Doyle suddenly thinks of something. ‘So, that river over there? We call the next settlement over “the settlement upriver” because, well, it’s upriver from here. While I can’t be certain, the local settlements seem to be in somewhat of a diamond shape with us, anchoring the one end.’
Ally nods, ‘That seems to be the case. If I had to guess, there is probably another dungeon on the other side of the diamond. Though since we haven’t heard of it yet, we probably won’t hear about it for a while. Wolf’s Rest is sort of built around you because they had to move and it is sort of hard for them to hide your existence. The other side probably has a more selfish group in control of it that has kept it a secret.’
Doyle, ‘While interesting, that isn’t what I was getting at. Rather, if we are the last stop on the river, isn’t the ocean-going to be just a bit further down the river? At least, isn’t that a possibility?’
Ally shakes her head. ‘A reasonable worry, but not how it works. See, the system wants the settlements to at least have a chance to live. While the really nasty monsters will stay in the deepest sections of the ocean or at least the most remote sections of said ocean if you have more of a shallow sea sort of situation, there are other threats in the shallows.
‘More pertinent, magic plus a shore tends to equal a ton of aquatic threats which aren’t quite so constrained to the water as you would prefer. And that is on top of the already existing nonsense like crabs. Though if you want real horror, starfish tend to take the cake. What with part of their feeding process involving expelling their stomachs onto you and their crazy survival ability.’
Doyle, ‘So we’re likely a respectful distance away from the ocean?’
Ally shrugs, ‘Maybe? Either distance or some form of disruptive terrain. While not one hundred percent certain to keep things back, a good sized cliff does a decent job. Though you would be fine. Being capable of leaving the ocean doesn’t mean they can survive for too long. Even with magic, gills can only do so much out of the water.
‘The only reason ocean critters even bother leaving is that, unlike freshwater locations, something about the concept of an ocean causes an absolute non-stop bloodbath. About the only reason most magical oceans aren’t constantly the color of blood is because the plankton and filter feeders are super charged as well. You only find a true blood ocean when the main species in the area has some kind of blood-based defense. It is a little hard for the plankton to eat it, if the blood is poisonous.’
Doyle, ‘Well, isn’t that pleasant? So, are the shores just barren wastelands, then?’
Ally, ‘Nah, the shores get a boost from magic as well. They’re just high-level zones. Something people will have to get used to in general. After all, the deeper you get into any contiguous terrain type, the higher levels will tend to be. Combined with how more extreme locations have a similar rise in levels and random danger zones can pop up all over.’
The two keep themselves distracted with this topic for a while until something draws their attention. People were challenging the Zero-G room. Not just a single team, but multiple teams in a concerted effort.
They were abusing the fact he didn’t have instances that deep by all gathering on the seventh. Doyle wasn’t too annoyed by this though, as they weren’t abusing it to beat the eighth floor through attrition. Rather, after a team would feel like they were unable to continue in the room, they would retreat to the seventh floor and let the eighth reset for the next.
More importantly, the teams weren’t just trying to get through the room. Their goal was to full clear it. Doyle wasn’t certain why, but whatever floats their boat. Plus, it meant he was getting fed a lot of cruft, especially since they still had to fight through all the rooms up till the Zero-G room.
Though it was a bit troubling when night came around and they didn’t retreat. Instead, the five parties that were attempting this continued deep into the night. On the upside, it was this continued drive past the point where some of them should have gone to sleep that revealed their goal.
At some point, someone had noticed that the town had a couple of bags of holding. That last bit caused Doyle to check on the third floor right away, only to find that indeed, a second bag had been dropped. Anyway, this was a recent discovery and so people figured the bags came from one of the deeper floors, specifically the Zero-G room.
This meant that much to Doyle’s relief, they weren’t here to cause mischief. On the other hand, since they were barking up the wrong tree, it was going to take a while for them to realize it would not drop. Though that realization would likely take a while as they still haven’t managed a full clear of the room yet.
Though their constant hammering on the room finally got Doyle something he had been waiting for. A little odd as it was the kobolds that it happened too when he had expected the goats would get it. Still, it made some sense with the monument.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As for what Doyle got? Void kobolds! His first home-grown variant. Not just that though, but a variant clearly meant for space. They had an extra three Agility and two new skills; 3D movement and pressure sensitivity. Though the biggest thing was what was in their stat block.
