Excerpt from the fifth draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe

A story dungeon sounds similar to a scenario dungeon, but where a scenario dungeon places the group into a scenario and requires that they resolve it, a story dungeon is literally trying to tell a specific story. A scenario dungeon doesn’t really care that much who it places in the scenario, but a story dungeon does.

A story dungeon will give each entrant a role to play, including changing whatever is required to make them fit the story. One common issue is the temporary removal of equipment or even abilities; if this happens, it will be restored either during the story or afterwards. Story dungeons can warp things in odd ways; since many stories happen over a significant period of time, they can skip time or make it seem faster than it is.

The thing to remember about story dungeons is that they are exactly that: they are based on a story. It will almost always be a well-known story to the people nearby. As long as you keep this in mind and follow the story, story dungeons are one of the safest kinds of dungeon, similar in danger to puzzle dungeons. They also have a very unusual reward: they can give you experiences that you would otherwise have difficulty having, opening up new Paths.

“Ari! Where are you, girl?”

Rissa ignored the voice as she stared at a book in front of her. Why was she looking at a book?

Maybe there was a clue to the story in the book? Serenity had said to watch out for those. The book was slim and seemed handwritten; it was difficult to read as the penmanship was poor and the spelling worse.

…and the marshalled warriors of the usurper-King broke and ran in the face of the enemies he had invited in the guise of allies, for those who are not true to their Word cannot hold others to Truth. Ahead of them rode Vortigern himself for his cowardice was such that his spirit failed him before that of his men.

The Kingdom was left without a King for less than a year, until …

It read like propaganda. Could she even believe what it said? If it was the backstory of the story dungeon, this was probably all about a fight over a throne?

As she turned the page to look for anything else that caught her eye, she realized it was more like a pamphlet than a book; it was stitched along one edge, but only about a dozen pages long and it didn’t have a hard cover.

“Ari! There you are. Have your nose in a book again? I don’t know why Father puts up with that. You can’t just sit here all day; you need to get your chores done.” A red-headed youth knelt next to Rissa and set a large basket down. “I’ve brought you a basket; head into the forest and see what you can find. It’s the right time of year for apples, and they’ll fill your basket quickly. You can read once it’s full, just make sure you’re back in time for supper, all right?”

Rissa tucked the pamphlet in the bottom of the basket then stood and turned to the youth. “Got it! See you tonight, Kay!”

Rissa looked down at herself and realized she seemed younger. A teenager, perhaps?

She waved, then wondered why she’d acted like that. Was this what Serenity meant when he said the dungeon would help you with following the story when there wasn’t enough information to do it yourself? He’d said it could be unsettling.

Well, whatever the dungeon was doing, it seemed like she was supposed to head into the forest. That did seem like the start of a good story; she hoped it’d be fun!

Another hand on his hilt. Not Rissa. He felt greed and cruelty.

ZAP!

Serenity was getting more and more annoyed with everyone bothering him; when no one was touching him, he could sleep. He couldn’t shift into another form, so clearly he was supposed to be a sword; the only thing that made sense was if he was supposed to be Rissa’s sword. That didn’t explain why others kept touching him, but if he’d been supposed to let one of them hold him, the dungeon would surely have made it clear by now.

It was just a matter of patience. Maybe he needed to wait for Rissa to reach that point in her part of the story? The hero’s weapon was not always with them when the story started, after all.

Rissa enjoyed walking in the woods. They were dim and cool, but there was little undergrowth to get in her way as long as she stayed away from the clearings.

The one thing she didn’t find quickly was an apple tree. Was she supposed to know where one was?

About an hour after she’d entered the forest, Rissa heard a repetitive noise in the distance. She headed towards it, curious what it was, but only moments later she was nearly bowled over by a running deer. Was that what she’d heard? It might have been.

Ssswiit-thud.

It wasn’t a loud noise, but the hiss certainly got Rissa’s attention when it was followed by an arrow hitting the tree right in front of her face.

The sound she’d heard earlier had probably been the running deer, but she was hearing it again, louder. There were either more deer or something was chasing the deer - and if it was someone chasing the deer, they weren’t very careful what they shot at.

Rissa turned and ran farther into the forest.

She didn’t stop running until the sound of her own heart drowned out the pounding hooves behind her. They weren’t following her.

Rissa leaned against a tree and tried to catch her breath. She suddenly realized she was still carrying the basket and set it down.

When she looked up, she realized she was looking directly at an apple. The tree she’d chosen to rest against was the apple tree she’d spent all this time searching for! She laughed, partly out of relief and partly from the coincidence, then set herself to gathering enough apples to fill the basket. As Kay had suggested, it didn’t take long, even though it was a fairly large basket.

