Dungeon Master (Karma System)

The search for hidden areas continued through breakfast.

From the table outside a food stall, Max watched three parties enter Fey Nights carrying coils of rope, colored flags, and enough chalk to mark every tree in the forest. A fourth group emerged from the dungeon covered in mud.

”Did you find the Glade?” Someone called out.

”We found a dryad who was tired of watching us circle her tree.”

The party continued toward the hospital while the people in the square laughed.

Max ate another piece of fried dough. Anna sat beside him with a cup of tea. Mira and Garrick occupied the opposite side of the table. The girl had spent most of breakfast studying one of Brakka’s course maps, but she looked up when Perrin crossed the square.

Every few steps, someone stopped him to ask about the Moonlit Glade.

”He is enjoying this.” Mira said.

Perrin had begun wearing a pine branch through the strap of his pack. Max assumed it represented the two trees at the hidden entrance. It made him look as if he had walked beneath a low branch and failed to notice what became caught on him.

”He found something nobody else found. He is allowed to enjoy it.” Anna remarked before stealing a piece of toast off of Max’s plate.

”At least until someone discovers another secret.” Garrick added.

Mira rolled up the map. ”Does the place Max is making only remember the first people?”

Max stopped chewing. ”What place am I making?”

”The one for Perrin and the race winners.”

Anna smiled into her tea. Max had mentioned the idea to Anna after they returned home. Mira had apparently reached the same conclusion without hearing that conversation. He had not started building anything yet, but that distinction did not matter.

”I was considering a hall for dungeon records. First clears, fastest clears, race winners, and interesting discoveries.” He clarified.

”Only winners, then.”

”Those are the people achievements normally recognize.”

Mira looked toward the hospital. ”The people there talk more about how many times they failed before succeeding. Some of them are proud of surviving things everyone else thinks are embarrassing.”

”They do not always survive.” Garrick said.

”They get better.”

Her grandfather could not argue with that.

Mira returned to her map. The conversation moved on to the wind platform, where Brakka intended to test her ability to recognize changes in direction without relying on flags.

Max finished breakfast while thinking about what she said.

***

Quin found Max and Anna in the manor an hour later. A model of the proposed building floated above Max’s desk.

It had a broad central gallery and several smaller wings. Framed portraits covered the walls. Stone panels beneath them could change their writing whenever a record changed.

”A Hall of Achievements?” Quin asked after reading the name above the entrance. ”That sounds more respectable than a wall where adventurers brag.”

”That is why I used the word hall. It makes it sound grand.” Max said.

Anna enlarged the central gallery. ”The obvious records should be easy to find. First clear for each level, current fastest clear, least damage taken during a successful clear, first secret discoveries, and Skyyard champions.”

”Current qualifying crews too. Their portraits can move into the Grand Race section after they win.” Quin suggested.

”And if they lose their qualification after three months?” Max asked

”The result remains in the history. Only the active marker disappears. You win a race; you get your picture put up.” Anna said.

Quin walked around the model. ”Are you planning to show undiscovered secrets?”

”No. A secret record only appears after someone earns it. I am not placing six empty frames on a wall and telling everyone exactly how many hidden areas exist.”

”Six?”

”That was an example.”

”How many are there?”

”I am not telling you either.”

The Hall would be free to enter. It offered no ability points, special equipment, or combat advantages. Max did not want adventurers throwing away sensible plans merely because a plaque rewarded them for doing something foolish.

Recognition was enough.

He added several less conventional records to the building. Quin tried to read over his shoulder. Max closed that portion of the menu.

”You can see them when everyone else does.”

”You realize I work for you.”

”Then you are being paid to wait.”

Quin looked toward Anna. ”Your husband has become drunk on the power of being mayor.”

”The title has nothing to do with this.” Max said.

”That sounds like something a corrupt mayor would say.”

Max ignored the man and deployed the Hall beside the road connecting the village square to the dungeon entrances.

Pale stone rose from the ground. Tall windows formed along both sides while a copper roof unfolded above the central gallery. The front steps widened, the doors opened, and a sign appeared over them.

{Hall of Achievements}

The announcement reached every person in the Sanctuary.

They began arriving before the dust settled.

***

Max waited at the entrance while the crowd filled the steps. Anna stood beside him, quietly flipping through her clipboard to make sure everything was in order. Quin remained one step behind them, smiling as if he expected something to go wrong.

Mira and Garrick arrived with the rest of the public. The girl had not seen the design or taken part in its planning after their breakfast conversation. She took Anna’s offered hand only because the crowd made it difficult to remain together.

Once a large enough crowd gather, Max began to speak. ”This Hall displays records earned inside the dungeon and its Sanctuary. Some people have earned recognition because of their skill. Some are acknowledged for their persistence. And some people have done things that deserve to be remembered for different reasons.”

