> Dungeon Status:
>
> Tier 2
> Level 37/100
>
> Heart 4,928,400/4,928,400
> Experience 1,002,315/1,232,100
> Mithril 2,361
> Adamantine 635
> Mana 6,420
> Poison, Greater 500
> Deadly Scorpion Venom 51
>
> Quest: Destroy another dungeon.
> Quest: Half populate your dungeon: Workers 61/66 | Monsters 73/67 | Traps 151/162
> Quest: Reach level 50.
Ogmera's group, Travis was happy to see, were taking to the mini dungeons hard. They were dying less often than they were clearing, but with their own mini dungeons and unlimited resurrections, they were treating it as a sport.
Travis was certainly far from wanting to stop such activity, since it was pushing his levels up higher and higher. Like with Elanor, he'd given them free rein to have whatever equipment they wanted. Each carried a pistol; Nathaniel had opted for some heavier armor; Felna had gone with some adamantine wire stitched tightly across her leather gear; while Ogmera, Tom, and Stratus had been raiding Travis' library for Katelyn's notes on magic.
Other adventuring parties arrived, and sought to delve into a dungeon. In all, Travis had been growing himself well and outfitting people with guns, swords, and armor.
"Travis?" Penelope's voice pulled his attention away from contemplating the next expansion to the high tower she usually napped on.
"Yeah?" Travis asked back, then focused his attention on her and, more importantly, though her to see what she was looking at. On the edge of her sight, on the road to the south, four figures rode horses, two bloodied wolves paced along beside them, and Travis was sure there'd be a scorpion and a wyvern somewhere with them. "Oh! Is that Elanor?"
"Yes, but"—Penelope's point of view snapped around and her eyes focused on another group of people—"that's Fife, and the others coming back from the goblin dungeon and"—another shift to see a group of armored and armed warriors marching toward them—"that's Hilda."
"Oh. Oh, crap. Uh, can you fly out and link up with Hilda? Lead them to—" Travis felt a little panic hit. "Can you look at Elanor's group again?" When the view returned to Elanor, Travis could see the the three other figures in a little sharper detail; one looked like a guard of some kind, there was Brevity Delling, and… "The Prince! Okay, don't bring Hilda to the southern entrance, bring her to the city gates."
"Should I get Fife and the rest to escort them? I'd rather not have any of the city guard recognize them and want payback—without a bulletproof wall to put between them."
"Ugh. I need another entrance that isn't guarded by the city. Get Fife to bring them in. They can be refugees or something. Let them keep their weapons, but don't make a big deal of it. I hope that will work?" Travis wished he had fingernails he could chew in worry.
"I'll figure something out. Make sure Northridge itself is cool with things." Stretching her wings, Penelope launched herself off the tower and to the northwest.
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Flying low over the grassland, Penelope could tell that Fife's group had spotted Hilda and vice versa. They stood back, neither approaching nor moving on. Swooping in on Fife's flank, she landed with a neat flare of her wings and came to ground. "Don't fight them!"
"I wasn't going to." Fife rolled her shoulders to show off to Penelope, but her friend didn't take the bait. "Besides, they look like they need help more than a fight."
Walking up on Fife's other side, Astrid said, "That's Hilda. If she sees us—"
"She'll see some big scaled brutes in armor. You still have some time to explain all this to her." Blowing out a breath that had a little flame in it, Fife stepped forward and marched toward the group of northerners.
The sight of Penelope made Hilda's heart speed up. Adrenaline pumped into her system and it was all she could do not to draw her sword and attack as the others neared. Behind her and beside her, the small group of refugees that remained readied themselves and let their commander's bravery steady their own nerves.
When she was well within what she knew was Penelope's breath range, Hilda walked forward. She stopped when she was only a few long strides from the fantastic beast that made her want to fight and die in glory. "Lady Penelope of the Unbeatable Southern Fortress, it is good to see you again!"
After having talked with Astrid and learned all she could about Hilda's mindset, Penelope knew that no matter what, Hilda would have the deadly fight she wanted. Now she just had to hope she could understand enough of the woman's speech. "It's always good to meet new allies. Would you like to share food and drink? You're welcome within our dungeon as honored guests."
"Your words are clear and ring with honor. It's not as many as I'd hoped to bring, but it was all that would come." Hilda's eyes scanned the group behind Penelope. There were several warriors there she'd welcome a fight with, not the least being the big, heavily armored draconic warrior that left divots in the ground with each step. She could well imagine herself spending an hour trying to beat through the defenses the armor and equipment implied. When she looked into the eyes of another fighter, though, Hilda's eyes widened. She recognized the challenging, determined eyes of Astrid, even though she'd thought the woman long-dead.
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Of course, Hilda knew that the dungeon could bring back the dead. Counting off the other members of the group, she came up several short for what had been the wolf pack that had charged Northridge's gate. As she turned to walk beside Penelope, she said, "I recall some of your warriors."
