Carving was going to take some time, so as that went on I thought about what new monsters I should make. Even though my centipede was most likely evolving, and my mouse only a level away, I felt having maybe one or 2 more main defenders would be nice. I also felt that maybe I should be adding to the bats to create a proper, albeit slightly small, swarm. I felt like they would make a great idea for a wandering monster group, moving from cave to cave. It was also meant to stop one cave from becoming an inhospitable waste area of guano.

Since my monsters were actual living creatures, it meant they also had to follow the base rules for all living creatures. Sleep, eat, and shit. Plus a few obvious others to increase population, but I honestly didn’t feel like learning how my creatures created more of their kind. Thankfully even with almost near omniscient understanding of everything around me, I was able to block those particular instances out.

Anyway, moving from those unwanted thoughts, I took a look around my cave. The second room was halfway done, probably only going to be another few hours till I could use my Will to create the actual room. Then I figured I would work on the south east room, where I planned the Mana Pools actual location. I loved the fact that I was basically using the Mana Pool for the building and carving, while still having full Mana of my own to do these templates. Though I wasn’t quite ready yet, I was looking forward to some new intruders so that I could raise my level.

Once again I noticed I had sidetracked, my mind refusing to think of what new monsters to create. Being limited to a small cave was crushing my creativity. I could make anything technically, but I wanted to stick to a theme for my levels, plus my hopes that whatever I make would be a potential future mythical or legendary monster. Plus, I now had an idea of what environment my cave was situated in. The skink had been labeled a Tundra skink, meaning the outside world was probably some kind of wintery ecosystem. So with the Tundra outside and small dark cave inside, I should have a plethora of creatures to choose from. But everything I could think of just didn’t feel right.

Wolves would be awesome, as they were a base creature for myths around the world and fit into the Tundra theme quite well. But the cave was just a tad too small, and with the stalagmites and such it would limit their movement and fighting abilities. Snakes worked well in the cave setting, but not so much in the Tundra. I could of course make one similar to the skink, making it more attuned to the cold elements, but it didn’t sit well with me. The fact I had an Amazonian giant centipede was not lost on me, seeing how they were from a very humid, jungle like terrain originally. But that was already in the cave and beyond my control. Same with the Tasmanian cave spider, again found more in a jungle like environment.

Now there was one idea that could work, but the tales about them seem to differ to two very different kinds of creatures. Kobolds, or Cobolds, have an origin in Germany as house spirits. But they could also be found in caves or on ships as well. In Fantasy lore, most depict them as reptilian, usually in some way related to dragons. But older fantasies portrayed them as dog-like or even rat-like creatures. I remember looking into this, as I had read stories of both versions, to find it was a tad split on how it came about. But their first origin came from Germany and described them as a kind of mischievous household sprite, who could take one of many forms.

Kobolds would fit perfectly into the theme I had, and I was personally leaning towards making them more canine based. The reasoning there was mixing them into the old Inuit legends of the Adlet. Their story was a tad messed up, but in general they were a sort of werewolf hybrid kind of creature, shunned due to their birth. With the bottom half of a dog and the top half of humans, they could be the base image I had for my Kobolds. The big question was going to be cost. Did I try and give them an average Mana core for 6 Mana, or try for a Tough Mana core for 24. The base for a small bat had been 5 Mana, what would a 2-3 ft. humanoid base cost? Hopefully it wasn’t priced on size and more on complexity, but a half-human, half-dog sounded relatively complex in itself. My bats were pretty intelligent with only an Average core, but I could sense that for the intelligence needed to use tools and such, it would require at least a Tough core or higher.

I could also look into some sort of plant creature, since I had the plant matter to use, but decided against it. There were a few options for the themes I currently had, but I know I wanted a jungle level down the road if possible and felt it would fit better there. Plenty of carnivorous plants I could use, plus dryads would be a great floor boss theme for that as well. Not that I knew how to make bosses yet. Of course undead are well known for enjoying cold, cave like areas but since I wanted this as a more natural cave and not some kind of ruin I was staying away from them for now. The bats may become Vampires, but if so I was hoping I could just move them later.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

A lot of my future plans were based on what-ifs but somehow I felt it would work ok. I wasn’t sure if it was my instincts or what, but I just had a feeling my plans were possible, if not at the moment.

I could also do a snow-based spirit from Japanese mythology, the Yuki-Onna. They were spirits who looked like beautiful young women and entrapped their prey in ice. Once trapped they would drain them of their life energy by sucking it through the mouth. There was even a male version called Yuki-Otoko. The only thing is most stories seemed to depict these spirits to go after humans, meaning they probably preferred sapient like creatures. To create them, only to force them to feed on lizards and insects, seemed wrong.

Looking back at my options I was definitely leaning towards Kobolds as an option. There were a few other creatures that were similar to Kobolds, like goblins, but I felt the canine version of Kobolds would just fit better. In fact, the more I thought about it the better it was. The Adlet were basically half human and half dog. I liked the idea, but coming to a brand new fantasy world and one of my first creatures being any kind of human seemed boring.

By the time I had finalized what I wanted, I had just finished the first side room. I had originally planned on waiting for the other rooms, before adding them in one big sweep. But doing so would spread my Will, Intelligence, and Mana, which meant that they would be more generic. Looking at the room, I had planned it to be much like the first one, just stalagmites, stalactites, and plants. But maybe I could do something else. There was moisture on my western wall, but otherwise there was no water elsewhere. My idea was that the southern room I had planned could have some kind of water cutting through it. That water could be what created the “entrance” to this central room, allowing it to feel a bit more natural. Then I could have this stream basically cutting through this room, out into the northeastern room, connecting the three rooms together.

This would also allow me to bring a more water based cave creature, of which there several, to add to this theme. Liking the idea, I carved a small niche where the water entered and exited this room, before pouring my Will into creating the room. Focusing on the design I had pictured I could feel my Mana pulling away from me. I could also now sense the materials in the subspace being used, as rock, metal, and plant material left it.

With a pop, I could feel the room come into being, and gave it a look. My Mana already filled the space inside and immediately I could feel the presence of several creatures. It was nothing new, just some insects that had made nests in the rock. The cave I had carved had been all rock for the most part, but I could feel that the wall was thinner to the southeastern corner. This was the corner I was planning on making the Mana Pool cave, which was concerning. I wasn’t sure if it was just another open space cave, which meant possible threats, or even worse the outside world. If the latter was the case, it would completely mess up my plans for this build. It also would mean that the cave I was in was quite small, making all future build annoying as well.

That was for slightly in the future for now though, so I continued looking around. There was the basic cave look of stalagmites and such, plus an abundant amount of plant growth already. I could also feel copper veins in the wall, which was great for more copper creation. What wasn’t there though was the stream I had wanted. Instead of a stream, there was a cutout in the floor. It was exactly what I had wanted in its design and possible depth, with a few dips that would have created deeper pools. But there was no water inside it.

I tried looking into the room’s creation to find out why and felt stupid when the answer came to me. Water, much like the plants and metal, was a source node of sorts. So until I created or figured out how to create said node, this was destined to be empty. It was a little disheartening to find out, but not end of the world. I would definitely add it once I figured it out, but this just meant I had a dry streambed design to play with. Who knows, I may just find actual water when I created the southern room, considering the moisture that came from the western wall went all the way down to the end of my current room.

Either way, with the room done, I decided to hold off working the wall to possible empty space in order to create my new monster.