#Shinji

The grotesques at the walls trumpeted in their low infra-sound rumble. Nyx and Erebus had fallen. Two more of the invaders were removed, but there was an unknown number still within the alliance's borders. Shinji would have frowned if he still had flesh to do so. Instead, he rose his left hand in a closed fist gesture, which caused his men to spring from their half torpor they had been into full and alert attention.

For a moment Shinji's mind wasn't on the here and now. For a brief moment between command given to his squad and their moving out, his mind was back to another night. One that was literally a world away and a lifetime ago. Another night. A bad night.

Then the moment ended and Shenji's squad ran. No words were said. No orders given. They ran to the bunkhouse. Defending the people there was their objective. He and two other skeletons bore sword and shield. three others wore robes and held inscriptions of magic. They would be enough, at least until help arrived.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Corwin's ears flattened at the sudden infra-sound. The stone watchers had yet to move. He was confused. Were they acting as spotters? Were they simply unable to leave their posts?

He, Lun, and Celest continued on. They had fought the shadow-things Nyx and Erebus, yet were not unscathed by the encounter. that building would provide a chance to rest and recover. It was also their objective. If they could kill the caravan, or even hurt them enough, they might break whatever treaty they had with Kronos.

Then goblins were in their way. Had they lain in ambush? Corwin couldn't know. His sense of smell only picked up the sickly sweetness of the fungus that was stitching his pack together from their last fight. All he knew was that several rough garbed green-skinned creatures were in their way led by one with a short sword.

The rough clad goblins set upon his pack, chittering in some strange language. Their leader grunted before looking to Corwin himself, sword drawn and held out as if blocking the lupine's way. "Whatever, you guys seem to know what you're doing."

The Lupine growled, his short swords drawn in a reverse grip as he charged this goblin warrior. For a moment Corwin regretted that this creature was under Kronos's thrall. He was a front-line fighter, yes, but he was crafty. the goblin kept trying to trip his legs, get inside his guard, and keep him from establishing space.

"Why do you fight for Kronos so gladly?" Corwin's voice, but he wasn't the one speaking. Midori used him as a mouthpiece. He hated it when the unworthy master did this. Beyond the violation he felt, it left his throat ragged with traces of a headache after.

The goblin's ears perked as he rolled under Corwin's attempt to pin him to the ground. "I am Lutz Ferros. I am of the Dungeon Confederation's member Guild of Sancrest. You are not attacking Kronos's holdings."

"Lies! There is no way a whelp of a dungeon could have taken the monster resting at Damala's heart!" Corwin felt the unworthy master force his body to move, letting him get impaled on the goblin's blade to use his sheer bulk to pin his opponent to the ground.

"Uuugh the frak?!" Lutz was outright disgusted as the lupine drooled on him as its snout almost touched his nose.

"You will- URGK!" Whatever the wolf was going to say was cut off by lutz stabbing it between the ribs with a short-bladed knife, causing Corwin to roll off of him to flop bonelessly on the ground, sword protruding from his chest.

At first Lutz thought the battle over. He pulled first the dagger out, and then, planting a boot on his opponent's chest, retrieved his sword. There was a look spared to Corwin before he moved to assist the alliance's goblin forces against the other two.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Shinji's forces could see the goblin skirmishers Good Neighbor had sent as reinforcements getting cut to ribbons except for one. His left hand raised, three fingers pointed. Then two. Then he saw the shimmer of a shield spell activating. Except it wasn't a vertical shield. This one formed horizontally, creating a platform in the air. Then another formed just close enough that he could leap to it, letting him gain more height. Then a third formed, giving him more height. His men waited as he used his new position to observe.

The wolf that the delver had run through, impossibly, sat back up. Its movements were jerky. Almost as if it were a marionette on someone else's strings, rather than moving of its own will. In the faint light Shinji could have sworn he saw the wound on its chest closing.

He saw the delver, Lutz, engaging with a pair of ragged monsters.

For a brief moment it was that night again. Kamio not seeing the ambush designed to take him from the board.

Now, as then, he leapt. His body a missile, His aim, as before, true. the sword strike pierced the lupine's skull just as its movements were starting to smooth. His weight knocked the lupine prone again, blade driving deep through skull into the dirt.

Before he could properly get to his feet the other two fighters of his squad had started repeatedly hacking the body apart until it started to dissolve into the sort of ash that always happens when a dungeon creature falls.

As that occurred, two shields were raised. Both blocking the other two lupine from their quarry.

Lutz's eyes were too big, his hand twitched.

