Tales of the Best Dungeon Ever
- Thread starter Vanigo
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
-
- Tags
- original best dungeon? halping
Soldraconis
(Verified Sun Dragon(s) on Fire)
- Location
- Suns 1 through 84. Sometimes Sun 85 or higher
Note to self: Check all rooms for traps before, during and after looting them. And carry a mobile Barrier sized for standard dungeon doors... And find magic grenades.
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Damn, to the goblins they will always be known as the ones that got away. Every time they return a goblin will try to correct that mistake.
Not really. The goblins aren't sentient, and they aren't even seriously trying to fake it. They'll have forgotten about the whole thing by sunset.
The dungeon is totally going to remember, but it's getting used to adventurers being confusing.
Everyone loves surprises!
Rumors continued to spread, as rumors always do. Any new dungeon meant new dangers and new opportunities, and rumor had it that this one had more than its share of both. They said that it had gold heaped to the ceiling. They said that it had skulls heaped to the ceiling. A growing number of people - not all of them adventurers - were coming to learn the truth for themselves.
And so, the little town-to-be continued to grow over the weeks to come. Merchants came with food and supplies, and left far richer. The tavern was completed, and immediately began doing brisk business. An enterprising journeyman blacksmith set up a little forge, and was soon making money hand over fist on equipment repairs. Carpenters and masons arrived, knowing that their trades would be in high demand, and they were not disappointed. Several more alchemists arrived and plied their trade, producing mainly healing potions but also a growing selection of other recipes.
But most importantly, more adventurers arrived, adding their tents to the growing sprawl. Some were scared off by the unpredictable dangers of the dungeon, but most agreed that the predictably superior loot was worth it. The survey teams - still hard at work - were now followed down every day by less experienced adventurers working in the levels they'd mapped out. A typical dungeon town economy was forming, where loot flowed from the dungeon to the adventurers to the merchants and civilians in town. The Guild wasn't exactly happy to see them so soon, but so far at least everyone had had the sense to stay on the upper levels.
Not that there weren't still surprises, of course...
The third floor consisted mainly of dirt and roots, with large hollows for rooms and wide tunnels for corridors. This room was a bit different: it butted up against a stony outcropping that was thrusting up towards the sky.
In the center of the room, Bren gave a mole monster's body another good whack with her warhammer to be sure. This one caved its skull in with a loud crack. Then, with all the obvious monsters dealt with, she and her party took a wordless moment to listen for any sounds of digging.
The monsters on this level loved bursting out of walls, floors, and sometimes even ceilings to surprise unwary adventurers. Keeping an ear out was crucial, but it wasn't foolproof - some of the burrowers could creep through the soil incredibly quietly, so sometimes you wouldn't hear anything until they burst through the last few inches in a sudden rush.
But Bren and her team had come prepared. One of the new alchemists in town had known a recipe for an obscure hearing-enhancing potion, and was making a fortune selling them to anyone who wanted to spend time on the third floor. The whole party was using them, giving them hearing sharp enough to hear each others' heartbeats from three paces away - and more importantly, sharp enough that they hadn't been surprised once.
After a moment, Shaff gave a quick nod. "I think we're clear." The orc shaman's beaded braids clicked faintly against each other as he spoke, but everyone expected that by now.
Murin walked up to the stone wall and ran his hand over it, inspecting the veins of minerals running through the mining point. "Looks like we made it, then." The dwarf unslung his pickaxe and started eyeing likely targets.
No one knew exactly what this mining point would yield. Its location had been mapped, but nobody had actually taken a pick to it yet. In most dungeons, a third floor mining point would produce high-quality iron ore, alchemical reagents, native copper, some medium-value gems, or, if you were lucky, a small amount of mithril.
Of course, everyone expected this dungeon to be different, and Murin and Rissea (the party's other miner) were eager to find out exactly how. The two of them hefted their picks and started attacking the wall, strike after strike ringing out as they worked.
All that noise, unfortunately, was why no one heard the tunnel worms until they burst through the floor and attacked the miners from behind.
Luckily, an adventuring miner is still an adventurer. The first worm lunged at Murin's back, but his studded leather blocked its mandibles even as the worm's acid saliva hissed against it. He turned in shock and swung his pick at its flank, forcing it to dodge backwards. The second had better luck, grabbing Rissea's leg and pulling her to the floor, but Bren was only a few steps away, and she charged to assist her teammate.
She brought her hammer down on the worm, then hooked it with the spike end and flung it away from Rissea. Shaff raised his left hand and began to chant a life-draining invocation. Smoky black wisps of magical power began flocking around the worms, sucking hungrily at their life and vigor. Murin, meanwhile, flung his pick at his opponent as he leaped back and drew his broadsword. The worm lunged at him again and got decapitated for its trouble, while Bren hurled herself after the other worm and smashed it to a pulp in two places.
Everyone paused to catch their breath, and Rissea tended to her injury.
Finally Shaff spoke up. "Okay. Now I think we're clear."
Off in a corner of the second floor was a vastly oversized room, where an enormous stone slab sloped up out of the grassy floor. Near the top, a sort of leonine centaur, bleeding from countless wounds, roared and lunged at Sten, but he ducked under its swing and thrust his sword at its foreleg. The monster danced away from the strike, only to find itself in the path of Brannock's axe. It dodged back safely, but gave up another couple of steps in the exchange, forcing it ever higher up its perch. A thrown dagger chased after it, but missed the creature's vulnerable face, barely piercing its scalp.
The second floor boss, unlike that jackass goblin chieftain upstairs, was refreshingly simple. It had no particular tricks; aside from spawning with a few hyenas it relied on strength, speed, and its vicious claws. That might have been enough for it to deal with Sten and Greppa, but they'd teamed up with Brannock and Isphel to make a run at it, and it was working. The two warriors had double-teamed the boss from the start while Greppa dealt with the hyenas, and Isphel's healing magic kept everyone in fighting shape.
They'd needed it, too. Sten and Brannock could generally evade the boss's attacks, but when it hit, it hit hard.
Finally, the monster made one mistake too many. Weary from bloodloss, it lunged at Brannock but presented its flank to Sten in the process. He leapt up onto its lower back, driving his sword into the shoulder of its foreleg as a handhold, then drew a dagger in the other hand and started stabbing it in the spine. It roared and tried to buck him off, but Brannock seized the opportunity and slammed his axe deep into its chest while it was distracted. Finally, it slumped to the ground dead.
