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Dungeon's Life
Multifaceted [12]

Multifaceted [12]

Katia's dungeon shifts all at once as she erases everything except the safe room at the start of her dungeon. Her traps and monsters both contributed to the sudden deaths of several delvers while she hadn't intended to kill them. This doesn't sit well with her human mind.

"The dungeon needs to be adjusted depending on who enters, but how?"

Considering the skill blocking effect that delvers have, Katia is forced to rely on commanding her minions with her innate connection to them. Her recently acquired mechanical knowledge will come in handy for remotely controlling traps and doors via the minions, but she doesn't know what the system wants her to do.

Prepare humanity for the invasion.

Katia's train of thought is derailed as the system abruptly addresses her question, and the system's message vanishes just as quickly as it appeared. She's been suspicious of the system before now, but this proves that the system is listening and acting with intelligence. Whether that intelligence is a mind akin to a person's or a program, she does not know.

"So I'm supposed to be helping them?"

Silence is all Katia receives for her internal question. The system doesn't give her a direct response nor a quest, and she mentally huffs in frustration.

"Why do you ask me to kill them if I'm meant to help them?"

Once again she receives nothing but the lonely silence of her own dungeon. The system is giving her the cold shoulder. Katia decides she's finished prodding at the ethereal system and moves on to constructing an intelligently designed dungeon layout.

Stone and wood forms familiar structures as Katia creates a larger entrance with multiple doorways leading into separate corridors. Each door is labeled with an engraved bronze sign which depicts a simple symbol.

Quest Added: Locally Sourced Food

Objective: Build a room designed to provide food to delvers.

Reward: Cheese unlocked.

Quest Added: Tutorial Dungeon

Objective: Build a room designed to teach delvers information.

Reward: Silver material unlocked.

Quest Added: Unfair Level Design

Objective: Build a room designed to be unbeatable by delvers.

Reward: Invasion appears.

Katia's eyes light up at the series of not so coincidentally relevant quests. Her curiosity mixes with anxiety as she eyes the last quest's reward, but she remains resolute in following her original plan.

The rightmost door is labeled with a wedge of cheese, and connects to a well lit corridor. This section of the dungeon is short and sweet with a mixture of penned Dire Rats and readily available Rat Jerky and Linen Bandages. The place feels more like a petting zoo crossed with a grocery store rather than a dungeon, but that's exactly the kind of atmosphere Katia is going for.

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"You can't attack people unless they attack you first, alright? Be friendly!"

After some thought Katia realizes the Dire Rats are quite frightening to your average person. To compensate for their monstrous size she creates some simple bronze collars which hang around her friendly minion's necks. Bows or ribbons would be preferred, but she's working with limited materials.

Quest Complete: Locally Sourced Food

Reward 'Cheese' unlocked!

Katia fills in some empty shelves with the new reward item, and cackles at the absurdity of the petting zoo crossed with a grocery store. She finishes up that section by placed several bronze plaques informing delvers not to attack the collared Dire Rats, as they are for petting and cuddling, not fighting.

The rippling of Katia's lavender hued portal stops her in her tracks, and she turns her attention to inspect the new visitor apprehensively.

~

"Are you sure about this..? Last time we-" Simon is saying.

"Shut up! We need bandages." Carrie barks back.

The two teens are carrying their friend's limp body. Kevin is bleeding profusely from his side, and his hair is matted with sweat. His favored baseball bat is nowhere to be found while his clothes are dirty and torn apart.

"What the fuck?" Carrie gasps.

Carrie nearly drops Kevin's feet when she sees the altered entry room of the dungeon. The same statue is there as usual, but the room has been expanded and three doors are set into the opposing wall rather than one.

"Oh my god... It changed again?!" Simon shouts in agitation.

Simon has tears welling up in his eyes as he adjusts his cracked glasses. The rightmost door has a cheese wedge engraved into its bronze plaque, while the other two doors have blank plaques. The sight enrages the already stressed Simon.

"Wait... They're empty." Carrie interrupt him.

Carrie finds the leftmost door leads to a limestone wall, and the central door is similarly blocked. The rightmost door is the odd one out as Carrie opens it to reveal a well lit corridor. Simon frowns suspiciously into the hallway while Carrie starts pulling Kevin inside.

Simon is quiet as they haul their injured leader deeper into the dungeon. He can't help but distrust the dungeon after its arrows nearly skewered Kevin. Carrie reaches a wooden door, and slowly pushes it open.

"There's monsters!" Carrie hisses.

The two of them quickly set Kevin down while getting out their own respective weapons. Simon readies a small chunk of chalk whilst Carrie hefts a badly damaged cricket bat. They carefully step into the room as Simon draws a rune of strength on Carrie's back.

Carrie stares down at the fenced in portion of the room with confusion in her eyes. Simon peeks over her shoulder to see why there's no fighting yet, and he gawks at the collared Dire Rats quietly wandering around the bronze pen.

"T-They're wearing collars now?" Simon says incredulously.

The strangely docile monsters quietly shuffle over to their side of the pen and peek at them through the low fence with dark beady eyes. None of them make any aggressive noises, yet the stares unsettle Simon immensely.

"Docile Dire Rats. Do not attack..?" Carrie reads aloud.

Simon and Carrie both glance at the tame looking rodents before quietly picking up Kevin and carrying him toward the room's exit. They're in too much of a hurry to discuss the bizarreness of that room, and the dungeon's true intentions.

The next corridor is as well lit as the first, and at the end of it they find a well stocked storage room full of Rat Jerky, Linen Bandages, and Cheese. The items are set out in large quantities with bronze plaques giving the delvers permission to take what they like.

Neither of them have the time to question the dungeon's life saving generosity as they quickly bandage up Kevin's grievous wounds.