=========================================================== Dungeon Keeper Ranma Chapter 03: Cleansweep By A-kun =========================================================== Ranma had been practicing using a magical sense that he'd developed. It was similar to how he felt an opponent's ki, only he could distinctly tell the two types of energy apart. Ki was usually sensed in the manor of a flame, with it's heat and light evident, while his magical sense was more of a radar. With his warlocks now teaching him spells, albeit slowly at Lundar's request, Ranma's skill at manipulating the Dungeon Hearts was increasing daily. Similarly, all of Ranma's minions were increasing in skill as well, now that Ranma was teaching them the basics of martial arts. Furthermore, Ranma was fairly certain he'd gained the skill to create as many types of rooms as would be required to continue his campaign to get all of the Portal Gems. A week later, as twelve female dark elves and four trolls hired into his forces, he struck again. Lord Avaricious never knew what hit him. Avaricious was now acutely aware of how big of a screw up he was as he lay dying on the floor, several Dark Elven crossbow bolts in his chest, his right hand seared off by the magical discharge of a sentry cannon, and uncounted puncture marks in his once proud armor. He'd frittered away the gold the king had given him to build his fort. Avaricious had had an inkling that his habit of gambling would lead to his demise, but he thought that it was going to be as punishment for not finishing even a third of his fort. It had defenses, but it was mostly below ground. One could call his fort "Avaricious' Basement" and one would have a fairly good idea as how far along his fort had been. Ranma didn't even believe it was worth holding. But it would be a waste of all of the hard work his new trolls had done to simply abandon the cavern. After all, the sentry cannons and the wooden doors couldn't be moved to a new location. So, the martial artist turned conquerer had the trolls build a secret door that would prevent anyone from discovering their tunnels while Horny retrieved the Portal Gem. He'd been wrestling with it for a while, close to two weeks now, and despite the unusually calm acceptance he felt from his heart, he couldn't bring himself to accept his mantra anymore. It was time to talk to Lundar about alternatives to simply killing all of his foes. He knew the Lords were likely unwilling to cough up the Portal Gems without dying, but that didn't mean their warriors had to follow them into the afterlife. "Lundar, can I talk to you about something?" Ranma inquired. "What is it, keeper?" Lundar asked. "I've been doing my level best to get used to this 'obstacles are for killing' sort of mentality we've got going on. Isn't there some other way we can... I don't know... not kill them, but not let them rot in a prison?" Ranma requested of his advisor. "Well, it would require you to be on hand to make sure they didn't die in the process, but a torture chamber could allow us to convert most of them to our side. After all, not all of these warriors are paid or treated as well as they should be and as the saying goes, 'An ally is better than a corpse'." Lundar commented. Ranma winced inwardly. The idea of a torture chamber brought up memories of Kodachi. He figured she, of anyone he knew, would have one. But, as Lundar's saying had pointed out, it was certainly better to make an ally than more dead bodies. "It would certainly be better." Ranma answered. "Then I'll show you how to create a torture chamber tomorrow, keeper." Lundar replied. "Thanks." Ranma responded, feeling as though a weight, one he never knew had been there, was lifted from his mind. The torture room was actually a lot more... normal looking than what Ranma expected. From what he'd heard of the European medieval torture chambers, the stuff in his torture room was almost tame. There were two means of restraint. There was the chair and then the wheel- shaped racks. The chair had two tesla coils extending from the top of the chair, where, as Lundar explained, electricity would flow into the strapped in victim for brief seconds. Lundar had to reassure Ranma that it wasn't lethal, but the reassurance wasn't too convincing. The wheel racks worked on disorientation with hot coals underneath. By comparison, the electric chairs sounded almost compassionate. Along the nearest wall, there were plenty of whips, spikes and many other nasty and strange torture devices Ranma couldn't identify. "Are you sure no one's died from this stuff?" Ranma asked. Lundar considered that, "Well, unless they're very old, very young, or you leave them to die, no