《Ruins of Khal'Dahn》 A Light in the Dark Floating¡­ The sensation of drifting becomes a feeling edging into¡­ A sense of... something. A thought? A single conscious thought, though formless at its inception, crystalizes to form a core. A core of being. A remnant. A remnantholding, and built of, the shadows of what once was¡­ and possibly could be again. Slowly, inevitably, the thought shakes off the fog that clings to it, seeking itself, becoming more. It begins to take definition, to discover itself. But something is missing. Desperately, blindly, the forming consciousness reaches out seeking that which could define and explain its existence. Something, anything to guide it, to ground it, to stave off and combat the rising sensation of¡­ Emotion? Fear¡­ Confusion and terror set in. The budding consciousness writhes in fear and panic. It lashes out in the vain attempts to seek something to anchor it. It is lost, it is alone. It does not understand what is happening, why it can suddenly perceive¡­ What it can suddenly perceive. Reaching out, it finds¡­ nothing. But then¡­ Pressure Some outside force presses in on it. Gently, lovingly, the pressure builds, compresses. The fear fades away. The new sensation giving the core a stabilizing force. It is new, it is unknown, but it gives definition. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Slowly, something else gathers, and flows through the pressure, is forced in by the pressure. Something that¡­ energizes. As this new force continues to pour into the core, it senses something else. Something that is¡­ igniting. Sparks Pinpricks of flickering lights. Present, but not tangible. Sensed but not seen. Thousands upon thousands of gathering colors and sensations. Each individually beautiful to behold, and each as enigmatic and mysterious as the last. They gather, following the lines of energy, collecting at the core. The crash, they collide. They¡­ combine. Each spark becomes a part of a whole, flickering and spinning as they grow. They become sharper, more defined. They become something¡­ more. Slowly, the conscious core sees something more in them. Something¡­ absolute. Memories A snap of recognition. The glinting, glimmering gossamer shards of memories flow like a kaleidoscopic maelstrom around the core. They shift, and pressure builds. They flow over and through the core. Pushing in, forming¡­ connections¡­ expansion. Causing it to grow. The flickering memories bombard the burgeoning consciousness. It is too much. Knowledge and memories are caught, then immediately replaced by another, and another, and another. The energy and shards begin to overwhelm Cold Like the retreating of a tide, a sense of chill pushes back against the tidal wave of shimmering shards. It balances, defines¡­ slows. With the cold comes organization. It brings order to the chaos. It creates pathways and borders. A network¡­ A Matrix. Serenity¡­ Slowly, the core gains control over itself. It watches as the last of the lights and memories fall into place, creating a perfectly faceted sphere around it. They solidify, created a seamless shell around the consciousness. Trapping¡­ Housing. Then, the shards fade. As they fade, new sensations take root, drawing the consciousness away from itself. Drawing it beyond¡­ Drawing it¡­ Outward. _____________________________________________ A couple weeks travel south of Fourdock, not far from a main trade route, the ambient Mana around a long-forgotten temple stirs. Deep in the overgrown stone ruins a spark of emerald and gold light interrupts a Mantis as it stalks a grasshopper. In a shadowed crevice of a damaged wall, a multi-faceted marble appears, nestled into the soft loam and moss that gathered at its base. The tiny little gem continued to give off a shifting green gold glow that cast new shadows on the wall and crevice. The Mantis, initially startled by the sudden event, slowly approached the new dungeon core, as though mesmerized. Once it gets close enough to touch, it stops, tilting its head from side to side. Finally, as though compelled by some unseen force, it drew back slightly, lifting its claws as though to strike. The light from the dungeon core flickered, as though it was suddenly aware of the danger, and the Mantis strikes. A New Dawn New sensations settled over me like the dawn''s light breaking the horizon to illuminate the world. A gentle influx of information followed by a surging of awareness that simply felt... right. I was awake. I cast my awareness about me to get a feeling as to where I was... as to what I was. My vision was limited in scope, though I somehow felt that this limitation would only be temporary with time. I thought for a moment about trying to follow that thread of discovery, but put it aside for now. Learning about myself was more important. I was more important. I now had a sense of urgency to discover this, as though the knowing was time sensitive. I returned to searching, and found what was calling. Nestled into a dark corner near the center of the ruins I found... me. I have no words to describe just how I knew that the little green gem was me. It was simply the concentrated essence of... me. It wasn''t something that could be questioned, any more than questioning that the Sun gave off light. It just was. But now that I knew what I was, I was driven to seek out my immediate surroundings. Some intrinsic awareness guided my senses, something pushed for me to know. I needed to know. I obeyed the instinct. I looked out and found that I was in some sort of ruins. Ruins that were practically vibrating with life, if one knew how to look for it. Living things covered nearly every inch of the expanse that my awareness could reach. Vague, colorful auras defined the various things that lived and breathed and grew there. They were connected by a shimmering, interconnected lattice of energy, a network of¡­ Mana? The prismatic web of energy ebbed and flowed with the ambience of the surroundings. I somehow knew that if I could sit and watch it, I would be able to see it surge, flow, change and whip about depending on the surrounding conditions and events. At the center of this web of mana¡­ was me. My beautiful, shimmering gemstone body lay at the core of the web¡­ No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. I created the web of Mana! The more I looked at it, the clearer its purpose became to me. The web stabilized the chaos of the surrounding mana, drawing it in calming it. The web would also funnel Mana to me from the things connected to it nearby. This I knew as surely as I was alive. I could sense something else, too. Concentrations of these auras near me that I knew I could do something with. Concentrations that created knots in the Mana web. They weren¡¯t creatures, or things¡­ but they had auras that matched creatures and things nearby. One was located on a nearby ledge, and the other at the base of one of the outer walls. Curiously, I began to reach for them, but then the feeling of warning flared again. My instincts screamed at me to ignore the distractions and focus! I pushed everything out, ignored all the beautiful and wonderful things I was discovering and followed the thread of warning. My focus brought me to myself again. No, not to myself, but near myself. Another aura, another creature¡­ so close to me. Coming¡­ closer to me. This¡­ thing. This¡­ insect. This¡­ Mantis? The name came to me as naturally as everything else I had been discovering. All I had to do was focus on it. It came closer¡­ and closer. Studying my body¡­ my Core. I studied it in return, trying to learn why my instincts had been driving me to search it out. The answer came to me at the same time as the Mantis drew back and raised its bladed arms to strike¡­ AT ME! Invader! I panicked. My sheer terror blasting outwards from me in a wave. I distantly noted that my psychic scream disrupted the web and auras of the things around me, but that was far from what was foremost in my mind. ¡°I am going to DIE!