CHAPTERRRRR TWOOOOOO!!!!!

CHAPTER 2 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 0 AoC

Richter half expected the lifelike cave to snap shut on them both, but despite the forbidding carving of a snake’s mouth, it remained open. Once inside, the tunnel quickly angled downward at a twenty-degree angle. It strengthened the feeling that the two Masters were sliding down the gullet of a monster. The shaft also curved to the right as if following the coils of a serpent. After two full revolutions, the daylight was lost. 

Both Masters summoned lights. Hisako muttered a spell that made white light shoot from her hand like a spot light. Richter summoned mist lights periodically and threw them to either side of the tunnel. They would illuminate the passage for a full year before burning out. As they moved, he kept his elementum short sword firmly in his grasp.

The tunnel itself was nothing special, only brown and grey rock. Loose pebbles were scattered across the stone floor and soon there was a feeling of dampness in the air as they crossed under the water table. He could feel moisture on the stones. The two Masters continued on. 

After walking for only three minutes, the shaft ended in a cavern. Hisako cast another spell and a series of white sparks shot from her hand in all directions. Where the sparks landed, the surface of what they touched began to glow. Five inch circles of phosphorescent white light appeared all around the room. Even Richter’s armor began to luminesce. Seeing as how it was still covered in blood and gore from the battle with the goblins, it was not the most pleasant sight. Hisako’s spell had achieved its goal, however. They could now see the entire cavern. 

The grotto they stood in wasn’t huge. It was about the size of two basketball courts laid side by side. The ceiling couldn’t have been more than thirty feet high. One strange thing was that no stalactites or stalagmites marred the smooth surfaces of the chamber. The only features were the entrance they had come out of, another exit across the chamber from them, and what looked like a well in the center of the room. The far exit had a barely perceptible, shimmering curtain of energy across it. 

The well was formed of tightly fitting blocks of what looked like marbled quartz. The brilliant white stone contrasted strongly with the brown rock of the rest of the chamber. The well itself rose four feet from the ground and was four feet across. What gave Richter pause and what made Hisako’s eyes narrow in anger, was that the grey veins that normally traced through marbled quartz had been replaced with a dark red stone the color of blood. The veins also throbbed like it was in time with a heartbeat… which didn’t help.

Another prompt with a red border appeared in Richter’s vision.

Congratulations! You have found a Room: Entrance Chamber. This Room is the first chamber of every Dungeon. No monsters or other dangers of the Dungeon can harm you in this location. A free Well of Offering is supplied in every Entrance Chamber. None can pass further into the Dungeon from this location without your permission Dungeon Master.

Richter walked up and looked inside the well, wondering what wonders would reveal themselves. He was disappointed. The chaos seed didn’t know what he had been expecting. Maybe a giant hand to reach out and grab him when he peeked over the side. Possible a cauldron of blood burbling far below. Maybe even a sea of snakes climbing over each other, Indiana Jones style. You had to love the classics. All he saw though, was dirt. The entire thing was filled with dry dust only one foot from the lip of the well.  

Wrinkling his brow in disappointment, Richter placed a hand on the well. A prompt sprang into his vision.

Greetings Dungeon Master. You have found the Well of Offering. Items and resources sacrificed down this well may be used by your Dungeon if the appropriate conditions are met. Have a care! Nothing sacrificed to the Well of Offering can be retrieved. Do you wish to activate the Well? Yes or No?

Richter chose “Yes” and his eyes grew as big as dinner plates. The floor of the well dropped away like it had gone to warp. He jumped back with a startled oath. All that was left was a stark nothingness. He felt like he as staring into a black hole. Not a dark well, an actual collapsed star that was a deep nothingness. It was insanely disconcerting. Hisako looked at him quizzically.

“What is wrong?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” he shot back incredulously. “You don’t see that?”

She looked over the side of the well, still glancing suspiciously at the pulsing red veins in the stone, “All I see is dirt, a foot deep.”

