The preparations were done and everything was ready. They just needed the grudge dog to bite the bait. They had turned that village into a fortress meant for the capture of a hellhound. It would be allowed to fight its way in and then be barred from ever getting out. The entire structure was meant to attract it at every turn and every attack would drain a little more of its energy away. The undead would fall hard and then get right back up again, the entire place had been turned into a living nightmare the likes of which would frighten the most deranged architects in the world.
Beyond that, they had placed so many curses on their little fortress to make it uninhabitable for life. Nothing would grow there and everything would die. Even they could not casually walk up to it anymore and they were the ones that built the damn thing. The entire place was covered in so many zone effects that actually counting them was pointless and before you started looking at field spells.
They had turned the very air in the place into the deadliest of poisons. The humidity of the place could burn a giant's skin and melt their bones before they could hit the ground. They had worked the blessings of every god and goddess there was into the place making it in some sense holy. Then they had the Lady contact all the demons and devils that were willing to help them for a price that was worth paying. They sat them all down and explained the situation letting them go wild on the place. It was actually kind of impressive what a bunch of the most morally bankrupt people to ever exist could do when given no limits and endless resources to play with.
The artillery spells were all facing inwards with a focus on siege spells lining every corridor. With the help of the gods, time did not even flow the right way for half of the place. It would, when everything was said and done, be a permanent dungeon under no control but its own twisted whims that were given to it by the very magic and the god's own joy.
One way or another this was going to make them legends, the only question was how infamous they would be after it was done. If they managed to get their own legacy, it would be as the devilish monsters that unleashed this endless fortress on the world. They had already noticed that some of the gods and devils had started placing treasures in it.
They had wisely refrained from touching any of it. Now was not the time to fall into the trap of a god, not when they still had work to do. Others would come by in the decades to come, they would face the challenges of a dungeon crafted to be as lethal as possible. They would triumph and fail, live and die all on their own power and merit. Those were the story's of another time not yet here but they would be one day.
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"When this is done, we never speak of this place again alright?" Teamasa said.
"We vaporize the undead with spells from range and hope that none of them can reform from the aether. Then we pay our debts and head home, prepare for the return to the city." Smithy planned. It would be good to be back in his shop and start to work on creating potions from all the materials that they had gotten.
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"With so many forces taking notice of the place I am not sure that will work. I personally think that they are going to keep things the way they are now and keep adding more to it, making it even more convoluted over time. Time is already funny in there, how long until space gets all messed up to go along with it?" Tess stated matter of factly.
"This may just be the first thing that all of these opposing forces have ever agreed on in the history of forever. Kind of makes me sad that it was not over something more important than a hellhound." Drassisa thought out loud. "I just realized that this is technically a Holy sight now. What with the gods of order and chaos actually agreeing on something. What the hell have we done?"
"Made a religious sight out of the most lethal dungeon that has ever been made. And filled it with the undead that can only be described as blasphemy against those very gods." Embrda told his sister.
"There is no way this won't blow up in our faces is there?" Sasha asked her friends.
"Let's just try and keep it as far from being our problem for as long as we can, what say everybody." Tea decided.
"Agreed!" Was the general assessment of the group. This would be a problem for later when they had at least an idea of what the full scope of it would be.
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HATE!
I hate them, I will kill them and leave nothing remaining.
There is nothing that can stop me, I will just keep coming. Over and over until they are all dead.
I have been around for so long and learned so much about killing those that I go after. I was once stupid but have sense become smart. I have eaten the souls of many thousands and never forget a grudge.
I was summoned to kill a rich man and his entire family. I will do so and eat their souls. The summoner's grudge will be fulfilled no matter how long it takes me.
I smell it, a grudge that permeates the souls of so many. It is bound to them so strongly that it holds them here. Forever against their wills.
I must devour them and set them free, free in my guts.
The place they are held eternally is so bright with the sheer might of the divine that the shadows are dark with power.
This place is an endless grudge that houses grudges of endless time.
It is a feast of power for me. I shall eat it all.
Something is wrong, no matter how much I eat I never get full. It is almost like I am being emptied as fast as I can eat.
Must eat more.
Forgetting so much of why I am here. I know how to kill so that my prey does not escape me but not why. Why must I kill them quickly?
Getting so sleepy.
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There the team sat and watched what was going on inside the fortress. They had decided to name it the Grudge Fortress in honor of its first victim, a hellhound.
"Look at it. Getting weaker and just regenerating endlessly. Spraying fire everywhere like that. If we had fought that we would be dead wouldn't we?" Teamasa asked.
"Yeah probably so, it is why we went to such extremes to solve this way." Smithy said quietly.
"How are these things normally dealt with," Embrda asked to check if his assumption was right.
"Magic. Kill it once and you are good to go for quite a while. Most use artifacts of great power to do it. That or just throw whatever it wants at it and it will go away on its own." Teamasa said having the knowledge that he wanted.
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"It is done oh dear Lady of Bargains, the hellhound is sleeping and the grudge is contained. Both are now yours and so are the gods yours to deal with on equal terms at your lake." The three warlocks pronounced.
"Thank you, I shall call on you at a later time to discuss payment for the burdens that I have taken from you." She said.