Dungeon at the End of the Universe

An adventuring party has defeated a Boss!
Grade: heavy assistance needed
Reward: basic tool or equivalent

[Note: you are required to reward them]

Wait… what?

You can’t possibly be serious? Why the hell should I be rewarding them? I mean, sure, I may have send a slightly too strong Boss after them. And it may very well have killed them without our interference.

But that shouldn’t mean they get something out of it! The levels should be more than enough! Not to mention that it looks like I’ll have to do this for every Boss, regardless of difficulty.

Oh, fuck it. It is only a basic tool after all. In the future I’ll need to be more strategic with my Bosses though.

In the end, I decide to give them a tiny bit more than just basic tools. For Rampampadam that means a sword and shield, a classic knight combo. Dittillapp will get a pair of daggers, typical of rogue. And as for Prshky, well, that’s more difficult. I have no idea how wizards really work, but I’m sure I’ll get inspired eventually.

I start with the shield, going for a classic ‘Heater’ shape. I from most of it out of wood, specifically Wyld-wood since it’s the only one I have. Then I give it a frame of the unknown metal I have, as well as weave a thin mesh of that metal throughout the wood. This works great, as even dead the wood has some strange properties and takes on some metallic qualities.

I continue onto the sword. At first, I try to make it entirely out of the metal, but I quickly find out it can’t really hold an edge. I suppose that’s the trade-off for how light it is. In the end, I make the core of the blade metal, and the edge out of wood. You’d expect wood to be worse at holding an edge, but thanks to the weird metallic attribute it takes on from the metal it’s touching, I think it’ll work out.

Next up are the daggers. They’re basically just smaller swords, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. Instead of giving them an edge made of wood, I try to use some crystal. From what I know that should be much sharper, after all most scalpels are made of some kind of crystal. The result is much too brittle though, so for the second one I go back to using wood.

And now for the wizard again. I could make a wand or staff, but I’ve no idea how those are made. How do they even help with casting spells?

Ah, you know what? Who cares! If it doesn’t work, I can just say it’s a normal staff for combat. It is supposed to be only basic equipment after all.

So, this time, I make a core of Wyld-wood. Through it, I lead some strands of metal and crystal, forming a sort of double helix shape. And at the top, enveloped almost entire by branch-like protrusions, I place a core I plucked from an unfortunate slime.

There! I have no idea if it’ll work as a wizard’s staff, but at least it looks cool.

At the System’s urging I’m about to send the items off. But just in time, something catches my attention.

What the fuck System! Why the hell do you want to send them this screen?! It would’ve revealed way too much, way too soon! They absolutely cannot know about me, especially that I helped them.

I try my best to modify it, but it looks like this is somehow bakes into the System, as even my authority doesn’t let me completely remove it.

In the end, I’m left with something like this.

Let’s hope I did a good enough job.

(*the rewards would have shown as only one of those for each delver, but the author thought it’d be unfair to create the same screen thrice)

As the Dungeon Boss, the strange tree-like creature, powered down and stopped moving, all three adventurers breathed out a sigh of relief. Ram and Dittillapp plopped down onto the ground, finally allowing themselves to sit and rest, while Prshky was already lying down after that last enhanced mana bolt of his.

It looked like they were about to say something, but they were interrupted by another one of those unfamiliar System screens appearing before each of them.

They briefly paused to read them.

“So…” Ram began, “that’s apparently a thing.”

Dittillapp, somehow much less surprised than the others, simply nodded. In the very next moment, the ground in front of him briefly became malleable and a pair of dagger dove out of it.

“What the hell was that!” screamed Prshky, suddenly much more recovered.

At the rogues shrug, Ram spoke up, “The reward, obviously. What did you get?” As she asked that, a sword and a shield appeared in front of her the same way.

“You’re not even slightly curious how solid stone can become a liquid and let items through? Seriously?” he asked. But after getting no response, he sighed and answered, “Some kind of wizard’s staff.”

The ground in front of him repeated its strange transformation. What appeared was a simple staff with no decorations, save for the orb at its top.

“Is it, like, supposed to help with spells or what?” Prshky asked, but once more, no one knew the answer.

They spent few minutes admiring their hard-fought rewards. But Ram interrupted the contemplative silence.

“I just don’t get one thing. Why were we rated as low?”