Wandering Dungeon

"This is a stupid plan." Blixie groaned. "It's not going to work."

"It will work." Garrett retorted. “It's just a little bit harder than I thought it would be."

"That's because dungeons aren't supposed to move like this. They’re not suppose to move at all actually."

"I know that but George said my friends are out there and I want to go find them. I just need a bit more practice and maybe a few more levels in Unseen Force." Ding. "Finally. Unseen Force just leveled up. I think it should give me enough threads for this to work well enough."

"I hope so. You have playing around with that skeleton for over a week now and have been neglecting any sort of improvement to your influence."

Garrett looked over the skeleton that was currently being held up by the mana threads of his Unseen Force ability like a marionette doll. He quickly used the new threads provided by his skill leveling up to add some support and a bit more control around the knees. "I'm not going to increase my influence since you told me that I can't use my skills if there are others inside it. I want to go faster than a snail so, like you said, moving the ground under me is no good since it would draw attention."

"But why use the skeleton? I don't understand that part of the plan."

“When I first awoke to this world and started playing around with the Unseen Force skill I threw the bag that held my core and I went with it. After that, when I would try to grab my core directly the skill would slip off it like it wasn't even there. Since I can't grab my core directly I can put my core inside the bag and have the skeleton carry it."

"But then people will see a skeleton wandering around which will be just as alarming." Blixie said. "Oh, if you can find some armor or clothes to cover it in then people will think that it is just another person. That's pretty clever." She said excitedly.

"Thanks Blixie. It took me a while to figure out how to use the mana threads to tie two things together without having to focus on them but I'm glad it worked so I could reconnect the bones together."

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Garret practiced walking the skeleton across the room and back again, making sure it was a smooth walk. He even gave a few practice swings with the sword held by the skeleton. "I think we are almost ready to leave the cave and go see the world, although I am a little worried about getting some clothes before we get to a town."

"It should be fine. If nothing else we can kill and skin a few animals for their hide. So let's head out already."

Garrett moved above and slightly behind the skeleton and started walking it out of the cave and down the tunnel. Garrett caught Blixie's attention with a sudden laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"The view from here reminds me of some of the video games I used to play." Garrett responded with a chuckle.

"Video game? I understand the idea of the game but what does video mean?" Blixie asked confused.

Garrett thought about how to describe the idea of television to Blixie who had probably never even heard of electricity. "The simplest way to describe it would be a moving image of a far away place being shown on a screen or window like thing."

"Oh, like scrying.”

“Maybe, but you control one of the people.”

“Mind control is not very nice you know.” Blixie huffed.

"It's not...uhh. It's more like a puppet that you control. So no mind control going on." Garrett looked around. "Man, they really did a number on my dungeon."

Blixie looked at Garrett confused. "Is that one of your other world sayings?"

"Yea. It means they really wrecked the place. I can't believe they destroyed my pressurized doors. I was really proud of those, but I guess I don't really need to worry about that now. I'm about to leave this cave behind and experience a whole new world that's different from my old one."

They reached the mouth of the cave after a few more minutes of walking when Garrett paused. "What's wrong?" Blixie asked with concern.

"Until I met George all I've known for the past few months is this small cave and now I'm about to step out into the unknown. It's a bit intimidating.”

"Well, you know me." Blixie stood cheerfully. "We can face the unknown together."

"Thanks Blixie. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome." Blixie smiled. "Also, you need to remember to have the skeleton look at who you are talking to or it might draw more attention than you want."

"Thanks Blixie. I'll try to remember that." Garrett took a deep breath, even though he doesn't need to breath, to steady his nerves and stepped out of the cave and into a new life of adventuring.

***************************************

“You destroyed it!?” Shouted a man that was larger than life yet half the size of the men he was yelling at. "Why would you destroy it?"

"It was a useless dungeon, guild master. The only things in there were simple pit traps. No monsters or treasure." Frank replied. He tried to convince himself he was only slightly intimidated by the guild master, but he had seen him throw people through the stone wall of the guild hall before.

"It did have those pressurized doors that I found rather impressive for such a young dungeon." John commented.

The short guild master jumped up onto his stone desk to stand eye to eye with Frank, his big, black, heavily braided beard practically slapped Frank in the chest. "I don't care how useful you thought it was you big oaf. All dungeons can be useful if you know what you are doing." He spat. "We dwarves know a trick or two to make the most out of dungeons that most wouldn't even spit at. We could have secured that dungeon and had exclusive access to it."

Frank deflated in the face of the guild master's tirade. "I'm sorry sir. I didn't think..."

"Of course you didn't think. You never do." The guild master took a deep breath to calm himself before he did something he would regret. "Frank, you are one of the strongest adventurers in the guild, but strength will only get you so far. You have got to start using your head and think about more than just food and women. The new lads look up to you for guidance. I need you to show them how to be a great adventurer so they don't die to the first stone they trip over."

Frank stood up straight feeling proud to be called one of the strongest in the guild. A memory of seeing the strong warriors of his tribe march through their small village as a kid flashed through his mind. The desires of wanting to grow up strong and proud like them burning in his small chest. Would those warriors have acted as he had? "I will do better to be a guild member others can look up to and aspire to be like." He said in a strong voice. "What can I do to regain honor for the Dragon Turtle guild?"

"Taking a few days off to think about how to start using your brain is a good start. I will let you know if anything else comes up. Now go." The guild master smiled at Frank.

Frank thumped his fists to his chest, bowed and left the guild masters office. John and the guild master stood in silence for a few moments. "Five gold says he screws up in a week." John said.

"Ten says it's less than five days." The guild master replied. They both laughed while the guild master jumped down off his desk and waved at a couple of chairs off to the side by a bookshelf. After they sat down the guild master reached over to a small bottle filed with a dark amber liquid and poured a little into two glasses. He handed one to John and took a sip from his glass. "Tell me your thoughts on this dungeon. In all my years I haven't heard of a dungeon with only traps in it."

John told him all about their dungeon trip. He talked about the pit falls and how even though they were rather basic, with a thin cover of stone and spikes on the bottom, the placement of them seemed to suggest more intelligence and cunning than even some of the older dungeons. When he described the pressurized doors the guild master's eyes lit up.

"Those doors would have been exciting to inspect. Might have to try to make some for the guild hall in case it gets attacked again." He stared off through the window behind his desk. "It would have been great to see what that dungeon could have grown to be." He said with a deep sadness in his tone. "Shame it had to be you and that knuckle head to explore it."