by Dakota Krout
I told him, all mirth removed from my voice.
“Oh? How is that, great one?” Bob was refocused on me, his eyes burning with a desire to help me regain my lost Wisp. “Are you creating a body? Riding along with one of your dungeon born?”
“Yes. What can I do to help?”
“Well, what is it?” Bob stomped his foot. “You can’t just say that and leave me wondering!”
I smiled, a deadly and dangerous thing.
“Sounds challenging.” Bob smiled as he realized that he was going to get to work with very dangerous items soon.
“That we will, Great Spirit.” Bob ran off to inform himselves of the recent developments.
~ Chapter Thirty-One ~
“A place of peace and enlightenment enthralled by a murderous dungeon and beset upon by necromancers…” the Dwarven ambassador, Thaddius, commented wryly. “That is what you are proposing when you pursue your idea for an academy here. What an interesting life you must lead, Baron Dale.”
Dale scowled, nodding his head. “I understand your hesitation, Thaddius.” He looked around the table at the council and each delegation leader. “I understand everyone’s hesitation in this matter. Recent events are disheartening, but we can-”
“Disheartening?” The High Elf ambassador stood sharply, chair falling to the ground behind him. “I lost a half dozen Elves! Do you even understand the loss that signifies? That is the birth rate for three entire years for my people! Am I to believe that the Dark Elves weren't behind this? That they just happened to let the necromancers through to my people? These are the ‘trustworthy’ beings you surround yourself with? Incompetent fools who-”
A dark wave of Mana washed through the room, coalescing into the Dark Elf princess Brianna occupying a chair near the head of the table. She looked stern and angry. “Do not,” she growled at the suddenly silent High Elf, “try to push this onto my people. You refused to allow us to guard you, and you paid the price. If you want to blame someone, blame your fallen for being weak.”
“That’s enough!” Dale slammed his fist down onto the table which splintered, surprising the crowd into silence. “I am sick of this! We have a plan. We have worked out details. My people were attacked and took far greater casualties than any other group, and I am still here discussing how to better this area! You have all heard the terms; if you do not want to be here, than get the abyss out! If you are still here in ten minutes, I will assume you are agreeing to the most recent proposals, and we will have a contract drawn up! Until then, we are taking a break.”
Silence reigned as Dale stood and stomped out of the room. Chandra walked over to him, and he glowered at her. “Dale, stop acting like a child. That cut to the heart of the matter but made you look like an unstable despot. Some of them may leave or withdraw their support because you cannot act according to your station.”
Dale snorted and crossed his arms. “Support. Sure. At this point, if they are going to remain a pain in the ass to work with, I’d rather have them gone. We need to do a lot of work in the area, and instead we keep getting caught in meetings with people that are only trying to get themselves a better deal.”
“We were battered by a horrible sneak attack, Dale. There was nothing you could have done to prevent it.” Chandra placed a hand on his arm.
“There is now.” Dale’s eyes glinted as he made his decision. “From now on, I am going to be working with the dungeon. We will get stronger as it does. We will have vetting systems for people that come here. We need to arm ourselves and find weapons we can use against these powerful enemies that we seem to have acquired for no good reason. If this is going to be a place of peace, we need to be ready for war.”
Chandra watched him as he stalked back to the table. “It is always so painful to see a former innocent realize the truth of this world,” she whispered sadly. Returning to the table, she took her spot as the meeting was called to order.
“Before any decisions are committed to,” Dale began speaking before anyone else could, “there was another discovery this morning. The dungeon has created a place devoted to various crafts and training. There are alchemy tables, mining areas, forges, training rooms for various weapons, Inscription equipment, and so on. There is also every rare material the dungeon has ever produced, including mithril, aluminum, and opal. All of this is accessible for a small fee and certain donations to the dungeon.”
There was a confused roar as people tried to speak over each other. Dale hushed them and took their questions one at a time. Thaddius started the talks greedily. “There is mithril and aluminum? Just there and ready to use?”
“Yes. As I understand it, the donations you make to the dungeon determine what resources you are allowed access to. The first person to go in offered his entire life as a memory gem, and was granted unlimited access to all materials, with an endless amount of time to use them. Other people offered less and were given less to work with. But yes, there are entire chests filled with powdered aluminum, gold, gems, and books that detail various knowledge.”
