Master of the Hoard - Chapter 16 (Patreon)

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” – Leonard Bernstein

I stared at my notifications in horror. Around me, Talpi were milling about, working with abandon, everybody in their place, working at their assigned tasks. I was the only one who knew that everything had just gone horribly wrong. It wasn’t the first notification. That one was exactly what I had expected, no more, no less.

[You have completed the construction of: Mana Crystal. Current Mana Crystals: 3

- Mana regeneration rate within your domain is increased by 150% (total current regeneration rate increase=350%

- Possibility of items in your hoard gaining or improving magic abilities slightly improved.

Two times a day, you can consume a Mana Crystal to fully replenish your mana and health. Warning: This will permanently remove any current bonuses you and available constructions gain from that Mana Crystal.]

The notification that ruined my day arrived a couple of hours later, like the lingering aftertaste of yesterday's garlic breath.

[Domain challenge.

The borders of your domain overlap with those of another domain. This imposes the following limitations on the rules of your domain.

- Construction inside challenged areas is only possible within the presence of the domain owner.

- Skills Inspect and Domain Map cannot be used inside areas where borders overlap.]

"Anubiiiiiiiis!"

Thirty seconds later, Aelis and Arthor listened to my frantic update on what just happened. "How did this happen? I thought you said that the other domain was bound to be one of Selys’. But if our borders overlap, it has got to be close! I thought you said that you knew everything that happened within this area?"

Aelis shook her head, visibly fighting off panic. "We- we do. Can you indicate the direction of this domain is supposed to be?"

I pulled up my minimap, gaining my bearings. "That way. It's hard to be precise, but maybe five or six minutes that way, my map just stops working." At least the overlapping area didn’t reach the center of our domain.

She grimaced. "In that case, I have a theory. Can you see on your map whether it is likely to be higher or lower than us?"

"Higher. Definitely higher."

She nodded, understanding blossoming from her, along with despair. "The paths we frequent in that direction slope downward, toward the very bottom of the mountain. Any tunnel that leads upward is at least an hour further, outside our usual haunts. I apologize, Sire. We should have considered this possibility."

"Meaning to get there, you'd have to go a long way, move up and then trace your way back through an unknown tunnel system. Got it." I stomped my foot down in anger. "It still means we're royally screwed."

"We're... what now, Sire?"

"In trouble. Whoever's there knows we're here too. That means we just started a countdown. Aelis, I need to know how much time we have. If you were to run the entire way up there, how long would it take you - if you actually knew the way, that is."

"I... If the path upward is where I'm guessing and I knew the exact way? Eight hours. Maybe a little more."

"Thank you." I stared at the two Talpi in front of me. "Now, if everything is going to happen the way I fear, we're going to be attacked in a little over eight hours. We are going to need to plan efficiently and fast. Who needs to be here for this?"

Two minutes later, five Talpi were staring up at me inside my room. Aelis and Arthor decided to include Creziel with his head for construction and Jazinth for her cool head. Surprisingly, they both agreed that Roth should be included in the planning. This left four anxious Talpi and one grinning loon listening to my explanation. So far, we hadn't told anybody what was going on, but it was only a matter of time until it got out. I was condensing my explanation. "...so that's what happened. The other domain must have expanded its size, allowing its borders to overlap with ours. When I am able to spot the limits of his domain, it means that he is able to see mine too.  This means we're running on borrowed time. What should we do - and what can we do with the time we have?"

Jazinth was the first to talk. "What can we do? What we always do, obviously. We run, hide, build anew. Bad luck that they caught us before we got any real defenses up, but that was the purview of the Spirit. Nothing we can do."

Aelis chimed in. "It might be the wisest thing to do, Sire. We can pick up the hoard, bring the Clenchers for food and start fresh. There's a labyrinthine tunnel system a handful of hours west of here that might be viable for a new area."

I had imagined Roth to be gung ho for battle, he nodded, bouncing on his feet. "We’ll fight them, like we do. They're going to hunt us anyway, of course, but this way we can do it smart, hit ‘em where it hurts, divide ‘em. With your help, dragon, we can even push back once or twice, hurt ‘em enough to go back home. This is going to be great!"

Creziel just nodded. Agreeing with the rest.

“Arthor?”

"You're all idiots." Arthor rubbed his whiskers, looking around the room with a wicked glare. "I expected it of you, Creziel, but Jaz? You’re usually more level headed than this. Let's review this brilliant idea of yours. We leave, hurt them a bit and they just magically leave us alone? When they already know we have a domain here, with a dragon among us? When the powers clash, there's no mercy and no stopping 'till the blood is spilt. We can run and hide, but they'll be tracking us and they won't stop. And you, Aelis? Find a new home? You've run for your entire life and this is the best you've ever had. What are the odds we'll ever find a home like this again? It's not going to happen and you know it."

