The Dungeon Con_One Foot in the Grave

by Marty Myers

  Hank smiled and then told her about his raising the skeletons. “ It was harder, but I was able to raise them and control them at the crypt.” Llywelyn said, “ that is quite impressive not many necromancers ever develop that much range and generally us dungeons have an even more limited reach than them, barely extending outside of our walls. But that is still much closer to you than where we are talking about. You would need to cross an entire ocean and then go inland a ways before reaching the place I spoke of.”

  “ Normally you would have had a much closer target as the Gallows Fields lay just a few kingdoms away south of you, but somehow the forces of the Light have finally managed to cleanse that cursed place. The Dark has been incensed since it happened since he has no idea how they managed it. He has sent out some scouts to see if he can find out more about the situation but so far none have brought word back other than that it has been blessed instead in its entirety.”

  “ It even seems like the majority of the dark things that were there have been banished from the fields or even dispelled or laid to rest outright. Personally I think it may be the result of his own tampering, you see the 2nd ban actually lies there upon that field and with him trying to circumvent it and having set the holy bells of the Light to ringing he may have begun the process of lifting the ban himself and made the field more open to the Light’s influence.”

  Hank looked baffled so Llywelyn explained a bit more about the bans and their history. It was a reminder to him that although they had shared a lot of their memories there was still much more that she had not shown him yet. Hank was wracking his brains for where to get unburied unblessed bodies from since Llywelyn had ruled out any modern cemeteries, battlefields, and other places he had come up with when another idea came to him, one inspired by a movie series from back home.

  “ Llywelyn how about remains from shipwrecks,” he said. “ Could I search the ocean you mentioned to find where ships and ships crews have sunken to never be reclaimed? Do you have pirates here? Surely they wouldn’t be likely to be blessed would they?” Llywelyn looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, “ well your right that most pirates are not particularly devout to the Lords of Light, some of them are actually part of cults devoted to the Darkness. But many more swear themselves to the Lord of the Seas, Manuck. He is one of the few Neutral Lords which sided with neither the Light or the Darkness in the great wars but instead chose an element of the world as his domain.”

  “ The Darkness has been in conflict with him since he created the first and only island dungeon and set loose a mighty undead pirate fleet long ago. Skarlock was his name and he was a fine dungeon. You would have liked him,” she said. “ Unfortunately The Darkness did not get Manuck’s permission to do any of this and in fact began preying upon his followers as much if not more than those of the Lights with his pirate fleet.”

  “ Skarlock repeatedly warned him of the danger of doing this, but in the end he obeyed our Dark Master and one night during a terrible storm a monstrous wave like nothing ever seen before rose up and destroyed most of the fleet, but not yet content with his wraith Manuck swept it over the ocean and struck Skarlocks Island, wiping it and him from the seas for all time. Since that day any undead who is a true servant of the Darkness always has stormy seas and bad weather when he is upon the oceans and seas and as a result, often finds their ships sunk. Those that sink into the waves are also often destroyed or dispelled as the very waters of those storms are ofttimes blessed by the Lord of the Seas and his clerics.” Hank sat enthralled by Llywelyn’s story.

  “ Wow so that sounds like a big no then,” he said. “ I admit I was hoping to have some undead pirate minions, even if it would have been strange to find them up here in the mountains. Do you think any peace might ever be made with Manuck?” “ Well,” Lywelyn said, “ I doubt the Darkness would ever do so and I don’t see where Manuck would be much interested in forgiving him all of a sudden either. Now I will tell you he doesn’t go out of his way to sink all of our ships since that time. We have dark minions out on the seas here and there, its just specifically undead and especially pirate ships sailing under the commands of those favored by the Darkness that seem to be cursed to do so. Presumably its as a pointed reminder not to mess with what is Manuck’s.”

  Hank thought for a while. “ Well, I may be able to do it then. If I were to reclaim the remains and not the actual risen undead maybe.” Llywelyn cautioned him. “It can be very dangerous fooling around with any of the Lords of this realm, they are gods here Hank.” Hank agreed with her but privately he was thinking that he was very far from any ocean or sea and that he might go fishing soon and see for himself. Llywelyn wasn’t easily fooled but she knew she couldn’t reign in every impulsive idea her new lover had.

  So instead she changed the subject. “ Maybe you should look into getting you some other minions who are much easier to collect and care for, like spiders or goblins,” she said. “ With just a little planning on your part, they practically care for themselves. I have quite a few spiders myself, they come in so many varieties and their ruler the Queen of Spiders is a charming individual to someone like ourselves for whom she has no interest as potential prey.”