Shaking his head, Richter walked back over to the well. When he looked in again, he still saw the bottomless pit. It made him experience a slightly nauseating vertigo. Since nothing else happened though, his curiosity took over. “Tell me what you see happen now.”

Richter reached into his bag and summoned a copper coin into his hand. Keeping one eye on Hisako, he dropped it. The coin fell faster than it should have. It looked like the blackness actively sucked it up. This time, it was Hisako that exclaimed in surprise. 

“It disappeared! What did you do?”

“I offered the coin to the Dungeon,” Richter responded simply. “What exactly did you see?”

“As soon as you let go, it simply vanished.”

Richter read the new prompt that had appeared in his view.

Item Accepted! Dungeon loot now includes: Copper Coins. 

Know This! The incidence of items appearing in the Dungeon is proportional to the item’s rarity, natural abundance in the surrounding region, complexity, discovered Rooms and many other factors. You may affect the likelihood of certain drops in the Dungeon’s Settings.

Richter’s eyes widened in surprise and excitement. He accessed the snake icon in his view again and then selected “Settings.”

You lack the appropriate expertise to access the Dungeon’s Attributes. A Dungeon Keeper is required for this. 

“Son of a bitch,” Richer muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Hisako asked. 

He just shook his head. With a sour look on his face, he reached into his bag for other items.

Items accepted. Dungeon loot now includes: Silver and Gold Coins. 

He decided to start being a little more generous. Richter dropped in a small, semi-precious gem. The prompt changed slightly. 

Know This! Certain items can be used as both loot and a resource.

Items accepted. Dungeon Loot and Resources now include: Jasper. 

The obvious question was, ‘What the difference between “loot” and “resources.”  Luckily, he was with a relative expert on Dungeon Lore. He related the last prompt, word for word. Hisako’s answer was fairly simple. 

“Dungeons are not only breeding grounds for monsters. They also grow ‘resources.’ When you offered that gem, it was apparently accepted as an ‘item.’ That means it can be found in treasure chests or gained as loot from slain creatures. The fact that it is a ‘resource,’ means that miners you bring into your Dungeon might be find jasper in the walls as well.”  

Well that’s awesome news, Richter thought. It made the Dungeon even more valuable. It also meant he would need to guard any non combatants that entered. He would figure out the logistics of that later, but he was already envisioning having a small fort built inside the Dungeon. 

He reached into his bag again. The “frugal” parted of him hated throwing the jewels away. The pragmatic side of him had always been stronger though… albeit only just. It understood it was necessary to invest in the future. 

Items accepted. Dungeon Loot and Resources now include: Tiger’s Eye, Amethyst, and Topaz.

Richter dropped in the smallest gem he could find each time, but it still felt like he was saying goodbye to precious friends. He had no idea if dropping in larger stones might mean that he could in turn find larger stones in the Dungeon. The prompts didn’t give any indication of that, so he just couldn’t bring himself to drop in bigger jewels. Even the small rubies, emeralds and diamonds he had just literally tossed down a hole were worth hundreds, if not thousands, of gold. He also did not have an endless supply. The small chest of gems he had found upon claiming the village was more than half gone. Richter knew that he would have to start earning more coin soon. Until he knew how this actually worked out, he wouldn’t risk any more money that absolutely necessary on this magic hole. Richter remembered his uncle once saying something very similar about marriage. 

He dropped in another item.

Item Accepted. Dungeon Loot now includes: Common Soul Stone.

Resource Not Accepted. As the Dungeon lacks the appropriate Room, Common Soul Stone (empty) cannot be used as a Resource.

Yet another prompt he didn’t understand. Focusing on the good, he was happy that he had found another source of soul stones. Richter nodded to himself, and excitedly dropped in another amber gem. This time, was a third line of the prompt. That would be fine, but they were all red this time. Red, in his experience was only good in very specific scenarios, apples, carpets and drapes.  

