--------- Giant Squisher Storage Room ---------

The dungeon watched his zombie slice through the dead zombie's thigh muscle, getting everything around the bone removed. 'Jerks killing my monsters all over the place. How many ratfrogs did they even... oh shit!'

The dungeon made its way through its own short labyrinth to the Termite Room, and looked down at the bodies of the creatures there. 'Where are the pure rats? Did all of you stay in the other room?' He thought about it, and decided that instead of being mad, he'd be glad they didn't come in.

He was starting to calm down, but figured it would be stupid to stop himself. 'Store', he said as he touched the various corpses until none were left. The dungeon made his way back to the room where everything was waiting on him, though it wasn't like everything was operating under his direct commands already.

Inspecting his Research Queue again, the dungeon saw things missing. 'Wait, where are my other phone apps? I swear I was researching those like, awhile ago.' He had the butcher zombie stop what it was doing and use his phone instead, getting slowly congealing blood on it. He touched the screen, accessing the apps as the phone was held up for him, getting the messages he expected, but as soon as he touched the 'Messages' icon, the other phone apps set as spells disappeared from his progress list. He tried this in a few other orders, but the same result happened.

There were other app icons he poked, but didn't get a response. He didn't even know what most of the rest of them were anyway, so who cares if they worked or not? 'Okay, so I can't have that at all. Fine, just do these, then.'

The zombie had sliced some of the dead zombie's skin off and set it aside as it had been told to do, getting Giant's attention. 'Research', he said, touching it. He looked over at the other dead monsters, feeling sorry for them, not able to have them chopped up for more material opportunities like he planned. As the corpse he was using for that purpose was worked on more, he did as he intended for the most part.

After the heart, stomach, and one of the intestines were removed, he added the stuff he was interested in into his queue and set the zombie back to digging work. 'I really need my ant farm now. That or someone to fuck with. Where's someone that doesn't suck? Like that one group? Where are you guys? I'd rather you're in here than them. System! Consider all the other parts as already being stored and leave it where it is!'

--------- Bogsreach Border ---------

The Temple of Forgiveness congregation members had finished forcing their enslaved sacrifices back into the back of the wagon and gotten their own large black goanies to pull forward, heading into the village that they could tell looked decrepit, even from this distance. They saw a small group of men heading towards them, maybe locals. They didn't look well-armed or equipped, but no one could really rival them with what they had. Not unless they were an adventurer too, or at least someone who successfully delved once or twice in a better dungeon.

"Ho!", the man walking a little bit behind two of the other men shouted. The goanies obeyed, and they quickly came to a stop. The man with the wrapped cudgel at his side pulled the reins, keeping the animals moving, but only slowly. Stopping in the muck would only cause them to get stuck.

"Ho!", the woman with the identifying knife scar said in return.

"What's your business here? The town back there doesn't have any goods or services yet, and is falling apart badly."

The woman shook her head. "I didn't come for resupply, but to delve the dungeon. Maybe we could get it to supply the town?"

The men on foot turned their party around, going at a brisk walk, escorting the wagon. "I've already inspected it, and it doesn't have anything worth anything. If you have something that could change that, then maybe it can. Until then, we're scraping by with rations from Plainsheart."

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The woman smiled. "We really don't have anything worth anything", she skillfully lied, "but we wouldn't mind being the first citizens in... what's this town's name?"

"Bogsreach. It was abandoned a long time ago, after someone stole the dungeon's seeds. And, well, you know what happens with dungeon goods that came from a barren dungeon."

"We do. Anyway, is there any claim on any of the buildings? I need a sizeable property with a maximum amount of local silence, since we delve best at night."

"My guildhouse is obvious enough, so i wouldn't suggest staying near it. It's quiet now, but it won't be for long. Anyway, trekking back and forth through calf-deep mud and over knee-high grass tufts isn't doing me any favors. Let us know if you need anything. The Ministry of Truth lost their church to the dungeon, so you'll need to go to Plainsheart for services. The only tavern around is there, too!"

