I spent some time trying to find documentation about "decoration templates" but there wasn't anything. Finally, I decided to just use it. I designated a section of entrance tunnel on my dungeon map and applied the "snow" template.
Select 2 Units of Compatible Impurities
There was a drop down list of compatible impurities. How helpful. I chose one "snow" and one "ice", and toggled the default when building decorations to refine impurities.
Constructing...
Refining impurities...
Snow decoration complete!
1 Snow Impurity refined to 0.5 Ice Impurities and 0.5 Water Impurities. 1 Ice Impurity refined to 1 Water Impurity.
I could feel the decoration. It tickled a little, like cold feathers. It felt kind of nice, and not just because the ticklish sensation was fun. It was such a relief to know that I could feel things other than pain, that even though I wasn't made of flesh and blood anymore, I could still feel. I could feel the difference in the waves of mana coming in, too. They were larger, had more complex flavors, and were spaced farther apart.
I flicked my map open to see what was out there. Trees, snow, ice, bugs and small animals, a couple of birds, dirt, mosses and lichens and stuff - there wasn't any thing new out there, there was just more of what I'd already been picking up. I moved the snow decoration to the end of the entrance corridor, so that it obscured the room my core rested in. It felt a bit like drawing a privacy curtain shut, even though there was no one else in the house: comfortable, if a little redundant. Something was itching, though, at the back of my mind. It was like I'd drawn the shower curtain, but forgot to close the front door.
Traps. I didn't have any traps.
I opened the map and toggled trap suggestions on. A couple of dots popped up near the entrance - sticky traps, baited with a sugary nectar. Each trap cost an impurity, and the bait also cost an impurity. I moved one of the dots flush against the wall, a few feet in, and removed the other. Build that.
Select Compatible Impurities
The drop down list had life impurities and spider silk impurities, and I didn't have a whole unit of the latter. I used both.
Constructing trap...
Setting bait...
Refining impurities...
Trap Constructed: Sticky Trap. Treasure Placed: Sweet Nectar
1.6 Life Impurities not able to be refined. 0.4 Spider Web Impurities refined to: 0.3 Spider Impurities and 0.1 Construction Impurities.
That felt a bit better. I focused in on the trap I'd placed to see if I could get any information out of it, like linked files or status or something.
Sticky Trap: 100%
● Upkeep: 1 dungeon mana per day
Interesting. Display dungeon mana.
Dungeon Mana: 53/300
How much mana do I gain per day?
Dungeon Mana Generation per Day: 46 (48 - 2)
Minus two? Where was the other one - the bait. I inspected the sweet nectar to make sure.
Sweet Nectar: 100%
● Upkeep: 1 dungeon mana per day
● Replacement: 15 dungeon mana OR 1 unit compatible impurity
If that meant what I thought it did, then any time treasure was removed from the dungeon, it would come back. I might not want that with other treasures. A quick check with the intent to make changes opened a settings window for the sweet nectar, and I verified that I could change the speed at which it was replaced or delete it entirely once it was removed. I left the settings on the nectar alone. A sticky trap meant for bugs wouldn't work nearly as well without bait.
Outside, the wind picked up, and a smattering of snowflakes drifted into the dungeon. They vanished quickly when they reached the walls or the floor, leaving behind the memory of tiny, refreshing bits of cool water. A few pine needles tumbled in after the snow and melted into my granite with a tangy flavor.
Decoration Template Unlocked: Pine Needle.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I spent a brief moment wondering if more decorations would feel nice before I opened my map and put pine needles along the entrance to my dungeon. When I got an error message about the decoration interfering with the trap, I added a small ledge about four inches up the wall and moved the sticky trap there.
It took a few minutes for the ledge to dig out, then the trap and its bait vanished and reappeared (which cost me 40 dungeon mana, which seemed like a lot), and then the pine needle carpet popped into existence in a burst of pine tree and pine needle and plant impurities, which refined nicely into pine tree and plant and life impurities. The pine needles felt like somewhere between wearing cozy socks and drinking citrus water while being nothing like either of those things. Like if pine smell was a taste and socks were a blanket, and the socks were flavored and feet had taste buds, except a bit more alien than that, because I didn't have feet, I had a floor.
It was nice though. I even felt a little tired, like I'd worked hard and gotten something done.
I relaxed into the cozy sensation of pine needles carpeting my entrance and pulled up memories from my past life. I deserved a treat. I plugged a few keywords into the search bar that popped up when I thought about wanting it: happy child funny. Oh, memories of playing with my grandma's cat when I was two. That sounded nice.