"I still say we leave." Jazinth's comment was biting. "Going up against another dragon is stupid. Onyx here has been focusing on all sorts of weird ideas, where they will have used their time to grow larger and more powerful and nothing else."

Silence fell over the room until Aelis let her thoughts be known, more thoughtful than usual for her. "I believe you may be wrong there, Jazinth. Not regarding the approach of the other dragons. All our stories talk about them being ferocious, wicked and single minded. But one thing speaks to our advantage. Remember, I was the only one inside the room where they kept the eggs - and only one egg had hatched at the time. This means this other dragon is likely to be even younger than Onyx. Older dragons would be higher in the mountain, not placed in the lower layers here with us."

I nodded. "Good thinking, Aelis." In my mind, I added Jazinth to my fledgling shit list. "Let's not forget that any attacker will have the terrain against them, and we do have your shamanic powers, me and the Clenchers on our side too." I lowered my head to the ground to look each of them in the eye. "Thank you for your input. You all recall our pact? You get to be part of the discussions, but I am the one who decides. We are making a stand here. This is the best defensive position we’re going to find, and running now will only have us on the run forever. We fight!”

Roth’s answer came in the form of a leap. He bounced straight up, jabbing at an imaginary enemy. "Screw running anyway – we’ll make this work. This is going to be amazing. I get to fight a dragon." The giddiness emanating from Roth was almost enough to make me giggle.

Aelis hesitated "Do you really think I can help, Milord? I don't know how much I can do with one paw missing, but I am ready to do my part."

"I do. I really do. You're the one who told me you didn't need the paw for scouting - and we need intelligence more than anything. Would you gather a team of scouts and leave immediately? We need to know exactly what's coming and when to expect them."

Aelis nodded and left the room. I looked at Jazinth and Creziel. "How about you two? Any comments?"

Jazinth stared me square in the eye, neck craned back without flinching. She was a brave little critter, I'd give her that much. "I'm not leaving my family. When we're all dead, however, my remnant will curse you from the spirit realm." She shrugged. "If we somehow make it, though, you will have my apology. I am not proud."

I disregarded that obvious lie and addressed the smallest creature in the room. "Creziel?"

He clearly disliked the attention, squirming under my attention. "I... I'll help, but I don't even know why I'm here."

I couldn't help myself. I threw my head back and rocked with laughter. They all looked at me like I was crazy, but I chuckled and looked at him, trying to keep his composure under my scrutiny. "You, Creziel, are my secret weapon. Arthor here is beyond measure in his control of magic. You, however, have a head for constructions and distances - and we are going to need both to make it through the next day alive."

At my request, Roth dragged in a skinful of dirt and Creziel drew an impromptu map, aided by my mini map, so we could address what needed to be done where.

"You already had these other dead ends trapped, right?" I indicated the other tunnels before the one leading to the entrance to my lair.

Creziel nodded. "Yes - the larger ones. These two hold pitfall traps, deep enough to trap anybody smaller than a Clencher, constructed in a way to seem natural. Here and here, we have rigged the tunnel ends to collapse."

"Good. We can add spears at the bottom of the pitfall traps, making them more deadly. Then we can get to work on these other tunnels-"

"No." Roth's mental command held no room for debate as he stomped his foot for emphasis. "We need to work on the old traps, lead ‘em there instead. Can't just let the enemies roam freely. We need ‘em hot and bothered."

I looked at the squat animal with a newfound respect. So he wasn't all brawn - just single minded. "We're listening."

"Okay. First we jump ‘em early. Back here, there’s a shelf that’ll allow us to attack from above and slink away quick. That way, when they come chasing, we're ahead of ‘em. Then, we give ‘em a few nice targets sprinting off into the trapped tunnels. Dumb mugs will follow for sure."

I frowned. "So... we're using some of you as bait?"

Roth was unfazed. "That's what scouts are for. Why else put all those points in Agility?" He stared at the dirt map. "They need escape paths, though."

Creziel jumped in. "If I may? I – I think we can manage that. If we focus on these three tunnels, our builders should have no trouble digging tunnels into the tunnel systems beyond in time. Nothing elaborate, just narrow tunnels to wriggle through. Most enemies won't be able to follow. I mean – I can’t be sure, but-"

Arthor had been silent for a while. "I notice none of you have touched upon the real issue."

I growled. "The enemy dragon. If dragon it is."

