by Dakota Krout
I looked at her in great surprise,
“Right, right, right. But, they made the Cats insane because the Cats were moderately intelligent. On the Banes, they should just be an appendage. Then the Bane will have a long, medium, and short range attack! They might actually be useful! Think about it, revamping an old Boss that never got a kill…” She trailed off tantalizingly, watching for my reaction.
I was almost salivating at the thought of amending what I saw as a failed experiment.
“Just promise to give it your best shot, okay?” She muttered with concern. She knew how much I hated the mind-altering effects those tentacles used.
“Well?” Dani demanded.
“You tried on rocks…? You know what, never mind. Can you tie them to the room so that they spawn when plants are killed off?” She exasperatedly pushed the conversation forward.
I had kept my hidden ‘failure room’ on the second floor, and was excited that I would get to play — erm — experiment again so soon after a large upgrade to my dungeon. I had made some upgrades to the room, basically what amounted to an acid waterfall that I could pour onto whatever was in the room. Then I could light it on fire. A very beneficial upgrade which allowed me to absorb my new creations right away.
I grew the small ‘Bane plus tentacle’ in the room, and studied the G-rank nine creature. I was looking for signs of insanity or incompatibility, and heaved a small sigh when there were no apparent negative effects.
“Oh! Um. If I have been correctly understanding what you’ve been doing recently, a combination would be best. Now, this has earth and water Essence, a bit more earth than water, creating a ‘plant’ Essence combination. With the tentacle, it has a large portion of infernal as well, so how about you try adding a mix of those three, keeping the ratios roughly the same?” I looked at her in amazement, I had not realized she was paying that much attention when I babbled on about what I was doing! I needed to return the favor more frequently.
She dithered a bit, “Well… the typical Mob on the first floor is an F-rank two or three, but this is a Boss… though there might be four of them…”
“You just want more Essence.” She grumbled with a chuckle in her voice.
Remembering how the Distortion Cat attacked, I released a rabbit into the room. The tentacles went still, then the maws on the ends opened and tried to release a howl that would stun the small creature. They did roar, but there was no Essence in this howl. The wiggling weapons hissed in frustration. The rabbit tried to run away, but didn’t get far as the main body of the Bane released a thorn that killed the terrified creature from a dozen paces away.
~Ten~
Dale woke up and stretched, still amazed by his new body. He had only been asleep for three hours or so, but was so well-rested that he had no choice but to get up and do something! He walked around until he grew bored, then he peered around the darkness and called out softly, “Any Elves nearby?”
“Right here, Your Grace.” A form stepped out of the shadows. Dale hadn’t met this one.
“Oh. Wonderful. I was wondering if you had… well first, what is the guard group here called?” Dale matched his tone and position to match the stance of a noble talking to a respected elder. He assumed that almost any Elf was going to be older and wiser than him, so it should be a politically savvy move.
The Elf seemed to smile at him somehow, without his mouth moving. “We liked the title of your appointed judge, so we are currently going by ‘The Protectorate’ so human mouths can form the syllables of our position correctly.”
Dale nodded. Though it seemed a bit derogatory, that was just how Elves acted. “Thank you for thinking about the people you are protecting. I need to speak with Princess Brianna, do you by chance know if she is available?”
“She is, we require even less sleep than your people, so we have extended working hours. If you make your way to the Grove, I will go ahead of you to inform her of your impending meeting.”
“That would be fine. Dismissed.” Dale gave a ritualistic order, and the Elf vanished. “That wasn’t too bad.” He started walking toward the Elvish embassy, or ‘Grove’ as they called it, when a distinctly non-Elvish form stepped from the lee of a large tent in front of him.
“Really, you shouldn’t be out and about at this time of night Your Grace.” A rusty voice sneered condescendingly as Dale drew his oversized Morningstar. “Haven’t you heard that night air is bad for your health?”
Dale opened his mouth to demand answers — specifically why he was being stopped by this man — when a club hit him in the side of the face, knocking out teeth and breaking his jaw.
A dark chuckle came from the man in front of him, “Can’t have you ordering us to leave, now can we?”
Delirious with pain, Dale still held to his training and began fighting the men that had appeared from behind buildings. He whipped his Morningstar around him in tight arcs, blocking weapons and breaking bones. In moments, two attackers were dead, but the remaining men attacked without hesitation, beating Dale until his limbs were broken and he lay on the ground unable to fight back.
“Whew! Had a bit of fight in you, huh?” The first man laughed, grabbing Dale by his ankle and dragging him toward the entrance to the dungeon while the few other surviving men gathered the dead.
“Whhhhuuuu?” Dale moaned, face bouncing against a few rocks.
“What’s that dead man? Why? Well, it just so
happens that you pissed off the wrong person. She’s gonna wave the “tax” you put in place, and we get a bit of revenge. Ya see,” he stopped and kicked Dale in the side, grinding broken ribs against each other, “fifteen percent tax means we haveta go in the dungeon almost ten times more than we should if we want. To. Retire.” He finished the sentence calmly, kicking Dale at each pause. “You die, we get a bit on the side, and no taxes! Win-win-win for us, not so much for you.”
The dragging continued, and Dale had a spark of hope as they approached the clerk checkpoint. The spark turned cold as the clerk that had gotten yelled at earlier stepped forward, grinning. She looked up at the men, “Any trouble? Anyone see you?”
