"Status?"

[Status: active]

[Status: active (mobile)]

[Status: active]

Well, there it was. She was now connected to not one, not two, but three seeds. Or realm controllers. Or dungeon cores. Or whatever you chose to call them. Nic had watched the core disappear from view as she held it, then nodded happily.

"There you go! Excellent. What are your orders, Boss? Boss?"

Amelia sat in a daze. At least Elara responded to her spoken command right away, unlike Bert and Donald had done. That was something, at least. She looked over at the expectant skeleton, waiting patiently on the edge of the wing chair. His short legs swung happily as they dangled, the chair entirely too large for the man.

"Um, first off, none of this 'boss' business. It's Amelia, okay?"

The ratman just shrugged. "Got it, Boss!" He continued grinning, as always. Perhaps slightly more than usual.

Amelia glared at him, but he was unrepentant.

"Why didn't one of you guys take this? Why me?"

"It's like this. You're a good person, and you care. That's way more'n could be said of our previous bosses. You don't seem to want power. Fates know you got enough already. Far as I can tell, you only used it to make this place more comfy. No raiding, pillaging, etc etc. We're tired of the way things've been run, so we figured we'd try your way. So there you go. Realm's gotta have a master, or some scoundrel'll just snatch the controller and we're back to where we were. They might even close the place down, and then we'd really be in it."

"Huh. Okay. Would've been nice to have a choice in the matter, though." Amelia said, a little uncomfortable with his reasoning. It wasn't like she'd chosen this. I mean, sure, she'd accepted Gran's invitation to be caretaker, but she had no idea what that entailed. And just like with Donald, she didn't even have a chance to say no to Elara.

"What? You got the prompt, you must've said yes. I watched it fade myself."

"Nope. Something about 'overridden'. Happened with Donald too, but at least that time I heard the question. Didn't even get that this time."

"Really? That is strange! Huh! I'm no expert, but I don't think that's right. Bit late now, though. Sorry." He wasn't the least apologetic.

Amelia just shrugged. It was what it was. She looked at the expectant former janitor, having no idea what she should tell him to do.

"Uh, anything that needs attention? Any big problems you know about?"

The ratman guffawed, the sound reverberating oddly from his empty skull. He slapped his bony knee, then cocked his head and gazed off into the distance for a few moments.

"Yeah, we got lots of problems. But nothing that can't wait." He indicated the sleepers nearby with his chin. "Everybody's fed and watered, and we all got places to sleep. So we're doing better than we were before."

Amelia stifled a yawn. "Okay. I need to sleep. Why don't we meet up tomo... uh, I guess it is tomorrow. How about after noon? We can discuss things then."

"Sure thing, Boss! Have a good sleep!" He slipped off the chair and gave a little bow, before heading for the front door, the clomping of his heavy boots muffled by the rag carpets.

Amelia levered herself out of the embrace of the armchair, slowly making her way up the tower staircase. There weren't many people about yet (or still), but the rooms all felt alive, lived in. Pint and Briar always had things bubbling or steeping in the brewery. The new precision shop--which she thought of as the toy shop--had dozens of projects in various stages of completion strewn across the many benches and tables. There was the 'chink chink chink' of metal on stone as she passed through the art floor, Elisabet already up and at work on a new sculpture. The dwarf hadn't been able to bring herself to make art the entire time little Onni was missing, and it warmed Amelia's heart to hear the familiar sound again. She thought about peeking into the studio but didn't want to disturb the artist's peace.

The next level she ascended through in her bedward journey used to be the classroom level. They had so many classes and students, now, that it had been impractical to fit them all in the tiny space. So those had been moved down into the warren, and the children had the whole floor for their own. The two classrooms had been opened up into a much larger play area, with toys, books, and blankets scattered everywhere. She waved at the three goblin triplets who were just crawling out of the pillow fort they often slept in, then frantically invoked a shield spell to block the incoming water projectiles. You had to keep on your toes around those three!

She finally emerged onto the top level and quietly made her way to her small room. There were at least a dozen people asleep on the sofas and recliners in the lounge, looking like they'd drifted off in the middle of conversations. There was a small pile of crisp crumbs and a puddle of evaporating booze directly under Beige and Blue's nest doors, so it looked like the birds had gotten in on the fun as well.

Shock and Pancake were out of it when she slid into her bed, still wearing her clothes. At least the two were cuddled together, not sprawled out over most of the bed as usual. She still ended up sleeping on her side, crowded against the wall. A larger bed (and bedroom) was certainly a possibility, but Amelia didn't mind. Eventually, the two would be too large to sleep with anyways, so she made the most of cuddle time while she could.

When she woke, she had the bed to herself. Usually, one or the other of her bedmates would wake her up, frequently by starting a play fight with the other. It was better than an alarm clock, but she'd had to forbid spell-casting in the bed. Waking up soaking wet while the puppy chased the goat back and forth at full tilt was not pleasant.

