The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (read novel full .txt) 📕

which made their main attack a bit less effective.  It was something that she would probably address in the future, but there wasn’t anything that could be done about it now – especially with the two still pressing ahead despite the added danger.  If Tacca hadn’t removed the additional pair beforehand that would’ve attacked them at first, then it was more than likely they would’ve turned around…if they had even survived the encounter.

Tacca watched them take down the other pair of Frond Coyotes inside the room with a little more difficulty than before, though the added Small Battered Oak Shield reward that the leather armor-wearing Raider was using helped…a little.  It was obvious that he had never used it before, so when he went to block a lunge by one of her creatures he ended up smacking himself in the head with the shield from the impact.  It prevented him from being bit by her creature, at least, but he did end up with a big red mark on his face, which would probably bruise something awful.

That was okay, though, because there was a surprise for them both if they managed to survive the next room – which was looking quite likely.  Whether or not they would survive unscathed was something else entirely…

*         *         *

Shale was following along with the two Hill Dwarf Raiders as they finished up with the second room full of ferns and now-dead Frond Coyotes; he had his Invisibility and Repellant Shield in place, of course, so no one could see him above – though he had to be a little more cautious about moving through the tighter tunnels so as not to call attention to himself.  He knew the layout of the dungeon fairly well by that point, however, so it was quite easy to maneuver through it all without too much difficulty.

That familiarity also brought the layout of all the different traps and creatures throughout the dungeon with it, obviously.  What he had seen in the first – and now the second room – indicated that it had been changed since he last saw it less than an hour ago.  “Did you remove some of your creatures in here?” Shale mentally asked Tamara through their Bond.

There was silence for a few seconds before she answered.  “Yes…yes, I did.  I don’t want these two to die, because I need them to go back and report on my location.”

Shale was shocked.  “You’re…not supposed to do that.  Your dungeon should be what it is and not adjusted for the Raiders invading it.  If they go back to the other and tell them what they encountered, and it’s different from what they were told when they come here, then you could anger those in charge of the local Raiders.  Change should be extremely gradual or not at all, except to add more rooms deeper down.”  It was one of the underlying principles that Dungeon Cores were instructed to abide by to survive as long as they could; it only made sense to keep things normal and regular for the Raiders, after all.

“I’m doing things a little differently, is all.  Most of this will be the same…for the near future, at least…so it won’t be too different.  Keeping things ‘normal and regular’ for the Raiders is all well and good, but I think this way might work better in the long run.”

To hear his thoughts echoed back to him was a little startling.  Can she read my mind, or was that just a lucky guess?  So many things about this Dungeon Core were abnormal, and he was seriously considering Translocating back to the DPRC council to report everything he had observed so far. Maybe it will be better for them to figure this all out, rather than waste my time on a Core that is almost guaranteed to fail. 

Regardless if he decided to do that, it wasn’t going to happen until the Raiders were gone, at least.  Shale still hadn’t made up his mind if all that he had seen and heard actually was a bad idea; for all he knew, it could be genius on a level that he couldn’t quite comprehend.  He had already admitted to himself that the previous Assistant, Tacca, was smarter than he was – which was obvious in how much Tamara seemed to know – so it was entirely possible that he was wrong about everything.  That thought didn’t sit too well with him because it hurt his pride as a Dungeon Assistant, but he was also confident enough in himself to acknowledge that he didn’t know everything.

Shale turned his attention back to what was going on in the dungeon and didn’t bother to respond to Tamara, because he didn’t want to think about her anymore for the moment.  He didn’t want to be distracted from watching the Raiders invade what he was quickly thinking of as his dungeon, despite the fact that he had very little to do with its layout and construction.  Still, because he was Bonded to Tamara – and it was her dungeon – it felt like an extension of himself as well.

The third room had a combination of shrub bushes and trees reaching up to the ceiling, their branches lost in the darkness above.  The ambient light was even darker than the previous room, though not too dark that the Raiders couldn’t see; Shale couldn’t help but think that if the light was brought down to its minimum, the two Hill Dwarves wouldn’t be able to see at all.  They didn’t have an Amulet of Illumination – let alone a torch – with them, so they’d be practically helpless by not being able to see.

However, Tamara being who she was, didn’t want to make a source of illumination a requirement to invade her dungeon.  Instead, she wanted to rely on her creatures and traps to injure or kill Raiders, which was just another