Shaman Flamespit sat in his tent observing the newcomers to his part of the Underdark. His warlords and chieftains sitting with him, his apprentices catering the meeting. Before him sat a large group of varied individuals.

That alone was odd. A group consisting of members of several of the deeps most intelligent races, people not known to get along.

Orcs, elves, goblins, a few of the deep dwarves. Bluntly put they were mercenaries from the few cities in the deep dark places of the world that had cooperating and mixed populations consisting of more than slaves.

“What exactly do you want?” Flamespit felt that simple was best.

“This dungeon you have found. We want in.” The answer came from a dwarf, his voice rumbling like a rockslide.

“The far end of the cavern is available if you want it. I cannot and will not promise safety or even cooperation from my tribe, you can get what you get.” Referring to the usual problems of dealing with goblins. “You’ve dealt with dungeons before?” upon receiving confirmation he continued. “This dungeon is young and combative, treat it as such. There are two main chambers so far and a number of winding tunnels. A roving boss claimed the second chamber, I would be careful it was quite potent and can summon similar allies… The last thing: are you here in some attempt to conquer this dungeon?”

At first the dwarf looked like it might attack in anger, then became thoughtful. “No, only a fool would attempt such a thing, even with such a small and young dungeon.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding to himself. “I can understand the concern, but we have been to the surface and know the rules about dungeons. Just like I know we will be moving sometime soon as it expands.”

Flamespit nodded. He had no real problem with the presence of others near the dungeon, under different circumstances he would have tried to kill them. Not here though. Dungeons were just too valuable to have that kind of infighting nearby. The shaman also knew that dungeons were intelligent, they thought very differently than most, but they did think. They had moods and emotions.

He was the only one from his tribe to have been to the surface where dungeons were common. He had seen cities that catered to all races as long as they followed basic rules. A few human cities with demons walking in the open, alongside the paladins that hunted such creatures. These were probably the most extreme examples.

Dungeons and the cities that surrounded the entrance had a few universally excepted rules. One of them was that anyone could challenge the dungeon, race was irrelevant. Any other time and honestly more often than people would admit a goblin like him would have been killed on sight.

As long as the newcomers followed the basic rule of “you do your thing and I’ll do mine” the shaman and by extension the tribe wouldn’t hinder them.

“When are you planning on giving the dungeon a try?” the shaman’s final question.

“A few days I want to see what it offers first. Don’t worry pretty sure we will get along just fine.”

Saying this the dwarf got up and left with his companions heading to the far side of the cave.

Flamespit knew that for all the politeness that the newcomers would be trouble. He mostly knew how disappointed they would be with the dungeon, and its offerings.

Food, low-level crafting materials from monsters. Weak opposition in the early areas. While the shaman had seen resources growing into the walls, he also saw how jealously they were guarded. For a group like this that might be a problem. It would continue to be a problem as well. The dungeon was a fledgling flailing about and trying to make do.

The swarms of goblins and the patrols of crude yet dangerous golems. The non-bosses. The young one who acted like a floor boss… wasn’t actually a boss, a wondering dungeon elite was closer to home. So far, he had seen three such enemies actually in the caverns, each a dangerous opponent. While the shaman was sure he could defeat them even when together he wasn’t confident in dealing with what might come after.

Because while he wasn’t sure what the young ones in the dungeon were. He did know that the one Clack saw was a Boss, and even the most powerful beings were careful around a dungeon boss in its home environment. Defeating a boss even the weakest was not a simple matter, for goblins it cost a lot of lives, between the way dungeon creatures worked and the dungeon itself including support for the boss… It was easy to lose big on the challenge. The dungeon itself could be challenged with nothing more than a large party, the boss usually required several groups to deal with.

Sighing Flamespit ensured that his tribe knew not to attack the newcomers, then he traveled with members of his tribe into the first chamber to dump their corruption and gather the easy materials.

***

Clack and his group were in the middle of a fight with the dungeon monsters and doing fairly well. That was only to be expected when you outnumbered a similar enemy three to one.

Clack himself was thoroughly enjoying the feel of his spear being pushed into the wriggling goblin on the floor. He and his minions traveled about mostly aimlessly. Attacking anything that came in reach. Clack’s goal was to spend as little time actually with the tribe as possible.

The longer he was in the dungeon the better the more fights he got in… even better. Clack did have a sadistic streak after all. Killing the small patrols from the dungeon as well as hunting for the few things they traded to the tribe to avoid being considered ‘mutinous gits’ was a small price to pay. Clack had even been careful to avoid the breeding tents.

