Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661
A couple of minutes later, Sarchan came back in with Cardon.
The Overseer asked, “Sarchan, did you want to look over the notes from the first team?”
Sarchan just huffed and walked into the portal with his team. The third crystal went red, and Team Sarchan’s Delve was underway.
The Overseer sighed, picked one of his assistants and sent him off to Chief Fangslayer with a message. ‘Sarchan has decided to brave the Dungeon without familiarising himself with the initial reports. I suspect there will be losses in his team.’
He finished receiving the report from Mandy’s team, thanked them for their cooperation and dismissed them to enjoy their success.
The next team turned up and went over the initial report with enthusiasm.
Sarchan strode through the portal and looked around the Dungeon. His magic torch flickered with a slightly blue flame. “So, where’s the monsters?”
His second, Cardon, just pointed to the opening, with the curtain of water across it. “Sire, should one of the scouts go first to check for traps?”
“Traps, in a beginner dungeon like this? This Dungeon should come and lick my boots for the honour of having me strip it bare.”
Marta said, “I may have a problem.”
Fancy fluttered over to look at the crystal Marta had been watching. “Is there an issue?”
Marta shook her head and said, “Not with you or your Dungeon, Jessica and Fancy. I’ve been thoroughly entertained and amazed by your Dungeon. I too, am looking forward to your other levels. No, my problem is political and centres around that group of delvers there.”
Marisol came over and said, “That man looks a lot like Fangslayer. Is it his welp?”
“Yes. I’m assuming, Jessica, that you haven’t had any deaths in your Dungeon, except for the Raiders?”
Fancy took the answer, “That is correct.”
Marta continued, “I think you may get at least one from this group. Sarchan is as obnoxious an individual as I expected, but a significantly worse leader then I expected.”
Fancy, the hesitancy and worry in her voice evident, said, “Are you asking us to do something?”
“Oh, no! I would never. The unspoken contract with a Dungeon is that anyone silly enough to enter one is silly enough to die. The problems are mine.”
Fancy relaxed. “Thank you for understanding, not everyone will.”
Marta nodded and continued to watch the unfolding drama.
Jessica added, “I have to admit that my teeth would have itched, if I had any, with his comments, ‘what is wrong with this cursed Dungeon’, and my personal favourite, ‘this Dungeon should come and lick my boots for the honour of having me strip it bare.’”
Marta winced.
Everything else now forgotten, everyone in the Core room watched the unfolding drama.
Jessica’s comments didn’t help any with Marta’s stress.
Bess stood in the far corner and whispered, “Put on your princess panties.”
Jessica gave no outward sign, but that comment stopped her short. It was a code used by the senior royals when she was acting ‘in a way that did not reflect well on the Kingdom’. It was only ever used when she was in a situation where she should have known better. She was trying to figure out why Bess would use that now, especially as she was no longer a Princess. But she WAS a Dungeon, so what was she doing that would reflect badly on herself? She mentally went over the last few minutes and winced. The situation must be really bad for Marta, and here she was cracking jokes.
Sigh.
*Fancy, do you think I went too far then? Do you think I made Marta uncomfortable?*
With a mental sigh, Fancy replied, *Yes*.
*Could I get you to go out into the passageway. I have an apology I would like you to deliver to Marta.*
Fancy went out and picked up the pot that was waiting for her. In it was a pandemonia vine.
*Good choice. You constantly amaze me with your maturity, and I constantly have to remind myself you are still a child. I cannot fall into the trap of expecting more from you than you deserve. Well done.*
Fancy went back into the core room and went up to Marta. “Jessica is sorry for her behaviour. Please except this little gift from her.”
Marta looked away from the crystal where she was watching Sarchan and snorted when she saw what the gift was.
“Thank you Jessica, I will accept this in the spirit it was offered. I do believe I have the perfect place for this to live.”
Jackson nudged Mandy and pointed to the plant.
“That is called a ‘pandemonia vine’. When kept in a pot, it lightens any room that it is in, and when it flowers, the scent will gladden every heart. It is mostly used for revenge on enemies.”
Jackson looked even more confused.
