Just after three weeks, he began to notice activity a few hours away from the dungeon with his crows. People were gathering, heading toward a large clearing near the dungeon. Only an hour or two’s walk from the dungeon. They began chopping down trees and making the clearing larger. They built stalls and put up tents and other crude structures. Armed forces were brought as guards for the workers and merchants. Stables were built. Signs were made. They were preparing an outpost for the new permanent dungeon, and there were many people coming for the grand opening.

However, he also noticed, over these couple of days, that slaves were brought to a camp just outside of town. They were mostly non-human. Dwarves, and halflings for the most part, with a handful of beastkin and humans. Overall, there were slightly over a hundred from his count. Though it was difficult to get a good headcount with them packed together in cages.

Dominik heard they were to be sold to adventurers first, and any extra to merchants who needed help bringing back supplies. He knew some adventurers would be very willing to buy slaves. For carrying supplies, and carrying back proof of kills in the dungeon. Or simply for another body to throw at the enemies, with no need to pay them, even if they survive.

He didn’t want to just sit here and watch them be sold, and freeing them after the fact would be more difficult. If people chose to fight and die in the dungeon, then so be it, but being owned, and forced to die in the dungeon, or suffer other…. Indignities, was something he couldn’t stand by and watch. What would be the point of being alive, and having this power, and this newfound freedom, if he just sat in this dungeon hiding, hoping not to rock the boat too much?

Dominik began creating a mask. This would be a living mask, though without a consciousness of its own. The thick mask would fuse with his face and thereby perfectly alter his appearance, allowing him to wear it whenever he needed to act outside of his new role as Dominus.

He made it the same as his eldritch flesh, more of a gray color than his original body’s white skin. He put an eldritch eye on the forehead, and the mask would go down to his neck after fusing with his skin, it would even change his voice. He could simply put the mask back to its original state to put his avatar back in its original state as well. Other than that he’d only have to change his hair color and eye color when he wore the mask, to make sure no one who ever saw him up close would suspect him of being the same person.

He wished to make this identity into a sort of folk hero. Perhaps then, escaped slaves would come to the dungeon willingly seeking refuge. Or at least, perhaps information would come freely to him.

He’d considered making another avatar, maybe something more liked, maybe a high elf, but he decided he’d rather not have people lured into the dungeon under false pretenses. Or at least, he’d prefer to be somewhat honest about the true nature of the dungeon. Anyone willing to come live in the dungeon after seeing his face would be less likely to try attacking whatever is living in the dungeon.

He would call this avatar, with the mask on, Salvator, a bit on the nose, but stories about folk heroes worked best when they were simple. He made its voice slightly deeper and raspier than his human avatar, so there should be no mistaking the two by appearance or sound. He completed the mask by morning and began running toward the slaver’s camp near the town.

He cast spells to increase his speed and cardiovascular stamina, and ran to the town. He made it there by nightfall, just on the outskirts of the camp, and he enacted his plan. Which was really just that he’d brought a mace from the treasure room, and he began bashing the guards with it, who were mostly sat around a campfire. With spells cast to increase his speed and strength, and the already substantial physical properties of his avatar, he made short work of them. The gambeson some of them wore was of little use.

He wasn’t sure if these guards were part of the caravan or if they’d been stationed here by the town, so he tried to keep most of them alive. Unfortunately, whatever merchants were in charge of this were likely sleeping at an inn tonight, or at least eating at a restaurant right now. Maybe he could kill them some other time.

For now, he took the keys from the guards and opened the cages, letting the slaves out. They seemed thankful as he passed around the smaller keys for the cuffs and chains that bound them. Then he made his offer.

“I am Salvator.” He began. “You’re all free to leave, you can go wherever you choose. I’ll even cast spells to increase your speed and stamina for a few hours in whichever direction you choose to go. If you seek shelter however, I can provide it, if you choose to come with me.”

“However, I am also a servant of the dungeon lord in the mountains.” This got some whispers and murmurs started in the crowd. “I offer shelter in the dungeon for any who wish it. Anyone else may take their leave.”

He cast the spells to aid the group, as promised, while they openly discussed this with each other. Arguments happened, people tried convincing others to leave with them to their homeland, or some safe haven they’d heard of. Very few were arguing in favor of joining the dungeon.

When all was said and done, most formed groups and left. But a few remained behind, exactly a dozen. Dominik thought perhaps there was meaning in that, and he was glad to see some stayed. The rest however, could spread word of the slaves being freed, and of this dungeon being a safe haven for them.

