Chapter 23

Lubald Worth released the arrow, empowering it with a Skill which increased its power and penetration considerably. It struck the burrower in the side and, with a “Skreee!” the monster was torn apart. Gerald smashed the remaining one’s head in a moment later with his mace. Lubald tsked to himself as the last of the enemies in this room was vanquished.

“Spiders and rats, but none of what we came here for,” Lubald complained. “You told me that this dungeon was filled with giant snakes. I was planning to commission a full series of boots on the proceeds of this delve based on that information!”

The other party members exchanged glances. Gerald looked away, a suitably chastised expression on his face for making the error. The woman, Elva, was less understanding of her place in the world. The only reason she was even along on the delve was because she had the Apothecary subclass! They were toting her with them to treat spider and snake bites, only there were no damn snakes, and fewer spiders than reported.

“Your boots will have to wait, milord,” she said, her tone mocking. “There’s been a shift in the dungeon. It’s our responsibility to find out why and report the changes to the local garrison as soon as possible.”

Lubald tsked again. He had only been a Lord for a few days, and he didn’t like the dismissive tone she used when invoking his new station. He even had holdings in the north now, lands which he needed to visit sooner rather than later, if the reports of a new monster Spawning were true. He was looking forward to presenting Lucia, the woman he had been courting, with a coat made from the fur of Fire-lynx.

Of course, he wasn’t planning to actually live in the lands that he had been granted by the crown. He supposed he’d have to build some sort of an estate, as it sounded like the valley hadn’t had a proper lord before, and he was resentful of the sudden expense such an undertaking would cost him. Even if the marks would come from his father’s accounts, rather than his own.

To Lubald, there wasn’t much difference between the two.

Lubald was thinking that a basic hunting lodge would be sufficient for the purpose of maintaining his presence in the valley. Lubald knew that he was expected to deal with the valley’s monster problem by hunting the newly spawning creatures and ensuring their population stayed low, but surely that wouldn’t require his year-round presence?

He expected he’d be able to visit once or twice a year, hunt the creatures into extinction, then return to the cities and proper civilization to spend the rest of his time living in the comfort to which he had become accustomed. The monsters would respawn regardless of how heavily he hunted them, but keeping their population low would be sufficient to fulfilling his duty.

As far as the peasants of Tiluth valley went, Lubald had little interest in interfering with whatever governance they already had in place. Oh he supposed he’d have to draft some sort of tax from them in exchange for his protection, but he had no intention of involving himself in the minutia of village life.

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Lubald complained. “The dungeon has seemingly become less dangerous than it was before.”

“Change is dangerous,” Elva insisted. “You may only be here for you boots, but the rest of us actually live in the area. If this dungeon has changed, it’s possible that others in the area are experiencing the same phenomena. We need to--”

“We need to find a damn snake and flay it for my boots,” Lubald insisted. A shadow flashed in the corner of his eye, and his reflexes acted on their own. He knocked, drew, and released an arrow in a fraction of a heartbeat. It hit something fleshy and there was a bark of pain, but the shadow was gone in an instant and Lubald didn’t plan on following it into the dark. Not even for one of his favorite arrows; whatever that shadow had been, it was much larger than the spiders and the rats which he had been seeing thusfar.

“That wasn’t a Burrower,” Gerald commented.

“Yes, well, whatever it is, it’s wounded now. And probably too cowardly to confront us a second time,” Lubald predicted. “Come on then. Since you all insist upon scouting the remainder of the dungeon, let’s get it over with so that we can make that report you’re insisting on.”

~~~~~~~~

Tom studied the Linked dungeon carefully, considering what, if anything, he should do. The adventurers, as far as he could determine, certainly weren’t doing anything wrong. There were no licenses or permits required to delve, all it took was the courage required to risk your life inside a dungeon.

The party was making short work of the spiders and burrowers that Beta had spawned while Tom hadn’t been looking, so it wasn’t like they needed Tom’s help. For that matter, Tom wasn’t certain that he could help. The monsters in the dungeon now weren’t his, he was fairly certain that he didn’t have ownership of them like he did the few monsters that were traveling with him. Even if he did own the monsters the party was facing, it’s not like he could order them to lie down and die.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

There were several reasons to delve dungeons, and Tom didn’t know which motivation was driving this group of adventurers. One reason was to cull the monsters inside, as was the case for the dungeon north of Tilluth before its destruction. Another common reason was simply to gain experience and levels, as dungeons presented the highest concentration of monsters, and thus experience, available. Claiming the resources within the dungeon was often yet another consideration.

The only action Tom knew for certain that he could take would be to spawn more monsters for the party to face. This would frustrate them if they were delving to cull the dungeon, but if they were there for experience or resources they might appreciate his actions. Although Tom couldn’t think of any resources of that dungeon which the party might be after; previous to his interference it had simply been filled with snakes and spiders.

The deciding factor ended up being Tom’s selfishness. When he checked his personal status, he noticed that he was gaining experience whenever the party killed the monsters within beta’s dungeon. Not very much experience, but enough that he decided to take advantage of the situation.

He didn’t want to put the party in danger, of course. He thought that the snakes were probably the most dangerous of the options he had, so he deliberately avoided spawning those. Instead, he began filling the distant dungeon with the relatively weak, but experience rich, gnolls. Hopefully the party would appreciate Tom’s efforts, rather than resent him for making their jobs more difficult.

Judging by the way the party ripped through the summoned gnolls when they encountered them, Tom’s efforts were not impeding them overly much anyway.

