“Wait. What do you mean the dungeon must be Pact Compliant?” Kandra stood in a field of white mist with a patchwork sky overhead. A day old dungeon core, and already she was learning all sorts of new emotions. At this exact moment, the emotion she was becoming most acquainted with was “annoyance.”

The woman across from her barely looked human. She had wings of wood and leaves, legs that terminated in roots instead of feet, and clusters of prehensile vines in place of hands. She was the representative of the Verdant Circle - which, technically, Kandra was now a member of. Not that she had much of a choice.

The woman’s name was Fulsi. She regarded Kandra with eyes made of emeralds - apparently all dungeon avatars had eyes that represented their core. Since Kandra was still newborn, she was just quartz, and her eyes were the same to reflect. Like Fulsi, Kandra’s body was made of wood, although it was far cruder. Fulsi had decades, centuries even, of practice.

“Don’t you want to start on your dungeon?” Fulsi asked, looking Kandra up and down. “Your profile would grow so much.”

Kandra glanced at the tablet she’d made moments ago.

Kandra, Newborn Dungeon

Primary Mana Type: Firmament

Guild Membership: Verdant Circle

“I like to understand what I’m doing before I do it,” Kandra said firmly.

Fulsi shrugged. “Fine. It’s not like I have a dozen other young dungeons who need my guidance.” Kandra’s gaze hardened, and Fulsi raised her hands, laughing. She did have a rich, luscious laugh. Like being mocked by silk. “Just a little joke with you. Fine. The Pact of Three was forged hundreds of years ago. There was a great war between Dungeons, the mortal races, and the Dark Lords. At the end, the powers involved had nearly rent the world in twain. The Pact of Three was to ensure that such a war never happened again. It granted the Dark Lords the continent of Lith’norah, and all the other sapient races send their worst criminals there. In exchange, they will never again invade. Although they do visit some times. Met one a century ago. Nice fellow.”

Kandra sighed. “I’m sure he was. But why does that mean I cannot put more than five mobs in a single group?”

“So impatient,” Fulsi said. “You’re immortal, my dear. There’s no need to rush. But fine. The rest of the Pact covers relationships between Dungeons and Mortals. Mortals still come to fight our mobs. They even die. But we have agreed to not make the dungeon too lethal, and ensure that any group that comes in has a fair chance of fighting. That’s what the compliance is about - making sure we don’t pass that lethality threshold. On top of that, we provide special dungeon tokens as loot now instead of coins - a huge cause for the war was mortal kingdoms succumbing to runaway inflation from us making too much gold.” Fulsi paused to shake her head. “I never understand the mortal obsession with it.”

“I don’t even know what gold is.” Kandra paused. “Why do I know so many words, but not that?”

Fulsi waved her hand. “Our knowledge is odd when we’re first born. We absorb common knowledge from the mortals in the region around us, but knowledge that would allow us to build or expand better must be learned in time.”

“That’s good to know.” Kandra meant it too. It gave her some knowledge for free - if she didn’t know what something was, it was related in some way to dungeon craft, or knowledge too obscure to be common knowledge. “Anyway, these tokens then?”

Fulsi nodded, leaning forward. “The tokens can be regulated because they only have value with the dungeons that made them and any other dungeon that agrees to use them. We also do not get involved in Mortal wars or conflicts - although we are allowed to provide relief in the event of a natural disaster. Our guild does mandate that you pitch in a bit if that happens, unlike the Sable fiends.”

The venom in Fulsi’s words shocked Kandra. Every time the Sable Cabal had come up, Fulsi had dropped her pleasant, jovial demeanor, and deep rage had welled up within her.

“The pact also,” Fulsi said, her voice still toxic, “mandates that dungeons do not attempt to kill each other. No matter how much you want to, if you kill a Sable dungeon, the rest of the Circle will band together with the Cabal to destroy you.”

“Effective deterrent,” Kandra said.

Fulsi nodded. “It protects you too. So…I suppose it’s worth it.” Fulsi sighed, the anger vanishing as fast as it had appeared. “Regardless. The last limitation is that when we send our mobs out into the world, we adhere to the group size guidelines, and we never send them uninvited into a human town.”

“That seems to benefit them immensely,” Kandra said, glad Fulsi was back to her friendly state. The rage Fulsi showed towards the Cabal was… terrifying.

“We got a fair trade. The Adventuring Guilds must only send in appropriately powered adventurers into our depths, and they have their size limits as well. In addition, we are considered Sovereigns within our own walls. No mortal law applies within us or to us, save the Pact, and the only beings that are equals to us are the rulers of various mortal lands and the Dark Lords. If mortals wish to treat with us, they have to send an ambassador like they would to any other nation. Our mobs are free to roam the wilderness out here, and if a human kingdom attempts to attack or destroy one of us, we will band together with the other mortal kingdoms and the Cabal to destroy the offender.”

