Baby Ogre, Dwarven Hell, and THE Drake

  John and Gummy walked back up the hill towards the Keep. John was annoyed. His leveling was slow. In previous integrations, whenever he got killed, he’d be reset to level one, but keep his stats, skills, and such. That didn’t change, but previously he’d always fly through the lower levels quickly as he hunted. This integration seemed like his leveling cost was possibly as much as 5x as expensive. Not that he was complaining. He had picked up another affinity each time he died and now had the full set: Nature, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and water. He wasn’t sure if he should train them simultaneously or concentrate on one at a time.

  He had checked the leaderboards. He was close to moving into the top 10,000 despite the horrible start the gods gave him. He assumed he had probably surpassed the natives because the leaderboard was a composite estimate of true power factoring stats, skills, and no one knew exactly what besides that levels were only a small part of it. He didn’t even want to know where Gummy was. He did check to see that something going by the name Xeno was still #1.

  Gummy tapped him and pointed at the keep. John looked and saw a nice looking brass sign had black lettering saying, “Drake’s Keep”. The walls had gained a shine and the place definitely smelled better. “Looks like Sharilla and Destiny run a tight ship.” John said.

  WHAM. Something landed in the courtyard splashing rocky shrapnel and a few goblins screamed out. A dome grew from the back and covered about ?’s of the keep. “What’s going on Destiny?”

  “We’re not sure John. Rocks have been falling a few at a time the last couple days.” John saw another rock sailing down to crash off the shield Destiny rose. He tapped Gummy and pointed. Destiny opened a portal and Gummy went into backpack mode as John stepped through the portal. When they appeared at the back of the keep John ran to the cliff rising up behind the keep. Once there, Gummy reached up and his tentacles flipped them and started pulling them up the cliff.

  “Gummy. Would you mind flipping me over?” John asked as he hung upside down while Gummy was climbing. The slime obliged him and spun with the next couple movements. John looked out over the rolling hillside and thought, I could get used to this. When they reached the top, John heard a deep giggle and felt Gummy freeze. John felt 2 taps as he was released and Gumby spun him so he was facing a 1.5 meter tall heavily muscled humanoid wearing a diaper that was gleefully pulling rocks out of a small dimensional sack and throwing them at the keep.

  “Excuse me, son, could you tell me where your parents are?” The baby ogre spun and then smiled and threw a rock at John. Gummy caught it and gently rolled it back to the baby. John looked around and called out louder, “Hello! … Hello!” Gummy disappeared and tapped John 3 times. Loud footsteps echoed out of a cave opening a little ways behind John. A 4 meter tall adult female ogre came out wearing a leather crafting apron with tools that looked entirely too small for her hands. John noticed a spot of essence crystal dust slowly evaporating off of the apron. An ogre enchantress. Interesting.

  “Just who might you be?” the ogress asked.

  “I’m John.”

  “And just what are ye doing on me mountain, John?’

  “Some friends of mine have a keep at the bottom of the cliff and I came up to see where the rocks were coming from.” John turned his head to see the child standing with his hands behind his back and the dimensional bag nowhere in sight.

  “Have you been throwing rocks at the goblins again son?” The ogress asked. The child looked down and gave a small nod. “You’re friends with the Goblins? I’ll make sure the boy doesn’t throw any more rocks their way. Isn’t that right boy?” The small ogre nodded again and shuffled his feet.

  “Thank you….” John said.

  “Harmony.”

  “Thank you Harmony. I’ll make sure the Goblins know not to bother you any more.” Suddenly Harmony’s eyes widened and she continued, “John put that rock down gently and show yourself.”

  John was confused until he heard a deep voice, “Are you sure Harmony?” He turned and saw a nearly 5 meter tall male ogre holding a large rock with Gummy on top and about 15 different blades pointing at the ogre’s back.

  “Yes, I am sure. I hired you for your muscles and stealth, John. Not your brains, so gently set the stone down and come join us.” Gummy withdrew the blades and waved at the ogre who jumped and screamed, “It’s a squidopus.”

  “I don’t think it’s a squidopus, John.”

  “That’s Gummy. He’s a slime.” human John added helpfully.

  “How did the human climb the cliff, John?” Harmony asked once again confusing John.

  “With his tentacles.” Ogre John answered.

  “Do humans normally have tentacles, John?” Ogre John seemed to think for a second before answering, “No.”

  Harmony rolled her eyes and said something about, “Getting what you paid for.” She then looked back at human John and said, “So John, I’ll make sure Dummy over there keeps my baby from throwing rocks at your goblins. Take this as an apology.” She handed him a small dimensional bag similar to the one the baby had. John looked at it. The enchanting was definitely top notch for this early in an integration.

  “Say Harmony. Would the three of you like a secure place to live, work, and train? I’ve got a dungeon that’s primarily training and defense, but she’s been dabbling in resources also.”

