Dungeon Lord: Abominable Creatures (The Wraith's Haunt Book 3)

by Hugo Huesca

  Lavy had earned her position herself, by being there since the beginning, working day and night to make the Haunt something more than a glorified hole in the ground with a stone chair in the middle. She had no reason to mind Jarlen’s words.

  But does she know that? Ed wondered. Here was the Haunt, growing in size and power with every passing day, and now Ed had earned the interest of the same Regents that Kael Arpadel had allied himself with while Lavy and Alder were only apprentices.

  And along came Jarlen, a newcomer, a creature who packed enough punch to fight everyone in the room—Ed included—and perhaps come out on top. It was little wonder that someone could feel inadequate in her presence. And perhaps a small part of Lavy did wonder if that night had influenced Ed’s decision to name her Head Researcher.

  The worst part was that he could even understand Jarlen’s point of view. She was capable, experienced, and powerful, and yet she was being ignored in favor of others a tenth of her age.

  Ah, shit. Reassuring people was Alder’s specialty, not his. The problem was, he didn’t have the patience to navigate the situation with anything resembling grace. Although… he had seen the hurt in Lavy’s face, and he wasn’t in the mood for a graceful approach.

  Kes strolled toward Jarlen, but Ed beat her to the punch and stopped her with a firm palm on her arm. He faced the vampire instead, towering above her in a way that almost made him believe he was about to scold a ten-year-old instead of a murderous undead psychopath.

  “Enough,” he said, trying his best to keep a level head and failing, as evidenced by the green sparks flaring from his eyes. “You’re not only insulting a trusted lieutenant, you’re also insulting me. Your attitude is unacceptable, Jarlen of the Haunt. If you desire a better position, you can start by treating everyone in this room as if they were me—fuck it, make that every single one of my minions.”

  Jarlen’s eyes narrowed in fury. The way she looked at him was animalistic, the kind of rage that precluded guts being spilled on the floor. “Would you shame me—” she began.

  Ed was too pissed to care about her pouting, vampire or not. “Shut up. You claim to be my best minion? Well, these mortals here fought a mindbrood alongside me, and they did it with two basic spells, a sword, a wooden stick, and a flute. Yes, Klek was there too! Where were you then, Jarlen? Where were you when we defeated a wraith and an invasion at the same time? Lavy was there, fighting and killing people with twice her experience points. Hell, you weren’t exactly helpful when we saved you from the Inquisition!”

  “That’s not fair!” Jarlen snarled.

  “These are my friends, Jarlen, I don’t deny that,” Ed went on, slowly replacing his anger with a firm sternness that a father may have used to correct a bratty kid. At least, that’s what he hoped he was doing. “They’re also my seconds-in-command for a reason. They’ve been with me since the beginning, and each one of them has put as much of themselves into the Haunt as I have. Insult them and you’re insulting what the Haunt represents—and that won’t help your standing with me, because I fucking love this Haunt. Do you want status? Then the smart thing to do would be to prove your worth. It may or may not be fair, but that’s how you get my respect, Jarlen. Do you understand?”

  A part of Ed wondered what would happen if the vampire laughed in his face and broke the minionship pact. Then they’d both be out of luck, because the Haunt needed Jarlen to enter the Netherworld safely, and she needed them to survive in Starevos.

  But it was hard for him to expect a hundred-year-old vampire to see him as an authority figure for the same reason he would’ve hated Ryan’s ten-year-old hypothetical manager.

  On the other hand, he was a Dungeon Lord, and she was her minion, and in the end that out-weighed everything else. Jarlen backed down, shoulders slumped. “Yes. You’ve made your point, Lord Wraith,” she said begrudgingly.

  “Good,” Ed said. “Then I think there’s an apology you need to give.”

  Jarlen lifted an eyebrow in a way that made Ed wonder if he’d pushed too far. Then she turned to Lavy and forced a smile that, on her cold, dead, tiny face, looked like something out of a nightmare. “My sincere apologies, Head Researcher. It seems that my temper got the best of me. It won’t happen again.”

