=========================================================== Dungeon Keeper Ranma
Chapter 03: Cleansweep
By A-kun
===========================================================
Ranma had been practicing using a magical sense that he'd
developed. It was similar to how he felt an opponent's ki, only he
could distinctly tell the two types of energy apart. Ki was usually
sensed in the manor of a flame, with it's heat and light evident, while
his magical sense was more of a radar.
With his warlocks now teaching him spells, albeit slowly at
Lundar's request, Ranma's skill at manipulating the Dungeon Hearts was
increasing daily. Similarly, all of Ranma's minions were increasing in
skill as well, now that Ranma was teaching them the basics of martial
arts. Furthermore, Ranma was fairly certain he'd gained the skill to
create as many types of rooms as would be required to continue his
campaign to get all of the Portal Gems.
A week later, as twelve female dark elves and four trolls hired
into his forces, he struck again.
Lord Avaricious never knew what hit him. Avaricious was now
acutely aware of how big of a screw up he was as he lay dying on the
floor, several Dark Elven crossbow bolts in his chest, his right hand
seared off by the magical discharge of a sentry cannon, and uncounted
puncture marks in his once proud armor.
He'd frittered away the gold the king had given him to build his
fort. Avaricious had had an inkling that his habit of gambling would
lead to his demise, but he thought that it was going to be as
punishment for not finishing even a third of his fort. It had
defenses, but it was mostly below ground. One could call his fort
"Avaricious' Basement" and one would have a fairly good idea as how far
along his fort had been.
Ranma didn't even believe it was worth holding. But it would be
a waste of all of the hard work his new trolls had done to simply
abandon the cavern. After all, the sentry cannons and the wooden doors
couldn't be moved to a new location. So, the martial artist turned
conquerer had the trolls build a secret door that would prevent anyone
from discovering their tunnels while Horny retrieved the Portal Gem.
He'd been wrestling with it for a while, close to two weeks now,
and despite the unusually calm acceptance he felt from his heart, he
couldn't bring himself to accept his mantra anymore. It was time to
talk to Lundar about alternatives to simply killing all of his foes.
He knew the Lords were likely unwilling to cough up the Portal Gems
without dying, but that didn't mean their warriors had to follow them
into the afterlife.
"Lundar, can I talk to you about something?" Ranma inquired.
"What is it, keeper?" Lundar asked.
"I've been doing my level best to get used to this
'obstacles are for killing' sort of mentality we've got going on.
Isn't there some other way we can... I don't know... not kill them, but
not let them rot in a prison?" Ranma requested of his advisor.
"Well, it would require you to be on hand to make sure they
didn't die in the process, but a torture chamber could allow us to
convert most of them to our side. After all, not all of these warriors
are paid or treated as well as they should be and as the saying goes,
'An ally is better than a corpse'." Lundar commented.
Ranma winced inwardly. The idea of a torture chamber brought up
memories of Kodachi. He figured she, of anyone he knew, would have
one. But, as Lundar's saying had pointed out, it was certainly better
to make an ally than more dead bodies.
"It would certainly be better." Ranma answered.
"Then I'll show you how to create a torture chamber tomorrow,
keeper." Lundar replied.
"Thanks." Ranma responded, feeling as though a weight, one he
never knew had been there, was lifted from his mind.
The torture room was actually a lot more... normal looking than
what Ranma expected. From what he'd heard of the European medieval
torture chambers, the stuff in his torture room was almost tame. There
were two means of restraint. There was the chair and then the wheel-
shaped racks.
The chair had two tesla coils extending from the top of the
chair, where, as Lundar explained, electricity would flow into the
strapped in victim for brief seconds. Lundar had to reassure Ranma
that it wasn't lethal, but the reassurance wasn't too convincing.
The wheel racks worked on disorientation with hot coals
underneath. By comparison, the electric chairs sounded almost
compassionate. Along the nearest wall, there were plenty of whips,
spikes and many other nasty and strange torture devices Ranma couldn't
identify.
"Are you sure no one's died from this stuff?" Ranma asked.
Lundar considered that, "Well, unless they're very old, very
young, or you leave them to die, no one has ever died in a torture
room."
