Hunger Claims

Fame increased!
Fame: 527
Survive an Enemy Vendetta for 1 week! +10
A Quest Against You has been Updated! (Expanded)
Quest Failed (x5) +5
Quest Accepted! (x2) +1
Quest Accepted! +1
Quest Accepted! (X2) +1
Got a minion! +45 (Expanded)
Domain Sired lesser minion (x30) +1
Domain Sired minor minion (x5) +3

Baal angrily swiped away the floating window. He was covered in a fine layer of sweat and still breathing heavily. The bitter taste of adrenaline filled his mouth causing him to spit at the vanishing window.

What a shitty way to start the day.

Climbing the rest of the way out of bed was easy since he had woken half out already. Though he stayed undressed. It was still early yet, and he needed to wash the stink of fear off himself.

“Suo?” The slime chirped.

It had once again taken the elfin appearance and was looking at him expectantly. Either it was hoping for an encounter, was trying to improve the master’s mood, or both. However, this morning Baal was having none of it

The appearance was pleasing enough while the slime remained motionless, but every time it shifted it still slid and morphed its form into the new pose rather than moving its limbs organically. Baal looked over the slime as he slowly regained his senses from the nightmare.

“Stay like that for a bit,” he barked at the slime. “You need to practice.”

Maybe it wasn’t fair to take his frustrations out on the loyal minion, but it didn’t complain and he didn’t particularly care at the moment. Nor was it the last minion to feel his wrath.

There was no sign of the goblins yet as the orc and slime descended the spire. But once they reached the lowest level there was a group of gnomes relaxing in the shallow edge of the mana pool, naked except for their little pointed hats, their clothes neatly folded on the dry stones nearby.

Baal stomped down the stairs, striding over the gnomes, and into the pool. His splashing march sent waves taller than the startled minions crashing over the lip of the pool. The small creatures might have been swept away if not for a bonnet shaped wave, moving unnaturally against the current, carefully collecting them and depositing them safely on the bank of the pool.

The orc was oblivious to the life and **** struggle he had left behind as he let the waterfall wash over him. Sweeping away the sweat and grime along with the memories of the night. The driving water massaged away the stressful stiffness in his muscles, as well producing a rather welcome vibration on his loins.

He slicked back his thick black hair as he trudged back out of the pool moments later. His body felt better but his mind remained troubled. The dreams were bad enough, but the reality waiting for him was not very pleasant either.

Food.

He needed more food. It wasnt even three weeks since he had started his dungeon, yet he had grown accustomed to not going hungry. He was not prepared to sacrifice his new luxurious lifestyle. And, despite their current professed loyalty, the fact that he was surrounded razor toothed opportunistic scavenger races wasn’t lost on him either. He couldn’t afford to let the situation in the dungeon grow out of hand.

He made it to the dining hall before the goblins and set about taking a proper inventory. The deer and rabbit meat was nearly gone. Though they retained a small reserve of giant rat. Fruits and vegetables were hardly proper fare for a noble orc such as himself, but even those were reduced to a few dwindling bundles. Of course he had a few remaining slabs of delicious pork squirreled away in his own inventory, but there was no need to broadcast that little fact.

At the rate the goblins had been consuming food, and judging by the show the swarm of gnomes put on the night before, Baal estimated he had less than two days worth of food in the dungeon. Things were even worse than he’d thought.

What options did he have? Hunting? Obviously he'd had the minions doing that already and they were still loosing ground. Gathering? Grass was not an adequate meal but it beat going hungry and he’d eaten worse in his time. He had a trade route now to the kobolds and items they wanted. He kicked himself for his shortsightedness of actually using food and spices as a bargaining chip in his previous trade. At the time they’d had a surplus. How quickly things had changed. But as soon as he considered the trade, he dismissed the option. Asking for food was a sure sign of weakness. And any sign of weakness invited attack. He’d be better off ambushing the kobolds first himself! Ok that would be option three. But what could he do now?

There was a fourth option, he knew. He already started down that path but had avoided it due to its high cost and presumed low rewards. But he really couldn’t afford to be too picky anymore.