  The ogress stiffened and asked, “ Are you seriously asking me if I would like to be a slave? Stupidity must run in the Johns.”

  “Slaves are a waste. They never reach their maximum potential. I’m just saying, Destiny, my dungeon, hasn’t expanded much above ground because we’ve been securing the main essence veins as she grows, but she could expand up here in a few minutes and set you up however you want.”

  “And just why would you do this?”

  John looked confused, “Why wouldn’t I? I suppose Destiny or Sharilla, the goblin chieftain, will set up some sort of taxation at some point, but I’ll make sure they keep it low. With the loot we get from the dungeon, money should be the least of our problems.” John thought about all the training he’d rather be doing and added, “Tell you what, I’ll have Destiny expand up the hill to right over there, and you can talk to her and work something out if you’d like to join us. Let’s go Gummy.”

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  Gummy wrapped tentacles around John’s waist and shoulders and threw them off the mountain as his body spread into a thin sheet and filled with air.

  “Not what I meant, Gummy…but this is kind of cool.” John said.

  *****

  Destiny felt a disturbance near the edge of where she had stopped her dungeon expansion while following a small vein of essence. Moving her dungeon a little closer, she saw short, muscular, hairy humanoids working in a mine shaft. She checked and John wasn’t back yet, so she followed the shaft up, staying a meter or so from its edge. She soon found the main mine shaft and followed it to a small underground dwarven city still being constructed. She poked around and found its entrance from the overworld and the small encampment they were building.

  Checking the keep again, she saw John and Gummy float down into the courtyard. What the heck are they up to now? When they landed, she formed herself in front of John and said, “John. I found a dwarven settlement.”

  John liked dwarves. They were greedy buggers, but great craftsmen and excellent drinking partners. “How close can you get us?” Gummy tapped his leg and shadowboxed with his tentacles. “Looks like Gummy wants to train, the little bugger probably has some new skill. As if he needs any more.” Gummy formed a mouth and stuck his tongue out as he headed towards the entrance the goblins used to get to the training room.

  “How close do you want?”

  “Just out of sight.” GIve me a sec. Destiny picked a spot and expanded her dungeon then opened a portal for John to step through. “Shouldn’t we have a plan just in case?” John stopped and turned back, “Yeah sure….here’s what we’ll do.” Destiny closed the portal and they came up with a plan over the next five minutes.

  *****

  John stopped about 50 meters from the stone wall and metal gate. Balistas rotated in his direction from the towers. “Hello, Can I speak to whoever is in charge?”

  A guard looked at him from a window in the gatehouse and answered, “The boss is busy. What do you want, human?”

  “Well. I’m John and we’re neighbors. I’ve got a dungeon not far from your mineshafts. I thought it wise to start off relations on a good foot.” John said and felt quite proud at his skillful diplomacy.

  “A dungeon, you say. Not far? Hold on a minute. I’ll get the boss.”

  A few minutes later, the gate opened to show two lines of dwarves and a large smiling dwarf standing at the other end. “John. Nice to meet you, sir. Come on in. I’m Angus. You’re a dungeon master, you say?”

  John walked in and stuck his hand out to greet Angus. “Yes. I am.”

  “Get him, boys.” Angus ordered and the dwarves attempted to grab him or jump on him or punch him. John ducked, spun, kicked, punched, and twisted limbs sending dwarves flying until he was reminded of one of the first lessons Drake taught him. Never be the second person to draw a weapon in a fight. John was knocked out cold.

  *****

  John opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. He looked around. Stone floors. Bars instead of walls. He was in a dungeon. Angus stood holding a torch and smiling outside of John’s cell. “Where is your dungeon core?”

  “And why would I tell you that?” John replied.

  “We’ll see what you say in a few days.” Angus said and walked away leaving John in the dark. John got up and began stretching looking forward to getting back to training. A few minutes later, a portal opened in front of him. John stepped through and said, “Plan A Destiny. Make it messy. Let me know when they’re ready to surrender.”

  *****

  Later that night Angus was awakened by a loud knocking at his door. “Sir. Sir. There is an emergency.”

  “Come in. What is it?”

  The commander of the night guard entered wide eyed and smelling horrible with brown gunk all over him. “Sir. We’ve been invaded.”

  “From where?” Angus stood and started putting on his armor.

  “The bathrooms, sir.”

  “The what?”

  “Poop Slimes coming out of all the bathrooms sir.”

  “That sneaky turd. Get the mages and call back the miners.”

  “There’s more sir. We already called back the miners and the mages are trying to clear the slimes, but the mines have been sealed behind dungeon stone as have the smithy’s. But it’s worse than that sir.”

  “You tellin me that we’ve been overrun with slimes and all our resources have been stolen, but there’s something worse? What the hells…oh…no…you don’t mean?”

  “Yes, sir. The ale, the beer , the wine, the spirits, it’s all been locked behind dungeon stone, but it’s worse than that. Goblins are in the tavern locked behind dungeon crystal walls.”