Item already accepted. Dungeon loot already includes: Common Soul Stone. 

Resource Not Accepted. As the Dungeon lacks the appropriate Room, Common Soul Stone cannot be used as a Resource.

Soul rejected! As the Dungeon lacks the appropriate Room, souls cannot be absorbed through the Well of Offering.

The filled soul stone still disappeared, but it was apparently wasted. Richter had chosen a common soul stone that was only filled with a poor quality soul, but still, he hated waste. Of course, the prompt didn’t tell him what Room he needed to be able to offer souls to the Dungeon. From the fact that “Room” was capitalized, he assumed it was a specific area, rather than just four walls, a floor and a ceiling. When he focused on the word though, another red prompt appeared.

Know This! Further information about the Rooms of your Dungeon are beyond your keen. Find a Dungeon Keeper to unlock further functionality.

Richter heaved a big sigh. It seemed that his title of Dungeon Master was not as meaningful as he had initially thought. Unless he found a Dungeon Keeper, whatever that meant, his ability to interface with his latest village feature would remain limited. It also didn’t escape his notice that the last prompt was a bit cheeky. 

Luckily, Hisako came to the rescue again. She admitted there was much she didn’t know, but it was still nice to at least know something. 

“There are references to Rooms, though out Dungeon Lore, Lord Richter. They are specific areas in a Dungeon that increase its powers and properties. From what I have read, Rooms can be almost any size and can give any number of abilities. Some are more or less common. One of the Rooms that seems to appear often in Dungeons is an Armory. It makes it more likely to encounter Dungeon creatures that carry weapons. I do not know if an Armory would affect your Dungeon in light of the fact that that your monsters based appears to be Beasts, but then, I have heard of high level Beasts that wield weapons.”

“I still don’t get it,” Richter said. “Why would I ever want to build a Room like that?”

Hisako laughed slightly at the chaos seed’s naivete. “You do not actually have a choice, Lord Richter. The Dungeon is dangerous now, but it will become much deadlier over time. I recommend that you map it as often as possible to know what capabilities it can bring to bear.”

Richter nodded, disgruntled. He did not enjoy feeling out of control, and it was quickly becoming clear that being a Dungeon Master was a bit of a misnomer. That led him to his next question, “What do you know about Dungeon Keepers? I keep getting prompts saying that I can’t access certain properties if I don’t find one.”

Hisako shook her head, “The oldest books I have read, dating back more than a thousand years, speak of Dungeon Keepers. Men and women who could unlock the true potential and power of Dungeons. There have been none recorded for years without end, however. The more recent texts posited that Dungeons Keepers used a magic now lost to The Land or that they never actually existed.”

Richter nodded. It wasn’t everything he wanted to know, but at least he had learned something. He had learned from the prompt that sacrificing souls to the Dungeon would one day be possible, presumably with some reward for doing so. Richter dropped a few more empty amber gems and received prompts that the dungeon could now produce luminous and brilliant soul stones as well. His curiosity satisfied, for at least the moment, he left well enough alone. The Dungeon sensed his intent and soon the bottomless hole disappeared, leaving only dirt in the Well of Offering again.  

Richter decided to examine the only feature in the room, the exit on the far side of the room. As he walked closer, he could see that the shimmering field of energy covering it wasn’t exactly clear. It had a slightly red tint when viewed from certain angles. The field undulated in minute ways very quickly, so the color was lost almost immediately, but the chaos seed was sure he had seen it. He looked back at Hisako who just stared back at him with an expression that mirrored his own. Despite everything that had just happened, they both possessed a craving for adventure. They were united in an excited curiosity as to what was on the other side of the curtain of energy. His fingers brushed the field.

Greetings, Dungeon Master! You are about to leave the safety of the Entrance Chamber. Know This! The dangers of the Dungeon of Bloody Chaos have been strengthened by your choices. At level one, the bonuses are:

The Harbinger’s primary trait, Camouflage, is extended to all monsters and traps. At Dungeon level 1, they are 10% harder to detect.

