A Living Dungeon

by Allan Joyal

  The man in robes turned and looked up the mountain. He fumed for a few minutes and then turned to the man who had been drawing the line in the dirt. “Let’s go and get set up. We’ll come back later to deal with the dungeon.”

  The man with the staff just shrugged. He hefted the staff to his shoulder and then marched away from the mountain. The man in robes fumed and started to walk away.

  A cry of surprise sounded out from the grove. This grove was well outside Faestari’s domain. She raised her spirit and looked out over the head of the retreating wizard.

  Just beyond the grove she could see a line of seven wagons slowly making their way towards the mountain. A man on horseback led the caravan. He looked toward the shout and then kicked his horse into a canter.

  “Who are you?” the rider asked as he unsheathed a thin sword.

  “Betrixy, wizard and adventurer,” the young woman said as she pulled her hood down to reveal her face. “My companions and I are camping here and recovering from our last visit to the dungeon.”

  “So there is a dungeon?” the man on horseback asked. “And I’m Dared, fifth son of Poulmius, King of Rockgar.”

  “Whatever,” Betrixy said scornfully. “Did you bring an army to try to assault the dungeon?”

  The man reined in his horse and then lifted his right leg over the back of the horse so he could dismount. “I’m here to set up a new town,” the man said. “I hear tales that dungeons are valuable sources of alchemical ingredients. I’ll protect the merchants and others who support adventurers and collect taxes.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” Betrixy said. “And you’ll protect it with what you have in seven little wagons?”

  “I was raised to rule!” Dared said. “And should you be so proud. You are alone out here.”

  “Not quite,” a quiet voice said from the trees. Faestari watched as Gee’if slowly walked into view. The man had been bitten on his left arm just five days before. Now that arm hung lifeless as he limped forward. His forearm was swollen and an angry red, yet the man kept moving until he was standing next to his partner.

  Betrixy looked at him with surprise. “Why are you here? You should still be resting.”

  “I can stand,” Gee’if said firmly. “And I wasn’t about to allow some king’s sprat to bully my partner and friend.”

  “What happened to you?” Dared asked loudly.

  “The spiders in the dungeon have a rather nasty bite,” Gee’if said. “I’ll heal, but it appears that the poison doesn’t want to leave quietly.”

  A man rushed from one of the wagons. He grabbed Gee’if’s left hand as he knelt down to look at the arm.

  “Spider venom you say,” the man chattered. “I’ve never heard of a spider that could cause this with a bite. How could it bite you in the hand? Did it drop from the ceiling, or did your hand brush a wall? And where did it bite you?”

  Gee’if sighed. He twisted his body and head so he could look back at the grove. “Jyxton! Can you bring out the bracer I was wearing on my left arm?”

  “I thought you still had to repair it!” Jyxton shouted from the trees.

  “Just bring it,” Gee’if shouted.

  “What?” Dared asked.

  “I figure it will be faster to show you,” Gee’if said.

  The man looking at his arm just kept chattering. “You’re right, it’s healing, but the venom appears to have caused a nasty build up of fluid in the muscles. That has to be painful. I could try leeches, I have some new ones from the Altavaulta River.”

  “Leeches seek blood not water,” Betrixy said. “They would probably delay the healing. I’ve been using magic to allow Gee’if’s body to process the venom faster.”

  “I’d love to have a sample of the venom,” the interested man said. “I never knew any venom that caused this kind of reaction.”

  “We might be able to help you there,” Gee’if said.

  “How?” Dared asked.

  Just then Jyxton ran up. He held up a battered piece of leather. By the shape of the leather and the attached straps it was clear that this was designed to fit over the outside of a man’s forearm. Two punctures about an inch apart decorated the middle of the leather.

  Gee’if held up the item so that Dared and the man diagnosing his arm injury could see it. “That’s where the spider bit me.”

  “Impossible,” Dared said. “To do that, the spider must have been.”

