by Drew Jager
"Now that you've only got 45 Resources left why don't you start thinking about some Traps?"
Traps. Trap them and then eat them. Will hummed at the idea and Bel smiled.
"There are two main kinds of Traps Dungeons use to catch Sentients, Will, so listen up." She had his undivided attention at the idea of Two-legs being on the menu.
"There are your Standard Traps, and your Custom Traps."
Will was mesmerized at the thought.
"Standard Traps cover your basic Dungeon Traps; such as, Pitfalls, Falling Boulders, Spike Traps and Fake Floors. There are many others but these are a Dungeons bread and butter and many others need to be unlocked through various different types of Resources that we don't yet have. Most Basic Standard Traps cost 5 Resources."
I love it, I love it. What more could a Dungeon ask for?
Will was humming so loudly it broke Bel's concentration, and a large smile grew on her face while she flew over to him. There she sat on top of his Crawl until he calmed down enough to keep listening.
"Now the fun part is your Custom Traps, they cost varying amounts based on their complexity, but they are your best line of defense besides your Monsters." Bel was happy to see Will taking such an interest in improving his Dungeon.
"Why would I even bother with the Standard Traps then?" Will asked.
"Thats a fair question, the main reason is because during our first few years as a Dungeon we don't want to come off as impossible. We need to let some people; not everyone, but some, leave our Dungeon alive. Not to mention some Custom Traps get really expensive as you progress in levels."
Will was about to protest when Bel swooped in with, "If we don't, there is a good chance the Adventuring Guild will declare us too difficult and not worth the risk of creating a town over a Dungeon that is unbeatable. If they decide that, they will most likely ask a Hero to destroy your Crawl."
Will could not physically gulp, but he could mentally do it. So he did.
Moving on...
"So uh, levels?" Will asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his potential destruction.
Bel winked at him, "Why don't you worry about that after you place a few traps down?" Thats not foreshadowing at all.
"Well okay, right now i've got one large Room and a Tunnel. I would like to see my list of available Standard Traps please." Come on you bastard bring it on.
Chime
Pitfall
5-10 Resources
5-10ft deep hole in the ground. Depth varies depending on resources spent.
Falling Boulder
10 Resources
A large rock perched on top of a ledge, triggered by a pressure plate.
Spike Trap
5 Resources
2ft by 2ft square of wooden spikes, can be placed at the bottom of other traps or left on its own.
Fake Floor
5 Resources
A small patch of ground 1/2" thick. Easily broken when stepped on.
"I can't wait to cover this place with falling rocks!" Will was raring to go and set up all his new traps when the voice of reason struck him down.
"Don't. You. Even. Dare. First thing you need to do is decorate your dungeon. I will not live in an empty stone cave the rest of my life."
It took a lot longer than Will would have liked to admit to calm himself down, but he eventually managed to choke out, "Okay, lead the way.."
Over the next day and a half Will and Bel went over every square inch of their new home. For the room with the Silverbark Beams they added decorative stone pillars surrounding the walls. Each pillar being a foot wide and spaced one foot apart from each other. In total there were 6 pillars spaced equally around the room, similar in look to a Roman Coliseum. The gap for the entrance was carved into the pillars to create a larger doorway. Another addition was to add different types of moss that Will had absorbed from clearing his orignal room. It made him feel as though time had forgotten the room and cast it aside, he loved it.
Aside from the new gladiatorial aesthetics, a large shelf was raised on the left and right side of the entryway. These shelves of stone had no purpose yet, but both Will and Bel agreed it would be a good spot for Monsters.
If an Adventurer were to enter the room they would see an arena surrounded in moss covered pillars. With a suspicious amount of hiding space in the roof due to the Silverwood Beams, as well as two large half-circle overhangs 3ft in diameter on opposite sides of the room. These overhangs would be too tall for all but Adventurers to see over.
The final touch that he added was a small pit in the center of the room which he then filled with sand. The sand pit was roughly four feet in diameter and broke up the monotony of the stone floor. Will had found the sand when he was originally clearing out the room. Both Crawl and Herald were unsure what the sand would be used for, but figured the center of the room could use something.
All throughout the Tunnel he added some of the moss he had absorbed, he put it over the walls and ceiling to try and give the room a more overgrown aesthetic. He thought it looked pretty spiffy.
The Tunnel was decorated with small alcoves all along the sides that Will then linked to the previous room through small passageways. During the time it took him to finish the Coliseum Room, Sunrise had come and gone, and Will spent all 10 points of his newly gained Mana into digging out small passageways of various sizes throughout his Dungeon. He connected two passageways from the Tunnel into the overhangs in his Coliseum Room. He also made sure they were large enough for his Beasts to get through easily, but small enough that no idiot Two-legs would get the bright idea of trying to climb in to skip parts of his Dungeon.