”What different reasons?” And adventurer shouted. The rest of the crowd was curious as well.

Max opened the doors. ”Go look.”

The first gallery held the achievements everyone expected.

A large frame displayed Rod, Dirk, Lana, Cindy, and Halbin as the first party to clear Fey Nights. Another recognized their first clear of the Orc Highlands. Beside each picture, a moving panel displayed the current fastest completion, and another displayed the party that took the least damage.

Perrin’s portrait appeared beneath a silver pine branch.

{First Adventurer to Discover the Moonlit Glade}

He stood in front of it with both hands on his hips while his companions explained to anyone nearby that a quickling deserved most of the credit.

The Five Knots occupied the center of the Skyyard section. Their brass qualification emblem appeared beneath the picture taken after the race. An empty space did not wait beside them. The next portrait would only appear after the next qualifying crew earned it.

People congratulated the recognized adventurers and compared the fastest times. Then someone found the eastern wing.

Laughter echoed through the Hall.

Max and Anna followed the sound.

The first plaque inside read:

{Most Total Deaths}

{Borin Fallow - 86}

The number changed to 87 while people were reading it.

A new line appeared beneath the total.

{Latest Cause: Attempted to Befriend a Redcap}

The crowd cheered.

Somewhere in the hospital, Borin Fallow had just learned an important lesson about redcaps.

The next portrait showed a small healer raising one boot toward a satyr.

{Weakest Successful Attack}

{Edda Morn - 0.03 Damage}

{Attack contributed during a successful Fey Nights clear.}

Edda pushed through the crowd. ”It interrupted his flute spell.” The healer said proudly.

”You kicked him in the ankle.” One of her party members said.

”It was a tactical kick.”

Other records filled the wall.

{Longest Time Lost in Fey Nights}

{Nineteen Hours, Twelve Minutes}

{Most Missed Skyyard Checkpoints in One Flight}

{The Silver Arrows - Nine}

{Most Defeats Against the Same Boss}

{Flint Hounds - Fourteen Defeats Against the Elder Dryad}

{Most Failed Attempts Before a Successful Clear}

{Lantern Company - Twenty-Three Fey Nights Attempts}

The people named in the last two records reacted with a mixture of embarrassment and pride. Neither asked for their portrait to be removed.

Mira moved slowly along the wall, reading every plaque.

”You did include failures.” She said when Max reached her.

”Successful failures.” Max replied clarified.

”Most Total Deaths does not say he succeeded.”

”He has successfully died eighty-seven times.”

Garrick studied Borin’s portrait. ”I am not certain that should be an honor.”

”It is not a reward, It is a record.” Max explained.

Another burst of laughter came from the far end of the wing.

A portrait showed an adventurer in a plain brown work tunic. He held one end of a long saw. An Orc held the other and grinned at the camera.

{First Person Sentenced to Orc Work-Camp Labor}

{Davin Holt}

The plaque did not list his offense or identify anyone involved in it. That part of the civil record remained private. It did, however, show a stack of timber behind him.

”Where did the Hall get that picture?” Anna asked.

Max checked the record. ”The Orc Chief submitted it.”

The Chief had apparently decided every new worker needed an arrival portrait in case another achievement category appeared.

Quin stopped in front of the plaque. ”Productive member of society.”

”Punishment should accomplish something useful.” Max said.

”Of course, Mayor Clarkson.”

Before Max could respond, a new frame appeared on the opposite wall.

The Hall created it without an announcement. People noticed the pale light and moved closer as five portraits formed inside.

Rod stood in the center. Dirk and Lana appeared on either side of him, with Cindy and Halbin behind them. All five wore the equipment they had carried into Level Three.

The title appeared last.

{First Party to Destroy Its Assigned Dwarven Airship}

For a moment, Max simply stared.

He had known Rod’s first attempt at Level Three ended early. It occurred while Max was dealing with the Sanctuary’s first line of civil complaints. He had seen the failure notice and assumed the party had been defeated by the opening encounter.

Destroying the airship was more specific.

”Did they attack it?” Anna asked.

”I hope not.”

Quin leaned closer to the portrait. ”That would explain why all five of them have spent so much time at the Skyyard.”

People around them were already speculating about what Level Three contained and how an adventuring party could destroy a dwarven vessel.

Max closed the Hall record and opened the dungeon’s stored recordings.

”We should review their attempt.” He said.

Quin nodded. ”Somewhere private. Rod may never return if he learns an audience watched this.”

Mira looked toward the portrait again. ”Does the achievement disappear if they do better next time?”

”No.” Max said.

”Good.” She said with a little laugh.

”Why is that good?”

”Because when they clear the level, this will make the other picture funnier.”

Quin laughed but Max could not disagree.