As for her new defensive room, she tightened its dimensions up so that it lost its status as a “room”, being closer to a tunnel than anything. Widening it up some more, she finally ended up with a space that was 200 feet long and 10 feet high and wide; at that point, it counted as a new room – at least according to her CI Point Awards menu.
Core Improvement Point Awards
Type
Variable Conditions
Potential CIP
Current
Rooms Constructed
Size
1 – 50
9
Traps Installed
Complexity
1 – 20
0
Monsters Created
Levels
1 – 20
0
Rewards Placed
Valuation
1 – 50
0
Raider Presence
Time
1 – 5
258
Raider Deaths
Quality
100 – 10000
26600
Looking over her upcoming Point Awards, Tacca found that – for the most part – any progress she had made before her dungeon was attacked by those monstrous people had been wiped out, other than “Raider Presence” and the deaths of those inside of her dungeon. Neither of those totals would likely increase over the next few weeks, unless she was extremely fortunate and someone wanted to visit, but she could certainly add to the rest. Regardless, it wasn’t necessarily her priority right now, mainly because she already had quite a few Points pending.
At that point, Tacca spent the next 6 days using all of her available Dungeon Force on traps. Learning from her previous defensive room, where the six-armed invaders had been able to spread out and bypass many of her concentrated Enchantment and Life traps, the narrower width of the new space would ensure that anything else that intended to destroy her Core would have to pass through most of them on the way. She also included quite a few traps – 500 to be exact – that were a bit different from what she had done before.
Instead of a 1ft X 1ft X 1ft square with concentrated effects, most of them she made were a little bit bigger and were about 25% less effective.
Strength Boost Life Trap
The Strength Boost Life Trap can be placed on any surface and is triggered by proximity. Any living being passing through the activation range will experience a boost in their Physical attributes – determined by the strength of the trap – for a limited duration of time. Beneficiaries blessed by the Strength Boost Life Trap cannot retrigger additional Strength Boost Life Traps until the duration has expired. All traps can be disabled with high enough Disarm Trap skills.
Cost: 500 DF (-60% Life Specialization)
Replacement Cost: 125 (-75% off current cost/Life Specialization)
Creation Time: 2.5 Hours
Disarm Trap Resistance: 13
Activation Range: 0.5ft X 8.0ft X 1.0ft
Trigger Proximity: 0.2 ft
Physical Attributes Increase: 1500.0%
Duration: 5.0 seconds
Resistance Category: Life
Special Effects: Causes a temporary increase in the physical size and strength of the beneficiaries’ muscles
This might seem counter-intuitive, but there were a few things that she had learned during the assault on her dungeon by those scary individuals. First, the blue-skinned invaders had long legs – and therefore long strides; they ended up bypassing many of the traps by the simple method of stepping over them. To counteract this, she placed the 0.5ft X 8ft traps running the length of the 200ft-long room, so that they would need to have more than an 8ft stride in order to bypass any. When they were arranged next to each other, lining the 10ft width of the room, there were 20 of them every 8 feet, and with large enough feet, it was quite possible that an individual might trigger 2 of them at a time.
Secondly, the extreme strength of the traps had been such that, even with the powerful builds of the invaders, they were overkill. By reducing the amount of the Physical Attribute increase, the expense of the trap dropped dramatically; now at only 500 Dungeon Force, instead of 1300 like the ones before, they were much more affordable.
That was the last reason she changed the elements of the traps: Dungeon Force. After initially creating another 1300 DF trap at the start, Tacca discovered that the previous drain on her Core – as in, the strain and cracking – when she used too much Force at once was now even worse.
Do you think this is because of what happened to me?
“I don’t know, but it’s quite possible.” Shale just shrugged, unable to provide an answer for her. “I know that you used to have to rest after placing one of your traps that cost 1,300 Dungeon Force, so it could be that you are still recovering and it will return.”
That wasn’t too reassuring, considering that when she approached using half of her maximum DF at a single time – which was sitting at a total of 2,000 – she felt her Core start to shudder from the process. Thankfully, no cracks had appeared, but that was probably only because of her caution as she began to feel the strain earlier than normal.
At least, what had been her normal, which was still different from every other Dungeon Core out there.
Therefore, with that in mind, she was limited in what she could create. Spending 500 DF at a time wasn’t that much of an exertion – none, really – so placing trap after trap in her new defensive room wasn’t that big of a deal. It was a compromise that was necessary, but Tacca thought that the workaround with the altered traps would work well enough. She also had plans to add even more traps of different types, but that would come in time; for the moment, nearly a week of doing nothing but creating defenses was making her itch to do something else.
When she was finally able to tackle her upper dungeon again, she was relieved. Despite Shale being out and about, surveying the area in order to see if anyone was approaching – and finding no one, some Core-ish instinct screamed out to Tacca to get ready for the non-existent Raiders. It took her no more than a day to fully replace and restock the original section of her dungeon, placing the dirt, ferns, wildflowers, trees, creatures, and traps that had served her so well. She was accustomed to its layout and decided not to change anything, because it really had worked out well enough that she didn’t think it needed any major changes – other than one set of traps in particular: the pits.
