Worthy Core

It didn't take long to catch everyone up on the current situation. Even for those who had been among the first to evacuate to the dungeon, it had still been less than a day since the invasion had begun. As fast as events had moved, there simply wasn't much to say - the Grassbrook fort had fallen, Grassbrook itself either already had or would within hours, and reinforcements from the north couldn't be expected on any short timeline. There was, however, one particular topic more specific to Worthy Dungeon which was brought up.

Raylin is the one to do so, after the main summary is completed. "If I might ask, there has been one thing that I've puzzled over ever since you gave us your initial warning about the invasion. Which is your belief that the Dragonlord is interested in you, specifically. It would appear that your belief is not misplaced, given that the Dragonlord does indeed appear to intend to return here in person in the near future, but...why? Why Worthy Dungeon, and not an older, more powerful dungeon? Or why a dungeon at all and not simply focus their efforts on a major city or castle?"

"Good question. And there's an answer, but it's one I was keeping to myself until now." Xenia gives the nobleman a nod before chuckling. "To be honest, I was mostly just worried about whether or not folks would take the warning seriously, I didn't want to muddy the waters with even more outlandish shit. But the truth is, the original Dragonlord is dead. The current Dragonlord is the former Great Dungeon, and they've been driving the dragon's body around like they were a French rodent with a big hat."

While the latter part of that declaration causes more than a little confusion, the rest of it is still enough to send the room into an uproar. Of those shouting out questions, Alizz's is the most relevant. "The Great Dungeon!? But - the remains of that dungeon are here, below us. I can't even begin to imagine how they...how they managed such a ridiculous feat. But is that why they want to come here so badly?"

Xenia waves a hand and the lights of the room flicker, causing most of the other attendees to quiet down before she answers. "Exactly. Now, them reclaiming this mountain in particular is a want and not a need for them, beyond the part where they need to get the entire continent to swear fealty to them, or...get off of the continent, I suppose. That part is a need. Because apparently, and this is from the dragon's mouth, if they gain uncontested control of the continent they get dungeon master-level control over the entire continent. And it's important that you know this, cause this is the stakes we're dealing with."

This time the response is largely a complete silence, as each attendee attempts to reason though the consequences of that statement. Mother Hammerdown is the first to ask a question confirming her fears. "You're...saying the bastard would be able to treat the the entire land as you treat this mountain? Spawning traps wherever they wanted? Monsters? ...Dear Kahlia, what sort of power would an entire continent grant to such a person?"

Raylin's voice is shaky. "They would be able to defeat any army, easily. Even if some 'dungeon rules' still applied, preventing them from directly killing their enemies, simply being able to generate defenses overnight would be an advantage no one could contest."

"True, but by time they get that power the fight would already be over." Xenia sighs. "And honestly, I think our fight will probably be over way before then, however it goes. Conquering the entire continent is probably going to be a years-long war, even if having dungeon monsters on their side is a big advantage for the Domain. We don't have years. The Dragonlord - or Great Dungeon - isn't going to sit around and let me stew that long, spending months improving our defenses. I'm expecting some sort of move on us within the week."

"What do they want, exactly?" Tinsel looks around the table with her paws clenched. "Do they gotta destroy you to move back in here?"

"No, although they will if they need to. What they want is for me to sign up for Team Dragonlord. However, by taking you all in here and giving you shelter, I think I've made a pretty solid statement that I'm not doing that. It's...not a bad offer they made. I'll be honest with you. But spending eternity as basically a servant for someone who sees an entire continent as being their own personal playground is not my idea of a good time, no matter how gilded my cage gets."

Beatrice frowns. "So they will be coming to destroy you, then. Eventually, at least."

"Yyyyyup." Xenia draws out the sound with a pop. "I've picked us a fight that's probably not gonna end until either I or the Dragonlord are dead. To all of the dungeon staff who've gotten dragged along with me on this, I apologize. And to everyone else in here, all the mortals - you don't have to take part. You can probably still surrender and be prisoners of war, or maybe they'll even just let some of you go. To anyone willing to fight, though, I can definitely use you."

"And...how, exactly?" Thaddeus clears his throat before clarifying. "I mean, I am with you - but how exactly do we fight the entire Domain?"

This time, Sincere provides the response. "Fortunately, we don't. When it comes to defensible locations, there's no place better than an underground dungeon. While we don't have the abilities that some older dungeons might have when it comes to dealing with truly massive numbers of intruders, there's still only so many that can fit inside at once. And some dungeon defenses are simply implausible for any number of low-tier soldiers to manage. Now, they may still try and come after us with numbers in order to thin our defenses - particularly those of the mortal, non-respawning kind. But ultimately we mostly need to be concerned about high-tier specialists, and even if the Dragonlord is heavily focused on us, they cannot simply ignore the entire war front and send all such people here. The threats we face should be very manageable, with preparation."

