The Heart Grows

Dungeon Status:

Tier 2

Level 18/100

Heart 1166400/1166400

Experience 275112/291600

Workers 11/115

Monsters 9/117

Traps 64/279

Food 2459

Timber 7322

Iron 2292

Steel 905

Charcoal 5058

Mana 1119

Rock 2252

Gold 1057

Leather 17

Leather Sludge 300

Lava 500

Glass 635

Explosive Runes 5

Triggered Explosive Runes 0

Triggered Explosive Runes (repeating) 15

Long Guns 12

Bullets 500

Black Powder 500

Poison, Greater 1200

Quest: Kill 135 invaders.

Quest: Capture an adventurer and put them in your jail.

Quest: Mine some mithril.

Turning rock supplies into lava probably wasn't the most efficient way to secure more of the spell ingredient, but Travis didn't want to deal with any monsters given the amount of digging Katelyn'd have needed to do.

It had been a surprise when the kill counter on his quest had quickly dropped by six, then another one a little later, but he suspected that was Ludmiller's doing. More XP was always something helpful. With evening upon his part of the world, though, Travis turned his attention to the meeting that was about to start in his tavern.

Brolly Windchime looked to his two equals (Christine Sellswell and Howard Tailor) as well as the dungeon representative (Stephan) and cleared his throat. "We are officially hemmed in. They spent all day building palisades to connect up their camps. If our plan to bring the verdant dungeon closer works now, it will be a surprise—but it's a risk we had to take.

"Tactically, we're secure. Thanks to Travis, we're stocked with enough powder and ammunition—and even a steady supply of guns. The only worrying thing I've seen so far is that they're still cutting down trees even after they finished the palisade. We need to expect them to build siege engines."

Travis swore at that. "Sorry, Steph. If only we had some cannons."

"Cannons should help with siege engines, but we haven't gotten them unlocked yet, have we?" Stephan asked. "Talking to Travis."

The look of excitement on Brolly's face faded after Stephan said they hadn't unlocked them yet. "Would it help if I brought one in? We only have a small one—more a toy than anything—but it does work."

"Travis says to try that. Being able to make you cannons would help, correct?" When Brolly nodded, Stephan continued. "Moving on, then. Ludmiller has killed seven of the enemy so far, Travis has told me. She hasn't appeared back here yet, so she's still alive and working." He looked back down at his tablet. "If you could have those people who wished to become kobolds head back in—Penelope can change them now. Last thing, with the extra workers, we will be able to expand the living quarters in the upper section. More rooms plus a big kitchen and eating area would be helpful?"

Brolly nodded and set about explaining. "If they're going to start peppering the city with siege weapons, evacuating the civilians to your dungeon would be advantageous. We have enough food for two months in our stores—that would be a higher priority to secure. The city has water from two wells."

Nodding to the estimation, Christine said, "Our main problem is that no one will notice us missing for at least that long. It takes two weeks to travel to reach the next city and the next caravan wouldn't be due to leave for another week. The rule of thumb is you wait twice as long—so that's a month and a half."

After listening to Travis explain, Stephan smiled at that. "So even if they took the earliest time, Northridge would have two weeks of food left, with no time for the kingdom to raise an army and relieve the siege. Then the perfect solution is to move the population in here. We'll make more mushroom farms—so many we can feed the whole city—and you can save those food reserves."

It was too much for Christine. She slumped back in her chair, threw her head back, and started laughing.

A moment later Brolly joined in, but Howard managed to resist the urge. "Is this going to cost us?"

"No. Travis says the people of Northridge are welcome to live in or out of the dungeon and the food will be provided free." Hanging his head and looking up at the ceiling, Stephan asked, "Can't we at least ask for—"

"This is final. Everyone gets somewhere to sleep and food to live off. If we start having problems with food building up in storage, we can just dump it outside or let it burn up in lava." To Travis, this matter was no different from Mixie and her parents. "Northridge protected us and took us in. For better or worse, we're working together now."

Relaying the speech, Stephan looked at Howard for sympathy. "Why he asked me to negotiate I don't know. Travis normally only gets me to discuss trades. This isn't trade."

"It is, actually," Howard said. "Travis is buying his way to a partnership. Not to mention there wouldn't be a Northridge left if we don't find a food source. Brolly, how do most sieges end?" The way he spoke implied he already knew the answer.

Schooling his features, Brolly held up four fingers. "Either the siege is lifted by an outside force; the besieging army breaks through the wall and overwhelms the defenders; the defenders run out of food, water, or become sick; or the besieging army run out of food, water, or become sick."

It was a grim list for Travis to process, but he had to ask, "What if the defenders break out and kill the attackers?"

After Stephan passed the message on, Brolly shook his head. "Never happens."

Having a queue of people in the heart room was new. Having that queue stretch out the door and down the tunnel a little ways helped reinforce in Penelope's mind that finding a way other than cutting her palm was a great idea. "Okay. Fife, Brayden, Robert—are you three ready to do this?"