  Angus stormed out the door and screamed, “Get me that dungeon master.”

  “He’s gone sir.”

  Angus threw a hammer at the commander and stormed down the hall. Taking the first left, he headed towards the nearest tavern. Pushing his way through the crowd of dwarves he saw a thick wall of clear essence enforced crystal. Inside he saw goblins that identified as dungeon creatures having a party.

  Seeing a slit in the crystal closed with a small wooden slide he went over and banged on the wall. A goblin came over and slid the wood out of the way, “Private Party. We’re closed.” And started to walk away, but Angus began pounding again. The goblin turned and opened the slit again. “I said we were closed. Now bugger off.” Angus started pounding again until…

  *****

  Bang, bang, bang. Faith turned to her sister Destiny, “Someone is certainly trying to get your attention.” Destiny checked her interface and saw that it was the triplet dwarven gods of Drinking, Brawling, and Smithing. “I better take this.” The dwarven gods weren’t technically Old Gods, but they weren’t someone a wise god ignored. She created an avatar and had it step out of her domain and create a meeting room.

  The three dwarven gods appeared as avatars and Drinking started to say something, but Brawling covered his mouth. Smith stepped forward and said, “Destiny, no disrespect but one of your boys is causing some problems on a recently integrated planet with a clan of ours. We are going to have to do something. We can’t let things stand as they are.”

  Destiny smiled. She knew exactly what had happened. She pulled out a crystal that projected John standing in front of the Dwarven gates. The gods sat down and watched. By the time a poop slime dropped down on Angus’s head, the dwarves were rolling on the floor.

  Drinking got to his hands and knees and caught his breath, “Okay. I’ll admit Angus started it, but I still say your boy took it too far. How do we resolve this?”

  “Let’s wait and see how my boy resolves this.” Destiny smiled.

  A few days later, Smithing looked at Destiny in shock. “He’s really going to buy anything they craft of good quality or better. Where’s he getting the credits?” Destiny held up a dagger and handed it to him. “Essence imbued. How’s he doing that so early?” Smithing asked.

  “He is the master of a dungeon that controls a good portion of the essence on the planet.”

  “That will do it. Boy is going to be rich. Will he really let the dwarves use that wonder?” Brawling asked.

  “I think so. I don’t think he’s wanting to rule as much as he’s building a home safe from the sects.”

  “Aye, those bastards definitely have it coming. As long as he keeps to his words, we’ll consider this matter resolved.” Destiny nodded and the avatars returned to their domains.

  *****

  Tammy was flying a recon mission. With Bill stronger than ever and Donel showing monstrous growth trying to catch up with Bill, the dragons had begun searching for the Drake. As she circled a mountain, she saw a keep. Flying closer, she saw a sign. “Drake’s Keep” Thank the gods. I found it. She landed and watched the keep. Goblins and a few orcs were passing in and out of the keep and going down a stone entrance in the side of one of the mountains. She spotted a large ogre watching some goblin children and a baby ogre. No sign of the Drake, but she flew back to report to Maggy.

  Entering their hide, she called out to Maggy. “Your highness, I found the Drake. I mean, I think I found the Drake.” Everyone froze and Maggy turned to her. “Explain.”

  “I found a keep. It had a sign that said, Drake’s Keep. I didn’t see him, but there were goblins, a few orcs, and a couple ogres.”

  “Show me where.” Maggy said and Tammy sent everybody a map update. Maggy looked at it and said, “Let’s go. Everyone else, maximum readiness. I don’t know how this will go.”

  A few minutes later Maggy and Tammy landed and watched the children trying to climb on the ogre. Tammy pointed to the sign. Maggy nodded and they slowly walked down. Maggy sniffed and said, “There’s a dungeon nearby. A strong one.”

  The ogre saw them and quickly pulled out a huge sack and gently but quickly stuffed all the children into it and ran for the entrance to the underground with the ogre baby hanging on his back. A goblin shaman came walking out of the keep with a small goblin wearing wooden armor. The little one glared at them fearlessly while they approached.

  “Welcome dragons, I am Sharilla. This is my keep. How can I help you?”

  “The sign says Drake’s Keep?” Maggy asked as her heart sank.

  “Aye. He gave it to us, so we named it after the emperor.”

  “Is this emperor around?” Maggy asked.

  “He’s training, but I expect he’d like to talk with the two of you. Destiny will send him up.” the shaman replied and then just stood there. The two dragon looked at each other and Maggy started to speak when a portal opened and the crazy human named John stepped out. “I heard you were looking for Drake?”

  “Yes, is he available?”

  John looked confused and turned to Sharilla who rolled her eyes, slapped his arm, and pointed over his head where an identification would show his name and occupation. John didn’t appear to understand at first, but then he did something in his interface and Maggy identified him.

  John Drake - Human

  The One Great Emperor - Celestial T7

  “You’re the Drake?” both dragons asked.