Baal opened his fame menu and found the dungeon upgrades

Dungeon Improvement:
Intermediate Cave Ecosystem
Cost:
300 Fame
Requirements:
Basic Cave Ecosystem - met
More than 500 meters continuous natural cave terrain - met
3 different unintelligent wildlife types added to dungeon - 2/3 unmet
Error: Conditions Failed

Fuck! Not only was the upgrade even more expensive than the basic one; but it looked like even with the bugs, the rest of the minions somehow exceeded the qualifications... After the things he’d personally witnessed his minions doing, Baal decided whatever fucking god thought a goblin was too intelligent for anything either had a sick fucking sense of humor or was asleep on the job!

However if the beetles and spiders each counted as unintelligent wildlife, then he was only one species away. Close but still too far.

The first goblins started filing into the dining hall as he finished taking inventory. He showed them the food they were allowed to use to prepare breakfast, then sat and waited. It didn’t take long after the tempting smells began wafting through the dungeon when the swarm reappeared.

“Stop!” Baal ordered the gnomes from his seat near the door. He pointed to one of the empty long tables, “Sit!”

If there were going to be any feeding frenzies here, then he’d damn well better be at their head! Otherwise he expected his minions to behave in a somewhat civilized manner.

The gnomes skidded to a halt at the sudden outburst and quickly followed orders, forming more little pyramids and chains of bodies to climb the designated table. The long benches were out of the question, sitting on them would’ve left the table high out of reach, instead they simply lined up along the edge of the table top and waited eyeing the cooks hungrily with their beady little eyes as they squeaked and chattered amongst themselves.

Bunny had slinked in at some point during the activity, groggily avoiding the dark elf slime statue lurking behind Baal, and taking a seat next to him. Her blue green curls had lost a bit of their normal bounce as she held on to a wriggling bundle of energy that was Ashteroth.

“Humgry!” Ash complained struggling to break free of the gobliness to reach her brooding father.

Baal reached over and rested his hand on his daughters own dark hair as he continued to mull over his thoughts. It was bad enough to fail as a dungeon lord, but now he was failing his own flesh and blood. This would not stand! Ash took matters into her own hands, hooking her father’s large thumb with her own tiny fingers and dragging it down to her waiting mouth with a chomp. Thankfully it was more a tickling sensation than actual pain as she hummed happily while nibbling away. Baal allowed it. At least this was some small comfort he could still provide.

In short order breakfast was served under the elder goblin directions. There were too many vegetables and not enough meats, and even those were served in watered down broths. Baal himself was served the last portion of Harpy egg. As the group dug into the platters, the mood in the room wasn’t truly raucous, but neither was it as somber as the night before. The minions weren’t aware of the precarious situation just yet, though the elder goblin caught Baal’s gaze with a somber expression. Most enjoyed their usual chatting and squabbling, unaware of the matters troubling their lord.

Today was going to be a busy day. There was no time for babysitting or training. Baal asked the gnomes about their hunting ability but received very negative gibberish and body language in response. However, given that they were at least able to gather rocks, he ordered the papa gnome to organize whichever it felt were most useful to go out to pick and forage whatever they could, focusing of course on edible plants, but with the plausible explanation of gathering more potion ingredients.

He kept the goblins in the same teams from the day before, with the exception of Suo, which he kept back with himself. Both the forest and mountain team were ordered to focus on. Afterall, they could always use more leather and materials for the gnomes to craft with. The minions were currently wearing an assortment of gear he had crafted and enhanced as well as the few pieces of better gnome craftsmanship. Once he had a full set of the gnome armor crafted and enhanced, even a goblin would be a rather formidable opponent. At least as far as defense was concerned. And of course assuming they didn’t all starve first. So it wasn’t exactly a lie.

Once he had given the minions their orders for the day and they had set out, the orc restocked his inventory with potions and set out with a back to normal round blobbish Suo in tow. As much as he could have used Bunny’s crowd control magic, she was more useful as an herb picker and rodent herder at the moment.

He himself only stopped to mine the resource boulders that were directly in his path, otherwise he stuck to the trail and climbed. The camouflaged lizards that attacked were now easily defeated. However since he had no way to dismantle them himself, he just let the slime eat them. At least it was one less minion to feed later.

Every now and then he caught voices on the wind. Adventurers were on the mountain again today. But he stayed low and out of sight and managed to avoid those particular confrontations on his journey.

As he neared the upper mid point of the trail he veered away from his previous course. He had already cleared nearly everything of value to him from the kobold settlement he knew to be down that path. They would need time to restock before his next visit. Instead he moved in the opposite direction, hoping to find a different group. Not that the kobolds made it hard. They decorated rocks with signs and markings, and their fortified camps sat directly on the mountain trails.

