(DD) Chapter 2 -Setting Up- (Patreon)

Ryker’s spells had been more then enough to get them started.

Wynne had provided technical knowledge of the core that allowed him to tweak and modify the spells for better efficiency and control.

They sat there in that basement for hours, planning out the dungeon that was the vehicle of their revenge.

In the end they settled on a straight forward layout.

A large chamber that opened up into his farmlands from below. With multiple shafts in the earth for sunlight to fall through, helping to grow the herbs quickly.

They’d chosen herbs that could be used to concoct elixirs and healing potions. Those type of things were always in demand, and always fetched a good price.

Staring down one such shaft in the early morning, Ryker couldn’t help but feel mildly impressed.

“It’s only been a week, and everything down there is growing. Growing fast,” he said.

Wynne bobbed in midair, holding her arms out.

“Of course! The dungeon is only being used to grow herbs. The magic is filling the cave and has nowhere to go. If it was a normal dungeon core, that poor crystal would have had problems keeping itself sane with that much magic. It’d be drunk right up to the point that it did something that got itself killed.

“Quite a few die in that manner.

“But since it doesn’t even have a soul, that’s not really a problem,” Wynne explained.

“Hm. I’d put our plans ahead of schedule. Significantly. I think we’d be best served collecting all of that and heading into town.

“Sell that entire crop of herbs to the alchemist guild. Then a visit to the blacksmith and the monster tamers,” Ryker murmured.

Wynne nodded her head and settled down into the grass.

“I shall remain here and watch over the core. It wouldn’t be good for me to go into town.

“Besides, we can speak through the bond if we truly need to,” Wynne said.

Nodding his head, Ryker set about collecting all the herbs.

He’d have to be quick.

If he wanted to get home by nightfall, he’d have to hurry up. It’d take half the day just to get there if he moved fast, let alone the trek back which would probably be in the dark.

The guards passed him by with a single surreptitious glance.

They knew him rather well by this point. He showed up regularly to sell off his extra harvest. Or whatever else he could scrounge up in the wild.

In fact, the guards didn’t even bother to tax him.

All it had taken him was being willing to help a few guards with some magical needs several times in the past. Things they didn’t want to let other city-folk know about, but still needed help with.

Without a spoken word, they suddenly looked the other way for him, and he helped them surreptitiously.

Shifting his grip on his backpack, Ryker headed for the alchemist shops. He was a man on a mission. And since he didn’t have a whole lot of time, he planned on keeping the haggling down to a minimum.

With that mindset, the sale was done in under five minutes. Most of that time was spent letting the alchemist examine all the herbs.

Tying the purse full of silver and gold tightly to the inside of his robe, Ryker left the alchemist shop and sped off to the blacksmith.

There he picked up a basic iron sword, iron dagger, quarter staff, simple bow, one arrow, a sling, torch, lantern, shovel, and a shield.

Those purchases dropped his newfound wealth significantly. From thirty gold down to seven-teen.

Solid equipment was expensive.

It’s an investment though. Buy one, have the dungeon make more.

“If it isn’t my dear old friend. Whatcha doing here One-pump?”

Looking up, Ryker found himself staring into the face of Robert. He just so happened to be one of the very same people Ryker was quite happily planning to murder.

The man was in his early thirties and had the demeanor of the very weapon he practiced with.

Sharp, dangerous, to the point.

Mud brown hair and shit colored eyes, Ryker wanted to cook that pretty face off his skull.

Not bothering to respond, Ryker walked away, heading for the monster tamers.

Rob didn’t merit his attention, and he’d give him none of it.

“Keep walkin’ One-pump. Go sell your vegetables,” Rob said, laughing at his own cruel remarks.

Oh you wait. I’ll turn you into a vegetable. Maybe I’ll drag your corpse out of the dungeon and build an outhouse over it. Take a shit on you every morning.

That’d be fucking delightful.

Ryker smiled to himself at the thought, feeling his mood brighten immediately. 

He had a task to complete and almost no time to do it in.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure what they’d have available to purchase.

So long as their card classified them as a monster, Wynne promised him they’d be suitable. And he’d only need one of whatever it was. The dungeon could multiply them as much as they had mana for.

All he had to do was kill the creature, or have it bind itself into a contract to the core. Either would work.

Stepping into a large squat building, Ryker took a quick look around.

It was a simple entry way. A high polished and clean counter, limited art on the walls, and a young attractive woman behind the counter.

Because every good salesman, or woman, starts with a pretty face.

“Good day, sir. What can I do for you?” she asked, putting on a bright smile.

