บท 7: Briggs,The Architect [Part 1]

It's been an hour since I offered Briggs a drink and he was already on his 4th mug. During that time frame, we told Briggs about the events of the last few days and how we ended up at The Drunken Sprite. He had a dwarven accent, which was also Scottish in a sense. He was 4'8", bald, and currently sporting a great beard. Strong, stocky, and shorter than any other humanoid race, the dwarves were the ideal candidates for Dungeon Architects. According to Briggs, the dwarves are skilled builders who boast a strong tradition of courage and martial skill, as well as beautiful craftsmanship. Most of the dwarves in D2 were reincarnated from Orune but some were actually born here. Based upon a mix of merit and lottery, souls from Orune can be reincarnated into D2 to serve the Gods. Since they would never go hungry, sick, or poor while in D2, It could be seen as 'miniature heaven'. This was done to persuade the reincarnated residents to serve the Dungeon Masters and Gods to the best of their ability.

Briggs told me all of this up to his 4th mug. As he ordered his fifth 50 oz. mug of dwarven rum, he decided to ask me the serious questions.

"Let's get to yer punchline lads! Yer looking for an Architect to build yer dungeon?", Briggs said.

"Yes! As we told you earlier, we haven't been able to find a good architect who met our requirements", I said.

"Of course ye didn't. These pantywaists can't build ah damn wall if ye gave it to them! Haha!". As the dwarven woman gave Briggs his fifth drink, he took a sip of the rum. "It seems yer problem lies in yer demands. We are good builders but ye can't expect us to be carpenters at the same time! Do ya even have the DP points required to hire such ah person?".

Now that we thought about it, didn't we spend 120 DP in this place? We only had 70 left to spend on an architect!

"Oi, Orai! Why didn't you tell me that we spent so much in this place? We still need to hire an architect!", I said.

"What!? You're going to blame me? You ordered food too, big baller! Aren't you the one who ordered the Dwarven special for 30 DP?", Orai said.

"Tch! Says the core who ordered 40 DP worth of food herself! Didn't you say you wanted to eat your stress away? Make sure all that fat doesn't go to your hips!", I said.

As we argued and bickered over our Dungeon's finances, Briggs began to laugh.

"Hahaha! Yer quite ah pair of Dungeon Owners aren't ye! However, if ya agreed to buy me 10 mugs, then wouldn't that be almost all of yer DP?", Briggs asked.

As I slowly turned my head to Orai, she lightly hit her head and said 'oops'. I grabbed her by the collar and shook her.

"You dumb Dungeon Core! I thought you were supposed to be intelligent! Why didn't you tell us that we were spending all of this DP in one place?", I said.

"What's wrong with spending our DP on some food and drinks? I think I earned it. They don't call me Orai, the menu slayer for nothing!", Orai said smugly.

I continued to shake her even harder than before, as we already spent a total of 120 DP without a single point spent on dungeon building. As I was shaking her, Briggs placed his hand on my shoulder. As I turned around, his face was beaming.

"Hahaha! Ye two are funny and good kids! I made up me mind about ye two! I'll help ye out with yer quest to build yer dungeon!", Briggs said.

As I dropped Orai to the floor, she was currently in a moderate daze. I was confused by what Briggs told us so I asked him to repeat what he said.

"Ye heard me! Since ye were willing to give ye DP to this arrogant Architect, I would be willing to come out of retirement to help ye. I turned down many of Dungeon Masters over the years but ye two seem to be different from the rest! While most Dungeon masters and cores look at us as tools, ye two look at us on equal footing. As an architect myself, I can't overlook good people in this world", Briggs stated.

"Are you sure though? Aren't you an A+? You could be better compensated by a bigger dungeon than us. We can't really offer you much since we just started...", I said.

"It's not always about the money lads! It's about the happiness and enjoyment that ye have when ye building and planning! The least I could do for ye is help you begin your journey as a Dungeon Master! Ye may be new but you seem like you have ambition! Sounds like an interesting job for an experienced architect like me!", Briggs said.

As Orai got up from the floor, she shook her head to get out of her daze. She cleared her throat and spoke to Briggs.

"As a Dungeon Core, I need to know what type of payment you are looking for in exchange for your time and service. How much DP do you want Briggs? I can't let an A+ Architect work for free!", Orai said.

"Hahaha! This is why I like ye two. Don't worry about the semantics! How about we share the next 5 drinks as initial payment and as a celebration! Ye just got one of the best damn Architects in D2!", Briggs said drinking.

As Briggs began to shove Dwarven beer in our faces, we were happy to finally have our first Architect. We spent the next two hours celebrating our acquisition of Briggs and went through our full 190 DP allowance in the process. We celebrated with the other dwarves in the bar, who were happy to drink to a good cause. The Drunken Sprite was singing, dancing, and drinking to the successful hiring of Briggs. I overheard from the drunken dwarves that Briggs turned down a variety of Dungeon Masters despite his love of design. There was also a rumor that he turned down Dungeon Masters who were as high as DM Ranks 8-10. Although I didn't know why he decided to go with a starter DM like me, I did appreciate his willingness to bet on me.

I knew that acquiring a great architect was key in building an OP Dungeon but I didn't expect to acquire one so soon.

However, now that I have one, it's about time we started building...