A few paces away, at the rock's highest point, was a treasure chest surrounded by a wispy blue barrier. When the boss died, the barrier flashed once and winked out.
"Well damn. I wanted to throw it off of this rock," Brannock said with a jovial grin. The human warrior was olive-skinned and brown-haired, and was wearing good steel scale mail over leather.
Greppa shot him an unamused look. "A win's a win. You won't hear me complain."
Isphel, on the other hand, was chuckling. The elven priestess wore no armor but her enchanted robes, but carried a large shield in her off-hand. Her eyes and skin were both brown, and her head was shaved completely bald. "Yeah, but I'll admit, it would have been pretty cool."
"Anyway," Sten cut in, "the boss chest is right here. Greppa?"
Greppa nodded and started carefully searching the iron-bound chest for traps.
Isphel raised an eyebrow. "On a boss chest? Really?"
Greppa nodded. "You can't be too careful with this place."
After a few minutes of searching, she decided that the chest was safe, and soon the group was looking over the spoils, and then heading back to the surface.
Aw! I thought someone might finally get the special bonus for throwing the beast king off the rock!
Oh, well. I'm sure someone will find it eventually. After all, there are more adventurers running around in me than ever! There's a bunch of new guys spending time on the first and second floors, and sometimes the third. They don't seem to want to go deeper than that, though. It makes sense for the weaker ones, but some of them are definitely ready for the fourth or even fifth floor. I guess maybe they're waiting for something? I don't know what, though.
But the older parties are still pushing deeper! There's one group all the way down on the seventh floor, and another one making their way through the Serpent Temple. There's also a group of old-timers spending tons of time in the swamp. I think they really like the loot there?
They're at the fishing point with the chest right now. Oh, and they got a fishing rod! Neat!
The swamp was nearly as unpleasant as it sounded. The dungeon opened up into a mangrove forest, with dry clearings taking the place of rooms. It was possible to cut through the deep water and thick vegetation that separated them, but it wasn't really worth the effort. The monsters in the branch were mostly frogs, insects, and the occasional lizardman, and although the terrain definitely favored them, it wasn't anything Borrin's team couldn't deal with. Which was good, because they really needed a fourth mermaid amulet so they could finally start mapping the flooded part of the dungeon.
The clearing they were currently in was nicer than most, though. It was larger and drier than most, with a lizardman hut and an oddly pleasant little lagoon with clear blue water that stood in stark contrast to the murky greenish swampwater around it. Narik had just looted the chest inside the hut, and the party was more than a bit confused by what he'd found.
"I know this dungeon likes weird loot, but a fishing rod?" Cener asked.
Narik was looking up and down the rod. The ranger was a skilled fisherman, and for what it was worth he liked what he saw. "Looks like a nice one, at least?" He gave it an experimental cast into the pond.
"Still, not much of a prize for the fourth floor," Hevis said. "Unless it's some kind of weird magic item, but I have no idea what a magic fishing rod would do."
"Catch lots of fish?" Borrin suggested.
An awkward silence descended as the party mulled it over. Then Narik was startled out of contemplation by a tug on the line. A minute or so later he hauled up some sort of exotic fish that no one recognized.
Cener stared at it. "A fish. You caught a fish in the dungeon. Why are there fish in the dungeon?"
"Is this some kind of... fishing point? Like, a mining point but for fish?" Borrin suggested.
"Well, let's try this." Narik cast the line into the murky swamp water. A few minutes passed in silence, and he pulled it back in empty. Then he cast it into the pond again, and soon pulled in a different strange fish.
"Huh. So what the hell do we do with these?"
And so, the little town-to-be continued to grow over the weeks to come. Merchants came with food and supplies, and left far richer. The tavern was completed, and immediately began doing brisk business. An enterprising journeyman blacksmith set up a little forge, and was soon making money hand over fist on equipment repairs. Carpenters and masons arrived, knowing that their trades would be in high demand, and they were not disappointed. Several more alchemists arrived and plied their trade, producing mainly healing potions but also a growing selection of other recipes.
But most importantly, more adventurers arrived, adding their tents to the growing sprawl. Some were scared off by the unpredictable dangers of the dungeon, but most agreed that the predictably superior loot was worth it. The survey teams - still hard at work - were now followed down every day by less experienced adventurers working in the levels they'd mapped out. A typical dungeon town economy was forming, where loot flowed from the dungeon to the adventurers to the merchants and civilians in town. The Guild wasn't exactly happy to see them so soon, but so far at least everyone had had the sense to stay on the upper levels.
Not that there weren't still surprises, of course...
The third floor consisted mainly of dirt and roots, with large hollows for rooms and wide tunnels for corridors. This room was a bit different: it butted up against a stony outcropping that was thrusting up towards the sky.
In the center of the room, Bren gave a mole monster's body another good whack with her warhammer to be sure. This one caved its skull in with a loud crack. Then, with all the obvious monsters dealt with, she and her party took a wordless moment to listen for any sounds of digging.
The monsters on this level loved bursting out of walls, floors, and sometimes even ceilings to surprise unwary adventurers. Keeping an ear out was crucial, but it wasn't foolproof - some of the burrowers could creep through the soil incredibly quietly, so sometimes you wouldn't hear anything until they burst through the last few inches in a sudden rush.
But Bren and her team had come prepared. One of the new alchemists in town had known a recipe for an obscure hearing-enhancing potion, and was making a fortune selling them to anyone who wanted to spend time on the third floor. The whole party was using them, giving them hearing sharp enough to hear each others' heartbeats from three paces away - and more importantly, sharp enough that they hadn't been surprised once.
After a moment, Shaff gave a quick nod. "I think we're clear." The orc shaman's beaded braids clicked faintly against each other as he spoke, but everyone expected that by now.
Murin walked up to the stone wall and ran his hand over it, inspecting the veins of minerals running through the mining point. "Looks like we made it, then." The dwarf unslung his pickaxe and started eyeing likely targets.
No one knew exactly what this mining point would yield. Its location had been mapped, but nobody had actually taken a pick to it yet. In most dungeons, a third floor mining point would produce high-quality iron ore, alchemical reagents, native copper, some medium-value gems, or, if you were lucky, a small amount of mithril.
Of course, everyone expected this dungeon to be different, and Murin and Rissea (the party's other miner) were eager to find out exactly how. The two of them hefted their picks and started attacking the wall, strike after strike ringing out as they worked.