  “As large as your head,” Betrixy interrupted him. “It was. That’s how we can provide venom. We killed several and managed to salvage five venom sacs. I’d tried to preserve the venom, but I can’t say it will still be good. We last visited the dungeon five days ago.”

  Dared looked over at Gee’if. “That bite is from five days ago?”

  Gee’if nodded. “It seems like it takes a while to recover from the poison. At least now it’s mostly just uncomfortable due to the size and the weight. When we first retreated, my arm was in a lot of pain.”

  “Like that matters,” Dared said. “Colasmel, you were one of the people who said that there would be profit here. What do you think?”

  The man checking Gee’if’s hand released it and stood up to look at Dared. “I can probably brew anti-venom potions that adventurers would want. I definitely can make healing potions with the ingredients I brought. We haven’t had time to talk about what else the adventurers have found.”

  “Not much,” Gee’if said. “We’ve only managed to get three rooms in and we were driven out of the third room with little to show for it. I believe right now we have ten spider eyes, five spider venom sacs and a small sling made out of spider silk. The problem with the sling is that it’s sized for a child’s hand.”

  “Spider eyes?” Colasmel said enthusiastically. “Can I see them?”

  Gee’if nodded towards Betrixy. “Betrixy has them. She was hoping she’d manage to find out if they had magical or alchemical properties.”

  Colasmel ran over to stand in front of the wizard. “Can I see one?”

  Betrixy reached for the rope belt she wore. She pulled the first pouch they had recovered from a loop in the belt and carefully extracted a single red spider eye.

  Colasmel’s eyes widened. He reached out and plucked it out of the astonished wizard’s hand. “Yes. I’ve heard of this, but this is a first. It’s an eye from a Lysoci Spider, but to have eyes this size the spider had to be larger than a person’s head. I can feel mana still resting in the eye, although this one is starting to decay.”

  “It’s fourteen days old,” Betrixy responded, but Colasmel was not listening.

  “Let me think. I can definitely make several kinds of vision potions based on this. I can probably even stabilize that glass polishing oil that Galegco wanted me to provide him. But this eye needs to be properly prepared. Drying? No, that would work with one in better condition. This one needs an acid bath to remove the decay and then I can preserve it with some tincture of clarity. Do I have any of that? Kurial would know. I should go talk to him,” Colasmel murmured.

  The distracted alchemist started walking away from the group. “Sir!” Betrixy called in alarm.

  Colasmel paused and looked down at his hand. “Oh, dear. Do you need this back? I want to start preparing it. I’ll pay you one silver for each eye you have in this condition.”

  “Colasmel!” Dared called out.

  The alchemist looked over at the young lord. “My lord?” he asked.

  “One silver each?” Dared asked.

  “If these eyes can be used in all the potions I’m thinking about, the purchase will pay for itself. I do need to set up my shop and my equipment, but I believe these will prove valuable,” Colasmel said. “And if this is the quality of goods that can be found in the dungeon, I’ll pay back your investment before the snow falls.”

  “I want more than to just have my investment paid back,” Dared said.

  Colasmel shrugged as Betrixy pulled out three more eyes from the pouch. “These are the ones we obtained
on our first visit to the dungeon,” Betrixy said as she held them out for Colasmel.

  “Three more?” Colasmel said enthusiastically.

  “We have four more that are newer, but Hal’vik has that pouch. We also have the venom glands. Once you are setup we can bring you those if you’ll pay for these,” Betrixy said.

  Dared glared at the two. “Fine,” he grumbled as he walked over. He unwound a strip of leather holding a pouch at his right hip, opened and plunged his hand into the pouch. Betrixy handed the eyes over to a smiling Colasmel and then turned so her upturned palm was in front of Dared.

  “This could pay for a man to stay in an inn for a season,” Dared muttered.

  “I’ll pay you back soon,” Colasmel said. “I’m sure I’ll get two coins back the instant I have a storefront. This group definitely needs antidote potions.”

  “We would be interested in those,” Betrixy said. “And we wouldn’t mind purchasing a few healing potions.”