Shinji's head inclined to the skeleton not maintaining a shield to go with him as Shinji used his sword to gesture to the bunk house. These lupine fought with tooth and claw rather than blade or finesse. they were armed, yet were reduced to unarmed strikes and biting at the magical shields that kept appearing then disappearing, weaving as Shinji moved to cover his flanks and confuse both lupine.

It made the pair easy to bait.

Then one shield was raised as a platform, allowing his subordinates to strike at their enemy from elevation as their focus continued to stay on him..

Then the platform disappeared. The lupine attempted to turn, to parry the attack, leaving them open for Shenji's own attack. One died outright. the other had one of his men in its jaws as both shield bearers and he attacked. there was a crunch.

Then dust.

Those that remained started towards the bunkhouse.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Lutz felt sick as he was guided to an empty bed. The caravan's healer placed a hand on him and frowned. There were the spidery words of magic spoken. The glow of wounds closing. Yet he seemed perturbed.

He looked to the slender halfling. "Well, what is it?"

"I cannot say. It feels like there is something wrong, but also that your body has been knitted together." The halfling sounded confused.

For the moment Lutz lay back, paying little mind to the skeleton at the door, or at Thom's annoying noises.

His eyes closed. Something was off about those lupine. Where was their fur? How had they gotten the drop on them. Lupine have amazing senses yet acted surprised when they ran into Lutz's skirmishers.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Something nagged at him, but he didn't want to trouble the healer. That might not be all there would be tonight. Better to let the kid rest. He seemed new to actual fights.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Shinji looked to Lutz with concern.

Yet Thom blocked his way. The short man had a dagger aimed at the skeleton. "We might have an accord with your dungeon, but I draw the line at letting any of you lot in here. Go do whatever you overgrown harvest decoration feels like doing outside."

Rather than press the matter, Shinji left. The remains of his squad stayed posted at the bunkhouse as he started for the dungeons proper. Before he started running though, one of his men pressed something to him. Something dropped when the lupin died.

A nod.

Then Shinji started running

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Lutz lay there feeling disoriented and with the beginnings of a fairly severe headache running. After the fight with the hairless lupine, he had thought he'd feel worse. Slowly he sat up and looked around, finding the place fairly empty save for a couple healers.

And two armed guards.

It was only then that he realized he wasn't in the communal area of the bunkhouse. Instead, he was in the private room that Thom had taken as his own. There was a frown as Lutz made himself go over the order of events that happened. They were attacked at night. Gnolls, lupine or whatever regional one wanted to use, ran right into the line of goblin skirmishers he had taken charge of and most had been cut down while he had been spared.

As one of the healers approached Lutz held a hand up, palm forward, to signal for the Leifalin to stay back. "Gimme a minute. There's a reason for guards being in here. Head's killing me. Lemme walk through this."

The diminutive being nodded and stepped back.

He remembered the thing's hot breath. Moreover, he remembered wondering why these things were fur-less, what those black lines were. At first he had thought they were tattoos or some kind of war paint. Now that he wasn't being drooled on by one trying to chew through his neck he considered what happened when he saw the one that attacked him pull his sword free. Goblins had good low-light vision. There were monsters with better, but even with it being dark he could still see his sword had cleanly run through his attacker.

And yet it had sat up. He saw the wound filling in and close up. It had moved like something jerking and puppeting the body about.

The healer said there was something wrong with him, but he didn't know what. There were armed guards with him in a room separate from everyone else in the caravan. As he lowered his hand he patted himself over, noticing that his weapons and gear had been removed. It was then he took a slow breath as he was confronted by what this likely meant. When he exhaled he looked to one of the healers, "How long do I have?"

There was a slow shake of the halfling's head. "We don't know, other than whatever is inside you is growing. We've tried everything we can think of short of putting you to sleep and hoping we can find someone in Sancrest."

"By the time you got me there, this will have spread too far." Lutz's voice sounded grim as he saw the healer's slow nod as confirmation. "That leaves either one of the dungeons having something to slow this down, or treating this like a zombie situation."

"Aye," The other healer, a dwarven woman, gave Lutz a nod. "We think the dungeons are talking 'mongst themselves before sending a minion that can talk, or at least a skeleton with a slate board. We're wanting to hope, but-"

A nod from the goblin. "I know." There was a sigh as he sat there. "How're Ally and Campbell holding up?"

This got a quizzical head tilt from the dwarf, "Campbell?"

"Stone Soup," Lutz explained. "Long story involving a farm community a couple seasons into the three of us traveling together."

