The wind cut sharp across the plains, carrying with it the scent of ash and blood. Lunaris kept her head low as she ran, her feet pounding over the tall, dry grass. Her ears, tipped with soft grey fur, twitched at every sound. Her long tail trailed behind her, swaying with each stride. She could hear the distant shouts of battle behind her, the guttural cries of the Bear tribe mixing with the rasping hiss of the Lizard warriors.
The air felt heavy with smoke. The wind shifted, and the smell grew stronger. She dared one last glance over her shoulder. In the distance, the once proud banners of her people fluttered weakly above the palisade walls of one of the tribes villages. A dark plume rose from within.
Her father's voice echoed in her mind. You must survive, Lunaris. Run, and do not look back.
She had argued until her throat burned. She wanted to fight. To stand beside him, to bleed for the Wolf tribe as her mother had. But Rantir had placed a hand on her shoulder, his fingers rough with age and battle. His yellow eyes, so much like hers, softened in a way she had only seen a handful of times. That look told her the decision was final, but she just couldn't understand it, it would take at least a month for the Lizard and Bear tribes to reach the central village, why did she have to leave now of all times.
Now, she was alone, running into an uncertain wild.
The plains rolled endlessly before her, dotted with sparse trees and jagged stones. Her legs ached, but she kept going, her breath ragged. She had lost count of the hours. The sun had dipped low, painting the horizon with orange and red, when her steps faltered. Her ears twitched again. There was a hum in the distance, low and steady, almost like a heartbeat.
She moved toward it without thinking, weaving between trees until they gave way to a clearing. At its center, half-hidden by jagged stone, was an opening. A faint, unnatural light pulsed from within, painting the rocks in shades of deep crimson.
Something about it felt wrong. And yet… she couldn't resist the temptation to enter.
She stepped inside.
The pulse of the Dungeon Core thrummed softly in the walls, greeting Adair as he walked into the main chamber from the sleeping quarters. Ebb was sharpening his cleaver nearby while Abe cleaned the edge of his dagger with slow, deliberate strokes. The air was warm from the energy the Core gave off, a comfort Adair had grown used to.
The sound of footsteps reached him, faint but distinct. He froze, motioning for the hobgoblins to stay still. A shadow moved in the tunnel. Then she appeared.
Adair had never seen anything like her. She was... an animal, but still she was beautiful.
She stood taller than Ebb, her build lean but athletic. Grey fur covered the backs of her ears, which stood upright and alert. A long tail swayed behind her with cautious movements, the fur there the same shade as her ears. Her eyes, golden and sharp, locked on him the instant she saw him. She wore a tattered leather chest piece, scratched and stained from hard travel. Her boots were worn to the thread.
Ebb tensed beside him, ready to spring. Abe shifted to vanish into the shadows. Adair held up a hand, though his own heart was pounding.
"What are you?" The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Her brow furrowed. "I am Lunaris. Daughter of Rantir of the Wolf tribe. And you?"
The way she spoke was steady and proud it made him hesitate. "Adair. This is my place. You walked into it."
Her gaze swept over the chamber, then back to him. "If you mean to kill me, then do it quickly. I am tired of running."
That hit him harder than he expected. She looked exhausted, yes, but there was more than fatigue in her face. There was grief. He recognized the look in her eyes it was the sam elook he carried in his old life, like everywhere he went rejected him.
"You are no threat," he said finally, though he knew he could end her with a gesture to Ebb. "Why are you here?"
She told him. About the Lizard tribe's raids. About the Bear warriors who now joined them. About how her people's numbers had fallen from thousands to only a few hundred. She did not cry. She did not even lower her voice. She spoke like someone who had already accepted their fate.
Adair found himself feeling something strange, pity.
He had not expected that. Pity was dangerous. It led to bad decisions. He had learned that quickly in this world hesitation could kill you, kindness could cost you more than your own life. And yet… he could not shake it. This woman standing in front of him was proud, but stripped of everything except the will to keep moving forward. That kind of will could be useful.
His eyes flicked to the Core's faint glow in the wall. The dungeon had been growing faster than he had first imagined. The fight with the guild had shown him just how effective a small, well-coordinated group could be. But numbers still mattered. With more bodies, he could grow more goblins, even higher forms. He knew Ebb and Abe were strong at least to his limited knowledge, but they could not take on every enemy that approached them especially not now that they had brought attention to themselves by slaughtering that guild.
