“Well met, dungeon masters,” Bernard held out a hand first to Colt and then to Lacey in turn.
“Bernard is the head of the Firestar Hunter Guild,” Kat said by way of introduction.
“Benny, please,” Benny smiled so big that it reached his eyes. This man towered over Lacey but was almost eye to eye with Colt, Colt being just a tad taller.
“He’s being very humble today,” Kat smiled back. “Sir Bernard Mattolth of Hamburg is a Count of the kingdom of Sumberton. Your dungeon is on the border between Sumberton and Hillocks to the west. I’ve sent an envoy to Hillocks, but they haven’t sent a response yet. It will take them longer to get here than these folks because they will have to detour around the Goatherd Pass.”
“I can’t see that Fenderon will be quick to send a representative after your suit against his nephew,” Bernard’s lips twitched. “Here’s to hoping that Sumberton shows better manners than our neighboring kingdom.”
“Politics,” Lacey muttered to Colt, then tried to smile at Kat and Bernard. He might have said to call him Benny, but Lacey didn’t think she could do it.
“An unfortunate result of social systems,” Bernard winked at Lacey, who ducked down to release Spark to play in the grass at their feet. “I am here on behalf of Sumberton to broker for exclusive rights to your dungeon. We would like our kingdom to have first rights to the entrances and are willing to build and arm an outpost here to protect your dungeon from further unwelcome incursions.”
“You cut right to the chase,” Colt cocked his head to the side, still fumbling for something to appease Ginger’s need for something to bet.
“From what I understand, you and your partner have little time outside the dungeon, so I felt the need to be upfront,” Bernard nodded, his tone perfectly sincere.
“With the higher-level fatalities, are you sure you still want to make that offer?” Kat challenged him.
“Were those intentional or were my people foolish?” Bernard shrugged with a casual ripple of leather under chain. “I can’t know that yet, but I’m satisfied with the current loot and entrance requirements. My people are increasing stats, skills, and levels at a reasonable rate. To show our appreciation, I’ve brought a few spells scrolls.”
“Thank you,” Colt took the scrolls, glanced at them, and handed them to Lacey.
“The fatalities were as much our fault as your people,” Lacey admitted, reading the title on the first unwrapped paper. The paper was rough, like the stuff in her art book. She unrolled them all to quickly scan the contents.
“That is a very good spell, totally underrated,” Kat pointed at the clean spell scroll on the second sheet. “It’s how I got cleaned up so quickly.”
“We are recalibrating that level,” Colt told Bernard, elbowing Lacey to jut his chin at where Spark was working her way up what could possibly be the invisible legs of Shadow. Lacey’s eyes widened, but she resisted rescuing her pet when Kat laid a hand on the beast’s head. Instead, Lacey gulped and read another scroll.
“Ginger take clean spell scroll for bet,” Ginger butted into the conversation, her outstretched palm urging compliance.
Lacey wanted the spell, but she didn’t know what she’d do with it. She wasn’t even sure how to use it since just reading it hadn’t unlocked some special class that would let her cast it. Lacey flipped over a page to look at the back of it and still it didn’t snap into her mind and let her suddenly cast it.
“I’m not a spellcaster, so I can’t use the spell myself,” Kat admitted, likely trying to pass the information to a frustrated Lacey. “But Benny has a few hedge witches around who don’t mind casting it for a few coppers. It beats a shower.”
Lacey felt even more useless than she had before. Sure, she could make the dungeon, but she couldn’t cast spells, and she couldn’t learn skills to pick locks or any of the other adventurer things. The dungeon was great, but she almost felt left out. She pulled up her character sheet, something she could only see outside the dungeon with the newer interface that Kat had shown them the week before.
