Sterge had been thinking about that as well, which was one of the reasons why they had agreed to slow down their delving. He hadn’t really given much thought about after they reached a Level where the dungeon wouldn’t benefit them, other than to acknowledge that they would have to go somewhere else to get stronger. But was that something that he wanted to do?
“I don’t know the answer to that, Gwenda,” he finally responded after thinking about it for a few minutes. “We’ve built a life here; it isn’t necessarily the one we thought we were going to have when we moved here to start farming, of course, but it’s a life, nonetheless. And a good one, too, if all of your talk of money and numbers earlier was accurate.”
She smacked him on the arm, harder than just for play, but she also smirked at him. “I knew you weren’t listening!” Gwenda’s smirk faded as she said, “Yes, we’re doing well – the entire Village is doing well. But how long will that last if we were to leave? Although the Minister has stopped his harassment for the moment, likely content with screwing us over with that supply deal, would that last if we weren’t here?
“I’m not going to say that we are the glue holding this entire Village together, but apart from a few of the other villagers giving their input once in a while, no one seems like they want to lead. I have a feeling that if we left, they would give into pressure and sell the lease to the Minister, or even the Clan, before we knew it. With us physically – and voluntarily – not here to refuse, they could pretty much do what they wanted without our say-so.”
She had a good point. Most of the other villagers had wanted to get away from large crowds of Raiders when they moved that far south to establish The Village – and would take any opportunity (and significant monetary compensation) to leave and find somewhere they could relax and possibly even retire if that compensation was enough. He wouldn’t even hold it against them, either, because if he wasn’t a Raider he would probably feel the same way.
“Again, I don’t know, Gwenda. It’s not something we have to decide right now, anyway, because we’re at least a few months out from that. Perhaps a solution will arrive before we have to make that decision. For now, let’s just ‘stick’ to being the glue that is holding this place together,” he said, making a horrible joke. She laughed anyway, which seemed to break the tension a little bit.
“I wish I had your optimism, Sterge, I really do,” she said softly, before huffing loudly. “Fine. Let’s just see how things go, and we’ll figure out all of this later.”
“Works for me.” The conversation over, Sterge went back to counting the days until they could delve through the dungeon again.
Chapter 21
The next month was fairly routine when it came to the dungeon where the Raiders were delving through on a constant basis. She kept up the periodic movement of creatures, environmental objects, and traps in each room, and by the end of the month there hadn’t been a single group that complained about the changes. It seemed as though they were either used to it or actually liked the changes, though no one actually expressed that while she could hear it. That was, at least, until she moved one of the Soil-covered Spike Pits in the fifth room with her Forest Wolves.
“What is this? There wasn’t a tree right on top of the pit last time, was there?” a Scout remarked as soon as he looked into the room from the entrance tunnel.
Obviously, the Raider was correct – there hadn’t been a full-size tree on top of the pit last time. That was because she had moved that pit and then placed a tree where it had been, to make it more than obvious that it wasn’t there anymore. I couldn’t think of anything better than this to mark that something had changed. It’s not like I could put a sign out, saying, “WARNING! ONE OF THE SPIKE PITS HAS MOVED!”
“Thank you for not doing that, Tacca. Are you sure this was a good idea, though? The other traps and creatures, when you move them, aren’t necessarily going to hurt them if they aren’t ready for the change. These pits, however, are almost guaranteed to kill someone if they accidentally fall into one.”
Tacca was more than aware of that. She had moved trees and other environmental objects inside the room, as well as the Wolves into different formations, but had left the two pits alone. They very rarely killed anyone anymore, as even the most beginner of Raiders knew about their presence – likely from word-of-mouth, if not an old map – and were more likely to avoid them while perishing against the dangerous creatures in the room. It was time to change that, however, and get those delving through her dungeon trained to this adjustment; her plans for the next dungeon section was going to rely on these changing mechanics, after all.
Yes, I believe so. I think they’re ready for it.
True to her words, the first group that encountered the room were fine – though it was close. The Fighter, while he was facing off against 2 of the Forest Wolves in the room, stepped backwards and triggered the as-of-yet-hidden trap, causing the soil beneath his feet to fall away. The Wolves tried to take advantage of this and push him over, but the Scout had been quick and near enough to throw himself on the Fighter and knock him to the side and out of range of the pit. Both of them got slightly ravaged by the Wolves who immediately jumped on the two prone figures, but the rest of the Raiders managed to fight them off and heal their injured group members.
“That was close – thank you, Reggie.”
“No problem; you’d do the same for me. I’m going to mark this down and spread the word. No guarantees that it will stay right here long, but hopefully it will help for those coming after us to have some warning, at least.”
