The boy was defeated through the the monsters' quick thinking. Through the brave actions of all of the monsters who now claimed this dungeon, their new home was protected from the most dire of foes--a unmonitored child. With the boy's defeat came a warmth from the crystal. Power welled inside as his soul returned to the church. The boy's duties were not done--but it would be some time before her returned.

Received 10 DP.

It was subtle. Exceedingly so. But Muste could feel it. In eating what little remained of the young hero's mind--though, there wasn't much there to begin with--Muste felt a flicker of something. It was no more than a whisper, but he felt the crystal resonate with him as he had eaten brain.

Received 1 DP.



The crystal welled with power. Cracks began to form on its surface as a ceaseless energy expanded from within. From these cracks, a single shard erupted. Then, as easily as it cracked, the crystal reformed into a new shape.

Well, it was the same old crystal. It just had a small growth coming out of it. But with it came a new understanding of the dungeon they now called home.



A warmth filled the dungeon. The monsters felt as though they became more. No longer did they feel as though the child could defeat them. Now, they could each fight the child on their own terms! Though, if someone stronger came along, it would probably be the same story. Nonetheless, they felt a difference

And thankfully for Salbjörg, this included her vitality. Her rib, while still busted, no longer felt completely awful. It was as though it had naturally healed about halfway.

Of course, it was no time for rest and relaxation. They needed to protect the dungeon from future incursions. And to do so would mean that Salbjörg would have to be removed from the glue trap.

Kleine appeared from her hiding place. Apparently, it wasn't quite a good hiding spot. She had, in fact, been clinging to the opposite end of the crystal. She had a morose look on her face.

"Zogi was... a brave soul." She said with a definite sadness. "He fought for this dungeon... as best as he could... and bought us all the time we needed. And he will be remembered."

Of course, her eulogy was undercut by the fact that she seemed to be carrying a 6ft long spatula.

With a pensive look on her face, she approached the glue trap and, with a quick gesture, disabled it for the time being. Though, Salbjörg continued to be stuck as the glue remained. With a certain sadness, Kleine shoved the spatula underneath the Shahmaran--and and by extension, Zoppy--in an effort to free them.

Kleine could only hang onto the handle with a saddened look as the handle extended above her height.

The Kobold warrior, with an equally pensive look on its face, came to Kleine's aid and helped pry Salbjörg free.

What a dreadful turn of events.

Amidst Salbjörg’s flailing (or lack of), the cowardly, useless, big nosed ghost had decided to drop a rock on the child’s head. While this appeared to finally stop the boy, she knew that wasn’t the case. Her poison had greatly weakened him, to the point where he was crawling around on the floor. If left to his own device, he would have surely died before reaching the crystal. Instead the three out of ten ghost dropped a five out of ten rock on a seven out of ten face and completely ruined it. She only stopped for a second or two to take in what happened, and then began her indignant thrashing again.

Only to stop a second time, when she heard the Oracle cry out and raise its hands. Initially she was outraged at the comment. Who was this we that killed a child? Schnupfen did nothing to speak of, the dead goblin only made the boy stronger, Muste was largely responsible for her present predicament, Zoppy made her pay for her weapon and equipped the enemy, the pile of rats were absent, and the Oracle… Okay, so the Oracle did manage to disarm the boy and took quite a beating in the process. If the we they were referring to was itself and Salbjörg then that was fair enough.

Muste offered Salbjörg his cane. The gesture was appreciated, but with both of her arms stuck in the glue, she didn’t have a way to make use of the assistance. That, and she doubted his pencil arms were going to be of much help escaping the glue. It was far more likely that she’d pull him into the glue trap with her. Salbjörg’s face scrunched up like a raisin. "Can anyone help the ilithid?" She wanted to say "weakling," but she would have had to say "this weakling" which was undesirable for obvious reasons. She’d need to find a way around her speech impediment that didn’t involve transforming into a human.

Kleine’s efforts to free Salbjörg seemed a bit more sensible, just not for her. The massive, oversized spatula was a good idea, but she lacked the height to make use of it. The kobold, while stronger, had the same vertical challenges Kleine’had. "Hmph!" They had managed to free her legs, which she used to wrap around the spatula’s curved handle and pulled it further under herself. It was good that it wasn’t a wood spatula filled with splinters but why did it have to be made out of metal? Somehow the metal felt even colder than the floor did. But it got the job done. With most of her back free, she was able to free her arm and take Muste’s cane, at which point she could start to sit up. It was only getting easier to slide the spatula forward, at which point she finally came totally free. She nearly stumbled into the rescue party, but they were sensible enough to stand out of her way.

"Well done." She said with all the enthusiasm of someone who just had a fly land in their soup. Without making eye contact with anyone, she stumbled away from the glue trap. Her shoes stuck a little bit with each step. They had gotten her out, but she wasn’t clean yet.

There was something off about her balance too. And why did her chest feel so warm? A simple look down revealed that Zoppy had adhered herself to Sal’s pillow. She shrugged. It wasn’t like she hadn’t planned to start huddling with Zoppy for warmth anyway. Now Zoppy was hands-free, which was a good thing. But was she drooling? Sal positioned the little goblin’s sleeve under her mouth.

It wasn’t until she had taken a few more steps that she realized that her rib wasn’t bothering her as much. Yet her insides felt like they were burning. Sal placed a hand on her stomach and wondered what it could have been, but it didn’t take long to figure out. The bone needle she had been stabbed with was coated in her own venom. Muste had asked the Oracle to look her over, and she wouldn’t pester them. Best to find a place to sit and wait.

And the place where she decided to sit was next to Zogi’s corpse. It was the closest thing they had to an infirmary right now. Her eyes briefly flicked over to the disgusting display. While she hadn’t doubted Muste enjoyed human brains, it was different seeing him partake in them. "Ugh!" She recoiled and turned her eyes to the dead goblin. If he wasn’t interested in lapping this up, maybe he really did just like human brains. At least if an elf or beastman entered the dungeon she wouldn’t have to worry about his feeding habits.

But if desecrating the dead wasn’t an issue, maybe Zogi had something interesting on him. But other than his loincloth, which she had no desire to poke around in, all she found was his shard of authority. "He won’t be needing that." Salbjörg held up the stone. "What do we do with... The... Fragment he had?" She looked to Kleine for an answer.

