=========================================================== Dungeon Keeper Ranma
Chapter 02: The Hunt Begins
By A-kun
===========================================================
Lord Antonius was dead. It felt strange to Ranma. The deaths of
the dwarves had unnerved him, but the death of Antonius, one he himself
had commanded, didn't feel as unnerving.
In fact, Ranma was almost pleased with it, which made him a bit
nauseaous. He'd been ignoring the deaths of the dwarves as they had
been accidental. It wasn't Ranma's fault that his goblins had reacted
instinctively to their age-old enemies. But Antonius was someone Ranma
had personally commanded the death of. It should have been
significantly more disturbing, yet it wasn't.
With it's primary guardian dead, Horny had retrieved the first
Portal Gem without any trouble. When it was brought back to Ranma, he
was surprised to see such a large gem. It was easily bigger than even
Horny's head and was shaped like a spinning top, only with more edges.
Ranma was also surprised to find out that it was light. Almost as
light as a pillow.
"With this gem, you will be able to detect the presense and
location of other portal gems." Lundar stated.
Ranma quirked an eyebrow, "How do I do that?"
"You need but close your eyes and focus on the gem's power."
Lundar explained.
Ranma nodded. He closed his eyes and almost instantly could feel
the energy around the portal gem. As he got a feel for the energy, he
began sensing other gems. At least five were nearby. "The nearest
portal gem is... THERE!"
The Dungeon Map flickered and changed to show a man in armor
similar to Lord Antonius pacing around a room with dwarves fooling him.
"That is Lord Darius. Unlike Antonius, he was keeps more
warriors with him. But, while his dwarves are numerous, we simply need
magic on our side to win. To this end, I believe it's time to show you
how to make a few more rooms." Lundar explained.
Ranma nodded in agreement. It was the short path. The short
path hurt the fewest people. Ranma struggled to keep those words
firmly in mind. He wasn't picking on the weak or defenseless, he was
fighting the strong and the well defended.
Lundar was a good teacher. He knew not to fill someone's head
with knowledge before they had time to fully digest it. With only five
room patterns and two spells his first three days as a keeper, Ranma
was learning fast enough, but Lundar wanted to make sure the boy had a
lot of time to fully incorporate the information.
Ranma was getting used to a lot of things. Killing mostly. He
still didn't like it, but he knew it was him or them and he was selfish
enough, with the help of his mantra, to say 'me'.
Ranma was also getting used to his new room. Back home, his room
consisted of a mattress, a blanket, a pillow, a closet and a window.
Here, his bed alone consisted of what Lundar teasingly called a
"Keeper"-sized bed, which was one and a half times longer and two times
wider than a king-sized. It had luxurious silk sheets, silk-covered
pillows and various top blankets for the seasons. The one on it at the
current was, as was to be expected, the silk blanket.
On the left side of the room was a large liquor cabinet with
numerous glasses in a cabinet just next to it. On the right was a
large bath with a small privacy screen. And on the right side of the
wall that the bed was against was a closet. Ranma had already checked
out the closest. Numerous bedroom robes, everyday outfits and, oddly
enough, accessories like armor and capes.
Ranma sighed. He was getting closer to his final goal, but how
much would he change while trying to get home? Ranma Saotome didn't
lose, after all. Not at fighting. And there would be a lot of
fighting.
Ranma puzzled over the explanation a bit before responding, "So,
basically, what you're saying is that I create a temporary magical
manifestation of a Dungeon Heart near there."
"Yes. The Dungeon Heart can spread temporary versions of itself
into any land with the aid of a portal gem, like how a vein branches or
a spider making it's web larger." Lundar explained, before frowning,
"The only problem is that if that temporary Dungeon Heart is destroyed,
the backlash will prevent you, your magic and your imps from entering
that area again, which is why you must protect the temporary Dungeon
Hearts as though they were the real thing."
Lundar continued, "Thankfully, once you've conquered an area, you
can remove that temporary Dungeon Heart. But, the magic that you can
wield through a temporary Dungeon Heart will be quite limited until
your imps can begin filling that area with your mana."
Ranma considered that. It was risky to threaten the Dungeon
Heart at all, but as Lunder explained, it was the only way to begin and
he could always remove them when they were done.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to build fast." Ranma noted.
Lundar nodded in agreement, before speaking up, "I did some
scrying the previous night to find out more about Darius. He has
roughly fifteen dwarves with him in his fort."
