Dungeon Master

by Eric Vall

  “You’re right, Carmedy,” Annalíse said as she tightened her grip on her sword hilt. “It’s very--”

  “Creepy?” Rana interjected.

  “I was going to say suspicious,” Annalíse said softly, and she narrowed her eyes as her gaze swept over the area. “It is unsettling though.”

  We continued our way through the thickly wooded area, my minions readied themselves for any oncoming attacks. Annalíse walked with her sword drawn and her face serious. At first glance, Rana’s body language appeared more relaxed as the fox-eared female strolled through the forest casually with her paws in her pockets, but her ears twitched rapidly in every direction indicating that she was indeed on high alert. I was certain that her paws that she had seemingly stuffed in her pockets so carelessly actually clutched two of her elvish daggers.

  I was just about to ask Morrigan to have Fea and Macha scout out the area when she whispered something to each of her winged pets, and they took off into the sky. The she-elf’s eyes were quickly overcome with darkness as she silently walked beside me, and I smiled softly to myself, proud to see that my minions were learning to take initiative. She knew that Fea and Macha were our best chance at avoiding any sort of ambush and so set them off with no need for my command.

  As we progressed, I started to detect the deity’s presence and smiled to myself. We were now within its range. I was about to inform my minions of that fact when something else caught my attention. The dungeon’s deity wasn’t the only being that my godly senses detected. There were four, no, five other beings here, but they were human.

  “Morrigan,” I said as I turned my head slightly to the white-haired elf. “Do you see any--”

  “I see five people in a small clearing up ahead,” the tattooed woman said calmly. “They appear to be human.”

  “There’s no one else?” I asked quickly. “You don’t see the deity?”

  “I do not,” Morrigan said simply. “Only the humans.”

  “Very well,” I said with a furrowed brow. The god was around here somewhere, I could feel them. They most likely hadn’t revealed themselves yet, probably so that they could make some sort of dramatic entrance as was typical of deities. Truthfully, I couldn't criticize. I had never revealed myself to adventurers who graced my dungeon, up until recently that is. However, I did tend to use dark techniques that resulted in shock, awe, and terror.

  “What are the humans doing?” I continued to question Morrigan. “Do they appear to be in some sort of attack formation?”

  “No.” Morrigan shook her head, and a few long white strands of hairs swayed in response. “They appear to be standing idly, talking amongst themselves, I cannot see their faces, for they are wearing hooded cloaks.”

  “Hmm, I see,” I mumbled to myself. So far on our journey, we hadn’t encountered any other groups in the dungeons, but the presence of other adventurers wasn’t out of the ordinary. There were still countless people that sought the fame and fortune that only dungeon conquering could bring. And yet, I was ill at ease, but I wasn’t sure why exactly.

  “Morrigan, how far away are we from them?” I asked as I scanned the area ahead of us.

  “Approximately one hundred yards,” the she-elf replied without hesitation. She was confident in her estimation, she was learning.

  “Alright, everyone.” I turned to look at each of my minions. “Approach with caution. We don’t know if these people are going to be friendly or not. They may not be too happy that we’re here, and they may see us as a threat and take action. Be ready,” I said firmly. The four women nodded silently and prepared themselves.

  We edged onward. The border of the trees that surrounded the clearing that Morrigan had spoken of started to come into view. I raised a hand to the air as a signal to the rest of the group to slow down.

  “Tread carefully,” I whispered. “I don’t want them to know that we’re here yet. If these people were hostile, it would be to our advantage to make our move while their guard was down. If things went as planned, the group of humans wouldn’t know that we were there until it was too late.

  The women nodded once more in response to my instructions and proceeded to move forward on tiptoe. I gestured for them to conceal themselves behind the gigantic trees. I wanted to observe the group of humans and see if I could glean any information from them before we revealed our presence.