If he could breathe, Schnupfen would have held his breath in anticipation as he finally relinquished his desperate, clawing grasp on the stone and started it on its fateful descent. He watched, psychedelic eyes wide, as it plummeted down and unceremoniously bopped the little hellion on the noggin. The adventurer dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, his limp limbs splayed out wildly, and after he sagged to the floor he did not rise again.

Schnupfen blinked, silent as the grave, as seconds slid by without any discernible motion from the marauder. After the terrifying, improbable durability displayed by young Danny already, his cynical side wouldn't let him believe in victory just yet. The other monsters seemed equally trepidatious, the Oracle broke the silence with a thunderous bellow at the kobold, so loud and sudden that it scared Schnupfen half to death. It ordered the tremulous reptile to see if the adventurer had really been dealt with, and after mustering his courage the kobold obliged. All eyes lay on him as he prodded the intruder's still form, his efforts intensifying as his confidence swelled until there could be no doubt about it any longer. The dungeon's inaugural defense mission had succeeded.

While the Oracle seemed triumphant, it was hard for Schnupfen to feel good about the comedy of errors that had been the dungeon keepers' defense. Rather than take any credit for the win, he split open a half-dozen fanged maws across his torso as he let out a hollow, rattly sigh of relief. His extra eyes rolled backward, then disappeared, and he wiped beads of shadowy sweat off his forehead. "That was too close," he grouched. "And frankly, rather embarrassing. Thank Mother Void that none will ever know of this disaster." If word somehow got out about these supposedly menacing monsters' mad scramble to survive the onslaught of a single bumbling teenager, the dungeon keepers could say goodbye to any semblance of credibility.

With that encounter scrubbed from the history books and bound for repressed memory, the keepers could start thinking about next steps. As Muste looked into helping Salbjörg, since Zoppy was certainly not going to (she didn't even seem to notice that Zogi had died saving her, Mother Void bless her) he mentioned prepping for the next invasion. Schnupfen nodded vigorously, his huge nose bobbing up and down like the snout of an agreeable horse. "Yes, yes, absolutely. We must attend to the dungeon's abysmal layout, for one. And the immediate overuse of illusory walls makes them so obvious..."

He could have continued to complain about the dungeon's many failings, possibly for hours, but an interruption came in the form of the dungeon's crystal core. The sudden surge in magical activity made Schnupfen's eyes bug out before he beat a hasty retreat. He then sniffled as he stared at the core, wary of what the change meant for him. It turned out to be purely beneficial as he then felt new strength course through his shadowy form. It...wasn't much. But it was better than nothing, until the time came to be one with Mother Void once more, he couldn't afford to be nothing.

Kleine emerged in order to pay her respects to the mulched goblin. Schnupfen paid more attention to the instrument held in her hands, which he guessed was an impromptu weapon, possibly wielded as a last ditch resort if the adventurer made it all the way to the core. Its true nature only became apparent when she moved to help pry Salbjörg loose from the glue trap. Schnupfen, of course, didn't help, not just because his meager strength wouldn't be much help, but also because she smelled. He turned his attention away from Muste's feeding, which he found rather distasteful, and reconsidered the matter of improving the dungeon now that its keepers were authorized to augment it. "Well, our first order of business should be perform a couple more summoning rituals, yes? I trust our esteemed Oracle can weight the dice in our favor. It would be wise to at least take a peek out of our new front door as well, get a lay of the land. That said, if it's daylight outside, I'm afraid I won't be venturing out." If asked, he would clarify that he wasn't trying to give anyone orders, just suggestions that everyone would benefit from.

Schnupfen looked around, manifesting a handful of eyes to review the dungeon layout. "We should also get started on mining out new rooms. The raw materials, naturally, can be recycled into walls. We should really take care of the clear sightline to the core. The physical labor will be rather intensive, though...nose goes?" He quickly laid a clawed index finger on the end of his nose to signify that he wasn't eligible. Nearby, the idle kobold blanched at the prospect of mining out entire rooms on his own and also discreetly touched a claw to his snout.

And yet, as Salbjorg held up the Shard of Authority, the crystal began to disintegrate instead, glowing a bright crimson light before motes of that incandescence floated up towards the ceiling, dissolving one by one into a heaven beyond the reaches of this dungeon. So too did Zogi's own body, the skull-bashed corpse hovering slightly upwards as light built up and up and up within the dull green flesh, before it shot ceilingwards in a line of light, leaving nothing behind.

Perhaps that was the fate of all monsterkind. To die in darkness and to be removed in light. There was an irony to it, that the gods who ordained the destruction of a monster's home would nevertheless accept their souls in the afterlife, to perhaps be reborn in a form not so disdainful.

Thus was Zogi's lot, a selfless, self-serving creature and a ready-made grunt whom nevertheless truly cherished his companions, whose sacrifice was the true lynchpin that allowed the dungeon core to remain untouched, that allowed his fellow green comrade to remain unharmed.

There were once seven, and now, there were s-

"Ey, boss!" From some shadow, a familiar silhouette emerged, nose as flawless as the day he was born. Slapping his potbelly heartily, Zogi sauntered back towards the others without even a hint of trauma from being fundamentally killed by a human child. "You need 'em rocks busted up and walled up? Zogi's yer gob, see!" He flexed his other arm, which had no visual effect but indicated at least that he had functioning arms, unlike some of the more armless individuals present. "Just lemme at it! I'll roll up a coupla mugs ta back me up and we'll knock a shiny new cave out lickety-split!"

-seven again, presumably.

Already, Zogi was approaching the pickaxes, dragging out a particularly small one to heft over his shoulders in a reliable, muscular manner.

Muste's eyes lighted up at the invigorating wave of energy that enveloped him after he partook of his kin's favored food, and felt his magical powers increase by the core of the dungeon's expansion. Now, he could pursue his calling as an architect of the abyss, and designer in the dark, as possibilities for the dungeon's development raced across his mind. Even Salbjörg's wobbling and near-falling after rescue did not cause him to falter. There was a lot to do, and not enough time to do it all before more adventurers will come, now better prepared, and with vengeance.