  “See,” Colasmel said. “Now, where do you want the town set up?”

  Dared looked confused. He just stared up at the mountain. “Where’s the dungeon?”

  Betrixy pointed towards the base of the path leading up to the entrance. “That trail leads up to the entrance. It’s close to the summit.”

  “How long does it take?” Dared asked.

  “A little more than an hour,” Gee’if said. “The path is in surprisingly good repair.”

  “Why not set up closer?” Dared asked.

  The man who had been investigating the edge of Faestari’s power stomped over to the group. “Because no one wants to live within the dungeon’s domain. Don’t you know how they work?”

  “I’ve only heard the name, and I thought it meant there was a cave system with a lot of treasure,” Dared said.

  “It’s a living being. No one knows how, but that system of caves has a soul. It brings in monsters. The monsters provide it with mana. The dungeon then uses the mana to make the monsters stronger. Eventually you get fools like that wizard girl and the cripple,” the man in robes said pointing at Betrixy and then Gee’if.

  “I’m not crippled,” Gee’if squawked in outrage.

  “What about them?” Dared said.

  “When they enter the dungeon to challenge the monsters inside, they provide more mana for the dungeon. So the dungeons make sure that there are treasures enough to attract more adventurers,” the man in robes said.

  “Are they dangerous?” Dared asked. He sounded frightened.

  “They won’t try to do anything to you as long as you remain outside,” Gee’if said. “But if you enter, yes, they can be very dangerous.”

  “We’re going to capture this one,” the man in robes said. “The Circle has been looking for this dungeon a long time.”

  “I thought it was new,” Betrixy said.

  “Long ago, the Eastfjord dungeon changed personality. A few years later the personality changed a second time. One of our best cast a spell to find out why the second change occurred. He said that the soul of the dungeon had walked out, carrying its domain with it. We have sought that dungeon ever since,” the man in robes said.

  “So?” Gee’if asked. “Do you know how it was done?”

  “No,” the man admitted. He then turned and moved away at a quick walk.

  Faestari looked closely at the man. He was looking away from her mountain as he stalked away. She decided that she would need to pay closer attention to activities on the slopes of her mountain.

  Dared had pulled something out of the saddlebags from the horse he had been riding and was kneeling down at the front legs of the horse. He was attaching something to the ankles of the horse as it leaned down to start eating the grass growing at the base of the mountain.

  A man wearing well-made leather armor approached the king’s son. “Dared, the men were wondering what we should be doing.”

  Dared finished what he was doing and then stood. “Ah, Sergeant Koltiss. Yes, I know that Colasmel is going to want his equipment set up quickly. I’d say we need a temporary camp at the edge of this grove. Did we find water?”

  “There is a stream,” the Sergeant replied. “A small spring surfaces at the western edge of the grove. The stream flows out of the grove on the northeast side, so we failed to notice it at first. If we want to build a town, I recommend we do that along the stream.”

  “How about we do that on the south side, but try to leave the grove somewhat intact. It will help shelter the spring,” Dared said.

  The sergeant looked a bit surprised. “Are you sure you wish to leave the spring outside any defensive walls?”

  “We haven’t found any places to quarry,” Dared said. “So stone walls aren’t really an option. Once we can build with stone, I’d suggest just expanding the walls to encompass the entire grove.”

  “I only have four scouts and my single squad of ten men,” the sergeant replied. “We can’t guard a large encampment effectively without a wall of some kind.”

  Dared looked off to the south. “There was a good forest we passed through when we came here. Once we unload the wagons we can have Castos take a few men with axes and saws to harvest some trees. We’ll have to go with a wooden palisade. We’d need the wood anyway in order to put in some buildings.”

  “I’ll have Wilbelas start setting up an encampment,” Koltiss said. “But why are you so insistent that we build something here?”

  Dared sighed. “I’m a fifth son,” he said. “My eldest brother will be king. My other brothers have a good chance of being introduced to noble ladies and marrying into a position of power. I’m too unlikely to ever become king to interest a baron or duke who only has daughters, and my father isn’t interested in helping me find a bride. The only way for me to rule is to find my own territory, and this new dungeon is far from any kingdom.”