All that noise, unfortunately, was why no one heard the tunnel worms until they burst through the floor and attacked the miners from behind.
Luckily, an adventuring miner is still an adventurer. The first worm lunged at Murin's back, but his studded leather blocked its mandibles even as the worm's acid saliva hissed against it. He turned in shock and swung his pick at its flank, forcing it to dodge backwards. The second had better luck, grabbing Rissea's leg and pulling her to the floor, but Bren was only a few steps away, and she charged to assist her teammate.
She brought her hammer down on the worm, then hooked it with the spike end and flung it away from Rissea. Shaff raised his left hand and began to chant a life-draining invocation. Smoky black wisps of magical power began flocking around the worms, sucking hungrily at their life and vigor. Murin, meanwhile, flung his pick at his opponent as he leaped back and drew his broadsword. The worm lunged at him again and got decapitated for its trouble, while Bren hurled herself after the other worm and smashed it to a pulp in two places.
Everyone paused to catch their breath, and Rissea tended to her injury.
Finally Shaff spoke up. "Okay. Now I think we're clear."
Off in a corner of the second floor was a vastly oversized room, where an enormous stone slab sloped up out of the grassy floor. Near the top, a sort of leonine centaur, bleeding from countless wounds, roared and lunged at Sten, but he ducked under its swing and thrust his sword at its foreleg. The monster danced away from the strike, only to find itself in the path of Brannock's axe. It dodged back safely, but gave up another couple of steps in the exchange, forcing it ever higher up its perch. A thrown dagger chased after it, but missed the creature's vulnerable face, barely piercing its scalp.
The second floor boss, unlike that jackass goblin chieftain upstairs, was refreshingly simple. It had no particular tricks; aside from spawning with a few hyenas it relied on strength, speed, and its vicious claws. That might have been enough for it to deal with Sten and Greppa, but they'd teamed up with Brannock and Isphel to make a run at it, and it was working. The two warriors had double-teamed the boss from the start while Greppa dealt with the hyenas, and Isphel's healing magic kept everyone in fighting shape.
They'd needed it, too. Sten and Brannock could generally evade the boss's attacks, but when it hit, it hit hard.
Finally, the monster made one mistake too many. Weary from bloodloss, it lunged at Brannock but presented its flank to Sten in the process. He leapt up onto its lower back, driving his sword into the shoulder of its foreleg as a handhold, then drew a dagger in the other hand and started stabbing it in the spine. It roared and tried to buck him off, but Brannock seized the opportunity and slammed his axe deep into its chest while it was distracted. Finally, it slumped to the ground dead.
A few paces away, at the rock's highest point, was a treasure chest surrounded by a wispy blue barrier. When the boss died, the barrier flashed once and winked out.
"Well damn. I wanted to throw it off of this rock," Brannock said with a jovial grin. The human warrior was olive-skinned and brown-haired, and was wearing good steel scale mail over leather.
Greppa shot him an unamused look. "A win's a win. You won't hear me complain."
Isphel, on the other hand, was chuckling. The elven priestess wore no armor but her enchanted robes, but carried a large shield in her off-hand. Her eyes and skin were both brown, and her head was shaved completely bald. "Yeah, but I'll admit, it would have been pretty cool."
"Anyway," Sten cut in, "the boss chest is right here. Greppa?"
Greppa nodded and started carefully searching the iron-bound chest for traps.
Isphel raised an eyebrow. "On a boss chest? Really?"
Greppa nodded. "You can't be too careful with this place."
After a few minutes of searching, she decided that the chest was safe, and soon the group was looking over the spoils, and then heading back to the surface.
Aw! I thought someone might finally get the special bonus for throwing the beast king off the rock!
Oh, well. I'm sure someone will find it eventually. After all, there are more adventurers running around in me than ever! There's a bunch of new guys spending time on the first and second floors, and sometimes the third. They don't seem to want to go deeper than that, though. It makes sense for the weaker ones, but some of them are definitely ready for the fourth or even fifth floor. I guess maybe they're waiting for something? I don't know what, though.
But the older parties are still pushing deeper! There's one group all the way down on the seventh floor, and another one making their way through the Serpent Temple. There's also a group of old-timers spending tons of time in the swamp. I think they really like the loot there?
They're at the fishing point with the chest right now. Oh, and they got a fishing rod! Neat!
The swamp was nearly as unpleasant as it sounded. The dungeon opened up into a mangrove forest, with dry clearings taking the place of rooms. It was possible to cut through the deep water and thick vegetation that separated them, but it wasn't really worth the effort. The monsters in the branch were mostly frogs, insects, and the occasional lizardman, and although the terrain definitely favored them, it wasn't anything Borrin's team couldn't deal with. Which was good, because they really needed a fourth mermaid amulet so they could finally start mapping the flooded part of the dungeon.
The clearing they were currently in was nicer than most, though. It was larger and drier than most, with a lizardman hut and an oddly pleasant little lagoon with clear blue water that stood in stark contrast to the murky greenish swampwater around it. Narik had just looted the chest inside the hut, and the party was more than a bit confused by what he'd found.
"I know this dungeon likes weird loot, but a fishing rod?" Cener asked.
Narik was looking up and down the rod. The ranger was a skilled fisherman, and for what it was worth he liked what he saw. "Looks like a nice one, at least?" He gave it an experimental cast into the pond.
"Still, not much of a prize for the fourth floor," Hevis said. "Unless it's some kind of weird magic item, but I have no idea what a magic fishing rod would do."
"Catch lots of fish?" Borrin suggested.
An awkward silence descended as the party mulled it over. Then Narik was startled out of contemplation by a tug on the line. A minute or so later he hauled up some sort of exotic fish that no one recognized.
Cener stared at it. "A fish. You caught a fish in the dungeon. Why are there fish in the dungeon?"
"Is this some kind of... fishing point? Like, a mining point but for fish?" Borrin suggested.
"Well, let's try this." Narik cast the line into the murky swamp water. A few minutes passed in silence, and he pulled it back in empty. Then he cast it into the pond again, and soon pulled in a different strange fish.
"Huh. So what the hell do we do with these?"
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Making friends and influencing people!
So many of my adventurers seem to like my upper floors better. Lots of people are coming to my first two floors, and some of them have started making their way down to the third, but hardly anyone goes past there! I'm starting to worry it'll get too crowded up there.
Luckily, I know a solution! I don't want to make the floors any bigger - they're already the perfect size - but I can add new branches up there. That way, there will be plenty of room for all the weirdos who don't like deep floors. I had to put off my next floor, but this is more important!
