69. Dragon’s Avarice
You're unwilling to shove each of your minions into your pool one at a time to rouse them, so you spend a half hour fiddling with your menus, but nothing new shows up. You do finally create a list of things that need finishing up however:
The three remaining cells could do with cluttering once Amanda has her own place;
A treasure room needs to be built – following your logic for building the second floor it remains one of your most expensive rooms and uses two resources you haven't seen anything else call for yet: Coins and a treasure item.
Filling as many things and people with loot drops, balanced to give you as much advantage as possible.
Traps, and hopefully linked to this, investigate what the “Extended influence” from your dungeon Path means.
From there, it's relatively easy to create a plan for the day. Loot can't happen until more heroes attack. The cells can wait until Amanda is moved safely upstairs. Traps require resources you just don't have at the moment – You're out of stone, and have only a handful or wood and ore. The lack of stone also precludes the treasure room. So that needs to wait for people to wake up enough for you to send them out.
So, step one. Wait for people to wake up.
You're already bored of this plan after another ten minutes of waiting and revise it.
Step one. Actually use your new winglings in the open air for the first time.
It feels like it's been a very long time, as you open your wings and let the natural updraught from the cliff below your home catch you. The ground slips away from you, the wind barely buffeting you where before you would have had to struggle to keep yourself on course. Your new body, so much larger and stronger than before, forcing the air into shape to let you climb and the narrow crack in the stone which has been your home for as long as you can remember, now half hidden by the spray of mist from the waterfall that you created...
It's heady.
Imporne, the mountain that was your world, drifts away as you angle your body to ride the gale that always swirls around it. A pop-up appears in the corner of your vision but you ignore it to revel in the sensation of freedom. For just a moment, you don't want to have to deal with whatever the world has thrown at you.
You laugh and beat your wings, searching for ever more height as the mid morning sun warms the membrane keeping you aloft. The world below out like a tapestry, pinned into place by the crooked form of the mountain itself, forest stretching away in every direction.
Out there, you know, lies the tiny village of Brakenford. The clearing where Feathers' used to make her home. The road you first saw Amanda. And beyond that...
Cities, surrounded by golden fields of wheat. Coast, the ocean threaded with ships carrying heroes to and from exotic locations you could only ever dream of. Other mountains, some so tall it's said that only the gods themselves can walk their peaks with caves that reach to the bottom of the world.
And it could all be yours.
Mercy's warning is still in your mind, of course. You're no fool. But what if she's wrong? Sure, a high level hero could kill you. But they need to be lucky every time. If they misjudge and send someone too strong – well, one lucky day and you claw a level from them anyway. Too low, and you'll have far more lucky days where you can escape and level up before they can stop you.
Everything you can see... could be your horde. The world bowing to you, it's riches flowing into your lair, it's people bowing to you, the blood of heroes spilling over your claws as you tear into them taking their animus for yourself.
Without thinking about it, your wings burn as they carry you ever higher. Kobold towns, perching on the sides of the mountain, drift down as you force your body up.
It's been a while since the last world-threat. Carnifex and the legions of Hunger. The Ashe Queen and the Worldflame. What if this is your purpose? Have you not always felt like you were destined for something more?
Something rushes past you with a screech that Dopplers in the chill air. Whatever it is, it's bigger than you.
It is standing between you and your right.
You fold your wings and drop after it.
A griffon, some part of your mind warns. Imposter. Charlatan. Obstacle. The rest of you is louder. Baying for blood.
You impact into it's back teeth first. The screech it lets out is as sweet as the meat that belongs to you as you force chunks down your gullet. Something snaps under your jaws and the screech becomes a gurgle and you lose interest as the meat no longer wriggles. More wriggle meat! MORE!
Stupid box floats in front of eyes. What want? Try to eat. Teeth close on nothing. Growl. More! There! Above! Dodge, spike, claw and tooth. Bite and crunch.
Bleed. A talon the size of your hand clips your chest and the pain only brings anger. Who are you to bleed me?
The fire you engulf the pretender with leaves nothing to eat. No Wriggle Meat. No matter.
Up above you, a city sits. Ugly. Bad buildings. Small Buildings. Little lizards. Little meat.
That quiet voice speaks up again as you search for a tasty speck. Memories of a little lizard writhing against you. Your nostrils flare. Maybe little meat have two uses. You feel yourself begin to stir. You can feast and fuck at the same time.
Big stone monster. Maybe flee? No, dumb stone no move, just rock. No flee. Only swoop, grab, snap. Again. Soft flesh part under claw. Hear yells. Hear bang – no... Bell? No matter. Burn! Fire make meat stop running. Fire make meat HOT!
Bell loud! Bell loud! Where? There? Too many! Spike sticks in air, pain in wings! Land, eat! Burn!
More not-meat! Green woman. Know woman. Good fuck! Never tasted her meat. Jaws snap on nothing. FIRE! Green woman talking, loud. Growl! No talk! Food or fuck! More red ones, cowering! Cowering like -
Cowering like prey! Leap! Bite!
No! Bleeding! Pain!
Want to fight! Lunge! More pain! Must fight! But not stupid. Leave, fly! They no fly, get high! Tall building! Fight from above with fire then feast! Tall building above cave! Where bell bangs!
There are noises which transcend such concepts as 'Volume'. Noises which make the rocks tremble and bones vibrate.
Something moves in the cave. Something bigger than you. Something bigger than anything you've ever seen before. Easily a hundred foot across, it shifts like you would at a pesky fly.
The bells fall silent.
Fight! Kill! Prove Superiority!
An eye, larger than your spread wings, larger than the pool in your lair, larger than the sand filled arena, opens with the rumble of an avalanche. A pupil, vast and uncaring as the black depths of space, turns in it's orbit.
It sees you.
A pressure recedes from you, making your bones creak as the vast eye passes over you and slides shut once more. Your mind snaps back together, just in time for you to bend over and vomit. Chunks of kobold come pouring out of your mouth, most still recognisable as arms or legs.
With the waves of confusion and nausea, come the pop-ups.
The second pop-up box is curiously empty. Just a pale rectangle than you dismiss to turn your attention to the others
You shiver, and launch yourself upwards. Ignoring the pain in your wings you force your body even higher, until the fog of a snow cloud covers you. Only then do you set your body to glide away.
Away from the screams.
You open your menu and spend two level ups worth of points on intelligence and integrity. Only then do you trust yourself to drop out of the bottom of the cloud.
Only then do you trust yourself.
You shudder in flight, your wings burning from the strain of carrying you up the mountain, as half blurred memories dance in front of your eyes.
By the time you have alighted on the ledge of your lair once more, welcoming the expected pop up
you have made up your mind. You can never leave again.
Just another thing to hate the gods for, you guess.
You push past the girls, doing your best to ignore their expressions of shock and worry as blood still drips from your scales, with half muttered platitudes and promises of “later”, until you reach the stairs to the second floor.
You just really need to be alone for a while.
A nice fun chapter for chapter 69, right?
A huge thank you to my patreons NA, Spockk Kirkk, Un Casualsniper, Tyrant615 and Jon Dunning
And, speaking of, this is the first chapter of the month so it's time for me to remind you that I have a patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/BlackBug
And a discord here: https://discord.gg/MFP9ejQ3gK
Also, maps! Floor one https://imgur.com/KZJ85Zu Floor 2 https://imgur.com/GZtbhEL Trying this instead of imbedding to keep load times down for people on bad internet