"Fort? This guy's got a fort?" Ranma inquired.
"Most of the opponents we will be fighting will have one. You
see, the king of this land ambitiously started a project with the
dwarves to seal an alliance. The dwarves would be paid to build forts,
tunnels and traps so that the king's men could seek out and destroy
Dungeon Hearts."
"Really? Geez, how many Dungeon Hearts are there?" Ranma
inquired.
"I do not know for certain, but I know the king's men have
already destroyed five Dungeon Hearts in this land." Lundar responded.
"What's the king got against these things? I mean, you'd think
he'd be trying to kill the keepers and take these things for himself."
Ranma asked.
"I believe it's the fear of anyone, even someone loyal to him,
using a Dungeon Heart to rise up against him." Lundar answered.
"Well, I guess that's reasonable, since that's what we're
doing." Ranma commented.
"Indeed." Lundar responded.
Lord Darius frowned at the news, "Lord Antonius is dead?"
The thief nodded, "I went to meet him two days ago for a biweekly
report on the construction of his new fort and I found his corpse in
the foundational area of his keep. I hurried here to inform you
immediately."
"He wasn't a very intelligent man, but his skills as a fighter...
Thank you, Loxias, for bringing us this information. Return to Lord
Ludwig and report to him as well. Tell him we should all be on
guard." Lord Darius commanded.
"Aye, sir." Loxias the thief responded, before turning and
exiting the room.
Lord Darius estimated Antonius to be as powerful as himself. The
very idea that Antonius could be slain was disturbing to say the least.
He had best check on his men in the basement.
Bagor was a Goblin. In almost any evil army, you'd find a goblin
or eight hundred. They were there because they were the second best
expendable creature available. Barring skeletons, they were the best
expendable creature available because they asked for so little.
Most goblins simply didn't want much. Other than a place to rest
and some food, there was little that could make a goblin happier. The
more ambitious ones eeked out some cash, but that was usually to go to
a casino and have fun or to buy more food.
Now, because of their lifestyle, most people thought of goblins
as stupid creatures that were likely imps that had been on a stretching
rack too long. That couldn't be further from the truth. For one
thing, imps had much bigger eyes. Two, goblins needed food and rest,
imps didn't.
As for the stupid part, all creatures could be intelligent with
enough effort. Goblins, too, could be remarkably genius-like... for
their own kind. Most goblins didn't like having to think about too
much outside of fighting.
Which was why Bagor, three of his kin and eight warlocks were
currently fighting several dwarves. Dwarves were stouter than goblins
and reasonably tough to beat in equal fights, but their skill was far
below that of Bagor's or any of his kin's. Not to mention, the homing
spells that the warlocks hurled their way was giving the dwarves a
world of hurt.
Bagor's sword found the dwarf's wrist, forcing the hairy man to
drop his axe. A swift swing later, the dwarf's neck was wrapped around
Bagor's blade. Bagor drew his sword out and turned to see all but one
dwarf was down and that one was scrambling away.
Bagor was still fresh, but his kin were badly injured, having
fared most of the brunt. With a nod toward the end of the cavern that
they came from, Bagor sent them back to their home as he and the
warlocks prepared to send the last dwarf to the afterworld.
Bagor heard two sounds enter the cavern. One was the sound of
Ranma and four more goblins approaching from behind and the other was
of steel boots from the other entrance. No doubt a knight or more
heavily armored dwarves.
The two groups entered the room simultaneously. Lord Darius and
six more dwarves glared at Ranma, the warlocks, Bagor and the other
goblins. The sentiment was returned.
"You must be Darius." Ranma commented as he and the four goblins
reached Bagor's forward position.
"And you must be the one who slew Antonius." Darius responded.
"That'd be me, Ranma Saotome." Ranma replied arrogantly, "Got his
Portal Gem too. And soon, I'll have yours."
"Bah! You have no chance of beating me!" Darius snorted
derisively.
"PSH! _You_ are the only actual fighter in your group. My guys
can handle them no problem. You, on the other hand, are going to be
fighting me." Ranma answered.
Darius was taken aback by the brash attitude of this young boy.
Ranma radiated with magic in the manner of a Dungeon Keeper. However,
unlike most keepers, Ranma stood confidently, despite being unarmed and
in an area that his imps had not yet claimed, so he couldn't possibly
be planning to use a Thunderbolt. Darius didn't like it, but seeing
Ranma's abilities would reveal if he truly was the one responsible for
Antonius' death.
