Draconic Karma Dungeon

Chapter 89: The Potential Home of a Gnome

No one truly knew how hard it was to lead a group with over 1,000 people in it before they had to do so.

Kastle Brassheart certainly knew this to be true.

He hadn't started out as their leader. They didn’t even have a leader in the beginning, as they hadn't thought they needed one.

It was supposed to be a temporary situation. Kastle had, like everyone else, assumed they would find a new town to settle in within a couple of weeks.

It had been half a year by now.

They had tried to settle down in countless villages, towns, and cities only for them to be thrown out - often politely - after a couple of days.

The longest they had lasted was a week and they all somberly agreed that was due to the large size of the place - both in terms of physical space and population size - making the spread of rumors about them much slower.

Not that the Extraordinary Exodus - a title the System only awarded nomadic groups with a population larger than 1,000 - knew exactly why they were banned from settling anywhere. If they weren't simply told to 'leave at once', they were most often told they 'simply weren't a good fit for {insert name of the place}' and that they should try their luck somewhere else.

At first they had argued back. They had a lot to contribute to a settlement. Mainly crafts of all sorts and unique techniques for making them, but still the fact that there were a bunch of people willing to work for their living should have been enough.

The settlements simply replied 'it doesn't make up for what your people did'.

And when questioned about that reply the spokesperson for the settlement would simply look confused before rolling their eyes, shaking their head and turning around.

As mentioned before the Extraordinary Exodus hadn't been prepared for a life on the road. They had expected a move and thus had brought the heavy couch.

Which slowed them down and made them a prime target for predators.

They lost a lot of people that way before the stubborn ones started selling their couches and other heavy and useless-while-on-the-road objects.

It was around that time - a month into their journey when people had accepted that it would take a while for them to find a new home - that Kastle became the leader.

It had happened gradually. The other gnomes had one by one started to turn to Kastle for guidance.

Kastle had asked about the choice once the System had given him the Achievement 'Extraordinary Chief' and apparently his optimism and drive had allowed his people to step up and do what needed to be done, time and time again.

Such as killing and skinning various beasts, which few members of the Exodus had tried to do before the destruction of their Dungeon. They had been a part of a Dungeon Town, after all! Their meat mostly came from the Dungeon and was thus already dead and skinned.

But after half a year on the road they had at last gotten a handle on the nomadic lifestyle and no one had died in 2 months. A big improvement from the beginning of their journey, when one or two had died every week.

Malik the human had given them new hope in the form of directions to a still forming dungeon town run by beastkin. The Exodus hadn't tried their luck with a beastkin settlement yet. And maybe the newness of the place would make the people there more open to the Exodus…?

Kastle - and the rest of the Exodus no doubt - did find it a bit odd that Malik had asked them to call him by his personal name. Malik didn't know them - outside of their unfortunate situation - and he was far away from his home. Not to mention the fact that his house in no way could fit over 1,000 gnomes.

Or, at least, Kastle highly doubted it could, but hadn't actually thought to ask back then.

Then again… the humans had been very generous in allowing the use of their personal name and home… So maybe it was just a human thing…?

Malik had also had a unicorn mount, which Kastle hadn't known was even an option. Not that he would ever trade his own loyal steed for one. No sir! Vorjin was perfect the way he was!

Even in his most cocky moments after the two of them had just won a joust…

Vorjin knew when he had done a good job and he knew to be proud of it!

And Vorjin had taken the change and lack of jousting training and tournaments well and decided on his own to become a guard ram. These days Vorjin stayed on the outskirts of their group, ready to ram any wild beast getting too close to them, while Kastle ran around from one person to another, breaking up fights and helping where he could.

Kastle was proud of his buddy for finding his own place in this new world. And they still found time to spend together every day once the Exodus had made camp for the night.

And now their journey was - hopefully - coming to an end.

If it was the right place that was. Last week they had stumbled across a Small Town they thought was the budding dungeon town Malik had mentioned, only for them to realize it had no Dungeon at all.

Which was naturally a no go for most of them when it came to potentially settling down.

Still, they had all at least wanted to restock on some things and rest for the night in or near the Small Town before they continued.

But when they woke in the morning, one of their problems with integrating - for Kastle doubted it was the only one - was discovered.

