Draconic Karma Dungeon

Chapter 24: Exploring The 5th Floor

No one had visited my 5th Floor yet and the sun had risen long ago. Normally Emerald's Party would have visited me by now.

At what I assumed was around midday - I might be able to tell perfectly how much time has passed and my cooldown timer could tell me when the sun rises, but I didn't actually have a clock, nor could I see the sun - a pair of wolf pups informed me of the arrival of merchants and that said merchants wanted to explore me. There were 6 in total but 2 wanted to stay behind to guard their goods. The pups informed me that the Chief wanted to join the merchants but wanted Begdar to come along as well due to her high Intelligence and knowledge of my Dungeon. And if Begdar went, her mate would follow.

However, the Chief didn't find it wise to reveal to the merchants that the Tribe could enter the Dungeon with no regards for the allowed number of sapients per Floor. Especially since this is what saved them from the elves. As such, Nerok had asked the wolf pup siblings - Riska had called Tuzzik her brother while telling this part - to ask if I could change the allowed number of sapients to 7 for a while.

I had no problem doing that, but as the young siblings had told me all this in the 1st room of the 1st Floor, I had no way of actually replying to them. They knew this, and left again when they were done talking… at me? Yeah. Talking at me.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Nerok had distracted 4 of the merchants - the young giantess and the older felinekin had stayed with their arthropleura to keep an eye on both the animals and the goods - and kept them away from the Dungeon Portal while the two pups informed the Dungeon of the situation. The Chief had plenty of tales ready to tell - all modified to exclude any hint of slavery - but he was nonetheless relieved to see Tuzzik and Riska. The two kept their distance with the older brother seeking eye contact with his Chief, after which he gave Nerok a short nod. Having done their task, the two pups ran off to get a better look at the arthropleura.

"Enough about that!" Nerok stated and turned to guide the merchants towards the Portal. "You wanted to see the Dungeon, correct?"

"Thad we do! A 1st tier Dungion? Why?! Ai could even walk-through id by meself! There would be no problem with 4 of us!" Podon stated. "Thad reminds me! Jusd how many folks does the Dungion allow in at once?"

"I believe it's 7 at the moment but the number does change at times. As for walking through the Dungeon alone…" Nerok made a dramatic pause. "If it were possible for a child to enter the Dungeon, they would be able to walk through it unharmed."

The 4 merchants looked confused at the Chief. "Whad makes ye say thad?" Asked the gnome.

Wanting to drag out the mystery a bit longer, Nerok took the opportunity to wave Begdar and Nalir over to them. "The creatures of the Dungeon only attack bad people."

This statement caused the merchants to laugh out loud.

"What can we help you with, Chief Nerok?" Begdar asked as she and her mate reached the group.

Nerok waited till the laughter quieted down before answering. "As the expert on the Dungeon I was hoping you and your mate might want to join our merchant guests and I during our trip through the Dungeon."

Begdar took a quick look at her mate before answering. "We'd love to!"

"And maybe you could tell our guests a couple of tips before we enter…?"

The woman's gray wolf tail started wagging. Begdar loved to share information. "The first thing to know about the Dungeon is that its traps and creatures will only harm you if you are a bad person or in self-defense. So don't attack the creatures."

The merchants looked confused at Begdar or each other. Then the gnome relaxed and rolled his eyes. "Ay! Ye got her in on id!" Podon exclaimed.

"Got me in on what?" Begdar questioned in return before realizing what had happened. "Oh! You don't believe a Dungeon can be a pacifist. I mean, it's not really a pacifist. But you get the point!"

Podon nodded, looking at Begdar like she was crazy. "'Course Ai don' believe id!"

"Well I doubt you'll believe it or anything else I could tell you about the Dungeon unless you see it first, so let's get going! Just promise me you won't attack first!"

"All righd! Sure thing lidl lady!" Podon said mockingly, as he was much shorter than the lupinekin. Podon might try to be a nice person but he found it hard not to mock someone clearly crazy. "Bud led me crew and Ai ged properly dressed firsd. We still have our riding gear on!"

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Podon Peddlepitch Gnome Merchant Level 38

Nuktar Beastkin - Vulpinekin Merchant Level 33

Caleb Walters Human Merchant Level 32

Hotheus Giant Body Enhancer Level 36

While part of me found it interesting that beastkins and giants didn't have last names, for the most part I was panicking over the newcomers' levels. They're in their 30's!

The merchants clearly hadn't believed that my creatures weren't aggressive but had apparently promised Begdar not to attack first. Luckily - for them but possibly me too - the three of them had karma levels between 53 and 67% with the last - the gnome - having a whole 82%. As such, no attack was made by the merchants or my creatures. Instead the dragonets watched from The Great Tree. Normally they would mirror the friendliness of Emerald's Party, but the caution of the newcomers made them stay away.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

"As you can see, the creatures of this Dungeon only attack bad people and in self-defense. So, first rule of this Dungeon: don't attack its creatures. 2nd rule: respect the Dungeon's boundaries. This includes not crossing streams that have no steppingstones or bridge and to heed its warnings." Begdar took a breath and was about to continue, when the human interrupted.

"If no one is allowed to attack the monsters, how can anyone get EXP and loot from them?! Isn't that the whole point of a Dungeon?!"

Begdar gave Caleb a knowing look and a smirk. "You'll see~!" She teased. "The bushes in this room are berry bushes if any of you feel like having some before we leave the room." They didn't and the group left the 1st room. As they did so, the merchants saw an unexpected System message.