“Chests filled with mithril? Ughh.” The Dwarves at the table shivered slightly and flushed a bit. The ones that were standing moved objects they were holding–not-very-subtly–so they could cover the front of their pants.
The high Elf ambassador sneered at them. “Gross.” He turned back to Dale. “What else can you tell us about this?”
Dale explained the limits and benefits of the area, which was shortly followed by everyone agreeing to the offers made in terms of trade, academic expertise, and political alliances. The meeting ended, and Dale hurried off to find his team, when he heard some words that froze him in his tracks.
“Necromancers attacking, giant spider-bugs swarming into our city, and now a dungeon that plays at being a scholar!” There was a deep female laugh at these words. “Next you’ll see Barbarians carrying us a fresh plate of cookies!”
Turning, Dale looked over to see the Amazonian delegation speaking to each other. He slowly walked toward them, as though he were in a dream. “Did you say… giant spider-bugs?”
He was eyed carefully, and the Amazonian almost didn’t answer. Pursing her lips, she relented. “Yes. Dog-sized flying spiders swarmed our capitol. They wove webs over every street, most of the larger buildings, and every sewer hole in the city. The city stank for days until we burned through enough webbing.”
“I need to see. I need to go there,” Dale announced in a shaken tone, then mumbled to himself. “Maybe I’m wrong?”
“As if you’d make it through the gate!” The Amazon
ian laughed in his face. “We learned our lesson hundreds of years ago; no man is allowed in our capitol without a slave collar. Filthy animals like men need to live as animals, else you get ‘ideas’. Like you, pretending to be Noble.” She walked away, leaving a shocked Dale behind. He almost told her to leave, simply due to the fact that he had warned her that her brand of hateful speech was not allowed, but he simply had more important battles to fight right now. Plus, without even trying to, she had essentially just saved his life with the forewarning of what his trek to her city would result in.
Dale walked outside, coming to face a crowd that had been gathered. There were signs of exhaustion, trauma, fear, and anger. He quietly crushed a Core and shivered, now filled with confidence. Dale walked to a podium that was prepared for him, taking a deep breath. “People of Mountaindale. Above all else, I am horrified by the events of last night. We were attacked, harshly and without warning or provocation. Lives were lost. Friends, family, brothers-in-arms. I want to be the first to tell you that this assault will not be forgotten. We will find these cowards that attack in the dead of night and destroy them root and branch. We have made an agreement today, here in our humble town. The combined might of the Dwarves, High and Dark Elves, two of the Human kingdoms,” Dale turned a stony glance upon the Amazons, “and the Northmen have all decided to devote resources and troops to eradicating this infestation. When we find them, we go to war.”
Ragged cheers broke the stillness left by his words, and soon people were clamoring to ask questions. Anger and fear had turned to righteous fury as people were given an outlet for their loss. All those gathered felt a surge of powerful emotion as they dedicated themselves to the destruction of their attackers.
“Today though, we mourn our dead.” Dale motioned, and large casks of ale and wine were tapped, and full mugs were passed around. “I ask that you not drink just yet, but wait until everyone holds a stein.” There were a few guilty faces as men tried to get the foam out of their moustaches. When everyone was holding a mug, Dale raised his own tankard. “A full cup is a sign of joy, happiness, and plenty. Today though, we are damaged. We do not have our entire populace, and within all of us, there is a place that is empty. Today, we mourn.”
Taking a few deep breaths, Dale let the silence reign for a moment. “We all hold a full glass. In honor of those we have lost, who took a shard of us with them, let us pour out a portion of our drink, and hopefully some of the sorrow we hold within ourselves.” He tipped his mug, and the bubbling liquid slashed on the ground at his feet. Dale poured out more than the others around him, attempting to showcase his deep feelings of loss. Around the area, his actions were mirrored. He tipped back the remainder, drinking as much as he could in a single gulp.
Looking around, all eyes were on him. Dale nodded respectfully at them. “We mourn, but we must go on. Food and drink are provided for anyone who would like to partake. Death is everywhere in the Phantom mountains!”
“Death is everywhere!” the crowd chanted in reply. The mood remained somber that evening, but at midnight, Brakker the Bard decided that it was time to leave the sadness behind and get on with life. He started playing merrily, and soon people were laughing and sharing stories of the departed.
Brakker asked if there were any requests, and Dale chuckled evilly, snuck a look at Hans, and asked the Bard to play “Killer of Her Loneliness”. It was a popular drinking song, so people were soon singing and laughing along with the terrible lyrics.