  I crept behind one of the wooded giants and cautiously peered out from behind it. There was indeed a clearing exactly as Morrigan had said, and there were the five humans that we had detected. Before us were five men meandering about, and each of them wore hoods over their heads. It didn’t seem like they were doing it to disguise themselves, the air was a bit cold, so I guessed it was more for comfort. I couldn’t make out the facial features of every man, but then one of them turned slightly in my direction and looked up at the ceiling of the cavern.

  I could see that he had a sharp hawk-like nose that looked familiar. As the thought crossed my mind, one of them turned around, and his face came into full view. He was a large man with a jagged scar that slanted across his right eyebrow. My blood began to boil and my face grew hot. I knew that face all too well, and it took all I had to choke down my anger.

  It was Luke Barden.

  As I opened my mouth to whisper for my minions to stay where they were, I saw Rana’s face curl into a look of rage, and she stormed out from behind her tree.

  “Wait!” I hissed at the fox-tailed female, but she ignored me. This was the sort of rash behavior I expected from Annalíse. I understood Rana’s anger, but this wasn’t the way to handle things.

  “Hey, ugly!” Rana scowled as she approached the group of brothers. “What are you and your goons doing here, playing hide and seek? Now I thought that was a game for children. Then again it might be perfect for you all, your brains are pretty underdeveloped. Playing something like checkers would probably be too much of a strain, heck, playing marbles would give you morons a headache.”

  The men jumped in surprise and placed their hands on their weapons. I stifled a groan and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. They had been completely unaware that we had entered into the area, and if Rana had waited, we might have been able to take them easily by ambush. Thanks to her, that option was now gone.

  “You?” Luke narrowed his eyes at Rana. “What are you doing here? Where are the rest of your little friends?”

  “We’re right here,” Annalíse said bitterly as she walked out from her hiding place. Morrigan and Carmedy followed suit. I shook my head and proceeded to join them, there was no sense in hiding now.

  “Well, well, well,” Luke sneered. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a reunion.”

  The rest of his brothers glared at us with their hands still on their weapons, but I noticed that a few of them gave us frightened glances. Good, they hadn’t forgotten the beating that we had given them. I observed that the lanky Barden brother, as well as the short, stout one that we had met in the trade shop, were not among the group. I recognized one of the more muscular men as the brother who had initially accompanied Luke to our table at the tavern. He was a head shorter than the scar-faced Barden, but he was just as brawny.

  Back at the tavern, I hadn’t gotten a good look at the other three men that had been at Luke’s table, but now I could see them more clearly. One of them had a slender yet athletic build and was the tallest of the bunch. The other two appeared to be twins and had a spread of freckles on their noses and cheeks.

  “You know, I was feeling a bit sad,” Luke said with a phony pained expression. “You all left town without saying goodbye. We didn’t get to see you off all proper-like.” The scarred man grinned with malice.

  “I bet you’re all torn up inside, aren’t you?” Rana pursed her lips.

  “Well, of course.” Luke folded his arms over his broad chest. “We wouldn’t want you all to think that we weren’t welcoming folks, now would we, boys?” The other four men grumbled in agreement.

&nbs
p; “We don’t have time for your nonsense,” I said sharply. “Leave this dungeon immediately, and I won’t kill you where you stand.”

  “There you go being rude again.” Luke shook his slowly and clicked his tongue. “Looks like I’m going to have to teach you some manners.” His mouth upturned into a wicked grin, and he took a step toward me. His brothers turned to join him, and my minions and I readied ourselves for their attack.

  “Stop this instant!” a deep voice suddenly boomed, it was so loud that it seemed to shake the forest. All the Barden brothers as well as the members of our group were startled by the sudden interruption and craned our necks in every direction in search of the speaker.

  “Was that the dungeon’s deity?” Carmedy whispered to me.

  “Yes, I’m certain of it.” I nodded. I still couldn’t see the god, but his presence had grown stronger, he was now among us.

