Excerpt from the fifth draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe

Dungeon Types

The classic - and most common - dungeon is simple in concept: a hole in the ground (or mine or plain or tower or floating sky island - the setting doesn’t matter) where you kill monsters, defeat traps, and find treasure.They’re straightforward and reward pure combat types the best.

There are a lot of subtypes, but basically they’re all about killing, traps, and loot. They can be very complicated or very simple.

They aren’t the only type of dungeon. Dungeons can be divided up by several major characteristics:

How they’re created If they are instanced What you have to do to complete them How they can be destroyed What they do to the surrounding area

There are other characteristics I haven’t mentioned, such as entry requirements, but these are the most common variations.

For example, a Field Scenario dungeon might be a replay of a past event, occurring in the same place as it originally did. It was created because of the original event (which has to have been significant in some manner), it’s not instanced (Field dungeons aren’t), and you have to play out the scenario to complete the dungeon. This will usually involve fighting, but how much can vary significantly. Completing the scenario may destroy the dungeon, change it, or simply reset it to the starting condition.

A Themed dungeon gives you an idea what you will face. Most dungeons are themed in some way, but the themes can be anything from “lava field” to “lots of traps”. If you are in a Themed dungeon and it doesn’t seem to be following the theme, be wary; you have probably misidentified the theme and may be in more danger than you think (for example, if you go into a “lots of traps” dungeon thinking it’s a “goblin” dungeon, the goblins may be on only two or three layers - but there WILL be more traps.)

A Puzzle dungeon generally does not involve much fighting. Some don’t have any at all, while others have a significant amount, but either way it will align with the puzzle itself.

A Story dungeon sounds similar to a Scenario dungeon, but…

Coyote walked into Dragon’s sanctum and looked around. Dragon had set it up as a library this time; it was an interesting motif for a dragon, but it was still one that Dragon liked. He walked through the library, picking up books to flip through them until Dragon noticed his presence. There were times when having a humanoid form was handy - literally, for Coyote. His natural form couldn’t read books.

It was a long wait.

“Coyote. What brings you to me?” Dragon’s voice sounded far more relaxed than the last time he’d spoken to Coyote.

Of course, the last time they’d spoken, they’d been on opposite sides of a small conflict. Dragon won, of course, but Coyote hadn’t wanted to win in the first place; all he’d wanted to do was pull some of the people he was watching over out before they were killed, and he’d managed to get most of them out.

Coyote stepped around a bookshelf to see Dragon sitting in front of a fireplace, shrunk down to the size of a small lizard. “I’ve been watching over one of yours, a hatchling. He seems like a prodigy, and he’s from a very interesting planet. Right now, he seems to be leading the way for the locals - they’re mostly humans, though odd ones. I figured I should pay my respects.”

Dragon chuckled. “And yet I’m sure you didn’t pay your respects to Human.”

Coyote shrugged. “Human doesn’t like talking to lesser beings. I thought I’d save him the hassle.”

Dragon laughed. “And he wonders why he never hears anything and so many of his best leave him. Hopefully this one will pass soon, but that’s not why you’re here. Tell me about this dragon you’re watching.”

Serenity kept jogging while he thought; he always thought better while moving, anyway. It’d been true even when he was undead, which told him it was psychological rather than physical, but that didn’t matter, it was still true.

He didn’t see where the new revelations changed that much, really. Unless Aide turned out to be an AI with intentions to take over the world or to sabotage Serenity, he’d just have to learn how to deal with it. If he was lucky, it’d even be helpful, though he wasn’t certain how.

Being able to see more or less normally again was great.

Serenity didn’t think the AI would turn out to be hostile; hopefully Tek had also checked on the AI or limited it in some way that would help in the future. If that didn’t work out, Tek would likely help. She was scatterbrained and seemed a bit too inclined to use him as a lab rat while talking up what she’d done “for” him, but her heart seemed to be in the right place.

Well, either that or she didn’t want to lose her test subject. Serenity wasn’t sure which it was. Either way, she’d likely help if everything went sideways with something she’d done. He couldn’t count on her help otherwise, but he didn’t think he’d need it.

Perhaps Aide could take on some of the duties of a personal assistant? There were a lot of things it wouldn’t be able to do, but even if all it did was keep track of things for him, it would be useful.

Serenity slowed to a stop as he saw a tree in the middle of an empty lot that simply didn’t fit the surroundings. It was simply too large; the surrounding lots had trees that were ten to twenty feet tall, but this tree was more than twice that.

Serenity compared the tree to its neighbors again. It wasn’t twice the height; it was at least three times their height. Probably more; it could easily have been four times the height of the tallest nearby trees, but it was hard to judge.