But the mountain was huge. And trying to find a thing while trying not to be found yourself was a different challenge.

It was nearing midday before he stumbled across a new kobold encampment. More sharpened spikes forming a defensible perimeter, decorated with animal bones. More mounds of earth and holes in the mountain that served as the scaley creature’s burrows. Though this settlement seemed a bit larger and stronger than the one he had traded with before. Maybe they hadn’t had as much bad luck with adventurers or maybe the stronger groups lived higher up the mountain as some sort of status symbol. Not that he really cared. But hopefully a larger settlement would have more to offer and be even more interested in trade.

“Hiss stop!” A kobold guard ordered as it leveled a spear at the approaching orc.

Baal slowed but took one more deliberate step before halting in front of the assembling kobolds. No need to provoke them. Yet. But also no need to take orders from a rodent.

“_Hiss _stay back!”

“I’ve come to trade!” Baal announced loud enough for his words to carry over the group to the camp beyond. “Who is your leader?”

The five rust colored kobolds assembled and stood firm in front of him. Like the previous group they wore a hodgepodge of worn down and over used equipment. Unlike the previous group; however, they looked much less unsure what to do about the uninvited guest.

“Get chief!” The lead guard ordered one of his fellows, never taking his slitted eyes off the orc. “U-hiss-surper here to trade with us hiss.”

That caught Baal a bit off guard. He had prepared an entire speech during his trek. Explaining the benefits of trade. Threatening. Bribing. But it seemed his reputation had somehow proceeded him.

Level 16 Kobold Warchief
Monster, Kobold, Explicit
???

The kobold that appeared was a higher level than any he had seen yet, high enough that he couldn't discern its stats. It was also fatter, its dirty red scales were stretched to their limits trying to cover its rotund frame which it had crammed into an ill fitted silvery armor breastplate.

Baal certainly wasn’t intimidated by the display the kobold was attempting to put on for him. Even if they were stronger and healthier than the other group, they were still only kobolds. The orc and Suo could take out the entire settlement by themselves if it came to that. The problem was the kobolds themselves might not realize it, until of course it was already too late. Bargains from a position of strength only worked when the other side actually recognized the strength difference.

However it seemed the unseen communication between the kobold tribes settled the matter for him. They already had some idea of his power. Just as they knew what he was offering in trade and what he wanted in return. Even if this group wasn't currently injured, potions were rare treasures for monsters. They were a trump card in battle so of course adventurers almost never left them behind.

“_Hiss _stones _hiss _and weapons hiss,” the warchief announced as another group of grungier clothed kobolds dumped the aforementioned resources in front of him.

Baal examined the goods. The condition of the weapons weren’t great and there were some useless stone implements mixed in. Whether the kobolds weren’t aware of what exactly he wanted or they were hoping to swindle him, he wasn’t willing to give the sneaky little lizards the benefit of the doubt. The orc threw out the useless items and moved on to the gems. A few cut stones, more than a dozen unidentified, but still none of the obsidian stone he coveted.

Baal took out two crates of healing potions and one of manna water vials, but he kept his hand firmly on top of the stack.

This group was larger than the other, they were able to offer more in trade, but they were still holding out on him.

“I want obsidian,” he said bluntly as he rolled his fingers over the offered crates.

“No! Hiss sacred _hiss _stones _hiss _are for the great one! Not for u-hiss-surper.”

Gods, listening to kobolds was even worse than goblins. He could already feel a dull throbbing building in his temples. In addition the grating hissing and being denied his treasure was not helping his mood. But he took a breath and decided to stay on the diplomatic track. At least for now.

“You have so much,” Baal took another half dozen of the red health potions out of his inventory and placed them on the stack, followed by a silver Opal ring. “Surely your great master could spare a meager handful of stones.”

The greedy look in the warchief’s wide eyes and the way his tongue snaked out to lick his thin crusty lips did not go unnoticed by the orc. There wasn't an immediate dismissal. That meant there was room for a negotiation.

In the end Baal received an assortment of eight iron weapons, none of which were enhanced, and most looked like they’d break if struck solidly, if they didn't crumble under their own weight first. He also took a combined sixteen gems both cut and uncut. But the real prize were the two pieces of obsidian the kobold chief specially fetched and then _forgot _and _accidentally _left behind in plain view of the orc.