"Yeah. As long as we take our time, this shouldn't be a problem." Brayden looked at the collection of old and sick people. The declining health of an aged body couldn't be cured by even the greatest of healers—but a dungeon could sidestep that. "Okay."

Penelope used a claw to open up a scratch on her thumb and then smeared it on Travis' heart. "First up."

One by one Travis accepted the people, fifteen in all, and the three assisting would guide them out to Penelope's boss room and to a waiting bed there. At last they had all the old-timers and even one woman who had been suffering from a magical curse, but then someone else stepped into the room.

"Fife and Brayden," Jack said, nodding to his friends, "I think it's about time I made my decision too. It wasn't easy, but I will agree to becoming a kobold on one condition."

Fife, pumping her fist, froze mid gesture. "What condition?"

"I'll be one of your cohorts. You need fighters as your bosses and their minions. I'll gladly spend my days around this hole in the ground if you give me that amount of time to research my power." In the end, Jack knew that was an excuse. His friends had put down roots here—the kind you can't walk away from—and he wasn't going to leave them to their fate alone. "So, please, tell me you can do that and show me what I have to do."

Strutting forward, Fife fell-in beside Jack. "Pfft, this is the easy bit. Trust me, walking around and talking like this'll be just like you imagined it. Press your palm to the blood print Pen makes."

"If you drop me, I'll never forgive you." Walking as directed, Jack stood with the heart on his right and Penelope on his left.

"I'd say to ignore her," Penelope said as she prepared another smear of blood, "but you know her well enough to do that already."

Jack laughed as he pressed his palm to the bloodstain, and then the world got disjointed and he felt his body changing—then darkness drew him into its loving embrace.

"Ice mage! Ice mage! Wooo!" Travis couldn't help himself. So far he hadn't wanted to pressure Jack, but he was hoping the idea would come to him sooner rather than later.

No sooner was Jack fully changed than Fife hefted his weight up into a princess carry and headed to one of the nearby rooms. "I got this. I promise not to bang his head on the walls too much. Oh, can I make him my cohort now?"

"You did. You literally—Why am I even here?" Travis let out an exasperated sigh-sounding noise. "You're doing everything yourself anyway."

"Aww. Don't be like that, Trav. If we didn't have you around, could you imagine how much of a mess we'd be in? You're great at running this place. None of us have even died yet." Setting Jack on the first bed she came to, Fife left him to get cozy and sleep off his changes. "Well, none of us have died without coming back. That's the main thing."

"Fife, if I could, and Pen wasn't around, I'd totally hug you for that." Travis ignored Fife's laugh as he turned his attention back to the meeting and what had transpired. "What we're going to need to do, on the first floor, is do a lot of digging. I'll plan everything out, but if we're going to have newbies digging up there, I want as many hard-hitters as possible to step in when they open up any caves."

"Got it. We should probably sleep now too while we can." As soon as she said it, Penelope realized how futile that was going to be for her. "Except, of course, my bedroom is full of new kobolds. Okay, change in plan. Fife—let's build you sleeping quarters."

"Alright! I totally need a bedroom, and Jack will want one too. Hey, do you think we should move Brayden down as well? I take it he's going to be your cohort along with Kelvin?" Fife asked.

"Each set of quarters has two bedrooms, Fife. You can have one here for you and Jack, then Pen gets her own, she's the boss after all, and Kelvin and Brayden can share another." Travis was laying down the law mostly because he was still worried about how dangerous digging in on the third floor would be. "So long as there are no monsters in small rooms, we can fit the bedrooms beside the lizard village. Then, if we really want to, we can adjust things and have Pen's boss room immediately after yours, Fife. Hell, she'll be the dungeon boss, so she can always walk up to your boss room and have some fun in there."

"Waaaaait." Fife's eyes widened in the glow of his heart. "Are you saying that we could have all six of us in my room? Squishy, me, Jack, Pen, Brayden, and Kelvin? What could ever make it past that?!"

"This would mostly be to stop monsters that we've mined out. So, yeah, having all of you bunched up to slaughter them would be the right way to do it." Travis had already been planning it out, but having Jack in the equation now made him confident that they had a last line of defense that was akin to the entire rest of the dungeon and then some.

While Penelope, Fife, Brayden, and Kelvin worked on their own new rooms, Tannyr got back to making more rifles. She sat at her desk and made them again and again, assembling all the parts needed and crafting the finished result. The job was repetitive, and though Mixie would have made it go slower, she missed having the young girl there to talk to.

Robert, too, was working hard. In his lab he was preparing more of the precious black powder while Katelyn, of all of them, sat in her library researching for all she was worth.

The last few denizens of the dungeon were doing their part. Stephan was following Christine around the city as she found people who were immediately willing to relocate to the dungeon. Fifteen families was the initial quota. They had room for that many, but they would need to get the tavern and kitchen built too.

Blake was on the upper floor, building rooms as fast as he could. He was joined by Wild, who sped the process up.

Available at: https://www.royalroad.com/profile/220350/fictions

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.