Schnupfen brought up the illusory walls, which proved ineffective due to them needing to pass through them to confront the invader, in turn exposing them. However, even if they didn't, the small room would have quickly been searched anyway.
"We need to relocate the illusory walls to side passages," he spoke to the group. "And make ambush rooms from which we can strike as well as refuge to make our separate nests. I dislike shared working spaces. We need the kobold to begin expanding at once, and-" he stopped in his words as he realized a familiar voice spoke, and turned in surprise to see Zogi.

Muste did not recognize the goblin to be the same one that was resurrected. Indeed, he thought the goblin was a resource of the dungeon, given to them by the core for any menial labor or miscellaneous tasks they might need to perform. The question of the disappearing Shard of Authority already passed his mind as he addressed the goblin.
"Very good, Zogi. We need employees who show initiative. You can start by digging in this direction. I have a blueprint of how to-Oh." He checked through his pockets, and realized he had no scrolls or paper to write into. This was a problem: if he were to properly manage the dungeon alongside his fellow coworkers, he'd need documentation.

"I will go check the entrance, and see the world outside the dungeon," he informed the others, and walked down the linear series of chambers to the mouth of the cave the dungeon was located in, tucking his facial tentacles in his coat: he assumed he could fool humans at a distance into thinking he was a fellow traveler. If there was a road nearby, he would make sure to stick to the shadows and stay hidden. However, aside from surveying the landscape and seeing if there's any nearby signs of civilization, he would check for any nearby trees or even grass, and collect a pile of it. Then, he would transform the components into scrolls of papyrus with his magic. If there was a small bird or rabbit, he would mind blast it and eat it's brains, as well as collect a feather or piece of thin bone to use as a writing implement: if not, he would finger paint (or rather tentacle paint in his case) the dungeon blueprint he had planned with his ink into the scrolls, then hand them out telekinetically after returning.

The Oracle nodded in approval of Muste being extra thorough with ensuring the child was dead. True, there was only a tiny possibility that the boy had had his heart on the other side, but the Oracle’s skewed statistical perspective meant that it thought that was far more likely than it actually was. As such, also removing the brain was an excellent idea.

It was prevented from thinking about why the specific method of slurping it out was being used by the dungeon’s empowerment and the miraculous empowerment and healing that came along with it. Having partially seen too it’s own wounds, the Oracle was put right back up to full fitness as a result of the restoration, which was nice as the burn healing wasn’t pretty or painless.

“Praise be to fate for smiling upon us this day!” it sang with hands raised to the heavens upon receiving this blessing, before declaring “may we use its favor well, and enact bloody retribution in the name of the fallen! The false gods and their pawns shall pay for taking Lil’ Zogi from us, may his soul find everlasting wonder in fate’s heaven”

It was only a little bit after it had finished declaring this that Zogi returned to them, prompting it to say “Oh. You are back” in a tone that made it seem a little disappointed, before quickly adapting its previous declaration to “they shall pay for temporarily taking your life!” before turning to the most important matter, namely the gambling

“I shall see to the rolling!” It declared, before pulling out a d4 and rolling a three on it, which according to it meant that “Beginner's Dungeon Gacha!” was the choice to be made, which it also declared meant “fate knows what we need”

It then rolled a d3 dice, which looked like a triangular prism with rounded edges, and got a three, which meant “Basic Summoning” again. It seemed a little hesitant at first at this result, before insisting that “fate will provide!”

After that, all that was left was manual labor, and to that its first thought was prayers rather than action. At least its prayers did something

“Oh holy fate, grant onto these humble laborers a boon to ease their efforts in doing your divine bidding" it asked the heavens, before it promptly rolled 8d8s again, this time at the pile of work tools, and getting a thirty two as a result.

Again.

“Miraculous!”

Light surrounded the pickaxes, which gained a ghostly dozen toothpick sized pickaxes floating around the shaft, just below the actual axe part. When the kobold gave theirs an experimental swing and struck stone, the little doppelganger pickaxes all lashed out one after the other in rapid fire, pinging off of the struck spot before returning to their orbit. This mostly made things nosier as each swing was followed by a machinegun fire of bonus hits, but it was slightly boosting their digging power. Slightly.

It was better than causing hiccups at any rate, though the boon lasted about as long as a bout of those.

Blessing given, it then checked if Salbjörg still needed healing and also if she consented to its rather invasive methodology of doing so. If she did, it would phase its hands through her back and find its way to her bruised ribs the long way around, before carefully tinkering away to repair her cells and put things back where they all belonged, humming hymns as it did so.

Once that was done it would actually help with the mining, though not by swinging any pickaxes around. Instead it assisted with stone transport. Its massive hands could phase through miners and ground alike, before selectively touching only the stone and dust they’d dug up in order scooped it all up into its cupped hands. Then, acting like a floating dump truck, it would transport the excavated material to the room second away from the core which it thought made for a good middle ground from storing their excess materials for the moment, at least until they got a report back about outside and how easy dumping stone out there would be.

While the dungeon’s other denizens attended to their various tasks, Zoppy continued to slumber. But since that’s kinda boring, let’s take a look at the fantastical dream she was having.

In it, she had successfully created the dungeon shop of her dreams (pun intended), and was happily waiting for her first customer to arrive. In what seemed like no time at all, a bespectacled, lavender-haired young woman in a pastel purple outfit resembling a night gown appeared. She needed a new writing implement for her spell book, and so Zoppy eagerly offered her a lucky quill, which the young woman gladly purchased for lots of shinies. Then, the happy goblin was visited by a silver-haired man and a tiny, silver-haired young woman that floated in the air next to him. While the tiny woman seemed exceptionally bored, the man excitedly explored every nook and cranny of the shop. “Can Zoppy ‘elp ya find anyfing?!” the scrawny shopkeeper inquired eagerly. The man replied that his strange mystical circular net-thing was broken and he was looking for items with which to repair it. Zoppy’s smile grew even broader. She knew just the thing. “Lucky string!” she announced, holding the tattered strand up proudly. Although the small woman seemed disgusted, the man gleefully thanked the little goblin and paid her even more shinies than she’d asked for. Finally, she was visited by a bubbly, almost sickeningly sweet and cutesy young woman with bright pink hair, who, if anything, was even more cheerfully hyperactive and scatterbrained than her previous customer. After bouncing around the shop for several minutes, the giggling girl found just what she was looking for- a lucky rock. To Zoppy’s surprise, as soon as the girl picked it up, it came to life and started happily conversing with her. Zoppy thought that should make it cost even more shinies than it ordinarily would, to which the girl cheerfully agreed. Zoppy was overjoyed to have made so very many shinies, and she nuzzled her shiny pile as she hugged it as tightly as her meager strength would allow. Strangely, the shinies were much softer than they appeared, almost like a pillow or marshmallow…

It was just as she was thinking this, that Zoppy finally woke up.

