The knights frowned as they dismounted. The fort should have
been further along than three rows of stones for the outermost walls, a
lot of tamped down land and a staircase that led down and out of sight.
"Lord Antonious?" the youngest and newest knight, Benjamin,
called.
"He's obviously not up here, otherwise he would have greeted us,
Benjamin. Go and check his basement. We'll look around." his senior,
Kevin, ordered.
Benjamin sighed. Being the youngest, he was given the most shit
work when there weren't any squires to hand it off to. He began
walking past the wall towards the gaping hole that led below ground
when he caught sight of something in the wild grass that hadn't yet
been removed.
"Hey, isn't this a dwarven axe?" Benjamin asked, hefting the
object by it's wooden handle.
Ian and David agreed. The dwarves were the only ones who
regularly had double-headed axes.
"But there's no body or any blood stains on either the axe or the
ground, meaning they dropped it. And we all know that a dwarf would
sooner part with bread than part with his axe, so something must have
spooked them but good." Kevin commented.
Benjamin held the axe in his left hand as he descended into the
basement of Lord Antonious' 'keep', drawing his sword with his right.
There were only two rooms. The first was supposedly a food storage,
but it had been picked clean. The other was for the Hero Gate, which
allowed the king's men to enter and begin tunnelling for keepers.
The Hero Gate was destroyed and Lord Antonious lay dead not five
feet away. Benjamin glanced about the area nervously, prodding the
walls to test if there were any secret doors or hidden traps. Finally,
when he couldn't find even one door or trap, he sheathed his sword and
examined the fallen lord's body.
The cuts were surrounded by dents or bruises, implying that the
weapon or weapons used had been somewhat dull or at least not sharpened
to the degree that Benjamin's own blade was.
He sighed. Goblins. They were one of the few races that
possessed swords, but lacked the knowledge of keeping the swords sharp.
Unless they worked with a troll, they tended to bludgeon opponents half
to death, while nicking them the rest of the way.
Benjamin growled. Not good news. Goblins and dwarves hated each
other with a vengence, but goblins alone wouldn't have been enough to
scare dwarves away. Meaning that something bigger and nastier had been
down here and that implied a Keeper.
Benjamin headed up the stairs. They needed to head for Lord
Darius' keep and alert the lord of the presense of a keeper.
Ukyou couldn't help but notice the inherent flaws of the standard
training rooms. Which, while versatile in the number of targets, there
was no real threat and the only things one truly gained from training
in one was mostly endurance and strength. Some speed came from dodging
the heavy maces attached to the arms of the training dummies, but
ultimately, it was very limited. The moving targets on the wall taught
the marksmen and warlocks how to hit opponents that moved, but
ultimately, it was futile.
Which was why she changed the training room into something
more... useful. It'd taken her a bit of effort, but her control of
manifestations of her dungeon impressed even Lundar. Most keepers
could only affect what appeared more often in say, a torture chamber.
The goblins that entered her training room were a bit put off as
the usual training gear was absent. In it's place were swinging maces
dangling from the ceiling or sticking from the walls or floor, wooden
dummies that had automated defenses, and occassional floating disk.
And that was just the general area, there seemed to be some sort of
track at the far end of the training room.
"It's simple. Dodge the maces, hit the dummy, then run back."
Ukyou explained.
The goblins looked hesistantly at each other, before Bagor
decided to try it. He raced forward, getting grazed by two of the
swinging maces before striking the dummy and dashing back, this time
getting struck in the right arm by a mace, which sent him tumbling to
the floor.
"See? Much more difficult and thus, better training." Ukyou
declared, before healing Bagor, "Don't worry, I'll be on hand to heal
you up."
The goblins decided that if Bagor was confident enough to do it,
they should try.
The trip to Lord Darius' had been rather uneventful. The
villages seemed quiet and peaceful, but Benjamin couldn't help but get
the distinct feeling of resentment from the villagers that they'd
passed on the road. The townsfolk _did_ seem a bit poorer than
average.
And it was quite obvious why as they reached Lord Darius' keep.
A more appaling display of wasted money had yet to be seen by Benjamin
as he saw statues, carvings and designs on almost everything in the
castle.
The group of knights were led into a dining hall that was massive
and had two small banners for the King, but sixteen for Darius. As
they were seated, Benjamin noticed further how much money Darius had
wasted.
