Chapter 40
They had no Power, essentially no Stamina, and no weapons – not that having them would necessarily do much good. Fred doubted that there was any hope of them fighting their way out against the force waiting for any type of attempt to break out aboveground. Even if Fred found some way to get the Negation Artifact Bands off of their wrists, it still probably wouldn’t do much good. It was possible that they might be able to sneak out using their Concealment ability that Fred had taught the others, but Deecy didn’t have access to that.
Waiting until the Inquisitor came to question them again was out of the question, either. It would only be a matter of time before she asked the right questions or they let something slip, which would be bad for all of them – the Judgment-marked prisoners in the other cells included. Fred guessed that they were awaiting word back from the Craytion Kingdom on the crime that his Guild and the townspeople of Gatecross were accused of before doing anything with them, but it probably wouldn’t be long before they had the information they needed. And whether they would execute them all or just force them into a high-Rated Nature dungeon for punishment was a toss-up in his opinion.
So that left the Shards’ ability to still use their Mana. A quick application of Eisa’s Defender Creation ability with a Goblin Gnome – that was promptly absorbed back into her aura – proved that they were still a viable option, but he couldn’t see any way out even with that to help. It was possible that pumping Eisa and Deecy full of his reserve of their elemental Mana would unlock something that might help, but he doubted it. In fact, the only thing he could think of to help was something he was hesitant to do…
“I’m going to ask all of your opinions before I do this, because this could have some serious consequences. Should I establish a territory here and dig my way out using my Mana? I could easily make a tunnel to the other rooms and grab the others using the same process…but what then? I’m not sure I have enough Unconverted Mana to tunnel all the way out of the entirety of the Allroads area, and even if I did, I’m sure we would be quickly hunted down by the authorities here. Even all together without these Bands on our wrists, we wouldn’t stand a chance against a single group of S-Rated Syndicate members,” Fred Communicated to Deecy, who relayed it to the others. He kept their conversation mental, because the Allroads Government and the Syndicate had already proved that they had been spying on them; he wouldn’t put it past them to have someone listening in from somewhere nearby.
Before they could answer, he added, “If that isn’t bad enough, if I establish a territory here, we’ll be telling every single elemental faction where we are. As this place is supposed to be ‘forbidden’ to establish a territory in, the three factions that want me dead for destroying one of their Cores could easily turn the other four against us.”
Their expressions showed that they hadn’t thought of that, though it had been on Fred’s mind ever since he stepped foot in the city. The area around Allroads was a big focus of the elemental Core factions if only because of its presence as a Convergence; he wasn’t exactly sure what would happen if he were to establish a territory. Obviously, the so-called Dungeon Core Supreme Council wouldn’t be happy about it, but Fred didn’t know how far they would go to eliminate him.
Would they send in armies of defenders? Would they wait until I left? And, if that is the case, am I essentially trapped in Allroads for the rest of my life? It wasn’t like he could outwait them – they would essentially be around for eternity if nothing happened to destroy them. Based on the way the world was going, any threat to them wouldn’t be coming from humans. But maybe…just maybe…it should.
The thought felt like a betrayal of his parents and the sacrifices they made to ensure he survived and grew up as “normal” as he could. He felt deep down that there were Dungeon Cores out there – somewhere – that were capable of the same caring and loving attitudes that his parents had towards him, but they were likely few and far between. The rest, though, were just the same as the others that he had experiences with.
So maybe it wasn’t such a betrayal of his parents after all. In fact, based on his conversation with the Nature Core he had inadvertently absorbed months ago, it wasn’t just the Supreme Council that had betrayed his parents, it was all of the Dungeon Cores around the world. His memory of his parents’ kind and loving natures had biased his view of Cores in general and made excuses for them, when it was their fault for the way the world was today for both themselves and humans. He was sure that they didn’t want to fight over territory in constant wars, it was just something that was inevitable because of their past and probable future actions.
With the Dungeon Cores at the top of the food chain, there was nothing to challenge them, nothing to keep them from expanding more and more. Eventually, they were going to destroy themselves and the humans along with them. Something had to change, and maybe…that something was him.
Fred had Deecy Communicate another plan to them, which sounded insane – but he thought it might work.
It didn’t take long for the others to decide, fortunately, which matched exactly what he wanted to do. With a nod acknowledging their approval and some mental Communication to the others about what he was about to do, Fred got to work. Establishing his territory was probably the easiest it had ever been, because there were representations of all of the elements even inside the city. Within seconds, his territory had been established and he felt his awareness expand.
Fred was glad he had learned how to focus his attention only on what he was looking at, because with his territory now with a diameter of nearly 10 miles since he had upgraded his Core Structure Level, there was a lot to see. Millions of people were now inside his area of influence, as well as a large variety of the concentrated elements outside of the city. He didn’t even cover half of the entire Allroads area, but what he did cover was enough to overwhelm him if he let it.
Focusing his attention to right outside their jail cell, he could see one invisible Syndicate member near the bottom of the stairs; again, it was easy to see him/her when he looked at the void in the ambient Mana. Since it would normally penetrate through everything but humans, it was obvious where someone was trying to hide from human senses – but not from his Mana Sight.
