RD: Chapter Three - Mistakes

The village, strange yet familiar, materialized around Dolli. She could look down again from a single vantage point, and when she did, she saw the ghostly white hand of a child of smoke. Her form swirled and whipped about like it was trying to escape the confines of her mental definition.

She stood and looked at the townsfolk turned monster around her. Rufus, the inn keeper, had selected Wendigo. She didn’t blame him. It was a good choice. Greg, the blacksmith, had selected Golem, which suited him perfectly, Dolli thought. There was a good distribution of creature types throughout the villagers, even a few other Wispelles, who all appeared to be half-sized versions of their former selves comprised of smoke hanging in the air.

Dolli looked down to her feet, which were absent in place of a smoky tail. She hovered about two feet above the ground, with her body being about three feet tall.

“Look what you’ve done to us!” Julie screamed. She’d chosen to become a Wispelle, like Dolli.

The townsfolk, now Dolli’s Dungeon Troops, joined Julie in their airing of frustrations. All at once their anger crashed down around Dolli in a tirade of fury. Dolli put her hands to her ears once more, but the cries of her people were not outside of her, but inside—just as their screams had been when she ripped them apart.

Anger and fear weaved through Dolli’s thoughts with the shouts of the monsters. It was as if she was a conduit for their emotion, like her staff was a conduit for Spark. She couldn’t escape what they felt or push it away. Their hatred and disgust flowed through her in unending waves.

Dolli turned and commanded her feet to run toward the inn. Though there were no feet to order around, her smoky tail wiggled behind her as she made her way across the main square. She put her hand out to open to door but passed through without even opening it. She pushed forward and her body seeped through the cracks and pours of the wood material.

Inside the inn, the voices of her angry people quieted, but the feeling of anger, the discomfort and disappointment lingered in her chest. Dolli wiggled her way over to the bar and plopped down on stool with a fluff of air. She hardly felt the wood below her… she hardly felt anything at all.

Dolli turned her hands back and forth, examining the ghostly smoke that was now her body.

The door to the inn opened and shouts poured in from outside.

“Just give me a minute!” Dolli heard Rufus say. His voice was changed, deeper with a hint of immaterial resonance, but it sounded like him. Dolli didn’t look up. She couldn’t. What would she see in Rufus’ eyes? His new eyes. Those of a monster.

“Can I get you a drink?” Rufus asked as his hooves clicked and clacked their way toward the bar.

“I’m not sure I could,” Dolli said with a chuckle, then passed her hand through the wood of the bar.

Rufus poured her a glass anyway, and one for himself. He set the cup of amber beer in front of her, then leaned against the bar. Dolli looked up at him for the first time.

His face was terrifying to behold. Skin hung slack around his black eyes and hollow nose. Antlers like a stag protruded from each side of his head. Wooly fur covered his arms and shoulders below his tunic.

Dolli swallowed back guilt. “You’re looking well. What’s your secret?”

Rufus dipped his head from side to side. “Became a dungeon monster recently. Not really my mug of brew so far, but I’m sure I’ll grow into it.”

Dolli reached for her cup, but her hand couldn’t grip it. Suddenly, she worried about starving to death. She’d been hungry before she set out for the town—damn wyverns had ruined her dinner plans—but now she hardly felt her stomach, or her body. She didn’t have a need to drink or eat, though she very much wanted to get drunk.

She dropped her head to the bar. “I wish you would’ve listened me.”

Rufus slammed his cup down. “And I wish you would’ve done what you’ve supposed to have been doin’ for the last six years.”

She glared up at him. “And what’s that?”

Rufus sighed and though his eyes were horrifying to behold, they were compassionate. “Leadin’ us.”

For the first four years of her “leadership,” Dolli had spent long hours figuring out how to help the people of Little Crossroads. How to make the trade market stronger, attract more kingdoms to use the routes, convince people to set up shop and make a residence there. She’d worked so hard for them and while the village grew, they cared not. Not a single kind word to Dolli for everything she’d done. Then, she messed up bad for the first time, and she was an inept witch.

He placed his hand on her wispy one. “You’re Overlord now. It’s your job to keep us going, build us up. I know it’s been hard the last six years since the… but that’s behind us.”

“Not for most people,” Dolli interjected.

Rufus rolled his eyes. “Well, you hidin’ up in your cottage doesn’t do much good, does it?”

“I think everyone prefers it that way.” Dolli smiled sarcastically.

Rufus growled. “We’re a new land now, a dungeon, and things hafta change for the better or we’re not going to make it. Take something seriously for once.”

“Right.” Dolli said, her chest warm with anger, but not at Rufus.

She’d never wanted the Regnant powers either, but it seemed she was trapped in an eternity of responsibilities she’d never asked for… unless of course there was some way to turn over the responsibility to someone else!