“I say again, effective deterrent.”

This time, Fulsi laughed. Not laughed. Giggled. “It really is. And the Pact works. There has been no dungeon death from conflict in centuries, and the kingdoms get along well with us. Once you’re strong enough, you’ll probably get an embassy or two. You’re near enough some kingdoms, and you’ll want them - they provide good benefits.”

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“About that -”

Fulsi held up her finger. “No. You need to start working on your actual dungeon construction. When I return, we’ll talk more.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Fulsi said firmly.

Kandra sighed, but she had no way to compel the older dungeon to tell her anything. Per the instructions she’d absorbed from Fulsi, Kandra pulled her consciousness fully back into her core, although now she had a lingering awareness of the Mesh.

Then Kandra started to dig.

The instructions for the first floor were fairly simple. All dungeons had the same layout for it - an entranceway, two rooms after it, and a boss room. She could build a room for herself, and she could build side rooms if she wanted, but those wouldn’t be part of her dungeon officially. Fulsi recommended she build two side rooms, although hadn’t explained why.

The act of digging was easy, if dull. By absorbing mana from the stone, Kandra could dig easily. It would grow her mana pool as well, eventually giving her enough strength to summon mobs and start the part of dungeon construction that sounded actually fun. Because she’d spawned so close to the surface, Kandra had to first dig down, putting herself and her mana pool well below the earth - then she could dig outwards.

It also gave her time to think. This Sable Cabal must be foul indeed to have elicited such anger from Fulsi. Granted, given the elements they commanded - Profane, Carnal, and Abyssal - it was hard not to see them as being dangerous. Kandra was glad that she wouldn’t need to interact with any of them anytime soon, although the idea of them was…admittedly intriguing. But she would spend the next several years only talking to other Circle dungeons. By then, she’d be strong enough to meet dungeons outside of the Circle. At least she’d be able to use the meeting halls. She could ask about Cabal dungeons from those who’d seen them.

Kandra was glad that she’d been born with a Circle element. She couldn’t imagine being forced to wallow in darkness from the moment of her appearance.

Kandra lost all track of time as she worked, trying to figure out what she wanted from her life as a dungeon. Sure, it would be interesting to make mobs and fight adventurers, that sounded like it could be fun. But other ideas flitted through her mind. With endless centuries, how good could she become at sculpting? Or she could build a micro ecosystem in her dungeon, creating new creatures that were real animals and guiding their evolution, that sounded like fun. Maybe she’d just swap every few decades. No reason to stick to one thing for her entire existence.

She was glad that she wasn’t born in the era before the Mesh. According to Fulsi, that had been a hard time. Many dungeons went mad from the isolation, sending mobs out to attack human settlements just to draw humans back so they could have company - even if that company was murdering them. The Pact had helped, because it guaranteed dungeons adventurers, but even then…adventurers lived short lives. The Circle recommended against friendship with them, because the guilt if you killed one could be overwhelming. And even if you didn’t kill them…the strongest mortals could live for a century or two. There were the rare Immortals, but you couldn’t count on that. Most just died.

Kandra made a decision right then. Her first few decades of life? One of her projects was going to be finding someone to spend immortality with. A friend, a partner, a lover - did dungeons have such a thing? - a companion. Some other being who would be with her for the rest of her existence. Another dungeon, or an Immortal, or a Dark Lord - anything that would not die to age.

She just needed to find the right one.

Something drew her attention as she dug. There was a vibration in the earth. Perhaps it was from a deep mole, or there was a dire termite colony nearby. Something was digging. she asked. As before, when not in the Mesh, all of Kandra’s communication was telepathic.

The answer was from Fulsi’s remnant avatar, the construct made of simple answers that Fulsi had left behind. It sat in the space of Kandra’s corner of the Mesh, just waiting for exactly this moment. The response was cold and emotionless, none of Fulsi’s life or energy coming through its thoughts.

Kandra had the remnant avatar let Valindo know she existed, and would love to talk when he was done dealing with the drakeworms, but that couldn’t be what she was sensing. Kandra asked.

That was a sobering thought, but it also alleviated Kandra’s fears. Whatever was nearby, it was probably some animal. If it came into her dungeon, she could end its life, and when Fulsi returned, she could make it as her first mob.

Only one thing bothered Kandra.

Kandra hated talking to his remnant. It was so…lifeless, it disturbed her.

the voice cut off, and suddenly warmth came back to it.

There was a breathless air to Falsi’s communication, like she’d been running. Which was impossible, and had to be conveying something else. Low mana reserves, perhaps. Still, Kandra reeled from the time. She’d been digging for a week? When? How? That…boggled the mind to consider.

Kandra asked.

Kandra felt a sinking feeling.

Kandra asked.

Kandra sent Fulsi an affirmative before asking the most important question.