“Dungeons exist almost outside of space and time, being within one can be rewarding for studying, producing more food, an infinite supply of nearly anything is possible for infested worlds. Which leads me to ask the question. Are dungeons bad?”
-Final question of the last class of The Study of Dungeons on Corribaan
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Warm light washed over his beleaguered form, almost healing light to his worn down soul no matter how it nearly blinded him. The relief lasted only for a moment as an anxiety forged by the insanity of his circumstance snapped back into the forefront of his mind.
There was no safety in this place, his mind screamed at him it had to be a trap or some other way to kill him. Something made this place and that something was going to kill him or eat him. The giant cat very nearly had and he had no doubt that the crabs would’ve tried if he hadn’t run.
As he pulled at the unseen power to strike out at anything that attempted to attack him with a wave that would push them back. His eyes adjusted to the light and the sight of it caused that power to falter. Suddenly he knew that there would be no danger in this place for him, at least nothing was waiting to ambush him.
A skeleton grinned at him from a small wooden chair that sat in the center of the circular room. Cobwebs hung from shelves and a thin sheen of dust covered nearly everything. Books arrayed on the second level of circular shelves that surrounded the room, with vials and jars of liquids and plants covered the first level of shelves that extended a bit into the center of the room as if designed to be a large 360o desk, a circular table sat in the center of the room. Covered in what looked like decaying plants, and even a jar of mud were illuminated by three lanterns that dangled from rusted chains arranged in a triangle.
With his anxiety still guiding him, Thomas checked the dust to see if there had been any disturbances or signs that something else had been through it. Not seeing any, he took a cautious step into the room. It had to be safer than outside, with the cats and the crabs. Cats could climb too, the platform wasn’t safe to spend much time on.
Better a dust filled room than a swamp that was trying to kill him. With a shaky breath he closed the door behind him and took another step in, disrupting the dust on the floor and kicking it up into the air. He didn’t even care that it stuck to his clothes and his bare feet. All he cared about was being safer than he had ever been in this place, in a room with walls high up enough that hopefully no cats would get to him.
The reality of what was happening sunk into his soul. He was alone in a strange place with strange creatures, already he had three powers granted by the paths that he had taken. Rewards for completing them apparently, what he wouldn’t give for a burger or fries. Why couldn't that be a reward?
At least here there weren't any grumpy elderly people to tell him that his acting was as flat as a two year old Dr Pepper. The thought made him laugh, and then the dust got into his nose and he began to sneeze. The sneezes kicked up more dust which got in his nose further. The vicious cycle continued even as Thomas tried to keep his eyes open and make his way to the chair even if a skeleton was sitting in it. The bones didn’t need it to rest anymore but Thomas most certainly did.
His chest tightened in effort to stop the sneezes and his heart felt as if it were about to burst but it finally stopped just as he came up to the lone chair. The old bones seemed to prophesize what would happen to him eventually, in time this place would consume him just as it had done to whoever this once was. Upon closer inspection the bones looked human in origin given what this place was Thomas wouldn’t have been surprised if they weren't. With a gentle hand he began to gather the bones laying on the chair.
The rib cage, pelvis, and spine all joined the head on the desk. Disturbing a bit more but not kicking up any large clouds. Were there more places like this out there? Safe Rooms filled with the dead that couldn’t escape, if it was possible to escape in the first place. He wondered as he took in the room once more. It had certainly remained untouched for a very long time. The promise of some safety immediately stopped the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The bones were scary, sure but the knowledge that this place was safe enough to be untouched for a very long time was good enough for him at this point.
Even though he was in a reasonably safe place, he still couldn’t fall asleep. The adrenaline might have left his bloodstream but his thoughts whirled. The paths offered incredible powers and had saved his life twice but this place, probably a dungeon, had nearly killed him only thirty minutes after entering it. There were so many things he didn’t know and only a few ways to find out. How many cats were there and how to get out of here were chief among them. Plus whatever those crabs were he shuddered in disgust. That was not something he wanted to witness again if he could help it.
Outside of the room he knew there would be things waiting for him, crabs, cats, or even one of those gigantic birds perhaps. In here it was dusty but safe, and there had to be something in here. This was where whoever that skeleton used to be obviously lived or used to store things. Thomas looked at all the dust obscuring the table and grimaced. It would be so hard to find things with all the dust covering things. A quick check of the room revealed no brooms or other sweeping tools.
In his mind, an idea began to form. A way to test his newfound power and clean up the place. The old bones deserved that at the very least for being stuck in this place. So far Thomas had flung a gigantic cat off his body, lifted himself up to the ladder, and held a cup of mud with his mind but there had to be more to the power that he had acquired. In comics telekinesis was very powerful, some beings could even move planets. Not that he thought that he could do that but he did have a versatile and strong skill. No matter how powerful the skill could be, it was useless if he didn’t know how to use it or even control it. When he pushed the cat off it felt as if he was straining with everything he had in his body because he was in a desperate life or death struggle but the cup and the platform felt easier because he had time to visualize and slowly move how he wanted and it was a lighter weight. That was why he couldn’t lift all the mud because he wasn’t strong enough, or his visualization wasn’t good enough.