¡± I watched, helplessly, as the Mantis began its strike; able to see everything but utterly unable to do anything to stop it. Just as I instinctively knew all the other things I had learned; I knew without any doubt that the Mantis would kill me. It would strike my core, grab it, and steal the Mana that was my life force. I did not have enough of it to survive. I¡­ I was dead¡­ before my life had even begun. The knowledge brought an eerie sense of calm serenity to me. I knew I should feel more than this, that I should fight¡­ but I couldn¡¯t. There were no options available for me. The last few moments of my unrealized existence slowed to a crawl as the Mantis jolted forward with the killing blow, and I took a mental ¡°last breath¡± before the end. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡­ THUD What happened next was so fast that I was almost completely unable to keep track of it all. The Mantis crumpled to the ground under the weight of a falling thing. It rose up to fight back, driving its killing arms into the creature that had interrupted it, piercing its scaled skin and drawing blood. It would be the last thing that it ever did. The creature it grabbed twisted and rolled, trying to dislodge the killer bug from its tortured hide. Then, more help arrived. Anoles. Little lizards matching the one that had jumped from above swarmed the mantis from all directions, tearing it apart and consuming it in a writhing mass of tails mouths. Mana Gained! I was too stunned to fully register the sudden influx of Mana from the death of the Invader. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m alive? Are these¡­ Friends? Protectors?¡± I forced my stun locked mind into action, and focused on the Anoles. Denizen: Anole Denizen? I stew over the new information for a precious moment, trying to figure out what exactly it is about the lizards that has me squinting my metaphorical eyes in suspicious recognition. I watch the little lizards spread out and start tracking down anything and everything in the area that isn¡¯t them. Several more Mantises find themselves hunted down and consumed, along with grasshoppers and some beetles. Their demises provide me with surges of new Mana, each wave briefly overloading my senses. I received far more Mana than I could figure out what to do with at the moment. Somehow, I knew this wasn¡¯t normal. I shouldn¡¯t be getting assaulted by Mana in this way. But I was, and I had to endure. I recentered myself to gain control of my senses again, and with the clarity I achieved something clicked. I figured out what it is about the Anoles that seemed so familiar. They have the same auras as one of the knots! I turn my attention to the concentrated Mana that shares an aura with my little guardians, the one on the ledge. Now that I have the time to focus on it, I am able to recognize it as a spawner. My attention causes a reaction in the web, and options for upgrading and spawning become available. I trigger the upgrade, and watch as the small clutch of rubbery skinned eggs grows. I understand that the spawn rate has increased, allowing me more protectors in a shorter time frame. The investment took a significant amount of the Mana I had gained from the bug massacre going on around my core. But I still had some to use and was gaining more as time went on, and I had another option to explore. I checked the amount of Mana needed, and made a risky decision. This would bring me extremely low, but I desperately needed more friends and protectors. I fed Mana to the spawner again, this time pushing it to spawn another lizard. It¡­ wasn¡¯t instant. I was disappointed and the trickle of fear began coming back. The very real chance of dying because I made a poor decision in my haste to secure my survival began to settle in my mind. I should have checked to see if there were any conditions associated with the choice. I quickly look around my core to see if there was anything approaching, anything that could get through to harm me¡­ but there wasn¡¯t. My little army of lizards were skittering to and fro, hunting down anything that moved or that would come close to fitting in their mouths. Several had even taken up a position near my core, heads darting about to catch sight of any Invader. I watched the activity anxiously as I waited. I could feel an indication of when the spawning process would be completed. It felt like the mounting of sand falling through an hourglass, and when that sand finally pressed against the confines of the glass, the event would trigger. Wait. What was happening!? Why do I feel¡­ covered? I turned my vision around, suddenly afraid that something had gotten past my guardians. Looking back at my core I found that the ivy had begun to creep down from the wall, covering the little hole where my core was. The vines? How? I tracked them backwards, following them up and then down the wall again. No luck. Then, I had a flash of inspiration. I adjusted my sight to see the web again, and followed the aura instead. AHA! I had forgotten about the other spawner. My investigation brought me straight to it, and left me fumbling in confusion. I focused in on the Vine spawner, trying to figure out how exactly I could use them to best benefit, how I could use them to stop invaders. Denizen: Ivy I grumped in frustration at the lack of information. Upgrading was an option, as was forcibly spawning more. But I didn¡¯t have the necessary Mana reserves to do so. Even with the Anoles hunting my immediate premises for threats, the Mana influx was slowing. They were clearing the area. I also had no idea why I would want to spawn a random new vine. It couldn¡¯t hunt and moved extremely slowly. Though that in itself was odd, it seemed their denizen status made them¡­ semi-sentient? Autonomous? It seemed my instinctual knowledge didn¡¯t cover all areas. Either way, they had responded to my panicked cry for help. Though they had been a bit late. I decided not to hold it against them, they were plants after all. Things were calming down for the moment. I felt the whole area start to go dark, much like how my core had felt the darkness descend from the encroaching ivy. Night was falling. I returned my senses to watch my core. The Ivy was nearly done covering it, knotting, braiding and wrapping itself into every anchor point nearby to create the best possible covering. I couldn¡¯t even see the glow of my core from the outside at this point. As I watched, I felt a change in the area around my core. Curious, I looked closer. Sanctum Securing my core had created a ¡°Room¡±. My cozy little mossy nest had now become my official home, my Sanctum. This knowledge allowed me to finally relax. I was protected. I would live. I had survived. Something changed in the web, and a twang resounded through it. Oh! Why hello there. For the Night is Dark and full of Terrors. The setting of the sun brought a new set of challenges. I was safe from the Mantises and other beetles and bugs, at least for now. There was still the