There was some internal debate, but I decided the straightforward approach was the best approach. Meaning; my skeleton knocked on the crypt door until it opened up. The entryway was like Good Neighbor's. OK, there were a couple of bats roosting overhead. Must be lookouts.

CORRECT.

Hey. Hi. Hello? Truce? I'm the dungeon on top of the central hill. I come in peace. Is it OK if I look around?

YES.

Awesome. Look. I'm not sure how old you are, or how much you know so-

I paused on seeing a beetle that came up to mid-shin on my skeleton. Oh... Kay that was a heck o a lot bigger than the ones that scurried about when I was just a single room. Wonder if those were from here.

I DO NOT RECALL SENDING SCOUTS THAT FAR.

Huh, maybe creatures can exist without dungeons then? Look. I've got a library, Good Neighbor has an alchemy lab, and a forge. We've kinda started posting quests so that delvers know to try visiting everyone to spread the wealth around and let everyone get a little mana. Are you fine with Delvers showing up? Like... would you be cooperative, and not immediately try killing them, and giving them things to do?

IF THEY BEHAVE. YES.

Wish I had Laginn free to do the inspection, but boney boy was what was on hand, and as it turned out? I flicked my awareness when I felt a new Delver and was apprehensive. Large guy, with tusks, green skin, and plate armor with gold worked etching. Had a very 'holy knight' aura about him.

There was the sound of a loud bell when he slapped his shield with the flat of his sword, causing several of the delvers in the room, all on the younger side, to stop and look at him. "Your attention, please! I have been sent by the Church of Saint Alnus to investigate reports of a murderous dungeon and connected reports of undead roving these lands."

Oh ... crimminy it's gonna be one of those holier than tho won't listen to reason types isn't it?

Jjaro and Arin were being carried by a pair of skeletons upstairs just as the announcement was made.

Of course, I'd get the holy inquisition on me right as I have to fish a couple of folk out for getting in over their heads.

"SMITE!" The sword was aimed in the direction of both skeletons. Predictably both Jjaro and Arin dropped to the floor with a pair of soft thumps. To the holy knight's credit, he did stop to inspect both. "No sign of Lifedrinker, Scourge, Black seed..." He frowned as he murmured to himself. "Both appear to be in stable condition." He would rise before taking the stairs down.

There was a wall of skeletons waiting. Most of the Bone Guard had been either sparring or working with the training dummies. Meaning when the knight made his entrance they had formed up into ranks and the robed skeletons already had barrier spells in place.

"Far more disciplined than the shamblers I had been told of." the sword raised. This time nothing happened. Causing the man to frown, "Also knows barrier magic that deflects low-level smite actions."

A pair of skeletal archers in the back aimed and then fired. Not sure when they started using bones for arrows, but that's what was fired. Too-long lengths of bleached bone with crow-feathered fletching and black rough-worked iron arrowheads. Both arrows shattered against the knight's armor, and before more could be fired the knight waded into melee combat with the others. Preventing either archer from getting a clean shot, and forcing both to draw short swords at their waists.

I was proud of the armor and gear I had given the Bone Guard. It wasn't amazing, but good solid 'I care about the welfare of my creatures' sort of armor.

Which made my heart drop when I saw it may as well have been tissue paper for all the good it did stopping the knight's attacks. They fought. Robed skeletons, on seeing their magic sliced through by holy blade, lept on top of the Knight, attempting to pin him, bind limbs and blade, for their fellows to strike. For every blow they struck, the Knight made a Skeleton vanish into dust.

All this was witnessed by Bonehead. He paced in his arena as he watched. He paced the same way a cat might. Fortunately, and perhaps the only thing keeping him in his arena, there were respawn timers that clicked into being with each skeleton that fell. So. even with a holy knight breathing down their necks, they weren't permanently gone.

And then there was only Bonehead, and the Holy Knight staring at each other.

Laginn and literally everything else were told to clear out. I want the Delvers removed from here. Chased from my Dungeon. Shielded from what was going to happen.

This was the first time Laginn had disobeyed me. Instead of trying to organize a blockade, my Right Hand hurried adventurers, including both a freshly healed Jjaro and Arin, ran to the arena.

There was barely time for me to register this act of disobedience when the knight aimed his sword at my Guard Captain. "You have no magics to defend you. Begone from this place. SMITE!" And.... it did nothing.

Bonehead drew up to his full height and calmly knocked an arrow. The Knight squared up. No words were said, a classic 'Give me your best shot' stance.' His arrow, blunt-tipped and made of dark wood, struck the knight in the center of the gold inlay tree engraving, knocking loose the center red gemstone that separated trunk from the split of branches.

