RD: Chapter Six - Recruitment Efforts

Morning mist hung over the trees as Dolli, Rufus, and the three new monsters they’d convinced to join the cause walked back to town. Moko, another goblin like Boji, spoke the common tongue, but the other two creatures were a pair of skolfs; angry, smelly, non-magic monsters with a long, black maw full of jagged teeth.

Rufus had soothed them with a few chunks of meat, and when Dolli got the popup request that the skolfs would join the dungeon, she hastily accepted. They were level eleven and twelve, and while they didn’t like to take commands from Dolli since she was so much lower level than them, they could be convinced into action with meat.

They still had twenty-one open dungeon slots, and when the dungeon leveled up to two, it would get five more, along with a host of other benefits. Dolli was hoping there’d be some game-changing upgrades she could give her people. She’d leveled up to two from all the completed quests back in town, and was now on her way to three. She’d have to take a moment when they returned to comb over the new options.

“Much farther?” Moko asked in the nasally growl of a goblin.

“Just a few minutes away,” Rufus replied.

Dolli heard the clang of steel on steel in the distance, and though she hoped it was Greg working away at his anvil, she knew in her heart it was another band of heroes.

“We need to pick up the pace, Rufus,” Dolli said, darting ahead.

“Trouble, Overlord?” Moko asked, breaking into a jog beside Dolli.

“I hope not.”

Screams drifted through the thinning tree line and Dolli put on a burst of speed.

“Too slow,” Rufus said, then scooped Dolli up into his long arms. She latched on to his antler as he dropped to all fours and sprinted like the skolfs into the village streets.

They emerged from the back alleys to the center crossroad where six heroes stood over the corpses of two dungeonfolk, and had five more backed into a corner.

Dolli held tight to the antler with one hand and readied a lance in the other. “Rufus, Creeping Moss. Moko, grab a blade. Skolf, stand back and wait for my signal!”

She targeted the lowest health hero and let her lance fly. It landed true, slaying the hero in a burst of bright light. Rufus skidded to a halt when he was in range, then cast his detainment spell. The heroes scrambled about to get equilibrium, pinning their backs to one another as they fought the battle from both ends. The plated asshole from earlier was back, shouting orders to the other remaining four.

“Skolf, go get some meat!” Dolli ordered and the stinky things darted into combat. They were agile, weasel-like, and dodged the heroes strikes with ease. Dolli launched a lance at their healer, spearing him through the chest and eliciting a cry of agony.

The action had drawn the attention of the whole dungeon, and soon, fifteen monsters descended on the battle.

“Casters, bombard the armored! Melee, charge casters!” Dolli yelled and the other three Wispelle launched simultaneous lances at the plated jerk. He pulled up a shield that deflected two of the magic spears, but one hit his leg, dropping him to a knee.

“This is stupid! You can’t aggro the whole dungeon to take us every time!” the plated hero whined, slashing at a skolf. It darted left, then leapt for the plate gap at his armpit. The hero shrieked as the skolf wiggled into his breastplate through the hole.

Dolli’s monsters made quick work of the remaining heroes until it was only the leader, screaming in pain as the skolf ate him from the inside out. Dolli grabbed a dagger from the deceased and held it to the flailing hero’s neck. “Don’t. Come. Back.”

She pushed the blade through his throat, cutting his scream short. His eyes focused on her as blood dribbled down his lips. “Yer… dead now… fartcrack.”

“No, you’re dead.” Greg bellowed and brought his hammer down on the hero’s face. Blood and bone splattered out from the impact, then all was still and silent. The skolf crawled out from under the hero’s breastplate, a chunk of meat dangling from its mouth.

“Is everyone alright?” Dolli asked, scanning her remaining dungeonfolk.

“Not everyone,” said Julie, another Wispelle, as she pointed to the dead.

Dolli nodded. “We’ll get them back. Take everything you can from these heroes. Magic items come to me for re-distribution, money to the stash, metal to Greg for repurposing. Everyone clear?”

“Clear, Overlord,” her dungeonfolk replied.

They got to work without complaint. In all, there were ten magical items in total; four rings, a dagger, a staff, a bow, plate boots from the leader, leather gloves, and the healer’s robes. Weapons and armor with no magical affinity piled up in a wheelbarrow for Greg, and Dolli got to work distributing the loot, keeping only an uncommon +2 Stamina +5 Magical Affinity ring for herself.

The bodies of the slain burst into sparkles, her monsters retreating to the Lifewell in her cabin, and the heroes taking off to the east toward the large kingdom against the sea. Dolli took corporeal form and gathered up the money, then dished out another round of dungeon improvement quests.

When all that was finished, she took a moment to breath and opened her Overlord menu. She was immediately bombarded by back-to-back popups.

[Congratulations – You have achieved Level 3]

Unclaimed Stat Points: [10]

Unclaimed Ability Points: [2]

[7] levels remain until first character modification: [ERR: Options unavailable. Still Calculating Playstyle].

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[Congratulations – Your Dungeon has reached Level 2]

Unused Monster Slots: [26/60]

Undistributed Roles: [1/2]

Open Lifestream Slots: [5/5]

Unclaimed Overlord Ability Points: [1]

[3] levels remain until first dungeon modification: Warmonger; Defender.

[4] levels remain until dungeon renaming is locked.

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Dolli focused on the dungeon modification text until additional information appeared. Warmonger would let her send the monsters out in raiding parties, and gain a bonus to attack when away from the dungeon. Defenders increased all monster’s health and armor as long as they were within the dungeon area, and reduced the material requirements for fortifications.

Both were good, but Dolli knew Warmonger was the path she would take the dungeon. Waiting around for the heroes to come to her was not her style. She was sick of being at their mercy. She would bring the fight to them, wherever they were.

She changed screens to check out the Overlord Abilities. There were only three to chose from at the moment: Dungeon Alert, which would allow her to send a notification to all monsters in her dungeon; Lifewell Enhancement, an overall upgrade that wasn’t particularly useful at the moment since they didn’t control the Lifewell; and Obey, which was exactly as it sounded. Dolli could turn that ability on and anything she spoke the dungeonfolk within +3 levels of her had to obey what she said.

While Dolli wished she could get everyone to agree with her courses of action, she was sickened by the idea of forcing them. Obey was out of the question, and Lifewell wasn’t helpful, so Dungeon Alert got the point.

“Dollitrice?” Greg’s gravelly voice broke through her train of thought.

She closed out of her menu, though there was still much to do in there, and looked up at the blacksmith with a nod. “How can I help?”

He held out two thin, metal cuffs. “I made Spark channelers light enough you can wear.”

Dolli accepted the equipment and inspected it.

[Lightweight Spark Channeler of Magical Affinity]

Armor Type: Jewelry

Class: Uncommon

Spark Alignment: Neutral

Effects:

- +4 Magical Affinity

- +2 Mental Prowess

- +1 Stamina

Bonus: Wear two Channelers of the same alignment to decrease Spark costs by 15%.

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“This is an excellent addition to our armory. Thank you, Greg. Please make sure every Wispelle is equipped with two.”

“They are. These are for you.” The blacksmith turned away, the ground shaking as he went. It was the first real interaction Dolli had had with Greg that didn’t end in him trying to murder her.

The sun peeked over the eastern hills, bathing the village in orange light. Dolli felt a swell of hope and pride as the dungeonfolk got to work on their tasks. They may yet survive and make something of themselves. Not just a town of citizens bending to the wiles of the magical heroes, but a dungeon formidable and independent… just as soon as they dealt with those wyverns.