Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 392

Chapter 392 – Quest

With the local dungeons on board and willing to attend, I turned my attention to other matters. The upcoming wedding was important, of course, but it wasn’t like I was devoid of responsibilities, or needing to take care of tasks that I’d said I’d handle. Not to mention just running my dungeon, and my faith. There were always demands on my time, and, even with me being able to be in multiple places at once, there were limits to how much I could accomplish at any given place in a given time. Even gods and dungeons could only trick the rules so far, it seemed.

Thankfully, Aphrodite was doing most of the wedding planning, and my Sword and Hand were preparing for a Bonding of Equals, which was one of several forms of marriage ceremony in my church. There was a form for binding a group of equals together, with a version for adding new people to the group, as well as the Bonding of Dominance and Submission, which usually involved collaring one side. There were group versions, as well, one for ‘communal ownership’, and one for harems. And then, there was the Bonding of Bonds, which was more complicated, but allowed two groups (either with the Bond of Equals, the Bond of Dominance and Submission, or a mix of the two) to join. How the power structures of that one worked out were complicated enough to require a flow chart at points, but once you saw it, it made sense.

Of course, I’d made certain that both Aphrodite and Athena knew what the Bonding of Equals entailed, so they could prepare accordingly. Well, most of it would be preparing the guests for what would be happening. Wedding services in my church were done in the nude, after all, with only a black cloak to give any semblance of modesty. It was to signify that there were no secrets within the relationship, and no shame in their life choices. And the ceremony ended with the consummation of the union upon the altar.

Naturally, that wasn’t something that most modern humans would be immediately comfortable with. However, I did not expect the divinities to object. Well, not too much. The details were not too far off different wedding traditions throughout history, after all. ‘Skyclad’ weddings weren’t exactly common, but they were far from unknown, and watching the consummation of a marriage (especially for important people like royalty and nobles) was something that more than one culture in history had accepted, especially when the union was intended to seal an alliance or establish succession.

Either way, my main concerns were elsewhere. Several teams had made it to the city of Khav-Srokzas in the dungeon, and were working on building their reps until they could get into the raid. Of course, just getting to the city wasn’t enough. Yes, there were jobs in the city to build reps, but most of them were either tied to the anti-slavery groups, so parties with slave-owners were barred from them, or they did not unlock until you already had a certain level of reputation with one of the Houses. For the majority of entry level quests, it typically boiled down to getting materials and goods from other floors in the dungeon. Meaning that people had to run the dungeon multiple times in order to unlock the jobs that could be done in the city, which would unlock the raid.

The team I had contracted on Bluemountain hadn’t arrived yet, but that was within expectations. They needed to cover half a continent, after all, in order to reach Nighthold and the portal to Earth. I could have done something to hurry them on their way, but that would have tainted the test, so I decided to just let that rest, until they got to Earth.

They already had a job to do, so I shouldn’t poke my nose into their business too much. Especially for what I was about to do. I needed some plausible deniability for the job that Saint Pete, Patriarch, and Prophet, after all, so I didn’t get anyone having an excuse to call out Godslayers or Dungeonkillers on me.

With that in mind, I cast my divine senses out into the wider galaxy. I wanted to go away from Bluemountain, since I was still easily connected to that world in the minds of many. I had defeated Pofmis in the flesh there, after all, which caused Pofmisians across the galaxy to enslave themselves. Not exactly something most people would be able to forget.

Still, I needed a place with at least some connection to me, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to act freely. Preferably someplace with a temple of mine that had a portal connected to Swamptown, so I didn’t have to push things further by arranging transport, or waiting on my fall guy to book passage on a freighter or passenger ship. There weren’t many of those that made trips to Earth, since we were still in a backwater part of the spiral arm, and didn’t exactly have many ‘home-grown’ freight companies.

So, someplace where I had enough of a presence to easily manifest, without being as tightly bound to the place as I was with Bluemountain. Hmm. There was a temple on Atara, near the Labyrinth of the Dishonored Knight dungeon, where I had turned back that crusade of Binja and Idos. And I did put a portal in it, a couple months back, even if I didn’t advertise it that much. Hadn’t had too many people from Atara wanting to go sight-seeing, especially when the local dungeons were more than enough to keep them from getting bored. Yes, that would do nicely.

As I’d done when recruiting my help on Bluemountain, I created a simple avatar, tailoring the looks and clothes to something that wouldn’t look too out of place amongst the locals, and an illusion to cover my [Appraisal] information. I had two stops to make here, if I wanted to conduct my little intervention without overstepping lines. The first was the closest System Shop, since I couldn’t release a dragon into the wild without first acquiring a dragon.

“Hello, and welcome to the System Shop,” the woman behind the counter greeted me as I walked through the door. “Oh!” she gasped as her eyes met mine. I saw recognition there, despite the illusion which should have kept me somewhat anonymous. But then, the workers at the System Shop were closer to the ‘dungeon humans’ in my halls, rather than normal people, an extension of the System Shop itself, as some would call it. However, she was enough of a ‘person’ that when I held a finger over my mouth she got the idea, and kept quiet.

