What's the difference between a labyrinth and a dungeon?
Well for starters, a labyrinth doesn't try to murder you everyday.
A group of four approached the dungeon entrance. The monolith loomed above them, so massive that only parts of it could be seen at a time. Its full size? Unknown, even to the most seasoned of adventurers.
One of them, a girl in dark robes, stepped forward and waited for the door to open.
[USE MANA TO INTERACT]
"Is it broken?" Leaf asked, tilting her head. Her voice was small, but the irritation was real.
"Why would an ancient piece of mana tech, created long before we were even born ever be broken?" came the flat response from Julle, an elf with pale green hair that shimmered faintly as she moved. She examined the floating grey text. "Oh. Looks like it needs to register us again."
[USE MANA TO INTERACT]
"Again? We were just here last week."
"Yeah, that was before we broke Ursactic's shrine and ended up owing him two million credits," Julle said dryly, extending a hand toward the wall.
[Registered Adventurer(Mage): Julle Elksfallen]
[Registered Party: Crosstails]
[Permission to Enter: GRANTED]
Julle sighed softly, the dungeon door opening with a large thud. And from where they stood, just by the entrance, they could hear commotion from within.
"Let's just get this over with," Leaf muttered, stepping forward. "Hopefully we can finish this before—"
She smacked face first into something invisible, bounced off, and landed in Julle's arms.
[Cost to enter: 20cr]
Above them, a glowing text appeared in the air. And just beside the door, a small hatch clicked open, a slot for coin insertion.
"Twenty?! Those Star Idol bastards increased the toll again didn't they?" Leaf said, in a fit of rage.
"No use complaining now," Julle said calmly, already walking toward the hatch. Her staff tapped against the stone with each step. "If we go deep enough, we'll make it back by lunch."
"I hate giving those greedy bastards my money," Leaf grumbled, arms crossed.
"Good thing it's my money, then." Julle tossed in the coins, and the hatch snapped shut. The invisible mana wall vanished in an instant. "Alright guys, we're clear."
Horvess, the dwarf, stepped up beside them, arms folded across his barrel chest. "You're sure this is the only way? We don't have Cruca anymore."
"We'll manage," Leaf said without hesitation, already moving again. "I'll hold the frontlines."
"Wait up!" Julle jogged to catch her.
"That's not what I meant," Horvess muttered, following behind as they stepped into the shifting halls of the dungeon.
Six hundred years ago, the sky cracked open above the city of Nervalis. No one really knows what happened, though one theory says a dying magician used the storm to craft a dungeon—stuffed with all the riches and magic he'd hoarded over his life.
Spells capable of world ending destruction... and also spells to refill toilet paper rolls before noon, or let you know if your food's too salty.
Which is probably why most people don't buy the magician theory. More likely? The dungeon created itself. Just like the stars did.
"Hello, you!" a chirpy voice rang out.
A woman sat behind a polished desk at the entrance, smiling like a payday bonus. She wore the standard Star Idol Dungeon rep uniform: white and pink striped dress suit, complete with shoulder pads and too much perfume.
"What will you be doing today in the Star Idol Dungeon?"
Leaf spat on the floor. "Greedy bastard."
Julle joined her, spitting with precision. "Despicable tyrant."
Horvess stepped forward, ignoring them. "Beast treading," he said plainly.
"Beast treading." The receptionist repeated, "how many floors down?"
"Possibly the twentieth." Horvess replied. "Is that fine?"
"Yes, the twentieth floor is just out of way for the yearly Parashift, you should be fine as long as you don't go past that point."
"Parashift?" Leaf asked.
Julle lifted a finger like an instructor mid lecture. "The dungeon's sort of... alive. It's a functioning ecosystem, and in order to help its creatures thrive, it shifts and moves entire rooms and passages once a year. Redistributing water, sunlight, and food to all its inhabitants. That's the theory, anyway."
"No one really knows why this happens for sure," she added with a shrug. "Could be the dungeon just making sure what's hidden stays hidden."
"And it lasts for a week," the receptionist chimed in, still smiling from behind her desk. She cast a quick side glance at Julle, just in time to see the elf spit in her direction again. "Ahem. Well! If that's all your business for today, feel free to continue your journey!"
The trio walked off, boots echoing against the rough stone floors.
They entered the lobby.
It was technically the first level of the dungeon, but repurposed. Now it functioned as a market for adventurers, a chaotic middle ground where people regrouped, resupplied, and gossiped before heading deeper in.
