The Dungeonless Voice

Ah, spring is in the air, no matter how winter tries to pretend otherwise. The early flowers are in full bloom, the birds are making their racket, and the beasts are venturing from their dens, not caring for the last desperate attempts of winter to maintain its hold on the land. It reminds me of an odd legend I've heard many times, of a dungeon behaving contrary to how winter is right now, a dungeon that saw the end coming.

Long ago, so long ago that the elven kingdom didn't exist, so long ago the dwarven holds were still being dug, so long ago our ancestors hadn't even found our wonderful wanderlands, dungeons still existed. Much like today, most were dangerous to those inside, without caring much about those outside. The details of the ancient dungeon always differ; what affinity was it, where was it, how old, and so on, but they all agree that it was what the Dungeoneers today would call cooperative. Some legends even say it was the first cooperative dungeon.

Nonsense, I say. The Dungeoneers weren't around at the time to give it such a label, no matter how accurate it may have been. I've even heard a kobold legend that the very first dungeon was cooperative, but it's a very different one from this dungeon. Anyway, the dungeon prospered for a time, getting delvers from nearby settlements, expanding, and generally doing what dungeons do. Unfortunately for it, people back then were no more enlightened than people today, and eventually the settlements nearby became ravaged by war.

Again, the details vary. Some say it was the foundation of the elven kingdom being set in blood, some say it was simply tribal squabbling that went a bit further than usual, some even say it was we orcs who raided the settlements! Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was some ancient ancestor of ours. Often the only real difference between nomads and raiders is how they're feeling at the moment.

Anyway, back to the dungeon. It had never created any enclaves, since it had plenty of outside delvers. It just never felt the need. So when the delvers stopped delving, the dungeon suddenly had a mana problem. It tried a few hostile expeditions to gather mana by force, but the war or raids had removed practically everything nearby of interest to a dungeon!

It would die, wither away from upkeep or be sucked empty by invaders. While it certainly wasn't happy about that fact, it could see it had little other option. But it also saw that it didn't need to bring its scions down with it. But no scion would willingly abandon its dungeon, right? And what dungeon would sever the connection to one of its scions? I once asked a Dungeoneer about just such a thing, and while they refused to elaborate how they knew, they said a severed scion becomes an invader to the dungeon. It might not immediately turn hostile, but a dungeon is designed to be inhospitable at best to invaders, no matter their attitude.

So what was the dying dungeon to do? Well, it decided to be clever. It sent its scions out on expedition. Once they were far enough away, it apologized that it couldn't do more for them, and dropped its defenses. The scions tried to return, tried to defend their dungeon, but invaders can strip a dungeon without defenses very quickly. Their dungeon died, and the scions lived. But now they had no direction.

One of the scions simply collapsed, not wanting to continue without the dungeon. One went mad and ravaged what was left of the countryside. But the Voice understood what the dungeon had done. That's a Voice's job, after all: to understand. It mourned the loss, but accepted the dungeon's reasoning for doing what it did.

And so the Dungeonless Voice wandered, spreading the tale of its former home to any who would listen. I like to think any legend with a cloaked figure, giving cryptic advice is that Voice. I also like to think that, though it may not have been part of the first cooperative dungeon, it may have been the first bard. It would be quite the fitting origin for a class like mine, so focused on spreading tales and advice while always seeking a closer look at the horizon.

~Onthar, Orc Bard Historian

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Inspired by 13BL00D13ANE, who wanted to know if scions could break away from their dungeons.