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Dungeon Keeper Ranma Chapter 01: Keeper of the Heart By A-kun -----------------------------------------------------------

Ranma Saotome didn't quite understand what had happened, but he was sure that it probably had something to do with Happousai.
Happousai had been exceedingly bad during the past week. Normally, he just flipped some skirts, stole some panties and glomped a few women. But he'd gone wild, flipping every available skirt, stole every panty that'd ever been worn and glomped every damn near every woman age 15 to 45.
So, Ranma and the rest of the Nerima wrecking crew decided that Happousai deserved some punishment. They'd stopped him from flipping skirts by getting every girl to wear pants, returned every panty and pounded him whenever he got close enough to a woman to glomp her.
Happousai had finally had enough and ran off crying. Ranma went to bed that night feeling he'd finally taught the old freak a lesson.
The next thing Ranma knew he was in a room with stone walls and torches and there was an enormous creature glaring at him.
The creature was large. It stood easily seven feet tall with thick muscles that would have put most of the large guys Ranma knew to shame. It had red skin, an enormous chin, yellow slitted eyes, hooved feet and two large horns growing from the side of it's head, giving it an almost demonic look. Over it's chest and shoulders was metal armor,
it wore a loin cloth with hip guards and on the front side of it's legs were thick metal armor plates similar to the kind it wore on it's chest.
In it's nose was a thick black ring, reminding Ranma of a bull's nose ring.
It growled, baring it's long sharp teeth, before raising something Ranma hadn't noticed before. A heavy and wicked-looking scythe.
Yelping, he rolled out from it's slash, then barely dodged again as it swung again. Ranma felt a wall behind him as the huge demonic creature raised it's scythe for a diagonal blow. Desperately, he leapt forward and rolled between the creature's legs. He mule-
kicked the creature in the back, then gawked as the creature only rocked forward slightly, then spun to face him.
"Oh shit!" Ranma said, before the horned creature body-checked him.
Ranma was dimly aware of wood cracking, but he snapped awake when he fell into a pool of water. Sputtering, Ranma-chan pulled herself into a sitting position. The red creature was almost upon her again and her body was almost entirely numb.
Ranma-chan forced herself onto her hands and knees and scrambled away over a treasure chest of gold, tipping it over in the process. The red creature snarled angrily as Ranma-chan neared a strange triangle formed out of three archways. Her body was no longer tingling all over, so she managed to stand and face the creature again.
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!" Ranma-chan cried, hoping her ki blast would hurt it. The energy slammed in the creature, driving it backwards, but doing no noticeable damage.
Her confidence drained as the creature continued to advance at the same pace, not even slowed by her attack. Then, Ranma-chan noticed green energy swirling around her. Hoping against hope that it could do something useful, she managed to gather some and focus it towards the red creature as it raised it's scythe again.
"Do something useful!" Ranma-chan cried as she closed her eyes.
A strange sound caused Ranma-chan to open her eyes. Before her was a green little guy with large black eyes. He wore a loincloth, had a sack on his back and a pickax in one hand.
"What the hell?" Ranma-chan asked, before looking up at the red creature.
It was staring at the little creature, before raising it's gaze to meet hers. It lowered it's scythe and knelt before her.
"What the hell?" Ranma-chan repeated.
"Ah, I see we have a new keeper." came a rich and aged male voice from behind her.
Ranma-chan turned to see a grey-haired old man wearing a black robe and leaning heavily on a staff standing at the far end of the large room. He looked at Ranma-chan for a few seconds, then smiled, "Welcome keeper"
"Keeper? My name's Ranma Saotome, not 'Keeper'." Ranma-chan responded.
"Nonetheless, you've been selected by the Dungeon Heart." the old man said, motioning to the archway.
"Dungeon Heart?" Ranma-chan asked, looking dubiously at the arches.