They had a group of thieves and arsonists in their midst.

The sibling pair and their ringleader had claimed they were simply good at bartering when the gnomes around them had realized just how much new stuff they collected every time the Exodus found a new place to potentially settle down in. They had been believed.

But clearly their bartering skills had been a lie and now their anger at the world had been warped from simply thievery to arson.

At least it was the town hall and not someone's home.

One theft wouldn't have been enough for the three to get the death sentence. Nor was this one act of arson.

But now that the Exodus knew to look for it, the sheer amount of stolen goods had sealed their fate.

And a lot of what had been stolen was likely edible and thus long gone.

Naturally the Exodus had been outraged at the mere thought that this- that these three gnomes had been what stopped them from getting accepted in any of the Dungeon Towns they had visited.

The Ironthistle siblings and their leader Mawgrim Bramblehide had been dealt the hardest punishment the people who had been of Rivervale knew of: The Dungeon Retribution.

… Only… They didn't have a Dungeon to do it in…

Which was quite important for a Dungeon Retribution, as the criminals needed to reach the Core of a Dungeon alone and with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

They would naturally be guarded so they would actually attempt to reach the Core, but these guards couldn't and wouldn't help the criminal and even had the job of executing the criminal if they refused to even try.

And if the criminal miraculously reached the Core of the Dungeon without any starting weapons - they would of course pick up weapons and equipment on the way there from among their loot, but these items would be appropriate for the Floor rather than the wealth of the criminal - then the criminal was free of their charges by dungeon decree.

But only for those charges. Not any future ones.

So, this budding dungeon town being made by beastkin was not only a potential place for them to settle down but also a place for them to exact judgment on their criminals.

Either elves have joined the beastkin or taken over by force, or this is, once again, not the right place.

… Either way we'll find our place in the world.

… Someday. And we'll make do until then.

Getting back to the situation at hand, Kastle located and jumped up on this trusty steed Vorjin - as sitting on his ram had always made him feel more calm and in control of the situation - before taking the the front of the Exodus to greet the elf riding their own steed.

… Kastle had never been good at identifying the gender of people from the other species.

Hopefully this place has a Dungeon and is willing to accept us.

… Or at least tell us why not.

…

Is that too much to ask?

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As none of the gnomes had karma levels of 0%, I had at first decided to ignore them. They weren't a part of the cult that wanted to kill me, so I doubted they would be much trouble.

Then I heard them talk about me - through the ears of the Lightning Mage, of course.

The gnomes had three criminal prisoners with them. Prisoners they basically wanted to gift to me for my future tier ups.

I might not need it at the moment, but how can I say no to that!

…

Actually… How can I say 'yes, please, and thank you'?

Maybe through my 'dungeon mistress'?

Luckily, I didn't actually have to do anything, as the Lightning Mage was all too eager to have the gnomes enter my Dungeon. So eager in fact, that she sent me a request to have the allowed number of people increased temporarily to however high I would allow it to go, so she could test them for mind control.

None of them are a part of the cult, but I can't say whether or not there is someone among them being mind controlled by another source from here, I sent back to her. As for the amount of people allowed in my Dungeon: I would love to help, but I have to keep myself safe too. Can you tell me - just roughly - how powerful they seem to be?

The System-modified return reply stated that the majority of the gnomes seemed to be 3th and 4th tiers and that the most powerful among them seemed to be at the end of the 5th tier or the beginning of the 6th.

As the Lightning Mage, who was at the very end of the 6th tier, had for the most part been able to speed run through my Dungeon - due to having good enough karma to not activate my traps and with the exception of my unicorns due to her fear of them -, I couldn't be sure the same wouldn't be true for the most powerful of the gnomes.

After a bit more thought I allowed the number to be increased to 15 with the condition that at least three of them had to be the Lightning Mage and some members of the Security Guild. And that the gnomes, with the exception of the criminals meant to be killed by me and their guards, weren't allowed to enter the 2nd Floor before the number returned to normal.

If they did, I would have to assume they were hostile towards me and act accordingly.

With that decided and agreed upon - by both the gnomes and the Lightning Mage - the first 12 gnomes, where three of them were the prisoners, were escorted to my Dungeon Portal by my 'dungeon mistress' and a pair of deputies.