Mandy laughed and said, “When it is planted next to a house, it has the strange property of stopping people noticing it until it is quite advanced as a plant. It will basically put apart and demolish any building it is growing on. Everything used in the outside of the building will deteriorate, rot, fall apart and fail. In other words, cause a pandemonium. When given as a gift, there is a special meaning within the tribes. It is firstly, an apology. It is also a statement of, well, not quite trust, but you are putting your house in their hands. If they did not forgive you, well, you have just given them the perfect thing to take revenge on you by planting the vine next to your house.”
Jackson nodded, “Thank you.”
Fancy asked, “Jessica, what are their levels?”
“Sarchan is the lowest there, he’s level 6. Three of his guard are level 8 and one is level 9. Cardon is level 12.”
“Jessica, if you don’t mind me asking, how much experience do you get from them?” Asked Bess.
*Fancy? I don’t mind answering the question, but should I?*
“The answer is not a secret,” answered Fancy, “but it is not something that is commonly known. For that party, Jessica would get something like 7 Dungeon Points an hour for them being in her area.”
“Not as much as I thought. Hey, wait a minute, does that mean that you are getting points for all those people milling around outside your Dungeon Entrance? You little sneak.”
Fancy chimed in, “Not as much as you expect. For groups who are within a Dungeon’s precinct, but are not in the actual Dungeon itself, the Core only gets a fraction of the points it would otherwise get.”
Jessica’s crystal turned a little pink and she said, “Remember, I’m just a poor little twelve-year-old girl, far from family and friends, lost in the jungle. Oh, wait, I’m thirteen now! Did you bring me a present, Aunt Bess?”
Marisol looked at Jessica and smiled, giving her a thumb’s up. “You go, girl!”
Bess tried to look stern, but there was something about Jessica. She did have difficulty staying angry with her. “Yes.”
Bess took a wrapped box out of her storage and put it on the ground.
Marisol did the same.
“Thanks, Aunt Bess, thanks, Aunt Marisol!”
The packages disappeared.
Sarchan looked over the destroyed Goblins with glee. One of the goblins had nicked him, but that was easily fixed with one of his potions.
“Is this a dungeon or a children’s party?”
Cardon looked increasingly worried. His charge was more and more out of control and absolutely refusing to listen to him.
Sarchan strode off towards the exit, leaving his team behind.
Cardon signalled everyone to advance and cover their charge.
Jessica would have narrowed her eyes, if she had any. *Hmm, are you sure its bad form to wipe parties for offending me?*
Fancy supressed a laugh and replied, *Yes. I’m sure.*
She continued out loud, “What I can’t understand is how he managed to get to level 6 without having some humility beaten into him.”
With a sigh, Jessica said, “I can. He’s coming across a bit like some of the spoiled brats I remember from my time in Court. They go out in ‘hunting’ parties, where very high-level fighters trap and/or injure high level monsters in the wilds. Then the brat gets to kill the monster with no danger to themselves. They end up with a mindset that they deserve everything handed to them on a plate and that the world has to conform to their view of it.”
Fancy turned grey. “This is not going to go well.”
Marta said, “Jessica is right, and I agree with you. This will not go well.”
*Well, it will go well for us, anyway.*
Fancy was able to supress her laugh. Again.
Two of the first group of spiders bit Sarchan. He then spotted a copper coin on the ground and bent to pick it up.
One of the team yelled, “No, Sire!” and dived, knocking Sarchan out of the way.
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Sarchan stood up, fuming and back-handed the team member, saying, “Don’t touch me.”
The team member fell back into the spot the coin had been and screamed, which was suddenly cut off as he was speared by the falling Stalactite Monster, straight through his head.
“Sarchan, that death was on you. I will support the wergild claim by his family.”
Sarchan went to attack Cardon but froze when Cardon laughed. “Do you think I am unaware that you order your sparing partners to lose to you? That you order the hunting parties to subdue the beasts, then you kill them? Draw your weapon on me and you will die. I have earned every level I have; you have earned nothing. Try to order the Dungeon’s minions to lose to you, see how that goes for you.” He dispatched the monster and gathered the body of the fallen into a spatial storage. One of his people looted the monster.
The second half of the room was a repeat of the first. Two more spiders got through Sarchan’s defences and bit him.
Cardon said, “That is it. You have reached the limit of what your father was willing to risk. The Chief specifically told me ‘Four injuries or four potions’. It is time to return.”
“No!”
“Well, Sire, it is your choice. Either you come willingly, or I truss you up like a hog and we carry you out.”
“No!”
