22
New loot
Ezekiel, the dungeon avatar, looked bored and ready to hurry through the tour of our dungeon. Hopefully I could use that boredom to get him out of here ASAP.
“Shall we get a move on then?” The fox man asked as he turned toward the dungeon.
“Wait! ... Why don't I just show you what we can make out here? That way you don't have to walk through the whole dungeon. It's pretty boring after all.” My excuse felt weak even to my own ears.
Ezekiel sighed and turned to me, “I would love nothing more than to end this quickly. But we have to see the dungeon ourselves.”
I stopped time to think up a plan.
“What do you think?”
“I think you should just show me the dungeon like I ask.”
The one that answered wasn't Lilith, and I froze in shock, staring at the still mobile Ezekiel.
“Y... You can move in the construction interface?”
“Obviously, I am a Dungeon crown myself, so it follows that I wouldn't be frozen during the building phase. Have you never met another Dungeon?”
I restarted time again before answering, “Er… no, I haven’t.”
“Interesting… Do you at least have the market portal?”
This conversation was out of my control, and I was just following along at his pace, a bad start.
“We do… obviously we do.”
“Hmm, yes, well, why doesn't the avatar join us? They can guide the tour themselves.”
I had puzzled out that the avatar thing was something we would unlock at some point that would allow Lilith and myself to act separately. We hadn't unlocked that particular ability yet, but the trolls and this fox man apparently thought we should have.
“She’s a bit busy…”
Ezekiel’s face darkened, “So you make your dungeon do your dirty work as well? Disappointing.”
Were Kasumi and Ezekiel not on good terms? It wouldn't be that surprising. Lilith was a strong personality herself, and it rankled her that she had so little control over herself and her fate. Other Dungeon Crowns would likely be in a similar scenario.
“Would you be willing to... go against... Tina?”
Ezekiel smirked knowingly at me, “Tina is... disagreeable. But I won't be offering you my neck just to spite her. You would be wise not to anger her. She is stronger and more devious than you know.”
“Alright, well back to the dungeon then. I don't think it’s a good idea to go in there; we are experimenting with... poison gas traps.”
His eyes lit up and he started to move toward the entrance again, “Ohh, now that IS interesting. What sort of gas have you managed?”
It was just an excuse to drive him off, but now that I had said it, I did know how to make chlorine gas. Would that still be as irritating to a zombie as it was to humans? Something to look into.
I tried again to deter him, “If you go in there, I can't guarantee your safety.”
He stopped once more and looked at me through narrowed eyes. “You can just give me a return token; there isn’t any danger. What are you trying to hide?”
If this were a less dangerous situation, I might be tempted to try fishing for more information. It felt like every other sentence this creature spoke gave me another bit of priceless knowledge. But I had to get him away, right now.
I was saved from having to scramble for an answer, though, as a troll came sailing through the air between us, smashing into the giant tree over the dungeon. A voice speaking words I couldn’t understand shook the trees, and the world seemed to grow darker.
Ezekiel seemed to pale even through his fur, “What sort of monster is that?”
I had a feeling I knew, but I held my tongue and watched. A beam of light pierced the forest, unhindered by tree or troll. Wherever the narrow beam of light swept, trees fell. Several trolls were cut in half, and I expected them to stand back up as two new monsters like with Terry and Terrence, but the smoking wounds did not heal.
The fox man stuttered, “I… I must go… if you survive, bring the tribute at the agreed-upon time, or else.”
Then he fell to all fours and bounded off into the trees, looking very much like a fox at that moment. Shale appeared, hovering off the ground like gravity was a thing for lesser men. The human looked around for a moment before his eyes locked on me, and he flew over. He spoke again, the sound reverberating through the air, deep and powerful. Without the amulet, though, I could not understand it.
I tried to tell him to wait while I fetched Geoff, but my own moaning voice was just as incomprehensible to Shale. The frustration was clearly building, and the air seemed to match the man’s mood, breeze stilling and pressing down on me like a weight. The tension built for a moment before Squirrely McSquirrel suddenly appeared, running up my leg to rest on my head. The squirrel chattered at Shale for a moment, and the man’s anger seemed to retreat a bit.
Did they understand each other? Or maybe it was just the nonsensical sight of an irate squirrel that broke the tension. The delay was enough for Geoff to show up, though. The goblin rushed up the stairs and out into the clearing, speaking frantically. Shale and Geoff spoke for a time. At one point the old human pointed at the squirrel and asked something, which Geoff answered by slapping the squirrel off my head and shooing it away. Eventually the man eyed us warily but left on foot rather than flying.
“What the hell happened?” Geoff asked once the human had disappeared into the trees.
“Tina sent some trolls and the crown's avatar with some materials, but when they saw the humans, there was a fight.”
“What materials?”
That was a good question; I hadn't seen the supposed delivery. We had a look around but couldn't find anything in the immediate area. Eventually I sent Terry and Geoff out to look among the corpses. As they went to leave, though, the squirrel returned, dragging a small satchel. The tiny rodent was clearly out of breath as he pushed the bag toward me and chattered.
