《The Triplet's Dungeons - Book 1 – Dungeon Foundations》 Prologue Jessica slowly came back to consciousness. Why were her arms so sore? Her vision was blurry, her head was aching and there was a bad taste in her mouth. Where was she? What had happened to her? Why was she busting to pee? As the world around her slowly came into focus, her memory also started to come back. She¡¯d been at the Golden Bull for dinner. She had been with Monty and Sara, her fellow triplets, getting some triplet time. While she loved her other brothers and sisters, that special triplet bond just needed some ¡®us¡¯ time every now and then. They¡¯d gone out mid-week to escape the madness that was their normal life. Yeh, with their combined 13th birthday this weekend, they¡¯d wanted to have a quiet night to themselves. Jessica could remember dinner, dessert and getting into the coach afterwards to return home, but nothing after that. Looking around, she started to piece things together. Her feet were shackled to a wooden post and her arms were manacled to the top of the same post. OK, that explained the sore arms and shoulders. Looking around, she could see Monty chained to the post to her left and Sara chained to the post on her right. The three of them formed a triangle and they were in the middle of a double spell circle. With her brain and eyes functional again, she started to analyse the circles. ¡°Hey, Sara, Monty, you alive there?¡± ¡°W¡­w¡­w¡­what happened?¡±, said Sara. ¡°No, I¡¯m dead¡±, replied Monty. Jessica snorted at Monty¡¯s joke. ¡°We alone in here?¡± Both siblings replied that they couldn¡¯t see anyone. ¡°Right, we need to figure out what these spell circles are doing. The inner ring seems to start between me and Monty, while the outer one must start over the far side somewhere. The inner ring looks to be a transformation spell, can anyone see enough of it to figure out what it¡¯ll do?¡± Monty replied after a minute, ¡°It¡¯s transferring or transforming our body into a container? Our soul is to remain contained, but our magic is to be¡­I think it¡¯s ¡®translated¡¯? Yes, translated.¡± Sara picked up the discourse, ¡°Yeh, translated and enhanced. But our mind is to be¡­ What would ¡®antorio meloshepha¡¯ do?¡± Jessica felt her heart go cold. ¡°Wipe or reset¡±. After a pause, Sara continued, ¡°The outer ring starts as a standard magical containment and protection for those outside of the ring.¡± Monty continued the translation. ¡°Then there¡¯s a script for isolation? No, hidden and masked? Yes.¡± Jessica completed their translation, ¡°And it finishes with a scrubbing spell to remove the magical signature from all of us and whoever is doing this. There is a partial third ring, looks like a randomised teleporter.¡± ¡°Well, shit.¡± ¡°Come on Jess, how do we stop this?¡± ¡°Sort of depends on who¡¯s doing this.¡± Sara replied, ¡°It does explain why Drengle was in the front of the coach with the driver.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Drengle? That makes no sense! He¡¯s under Magical Contract with our family. He can¡¯t do something like this to us. He¡¯d brain would fry from the contract backlash,¡± said Jessica. Monty sighed and said, ¡°Maybe not. Been learning all about magical contracts this month, and as part of that I reviewed all the core staff contracts. His is a bit¡­strange.¡± ¡°Strange?¡± Asked Jessica. ¡°He¡¯s contract is a short-term one, and it only requires him to ¡®not attack or kill us¡¯ and to ¡®work towards a good, long-term outcome for us.¡¯¡± Interrupting the conversation, a balding, middle-aged man entered the room. ¡°Fortunately, no-one noticed that when I swore that I changed that last word, so I¡¯m contractually required to work towards a good, long-term outcome¡­for me.¡± Drengle Marntil stepped through the door and looked around. ¡°Great all is in order. It¡¯s time to get this party started.¡± Jessica launched a foul, detailed tirade at Drengle, calling into question his manhood, family, upbringing and skills as a teacher. Strangely, it was the last ones that seem to affect him the most. Her eyes glanced to her siblings, pleading for help. They didn¡¯t know what she was trying to do, but trusted she had a plan. Jessica always had a plan. The three of them now started to taunt they captor. Gleefully reminding each other of all of the embarrassing things that had happened to Drengle during his time as one of their tutors. After a couple of minutes of this, Drengle snapped and cast a spell, dropping a ring of silence outside of the two spell circles. He turned away from them and continued his preparations to empower the circles. Jessica looked at Monty and said, ¡°What can you do? These shackles are enspelled, so my magic is locked away.¡± Looking embarrassed, Monty said, ¡°Remember when you two caught me, Fred, John and Mac signing our names in the snow last winter?¡± Both girls gave a heartfelt ¡°Ewww.¡± ¡°I could probably wipe out one, maybe two, possibly three sets of glyphs that way.¡± Jessica put aside her distaste and started to think through the spellwork. ¡°OK, under no circumstances do anything to the inner ring. You have to wipe out the end of the middle ring, where it says ¡®antorio meloshepha¡¯ and the glyph before it. But the outer ring is different. If you can wipe the whole set that is going to hide the magic, that will be best. Also, make sure that you break the outer edge of the spell ring at least twice, three times if you can manage it, but don¡¯t break the inner ring.¡± ¡°Jess, you do realise that writing your name in the snow with pee is a fairly inexact science?¡± The worry in Monty¡¯s voice was obvious. ¡°I have great faith in the immaturity of my brother,¡± Jessica said with fervour. The glyphs in the third ring began to glow, as the magic filled them, one by one. Jessica screamed, ¡°Do it! Do it now!¡± Monty did some sort of strange dance. After a moment, Sara realised he was using the friction with the wooden post to re-arrange his clothing. A minute later, the first glyph in the second ring was starting to be empowered. With a look of concentration on his face, Monty started to pee, bringing the stream back to the centre ring and carefully erased the set of glyphs he needed to. The power flowed around, empowering the remaining glyphs in the second ring. Meanwhile, Monty repeated the process with the third ring, finishing with a flourish, breaking the outer ring the third time. The remaining few glyphs in this outer ring quickly powered up. Drengle had finished empowering the array and had turned around to gloat. He dropped the silence spell and began to strut around the outer ring. ¡°Well, I thank the three of you for making me incredibly rich. The Borchuffs had put a 150,000 gold piece bounty on each of your heads, so this will give me nearly a half million gold.¡± He noticed Monty¡¯s clothing in disarray, and a puzzled look crossed his face. Glancing down, he saw the missing glyphs and a look or horror crossed his face. ¡°No! What have you done?¡± Monty said, ¡°This,¡± and proceeded to pee on the man. Drengle squealed like a pig, but it did what Monty had wanted. It kept him distracted and in front of the breach in the outer ring. The spellform had finished powering up and the rings activated. Monty looked at his sisters and said, ¡°Love you both¡±. Power flared, Drengle was thrown violently back against the room¡¯s wall, slouching unconsciously to the floor. It also overpowered the glyphs on the wall hiding the triplet¡¯s signatures from those looking for them. The lack of the glyphs to hide the magic, caused a magical beacon to light up that the whole city would see. Pain poured through the triplets, as they felt themselves being folded into a smaller and smaller bundle. As the troops assaulted the tower they were in, looking for the triplets, the final part of the spellform enacted and what remained of Jessica, Sara and Monty were teleported away. 01 – Jessica’s Story Start of Section 1, ¡®Jessica¡¯s Dungeon¡¯ Jungle, foot of Mount Gursway After some indeterminant time, Jessica¡¯s consciousness rose up through the mists of her being. She slowly became aware of her surrounds, a strangely illuminated cave. She panicked when she realised that she couldn¡¯t move, especially when she realised that she couldn¡¯t breathe, but as no other effects seem to manifest, she settled down and tried to figure out what was happening. With no ability to measure anything, she had no references to figure out time or space. She could have laid there for a moment or a millennia and she could have been in a tiny or huge cave. Somehow, she managed to detach her point of view and was able to explore. With trepidation, she turned around to examine herself. The source of the strange yellow light in the room was now apparent. She was a (large? tiny?) topaz, a rich, honey colour and one of the strangest shapes she had ever seen. She was a squat, pillar with a pointed top, sort of like a pencil? But her shape wasn¡¯t square or hexagonal, but looked like it had been built up by a dozen different flat shapes stuck together, resulting in a beautiful, complex shape. The only thing she had to measure anything by, was her crystal, so she would do all measurements in ¡®me¡¯s¡¯, the height of her crystal. The room looked to be about a thousand me high and wide and about two thousand me long. It was a natural looking limestone cave with a set of stalactites marching down each side, with their matching stalagmites below. She mumbled to herself ¡°Stalactites hold on tight to the roof, stalagmites grow from the ground and might make it to the ceiling.¡± The floor of the cave seemed gently sloping, with a set of pools descending from one end to the other. Each pool was surrounded by a rimstone and a large flowstone on one end wall indicated where water entered. A quartz pillar in the centre of the room held her crystal. Her crystal? Wait, was she a dungeon now? Shock and panic closed her mind down and she went unconscious. *-*-* After some indeterminant time, Jessica¡¯s consciousness rose up through the mists of her being. She slowly became aware of her surrounds, a strangely illuminated cave. Wait, no, she¡¯d already been through this. Right, she was a Dungeon Core. A random thought drifted through her mind, with her now regretting that her plans for her birthday party this weekend were now off. A popping sound attracted her attention and a small (?) humanoid figure appeared in the room. She was dark skinned, had brown eyes, long brown hair, white teeth (were those elongated canines?), a round face and prominent lips. She was dressed in tight-fitting leather armour, calf length boots and had a rapier sheathed at her waist and a bow and quiver across her back. A small backpack rounded out her outfit. ¡°Greetings, Dungeon Core! I am Fancy and have been assigned to guide you through this early part of your growth¡­¡± The pixie looked around, puzzled. ¡°Umm, can you understand me? The spell is supposed to only call one of us once the Core reaches a reasonable level of intelligence.¡± *Well, I¡¯m glad that your spell considers that I have a reasonable level of intelligence. I now feel that I have a purpose in life since your spell has given me it¡¯s approval. Why, at this rate you might even consider me worthy of licking your boots clean or of breathing in the air that you recently exhaled.* Fancy¡¯s eyes widened in fear. Things were obviously not going to plan. ¡°Umm, do you have a name?¡± *Yes.* After a pause, Fancy continued, ¡®Could I know it?¡± *I suppose you have enough intelligence to.* After another pause, Fancy started to giggle, then laugh, then roll around on the ground (getting a little wet), laughing. Jessica got more and more puzzled by the strange behaviour of (if she wasn¡¯t mistaken) a Fairy. ¡°Sorry, sorry, you just reminded me a lot of my dad.¡± *Should I be offended?* Fancy laughed again, ¡°No, not in this case. Just that both of you have a similar sense of humour. Let¡¯s try again. ¡®My name in Fancy, please tell me your name?¡¯ *Jessica Fortier.* ¡°¡­¡± *I think I broke her.* ¡°¡­¡± *Yep, she¡¯s broken. I wonder if I can get another one? Is there a way to return faulty Fairies? Maybe a warrantee?* ¡°OK, shit¡± *Well, I¡¯m glad that I¡¯m not forced to follow your instructions, otherwise we¡¯d be buried in little topazes about now. I suppose that¡¯s what I¡¯d shit.* Shaking her head, Fancy had tried to get back in control of the conversation. ¡°I think that you need to start at the beginning.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°No. Who are you? Why should I trust you? What¡¯s in it for me? Why is the sky green?¡± ¡°Fair enough. Wait, why is the sky green? The sky¡¯s not green!¡± Jessica laughed. ¡°Well, that proved you were listening, anyway.¡± Fancy gave a snort. ¡°Fair enough. Firstly, I am Fancy Darkwing, a recent graduate of the Petal School of Dungeon Assistants. I have been assigned by this continents¡¯ Dungeon Assistants Guild, or DAG to be your initial contact and Assistant. My mentor will be in contact with us in 6 months and you can apply through them to change Assistants if you find me not suitable. Once you reach level 15 you will begin the process of finding your ¡®forever assistant¡¯. If you haven¡¯t decided that I would be suitable, a different candidate will be assigned to you each level until you find one. If you haven¡¯t found one by level 25, you will be assigned one. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Secondly, there is no real reason to trust me, except that the only way I will grow in level from this point on is by helping you to do the same. So, it is in my best interest to do what I can to assist you. ¡°Thirdly, as for what is in it for you, the better I understand you, the faster we can grow. This is pure self-interest for both of us. There is a simple magical contract available that will at least enable you to know I¡¯m telling the truth. Do you know what a Magical Contract is?¡± Silence reigned for a few moments until Jessica finally spoke. *I need the answer to a couple of questions, then I will cooperate. OK? Yes, I know what Magical Contracts are.* ¡°I will try to answer you what I can. Is it OK if I touch your crystal, so you can get a prompt to establish the bond? You can select ¡®temporary¡¯ if you are still nervous about me. Examine the option and you will see that this will help us work together and allow us to know of the other person is lying. Once you reach the point of trusting me, you can affirm the connection, linking us until you are level 15.¡± *Fine.* Fancy walked across to Jessica and touched her crystal. In Jessica¡¯s mind the magical contracts appeared, and she quickly read through them, confirming that it was exactly as Fancy had stated. Checking the conditions, she felt confident in skipping the temporary contract and agreed to the next level up. ¡°Umm, you realised that you¡¯re offering me a contract until level 15?¡± *Yep. I read through all the contracts and I¡¯m fine with that one. In fact, it¡¯s a bit biassed towards me. If I ever write one for you, make sure you get it checked by a professional as I am a reasonable expert at them, and likely to do you out of your inheritance, birth-right, first-born, whatever.* Fancy sighed, ¡°Of course you are. Right, what do you want to know?¡± *What¡¯s the date? Where are we located? Were there two other dungeons formed nearby?* ¡°The date is the 15th day of Sol, in the year 1661 of the reign of Emperor Nigel the 6th. We are near Mount Gursway, located in unclaimed territory, in the south of the Grumb Continent. Why do you want to know about any other dungeons?¡± *The 15th, right. Then, my brother, sister and I were kidnapped two days ago. All three of us were magically changed, so I suspect they may be dungeons as well. I would love it if we were near each other, as I would love to reconnect to them, and we would all love to spend a few millennia gossiping and playing practical jokes on each other.* ¡°So, your old minds were obviously not wiped as part of the procedure?¡± *We couldn¡¯t stop the conversion, but we were able to change the glyphs at the last moment to stop the wipe and ensure the full backlash hit our kidnapper.* ¡°Right. Yes, two more new dungeons are in this area. One north-west of you and the other north-east.¡± *Would you be able to get a message to those two Assistants so things can go smoothly? They will be Monty Fortier and Sara Fortier. Will we be able to communicate at a later stage?* ¡°Yes, that will be possible if all parties agree ¨C once your areas of influence touch. In fact, there would be some interesting possibilities, as dungeons can trade with each other. Is it all right if I leave for a little while, so I can contact the other Assistants?¡± *Sure. Is there anything I can do in the meantime, or do you need me to wait?* Fancy thought for a minute then said, ¡°Think ¡®Basic Status¡¯.¡± Jessica did so, and a status screen came up:
Jessica Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: (untitled) Mana Recharge per min:
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge: 5/5
Level: 0 Recharge from rooms: 0
Used/Current DP: 0/0 Recharge from creatures: 0
DP Points Next Level: 100
Mana: 100/186 Extras from harvests: 0
¡°Great!¡± *You can see that?* ¡°Oh, sorry. Anything that you do not say ¡®private¡¯ on the end of, I can see. Try ¡®Basic Status private¡¯ if you want. So, whenever you want to surprise me, do it that way. Can you bring up your Dungeon Status page now?¡± Jessica thought ¡®Dungeon Status Private¡¯.
Jessica Fortier (Dungeon Status - Private)
Dungeon Radius (m) 0.5 Dungeon rooms: 1
Max Radius: (m) 1 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon Area: (sq km) - DP¡¯s per month -
Dungeon Influence: (sq km) - Maximum Dungeon Level 1
Skills: (none)
Magics: (none)
Fancy waited a few moments, then said, ¡°Could you bring up your ¡®Dungeon Status¡¯ now? I need to quickly check something.¡± Jessica thought that Fancy may actually be telling her the truth. She brought her Dungeon Stats up again, but this time without the ¡®Private¡¯. ¡°OK. Your stats are really good. Try not to let your mana drop below 10, preferably 20. ¡®DPs¡¯ are Dungeon Points, they are like Experience Points, but for Dungeons. ¡°There¡¯s a couple of things you can do while waiting for me to come back. Everything depends, though, on you first naming your Dungeon. It is possible to change it later, but difficult, and it will cost you in mana. Do you have any ideas?¡± *So, near Mount Gursway. At the base, or on the slopes? In the jungle?* ¡°At the base, in the jungle.¡± *Jungle Rocks.* Fancy sighed and put on an obviously fake smile, saying, ¡°What a great name! We¡¯ll be the envy of every other dungeon on the continent!¡± Jessica replied, *We¡¯ll talk it over after the first level is complete.* ¡°Good. Set the name ¨C you just need to focus on it to be prompted ¨C then your mana will start to regenerate past 100. Once your named, you¡¯ll be able to start to expand your influence. It has to be circular¡­¡± *Don¡¯t you mean spherical?* ¡°Yes, but new dungeons usually have trouble with the idea of a sphere. Circle is usually hard enough, not to mention getting them to understand that the formula for calculating the volume of a sphere is¡­ well, let us just say that it is not simple. After a while they can appreciate that the bigger the sphere, the longer it will take to ¡®fill¡¯ it. *Fair enough. Not many would know the volume is 4 times pi times the radius cubed, divided by 3.* Fancy gave Jessica a dirty look, then continued, ¡°So, you need to ¡®push¡¯ out your area of influence, but again, don¡¯t let your mana drop too low. You will start to feel lightheaded if you push too far. Were your old mana points 86?¡± ¡°Yes, how did you know?¡± ¡°Your starting maximum mana points is 186. It should be 100. The difference would usually be your old mana points if you¡¯d started life as something other than a Dungeon Core. It still won¡¯t generate pass 100 until you set a dungeon name, though. I¡¯ll be back as soon as I can.¡± It took Jessica a while to get the hang of it and even longer to learn how to change the speed so that she claimed territory to match her mana regeneration rate, but a half hour later it was working fine. It was fascinating to ¡®see¡¯ the surrounding area and she was able to study the landforms and geology as she went. 02 – Jessica’s First Room Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 15th day of Sol, 1661 Sometime later, Fancy popped back into Jessica¡¯s room. *Hey, Fancy. How did it go?* With a sigh, fancy said, ¡°I don¡¯t think Monty¡¯s partnered with the right Assistant.¡± *Monty is probably the best of all three of us in resource management and strategic planning, but I think he¡¯d need someone with a firm sense of self. It probably wouldn¡¯t hurt for them to be a bit blood thirsty to complement his personality. If they¡¯re a bit of a ¨C are you familiar with the term ¡®jock¡¯?* ¡°Yes.¡± *Let¡¯s just say, he¡¯s a real boy. The skill he is most proud of is being able to write his name in snow with pee.* Fancy laughed, well, it was more of a giggle. *The problem is that he¡¯s going to be insufferable now, because that¡¯s how we spoiled the evil plot and erased the glyphs to save our minds.* By this stage Fancy was rolling around on the ground again, laughing herself silly. *What about Sara?* Looking up from the ground, Fancy said, ¡°She¡¯s fine and it looks like her match is a good one. What¡¯s she good at?¡± *Sara¡¯s the best of us at magic, both the practice of and the theory of, and is by far the most stubborn, determined, wilful, however you want to describe it. Once she is set on a path, it is really hard for her to change or be changed.* Fancy nodded, then got herself off the ground and continued, ¡°Yourself?¡± *I¡¯m the leader and the best tactical planner.* Fancy nodded, then said, ¡°Then Mercy, the Pixie, will be a good match for Sara and I¡¯ll talk to my Mentor after we¡¯ve talked a bit more. I have a suggestion on who might be a match for Monty. When you said ¡®he¡¯s a real boy¡¯, you meant?¡± *Likes mud, insects, sweat, fart and pee jokes and is almost as competitive as I am, though don¡¯t tell him that.* ¡°What, don¡¯t tell him that you¡¯re more competitive than him?¡± *No, don¡¯t tell him I am competitive at all, ever. Don¡¯t even hint at it.* ¡°Um, why?¡± Jessica sighed. *He thinks he¡¯s the most competitive and actually thinks he usually ¡®beats me¡¯. The truth is, I simply manipulate the rules, so he thinks he wins. I change the rules so that my goal is to hide from him that I win. Therefore, he thinks he¡¯s won, but I mess with him. Every. Single. Time.* With actual stars in her eyes, Fancy said, ¡°That¡¯s brilliant. You¡¯re my hero.¡± Jessica snorted and shared some stories and had Fancy rolling around the floor of her Core Room again, laughing, again. It took a couple of hours for Jessica to finish telling Fancy the whole story and filling her in on her education. ¡°Right, now, did you get anywhere on the claiming side.¡± *Up to 2.3 kilometres and still growing. I¡¯ve set it up so it¡¯s expanding at the same rate as I¡¯m generating mana, so my mana is staying constant at 80 mana. It just runs as a background task, so I don¡¯t even have to work at it. I¡¯m impressed with the multi-tasking skills I¡¯ve got now. Why can¡¯t I seem to get any DPs?* ¡°¡­¡± Jessica sighed, ¡°She¡¯s broke again.¡± ¡°I am not! Just a little bit surprised.¡± Jessica added another tick to the secret tally she was keeping of how many times she¡¯d ¡®broken¡¯ Fancy. ¡°I sent an urgent request for my Mentor to attend when I went to deliver the messages. He¡¯ll be the one to approve you getting a message to your family. As to the DPs? That¡¯s because you are still a level 0 dungeon. Your abilities will be unlocked as we progress. Once we finish the first dungeon level, you¡¯ll get access to all of your starting abilities. Also, any points that you may have collected up to that point will then be allocated. ¡°Now, on to the next step to get your Dungeon up and running. The system puts some restrictions on what will work, so you need to tick some boxes. This only applies to this initial level. You have a lot more freedom after this. So, the rules are, to have between 4 and 20 rooms, at least four traps and four monsters, but every room has to have something in it. This something can also be treasure or a puzzle. You can have another room set up to pretend to be your core room, complete with fake core, and this will take a slot, allowing you to not take one with your real one. You also need to have an entrance, attaching your Dungeon to the outside world, and every one of your rooms must have a path to the entrance, traversable by an average sized Delver. Your Core Room has to have a permanent path to the outside, but that can be, for example, a giant rat hole ¨C so about a half metre diameter. You can create optional ¡®experimental¡¯ rooms to play with stuff and these cannot be connected to your other rooms and don¡¯t form part of your room count. You get to have one every five levels. ¡°We¡¯ll go through how you get monster, puzzle and trap plans in a minute. First, we need to kick the process off. Do you have any preferences for your layout?¡± Jessica took a moment to process all this information. ¡°I quite like this limestone cave vibe. I was hoping for a straight shot for the first 4 rooms, then a fake Core Room. Could I have a trap that basically collapses the whole room if someone tries to get at my fake core? Run another set of four rooms off this fake one, with another set of four off the second last one? Put a trapped exit on the eighth room? Something like this.¡± Jessica had been playing with her abilities and had figured out how to manifest things. She created a basic table with a rough relief map of the first draft of her Dungeon. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°We can work with this. So, you¡¯re using a gradual fall in elevation across the rooms, with Room 1 the highest and Room 12 the lowest?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Scale?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. How tall are you? That will allow me to figure out how big I need to make things. Also, what¡¯s an average sized delver?¡± ¡°Mumble¡­mumble¡­mumble.¡± ¡°Cool, so you¡¯re three mumbles tall. What¡¯s that convert to in metres?¡± Fancy starting blushing and Jessica sighed. Using her ¡®fake councillor voice¡¯, Jessica continued, ¡°Look, you are what you are, don¡¯t let others define you based on what they consider important. As a ridiculously competitive Dungeon Core, I know about these things.¡± Fancy nodded and gave Jesica a wintery smile. ¡°A hundred millimetres. A ¡®standard¡¯ delver will be between a half metre and three metres.¡± ¡°So that makes me about 30 millimetres tall at the moment. Will I grow? Will you?¡± ¡°Yes. As you level up, we¡¯ll both grow.¡± ¡°Cool. Next?¡± ¡°Do you want to go for short-term advantage or long-term?¡± ¡°Long-term.¡± ¡°Right. As you would have noticed, your area of influence has a lot of empty air above it. The area is a sphere, centred on your location. It¡¯s worthwhile ¨C when you build your Dungeon ¨C to shift your core down as you go. You ¡®loose¡¯ that top area of influence, but you¡¯ll be able to re-grow it down.¡± ¡°OK.¡± ¡°Wait! You need to hear the rest of this before starting. You should be able to see all living things within your domain, and they should be green. Can you see any that are red or grey?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a group of five red things crossing my area on the surface.¡± ¡°Are they heading towards you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Good. Red things are sentient, grey are undead. You can absorb all green stuff and that will do three things. Firstly, it will give you mana, to allow you to do things and secondly, it will give you the blueprint for that stuff ¨C allowing you to spawn it in your Dungeon, and lastly, as you absorb it, it dies, giving you some Dungeon Experience, which goes towards your next level. ¡°Clearing the stuff off the surface will give you a lot of mana, but it will also create a perfect circle of bare ground that will be a bit of a giveaway that you are here ¨C well before you¡¯re ready.¡± ¡°Likelihood of there being anyone in the area looking to claim a Dungeon Core?¡± Fancy sighed. ¡°Should be low.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s worth the risk, what do you think?¡± ¡°If there are Dungeon Hunters in the area, then we won¡¯t be safe until we get to about level 10, so it seems a good risk to help us get a boost.¡± ¡°So how do I get down to my new Core Room, once I construct it?¡± ¡°Once you declare it as your new Core Room, and it is connected to the exit, you will be able to teleport yourself to it.¡± ¡°So, I create my new first floor, make my new Core Room a kilometre or so below, absorb all the green stuff and then move myself down.¡± ¡°Yes. I would make a layer of dungeon stone above and below your first level ¨C about 20 metres thick. Don¡¯t forget to deal with the water, otherwise the Core Room is going to get really damp. Also, keep your mana at fifty or above. Actually, do that layer between each level of your dungeon as well.¡± Jessica laughed, ¡°OK. By the way, what are blue things?¡± Fancy got excited at this. ¡°Blue are resources. You want to absorb all of those you can.¡± ¡°What happens if my mana goes over my maximum?¡± ¡°You won¡¯t generate any new mana until its back beneath your maximum.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± There was a ¡®pop¡¯, and a new creature appeared. Significantly larger that Fancy, and looked more¡­insect like? The difference was how angular the features were. Ah, a sprite. ¡°Fancy, I hope the emergency call was required?¡± ¡°Master! Thank you for attending. The situation here is a lot more complex than I¡¯d expected and I needed to inform you of what has happened and to provide a suggestion for one of the other two dungeons in the area.¡± The sprite didn¡¯t say anything, just raised one eyebrow. Jessica grinned internally, recognising that look from her Dad. Someone was in trouble. In her mind she included the sing-song tune to go with that. As entertaining as it would be to let this play out, she didn¡¯t feel that would be best for her, Jessica. She needed Fancy to be as confident as possible, to support her as she built her Dungeon Empire. Time for her to step up. *Excuse, me? Who do I have the honour of hosting in my Core Room?* Looking surprised, the sprite turned to Jessica¡¯s crystal and said, ¡°Master Dungeon Assistant Brian. And who are you, young core?¡± *I am Jessica Fortier. Myself and my fellow triplets, Monty and Sara, were kidnapped and magically transformed into Dungeon Cores. While Fancy has been incredibly helpful so far, and I think we¡¯ve made amazing progress, we come across a couple of things that she indicated had to be passed ¡®up the line¡¯. So, at my request, she¡¯s contacted you.* His eyes widened at the mention of her name. ¡°So, your parents are?¡± ¡°His Royal Majesty, King Duniel Fortier III and Her Royal Majesty, Queen Camilla Fortier.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Tick! Jessica did another mental fist pump and put another tick against the tally. She also started one for Brian. This was fun! Jessica continued, *I¡¯m sure that they are quite concerned about the three of us and are probably expending a lot of resources trying to figure out what has happened. So, I would like to get a message to them. We know that magical changes such as these cannot be reversed, and honestly, I find this opportunity exciting. The idea of being able to pull practical jokes on my siblings basically forever, has a certain charm. The three of us will have no problems being located near each other. How long do you think it would be before we make contact?* ¡°You¡¯re about fifteen kilometres from each other, so it should be within a year, based on the current growth rates?¡± ¡°Fancy, it should be a lot longer than that.¡± ¡°Master, it¡¯s day 2 and Jessica¡¯s already got her area of influence out to 2.5 kilometres.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Tick! ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll deal with the rest later. I¡¯ll authorise the communication. Can you handle that, Fancy?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°That is it?¡± ¡°One other thing, Master. I skipped across to the other two dungeons to let them all know the situation and, while Sara¡¯s Assistant, Mercy, seems to be working out well, I felt a lot of friction between Monty and his assistant. Bartholomew. From talking to Jessica, Monty is the best of the three of them at Strategic Planning and Resource Management but has a very strong personality. I remember Bartholomew from the Academy and he isn¡¯t all that¡­flexible, and well, had already started to withdraw and sulk. I think that would be a very contentious relationship. I hope I¡¯m not being presumptuous, but I think that Jeremy the Sprite would be a better match, as I think he is yet to be allocated a dungeon, he should be available. His mixture of attention to detail and, frankly, course humour, would be a better match, from what Jessica¡¯s told me. I was talking to Jeremy recently and was surprised he was still unallocated, considering his results.¡± ¡°You agree, Jessica?¡± *Well, I don¡¯t know this Jeremy, but I can say that someone with attention to detail would be a benefit for Monty. He has a strong personality, so a weak one would quickly get buried, and it would probably go better if they both laughed at the same things. I can imagine him doing something like having his monsters fart every time they got hit, just for the giggles. Remember that the three of us have just turned 13 today.* ¡°¡­¡± Tick! ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll go and drop in on Bartholomew and see what¡¯s happening there.¡± Pop. Fancy breathed the tension out and said to Jessica, ¡°Thank you.¡± Jessica laughed, *My welcome, and honestly, it was good to get him on the back foot. Having someone have to agree with you by making a perfectly reasonable request makes it harder for them to say no next time.* Fancy gave Jessica a strange look. ¡°Then why did you start by telling me ¡®no¡¯?¡± *Oh, that? That¡¯s simple. It¡¯s setting the tone for future discussions, that you won¡¯t assume I¡¯ll say yes, enforcing the idea that you cannot speak for me, and lastly, reinforcing that I am in control.* Understanding lit Fancy¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re keeping score, aren¡¯t you? Every time you get one over me, you¡¯re keeping score!¡± *Would I, a pure, innocent twelve-year-old do that? Wait, no I¡¯m thirteen now! Happy Birthday to me!* Fancy knew what Jessica was doing but decided to play her own game and let her win this one. At least she tried to convince herself that was what was happening. *Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday, dear me¡­.* 03 – Jessica’s First Level Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 15th day of Sol, 1661 Fancy asked, ¡°So, did you want to make this call?¡± *Let¡¯s get my first level underway. One thing I like about my new form is the multitasking abilities. I should be able to do both.* Jessica was able to imagine her whole space and put her floor plan in place. Now she had an idea of scale, she enlarged the plan a bit, put in the new Core Room and kicked off the work. *Why isn¡¯t my Area of Influence moving as well?* ¡°Jessica, it won¡¯t move until your Core moves. You should be seeing the projection of where it will be, though.¡± *OK, makes sense. Right, that¡¯s chugging away. Wow, the process is a mana hog.* ¡°You can compensate to a point by harvesting the jungle on the surface. The area you are building your Dungeon in will automatically be converted, so you will increase your knowledge of rocks, stones, dirt, etc, but you will have to manually harvest anything outside of the dungeon structure, but really, you¡¯re not in a hurry, so just let that run its course and leave the harvested mana for an emergency.¡± *Do you have a mana phone?* Fancy blushed and pulled out a miniature version of a currently popular model. ¡°Yes.¡± Jessica metaphysically bit her tongue, refusing to use the ¡®cute¡¯ word. *Well, this is Mum¡¯s private line.* She gave Fancy a long string of numbers and letters. Fancy took a deep breath in and then made the call. ¡°Yes? I don¡¯t recognise this caller, so this had better be important.¡± ¡°H¡­h...hello Queen Camilla. My name is Fancy and I¡¯m your daughter Jessica¡¯s Dungeon Assistant. She asked that I contact you.¡± ¡°You¡¯d better not be shitting me, or I¡¯ll have you flayed alive, then flayed dead.¡± ¡°N¡­n¡­no, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Right, then there will be a code word she can give you.¡± ¡°Jessica, there¡¯s a code word?¡± *Apple Blossom.* ¡°Umm, Your Majesty? She says, ¡®apple blossom¡¯.¡± With a sigh, Camilla relaxed. She said, ¡°Can you put her on, please?¡± ¡°Umm, sorry, but I can¡¯t. She¡¯s not a high enough level to generate an avatar or use the appropriate magic, so for the moment it will have to go through me. Sorry.¡± ¡°Does she know what happened with her brother and sister?¡± ¡°All three of them are in the same area, all are safe, and all should have started their dungeon by now.¡± ¡°So where, exactly are they?¡± ¡°At the base of Mount Gursway, in the south of the Grumb Continent. Jessica is in the jungle and both her siblings above her on the slopes of the mountain.¡± ¡°I have to ask; does she think that this will be reversible?¡± ¡°Your mother wants to know if you think this is reversible?¡± *No. The spell work was complete. But anyway, at least this fixes the succession woes. None of us three would have deferred to the other, and while it would have been fun ¨C if crowded - for the three of us to sit on the same throne, together, I think the Council will be happier with Margarete.* Fancy repeated this. ¡°Does she know who was responsible?¡± ¡°Do you know who was responsible?¡± Fancy had learned from the last time and started repeating Jessica as she went. *Well, Sara noticed Drengle riding on the carriage seat with the driver as we were returning from dinner and the next thing we remember, we were chained up in that mage tower. Fortunately, he did the whole ¡®I¡¯m an evil villain and now you¡¯re going to have to listen while I tell you my marvellous evil scheme¡¯ thingy ¨C I was sort of surprised that real people actually do that. When he took his vow, he changed a word so he was required to do the best thing for himself, not us. Apparently, he was fulfilling a bounty put out by the Borchuffs, 150,000 gold pieces each. Don¡¯t know if this was all true, but he certainly believed it. Isn¡¯t this what he is saying?* Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°He didn¡¯t survive the explosion.¡± Once Fancy had repeated this, Jessica sounded puzzled. *No, he was still alive when the breaching team arrived.* ¡°Hmmm. Sounds like I¡¯m going to need to have a chat with some people. The Borechuffs wouldn¡¯t go the bounty route. This has all of the signs of something the Bandorffs or the Mulchastors would do. ¡°Sorry, darling, got sidetracked. Oh, sorry, just putting everything together. Would you welcome Aunty Bess into your Domain? I want to send Aunty Bess down there get all the details so she can do a proper investigation, but I can¡¯t assume here. I¡¯m hoping you still want to work with us?¡± ¡°Of, course, Mum. Oh, she can give me ideas for traps! Thanks, Mum!¡± The Queen laughed. ¡°Once the three of you are established, we should bring most of the Clan down and do a grand opening or something.¡± ¡°That would be so cool, Mum! I know, I¡¯ll create a special Dungeon for Sam ¨C it will be our little secret.¡± ¡°OK, I¡¯ll bite, what will be in it.¡± ¡°Well, the first level will be nothing but animated smelly boy¡¯s socks and the place will smell like a school change room. The second level will be all spiders, with millipede guides dressed in clown outfits to hold your hand and guide you past the traps!¡± Once Fancy had finished the translation, there was silence on the other end of the phone, then the Queen dissolved into peels of laughter. ¡°You¡¯d do it, too! I can see you actually doing that! Oh, my, that¡¯s classic!¡± Jessica filled Fancy in that Samantha, her 9-year-old sister and now the Crown Princess, had just discovered how smelly boys become when they hit puberty and wanted nothing to do with it. Plus, she absolutely hated anything with too many legs, and while spiders had a lot of legs, millipedes had lots and lots and lots of legs. Oh, and how she¡¯d never really liked clowns. ¡°Honestly now, are you three, OK?¡± Fancy repeated the message and Jessica replied. *I can only speak for myself, but I¡¯m strangely OK. I think the conversion spell changed my way of thinking a bit, plus all this stuff is strangely fascinating and cool. I¡¯m looking forward to talking to Monty and Sara again, but that has to wait until we expand our Dungeons enough to butt heads. I¡¯m a bit concerned about Sara, as she was always the most social of the three of us, but there¡¯s not a lot we can do at this stage except grow. I¡¯m just doing the rough build of my first level as we speak. The multi-tasking abilities of this form are absolutely amazing! There¡¯s also all the stuff after that I haven¡¯t given much thought to, yet. It¡¯s so much fun designing a Dungeon!* ¡°Well, maybe I need to put a care package together for my favourite set of triplets.¡± Fancy seemed excited at that, but Jessica wasn¡¯t so sure. *Mum, I think you need to be careful on a couple of levels here.* ¡°What do you mean, Jess?¡± *Mum, I would hate for any of us three to find out at a later point that we¡¯ve been limited because we failed to grow strong enough foundations in our early development. Nor do I want to doubt myself later about whether I succeeded or if you and Dad succeeded through me. Lastly, you may have noticed that I am, only on occasion, slightly competitive.* Fancy, who had only known Jessica for less than a day had trouble keeping a straight face when passing this on. The Queen had no success, laughing herself silly for a good few minutes. ¡°Thanks, Darling. I haven¡¯t laughed this hard since you swapped out all of your brother Kev¡¯s boots with bouncy-versions.¡± Jessica thought, ¡®Good times¡¯. *I think it might eat at us if we started thinking that you were giving advantages. There are some changes to my Psych I¡¯m still poking at, sort of like a missing tooth. It¡¯s left me better able to cope, but the survival instinct is much stronger. The triplet bond is still there, still just as strong, but I don¡¯t know - my sense of self is stronger? More independent? I would have trouble if the person in charge of the area was to start favouring another dungeon over me. I can see why long-term, dungeons have trouble playing nice with other dungeons.* The Queen sighed. ¡°And there is no way around that. The three of you are so diverse, that what would be a joke gift to one of you could be unfair advantage to either - or both - of the others. And yes, I am aware that even Sara has her competitive moments.¡± Fancy interjected, ¡°Queen Camilla, please forgive me for interjecting, but I would like to confirm that this all lines up with what I know from my studies about Dungeon Psychology.¡± The Queen was quiet for a moment. ¡°Yes, Jess, you¡¯re right. We will need to be careful, for love¡¯s sake, with dealing with you all. Oh, Gods!¡± ¡°Are you alright, Queen Camilla?¡± Queen Camilla was touched by the honesty she felt in Fancy¡¯s voice. ¡°Yes, Fancy. I just realised what sort of a splash the three Dungeons will make medium to long-term. I think our Family need to build a Dungeon-Town for the three of them.¡± Jessica squeed and immediately was embarrassed. Fancy tapped Jessica¡¯s Core and whispered, ¡°We both need some more squee-ing in our lives.¡± Jessica metaphorically cleared her throat and said, *Anyway, got a dungeon to build, talk to you later, Mum.* Fancy repeated this to Queen Camilla. ¡°Fancy, just before you go, need to confirm a couple of things.¡± It soon became apparent to Jessica that her Mum now had a map of Mount Gursway in front of her and were getting some more precise details from Fancy. Hmm, the valley between the other two sounds like it could be a good place for the Dungeon Town. Dungeon Town. Hmm. No, too good an opportunity to pass up. ¡°Your mother sends her regards and so does your father. Any last messages?¡± *Yes. One. Fancy, I could make things for the town, couldn¡¯t I? Get them to give me resources and make real, permanent signs and stuff, couldn¡¯t I?* Fancy thought for a moment, then privately responded to Jessica using telepathy. *I¡¯d limit what you do like that. There are longer-term issues if you do too-much, but small stuff like that would be fine.* *Tell Mum I¡¯ll make all the town¡¯s initial signs, on the condition I can make two versions of each to start with. Whatever the new Town Mayor wants for the real name and a fake set to start with. This will let us pretend that it¡¯s been agreed that the town will be called ¡®Jessicaville¡¯.* Fancy repeated what Jessica said, having a lot of trouble keeping a straight face. After a moment, Queen Camilla lost it, then Fancy and Jessica followed. Eventually, Queen Camilla said, ¡°Thank you, Fancy, for calling me. This is a great weight off my mind. Fancy, keep this number in case you have an emergency. Could you give my details to the other two Assistants?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll hold off for a few hours, giving your details to Monty¡¯s Assistant, if you don¡¯t mind? I suspect that the initial Assistant will not prove to be a good match. We¡¯ll know shortly if they are to be swapped.¡± ¡°Anything I can do to help?