Azaria The Doll Dungeon 5 (Patreon)

Remodeling

Azaria

“I’ve been thinking about that. I want to make it a doll house.”

Starburst nodded his head. “That’d probably be the best. Your monsters will get a boost if they're in an environment suitable to them.”

“Good! Then we’ll go ahead with the doll house idea. Teach me sensei!” I said bowing like they did in the Japanese movies.

“The moles have carved a good amount from the wall. You need to claim it as your first floor and the magic will do the rest. Each room has a focus at the center. You have to carve out enough material to make room for that. We’re pretty close to the surface and it's your first floor so not much is required but when you get to the fifth or tenth floor, there will be quite a bit of mining required.”

“I say no to hard labor,” I said sticking my tongue out at him.

“All you’re doing is absorbing the rock they’re piling up!” Starburst nieghed disbainly.

“Hard. Labor,” I retorted crossing my arms.

“We’re all going to die,” he said letting his head drop.

“Hey. Should I like make cover for your horn so you can actually, you know, fighting?” I asked poking it with my non-existent finger.

“That’s not a bad idea. I was wondering how I could do anything with this... soft body.”

“Be cuddled. Be severely cuddled,” I answered with folded arms.

“I would run you through if you had a body girl,” Starburst said with a gruff.

“Pervert.”

I pulled up the creation list like Starburst showed me when I made the claws for the moles. Something that looked like the paint program that every computer came with popped up. This didn’t require a whole lot of artist talent but it was helpful. I quickly drew a plain horn in the window, but frowned as I wanted something a little more.

I dreaded the idea of people coming in here and trying to kill me and the dolls I’d made so far. Which was while I still dreaded the idea of hurting anyone almost as much it lost to my desire to protect myself. Starburst was a bit of a grump, but he reminded me of my grandpa that used to live in the country. Just as a horse.

Not knowing anything about weapons, I had to do my best. I knew from movies that sharpness was important. I made to sharp edges on either side of the horn. From there I vaguely remembered soemthign about jagged points being important so I threw that in there. Finally, since he was a unicorn and would be ramming his enemy, I made the point a sharp as possible.

With all that done, I felt I created something a bit too deadly. I for sure would not want to be on the opposite end of it. I created the object, and three hundred pounds of stone was taken from my inventory list. 

That was how creation worked. I could ‘purchase’ the item as long as I had enough material in my inventory. Stone was worth the least, while metals were slightly better. I idly wondered how much gold might be worth. Its weight or its value in the market outside?

“Here,” I called when I was finished with the weapon. I attached it to his horn and the dungeon fused it to his body. I wondered how the plush could hold up the weight of the horn.

“Now if I die in the dungeon, the horn will drop as a reward,” Starburst said testing the weight by moving his head a few times.

“You look handsome. You’re welcome,” I said sticking my chest out.

“Are you going to distract me again to keep from working on your dungeon?”

“No...” I floated away with a pout at being found out.

“Good. You wanted a doll house, so picture the first floor of a doll house.”

“Should it be backwards since we’re going down?” I asked slowing spinning over the rather large hole that we’d bore into the wall.

“Its magic. Do what you want!” Starburst shouted, his patience obviously at its end.

“Alright, alright. No need to shout.”

I turned toward the spot and focused on my first floor being centered in the hole. I felt a pull then a tremendous amount of the energy that left me for the monsters was pulled out of me. The sensation lasted for a good five minutes before it stopped. I immediately wanted to fall asleep. That changed when I saw the beautiful wooden door and smooth marble walls that had formed.

“Beautiful!” I shouted then shot forward. I slipped through the walls without any resistance, I mean, I’m basically a ghost. I emerged onto what looked like the ground floor of a mansion. Actually, it reminded me of home. I didn’t want to brag but my parents had been quite wealthy. 

A large staircase led up to what looked like three wings. Flying up the stairs, I saw dozens of doors along the halls. I was a bit confused though. I thought since it was called a floor, it would only be a single set of rooms. I voiced this to Starburst who was touring the strutruce with me.

“I’m sure in some case that would happen. Because you had an idea of what consistutes a doll house, this is the result.”

