It was almost noon on the third day when they finally reached the
entrance to the maze. The door was a massive wooden door with a
magical symbol.
"I remember that Grandma made this for me. I used to play in
here for hours at a time. If I got hungry, Grandma would just send me
some food and I'd keep playing. If I got tired, she'd pull me out of
there and put me in a bed." Keitaro explained.
"Odd that you didn't know any of that when you started." Kaolla
noted.
"Well, it HAD been a long time since I'd been in a dungeon."
Keitaro responded.
Motoko walked up to the door and pushed. When the door failed to
open, she pushed harder, bracing her boots against the ground. As her
boots began digging into the ground, she gave up, "How are we supposed
to get in?"
"You have to be of the family to open the door." Keitaro
answered, walking up to the door.
He pushed lightly and the door swung open as if Keitaro had
performed a flying body check.
"Why didn't you say that sooner?" Motoko asked, exasperated.
"I kinda forgot. A lot of this is just coming back to me."
Keitaro explained as he entered the dungeon's first corridor.
Motoko turned to Haruka, "And why don't you know?"
"I've been here once and it wasn't a long visit." Haruka replied.
"Come on, I know the way to the Heart." Keitaro called from
inside the corridor.
The Dungeon Heart was exactly where he had expected it to be.
The others had been amazed at how Keitaro had found and unlocked all
the secret doors that would have barred the entrance of anyone who
didn't know where they were. In fact, it'd taken roughly one minute to
get to the Dungeon Heart from the entrance.
"Good thing I remembered the short cut." Keitaro noted.
"No kidding." the group answered in unison.
"I don't think anyone would've found those secret passages."
Motoko declared.
"Like I said, I used to play in here all the time." Keitaro
explained.
"So, what does he have to do in order to be it's Keeper?" Naru
inquired.
Before Haruka could respond, Keitaro was already walking up the
stairway. He walked off the last step, but did not fall. Instead, he
seemed to hover, as if standing on an invisible platform. A swirl of
green energy surrounded him briefly just before a flare of magical
energy coated his body.
Keitaro looked around, as if trying to decide on something. A
minor explosion of magical energy later, a swarm of twenty five Liddo
bounded out of the Dungeon Heart and began digging at the walls.
"I guess Grandma Hina left a magical instructor." Haruka
answered.
"No, she left a number of rooms, all prepared. I'm claiming them
now." Keitaro responded, "There seems to be about six portals around
here too. As for instructions, well..."
Keitaro held up a book that read, "Dungeon Hearts For Dummies".
"I guess that's why Grandma said that he would be a powerful
keeper." Kitsune noted.
"No, it's because she left me a map." Keitaro responded.
"A map?" Naru inquired.
Keitaro nodded, "A magical map that only I can see. It leads to
the four fragments of the legendary Horned Reaper's amulet. With all
four, I can summon him."
The jaws of the girls dropped, even Tama-chan's, in perfect
harmony. Haruka was the only one unfazed.
"THE HORNED REAPER?!" Motoko demanded.
Keitaro nodded.
"The folktale they use to scare small children into behaving?!"
Naru inquired.
Keitaro nodded.
"The nightmarish warrior from ancient times who can NEVER be
beaten?!" Kitsune asked.
Keitaro nodded.
"I haven't seen Horny in a while. It'll be nice working with him
again." Haruka commented.
Keitaro paused mid-nod.
"HUH?!" Motoko and Keitaro asked.
"What? Horny's amulet always scatters itself whenever his keeper
dies. Grandma Hina just happened to be Horny's last keeper." Haruka
answered.
"Um, in any case, the rooms are all claimed, so you should
probably go find one. I'm going to start reading." Keitaro told them.
Learning how to be a Keeper was not an easy task. Even with
"Dungeon Hearts For Dummies" (written, produced and published in small
quantities by Hina Urashima), it was not an easy thing to do. There
were some instinctual things, like creating imps, choosing spots for
digging and so on, but there were also a number of oddities to pick up.
For instance, the Liddo-type Imps were actually a sign of those
who'd purchased the books. They were cute, competent and unassuming,
perfect for catching enemy imps offguard.
He could actually enter the Dungeon Heart in cases of emergency,
but doing so for too long would endanger his body and cause him to fuse
more fully with the Dungeon Heart, which Grandma Hina warned could be
lethal as the destruction of the Dungeon Heart could cause a heart
attack or seizure.
He could also create what was known as a Fog of War, which forced
enemy magic-users and keepers to use strong scrying spells to see
anything within a certain radius.
The symbols were easy enough to memorize. Of course, he
practiced a few times with a lair to make certain he knew how to create
one. Once he was certain he had it, he began to look over the rules on
spells.
Spells were a whole new ballgame for Keitaro, but again, it was
mostly symbol memorization. Probably the most infuriating about this
was learning exactly WHY a Keeper needed spellcasters to mark the runes
on the pillars that lay in all of the libraries.