concern of things burrowing underneath or through my vine-walled home, and I knew I was going to need to figure out a better housing situation. My little lizards continued to protect me through the night, despite not having the best vision for it. Because of this a few nocturnal insects got close to my Sanctum, some even managed to land on the ivy shield that covered me. Those that did I was able to detect fairly easily, and I directed my guardians to deal with them before they could find a way to squeeze in between any gaps. Then there were the Fireflies. They did not register as invaders and did not give me any Mana for some reason, but my lizards chased them down all the same. I spent the moments of peace that I had available amusedly watching the little Anoles chasing down and jumping for the luminescent bugs, their antics lit by the stars and the insect''s glowy butts. There was no Moon this night, at least not that I could tell. Not that I could see the sky as it was well beyond the edges of my domain and perceptions, but I knew of these things either way. In spite of my experiences thus far, I started to relax. Then I was reminded that complacency kills. I got the sensation that something different was entering my peripheral senses and sent out a mental warning for my defenders to prepare. My newest addition actually got them into beneficial positions rather quickly. My first Scion, the Anole that I had attempted to speed out earlier that day and that had spawned just as the sun went down, was... different than the others. The normal Anoles could stick out a colored sail under their necks for display, but my Scion had a sail-like crest on his head and tail in addition to his throat and was a little bit larger and stronger than they were. Where the regular Anoles might actually have trouble with a Mantis alone, my Scion shouldn''t have any difficulty as he was large enough to stuff most of an entire Mantis into his mouth. He was also far more serious and disciplined. I don''t know if this was because of my needs and state of mind when I called on him, or if it was just a part of him being him. Regardless, he corralled my scattered defenders quickly and efficiently to meet this new potential threat. He skillfully commanded them into cover and hidden ambush points, both protecting them and setting them up to respond to the unknown new arrival. To say I was impressed would be a massive understatement. The thing pressing in on my space came on slowly, as though it was unsure of itself or its surroundings. Maybe it sensed me in some way? Or maybe it was just naturally timid and cautious. My defenders and I sat and waited anxiously for it to finally make an appearance. Finally, the creature broke through the fog surrounding my limited perception range. Delver: Rabbit ¡°¡­Delver?¡± The knowledge of what a Delver was and what they do wasn¡¯t a part of my natural knowledge for some reason. Which meant I was completely at the mercy of this thing until it did what it came here to do. I watched the rabbit as it sought out and chewed on some clover, and the fear that it would chew through the vines covering me began to take root. It wasn¡¯t actively trying to come for my core though, so instead of antagonizing something that I wasn¡¯t entirely sure my defenders could stop, I waited¡­ and watched. The fluffy rabbit slowly patrolled through my grounds, stopping at various patches of vegetation that caught its fancy and munching for a bit before moving on. I began to wonder if there was some way that I could¡­ encourage it to forage somewhere away from where my core was. As I followed that line of thinking, an option presented itself to me. Create Healing Herb Resource Node? ¡°Resource Node? Healing Herb? Is that something the rabbit would want to eat? I suppose it is worth a try. Not like I can do anything else right now.¡± I sent my Mana to course along the web to create a node. I chose a spot not too far from the rabbit¡¯s current position, but in the opposite direction from my core. It was in a shaded corner where two of my ruined walls met on the outer edges of my perimeter. I watched as the Mana took hold and seeded itself into the ground, sprouting small buds that would be sure to grow in time. This particular herb seemed to flower nocturnally, and would have stronger effects if it was harvested while in bloom. Not sure if I liked the idea of more visitors at night, or of more visitors at all really, but I as I was musing about that something interesting happened. The rabbit, apparently bored of its patch of clover, hopped over and began munching on one of my erroneous spawner vines that covered much of the ruins. It didn¡¯t completely destroy the vine, but it did chew off part of the stem. When it did, I was surprised as I gained a small amount of Mana. ¡°¡­ Huh? I get Mana for it destroying my denizens? Oh, there it goes.¡± Apparently, the ivy didn¡¯t taste particularly good to it. It wandered away from the vines and then paused, its little nose twitching as it smelled the air. ¡°That¡¯s right buddy, smell the pretty little herbs. You don¡¯t want anything else.¡± The rabbit stretched as it followed the new, sweet scent. I continued watching it as it shuffled its way towards the new patch of herbs, and away from me. Mana Gained! I get Mana for that too? More than the vines, more than anything else, actually. The rabbit raiding my resource node provided me with more mana than any of the individual Invaders my defenders had killed. ¡°So, is it a good thing that Delvers come and take from me? Does this mean that I should try and attract them somehow?¡± Curious, I send a command to the nearest lizards to reveal themselves and move closer to the rabbit. I watch it closely for any sign of aggression, but it doesn¡¯t even react to their presence. I even send one of them to come close enough to sniff at the delver, and all it does is sniff back before going back to eating the healing herbs. Stolen story; please report. It doesn¡¯t appear that the rabbit is something that will actively seek to harm me at this point. In response I send a mental urge for my defenders to relax from their sentry duty and return to their usual job of patrolling the area. My Scion chooses to stay in the same general area as the rabbit, apparently he isn¡¯t convinced that it will stay a passive visitor. That is fine by me. I am glad for his vigilance, to be perfectly honest. I am going to have to come up with a name for him at some point here. He is a unique denizen after all. He deserves the recognition. While I am pondering what to call him, I feel a jolt of alarm from him coming across the web. I refocus my attention and see the rabbit¡¯s ears perk up, then see it bolt. ¡°It¡¯s so FAST!¡± I make a mental note to never underestimate something by its looks again. It isn¡¯t headed towards me, but rather is trying to get out of my perimeter. My Scion slinks back into the shadows as the other Anoles scatter to the four winds at this new active threat. I feel them now, the presence of two large somethings on the edges of my boundaries. One trailing the rabbit at speed, and the other moving to cut it off. Excited yips called out as they close in on the fleeing Delver, yips that sounded oddly deep and murky in my little bubble. Just as the rabbit reaches an open exit and makes a break for it, something darts into my borders after it, striking my unfortunate visitor with sharp teeth before leaving again. Invader: Coyote A¡­ what!? Delver killed! Mana Gained! ¡­ Wow. That is a lot of Mana. The surge of Mana I gained after the death of the rabbit made all other sources I had discovered thus far pale in comparison. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to discover what that meant for me just yet, though. I had only one thing on my mind after that display. ¡°I need to get off the ground.¡± _______________________________________________________ The rest of the night passed uneventfully, thankfully. It allowed me time to plan. Once I had an idea of what I wanted to do I used the Mana I gained from the rabbit to start putting things in motion. The most important thing was to upgrade myself. I noticed the option when I reached a certain threshold for stored Mana, and the rabbit¡¯s death and antics had pushed me up over that level. I knew that I was going to need it if I had any hope of accomplishing something more than lying about and waiting for something to come and get me. But it was going to have to wait until my core was secured. Ensuring the core¡¯s safety was more important. I had noticed that the Coyotes weren¡¯t active Invaders. I didn¡¯t know yet exactly why, but I had a few ideas. Foremost among them was that they simply weren¡¯t interested yet. I hadn¡¯t grown enough to be an attraction for them, not more than their rabbits at least. I also hadn¡¯t yet encroached my territory onto theirs. I planned to use this lack of interest to my advantage while I still could. In order to enact my plans, I needed to begin upgrading my spawners. At this point it was obvious that I was at the mercy of the world around me. I had nothing separating me from the dangers, and anything that wanted to could walk right up to me and do what it wanted. Especially the things that were far bigger than my Anoles. I was finding that my defenders weren¡¯t going to be up to the task of protecting me, not if something the size of those Coyotes was out there. I wanted to upgrade them to the point that they could at least contend with them, if that was even possible. I wasn¡¯t sure just yet if I even could do that, but first things first. I also created a couple more resource nodes in the outer edges of my area and upgraded them all. I spawned in another healing herb and a ¡°Stamina¡± herb, which I think was used to combat exhaustion in creatures. This Stamina Herb was a daytime blooming herb, which I hoped would attract more delvers across all hours. The day also brought a new wave of insectoid invaders. Beetles and Mantises made their way to me, and were in turn intercepted by my protectors. Though not without loss. Some of the Anoles were taken out by the larger Mantises, an act that didn¡¯t earn me any sort of Mana. Even so, my Mana reserves continued to grow as time passed on. The next part of my plan involved the Vine spawner. For one, I needed to know what upgrading it did. For another, my plan was to use the vines to suspend me off the ground up near the ceiling. If I could somehow get them to scoop me up with the moss and pull me up it would protect me from the Coyotes and other ground-based invaders. Obviously, the bugs could still get to me, as most of them had some sort of wings and could climb. But it would be harder. For them to actually reach me without an Anole intervening. I was going to need to wait a bit, unfortunately. I had already burned through the Mana gained from the rabbit placing and upgrading the Nodes. I saw it as a necessary investment for future Mana. The next couple of days passed in relative peace, with no more visits from large predators. I did get another couple of rabbits visiting the nodes, as well as a groundhog and a deer! Thankfully all of them registered as Delvers, and showed no interest in my core. But their donations of Mana allowed me to put my plans into action. I upgraded the Ivy spawner several times and was rewarded with an increase in the toughness and speed of the Ivy vines. This was definitely going to work. It was still going to take time, but I knew it was going to work. I waited until nightfall before sending the commands out across the web, not wanting the larger insects that were active during the day to have a chance at me. The vines responded, slowly burrowing underneath the moss I rested on and enclosing me entirely. Then they began to recede, pulling me and my mossy bed up the wall in a viny cocoon of sorts. The place I chose was an overhanging corner up above me, and just underneath the Anole spawner. Hopefully this would mean that they could respond faster if something were to start attacking me. It took all night, the vines were still just plants after all, but by daybreak the Ivy had me secured in my new little nook. I was up off the ground and, with the help of my Anole Scion, stuffed into a crack inside of a clump of moss that kept my glow from reaching the outside. My room had even updated, Secret Sanctum. It looked like my efforts had paid off and placed me somewhere difficult to gain access to. Thanks to the upgrades I put into the Vine spawner, they also came out with new types of vines that I immediately placed on the outside of my Sanctum and around the ruins. Sundews and Fly Traps and Pitchers. These should make things a little easier on the Anoles and make it harder for Invaders to reach me. So now it was on to the next step. While exploring my options for securing myself and placing my resource nodes, I discovered some new options waiting to be used. Traps. My choices were for these tools were rather limited, but that wasn¡¯t going to prevent me from using them to the best of my ability and combining them for greater effectiveness. I currently had only two options; Rockfall Trap and Tripping Vines. At least I knew what they were capable of. Rockfall Trap Detectability: Hard Chance to trip: Low A difficult to find trap that causes direct damage to the creature that trips it, sending rocks from above to bury and strike them. Tripping Vines Detectability: Low to Moderate Chance to trip: Moderate High tensile, thin vines that trip and otherwise bind the target in one place. Detectability varies depending on placement. My current plan was this, set up the Rockfall and Tripping Vines together. I would be placing the Tripping Vines in such a way as to prevent anything larger than the rabbits from entering certain areas. The Tripping Vines would then be connected to the Rockfall Trap, so that anything that tripped the Vines would then be crushed under the Rockfall. This should work quite well for the Coyotes. They were my biggest concern for the moment, as they were an identified hostile creature that could freely come and go as they wished. With more rabbits and other creatures visiting, I was expecting them to show up again very soon. I had been monitoring my Delvers as they entered and left my area and had an idea as to where to set my traps up. I had enough Mana to place two complete traps, so I chose the high traffic entryways and hoped that they would prove to be useful. I then dumped the remaining Mana I had into my Lizard Spawner. Now all that remained was to wait for more Mana and see if my efforts were enough. The Stacking of the Deck My new traps worked well. ¡­ A little too well, actually. A couple nights after I first put them into place they activated exactly as I had hoped. A Rabbit bolted into my zone and through one of the archways I had set up as a trap. Not but a few moments later and a Coyote in hot pursuit set the trap off and was crushed under the falling