Penelope marched beside Hilda, their two squads tightly packed behind them. She knew what the woman was talking about and nodded to her. "We killed all but their leader. She didn't want to die and wanted each of those under her command to have the same choice. Some took it, others died as warriors."
"Before today, I wouldn't have thought you knew what that meant, but I trust you've had a tutor in such things. You speak our language well." The city walls were in the distance, but to one side Hilda could see the foundations of a new layer of defense. "Sinking your foundations deeper this time?"
"Nothing will be able to sap this wall. We're also mounting cannons on it. If an army comes, it had better know how to fly."
Her mind racing, Hilda could indeed see how the walls would be far more intimidating given the size of the foundations. With cannons on top, she would not bother trying to break such a place with a hundred thousand strong army. "It would be better to fight on the wall than against it—this time."
"You liked the siege?"
"It was better than freezing to death. We fought. We died. We managed to get in at least once." Shrugging her big shoulders, Hilda looked up at the dragon beside her and shivered. "Your promise?"
Penelope laughed. "Of course you'll have your fight. But do you want it now, when you're fresh off a mountain journey, or after you've had a good drink and a meal?" People on the wall had spotted them, Penelope could see. There were people clustering on the nearest section and she could see Brolly running along to join them. "We should move over close to the wall so I can tell the commander that you're not hostile."
"You have the city under your sway?" It was hardly a surprise to Hilda, given their actions in the siege. "Did you make all the city folk into dungeon monsters, like those?" She nodded behind them.
"Travis can only make two people part of him without changing what they are, and both those slots are filled already. We have a new dungeon that just appeared. If you feel up to it, you could train them to be better fighters. I think you'd get on well with them. I could use some training myself." Leaving Hilda looking shocked, Penelope walked to within what she hoped was earshot of Brolly. "Those visitors we told you about are here."
Having gotten more and more used to the abilities Northridge had granted him, Brolly put one gauntleted hand on the crenelation and heaved himself forward and over it. The ground rushed up, but he caught his fall with bent knees and dropped to a crouch before rising back up. Only twenty strides from Penelope, he approached. "I don't recognize your armor," he said to Hilda.
Translating for Hilda, Penelope added her own reply, "You haven't seen it before." It was true. Hilda wasn't wearing the huge, imposing armor that she'd worn at the siege—for which Penelope was grateful.
"Did you word it that way on purpose?" Hilda asked. "It sounds like he's saying he doesn't like my armor."
"That's not exactly what he's saying. He doesn't recognize it. He's saying it that way because then you're a stranger and not the woman who led a siege against his city," Penelope replied, in the northern tongue.
Grunting out her dislike of the self-deception, Hilda said, "Ah. This is politicking. Well, tell him we are but a group of strangers, warriors seeking a strong home to call our own."
Passing the sentiment onto Brolly, Penelope was relieved when he nodded. "Oh, you might not have this news, but the Prince is back. He's coming through the other entrance. I flew out to guide this lot to the main gate because I thought it best not to have an accident happen."
Panic led to relief in short order, and Brolly nodded his thanks to Penelope. "Thank you, ma'am. Northridge was meant to be more relaxing than the King's Guard, with the odd raid by northerners. Now I have to deal with spies, princes, and friendly hordes."
Unsure what the conversation had turned to, Hilda felt a little impatient. When had the two decided that she felt less of an issue to them? They brought her and her group around to the big main gate of Northridge that she'd never opened. When the gates were wide, she walked up to the edge of one and inspected it. The logs that had been lashed together with good steel told her all she needed to know—short of a battering ram much larger than what they'd used, they wouldn't have made it through the gate.
Fife hadn't failed to notice that Astrid had put her wolves on the opposite side of the column from the newly arrived northerners. "So," she said to Breath of Spring, who was riding a bloodied wolf still, "how did you like your first delve?"
"It was more intense than I would have thought. I didn't realize you had to run so much! How do you keep running with all that on?" Poking at Fife's shoulder, Breath of Spring traced the curve over to her back and where her wings had their own gaps in the armor. "Will these even work? They look like they have adamantine impregnated in them."
Stretching one of her wings out, the opposite side to Breath of Spring, Fife tried to reach back but found her armor too stiff to do so. Instead, she extended as much as she could to look at the membrane. Sure enough, there was a dull metallic look to even the softest part of it. "Well, I guess I won't be flying with them, but if they're adamantine, I can probably try using them as weapons and shields."
"What about the new people?"
"We always knew she'd bring some back with her. This is less than I would have thought. They're all excellent fighters. It's going to be fun!" Tucking her wing back, Fife was pondering how to organize training and dungeon classes with the new arrivals, when Travis' shout drew her attention.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Travis shouted, not able to constrain his shock at the moment Stewart stepped into his entrance. "I can't kill him!"
image [https://excessive.space/images/dungeon/Chapter%200155-floor1.jpg]
image [https://excessive.space/images/dungeon/Chapter%200155-floor2.jpg]
image [https://excessive.space/images/dungeon/Chapter%200155-floor3.jpg]
image [https://excessive.space/images/dungeon/Legend3.jpg]
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