For now the alcove spaces were empty, but Will thought that in the future he could add statues or something similar into the gaps. There were three alcoves on each side of the tunnel spaced perpendicularly to each other, spaced every two feet. Both of the center alcoves were linked with the passageways that led into the Coliseum Room.These passageways led from the top of the overhangs, through the stone between the rooms, and fed out through hidden spaces in the alcoves. The alcove on the left fed to the overhang on the left. And the right fed into the right. Will thought himself extremely clever for thinking of this until Bel said all Dungeons have little tricks like this. Damn! I'll have to be more creative when I get more rooms to work with.
Bel giggled at his frustration, and then they went to work on his Crawl Room. According to Bel there's no need for traps or puzzles in the Crawl Room, so most Dungeons used the space as a sort of home for themselves and their Herald.
Will splurged a little and created a Silverbark bed for Bel. They didnt have any fabric yet, so for a mattress Will created a dense bed of moss. Bel was ecstatic with her new life of luxury.
Other than a bed, he also made many stone shelves and alcoves. Just in case they ever wanted to show off whatever rare things they get in their Dungeon. According to Bel some Dungeons were total hoarders.
Everything was going great. All the rooms were becoming more Dungeon-like and Will and Bel both felt satisfied with the Dungeon's progress. Until they realized there was no light in any of the new rooms. Oops.
Thankfully being a Crawl has its perks. If the Dungeon chooses to, they can convert a negligible amount of Resources into a condensed Mana-Light. The reason it didn't cost Mana but instead cost Resources was because, according to Bel, "It's not 'real' mana. All it's good for is a little bit of light."
Not to mention it only let out light corresponding to the Dungeon's Affinity. For Will and Bel that meant a soft golden green light. It made Will think of what he imagined sunlight would look like shining through a thin leaf. Beautiful.
For a measely 5 Resources he put three in the Coliseum Room. One above the entrance, and one under each of the overhangs. By leaving them under the overhangs the top layer of stone was still encased in shadow, and that appealed to Will greatly. He then put one right at the top of the tunnel, attached to the ceiling by surrounding it in stone. It resem
bled a golden-green jewel nesting in the ceiling, overlooking the alcoves. The last light went into the Crawl Room on one of the shelves, because Will thought it looked nifty.
I wonder how many Resources I have left after all that renovating.
Resources
Gained by absorbing non-living materials, used as currency for Dungeon Building.
Current Resource Count - 22
Will began vibrating in exitement, "Traps! Traps! Traps!"
Bel was all smiles as she attempted to calm him down, "Okay, okay! You've got enough for at least three, up to four if you spend conservatively."
Will didn't need to hear any of this, he knew exactly where his Traps would go. He had all that time decorating to find the best spots. He focused his attention onto the Tunnel with his alcoves and hidden passageways, and stuck one pitfall trap right at the doorway between the Tunnel entrance and the Coliseum Room entrance.
Did Will mention he added doors? He had doors now. Between the Tunnel and Coliseum, was a large Silverwood door with a stone handle. He put a similar door at the other end of the hallway, leading into their Crawl Room. He was loath to spend the Resources on doors as it would take away from his Traps, but Bel convinced him.
"If people can just see into the next room they have a lot better chance of finding your Traps." That shut Will up quick.
So now, at the front of his door leading out of the Coliseum, but still very much in the Tunnel, Will added a Pit Fall Trap. The area directly infront of the door was now going to be the cause of twisted ankles everywhere. The hole only went 5 feet deep, the max Will could make it go before the Trap rose in Resource cost. At the bottom he spent another 5 Resources and bought the Spike Trap, leaving the bottom of the pit filled with wickedly sharp wooden stakes.
With 12 Resources left he bought the only Trap he ever had eyes for, the Falling Boulder Trap. He placed the pressure plate to trigger the Trap right inbetween the two center alcoves. The two with the hidden passageways for his future Monsters.
He began to laugh like an evil mastermind for far too long before it weirded Bel out enough that she told him to cut it off.
"Two Resources to spare, nice job Sweety. Although why didn't you add a Trap in your Coliseum Room?" Bel asked.
He was expecting this question to come up sooner or later, "Well I figured I should at least wait until I see what kind of Monsters we have in there before we put in Traps that are irreversible." He felt proud of his logic.
"Oh okay, you know you can change the layout of anything in your Dungeon whenever you want right? It would also be pretty ridiculous if you had to manually reset your Traps and Monsters each time too, thats why everytime your Dungeon is empty and no Sentients are in it everything goes back to how it was before they entered."
Will, in a flash of inspiration, carved out and dropped a small pebble directly into his Guides stomach. "YOU NEED TO TELL ME THESE THINGS!"
Bel, now doubled over and hiding under her Silverbark Bed, just stuck her tongue out at him and scrunched up her face. If he wasn't so annoyed at her he would have said it looked very cute.
Will, trying to calm himself by imagining a Two-legs falling into one of his Traps, asks, "Will you please tell me more, i'm sorry I dropped a rock on you."
