The anticipation of loot was clouded by the message from Sam. Duke wanted to take his time and savor what he was given, but Sam’s “urgent” request pressed on his mind. What could be so urgent? I haven’t heard anything from those stationed at the Inn so it’s not some sort of external threat. Or could it be something that the troops can’t event see? Too many bad possibilities. Duke resigned himself to opening the gifts as quickly as was politically possible, not that he really knew what that meant either.
“Since the Ansky Empire was allowed to speak first, I’ll open the gift from the Kingdom of Tannish first.” Duke looked up to see that there was no animosity generated from his announcement. His XENOGLOSSIA told him that both emissaries were bursting with anticipation, which, in turn, raised his own level of anticipation.
He approached the box from Tannish. It was a dark lacquered box, nearly black, but still with a brown tone to it. It was banded in gold and had a single keyhole on a gold plate that just sang magic to his senses. The Tannish emissary stepped forward, presenting the key resting on one knee with his head bowed and his palms extended. Duke took the key and felt the weight of the magic radiating from it. He was sure that few could open the box without having to destroy it in the process.
Duke inserted the key and slowly turned it. His SENSE MAGIC Ability was tingling as the magic of the box and the magic of the key interrogated each other, finally finding a harmony that allowed to lock to release. The box unfolded easily to reveal a single object resting in a bed of soft velvet. It was quite simply the largest egg Duke had ever seen. As he bent down to examine it closer the emissary spoke.
“Your Majesty, the Kingdom of Tannish presents you with the egg of the Great Serpent Illuyanka. It will hatch in three weeks now that the case has been opened and will be a great protector.” The emissary then produced a scroll which Duke accepted. “This is a Spell that will bond the beast to you so that it will act as your own personal guardian.”
Duke’s smile was genuine at the gift. A legendary serpent as his own personal guardian sounded like something that could be lots of fun. What the hell am I going to feed this thing? Livestock? No…kobolds. Lots of kobolds. Duke suppressed a chuckle at the thought and responded. “Stormstride thanks you for this wonderous and thoughtful gift.” He hoped that was an appropriate response and since he didn’t see any involuntary winces from his council, he figured he did well enough.
He then approached the chest from the Ansky Empire. Again, his SENSE MAGIC Ability was tingling as he neared the chest. It was of a darker wood that reminded Duke of the teak wood his father’s boat had been made from. He quickly suppressed the memory as it would only sour his mood. The chest was banded in gold like the Box from Tannish had been. It also had gems inlaid where Duke would have expected the nails or screws to be.
“Your Majesty, there is no key or lock to the chest. It is enchanted so that none other than you would be able to open it. Duke picked up the brief flash of surprise and admiration on Baslin’s face out of the corner of his eye. He nodded and opened the chest. Inside there was a flanged mace resting on a bed of gold. The mace head was red with sky blue accents on the flanges while the handle was a pristine white. The red of the mace head offered a subtle, but noticeable glow. The emissary spoke again.
“As the Kingdom of Tannish offers a guardian for their new friends, “he offered a nod to the emissary who returned it with a smile, “the Ansky Empire would see their friends well-equipped to defend themselves.”
Duke lifted the mace and showed it to all present, subtly IDENTIFYING it.
*** You have found The Flanged Mace of Stormcalling. This mace can summon a thunderstorm and call down bolts of lightning upon foes once per day. ***
He continued showing it off before announcing, “A grand and fitting weapon for the Kingdom of Stormstride. Both the Kingdom of Tannish and the Ansky empire honor us with your presence and your generous gifts. We shall hold a feast in your honor in two days. In the meantime, enjoy your time in our city. We will conduct a more formal session of discussions after the feast.” The emissaries took the dismissal for what it was and departed with the proper bows.
When they had departed, Duke looked to his council. “OK, prepare for what we will need to discuss. Take the day and come up with items to ask for in negotiation and what we can offer. I have another matter that I must attend to right now.” Duke didn’t hesitate any longer and TELEPORTED directly into the common room of the Inn, enjoying his newly enhanced Ability.
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Sam appeared immediately and dragged Duke towards his core chamber. When Duke entered, he immediately saw the issue. There were half a dozen cores budding from Sam’s core. “Duke, help me! I received a burst of energy from…from I don’t know where, but it was so much I had to bud again and again, or I would have burst. Too much energy, too fast. But now the buds are all going to fall at once. I don’t want them to shatter.”