In return Baal gave three full crates of a dozen healing potions each, one crate of a dozen manna water vials, four bottles each of paralysis and poison potions, two Opal rings and an Opal necklace. In the end he had resorted to giving away some of his own equipped accessories, and to complete the deal he even had to offer one of his last slabs of pork belly. It was a steep price for the rare gems, but the orc knew he had sealed the negotiation once the kobolds locked their eyes and snouts on the exotic, to them, meat.

With the deal made official, Baal filled his inventory with the assorted items, and retreated from the entrance of the kobold camp that he still wasn’t allowed to enter. Friendly but not yet friends.

Both parties were satisfied but left wanting more. A good opportunity for future trade.

Baal and Suo were equally careful in their return trip down the mountain. But given his current location, the orc took advantage of the geography and strayed off the well worn path to hug the top of the cliffs. Luckily he wasn’t afraid of heights. Though there was always a danger of losing his footing on the loose gravel and going over. The orc tread carefully, keeping an eye on his surroundings. The slime rolled along the very edge of the drop, either oblivious or uncaring of any danger. It didn’t take them long to find what he wanted, the dull eyed bleating herd that hugged the narrow cliffs and ate the sparse mountain grasses.

Goats

The problem of course was even if he was above them and had the opportunity to attack, he’d still have to make his way down the cliff and find the carcass before it rotted and despawned. And of course he’d then have to find a way to carry it since he couldn’t dismantle it himself. But still, even just a few goats could double his current food reserves.

His new spell would be much harder for the nimble animals to evade, but unfortunately they were still paranoid enough to stay far down the cliff, well out of the range of his magic. He could try lobbing the summoned skeleton at them. It wouldn’t be the first time he would have used the clumsy construct, watching it flail as it fell to its rocky demise, utterly unable to do anything to the goats that seemed to laugh at it as it swished by. Then waiting for his manna to refill enough to try again. Of course the skeleton was bigger and better armed and armored now. Surely it would be at least a bit more effective. Not to mention his available mp dwarfed what it had been before. But no. No need for magic or flying skeletons this day. He had a secret weapon the leery and spry animals weren’t prepared for.

“Suo,” Baal caught the energetic slime ball’s attention as he pointed out the goats clinging to the near sheer cliff below. He allowed a sadistic smile as he imagined the coming carnage, “fetch!”

The slime bound forward over the cliff wall without any sign of hesitation. Tendrils caught narrow ledges and crevices in the rock or sparse dry plants as it catapulted itself forward. Rather than make it too slippery and more difficult, its slimy coating actually aided the whirling ball as it fell, splatting against smooth stone when there were no other alternative hand holds, creating just enough surface tension for its tendrils to cling and slow the ball and redirect itself.

The almost smug look on the faces of the goats vanished as they bleated out in panic and began scurrying away from the foreign intruder. Slimy tentacles stretched after them, latching onto furry waistlines or spindly legs and curling around, or just splatting into rocks where they missed.

Suo hung against the sheer cliff like a great mountain dwelling kraken. Snake like tentacles curled against rock outcrops and shrubs holding it in place as other tendrils chased goats. The pack lead used a trick it knew well to evade predators. It bound along the narrow wall and leapt across a deep crevasse knowing it was nearly impossible to follow. A tentacle snatched it out of midair. It’s cocky bleat caught in its throat turning into a **** ‘urk’ as it rose higher in the air against its will, spinning in a dizzying display as its body was wrapped tight in sticky muck, before being pulled back to the slime.

“Good!” Baal yelled encouragement down at the monstrosity. “Bring them back up!”

Just as easily as it had fell, the slime climbed its way up the rock wall, slurping and swinging its way along the nearly vertical cliff. It slid back next to the orc still holding three of the animals above itself. While normally a single goat would already be larger than the small slime’s blob shape, it had stretched itself almost to its limit to form a better hold. The tentacles weren’t so much wrapped around the animals, roping them, as they were thick extensions of the slimy mass, holding fast and half absorbing the stunned animals. It looked horrifyingly disgusting, but it worked.

“Are you able to keep that up for long?” Baal asked.

“Suosu Suo!” The slime happily reported.

“Good!… And don’t eat them!” He hastily added.