"A focus for magic. With the Dungeon Heart, even someone completely ignorant about magic can use it. You can even use gold to build rooms, create materials for traps and even make servants like that imp." the old man explained motioning to Dungeon Heart and to the little green man, before clearing his throat "But I'm getting off topic. I am Lundar. I served the previous Dungeon Keeper, as did Horniculus or 'Horny' as he prefers to be called"
"Horniculus?" Ranma-chan inquired.
"The large red demon on the other side of you. He was a faithful servant to the last Dungeon Keeper." Lundar responded, motioning to the still kneeling red demon.
"Huh. Anyway, this is real fascinating, but I've gotta get home." Ranma-chan replied.
"I don't think you fully understand how powerful this Dungeon Heart is. With it, all that you desire can be yours. You could have love, riches, almost nothing is beyond your grasp." Lundar explained.
"Real nice, like I said, but I've got a home to go back to..." Ranma-chan began.
Lundar was surprised. Usually the promise of power was inviting,
but this young girl seemed to ignore that completely. Still, the Heart had selected her, so she must be worthy. He had to keep her here until he could persuade her to use the Dungeon Heart. Then, he noticed a foreign magic about her aura. It was if she was cast out of her home plane. Which meant, he could use that as a lever.
"But you are not of this world. I can sense that. Someone has banished you here." Lundar murmurred.
"So how do I get back?" Ranma-chan inquired. Magic and it's rules weren't really her strong point. All she really knew was that you beat up demons and left spells to wizards and priests.
"Hmm, we might be able to return you to your rightful home if we were to get the twenty Portal Gems of this land..." Lundar began, considering the options, "But the King has his Dukes and Barons guarding them. They will likely hear nothing of giving them up. You would have to persuade them through physical force"
"That's no problem." Ranma-chan huffed, "I'm a skilled martial artist. I might not be able to take down Horny, but I can handle myself against some rich dude"
"And what of their armies? The dukes and barons of this land themselves might be fat and unskilled, but their men are likely to be in prime fighting shape and they will be able to sense that you are a threat to their lords." Lundar replied.
Ranma-chan wilted. Even she knew that mass fighting meant ten to fifty, maybe even a hundred guys if they were unskilled. But armies? Alone? Not even Ranma could manage that. Not unless she manage to lure them into an enormous spiral, which was out of the question.
Lundar, on the other hand, was managed to hide his glee. It was time to bring forth a point that would reactivate the Dungeon Heart from it's fading power and return it to it's proud days of glory.
"Fear not, Dungeon Keeper. While you may not have the power yourself to get them alone, with this Dungeon Heart's aid, we can build a mighty army to seize the Portal Gems for you. And then you can return home." Lundar answered.
Ranma-chan eyed the old man like one eyed a sleazy car salesman, "You just want to keep me here"
Lundar hummed, considering whether or not honesty was the best policy, then sighed as he realized that she could destroy him and nodded, "I suppose it is a good motivation towards keeping you here. You see, Horny and I are both tied to the fate of this Dungeon Heart. While we cannot access it's power, we are alive so long as it exists. And the king of this land would be glad to see it and others like it gone forever. It is selfish, but I am not eager to die until I have had the chance to see a new keeper rise with this Dungeon Heart. On top of that, Keeper, if this Dungeon Heart is destroyed, you shall be banished from this land into one at random. At least here, you stand a fair chance of getting home"
Ranma-chan gazed at the old man. A straightforward and honest answer. Ranma Saotome had finally gotten a straightforward and honest answer for the first time in a long time concerning anything important.
No hidden motives, no lying about the 'true purpose', no "surprise, now that you've done that foolish thing, I was only using you.
Okay, the old man did want to use her, but only to survive. And if she were banished, who knew what sort of place she could wind up in.
She may never get home.
"But I was not joking. The portal gems can allow great masses, such as this entire Dungeon Heart and all of it's inhabitants, to transport over continents. I'm sure with some research and all twenty, we could easily send you home. That is why the king and his men would not let us have them." Lundar explained.