one has ever died in a torture room." Ranma stared at Lundar, who simply shrugged and replied, "You wanted an honest answer." "So, how would we go about torturing people?" Ranma asked. "I haven't a clue. That sort of thing is usually best left to a Mistress." Lundar responded. "But how can I have a mistress if I'm not even married?" Ranma inquired. "You misunderstand, keeper. I was referring to a professional torturer. They're usually women and they're referred to as Mistresses in polite company." Lundar answered. "OOOOoooh, gotcha." Ranma nodded in understanding, before asking, "How do we get one?" "We can send an imp to one of the nearby towns with an advertisement, like we did to recruit the warlocks." Lundar responded. Ranma took out a piece of paper and began writing the ad, using one of the reinforced stone walls as a writing surface. He paused as he neared the completion of the ad, "What's fair pay for _this_ kind of work?" "I'd say 100 gold a month with free food and lodging." Lundar answered. "So, a little more gold than a beginner warlock's salary." Ranma commented as he finished the ad. "Yes, but it will be worth it to ease your mind, keeper." Lundar told him. Ranma agreed that it would be. The ad hadn't been in the town for more than three hours before Ranma sensed someone entering his fort through one of his portals. Minutes later, Ranma turned from watching the daily training exercises to see an imp escorting a young woman wearing a cloak over to him. Ranma almost stared. The woman had slightly shorter hair that was deep red instead of brown, but otherwise Ranma would swear that the woman before him was a more mature Ukyou Kuonji. "You're the man asking for a Mistress?" the woman inquired with sweet and sultry voice that, when coupled with the faint scent of cinnamon perfume that Ranma could smell from her, made his pants feel exceedingly tight. "Yeah, that's me. I have to warn you that we'll probably have a lot of work for you and any others that sign on." Ranma answered, struggling to keep his voice from cracking and maintain an aura of confidence. Lundar had warned him that if he showed any sign of a weak will before they were hired on, they would probably take every oppurtunity that they could to walk all over him. "That's all right. I'm used to HARD labor." the woman teased, obviously noting Ranma's erection. She giggled briefly as Ranma blushed. She extended a hand out from underneath her cloak, "I'm Maidel. I look forward to working with you." "Ranma Saotome." Ranma answered, shaking her hand in response. He felt her aura briefly, as Lundar had showed him when he started hiring goblins and warlocks, making sure that she would be loyal to him once she was hired. It'd taken some practice at first, but Ranma could now tell sincerity with a single hand shake. It was one of the few things Ranma hoped he could keep when he returned home. As a storm cloud above crackled and boomed to get his attention, Ranma decided to just come out and tell Maidel about his curse, "I should probably warn you right now that I've got a rather unusual spell on me right now. I change into a girl whenever I get splashed with cold water." Ranma-chan felt she'd timed that well enough as a sudden downpour began just as she finished that sentence. Maidel blinked. If she hadn't seen it, she probably would have asked if Ranma was joking. As it was, she and Ranma-chan hurried into the fort for shelter. That course of action was quicky copied by Ranma's forces. Ranma-chan did her level best to wring out her favorite shirt without taking it off, incidentally missing the look Maidel favored her with. Had she seen it, she probably would have complained about having another girl chasing after her. The next two lords fell just as swiftly and brutally as Avaricious. Lord Ludwig and Lord Constantine had both had much more time to prepare, but they were caught flatfooted as Ranma's forces attacked suddenly and viciously, tearing down the defenses laid out before them. Ranma was very pleased to see the death tolls come down from 'everything that moved' to 'the lords and their most loyal warriors'. Sure, Maidel and the other three Mistresses he'd hired (Lotus, Mina and Nausica) were a bit overworked, but he paid and fed them well as their hard work proved very fruitful. Apparently, both lords had been in such a panic to build fortifications after hearing of their fellow lords falling that they'd severely cut the pay of their own men. The fact that Ranma was yet to cut a salary was so enticing that nearly every single warrior hauled back to the torture rooms hired on with Ranma. Ranma kept silent about the fact that he could sense gold and gem veins whenever