It seemed to be a fully-grown adult maple tree.

It was also the only lot Serenity saw without a house.

Normally, Serenity would have assumed that it was simply an undeveloped lot and the tree hadn’t been cut down yet, but it was directly on the ley line. Serenity didn’t trust coincidences like that on ley lines; they were far too likely to be something more.

There was an easy way to find out. Serenity trotted up to the tree. When nothing happened, he relaxed, but he went ahead and touched the tree just in case.

[Dungeon: A Well-Told Tale]

[This dungeon tells a well-known story. It has never been cleared, so what story it tells is unknown]

[Status: Available]

[Tier: 1]

[Type: Story]

[One group of 1-4 people may enter at a time. Difficulty and story requirements will be adjusted based on entrants]

[Enter Dungeon?]

This was almost certainly a nexus, since the dungeon was a full Tier One dungeon.

Serenity started to enter, but changed his mind before accepting. Story dungeons could be fun, but they often had odd cooldown requirements; it was possible, perhaps even likely, that if he entered it now, he wouldn’t be able to enter it again with anyone else for quite a while. It would be better to bring Rissa; she’d probably enjoy a story dungeon.

Depending on what story it was, anyway.

It would also give them something to do while Jacob was working; Serenity fully expected him to insist on going back to work on Monday.

From what it said, he doubted it’d been cleared, but he should look online-

Serenity was suddenly looking at the list of known local dungeons. He jumped. The page had appeared the moment he thought it’d be useful. Was that whatever Tek did to him, or was it Aide trying to help?

Serenity supposed it didn’t matter; for now, it was useful. The page had been updated only a couple of hours earlier, in the middle of the night, but A Well-Told Tale wasn’t on it. He couldn’t find out what the story was that way.

He’d just have to come back with Rissa to find out.

After his run, Serenity took some time to practice spellcasting then worked on his shapeshifting. He needed more exercise as well, but that was better done in the Tutorial, where there were people to work out with and a solo dungeon to finish.

He didn’t get to any of the solo dungeon during the Tutorial visit that day, but he did get another revision to his Guide finished. It was amazing how he kept thinking of things to add; the Guide had already more than doubled in size since the first draft.

Unfortunately, Serenity still wasn’t able to spend much time watching the other mage instructors. He was too busy writing the Guide. The one other thing he did manage to achieve was tracking down “Helga”. The name she was using in the Tutorial was Honoria, and the reason he hadn’t managed to find her before was that she spent her time with the crafters instead of the mages; she had one of those odd Paths that crossed boundaries.

She was a Witch - and not because she was Wiccan (she distinctly wasn’t). Witch was the preferred name for her profession. As Serenity quickly learned, she disliked the term alchemist; that implied she was primarily making potions, and that they were primarily dependent on their material components.

She made temporary single-use magic items in all sorts of formats. Some were potions, but - as she’d say - “If you ask me for a love potion, I’ll make it so you don’t need one for a few days. And the healers won’t heal you from it, either!”

Potions weren’t all she made. If it was small, magical, and temporary, she could make it. Serenity watched as she made potential students jump through hoops to learn from her.

The big thing he noticed was that the students she did accept turned out to be some of the better craftspeople, even though many of them hadn’t been when they found her - and what she was teaching usually wasn’t their primary craft. Serenity decided he’d want to keep an eye on her.

Other than the Tutorial, the day passed quickly. Before he knew it, Rissa was back at the hotel with Jacob. Serenity needed to shield him, after all.

“What story do you think it is? Do you think it’ll be about a maple tree?” Rissa hopped out of the SUV and followed Serenity over to the tree.

Serenity could only shrug. “Who knows? I expect a tree will feature at some point in the story, but it’s as likely to be a story in a forest filled with maples as a story about a maple.”

“Ooh, that could be fun. Robin Hood, maybe? That could be in a forest!” Rissa set her hand on the tree and waited on Serenity.

Robin Hood did match the requirements; it was a commonly-told story with lots of variations, which would indeed make it a well-told tale. “Maybe. That could be fun.” Serenity put his hand next to Rissa’s and accepted the dungeon prompt.

Serenity was in the dark. He couldn’t see and he couldn’t hear. It was peaceful and he was sleepy. He knew he should be figuring out where he was and what the story was, but there wasn’t any need to hurry. He had all the time in the-

There was a hand on his hilt. It wasn’t someone he liked; there was a momentary impression of greed, anger, and pride before he zapped the person touching him without permission.

What was going on? He was a sword? That wasn’t exactly a common character in a story, was it?

Whatever story this was, Serenity was fairly confident it wasn’t Robin Hood.