Fred was glad that their invisible guard was far enough away that they weren’t able to see inside the cells, because otherwise it would’ve complicated matters. Before he did anything else, Fred concentrated on his Fire Mana and brought forth a few units in a small blob that bobbed in the air in front of him. Concentrating on it, he brought it toward his left wrist and started to condense the blob until it was no bigger than his thumbnail – and then he shrunk it again and again. He ended up having to add a little bit more Fire Mana to the little orb that was no bigger than the head of a pin until it contained a full 10 units. It was hard to concentrate and keep it contained in the tightly condensed bubble; soon enough, the intense heat it was giving off – as well as the strain on his control – caused him to break out in a sweat.
Before it could break apart and dissipate, he brought it to the NAB on his left wrist and forced the tiny dot through the metal, severing it – and burning and charring his skin and some of the muscle underneath severely in the process. Hissing through the pain, he brought it to the other wrist and did the same thing, though he managed to avoid all but superficial burns that time. The others held their wrists out to him and turned away, afraid to watch; he smiled grimly as he felt his control starting to slip, but he managed to hold onto it long enough to slice through their bands without doing too much damage.
He let the condensed Mana go and it inflated back to normal size; he reabsorbed it and found that over half of it had been used up in the process. There’s got to be a better way to get those off. Eisa used her Heal Minor Wounds spell to heal them all afterwards, because even though he was being as careful as he could be, they all still managed to get some severe burns. Relief washed over him as he felt his self-sustained injuries heal and he concentrated o
n the next project.
So as not to arouse too much suspicion if the guard did decide to check up on them, Fred Communicated through Deecy to have them pretend to keep wearing the Bands, while they lay down as if they were trying to get some sleep. He didn’t bother with Deecy, because all she had to do was transform into her Pup form and the collar would slip right off her neck and over her head any time. When everyone was in position, he lay down and closed his eyes.
Looking at his Territorial Sight, he had a lot of room to work with now. There were a few areas where the nearest lake of water and pool of lava dipped far down into the ground, but otherwise he had a fairly blank slate. Some of the buildings in the city had basements that went down a few stories, but none of them were as deep as the one he was currently in underneath the Government Quarter. He was tempted to search around and see if there were any alternatives to what he was about to do in the city, but he wasn’t even sure what he’d be looking for – so he blocked out everything aboveground and concentrated on his work.
Fire Mana: 283/283
Water Mana: 283/283
Nature Mana: 283/283
Earth Mana: 282/282
Dark Mana: 282/282
Unconverted Mana: 33540
First, Fred started to pull masses of his Unconverted Mana out from his Human Core and sent it underground, tracing out a series of tunnels that didn’t connect to anything quite yet. They weren’t classified as dungeon rooms because he hadn’t made an entrance, nor were they held up by anything but the occasional pillar of dirt and stone he left for support.
In order to make stone walls that would support it further, he needed to be able to physically see it to use either his Adventurer ability – Conjure Object – or his Mana-formed Item Creation skill. His Territory Sight allowed him to create dungeon “rooms” at least, which was essentially what his tunnels were – really long rooms. Since they weren’t technically part of the dungeon, however, the Mana upkeep wasn’t taken out of his Unconverted Mana pool that was taken to ensure its stability.
He created the tunnels so that they ran right up to the metal jail cells of the other captives (which he did check and confirmed that nearly all of the ones that had been in Gatecross were in those two cells) and then connected it with his own, though he didn’t remove the special metal yet. A quick test from below and out of sight was enough to prove that he could remove it, though it took a little more UM than just dirt and stone – but, ultimately, it would work.
Then, approximately 300 feet down from his location – which was just over 400 feet from the surface – Fred directed his tunnels to meet in a slightly larger space, where he sent direction to his Unconverted Mana to create a dungeon entrance. A miniscule vibration ran through the metal jail cell when the stone entrance erupted through the bottom of his larger space underground and impacted its ceiling; he hadn’t planned on how large it would be. Normally it was just large enough to contain the entrance tunnel and spread out a little above and to the sides; with his increased Core Structure Level, it appeared as though his entrance had gotten larger as well – by at least three times. Looking at his upkeep for the entrance tunnel, he saw that instead of just (5), it read (15) – three times more than normal.
Unfortunately, even that small vibration was felt by the guard outside in the hallway. He or she immediately started to walk down the hallway and looked inside every room, checking on the prisoners to see if they could find the reason for the disturbance. After looking through the two rooms full of Judgement-marked people, the invisible guard peered in through their door to see them all “sleeping”, with their broken Bands still on their wrists but un-operational. After a few minutes of peering inside, the guard went back to their post by the bottom of the stairs.
Only after it appeared as if the guard wouldn’t come back did Fred get back to work. Following that unexpected development, he was a little more cautious of what he was doing, because the vibration also collapsed part of the tunnel he had created earlier. Repairing it took even more Unconverted Mana and it was likely only temporary, because all he could really do from afar was remove dirt and stone – not compact or shape it, and certainly not create something to help stabilize it.
