Violet found Chaney in the clay-lined tunnels under the sauna worldlet. The man and his moon cat had been hunting down lone bandits who had gotten separated from the rest. It had been a while since the moon cat had scented any more bandits, so it had decided to hunt a few rabbits instead. Chaney leaned against the wet clay wall and ate a handful of dried apricots.
“Master fairy!” The man shouted as Violet came around a bend in the tunnel. “What news?”
Violet didn’t respond until he was close enough to be heard while talking. “I’m pretty sure the bandits are all either dead or escaped.” Violet took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We’ve won.” He said. He couldn’t quite bring himself to smile.
Chaney noticed Violet’s conflicting emotions about the situation. “Did you save the snake?” He asked.
Violet sighed. “Not really. Yrryth calmed it down a little. Enough so it knows where it is and doesn’t just lash out in all directions, but it’s not safe down here any more. We need to head up and tell that crow it can stop sending creatures down into the tunnels.” Violet gestured down the tunnel in the same direction he had been heading and began to walk. Chaney stood up and murmured something to his bonded moon cat before following. The cat ripped a bit more meat off the rabbit before also following.
They found the cavern under the oasis worldlet and climbed up and out into the cool “night” air by the pond. They marched in the direction of the main worldlet, watching for the raven. Violet waved down the raven when they entered the delta worldlet. “Raven!” He shouted. The bird flew over and perched on an apricot tree branch. “It’s over. We’ve won.” Violet bowed deeply to the bird. “Thank you. I do not think we could have defeated the bandits without your help directing these creatures.” The raven croaked in satisfaction before it flew away.
Chaney looked around in confusion. “Why is the dungeon still spawning so many creatures?” He asked.
“Um.” Violet said.
Chaney blinked and his eyes unfocused for a second. “The System says I fulfilled my end of the contract.” He turned to the dungeon fairy. “Tell the dungeon to release my moon cat.”
“Um.” Violet said again. “Uh… You should go pack up your stuff while I update the dungeon…” Violet stopped speaking as Chaney and the moon cat both glared at him.
“I have everything I need.” Chaney said. “Let’s go talk to the dungeon. Now.”
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“You can’t tell anyone anything you see or hear in here. In fact, you should swear not to tell anyone.” Violet argued with the young man who crouched in the small hollow space around the dungeon core. Between the desk, the talky-thinky-thinky-talky mechanism, and other odds and ends, there was barely enough room for the two of them to fit.
“No.” Chaney said firmly. “We have a contract. The dungeon has to release my cat whether I want to share your secrets or not.”
Violet vibrated with embarrassment as he activated the communication mechanism. He took a moment to try and think what to say as the random words from the dungeon mind filled the room.
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“Request, reduce spawn (dungeon creatures).” The safety voice spoke into the dungeon mind space again.
The loops discussed the request for several moments. Creature deaths were still causing alarm and feeding into the desire for defense and spawning more creatures. A few of the loops remarked that the total amount of creature death had peaked a short time ago but was now at a reduced, but still high, level. “Deny.” The loops said. “creature death, alarm, spawn (dungeon creatures), fight other.” The loops all agreed there was no reason to change this response.
“Some creature death, no danger.” The voice said.
The loops were confused at the obviously incorrect statement. “Contradiction: creature death danger, creature death no danger.” The loops pointed out.
A group of loops reported that the vibration component on an “other” was overlapping with the vibration component of the safety voice. The safety voice vibration frequencies included a few concepts that were familiar to the loops, but mostly was composed of unknown frequency patterns.
A new voice spoke into the dungeon mind space. “Demand, release dungeon creature.” It said.
Many of the loops were alarmed and searched for any memories of other voices. Some subgroups of loops were pleased to record more frequency pattern and concept pairings, while others directed even more energy to defensive actions. After a long discussion, the loops decided to ask for more information. “Curiosity, release dungeon creature?” They said.
“Contract.” The voice said. “Demand, release dungeon creature (tree spider moon cat).”
The loops pondered this new concept of a “contract”. A System message flowed into the dungeon mind.
_ Warning: Violation Of Contracts Results In Severe Consequences. Current Potential Consequences: Loss of multiple dungeon creature templates _
_ Requirements: Release Dungeon Creature #081910 _
The loops quickly discussed the concept of “consequences” and its relation to “contracts”. A group of loops took a pragmatic stance and pushed for an immediate action to fulfill the requirements of this contract before spending more time on discussion. The number of loops vying for pragmatism group sharply. “Desire: release dungeon creature (#081910)” The loops broadcast their desire throughout the entire mind space.
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_ Contract Fulfilled _
Chaney sighed in relief. He had been worried for several long moments that the dungeon would actually decide to break the contract and suffer the consequences. He could feel surprise and a bit of confusion from the moon cat. She was lounging on one of the giant vine branches in the main worldlet, out of sight.
“Fairy.” Chaney said. “I will give you some advice.” He said.
The fairy was looking at the communication mechanism with clear surprise, but he frowned at Chaney’s statement. “What advice?” He asked.
“It is clear that you are not in control of this dungeon.” Chaney said. The fairy continued to frown, but looked to the side, not meeting Chaney’s gaze. Chaney continued. “I don’t know how everything is supposed to work in a dungeon, but it is clear that things are not working well in this one.” Chaney shifted, his legs beginning to complain at the continued crouching. “I think that you and the dungeon don’t know each other very well. When I first got this bond with the moon cat, we didn’t know each other well either. It took time and lots of work to get where we are now. In some ways, I can communicate more clearly with the cat than I can with you, just through our emotional connection.” Chaney paused and watched the fairies expression become flatter, like he was pulling back from listening. “Anyway, my advice is that you need to spend time, hours and hours, talking with the dungeon so you can understand each other.” Chaney shifted and decided to say one more thing. “If you don’t, something worse than bandits will come, and the dungeon won’t survive it.”
The fairy waved his hand, and Chaney found himself out in the main worldlet. Dungeon fruits were still dropping, spawning crowds of creatures. Chaney sent a feeling of freedom across his bond with the moon cat and she dropped down next to him. A few of the dungeon creatures snapped at her, which was a bit startling. “You’re not a dungeon creature anymore.” Chaney said, jogging towards the exit. “We need to leave before they all decide to attack.” The moon cat replied with a feeling of arrogant superiority over the other creatures. Chaney and his cat left the dungeon, smiling, laughing, and purring.