The Holy Knight took a step back as his hand went to his chest, looking down in disbelief at the dent in his armor, and nodded once before charging. Knight and Guard-Captain met in the center of the room. Bonehead didn't meet force with force. He pivoted, turning his opponent's charge, changing his momentum so it drove the knight flat to the ground, wind knocked out of his lungs.

Bonehead stepped back, sheathing his blade, as the knight got his breath.

"By Alnus's Star...." He breathed. I could see him looking at Bonehead. Really... Looking.

Bonehead - Captain of the Bone Guard Kamio's shade Unwriter of Fate 'No Grave can hold my body down.'

The man's nostrils flared. Blade unsheathed. Bonehead met steel with steel. This time, the sheath of his blade in one hand, the curved short sword in the other. My Skeleton-Captain fought dancing, using the Holy Knight's bulk against him. Never giving the man the fight he wanted.

At one point, just as Bonehead used the dented metal scabbard of his sword to turn his opponent's blade aside, he jabbed the side of the Knight's cuirass at the place where breast and backplates met, slicing one of the leather straps.

Delvers gathered, watching the pair. There was no cheering. All were deathly silent. No bets. Nor was money trading hands. This battle sparked no Joy or cheer. For them that regularly visited my lands. Only Terror. Only fear.

A collective inhalation when Bonehead was knocked to the ground. His opponent's blade missed by a finger's-width as Bonehead rolled. Skeletal foot lashed out at the Knight's shin, but the Holy blade's stance held firm.

Another strike, this one caught by both blade and sheath. Deep yellow orcish eyes met hollowed eye sockets. the knight spat, "I will not fall to the likes of you."

"Zealot."

I swear, I could almost hear a voice come from Bonehead. I would have dismissed it as imagination, except I could hear whispers from the gathered delvers. Though the Knight's bulk was greater, Bonehead shifted, forcing the Knight to press harder, only to pivot, letting the holy blade's bulk carry him stumbling, leaving him exposed.

Where was Bonehead's backup? Where were the others? It's then I noticed the respawn timers were frozen. Well. Nuts. You're on your own man.

I'll give the Knight this much. He had endurance. Bonehead led him from the arena to the guardpost. The secret door covering the stairwell down was smashed to splinters.

Faintly I was aware of Jjaro yelling for everyone to stop. That something was weird with the other skeletons. Counter-Arguments from Jen. That Bonehead needed them. Not the Skeletons, Hands, or even my Avatars of Darkness and Night. Them. She insisted this Knight was going to find my core and shatter me and it would be their fault for standing by letting it happen.

Pride and Panic in even measures. Jen sprinted forward. As did others. They were too young. too green. Yet they were rushing to my aid.

When they made it to the next level down, my border with Kronos, Knight and Guard-Captain still fought. There was no fancy artistic ballet. No flourishes. Just Blow, counter-blow, dodge, and waiting to see who would give first.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Then. Before the Delvers could get in the way, Ishida stepped forward. Her scythe raised. Instead of rushing either Knight or Skeleton, which I think was Bonehead's plan. She lept, twirling till she landed in front of the delvers.

They were wide-eyed, pressed backward by her presence alone as she advanced.

Fear gripped me. My mind blanked. I couldn't help them. Dimly I could hear the sounds of battle go silent.

"No!" Bonehead.... spoke? Screamed. "I won't let you have them!"

There was no grand magics. No light show, or fae-fire lining his blade. Only him rushing at something that had bested him before, intent on putting himself between it and its prey. Ishida turned, Scythe already in motion. yet this time it was stopped by his blade. Empty eye sockets met carved stone eyes that ... somehow impossibly showed sorrow.

His fist drove into her midsection. Her armor, of course, took the blow. Yet there was a grunt of pain. Another blow. Then another. He kept attacking. Preventing her from bringing her scythe to bare. Not allowing her to generate space.

There was no way he could keep this up.

Yet still there he was pressing, forcing her to remain on the defensive, preventing her from generating any momentum. "You hate me because I didn't know they would throw you to the wolves. I acted without realizing the consequences. Don't take it out on them." His words.

My words.

A vision. A desperate gamble I had taken when a gemstone of all colors and none fell to me. A group leaderless, needing unity. Seemingly at any cost. Seemingly doing what I thought my friend would have done in my place.

My lie.

Ishida hissed. Her knee driving into Bonehead's skeletal frame, driving him back. "I lost everything because of you!"

"Then let this be between us!" My Captain-General pointed his blade to the Delvers, never taking his gaze from Ishida. "Fly!" He pled, slipping between Ishida and the others. "Fly you fools!"

