A interesting ambassador

The drows had arrived. As soon as I got that message and switched over to my Dungeon Lord perspective and zoomed outside to take a look. This time they approached in an openly visible and unhurried way. This gave me the time to make out some details. The group consisted of 10 people. 9 of them were clothed like the three in the past, tight leather armor with chitin plates on on arms, legs and chest. Some of them had bows while others carried supplies on their backs. But all of them had swords and some daggers.

Seems like that is their uniform military equipment?

I mused in silence before taking a close look at the tenth person. From the figure I assumed it would be a male. Unlike the others he wore a robe though also black in color. But not one of those bulky things. It was simple, nearly without any decorations except some on his shoulders. His only weapon seemed to be a slender staff also of black color with blue runes that had been carved and painted on. Besides that he only wore something that resembled a knapsack.

Hmmh they do not look as if they were carrying goods for trade.

It did worry me a bit that they were only approaching with people and no wares. But for now there was no use to worry. I instructed one of the more intelligent spiders to guide the new guests through the labyrinth and to the goblin home.

"Goblins! The drow are paying us a visit so make sure to behave. Call the other goblin leaders. It is better to meet them with everyone. "(Me)

Not that they could do anything as long as they don't understand their language but maybe i'll have tasks or questions for them.

I watched as the goblins went into preparations and I got myself seated in a better position with more space. The goblin leaders were pretty swift to gather and we awaited the drow like this. Soon enough they were led in by the spider and approached our group.

"I was pretty surprised! To think your dungeon grew this much while we were on our way. Most splendid."(Gulagh)

The drow seemed to be delighted at this new development. We quickly had some obligatory polite phrases before we sat down again. It seemed like they were just as eager as I was to get down to business. Of course they also greeted Vierna but that was more of the silent acknowledgement type.

"I should give you a little explanation. I returned to one of our outposts that is the closes to this place and reported to my superiors. They sent the honorable Kalannar Khalazza as the one that will be in charge of negotiation from now on. "(Gulagh)

On his words the robed figure bowed his head slightly and actually took of his mask before he spoke. His features were much more rough than what I had seen in the other Drow so far. The edges were a lot shaper and gave his whole face a predatory feeling that was even reinforced by the veins of the curse and the red eyes. There were also a lot of scars visible. He must have seen plenty of battle.

"As Gulagh has described it correctly, I am Kalannar Khalazza, elder of the inner circle and chosen to be an ambassador of kind for now. That is until we have reached an understanding. "(Kalannar )

At his words I tilted my head slightly and scratched my chin as I pondered the best reply for a moment.

"I thought we had talked about the important things already? From what I was told you desire resources and war potential, while we need tools and knowledge. "(Me)

On my words the drow smiled and nodded slightly before he went on.

"Oh it seems I phrased my words slightly wrong. What I meant was that after listening to Gulagh´s report i had a feeling that the elders were underestimating the potential of your persona. They wanted to establish a simple monthly trade route to reach here. "(Kalannar)

"And you think otherwise?"(Me)

I could not help myself but feel amused, I was not sure if this was internal Drow politics or just normal procedure but for now that was not important either.

"Indeed so and it seems I was right. Comparing the reports to the actual place shows a large improvement. May i inquire about the specific arrangements?"(Kalannar )

So we took some time to talk through the new additions of fields and what we were harvesting so far. Here and there Vierna put in an additional remark about some things that had not seemed important to me but it seemed Kalannar was very interested in her words as well.

"Yes it was indeed as I thought. A dungeon with an actual ego operates much faster than one without. With a normal monthly trade route we would have been unable to properly receive the resources you provide."(Kalannar )

He elaborated on the specifics and from what I understood the so called normal trade routes were more the kind of covert operations that transported not a lot of goods. It seems they really did think that it would take a long time until I actually produced enough to warrant some extensive transportation methods.

"Well then, now that this is clear how do you wish to proceed?"(Me)

Over the course of the talk I had grown quite interested in the Drow as it seemed like he had some plan already formulated and he did indeed not disappoint me.

"Since it has come to this the risk I took was well worth it."(Kalannar )

On his words he took down his knapsack and pulled out 5 objects that were wrapped in cushioning. Once those wraps were taken of I could actually feel a strong concentrations of mana emanate from the revealed content.

Woa… what are those things?

They were crystals. Mana crystals, but very unlike the ones my dungeon had produced so far. The concentration of mana inside them was far higher and felt very strange. It was no element I had felt so far. Kalannar had actually observed my reaction and seemed amused by my curiousity.

"These are high quality spatial mana crystals. This will be the first proposal and trade proposal from my side actually."(Kalannar )

"You want to give me those ?"(Me)

On my words Kalannar laughed out loud and shook his head upon my doubtful question.

"No that is indeed out of question for now. Spatial crystals of this quality are rare and an important war asset. No what I propose is to set up a transportation circle inside your dungeon. Through this we will be able to move a lot more wares and if needed personnel."(Kalannar )

Hoh! Teleportation huh? That is indeed some neat stuff. No wonder that he was so cautious about it. Well then where will this go to.

