Iris and Godfrey were already moving when I made it down into the tavern part of the inn. The fire was going, and they were making food. Godfrey waved at me as he pounded out the bread that would be served in the morning.

Iris walked over to me with a twinkle in her eyes. “I heard that you left with the two men who had been trying to capture me. What happened?”

Godfrey waved me into the kitchen. “I too would like to hear about this?”

I laughed and sat down near the fire. “It was kind of simple. When I was in the guild’s house before I saw something that I thought was kind of dangerous. So I convinced the thugs to get the rest of their friends and go back to try to help me rob the place. They didn’t make it out alive.”

Iris gave me a strange look and asked. “So did you think the guards will let people leave today?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Good question. It depends on what they want to do about the merchants guild… Oh is there an orphanage here in the city?”

Godfrey sighed and shook his head. “There used to be one for several years. Then about three years ago a ship pulled into town and killed the people running it. Turned out that they were selling the kids to the crews. Well a few of the kids had gotten older and meaner and came back on that ship. So we haven’t had one sense.”

Iris smiled. “But with what happened yesterday many of the kids will be getting their moms back. I heard that there were puddles of gunk all over the place. One of the late night guards said he thinks that women who were acting off were flesh golems. Something happened last night and well they all broke.”

Godfrey nodded. “From what people told me there were two of lots of women. They got into arguments and then one of them melted right around midnight. The women that didn’t melt all looked badly. I think they were the ones that you helped to escape.”

I smiled. I was betting that when the dungeon took hold, that sudden burst of mana that I felt was the dungeon eating whatever it was, that was controlling the flesh golems. What I didn’t know was why they were doing all of this, but it didn’t really matter that much anymore.

I leaned back in the chair a bit and asked. “So with the thugs gone and the guild master down. I think things will be much smoother here. Oh and I think that someone needs to send a letter to the Adventurer’s guild and let them know they should open a branch office here.”

Godfrey perked up a little. “Oh and why’s that?”

I grinned. “Because it seemed like the merchant’s guild somehow had a dungeon growing in their building that grew quite a lot last night. I think it takes up the whole of that house now. I’m sure that we will hear about it today.”

Godfrey started to laugh. “Oh if that is so then our town might be saved from their clutches. Then again the guild handles much of the trade here so it might be rough for a while.”

About an hour later, I was sitting in the main room with Kasidy when a man yanked open the door. He was thin and wearing the tabard of Last Port. He was all smiles as he rushed to the back.

I heard him yell. “Uncle!”

A few minutes later, the boy went running back out. Then Godfrey came out of the back. He was grinning from ear to ear. He walked over and sat down with us.

Godfrey looked at me and shook his head. “I don’t know how you did what you did. But thank you. That was my nephew he is the town crier and knew of our problems but couldn’t help. He came to tell me that everyone is being told to stay away from the old merchant house. Turns out that it’s a dungeon now.”

He took a couple minutes to chuckle. “That means that they lost their charter since it was tied to that space and now have to reapply. More than that it means that the Count will be sending a letter asking the Adventurer’s guild to set up a chapter house here.”

He leaned back and looked at me. “The oddest part of the whole thing though is there is now a group of orphans staying in the east wing. People have seen them go in and out without problems but older people can’t go in. It says that it’s a dungeon crafting hall.”

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders a bit. “I guess things happened.”

Kasidy, who had been sitting next to me, was almost uncontained energy. I could tell that she had questions about what she had just heard, but she knew she couldn’t ask them. But she was giving me some odd looks like she knew what had happened. She likely did know since she knew I could start dungeons.

Godfrey looked behind him at his daughter. “Iris didn’t want to go. I tried to get her to leave on the last caravan. Now all she is talking about is going with you. Even this morning before you got up she was talking about you. But she doesn’t have to go now that the threats are gone. I don’t want her to go honestly.”

I nodded and smiled. “I get that if it were up to me she would stay. I just am not sure how to talk her into staying. I figured with Kasidy talking to her yesterday about how much we get attacked she wouldn’t want to come.”

Kasidy slumped down. “Well I thought so to but the more I talked about the fights and the near death the more she wanted to be near you.”

I tipped my mug to Godfrey and said. “You could always forbid her to come.”

He laughed dryly for a moment. “Iris is old enough that I couldn’t tell her to do something that she didn’t want to do. If I told her not to go she would just follow you if that was what she wanted.”

I sighed. “Yeah I figured that it would be that way. If I told her she would just tell me that you already paid and make me give everything back. Or she would just follow us anyway. Nope for her to stay she needed to make up her own mind.”

