The events of day 2 had been a definite wake up call for their dungeon. Their forces were not strong enough due to having severely inferior weapons. Mark had spent the next good bit of MP to improve their defense. Without other options it meant increasing the amount of units and equipping them better.
Mark had purchased 8 more yellow hobgoblins to add to the 4 already guarding the core. Then he bought iron tipped spears or iron swords and hide armor for each of them. While the store did not sell steel weapons they did sell a limited amount of iron weapons for a premium. Mark ended up spending 200 MP a piece for the equipment. It was more than the 130 the hobgoblins had cost in the first place, but then, they were likely twice as deadly.
With their clubs they basically had to beat their enemies to death. It was probably fine for enemies near their own power level, but for something that far eclipsed them it was not enough. Their strength was not high enough. Even the hobgoblins were weaker than Mark, so for the bear it was probably like getting attacked by a bunch of kids with wiffle bats. They were an annoyance at best, but even with low strength they could be dangerous with the iron weapons. Hopefully, it would be enough if the bear did attack.
All in total it had cost 3,440 MP to get his core guard to an adequate point of strength. it was more than a day’s worth of MP once food costs were factored in. They currently had 40 units in total, but Mark was averaging about 50 MP a day giving a little bit extra to keep the two scouting squads' morale above 40.
After their losses, Mark had restricted the two squads to patrolling their immediate vicinity, having them them alternate, so that the squads could always be linked to the dungeon core. It would allow them to see what they saw, and had the added benefit of giving the core guards something to relieve their boredom. They could alert Mark or Amelia if the squad encountered anything.
The dungeon guard morale actually stayed right at 50 despite the poor rations. For one thing they did not have to do anything, but that had not been enough for the 4 he left guarding the core the first night. Mark could only guess it was because he left the 5 extra green goblins under their purview. Squad size was limited at 12 units, so Mark had designated them reserves.
In reality they became the core guards, errand boys, and a good place to take out their frustrations on. Mark felt bad for them, but the green goblins seemed to take it instride as natural. Their morale had dropped, but not overly much. They were still all in the 40’s. Of course there were only 4 reserves now. One of the squads lost one of their green goblins in a ravine? Mark had never quite got it clarified what exactly had happened.
It had basically set them back a day of production, but Mark was far more confident that the core was at least minimally secure. Well, as long as the hobgoblins saw a threat before they reached it. Once again they were not the most attentive bunch.
Early on the 5th morning, he had bought the 2nd manna bellows and now their daily production was up to 4,080. After the 1,000 MP to buy another 2 shade workers, he had 1,050 left. They could have had another couple hundred, but Amelia was averaging close to 100 MP a day. Mark could only sigh, he was only spending about 20 for himself, and he thought the food he was getting was just fine.
It was only about 0900 now, so he would probably be able to buy the 3rd manna bellow tomorrow just before noon. Then later in the day he would man it with two more shade workers. They would start day 7 at max production and he would be able to shift MP to RP and finish up crafted weapons accepting the 10% exchanging fee.
Mark was still thinking about whether to research foraging or building next. Foraging would probably almost get rid of the unit costs. It would also increase their morale if they were able to eat fresh meat. However researching buildings would open up options. The downside is he would need units that could actually do the building. It was not like the hobgoblins would do a good enough job. Or he would have to buy the buildings outright, which he was sure cost a premium.
He was also considering opening another branch of the humanoid tree. Kobolds were more intelligent than goblins and were the cheapest other option at 10,000 MP. The downside was they had less martial prowess even than the goblins, so it would not really be helpful later on. It would be better to open gnolls, lizardman, or orcs, but they cost 25,000 and 30,000 for the lizardman. They would be better on all fronts, but it would basically mean a week of saving all of their MP for that purpose. Had Mark known what was approaching their dungeon, he would not have been as worried about it.
“Both big goop poaching,” one of the hobgoblins yelled running up to him. The rest of the core guard and the squad that had been off duty were already forming up at the far side of the field. Mark could already make out figures moving through the trees in front of them. Checking his tactical map, Mark saw his other squad seemingly being escorted back by about 30 red dots.
“How did they get so close, without us knowing,” Mark cried in alarm, looking at the hobgoblin that had brought the news. All he got in response was a shrug and big toothy grin. Mark sighed, forcing himself to calm down.
Mark knew the answer but thought he would check anyway. It was as he thought. He was unable to purchase units since the core was under threat. They would either deal with this group with what they had, or they would die. Luckily, it did not seem like a full on attack. The figures separated from the trees and Mark was to glean that they were Gnome Brawlers. Power levels ranged from the low 1’s to over 2. Mark knew gnome was the race, so brawler was either the type of gnome or perhaps a class. It was not clear he had not gotten to identify enemies before.
