All four dungeons continued to try their best to break out of their entrances, to varying success. There were a few occasions where the Rangers and Orcs had to retreat back to the village and fight from there, which was made a little easier to convince them to do after the first deadly fight when they didn’t listen to Sandra and one of their number perished as a result. The Mobile Fortifications proved to be the savior of the day, as well as her Aerie Roc that she had flying around the wastelands in case it was needed. Though to be fair, the Rangers had done a superb job of keeping the Slimes contained, eliminating further Dragon Slimes before they could transform outside of the dungeon.
The third day of besieging the entrances saw a change in the behavior of the Beasts and Slimes, and then later the Goblins and Golems. A half day of extra time in between assaults led to a massive exodus out of each secondary entrance, so much that the teams watching the smaller, main entrance were pulled away. As soon as that happened and they were engaged at the main battle near each dungeon, swarms of smaller Dungeon Monsters emerged from the main entrance, scattering to all parts of the Core’s Area of Influence instead of trying to attack.
That led to even more constructs being built to attempt to cover everything, and Sandra managed to make enough constructs so that each dungeon was fully covered at all hours of the day. There were at least 1,000 constructs on each entrance of various kinds, except for the Golems, where there were only 250 Apes armed with enchanted warhammers. Still, 250 Apes was a significant number that could absolutely devastate any Golems that emerged, including the newer Iron Golems that had started to make an appearance.
Things eventually became a stalemate; the Cores were having no success getting many – or any – of their Monsters out of their dungeon, and every time they tried the combined forces of Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs (along with Sandra’s own constructs and Dungeon Monsters) were able to fight them back, though not without casualties. By the fifth day after the first seven arrived, a total of 4 out of the 52 Orcs that had joined her growing force or mercenaries had been killed, though none of the Orcs seemed to care overly much; instead they celebrated the deceased with more carnage and all agreed that they had died well. Strange people.
There were so many mercenaries staying in Grongbak now that Sandra had needed to send along supplies to build some more huts; a small fleet of 4 Animated Slabs arrived with large sheets of Pine Wood, simple hammers, and Iron nails in small crates that they could use to easily put them together. It took a small demonstration by a Steelclad Ape Warrior to show them how to use the nails, because they normally built their huts out of wood, dried grass, and a clay-like substance that worked remarkably like glue. They didn’t have extra metal lying about for something like nails, so it was new to them.
She also sent along beds and many other things to furnish the new huts, which wasn’t much of a hassle and she felt responsible for them. Therefore, anything she could provide to make their experience as mercenaries more comfortable was worth it in the end. Whether or not they appreciated it she could never tell, but she knew they appreciated all of the martial items she provided, as well as the constant fighting.
The first few batches of Ale were also finished, though Teving wasn’t satisfied with half of them. He said that he had messed up the recipe on those and they had to be dumped, and even aging couldn’t help them. However, the other half he said were more than acceptable and he stored them away…after a huge celebration where at least half of the barrels that had been crafted were cracked open and consumed. Now that he had dialed in what worked, Teving was confident that the rest would be to his exacting specifications…including a batch for his girlfriend Glencha, who preferred the more-bitter taste of a particular style of Ale.
Things were looking good, which was always where it started to go wrong. It didn’t seem that way at first, though.
After the last unsuccessful attempt to break out from their dungeons on day 5, the 4 Cores went silent. After a day, there still wasn’t any sign that they were going to attack, which only made Sandra create more constructs in the event that they tried again the next day with such a large number of Dungeon Monsters that her forces might have trouble containing them. It was during the evening on the 6th day that the Golem Core upgraded its Core Size. An hour later, the Beasts did the same, then the Goblins a half-hour after that, and finally the Slimes a short 10 minutes later. That wouldn’t have been all that bad, considering that the Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs were able to still keep them contained…but their new AOIs stretched all the way inside the wastelands, overlapped each other, and put Sandra’s own dungeon right smack in the middle of the two groups of Cores.
A bare hour after all of the Cores had completed their upgrades, the unthinkable started to happen.
Winxa? I’m pretty sure you told me before, but could you remind me again about other Cores not being able to tunnel into my dungeon?
“What? Why?”
Because all four of the Cores that we have been fighting against have now started to create a large tunnel using – what I’m assuming is – the same Bulk Elimination technique I’ve been using…and they are heading straight into the middle of the wastelands.
“Oh…my. Well, they will not be able to absorb the material surrounding your dungeon, as it is technically not inside of their Area of Influence. Just like you cannot affect their dungeons from where you are or even manipulate anything aboveground, it’s impossible for them to do anything to it.” Winxa shrugged as if it were of no concern.
Umm…does that apply to their Dungeon Monsters as well?
“What do you mean—oh.” She seemed to think about it for a moment. “I’m not sure, but I also don’t remember there being any specific occurrences of anything like that in the past.”
Great. So, what you’re telling me is that if one of those Golems, for example, walks through a tunnel 4 miles long that ends right next to my dungeon and then beats on the stone surrounding my rooms and tunnels, they’ll be able to break through?
