Chereads / The Path of Death / Chapter 26 - A New Day

Chapter 26 - A New Day

The night past swiftly for Alexander, when he awoke he felt greatly refreshed, though his natural arm was giving him cries of discomfort. Glancing over, Laytalya was nestled into his side, the complaining arm serving as her pillow as she continued to expand on a rather sizable drool puddle on his shoulder. It was a far more benign appearance than the one she had when she came in last night. Glancing over, her tunic was still on the floor by the door where she had dropped it and approached him in all her glory.

To say they both had an itch to scratch was an understatement, both had taken as good as given, unleashing all the pent up frustrations through the night on each other. Now she slept quietly against him, though he would like his arm back he let her rest. The good thing out here was time was moving forward while time crawled in the dungeon, he could spent a year establishing himself out here in Colter but barely half a day would pass for his true home.

Relaxing a bit, he stroked the womans dark hair from her face and watched her sleep, a wry smile on his face as she slowly came to herself. The look of not exactly knowing where she was giving way to knowing exactly where she was and what they had done the prior hours nearly made him laugh, "Good morn Laytalya, if you're quite finished with it, I wouldn't mind my arm back."

Laytalya sat bolt upright grabbing the loose sheet to cover her body, the indecision to run back to her room, warred with the knowledge that doing so meant giving him a full glimpse of her bare body as she fled. Torn between staying where she was and fleeing, Alexander took the opportunity to sit up and cross the room. While her sleep clouded mind was awakening to the facts that worrying about her nudity now after a night in his arms was rather moot, he fetched her discarded tunic and laid it across her legs.

Alexander himself just went about his morning as if everything was normal. While he appreciated her beauty, he saw no need to tease her about it, thus he walked around the room naked collecting his clothes and hauling them on as if she didn't have her eyes glued to him. Glancing aside he smiled, "I'll escort you back to your room but we need to get ready Laytalya, its mid morn, if we want a good job we need to get our asses moving."

"Why...?"

The strangled voice crept into Alexander's ears forcing his attention back to her, "Why what?"

"Why do you act so calm about what we've done? Even yesterday you dealt so much death and then took me into your arms. You look younger than me... why can you so easily move on like this is just another day?!" Laytalya blurted out clutching her tunic to her chest, her tears already staining it as her voice cracked.

Alexander blinked and sighed finally cluing in as to what was going on. Walking over he sat down and pulled Laytalya into his arms and stroked her bare back as she wept against his chest. The killing, the enslavement, the sex. Several big moments had happened for her, as for him, he indeed looked sixteen still. In her eyes he supposed he looked younger than she, but the difference was he had his shit kicked awhile back. Between his acsension day, the murder of his parents, the killing he did with his own hands and even further back to his reincarnation... he simply hadn't been afforded the time to lose himself.

Every minute trapped in the dungeon was precious. If he hadn't rolled with the punches he would have been long dead. Yet she didn't have that crutch. She was experiencing a life gone to hell at mach nine in real time. Thus he held her, he let her cry against him, simply because he could understand what she was feeling. With no huge impending doom looming like an executioners blade over her neck she could feel things as they should be felt. Kissing her forehead he sighed, guess this is what it would mean to be normal.

After all she wasn't a dungeon Lord, just one affected by dungeons. Hugging her in his arms he tilted his head back, "If we want to be technical, I'm older than you Laytalya. If Tress time is equivalent to my home time, I became a dungeon Lord years ago, I've spent the last handful of years protecting my dungeon from constant, or what I thought was constant, invasions. Didn't realize dungeon time is so much slower than out here, strictly speaking, if we count the years I lost in there I'm in my early to mid twenties."

Tilting his gaze back down, "Violence... sex... neither concept is new to me. I was born the son of a wealthy merchant family, lesser nobles if you will. The day I was to rise to greatness, I took my maid to my bed. That night, that same maid killed my mother, the rest of the servants killed my father and this was before I stepped one inch within the dungeon."