¡± ¡°No, at the moment it¡¯s fine. Our supervisor is dealing with it. Just a bit of a personality clash.¡± ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll probably want to meet with the supervisor at some point, but OK. Bye for now.¡± 04 – Colouring between the lines Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 16th day of Sol, 1661 It had taken a day, but now the bare rooms were finished. It was finally time for Jessica to start decorating. Leaving the first hundred metres or so for later, she started from what would be the entrance to her first real room. She had found a small, underground river and diverted it as the start of her water management. This stream now entered a deep pond, allowing her Dungeon to continually claim a small amount of resources from it. She had already scored gold, silver, copper, tin, and the occasional sapphire, plus various aquatic plants, and animals. In addition, she was able to claim extensive deposits of limestone and a couple of patches of Marble that were just on the edge of her area. *Hey, Fancy? Mount Gursway, was that a volcano?* ¡°No. It IS a volcano.¡± *Great, so Monty and Sara are going to be able to add lava features?* ¡°Yes.¡± *OK, that explains the marble.* ¡°Umm, why?¡± *Marble is formed where limestone has been heated.* ¡°Right, I think I knew that.¡± Jessica created a curtain of water, running from the ceiling of the cave and covering the room entrance. Not heavy enough to do more than make any delver damp, the judicious addition of luminous dungeon moss allowed for what Fancy called ¡®Delver Management¡¯. ¡°If you can start getting the delvers to adjust to you, you begin to control the situation. So, the curtain of water, followed by a room well-lit with dungeon moss, will encourage them to extinguish any torches and rely on your illumination. This way, you can start to play with light levels to hide things from the party and they won¡¯t automatically notice. They will become complacent.¡± Jessica completed the decorating of the caves and established her new Core Room. It was here that she came to understand her dungeon instincts better. She found that once she had declared that the new room would be her Core room, she could not proceed until she made the passage to her room larger. It ended up having to be no smaller than a half metre diameter crawl way, but she made sure this passage still dropped a kilometre in height ¨C mostly straight down. Fancy taught her about exclusion areas, and how once Delvers were inside of her Dungeon, she would not be able to make certain changes close to them. She came up with a massive dead fall over this final passageway, that would see anyone attacking her Core Room buried under tonnes of rock. Simply releasing her control would force the massive spikes of rock to fall, where it would punch through the thin ceiling over the final shaft and drop down, completely sealing the shaft - and squashing anything in it. Pulling the lever at the bottom of the shaft would also drop the spike. A hidden lever would open the door to the core room ¨C a minute after also dropping the spike of rock. ¡°Are we right to reposition my core, Fancy?¡± ¡°Yes, just remember to finish clearing what you want from the surface before you do.¡± ¡°Yep, just clearing the last of it now.¡± Jessica had an extra 20,000 mana points from the absorbed Jungle. She had also collected over 600 different species of plants, 200 species of trees, 120 ferns, 40 mammalian species, 100 bird species, 40 reptile and amphibian species, and an amazing 1,000 different insects, including over a hundred butterfly species and nearly as many ant species. The one that shocked her the most, however, were fungi. She identified over 2,000 different species of fungi in this approximately 20 square kilometres of jungle she absorbed. There was an underlying fungal network linking most of the trees and bushes across the area, it was called mycelium, she remembered. Lastly, a small stream just intersected the edge of the area, giving her a few dozen different aquatic species. She picked up an additional two hundred subterranean species from the natural caves in her area of influence. This all increased her list of available species for her Dungeon by a factor of 10. ¡°All right, I¡¯m moving my Core now.¡± A moment later, Jessica appeared in her new Core room. A few moments later, there was a ¡®pop¡¯ sound and Fancy appeared. ¡°Nice. Good attention to detail. I like what you¡¯ve done with the place.¡± Jessica¡¯s core turned a little pink. Fancy noticed and fluttered over to Jessica, giving her core a hug. ¡°I keep forgetting how young you are. Let me say again that I¡¯m really impressed with how well you¡¯ve handled it all. You¡¯ve accomplished more in a few days then some cores do in a couple of years. You¡¯re also handling everything with a lot of maturity. It¡¯s good that you¡¯re keeping busy, as this helps, but if it just gets all too much, talk to me. We¡¯ll do something else for a change and have a stress break.¡± Jessica sighed and agreed. Next, she started stocking her Dungeon with flora and fauna. The dungeon versions of the plants and animals were sustained by the dungeon environment, so she didn¡¯t need sunlight. Fungus, especially mushrooms, started to grow throughout her rooms, adding variety. Dungeon moss sprung up, providing a low level of illumination throughout the first floor. Dungeon varieties of plants started to appear. Next, small insects and other creatures started to take hold, rounding out the ecosystem. Dungeon monsters were added to the mix. In her first room, she installed a Goblin camp. The four, half-metre tall creatures were armed with nothing more than sharpened sticks, each with a fire-hardened point. They had a small camp in the north-east corner of the room where she hid some treasure. A forest of edible fungi rounded out the room. She found the treasure fascinating. She was able to mint her own coins! The standard single copper piece seems to be about 20 grams, about 2/3 of an ounce. She also could produce bronze, silver, gold and crystal coins. The coins had an image of her entrance on one side and either a generic treasure chest or an image of the monster that dropped the coin on the other. At the moment, the entrance image was just a small hole in the ground, but she instinctively knew that it would change as she reshaped her entrance. For her second room, she grew some of the dungeon spiders to about the size of a head and gave them a paralytic poison. They hid nicely among the cave formations. In the second half of the third room, she grew another fungus forest. She created some Mobile Mushroom Warriors and armed them with bronze weapons. For the fourth room, her fake Core Room, Jessica was inspired by some truly bizarre little larva she absorbed from a cave. They built a silk nest on the ceiling and suspended little threads of silk like fishing lines. On the thread were little beads of glue and venom. An insect would blunder into the thread and get stuck, poisoned, and then eaten. They scaled up to about a metre long very well. She was sure they¡¯d find the Dungeon Delvers tasty little treats. An overhead spring dribbled into the pool of water in the fifth room, with some giant frogs in the pool. Following the theme, giant millipedes lived in the next cave, and a hunting party of Kobolds occupied the seventh. Room 8 looked to be empty, but there was a hidden chest at the bottom of the pool. Room 9 was a favourite. Scattered across the ceiling of the room were stalactites. Some, however, were monsters pretending to be stalactites. They had a long ¡®tongue¡¯ that they used to haul themselves up to the ceiling, leaving behind a carefully placed item of ¡®treasure¡¯. This was stuff that they would normally pick up from their victims, but for dungeon monsters, Jessica could assign it as loot. The delver would spot the ¡®treasure¡¯ on the ground, stop, bend over and grab it. The monster would let go of the ceiling and drop on the delver, skewering them and sucking them dry and then haul themselves back up using their tongue, and start again. Most of the monsters were small, with a single copper coin as the bait, some were larger, with a bronze coin, but there was a lone ¡®giant-sized¡¯ monster which had a silver coin. The last two rooms on the level, Jessica filled with giant leeches and mosquitoes. She filled both rooms with a third of a metre of mud, slime and brackish water ¨C forcing any delvers to wade through the swamp. Lastly, traps were added. Two pit traps, a quicksand trap, an arrow trap, and a nest of lilia traps in the spider room. The rooms were finished. Water management complete, monsters spawned, treasure assigned, decorations decorating and Jessica was ready! She felt a ¡®click¡¯ and a message popped up ¡®Dungeon passed Quality Control checks, please install entrance.¡¯ *Fancy? Just got a message that we¡¯re ready to install the entrance!* Fancy looked a little uncomfortable, stealing glances at Jessica¡¯s core. *Fancy? Something wrong? Has my awesomeness Dungeon Building Skills ¨C hey that would be DuBS, wouldn¡¯t it? Nah, awesome Dungeon Integrated Building Skills ¨C Dibs! Sorry, got sidetracked. So, has my DIBS made you feel all inadequate or something?* Fancy sighed and said, ¡°Just wasn¡¯t sure how you¡¯d take this, but can we do a complete walkthrough first? I¡¯m probably going to suggest some tweaks that probably should be done before we open.¡± *Hey, literally, you¡¯re the expert. You know, you went through that 3-day training program, got given your official box of crayons and everything!* Fancy gave Jessica a dirty look. ¡°For your information, it was a five-year diploma course.¡± Fancy went to her knapsack that she¡¯d put taken off after she¡¯d teleported to the new Core Room, and pulled out a small wooden box. Opening the box, she pulled out a bright red crayon. ¡°The crayons I had to buy.¡± Fancy fluttered across to Jessica¡¯s crystal and drew a smiley face on it. ¡°There, much better.¡± After a small pause, Jessica burst out in laughter and said, *I¡¯d be honoured for your help.* Four hours later, Jessica finished up the last of the minor corrections. ¡°Jessica, really, this was amaaaazing!!! Most of the corrections were exactly what we¡¯ve been trained for. Until you get an avatar, you won¡¯t really be able to picture things from the point of view of the Delver. So exact positioning of monsters, traps and stuff are likely to be a little bit imprecise. Reinforcing everything with dungeon stone, except those spots where deadfalls break through, will just lower maintenance. Dropping the potency of those spiders will help to keep the overall rating for the first level low enough. Have we talked about how you¡¯re going to grow from now on?¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. *No?* ¡°Right. Your influence is on its way to expanding back to about two and a half kilometres, but you¡¯ll find that the expansion will slow down until it finally stops around at around three kilometres. You¡¯re close to your maximums now. ¡°Once you actually open, you will advance to a Level 1 Core. This will allow you an extra kilometre of so of influence. Every room and monster will increase your mana regeneration, based on level, which is measured in mana per minute. This is used for you expanding and restocking your dungeon. From this point on, you will find everything to take a lot more mana to do. Becoming a Level 1 Dungeon Core gives you so many advantages, but it makes expansion a lot more expensive. No, I don¡¯t know why, well, that¡¯s not true. Why is so you can get your first level built, but how, no-one knows. ¡°Right, you grow your Level by Dungeon Points. In the same way, every room and monster gives you Dungeon Points, but these are measured in DPs per month and are about a third of value of what these give per minute for mana regeneration. In addition, having Delvers in your Dungeon will give you additional DPs, about a sixth of a point per Delver per level per hour. ¡°So, if you have four, level 10 Delvers in your Dungeon for three hours, that will give you four by ten by a sixth by 3, or about 20 DPs. That¡¯s 4 x 10 x 1/6 x 3 which is 20. Followed that?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°A Delver dying in your Dungeon will immediately give you 20 DPs per level. ¡°So, with 12 rooms and about 140 levels of monsters, you are going to passively generate about 150 mana a minute, plus your base rate. ¡°Gaining 100 DPs will allow you to progress to a level 2 Dungeon Core, then 200 to level 3, 300 to level 4, 400 to level 5 and 500 to move to 6th. ¡°Having other creatures die within your Dungeon will also get you points, plus you get some bonus stuff for absorbing new patterns ¨C rocks, equipment, plants, animals, and the like.¡± *So, what goodies do I get for advancing my level?* ¡°What, isn¡¯t it enough to know that you will allow your Fairy to grow?¡± *No. Come on, give up the goss.* ¡°Goss?¡± *Goss. Gossip. The good, juicy bits of information.* ¡°Oh, the ¡®goss¡¯, right.¡± Fancy rolled her eyes. ¡°Once you get above level 2, you can gain access to different types of magic. From level 3, you gain the ability to have more dungeon levels. From 5 you start to get dungeon skills, like being able to construct teleportation gates, allowing you to greatly increase the number of Delvers you can have pass through your Dungeon. Also, you get the ability to have more than once instance, or copy, of your dungeon level. This allows you to host multiple delver parties at once.¡± Fancy went through the first 20 levels of the Dungeon Level table with Jessica, so she knew what came where. *What are the types of Elemental magic? Does it follow the standard mage categories?* ¡°Yes, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Dark and Light are the six basic elements and Death and Life are the two advanced ones. Then there are the four non-aligned types of magic, Illusion-Mental, Space, Time and finally Void.¡± *Will my previous attunement to Fire and Air limit what I can do now?* ¡°Hmm, that may explain why your crystal is yellow in colour. But to answer your question, sort of.¡± *Well, that makes it clear.* Fancy snorted. ¡°You may find certain types of magic will take less mana to use, while certain others may be unaffected or slightly more expensive, but no dungeon has been recorded without the ability to use all types of magic - eventually.¡± *OK, let¡¯s do this!* Jessica formed the image of her entrance ¨C a large, natural looking cavern in the side of a small mound. The entrance had a rough-hewn pillar on each side with a rough lintel across the top. Carved into the Lintel was the dungeon name, ¡®Jungle Rocks¡¯. Inside the entrance was the required ¡®preparation room¡¯, to allow the Delvers to prepare for their dive into the dungeon. This then led to her first real room. Her crystal shook and a clear, bell-like tone rang through the whole dungeon. She was open for business! She called up her Basic Status screen and her Dungeon screen:
Jessica Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: Jungle Rocks Mana Recharge per min:
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge: 10/161
Level: 1 Recharge from rooms: 12
Used/Current DP: 100/2349 Recharge from creatures: 139
DP Points Next Level: 300
Mana: 324/450 Extras from harvests: 20096
Jessica Fortier (Dungeon Status - Private)
Dungeon Radius (km) 2.70 Dungeon rooms: 12
Max Radius: (km) 4 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon Area: (sq km) 21 DP¡¯s per month 50
Dungeon Influence: (sq km) 22 Maximum Dungeon Level 1
Skills: Basic Dungeon Operation (BDO)
Magics: (none)
*Why do I have levels pending?* ¡°That would be from all of the stuff you absorbed. Anything not of your dungeon will give you at least some Dungeon Points. Animals give the most, then plants and finally earth. How many points do you, wait, I can just look.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jessica added another tick to her list. With a breathy exclamation, Fancy said, ¡°OK, that¡¯s higher than I expected. Bring up your General Status screen and mentally select the ¡®+¡¯ next to your current level. There¡¯s no advantage in holding off from advancing your Dungeon level as soon as you can. Have you given any thought to what order you¡¯ll get elemental magic in?¡± *I¡¯m assuming Earth would be best to get first, then maybe Fire, Air and then Water? Finally finish off with Dark and Light?* ¡°That¡¯s the standard recommendation, but it would depend on how you view your Dungeon looking as you grow it. Do you want to be known for your Monsters? Traps? Puzzles?¡± *I¡¯d really prefer to keep everyone guessing. So, mix and match?* ¡°The magic gets used in three ways. Firstly for traps, then for monster powers and lastly for forcing mutations of your monsters. So, fire is actually the most useful for traps, and I think you¡¯d benefit from picking that first. But then, if you went for Dark and Light, you could start producing some really unique monsters.¡± *How would I go about doing that?* ¡°Well, take a monster then inject mana into it, like 2 parts dark and one part fire, or something and then command it to evolve. A lot of times the monster is just going to explode, but if you get the ratios and amounts correct, it will spawn as a higher level monster.¡± *So, why dark and light after fire, then?* ¡°Dark will tend to give stealth and invisibility traits and light will give speed and protection traits. These will be the fastest paths to strong monsters.¡± *OK, I¡¯ll trust you on this, so Fire, Dark, Light, Air, Water and finally, Earth.* Fancy had a huge smile on her face and said, ¡°Yes!¡± *So, let¡¯s get the first few levels under our belt.* Jessica selected the ¡®+¡¯ and she advanced to level 2. When prompted, she selected ¡®Fire element¡¯. *Oh, Fancy, are you OK?* ¡°Um, yeh? I feel fine.¡± *It¡¯s just that you look a bit swollen.* A puzzled looking Fancy answered, ¡°Swollen? No, I¡¯m fine.¡± Fancy finally figured out what Jessica was saying. With a stamp of her tiny foot, Fancy said, ¡°Bad core! I¡¯m not swollen, I¡¯ve grown! I increase by about 10% for every level you get. You¡¯re the one that gotten fatter! You increase by about 20% per level.¡± Jessica laughed, then said. *So does that mean I¡¯ll end up bigger than you?* Sounding quite grumpy, Fancy said, ¡°Yes. Usually somewhere about level 16.¡± Jessica gave herself another tick. *Right, more levels to do!* She selected it again and advanced to level 3. She got a notification, ¡®You have been awarded Illusion Magic.¡¯ Selecting it a third time, she advanced to level 4 and selected ¡®Dark element¡¯. Selecting the ¡®+¡¯ for the final time, she advanced to level 5 and got a bunch of notifications. You have been awarded the skill ¡®Instances¡¯. You have been awarded the skill ¡®Create Teleport Gates¡¯. You have been awarded Space Magic. She called up her status screens again:
Jessica Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: Jungle Rocks Mana Recharge per min:
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge: 80/241
Level: 5 Recharge from rooms: 12
Used/Current DP: 1500/2370 Recharge from creatures: 139
DP Points Next Level: 2500 Instances 2
Mana: 691/1536 Extras from harvests: 20315
Jessica Fortier (Dungeon Status - Private)
Dungeon Radius (km) 3.07 Dungeon rooms: 12
Max Radius: (km) 11 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon Area: (sq km) 46 DP¡¯s per month 50
Dungeon Influence: (sq km) 49 Maximum Dungeon Level 3
Skills: BDO 2, Instances, Teleport Gates,
Magics: Dark, Fire#, Illusion, Space (Magics marked with a # will operate for 5% less mana) (Magics marked with a % will operate for 5% more mana)
¡°Right, we¡¯ll quickly go through the screens. The Basic Status is, basic, but two items to mention are ¡®DPs from Delvers¡¯ and ¡®Extras from harvests¡¯. ¡°DP¡¯s from Delvers gives you an approximation of how many Dungeon Points you¡¯ll get each hour, when a party is delving. It¡¯s only an estimate, and tends to over-estimate at that, but still reasonable. The ¡®Extras¡¯ are tied back to stuff you absorb, and acts as a bit of an emergency fund. It looks like you¡¯ve been saving it so far, and that¡¯s smart. They don¡¯t wear out, so feel free to just keep putting them aside for a rainy day. Have those been increasing?¡± *Yeh. I think part of it is that I¡¯m still rapidly expanding my influence, but would the way I handle that stream also affect this?* ¡°Stream?¡± *Yeh. There¡¯s a small stream that I captured for water management and set it up, so it runs into a pool first. The cave captures anything solid in the stream, allowing me to absorb it and the pool allows anything solid to sink. I¡¯m getting some metals, precious stones, organic matter, and so on. Not a lot, but a little most hours.* ¡°Ah, yes, that would do it. Smart. So does that mean your DP counter is slowly ticking over as well?¡± *Yes, about a tenth of the number of ¡®Extra¡¯ points I also get as Dungeon Points.* ¡°Good on you, although that will slow over time. You get the most from unique species, so as you ¡®find¡¯ all available local species, the amount you get will slow.¡± ¡°Also, don¡¯t extend your area of influence beyond 7 kilometres yet.¡± *Why?* ¡°Let¡¯s not create problems with your siblings. We need to ¡®butt¡¯ your area up to the other two around the middle point. Then, as you all expand, that middle point will stay stable. Once you touch, you¡¯ll all be able to control that middle ground. We¡¯ll use us three Assistants to coordinate that. We¡¯ll each stand a hundred metres before the midpoint and then each dungeon will be able to sense us. Once the three of you get within about 20 metres of each other, you¡¯ll be able to communicate and form a contract to not impinge on each other. You can then expand as much as you want, as it will automatically stop 10 metres from the other¡¯s territories. You will each be able to then extend a tunnel from your territory to each of the other two dungeons to allow trade. Actually, we¡¯ll see when we go to establish the connections. There are a couple of other ways to do things, we can see what makes the most sense then. ¡°Lastly, don¡¯t initiate your instances yet. There can be a couple of very bad problems if it¡¯s not done ¡®just so¡¯, so please, please, don¡¯t try it on your own. ¡°I¡¯m just going to skip over to the other two dungeons and make sure the other assistants are all on the same page.¡± ¡°OK. I¡¯ve updated the Dungeon map with the changes we¡¯ve made and installed it in the new Core room. The old Core room¡¯s been reabsorbed.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± 05 – Raiders Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661 Jessica felt a bit lonely. After all the action of the last week, the sudden quiet was a little disconcerting. Her first Dungeon level was complete, well, a few odds and ends were currently generating, but those would be finished shortly. She had automated her Dungeon Influence growth, glad that she could set it to automatically stop once she got to a seven-kilometre radius, so she didn¡¯t really have anything to do. She ran through her various updated options and abilities, when she spotted something she had missed when she had upgraded, probably to level 5. She could now enchant her Core Pedestal to be able to talk? A few minutes more research and she had the details of the enchantment. Based off her ability to have instances, she could also enchant one location, usually a pillar, which she could use to talk through. So, she could either have one spot in each instance she generated, or one spot somewhere else for each instance. As she probably hosted many more entities in her core room than a ¡®normal¡¯ dungeon, she¡¯d go that way. Maybe put a second one in an entrance room. This also allowed her to have her first real look at instances, and how they worked. *Hmm. Maybe the way I¡¯ve designed things isn¡¯t optimal.* She complained to herself. She decided to talk this over with Fancy. Maybe she needed a Vestibule in her Dungeon? Anyway, she cast the enchantment on her pedestal. She could now talk! She also started thinking about what she wanted to do for her second level. She thought through the stories she¡¯d read about dungeons, but they all seemed a bit same-same. How could she make hers different? This triggered a memory of a few of her uncles reminiscing about their adventurer years. They were talking about the strangest dungeons that they¡¯d ever come across. Uncle Marvin was talking about a ¡®reverse dungeon¡¯ he¡¯d visited in¡­where was it now? That¡¯s right, in the Isles of Storm, between this continent and the one to the west. The entrance was at the base of a mountain and the levels of the dungeon went upwards instead of downwards. That might work for Monty or Sara. Uncle Mervin talked about the Dungeon of the Deep, whose entrance was at the bottom of the Sea of Merchants. Most of the dungeon was completely underwater. It was the dungeon that Uncle Madison talked about that she was trying to remember the details of. That¡¯s right, the Dungeon of Sorrows. What was the word he used to describe it? Yes, non-linear. It was freeform, there was no preferred way of doing the levels. The last Uncle, Uncle Menander, talked about a dungeon that was just a huge room for each level. Instead of discrete rooms in the level, the huge room seemed to have areas that acted like a room. This was sort of the same thing, except that the exit from the level was always a ¡®boss fight¡¯. So, it was sort of freeform, except the entrance and exit were fixed. It was called¡­that¡¯s right, the Dungeon of Fears and was in the far north of this continent. With a pop, Fancy returned. ¡°Right, that¡¯s all organised. You¡¯re a bit further along than both of your siblings, but I would think they¡¯ll have their first level complete in a couple of days. What have you been doing?¡± "I''ve updated the Dungeon Map with all monsters and treasures. It should show us in real time what happening.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve also been thinking about the next level or two. Have you heard of the Dungeon of Sorrows and the Dungeon of Fears?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve done case studies on both. Wait, are you speaking through your central column?¡± Jessica giggled. ¡°No, you¡¯re obviously losing it, your grip on reality is slipping.¡± Fancy gave Jessica¡¯s crystal a disgusted look. ¡°So, this was something that you got with your last level?¡± ¡°It seems to be part of the ¡®Basic Dungeon Operation¡¯ skill, but I noticed that this is now listed as ¡®BDO 2¡¯.¡± ¡°That makes sense. I¡¯m realising that some of the things I learnt at the Dungeon¡¯s Assistant School I did not understand as well as I thought.¡± ¡°Anyway, back to my Dungeon Design, I was thinking, how about a structure like the Dungeon of Fears ¨C each level just a giant room, but with the non-linear structure of the Dungeon of Sorrows. So, multiple paths between levels. But I was sort of stuck on the second level boss room. If it¡¯s not really needed to advance to level 3, would anyone ever go there? I suppose I could force it with all the stairs to the next level blocked until the boss is defeated, but sort of defeats the idea of a non-linear dungeon.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got teleport gates now, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°OK, easy-peasy then. You have the Boss Monsters give out the teleport tokens, that way people don¡¯t have to fight the boss monster, but if they want to use the teleport gateways to bypass the floor, they must defeat the boss at least once. Anyone in the party that does defeat them, gets their character awarded the token that will allow them to teleport straight from the entrance to the end of that level. The whole thing will slow down your growth a little because you¡¯ll be limited by instances. On the other hand, you tend to have parties stick around in your dungeon for much longer, so you also maximise the DP from the parties. Sort of balances out.¡± ¡°Hmm, OK, I can see how that would work.¡± ¡°Now, about the instances. Oh, I was also thinking of installing a Vestibule up front in the Dungeon, and running the instances off that.¡± ¡°That is a fairly standard way of setting things up, and I was going to suggest you make that change just before activating your instances.¡± ¡°Wait, we have our first Delvers?¡± Jessica had created a number of crystal panels on the walls of her Core Room and displayed an image from just outside her entrance on one. A party of three Delvers were checking their equipment before entering her Dungeon. Fancy said, ¡°That¡¯s strange, why aren¡¯t they using the area just inside our Dungeon? There¡¯s always a prep area for the party there and, as experienced looking Delvers, they should know that.¡± Jessica figured out how to add sound, and Fancy could suddenly hear them. The most experienced looking member was speaking, saying, ¡°¡­so once we get to the end, we have to make sure we kill the Assistant, otherwise they will be able to warn the other two dungeons. The spell indicates that one will probably open tomorrow and the other the day after, allowing us to gather up all three Dungeon Cores. Remember that our payout is ten times greater if we capture all three of the cores intact. Questions?¡± One asked, ¡°Do we know which one this is?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s the first one open, so probably the boy. Right, let¡¯s go.¡± Fancy looked at Jessica and pulled out her phone. Queen Camilla answered her phone and said, ¡°Yes, Fancy?¡± ¡°Y¡­your Majesty, Jessica has just opened her Dungeon.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great! And the other two?¡± ¡°In the next day or two for both of them, but we have a¡­situation.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°A group of three high level Delvers just turned up and Jessica overheard their plans. They are planning on killing me and capturing Jessica. Then doing the same to the other two dungeons as they open. They seem to know who the siblings are.¡± Queen Camila was quiet for a moment, then said, ¡°Well, this confirms we have a leak in our staff. Can you tell what level the Delvers are?¡± ¡°Jessica, are they at your entrance yet?¡± ¡°Yes, just entering the lobby now.¡± ¡°You should be able to examine them now and tell their class and level. As you are now level 5, you should be able to tell the level of anyone up to level 10.¡± ¡°We have a Glokenzie Marlow, thief, level 8, Trilian Gopher, fighter, level 10 and Aarocan Forrestwalker, mage, but his level just shows two question marks.¡± Fancy repeated that and then added, ¡°Queen Camila, that means that the last person¡¯s level is 11 or higher. But it can¡¯t be above 15, as their class is shown.¡± ¡°Right, we will get you reinforcements as soon as we can, but likely they won¡¯t reach you in time to stop these three. They will, however, be able to protect Monty and Sara. I just hope that Jessica¡¯s Aunt Bess gets there in time. Please tell Jess that she can trust her aunt completely. Please keep me informed. Oh, does Jess have any reasonable defences in place?¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Yes, but we just don¡¯t know if it will be enough.¡± ¡°I understand. Tell her that both her father and I love her dearly and that she is ordered by Royal Decree not to die.¡± Jessica laughed. ¡°Thanks, Mum!¡± As usual, her mother had known exactly what to say to relieve the tension. She was a great mother. ¡°Was that Jessica, I heard?¡± ¡°Yes, she just reached a level where she can start to speak.¡± ¡°I remember that point in her life very well. Please do what you can to protect her.¡± ¡°Yes, Queen Camilla.¡± As soon as Queen Camilla hung up, she dialled Bess. ¡°They¡¯re after the triplets again. A snatch and grab team has just been spotted entering Jessica¡¯s Dungeon.¡± ¡°I¡¯m on it, I will be there within the hour.¡± Queen Camilla walked over to her balcony doors, opened them and stepped out onto her private balcony. She put up a barrier, and then screamed out her frustration. She sensed movement behind her and spun to find her husband. Standing there. ¡°They¡¯re after the triplets. A snatch and grab team has just been spotted entering Jessica¡¯s Dungeon. Bess is an hour away and is aware.¡± He walked up to Camilla, put his arms around her, and said, ¡°Then they will be fine. Look, once we get the news that they are fine, why don¡¯t you take a break for a couple of days. You remember that bandit group that were harassing merchants in the southern pass?¡± Camilla perked up, ¡°Yes. They disappeared when we sent the army detachment to track them down a few months ago.¡± ¡°Well, they¡¯re back, bigger and, well, not better. They hit another two caravans last night. Sounds like a problem you¡¯d be good at solving.¡± Camilla sighed, ¡°You know me so well.¡± King Duniel said, with a certain amount of heat, ¡°I know. Come on, you can join me for this morning¡¯s petitioners. I¡¯m not going to waste the expression on your face. It¡¯ll scare the heavens and hells out of them. Petition time always goes so much faster when you¡¯re annoyed - maybe we¡¯ll finish early enough to get some us time, while we wait for news.¡± The Delvers had reached the entrance to room 1 and dutifully put their torches away as they made their way through the water curtain. They seemed to fall into what must be their standard marching order. The Thief was in front, the Fighter was in the rear and the Mage was in the middle. ¡°So, even though they¡¯re here to capture me, they are still dumbly allowing me to dictate their actions?¡± A very worried Fancy half smiled and said, ¡°Well, yes. That¡¯s Delver nature for you. What¡¯s your plan?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we can really do anything until we get to room 9. If I can isolate one of them, I might be able to skewer them with the big Stalactite monster. They¡¯ll need their torches for the tunnel down to the Core Room, so if I start filling up room 11 with explosive gases, do you think I can hurt them when they spark their torches?¡± ¡°Worth a try.¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t know if I can kill them both with the deadfall. Regardless, as they¡¯ve offended my gender, they must die.¡± ¡°Umm, what do you mean?¡± ¡°They assumed that as I was the first opened dungeon, I must be the boy. There is no way that I would let either that insult stand or Monty beat me.¡± This got a half laugh out of the still worried Fancy. The Delvers entered the first room. The irregular shaped room was about 30 metres long and a bit more than 20 metres at its widest. A small stream ran from the base of the entrance (fed by the wall of mist across the entrance) and ran across the room till it formed a small pool, then flowed through the room¡¯s exit. As they passed the middle of the room, the small goblin party ran from their camp with a shout to attack them. The Thief parried the first goblin warrior and stabbed it with one of his knives. The Mage stepped aside and the Fighter advanced and engaged another two of them. The last of the goblins also attacked the thief, giving him a minor wound on his arm. The Thief dispatched that goblin, and the Fighter killed the other two. Jessica said, ¡°Well that didn¡¯t go well.¡± ¡°It did, actually. Facing four goblins, that party shouldn¡¯t have had any injuries at all. The fact that the Thief took a wound says that they¡¯re not that impressive.¡± Pointing at the Thief getting a potion out of their bag and drinking it, Fancy continued, ¡°And that proves it. Firstly, he¡¯s carrying his potions in his backpack and two, he took a potion for that small an injury. You know how I had you turn down the venom on those spiders?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Turn it back up. In fact, turn it up to maximum. We¡¯ll drop it back down later, but for the moment, I¡¯m not really worried about these thieves giving us a bad review.¡± Jessica snorted, then complied. She also increased the venom toxicity of the millipedes. ¡°I¡¯ve increased the venomosity across the board, but I disabled the copper and bronze stalactite monsters. The coins will still be there, but the monsters won¡¯t drop. The only monster there that has a chance of doing a one-shot kill is the silver.¡± Fancy nodded. The Delvers continued along beside the small stream, moving to the second room. Jessica had instructed the first group of spiders to attack after the group passed them. This would hopefully get them to stumble into the lilia traps. She¡¯d also turned down the illumination being given off by the moss, to make it harder for the Delvers to see the traps and spiders. As they passed under the first group of spiders, the spiders begun to rappel down on silk threads and quietly creep up on the Delvers. The trap worked perfectly, with the Fighter spotting the spiders behind them and shouting out just before anyone could notice the traps in front. By the time that the combat was finished, the Fighter and Thief had both been bitten multiple times but had quickly dug out antidote potions and were now recovering. The Mage had fallen into two of the lilia traps, with the sharpened stakes doing some minor damage to both of his feet. He took a health potion to allow himself to walk normally. The Mushroom fighters and cave fishers did not pose much of a challenge to the Delvers. Jessica did, however, get the patterns for both minor health and minor antidote potions from what was left in the discarded potion bottles. In the first fake Core Room, the Mage took out a glowing stone and turned in a circle. He pointed towards the hidden exit and the Thief went over to search for it. Jessica asked, ¡°What was that he was using?¡± Fancy said, ¡°Probably a Core Tracker. It shows the path to the Dungeon Core. It also shows that the Delvers are after your Core. There is no reason to have one unless that is what you are hunting.¡± ¡°Do you think I should put some stronger monsters into my last room?¡± ¡°We have time, so it wouldn¡¯t hurt. What were you thinking?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got the plans for an alligator, so I was thinking of injecting them with Darkness and Illusion magic?¡± Fancy blinked a couple of times. ¡°What ratios?¡± ¡°Two darkness to one Illusion.¡± ¡°Do you have enough mana to do three?¡± ¡°Yeah, easily. Actually, I¡¯m a bit surprised at how much mana I have.¡± ¡°You get mana for having monsters, so your mana should usually be full that way, but the monsters are quite expensive to grow the first time ¨C from now on. Expanding your Dungeon will always be a stretch. You haven¡¯t had to repopulate a dungeon yet, so that expense will be a bit of a shock to you but isn¡¯t ruinous. Where dungeons can get a problem is when they have a high turnover of dungeon refreshes, but don¡¯t have a good mana income from Delvers. Anyway, sure, try some alligators ¨C is there any reason that you¡¯re using alligators instead of crocodiles? I¡¯d try a range of ratios and see what happens. You have time so, try two to one, three to one and four to one.¡± ¡°Um, no?¡± ¡°Use Crocodiles, they¡¯re bigger, tougher, and their bite is worse.¡± ¡°Done.¡± Fancy heard a ¡®pop¡¯ noise. ¡°OK, two to one and four to one didn¡¯t work. They make quite a mess when they explode, but three to one seems to be stable.¡± ¡°What are they called when you try to identify them?¡± ¡°Mystic Crocodiles. They have greatly increased camouflage and stealth abilities.¡± ¡°Might be worth putting some in the room for now and cutting that back to just one or two after we beat these suckers.¡± Jessica deployed six of them around the quicksand trap, plus a pair further back towards the entrance. ¡°Ouch, level 3 monsters are expensive. That took a whole 736 mana ¨C 92 points each.¡± ¡°Yeh, twenty points of mana per level for each monster, plus the eight points for each point of mana infusion would be about right. That drops to about a quarter to re-generate them later.¡± ¡°Why do we have to experiment with the ratios, aren¡¯t they consistent?¡± Fancy paused for a moment, then said, ¡°It¡¯s a peculiarity of monsters in dungeons, that each dungeon has to find its own ratios. What works for one dungeon, won¡¯t for the next. I¡¯d expect to find that even the three of you end up with different recipes to get the same monster.¡± It was interesting to see how that quicksand trap worked. Triggering the trap would basically turn that three metre by three metre pit into a spa pool, releasing thousands of tiny bubbles of air every minute from the bottom of the pool, sucking the Delver down to the bottom. If the crocodile was able to tackle the Delver into the pit, they would easily outlast the Delver¡¯s need for air, being able to hold their breath for a minimum of a half hour. It was just a bit obvious, since it was a patch of sand, in the middle of a room of mud. She played with the colour, until the sand started to blend in. ¡°How did you do that?¡± Asked Fancy. ¡°Normal sand is made from quartz, but sand can be made from a number of things. I took normal ¡®white¡¯ sand (quartz), added feldspar sand (grey), olivine sand (green), obsidian sand (black) and a bit of garnet sand (red) till I came up with something that blended in with the dark mud. The Thief quickly found the release for the hidden door and proceeded through into the next room. Failing to spot the pit trap, he fell into the pit, landing on the sharpened stakes. Shaking his head, the Mage walked past the pit, while the Fighter dropped a rope down and helped the Thief up. After taking another potion, the Thief was able to continue, but this time he stayed at the rear of the party. The Giant Frogs, Millipedes and Kobolds proved to be little challenge to the group, but now that the Mage was leading the party, he¡¯d usually kill them all with a spell. The arrow trap hit the mage, barely doing any damage to him. Fancy commented, ¡°Good, we¡¯re making him start to use his magic up.¡± Jessica grunted in agreement. Entering the second fake core room, the Mage pulled out his Core tracker and backtracked until he again pointed to the section of wall that had the next concealed door. The Thief searched the wall, finding the entrance and opened it. The Mage and Fighter advanced through the room, but the Thief hung back. His instincts were telling him there was some treasure here, somewhere. A quick search located it at the bottom of the pool. Once his party members were out of sight, he quickly slipped into the pool, found the small chest, and exited the pool. Packing it into his backpack, he tried to catch up with the others. As he entered the next room, a long, drawn-out passage, he could see the other two about fifty metres ahead. He noticed a glint off to his right. Looking, he could see a nice, shiny, copper piece sitting on the ground. He looked around and, not seeing anything, lunged for it, then jumping back and looking around again. Nothing happened, so he moved on. By the fourth copper piece, he didn¡¯t even look around. He was about twenty metres behind the other two when he saw a silver piece, again off to the right. He picked it up, stopping to look around for more. The Fighter heard a loud ¡®thunk¡¯, followed by a grunt and spun around. ¡°Aarocan, it¡¯s Glock!¡± The Fighter ran back to where the Stalactite Monster was sucking the Thief dry. It had pierced the Thief¡¯s back, just below the skull and had skewered him, cutting the spine. The thief now hung from the Stalactite, as if his corpse was impaled and on display in a gibbet. The dozens of tiny mouths on the monster were happily feeding on everything they could get a hold of. Each mouth was able to extend out of the body and those inside the Thief were sucking all the fluids out, while those outside were taking small chunks out of the corpse. The corpse was visibly becoming more desiccated as they looked. The mage sighed, pointing to the silver piece still clasped in the dead Thief¡¯s hand. ¡°He was a greedy bastard, but he should have known better. You don¡¯t just pick up coins in a dungeon.¡± The Fighter used his sword to cut the thief¡¯s purse off his belt and grabbed it. He was going to ignore the backpack, until he spotted a chest in the top of it. Again, using his sword, he popped the chest out and grabbed it. Opening the chest, he emptied the twelve copper and one silver coin into the Thief¡¯s purse and then secured the purse into his backpack. The Mage said, ¡°Not worth his life, was it?¡± The pair continued to the end of the room. 06 – Mud ¡°Ohhh, that felt¡­strangely weird?¡± Fancy giggled. It had been described to her that the feeling a Dungeon Core got when a Delver died was like a really nice kiss. ¡°As good as, say a kiss?¡± Jessica¡¯s Core turned pink, as she muttered, ¡°Not quite.¡± ¡°But close?¡± ¡°Not saying.¡± ¡°How many Dungeon Points did you get from that?¡± ¡°Well, according to the log, they¡¯ve just ticked over their third hour, and we¡¯re getting an even 5 points per hour. So that¡¯s 30 points for every 6 hours, we knew the thief was level 8 and the Fighter level 10, so 30 less 8 and 10 leaves 12. This means the Mage is level 12?¡± ¡°Well done. Yep, that¡¯s correct. So, we should have got 160 points for the Thief¡¯s death.¡± ¡°Yes, that puts us up to 2573 Dungeon Points, so we can level again!¡± ¡°Do it straight away, as we need every advantage we can get.¡± Jessica selected the upgrade and got a prompt asking her to select her next Elemental Magic. ¡°We¡¯d agreed that Light Magic would be next, didn¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Um, we selected Dark as the previous one, didn¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°OK, yes, Light will be next. You¡¯re doing really well.¡± ¡°If we survive this.¡± With a sigh, Fancy agreed, ¡°Yes, if we survive this.¡± Jessica sensed another red figure approaching her Dungeon. She looked outside and said, ¡°Finally. Aunt Bess has arrived. Could you go and escort her in?¡± ¡°Will you be OK?