Name: Lacey
Class: Dungeon Manager
Level: 25
Health: 1,075/1,075
Mana: 1,700/1,700
Intelligence: 45
Will: 23
Strength: 21
Constitution: 22
Charm: 16
Beauty: 10
Perception: 20
Dexterity: 11
Luck: 14
Skills: Appraisal (8), Bluff (2), Climbing (4), Comedy (22), Creating (41), Deception (21), Disarm Traps (1), Dodge (10), Drawing (47), Dungeon Design (58), Hide (18), Intimidation (12), Kick (6), Knife Fighting (3), Lockpicking (10), Management (10), Mazes (33), Mischief (15), Patience (11), Puzzle Design (31), Set Traps (43), Sneak (9), Taunt (3), Unarmed Combat (2),
What good was Dungeon Design against adventurers? They were vulnerable to almost everything outside of their dungeon and who knew if they’d respawn or where if they died here. Lacey felt awkward and vulnerable.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Would this scroll be something we could teach to more spellcasters in our dungeon, or would we need more scrolls to do that?” Lacey asked, her gaze caught back on Spark who was now perched nonchalantly on the air, licking a paw like it was her birthright.
“Each scroll would only teach one creature to cast the spell,” Bernard frowned, likely misunderstanding Lacey’s slightly shocked expression as his back was to the place where Shadow obviously stood. It might have only been obvious to Lacey, Kat and maybe Colt. “I can have more made for you.”
“That wouldn’t be necessary if Lacey could learn spellcasting and writing,” Kat raised an eyebrow at Bernard. She then turned to explain to Lacey, “My mom was a spellcaster like that. I’m sure we could figure something out for you.”
“We aren’t familiar with dungeon master skillsets,” Bernard looked a bit sheepish. Lacey believed that he hadn’t known and wasn’t trying to get away with something.
“Neither are any of us,” Kat smiled and spread her arms in a shrug, stepping in front of her pet and Lacey’s. “That’s why we need each other so much.”
“You think I could learn spellcasting so that I could make my own spells?” Lacey asked Kat, stomping down her hope. Hope was dangerous.
“I don’t see why not,” Kat frowned in a little pout. “Well, maybe.”
“Your hands are already cramped up with drawing new monsters for the dungeon,” Colt protested mildly, obviously trying not to dash her hopes. “You want to take on another writing chore? Maybe we could train a new race to be magic-users.”
“This is detail stuff that we don’t really have time for right now anyway,” Lacey shut down the conversation, not fully trusting the company. Bernard seemed like a nice guy, but he was nobility, and that didn’t sit well with her. She also could not find it in herself to call him Benny. He didn’t quite remind her of her dad, but more like one of the professors from college, one of the nicer ones. “Our more pressing issues are that we have quests we want to complete this week. Let’s just focus on getting the business done first and then we can talk about dreams like exploring magic systems.”
Bernard frowned and Kat pursed her lips, but no one argued.
“I’ll try to rustle up a few more of those clean spells for you,” Bernard spoke into the gap of conversation.
“And I’ll ask around about how to train you up,” Kat lifted her chin. “Just in case you want to pursue something down the line.”
“We just don’t have the time right now,” Colt backed Lacey up.
“I get clean scroll if I win bet?” Ginger insisted, bringing a chuckle from Lacey.
“Sure,” Lacey replied with a roll of her eyes. “As long as Bernard will scrounge up a few more, I’ll agree to that, though I think Colt is going to lose the bet.”
“What?” Colt’s brow creased. “Why?”
“Deal?” Ginger stuck out her hand eagerly.
“Okay, it’s a bet,” Colt agreed, frowning at Lacey, but shaking Ginger’s little green hand. “Why do you think Adam will get the chest up first?”
“I don’t,” Lacey smiled at Ginger, who rubbed her little hands together as she hustled back to the dungeon, the stack of scrolls in her hot little hands. Lacey knew that the rule-following goblin wouldn’t try to learn the spell before winning the bet. “I think Ginger will get it up first. You only bet that Eve would get the treasure chest up first, not that Adam would win. If Ginger gets the chest up with any or all of her workers, she still wins.”
“That goblin is more clever than one would think,” Bernard put in.
“She’s a level 20 worker goblin,” Colt nodded his head with a wry smile. “She outthinks me sometimes.” Lacey frowned, wondering if learning the clean spell might change Ginger’s class like the Spark spell scroll had for Eve.
“Don’t sell yourself short, big guy,” Kat put a hand on Colt’s shoulder, giving him a start.