Laytalya listened with growing horror, her head lifting to look at Alexander's dispassionate face, the tale he continued to tell was as if he were a witness not the focus of the story. The lost love, the death, the suffering he dished out in revenge was told so dead pan she could barely believe that he was describing his life so far to her. Still when he looked into her puffy eyes, he afforded her a warm smile, so alien compared to the Alexander of the dungeon.

She clung to him wiping at her eyes, "How did you get so strong? I ran to the pipeweed the second it got difficult but what you've been through..."

Alexander shook his head, "I'm not strong, I'm merely moving through life at a breakneck pace. I wasn't afforded time to realize what I've done or what I'm doing, I didn't have the luxury of letting it sink in and affect me. I just move forward, because it's all I know to do."

Laytalya hugged him before pulling on her tunic, "Alright let me wash up, then we'll go to the guild."

"Sure you don't want..."

"Nope! And I'm not counting your lost years so you're still younger than me so if your big sister can't pull herself together it'd be shameful!" She declared hopping up from his embrace.

Alexander smiled wryly, his gaze drifting down the back of her stained tunic to where he full bottom peeked out from under its hem, "Sounds like my minion is getting cheeky with her Master, I seem to recall from last night you responded quite vocally to being spanked..."

Her dark face flushed even darker as that memory flashed through her mind. "Nopenopenopenope! We're not going there again! Come on, escort me to my room boss!"

Laughing Alexander got up to guide her back to her room, while it was only next door, she'd probably try to bury herself under the floor boards if anyone caught her exiting his room as bare assed as she was. Once they were dressed neat and proper he escorted her back to the guild hall. To be expected though no real good missions were left, the hour was quickly nearing noon and most new jobs were posted some four to five hours prior, if you wanted the non dredge work, you busted your ass in the morning.

Sighing looking over the group work for green ranks Alexander was shaking his head, of the jobs that didn't involve fetching cats from trees or mucking out mage stables there was only the zombie infestation one. He was hardly going to take that! While it could be solved easily to be sure, it was more a trap for the other green ranks. Besides, those clean up jobs often needed to be inspected so payouts were often quite underwhelming since the guild had to pay some group to spot check the jobbers work.

Looking to Laytalya he sighed, "Anything good on the solo boards?"

Shaking her head she motioned to one ad, "There's calls for escort guards, but the caravan doesn't leave until three days from now."

Alexander perked up a bit moving over for a look, "Where they headed?"

Laytalya sighed rechecking, "Seems they're headed south to the Yelnessa Desert, is likely a trade caravan between Tress and the Galgarian Protectorate." She screwed up her face sticking out her tongue.

Alexander glanced over, "Who are they?"

Laytalya sighed, "The Galgarian Protectorate is a bunch of sand bandits that declared the desert a sovereign nation. They're still bandits. You pay fees to get in, but chances are high other groups were paid to rob your group. Most stay well away from there if they can."

Alexander rubbed his chin in thought, "Anything that would interest... our kind?"

Laytalya shrugged, "Rumors say there's a dungeon in a pyramid towards the center of the desert, bandits won't go near the place. Stories say it's full of mummies and flesh eating scarabs, not to mention snakes, scorpions and dust devils. Higher rank adventurers sometimes try it out but I don't think it has anything you'd like."

Alexander nodded grabbing a few of the chore quests before heading over to register them, "Come on, we'll just have to be here early tomorrow." He wasn't thrilled with having no rank lifting jobs but at least these herb gathering quests meant he could head home and tinker with his upgraded dungeon. "We'll swing by my place for awhile."

Laytalya smiled but he could sense it was lackluster in heart, he really couldn't blame her, when you weren't in charge, the dungeons were heavily more creepy than enjoyable. Besides in his core was his love, very little enthused a girlfriend less than meeting your boyfriends future wife. Still as they slid down into the basin later in the day she had to admit the ghostly doorway was far more impressive than her dungeons creepy portal had been.

Back inside he nodded to the goblins and orcs before leading Laytalya back to the core, unlike his departure, this trip took a little longer. The dungeon being two floors now he had to pass the labrynth before descending to Laytalya's large cavern, only at the end of that was he presented with the core chamber. Inside the succubus Jansea and the hell pig Shank were squared off giving each other the evil eye which made Alexander tilt his head.