“Suooo,” the slime softly whined but obeyed.

The odd pair looked even more strange with their bizarre carrying method as they made their way along the rocky narrow ledges. One of the goats woke up, but unable to resist, it resorted to bleating pitifully as it hovered over the long drop.

This part of the mountain was not too different from his own. Not true trails, just outcrops that lead to dead ends or tiny pocket caves. It required a bit of luck and a bit of backtracking to make any progress, but it had the benefit of being off the main trails enough to help them go undetected. Or so the orc had hoped.

The path had widened enough to hold several boulders, not that he was interested in gathering any other resources at the moment. He was approaching what he felt was more familiar territory when he heard voices approaching from the opposite direction.

Adventurers.

Fuck

He was exposed on the side of the mountain and hardly in a favorable situation for a fight. Suo couldn’t do much with so much of its effort going into holding the captured animals. Though as much as he’d hate to sacrifice them, if he had to choose between loosing the food and ****, it wasn’t a difficult choice at all. His larger concern was the terrain. He had range with his magic, but adventurers tended to move in beneficial teams. If they had a heavy armor front to block and longer ranged attackers of their own, he’d be exposed and locked into a disadvantageous battle. Or worse, what if they were able to **** him back off the cliff. He shuddered at long buried memories of being on the receiving end of a shield charge that flattened him against a rock or sent him on a long fall with time enough to contemplate his life's choices before hitting the ground far below. Though he was stronger now. He might be able to fight. If only he could get a glimpse of the adventurers without them seeing him, he’d at least know.

Baal shooed Suo back the way they had come. They had passed one of the small cavities not very long ago. It was little more than a narrow crack in the cliff, not a true cave, but it was deep enough for the outside light not to fully penetrate.

The orc activated his armor of darkness spell for the additional concealment and dark vision as they pressed into the back end of the cavern.

“Hide the animals,” he warned the slime, “and do that little rock trick of yours!”

Suo grew enough to fully encompass the goats and then hardened its exterior in its rock-like mimicry. Or at least it mostly hid the animals. Once the slime had enlarged and solidified, one of the goats rumps was left half exposed uncomfortably close to the orc’s face. Baal shifted slightly, telling himself it was just to keep a better view of the halo of light spilling in from cracked cave entrance.

“Fine,” a voice rang from just outside, “but this is seriously the last one!”

A shadow moved across the entrance, peering into the darkness of the shallow cave.

“Well?” Another voice asked in a frustrated tone.

“Size is about right,” the shadow called back to its compatriot. “Just a little gash.”

A torch materialized in the shadow’s hand, casting flickering shadows around the small space and illuminating the squat face of a man with a thick beard and dressed in deceptively plain robes and little of the other ornaments adventurers loved to display.

Smashy_Hulk
Level 28
???

The name was a shade of pink. Stronger than the orc, but not overwhelmingly so. If it was just the monk then together with Suo, Baal might’ve won. But there was at least one other unknown adventurer outside strong enough to give this one orders.

The man waved the torch as he scanned the shallow crevice. Baal tried to will the shadows to gather thicker around himself. Neither the slime nor his own disguise could pass close scrutiny, but if he was lucky enough they might just get lost in the darkness.

“The hell?” The monk exclaimed as he stopped his slow pass and swung the torch back towards the hiding pair.

Baal was not lucky. He should have known.

“What?” The voice outside asked impatiently.

“I don’t know,” the monk stepped forward. “For a split second, I thought I saw a target box.”

Fuck

“And?!” The voice outside sounded exasperated.

The monk took another step towards them, the torchlight pooling dangerously close to the hardened slime.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Baal charged a spell at the end of his staff, still using Suo for cover. Thankfully the dark energy emitted no light to give him away, but the orc could still sense the arcane energy.

The monk stopped, sniffing at the air. He too seemed to sense a change. He still held the torch but shifted into a ready stance.

The goat farted.

Warm wet air met Baal in the face. He choked back a startled cry even as his eyes began to water. His free hand curled into a fist. He might be about to die but he was going to **** this fucking thing first! He reached forward… then stopped.

His mind quickly shifted as he hit upon a new idea. It was ludicrous, but it was worth a try. He unclenched his fist and reached forward again. He grabbed the goat’s exposed tail and pulled. Whether the slime understood his intent and released its prey, or if it just wasn’t as solid as it appeared, the edges around the goat jiggled and gave way under his slow steady pull. It struggled a bit as its legs emerged, only succeeding in reburying itself in the soft spots of the slime, until the orc finally pulled it free with a quiet slurp.

