The Heart Grows

Dungeon Status:

Tier 2

Level 24/100

Heart 2,073,600/2,073,600

Experience 392,511/518,400

Workers 30/151

Monsters 10/153

Traps 118/369

Food 6,349

Timber 7,322

Iron 2,292

Steel 905

Mithril 870

Mithril Ore 0

Adamantine 916

Adamantine Ore 0

Charcoal 3,658

Mana 4,950

Rock 1,293

Gold 133

Leather 216

Leather Sludge 215

Lava 501

Ice 10

Glass 483

Explosive Runes 30

Triggered Explosive Runes 0

Triggered Explosive Runes (repeating) 0

Long Guns 30

Bullets 400

Black Powder 400

Poison, Greater 500

Deadly Scorpion Venom 76

Sulfur 708

Quest: Kill 100 city dwellers.

Quest: Half populate your dungeon: Workers 30/66 | Monsters 10/67 | Traps 118/162

Quest: Delve to the bottom of a dungeon with at least 20 floors.

One thing Travis had appreciated, over the five days they'd been running supplies and gold out to Hilda's encampment, and that was being able to delve Breeze. She'd gained another floor, which meant of the fifty thousand gold, she supplied all of it and then some. Thinking on it, he realized he'd thought of Breeze more and more as she.

He'd gained a level and then some from the "delve," plus the daily flood of XP that he got simply from feeding people. He'd spent a ton of mana on making regular nodes on the third floor, wanting to build up mithril, adamantine, and steel reserves. Three townsfolk who had been on the fence about taking up the offer of living in the dungeon made their choice to join, which gave him a little more workforce.

"Breeze?" Travis asked. She hadn't said a word since telling him her name. The only acknowledgment he got that she'd heard him was a feeling of warmth, invisible and encompassing, pouring over him. It was her way of saying hello. "Do you want some more food? I have plenty."

Excitement. Anticipation. She painted the gestalt between them with her emotions, and Travis was left to run the gamut of those. Not that he minded, she was like a warm hug. A warm, platonic hug. When he shifted his first attempt, a hundred thousand food, Breeze fairly exploded with excitement.

From what he'd managed to work out, food for her was like gold to him. He added another hundred thousand, and then a third. It left him with, he was sure, at least a hundred thousand remaining, which was enough for the city to survive until he could delve her again, factoring in mushroom farms and what Breeze was providing. Feeding her more food to grow and expand would add more buffer to the city.

Travis had long-since realized that his farms couldn't feed the whole city, but even the quarter he was supporting now was too much for them. Where the bulk of his food provisions came from was delving Breeze.

Penelope was loading up with the final payment of gold to Hilda. Twenty thousand gold seemed insane to carry, yet with it cast into two huge pillars, she could carry each with two limbs and still keep her wings free. "Be careful," he told her.

"I will be. I'll make that offer to Hilda this time." Testing the weight of the gold, Penelope stretched her wings out on the top of the huge wizard tower. "We should have told her to wait by the hidden entrance."

"Well, it wouldn't be hidden if we told everyone about it. Besides, the couriers we sent south will be coming back by that. One thing I know for certain, if we organized them to be there, the couriers would arrive with an army at their back. Murphy never fails."

"Murphy? Oh." Penelope set the gold down so she could facepalm. "It's weird, Trav. I sometimes don't understand words you use, but the moment I say it out loud, the meaning comes to me. How much of you gets crammed into my head each time I upgrade?"

"I don't know, but so far it's only been knowledge, not actually my personality, right?" While Penelope was getting ready to fly off to make the final delivery, Tannyr, Blake, and Robert were working on the two new rooms (Pack Den and Scorpion Den) he'd gotten recently. Fife, Jack, and Brayden were there to watch over them, but since most of the work was in the cave where the scorpion had been, it wasn't a high risk dig.

"It'd be nice to know how many more are to go, and what happens with the next one. I've heard about dragons bigger than I am now, but that was in a verdant dungeon, where it had tons of room to grow that big. Nothing bigger in a normal dungeon, though." Hefting the golden pillars, Penelope spread her wings once more. "I'll be going now. Either I'll see you when I fly back, or Hilda will get feisty and I'll see you sooner."

