Dungeon Life

Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty

That went better than I was afraid of, but worse than I had hoped. Of course, my hopes were pretty unreasonable. I was hoping to somehow not even need to fight and get the kobolds out without any issue and even have another ally after all was said and done. Not exactly a realistic hope, but it still counts!

If I keep to my actual expectations for how things went, trying to be reasonable, it’s hard to think of a way it could have genuinely gone better. We still lost people, which still hurts. Even if I don’t know the names of them all just yet, I intend to give them all a special place in the empty mausoleum, unless they have some special burial wishes. I’ll need to make a memorial or something for them, too.

But even being able to fit everyone into the mausoleum is a sign that there were a lot fewer casualties than there probably should have been. There were quite a few close calls, like with Vernew, but everyone that made it to the field hospital is expected to pull through, even the former followers of the Maw.

I didn’t have any scions to spare to keep an eye on the takeover of the town, but reports are that they only had a few spots of hard opposition left by the time the Harbinger ate the Maw. When that happened, the worshipers basically all started screaming and fell down. Queen wants to do an autopsy, and Honey is right with her on that one. I’m pretty sure it was some kind of aneurysm, or something else indicating a mental attack.

I don’t know exactly how closely connected the cultists were to the Maw, but it’s not difficult to imagine the Harbinger being able to attack through it while consuming the dungeon. As it is, most of the cultists are incapacitated, one way or the other. The living are mostly looking lost, though a few are raging and attacking as well as they can. Considering most of them were using faith magic, and now their object of faith is gone, that mostly means punching, kicking, and biting, at least for now.

Most of those are tied up now, though a few more died while people tried to apprehend them. If someone is determined to fight and die trying, there’s only so much that can be done sometimes. Cultists aside, we’re occupying Silvervein for now, with the Shield’s people keeping things stable while the rebels slowly come to terms with the fact they don’t have to stay hidden anymore.

The ultimate plan is to get them back on their feet, maybe set up some trade convoys or something to the surface. It’s a pretty long trek to the surface, but the Southwood is right there. His resources will help keep things stable down there, and get him a lot of mana in the process, too.

Before I get too lost in thought of the future, I want to take a little more time to try to digest everything that happened. It’s been pretty eventful. First came Murphy’s Law, which worked even better than I could have hoped. We still had misfortunes, but the scales were definitely skewed against the Maw and its ilk.

Tripping the ambushes worked like a charm, and though nobody was able to capture a live lesser, lots of people brought back pieces. Queen and Honey want to dissect them after the autopsies, and I’m all for it. These things are nasty, and if we ever have to fight them again, I want all the information we can get.

The battle for the town itself was messy and is where most of the casualties came from, which isn’t surprising. Everywhere else was mostly denizens and scions, with people mostly in the town. Still, according to the Shield’s people, it went relatively smoothly, so I’m willing to take their word for it, and hope I never have to organize something like this again. If this was a smooth urban fight, I don’t want to see a rough one.

The battles in the Maw were mostly as expected. My denizens did a great job of distracting the Maw and keeping it from focusing where it should, which let Aranya’s party, along with Teemo and Nova, sneak into the kobold enclave. Which is where things got a bit pear-shaped. We knew one of the scions would be there, but I honestly don’t know if the Redcap or the Harbinger would have been better. Ragnar seemed pretty confident he could go toe to tentacle with the Harbinger, but if it could keep interrupting combination attacks like with my scions, I think we would have had trouble finishing the thing off.

And I think it might have been better able to kill the kobolds if it got desperate. Teemo did his best to warp space to try to keep the kobolds out of the Redcap’s metallic reach, but even he could only do so much. Aranya’s Grandpa is fine, but a couple dozen were lost before Nova was able to strike the mad fey down. The zealot kobolds were left alone, so at least the Redcap spared its allies, but they’re suffering the same backlash the cultists are. Aranya and her grandpa are trying to get everyone used to their new reality, and working to get those chains off them.

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The Adventurer’s Guild is in pretty high spirits, even after the farewell toast they had to the fallen. Many levels have been gained, and though loot was a bit limited with the Maw getting eaten like that, there’s still plenty of monster bits to field dress and take back as either trophies or things to sell or make into gear.

I haven’t heard much yet from Tarl and Berdol, so I was starting to worry. Thankfully, a couple adventurers confirmed to Leo and Honey that they had seen the duo after the Maw collapsed. They’re poking around where the Maw used to be, looking for clues about the specifics of how it worked. They’re especially interested in finding where the spawner for the least and such was. I’m sure, once things stabilize a bit more, Honey and Queen will send out whatever denizens they can convince to scour the Maw’s territory for information, which we’ll definitely share with the ODA.

It… it feels a bit weird, but we did it. The planning, the prep, everyone’s hard work… it all paid off. The kobolds are being freed as I watch, well, listen though Nova. Her senses are still weird, but snapping chains, collars, and bands are pretty distinctive, and a lot easier on the ears when there’s no snapping of bones, not to mention the sounds of desperate gratitude and relief instead of deafening silence. It’s slow going, but it’s progress.

I think that leaves just dealing with the Harbinger now. Teemo says it’s still running through the mobius trap. It’s realized it’s looping through the same space continuously, but it hasn’t been able to find a way out yet.

“And it wont, not until I open it up. Trust me on this one, Boss. It took a bit of prep before revealing myself, but once it ran in, all I had to do was twist it and connect it.”

And you can open it up whenever you want?

“Yeah, that shouldn’t be hard. I figure we can just gather everyone up for a big attack and launch it as I open the way. It’s not going to be able to interrupt anything this time.”

How many people do you think it’ll take to build up a strong enough attack?

Teemo shrugs. “I think me, Nova, Rocky, Fluffles, and Slash should be enough.”

I want overkill on this one. How many do you think can physically fit to contribute to the attack?

Teemo taps his chin while resting on Rocky’s shoulder, who is relaxing in the former core chamber of the Maw. “Probably… quite a few, especially if I concentrate on giving people plenty of room to contribute. Leo, Honey, Thing, and Queen should be able to lend a hand, and definitely Aranya’s party, too. It’ll be more complicated than Murphy’s Law, though. That was basically all fate, with a little of a few other affinities thrown into the mix. This will be… a lot more complicated with so many affinities.”

Take some time to meet up and plan with everyone then. Not only is the Harbinger incredibly dangerous, it’s got a stupid amount of mana right now. Getting that will go a long way towards paying back my fellow dungeons for their participation in the ritual.

“I bet Queen and Thing are making a ton of mana, too, with their hospital. I dunno if saving a delver gives as much mana as killing one, but it’s gotta at least be close, right?”

“Sometimes even more.”

Poe? How did you get here? You should be… you are still in your nest by the chimney, organizing expeditions.

“Boss? What about Poe?”

I thought he was there in the core room with you, but he’s back home still.

“Why do you think he’s here? I don’t see anything?”

How can you not see the huge… raven? If I still had eyes, they'd be wide as saucers right now. All my scions tense up as concern floods across the bonds.

The bird tilts his head in an avian smirk at me and nods, before shaking it and making an unhappy sound and poofing out his feathers. He focuses on something or someone I can’t see before speaking. “You’re right, I shouldn’t intrude on your domain. My apologies. I rarely get the chance to do this, and was overeager.” He pauses once more, letting his feathers settle as he nods. “Thank you. Now, it’s time I tend to my domain.”

Are you the Raven?

“The what?!” comes Teemo’s shocked reply, though the mysterious bird doesn’t seem to acknowledge my question.

“Bring your Voice to your hospital, Thedeim. I will allow him to see me. We have much to discuss.”

Am… am I about to die again?