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be a lot better when these last Delvers are dealt with.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Fair enough. Anything I need to know about this Aunt of yours?¡± ¡°Umm, high level assassin? Isn¡¯t my real Aunt, but just an old friend of the family? Known to the general public as Shadow of Death? Plays Canasta like, well, an Assassin?¡± Fancy started shaking. ¡°It¡¯s OK. If she decides to betray us, we¡¯re dead, so it¡¯s not worth worrying about.¡± ¡°Thanks, that¡¯s so reassuring.¡± Fancy¡¯s voice displayed perhaps a smidgeon more sarcasm then was warranted under the circumstances. ¡°Back soon.¡± Fancy zipped out using one of her tunnels. The warren of tiny tunnels honeycombed the dungeon, but due to the inherent magic of dungeons, only that Dungeon¡¯s Assistant could use them. Any other creature even attempting to use them forced them to close. The Mage looked out over the next room with disgust. ¡°Mud. Why does it have to be mud?¡± The Fighter would have laughed, except that he was just as disgusted. It did amuse him to see the Mage suffering, though - misery does love company, after all. About twenty metres into the room, the first of the giant mosquitoes turned up. While the two Delvers were easily able to spot and kill them as they attacked, the mosquitoes did perform one other important function. They distracted them enough that they did not realise that a half dozen giant leeches had attached themselves to each of them under their robes or armour. This constant drain had started to drop their health and increase their exhaustion. Part way through the last room, the first pair of crocodiles attacked. The improved stealth and camouflage worked as expected, with neither being detected until the last moment. Jessica was a bit disappointed that neither killed a Delver, but both the fighter and mage had been significantly damaged before being killed. She was also disappointed that the mage didn¡¯t use fire, as that would have set off the gas trap. The health potions they¡¯d drunk restored all of their health, undoing all the good work that the leaches had done. Still, they immediately started losing health again as the leeches were still attached. ¡°That¡¯s a little disappointing,¡± Jessica mumbled to herself. Jessica got the rest of the crocodiles to back off. She¡¯d have them attack after the Delvers lit their torches. The two remaining Delvers reached the end of the dungeon. Again, the mage got out his crystal and discovered that the tunnel that led to Jessica started on top of a small mound, that just peeked out of the mud. The pitch-black tunnel dropped ten metres and then started off to the west. They got out torches and lit them. With a huge ¡®whoompf¡¯, the whole room caught on fire. The rest of the crocodiles used the confusion to launch their attack, with three going for each Delver. The fighter was grabbed and dragged into the quicksand trap. Two of the crocodiles let go and the last one started to do a deathroll. This caused the pair to sink further and further into the pit. The Mage used lightning to shock the other three crocodiles, causing them to let go. He then killed them, one by one. Jessica immediately triggered the quicksand trap, releasing streams of fine bubbles into the mix. This increased the downward suction in the pit, dragging the fighter to the bottom, where all three remaining crocodiles started attacking him again. The Mage looked at the pit, snorting at not seeing any movement, just the bubbles, lit another torch and jumped down the shaft. 07 – The End of Jessica? Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661 Aunty Bess stood at the entrance to the last room of the Dungeon¡¯s first level. The wave of fire rolled out over the whole room and an abbreviated scream sounded out. After a moment, Fancy said to Aunt Bess, ¡°Jessica is confident that the second Delver will die, but it looks like the mage will survive. He¡¯s dropping down the access shaft now.¡± ¡°Right, let¡¯s advance, then.¡± Fancy shuddered as she saw this strange relative of Jessica walk out over the mud. It wasn¡¯t enough that no mud splashed on her as she walked, nor that no mud even stuck to her boots. No, this Aunt Bess was able to walk across the surface of the mud without sinking into the mud at all, not even leaving footprints. ¡°OK, the mage entered the final tunnel, but has forgotten to take a potion, so they¡¯re health is down, but the fire killed off the leeches, so they¡¯ll not get any worse.¡± ¡°Leeches? Nice touch.¡± ¡°The giant mosquitoes kept them distracted, so they never realised they were being sucked dry.¡± Aunt Bess nodded. ¡°Pretty standard.¡± Fancy fluttered along beside her, guiding her over to the opening in the floor that was the access shaft, where she landed. There was a deep rumble that Fancy felt through her feet. Aarocan Forrestwalker stepped off the edge of the shaft and fell down towards the bottom. He used a spell to catch himself, so he gently touched the floor. He crawled along the shaft for about twenty metres before it changed from horizontal to vertical. He got out a second torch, lit it from the first and dropped it down the shaft, watching the torch flicker as it dropped. He guessed that this one was about a kilometre deep. The torch continued to burn once it reached the bottom, so the hole had air and no water. He wasn¡¯t specifically annoyed that his two team members had died. Honestly, it just meant that there would be more money for him. Well, there was never going to be any share for them, really. He¡¯d always intended to kill them at the end, after he¡¯d got the three Cores. He was, however, a bit annoyed at them dying so soon. He¡¯d expected them to have a least survived a bit longer, maybe into the third dungeon. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. He cast a detect traps spell and noted that the cap over the shaft probably had something behind it. He cast a reinforce spell to protect himself from anything falling through, cast a spell to minimise his decent rate and allowed himself to fall into this final shaft. He floated to the bottom of the shaft and found a lever. He grabbed it to pull, when he thought better of it. Before pulling it, he searched and found a second lever, hidden in the floor. ¡°Ah, sneaky!¡±, he mumbled. ¡°This should be the final obstacle. Maybe a monster or two in the core room, but this should be it.¡± With a smile on his face, he pulled the lever. This released a dungeon stone column, some one metre in diameter and three metres long, way above the stone cap. It fell some twenty metres before hitting the cap over this shaft. Even with the reinforcing from the mage, it had so much force behind it by now that it blew straight through the cap, ignoring the reinforcement spell, and started falling down the 1000-metre-long shaft. The shaft was only slightly larger than the pillar, so it tapped the side a few times on the way down, slowing it slightly. Even with this, by the time it hit the mage at the bottom of the shaft it was traveling at over 100 metres per second and hit with a force of around 65 million kilograms. This translates to over 200 mph and over 70,000 tons. ¡°Umm, Jessica is saying she felt no surge from the death of this last Delver after the stone deadweight dropped. They must still be alive?¡± Aunt Bess shrugged and jumped down the first shaft. Holding a gloved hand against the wall allowed her to moderate her speed. She crawled along the horizontal passage and stopped at the final drop, glancing up into the hole now visible where the cap was. ¡°There was just the single deadfall, wasn¡¯t there?¡± ¡°Yes, and it has dropped down the shaft.¡± ¡°Can Jessica reset it?¡± ¡°No, the Delver is too close to it.¡± ¡°OK. Ask her to leave it alone until we tell her otherwise.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Aunt Bess dropped down this final shaft, again using her gloved hand to slow her down. She landed lightly on the pillar and cast a spell on herself. She was then able to slip down between the pillar and the side of the shaft. There was also enough room for Fancy to follow. They found the Mage on the floor of the shaft. While still alive, his body was so damaged that he could not move. Aunt Bess squats down next to the Mage as says, ¡°Well, someone¡¯s been a bad, bad boy.¡± Even though most of the Mage¡¯s face was distorted by his injuries, Fancy was shocked to see the brow rise in obvious panic. Aunt Bess got a set of manacles out of her dimensional bag and attached one ring around the Mage¡¯s neck. ¡°Well, you won¡¯t need your legs, and as they¡¯re stuck under this rock¡­¡± Aunt Bess pulls out a long knife and cut off the mage¡¯s legs. The fire wrapped around the blade cauterised the wound, stopping any additional blood loss. A sudden noise from the side of the shaft has her spinning around, knife in hand. A hidden door has just opened. Fancy huffed. ¡°Well, he found the secret lever. The normal lever drops the rock, while the secret, hidden, lever drops the rock. After a pause, Fancy continued. ¡°Then a minute or so later open this door.¡± Aunt Bess laughed and said, ¡°Any more traps?¡± ¡°No. We sort of got a bit complacent and figured this would stop him.¡± Aunt Bess shock her finger at Fancy and walked down the passageway, dragging the Mage behind her. ¡°Jess! Looking good! Yellow always suited you.¡± 08 – Revelations Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661 ¡°Now, Aunt Bessy, I have asked you not to call me that.¡± Aunt Bess laughed. Turning to Jessica¡¯s crystal, she said, ¡°So, you finally got the nerve to call me ¡®Bessy¡¯. Good, my mission is complete. I just wanted to make sure that you would stand up for yourself, darling.¡± ¡°Is that the reason Mum keeps calling me that?¡± ¡°Nah, she¡¯s the Queen of three quarters of this continent and she just has always preferred ¡®Jess¡¯.¡± Jessica sighed. ¡°Jessica says, ¡®Welcome to my Dungeon¡¯.¡± ¡°Can I give you a hug, Jessica.?¡± Jessica agreed. Aunt Bess came up to her crystal and hugged her. Giving her a kiss on the tip, she said. ¡°Love you, darling. As you¡¯re now a dungeon, please just call me ¡®Bess¡¯. When I heard the three of you had been taken, I wanted to denude a few Baronies of at least their leadership, if not all of their population, but your Mum found so many false plots, that there was a bit of confusion about who were really behind things. I wanted to do them all, just on principle, but your Mum asked me not to. Yet. Anyway, she asked me to interview the three of you and see what I could find. I¡¯ll add this slimeball to the list and do him first.¡± Aunt Bess pulled her glove off her left hand and put her hand on the Mage¡¯s forehead. The Mage started screaming after a moment, so Aunt Bess casually got one of her many knives out and cut out the Mage¡¯s voice box. ¡°There, much quieter.¡± A minute later, Aunt Bess stood up and said, ¡°Interesting¡±. You might as well finish him off and get the points. Do you need me to drag him down the passageway a little?¡± Fancy said, ¡°If you drag him at least twenty metres, Jessica will be able to deal with him.¡± ¡°Good. Got some millipedes or centipedes?¡± ¡°Yes, both,¡± answered Jessica. ¡°Great, turns out his scared of the cute little buggers. Instruct them to leave the head alone until last and let them have some fun. The magic ring he¡¯s still wearing will continue to keep him alive through it all.¡± Jessica paused for a moment and thought about how she felt about that. She realised that her Dungeon Self was fine with the request, but her ¡®old¡¯ self wasn¡¯t. Thinking more, she realised that Bess would be doing this partly for her benefit. This Mage had tried to kidnap her, probably to give her to someone who¡¯d wipe her mind and then control her forever. Jessica reasoned that whoever was doing this probably intended to hold the three of them as collateral to stop the Kingdom from doing anything. This pointed to the three of them becoming ''factory'' dungeons, churning out goods for whatever kingdom controlled them. Her continued safety, and that of her siblings, would depend on her being a bit ruthless. These had to be made an example of. Jessica had to harden her heart and just do it. ¡°Fancy, is it OK if we build like a memorial wall somewhere? Immortalise how stupid it is to attack a Dungeon?¡± Fancy¡¯s eyes widened as she realised what Jessica was suggesting. She fluttered across to Jessica¡¯s core, laid a hand on her and said, ¡°Are you sure?¡± Jessica replied, ¡°Yes. It has to be. I would do anything to protect Sara and Monty. I¡¯m not going to gloat over the wall, in fact I don¡¯t really intend to look at it after I make it, but it¡¯s a bit like gibbets outside of a town. Empty gibbets don¡¯t teach lessons, you have to have the full ones.¡± ¡°OK, if you¡¯re sure, yes, we can immortalise the three of them and, yes, it would help to discourage dungeon robbers. The equip room at the start of your Dungeon would be the best place. Actually, some dungeons have a hero wall in that room too, for all of the Delvers who die in their Dungeon.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it more like a list of people who did a big whoopsie while in an active Dungeon?¡± Fancy giggled. ¡°Technically, yes, it is a list of people who did a big whoopsie while in an active Dungeon. But it¡¯s a nice undertaking for the Dungeon to recognise those that helped the Dungeon grow.¡± "Let''s make plans, but hold off the decision until we have our first ''volunteer''. Bess dragged the still conscious Mage down the corridor and dumped him. She chopped off a finger of his, with an ornate golden ring on it. She pierced his nose and put the ring through the hole. ¡°There you are, it¡¯s important that you don¡¯t die too quickly. Here are some friends to keep you company.¡± A hoard of Centipedes and Millipedes had spawned in the shaft and now skittled along until they reached the Mage. All were quite small for a dungeon, about the size of a ferret. Starting at the extremities, they began to nibble. Returning to the Core room, Bess said, ¡°So, run me through everything you remember.¡± Fancy interrupted, saying, ¡°Sorry for interrupting, Bess, Jessica, can you start regenerating your Dungeon in case we get some real visitors? It¡¯s just housekeeping that she needs to start automatically doing.¡± ¡°Sure. Umm, is there urgency? I think it¡¯ll take a while as I¡¯ll have to gather mana a few times to complete this. I could use Mana from the harvests, but I¡¯ve been trying to keep that for a rainy day. Yes, I know that this is a Jungle, so most days are rainy.¡± Fancy giggled. ¡°That¡¯s fine, just start from the beginning as even if you have another group turn up, you will usually be able to re-generate the dungeon ahead of a normal party. Let me know when you finished regenerating ¨C remember to return those things we changed back to normal. I¡¯ll show you how to start your Dungeon Instances once you¡¯ve finished.¡± Bess said, ¡°You¡¯ve got instances already? How many?¡± Jessica answered, ¡°I¡¯ve got three instances.¡± ¡°Ah, level 5! Well done, Jessica.¡± Jessica said, ¡°Ahh, Bess? If I make you a room, scrub that, a mansion, would you move in whenever you weren¡¯t busy? I could make a really nice training dungeon, just for you?¡± Fancy was confused, so asked Jessica *What is happening?* *Look at my status.* Fancy examined Jessica¡¯s status, but didn¡¯t see anything unusual, until she noticed the recharge rate from Delvers. Allowing for the dying Mage, the current rate would mean that Bess was in the mid-forties level range. Fancy glanced across at Bess, with a lot of worry on her face. Bess sighed. ¡°Please don¡¯t treat me any differently, just because I¡¯m level 45. I¡¯m still your Aunt Bess, Jessica, and I would love to remain friends with you, and become your friend, Fancy.¡± Fancy gave herself a shake and said, ¡°I¡¯ll try. Jessica¡¯s core turned a little pink, then flashed bright pink. ¡°Ah, that mage finally died?¡± ¡°Jessica said, ¡®Yes¡¯.¡± ¡°Speaking of kissing, did you enjoy your kiss with Bobby?¡± Jessica turned pink, again. Fancy said, ¡°Bobby?¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Yes, Jessica and Lord Robert Lionpaw, Bobby to his friends, were noted getting a bit ¡®friendly¡¯ at the last party at the Palace. Jessica got her first kiss.¡± Fancy giggled, ¡°So you know that a Delver dying inside a dungeon gives the Dungeon a feeling that¡¯s supposed to be similar to a kiss?¡± ¡°Yes, well, we should obviously ask the expert. Come on, give up the gos, Jessica¡­¡± Jessica¡¯s crystal turned a brighter and brighter pink. She finally said, ¡°Look, I¡¯m no expert, right? I¡¯ve only ever been kissed by the one boy, and I admit that I liked it. I¡¯ve also only had three Delvers dying inside me. Yes, they are similar, but not as intense or nice as the real thing, OK? I can see why it¡¯s talked about in that way, but come on, it IS someone dying.¡± Bess smirked and said, ¡°I noted you said, that you had ¡®only ever been kissed by the one boy¡¯. So, that means there was a whole line of girls?¡± ¡°No!¡± Jessica continued in a mumble, ¡°A couple of the ladies in waiting and I did practice a couple of times, just so I knew what to do, but nothing serious.¡± Bess smirked and said, ¡°It will be a bit better for you, once you get to level 10.¡± ¡°Um, why?¡± Fancy answered Jessica. ¡°When you reach level 10, you pick up life magic and the dungeon skill to allow you to give Delvers the option of Regeneration. You basically get to strip them of their last full level and take those points for yourself in return for regenerating the Delver. The feeling is supposed to be more¡­intense.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot of Dungeon Points.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not one for one and it is the third most likely time for a Dungeon to be culled.¡± ¡°Culled?¡± ¡°A dungeon that is branded as ¡®dangerous¡¯ will be purposely hunted by the various Adventurer and Delver guilds and destroyed. You¡¯re past the most common spot, when a dungeon is first formed. You¡¯re fine, as your dungeon is balanced, reasonable and not killing everyone who enters.¡± Bess interrupted, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. So far, she¡¯ll killed every single Delver that¡¯s entered her, except for me, of course.¡± Fancy looked at Bess for a minute, then burst out laughing and continued, ¡°Well, I suppose that¡¯s true. The second most likely time is when the dungeon introduces Instances. If it¡¯s done incorrectly, it can lead to mental imbalance. Don¡¯t worry about that, I know what I¡¯m doing.¡± ¡°As to the introduction of Regeneration, some dungeons just turn too greedy. The intoxicating flow of power from Delvers will turn some dungeons into killing machines, but worse. They basically capture Delvers and torture them, stripping a level, then regenerating, then repeating this level after level until they finally dispose of the empty husk of a person. I don¡¯t expect that from you. Anyway, start your dungeon respawning.¡± ¡°OK, the respawn is underway.¡± ¡°Bess, you had some questions for Fancy?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you call Jessica¡¯s Mum before we start, so she knows everything is OK? Might be better for the Kingdom if she calms down. Then quickly pop over to Monty and Sara and let them know. Then we can chat.¡± Fancy agreed, did a quick call the Queen Camilla and then disappeared with a pop. ¡°Now that she¡¯s out of the way, Jessica, are you happy with Fancy?¡± ¡®Umm, yes?¡± ¡°Is there anything you need me to do that you don¡¯t want Fancy to know about?¡± ¡°Umm, no?¡± ¡°Great. Just wanted to check.¡± Bess filled in the time with Jessica sharing some of the gossip from Court. She was just finishing up a story about the Duchess Antrino and her very public wardrobe malfunction, when Fancy returned. Bess asked, ¡°All OK?¡± ¡°Yes, all is fine. I think that both are taking personal security more seriously now. Oh, Jessica, Monty¡¯s got a new Assistant. Master Brian¡¯s replaced Bartholomew with Jeremy, the Sprite I suggested. I gave them both, your mother¡¯s contact details.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± ¡°Fancy, I just need the contact details for the other two Dungeon Assistants, so I can easily contact them.¡± Fancy had no issue with that, so gave Bess the information. ¡°Thanks, now Jessica, can you start by walking me completely through the whole day before you were kidnapped, then the day of your kidnap and up until you woke up here?¡± Nearly four hours later, Jessica felt for the first time since becoming a dungeon, mentally exhausted. She was impressed by how much information Bess had been able to pull out of her. Jessica hadn¡¯t realised that she¡¯d seen and noticed everything that she had, until Bess had finished questioning her. ¡°You¡¯re Mum asked me to note down your current statistics, if you didn¡¯t mind, Jessica?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a bit concerned after Mum had admitted that they have to have at least one spy there.¡± ¡°I understand, but I will say that, now your Mum knows, this information will not be widely dissipated.¡± *What do you think, Fancy?* *It should be OK. These people seem to have your best interests at heart, and the assistance that you can get will be priceless. Plus, this information really isn¡¯t that confidential at this stage. If we¡¯re about to be Surveyed, then most of this will be on the public record within a couple of weeks.* ¡°OK. Here¡¯s the stats.¡±
Jessica Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: Jungle Rocks Mana Recharge per min:
Alignment: 0 Base/Current Recharge: 110/271
Level: 6 Recharge from rooms: 12
Used/Current DP: 2500/3061 Recharge from creatures: 139
DP Points Next Level: 4500 Instances 3
Mana: 99/1686 Extras from harvests: 20439
Jessica Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon Radius (km) 7.0 Dungeon rooms: 12
Max Radius: (km) 12 Current Delvers DP/Hour 7.5
Dungeon Area: (sq km) 149.57 DP¡¯s per month 50
Dungeon Influence: (sq km) 153.94 Maximum Dungeon Level 3
Skills: BDO 2, Instances, Teleport Gates,
Magics: Dark, Fire#, Illusion, Light, Space (Magics marked with a # will operate for 5% less mana) (Magics marked with a % will operate for 5% more mana)
¡°Great. I¡¯ll come back after I¡¯ve talked to Monty and Sara and do a run through of your Dungeon, if that¡¯s OK? Oh, I¡¯m going to camp out in the area until the troops your parents sent arrive. One more thing, Jessica, your Mum put a request into the Surnae Adventurer¡¯s Guild that the three Dungeons be surveyed. This will start to get your name out there.¡± ¡°Um, one condition? Can you tell me about the ten best traps you¡¯ve ever seen.¡± With a laugh, Bess said, ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll even give you a bonus one now. So, does your Dungeon Knowledge list the metal rubidium?¡± ¡°Yes, looks similar to silver, unstable ¨C especially with water ¨C not particularly strong or useful.¡± ¡°Yep. Imagine a room behind a waterfall, accessible only by a narrow ledge cut into a vertical cliff over a deep drop.¡± Fancy responded, ¡°Right.¡± ¡°So, you go through the waterfall, noting that the water is hot ¨C not scalding, but hot - to a hidden room. The floor is sand, the room is quite hot and in the middle of the room is a glass pillar. On top of the pillar is a glass dome and under the dome is a beautiful, obviously enchanted, gleaming sword. A couple of obvious traps are in the room and to get the sword you have to break the glass dome.¡± Fancy responded, ¡°Right.¡± By now she was hooked and was following the story. ¡°The Delver breaks the glass, grabs the sword - noticing that the sword is quite chilly - and the room starts to shake, encouraging the thief to run out of the room. Quickly. ¡°Now, the room shaking is just that, everything else in the room is mundane, except for an enchantment that keep moisture out of the room ¨C this stops the glass bell from getting frost on it, the glass bell keeps moisture and oxygen away from the sword, which is pure rubidium, and keeps the sword chilled to stop it melting. The glowing is indeed the sword¡¯s enchantment ¨C which is to glow. That¡¯s it, just glow. The thief exits the room, splashing through the waterfall. The water does two things. Firstly, the heat starts to melt the sword and secondly, the water reacts violently with the sword, creating explosions. The Delver is blown off the ledge, and down to their doom!¡± ¡°The Dungeon Information lists a few different metals that react the same way here.¡± ¡°Yes, you¡¯ll have to experiment and decide which ones you want to use. They melt at different temperatures, and each reacts a little differently to water. Rubidium isn¡¯t toxic, or anything, so it¡¯s a good one to use.¡± Jessica said, ¡°See you Bess, and thanks for all your help, from both of us.¡± With a pop, Bess disappeared. Jessica said, ¡°Did she just teleport out of our Dungeon?¡± ¡°Can you detect her outside?¡± ¡°Um, yeh. She¡¯s on our northern border.¡± ¡°Then, yes, she teleported out of our Dungeon. You¡¯ve expanded to seven kilometres, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Finished respawning your Dungeon?¡± ¡°Not quite. I¡¯m letting my mana increase for another half hour or so, then I can finish off respawning the trap outside of my Core room. Should I set up an automated procedure for this to happen once the party leaves a dungeon?¡± ¡°Not yet. You should be able to set a reminder for the moment but wait until you have instances running before automating that area of Dungeon maintenance. Right, I¡¯ll go and set some markers to help with the three of you finding each other. You should see a set of bright spots start to appear along your northern border. Let your mana recharge completely, we''ll need the mana for activating your instances.¡± ¡°Thanks, Fancy. Oh, Fancy? You¡¯re looking a bit taller than you use to.¡± Fancy disappeared with a pop. Fortunately, with her skin colouring, you didn¡¯t notice the blush. Much. 09 – Town Planning Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661 Reappearing in the Jungle, north of Jessica¡¯s Dungeon, Fancy began to bury a series of small crystals along the edge of Jessica¡¯s domain. She started just west of a line to Monty¡¯s dungeon and continued around the edge until just east of the line to Sara¡¯s dungeon. Once they had expanded to within a kilometre of each other, they¡¯d be able to see the line. Once Jeremy and Mandy, did the same for their Dungeons, the three will be able to butt heads. That will be interesting. Will they just share everything, or will they barter? Fancy could see it going either (or both) ways. Fancy detected something approaching her. She spun and went invisible. ¡°Hey, Fancy, it¡¯s Bess. So, this will be the edge of Jessica¡¯s Dungeon?¡± Fancy felt a little uncomfortable talking to Bess without Jessica. After a moment¡¯s thought, she realised that it should be OK. ¡°Well, the three dungeons form a triangle, with each side about 15 kilometres long. This is seven kilometres from Jessica, so each Dungeon Assistant will do the same and then we can use these lines to coach the dungeons into connecting.¡± ¡°It will probably cause issues for the town that¡¯s going to be built here if the dungeons go right up to each other. Can I do a sketch of what I¡¯m thinking?¡± ¡°Sure, but maybe I should go and get the other two assistants?¡± ¡°Just before you do, I know this will make you feel awkward, but I want to ask you a question. As Jessica¡¯s Aunt, I wanted to know how you think she¡¯s going. Any problems that you¡¯re concerned about?¡± Fancy froze. This was making her feel very ¡®wrong¡¯. She felt like she would be betraying Jessica by answering this question. She thought about it and realised that she could honestly answer the question with ¡®no¡¯, and that felt all right to her.¡± ¡°I feel uncomfortable answering, but I¡¯m OK with saying that I honestly do not have any concerns, perhaps except for what the three Dungeons are going to get up to.¡± Bess laughed. ¡°Even their Mum feels the same. If the other two Assistants are available, then it would be great to get this sketched out.¡± A couple of minutes later, the three Assistants appeared back where Bess was. Fancy introduced the Assistants to Bess. ¡°Bess, this is Mercy, Sara¡¯s Assistant. Mercy, this is Sara¡¯s Aunt Bess, sent here by her Mum. Bess, this is Jeremy, Monty¡¯s Assistant. Jeremy, this is Monty¡¯s Aunt Bess, sent here by his Mum. Bess was interested to see all three main Dungeon Assistant species represented. Fancy was a Fairy, Jeremy a sprite and Mercy a Pixie. Hmm, maybe Jessicaville would be a good place for both various Adventurer Guild reginal offices and the Dungeon Assistants regional office. Bess had cleared an area of ground and drawn a map in the dirt of the intersecting area. A large curve to the south was Jessica, one to the north-west was Monty and the one to the north-east was Sara. Bess had drawn intersecting lines to rough out the area. ¡°I was assuming a small, central chamber for the three dungeons to meet?¡± The Assistants looked at each other and laughed. Jeremy said, ¡°Well, that would make partying for us three easier, but I don¡¯t think Monty would think that it is ideal.¡± Fancy said, ¡°What were you thinking of using the space for, Bess?¡± ¡°I was assuming the dungeons would trade. Plus, I was hoping we could set the town up to use the dungeons to dispose of all waste and rubbish. To ensure peaceful relationships, I was hoping there was some way of splitting everything equally.¡± Mercy fluttered up to the map. Looking around, she spotted a stick and used it to modify the map. ¡°I would be really shocked if Sara, Jessica and Monty wanted to trade as a group. I would suspect that trades will be done on a one-on-one basis. So, I would expect that there will be two tunnels from each dungeon, one to each of the others. ¡°I think we insist on the central hub but be open about it being so we can socialise.¡± She added two lines from each dungeon to the other two Dungeons. One either side of the passageway that Bess had drawn. It now looked like a three-sided pyramid between the three circles. With growing excitement, Jeremy added, ¡°If we get them to make the dome at least a hundred metres across, we could use it for regional dances.¡± This got both of the girls excited as well. Mercy was hopping up and down with excitement, ¡°And with three dungeons sharing the cost, we could have then quite regularly.¡± Fancy turned to Bess and said, ¡°Bess, how do you see the Town sitting here, and how big do you expect it to be?¡± ¡°As I¡¯m sure you know, with the town backed by the Sonae Kingdom, and being built to help the ruler¡¯s three eldest children, it¡¯s probably going to be bigger, rather than smaller than usual. But I suspect you would have a better idea than me. I would comment that it¡¯s being bandied around to use this Dungeon as one of the prime training sites for the Kingdom¡¯s army.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Fancy looked at both Jeremy and Mercy and whistled. ¡°That would change things. Bess, do you have some parchment on you, or do you want me to pop back to Jessica to get something?¡± Bess shook her head and pulled out a sketchpad and charcoal sticks from her dimensional bag. ¡°I¡¯d suggest that the best place for the town is going to be to the north, in the natural valley between the two Dungeons.¡± ¡°Jessica had already spotted that valley and thought the same.¡± Bess was impressed by Jessica¡¯s maturity. Being honest, she expected to have more of an issue getting the three Dungeons to cooperate. ¡°Hmm. Being honest.¡±, Bess thought. ¡°Just in the name of honesty, The King and Queen have started thinking whether this would be a good location to encourage the various Dungeon guilds to set up their regional headquarters. I was thinking it also might be good for a regional office of the Assistants Guild as well.¡± The three assistants looked at each other. This was both a huge risk and a huge opportunity. Risk because of the increased scrutiny and opportunity because their dungeons would have real political power in a few years. Bess finished sketching out the basic shapes. The three Dungeons were represented by circles of their influence. The central hall was added, with a path from each of the Dungeons to it. In addition, two other tunnels were added between each Dungeon for the Dungeons to trade. Lastly, a wedge shape area was filled in between each dungeon to represent ¡®neutral territory¡¯. ¡°I¡¯d expect the Kingdom to take this wedge to the north, which fairly closely mimics the valley in the side of the mountain. The area to the south-east, I¡¯d expect the Empire to want to develop, as this area is about the closest part of the continent to their continent, Sandos.¡± Jeremy asked, ¡°Do you expect the Empire of the Moon to build much of a town?¡± Bess thought for a moment, then answered, ¡°Not initially, no. Medium term is when I expect things to pick up with them. They tend to be a bit slow off the mark but can put a lot of resources behind their efforts once they decide their direction is worthwhile.¡± ¡°The last area we were expecting the tribes of the south to use as their camping grounds.¡± Jeremy said, ¡°So, will it make sense for our Dungeons to move their entrances to this area, so all three are close to the town?¡± Mercy and Fancy looked at each other, eyes wide. Bess said, ¡°Is that even possible?¡± Jeremy answered, ¡°Technically yes. Once we all get teleport gates, it¡¯s even easy. By Dungeon tradition, it¡¯s normally not recommended.¡± Mercy laughed, ¡°Try, ¡®make the stuffed shirts run around in circles waving their arms while screaming¡¯, not recommended.¡± Fancy continued, ¡°But in this case, it just might work. It would certainly allow us to have better security.¡± Jeremy said, ¡°Build fortress walls a hundred metres or so from the edge of our area and allow the town to connect to them. The only problem is, which side is the outside? Do we need to protect the Dungeons from the town or the wilds?¡± Fancy and Mercy answered together, ¡°The Town.¡± Jeremy examined the large map etched into the ground for a minute, then said, ¡°OK, what if we get our Dungeons to build a standard castle wall along the border, well, a hundred and fifty metres in from the edge, in a big curve. Install a nice set of gates at the point closest to the middle and a second wall around the back of the new entrance. Sort of like a squashed grape.¡± Looking at Bess, he asked, ¡°Should this wall extend to the end of the town area?¡± ¡°The town would appreciate that. Would it be guarded by the Dungeon or the Town?¡± Mercy said, ¡°I expect the Dungeons will prefer if they do it themselves.¡± Jeremy fluttered over the map and pointed at the junction point between the end of the Town area and the Dungeon area. ¡°So, a redoubt at the junction, another where the inner and outer walls will meet, towers and gatehouses with curtain walls between. The dungeons can spawn the defenders straight to the guard locations. We just need to set the height of the redoubts so they¡¯re all the same. I¡¯m going to assume that the town will use wooden palisades to start with and the replace them with stone as required?¡± Bess sketched the changes into the paper map in front of her and then said, ¡°I¡¯ve got the authority to agree to that.¡± Mercy added in, ¡°We¡¯ll need to borrow an arbalest at some point, as I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have the plans for that.¡± ¡°Monty might have one in his memory. Do you want him to whip up a set of plans for the other two?¡± With a laugh, Fancy said ¡°No.¡± She looked around and came to a decision. ¡°The mental changes involved with becoming a dungeon will make them at least mildly more competitive. They will all be fighting part of their new nature to do this sort of cooperative thing, so it¡¯s part of our job to¡­dampen down¡­the natural friction. We must be careful to never offer something from one Dungeon to another. We can suggest that to our Dungeon, but it has to be their choice.¡± Mercy added, ¡°Yes. I also agree with Jeremy, that we need to set in place both the location and height of the ends of our fortifications to allow for integration by the town. So, four-metre-tall curtain wall, stretching out, what, ten metres from the corner redoubt, in stone and finishing with a right-angle buttress?¡± Both Fancy and Jeremy answered, ¡°I¡¯m fine with that.¡± Jeremy added, ¡°Monty is proving, so far, to break just about every norm of dungeon design, so I¡¯m sure his above ground fortifications will look nothing like ¡®normal¡¯ ones, so it¡¯s important to standardise where things will join. So that will be an opening between the dungeon walls of a thousand metres, plus two hundred, less 20, so 1,180 metres. Will this be big enough for the town?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m expecting the main town to be fine, as that valley into the side of the mountain runs for more than six kilometres, and has nice, steep walls, that should work out well. Both the Empire and the local tribes will be able to seal-off whatever amount of area they want. For the Empire, I¡¯d expect a small, permanent settlement, plus a few legions rotating through from time to time. For the locals, some of the close villages will add the area to their normal, yearly migration route. They may even start holding their conclave here in a couple of years.¡± ¡°So, regular ablution houses every, thousand metres along the wall? Add a refuse pit next to them?¡± Bess looked a bit confused. ¡°All that would be nice, but I don¡¯t want the town to be a strain on the dungeons. Wait! This will all be on dungeon grounds. You¡¯ll be harvesting Dungeon Points from everyone using the facilities, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°To quote Jessica, ¡®Would I, a pure, innocent twelve-year-old do that?¡¯.¡± Bess snorted and the other two Assistants laughed outright. ¡°Yeh, every thousand metres would be wonderful.¡± Fancy looked across the map and said, ¡°As for organised refuse from the town, that¡¯s going to be harder. I think, the way things are laid out, Jessica¡¯s going to be at a disadvantage so far. While Sara and Monty will have the harder time of it, building the wall in the mountains, I¡¯d expect that with the ablution houses and refuse pits in the town, the biggest share of spoils is going to go to those two dungeons.¡± Fancy looked around and got nods of agreements from the other two Assistants. ¡°Maybe the run-off from the town and any collection services goes straight across to Jessica¡¯s Dungeon for the moment, and we let the Dungeons fight it out in twelve months or so, once things start to settle down.¡± Bess kept quiet while the Assistants argued out the final details. This was a ridiculously strife-free set of negotiations for Dungeons. Actually, it was very strife-free even for negotiations between any of the intelligent races. Except sloth-people. They were always laid-back. 10 – Jessicaville Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 19th day of Sol, 1661 Bess was sitting on a foldable lounge chair, next to her tent and out in the sun, when her phone rang. ¡°Shadow of Death, business or pleasure? ¡°Um, this is Major Transt. Um, I suppose, business?¡± Bess smiled. You had to get your fun where you could. ¡°What can I do for you, Major?¡± ¡°We¡¯re approaching Mount Gursway with the forward detachment and wanted to touch base with you and see where we should land?¡± ¡°I¡¯m set up to the south of the volcano. You should be able to spot my pink tent quite easily. The three Dungeons have cleared their initial land, so there will be three, 5 to 6 kilometre wide, cleared circles in a rough triangle, with about a 7 to 8 kilometre gap between them. Two are on the slopes of the mountain, and one in jungle below.¡± ¡°OK, I¡¯m starting to see those details, so we should be on the ground with you in about a half hour.¡± Bess searched the skies and quickly spotted the first of the airships. It was coming in from the west. Looking behind it, she could just see the next one, flying about three or four kilometres behind. She walked over to where she put in the ranging poles. With the Assistant¡¯s help, she had put these poles in the previous night, marking the approximant location of where the edge will be of the three Dungeon¡¯s influence, plus the approximant location of where that Dungeon Assistant party hall will be. She grinned and allowed a laugh at that. ¡°I wonder if I can wheedle an invite to the opening night?¡± She walked about fifty metres from the Party Hall, towards the valley that the Town will be in and waved to get the airship¡¯s attention. A figure rapidly rappelled from the airship, landing a few metres away. The soldier pushed through the jungle to where Bess was. ¡°Morning, Ma¡¯am. Do you know where the first tether post is to go?¡± ¡°No, do you?¡± ¡°Ah, no, Ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Do you have any vegetation clearing spells?¡± ¡°Ah, no, Ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Just a moment.¡± Bess got out her phone and dialled the last number that had rang her. ¡°Major Transt, It¡¯s Shadow of Death here.¡± ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am, how can I help you?¡± ¡°I have one of your people here, wanting to know where you want the tether post.¡± Bess looked at the soldier, who was staring at her, a little wide eyed and slightly panicked. She gave her a wink. ¡°Um, had this been discussed with you?¡± ¡°Well, firstly, no, secondly, it¡¯s the three Dungeon Cores that you should really be coordinating with. I¡¯m just a visitor.¡± The soldier¡¯s eyes got a bit wider. ¡°Um, we can move them easily at a later date, so we just need an initial location.¡± ¡°OK, well I¡¯m standing about where the centre of everything will be, so I¡¯ll clear a patch of jungle to the north-east and get your Sergeant to put the first tether in. You have some magic users who can clear the jungle after this?¡± ¡°Ah, yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Good. You see the large valley to the north-east? The one with steep sides?¡± ¡°Ah, yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°The Dungeon Town will be built into that valley. See you soon.¡± ¡°Sergeant, can you get the airship to pull up the rope?¡± ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± The soldier waved to get the airship¡¯s attention, then made some strange signal, windmilling her left arm. The rope started to be pulled up. ¡°Sergeant, we probably should leave a 500 metres gap from the centre and start there.¡± Bess started walking towards the north-east, and after she estimated she had moved about 500 metres, stopped and said, ¡°Please stand behind me, while I clear the jungle.¡± ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± Bess first cast a ¡®detect life¡¯ spell to confirm the area was clear, then cast a spell from the death magic sphere. Black mist rolled out in a fan shape and as it cleared, the live, vibrant jungle was black, dried, and quiet. Bess cast a wind spell and the ashes from what had been jungle blew away. What was left, when the dust disappeared, was a triangle of bare earth, starting a few metres in front of where Bess was standing. It finished about sixty metres away, at a width of about twenty metres. The Sergeant pulled off her backpack and pulled out a staff, about half a metre long. Walking about ten metres into the clear patch, she poked the staff into the ground and raised her hand above the staff and chanted some phrase in one of the magic languages. Once the staff started to glow, she quickly stepped back, to stand next to Bess. The staff became a tree, with large, buttressed roots, growing until it was a good three metres wide and about a hundred and twenty metres tall. There were no branches until the tree¡¯s crown. A metal collar wrapped the trunk at about a hundred metres off the ground, and a dock grew out of the tree under the collar. The dock was circular, and a staircase and cargo platform grew from there to the ground. This all took about ten minutes, then the first ship attached itself to the ring and proceeded to furl all the sails. First off were a platoon of soldiers, followed by what looked like a platoon of army engineers. Over the next thirty minutes, the site was secured, and the next tether had started to grow. This set the pace for the rest of the day, with the final count of twelve ships docked by late afternoon. The ships were about forty metres long, so the tethers were spaced about every hundred metres. This left the line of ships stretching for over a kilometre. The engineers had specialised spells, so when the cleared the landing areas, all of the resources ended up neatly stacked near each tether. There seemed to be sufficient lumber for the whole project. Part way through this process, an officer approached Bess, introducing himself as Major Transt. Coming up behind him was a group of a dozen or so bureaucrats. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. On seeing the group, Bess started laughing. She laughed so much that her sides started to ache. Seeing the direction Bess was looking, the Major turned and noted that the ambassador seemed to be where she was looking. The very sour expression on the ambassador¡¯s face seemed to confirm this. ¡°Why, Marisol! Fancy seeing you here?¡± The ambassador, Marisol, looked around the group with here, and seeing the offended expressions on a number of people, decided to quash any problems before they could start. ¡°Elizabeth! I know? Why would the King and Queen¡¯s, retired Prime Negotiator and their Royal Assassin, the Shadow of Death, no less, be meeting here, in the middle of a hot, sticky, smelly, jungle?