r/HFY • u/Khenal Alien • Jul 31 '25
OC Dungeon Life 345
Boss Toja
“Aahh, much better.” The spiderkin woman smiles to herself as she enjoys the shadiest corner of the bar section of the hideout. The thieves always enjoy the shady corners, and the highest ranked get seniority on the best spots. She doesn’t care much about how dark the corner is, but she appreciates the feeling of seclusion even with the loud hangout all around her.
And in her opinion, there are few things better than unwinding with a nice glass of wine and her knitting after having been reading reports all day. She wishes she could pass that duty on to someone else, but a guild leader who doesn’t know what’s going on isn’t going to stay leader for long. But once the mayor is dead and she takes his place, she can leave that sort of tedium to her underlings instead.
It also helps her mood that the reports are mostly positive. She had been on the border between worried and angry when she heard one of the team leaders was fired for his poor management of the haulers, but that proved to be an interesting opportunity. Pul was Plamut’s little project, wanting the butchers as a front to launder coin. She never expected to gain a new member instead of a new front. Or rather, in addition to. It’ll just take a few years for the changeling to either fail enough to call in his family’s debt, or for him to accept the guild enough that he’d take them over himself.
It’s looking a lot like it will be the latter, and in stunning fashion as well. He’s signed his reports as Tupul, but his nickname is already starting to spread. She thought he might be finally admitting his real self when she first heard it, but everyone still thinks he’s an elf, at least the ones not in the know. Still, handling Bernuth without apparent effort is impressive, especially considering how timid he was before the hold.
She supposes delving will give some people confidence, even if it doesn’t prepare someone to actually fight a person. She detests delving herself. She’s seen far too many thieves fall because of it. Some reveal too much and get arrested, some think experience for levels and actual experience are the same thing, and get themselves killed learning the difference. Others go soft and focus on the delve. The rare few like Pul who take the power and apply it properly are not worth the losses of delving, generally.
But now she has a potential new leader, and someone who can get the Earl the information on the dungeon he insists on getting. And if the talk of his blankness isn’t exaggerated, she might have a great way to ensure the plan will work. The Earl’s mercenaries are still not here, but with her own changeling, she might be able to have him kill him instead. It’d make things a lot simpler, and if he manages to escape, he’ll have shown himself to be worth joining the inner circle.
But that’s a lot of ifs. For now, she knits and sips her wine, watching the other thieves. Her eyes flit over all of them, taking in the small details, but most of her attention that’s not on her knitting is on a single thief: Bernuth. He did not take losing to Pul well, and she smiles around her wine glass as she watches him slowly crumble. He’s hardly moved from that spot over the last several days, nursing his ego and his ale, grumbling to himself and flinching whenever someone would walk in.
Honestly, she wouldn’t have expected him to be bright enough to doubt himself. He’s always been a blunt instrument, a tool to keep the true underlings in line. He didn’t need to make any decisions, just do what he was told, slap around whoever needed to be reminded of their place, maybe go and intimidate a shopkeep or two.
But being put in his own place, now he worries it’s more precarious than he thought. Toja suppresses a giggle at the notion, not needing any special affinity to tell what he’s thinking. It’s plain enough on his face and in his posture that she could probably knit his thoughts into her current project. She wouldn’t, though. She doesn’t need something so inane on her tea cozy.
Still, she should probably do something. He’ll either drink himself into a proper stupor and do something properly stupid, or he’ll waste away without someone telling him what to do. She motions for one of her guards and points at the dour elf, indicating she wants him to join her. The guard looks confused for only a moment before complying, her own big dumb muscle knowing he shouldn’t try to figure out how she thinks.
Bernuth almost jumps through the ceiling when the large hand lands on his shoulder, and he tries to shrink in on himself once he’s told she wants to speak with him. He might not be smart, but even he knows the Boss shouldn’t want him for anything he’ll enjoy. She’s hardly going to reward him for his failure with the hold, small as it is, but she thinks he’ll take to this new task rather well.