"If she hurts you without your say-so, all our deals will be torn up and I'll send Fife after her with a pack of wyverns." Travis hoped that merely the image of Fife coming at someone would terrify them. "I love you, Pen. Stay safe."

"I'm a dragon, Trav, I'm never safe. Love you too." Beating her wings and launching herself off the tower, Penelope gained speed and, when she had that, altitude.

Even with stupidly heavy loads, Penelope loved to fly. The speed and safety of the sky combined with so much freedom to move around was a scout's dream, and though she wasn't exactly a scout-rogue anymore, she still enjoyed it.

Her target was far west, over the river and away from the road leading to Northridge. The gift of flight meant that distance was not the problem it might have been at one point. Hilda was doing her best to keep her army hidden, but keeping that many people completely out of sight was impossible. So, circling around a small clearing away from the army, Penelope swooped and spiraled down without flapping her wings, soon slamming into the ground near Hilda's collection group.

"The last payment." Hilda could put a lower-bound on how strong Penelope was, now, by how many of her people it took to drag the gold back to their camp. There was witchery involved, she knew, but that still put the dragon at a level of strength that made Hilda's sword hand itch.

Letting go of the pillars, Penelope let them sink into the ground appropriately. "Like last time?"

"I think they're getting wise. Just leave them." It felt somewhat like defeat to be taking a bribe, but at the same time it got her people home and once more part of their communities. In winter, having gold wasn't better than having food, but it was close.

"Have you thought about our offer?"

Jerking her head up to look Penelope directly in the eyes, Hilda nodded. "I've talked to some of my oldest soldiers. They were the first to suspect this ruse. They've also seen the most magic and are far more forgiving. I'll bring back any who want to return. I admit I'm tempted to bring an army and besiege that damn goblin hole."

"Promise not to kill the heart or attack the town, and you are free to. We would like to do some delving in there, but if they are going to raise armies, we're going to want to keep them down." It was time enough for Penelope to bring up her other offer, she thought. "There was another thing, something more personal."

Her interest piqued, Hilda ceased examining the gold and looked up at the dragon looming over her. "Yeah?"

"When you come back, I want a fight. Just you, me, and whatever weapons and armor we like." Seeing Hilda's jaw drop open was the cincher. Penelope would owe Astrid a favor for this. "To the death."

Grabbing her traitorous right hand before it could leap for her weapon, Hilda fought to control herself. The words were intoxicating, but while she longed for the challenge of a lifetime, she couldn't do it now. "When I come back?"

"Yeah. We can fight again and again. It'll be great!"

The words confused Hilda. "But… 'to the death'?"

"I have a priest who could bring you or I back, though I come back after a day anyway." The reaction she got to that was a bit of a recoil, but Hilda didn't completely withdraw from the conversation, which told Penelope that she was tempted more than she was repulsed. "Again and again, claws, sword, shield, teeth, and breath. The only thing I ask is that you engage in the fight in my boss room. You have my word you will be able to enter and leave freely."

It was insane. Everything she'd been taught was that monsters weren't to be trusted, and yet she had fifty thousand gold that screamed to the contrary. Then there was the entire magic issue. It was disgusting to her on a cultural level to even contemplate allowing herself to be defiled in such a way—yet, if she lost, honing her skills to try again made her chest clench in excitement. "I will have to think on it. When I return, we will fight at least once."

"I look forward to it." Penelope rolled her shoulders, spread her wings, and took to the sky again.

Feeling like a piece of her fighting spirit was now clutched firmly in the dragon's claws, Hilda shuddered at the thought that she'd be able to fight her. "Not nearly as much as I do."

It disappointed Fife when nothing jumped out of a hole in the wall at them. There were no giant scorpions, no wingless dragons, and now she was frightfully bored. "Trav! Do we have anything fun to do?"

"Actually, Fife, there is. It's something you're going to enjoy. Can you grab out an adamantine rifle and a bag of adamantine balls?" It was something he'd asked Brolly about and the man had been more than happy to allow it. "I remembered that shot that saved you having to deal with two walking juggernauts, and even though we gave them another rifle, I want to make sure she has something that can really deal with armored enemies in the future. Head down to the guardhouse and find the woman who made that shot and give her the rifle and ammo."