Ranma-chan sighed as she realized Lundar was right about the king not wanting him to have the gems, "Because the wielder could just as easily teleport an army into the king's castle"
One of Ranma's friends would've been surprised to see Ranma reached that conclusion so easily. In truth, Ranma Saotome was a very brilliant person, but his intellect had been squandered growing up with Genma, as he'd focused on the physical rather than the mental. Still, Ranma's mind had shown it's prowess in the past, especially when it came to learning new techniques. He didn't do well in school because he was simply not motivated or interested to learn. Rote memorization rarely enticed learning.
Lunder nodded, "Indeed, save for the fact that one portal gem can stop the advance of another from entering within a certain radius.
The King seeks to corner off all of the Dungeon Hearts and destroy them so that he and his kingdom do not have to fear any attack. But hark, not all of them are as noble-hearted as the king hopes. Many abuse the power of their portal gems to find veins of gold and fill their own pockets"
Ranma-chan frowned, a stray thought of Nabiki rose, but even Nabiki would at least honor a contract to the letter, "Using something entrusted to them for something as trivial as money? That's despicable." She tried not to think of her father when she said that, but it was very difficult to do so.
"In any case, keeper, we need to get you an army. But to do that, we have much to gather and prepare. You can create four imps with no trouble at all. They require no food, water or rest as they are creations of pure magic. They will clear paths, dig through rock, and reinforce walls." Lundar continued, motioning to the little green bug-eyed creature that stood near Ranma-chan.
"Horny, why don't you wait outside while I continue to teach our apprentice dungeon keeper how to do things?" Lundar suggested, knowing that the Horned Reaper was probably growing bored with all the talk. Horny's favorite place was in the battlefield.
Horny nodded, rose to his feet and turned towards the door. He paused and glanced at Ranma-chan briefly, before heading for the door and exiting.
"What was THAT about?" Ranma-chan inquired.
"Horny does not yet see your potential. I think he's decided to see how well you do at being a Dungeon Keeper before allowing you to control him." Lundar explained.
Ranma-chan nodded, "I think I understand. After all, I'm probably not even close to what he expected of his next Keeper"
"Then you've already decided? That's wonderful news, keeper." Lundar commented.
"Well, I ain't getting back without this thing's help, so I guess so." Ranma-chan responded with a helpless shrug.
"Our first opponent will be Lord Antonius. He's the nearest to us." Lundar began, "First, we'll need some more imps. The Dungeon Heart can sustain four with no drain. After that, you'll have to expand your territory and claim Mana Vaults"
"Duh?" Ranma-chan inquired.
"I see..." Lundar sighed, "In order to cast spells, create and maintain imps or certain magical traps, you need mana. You can get mana by expanding the amount of territory you own by having your imps claim paths, the land will replenish it in time. Mana Vaults are points of magic that give whomever claim them a hundred times more mana than simple land does"
Ranma-chan nodded in understanding before Lundar continued, "You can tell your imps where to dig by using the Dungeon Heart's mapping magic"
Lundar motioned to one of the archways, where a small map showing the Dungeon Heart and a few small rooms with red dots in the floor appeared in midair, "That will show you all of the land that you've claimed or has been seen by one of your minions. It will also show you solid rock when you are near it. Solid rock is something which your imps cannot dig through. It will also show seams of gold or gems, which your imps can sense"
"The first thing you want to do is select an area and build a lair for your minions, then a hatchery to feed them." Lundar explained.
"Okay, how do I do that?" Ranma-chan inquired.
"First, make three more imps, then imagine the approximate area you want dug out. Lairs should be at least fifty feet by thirty feet, while hatcheries should be thirty feet by thirty feet. I'll teach you how to create rooms once they're done." Lundar answered.
Ranma-chan gathered the green 'mana' energy and imagined three more guys like the imp she'd already made. The three imagined imps appeared in the real world. She glanced at the map and imagined two rooms, fairly close together. She had no real experience with imagining specific sizes, so she hoped her imps knew what she expected.