¡± ¡°It must be because we¡¯re both close friends of the King and Queen and decided to lay whatever important things aside to help our Monarchs. Besides, having the Shadow of Death and Sun¡¯s Maiden in one location should be a lot of fun.¡± A grin split Marisol¡¯s face and the two old friends hugged. ¡°Sorry Major. At this stage, please just get your people organised. It will be a few days before we are far enough along to set anything in stone. For the moment, see the four ranging poles?¡± Bess pointed to a single central pole and three others, forming a triangle around it. ¡°You can assume that the line from that central pole, through the ranging pole closest to us is the centreline for what we¡¯ll be doing. Work with an area about five-hundred metres each side of that line and stretching to the back of that valley. Bess pointed to the north-east. We won¡¯t have exact details until all three Dungeons have expanded their borders.¡± ¡°Well, if we claim what we want, they¡¯ll have to acquiesce to our demands.¡± Bess looked at the Major, then at Marisol, and both Marisol and Bess burst out laughing. Marisol handled it. ¡°Major, you¡¯ve never handled negotiations with a Dungeon, have you?¡± ¡°Well, no, but it can¡¯t be that much harder than with any other enemy I¡¯ve fought.¡± ¡°So, you have an enemy that you cannot siege, starve out, or even inconvenience much. One who can effectively take control of the ground under your feet, absorb all your supplies, create walls around you to keep you hemmed in and then create as many troops as they need to wipe you off the face of the earth? Oh, and will not lose anything from any of their troops that get killed, but will reap huge benefits from your troops just being there, and even more from every one of your troops that die. Exactly how are you going to intimidate them? ¡°In addition, there are three dungeons here, yes, not one, but three, that would be fully supported by every adventuring and delving guild on the continent, and we would be condemned for sticking our noses where they don¡¯t belong. Finally, the Dungeon Cores are the kidnapped triplets of our King and Queen and you have been sent here TO PROTECT THEM. Do I make myself clear, Major?¡± ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± Bess heard a familiar pop sound and shouted, ¡°As this area has active Dungeons, under no circumstances are you to attack, threaten or fire upon all Pixies, Fairies and Sprites. Otherwise, I will get involved. Do you all understand?¡± Everyone within hearing range said, ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°I assume that¡¯s you, Fancy? Feel free to come over to me.¡± Fancy flittered across the space to the group. Bess looked at Fancy and said, ¡°If you want to perch on my shoulder, I¡¯d be honoured. Blushing, Fancy did. ¡°Fancy, please meet Ambassador Marisol Drepport, from Jessica¡¯s parents and Major Transt, the leader of the local army contingent.¡± ¡°Please to meet you both.¡± ¡°Was there something that I can help you with?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a busy day. The three of us have been popping between all the Dungeon Cores, deep in negotiations. Your proposal has been accepted, with just a couple of minor changes. Everything is fine, except that the ablution blocks will be spaced a little different. In the town, they will be every five hundred metres and outside of the town, they will still be spaced every kilometre, but Jessica will have the one in the middle of both sides and the other sibling will have their first ones five hundred metres either side. This way they will form like a zig-zag.¡± Bess pulled out the sketch that had been made, and showed Marisol and the Major, ¡°The circles will be the initial Dungeon areas, they will expand to finally butt up against the pink areas. The lines in the middle will be dungeon structures, all underground. There will be a mound over that central location. The pink area will be a minimum of a kilometre wide, slowly expanding. We expect that the Kingdom will have control over this top area, the empire may well - long term ¨C establish something in this left-hand section ¨C certainly at least an outpost - and the right-hand one will be left for the local tribes to set up temporary camps. Marisol asked, ¡°Any particular reason that you were planning on having the Empire on that side and the tribes on the other?¡± ¡°None. Does not really matter. The existing roads to the south tend to split about a hundred kilometres south, so, really, no difference. Is there a problem?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± answered Bess, ¡°the first sketches we¡¯d done had them the other way around.¡± Fancy said, ¡°Did the Empire send a representative?¡± ¡°No. ¡°Were they informed?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s on them. Let the tribes pick where they want to camp, and we will go from there.¡± Marisol had a big grin on her face as she said, ¡°Oh, that¡¯s going to really annoy the ambassador, but it¡¯s all on their head. I like it!¡± Fancy pulled out a detail drawing, showing the structures that were going to be built. Bess explained, ¡°Each dungeon is going to build a defensive wall a hundred and fifty metres into their area and will move their entrances to this centre area, so all three dungeon entrances will be close. Their main gates will be here, where that pyramid shape is on the drawing. They will be responsible for garrisoning their own walls. They will also be providing fresh water, ablution blocks and refuse pits all along the sides of the pink areas, and when we run the sewer lines for the town, they¡¯ve agreed to take the outflow and deal with it for us.¡± Marisol asked, ¡°Which is which triplet?¡± Fancy pointed to the lower circle, saying ¡°Jessica¡±, then top-left and said, ¡°Monty¡±, and finally, pointed top-right and said, ¡°Sara.¡± ¡°Is Jessica going to go with the ¡®limestone caves¡¯ vibe? Any idea what the other two will be doing? By the way, Fancy is Jessica¡¯s Assistant.¡± ¡°Yes, Jessica¡¯s quite liking the cave look. From what I¡¯ve seen, Monty will be going with ¡®fairy grotto¡¯ as a theme, but it¡¯s Sara that¡¯s the surprise for me.¡± Bess tilted her head and thought. ¡°I bet I know what it is.¡± Marisol said, ¡°No, she wouldn¡¯t. Wait, of course she would. Their Dungeons now, they literally have almost no limits on what they can do.¡± Major Transt looked between the three ladies and asked, ¡°Should I be worried?¡± They all nodded, and Bess said, ¡°Yes.¡± Together, the three of them said, ¡®Steampunk.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got to go. It looks like Jessica is going to have her first ¡®real¡¯ delvers tomorrow, at least the first that aren¡¯t trying to capture her. A group of war bands have turned up to the south and they are prepping groups to start Delving, probably tomorrow. Each band has a couple of Elders and some support-types, so it is all looking OK.¡± Bess and Marisol looked at each other and nodded. Marisol said, ¡°We¡¯ll drop in and visit the tribes, probably tomorrow and introduce ourselves. Did you notice the standards on each camp?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t but wait a moment.¡± Fancy fluttered over to where a set of ranging poles followed a gentle curve and sat on one. A minute later, she fluttered back to the group. ¡°A tiger, a wolf, a gorilla, an eagle, a basilisk, a dragon and some sort of bird, probably flightless? The head is coloured blue, body black and it has a red necktie?¡± Marisol nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a cassowary. Very dangerous, flightless bird. OK, all of the leading tribes are represented, this will be a semi-official delegation, and I¡¯d expect that most of the younger princesses and princes will be there. So, Jessica¡¯s expanded up to that line already?¡± Fancy nodded. Major Transt looked concerned. Bess smiled at the Major. ¡°She¡¯s already up to level 6 as a Dungeon and has done a TPK (Total Party Kill) against a group of three Dungeon Raiders, who were after her core. She¡¯s less than a week old.¡± Transt asked, ¡°And the other two?¡± Bess looked at Fancy and said, ¡°Should still be level 0?¡± Fancy nodded. ¡°Monty should open tomorrow and Sara the day after. I would expect a rapid growth for the first five levels or so, as they are all educated, intelligent and all seem to be driven to succeed. They have a huge advantage over a normal Dungeon Core, who usually takes the first ten levels or so to figure things out.¡± Fancy looked over at a group of five very experienced Delvers and said, ¡°Are you the evaluation team we were warned about?¡± The dwarf cleared his throat and said, ¡°I think ¡®warned¡¯ is a very harsh word for it.¡± Fancy giggled and said, ¡°Fine, ¡®informed¡¯ about.¡± ¡°Thank you, young assistant. I¡¯m looking forward to meeting your core tomorrow.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure she will be willing. You do know that we just had a group of three Dungeon Raiders try to steal her core a couple of days ago, don¡¯t you?¡± The five of them looked at each other and a female halfling said, ¡°Please pass on our sympathies to your Core. We ask you to try and convince them to allow us a short visit.¡± Bess said to Fancy, ¡°If Jessica¡¯s not convinced, let her know that Marisol and I can attend with them to keep them honest. Besides, I¡¯m sure Marisol would love to catch up with Jessica.¡± Marisol said, ¡°That would be wonderful. The thing I can¡¯t understand, however, is how the tribes found out about this in time. Some of those tribes would have been on the move for weeks to get here.¡± Bess said, ¡°It¡¯s going to be Ss¡¯alyia.¡± Marisol thought, then nodded. ¡°I can see that now.¡± Bess groaned. ¡°That was bad.¡± Fancy looked at Bess, confused. Bess answered, ¡°It was a pun. Ss¡¯alyia¡¯s a seer.¡± Fancy looked at Marisol, a profound look of disappointment on her face. ¡°I will be going, now.¡± Marisol had a wide grin on her face and looked totally unrepentant. Fancy fluttered over to the line of poles and disappeared with a ¡®pop¡¯. 11 – Graduation Exercises Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 Jessica was nervous. She knew she shouldn¡¯t be, but the coming evaluation by the Surnae Adventurer¡¯s Guild had her feeling like she was sitting some end-of-year exam. ¡°It is OK. You are well within the published limits for a Dungeon. They cannot do anything but pass you. Honestly, I expect them to give you excellent reviews as well.¡± ¡°Thanks, Fancy. But logic has never been stronger than worry for me.¡± Fancy giggled. ¡°Good idea on that entrance too.¡± When the plans that had been agreed to were explained to Jessica, she¡¯d asked why not just install a teleport gate and keep everything else the way it was. It had made a lot more sense to the young Dungeon to keep herself at the centre of her area, and just provide a teleportation link to near the town. During the night, she had absorbed a five hundred metre strip of Jungle around the complete edge of her area of influence and created a proper road, from the edge near the proposed town site, right across her area, past her Dungeon and to the outer rim of her influence. The road was double width and consisted of edge and middle done in grey stone sets and the area between done in what looked like brown and red cobbles. It was actually a complete, single piece of Dungeon Stone, but looked exactly like a traditional stone road, but much stronger. Even the ¡®dirt¡¯ between each cobble was just coloured and textured dungeon stone. Starting revegetation in all the stripped areas was just good management. She had followed Fancy¡¯s advice and spawned real plants, not Dungeon ones. This way, all growth and death would drive up mana production in her area of influence, but was much more mana intensive to do. There was no urgency, so she could work as she had spare mana, plus with the judicious use of raw mana, she was able to boost the initial growth. It would, however, be a lot easier once she unlocked life magic. She put in place triggers, so every time she got close to full mana, some was bled off into doing the preparatory work for the next level. She was about 25% done with creating the layer of Dungeon Rock under the first level, and once that was finished, she¡¯ll start putting in the layer under the second level, then finally carve out the level itself. It was going to be a huge, single cavern, but more than that, she would create the second, third and fourth levels to be a single, integrated, non-linear, instance. The fourth level would also be a single cavern, but the third would be made up of many short runs, linking spots on other levels together. ¡°People who hate drawing maps in Dungeons are going to hate me.¡± Fancy giggled and said, ¡°It¡¯s important to have goals in life.¡± Marisol and Bess met for an early morning tea, pastries and planning session. Marisol pulled out a complete, two seat caf¨¦ set from her storage device, while Bess provided the tea and pastries from hers. Looking around, Bess said, ¡°Well, Jessica¡¯s been busy,¡± and started laughing. Marisol looked around, saw the cleared area and the road and laughed as well. Noting a nearby sentry, Marisol said, ¡°Excuse me, soldier, but when did the work happen?¡± Looking very on edge, the soldier said, ¡°We¡¯re not sure, Ma¡¯am. When the sun set yesterday, everything was unchanged, but with first light this morning, all this was done. No-one heard anything.¡± Bess said, ¡°It was nice of Jessica to make it easy for us to get to her this morning.¡± ¡°So, Ma¡¯am, the rumours that the Crown Prince and Princesses were changed into Dungeons are true?¡± Marisol responded, ¡°Yes. Princess Jessica¡¯s Dungeon is in this area in front of us. Princess Saradon is over that way ¨C I¡¯d expect her to do something similar in a few days, and Prince Montague is over that way ¨C and, again, give him a few days to catch up.¡± ¡°Thank you, Ma¡¯am.¡± Bess commented in a much quieter voice, ¡°You know, I¡¯d always thought that the three of them would shake up the Kingdom when they finally took the throne, but I suspect that now they are going to shake things up are lot sooner, and a lot more violently.¡± Marisol smiled, and simply said, ¡°Yes. And not just the Kingdom. They are worthy of having us as their pledge-protectors.¡± They clinked teacups and said, ¡°To mayhem!¡± The next half hour was discussing their planned meeting with the tribes. Marisol looked over Bess¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Good morning gentlepeople.¡± Bess glanced over her shoulder and saw the Evaluation Team approaching. She stood up and pulled a couple of wooden tables and matching benches from her spatial storage and set them up next to where she and Marisol were. Looking a little hesitant, the group of five approached. Bess smiled and said, ¡°Please, for the next few days, you¡¯re doing a favour for my pledge-children, so let¡¯s try not to be formal. I¡¯m Bess, this is Marisol, and we¡¯ll be starting today with Jessica¡¯s Dungeon.¡± The obvious leader, a female halfling in leather armour, introduced herself. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Lotus. For my sins I¡¯ve been appointed the leader of this merry band. So, you¡¯re the pledge-protector of the triplets?¡± ¡°One of four. There¡¯s myself, Marisol here, and Lord and Lady Bannersol. We¡¯re all old members of the King and Queen¡¯s adventuring team.¡± ¡°Wow, anyway, so there¡¯s me, Lotus, then Merry, Jackson, Antonio and Mercury.¡± Lotus was an average height halfling, dressed in some kind of leather armour, with embedded metal plates. She looked to be some kind of castor but had a bow as well. Merry looked to be part giantess and was wearing full plate. She had a large shield strapped to her back with a massive sword. Probably a claymore, but it was hard to tell with how it was sheathed. Jackson was an elven priest, in light plate armour and was wielding a longsword and had a buckler shield strapped to his arm. Antonio was also dressed in light plate and seemed to be a human fighter. Examining Mercury, Bess smiled. He was trying to hide it, but he was fangirling big time. He was an assassin type and had obviously recognised her. He seemed to be mostly human, but there was certainly something else mixed in there. Orc, maybe? ¡°It looks like Jessica kept herself busy overnight.¡± The blank looks on some of their faces cued Bess in that they weren¡¯t all up to speed. ¡°Jessica, the Dungeon Core you¡¯re evaluating today. Looks like she¡¯s cleared a perimeter around her claimed lands and laid down a road.¡± Lotus said, ¡°Do you know where the entrance to the Dungeon is?¡± Pointing, Bess said, ¡°Should be seven kilometres down that road.¡± ¡°Good. While I¡¯ve got a Core detection stone, I don¡¯t want to use it near the Core, since they¡¯ve been attacked recently by Dungeon Raiders. Do you have any details on that?¡± ¡°A group of three mid-level adventurers were hired to kill the Assistant and capture the core. They were supposed to move on to the other two Dungeons here once they finished with Jessica.¡± ¡°So, you managed to stop them?¡± ¡°No, Jessica killed all three.¡± ¡°Her Dungeon¡¯s that dangerous?¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°My understanding is that they gave themselves away, and Fancy, her Assistant, helped Jessica to make some of the rooms harder. That, with the traps she had laid before her actual Core Room kept her safe.¡± Mercury asked, ¡°What were their levels?¡± ¡°Umm, level eight thief, level ten fighter, and a level twelve mage. Did you want to accompany us? We¡¯ll be leaving within the next hour.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Horses or a cart?¡± Merry and Jackson both said, ¡°Cart¡± before anyone else could say anything. Marisol waved one of the soldiers over and said, ¡°Can you let someone know that we want to leave for the Dungeon¡¯s Entrance within the next hour? We¡¯ll both need horses, plus another¡­¡± Marisol looked at Bess, who said, ¡°Probably need to take a squad of mounted soldiers.¡± ¡°Ten mounted soldiers plus an officer. The five representatives from the Surnae Adventurer¡¯s Guild will need a cart and driver.¡± ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± She ran off to let someone know. Marisol asked, ¡°Have you done many evaluations?¡± Lotus said, ¡°We¡¯ve done, what, ten evaluations as a team?¡± Merry said, ¡°Eleven.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ve been involved in another dozen or so before I became team lead. Can you give us a walkthrough of the Dungeon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to, mainly because I saw it as a defender, not as a Delver. Also, I saw most of it after the Raiders had already passed through, and what I saw was the modified dungeon to fight the raiders, not what it¡¯s like normally. I¡¯ll actually be doing a solo run, probably tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°Oh, let¡¯s make it a dual, and I¡¯ll come with you!¡± Bess agreed with Marisol¡¯s suggestion. Seeing the approaching cart and mounted soldiers, Bess said, ¡°We might as well get started.¡± She put the furniture away in her spatial device, then they all formed up and rode off, down the road. Less than an hour later, they crested a small hill and saw the Dungeon entrance. On the downward slope of the hill, there was a rocky outcrop with a rough-looking cave, framed by rough stone pillars and a carved lintel. There were about a hundred tribespeople fanned out from the entrance, in what looked like a temporary camp. The road passed within five hundred metres of the entrance, and there was a crossroads at the closest point. One branch led to the Dungeon entrance, with the people gathered there, while the other crossroad branch led to what appeared to be a camping or market area. This area was cobbled and was an ellipse, with a minor axis of about two hundred metres and a major axis of about five hundred metres. Assorted ground cover plants were just starting to peak through across the whole area, with stands of trees about a metre high scattered across the slope. Bess called a halt and got down off her horse, examining the plants. ¡°Natural, not Dungeon plants, but some mana¡¯s been used to accelerate growth.¡± Bess patted the ground and continued, ¡°Well done Jessica.¡± Mounting her horse again, the group followed the road and turned off to the market area. Marisol gave the soldiers orders to stay there and stay out of trouble. The Dungeon Evaluation Team started to walk over to the Dungeon entrance, while Bess and Marisol made a slight detour to pass a group of older tribespeople, camped off to the side. Marisol shouted, ¡°Hey, Simon, you old reprobate, they finally let you out of jail?¡± The person Marisol was looking at, a middle-aged tribesperson with greying hair, replied, ¡°Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Fortunately, I was able to prove that I hadn¡¯t been the one that broke into the Sultan¡¯s treasure vault.¡± Bess said, ¡°I wonder why they thought that it had been you?¡± ¡°Yeah, I wonder. Shalby, Marta, let me introduce you to two thoroughly despicable ex-adventurers, who are now thoroughly reprehensible agents of the Kingdom of Surnae. We have Elizabeth Fortique, the Shadow of Death, who now plays at being the Kingdom¡¯s prime assassin, and Marisol Drepport, the Sun Maiden, who plays at being one of the Kingdom¡¯s prime Ambassadors.¡± Marisol bowed to the one on the right, a middle-aged woman wearing a doe-skin dress, saying, ¡°Shalby Forrestwalker. Word of your wisdom and knowledge precedes you. I am honoured to meet you.¡± Turning to the woman on the other side of Simon, she continued, ¡°Marta Foe-reaver, your legendry prowess with the club is only surpassed by your ability to bring peace to the table, usually after knocking the feuding leadership unconscious.¡± Turning to Simon, Marta said, ¡°I think I like her.¡± Simon responded, ¡°Like a cold or constipation, drink a lot of water and give it a couple of days and those feelings should pass by themselves.¡± Snorting, Marta said, ¡°Have you done a run through of the new Dungeon yet?¡± ¡°No, we were planning on doing one tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°Want to do one with me, now?¡± Marisol and Bess looked at each other. Bess shrugged her shoulders and Marisol said, ¡°Why not?¡± Bess said, ¡°We¡¯ll need to get over there then, so we can push in. You two right to go? Got everything?¡± They both agreed. Bess put a hand on each of their shoulders and the three of them appeared in front of the Dungeon Entrance with a ¡®pop¡¯. Marta looked around, and seeing the Overseer, she said, ¡°We¡¯ll be doing the first run this morning, Overseer.¡± Bess said, ¡°There is an official Dungeon Evaluation Team from one of the Adventurers Guilds that will need to go second.¡± She pointed to the team that was just reaching the entrance. ¡°Lotus, give us a moment to change, we¡¯ll be doing a run before you. We¡¯ll see you in the Dungeon Core room. Ladies, shall we?¡± The three of them advanced to the entrance and the massive gates swung open, admitting them. The Evaluation Team moved in front of the Overseer and Jackson said, ¡°Overseer. You are organising your people¡¯s runs today?¡± With a smile on his face, he replied, ¡°I think ¡®organise¡¯ is a bit strong of a word for what I¡¯ll be doing. When do you think the next teams will be able to enter?¡± Lotus said, ¡°Our understanding is that the Dungeon still only has a single level but does have three instances. May I ask who the tribesperson with Sun Maiden and Shadow of Death was?¡± The overseer¡¯s eyes widened a little at the names. ¡°Well, that explains things. That was She Who Crushes Bones, Marta Foe-reaver.¡± The Overseer and Lotus locked eyes and both start laughing. ¡°Give them a couple of hours. We expect to be done within four hours. As we¡¯ll all be talking to the Core, the instances will free up before we exit.¡± ¡°Thankyou.¡± The Overseer looked out over the teams assembled before the Dungeon. ¡°We now know that this Dungeon has a single level and three instances. The Monsters are supposed to be from level one to level three. The official Evaluation Team are just now entering the Dungeon, so we do not have an official rating for this Dungeon yet, so be careful. Also, be respectful to the Dungeon. The first team can go now, the next team should get themselves ready. ¡°We will have a Cryer in the entry room who will announce when the waiting team enters the Dungeon.¡± Collecting two of his assistants, The Overseer went through the gates of the Dungeon, followed by the first two Delving Teams. He entered the preparation room to one of the strangest sights he¡¯d ever seen. There stood three middle-aged warriors chatting to a Dungeon Fairy. The five-member evaluation team stood nearby. From his spatial storage, he pulled out chairs and a low table for his staff, then wandered over to the group. Marta saw him and waved him over. ¡°Fancy is the Dungeon Assistant for this Dungeon. The Dungeon Core¡¯s name is Jessica. Fancy, this is Johnathon Moon-claw, the appointed Overseer of the tribespeople for this week¡¯s festivities.¡± ¡°It is an honour to meet you, Fancy. Are we allowed to know anything about the Core?¡± Fancy looked at Bess and Bess shrugged. ¡°The basic information is pretty well known by now, or at least will be within the next couple of weeks.¡± Fancy looked at The Overseer and said, ¡°About a week ago, the eldest three children of the King and Queen of Surnae were kidnapped and changed into Dungeon Cores a few days before their thirteenth birthdays. All three Cores have established their Dungeons about fifteen kilometres from each other, with the other two northeast and northwest from here. This Dungeon is Jessica Fortier. We have already defeated a Dungeon Raider group.¡± Fancy pointed over to one of the walls. Carved into the top of the wall was the message ¡®People seeking to harm the Dungeon will be dealt with without mercy.¡¯ In the first column under the sign were three panels. The first panel depicted a male figure impaled on what looked like a stalactite. The second, a male figure floating lifeless. The last panel showed a half-eaten skull, with a medium sized centipede crawling out of its eye socket. ¡°So, I can confirm, only one level of Dungeon, monsters are all between level one and three?¡± ¡°Today, yes, that¡¯s true. I think Jessica is planning to start on her second level tomorrow, but with everything else happening, it will probably be weeks before that¡¯s ready. Wait, no, the monsters are from level 1 to level 3.¡± ¡°What did I say?¡± ¡°Between level one and three, which would mean that they are all level 2 only.¡± The Overseer was going to complain about the pedanticism, but then realised that there can¡¯t be misunderstandings in these situations. Bess said, ¡°Right, Ladies, let¡¯s go! Remember, every use of active magic is a penalty, and every penalty is a gift owed to the Dungeon!¡± The three of them hooted and hollered and ran into the portal and the gem for Level 1, Instance 1, went red. Fancy said, ¡°Ablution Block through that door, there will be another couple installed outside tonight. Maybe even some food stalls.¡± The Overseer said, ¡°Could we get something to monitor the teams?¡± Fancy looked at the teams waiting to run the Dungeon and said, ¡°No. It would give the following teams too much of an advantage.¡± ¡°What about after today, and if we promise it will just be used by the monitors?¡± ¡°Hmm. I will ask the Dungeon, it will be her call.¡± She disappeared with a ¡®pop¡¯. The Evaluation Team stepped up next. After a final check of their gear, they carefully moved through the portal and the gem for Level 1, Instance 2 went red. The first of the tribespeople teams stepped up, again, checked their gear, then went through the portal and the light for Level 1, Instance 3 went red. ¡°Right, let¡¯s go!¡± said the obvious leader of the next team. ¡°Sire, it¡¯s no use. We will not be allowed into the Dungeon until one of those three other teams have exited.¡± ¡°What, I have to wait on those three teams of losers? Stupid Dungeon, not realising who I am.¡± The Overseer raised an eyebrow to one of the members of that team. This obviously soldier type, shook his head. Not worth the argument. The Overseer recognised the lad, the oldest son of an influential clan leader. He¡¯d been mollycoddled and spoilt his whole life. This maybe the first time that the lad is in a situation where it can¡¯t be rigged or bought. Even with everyone else in his team at least two levels higher than him, there would be a good chance that he won¡¯t survive. Fancy went over to the food carts that Jessica had installed in the Core Room as a test. She gave the goblin a silver piece and received a huge mug full of popped corn kernels, flavoured with butter and salt. Another silver piece got her a mug of brewed lemonade from one of the other stands. She levitated them back to her table, as both were bigger than she was. Settling in, she said, ¡°Oh, this is going to be fun. 12 – Speed Run Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 The three ladies appeared in the cave, before the first dungeon room. Looking at the veil of water and the lit room beyond, Marisol extinguished the little dancing light that she had conjured just behind her shoulder. Marta looked at Marisol with an obvious question on her face. ¡°I want to see what Jessica¡¯s done with the lighting.¡± Marta nodded and looked at Bess. ¡°Will we give honour to the Dungeon?¡± Bess and Marisol looked at each other and nodded. The three of them lined up and beat their chests with their fist and repeated, ¡°We honour the Dungeon!¡± ¡°Ready? Speed run?¡± Bess¡¯s grin was all the answer she needed. Marta loosened the club in its holder and broke into a trot, passing through the curtain of water. Bess indicated to Marisol to go next, and she followed as rearguard. The three quickly discovered the Goblins and just as quickly dispatched them all. Looking at the mushroom forest and then each other, Bess said, ¡°Yes, we should harvest anything that we see as useful. It¡¯ll help Jessica get a better feel for required mana levels to renew an instance.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Plus, I see some of my favourite mushrooms here, and I do enjoy cooking a meal when I have the time.¡± It took the three of them less than a quarter hour to harvest nearly every mushroom that was there. The only ones left were a couple of varieties that, while edible, just weren¡¯t nice to eat. The giant spiders in the next room were also quickly dispatched. The three of them got halfway through the third room, just in front of the next mushroom forest when Bess said, ¡°Now that¡¯s a nice touch.¡± Marisol and Marta looked again at the forest and then spotted the mushroom warriors hiding. Marta said, ¡°So, relax the Delvers by having the first forest unguarded, then put the mushroom warriors in amongst this forest to catch them unawares. I bet most low-grade teams will have split up to harvest and any guards will be back here, outside the forest.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Again, Bess patted the ground and continued, ¡°Well done!¡± Another quarter hour and this forest was harvested as well. At the back of the forest was a short cave with a sign at the back, ¡°Reserved for future expansion¡±. Bess said, ¡°Why here?¡± Marisol replied, ¡°Multiple paths?¡± Bess shrugged, and said, ¡°We¡¯ll find out eventually. Shame Jessica¡¯s no longer ticklish. I used to be able to get most of her secrets through tickling. Jessica¡¯s crystal went slightly pink at this revelation. Fancy hid a smirk. Arriving in the fourth room, the three quickly spotted the dangling threads. Marisol asked, ¡°What are these?¡± Bess said, ¡°No idea.¡± As she was able to see into the infra-red, Bess said, ¡°But they seem to be attached to a monster on the ceiling. About a metre long.¡± Marta said, ¡°Bess, can you put a couple of daggers into the monster? Call out as you throw them. I think I know what these are.¡± Bess shrugged, said, ¡°Knives away¡± and threw two of her throwing knives. Marta grabbed the thread in a spot with no glistening drops and gave a violent tug. The dead monster fell with a crash. Still holding the thread, Marta said, ¡°Thought so. There¡¯s a tiny insect found deep in caves around here. They build a silken nest on the ceiling and then let down threads. The threads have drops of a glue and a poison on them. Another insect blunders into the thread, gets stuck and poisoned and the insect reals their prey in and sucks them dry.¡± Bess, examining the thread, said, ¡°So the slightly greenish drops are the poison, and the slightly grey looking drops are a contact adhesive? Also, the thread looks really strong.¡± She got out two sample jars and quickly filled one up with the venom and the other with the glue. Wrapping some of the thread around a rock, she slipped it into a bag which she added to her spatial bag. Meanwhile, Marisol was examining the monster. She pulled out a little magical stove, put a flat grill plate on top and turned it on. Cutting out some of the meat, she put some butter, salt, pepper and squeezed in some lemon juice. She crushed some cloves of garlic and added them into the sauce. She dipped the pieces in the mixture and threw it on the grill. She put some diced mushrooms from the previous rooms on the grill as well, pouring some of the lemon butter mixture on it. A minute or two later, she flipped it and poured a little more butter mixture over the top and finished cooking it. After it was cooked, she took it off the grill and put it on a plate. She let it cool, then nibbled on the cooked monster. ¡°Oh, Gods!¡± She waved Bess and Marta over and got them to try it as well. A half-hour later, they reluctantly put everything away. In a veritable frenzy of killing, the three harvested every Dungeon Fisher in the room and moved on. Marisol said, ¡°I¡¯m putting a request in at the Adventure¡¯s Guild when it¡¯s running for any and all Dungeon Fisher carcases. I know what I¡¯ll be eating for the next few months.¡± Bess walked up to hidden door and, after a moment, had it open. Looking into the next room, she motioned for the others to stay behind her. ¡°Pit trap.¡± Pulling out a three-metre pole from her storage, she tapped it a few times until she got it to trigger. ¡°OK, three-metre-deep pit with sharpened stakes. We haven¡¯t seen anything other than pit traps yet, have we?¡± ¡°Now, Bess. This is the first level of the Dungeon. You know she has to keep it simple.¡± Bess mumbled a ¡°Maybe¡±, as she walked off. The three of them turned the next corner and stopped. Marta said, ¡°Beautiful!¡± The large cavern sparkled with limestone cave formations. Columns, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, straws, and more, made a winter wonderland. In the mid-point of the cavern, a wild-looking ¡®natural¡¯ chandelier hung with the constant drip of water from it to a medium sized pool directly below it. Spotting the giant frogs, Marisol shouted, ¡°My turn!¡± and jumped into the pool. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Giant frogs started to leave the water in a perfect arc to land, dead, at Bess and Marta¡¯s feet. Shortly after, Marisol walked out of the pool. A shimmer of magic and she stood there, clean, and dry. A quick check proved that there wasn¡¯t anything worth harvesting, so Marta just looted the frogs. They left the pool and started walking towards the exit, walking alongside a series of rimstone pools. The next room was quite similar, except populated by giant millipedes. Most disturbingly, Bess kept saying, ¡°Who¡¯s a cute, little, millipede¡± as she sliced their heads off. Bess said, ¡°Just loot one and make sure that a vial of venom drops.¡± Marta looted one and confirmed that a vial of poison was in the drop. Bess continued, ¡°Fine, that¡¯s the only thing worthwhile. The shell from larger ones can be used to make armour but shells this small aren¡¯t thick enough.¡± The kobolds in the next room were killed and looted. Bess walked over to the hidden door and paused. ¡°There¡¯s a secret door here, do we spring it now or later?¡± Marta said, ¡°Let¡¯s check the next room and if things go any further, we¡¯ll come back here first.¡± Marisol and Bess nodded in agreement. Going into the next room, they found no treasure or monsters. Searching the tunnel opposite the entrance, they found a pit trap and another sign, ¡°Reserved for future expansion¡±. Going back through the room, Bess knelt and touched the Floor. ¡°Jessica, just a comment that some parties might be annoyed that the only thing in the room is a trap that¡¯s sort of out of the room.¡± As they exited the room, they saw Fancy sitting on a pillar of rock. ¡°Enjoying the Dungeon so far?¡± Marta said, ¡°Yes. It will be good for the younger ones and is filled with wonder. I might just stay in the area to try the new levels out as they are completed. Those cave fisher things were absolutely delicious.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Gorgeous, and a good, smart layout.¡± Bess, pointing to Marta and Marisol, said, ¡°I agree, but I bet the two of them change their tune when they reach the last two rooms.¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re ahead of the Evaluation Team by a fair margin, but since you¡¯re not sketching and doing notes it¡¯s to be expected. Jessica asks that you have another quick look at the last room and see if you think it¡¯s better. We both missed what you pointed out and the automatic checks missed it because of the pit trap. See you soon.¡± The three went back into the previous room and everything looked the same. A quick search for hidden items showed a concealed stone flap that opened to reveal a small, wooden chest. Checking it for traps, they laughed. ¡°Jessica¡¯s a smart girl. Opening the chest doesn¡¯t trip anything, but removing the chest from its little hole triggers a poisoned needle trap.¡± Marta and Marisol nodded in agreement. ¡°There¡¯s a second little something over here. This is a lot better concealed.¡± The three of them inspected a concealed panel on the wall opposite and, when ready, flipped it open. Laying on the rock shelf behind the panel were three silver coins. Behind the coins, on the wall, were three slots, each about the same size as a coin. Above the first was an image of a cup full of some sort of food. Above the second was a cup filled with some kind of fluid, and above the third was a water skin. Shrugging, Bess picked up one of the coins and examined it. ¡°Seems like a normal dungeon coin. Give it a try?¡± The others nodded. She put the coin into the first slot and a side panel opened, revealing a tankard, filled to overflowing with popped corn kernels. With no signs of traps, she grabbed the tankard and tried one of the kernels. ¡°Oh, Gods, she¡¯s nailed it. It¡¯s even still warm.¡± The other two tried it. ¡°Good.¡± Bess nodded towards the panel. Marisol took a silver coin out of her coin purse and put it in the second slot. Another side panel opened, this one containing a tankard full of a slightly yellow liquid. Marisol checked for traps, then took the tankard and gave it an appreciative sniff. ¡°Brewed lemonade.¡± Marisol sipped and said, ¡°Mmm, chilled.¡± It too got passed around. Marta went up next and took the last coins and put one into the last slot. A final panel opened, revealing a high-quality water skin. Marta examined it, opened the stopper, and allowed a drop to touch her tongue. ¡°Good quality, fresh water, certainly worth a silver piece.¡± Bess pulled another silver piece out of her coin purse and dropped it into the drink slot. Nothing happened, except the coin disappearing. Bess snorted and said, ¡°Good one, Jessica, I approve.¡± They turned and exited the room again. Going over to the secret door, they quickly opened it and proceeded through. After spending a few minutes searching, the room seemed empty. Bess closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them, pointing to the pool. ¡°There¡¯s something hidden at the bottom of the pool.¡± She walked into the pool, searched around in the middle and came up with a small, wooden chest. Walking out of the water, she shook, and all the water flew off her. Marisol gave Bess a dirty look, then cast her clean spell on herself again, having caught a fair bit of the splash. Marta just looked smug, as her clothes had simply repelled the water. Bess checked the chest for traps and then opened it. ¡°Twelve copper and one silver coin, a good haul for a level 1 dungeon.¡± The others nodded. Walking into the next room, Bess spotted a single, copper coin, on the ground to the right of the path. ¡°Now, why are you just sitting there, little coin?¡± Not getting too close, Bess examined the coin. ¡°No traps, but there¡¯s something off. My danger sense is not happy.¡± Marty said, ¡°Look directly above the coin.¡± ¡°So, a stalactite. Something trips and the stalactite drops?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not a stalactite. If you look carefully, there are small heat signatures on it. Move and I will show you.¡± Bess backed away and Marty unslung her huge club. She stepped forward to where the coin was and got ready to use her club. The stalactite monster dropped and was met with the club. There was a sickening ¡®crunch¡¯ and the now deformed monster collapsed to the side. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen these in years. You can dissect them and collect the eyes. They can be used in some potions, but it¡¯s just not worth the time and effort.¡± With a grin, Marta said, ¡°I¡¯ll take the lead.¡± Over the next ten minutes, Marta used her club to demolish each of the monsters. There were some larger ones, which you could tell by the bronze coin on the ground instead of a copper one. All that was now left was one, last, silver coin. Marta hesitated, not sure if she would hurt herself with this one. ¡°The bronze-coin ones were doable, but I¡¯m not sure about this one. It looks to be three or four times the size.¡± Bess said, ¡°Well what if I trigger it, then step away. If you look to be struggling, we¡¯ll help.¡± The three of them stood in a ring around the shiny, silver coin. Bess stepped in, paused, then stepped out. The huge stalactite monster landed just where they expected. Marta had to hit the thing twice before it was dead. Marta said, ¡°That was fun.¡± The three women stood at the entrance to the second last room. Marisol looked across the room filled with mud, swamp, slime and stench and said, ¡°No. Not going to happen.¡± ¡°Going to pay the penalty, then?¡± ¡°Yes, Bess, I¡¯m happily going to pay the penalty.¡± Marisol cast a spell over the room and all of the water dried up. The mud became solid, the slime dried out and the leeches died. ¡°Wow, that was a lot of leeches.¡± Bess said, ¡°Well that just leaves the mosquitoes.¡± A swarm of mosquitoes, looking a little annoyed, were flying straight for them. Marisol cast another spell and a rolling storm of heat went out from her. As it reached each mosquito, it burst into flame. ¡°Well, going to collect the monsters?¡± Marisol looked at Bess and said, ¡°No. It you want them, feel free to collect them.¡± Bess looked at Marta and Marta said, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go halves with you.¡± Bess cast a spell and a pile of monster carcases piled up in front of them. Marisol looked a little embarrassed and said, ¡°I forgot you could do that. But it still counts as a spell, so it goes on your tally.¡± Bess shrugged. They quickly looted the monster carcases, then walked across the now dry mud to the exit from the room. ¡°Seriously? Another mud room?¡± Bess said, ¡°You know in some health spas you actually have to pay to get mud on your skin?¡± Marta looked sceptical. Bess continued, ¡°Really, it is. It¡¯s based on two principles. Firstly, good, pure, fine clay, if left on the skin for a half hour or so, will help to clean out the skin pores, revitalising the skin and helping to maintain good skin condition. The second principle is that a fool and their money are easily separated.¡± Laughing, Bess stepped of the entrance shelf and started walking across the top of the mud. She occasionally dipped one of her daggers into the mud and pulled out a leech, which she looted and continued. Marta shrugged and dove into the mud, forcing her way through, following Bess. Bess noticed and slowed down to a pace easier for Marta. Marisol looked out across the room and noted that there was a series of higher mounds. She summoned a fiery chariot, pulled by two fiery steeds, and trotted off straight to the first raised area. The mosquitoes seemed to be attracted to the fiery steeds and died when they touched them. Marisol collected the dead she could and looted them as she went. Bess picked up the few that Marisol missed and arrived to find Marisol squatting on the mound. ¡°It¡¯s trapped and it¡¯s got some treasure.¡± The trap was another poisoned needle, this one in the lock itself. Inside the small chest was twelve copper coins, two bronze coins and single silver coin. There were another five islands, two of them also had treasure. The first had a small fire trap and the second had another poisoned needle. Both had about the same amount of treasure. ¡°I never noticed if there were mounds in the previous room.¡± Bess thought for a moment, then replied to Marisol. ¡°Yes, I think there was. We¡¯re slipping.¡± Arriving at the last island, Bess said, ¡°We¡¯ll just wait here for Fancy, this is the end.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that for, then?¡± Turning around, Bess and Marisol see a large chest sitting in the middle of the island. Marisol said, ¡°That wasn¡¯t there before.¡± With a laugh, Marta said, ¡°No. It rose up out of the ground while you were looking elsewhere.