After the sound of various voices and the rapid-fire striking of enchanted pickaxes shattered her contented slumber, Zoppy slowly looked around with groggy eyes as her confused brain tried to make sense of her current situation. She seemed to be adhered to the snake lady with the large cushions on her chest. However, that was less of a concern to the sleepy goblin girl compared to the memory of what she’d been attempting to do before her nap. “Can ya take Zoppy ta da place wiv da boney fing!?” she asked the snake woman excitedly as she looked up at her with a hopeful smile. “Zoppy wantz ta gib ‘im somefing fer ‘iz finger shiny!”

The world outside of the dungeon was simple. As he crossed out of the mouth of the cave, he felt something strange and unnatural--though it wasn't like the dungeon was truly natural. It felt like he had crossed a threshold--as if he had walked through thin wall of haze. But more important than that--it felt as though he was weakened--as if wading in a dream.

There was not some grand city, outpost, or even languishing village. Instead, it was simply unkempt nature basking in the midday sun. In fact, it was curious on how a boy would even find this place. Judging by snapped branches of the nearby brush, he simply walked directly towards it.

Of course, nature meant animals. And animals meant birds. And birds meant mindblasting for brains and feathers. His blast of intellect and mind had struck a bird on a nearby branch and... simply stunned it for the time being. And he had to work a surprising amount to access its brains. Nonetheless--he now had a feather and questionable grass papyrus. Though, he could also always just use the leather if he ever needed a higher quality parchment.

"Well... when a monster given an authority passes, the rights follows any established line of succession. If there is none, it returns back to the dungeon owner. Which would mean it would be split equally to all of you." Klein paused as she placed her finger against her temple and closed her eyes in pensive thought."But it's strange. It doesn't seem like his authority has changed."

Of course, her thoughts were immediately interrupted by a dead man yelling "Ey, boss!"

"Kyaieeee!" Exclaimed Kleine as she leapt into the air.

"That's... new to me! Glad you're back! I... Well, no sense thinking too hard about it." She said as she huffed.

Then came the right of the victors--the ability to summon was brought up by Schnupfen.

With the Oracle's wish came the hums of the crystal one more. From nothing sprung forth items they could use. More materials, of which they would have to manually turn into something else. Two more monsters sprung from the chaos--one, a short snake-like creature who seemed to have no combat ability and the other a autumnal treant in the figure of a tall and lanky human. Unlike before, equipment to use was spawned. A set of potions of varying effects. A wooden wagon. More crystallized concepts spawned--simple arrow traps, a pitfall, a crystal that would allow the immediate creation of a room, a set of proper lighting, and some totems.

The crystal hummed and thrummed with energy. It let out two bright pulses of red light. With one came a strange amulet. With the other came a treasure chest--empty, yet seemingly so full of potential. But the crystal seemed to coalesce and the room darken. A purple light came and pulsed across the room. A simple bell dropped to the floor. But again it pulsed purple. A stone statue of an angel holding its own head in its lap now stood in front of the crystal.

But more important than any of that was a simple item: a cozy looking bed that seemed warm and comfortable. A bed that could only hold one person.

Or about seven people, if you counted rats.

Or zero, if you counted Schnupfel (who could only use the bed in principle) or the Oracle (who simply wouldn't fit).

---

---

New Materials:
1x 3* Metals
1x 2* Metals
1x 1* Leather

New Units:
1x 2* Treant
1x 1* Naga Labourer

New Equipment:
1x 4* Bell of Safe Return - A bell that, when rung, allows for safe passage towards home.
1x 3* Polymorphic Amulet - An amulet that transforms the wearer into a unique random form.
1x 2* Berserk Potion (consumable)
1x 1* Healing Potion (consumable)
1x 1* 10 Second Blinding Potion (consumable)
1x 1* Wagon

New Traps:
1x 4* Guillotine Shrine - A shrine to execution--invaders who linger nearby for too long will have their head attempted to be lopped off.
2x 1* Arrow Trap
1x 1* Pitfall

New Dungeon Elements:
1x 3* Treasure Chest - A chest that will attract adventurers based on the value of what's inside. Can be converted into a trap. Warning: do not display the chest while it is empty.
1x 1* Room digging kit - ALlows for the creation of a room--without the need to manually dig it out.
1x 1* Room lighting set
1x 1* Cozy bed
1x 1* Totems

---

Zogi’s return from death didn’t please Salbjörg. It wasn’t that she wanted him dead (she needed to care for that to happen) but there wasn’t an explanation for it. Clearly each and every one of them could die, otherwise why would the dungeon spirit fret over his death? Something didn’t add up, but he was just a goblin. There was no point in over analyzing it. The Oracle must have saved him.

The actions of the others hadn’t been that much more interesting. Muste said something about digging and ran off, probably because he didn’t want to help. Schnupfen gave a few orders, and likely wouldn’t have been able to help if he wanted to. She was pretty sure he didn’t though. Zogi was digging though. Maybe it would be good to have the goblin back after all. And the Oracle...

Well, the Oracle was taking care of her, of course. She didn’t know what to expect, as she hadn’t watched them heal themselves. The idea that something could mend wounds with their balloon fingers was strange to Salbjörg. And it was no stranger seeing it in action. Its fingers passed right through her and began fixing her from the inside. Its touch was cool, but that just served to numb the area as they worked on it. She wondered since she could feel it passing through her if it could feel her as well. Her rib had been mended, and the poison had been pulled out of her flesh. She was still sticky, but the Oracle told her to wait for the glue to dry and peel it away or just shed her skin. Given that she had never shed her skin before, she was unsure exactly how long that would take. There was also the matter of her dress. Letting the glue dry seemed to be the best option for the moment. But this was all the convincing Salbjörg needed.

The Oracle was a straight ten.