After that, the Scout annoyingly triggered the other pit trap to confirm that it was still in the same place, and then the group finished their delve without any problem. Tacca couldn’t help but think that if they hadn’t been as experienced as they were (that was at least the third time the Dungeon Core had seen them, though she also had to admit that they were all starting to blend together – so it was hard to tell), one or more of them could have died as a result of her trap.
She wasn’t necessarily disappointed, but rather excited to see that the change didn’t cause them to get extremely angry and call out for her destruction. She was relatively sure they were ready for it, but confirmation of her assumption felt like a form of vindication. See! They handled it quite well.
“True, I’ll give you that. They even chalked it up to just another one of the ‘strange quirks of this dungeon’, so that’s a plus, as well. You have to consider that, if that Raider had fallen in, they might have a different opinion.”
She had to agree, despite it cooling her enthusiasm somewhat. As a result, and because she needed more time for the Pits to reform, she waited to call in another group of Raiders to delve through until the first group had already left the exit staircase up top. She then gave them more than enough time to pass on word of the change to those waiting up above, so at least they would have some warning. The second group to come in complained loudly and vehemently of the change as soon as they got to the fifth room, despite the fact that she didn’t move the trap from where it was now.
“It looks like that other group wasn’t lying – there’s a tree where the trap used to be! If they were also accurate on where it’s now located, then the location is precisely where we used to fight all of those vicious wolves! That means we have to change up our strategy a bit.”
They didn’t seem to appreciate having to change their previous “strategy”, but they did it – and succeeded in not getting themselves killed. Even with their success, they still weren’t happy; none of them called for her Core’s destruction, though. That was a win as far as Tacca was concerned.
She kept the Pit traps exactly where they were for a few days, before she moved the second one – putting a tree in its place again to mark the change. She was a little worried when the next group – a brand-new, raw bunch of Raiders – managed to lose their Scout to the new placement of the trap. It was really his own fault, though, because he ran from th
e battle, deathly scared of the Wolves for some reason, and ran right into the trap.
“Why did he run?! We had that under control!” the Fighter of the group asked, looking down into the pit where the Gnome Scout was thoroughly dead with a spike through his chest.
“I think I remember Chester mentioning – when he had been drinking a bit too much one night – that one of his family members had been torn apart by wolves, but I don’t really know any other details,” the Healer said sadly.
“Oh. Well, if he had at least told us that, maybe we could’ve done something to prevent his death. Still, this trap wasn’t even supposed to be here, at least according to our information.”
The Healer looked around and spotted the tree where the trap used to be, before looking at the path the Scout had taken. “I’m not sure that would’ve even mattered. From where he was running, it looks like he probably would’ve hit the spot where it was before, anyway.”
Whether or not that assessment was correct, the others spent a few minutes in silence looking down at their dead groupmate down below. After that, they went on to the sixth room of her dungeon, killed all of the creatures inside while taking a few wounds, and then left morosely afterwards through the exit staircase. Either they weren’t up to the Boss room and the danger it represented in their present mood, or they were ready to grab an angry mob that would come back and call for her destruction.
“I think it’s the former. They don’t seem too mad at you; they appear to be more angry at the situation and the needless death of their group member.”
Shale always seemed to know the right words to assuage her worries. Or to incite them, depending on the situation.
Whatever the reason they left, the point was that they left – and didn’t seem to bear her dungeon any particular malice. After that, there were a few more grumbles and annoyed comments – as well as a few more deaths – from those delving through her dungeon, but the ratio of deaths to how many made it through without trouble was extraordinarily low. So low, in fact, that Tacca thought that her “luck” played a part in saving quite a few of those that should’ve died; missteps in the right direction (right as in good for them); the soil covering the pit collapsing even before anyone was close enough (which she still didn’t know how that happened); and lastly one of the Wolves launched themselves at a Fighter’s throat, which caused the Raider to trip and fall to the side, activating the trap just barely, and the Wolf shot past and landed on the collapsing pit cover – which killed the creature as it hit the spikes on the bottom.
At least they couldn’t retrieve the reward for that last one.
Still, it was a very productive month despite the “miraculous” saves.
Core Improvement Point Awards
Type
Variable Conditions
Potential CIP
Current
Rooms Constructed
Size
1 – 50
120
Traps Installed
Complexity
1 – 20
68
Monsters Created
Levels
1 – 20
76
Rewards Placed
Valuation
1 – 50
76
Raider Presence
Time
1 – 5
585
Raider Deaths
Quality
100 – 10000
700
Congratulations, Tacca GloomLily!
You have reached Core Improvement Level: 11
Current CIP Countdown: 518/2000 in 30 days
Core Improvement Points earned: 1700 (1700)
Special Characteristic Points earned: 25 (25)
She had worked hard on constructing rooms down below her easier dungeon, which she planned on using for her next section. She had over 20 rooms available to use that she had constructed previously, which generally went in a straight line down from her old Core Room; she did place the tunnels in different places in the rooms before so that it wasn’t precisely straight, though.