"Very well. It's practically unheard of to see a Keeper away
from his Heart, but if you insist on facing me in combat, than I shall
oblige." Darius responded, drawing his sword.
Darius charged at Ranma and swung his sword to slice the arrogant
boy in half, only to watch as Ranma blurred and vanished like a puff of
smoke. Darius blinked, then realized his sword felt a bit heavier than
normal. Turning his head, he stared in disbelief as he saw Ranma
perched on the flat of his blade.
The next thing Darius knew, he was on the ground with a ringing
headache and his helmet was in the water nearby. Lord Darius was
completely baffled. He'd seen both mages and fast fighters in the
past, but he'd never seen either group do what Ranma had just done. Rising from the floor as his head cleared, Darius glared at Ranma
with the promise of pain in his eyes. He raised his sword high and
slashed downward at Ranma.
This time, Darius saw Ranma's reaction, but he was far too slow
to do anything about it. Ranma slid to the side, spun and kicked
Darius in the chin, sending the lord flying backwards to land in the
water. A clank of metal informed Darius that he'd landed near his lost
helmet.
Darius pulled himself out of the water. He was in serious pain
and he was feeling tired, despite the fact that he hadn't really done
much in the fight. He shakily got to his feet and tried to lock on
Ranma's form. Both a vertical slash and a horizontal slash had failed
to come within even inches of Ranma, but Darius wasn't ready to give up
just yet.
"Hey, Darius. No need to fight to the death. Just hand over the
portal gem and we're gone." Ranma offered, a look of honesty on his
face.
Darius snarled at that thought, "NEVER! That gem was entrusted
to me and I shall not give it up to anyone save for my lord who charged
me with its protection from such foul villains as you!"
He charged again and thrust his sword towards Ranma, keeping the
sharp ends vertical so that Ranma couldn't simply hop onto the blade.
To Darius, it was the fastest attack he could have ever mustered. To
Ranma, it was as fast as one of Kunou's Tenbetsu Dan (1) slashes.
Unfortunately for Darius, it'd been over a year since Kunou had
first tried that on Ranma and it hadn't come close to Ranma the first
time. After the Amiguriken (2) and Umisenken (3) training, there was
no way in heck that a move that slow could ever touch Ranma unless he
was seriously distracted.
Ranma sighed. It seemed Lundar was right. When it came to
making deals or surrendering, King Reginald's lords were nearly
unshakable. That meant, of course, that Ranma was going to be forced
to kill Darius. He landed behind the still recovering lord and dashed
forward.
"WELCOME GATE IRON FINGERS!" Ranma called, slamming his left hand
into Darius' back, peeling through the armor as if it was tissue paper.
Darius twitched, then, as Ranma removed his bloodstained hand, slumped
to his knees, before falling flat on his face.
Ranma looked at his hand, struggling with himself. Clenching
that fist, Ranma took a deep breath and released it. He was set on his
path now. He knelt and washed the blood off his hand, using some mana
to make sure that he didn't change genders.
"Let's see what Darius' keep has." Ranma said as he stood up,
trying to keep his bile down and his composure firm. He was feeling a
bit ill and shaken, but to his inward dismay, he seemed to be getting
over it well.
Perhaps, too well. It was like there was something in his heart
keeping him from seeing it as much of an event. He was giving it about
as much thought as he did watching someone die in a gross fashion in a
horror movie.
Still, he wasn't going to bog himself down with it. Bagor nodded
and followed Ranma up into Darius' keep, followed by the other goblins
and the warlocks.
Darius' fort was fully constructed, which was a surprise to
Ranma. He figured most of the forts would still be under construction.
Of course, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. With a fort, he could
train more efficiently and in open air, allowing him to teach some, but
definitely not all, of the Saotome techniques. It was also a better
spot for his main Dungeon Heart.
"EEEEEEEKKKK!"
Of course, there were still occupants of the fort to deal with.
Ranma hurried towards the noise and found himself in a large kitchen.
On one end were Bagor and the other goblins, while at the other were
the terrified chefs and maids. Bagor and company looked just as
rattled as the fort's remaining staff.