Once that was done, however, Fred needed to be strategic. They didn’t have a lot of time before the sun came up and they were hauled away for questioning; he wasn’t sure if they were going to come for him and his friends first thing in the morning or wait a little bit, but he had to plan for them coming early. Using that vein of thought, he used his Unconverted Mana to start creating some rooms.
He didn’t get fancy or too detailed, his main purpose was to have someplace to put some defenders and a few defenses in there. In all, he only made two large generic, box-like rooms that he then filled with a variety of defenders and the few defenses he had access to. By that time, though, the predawn light of morning was already starting to touch the horizon, and Fred knew it was time to go.
After checking to make sure the guard was still in place at the hallway entrance, he opened his eyes and signaled for the others to get up quietly. Then, near one of the corners closest to the entrance to their room – which would likely be missed if someone just peered inside through the grate – Fred used his Mana again to remove the chunk of Metal separating the tunnel he had dug out earlier from the room. He was surprised at how much Unconverted Mana it took to get rid of the metal; he had been forced to use more than 500 just to clear a 3-square-foot section. All of the tunneling and the rooms he had made had only required just over 4,000, so it was a significant amount.
The smell of fresh, wet dirt wafted through the tunnel and into the room as soon as it was unblocked – which was unexpected and caused Fred to hurry. If the guard suddenly smelled the dirt, the operation could be over before they got started.
Regnark squeezed through and lowered himself down into the tunnel first, and Fred was glad that he had made it as wide as he did. Any bigger would cause more collapses in the tunnel itself, while if it was any smaller, the big man – and possibly some of the larger Core Power Guild members – wouldn’t be able to fit. Eisa went next and Deecy shrunk down to her Pup form, sliding easily out of the collar and leash that had been connected to it. Fred went in last and followed the others down the dark tunnel that Regnark didn’t seem to have a problem navigating, until they came to a junction where the three tunnels from the three rooms connected underneath. With more mental Communication aided by the Dire Wolf, Regnark and Deecy stayed where they were and Eisa and Fred traveled quickly to the end of the other tunnels.
He pulled up his Territory Sight again and concentrated on the area near where Eisa was standing. With another large usage of his Unconverted Mana, he eliminated the metal covering the tunnel and watched as Eisa popped her head up and held her finger to her lips. It was just in time, too, because they almost exclaimed out loud in excitement at seeing her familiar face, but fortunately, this was the room that held Metch who had likely spread the word of his arrival earlier. As a result, they all tiptoed as quietly as they could to the tunnel and followed Eisa down into the dark recesses of it without hesitation. When they got to the junction with Regnark and Deecy, Eisa used her Magelight spell to give them some light and some of them squeaked out in surprise, but they were fortunately too far down for more than a trace of it to make it out of the tunnel.
Fred had another issue, however. The spot where he had made his tunnel to this jail cell was currently blocked by a townsman who had recently decided to sleep curled up over the entrance. This could be a problem. Thinking quickly as he watched the last of the people filing down from the other room, he luckily found Werne – the first townsperson he had Taught anything to back in Gatecross – sitting nearby with his knees pulled up under his chin and staring vacantly at the floor. With an application of his Mana, he etched the word, “MOVE” followed by a small arrow pointing toward the man in the corner.
It took the better part of a minute before Werne focused enough to re
ad it and Fred almost gave up and started digging another tunnel, but he hesitated because he didn’t want to mess with the stability of the tunnel he currently had. Fortunately, the townsman was starved for something to break up the monotony and he immediately crawled to the man in the corner and woke him up. Unfortunately, the man yelped when he was shaken awake; Fred looked outside in the hallway and saw the invisible person immediately move toward the door to look inside. Fred quickly ate away at his writing with a little more Mana to make it smooth, though there was now a noticeable divot on it.
Werne, luckily, calmed down the man that he had woken up and moved him to the side, before sliding himself back over to the divot, feigning his bored expression again. Some of the others had looked over to see what the yelp was about as well, but quickly turned back to doing nothing when they didn’t see anything – which was precisely what the guard did after looking inside for a minute. Somehow they seemed to know there was a guard outside the door even if they couldn’t see it; however, as it was almost completely silent in the metal room, now that he was listening closely, he could hear the faint scuff of the invisible person when they were walking.
Fred was worried that the other doors would be checked since the guard was already there, but they returned to their position after making sure nothing was going on. Breathing a sigh of relief, Fred quickly got rid of the metal covering his tunnel and popped his head up with a finger to his lips similar to Eisa earlier. Gasps escaped some of their lips before they could silence themselves – and the operation was now in jeopardy. The guard practically ran back to the room this time and peered inside to see everyone staring at Fred in shock, and the sounds of keys jingling could be heard. Fred immediately used his Mana-formed Object Skill and visualized a thin bar of the same metal covering the cell in front of the door and essentially welded it into place, preventing the door from opening.
Dungeon World 3: A Dungeon Core Experience Page 33