My new Kobold Archipelago is just about ready to go. Lots of kobolds, lots of traps, boats and bridges to get between the islands - no sea monsters, though, that would just be too tough for the first floor. All I need to do now is hook it up to the main dungeon.
In an unremarkable room along the west edge of the first floor, Andis and his team had just finished off a few goblins, and Zerah was looting the wooden crate in the corner.
Chran, meanwhile, frowned at one of the doors, scratching his head. Like most elementalists, the dwarf wore little armor - just a sleeveless gambeson and a pair of light steel bracers. He kept both his honey-blond hair and beard close-cropped after a few too many incidents with fire magic. Finally he spoke up, "That's funny, I didn't think there was supposed to be a third door here."
Andis frowned at that as well. Tanned and stocky, the human fighter wore half-plate and a steel helmet that concealed his hair. "We better not be lost. That'd just be embarrassing."
When Zerah came back over to the two of them, they had their map open on the floor, and were sitting around it.
"Yeah, this is definitely the room we're in," Andis concluded. "It's got the crate marked and everything. But there are only two doors on the map."
Zerah shrugged. She was a human bard, with fair skin and long brown hair. Her close-fitted leather armor covered most of her body, and was supplemented with light chain over her torso. Her rapier was sheathed at one hip, and a sturdy steel flute at the other. "I guess the dungeon must have added a room, then? That doesn't happen much on upper floors, but it does happen."
Andis nodded. "Guess that must be it. Let's check it out, as long as we're here."
A brief round of agreement followed, and the party left through the west door. The corridor beyond, however, was not what they'd expected. Instead of a short path to another room, it was a long, straight tunnel that soon began to slope sharply upwards. Finally, the party came to another door. When Andis opened it, the party flinched back in surprise as sunlight streamed in.
Beyond the door was what appeared to be a small tropical island. A short dirt path led between palm trees and underbrush to a wide sandy beach. Warm sunlight shone down from the blue sky - or was it actually the sky? At a second look, the sun itself seemed to be missing, so perhaps it was simply a high blue ceiling. A warm tropical breeze wafted through the door and down the hallway.
Chran summed it up best: "What the hell?"
Andis stepped through the door, looking around in confusion. "Is this part of the dungeon? It looks more like a vacation spot." Behind him, he could see that the tunnel they'd come through had emerged from the side of a small rocky outcropping. He could just barely see the ocean through the forest behind it.
Zerah walked up to the door and peered around, but didn't step through. "Guys, maybe we shouldn't be here. This must be a new side branch, and an unexplored one. I don't know about you two, but survey work is above my pay grade."
Chran just shrugged, though. "It's still just the first floor though, right?"
Andis nodded. "Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?" He started walking down the trail towards the shore. "We shouldn't go far without a map, but I want to see - "
At that point, the ground gave way beneath him, and he fell fifteen feet onto a bed of fire-hardened wooden spikes. Unfortunately, he landed on his back where his armor gave less protection, and several spikes pierced his body. Worse still, a quartet of kobolds had been lying in wait at the bottom of the pit, and they immediately rushed him with spears and axes.
He screamed and drew his dagger, but he was still stuck prone on the spikes. He still managed to parry one axe and gut the kobold, but the other three were undaunted and started hacking at him, looking for weak points in his armor.
A few moments later, Chran reached the mouth of the pit and started launching darts of fire at the kobolds below. They died quickly, and Zerah tossed a rope down and climbed down to Andis.
But by the time she got there, he was already dead, his throat pierced clean through.
Ha ha! I finally, finally managed to kill someone! That was perfect! And now I can finally see if my phylactery trap works!
I turned my attention away from the dungeon proper and towards my phylactery trap, which was hidden away in a buried chamber deep under my core itself, where no one will ever look. All of the phylacteries were empty, but with a little luck...
Come on... Come on... Come on... Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! It worked! I caught his soul before it could pass on! He gets to be a dungeon monster now! I'm gonna go tell him the good news!
I plunged my consciousness into the one occupied phylactery. The inside didn't look very different yet - just my own unformed power in every direction, an endless sea of yellow. But now, right in the middle, my very newest monster's soul floated, shining with a pale violet light. A chain of my yellow power anchored it in its new home, keeping it safe and sound.
Oh, and look! I can see his name now! He's named Andis!
I need to introduce myself! I bet he's never talked to a dungeon before!
"Hi, Andis! I'm the dungeon!"
He didn't say anything.
"It's too bad you got killed, but I've got great news! I caught hold of your soul so you wouldn't die, and now you get to stay here forever with me! You're going to be one of my dungeon monsters now!"
He still didn't say anything.
He must just be speechless with joy!
"Now, I just have a few rules for you. First, don't leave the dungeon. Not that you could leave the dungeon anyway, you'd drop dead as soon as you left. But don't try, 'cause that would just be silly! Second, don't let anyone know you used to be an adventurer. This is supposed to be a surprise! Third, stay on your assigned floor most of the time. It's fine if you want to explore, but I do need you to spend most of your time where you belong. And finally, try to kill any adventurers you meet. I want to give you lots of brothers and sisters!"
I gave him a great big incorporeal hug. "Welcome to your new home! You're going to love it here!"
Then I spawned him in as a minotaur on the sixth floor, and added a new boss-linked chest for anyone who manages to kill him.
I finally have a monster with a soul! I love him so much! We're going to be so happy together!
Andis opened his eyes and gasped in horror, promptly falling off his hooves and crashing to the stone floor. He tried to scream through an unfamiliar mouth, but all that came out was a beastial bellow. Panicking and screaming with every breath, he looked down at his body and hands (massive, hugely muscled, and coated with short brown fur) and pawed at his bovine head.
Eventually, he calmed down enough to try to pull himself to his hooves, but he had no idea how to use them, and promptly fell back to the floor. A couple more attempts fared no better. Giving up on walking for now, he pulled himself over to the wall to sit and take stock.
He was wearing a leather loincloth, and a shoulder strap holding a massive iron axe on his back. Two leather pouches were on the front of the strap. The first held a glass bottle that he somehow knew was a healing potion for monsters! ^_^. The second contained a few sheets of paper and a pen.
As he tried to catch his breath, he heard clanking noises coming down the hall towards him, perhaps attracted by all the noise he'd been making. He belatedly tried to hold his breath as his heart raced in his chest, but was soon forced to take another - and it was already too late, anyway.