These rooms that she had constructed a few months ago were fairly small because she had no reason to make them large; the reduction in Core Improvement Points she received from constructing them meant that unless she made them huge, then she wouldn’t get more than a single Point from them. Now, however, she took advantage of her 95% reduction being gone and started expanding these rooms by combining 4 or 5 together and widening them off to the sides extensively. There was still more that she wanted to do, of course, but she was happy to see that everything she was doing counted as new construction; with how large she was making them, they contributed 120 Points towards her monthly countdown – for only 4 rooms!
There were also 7 deaths during the month, with more than half of them coming from the moved Soil-covered Spike Pit traps. Her earned Raider Presence CIPs was down a little because she had to delay some groups of Raiders beginning their delve inside her dungeon in order to replace those same Pit traps, but with the number of deaths caused by them, the delay was worth it.
With her increase in Core Improvement Level, that also meant she had some shopping to do – and this time she didn’t need to convert any into SCPs! Not that it would be worth it now, since the conversion was definitely not in her favor after achieving Level 11.
Core Improvements
Available Core Improvement Points (CIP)
1700
518 in 30 days
Improvement Name
Value
Cost (CIP)
Maximum Dungeon Force Increase
+500 DF
500
Dungeon Force Regeneration Increase
+10 DF per minute
750
Control Limit Increase
+100
600
Select Additional Creature
1
250
Select Additional Creature Variant
1
25
Select Additional Trap Specialization
1
600
Select Additional Environment Access
1
400
Reward Tier Increase
1
400
Convert CIPs to SCPs
1 SCP
12
So, Shale, what do you think I should get? In your opinion as a Dungeon Assistant, knowing in general what my plans are for this next section.
The Dungeon Fairy looked pleased when she asked. Tacca had been doing her best to include him in all of her decisions and plans, and he wholeheartedly agreed with her ideas for the next dungeon section – especially since he saw how the Raiders were reacting to the constant changes up above.
“Well, obviously you need to increase your Control Limit, because otherwise you won’t be able to place any new creatures in there.”
That sounds like exactly what I was thinking.
“I’m also tempted to tell you to do that twice – giving you a total of an additional 200 to your Control Limit, but that would cost 1,400 of your 1,700 Points. After looking at how much work you’re putting into your new section and how slow it’s going—” he shrugged apologetically— “I would instead suggest improving your Dungeon Force Regeneration by 10 per minute for 750.”
Shale wasn’t wrong with how slow the construction had gone. With the changes in the Pit traps, which cost a lot more to produce initially and replace once used, she hadn’t had a whole lot of extra DF to work with on construction. Even after a full month, she estimated that she was only 10% or so done with the room-building she had planned – and she hadn’t even added any Environmental Objects, creatures, rewards, or traps.
Again, exactly what I was thinking.
“That gives you 350 left over to use on something – or you can just save it for next month if you end up Leveling again, since you technically don’t need it right now.”
Saving it didn’t sound very fun to Tacca,
though, and there was no guarantee that she would even Level up again. If only 1 or 2 Raiders died, for example, she might not earn enough even with what she had banked. Increasing to Level 12 required 2,000 CIPs now, and it would only continue to increase as she Leveled up.
I think I want to go ahead and select another creature to use in my dungeon. True, I don’t need it right now for my easier dungeon, but I have the urge to play around with some of them to see what would be the best fit for what I have planned. I have some ideas already, but it’ll be good to see them in action.
“Sounds good to me. I have to admit that I’m excited to see what kind of things you can do with them.”
Without further ado, Tacca spent 600 Points on increasing her Control Limit by 100 (bringing it to a total of 300), 750 Points on upping her Dungeon Force Regeneration by 10 (which brought it to 28 DF per minute), and 250 Points to select another creature – leaving her with 100 CIPs that she would save until the next time she Leveled up. The extensive list of different creatures came up for her to choose from, and she chose the Beast category again. This time, knowing how successful her experiment with Canines went, she chose something that was in the same realm as the Canines, and would mesh well with them: Felines.
Cats and dogs were essentially what her dungeon was going to be filled with. There was still one more creature type she needed to unlock access to before all of the components were in place for her new section, but that would come a little later. For now, though, the family of Felines was exactly what she needed.
“So, if I understand correctly, you want to make your next section a mixture of a Forest and Mountain terrain – the latter of which you said you would unlock access to next – but which cats are you going to use? I have to admit that I only really studied lions and tigers, as those tended to be the most popular of creatures in this category,” Shale asked expectantly. Tacca could tell he was eager for another lesson in why she chose Felines as a creature family – and she was happy enough to oblige.
The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) Page 24