The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

Level where the dungeon wouldn’t benefit them, other than to acknowledge that they would have to go somewhere else to get stronger.  But was that something that he wanted to do?

“I don’t know the answer to that, Gwenda,” he finally responded after thinking about it for a few minutes.  “We’ve built a life here; it isn’t necessarily the one we thought we were going to have when we moved here to start farming, of course, but it’s a life, nonetheless.  And a good one, too, if all of your talk of money and numbers earlier was accurate.”

She smacked him on the arm, harder than just for play, but she also smirked at him.  “I knew you weren’t listening!”  Gwenda’s smirk faded as she said, “Yes, we’re doing well – the entire Village is doing well.  But how long will that last if we were to leave?  Although the Minister has stopped his harassment for the moment, likely content with screwing us over with that supply deal, would that last if we weren’t here?

“I’m not going to say that we are the glue holding this entire Village together, but apart from a few of the other villagers giving their input once in a while, no one seems like they want to lead.  I have a feeling that if we left, they would give into pressure and sell the lease to the Minister, or even the Clan, before we knew it.  With us physically – and voluntarily – not here to refuse, they could pretty much do what they wanted without our say-so.”

She had a good point.  Most of the other villagers had wanted to get away from large crowds of Raiders when they moved that far south to establish The Village – and would take any opportunity (and significant monetary compensation) to leave and find somewhere they could relax and possibly even retire if that compensation was enough.  He wouldn’t even hold it against them, either, because if he wasn’t a Raider he would probably feel the same way.

“Again, I don’t know, Gwenda.  It’s not something we have to decide right now, anyway, because we’re at least a few months out from that.  Perhaps a solution will arrive before we have to make that decision.  For now, let’s just ‘stick’ to being the glue that is holding this place together,” he said, making a horrible joke.  She laughed anyway, which seemed to break the tension a little bit.

“I wish I had your optimism, Sterge, I really do,” she said softly, before huffing loudly.  “Fine.  Let’s just see how things go, and we’ll figure out all of this later.”

“Works for me.”  The conversation over, Sterge went back to counting the days until they could delve through the dungeon again.

Chapter 21

The next month was fairly routine when it came to the dungeon where the Raiders were delving through on a constant basis.  She kept up the periodic movement of creatures, environmental objects, and traps in each room, and by the end of the month there hadn’t been a single group that complained about the changes.  It seemed as though they were either used to it or actually liked the changes, though no one actually expressed that while she could hear it.  That was, at least, until she moved one of the Soil-covered Spike Pits in the fifth room with her Forest Wolves.

“What is this?  There wasn’t a tree right on top of the pit last time, was there?” a Scout remarked as soon as he looked into the room from the entrance tunnel.

Obviously, the Raider was correct – there hadn’t been a full-size tree on top of the pit last time.  That was because she had moved that pit and then placed a tree where it had been, to make it more than obvious that it wasn’t there anymore.  I couldn’t think of anything better than this to mark that something had changed.  It’s not like I could put a sign out, saying, “WARNING!  ONE OF THE SPIKE PITS HAS MOVED!”

“Thank you for not doing that, Tacca.  Are you sure this was a good idea, though?  The other traps and creatures, when you move them, aren’t necessarily going to hurt them if they aren’t ready for the change.  These pits, however, are almost guaranteed to kill someone if they accidentally fall into one.”

Tacca was more than aware of that.  She had moved trees and other environmental objects inside the room, as well as the Wolves into different formations, but had left the two pits alone.  They very rarely killed anyone anymore, as even the most beginner of Raiders knew about their presence – likely from word-of-mouth, if not an old map – and were more likely to avoid them while perishing against the dangerous creatures in the room.  It was time to change that, however, and get those delving through her dungeon trained to this adjustment; her plans for the next dungeon section was going to rely on these changing mechanics, after all.

Yes, I believe so.  I think they’re ready for it.

True to her words, the first group that encountered the room were fine – though it was close.  The Fighter, while he was facing off against 2 of the Forest Wolves in the room, stepped backwards and triggered the as-of-yet-hidden trap, causing the soil beneath his feet to fall away.  The Wolves tried to take advantage of this and push him over, but the Scout had been quick and near enough to throw himself on the Fighter and knock him to the side and out of range of the pit.  Both of them got slightly ravaged by the Wolves who immediately jumped on the two prone figures, but the rest of the Raiders managed to fight them off and heal their injured group members.

“That was close – thank you, Reggie.”

“No problem; you’d do the same for me.  I’m going to mark this down and