“I see.” To be honest I really didn’t, but I didn’t want him thinking I was slow.

“You’ll have the twins place their minions in the rooms. People will come in to fight them to get the treasure and fame. You said you could make another floor?” Starburst asked after we’d toured most of the mansion.

The rooms didn’t vary too much. The wings mainly consisted of bedrooms with the right wing having a music room, the left wing having a what appeared to be an art gallery, and finally the center wing having a lounge like room. Starburst explained I would usually make a unique monster for each of these rooms.

There was actually a first and second floor to this floor. I really wasn’t sure how that worked. The ground floor of the mansion contained a panty slash kitchen, a dining room, and a few miscellaneous rooms. I had a hundred souls to work with but Starburst explained that some people were really unlucky and only had a dozen or so to start with. I couldn’t decide if I should feel happy that I’m better off, or sad that a hundred people had already lost their lives for me.

I decided to put it off to the side or I’d go crazy. I would build some sort of mural to them later on in the dungeon. I felt I owed at least that much to them. 

“Yeah! Not sure why though. Maybe because I was out of it for a year,” I replied with a finger on my lip. 

“Let’s go ahead and build the next floor then. The harder it is the better.”

“EHHH~ I don’t want to work anymore today!” I said folding my arms over my chest. 

“Brat! I mean, mistress. You need to get this done. You only have ten days left,” Starburst said obviously doing his best to control his temper. Some part of me was starting to enjoy pushing him. 

“I know! But doing all this magicy stuff is making me tired!” I whined. I really was feeling tired. With the initial excitement of the mansion gone, there was a store of emptiness where the energy I used had been. If I had a body I was sure I’d be yawning right now.

“One more floor and you can take a nap. I promise,” he said with only a slight growl.

“You promised!” I went over to where the moles were working. It’d be another hour or so before there would be enough space for me to use the floor core or whatever you want to call it. Since I couldn’t take a nap until the new floor was done I decided to play with Lucy and Stella. 

They were having their toys fight each other. From what I could tell they weren’t every good. The toys appeared to have trouble moving around let alone swinging their weapons. The nutcrackers were doing better than the stuffed penguin warriors but not by much. 

“Lucy! Stella! Why are they having so much trouble?” I asked hovering over them.

Lucy snapped her fan shut and turned to face me. “We’re just not used to controlling them. We were only born a few days ago after all.”

“Ah! I thought with you being magic and all you’d have a grasp of it.” I said honestly.

“Unfortunately, that is not how the magic functions. Now, if you would be a dear and allow us to practice.” Lucy said then waved her hand at me. I stuck my tongue out at her.

I was laying on the ground with my head propped up on my hands watching the two of them slowly get better. I had to liken it to a puppeteer. They slowly got better at making the soldiers move. It was fun to watch for about the first ten minutes but quickly lost its novelty. Lucy was having a squad of her nutrcrackers charge a line of penguin soldiers that had their shields at the ready when I felt something enter the dungeon.

“Starburst! Something entered my field!” I squeaked at the unicorn. I thought I had ten more days! I don’t want to fight anything. I could feel the tears already starting to form.

“Calm down. They can’t see or hear us. We’re invisible unless we reach out to whatever entered the dungeon. That’s how the magic works.”

I took a calming breath and turned to the entrance. Everyone watched as a man either still in his teens or just entering his twenties stumbled down the stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he collapsed on the ground. I could sense Aether energy leaking out of him. I reached out with my senses and tried to pull it into myself.

As the energy came into my… being, a craving deep inside me awakened. I wanted more! I reached out and tried to pull more of his energy into my field, but something was stopping it from reaching me. Of course! Its because he’s alive. If I had Lucy kill him all that energy would be mine!

I realized what I just thought and screamed. “NO!” I flew into the corner of one of the mansion’s rooms and huddled into a ball. I wouldn’t be a monster! I don’t want to do this anymore!

“Girl! What’s wrong!?” Starburst demanded as he burst into the room.

“I don’t want to be a monster!” I screamed and curled tighter into my ball.

“Calm down! It’s just your dungeon instincts. It is meant to help you survive.”

“NO! NO! NO!” I screamed.