his minions were near said sources of money. Ranma and Lundar were examining what a loyal firefly had observed in it's travels through Lord Ironhelm's passageways. Said firefly had nearly died in the effort, but a quick recovery and healing spell had kept it from departing to the land of the dead. The last thing Ranma wanted was for a creature loyal to him die on a mission, even if it had been a volunteer mission. And furthermore, Ranma's magical map had recorded everything the firefly had seen, making it a successful mission. Lundar motioned to some of the sentry cannons lining a few of Ironhelm's underground passageways, "Lord Ironhelm's defenses are much more secure. And unlike Constantine or Ludwig, he has prepared for this eventuality. We'll have to be more cautious in getting rid of him." Ranma agreed. With his newest spell, a poorly named "Sight of Evil" (the warlocks explained that spying on one's enemy was considered evil when the spell was named), he'd gathered more information about Ironhelm's patrols inside his fortress. Ironhelm's defenses were much more elaborate and would take a lot more time to break down. Even with his forces now including such odorous yet powerful creatures as Bile Demons (he had been understanding and whole-heartedly agreed when his other minions requested that the bile demons have a separate set of lairs), Salamanders, and Skeletons, Ranma knew better than to believe that numbers alone could handle anything. "We'll wait until we've got our forces better trained. I still want to get a firm grasp on the powers and natural abilities of our new Salamanders, and we still need to create more efficient team tactics." Ranma answered. "I agree, keeper, but we'd best not spend too much time. The more time we spend gathering our strength is more time the enemy has to gather their own." Lundar agreed. "Then we'll strike in three days. That should give us enough time to find a good angle for attack _and_ allow us time to train." Ranma declared, before he yawned loudly, "Well, I better hit the sack. We got a lot of work to do tomorrow to set up the next temp Dungeon Heart and get some amenities set up." "Good night, keeper. Pleasant dreams." Lundar told Ranma. Ranma almost replied in kind before remembering that neither Lundar nor Horny really required sleep unless they had been using a lot of magical energy. Still, it didn't feel right to just leave, so Ranma improvised, "Don't overwork yourself, Lundar. Hate to see you get sick." Lundar chuckled, "If that were at all possible, keeper, it would be an impressive virus indeed." Ranma smiled and headed back to his new room. His new room used to be Darius' room, but Ranma had commandeered it for two reasons. One, it kept his minions from arguing over who was worthy of it, and two, it made his feel more earthly. In his Keeper-made room, he felt like he was a god or a fantastically wealthy man. Which he was, but he didn't feel like he was. And even Ranma Saotome knew that a swelled head usually coincided with a painful lesson. It was late when he started feeling really good. There was a strange, yet pleasant tingling around his groin. [Groin?] Ranma repeated to himself. He forced his eyes open and saw Maidel, minus her black-latex mistress outfit, sucking his cock. Ranma blinked. How the hell had he not noticed any of that? Then, the feeling of Maidel's hot tongue swirling around his tip sent him over the edge of pleasure and he came hard. Dazed, he laid his head back down on his pillow and tried to work the pleasure out of his brain so he could think. Contrary to popular belief, Ranma did have working hormones. He'd been a normal teenage boy before his curse. Afterwards, though, he just couldn't bear to look in his nudie magazines. It was hard to ogle other women when one's own 'attributes' were superior. He'd finally worked through that, but he found himself severely disinterested in sex at all. Or at least not interested to the point that his amorous fiancees would have wanted, anyway. They figured it was from all that malleting Akane did. That was a tiny contribution to the problem, but not the true cause. The real problem behind that, which neither Ranma nor his fiancees knew, was female hormones and male hormones tended to neutralize each other unless something stimulated one over the other. Ranma had just gotten the first blowjob of his life and his male hormones were finally enticed to work harder. His sex drive had enough of a primer to kick in. Of course, now that it had been activated, Ranma had to develop defenses to keep himself in control. However, the male sex drive was known for being a perpetual motion machine. It was like an unfolded piece of