  “ Your undead and her spiders would have few reasons to be in contention as long as you keep them out of her subjects webs. Now goblins, on the other hand, are messier and less loyal, but they multiply very fast into a true horde if fed decently and are never a true threat to any of the higher Dark races even if they do get a bit out of hand from time to time. You could even have both and use any naughty goblins as object lessons and tasty treats for your spiders. ”

  “ There is always a hierarchy among the minions and getting a little rivalry going between them can actually be a good thing to keep them sharp and to help them improve their fighting skills while you wait for adventurers or a call to unleash your host upon the world.” Hank said, “ are there any other options?” “ Of course there are, there are so many that it would be hard to name them all. But many just aren’t very suitable for you and your conditions. While others you just don’t have the magical talents to create or command.”

  “ Some of them also require being let out to roam the countryside regularly like werewolves for instance and I know you are supposed to be kept hidden so anything like that won’t do. Unfortunately, that also rules out vampires and vampire bats as they require regular feedings from people and I know how you felt about hand delivering people to the guards the other day.” Hank shivered at the memory of facing the Darkness temper as a result of his altercation with the guard captain. “ Yes, he said, ” I can’t let them out to hunt the countryside and I won’t bring them in people to be eaten either. If they come to me seeking me out that’s one thing,” Hank said, “ then I feel like they brought whatever happens down on themselves, but to send them out to find innocent peasants is quite another thing.”

  “ But can’t vampires drink from animals instead of just people,” Hank asked. “ I saw one do this at the crypt I told you about earlier.” Llywelyn said, “ well they can do so sometimes, but not exclusively or they become more like what they feed off of. In other words, the vampire lives off more than just the physical blood they ingest they also need the mystical essence and well part of the soul aura of their victims. If they feed off of only beasts and their auras than they become more animalistic like them and slowly lose their human-like qualities. They eventually are no longer able to speak or reason like a man only hunt and think like an animal.”

  “ Most vampires would do just about anything to avoid devolving like that. Even if they eventually feed off of people again they never fully recover themselves. Those types of vampires are almost a subspecies of their kind and cannot develop some of their races higher abilities. They are stunted both physically and mentally by their deprivation.” Hank was disappointed by this news but he didn’t see the point of trying to raise stunted vampires or indeed any minions that would be substandard.

  Hank said, �
� I know you have many minions but what did you start off with?” Llywelyn paused for a moment and then said, “ you should know I was originally bonded to a very powerful demon and like your teleport talent I received certain abilities from our shared bond. He had a gift to command lesser demons and I too developed it to a degree. I also had a natural affinity with fire which complements infernal powers. So I developed as a dungeon of the damned. I have since branched out many times over the years but initially, my minions were almost all demons, hell beasts and other inhabitants of the infernal realms. None of these would work out well for you Hank. You have too little demonic affinity as of yet to even try commanding demons and even though it appears your imp is growing, he is still very far down in the demon hierarchy.”

  “ Any worthwhile demons you tried to control would look down upon you and Alastor and find ways to rebel against you two. Plus she said you’re just too nice and too naive to hold power over many demons for long. Just dealing with their constant insubordination and devilish plotting would begin changing you in ways you wouldn’t like.” Hank took a minute to think about what Llywelyn was saying before dropping demons off his list of candidates for his minions.

  “ How about slimes,” he said. “ Well the problem there is that while they would work out great in your dungeon as a basic monster. They are very lacking once your horde would have to take to the open field to fight the forces of Light out in the open. Most slimes are slow and not all that martial. They rely on the darkness and closed in conditions as well as their ability to cling to the walls and ceilings of a dungeon to launch surprise attacks in close quarters on people. When your foe can see the slimes slowly advancing he has plenty of time to move away or use some other long range attack or spell casting to destroy them.”

  Hank sat thinking for a while about all that Llywelyn had said. “ Hmm, well if I did decide to bring some spiders into my dungeon how would that work. I don’t have any talent to control spiders or even a way to communicate with them as far as I know.” Llywelyn replied, “ well, in this case, I would offer to approach the spider queen on your behalf initially and ask for you an audience. Then if things went well between you she might allow one of her daughters to migrate to your dungeon or she might entrust you with an egg sack full of her unhatched kin to be brought there and incubated. A contract would be necessary to spell out each parties rights and responsibilities, but in general, the spider queens’ bargains with us dungeons is not too onerous.”

  “ One of the main things is that she expects that what prey falls into her subjects webs to be theirs. But you could probably work out a deal to get their skeletons back long after they have been dinner to her spiders. They usually clean out their webs once the prey is no longer juicy after all. As to communicating the Spiders have long spoken the language of the Dark Ones as a second tongue. You yourself are usually speaking it now and don’t even realize it. It is included as part of the Dark Ritual which turned you into what you are now Hank.”