“Truss you up it is.” Cardon started towards Sarchan, pulling out some short lengths of rope from his storage and tucking them into his belt. When Cardon stepped in front of Sarchan, Sarchan’s face broke into an exalted grin. Cardon immediately dived off to the side, expecting a trap of some kind, but nothing happened.
Sarchan said, “Stupid Dungeon, nothing works the way it’s supposed to.” He leaned down, shifted aside the dirt he’d brushed over the silver coin and picked it up.
“No, Sire!” Cardon tried to get up off the ground, but he was too late. A massive Stalactite Monster had pierced Sarchan, killing him nearly instantly.
Cardon killed the monster and collected Sarchan’s body into his spacial storage. He’d pulled the silver coin from Sarchan’s hand before storing the body and gave that to one of the other team members. The brother of the one that had died.
Leaving Sarchan’s fancy torch, Mark made for the exit to the room.
“Sir, the torch?”
“Leave it as an offering for the Dungeon.”
As they went back through the Mushroom Men room, one of the team asked, “Sir, can we stop for a minute to harvest mushrooms? Some I can see are rare and will be valuable.”
“Sure, those of you who know what you are doing can harvest, the rest of us will guard.”
Twenty minutes later, the two harvesting gave up finding any more of value, then repeated the process in the goblin room, then team exited the Dungeon.
Once everyone in the core room had seen the death, Marta asked to be allowed to leave.
“Sure, Marta,” said Fancy. “Where do you want to teleport to? Basically, we can send you anywhere within about 7 kilometres of the Dungeon entrance.”
“Probably best to just go back to the entrance. I should talk to the Overseer.”
Both Bess and Marisol gave her a hug and thanked her for the time together. She promised to catch up with them tomorrow to plan their next Delve when the next dungeon opened.
“Marta?” Jessica asked. “Could you pass on a couple of messages for me as well?”
“Surely.”
“The Dungeon will be closed tonight, as we have some maintenance to be done, and will reopen at sunrise tomorrow. Part of the changes will be a teleporter between the centre area, near where the new town will be, and the area outside of the Dungeon Entrance. Also, there will be an exit teleporter from each of the three ending points, so people can return to the entrance from the 4th, 8th and 12th rooms. Lastly, on the opposite wall to the rogue’s gallery, there will be a grotto containing a ‘hero wall’, where the name of every Delver who dies within the Dungeon will be listed. We will not judge a person’s worth, anyone who dies will be honoured there.”
Marta nodded her understanding and walked to the portal that had just appeared.
Once that portal had closed, Lotus spoke up, saying, “We will be going as well. Thank you again for your hospitality, and again, compliments on your Dungeon. Could we go to near the town site?”
“Sure,” said Jessica.
Another portal opened and the Evaluation Team filed through.
“Do you need us to go as well, or can we hang around a bit longer?”
“Please, Aunt Bess, you don’t have to ask. Either of you. I love you both, and really do value you in my life.”
Marisol said, “So, how have you really been going?”
Jessica sighed, then said, “I’m glad I’ve been so busy. Being without Sara and Monty for the first time in my life has been…difficult. I am really looking forward to next few weeks as I hopefully get to talk to them again.”
“It’s not certain?” Asked Marisol.
Fancy handled the answer. “No, Jessica’s growth has been very exceptional, and it may take a little while for the three of them to join up. It will depend on the how the other two go.”
Jessica added, “I lucked into being under a very rich Jungle. I picked up a ridiculous amount to Dungeon Points from the Jungle I absorbed. Plus, those Dungeon Raiders helped as well.”
“I expect to know more once they open,” said Fancy.
“As for the deaths, I’m not really sure they have hit me yet. But it seems that part of the changes that I experienced seem to cushion me from the day-to-day dungeon stuff.”
“That lines up with what we know about the process,” said Fancy.
Fancy had relaxed enough in front of Bess and Marisol to ask the question that had been burning through her patience, “So, Jessica, what’s the total so far?”
“Well, the evaluation team was about a 120 DP, the girls about half that, the third team about 3 DP, Sarchan’s group was about 10 DP, then from the two deaths there, an extra 280 points. The crowd outside has given us an extra 1/2 DP per hour. So, after about 5 hours, we’re up about 440 DPs. That will have us about a thousand points short of level 8.”