archway, netting me a MASSIVE amount of Mana as the Coyote¡¯s lifeforce left its broken body and was caught and transferred to me by the Mana Web. It was so much Mana that I needed to immediately invest it in order to relieve the sudden restricting tightness I felt. I upgraded my two traps to be both harder to detect and affect a greater area with falling stones, increasing my chances of stopping a threat with them. Undergrowth and extra vines grew in strategic places, covering the existing vines which were suddenly thinner and more spread out over the area, creating low snares in addition to the trip wires. The structure of the arches grew wider and taller, including more stones as well as larger ones, and would now include the frame of the arches in the falling stones. Rockfall Trap II Detectability: Hard Chance to activate: Moderate A difficult to find trap that causes direct damage to the creature that trips it, sending rocks from above to bury and strike them. Has been upgraded to increase the area of effect and include the walls of the trap as well. Chance to activate and accuracy increased by synergy with connected Tripping Vines trap. Tripping Vines Trap II Detectability: Low Chance to Activate: Moderate High tensile, thin vines that trip and otherwise bind a target in place. Detectability lowered and effectiveness increased due to upgrade. Connection to Rockfall Trap ensures that targets that activate this trap also activate Rockfall Trap. Afterward I wondered how I was going to reset the trap. Would I need to use my vines to pull everything back into place? It turns out that I didn¡¯t need to worry. I soon felt a tug through the web, and I siphoned the requested mana to it. I watched as new vines grew out and reach out to wrap around and pull the scattered pieces of the trap back together and into place. The tripping vines pulled tight again and the crushed vegetation reset itself back to normal. There was even a vine that pulled the corpse of the Coyote out of the middle of the archway and to the side. Once their job was completed, these new vines then dissipated, leaving the whole thing as pristine as when I had first made it. Which is how things were when I found out they were, perhaps, a little too good at killing things. In addition to my rabbit delvers, I had started to attract other animals that were interested in my resource nodes. One night a doe and her fawn decided to take an interest in the Stamina Herbs. They were sitting there grazing when one of the Anoles jumped off the wall next to them after a Firefly. Its actions startled them, resulting in the Doe starting violently¡­ and the fawn taking off in fear. ¡­ right into one of the traps. They had avoided the archway on their way into my territory, not wanting to push through the vines and underbrush when there was a clear alternative. But with a potential threat coming, the fawn ran through the closest opening it could find. The vines and rocks of the trap did not discriminate, and I had a new deluge of Mana flooding my core that I desperately needed to invest somewhere. I quickly created another resource node and upgraded my two spawners just to relieve the pressure I was feeling. I still sensed that I was full of Mana and needed to do something with it. Actually, I knew what I needed to do with it¡­ but I was afraid to. I had known when I moved my core that it was only going to be temporary. That I wasn¡¯t going to be able to stay in the little crevice forever, I knew I was growing daily. But I had hoped that I was going to have the time to figure out a better solution. Unfortunately, I still hadn¡¯t managed it, and the new influxes of massive mana pools were causing growth that neither I nor my little hiding spot were ready for. I had an idea¡­ but it was going to be risky. It was going to put me back into the open, back where anything could potentially get at me. But I was out of time. If I was going to be able to continue managing the Mana gained over time and from the deaths of creatures in my zone, I was going to need to put myself at risk. At least until I knew what was going to happen. My Lizard Scion, whom I have decided to name Veldrann, was looking far bulkier and well protected now with thick and protruding scales and plates and darkening green scales. Veldrann had made his own nest in a partially collapsed section of rubble in the same room I was housed in. When he made the move, it had made me quite happy to know that he was going to be watching over me personally. He had preened when I let that sensation flow into him through our connection. He was a good Guardian. I watched him track down and pounce on a Mantis, the poor bug being completely helpless to stop him now thanks to his increased size and protections. I let him finish chowing down on the bug before sending out my orders. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Veldrann¡¯s head perked up at my urging and he sprinted around my perimeter, organizing my defenders. He then came to where I was and personally stood watch with a small retinue of mixed lizards. Anoles, Geckos and Crocodile Skinks stood alert for any threat, the last of which were nearly the same size as Veldrann. Did I mention that the upgrades on my spawners were creating a more diverse cast of defenders? I still hadn¡¯t managed to get anything large, but they were an effective force against the Mantises and Beetles. My Vines had changed too. I now had fly traps, sundews and pitchers to catch the smaller of my harassers. The vines also moved much faster and with more¡­ intent? I hesitate to say that they were getting smarter, but they certainly seemed better able to take direction. Which is what I was giving them now. Unlike with Veldrann, I needed to take more direct control to get what I needed done. My vines were better, but they certainly weren¡¯t thinking for themselves. I briefly considered what would happen if I tried spawning a Scion through the Vines, and if they would be sentient. But then remembered that I couldn¡¯t be distracted if I wanted to get this done right. With one last mental breath, I began to guide the vines. I sent them into my covered crevice, drawing and prying my mossy prison and my core out. I recognized with a small portion of my mind that I had lost the Secret Sanctum designation, but gave it no further thought. I directed the vines to create a¡­ baggy hammock. My goal was to create a hanging nest of sorts for me on the ceiling. One that would discourage anything ground dwelling from attempting to reach me, and making it difficult for anything else to get to me. I had the vines wrap themselves around me as densely as possible in networked layers, so that nothing I knew of could just simply rip my new nest apart or slip between the cracks. Though come to think of it, if something did try to slip between the cracks, I could just have the vines squeeze to crush it. Moving to my new home took less time than my original move to the crevice did. Then again, I didn¡¯t go all that far. The vines and foliage covering me was a dense patch just above where the crevice had been, looking for all the world like little more than a knot of vines stuck on the intersection of the wall and ceiling. I was about as secure as I could be without burying myself, which I had no real method of accomplishing without destroying the ruins around me somehow. I had the feeling I might be able to accomplish something along those lines by disrupting the foundations with my vines, but