The noises came around the corner, and Andis saw the source - a pair of heavily-armed skeleton soldiers. Sixth floor monsters. He wouldn't have stood a chance even if he knew how to walk on his hooves, and in his current state, he was absolutely doomed.
The skeletons stopped, and turned their eye sockets his way.
Then they saluted, and walked past.
Andis sat there for a few moments, trying to process what had just happened. The monsters hadn't attacked him...
Because he was a monster now.
His bellow of pain and despair could be heard across half the labyrinth.
Oh, good! It looks like Andis has finally gotten the hang of walking on hooves. I was starting to worry!
And now he's... ramming his head into the wall? Oh, he must be practicing goring attacks! It makes sense, he's never had horns before, so he doesn't know how to use them, just like his hooves!
Wow, it's a good thing he's practicing. He's really bad at it. If he keeps holding his head crooked like that he's going to break his... neck...
Oh, well. No big deal, I can just respawn him. I'd better go reassure him, though. Dying must be scary!
I dove back into his phylactery.
"Don't worry, I've got you. That was kind of an embarrasing way to die, but it's okay! I've got a real good hold on your soul. No matter how many times you die, you're safe with me!"
He floated there in silence, so I gave him another hug.
"There's nothing to worry about. I can respawn you as many times as you need, so you're never going to have to die. Ever. You're the safest person in the whole dungeon!"
And then, after a moment of thought, I added:
"And, uh, I'll see about making a decent training dummy for you. I guess walls aren't very good for practicing on."
And then I respawned him.
Luckily, I know a solution! I don't want to make the floors any bigger - they're already the perfect size - but I can add new branches up there. That way, there will be plenty of room for all the weirdos who don't like deep floors. I had to put off my next floor, but this is more important!
My new Kobold Archipelago is just about ready to go. Lots of kobolds, lots of traps, boats and bridges to get between the islands - no sea monsters, though, that would just be too tough for the first floor. All I need to do now is hook it up to the main dungeon.
In an unremarkable room along the west edge of the first floor, Andis and his team had just finished off a few goblins, and Zerah was looting the wooden crate in the corner.
Chran, meanwhile, frowned at one of the doors, scratching his head. Like most elementalists, the dwarf wore little armor - just a sleeveless gambeson and a pair of light steel bracers. He kept both his honey-blond hair and beard close-cropped after a few too many incidents with fire magic. Finally he spoke up, "That's funny, I didn't think there was supposed to be a third door here."
Andis frowned at that as well. Tanned and stocky, the human fighter wore half-plate and a steel helmet that concealed his hair. "We better not be lost. That'd just be embarrassing."
When Zerah came back over to the two of them, they had their map open on the floor, and were sitting around it.
"Yeah, this is definitely the room we're in," Andis concluded. "It's got the crate marked and everything. But there are only two doors on the map."
Zerah shrugged. She was a human bard, with fair skin and long brown hair. Her close-fitted leather armor covered most of her body, and was supplemented with light chain over her torso. Her rapier was sheathed at one hip, and a sturdy steel flute at the other. "I guess the dungeon must have added a room, then? That doesn't happen much on upper floors, but it does happen."
Andis nodded. "Guess that must be it. Let's check it out, as long as we're here."
A brief round of agreement followed, and the party left through the west door. The corridor beyond, however, was not what they'd expected. Instead of a short path to another room, it was a long, straight tunnel that soon began to slope sharply upwards. Finally, the party came to another door. When Andis opened it, the party flinched back in surprise as sunlight streamed in.
Beyond the door was what appeared to be a small tropical island. A short dirt path led between palm trees and underbrush to a wide sandy beach. Warm sunlight shone down from the blue sky - or was it actually the sky? At a second look, the sun itself seemed to be missing, so perhaps it was simply a high blue ceiling. A warm tropical breeze wafted through the door and down the hallway.
Chran summed it up best: "What the hell?"
Andis stepped through the door, looking around in confusion. "Is this part of the dungeon? It looks more like a vacation spot." Behind him, he could see that the tunnel they'd come through had emerged from the side of a small rocky outcropping. He could just barely see the ocean through the forest behind it.
Zerah walked up to the door and peered around, but didn't step through. "Guys, maybe we shouldn't be here. This must be a new side branch, and an unexplored one. I don't know about you two, but survey work is above my pay grade."
Chran just shrugged, though. "It's still just the first floor though, right?"
Andis nodded. "Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?" He started walking down the trail towards the shore. "We shouldn't go far without a map, but I want to see - "
At that point, the ground gave way beneath him, and he fell fifteen feet onto a bed of fire-hardened wooden spikes. Unfortunately, he landed on his back where his armor gave less protection, and several spikes pierced his body. Worse still, a quartet of kobolds had been lying in wait at the bottom of the pit, and they immediately rushed him with spears and axes.
He screamed and drew his dagger, but he was still stuck prone on the spikes. He still managed to parry one axe and gut the kobold, but the other three were undaunted and started hacking at him, looking for weak points in his armor.
A few moments later, Chran reached the mouth of the pit and started launching darts of fire at the kobolds below. They died quickly, and Zerah tossed a rope down and climbed down to Andis.
But by the time she got there, he was already dead, his throat pierced clean through.
Ha ha! I finally, finally managed to kill someone! That was perfect! And now I can finally see if my phylactery trap works!
I turned my attention away from the dungeon proper and towards my phylactery trap, which was hidden away in a buried chamber deep under my core itself, where no one will ever look. All of the phylacteries were empty, but with a little luck...
Come on... Come on... Come on... Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! It worked! I caught his soul before it could pass on! He gets to be a dungeon monster now! I'm gonna go tell him the good news!
I plunged my consciousness into the one occupied phylactery. The inside didn't look very different yet - just my own unformed power in every direction, an endless sea of yellow. But now, right in the middle, my very newest monster's soul floated, shining with a pale violet light. A chain of my yellow power anchored it in its new home, keeping it safe and sound.
Oh, and look! I can see his name now! He's named Andis!
I need to introduce myself! I bet he's never talked to a dungeon before!
"Hi, Andis! I'm the dungeon!"
He didn't say anything.
"It's too bad you got killed, but I've got great news! I caught hold of your soul so you wouldn't die, and now you get to stay here forever with me! You're going to be one of my dungeon monsters now!"
He still didn't say anything.
He must just be speechless with joy!