“Monsters. Anything classified as a monster I’d like to take a look at. Preferably several different types,” Ryker said, stepping up to the counter.

“Oh? Are you starting a zoo?” she asked. It didn’t seem like she was prying into his business. He imagined it was more conversational.

She gestured with her left hand to a doorway to the side.

“Something like that,” Ryker said, moving to the indicated door.

“Right through there sir, our tamer will be happy to work with you to meet your needs. Merely tell him the same thing you did me.”

“Great. Sure,” Ryker said, opening the door and going through.

Stunned, he didn’t even realize he’d shut the door behind himself.

Arranged in neat orderly rows were monsters upon monsters. As far as he could see, it was a menagerie of creatures.

Peering at an Orc to his left, then a Goblin next to it, Ryker suddenly wasn’t sure of his plan.

He didn’t want something so common as that. He wanted his dungeon to stand out to a degree. To be unique and draw attention while at the same time, tempting his enemies.

“Slimes… no, let’s not do that. I don’t really want to deal with something like that. I can only imagine the entire place would be sticky,” Ryker kept moving, looking over countless monsters.

Coming to the end of the aisle he looked left, then right.

There was no one around.

Shrugging his shoulders, he took the left aisle. Much sooner than he expected, he wandered into a circular subsection. It looked more akin to a furniture showroom.

Items of every make and shade were arranged in strange room like settings. Enough to fill several houses completely.

“Found your way into the Animated Objects, did we?” asked a voice from his side.

Breaking his focus off a table, he found a Gnome next to himself.

“Animated Objects? These are all ensorcelled?” Ryker asked.

“Every one. They’re not exactly intimidating, and if they’re not a weapon, they’re typically of limited use. I keep them as a curio. No one would ever want one in their house though. Can’t be sure they won’t just… attack,” admitted the Gnome with a smirk. “Names Twitch.”

“Ryker.”

Twitch nodded his head at that and scratched at his chin.

He looked young for a Gnome, maybe twenty something. Blue eyes and black hair gave him a bit of a striking look.

“Interested in them?” Twitch asked.

Ryker thought on that. He imagined this could actually be rather useful. Having all of these items would keep adventurers on their toes when moving. Never know which table is a table, and which candle is a candle.

I’ve also never heard of anything like this. I know they’re classified as Monsters, just never heard of them in dungeons.

Mimics? Sure. But those were everywhere now. People ran around with “detect life” on simply to find them. One of the simplest spells out there and they were nothing more than a novelty.

“Depends on the price,”Ryker said, making up his mind.

“Do everything in the room for five gold,” Twitch offered.

“One, because I’ll have to get a storage item to carry it all with me,” Ryker countered.

“I’ll sell you a bag of holding for three and the whole room for two,” Twitch came back with.

Ryker thought on that, then nodded his head. The price was a touch high on the bag, but he had other deals to make with this man.

He might get a better price later for letting this one slide now.

“Done. I’d also like to see some other monsters as well. Preferably those that are bent towards a physical disposition. And maybe a small magically inclined one.”

Twitch paused in thought, then bobbed his head. Without a word he set off in a different direction entirely.

“I think I’ve got a few things to show you,” Twitch said.

A twist and a turn later, and Ryker was staring at two humanoid creatures standing at about five foot eight and five foot six.

They had both had brown eyes that had a feral intelligence in them. Where-ever clothes didn’t cover them, Ryker could see short brown hair. It covered their skin thinly and laid almost more like fur.

“Male and female Hobgoblin. They’d be about six gold for the pair,” Twitch said, indicating the two.

“Can I see their cards?” Ryker asked.

“Sure, sure. Should be right- ah, here they are.” Twitch was flipping through a personal magical folio that he’d stored all the monster cards in.

Handing them over, Ryker took them and inspected them.

Not bothering to read the second one, Ryker nodded.

“I’ll take them for four,” Ryker said.

They sounded great. Hobgoblin’s didn’t normally appear in early dungeons. He could also train them to become an army down the road if he so chose. They made great soldiers.

Hobgoblin society as a whole was fairly militaristic.

Twitch eyed him and then nodded his head. “Alright. Four. I also have a minotaur. Nine gold.”

A Minotaur? That’d be different. Very different. They only typically end up in very high end dungeons. Nothing wrong with a giant bull man with an axe.

“Monster type?” Ryker confirmed.

“Yeah, want to see the card?”

“No, I trust you. Three. It’s only one of them,” Ryker said easily.

“Six.”

“Four.”

“Five,” Twitch said, folding his arms across his chest. “I’ll include his weapon.”

“Done. Anything magical?”

