The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

* Calm down, calm down.  The Roc in my Home room will not hurt any of your people; I didn’t know before I created it that Dwarves would have such a…visceral reaction to seeing it. 

Her words barely even slowed the Shieldmen, though they did approach the tunnel leading into where her Core and the Roc were located with a little less visible panic than they showed before.

“You…tamed an Aerie Roc?” the Shieldmen out front that she recognized as Delarthe asked, as he cautiously stepped into the room, followed closely by the others, with weapons still in their hands.

* Not exactly – I created it like I do with all of my other Monsters in my dungeon.  It’s completely under my control and won’t hurt you, even if you were to attack it.  Please don’t attack it, though; I need it for transporting people and supplies. *

“You…what?  Transportation?  Like…ride on one of these hellish beasts?”  Delarthe seemed affronted that Sandra would even think of something like that.  At the same time, though, she thought she heard a small tinge of curiosity or perhaps satisfaction in his voice.

* Yes, precisely.  I needed something that could transport more than one person, could fly fast, and could transport some cargo if that were needed.  This Roc seemed like the perfect solution, but I can perhaps look for something else if it is going to cause some major problems with my guests. *

“That would probably be best—” Delarthe started to say, before one of the other Shieldmen spoke up from behind him.  Sandra searched her memory for his name, but it escaped her before she could focus on it.

“Wait a minute, Delarthe.  Can you imagine the impact it would make on the other Shieldmen back home if they saw you riding on the back of a tamed Roc?  To have done something that every one of us had always wished we could do?  By my beard, I bet even Angulta would finally give in to your offer and agree to—”

“Enough, Thelon,” Delarthe said, cutting off whatever the other Shieldmen was about to say.  The apparent leader of the remaining Shieldmen – unless Gerold held that honor, but Sandra wasn’t sure – stood there looking at the non-moving Aerie Roc for a few moments, before he finally relaxed his stance, which led the others to do so as well.  “I have to admit, you do have a point; if we were in control of these, it could help us protect our farmers and gatherers in the mountain valleys that are becoming more and more afraid of venturing out near our strongholds…

“Alright, dungeon.  I think that you can continue to use these if you want, as long as you can prove that they are safe.  And as long as Gerold says it’s okay, of course.”

It wasn’t as though she needed their expressed permission to create whatever Dungeon Monsters she wanted to use, but it was important to make the Dwarves comfortable while they were inside her dungeon.  Even if they had objected, she was pretty sure she still would’ve used the Aerie Rocs – though she would endeavor to keep them far away from her guests.  This just made the whole situation a lot easier.

Or so she thought.

Delarthe seemed to consider the massive bird and cocked his head to the side, looking around the room.  “One question, though; how are you going to get this monstrosity out of here?”

Oh.  Good point.

Chapter 6

Sandra had been so excited to have finally found a potential transportation candidate that she hadn’t even thought about how she was going to get it out from her dungeon.  Unlike her previous Dungeon Monster that was quite large – the Rising Phoenix – there was no way this Aerie Roc was going to be able to fit through the tunnels or even just about any room she had built throughout the dungeon.  In reality, it barely even fit in her Home room, and that was the largest space she had available – by far. There wasn’t any help for it; the Dungeon Core was going to have to create a giant tunnel leading down into her Home.

She’d seen it done in both the Reptile-based and Undead-based dungeons, but hadn’t seriously thought about it for her own – because she hadn’t needed it.  Now, though, it was a necessity; getting her new Dungeon Monsters (she included her Animated Slab in that accounting) out into the world wasn’t going to happen any other way.  Sandra knew that it would create a serious vulnerability, however, though it was possible that she might be able to seal it up afterwards.  After all, it wasn’t her first and primary entrance, so just like the former Reptile Dungeon she could cover it up with stone to protect her Core.

The Dwarven Shieldmen left soon afterwards, and they calmed the villagers better than Sandra could’ve done.  None of the Dwarves – other than the Shieldmen – had become accustomed to hearing a dungeon’s voice in their head, so the reluctance to believe her when she tried to explain what was happening was understandable.  In time, hopefully, they would grow used to the strange situation, and be more accepting of her presence in their minds.  The thought of them being there long enough for that to happen was a new and different one…but it was also something that she could wait to contemplate at another time.

Looking through the ground around her Home Room, she found that there was only one place that she could start a massive tunnel that would lead outside.  To the northern part of her room, she had the small tunnel entrance that led to all of her crafting rooms and the internal VATS; to the west she had the much larger entrance to her defensive dungeon proper, where her Animated Slab was hanging around with her last Iron-plated