The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Tacca wasn’t exactly sure what to expect after that, but the intense feeling of an enormous weight being lifted from her mind and even her Core wasn’t it. It wasn’t unwelcome, but it caught her by surprise. The only thing she could compare it to was if she was still a Fairy and being weighed down by hundreds of pounds of weights, straining to fly away – and then having those weights fall away all at once and shooting into the sky. It felt incredible, being free of the restriction – but also overwhelming.

  “Tacca! Are you ok? What happened?”

  Um…I think so? Why?

  “Because your Core seemed to shake a little and a new crack formed on your Core,” Shale told her, a look of serious concern on his face.

  That was…intense. I’m not sure why it did that, but I feel much better now. Tacca looked at her Core and saw that the cracks that had been on there before were pretty much gone because of her increase in her Core Improvement Level, but she could also see the new crack he was talking about. It didn’t look too serious, but the fact that it happened in the first place was a little worrying. Despite that, though, it was worth it to have gotten rid of that negative Characteristic.

  Doing some mental calculations, she knew she was going to need 550 more SCPs to get rid of her second negative Characteristic – and that it wasn’t going to happen right now. She had 1,000 CIPs that could be converted into 250 SCPs, which was still a bit off from what she needed. The next time she increased her CI Level, the Dungeon Core knew she would be getting 1,400 CIPs to use; when converted, that was a total of 350 SCPs. When added together, that would equal 600 SCPs – 50 more than she needed. When she added in the 25 SCPs she would receive from leveling up, that equaled 75 Points she didn’t have to convert.

  All of that mental math led to one conclusion to Tacca: she had 300 CIPs she could use right now on whatever she wanted. It meant that every single Core Improvement Point next month would be spent to get rid of the negative Characteristic restricting her creatures’ levels, but that was okay – because she could go shopping right now. After converting 700 CIPs into 175 SCPs, she went looking for what she could unlock.

  There wasn’t really a lot that she could purchase, however. With 300 CIPs, she was limited to only 3 Core Improvements to choose from: Select Additional Trap Specialization (300 CIPs), Select Additional Creature (250 CIPs), and Select Addition Creature Variant (25 CIPs). Obviously, she didn’t need any more Variants because she already had access to them all, but it was a hard decision to pick between the other two. Basically, it came down to two choices: prioritize the defense of her Core, or play around with an additional creature family, placing some gradually inside the dungeon above to add some more variety.

  The prospect of having access to more creatures was exciting and would be beneficial for when she finally expanded her dungeon, opening it up to stronger teams of Raiders. By introducing them now, she would be able to slowly acclimate the delving groups to changes she was still making and prepare them for the future – because she had some big plans. This seemed like the most fun choice to Tacca…but it wasn’t the most practical.

  If her Core hadn’t already been threatened by a group of Raiders (never mind the “faction”), she probably would’ve chosen to select another creature. As it was, with the threat to her continued existence a real worry, she chose to prioritize the defense of her Core.

  It wasn’t exactly exciting, but she would feel safer, nonetheless.

  Chapter 18

  Sterge felt a little paranoid walking through The Village, almost as if he were expecting to find an arrow buried in his back when he wasn’t looking. He thought he was starting to look a little like Mordecai with his constant searching for threats; the Scout always seemed to be running his gaze over everything around him. Although they hadn’t spent a lot of time together since they had delved through the dungeon, he had learned that the Gnome had spent most of his life on the streets of a large city, where he had to keep his head on a perpetual swivel to avoid being knifed in the dark alleyways between buildings. What the Hill Dwarf wasn’t sure of was what he was doing in those dark alleyways, but then again it wasn’t really his business to know.

  “You have to stop doing that, Sterge. You’re making everyone else nervous,” Gwenda told him quietly while they were walking towards the Delving Supply Store together.

  That confused him. “What? Why would I be making anyone nervous?”

  “Because you’re the Village Chief, if you had forgotten. To see the one in charge looking fearfully around him at all times isn’t a good sign; if you feel like your life is in danger, then that doesn’t bode well for the others living or staying here.”

  He thought about that a little as they walked along, and he had to admit that she was right. “Unfortunately, that makes sense. But, after knowing what we know, how could I not?”

  “There’s nothing we can do about it right now; besides, there’s no proof that anything was done. Putting the pieces together, I can see that what we were told by…you-know-who…is most likely accurate, but we can’t expel them from our lands without proof. That’s the impression I get after making some discreet inquiries, naturally; it would cause some serious issues, to say the least.”

  Sterge had been living under the constant expectation that the Merchants were going to do something just as drastic as what they had reportedly done inside of the dungeon. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting to happen, but if they had sent in a secret group of their people to destroy the dungeon, then he thought that just about anything was possible. It didn’t help that the rumors regarding the disappearance of a group of Merchants around the time the bodies of the Raiders nearby had surfaced along the road to Heftington were still floating around. Both he and Gwenda were convinced that these mysterious missing Merchants and those that tried to destroy the Core were one and the same.