  “Yes, but what makes that important,” Koltiss asked.

  “It’s a dungeon,” Dared said firmly. “Koltiss, my father’s kingdom doesn’t have any dungeons, but I’ve traveled to all the nearby kingdoms. Most have dungeons and near every dungeon is a thriving town.”

  “Why?” Koltiss asked. “I mean why would a dungeon result in a thriving town being near.”

  Dared pointed up the mountain. “Because somewhere inside that mountain there is treasure for those brave and strong enough to fight their way through the defenders to claim it. And even if they don’t reach the end, every room will have small surprises. It sounds like this dungeon will provide items that Colasmel can use in valuable potions. There will be many brave adventurers willing to climb the mountain to try to obtain the treasure.”

  “But what does that mean?” Koltiss asked.

  “Adventurers need things. I’m sure the group camping in the grove would love to see an inn with comfortable beds. They’d also prefer to eat and drink in a tavern rather than eat what they can produce through hunting on the days they aren’t in the dungeon. Weapons need to be replaced or repaired. Armor needs to be upgraded. All of that attracts merchants. The towns grow up around the dungeon because of that,” Dared said.

  “So you are going to,” Koltiss asked.

  Dared nodded. “We are far from any kingdom, which makes it unlikely that one will send an army immediately. If we can get a town started and show that we can keep the peace in the town, we’ll start a new kingdom right here.”

  “King Dared the first?” Koltiss asked.

  “I still need a queen,” Dared said. “Although I did send messages to a few ladies about what my goals are.”

  “Do we have the funds to make this happen?” Koltiss asked. “And what about provisions?”

  “That’s why we brought so many wagons,” Dared said. “Narhert will be traveling back to Fairview with most of the wagons. He’ll be handling purchases and recruitment and then returning. I have arrangements with the dwarven bank there.”

  Koltiss looked impressed. “I’ll oversee the unloading of the wagons.”

  “I’ll
be there momentarily,” Dared said. “I want to look a bit more closely at this mountain.”

  Faestari brought her mental focus and spirit back to her body. It seemed she now had a town growing up outside her domain. And she had an enemy in the strange man in the velvet robes. She had much to think about.”

  Chapter 14: Adventurers Break the Rules

  The slopes of the mountain remained undisturbed for another five days. Faestari spent the time encouraging new forests of fungus to grow on the fourth and fifth levels of the dungeon. She still wanted more challenges and traps, but other than upgrading more spiders, snakes and beetles, she had no idea what kind of creatures she wanted to use to populate the lower floors of her home.

  Faestari did take a couple of protective actions. She upgraded the stone surrounding her gemstone. The expansion of her domain had continued and the stone was now buried more than five hundred and fifty feet below the chamber where she kept her avatar. This kept the mountain within the sphere of her influence while limiting how much space above the mountain she could touch.

  The lower regions of her domain Faestari left untouched. Instead she hardened the granite to prevent anyone from tunneling through her domain as she concentrated on the surface.

  Shortly after the sun rose on the sixth day after Dared arrived and commanded his forty or so followers to start building a town, Gee’if and his companions set foot on the path to the dungeon entrance. Long shadows cast by some of the granite blocks dotting the mountainside shielded much of the path as Hal’vik led the quartet to the top. They seemed happy, but determined as they climbed.

  “I’m glad we were finally able to get some antidote potions,” Betrixy said. “That should allow us to go deeper even if one of us is bitten by a spider.”

  “I’m not sure how deep we should try to penetrate the dungeon,” Gee’if said. “That alchemist paid highly for the few things we found in the rooms we had survived. Why push deeper when we are profiting from the delves we are already making.”

  “If we don’t push, we’ll never find out how good we can be,” Hal’vik said. “And who knows, perhaps Colasmel will decided that he has enough spider eyes. We can’t rest too soon.”