The chart for mana expenditure went like so:
Lightning Bolt on claimed land after research: 1 x Mana
Lightning Bolt on claimed land before research: 3 x Mana
Lightning Bolt on unclaimed land after research: 3 x Mana
Lightning Bolt on unclaimed land before research: 9 x Mana
Lightning Bolt on enemy land after research: 6 x Mana
Lightning Bolt on enemy land before research: 18 x Mana
And that was just a SINGLE lightning bolt. Healing spells were
much easier, obviously, because the Dungeon Heart made a tiny tie to
each of the creatures in the Dungeon, allowing him to heal them,
monitor their health and so on. The only flaw was that it couldn't
restore the unconscious or destroyed.
In fact, there were only four spells in all of the charts that
were the same cost no matter what: Tremor, Heal, Call to Arms and Sight
of Evil.
Tremor was probably so overall easy because you weren't acting
directly. Call to Arms, you were simply placing a summoning spell for
your creatures, Sight of Evil, you were looking through an enemy's Fog
of War briefly. Heal sent energy through the tie to the creature,
allowing it's mind to dictate what was healed and how everything was
supposed to move (which was why the unconscious, dead or destroyed
couldn't be healed).
"Keitaro." Haruka's voice interupted his study.
He blinked and turned to face her, "What is it?"
"You should get some rest. Even Grandma Hina never stopped
sleeping." Haruka told him.
"I'm fine. The initial boost of mana is like a caffeine boost.
I'll probably get sleepy once I'm finished with this book." Keitaro
answered.
"You've been flipping through it time and again." Haruka pointed
out.
"I'm _memorizing_." Keitaro responded, using a forceful tone to
imply that he was not going to heed any advice about rest.
Haruka sighed. He was as stubborn as Grandma Hina, sometimes.
But, then again, he had a very difficult job to adapt to. Being a
Keeper was a hectic and sometimes unforgiving job.
"Well, don't stay up too late." Haruka warned him.
Keitaro murmurred a response.
When Haruka awoke, she looked to see that a steel door had been
placed at the entrance to the lair. She arched an eyebrow.
Apparently, either they had gained a Troll, a Bile Demon or Keitaro had
decided to get to work as such.
Kitsune was already working on the pillars in the library, Naru
was praying in the temple, Kaolla and Tama-chan were off searching, and
Motoko was training in the training room.
She finally found Keitaro where she expected to find him: The
workshop.
"Working on your own doors and traps?" Haruka inquired.
"I'm creating variants. I noticed, when I was working as a
Troll, that a lot of traps seemed a bit wasteful or inefficient. I
didn't want to waste our Keeper's money creating brand new traps, so I
decided to try them out on my own." Keitaro answered.
Haruka looked at what would have been four normal tesla coils if
they had been fused at the base. They each branched out from the base
with an equal amount of distance between the tips of each coil.
"You do realize that the only way to test these is to lay them
out where they can encounter heroes, right?" Haruka inquired.
"I know. That's why I didn't want to spend our Keeper's money on
it. This is a Super Lightning Trap." Keitaro responded.
Haruka glanced at another trap. It looked like a standard cannon
with turning wheels, only it had two barrels.
"Double-barrelled Sentry Cannon." Keitaro explained.
"Well, it's your decision." Haruka responded.
Keitaro nodded, then looked to his left, "Well, they found the
first portal."
"It's taken this long?" Haruka inquired.
"No, I had them digging up gold earlier. Why bother getting
minions when I can't pay them?" Keitaro responded.
Haruka had to admit that the logic was solid.
Keitaro felt a flare of mana that coincided with the sound of the
arrival of a new creature. He decided to check out the newcomer.
Keitaro felt that the time he'd spent mastering teleportation around
his own dungeon was well worth it when he arrived at the portal.
The newcomer was slightly taller than him, with black hair and
blue-grey eyes. He had a short ponytail and wore a red shirt with
black pants. He had metal bracers on his forearms and soft shoes.
"Um, hi. I'm Keitaro Urashima, the keeper of this dungeon."
Keitaro began, feeling a bit uncertain of his greeting and wishing he'd
spent more time figuring out what he was going to say to newcomers.
The newcomer either didn't notice Keitaro's unease or didn't
care, "Hey. I'm Ranma Saotome. I don't care what I do, so long as I
don't have to deal with my stupid father anymore."
"Uh, well then, I guess... um... you're a fighter, right?"
Keitaro inquired.
"Yep, Ranma Saotome, master of the Anything Goes School of
Martial Arts." Ranma responded.
Keitaro opened his book. He didn't know of a classification for
Martial Artist, save for maybe Monk. He pulled out the "Dungeon Hearts
For Dummies" book and flipped through to the classifications.