Perking up, Fife lashed her tail in excitement. "This'll be cool!" Reaching behind her back, she pulled out a beautifully crafted, if heavy, adamantine rifle and ammo. Tucking both under her arm, she started for the stairs leading up. "Don't open any new places until I return!"

"They're going to build those rooms, you know. Little baby scorpions running everywhere. They'll be so cute." Travis was mostly focused on torturing Fife with her decision to deliver the gun.

"You consider this payback for not helping dig, don't you?" Smirking, Fife knew the ruse for what it was—this was a pearl of a job and she'd enjoy every bit of it.

"Yes, Fife, it is. Deliver the gun, make her happ—"

"Gold, Trav. Give the girl some gold too. Here, that officer was probably worth at least five hundred." As she trudged to the top of the stairs on the entry floor, Fife pulled a bag of gold out from behind her back. "Or maybe it should be a thousand? You have ruined my sense of value."

"You think it's bad for you? I never had a sense of the value of gold here. All I know is that's as much as we pay some people in a year. But, yeah, I'm cool with five hundred gold. I can still see and hear through you, outside the dungeon, but I won't be able to speak."

"Wait, why would you need to? Take this down, find the babe who pulled off the shot, give her her prizes. What could go wrong?" Fife asked, just after stepping outside the dungeon. In her heart, she knew those words would drive Travis mad. She'd done a little more reading, and found some of his superstitions, and those words featured high in the list.

Sauntering along through Northridge, she had her shield on her back and her sword at her side, but it was the gun that she gave the most care to. When she reached the entrance to the guardhouse, what was still a tavern on the ground floor, she looked up a little at the two guards at the door. "Hey, I'm here to meet someone. Really good with a gun. Pulled off some crazy shot a week or so back."

"Head in. You're looking for Annie and Tam. Pair of 'em are tight, but the captain's cool with that since they work so well together." Pointing to the door, the guard laughed. "Assuming you can find them. With things cooling down, he's got all the guards back to normal rotations."

Reaching the door, Fife used her shoulder to shove it fully open as she walked inside. The smells, sights, and sounds of several dozen people dressed in the kind of rough linen used for arming shirts, steel, and leather greeted her. Despite Fife's mass, she was rocked back by it a little, but more by the memories it brought up.

Fife didn't regret her choice to become a kobold. Every day she found something new and amazing to snare her curious mind. But, this place and places like it had been her home for many years before she'd settled down. Closing her eyes, she took in the sounds and smells alone, then coughed.

The room fell silent. When Fife opened her eyes, everyone present was looking at her. They'd likely seen her on the wall shooting out into the northmen lines, or flying on a wyvern and dropping bombs or worse into their midst. "I've been in here almost a minute and I don't have any ale yet. What's up with this place?"

A rumble of laughter went around the room, but Fife noticed several sets of eyes didn't leave the gun in her hand. Steel, like the guns the guards had, was polished up and then oiled so it wouldn't rust. It betrayed itself with that oily sheen. Mithril held its highly polished look even after oiling, not that it needed rust protection. It tended to have a weird multi-colored hue after heat treating.

The adamantine gun in Fife's hand, though, was the same dull metallic color of her armor. No one else in the room had a trace of the metal on them.

Approaching the bar, Fife looked at the stools that were free and could tell, just at a glance, that none would survive her trying to sit on them. So she stood up as tall as she could and barely managed to reach up onto the bar. "I'll take an ale and information. I'm looking for someone."

Pouring an ale, the barkeep set it on the edge of the bar for Fife. News of her fight to stop the commander of the enemy had spread, and she'd gained an almost mythical reputation because of it. "On the house. Who're you looking for?"

"Annie and Tam." Picking up her mug, Fife took a long pull from it and sighed. She closed her eyes to savor the flavor.

"Hey!" the barkeep roared. "Annie! Tam! Get yer asses over here!"

It was part of what Anichka liked about Northridge. A weird little city on the edge of nowhere, that had a weird, friendly dungeon. If a city could accept kobolds and dragons, it shouldn't have a problem with a foxkin like Tammy. "What's up?" she asked, approaching the bar.