Ranma stared at Lundar, who simply shrugged and replied, "You
wanted an honest answer."
"So, how would we go about torturing people?" Ranma asked.
"I haven't a clue. That sort of thing is usually best left to a
Mistress." Lundar responded.
"But how can I have a mistress if I'm not even married?" Ranma
inquired.
"You misunderstand, keeper. I was referring to a professional
torturer. They're usually women and they're referred to as Mistresses
in polite company." Lundar answered.
"OOOOoooh, gotcha." Ranma nodded in understanding, before asking,
"How do we get one?"
"We can send an imp to one of the nearby towns with an
advertisement, like we did to recruit the warlocks." Lundar responded.
Ranma took out a piece of paper and began writing the ad, using
one of the reinforced stone walls as a writing surface. He paused as
he neared the completion of the ad, "What's fair pay for _this_ kind of
work?"
"I'd say 100 gold a month with free food and lodging." Lundar
answered.
"So, a little more gold than a beginner warlock's salary." Ranma
commented as he finished the ad.
"Yes, but it will be worth it to ease your mind, keeper." Lundar
told him.
Ranma agreed that it would be.
The ad hadn't been in the town for more than three hours before
Ranma sensed someone entering his fort through one of his portals.
Minutes later, Ranma turned from watching the daily training exercises
to see an imp escorting a young woman wearing a cloak over to him.
Ranma almost stared. The woman had slightly shorter hair that
was deep red instead of brown, but otherwise Ranma would swear that the
woman before him was a more mature Ukyou Kuonji.
"You're the man asking for a Mistress?" the woman inquired with
sweet and sultry voice that, when coupled with the faint scent of
cinnamon perfume that Ranma could smell from her, made his pants feel
exceedingly tight.
"Yeah, that's me. I have to warn you that we'll probably have a
lot of work for you and any others that sign on." Ranma answered,
struggling to keep his voice from cracking and maintain an aura of
confidence. Lundar had warned him that if he showed any sign of a weak
will before they were hired on, they would probably take every
oppurtunity that they could to walk all over him.
"That's all right. I'm used to HARD labor." the woman teased,
obviously noting Ranma's erection. She giggled briefly as Ranma
blushed. She extended a hand out from underneath her cloak, "I'm
Maidel. I look forward to working with you."
"Ranma Saotome." Ranma answered, shaking her hand in response.
He felt her aura briefly, as Lundar had showed him when he started
hiring goblins and warlocks, making sure that she would be loyal to him
once she was hired. It'd taken some practice at first, but Ranma could
now tell sincerity with a single hand shake. It was one of the few
things Ranma hoped he could keep when he returned home.
As a storm cloud above crackled and boomed to get his attention,
Ranma decided to just come out and tell Maidel about his curse, "I
should probably warn you right now that I've got a rather unusual spell
on me right now. I change into a girl whenever I get splashed with
cold water."
Ranma-chan felt she'd timed that well enough as a sudden downpour
began just as she finished that sentence.
Maidel blinked. If she hadn't seen it, she probably would have
asked if Ranma was joking. As it was, she and Ranma-chan hurried into
the fort for shelter. That course of action was quicky copied by
Ranma's forces.
Ranma-chan did her level best to wring out her favorite shirt
without taking it off, incidentally missing the look Maidel favored her
with. Had she seen it, she probably would have complained about having
another girl chasing after her.
The next two lords fell just as swiftly and brutally as
Avaricious. Lord Ludwig and Lord Constantine had both had much more
time to prepare, but they were caught flatfooted as Ranma's forces
attacked suddenly and viciously, tearing down the defenses laid out
before them.
Ranma was very pleased to see the death tolls come down from
'everything that moved' to 'the lords and their most loyal warriors'.
Sure, Maidel and the other three Mistresses he'd hired (Lotus, Mina and
Nausica) were a bit overworked, but he paid and fed them well as their
hard work proved very fruitful.
Apparently, both lords had been in such a panic to build
fortifications after hearing of their fellow lords falling that they'd
severely cut the pay of their own men. The fact that Ranma was yet to
cut a salary was so enticing that nearly every single warrior hauled
back to the torture rooms hired on with Ranma.