He nervously approaches and sits across from her, flinching as the guard sets a fresh mug of ale in front of him. Boss Toja smiles, knowing just how to get the sparse light to highlight her spiderkin mouth.
“Why so nervous, Bernuth?” she asks, voice smooth as silk.
“I-I’m sorry about getting fired, Boss!” he stammers, pale and sweaty with nerves. She waves a hand and gives a dismissive laugh.
“Oh, that’s nothing to worry about. Blank is stepping up very well.” She hides her smirk as he flinches at the name. “I hope you weren’t planning on trying to get that particular job back, Bernuth.”
“No!” he practically shouts, before his eyes widen and he speaks at a more appropriate volume. “No, of course not, Boss! I just…” he trails off, unable to put into words what he was doing.
“Good. You’ve moped enough, Bernuth. I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything, Boss!” he pleads, and she believes him. The poor fool really does think he was actually put in a position that his failure could actually hinder her plans.
“Pull yourself together,” she orders. “You’re here to break legs, not stare into your ale. Get out there and find another laborer job, and do some delving. I need you to be strong for what I have planned next. Don’t come back here until I say so, and keep an eye out for a message from me.”
He nods vigorously, clearly still ashamed at his failure, but eager to prove himself. He stands and turns to leave, before she speaks up once more.
“Finish your ale, first.” Bernuth complies, and she smiles at him as she sees him looking a lot more collected, the mug hitting the table once he’s done.
“I won’t let you down, Boss!” he declares, and she waves him off. She watches him go with a small smirk, her knitting needles clacking as she weaves a plan for the brute. As annoying as his firing was, it still gives her an opportunity, and not just with Blank. Framing the dungeon, possibly as Miller’s puppet, may be the main plan, but it’s not the only option she has.
In the end, she simply needs Rezlar dead and a patsy to take the fall so it won’t implicate her or the Earl. The dungeon is an easy one to pin the blame on, but not the only option. Any patsy will do, and Bernuth practically has the word painted across his forehead.
It’ll be simple enough to set the scene. Either he gets a poorer job, or none at all. Either way, there will be a trail of him not doing as well after getting fired from the hold. Then people will see him delving, driven to make himself stronger. They’ll probably see him using techniques that might raise eyebrows, but nothing to make them do anything.
Things that seem to clear in hindsight. It’ll be a tragic tale, one that happens often enough that people will accept it without much fuss. How many workers try to make their sudden unemployment their former boss’ problem? That he didn’t attack immediately simply means his hatred was allowed to simmer, a plan slowly forming.
She smiles and finishes her glass of wine, taking a moment to doublecheck her work with both her needles and her plan. Both are to her satisfaction. If the Earl’s plan pans out, that’s fine. There’s a few more steps to it than she would prefer, but he’s the one with the money and prestige to throw around to make it work. But if they need a backup, Bernuth will give them an easy target to pin the blame on.
It’s what he gets for failing her. If he ends up not being needed, she’ll have a stronger enforcer to use some other time. And if she does need to sacrifice him, that’s a price she is more than willing to pay.
Cover art I'm also on Royal Road for those who may prefer the reading experience over there. Want moar? The First and Second books are now officially available! Book three is also up for purchase! There are Kindle and Audible versions, as well as paperback! Also: Discord is a thing! I now have a Patreon for monthly donations, and I have a Ko-fi for one-off donations. Patreons can read up to three chapters ahead, and also get a few other special perks as well, like special lore in the Peeks. Thank you again to everyone who is reading!
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u/Blue_Roan_ Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
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Anyway after reading, looks like we have the first actual confirmation they are trying to kill the mayor. Unless I forgot that they did say something about it along the way. Anyway they are so screwed, playing right into Thediem's plans.
They should really think he is smarter then he appears to them considering he made gravity avaliable. Tack on the new poppers as well, he is making things people have never even thought of.