tin foil trying to stop a jet from taking off. Maidel was surprised as Ranma pulled her up, grinned and declared, "My turn." As stated before, Ranma had been a normal teenage boy. He'd had plenty of fantasies concerning what he would do with his future lover. And now he and Maidel had plenty of time and oppurtunity to explore. He'd never really taken the time to admire the female form since he gained his own, so he felt a bit rusty, even in the imagination department. He started by carressing her breasts, softly at first, but growing more and more firm in his motions as the sound of her delight increased. He gulped. He knew what was next... sort of. He'd never really taken the time to look any further on his female side. Japanese porn laws stated that no pubic hair could ever be shown and the actual sexual reproductive parts were always near pubic hair, so all of the pictures were usually black-barred or had a mosiac over them. But, Ranma Saotome had once heard Nabiki joke that sex was like fighting, only both 'combatants' were supposed to win. The analogy had been lost on Ranma as he could rarely see a fight where both fighters won, except ties and those weren't winning. Despite that ridiculously long and semi-pointless side note, Ranma was determined to make sure Maidel had more 'victories' than he did. Ranma was impressed with their progress. With his minions well trained, well paid, fed, organized and highly motivated, he'd crushed Lord Ironhelm and Lord Sigmund both in three days and was beginning his advance once again. His forces had grown in the last few raids and he now had close to a hundred and twenty well trained minions ready for battle. His relationship with Maidel had cooled a bit, but they both knew it was because he was busy. But Ranma couldn't help but feel he was pushing her away because of the feelings of betrayl and regret that he had that he'd had sex with someone who wasn't a fiancee. Hell, all he really knew about her was that she'd gone into her profession out of disgust of what would have been her future husband had she stayed with her family at the farm she'd grown up on. And that her favorite color was actually blue, she liked men and women equally well and she admitted to having a fondess for violin music. Okay, he knew a bit more about her than he did about most of his fiancees. But their relationship was currently sex-based only. He admitted that they had little time for an actual date or anything romantic... In truth, it was mostly the little fantasies he'd picked up about how a relationship was supposed to go that were causing him unease. And most of those were influenced by either his moronic father, his over-zealous mother or his oft screwed up attempts at dating one of his fiancees. When he'd realized that, he'd chided himself. His relationship with Maidel was going perfectly fine, present situation considered. And besides, he thought to himself, it was nice to be thought of as a participant in the relationship, rather than a prize or a possession. "Keeper, I'm impressed with your progress." Lundar spoke up abruptly, snapping Ranma out of his mental wanderings, "But as the saying goes, 'never eat something bigger than your own head'." "Uh, right. .... what does that mean?" Ranma inquired. "That you need to slow down. Otherwise you'll overwork all your creatures." Lundar explained. Ranma thought about that. He DID need to slow down. He'd just claimed a third of the continent in roughly a month and a half. Besides that, he needed to do something other than rigorous training to get his mind off Maidel. Then, he realized there were towns above ground. Perhaps he should see about improving the towns. Ranma was almost aghast. Having traveled through the more remote parts of China and Japan, he'd seen some cases of bad roads, run down housing and poor hygiene, but most of the towns in his area of control were like all of the worst examples combined. He needed to do something to help those poor people. And he knew just the way to do it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Next time, Ranma finds that another Keeper is after the portal gems. Not only that, but has to fight the forces of the lord still holding the portal gem! It's a three-way royal rumble of battalion proportions! Easy Cheat: Get access to every spell by pressing CTRL+ALT+C at the same time, then type in "ibelieveitsmagic". To find out if it worked, click the spell icon. All the spells should be available. Easy Cheat: Get access to every trap and door by pressing CTRL+ALT+C at the same time, then type in "fitthe best". To find out if it worked, click the workshop icon. Next time: Remove the Fog of War and 100,000 mana points!