Tomas

Upon my awakening of the new day I already can hear what Erifis had been warning me about. Thomas, is busily talking to himself about plans of some type for a mace spray. I don't get any accompanying information this time but the thought of a trap that throws a group of maces at someone isn't really creative. There are several swinging mace passages and swinging axe passages in the other Dungeons of the realm. As if he can hear my thoughts he gets upset and says, "No one asked you." I'm not sure if it was directed at me or if it was directed at Erifis, or the Sym person he refers to. I start to get dressed and ready for the day, grabbing a roll of bread off the kitchen countertop, where it appears every day by the enchantment on said countertop. As I walk outside of my residence, and down towards the coastal Dungeon entrance I hear more bits he mumbles about peppers, oil, and spices.

I arrive at the entrance of my new employers house, I chuckle at my own joke, and as I enter I hear a cackle from Thomas. If I had no idea about just what type of soul he was I'd be worried. It was very evil sounding. As I enter I look around for any of these "spicy maces" that were setup to swing out of the wall and maim, or burn, unsuspecting entrants. I'm greeted by Thomas as I take a few more steps into the Dungeon, and his skeletal form floats up from the ground.

"Hey, perfect timing. I need you to try something for me.... I'll pay you with five answers and, if it works, I'll let you see my crystal."

"If that is the payment, then I'm guessing you want to bludgeon me with the spicy maces you've been talking about this morning. A feel as though that is a little bit on the cheap side for possible death by bludgeoning."

"Uhhh.. what? No no no, but I thank you for the idea. Spicy maces, I feel like it would be better on a morning star or something that punctures for that type of application. No, you see I don't have a uh nose, and thus I don't have a sense of smell. I just want you to sniff something. It won't kill you, but it might make you cry."

"Are they stinky spicy maces?"

"No, mace is..... It's the name of a tool used by women, law enforcement, and.... guards from my previous world, it's a hot smelling, eye watering oil. I wanted to try to make some and I think it's correct but again, no nose."

"So I sniff your concoction and tell you if it hurts, and if it does then I get to see your Core. I still don't know what a Void Diamond is, so I'll agree to those terms."

We arrive where the teleport trap is and I can feel that it is there, I can still taste the Magick of it on the air, even though I apparently have no Masaara control anymore. I turn sideways and sidle past where the trap is effective and Thomas laughs at me.

"Contracts don't set off traps, and the monsters are friendly to contracts. Mysty will love the new company, Erifis doesn't go down there as often with all the squeaking, I don't blame her though."

"Mysty? Squeaking? How many monsters reside here?"

"Sym says we're up to one hundred thirty two million three hundred thirty thousand nine hundred forty eight. Mysty is short for Mystique, our resident black lizard of outrageous size, and as for the squeaking goes... We had a prince come by the island three days ago. While staying here on the island in the inn up above on Sheri St. He admitted to some horrible things as an attempt to brag to his friends. Guy was a creep, in every sense of the word, and you know my rules here. Everyone is equal, no one is less than another, well Mr.Highandmighty treated his teammates like crap, and was a very crappy human being. So when he lost to Betty I gave him a similar death sentence to former Lord Tomatoface. Hence the squeaking.... He's actually screaming out in misery but rats have rat vocal chords which make rat sounds."

I feel like every question I get the answer to leads to fifty more. Who is Betty, who is Lord Tomatoface and who is Mr.Highandmighy... what are vocal chords. Are they music related? Wait.

"What? What is that number...." 132,330,948 I had to write it down in the dirt layer under my feet. I'm a scholar, I was a scholar but it takes a lot of effort to visualize that many of anything. The best comparison I can come up with is if you took all the grains of sand on the beach and counted them one by one. I look around and realize we're in the basin on the platform the journalists described. It begins to descend, and Thomas starts to speak more.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Yup, look all around you, they started off as just two bigger than normal spiders just seven years and five days ago. Each egg cluster has something like a thousand babies in it. Some of those get eaten or don't hatch out, see that's the power of exponents, two plus a thousand turns into a thousand plus ten thousand, into ten thousand plus a hundred thousand then a hundred thousand into a million. At present they hatch out about the size of a coconut, then grow into one of the many varieties from there. Betty is a jumping spider, they're smaller than the main fighters here, but far faster. Jumping spiders hunt by, well, jumping. She crashed into him from behind, breaking his back and his arm with her exoskeleton - that's the outer shell of most insects. Anyway, he's right over there, being taken by Lord Tomatoface in the rat statue on the right."