Ranma kept silent about the fact that he could sense gold and gem
veins whenever his minions were near said sources of money.
Ranma and Lundar were examining what a loyal firefly had observed
in it's travels through Lord Ironhelm's passageways. Said firefly had
nearly died in the effort, but a quick recovery and healing spell had
kept it from departing to the land of the dead.
The last thing Ranma wanted was for a creature loyal to him die
on a mission, even if it had been a volunteer mission. And
furthermore, Ranma's magical map had recorded everything the firefly
had seen, making it a successful mission.
Lundar motioned to some of the sentry cannons lining a few of
Ironhelm's underground passageways, "Lord Ironhelm's defenses are much
more secure. And unlike Constantine or Ludwig, he has prepared for
this eventuality. We'll have to be more cautious in getting rid of
him."
Ranma agreed. With his newest spell, a poorly named "Sight of
Evil" (the warlocks explained that spying on one's enemy was considered
evil when the spell was named), he'd gathered more information about
Ironhelm's patrols inside his fortress. Ironhelm's defenses were much
more elaborate and would take a lot more time to break down.
Even with his forces now including such odorous yet powerful
creatures as Bile Demons (he had been understanding and whole-heartedly
agreed when his other minions requested that the bile demons have a
separate set of lairs), Salamanders, and Skeletons, Ranma knew better
than to believe that numbers alone could handle anything.
"We'll wait until we've got our forces better trained. I still
want to get a firm grasp on the powers and natural abilities of our new
Salamanders, and we still need to create more efficient team tactics."
Ranma answered.
"I agree, keeper, but we'd best not spend too much time. The
more time we spend gathering our strength is more time the enemy has to
gather their own." Lundar agreed.
"Then we'll strike in three days. That should give us enough
time to find a good angle for attack _and_ allow us time to train."
Ranma declared, before he yawned loudly, "Well, I better hit the sack.
We got a lot of work to do tomorrow to set up the next temp Dungeon
Heart and get some amenities set up."
"Good night, keeper. Pleasant dreams." Lundar told Ranma.
Ranma almost replied in kind before remembering that neither
Lundar nor Horny really required sleep unless they had been using a lot
of magical energy. Still, it didn't feel right to just leave, so Ranma
improvised, "Don't overwork yourself, Lundar. Hate to see you get
sick."
Lundar chuckled, "If that were at all possible, keeper, it would
be an impressive virus indeed."
Ranma smiled and headed back to his new room. His new room used
to be Darius' room, but Ranma had commandeered it for two reasons.
One, it kept his minions from arguing over who was worthy of it, and
two, it made his feel more earthly. In his Keeper-made room, he felt
like he was a god or a fantastically wealthy man. Which he was, but he
didn't feel like he was.
And even Ranma Saotome knew that a swelled head usually coincided
with a painful lesson.
It was late when he started feeling really good. There was a
strange, yet pleasant tingling around his groin.
[Groin?] Ranma repeated to himself.
He forced his eyes open and saw Maidel, minus her black-latex
mistress outfit, sucking his cock. Ranma blinked. How the hell had he
not noticed any of that? Then, the feeling of Maidel's hot tongue
swirling around his tip sent him over the edge of pleasure and he came
hard. Dazed, he laid his head back down on his pillow and tried to
work the pleasure out of his brain so he could think.
Contrary to popular belief, Ranma did have working hormones.
He'd been a normal teenage boy before his curse. Afterwards, though,
he just couldn't bear to look in his nudie magazines. It was hard to
ogle other women when one's own 'attributes' were superior.
He'd finally worked through that, but he found himself severely
disinterested in sex at all. Or at least not interested to the point
that his amorous fiancees would have wanted, anyway. They figured it
was from all that malleting Akane did. That was a tiny contribution to
the problem, but not the true cause.
The real problem behind that, which neither Ranma nor his
fiancees knew, was female hormones and male hormones tended to
neutralize each other unless something stimulated one over the other.
Ranma had just gotten the first blowjob of his life and his male
hormones were finally enticed to work harder. His sex drive had enough
of a primer to kick in. Of course, now that it had been activated,
Ranma had to develop defenses to keep himself in control. However, the
male sex drive was known for being a perpetual motion machine.