¡± Bess said, ¡°No traps,¡± and opened it. On the inside of the lid where the standard pictograms explaining what a teleport token was and how to use it. They each reached into the chest and touched the teleport icon. An item was added to their character sheet, under the heading ¡°Jungle Rocks Teleport Tokens¡±. A pop behind them announced the arrival of Fancy. Bess asked Marta, ¡°Do you want to stay?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Fancy said, ¡°I¡¯ll just get Jessica to open a portal.¡± A portal appeared next to Fancy, and the four ladies went through, after Marisol dismissed the fiery chariot that she¡¯d been riding in. 13 – Jessica’s Dungeon Inspection Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 Merry appeared in the corridor first. She moved forward, sword at the ready. Next was Mercury, then Jackson, followed by Lotus, with Antonio bringing up the rear. Lotus said, ¡°Scribe spell running,¡± and triggered the spell. This would create an automatic recording of everything the party said onto a thin sheet of copper. A roll of copper would record for about two hours before needing to have the roll replaced. Jackson usually carried the roll, so he started to describe the tunnel they were in and the entrance in front of them. ¡°Good use of local resources, has installed a curtain of water over the entrance to encourage reliance on local illumination. Entrance area is not trapped. Theme seems to be ¡®limestone cave¡¯ and there is good attention to detail.¡± They all gave their initial impressions, then proceeded into the first room. ¡°Irregularly shaped room with small stream of water going from entrance to exit. Single exit with no visible barriers. ¡°Camp with goblins in far-left corner of the room, past a mushroom forest, also on left.¡± The team quickly dispatched the goblins, then continued their delve. ¡°Each of five goblins was a level 0.5 monster, having a drop of 1 copper piece. A treasure of six copper coins was found in the goblin camp.¡± Jessica was watching the group, hoping to get a better understanding of how evaluation teams worked. Fancy was torn between watching the girl¡¯s speed run and the first evaluation run she had ever witnessed. The team took about half an hour to harvest the complete forest and document the type and quantity of fungi. Lotus said, ¡°Good first room, grade 1 dungeon, no special features, low treasure, but excellent harvestable resources. Difficulty set for a standard five-person team.¡± Jessica said, ¡°Is that OK? Fancy simply gave her a thumbs up. The Evaluation Team spent another ten minutes searching the room, then continued. Jackson again picked up the commentary. ¡°Room number two, seventy metres long, left arc, starting at less than five metres wide and ending at about twenty metres. Twenty- to thirty-metre-tall ceilings, with many stalactites and stalagmites. Small stream winding along the bottom of the cave.¡± Lotus added, ¡°Multiple standard Dungeon Spiders on ceiling.¡± They walked into the room and watched what happened. ¡°Spiders do not drop on Delvers but do drop after them and follow. Three spiders in total. ¡°More spiders past middle of room, also traps on the floor just at this second group. Look to be standard ¡®lilia¡¯ traps. An additional five spiders in this group.¡± Lotus said, ¡°Rear spiders are advancing to attack.¡± A few minutes later, all but one of the spiders were dead. The last one was being held by Mercury so Jackson could kill it and quickly extract the venom gland. The other spiders were looted, and they got two copper pieces from each spider and two vials of venom across the other seven spiders. Mercury said, ¡°Wait a second.¡± Using one of his talents, he scaled the cave wall and searched in one of the spider nests, extracting a small potion bottle. He also took a sample of the spider silk. Once he was back on the ground, he gave the potion to Lotus. Lotus said, ¡°Good second room, grade 1 dungeon, presence of venomous monsters, good treasure, hidden low-grade cure poison potion in spider nest on ceiling. Difficulty level two for a standard five-person team.¡± Fancy nodded and gave Jessica another thumbs up. The third room went similar, with the Evaluation Team spotting the Mobile Mushroom Warriors and again, harvesting the whole mushroom forest. Lotus said, ¡°Good third room. Monsters attacking from surprise. Good escalation of difficulty, with this room having six, level one monsters. Treasure low, but excellent harvestable resources. Difficulty level three for a standard five-person team.¡± After the girl¡¯s run, Jessica had changed the drop tables in room four to include some of the Dungeon Fisher meat. So, when the Evaluation Team cleared this room, they got a bronze coin and a serving of meat from each of the monsters. They saved one whole monster for later evaluation and harvested some monster silk and the poison and adhesive for evaluation. Merry looked at the monster meat and said, ¡°Sort of looks and feels like lobster.¡± Mercury said, ¡°Remember those lobster rolls we got in Port Merrico?¡± Merry and Mercury shared a look. They were going to explore this drop in more detail later. Lotus said, ¡°Good forth room. Monsters attacking from surprise. Good escalation of difficulty, with this room having twelve, level two monsters, but the monsters are static. Treasure medium, including possible food drop, possible harvestable resources. Difficulty level three for a standard five-person team.¡± Mercury pointed out the hidden door and they continued. The trap was spotted and then the group were stopped in their tracks when they saw the next room. The beauty of the limestone formations and grandeur of the chandelier over the pool was awe-inspiring. Lotus mumbled, ¡°Well, that¡¯s a +1 on the environment rating.¡± The eight, level 1 giant frogs were quickly dispatched, as was the four, level 2 millipedes and the ten level 1 kobolds. The arrow trap nearly caught Lotus, with Merry lunging and protecting her with her shield when Lotus felt the pressure plate and Merry heard the ¡®click¡¯. Lotus and mercury examined the trap, deciding that it wasn¡¯t particularly dangerous or advanced, just well hidden. It was towards the end of a patch of loose gravel on the ground, so Lotus didn¡¯t pick up the pressure plate movement until it was too late. Moving on to room 8, they quickly found the two concealed spots. The small chest in the one next to the lake, was checked, disarmed and opened. The one opposite was approached a lot more carefully. They followed a similar pattern to the three girls, with Mercury and Merry loving the popped corn kernels. Lotus said, ¡°You DID check for poisons and enchantments before sampling, didn¡¯t you.¡± A look of horror crossed Mercury¡¯s face and Merry collapsed to the ground. Jackson rushed over and went to cast a diagnostic spell, when Merry opened her eyes and winked at Jackson. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about Mercury, but I did.¡± With a laugh, Jackson helped her up and she grabbed another handful of the corn. Mercury gave her a disgruntled look. Returning to room 7, they took the secret exit. After ten minutes, they agreed that there was nothing in the room except for a chest hidden at the bottom of the pool. They harvested the chest, noting the poison needle trap and rewards. Noting that the girls were just finishing the final room, Fancy said, ¡°I¡¯ll go collect the girls. You understand how to create a portal with delvers present?¡± ¡°Yep, too easy.¡± ¡°Oh, forgot to ask, how many DPs are we reaping with all these high level parties delving?¡± ¡°A bit over twenty each from the girls and the evaluation team, and about 1 and a half from our first real delve team. The three together come in at just shy of 50 DP per hour.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty good. You¡¯ve actually levelled up a lot more than a normal Core would at this point, so it will probably be a little slow until things balance out.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. A moment later, fancy returned with the three girls. After getting hugs from Bess and Marisol, Jessica and Fancy were introduced to Marta. ¡°Jessica, Fancy, this is Marta, one of the tribal elders. ¡°Good to meet you¡±, they both said. Bess commented, ¡°So, you can speak now?¡± Jessica replied, ¡°Sort of. This last level allowed me to enchant my pedestal so I can speak from it. I can also speak from an identical pedestal I have in the Entrance room. Do you like our new assistants?¡± Bess said, ¡°The very nervous goblin, trying to hide in the corner?¡± Jessica continued, ¡°We had a tribe of Goblins approach us last night, offering to become Dungeon Servants. We¡¯re housing and feeding them while negotiating the contracts.¡± Bess looked a little concerned, ¡°For free?¡± Jessica responded, ¡°Oh, yes! By this stage the rest of the tribe would rebel if I said I would kick them out because of their leader. Who would have thought that offering decent food and accommodation would sway the whole tribe to my side?¡± Marisol looked at Bess and said, ¡°She takes after her grandmother.¡± Bess snorted. ¡°Gradma May? Wow.¡± She mentally said to Fancy, *Queen May was renowned for her negotiation skills.* *Yes, I did a research paper on her. High praise indeed, but I admit I¡¯m impressed with how you¡¯ve handled yourself so far.* Jessica¡¯s crystal turned a little pink. Pointing to the set up in the corner, Fancy said, ¡°This is the prototype for what we¡¯ll be doing in the Dungeon and also that court area near the entrance.¡± Bess squee¡¯d and rushed over to the food dispensing magical device in the Core room corner. ¡°So, the options are, those popped corn kernels, the drink is the brewed lemonade again?¡± Fancy said, ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the extra two?¡± Fancy nodded to the Goblin, who nervously stepped up and said, ¡°Honoured Miss dress, this one would honoured be to answer.¡± Pointing to the first icon for food, he continued, First Day of the Meal is Ro-ast chookin, while the second one is veg-table soap. All are one silver piece each.¡± Fancy added, ¡°As part of the contract, we¡¯ll be working on language and numeracy skills.¡± Bess nodded and put down some silver coins. ¡°Three drinks, three corn and one of each of the meals.¡± The Goblin looked to Fancy, who nodded. Fancy set up a couple of tables and chairs in front of the viewing crystals, and they all sat down to watch the fun. Moving on to room 10, Merry noted the monsters on the roof. Lotus said, ¡°Look to be standard Stalactite Monsters, should be some bait directly under them, usually a coin.¡± The eleven monsters were quickly dispatched. Lotus continued, ¡°First level three monster, but we are ten rooms in. I think the difficulty should stay at A-3. Thoughts?¡± The rest agreed that this was a slow enough progression for a starting Adventurer team. Jessica said, ¡°A-3?¡± Fancy replied, ¡°Beginner Dungeon, level 3. That was what I was hoping us to be. Just dangerous enough to attract reasonably competent new Adventurers. Then, if we do it right, level 2 can be about an A-6, with level 3 either A-10 or B-1.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that going to affect my big, combined, 3-level floor?¡± ¡°Maybe just do a basic next level, then combine levels 3,4 and 5, using difficulty B-1, B-5 and B-10? You miss out on using a couple of things that you get and Dungeon level 5, but I think you will be fine delaying them to level 6.¡± ¡°Things?¡± ¡°Access to more environmental stuff.¡± ¡°OK, I¡¯ll think about it. The other thing I could do is just have a 2-level combination next.¡± ¡°That would work, though my recommendation is to stick with three.¡± Marta asked, ¡°You going to do a combined floor?¡± ¡°Yes, I wanted to do a non-linear, set of three interwoven floors. The discussion is about do we do it for floors 2,3 and 4 or wait one additional floor. With the former, the floors would be split between dungeon difficulty 1 and 2, while the later would be all difficulty 2.¡± Marta asked, ¡°What¡¯s non-linear?¡± Marisol answered, ¡°You are open to make your own path. You basically wander across the three levels until you¡¯re ready to move on. There will be more than one way to finish the floors and more than one connection between the floors.¡± Marta thought for a moment, then continued. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever been in a dungeon like that.¡± Bess said, ¡°They¡¯re not that common. Mainly because they¡¯re a lot more work to build and plan, plus they tend to not let the Core grow quite as fast.¡± Looking at Jessica, Marta said, ¡°Then why would you want to do it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s more of a challenge, it¡¯s more interesting, and I expect that long term, the difference in growth won¡¯t be that much, as many teams will want to challenge a level many times, to try different strategies, plus with three levels, the likelihood of teams camping overnight are better.¡± Fancy added, ¡°Plus, it¡¯s not much of a risk. Even if it does take a little longer to grow, Jessica¡¯s not really in a hurry. She has centuries to grow her Dungeon into whatever she envisions for it.¡± Lotus and her team stood at the entrance to room 11 with a look of profound disgust on their faces. With a sigh, the whole team allowed themselves to sink into the mud. Mercury whined, ¡°Why mud? Why do Dungeons insist on the stuff?¡± The rest of the team just smiled at Mercury as Lotus said, ¡°Because the Surnae Guildmaster has an automatic message sent to all new Dungeons when you will be on the evaluation team, requesting at least one mud room because you¡¯re so infatuated with them. Therefore, WE have to put up with this room because YOU are on the evaluation. Notice when we give him our report how he will ask you specifically how you ranked the last room.¡± Merry and Antonio, both gave Lotus a smirk, knowing that the Guildmaster always asks the scout what they thought of the boss room, as it was one of the checks he always did. Jackson said, ¡°There are multiple lifeforms in the mud, some seem to be heading our way. Plus there are a lot in the air, all of which are heading our way.¡± Mercury pointed at one of the approaching mosquitoes, saying, ¡°Well there¡¯s the air troops, giant mosquitoes.¡± Lotus looked around and said, ¡°Head to that patch of high ground and we¡¯ll whittle down the opposition.¡± It took them about ten minutes to kill all fifteen mosquitoes, but during the fight, both Merry and Antonio noticed that they started to feel weak. Jackson cast a diagnostic spell on them and then had them both take off their armour, while the others stood guard. Jackson cast a specialised healing spell and then searched their clothes, finding five dead leeches. ¡°Yep, Giant Leeches,¡± Jackson said, holding the quarter-metre long specimen between his two gloved hands. ¡°The saliva has an anti-coagulant to keep the blood flowing and their skin has a contact poison that deadens the area, so you don¡¯t notice them in your clothes.¡± He cast another spell and stepped into the mud, quickly flicking two live leeches onto the dry ground. ¡°Looks like there are about a total of fifteen.¡± Lotus replied, ¡°So, about the same as the number of mosquitoes. They¡¯re all level 1 monsters.¡± Merry commented, ¡°Unusual for a final room monster, but not unique.¡± Lotus said, ¡°Remember, we¡¯re in the second last room, though.¡± Merry screwed her face up, ¡°What¡¯s the odds the last room¡¯s going to be more of the same. Maybe with an added surprise?¡± They all nodded agreement. Lotus said, ¡°Right, how¡¯re we going to handle this?¡± They threw some ideas into the pot, while Jackson changed the scribe roll. Mercury got up and went over to near the centre of the mound. ¡°We¡¯ve got a hidden chest here.¡± Lotus looked around the room and spotted a series of these mounds going from the entrance to the exit of the room, but in a wandering path. ¡°Jackson, will it be a better use of your mana to clean everybody at each isle, or for you to maintain detect life as we go?¡± ¡°Detect life is more efficient.¡± ¡°Mercury, is the chest trapped?¡± ¡°Yes. This is a fire trap, set to go off when the chest is picked up.¡± ¡°Right, the trap is now disabled. The chest contains eleven copper coins, three bronze and one silver.¡± The team worked their way across the room, hopping from island to island, using Detect Life to find the leeches as they approached. During the final room, the pair of crocodiles attacked the Evaluation team, trying to force them back into the quicksand trap. Bess said, ¡°Why didn¡¯t we get any of those to play with?¡± Fancy commented, ¡°They only attack if the group has five or more members.¡± Bess thought for a moment, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to base that on party levels rather than numbers?¡± Fancy looked across to Jesica¡¯s Core and said, ¡°Possibly?¡± Jessica said, ¡°I can do that? Wait a minute.¡± ¡°OK, didn¡¯t see that option. Yes, that would make more sense. Maybe above five levels? So, a full party of level 1 delvers wouldn¡¯t trigger them?¡± Everyone agreed that would be good. ¡°OK, I¡¯ve set up that change.¡± Fancy went to greet the Evaluation Team and Jessica set up another portal. With the additional five people, the Core Room was starting to feel a little crowded. Lotus started, ¡°Thank you Jessica for cooperating with us for this evaluation. I would like to start by saying we¡¯ve all enjoyed your Dungeon and are looking forward to later levels.¡± They then asked a series of questions, some technical, like were traps fixed or random, what changes had she decided to make based on these first few Delves, and what were her general plans. Lastly, they asked some questions around the attack by the Dungeon Raiders and Mercury asked, ¡°I do not want to know the specifics, but I would like to confirm that you made your Dungeon harder during the attack?¡± Fancy handled that, saying, ¡°Yes, significantly so.¡± Lotus answered, ¡°Great. Well, that is your evaluation handled, we will be giving you a rating of A-3+ for your first level, congratulations. We will be staying in the area for the next year or so, as we will be doing your siblings first evaluations and setting up a new Guild Hall. Would you mind if we stayed a little longer? It would be helpful to watch the first couple of regular teams go through your Dungeon.¡± Merry continued, ¡°Helpful for us, that is. It just helps us remember what it is like for beginner teams.¡± Jessica thought about it for a moment, then agreed. She mentally said to Fancy, *What¡¯s the ¡®+¡¯ for?* Fancy responded, *Just means the level gets harder, the further you go. It¡¯s the perfect rating for the first level of a new dungeon.* Jessica said out loud, ¡°By the way, Merry, I was impressed with your acting skills over the popped corn kernels.¡± She replayed the scene for those who were not there. Marta said, ¡°I may have a problem.¡± Fancy fluttered over to look at the crystal Marta had been watching. ¡°Is there an issue?¡± Marta shook her head and said, ¡°Not with you or your Dungeon, Jessica and Fancy. I¡¯ve been thoroughly entertained and amazed by your Dungeon. I too, am looking forward to your other levels. No, my problem is political and centres around that group of delvers there.¡± Marisol came over and said, ¡°That man looks a lot like Fangslayer. Is it one of his welps?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m assuming, Jessica, that you haven¡¯t had any deaths in your Dungeon, except for the Raiders?¡± Fancy took the answer, ¡°That is correct.¡± ¡°I think you may get at least one from this group. It¡¯s the group that just started when Bess, Marisol and I finished. You¡¯re respawn rate is about a quarter hour?¡± Again, Fancy answered, ¡°the first one was about an hour, until I got the hang of what was happening. Going forward, that seems about correct, well, certainly under a half hour.¡± Marisol continued, ¡°Well, Sarchan is as obnoxious an individual as I expected, but a significantly worse leader then I expected.¡± Fancy, the hesitancy and worry in her voice evident, said, ¡°Are you asking us to do something?¡± ¡°Oh, no! I would never. The unspoken contract with a Dungeon is that anyone silly enough to enter one is silly enough to die. The problems are mine.¡± Fancy relaxed. ¡°Thank you for understanding, not everyone will.¡± Marta nodded and continued to watch the unfolding drama. Mercury walked over. Pointing to one of the teams currently delving, he said, ¡°I was chatting to them, they seemed quite nice.¡± ¡°Oh, no, the third group of Delvers are fine. They¡¯re all children of chiefs or senior leadership and are going well. I¡¯d expect them to give up soon, though. This is the fourth group and the sole problem is Sarchan Fangslayer, the eldest son of the leader of the Wolf Clan.¡± Matra pointing to the crystal display of the last delve team to enter the Dungeon. Lotus asked, ¡°I did not ask, but are you the sort of Dungeon that will not attack groups leaving, or are you in the ¡®silly enough to leave enemies behind you, silly enough to die¡¯, camp?¡± *Thoughts, Fancy?* *It¡¯s up to you. How do you feel about it?* *Quite liking my role in improving the average intelligence of the sapient races by weeding out the chronically stupid.* *Sounds good.* ¡°We hadn¡¯t really talked about it, but I¡¯m fine with removing the truly stupid from the ranks of Delvers, so if they leave enemies behind them, those will attack as the Delvers leave. Not that it will really matter, as we¡¯ll be installing the automatic portals tonight, so people will be able just to portal straight from any of the three finish rooms back to the entrance.¡± Various nods were answer enough. 14 – Third Group of Delvers Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 Four hours earlier. The first of the ¡®normal¡¯ Delver groups entered the vestibule, followed by the team that was to be second. The three women ran through the gates first, hooting and hollering. Jackson, from the Evaluation Team, asked them if they knew who the woman in tribal dress was. ¡°Oh, yes. That is Marta, she was recently promoted from Elder in the Cassowary tribe to one of the ruling elders in the Conclave. I think her Delving name would translate to ¡®she-who-shatters-bones? Umm, do you know who she was with?¡± ¡°Yes, the black haired, dark brown eyed woman in the tight leather studded armour, with about twenty knives and daggers visible is Bess, the court assassin from the Kingdom. She¡¯s known as ¡®Shadow of Death¡¯. The other woman, blond, fit, blue eyes, dressed in lavender mage robes, is the Kingdom¡¯s ambassador to the Dungeons, ¡®Sun Maiden¡¯. They both use to be in the King and Queens Adventuring Team. Well, enjoy the Delve.¡± The Evaluation Team entered the portal, the second gem above the portal turning red. The next team looked at each other, gave a little shake and finished checking their equipment. They lined up and bowed towards the Dungeon. Jessica said, ¡°Is that rhino skin armour of Blondie?¡± ¡°Looks like it,¡± responded Fancy. ¡°Ooh, hot!¡± The last of the five delvers was the shortest of all of them, but quite muscled, with very dark coloured skin. ¡°Is that last one an elf, dwarf half-blood?¡± ¡°Yes, she is.¡± ¡°She?¡± Jessica looked in more detail and realised Fancy was correct. Both male and female dwarves were very proud of their luxurious beards, but the general shape and the style of ornaments in the beard pointed to her being female. She had brown hair and leather armour with plates of something built into it. Probably blackened steel. ¡°She. I think she might be a scout type, but a lot more heavily armoured that that would usually indicate.¡± The elf-dwarf Delver stepped forward and said, ¡°We greet you Dungeon! We thank you for this time to challenge you. We thank you for this chance to grow! We honour the Dungeon!¡± All five beat their chests with their fist and repeated, ¡°We honour the Dungeon!¡± Fancy fluttered over to her backpack and pulled out a largish book. Sitting down, she quickly leafed through it and then said, ¡°Jessica, do you have the blueprint for a Blue Moon Orchid?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The part orc Delver stepped forward and said, ¡°I hope we do not anger you, but our elders have charged us with delivering a message. They hope to have an opportunity to talk with you over the next few days. They wish to see if they can come to an agreement with you.¡± Fancy looked back at her book then said. ¡°Could you generate, on the first room¡¯s lintel, a flower from the Blue Moon Orchid and, if you have it, a flower from the Fire Bromeliad?¡± Jessica said, ¡°Done.¡± ¡°Thank you. The orchid returns the honour, and the bromeliad indicates our willingness to talk, according to tribal traditions.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the book?¡± ¡°It is a book I won while attending the Dungeon Assistance university. It runs through many of the world¡¯s cultures with a summary of their main practices.¡± ¡°Could you put it on the ground for a moment?¡± Seeing Fancy¡¯s hesitation, Jessica continued, ¡°I¡¯m not going to absorb it, but I think I can read it.¡± Fancy put the book on the ground, next to her. A moment later, Jessica said, ¡°Thanks. Yep, that did the job.¡± Putting the book back into her storage bag, Fancy asked, ¡°Out of curiosity, why had you not read it by now?¡± ¡°Firstly, it¡¯s yours. It would be rude for me to rifle through your things. Secondly, I can¡¯t see the contents of storage items. Which reminds me, can you sort through these storage items and pull everything out?¡± A ring and two bags appeared on the ground in front of Fancy. After checking for curses, Fancy used a drop of blood on each of the items to take control of it. Within a couple of minutes, there was a huge pile of assorted ¡®stuff¡¯ in front of her. Checking on of the bags, Fancy said, ¡°You have got to be kidding me! Whoever owned this bag shat in it.¡± ¡°Just empty it out on the floor and I¡¯ll absorb it straight away.¡± Jessica began a process of absorbing each item, gaining a few Dungeon Points from the process. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve identified three-quarters of the stuff, and absorbed the patterns for about half. I¡¯ll store the others away until I get enough levels and magic to do the others. You can look through my patterns, can¡¯t you Fancy?¡± ¡°Generally, I can, yes.¡± ¡°If theirs¡¯s anything you want or need, please mention it to me and I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± ¡°Thank you, Jessica.¡± ¡°My pleasure.¡± The Delvers moved through the portal, the third gem turning red. The leader of the next Delver Team waiting, Sarchan Fangslayer, tried to enter the portal. ¡°Sire, you will need to wait until one of the three slots are freed up before you can enter.¡± ¡°Well, how long do I have to wait?¡± ¡°Sire, it can take hours to explore a Dungeon, especially as the first teams. Patience is required.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t they know how important I am? Why couldn¡¯t we get the first ticket, anyway. I certainly paid enough for second place.¡± Looking increasingly worried, Sarchan¡¯s chief guard glanced at the Elder sitting behind the desk and tried to cover up for his charge¡¯s indiscretion. ¡°Hah, good joke, Sire. I¡¯m just not sure that the Overseer would enjoy that kind of humour.¡± Sarchan tried, badly, to laugh along as though it was a joke. ¡°Right, Jessica, could you scan them please?¡± ¡°Sure. Assuming this is their marching order, we have Mandy Ironhand, a level 2 Thief, part elf, part dwarf and part human, in studded leather armour, wielding dual daggers. Wonderful milk-chocolate complexion, and I do like the look of the war hammer she¡¯s got strapped to her back. ¡°Then Blondie, Fred Rendfoe, a level 2 Fighter, orc and human crossbreed, wielding a long sword and shield and dressed in that sexy, rhino-hide armour.¡± Fancy rolled her eyes. ¡°Next, we have old Death-mask himself, Greg Shadowclaw, a level 2 Mage, human, in what looks like light leather armour, and wielding a staff, walking beside she-who-has-feathers. ¡°Priscilla Eaglesight, a level 2 Priest, also dressed in light leather armour, wielding a club, complete with spikes. If that¡¯s supposed to be ceremonial, I¡¯d hate to see the ceremony. ¡°Lastly is the black-haired human ranger, Markin Crushfoe, level 2 Fighter, has what looks to be an elvan bow and has a cutlass as a backup weapon.¡± By the end of the description, Fancy was laughing. ¡°So, Mandy the thief in front, Fred the fighter next, then Greg the mage and Priscilla the priest and Markin the fighter at the rear. Pretty good group. This will be fun, as they should give you a good idea of what a group at the correct levels will be like. This will also be the first ¡®normal¡¯ group since you established the instances.¡± Mandy approached the curtain of water, marking the entrance to the first level of the Dungeon, when she noticed the flowers. She knelt and retrieved them. With a look of wonder on her face, she and said, ¡°We have been honoured!¡± Priscilla said, ¡°I¡¯ll put them into my storage pouch. That will protect them.¡± Marken said, ¡°Well, all three instances are now in use. No one else will be able to get in until one of the groups finish.¡± Greg said, ¡°Who was going to be the next group?¡± Mandy answered, ¡°The Peacock.¡± Greg snorted and said, ¡°So, there will be no ¡®patiently waiting their turn¡¯. Glad I¡¯m in here, instead of out there anywhere near him.¡± Fred commented, ¡°You do realise that although he¡¯s level 6, he¡¯s never been in a Dungeon either?¡± Greg replied, ¡°How did he get his levels then?¡± Mandy said, ¡°He goes ¡®hunting¡¯ with his guards. They find and capture creatures and hold them while he kills them.¡± Fred continued, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how he is going to survive a real fight. Sure, he has got the levels, but really, he has never been properly blooded. I am just glad that I am not on his guard detail, though I have a cousin who is.¡± ¡°Right, come on, get your warrior face on. We are in a real, live, Dungeon.¡± They all cheered. They all took off their backpacks. A couple got out smaller, delving packs and put them on, then everyone put their traveling packs in Priscilla¡¯s storage ring. ¡°I am extinguishing my torch and proceeding through the entrance.¡± Mandy tucked her torch into her small backpack, drew her twin daggers and entered the room. She stepped to the right side and waved the rest of her team in. Fred tightened the straps on his shield, drew his longsword and followed her through the door, stepping left and waited for the rest of the team. Greg and Priscilla came through next, one going left and the other right, slipping behind their teammates and taking their place against the wall. Finally, Markin came through, then unpacked and strung his bow. Markin said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Mandy moved off, crossing over to the right-hand side of the small stream. As she progressed into the room, she spotted the Goblins, signalling to the rest of her team so they noticed them as well. Progressing until the small pond was between the team and the goblins, she signalled Markin to open fire. The goblins were all dead before they even made it to the pool. The team went around the pond together and checked the dead goblins, Mandy put her hand on each one and chanted ¡®loot¡¯. There were five goblins, each dropped a wooden spear and a copper piece as loot. The camp was searched, and an additional four copper pieces and a bronze piece was found. The team looked around and Markin said, ¡°Wait. I think we can harvest some of these mushrooms.¡± They moved across to the Mushroom Forest and, between Markin, Priscilla and Greg, they harvested a good portion of the mushrooms. They all went into Priscilla¡¯s storage pouch. Going towards the room¡¯s exit, they collected the other two Delvers, who had been watching for any surprises, and reformed into their standard marching order. Reaching the next doorway, Mandy stopped and said, ¡°Too dark?¡± Markin looked and said, ¡°Should be OK.¡± About ten metres into the room, Markin said, ¡°I see cobwebs on the ceiling, watch out for spiders.¡± Mandy grunted. Just after that she held her hand up, stopping the party. ¡°I see a single, shiny copper coin on the ground to our right.¡± Markin said, ¡°Movement from behind, we have spiders.¡± Mandy had a moment of indecision, then said, ¡°Let¡¯s deal with the spiders first.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The party reversed and spread out, forming a skirmish line. The three spiders all went for the centre of the line, where they were met by a small ball of fire from Greg and a large club from Priscilla. Fred closed in from the flank and sliced the last spider in half with his sword. In the middle of the fight, an additional two dropped down from the ceiling and three more came from further into the room. The two dropping down from on top of them would have caused problems, but Markin had spotted them and dispatched them with arrows before they reached the team. The team turned around to face the final three and Mandy finally got a chance to attack. She missed her first attacks, with the spider jerking to the side and avoiding the daggers. Meanwhile, Priscilla¡¯s club claimed another victim. One spider jumped at Greg, but he used his staff like a bat and launched the spider into the wall of the cave. Mandy hit her spider with both daggers, slicing it nearly in two. An arrow from Markin finished of the stunned spider that Greg had launched across the cave. Markin kept his bow covering the rest of his team while they looted the spiders, collecting and returning the arrows to Markin. One of them was too damaged to re-use, but the others would be OK. Ten minutes later, the team examined the area around the coin that they had found on the ground. Mandy said, ¡°What¡¯s everyone think?¡± Markin replied, ¡°My danger sense is going off, but I can¡¯t detect a trap at all.¡± Mandy pulled out one of the spears they had taken from the goblins and waved it over the coin. Nothing happened. Using the spear, she pushed the coin about a metre across the floor. Grabbing the coin, she dived out of the way. Examining the coin, it looked fine, but she still felt a sense of danger. She dived through the area where the coin had been and that caused a reaction. The Stalactite monster crashed into the spot where the coin had been. It was still attached to the ceiling by its long ¡®tongue¡¯ and began to slowly haul itself back up to the ceiling. The five of them attacked the monster, killing it. Greg said, ¡°What on Earth and in the Heavens was that?¡± Mandy shrugged and said, ¡°A Dungeon Monster. Quite a powerful one, at that.¡± Fred looked thoughtful, ¡°I suppose it wasn¡¯t considered so dangerous because it does not roam around. With the coin being directly below it, they are fairly easy to avoid, if we want.¡± Priscilla added, ¡°From my status log, that must be an actual Level 1 Monster. That is the first one I have ever killed. I am liking the experience, let us clear out the rest. I see another two coins from here.¡± Mandy said, ¡°Just before we do, my treasure sense is saying we have missed something. Priscilla, do you have that long pole in your storage?¡± ¡°Of course. My Granddad always said to never go into a Dungeon without a long pole.¡± ¡°Fred, do you think you can reach the ceiling with the pole?¡± ¡°No, I will be short.¡± Mandy giggled and said, ¡°That is my line! What if I stand on your shoulders, I think I can just see something in the web nest just there.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Fred picked Mandy up, placed her on his shoulders and held her ankles firmly. Priscilla passed her the pole and after a couple of tries, she was able to knock the object out of the spider¡¯s nest. Markin leaped and caught the object, while Mandy handed the pole back and climbed down. ¡°Well, what did we get?¡± Markin shrugged and passed it to Priscilla to put in her pouch. ¡°Some kind of potion. We will have to get it evaluated.¡± Three Stalactite Monsters later, Mandy noticed that the coin was a bronze piece, instead of copper. The team had got into a routine by then but were all on edge. When the monster dropped, it was about 50% larger than the previous ones had been. They were able to kill it, but it was a bit harder than the smaller ones. The traps were easy to spot, and Mandy called everyone over. Uncovering the trap, she showed everyone. It was a small hole with a conical bottom and a sharpened wooden stake at the bottom. ¡°This is called a lilia trap, because it sort of looks like a lily. The Empire likes to use them around their fortifications.¡± A half hour later, there was one single monster left. The coin was silver, and the team were debating whether to trigger it or not. Greg said, ¡°Look, so long as it does not land on us, we should be fine. These things do not seem to attack once they have dropped, so even if we decide we cannot take it on, it should still be fine.¡± They gathered around the final coin. Mandy started by using a spear to move the coin, where she quickly grabbed it. Again, waving the spear did nothing, so she quickly jumped through the spot. After nothing had happened, they all looked a little puzzled. Mandy said, ¡°My dark vision can barely see the monster, but it is there. Only the eyes and mouths give off any heat.¡± Markin said, ¡°Maybe you are too fast? If the monster is bigger than the other ones, it might take a little longer to react?¡± Mandy let out a frustrated chuff and leaped a lot slower through the area where the coin was. This time, the monster reacted, with the massive creature hitting the ground with a bone rattling thud. Three of them picked up small cuts from flying stones out of the impact crater. It took them a lot longer to kill the monster and they were all a little tired after the battle. Priscilla said, ¡°Well, level three monsters really rake in the experience.¡± Various cries of ¡®Level 3!¡¯ sounded out. ¡°Check your logs if you want.¡± At the end of the room, they had a couple of handfuls of copper coins, a single handful of bronze coins, a couple of silver coins and two unknown potions. Mandy has a huge grin on her face and said, ¡°I am liking this Delving!¡± The group moved through the third room, passing the half-way point before spotting the mushroom forest on the right. Again, Markin, Priscilla and Greg went to harvest the mushrooms, while Fred and Mandy had overwatch. A few minutes into harvesting, Mandy came face to face with her first Mobile Mushroom Warrior. Armed with a bronze sword, it slashed at Markin, giving her a deep cut to her arm. ¡°Mobs! Animated mushrooms!¡± Mandy backed away from the mushroom, quickly evaluating the monster and deciding to draw her war hammer. Priscilla and Greg also found themselves facing Mushroom Warriors. Greg launched a fan of flame from his hand, roasting the mob facing him. Priscilla was able to avoid the monsters first attack. This one was armed with a spear. Priscilla quickly pulled her own spear from her spatial bag and overpowered the mob. Fred advanced into battle, pulling out his longsword. Passing Priscilla, he said, ¡°This is not training. Kill it.¡± Blushing, she ran it through with her spear. The monster barely reacted to the injury, stabbing at Priscilla. ¡°Watch out, they do not bleed, they are hard to kill.¡± Pulling her spear back, she used an awkward downward strike to pin the mob to a huge mushroom tree. As the spear was at a downward slope, it couldn¡¯t pull itself off the spear to move. She then pulled her club and decapitated it with one swing. This seemed to kill it. Priscilla continued into the forest, and came across the injured Mandy. She led her out of the forest, then healed her arm. She pulled some herbs from her spatial storage and a mortar and pestle. She ground them up, added them to a cup and pulled out a strange, teapot like vessel. Pouring in a little hot water from the magic teapot, she repacked everything and stirred the mixture. She pulled a second cup out, used a square of muslin to filter out any solids and poured the still hot mixture from one cup to another. Chanting a spell over the second cup, she finally added water from her waterskin to cool it down and gave it to Mandy. ¡°Drink up, this will help you to recover. You lost a fair amount of blood.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Priscilla rinsed everything and put it all away. The rest of the team had returned by now, and Fred said, ¡°What did we do wrong?¡± Priscilla started. ¡°I operated like this was a training exercise and didn¡¯t finish off my foe.¡± Markin continued, ¡°I broke a basic tenet of Delving. In my excitement, I didn¡¯t clear the room before looting.¡± Fred said, ¡°Same.¡± Mandy added, ¡°We allowed the party to be split.¡± Greg looked around. Everyone was now looking at him. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, I¡¯ve got nothing to add.¡± The others snorted and looked around. Priscilla said, ¡°Right, Fred, watch my back, Mandy, watch Greg¡¯s back, Markin, you¡¯re on overwatch. Come on Greg, let¡¯s go and finish fossicking in this fabulous, but fecund forest.¡± Twenty minutes later, with the mushrooms harvested, the room cleared, and wounds healed, the Delvers continued. Entering room 4, the team stayed together and on alert. They quickly spotted the threads hanging from the ceiling at random intervals. Mandy said, ¡°I can see monsters on the ceiling, with one near each thread. They are each about a metre long.¡± Fred commented, ¡°I suppose it is like they are fishing, but this thread would not be strong enough and I can see no bait or hook.¡± Priscilla said, ¡°There seems to be drops on the threads. Two different coloured ones.¡± Mandy said, ¡°Yes, some are greenish and other drops are greyish.¡± Priscilla said, ¡°Watch out!¡± Mandy jerked her hand away, but unfortunately this made her hand touch the thread and she got some of the greenish coloured liquid on her hand. Her hand instantly went numb, with her both unable to feel anything and unable to move her hand. Priscilla cast a diagnostic spell and relaxed. ¡°Well, yes you are poisoned, but there is no damage. It will take a quarter hour or so for the toxins to work out of your system.¡± They decided as a team to wait for Mandy to recover before continuing, So, with the monsters in this room seeming to be static, they set up a temporary camp at the entrance to the room. Mandy asked Priscilla, ¡°Why did you yell at me?¡± ¡°Because I saw your attention was on us, while your hand kept getting closer to that thread.¡± Mandy thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Sorry.¡± Priscilla waved the apology off, saying, ¡°Forget about it. Your compulsiveness is part of your charm.¡± Mandy pouted. While resting, they talked over what exactly they had found. Greg commented, ¡°Silken threads can be ridiculously strong.¡± Markin added, ¡°I suppose that poison on the thread could be like a bait, especially in the dark.¡± Fred said, ¡°But that still leaves us without a hook.¡± Mandy said, ¡°Unless the other droplets, the grey looking ones are something like a hook.¡± Priscilla added, ¡°Maybe a glue of some kind? Tugging on the thread is like a fly getting trapped in a spider¡¯s web?¡± Mandy said, ¡°Then if we use another of those wooden spears from the Goblins and try it, we can see.¡± Fred thought for a moment, then said, ¡°She-who-pouts speaks wisdom.¡± Shocked silence greeted his words, then everyone except Mandy laughed. Mandy pouted, making everyone else laugh harder. Mandy started getting feeling back in her hand a few minutes later, but it was a half hour before she got her full feeling and control back. Fred took one of the wooden spears and lightly touched one of the drops of grey liquid on the threads. Within a matter of seconds, the spear was glued firmly to the thread. ¡°Right, now let us see what happens.¡± He held the spear loosely but began to tug the spear away. The spear immediately got fouled on the thread, with another two drops of glue attaching themselves within seconds. The monster on the ceiling started to rapidly draw the thread in, pulling it out of Fred¡¯s grip. ¡°And there is the hook. So, these are fishing monsters.¡± Mandy asked Markin if he could see the monsters, and he replied that it was too dark. She fished out a torch from her small backpack and pointed it at Greg, who used magic to light the torch. She gave the torch to Fred, who smiled and held it up as high as he could. Priscilla said, ¡°Let us not stand directly under the monster while we do this.¡± Fred looked chagrined and took a few steps to the side. Two arrows from Markin killed the monster, but it did not fall down, being suspended by thread. Priscilla pulled a grappling hook out of her bag and handed it over to Mandy, who quickly snagged the monster and between her and Priscilla dislodged it, with it crashing to the ground. The pair grabbed the spear, which was still attached to the thread, and pulled. They were able to pull out a good length of the thread from the monster¡¯s body, wrapping it around the spear. ¡°So, the monster must strip off the poison and glue as it reels in the thread, which means these two little glands next to the spinneret must apply glue and poison when they deploy the thread again?¡± Fred said, ¡°So, she-who-pontificates speaks wisdom.¡± This time, everyone except Priscilla laughed and she attempted a pout. Everyone agreed it wasn¡¯t as good as Mandy¡¯s. They repeated the process with the rest of the monsters, and quickly cleared the room. When they looted the monsters, they were surprised by the food drop. Markin commented, ¡°Looks like the meat from those river crayfish.¡± Fred said, ¡°Good eating, those.¡± Putting the meat away in her pouch, Priscilla said, ¡°Well, we will have to try it later.¡± Markin said, ¡°We had agreed to evaluate our dive after four rooms. How are people feeling? Continue or end here?¡± Fred asked Priscilla, ¡°How is your pouch?