“Now to head back to-” Rissa stopped. Where was she supposed to head back to? She’d never seen where “Ari” lived. More importantly, how did she get back? None of the woods looked familiar. She’d lost her way when she ran from the hunter.

It has to be part of the story, she told herself. How many stories start with getting lost in the woods? It’s not an unusual beginning. I can’t think of any that start with gathering apples and getting shot at, but I guess it’s a way to start. It certainly got me lost!

If it was a story, then the natural thing to do was to start looking for the way home. Rissa picked a direction and started walking, carrying her basket. It probably didn’t matter which direction she went, but she still made her best guess as to which direction she’d come from to reach the apple tree. It was probably wrong, but at least it was a direction.

Less than five minutes later, she came to another apple tree. She didn’t think she’d passed any on the way, but that would’ve been while she was running, so she couldn’t be certain.

Soon after the second apple tree, Rissa came across a low stone wall. It was about waist high and seemed like as much a marker as a wall; it was made of stones carefully placed together, but Rissa didn’t see any mortar. She could have gone over it if she’d tried, but there wasn’t any reason to. The other side of the wall didn’t look any different, other than the presence of more apple trees than were on this side.

She definitely wasn’t headed the right way; the wall wasn’t tall, but she wouldn’t have been able to run through it, either. She was also pretty sure she hadn’t missed it during her running.

On the other hand, a wall meant people, and people might know how to get back to her home, wherever it was. Beyond that, this was supposed to be a story. She’d gotten lost in the woods, and now she’d run into a mysterious wall. Clearly she needed to investigate!

Rissa followed the wall to her right. It went a long way, turned, then turned again after a straight stretch. After the third turn, Rissa sighed; she’d clearly picked the long way around.

Soon after that, Rissa came to a small gate set into the wall. It was a pair of panels made of wood and painted a pinkish purple. It curved up and at the top curve where the panels would meet if it closed there was a lock.

It was open.

Rissa stepped through the gate and looked around. It still looked like the rest of the forest, but there was a stone pathway leading from the gate farther inside. Rissa shrugged to herself and followed the path.

The path led to a hut. Rissa couldn’t think of anything else to call it; it was only about twenty feet on each side, with rickety-looking unpainted old wood walls and straw for a roof. Thatched? Rissa thought that was what it was called.

She walked up to the door and knocked. When there was no answer after a minute, she tried again. This time, she heard a faint “Who’s there?”

Rissa remembered that Kay had called her Ari. She should use that name for the story. She made sure to speak up; it seemed like sound ought to travel well, but she’d barely heard the voice from inside. “Ah, I’m Ari. I’m lost and I need help finding my way home.”

She was sure her voice sounded younger than her actual voice, to match her younger body.

Soon after that, the door to the hut swung open. The doorway framed a surprisingly short, fat old woman. She blinked at Rissa. “Don’t just stand out there. You’re just in time for dinner!”

Rissa followed her in, looking around the room. Most of the room was filled with cages; there were all sorts of different birds, a badger, several rabbits, and even a goat. She whirled to look at the door when it suddenly slammed behind her. “What was that?”

The crone shrugged. “Can’t have dinner escaping out the open door, now can we? Now why don’t you get in your cage like a good girl.” She pointed at a cage about the same size as the goat’s, and Rissa took a step towards it before she even realized she was under a compulsion.

It was along the wall she was next to, only a few steps away.

On the opposing wall, there was a window - well, an opening; it didn’t have glass in it. There was probably a shutter for bad weather, but it was open. It was small, but Rissa thought she could probably fit through it if she could get up there. Was there anything she could stand on to reach the window?

Well, there was a single chair in front of the fire. It looked a bit rickety for Rissa’s taste, but as an alternative to becoming dinner, it looked good.

While she was looking around the room searching for options, Rissa realized she’d taken another step towards the cage. She tried to take a step towards the door, but nothing happened. She couldn’t take one towards the window, either; when she tried, her foot moved towards the cage.

Fine. If that wouldn’t work, she’d try something else. This was a story; there had to be a solution. Several bird cages were past the cage the old woman was trying to get her to enter; could she get to them?

Rissa ran towards the cage door, counting on her momentum to get her past it. Her body didn’t try to stop until it was directly in front of the door, and before it came to a halt, she was in front of several of the birds’ cages. The old woman roared at her, but Rissa quickly opened all of the cages she could reach before her body pulled her back towards her cage.

One of the cages held a barn owl. As it flew for the window, Rissa could have sworn it spoke. “Thank you! I’ll bring help!”