He wanted a tribe of his own, one built by his own hands. Sure, he might be able to afford the price of those tents and what lay within. He could try and force the issue with those around the camp like so many others. However, he felt that wasn’t enough.

So, he waited. He felt himself grow with each kill, just a bit almost small enough to be unnoticeable but the horns that began to grow on his head told him it wasn’t a waste.

The most annoying thing was killing off those in his little group that might challenge him. He wasn’t actually the fastest growing goblin in his group. He had no intention of allowing another to reach evolution before him nor was he willing to let another take over.

Just like Snaggletoof. There was a goblin with potential, such a shame he had been strangled. Clack had waited until the overly aggressive goblin had pushed another down and was raping the sorry thing. Then he slipped a noose around the still weaker goblin and pulled. He took a moment to savor the memory of the confident goblin thrashing helplessly as he succumbed to Clack’s superior might and intelligence. Of course, the goblin he spared from violation had received a knife to the eye, witnesses were universally despised.

As for now the goblin didn’t care really. Soon he would be a hob, he could feel the evolution close by. Then he could let the others grow, for now he wanted the weak and useless in his group. If they died so much the better, if they injured their opponents but left prey for Clack well that was the point.

Soon he might even be able to steal some females for his group. Then life would get much better.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Now as the short brutal fight ended, he walked over to those of his group too wounded to carry on. He did so enjoy the power he now had since he wasn’t on the bottom, of course part of his issue was his desire to avoid the initial fight. He was a scavenger after all, opportunity came to those who waited for the proper time to wet their blade not the idiots who rushed off to do battle.

To keep things fair, he allowed some of the obedient members of his tribe to slake their own desires on the wounded of both sides as well. It was only polite he certainly would have been grateful if he had received such a chance when he was on the bottom.

Not long after the amusing distraction Clack spotted a small group from his tribe slowly making their way back to camp. He smiled.

The dungeon provided plenty of opportunities every day. Food, violence, and loot. What more could a goblin want from life.

***

Maria held her fire. She almost attacked the larger than normal group.

That was until she saw what they were doing. Yes, they had killed some dungeon goblins, but well as far as Maria and her siblings were concerned that wasn’t a bad thing. It was the sadistic and gleeful willingness to also kill off the non-dungeon monsters that stayed her hand.

Killing the group wouldn’t be hard. The individuals were small and weak, swarming their prey. Her guards alone would leave them a bloody mess. She vaguely recognized the leader though. He was one of the few amusing creatures in her portion of the domain. The creature spent a lot of time wandering around, “carefully” (for a goblin) gaining strength.

That was why she allowed the creature to live. It was to her knowledge the only leader of a group actively trying to get stronger. The others just treated it like a side effect of their activities. The creature was a case study on how outsiders gained strength from the domain. That information was worth far more than the mana released upon the creature’s death. It also wasn’t like she couldn’t kill it off later.

A few spider constructs followed the group. Sometimes she had the creatures kill off members just to test how they reacted. This group went around killing off anything they could take on. Then if there were survivors took them in. Sometimes they briefly left the domain only to return with a pile of even more pathetic runts, let them get killed off or grow into not as runty goblins. Rinse and repeat.

As long as this goblin was just after lives, she wasn’t going to concern herself or interrupt the study.

She had more important things to do. Like finally getting the spider and lizard cavalry up and running. The obscenely large and unnatural caverns required a bit of actual maneuver elements to their forces.

The spiders were light cavalry while the lizards were more… medium? They definitely weren’t heavy cav. The spiders with their thin legs and bulbous bodies made great pursuit forces, fast, agile and with a surprising amount of endurance.

In simulated (real) battles in the training grounds they were damn good against loose and weak formations that the goblins favored and were more than capable of running down fleeing prey afterwards.

The lizards ran slower, were still capable of 3D maneuvering, and just hit harder. Honestly, they were horse analogues for the domain’s forces. Generic beasts of burden that can be trained for combat, what they lacked in speed the made up for with teeth, claws, and climbing ability.

The other thing was the other outsiders. They came in small groups or singletons, trickling into the domain from the cracks and crevasses. Creatures other than goblins. Some large and some small.

Her mother’s desire to fill in the caverns was becoming clear, but the network and the swarms were being pushed to their limits trying to fill in such entrances. A small tribe of large hunched and hungry creatures had tunneled through one of the walls, on that hadn’t had time to become saturated with enough mana to resist their claws and strength.

They had carved out a den and began… well eating everything in sight. Spiders didn’t work, nor did lizards. The mole-rats were just a pleasant meal. Goblins were much the same, they even refused to fight unless she forced them. Not that the outcome changed, the goblins were squished mauled or even devoured while still kicking.

