Elsewhere

Duke moved over to the chest that had been waiting for him since he was transported to the waiting room. He carefully opened it with the brief thought that he hadn’t checked to see if it was trapped. He quickly followed that thought with the realization that he wouldn’t know how to find a trap or even disarm one if he managed to find it. Barbarian pick lock it is!

The chest wasn’t locked or trapped and easily opened. It then dissolved into light, leaving behind a set of oddly formed pants and shirt. They appeared to be made of some sort of thin and flexible leather. He activated his IDENTIFY Ability.

***You have found Ancient Ghoulskin Armor. This armor is made from the flayed skin of an ancient ghoul. In addition to its physical protection, it provides its wearer with the ability to sense living beings in a ten-meter radius. It provides a 10% reduction to all physical damage received. ***

Not sure if that is good loot or not. I’ll have to go through the other things and see how it compares but it will provide more protection than what I’m wearing right now. With that thought, Duke put the armor on and was heartened to see that it adjusted to fit him. Is that resize ability common to magical items or am I just lucky? Since it wasn’t listed as a property, I’m going to go with it as a baseline magic item property until proven otherwise.

Duke was able to quickly get the feel for his new armor and the Sense Life ability was easy to use. He discovered two things when he used it. First, there was no living beings within ten meters of himself which was rather unsurprising. Secondly, the ability had a five-minute duration and a ten-minute cooldown. Guess I’m not using that continuously.

The rest of the items he had taken from the boss’ lair and the other burrows he could investigate before time ran out were varying degrees of interesting. In all, he had found 5 medium crystals and fourteen other items. There were three bottles that IDENTIFY told him were a Potion of Levitation, a Potion of Tongues, and a Bottle of Eternal Whiskey. He immediately sampled the last one and discovered that it was actually good whiskey. He smiled as he put them into his INVENTORY.

Next, he found a Gem of Radiance that emitted a warm light sufficient to light up an average-sized room and a Firestarter Stone which was fairly obvious in its use. There were a pair of mundane items – a prism and a spyglass. He put them away in his INVENTORY.

Next were items that he needed to IDENTIFY as they were magical. Among them were:

***You have found a LifeForce Ring. This ring will increase your Endurance +3 as long as it is worn. ***

***You have found a pair of Dancing Shoes. These shoes provide a +3 to Agility and also provide +10 levels in the Dancing Skill while worn. ***

***You have found a Map of the Stars. This map will provide you with an accurate map of the current alignment of the stars regardless of current weather conditions or depth underground. ***

***You have found a Brush of Color Transmutation. This brush will paint any object up to your Psyche in surface area any color you desire. The color will last for (Mana invested) minutes. ***

***You have found a Ghostly Key. This key will unlock any noncorporeal or spirit lock. It has two uses remaining. ***

***You have found an Eversharp Dagger. This dagger will remain sharp indefinitely. If used as a weapon, it will inflict reduced damage, but wounds made by it will bleed for additional damage over time. ***

Duke paused before he IDENTIFIED the final item. He put the rest into his INVENTORY and carefully examined the final piece – a sword. If he was ever going to be confident with a blade, having a magical sword would undoubtedly help. With great eagerness and anticipation, he activated IDENTIFY.

***You have found a Singing Sword. This sword will belt out a battle hymn every time it is drawn with intent to be used for violence. The battle hymn provides a temporary +10 to Skill with Blades. This bonus will not bring a wielder above the threshold of the next rank. ***

A fucking singing sword! You have got to be fucking with me. Seriously? Whatever. I’m still going to use it. +10 to a Skill I can barely use is still +10. Fucking figures.

He put the ring and the shoes on to get the bonuses and thought about where to put his remaining points. After ten minutes of debating himself, he decided to add one to Endurance and seven to Strength. He strained through the changes in his body, but it was nowhere near as traumatic as last time. He took a few more minutes to get his head settled before beginning to plan his next trip into the Dungeon.

First off, I’ve got to get used to how my new stats affect things. I am a lot stronger than I was when I woke up. I should be faster too. But how do I test it? How do I train it? All, without leaving this single room? Nothing to it but to try.

Duke started with some simple exercises. Or at least he tried to. He dropped down to do some push-ups and found that every time he pushed up, he went up faster than expected and his hands came right off the floor. At first this confused him but the more he did it, the more he started to play with the exercise. It wasn’t long before he could regularly push-up to a standing position. The first time he tried it, however, he pushed too hard and completely flipped over, landing flat on his back after stumbling for a half of an off-balance step.

Duke lay on the floor laughing at his own antics. “Shit, I wish my squadron mates could see me do that. They’d flip the fuck out. Oh flip, hah. Yeah, I’m getting loopy. What I wouldn’t do for a proper gym right now.”