there was no guarantee I could get out again or of my defenders reaching me in an emergency. So, tempting as being completely covered with heavy stones and rubble was, I refused to do it. Then there was the option of placing myself in or near one of my spawners. It had the major benefit of my being right in the nest of my protectors, but the downside of putting their nest at risk to Invaders. So far, nothing had moved to directly strike at my spawners, but if I put myself there it would draw the attention of those that wanted to harm me and, by association, force them to attack my guardian¡¯s nests. I did not know what would happen if those nests got destroyed, and I certainly did not want to find out the hard way while relying on said nests to protect me. No, this would simply have to do until another opportunity presented itself. I had a feeling that the more upgrades I sought out, the more options I would have available to me. But I needed to get there first. With that in mind, I finally screwed up my courage and upgraded myself. It was¡­ an interesting experience. Almost immediately my senses became sharper and more focused. My borders expanded in all directions and I now felt more of the ruins that I had been living in for the past few weeks. Not only that¡­ but the ruins themselves improved. Stone grew out of the walls and ground, connecting into more defined forms. As my awareness expanded, I felt stronger walls on the outside firm up enough to support a partial roof, and on the other side of one of my traps I felt the beginnings of set of stairwells and a hallway form. The area I was in currently clearly became a set of interconnected rooms, beginning to isolate themselves from the rest of the ruins, though they were still open with breaks and collapsed portions of walls and ceilings. My other trap appeared to be situated in what is now the entryway to my ruins. Outside of that I had what appeared to be a small field around the ruins, with the rubble of a couple of outbuildings showing through the grass. All these new options and discoveries began to give me hope. If I could completely isolate myself from the outside, I could be safe. Whether that was above or below ground, I didn¡¯t personally care. I just didn¡¯t want to die. I wanted to live, and I wanted to do it without the constant fear of dying. A tug on the Web brought my attention to something else important. A new Spawner! Excited, I shifted my focus to look at it¡­ And was immediately disappointed. Orioles. To be fair to them, they were very pretty birds. They had beautifully bright orange and yellow plumage and had begun singing a lovely song. But they weren¡¯t the muscle I was hoping I would have available to me. For whatever reason, it seems that I was destined to be starting from behind. It wasn¡¯t their fault, so I decided to make the most of it and put enough mana into their spawner to create a new Scion. Veldrann was going to need some help after all. Their spawner was up in an arched section above an open area roughly in the middle of my zone. The open area looked like it was once some sort of gathering area, and the new spawner was tucked away above it in what looked to be some sort of overhead window setting or echo chamber. The upgrade and Scion spawn took a fair bit of Mana, but I still had some left to make a few upgrades. I weighed my options, then put a final push into both my Lizard and Vine spawner, making them both into Lairs. How Vines constituted Lairs was beyond me. But maybe I was missing something there. Still, that upgrade greatly increased their efficiency and spawn rate, something that I had a feeling I was going to need. I really should create a Vine Scion at some point in time. But I was extremely hesitant to do so without knowing just what would happen. I felt that the Mana required could be put to better use elsewhere until I had consistently had enough to do some experimenting. Much to my surprise, the birds were already pulling their own weight. They watched from above, calling out to the lizards where the beetles and mantises were coming from or hiding. If there was no one available to intercept, they did it themselves. Winging down from on high and taking down the bugs with weight, talon and beak before fluttering back up to keep watch. They may not be the heavy hitters that I was hoping for, but they most certainly were fitting in quite nicely. Speaking of fitting in¡­ ¡°Hello gorgeous.¡± The Oriole Scion had just finished spawning, and she was simply beautiful. The orange and yellow feathers that were the calling card of these birds had spread to include her shoulders, back and head. Her breast was now a bright red which faded out into the orange as it went away from her front. She still had black and white markings on the leading edges of her wings and flight feathers. She had a black cap that ran from her head down her spine to her tail in a narrow strip, and black streaks over her eyes that made her look like some sort of warrior. ¡°Wait¡­ isn¡¯t it the males that are supposed to have the brightest colors? Maybe it¡¯s a Scion thing.¡± I watched her fly around and establish herself with her peers. She spent a fair amount of time around Veldrann, getting the skinny on how things worked here and what was needed of her. She was definitely a social lady. Now I just need to¡­ Thrum. ¡°Ohhhh. Now what!?¡± I turned my attention to the newest notification from the web, feeling the urgency and importance. The deep feeling tug on my core did not give me the warm and fuzzies. I felt little feet prancing about near one of the out buildings. It was similar to how the rabbits hopped about, but smaller and with more purpose. I waited patiently for it to eventually came into my borders. When it did, I felt the cold trickle of fear in my core yet again. Invader: Ermine. Adapt and Overcome I had to move my core... again. These Ermine were absolutely vicious. This first one tore through my lizards with almost no effort. It was almost impossibly fast and incredibly accurate. It didn''t even stop to try and eat my defenders; it just ran to the next one and ripped it apart before continuing on again. It took Veldrann working with a couple Orioles to take it down. The birds flew in to distract it while Veldrann set up. It actually almost got one of the Orioles, too. The little murder machine could jump impossibly high for its short little legs. But the distraction was enough. Veldrann darted in while it was airborne, giving it no time to react. Even so, it was a brutal fight. The Ermine did not go quietly or gently, and Veldrann was sporting some new scars for his efforts. Thankfully my lizard Scion had begun to grow in some hard and sharp teeth and was no slouch in the power department either. He had initially grabbed it however he could, latching on to its leg as it landed and tried to jump away from the new threat. Once it realized it was caught it turned on Veldrann with an unmatched fury, trying desperately to claw at his eyes and bite the nape of his neck. Thanks to the growing scaly armor Veldrann was sporting, it wasn''t able to get a kill bite. But it did rip into him regardless. Hurt and tired of getting torn up, Veldrann had peeled the ermine off his neck and pinned it to the ground with a front foot before biting down on the creature''s head. Still the thing had struggled, its body clawing madly and spinning like a tornado to get free. But Veldrann was not to be robbed of his victory. Slowly, its struggles