"What's wrong you two? Having troubles working together?"

"Master!" They chimed in unison before snarling and glaring at each other, Alexander could only shake his head as he began checking the build menu while they sorted themselves out. Laytalya looked at Thersea suspended in the core and sighed.

====================

DUNGEON BUILDERS INC.

Level Four

Level One Layouts ▪︎ 6,000 Merits

▪︎ Labrynth (Purchased & Upgraded - Level One) - A simple maze layout that has paths leading to a central choke point, then paths leading back to other rooms

▪︎ Large Cavern (Purchased - Level Two) - A sizable hollowed out room with a high ceiling.

▪︎ Multi Room - A main corridor with branching side corridors leading to other medium sized rooms.

Level Two Layouts ▪︎ 13,000 Merits

▪︎ Open Field - Similar to Large Cavern only outside sky is simulated

▪︎ Hall of Mirrors - Similar to Labrynth only tunnels are tighter and mirrored surfaces

▪︎ The Rift - Similar to Large Cavern but divided by a bottomless pit spanned by a bridge

Level One Rooms ▪︎ 6,000 merits

▪︎ Core Chamber (Purchased) - Define your dungeon core room in a multitude of styles.

▪︎ Lords Bed Chamber (Purchased) - Define the bedroom of the Dungeon Lord in a multitude of styles.

▪︎ Minion Barracks (x2) - Basic living quarters, houses fifty minions comfortably.

▪︎ Minion Food Pit (Purchased) - Basic food source, supports one hundred minions.

▪︎ Workshop Tier One - Basic equipment provider, uses special resources.

▪︎ Graveyard Tier One - Supplied with corpses can produce Tier One Undead.

Level Two Rooms ▪︎ 13,000 Merits

▪︎ Library - A room designed for researching skills, abilities and spells

▪︎ Workshop Tier Two - Provides low level equipment, uses special resources

▪︎ Graveyard Tier Two - Supplied with corpses can produce Tier Two Undead.

▪︎ Tavern - Minion relaxation spot, provides wealth to Lord.

▪︎ Treasure Vault - Wealth gained from dungeon is stored here.

▪︎ Dungeon Zoo - Captured beasts are tamed here.

Level One Ammenities ▪︎ 3,000 Merits

▪︎ Tier One Equipment - Gear twenty five of your monsters with stone age equipment.

▪︎ Tier One Traps - Provides ten basic pit traps and ten basic spiked pit traps.

▪︎ Tier One Support - Create one hundred pounds of bronze ingots, for use with workshop.

Level 2 Ammenities ▪︎ 8,000

▪︎ Tier Two Equipment - Gear ten minions with bronze age gear

▪︎ Tier Two Traps - Provides ten dart traps and ten dead fall traps

▪︎ Tier Two Support - Provides one hundred pounds of iron ingots, for use with workshop

Upgrades ▪︎ Varied

▪︎ Level Two (Purchased) - Create an additional floor above or below the first.

▪︎ Level Three - Create an additional floor. (45,000 Merits)

▪︎ Room Upgrade - Improve the functionality of an existing room (10,000 Merits)

▪︎ Floor Boss - Based on existing minions creates a floor plus two tiered boss minion. (25,000 merits)

▪︎ Mini Boss - Based on existing minions creates a floor plus one tiered boss minion. (10,000 merits)

▪︎ Special Encounter - Randomly spawn a minion, event or puzzle. May or may not be stronger than current floors strongest minion (5,000 Merits)

===================

Alexander sighed, some of these buildings he needed to buy right off the start, the tavern and treasury for example would be needed for higher teir creatures, likewise the library and workshop would help improve his monsters. Still, he had to be careful, if he bought all four he'd be left with only eight thousand merits to stock his second level. Rubbing his temples he wondered what he could get away with and what could be with held. After all, higher teir monsters would likely cost far more than his existing minions.