"It will be a dragon. This mountain hasn't seen any domains created by anybody but dragons since Selys scared off all contestants, including the owner of our current home."

"Alright. If the dragon charges alongside whatever minions it might have, we may have an issue. We can-"

Arthor interrupted. "He won’t."

"How do you know?"

"He will not. Remember - you are the weird one here. Dragons don’t usually act like you do. All our stories tell the same.” Arthor picked up a handful of dirt, keeping it in his paws alongside his pet rock. “Whoever is lucky enough to be accepted as a minion for a dragon will still be nothing but fodder, the most expendable of the expendable. That doesn't just apply to Talpi, though. Every single minion, except maybe a rare few valuable lieutenants, is considered to be replaceable, worth only what scraps they can grab for themselves. Basically, they are only allowed to exist insofar that they make life easier for the dragon." He concentrated and the dirt traveled slowly over the palms of his paws until it spilled over the edge. Then, the rock slowly started to edge forward all by itself. “The dragon won’t attack until it has expended its minions – or unless you manage to tick it off.”

I felt a carnivorous smile building on my face. "You just improved our survival chances, Arthor. Alright, Creziel, Arthor, pay attention. I need you to tell me if this is feasible..."

We plotted. The next hour we simply talked, planning our approach and defenses. We kept a few options open until the scouts returned, but we needed to make sure that we used our resources wisely. This meant we needed to get every single builder and shaman working right away and have the large strokes of our defensive plan ready when Aelis made it back. When we were done with the initial plotting, we all went to work.

Once the initial shock from the news wore off, the lair filled with the sounds of business - shouted orders and construction noises. Closing my eyes, I could half believe I was back on a work site, listening to the noises of a rush job in process. If I disregarded the voices being squeaks and squeals, of course. Half the builders had left along with Jazinth to improve the traps and escape tunnels before the domain. Roth had left with a handful of their fighters to prepare for the ambush. The rest of the builders were here with me, as were Arthor and Creziel. Arthor worked on preparing the details of our main trap, while the rest of us worked on the most crucial detail of the plan - creating an additional exit from the Clencher cave leading to the Throne Room.

The Clenchers were still weakened from my Weakening Fog the day before, but they were stirring, growing restless behind the final wall from our noise and activity. Good. We needed them angry for what was going to go down.

My job was simple, for the moment - I was manual labor. If we were to create the exit leading from the Clencher cavern to the throne room in time, we'd need to work hard and fast and there wouldn't be time for the shamans to crack boulders into smaller pieces - I'd have to do some serious dragging. Apart from that, I would make sure everybody got the assistance and equipment they needed.

Time flew by and before I knew it, four hours had passed. We were making good progress on the pathway and it looked like we would finish it in time. All told, the Talpi were excellent workers, even under pressure. There had been a few heated discussions and Roth had "calmed" one panicking builder with the blunt end of his spear, but all told they handled the whole "hey man, we may die today"-issue quite well. It probably wasn't too far from their everyday routine before I arrived. My own anxiety was building to an uncomfortable level, however. It was a good thing that I could keep busy - otherwise the wait would've been hell. The timing was... too close for my liking. The moment my mana hit 150, I selected the construction I wanted, watching the shadowy, intangible ghost of a door blur into existence inside the throne room. Four hours until it was done. Damn. If they were early and the door wasn't finished, this was probably going to be the shortest boss battle in the history of the Scoured Mountain.

I wasn't looking forward to facing off with another dragon. I faced a couple of serious disadvantages here. Not only would my enemy be born into this body, becoming a natural predator in a way I wouldn't be able to replicate any time soon. There was also the whole mentality thing, where I preferred a cold overview over the red haze of close combat. I needed to stay aware and out of close combat, if possible. That is, if they ever deigned to show up and we weren't preparing in vain.

I returned to the hard work and two hours later, we broke through from the throne room to the Clencher’s room. The builder in charge of digging promised me they'd be able to handle the rest, widening the passage enough for my bulk and ensuring it didn't collapse. One vital task checked off - we might still make it. With a grimace of distaste, I consumed a Mana Crystal and started the production of a Shadow Tower inside the Clencher’s room – just outside the enclosure itself. If this was going to work, I would need every bit of help I could get. I could always improve my mana regen if we survived.

