He talked, through Cid, to Siobhan about organizing expeditions into the caverns towards the dwarven settlement. He was excited about the prospect of rescuing more slaves for the first time in far too long. That didn't mean he was willing to rush in blind however.
After much debate it was decided that they would take a few earth mages with them who could essentially close any tunnel allowing them to make it back to the sanctuary if they encountered trouble. The dwarves having almost no magical talent aside from rune crafting would then be forced to dig their way through slowly or give up. The earth mages for their part were eager to prove their worth having had almost no part in the few battles humans participated in. Only after the caverns were fully mapped out would they organize an attack though; it wouldn't do to have their exit suddenly blocked by dwarves emerging from a cavern they hadn't explored and thus didn't realize also connected to the dwarven settlement through an alternate route. It turned out however that the caverns were much more expansive than previously thought. Especially once you get out past where all the mining was happening. If it were a house, he'd say the area they explored before, when the caves were first discovered, would be like the entryway.
Knowing that exploring the caverns was going to take a while he turned his attention to expanding. He was going to duplicate the rest of his spawners however he decided to focus on expanding for the time being. Mainly because he had let his mana build up enough that he could afford a few expansions, but also because he suddenly felt very small. Even though he was able to very easily and efficiently repel the Dwarves attack his dungeon instincts really didn't like how close they had gotten to his core. His instincts wanted him to expand west but he was able to override them and get four expansions north. Although he knew his instincts would not be happy until he expanded west, he also knew there were humans to the north just trying to survive and desperate for any kind of safety they could find.
As he was going over everything he had gained his attention was suddenly pulled away by the arrival of the recon team returning from the large human city. Once again, they managed to bring back packs full of books, there was not however a single useful book among them. Not even any official documents. The more he thought about it the more things just didn't add up. He could understand them wanting to erase any mention of where they had fled to, but this seemed almost like they were trying to erase any evidence of their existence. He refused to believe that however. For one thing why would they want to erase their own existence and for another why leave their literature intact if that was the case. Based on the reports from both scouting teams that had been there it didn't seem like the enemy made it far enough to get to the documents much less destroy them. So, he concluded that in their efforts to keep those papers out of enemy hands they had unintentionally erased their own history by choosing not to leave at least a copy of the official documents behind. All he could do now was focus on using his ability to repair the books they had. This would certainly boost morale.
Just like with the first recon team sent there they wanted to return immediately. Siobhan however decided to let the first recon team sent return to the abandoned city instead. Telling them that she hoped a fresh set of eyes would be able to uncover a bit more. Logan can only admire how far she's come from the frail little frightened thing that stumbled blindly into his territory all those years ago. She orders the team that just got back to rest for a few days then head over to spy on the dwarves. The other recon team meanwhile was still busy trying to map out the tunnels, which appeared to be much more extensive than previously thought.
Slowly Logan returned to going over everything he had gained in the last expansion. Nothing really stuck out as super important, but he still liked to catalog everything anyway. He was searching for any seeds that might have been too small to have been noticed by any of the humans. He knew that the odds of finding seeds that were still viable were nearly zero, but they were never actually zero. Especially not in a world were magic exists. Sadly, he was yet again unable to find any.
A few days later the recon team returned with news that nothing had changed near the dwarves settlement, at least nothing on the surface anyway. This led Logan to believe that his initial assessment was correct, and they had thrown everything they had left at what they hoped would be a surprise attack from below. He still planned to explore the tunnels fully before committing to an assault but the idea of finally being rid of the dwarves filled him with immense joy. With renewed determination he sent a large rat army consisting of 75 large rat swarms to attack what was left of the orcs. He was confident that the humans would be able to handle any survivors and it would probably be a huge moral boost for them to burn an orc camp to the ground, especially for the ones that were hunted by orcs. He also suggested that the humans send one of the flying recon teams to observe the battle, that way they could report back instantly with the results.