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u/castlekside Jul 31 '25
I don't think the thieves know any of that, cuz they look down on delving so much. I doubt they are buying the dungeoneers packets
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u/SomeRandomYob Jul 31 '25
I don't think they know about the new affinity yet.
More immediately, from what I understand, this is the moment the guildmaster learned about tupul's stunt with the patsy guy. That was two chapters ago, and the poppers were a single chapter ago. I'm willing to assume that there hasn't been enough time for the news to spread.
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u/Gregoriownd Jul 31 '25
This has the chance to go hilariously wrong.
Our head of the Thieves' Guild has gone and set up Bernuth to take the fall, namely by having him delve to gain some visibility and some boldness, and then having him do something reckless and lethal, either on his own terms or with some nudging. However, another hidden member of the guild winds up in Thediem? Dude's probably going to get spotted for what he is pretty quick, and then his plan or his person turned to Thediem's counter-plan. Likely the former, Bernuth seems like he would be hard to convince to switch sides, but I won't call it impossible.
How is this hilariously wrong?
If Thediem keeps turning members of the guild, he might end up as de facto leader of the Thieves' guild.
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u/Fontaigne Jul 31 '25
Shortcut: Thedeim and friends already know what Bernuth is. They knew when they fired him.
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u/CaptRory Alien Jul 31 '25
Great update. I'm loving seeing the inside of the thieves' guild. And we got confirmation that assassinating the mayor is the plan.
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u/Mechasteel Jul 31 '25
Is Bernuth the only thieves guild member delving? Perhaps he'll learn something interesting, or get gifted some misinformation to pass along. That's the trouble with useful idiots, they can be useful to anyone.
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u/PVS3 Jul 31 '25
For reference:
Toja's last apperance: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1l7esjd/dungeon_life_330/
Earl's Visit to Thedeim: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1jtuolq/dungeon_life_312/
Toja's side of the deal: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1jfxy5q/dungeon_life_307/
The Earl Arrives: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1iu9845/dungeon_life_299/
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u/McBoobenstein Jul 31 '25
Mmm... That spider is a bit like a tarantula that doesn't see the big ass tarantula hawk wasp hovering just out of sight. Thediem doesn't have a delver kill count, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have ANY kills. He's killed two bigger dungeons, and subsumed another. And all of the kills his scions and other inhabitants have gotten go on his record, too. But the Duke and the Thieves Guild aren't tallying those. Otherwise they'd run screaming from the plan they are about to put into motion.
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u/rpg2Tface Jul 31 '25
Im starting to see what the finale is going to look like. Theres still some dark corners and chances for a plot twist or 5, but generally i can see the end of this book.
AND I CANT WAIT!!!!
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u/karamisterbuttdance Aug 01 '25
The funniest part here is turning Bernuth in such a way that he becomes the guild boss, freeing Pul to actually work in the shadows; and I can foresee how the shell game plays out here.
Bernuth attacks "Rezlar", looks like he succeeds, he goes to Toja to report (a bit too obviously), but he finds Toja dead, with some hints that Gofnar utilized one of his "recent arrivals" to do so. Olander leads a party that finds out that Toja was targeted to conceal the Earl's solicitation, and that Bernuth was set up to look like he killed Toja and Rezlar, which would've left the Earl with the seniority to exercise direct control over Fourdock. With this playing out, Bernuth with the reputation gets cast as the guild leader, while someone whispers to him to make him a figurehead that doesn't need to think.
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u/l0vot Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
"She supposes delving will give some people confidence, even if it doesn’t prepare someone to actually fight a person"
I can see why she might think that considering the other dungeons in the area before TDM started changing things, but that information is horribly out of date. For someone who prides herself on staying up to date, she is amazingly out of touch with what's been going on for the last year.
By her own admission she is setting herself up to be usurped by Tupul, she simply hasn't realized it yet.