“The killer of her heart; he had stolen her love like a thief in the darkest of nights!” Brakker drunkenly sang. People were clapping along and whistling. “His dangerousness forced them to part. His taste on her lips, she watched him go~o…”
As the song was coming to an end, everyone who knew the final refrain joined in. “He was dangerlicious!” Cheering broke out as people laughed and drank.
“Wow. That was unutterably terrible.” Rose chuckled at the Bard's antics. “Why oh why would you ask him to play that song, Dale?”
Dale looked at Hans, who was glowering at the Bard and drinking heavily. “Oh, it just has deep, personal meaning to me.” Hans choked on his ale and slowly lowered his cup. “I mean, how often are you found to be dangerlicious?”
Hans’ eyes were locked on Dale, and if he had been a higher cultivation rank, his look may have killed the newly noble man. “What do you think you know?” he whispered hoarsely.
Dale feigned innocence. “What do you mean, Hans?”
The ex-assassin narrowed his eyes. “You don’t know… G’night all!” He got up and started hurriedly moving into the crowd.
Tom blocked his way seemingly unintentionally, then broke into a grin when he saw his mentor's face. “Hello! Heading out?”
“Ah. Yeah… tired, or something,” Hans mumbled as his eyes darted around.
“Sure you aren’t off to steal love like a thief in the darkest of- oof!” Tom’s sly grin vanished as he doubled over from a punch to the stomach.
Turning around with a jerky motion, Hans had a skull-like grin on his face. “So. You. Do. Know.”
“Yeah, we do!” Rose released a deep belly laugh, shaking in her seat. “C’mere, killer, have a drink on me!” Hans rejoined the group and dealt with the good-natured ribbing, but no matter how they begged, he refused to tell the story associated with the horrible song.
Adam laughed breathily. “At least we know why Kere Nolsen was so adamantly against having his name immortalized in song.”
Dawn was threatening as the revelry ended, and Dale took a deep breath, dreading the next thing that he needed to do. Saying his goodbyes and good nights, he wandered over to his room, sitting heavily on the bed. Almost hyperventilating, he called out to the dungeon, “Cal.”
A few moments passed before he heard an incredulous response.
“No, Cal… I… I have some news.” Dale swallowed, his throat drier than he believed possible.
“I need assurances from you first. I want to make a deal,” Dale announced firmly.
“I want you to work with me. For the town. Help us build, grow, and learn. Help us look out for dangerous people, and give us warning when it looks like we might be under attack. Regulate the first couple levels of your dungeon so that we can train new people without the majority of them dying. You can charge for all of these services, but I want you to agree right now to do it and only charge a fair price.” Dale almost coughed, but didn’t want to interrupt the seriousness of his words.
Dale nodded, he had expected this question. “In return, we will work to make you larger and stronger. A force to be reckoned with, with a city of protectors. If you need something, we will try to get it for you, for a fair cost.”
“In return…” Deciding it was time, Dale dropped the big news. “I also think that I have found where Dani is being held.”
~ Cal ~
I waited a few minutes, and Dale started to stir.
“Shut up,” Dale ordered bluntly. “That proves it. I knew that you had been affecting me somehow. I can see that m
y mental defenses aren’t strong enough to stop you anymore. My friends told me that I said things–and did things–in the dungeon that I don’t remember doing. So we will add that to the deal. You will further agree not to insert thoughts or control me directly. Only I will control myself. I will not be a puppet.”
The resolve in his eyes was as hard as my Core. “If you don’t agree, I will not come into the dungeon anymore. I won’t risk losing myself. I also will not tell you where Dani is and order people not to let you find out.”
Well, he certainly had me over the coals. I thought about his deal, and really, it was more than fair. Mutual protection, mutual benefit, mutual gains. I sighed when I realized that I needed to agree.
“Agreed.” A dollop of my Mana constricted around my Core, signifying the agreement and how I would die if I broke it. Looked like painfully. Fun times. Dale gave me the news I had been waiting for. “Dani is in the capital of the Amazon’s Queendom. Your ‘love-bugs’ swarmed the place, covering streets, buildings, and the sewers in webs.”
He was shaking his head as I started asking questions. “I can’t go there, Cal. The Queendom enslaves any man that attempts to enter the city. Not to mention that there are dozens of at least B-ranked necromancers that attacked us. There is sure to be more there.”