It was almost noon on the third day when they finally reached the 
entrance to the maze.  The door was a massive wooden door with a 
magical symbol.
	"I remember that Grandma made this for me.  I used to play in 
here for hours at a time.  If I got hungry, Grandma would just send me 
some food and I'd keep playing.  If I got tired, she'd pull me out of 
there and put me in a bed." Keitaro explained.
	"Odd that you didn't know any of that when you started." Kaolla 
noted.
	"Well, it HAD been a long time since I'd been in a dungeon." 
Keitaro responded.
	Motoko walked up to the door and pushed.  When the door failed to 
open, she pushed harder, bracing her boots against the ground.  As her 
boots began digging into the ground, she gave up, "How are we supposed 
to get in?"
	"You have to be of the family to open the door." Keitaro 
answered, walking up to the door.
	He pushed lightly and the door swung open as if Keitaro had 
performed a flying body check.
	"Why didn't you say that sooner?" Motoko asked, exasperated.
	"I kinda forgot.  A lot of this is just coming back to me." 
Keitaro explained as he entered the dungeon's first corridor.
	Motoko turned to Haruka, "And why don't you know?"
	"I've been here once and it wasn't a long visit." Haruka replied.
	"Come on, I know the way to the Heart." Keitaro called from 
inside the corridor.
	The Dungeon Heart was exactly where he had expected it to be.  
The others had been amazed at how Keitaro had found and unlocked all 
the secret doors that would have barred the entrance of anyone who 
didn't know where they were.  In fact, it'd taken roughly one minute to 
get to the Dungeon Heart from the entrance.
	"Good thing I remembered the short cut." Keitaro noted.
	"No kidding." the group answered in unison.
	"I don't think anyone would've found those secret passages." 
Motoko declared.
	"Like I said, I used to play in here all the time." Keitaro 
explained.
	"So, what does he have to do in order to be it's Keeper?" Naru 
inquired.
	Before Haruka could respond, Keitaro was already walking up the 
stairway.  He walked off the last step, but did not fall.  Instead, he 
seemed to hover, as if standing on an invisible platform.  A swirl of 
green energy surrounded him briefly just before a flare of magical 
energy coated his body.
	Keitaro looked around, as if trying to decide on something.  A 
minor explosion of magical energy later, a swarm of twenty five Liddo 
bounded out of the Dungeon Heart and began digging at the walls.
	"I guess Grandma Hina left a magical instructor." Haruka 
answered.
	"No, she left a number of rooms, all prepared.  I'm claiming them 
now." Keitaro responded, "There seems to be about six portals around 
here too.  As for instructions, well..."
	Keitaro held up a book that read, "Dungeon Hearts For Dummies".
	"I guess that's why Grandma said that he would be a powerful 
keeper." Kitsune noted.
	"No, it's because she left me a map." Keitaro responded.
	"A map?" Naru inquired.
	Keitaro nodded, "A magical map that only I can see.  It leads to 
the four fragments of the legendary Horned Reaper's amulet.  With all 
four, I can summon him."
	The jaws of the girls dropped, even Tama-chan's, in perfect 
harmony.  Haruka was the only one unfazed.
	"THE HORNED REAPER?!" Motoko demanded.
	Keitaro nodded.
	"The folktale they use to scare small children into behaving?!" 
Naru inquired.
	Keitaro nodded.
	"The nightmarish warrior from ancient times who can NEVER be 
beaten?!" Kitsune asked.
	Keitaro nodded.
	"I haven't seen Horny in a while. It'll be nice working with him 
again." Haruka commented.
	Keitaro paused mid-nod.
	"HUH?!" Motoko and Keitaro asked.
	"What?  Horny's amulet always scatters itself whenever his keeper 
dies.  Grandma Hina just happened to be Horny's last keeper." Haruka 
answered.
	"Um, in any case, the rooms are all claimed, so you should 
probably go find one.  I'm going to start reading." Keitaro told them.

