The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3)

by Jonathan Brooks

  “So, I guess we wait. Build a new dungeon section, and they will come. It’s only a matter of time.”

  Chapter 12

  Sterge shook his head at the Raider Delving Clan outpost leader, Trevelyan, before shrugging. “No, we haven’t said a word. You know as much as we do.”

  The extremely high-Leveled Elf put her hands on her hips as she looked outside the outpost window. “Well, somehow the information got out about the dungeon being opened again, and it’s going to quickly get out of hand here if we don’t do something about it.”

  “What can we do? It’s not like those that will be coming here can really help, right?” Gwenda asked, looking out the window along with the outpost leader. There was a gathering crowd of Raiders out there, which had been growing since that morning.

  Four days ago, Sterge and Gwenda had come back to Heftington to meet with Trevelyan, to inform the outpost leader of all the information they had learned about the attacks up north, as well as who—or is it what?—had killed those near the dungeon south of The Village. After some deliberation, the two Hill Dwarves had agreed that sharing knowledge about their peculiar connection to the dungeon was warranted, as there were more worrying problems at the moment. That, and after the powerful Elf asked where they had obtained such information, it was the only way they could think of to convince her that they were telling the truth.

  That, and the sudden revelation of pure gold ore and gems did the trick. Especially when they gave much of it up to expedite the warnings. “This seems a bit suspect, I have to tell you,” she had said. “However, it does explain a lot.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She had just smiled, before admitting that she had Analyzed their Statuses and saw that they had some obscured skills, which she hadn’t been able to explain at the time. “In addition, the unique way this dungeon operates gives some credence to your story. And even down here in the middle of nowhere, I’ve heard some disturbing reports of whole Raider groups going missing, towns where everyone disappeared, and dungeons being destroyed. I wasn’t aware of how bad it had gotten, but if it’s what this…Dungeon Core…says it is, then we’ve got some planning and preparation to do to hold back these sudden attacks. We need to band together and fight; now is not the time to squabble amongst ourselves with this threat looming over us.”

  At the time, Sterge didn’t really know what she meant. Since then, however, after the outpost leader had spent days – and some nights – sending out messages to all over the continent, the Hill Dwarves had learned that there had been some eruptions of conflict between the Ministry of Merchants and the Raider Delving Clan. Not full-scale battles or anything like direct confrontations, but clashes that resulted in a reduction in resources. Resources such as access to dungeons or even the complete destruction of their Cores, eliminating them altogether.

  It was…incomprehensible to Sterge. To destroy a dungeon, not because it was a threat to people or was killing people unfairly, but only because someone from another faction was simply delving through it was just crazy. He didn’t think such a thing must be true, but then he remembered their own experience. That Minister wanted to destroy our nearby dungeon because he couldn’t control it, so maybe it’s true, after all.

  While the outpost leader sent out messages, Sterge and Gwenda worked on melting down the gold ore they had and creating coins, so that they could be sent along with the messages. Bribes were what Trevelyan called them, and they were necessary to ensure their warnings were taken seriously by those with influence; even the King, who ruled over the entire continent, needed some sort of incentive to understand that the information she sent along was considered instead of disregarded out of hand.

  “You have to admit, if you had heard about this a year ago, would you have taken it seriously? A force of people that could defeat even the strongest of Raiders, slowly taking over the world? Most people haven’t even heard of the Conclave of Sages, other than as a myth, you know.”

  Sterge thought that was a little extreme about these people aiming to take over the world, but he understood what the outpost leader was saying. The story they told was outrageous, so these “bribes” – though comparatively small – were a way of getting attention to this instead of being ignored.

  Despite some arguments over it, Trevelyan also sent out warnings to every Minister from the Ministry of Merchants, along with every outpost and the Clan Headquarters – which just went to impress the urgency and risk involved if they weren’t taken seriously. It was a lot of work, but it would be worth it if they could get everyone focused to the north, so that they could start preparing to fight back against these sudden incursions.

  But now, it seemed as though word had gotten out about the dungeon being reopened, which was going to pull attention away from the real threat.

  A sudden change in the room made Sterge shiver, and he looked up to the outpost leader to see her looking intently at both of the Hill Dwarves. It was a bit unnerving to be the object of her focus, and he suddenly knew that he didn’t want to cross her. Like, ever. Such a thing would almost guarantee a short life.

  “I need you two to go back to your village, hire whoever you can from this town and the ones nearby to help, and get things going again. I’m going to send Jesper again to arrange things with the Raiders that’ll be coming, but it’ll be a few days until he’s able to arrive. I think you’ll be fine until then, but in the meantime concentrate on putting all of the accommodations back together.”

  “What? Just like that? And why us?” Gwenda asked, obviously confused by the sudden decision.

  “Because you’re not only still leasing the land from the crown, but you have experience running your little village,” Trevelyan said, before she chuckled. “Though, from what I’ve heard, it’s not so little anymore.”

  “How—?” Sterge started to ask, but was cut off.