After stretching and scratching, she grabbed some clean clothes and started stumbling her way down to the bathhouse. She'd resisted putting a portal from her room directly there, but every time she had to drag herself down the multiple flights of stairs she regretted that decision. But it did mean she was well awake when she finally got there. Her greetings to those she passed on the way were a bit muzzy and incoherent, but most of them were used to that state by now. It was odd to have so many new voices and faces around, though, and so many people calling her 'boss' or 'ma'am'. She'd have to work on that.

The shower block was crowded. She should have guessed as much, with so many of them having stayed up so late to celebrate the newcomers and the return of Onni, Fern, and Quiet. There wasn't a line though, at least, but the place was steamy and moist from all the bathing going on.

All clean and changed, she tossed her dirties in the laundry chute. She suddenly realized she didn't know where that went. Bert took care of all the cleaning, and the clothes would be fresh and folded back in her dresser shortly. She'd never asked how he achieved that. Probably better not to look a gift housekeeper in the mouth, she thought.

She grabbed an apple-banana muffin from the café, thanking the pair of stoats who had volunteered to work the counter. There were people everywhere. She wandered as she picked at the moist pastry, observing all the goings-on. Out front of the cottage, Timon was giving a tour of the gardens to a group of his compatriots. The group consisted of two crocodilians like Timon, a hyena, and several of the goblins from a different species than the ones she was familiar with. They were all in awe of the abundant vegetables and herbs. Amelia spied several ratfolk climbing in the newly producing fruit trees, faces stained with juice.

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As usual, there were several people from the surrounding area visiting the hollow, gaping at the odd sights and sounds while munching on chips and other snacks from the café. It was such a striking contrast to see 'normal' human people versus the overwhelming variety of animals, creatures, and humanoids that were currently occupying the place. Everybody seemed to be getting along just fine, though, chatting and socializing famously.

Taking the path around behind the cottage, she saw a pair of the huge spiders from Elara feeding insects to Mr. Speckles, Bubbles, and Whiskers. In the smithy, Lachlan was demonstrating a technique he'd learned to an attentive gaggle of ratmen clustered near the anvil. Sparks bounced off the heavy apron the boar wore, it and the backwards ball cap grubby and dingy. She couldn't hear what he was saying over the sounds of the bellows and the roar of the forge, but they all seemed excited.

Alder's clearing was just as packed as every place else, with several demonstrations and conversations going on in little knots around the area. She saw a minotaur and a wolf deep in discussion with Alder, the trio watching and commenting on practice spars going on nearby. They seemed to be disagreeing about some finer point of footwork, upon which the tree was most opinionated.

She thought about heading down into the vault and checking out the mining operation. Few of the goblins and dwarves were available these days to make much progress, and there wasn't much to see besides big holes, at least to her untrained eye. They hadn't had the personnel to explore the caves branching off the main cavern yet, but maybe with all the new people around, they'd finally get to that.

Which brought up a new thought. The Fur Folk had originally only come to stay for a short while, to learn basic crafting and become more self-sufficient in 'civilized things'. But even though the crown had passed on to several heads since King Ronan had brought them, they didn't seem eager to leave. She didn't want to assume that they'd stay forever, but maybe she'd need to discuss the matter with Queen Constance.

The same thing would need to be discussed with the Elarans, as well. That was an interesting situation. She hadn't gotten a headcount of how many had come through the portal, but it was closer to hundreds than dozens. It'd be great to have more person-power around if they had stuff they wanted to do, but she'd need to figure out what was going on back 'home' for them as well.

With that line of thinking, she decided it was time to seek out Nic and have that chat they'd postponed last night. That morning. Before sleeping, anyways.

She found the bony ratman hard at work in her new sweet shop, concentrating fiercely as he piped decoration onto a still-warm truffle. He was standing on a chair so he could be high enough above the work surface, and the way his jaw was set made her think he'd be sticking his tongue out as he focused if he still had one. There were already a few trays of decorated candies off to one side, and it looked like only a few pieces left to go. He acknowledged her presence, but finished up, squeezing the last of the fondant in a decorative swirl.

"Sorry 'bout that! Didn't want it to set wrong. Got a time limit once you got it all set up."

"Those look great! I didn't know you were a confectioner!"

"Yeah, I dabble. Don't need sleep anymore, so I try my hand at this 'n that to kill time."

"Can I try one?"

"Of course! Those are strawberry fudge, chocolate ganache, uh, praline, and those are brandy filled," he said, pointing out each type. They had appropriate decorative touches to identify them, once you knew the pattern. "Careful with the liquor ones. Miss Ashlee had a pint of Tuuka's hidden somewhere, and I promised her some of these if she shared. You know how that dwarf likes his stuff."

"Yeah. I'm sure those taste great, but I think I'll stay sober for now." She reached for one of the strawberry fudge ones, then chewed appreciatively. "Oooh! That's good! You keep making these, you're gonna be real popular!"

He bobbed his head in acceptance of the praise. There were traces of chocolate on his exposed teeth, so she knew he'd already sampled. For quality control purposes, of course.

"Not the sort of place I'd normally expect to find in a dungeon, I gotta say. You guys must not have much of an adventurer problem 'round here. 'Course, with people like Miss Ashlee casually hanging about, I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, either."

"Adventurer problem? We just have Quiet and Picker. You remember him? He and Tuuka are off visiting their home, seeing if anybody there wants to relocate, or something. They're certainly no problem."