  Judging from Lavy’s expression right there, Ed was certain she wasn’t about to be a gracious winner, so he threw her a glance that said, “Don’t make me start on you too.” Thankfully, she caught his look in time and clenched her mouth shut at the same instant she forced out a tight smile for Jarlen.

  “Apology accepted,” the Witch said. “Let’s just start over, all right?”

  “That would be much appreciated, Head Researcher,” Jarlen said.

  The tension in the room diminished, but not entirely. It was as if Ed had plugged a gas leak with a bit of gum and good intentions. The patch would hold for a while, but if he didn’t find a better solution eventually, the results wouldn’t be pretty.

  His thoughts were interrupted when Alder clapped enthusiastically. “I’m so glad we’re all friends now,” he said. “How about we get to creating that door to Hell itself so we can buy some new spells and equipment? I’ve been waiting months for this trip, you know.”

  Your skills have increased: Leadership +1. Your aura’s energy expenditure has been reduced.

  Ed placed the Portal in a heavily trapped chamber far below the bowels of the Haunt. He and the others walked down a tight, damp tunnel that branched up to other two different tunnels on the way up, both of them looking identical to the real one. Either of those would lead an invading party straight to a reinforced door and a trapped lock with a sign hanging above, saying, “Welcome to the Haunt. We hope you have a great time.” The doors led to one of the Haunt’s several hell chicken farms, where Ed had asked Kaga to put their biggest, meanest, hungriest hell chickens. If the invading party survived, they’d cross the farm only to realize that the door on the other side of the farm was merely bolted to naked stone.

  As they went down the tunnel, Ed summoned his Evil Eye and read the status update that showed him his options for his two new spells.

  Invoke the Storm - This spell creates a black cloud with a radius of 5 feet (+1 feet per Improved Spellcasting skill rank to a maximum of 15) above your chosen area. After several seconds determined by your Combat Casting skill (starting at 10, reduced by each Improved rank to a minimum of 2), lightning strikes every creature under the cloud. This lightning kills any creature with an Endurance below 8, and severely damages everyone else. Survivors must bypass an Endurance test to avoid temporary paralysis, and will receive a penalty to their Agility instead.

  Dungeon Message - This spell allows you to send a 140—character message to any minion of the caster located anywhere on the same plane as the casting Dungeon Lord. The message is sent through the link between minion and Dungeon Lord, and as such, cannot be replicated by others. (Warning: this does not stop a minion with a very low Mind score from being tricked by non-magical means.)

  Fireball - The caster launches a sphere of concentrated explosive energy toward the general direction of the target. Accuracy is improved by the user’s Combat Casting.

  Rune of Protection - The caster engraves an almost invisible rune on any surface. This rune lasts 1 year (plus 1 year for every Combat Casting skill rank). If a creature with a Mind score above 5 that is not the caster sees the rune, it triggers a small explosion and forces the creature (if still alive) to bypass an Endurance test or be rendered unconscious for five minutes.

  If this spell is cast by a Dungeon Lord, they can choose to make any minions unable to activate or be affected by the rune.

  Stone Pillar - The Dungeon Lord targets an area of solid ground of 5 feet radius which, after 3 seconds, bursts upwards in the shape of a stone column, rising to 20 feet or until it reaches a ceiling. This effect is limited by the availability of material in the chosen area and cannot be used to create matter out of nothing.

  If the Dungeon Lord has an Imp
roved Combat casting above 5, the channeling time is reduced to 2 seconds.

  Engorge Vermin - A creature under the command of the Dungeon Lord is engorged up to the size of an adult wolf. Any creature larger than an adult wolf is not affected by the spell.

  Warning: Attempts to exploit this spell are notorious for earning the attention of Objectivity with more regularity than other Improved-ranking spells for unknown reasons. Exploit at your own risk.

  Invisibility - The caster and everything they are wearing are rendered invisible for 1 minute (+1 for every Improved Spellcasting skill rank). They are also blind for the duration of the spell unless possessing non-natural means of sight. They can still be detected by creatures that don’t rely on sight to target their prey.