So in order to get better at controlling his powers he could move the dust with his mind, not his body. Then he could actually move around without sneezing up a storm, and maybe check out a few of the books. With a deep breath Thomas began to visualize a duster invisible even to his own eyes but not to his skill. It was like a sixth sense telling him that it was there, the invisible power responding to his will. At the speed of thought the duster swept across the table, kicking up the dust and not doing much else. No dust clung to his construct even as it dissipated. Trying to hold back a massive sneeze had ruined his concentration.
Blinking a few tears from his eyes Thomas realized that he was going to have to take a different approach, because that duster did absolutely nothing. How the hell was he supposed to get rid of the dust if he couldn't even make a duster work.
As the dust particles still hung in the air, inspiration struck. With his mind Thomas visualized a bag around part of the dusty air. To his delight as the dust began to settle, part of it hung in the air a few feet off the ground held aloft by his power. That could work, now all he had to do was open the door and get the dust out. Slowly the invisible bag of dust began to move across the room towards the door. It arrived at its destination and remained floating, waiting for the door to open. This was when Thomas began to struggle. Holding the form of a floating bag in his mind at the same time he began to form a hand gripping the doorknob to turn and push it open.
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He made it all the way to pushing the door open before the bag fell apart in his mind. The dust dropped to the ground as the door opened completely, exposing the inside of the root to the now complete darkness of the outside. Fear shot through his veins once more as the memory of his brush with death once more pushed its way to the forefront of his mind but he had to try and believe that this place was safe. That cat couldn’t make it in here even if it tried, the door was far too small and the root walls were quite thick. With a deep breath, Thomas crafted a broom to calm himself down. The shaft was slightly crooked, and it was more like a flat shovel head than the bristles of a real broom. With a shuddering thought it was pushed into motion with his eyes closed as he concentrated. After a few moments he opened his eyes and saw trails of clean floorboards dug through the dust as the floor appeared to clean itself.
Piles of the filth formed at the door and were pushed over the platform into the muck below over the course of several minutes as the door remained open, and yet no monsters had clambered in to kill him. The invisible broom lacked the individual fibers of a broom to bend and reach difficult to get corners of the now fairly clean wooden floors but it was immeasurably better than before. However no matter how clean the floors were the table and shelves were still filthy.
Moving the invisible broom across them definitely cleared off the surface dust but some still stuck to the books. Some of which he could read the spines of now, written in what appeared to be another language. The flowing script certainly didn’t appear to be English that he could recognize and while the desk was as clean as the floor, the same could not be said of the shelves.
The broom couldn’t sweep the jars very clean, and the books were fairly clean but not as good as the floors. Thomas took a look around the room, cleaned completely from the relative comfort of the chair that a skeleton once sat at. Without a broom, or a duster but with his mind and he wasn't even tired from the use of the skill that he now knew how to use better. If he could make a broom then he could probably make a hammer, or a sword.
To test that idea he shifted the broom to a hammer and stepped out of the chair, shifting it to hit the chair gently. With a rattle the chair was pushed across the room, confirming that he could probably fight a little with the skill. If he was going to make it out of this place, it would be because of the strength and versatility of his skill. It could push a giant cat into the air, and clean a room over the course of a few minutes with the right application. Though he didn’t fully understand it yet, like if he had a maximum range, or power that he could put into it or what those would even look like.
Looking at the open door no longer instilled fear in his heart, but he wasn’t jumping to get out there. Even if overpowering hunger and thirst would drive him back out there, for now he needed to step into the role that he had been thrust into and at least attempt to learn the game he was now playing.
With a thought the door swung shut and Thomas looked at the fairly clean room from his chair. It really would’ve been helpful to understand whatever language the books were written in. For now the only thing he could read and understand was the words that hung in front of his eyes whenever he summoned them. Once more the lines and lines of text filled his vision with information that he could understand.
Points: 90
Perks: Silvertongue, Lesser Regeneration
Skills: Telekinesis (75)
Available Paths: Laser Vision (0/100), Iron Skin (0/50), Steel Skin (0/100), Enhanced Strength (0/X), Mana Battery (0/35), Dragons Breath (0/X), Telepathy (0/50, Polyglot (0/10), Regeneration II (0/50), Invisibility (0/30), Earth Manipulation (0/100), Impeccable Aim (0/5), Sword Mastery I (0/45), Alert (0/5), Shield Mastery I (0/45)...
All the options whispered to him of power, or abilities to make him super strong, or grant superspeed, even flight was there for 80 points! There were almost too many options to choose from, but he had to know what he could do to increase his chances of survival. All he had was time until he starved to death, and while his stomach growled and swore vengeance on him for not eating before his shift began just a few hours ago.
His eyes stopped scanning the lines of abilities suddenly. Just a few hours ago he was working a shit job, with coworkers he didn’t like, running into a future he never planned for and never wanted. Now he could use his mind to clean a room, and healed from a wound that should’ve killed him but was he the only one this happened to? What about the rest of the people in the elevator? Nobody had fallen into the mud with him, but what if they were out there now? Running from the crabs or worse.