The holy knight banged his sword against his shield. His mind made up, and now advancing on the duo.

"You." Bonehead hissed, still not looking away from his opponent, "Out. Cover the kids." The Knight seemed to remember his vows and moved to defend rather than join the fray.

The pair continued to fight. My awareness contracted, causing details to blur together. Flashes of other battles. Ishida and I fighting side by side. That same sword countering monsterous chitin blades. Resisting the pull of magicked ribbon whips. Inherited blade came to me at the end of it all to drive through the blackened corrupt heart of a madwoman hoping to remake everything in her image.

A Madwoman holding the Scythe Ishida now wielded.

I was barely aware of the knight forcing the delvers back, up the stairs between this floor and the next, through the now ruined secret door to the guard post in the floor above.

Instead, the bulk of my awareness, what of it I could manage to claw away from flashes of memory, was centered on those two. How was Bonehead able to hold his own?

YOU REMEMBER.

Kronos....?

TRAITOR.

I couldn't breathe. Gods help me. What was going on?

Dimly I heard a crack. Saw Bonehead's sword slide through Ishida's sternum and straight through where her heart would have been, were she a living being, as she held him by the neck. "I will hate you for the whole of time for what you did." Her words were raw-edged pain, and yet her eyes. I saw sky-blue eyes in place of cold stone. I saw her heart reflected there. Sorrow. Pain. Regret.

Regret ...

... Regret.

Bonehead's legs lay broken and separate from his body. His sword embedded in his opponent. He held onto the arm she was using to lift him by his neck. "I know I can't make it right. I tried at the end" The voice was threadbare. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Ishida's hand twisted. Bonehead's body dissolved as it fell to the ground. She pulled his sword free and cast it aside.

I could, at that moment, only focus on one thing.

She was crying.

For an unknown time all I could do was breath. That. That was a lot to take in. The worst part? I both know everything Bonehead said was true, and I have no proper memories of the life they spoke of. For that matter, two minions, neither flagged as intelligent, speaking. There is no guessing what was going on in Kronos's mind.

Kronos sent nothing else after me. Now, when I was at my most vulnerable, Kronos could have, and by every measure I knew? It should have. Even with just Uchiumi alone probably would have managed to chainsaw through everything I had. So it wasn't as if Kronos needed a whole host of horrors.

So why didn't she?

I could feel the timers for my skeletons resume.

Laginn came down here, retrieving Bonehead's sword.

... My Grandfather's blade. One given to him in war. The Last World War ...

Yet I could not remember any specifics. There was nothing when I tried to conjure up images of some random day. A meal. A day out. Work. Nothing.

There was a series of snaps from Laginn. My attention focused. Discussion. Keystone talking to the Holy Knight.

"Y'be tellin me after y'went toe to toe wi'it," Keystone gestured to where Bonehead had respawned, "That skeleton went an'fought w'the statue Kronos has as its guard, Sir Knight?"the Dungeon Assessor sounded positively incredulous. Given Bonehead's performance the first time the two met I can't fault his skepticism.

A nod from the orcish knight, "On my Honor and by my Faith in Alnus I swear this is true." he looked to Bonehead. "He fought to save the Younglings. Our quarrel forgotten." He would kneel in front of Bonehead. "I owe you a debt for misjudging your character."

Bonehead motioned for the Knight to rise, and the pair clasped forearms. then when they let go of eachother he gestured first to the Knight, then to his arena. Then somehow, impossibly, smiled.

Keystone looked to Bonehead, "Can y'still speak lad?" A headshake from my guard-captain. "Aye well. It still needs reportin. So y'hold no ill will t'this knight or his church?"

A head shake from Bonehead before gesturing to the nearest delver.

"They be alright lad. Y'kept 'em safe." Keystone's expression serious. "Now 've 'erd reports of another dungeon near 'ere. Y'mind sparin a guide?"

Laginn tapped the Dwarf's boot then made a fist, thumb pointed towards the stairs leading up. "Alright. Lead on Laginn." There was a low rumbling chuckle. "Deft. Handy. Ye do be that now."

I let my attention focus on Jen. She sat there in the training area watching Bonehead. He motioned for her to come over, then when she jumped the newly repaired silk ropes to his fighting ring, he knelt down so they could see each other eye to eye. "I know Keystone said you can't talk anymore but, thank you for looking out for us."

Bonehead patted her back before letting go of the hug. His head tilted to one side to let her know he was listening.

Jen took out a leather journal book, which caused Bonehead to tilt his head quizzically. "Finnal drilled it into my head to have a way to make maps, take notes, and write down what people say." The slender girl giggled, "Being a rogue isn't all about stealing after all.