The Item of Power, the Chaotic Bloodstone, has increased the health of every monster in the Dungeon. At Dungeon level 1, the health bonus is 10%. 

The Item of Power, the Chaotic Bloodstone, has made the internal structure of the Dungeon ephemeral. There is a possibility of the Dungeon’s layout changing each time someone enters it. 

Know This! All Dungeon bonuses increase as the Dungeon gains levels. 

Richter’s eyes widened. Had he basically made the deadly dungeon of blood and chaos supersized? If he didn’t know better, he would have thought that Hisako had conned him. She was the one that had convinced him that making the Dungeon as powerful as possible was somehow a good thing. Having the Chaotic Bloodstone as the Item of Power was admittedly kind of his bad, but he had wanted to choose a squirrel or a chipmunk as the Harbinger. Richter still had no idea why the Hearth Mother had convinced him to choose an insanely powerful creature instead. It was a moot point though. There was nothing he could do about it now. 

He was about to cross the energy field, into the Dungeon proper, when a voice rang out. One of the guards had entered the Dungeon, and come down the winding ramp to find him. The slightly haunted look on her face was all Richter needed to see to know the Doubt debuff was in place. Still, she snapped a salute, and relayed her message, “My Lord. The guards are assembled as you commanded. They are ready to bring our people home.”

For a few minutes, the excitement of exploring the Dungeon had distracted Richter. Now reality came crashing back. He still had to get his people back to safety. He had to figure out what to do with hundreds of war refugees and… he had to bury his dead. Richter drew his hand back from the energy field. Exploring the Dungeon would have to wait. He sent the guard to let the warband know he would be there soon. As the woman ran off, the two Masters started walking back towards the surface. 

When they reached the top, Richter turned to Hisako. He had seen something on the Dungeon interface that he thought might solve the Doubt debuff. It was the similar to the option he had to give people immunity to Confusing Mists. He added her name to also give the Hearth Mother immunity to the Doubt effect.

Once that was done, he told her about his discovery and asked her to drop whatever enchantment had inured her to the effect initially. She didn’t see any real downside. They had already left the Dungeon, and even if they hadn’t, she had come to trust this human. After she dismissed her spell, Hisako waited a moment and then smiled, “Well done, Lord Richter.”

He started smiling as well, but it froze when the Hearth Mother’s expression turned serious, “There is much left for us to discuss, Lord Richter. I must tell you, though, that a feeling has been growing inside of me. I have a premonition that the trials we will soon face will make what we have been through before seem paltry in comparison, and we will need all of our strength and friendship to survive.” 

She sighed heavily and then forced a faint smile onto her face, “That can wait for the now, however. I will attend to the freed prisoners and ensure that they are free of disease while you bring our armies home. You have lead both of peoples through war and blood. Now you will lead them home, and tonight you will lead the loved ones of your fallen through sorrow. Travel fast and return quickly, so that we may bury our dead.” 

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I hope ya’ll enjoyed Chapter 2! 

Working hard every day to finish Book 7. The hospital has been very demanding and its slowed me down, but I know you’re going to love it when it's done lol. Definitely wont be early July, but fingers crossed, maybe late July!

If you want to get together and bad mouth me, I finally have a forum lol. It’s on the website, first link on the left.

www.LitRPG.com

Join up! 😊

#LitRPG #Aleron #Author #TheLand #ChaosSeeds #GnomesRule

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Also, I'm doing a contest on Goodreads!

 It only takes 30 seconds and two clicks.  Would you mind voting for my book The Land: Founding?

It's the beige "vote for this book" button under the title, NOT the green "Want to Read" button on the right

oh, and it has to be done on a computer not a phone

it's #2 :)

Have a great one ya'll!  Will be putting up Chapter 3 soon!

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/106996.What_We_ve_Read_So_Far_in_2017?page=1