She was holding off for now, she figured that it would take both her and probably Conrad to clear them out. It was better to get more information by spending the cheap lives of the dungeon goblins. The shamans when she got enough to waste might make the difference.

The creatures were out of the way and what little she saw said that they were slow to reproduce, hardly a threat. Her mother had proven that often quantity had a quality all its own, when she just cleaned out Isabella’s old cavern.

Disappointed, Maria walked back to her team of golems, she had been looking forward to a fight. Now with letting the goblin go she would be returning home to do paperwork. So very annoying.

***

On the opposite side of the dungeon staring at the impossible miracle before her Altieria watch as hundreds of goblins moved with more discipline than she had ever seen. In front of her eyes was a slightly shimmering bubble of magic covering the entire opposite side of the cavern.

On her side there was a tangible draw of the stagnant and corrupt mana being removed. She like her people had very little as they actively worked to purge such problems when they began to arise, but it was difficult and expensive.

Not anymore though. The solution to many of her people’s problems was laid bare before her very eyes. Now she just needed to avoid having it destroyed or taken away. That was going to be somewhat complicated. Both on a personal level as well as a species one.

She was here to buy slaves for her family. The goblins of the nearby caverns and one of the relatively few places so infested with the creatures that they were near impossible to remove, was the best source of purchasable flesh within several months of travel. The goblins there had many offerings, of many different species all from their attacks though out the Underdark.

Normally such a gathering of hostile monsters would be eradicated, but when goblins and their cousins gathered in the hundreds of thousands. Things got weird fast. The random magics and constant death destruction and other emotions began to infect the real world.

Magical bleed over. Most races had similar problems it was on of the few universal issues of this world, but goblins… just ick. They tended to have seriously bad vibes about them, in such numbers. To the point that eliminating them was too much trouble. Combine that with the City of Pillers being such a… robust place and a gigantic pain in the ass to take.

Well getting along suddenly became the preferred option. As long as those who didn’t want to be bothered smacked the goblins down every once in a while, it rarely became an issue. Their own fractious nature made uniting, the only real threat, unlikely.

For Altieria this was not an issue. Her family was here to purchase slaves for the fighting pits and the mines. Now also not an issue as she was looking at a dungeon.

She walked over to the large and cumbersome mirror she had taken with her on her journey. Then she channeled her magic into it. As she did so she drew a rune, one that she would never have used lightly. Following this she sank to her knees head down.

The mirror began to glow then revealed a crowned figure on a throne.

“Explain.” One powerful word emitting from the mirror.

“A stable dungeon has awoken near the City of Pillers. Your Majesty.”

At that the whole mirror, and the room Altieria was in seemed to freeze.

No comments on whether she was certain, nor any on the consequences of lying. No one that knowingly called this being would risk either.

“How large… is it powerful enough for our needs?”

“I don’t know. I was buying slaves when I heard a rumor and saw some of its creatures at the market. I came to investigate and found the dungeon border in the very cavern I am in right now. The dungeon repelled the attacking tribes with overwhelming force. At first, I thought it a spell but the discipline and control it exerted over its goblin minions was more than even an extraordinary caster could manage. It sent out its core guardian to remove the tribes heedlessly plundering it.”

“A goblin dungeon.”

The dissertation was palpable no one liked when a dungeon was populated by worthless monsters. Not exactly a problem, just annoying.

“Not… entirely. The guardian wasn’t a goblin and there appeared to be constructs backing the main lines. The goblins appeared to be fodder; their lives were carelessly spent. The actual power I felt was potent, and even from here a great distance away it pulls the miasma from the air and even from myself. It is young and new but potent. I can show you with the mirror, but more I cannot say without testing it for myself. Communicating this find took precedence over any investigation once it became obvious. The guardian was… potent.”

“Is the entrance accessible?”

Altieria stood turning the mirror to face the scene nearby. “Yes, we could get there, but I think the goblins may have angered the dungeon. This might make reaching the interior difficult. The outer portion here is easily useable, the border is growing slowly. It would make a good training ground and may help with other problems. The dungeon might also be intelligent enough to make a deal with, though I don’t know at this stage.”

“Try. Communicate your location to your family. I will send others to join you. Find any other entrances. Do not anger this dungeon it is more important than even you know.”

The mirror cut off.

Despite her relative exhaustion from the magic use Altieria called her family next and left a message with the servant who answered.

She told them to pass the messages along and to expect guests, and that she was going to freely use the resources she had available to fulfill her new mission.