Bess looked confused, so asked, “Why doesn’t that add up?”
“Because I get a small DP income from a stack of other things, including the Goblin tribe, the Ablution blocks, stuff people drop, I have filters on the underground streams that runs through my influence and so on.”
There was laughter all around.
“Well, since we’re doing ‘burning questions’, the question that I’m dying to know the answer to, is how did Mum really handle the three of us disappearing?”
Bess looked at Marisol and the pair of them snickered.
“Let’s just say that the ‘quiet room’, got a real workout. Both your mother and father yelled their frustration out in there, they both needed a healing potion afterwards, just to be able to speak. Fortunately, the Court Mage was able to complete an augury, so they knew you were alive, would stay that way, but had been magically changed.”
Marisol took over, saying, “I’ll take it from here, since Bess was traveling by this point, while I wouldn’t leave until the next day. A group of bandits had been waylaying merchants on the road south of the capital. You father, in his infinite wisdom, asked your mother if she felt like taking out her frustration on them. They will deserve what they get - they have been doing some pretty unspeakable things to any prisoners - but let’s just say there will be a large decrease in bandit activity across the Kingdom when your Mother finishes with them. I have rarely seen her those pissed.
“She will be a lot calmer by the time she returns to the capital.”
Jessica said, “Just so you know, Fancy, I’ve been told, a lot, that I take after my mother.”
Bess chimed in, saying, “To which her mother usually replies, ‘hopefully she doesn’t take after me with an axe’.”
Marisol smiled at that, then continued. “After I left, she was then planning on taking a little trip up north. Apparently, the Baronies of Frenrich and Mercantor, Fancy, you may not know, these are two of the most northern baronies in the Kingdom. They want to shorten the travel to get between their two capitals, Fentown and Central Po. Currently, the only pass open in winter is quite a ways south. So, they partitioned the crown to have a new pass opened up.
“Your mother volunteered to go and do a ‘little redecorating’ of the mountains directly between the capitols. It’s going to need your mother’s fine hand, as they don’t want to change the weather patterns across the whole north, or anything, but I do expect it to get noisy.”
“Thanks for the explanation. I have to admit to feeling a little peeved at Mom’s lack of response when she was talking to me, but knowing she had to put on her Queen Panties explains it.”
A puzzled Fancy said, “She has special underwear.?”
Everyone laughed, except Fancy.
“No, it’s a sort of code that the Royal Family uses. When, for the sake of the Kingdom, one of us has to act different to what we want to, we use the code of ‘putting on the appropriate panties’ to either remind one of us of our responsibilities, or to let the others know why we are acting the way we are. So, earlier, Bess whispered to me to put my Princess Panties on. It made me evaluate what I was doing, and I found that I was acting a bit cruel in what I was saying.”
“Yes, we got taught it a little differently at the Dungeon Assistant College, but it was still drummed into us that when we are acting in our official capacity, lives will depend on what we say.”
Everyone nodded.
“Anyway, this still leaves one really important question unanswered.”
Everyone looked at Fancy.
“Come on, what did you get for your birthday, Jessica? The suspense is killing me!”
Everyone laughed, and Jessica materialised the two gifts. Starting with Marisol’s, Jessica de-materialised the wrapping and bow, revealing a finely crafted mahogany box, with brass hinges.
“You want to do the honours and open the box for me, Fancy?”
As Fancy approached the box, Jessica continued, “I’m also positive that it won’t be trapped.”
Fancy froze for a second and gave Jessica a displeased look. “Not funny.”
“I disagree, the expression on your face was hilarious.”
Fancy harumphed.
In it was a set of finely crafted journals.
“Lay one on the floor for me, Fancy.”
Fancy pulled the first one out of the box and put it on the floor for Jessica to quickly read. She pulled out the second volume and opened it up to see what it was about. “Morquies Journal, volume 2? This is amazing! She was an adventurer in about the year 1400. These are her Dungeon collection?”
“Yes, she journaled her experiences as she visited all of the major dungeons of her time.”
Jessica said, “This is spectacular! It even has floor layouts and trap diagrams! Thank you, Marisol. Could I get a hug?”
Marisol hugged Jessica’s crystal.
“Did you want me to lay the rest out Jessica?”