...The cat memories were really nice, especially once I dialed the immersion down to let me stay aware of my actual surroundings while I relived the experience of gluing feathers and string to myself and running around in my (very sticky) pajamas until the cat tackled me to the ground. I'd just reached the part where my mother realized what had happened and was starting to scold me (while grandma laughed herself silly in the background) when something interrupted me.
Intruder Alert!
It felt gross and prickly, like someone stepping into my personal space and breathing on the back of my neck. My attention snapped to the intruder.
It was a bug.
Specifically, it was the fluffiest bee I'd ever seen. It actually wobbled in the air, bobbing and weaving, until it reached the sticky trap. The bait must have worked, because the fluff ball landed right on it and started drinking. It stepped wrong, though, and put a foot down on the trap. Abandoning the nectar, the bee began to struggle, buzzing its wings and flailing with its feet, making its situation worse and worse.
It gave off a constant sweet taste, not like the sweetness of the trap and its bait, which faded into the background like the taste of the inside of my own mouth did when I was human, but a more immediate sweetness, like having a bite of meat with a honey based sauce in my mouth would have, if I'd ever eaten something like that. Even better, now that it was stuck in a trap, the bee didn't feel prickly or gross anymore.
Was this what I ate now? Oh gross. Somehow, I hadn't connected "dungeon cores take in corrupted mana and release pure mana" with "dungeons eat live bugs". No, not just bugs. I had traps for bigger things, too.
I opened my treasure templates and took a look. Iron ore couldn't be bait for anything other than people.
The corrupted mana streaming off of the trapped bee didn't taste so sweet anymore. The world blurred in familiar pulses - even without a heart to race or lungs to hyperventilate, I was having a panic attack and disassociating. Everything around me wavered in time with the mana flowing in and out of my dungeon, and I lost track of time. Impurities came and, where the automation I'd set up allowed, went. Messages came and, unread, piled up to wait for my attention. At some point, the sugary sweet impurities from the bee stopped coming, but I barely noticed it.
Eventually, I calmed down. The bee was gone, the trap was reset, and there was no longer any sunlight coming in through the dungeon entrance. I'd lost the rest of the day panicking, and I felt itchy again. I checked the updates I'd missed while I was freaking out.
The Intruder has Died!
Minion Template: Bumblebee Unlocked!
It looked like I could summon bumblebees to live in my dungeon. Thank you for your sacrifice, fluffy bee, your legacy will be adorable. Now to figure out how to summon a minion. Open minions folder.
S://Dungeon/Minions
Show files.
No files found.
Show folders.
No folders found.
Go up a level.
S://Dungeon/
Show folders.
Construction; Contracts; Custom; Decorations; Minions; Resources; Templates; Traps; Treasure
Open templates. Show files.
No files found.
Show folders.
Decorations; Materials; Minions; Traps; Treasure
Open minions. Show files.
Bumblebee
Open bumblebee.
Oh wow. That was an awful lot of four dimensional diagrams that made my (metaphorical) head spin just to think about. Just summon a bumblebee then.
Select Swarm Size.
I perused the drop down list for a few moments, and selected "small".
Select Compatible Impurities.
Unsurprisingly, I had bumblebee impurities to spend. The "small swarm" only needed one of them.
Summoning Minions...
Refining Impurities...
Minions Summoned: Bumblebee (20)
1 Bumblebee Impurities Refined to: 1 Insect Impurities
The bees popped into existence in my core room, mid air, buzzing and hovering. I inspected them to get more information.
Bumblebees, Small Swarm: 20 Bees
● Upkeep: 2 mana per day
● Repair Cost: 0.1 mana per bee ● Home: Not Assigned
● Food: Nectar
● Status: Content
---
Near the top of a mountain, not the same mountain where Earl's dungeon had only just greeted the world with a surge of fresh mana, but in the same range, a great beast stirred in its slumber. Scales glinted under the dim light of banked fires and massive claws twitched, sending bits of treasure cascading down the great mound of gold upon which the creature rested.
The low growl of its slow awakening sent a handful of comparatively tiny servants scurrying for the small tunnels that surrounded the great nesting chamber, leaving brushes and other tools behind in their hurry to escape.
---
In a valley in the foothills near the mountains a village awoke. The inhabitants felt energized, refreshed, restless, and, most of all, hungry. Dozens of pairs of beady yellow eyes snapped open, claw-tipped fingers tossed aside various badly-toned hides their owners had been using as blankets, and long purple tongues licked razor-sharp teeth in anticipation.
It was time to hunt.