  Granted, that all depended upon whether or not the dungeon up in the mountains was telling the truth. It seemed like a strange accusation and warning for the dungeon to just make up, however – or they were misinterpreting the message. The fact that it was in the form of some strange poetry made it a little more difficult to decipher. Not for the first time, Sterge wished it had plainly written out what had happened; upon further reflection, he realized that the fact that it was communicating with them in the first place was a unique experience.

  Luckily, their new groupmates were smart enough not to mention the carved-out message that was given to them during their delve. Knowing a potentially damaging secret about a powerful member of society such as the Minister wasn’t the most ideal of circumstances, and the less people who knew about it the better. Something on the magnitude of orchestrating the destruction of a dungeon purely out of spite, especially a dungeon that Raiders had traveled from all over to wait in line for a month or more to delve – the repercussions if word got out would certainly escalate quickly. That was probably why Sterge had been so jumpy and paranoid as of late, because he was worried the Merchants would find out that he knew about their illicit activity.

  He might be a bit of a slow thinker at times, but he wasn’t naïve about how the world worked. Powerful people, including the members of the Raider Delving Clan, would take action against anyone who knew of those secrets in order to silence them. Action that would probably prove fatal.

  He had briefly considered going to Jesper with the information they had received, as he was the local Clan representative, but he was stopped by his best friend. “The Clan might be the authority in matters regarding dungeons—” Gwenda had told him— “but they technically have no authority over this land. Remember what he told us about there being some conflict between themselves and the Merchants? I for one don’t want this place to become a battleground for those wishing to take control of our livelihood. Besides, all you would end up doing would be accusing the Minister of something that can’t be proven, which could make you the bad guy here.”

  He didn’t like that she was correct, ma
inly because of the implications behind her statement when he really thought about it. He and the other villagers were essentially only protected by their lease of the land with the crown, which was a flimsy shield against direct attack against them; at any point, either the Raiders or the Merchants could have marched in and killed them all, thereby nullifying the lease. That they didn’t was probably only a testament to the fact that Jesper seemed to be more of a unifier rather than a conqueror, and the normal Raider presence was preventing the Merchants from assuming control using that extreme method.

  But that didn’t mean that the wealthy and well-connected Minister was without a weapon.

  “No, I don’t have any! Like I told you before, I’m all sold out.” As soon as they walked into the busy Supply Store, they could see exactly why Atero, the traveling peddler who had offered to run their Store, had sent them a message. A third of the supplies in the normally well-stocked shop were gone, and the rest were being steadily purchased by customers. While he still had a few days’-worth of stock, from the conversation Sterge overheard, he was obviously out of a few specific things already.

  “There you are!” Atero said, calling him and Gwenda over as soon as they walked through the door. One of his assistants that he had needed to hire to keep up with demand took over the sales while he moved off to the side.

  “What’s going on?” his best friend asked, thoroughly concerned now. Sterge still couldn’t figure out why the former peddler was so distraught-looking – he was selling his goods at a brisk rate, after all.

  “I haven’t received a delivery in days! This is everything I have left, and I’m going to be out completely sooner rather than later.” Atero waved his hands at the stock on his shelves, before he started to wring his hands nervously.

  “Are they just delayed?” Gwenda asked.

  “That’s what I thought at first, but one of my delivery contacts told me that all of their stock had been completely bought out. I haven’t had a chance to communicate with any of the others, but I assume that they are running into the same problem,” the Storekeeper said, before he looked directly at Gwenda knowingly. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I believe I do. Come on, Sterge – let’s go.”

  What’s going on? He wanted to ask, but Gwenda strode away with a purpose once she exited the Store and it took some effort to keep up with her. It wasn’t until they were passing through the perimeter of the Merchant encampment that he realized where they were going.

  “Uh…why—?”

  His question was answered soon after as Gwenda demanded to speak to the Minister, which happened quite quickly. They were escorted to one of the larger wagons, where the important Merchant was outside relaxing in a fancy-looking lounge chair under an awning.

  “Ah, hello, my friends! What can I do for you today?” the smug-looking Elf asked. Friends? I’m not so sure about that.

  “Why have you purchased all of the stock from our suppliers?” Gwenda demanded, crossing her arms over her chest in what Sterge instantly identified as her angry posture. While he wasn’t the target of her anger, he still took an involuntary step to the side when he saw it.

  “My dear, I have no idea what you are talking about. All we’ve done is secure enough merchandise to ensure that we don’t run out anytime soon; we’ve been pretty busy, as you’ve no doubt seen. Has there been an issue I should know about?” The Minister seemed completely sincere in his question, as if he really didn’t have any idea what Gwenda was talking about.

  “You’ve cut off all our deliveries as a result of your ‘securing’. We are now nearly out of stock to sell to the Raiders here.”

  The Minister frowned, as if this was news to him. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Are there no other suppliers you can go to?”

  “No, there aren’t – and I’m sure you know that. At least, none nearby; delivering supplies from further away will increase the expense exponentially. Again, that’s probably something you’re more than aware of.”