“No, I want to think through each volume before starting the next. Otherwise, they’ll start to all blend into each other. Please put volume 1 back in its box, I’ll have you get out volume 2 once I’ve finished ruminating on volume 1. Feel free to read them yourself.”
Bess piped up, “Oh, ruminating, someone’s using fancy words.”
Marisol said, “That was a cow of a comment.”
Jessica replied, “You should just hoof it after saying that.”
Bess continued with, “What’s your beef?”
Marisol countered with, “I’d object, but there is too much at steak.”
Jessica said, “Bull!”
Bess said, “I think I steered you wrong with that.”
Marisol countered with, “The hide of you!”
After a pause, Jessica said, “OK, I’ve run out of puns.”
Fancy just said, “Thank the heavens” and they all laughed.
Once the journals had been put away, there was a pause, then Fancy harumphed again and said, “Come on, the other present!”
Jessica laughed and another wrapped present appeared on the floor of the Core Room.
Again, she removed the wrapper, revealing an ebony box, again with brass hinges. This one was longer than the last present, but not as deep or wide.
Fancy looked at Jessica’s crystal and Jessica said, “Go on, open it.” After a pause, she continued, “If something’s going to happen, its better off happening to you, anyway.”
Again, Fancy froze, then gave Jessica another displeased look and opened the box.
It was. However, filled with small glass vials and waxed paper packets.
“I’m assuming that putting a book on the ground is how Jessica reads?”
“Yes.”
“Then there should be an instruction book…there it is, under the lid. Please put that down for Jessica to read.”
Fancy looked at the underside of the lid and figured out how the book was attached. Unhooking the two straps, she removed the book, placing it on the ground.
There was a half-minute of silence, then Jessica started to giggle. Fancy thought that it was an amazingly child-like sound.
Over the next couple of minutes, however, that innocent giggle turned into a much deeper laugh, edged with, maybe not cruelty, but certainly more worrisome undertones.
“Thank you, Bess. This is a marvellous gift! Fancy, can you put everything back the way it was and put it on the ground? I’ll need to absorb the whole thing and make a pattern out of it, then I will need you to put each vial or packet out separately, but we’ll do that later.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a very extensive alchemist’s toolkit of practical jokes.”
Fancy looked really worried.
“Fancy, I’ve come to like you over the last few days, even care for you. I expect that to grow to love over the next few years, but I also realise that I am totally dependent on your help. I’m not going to do anything at this stage of our relationship to put that in jeopardy, unless you do something first, of course.”
Fancy relaxed, until she had time to really think through exactly what Jessica had said. She realised that Jessica had just said that until Jessica decided the relationship was stable enough, she would not do anything, but as soon as she decided it was stable enough, anything could happen.
Fancy said to Bess, “I think I hate you. I’ll know for sure in a few months.”
The four of them chatted and exchanged stories for a few hours, before the girls left. By then the final groups were part way through their delves and no further groups were allowed into the vestibule area. As each instance became empty, Jesica reabsorbed it. Once the final Team finished, Jessica closed up the Dungeon and made the required changes to the floor plan. She added in the three portals and added text and pictographs next to them to explain the procedure to use the portals.
She was about to respawn the instances when Fancy stopped her.
“I know I have already explained this, but I need to do so again as the portals will make it a lot harder for you than before. Just like when you first initiated the instances, you must make sure you mentally picture the whole floor before initialising it, but with the portals, you will find it a lot harder to do. Take your time, let each instance completely finish spawning before starting on the next one. This was relatively easy the first time, but the more ‘fancy’ bits you add into a floor, the harder it is to properly imagine it. If anything is blurry, especially near a portal, you run the risk of creating a leak in your soul. If you remember from my explanation last time, it is these leaks that will cause a Dungeon to eventually become unstable mentally. But one of the spells that I have access to will detect if there are any issues with your instances.”
Jessica pulled out from her memory the checklist that Fancy had given her the first time and slowly followed it. She did find it much harder this time, with what felt like ‘knots’ in her mental image where the portals were. She took her time and worked through the process, watching each instance fully form.
“Done,” she finally announced.
“Well done, everything looks stable.”
The rest of the maintenance work was straight forward, and was quickly completed, except for the new battlements near to where the new town would be. She knew it would look a little strange, but she limited herself to just the gates and towers on either side of the entrance. She would create the redoubts, curtain walls and the rest of the ablution blocks over the coming week, as she had spare mana.