got weaker and weaker before it finally expired. Just to be on the safe side, he ensured that it would not be getting up again. Afterwards I was worried about my Scion¡¯s wounds. I didn¡¯t want him bleeding out or suffering some sort of debilitating injury. But my worries were for naught. He healed quickly, with almost minimal bleeding, and his wounds soon scabbed over. That experience had started some major changes. First, I began consolidating my Mana to upgrade my spawners in search of a counter of some sort. Doing this did yield a new option for me. I had the opportunity to choose a path for my lizards: Venomous Lizards or Camouflaged Lizards. This would have been a far harder decision if I¡¯d had the chance to make it a few days prior, and I am not entirely sure if I would have made the same decision then. But, with the advent of a new and particularly voracious invader, the choice was clear. My little guardians no longer needed to win the fight individually. They just needed to bite them. In addition to their new capabilities, the lizards and birds had begun altering their roles. The birds took over the majority of the bug hunting, while my lizards began forming swarms now that their Spawner had been upgraded to a lair. This, combined with their new venom, made them rather effective against the encroaching ermines. Since I was upgrading both of my primary spawners at around the same rate, I also came across a choice for my vines: Mobile Vines or Thorned Vines. Unfortunately, this was again going to be a decision made based on my immediate needs. Thorned sounded pretty obvious to me and promised all sorts of pain to larger creatures that got caught in them. But, aside from the occasional and very rare Coyote that wandered into my zone, there really wasn''t much use for that kind of vine for me. After selecting Mobile, my vines definitely became faster and more in tune with my defense. I even saw them catch an ermine long enough for my lizards to eliminate it. Once I even saw a cluster of thick vines drop from the wall and crush one of the weasels when it climbed them in an attempt to get at my core. This was promising. My vines were definitely... aware of what was going on. I still don''t feel like I can really say smart, but they were absolutely reacting to the world around them without my direction. Which brings me to the other reason why I chose the Mobile path for them. That ermine that got squashed came really close to my core. I need to figure something else out for my protection. These little weasels, in addition to being homicidal maniacs, were incredibly adept climbers. Which meant I really only had one option available that I could see. I made sure there were no threats nearby and began moving again. I kept the protective layers of vines that I was currently nestled in, but moved the hammock to the center of the ceiling. There I deepened the pocket I was in until I was hidden inside a dense ball of vines. Around the outside of that ball, I stationed counterbalanced layers of large sundews to catch anything that tried to land or climb on me. This new home made it far harder for anything other than possibly large birds or very large land animals to get at me. The ermine could still climb to get at me, but doing so would leave them vulnerable to my lizards, who could also climb, and attack runs from my birds. Any that did somehow manage to get to me would then be caught by the sundews. Currently I had the sundews with two origin points, one cluster on the top of my ball, and the other on the bottom. Once one dew frond became curled up in the process of absorbing one of the invaders, the other would unfurl to take its place from the opposite direction, ensuring that I had coverage as often as possible. This arrangement also wouldn''t last. At the very least I would eventually get too big and heavy to hang out on the ceiling. At the worst something would come along and knock me down. My hope was that with the sundews wrapped around me, whatever it was would get too caught up in the stickies to be able to finish me off, letting one of my defenders abscond with my core. A long shot, to be sure, but at least the thought was there. The war with the ermines and the bugs continued through the days and nights. The ermine weren''t nearly as frequent as the bugs, but they were still a persistent threat. The coyote seemed to have learned quickly that my entryways weren''t worth the trouble, but I did manage to catch an errant raccoon with my traps. Hmmm, speaking of traps. That Rockfall trap in the back of my ruins wasn''t really going to be doing much from here on out. It was now inside of the outer walls, and the only way to access it was to go through the other rockfall trap and the entirety of my core ruins. With that in mind I dismissed the trap, reclaiming the mana I had spent on it. I revisited the part of my consciousness that governed my traps and found that I had some new options. I now had pit traps available, in assorted varieties. These likely came about due to the upgrade on myself making things more stable. While they might one day be useful, they weren''t particularly relevant now with my current threats. Ermine would never be able to set them off. Coyotes could, but they were now staying away from the insides of my ruins. Small victory? Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I also have a selection of poisonous traps available, through the manipulation of various types of highly toxic flora. Now those were certainly interesting, and I considered them strongly before ultimately dismissing them... for now. I knew where the ermine were coming from and how they moved about my ruins. Planting poisonous traps in those places would ultimately result in them simply moving their tracks and paths to a new location. Which meant I would either need to create new traps to cover those places, or move the existing ones. Neither of those options were really sustainable in the long run. Which now leaves me with the final new option, and one that is strongly tied to what I already have... Snare traps. These looked like they were either extensions off the Tripping Vine traps, or available because of my Mobile Vines upgrade. Either way, they were my best bet for minimizing the threat from the ermine. I chose to make three, immediately upgrading all of them to the next level and placing them in strategic positions. Snare Vine Trap II Detectability: very low to moderate Chance to activate: moderate These traps are as the name implies, snares made of thin, yet strong vines. Depending on their placement they can be used to delay, harness or kill intruders caught in them. The greater the desire to cause harm, the higher the detectability due to the placement required. Upgrades increase the concealment capabilities, the durability of the snare and create multiple snares. When one is activated, it pulls its victim away from the origin point so that a new snare can take its place. Perfect. I placed the new traps in the high traffic areas for the ermine, a narrow tunnel through some rubble, a drop-down point that they love to jump from and the hole in the wall of my room that they run through. My lizard swarms, birds and individual lizards were still going to be running interference, but hopefully this would take some of the pressure off of them. They had been working so hard, they deserved to be able to take a breather. Now then. I still had some mana to burn. I certainly wasn''t ready to upgrade