Due to the Dungeon Rule 'Experiencing Peace' your Party has been rewarded double the amount of EXP and loot you would have gotten if you killed all the creatures in the room you just left.

Experiencing Peace rewards you 2 EXP.

In addition to that, a bunch of loot appeared in front of the group. The merchants froze in shock, while the three Tribesmen looked at them amused.

"We actually got EXP for that?" The giant, Hotheus, asked, confused. "Not only didn't we do anything but we're 4th tier!" It was common knowledge that for each tier above the Floor one was, one's EXP gain would be halved. And that, while EXP would normally be rounded up to a whole number, should the amount of EXP gained be less than 0.5 one would get no EXP at all. Being three tiers too high, all the merchants' EXP gain would be divided by 8 in a 1st tier Dungeon. As such, they hadn't expected to get any EXP before meeting level 4's on the 2nd Floor. And then only getting 1 EXP at a time for the rest of the Dungeon.

Nerok had mentioned to his guests earlier that the 5th Floor might have been finished. The merchants had thought that meant they could get 5 EXP for killing the Boss, as it would be level 10 and would give 4 times as much EXP for being a Boss. The level 9's and 10's of the 5th Floor would give 2 EXP and all in all would not be worth it for the EXP. The merchants had instead come for the experience and their curiosity.

But gaining EXP for doing nothing when you should have gotten none for doing something… That's a massive difference!

And then throw in double loot too!

"Well… You did just get EXP for a whole room rather than for one creature at a time and then it got doubled. Soooo… That doesn't surprise me." Begdar stated, matter-of-factly with a shrug and a happy smirk.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

All in all, the trip went pretty calmly as the merchants did as the Tribesmen told them to. Each merchant even rose in karma level once and Nuktar, the Merchant vulpinekin, even rose twice. From having been the lowest at 53% to slightly higher at 55%.

Now that I was less petrified by fear I couldn't help but notice just how… meaty… the merchants were. They weren't fat, nor particularly muscular. Just… fuller… than anyone else I had seen.

Then came the realization that everyone I could remember ever seeing was members of Nerok's Tribe. A Tribe made up entirely of run-away slaves. As in overworked, malnourished people. Getting food and healing from me had helped a lot, but this was a lifetime of suffering.

And now that I could compare the Tribespeople with people who had never been slaves, I could see just how thin the Tribe still was.

In other news, I had decided to err on the side of caution and had ordered my kobolds to stay silent. I did not have anything to say to the newcomers that Begdar couldn't - and did - say for me.

The 3 non-beastkin merchants successfully convinced the Door of Speciesism that they - and their species - were decent people and the foxgirl Merchant already knew not to trust stereotypes.

Then they came to my new 5th Floor. I was excited to see what they thought of my new puzzles!

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

The first three rooms of the 5th Floor seemed to intend to take you down memory lane through its use of creatures. No new creature could be seen, and the draconic creatures even appeared in the same order they had originally appeared in the Dungeon.

In the second half of the 2nd of these rooms the kobolds reappeared and as these ones were level 10 they all had the 2nd tier Class of Dexterity. While the merchants found it odd, it really wasn’t a big deal compared to the many other odd things about the Dungeon.

The loot from the rooms seemed a bit odd to the group. There was a larger amount of big copper cubes than expected even with the doubled loot and some of the meat looked different, even though they had seen all the creatures before - and thus all their respective loot. They had expected some big copper cubes to appear as drops from creatures like the feathered serpents and the griffins, but the actual amount that appeared each time had been more than double of what was expected!

Additionally, 4 small vials of short-lasting invisibility appeared after they had left the 2nd room of the 5th Floor, which informed the group that there had been several invisible creatures in the first three rooms. That was why the loot hadn't made sense.

At the end of the 3rd room there was a puzzle door. Rather than the etching of a talking head, this one had words written in a lime green color on the gray stone.

I am but a humble door.Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m nov𝒆lb(i)n.c(o)m

What about you?

Describe yourself!

Podon asked to be the first to try the puzzle, and he described himself as being a brilliant Merchant. When nothing happened, he tried to prove his statement by bragging about his accomplishments. This went on for a while before Begdar gave a burst of laughter.

"Ye figured id oud, Ai presume?" The gnome asked with a small smile and amusement in his eyes.

"Yep! You-"

"Don' tell!" Podon interrupted. "Give us a wee chance to figure id out ourselves, young lass."

Begdar blinked, shocked. She had never considered letting someone else figure things out when she already knew the answer. The lupinekin was simply too used to always being the smart one who answered her Party's questions.

The three with the Merchant Class tried to describe themselves in a couple of different ways with differing aspects of their lives and lengths of descriptions. The giant Body Enhancer, Hotheus, watched the others' attempts and decided he wouldn't be able to do any better. The three Tribesmen had by now all figured out the clue - they were more used to the Dungeon's style of puzzles - and opted to watch as well.

"Whad about a hind there, wolfy?" Podon didn't completely want to give up but had run out of ideas.

Begdar giggled. "A hint? But the door already gave you one."

Confused, the merchants turned to look more closely at the door. The Merchants tried looking at the edges of the door and the doorframe, hoping to see what they had missed. The Body Enhancer, on the other hand, reread the three lines on the door.

Stepping forward, Hotheus described himself to the door. "I am but a humble father. Who wants nothing more than for his daughter to be happy." And with those words, the door opened.