The Soil-covered Pit Traps cost 1,200 Dungeon Force to initially set up, which was currently past her threshold at the moment. Instead of replacing them with something else, she decided to hold off on them altogether – at least until she had a chance to increase her maximum Dungeon Force. While she wasn’t positive that it would make a difference, she certainly hoped it would.
Everything else, though, was easy enough to put back the way it had been before she had suffered from her unfortunate destruction. Once that was done, she turned her attention to the newer section, from which she had been rudely interrupted before she could finish.
That was where the fun began.
Chapter 4
The rooms that she had initially decorated and filled were still valid enough that she didn’t really change them too much, other than to increase the creatures’ Levels a little to make them a bit more difficult. Tacca filled the first room with another mountain range, copying what she had before, which had 5 tunnels leading off in different directions. The next room took advantage of her Mountain Environment with a cliff face that required Raiders to wind back and forth up the 100-foot-tall mountain, all the while having to avoid the Enchantment traps that induced severe dizziness, as well as the 5 Level 6 Cliff Lynxes hiding among the rocky outcrops of the cliff.
The second room consisted of two hills made entirely of a multi-shaded brown rock that flanked the left and right walls; the valley in between them had close-set trees, stretching off to the exit. On the hills, 4 Level 6 Mountain Cougars (2 on each side) waited to pounce down on unsuspecting Raiders as they
worked their way through the room; hidden inside the mini-forest, 3 Level 6 Forest Wolves were waiting in ambush for their prey.
Even just those two rooms being filled with creatures started to eat into her Control Limit. While she had a total of 400 for her Control Limit, the original section required 170 to fully stock it, leaving her only 230 to play with for the next section; she already knew that she was going to have to wait until she could purchase another increase in the Limit to fully fill at least one route through the section, but she could at least do what she could right now – but it wasn’t going to be too much more.
5 Cliff Lynx (Level 6) @ 7CL each = 35CL
4 Mountain Cougar (Level 6) @ 8CL each = 32CL
3 Forest Wolf (Level 6) @ 20CL each = 60CL
With the rewards assigned to them, she had already spent 143 of her available 230 Control Limit – and that was only with 2 rooms! That was okay, though, because she knew she would be able to supply enough Control Limit when she went through another Core Improvement increase. Plus, using the Forest Wolves was a bit expensive when it came to the Control Limit, and it would be one of the last times she would use the Wolves…by themselves, at least.
The next room was her maze, with high, completely smooth walls that wound through the space, with a 5-foot-wide pathway leading through it. There were 2 dead-ends, two exits (one of which would be closed, depending on the route through the section at that time), and a dimly lit interior. This was where she placed 2 powerful fear-inducing Enchantment-based traps, as well as a Level 7 Echoing Hyena and a Level 7 Gnoll Assassin. As their performance during the invasion by the blue-skinned people had been a success, if ineffective, Tacca wanted to see how they could perform against less-powerful Raiders. She was planning on adding another pair, but at 12CL and 22CL for the Hyena and Gnoll, respectively, it was going to have to wait.
The fourth room was the first of those during her reconstruction period that she decided to change. Whereas it had been, at first, a dense fern-and-bush-filled area where Scrub Lions and Frond Coyotes could ambush the Raiders as they navigated their way through the room, with some of the new synergies she had unlocked during the recent attack, she wanted to test them out. One of them, the synergy between a Wolf and a Werewolf, was something she wanted to test out later; the other, a Fox and a Kitsune, was something she wanted to experiment with.
Eschewing the scrubland she was originally going to create, Tacca filled the room with trees. Adding 20 of them was about the limit, which allowed there to be plenty of space to walk in between…and to be targeted by the half-dozen Level 8 Kitsune Archers she was planning on stationing in the trees’ branches. As opposed to the Level 1 Kitsune she had created before, the Level 8 Archers had upgraded equipment; no longer wielding a Flimsy Pine Bow, the Yew Bow it was holding would do quite a bit more damage. When she added in the synergy bonuses from placing at least 10 Level 8 Root Foxes hidden amongst the roots – again, when she had the Control Limit available – they would be formidable, indeed.
That wasn’t all, however. Hidden in the pathways between the trees, Tacca placed 5 separate traps, 2 of them positive and 3 negative. Tacca figured she could switch them up between each Raider group so that no one would be able to memorize which one was which; that was important, because 2 of the traps would be extremely beneficial in defeating the denizens of the room.
The Life-based traps that she had a specialization for were fairly versatile. Whereas she had utilized them down below in her defensive room by greatly increasing the strength of whoever triggered it so that they basically imploded, they were most commonly used as a way to give Raiders an advantage they wouldn’t necessarily have. In this case, she was going to rapidly increase the jumping ability of whoever triggered one of the beneficial traps.
Vertical Jump Boost Life Trap
The Vertical Jump Boost Life Trap can be placed on any surface and is triggered by proximity. Any living being passing through the activation range will experience a boost in their Physical attributes – determined by the strength of the trap – for a limited duration of time. Beneficiaries blessed by the Vertical Jump Boost Life Trap cannot retrigger additional Vertical Jump Boost Life Traps until the duration has expired. All traps can be disabled with high enough Disarm Trap skills.