Rather than translate, Geoff spoke back, and I only got his side of the conversation.
“Where was it?
Alright, well thanks, but why are you here?
That's not our fault.
Well, why don't you and your demon friends go kill the trolls for us then?”
At that point I couldn’t wait any more.
“Oi, let me in on this. I want to know that too.”
Geoff looked at me sheepishly, “Sorry, boss, I got carried away.”
The squirrel carried on chattering, and Geoff translated.
“He says that they can’t help unless you want a swarm of warriors to show up that make that old man look like a pathetic goblin… HEY!”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Even I had to chuckle at that, which earned a glare from Geoff.
“Ask him what he means; why would warriors show up?”
“He says… oh… but what about the first time? Will they know…?"
I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow at the goblin.
“Apparently the humans have people who can sense powerful magic. Whenever a strong demon shows up, the humans know. If they don’t like where they are sensing the power, then they send extermination squads.”
Now I wanted an answer to Geoff's question too, “So… are they on the way now?”
The squirrel just shrugged. Awesome.
With one crisis averted and another potential one on the horizon, I decided to refocus our preparations. We weren't going to make much more progress by training right now; instead, we needed to tier up for the next major boost. Beyond that, we could also try unlocking more interesting materials like whatever was in this delivery. Before that I saw another opportunity and sent the troll and goblin out to collect some of the gear the humans abandoned.
Dungeon Minion detected leaving area of influence
Dungeon wave event started
Maximum cumulative level of minions in dungeon wave: 6
Cumulative level of minions in wave: 6
The humans seemed to have finally been pushed by the attack to the point of quitting early for the day, so we had plenty of time to scavenge. After a while the pair returned with quite a haul.
Dungeon wave complete
Calculating results…
Adventurers slain: 0
Monsters slain: 0
Damage taken: 0
Damage dealt: 0
Minions slain: 0
Loot lost: none
Loot gained: 2 Damaged wire saws, 13 Small power crystals, 7 Small death crystals, 3 average quality axes
Wave duration: 41:37
Wave reward: 4 tin
Loot value: 1 gold 34 silver 12 copper 5 tin
Convert loot to mana coins?
After declining the conversion, I jumped into the interface and absorbed the loot as well as the contents of the satchel. It was all quite interesting. The power crystals were what Hunter had been loading into the saws, obviously to power the things. The death crystals were something I had only been told about; when the stumps were chopped down low to the ground, one of the workers would lower one of these into it. Probably these would kill the roots to prevent regrowth. Handling them myself didn't seem to cause any problems, which I supposed was due to my not being alive.
Inside the satchel were even more interesting goodies. No glass, unfortunately, but we now had access to a few different types of animal bones, something called ‘soul catalyst’ that just looked like a black stone, and emeralds. How we could use this stuff was anyone’s guess, but between Gina, Gregg, Gale, and whatever we could get out of the squirrel, we were all but guaranteed to manage some useful new toys.
I made a sample of each new material and took it to the training area where I called everyone for an announcement. The squirrel silently followed, but while he had helped us before, he had also nearly gotten me killed. So I picked him up and placed him gently back outside. He flipped me off again. Once everyone had gathered and I had their attention, I spoke up to everyone.
“Everyone, it's almost time for whatever will happen with the trolls to happen. You've all been training hard, and it shows, but now we need to regroup and figure out how we can tier up and get stronger fast. I have some new stuff for the crafters to look over and test, but it came at the cost of possibly pissing off… everyone, I guess. So we need to make good use of it.”
With that, I dropped my samples on a table. Gale stood silently looking at the pile before turning to me.
“I'll make you a deal.” She said.
“Oh? What sort of deal?”
“I'll solve the trap kill requirement problem, but you have to make me one of everything here to work with.”
“Isn't it in everyone's best interest to tier up? Why do you need to be bribed to help?”
She shrugged, “Sure it is, but it's also in everyone’s best interest if we have the best equipment to work with. Why do I need to bargain to get the best stuff to work with?”
That… There was something wrong with that logic, but I couldn't figure out exactly what. I made the three crafters a set of the new material each, which they greedily scooped up and disappeared into their own work areas. Gale quickly returned with a foul-smelling bag that dripped a dark liquid as she carried it.
“What is this?”
“Put it outside tonight… and shorten Handy's chain so he can't get at it. In the morning our trap problem will be solved… Oh, and I need my hat… and a coat to go with it.”
She handed me a drawing of the clothes, and before I could ask her about it she shoved the bag at me as well. I wanted to make some gloves to keep from touching the disgusting thing, but Gale had carried it without flinching, and I wouldn’t be outdone so easily. I took the bag and did as she said. Afterward I regretted my stubbornness as I scrubbed my hand, unable to get the smell off. It stunk like hot week-old carrion.
