Chapter 165
As Jay and his group stood in front of the door with Brother Orin things were mostly quiet at first, if you didn't count the grumbling of the other adventurers in line who were impatiently waiting. While they waited there was no sign or sound of any construction in progress for about a minute - until the door in front of them disappeared.
There was a bit of a commotion when that happened as those in line could now see that the line they were in led to only a blank, featureless wall.
Brother Orin leaned over towards Jay with a worried expression, “Is it supposed to do that?”
Jay didn't have time to reply as the featureless wall became hazy and impossible to make out. When it finally cleared the wall was no longer featureless but now had a sturdy and imposing double doorway which was currently closed. The doors were far taller than a normal door and wider as well. It would allow two way foot traffic to easily pass through the doorway.
It had been about a minute and people could begin to hear a low hum, a vibration. Some of those in line put a hand over their stomach as the low frequency sound made them feel sick. Most people were not affected however and looked a bit oddly at those who were.
There were no other indications that anything was going on outside of view. The constant low hum resulted mainly in people quieting down and not yelling as much. They could feel that something was happening, even if it didn't make them feel sick like some people.
Job Completed!
Reopen dungeon now? Yes|No
Jay chose Yes, dismissed the notification, and smiled at Brother Orin, “Let's all hope that worked,” he said which made Brother Orin visibly worry even more.
As Jay placed his hands, one on each door, everyone nearby could hear a series of loud harsh clanking sounds carry across the stairwell as if locks were disengaging. After four clanks the doors effortlessly swung open and lay flush against the outer walls. Jay and other nearby people had to move out of the way to make room for the doors to swing fully open but they all managed even though it was quite crowded.
Jay led Brother Orin and the guards in to the new central room. “The line curves to the right which leads to the dungeon entrance,” he explained as he led the head monk and his guards through the central room and in to the dungeon entrance room. “I set up a desk and chairs so the guards wouldn't have to stand the entire time.”
Two of the guards exchanged pleased glances with each other as the other guards all smiled and nodded in thanks. A pair of guards pulled out the chairs and sat down with smiles on their faces.
Jay, Brother Orin, and the other guards returned to the central room. The central room had the main entrance and then across from it three doors. The left one led to the prize hall, the middle one to the dungeon exit, and the right one to the dungeon entrance. Above the left door was a sign with a stylized picture of a prize terminal. Above the center door was a sign with a large X, and finally, above the right door was a sign with an arrow that pointed to a stylized swirling dungeon portal.
Quite a bit of commotion could be heard coming from the exit portal room as well as the new prize hall. Jay walked Brother Orin in to the new exit portal room and there were already adventurers arriving now that the portal had been cleared and reactivated.
“Where the hell are we?” quite a few people asked as the room looked entirely different from the combination prize hall, dungeon entry/exit that they had originally passed through.
Jay spoke up loudly, “We had to do some restructuring to make room for everyone. You're still outside Kagan's Dome, don't worry. You have two exits – the central room which leads to the exit, or the prize hall, your choice,” Jay called out as he pointed to the exits with signs over them. One sign simply had EXIT written in glowing red letters. The other sign had stylized picture of a prize terminal.
Everyone moved to the prize hall save for a few guards that remained to manage the room and help out any adventurers who exited the dungeon and might be confused.
The prize hall was larger than the other rooms combined and was called a hall for a reason. It had high ceilings as well as the only real decoration that Jay had yet to see. The ceiling had a center section made up of stained glass that was lit from the other side and gave it the appearance of the sun shining through the colored panes. The glass itself had been arranged in to a scenic pattern, a starry night that was all blues and violets and which threw large swaths of color across the featureless stone floor below.
The room was lit by torchlight, lines of them which ringed the room itself. The mix of the two different lighting methods gave the room a dream like quality to it. The room felt relaxing to be in and Jay could feel his shoulders lower slightly as his back muscled loosened slowly.
Adventurers went quiet as they entered the room and a hush fell over those who had been speaking as they had entered. It wasn't a room for loud conversations but for contemplation and relaxation. It was a moment to find calm before rejoining the world after fighting through the dungeon.
Although the room held a number of terminals where dungeon runners could purchase their rewards, in a way, the room was a reward in and of itself.
Jay, Brother Orin, and Jay's friends all exited the prize hall. There were only two doors out – one had a sign with an X over it while the other had EXIT written in glowing red letters hung above it. They used the EXIT door and returned to the central room.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“Questions?” Jay asked Brother Orin respectfully.
Brother Orin laughed, “Only about a million of them! Goddess, this is going to help us so much! Can we let the line through now?”
Jay smiled and nodded, “Go right ahead, it should be all set now.”
M'redith had been watching quietly and stood next to Jay as Brother Orin held a hushed conversation with a church guard who then grabbed a few guards himself and went to the stairwell room to first fetch the people they had kicked out of the prize terminals in the old room.