The cups had elborate designs of dragons, tigers, wolves and
such, and they _and_ the silver...nay, GOLDENware were the least
extravagant items in the entire keep. Benjamin sat uneasily in his
seat while his fellow knights seemed to take no notice. Servants
entered with platters holding all but the finest of roasts and cooked
chicken.
"Pardon my delay. I just finished dealing with a number of
artisans to carve my image in white marble." Lord Darius declared,
smiling confidently as he strode into the dining hall.
"It is of no trouble." Ian responded, both men missing Benjamin's
angry glare.
"Well, then, let's eat. We can discuss business when we're
through." Darius answered.
Benjamin picked half-heartedly at his meal. The meal itself was
fine, but the golden utensils were a bit much. No, everything he'd
seen was a bit much. Lord Darius was no doubt taxing his people as
much as he could to make a grand display for visitors, when it was his
people that he should be worried about. Though the people liked King
Reginald, it was still possible for a lynch mob to storm the fort.
Lord Avaricious was almost as bad. The lord had wasted most of
the money given to him to build his fort on gambling. All he had
managed to construct was a basement for his fort and some defenses.
Were his land not filled with gold, it was likely that his men would've
left instead of taking IOUs.
"So, tell me, what is it that has brought you here?" Lord Darius
inquired.
"To tell the truth, Lord Darius, we bring news quite foul. It
would seem that Lord Antonius was slain by goblins, and his men scared
off by something even more terrifying. One dwarf even left his axe
behind. The incident has the markings of a keeper all over it and we
believe that you are the next probable target." Kevin explained.
Lord Darius' smile faded, "That is indeed foul news. I'd best
tell my men to begin searching for such a fiend, lest they ambush us as
well."
"We thank you for the meal. However, we must continue on. While
you are indeed the next probable target, the other lords in the
surrounding lands also need to be warned, in case the keeper tries to
trick us all by moving at random." Ian stated.
"Hmm, that is true. Fare thee well on your journey, good
knights, and may the next time we meet be under more glad tidings."
Lord Darius responded.
Well, Benjamin reflected, Lord Darius had manners, at least. It
didn't make up for what he was doing to the villages, but it proved
that he wasn't without some good qualities.
Ian turned to Kevin and Ben, "You two head to Lord Constantine's
Keep Fear. I'll go and inform Lord Avaricious and David will contact
Lord Ludwig."
"Are you sure?" Ben inquired.
"This news must be spread quickly. Messengers would move faster,
but there's the threat of interception by monsters." Ian answered.
The young knight had to agree. Even if the roads were peaceful,
keepers could attack at any time.
Ukyou took to the library with her warlocks. It was strange, but
Lundar had gotten the feeling that she should study magic beyond what
she would be able to use as a keeper.
Lundar was even further impressed at her rate of growth in the
magical arts, as she was wielding spells that even the mightiest of
warlocks were incapable of using and some spells that were nigh-
legendary back when the Avatar War occurred. Her skill at using spells
was so great that she was capable of using spells at less than roughly
10% of their normal cost with 100% of their effect.
Such a promising keeper was going to be quite devastating when
they began the campaigns. Even the Elite Royal Guard would not stand
long against her.
Ukyou, for her part, was growing more and more impatient. The
spells were almost too easy to figure out. It was like reading a "See
Dick Run" level book. Even her warlocks were astounded at how fast she
was learning.
Such was the might of their keeper.
Lundar couldn't help but smile. A brilliant mind, powerful magic
and with an army trained much better than average, they would surely
crush the King's defenses like a boulder crushed an imp.
Finally, Ukyou got fed up. She'd learned and committed to memory
over two hundred spells in these last two weeks and both her goblins
and warlocks had reached their limit of training using her facility.
Even her newly created obstacle course, meant to teach teamwork and
speed of action, were of little challenge to her minions. She knew how
to make everything that she would need in the future, including a
graveyard, prison and torture chamber.
It was finally time to take care of Lord Darius and continue on
her path back to her homeworld.
Lord Darius was not fond of visiting the dwarves that were
preparing the underground staging post, which would, in time, be used
to send search parties to seek out and destroy evil keepers. The
simple reason was that he disliked dwarves.
He didn't hate them altogether, but they tended to be rather
foul-mouthed and disrespectful to a lot of people, Lord Darius
included. The only things they really liked were other dwarves and
people who liked being underground. They simply tolerated everything
else.
That was the most critical and broad view of the dwarves. They
also enjoyed good food, drink and anyone else who enjoyed the same
thing was designated as "drinking buddy".