“Nope, all set here. Lost a few, but that was expected. More money for us if we don’t have to split it, right?” The man grinned lecherously back at her. “I’ll be back to take the other reward you offered later. Don’t worry about the Guild, we will be able to honestly say that we didn’t kill ‘im.” They started down the ramp — luckily for Dale’s face it was no longer a staircase — and quickly entered the dungeon.
They were just getting to the far side of the room when a miner stepped out from behind a corner, freezing as he saw what was happening. “What the abyss is going on here?”
“Don’t you worry about it, half-breed. This don’t concern your type.”
The miner lifted the visor on his helm, revealing Evan the Dwork. “This be murder most foul, and I’ll go to the abyss before I stand aside.” He raised his pick, and prepared to fight. It didn’t go well for him. The other men were better armed and outnumbered the Dwork. They quickly rendered him unconscious and took his inscribed pick.
Laughing, the men went all the way to the first Boss room, stripping Dale’s armor before tossing him in alone. They debated a moment on whether or not to keep his weapon, but ultimately decided that it was too easily recognizable. They threw his Morningstar across the room, where it swiftly vanished into the floor. When the Boss Squad appeared, they chuckled and left, retracing their steps out of the dungeon.
Dale considered the unpitying eyes of the Bashers, desperately screaming through his swollen mouth.
“Wait! Wait, please hear me out!” Dale thought desperately.
The Bashers paused a moment, then settled on their haunches.
“Please! I’ll owe you a favor. Almost anything I can do; I promise to do. As long as I don’t have to betray my friends.” Dale sent, hoping he was being heard.
“Isn’t there anything you want or need that you can’t do yourself?” Dale thought piteously, closing his blackened eyes as the Bashers rushed in. There wasn’t any additional pain, so after a moment he opened his eyes as best he was able. The Bashers were sitting again.
“Name it!”
“Only me.” Dale sent resolutely, “Don’t end my friends. If it comes to that I will go alone. Otherwise, I accept your terms.”
“Wha…?”
Dale tried to do as instructed, and felt a sudden spike in pain as his bones were forced back together and began fusing into their proper place. Some teeth were regrown, and the others were twisted as Cal took the opportunity to straighten them all, giving Dale a perfect smile. The small accumulated scars and acne pocks vanished as well. In minutes Dale was able to stand on his own again.
The dry tone made Dale flush, then his features hardened.
“No.” Dale relished the feeling of properly moving facial muscles, “I want to tear them apart with my hands.” He uttered darkly.
<…In that case, there is something I have been wanting to test.> I chuckled, Dani seemed hesitant.
“Cal…” Dani whispered to me, even though Dale was nowhere near us, “Should you do this? You never let anyone go before…”
I assured her my intentions were good. Well. Beneficial. To us at least.
“Okay… Who are you talking to?” Dale looked around nervously at the sitting Bashers.
Turns out she was just curious, “What is the weapon you are going to make?”
She sighed, “Get to the point Cal.”
She stared at me, nonplussed.
“He does keep losing his gear, is there a way to make it harder to lose?” Dani chuckled quietly, laughing at her joke.
I gave it serious thought though.
She stopped laughing abruptly, “Oh no. What?”
“Yeah, sure. What?” Dani demanded, tapping her non-existent toe.
~Dale~
Nearly a half hour later, Dale climbed the stairs from the Boss room, ascending into the predawn light. He clenched his fist, feeling the cloth tighten around his hand. He was wearing the new weapon — which doubled as the only piece of armor he had on — but Dale didn’t trust it one bit. The dungeon, Cal, had called it an ‘experiment’, and looking at it made Dale a bit queasy. The armor was wrapped cloth, and h
ad an almost slimy, oily texture.
Dale had been assured that activating the weapon would give him greater protection than plate armor, but there may be what the dungeon-creature — Cal — called ‘side effects’. Dale shivered, whether from the chill morning air against his almost-nude body, or the dark thoughts, he was unsure.
The weapon that Dale had been given worried him. Would he really use this on another human? He thought for a moment. Yes. Not alone, and certainly not without any other armor on. Dale started walking toward the Elven embassy, his original destination of the morning. He had not yet been here, and the amount of construction surprised him. Dale had thought that Elves would grow buildings or something — there were a lot of trees in this area now — but instead it looked like workmen were constructing around the clock.
The buildings were masterfully created, and were obviously built with defense in mind. Dale stopped in front of the only completed building, the sight forcing him to draw in a breath. The entire building was covered in Runes! He carefully looked at each individual Rune, trying to determine its purpose, but was stymied as he had never seen them before. He looked at more, and realized in puzzlement that all the Runes were exactly the same. He thought about what this could mean as he was ushered in the door by the dangerous looking guard.
“Well! I didn’t realize this was that kind of visit.” Brianna stepped into the center of the room, looking at him oddly.
“What?” Dale was thinking about the Runes on the building, maybe Cal would take a sample as payment?
“You are… um. In a state of undress, Dale.” Brianna chuckled as Dale made the connection and flushed a bright red color. “Well, that blush goes deep! Did you need something?”
“Yes… I have forgotten why I was originally coming here, but I need a contingent of guards to come with me. A group of non-Guild affiliated adventurers and a clerk tried to kill me. That is why it took so long to get here. I need to round them up.” Dale flatly informed her, ignoring his embarrassment.