“Well. I have an aging Winged Homnuculi. Looks like a flying lizard. It never bonded to anyone and it’s of the magical variety,” Twitch said without any emphasis.

“Oh? What kind of magical affinity.”

“All the basic ones. Fire, Water, Earth, Air. Monster type, of course.”

“Mm. Price?”

Twitch hesitated, then sighed.

“Three, and I’ll not budge. His life is nearing the end, but hes worth it. If you bind him to you, you’ll not be disappointed,” Twitch promised.

Like I care. Going to feed him to the dungeon and make hundreds of them.

“Done,” Ryker said. Pulling out the purse he had with him, he handed it over. It was every coin he had on him.

Twitched gave him a smirk and took the purse. “Thanks for your business.”

Pulling up to the home he now shared with Wynne, Ryker pulled the wagon up short. The oxen came to a lowing stop and began to immediately graze on the grass.

He’d ended up only renting the wagon and would be forced to turn it in on his return trip with his next herb load.

The sun was long scine set and Ryker was tired. It’d been an all day trip for him.

“Wow!” Wynne said, zooming in close to him. “You did good!”

Her eyes were fixed on the wagon and the monsters sitting inside of it.

“Glad to hear you think so. Can you speak with them? If they’re willing to contract with the core, that’d be easier than slitting their throats in the dungeon,” Ryker said seriously.

He was a practical man. He wasn’t above killing monsters.

But in the same breath it’d be a pain, and it wouldn’t sit quite right with him when they couldn’t even fight back.

“I can take care of that. How about you go eat dinner, then cozy up in bed,” Wynne said soothingly.

“You made dinner?” Ryker asked curiously. Getting down from the driver’s seat he stretched his back.

Wynne came over and hovered in front of him, her wings fluttering slowly.

Her flight is clearly magical.

“I did. It’s only stew but… I’ve had it going all day. I think you’ll enjoy it. Shoo, off with you,” Wynne said, making a dismissive gesture with her small hands.

Grinning he bowed his head to her.

“My thanks to the chef then. I’ll take you up on your offer. See you in the morning.”

Doing an about face, Ryker went inside and did exactly what she told him to.

He was beat. Dead tired.

Besides, as his partner, he had to expect her to carry her weight, too. Right?

Peering down into the dungeon he could see the corpse of the male hobgoblin.

“Someone didn’t want to agree?” Ryker asked Wynne.

“He wanted what he couldn’t have. Just because he’s first here, doesn’t mean he’ll be there leader. I had the Minotaur take care of him,” Wynne explained.

Ryker shrugged.

“Works just the same,” he said.

Focusing on the link to the dungeon core, Ryker called up one of his control spells.

“I’m still thinking we go with the original plan. Build a simple dungeon, start to finish, normal stuff, nothing out of the ordinary. How long do you think we have before we run the possibility of being discovered?” Ryker asked.

“Chances are, we already were,” Wynne admitted. “The good news is that it’ll take them a very long time to get here. They also won’t probably rush here since the amount of power was rather low.”

Ryker felt like there was a “but” coming and that he wouldn’t like it.

Instead of asking for it, he decided to wait. Her own life was on the line as well, so he doubted she’d do anything that would endanger them.

Utilizing the control spell, he began to work on the dungeon layout.

The entrance, when he made it, would be from the south side of the hill. At the base of it. The entry point would back up into where the inn was going to go. Therefore the entrance would be more like walking down into a cellar then a door frame.

From the entry point there was a decently sized empty cavern. Suitable for gathering your party and making final preparations. It would also serve as a destination station down the road.

Ryker had plans to have multiple dungeons with varrying degrees of difficulty down the road. Not just one never ending one.

That’d be dull. And boring.

Ryker grinned as he forced the soulless Dungeon Core to work. The first dungeon would be a testing ground. The first several rooms were made into open spaces. Hobs would roam here in ones and twos. Letting adventurers test their mettle in a fight.

Learn the ropes.

He connected those rooms, then set runes beneath the surface of the floor. These runes were how dungeons had an endless supply of creatures.

Having killed the Hob, and binding the second one, the dungeon now knew the pattern for them. The runes, simply made that pattern, and filled it with magic.

Essentially making a magical construct of a random Hob. Random cost less mana.

Or so my theory. Wynne agreed and said it sounded right.

Ryker quickly added a few more runes, setting it into the Hob rune so that it would spawn with a random weapon.

Letting the runes work, Ryker built out the next room.

He made it large, and then began working on the landscape of it. He gave it the appearance of an underground ruin. That looked as if it were the outskirts that had been abandoned. In and amongst those broken huts and shattered walls, he began laying more Hob runes.

