Trash Mountain Dungeon

All was not well at the camp, and no soldiers or support could tell. To them, they were making excellent progress in clearing the way for the future foundations of what was likely to be their future homes and places of business, something that filled many of the camp followers ecstatic for the future. But things were not going well behind the closed and magically silenced flaps of the command tent. After Arthur took the dungeon offer it caused a rift in the leadership to form, the more battle-minded among them conceded that they wouldn't control the dungeon like most were, and the control collar they had wouldn't work even if they had tried, but that didn't mean they couldn't use their forces to, well, force the dungeon to do what they wanted. While true, such a thing was currently possible, it was also incredibly dangerous as it could cause a dungeon break, forcing the dungeon to cast off whatever intelligence and awareness it held to defend itself from any threat, including half the territory before a proper force could be brought to bear. But even so, they were determined that they could do it even at great cost. This pro-attack group was headed by a veteran his father had appointed as the future castellan of the also future fort, sent along with Arthur to help deal with dangerous elements as well as get a lay of the land.

Opposite of them was a group mainly comprised of academics and craftspeople, the mages who had begun to defer to Helvina and Edward, as well as the assigned quartermaster of the caravan and the fort, sent along to aid in establishing infrastructure and supply lines when they got settled in. This group was less unified in exactly what they wanted but agreed that they should maintain a more cooperative stance towards the dungeon if only to build enough so they could defend themselves. Additionally, the "pro-defense" group also maintained the prior belief that the dungeon presented an incredible opportunity to study and profit if they could maneuver the deal properly.

Because of this divide, the camp's future and safety were becoming an increasingly sensitive topic among his officers and staff, if the pro-attack group couldn't be pulled back into the fold it could cause both the deal to be broken and a potential dungeon break if they go forward with their plan to overwhelm the dungeon. On the flip side if the defense/peace group couldn't be kept under his control they could jeopardize the integrity of the camp and Arthur's ability to keep everyone under his control.

Thankfully their arguing did have a break, the day the dungeon had developed a third floor and sent down a metal beast, handing off a metal plate with a message written in the old imperial language, something rarely used ever since the death of the founding emperor. The meeting with the dungeon was far from what he had expected, but a step forward towards cooperation. The dungeon's initial price was ridiculous, and the dungeon likely already knew that, but Arthur could see a test when it was presented, it was trying to learn about him and see what he was willing to do for just a simple floor. Speaking of the price though, dragon hearts were far from difficult to acquire these days, provided the dungeon couldn't tell the difference between a half-breed wyrm or wyvern and that of a true dragon. When he later consulted Ed about the 'soul of a demon' out of curiosity, he learned that by nature demons can't have souls even if they were at some point human or adjacent. And as for the mind of the unknowable, no one understood what the dungeon meant by that, but few gave it much thought since ultimately the price was set to a much more reasonable level. The price of a couple of three different monsters was not as outrageous as it seemed, somewhat time-consuming but not difficult. The only problem was that this somehow seemed to inflame the attack group even more, they spoke fewer and came to the daily meetings even less. It seemed as if the first deal created a rift that separated them from the others, while the following through of the deal and the given price was the final straw.

All of this came to a head when the unthinkable happened. They had all assembled as usual to discuss how they would proceed with the establishment of the fort's foundations, with only the main leaders of the pro-attack and a few of the pro-peace groups present that morning. What would then happen would engrave itself into Arthur's memory for days, and likely many more after that, Arselan, the leader of the pro-attackers, drew his knife along with the others of his group, lunging for Arthur before he could properly understand what was going on. Three blades sunk into his flesh, none would prove fatal, but the adrenaline cared little for where, only that it did: and before they could continue the job the heads of all three burst and then sucked into a nauseating hole in the air, the smell of brimstone and rotten flesh filled the tent, Edward's hand ablaze with his infernal magic.

"[Curse of the Gate]!"

Their bodies fell limp on the ground, the hellish portals still hovering in the air as everyone processed just what had happened. Ed was the first to recover followed by Arthur and Helvina, Ed commanded the others in the tent to look after Arthur and his wounds while Ed secured the camp of any more traitors. Enveloping him in the soothing light of healing magic, the knives were pushed out and fell to the ground, a black tar covered their edges, poison, but Arthur's increasingly heavy eyes and body understood little of what was going on, deciding to fall over and pass out.

Arthur wouldn't wake up for another two days at which point he was greeted by his brother laying five heads on the central table, each head having been part of the pro-attack group, each a visage of pain before their fate.

"What happened Ed."

He was silent for a moment before speaking.

"After dealing with Arselan and his officers I along with a few loyals rounded up the others and made them confess their plans. After significant...persuasion, we were able to learn their plan. The former castellan had planned on taking us by surprise, taking you and me down by surprise while the others that sided with him took out every leader or officer in the camp that opposed his plan."

