Ambuila – World of The Misplaced Dungeon

{Timeline: August / September 2018 – MD from the Prologue on}

Fin contemplated his lunch glumly, the food court at the Gateway Mall featured a very limited choice. Subway was not usualy on his go to list for lunch but he really had no other choice. His interview had gone badly, frankly he was surprised they were hiring at all given the state of the mall.

Then it was as if his head was exploding and he seemed to note in passing that his body collapsed onto the table, jerked and fell to the floor. He vaguly noted a shining strand linking him to his body as he was being dragged quickly away as everything faded away.

* * *

The next thing Fin noted was that he was apparently paralysed. He seemed to be floating in a vast nebulous space containing numerous floating orbs. Glowing orbs. Some of which seemed to be panicking, screaming, babbling making threats and pleading. Something shifted and he moved slightly, then it happened again and he touched one of the other orbs lightly.

He concentrated on the big breasted blue haired woman standing, no, floating behind what looked like a floating pulpit.

« teeheehee! My new helpers are all here, don’t worry dears, you did not die! As you all are, or maybe were all atheists none of you had any attachments to your local gods whoever they were, and as your world has so many people you are all new souls and thus devoid even of lingering attachments. So I merely appropriated your souls for my use. Teeheehee. »

« Don’t worry dears, I left a scrap of your soul behind, just enough to keep your bodies from dying, it should regenerate in time. Possibly. Maybe. Teeheehee. »

« I’m Azurea, Goddess of dungeons and you are all my new subjects. If you want to succeed you need to hurry up and worship me already. »

« Forget your names, you are now ANS 1 through ANS 100 – stands for Atheist New Soul. Teeheehee. »

Deep in his head Fin heard, or maybe he sensed ‘ANS 66’.

« I’m sending the dungeon cores ANS 1 to ANS 25 to the planet Diavlo, you are needed there and will be a blessing to the locals. »

« As for the cores ANS 26 through ANS 50 you are going to the Planet Parthia. »

« ANS 51 to ANS 75, you are going to help Ambuila. »

* * *

Fin was in freefall; below him was a planet, mostly brownish yellow but with several blue seas. His, no, their flight was uncertain. Their flight, because he was still linked to the other orb that he had been pushed up against. They were spinning and seemed to be heading for what looked like one of those films of tornados on the weather channel.

« Teeheehee – ANS 66 you will be located at the edge of that splendid desert – the one that bisects the continent of Lucapa. »

‘Can’t see anything like that! That storm is raging over an ocean. No desert down there lady.’

« Teeheehee – Now that you are committed my brave volunteers you will be responsible for – fine tuning – these planets, for you lot that’s Ambuila. You will all help make these planets more hospitable by filtering and generating mana and ... »

The linked cores plunged into the storm and found themselves being hurtled sideways by the circling winds.

« ... producing the scarce resources your creatures will need to survive. »

« Right, you are now being placed in your new homes, as soon as you’re comfy I am sorry – Teeheehee – but I will be erasing the memories of you past lives – Teeheehee – leaving you with your skills, and personality intact – Teeheehee – it’s for the best I assure you. »

‘New homes? What do you mean lady; we are in the grips of this fucking typhoon. What kind of home is this?’

Fin felt something eroding his memories and reacted by clutching his memories to himself. He felt his newest, freshest memories go first. His wife, his new baby, his work, jogging in the park. So he fought harder. Somehow he felt that Azurea’s efforts were weakened somehow. He suspected it was because he wasn’t where he was expected to be.

« Right my dears, Let me explain, ANS 51 to ANS 75, you are all new dungeon cores, your job is to create the best dungeons you can. Teeheehee, I will now dispatch your future helpers to you, please accept the bond they will offer you. They will be either Pixie or Sprite. I was unable to establish dungeon Wisps on Ambuila. Teeheehee. And it wasn’t easy to establish the pixies and sprites either, let me tell you Teeheehee. »

* * *

« ANS 66 please choose your Monster Type. Be aware that you will be restricted by this choice until you accumulate sufficient mana and experience to gain further advances. »

« Um, can I choose spiders? All sorts of spiders even fantasy ones? »

« ... Arachnids – Done! »

ANS 66 cotemplated the wealth of knowledge he had gained to add to what he remembered from Earth. ‘ Earth... Damn... That bitch tried to steal my memories... She did too... Got to remember... Yes... Um I know I was older, why is everything so hazy after the prom? Damn it I’m... I’m... FIN, yes I’m Fin.’

And then they were spat out of the tornado as it crossed onto land. They were buffeted by the fringes of the storm and being dragged northwards by the remnants of Azurea’s spell. Fin could see that the spell, or was it spells was actually tugging in two different directions. He noted with alarm that they were heading at speed towards a set of craggy dryish looking mountains.

With a sharp crack the two cores separated and spun out of the remnants of the guiding spell, luckily for Fin and his unknown companion the spell designed to land them safely was seperate and lingered.

Fin saw the other dungeon core plunge into a small turbulent lake or large pool at the foot of a tall waterfall while his came to a rest at the foot of a sandstone cliff not too far from the pool.

Fin settled into the heart of his dark opal core and frantically worked to fix his cracked dungeon core. Once he was satisfied he contemplated his life, striving to fix every detail into his memory. His newfound instincts finally dragged him out of his daze. The sight of the blue tinted sun rising over the mountain galvanised him. He just knew he had to dig in and create a lair, a dungeon, somewhere he would be safe.

* * *

Fin skimmed the help function he had found. He was scared so he acted before he felt ready. He claimed some of the land around him until he managed to reach the cliff. Then he noted something moving. So he summoned some defenders. Some mobs? Why was he calling his spiders mobs? Must be from something he had been made to forget.

He watched with pride as his six mobs hunched up and settled down to wait looking just like a bunch of black rocks. He felt let down when the moving thing proved to be a goat. Still waste not, want not. When the goat moved onto his domain he ordered his mobs to attack.

Damn but his spiders were as cute as they were effective. They could jump close to ten meters and with their legs spread were easily sixty centimetres across. And their venom was deadly. That goat was dead almost as soon as they bit it. So now he could make goats. Hmm.

When night fell Fin was ensconced at the back of the second cave he had hollowed into the cliff. He had created a pit trap in the passage that linked his entrance cave to his current home cave and he was waiting impatiently for his mana to regenerate.

= = O = =

Teboho was nervously shuffling his feet. He had been trying to explain to old Thabiso that the loss of his goat wasn’t his fault.

“But, Thabiso, it was spiders, huge spiders that looked like black rocks before they jumped. It wasn’t my fault. I’ve never seen spiders like that before,” whined Teboho.

Thabiso grabbed the young goatherd by an ear and dragged him complaining all the way to his father’s hut.

Malefetsane gave his son a clip round the ear but persuaded the owner of the deceased goat to check young Teboho’s unlikely story out.

“Just you wait Teboho, if I find you’ve been lying you’ll regret it. Now lead us to the jumping rocks.”

Teboho wiped his eye and sullenly led the way to where the goat had been killed.

Fifteen minutes later Teboho pointed at the cave in the cliff. “There, see, by that new cave. Those black rocks. Those are the big spiders that killed the goat.”

“A likely story,” said Thabisho as he strode towards the cave.

“Stop! They jump far and have poison,” warned Teboho.

“Oh nonsense. There is no sign of a dead goat here, and no sign...”

Just then two of the spiders jumped and landed on a screaming Thabisho. A dead Thabisho.