	Learning how to be a Keeper was not an easy task.  Even with 
"Dungeon Hearts For Dummies" (written, produced and published in small 
quantities by Hina Urashima), it was not an easy thing to do.  There 
were some instinctual things, like creating imps, choosing spots for 
digging and so on, but there were also a number of oddities to pick up.
	For instance, the Liddo-type Imps were actually a sign of those 
who'd purchased the books.  They were cute, competent and unassuming, 
perfect for catching enemy imps offguard.
	He could actually enter the Dungeon Heart in cases of emergency, 
but doing so for too long would endanger his body and cause him to fuse 
more fully with the Dungeon Heart, which Grandma Hina warned could be 
lethal as the destruction of the Dungeon Heart could cause a heart 
attack or seizure.
	He could also create what was known as a Fog of War, which forced 
enemy magic-users and keepers to use strong scrying spells to see 
anything within a certain radius.
	The symbols were easy enough to memorize.  Of course, he 
practiced a few times with a lair to make certain he knew how to create 
one.  Once he was certain he had it, he began to look over the rules on 
spells.
	Spells were a whole new ballgame for Keitaro, but again, it was 
mostly symbol memorization.  Probably the most infuriating about this 
was learning exactly WHY a Keeper needed spellcasters to mark the runes 
on the pillars that lay in all of the libraries.
	The chart for mana expenditure went like so:
	Lightning Bolt on claimed land after research: 1 x Mana
	Lightning Bolt on claimed land before research: 3 x Mana
	Lightning Bolt on unclaimed land after research: 3 x Mana
	Lightning Bolt on unclaimed land before research: 9 x Mana
	Lightning Bolt on enemy land after research: 6 x Mana
	Lightning Bolt on enemy land before research: 18 x Mana
	And that was just a SINGLE lightning bolt.  Healing spells were 
much easier, obviously, because the Dungeon Heart made a tiny tie to 
each of the creatures in the Dungeon, allowing him to heal them, 
monitor their health and so on.  The only flaw was that it couldn't 
restore the unconscious or destroyed.
	In fact, there were only four spells in all of the charts that 
were the same cost no matter what: Tremor, Heal, Call to Arms and Sight 
of Evil.
	Tremor was probably so overall easy because you weren't acting 
directly.  Call to Arms, you were simply placing a summoning spell for 
your creatures, Sight of Evil, you were looking through an enemy's Fog 
of War briefly.  Heal sent energy through the tie to the creature, 
allowing it's mind to dictate what was healed and how everything was 
supposed to move (which was why the unconscious, dead or destroyed 
couldn't be healed).
	"Keitaro." Haruka's voice interupted his study.
	He blinked and turned to face her, "What is it?"
	"You should get some rest.  Even Grandma Hina never stopped 
sleeping." Haruka told him.
	"I'm fine.  The initial boost of mana is like a caffeine boost.  
I'll probably get sleepy once I'm finished with this book." Keitaro 
answered.
	"You've been flipping through it time and again." Haruka pointed 
out.
	"I'm _memorizing_." Keitaro responded, using a forceful tone to 
imply that he was not going to heed any advice about rest.
	Haruka sighed.  He was as stubborn as Grandma Hina, sometimes.  
But, then again, he had a very difficult job to adapt to.  Being a 
Keeper was a hectic and sometimes unforgiving job.
	"Well, don't stay up too late." Haruka warned him.
	Keitaro murmurred a response.

	When Haruka awoke, she looked to see that a steel door had been 
placed at the entrance to the lair.  She arched an eyebrow.  
Apparently, either they had gained a Troll, a Bile Demon or Keitaro had 
decided to get to work as such.
	Kitsune was already working on the pillars in the library, Naru 
was praying in the temple, Kaolla and Tama-chan were off searching, and 
Motoko was training in the training room.
	She finally found Keitaro where she expected to find him: The 
workshop.
	"Working on your own doors and traps?" Haruka inquired.
	"I'm creating variants.  I noticed, when I was working as a 
Troll, that a lot of traps seemed a bit wasteful or inefficient.  I 
didn't want to waste our Keeper's money creating brand new traps, so I 
decided to try them out on my own." Keitaro answered.
	Haruka looked at what would have been four normal tesla coils if 
they had been fused at the base.  They each branched out from the base 
with an equal amount of distance between the tips of each coil.
	"You do realize that the only way to test these is to lay them 
out where they can encounter heroes, right?" Haruka inquired.
	"I know.  That's why I didn't want to spend our Keeper's money on 
it.  This is a Super Lightning Trap." Keitaro responded.
	Haruka glanced at another trap.  It looked like a standard cannon 
with turning wheels, only it had two barrels.
	"Double-barrelled Sentry Cannon." Keitaro explained.
	"Well, it's your decision." Haruka responded.
	Keitaro nodded, then looked to his left, "Well, they found the 
first portal."
	"It's taken this long?" Haruka inquired.
	"No, I had them digging up gold earlier.  Why bother getting 
minions when I can't pay them?" Keitaro responded.
	Haruka had to admit that the logic was solid.