"Well done." She bowed, causing the goblin attached to her pillows to dangle briefly. "If you need anything, call for my aid." Her thumb slid over her old wound. This was the first time the snake woman had genuinely smiled since waking up here.

But there was no time to celebrate. The problem with having a living chest warmer was that it was capable of making requests. She had forgotten how hideous the rest of its body looked and had been avoiding that. But damn, that was a pretty sweet smile.

Even so, Salbjörg wouldn’t normally dignify such a request with a response. But she was being asked to perform physical labor and didn’t have a lot of excuses not to. She looked at the ghost (who she suspected would be the only one to care) and pointed at the back of the dungeon. "I need to get Zoppy to the bony thing."

And with that, she was off.

...

Was that a bunch of rats standing on top of each other?



Something that Salbjörg noticed very quickly was that having an extra twenty pounds strapped to her chest made walking around a lot bouncier. She found herself cradling the goblin after taking just a few steps. This was not going to work very well.

As soon as she got to the back room, she discovered all the wonderful things the Oracle had gotten for them. Many items caught her eye. Much like the knowledge she had upon waking up, she seemed to understand what some of these items did. The bell of safe return would be useful if she ever decided to explore outside. The polymorphic amulet might be useful as a backup disguise, depending on what form it turned the wearer into. Both of these items also had some fine craftsmanship, and she wouldn’t mind having them. Would anyone notice if she took them now? Well, that could be considered later. Right now she needed to get this out of Zoppy’s system. Then she could look at everything here and maybe speak with the ugly ent or the cute snake.

She approached the skeleton. Klein hadn’t been too specific on what happened to bring them all here. She knew a lot and didn’t seem to be too cagey with what she knew. There had to be a reason why a long dead mage was in here. But that was a question for later.



With some effort, Salbjörg managed to peel the goblin off of herself and set them down on the floor. Then through the use of her magic, she took hold of the bones and made the dead wizard sit up. She wiggled her fingers, and the skeleton kneeled before Zoppy and slid its hands inside its sleeves, seemingly waiting for her to do something.

Muste felt woozy after he first exited the dungeon: he now understood why his kind preferred the dank darkness of the underworld even if it was farther away from their preferred prey. However, it fortunately didn't turn out to be an insurmountable hurdle to overcome, as he saw that they were in what looked like a dense forest that stretched as far as they eyes could see: there were no roads, and no human-built buildings or constructs...aside from the bag of food the intruder left at the entrance which the dungeon's rats quickly devoured.

Speaking of food, the birdbrains were pathetic, and a morsel not usually worth the use of his psionics. However, he acquired more than just sustenance: he now had a writing implement in the form of a quill, though it was quite small. He also got some meat to offer to one of his fellow monsters as a source of motivation: a well-fed employee was a productive employee, he thought. He also got his stock of papyrus scrolls: though easy to tear, delicately handled they would do, at least for a start. He took the empty bag and headed back inside.

Upon returning, he saw that the others have gotten to work, some with expanding the dungeon, and others with sorting through the inventory procured by the Oracle. And what a haul it was: the illithid's tentacles curved upwards into a smile at the sight of not only minions and materials, but also magical items.
"Excellent work, Oracle. The wooden wagon is crucial for improving the logistics of the dungeon expansion. I would like to have the bed; it provides a better place to write scrolls on than on the floor."

He thought about giving the meat to him, but then wondered if it was appropriate: he didn't know what the mysterious being actually ate. Nonetheless, he used his tiny quill to illustrate the blueprint of his planned dungeon, and telekinetically placed it hovering in the air, to serve as instructions for their dungeon expansion.

That was when he noticed Salbjörg animating the robed skeleton in the core chamber, and remembered the bowl of bone and bone spurs lying around, and deduced the connection. He approached the serpentine monster, noting the curiously clever rats on his way as they co-operated to reach a considerable height.
"Miss Salbjörg, I believe you possess the capability for osteomancy, also known as bonecraft."
He offered the bird corpse to her.
"Could you create a pen and inkwell from this? You can have the flesh to consume as compensation for the effort."

Deliberation about who would be obliged to begin work on the grueling task of dungeon excavation came to an end when Zogi inexplicably reappeared, then volunteered to get busy. Schnupfen was happy to see one of his colleagues take initiative, mostly because it meant he couldn't be press-gangeded into physical labor himself, but truth be told, the sight of Zogi headed off to work filled the shadow with much less confidence than the goblin carried himself with. Even if he could somehow revive himself and therefore theoretically be worked to death ad nauseam, Zogi was not what Schnupfen would call a physically impressive specimen. It would take a very long time for him to perform the necessary renovations to get a workable dungeon layout going, and with the serious lack of muscle among the staff here, progress wouldn't be much faster even if everyone chipped in.

Of course, hard work wasn't Schnupfen's strong suit anyway; he was more of an ideas geist. At least he and the other intellectuals would have plenty of time to put together a plan. It sounded like Muste knew what he was talking about, but before he could put his plans to paper it seemed like he'd need to acquire some paper first. He marched off to check the great outdoors and see what resources the dungeon's surroundings had to offer. Schnupfen considered following him, since he was also curious where he'd been brought into being, but he held back. On one hand, it seemed very likely that it would be daytime outside, which he could not abide. On the other, the Oracle's summoning ritual promised to be much more interesting. It was no overstatement to say that the dungeon's future depended on the whimsy of fate and whatever it decided to materialize from the ether. Schnupfen gave the siphonophore a wide berth, sniffling, as it whipped up a quick boon for Zogi and his kobold compatriot. Just the sight of all those ethereal pickaxes made the shadow's eyes water. "Eugh, those conjurations are making my allergies act up," he complained as he dried his eyes with his rags. "I'll just leave you two to it." He said it as if he hadn't been about to do that already.