Xenia adds in her own thoughts. "Also, as you probably know, I have limits on the defenses I can add to a floor. Number of monsters, number of traps, and so on. But those limits don't account for mortals hanging around helping out. Hell, it's probably partially why the Domain puts so many of their military bases inside of dungeons, apparently. It's a killer defense, and there's no reason we can't make it work for us as well."

Tinsel rubs her chin. "So what do you need from us, exactly? You want me to have my troops hanging out with your monsters and shit?"

"I can do better than that, at least." Xenia chuckles. "Look, I understand this is a bigger risk for you guys than it is for my staff, and I promise you I'll keep that in mind with my floor redesigns. I'll make sure any volunteers are able to do their thing with the best protections I can provide, and I'll make sure there's an evac portal or hidden passageway for people to use if things get too hot. Also, I know you're an alchemist, yeah?"

The mousekin's response is a little hesitant. "...Yeah?"

"Then we might be able to use skills like that to make traps and shit beyond our dungeon-made traps limit. If you could work with Lollyp on that stuff, that'd be great. Likewise, if anyone knows of people with good skills for crafting or other stuff like that, let us know. It doesn't have to all be about hitting people with pointy bits and fireballs."

Thaddeus nods along. "Are there any other special resources available, beyond dungeon goods?"

The reincarnator taps her fingers on the table before responding. "We do have the elementals downstairs working on a little surprise, I don't want to say too much yet until we're sure it'll work out. There's also Kahlia..."

Hammerdown perks up at the mention of her favorite goddess. "Of course, we'll beseech her blessings regularly, you can be sure of that."

"Thanks, but there's something specific on offer there." Xenia grimaces. "Not sure how useful it'd be or how long it'd take, but given that I did just commit myself to a fight to the death, I suppose I gotta take every option I've got." Noticing the dwarf's confused look, Xenia waves a hand. "It's...personal. I'll let you know if I end up going through with it, which I suppose I oughtta decide on soon."

There's a moment of silence which Beatrice breaks. "Alright, so for us mortals - first task is getting everyone settled, keeping folks calm and prepared, and figuring out who's willing to volunteer and what they're good at. Xenia, I know you've got a perfect awareness of everything going on in here, don't suppose you can give us a count?"

The dungeon master closes her eyes for a bit before answering. "First up, there's some non-combatant civilians - mortal dancers and waitstaff, and a few family members. Just about everyone we've currently got hired on here ended up taking shelter here, and while some might be able to fight or provide support, my main assumption is they'll only be helping with...morale. Nine of those, plus Laeniel and the kids. For soldiers, if I've identified everyone right, we've got fifteen Valleylanders and twenty-seven Rainlanders. Challengers are obviously the biggest category - countin' the folks in this room, we've got...sixty-nine. Nice. I don't know everyone's class or tier, unless they've said it out loud up here, but if I'm not mistaken we have eleven Supremes in the mix."

"Not many for a field battle, but for a defense of a living death trap, when combined with the monsters?" Thaddeus grins. "It could take a small army to defeat this place."

"Don't get cocky, kid." Xenia shakes her head. "The Dragonlord's not an idiot, and they'll have tricks of their own. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that I think they want this place reasonably intact - and maybe one last shot at winning me over - I wouldn't be at all surprised if they pulled some mega-buster sword out of their ass and split this mountain in half. I'm even prepping plans for how to handle them using WMDs like poison or biologicals against us, cause this place ain't got no Geneva Convention. And even if that fails, they have a small army. Also a large one. Keep in mind we might be defending against foreign dungeon monsters as well as soldiers."

"I see you definitely seem...prepared, aye." Hammerdown blinks, not sure if she wants to ask for clarification on all of those terms. "I'll see to tending to the non-combatants and making sure folks are comfortable. If you need me, I'm sure you'll know where to find me, heh."

"Will do. Alizz, Thaddeus, Beatrice, if you could get to wrangling the Challengers, that'd be great. Hansliss, Highbranch, you see to your people. Expect to make this probably a daily thing, though I'll need to have Sincere or Emma or someone else be my mouthpiece most of the time going forward." Xenia claps her hands. "Meeting adjourned. Again, thanks for joining us here, I'll be sure to do my best to keep you all from dying horribly."

There's some half-laughs at that, and as the crowd gathers up to leave Xenia allows her visible avatar to blink out. Next to her, Guy asks one final question, however. "So, what will we be doing first, ma'am?"

"Ton of work left to do with the floor designs, but..." Xenia sighs. "...I'll need a few hours to...prepare, I think, but then it's gonna be time to talk to Kahlia about her offer."