  “I’m going to convert your gemstones into gold at a reasonably fair price from my own reserve, and I want you to use that to build up what you already have in place. Hire whoever you need to get things rolling, sparing no expense, because this is almost as important as what is going on in the north.”

  Both of them were silent as they stared at the outpost leader.

  “We have many more lower-Leveled Raiders than ones that would be effective against these six-armed people your dungeon warned us against. It would probably be suicide to send anyone below Level 10 that haven’t even unlocked a new Class, for instance, so perhaps this could allow them to get stronger and therefore be more of use.”

  Sterge hadn’t thought of that, but it made sense. If someone like him or Gwenda went up against these powerful individuals, it would be like asking a toddler to fight a full-grown person; naturally, the outcome would be fairly certain. By allowing them to “grow up”, even a bit, their chances of survival dramatically increased.

  “Therefore, as this place is as far south as you can get from the conflict up there, I’m putting you both in charge of operations down here. This will be our ‘safe area’ where we can train our people and help them grow into fighters, because I have a feeling we’re going to need all that we can get.” She paused for a moment. “Treat this as a farm, which I know you have some experience with. These Raiders are your seeds, the dungeon is the field, and as they are planted in the field they’ll begin to grow. Sunshine and water are needed, of course, which is where you, the village, and Jesper come in. The dungeon will also ‘weed’ out all of the bad crops, allowing only the best to be harvested for the coming war.”

  It was strange hearing the current situation with Raiders coming to the village being compared to farming, but he had to admit that it made sense. “War? What do you mean? And why won’t you be in charge of everything here?”

  “I…don’t readily know, exactly, but I feel it in my bones that this isn’t just a handful of isolated incidents. I could be wrong and there is no war coming, but something tells me I’m not.” Trevelyan sighed, looking tired. �
��As for why I won’t be in charge, it’s because I won’t be here. If things are as dire as they sound, I’ll be needed up north, to defend against the advance of these monstrous ‘people’ you learned about.”

  That was worrisome, especially if it meant losing their biggest supporter. Sterge had been happy enough to pass on the information they had learned to someone with more authority, but with the outpost leader gone, who would they turn to for help? “Who will be in charge here, then?”

  The outpost leader was silent for a moment, obviously deep in thought. “I’m not sure. Ideally, I would love to have Jesper fill the post, but as he’ll be helping you organize things in your village, that really won’t work. I know!” she said excitedly, before turning on Gwenda with a serious expression. “This is asking a lot, and could cause some trouble with the Ministry, but would you be amenable to moving this outpost down to your village?”

  That was asking a lot, especially as it would seem as though they were playing favorites. Regardless, it seemed like the right thing to do, considering that they really did favor the Raider Delving Clan over the Merchants.

  Gwenda negotiated with the outpost leader, who started writing up the Writ of Transference as they spoke. Sterge tuned out most of it, since it was a bit boring and over his head, but in the end both seemed satisfied.

  “Since I’m pretty sure you didn’t catch most of that, Sterge,” Gwenda said to him when they were done, “I’ll explain it to you in simpler terms. First, we pay to operate the outpost since it is out of their jurisdiction; meaning, they don’t own the land around the outpost, so they won’t pay to maintain it. In return, we owe nothing to the Clan other than the simple upkeep of the building and those that maintain the outpost, as well as an annual fee of 5 gold. This includes, and get ready for this,” she appeared excited as she spoke, “the loot tax. Since there was an agreement before that the Raiders operated from this outpost, which is in Clan territory, they owed a tax; now that it is in our territory, we aren’t required to pay a loot tax. This will help those that are just starting out, because their take is usually much less.

  “Of course, this means that we won’t be gaining anything from them either through the taxes, but we can sustain our income from the inns in the village, as well as the store. In addition, with the outpost there, while it doesn’t signify control over everything, it will make that Minister or any others think twice about trying to squeeze out our business interests like he did last time.”

  That was still a bit much for him to understand, but what he did comprehend was that it was a good thing for everyone all around. Except for the Ministry of Merchants, of course, but they weren’t going to keep them out; they were instead going to ensure that nothing like what occurred previously happened again, as well as giving them a bit more stability over the situation. A win-win-win for everybody.

  “Alright, we’ll get this finalized and you can look it over. After that, we all have a lot of work to do.” That was quite accurate, and Sterge was looking forward to it. He had missed living in The Village and it would be good to get back there. Speaking of things he missed….

  “Is there any way we can—?”

  It was Gwenda this time that cut him off. “I’m already on it, Sterge, but there’s no guarantee they’ll come back – if we can even find them. I had a feeling we’d be going back to the dungeon at some point, so I already sent some messages out to Evy, Mordecai, and William. If fate is willing, we’ll be getting the group back together.”

  Awesome. That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. With that thought, Sterge marched out of the Clan outpost with a little bounce to his step, ready to work on putting The Village to work growing the next “crop” of Raiders.