After that, Schnupfen turned his full attention to the lightshow and ensuing results of the Oracle's rolls, ignoring Zoppy and Salbjörg. Three freshly-made psychedelic eyes went wide as the sheer quantity and quality of everything that materialized, including items, underlings, and even ready-made dungeon features. He rubbed his eyes just to make sure (manifesting a third arm in order to make sure all three eyes were sufficiently rubbed) before clapping two of his hands together. "Mother Void has graciously withheld her nothingness, for this is certainly something!" Without any further acknowledgement of the Oracle's efforts, he darted over to the pile of goodies for an up-close-and-personal examination. He sniffed monsters and materials alike, like an excitable puppy dog meeting strangers for the first time. Though the naga instinctively shied away from him, which elicited a disappointed tsk, the treant stolidly withstood the nosy ghost's probing. "Hmm..." Schnupfen scratched his nose. "Subtle aromatic terpenes. Floral, herbal notes. A rich, earthy undertone. The musk of turpentine, the resin of autumn pines...a bouquet of inner strength and vitality." He gave an approving nod. The digging crew was now twice as big, and over twice as strong. "You'll do nicely."

He let that hang in the air while he continued to examine. While the amulet and warp bell made him gag, the different traps pleased the Schnupfen greatly. "A pitfall!" he crowed, pinching the pitch-black crystal between two claws for a closer look. "Humble in its simplicity. Undeniable in its lethality. With this, a little push can do what a hundred soldiers cannot." Schnupfen sprouted two more arms to rub his hands together as he licked his fleshless lips in anticipation. "I can hear the echoed screams fading into silence already...all that remains is to find the perfect place to put it."

At that point he noticed the rat stack, currently doing their darnedest to get the Oracle's attention. Though not the disembodied entity the risible rodents wanted, Schnupfen floated over to carefully stroke the topmost rat with an index finger, then help stabilize the rats' formation before they toppled over. "United at last, are we? Though you yet number few, your host holds great promise. I eagerly await the advent of your multitudes, a ravenous tide of fang and fur under which our foes may be crushed." While Schnupfen viewed the rats more as assets than colleagues, he seemed to appreciate them for what they were and what they could be relied on to do.

Of course, he had other matters to attend to aside from rat supervision. Despite not having eyes at the moment, Schnupfen turned to look at Muste when the illithid returned. He asked for the bed, which the shadow consented to with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Take it. The darkness is my mattress, and the cobwebs my sheets." He then watched, his expression dubious, as Muste sketched up a proposed dungeon layout and then levitated it in the air. If Schnupfen hadn't been pitch black, he might have blanched at the lingering enchantment that irritated his nostrils the moment he tried to inspect the scroll. "Bleck...I can't read that." He thought that Muste would use it to give orders to the digging crew, but instead he went over to Salbjörg. "Hm." Since those two were busy playing around with bones, it fell to him to direct the digging crew, didn't it? "Well, someone's got to do it," he decided with a shrug.

He floated over to Zogi and his three pickaxe-touting comrades. For the sake of inspiring the others, he grabbed a pickaxe of his own, which he waved around like a flag using the combined strength of four hands. "Gentlemen, our labyrinth is in there. We need only chisel it free from its stone bindings. Let us begin!" He swung at the nearest wall. The pick bounced off, flew out of his hands, and clattered on the floor noisily. Schnupfen wiped his brow with the back of his hand, then put his hands on his nonexistent hips as he watched the others get to work.

To Zoppy’s great delight, Salbjorg agreed to take her to the room where she’d last seen the skeleton, causing the goblin girl to squeal with glee. “Dankz!” she told the snake lady. Soon enough, she was deposited in front of the skeleton, yet, unlike in her dream, it didn’t appear to be wearing a ring, or any shinies at all, causing her to frown in a mixture of confusion and disappointment. But not for long. It quickly occurred to her that maybe the skeleton was hiding its various shinies in its tattered clothes. “Hi!” she greeted as she leaned in closer to its grinning face. “Ya got any shiniez?! Zoppy’ll gib ya…” At this, she began rapidly looking around for a possible item to sell the skeleton, immediately discovering all the various items the core had manifested. Clearly, this was all inventory for her to sell for shinies. Thus, after a quick search, she grabbed the most interesting item and held it out to her “customer”. “Diz lucky bell fer ‘em!”

ft. some rats

As it was working, it came to the Oracle's attention that a pile of rats were trying to get its attention. It had seen them around, of course, nothing escaped its gaze, but it had simply had more important things to worry about. Naturally. Of course. It certainly had not mistaken them for ambient creatures till this very moment.

Regardless, it lowered its neck down from its floating position, the single great eye large as several of the rats moved about a rat length away, bathing them in its warm glow.

“Salutations, little children of fate!” it said, too loudly for the distance, “how may I assist you?”

The topmost, already dazzled rat seemed taken aback by the Oracle's form of address, pointing a tiny claw at itself, then looking down at the other rats for confirmation. Unfortunately, each of them was pretty much doing the same; looking to the next rat over quizzically in search of reassurance.

The bottommost rat, almost squashed under the combined weight of the rest of Rats, let out a sharp squeak. It echoed out of every rat's mouth.

That seemed to remind them of their mission. The topmost rat, having both of its hands available, proceeded to point at its mouth, then pat its stomach — and, since food did not appear that very instant — raised an arm to its forehead, wobbling. The wobble became a ripple that threatened the stability of the leaning tower of Rat, but they seemed none the wiser. On the contrary, Rats' performance escalated at a rapid rate, each individual rat soon mimicking starvation-induced death in increasingly dramatic ways; shrivelling up, eating one's own tail, screaming bloody (and hungry) murder.

Then, as suddenly as it all had started, Rats snapped back into their default poses, still barely managing to form a tower, each staring up at the celestial being with large, pleading eyes, their hands crossed.

Well, except one. One of them was still stuck eating its own tail.

The Oracle watched all this impassively with its unblinking stellar eye. Once it was over it was silent for a moment longer, said “I see…” to buy time, was silent for another moment, and only then remembered what ‘eating’ was, a revelation accompanied by an audible “Ah!”

It pondered for a moment if this was a worthy cause, or whether doing something about it would displease fate. Ultimately, however, even it wasn’t immune to those pleading eyes, and so it promptly declared “Well then, let us see what fate can provide!” while cupping its hands and then rolling the dice with a prayer of “oh merciful fate, may you favor your poor children with a bountiful blessing of sustenance!”

The 8d8s clacked across the floor, landing before the rat stack, and coming up with a 39 leaving the Oracle ever so pleased with its consistent rolling capabilities. True, it hadn’t rolled high yet, but the lack of low rolls meant that Fate still smiled upon them.