"Hmmm, there doesn't seem to be a martial artist class..."
Keitaro murmurred.
"What are you talking about?" Ranma inquired.
"Well, I have to classify you under one of the set pay scales or
else you don't get paid properly." Keitaro explained, "Classification
also grants additional benefits in the form of magical gifts. Trolls,
for instance, gain fire resistance and the ability to see hidden
traps."
"You're the boss. 'sides, I ain't been in a Dungeon before."
Ranma said.
Keitaro considered his options, "I could make you a Monk, that
would give you the ability to heal yourself, kill vampires permanently
and boost your speed and defense."
"Well, I guess that'd be kinda cool." Ranma responded.
"Okay, you're now a monk. I'll show you to the lairs." Keitaro
declared.
Before Ranma could reply, they were in the lair. Keitaro gave
Ranma a brief rundown on how everything worked. Being a Monk, Ranma's
jobs consisted largely of training, fighting, eating, sleeping and
occassionally praying.
Keitaro heard the sound of another creature entering and left
Ranma to his own devices as the martial artist headed for the training
room.
Keitaro just sort of... STARED... at the next new ally. It
wasn't polite, but one rarely expected to see a seven foot female
werecheetah, wearing a tank top and tight jean shorts, enter a room,
let alone climb up out of one's portal. Keitaro, however, managed to
snap out of his stupor before the werecheetah noticed him gawking at
the generous amount of cleavage her tanktop showed.
"Um, hi, I'm Keitaro Urashima, the keeper of this Dungeon."
Keitaro said, introducing himself.
"I'm Brittany Diggers. Nice ta meetcha." the werecheetah
answered.
"... uh, why do I...er, I mean, uh..." Keitaro began, before
smacking himself in the head to restart his brain.
Brittany smiled. Keitaro was at least making a noble effort to
try and stay focused.
"You have a lot of innate magical energy, being a lycanthrope, so
let's see....the classifications you can choose are... Bile Demon,
Fairy and Dark Angel." Keitaro inquired.
"Uhh...." Brittany began. She knew what Bile Demons were like
(and farting was NOT an attack any woman desired), Dark Angels tended
to be pompous [EXPLETIVE DELETED]s, so the choice was obvious, "I guess
I'll take Fairy."
"All right. And now to get you a lair." Keitaro replied.
It had been a long day full of repititive speeches. Apparently,
every single person who'd entered his dungeon was about as
knowledgeable as he had been when he'd entered his former Keeper's
realm.
But, he now had Cloud Strife, a Dark Knight; Shinobu Maehara, a
friend of Haruka's who just happened to be an Elite Dark Knight,
despite the fact that she was only fourteen years old; Pikachu, a
strange furry creature that was now a Dwarf; Ryoga Hibiki, a Rogue; and
Gina Diggers, Brittany's sister who was now a Troll (though he'd
changed the uniform so that she could wear her normal outfit).
It was nice working with Gina in the workshop. She had some
pretty good ideas on upgrading the other types of weapons, even though
the only way to prove their effectiveness was to allow heroes near
them.
Keitaro paused a bit. Something about heroes ticked something in
the back of his head. He had a temple, a graveyard, a casino, a combat
pit, a torture chamber, a treasury, a lair, a hatchery, a few scattered
guard rooms, and a training room.
He smacked his forehead as he recalled he hadn't created a prison
yet. He created one in the middle of an area he'd begun to use as a
second treasury. There was a piece of treasury in each corner of the
prison, but it wouldn't matter much.
Roughly five minutes later, he felt the portal flare again.
"Naru, can you meet that one? I'm at a criticul point." Keitaro
inquired.
Naru acknowledged. She headed down to the portal to see a
skeleton carrying an elaborately decorated shield and a massive sword
climb out of the pit. It looked up at her and raised a hand in a
friendly and very familiar gesture, "Yah, Naru-chan. It's been a long
time."
Naru blinked. Then, she recalled a man who had a similar voice,
a man who'd been her tutor after Haruka left...
"SETA!?!" Naru asked, nearly leaping out of her skin at the
realization.
"Yup. I'm an Elite Skeleton now." Seta responded nonchalantly.
Naru fainted.
=======================================================================
Current Cast
Liddo-kun and friends as Imps
Keitaro as a Troll/Keeper
Kitsune as a Warlock
Motoko as a converted Knight
Kaolla as a Mercenary Fairy
Haruka as a Vampire
Naru as a Elite Monk
Mutsumi as a Mistress
Shinobu as an Elite Dark Knight
Tama-chan as a Mercenary Firefly
Ranma Saotome as a Monk
Brittany Diggers as a Fairy
Gina Diggers as a Troll
Cloud Strife as a Dark Knight
Pikachu as a Dwarf
Ryoga Hibiki as a Rogue
Seta Noriyasu as an Elite Skeleton
(
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