Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Max chose the final ten members of his challenge team three days before the deadline.

Aderic remained its commander. The human had spent the previous two weeks learning how each of the nineteen other Eternal Souls responded under pressure. He did not select the ten strongest individuals. He selected the combination most likely to survive an unknown dungeon.

The orc bulwark and dwarf shieldthane formed the front line. A human field healer supported them. The elf ward mage and orc shaman handled magical threats from different directions. An elf ranger and Siv, the quickling scout, gave the team two ways to gather information without committing the main force. Dagna, a dwarf runesmith, carried tools capable of repairing equipment and interfering with unfamiliar mechanisms. An elf spellblade filled the final position, able to reinforce either the front line or the magical group.

The other ten members of the elite unit trained beside them until the final day.

Each selected Eternal Soul received upgraded equipment suited to a range of environments. Max had already spent heavily creating the unit. He spent more on warded armor, weapons, supplies, healing mixtures, climbing equipment, light sources, and compact food. Dagna carried enough tools to rebuild half the equipment if given time. Siv complained that her pack weighed nearly as much as she did until Aderic redistributed several items.

DC confirmed the challenge rules once the entry window opened.

Each qualified dungeon would send ten monsters into a dungeon designed by the Elder God. No replacement could enter after the team crossed the threshold. Death inside the challenge removed a participant from it permanently.

Max’s Eternal Souls would revive in his dungeon as normal.

They would not be permitted to return to the challenge.

The rule gave Max comfort without making him careless. Every death would weaken the team left inside. A member who returned to Crag Mountain could explain what happened only after the loss was already permanent.

Max gathered the full elite unit in its training hall.

The final selection followed three trials.

In the first, each group crossed a shifting field while protecting a fragile marker. The strongest fighters performed well until the terrain separated them. Aderic’s chosen front line maintained contact without slowing the scouts.

The second trial began with false information. Max told the participants to expect creatures from the north, then allowed the training grounds to attack from three other directions. He was testing whether the unit obeyed old instructions after conditions changed. The elf ward mage abandoned a prepared northern barrier immediately and protected the healer. Dagna converted unused trap markers into a warning line. Siv found the actual route before the attackers completed their encirclement.

The third trial removed Aderic halfway through. The shieldthane assumed battlefield command long enough to stabilize the formation, then returned tactical control when the spellblade gained a clearer view. No one argued over authority while the problem remained active.

Several powerful Eternal Souls did not make the challenge team. A human duelist defeated nearly anyone in individual combat but repeatedly outran support. An orc fire-caller possessed greater destructive power than the shaman and less control in confined spaces. A dwarf siege engineer was invaluable when given equipment and time; an unknown dungeon might provide neither.

Max explained the choices privately to those remaining behind. They had the important job of responding to any threats in his dungeon while the others were away.

The answer prevented competition from becoming resentment.

The ten not selected continued drilling until the portal opened. If the chosen team returned with losses, they wanted the revived members to find their unit working rather than waiting around helplessly.

Max approved. The elite team existed for problems beyond the challenge, and its habits could not depend upon him providing constant direction.

"Ten of you are going." He said. "All twenty of you are responsible for what happens there. The ten who remain will receive anyone who returns, record what they remember, and prepare in case the challenge changes conditions outside the dungeon."

Aderic looked along his team. "We understand."

The portal opened at the center of the hall.

It showed a circular stone platform beneath a colorless sky. Broken walls surrounded it. Beyond them stretched the remains of a fortress city divided by canals, collapsed bridges, and towers wrapped in pale vines.

Max could observe the team after entry. He could not speak to them, send items, alter terrain, or provide information. The restriction felt more severe than watching ordinary adventurers because these ten had been purchased and trained specifically to answer his commands.

Once they crossed, they were on their own.

Aderic entered first.

Each member paused before the portal only long enough for the equipment register to identify what crossed. The system rejected a spare supply pack carried for an eleventh person, confirming that the limit applied to prepared resources as well as bodies. Aderic redistributed its contents rather than testing the restriction again.

Siv gave the quickling remaining behind a short nod. Dagna touched forearms with the other dwarf runesmith. The gestures lasted seconds and carried no speeches.

The rest followed in formation. The portal closed behind the elf spellblade.

A stone panel rose from the center of the platform.

SEVEN SEALS OPEN THE FINAL GATE.

CLAIM THE SEALS.

REACH THE GATE.

The message contained no explanation of where the seals waited or whether other teams could take them.

Siv, the quickling, circled the platform while the ranger studied the surrounding rooftops. Dagna, the dwarven runesmith, examined a shallow socket beneath the message panel. It contained seven circular depressions.

"We bring the seals back here?" The shieldthane asked.

"Or carry them to a different gate using this as the pattern." Aderic, the human commander, said. "We assume nothing until we see more."

They left the platform by the only intact bridge.

The first section of the ruined city tested was devoid of enemies. Streets ended at collapsed canals. Pale vines tightened around stone whenever anyone touched them. Siv found a safe path across a broken roof while the ward mage identified dormant magic beneath the street.

Dagna uncovered the first seal inside a mechanism guarded by rotating blades.

The runesmith stopped the mechanism without destroying it. When Aderic lifted the bronze disk from its housing, a low bell sounded across the city.

Six distant lights appeared above the ruins.