As for the result of this roll, the dice shimmered for a moment, and then in the glow merged together, before sprouting up and up into a long narrow shape before dissipating and revealing a Demi-Baguette tall as the rat stack.Was it the finest quality baguette fresh from the oven? No. Indeed it was entirely average, perhaps even a bit sub par. Also it promptly toppled forwards towards the rat stack.

Rather than stick around and see the outcome of its work being devoured, the Oracle was swiftly distracted by the appearance of the results of its (randomly) chosen gatcha rolls.

It had been rather subdued and humble in its response to Salbjörg’s thanks, saying “Think nothing of it, I could hardly leave a fellow disciple of fate in such a predicament after all” with a little headbob.

Subdued and humble would not be words to be used to describe response to the results of the rolls, which were great jubilation.

“What a glorious day! Fate truly has blessed us with a shower of gifts, for our divine patron must be pleased with our work! Yet, we must not become complacent!” it declared, before thrusting a finger at Muste and demanding “you must ensure that the dungeon design is pleasing to our most holy god! Most importantly, this room must be made into a shrine to its glory, beginning with carving its shape into a most holy octagon! Then you must designate space for eight lesser shrines in the dungeon, all at equidistant points from each other and the central shrine, forming a second most holy layer around the first!"

Was it going to help work out how to do that? No obviously not, it knew how to delegate. Besides, it had holy gifts to inspect. Also it had just been made redundant by the wagon anyway, so it had the time to indulge its curiosities.

To be fair to it, this did involve the void angel doing something helpful, namely rapidly sorting everything into piles rather than leaving it all scattered around on the floor. Raw resources here, traps there, equipment there.

Equipment that wasn’t in the middle of being pawned off to a skeleton anyway. It wasn’t exactly happy with… whatever Zoppy was playing at, but Salbjörg seemed to have it handled. Besides, now that it was done sorting, it had the important task of testing the most holy of their holy artifacts: the Polymorphic Amulet.

“Oh most holy of fates, revered be your divine providence, and grant unto this must humble of your servants your most brilliant of blessing!” it prayed, before slipping the amulet through its membrane and hanging it from the corpse that floated within itself.

"Aye boss!" Zogi decided that he would just call everyone 'boss' until he figured out which of them was the bossiest of all. Maybe tentacle-face would appreciate being called 'Your Evilness' instead though. Muste gave off that sort of vibe. Regardless, with pickaxe in hand and a direction to dig, the goblin was just about to step forth and start swinging away, before the shadowy Shoepen did so instead.

To tragically ineffective ends.

"Aye boss, lemme n the lads handle the swingin' n' diggin', ye? Keep yer, er, eyes peeled for 'em shinies in the dirt." The shadow was probably going to be demoted to sub-boss in Zogi's mind real soon. The goblin himself wasn't any particular specimen of physical strength, but the shadow was turning out to be something akin to the physical equivalent of a floating bag. Which had its uses, don't get it twisted! It just wasn't really worth thinking about from a 'labour for a better dungeon' vibe. Still, that was enough dwelling on that! Turning to his motley crew of a naga, a treant, and a kobold, the goblin said, "Alright ya sorry mugs, time ta earn your keep. Benny, Johnny, you're with me. Frankie, you start loosening up the dirt after we break out the hard bits, capiche?"

The Shard of Authority must be doing wonders, considering how all of the labourers were at minimum 50% bigger than Zogi, but the naga and kobold nodded with pickaxes in hand, while the treant's gnarled branches wrapped around a shovel.

"Now SWING. YER. ARMS!"

With that, Zogi drew his first blow with vigor and panache! And the tip, small as it was, definitely made a dent in the cave wall. It was there. He swears!

The Oracle felt its body twist, contort, and compress. It wasn't painful--more unfamiliar and uncomfortable, as if something was wrong. This wasn't the body it knew it had. Unceremoniously, the Oracle fell to the ground with a solid clunk. Its body felt more solid. Quite solid, in fact. One could easily describe it as chitinous, but the Oracle was unable to view itself to confirm--the dungeon lacked any sort of reflective surface.

To the others, the new form that The Oracle took was obvious. It would appear that their grand floating corpse in mesoglea had been turned into a rather large--about goblin-sized--beetle with shining black-brown chitin, six needle-like legs, and a large forked horn that had the necklace around it.

Really, it was lucky that it had the horn. Otherwise, it might have been a dung beetle. But unluckily--it seemed rather difficult for the Oracle to remove the necklace by itself. Its horns was longer than its limbs, after all.

---

"Well, in any case, we likely have a few days before the hero comes back and tells others. When that happens, we'll have an unending stream of adventurers trying to shatter this crystal." Klein stated. Though, a worrisome look crossed her face. "But we might not be able to finish digging out a full floor plan in time. But--if we're lucky--no veterans are going to appear! We'll probably only have to deal with the freshest of the newbies!"

Of course, Klein wasn't about to shirk work. No, her instincts refused that. With a hardhat--who knew where she got it--and a pickaxe as large as her, she began to help clear out the dungeon alongside the rest of the effective labourers.

---

A lot was happening, but Sal was solely focused on Zoppy for the moment. But that had less to do with wanting to take care of the goblin girl and more to do with acquiring the bell. Salbjörg knew she should have just taken it, but figured they might discuss how to divide the items first. That did not seem to be the case, as even the Oracle was pawing over the items. He probably earned his right to the treasure of his choice. Hmmm, perhaps she wasn’t just focusing on Zoppy after all.

While trying to facilitate a trade with Zoppy, Muste snuck up behind her and attempted to foil the whole scheme by revealing the trick. She immediately wrapped her arm around his head and pulled him into a headlock. So long as she kept adequate pressure on his wind pipe he shouldn’t be able to ruin things further. Fortunately, Zoppy seemed to be blissfully ignorant of Muste’s attempts to get in her way. Things could proceed.

She did remember Zoppy mentioning a ring, or something like that. But there was nothing around that looked like that, and Sal lacked the ability to craft one in a short span of time. Not a convincing one at least.

Zoppy did not look hard to convince though.