The struggling goat quickly broke free with a loud bleat and launched itself off Baal and then the re-solidified slime, leaping around the startled monk and out into the daylight.

Raucous laughter erupted from outside. The monk dropped his guard and skulked back towards the entrance.

“It’s not that funny!” The monk complained.

More laughter was the only response.

Baal listened patiently as the grumbling and laughing voices retreated. He held Suo back, waiting until well after the voices faded before breathing a sigh of relief. He jabbed his staff into the gravel floor of the small cave and finally released the spell he had kept charged. The black lightning was practically invisible in the gloom if not for his dark vision. Rays of energy bounced from rock to rock as they were absorbed harmlessly into the stone. The bouncing energy suddenly arced up to the ceiling, disappearing as it bounced around and into the shadowed cracks of the tall narrow cavern.

+2 exp
+2 exp
+2 exp
+2 exp

The system alerts filtered past his vision. His confusion was quickly replaced as several furry bodies dropped from the ceiling. Bats. However, these few that fell weren’t dead but merely stunned by the effects of his spell.

He’d killed cave bats before. Sometimes one might wander into his own meager crack in the mountain. But he’d never seen them so… whole… before. In the rare times he had been able to hit them with his old slow dark energy spell, the winged rodents typically exploded. Normally he wouldn’t have given the flying animals a second glance, but given the current status of the dungeon, and the loss of the goat, he decided against being choosy and ordered the slime to add the five fallen bats to its meat collection. The goblins weren’t picky eaters, and from the looks of it neither were the gnomes. If he was lucky there might even be enough of the winged rats to make a belt or something useful out them of as well.

Not for the first time, the orc wished he had a dismantling skill. It would be much easier to break the goats and bats down into materials and hide them away in his inventory. But at least he had the slime with him to do the manual labor.

The duo moved slowly back towards the dungeon. Baal was on the alert for any more adventurers but it was practically impossible to hide the comically large dark slime with twitching hooves and flapping wings sticking out from it.

Bunny and Feathers were both waiting for him at the dungeon entrance, as his was the last group to return. Bunny was openly relieved to see the orc and hugged his lower half tightly. Feathers quickly hid her own slight smile with her usual sour scowl.

Once the door shut behind them, Baal ordered Suo to drop the captured animals. His hopes that somehow the goats would join the dungeon for a steady food supply were quickly dashed as the two remaining hoofed beasts immediately jumped away looking for an escape from the hall.

Feathers reacted quickly and swiped the legs out from under the closest one to her. However, the other goat ignored Bunny’s hastily muttered charm spell as it ran by in a panic.

The bats likewise took flight in the broad open space of the spire. A flash of flame took off from one of the wall sconces as the fire elemental sped away to hunt down the lead bat. The air elemental also joined, though it looked like it’s interest wasn’t combat.

A bat flew as fast as its wings could carry it, following the curved wall of the spire, riding the strange air currents created from the spiraling column and falling water. The creature following it barely seemed to move its gossamer wings but it still somehow kept pace with the speeding bat. It raced to the upper level, looking for some escape but only found the smooth rock dome ceiling. It glided along the stone circle then broke off down the long hall. However as it approached the end of the room the air elemental appeared from behind the throne blocking its path. The bat spun in the air racing back the way it had come. It’s tormentor passed it by, facing backwards and hovering effortlessly as it spied the bat. The bat screeched and dove over the altar, spinning around the waterfall, trying to shake the pursuer. The fall added to its already dangerous speed.

Two blurs shot down the spire as the orc stepped forward to shout at his scattered minions.

“Get the meat and skins!” The orc reminded them as more goblins and gnomes were attracted by the strange activity and joined the hunt.

Baal doubted they were actually listening. He just shook his head in dismay. It looked to be yet another strange evening in the dungeon. He started to make his way down to check the stores but was slowed by the passenger still clinging to him.

Bunny hadn’t followed Feathers and the rest in their chase, instead she stayed eagerly clamped onto her master and lover’s leg.

“Me miss you,” her affectionate words were punctuated by a soft steady grind of her pelvis.

