Jimbo has played enough platform games to know how make quests with a good mix of challenge and fun. He had to restrain himself to avoid his cruelest streak, the kind that intoxicates the oceans of enemy worlds in Kard10k. Luckily in the moments where he went overboard with a trick that was too far-fetched, Dowmy was always there to ask: Isn't that too much...?
Jimbo accepted the feedback, took a second look at his creation, and then realized that it was definitely too much, and proceeded to fix it. This is training, not a real dungeon, and if it were a real dungeon, Jimbo feels uncertainty about whether he'd be able to turn his home into a slaughterhouse.
«I bet this is more intense than living it through keyboard and mouse»
Dowmy leads the way. She is followed by Hilda and Lynel, both captains keeping an eye out for whatever might emerge from the cracks in the cavernous route. They arrive at a thin rock bridge suspended over a wide darkness, on the sides of the chasms there are gullies with overhanging ledges located above the height of the bridge.
The imp advances along the natural bridge, the structure crosses, loses a few pebbles that disappear without a sound of touching the bottom. It gives the sensation that at any moment the bridge will collapse. Hilda, sensing these details, stops in her tracks and extends a hand backwards, stopping Lynel.
"You're trying to kill us or what?" the woman asks.
Dowmy is not surprised by the distrust. She sighs, closes her eyes, and knowing that actions speak louder than a thousand words, she takes a small leap into the void.
The captains watch with open mouths as the little girl disappears into the abyss' blackness. They exchange glances without understanding what just happened.
Lynel is startled when feels a pressure on his ankle. Looking down, he discovers Dowmy grabbing his foot. The imp finishes climbing up a rock staircase camouflaged at the beginning of the bridge. At the top, the imp explains that it's all an illusion.
"It's a courage test, or some such. The master claims it will help strengthen the soldiers"
According to Jim's calculations, there is no danger.
True, Jimbo is limited to his Age, but he was pleasantly surprised to discover that even with that limitation, he still had a lot of modifiability for the scenery. The visual effects were especially low-cost, such as that thin but intense layer of darkness, a detail that masks the fact that the bridge is barely suspended 2.5 meters above a floor cushioned with a fluffy moss layer.
The same is for the bridge. It is actually solid enough to support 20 grown men at the same time, but using the illusion tool on its construction rods, it gives the false impression that it is two steps away from breaking loose.
Lynel uses the stone ladder to dive into the darkness, 30 seconds later, he sticks the head out and exclaims:
"The imp tells the truth! It's actually very well lit down here, you just can't see it from above... I look like a floating head, don't I?"
"Are you sure there are no human bones hidden somewhere?" Hilda asks.
Jimbo feels the urge to complain aloud, but reluctantly restrains him and continues to study the captains' reactions. Lynel looks down a second time before answering.
"The torches on the wall are made with skulls, though they look odd. Seems to be ape-like"
Hilda nods despite misgivings and extends a hand to Lynel to help him up.
"I understand that this can be used to scare rookies, but it's a one-time trick, I'm not surprised," says the captain.
Jimbo clicks his tongue, but doesn't get impatient, he still has a lot to teach. He instructs Dowmy on what to do. The imp leads the captains across the bridge. Lynel, being the widest and heaviest of the group, continues to tread cautiously despite Dowmy's assurances that the shivering on the bridge is also a hoax.
A blue mark is in the middle of the bridge, right at the narrowest point. The mark is ethereal, only Jimbo can see it. When Dowmy steps on it nothing happens, but when Hilda's sole is planted on top of the mark, six goblins are summoned, three on each ledge at the abyss sides.
The goblins shriek to alert the invaders, and when the invaders look at them, the monsters begin to pick up rocks and raise them above their heads, but without attacking. Lynel points his finger at them in admiration.
"Oooh, I get it! Anti-ambush training. Very clever"
"It also serves to improve blocking and dodging," says Dowmy paraphrasing Jim.
Jimbo nods with a satisfied smile, which disappears when noting Hilda's neutral expression.
"Generally these types of traps are usually on floors four or five. But I guess a little excitement at the beginning isn't bad," Hilda says.
«You'll be all complaining, won't you?«
Dowmy was about to relay the question, but Jimbo stops her and says to just go ahead with the tour. La imp nods and complies. The group finishes crossing the bridge and they enter a second cavernous tunnel. Hilda decelerates a little and leans down to speak in whispers to Lynel.
"Are you really okay with this?" Hilda asks.
Lynel brings a hand to his mustache and smoothes one end, thoughtfully.
"I don't know. But I'm intrigued..."
"Intrigued?"
"This proposal, everything, in fact. You know the Dungeon Core more than I do, but... Don't you get the feeling we're dealing with a person?"
Hilda is slow to respond. She looks over her shoulder at the obstacle they have just overcome. These are tests too complex for a newborn Dungeon, also possessing considerations towards invaders that a Dungeon is never supposed to have. Such details left her with the feeling that she is dealing with a human being, perhaps an architect mage, but generally a flesh and blood person.
Many Dungeons use illusions, but none safeguard those who desecrate their domains. Treasures and special weapons are often temptations in the same way that a carnivorous plant wastes rich honey to lure prey.
"A human being... Well, we're sure that's not it," Hilda says and looks straight ahead. "But it's strange, it's the first core I've seen behaving like that"
"Then maybe it's one of the good ones"
"Has anything made by Arrax ever been good?"
"There's a first time for everything. Let's keep an open mind. Who knows? Maybe this is just what the kingdom needs, Hilda. In this life you have to accept all the help you can get and understand that it's not weakness, but humility and wisdom"
"I still don't accept it, and if this thing were to declare something as far-fetched like feeling human, the more wary I'd be"
"And why is that?"
"It would mean it knows us too well, and increase the possibility that it is manipulating us, creating empathy. Monsters are monsters, making us aware of that is what separates us from destruction." With that statement breaking the whispering tone, Hilda picks up the pace.
Jimbo, who was eavesdropping on the conversation, watches her walk away in silence.