	Keitaro felt a flare of mana that coincided with the sound of the 
arrival of a new creature.  He decided to check out the newcomer.  
Keitaro felt that the time he'd spent mastering teleportation around 
his own dungeon was well worth it when he arrived at the portal.
	The newcomer was slightly taller than him, with black hair and 
blue-grey eyes.  He had a short ponytail and wore a red shirt with 
black pants.  He had metal bracers on his forearms and soft shoes.
	"Um, hi.  I'm Keitaro Urashima, the keeper of this dungeon." 
Keitaro began, feeling a bit uncertain of his greeting and wishing he'd 
spent more time figuring out what he was going to say to newcomers.
	The newcomer either didn't notice Keitaro's unease or didn't 
care, "Hey.  I'm Ranma Saotome.  I don't care what I do, so long as I 
don't have to deal with my stupid father anymore."
	"Uh, well then, I guess... um... you're a fighter, right?" 
Keitaro inquired.
	"Yep, Ranma Saotome, master of the Anything Goes School of 
Martial Arts." Ranma responded.
	Keitaro opened his book.  He didn't know of a classification for 
Martial Artist, save for maybe Monk.  He pulled out the "Dungeon Hearts 
For Dummies" book and flipped through to the classifications.
	"Hmmm, there doesn't seem to be a martial artist class..." 
Keitaro murmurred.
	"What are you talking about?" Ranma inquired.
	"Well, I have to classify you under one of the set pay scales or 
else you don't get paid properly." Keitaro explained, "Classification 
also grants additional benefits in the form of magical gifts.  Trolls, 
for instance, gain fire resistance and the ability to see hidden 
traps."
	"You're the boss.  'sides, I ain't been in a Dungeon before." 
Ranma said.
	Keitaro considered his options, "I could make you a Monk, that 
would give you the ability to heal yourself, kill vampires permanently 
and boost your speed and defense."
	"Well, I guess that'd be kinda cool." Ranma responded.
	"Okay, you're now a monk.  I'll show you to the lairs." Keitaro 
declared.
	Before Ranma could reply, they were in the lair.  Keitaro gave 
Ranma a brief rundown on how everything worked.  Being a Monk, Ranma's 
jobs consisted largely of training, fighting, eating, sleeping and 
occassionally praying.
	Keitaro heard the sound of another creature entering and left 
Ranma to his own devices as the martial artist headed for the training 
room.
	Keitaro just sort of... STARED... at the next new ally.  It 
wasn't polite, but one rarely expected to see a seven foot female 
werecheetah, wearing a tank top and tight jean shorts, enter a room, 
let alone climb up out of one's portal.  Keitaro, however, managed to 
snap out of his stupor before the werecheetah noticed him gawking at 
the generous amount of cleavage her tanktop showed.
	"Um, hi, I'm Keitaro Urashima, the keeper of this Dungeon." 
Keitaro said, introducing himself.
	"I'm Brittany Diggers.  Nice ta meetcha." the werecheetah 
answered.
	"... uh, why do I...er, I mean, uh..." Keitaro began, before 
smacking himself in the head to restart his brain.
	Brittany smiled.  Keitaro was at least making a noble effort to 
try and stay focused.
	"You have a lot of innate magical energy, being a lycanthrope, so 
let's see....the classifications you can choose are... Bile Demon, 
Fairy and Dark Angel." Keitaro inquired.
	"Uhh...." Brittany began.  She knew what Bile Demons were like 
(and farting was NOT an attack any woman desired), Dark Angels tended 
to be pompous [EXPLETIVE DELETED]s, so the choice was obvious, "I guess 
I'll take Fairy."
	"All right.  And now to get you a lair." Keitaro replied.

	It had been a long day full of repititive speeches.  Apparently, 
every single person who'd entered his dungeon was about as 
knowledgeable as he had been when he'd entered his former Keeper's 
realm.
	But, he now had Cloud Strife, a Dark Knight; Shinobu Maehara, a 
friend of Haruka's who just happened to be an Elite Dark Knight, 
despite the fact that she was only fourteen years old; Pikachu, a 
strange furry creature that was now a Dwarf; Ryoga Hibiki, a Rogue; and 
Gina Diggers, Brittany's sister who was now a Troll (though he'd 
changed the uniform so that she could wear her normal outfit).
	It was nice working with Gina in the workshop.  She had some 
pretty good ideas on upgrading the other types of weapons, even though 
the only way to prove their effectiveness was to allow heroes near 
them.
	Keitaro paused a bit.  Something about heroes ticked something in 
the back of his head.  He had a temple, a graveyard, a casino, a combat 
pit, a torture chamber, a treasury, a lair, a hatchery, a few scattered 
guard rooms, and a training room.
	He smacked his forehead as he recalled he hadn't created a prison 
yet.  He created one in the middle of an area he'd begun to use as a 
second treasury.  There was a piece of treasury in each corner of the 
prison, but it wouldn't matter much.
	Roughly five minutes later, he felt the portal flare again.
	"Naru, can you meet that one?  I'm at a criticul point." Keitaro 
inquired.
	Naru acknowledged.  She headed down to the portal to see a 
skeleton carrying an elaborately decorated shield and a massive sword 
climb out of the pit.  It looked up at her and raised a hand in a 
friendly and very familiar gesture, "Yah, Naru-chan.  It's been a long 
time."
	Naru blinked.  Then, she recalled a man who had a similar voice, 
a man who'd been her tutor after Haruka left...
	"SETA!?!" Naru asked, nearly leaping out of her skin at the 
realization.
	"Yup.  I'm an Elite Skeleton now." Seta responded nonchalantly.
	Naru fainted.

=======================================================================

	Current Cast

	Liddo-kun and friends as Imps
	Keitaro as a Troll/Keeper
	Kitsune as a Warlock
	Motoko as a converted Knight
	Kaolla as a Mercenary Fairy
	Haruka as a Vampire
	Naru as a Elite Monk
	Mutsumi as a Mistress
	Shinobu as an Elite Dark Knight 
	Tama-chan as a Mercenary Firefly
	Ranma Saotome as a Monk
	Brittany Diggers as a Fairy
	Gina Diggers as a Troll
	Cloud Strife as a Dark Knight
	Pikachu as a Dwarf
	Ryoga Hibiki as a Rogue
	Seta Noriyasu as an Elite Skeleton