  “I will not permit you to fight with one another,” the mighty voice continued. “At least not until you have started your challenge.” His voice was like thunder, and he spoke slowly as though he were in no hurry whatsoever. He was so loud that his words seemed to be coming from everywhere. It was impossible to pinpoint where they were coming from exactly.

  “What challenge?” Luke narrowed his eyes.

  “Why, the survival challenge, of course!” the god said with a hearty laugh. “I shall pit you against each other in a game of survival.”

  “Oh no.” Rana groaned and rubbed at her forehead. “Not another game, I don’t think I can stand it.”

  “You shall have to if you want to conquer my dungeon,” the deity called out. “And the only way that you’ll be able to do that is if you win. I must warn you, no one ever has. Few have survived, in fact.” His tone grew more serious. “Things tend to get a bit messy, you know.”

  “How do we win?” Annalíse said hurriedly.

  “Patience, young warrior.” The deity chuckled, and Annalíse grimaced in response. “I have not yet explained the rules. Now we mustn’t--”

  “Can we move this along so we can get this over with?” Luke grumbled, and he folded his arms and tapped his foot impatiently.

  “Such rudeness.” The god sighed lazily. “But very well. I shall explain the rules. To start, each of you shall receive a token,” the bodiless being said.

  No sooner had the deity said this when shiny golden coins suddenly materialized in front of each of our faces. They floated there until, one by one, we snatched them out of the air. I held up the coin to examine it. It was a simple small gold piece with a tree that resembled that of the ones in the forest etched onto each side. The coin was somewhat tarnished, and there were symbols of a foreign language scrawled around the edges, but I couldn’t decipher it.

  “Now, the object of the game is to collect the ten tokens, or points if you prefer,” the loud god continued his explanation, his words slower than a snail’s crawl. “Each token is worth one point, so at the moment, each team has five points.”

  “Hurry it up, will ya?” Luke said with a yawn as he leaned his back against one of the trees. “This is this is taking forever, and I don’t have all day.” His brothers snickered at his action, but the deity was not so amused.

  “You dare to address me so, you insolent little blaggard?” the deity shouted angrily, and the branches of the surrounding trees began to shake.

  Luke yelped at the god’s outburst, and Rana shot him a haughty grin. Luke glared back and pursed his lips, but then he awkwardly cleared his throat and looked off to the side with a sour expression.

  “Any more interruptions?” the god asked in a challenging tone. No one dared to speak. “Good.” The deity sighed, and the branches of the trees abruptly stopped shaking. “As I was saying, each token currently in your possession is worth one point. Each team will have forty-eight hours to obtain ten points. To get the extra points that are needed to win, you will, of course, have to take tokens from your rival team.”

  The god drawled on in such a way that I wondered if he was falling asleep. Perhaps he had grown tired of his surroundings as I had. I didn’t know how long he had been here but judging by his unenthused tone, it was safe to assume that he had been here for quite a while. He had probably explained these rules hundreds of times.

  “There are two ways that you may secure a token from the other team. Naturally, one of these ways is by killing the token holder. If you kill a person on the opposite team to obtain their token, the gold piece will be worth one point. Now, if you somehow figure out a way to steal someone’s token without killing them, it will be worth two points.”

  “That sounds stupid,” Luke said under his breath. I wasn’t sure if the deity had heard the scar-faced man or if he had merely decided to ignore him. Either way, the god didn’t respond to Luke’s disrespectful words.

  “Of course, it will be a challenge to take someone’s token without killing them and manage to stay alive yourself, but if you can somehow accomplish this, it will be well worth it,” the god boomed.

  “Are those the only rules?” Annalíse said impatiently as she chewed on her lip. The swordswoman hated time-wasting, and I knew that the god’s slow manner of speaking was driving her mad.

  “No, there are a few more points that I have yet to mention,” the deity said with a rumbling chuckle. Both our group and the Bardens released groans. At this rate, it would be nightfall before the god finished his explanation. “Now then, where was I?” the lethargic being mumbled to himself. “Oh yes, there is a limit to the number of people that you may kill. Each day, you may only kill half of the current number of rival team members.”