That got a nod from Bonehead. fair enough. Somehow there was the impression of smiling. Maybe the tilt of his head, or a trick of shadows.

The rogue continued, "Well. the way I see it. You did a bad thing. I don't know what," which made two of us, "But it's almost like she didn't want to fight you." Wait wait wait, run that by me again?

Bonehead seemed similarly perplexed, even going so far as to touch his neck to emphasize how the encounter ended. Jen nodded, patting Bonehead's shoulder. "Yea, that was the hurt doing the swinging. But try remembering her voice. Her face." She looked at my minion with an odd seriousness. "She might not want to actually hurt you, just drive you away so she can hate you in peace and not deal with the idea that you probably were working with what you had to do the least harm."

... Huh.

For someone who's probably only now realized boys exist, that's pretty insightful. Memory was fuzzy. Without the actual fight going on, or the pair of them yelling at each other, I could only feel the fuzzy shape of things. A desperate want to keep things from getting worse, and a once in an Ever chance falling in my lap.

Jen smirked as Bonehead's jaw dangled, his posture changing to show confusion. "I'm young, but I'm not stupid. you don't get apprenticed to one of the best lock-picks in the kingdom without having something going on."

This caused Bonehead to stand up, ruffle her hair then gesture for her to follow him to the center of the ring. What followed wasn't a big huge climactic fight. Just two friends working out. Letting the stress of what happened sit on a shelf til they finished. Couldn't speak for anyone else, but it was kinda nice seeing something low stakes. Jen even managed to knock Bonehead off his feet a couple times.

When they finished, he bowed to her before gesturing for her to go. A line had formed and technically he was on the clock. Though I will say that was pretty danged wholesome. Now I wanted noodles. I don't know why, but nice steaming bowl, home made broth. If all this ended with me standing, I decided in that moment, I was going to figure out how to have a little noodle bar somewhere delvers could easily find.

One more deep breath. Then on to see what was going on with the new neighbor.

Keystone was taking notes on both the dungeon's minions and layout. Fortunately, all the goings on hadn't affected the skeleton I had parked here. For some reason I wanted to name this dungeon Herbie. Something about Beatles made me think the name fit, dunno why but it felt right.

Herbie wasn't a complex dungeon in either physical construction, or in convrosation. Simple one or two word answers. Very straightforward approach to room layout. Beatles to act as ground scouts and cheap fodder. Bats to act as scouts and eyes in the sky. He seemed to be pleased by Keystone's method of taking down this big stone gargoyle he had as a chest guardian. The stonework was rough. All flat planes and angles, with bare suggestions of features rather than the intricate work that came to mind when I envisioned gargoyles and grotesques. Yet at the same time here it was. A sort of brutalist simplicity to its design. I found myself impressed at how much was conveyed with so few genuine details

Simple. Direct. However, it was clear that Herbie was far from Stupid.

No idea where his core was. Didn't ask. Wasn't any of my business. That he had a gargoyle, but no obvious spawner implied he had access to stone working. I had noticed a lack of statues in the overland, nor in either Good Neighbor's or My dungeons. Given the lack of alchemy stand I had to go under the assumption that Herbie was infusing the stonework directly with mana, rather than something fancy.

These suppositions were when one of the dog sized beetles showed my skeleton the stone carving room, then nearby, a station for cutting, polishing, and shaping gemstones. I had several questions, mostly how either were used considering none of Herbie's mnions had hands. Still, he had managed to make something work. Give him the chance to work before trying to muscle in and act like I had the better idea, even if setting something with hands to the work would probably yield better results.

Hm. This gave me ideas for the future. For now though. A simple quest. Five beetle shells, for which Herbie wanted five bundles of spider's silk. Apparently it had to be the sticky kind rather than the sort used for cordage. Fair enough. the 'five units of tarantula wool' was a bit strange, but could be interesting. We three needed to collaborate on how best to trade what with each other. Find some way for resources to be optimally used, refined, and distributed.

After what had happened in my own dungeon. Watching Herbie's dungeon work via my skeleton felt restive. I enjoyed the break. I was also glad my skeleton wasn't in anything's way.

ACCEPT ALLIANCE REQUEST: Y/N?

Like with Good Neighbor, I accepted, and immediately felt a wave of irritation from Herbie. Not over anything I had overtly done, but at the room and monster arrangements in my dungeon. Well. Give and Take. Though if Herbie had any suggestions I was willing to listen.

I couldn't stake my life, those of my delvers, or allies, on Kronos continuing to be content simply fielding Ishida to chase me off.

For now though, with the alliance formed between Herbie, Good Neighbor, and Myself, there was work to do.