"The only complication of this is, that to make set up an array that with enough size to make it interesting will require your help. The first activation of such a teleportation seal needs an enormous amount of mana. Also each use as well needs a high amount from a non dungeon perspective. Since we are profiting both from this but it is a lot easier for you to provide the mana I propose that your side will provide the mana and we will reimburse this through material objects of your choosing as long as the value is comparable. "(Kalannar )

Hmmm well that sounds like a reasonable request. It will reduce the risk of trade routes being observed and followed by enemies. Currently I have still a good few of empty blocks that simply provide mana. Over the past week I also saved up plenty of mana.

"That sounds acceptable for me. How much mana will the first activation require?"(Me)

"About that I am not sure how much it is in dungeon mana. We will have to see about it once the seal is completed."(Kalannar )

"Hmm well that is understandable as well. It sounds fine so far. Then before we go on how about we conclude this first deal and set up this thing? Otherwise if complications arise we will have negotiated for nothing."(Me)

We both agreed on this matter and I quickly went to set up a block of its own for this. It would be the one in the lower right corner of the second floor to keep a bit of distance from each other. I made a large room which would be the transportation area, from this place i made some tunnels branch out that led to store rooms and personal ones. Another one led to the goblin home directly. I had the goblin leaders guide the Drow to this place and they went right about inspecting the place while Kalannar with two others went about carefully engraving a complex pattern into the floor. It was a spell circle that surrounded a free space of around 10m in diameter, but with too many intricate designs which I was not able to make heads or tails of. After I was done with some more adjustments I switched back to my avatar and walked into the newly made cave.

"Will this suite your purposes?"(Me)

On my arrival the goblins bowed again and even. Gulagh returned just then from one of the tunnels.

"This Is perfect for a beginning. With some materials from our place it will be comfortable as well!"(Gulagh)

He seemed to be somewhat hyped up right now and laughed heartily while Kalannar sighed and retorted him.

"We can´t use the teleportation magic for something as trivial as that. Unless you find a way to pay for the mana cost yourself. "(Kalannar)

Those words seemed to slump Gulagh a slight bit but he caught himself quickly, seemingly already pondering over what he should do about that. After that Kalannar focused for a while longer on the circle before he returned to us.

"With this we are ready for a try."(Kalannar)

"It is already done ?"(Me)

I could not help myself but as in a doubting tone as I looked towards the complex circle. It had taken some time but it seemed to be kind of short for such a important thing.

"There should be no problem. After all I have been acting on this profession for 200 years now"(Kalannar)

For some reason those words annoy me to the bone!

For now I gave a noncommittal grunt and waited to see what was going to happen as the Drow begun to activate the seal. They were talking in some kind of cryptic code which I could not make any sense of and simply watched what was happening. The engravings on the floor begun to glow. It spread out slowly along the lines in response to their muttered phrases and soon it was pulsating rhythmically.

There is an attempt to open a spatial

corridor inside your territory.

You can prevent it or allow it.

Yeah for now allow it.

The creator of the seal is requesting your assistance.

If you wish you can supplement the needed mana.

This will cost you

100.000 Mana

For the first time and

10.000 Mana

on each further use

Woa, that is a hefty price. Now wonder that they are careful about how they go on using those teleports. Guess without a dungeon on one end of the line they would use it rarely.

Yeah support it.

Right away I felt the drain on my mana reserves. Even now for that much mana I would need to have a block collect it for 100 hours.

Well this better be worth it. Ah they seem to be done.

The circle gave of a last, intense glow which I assumed was my mana rushing in before it settled down again and the assistants slumped to the floor seemingly quite tired. In complete contrast to that was Kalannar.

"Hmpf, you guys still have a long way to go. Well then with that out of the way it is time now to talk about the completion of the trade. How much of your Mana are we actually expending here? It is quite hard to assess a dungeons capacities. "(Kalannar)

I told him about the rough outline on what it took and he slowly nodded in thought.

"Well it is expensive even for a dungeon it seems. But it was a great help. Now aside from the trades we can do now. There is still the matter of compensation for the Mana. IF i may, I think I have an interesting proposal for you. "(Kalannar )

"Oh? Well then let me hear about that."(Me)

"From what i heard on your request in trade it seems you are lacking in knowledge and skills. I currently hold a few Grimoires in my personal asset. I propose to offer you my Grimoire of alchemy. "(Kalannar )

On his word the other drow that had been silently conversing amongst themselves seemed to be actually stunned. Which made me rather curious about this matter.

"I have never heard of such things. What is it good for ?"(Me)

"Basically it will transfer all the knowledge inside it into your mind. This particular Grimoire was made by an expert of our race and contains many valuable informations. "(Kalannar)

"That sounds a lot like a skill purchase. Those didn't seem to be that useful."(Me)

Kalannar laughed at my words and nodded repeatedly as he elaborated.