~~~~~~~

The unnamed Korgoath watched from the darkness as the gnolls foolishly charged the intruders. She did not know why the dungeon had suddenly started spawning so many of the hated beasts, but he was pleased to see them immediately fed into the meat grinder that was this party of adventurers.

She had manage to get the arrow out of her flank, although the process had not been easy, and was resting in one of her hidden spots now. Though they were passing through the same room, she doubted that the adventurers would spot her, and she was content to learn from her mistakes by allowing them to pass by unmolested.

That arrow had hurt, costing her two thirds of her health despite not hitting any vital organs. Had it been invested with the skill which increased the potency of the arrow, rather than being a reflex shot, it was possible that the attack would have ripped her apart, as it did the gnolls who foolishly charged the party to meet their ends.

Once the party had passed by, the unnamed korgoath closed her eye and relaxed. She was the only one of her kind in this dungeon, and although she was only a few days old, she was hoping that the dungeon would spawn a male soon. She was lonely, and time would be more interestingly spent if she had a mate that was worthy of her.

~~~~~~

Lubald grew less frustrated when the gnolls started appearing. Perhaps the dungeon was not a complete waste of time after all, he reflected.

There was a standing bounty on gnolls throughout the kingdom, and although he’d prefer the snakeskin he’d come into the dungeon to acquire, at least he wouldn’t be leaving empty handed.

Gerald cut the left paw off of the latest gnoll to challenge their group, dead from an empowered arrow to the chest. Lubald’s attack had more than stopped the creature’s charge cold; the monster had been flung backward and the impact had crushed its chest on top of penetrating straight through.

Lubald would of course be claiming one half of the bounty, with the remaining half split between his companions. It was only fair, as he was both the highest level of the party and the one who was doing most of the work.

The bounty for the left paw of a gnoll was two marks. Hopefully, by the time they finished their delve, Gerald would be carrying a sack full of the grizzly things. It wouldn’t be a particularly large amount, but it would be coin which Lubald could spend however he wished without concern for his father’s opinion on the expense.

~~~~~~

Tom informed Antoine of the adventurers when the others returned from their shopping quest. The Hero didn’t seem overly concerned about the matter.

“Adventurers delve dungeons. It’s what they do. I don’t know if you did the right thing or not, but considering that none of them died I don’t think you did anything particularly wrong,” he said.

“I’m more concerned about the fact that the Core I left behind is spawning monsters without my input,” Tom explained.

Antoine shrugged again. “That would be a concern if we were trying to build a town around the Cores you’re conquering right now. I’m not particularly surprised by this development, Tom. I’m not certain what it takes to tame a Core, but typically Claiming it is insufficient. I was hopeful about your Link ability, and the fact that it allows you to commune with conquered dungeons over vast distances is amazing, but I’m not too surprised that the dungeons operate on their own recognizance while your attention isn’t directly focused on them. However, the fact that you still get experience from the distant Cores says to me that we should make an effort to conquer more dungeons and Link them to your growing network.”

“What about reaching the capital?” Tom asked.

“We’ll keep heading in that general direction,” Antoine confirmed. “But if you ask me, the less you need to rely on the crown for leveling assistance, the fewer hooks that King Fenard will have in you.”

Tom accepted the advice. They got underway again, but the next time Tom detected an underground Core, he shifted their heading to intersect it.