Lacey looked for her pet as Kat and Colt goggled at each other like teenagers in the first spark of true love. She could have rolled her eyes at it, but she wanted something nice to happen for Colt. She found Spark still walking on Shadow’s back or head.
“Those spells all level up with enough practice,” Bernard told her, also avoiding looking at the misty-eyed couple. “The mend spell should help out with dungeon cleanup. We tried to think of what could help a dungeon.”
“I’d love to spend a day with one of your hedge witches,” Lacey’s tone was wistful as she thought of the spells she couldn’t yet read. “I guess I just want to do it all.”
“We should have time,” Bernard smiled down at Lacey indulgently. He was an older man, though he didn’t act like it hurt him at all to walk around in what looked like a ton of armor. It wasn’t full plate, but it had to be heavy. He had a beard that was as much white as brown, and eyes that made her think of Santa Claus. “I’d hoped to help figure this situation out together.”
“That’d be cool,” Lacey admitted reluctantly. “I swear it feels like the minute I start to figure out how to do something, I’m buried under massive waves of trying to catch up on what I need to do next.”
“That is the way of life, isn’t it?” Bernard’s voice was low and soft, but he looked elsewhere as he said it. Beyond the clearing was a younger man joking with two others. Lacey squinted her eyes against impending twilight that didn’t let her see them too clearly.
“Guildmates?” she asked him.
“My son and a few of his friends,” Bernard answered. “They are one of the groups to come through with no casualties.”
Now that she knew what to look for, the tallest of the young men resembled the man standing next to her. The younger version was wearing mostly leather with a bow and quiver strapped onto his back as if he never took it off. They were eating around one of the campfires, or at least that was part of what they were doing. One would barely get a mouthful of supper before another of them jostled them and laughed at something Lacey couldn’t hear.
“I’m surprised that you aren’t over there trying to get intel about what happened inside,” Lacey looked back to Bernard. There was a system that messed with the memories of NPCs that went through a dungeon, but Lacey wasn’t really clear on how it worked.
“They do not remember,” Bernard answered her, confirming what she’d learned from dealing with Monty and his cohorts. “They were given a quest that will allow them to remember a successful dungeon dive, but they have to defeat 100 dungeon monsters and 100 rooms before they will unlock those memories.”
“I didn’t know that side of it,” Lacey considered what he’d said carefully. “Once that happens, our puzzles may become useless.”
“Not true,” Bernard smiled at her. “They might regain their memory, but they are spelled to not speak of it with one who has not completed the same quest. By the time they complete the first of those quests, they’ll have outleveled the part of the dungeon they can remember. They’ll likely get another quest once they complete this one, with further tasks to remember more, at least they will if the dungeon grows past those boundaries, which we expect to happen here. The brotherhood of those who have completed the quest series for a dungeon is an honored tradition in our realm. Do you have any controls over quests that you give in the dungeon?”
“Not yet, though Colt is working on unlocking more controls,” Lacey found herself confiding in him. “We didn’t know we could give out quests. There is just so much to learn about it all.”
“You’ll get the hang of it,” Bernard told her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“What class are you anyway?” Lacey asked, distrusting this trusting side of herself.
“Bard,” he answered her, his eyes wide with innocence. Bernard had the temerity to give her an almost bashful look as she continued to stare at him until he moved his hand. It hadn’t been a romantic thing, but if it wasn’t for her distrust of older men, thanks to her untrustworthy father, she’d have never noted the manipulation.
“Figures,” she rolled her eyes. “Dangerously charming men are the bane of my existence.”
“What?” Colt straightened up from something he’d been whispering to Kat who was blushing.
“We have work to do, and our timer is running out,” Lacey picked up Spark, who had taken to walking across the back of Shadow so that a few nearby folks were pointing and giggling. Spark liked the fact that she looked like she was walking on air since Shadow was still invisible. Spark didn’t seem to like being plucked from her stage but endured it with nothing worse than a lowering of her ears. Lacey cradled the ball of black fur in the crook of her elbow and applied enough scritches to gain tolerance, if not forgiveness.