The Cabin Is Always Hungry (A Dungeon Core Horror Slasher)

LAST RESORT

Part 3

Allie and the others wouldn’t wake up any time soon. I made sure of that. All it took was a little sprinkle of the cheapest purple pixie dust (purple for charmed effects like sleep, which cost me five crystals per packet for one use), knocking them out for the next two hours.

And two hours are good enough for me.

While the delvers were asleep, I had more time to prepare them for Act Two: The rising tension. The Lure. Baiting them toward their eventual doom. The part when the fear builds to a bloody crescendo until, eventually, the delvers start screaming, groveling, and running, picked off one by one.

And, of course, the introduction of the main villain.

“The Administrators are watching us, my lord, eyes flickering with glee…” The Siren reminded me.

Of course, they are, I sighed. “Can you see them?”

The Siren shook her head. “Blood is in the water, joyful sounds of slaughter…”

Right. I triggered a scenario, and the crows came flocking, ready to witness a maddening feast. Should I make this a proper scenario? These are cultists, after all. Technically, I could kill them quickly once I got the answers I was looking for. But the administrators might find that boring.

I rolled my eyes. Why do I care? I’m not here to please them. I will still get ten thousand crystals by the end of it. Elvis did mention the watchers could give me other things, too, like more bonus crystals. Can they also give me other rewards? I wondered.

No, focus! I told myself.

I turned to Goliath. “Have you applied all the pixie dust on them?”

Goliath nodded.

“Good. Keep an eye on them. This shouldn’t take me more than ten minutes.”

Building a dungeon room under the cabin was that simple and fast when magic was involved. It would take longer if I had to change, bulldoze, manipulate the terrain, or build something more complex and meticulous.

But all I needed for now was a simple room and a simpler contraption.

When I opened the Core Menu screen by just thinking about it, time stopped, like pausing in the middle of a video game. The outside world didn’t literally pause per se but slowed down to milliseconds, giving me enough time to do plenty of things. Out of the corner of my eyes, Goliath was sloooowlyyy scratching his jaw.