Those people were escorted in to the new prize hall and left to fend for themselves. The adventurers each immediately claimed a prize terminal. The guards then returned to the stairwell and got the line moving.
Many adventurers in the line cheered as the line slowly lurched in to motion once again. Once it started though it managed to speed up a bit compared to when they had to walk through the old room. The line moved steadily as people entered the dungeon at a brisk pace.
For a time they were averaging 18 seconds per group. That eventually slowed down but for a bit people were so excited to be moving again that they were loath to stop.
Norri and Aiden were off to the side and hunched over something and it wasn't until Jay smelled buttery grilled cheese that he realized what they were doing.
“Hey! Do you have enough to split with everybody?” Jay asked Aiden in a sing song voice.
“No! Get back!” Aiden insisted as he curled one arm protectively around the grilled cheese he was holding.
Norri giggled as she finished chewing her half. “That's what you get for trapping us here for hours!”
Jay laughed, “Fine, fine. Let me check in with Brother Orin but if he is ok with it I think we can leave and go and find something more substantial to eat. I even know what I want! Do you know anywhere around here that makes a good lasagna?”
Aiden stopped chewing as his belly rumbled, “Absolutely,” he answered seriously.
Jay chuckled, “I figured you might. Ok, you guys sit tight, I'll be right back.”
M'redith had been watching with interest as Jay had tried to get a piece of Aiden's grilled cheese. In all truthfulness she was getting pretty hungry herself.
Jay managed to catch Brother Orin just as he was getting ready to go upstairs.
“Of course! You can go anytime you'd like. I can see why the King thought you should stick around though. That would have been a horror show without you there. Can you imagine trying to fix that by hand? Goddess no. Glad you were here. Go eat! Pleasure seeing you again, Patron!” Brother Orin ended on a professional sounding note and stressed the word Patron but his wide grin betrayed him and he shook Jay's hand with a smile before he excused himself to go yell at a guard who didn't appear to be doing anything.
There was no one else to speak to. So Jay and his group used the stairwells to return to the surface.
The stairs had been divided in to two lanes. The right lane was for adventurers looking to enter the dungeon and was strictly single file. That left the remainder of the stairwell to be used for those that still needed to go up and down the stairs for their own, non dungeon-entering, purposes.
No one recognized them as they walked to the surface and many people asked them how the dungeon was as if Jay and his group were returning from a run. Jay didn't feel like correcting them and kept to smiling and nodding with the occasional wave.
As they exited the Church building that had been built over Kagan's Dome Jay couldn't help but notice that the line to enter the dungeon extended in to the city itself. Jay followed the line and realized that it went on for two city blocks. As the line moved people continued to arrive and get in to line. This had the effect of ensuring that the line never got any shorter.
Jay thought that might turn in to a problem that he'd have to fix but he didn't think he had the money to do anything about it now. He could make some long hallways, maybe break them up with other rooms to help hold the queue. The point was to move people off of the city streets before they became a nuisance. He'd have to wait until the dungeon had earned some more gold though before he'd have the funds to go and make any more changes.
He had thought that the money he'd make would be his to do with as he willed. That was still the case really but he hadn't anticipated the dungeon itself would require gold. Not that he had been forced to spend that gold. He could have left things as they were and still made money. People would have complained about the setup but they would have still waited in line for entry. Jay could have kept all the money for himself.
Instead he had put the money back in to the dungeon. Not even in to the dungeon really but the dungeon entrance area outside of the dungeon itself. That was an interesting piece of information that he hadn't considered. It appeared that he was king of the dungeon, that was true, but he was also king of the entry area as well as the area around it. He hadn't anticipated that.
That land was his. It had started as a single room off of the stairwell when Jay had arrived that morning but now 'his' land occupied four rooms. Not a huge increase but an increase nonetheless. What else could he build down there? How much could he build before the King or the Mayor had a word with him about it?
Jay wondered if he could use that to his advantage somehow. Jay was surrounded with advantages at the moment however so he filed that away for future consideration. One thing at a time.
Jay hadn't even made any changes to the dungeon itself. What could he do inside of the dungeon? Jay wasn't sure it would be fair of him to run his own dungeon. He made a mental note to look in to that at some point. What rules applied to a Patron in their own dungeon? He felt like a trip to the Library might be in order this week.
He'd wait until after the auction though so that he could bring Glenda her share of the dungeon proceeds. It felt like they hadn't seen Glenda in ages. He'd only known her for maybe a month though. Jay shook off his thoughtful mood and focused on his friends around him.
“So who is hungry?” Jay asked jokingly as a number of stomachs rumbled in response.
His friends all yelled at him and M'redith gave him a friendly push. Jay smiled and flagged down a cart. The day had ended and night was slowly making its appearance. Dusk settled over the land around him and Jay smiled. Another day in Eden.