If her story was true, there was a war raging not far from here. That meant blood. Blood meant strength for him, and strength for the dungeon. Corpses meant fuel for the Core, which meant new rooms, traps, and defenders. A steady supply of bodies could make his dungeon into something more than just a hiding place. It could become a fortress.
He studied Lunaris again. Her stance was still guarded, but she had come in here alone. She had chosen to walk into unknown danger instead of hiding or running. That meant she had courage, maybe even desperation. Both could be leveraged.
If he played this carefully, he could offer her something she wanted, protection, a way to strike back and take what he needed in return without her realizing just how much she was giving him. The war between her people and their enemies could feed the dungeon for months, maybe years.
He imagined the Wolf tribe as a ready-made scouting force, leading enemy troops toward his territory, then letting his dungeon finish them. Even their own dead could serve him. Every fallen warrior would strengthen his hold here. And in time, the Wolf tribe might even depend on him to keep them alive.
Yes. There was potential here. If she agreed, he could secure a resource stream that no adventurer's raid could match.
"If you could bring me the bodies from your war," he said slowly, thinking as he spoke, "I could help you."
Her ears flicked back. "The bodies of my people?"
"And theirs," he said studying her expression.
Her lips pressed into a thin line. "You would eat them?"
He was taken aback before putting more thought into the idea and realizing that its a definite possibility he and the Hobgoblins eat some of the bodies. "What? No, of course not." He lied.
Lunaris stared at him for a long moment, then gave a single nod. "I will tell my father." She promptly tuned and left.
The journey back to the Wolf tribe's main settlement took the rest of the day and much of the night. She moved through forests and across open stretches of grassland, her bare feet barely making a sound on the earth. The moon was high when she crested the last ridge and looked down at the village.
From above, the settlement looked weary. The tall wooden palisade that ringed the homes and meeting halls was patched in places with rough boards and fresh logs. Fires burned low in the watchtowers, more for warmth than to illuminate the night. The howls of distant wolves drifted across the plains, answered by the low rumble of her people's sentries at the gates.
She approached slowly, giving the proper call before she reached the entrance. Two guards stepped out of the shadows, their spears lowering slightly when they recognized her. They were leaner than she remembered, with hard eyes and tired faces. Without a word, they opened the gate and let her pass.
The village streets were quiet except for the occasional murmur from a doorway or the crackle of fire from cooking pits. Most of the people she passed gave her brief glances before looking away. Every household had lost someone. The air carried the scent of burned wood, blood, and the lingering sharpness of fear.
At the center of the settlement rose the great hall, its carved wooden beams telling the stories of the tribe's hunts and victories. Now those carvings looked almost like memories of a stronger time.
Inside, the hall was dim, lit by a central fire pit. Furs hung along the walls, muffling the sound of the wind outside. The smell of smoke, leather, and meat filled the air. Rantir, her father, sat at the far end on the raised platform, a massive figure even at rest. His fur cloak draped over broad shoulders, and his grey hair was bound back to keep it from his face.
He rose when he saw her, a deep breath shaking his chest. For a moment his features softened, but then his brow furrowed. "You came back," he said, voice low but heavy.
"Father, I've much to explain in little time lets skip the scolding for disobeying you." She asserted before beginning to tell the story tat lead her back in their great hall.
The great hall of the Wolf tribe smelled of smoke and sweat. Rantir sat at the far end, his massive frame draped in a fur cloak. His grey hair was bound back, his yellow eyes fixed on his daughter as she spoke. He listened in silence, his hand tightening on the arm of his chair.
"You would give him the bodies of our dead," he said when she finished.
"We have no other choice," she replied. "The fortress will fall within the month. This Adair has a way to fight."
Rantir's jaw tightened. He closed his eyes for a long moment. Then he stood. "Gather our disgraced warriors remains. We will send them at dawn."
Lunaris returned with a small caravan drawn by weary horses. Over two hundred bodies lay beneath heavy cloth. She walked beside the first wagon, her shoulders tense as they rolled into the clearing.
Adair met her at the entrance, Ebb and Abe at his side.