"Now, I just have a few rules for you. First, don't leave the dungeon. Not that you could leave the dungeon anyway, you'd drop dead as soon as you left. But don't try, 'cause that would just be silly! Second, don't let anyone know you used to be an adventurer. This is supposed to be a surprise! Third, stay on your assigned floor most of the time. It's fine if you want to explore, but I do need you to spend most of your time where you belong. And finally, try to kill any adventurers you meet. I want to give you lots of brothers and sisters!"
I gave him a great big incorporeal hug. "Welcome to your new home! You're going to love it here!"
Then I spawned him in as a minotaur on the sixth floor, and added a new boss-linked chest for anyone who manages to kill him.
I finally have a monster with a soul! I love him so much! We're going to be so happy together!
Andis opened his eyes and gasped in horror, promptly falling off his hooves and crashing to the stone floor. He tried to scream through an unfamiliar mouth, but all that came out was a beastial bellow. Panicking and screaming with every breath, he looked down at his body and hands (massive, hugely muscled, and coated with short brown fur) and pawed at his bovine head.
Eventually, he calmed down enough to try to pull himself to his hooves, but he had no idea how to use them, and promptly fell back to the floor. A couple more attempts fared no better. Giving up on walking for now, he pulled himself over to the wall to sit and take stock.
He was wearing a leather loincloth, and a shoulder strap holding a massive iron axe on his back. Two leather pouches were on the front of the strap. The first held a glass bottle that he somehow knew was a healing potion for monsters! ^_^. The second contained a few sheets of paper and a pen.
As he tried to catch his breath, he heard clanking noises coming down the hall towards him, perhaps attracted by all the noise he'd been making. He belatedly tried to hold his breath as his heart raced in his chest, but was soon forced to take another - and it was already too late, anyway.
The noises came around the corner, and Andis saw the source - a pair of heavily-armed skeleton soldiers. Sixth floor monsters. He wouldn't have stood a chance even if he knew how to walk on his hooves, and in his current state, he was absolutely doomed.
The skeletons stopped, and turned their eye sockets his way.
Then they saluted, and walked past.
Andis sat there for a few moments, trying to process what had just happened. The monsters hadn't attacked him...
Because he was a monster now.
His bellow of pain and despair could be heard across half the labyrinth.
Oh, good! It looks like Andis has finally gotten the hang of walking on hooves. I was starting to worry!
And now he's... ramming his head into the wall? Oh, he must be practicing goring attacks! It makes sense, he's never had horns before, so he doesn't know how to use them, just like his hooves!
Wow, it's a good thing he's practicing. He's really bad at it. If he keeps holding his head crooked like that he's going to break his... neck...
Oh, well. No big deal, I can just respawn him. I'd better go reassure him, though. Dying must be scary!
I dove back into his phylactery.
"Don't worry, I've got you. That was kind of an embarrasing way to die, but it's okay! I've got a real good hold on your soul. No matter how many times you die, you're safe with me!"
He floated there in silence, so I gave him another hug.
"There's nothing to worry about. I can respawn you as many times as you need, so you're never going to have to die. Ever. You're the safest person in the whole dungeon!"
And then, after a moment of thought, I added:
"And, uh, I'll see about making a decent training dummy for you. I guess walls aren't very good for practicing on."
And then I respawned him.
Last edited:
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Yes! This was exactly what I've been waiting for. Adorifying. 
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
This dungeon is DEFINITELY not comprehending adventurers' motivations.
Don't worry, this was always the plan. That's why the dungeon is talking about its phylactery trap back in the first chapter.
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
*checks chapter 1*
Huh. So it was there. Nice Chekhov's Gun.
Huh. So it was there. Nice Chekhov's Gun.
- Location
- Alaska
Oh god, oh god, this got dark and funnier and kind of terrifying really quickly. I love it.
Also: rules are for squares, tell the first person you see that you used to be an adventurer--what's the dungeon gonna do, unkill you? ...Devour your soul and condemn you to an eternity of non-existence/purgatory?
Also: rules are for squares, tell the first person you see that you used to be an adventurer--what's the dungeon gonna do, unkill you? ...Devour your soul and condemn you to an eternity of non-existence/purgatory?
They grow up so fast!
Back on the surface, life went on. The first death in the dungeon was quietly commemorated, but it was hardly an unexpected tragedy. Risk of death was a fact of life for adventurers, especially the ones who braved deviants. Everyone knew that the occasional death was inevitable. In fact, many of the adventurers in the growing town were pleasantly surprised that it had taken as long as it had, though none admitted it out loud. And so, they mourned Andis, and reflected, and carved his name into a memorial stone (already prepared for the eventuality) by the dungeon entrance, and then went on with their lives.
For the town as a whole, this barely counted as a minor setback. The population continued to swell week by week, and the demand for housing was such that the carpenters were making nearly as much money as the adventurers. Kreen, who was the closest thing the town had to a mayor, had no time to spare for city planning (and little interest, truth be told), and an untidy snarl of buildings was threatening to develop.
Here was the guildhouse, little more than a cabin, right by the dungeon entrance. It was already proving inadequate, which surprised no one, and the foundations of a more permanent structure were taking shape on the other side of the dirt road.
There was the informal market square, with the tavern on one side, a small and overworked smithy on the other, and an assortment of tarps and tents in between where merchants hawked whatever wares they'd brought. Merchants were constantly coming and going, so the marketplace shifted from day to day like leaves swirling in a pond. Adventurers strolled from stall to stall, browsing the vital supplies and little luxuries on offer - this one selling rope and bandages, that one selling soap and candles.
Here was the rapidly-named Alchemist's Alley, running parallel to the stream. Hastily-built alchemical workshops lined up along the stream for ready access to its magical water. Most of their production went to the town's adventurers, but with so many alchemists working flat-out to consume as much of the tainted water as they could, there was a significant surplus being exported.
There was the reservoir, which was threatening to reach its capacity. Few of the town's adventurers paid it much mind, but it weighed heavily on the minds of certain others. Carris, fortunately, was overseeing the completion of a larger reservoir further downhill, buying time for a more permanent solution. A few miles downstream, Barien had found a good location for a grove, and she and a team of her circlemates were working furiously to establish one there. Unfortunately, eight years was already starting to look like an optimistic estimate.
All in all, the little town had grown to the point where it definitely deserved the name, and there was no doubt it had a lot more growing to do. It was still officially nameless, but an unofficial name had finally emerged by general consensus: Springmouth.
