You have breached the Igërtulon River.

The Igërtulon is disputed by the Warlord Gitznik Hammerfetish and Scarlock Phelan Nickol.

They have been notified of your incursion.

While I had been focused on the History with Argent and Kelter, learning all we could and plotting mad schemes respectively, the Craftwind Tribe had continued mining. It had taken days but at last they had reached a source of water - which it really should have occurred to me would be claimed. I received the notification before the pick had even finished swinging and sure enough checking my stats showed an alarming development.

Sedurzefon, The Emerald Fountain Core Dungeon Minions Level 3 Bastion of Artifice Floors: 5/6 Rooms: 67

Favoured Minions: 2/3

Argent of the Emerald Fountain

Kelter of the Granite Mob Tribe

Mana: 329.8/500 (+0.35/s)

Dungeon Points: 323. Next level: 500

Named Locations: 2/2 Bosses: 0/5

Traits: Voracious Innominate, Heir In The Cradle, Dungeon Archivist

The Glorious Constructs (CONDITIONS UNMET), Tasglann Nilavarai

Schema Slots: 1/3

Schema: Goblins

Geas: Dungeon Conservator Infamy: 61. Your actions have revealed your existence to local powers. Expect imminent incursions. Expeditions Locked

The river had been far higher than we had expected, instead of lying below my deepest levels it lay high above. This had presented an option I didn't hesitate to take, digging a sixth level above me in a gradual rise towards the river. I formed a well above my entrance hall, high in the corner nearest to the river. From there I dug a thin channel, a winding passage of uncarved or polished walls. I placed stalactites and mites in equal measure, allowing Argent and Kelter to follow in my wake, debating where to place each stone tooth and twist of the pass. The Granite mob hurried to take positions in their strongpoint in the third floor and sending a squad to support the Craftwind miners as they cleared the breach to an open passage.

By the time I had finished consuming the stone all the way to the river I had burned through over two hundred mana and the echoes of movement from far above were filtering through. The ring of claw on stone, jangling metal, chittering and squealing carried along the water. The distance was impossible to gauge. We went to work immediately - I was not ready to dispute the river directly if I could avoid it. Argent described it to me, my light stopping at the breach so I couldn't see it directly myself. The Igërtulon ran swift and unrestrained along a brick channel laid by the dwarfs. Over the centuries the stone had been worn down, the width and depth no longer uniform where sidings had collapsed or locks been broken away. It was enough to churn the water to white caps at the turns she said. Perfect for our purposes.

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My new tunnel emerged at a bend in the river where the water already swelled over the dwarven stone. Kelter moved up with two of his compatriots, pointing the nose of his first contraption at the opening. It amounted to a portable version of the acid trap, powered by clockwork. His two attendants wound furiously, gears and cogs spinning. The springs allowed the goblins to store their muscle power in the compressed metal, ready to be unleashed with mathematical precision - literally. Kelter had spent hours furiously scribbling across the walls of the Vault as soon as I had placed the Muse within him, burning with a feverish passion. It appeared placing a Muse into an already inspired evil genius produced rather immediate results - attempts by myself or Argent to clean up his scribblings had been met with panicked outrage.

From his belt now hung the same pouches and sporran of tools and writing supplies as Argent. This had surprised Kelter who apparently had remained of the belief he couldn't write until repeatedly assured the trail of equations and schematics suddenly littering my inner sanctum was in fact his doing. I had created the device according to his scrawlings, tweaking it per subsequent fussing. This would be its first true test. His fingers flexed, gripping bar and lever. With horror I realised it was not nerves that had my minion restless but an excitement barely restrained. He was, I realised, waiting for my command.

"Fire." I ordered, focusing my light around him, ready to interfere if anything malfunctioned.

"Nah," Kelter drawled, pulling back on the release. "Acid."