  Chapter 13

  The hordes started coming two days later. At first, it had been a bare trickle compared to how many had visited her dungeon before, but after a week that trickle had turned into a flood. Sterge and Gwenda had come back to the village at the bottom of the mountain range, bringing with them quite a few helpers, who were hard at work constructing even more buildings, and it appeared as if they were sorely needed, because word had apparently gotten out regarding the new section in the dungeon. As a result, an entire fallow field that had previously grown food had been commandeered for the new expansion, turning it from dirt to the beginnings of an actual town almost overnight.

  Tacca had to admit that she was enjoying watching all of the activity through Shale’s eyes, and she was extremely glad that her Dungeon Assistant had gained the new ability. It wasn’t quite like flying through the fresh, crisp mountain air as she would in her Fairy form, but it was the next best thing.

  The initial action that the incoming Raiders performed, other than to help get the village situated the first day, was to gather up the bones and belongings (what there was left of them, anyway) and bury them off to the side in a mass grave. By that time, animals had gotten to the corpses, and bones were scattered everywhere, not to mention their rough handling by the thieving Raiders that had looted them, so it was near impossible to match them all together. A simple stone headstone was erected over the grave and Sterge, himself, came up to chisel in a simple epitaph that read, “Rest In Peace”.

  Whatever that was supposed to mean. Tacca thought that it would’ve been better saying, “Rest in Pieces”, since they were so scattered up.

  Regardless, life quickly went back to “normal”, or as normal as it had been before the invading 6-armed, blue-skinned, monster people made an appearance. There was the usual influx of new Raiders tackling her original dungeon, which practically ran itself; she still took the time to subtly adjust some of the environmental objects around, as well as the creature and trap placements, but on the whole it hadn’t changed all that much. In truth, it was something that was so ingrained in her routine that she barely even registered that she was doing anything, and within a day it felt as if there hadn’t even been a stoppage in the crowds coming to visit her dungeon.

  The second, newer section, though, took a little adjustment to get right. She attributed the difference to the wide range of different Raider Levels that visited her dungeon. For instance, a group that were all around Raider Level 12 were more likely to advance 7 or 8 rooms deep into the new section, while those that were only Level 6 or 7 might only get through 2 rooms.

  Because she didn’t want to waste the time of the groups that wanted to delve through her dungeon, as there were already waiting lists after only a few days of the Raiders being back, she decided to adjust the difficulty. It was like Tacca had been thinking before: she couldn’t really see if it would be suitable until she had some test runs. The result was a decrease in the Levels of the creatures in each room by a total of 2, which didn’t sound like a lot, but it made a huge difference.

  Shale was a little unconvinced. “Won’t that just make the dungeon easier for the higher-Level Raiders? Will it even be worth it for them going through the first half of the new section if they are, say, Level 15?”

  That is definitely true. What if I…hmm…that might just work.

  “What?”

  Some quick thinking and calculations led her to believe that she was correct. Well, since I have so much Control Limit at my disposal, I really don’t have to leave so many of my rooms unfilled, do I? Because of the Special Characteristics she had obtained, she now had a little over 600 of her Control Limit not being used at the moment. She had been planning on using it in the next section she had started, but that was probably months away from being complete. Essentially, her options were being underutilized.

  Overnight on the 4th day that the Raiders had returned, which was still slow because the scheduling hadn’t needed to be extended to nighttime delving yet, Tacca made some changes. Nothing of the environment or traps were changed, but the routes through the second section were redone with differing Raider Levels in mind. The first route, which was for the lower-Level groups that challenged her second section, would be led through a series of roo
ms where the creature Levels ranged from 3 all the way up to 10, which was a new Werewolf Warrior – essentially the same, just easier.

  The second route through the new section would be a bit harder, with creature Levels ranging from 8 through 17, which would challenge the stronger, higher-Level groups that delved through her dungeon. It would be slightly more difficult than she had originally planned, but would offer more Rewards for those who chose to brave the increased difficulty. Fortunately, as she had essentially made mirrored copies of the rooms on either side of the new section, it was easy enough to differentiate the two without them overlapping – except for her Boss Room.

  Solving that problem was a little more involved, but it was eventually solved by hollowing out 2 small rooms adjacent to the large, tree-filled Boss Room, placing one of the Werewolf Bosses with their respective Wolves inside, and then closing it off from the main room with a Rotating Stone Bridge. When it was decided which difficulty it was going to be, Tacca would open up the trap and allow the correct team inside.

  So how was she supposed to figure out which difficulty it was going to be? Well, that was the tough part; she couldn’t determine the Raiders’ Levels beforehand, obviously, so there had to be another way.

  “Why don’t you offer them a choice? You already did it outside the entrances, so why not do the same thing down here?”

  Simple and easy – I like that. In the first room at the bottom of the entrance slide, she carved a single stylized skull over two of the left-most entrances leading to the easier part of the new section, and 2 skulls over the two right-most entrances leading to the harder part of the section. Simple, elegant…yet it left one entrance right down the middle that she had as of yet left alone. Before, it had been just a relatively empty room acting as another route to get to either the left or right halves of the mirrored dungeon sections, but when they were split, it belonged to neither.