DD5 ~ chapter 16

Well, no one panicked, and there didn’t appear to be people swarming out to fight me. Maybe the dungeon recognized that I wasn’t trying to be hostile? I extended a tendril of influence once more, just to see what would happen. Would I be attacked? Would we be able to chat? I was not expecting the influence in the area to flinch away.

<Hey! I'm just trying to talk to you!> I mentally shouted into the area so far below me. I had a moment of deja vu, and I wondered if Kantor had ever been frustrated in his attempts to reach out and discuss with others of his kind. Perhaps he had, but I kind of assumed that he would have destroyed anyone who ignored him. Maybe that is what this dungeon was worried about, maybe it knew that being an infernal dungeon was a death sentence from the outside world.

Seconds ticked by, and finally a reply came. The voice was smooth, charismatic, reminding me of oily politicians and the now-devoured merchant that had been scamming people on my surface. <Why, hello there! I can't say I have ever had the pleasure of speaking with a friendly being such as yourself! All I ever seen of our kind is raving animals or some form of weaponized, overly judgmental crusader.>

<That is unsurprising. Everything I have learned points toward our type not gaining intelligence until they are truly ancient.> Small talk! I was making small talk with another dungeon! The Dungeon Core, Dregs, who I had captured and placed in charge of my first few levels I speak a little, but holding a conversation was beyond it. 

I quickly put my excitement aside and got down to business. <Listen, we are here because one of the moons that circles our planet was destroyed and is falling to the Earth. We are trying to save as many people as we can, and to me that means any intelligent being. Do you have an exit strategy, or a way to survive the oncoming calamity?>

<I have heard about this. Sounds terrible. Well, my plan is to ride it out and absorb all of the death energy that I'm certain will be permeating the planet at that point.> The dungeon quieted at that point, obviously expecting me to say something chiding. Or maybe it was just feeling out my reaction for the next thing it said, <If I gain enough power, I may even be able to create a stable portal to the abyss!>

<And... what about all of the Northmen living in your depths? Are they dungeon born, and you can raise them after they are wiped out?> Please say yes, please say yes…

<None of them! They all have a simple binding that makes them malleable to my will, but I found that simply letting them control their own fate brought me more dust and if I had been trying to use them directly. My experiment was coming to an end either way. At this point they have become too stable, and I would have needed to clean the rats out of my tunnels.> The dungeon seemed very pleased that I was seemingly unconcerned. <The fragments of the Moon will simply help me to make that happen with minimal risk to myself!>

I did not think it would be so easy, and frankly I did not think this place would survive the moonfall. Even if it did, there would be so much disruption to the ambient Essence that this place would probably starve to death. I had originally planned on offering Asylum, but its goal of opening a stable portal to the Abyss was a deal-breaker for me. Still, perhaps it would be a good idea to offer a negotiations.

<Best of luck to you!> I replied as winningly as possible. <I'm going to be moving away from this area shortly, and I was wondering if you would be interested in an exchange of knowledge before I went?>

The dungeon seemed to relax, apparently it thought that it would have an edge in making deals. Actually, I decided to be extra careful. This was a being that was likely used to making extremely complicated deals with entities that would destroy it. <I suppose we can arrange a little something. What do you have to trade?>

<First let's talk about what I'm hoping to gain!> If I could sweat, I would be right now. I flipped it's opening tactic against it, trying to avoid giving away information for free, and decided to be as direct as possible. < I've gained access to a few of your Ward designs, and I really like what I see. Seeing as how I am building up as many defenses for myself as possible, I would be remiss in not attempting to supplement them with these ingenious creations.>

<Ah, direct flattery!> the Infernal dungeon chuckled. <I can see why the rodents infesting my area like it so much! As I'm sure you can understand, my Warding system is the work of several hundred years. Truly, it is my greatest achievement! How could I possibly allow myself to trade it away?>

I groaned internally, he was obviously trying to artificially increase his price. That was the point where negotiations began in earnest. Tiny bit by tiny bit, we created a deal. The dungeon would give me a significant amount of Ward schemas, and I would supplement its knowledge of Runes. My knowledge of Runes was only as extensive as it was because the town where Runes had been researched, collected, and stored had been demolished and it’s people had move to live on me. A deal had given me the full collection of the Spotter's work in book form, and I was making full use of this knowledge now.

Of course, the Northmen and dungeon in conjunction had a vast repository of Runes as well. This meant that I had to supplement my offer. I eventually added samples of plants, traps, some experiments I had been working on, knowledge of Elementals and how to make them, and each of the most efficient materials for various basic elements.

I knew that I was being taken for a ride, but I had a few more things I was planning on getting out of this infernal negotiator. Before we finalized our deal, I put my plan into play. <Now, before I hand any of this over, let us both swear on our Mana that we will act in good faith during this exchange. I will give you everything I promised, you will give me everything you promised. I will leave, and take no action against you. You will not send anything - or anyone - to attack or work against me.>

My trading partner was silent long enough that I was very glad I included this addendum. Then it pretended that it had not had any malicious intent whatsoever, and joyfully agreed. <Of course! I so swear, on the condition that you will as well.>

I also made the oath, and could feel the tightening in my Core that signified a binding oath. We exchanged all of our promised knowledge and goods, and I casually slipped a little more into the conversation. <Before I go, I just wanted to mention that I have an interest in taking the Barbarians infesting your depths when I go. I know that you mentioned that they were not yours to control perfectly, but if you were to swear that you would push them my direction if they were considering it... I might have one more thing you would be interested in.>

Distraction with evidence in its voice, as it must have been perusing what I had given it. <Is that so? So far I am not disappointed, but what else could you have that would->

I sent along a few images of Manny the Manticore. A few of it fighting adventures and a few where it was using the spikes on its body to unsummon demons. I assumed that this was a dungeon driven primarily by fear, and it would be open to the idea of having a boss monster protecting it against the things it summoned getting out of control. <This is a creature that I made, an amalgamation of multiple patterns, talents, and oh-so-much trial and error. There is nothing natural like it on the planet, and it is currently absolutely unique.>

The bait was presented, so I silently waited for it to be taken. It didn't take long. < All you want in return is a promise that I will nudge the Northman into your depths if they are on the fence about it? I suppose I could do that…>

The dungeon made it's oath to me, and it took everything I had to hide my glee. I sent the long the detailed instructions on how to create a Manticore, exchanged a few more pleasantries, then followed my oath and started retracting my influence. I giggled to myself, <Goodbye forever, sucker.>

Devoting only a small fraction of myself to reeling in my power, I sent the majority of my attention to parsing and cataloging all of the new magical effects I now had access to. As much as it seemed that I had been scammed, it was obvious that over the years the infernal dungeon had forgotten what was at the center of all of its Warding schema. Namely, the full pattern for whatever creature ability was powering the Ward. I love two for one specials, and now I had a lot of research to complete.