Roy

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"You are making a face. A very unhappy face. Is something wrong with the dungeon... Nola" Verdandi said as I turned around. Still having a little trouble fully accepting Nola as part of the team rather than a tool, he is trying though. And he's also right about my face. I have a terrible poker face.

"Nola killed someone. And has been lying to me. We talked it out, we have a plan for moving forward. Mostly." I let out a long exhale. "Got any tips on dealing with dungeon murder urges?"

His eyes got wide at that. He chose his next words carefully. "That is not my area of expertise. Are we, your partners, in danger here?"

"No. She can control it. And if she can't... there is still the nuclear option" I didn't want to compel the action through magically enforced orders, but if there was ever a good reason for an order a murder spree would be it.

Verdandi gulped and continued "All dungeons can, and often do, kill" he took a breath before continuing. "But the dark dungeons, they are personified by their... mirth and frequency... in killing."

Not what I want to hear

"Yours has a nature affinity, yes?" he asked after a moment. "And you believe... know... that your dungeon has a personality. It is nearly certain that the affinity would... influence that personality."

"Yes, its nature based. That's why she likes the plants everywhere." I said back

"Plants aren't all that nature is. The vine that chokes the stalk of its neighbor to steal its light. The herbivore that devours the vine. The creature that ravages the helpless young to feed. Nature is the hunt of predators and their prey. Competition where the winner takes all." Verdandi said darkly

"There are good parts of nature too."

"Of course, as is true of all things. But I bet your dungeon started hunting much sooner than a dungeon of air or stone would have." He said

I remembered back to the first day after Nola had made her bugs. She told me she had hunted down other bugs and birds that entered her domain. She only stopped because the energy gained was insignificant.

Insignificant. Not worth pursuing.

"Nola, do you have any compulsion to hunt bugs anymore? Since you have started expanding?" I asked

Now that you mention it, no. I do not

Alright, we have the start of the makings of a plan here.

"Give me an idea of how much energy you got from a kill." It felt a little icky to talk about a dead person clinically, like a resource, but I pushed past it

About the same as what I'd get from half an hour of rush hour traffic, pre LA. I missed most of rush hour there today.

Jeez. No wonder there are other murder dungeons. They don't have nearly as many delvers as we do, it would take the better part of years for them to make as much energy.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"That puts the murder into the almost insignificant category already" I said. Jesus dude, phrasing. I am not encouraging this behavior. "I mean, the energy you got from the murder. We can get to a point where it isn't something you need. And if we get to that point, maybe the drive will go away too. Like it did with the bugs." I started pacing back and fourth

"For the rest of the night I want you to focus on the bugs. Make sure the feeling is gone gone. If it is, then we will make sure we don't have anything to worry about from your instincts going forward."

And if it isn't?

"Then I don't know, we'll work on breathing exercises. We will think of something. As a team. Team 'no more murder dungeon' has a nice ring to it" I said

"I like that team" Verdandi said from his corner

As do I. Although breathing exercises may be less helpful on a stone with no lungs.

"We'll figure something out" I said. I started thinking for a second and had an idea.

"Do you have a map of the united states somewhere in you? Like a big flat one."

I have a little flat one I can blow up to be bigger. Why?

"I think it will be helpful to have everyone see where you are, visually. Then we can all plan your growth better. You can trace the map with red ink as you grow so we can watch in real time and direct as needed. The others can't do the linking thing like I can." Also the linking thing kinda sucks.

I heard that. But yes. I can do that. As long as the map is directly connected to me I can update it in real time. If one of the others pick it up off the table, the connection will stop till they put it back.

That's interesting. I will have to experiment with that. "Why not make it a table then. No reason not to. We can put it in my house." I said

oh. About that

Oh god. What now?

In all the excitement, well it just sort of slipped my mind

"What happened to my house Nola?"

Well..... Melvin is there. Trashing the place. But I can fix all of it pretty quickly, so no big deal!

"Why the hell is Melvin at my house? And when did he get there?" I said exasperatedly

He's been on the road in front of it most of the night, but he broke in about 15 minutes ago. There were other things going on between us at the time

True. But this is one of those things that I feel like needs a quick answer

A non murder-y answer. Nola.

I wasn't gonna. I just made that promise.

"Any idea what he's there for, or is he just taking revenge on me for winning" I said.

The contract you signed with him. He's been mumbling about it since he broke in.

"Oh. If that's all, just give it to him. We can make more easily. Just put it in the next place he's gonna search." No need to complicate things. Whatever hairbrained scheme he has won't matter when I produce a perfect copy of the original document, down to the atom.

Done. Hopefully that takes care of that.