"That many," he murmured. "It will be enough."
She stiffened when he said the first hundred would be used for themselves. "And my tribe?"
"They will benefit," he said, though it sounded more like hope than certainty.
The first hundred bodies were fed into the Core. The light at its center began to throb, brighter and brighter, until the whole chamber seemed to pulse with a living heartbeat. A deep grinding echoed through the stone around them. Walls shuddered. The floor vibrated. Then, with a sound like splitting mountains, the dungeon began to change.
Passages stretched outward, curling and branching in a way that felt intentional. Long halls coiled into narrow kill zones. Crossways opened into wide, bare chambers that could be sealed off from multiple angles. The air inside shifted, thicker somehow, charged with a subtle pressure that spoke of ownership. This was no longer just a carved space in rock. It was becoming a fortress.
Lunaris' tail lashed behind her, the sharp snap of it breaking the quiet. "You spend the lives of a hundred warriors to dig deeper into the ground?" Her ears were flat, her yellow eyes bright with anger. "My people are dying above the soil, not beneath it. Stone walls will not turn the tide of this war."
Adair turned toward her. "If your enemy comes here, they will bleed before they ever reach me. That matters."
"You think hiding will win?" she snapped. "The Bear tribe smashes walls. The Lizard tribe climbs them. You build a maze for yourself while my people fight and fall."
His jaw tightened. "I am not hiding. I am building the place where your enemies will die."
She stepped forward, closing the gap between them until her shadow touched his boots. "You speak like you have fought in our wars. You have not seen them cut through our elders or drag our hunters away screaming. This will not help."
Adair met her stare, unblinking. "You brought me the bodies. Let me use them. You will see the value soon enough."
Her ears flicked back in frustration, but she stepped away, muttering under her breath in her own tongue.
Adair ran his fingers over one of the new walls. The stone was smoother than before, polished in a way that reflected the faint light. He could already see where barricades, traps, and vantage points could be placed. It was more than he had expected from the first offering.
The second hundred bodies were given to the Core as well, though this time the light's glow took on a deeper shade. The chamber filled with a low, thrumming vibration that set Adair's teeth on edge. Shapes began to form from the darkness at the base of the Core. One by one, goblins stepped forward into the light.
Fifty in total emerged, each looking around as though waking from a dream. Some were lean and sharp faced, others heavier in build, but all bore the same alert gleam in their eyes. Their gear was created from the dungeon's blood stores, bits of leather, crude iron plates, and whatever weapons fit their hands. It was far from uniform, but their stances carried eagerness and the instinct to follow orders.
Adair stepped among them, assessing. Then he gestured to Ebb. "You take forty. They are yours to shape into an infantry."
Ebb's face split into a grin, sharp teeth catching the light. He barked a command, and the forty goblins shuffled into a loose formation around him.
The remaining ten stood waiting. Abe moved toward them without a word, his presence enough to make their postures straighten. His gaze was slow and deliberate, weighing each one like a craftsman inspecting tools before use.
"This will not be enough," Lunaris said. Her voice was calm, but her eyes were fixed on the goblins with a mixture of doubt and urgency.
"It will grow," Adair said. "Strength is not stagnant. This is only the beginning."
His mind was already moving ahead. Abe and his new squad would be sent to meet with Rantir directly, to learn the rhythms of the battlefield and choose the highest priority targets for removal. Assassination and disruption would weaken the enemies before they even reached the Wolf tribe's gates. Ebb and his force would march to the tribe's settlement and drill beside their warriors, fighting together until they moved as a single unit.
As for himself, he would scout the contested lands in person. If he could see the terrain, smell the blood in the air, and watch the enemy from the shadows, he could plan more than simple defense.
The three of them gathered before the dungeon's entrance, the fresh goblins assembled behind like an army in its infancy. The dungeon loomed at their backs, the new halls twisting deep into the earth. Its walls seemed to hum with the weight of potential.
Adair's gaze swept from Ebb to Abe, then to the distant plains beyond the gates. "Let us get to work."
Without another word, they stepped into the open. Abe and his assassins melted into the grasslands. Ebb barked for his infantry to follow toward the Wolf tribe's home. Adair took a different path, his eyes fixed on the horizon where the war waited.
The dungeon watched them go, silent and alive.