An arresting block of metal moved, freeing gears to turn under pressure from wound springs, turning more gears and cogs until the oscillating motion of reciprocal levers was pumping four large bellows. Thick and lethal, the Thaumivore's acid was propelled through the air in a truly terrifying display. I had expected the spray to extend to perhaps five metres, a short ranged but devastating weapon. Kelter stood three metres from the border of my domain, the stream angled upwards at thirty degrees and showing no signs of having reached the zenith of its arc. The little arsonist was cackling incessantly instead of reporting on the results. It was safe to assume that they were significant. From the Craftwind's tunnel, Argent spoke, describing the vile yellow fluid arcing into the river itself and boiling it to steam. Kelter lowered his aim, chewing away at rock and stone. The caustic spray had reached nearly twice the range we had anticipated.

The hissing and fizzing of kilos of stone disintegrating drowned out the sounds of incoming invaders. In less than thirty seconds I felt the first thin sheet of water spill across the border. Twice Kelter called upon me to replenish his reservoir, backing up slowly with his two attendants lugging the heavy machine, but at last we had what we needed. Kelter continued to spray acid to widen the ragged channel we had chewed but at last we had water flowing into my domain. It hissed and spat, a horrible acid stream for now. I called Kelter and his crew to retreat, carrying their horrifying device as quickly as they could before the vapours overwhelmed them. I was excited.

I had a supply of soon to be freshwater and with that would come new creatures to consume, a steady supply of mana and Dungeon Points. Moreover I could create a thriving ecosystem on my upper floors, a more vigorous defence and greater supply of resources. I carved large niches into the flooding riverbed, nests for lurking predators, further channeled the bed so it would fill to a deceptive depth. I grew rock formations on corners that would force intruders into the water and force them to swim. In the Craftwind's tunnel, Argent held the rearguard as my goblins fell back. She seeded her will into the walls and ceiling, an extended working of a nature I hadn't seen before. Her mind was confident and firm, I placed my faith in her and focused my attention on the new river at her insistence.

If I couldn't trust Argent, I may as well be doomed already.

I chose my second schema, evaluating the true array of strengths and weaknesses of the creature and seeking to create the perfect conditions for it, finding the subvariants best suited to the environment I could create. Then my third, a creature very different to the first two. This I took influence from my forebears, adapting from what few were available to me to create an entirely new species. It was an arduous task, the seed creatures not part of my schema so my knowledge came from limited, single species. I was pleased with what I created, a utility creature - not a juggernaut of claws and fangs, nor intelligent enough to supplement my goblins directly. It was amphibious, could climb any surface, regenerate wounds, spin webs, and contained just enough elements of stronger monsters it should have very interesting evolutions. It could also swallow a goblin whole, though I had made sure to hone its instincts to see goblins as predator, rather than prey.

[ Viridescent Scincid Spider ]

This oversized Dungeon spawn is a cunning hunter, spinning webs and lurking in shadows to trap its prey and swallow them whole.

I seeded them into the my upper three floors, including my new uppermost river level. The second would have to wait a while longer while water levels rose, a process I began to speed up by creating water myself, further diluting the acidic froth and filling up the deep trench I'd carved. The centre of the riverbed was now almost twenty metres deep, small pockets lining the depths to create future nests. I seeded my second schema throughout it, powerful beasts I imbued with thoughts of bloodlust and hunger. The mouth to my river was only a little over a metre deep but almost four wide, letting a steady flow of water into my domain. Already that stream carried cave fish, algae, moss and tiny insectlife, even a lobster. For now I stifled my curiously, taking no steps to consume them and gain the knowledge of how to make more of them. They would fill my new biome, future prey for my guardians and for now I had to conserve my mana. As the first ratmen arrived, tentatively crowding around the entrance to the two tunnels I seeded the first Frilled Sharks into the deep caves in the river, adapted to freshwater by my design. The water would need to rise before they would be able to aid in my defence, I would have to trust to my spiders and Argent for the opening waves.