Mark soon positioned himself slightly in front of his goblin troop. He caught a glance of Amelia, hugging on to the side of the hut. There was not really a way for her to be safe anyways with her dungeon core sitting in the middle of the field. Mark quickly sized up the opposite force who had his goblin squads hands bound loosely with rope. With slightly greater numbers, higher power levels, and better armament, they would probably roll right through his forces. Mark felt like doing a facepalm. To think he had considered his core fairly safe with the rabble of troops gathered behind him just a few minutes ago.
Mark also silently wished for bad things to happen to the creators, for letting a barbarian force like this to exist so early in the battle. It was still the first week. Perhaps he should have built at least one level of his dungeon and then made it a death trap, Mark considered while waiting for the gnome leader to step out. The only upside was that this was a barbarian force and not one of their enemies armies. Diplomacy was still an option, it was time for their specialization to shine.
A quick scan of the encyclopedia entry on gnomes revealed that they were an industrious race that loved to explore and discover new things. It even mentioned they would trade exuberant amounts of wealth to sate their curiosity. Another excerpt said that they were not prone to violence, unless antagonized.
The gnomes were each about 4 feet tall and muscular. All of them had hair that jutted out from their gilded skin and a wild gleam in their eyes. The leader stepped out, his body was covered in iron plating, and he carried a war hammer with a spike on the backend. Like the majority of the gnomes he was bald on the top of his head, but had white hair on the sides that almost reminded Mark of the friar look from the medieval ages. His beard was tucked inside his armor. Mark noted his power level at 2.6.
“Who here speaks for this lot? I, Cedrick Holmsturg, am calling” the gnome leader said. His eyes were already focused on Mark.
“My name is Mark. I am the leader,” Mark said, doing his best to sound confident. The gnomes might win the fight, but they would likely lose at least a few attacking. Hopefully, this gave him some room to bargain.
“We found this lot sneaking about, near our village,” Cedric said, shifting the hammer menacingly.
Mark shot a glare at the hobgoblin leader. Who offered an apologetic toothy grin in response. What part of patrol near their territory had the goblin group misunderstood? They should have at least pulled back when they saw the village before getting caught. Could they not have just fought to the death? Of course not, they had apparently immediately surrendered since all of them were accounted for and not dead. Then they had the audacity to bring them back to the dungeon’s doorstep.
The encyclopedia mentioned that gnomes were not a violent race unless antagonized. Apparently the goblins had been batting at a beehive. As he often did, Mark felt like strangling the infuriating creatures, but it was not like he could do it now. Plus it might not really have much of an effect. Abusing each other seemed to be part of their societal norms.
“I apologize for the misunderstanding this has caused. We are building a settlement here, and they were just scouting the surrounding area. We did not mean to encroach near your village, but now that we have met, perhaps we can come to an agreement and strive for amicable relations. Perhaps trade or mutual support???” Mark offered, his eyes blinking. He had said it, but it was not really his style. It was more politician-like, did their specialization affect him too?
“Misunderstanding my arse, they were trying to steal some of our sheep!” Cedrick exclaimed. The foraging tech was required to recover resources such as food from the wild. Mark could only guess that the interface interfered with the unit's ability to do so until the tech was researched, but there was nothing to prevent the use of domesticated animals or in this case raiding. Domestication was another tier 1 research on the list after all. Apparently the interface had let the goblins know that the sheep were fair game.
“Not ur ship, we fund ship folickin n feel’d,” the captured hobgoblin stammered resolutely. Some of the green goblins muttered in agreement, not that Mark could really understand them. Mark shot the hobgoblin a look to indicate he was not helping. The bulbous nose goblin just responded with a toothy grin, making Mark sigh. It was kind of ironic that the units he had built for protection were going to be the death of them.
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“I apologize for my subordinates uh… lack of cognisance. I can assure you it won’t happen again. We can pay back in trade for any damage they did before you caught them,” Mark suggested. He had wanted to apologize for the goblin’s existence in general.
“Trade, what could we possibly want from this rabble,” he said examining their camp. “You got what, one building, a shiny gem…Ahhhh, kinda outta place when you think of it. Perhaps it would be better off elsewhere,” Cedrick said, eyeing the dungeon core across the field.