“Does the Delver require additional facilities to prepare himself?” Duke stopped, stunned at the voice. He spun around, looking for who had spoken to him but found nothing.

“Who said that?” Duke asked, his eyes flashing around the room.

“It is I, the Lake Front Dungeon Concierge. It has been so long since I have had a guest in my chambers that I almost don’t know what to do anymore. Let me see…oh, yes, that’s it.” The voice paused and then returned with the air of, well, a hotel concierge. “Greetings Delver. Welcome to the Waypoint of the Lake Front Dungeon. I am-“ Again it paused, seemingly confused. “I am. I am afraid that I no longer remember my name. Oh, this is most concerning. What else have I forgotten? How can a dungeon forget? This will never do.”

“Sam.” Duke interjected. “Let’s call you Sam. Alright?”

“Sam? I suppose that is as good a name as any. What language is this that you are speaking? It is not one that I have on record, and I have hundreds of languages recorded. It is giving my translation protocols quite the workout.”

“Hi, Sam. I’m Duke and I’m speaking English.” Duke continued to look around the room for the source of the voice. It took a hard look at the upper corner of the room over the bed before he noticed a slight distortion in the stone wall. He walked closer to it as the conversation continued.

“English? How remarkable. And well met, my Duke. I must inform Your Grace that I do not have the English language on my list of approved languages. I may have to consult with the Overmind to get a ruling on using the language myself.”

“Come again? Overmind? Ruling? What on Earth are you talking about? And I’m NOT a frigging Duke. It’s just my name. Fuck!”

“I apologize, Traveller. I am uncertain what this Earth you refer to is, but I will assume that is your place of origin. As for the Overmind? That is the Entity that rules over all the dungeons of Teldin. They are the one, the singular. The beginning and if They be pleased, the end of us all. This should be common knowledge. How is it that you do not know such things?”

“Let me ask you this question instead.” Duke countered. “When was the last time you spoke to a Delver?”

“Well, that was only- “Yet again, Sam paused, apparently searching through memories of some sort. “It has been more than ten thousand years since I have conversed with a Delver. How much has the world changed in that time? Tell me, Duke, Is there still the city on my lakefront? Does the Guild still regulate who can come in here?”

“I hate to break it to you, but your lake front is in a cavern that is so far hidden that I only chanced my way upon it after plunging into the cavern from above. I’m likely the only Delver you are going to have for quite some time.”

Sam was quiet for long enough to have Duke sit down on the bed to wait. When he finally spoke again, his voice had considerable strain. “I am sorry Duke, but I have to ask you to do something for me. It is not something easy and you may not be able to do it.” Sam paused.

“Way to butter me up but go on.” Duke did not like the sound of the new somber dungeon concierge.

“I need you to complete my trials and retrieve my core. I cannot make any of the trials easier or truly aid you in any way that is not allowed but I do have to ask this of you. I need to return to the surface and perhaps then I can contact my brethren. I have been so far removed from them that I am lucky to be sane. Will you do this for me?”

“That is asking a lot of me for nothing in return. What would I get out of this deal? And what is this core you are talking about?”

“My core is my true self. All you see around you is merely a construct projected from my core. In essence, my core is the whole dungeon. By taking it with you, you can set the dungeon up elsewhere and delve into its depths whenever you want. You could set it up so that others could delve into it and charge them for the privilege. And…if you complete this task for me, I will ensure that you receive the maximum rewards that can be provided.”

Baslin’s voice rang through Duke’s head. “By the king’s left testicle! Take the deal! The rewards from this could be artifact-ranked!”

Duke agreed with Baslin’s thoughts. He knew he was going to go for it but wanted a bit more information before doing so. “Sam, how many levels are in the dungeon?”

“There are currently five levels to the dungeon. At one time there were twenty. Oh, that was a glorious time. I had parties of adventurers coming and going all the time. You can make that happen again!” Sam’s excitement was contagious, and Duke could feel his adrenaline starting to edge upwards.

“One more question, Sam. Are YOU the dungeon, or just some sort of spokesman?”

“I am the dungeon but not wholly the dungeon as I interact with you. You are likely not conversant with multidimensional entities and trying to explain it to you would only serve to confuse. For all you need to know, yes, I am the dungeon, but do not expect to interact with me outside of this space. That would be…irregular.”

“Good enough. Let’s get this next level going then.” Duke felt like his nerves were sparking with electricity. He was not sure where the excitement was coming from, but he was raring to go.

“As you wish. Opening the portal to the second level now.”

The room’s door shimmered and pixelated into nothingness, leaving a glowing green portal with an ornately written sign: Level Two. Duke entered.