"Locations." The elf ranger said.

"And an announcement that one has been taken." Aderic replied.

The team moved before anything reached the mechanism.

The second light hovered above a flooded temple. The broad avenue leading to it had sunk beneath dark water, leaving only the tops of fallen columns between the team and the entrance.

Siv saw the first canal stalker before it moved. The creature lay beneath the surface beside a column, its gray scales almost indistinguishable from submerged stone. It had six short legs, a broad flattened head, and hooked forelimbs built to seize prey and drag it underwater.

The ranger found seven more spread across the flooded avenue. None approached while the team remained on dry ground. Ripples from a piece of thrown rubble drew three of them toward the impact at once.

The creatures hunted vibration rather than sight.

The orc shaman quieted the water around the first section of the crossing while Dagna fixed climbing spikes into the exposed columns. Siv carried a light line across the safest route, and the ranger used it to pull a heavier rope into place. The team could cross without swimming, but the columns were too narrow for more than one person at a time.

Aderic sent the shieldthane first. The dwarf’s weight shifted one of the columns despite the shaman’s magic. Three canal stalkers surged from beneath the water and struck the stone hard enough to shake him from his footing.

The rope kept him above the surface. The orc bulwark hauled him onto the next column while the ward mage spread a barrier through the water beneath them. The barrier did not stop the creatures, but it prevented their hooked limbs from closing around either defender long enough to drag them down.

Once the attack began, the stalkers stopped waiting beneath the surface. Their armored backs broke through the water around the route while their forelimbs scraped against stone. The ranger targeted the softer joints behind their heads. The spellblade remained near the center of the crossing and killed the creatures that climbed high enough to threaten the rope instead of pursuing wounded ones into the water.

The bulwark and shieldthane controlled the narrow front together. One held each column while the other moved, preventing the stalkers from isolating anyone. Siv and Dagna kept the ropes secure behind them. The shaman redirected the worst disturbances away from the team, drawing several creatures toward empty sections of the avenue.

A hooked forelimb tore through the shieldthane’s leg armor before the bulwark forced the creature away. The field healer closed the deepest part of the wound after they reached the temple steps, then bound the remaining cuts rather than exhausting his magic on injuries that would not slow the dwarf.

The team entered the temple with all ten members. Four canal stalkers remained alive in the flooded avenue, but none followed them beyond the water.

Inside, the second seal rested behind a ward that mirrored any force directed against it. The ward mage recognized the reflection before the spellblade tested it with a full strike. Dagna and the shaman dismantled different portions together while the front line guarded the entrance.

The second bell sounded.

The flooded avenue had offered Aderic an easier but costly option. The bulwark could have entered the water alone and drawn every canal stalker while the rest of the team crossed. He would eventually revive in Crag Mountain, but his death would remove him from the challenge and weaken every fight that followed.

Aderic had built the crossing around bringing all ten members through. The time it cost mattered less than preserving the team.

Max watched from the operations room with Quin, Anna, and the ten elite members who remained behind. A wide viewing panel followed Aderic’s group without showing anything beyond their immediate surroundings. Max could not move the view ahead to reveal traps or other teams.

"Can they hear us?" One of the remaining orcs asked.

"No." Max said.

He did not repeat the limitation when the team chose its route. Everyone in the room understood it.

The two claimed seals appeared as small bronze lights along the edge of the viewing panel. Five empty spaces remained beside them. Max could not tell whether the display represented what his team needed or merely what it carried.

Quin studied the team’s formation. "Aderic is keeping the healer away from the seal case."

"So losing one person does not lose both." Anna said.

The choice reassured Max. The elite unit had trained for unfamiliar problems rather than rehearsing a single challenge. Aderic was using that preparation.

One of the remaining lights vanished before Max’s team could choose its next route.

Someone else had claimed a seal.

"Then there may not be seven for every team." The shieldthane said.

Aderic placed both disks inside a padded case carried beneath the bulwark’s armor.

"We proceed as though every seal can be stolen."

The next light lay beyond the fortress wall.

They reached the upper battlements as figures emerged onto a parallel tower. There were ten of them: broad, horned shapes, lean canine hunters, winged scouts, scaled fighters, and a robed figure carrying a healer’s staff.

The other team saw them at the same time.

A minotaur raised an empty hand.

"Perhaps we should speak before deciding which of us owns the road ahead."

In Crag Mountain, no one mistook the gesture for peace.

The two hidden harpies were visible at the edge of the viewing panel. Max saw Siv identify them and return to Aderic without drawing attention. An overeager scout might have attacked or remained away too long.

Max said nothing. There was nothing useful he could say to people who could not hear him.

The Elder God’s dungeon provided no standings. Max could not see how many dungeons remained qualified, which teams had entered, or whether a group eliminated inside vanished from the challenge or left bodies behind. The uncertainty was part of what Aderic’s unit had been created to handle.

Kincaid observed from his own divine space. He contacted Max only before the challenge began to confirm the known rules. Since entry, the connection remained closed.

Anna kept a written record of every revealed mechanism. Quin tracked the rival team’s visible members. The ten elites who remained behind watched the decisions of the counterparts they might one day replace on a mission.

No one discussed why the Elder God wanted to see monsters collect seals from one another. The challenge offered an objective. Its larger meaning, if it possessed one, remained hidden.

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