” Zack confessed. “That would be so much easier than just adding more rooms. Floors dig into the earth, and that means more surface area and aether for me to absorb! That’s literally my whole job as a dungeon core, and I can’t believe I forgot about it.”
Alex grinned in excitement. “Does that mean you’ll convert this room into our hub?”
Zack sighed in defeat and bobbed in place. “Yes, that’s exactly what it means. I’m going to need a bit of time to rearrange everything, though.”
“How long are you going to need?” Greg asked, concerned.
Zack flinched at the tone. “A few days at least. We’re not talking about just shoving the meadow aside to make a new room. I’m going to need to reposition it completely. In fact, it might be more efficient for me to just remake it from scratch. I wonder if I can save room patterns?”
“That… doesn’t sound good,” Chandra pointed out.
“Yeah, because it’s not,” Zack grumbled. “I’ll need to close up while I get everything ready.”
“It won’t take you a week, will it?” Alex asked. “Rent is due in a few days and…”
“Just take my cut of the profits,” Zack said, making Jean-Claude wave off the concern. “It will take however long it takes, okay?”
Alex wanted to protest again, but a firm hand on his shoulder made him stop. When he checked, Greg was shaking his head.
“Take as much time as you need,” Greg assured Zack. “For now, just focus on getting our hub up and running. We don’t want our customers to have to run an entire room to get to their dungeon.”
Again, the green kobold waved off the concern. “I’ll get to work on things. Do we have any appointments tomorrow?”
Chandra checked her phone and nodded. “We’re booked out for the next two days.”
“Cancel them,” Zack ordered. “I can’t work on my rooms with people in them.”
Alex looked like he wanted to protest, but a squeeze on his shoulder from Greg silenced him.
“I’ll bring you those materials you requested,” Greg added quickly. “You said you need stuffing and fabrics, right?”
“Yeah. Actually, bring me whole plushies, too,” Zack said. “Ooh, and t-shirts. And maybe bobble heads. If you think it’ll make for a good souvenir, bring it for me. I’ll need all the patterns I can get.”
Greg nodded, and practically dragged Alex through the door back to the lobby. Chandra lingered a moment to pat the kobold on the head once more, earning a croak of delight, before she waved to Zack and followed after the others.
Zack heaved a frustrated sigh. He didn’t actually have lungs with which to breathe, and therefore didn’t need to sigh. Still, it felt good to make the sound, if only for Jean-Claude to hear. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his friends’ ideas, but rather he didn’t appreciate the criticism. If it were solely up to him, his dungeon would be one long stretch. It wasn’t up to him, though. He had Alex to think about, and Alex had Greg and Chandra to worry about too.
It wasn’t like he didn’t have the mana to spare. In the last week, between all his experimentation and practice, he managed to breach level ten. He had the capacity for three boss monsters now, but still only had two: Thumper, and a secret monster at the end of the spider warren. Now, he would have to start his dungeon layout from scratch again.
One by one, he dismissed the monsters presently populating the meadow. Then, he disabled the spawners to prevent them from reappearing. Once he was sure the others had left the range of his influence, he locked down the front doors again.
“Everyone hang on tight,” Zack said to his empty dungeon. “This is going to be a bumpy ride.”