“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” ― Rudyard Kipling,

  News since my last inspection, huh? Well, probably simplest to give a quick recap...

  I had Orentha go through the rundown for me. **Well, let’s see. The last inspector – Norfoth Flintriver, not sure if you’ve met – left Hakdrilda with me, as you know, about a month ago, and I’ve been helping her with her research off and on since then. She’s already given you the overview, I’m sure. In exchange, she’s helped me out with a few blueprints as well as helping me determine some of what I can do with air magic, specifically.

  The priests for the Church of All Dungeons arrived more or less exactly when he departed. They were here for a couple of days and helped me out with some insight into dungeons generally, their god specifically, and some general pointers towards my divine patron. Again, no name or specific details, but some confirmation that the deity is linked to a void affinity and dwarves – with a general suggestion that she belongs to the pantheon of the original residents of the sky island. My own research into the occupation of the island suggests that was over 50,000 years ago, and I tend to doubt she’s still actively worshipped – at least on Relnis. They also got me hooked up with the entry shrine, as I’m sure you noticed.

  We had some goblins return, but they didn’t stay long or get far before retreating. I sort of doubt they’ll be back any time soon.

  The first scout for the Redcrests arrived more or less with the priests, but all he could tell me was that they’d received a divination that they should move here, while retreating from invaders into their original territory. Orentha and a senior delegation arrived a few days later, and once we’d worked that out, the main body of her people turned up about 3 weeks ago.

  A few days after that, I had a visit from a senior archivist from the Talendra academy who doubles as a priestess for the Goddess of Knowledge, Almeidra. I’ve been reproducing works from my old world, which apparently drew their interest. They’ve set up a deal with me where I can trade knowledge from my old world for access to their archive. That’s where the reader you brought me comes in, as I assume you’ve figured out.

  I’ve been busily finishing the second floor (and now starting the third) while I continue to expand both on the surface and below ground. I’ve been exploring towards the center of the sky island in pursuit of my divine quest, which I currently expect involves preventing the sky island from crashing into a mountain in 15 years or so. That’s not confirmed, really, but that’s what I’ve gathered from some hints in my quest lines and my research in the archives.

  That led me to finding an abandoned gnomish settlement, and along with that something that concerned me enough to reach out to Almeidra, who apparently got Zymther to send Sir Milback to help.

  I’ve also encountered a number of other interesting things, including some important indications of the original residents of the sky island – some of which I’m keeping under wraps for general security reasons (some of that is locked behind the door yonder and some down the way I brought Sir Milback). I don’t get the sense that it’s really safe to let normal adventurers at that stuff, at least for the time being – so it’ll remain locked away.

  I’m planning to make the third floor over into a scaled-up version of the gnomish settlement (or at least part of it) - though obviously, I’m not going to replicate the part that concerned Sir Milback. I haven’t gotten very far yet, though. Mostly I’ve just roughed out some general spaces.

  Oh, and I moved my core to a concealed location on the second floor – which I expect you guessed. Nothing there but my core and some books at the moment, though. And that’s where I’m putting the reader you brought me.

  Let’s see, what else... All that activity had the dragon visit me again – her name’s Mayphesselth (or at least that’s what she goes by) - mostly she wanted to keep tabs on what’s going on since the island is basically hers. She seems largely unconcerned by short term visitors as long as they don’t pester her, but the Redcrests and Hakdrilda needed to work out a deal, given their longer stay.

  And I guess, the last thing is that my subterranean explorations have turned up some other tunnels and caverns that I haven’t gotten very far in exploring. Most notably, I had to come to something of an understanding with a Lesser Deep Dracolisk. Nothing for you to worry about, though. He’d need to burrow through meters of dungeon-reinforced stone to get to the main dungeon area – or I guess come to the surface and come in the main door. Pretty sure the dragon would get him if he did that, though – she didn’t sound happy to hear about him.**

  Orentha took a long drink of water from her waterskin to recover from the somewhat long-winded recounting.

