101 Chapter 101 (1/2)

Chapter 101

Trying to figure out where to put the shrine of Yarx was a lot more difficult than James would care to admit. First off, his mind was no longer on dungeon building. It was on the threat of losing Rue. However, the pixie had to know what she was doing, and her faith in him, though he felt was unwarranted, still bolstered his confidence…a little. After all, he didn't know much about BLANK, but he was still scared of them. They were the top dungeon for a reason.

”Gah, I can't believe this.” James muttered as he floated about, looking all around his swamp for a place for this damned shrine. Seriously, he needed to find a place, and quick. He had about 40 minutes to set up a place for the shrine, before he got back to the most important task at hand. Preparing to win against BLANK. He would not lose Rue. And, she had already mentioned to him the literal best person to replace Xander with. James was already anxiously awaiting that moment.

”It'll be fine.” Rue was hovering above, her eyes scanning the expansive swamp as well. For all her confidence earlier, James could tell she was slightly worried. It was much easier to seem strong and confident in the moment. Once the trigger has been pulled though, that is when self-doubt always creeps in.

”Uh huh.” James glanced around. Honestly, he was half tempted to set up a crescent moon of outhouse toilet mimics, with Xander's statue in the middle, before calling it a day. Because, honestly, now that the bet had been made with Xander, the developer really couldn't do any worse to him.

”You know what Rue, screw it.” That was it, that was the plan he was going to go with. Xander literally had nothing worse he could do to James at this moment. James's very existence as a core had just been bet in a legal document. Xander couldn't interfere now. Xander couldn't make his life hell anymore, until the conclusion of the Dungeon War against BLANK. So, screw the developer, James was going to put the shrine in a literal shitty place.

”Did you figure out a spot for the shrine?”

”Yup.” James floated over to the middle of his map, a zone of raised land he had decided could serve as a momentary resting spot for adventures. From there, he pulled up his dungeon editor, and began creating a worn, rickety path from the rest area, deeper into a part of the swamp. There was an especially dense set of trees, that James decided would be the perfect spot for what he had in mind.

Once he reached that spot, an area where the swamp waters were especially deep, James created an almost circular space of walkways, leaving a massive empty space in the middle. Then, from the crescent of wooden planks, James improvised, his vision for what he was building evolving as he literally worked on it. His moment of adolescent rage was turning to one of pure brilliance. Or at least, in his mind it was.

He created a total of seven pathways from around the circular zone, each one going into a dark expanse of the swamp, far enough away that the end of each was hidden in the murky darkness. At the end of six of them, James set up shacks, almost exactly like outhouses. Inside three of them, James placed his chest option for the floor, old, almost rotted, waterlogged chests. Inside the other three, well James turned those into literal outhouses. Because, and this might have been his adolescent rage and frustration speaking, but toilet mimics, and chest mimics, both in outhouse esq buildings, just seemed hilariously dark and creepy in this floor.

Of course, James wasn't planning to release too many mimics on the floor, though he was going to disperse a few more of these shacks across the floor. One of his dungeon building flaws he had started to observe was a lack of actual loot boxes and chests on his floors. So, now was a good time to remedy that, at least on his new floor. He would retroactively go back and edit the other floors when he had a little more time.

Once he established the six swag shacks, as he decided he was going to call them, he went to the last pathway. This path, in the middle of the other six, James decided he would build another shrine to Rue on. Because, well, screw Xander. If there had to be a shrine for Yarx on this floor, then Rue was getting a second damned shrine. After he established her shrine, he cleared out the canopy the tiniest bit, allowing a single beam of light to fall upon her visage. It was beautiful.

”You're too kind for me.” Rue muttered as she floated over to the shrine of herself, her hand running gently across it. James grinned and turned back towards the center of his pathway, where the dark, murky waters waited. It was time.

First, James added quicksand below the water, which was already nearly five foot in depth. Any player trying to get close to the statue, would have to get creative. Then, James summoned the statue, but held off on placing it in. Just because he had to place this statue on the floor, didn't mean James couldn't make it fit his horror theme.

He tilted the shrine slightly, and let it gently sink down into the water, leaving only the torso, head, and an outstretched arm above water. Then, once the shrine was in place, James applied a small amount of moss and grime to the statue, making it appear as if it were a lost, ancient shrine to Yarx. Honestly, James didn't think it was a terrible placement or usage of the shrine, and if players really wanted to, they could still receive the shrine's blessing. James had just made it a little more difficult than receiving Rue's blessing.

”What's the shrine even do?” Rue asked, having returned from her admiration of her own shrine, to glance at James's work.