Mourn, man, in Morpheus’s embrace.

Give in to sleep, the only peace for the human race.

Stones mark mortal’s final and calmest rest,

But solace can be found in slumber when the heart lies heavy in your chest.

The surviving member of the goblin hunting party relaxed and slumped down unconscious over the body of his son. Puck wasn’t one to waste an opportunity in spite of his small mercy, so he slowly absorbed the boy’s body and left the older man breathing regularly on the floor. After the exploding hunter, it was the most energy he had absorbed from a single being and he was quite pleased.

All was quiet except for the inhalation and exhalation of the sleeping human. Mab dropped down to a more companionable height, but said nothing. The tragic moment had left Puck mute with indecisive thought. A part of him still wanted to absorb the power from the death of the human, but after unintentionally causing a father to kill his son, he was tempted to let the man live. On the other hand, he thought that having to live with such a tragedy would probably be terrible, so it might be better to take the man’s life after all. His thoughts took him from one extreme to the other several times without arriving at a decision, so he made took the third way and put it off. The man was asleep and between Mab and Puck they could keep him asleep or paralyzed until the dungeon had finally made up his mind.

Having come to a conclusion, Puck prepared a spell to keep the man unconscious much longer than the current charm would. Afterward, Puck could forget him until he woke again.

On Krete, an island in an ocean blue,

A shepherd watched his flocks above and below limpid azure hues.

Epimenedes by name, the shepherd happened upon a cave

As he followed after a lost ewe more stupid than brave.

Tired, the fellow thought to rest his head,

To wake ten years later times five again and find his flock and friends were dead.

In Tir Na Nog, the land of the ever young, a pair of lovers played.

Oisin and Niamh, passed 300 years in the love they made.

Homesick, Oisin traveled back to Éireann

And as if waking from a dream, found himself an ancient man.

Sleep, mortal in the fae lord’s cave,

Let your rest surpass hours, become endless days,

Til you wake to become a tale all men know:

How your child died, how you slept in the clutches of clever Puck beneath the stone.

A good half of the power Puck had gained from the boy drained away and settled into the man’s body. Puck grimaced at the loss, but was pleased with the spell. Mab’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

-Where did those stories come from, Milord? Epimenedes and Oisin?- she asked.

Puck chewed a spectral lip for a moment as he tried to recall where he had heard the stories. He shrugged. “I don’t know. Another life, I guess.”

-What will we do with him now?-

“Let him sleep til he wakes. After that? I don’t know. I might let him go. Maybe his story will bring more humans to the cave.”

-A good idea. I received a good amount of mana from draining the hunter, but still need more before I can summon a new creature.-

“Yes, it’s definitely time to improve our methods.”

-Aye, Milord. Do you have a plan?-

Puck shook his head in answer, then pulled up his dungeon scroll to review it for ideas.

Name: Puck, Robin Goodfellow, Merry Wanderer of the Night

Level: 5 Classification: Fae Dungeon

Bonds: 0 Fauna: 7 Flora: 2 Rooms: 2

Abilities: Command Lesser Fae, Illusion III, Metawell I, Compulsion I, Potions 1

Spells: Glamour, Sleep, Charm

Treasure: Noble’s Mahogany Bed, Goblin Loincloth, Goblin Short Sword, Bone Mace, Torch, Human Short Sword, Minor Hallucinogenic Poison, Minor Pain Relief Potion

Potions 1 was the only ability he had that he hadn’t really looked into, so he concentrated on it and pulled up a new scroll for it.

Potions I - Include potions in your loot based on the alchemical ingredients growing in your dungeon. Improves quality of potions created from potions absorbed as treasure.

Current Potions: Minor Hallucinogenic Poison, Minor Pain Relief

The dungeon wasn’t certain what it meant to include something in his loot, but he thought the two potions would probably be far more interesting if their effects were combined.

A drop. A dram.

A sip to draw a veil over the eyes of man.

Heal the ache. Ease the pain.

A dash of ecstacy to make him yearn to drink again.

With a slight surge of mana rushing away, a multi-faceted crystal bottle full of a red liquid clinked on the ground. A scroll congratulated him.

New potion invented: Hallucinogenic Placebo Healing Potion. For inventing a new potion, you receive bonus experience. This potion has been added to your Treasure catalog.

Hallucinogenic Placebo Healing Potion - This potion has the appearance of a high quality healing potion, but only removes the pain and not the injuries. Magically identifies as a Healing Potion. Mildly addictive. User may experience mild hallucinations dependent on Constitution. Toxic in high quantities and may cause death by overdose. Would likely be approved for medical use by the Foundation for Controlled Concoctions.

P.S. Well, you’re certainly coming up with unique ways to kill people. For a dungeon, at least. But you’re really going to piss people off, the way you’re going.

Puck shrugged at the post-script and dismissed the scroll. The potion did little to solve his problems, but the results of its use would probably be amusing. Even with his magic, forcing someone to drink such a potion would be more difficult than he really wanted. Still, he skipped about his dungeon, muttering poetry and bringing bottles to life here and there. Two on a bookshelf. Several hidden behind mushrooms or in nooks and crannies in the cave. Little treasures to tempt the careless.

When the spirit was finished hiding his potions, he went and sat inside the sleeping guard’s chest. Puck had intended to sit on it, but forgot he was incorporeal and fell through til he came to rest on his own stone. He had decided to let the mortal leave whenever he managed to wake up. Until then, he had two problems. First, he still had no real way to kill those who wandered into his home. Second, he was bored.