Dungeon Annihilation 2 - 10

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Louella

I leaned on the table unbefitting someone of my station. I had sent some messengers out that should bring between ten and fifteen thousand people to the valley. The thought of housing all of them, however, weighted on my mind. Tents would only do for so long after all. Thrad was fast, but not quite that fast.

As I stared out the window, the day transitioned to night with the stars appearing slowly. I was in the middle of my thoughts when I heard Ezal gasp. Looking at her, she was staring out the window as well. That was when I realized there was a glow over the valley. In the sky were ribbons of light that seemed to radiate from the top of the mountain.

“What now?” I said slightly annoyed that I couldn’t even enjoy my dinner. “Guard! Send for the mage Guildmaster!”

“Right away, my lady.”

“An omen?” Ezal asked nervously.

“Why would Lelune bother looking at us? According to her priests, she only has eyes for the Port Hope,” I said waving her off.

“It might be something from the north. The necromancers have been rather quiet for the last five years or so. Other than that recent attack, of course.”

“Lucky me. I’m willing to bet it was the dungeon. It did create that storm after all.”

“Ah.” Ezal nodded. “I had completely forgot about it. Its has also been sort of quiet these last few days.”

“Well. I’m sure its still recovering from the necromancer attack. Even it couldn’t have handled that without suffering some sort of damage.”

The phenomenon quickly faded, the ribbons retreating back behind the clouds that always covered the peak of the mountain. Guildmaster Jacqueline showed up just as the lights slowly faded. “Countess Louella. Good evening.”

“Guildmaster Jacqueline. I hoped that you might have some insight to what we saw.”

“Yes. We have seen it a few times at our towers located particularly close to lay lines. It is caused by high mana discharge. In my professional opinion, something magical passed through the lay line above the mountain.”

“Is there any risk to the valley?”

“Not from the light itself. Whatever could reach that height however… A dragon is about the only thing I know of that could survive that.”

“I pray that one of those doesn’t decide to land in the valley.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. Now, I must head back. There is a lot of experiments that we want to try with the remaining mana in the air.” She bobbed her head then left without another world.

I went ahead and ordered some of the Golden Dawn people to inform the townspeople that everything was fine. Since there was no outright damage done, the people were mostly calm but nervous all the same. I sat back down once I was down and glared at the remainder of my dinner. It had long since grown cold.

~~

I covered my mouth as I yawned, not wanting to be rude to the tournament official. He was explaining the setup of the arena, but it was the third time I’d heard it and close to tenth time I had read it over. I felt like I knew it better than the back of my hand.

My main concern was the strength of the barrier. A lot of magic was going to be thrown around up here in two days. It needed to be able to take it and then some. Thankfully, the marquis was lending a few of his mages for the tournament. When the official was finally done, I couldn’t help but groan in relief.

“Only a few more days, mistress.”

“Yeah, yeah. How’s the roaster looking?”

“I believe lady Cassie is going to keep the registration open until tomorrow, but there are a few relatively well-known names on the list.”

“For example?”

“Noir. Century Fire. Death’s death. To name a few.”

“Death’s death?” I asked unable to hide my skeptical tone.

“Yes. They are well known in Thonaca. A light mage of the tier two rank is their leader. In fact, I believe everyone in their party uses light mana.”

“And they don’t follow Lelune?”

“You’d have to ask them that. Apparently, they were on their way to Ebony city when they heard about our tournament.”

“Well. The more names we can add, the better.” I knew of Noir, she was famous in Lecazar, and I might have been a big fan of her. A woman in the tier two ranks that used darkness mana. She was a force to be reckoned with.

I looked over to the dungeon tower that was basically right next to the arena. It had grown yet again, though the only the known floors could be seen from the ground. The constant fog that hid it from view never diminished for longer than a few minutes. The mages guild had managed to work out ways to see through it, but just barely. It was enough to keep track of the growth of the dungeon at least.

I clicked my tongue at the glowing lines that ran over the surface of the tower walls. I was disappointed that the glowing lines hadn’t moved up yet. Only the first three sections or about the first hundred some odd meters of the tower were illuminated. They had recently moved up and it was a few hours later that Earle delivered his report about the mines to the guild. It was easy to know the dungeon was marking the adventurers progress in a blatant and slightly provoking way.

“Want to see the host?” Ezal asked with a suggestive tone and I narrowed my eyes at her.

“What do you mean by that?!”

“You were looking up at the tower with such passion. I figured you might have an itch to scratch,” Ezal said, shrugging with a grin.

“You can be sort of nasty when you’re stressed out, you know that right?” I said just shaking my head.

“Sorry. Too much going on.”

“Anyone else and dismissed would be the least of their worries,” I commented. “Not that I would let you get away that easy.”

I sighed and looked back to the arena. It would be a good distraction to watch a bunch of muscle brain idiots beat each other up for a while. I just hoped the marquis would be entertained. I motioned for Ezal and we made our way back to town.

~~

Looking at the stack of parchment in front of me, I contemplated having Ezal come in and burn it all. I knew the marquis had told me to make some allies among the nobility, but each just sounded worse than the last. I was amazed what a few months away from the bustle of high society had done for my perception of the people that used to be my peers.

The nobles were more than happy to set up shop in my valley, but they each wanted one thing or another before they would endorse it. I mean, I understood trade and making a deal. I wasn’t looking for handouts, but to require me to build them a mansion as well as supply the staff to man it for the next ten years. They were clearly looking down on me.

I almost couldn’t wait for Thrad to move his clan to my town. That would show them that I wasn’t just some pretty face they could step on. While I was contemplating my place in the world, there was a knock at the door. I shouted for them to enter.

“My lady. I have the adventurer Ioa here for you,” Ezal announced as she showed in a tall elven woman.

“Excellent! I assume you’re here at Cassie’s request?” I asked standing up and moving around the desk.

“Yes, Lady Coates. While my party is better suited for running the dungeon, we do on occasion take bodyguard requests.” Which was double speak for if there was enough money in it, they were game.

“How much to hire you for… six months?”

Ioa’s eyes widen in surprise. “Such a long duration?”

“Of course, you will still be diving the dungeon, at a safe pace if you wouldn’t mind. I plan to hire one or two more adventurer parties, and the Golden Dawn will still be covering parts of the day. It may sound like I’m paranoid, but I have it on good confidence that I am likely to be attacked.”

“I understand. Give me a moment,” Ioa said then closed her eyes. I noticed her mouth was moving ever so slightly. After about two or three minutes she finally opened her eyes. “A total of ten platinum coins, with two up front. Those are my terms.”

“Ten platinum! Surely that is a rip-off!?” I demanded forgetting myself for a moment. I coughed and lowered my voice. “I mean, is there any way you could go lower?”

“Guard duty is hard enough, having to coordinate with not only two other parties, but a Guild as well will be mentally taxing. If what you say is true, then it is likely you will be attacked by someone in the future. If there is known danger then there is known risk to my party. That is the lowest I can go,” Ioa said crossing her arms to signal that she would have no more debate.

I glanced at Ezal who nodded her head. So Ioa was accurate in her calculation. That meant the other two parties would likely want something in the same area. I had close to twenty platinum coins plus a small mountain of gold coins that I had gotten from the dungeon. Thanks to Thrad moving his clan here, I no longer had quite a destructive city construction cost but it would still add up. I exhaled as I decided I would need to ask the dungeon for more. I just hoped I wasn’t influencing the dungeon with my decision.

“Very well. Ezal please pay Ioa.” I looked up at the elf. “Please start tomorrow.”

She gave me a nod then the adventurer salute. “Bright and early.”

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