-In the throne room of the Andar capital-

Announcement: A new dungeon has spawned in the land. Will it contain vast riches? Tomes of forgotten lore? A pair of old boots? Only those lucky enough to locate this deathtrap and survive its fiendish depths will know for sure.

Alert: A new dungeon has been located within your realm. Dungeon is located in the vicinity of the Mountain of Sorrow.

Interesting. With a new dungeon to provide us with resources this is just what we need to turn the tides in the war.

The King turned to look upon his advisors who seemed quite surprised at this latest Announcement. In ones and twos they each turned to look to the King to see his reaction. Slowly the King began to smile and his advisors started talking excitedly amongst themselves.

Turning to his Chancellor the King spoke. “The new dungeon is somewhere around the Mountain of Sorrow. Have a message delivered to the adventurers guild immediately so they can send a team to determine its precise location.”

The Chancellor was surprised that the dungeon had spawned so close to the capitol but as usual he kept complete control over his expression not letting anything show. “Of course my liege. Would you like me to begin preparations for an outpost to be created at the new dungeon or would you prefer to wait for the survey team to return with their report?” The Chancellor asked, correctly guessing the King's own thoughts.

“No, have the preparations begin immediately. I want everything in place for when the survey team returns so we can get moving as soon as possible.” The King responded.

Some of the King’s advisors seemed surprised by this however most of them understood perfectly the King’s reasoning. They were losing this war and although hostilities were currently on hold as winter had just begun, they each knew that come spring the battle would continue.

-Adventurers Guild-

Guildmaster Vance was sat at his desk trying to make some headway in the depressingly large pile of paperwork before him. As an elf it is difficult to determine his precise age however as wrinkles had begun to show he was likely several hundred years old. He was wearing a deep blue robe, as was usual for him, with the guild insignia of a crossed sword and wand over his heart. Like everybody else he too had just received the Announcement regarding the new dungeon, however since it is incredibly unlikely the dungeon would be located anywhere close by he had dismissed it and continued with his work.

How did it come to this? I was an adventurer for so many years, growing more powerful with each enemy I defeated, earning glory and renown across the land. I still can’t believe I let myself get talked into becoming a Guildmaster. Now all I do is spend my time completing paperwork. In the old days I would have created an expedition to locate this new dungeon.

Almost as if summoned by his musings there came a knock on his door.

“Enter.” The Guildmaster spoke aloud, any reason to distract him from his paperwork even if for a moment.

Mercy, the Guildmasters second in command stepped inside holding a sealed scroll. Mercy was a human who was now getting on in years. At just over 6ft tall and well muscled she was still very formidable despite her age, even without wearing the heavy plate armour she wore during her adventuring years.

“This just arrived, delivered by a royal courier no less.” Mercy informed the Guildmaster before handing over the scroll.

Unsealing the scroll and looking through its contents the Guildmaster visibly grew more and more excited. Guessing that the scroll must be something to do with the recent Announcement of a dungeon, Mercy was soon proved to be correct.

“The new dungeon that spawned is apparently quite close. Somewhere around the Mountain of Sorrow. The King has issued a quest and would like us to send a survey team to determine the dungeons precise location and potential. Apparently preparations are already under way for people and materials to be gathered so an outpost can be created once we return.” The Guildmaster relayed to Mercy.

Raising an eyebrow at the Guildmaster Mercy responded. “I can’t help but notice you said when “we” return…”

The Guildmaster grinned back before replying. “I think it’s time you dust off your armour. I believe Blade and Midnight are still within the city. Have word sent to them as well, we will leave in the morning.” So saying the Guildmaster stood and began to make the necessary preparations.

Mercy could only chuckle and shake her head at the Old Elf’s enthusiasm before leaving to spread the word.

-Steve’s Dungeon-

Steve had spent some time examining the surroundings however as he was limited in how far he could travel from his entrance there wasn’t much to see. He confirmed that the entrance to his dungeon was at the base of a rather tall mountain with at first just a scattering of trees which steadily thicken to become a more dense wood. A few hours into the morning Steve and Nova were waiting for Azrael to return from his foraging when something unexpected happened, at least as far as Steve was concerned.

“I think I feel something approaching the entrance!”

“Bring up a projection of the area and let’s have a look.” Nova said expressing her interest.

Focussing Steve did as requested and a top down view of his entrance appeared on the wall. A small furry animal with four legs was approaching the entrance.

“A Fire Fox. Well, it looks like you are going to get your first real visitor. Follow and let’s see how it does.” Nova offered.

Once the fox had entered the entrance Steve felt something new. Examining himself he realised that his Animus had gone up very slightly.

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“I got a point of Animus!”

“Of course. As I previously mentioned all living creatures will supply Animus while inside your dungeon. The more powerful the creature, the more Animus you will earn.”

They continued to watch the fox as it ventured further inside going down the tunnel into the depths.

“Why is it even here? It’s not like their is any food for it.”

“Many animals will naturally be drawn towards dungeons, some because the caves created can make homes, others because they sense the power you give off.” Explained Nova.

The fox had just reached the bottom of the tunnel and was just outside the first room. The skeletal minions in that room were currently waiting out of sight to either side of the entrance where Steve had positioned them. They were currently motionless so the fox shouldn’t know they were there but it was clearly hesitant to move further on. Eventually however it moved into the room.