One thing dwarves didn't particularly like as a group were
pretentious twits, like Lord Darius, who wasted his money on a
aesthetics first, his fashion second, everything else third or lower.
It was one of the reasons they also didn't like elves, who seemed
almost afraid to get dirty.
But, they truly hated goblins, who'd learned that dwarves made
good things, thus stealing from them got the goblins the same good
things. Nearly every goblin clan had gotten half their armor and most
of their sharper swords from dwarves.
"How do it go?" Darius inquired.
The dwarven captain, Gerwall, turned to Darius, "We're almost
complete. The gate's support pillars just have to be inspected again
and then the roof can be placed on it."
"Good, good, and be on the lookout for keepers. Send word if you
see even an imp." Lord Darius began loudly before crouching and
whispering to the captain, "Word has it that a keeper killed Lord
Antonius and _something_ scared his dwarves enough for some to leave
their weapons behind."
Captain Gerwall frowned. Dwarves hated leaving behind weapons
because every dwarf knew how long it took to make a good weapon. It
took days to make a good weapon from scratch and only a minute to lose
it to some thieving goblin.
Lord Darius returned to his full height, "In any event, should
evil keepers stalk our land, it is my duty as it's Lord to strike it
down."
Lord Darius turned and returned to his keep, leaving Captain
Gerwall something to consider.
Benjamin had not been feeling too confident when Kevin had made
the suggestion that he instead go to see Lord Ironhelm. Benjamin had
tried protesting, but Kevin was, while only by a single year, still
older than him and thus, was designated as their 'leader'.
No, he wasn't feeling confident at all.
Then again, it was nice to be alone. After all, his fellow
knights weren't around to impress their opinions or shit work on him
and he felt one knight riding through town was more likely to be
ignored as an everyday sort of occurance. There was no need to worry
the townsfolk into thinking that a battle group was needed to deal with
anything.
It was getting late, though. He decided to stop at an inn for
the night. He climbed off his horse and led it to the stable. An
eager stableboy appeared.
"How much to take care of his for tonight?" Benjamin inquired.
"Six silver, sire." the stableboy answered.
"I'm a knight, not a Lord, boy. Take good care of him." Benjamin
responded, handing the boy a gold piece.
"But, sire, this is way too much-" the stableboy began.
"Keep it." Benjamin told the boy.
"Thank you, milord!" the stableboy called to him.
Benjamin walked towards the inn proper and was glad to take his
helmet off. It was comfortable for the first half-hour, but a
nightmare in the midday sun. Unfortunately, he had to get used to
wearing in all sorts of weather in case monsters attacked. He couldn't
afford to stop in battle to take off his helmet and wipe his brow.
As he entered, he took notice of the low patronage. There were a
few goblins in the inn, but so long as they didn't cause trouble, most
humanoids were allowed into small towns like this. There was also a
person wearing an all-concealing brown robe sitting in a secluded
corner, no doubt either trying to be inconspicuous or trying to draw
attention. The latter occurred more often by accident.
The goblins seemed nervous at his presense and though the robed
figure didn't appear to be nervous, Benjamin could tell that they'd
gripped their mug's handle a bit tighter. No doubt, both groups
expected him to start something.
"Innkeeper, a room. I don't care what it's like, so long as the
bed is clean." Benjamin told the man at the bar.
"I'll get a boy on it right away." the innkeeper answered
quickly, no doubt equally nervous that trouble may start, "Can I get
you anything else?"
"Aye, a round for the entire house." Benjamin declared, handing
the innkeeper four gold coins.
The innkeeper looked at him nervously and whispered, "Shall I-"
"Whatever you can pour in the open. I have been riding all day
and the last thing I desire is any kind of trouble. I'd rather take a
nap in your stable than start anything." Benjamin answered, loud enough
for the entire inn to hear.
With that, Benjamin found a seat facing away from the door and
sat down, before setting his helmet on the table, reclining slightly
and closing his eyes. He could sense that the goblins and the
myserious robed person had relaxed when the barkeep poured their mugs
in the open. The tension had been cut in half.
"Milord..." the innkeeper began.
"Is that room ready?" Benjamin asked, opening his eyes with some
effort.
The innkeeper nodded.
"Very well, then, I shall retire." Benjamin stated, standing,
collecting his helmet and following the innkeeper to the prepared
bedroom.
The battle had been short and brutal. There were mighty dwarven
warriors, make no mistake, but none were in Lord Darius' employment.