Some he gave the possibility of having armor to. Or simply more weapons to work with.

There were even a few that he designed to be unarmed, and unarmored. He wanted to play with these later on. See if he could make his dungeon truly unique.

Near the rear of the open room, he put down six closely knit runes. This would be the checkpoint, as it were.

This band of Hobs he gave full leather armor to, a sword, spear, and shield each.

He imagined a number of adventurers would under estimate this group and perish.

Such is life. I’ve done the dive myself, I knew the risks. No one goes in blind.

Checking how much room he had left to work with, he realized he hadn’t even gotten into five percent of what the dungeon core could reach.

Opening his eyes, Ryker collected his thoughts.

“The size limitations feel larger than they should be,” Ryker said, looking to Wynne.

“They are. As I said, I’m quite strong. Adding your own magic to that, and control, has given the dungeon a size unequal for it’s age,” Wynne said, puffing out her chest.

Grinning Ryker nodded his head. “Alright.”

Closing his eyes, he focused back into the dungeon core.

Well, if we’ve got the size to work with, let’s use thirty-three percent for this dungeon.

Getting comfortable, Ryker began to build an intricate city on the verge of flying apart. He put in inns, shops, homes, military posts, streets, parks, everything that made a city, a city.

Runes went in wherever he felt it would be logical for Hobs to come to be. Whether living there, or simply being there.

And in this very large city zone, he began adding in the animated objects. Tables, chairs, desks, candles, bookshelves, beds, mats, rugs, everything. As they were technically items, he had the pattern for non-enchanted versions of each one, too.

Soon, the city was full of objects that were both mundane, and animated.

Focusing on the keep at the center of the city, he moved into the throne room he’d made.

He set a rune for a Minotaur here. One with a good weapon, and full armor.

With that Minotaur was a squad of Hobs equipped with solid sets of gear.

At the back of the throne room, he dropped in a chest, but no loot.

Loot would come later once he actually got some.

He’d also probably have to begin modifying certain runes to bolster or weaken the summoned monsters in each area.

But that was all work for another time.

Right now, he was primarily interested in getting the rough shape of it all.

On the opposite side of the city that a group would enter from, he built an exit. That exit would go straight through to the north side of the hill, where Ryker planned to put up a shop.

Then he reconsidered it. If he didn’t put in some type of stop gap, people would try to enter from the exit.

Thinking on it for a moment, he decided to do what he did best.

Be as direct as a sharp knife.

Planting a sign down right there he stuck a simple warning on it. Violators would be killed.

Then he trapped the entire area. From the entry point of the entry from the city, all the way to exit of the actual dungeon. It was now a massive rockfall trap.

Rocks fall, everyone dies. Don’t mess with me.

Deciding to stop here, he camouflaged the herb garden. Then he created a space for the dungeon core to rest, just beneath his basement. There was only the smallest sliver of room for the core to interact with the dungeon.

It’d be enough for him to work through it, but if it were a normal core, it would have probably gone insane due to the lack of contact.

No one would know the core, or the herb garden, was there without being told.

Sighing, and exhausted, the wizard shook out his hands and lifted his head.

Opening his eyes, he found it was early evening, and the sun was starting to set.

“Goodness,” Ryker said softly.

Small hands pressed into his neck and patted him softly.

“Good work, Ryker. I was watching. That’s fairly ingenious. I don’t think I’ve seen a similar dungeon. Most are a series of rooms simply connected together to kill as many people as possible.

“That or they do silly things, like fill it with slimes,” she said, a strange tone in her voice.

“Slimes? I dunno. Those can be pretty terrifying. Especially the larger versions,” Ryker said. He’d researched monsters quite a bit while he waited for the core to awaken.

“So…” Wynne started. Her hands pressed at the base of his skull. She was trying her hardest, even if the maximum pressure she could exert was minimal.

“Mm?” Ryker asked. He imagined this was what she hadn’t wanted to say earlier.

“It’s likely an adventurer’s guild party will be here in maybe four days. But it won’t be an official dive. Not one that’ll count,” Wynne said cautiously.

That’ll speed up my time-line on building the inn and the store.

Speed up my time-line on everything, really. Maybe I can expand the dungeon zone a bit and have the Hobs help out? That’s the only way we’ll get this done quickly.

I’ll need to send off that letter. Sounds like I’ll be taking that wagon back sooner than I thought.

“I felt a wizard probing the area this morning. They might have felt it and are planning an expedition. If they can report it, they’ll get a finders fee,” Wynne said.

Ryker only nodded his head.

He had time to prepare.

And prepare we shall.