  “Dungeon Lords get so many good choices for free,” said Lavy at about the same time Ed was done reading. She was glancing over his shoulder at the ethereal words floating in front of him with a gleam of jealousy in her eyes that she didn’t even bother to hide. “At least you don’t have any Witchcraft or Necromantic spells in there or I admit I’d be pissed.”

  Jarlen looked back and took a few seconds to read the sheet as well. “That’s because the free spells are constrained by the Dungeon Lord’s skill ranks at the moment of upgrading spellcasting. Some even postpone their advancement for years until they grind out very obscure skills so they can get secret spells for free that would otherwise be almost impossible to find.”

  “Do you have any examples?” Ed asked her. As a gamer, he salivated at the chance of obtaining some ultra-secret, bragging-rights spell that no one else had.

  “Sadly, it’s not the kind of thing that Dungeon Lords share with their minions,” Jarlen said. “I know that your Murmur’s reach is reasonably rare, if that helps. It’s a quest reward that Murmur or his Regents give to a Dungeon Lord that performed a useful service for the Dark. Regent Faranghis has one such reward. Shadow tentacles, an Improved-ranked spell with many uses, both in combat and recreation. Care to guess a few of its uses?”

  “I’d rather not,” Lavy said. “I know what Faranghis is Regent of.”

  No one dared inquire any further.

  Just as the silence was getting rather heavy, Klek said, “Engorge vermin sounds nice. If Tulip and I were the size of a wolf, we could fight so much better.”

  “No way you qualify as a vermin,” Ed said.

  “I wouldn’t mind being a vermin if that meant I get to be as big as a wolf,” Klek said hopefully.

  Kes raised an eyebrow. “Even without a single rank in spellcasting I could bet my ass that trying that stunt gets you Objectified instantly.”

  The batblin seemed crestfallen. “Perhaps there’s another spell that buffs you, bud,” Ed assured him. “If there is, I’ll get it as soon as I can. Deal?” Klek nodded with enthusiasm.

  “Engorge vermin seems like such a useless spell,” Lavy said. “You can only use them on thunder wasps and acid oozes and the like? It should be a basic spell—there’s no way it’s as strong as fireball! Why does Objectivity even care that people abuse it?”

  “I’m not sure that Objectivity cares about anything at all,” Alder mused. “It’s a set of rules that regulates the use of magic, the way I understand it. No feelings involved.”

  “The way I see it,” Lavy said, “it’s probably a divine asshole like Alita or Murmur. Probably one that hates magic-users and wants to make our life a living hell. It’d be nice to, for once, interpret a spell with an iffy description without having to look over my shoulder and wonder if I’m gonna get erased from existence.”

  Every spell-caster in the tunnel—Ed, Alder, and even Jarlen—nodded in solidarity.

  “Well, in engorge’s case I see why Objectivity activates easily,” Ed said. “Without the warning, I’d have instantly picked it. Bend the description a bit and it’s a killing machine.”

  “I really hope you aren’t about to make a terrible sex joke,” Alder said. “Because that’s my job—ow! Hey!” He gave Lavy an offended glance as he held his soon to be bruised ribs.

  Ed shook his head while Kes rolled her eyes and masked her chuckles with a cough. “Say there’s someone powerful you want to kill,” Ed said. “Like… another Nicolai. First, I’d Murmur’s reach a spiderling, and I’d carefully skitter into his nostril or ear while he’s distracted. Then I’d end Murmur’s reach and cast engorge vermin on the spiderling. I’m pretty sure you can’t regenerate from that.”

  Jarlen gave him an appreciative nod. “That’s brutal, Lord Wraith.”

  “Also messy,” Lavy pointed out. “I’d rather destroy my enemies with beautiful, elegant witchcraft.”

  “So, although I like the spell, it’s probably best not to tempt Objectivity. There’s no way I’d be able to resist playing around with it,” Ed said. “What about the others?”

  “No idea,” Alder said happily. “I just want to congratulate you on upgrading your Spirit, because when I met you, you would’ve gotten the spell immediately and already tried to raise an army of trained, giant fleas.”

  Ed grinned. “Well, fuck you too. Also, that’s not a bad idea at all.”