Once it moved forwards a couple of meters the skeletons turned and started to approach the fox, though they were moving rather slowly. The fox noticed them immediately as they began moving and backed away growling at them. After a few more moments the fox inhaled a large amount of air before making a barking coughing motion which caused a small blob of liquid flame to come flying out and land on the ribcage of one of the skeletons. It immediately began to burn and even melt the skeletons bones, however all of the skeletons continued to advance even the now burning one. Backing up further the fox attacked with this strange liquid flame attack hitting the same skeleton which after a few moments seared through its spine causing it to collapse.

However the other skeletons still continued to advance and had now reached the fox and begun to swing their swords at the fox repeatedly. While it was able to dodge several swings, having four swords constantly swing left it unable to counter attack. Eventually one of the blades managed to catch the fox across one of its legs which caused it to flinch allowing several other swings to impact it. Seconds later it fell still and the skeletons stopped attacking and moved back to their positions.

“Intense. Looks like I gained a total of 32 Animus though so at least I can replace the skeleton the fox destroyed.”

“Remember, your skeletons will be able to reassemble themselves eventually. Though since some parts were melted you will need to supply a small amount of Animus to provide the missing parts. Also don’t forget to absorb the remains of the fox.”

Moving his awareness to the first room Steve approached the downed skeleton. After inspecting it for a moment he discovered that Nova was correct, it only took 2 Animus to provide the needed parts allowing it to fix itself. He then turned to the fox remains and absorbed them as Nova recommended.

Congratulations! You have discovered leather.

Congratulations! You have discovered flame jelly.

“Looks like I will be able to start making things from leather from now on, I also got something called flame jelly. I assume this is the stuff it spat at my skeleton?”

“Thats right. You might be able to implement it in some of your traps or when you get a suitable container provide it as loot for the adventurers.” Nova advised.

“What would adventurers want it for?”

“They could sell it to alchemists who would likely be able to use it as an ingredient in various recipes, or they could use it themselves by simply having the jelly in a breakable container and throwing it at enemies. There might well be other uses for it but I am not familiar enough with the substance to be able to say.”

Several hours later Azrael returned carrying an armload of plants which he proceeded to drop just inside Steve's entrance. Steve quickly absorbed them while thanking Azrael for his help.

Congratulations! You have discovered Grass.

Congratulations! You have discovered Moss.

Congratulations! You have discovered Wood.

Congratulations! You have discovered Sage.

Congratulations! You have discovered Moonglow.

“The moonglow was a lucky find. You can usually only really see it during a full moon however as I left quite early I was able to spot this one. I dare say that if you have this stuff growing in your dungeon it will be much sought after. The sage is a common healing herb used in a variety of potions and wood is a versatile material. I brought the moss and grass so you will have a couple more options when building in the future and so that I could at least sleep on a bed of grass for the time being.” Azrael explained.

Thanking him again both Steve and Azrael turned towards the core room while Steve considered what he could do with these new materials. Just as he reached his core room however he sense another presence at the edge of his awareness approaching his dungeon entrance.

“Looks like we have more visitors.” Steve explained before projecting the view of his entrance on the wall for the others to see.

Walking from out of the woods were a group of 4 people. The one in the front seemed to be an archer of some description as they held a bow in one hand and had a quiver of arrows on their back. They were wearing black leather armour with a black hood that made it difficult to see within however Steve thought they must be a human. The next was clearly an elf with white hair that wearing a long dark blue robe and holding a staff that was pale blue with a large sapphire at the end. Following him was a smaller creature that Steve recognised as a gnome who was wearing leather armour with a chainmail vest and had a pair of swords strapped to his back. The last person to approach was a large human woman with grey hair wearing thick plate armour carrying a very large hammer.

“I didn’t expect to see adventurers so soon, we must be quite close to a town or city for them to have arrived so quickly. These especially look rather formidable.” Nova sounded worried as she spoke. “Quickly, tell me how much Animus you gain when they enter, this should give us an idea of there strength.”

Now feeling rather worried himself Steve kept an eye on his Animus while the group of adventurers came to a holt at the entrance. After they spoke with one another for a few moments the elf, who seemed to have a rather large smile on his face shook his head before turning and entering the dungeon. Just as with the fox, the moment he stepped inside Steve passively received some Animus. However while the fox only provided 1 Animus when it entered, this elf provided 200. As the others entered he gained another 120 from the archer and the gnome and another 140 from the human.

“Ot oh.”

“How much Animus did you gain?” Nova asked now starring in what was obviously fear at these adventurers.

“All together? 580.”

“In order to generate so much Animus passively they must each be at least epic rank. I’m sorry Steve, I had hoped that we would have more time to provide suitable loot, but these people have enough power to breeze right through this place and since it is populated with undead…” Nova trailed off leaving unsaid the obvious consequences.

Apparently unconcerned Azrael turned to them both. “Do not despair, I will not let them harm either of you.”

“Do you think you can defeat them Azrael?”

Turning to look back at the projection Azrael examined them a moment more before replying. “I can not say for certain as I would be outnumbered. However my mere presence here will likely make them hesitate before doing anything too rash.”

“I sure hope your right. I’ve only existed for a couple of days. I would at least like to make it through the week.”