Like happy children to a playground, the imps leapt towards the nearest wall and began picking away at it. In a matter of minutes, the four imps returned, chittering happily. Ranma-chan and Lundar approached the doorway and saw an expansive room that was about the exact size Lundar had requested, with another doorway leading to shorter but no less wide room.
"Excellent work, keeper. These rooms will do nicely. Let's return to the Dungeon Heart and I'll show you how to make the lair and hatchery." Lundar said.

An hour later, Ranma was exhuasted. He'd figured out how to make a lair, a treasury, and a hatchery. He'd learned some of the more interesting aspects of mana, such as casting "Create Imp", and that boiling some water was easy.
On top of that, he'd found a minor portal, which allowed creatures to enter his realm. Goblins were already gathering in a healthy supply. Goblins looked like taller and stupider looking imps, but they wore leather armor and carried swords, which were much better to fight with.
Ranma sat on one of the stairs inside his Dungeon Heart, trying to deal with the new sensation of exhuast. When he was physically or spiritually burned out, it felt like he was tired physically or he had little strength. Being magically tired felt like his brain was scattered and was slowly gathering back together.
"Ah, I see you've found a magical item." Lundar hummed as he watched the screen.
Ranma blinked and looked at the area he'd sent his imps.
"That's a magical item?" Ranma inquired, staring at the strange rune-covered stone box that appeared on his magical map.
"Yes, a special item that can increase the physical attributes of your minions. I suggest you use it and then send your goblins to kill Lord Antonius." Lundar explained.
"You know, I don't like all this 'killing' stuff." Ranma noted, recalling how his goblins had killed those two short guys... dwarves from Lundar's explanation.
"In due time, we can afford to take prisoners, but not until you've gained more experience, keeper." Lundar responded.
Ranma sighed in agreement. He knew nothing of imprisonment, the whole thing about creating shapes mentally to create magical areas that simulated a specific task was enough of a headache, and he didn't have the man, er, creature-power to waste guarding a bunch of guys who would likely die trying to break out anyway.
I'd really rather not, but... the longer I'm here, the longer it'll take to get back home. Ranma thought to himself. He didn't like that particular line of justification. It felt like the sort an assassin or hired killer would use, before another voice spoke up, And the more people who'll have to get hurt. The short path saves the most people from suffering. We can make it up later
The voice didn't seem like his, but Ranma had to agree with it. The lord was surely going to be getting more followers soon, and that meant more people would have to die just so he could go home.
Ranma flexed his will to activate the magic item, then ordered his imps to mine out the last section of rock while his goblins stood ready to fight, never really feeling the final action of the Dungeon Heart's last long dead keeper...

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Lord Antonius is dead. Next up is Lord Darius.
Can Ranma defeat an opponent who has more than two servants without actually being on the battlefield?

What the point of being evil if you don't have a lot of ways to cheat.
Easy Cheat: Crank up all your creatures to Level 10 by pressing CTRL+ALT+C at the same time, then typing in "feelspace barthespace barpower" and you'll be knocking enemies dead and destroying traps in one hit. The sound on a door creaking is supposed to accompany this, but it didn't for me. Instead, you'll know if it's working if the screen zips over to your Dungeon Heart, then (if you've claimed any)
to the nearest portal. This cheat also doesn't work on the first level on Campaign mode, but you shouldn't need it anyway.
To make sure it worked, if no creatures are present on screen, check a creature that you know can't be 10th level, like an imp, and if his level reads 10, then it's worked. This trick is excellent if you don't want to waste time/space/money building a larger training room for your creatures as creatures over Level 4 don't need a training room.
If creatures are on the screen, you'll see a burst of color surround them temporarily. This only works on creatures you have when you use this trick. If you get skeletons or other creatures afterwards, they'll start at level 1. You can repeat this trick as many times as you want, but it will only benefit your new monsters.
Message boxes might start coming up blank (even if the voice actor reads just fine). To fix this, simply enter the Save option menu in the bottom left-hand corner, then click "Continue" to return to the game.

Next Cheat: Get all the rooms and max out your money!