¡± Checking her storage pouch, she replied, ¡°Just about full.¡± Fred nodded and said, ¡°One more room, we pull our backpacks out of Priscilla¡¯s pouch and end it there?¡± They all agreed that was reasonable. The walk back to the start of the Dungeon would give them a better feel for how tired they were and help to judge how they were going in a dungeon. They had heard a few cautionary tales about teams going too far and struggling to get back through the dungeon to exit. Fred looked around and said, ¡°Actually, where is the exit to the next room?¡± Mandy said, ¡°Probably a secret door. Give me a minute to search.¡± She circumnavigated the room and returned to the group. ¡°Well?¡± Asked Fred. Mandy said, ¡°Yes, a single hidden entrance.¡± She led them over to the concealed door and opened it. Holding the door open, she bowed with a flourish and indicated for the group to enter. Once they had all entered, she quickly moved through the group towards the front when she suddenly yelled, ¡°Stop, trap!¡± and lurched towards Fred, grabbing the back of his armour and trying to brace. She managed to pull him back far enough that he fell onto his butt, rather than into the pit trap that had opened up in front of him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry! My inattention almost cost you your life.¡± Mandy clung to Fred, crying in distress. Fred gave a smile and said, ¡°Yet you also saved me. Those stakes look sharp. Thank you.¡± Greg added a notation to the rough map he was keeping, indicating the trap. ¡°It is deep as well.¡± Priscilla said, ¡°Shall we turn back now?¡± Fred glanced at Mandy and said, ¡°No. We said one more room and this changes nothing.¡± The rest nodded. ¡°Please Mandy, return to the front and continue to keep us all safe.¡± Mandy¡¯s head snapped up to look at Fred. Was he mocking her? No. the look on his face showed trust instead. She vowed to herself to be more aware from now on. Turning the corner of the rom they were in, she stopped dead. ¡°The Dungeon has a soul.¡± Looking puzzled, the rest of the group turned the corner and stopped as well. The whole room glittered with limestone formations. Glittering columns marched imperially down the room, with glittering stalactites and stalagmites littering the roof and ceiling. Flowstones decorated the room walls, like expensive curtains in a chief¡¯s tent. A pearl coloured pool sat in the middle of the room, emptying into a series of pools towards the far exit. Each pool was enclosed by a delicate rimstone, glittering in the light. The pinnacle, however, was the fantastical chandelier that hung over the pool in the middle. Water constantly dripped and trickled from the four-metre wide and tall structure, with each and every end point having a flickering light-source, making it look like there were hundreds of candles lighting the room. Remembering her vow, Mandy shook herself out of her daze and said, ¡°Stop. Remember, this is a Dungeon.¡± A look of surprise on all their faces, changed to warmth and acknowledging nods. Markin said, ¡°Time enough to sightsee later.¡± ¡°Yes, this delicious dungeon of doom and destiny, deadly for delvers, delightful for daring adventurers awaits!¡± Fred tried to respond to Priscilla, but gave up after three attempts to come up with an appropriate response. The giant frogs turned out to be the hardest fight they had, up to that point. The level 1 monsters, more mobile and smarter than the Mushroom Warriors, ended up causing injuries to both of their front-line fighters before they were all defeated. The team got their backpacks out of Priscilla¡¯s storage device and started filling them up with all of their loot. They kept the things that would spoil in the device but distributed the rest around the team. Those like Mandy, who had been wearing a small, ¡®Delving¡¯ pack, tucked it into the much larger main pack and shouldered it. ¡°Hopefully, once we get to level five or so, if we can get some more storage devices, we won¡¯t have to hide how big mine is.¡± Greg looked at Priscilla and said, ¡°No. It will take longer than that. You seem to keep forgetting that a storage device as large as your one, is incredibly rare. Once we get a couple of other, smaller ones, that will help hide your one, but it will not be before level 10 or so that the precautions will not be necessary.¡± The team walked back through the Dungeon to the start of the Dungeon and exited through the portal. Arriving back at the vestibule area, the team made their way over to the Overseer¡¯s table to report. ¡°Well, congratulations, you are the first team to report in. How far did you get, and did you enjoy yourselves?¡± Priscilla answered, ¡°This was our first Dungeon, and it was great! We decided to turn back after completing room 5, which had eight, level 1 giant frogs.¡± Sarchan said, ¡°Right, they finally finished, let us go!¡± He marched to the portal, but again could not enter. ¡°What is wrong with this cursed Dungeon? Why won¡¯t it let me enter this time?¡± Cardon internally sighed and went up to Sarchan. ¡°Sire, the Dungeon will be a few minutes while it restocks itself for your entertainment.¡± ¡°Did you hear? That pathetic group only made it to room 5. It shouldn¡¯t take that long.¡± Hiding his embarrassment, he stormed out of the room, saying, ¡°Get me when it is finally ready.¡± The Overseer looked at Cardon and simply raised one eyebrow. Cardon the Wise muttered, ¡°Do not start as well.¡± The Overseer grinned. Cardon followed Sarchan out, instructing his second to listen to the report and send someone to get them once the Dungeon indicated the instance was ready. Mandy¡¯s Team walked the Overseer through their experience in the Dungeon, showing the loot drops and other rewards they had found. They had just finished describing the encounter with the strange ¡®fishing monsters¡¯, when there was a ¡®ding¡¯ noise, like a fine bell would make. One of Sarchan¡¯s team said, ¡°Finally.¡± She sent someone to tell Cardon that they were ready to start. Jessica commented to Fancy and the girls, ¡°I quite liked that group. I know I was entertained. I was surprised that they turned back, however. Is my Dungeon too hard?¡± Marisol handled the reply. ¡°Not at all. That just showed that they are a smart group of Delvers. What level were they?¡± Fancy answered, ¡°All level 2.¡± Marisol nodded. ¡°That makes sense. You¡¯ll find that level 1 teams will turn back after only a couple of rooms, while that group will slowly explore more and more of your Dungeon, probably finally finishing the first floor sometime around them reaching level 5?¡± She looked around the room and saw agreeing nods. Fancy interrupted them to say, ¡°I just need to retrieve the Evaluation Team.¡± 15 – How Not to Explore a Dungeon Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 A couple of minutes later, Sarchan came back in with Cardon. The Overseer asked, ¡°Sarchan, did you want to look over the notes from the first team?¡± Sarchan just huffed and walked into the portal with his team. The third crystal went red, and Team Sarchan¡¯s Delve was underway. The Overseer sighed, picked one of his assistants and sent him off to Chief Fangslayer with a message. ¡®Sarchan has decided to brave the Dungeon without familiarising himself with the initial reports. I suspect there will be losses in his team.¡¯ He finished receiving the report from Mandy¡¯s team, thanked them for their cooperation and dismissed them to enjoy their success. The next team turned up and went over the initial report with enthusiasm. Sarchan strode through the portal and looked around the Dungeon. His magic torch flickered with a slightly blue flame. ¡°So, where¡¯s the monsters?¡± His second, Cardon, just pointed to the opening, with the curtain of water across it. ¡°Sire, should one of the scouts go first to check for traps?¡± ¡°Traps, in a beginner dungeon like this? This Dungeon should come and lick my boots for the honour of having me strip it bare.¡± Marta said, ¡°I may have a problem.¡± Fancy fluttered over to look at the crystal Marta had been watching. ¡°Is there an issue?¡± Marta shook her head and said, ¡°Not with you or your Dungeon, Jessica and Fancy. I¡¯ve been thoroughly entertained and amazed by your Dungeon. I too, am looking forward to your other levels. No, my problem is political and centres around that group of delvers there.¡± Marisol came over and said, ¡°That man looks a lot like Fangslayer. Is it his welp?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m assuming, Jessica, that you haven¡¯t had any deaths in your Dungeon, except for the Raiders?¡± Fancy took the answer, ¡°That is correct.¡± Marta continued, ¡°I think you may get at least one from this group. Sarchan is as obnoxious an individual as I expected, but a significantly worse leader then I expected.¡± Fancy, the hesitancy and worry in her voice evident, said, ¡°Are you asking us to do something?¡± ¡°Oh, no! I would never. The unspoken contract with a Dungeon is that anyone silly enough to enter one is silly enough to die. The problems are mine.¡± Fancy relaxed. ¡°Thank you for understanding, not everyone will.¡± Marta nodded and continued to watch the unfolding drama. Jessica added, ¡°I have to admit that my teeth would have itched, if I had any, with his comments, ¡®what is wrong with this cursed Dungeon¡¯, and my personal favourite, ¡®this Dungeon should come and lick my boots for the honour of having me strip it bare.¡¯¡± Marta winced. Everything else now forgotten, everyone in the Core room watched the unfolding drama. Jessica¡¯s comments didn¡¯t help any with Marta¡¯s stress. Bess stood in the far corner and whispered, ¡°Put on your princess panties.¡± Jessica gave no outward sign, but that comment stopped her short. It was a code used by the senior royals when she was acting ¡®in a way that did not reflect well on the Kingdom¡¯. It was only ever used when she was in a situation where she should have known better. She was trying to figure out why Bess would use that now, especially as she was no longer a Princess. But she WAS a Dungeon, so what was she doing that would reflect badly on herself? She mentally went over the last few minutes and winced. The situation must be really bad for Marta, and here she was cracking jokes. Sigh. *Fancy, do you think I went too far then? Do you think I made Marta uncomfortable?* With a mental sigh, Fancy replied, *Yes*. *Could I get you to go out into the passageway. I have an apology I would like you to deliver to Marta.* Fancy went out and picked up the pot that was waiting for her. In it was a pandemonia vine. *Good choice. You constantly amaze me with your maturity, and I constantly have to remind myself you are still a child. I cannot fall into the trap of expecting more from you than you deserve. Well done.* Fancy went back into the core room and went up to Marta. ¡°Jessica is sorry for her behaviour. Please except this little gift from her.¡± Marta looked away from the crystal where she was watching Sarchan and snorted when she saw what the gift was. ¡°Thank you Jessica, I will accept this in the spirit it was offered. I do believe I have the perfect place for this to live.¡± Jackson nudged Mandy and pointed to the plant. ¡°That is called a ¡®pandemonia vine¡¯. When kept in a pot, it lightens any room that it is in, and when it flowers, the scent will gladden every heart. It is mostly used for revenge on enemies.¡± Jackson looked even more confused. Mandy laughed and said, ¡°When it is planted next to a house, it has the strange property of stopping people noticing it until it is quite advanced as a plant. It will basically put apart and demolish any building it is growing on. Everything used in the outside of the building will deteriorate, rot, fall apart and fail. In other words, cause a pandemonium. When given as a gift, there is a special meaning within the tribes. It is firstly, an apology. It is also a statement of, well, not quite trust, but you are putting your house in their hands. If they did not forgive you, well, you have just given them the perfect thing to take revenge on you by planting the vine next to your house.¡± Jackson nodded, ¡°Thank you.¡± Fancy asked, ¡°Jessica, what are their levels?¡± ¡°Sarchan is the lowest there, he¡¯s level 6. Three of his guard are level 8 and one is level 9. Cardon is level 12.¡± ¡°Jessica, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, how much experience do you get from them?¡± Asked Bess. *Fancy? I don¡¯t mind answering the question, but should I?* ¡°The answer is not a secret,¡± answered Fancy, ¡°but it is not something that is commonly known. For that party, Jessica would get something like 7 Dungeon Points an hour for them being in her area.¡± ¡°Not as much as I thought. Hey, wait a minute, does that mean that you are getting points for all those people milling around outside your Dungeon Entrance? You little sneak.¡± Fancy chimed in, ¡°Not as much as you expect. For groups who are within a Dungeon¡¯s precinct, but are not in the actual Dungeon itself, the Core only gets a fraction of the points it would otherwise get.¡± Jessica¡¯s crystal turned a little pink and she said, ¡°Remember, I¡¯m just a poor little twelve-year-old girl, far from family and friends, lost in the jungle. Oh, wait, I¡¯m thirteen now! Did you bring me a present, Aunt Bess?¡± Marisol looked at Jessica and smiled, giving her a thumb¡¯s up. ¡°You go, girl!¡± Bess tried to look stern, but there was something about Jessica. She did have difficulty staying angry with her. ¡°Yes.¡± Bess took a wrapped box out of her storage and put it on the ground. Marisol did the same. ¡°Thanks, Aunt Bess, thanks, Aunt Marisol!¡± The packages disappeared. Sarchan looked over the destroyed Goblins with glee. One of the goblins had nicked him, but that was easily fixed with one of his potions. ¡°Is this a dungeon or a children¡¯s party?¡± Cardon looked increasingly worried. His charge was more and more out of control and absolutely refusing to listen to him. Sarchan strode off towards the exit, leaving his team behind. Cardon signalled everyone to advance and cover their charge. Jessica would have narrowed her eyes, if she had any. *Hmm, are you sure its bad form to wipe parties for offending me?* Fancy supressed a laugh and replied, *Yes. I¡¯m sure.* She continued out loud, ¡°What I can¡¯t understand is how he managed to get to level 6 without having some humility beaten into him.¡± With a sigh, Jessica said, ¡°I can. He¡¯s coming across a bit like some of the spoiled brats I remember from my time in Court. They go out in ¡®hunting¡¯ parties, where very high-level fighters trap and/or injure high level monsters in the wilds. Then the brat gets to kill the monster with no danger to themselves. They end up with a mindset that they deserve everything handed to them on a plate and that the world has to conform to their view of it.¡± Fancy turned grey. ¡°This is not going to go well.¡± Marta said, ¡°Jessica is right, and I agree with you. This will not go well.¡± *Well, it will go well for us, anyway.* Fancy was able to supress her laugh. Again. Two of the first group of spiders bit Sarchan. He then spotted a copper coin on the ground and bent to pick it up. One of the team yelled, ¡°No, Sire!¡± and dived, knocking Sarchan out of the way. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Sarchan stood up, fuming and back-handed the team member, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t touch me.¡± The team member fell back into the spot the coin had been and screamed, which was suddenly cut off as he was speared by the falling Stalactite Monster, straight through his head. ¡°Sarchan, that death was on you. I will support the wergild claim by his family.¡± Sarchan went to attack Cardon but froze when Cardon laughed. ¡°Do you think I am unaware that you order your sparing partners to lose to you? That you order the hunting parties to subdue the beasts, then you kill them? Draw your weapon on me and you will die. I have earned every level I have; you have earned nothing. Try to order the Dungeon¡¯s minions to lose to you, see how that goes for you.¡± He dispatched the monster and gathered the body of the fallen into a spatial storage. One of his people looted the monster. The second half of the room was a repeat of the first. Two more spiders got through Sarchan¡¯s defences and bit him. Cardon said, ¡°That is it. You have reached the limit of what your father was willing to risk. The Chief specifically told me ¡®Four injuries or four potions¡¯. It is time to return.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Well, Sire, it is your choice. Either you come willingly, or I truss you up like a hog and we carry you out.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Truss you up it is.¡± Cardon started towards Sarchan, pulling out some short lengths of rope from his storage and tucking them into his belt. When Cardon stepped in front of Sarchan, Sarchan¡¯s face broke into an exalted grin. Cardon immediately dived off to the side, expecting a trap of some kind, but nothing happened. Sarchan said, ¡°Stupid Dungeon, nothing works the way it¡¯s supposed to.¡± He leaned down, shifted aside the dirt he¡¯d brushed over the silver coin and picked it up. ¡°No, Sire!¡± Cardon tried to get up off the ground, but he was too late. A massive Stalactite Monster had pierced Sarchan, killing him nearly instantly. Cardon killed the monster and collected Sarchan¡¯s body into his spacial storage. He¡¯d pulled the silver coin from Sarchan¡¯s hand before storing the body and gave that to one of the other team members. The brother of the one that had died. Leaving Sarchan¡¯s fancy torch, Mark made for the exit to the room. ¡°Sir, the torch?¡± ¡°Leave it as an offering for the Dungeon.¡± As they went back through the Mushroom Men room, one of the team asked, ¡°Sir, can we stop for a minute to harvest mushrooms? Some I can see are rare and will be valuable.¡± ¡°Sure, those of you who know what you are doing can harvest, the rest of us will guard.¡± Twenty minutes later, the two harvesting gave up finding any more of value, then repeated the process in the goblin room, then team exited the Dungeon. Once everyone in the core room had seen the death, Marta asked to be allowed to leave. ¡°Sure, Marta,¡± said Fancy. ¡°Where do you want to teleport to? Basically, we can send you anywhere within about 7 kilometres of the Dungeon entrance.¡± ¡°Probably best to just go back to the entrance. I should talk to the Overseer.¡± Both Bess and Marisol gave her a hug and thanked her for the time together. She promised to catch up with them tomorrow to plan their next Delve when the next dungeon opened. ¡°Marta?¡± Jessica asked. ¡°Could you pass on a couple of messages for me as well?¡± ¡°Surely.¡± ¡°The Dungeon will be closed tonight, as we have some maintenance to be done, and will reopen at sunrise tomorrow. Part of the changes will be a teleporter between the centre area, near where the new town will be, and the area outside of the Dungeon Entrance. Also, there will be an exit teleporter from each of the three ending points, so people can return to the entrance from the 4th, 8th and 12th rooms. Lastly, on the opposite wall to the rogue¡¯s gallery, there will be a grotto containing a ¡®hero wall¡¯, where the name of every Delver who dies within the Dungeon will be listed. We will not judge a person¡¯s worth, anyone who dies will be honoured there.¡± Marta nodded her understanding and walked to the portal that had just appeared. Once that portal had closed, Lotus spoke up, saying, ¡°We will be going as well. Thank you again for your hospitality, and again, compliments on your Dungeon. Could we go to near the town site?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± said Jessica. Another portal opened and the Evaluation Team filed through. ¡°Do you need us to go as well, or can we hang around a bit longer?¡± ¡°Please, Aunt Bess, you don¡¯t have to ask. Either of you. I love you both, and really do value you in my life.¡± Marisol said, ¡°So, how have you really been going?¡± Jessica sighed, then said, ¡°I¡¯m glad I¡¯ve been so busy. Being without Sara and Monty for the first time in my life has been¡­difficult. I am really looking forward to next few weeks as I hopefully get to talk to them again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not certain?¡± Asked Marisol. Fancy handled the answer. ¡°No, Jessica¡¯s growth has been very exceptional, and it may take a little while for the three of them to join up. It will depend on the how the other two go.¡± Jessica added, ¡°I lucked into being under a very rich Jungle. I picked up a ridiculous amount to Dungeon Points from the Jungle I absorbed. Plus, those Dungeon Raiders helped as well.¡± ¡°I expect to know more once they open,¡± said Fancy. ¡°As for the deaths, I¡¯m not really sure they have hit me yet. But it seems that part of the changes that I experienced seem to cushion me from the day-to-day dungeon stuff.¡± ¡°That lines up with what we know about the process,¡± said Fancy. Fancy had relaxed enough in front of Bess and Marisol to ask the question that had been burning through her patience, ¡°So, Jessica, what¡¯s the total so far?¡± ¡°Well, the evaluation team was about a 120 DP, the girls about half that, the third team about 3 DP, Sarchan¡¯s group was about 10 DP, then from the two deaths there, an extra 280 points. The crowd outside has given us an extra 1/2 DP per hour. So, after about 5 hours, we¡¯re up about 440 DPs. That will have us about a thousand points short of level 8.¡± Bess looked confused, so asked, ¡°Why doesn¡¯t that add up?¡± ¡°Because I get a small DP income from a stack of other things, including the Goblin tribe, the Ablution blocks, stuff people drop, I have filters on the underground streams that runs through my influence and so on.¡± There was laughter all around. ¡°Well, since we¡¯re doing ¡®burning questions¡¯, the question that I¡¯m dying to know the answer to, is how did Mum really handle the three of us disappearing?¡± Bess looked at Marisol and the pair of them snickered. ¡°Let¡¯s just say that the ¡®quiet room¡¯, got a real workout. Both your mother and father yelled their frustration out in there, they both needed a healing potion afterwards, just to be able to speak. Fortunately, the Court Mage was able to complete an augury, so they knew you were alive, would stay that way, but had been magically changed.¡± Marisol took over, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll take it from here, since Bess was traveling by this point, while I wouldn¡¯t leave until the next day. A group of bandits had been waylaying merchants on the road south of the capital. You father, in his infinite wisdom, asked your mother if she felt like taking out her frustration on them. They will deserve what they get - they have been doing some pretty unspeakable things to any prisoners - but let¡¯s just say there will be a large decrease in bandit activity across the Kingdom when your Mother finishes with them. I have rarely seen her those pissed. ¡°She will be a lot calmer by the time she returns to the capital.¡± Jessica said, ¡°Just so you know, Fancy, I¡¯ve been told, a lot, that I take after my mother.¡± Bess chimed in, saying, ¡°To which her mother usually replies, ¡®hopefully she doesn¡¯t take after me with an axe¡¯.¡± Marisol smiled at that, then continued. ¡°After I left, she was then planning on taking a little trip up north. Apparently, the Baronies of Frenrich and Mercantor, Fancy, you may not know, these are two of the most northern baronies in the Kingdom. They want to shorten the travel to get between their two capitals, Fentown and Central Po. Currently, the only pass open in winter is quite a ways south. So, they partitioned the crown to have a new pass opened up. ¡°Your mother volunteered to go and do a ¡®little redecorating¡¯ of the mountains directly between the capitols. It¡¯s going to need your mother¡¯s fine hand, as they don¡¯t want to change the weather patterns across the whole north, or anything, but I do expect it to get noisy.¡± ¡°Thanks for the explanation. I have to admit to feeling a little peeved at Mom¡¯s lack of response when she was talking to me, but knowing she had to put on her Queen Panties explains it.¡± A puzzled Fancy said, ¡°She has special underwear.?¡± Everyone laughed, except Fancy. ¡°No, it¡¯s a sort of code that the Royal Family uses. When, for the sake of the Kingdom, one of us has to act different to what we want to, we use the code of ¡®putting on the appropriate panties¡¯ to either remind one of us of our responsibilities, or to let the others know why we are acting the way we are. So, earlier, Bess whispered to me to put my Princess Panties on. It made me evaluate what I was doing, and I found that I was acting a bit cruel in what I was saying.¡± ¡°Yes, we got taught it a little differently at the Dungeon Assistant College, but it was still drummed into us that when we are acting in our official capacity, lives will depend on what we say.¡± Everyone nodded. ¡°Anyway, this still leaves one really important question unanswered.¡± Everyone looked at Fancy. ¡°Come on, what did you get for your birthday, Jessica? The suspense is killing me!¡± Everyone laughed, and Jessica materialised the two gifts. Starting with Marisol¡¯s, Jessica de-materialised the wrapping and bow, revealing a finely crafted mahogany box, with brass hinges. ¡°You want to do the honours and open the box for me, Fancy?¡± As Fancy approached the box, Jessica continued, ¡°I¡¯m also positive that it won¡¯t be trapped.¡± Fancy froze for a second and gave Jessica a displeased look. ¡°Not funny.¡± ¡°I disagree, the expression on your face was hilarious.¡± Fancy harumphed. In it was a set of finely crafted journals. ¡°Lay one on the floor for me, Fancy.¡± Fancy pulled the first one out of the box and put it on the floor for Jessica to quickly read. She pulled out the second volume and opened it up to see what it was about. ¡°Morquies Journal, volume 2? This is amazing! She was an adventurer in about the year 1400. These are her Dungeon collection?¡± ¡°Yes, she journaled her experiences as she visited all of the major dungeons of her time.¡± Jessica said, ¡°This is spectacular! It even has floor layouts and trap diagrams! Thank you, Marisol. Could I get a hug?¡± Marisol hugged Jessica¡¯s crystal. ¡°Did you want me to lay the rest out Jessica?¡± ¡°No, I want to think through each volume before starting the next. Otherwise, they¡¯ll start to all blend into each other. Please put volume 1 back in its box, I¡¯ll have you get out volume 2 once I¡¯ve finished ruminating on volume 1. Feel free to read them yourself.¡± Bess piped up, ¡°Oh, ruminating, someone¡¯s using fancy words.¡± Marisol said, ¡°That was a cow of a comment.¡± Jessica replied, ¡°You should just hoof it after saying that.¡± Bess continued with, ¡°What¡¯s your beef?¡± Marisol countered with, ¡°I¡¯d object, but there is too much at steak.¡± Jessica said, ¡°Bull!¡± Bess said, ¡°I think I steered you wrong with that.¡± Marisol countered with, ¡°The hide of you!¡± After a pause, Jessica said, ¡°OK, I¡¯ve run out of puns.¡± Fancy just said, ¡°Thank the heavens¡± and they all laughed. Once the journals had been put away, there was a pause, then Fancy harumphed again and said, ¡°Come on, the other present!¡± Jessica laughed and another wrapped present appeared on the floor of the Core Room. Again, she removed the wrapper, revealing an ebony box, again with brass hinges. This one was longer than the last present, but not as deep or wide. Fancy looked at Jessica¡¯s crystal and Jessica said, ¡°Go on, open it.¡± After a pause, she continued, ¡°If something¡¯s going to happen, its better off happening to you, anyway.¡± Again, Fancy froze, then gave Jessica another displeased look and opened the box. It was. However, filled with small glass vials and waxed paper packets. ¡°I¡¯m assuming that putting a book on the ground is how Jessica reads?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then there should be an instruction book¡­there it is, under the lid. Please put that down for Jessica to read.¡± Fancy looked at the underside of the lid and figured out how the book was attached. Unhooking the two straps, she removed the book, placing it on the ground. There was a half-minute of silence, then Jessica started to giggle. Fancy thought that it was an amazingly child-like sound. Over the next couple of minutes, however, that innocent giggle turned into a much deeper laugh, edged with, maybe not cruelty, but certainly more worrisome undertones. ¡°Thank you, Bess. This is a marvellous gift! Fancy, can you put everything back the way it was and put it on the ground? I¡¯ll need to absorb the whole thing and make a pattern out of it, then I will need you to put each vial or packet out separately, but we¡¯ll do that later.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a very extensive alchemist¡¯s toolkit of practical jokes.¡± Fancy looked really worried. ¡°Fancy, I¡¯ve come to like you over the last few days, even care for you. I expect that to grow to love over the next few years, but I also realise that I am totally dependent on your help. I¡¯m not going to do anything at this stage of our relationship to put that in jeopardy, unless you do something first, of course.¡± Fancy relaxed, until she had time to really think through exactly what Jessica had said. She realised that Jessica had just said that until Jessica decided the relationship was stable enough, she would not do anything, but as soon as she decided it was stable enough, anything could happen. Fancy said to Bess, ¡°I think I hate you. I¡¯ll know for sure in a few months.¡± The four of them chatted and exchanged stories for a few hours, before the girls left. By then the final groups were part way through their delves and no further groups were allowed into the vestibule area. As each instance became empty, Jesica reabsorbed it. Once the final Team finished, Jessica closed up the Dungeon and made the required changes to the floor plan. She added in the three portals and added text and pictographs next to them to explain the procedure to use the portals. She was about to respawn the instances when Fancy stopped her. ¡°I know I have already explained this, but I need to do so again as the portals will make it a lot harder for you than before. Just like when you first initiated the instances, you must make sure you mentally picture the whole floor before initialising it, but with the portals, you will find it a lot harder to do. Take your time, let each instance completely finish spawning before starting on the next one. This was relatively easy the first time, but the more ¡®fancy¡¯ bits you add into a floor, the harder it is to properly imagine it. If anything is blurry, especially near a portal, you run the risk of creating a leak in your soul. If you remember from my explanation last time, it is these leaks that will cause a Dungeon to eventually become unstable mentally. But one of the spells that I have access to will detect if there are any issues with your instances.¡± Jessica pulled out from her memory the checklist that Fancy had given her the first time and slowly followed it. She did find it much harder this time, with what felt like ¡®knots¡¯ in her mental image where the portals were. She took her time and worked through the process, watching each instance fully form. ¡°Done,¡± she finally announced. ¡°Well done, everything looks stable.¡± The rest of the maintenance work was straight forward, and was quickly completed, except for the new battlements near to where the new town would be. She knew it would look a little strange, but she limited herself to just the gates and towers on either side of the entrance. She would create the redoubts, curtain walls and the rest of the ablution blocks over the coming week, as she had spare mana. 16 – Aftermath Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 21st day of Sol, 1661 (Two hours before sunrise) ¡°So, Brwumph, you happy with our contract now?¡± The chief of the goblin tribe shifted from foot to foot. By now Jessica new what that meant, he was feeling really greedy, wondering if he could squeeze something extra, but was also starting to get really nervous of what Jessica could do to him if he crossed some line. He was smart enough to realise that there was a line there, but he wasn¡¯t smart enough to be able to tell where the line was. Fancy started to allow her frustration to show. The deal was a good one, allowing both parties to get what they wanted. The goblins would get employment, safety, food and an income, while the Dungeon would get a trainable workforce. All the required parts were in the contract, what the Dungeon expected from the Goblins, what the goblins expected from the Dungeon, plus the practical stuff, like the maximum population that the Dungeon would support, standards of accommodation, dispute handling procedures, wage scale, retirement benefits, maternity and paternity leave and health benefits. Brwumph finally gave in. ¡°Yes, me sign.¡± Fancy signed on behalf of the Dungeon and the tribe now became (officially) the Jungle Rocks Dungeon Goblin Tribe. The whole tribe were given a potion. There had never been an issue with the average goblin¡¯s intelligence, but their normal life was so focused on just surviving that the average goblin never had the chance to learn. Plus, poor nutrition had its normal affect in crippling adult skills, intelligence and concentration. The potion reversed all of those effects, allowing the goblin to reach their full potential, although how well they would do depended in the end on the goblin¡¯s willingness to stretch themselves. Most goblins came out the other side of the process with about a ten percent physical, emotional and intellectual improvement. They had been holding try outs for a number of jobs and they had some forty percent of the tribe earmarked for various types of employment. They now got issued their uniforms and assigned their jobs and shifts. Those who had to have contact with the ¡®public¡¯ were given a book to read. This magic book gave them a passable skill in four languages that were used locally and also numeracy. Some of the musically inclined were rostered on to the huge magical horns that were mounted in the bowels of the Dungeon. These allowed them to add random background noise to the various Dungeon instances. Horn calls, mumbled conversations, spooky noises, odd sounds of footsteps or rocks falling, all of these and more would now grace Jessica¡¯s Dungeon. Jessica¡¯s evil laughter could be heard fading off into the distance¡­ Others were trained up and would now be handling the food stands, while still others served on watch at the various fortifications that now graced the outside of the dungeon. Then there were a small group that were happy to clean and maintain the ablution blocks. Jessica calculated that the tribe could grow to four times its current size before she would start to run out of jobs, but by then there would be additional levels in her dungeon to soak up the excess. The final group were the ones that had Fancy laughing till her sides ached. A small groups of the best cooks did nothing else but practiced and honed their craft, especially the baking of bread. Once the third to fifth floors were opened, there would be a special bakery that would bake all of the bread for the whole complex. It would be designed so that the smell of freshly baked bread would permeate the whole area around the rest stop ¨C and also at random other locations throughout the levels. ¡°That is just cruel. Really, that is just so cruel.¡± Jessica replied, ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m not going to allow the Delvers to purchase from the bakery. They just have to find it first ¨C and the entrance will randomly change each day. Plus the chefs will be able to set their own menus, just to add to the fun. There just has to always be fresh bread.¡± Fancy had come up with what the guards would be. All of the Goblins on shift would have a pendent. Touching it (so long as they were on Dungeon ground) would cause two guards to be teleported to where they were. These would be animated suits of armour, which at level 5 were the strongest monsters that Jessica could currently make. The troops on the battlements would be a mixture of elvish archers and hobgoblin soldiers, all dungeon monsters. By the time that the Dungeon opened at sunrise, there were already over fifty people in the area of the Dungeon entrance and the goblin food carts were doing a roaring trade. All of the food was dungeon generated at the moment, and that would not change for at least another month. Jessica would make more profit off it once the goblins were raising and cooking the food, but it would just take time. Until she and Fancy were confident in the quality and supply, she would continue to just generate the food herself. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°I am expecting that we will be open continually from now on until we have some maintenance we have to do. Working around having teams in our dungeon for most of the whole day and night, I¡¯m estimating we¡¯ll rake in about 150 Dungeon points a day. This does not allow for deaths. This will allow me to level in about a week.¡± ¡°Good, that is better than I expected. We will just have to see how things go.¡± There was a disturbance at the entrance about two hours after opening. A group of warriors burst into the entrance area and muscled their way into the Vestibule. The overseer looked up from his table and said, ¡°Chief Fangslayer, I am sorry for your loss.¡± ¡°We are going next.¡± ¡°Hmm, and why would that be, Chief Fangslayer?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to tear this Dungeon apart and shatter the crystal for its cowardly killing of my son.¡± ¡°Hmm, I think that will be problematic for you in a few ways.¡± ¡°And what ways are those?¡± ¡°Firstly, that would require me giving my blessing to the change in order, and I am not going to do that. I have investigated the incident thoroughly and the only blame was found with Sarchan Fangslayer himself.¡± Mark Fangslayer tried to interrupt, but the Overseer just spoke over the top of him. ¡°Secondly, the Dungeon has already killed one team of Dungeon Raiders, and while they were not as high a level as you are, I am not authorising one of our main Chiefs to throw his life away. ¡°Thirdly, there are at least two very experienced people who would feel that they would be required to defend the Dungeon, were you to attack it, either of which would be able to wipe the floor with your party, see second point.¡± ¡°I am not scared of some baby Dungeon and its nannies.¡± ¡°I am, since one of them is Sun Maiden and the other is Death¡¯s Shadow.¡± ¡°As I was there, in the Dungeon Core Room, when the terrible incident occurred, I would also feel that honour would require me to stand with my two friends, were you to attack this Dungeon.¡± ¡°Ah, She-Who-Shatters-Bones, I was expecting you to turn up about now.¡± ¡°Overseer, I hope all finds you well.¡± The overseer nodded back to Marta. ¡°You were there? Then why did you not stop this insanity!¡± ¡°You misunderstand me. I was in the Dungeon Core room, with the Adventurer Evaluation Team, Sun Maiden, Death¡¯s Shadow, the Dungeon Core and her Assistant, as this mess unfolded. The Dungeon was projecting the scenes from all three instances of her Dungeon for us to watch at the time.¡± ¡°Your son caused his own death. Both through his actions and also by attacking his second for no valid reason.¡± ¡°Where is that traitorous coward? I will see him dead at least.¡± ¡°Again, no you will not. He is under my protection. Plus, there is a claim of wergild against your son for the death of another member of his party.¡± Mark Fangslayer¡¯s grief finally overcame his anger. ¡°Will you deny me all of my justice, all of my revenge?¡± ¡°Dismiss your people and let us sit down like civilised members of The Tribes and seek understanding.¡± The Overseer sighed. ¡°Chief Fangslayer, there were no winners here.¡± There was a pop, and Fancy appeared behind the Overseer. ¡°Overseer, I am Fancy, the Dungeon Assistant. Perhaps seeing the events would assist Chief Fangslayer to understand what happened?¡± The Overseer was surprised by Fancy appearing like that but did not show it. ¡°Would that be possible?¡± ¡°Surely.¡± Fancy fluttered over to a section of wall behind her and opened a concealed door, leading into a meeting room. The Overseer turned to one of his assistants and said, ¡°Please stand in for me while I mediate this.¡± Turning to another assistant, he said, ¡°Mophi, please bring Cardon to the room, as well as the Truth Magi.¡± Then the Overseer led Mark and Marta into the room and closed the doors. Fancy turned to them and said, ¡°The Dungeon will be listening in for any instructions that you give about the replay. I have set the image to the first time we saw Sachan. Also note, that while he was terribly rude and disrespectful to the Dungeon, she chose not to enact her revenge on him and those with him. What happened was without any direct or indirect influence of the Dungeon. You will find commands like ¡®skip forward, skip backward, mute sound, unmute sound, pause projection, stop projection, and so on will all work. If you require more, just ask the Dungeon. Do you require refreshments?¡± The Overseer said, ¡®Yes, please.¡± Fancy nodded and opened a concealed panel on the side of the room, displaying a modified vending machine (no coin slot, just buttons). She pushed the button for the drink twice and levitated the drinks that appeared over to the table. ¡°Goodbye.¡± Fancy disappeared with a pop. Once she was back in the Core Room, Jessica spoke into her mind, *Thanks, Fancy, that was well handled.* *Well, I was a little worried, as that party was of high enough level that they may have got to our Core. Let us see how this plays out.* ¡°Cardon has volunteered to submit to a truth spell, in fact he has already been subject to one last night when the scribes recorded everything. He should be here shortly.¡± ¡°Can we drop the formality here?¡± The Overseer looked at Chief Fangslayer and removed his outer robe. ¡°Certainly, old friend.¡± ¡°Mercier, did he really have to die?¡± ¡°Once the events started, we were all concerned that this would be the outcome.¡± Marta added, ¡°I knew him as a younger boy, one who was respectful and hard working, when did he begin to get so arrogant?¡± Mark sighed, ¡°It started a couple of years ago, when he became friends with the sons of Chief¡­¡± *This looks like it is going to work out. I think Marta is turning out to be a good friend.* Fancy answered, ¡°I agree.¡± 17 – Monty’s Story (Start of book part 2) Slopes of Mount Gursway, 15th day of Sol, 1661 Monty Fortier snapped back to consciousness fully aware of his surroundings, but he didn¡¯t know it. This was mainly because there was nothing around him. Replaying the last things he remembered, made him come to the conclusion that he was now a dungeon. Five minutes of experimentation and he had determined that he was, in fact, in a spherical hollow, approximately half a metre in diameter, in basalt. His crystal was a strange bluey-green colour, and a moments reflection brought the term to his memory. Turquoise, his crystal¡¯s colour was turquoise. It seemed to be about 30 millimetres tall. He stilled his mind like he had been taught and let his senses turn inward. What was different? What was new? What was missing? What was his awareness telling him? He had been changed. He knew he would be, but it was still a surprise to sense the differences. He finally understood what Dad had talked about, so much of his sense of self over the last couple of years had really been affected by being awash in a sea of hormones. Now that his ¡®dangly bits¡¯ were missing, he was able to see a little more clearly. He still identified with his pride in being able to sign his name in pee, especially since that skill had saved him and his sisters from a mindwipe, but he was able to see the world around him with a bit more clarity, more depth. He also recognised that Jessica had probably been beating him in a lot of things over the last few years but had been hiding it. He had apparently not wanted to see, how strange. *Now, concentrate. Need to come up with a plan, need to identify my priorities, need to set some goals.* Saying that out load, well, to be honest he didn¡¯t, but specifically forming the words, did make them a little clearer in his mind. *What needs to become my defining inspiration? My sisters need me. We are out in a very dangerous world, yes, we will have others to help, but it will be the three of us who need to stand. Love, duty and responsibility. I am choosing to be measured by these. I must be as strong as I can be in the long-term, so I will not compromise my long-term strength for a short-term gain. I must survive, I must thrive, so we can protect each other, and eventually enact our revenge.* Once he figured out how to do it, he would carve those words into the wall of his core room, Love * Duty * Responsibility * Strive * Protect * Repay. From what he knew, a spontaneous Dungeon would be able to use their instincts to get all of the way through to successfully running their dungeon. At some point, the spells that the Dungeon Assistants Guild ran should detect them and get them help, but that would just speed up the process. So, what did he, Monty, need to do here? Sit on his hands and wait for some assistant to turn up and hand him life on a platter, or did he have a responsibility to his sisters to get up off his backside and get this party started? *What is the first step that my instincts are saying we need to do?* Monty realised that he had a set of instincts that must have come with the transformation into a Dungeon Core. Using these instincts, he quickly found his basic status screen, with his dungeon status screen following soon after.