Lord Darius himself had been surprised at how powerful the
goblins and warlocks had been, prior to his death. Ordinarily, when
goblins and warlocks worked together, there were always a few mishaps,
fireballs hitting goblins instead of dwarves, or goblins not protecting
warlocks from a charge, allowing the heroes to capitalize on the mistakes and win the battle.
There had been no mistakes. The warlocks gave warnings, allowing
the goblins to duck or move aside, and the goblins blocked passage to
all. And that had been just their tactics. Their actual fighting
skills had been astonishing.
Normal goblins charged and beat at an opponent until they or
their foe were dead. The goblins under the keeper's control had slid
in, struck quickly, then backed away before counteracts could be made,
only to repeat the tactic again and again, inbetween dodging fireballs.
Sadly, Lord Darius was rotting in a graveyard while his keep was
being captured and his dwarves were being converted.
Ukyou had been a bit uneasy about actual killing. However, as
Lundar had pointed out, the likelyhood of Lord Darius joining her were
low. And even if he did join, he would likely be more of a problem
than an aid.
The keep had literally no defenses, save the dwarves and Darius.
Literally no one else had any fighting capability at all. Which had
been quite pitiful.
The keep was well designed, but as Ukyou surveyed her winnings,
she found herself ordering imps to take everything Darius had purchased
and put it to better use. The banners would become sewing thread to
repair clothing, the gold would be melted into coins, the kitchen staff
would make normal meals and the scupltures would be sold to merchants
who wanted them.
"The second portal gem is now ours." Lundar declared.
"That's nice." Ukyou responded, non-chalantly.
"You don't seem too pleased, keeper." Lundar commented.
"Sorry, it's just that... this guy's keep looks like the innards
alone cost millions more than the construction. And to think that he
was supposed to be responsible for guarding all of Sing Song against
keepers, when all he had to defend it were some dwarves and himself."
Ukyou commented.
"Indeed. With all the money that went into purchasing all this,
he could have hired an entire battalion of mercenaries to do his
fighting for him." Lundar agreed.
"And we wouldn't have done nearly as well." Ukyou commented.
Lundar murmurred an agreement, "Lord Antonius at least had the
excuse that his keep was still under construction."
It hadn't taken Benjamin very long to eat or head into the city
to buy food for his trip and it had taken even less time to figure out
that he was being followed by the mysterious robed figure from the
previous night.
It was usually the case when one did nothing that was expected
that one attracted attention. Benjamin had drawn the attention of the
mysterious figure by not starting a fight and instead buying everyone
drinks before going to bed and actually sleeping.
However, the town was rather busy that morning and as Benjamin
turned a corner with his food in a handy sack, he bumped into the
mysterious figure, knocking them onto their rump and causing their hood
to fall back, revealing a rather beautiful woman. He also caught a
small glimpse of black latex boots, indicating that the woman was
likely a Mistress.
"I'm so sorry, I should have looked where I was going." Benjamin
apologized before helping the woman up.
"Good day." Benjamin told her, stepping around and heading for
the stable where he'd left his horse.
He stopped when he felt arms wrap around his torso and a blade
press against his throat, "You did that on purpose."
"No, I did that by accident. I knew you were following me, but
as I said the night before, I have no desire to start a fight."
Benjamin answered calmly.
"Don't give me that. Every other knight-" she began.
"That's every other knight. I am _not_ every other knight. I
have no desire to start a quarrel." Benjamin answered, resuming his
walk to the stables.
"Stop!" she yelped, moving her claws away from his throat, before
she lost her grip on him and fell to her rump again. He paused and
turned back to her. He gripped her by the shoulders and hoisted her up
to her feet, before letting her go.
"I told you, I have no desire to start a quarrel." Benjamin told
her, before turning back and walking to the stables.
She watched him leave and retracted her claws, before stroking
her chin thoughtfully. He had been telling the truth the entire time,
especially the part about not being like every other knight. Any other
knight would have attacked her right back the instant she tailed or
threatened them.
He was definitely worth watching, she decided with a smile. Oh
yes, he would be worth watching. When Dominique found someone
interesting, they rarely disappointed her.
=======================================================================
Next time on Dungeon Keeper Ukyou!
Ukyou's assault continues with Lord Avaricious and Lord Ludwig!
Kevin finds out a disturbing fact about Lord Constantine!
Benjamin meets with Lord Ironhelm and continues on!
And we find more alterations to Ukyou's dungeon!
(
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