> story
Red's Dungeon Dairy
Day 17: Gravekeepers

The graves scattered across the surface of the fourth floor, aside from the troublesome ghosts that often rise from them, sometimes hold treasures of considerable value—gems, potent magical artifacts, and even cursed relics.
Because of this, adventurers who reach this floor often take the time to dig them up and claim whatever lies within. There is even a group that specializes in this work, known as the Grave Robbers.

With the dungeon’s continued expansion, new graves keep appearing alongside the growth of its structure, turning them into near-limitless loot spots. Yet, disturbing these graves is never without risk. Beyond the bothersome spirits, the graves themselves know how to defend what they hold. Some conceal deadly traps beneath them.

The soil around most graves constantly seeps a strange, viscous, ice-cold liquid. At first, it can go unnoticed, but over time, it thickens, spreading across the surface into heavy, sluggish pools. This burial liquid gives birth to many odd creatures found only here on the fourth floor. Most of these beings wander aimlessly and reproduce, but among them is one far more intelligent and far more dangerous—the Gravekeepers.

Once born, a Gravekeeper grows with remarkable speed, reaching or even surpassing the size of a grown man. Most bear a humanoid body, all of them male, with a head resembling the skull of a buried beast—dragon, bird, canine, and more. Studies suggest their skulls take shape based on the remains buried beneath the grave that spawned them.

Their bodies are made of the same substance as the burial liquid, but compressed into something dense, elastic, and unyieldingly tough—difficult to pierce. Their form is translucent, with faint patches of cloudy green, allowing the heart, lungs, and skeletal frame to be seen within. Research shows, however, that they can live and move perfectly fine without these organs.
Also, their genital are transparent and often very long.

Normally, these creatures are harmless to adventurers, even friendly at times, wandering lazily among the graves. But should anyone attempt to harm a tomb, their demeanor changes instantly—those long claws and crushing jaws will ensure the grave’s violator never returns to the surface again.

The best advice is to keep your distance from the graves and take care not to provoke the Gravekeepers.
For adventurers seeking what lies beneath, it is recommended to target graves with few Gravekeepers nearby, those positioned out of their direct line of sight, or graves where the seepage of burial liquid is still minimal—too little to have spawned any guardians.

With their unnaturally resilient hide, killing a Gravekeeper with conventional weapons is an arduous task, and even a battle with a single one can easily end in death.

Today, after finally parting with the deep darkness of the Catacombs, Red had only a short way left to reach the floor gate.
He knew that the fifth floor housed a large town—a place sure to have all the supplies he would need to press deeper into the dungeon. Of course, the deeper one went, the higher the prices climbed.

After his journey through the Catacombs, he had lost nearly all his belongings. He needed at least a little gold to prepare for what lay ahead. All around him were untouched graves, unplundered and waiting. An idea took shape in his mind.

Red began prying them open, and to his surprise, he uncovered a fair amount of silver and gold. But as he busied himself with the work, he failed to notice a figure drawing near—until a cold, bony hand closed around the back of his neck and lifted him effortlessly off the ground.

Now he found himself face to face with a fully-grown Gravekeeper, massive and broad-shouldered. Though its body seemed almost entirely transparent and devoid of muscle, Red could still sense its strength—its frame taut, solid, and imposing.

He met the creature’s pitch-black eyes, each with a single point of light burning within, and stammered, “I just… need a few coins from these graves, I promise—”

Before he could finish, the Gravekeeper released him, letting him drop with a thud to the ground—right in front of the creature’s massive transparent dick which was throbbing and leaking precum onto the ground. In a deep voice, it spoke:
“I’m not sure whether I should eat you… or hand you over to my younger brothers to deal with. Or… perhaps you could do me a favor. You know, I’ve been… rather bored lately.”

Red swallowed hard as the Gravekeeper went on:
“Besides, my brothers are just lowly sorts… they spend their days wandering aimlessly and doing vile little things. You wouldn’t like it if they caught you, would you? Why not… stay with me for a while?”