Andis's hooves clicked on the stone as he walked through the labyrinth. He was barely paying attention to his surroundings - one corridor of neatly-dressed stone looked much like any other, and the monsters continued to treat him like he belonged there. Coming to an intersection, he turned left and found another one of the small rooms that dotted the floor.
He paid no attention to the three armored skeletons standing at attention. The wooden chest sitting in the corner merited a brief glance, but he looked away after a moment. He already knew what he'd find if he opened it: nothing at all. Apparently only adventurers could get loot from loot chests.
Picking the north exit for no particular reason, he continued wandering.
He'd started exploring the floor mostly out of sheer boredom. He had briefly considered making a map, but it turned out he didn't need to. Being a minotaur apparently granted him an infallible sense of direction; he memorized every twist and turn he took with no effort at all.
Knowing his way around was turning out to be worthwhile, though. Twice so far he'd heard adventurers approaching, and had beaten a hasty retreat before they came into view, escaping thanks in part to his preternatural familiarity with the tunnels. Fighting adventurers was the last thing he wanted to do, but if he caught sight of them, he wouldn't have a choice.
He couldn't disobey the dungeon's orders. He'd tried. All he could to was try to work around them.
He turned right at the next intersection he came to, and then left. At the next branch, the corridor to the left was trapped - he couldn't see the trap, but when he looked in that direction, he suddenly knew that there was a Pit trap here! Be careful!
He went straight instead.
Eventually, he came to an archway where the architecture shifted. The stonework changed from neat blocks of granite to smaller sandstone bricks. The masonry wasn't as even, either; the sandstone appeared to have shifted slightly here and there, as if under the weight of ages, and ivy grew over the walls here and there. The light was also different, with amber light spilling from lanterns hung from the walls, as opposed to the dim, even light that the roof of the labyrinth somehow radiated.
None of which he needed to tell him that this was the Entrance to the Serpent Temple.
He considered going through. He was allowed to explore other floors and branches if he wanted, he just couldn't stay there for too long, and it would at least be different from the labyrinth. But on the other hand, knowing his way around in there wouldn't help him evade adventurers, so it was probably a better idea to finish exploring his home floor first.
With faint regret, he decided to save the Serpent Temple for later, and continued wandering around the labyrinth.
After a couple more hours, the sound of boots on stone caught his attention. Clanking armor could just be skeletons, but none of them wore boots. Unfortunately, he was in an unfamiliar part of the labyrinth, and the adventurers were coming from behind him. All he could do was pick a direction and run, hoping for the best.
Sadly, the adventurers must have heard him, too, since they pursued. Worse, he picked the wrong direction and wound up trapped at a dead end before he could find any skeletons to draw their attention away from him. There was no way out now, he was finally going to have to fight.
His hands involuntarily went to his axe as the adventurers came into view. Probably one of the survey teams; Andis vaguely recognized the human barbarian in the lead. Andis raised his axe and charged, silently praying that they killed him before he could kill them.
As he charged, the mage at the back raised her hand, and three bolts of shimmering magic struck at his chest, leaving shallow gashes. He was, unfortunately, much stronger and tougher than he'd been as a human, and barely broke stride as he charged.
The barbarian met his charge with a yell, and deflected his overhand swing with his greatsword. Andis let himself stumble past, right into the party's other front liner, who was heavily armored and carrying a warhammer and shield. She braced herself and stopped Andis's charge with her shield, leaving him flanked between the two of them.
Exactly where he wouldn't want to be, if he were trying to win.
He focused his attention on the dwarf in front of him, even as he heard the barbarian coming for his back. Meanwhile, the fourth adventurer, who looked like a rogue or bard of some sort, put a crossbow bolt in his face, while the mage cast another spell, and kaleidoscopic light speared at his eyes, blinding him.
Thankfully, Andis was doomed. He let out a purely mental sigh of relief as point of the barbarian's sword pushed its way out of his chest.
Shortly thereafter, he found himself floating in that yellow void again. And shortly after that...
"Hey! Congratulations on your first fight as a dungeon monster!"
The damn dungeon showed up again.
"Now, I know you must be disappointed that you lost, but don't worry! That's normal! Adventurers win fights almost all the time, and that's exactly how it's supposed to work. I'm just proud of you for trying! And remember, you only need to get lucky once!"
It was somehow visible, even though, being exactly the same color as the void around it, it really shouldn't have been. It wasn't much to look at, though. Not much more than a sparkling yellow star, really.
It moved closer, and sort of... engulfed the space Andis was floating in. Again.
It sort of tickled.
"Now, because you got killed by adventurers, I can't respawn you right away. You're going to have to wait here for a while, but don't worry! I won't forget you."
It pulled away.
"Oh, and before I forget! I'm making you your own room in the middle of the labyrinth! It's got a fireplace and a straw bed and a training dummy and your boss chest! Just something too look forward to, once you get back. Is there anything else you want me to put in there?"
Andis, of course, said nothing.
"... um, is that a no?"
A few more moments passed.
"Oh! Do you not know how to soul-talk? I thought you were just shy! Well, uh, don't worry! I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually. And even if you don't, it's okay, I love you anyway."
It engulfed him again (was that supposed to be some kind of hug?) and then finally left.
The damn thing even made him feel bad for hating it.
For the town as a whole, this barely counted as a minor setback. The population continued to swell week by week, and the demand for housing was such that the carpenters were making nearly as much money as the adventurers. Kreen, who was the closest thing the town had to a mayor, had no time to spare for city planning (and little interest, truth be told), and an untidy snarl of buildings was threatening to develop.
Here was the guildhouse, little more than a cabin, right by the dungeon entrance. It was already proving inadequate, which surprised no one, and the foundations of a more permanent structure were taking shape on the other side of the dirt road.
There was the informal market square, with the tavern on one side, a small and overworked smithy on the other, and an assortment of tarps and tents in between where merchants hawked whatever wares they'd brought. Merchants were constantly coming and going, so the marketplace shifted from day to day like leaves swirling in a pond. Adventurers strolled from stall to stall, browsing the vital supplies and little luxuries on offer - this one selling rope and bandages, that one selling soap and candles.
Here was the rapidly-named Alchemist's Alley, running parallel to the stream. Hastily-built alchemical workshops lined up along the stream for ready access to its magical water. Most of their production went to the town's adventurers, but with so many alchemists working flat-out to consume as much of the tainted water as they could, there was a significant surplus being exported.