I returned to the throne room, opting to spend some time and precious mana practicing my illusion skills. The next hours flew by as I held court and activated my illusion skill every once in a while. I learned a lot over the time. First, it was damn hard to maintain an illusion with people running all over the place, shouting and squealing at all times. Second, that the trick was tuning out whatever noise they made completely, acting like it wasn't even there. It was a valuable lesson I would definitely need if we made it to the real test. Third… I was improving. By now, I was able to create some impressive visuals as long as I was able to create the picture in my mind and hold focus. Size did matter, but as long as I wasn't trying to depict the Taj Mahal I would be able to make it. If you looked closely at the large illusion, there was definitely something wrong. The details were bland and everything was sort of blurry except for where I kept my focus. Also, maintaining the illusion while making the image move was doable, but things got really blurry. Fortunately, I didn't need movement or tiny details this time around. I hoped.

Seven hours had passed when I finally started getting bored with my illusions. Maybe bored wasn't the right word. Distracted by the continued absence of Aelis and our scouts, more likely. When I asked Roth, he blithely refused to send out additional runners. "You do your job, they'll do theirs. More people right now will mess it all up."

Following that, my mood deteriorated as I paced the throne room, one eye on the minimap, trying to distract my mind from speculations. Several times, I almost left for the tunnels to await their return. I always changed my mind, though. People needed to be able to find me - and I realized the morale probably would plummet if I didn't appear somewhat in control. From then on, I kept my turmoil inside, trying to appear in charge. When one of the scouts finally sprinted into the throne room, closely followed by a handful of other Talpi, I almost jumped on top of him in my eagerness to hear what he had to say. "Where's Aelis? Are we under attack?"

The Talpus lay on the ground, panting. His mental voice was clear and lucid, however, as he responded. "Aelis was doing well when I left. They're coming, though. We have two hours, maybe less."

I motioned for him to wait. Jazinth had followed him in, but Arthor and Roth were off in the distance, running towards us. They would need to be filled in as well. I waved them closer and nodded to the scout. "Well done on making it back safely. Why isn't Aelis here now? And what are we facing?"

He nodded, once. "Thank you, Milord. She told me and Eulis to run back by separate routes the moment we saw their forces. She and another opted to delay them and lead them off on a side trail."

I frowned. "That was not the point of your outing. Why would she decide that?"

"They are Crawls, Onyx. Nasty little buggers." Roth shrugged.

"You say that like I'm supposed to know what it means."

The squat Talpus grunted, kicking at some dirt. "Common race down here. Not too many of ‘em left, though. They're good workers - or fodder. A little larger than us. Quite a lot wider, though, and stronger too. Good eating, but their skin's the problem. It's hardened, for armor. Like yours, sort of. Sometimes, we hunt them, sometimes they hunt us. Trick is—“ he jumped to the back of the scout and traced a blow to the back of the skull and the spine “—to hit them where there’s no armor. They’re kinda slow, but they don't get winded like we do. If they ran straight here, the Crawls would've made it here first. Aelis did well.”

“How many Crawls?"

The scout bowed his head. "At least thirty. Maybe more."

Roth gave off a sense of distaste. "Enough to end the tribe. Sure hope your plan works, dragon."

I considered this. "Agreed." Addressing the scout, I let a claw rest lightly on his shoulder. "You've done well. Go rest for a bit and then go see Roth to get your orders. Let's hope Aelis and the others make it back safely. As for the rest of us… So we know they know we're coming. That means our ambush has to be twice as convincing in order to lure them in. You take care of that, Roth. I suggest you take some of the spearheads that Arthor made from the hoard, and anything else you might be able to use. Any other changes to the plan?"

Jazinth glared at the map on the floor like it had offended her. "The two pit traps need work. If they're Crawls, they might be able to survive the drop and just climb out afterwards. I... might have some ideas. Creziel, come with me."

"Good. You handle that. In the meantime, I will prepare those waiting here for what's going to happen - go through the motions. Arthor, how are we doing with the Clenchers?"

"They're increasingly agitated. A moment ago, one of them tried to batter down the door. So... all according to plan, I suppose? I still think this part needs work. There are many things that can go wrong."

I nodded. "I know. It's the best I could come up with, however. If you have a better idea, I am listening." Normally, his mind was closed to me, but a hint of surprise arose from him. He had not expected me to admit that.

He stared at me for a while before shaking his head. "No. I am going to go prepare the Clencher room once again, though. Crawls have decent balance."

I looked around at everybody assembled. "Good. Everybody get to work. As soon as more of the scouts return and we have a closer estimate, we'll meet again for a final brush up - if we have time. If not, everybody knows the plan. Stick to your part, I will do mine and I'll see you on the other side - alive and with a higher level. You hear?"

They dispersed with mixed feelings of nervousness and light mirth. As for my part, I had some final fretting to handle. All large-scale preparations were done, and I could only run through the scenario in my head to work on the timing.