"You're the one that took that shot that saved my ass from fighting two of those monsters, right?" Fife asked. She had a longer pull on her drink. Strapped to the woman's back were two rifles, she realized, and the shine of them told her she had the right person.

"Yeah. What about it?" Anichka recognized Fife from the dungeon entrance.

Fife downed the ale and turned to look up at the pair. The human woman looked confrontational, while the foxkin at her side seemed more inclined to her friend doing the talking. "Those mithril guns won't be much better than steel for shooting with—just lighter." She lifted up the adamantine rifle, the ammo, and the bag of gold. "My boss said you should have something that can do a little more. This won't break—ever. Feel free to load as much powder in it as you want. There's a bag of adamantine bullets there. If you need more, come and ask."

A modest fortune in rifles already hung from Anichka's back, but this was something else. Tammy had never seen or even heard of a gun made from adamantine before. It was an unknown. A rarity beyond rare.

Anichka was far more pedestrian in her ogling of it, even if she really wanted to stare at the dull metal forever. "In other words, you want us to test it. Sure, I guess." It became impossible to hide her smile. When Fife passed her the gun, she gained a new appreciation for the kobold's strength. After the moderate weight of steel guns and the feather weight of her new babies, the adamantine gun was solid in a way that defied belief. "Heavy."

"You'll get used to it for a rifle that you can put a lot more powder in. Next time you see an armored idiot in full adamantine, thinking they're invincible, you won't need to aim for the vision slits to kill them." Fife took another swig. "Oh, and the gold is to make sure you don't have to sell any of those. My boss forgets stuff like that, but I remember the pain of selling my sword to get food. If you ever need a job, come and talk to us before leaving town."

Tammy grabbed for the bag of gold as Fife turned, opening it. "This is full of gold."

Waving over her shoulder, Fife said, "Yeah! It is!" And left the bar. She could have hung around and plied the pair for stories, but it would have decreased how awesome she looked, and that was almost as important as a cool tale. Besides, she figured she'd be seeing more of them here and there.

After having sat around for four long days while Far Reach's military assembled, and then having to lead them along the road to Northridge, it was a relief for Kaylith to see the city in the distance. Odd, but also a weight off her mind. A huge tower now dominated the roofline of the city. "That's Northridge."

She hadn't been the first to make it to Far Reach, but of all their scouts she had the most experience on the road between the two cities—so she'd volunteered to guide and advise the relieving army's commander.

"Looks like we weren't required." Lieutenant Longscale looked at the mess around the walls of the city, not paying any real attention to the tower, but rather the earthworks and rocks that had been used to obvious effect by the besieging army. "We're here now, might as well go see what's needed."

The lizardkin leader of the force had seemed a little stiff to Kaylith at first, but she had realized that he was expecting to lose a lot of soldiers. Seeing his mood shift from wary-gruff to wary-curious confirmed it—he wasn't an asshole, he just cared for his people. "The tower is new. The walls look solid. I wonder why they left?"

"Pull the scouts in. I don't want them walking into an enemy army out there. The city doesn't look breached, nor overrun. Look, those aren't northmen clearing the mess around the front gate." It was a relief, but also a worry. "Once we're in there, I'll want to know exactly what happened. It is obvious you weren't lying, this much siege-works isn't possible without thousands of people working together, but something's odd here."

Kaylith appreciated the way he was coming at the problem of a missing army. "You don't have to march into the city itself, sir. The dungeon entrance is actually closer, and you could—"

"None of that. My commander might be willing to entertain a hostile dungeon offering assistance, but I won't risk lives on it. We'll march to the city gates. If you want to ride ahead, or take your chances in a dungeon, that's your business." Nodding to his second in command, Longscale was relieved to hear the orders going out to move. "I certainly won't order someone into a dungeon."

Shrugging her shoulders, Kaylith directed her horse toward the treeline, then dismounted and led it on foot toward where she knew the dungeon entrance was. There was a clearing, an open bit of ground where the undead dungeon had been, and past that—far less conspicuous because it hadn't been cleared—was Travis' dungeon.

