You have the entered the dungeon: The Shifting Fortress

Marco froze in place. ‘A dungeon?’ Eyes darting around anxiously Marco took a step back before realizing he was being watched.

“Whatcha doin’ boy?” Chuckled a short bearded man with rough features and heavy leather garments. After a moment of stunned silence on Marco’s part the bearded man grunted, “Yer not very bright, are ye?”

“I- um- sorry.” Stammered Marco as he cautiously approached the man, “Who are you?” he asked curiously. The man rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, “He ain’t polite either” before reaching his hand out and boastfully saying, “Ye can call me SteelBreaker kido.”

Marco instinctively took SteelBreaker’s hand as he held prolonged eye contact for far too long before SteelBreaker prompted, “Yer name?” Marco blinkled, his brain releasing the conditioned response of, “Hi, I’m Marco.” After a few seconds of Marco now avoiding eye contact and uncomfortable hand holding SteelBreaker broke the handshake with an exasperated sigh of, “Not another one of these types.”

“Oh- I- um… I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve never met someone of your… um-” Marco stammered nervously before SteelBreaker interrupted, “Yea yea, ye’ve never met a Dwarf before and yer about to shit yerself because ye didn’t think we’d be so imposing.”

Marco stared blankly for a second before forcing himself to say, “Yes. Exactly.” SteelBreaker eyed him dully before breaking out into a hearty laughter, “Yer funny kid, I’ll give ye that. A shame, the funny ones don’t usually last long.”

Marco froze before asking, “What do you mean by that?” The Dwarf seemed to have been expecting the question as he raised his arms up ominously and said, “Yer in a dungeon now kiddo. People die in here all the time- oh but, uh, don’t worry; there won’t be any corpses in here. After all this dungeon’s just for the tutorial.”

With a tilt of his head Marco questioned, “Does that mean this dungeon is just for me?” The Dwarf held his hand up to his face in aggravation before continuing, “Yea, and because of that it’s even more dangerous so ye better listen to me when I say that people die in dungeons.”

Ignoring the Dwarf Marco pressed, “Why is this dungeon just for me?” The Dwarf gave him a sidelong glance along with the question, “Who invited ye to participate in the war?” Marco hesitated before whispering, “...Death” causing the Dwarf’s playful mood to disappear.

With a hardened expression SteelBreaker began, “Ah, I see. Ok kiddo listen up: Yer world’s war hasn’t technically started yet. Ye’ve been chosen by a Titan to represent yer world in combat. In a word yer to become a champion of- uh, where did ye say ye came from?”

Marco automatically responded, “I’m from Virginia.” Realizing his mistake too late Marco cringed as SteelBreaker continued, “Ok, yer to become a champion of planet Virginia. So to give ye a lil push you get yer own dungeon for a year to toughen ye up with the hopes that ye’ll pass whatever ye learn onto the other humans when the war starts.”

With a nod Marco then asked, “Ok so if this is my own dungeon what are you doing here?” Marco’s eyes widened as a terrible thought crossed his mind. Jumping backwards he yelled, “Are you the first enemy?!” SteelBreaker stood silently in response, contemplating whether Marco was serious, “I can see my first impression was correct. Yer not funny, yer dumber than tunnel stone.”

SteelBreaker chose to ignore Marco’s embarrassing display and replied, “No, I’m not the first ‘enemy’ in the dungeon- if I was ye’d be dead. I’m the shopkeep. Geez, I’d heard that the black Titan doesn’t properly educate his champions but really? Really?! Look kido, open up your player screen. Ah-” SteelBreaker raised his palm to stop Marco’s oncoming question, “Just think it and it’ll happen.”

Player Screen Name: Marco Barone Race: Human Level: 0 Class: - Occupation: Champion of Earth Titles: 0 Spells: 0 Skills: 0 Health: 8/8 Mana: 14/14

“Now check yer ‘Quests’” SteelBreaker huffed.

Quests Primary: Defend planet Earth from the invasion force Secondary: Defeat the F-Rank Dungeon: The Shifting Fortress

“It says that I should defeat this dungeon.” Marco observed with anticipation, “So, how do I do that?” SteelBreaker looked at Marco with pity as he said, “Ok lad, here ye go. This is yer starting gear. Yer a uh… magic user, says here.” SteelBreaker observed from a small notebook he’d pulled out of his jacket, “Ok so first up: staff or wand?”

“What’s the difference?” asked Marco right before SteelBreaker nodded and said, “Staff it is. Catch!” pulling an unordained wooden staff out of the air and tossing it at Marco, “Right onto the next one: Red, Black, White, Blue, Green, Yellow, or Gray?” Marco immediately said, “Black-” before SteelBreaker cut in again, “Naw ye’ll look way better in green, trust me. Ok and finally… um says here… ok here ye go.” SteelBreaker fished into a pouch on his waist and pulled out a small palm sized book before handing it to Marco along with a wad of green fabric.

“Right and now yer set kiddo. Good luck in there. I’ll see ye later… hopefully!” SteelBreaker said before a hole opened up under his feet, devouring him before Marco’s face could settle into its newly shocked expression. “What just happened?” Marco asked himself as he examined his newly acquired items.

Beginner's Staff Beginner's Robe Spell Book: Shadow Shuriken

Marco smiled before exclaiming, “Equip Beginner’s Robe!” instantly replacing his clothes with the beginner’s robe. Excited Marco continued, “This is pretty intuitive! Equip Beginner’s Staff!”

[Beginner's Staff] already equipped

Marco’s broad smile faltered as he nodded, ‘Makes sense. I am holding it.’ Attempting to appear unphased Marco held the small book up before saying, “Um… Learn spell?”

Spell [Shadow Shuriken] learned

The book in his hand faded into particles of light that disintegrated into nothing as new information appeared in front of Marco.

Spell Name: Shadow Shuriken Description: Create and launch a projectile of manifested shadow magic Cost: 5 mana Cast Time: Instant

Beaming with excitement Marco raised his staff and exclaimed, “Shadow Shuriken!” Causing his whole body to tremble with the sensation of cold energy rising from behind his stomach before then travelling through his arm into the trembling staff as an indistinct ball of shadows formed and launched forward.

Upon hitting the ground the shadows dispersed, leaving scratch marks on the surface of the dirt. ‘Wait… dirt?’ Marco asked himself before gazing up with a rising feeling of discontent.

When Marco looked up to examine his surroundings he found that he was facing a large stone brick gate, seemingly leading into a medieval castle. Smile faltering a little, Marco walked through the gate with his new staff in hand.