Merchant & Pike

**Merchant & Pike** (M&P) is an ongoing webcomic created by Strawdud. Featuring the namesake characters, Merchant, a traveling salesman and Pike, a tall armored bodyguard. It can be read here

## Characters

**Merchant:** A fat round salesman of unknown species and origin. Owner of the traveling shop of impossible nature, he travels from dungeon to dungeon and town to town, selling his wares to adventurers, civilians, and nobles alike. Despite his chubby and friendly nature, he's been known to be found deep within dungeons ready to offer up merchandise for a fee.

**Pike:** A tall armored bodyguard with a beaked helmet and mail tunic. Recruited by Merchant after incurring a heavy debt, she travels with him, protecting him from the bothers of hostile monsters and adventurers through out their travels. Her origins and species unknown, and likely to remain unknown, she suffers from an injury which inhibits her ability to speak, preferring to communicate with written words or vague gestures.

## The Shop

Merchant's shop is a wooden rectangular stand that he carries on his back. Prominently displayed on the front are the words "Shop" on a door and a retractable awning. On the side a small chimney. From within his stand, he conducts business. A curious aspect of his shop is the backdoor, one that inside his small stand, but does not lead out, instead it leads into the backroom where he stores all his wares. The back room is of unknown size, but it does not seem to physically affect the physical properties of the shop as Merchant can carry the shop with no problem.

## Dungeons

Dungeons in the world of M&P are a source of loot as well as monsters. Deep within the belly of a dungeon, there spawns the plethora of unique creatures who inhabit the dungeon and take residence in the ancient halls and floors from a time long forgotten. The origin of the dungeons remain a mystery in the current era, with many cities and towns preferring to guard against the regular hostile entities that crawl out, than to investigate their origins. As of the current era, there has only ever been one dungeon to be completely subjugated by the collective armies of three nations. The mysteries of the deepest floors remain only with the few who survived the ordeal. None of them have written or spoken of the experience.

**The Chambers of Crushing Silence:** A dungeon buried underneath the world and the first dungeon to appear in the series. A prominent feature of the inhabitants are their enhanced sensory acuity. Adventurers attempting to conceal their presence often need to masters of stealth to hide from even the lowest level creatures. Further down, an adventurer will be afflicted with hypersensitivity, often overwhelming those without the mental fortitude to bare over stimulation. Artifacts that have properties of enhanced senses can be found deep within the dungeon.

**The Great Stair Labyrinth:** A dungeon which is nested within a hollowed mountain. Featuring a large circular tower in the center that extends far below into an unlit abyss, it is connected to the rest of the world by a network of interlocking and overlapping stairs that float impossibly above a deadly drop and can unnerve even the most experienced adventurers who dare to cross. A unique feature to the dungeon is the ever changing layout of the halls as one goes further down, the cause of many adventurers to become lost and stranded within the complex. Even further down, the very laws of space become warped and escape becomes impossible. Artifacts that help navigate terrain and dungeons can be found deep within the dungeon.

## Monsters

Monsters in the world of M&P can be divided into two categories. Topside monsters and Dungeon monsters, neither to be confused with regular animals. The properties of slain monsters offer up special ingredients which can be used in a multitude of applications for cities. From elixirs to powders to fuels, hunting monsters can be a lucrative occupation. However, dungeon monsters hold the most value as their proximity to the dungeon make them more potent.

**Topside Monsters:** These are monsters which originated from a dungeon, but have since adapted to the outside. Common and easy to deal with, but vast in numbers, these monsters are usually the first monsters an adventurer will encounter on their journey. However, it is possible to find topside monsters on the first few floors of a dungeon, but are not of the dungeon themselves.

**Dungeon Monsters:** These monsters are unique to their own dungeon. Usually found past the first few floors of a dungeon, the monsters who naturally inhabit the dungeon become known. The abilities and appearance of these monsters reflect the nature of the dungeon, suited to traverse and make use of the dungeon's unique characteristics to their advantage. For example, a dungeon of illusion will have mimics taking form of harmless objects, but will pounce on an unaware adventurer the moment they get too close. The monsters are spawned from deep within the dungeon and make their way up, some even venturing out into the world, with the most powerful monsters remaining close to their spawning grounds.