Dungeon Master (Karma System)

”What is this nonsense?” Max asked DC

[A dungeon battle is a battle between 2 dungeons.]

Max fought the urge to roll his eyes. ”I could have guessed that.”

[The Goblin Mines had paid DP in order to challenge. This challenge can end 2 ways. One side surrenders and the other accepts or one side retrieves the others dungeon core.]

”Oh, so this is a serious thing then.” Max said.

Anna was standing by his side, reading the conversation between Max and DC on her clipboard. While she nervously gripped her husband’s arm, Quin read over her shoulder.

[All Dungeon related matters are serious.]

”Okay, okay, sure, but how does this work?”

[Since it was goblin mines that challenged, you will get to decided whether you want to attack or defend.]

[If you chose attack, you will lead 50% of your manpower to invade the Goblin Mine Dungeon. In the event that you are attacked and overrun, the Goblin Mine Dungeon will be able to enter your dungeon after you forces are defeated.]

[If you chose to defend, the Dungeon Master of Goblin Mines will lead 50% of his manpower to invade Crag Dungeon. If you are able to defeat them, you will then be able to enter Goblin Mines with your own people and search for their Dungeon Core]

”I see.” Max said while rubbing his chin.

”It is likely that the Goblin Mines has made sufficient preparations before declaring the challenge. There defense is most likely several times more than what is normal.” Quin said.

Max nodded. ”They have most likely also prepared raiding teams and made plans to take my dungeon. What else do I need to know DC?”

[Adventures and non-dungeon creatures will be expelled from the dungeon or forced into sanctuary zones during the Dungeon Battle. The battle will connect the main entrances of the 2 dungeons together. Instance levels will have their instances aspects temporarily disabled. The revival debuff will be temporarily disabled while an altered revival buff is applied to both dungeons.]

[This altered buff will resurrect creatures free of charge, but they will not be able to rejoin to battle.]

”Hmm, that makes things interesting.”

”Are you not worried?” Anna asked while turning Max to face her.

”Truly? No. I am not. If my stats were to reflect a level, I would be well over 100. The creatures that fight for me are all maximized for their level. I don’t know much about the Goblin Mines but I know that it is considered a low level dungeon.”

Anna narrowed her eyes at Max. ”Isn’t our dungeon also considered a low level dungeon?” She asked him

”That’s different. Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine.”

”Will you attack or defend?” Quin asked.

”I am leaning towards attack.”

”Would it not be a better idea to defend?”

”It all depends on if they can overcome the first level.” Max said. ”Since it won’t be an instance they enter, I don’t know if Fey nights will be able to stop them. I am not sure what kind of havoc they can cause on a sanctuary floor though. Technically the village is the second floor of the dungeon, and the orc camp is the third. But it would probably be a safer decision to defend.”

”Then you will defend.” Anna said, not giving him any room to argue.

Max thought about it. There really wasn’t a hug concern if the enemy dungeon got into the sanctuary. Him saying he was worried about it was partially a lie. What he really wanted was to go to another dungeon. But it would probably be best to defend. At least Anna would be less worried that way.

”Alright.” Max said. ”We will defend.”

Anna nodded. ”Okay, I will inform adventures that the instances will be temporarily disabled and that their access will be restricted.”

Before she left, Quin spoke up. ”DP may have been restricted, but you already have many stores filled with numerous supplies. Those are things you can make use of.” He suggested.

The beautiful woman smiled widely. ”That is a great idea. I will get the gnomes to quickly conduct an inventory.”

”And what about you?” Max asked Quin.

Quin shrugged. ”I have heard of Dungeon Battles and witness the results. But this is the first time I have been inside a dungeon during the battle.

DC spoke up and displayed the information to the both of them.

[Dungeon Contractees are counted as part of the dungeons manpower unless there contract has a clause that exempts them for fighting for the dungeon.]

”I see.” Quin said. He knew that his contract didn’t have such a thing. He wasn’t sure how he felt about a signing a contract and then immediately going to fight for the Dungeon Master.

”Don’t worry.” Max said. ”You shouldn’t have a need to fight. You can stay back with me.”

Quin looked to Max. ”You are not going to fight with your creatures.”

The Dungeon Master let out a sigh. ”I want to. Especially since I won’t be really killing anyone with the revival buff. But I think my wife would be furious if I purposefully put myself in danger and fought at the front. Now if I was at the back and the enemy made it to me... I don’t think she would be happy, but she would understand.”

Quin’s stoic face quivered as he fought to hold in a chuckle. ”Are you afraid of your wife?”

”Bah, what do you know? I don’t want to be kicked out of my room and sleep on the couch.” Max said.

Quin’s mouth twitched but he didn’t say anything further.

As Max was deciding his next move, DC came to him for approval. Anna wanted to release a message to the every adventurer, but to do that, she needed the permission of the Dungeon Master.

Max glanced at the message and found nothing wrong with it. He told DC to broadcast.

///

Rod was sitting with Dirk and a few of the new recruits. These recruits were not the absolute best of the batch, but they were all above average.

What brought these teens together was a unique interest.

In the center of the table, a large piece of parchment was spread.

A hand drawn map of Fey Nights filled the page.

”As you can see, we have mapped the pathway to the encounters and the boss. We have started exploring outwards from the encounters, but we still have a long way to go.”

Another recruit spoke up. ”The hardest part is maintaining your sense of direction in the fog. Once you get lost, all mapping is pointless until you find a landmark and begin anew from there.”

”That’s true.” Dirk said. ”I am currently working on a tracking skill to help with that. In fact, it should be my last Basic Rogue skill before I start working on my Archer skills and abilities. Worst case scenario, we will have to wait until I can unlock scouting/map ability or find somebody who has something similar.”

”You will be done with Tracking in a couple days right?” Rod asked. When Dirk nodded he continued. ”Then for now, we sweep the entrance of the forest. If we get lost we just have to walk out of the fog and we can start again. We will map the beginning and once you unlock tracking we can venture further from the path. Agreed?”

”Agreed.”

”Agreed.”

”Agreed.”

”Agreed.”

Once everyone agreed Rod spoke again. ”Good. I can’t wait to find what other encounters are out in those woods. But remember ladies and gentleman, we can’t let out training slack or else Cotton is going to really give it to us.”

At that, the others nodded.

”Okay, go train your skills. You have another run after dinner to get ready for.” Rod said, sending them all away.

Before the recruits were able to take a step away, everyone froze.

[Attention creatures of Crag dungeon and adventures.]

[Goblin Mines has challenged us to a dungeon battle in 1 hour’s times. We are sorry for the inconvenience but all levels aside from the sanctuary/village will be temporarily closed to the public. Most gnome services will be replaced by automatons. If you have a session scheduled with a class trainer, your deposit will be refunded and a voucher for a discounted lesson will be given. Taverns and inn will remain open. A few stores will also remain open but merchandise may be limited.]

[Please be patient during this time. If you do not wish to stay in the dungeon during this battle, the exit connecting to the stable will remain open for adventures to leave through. We hope to continue regular service by this evening, or tomorrow at noon by the latest.]

[Annastasia Clarkson]