He pointed then, drawing my attention to two rat statues on either side of a ominous looking doorway. The statues were cages, carved of Dungeon Stone and a plaque at the base of the statues had names written on them.

Lord Ricard - 550 Reincarnations Remaining

Declared War on the Dungeon

Doomed to be a Rat forever originally, changed to One lifetime per soldier sent to assault the Island.

Former Prince Gamel Kyrr - 201 Reincarnations Remaining

Was a Rapist and Proud of it.

Doomed to be unable to fight off the advances and desires of Lord Ricard. Much like that poor woman.

One lifetime for every law broken while on the Island of the Dead. One more lifetime for every insult to the Dungeon Core.

"How very apt a punishment, where I'm from we typically castrate those who force themselves on others."

I'm startled when I look around and don't see Thomas around anywhere, but as I search the chamber he comes out of a passage in the wall that I don't remember being there before. It closes up behind him and he is holding a corked bottle out to me. I take the bottle from him removing the cork. Before I even move the bottle I can smell it. The foul liquid inside, orange in color with pepper mash and seed oil. It burns my nose and my eyes start watering as I attempt to force the cork back into the neck of the bottle. I quickly hand it back to him and rub my eyes. The pain multiplies hundredfold. I close my eyes and realize I must have gotten some on my hands when I took the cork out. My own actions led to my own suffering and I debate on whether cutting my own eyes out would be more or less painful than just suffering through it. The suffering wouldn't leave me permanently blind however so I take a deep breath and grit my teeth.

My head becomes submerged in water, currents whipping around blowing my hair all over but the burning begins to fade. Eventually the water fades and I can breathe again. The burning isn't as bad and I can actually take this level of pain with just mild discomfort. Thomas leads me forward while talking more.

"It washed off too easily for what I'm going for, I'll have to add something to make it dry faster or make it stickier, but to answer the question you had asked earlier. Imagine if every woman, every guard, every law enforcer had some of that stuff. There would be a lot less crimes, alot less mugging, and alot less stalking. Well we're almost to the Core so you should ask your questions."

Reminded that I've earned my answers I go through the questions I really want the answers to. Things I won't be able to find out in just passing conversation take priority and I think for a few minutes as we walk. Eventually sitting down on a very soft stone bench and gazing out of a crystalline wall at the Ocean. Schools of fish swim by the coral reef outside the wall. It's peaceful and relaxing. A large dark scaly head is placed on my lap, I'm presuming this is Mysty. As I contemplate what to ask I begin to absent-mindedly pet the animal. Rubbing and scratching around the horns where she likely has trouble reaching.

"I guess the only question I really have that I won't learn over several future interactions with you is this, why the music. Why bother to add ambiance at all?"

"Music, it adds caution where it is needed to be had. It adds motivation to move forward. It adds a hint when someone is stuck. It adds inspiration when you feel overwhelmed to push yourself further. Also you haven't seen a good fight until there is music to match the action, fast paced songs with powerful notes interplayed with off-key flats when on the back foot makes for much better entertainment. As for ambiance in general, if you're going to do something, do it right, put in the effort and you're rewarded with something amazing. Like this Crystal dome here. I cultivated that reef, I moved pieces of coral here and changed the rock to support it better. I did it not because I wanted the approval of others, I did it because while I can go out there and float underwater since I don't need to breathe anymore, sometimes there is nothing better than finding a time to relax and enjoy your surroundings. Sometimes all you need is to pet the Boss monster of the Dungeon and Relax in thought for six hours while watching the fish live their lives."

"Wait, have I really been sitting here for six hours?"

"Shit"