The words had said that everyone that couldn’t use magic got 200 points, and if he could throw the cat around with 75 points then most people would be fine if they spent some on offensive powers. The paths called them perks and skills, but didn’t explain what made them different. Perks sounded like they were constant, Lesser Regeneration didn’t sound like it ever turned off or at least he hoped not. Where skills were probably activated, he couldn’t lift things with his mind unless he concentrated on it. As he began to look through the paths it dawned on him what the big problem was. Without finishing the path the words didn’t tell him if it would give him a skill or a perk, and to Thomas perks would be better. He thought that Regeneration II would give him a perk but why was there no Telekinesis II? This would’ve been much easier with a tutorial or something. Thomas cursed in his head. Even if telekinesis was a skill they had a major weakness, needing to be activated while perks were probably active even as he slept.
Even if there was no chance of him sleeping for a while, it was still important to be aware of what could happen to him. He needed a defense that would always be active but not too expensive. If points were his only way to gain these abilities then Thomas wanted to bank some points just in case he found a path that was too good to pass up.
Fortunately for Thomas defensive paths were plentiful beyond measure. Unfortunately there were so many that he couldn’t remember all of them nor had he seen the end of the available paths and didn’t feel like he was getting close. The paths seemed to be an endless font of options for power. If only he had a pen and paper he could’ve at least compared more than a handful of options even if quite a few were out of his price range. He ended up with a small list of options within his desire to bank roughly fifty points for more options.
Iron Skin (0/50)
Barkskin (0/25)
Exoskeleton I (0/30)
Aberrant Armorflesh I (0/10)
Stone Skin (0/20)
Water Armor (0/35)
With only ninety points remaining most of the options looked expensive but there was nothing to be done about it. Survival couldn’t be skimped on and the best way to live was to not get hit. Thomas shuddered as the memory of serrated claws slicing through his leg like butter surfaced once more, his leg shook in a phantom pain as he steeled himself and stood on the shaking leg. Putting weight on it seemed to stop the shaking as he returned to his choices. Even if some sounded better than the others Iron Skin sounded straightforward but what was Aberrant Armorflesh and why was it so cheap?
Of all the options only one possibly solved two problems at the same time. Water Armor might solve the problem of dying of thirst in a few days and make him more durable but armor was something that could be taken on or off and sounded like a skill. Thomas had no idea if he had the luxury of passing up the chance that it would solve both problems but being a skill instead of a perk couldn’t be a deal breaker right now.
Path begun. Water Armor
Water Armor (35/35)
Path Complete!
Skill Gained: Water Armor
Before he could change his mind or look through more options, he took the path. Probably solving two problems with one path was too big to pass up, especially because after a few hours of not eating or drinking anything, running on adrenaline, and nearly being fatally wounded he was starting to get thirsty. No time like the present to test out his new skill.
With a deep breath Thomas tried to activate his new skill. Just like he did with telekinesis, closing his eyes and imagining armor made of water taking shape around his body. Imagery of classical knights danced in his mind as he tried to activate the skill, unsure if he could change what it looked like but plate armor probably wasn’t bad as far as armor went.
Around Thomas’ body water began to materialize from the air, visibly condensing on plates of nothingness, beading and sticking together in the air. Growing thicker and thicker until his body was surrounded by what appeared to be heavy plate armor made of water. He failed to realize this until the water itself moved. The sound of moving water filled the room and he opened his eyes.
Plate armor made of water was only a few inches away from his body. He could still move and breathe but the water looked like it was moving independently, swirling in patterns as it moved across plates, up to his helmet and circled back again. He moved hesitantly as if the skill was about to fall apart once he stopped visualizing it but to his amazement it stayed up. The water around his eyes obscured his vision a little bit but it even had the eye slit that metal armor would have which allowed him to see fairly well.
Shouts of joy filled the small room as Thomas nearly began to cry. It had worked, he had some armor and wouldn’t die of thirst unless it was salt water. As the thought struck his mind he stuck his tongue out to taste his armor. It was freshwater. As he sat down again with the skill still active the armor shifted and his pants immediately soaked with water as his armor touched the chair but his legs only touched the armor. It almost felt as if the armor had grown harder at the pressure he had put on it but the thought slipped out of his mind to make room for the pure relief flooding his bones. A small price to pay for fresh water, even as he closed his eyes and began to try and deactivate the skill and the watery armor fell onto the ground and splashed against the wooden floor.
The dust that was left on the floor was washed away by the falling water and Thomas smiled at the happy accident. The light clinking of bone on bone alerted him to the fact that the bones had been swept away as well, pushed to the side of the room underneath the shelf that circled the entire room besides the door. With a frown and a thought the bones rose from their scrambled pile in a puddle of water directly opposite to the door and assembled themselves on the table instead.
Using hands made of telekinetic power Thomas was able to give the poor bones a proper place to rest. The only part of the room besides the floor now completely clean of dust. Things might have just started to look up for him for the first time since he set foot in the mud.