"Ah. Not what I meant. Don't you guys have people coming in to raid? I'm no expert, but I thought all dungeons were set up that way. Gotta say, prefer the party and crafting motif you got going, but can't see how you maintain it. Isn't the energy drain off the charts?"

Amelia stared at the skeleton in confusion. "Raids? We don't have anything like that. We get people coming in to hike, eat at the café, and game with Alder, though. As for energy, Bert says he gets it from 'positive emotional energy', which sounds pretty hippy-dippy to me, honestly."

Nic scratched his skull absently, the nails making a hollow scritching sound. "Yeah, I've seen some of them. The ones in the puffy jackets and stocking caps, mostly, right?"

"That's them. They kinda stick out, being human and all." Amelia said wryly.

"Huh. But there aren't that many of them. How many you kill on average, say, daily?"

"What? Kill? None! I don't ... What ...?" she replied, shocked.

Nic held his paws up in placation. "Sorry, sorry! Didn't realize it was a touchy subject. But none? Really? No way you could run this place on that little energy. I mean, how many spawns you got going? All those animals alone must be a ton of energy, and I don't even want to get started on the monsters. I don't get it."

Amelia continued to look confused. She recognized the words he was saying, but they certainly didn't make any sense. She gave him a questioning shrug.

"Look, again, just a maintenance guy. Okay, I guess union rep now too, but still. This isn't my area of expertise. But when you create a creature to populate the dungeon, that takes power. Every time they die and you bring 'em back, that takes more power. Right?"

"Um, what? Bert creates raw ingredients and stuff, like sheet metal and cloth, but not people. Not that I know of, anyways. Uh, that is, how could you tell?"

"That's easy. Shank 'em. If they disappear and come back later, that was a spawn. Kiddin', kiddin'. Kind of a rough test, that." He shrank back a bit from her glare. "But you're the caretaker, right? Just ask. Or whatever it is you do to get info from your controller."

"Bert."

"Bert, whatever. Ask 'em. I assume that's a him? Sorry, bad habit assuming gender like that. I identify as necrosexual, myself."

"Huh. Never asked, actually. But I think he's a him. I guess. Donald is definitely a him. Never mind, let me ask. Bert, how many 'spawns' do you have?"

[1 spawned creature.]

"Uh, what now? Who?" Amelia asked, shocked.

[Briar, goblin gardener.]

"But that can't be right! She has memories of growing up! She told me stories!" she protested.

[Correct. That is how spawning works.]

"That's just wrong, on so many levels! We're just gonna forget this, okay? Not telling anybody!" She glared at Nic.

"What? All I hear is you talkin' to yourself. Don't look at me!" the skeleton raised his bony hands and shrugged.

Amelia stared at him for a moment more, then remembered the whole goal of the original query.

"So Lark and Alder aren't spawned?" She asked.

[Correct. Contracted agents Lark and Alder were mortal.]

"He says, one--um, I mean, no spawned creatures, and Lark and Alder were mortal, but are contracted now."

"You're kiddin'? No spawns? Where did you get ..." he waved vaguely, implying all the inhabitants of the hollow.

"Well, there were a bunch of people already before I got here. Not sure where they came from. I think maybe from Donald, but I don't know. They kinda hid out, so you'dve never known they were here. Many of them have got over that, though. Miss Ashlee, Beige, Blue, Mr. Ainsley, Miss Annie, that nice Mr. G and his mother, and so on. There's a lot more of 'em. Then Tyni, Tuuka, and Picker brought their families and some friends. The Fur Folk are sorta just visiting, but maybe they'll stay, haven't talked to Queen Constance yet. Bill and a few others come to visit a lot, but they don't live here. They stay over sometimes if Alder keeps the game running or something."

Nic drummed his nails on the work surface. "What an odd way to run a dungeon. I guess it works, but it's gotta be one of a kind, I'll tell you that."

"Does Elara have an 'adventurer problem'?"

"Do we ever! Place is crawlin' with 'em. 'S why we have such a big maintenance crew. Somebody has to clean up the mess, reset the traps, that sort of thing. During the rebel... that is, unionization effort, things kinda got all manky. Not everybody was in on it, and, well, it didn't go as smooth as we planned. So there's some administrative reorg that needs to happen if you take my meaning."

"Not really. But if all you guys are here, what'll happen if anybody gets in to Elara?"

"Just to be clear, not all of us came through, but yeah. That's a problem. Without a dungeon master, we couldn't shut down the ol' front door, and things might get messy. 'S why I wanted to talk."

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They discussed the situation for several hours--or exactly three-quarters of a tray of chocolates if you prefer to time things that way. The maintenance ratman could only describe things in general, since he wasn't really 'front of house', as he put it. But Amelia got the gist of it. Elara had several fixed portals in addition to the one that sometimes connected to the hollow, and that was the way outsiders got in. Until those were shut down, they'd keep coming in in search of treasure, and more-or-less wrecking the place. But without them, the dungeon didn't have enough energy to maintain itself.

"Okay, then. Time to work out a plan. Then, Dungeon Makeover time!"