Outside, where Longscale was marching toward the city, he recognized the large siege engines, missing their metal parts, behind the more fortified rock cover. Some, though, still had the metal attached—but the metal looked bent out of place and damaged. "This siege was tough on both sides, I'll wager."

When they reached the gates, Longscale was pleased to see them open and welcoming, along with definitely-not-northmen city guards within. "Ho there, Northridge?!"

Having rushed to get prepared when the lookouts announced a relieving army marching in, Brolly Windchime strode to a line a toes' length within the portcullis. Welcoming he was, stupid he tried not to be—there were plenty of rifles loaded but not immediately pointed at the potential allies. "From Far Reach, are you?"

"Got it in one. I heard you had a little problem with northmen. Settled it already?" Dismounting from his horse, Longscale walked toward the gate and kept his claws away from his sword. "I'll be honest, uh, Brolly Windchime, isn't it?" At a nod, Longscale continued. "I didn't expect to see the city still standing."

Brolly gave the signal to raise the steel gate. "Bring your people inside the walls. We have room to billet them out. We can discuss events at your leisure, uh…?" Holding out his hand when the portcullis was fully raised, Brolly was relieved to see the lizardkin reach out to shake hands.

"Lieutenant Longscale of Far Reach." Walking under the portcullis, he couldn't help but notice claw marks gouged into the flagstones. "The fighting got intense?"

Following Longscale's gaze, Brolly nodded. "We were lucky to have the friends we do. Imagine a beast more wolf than man, standing ten feet tall, and covered in adamantine plate. They had axes fit for beheading that they carried in one hand."

"Dungeon beasts?"

"No. The northerners forsake all contact with dungeons, but luckily we don't. I sent word to our local dungeon allies to send representatives. I'm sure you were told we have close relations with our dungeons?" Brolly wasn't surprised in the least at the scornful look on Longscale's face. "I'm not lying, lieutenant. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but all my guards carry rifles—dungeon-made rifles."

Cursing, Longscale shook his head. "I don't mean to tell you how to run a city, captain, but a dungeon having guns is a nightmare." Now that it had been mentioned, Longscale did notice that every single man and woman in uniform had a rifle, while those with the shoulder markings of officers also had pistols. No city, shy of a major trade hub or the capital itself, could afford such modern militarization.

"Ah, there they are now. The kobold is Stephan and the dryad is Breath of Spring. Without them and the interests they represent, the city wouldn't be here today." Reaching the door to the guardhouse, Brolly nodded to the two dungeon dwellers. "Steph, Breath, I'm glad you could both make it on such short notice."

About to question Brolly's sanity, Longscale froze when Stephan opened his mouth.

"We're honored to be brought into such a meeting as equals. The pacts between us are well served this day." Stephan, not more than a kobold in the ranking of the dungeon, was almost as dwarfed by the human and lizardkin as Breath of Spring was.

"I too, and my home, am glad to be invited. I know we're a lesser c-concern than Travis, but…" Trailing off, Breath of Spring bit her lower lip as the attention of the two huge beings was bearing down on her.

Dropping to one knee, Brolly reached out and took Breath of Spring's small hand. "Lady Breath of Spring, your home provides a wealth of food for our city. Don't for a moment think you are not welcome to be part of such matters."

Seeing Breath of Spring being given such respect brought a smile to Stephan's muzzle. Some days he wondered if he was slipping back to the life his family had tried to thrust him into, but then moments like this happened and he was reminded that here he dealt with friends, not fiends-in-disguise. "I believe I may have some input about where our foes have gone. Penelope saw them fleeing north when she flew over the goblin dungeon earlier."

"'Flew'?" It took an agonizing moment of confusion before clarity reached Longscale. Kobolds were part of dragon dungeons. Dragon boss monsters could fly at their most powerful. The full scale of what madness this city had entered into started sinking in. "A dragon?"

Looking up at Longscale, Brolly surrendered Breath of Spring's hand and stood. "Penelope Bogblood is a dragon, yes. She aided in the defense of the city and continues to ensure our safety to the best of her ability. Her dungeon, Travis, provides fully a quarter of the city's meals each day, and it was only his risking a new tunnel into the southern forest that allowed us to contact you. Please, lieutenant, the stairs on the left lead to my workroom."