  Shuzug mostly just looked like he didn’t know what to make of all that.

  Finally, he just shook his head ruefully. “You’re a very strange dungeon. You understand that, right? The priests were expected, and the goblins are pretty normal. Hakdrilda setting up shop here is a bit unusual, but a tribe of avian refugees, a librarian, a dragon, work for a paladin and a ‘dracolisk you’ve come to an understanding with’? All within three months of your creation? That’s all very strange, and if I didn’t know you had a divine mission, I’d probably assume you were lying to me. The work of the gods is frequently beyond mortal comprehension, though, and from what I understand can cause this sort of odd confluence of events. I don’t think I envy you, really, but I wish you the best. And that you’re clearly keeping other things from me is even more concerning – given what you’ve already told me, the fact that there’s stuff you think isn’t safe to share is, to put it politely, concerning.”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  He blew out a deep breath. “I’ll put the parts you’ve shared into the classified portions of my report. That SHOULD keep them out of general circulation but will keep my fellow inspectors and senior government officials more or less apprised of what’s going on here.”

  He inhaled another deep breath before continuing. “We did want to talk to you about the dragon. Mayphesselth was at the top of our list of candidates, in trying to establish the identity of the dragon. From historical research, she seemed the most likely dragon to have driven off the final Aubesan settlers some 300 odd years ago. We haven’t heard much from her since, though since you’re on a sky island, it’s entirely possible she’s had more interaction with other continents. We probably wouldn’t have heard, if that was the case. That means the two of you are the best-informed sources we have with regard to the dragon. Obviously, we don’t want to pry unduly, but if you have anything you can tell us about her, that would be very helpful. I will note that anything you say will be limited to the classified section of the report, unless there are things the dragon specifically wants to warn us about.”

  Orentha pondered that for a moment before responding, a bit nervously. “I’m not sure how much she wants us to share, so I’ll be a bit vague. As a landlord, she’s absolutely terrifying, but has been actually quite fair. We didn’t try to haggle with her or anything, but her demands weren’t unreasonable. Basically, she’s allowing Sylvanus to take us in on a probationary basis. She basically said she considers us refugees and isn’t going to place demands on us until the spring. At that point, if we decide to stay, we’ll need to provide her with some compensation in the form of service. Nothing we would object to, though. No slavery, no sacrifices, no outlandish donations to her hoard, or the like.”

  Shuzug nodded in understanding. “Good to know. I doubt that she has any need for slaves or sacrifices, and there’s been no historical reference to the nature of her hoard. I assume she has one, because they all seem to, but they’re pretty variable in what they’re reported to collect. And how about you, Sylvanus,” he said, looking askance at my mana lights, “What’s your take on the resident dragon?”

  I chose my words carefully. I wasn’t going to bet that she was incapable of monitoring our conversation if she wanted to. **My general sense is that she’s not particularly happy that I’m here, but as long as I don’t cause her any active problems, she won’t risk crossing my as-yet-unknown divine patron. Her requests seem reasonable enough, and mostly I think she makes them to establish her authority over the island rather than out of any need for what we can offer. She doesn’t seem to care much about the limited, short-term visitors I’ve been getting, but anyone looking to stay longer than a few days should be prepared for her to visit and force them to come to terms. Both Hakdrilda and the Redcrests had to negotiate permission, for instance.**

  Shuzug shrugged. “Sounds like the best-case scenario, basically. Has she laid down any specific rules for you to follow or for the adventurers who will come to visit?”

  **For me? Well, I should expand down, rather than up. And I should avoid placing draconic-style monsters bigger than the cave wyverns, or any monsters too gross to deal with if she has to intervene. Otherwise, I think the idea is basically to keep adventurers away from her or from doing anything too destructive.**

  Shuzug grinned at that. “I’d say no one is likely to try to annoy the dragon, but I’m afraid we have more than our share of glory-hungry idiots. I’ll try to actively discourage it. Fortunately, most adventurers that dumb lack the planning ability necessary to get here.”

