Simon died once. He'll be damned before he dies twice.
Simon never asked to become the new dungeon master of the Barrow, but a millennia-old teenager stuck in the skull of a dead lich has few life options. After bonding with the Barrow’s dungeon core, he learns they are near death from hunger and only by consuming the life energy and experiences of sentient beings can they survive.
Lucky for Simon a party of murderous adventurers invades the Barrow in search of treasure and glory. They look to be a perfectly tasty meal until one transforms into a mentally unstable fanatic whose specialty is killing the undead in all its forms, especially teenagers stuck in skulls bonded to dungeons.
If Simon can’t master his new powers, defeat invaders bent on plunder and convince the Barrow to take a kinder, gentler approach to feeding, then he will die a second time. And this time it’ll be permanent.
Dead Must Die is a Short Novella set in the Bestselling The Realms universe. It takes place sometime after Barrow King but before the soon to be released Scourge of Souls - Book Three of the Realms.
My Opinion: 62 pages, $2.99, Not Available on Kindle Unlimited
A nice dungeon master story. There aren’t a lot of RPG mechanics in the the story, but dungeon has tiers of growth, HP, status ailments, and can grow and change as it absorbs the essence from deceased adventurers. Half the story is from the sneaky dungeon divers POV and the other half sets up the new dungeon master and the two groups eventual interactions. It’s a neat story. Very pricey at almost $3 for 62 pages though.
Score: 7.2 out of 10
Dead Must Die - A Novella of The Realms: A Humorous GameLit Adventure (The Realms Shorts Book 1)