There was the reservoir, which was threatening to reach its capacity. Few of the town's adventurers paid it much mind, but it weighed heavily on the minds of certain others. Carris, fortunately, was overseeing the completion of a larger reservoir further downhill, buying time for a more permanent solution. A few miles downstream, Barien had found a good location for a grove, and she and a team of her circlemates were working furiously to establish one there. Unfortunately, eight years was already starting to look like an optimistic estimate.
All in all, the little town had grown to the point where it definitely deserved the name, and there was no doubt it had a lot more growing to do. It was still officially nameless, but an unofficial name had finally emerged by general consensus: Springmouth.
Andis's hooves clicked on the stone as he walked through the labyrinth. He was barely paying attention to his surroundings - one corridor of neatly-dressed stone looked much like any other, and the monsters continued to treat him like he belonged there. Coming to an intersection, he turned left and found another one of the small rooms that dotted the floor.
He paid no attention to the three armored skeletons standing at attention. The wooden chest sitting in the corner merited a brief glance, but he looked away after a moment. He already knew what he'd find if he opened it: nothing at all. Apparently only adventurers could get loot from loot chests.
Picking the north exit for no particular reason, he continued wandering.
He'd started exploring the floor mostly out of sheer boredom. He had briefly considered making a map, but it turned out he didn't need to. Being a minotaur apparently granted him an infallible sense of direction; he memorized every twist and turn he took with no effort at all.
Knowing his way around was turning out to be worthwhile, though. Twice so far he'd heard adventurers approaching, and had beaten a hasty retreat before they came into view, escaping thanks in part to his preternatural familiarity with the tunnels. Fighting adventurers was the last thing he wanted to do, but if he caught sight of them, he wouldn't have a choice.
He couldn't disobey the dungeon's orders. He'd tried. All he could to was try to work around them.
He turned right at the next intersection he came to, and then left. At the next branch, the corridor to the left was trapped - he couldn't see the trap, but when he looked in that direction, he suddenly knew that there was a Pit trap here! Be careful!
He went straight instead.
Eventually, he came to an archway where the architecture shifted. The stonework changed from neat blocks of granite to smaller sandstone bricks. The masonry wasn't as even, either; the sandstone appeared to have shifted slightly here and there, as if under the weight of ages, and ivy grew over the walls here and there. The light was also different, with amber light spilling from lanterns hung from the walls, as opposed to the dim, even light that the roof of the labyrinth somehow radiated.
None of which he needed to tell him that this was the Entrance to the Serpent Temple.
He considered going through. He was allowed to explore other floors and branches if he wanted, he just couldn't stay there for too long, and it would at least be different from the labyrinth. But on the other hand, knowing his way around in there wouldn't help him evade adventurers, so it was probably a better idea to finish exploring his home floor first.
With faint regret, he decided to save the Serpent Temple for later, and continued wandering around the labyrinth.
After a couple more hours, the sound of boots on stone caught his attention. Clanking armor could just be skeletons, but none of them wore boots. Unfortunately, he was in an unfamiliar part of the labyrinth, and the adventurers were coming from behind him. All he could do was pick a direction and run, hoping for the best.
Sadly, the adventurers must have heard him, too, since they pursued. Worse, he picked the wrong direction and wound up trapped at a dead end before he could find any skeletons to draw their attention away from him. There was no way out now, he was finally going to have to fight.
His hands involuntarily went to his axe as the adventurers came into view. Probably one of the survey teams; Andis vaguely recognized the human barbarian in the lead. Andis raised his axe and charged, silently praying that they killed him before he could kill them.
As he charged, the mage at the back raised her hand, and three bolts of shimmering magic struck at his chest, leaving shallow gashes. He was, unfortunately, much stronger and tougher than he'd been as a human, and barely broke stride as he charged.
The barbarian met his charge with a yell, and deflected his overhand swing with his greatsword. Andis let himself stumble past, right into the party's other front liner, who was heavily armored and carrying a warhammer and shield. She braced herself and stopped Andis's charge with her shield, leaving him flanked between the two of them.
Exactly where he wouldn't want to be, if he were trying to win.
He focused his attention on the dwarf in front of him, even as he heard the barbarian coming for his back. Meanwhile, the fourth adventurer, who looked like a rogue or bard of some sort, put a crossbow bolt in his face, while the mage cast another spell, and kaleidoscopic light speared at his eyes, blinding him.
Thankfully, Andis was doomed. He let out a purely mental sigh of relief as point of the barbarian's sword pushed its way out of his chest.
Shortly thereafter, he found himself floating in that yellow void again. And shortly after that...
"Hey! Congratulations on your first fight as a dungeon monster!"
The damn dungeon showed up again.
"Now, I know you must be disappointed that you lost, but don't worry! That's normal! Adventurers win fights almost all the time, and that's exactly how it's supposed to work. I'm just proud of you for trying! And remember, you only need to get lucky once!"
It was somehow visible, even though, being exactly the same color as the void around it, it really shouldn't have been. It wasn't much to look at, though. Not much more than a sparkling yellow star, really.
It moved closer, and sort of... engulfed the space Andis was floating in. Again.
It sort of tickled.
"Now, because you got killed by adventurers, I can't respawn you right away. You're going to have to wait here for a while, but don't worry! I won't forget you."
It pulled away.
"Oh, and before I forget! I'm making you your own room in the middle of the labyrinth! It's got a fireplace and a straw bed and a training dummy and your boss chest! Just something too look forward to, once you get back. Is there anything else you want me to put in there?"
Andis, of course, said nothing.
"... um, is that a no?"
A few more moments passed.
"Oh! Do you not know how to soul-talk? I thought you were just shy! Well, uh, don't worry! I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually. And even if you don't, it's okay, I love you anyway."
It engulfed him again (was that supposed to be some kind of hug?) and then finally left.
The damn thing even made him feel bad for hating it.
- Location
- SomeWhereElse
How adorably horrifying. I have a feeling Andis isn't feeling quite as happy as the dungeon is about life though
The dungeon would absolutely listen. It genuinely loves him and wants him to be happy, and is very interested in hearing about his mental state. The problem is, as soon as that happens, the story becomes way less interesting. So I have to make it really, really hard for him. He can only work on it while he's waiting to respawn, and he only waits to respawn when adventurers kill him, and he avoids that as much as possible.
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
Well, that'd certainly be the case in the Titan of Steel-verse, but considering the lack of megalomaniacal nuclear kaiju and giant dungeon-mecha I can confidently state that this is not the same universe.