Of the dozen, there were six dwarves, four men and two women. Two halflings, a male and a female. And four lizardmen, three men and one woman, from what he could tell. Perhaps they’d get along with the troglodytes? But Dominik thought he most likely shouldn’t voice this opinion. He also wondered why there were so few women among the slaves. But he could guess. Either they mostly brought men because the adventurers would mostly want combatants and manual laborers. Or most of the women had already been sold to customers of a different need. If they were lucky, only housework.

The twelve remaining freed slaves mostly stood together with members of their own race, occasionally whispering to each other, but otherwise quiet as the other freed slaves quickly left the area. Soon it was just them, and the servant of the dungeon lord, who was in fact the dungeon lord.

He realized he didn’t understand what most of the people were saying, especially the lizardmen. Dominik had only needed to learn gothic, and a bit of some other human languages. Most of the translating required was done by other people. There was a man who spoke several languages very fluently from what he heard, but eating the man’s brain didn’t give him any knowledge of the languages he knew. He’d hoped that’s how it worked, but it didn’t work that way at all.

Dominik thought, since one of the lizardmen seemed to speak gothic, perhaps he could take lessons from him. But learning all of these languages seemed time consuming. Then he had a thought. If he could look through the troglodytes’ memories, perhaps he could gain some knowledge of other languages from other people as well, after forming a contract. He sighed and relaxed, no longer having to worry about the prospect of learning several languages. At least possibly.

“Do you speak gothic?” Dominik asked the largest of the lizardmen. “Yes.” He replied. “I’ve been translating the information, and I tried to get more from my village to join, but they were against it. These two seem willing to take refuge in the dungeon however.”

“Do the rest of you speak gothic?” Dominik asked as he looked at the others. There were words of affirmations from them, but some were said with very thick accents. Most taken from the general area had a good chance of speaking gothic, as it was the official language of the northern kingdom of man.

“Then let’s get going, we’ll want to be back by morning, try moving as fast as you can.” He gave them a moment to follow, and for the lizardman to explain to the others, but he soon picked up his pace. He was walking quickly with long strides, and while the lizardmen kept up fine, being about as tall as the average human, the dwarves and the halflings essentially had to run, maybe more of a jog.

He’d like to have slowed down the pace a bit, but he wanted to get back as soon as possible. He wasn’t sure when the dungeon would be attacked, or how soon the village might send out trackers looking for the freed slaves, but he’d like to have them safely in the dungeon, on a low floor near the bottom before then.

This pace was somewhat untenable, and guiding them after they slept while the dungeon was attacked would be less than ideal. Nor was entering through, and exiting through the dungeon entrance ideal with so many people around. So he began to send commands to the troglodytes and the earth elementals.

He would have them start digging through the wall inside the first floor of the dungeon. They’d have to build a tunnel and extend the secret path straight through the mountain. Because part of the trip was around the mountain, to and from the dungeon’s main entrance, it would save on time when entering and leaving. It would also allow them to rest inside the dungeon, or at least the cave if not the dungeon proper. It would be a more covert way of entering and exiting the dungeon, and it’d be much closer to town.

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He mentally planned out the route and gave commands as he slowed down his pace a bit, and controlled his avatar almost subconsciously. Or at least, as an afterthought. The troglodytes worked to dig out the basic path, and the earth elementals helped take away the dirt, clear out the higher parts of the path they were all digging, and to move or break up larger rocks.

They worked quickly, especially with the strength and stamina buffs he provided. But it still took longer than he’d hoped. Soon morning was coming, and the path would still take a few hours at least to complete. So he picked a spot near some trees and other foliage, a slightly hidden area, but with enough unique markers to be remembered by others from the cave in the future, and he began breaking open an entrance. He focused on using his earth magic, and blunt force when needed to assist him. He had to focus on softening the stone, and then breaking it or moving it, depending on how resilient it was.

He let the others rest, they seemed exhausted even with his spells replenishing their stamina. Soon he’d dug out a tunnel, wide and tall enough to comfortably walk through, then a fairly large room for them to rest in, softening mounds of dirt for sleeping on. The troglodytes seemed happy with this change he’d made to their sleeping quarters, but the rest of them didn’t seem too happy with a lack of bedding. Still, they laid down and fell asleep soon after. He sealed the entrance off, leaving only small openings higher up to let fresh air in.