  Orentha snorted at that. “I know the type. One of the few upsides of our recent struggle was to weed out the foolhardiest sorts who might have considered that sort of behavior. Everyone left has a strong sense of self-preservation and a realistic sense of what they’re capable of.” She winced a bit at the callousness of that assessment, but I could tell she had some specific individuals in mind.

  Shuzug conceded that point silently and moved on to other topics. “What understanding did you come to with the dracolisk? They’re not exactly known to be easy to negotiate with.”

  Orentha seemed a bit startled at my response. **We came to the understanding that if he ignores me, I’ll ignore him. And that if he doesn’t, I’ll put him down like a mad dog.**

  Shuzug sat up straight at that. “You can do that? And he believes that you can?”

  **Yes.** I didn’t elaborate, and I think he could tell that I didn’t intend to.

  “O-o-kay. Duly noted.” Shuzug looked curious, but Orentha just shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I have no idea what means he has to kill a dracolisk. We’re already trusting him to begin with, so I’m just going to chalk this up to us needing to stay in his good graces even more than I’d thought.”

  Shuzug paused. “Fair.” He visibly reoriented himself. “Can I ask what kind of arrangement you made with the Archives of the Goddess Almeidra?”

  I had no particular problem with sharing those details. **Sure, that’s fine. It shouldn’t really impact adventurers, really, but in exchange for sharing works from my old world, I am gaining access to research materials from the archives. Some of that might help me develop faster or give me ideas for ways to build out the dungeon, but mostly I intend to use it to help me pursue my divine mission.**

  Shuzug seemed accepting of that. “I’m sure that makes you potentially more dangerous, but as you seem willing to maintain practically acceptable danger levels, I’ll simply note that for our files. Do let us know if there’s anything we can do to assist you with your mission. It’s exceedingly rare for sapient dungeons to issue quests to the guild, but not wholly unprecedented. Historically speaking, they tend to get an immediate and enthusiastic response, since they tend to serve important functions AND be paid well.”

  Now that was an interesting concept. I had no idea how that might work, or why I might want to do that, but it was good to know, and I followed up by inquiring as to how that was done.

  Shuzug shook his head, not in a negative sort of way, but more of an ambivalent thing. “It’ll be tricky for you, at least unless you get some form of long-distance communication. You’d either need to pass a message along from a current visitor, or I’d guess that new reader we brought you might enable you to pass a message through a third party. If it’s desperate enough, you could try contacting either the Church of the God of All Dungeons or the goddess Almeidra (or eventually your own patron) and have them relay it through a priest or paladin. Obviously, you don’t want to impose on a deity unless you’re sure it’s necessary.”

  Yeah, I could see how using gods as a messenger service would be frowned upon. That reminded me that I really ought to express my thanks to Almeidra for her assistance once I had the free time to devote to the purpose.

  **Understood. I don’t have any immediate ideas that would require or even benefit from external assistance at the moment, but I will keep that in mind.**

  Shuzug smiled. “That’s how it works. You work with us, within established limits, and we’ll return the favor. Most adventurers have dungeons they particularly favor, and sapient dungeons are usually particularly valued. Especially among more experienced delvers, dungeons that aren’t especially bloodthirsty, that tend to have rewards customized to their visitors, and that change things up enough to maintain a challenge and a sense of interest are ones that we keep coming back to.”

  He shared a look with Sir Milback. “And with the speed at which you’ve been growing and the built in periodicity of your appearances, you’re likely to find the same parties revisiting you every time you complete a circuit. Just to see what all has changed. You’re less likely to grow a permanent settlement focused on delvers than most for the same reason, but that’ll just make you a perennial novelty. Once word starts to really get out, anyways, and among those who can manage to access you in the first place.”

  “But that’s a concern for later visits. Shall we get down to discussing which things you may want to change, which things you should keep or expand on, and what you might want to do next?”