Winxa hesitated again, swallowing audibly. “I cannot confirm nor deny that.”
Sandra was going to take that as a “yes”. She immediately let Chryla and the Rangers, Delarthe and the Shieldmen, and Perceine and the Orc mercenaries know what was going on and not to necessarily expect there to be any more action over the next day or so, but to be ready just in case. The Elves and Dwarves were visibly relieved…and of course the Orcs were disappointed.
* Don’t be too down. I think the brand-new dungeons will be opening up in a day or two, so we’ll certainly need some help to start culling them. *
That seemed to mollify them a little, though they still seemed eager for a fight. Regardless, they stayed around the Beast Core’s entrances and sparred lightly among themselves, as Sandra had forbidden them from doing any serious damage that would need healing; they understood, at least, because they were aware by that time that they would be stuck in one place as they were healed and therefore would be out of the fight if another assault occurred.
As for Sandra, she spent all of her incoming Mana and even some of her Reserves turning the walls of her dungeon from plain stone to thick Steel, though she left a thin layer of stone on the inside for effect. For her Home room, she made the walls 2 feet thick, though as she expanded outward from there she only made them 10 inches thick; if that wasn’t enough to stop them, then she expected them to at least stop whatever was trying to get inside long enough to formulate some sort of response. She also knew that she’d probably be able to repair some of the damage that was done from the outside, though not all of it; it was better than it being made of stone at least.
Once the main dungeon was complete the next morning – which was everything except the Boss room in her Roc tunnel – the four Cores had stretched their tunnels nearly half of the way to either her dungeon or a section of her Roc tunnel. She estimated that they would probably reach far enough to bust through a stone wall by the time night fell again, so she spent all her
energy towards finishing everything else. It was going to be a tight race to see who would finish first, though if she absolutely had to, she would raid her treasury for more Mana, or else make the Steel walls thinner at first and then fill them in later.
Sandra was more than half done with the tunnel by the late afternoon and was making good progress – when she received a bit of a nudge from her Shears that were hovering over the Orc village of Grongbak. All of the mercenaries were out by the Beast dungeon entrances, so that wasn’t what alerted her Shears, nor was it another Warband looking to enter the village and do an exchange with those there. In fact, it wasn’t anywhere near the village, but instead was near the southern forest border near the Elves.
* Hey, Kelerim…what does your father look like? *
Chapter 36
Wyrlin wasn’t as exhausted as he had been when the Orcs had force-marched them to Rothgar Bloodskull’s traveling encampment, but he was still tired. Fortunately, every night just after darkness fell – because the Orcs were apparently masochists and wanted to run all the way until they couldn’t see anymore – they would set up their camp and rest for the night, which meant that he and the other Elves with him could sleep more than a few hours. Of course, 6 hours was just about all they received because the entire camp woke up again before the sun even came up to break it down and get moving again. Sure, it was exhausting, but at least he didn’t have to help set anything up or tear it down.
Strangely, he found that after nearly a week of moving towards the wastelands after their meeting with the Warlord, he was getting used to the speed of their travel and his feet didn’t feel like they wanted to fall off at the end of the day anymore.
But now they had finally arrived at the edge of the wastelands, just himself, his band of five dozen Rangers and whatnot, the Elites including Fyola and Mercyll, Rothgar Bloodskull, and…nearly 3,500 Orc Warriors that were part of the Bloodskull Warband. If this wasn’t enough of a force to destroy the dungeon, then they were doomed already.
“We’re avoiding Grongbak because I don’t want any questions of what we’re doing out here,” Rothgar had told them earlier, which was why their force was hugging the treeline to the south of the border village. “There are very few…shall we say, rules, in our land of what we can and can’t do. One of those would be not to take a force outside of our lands to attempt to invade somewhere else, because we can’t afford a war with the Dwarves, the Gnomes, or even you Elves. This isn’t precisely the same thing, but it could be seen that way if we’re not careful.”
Wyrlin couldn’t care less if the Warlord got in trouble from what they were doing, as long as he and his army of Orc Warriors – the apparent equivalent to Elven Elites, though not quite as powerful individually – helped him destroy the blasted dungeon in the middle of the wastelands. That time, fortunately, would be coming very quickly; if he judged the time and distances right, they would be there at least by the time dusk settled over the wastelands, and hopefully an hour or less after that the task would be done.
They had avoided nearly all contact with any other Warbands as they made their way to the border with the wastelands, and that trend continued as they transitioned into the barren land of the area separating the four different lands nearby. Though he couldn’t see it yet, Wyrlin looked off to the south where he knew Avensglen was located; I’ve come full circle here, now it’s time to end this.
For most of their journey, the entire force had been at a steady jog as they traveled, but soon after they entered the wastelands they slowed to a fast walk.
“What’s wrong? Let’s go finish this,” Wyrlin asked, directing his attention towards the Warlord.
“You’ve never destroyed a dungeon before, have you?”