Bel, still rubbing her tiny stomach, answered with a loud and exaggerated, "Hmph! If you must know, it means whenever a Sentient comes into your Dungeon you can't interact with anything like you can now. When they leave your Dungeon, any damage they did or any Monsters they killed get reset back to its original state. Your Monsters will keep their memories though, so thats a nice bonus." By the end she was back to her old lecturing attitude.
Bel, now looking a little worse for wear but back to her usual excitement, decided she had kept him waiting long enough. "Remember how I told you levels can wait until you placed a few traps down?" Oh boy.
"Well I've been holding off this notification until you wrapped up all your Dungeon prep, but no sense in keeping you in the dark now."
Huh, I wonder what she means? Maybe I sho-
Chime
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 2!
Mana is now 20/20
Mana Regeneration is now 12/d
Chapter 5 - Swing from the Vines
Will couldn't be angry at the chime sound. This time.
"How did I level up, Bel?!" He was ecstatic.
She winked at him, and gestured out of the Crawl room to the rest of the Dungeon. "When you grow and define your Dungeon, you gain a small amount of experience, usually the gain is negligible. Since you're just starting out though, the experience cost to level up is tiny for now. Don't expect many more levels from just doing your job!"
I guess thats fair, if I could level up from hiding in the ground I would not be much of a Dungeon.
"Well how do I level up normally then?" Will figured this should have been the first thing he was told, but what did he know? It's not like his Herald would forget something as important as levelling up, right?
God damnit.
Bel, sensing silent judgment, just scrunched her face up at his Crawl and replied, "You level up by absorbing the Mana from living beings that die in your Dungeon. You are always gaining a small amount of experience since absorbing Mana is a part of what a Crawl does naturally. However, if you waited to level up like that we would be here for the next few centuries before you made any meaningful progress." She looked directly at him, making sure he knew that she did not want to sit in a dark cave for the next hundred years.
"Yeah, that sounds pretty boring." She sighed in relief.
Bel continued, "The fastest way for you to level up is going to be when Adventurers come and test themselves against your Dungeon. Since we will still only have one floor when we open up to the rest of the world, the Adventuring Guild will be sending Novices to our Dungeon."
Will, sensing another important piece of information he was unaware of, casually asked, "Novices?"
She winced as she realized she had forgotten this piece of information, "Umm...haha, yeah. Novices are the first rank of Adventurers, the Adventuring Guild puts them into six different categories. Novice, or the sons and daughters of the newest generation, they are the weakest of all the ranks. This is because it is fairly difficult to climb the ranks of the Adventuring Guild the farther up it you progress."
They are going to send weak-willed children to die in my Dungeon. Ha, and I'm the one with the Monsters. Will thought to himself.
"The next rank are the Aspirants, there are more Aspirants than all of the ranks above them combined. The men and women in this rank have all been in a Dungeon, and come out the other side stronger for it. They are still far weaker than the ranks after them though. Explorers are the third rank, a much stronger version of Aspirants as they have multiple years of experience under their belt."
I bet I could still take them, Two-legs won't stand a chance against my Dungeon! Will's Crawl brightened at the idea of all the Mana he would be getting.
Bel just smiled softly at him and continued, "After Explorers come the Veterans, these people all have a strong grasp on their Affinity, or have years of training in martial combat from their time in Dungeons. Or they have both. Don't underestimate the Two-legs ability to grasp at power Will. All of the ranks will fight like it is their last when they are in your Dungeon, because to them it just may be. I'm pretty sure we won't see any Veterans in our Dungeon for a long time though."
He felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of the power difference between his Dungeon now and the higher rank Adventurers, but he did only have one room, and no Monsters.
"After Veterans come the Experts, these are the top of the food-chain when it comes to Adventurers, although there are very few in the world. Mostly just the leaders and Officers in the Adventuring Guild are Experts. They are the Sentient Races best defense against Monsters, aside from Heroes."
Heroes, bunch of arrogant children. He wasn't sure why he felt so stro
ngly about Heroes, especially since he had never met one yet, but his instincts hadn't steered him wrong yet.
He spoke up, "That was only five, but you said there were six ranks? I'm going to guess that the last ones are the Heroes?" She just sighed and pat the top of his Crawl.
"Thats right, Sweety." He hummed in response.
"Heroes are, at least according to most Adventurers, a bunch of cheats." She smirked at this. "Heroes almost always skip most of the ranks of the Adventuring Guild, and get elevated to a status many in their of their colleagues feel they did not earn."
"While it is true that the Heroes have to complete their Life-long Quest, everybodies Quest is different. So, many people feel as though some of the Heroes just got a lucky break. Like it or not though, they are undoubtedly the strongest rank of the Adventuring Guild. Having the ability to use multiple Affinities elevates them far above the lower ranks. Some of the Heroes are the real deal, and were Experts before they completed their Quest. Others however, were little more than Aspirants before they ascended into the status of Hero."