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Later that same week the recon team reports back that the rats managed to kill most of the orcs with only around 30 left alive. Joel and Cid Begin immediately discussing who should join in the attack on the orc camp. Eventually they settle on sending 90 warriors and 10 mages along with 5 healers. They Understood the value of leaving a sizable force at home 'just in case' but they still wanted to guarantee victory without any humans dying if they can help it. Logan is once again thankful that orc camps don't aid each other. He is still worried about the human army that is heading out to attack the orcs, but he also understands that he can't hold their metaphorical hand all the time. He is also eager to make the surrounding area safe with help from the human army, or at least as safe as he can make it.
They leave out early the next morning. This time however they are being watched by the recon team and there are more warriors and healers standing by in case reinforcements are needed. They weren't exactly lined up at the border, but their gear was prepacked so that it would only take a few moments for them to grab their gear, meet up, organize, and head out. While he doesn't think it will last forever controlling the skies does have certain advantages. This gives both him and the humans the invaluable ability to redirect troops as needed. He hasn't given up on the idea of flying mages or even archers. While mages have been practicing casting spell while riding, they are not yet at the point where they can do so accurately. As for archery he has decided to go back to basics and have a few of the warriors capable of riding the flying mounts practice throwing spears. Spears being a simple metal pole with a pointy end. He was going to use wood at first but because they will be thrown from above, he figured the added weight would add to their effectiveness.
Meanwhile as the human army marches toward their target he takes the opportunity to buy another northern expansion. Once again, he felt his instincts urging him to expand west but as long as he was expanding that seemed to be enough. He didn't know quite how to describe it. He only knew that the last time he felt like this was when his instincts kept trying to get him to ready the 'dungeon manual'. Because of this he understood that the farther he strayed from what his instincts wanted the more intense the feeling would get. Speaking of the manual he still grimaces at the thought of reading what is essentially a technical manual the size of a novel. Especially since he never planned to do normal dungeon things.
A month later, as Logan was buying his fourth expansion since watching them leave, they returned having successfully completed their task. As a bonus they even managed to find a small group of humans to bring back with them. After being redirected by the flying recon team as soon as they found a clearing large enough to land in. The small group was skeptical at first, luckily seeing such a large well equipped human army did most of the convincing for them. Kind of hard to argue against the existence of an area where humans no longer need to live in fear constantly looking over their shoulders when the proof of its existence is literally right in front of you. After all each piece of armor was custom fitted, meaning it isn't just armor they found lying around. They were a little perturbed when they saw all the creatures, especially the ones Logan referred to as his 'big boys'. Watching everyone else going about their day barely even paying attention to the creatures did eventually put their mind at ease.
After meeting with the queen, and subsequently getting over the shock that a human ruler exists, they all pledged their loyalty. For the next few days they walked around talking to various residents and thinking about how best to contribute. Five of them went to the bunk house to start their warrior training. The youngest of the group, being about the same age Siobhan was when she first found the sanctuary, decided to become a life mage. The remaining six people all took up various apprenticeships. Meanwhile the dwarven settlement was still not showing any signs of gearing up for another attack.
With nothing else happening at the moment that required immediate attention he suggested to Cid that they find a way for the flyers to signal troops on the ground without having to land. Admittedly something that should have been given some thought long before now. Logan had listened to the reports from both the returning army and the recon team that was watching over them. The thing that got his attention was how they almost missed the small group because the flyers couldn't find a spot to land. He also remembered hearing that the forest to the south was even thicker making landing even more of a chore. Once Cid brought it up with the others several ideas were suggested.
One such idea was to use some of the smaller birds to relay messages between the ground and air. The main benefit being their ability to deliver messages without alerting the enemy. The main drawback being that if the enemy does catch on the birds will point the enemy right to them. The Group also wouldn't be able to stop and read a message in combat, not to mention the chance of an enemy mage shooting it down if they are in combat. Another idea was to have colored fabric the fliers could drape over the side to indicate things like danger, friendly, or something worth investigating. This does have the benefit of not giving away the position of the people on the ground. Unfortunately, it is also very limited in what information can be relayed and it is simple enough the enemy could crack the code. The third suggestion was to take some white flour like substance that has had water added until it is kinda runny. The idea being to disguise messages as bird poop. Something only possible because dungeon creatures don't actually poop, but if you don't know they're dungeon creatures ...
Logan wasn't sure which one they were going to go with but they each had pros and cons. The third idea he thought was the most promising, but he wasn't sure any note delivered that way would be readable.