Grunting, Longscale followed the directions and made his way up, eventually stepping into a room with multiple tables, a map of the city in the center of the largest, and surrounded with chairs. When directed with a gesture, he took a seat. "What happened here?"

As Stephan listened to Brolly describe events from the city's guard's point of view, it sounded fantastical. A dungeon shouldn't be able to merge with a city like Travis had, nor should they be able to bring a second dungeon into the gestalt, but they had. When he finally got to the retreat of Hilda and her army, he prepared himself for the specially formulated lie.

"… and that's where I will pass over to Stephan. Penelope has been keeping us updated on the army." Brolly knew that Penelope and Travis had done something. He'd seen her flying off the top of the tower, carrying huge, leather-covered pillars in her talons. There was plausible deniability, and if there was one thing Brolly trusted, it was that Travis was on the city's side.

"Penelope has been flying out each day. The army ran afoul of the goblin dungeon, which chased them to the other side of the river. They reformed there over several days, then moved on north today. The good news is that Pen torched a lot of goblins after the northerners left." A sincere smile was in order, and easily provided. Penelope had indeed burned the goblin numbers down. "Now we're consolidating and planning how we'll push on from here. We don't want this sort of situation to happen again, so we'd like to discuss paying for a railway to be built, joining our two cities."

"Paying? Sorry, uh," Longscale said, fumbling for Stephan's name, "Stephan, I am a soldier, not a merchantman."

"If I told you that is why I volunteered to come to this meeting, would that reassure you more?" Stephan gave his best toothy smile to Longscale. "We also plan to spend significantly to upgrade the city's defenses. Travis has talked about ringing the walls with cannons, so no army can hope to besiege Northridge again."

But for having seen all the guards with rifles, Longscale would have laughed and walked out. As it was, a cold weight settled in his stomach at the idea of having to march on such a city. "Am I to understand you won't be needing my army or the one we have requested?"

Brolly sighed and shook his head. "It won't be required, no, though I believe Stephan has an offer."

"Compensation is required, I'm sure?" Stephan asked. When Longscale nodded, it confirmed what they had been discussing together from the moment their scout had come back through the dungeon. "Then Travis will offer to forfeit payment directly to you. Since we asked for assistance, we will pay for it not being required."

There hadn't been any intent to have to collect such a default, but it was preferable to fighting. "That is acceptable. You know the normal rate?"

"Wages for all the soldiers, food to cover their upkeep, as well as a bonus to the city of origin. We will need an accounting of that from you, and will be able to furnish it within several days. If you wish to spend those days waiting, you could take it back with you." That they would make use of the workforce of the army was never in doubt. Stephan looked at Brolly and nodded. "I think this concludes the formal matters?"

"Yeah. Unless you have anything else that would require our dungeon allies' attention?" Brolly asked Longscale.

Not sure what the dungeons could do, apart from scout, provide food, and gold, Longscale was at a loss as to anything further. "I don't believe so. I'll need to send a messenger to advise my commander of the situation. I doubt you'd want to have a second army arrive to pay off."

Brolly laughed and nodded. "Indeed not. We're already planning our return to commerce, and though it's not my job to oversee that, I will be doing a lot of work to ensure that such proceeds safely."

Sliding from his seat, Stephan stretched his shoulders. "Thank you, Captain Brolly, for ensuring we all stay in the know. I'll have your gold, sir Longscale, at our earliest possible moment."

"I'll go too. Your hunters are keeping to the agreements, so my home is satisfied with things." Breath of Spring nodded to Brolly, then spared another for Longscale before she, too, climbed down from her seat and left beside Stephan.

Only when the two were gone did Longscale ask, "Was that a dryad wearing a shirt? What does 'The Grass is Greener in My Dungeon' refer to, exactly?"

"Would you have found it easier to talk with Breath of Spring if she was naked?" Brolly asked, trying to keep his laughter from bubbling up. "We have an odd little community here, lieutenant, but it works. Please, ask your soldiers not to get excited if they see kobolds, dryads, or dragons around."

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.