Ranma decided that he had to defuse this situation and put the
kitchen staff in their place while making sure no one felt that their
intellect was being insulted. Luckily, Ranma had been working on an
"Anything Goes Debate Team" style for school at Ms. Hinako's request,
so he was better prepared at getting his point across than he might
have been.
"Okay, calm down everyone. I'm Ranma Saotome, this fort's new
master." Ranma began, waiting to make sure that the kitchen staff was
focused on him before continuing, "These are my goblins. Don't
aggravate them too much and they won't bother you."
One maid timidly inquired, "Do we have to have sex with them?"
Ranma shook his head, "Not unless you want to. Besides, they're
probably not interested in human women."
That seemed to relieve almost all of the maids considerably.
Ranma turned to the goblins, "Bagor, why don't you and the others
secure the gates? I'm sure I'll be done calming them by meal time."
The goblins nodded eagerly and exited the room, still rattled.
"Now, I'm sure all of you are probably worried about what sort of
conditions you'll be working under now that I'm in charge. Well, the
truth is, I'm going to give you two options." Ranma explained, "If you
agree to work for us and don't too complain about the appearances of my
minions, you'll continue to get fair treatment, food, money and you may
either keep your lodgings or ask for slightly better ones. If you
don't agree, then you can simply leave. However, since we are on a
conquest of most of this kingdom, so you might not be able to find many
quiet places without us somewhere in the vicinity."
One of the younger chefs spoke up, "Are they picky eaters?"
"No. So long as it's not poisonous or alive, they'll eat pretty
much any normal food." Ranma replied.
"Can we have some time to think it over?" the chef inquired.
"Certainly." Ranma answered, before creating two new imps, "You
two stand guard here. If they've got an answer, one of you come and
get me. If they grab anything sharp before I come back, both of you
come and get me."
The two newly created imps nodded. Ranma was so glad that they
had such perfect tracking instincts. They could find him in a desert
during a sandstorm.
Confident that he'd given a reasonable deal, Ranma exited the
kitchen to continue surveying his new fort.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next time, Ranma admits to having a dislike for killing and
Lundar teaches him a way that they could deal with most of their
opponents without killing them, but this attracts the attention someone
who wants to get into the new Dungeon Keeper's pants in a very literal
sense!
Also, Ranma's campaign is going exceedingly well. So why does he
have such heavy concerns?
(1) - This was what I've heard Kunou's hyper-thrusting technique from
the early Ranma 1/2 anime was called (the one he used to crack that
statue after hearing Ranma and the pigtailed girl were 'of one mind and
body'). I think the Ranma 1/2 fighting games list it as that too.
(2) - The Kachuu Teshin Amiguriken, unlike how newbies may understand
it, was simply a training exercise to increase one's speed, not
actually a fighting technique. As you'll note, Cologne never called it
out and Shampoo, who's probably undergone the Bakusai Tenketsu and
Kachuu Tenshin Amiguriken (remember how fast she was against Akane?)
doesn't either.
(3) - Introduced later in the manga, this fighting style is based in
sneaky thievery. It SEEMS like mostly parlor tricks, but that hides
the crafty and subtle maneuvering. Using it, one can make oneself
invisible to the naked eye, conceal great quantities of mass, and
deflect even explosions. Unfortunately, it's not so great for offense.
In fact, only someone trained in locating or in the Umisenken could
stand a chance of following a user of these techniques. It's more
offensive counterpart, the Yamasenken, conversely has little defense
and relies entirely on an overwhelming offense. Ranma knows both
styles.
The Welcome Gate Iron Fingers is a manuever for breaking solid
iron locks on gates. Against even someone wearing plate armor over
chain mail, it's an almost guaranteed lethal maneuver unless the target
has sufficient martial training to withstand blows like that. Ryouga
Hibiki is one of the few people who possibly could take this technique
and remain standing and that's saying something.
Easy Cheat: Get access to every room by pressing CTRL+ALT+C at
the same time, then type in "thisismy
church". To find out if it worked, click the building icon.
Everything is there. You don't get the money to build them, but you
have access to them.
Easy Cheat: Get max cash by pressing CTRL+ALT+C at the same time,
then type in "showmethemoney". To
find ouy if it worked, look at your money. You will get 100,000 gold.
This is a lifesaver if you're low on cash near payday and can't find a
gold or gem seam.
Next time: All spells and all traps & doors!
(
geocities.com/tokyo/island) (
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