{Void Kobold
S[4+2] A[10] C[4] I[6] W[6] P[6]
Inherits from [Kobold]
Required Skills: Pressure Sensitivity
Extra Skills: 3D Movement lv3, Pressure Sensitivity lv1
Cost: World Energy[50]}
The fact that it right out states that it inherits from the normal kobold and instead of the giant list of available skills, it just has extra skills. Not that he can’t use all the skills his kobolds have. He could. It just didn’t work in the opposite direction. Though Doyle remembered seeing the 3D movement skill being an option before and when he checked it again, the cost had gone down.
Though this was all just the surface level information. To actually get a feel for them, he summoned a pair on an empty floor and they were beautiful. The regular kobolds look decent enough, of course, but the void kobolds had a certain flair to them.
The male void kobolds are like suns. They could be any color a sun could be and, while not as bright as one, had a pronounced bioluminescence going on. In particular, their eyes were much brighter. And their scales? The edges would occasionally flare up like it was a solar flare.
As for the ladies? You might think that since the guys were suns, the girls would look like planets or maybe the darkness of space. Of course, since it was brought up that way those weren’t the answer. Instead, they looked like constellations.
Not classic constellations, mind you. Well, Doyle assumes that those are an option. Rather, when he says constellations, he means a series of stars connected by lines to form a significant shape. Which could be a problem. That “significant shape” part is more than just art.
Good news? Since it was the female kobolds, it isn’t like their constellations were going to allow them to randomly AoE the delvers. Rather, because they are the ones who have Qi, all the effects are relatively contained whether it was elemental abilities, buffs, or whatever strange effect might come from it.
In fact, despite being more predictable, the guys will likely cause the most issues for delvers. While regular kobold mages require a wand and are basically assigned a random element unless Doyle specifies, that isn’t the case for void kobold mages.
While they lack a skill with magic just like the normal kobold mage, their eyes act as a magic focus, replacing the need for a wand. Also, while they could use normal elemental magic if Doyle gave them a wand, they come with a higher tier option, stellar magic.
Ally was able to explain how that worked relatively concisely. Higher tier magic doesn’t mean better, just that it needs to start at a higher level. Regular fire magic can get there on its own, for instance. Though with stellar magic, it is actually an advanced form of basic fire magic.
Good thing the magic it has on the low end isn’t as bombastic as the name implies. Though what they get is a slight upgrade to the normal elemental ball spell the kobold mages get. Instead, they can cast stellar beams.
It looks shockingly like a certain superhero’s heat vision except in the color of their body instead of just red. Also much weaker, though Doyle could see them being able to better focus the beams with practice. Not that he plans to let them practice that.
Instead, Doyle plans to get them to focus on the opposite, widening the beam. It reduces the direct damage, but allows them to more effectively intercept incoming attacks. Now there were just three questions left, only one of which he needed to answer himself.
Doyle turns back to Ally, ‘So uh, what’s up with the inherited thing and why do they have pressure sensitivity instead of resistance?’
Ally, ‘The pressure thing is simple enough to explain. While they are called void kobolds, they’re even more of a derivative than you would expect from the start. Not only do they have nothing to do with The Void, they also don’t live in the void between stars.
‘Rather, they are a species specialized at living in things in space. They can’t survive out in space any better than a human, which is exactly why pressure sensitivity is so important. It allows them to notice even the smallest loss in pressure and pinpoint where it is coming from.
‘You know, like from a pinhole in the side of their space station. Void species and anyone with the pressure sensitive skill is highly sought after among spacefarers. Though void species are preferred. The reason why the pressure sensitive skill is required for them is because they have some kind of organ or change which is specialized to a degree that just having the skill can’t replace.
‘Oh, and the inherited bit? That’s the bonus you get for naturally evolving them. Skills you buy for normal kobolds will propagate to evolved forms.’
Doyle, ‘Then why don’t the myconids have that?’
Ally shrugs, ‘They probably do now. Saying you had to unlock the feature isn’t quite right, but it is close. The myconids didn’t activate it because they are not an evolution or a true variant. Rather, they are simply the various life stages.
‘Though it is possible that they don’t get it. After all, you can’t expect a butterfly to have the same skills as a caterpillar. You’ll have to check that later after you decide if you want to use the void kobolds right now.’
Doyle tilts back. ‘Right now? Eh, maybe? Like, I really enjoy their design and they fit the room. Plus, they don’t cost more.’
Ally, ‘Yeah, the cost thing is weird. I’m going to guess it is because for kobolds the void variant is more of a side grade instead of an upgrade.’
Doyle, ‘Still, why do you think I’m planning on using them?’
Ally laughs, ‘Not only are you thinking of using them, you’re likely also thinking of adding a pair to the fifth floor. I’d be willing to bet the reason you got the evolution is because of the monument and you’ll want to have some there.’