Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 204 (Patreon)

Chapter 204 – To the Moon

Miguel made it to the guild and back again in record time. He actually had two groups with him, when he returned. One was a group of low-leveled adventurers who were on their way to becoming regulars, and were working to safely progress through my early floors. The other was, to my surprise, Flint Fernvalley and his crew.

I manifested in the ‘lobby’ of the dungeon, surprising the newbies, who hadn’t seen my avatar before. I nodded once to Miguel, before looking at Flint and his band of dungeon divers. “Well, Mr. Fernvalley, I had not expected to see you again, especially so soon. I take it Miguel told you what I’m showing off?”

Flint smiled as he looked up at me. “Oh, yes indeed! It is a rare treat to get to see a dungeon when it is first opened. Usually, by the time people can travel to a dungeon, it has already claimed a few locals, which starts affecting its development. I understand that this dungeon has only been entered once, correct?”

“That’s right. A group of followers of mine entered the dungeon in the name of this dungeon, and defeated it, allowing this dungeon to claim the one on the moon as its subordinate. Which is fortunate, since the dungeon was just barely alive, at the time.”

“Oh, dear. Can you give us any more details? Information about the life cycles of dungeons is hard to come by, as you can expect.”

“Sure, but why don’t we go someplace a bit more comfortable to talk about it? There is a lounge area in the lobby on the moon, so people can relax a bit before coming back to Earth. I’m sure you’ll find it more relaxing than standing here, and it will allow us to speak at length about the contracts.”

As I spoke, I waved a hand, and a portal snapped into place on the nearby wall. “When we’re done, I’ll have a permanent portal set up in the portal hub, Miguel. It will be contract only, of course. Anyone trying to force their way through the portal without a contract is not going to enjoy the experience.”

Miguel nodded. “I figured as much, but can you give me an example? Concrete discussions work better than nebulous threats.”

I chuckled as I stepped through the portal. When the rest had followed me, I said, “Of course. Just like how if you pass through one of the floor portals in my dungeon without defeating the boss first it sends you to the Breeding Halls instead of the next floor, entering the portal to the moon without signing the contract first will result in you being teleported outside this safe zone, where there is a distinct lack of oxygen, and you’ll find a combination of traps forcing you down upon a bed of razor sharp spikes with a force of ten times earth gravity, while a field effect suppresses any magic that isn’t of the dungeon, including magical items. After thirty seconds of this, the gravitation field is reversed, sending the person flying off into space. I’m afraid that most people will find it quite fatal.”

Miguel nodded dumbly as he looked around the lounge area. It was a simple affair, not unlike the breakfast area you’d find in a mid-range hotel like a Hampton Suites of Holiday Inn. Nothing special, except for the view.

The whole building was one large, transparent dome, offering an uninterrupted view of the lunar landscape save for a single airlock door, leading to a landing pad outside. The center of the dome was, of course, the Apollo 11 lander, and the famous flag and footprints. Naturally, it would be horrible PR to disturb the site, so I did the next best thing.

A railing was formed in a twenty-meter radius from the lander, separating the comfortable flooring from the raw regolith inside the circle. Over that circle, a platform of hardened, indestructible air, same as the outer dome itself (a feat that was only possible because I was a dungeon), rose up a foot over the surface, like one of those glass-floor bridges you see in some places. Smaller domes kept the lander and flag from being disturbed. The idea of the place was to keep the site as perfectly preserved as possible, while still allowing people to come and see it.

In the rest of the dome, which had a radius of one hundred meters exactly, the area was separated into sections. Largest of these was the Museum, where all the ‘trash’ that the Apollo 11 crew had thrown out to make room for more moon rocks was collected and displayed in cases, with the lunar rover having a place of precedence in the exhibit. Other sections included the portal area, the lounge, a small shop, and the entrance to the dungeon itself.

Fernvalley and his crew were impressed with the construction, of course, but they were surprised at the reactions the Earth-born members of this expedition had. The TV star caught my eye, and I grinned. “As you know, Earth didn’t have the System since before intelligent life developed on our planet. This is the site where humans first walked on the moon, without magic or anything. It was a historic event, and, as you can see, still resonates with people to this day, despite the System offering so many new things.”

The Rodaini nodded. “It isn’t my normal thing, but do you think I can do an interview here? A System-less people doing something like this is unheard of. And this… museum is incredible.”

“Of course. In fact, why don’t we have the guildmaster join us, and we can use the lander and flag as a backdrop for the show. Since it is already different from your normal fare, it wouldn’t be too different to fall into a commentator role, analyzing the younger adventurers as they go through this dungeon for the first time, right?”

Hearing us talking about him, Miguel snapped out of his haze. “Oh, I would absolutely be happy to do this. After the interview, would it be all right for me to reach out to some people? One of my friends lives in Cape Canaveral, and knows a couple of the people who worked at Ground Control there for NASA for years.”

“Sure. And you can even reach out to NASA directly. Any astronauts that want to walk on the moon are more than welcome.”

“Great! By the way, I know the answer is probably ‘magic’, but I should be feeling lighter right now, right? Did you create artificial gravity?”

