The broken dungeon core

The hunter only carries his last name Blazkowicz, in honor of his parents who had passed before finalizing what they wanted to call him, so most people call him whatever is suitable, like now they can him hunter.

His wife Daisy who was in charge of the vegetable soup calmed him down before softly asking.

Daisy, “Now tell us what happened, who is the traitor and what have they done?”

Hunter, “All the Ramington family that hadn’t already left when the bulk of us villagers left, played us! They were to get those bandits sloppy drunk and spike the drinks and food with sleeping medicine and follow everyone out once they were done but they didn’t do it and they stayed there with the bandits as nothing more than a distraction!!!

Now the bandits know most of the villagers have left and they are helping the Ramingtons and the villagers who joined them to collect all the remaining goods in the village, going through our houses and stripping them bare like common thieves in daylight!

The head of the Ramingtons is the same village head who had suggested the plan in the first place and now they have shown their true colors I think they might have planed to use this to take over the whole village and get rid of the unwanted competition!”

He gritted his teeth audibly and his knuckles turned white from how tightly he clenched them as Daisy tried to soothe him.

Hunter, “If those traitors or bandits show up I will rip them apart and once I tear them limb from limb I will scatter their bodies and keep hunting them down till they feel like they are living in hell!”

Daisy, “Now now calm down you don’t want to scare the children!”

She whispered something in his ear and he sulked but quieted and they retired to their room and they closed all the improved doors which were the woven vine mats that Daisy had padded with hide blankets on both sides of the woven mats, making them have the best doors in my dungeon and the most efficient in blocking out any of their sounds, which they were making plenty of.

The rest of the people remained in the first room and didn’t comment on the couple who left, instead they focused on what to do now.

A particularly rough one to deal with was a literal black sheep beast-kin, Coaley who has sat in the floor crying and getting comforted by some of the other women.

She was sent ahead with all her clothes, her personal sewing kit and her own bedding, as her parents had promised to join her once they had finished doing their tasks to help the village, they would be bringing everything else and she had even stood her ground to save the room next to her for her parents only to find out that she had been abandoned and left with nothing else to her name, she had never been the favorite child but she never thought she was neglected, that is until now.

Everyone could tell her situation at a glance and no one would question her about being a spy as some can already guess that the Ramingtons had also used this incident to get rid of the undesirable members of their family, recognizing the ones sent away either married another race of beast-kin or had traits that were not considered favorable, be they the color of their wool, a messed up horn, or a handicap of some kind physically or mentally.

The men left the ladies to care for the girl and they focused on the issue at hand.

A orange and black cat beast-kin named Tom, speaking up firmly before anyone else could take charge after hunter.

Tom, “I am going to start with vengeance will need to come but right now we need to survive and prepare for the worst.

I don’t think any of us here are stupid enough to believe that we won’t be attacked, and as the smallest of the three camps we are the most vulnerable even if they might choose the other two camps because they are closer and easier to get to when they start and they’re likely to catch people who are out in the woods hunting and gathering before they strike any of the camps.

I will say one advantage we have is that aside from knowing that this camp is a cave up the mountain just a little ways from the river no one’s really got much of an idea of what this place is like and seeing the place now, I don’t think anyone would be expecting what this place is really like and I hope that it stays that way!

Now we need to start keeping a lookout for any activity from the village but we also have to prepare for traitors popping up not just in our camp but in the others as well.

I also think that we need to be ready to fight, like the hunter mentioned granted let’s be honest we wouldn’t have had to put up with bandits in the first place if we were able to handle them in the first place, instead let’s be smart and pick off the bandits and traitors when we catch them out hunting for supplies or getting firewood once they run out of supplies.”

A human named Greg follows up on Tom’s input.

Greg, “I second them, those bastards had been fooling around with us and it’s caused us a great deal of hardships, my condolences for your daughter and all the women who were forced to endure dealing with the bandits, and I propose that we shouldn’t allow them to get away with any of it.

I say we have to kill the worst of them and I suggest selling the rest as slaves to the city or something to get some reparations for what they have done to the village and us villagers.

Sure we can’t take them until after the thaw and we can only take them a few at a time to prevent accidents but I think making them slaves would serve them right for what they have done.”

Another round of agreements and even a few demands for all their women to be made prostitutes and the men to be sent to the mines were met with unanimous approval.

I also wished to express my approval as making the ones who had hurt Luna should be made to suffer for what they did to her!

More conversations started spreading out and too many speakers made it harder for me to catch them all so I decided to focus on my Luna and her family.

The Coons had headed to their living quarters to have a talk and to have the parents meet me, which I was conflicted about as I didn’t have much of a positive opinion about them with the little I have found out about them.

The mother Rita and the father Rimmy seemed to try covering up their raccoon tails more than I have noticed in the other beast-kin and they avoided wearing black or dark colored clothing the darkest being brown which seems to be the most common clothing color amongst the villagers.

They were brought in and instantly stunned by the sight of my broken core, as Luna introduced me.

Luna, “Mom and dad, this is the dungeon core that saved me from the bandits, it was already broken when we first got here but when it saved me it’s damage got a lot worse pieces had broken off and a part of the dungeon even collapsed!

I have been giving it my mana to help it repair itself and we have been making good progress lately which is great because when it was damaged from teleporting me it had been a lot harder to repair then it is now.

Umm, also it has been super helpful and supportive not just letting us use it as a home but its helped with providing plants we can use as food and medicine as well as helping with whatever chores it can assist with like disposing of waste and scraps such.

So, please get along well.”

Her parents hadn’t had time to react before Luna bombarded them with her introduction and requests that had them listening more to understand the situation.

Right before they could start their response Rocky also chimed in.

Rocky, “Also sis is trying to have a relationship with it since it’s treating her better than anyone else has and done more for her than any of those halfhearted suitors combined.

I already support their relationship and I think it’s going well for them, so don’t try talking her out of it!”

Both parents, “WHAT!?!?!?!?”

The befuddlement on their faces shuffled through more expressions than I could catch and the mother had to take a seat which I reluctantly supplied out of courtesy, and received more shock from doing so.

Something tells me that this is going to be annoying in one way or another and I just hope it doesn’t take long.