  “Yes, yes – it can get quite expensive. That’s a shame.” That was all he said as he looked at them with a blank expression on his face.

  Finally, Gwenda couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Take back the deal you had with our suppliers!” she yelled, before adding, “Please.”

  He didn’t seem to be fazed by her outburst, but instead had been expecting it. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that. See, I’m a man of my word, and taking back my agreement with them would call into question any of my future dealings.”

  When he didn’t say any more, Sterge and Gwenda waited for a moment before his best friend abruptly turned on her heel and marched away. He was caught flat-footed and stumbled after her when she moved, but she fortunately didn’t get that far before the Minister called out, “But perhaps we can come to some sort of deal?” Sterge looked back at him and the Merchant had a big smile on his face.

  Gwenda was visibly reluctant to deal with the Minister, but without any other recourse she was trapped in a corner – and the smug Elf knew it. The alternative would be to let the Merchants control all sales of supplies to the Raiders, and since there wasn’t any love lost between them, they could charge whatever they wanted. The deal that Gwenda worked out with the Minister had them paying the Merchant as a sort of middleman, who charged them 25% more for each item than they normally paid through their usual suppliers. It wasn’t as bad as he had feared, but it was still a shock; they would have to raise prices on everything as a result, but even Gwenda said it was better than the alternative.

  “He’s a snake, but he’s smart. Too darn smart, and with too much influence to combat at this point. He could’ve charged us more, but he also knew that I might balk at too high of a price and try to work around him somehow. This way, he gets to control all of the merchandise flowing through The Village no matter where it’s sold. He may not have acquired the lease for this land, but he found a way around that,” Gwenda told him sourly as they made their way back to the central governmental building. “I doubt he’s making as much as he would if he really did control the lease, but that probably doesn’t matter at this point.”

  Sterge could only shrug. “I guess when…his other plan…didn’t work, he decided to settle for this. Let’s just hope he doesn’t do the same thing for all of the food we have to purchase for our Inns.”

  “Don’t even put that out there, Sterge! It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s already working on that, and if that happens we’ll be even more beholden to him and the rest of the Merchants.”

  Strangely, Sterge felt a little better than he had before and finally felt like he could relax. Sure, they probably weren’t going to be raking in a whole lot of money now, but they had set all of this up to survive the influxes of Raiders invading their land. They would survive, it sounded like, even with the Minister trying to gain as much control over things as he could. The fact that the Merchants didn’t seem like they wanted to destroy the dungeon anymore was like a giant weight being taken off his back, and it was unlikely they would be looking for anyone that knew about the failed attempt. That didn’t mean he – or the others – could go about blabbing what they knew about the entire situation, of course, but he wasn’t as paranoid as he was before.

  The Merchants weren’t out to get them anymore; no, they just wanted their money.

  * * *

  “Um…Tacca? Why would you choose that for a Specialization? Isn’t that a bit…limited?”

  The Dungeon Core took a mental step back from what she was doing to try to figure out what Shale was talking about. She hadn’t even consulted with him about what she wanted for her new Trap Specialization, because she had thought her choice was obvious.

  Limited? Well, I guess you could look at the Life Trap Specialization that way, but it’s the only thing that I believe will keep my Core safe.

  “How? As far as I know, you’ll only be able to help anyone trying to get to your Core – not hurt them.”

  What her Dungeon A
ssistant said was technically true, but he was either forgetting about some things he had learned about Life-based traps at DAPS or he never dug that deeply into them. The Specialization wasn’t a popular choice, granted, but there had been a few dungeons in the past that had chosen it for various reasons. It was for one of those reasons that Tacca was planning to use it – but she wanted to talk it over with Shale before she fully explained .

  Tell me – do you think that any trap I could place would’ve stopped those “Merchant” Raiders from reaching my Core, let alone ones in the future that actually know what they’re doing? Remember, I only managed to kill them because of trickery and making them suffocate, and not technically due to a trap of any kind.

  “Well, I’m sure there would be something…like a deep enough pit that they couldn’t get out of?” the Dungeon Fairy ventured.

  Sure – but that might only catch one or two, and it probably wouldn’t kill them. Since they would be in the same room, I couldn’t recover the trap to make them suffocate, and they might bring enough food or other supplies to last for months. Don’t forget that there are some Minor Levitation enchanting scrolls that Cores have as part of their higher-Tier rewards, so they could theoretically get out if they have that enchantment on their gear. Just because the ones that came before didn’t have Levitation enchantments, that doesn’t mean ones in the future won’t.

  “Good point – but it’s impossible to cover every single enchantment that might be out there; there are counters available for just about every trap. Physical Resistance, Mental Resistance, Elemental Resistances – they are all covered. Someone with enough time and resources could theoretically develop something that would protect them from just about everything – at least up to a certain amount. Your intense Enchantment Traps in the next room have a good chance to affect just about anyone, though how severe is still unknown,” Shale said, waving towards the nearby room where Tacca had hundreds of small Enchantment-based traps set up for her defense.