I moved around some of the locals who were going about their regular business, and made my way to an area with a free terminal. I already knew what I was looking for, but it still took some time to filter out listings from across the galaxy until I got to ones that were more relevant to my needs. That much was a given when you decided to look through a marketplace that was essentially the galactic version of pre-Initialization Amazon.

Captured Creature Report

Creature Name

Kithenin, the Broodlord

Appraisal Information

Dragon Male

Level 32 Mageking of the Forgotten City / Breaker of Armies

Titles: Tough, Well-Endowed, Savage, Violator, Sire of Many, Spellmight

Origin Planet

Sendara 3

General Information

Named the Broodlord for his habit of roving the length and breadth of his territory on the Soldarna Continent of Sendara 3, slaying those males who offend him and ravaging any female who takes his fancy, regardless of species. However, those actions were not completely without reason. Kithenin bound his life force to his bloodline, ensuring that, should he be slain, he will be able to replace the soul of the nearest descendent of his, to the seventh generation, and return to his full power within days. As he has over four thousand known children, just among sapient races, killing him outright appears to be impossible without extensive bloodshed to prepare the field. It is hoped that interstellar distances will break the magical connection between himself and his bloodline, so that he can finally be slain, once and for all.

Price

23,405 pp, 30 Astral Diamonds, if selling to a buyer outside the Sendara system. Prices increased to (Base Price)^9 for buyers within the Sendara system.

Clearly, the dragon was powerful, in Tier 4, as I expected. Well into Tier 4, actually. It would be quite some time before Earth-born humans would be able to take him on. And the ‘General Information’ section, along with his titles, gave a pretty clear picture why a Tier 4 dragon was being sold through the System Shop, and for so cheap. Usually, a Tier 4 creature would be at least five times the price. However, raising the price to (23,409)9 pp and (30)9 Astral Diamonds if he was bought inside the same solar system was INSANE! Showed just how hated the dragon was in his home world.

I paid the ‘out of system’ fee, and, a moment later, the woman behind the counter handed me a [Tier 4 Capture Ball], designed to capture, and hold, creatures up to Tier 4 in strength. The items were beyond rare, because of their power, and the kind of materials needed to make them. And this one came pre-loaded with a Dragon, which meant that, when I chose a patsy, I would have to ensure that they did not stupidly open the thing anywhere I wanted to be intact.

Now, I needed to find someone to go and release the monster in the right spot. Someone who could be said to be acting completely of their own free will. Preferably, not someone who was one of my direct worshippers. For that, the obvious next stop would be the Adventurer’s Guild.

The local Guild Hall looked like an office building. In fact, I was pretty sure that, if you transplanted it to Earth, it would fit in quite nicely amongst any one of hundreds of office buildings in a major metropolitan area. The people inside all had weapons and armor that looked more magitech than medieval, but not to the same degree as the pilgrims I’d hosted. Most of these were high Tier 1, low Tier 2, which made a difference, I guessed. A lot of the gear at higher levels was level-locked, to keep a Tier 1, Level 1 nobody from picking up a legendary Tier 4 magic sword and using it to destroy monsters in one hit, or grabbing an ancestor’s Tier 4 armor and being basically invincible to the low-tier monsters around him.

Strolling up to the main desk, I smiled at the Knelfi clerk, and said, “Excuse me, sir, I would like to hire an adventurer for a delivery.”

The man nodded once, and said, “Of course, sir. Here’s the standard Transport Quest form. Please fill it out completely, so that we can do the best job in matching appropriate adventurers to the task. As a warning, the Guild takes no liability if the quest fails because you deliberately ‘under-reported’ the expected dangers of the quest, and may forward any medical or resurrection costs to your account, as well as damages to equipment, the environment, or bystanders.”

Oh, very professional. I nodded, as I took the offered tablet and stepped to the side to fill out the form. They knew their business here, and it showed.

Quest Request (Transport)

Questgiver

Anonymous

Contact Information (Guild use only)

Contact can be made by making a prayer to Kuronoth at one of his shrines on Altara.

Destination

Jerusalem, Israel, Earth, Sol System

Delivery Window

As soon as practical

Expected Opposition

None, though normal criminals may make attacks of opportunity. Locals are in Tier 1 or early Tier 2.

Transported Item

[Tier 4 Capture Ball] (filled)

Special Instructions

Adventurer is to take the UNOPENED [Tier 4 Capture Ball] to anywhere within the city limits of the target city, and release the creature within the Capture Ball. Using the temporary command ability, the Adventurer is to order the creature to make a lair in the city, and prohibit the creature from restraining or attacking the Adventurer for the remainder of the 24-hour command period. Adventurer is advised to then exit the city by the most expedient means, before the temporary command period expires.

Faster transit to/from Earth in Sol System may be found using portals in temples to Kuronoth.

Reward

5000 pp in advance, [Tier 4 Capture Ball]

Failure Penalty

Unspecified, dependent on cause of failure. May include divine retribution for interfering with a divine trial.

There, that ought to do it. I smiled, and headed to the desk to turn in the form. Once I’d handed over the payment, and the capture ball, the clerk informed me that they would find an appropriate Adventurer to take the quest. If they did not find someone within the week, they would contact me for further instructions or a refund of the quest payment.