  “ You would also need to bring in some other prey animals for them to hunt and feed on regularly, like rats for instance just to make sure they have something to eat in the dungeon between adventurers and the occasional goblin. That way the spiders can continue to expand their numbers.”

  “ Like I said before goblins are a complimentary race for spiders acting as both prey and competitor. It isn’t very difficult to find a tribe of them somewhere barely eking out their existence who would be happy to come serve you. They have an almost pathological need to serve stronger creatures who serve the Darkness. Some even make decent servants as long as you don’t trust them around anything too valuable. Also when they die you get their skeletons to raise. But don’t make the mistake of making them zombies or they will be in amongst your living goblins eating their puny little brains and decimating your living stock before you know it. I have even heard there are a few tribes far to the south who have been domesticated enough by the spiders that they work hand in hand with the spider queen’s daughters and ride them into battle but I have never seen them for myself.”

  At hearing this it reminded Hank about just how much he didn’t know about the world he was on now. He said, “ Llywelyn that reminds me do you have anything like a map of this world or its lands I could see? I realize you may not, but you have been around so long and know so much I thought I would ask you.” Llywelyn replied, “ I have seen several maps of kingdoms and a few maps detailing coastlines. But I have never seen a true map showing all of this world.”

  “ Here is one of the better ones I have,” she said as a large book appeared on her lap. It opened and the pages flipped rapidly by until the book lay open showing a partial map of the mountain range he was situated in. “ This is where you are,” a particular mountain where he saw the pass drawn glowed as he looked at the map. “ You are on the border of the kingdom of Halcon. The mountains there are claimed by both neighboring kingdoms and long in the past they fought over them. Today neither one cares too much as the only good pass through the mountains is blocked and neither kingdom really cares enough to dig it out and restore trade or to war over it again.”

  “ Further south on one side of the mountain range lies the two great southern kingdoms Langdom and Murcia many consider them to be the biggest and most civilized lands in the realm. On the other side stretches the Gallows Plains, an area that until recently was decimated by the second Great War of the Ban. Farther east lies a series of small duchies that are the remnants of colonies founded by countries from the old world back before the first Great War of the Ban. To the north lie large tracks of forests interspersed with more small kingdoms and then finally the great northern wastes where I am,” she said.

  Hank took a long look at the map she was showing him as he listened to her description of the kingdoms nearby. He could see that the small duchies she had described were stacked one on top of another north to south and almost all shared an eastern coastline. The map he was looking at showed several more medium-sized kingdoms to the west with another large mountain range running north to south before fading off to nothing further west. Now,” she said, “enough of books and learning for now Hank. I suggest that you need to continue expanding your dungeon by carving out more mighty halls and many more rooms so that when the Darkness orders you to expand you are already ahead instead of behind in your work.”

  Hank was beginning to feel a bit strained working to communicate so long. “ Llywelyn could feel it as well and quickly said, “ its time we parted Hank. Please try to scry me again sometime soon. I have enjoyed your calling upon me.” She stood as his view receded back out of the Dark Citadel and out onto the frozen northern plains before the scrying faded altogether.

  Llywelyn meanwhile decided she would do some scrying of her own and began preparing to check out all the lands around Hank. After their latest talk, she still didn’t trust that he was being cautious enough with his well being in this dangerous world. She needed to safeguard her new paramour before something serious happened to him and upset the Dark’s plans. Losing Hank would put both of them in a seriously bad mood.

  Hank took a few seconds to recover and then stepped out into the kitchen to check and see if everything was going alright. He could tell his conversation with Llywelyn hadn’t taken much time which reassured him. Then he set off to find Alastor and Birch and see how many of the items they still had on the list. He wanted to finish it and get all of the traps installed upstairs before he went back to carving out more chambers down here. He needed to clear a few things off his to-do list before it grew completely out of control. After that, he thought he could talk Alastor and Birch into going and doing a little fishing.

  Chapter 23

  Apostaphus flew northwest over the mountains carrying Francis. He had remembered to cast a protection for her against the cold and cutting winds as they flew so that she would not freeze during the trip. Clarionides flew alongside them as they made their way up the mountain chain towards his old territory. Aposta
phus thought as they flew. He still couldn’t believe what had happened since he had begun tracking this imp down. Never would he have thought that such a thing would have led him to be cast out of the lesser host.

  He did not understand what the council was thinking to have taken such a hard stance and cast both him and then Clarionides out. Both of their judgments could not be equally right he thought. He was just not going to accept it. But the only way to have them redeemed in the eyes of the other angels was if he could have another hearing in front the council and they reversed their decision or if one of the Lords of Light themselves overruled the council’s declaration and reinstated him into the lesser host or decided to take him into one of their own houses. Apostaphus didn’t really see how either of those things would come about.