The orc supposed he had been neglecting the oversexed gobliness. It had been over a week since their last tryst after all. But as pleasant as the sensation was, the entrance level of the spire was hardly the most convenient spot for a romantic encounter and there were other matters to attend to first.

He had Bunny give a quick report of the goblin’s progress for the day. She complied but stayed glued to his leg as she spoke. The groups had moderate success finding small game, squirrels, rabbits, and rats. They had also collected wild vegetables and medicinal herbs, as well as a bit of wood, stone, and ores. She had a slightly uneasy feeling of being watched in the forest but hadn’t encountered any adventurers or other monsters that presented a threat to the group. The gnomes had also had some modest success foraging, though he noted they hadn’t brought back enough to cover even their own voracious appetites for a day.

Baal moved to check the storeroom, slightly dragging the leg still held firm by the gobliness, when his path was interrupted by two streaking blurs. The brownish black and light minty green darts looped around the dungeon lord, slowing, until the darker one came to rest under a nearby lighting sconce as the green one hovered over it.

The tiny bat was panting from the exertion as the air elemental lurked nearby waiting to resume the fun game. There had been no escape from the dungeon. Baal leveled his staff and began charging a magic blast, extra meat was one thing, but he wasn’t going to leave these mangy pests roaming about his pristine dungeon. A new pop up accompanied some hasty squeaking from the animal.

A wild cave bat has asked to join you.
Accept cave bat into dungeon?

The orc raised an eyebrow as he read the new alert. He had rather hoped the goats might be **** to join the dungeon. A self replenishing group of livestock would go a long way to filling his dietary needs. The bats has just been a random opportunity for meat and hides. But here he was, one animal short of the upgrade requirement. Trash mob or not, he didn’t dare pass up the opportunity.

Baal stopped his spell and instead used the staff to tap accept.

The bat made a sort of squeal of relief while the air elemental seemed to sulk and hang its insect like head and bow its wings. It recovered quickly though as the bat lifted off the wall and glided down the spire, looping around the waterfall, on its way to the natural caverns of the labyrinth. The air elemental quickly perked up and resumed the game of aerial tag as it swooped after the newest dungeon addition.

Baal pulled open his menu as Bunny continued to grind and whimper against him.

Dungeon Improvement:
Intermediate Cave Ecosystem
Cost:
300 Fame
Requirements:
Basic Cave Ecosystem - met
More than 500 meters continuous natural cave terrain - met
3 different unintelligent wildlife types added to dungeon - 3/3 met

This day was becoming quite the success. The upgrade would take a good chunk of his fame but it was a price he was willing to pay. The orc pressed accept and watched his fame points plummet.

He pulled the eager gobliness off of his leg. There would be time for pleasure later. For now he needed to check for the changes in the dungeon.

The entrance and spire looked the same. Mottled grey stone, roughly cut and fitted, a bare minimum of light coming from the sparse torch bearing sconces on the walls. No real decoration, certainly no plants or animals. He moved down the spire to the minion level. The earth elemental was still at work constructing the new hallway leading to a new room between the living quarters and the training arena. But other than the small length of hallway already constructed, this level was likewise unchanged. He made his way to the bottom level and labrynth beyond, followed by the sulking Bunny and a small gathering of gnomes. The raw rock of the cave tunnels looked the same but the air smelled somewhat different. Less stale somehow or rather more fragrant. There were the familiar moss-covered walls and small skittering insects. As the light from the dungeon faded, Baal took a torch from his inventory for the gobliness and activated his armor spell for the dark vision boost. The first large cavern he reached revealed the true effects of the dungeon upgrade. Where before there was a small pool and a few spiderwebs stretched between thin rock formations, there was now a small forest of mushrooms colored in dull blues, purples, greys, and greens; and ranging from tiny handfuls to stalks that towered even over the orc’s head. A small splash echoed as a pale pinkish salamander leapt into the pool now occupied by a school of small waxy white iridescent fish. A bronze beetle chased a winding millipede nearly as long as itself across the moss and lichen covered floor.

A sparkle in the darkness caught the orc’s eye. Then another. And another. Not the slow drops of water from the spiked ceiling bouncing off silky webs, but a pulsing steady beacon. Harvest points.

Baal smiled despite himself.

“Ok gnomes,” Baal turned to the group of awestruck minions gathered behind him. “Time to make yourselves useful!”