"Yes it seems you understood the problem with skill purchases. But Girmoires are this valuable because they actually give you the memory of the maker as if you had found everything out by yourself. Another reason is that it will work only one time and even the best experts need a year at least to create one like that. This is why I would opt to compensate the initial mana and… 10 further uses. "(Kalannar)

I felt my sight shift to the drow that had found their composure again. From what I had seen on their reactions it seemed to be worth much more than that.

Is this the carrot then dangling in front of me? Well not that I am going to reject the proposal but this is somewhat bothering me.

I looked at Kalannar as if I was pondering about it before I pointed towards the prepared caves.

"An interesting proposal indeed, how about we elaborate on it a bit more in private. There is also the matter of the other wares to be traded so we have plenty to talk about. "(Me)

Kalannar the Drow seemed slightly surprised at my answer but still agreed to it. I instructed the goblins meanwhile to have all the saved up resources be brought over to this place. Once that was taken care of the two of us settled into one of the more isolated caves where we would not be overheard easily.

"Well then, I detest political fooling around. How about you tell me straight up where the catch in this lies for you."(Me)

Kalannar tilted his head slightly startled at my words and after a moment folded his arms in front of his chest´. He gave me a thoughtful look before sighed and answered.

"It seems your ego is indeed well developed. I guess it will be more beneficial to us both if we cooperate to the fullest."(Kalannar )

The air grew suddenly tense between us. His whole posture changed to a sharper one, straight like an arrow and his eyes had a certain glint to them that showed a strong determination.

"I would appreciate it. " (Me)

"Before we start though, what tipped you off?"(Kalannar )

"A couple of things, for one that your rank 'elder of the inner circle' sounds a bit too important to be made into an ambassador for a yound dungeon. You also offered a precious item that will let us produce interesting items. You want this place to grow quicker, even on your own expense. "(Me)

I summarized what had bothered me about it and he paid close attention to it. Though he seemed to be a bit relieved about it which only made me even more curious about it.

"It is good to see that your intelligence is indeed as well progressed as Gulagh has reported. I had hoped for it because what I need now is a partner. Preferably one that will soon play a central role for my people. "(Kalannar )

I felt my frown grow deeper at those words.

This better not pull me into any internal problems.

"Ah… games of influence is it?"(Me)

"Haha you could say it that way. My family has recently taken a great loss of influence. The whole plan to invest into dungeons was also my idea and your elimination of our Horde Mothers gave it a great slap. Though from what I see here it was a lot better for you to grow like this. As you phrased it before, my 'catch' is for you to become an important provider of resources for us. The other elders did not believe in this chance but once people realize that they were entirely wrong about it my own standing will rise. "(Kalannar )

So he basically needs to earn merits. If the idea, that was dismissed as useless by the other elders, actually bears fruit well beyond even the most optimistic estimates then his standing will rise while the others judgement will be scrutinized.

"Won't the other elders try to sabotage this place then if your popularity rises too high? Or try to replace you as ambassador? Something like that ?"(Me)

That is the biggest issue. If I become a thorn in someone's side they might want to dispose of me.

At those questions Kalannar actually gave a bitter laugh.

"No, to your advantage we are currently indeed in a very dire position. Even if they wanted to mess with this place it would be impossible. After all if this place truly becomes a major fountain of resources, any messing with it would be like cutting our own throats. We all know that. As for your other question. They could indeed replace me if the dungeon becomes a place of high importance. But this is where I hope for a relation of mutual benefit for us both."(Kalannar )

Their situation must be indeed a lot more intense than I had thought so far.

"Hooh? That means you want us to form a personal alliance? Alliances are always built on mutual benefit. So what would be mine? Also do not think I have not seen your plan with the alchemy Grimoire. If we produce such things here and ship them over ready for use to you it will be to your benefit."(Me)

"Of course you are right about that. Though it is still an attractive offer is it not?"(Kalannar )

I can´t stand that smug smile of his. But he is right, if alchemy is as useful as i hope it would be a major boon. Still not enough.

"Yes it is plenty for the fee of transport as you proposed. But you must have something else in mind. "(Me)

"Haha indeed… For one I will personally teach you in whatever magic´s you desire. In that point it was a relieve to see you so eager to gain knowledge in these areas. My class is Wizard. As such I am well versed in many schools. Apart from that I will make sure that you receive fitting compensation for your wares and I will arrange for any way that is within my power to help you grow in size and strength. "(Kalannar )

Hmm that sounds good, not that others could not offer similar things. But it will be better to have an ally with someone who relies on me than one that came in later.

For a while we talked about the matters. What was interesting is that his class is one of the jack of all trades classes. He knows a whole bunch of magics from simple elemental ones to more obscure types. The downside was that he has to change his mana composition repeatedly for their uses so the quality of each magic skill suffers a bit. But that was just perfect for the role as a teacher anyway. Some of the skills he mentioned had me drooling right away. It seems a very long live does indeed have a lot of merits to it. From what I understood he was already a wizard before the war with the High Elves. After we were done with that we negotiated for a while about the trade on resources this time as well and finally came to an agreement. He even mentioned he had some surprises for me in celebration of our alliance.