“I’m afraid that would be impossible,” Mark stated shifting nervously. The gnome leader turned his eyes back on Mark and they narrowed. He bounced the end of his hammer up and down on the palm of his other hand a couple times. He was likely deciding whether to just take it by force. Mark’s mind scrabbled. It was not like they actually had anything to trade. Well he could buy stuff from the store. Mark’s eyes shifted back through all the gnomes. They were all utterly filthy with dirt and grime covering their faces. It gave him an idea. They might not really care about hygiene, but it did say they liked to explore and discover new things.
“We can’t move the core, because it's bound to this section of land and to myself and another. As long as it's here we are able to do this,” Mark said. The evaporating bath scrub, as the system had called it, appeared in his hand.
The bottle appeared out of nowhere and slightly alarmed the gnome leader who stepped back unconsciously, but after a second his eyes stared at it curiously. Mark bent down and got some earth and spread it on his skin. Soon after the scrub was foaming on his arm. A half minute later his arm was clean.
The leader had watched it all curiously, the head of his hammer, now lying in the dirt. A gnome female broke ranks and came and whispered in his ear. The rest of the gnomes whispered amongst each other as well. They were definitely interested. Mark watched the exchange, it quickly became clear that the red headed female gnome was likely the leader’s wife.
“Sure it's interesting, but who knows what intentions they harbor… Sure, they’re not a threat now but… Well how should I know, he pulled it from thin air…Maggie!…” Cedrick’s expression slowly turned defeated.
“Aye, we are interested in studying the liquid that comes out of that container,” Cedrick finally sighed. “We will agree to your terms of trade and mutual support.” With that all the tension just absolved, and Mark got a notification.
[An alliance between the Holmsturg clan has been established. The clan is interested in the mysteries behind the evaporating bath scrub, and the clan offers one technology in return for five bottles. You have the choice between Buildings and Metal Casting. Since you do not have the prerequisites, Basic Minerals will be exchanged for Metal casting. Do you accept the terms of this alliance? Yes/No]
Mark could not believe that had worked, or that they got offered something worth 10,000 in exchange for 85 MP. He quickly mentally said yes, and selected buildings. Four more bottles appeared. Mark did not miss that he had basically just learnt how to get metal weapons. Mark was interested in it for sure, but he did not know if he would even be able to research metal weapons after getting basic minerals. He had a suspicion that it might be a Tier 2 research option, so Mark went for the quick benefit now. Besides cost wise basic minerals and buildings cost the same.
That being said, why should the benefits stop there? Why not see if he could convince some of the gnomes to work for him, or perhaps build weapons and armor for them. Even if he unlocked crafting, metal weapons were far superior, and their dungeon was likely months out from being able to produce them on their own. They were industrious and curious. Being around a dungeon core should be more than enough to amaze them.
The goblin squad was freed and both groups meandered off while Mark spoke to Cedrick. The red headed gnome woman had already scooped up the bath scrub and was already testing it out amidst a huddle of other gnomes. It was a little odd since they had been a step or two from open battle just a minute ago, but Mark supposed it was an intricacy of the interface. He spent the next half hour speaking and negotiating to Cedrick.
He could not get the gnome leader to even consider trading weapons or armor. Which made sense, who would willingly equip another force that they had just met. Getting some gnomes to work for the dungeon had been readily agreed to, however. It just took them a bit to negotiate the terms of the employee.
[10 gnomes from the Holmsturg clan have agreed to build for your dungeon. You have agreed to feed and provide all the drinks the gnome can want. Gnomes will have free reign to explore your settlement including the dungeon core. They will defend themselves when personally threatened, but will not aid in your conflicts.]
Cedrick left with his war band soon after. The promised builders would arrive later in the day. Mark felt satisfied with the deal. The gnomes would really only protect themselves, if the dungeon was attacked, but attackers would not know that they were not a part of the dungeon. So hopefully they would very easily be pulled into an engagement when the dungeon was attacked. If the builders were even half the strength of the members of the warband, then they would still be better than the dungeon’s best troops.
Unfortunately, that afternoon he learned that he should have at least pushed back a little bit on all the food and drinks that the builders could drink. Mark had missed the part in the encyclopedia that gnomes were avid eaters and drinkers. The gnomes had arrived only a couple hours after the war band and immediately demanded ale and food. Mark had provided a large wooden keg and food while he examined the buildings that were available. Despite the excitement of the new tech, he had become embroiled in other things, namely dealing with the goblins, not that his tirades would have any lasting effect for them. Only a couple hours later the gnomes returned for another keg.