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: (untitled) Mana Recharge per min:
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge: 5/5
Level: 0 Recharge from rooms: 0
Used/Current DP: 0/0 Recharge from creatures: 0
DP Points Next Level: 100
Mana: 100/166 Extras from harvests: 0
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon Radius (m) 0.5 Dungeon rooms: 1
Max Radius: (m) 1 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon Area: (sq km) - DP¡¯s per month -
Dungeon Influence: (sq km) - Maximum Dungeon Level 1
Skills: (none)
Magics: (none)
*Here is the first step, what does this tell me* *Hmm, this doesn¡¯t look right. Why can¡¯t my mana regenerating pass 100?* Again, he allowed his instincts to guide him. His attention kept returning to the Dungeon Name being (untitled). Maybe that¡¯s the start? It would sort of make sense. *Hmm, what do I want as a name? What do I want as a dungeon?* Monty kept coming back to stories he¡¯d read where there was a place of wonder. In the stories, they were usually fairy grottos. *So ¡®Fairy Grotto¡¯? No. don¡¯t want to cause a fairy offence, maybe ¡®Grotto¡¯? Worth trying.* The name could not be accepted, he felt that it was already in use somewhere. *What about ¡®The Mountain Grotto¡¯, then.* Success! Monty was pleased to see his mana staring to tick upwards. *Why, though? Wait, 66 was my old mana limit, before I was changed. So, a dungeon gets a basic 100 points, plus whatever their old mana limit was, if applicable? Sounds fair, but why would it stop generating at 100? Obviously, the Dungeon Name is much more important than I think?*
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: The Mountain Grotto (Mana Recharge Per Minute)
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge 5 / 5
Level: 0 Recharge from rooms: 0
Used/Current DP 0 / 0 Recharge from creatures: 0
DP Point for next level 100
Current/Max Mana 166 This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. / 166 Extras from harvests: 0
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon radius: (m) 0.5 Dungeon rooms: 1
Max Radius: (km) 3 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon area: (sq m) 0.25 DP''s per month 0
Dungeon influence: (sq m) 0.27
*So, now I have mana, what can I do with it? Oh, yeah, what¡¯s my instincts telling me? To expand. How do I do this? Just push? OK, that worked, wow, my mana dropped and now I can ¡®see¡¯ a metre around me. So, initial goal is just to expand my influence. Let¡¯s get it out to a kilometre or so to start with, then we can see what else we can do.* Monty kept playing with his instincts and started to learn how to manage his tasks. He found he could run a task on ¡®automatic¡¯ and he could set lower boundaries on his mana and the task would automatically switch on and off around limits he set. But he wasn¡¯t happy with this, it seemed a bit ¡®jarring¡¯. Some more playing and he realised he could also adjust the rate that his mana would be used, allowing him to just run the task and it would use the mana that he regenerated to drive the task, keeping his mana pool at whatever consistent value he chose. This allowed him to ¡®play¡¯ using his active mana pool, while tasks would be completed automatically in the background. *This makes sense, otherwise the minutia of the job would take up all of my time.* He was nearing that kilometre radius and was pretty impressed with his new abilities. By now, the growth of his area of influence was basically automatic. He could run it as a background task while he thought through other things. Extending his ¡®feelings¡¯, he could detect a lot within the distance. There was a patch of ¡®blue¡¯, that his instincts were telling him to absorb. He did so and realised that it was an intrusion of gold into the nearby rock. That made him realise that he must be located near a current or former volcano, as the rocks he was seeing were all igneous. There was also a lot of plant and animal life on the surface, and his¡­ A ¡¯pop¡¯ sound interrupted his thoughts. A creature appeared in the small clear sphere around his Core. By its looks, he thought it was probably a fairy. The creature looked around with disdain and said, ¡°HelloIamBartholomewbrightwingandIhavebeenassignedasyourdungeonassistantandyouneedtostartbygivingyourdungeonanamewhatitisdoesnotmatterthenexpandingyourinfluenceforthenextfewhoursthenyouneedtocreateabasicdungeonoffoursquareroomsinarowsowecangetyousquaredaway.¡± Monty paused for a moment to parse what this creature, Batholomew if he understood him correctly, has said. He had come across a few people like this in his time in court, people who were more impressed by their own supposed importance than anyone else they met. ¡°I suppose I have to work with him. Or do I?¡± he thought. *Why?* Bartholomew blinked a couple of times, obviously trying to work out why this Dungeon Core was questioning him. ¡°Because I am the one here who knows what he is doing. You need to obey me, so we can quickly get you started on the path to Dungeonhood. Firstly, you need to accept this contract, so I can start getting you in order.¡± Bartholomew strode across to Monty¡¯s crystal and touched it. Monty reacted to this unauthorised touch. There was a sense of ¡®wrongness¡¯ about someone just touching him without first getting permission. It got worse as Monty started to examine this contract. He had read enough contracts, in fact he had been tutored in Contract Law, to know when he was being presented one that had been modified and he knew enough contract law to know that this contract was a bad one. He poked around and found he could call up not only the original contract that this bad one was based on, but also three other ¡®default¡¯ contracts. There was one that seemed to be like a maintenance agreement. The sort of thing that would be used for a tradesperson doing some important work around the castle. The second was a temporary agreement that allowed the Dungeon Assistant to work with a Dungeon until they decided if they were a good match. The third was the one that the contract had been based on and was a more permanent contract until such time as Monty reached level 15. The last one was what must be the ¡®lifelong¡¯ version of that once the courtship was done. Monty snorted in his own mind at his own sense of humour. He compared these contracts to the one that Bartholomew had somehow cobbled together. The contract was horrendous, basically making Monty the indentured slave to this Bartholomew Lightwing. At least the contract was basically illegal. Wait, it was illegal if they were located within the borders of the Kingdom of Surnae. Where are we actually? *I don¡¯t think so. What about if we just start with a basic contract so that we will know when one of us is lying?* Bartholomew said, ¡°No. You need to agree to this contract, otherwise you could be classed as a rogue dungeon.¡± *Can you at least tell me where in the world we are located?* ¡°No, you need to sign the contract before I can help you. There will be no help coming for you until this contract is signed. You will be here, all by yourself, alone, until you agree to the contract.¡± Monty thought to himself, *No way that¡¯s going happen. I wonder if I can just ignore him?* At that point, there was another ¡®pop¡¯ sound and another fairy appeared in the room. This was a female and darker coloured than Bartholomew. Batholomew was all light browns and golds, while this new one was black, purples and greys. The fairy looked around and saw Bartholomew sulking in a corner and her expression changed to one of puzzlement. ¡°Umm, Batholomew, is it not?¡± ¡°This is my Dungeon, it is already claimed, go away.¡± In an impressive example of physical control, the new fairy only raised her left eyebrow. ¡°Right, Bartholomew it is. I am just popping in to give you and the Dungeon a couple of pieces of information you will both need.¡± Turning to the crystal, Fancy said, ¡°Hello, my name is Fancy and I am Jessica¡¯s Dungeon Assistant. May I know the name of whom I am addressing?¡± *Monty.* Fancy was surprised at the level of hostility she was getting off the Dungeon Core. ¡°Jessica wanted you to know that she is located about 15 kilometres to the south-east of you, while your other sister is about the same distance to your east. May I approach your crystal and touch you? I would like to offer you a basic contract so we can help coordinate everything to start with. I will include a clause allowing you to sever the contract whenever you feel you need to.¡± Bartholomew shouted, ¡°No!¡±, while Monty said, ¡°Approach.¡± Fancy had a puzzled look on her face as she walked over and touched Monty¡¯s crystal. She offered Monty a basic communications contract, with some added clauses to allow Monty to control and terminate the contract if he felt he needed to. She kept giving Bartholomew strange looks, as she felt the contract being agreed to and it gave her a ¡®taste¡¯ of Monty¡¯s current mood. Yes, there was certainly a lot of tension between Monty and Bartholomew. ¡°Bartholomew, are you aware of the name of the Dungeon here?¡± ¡°No, and it does not matter.¡± Hmm, looks like sulking, smells like sulking, tastes like sulking, so it must be sulking. ¡°Bartholomew, I would like to introduce you to Monty Fortier, eldest child to their Royal Majesties, Queen Camilla Fortier and King Duniel Fortier III.¡± Turning to Monty, she continued, ¡°Right, I am off to see your other sister, then I need to get back to Jessica.¡± With a pop, she disappeared. With a snort, Monty decided that yes, he could just ignore Bartholomew. Monty had a firm design for his dungeon in mind. It would be a spiral, starting with a small, fifteen metre diameter circular room for an entrance. There would be an anti-clockwise spiral going out from there, running through a series of ever larger rooms and finishing with a sixty-five metre diameter room. Each of the rooms would have a similar sort of design, starting with a tree in the middle of each room. He would be going with an overall design theme of ¡®fairy grotto¡¯. Access to his Core Room would be via a hidden passageway on the outside of the tunnel between the last two rooms. He now added another job to his multitasking, beginning to hollow out his Dungeon. Every now and then, he would ask a question of Batholomew. At first he would get no answer, then over time an occasional grunt. Each answer providing a little more clarity, a little more sense to this strange world that Monty had been thrown into. He drew comfort from the few words he got from Fancy, allowing him to know his sisters were safe and working towards their own future as well. There was a large ¡®pop¡¯ sound in his Core Room, which he had now expanded to about 10 metres in diameter, and a creature appeared in the room. It looked sort of like a large version of Bartholomew, but with a much more angular face and body. In the back of her mind, he thought ¡®sprite¡¯. ¡°Bartholomew, report!¡± ¡°Master, the Dungeon has been completely uncooperative and unwilling to share even a basic contract. As much as I am pained to suggest it, I feel they need to be culled.¡± ¡°Hmm, let us see what they have to say about this.¡± ¡°No, Master, do not trust them! They have done nothing other than lie and mislead me since I arrived.¡± The sprite snorted and moved over to Monty and asked, ¡°May I touch you, young Core?¡± *Certainly.* Monty offered the supervisor a basic contract that would stop both parties from misleading the other and could be terminated by either party. Monty showed the sprite all of his interactions with Bartholomew, and the various contracts that he had offered Monty. *Patience, little one, this will be resolved quickly.* The sprite took out his phone and dialled a number. ¡°Doug? Remember that conversation we had late last year, where you wanted a lead to start investigating? I think I have one. Yes, can you come now? I will send you the coordinates of the Dungeon Core concerned. Yes, see you soon.¡± The sprite winked at Monty, doing so in a way that Batholomew would not notice, then turned to Batholomew and said, ¡°I see the problems that you have had. Give me a few minutes and we will straighten all this out. You know that us supervisors can force the Assistant-Core contracts, do you not?¡± Monty was shocked, but then realised that through the link with the supervisor, who¡¯s name he now knew was ¡®Brian¡¯, he could tell that Brian was lying. Why would he lie to Bartholomew? Unless he was trying to keep him calm while¡­ Another ¡®pop¡¯ sounded, and another creature appeared in the core room. This one was a hobgoblin, in full armour. Brian said, ¡°Quick, Doug, secure the fairy and stop them from teleporting.¡± Doug threw a tiny dart at Bartholomew, which hit him, burying itself into his abdomen. He obviously tried to portal away but found his magic uncooperative. Doug strode over and put a set of restraints on the fairy, then looked at Brian. Brian said, ¡°Bartholomew here, tried to lock this young core into an abusive contract, similar to the ones you described. I¡¯ve reviewed the Core¡¯s memory, and I am convinced that this fairy has been coached by the group you suspected existed. I release Bartholomew Lightwing into your custody to allow you to investigate the incidents that have happened here in Monty Fortier¡¯s Dungeon.¡± Doug nodded, thanked Brian, and disappeared with Batholomew and a ¡®pop¡¯. ¡°I apologise, young core, for what has happened here. We Dungeon Assistants do pride ourselves on helping our charges, not trying to enslave them.¡± He looked around the core room and asked, ¡°Has this incident done any harm to you and your dungeon?¡± *Not really. I¡¯ve expanded myself out to the full 3-kilometre radius while Bartholomew thought I¡¯d been sulking. I have started the hollowing out of my first level and was just starting to figure out how the monsters and traps worked.* A grin split Brian¡¯s face. ¡°Oh, I am really looking forward to the impact you and your two sisters make in the Dungeon community over the next few years. Could I get a peek at what your dungeon plan will look like?¡± Monty shared an image of the initial sketch of the first floor, and Brian asked a couple of questions about the design. ¡°What will be your basic theme for this floor? Have you decided?¡± *Yes, Fairy Grotto.* The grin on Brians face got wider. ¡°Fancy, Jessica¡¯s Assistant, suggested an Assistant that might be a good match for you. Is it all right if I call them over and we¡¯ll see if you find them acceptable for the initial contract. Normally, I would leave you and your new assistant alone for about 6 months to allow to work things out, but considering what has happened, I will drop back in about a month. Is this OK for a starting plan?¡± *So, are you nervous because of what has been done to me, or because of who my parents are?* Without any hesitation, Brian said, ¡°Both.¡± Monty snorted and said, *Let¡¯s give this a try.* Brian pulled out his phone and dialled a number. ¡°Sharon? It is Brian here. It was actually worse than I thought, so I will need Jeremy to teleport over now so I can confirm things will be acceptable. Yes, I am sure, why are you not sure? Could you do me a favour and call up Jeremy¡¯s school records? You were basing your reaction of his academic summary? Have a look at his actual results. Notice something? Yes, I noticed the same.¡± Brian realised something, ¡°Actually, could you call up another student, Bartholomew Lightwing and see if we have the same sort of discrepancy?¡± After a moment¡¯s pause, Brian said, ¡°Wait, you are saying that the two summaries have been swapped? ¡°Interesting. ¡°Please contact Doug Slasher, over at Dungeon Enforcement and let him know. he is investigating some discrepancies and will probably find this piece of news very interesting. Please do not tell or share these details with anyone else until Doug has had a chance to investigate. Thank you. ¡°Bye.¡± After a moment, Monty said, *So you expect this to be part of a wider conspiracy?* ¡°Expect? No. Starting to think that it is possible? Maybe.¡± *Tell, me. Will I be able to mentally speak with everyone?* ¡°No. it is a peculiarity of the magic around Dungeons that the Core can speak with any potential Assistant in their core room. Also, certain entities, like me, are able to. Once you accept a contract for an Assistant, you will lose this ability, except with them. We postulate that it was set up this way to facilitate the Dungeon/Assistant bond.¡± There was another ¡®pop¡¯ and a young sprite appeared in the room. He looked around and first bowed to Monty, then Brian, and said, ¡°Jeremy Farsight, reporting as requested.¡± ¡°Jeremy, there has been a bit of a mix-up that we are still investigating. Basically, you should have been offered first attempt to bond with Monty here, but your academic records and those of another Assistant were mixed up and he was assigned instead. As they were really not a match for Monty, things quickly escalated in a bad way, and I ended up getting involved. There is a bit of an investigation now happening, so I would appreciate you refraining from discussing this case until we can figure out what happened. It is not super-secret, just we would prefer an unhindered playing field why we sort things. I am going to give you both an hour to chat and them I will be back to confirm everything is OK. Is this suitable for both of you?¡± After getting agreement, there was a pop and Brian was gone. ¡°Well, this is awkward. Anyway, my name is Jeremy, and you can trust me, because I¡¯m a Dungeon Assistant!¡± Jeremy tilted his head to the side in puzzlement. While that was a fairly poor attempt at humour, the reaction he got did not seem to match. ¡°Have I done something wrong?¡± *No, I¡¯m just a little offput because of what happened before you arrived. So, do you usually try to ¡®wing¡¯ your jokes like that?* ¡°Are you saying it was a ¡®fairy¡¯ poor attempt at humour?¡± *¡¯Deep down¡¯ it may have been funny.* ¡°I didn¡¯t think the humour was that ¡®buried¡¯.¡± *I can ¡®dig it¡¯.* By the end of the exchange, Jeremy had a huge grin on his face and Monty¡¯s attitude had lightened. ¡°Right, Monty, how did you want to proceed? Start with a basic contract, then, if you don¡¯t mind, share with me your thoughts and plans and I can offer what advise I can so you can decide if we are enough of a match to go forward?¡± *Sound¡¯s fine.* ¡°Monty, may I touch you?¡± *Best offer I¡¯ve had all week.* Jeremy snorted. 18 – Beginning of a Monty The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 17th day of Sol, 1661 It has been a whirlwind. He had accepted Jeremy as his new ¡®bestie¡¯, they had reviewed the design and Jeremy had simply accepted it with one minor change. Jeremy¡¯s studies into Delver psychology had him point out that by having a much better hidden entrance to his core room next to the entrance to another hidden room, it would actually hide it better. A delver having found a secret, would automatically look everywhere except there, for other secrets. Monty compared his first sketch of his dungeon with the current plan and was excited. *So, room content.* Jeremy thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Really, whatever you want. There are a couple of extra restrictions on your first dungeon level, basically, each room has to have ¡®something¡¯. Your options are Puzzle, Monster and Treasure and each room has to have at least one of these.¡± *Difficulty level?* ¡°I have done some joint projects with Fancy, so I expect that her coaching will see Jessica¡¯s dungeon sitting right in the ¡®sweet spot¡¯ for new dungeons.¡± *Sweet spot?* ¡°A new dungeon generally gets the maximum growth when they are rated A-3. That¡¯s Dungeon level A, a beginner¡¯s level, grade 3. Statistically, a dungeon at this level will attract the most new delvers and then settle into a good, long-term growth rate.¡± There discussion was interrupted by a ¡®pop¡¯. ¡°Jeremy!¡± ¡°Fancy!¡± The two Assistants quickly caught up with each other. ¡°Sorry, Monty, but we went through college together, but haven¡¯t seen each other since. Now Monty, you have full approval from the Dungeon Assistants Association to contact your father and mother and let them know what is happening. From what I understand, your parents are sending down a team and will be establishing a Dungeon Town in the area. They will also be sending down your Aunt Bess? She will be asking to interview you and Sara so they can try and confirm what happened. Jeremy, here is the contact details for Queen Camilla Fortier. She has also asked all of us assistants to feel free to contact them in case of an emergency. ¡°Sara is going fine and both Sara and Jessica have asked me to not share any details of each other¡¯s Dungeons. They want to surprise each other. We¡¯re aiming towards getting the three of you to meet areas of influence in a central location as soon as practical. For the moment, please do not spread your area of influence past 7 kilometres, until the three assistants can finish a survey. I know that the three of you are triplets, but you all have been changed into Dungeons, and Dungeons react differently around other Dungeons. Let us do everything right the first time. Anyway, I am off to drop in on Sara, then back to Jessica. You know what these Dungeons are like, Jeremy, you can¡¯t leave them alone for too long without them getting into trouble.¡± A ¡¯pop¡¯ announced Fancy has left. *That was intense. I¡¯m exhausted after just listening to that monologue.* ¡°The early days are fairly intense. Once the Dungeon is open, things can slow down a little bit. Did you want to give your mother a call?¡± With a sigh, Monty answered, *Yes. It will be good to hear her voice again. Wait, how will she hear me?* ¡°She will not be able to hear you. I will have to be the intermediary for the moment. Somewhere around level 5 you should be able to start generating your own voice.¡± *Yes, please call her then, as I am sure she is worried. This will be Queen Camilla¡¯s private line.* Jeremy dialled the number and it was answered a couple of rings later. ¡°Yes? I don¡¯t recognise this caller, so this had better be important.¡± ¡°Queen Camilla. I am calling on behalf of your son, Monty. My name is Jeremy and I am his Dungeon Assistant.¡± ¡°Right, then there will be a code word he can give you.¡± ¡°Monty, there¡¯s a code word?¡± *Chartreuse Avenger.* ¡°Your Majesty? He says ¡®chartreuse avenger¡¯.¡± ¡°I understand that he will not be able to speak to me yet, but that he can hear me?¡± ¡°Umm, I will just put you on speaker. Yes, that is right, when he gets to about level 5 as a Dungeon, he will be able to start to be heard by others.¡± Queen Camilla and Jeremy chatted for about five minutes through Jeremy, then his Dad joined the conversation and Jeremy chatted for a few more minutes. *Well, Mom, Dad, got a dungeon to build, so I will catch up with you later. Is it OK if I give you call every week or so?* Jeremy repeated what Monty had said, feeling a little uncomfortable until he realised that Monty was probably messing with him. He gave the Core a glare and had his suspicions confirmed when he got a response from Monty. *Grin.* ¡°Of course it is, sweetheart. I just need to confirm some things with Jeremy before I go. Oh, and your dad wants to know what Dungeon theme you will be going with for your first level.¡± ¡°Fairy Grotto.¡± ¡°Looking forward to seeing it. And your dad wants you to know that your birthday cake was really nice.¡± ¡°Monty says, ¡®Thank him for that consideration, it had been eating at me¡¯.¡± Queen Camilla laughed. ¡°Right, Jeremy, firstly, do you mind if I know your full name?¡± ¡°Jeremy Farsight, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°When did you graduate from Assistant School, and what school?¡± ¡°Last year, ma-am, 1660. I graduated from the Petal School of Dungeon Assistants. I was in the same year as Fancy. Are you intending to access my academic record, ma-am?¡± ¡°Of course. Will that be a problem?¡± ¡°Possibly? My supervisor mentioned that there had been some sort of mix-up with my records and the Assistant that had been first offered to Monty. All of the underlying records were correct, but the Academic Summaries had somehow been swapped.¡± ¡°That leads well into the next question, who is your supervisor?¡± ¡°Master Dungeon Assistant Brian Sharpwing.¡± Queen Camilla then confirmed Monty¡¯s geographic location and asked if his Aunt Bess could drop in soon to interview him for the investigation into his kidnapping. *Please tell her that I am looking forward to catching up with my pledge-protector, Death¡¯s Shadow.* Jeremy visibly trembled, then repeated what Monty had said. ¡°Really, sweetheart? Dropping news like that on your Dungeon Assistant?¡± *As dad taught me, you¡¯ve got to get your fun where you can.* This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Queen Camilla laughed. ¡°Well, your Aunt Marisol is part of the forward team that will establish a Dungeon Town between the three of you.¡± *Aunt Marisol, otherwise known as ¡®the Sun Maiden¡¯* ¡°Your Aunt Monique will be running the investigation into your kidnapping until Bess is back in the capital. By the way, was Drengle alive when you were transformed?¡± ¡°Eh, yes. Dazed, but alive. So, from that comment I can assume that he was reported dead by the breaching team?¡± ¡°Yes, sweetheart.¡± ¡°Hmm, that makes no sense. The breach through the tower wall wasn¡¯t anywhere near him, but he was too dazed to have put up any fight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why your Aunt Bess is going down there to interview you all and your Aunt Monique is leading the investigation.¡± *Lady Monique Bannersol, The Iron Rose. You need to tell my mom about the discrepancies around Batholomew.* *I understand.* ¡°Queen Camilla? Monty is asking me to fill you in on the issues that arose before I took over as his assistant, in case any of this ends up being involved¡­¡± After the explanation, Queen Camilla agreed that it looked like it was a completely separate thing, but she would keep the information in mind. It did not fit into the overall pattern around the kidnapping, but was a worrying development never the less. Basically, the timing was not really possible. His mom confirmed some other details, then ended the call. *Now, we were discussing growth rates before all of that. So, what¡¯s the second-best rate?* Jeremy blinked and thought for a moment. ¡°Somewhere around A-6. The dungeon will not be as popular, but the more brutal aspects of this difficulty level will mean a higher death rate, that will compensate for the lower popularity. *Have you heard of product differentiation?* ¡°No?¡± *When you have competing products, each product¡¯s success will depend on it standing out from its competitors. So, one might be available in more colours, one might be cheaper, one might be associated with some Royal. Get the idea?* ¡°Yes, I can see that.¡± *By the way, do you think that three dungeons within kilometres of each other with a nearby Dungeon Town sponsored and backed by the Kingdom might prove to be a little bit on the popular side?* Jeremy was speechless for a moment. ¡°More than popular, there¡¯s going to be an avalanche of Delvers, especially as you three grow and expand.¡± *Now, we¡¯ll let Jessica take the hit as the ¡®responsible¡¯ one. Sara is by far the best of us at magic itself, plus puzzles and their equivalent, so I¡¯m expecting her Dungeon will be the most intellectually challenging. That leaves me to be the brutal one. I¡¯m sure time will mellow me, especially once I can talk to my sibling again, but for the moment, I¡¯m letting what has happened to be my motivation and inspiration.* Gold scrollwork started to appear in a band around the room. On one side of the room the words ¡®Love¡¯, ¡®Duty¡¯ and ¡®Responsibility¡¯ appeared. All done in gold as well. On the other side, ¡®Strive¡¯, ¡®Protect¡¯ and ¡®Repay¡¯ appeared. ¡°You also need to have balance in your life, otherwise you may break.¡± *I do understand. Really I do, but that will have to wait until after I can feel my siblings again.* Monty had a table grow out of the floor. The table was filled with slightly damp sand and a scale model of his first floor moulded itself on the table. *This is called a sand table, and is used by a lot of armies to plan their campaigns while in the field. How do you think the first level looks in its basic form?* ¡°This is a good idea. You layout is fine, it will, of course, come down to how you fill the rooms. Expect that once the first floor is finished, but before you open to the public, you will want to firstly, clear as much vegetation as you want from the surface. This will give you a good boost towards advancing your level, as individual, unique plant and animal life will give you experience towards your next level, known as ¡®Dungeon Points¡¯ or DP¡¯s. Secondly, move your Core Room down so your influence area only just covers your dungeon. This will allow you to expand your influence into the ground instead of into the air. Anything blue you see is a harvestable resource. Red are sentient beings and grey are undead.¡± *I understand.* ¡°What do you want to do now?¡± *What if start on the construction of the floor. I can get that ticking along as a background thing, and maybe we can start designing the rooms?* ¡°I¡¯d enjoy that.¡± The sand table with the floor layout on it moved to the edge of the Core Room and another table appeared. *Room 1, I¡¯m going to put a large tree in the centre of all of the rooms on this level and have the walls look like the walls to a grotto. I was thinking that we probably don¡¯t really want to ease people into things, why not go hard from the first?* ¡°It is frowned upon to bury a Delve at the first room, but if you are going to go hard, it would be appropriate to do something that makes them need to change their underwear after the first room. What did you have in mind?¡± *Well, I¡¯ve started absorbing the land above us, and I came across this interesting little creature.* Monty showed Jeremy a house sparrow. *Buried in the archive of monsters that I have as a Dungeon, is it¡¯s cousin, the Piranha Sparrow.* This time, the image was of something out of the diseased imagination of a taxidermist. The mouth and teeth of a piranha on a house sparrow. *So, the 8 metre diameter room will start with a small flock of house sparrows fluttering around the room, alighting on the shoulders and heads of the Delve. Then the piranha sparrows fly in and start to attack. The first blood spilt will put the flock into a feeding frenzy, basically turning them into berserkers.* *As a flock, they¡¯re classed as a level 1 monster, but as they are so small, any attack on one will probably also target the delver they are currently attacking. I want to have twenty in the flock, but I know that¡¯s too high.* Jeremy sighed. ¡°Maximum of 6, no, maximum of 20, ,minimum of 5 and the number will be half of the total number of levels of delvers, rounded up. That way, the threat will scale, pun intended.¡± *Thought it was fishy.* Jeremy grinned, then continued, ¡°So, as soon as we get more than 10 levels of Delvers, we will get more than 5 monsters. Say, 4 by level 2 delvers, plus a single level 3. Totals 11 levels of delvers, halved is 5.5, rounded up is 6, so 6 Piranha Sparrows.¡± *So, the same number of normal sparrows?* Jerimy thought for a moment, ¡°OK, I can see what you are doing here. This will increase the confusion.¡± *The treasure for the monster should be, what, a bronze coin?* ¡°Sounds too high. Maybe two to four copper per piranha? But do something with the normal sparrows?¡± *That¡¯s easy. Every single house sparrow left alive at the end of the room will drop a bronze coin.* Jeremy was silent for a moment, then burst out laughing. ¡°That is so rich. The greedier they are, the more they will have to fight to keep as many normal sparrows alive as possible. That should give you an opening room of A-5, just where we want to be.¡± *The next room will be 9 metres wide, again with a tree in the middle.* ¡°Monsters?¡± *Animated Poisonous Thorn bushes, with a pit trap on either side of the central tree? Will that be hard enough?* ¡°Not quite.¡± *Animated Poisonous Thorn bushes, with three or four giant pitcher plants?* ¡°Yes, but only mild paralytic poison on the bushes and mild acid in the pitcher plants.¡± *Can I have a central treasure chest, rather than individual drops?* ¡°Yes, again that is fine.¡± *I was thinking about doing a random drop of coins and a couple of semi-precious stones.* ¡°3x6-sided dice of copper coins, 2x6-sided dice of bronze coins, 1d2-sided dice of silver coins and 1x2-sided dice of polished semi-precious cabochons?¡± *Yeh, that would work. I think the higher treasure is in keeping with the harder dungeon, plus it will encourage delvers to greed.* *Room 3, 11 metres wide. Do you have a favourite lower level monster?* ¡°The Oil Bat.¡± *Oh, I wonder what we can do with a ridiculously flammable bat that spits out balls of flammable oil? Maybe combine it with a bunch of even more flammable Flameberry bushes? Let¡¯s have the room 100% dark, so they have to light their torches? Are we going to have us some fun, or what?* ¡°If we spread the bushes out throughout the room, especially if we screen them behind other vegetation, there can be a good chance that they will not spot them and any one bush going up in flames will cause a chain reaction, setting them all off.¡± The discussion continued, with them deciding on individual element monsters to use in the next few rooms. Room 4 got ice lizards and ice-berry vines. Room 5 got air wasps and dandelion monsters, with a single giant chimpanzee that will be throwing air wasp nests at the Delvers. Room 6 got Burrower Worms, Sod Thrower Vines and Stalactite Monsters. By the time they got to room 7, a 24 metre diameter room, they both thought a change was required. The room would house a destruction of lynx. *Destruction?* ¡°It¡¯s a general term for a group of wild cats. The cat version of a pack of dogs, but only for wild, not domesticated cats.¡± *OK, learn something new¡­* ¡°So, is it wrong to want to put nothing else dangerous in this room except for the lynx? With the Delvers constantly expecting something, having nothing is going to play with their mind.¡± *Now, the hidden room, room 8, is going to be a puzzle room.* *I suppose technically it isn¡¯t a puzzle room as much as it is a skill test room. There will be eight tubes around the room, each with a maximum of three bouncy balls. The gravity affecting the pillars will be dependent upon how many delvers there are, with more delvers equalling balls that drop faster. Basically, they have to try to keep all of the balls in the air at the same time, without letting any of them bounce. There will be a jet of air in each of the tubes, helping the balls stay in the air ¨C but also messing with their timing. The aim will be to get all of the balls in the air for 5 seconds, before the five minute timer runs out.* ¡°Sound easy.¡± *Well, it would be, except that if any of the balls bounce, the second ball in that tube will also be released. If this second ball bounces, then the third will be released. Take any of the balls out of their tube and all three balls in all eight tubes are released. So, the longer they go before solving the room, the more balls they will have to keep up in the air at once. We¡¯ll give them a nice big timer on the wall, counting down from 5 minutes.* ¡°That just leaves distractions. Bells, lights, etc.¡± *Deep, resounding bell to start with, and every thirty seconds after that. Start a light bell count every second for the last minute, and go up to twice a second for the last 30 seconds. Would it be over the top to also start the counter flashing for those last 30 seconds?* ¡°Yes! Which is why we will do it!¡± The pair of them laughed together. ¡°That just leaves the last room.¡± *I think I want to go with a boss room.* ¡°OK, what monster were you thinking of?¡± *A Rusalka, but then realised that it might be a little too powerful for the first floor.* ¡°You think?¡± Jeremy shook his head. A Rusalka would be frowned upon if found anywhere before about the 6th level of a Dungeon. *So, I¡¯ll use a water nymph instead. I¡¯ll drag a river through the room, maybe have it shoot out of the wall and fall into a central pool, next to the tree. That should stir up the water, have blinding mist everywhere and a bit of noise to distract the Delvers. She will be supported by Giant Frogs and Giant Salamanders.* ¡°Toxic skin?¡± *On the Salamanders? Of course.* 19 – Intrusions The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661 The Dungeon Floor had been finished. Monty had started on the decoration, installing the trees and plants into each of the rooms. In addition, the decorations around the outside of the room, merged into the walls of the room, forming the outside border. It looked like impenetrable forest, but was actually stone. The monsters were generating as they completed the rest of their final checklists. Which just left this final walkthrough that Jeremy insisted on, then Monty could open the entranceway and officially become a Dungeon. That opening was scheduled for the 19th, although the first Delvers would not go through until the morning of the 20th. Sara was apparently waiting until the morning of the 21st for her first Delvers. Jeremy¡¯s phone rang. ¡°Yes, Fancy? ¡°No, we have not. ¡°OK, what is the problem? ¡°No, you have to be kidding me. ¡°Why? ¡°Is the King and Queen aware? ¡°What will you be doing? ¡°What about you? ¡°Can we help? ¡°OK, see you on the other side.¡± Jeremy hung up the call and stared into the middle distanced with no reaction on his face for a good five minutes. He blinked and shook his head, returning to the now. Monty looked at Jeremy and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you OK?¡± ¡°We are under attack. Well specifically, Jessica and Fancy are under attack.¡± *Give me the details, now!* ¡°Jessica has just identified a team of Dungeon Raiders that are about to attack them. They are specifically trying to capture Jessica and kill Fancy. They are then planning to target you tomorrow and Sara the next day.¡± *Targeting us specifically? Are mom and dad aware?* ¡°Yes, and yes. Your Aunt Bess is in the area, but has not arrived yet.¡± Monty thought for a few minutes, then decided what the priorities had to be. *I¡¯m assuming that Jessica will contact us if we can offer any assistance?* ¡°Yes.¡± *Please take this as authorising you to offer any and all assistance asked for. Let¡¯s start this walk through then, and we¡¯ll take the opportunity to identify all points that we can strengthen our own defences. Before we start, can you ring Bess for me and let her know the situation and that Jessica is the priority. Neither Sara nor myself are in any danger until at least tomorrow.* ¡°I don¡¯t have her phone number.¡± Monty rattled of a series of numbers and letters. *My password for her will be ¡®Oil of Madness¡¯ and please give her the code word, ¡®Plague of Rage.¡¯ That will let her know that there is an active plot against us. Answer any questions she has and thanks for your help.* This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Ten minutes later, everything was enacted, and Monty was reminding Jeremy that they needed to do that walk through. Jeremy said, ¡°How can you concentrate like this at this time?¡± Jeremy lite up the second half of the sign he had written on the Core Room wall, ¡®Strive * Protect * Repay¡¯. *Until I am open, what I can do for my family is limited. I need to be open, and I need to be an effective dungeon. I also need to do that as a responsible Dungeon. I cannot step in and help Jessica today, so I need to become everything I need to be so I can help the next time.* Jeremy looked at Monty¡¯s core for a moment, grunted, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, then.¡± There were about ten items that needed a minor adjustment and they had identified a further twenty changes that would add to the defence of the Dungeon in case of attack. Monty went over the plans for the defences near the Dungeon Town, coming up with designs for the Ablution Blocks and walls that fit with his overall look. *Have you given any thought to where we should go for level 2?* ¡°I have been picking up some hints from the other assistants that they are both looking at multiple floors soon. You, know, combined two or three floor, non-linear Dungeons. Did you want to do something similar?¡± *I¡¯m not feeling it. Let¡¯s wait until level 5 or 6 and then do something really big. Epic.* ¡°What about an underwater level?¡± *Definitely not. However, a half underwater one, has promise. I¡¯ll start playing around with the layout and see how far I get before Jessica resolves her little issue.* A few hours later, a group of humanoids turn up outside where his Dungeon Entrance was going to be. *They look to be werebats?* ¡°Well, whoever they are, they are in bad shape.¡± Even many of the children were injured and everyone looked exhausted. ¡°Do you want me to go and do a first contact? See what they want?¡± *Yes, just be careful. I¡¯m only just starting to get you house trained, don¡¯t want to have to start again.* Jeremy snorted and went off to see what the visitors wanted. It turned out that the tribe were indeed werebats. Like others of the various were species, like werewolves and werebears, the werebats were mostly human looking in their normal state. All adults could also change into a ¡®full¡¯ creature, in this case a giant bat. Some of the more warrior types also had the ¡®transition¡¯ form, which was a cross between bat and humanoid form. They had incredible hearing, the ability to fly, see in the dark by using sonar and many had a special ¡®sonic attack¡¯, which would temporarily disable most opponents. There were only about sixty left of the original tribe of over 200. The previous tribal leader had decided to make a bid to become the ruling tribe in their area. He had failed miserably. There were still 4 elders left alive, all of them were in a bad mental state. The 18 months of war had worn them away to the point where they were barley functional. The tribe was basically being run by the surviving head scout, Entari. Both of her parents had died at different times, while facilitating the escape of the rest of the tribe, leaving the rest of the tribe looking up to her as a hero. ¡°Why should we inherit all of the calamity from your tribe by helping you?¡± Asked Jeremy. With a sigh, Entari responded, ¡°Because this is our last hope? Even those two tribes that declared blood feuds with us, thanks to that useless excuse of a chief we use to have, want us to take this. His brilliant plan was to wait for the other two tribes to send out their warbands to attack us, then attack their camps while their warriors were away. If he had been even a somewhat competent leader, or hadn¡¯t split our forces to attack both camps at the same time, we may not have been routed by the women and retired warriors left behind in the two camps. The tribes have tracked us down and told us we were so pathetic that they didn¡¯t want to kill us all off but are required by tribe law, now that the leader died ¨C running away.¡± ¡°If we swear ourselves to a Dungeon, we cease to exist as our old tribe and become a new tribe under the Dungeon. They, our enemies, are fine with that and will cease to hunt us if that occurs. In fact, it was them that told us about the Dungeons opening in this area. So, we are dead if you do not accept us, so name your terms and allow us to serve you as you see fit.¡± The air of despair and abject hopelessness hung over them like a swamp¡¯s miasma, chocking off joy, hope and any thoughts of a future. Neither Jeremy nor Monty knew what to do at that point. They both understood enough tribal law to know that this situation is possible, and that the solution would probably be enough to save the tribe. In the end, Monty was pragmatic enough to realise that if nothing else, it would give them the labour they needed to ensure that projects would work. Monty prepared a contract that was more than fair, and Jeremy left it with the tribe, for them to read and talk through it and see if they thought it was workable. Jeremy led them through to their new quarters and explained, ¡°Dungeons think long term ¨C generations - not days, weeks, years. A contract that would not be just as workable with you, but also your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren is useless to us. If it is acceptable to your people, then we will have a signing ceremony in a day or two and you can all become ¡®The Mountain Grotto Dungeon Werebat Tribe¡¯.¡± 20 – Resolutions The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661 Later that day, Jeremy got another call from Fancy, letting him know that all three members of the kill team were dead. Fancy dropped over a couple of hours later with a present for Monty. ¡°Monty, I, Fancy, Dungeon Assistant to Jessica, Dungeon Core of the Jungle Rocks Dungeon, have been charged by my Dungeon with delivering this thank you. Jessica has been humbled by your heart-felt desire to help her in these trying times, so wanted to officially recognise that she is in your debt. Separate to this, Jessica also grants you this Dungeon Shard. On it is a complete record of her first level as of today. She hopes that this symbol of cooperation will become a regular thing between her and her two sorely missed siblings. It is also to officially notify you that Jessica¡¯s Dungeon, the Dungeon Rocks Dungeon has been reviewed by representatives of a certified Adventurer¡¯s Guild team and has been awarded the rank of A-3. ¡°On a more personal note, Jessica wanted me to let you know that we¡¯ve picked up a tribe of Goblins as contracted servants and will be using them to open food vendors, among other things.¡± *This seems very formal, is this ¡®a thing¡¯?* Jeremy thought for a moment and replied, *Yes. It is a thing. Jessica has just honoured you, effectively saying that she owes you ¡®one favour¡¯. Depending on how your relationship is between Dungeons, that could be incredibly valuable, or ridiculously useless.* *Please pass on my thanks, and that I found the whole thing quite ¡®Fancy¡¯.* Giving Monty the ¡®stink-eye¡¯, Jeremy delivered the message. Fortunately, Jeremy could see the corners of Fancy¡¯s mouth twitching, so she took it well. Monty encouraged Jeremy to talk to Fancy, getting the story behind the Dungeon Raiders, at least as much as Fancy wanted to share. Meanwhile, Monty started to examine the Dungeon Shard. As soon as he linked to it, he became aware of what it was. It had been spawned from Jessica¡¯s Dungeon Core and was like a memory. There were a couple of private messages from Jessica to himself, a three-dimensional image of her complete first floor, well, more like a walk through, or interactive model. Monty found he could use it to basically do a virtual tour. Also was a complete list of all of the resources that Jessica knew how to make, and some comments about some things that have been dropped in her Dungeon, but that she wasn¡¯t powerful enough to appraise yet. Lastly, was a set of notes. These were the things that she had discovered and the techniques that she had found useful. The note with it said that she hoped that they could work together, ¡®just like old times.¡¯ Monty read between the lines and felt how lonely Jessica had been without them. He didn¡¯t know if it would work, but he tried the old trick that the three of them use to do, to send the feelings of a hug when for whatever reason they could not physically give one. He felt an echo back from both of his sisters. Good, it still worked. *Jeremy, if you want, go along with Fancy and see Mercy. It¡¯ll take a while to go through all of the things that Jessica has sent me. Is there some trading rules or clearing houses that are supposed to be used between Dungeons?* *No, it is up to each Dungeon to decide how they deal with other Dungeons, if at all.* *Could you discuss this between the three assistants? I¡¯d appreciate your recommendations, even if we chose not to follow them. Especially, if you have any cautionary tales, it would be wonderful to hear them.* ¡°Sure, Monty. Fancy, all right if I tag along when you go and see Sara and Mercy?¡± ¡°That will not be a problem. So, you are being kicked out of here already? Farted in the Core room again?¡± Jeremy said, ¡°Har, har, har. Laugh it up.¡± ¡°Actually, Jessica was sure that Monty would set it up so that so that every time any of the monsters were hit, they would fart.¡± ¡°Brilliant!¡± *Brilliant!* *It should be only when a monster is hit with a ¡®blunt¡¯ blow.* ¡°Maybe on a rewards table, so the better the hit, the smellier the fart?¡± *We can do that?* Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Should be able to be done. What do you think Fancy, you should be able to set up a rewards table so that the fart smell is linked to how good a shot it was?¡± Fancy paused, shocked at how far this conversation had descended in a matter of seconds. ¡°Yes, you can link tables that way. It is usually used in really blood-thirsty dungeons, tying hits to arterial blood spurts, audience reactions and things like that.¡± *Audience reactions?* Jeremy handled this one. ¡°Some Dungeons make rooms that look like Gladiatorial Arenas. They can use these sorts of links to sync audience reactions to the action. I had never thought to link them to smell.¡± Fancy snorted and said, ¡°So, everything right for your opening tomorrow?¡± ¡°Yes, we have a couple of last minute items to deal with tonight, then we will activate the dungeon. I am right to leave whenever you are ready.¡± Fancy nodded and mentally gave Jeremy the co-ordinates for Sara and Mercy and teleported. ¡°Hi, all. Everything is now OK. The Dungeon Raiders have been dealt with. Jeremy, Monty¡¯s Assistant, will be joining us.¡± Just after she had finished speaking, there was another pop and Jeremy appeared in Sara¡¯s Core Room. Fancy went through the same spiel, except any mention of anyone owing anyone else a favour. Mercy also gave Sara a shard from Jessica and then brought everyone up to date. As this was the first time that Jeremy had ever met Mercy, he was interested to see what she was like. Between the three of them, they did represent the three main Assistant races, and unlike Fancy and Jeremy, Mercy was from the other main Dungeon Assistant School on this continent, Poirot¡¯s School of Dungeon Mastery. Jeremy was a sprite, so had that ¡®angular¡¯ look you so often found with sprites. It was not that they were related to insecta, it was just that (especially their faces) had a look like they had been fashioned out of a block of rock crystal. Seeing Fancy and Mercy next to each other just highlighted the differences between Mercy (a pixie) and Fancy (a fairy). While his own wings were transparent and beetle-like, Mercy¡¯s wings were more like a moth¡¯s. Like his own, they folded flat against his back, but had a fine coating of down over them. Fancy¡¯s more closely resembled butterfly wings, tending to stick out at right-angled to her body, but were also more translucent, while still being coated with a fine down. He knew from working with other fairies that the wings would lay flat if required, but it involved a complicated bit of ¡®folding¡¯ to achieve. From talking to Fancy, Jeremy knew that Jessica¡¯s crystal was a yellow colour, and that this lined up with her pre-dungeon magical strengths. He also knew that Monty¡¯s turquoise colour reflected his affinities, as well, but was confused by Sara¡¯s clear, diamond-like crystal. ¡°Sara, can I ask you a question?¡± Mercy laughed. ¡°Sara said, that¡¯s ¡®one¡¯.¡± Jeremy was confused for a moment, until he realised that Sara meant that he had asked one question. With a laugh himself, he replied, ¡°I know that there seems to be a theme with the Core colour and pre-existing affinities for both Monty and Jessica, I was wondering about you with your clear core crystal?¡± Mercy said, ¡°There is? A relationship, I mean?¡± Fancy said, ¡°Well, I¡¯d only ever come across a couple of notes about pre-existing affinities, but I noticed that Jessica has a yellow, topaz sort of core crystal colour. She mentioned that her affinities prior to becoming a Core was fire and air ¨C and I could see how you could get to yellow from that combination. I knew that all cores would end up with access to all the areas of magic, but pre-existing affinities would translate to a slight advantage in that sphere.¡± Mercy nodded and Jeremy took up the narration. ¡°From talking to Monty, I knew that his pre-existing affinities lined up with this as well, since they were Life and Water, so a blue/green turquoise would fit. But I noticed that your core was clear, so I wondered how that had worked out?¡± Mercy said, ¡°You commented to me that you didn¡¯t have any specific affinity but wait a minute. You definitely had magic with your extra 152 mana, so from my understanding you had to have an affinity.¡± Jeremy said, ¡°152 mana, not bad. I suppose I could see a number of secondary affinities cause a mana of 52.¡± Fancy had a puzzled look on her face. ¡°But it is not 152, is it? Mercy said an ¡®extra 152¡¯, so that would make your current mana maximum to be 252. As Jessica would say, ¡®Come on, girl, give up the gos, what is happening?¡¯¡± Mercy said, ¡°Gos?¡± ¡°Gossip, rumour, start talking, that sort of thing. It is one of her many sayings.¡± Mercy went up to Sara and gave her crystal a hug. ¡°It is OK, Sara. We are all on your side, completely, 100%, totally. The nature of the Assistant-Core bond becomes stronger than all other bonds, even towards mates and children.¡± After a pause, Sarah said *Umm, what I said is true, but perhaps not the full story. I have a full, primary affinity to every type of magic, not any one specifically.* Silance reigned in Sara¡¯s Core room for a full minute before Mercy started to laugh, uncontrollably. Fancy joined in, the pair of them half leaning on each other, holding their stomach muscles as they slipped slowly to the ground, consumed by laughter. ¡°What my fine, fluffy friends here would say, if they were capable of speech, would be something like, ¡®That is amazing!¡¯. The three of you dungeons are really going to be unstoppable. You are going to rock the world and we have the honour of front-row seats while you do it! Wait a minute.¡± Jeremy turned to Sara; his voice suddenly very serious. ¡°How was I able to hear you then?¡± The laughter stopped immediately as all three Assistants focused on Sara. ¡°Because I was sort of able to piggy back on the communications I can see between each of you and my brother or sister?¡± ¡°Can you listen in on those conversations?¡± Asked Fancy. ¡°No, definitely not. There seems to be some, I don¡¯t know, may be cypher? Yes, cypher, so it is just meaningless noise.¡± Fancy continued, with more than a little sarcasm, ¡°Meaningless noise. Well at least you can¡¯t do the things that are taught as impossible for Dungeons to do, at least yet. It is good that after being a dungeon for less than a week, you are limiting yourself to things that we are taught can possibly be done by ancient, millennia old dungeons. It is important to limit yourself when you first start out.¡± All three of the Assistants lost it at Fancy¡¯s pontification. Mercy looked up at Sara¡¯s crystal and winked. Sara thought that maybe things would work out. 21 – Maintenance The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661 After Jeremy had returned, the pair set about finishing up their Dungeon, ready for their opening. *Jeremy, after we¡¯ve dealt with everything, Jessica has sent me over a Dungeon chip with a recording of her Dungeon. Do you want to do a walk-through of her Dungeon with me?* ¡°Sounds like fun, sure.¡± *Let¡¯s start with our walkthrough. Now that we are not worrying about having to defend ourselves, we should do another walkthrough just to be sure. Wait, we never put things back after we made the changes in case the Raiders came, did we?* ¡°Yeah, we haven¡¯t reversed those, plus there were a couple of things that I noticed last time, but they were not important with the threat of those Dungeon Raiders hanging over us. Also, the more I think about it, the less sure I am that the puzzle room will work.¡± Over the next two hours, they did a complete walkthrough of the Dungeon, and found a couple minor issues and one major issue. The puzzle room just wasn¡¯t going to work for the first level of a dungeon. Most beginner delvers would never have seen one before, and this one was going to be too confusing to be their first. ¡°What about a straight ¡®put the peg in the hole¡¯ one?¡± *I suppose.* ¡°We could do one set of pegs for every 5 levels of Delvers.¡± *So, a straight five minute timer, regardless of their level, for them to complete ALL of the puzzles, with no forfeit?* ¡°That would work.¡± *So, 5 triangle shaped rods, all going into holes around the tree. Then 5 square, four holes in the trunk and one in the ground. Then pentagon, three holes in the trunk and two in the ground, then hexagon and heptagon following the same pattern. Finally, if they are high enough level, circular, but it will have one hole in the base of the trunk and the other four hidden up in the canopy of the tree. All the holes will be visible. An hour later, they had finished building and testing the new room and Jeremy said, ¡°Much better for an introduction to Puzzle Rooms. I like the little, miniature golden apples as prizes.¡± *One for every peg and one in six will have a little gem inside it.* ¡°Good. There will be some complaints about them disappearing once that same timer runs out. You happy to wear the complaints?¡± *Yep.* ¡°OK, then. Can I suggest that we increase the timer to six minutes until we at least see a few groups go through? Maybe seven?¡± Monty sighed. *It will be easier to increase the timer later, then it will be to reduce it. People will see me as ¡®generous¡¯ for increasing it, but miserly for reducing it.* ¡°True, OK, leave it at five for the ¡®minute¡¯.¡± *Right, it will take a few hours to rebuild all this, I¡¯m pushing everything else back to tomorrow. We still have time for our opening on the 20th. Some hours later. *Done, I¡¯ve finished, and I have the prompt up to upgrade. So, I¡¯ve absorbed over 25 square kilometres of land surface, for a volume of somewhere over 100 cubic kilometres. I¡¯ve captured and now control three underground streams. I noted from what Jessica sent across that she found that if she ran the streams through a deep pool, she could harvest what was in the river, giving her a constant, if small, DP income, so I¡¯ve done that.* *I¡¯ve found deposits of gold, silver, copper, tin, obsidian, garnets, topaz and zircons. I have also found marble, pumice, lots of iron, and some magnesium, aluminium, and a tiny bit of something called neodymium. Oh, and one lead deposit, just at the edge of my area.* ¡°Have you finished the new core room?¡± *Yes, it¡¯s directly under where mine was originally going to be and I¡¯ve actually designated the old one as a ¡®fake Dungeon Core room¡¯. Should we transfer there before or after I initiate the Dungeon?* ¡°Before. There will be less interference with Dungeon Operations that way.¡± *Now?* ¡°Sure, let us move now.¡± *Moving myself.* Jeremy saw Monty disappear, then felt a ¡®tug¡¯ as his spirit felt him appear way below where he currently was. Jeremy teleported to the new location, looked around and nodded, saying ¡®Good job¡±. ¡°Right, let¡¯s look at your status.¡±