Duke rushed over but a thought occurred to him. “Does every dungeon have a dungeon master?”
“Of course not. Dungeon Masters are rare in the extreme. They are only created by the Overmind.”
“So, just about every other dungeon out there buds like you and the new cores just fall to the ground without shattering? What are you so worried about?”
“When another dungeon buds, it has a minion carry the new core as far as it can to plant it in just the right spot if it can. Many don’t find an ideal spot before the minion expires and take a long time to grow. I don’t want that for my offspring. That would be a tragedy!”
“You pulled me here because you didn’t want your children to grow up in bad neighborhoods?”
“I care about my offspring! You would too if you had any.”
“Don’t go there. Just don’t. You have no idea what you are talking about and…just don’t.”
Sam backed off, unsure of how to react to Duke’s words and emotion. He responded with a simple appeal. “Will you help me, Duke?”
“Of course I’ll help you, but I can’t carry six cores in my hands. They are going to have to go into a bag or into my INVENTORY.”
Sam handed him a soft cloth bag with six padded pockets inside. “Use this to keep them safe. I still don’t think it’s safe to put them in your INVENTORY yet.”
“Maybe after I rank it up again.”
“Perhaps. Will you help me plant these seeds? These new cores, so raw and full of potential?”
“Sam, I told you I would help you plant them so I will. But the problem I have right now is that I don’t have a safe place to plant them. They will be at risk from the get-go.”
“I understand. And we have to take the risks. Plant them far away from here and from each other and it will only be these cores individually at risk.”
“That will take a bit of time to do.”
“The cores will remain viable for at least a month but the sooner they are planted the better since they are so overloaded with Mana.”
“What do you mean overloaded with Mana?”
“The influx of Mana I received was so dramatic that I stuffed the first core as full as it could take, but the spillover filled the second, and so on until I had six full cores. They will be spectacular dungeons!”
“I guess that means that I shouldn’t infuse them with any more Mana.”
“Oh, Overmind, no. Don’t do that! They are liable to shatter and detonate.”
“Did you say detonate?”
“Of course, Duke. What do you think happens when hundreds of thousands of points of Mana is released uncontrollably in an instant?”
“Bad things, I guess.”
“Yes, Duke. Bad things. Now hurry up and take the cores before they fall off on their own. They are mature enough that you don’t need to wait for them to release. Just pluck them right off.”
“You know, I never thought that coming to this world would make me a dungeon farmer.”
“I’m glad that it is you that has taken on this role Duke. I know that my thought patters are vastly divergent from other sentients, but I consider you my closest friend and until I met you that wasn’t a concept that even made sense to me. Thank you for all you do for me and my family.”
“That’s what friends are for, right?” Duke proceeded to remove the new cores one by one and placed them in the special bag. He then got to his own business with Sam.
“Sam, I need a favor.”
“Anything, Duke.”
“I am going to have a feast, a festival of sorts honoring two other kingdoms that have come here and provided some pretty cool gifts. I want to hold it in the dungeon so that it can be designed to be spectacular and everything will be perfect from the food to the decorations. Are you willing to help set this up?”
“Another party? Like the one Elaine set up for you?”
“Yes, like that, but bigger. And here’s the real kicker, I don’t want them to be able to tell that they are in the dungeon at all.”
“I can make an entrance like the one to the Inn that has no notifications since it’s a safe zone. But they are still going to know that they came here to enter the place.”
“I have some ideas on that.” Duke proceeded to share his plans with Sam who became more and more excited about the prospects of what Duke was planning for the long run.
“Yes, let’s do it!” Sam replied after Duke explained it all. “Oh, yes, this is so much fun and so much potential.”
“I’m glad you see it that way. I’ll get things set up on my end and see about finding homes for these cores.” Duke fixed the bag to his belt and paused, realizing he was still in his Kingly outfit. A flex of will and application of his seldom-used upgrade from his last INVENTORY rank-up, and he was dressed in his favorite clothes.
With a wave and a smile, Duke TELEPORTED to the spot he had recently fought the army threatening the Wildheart Refuge. Not because there was anything special about the place, it was just the furthest point he had been from the Inn and wanted to use it as a starting point. He launched himself into the air and rocketed away, pushing his FLIGHT Ability to pour speed on.