myself again, nor was I ready to take any of the new options to upgrade my reach into the surrounding areas. But I could create some more resource nodes. I decided to keep with the theme I had going currently and stick with the enhancing and magical herbs and such. I picked out two more options that I wanted to use on the outside of my ruins, burn berries and antidote flowers. The first of which were a large, deep purple berry that formed from a bright yellow flower on a high bush, and the other was a series of small, baby blue bell flowers on a stalk. Of course, like my other resources, that isn''t what they were really called, that would be Stone Berries and Bonnett Flowers. But I liked my names better because that is what their benefits were and it made things easier to understand. The berries could be used to heal burns and protect from burns, and the flowers were used to cure poison or venom. I made two of each and placed the berries around my immediate perimeter and the flowers out by each of the outbuildings. This led to an interesting interaction. My Orioles, for some strange reason, absolutely LOVE the berries. The birds claimed that they were both sweet and spicy. Unfortunately, I got no mana for them eating the things, so I made a compromise with them. I would make a third bush that they could eat from, but they had to leave the other two alone. They whined and complained, but eventually they agreed to it. The discussions also gave my bird Scion, who I have decided to name Tanael, a chance to act as intermediary. Ultimately, we all knew it was going to be the way that I chose, I am the dungeon after all. But it gave us a good dynamic and let them know that I appreciate them and am willing to work with them. Sometimes we all just need to know that we are appreciated. I stayed true to my word and created a third berry bush at the back of my central ruin for the Orioles, making them the happiest little birds. They even tried sharing with some of the more omnivorous lizards, who steadfastly turned them down. Apparently, they don¡¯t like spicy foods. The vines were picking up the slack in so far as disposing of the bodies went. For each ermine that died, a vine would creep in and make off with it. I watched them for a bit to see where they were taking them, and the results varied. In most cases, the bodies were taken to the Vine Lair, likely to be used as fertilizer. This made plenty of sense to me, I just hoped that it wasn¡¯t going to stink the area up and make me smell like death warmed over. I still had Delvers to attract after all. The rest were actually taken out and tossed beyond my borders for something else to find and eat. I got an amusing visual with one vine in particular coiling itself up and rapidly unwinding to catapult a little furry body out of my borders, only to release it at the wrong time and spike it into the ground in front of it. Like I said, very aware, but not particularly smart. But it did give me an idea for something I wanted to do when I had more space to work with. As the days went on my little snares worked wonders in controlling the access that the ermine had to my core. What they missed; my lizard swarms found thanks to my feathery overwatch. I took the time to upgrade each of my resource nodes a few times. This increased both the growth and production rates of the resources. A boon by any estimation, and one that elated my birds, cause now they didn¡¯t have to wait as long to have treats. With those upgrades and my traps, the mana I was receiving became a slow and steady current. I did still occasionally catch something with my Rock trap. Usually that catch wound up giving a large enough mana donation to give me an option for upgrading something almost immediately. I began perusing my options for where I wanted to place my mana. The biggest and most obvious options were the expansions. I could upgrade myself and expand out, up or down. They all had some interesting possibilities for me. Admittedly this was mostly conjecture on my part, but I feel that it tracked pretty well. By expanding upwards, I felt like I could solidify my ruins more and make them more complete while adding new levels. I didn¡¯t know what I needed new levels for, but that was something to explore when it happened. By expanding downwards, I would likely get a cave or basement of some kind if the stairs that had partially formed were any indication. That would be potentially very good for hiding and housing my core. It might also open up some more resource nodes depending on the type of structure I got, though attracting visitors there might be difficult. Finally, by expanding outward I would get access to more land to work with and potentially more buildings. Not that I knew what I was going to do with them. ¡­ maybe they were tied to the Up option too? One thing was for sure though, any expansion I did was going to come with more spawners¡­ and more invaders. Expanding outward was more than likely to bring me into contact with the Coyotes and make me a target of theirs. Upwards I felt like would bring in some sort of avian invader. After all, my own birds showed up when I got a stronger and more defined roof. Expanding down¡­ yeah, I had nothing. Gophers? Killer worms? More Giant bugs? As for what spawners I would get¡­ I had no idea. My denizens were varied and eclectic, with absolutely no recognizable rhyme or reason to their placement. I had the benefit of having a¡­ mostly¡­ enclosed space with which to base my defense from. However, that layout does not seem to include any sort of partitions, doors or actual windows. Which in turn meant that I was always going to have some sort of gap in my defenses that invaders could use to their benefit. My ruins were becoming more stable and grand in form, but they were still ruins and it didn¡¯t look like that was ever going to change. My other options were upgrading my spawners, nodes and traps or creating more of the same, spawners excepted. Those were certainly considerations and I was absolutely going to continue upgrading my spawners, but the rest seemed to have balanced out for the investment I have put into them at this point. When I thought about creating new nodes, I got a feeling of lethargy and contentment. The sensation made me feel like I wasn¡¯t going to be able to place too many more nodes before that stopped becoming an option. Again, it was something I wanted to continue doing in the future, but location saturation was a thing and I felt like the mana could be better put to use elsewhere. My traps were managing just fine. The snare traps could be upgraded again with no issue, but I had no reason to so far. They were doing quite well in catching the ermine as they were. The rockfall trap could be upgraded again¡­ but not yet. That option wasn¡¯t quite available at the moment, leading me to believe I could improve it if I improved myself again. As for my spawners, there was no question. I would be upgrading them as I go, as I had a strong desire to bring the Oriole spawner up to the lair option and at least the first upgrade path. It would take some time to get there, and I think that is going to be my best option going forward. Get the Birds up to par, then worry about saving for an expansion upgrade and having some mana saved up for immediate responses to whatever came about because of it. It was settled then. Plan in place, I poured some mana into the bird nest to start the process and started to prepare for whatever may come.