Mark could only frown as he spent another 100MP to buy a second keg. Mark could not say much since the gnomes were briskly working to secure lumber for whatever project he decided to put them on. They already had felled several trees. Several gnomes were working to strip them from their limbs while other gnomes were hacking away at the next tree. It looked like a smooth operation, so Mark could only grimace at what it would cost to keep them. Perhaps the gnome leader had sent them here to prevent having to feed them himself.
Mark went back to looking through his building options. Alot of them were still grayed out. Mark could only assume that they required other techs to be researched or other conditions to be met, but there were still plenty to choose from. It was apparent that the options were focused on dungeon improvement and the succession battle and not being a realistic functioning community. Buildings were all meant to serve a purpose, giving a bonus or preventing a penalty.
What he really wanted was walls even if they were wooden. They would increase the security of their dungeon substantially, but it would likely take a week to even build a minimal encirclement just around the pedestal with only 10 workers despite how fast they were moving. Walls were only really useful if all his defenders could fight from within. Just building something around the dungeon core, would mean attackers would just kill all of the defenders and get to the core anyways. Besides, soon he would use his DP to buy the first level of the dungeon which would prevent enemies from getting to it as easily. He would eventually want walls to protect the opening of his dungeon, but it could wait.
A barracks would be good. All summoned units would start at the recruit level, which would mean he would never deal with the 10% conscript penalty again. The encyclopedia even hinted at greater improvements in the future. However, Mark had one more option that would be more beneficial.
The research building promised an extra RP just for being built. There were a dozen tier 1 research options on the tech tree. Perhaps more since the interface did not mind hiding options till conditions were met, but the tech tree was not the only thing that could be unlocked with RP. Opening more unit trees and branches was something Mark wanted badly. Otherwise he would be left depending on the goblins. Then there were also unit enhancements, which for now were just classes, and they had barely touched them. All of these would only only become more expensive as their dungeon progressed.
Sure they could use MP without converting for all of these except the main research tree, but MP was also being pulled in every other way. Doubling their daily RP just for building it was definitely worth it. Plus like the barracks it offered the prospect of future increases. An extra RP was far better than getting rid of the experience penalty for their units. Besides it was not like his units could all of the sudden become capable with a small boost.
The research building would cost 12,000 MP to build if they wanted to build it through use of the interface, but they had the gnomes for that. As soon as he had decided to go with the research building the plans had apparently been sent via the interface to the gnome's minds, because when Mark approached the gnome foreman, I’Rick, he already knew all the specifics. “Just sit back on ur’ arse and leave it ta me,” the leader said offhandedly. When asked about a timeline to completion the foreman estimated at least a couple weeks.
Mark let him back to it slightly frustrated. It might cost them about as much MP to keep these gnomes going as it would take to just build the buildings using the interface, but then again the gnomes had slowed down after starting the second keg. Perhaps the first few hours had just been an initial rush for free drinks. Then there was the notice about using the interface to build buildings.
[Building’s made without use of the interface have a high chance of developing other benefits. Benefits will depend on the builders and resulting quality.]
It was intriguing. Even if it ended up costing about the same in providing for the gnomes, hopefully the gnome built buildings could give potential other benefits. Mark could not even guess what benefits they would get if he had his goblins attempt to build anything. Maybe it would actually result in a penalty. Mark chuckled as he imagined the notice.
Research building provides extra RP, all technologies now cost double what they initially had to do to poor research quality in your dungeon. Yeah, it would probably be something like that. The next moment he received an actual notice and the smile dropped from his face.
[Notice: Contender, Rassick Eurish, has been eliminated by another contender. Contender has been given a unique reward. Contenders remaining 34/35]
Geez!!! Somebody had just been eliminated. They were still in the first week, but then Mark remembered this morning with the gnome warband. It could have played out differently. There could have been 2 of these notices today, and who's to say when someone would march in with an army that cost 10’s of thousands of MP. Then there was the unique reward. Who could say what it was, but was sure it would be good. They could not turtle inside their dungeon forever, otherwise they would be unable to contend with other dungeons.
Unfortunately, that was not the only ‘all contender notice’ sent out on day 5. Less than an hour later there was a second.
[Notice: The don’t wow primitives with cool stuff patch has now been made on the interface. Going forward, contenders will no longer be able to use the store function when their dungeon is under threat, and cool futuristic technology provided for the contenders comfort can no longer be used to negotiate with third parties.]
Amelia looked at him with alarm, but a quick glance at the adversaries page still had the gnome clan as an ally. The transaction had been completed, hopefully they would not want more of the bath scrub. Mark had to admit, it was pretty funny that they had done something to require the creators to make a patch.