He cleared his throat.

"His men managed to only kill a few people before my familiar and I managed to stop them, unfortunately, we are down three mages."

"But why- how-, those were our men, Nightingale men, they swore to serve our family!"

Ed pulled out a strip of cloth with a simple embroidered image of a many-faced pillar, the symbol of the many gods' church.

"Arselan was one of ours true, but it seems that the church was able to infiltrate our forces, likely before you left, the only question is if they were sent here, or if they're just fanatics that joined coincidentally. But no matter which scenario it was, they brought a sacred collar with them."

Arthur looked away in confusion and anger, the church was capable of much more than the small folk knew, espionage and infiltration were the least heinous of their practices. It was entirely possible that the augers their father met with could have let it slip to the church that a new dungeon was forming, likely wanting to use the expedition to collar the dungeon if not outright destroy it before the Nightingales could make use of it. This meant that now more than ever they needed to push forward with their plans as well as weed out any remaining traitors and solidify their relationship with the dungeon. While it would be bad humor, the collar was a powerful piece of magic with the imprint of a divine presence, Kannor the Controller, and it would make a mighty gift, maybe even good enough to take the place of the monsters it wanted.

Resolving his plan, Arthur shakily rose from the bed and made his way out of the tent. The noisy camp quickly silenced as their leader stood tall on a makeshift stage that had been assembled and spoke to them.

"As every one of you is aware, I and several others within the camp were attacked by traitors and scoundrels who were intent on enslaving the dungeon like a rabid dog, not only stealing a precious and valuable resource but also an ally, for the dungeon and I have been in talks over a mutual deal that would enrich all our lives."

The people of the camp were following each word, some showing their anger while others silently cursed the traitors, Arthur knew that the church would have likely shared the resources of the dungeon, if only at an exurbanite price.

"But thanks to the help of my brother and companions we were able to defeat these traitors, and once we did it became more imperative that we begin focusing progress on the building of our fort, for in the coming days we will have to meet more dangerous and deadly foes to defend this greatest of opportunities. So effective immediately, I am ordering an accelerated shift schedule from everyone in the camp."

Arthur quickly left the stage to his quartermaster to begin shouting out orders, hurriedly entering the command tent and taking a seat. Healing magic was amazing for keeping people alive or dealing with nasty wounds until they could be properly dealt with, but a known side effect was that it ate away at a person's stamina for several days, making it so that Arthur had less strength for the next few days until his body returned to normal. His other remaining advisors filled the tent and began pouring over maps and reports about the area, throwing around dozens of ideas to hundreds of problems with some headway being made on each.

The three main problems they needed to address were the camp's integrity, the supply chain for the fort, and the dungeon. Arthur had little experience with finding and dealing with spies, but thankfully he knew someone who could fulfill that role.

"Oh, my dear boy, I would be more than happy to follow your command."

Edward, or rather Edward's familiar was what he needed, a succubus, a master at manipulating mortals to their ends, and while he dreaded using her talents, he felt he had little choice if the church had decided to infiltrate the expedition. But he wouldn't be sending her out alone, one of his father's agents who was skilled in this kind of work was assigned to keep an eye on Arthur and Ed and would make an excellent counterintelligence force for him, as well as keeping an eye on the demon. With that being done though, he had two more problems, the plan was that since the fort would be situated in the mountains the camp would make a small quarry where they would cut and carve the stone, they would use to make the fort as well as outlying structures, but among those that were killed by the traitors was the master mason himself. They could still cut out stone, but the mason's underlings did not have the masterful experience or earth magic necessary to match the previous timetable. Likely that wouldn't be a fixable issue until he could get word back to his father, and longer still as he would need to wait for a new mason if a new one can be found.

Sigh, the men would just have to start anyway.

As for the dungeon, he would need to talk with it, doubtlessly it saw something happen in the camp. They didn't have the time anymore to send out expeditions for whatever the dungeon desired, he would simply have to trade using what he had already, and what he had were two collars. The first collar they had brought with them was a simple one used on non-intelligent dungeons, well-crafted and worth a fortune but hardly anything groundbreaking. The second on the other hand, was special, made of rare metals and powerful crystals, it was crafted with all the excessive self-worth that the church had along with the power of a god. Thankfully it wasn't an actual piece of kannor since it would have likely burned everything around it to cinders but instead, it held the impression left behind by a divine presence, like a shadow's shadow, something that would normally mean nothing but meant everything since it came from the divine.

He didn't know if it would be a good idea to give a dungeon an item tied to a deity, but frankly, he didn't care if Kannor or the church got angry, he'd kill anyone they sent after him now.