Cara

A bouquet of dandelions, a small smile, and a sunny day. It was one of Cara's favorite memories, one she had thought back to often since becoming trapped in the core. Before all of this, Cara had just been the third daughter of a local minor noble. Not even really a noble at that point, because her uncle had inherited the land and her father married a merchant’s daughter.

The way they did things was different, and it was not always the first born who took the title of lord or lady of the land but the strongest. Might was right. The Sagethorns were a very prideful people and powerful magi who were distant relatives of the king's advisor. As a child Cara did not understand that she may one day be expected to rule, to take the lordship from her uncle. As a child she did not understand what it meant that her uncle and aunt did not have children.

As a child, she was worried little about the future. She came out one morning and found a small bouquet of dandelions and other wildflowers, and that was all that mattered. She knew where they had come from and went to see her friend and thank him. She was only nine at the time. After spending the entire day playing with the young boy who lived in the forest, she kissed him goodbye. Nothing big, just a peck on the cheek before she ran away giggling with her flowers. Who needed to think about the future when the present was just so sweet?

As a child, she did not understand why her father had been so angry when she got home. No, it took much longer for her to realize his anger with her, his only daughter showing any aptitude with magic. It was not a lesson that she would ever forget. This was both her best memory, and her worst. What she would give to just be a child again...

"My lady dungeon, please spare us from your fairy! He is wreaking havoc in the Warren once again and the children are terrified."

"I don't have time for this Gil. I'll tell him to stop it this time, but in the future, you need to handle this amongst yourselves. You're a leader of your people now Gil, start acting like it."

The troglodytes were a lot like children, they didn't understand. They'd grow up and see how things had to be eventually.

She still felt guilty about forcefully bonding their entire species, about the children who were born without their free will. Brick hadn't warned her about it and when questioned just dismissed the whole thing. 'Who cares if the pig fuckers have to listen to you, that’s the way it should be. You're more powerful than they are and their entire tribe is primitive. If anything, they should thank you for increasing their quality of life.' That was what Brick had told her, and whereas she agreed, that memory of her childhood always brought with it a sense of guilt. Children should be allowed to make their own choices.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for the troglodytes. When she first claimed the tribe, she found out about their less than savory breeding process. A day after claiming them she was the master of eight little troglodyte-gnoll hybrids, and she instantly gave them their freedom. The older ones she did not trust, they'd grown up without a dungeon overlord and she did not want them to fight against her. But the children she thought she could raise better, thought she could give them freedom and they'd learn to love her and protect her. She thought she could let them decide, and they decided to fight that adventuring party and die.

This is why they couldn't be freed. The troglodytes' brains were so underdeveloped that they could not make their decisions correctly, permanently children. Dandelions.

No. No time for that. Cara knew those adventurers were here scouting for the guild because she had been listening to them the entire time they were in her dungeon. She knew that they did not gauge her as a threat even though she was a darkness affinity dungeon, and she knew that they'd been excited about the troglodytes. At least their sacrifice had been for something. What this meant though was that she needed to get more powerful, ready to defend herself if they changed their mind. With this in mind, she'd traded with Manning for the only creature he had big enough for her troglodytes to... well to do their thing and started training them more hands on.

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Gil'thuk was going to be her first boss, the one who would defend her on the seventh floor. She'd learned that every seven levels after they hit level 8 [1] dungeons got a big power boost and unlocked all sorts of neat abilities. She knew it got harder and harder to progress each level, but thanks to the fact she was technically half a core it was much easier for her to progress taking only half as much cultivation as usual. Cultivation was how she referred to the growth of a dungeon core, cycling was such a simple term and she didn't think it did the process justice. Either way, she'd carved out four more floors below her but hadn't populated them yet. When you added in her first two and the extra 'floor' she was dedicating to breeding, you would be able to know she was at level seven.

As a milestone level though Cara had quickly figured out it wasn't going to be as easy as the first levels. There was something she was missing to advance, and neither she nor Brick knew what it was. Instead, she spent all her time grooming the troglodyte tribe to grow more powerful and hopefully more intelligent. Gil'thuk had what it took to become a mage, of that Cara was sure, and she thought she could make a fighting force of the rest of them.

She watched in on Brick as he tore away at the walls of the Warren, stealing all the mushrooms he could get his hands on. He could be a real shit sometimes, but it was funny to watch. A treehouse in the forest. Ugh! Cara was having a hard day. What better to distract her than trap making though. With that thought in mind, and no other thoughts, Cara redirected her attention to the barren floors she'd had her beetles carving out below her and started digging pits and hanging spikes. Just another day of being a dungeon, Cara could not wait to have company, so she didn't feel so bored.

* * * * * * *

Briccriu

Brick could not believe that Cara was allowing these abominations to live in her dungeon. Not only had she created them their own Warren, but she'd even gotten them boars to breed with. It was disgusting, although Brick knew it was necessary for the dungeon's growth.

He'd spent the last hundred years of his life in a nice manor not too far west of here, cleaning for the humans and enjoying the tributes they left out for him. It'd been a cushy life, until he had to leave. The new child of the household had just been too much to handle, she'd been unhinged, and it scared poor Brick away. He left the home, becoming a rogue brownie. Becoming a boggart just to get away from that messy, crazed little human girl.

How lucky had it been for him though, when he'd been wandering the river and heard the call of a young dungeon core. Dungeons were always impeccable, clean and flawless, and it was the best thing Brick could have asked for. Instead he got saddled with these disgusting creatures that ate like savages, bred like savages, and made a mess absolutely everywhere! To make it even worse, Cara did not clean up after them in the Warren and had chosen to make it a free space for them. Tell him, what was the purpose then of enslaving them if you were just going to let them make a mess of your home!

It was because of this that Brick found himself back to his old habits, mischief of the worst degree. He'd spent his time wisely, hiding tripwires in doorways to their huts or putting bad mushrooms in their communal stew pot when nobody was looking. He'd even gone as far as stealing every mushroom he could find that was edible and leaving only the slightly modified ones that Cara had made by mistake. They were yellowish, and Cara thought that they were a pleasing tone on her walls. What Cara hadn't realized, and Brick strategically chose not to mention, was that they were a very strong diuretic.

The only troglodyte that he did not truly hate was the daughter [2] of the late chieftain. She was a furry little creature, with the correct number of eyes and a penchant for avoiding the other trogs and keeping to herself. She didn't talk but Brick could tell from her eyes and the way she observed the world that she was far smarter than her kin, and he thought that she should be the one to lead. Unfortunately, that stupid kinslayer was chosen to lead. Gil'thuk, Brick spat on the floor for just thinking of the thing that had spent so many days in his tunnels, eating all his beautiful mushrooms and defecating everywhere until Cara had dominated it.

After being warned off harassing the troglodytes for the moment, Brick chose to walk over and talk to the young gnoll-troglodyte girl sitting on the edge of camp. As always, he greeted her and shared his bounty of mushrooms to eat while he regaled her with tales the days mischief. After ten minutes silence staring at an unruly troglodyte trying to herd a group of even more unruly cave-boars into a pen, Brick heard a mumble from next to him.

"What was that?"

The young girl looked away before slowly turning back to face Brick. Staring very intently into his eyes she spoke for the first time that he'd ever heard.

"Nala. Name, Nala." She then stood and walked off to help the poor herdsman with his flock.

Brick was fairly confident that Cara had not taught the child the common tongue.