After the dungeon first appeared, it didn't take long for opportunists to swoop in. Miners. Merchants. Mercenaries. Eventually, dungeon-treading became more than a profession, it became an economy. And before long, it became a way of life.
Every city had adventurers now. And the lobby brimmed with them. Either returning from bloody expeditions, or just starting fresh ones.
Footsteps shuffled over stone. Metal clinked. Spells sparked in controlled demos. The lobby was as alive as it'd ever been.
And the funniest part, half of the people in the lobby wouldn't go down the dungeon. They all came for the exclusive wares, that could only be found here.
And honestly, could you blame them?
Where else could you find sentient swords that fed on ambient mana? Or silver cooking pots that turned yellow the moment your stew was cooked to perfection?
The dungeon had revolutionized commerce. Everything inside was either useful, cursed, or absurdly expensive, and sometimes all three.
As they passed through the crowd, Horvess slowed, eyes locked on a particular display. A vendor in polished chainmail presented a blade that whispered to its holder, and as if also in the loop, trying to get sold.
It whispered to him.
"Horvessssssssss~"
"I want that sword," Horvess muttered, eyes locked on the blade.
"That's too bad," Leaf said without missing a beat, grabbing the back of his collar and dragging him toward the next stairwell.
Because despite all the temptation, they had one big problem.
They were broke.
Completely, devastatingly, dungeon level one broke.
They stopped, just by the door that bridged to the second floor. It went without saying, that the lower you went, the stronger the monsters and the more valuable the loot became.
But as they stood there, stretching, checking their supplies, making sure they had ample resources for the trip.
All they could think about was raising two million before the week ended.
Because if they didn't pay off their debt by the end of the week, what a furious Minotaur would do to their bones would be merciful compared to what Ursactic had planned.
Leaf spun her daggers with a flick. "You guys good?"
"Ready," Julle said. Mana focused at the tip of her staff, where a grey leaf turned green.
Horvess looked back toward the sentient sword display. "I still want that sword."
Leaf sighed. "Tough luck," she said, yanking him by the beard this time.
And just like that, the Crosstails party dove into the Star Idol Dungeon once more. Pursuing fortune, survival, and a very urgent need to avoid being liquefied by an angry deity with excellent memory.
And while they weren't the only group within the dungeon.
They certainly were the worst!
"ARGHHHHHHHHH!"
Horvess barreled through the corridor, stumpy legs pumping, hammer bouncing wildly on his back with each heavy step.
"This is why you don't poke random plants!" Julle yelled, panting hard behind him, already gassed out.
Leaf glided beside her, footsteps nearly silent. "Can't you just blast it with something?"
"Do you have any idea how tough a Chimaera Beast is?!" Julle shouted, voice cracking as she risked a glance back. The beast was gaining fast. "I'd need at least two minutes and a blessing to kill it!"
"She's gonna die, Horvess!" Leaf cried.
"So be the fate of the slowest!" he roared.
"I'll tell Centari you let her die!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Try me, dwarf!"
Horvess skidded to a stop. Dust kicked up around his boots. In a smooth pivot, the hammer was in his hands, raised like a divine instrument of pain. Behind him, Julle wheezed past, dragging her staff behind her, too tired to care if she died.
Ahead of him: the Chimaera Beast.
Not one of the ultra nasty lower level variants, but still ugly. With an amalgamation of a body, made up of the legs of a Weretiger, the body of a Stray-lion, the head of a Buzzsaw Shark and, inexplicably, a tail that looked like a single oversized mushroom plant.
Most likely that way to reel in easy prey.
Horvess squared his stance, eyes locked with the creature as it barreled toward him.
"I have no quarrel with you, beast," he said, adjusting his grip on the hammer. "But to preserve my marriage, I must kill you."
The beast lunged, claws slicing through the air just inches from his nose.
Horvess took a step back, then lunged too, his hammer whistled once, then cracked directly into the shark like gills of the creature's head. It slammed against the dungeon wall, roaring in pain.
"Nothing personal," Horvess muttered, catching his breath. "But as a man, I've got things I can't afford to lose in this life—"
The Chimaera screeched and launched itself from the rubble, more enraged than it had been just a second ago.
"Tell her!" Horvess shouted mid sprint, now flying past Leaf again.
"You cowardly little—" Leaf cursed, bolting after him. "HORVESS!"
And just like that, the chase resumed.