Cost: 400 DF (-60% Life Specialization)
Replacement Cost: 100 DF (-75% off current cost/Life Specialization)
Creation Time: 0.5 Hours
Disarm Trap Resistance: 3
Activation Range: 3ft X 3ft X 3ft
Trigger Proximity: 0.5 ft
Physical Attributes Increase: 600.0%
Duration: 30.0 seconds
Resistance Category: Life
Special Effects: Causes a temporary increase in the vertical jump ability of anyone affected by the trap
With the ability to jump 6X higher than they would normally, any Raider affected by one of these Life traps would be able to reach the branches and attack the Kitsune directly. This would be important, because if there was one thing she knew about Kitsune, it was that they were extremely agile; being able to avoid projectiles like arrows or spells thrown out by the Raiders on the ground would be relatively simple for them. Not that they couldn’t be overwhelmed by multiple attacks, but it would be difficult to pin them down; physically jumping up into the trees’ branches would help the Raiders immensely.
Of course, only 2 of the 5 traps she was placing in the room would be beneficial. The remaining traps would be Enchantment-based, with an assortment of fear, disorientation, and confusion-based effects, strong enough that they would sincerely hinder the capabilities of anyone afflicted with their effects.
The last thing she did with them was to make all of the traps obvious to anyone passing through. Giving the Raiders a choice of whether to risk activating the traps was the entire goal of the room, and creating noticeable squares free of any foliage in the dirt pathways between the trees was a way for them to choose without it being a mystery of where they were located.
Subsequent rooms were filled with environmental objects and traps but no creatures at the moment, because she had all but hit her Control Limit already. Tacca concentrated on her final room, her Boss Room, which she was planning on making quite difficult for anyone that made it that far. It was here that she wanted to utilize a Werewolf / Wolf synergy, but it wasn’t going to be filled with Forest Wolves. Instead, she was going to use the Steppe Wolf, which was a Variant that was at home in a mountainous environment. While not as agile as a Mountain Cougar or a Cliff Lynx, the Steppe Wolf was able to blend into the dark stone of the mountain range she created in the new section’s final room.
As for the Level 12 Werewolf Warrior she wanted to create, the powerful creature would be the real challenge of the room.
Werewolf Warrior
Werewolves aren’t just wolves walking on their hind legs; instead, they are frightening combinations of what makes bipedal hybrids utilizing powerful base creatures so effective. Standing quite tall, Werewolves possess the speed and cunning of their smaller brethren, have a superb sense of smell, and can expertly track prey through the most difficult of circumstances. Unlike many other semi-humans, the nature of the Werewolf typically prevents most weapons from being handled, and armor of any kind is generally unneeded because of its tough fur covering. Instead, the sharp teeth and claws of the creature are utilized to great efficiency, especially in the Warrior Variant; stronger physical attacks and physical defenses are the hallmarks of this Variant, which makes it both deadly and increases its survivability.
Cost (Level 12): 900 DF
Control Requirement (Level 12): 95
Creation Time (Level 12): 2 Hours
Equipment: None
Physical Attack: 35 (50)
Ranged Attack: 0 (0)
Physical Defense: 30 (40)
Ranged Defense: 10 (15)
Elemental Resistance: 50% Nature, 10% Death
Specials: Howl of the Moon
Pack Hunter:
Bonus to physical attack if in conjunction with others in the Canine family
Synergy Addition (+): Adds a bonus to Physical and Ranged Attack and Defense when paired with unevolved creature form; this bonus lasts for up to 30 seconds even after paired form is killed
It was, to put it plainly, a powerhouse. Not only did it have a Pack Hunter trait, but it also had a special ability called “Howl of the Moon”. From her schooling, she knew that – when activated – it would increase the speed of all Werewolves; while it didn’t explicitly say it, she had a feeling that it would also work on any Wolves that were around. Even if it didn’t she was still planning on having quite a few lower-Level Steppe Wolves in the room.
“Don’t you think that’s a little too powerful for this section? Especially considering that ‘synergy’ bonus you discovered?” Shale asked as she described what she was going to create.
At first, yes, but I want this section to be viable for Raider Levels 6 through 15. Initially, not many groups will be able to progress through more than a handful of the rooms before it becomes too dangerous, but they will also earn a lot of Rewards and the Power they require to increase their Levels. I don’t necessarily want to kill them, remember, but if it isn’t a challenge, then it won’t be seen as worthwhile.
“I guess that is true.” Her Dungeon Assistant nodded. “By the time they can actually tackle the Werewolf, they’ll have had to fight through everything else – which is quite an accomplishment.” He paused. “Now what?”
That was a good question. She was at a bit of a standstill right now, with no one visiting her dungeon and being basically out of creatures she could create because of her Control Limit. Fortunately, there were only 3 days left until her Core Improvement Level increased, so there was time to do some mind-numbingly mundane digging.
The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) Page 4