This got a nod before the Dwarf spoke, "Other than worry and frustration at their inability to really help? They're helping coordinate trying to figure out who attacked."

"Alright." Lutz's voice was soft, "Now if any of you have anything to write with I'd appreciate a few things to get taken down while I've presence of mind to think things through."

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Charlotte sat there unobtrusive in a small corner web in the bunkhouse. To her, Thom wasn't entirely out of line for his opinions. She had been lucky in coming to a dungeon that thought to reach out and to be an equal not just with peers, but to those under its banner. However, she could see how such beings could fall to feeling like they are God-Kings in the making.

And yet.

Thom hrmphed loudly at the Goblin at the door. "Like I told you last time, and the time before that, and the time before that. We're Fine."

The Goblin chittered in this odd language of theirs. Charlotte could feel some familiarity there. She could almost make out specific order of things. Subject, Operative. Verb. Then there would be the odd cluster of goblins that would go Subject Verb Object. It was both fascinating and frustrating how she knew and didn't know what they were saying.

'Why is he acting like this?' One goblin would look to their companion before taking the carved wooden box and note from Good Neighbor.

The second goblin shrugged, 'From what the skeletons say he is both afraid we might catch whatever the Delver has, and he just doesn't like Dungeons.'

Charlotte took the opportunity presented by the open door to exit her post. This left several of her kin in place to observe as Thom frowned at the box, but was gentle in taking it. He would stand there, reading the note to the goblins. "Based on loot recovered from the attackers, as well as what they looked like, we believe what is attacking Lutz is fungal based. This box contains what we feel will help slow its spread, but between potential magical components to the infection and our own inexperience, we urge that if your healers feel that more harm than good would be done use your best judgment. We have made requests to Stone Soup and Ally Starsong to assist in tracking down where these things were sent from to find more information. Units have been placed near to hand."

"Starsong and Soup huh?" A thoughtful nod from Thom. "If there were more assurance that wasn't prelude to worse I'd offer to send a few of my own, but if we're to be attacked we'll do more good here." Thom would open the box, revealing several jars of cream and powders.

This was hurriedly snapped shut, "By the Rider are y'hoping to drive the rot out with smell?"

That got the goblin messengers to both chuckle, 'Told you he'd hate the smell. Five Obol. Pay up."

A second goblin frowned, digging coins out of a belt pouch as the pair turned to leave.

Thom's voice rose, causing the pair to stop. "Hey! If you find out who did this. Give 'em hell."

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Shinji knelt in front of his dungeon's core. The device it sat upon gave a quiet rhythmic beating sound in time to the light pulsing from the blue crystal. The room itself was ringed with putties essentially partitioning it off from the rest of the floor and giving its occupants a measure of privacy.

Shinji's head tilted, 'isn't that good? You and the other dungeons have spoken of a world of wonders and have been using knowledge from there to make here better. If you know what it is you can fix it, right?'

The core dimmed.

As his dungeon refused to elaborate, Shinji nodded. 'The trader Thom has refused to allow any of us into the bunkhouse, but has allowed guards to relay to whichever units are stationed nearest what their condition is.'

Shinji rose to his feet before his skeletal hand touched the core that was Lonely Hill. Then a wall opened up, parting as if it were curtains to allow him to pass.

For a time the core sat there, pulsing in place as it considered events. Then, at his command, the wall parted. His Guard-Captain and Lead Troubleshooter walked in. Both held their backs high, posture and gait formal as they paced, then knelt in front of the core.

the core's 'voice' was formal. Both beings were near and dear to it, yet in this, he had to compartmentalize. Stow his feelings in favor of the problem at hand.

When both returned to their feet he spoke.

Ishida stiffened, which was a minor miracle in itself as she was a creature of magically animated stone. "I'm assuming, mostly because of my connection with Lutz's delving party and Bonehead's connection to me, you want a joint operation to try stabilizing relations with the Dungeoneer's guild?"

The core brightened softly. There was a pause as Bonehead shuffled about.

'Not an objection as such,' Bonehead's voice was not what non-residents could hear, yet he was clearly understood by those in the room. 'Shinji taking temporary command and using the guard as shield for guests is sound. However given the unknowns of this disease we cannot assume they," He gestured towards Ishida, "Or even she, would be immune to its effects. Fungus breaks down bone as well as meat, and we would not have soil without fungus to break and weather rock.'

There was a long moment as the Core rhythmically dimmed and then brightened much the same way a heart would.

"And if they responsible?" Ishida's voice was hard as she asked the question.

The hardness of her tone was matched by the dungeon core's own.