“Hah. No, I didn’t create it. Mr. Fernvalley here could tell you that gravity magic is commonly used on space ships, except when there’s some kind of power outage. But dungeons get skills to adjust the climate in their domain. Usually, this would be things like wind, rain, temperature, and the like. However, it is one of those open-ended skills that can be more useful the more knowledge you have. And since I am in control of the dungeon, I decided that there would be air in here, and gravity at Earth normal.”

“Excuse me, Mister Demon?” One of the adventurers, a warrior-type, spoke up. “What about inside the dungeon? Will there be gravity and air there, as well?”

Looking over at the guy, I smiled. “Oh, no. The dungeon was almost dead when it was claimed, as I said. The importance of the Tranquility Base site allowed a dungeon to form, but without anyone coming to visit, it was barely hanging on. So, I’m afraid that the Trials of the Demon God dungeon has not progressed to that point, yet.”

The warrior winced. “That would be a problem, then. Our party is kitted out for adventuring in the swamp, like we saw outside your Forbidden Chambers dungeon. We don’t have the equipment for fighting in vacuum.”

I chuckled at that. “I would have been very surprised if you did, actually. Fortunately, I have some solutions for that kind of thing. The shop you see over by the entrance to the dungeon has space suits that you can buy or rent. They are based off designs taken from the alien ship, so they most certainly are not what you would expect from a space suit. You’ll be able to fight in them.”

Another member of the party, a woman dressed in a mage’s robes, asked, “How resilient are they? Do they cut or puncture easily? If the suits are all that is allowing us to breathe, and they can be cut like paper, then that could be a big problem.”

I nodded to her. “The basic versions, which are the cheapest to buy, and the only ones available to rent, are as durable as a cotton shirt, unfortunately. While you can wear armor over them, you will need to be careful of not getting punctures or tears. Fortunately, the shop also sells suit sealant, which should help with any emergencies.”

The mage nodded slowly. “But that still means that the difficulty of the dungeon would go up considerably, since the slightest hit could be fatal. And if we’re in lower gravity, our reactions will all be off.”

“All true. However, you are certainly welcome to buy one of the more expensive suits, or you could take one of the rental suits out of the dome briefly to acclimatize to them, and the gravity. The shop will also sell trinkets like the escape charms from my dungeon, if you sign the contracts. If you like, you can go check things out, while Miguel, Flint, and I chat about how to cover your delve.”

The party of five decided that was a good idea, so they headed over to the shop, allowing the rest of us to talk. As they headed that way, I took a moment to bring up their information. Knowing who they were would be helpful, if they wanted to make a deal, after all.

Nathan Elliott

Human   Male

Level   10 Fighter / Guardian

Market   Value: $3500

The man who spoke to me was probably the party’s de facto leader. He was wearing armor that offered good protection, but also mobility, and was armed with a sword and shield. Not a bad combination, especially if he had the ‘Guardian’ profession, which essentially was a bodyguard by another name.

Henry Ward

Dwarf   Male

Level   10 Fighter / Brewer

Market   Value: $4000

The other fighter was one to watch. He actually had a few pieces of plate on over his chainmail, and just the weapons I could see included a two-handed axe, as well as a smaller battleaxe to go with a shield. Definitely leaning into the ‘dwarven warrior’ aspect. But that was fine. Plenty of people did things like that. Some of them even lived to tell of it.

Isabel Reid

Human Female

Level   10 Air Sorceress / Enchanter

Market   Value: $4500

This was the sorceress that had spoken to me. Probably the ‘voice of reason’ for the group, given how she acted. Not bad looking, but she was definitely going to have problems in the dungeon. Not having air to use for her spells was going to be a problem, I was sure.

Shay Perry

Wood Elf   Hermaphrodite

Level   10 Ranger / Trapsmith

Market   Value: $2500

The ranger was slender, and androgynous-looking. Which was different from most of those who had been transformed into a mixed gender by the System. Of course, most of the people I’d seen transformed like that had been ‘victims’ of some of my experiments, so it was possible that they were not a representative sample. At any rate, they were wearing leather armor, with a longbow in hand, and a shortsword hanging from their waist.

Heidi Nguyen

Human Female

Level   10 Priestess / Tailor

Market   Value: $3000

The last member of the party was clearly their healer. The name tripped me up for a moment, since it had to be the result of some kind of mixed marriage. And, indeed, the woman was an interesting mix of Nordic and Asian features. She was wearing chainmail, and also had a mace and shield. Apparently, she was a follower of Freyja.

Looking back to Miguel, I raised an eyebrow. “So, why did you pick them?”

The guildmaster shrugged. “They were there, with their whole team, and they haven’t spent enough time in your dungeon to have it warp their sensibilities, so they will offer a more ‘normal’ reaction to whatever happens than some of your regulars. They’re too jaded in some ways, and too complacent in others. You’ve basically ruined a bunch of adventurers for any other dungeons, you know that, right?”

I had to laugh at that. “Aw, you say the sweetest things, Miguel!”