Then he continued digging with his magic, moving piles of dirt out occasionally, reopening the entrance to the tunnel and shaping it all into large stones outside, which he supposed would act as markers for those who knew, but would otherwise look inconspicuous to other travelers, as he made it match with the rest of the terrain. Thankfully the freed slaves would be safe in here, even if search parties came.

Soon it was much later in the day, and most of the freed slaves had awakened as he continued digging. Some tried to help, but without tools it was more for the sake of it. Not long after that, he met up with the others. The tunnels connected perfectly, as he had guided them. He’d already marked the freed slaves, so they wouldn’t have to fear the spiders on the first floor.

He gave them some words of encouragement as he led them through the long tunnel, behind the troglodytes and elementals. It was a short walk compared to walking around the mountain, it took quite a lot of time to dig the tunnel out, but now it was saving the freed slaves a lot of time, and providing good safety during their travels. He strengthened the walls and ceiling a bit on the way, to ensure the stability of the newly dug tunnels.

They reached the dungeon shortly after, and he brought them to the first floor to eat. “We have dodo meat, dodo eggs, grub, and grub eggs. What would you like?” Unsurprisingly, nearly everyone opted for dodo meat or dodo eggs. Only the lizards seemed willing to try the grubs and the grub eggs. Save for one dwarf with a thick accent, who said he’d try it all.

There wasn’t much space on the inner part of the first floor, or even for the first several, so he had some workers and the earth elementals start increasing the size to make a dining area. Once there was a bit more room, Dominik began creating benches with tables for his guests to sit at. Two was enough for now. He had them keep expanding the first floor, he’d like to have the first floor, or maybe the first few floors, for guests such as freed slaves.

Soon the food and water was brought out and everyone began to eat and talk amongst themselves. Dominik left them for the time being and went to tell Fran about everything. She was practicing her magic on the sixth floor, in the large area he’d made for fighting with his sixth floor avatar when he approached her.

She seemed startled at first but quickly relaxed. “Hey Fran, it’s me.”

“Dominik? Are you using illusion magic?”

“No, I just made a mask out of flesh that fuses with my face and changes my voice, then I changed my hair white and my eyes to a sort of orange, like the eldritch eye that I put on the mask. Pretty convincing disguise right?”

“Yes, better than I could do with illusion magic. Why did you need a mask though? She said, seemingly suspicious.

“I freed a bit over a hundred slaves, they were by the town for the grand opening of the dungeon. Most of them ran for their homelands, or wherever else, but twelve of them came here with me, so I’m going to let them stay in the dungeon. They’re on the first floor right now, food and drink are being brought up to them. I just wanted to warn you so you don’t expose your identity.”

Fran seemed to take a moment to process this before saying. “Oh, I see. Do you have some plans for them?”

“No.” Dominik responded.

There was silence for a bit before he decided she wanted to hear more about this. “Well, if you want you can come up and meet everyone, but if you want to hide your identity, I could make you a mask too, but we might need to make a contract first if you want it to fuse with your skin. I mean, so I can put it back to how it was before afterward.”

Fran drew in breath when he was mentioning the flesh of the mask fusing with skin, and when he finished she soon responded. “That’s okay, even if we make a contract, I think I’d prefer something that doesn’t fuse with my skin.”

Dominik thought about this for a moment, then responded. “Well, I could make you a mask that just goes over your skin, and just wraps around you. But people might notice you’re a dark elf if it’s not thorough enough, which might give away who it is of course.”

“That’s okay Dominik, it doesn’t need to be perfect, and I’m not in a rush to interact with a bunch of people anyway, I’ve been fine with just relaxing in this cave, studying, practicing, it’s fine.”

After a bit more convincing, Dominik agreed that, if he were to make her a mask, that fusing was unnecessary, and that he could make it at his leisure.

He went back to the first floor and helped with the construction of his plan, making a hallway and several rooms, one for each of them. After they were made, he'd packed it with soft dirt for sleeping, though when he showed the people their rooms, they seemed somewhat reticent about sleeping there.

He brought them back into the large living area he’d made, and had them sit down at the two benches again. He had an idea of how to improve things.

“Would you all like beds?” He asked.

They all agreed, the halflings agreed most profusely, while the lizardmen seemed reluctant to agree, as if they thought it was some sort of trick. But still, they said yes.