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: Mountain Grotto (Mana Recharge Per Minute)
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge 5 / 5
Level: 0 Recharge from rooms: 0
Used/Current DP 0 / 0 This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Recharge from creatures: 0
DP Point for next level 100
Current/Max Mana 166 / 166 Extras from harvests: 0
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon radius: (km) 3.00 Dungeon rooms: 9
Max Radius: (km) 3 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon area: (sq km) 26.4 DP''s per month 0
Dungeon influence: (sq km) 28.3
¡°Everything looks fine, why don¡¯t you activate your Dungeon?¡± *Alright, I¡¯m activating the Dungeon, now.* Monty formed the image of his entrance ¨C a craggy canyon, diving into the side of the volcano. It was full of huge, old trees and a tangle of bushes and undergrowth. At the end of the thirty metre canyon was a truly massive tree with a three metre wide gash. Atop the gash was a carved sign, ¡®The Mountain Grotto¡¯. Inside the entrance was a vestibule, then a further passage to the required ¡®preparation room¡¯. This then led to a narrow, spiralling staircase that lead down to his first room. His crystal shook and a clear, bell-like tone rang through the whole dungeon. He was open for business! Monty called up his Basic Status screen and his Dungeon screen:
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: The Mountain Grotto (Mana Recharge Per Minute)
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge 10 / 179
Level: 1 Recharge from rooms: 9
Used/Current DP 100 / 1426 Recharge from creatures: 160
DP Point for next level 300
Current/Max Mana 166 / 266 Extras from harvests: 16857
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon radius: (km) 2.45 Dungeon rooms: 9
Max Radius: (km) 4 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon area: (sq km) 17.35 DP''s per month 56
Dungeon influence: (sq km) 18.86
*Why has my total dungeon area gone down?* ¡°Oh, you moved your core, so you sort of lose some area until you rescan it.¡± *Wait, where did all the DPs come from?* ¡°How many did you get, let me look. Wow, that is a lot, but I suppose you did absorb a lot of plants and animals. Each individual species gives you some DPs. You also get a little from every later absorption, but it is the first time you run into a particular species that really rakes in the points. Your total DP should be gradually increasing as you filter out the contents from those rivers as well. You might as well cash those points in and increase your level. In fact, there is no advantage in ever holding off a level increase if you can do one.¡± *Level 2.* *Right, we are going with the plan we came up with for magics?* ¡°Should be. Has anything changed?¡± *I noticed that Jessica went Fire, Dark, then Light* ¡°I wonder why? Oh, of course, she is going for early mutant monsters. Light and Dark are great for getting monsters to have really interesting mutations. Is that something you are interested in?¡± *Not really. There are enough monsters to pick from. I¡¯m more interested in the advanced traps.* ¡°Then let us stick with Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Light, Dark, Life then Death.¡± *OK. By the way, why is Basic Dungeon Magic now BDM (2)?* ¡°You get a minor upgrade when you go to level 1.¡± *OK. Dungeon level 3.* *Everything looks fine. Dungeon level 4.* *Right, that¡¯s it.* ¡°Let us have a look at your status.¡±
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name: Jungle Rocks (Mana Recharge Per Minute)
Alignment: (unaligned) Base/Current Recharge 55 / 393
Level: 4 Recharge from rooms: 9
Used/Current DP 1000 / 1448 Recharge from creatures: 160
DP Point for next level 1500
Current/Max Mana 420 / 966 Extras from harvests: 16938
Skills:
Magics: BDM (2), Fire, Illusion, Earth
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon radius: (km) 2.45 Dungeon rooms: 9
Max Radius: (km) 9 Current Delvers DP/Hour 0
Dungeon area: (sq km) 17.35 DP''s per month 56
Dungeon influence: (sq km) 18.86
¡°You are only 52 DPs short of level 5, so you should get that within the next couple of hours. Start expanding your area of influence as aggressively as you can, remembering to stop at 7 kilometres. Between the expansion and the rivers, you should get a fair few DPs.¡± *You will be planting those markers soon?* ¡°Yes. Actually, I¡¯ll put them out once we have finished this conversation. It is a bit embarrassing that Sara had to point out what all three of us Dungeon Assistants missed. With the cores at different altitudes, where exactly the ¡®mid¡¯ point was going to be awkward with each dungeon having a sphere shaped territory. I am glad that the three of you simply went with seven kilometres from the point on the ground above Jessica. Since the land around her is fairly flat, that would make it easier than getting all fancy with trigonometry.¡± *All three of us are aware of the disadvantage that Jessica will have for a while. Sara and I will get more ¡®income¡¯ from the Town, since it will border us. She will never get the same amount from either the Tribes or the Empire. Besides, it works out best for that valley that the Town will be in.* ¡°Once you have done that, and you have reached your 7 kilometre mark, we can establish the teleport spot near where the town will be and install the basic roads. You should probably then concentrate on starting to reforest your ground. You have a full day before we officially open.¡± *Do we accept teams before the Evaluation Team gets here?* ¡°Not our problem. It sounds callus, but it is something you just have to learn. They call it the unwritten law of Dungeons - basically, if you are stupid enough to go into a Dungeon, then you are stupid enough to die.¡± *I have finally got the farting tables running. As we agreed, the more damage the more fart, the blunter the weapon, the more fart, and the stronger the monster, the smellier the fart. Let¡¯s see how long it takes before it¡¯s no longer funny.* With a snort, Jeremy said, ¡°Years.¡± 22 – Monty’s First Speed Run – Part 1 The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 During the night, Monty reached level 5. With the large amount of mana generation he was now experiencing, he was able to easily build a road from his dungeon to the central area. He also built the teleportation entrance at that central hub and the two sets of gates. While they matched the location of Jessica¡¯s, they were done in the fairy grotto style, so the stonework looked like huge trees and the teleportation hub like another grotto. They decided to leave off the instances for a day or so, and Jeremy rang Bess to let her know that the dungeon was up and running, ready for tomorrow. While there was only a single instance for today, they would have three running tomorrow. Bess cleared it with Monty for her to interview him today about the kidnapping and asked if her group could do a run through this afternoon. Monty was fine with that, so she organised with Marta and Marisol for them to have lunch together, then do the run. Bess let the Evaluation Team and the Overseer at Jessica¡¯s Dungeon know about the scheduled opening. After lunch, the girls teleported to Monty¡¯s Dungeon. Marta was fascinated with the entrance, both the stone replica near the Town site, and the actual one, made of a combination of stone and vegetation. They entered the Vestibule area, then the preparation area. Bess asked, ¡°OK, we all ready?¡± Marta said, ¡°Shall we give honours?¡± The other nodded and the three performed the standard honour to the dungeon ceremony. Bess asked, ¡°OK, we all ready now?¡± Both Marisol and Marta indicated they were, then Marta yelled, ¡®Speed Run!!¡¯ and dived into the dungeon. Marta had to slow down because the first thing they found was a descending spiral staircase. ¡°That worked out better in my head.¡± Bess and Marisol giggled. After three complete circles, the stairs emptied out into the first room. The eight metre diameter room had a large tree in the middle, with its branches reaching almost to the walls of the room. Fliting from branch to branch was a flock of sparrows. After the delvers had entered the room, some of them flittered across and calmly landed on them. Marta said, ¡°Wow, these are tame.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Careful, something is wrong.¡± Bess shouted, ¡°Incoming piranha sparrows! Careful, they have a berserk mode once the first blood is spilt.¡± The piranha sparrows were about 50% bigger than a normal sparrow and had a mouth full of very sharp teeth, instead of a beak. Bess side-stepped the first of the piranha¡¯s and brought her sword down, bisecting the bird. Marisol pulled a gladius from her storage and swung at the first piranha attacking her, chopping its head clean off. Marta pulled out her club and pulverised the first of the piranhas near her. As it died, a strange little ¡®pffft¡¯ sound was heard. As soon as all this blood was shed, the rest of them went crazy. They attacked everything that was alive, including the normal sparrows. As Bess passed Marisol, Marisol slapped Bess on the back, hard. Again, there was a faint ¡®pffft¡¯ sound. Bess said, ¡°Hey!¡± Looking innocent, Marisol said, ¡°There was one on your back.¡± Every time Marisol was anywhere near Bess, there ¡®happened¡¯ to be one on her back, but Bess only heard the ¡®pffft¡¯ sound twice more. Within five minutes, all 20 piranha sparrows were dead, but so were 12 of the normal sparrows. Ten were killed by the piranha sparrows during their berserker rage and two were collateral damage by the girls. Once all the piranha sparrows were dead, the eight surviving house sparrows each dropped a bronze piece at the girl¡¯s feet. When looted, each of the dead piranha sparrows dropped a single copper piece. ¡°What is that smell?¡± Asked Marta. ¡°Sort of a sulphur smell,¡± offered Marisol. Bess said, ¡°Also, what was that slight noise I heard when some of them died?¡± Marta said, ¡°I heard it every time I killed one.¡± Marisol said, I only heard the noise when I squashed one of them on Bess¡¯s back.¡± ¡°Then why did I only hear that noise three times, even though you hit me a dozen times?¡± ¡°Umm, I missed?¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Bess continued, ¡°Also, noticed that the surviving sparrows gave a bronze piece each? I suppose it¡¯s to encourage the Delvers to protect the normal sparrows. Monty¡¯s dungeon is set up a lot harder than Jessica¡¯s was. It¡¯s also set up to be more competitive.¡± Marta said, ¡°Anyone need healing?¡± Marisol said, ¡°No, my regeneration will more than cover the few scratches I got.¡± Bess agreed. ¡°Right, on to the next room!¡± They exited the room from the doorway opposite the entrance and trotted down a sharply curving hallway for about 50 metres to the next room. This room was similar to the previous one, except that it was a little bigger, maybe nine metres in diameter, and the ground was covered in medium and large bushes. Two rough paths led into the room, one either side of the tree. They seemed to rejoin each other on the other side of the room, but it was difficult to tell from the entrance. Marta said, ¡°See the large bushes, with dark green, shiny leaves? They are poisonous to touch.¡± Marisol said, ¡°So, we just avoid them.¡± Marta continued, ¡°They move.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Oh. That¡¯s inconvenient.¡± Bess added, ¡°Careful on those paths, I think I see some concealed giant pitcher plants. Think of them as pit traps.¡± Bess and Marisol changed weapons to staffs and then the three entered the room. They advanced four metres, when Bess pointed out the semi-concealed pitcher plant in the floor. ¡°The lid of the pitcher will not support much weight, so anyone stepping on them will fall through to the pitcher¡¯s main body, filled with an acid. Then the lid will then spring back.¡± Just as they passed it, four bushes began to lumber towards them, from the left. The four of them rotated to the axis of the threat. A moment later, an additional bush appeared on their left and right, hemming them in, with the pitcher plant to their back. The three of them exploded into action, Bess attacked the bush closest to her with a quick one-two attack, killing the bush. She had a moment of pause as she heard a ¡®fwrrrt¡¯ sound as each hit struck and a mildly offensive odour clouded the air. Marisol took on one of the side bushes, again a one-two attack took it down, and again there was a ¡®fwrrrt¡¯ sound and the same odour. Marta had her large club out and dealt a killing blow to both of the remaining bushes with a single hit which went right through the first bush and partway through the second. There was a louder ¡®fwppt¡¯ sound and a stronger odour. Marisol went to comment, but Bess stopped her. ¡°Clear the room first.¡± Marisol nodded and they advanced into the room. Bess changed to an axe and pointed out another pitcher plant. They advanced to just past it, when another six Animated Poisonous Thorn Bushes shuffled forward. Monty commented to Jeremy, ¡°I think they may have worked things out.¡± Jeremy nodded. ¡°It will be interesting to hear their reaction.¡± Monty added a ¡°Pffft¡± noise and they both broke down in peals of laughter. Marisol advanced to the right, singling out a bush that was separated and slightly behind the others. Bess went left and Marta went straight. Marta¡¯s club swing took out three of the bushes, but the fourth not only avoided the swing, but managed to get an attack of its own in. Marta found her right arm was now a little numb, but she was able to still use her club to swing back and kill the fourth bush. Each hit was accompanied by a ¡®fwppt¡¯ sound. Bess swung the axe, cleaving the bush through it¡¯s middle. Strangely, without much of a sound. Marisol reached the last bush and was surprised when it lunged at her. She stepped back a little, then changed her grip on the staff and swung at it. Her grip towards the end of the staff gave her a much longer reach, and there was a ¡®crack¡¯ as her staff shattered the bush¡¯s cluster of stems. She felt her footing giving way and found herself falling into another of the pitcher plants. Bess and Marta both heard the yell, just after the final ¡®fwppt¡¯ and rushed over to help Marisol. There was a minor explosion, and the thick, viscous sap of the pitcher plant sprayed up into the air. A barrier formed over Bess, while again, the sap seemed unable to stick to Marta or her armour. After the splash, they both advanced to what was now a crater and a slightly annoyed looking Marisol, sitting at the bottom. ¡°Well, that¡¯s one for each of us.¡± Bess and Marisol both looked at Marta and Bess said, ¡°One for me for the barrier, one for Marisol for the explosion, but why are you giving yourself a penalty?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll actually need to cast a healing spell on myself. One of the bushes ¡®brushed¡¯ my arm and, while it¡¯s only a minor paralytic, it¡¯s enough to bother me, so I¡¯ll heal it.¡± They checked the rest of the room and collected the drops from the creatures. ¡°This is strange. Four pitcher plants, with a drop of a weak acid, twelve Animated Poisonous Thorn Bushes, each with a minor paralytic as a drop, but no coins.¡± Bess looked at Marisol and pointed to a little niche in the tree that had opened, revealing a little chest. Bess examined it, saying, ¡°There are actually two traps on this. The first is a poisoned needle, triggered by opening the box and the second is a fire trap if you lift the chest.¡± After a moment¡¯s work, Bess disabled both traps and took the chest. Opening the chest, she found, 16 copper coins, 8 bronze coins, 2 silver coins and a single, cut zircon. Marisol said, ¡°Quite the hall, for a level 1 Dungeon.¡± Marta said, ¡°It seems a bit hard for a level 1.¡± Bess said, ¡°No, it¡¯s level 1, but it¡¯s a high level 1. I¡¯m guessing, but it also seems that there is a link between blunt attacks and flatulence.¡± With a puzzled look on her face, Marta said, ¡°Flat-you-ence?¡± Marisol said, ¡°¡®Farting. Flatulence is the polite, fancy word for farting.¡± Marta giggled, ¡°That does explain things. Especially that funny little ¡®pffft¡¯ sound when I hit the sparrows.¡± Marisol couldn¡¯t supress the grin on her face. Bess didn¡¯t look amused. ¡°What is the boy playing at?¡± Marisol sighed, ¡°Bess. It¡¯s his dungeon. He¡¯s not breaking rules, and it¡¯s probably a smart way to go.¡± Marta said, ¡°What do you mean?¡± Marisol continued, ¡°Say there was a small town with three rug merchants in it. Normally, the three are in competition, so they have to do things like cut their prices, etc, to survive, right? ¡°Well, yes. A normal small town would have enough business for maybe two rug merchants, but three is too many.¡± ¡°But what about if one became famous in the area for its stock of traditional designs. The second for its colourful and modern designs, and the third for its range of exotic, imported rugs. Could they survive now?¡± Marta thought about it and finally said, ¡°Yes. They are going to pull customers from a wider area because of their fame, and since they are sort of not competing with each other much, won¡¯t have to cut their prices as much. In fact, having the three in the same town, and being famous for cheaper prices, they will probably attract even more customers.¡± ¡°Right. That¡¯s called ¡®product differentiation¡¯. So, Jessica is the ¡®standard¡¯ dungeon, has a rating of A3+, which is optimal for beginner delvers. I bet Monty is going for, what, A6?¡± Bess said, ¡°I would have thought this is more like A7 or A8.¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably right. But the thing is, it¡¯s different to the other one. This Dungeon is going to appeal to the more adventurous, more foolhardy, which means more deaths. So even if less people dare this Dungeon, it will still grow well. Especially with people who are confident, they will see this harder dungeon as a quicker way to fame and fortune.¡± Bess added, ¡°Which will just add to the deaths.¡± Marta was fascinated by the conversation. She had dabbled in being a merchant at one point, but these two obviously had a lot more mercantile experience. ¡°What do you expect the third Dungeon, Sara, isn¡¯t it, to do?¡± Bess said, ¡°Yes, Sara is her name. I don¡¯t know. Her strengths were always more intellectual and magic, so, really, it could be anything. Maybe more puzzles?¡± Marta said, ¡°Appealing to the Delver who likes puzzles and challenges?¡± Marisol said, ¡°Exactly! But we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Did you get any hints this morning, Bess, when you interviewed her?¡± ¡°No.¡± Marisol grunted, then said, ¡°We right to continue?¡± The others agreed, so they went to the room¡¯s exit. 23 – Monty’s Speed Run – Part 2 The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 Marta commented, ¡°I think that the rooms are laid out in a spiral.¡± Bess said, ¡°Yes, I agree.¡± After trotting for a while, they arrived at the entrance to the next room. Marisol commented, ¡°Well, this is not ominous in any way, shape or form.¡± Bess said, ¡°What makes you say that? The complete lack of any light?¡± Marta said, ¡°Torches?¡± Bess replied, ¡°Yes. I¡¯d normally not, using a straight ¡®light¡¯ spell, but I want to see the Dungeon like a new Delver.¡± All three of them got out torches and Marisol lit them. They walked into another round room with a large tree in the middle. This one was a little different, with the tree in the middle being lower to the ground and only covered about two-thirds of the room. So, with the room being about 11 metres in diameter, the tree was about 8 metres wide. Marta said, ¡°I feel bats, they¡¯re not very big. I think there are less than 10.¡± Bess spotted a pair of bats in front of them, ¡°There, two in front of us. I don¡¯t recognise the type, though.¡± The pair of bats each launched a small fireball at Bess. ¡°Fireballs, really?¡± Bess side-stepped the fireballs and advanced on the bats, knives out. Suddenly, there was a massive explosion behind the girls and fire enveloped them. Marisol said, ¡°What in all the hells and heavens was that?¡± Marta said, ¡°One of the fireballs from one of the oil bats hit a bush behind us and that bush blew up.¡± Bess threw one dagger and killed one of the bats. The other one fired another fireball at Bess, who automatically dodged it. She shouted, ¡°Incoming!¡± Bess stabbed the second bat, that was hovering over a particular bush. She realised immediately that the bush has a really strong smell of eucalyptus. Marisol shouted, ¡°Bess, fireballs behind you!¡± Bess turned and ducked and then was blown across the room as the bush behind her exploded. Marisol launched a fireball of her own at the two bats that had fired at Bess, except that her fireball was significantly larger than the bats. Marta¡¯s eyed grew wide and shouted, ¡°Down! Hit the ground!¡± The fireball exploded, immolating the two bats, who both exploded, taking the third flameberry bush with them. The resulting explosion killed the last two oil bats. Once everyone confirmed nothing more was moving, Marisol rushed over the Bess, seeing her lying face-down, partly under the central tree¡¯s canopy. ¡°Bess!¡±, she cried, as she turned her over. It took her a minute to realise what she was seeing. There was a dishevelled Bess, her outfit singed, and her hair partly burnt away, grinning up at her. ¡°That was fun!¡± Marisol¡¯s jaw dropped open and she was speechless for a moment, allowing Bess to continue. ¡°Imagine the Dungeon Monty will be designing once he gets up into higher levels.¡± Marisol sighed and asked, ¡°Are you OK?¡± ¡°Not really. But I was never in real danger. So, did we kill everything?¡± Marta said, having walked up behind the other two, ¡°I don¡¯t think so. There¡¯s been an explosion at three out of four sides to the room, well, as much as you can have sides to a round room.¡± Bess pulled out a potion from her pouch, checked that it was a healing potion with two black bands painted around its neck, unstoppered it and sculled it in one motion. Leaving the bottle and cork on the floor for Monty to analyse. Over the next few seconds, all the hair and skin damage on Bess repaired itself. A spell from Bess and her armour looked good as new as well. ¡°Let¡¯s go look at this last bush. I noticed, just before I was blown up, a strong smell of eucalyptus.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. They quickly located the last bush. Marisol pulled a reference book out of her storage ring and quickly flipped through the pages. ¡°Here, the bush is called a ¡®flameberry bush¡¯ and it¡¯s quite valuable to an Alchemist.¡± Bess nodded, got out a large sack from her storage and covered the whole bush. She then used a small saw she pulled from her storage to saw off the bush at ground level and put the whole thing into her storage. They went around the room and collected a copper piece for each of the dead bats and a potion bottle from each of the three spots where a bush had ignited. Bess found the chest in the central tree, ¡°Only a trap on opening the box itself. There, disarmed. It was an ice trap, launching an ice needle. We¡¯ve got 17 copper pieces, 3 bronze pieces, 1 silver piece and an onyx cabochon.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Is this dungeon too hard?¡± Bess shook her head, ¡°No. It¡¯s dangerous, really dangerous, but even that bush wouldn¡¯t kill a first level Delver. It¡¯s going to injure them, the whole team may have to turn back at that point and go find some healing, but unless the delver was just unlucky and was breathing in when the explosion happened, they should not die.¡± ¡°So, an irresponsible or foolish Delver team would have casualties.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. This dungeon will have many more people die in it than Jessica''s. I am sure that by the time we reach the end of this level we will be seeing situations where first, second and probably third level delvers could be one-shotted.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been in some of those Dungeons. They were dangerous, but the rewards were always better.¡± Bess just held up the Onyx gem in answer to Marta. They spend another five minutes searching the room but came up with nothing else. After a quick rest and a drink or water, the three girls continued on. Marisol said, ¡°Yes, definitely a spiral. Noticed how each room has been getting bigger as well?¡± The other two nodded. It was about twice the distance to room 4, but soon the three stood at the entrance to the room. They walked into another round room with a large tree in the middle. This one was different again, with the tree in the middle being high enough for them to be able to easily walk under. The tree extended to just short of the walls but was a deciduous tree this time. Both the tree and the ground had a deep snow cover. The various mounds across the ground probably pointed to bushes. The room was about 14 metres wide. Marisol said, ¡°This room leaves me cold.¡± Bess said, ¡°Your ¡®snow¡¯ right.¡± Marta rolled her eyes at the pair. ¡°I actually do find it fascinating that even though we¡¯re probably not in any real danger yet, our instincts are causing us to react to the threats as being a lot more dangerous than they actually are.¡± Bess replied, ¡°Do you want our instincts not to react?¡± With a snort, Marta said, ¡°Gods, no. It¡¯s our instincts that keep us alive when they really need too. Shall, we?¡± Bess crept into the room, then held up her hand to stop the others joining her. She pointed to a branch on the tree. Marisol said, ¡°Ice lizard.¡± Marta said, ¡°So, what sort of friends should we expect them to have? My vote would be ice-berry vines.¡± Bess nodded, as she launched a dagger at the arm-length long lizard. It died, falling off the branch and into the pile of snow under it. When the lizard hit, it produced a blizzard of tiny icicles that engulfed Bess. ¡°Yep,¡± said Marisol, ¡°ice-berry vines.¡± Shaking the ice of her, Bess said, ¡°Even though they¡¯re rated the same as the fire-berry bushes, I don¡¯t think they¡¯re anywhere near as dangerous.¡± The three of them quickly dispatched the remaining lizards and bushes. Marisol said, ¡°They will be for the low-level teams.¡± ¡°I suppose so. Let¡¯s see if there is a treasure chest.¡± ¡°10 copper pieces, 9 bronze, 6 silver and 2 garnets. The treasure in Monty¡¯s dungeon is certainly good.¡± Marisol and Marta agreed with Bess. Again, the passage to the next room was longer, as the spiral got further away from the centre. Room number 5 was about 16 metres in diameter and the tree only took up about half of the room. The whole ground was covered in knee-high grass with wildflowers mixed in throughout. Six giant dandelions were scattered throughout the room. Marta said, ¡°Well, this room seems to be continuing the theme. Giant dandelions and look, in the central tree, at least one chimpanzee.¡± Bess said, ¡°At least the dandelions shoot out their quills randomly, and neither should have poison.¡± Marisol nodded. ¡°Together, or split up?¡± Marta replied, ¡°Lets split up this time.¡± Bess said, ¡°Right, let¡¯s go then.¡± Bess ran to the left, Marisol ran straight for the central tree and Marta ran right.¡± The chimpanzee launched something that looked like a coconut at a dandelion that was near each of the girls, hitting them. Each dandelion exploded, shooting twenty arrow sized quills randomly. Of the 60 quills, two found targets, with both hitting Marta. Marta grunted, and then continued on to a second chimpanzee she had spotted in the tree. The chimp launched a projectile at Marta and Marta used her bat to smash it away. It was at this point that she discovered that the projectiles were actually wasp nests. The 6 air wasps from this nest, joined the other six that had finally caught up with Marta and buzzed her. Marta yelled to the others, ¡°Those chimps are throwing wasp nests full of air wasps.¡± Each swipe of her club would kill one, two and sometimes three of them. Each hit, accompanied by a faint ¡®pffft¡¯ sound. A minute later, she realised that she had killed many more wasps than she could account for. The stings from the ones that had made it through to her, had got her annoyed. At one point, one of the chimpanzees launched at her, teeth bared and claws reaching. She ignored the wasps for the moment and hit the chimpanzee with a restrained blow. There was a ¡®fwppt¡¯ sound, and the chimpanzee body went flying off and collected the second one she had been aiming for. This one died as well, again with a ¡®fwppt¡¯ sound. Another ten minutes and the room was cleared. The three met at the central trunk, where Bess was disabling the traps on the small treasure chest. Marta said, while stripping off her armour, ¡°I hope this dungeon scales the difficulty up, based on delver levels, otherwise this dungeon is much too difficult.¡± ¡°Probably, yes,¡± agreed Marisol. Marta made up a cream and began applying it to all of her stings. ¡°That feels better, next?¡± Marisol stripped her armour off, and Marta repeated the treatment. Once Marisol was equipped again, Bess stripped her armour off. Again, Marta applied the ointment she had crafted to Bess¡¯ stings and then they all redressed. Bess said, ¡°Assuming one monkey for a starter group, this room would probably still be a party wipe.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Probably. But any level 1 party that pushed all the way through to this room, well, really needed to have given up before here.¡± Marta said, ¡°So the prideful idiots are going to die.¡± Bess replied, ¡°Yes. I can see this getting an A7+ or an A8+ rating, so long as the difficulty escalation is what we expect it is.¡± ¡°Well, quite the haul from the treasure chest. 39 copper coins, 20 bronze, 16 silver and 11 semi-precious stones.¡± Marta and Marisol gathered around Bess to admire the gems, a mixture of onyx, garnets, topaz, and zircons. 24 – Monty’s Speed Run – Part 3 The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661 Marisol commented, ¡°Look, we¡¯re here to enjoy ourselves. We know Monty¡¯s not unhinged, so even if the evaluation team thinks there are problems with the Dungeon, all that will happen is they will negotiate whatever changes are necessary. Come on, let¡¯s enjoy ourselves!¡± Marta said, ¡°They will truly negotiate?¡± Bess sighed and said, ¡°Yes. They only kill the Dungeon Core when either it is unhinged or cannot be reasoned with. Dungeons are just too valuable a resource. OK, let¡¯s go.¡± Bess jogged down the passageway, again about a time and a half longer than the previous one and arrived at another circular room and dived left into the room from the entrance, summersaulting and taking an assault stance. ¡°Nineteen metre circular room, large tree in middle, vines from tree, ceiling higher than previous room and a smell of ¡®dirt¡¯ in the room.¡± Marisol tumbled to the right, also taking the same stance. ¡°I agree. Burrower worms!¡± The 1-metre-long worm, with a tooth-filled maw, launched up out of the ground and attacked Marisol. Marisol still was using a staff, so she swung the staff at the worm, shattering its carapace. The worm died, produced a ¡®fwrrrt¡¯ sound, and a scattering of coins were spread over the ground. Marisol froze in place, looking at the coins. ¡°Leave the coins for the moment, lets clear the room first. I¡¯ve got a strange feeling about this. Ouch.¡± A dirt ball had hit her in the back of the head. She spun around, looking for the culprit. A ¡®fwrrrt¡¯, followed by a ¡®fwppt¡¯ came from her right, followed by the voice of Marta. ¡°It¡¯s the vines hanging from the tree with the bright green leaves. It¡¯s a ¡®Sod thrower¡¯ vine.¡± Marisol¡¯s eyes focused on the offending vine and she launched herself towards it. Its tendrils pulled up balls of dirt and threw them at Marisol. Marisol dodged and deflected the balls, working her way to the vine, which she hit so hard with her staff that she bisected the vine, which made a final ¡®fwppt¡¯ sound and died. Another three balls hit her in the back, including another one to her head. ¡°Why am I being hit so much?¡± With a smile, Bess said, ¡°Because you¡¯re a little out of practice and you¡¯re not taking the Dungeon seriously.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re probably right. Time to get serious, while still having fun.¡± Marisol seemed to pick up speed and danced through the storm of dirt balls. A couple of minutes later, there was a loud ¡®thump¡¯, followed by a wet, ¡®thwuck¡¯, followed by a ¡®fwrrrt¡¯. Marta said, ¡°We have some stalactite monsters in the mix.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Well, that explains why I was hesitant about some of the coins.¡± After a series of ¡®pffft¡¯s, ¡®fwrrrt¡¯s, and ¡®fwppt¡¯s, the room was silent. Jeremy and Monty were watching everything on the monitoring crystals. *So, happy with how things are going?* ¡°Yes, I am. We are seeing the first level at its hardest, and it is quite brutal. I think the only thing in retrospect is to swap the fire and ice rooms, but that is probably more to do with the fire room being more spectacular. You always start second guessing yourself in this situation.¡± *I agree. Time for the pussy cats.* Jeremy nodded. He liked how Monty thought. The Lynx¡¯s will be more difficult, solely because the delvers would be on edge, waiting for the second monsters. It had helped him really appreciated using delver psychology to make the delvers work against themselves. Marisol asked, ¡°So, what was the treasure?¡± Bess opened the chest she had just removed from the niche in the tree. ¡°Hmm. Not as much as the last room, but still a suitable horde for a hard, first level dungeon. Eleven copper pieces, five bronze, three silver pieces and two reasonable little sapphires. Looks like there will be a reasonable gem trade come out of Jessicaville.¡± Marisol spotted the gleam in Bess¡¯s eye about the name, so she just agreed. Bess was Bess, so she would always stir things up. *Jessicaville? Really?* ¡°Yeah. It was some agreement that Jessica made with Bess when they first talked.¡± *And you didn¡¯t think to mention it?* ¡°Ahh, I was not sure how you would react at first.¡± *And now?* ¡°I¡¯m really unsure about how you would react?¡± Monty snorted, then sighed. She won that, fair and square. *This does leave me with a couple of quandaries, though.* ¡°What to do about the name?¡± *No. How I can, without any mouth or lungs, sigh and snort.* Jeremy snorted, then they both laughed. Bess was standing at the entrance to room number 7. ¡°24 metre diameter circular room with a single tree in the middle taking up about half of the room¡¯s diameter. The ground is covered in a half metre tall grass and the tree¡¯s branches start about two and a half metres above the ground. No monsters visible.¡± The three of them dived into the room and stood up in a defensive triangle. There was still no movement in the room. They slowly advanced into the room, edging left around the central tree. A scream from one of the lynx, who was just above them in the tree¡¯s canopy, made all of them look up. This was what the three lynx who had been slowly creeping up to them through the long grass had been waiting for and they all pounced. Marisol swung her staff and hit one of the bounding cats across its skull. A loud ¡®fwppt¡¯ signalled its death. Marta swung her club at another of the surrounding cats, connecting solidly, also hearing the expected ¡®fwppt¡¯ and scrunching her nose at the offending smell. Bess threw a dagger at the third cat bounding through the grass and missed, as the cat jerked to the side. Missing completely threw off Bess and that moment of indecision saw both of the remaining cats leap on her. The dagger now in her off-hand, slit the throat of the cat that had leapt down from the tree, while the other dagger stabbed into it¡¯s chest, but missing the heart. With a mortal blow, but not yet dead, that cat managed a claw raking, opening up Bess¡¯ hand. The other four cats arrived too late to do more than die. The three girls reformed their triangle and Bess quaffed a potion to heal her hand. The blood slowed and then stopped as the wounds closed. The girls spent a nervous quarter hour confirming that there were no other monsters in the room. Marisol finally said what the three of them had been thinking. ¡°He pranked us, didn¡¯t he?¡± Bess replied, ¡°Basically. Let¡¯s see what treasure we have and then move on.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Bess checked the small chest they found near the exit to the room. ¡°Trapped, poison needle on the lock and an explosive trap under the chest.¡± Bess opened the chest and said, ¡°Wow.¡± She held up a single, medium-sized ruby. Marisol and Marta both nodded in appreciation. Half-way down the passageway to the next room, Bess stopped. ¡°We have a concealed passageway here, on the left. Actually, we also have a very concealed passageway on the right as well. This one looks like a crawl way.¡± A pop noise came from further down the passageway and all three girls turned to see Jeremy appear. ¡°Hey, ladies. Enjoying yourselves so far?¡± Bess said, ¡°Well, it¡¯s certainly different to Jessica¡¯s Dungeon. The difficultly has obviously been set a lot harder than Jessica¡¯s. I thought that it was a good mix. I¡¯d suggest that for your second level you need to concentrate a bit on establishing a flow for the floor. It¡¯s not a criticism for a level 1 dungeon, but you will need to pull things together for your next level. You did it visually with the theme, but I felt a little disjointed with the monsters. It was a series of individual rooms, more than a Dungeon.¡± Marisol said, ¡°So far, it¡¯s been good. A good challenge. You made me realise that I¡¯d slackened off and needed to lift my game. I¡¯ve enjoyed it.¡± Marta wasn¡¯t going to say anything, as she felt it was not really her place, but all three of them looked at her expectantly. She coughed, nervously, and said, ¡°I don¡¯t really have much to add. This has certainly been one of the harder dungeons that I¡¯ve ever seen, but I think what stands out for me is what Marisol said. That you were able to shake some cobwebs lose from Delvers as experienced as us, says something. You are certainly a valuable resource, a valuable Dungeon.¡± Jeremy nodded his head and said, ¡°Thanks for that. I agree, Bess, this level was really about Monty getting use to how Dungeons work. I would expect following Dungeon levels to be different. Now he¡¯s seen how things work; I think you will be surprised. Anyway, yes, the secret door on your right is the access to the Core Room. If you go through there, you will find the standard warning signs, telling you not to advance any further. Did you want to visit Monty when you finish your run?¡± *Shit, I forgot that. Thanks for the reminder, dealing with it now.* Warning signs in every know languages began to appear down the passage to the Core, including two different pictograph ones. Bess looked at the other two ladies, got nods and said, ¡°Sure, we would be honoured. ¡°OK, I will see you later. Enjoy the next room.¡± Looking at Marisol, Bess said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s not ominous at all, is it?¡± Marisol rolled her eyes. When Jeremy returned to the Core Room, he said, ¡°Sorry. I should have thought of those signs.¡± *Thanks for the heads up. Why don¡¯t you give Fancy and Mercy a call and remind them as well? I think they forgot them as well. Oh, and having real-life delvers in for the first time has been an eye-opener. I¡¯ve increased the timer for the puzzle room to eight minutes, for this first run.* ¡°Ahh, you did not want your Aunt Bess to run out of time?¡± *Sort of. I was mulling over what you said about the time, and realised that this was a once-off opportunity to give it an extra three minutes and get feedback for the Evaluation Team run tomorrow. If they were running tonight, I¡¯d have not done it.* Jeremy nodded, and said, ¡°Yes, I feel more comfortable with a longer run. Especially since they do not know how many rounds there will be.¡± Bess checked the concealed door for traps, then opened it. A short passage led to a circular room. ¡°Oh, look! It¡¯s a tree in the centre of the room!¡± Bess laughed at Marisol¡¯s use of sarcasm. Bess said, ¡°I think we have our first, true, puzzle room.¡± Marta replied, ¡°Do you think it was the large count-down clock on the wall that gave it away?¡± Bess looked at Marta with surprise. ¡°I think you¡¯ve been hanging around with Marisol too much and her sarcasm has rubbed off on you.¡± With a wry look, Marta responded, ¡°Of course, there¡¯s no way that I could possible learn sarcasm from you, Bess.¡± Marisol laughed. ¡°So, we¡¯ve only got 8 minutes to do whatever. We don¡¯t know what ¡®whatever¡¯ is, and we don¡¯t know if there will be monsters, or something, hindering us, and lastly, we don¡¯t know what failing the puzzle will result in.¡± The three of them stepped into the room and approached the timer. There was a flash behind them, and they turned to see a panel open in the tree trunk, exposing a pile of what looked like coloured pegs. They began to move towards the panel when there was another flash behind them. They again turned, this time to see the counter start to count down. A final flash occurred from the door, as it closed. Picture graphs on the back of the door indicated it would re-open either then the puzzle was completed, or time ran out. They moved back towards the panel, and then they heard a voice say, ¡°Welcome to the First level Puzzle room.¡± A few seconds later, the same voice said the same message in a different language. Bess grabbed the first set of pegs and said, ¡°Five triangle shaped pegs.¡± She gave two of them to each of the other girls and fitted the fifth into the triangle shaped hole she had already spotted in the trunk of the tree. Every 10 seconds, the sign beeped and every minute a horn sounded and every few seconds the message repeated in a different language. Bess spotted another hole, noting it wasn¡¯t triangular. Within thirty seconds, they had found all 5 triangle holes in the trunk and inserted the pegs. A loud buzzer sounded, and another panel opened. Marisol was closest, so she went to the panel and said, ¡°Five square pegs. She gave two to each of the other ladies and walked around the trunk to where she had spotted a square hole earlier. She put the peg in the hole and started to look around. Both Marta and Bess said, ¡°I can¡¯t find this last hole.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Bring the peg over here, it¡¯s in a rock, next to this bush.¡± Bess brought the peg over and inserted it into the hole. They were now down to 6 minutes left. A buzzer sounded, and a horn sounded, then a flash was seen from the other side of the trunk. Marta was the one who made it to the new panel first and pulled out the 5 pegs. ¡°Five five-sided pegs.¡± Marisol said, ¡°Pentagonal, the word for a five-sided shape is pentagonal.¡± Marta just rolled her eyes. They¡¯d each noticed a five-sided hole during their searching, so the quickly put three into holes, two in the trunk and one in the ground. Marisol and Bess each took one of the remaining two pegs and Marta started searching the ground. Another thirty seconds, and Marta found another six holes in rocks, including one of the missing pentagonal ones, while Bess had found the fifth hole in the trunk, but a little higher up. The buzzer sounded and a flash of light gave the location of the next panel. Marta said, ¡°So, the triangles were all five in the trunk. The squares were four in the trunk, one in the ground, the five-sided were three in the trunk and two in the ground, will the pattern follow?¡± Bess reached the panel, saying, ¡°Depends on how many sets of pegs there are left. We have five hexagonal pegs.¡± Marta said, ¡°Hexa-what?¡± None of the other girls noticed the impish smile on her face. Bess said, ¡°Six-sided pegs.¡± Marta said, ¡°OK, I¡¯ll take three as I¡¯ve already seen the holes for them in rocks.¡± Marisol found a six-sided hole in the trunk, but Marta was wrong. She had found two holes, but the third had one more side. ¡®Sorry, I was wrong. I found two hexagonal holes, but the third was heptagonal.¡± Bess stopped and turned, saying, ¡°Wait. You didn¡¯t know hexagonal, but knew heptagonal?¡± With an impish smile, Marta said, ¡°Must be my poor upbringing¡±, then turned away and raced off. Bess laughed and continued on. Marisol said, ¡®Yeah, I¡¯ve found another two heptagonal holes as well.¡± Bess said, ¡°Got the last one,¡± and slotted the fifth peg into its hole. Marisol got back to the trunk to collect the next set of pegs. ¡°Five heptagonal pegs.¡± Marta again took three, running straight for the spots she had noticed the holes in rocks, Bess tried to take two, but Marisol said, ¡°Mine!¡± and kept one. Bess shrugged and went to her first location, where she found that Marta had already put a peg into the ground there. She raced off to the next spot she had seen and put her peg in that hole as Marta rushed towards her spot. Marta laughed and ran off in another direction. Marisol shouted, ¡°I¡¯ve found the one in the trunk.¡± Marta shouted back, ¡°Then this should be five.¡± The buzzer sounded and a fifth panel opened. Marisol climbed up on a branch and pulled the pegs out of the opening. ¡°We have five round pegs.¡± Bess stopped and said, ¡°I¡¯ve not seen any round holes at all.¡± Marta said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen one, it was high on the tree trunk.¡± Marisol replied, ¡°Yeah, I can see two from here. Why don¡¯t you, Bess, check around the wall to make sure, while Marta and I check the top of the tree? How much time do we have left?¡± Bess said, ¡°OK, we have four and a half minutes left.¡± It took a full minute to find the last two pegs, as they had to climb each branch to find them among the leaves. When the last peg was inserted, there was a flash from the base of the tree. Bess ran across and pulled out a little, golden apple from the panel. Once it was removed, there was another, much brighter flash, from the whole tree. Marta was able to hang-on, but Marisol was startled and slipped, dropping the one and a half metres to the ground. ¡°Ouch.¡± Bess looked across and saw that Marisol was still breathing. ¡°You, OK?¡± ¡°Yeah, what did we get?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got a little golden apple, but the timer is still running, and I can see a lot more of these now on the tree.¡± Marta had already started harvesting them, moving systematically around the tree canopy. Bess climbed up and started harvesting in the same direction as Marta, but on the other side of the tree. The three-minute horn sounded. Looking at the pair, Marisol saw that this was obviously something Marta had done a lot, so she started where Marta had started, but went the other way, towards Bess. They finished, but the timer was still running. Marta asked, ¡°How many apples have we collected?¡± Bess answered, ¡°Nine.¡± Marisol said ¡°Eight.¡± ¡°So, with my twelve, that is 29 in total. We had thirty pegs, so my guess is there is one more.¡± When the timer got to the last minute, the beep changed to every second and the buzzer to every ten seconds. With thirty seconds to go, Bess said, ¡°Got it! Its here, at the very crown of the tree, buried in among the leaves.¡± When she picked it, a trumpet sounded and the room¡¯s only door opened. As they were checking the loot, Marta noticed that one of the little golden apples had something inside it. She shook it gently as she held it out towards Bess and Marisol. ¡°This one has something in it.¡± Bess started going through the ones she¡¯d collected, giving each one a shake as well. When Marisol started doing the same, she asked, ¡°Does it open?¡± Bess put two in front of Marta, saying ¡°Two more.¡± After closing examining it, Marta noticed a tiny indentation, a tiny dimple. Pressing the indentation made the little apple spring open, revealing a small, cut, topaz. Repeating this on the other rattling apples revealed a diamond, an emerald, a ruby and another topaz. Bess tried one of the other apples and it too sprung open but was empty. ¡°A bit small, but I suppose this is the first level of a dungeon, so, really, a fortune for a group of starter delvers.¡± Marisol said, ¡°They would have to be level 4 or 5 to get this far.¡± ¡°Without losses,¡± added Marta. Bess nodded, ¡°Without losses.¡± Marisol thought for a moment, then said, ¡°Monty is going to get a bad reputation.¡± Bess held up a finger in admonition, ¡°No, the ¡®Mountain Grotto Dungeon¡¯ will get a reputation as a hard dungeon, that rewards well, if you survive.¡± Marisol and Marta nodded and said, together, ¡°If you survive.¡± The three got up and exited the room. Oops OK, apologies, peeps. As a person with severe mental health issues, I''ve had to (temporarily) abandon this project. I''m still searching for how to handle my issues, so I''m doing what I needed to have done two months ago. I''m swapping to another project for a month or two or three. I will be back - this story will get finished. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. My stubbornness in trying to keep working on the Triplet''s Dungeon has resulted in me not doing any writing for a few months now. So, I''m warning you, I will from time to time be swapping projects. Love to all, Brett.