He thought about lying, but figured it wouldn’t help matters. “No, I haven’t – but I’ve killed thousands of monsters, so this can’t be much different.”
Rothgar laughed cruelly, before mocking him. “This can’t be much different? Oh, how wrong you are.”
Fyola chimed in then, to Wyrlin’s annoyance. “Dungeon hearts can somehow sense when a group is coming to destroy them, so they tend to do anything they can to stop them from even arriving at their dungeon. It’s better to go slower so that we don’t run into an ambush and unnecessarily get some of us killed.”
That made sense, but as they were so close he was getting impatient at any delay. There was no way for him to speed them up, however, so he fumed inside his head while he walked quickly along. It seemed like it was a waste of time, however, as over the next hour they didn’t encounter even a single monster. Wyrlin had already told the others what to expect, or at least what he had seen of the strange metal creatures that the dungeon had command over, and they were as prepared as they were going to get – but there was no ambush, no delaying tactics, and no evidence that there was a dungeon out there at all.
“Are you sure there is a dungeon out here, boy?” The Warlord seemed highly skeptical and now a little suspicious. “There doesn’t seem to be any sign that anything has lived out here since this place was destroyed hundreds of years ago.”
“Oh, it’s out here; we have the knowledge from some of our Elites that visited it and were corrupted by its influence, so we know it exists. Wyrlin is the only one that has actually seen the entrance, however,” Fyola added reluctantly.
His importance made him feel a little better and he walked straighter because of it. “That’s right. In fact, it should be just over that rise right…there.” He pointed off into the distance, which seemed close but was at least another mile away.
Wyrlin had never approached from their current position to the northeast of the dungeon, but he thought he recognized the rock formations on the hill ahead. After a short time where they cautiously traveled to the hill and climbed over it, he was positive that he found it. Until he looked just past where he thought it would be and saw that the very landscape had changed in a strange way.
“What…what happened here?” Mercyll asked, looking down at the concave shape in the dirt and rock of the small valley in front of them. To Wyrlin, it looked as if something had perfectly scooped out a portion of the landscape and then made it disappear. Regardless of what it was, he looked around and saw the entrance about 500 feet to the west.
“I have no idea; it didn’t look like this when I was here last. The entrance is over there, though – you can see the shadow indicating where it’s hidden in the side of the hill there. Let’s go!” Wyrlin started to walk, but he was called to stop by Fyola. I’m starting to have second thoughts on killing her myself now. I doubt we need her help anymore, especially with all these Orcs that came with us.
“Hold. I don’t like the look of this; I smell a trap here. It’s quite possible that whatever did this is still around and will kill us all if we walk into that entrance.”
“What are we supposed to do, then? Go home after coming all this way,” he scoffed at the Elite leader. “I found the entrance for you, so now we can go in, take care of a little dungeon destruction, and then go our separate ways.”
Everyone seemed to ignore him as Fyola and the Elites looked at each other and then at the Warlord, seeming to communicate in some way that Wyrlin didn’t understand, before Rothgar shrugged. “If you think you can get in, I’m all for it. I’d rather not risk our lives without any other option.”
“Oh, yes, we should be able to get in. There isn’t a stone wall that could keep me out from a secondary entrance that I’ve met yet.”
Secondary entrance? “What are you talking about? There isn’t any secondary entrance that I’m aware of.”
“That’s because it’s usually hidden extremely well and blocked off, but it’s what allows dungeons to send out their larger monsters out into the world. Most of their entrances are too small for anything larger than something our size to emerge, so how do you think the more powerful dungeons send out the more powerful monsters? There’s always a secondary entrance, especially if the dungeon has
been open for more than a few weeks.”
Fyola’s lecturing and condescending attitude was nearly enough for Wyrlin to strike out at her, but he held himself together with amazing fortitude. Just put up with this for a little while longer and then you’ll never have to see her again. Hopefully because she dies, but I’ll take a forced separation for life, too.
“Ferio! Grab a couple of Rangers and search out the area for this second entrance. I’m sure that you know what I’m talking about,” the Elite leader continued, stressing the word as she glanced at Wyrlin. He felt his knuckles pop as he squeezed his fists together, barely restraining himself at her continued insolence.
It took less than an hour for one of the Rangers to find what they suspected was this “secondary entrance”, which turned out to be about a mile to the north and a little east. Wyrlin looked at the entrance to the dungeon that was so close and shook his head as he followed the entire group to the north. After the evidence of…something…in front of the main entrance, they took special care to look for any potential traps or ambushes along the way, going even slower now as dusk settled over the wastelands and the light from the sky started to fade.
There was still plenty of light to see this secondary entrance, however, which was located in a small dip in the valley. There was a large, solid-looking perfectly square stone block that had to have been 50-feet wide on each side that was angled slightly into the ground. It wasn’t right at the surface, but just underneath the lip of the dirt around it, and its uniformity was a sure sign that it was blocking off something important. I can’t stand that she was right.
The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) Page 40