  “I don’t get it.” One of the freckle-faced Barden twins scratched his head.

  “There’s a shocker.” Rana rolled her eyes, and both of the twins glowered at her in response. The fox woman gave them a wicked grin and said nothing more.

  “Allow me to give you an example,” the deity said. “Let’s say the group of men is the green team and the group with the lovely ladies is the blue team.” Carmedy giggled in response to being called lovely. “If on the first day, the blue team kills two members of the green team, the blue team is not permitted to make any additional kills that day. They will have reached their maximum amount.”

  “Because half of five is two, sort of,” one of the twins exclaimed.

  “Precisely,” the god said brightly.

  “Brilliant deduction, genius,” Rana snorted at the twin who had spoken. The twins glared at the fox-tailed woman, but when one of them opened their mouth to speak, the deity cut him off before he got the chance.

  “Moving on,” the bodiless deity continued. “With two teammates gone, the green team would have three members left. This means that the blue team may only make one kill. The other token would have to be obtained by other means. If the time runs out and neither of the teams has managed to accrue ten points, then there is no winner. If you want another chance, we will have to start the process all over again. Hopefully, that will not be the case.” The deity sighed heavily. “Does everyone understand?”

  “What happens if we do decide to kill more than half?” Luke sneered and glanced angrily in my direction and then Rana’s. “What if we want to kill the other team altogether?” He looked as though he wanted to gut us both right then and there, and his brothers glared at us furiously.

  I returned Luke’s hateful gaze. I knew without a doubt that he wanted to see me dead and the feeling was mutual.

  “I would advise against that,” the deity said gravely. “Should one of the teams choose to kill more than the specified amount, they will have to engage me in a fight to the death.”

  “That doesn’t sound so tough,” Luke said with a superior smile. “There’s five of us and one of you.” He gestured to his siblings. “I think we could take you on.”

  “You fool,” I said through gritted teeth, “you would knowingly enter into combat with a god and expect to not only live but triumph? You truly are brainless.” I shook my h
ead in disbelief.

  “What did you call me?” Luke said threateningly and took a step toward me. He moved to take another but halted at the sound of the deity’s resounding voice.

  “You are not the first to have such brazen thoughts,” the god said casually, he almost sounded tired. “Many who have entered my dungeon have ignored my words and slaughtered the opposite team. They lacked patience and common sense. They decided that they would have a quicker victory if they fought me. Thus far, every person who has come to this foolish conclusion has perished. As I said before, I advise against it.”

  “Yeah, well you’ve never come across anyone like the Barden brothers, isn’t that right, boys?” Luke turned to his siblings. The men burst into hearty cheers in support of their brother’s bold statement. “You may have picked off all the other people who have come to your little dungeon, but not us. We’re not so easily beaten, you’ll be sorry that you ever crossed paths with us.”

  “Oh, I think everyone you meet is sorry they crossed paths with you, and not for the reason that you’re thinking,” Rana chortled. Carmedy placed a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle, and a faint smile came to Morrigan’s lips as she raised an eyebrow in amusement.

  Luke looked at Rana with unmistakable rage in his dark eyes and clenched his fists. “Shut your mouth, you filthy--”

  “Now, now that’s enough of that,” the deity interjected with a somewhat nonchalant tone. “No need to waste time bickering, let us begin our game of survival. I am going to have both teams spread out before we start. As in my example, the men will be the green team, and the other will be the blue team. Green team, you have ten minutes to take your starting position. Keep in mind that you must be at least one hundred yards from this point when we begin. Your ten minutes begins now.”

  The god yawned at that, and now I was really starting to think that he was falling asleep, but I couldn’t blame him. Unlike the insufferable deity from the previous dungeon, I didn’t get the impression that this god viewed his visitors as playthings. No one had ever conquered his dungeon, and I got the feeling that he was tired of issuing these challenges.