A single hope sprouted in her mind and she opened the Overlord menu. She went to the seat of power, and that hope died as she read the rules. They were much the same for Overlords and Dungeons as it had been for Regnants and Kingdoms. She wasn’t ready to die yet, so with a sigh, she panned over to “Troop Allocations.”

There was a section labeled “Tasks” with a long, long list of things that could be done to improve the dungeon fortifications. Everything seemed to come with an XP bonus for the monster who carried out the task. Some of that XP would go back to the Dungeon itself to help level it up, and a tiny fraction would go to Dolli upon completion.

“It seems as if I might be able to give out quests to everyone that’ll fix things up around here and get us some XP so we can level up.”

“Yes, good start. What can I do?” Rufus said with a skin-crawling smile.

“You’re surprisingly calm about all this. You look like a horror from a nightmare, just so you know.”

“I thought you said I was beautiful,” Rufus said with a playful scowl.

They laughed and for a moment, Dolli felt lighter.

Rufus sighed. “When you came to town those months ago and told us about how we’d turn into a dungeon, I thought about leavin’… I built this inn with my boys—

“Rufus,” Dolli interjected, her heart aching.

Rufus quieted her with a hand—rather a three-pronged hoof. “I built this inn with them. Heroes took ‘em from me. Now, I figure we’re a dungeon, heroes will be comin’ here. It’s my chance to even things out. To take where they’ve taken.”

Dolli nodded. She’d longed to summon the heroes from the Plague quest and kill them, but townsfolk couldn’t kill heroes. Their wicked magic protected them—and the townspeople. But now, she knew she was too weak. Those murderers would be nearly max level, and who knew if they were still in the realm. Dolli hadn’t checked in a long time. All the same, heroes would be coming, and they could enact a bit of retribution for their losses.

With startling clarity that made her feel quite stupid, the words dawned on her.

Heroes would be coming.

They were just over a hundred strong, and strong was not the term she’d use. They were all level one. They had nothing going for them, no defenses, no traps, and they were all new to their monster forms.

Dolli opened her Overlord menu and started looking around. It was broken out by five fields: Troop Allocation, Dungeon Information, Overlord Abilities, Seat of Power, and Lifewell—which was grayed out. When Dolli focused on Lifewell, a notification appeared.

[Seat of Power Uncontrolled]

Your seat of power [Hut on the Edge of the Forest] is occupied by another faction. You may not utilize the Lifewell until the seat of power is retaken by your faction. Other abilities such as Dungeon defenses and fodder spawns are also unavailable. You will still be able to give monster tasks, level up the dungeon, and gain new Overlord abilities.

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Well, that would need to be remedied quickly. “It seems since there are a few wyverns perched on my porch, we don’t have access to a few critical things, including the Lifewell.”

Rufus choked on his beer. “Wyverns?”

Dolli hummed. “Yes, it seems I’ve gotten a bit out of practice with dueling. The damn things forced me to use my portal stone, and they’re now squatting on the throne.”

“What’s so important about the Lifewell?” Rufus asked.

Dolli opened her menu and scanned. “It’s where we respawn, like heroes do. If the throne is taken by another faction, we can’t use it. If we die, we just have to wait until the seat of power is retaken… or we sit in the void for eternity.”

“That doesn’t sound pleasant.”

Dolli tutted. If it meant being left alone for once, it might not be so bad, but she assumed even there she wouldn’t get any peace. If only she could’ve attracted some heroes to take care of the wyverns before they’d transformed into a dungeon. With a flurry of thought, Dolli opened her menus again. There, buried between her class sheet and the Overlord information, was the isolated island of Hero Quests.

Dolli grinned as she looked at the quest she refused to pay out, and the stubborn heroes who refused to drop it. The “Create New Quest” button was still active in the upper right corner. Dolli nearly squealed with excitement.

She wouldn’t have to wait for her townsfolk—or rather dungeonfolk—to level up. She could make a quest and get those nasty heroes to take care of the wyverns for them.

With giddy glee, she opened a new quest and wrote out her decree.

“What are you so happy about?” Rufus asked.

Dolli finished writing the quest and closed the menu. “I think I may have just found a way out of this situation, quickly.”

Rufus growled. “Quick solutions were what got us into the mess in the first place. When are you going to wake up and do your duty, Dollitrice?”

“I amdoing my duty as Overlord. I’m getting the seat of power back.”

“Are you? Or d’you find some way to get someone else to take care of it?” Rufus asked with a snarl on his frighting face.

Dolli felt a flicker of fear, but swallowed it back. It hadn’t been the hero quest itself that caused the black mark on the town’s history. It had been a few lazy heroes who cared less for the people than for their quest reward.

This quest wouldn’t put her people in danger. If the heroes failed, at least they could keep the wyverns busy for a time while Dolli worked on leveling up.

Rufus’ stare bore into Dolli. “Well?”

“It’s not going to be a problem,” Dolli whispered.

The angry shouts outside turned fearful.

Greg’s loud voice broke over the noise. “Monster incoming!”