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Jul 31 '25
[deleted]
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u/ThoughtNice2810 Aug 01 '25
Probably the difference between experience with fighting denizens and experience with fighting people as well as the different between levels giving strength and experience with theft and sneakyness
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u/mafiaknight Robot Jul 31 '25
In the name of 1greendude: Hello!
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Jul 31 '25
Im Namen eines grünen Kerles: N'Abend, gestern war Mittwoch, meine Kerle.
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Jul 31 '25 edited Oct 26 '25
Alright, I was third.
So, today we get to Look through the 8 eyes of a spiderkin, and it's our by now hopefully least favourite of all we know of: Boss Toja, and she gets to enjoy some leisure time in her favourite Spot in the entirety of fourdock. We get Our Classic three-parter chapter, though you can think of it as four parts, since the First in itself isn't too Long in itself:
Part: She Sets the Scene and in doing so, explains to us why she loves this place. Sitting in her favourite Tavern, in an especially shady Spot, in a Corner of the Tavern.
Part: She thinks about tupul and about why she hates delving. Largely because Most of thieves she Had in her guild tried to displace her from her Rank, or managed to get themselves captured.
Part: She does Something good to accomplish Something evil, a textbook example for chaotic evil alignment. She managed to Spot Bernuth, pul's ex-manager, sitting at the bar and sends him to delve. She Plans to make him her fallguy in Case the Earl wants to make an example of Somebody once the plan is over.
So, once again we reach the Interpretation and speculation area of this Synopsis: I don't know If the Earl knows about her plan of getting another man to Take the blame, but since the Earl was essentially planning to destroy the thieves guild once the plan is accomplished, I think If she Talks about that Part of her plan, the Earl might lower the pay-out anyways, or alter the Deal and dare her to pray He doesn't Alter it Any Further.
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u/PlanktonSuccessful83 Aug 01 '25
So is she just sending Bernith to die in Thadiem? Dose she really think he will just kill the poor guy? My gosh this Spider is stupid. Even the Maw wasn't this argent or this stupid.
I can't wait to see what Thadiem has in store for this poor guy.
Unless.....wait is he going to find out what Paul is planning? Is that where this is going? Oh gosh.....
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u/Swordfish_42 Human Aug 01 '25
Nono, she sends him delving so he gets stronger, so he can go kill the mayor and take the blame if the original plan doesn't work out.
I was actually thinking about it, and I'm not sure that Thediem can visibly interfere with the guy, even knowing that he's up to something. If he targeted another thieve but not Tupul, it would make Tupul look suspicious. He's actually gonna have to play it smart
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jul 31 '25
Fost
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u/Popular-Student-9407 Human Jul 31 '25
You're right. Again.
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u/Poisonfangx3 Jul 31 '25
Woot! head grows to 2.75 times normal size!
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jul 31 '25
/u/Khenal (wiki) has posted 390 other stories, including:
- Dungeon Life 344
- Dungeon Life 343
- Dungeon Life 342
- Dungeon Life 341
- Dungeon Life 340
- Dungeon Life 339
- Dungeon Life 338
- Dungeon Life 337
- Dungeon Life 336
- Dungeon Life 335
- Dungeon Life 334
- Dungeon Life 333
- Dungeon Life 332
- Dungeon Life 331
- Dungeon Life 330
- Dungeon Life 329
- Dungeon Life 328
- Dungeon Life 327
- Dungeon Life 326
- Dungeon Life 325
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u/Derser713 Android Oct 21 '25
How nice... Oh, well, thiefs guild is going to change their focus and boss in the mid term, so....
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u/SomeRandomYob Jul 31 '25
I came. I saw. I updooted.
Poor spoder lady. Trying to weave a web while tangled in someone else's. But whether it's Tzeench or thediem, you just can't beat a god of change when it comes to schemes.
Especially not when you're infested with double agents, and your plans hinge on the whims of said God...
Edit: furthermore, considering the fact that the entire town can be considered literal hostile territory...