I wasn't going to doubt Gale; whatever she had cooked up was going to work. That left killing a human as the last requirement. But it wasn't likely that Shale would take it well if I pressed him on that just now. Time was running out, though. If we didn't get an approved human to execute soon, we would be right back in the same place we started. Either assassinating an innocent human or trying to find someone who ‘deserved' it. Only this time we would be far more pressed for time.
I spent the time as I thought about our options fulfilling Gale's other demand. There was nothing wrong with providing ‘luxury items' like specially designed clothes, and I actually had a few different types of fabric now from various sources. The tiny goblin was building quite an image. First she had a personalized hammer forged with a wicked spike on one end and a pry bar on the handle. Then she always seemed to be working on some kind of trap or weapon schematic on her oversized clipboard. Now she had designed a hat and coat that reminded me of a small version of the Inspector Gadget getup he wore in the old cartoon, with the thin trench coat and all.
Once the costume, because that was the only way I could think of it, was done, I went to deliver it. The hidden door was closed, so I knocked. Inside I could hear a panicked squeak and a clatter and shuffling noise. Finally, just before I was about to knock again, Gale opened the door.
“WHAT?!”
“Uhh… here?”
She looked at the offering, and her face lit up in excitement. The goblin snatched the bundle and in a whirl of fabric too fast to follow, donned the coat and hat over her usual plain clothes. She posed for a moment, head tilted down, holding the brim of her new hat.
After I didn’t say anything, she snapped, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“How do I look?”
“Umm… like you should have a sidekick who you correct all the time?”
She held her pose for a bit while thinking.
“I don't know what that means... but I like it!”
I burst out laughing.
“What?” She demanded, stamping her foot.
That only made me laugh harder. After a moment she started laughing too. We were laughing so loudly we didn't hear the cabinet in the corner of the room rattling. I only noticed something was wrong because of the light coming from the cracks around the door. I trailed off, and Gale followed my gaze; blinding yellow and green light strobed through the room.
“What's in the cabinet, Gale?”
“Uh… everything?”
The rattling grew to a clatter and then a rumble. Finally I snapped out of my stupor and pulled Gale out of the door, slamming it shut behind her. Just as it closed and clicked shut, the light show and shaking stopped for a single second. Then the cabinet exploded, rocking the whole dungeon.
When the dust settled and we climbed back to our feet, Gale immediately rushed back into the workshop and squealed. I rushed in after her and froze at the sight. The workshop was in shambles. Several half-completed projects had become shrapnel and launched across the room, and papers were smoldering but luckily not openly burning. That wasn't what drew my attention, though.
Near the epicenter of the blast bounced an excited goblin zombie girl, with a silver bird perched on her head.
“Sebastian!” She cheered.
I examined the bird.
Name: Sebastian
Classification: Familiar to Gale Livingston
Race: Pseudo-Lich
Level: 2
I examined it, but I still didn't know what I was looking at.
“Gale… what is that?”
“HE is Sebastian. Be nice; he's only a baby."
The bird was most definitely not a baby. It looked like a fully grown crow or raven, but rather than the black that you would expect from such species, this thing was a sleek silver color. Just this side of shiny enough to be called chrome. The ‘Familiar' didn’t move its body or make any sounds. The only signs it was alive were its head turning and tilting and the glint of intelligence behind its black eyes.
“Alright then,” I tried again, “What is Sebastian?”
Gale ceased her excitable hopping, eyes widening. She quickly peeked around the room and toward the cabinet that no longer existed. Lilith cut in as Gale searched for a suitable excuse.
“Liches are simple enough to understand… but Pseudo-Lich? How?”
Gale picked up something and held it up. Sebastian finally cawed for the first time as the softly glowing egg was revealed.
“Refresh my memory, Lilith. How do liches work?”
I knew how they worked in stories, of course, but I wanted to hear it from someone native to this world to make sure, and Lilith seemed to have some inherent understanding of monsters.
“Liches are undead sorcerers who used a nasty ritual sacrificing an unborn soul as well as killing their own body to attain a form of immortality. Normally a lich can't be killed unless their phylactery is destroyed first… How that works with dungeon immortality… or as a familiar… or what Pseudo means here… I don't know.”
“So… that egg, is that the phylactery?” I asked.
“I suppose wherever you come from, the phrase ‘I don't know' means something different. Here it just means I do not fucking know. The fucking part is optional."
“Thanks."
“Any time."
Sebastian cawed again, and it sounded like agreement.
Gale finally gathered herself enough to explain, “When no one claimed the eggs that Gabe and Gabby brought back, I did. I was trying to hatch them. I even named them all. Sebastian was the odd one, shiny and ice cold. Well, I was keeping them in that cabinet… along with all the other stuff you gave me to work with… now we are all caught up.”
I most certainly was not caught up. The eggs from the scavenging mission? I remembered thinking I might try to hatch one that I had created from the interface, but then forgot about it, like so many other things. But why had it... hatched now of all times? How had it hatched?
I had a million and one questions, but no one had answers. Hopefully this would turn out to be a good thing.