DUNGEON CRAWL! - Stylized Adventure Fantasy

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"Out? What do you mean out?" the demon asks, trying to inch itself around to get a better view of its surroundings. "Oh. How the hell am I supposed to know? You cut off my head, use it to do your shitty cooking, then ask me all these questions. It's like adventurers don't even have common courtesy now a days." he complained and rolled his eyes.

Then a crackly old voice called out. "What's all the racket out there?" Illuminated by Sunset's head, there appeared an old man walking supported by a metal cane. His back was noticeably bent, his hair and beard grayed with age. As he walked, his joints audibly cracked. As he got closer, there were wrinkles all over his face, enough so that it appeared he was squinting. As he occassionally opened his mouth to breath, it was noticeable that he had no real teeth, but instead a false metal set.
 
Gabriel, glanced at the urn, "Shitty cooking? You have insulted the preparation of the seven essential meals!? You couldn't determine good food even if you tried, yet you still try to pass judgement on the food!? And as for your current hospitality, that was due to your treatment of us earlier, also Billy is the one offering you the hospitality. Perhaps if you were to behave, he'd get you a bigger urn."

Gabriel's ears twitched as the cranky old man called out, "Fair gentleman, can you tell us of our current location? And are you in need of anything?"
 
Billy replaced the lid, securing it once again with the twine. "We can't just leave it lying around. What if it pulls itself back together again?"
"Also we need him to lead us to the twelve-"
"-Who, as it keeps telling us, are dead."
"Demons are notorious liars, Billy. He's trying to lull you into a false sense of security."
 
"My hut." the old man coughed. Behind him was a vague shadow of a small apparently stone structure put up within the corridors. There were two windows on the side which illuminated the building along with a wooden door with a faded symbol painted on it, nondescript words enscribed at the bottom of the symbol.
 
"You live down here?" James asked, tilting his head. "Never mind. We're actually lost. Would you be so kind as to show us a map or a path leading outside? And do you know a good place to find presents for little girls?"
 
"The hell are you lookin' for down here?" the old man asked. "Oh! You want a present for your little girl? Well, why the hell you lookin' down here?...I got just the thing." The man ran to his shack to pull out some piece of machinery shaped like a dog. He twirled its tail around as it made some kind of cranking noise.

Suddenly, it jumped out of the man's hand moving with short and abrupt movements as it inched itself adorably toward James. Apparently sniffinf him, the dog let out a squeaky bark. "Hand crank powered mechanical watch dog. This was my proto-type." he explained, "never did have a use for her." The tin dog panted as it ran around excitedly around James as well as the rest of the party.
 
James let out a loud gasp. "This dog... is made of metal?" he pet the machine, considering it carefully. Dogs were more loyal than people. And this was a watch dog too; he could likely trust it to guard her while he was gone. No doubt she'd also enjoy having a friend of some sort to play with.
James failed to see how this could be anything other than an amazing gift.

"Mister I will gladly take this dog." James declared, scratching the machine behind its ears.
 
"How much?"
"I think he just... gave it to us?"
"Suuuuuuure, and I'm a bardiche. Look, either we pay for it or it's a trap. Ichzack this man is not."
"I have no idea who that even is."
"I'll explain some other time."
 
Gabriel peered at the creation, "That is fascinating..." Gabriel glanced at James, "That seems like it would be an amazing gift." Gabriel went back to juggling pebbles, "Say, Kind Elder, may I ask of your name?"
 
"ARF ARF ARF" the tin dog droned. It buzzed about then licked James' boot with a metal tongue.

"Well then" said the man as he leaned down to pick up the dog "I don't exactly like giving away things for free. I need your help with my invention, and I also need help testing said invention. Can you do that?" The old man then jumped, looking around panicked to see who was speaking to him before looking down to see Gabriel. "The name's Gyver. I'm an artificer and I've been living down here more than half my life."
 
"Sure; that doesn't seem so hard." James said, standing up. "What exactly do you need us to test, Gyver? Some kinda new crossbow or something?"
 
"DING DING DING! Fucking told you."
Billy scratched the metallic pup. "Sword? Why do you always have to be such a jerk about these things?"
"Because I'm right."
"Well, I'm sure it isn't anything more dangerous than Sunset."
"Oh, Billy. How naive can you get?"
 
Rasa observes the small automaton for a little while. "A curious creation." Then to its creator: "What do you require of us?"
 
"An, artificer you say? Do you sell artifacts?" Tink asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
 
"I don't sell" Gyver answered the gnome. "I only create and invent. I'll leave it to whoever discovers these inventions to really do anything useful with them." Gyver paused for a moment, a blank look in his face. "Now where was I? Oh right, step into my hut." The old man crept slowly on his cane towards the stone structure, opening the creaky door and stepping in.

The hut was expectantly messy. Tables lined the walls and were stocked with various clock work devices which all moved or made some kind of bizarre noise. There were glass vials around the room, many put over burners. Vapor which rose from some of these glasses forming a thin haze over the ceiling of the hut. The room itself smelled vaguely like dried fruits.

Gyver then reached towards a cupboard and opened it, revealing a small glowing blue crystal. "This here is a teleportation crystal. I can use it to transport objects from one location to another." Gyver explained. He took a metal wingnut and pressed against the crystal. Then, he closed his eyes as it vanished, appearing in Tink's hands. "At this size, it's great for magic tricks, but not very practical. I need bigger ones to really move things around. The crystals grow from plants, a desert tree; the Dune Shrub; which looks smaller on the outside but has large and complex root systems that it uses to search for water. As a dune folk, I was very familiar with these plants. Anyways, they occassionally pick up various minerals from the ground and incorporate them into the rooting. This results in glowing crystals forming underground over the roots. Unfortunately, these crystals are not a common occurance."
 
"And you want us to collect a large crystal." James said, crossing his arms. "Still doesn't seem terribly hard. How big a crystal do you need?"
 
Gabriel continued juggling his pebbles as he entered the hut. Gabriel stared in awe, as the crystal activated it's ability. "That would be an amazing thing to have in my Circus! Truly it would appeal to the crowd!" Gabriel smiled at Gyver.

Gabriel turned to James, "There's probably a catch to collecting it." Gabriel returned to juggling various pebbles.
 
DaCageFighter said:
"The name's Gyver. I'm an artificer and I've been living down here more than half my life."
Click to expand...
Rue raised an eyebrow. "What sort of parents give their child the name of him who trifled with Arda and for his trouble had his jaw ripped o-" At which point she stared at Gyver's teeth.

"Seven Devils.." she muttered, blinking. "But..what exactly could you want with a larger crystal. You can't tell us you have no agenda in mind with the power to move anything anywhere with but a thought."
 
"Well, of course there's a reason." James explained. "Think about how commerce alone could be affected. Not to mention communication; you could have letters sent back and forth with a-" James stopped for a moment, staring into space. "Letters back and forth just like that."
 
Gabriel continued juggling his pebbles, "Not to mention the ability for performers to traverse back stage and away from the audience, instead of having to just sneakily try to avoid their gazes. Besides commerce it could easily impact performances, well depending on the power of the larger crystals. Well if a larger one is enough to move a person..."
 
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