“Well I don’t have enough materials to make it out of cloth or wool, though I suppose we could start making pillows out of the dodo’s feathers at some point. For now though, I’ll make it for you myself, and I’ll start with my first guest, whom you haven’t met. I’ll have them all ready by tonight.

After this, Dominik had the troglodytes and the earth elementals clear out the dirt from the stone bedrooms he’d made for the freed slaves, and he returned to his original body to get to work.

He crafted a large mattress out of flesh for Fran. He’d made her room large, so there was plenty of room, and she could put her bedding on top of it and make things even more comfortable.

The mattress he made out of his flesh, growing the eldritch flesh and meat to the perfect shape on the ground of the room containing the dungeon core. He made it living, though not sentient, so the flesh and meat wouldn’t rot. He put mana crystals along the edges, in order for it to store mana and use it all for sustenance. The mattresses didn’t need much to sustain their life, they were perfectly efficient, being made from eldritch flesh, and they were very simple life forms as well.

He also made her a large comforter as well, in case she got cold even with her bedding. He made it soft and light, even foldable. It was as much like a comforter or blanket as possible, while being made out of eldritch flesh. He put the mana crystals at the bottom of the comforter. They were soft anyway, as they were still part of something living, but he thought it would be more pleasant if they were at the bottom. He was treating them like jewels being sequined into fine fabric for a rich noble.

Dominik brought the bed to Fran, who had been reading a book in her room. “Hey Fran, I made you a mattress.” He began moving her bedding, and he placed the mattress in the corner that she’d been sleeping in.

“Oh thank you Dominik.” She said, “It was better than the setup I had in the cave, but it still wasn’t that soft. What did you make it out of?”

Dominik finished putting the gray fleshy mattress down, and put her bedding on top of it. Then he finally told her.

“I made it out of my own eldritch flesh. Don’t worry, the flesh won’t rot, it’s alive, it uses mana to keep itself alive, and it stores extra mana in the mana crystals. So you could even take it out of the dungeon and it’ll stay alive for quite a long time.”

Fran’s eyes grew wide and she stared at him, then back at the bed. “Don’t worry.” Dominik said, sensing her apprehension. “The mana crystals are soft, and they’re on the sides anyway. Go ahead and sit down on it, lay on it, you can see how soft it is.” He moved her bedding to the side so she could sit on the bare mattress.

With some trepidation, Fran sat down on the thick mattress, which Felt slightly warm in the cool room. It seemed to conform to her weight, but support her. After this she laid down, and it adjusted to her bodyweight. She didn’t want to admit it, but it was the most comfortable bed she’d ever laid on.

“Do you like it?” Dominik asked.

“Yes, it’s very comfortable.” Fran said, speaking honestly, but not sure if she should encourage him.

“Wait right there.” He said, and he went off to get her comforter. Then he realized he hadn’t made her a pillow, so he spent some time making a large pillow to go along with the rest of her bed. He put a small mana crystal in each corner of the pillow.

He soon brought her the pillow and the comforter. He lifted her up and put the pillow underneath her head and her neck. It soon contorted to perfectly support her head and her neck. Then he covered her in the warm comforter made from his eldritch flesh.

Fran laid there, in her large living bed, with her previous bedding pushed to the side. She felt incredibly comfortable, but somewhat horrified as she lay covered in a living comforter. She almost felt as if her bed were breathing, but she couldn’t tell if that was just her imagination.

“Try sleeping.” Dominik said.

“It’s only noon.” Fran responded. She wasn’t sure of the exact time, but her bodily clock knew it was too early to go to sleep.

“Just try taking a nap.”

Fran laid there and tried to relax while Dominik stood near her, watching. The aches and pains in her back from the months of travel and poor beddings seemed to be soothed, and although she didn’t actually mean to, she soon fell asleep in the bed Domminik had made for her out of eldritch flesh.

Domminik was pleased with this result, and went back to his main body, leaving his avatar, still wearing the mask, to sit on an earthen chair in Fran’s room.

He soon made beds for the lizardmen, the dwarves, and the hobbits. All of the beds were a bit taller than their subjects, and at least twice as wide. He returned to his avatar hours later, after he’d finished making the beds, and had the troglodytes help him bring them back to their rooms, along with the comforters and pillows he’d made for each bed.

Once they were all placed in the stone rooms he’d made for the freed slaves, it was getting quite late, and they were tired enough after getting a poor night’s sleep the day before, and for who knows how many days before. None of them asked what the mattresses or the bedding were made of, they just thanked him and went to sleep.