It was like an unfolded piece of tin foil trying to stop a jet
from taking off.
Maidel was surprised as Ranma pulled her up, grinned and
declared, "My turn."
As stated before, Ranma had been a normal teenage boy. He'd had
plenty of fantasies concerning what he would do with his future lover.
And now he and Maidel had plenty of time and oppurtunity to explore.
He'd never really taken the time to admire the female form since
he gained his own, so he felt a bit rusty, even in the imagination
department. He started by carressing her breasts, softly at first, but
growing more and more firm in his motions as the sound of her delight
increased.
He gulped. He knew what was next... sort of. He'd never really
taken the time to look any further on his female side. Japanese porn
laws stated that no pubic hair could ever be shown and the actual
sexual reproductive parts were always near pubic hair, so all of the
pictures were usually black-barred or had a mosiac over them.
But, Ranma Saotome had once heard Nabiki joke that sex was like
fighting, only both 'combatants' were supposed to win. The analogy had
been lost on Ranma as he could rarely see a fight where both fighters
won, except ties and those weren't winning. Despite that ridiculously
long and semi-pointless side note, Ranma was determined to make sure
Maidel had more 'victories' than he did.
Ranma was impressed with their progress. With his minions well
trained, well paid, fed, organized and highly motivated, he'd crushed
Lord Ironhelm and Lord Sigmund both in three days and was beginning his
advance once again. His forces had grown in the last few raids and he
now had close to a hundred and twenty well trained minions ready for
battle.
His relationship with Maidel had cooled a bit, but they both knew
it was because he was busy. But Ranma couldn't help but feel he was
pushing her away because of the feelings of betrayl and regret that he
had that he'd had sex with someone who wasn't a fiancee.
Hell, all he really knew about her was that she'd gone into her
profession out of disgust of what would have been her future husband
had she stayed with her family at the farm she'd grown up on. And that
her favorite color was actually blue, she liked men and women equally
well and she admitted to having a fondess for violin music.
Okay, he knew a bit more about her than he did about most of his
fiancees. But their relationship was currently sex-based only. He
admitted that they had little time for an actual date or anything
romantic...
In truth, it was mostly the little fantasies he'd picked up about
how a relationship was supposed to go that were causing him unease.
And most of those were influenced by either his moronic father, his
over-zealous mother or his oft screwed up attempts at dating one of his
fiancees.
When he'd realized that, he'd chided himself. His relationship
with Maidel was going perfectly fine, present situation considered.
And besides, he thought to himself, it was nice to be thought of as a
participant in the relationship, rather than a prize or a possession.
"Keeper, I'm impressed with your progress." Lundar spoke up
abruptly, snapping Ranma out of his mental wanderings, "But as the
saying goes, 'never eat something bigger than your own head'."
"Uh, right. .... what does that mean?" Ranma inquired.
"That you need to slow down. Otherwise you'll overwork all your
creatures." Lundar explained.
Ranma thought about that. He DID need to slow down. He'd just
claimed a third of the continent in roughly a month and a half.
Besides that, he needed to do something other than rigorous training to
get his mind off Maidel.
Then, he realized there were towns above ground. Perhaps he
should see about improving the towns.
Ranma was almost aghast. Having traveled through the more remote
parts of China and Japan, he'd seen some cases of bad roads, run down
housing and poor hygiene, but most of the towns in his area of control
were like all of the worst examples combined.
He needed to do something to help those poor people. And he knew
just the way to do it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Next time, Ranma finds that another Keeper is after the portal
gems. Not only that, but has to fight the forces of the lord still
holding the portal gem! It's a three-way royal rumble of battalion
proportions!
Easy Cheat: Get access to every spell by pressing CTRL+ALT+C at
the same time, then type in "ibelieveitsmagic". To find out if it worked, click the spell icon. All the
spells should be available.
Easy Cheat: Get access to every trap and door by pressing
CTRL+ALT+C at the same time, then type in "fitthe
best". To find out if it worked, click the workshop icon.
Next time: Remove the Fog of War and 100,000 mana points!
(
geocities.com/tokyo/island) (
geocities.com/tokyo)