If the goblin was going to just grab things that were lying around, there was nothing stopping Sal from doing the same. It seemed that the goblin had forgotten or misplaced the mana gem she had given her earlier, which had gotten stuck on Sal with everything else. While still holding Muste in a headlock, she had some of her bones coil around the gem like a claw that ended in a ring. It looked ridiculous, but Sal had an idea it would please the goblin. She only had so much bone on hand, but she could recover it later while Zoppy was sleeping. Since the ring was made out of bone, she floated it up in the air.

The skeleton had briefly collapsed when Sal grabbed Muste, but swiftly came back to life once she was resituated. The skeleton reached for the bell and took it from the goblin’s deformed hands. It then stood up, turned it over as if examining it, and then reached overhead for the ring that seemed to have just appeared overhead. It then presented the oversized ring to Zoppy. While she was distracted, the skeleton’s arm swiftly detached to place the bell in Sal’s hand before retracting, and then the skeleton went to take a nap again.

Finally, she released Muste. Some of the bird’s feathers and other bits had stuck to the side of her, but she completely ignored that for the time being. "Read the room!" She hissed before stashing the bell in her shoulder compartment. She also made sure to wedge some bone inside the bell to prevent it from accidentally ringing. "And I refuse to touch your last meal." She scowled when she realized the bird’s tiny head had been popped open. "Give me nice, clean bone and you’ll have your pen and pot." That was something she could do herself in seconds by forcing the bones out of the bird, but Muste had proven to be nothing but a nuisance thus far. Best to keep him a little busy.

Besides, there were other problems.

"Oracle!"

It had to be the Oracle. The large presence that usually filled the dungeon was missing, and the oversized beetle was wearing the pendant she last saw them trying to put on. She approached and was about to remove it and stopped. "Wait!" Sal stepped backwards. "It could be… Curssssssed!" She leaned into the other room where Schnupfen was screwing around and bothering the workers. "You!" She practically shrieked the words when she pointed at the ghost. "Remove the pendant from the Oracle, immidiately!" He was a ghost, after all. What harm could come to him from touching a transformation amulet?

Especially because he knew he hadn't really earned it yet, Schnupfen found the nickname of 'boss' rather endearing. Technically they were all equals, after all, but it was only naturally that some would be better at certain tasks than others. Case in point, excavation. Following the attempted pickaxe swing that ended up being much more embarrassing than motivational, the shadow was relieved when Zogi stepped in to take over and truly kickstart the excavation. His gratitude lasted only a second, however, when upon review he realized that the little goblin might be patronizing him. Even if it was warranted, and Zogi did admittedly have an impressive nose for a goblin, it took some guts to look down on someone much taller than him!

Schnupfen gave the back of Zogi's head a suspicious, indignant look as the dig crew started working, their labor off to a good start thanks to the Oracle's enchantment. Rather than confront, however, the shadow assuaged himself by sulking. "Yeeeees, I'll...not get in your way," he muttered, half to Zogi and half to himself. He turned his nose toward the fallen pickaxe, then glared at his spindly, claws hand. "I would help if I could, but I am cursed with these...slender, dainty limbs. One must wonder at Mother Void's taste in geists..."

A moment later, he pointed his schnoz at the stone wall and clenched his fist. "In terms of finding 'shinies', though, I can do far better than rummage through the rubble." More for the sake of standard procedures than any actual physical benefit, he twisted his body a few times to stretch and limber himself up. "Behold," he declared as if anyone were paying attention to him right now, "As I scout ahead in a way only I can."

With that, he approached the wall, his fists still clenched as he swung his arms with what he imagined to be a very purposeful stride. Schnupfen phased right through the solid stone, and with that he began his reconnaissance. The shadow was hunting for anything of interest within the earth, whether that be mineral veins, the tunnels or nests of burrowing creatures, naturally-formed caves, or pockets of gas and groundwater. Even the lack of something could be useful, since it meant an area of the dungeon would be pre-excavated, so to speak. Unfortunately, the more ground Schnupfen covered, the less he found. While he could see in the dark, he couldn't see inside of solid matter, so he could really only stumble around blindly in the rock and hope he blundered into a discovery, relying on his memory to retrace his steps. He found exactly zero openings, however, and when at length he gave up and attempted to retrace his metaphorical steps, he was horrified to discover that he'd miscalculated somehow, for he found only solid stone where the dungeon should have been. Unable to see, or even speak, he could only try and keep his head and expand his search area as the dread in his mind mounted.

A few minutes later, Schnupfen crawled out of the floor and into the dungeon's dim light, hyperventilating. At least a dozen eyes protruded from random points on his ragged, murky body, their concentric collapse much faster than usual. As he lay on the ground like a squashed spider, his eyes gradually calmed down and disappeared, and his breathing slowed enough for him to give his report. "...No shinies," he rasped. "Nothing at all. No caves, no ores. Not so much as a mossy grotto or ant colony." He did not mention that he'd nearly gotten lost and consigned himself to a rocky tomb for all eternity. Exhaling slowly, he rose back into the air.

At that moment Salbjörg shrieked at him, which made an eye bug out of each side of his head like a chameleon as he flinched. "Gah! What is it, now!?" Composing himself, Schnupfen followed the woman over into the room where he found an unusually big rhinocerous beetle where there hadn't been one before. Though not much to look at, it did smell a little cosmic. He let out a mirthless laugh. "Heh. What are the odds of that, oracle?" After a sidelong glance at Salbjörg as if to say can't do it yourself, huh? he carefully floated forward to inspect the requested trinket, stooped like a shrimp. The second the smell of magic tickled his nostrils, he recoiled at lightspeed, his eyes narrowed as his huge nose drooped downward. "Yyyuck. What a pong..." And the Oracle actually tried this thing on? Rather foolhardy for an extraterrestrial entity. He carefully reached out with his wiggling fingers, thought better of it, and pulled his hand back. He scowled at Salbjörg, anticipating criticism. "Give me a minute."

He flew over to the dungeon core, and a few moments later, returned with the bone from the dungeon's first set of rolls. He sniffed, squinted, and carefully used it to lift the amulet off the beetle's horns. He laid the amulet on the ground as soon as possible as he backpedaled, watching to see if the polymorph would depart along with the trinket, or if the Oracle's curse was here to stay. What a rotten turn that would be, Schnupfen thought. With how things were going, the dungeon keepers might successfully defeat themselves before sundown.

pls ignor thnx