Chapter 21 - Rules and Regulations

“I see you’ve been busy since we last talked,” I heard someone say from across my desk. I’d had my head down, organizing all the notes I’d taken the last few days, but I was sure that I wasn’t so distracted that I’d miss someone entering the room. Yet, when I raised my head Lanivia was right there, sitting casually in a chair directly across from me. “You don’t have to look so surprised dear, I’ve lived for thousands of years, so I’ve picked up more than a few tricks. If I couldn’t do something as simple as travel around my own dungeon quietly I wouldn’t be much of a dungeon master.”

“Right…” It took my brain a while to catch up, but when I realized exactly who I was talking to I sat up straight. “How can I help you today ma’am?”

“You don’t have to be so stiff dear,” Lanivia tutted, “I came by because a little birdy told me you’ve decided to stay with us, is that true?”

I blinked, slightly confused by the question. “Yes, that’s true. I’ve been getting along with most of the staff, and the living conditions are way above what I’m used to. I have to say, the experience has exceeded my wildest expectations.”

A smile crossed Lanivia's face. “Excellent. As you know your contract allowed you to leave without any expectations, or penalties before the start of the confrontation league, but if you stuck around past that you would be added to the permanent staff.” She flicked her wrist and a small onyx tablet appeared in her hand. “We have just finalized the rules of the league, so this is your last chance to back out…”

I didn’t answer. Instead I just reached out and took the tablet from her, excited to actually see the rules. Lanivia just laughed at my eagerness, “Well, I’m glad to have you on board. The league will be fully announced to the public next week, and the first matches will occur a month from now.” She stood, smoothing out her ornate midnight blue robe as she did. “Feel free to share this information with your co-workers. I’m planning on making it available to everyone, but if everything I heard about you is correct, I figured you’d want an early peek.”

I nodded wordlessly. Despite being in the presence of the boss, I couldn’t keep my eyes from being slowly drawn towards the tablet in my hands. Lanivia just patted the back of my hands, “Don’t be afraid to ask the others for help in organizing things. I have to deal with the other dungeon masters, so I’ll leave the job of preparing our defenses to you.” She turned to leave, then paused for a minute, and glanced back in my direction. “Oh, by the way, I moved that spider of yours over to the cafeteria so the two of us could have a chat. Please make sure you pick him up before he consumes all the meat products.”

I twisted my head quickly, looking over at the corner George had been lounging in a couple minutes earlier, and sure enough, he was gone. I turned back towards Linivia, with a grimace, only to find the lich gone as well. I clutched the tablet to my chest, and slumped in my chair. “I really need to work on my situational awareness when working,” I muttered to myself.

I found George a few minutes later, merrily munching down on a large plate of meat in the cafeteria. Thankfully, he wasn’t alone, as Kass and Chelsea were there, keeping an eye on him.

“The damnedest thing happened while Kass and I were eating lunch,” Chelsea reported, as I slid into the booth next to Kassandra. “We were just sitting here and then there was a flash of light, and like magic George appeared next to us.” She leaned down and pet the giant spider, who purred at the combination of meat and petting. “He was a little panicked, so I got him a little meat. I hope that’s alright.”

“It’s fine,” I replied with a sigh. “It’s better than having him completely panic and bother the other staff and servers looking for me.”

“How did he end up here anyways?” Kass asked, while picking at her salad.

“Lanivia sent him here. I guess she wanted to talk to me privately, and didn’t want him to interrupt. I didn’t even notice he was gone until she mentioned it,” I replied.

“She’s tricky like that,” Chelsea agreed between bites of her sandwich. “What did she want to talk to you about? Or are you not allowed to discuss it?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Oh, I have permission,” I said proudly, before pulling out the tablet and popping it down on the table between us.

The two of them looked at the tablet, then back at me. “Alright, so what is it?” Kass asked.

“The confrontation rules apparently,” I replied with a smile. “They’re going to be available to everyone very soon, and the first matches will occur in a month or so.”

I saw both their eyes widen slightly, “So? What are the rules going to be?” Chelsea asked, slamming her sandwich down on the plate in front of her. “Everyone’s been waiting for weeks for this information.”

“I haven’t read it yet, unfortunately,” I said with a frown. “Since she teleported George away I felt it was more important to track him down then check the notes. I didn’t expect him to be sitting here enjoying himself.” The arachnid turned towards me, let out a small huff, then went back to his meal. I just shook my head at my headstrong partner, then snapped up the tablet. “So, shall we investigate the rules together?”

I opened the tablet to find it filled with a ton of technical information, rules, sub rules and clarifications. I had no doubt that the information that would get passed out to the rest of the staff would be condensed down, so they’d only receive the basics, but I’d need all the details in order to prepare everything. For now, I just skimmed the information.

“Let’s see… At the start of a match the two dungeon masters will create, and maintain a portal that connects the entrances of their dungeons to each other. The two sides will then have a limited time to attempt to invade, and conquer floors of the opposing dungeons. Points will be awarded for defeating opposing staff members, and conquering floors. We can win by either defeating the opposing dungeon master, or having the most points when the time limit is reached. Nothing super surprising so far…” I started scrolling through the tablet, looking for more relevant information. “We are only allowed to bring four groups of five staff from each floor, and the floor boss, and no more than five allied groups, and one boss, will be allowed on a floor at a single time.”

Chelsea frowned, “That seems like a strange rule.”

“Not really,” Kass replied. “I imagine it’s to prevent matches from turning into all out wars. Instead of just throwing all our forces at one another, it’s small skirmishes where both sides attempt to out maneuver each other. Thankfully, we have a quality strategist on our side,” she said, patting me on the back.

I blushed a little bit, then cleared my throat and continued. “Staff will not return after being defeated, but respawns will be allowed after clearing an opposing floor. Defeating one floor will allow us to bring back a single squad, after defeating three floors we are allowed to respawn a single boss. There may be special rules, or objectives, if agreed upon before the match”

Chelsea nodded, “Sounds very similar to a regular adventurer run, in theory, but with a couple twists. I’m really looking forward to it now.” With a single motion she scooped the remainder of her sandwich up and shoved it into her mouth.

“Please make sure you chew that,” I said, passing her a napkin.

“So, we know the basic rules, now what?” Kassandra asked.

“I need to go through the rules thoroughly first, make sure I don’t miss anything. Then, we’ll probably have to review the staff on each floor and figure out who we should include in the squads. I’ll probably even create backup rosters, since I have no idea which dungeons will be participating.”

“That’s a lot of work,” Kassandra said, with a frown. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Well… I’ve observed pretty much all the floors, and I know our tactics, but I don’t know all the people. If you could identify exemplary staff members it would help, I could assign those people as squad leaders.”

Chelsea nodded, and opened her mouth to say something, but since it was still full of sandwich I shook my head. “We have a month or so to prepare, so there’s no need to rush. You can at least finish your meals before we get started.” The girl closed her mouth and smiled at that.

“We should probably have a staff meeting, let everyone know what’s going on too,” Kassandra suggested.

I nodded. “We’ll do that in a day or two. Like I said, I need to go through this first,” I said tapping the tablet. “There’s a ton of information and I’d hate to make a mistake on our first time out.”

Chelsea bounced in her seat for a moment, then finally swallowed the food in her mouth. “Just tell us what you need, and we’ll get it for you. We need to make our first time out an event to remember!”

Kass smiled at that, while I just found myself once again scanning the information. There was a lot to prepare, and not a ton of time to do it, but I was going to make every possible moment count. The Wailing Manor’s debut match would, indeed, be one to remember.