  “Message,” Kes said. “Get dungeon message. I don’t care what else you do, get that one.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Lavy said. “Message is definitely a bloated basic spell. You’re saying that a hundred and forty words is worth a damn Improved spell slot? No way, not with Fireball around! You can’t say anything of use in so few words, anyway. Perhaps if the spell had twice as many letters allowed and you’d already gotten all other Improved spells beforehand.”

  “Actually,” Ed pointed out, “it says ‘characters,’ not words. So ‘Lavy’ is already four characters.”

  “That’s way worse!”

  Kes shrugged. “It’s the middle of the battle, everything is chaos and confusion, and your reserve shock cavalry Captain gets a voice straight into her brain saying, ‘Left flank is being overrun. Reinforce immediately,’ then proceeds to save the entire battle with a single, well-timed charge. This Dungeon Lord version of message cannot be intercepted, decoded, or compromised—for just an Improved spell slot? Sounds like a huge bargain to me. There are a few generals in the Cardinal Command who would sell their firstborn for it.”

  “Uh,” Alder said, scratching his chin. “That’s a great point, Kes. It’s just… message is so boring…”

  “I think I’m with Kes on this one,” Ed said. “I bet that every general and their mothers use dozens—if not hundreds—of message runes in every battle. Boring or not, it’s too useful to ignore.” Thankfully, he already had a bit of practice working around the 140-character-limit.

  “I feared you’d say that,” Lavy said. “What about the other spell?”

  “Get stone pillar,” Jarlen said. “Don’t bother choosing the most useful spell. Stone pillar and dungeon message are both very hard to find. Pillar is mostly for dwarven Power Levelers and Dungeon Lords, and dungeon message is for Dungeon Lords only. In the future, you should choose all your spells this way, Lord Wraith, and have your Head Researcher buy the other spells in the Netherworld and teach them to you. Teaching spells will also increase her own skills, so it’s an easy way to train your spellcasters.”

  Lavy cleared her throat nervously. “Of course. I knew that.”

  “Of course, Head Researcher. I’m but humbly helping you save your breath for much more important matters—those worthy of your time.”

  Alder and Ed exchanged a glance, and Ed wondered just how high Jarlen’s brown-nosing skill was. At least her trying this route was much better than her former attitude.

  It’s jarring, though, seeing how fast she changed her personality when she realized she couldn’t get rid of Lavy the other way, Ed thought. He had to remember that both personalities belonged to the same actress playing different roles. Jarlen would do or say anything to further her stance in the Haunt, and it was Ed’s job as a Dungeon Lord to make sure that the best way for her to grow in power was al
so the most beneficial one for the Haunt and its inhabitants.

  I will need to grind more Charm, he thought as he selected the two new spells and the information about how to cast them flowed into his brain with a pleasant tingle. He decided to ask Alder for help when they had some free time, although he dreaded to think of the possible ways the Bard could train him.

  Creating a Portal wasn’t as simple as just creating the room using Mantle magic. To start, it required a Dungeon Upgrade with a cost of one hundred Vyfaras, which wasn’t too much of a hit now that half of Undercity’s cutthroats were drinking the Haunt’s brew, but the actual materials were also hard to find. At Ed’s command, rows of drones came in and out of the chamber carrying stacks of metal ingots easily taller than their heads.

  The drones didn’t seem bothered by the fact that they were nonchalantly hauling several times their weight, although a drone was pretty much useless in a fight and far weaker than any other minion around, excluding spiderlings. When something was directly related to dungeon-building, the drones’ magic seemed to boost them way beyond their normal limits.

  Along with the drones, a small contingent of minions slowly arrived, all geared up and ready to go. They’d be Ed’s escort during his time in the Netherworld. Although arriving in a Regency was safer than Portaling into a random zone of the Netherworld, there was still the risk of a rival Dungeon Lord—or any other type of Dark creature, really—seeing an opening and trying to test their luck.

  Kaga, Yumiya, and the other seven Monster Hunters led the group. They were dressed in their best garments, with colorful tunics and clean weapons and armor. One of the trip’s objectives was to find a martial instructor for the kaftar, of an art in which they weren’t already experts themselves.