Godfrey smiled. “I think that you have held up your side of things so I am fine and even happy if you leave her here.”

With that, he got up and went back to work. I started to think about what I could do to get her to stay. I didn’t want to have to deal with her following me everywhere, but I couldn’t help but think that she was going to leave with me.

I looked over at Kasidy. “Any ideas on how we could get her to stay?”

Kasidy laughed. “Nope. You turned her down flat when she threw herself at you. Then you saved her and all those other women. She thinks that you are the most perfect man around. There’s nothing that we can say that will change that. So she is going to have to chose to not follow you on her own.”

I walked outside and looked down the road at the main gate. It was half past ten, and the gate was still closed. They had double guards on it, and there were even guards now walking from one building to the next, talking with people.

As I turned to walk back in, I noticed a bit of a shadow fall across the ground. I reached out across my bond and found that Blink was close by, about five feet away. I smiled and opened the door, and pointed in.

Once I got in, Blink thought to me. “Needs helps, Daddys.”

I pointed over to where Kasidy was sitting. “Let’s talk over there.”

We walked back toward the table, and I caught the eye of one of the servers. “3 lunches over there.”

The server nodded and went into the back.

I sat down, and Blink appeared. “Daddies not knows what to do.”

Kasidy jumped and screamed with Blink appeared. Which made both Blink and me laugh. It also drew the attention of everyone in the room. As people looked over Iris, saw Blink and came walking over.

Iris grabbed Blink’s hand and said. “I don’t know who you are but thank you!”

Blink shook her hand free from Iris and looked back at me. “Daddys who’s this?”

Iris’s eyes got really big as she looked at me. “Daddy?”

I leaned back and laughed. “Blink this is Iris. Iris this is Blink. Now Sweetie what was it that you needed.”

Blink got a really determined look and said. “Not knows hows help kids best. Theys not hunts good and needs food.”

I thought for a moment. “Yeah, they are safe but will be hungry if they can’t get food. They also need someone that can help them get connected with crafting jobs since they are living in a crafting hall.”

Blink nodded. “Not knows about crafts but foods.”

Kasidy smiled at me and said. “Blink I don’t think its something that you can fix. You need a local who could help arrange everything. Unless you are thinking of staying?”

Blink shook her head. “No good hunts heres. Goes with Daddys.”

Iris asked. “Which children?”

I answered before Blink got a chance. “There were some street kids that Blink made friends with. They have a place to stay but they need someone to help them out more than that.”

She asked. “Are they the ones staying near the dungeon?”

I nodded. Then it clicked she had heard what her cousin had said. Which meant that she knew about the crafter’s hall and all the kids.

Iris looked from Blink over to Kasidy. Then she looked at me, and I could see that she was coming up with something. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking about, but I could tell she thought she knew something.

Iris stood up and said. “I think I know how to help but please come to the back. All of you.”

We got up and moved into the back of the tavern. As we passed the main fire, Iris motioned for us to sit at the table. As we did, she walked into the family sleeping area, and then she came out holding Kasidy’s songbook.

She laid the book on the table. “I didn’t know what it was when I found it this morning. I think that it fell out of your bag yesterday while we were back here talking.”

She looked down at the ground and then over at Kasidy, who was shaking. “I read all of it. I couldn’t put it down. I know who you are and why I can’t come. I would get in the way, and I would slow you down. But I can help you here. I can serve you here.”

She looked at me and knelt down, and said. “I pledge my life to you, the Dungeon Lord. Please let me serve you in this town. I will care for the children that your daughter has taken in.”

She took a breath and bowed down lower, touching her head to the floor. “I think that your bard doesn’t see what you are. I know you are more than a Champion or the dungeon Lord. The things that you have done show that you are a god. So I pledge to server only you and to do what it is that you want.”

I shook my head and reached down, and pulled Iris up. I was glad that she wanted to stay now, upset that Kasidy had lost hold of the book and confused as to why anyone would think I was a god. Surely she knew that Kasidy busted my head open with a log.

I tried to look Iris in the eyes, but she was looking down. “First, thank you for watching after the children. I will see what I can do to help make that easier. Second, I am not a god so don’t go trying to tell people that. I might talk with a few but that doesn’t make me one. Next don’t tell anyone one that I am a Dungeon Lord.”

Iris gulped. “I told dad.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay lets head over there. I want to see what I can do to get you to help with this. I need you to know that it is dangerous for me right now so don’t go spreading this.”

* * *