The woman pretended to be distracted with the man holding the reins wrong, but Captain Sylde wasn't able to see her face at that point anyway.

The Exterminators watched the unknown people continue on their way, heading towards the maze-like area of housing, some of which was partially submerged. After they were out of earshot, the younger of the two scouts, Pale spoke up. "Who were those people? I'm surprised you didn't stop them and check the wagon for... well, who knows what."

The captain replied quickly. "Adventurers. You really want to find out how many dungeons they've delved, and what they have hidden in their sleeves, under their clothing, and under the wagon's covers? What if they've got monsters from a much older dungeon in there, that they keep as houseguards?"

Pale went silent, but only for a moment. "What kind of monster would an old dungeon have?"

"I don't know, every dungeon is different. The thing they all do, though, is the older they are, the bigger they are. The bigger they are, the more twisted their spawn becomes and the more confusing, deadly, and numerous their traps are. But also the more powerful and useful the loot is. Think of the most powerful monster you can, and the scariest nightmare you've ever had. Combine the two together, then make it worse. That's barely scratching the surface. Dungeons don't have limits, kid. Don't forget that."

"This dungeon isn't like that. I've been in it. It was fine."

The older scout, Lawg, spoke up this time. "It's a young dungeon. It's not bad now, and it might never be too bad. It's time to grow up, boy, or you'll get eaten up."

Pale started walking back towards the dungeon to post as guard like they were planning to begin with. "Sure, old-timer. What would even eat me?"

Sylde, Caelum, and Branch continued silently, but Lawg replied. "The world. Do you get this irresponsible when you're reinforcing the town guard? Would you go to sleep under one of the dungeon's, uh..."

Captain Sylde interjected. "Giant Squisher. That's the dungeon's official name, now that it has one."

Lawg continued. "Giant Squisher's giant flying stone squisher monsters? If you loot a treasure chest full of something interesting, would you tell everyone about it so someone with a bright idea will know they can slice your throat in your sleep and take it for themselves?"

The younger scout was told that he'd be learning on the job when he expressed interest in joining the guild, but he didn't know such knowledge would be so scary.

--------- Plainsheart guard station ---------

A wagon pulled by something that looked like gray goanies, but with shaggy fur came up the road and stopped as the guard stood up and walked into the center of the road. "I haven't seen you for a long time! Glad to see you've made it through. Any monsters give you a problem?"

The driver smiled. "Not this time! You know I can't make it out here without adventurers unless I watch all the migrations and weather. Who's in the tavern?"

"Merry, same as always. We have a new dungeon over in Bogsreach! You might want to come by more often once it starts producing!"

The driver, a merchant and ranger by trade, got a gleam in his eye. "I just might do that. Come by tomorrow when I'm up for trade. You know where I'll be."

The guard didn't say anything, but he did get out of the way and nod his head in such a way to grant passage and provide direction, though he knew the other man didn't need it.

--------- Giant Squisher Daedric Tower ---------

The zombie swung at the wall, scratching the last of the dirt out from the center of a doorway. Able to see into the room, it saw another zombie that had been digging down. The other zombie swung its own hand, and the two of them broke through the hole. After a few minutes, the doorway could be traversed.

The dungeon's self-image walked up the sloped stairs, seeing the new room that just became available. He went into the room, seeing a large amount of dirt yet to be removed. He tried to take a deep breath, but found he couldn't. He wasn't blacking out again, nor wheezing, but he didn't want to overdo it and risk... something. He didn't know what it was, but it must be bad. He felt it in the gut he didn't have. Well, he did have one, but it wasn't researched yet.

'Turn the dirt removed from this room into mana. But, keep the mana in the room. Can I do that, system? Lock mana in rooms if I say so?'

There was no response.

'Whatever, be that way. Yeah just keep the mana in here. This room is going to be a Forge Room. Don't you think that digging tools will help the zombies do what I said? Plus, they're weapons. Kind of. Anyway, do what I said.'