The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (miss read books .txt) 📕

foolish.  To press the issue would be even more so, therefore Felbar left it alone.  Violet looked expectantly at one of her Unstable Shapeshifters in the workshop, and Sandra realized that she hadn’t answered the Gnome’s question.

* Well, as far as you leaving for home, I would like to prepare another Hauler and wagon to bring with you; the others already took one shipment of raw materials, but I’m sure your people would appreciate anything additional.  There are a few obstacles that could jeopardize your safety in traveling through the wastelands that I just noticed recently; I’d like some time to eliminate the threats before you depart, but I am hoping to have that done by the time you leave in a few days.

 

* However, the additional materials and even a load of Energy Orbs for your people is only a temporary measure to help them – as I’m sure you’re well aware of.  Just like those Orbs Echo brought to her village to help her people, everything I help supply will only delay the inevitable, not prevent or stop it.  In the Elves’ case, even if they had millions of Orbs at their disposal, they don’t have enough of their people to wield them against the dungeons’ threat; what they need is help in the form of cooperation, and that cooperation would likely be in the form of additional forces that would come from outside their lands.  I’m still working on that problem, but I’m hoping to have a solution at some point.

 

* The other races have different problems, but what your people are lacking – if I’m understanding the situation correctly – is a way to create more of your war machines.  So, I have a question for you both, and I’d like you to answer as honestly as you can: how likely is it that your surviving Master Enchanters will be able to pass on their knowledge of how they are created?  And if so, what would be even more important, is how long do you think that teaching will take…and do you think it will be in time to save your people? *

They were both silent for a while as they looked at each other in contemplation.  Finally, Violet ventured to answer, though she was obviously a little hesitant.  “Yes, I believe that if the remaining Master Enchanters dedicate themselves to only teaching, then—”

“No,” Felbar said loudly, cutting the other Gnome off.  “Sorry to burst your bubble, child, but I worked side-by-side with most of them before I was sent off to babysit the operation in Glimmerton, and I can tell you that they don’t have enough time.  I know you’d like to think so, but if they take any time away from creating and repairing what they were already struggling to keep up with, then we’re all dead within a decade or two, if not sooner.  It’s a little-known fact outside of a few circles, but the consensus – at least when I was there a year or so ago – is that there are not enough of the Master Enchanters available to make a difference.  With the severe lack of potential Enchanters that could even learn how to create them, there are already plans in place to…delay the inevitable, as Sandra said.”

That…doesn’t sound good.

* What plans are you talking about? *

Felbar sighed heavily, as if he didn’t want to even think about it; luckily, he wasn’t disinclined to answer.  “Instead of War Machines that us Warmasters could pilot, they were going to focus on large stationary heavy defenses and portable weapons that could be maneuvered around with a small crew.  While the heavier defenses I agree with – I wish we had some of them during the attack on Glimmerton, for instance – the portable weapons that they want to make will be largely ineffective.  Pushing a cart around with enchanted ballistae, static sawblade defenses, and various minor elemental attacks won’t help much against a dungeon monster that can just move out of the way.

“Sure, it’ll probably kill quite a few of them that are stupid enough to attack it, but the reason we were so successful in our piloted War Machines was because we could improvise, easily retreat if we needed to, and easily maneuver through trees to hunt down monsters on their own turf.  The larger cart-based weaponry is hard to get through dense forest, takes a team of at least three to operate, and if they are surrounded they are virtually guaranteed to be overrun and destroyed.  There are a few smaller portable weapons that a single Gnome could use, but they aren’t powerful enough to drop some of the larger monsters out there; as much as it pains me to say it, we just don’t have the physical capabilities to carry heavy loads, move quickly, or defend ourselves using primitive armor and weaponry.”

By “primitive” Sandra assumed he meant things like swords and shields, which, when she considered it, made perfect sense.  Unless they were facing something their same size or smaller – which was perhaps only about 10% of the Dungeon Monsters they were likely to face outside of an actual dungeon – then they were useless without their enchanted “gadgets”.  In fact, the one thing they actually had going for them because of their small size was their ability to move quietly and unobtrusively through her dungeon; there were times when Violet – and even some of the other Gnomes that had survived the fall of Glimmerton – had moved so naturally silent through her rooms and hallways that she was surprised a few times when they showed up somewhere she hadn’t been expecting them.

But that didn’t really translate well when they were trying to take down a giant turtle, a ferocious bear, a horde of goblins, or a charging unicorn.  The piloted War Machines were what helped the Gnomes as a race keep the