Trash Mountain Dungeon

"Ok, the plan seems pretty stupid now that I've said it aloud, but I stand by the idea, that we should invite more sects."

Ed has this stunned face somewhere between, 'What the hell' and 'Why the hell', which was fair in all honesty. Inviting more sects to the mountain was begging for a fight to happen, even more so since there was a dungeon at stake. Of course, they would need to run the plan by their father before anything went forward but it was a plan that might just work if there was much of a mountain left afterward.

"Look, Arthur, inviting the priests and clerics of Leighlash and perhaps Gruul or Bevel are not out of the question, the Freedom clerics would be invaluable against kannorites, and the quality goods the craft priests would bring would only aid that fact, but others? The only reason why I don't disagree with Gruul is because they don't do anything but cook and eat, which is hardly what we need right now."

"Ah but that's the beauty of it brother, people like them are exactly what we need, imagine, a smaller Grand Council held on this very mountain where the many desperate faiths agree to tolerate each other, or failing that are too busy killing each other to bother us or the dungeon!"

Ed began pacing, growing frustrated at his brother's suggestions.

"Yeah, I get that, but have you considered the impact that'll have on the family, and much more, our lands? If a Grand council is held in the outer court, there'll be riots in the capital, imperial delegates, knightly orders, even the academy and university might get involved."

"Yes, but that's why we keep things smaller, we don't need the hundreds of sects to come up the mountain, all we need is enough of the local ones to create a stalemate between them, enough faiths to keep the slaver god busy along with other divine interests."

"Sigh, fine, fine, but you're the one who has to explain it to Father, if he allows you to do it then I'll go along but don't say I didn't warn you if things go to shit."

"Thank you, brother, and don't worry we've got this."

And with that Ed left the tent, going off to check on the magical side of the camp to begin setting up a communication circle.

Now alone, Arthur sat in his chair, calming his beating heart, he may have given a confident front to his brother about how things would go, but truly he was also afraid of his plan. Yes, it could work masterfully, but it could also be the true end of their family, despite being so far from the main areas they concerned themselves with. If even one of these groups wins or manages to slip the cracks and aims straight at them or the dungeon then there might be nothing, they can do to stop it.

If he wanted this plan to work, he'd need assurances and insurance, a cheat if you would, something that would tip and keep the board tipped in his favor. But Arthur paced, back and forth, rubbing raw the earth and grass, few things unified the sects these days, threats to their power, dungeons, demons... hm, maybe that was it. What Arthur had thought was again likely not the best solution, but it certainly held an appeal that he couldn't deny, perhaps they could use both his brother's talents and the intelligent dungeon for this particular issue. The idea was unrefined but held promise, perhaps Arthur could use the pride and tension between the sects as well as the rapid growth of the dungeon to lock the sects into the stalemate he wanted while also allowing the dungeon to reap from the participants, and the reason he said participants? Arthur wanted to start a tourney between the sects and have them go to war on a controllable scale.

He knew that it would be met with skepticism as soon as it was proposed, but he did have some solutions to the glaring issues. The major problem was how he would maintain this contest without causing one or more sects to break off and escalate the situation. His first idea regarding that was the use of his brother's demons, currently, Ed could only call forth his succubus familiar but for what he needed Arthur would need dozens if not hundreds more intelligent demons like her. Their job would be to stoke the flame as it were and use their talents to influence the sects that were invited to maintain the relative peace between the groups without causing more issues or stoking existing ones. It went without saying what could go wrong, of course, the infernal were always seeking to spite their summoners and contractors, hell, the only reason Hestra wasn't trying to get Ed killed or under her control was because she openly admitted that she liked him, perhaps not in the way most men, and some women, would prefer a succubus to like them, but still.

Hm....!

Across the command tent was Helvina teaching her frogin how to move things around, an effort to keep them in the camp so they didn't almost get themselves killed, again. Arthur made his way over to his... companion, standing at her side as she instructed her slimy workers on the difference between food and not food.

"Yes Blue, you hold it like at. No, no, no, you don't put your mouth on that end Red, and for gosh sakes, stop trying to eat your brother Green!"

He was only there for a few seconds, and he was already trying not too laugh.

"Seems your students are taking their lessons well."

"Oh, hush you, I get that enough from your brother and the others, my familiars are perfectly capable of learning the basics of labor."

Oh, that was a development.

"Your familiars, I may not have been the greatest student in magic but isn't choosing your familiar supposed to be a monumental event? I'm not saying you can't choose them, but... frog creatures?"

She put a hand on her well-shaped hip, the other gripping her staff.

"It is, but I plan on making using them in my tower. Seakin they may not be, but frogin are highly capable once they settle down in their territory."

"They use their children as tools."

"It's a process ok."

Hmph, but it does give Arthur some more ideas about how to handle the mess He's found himself. Demons were dangerous and unpredictable, and elementals and spirits were unreliable, but if they were anything like the ones used by the gnomish artificers or dwarven engineers, then the dungeon's machines could be used, it would massively alter his plans but still, the idea was forming.

"Say Helvina, if a dungeon wanted to attack those outside of it, what would it need to do?"

"Odd question, but from what we were taught, dungeon monsters can't normally leave their dungeon, and before you mention it, yes, the ones that have been helping us so far are an anomaly, but ordinarily monsters only leave during a dungeon break or if they're dragged out by someone. And as far as can be told that is the same with intelligent dungeons, the one we have is just weird."

While the dungeon would likely fight that description, it did make sense, part of the reason dungeon towns existed was because they were safe so long as they didn't cause a break to occur. But what if a dungeon could fake a dungeon break, what if one of the few people who could freely talk with the dungeon was able to 'predict' the next dungeon break? It might hurt the profitability of the dungeon sure, but that was a problem already half-solved with their standing deal. The big question was whether or not he could sell the idea of an 'anomalous' dungeon that broke at the tiniest of infractions, breaks were after all extremely dangerous, but also gave people the chance to fight and kill monsters in large amounts, giving some the chance they need to ascend their magic or might to the next level.

He'd need to think it over more, draw up plans, talk with his trusted circle, and more than anything he would need to talk with the dungeon about some of the details. If the dungeon didn't work, he might be forced to ask Hestra for her kin's help or even accept the cleric's offer.