Jaded

Watching Wompa and two of the older adventurers come back I feel a twinge of sadness that something happened to their group. The three volunteered hoping for a taste of the old times the one armed fighter said but watching him and the priestess walk back through the gates slouched and ashen faced leaves me with doubts of sending the younger generations out. The thought leaves quickly though as I get a slew of messages once Wompa re enters the domain.

{Sheriff's Office Blueprint has been added to Building Options}

{Basic Stone Dwelling(Two Bedroom) Has been added to Building Options}

{Dilapidated Log Cabin(Heavily Damaged) Has been added to Building Options)

(Three Seat Metal Works and Forge Has been added to Building Options}

{Small Shop Has been added to Building Options}

{Peasants Arcane Abode Has been added to Building Options}

{Dilapidated Elemental Research Tower Has been added to Building Options}

{Antiquated Bakery Has been added to Building Options}

Reading through the list of new buildings we can add to both the future village and the dungeon as a whole leaves me smiling happily before Wompa comes trundling in with a smile on his face and waving his pudgy arms excitably.

"I'm home!!! We went on an adventure and we found a town and there were so many buildings! But I couldn't learn them all because it kept saying my level was too low and I had to hone my craft but I think if I build this stuff and make more cool plans I'll be able to learn more. Also I got Big Brother Narghal some books and a smithy for Grabba and this cool building that was magic but smelled bad inside!" Wompa says as I smile and pat the little sporelings head gently while nodding encouragingly to the little guy, Tilly gushing proudly before taking the young boss to meet with Gratin and Fraz and join their small colony.

As I turn back to the screens I feel a strong presence in the village area and look up to see a small host of spectral scritchers carrying several creatures locked in ghostly cages. They range from random zombified races, giant centipedes, some strange flaming skulls with bats wings, and a strange withered monkey creature with a third eye. Smiling at the new creatures my eyes quickly look towards the end of the small convoy to a massive scritcher phantom carrying a cage. Within it rests a beautiful woman with crimson eyes and snow white hair and skin. from her waist is the ethereal body of a spider with a bulbous abdomen resting on the floor behind her.

{An enemy boss creature has entered and been restrained within your territory! Restrained enemy bosses can be permanently killed when inside a hostile dungeon. Dungeon Prison Detected! Prisoners of War may be taken from enemies if captured within or delivered to the dungeon! POWs are removed from play and can only be freed by the fall of their captor, being broken and forced to join their captor, or the enemy leader falls leaving them with no affiliation allowing the dungeon to extend a pact offer.}

Noticing that the scritcher convoy is heading directly to my core room I call the remaining bosses to me and watch as they begin slaughtering the basic monsters and undead as they're released and attempt to either run or attack As the last beast falls and its emaciated body sinks into the floor the boss creature is finally brought before me and gently placed on the ground as Gratin and Grabba each hold a weapon to its throat and Narghal prepares a magical attack as Wompa looks around in confusion. Spanks silently sits at the exit, his large body blocking any hope of escape as small hisses of magma drip from his shell.

"So your my masters enemy, Tevu of the Jade Wood greets you young dungeon and begs for mercy and imprisonment before I heal." The creature whispers gently as I accept her words and quickly assign her to a cell, her face showing relief as I read the information on her.

{Name-Tevu of the Jade Wood Boss Rank- B Species- Ethereal Jade Empress Description- The jade are a dangerous and feared species of night predator that take the form of attractive men and women, their beauty otherworldly and used to lure sentient species to their demise. Arachnoid in their true forms they are extremly fast and viscous creatures that use their sharp claws and venom to paralyze their prey before drinking them. Tevu was also once like these creatures but one day awoke with a calm mind and a haunted conscience, her last meal having been a priestess of the god of enlightenment and her flesh causing Tevu's beastial mind to evolve at a rapid pace. Taking on her human guise she began living among the humans of the capital of Gotyr, making peace slowly over several decades by opening safe places for the poor and impoverished. Sadly time was her enemy and a trusted friend one year turned into an enemy the next after noticing her not aging after long amounts of time. Running to the city guard with cries of undead a test was performed and her true nature found to the horror of all. Shackled and marched before the masses the once loved caretaker of the destitute was called monster, horror, evil, maneater. Finding herself in a cell underground Tevu accepted her fate for a week from her arrest she was to be beheaded and burned, her body scattered to ash so she could wreak no more evil. But then the whispers began and she was struck by a rage, the first in years as all those she helped turned on her. Accepting the whispers promises she given the powers of a wraith, and released upon the kingdom that called her monster.}

'So you were wronged and snapped out of anger. But why are you here instead of fighting my people?' I ask the jade as I look at her through the bars of her cell. The prison is a circular room with six small runes engraved on the floor. Standing upon one brings a magical cell in front of me which has the bare essentials to allow survival. A bed for that species, two meals a day, running water that only allows enough to drink but not enough to drown oneself and a working bathroom and dust bath. The jade sits upon a web that hovers in the lower corner, a small skeleton of a castyr neatly piled next to it as she looks at me with a smile.

"I was wronged but I was also wrong. I should have never believed the lies the dungeon whispered to me during my final days. It's madness infected me until I became a boss and had enough power to resist. I was the first to do so and it learned from that. Carving Hokor with those vile runes, Zod's soul enslaved within a dead puppet, several of the bosses in his dungeon are tortured and cursed souls forced to serve while others revel in the power granted to them. I just wanted peace and when I refused to fight I was forced into the world. Your people entered my territory and I was forced to attempt to take them but managed to parlay before hand. The woman, Miss Vore I believe, understood immediately and locked me down before I could cause harm. I hope to be kept here until the mad core falls so that I may either join your ranks or finally know peace." Tevu explains peacefully, her voice light and gentle as she closes her eyes and smiles at me, my head nodding in understanding as I leave the prison to begin building the village and create some new mobs to fill my ranks.