Chapter 14
Achievements and Quests
The first day of adventurers delving into her dungeon was finished. Gen sat with Byron at the Inn in her room discussing the day's events.
“Well, that went pretty well.” Gen said “two of the three groups finished their runs, and no one died. We need to see how many Action points we received and go over things.”
Gen started with her checking her notifications of the day reading them aloud.
Congratulations! A rare mob has been spawned in your dungeon.
Congratulations! A rare mob has been defeated in your dungeon. A copy of the Monster Crystal is granted to your dungeon, as this would duplicate the Crystal already in the collection a random Beginner rank monster Crystal will be grown in the next 24-48 hours.
Congratulations! Your dungeon has been cleared for the first time! You may now select a name for your dungeon. Dungeon Keeper interface unlocks: EXP, Mana, Monsters, Traps
“Wow, we have access to so much more on the interface!” Byron exclaimed
“Yes, with the monster and traps unlocked they can be enhanced.”
Dungeon Keeper Interface
EXP: 14/200 to level 2
Mana: 50/100
AP: 200 (20 available)
Skills: (Unavailable)
Map: Select for options
Monsters Select for options
Traps: Select for options
Monster Customization: (Unavailable)
Loot Table: Select for options
“Hmm, according to this the Dungeon is level 1? But some of the mobs are levels 2-4 that doesn't seem right.”
“Dungeon levels are a bit different from our levels. Yes, higher-level technically it's working on level 2 and will hit it once it reaches 200 experience. It's a problem of species; a level 1 dog will never be defeated by a level 1 rabbit. A level 1 dungeon can create mobs of level 5 or lower that's just how it is. But oddly there is an upper threshold. A level 9 Dungeon will never spawn a level 10 mob because that's at the next rank up and a group of 5 level 9 adventurers will have a lot of trouble with a level 10 mob. But once it is level 10 it will have access to level 10-15 mobs. Though if trained properly it will keep them in the 8-12 range.”
“What should we do first?”
“Let's look at the Monsters.”
Monsters: Available Options
Goblin:
Increase spawn allowance (10AP) 4/10
Increase Loot value: (100AP)
Increase Minimum Level (100AP) Current 3
Increase Maximum Level (100AP) Current 5
Teach skill (100AP)
Unlock Variant (200AP)
Dire Pheasant
Increase spawn allowance (10AP) 10/10
Increase Minimum Level (100AP) Current 2
Increase Maximum Level (100AP) Current 4
Increase Loot value: (100AP)
Unlock Variant (200AP)
Mountain Goblin
Increase spawn allowance (10AP) (2/2)
Increase Loot value: (100AP)
Increase Minimum Level (100AP) Current 3
Increase Maximum Level (Unavailable) Current 5
Teach skill (100AP)
Unlock Variant 1 (Already Unlocked)
Unlock Variant 2 (500AP)
“What is the spawn allowance?” Byron asked.
“It is the maximum number of the mobs of that type allowed in the dungeon.” Gen explained “You can see only 2 Mountain goblins are allowed in the dungeon and it is using them both in the boss room. There can be up to 10 goblins but it is only using 4. There is also a room limit as well. Each room can only have a certain number of mobs. We can’t see it directly yet but we will later. It is usually dependent on the size of their room or special modifiers. For example the pheasant puzzle room. It wouldn't be allowed to have 10 pheasants but they are in cages and are let out one group at a time. I don't think we need to spend any AP here, let's look at traps.”
Traps: Available options
Pit:
Increase placement allowance (10AP) (1/1)
Unlock Variant (50AP)
Rolling Boulder:
Increase placement allowance (20AP) (1/1)
Unlock Variant (100AP)
Miscellaneous:
Unlock random trap (10AP each)
Increase trap camouflage by 1% (10AP each)
“Now this is promising.” Gen smiled, “I think we should Increase the Pit trap placement by 1 and unlock 1 random trap.”
“That will use all of the AP… do we want that or do we want to save up for something else? Some of these things are expensive.” Byron complained.
“They are expensive for a reason. If we had access to some of those the dungeon would be killing people. Many of these upgrades would be more appropriate once the layout is larger. When multiple groups can enter separate areas, and when higher level adventurers come.” Gen spent the points as she explained.
Congratulations, your dungeon has unlocked the “Nauseating spring trap.”
“Ok, that is a weird name,” Byron commented
Confused, they read the description.
Nauseating spring trap.
This is a floor-based trap with a small pressure plate. When the plate is stepped on, a spring will launch a smoke ball into the air defusing a pungent odor that induces nausea for 20 minutes. This trap is non-lethal and has a placement limit of 10.
“Hmm, not sure if I like that.” Gen contemplated
“What's the problem with it? I can see it doesn’t do any damage but it will really slow down anyone in the dungeon, isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yes and no. Slowing them down is good, however, making them sit around does not generate much AP. I think it will depend on if they can be easily spotted, disabled, or bypassed. We don't want to extend a delve by 20 minutes for each of these traps. That could extend the time between groups by hours.”
“Is there anything we can do about it?”
“Well not much, without any skill in traps we cannot place or try to move traps ourselves. But there isn’t much room for them yet so I don't think have to worry.”
You have been offered a Quest! Expansion 1
Your dungeon needs more rooms. Aid in its expansion.
Reward: A minor amount of experience.
Do you accept? Yes/No
“Whoa, The Dungeon can offer quests?” Byron Said excitedly.
Gen accepted the quest. “Only if the Primary Keeper has a skill at or above level 10. They are common early on in a dungeon's growth but become rarer as it ages and becomes more self-sufficient.” Gen stood as she spoke. “We need to see if the smithy is still open. We still have some daylight left so we can get started.”
Byron stood and grabbed his small emergency supply bag. “What do we need at the smithy?”
“A shovel or a pickaxe.” Gen gathered a few essentials as well. “If my guess is correct, the dungeon wants to save energy by having us dig part of a new room or path.”
“Doesn’t mining take days of work?” Byron asked as they made their way across the small village to the smith’s shop.
“Only if you are doing actual mining, we are assisting the dungeon in excavations. It's much faster.”
After a quick stop at the smith, Gen and Byron were on their way into the woods. Armed with a shovel and a pickaxe each, they approached the dungeon. As they entered a stone wall formed at the exit.
"That still freaks me out a bit," Byron commented on being sealed inside a dungeon.
"You'll get used to it." Gen stopped to concentrate on the dungeon map. "Now let's see if we can tell where to start."
Byron pulled the map up in his vision as well. "It looks like the hallway to the Puzzle room is longer than it used to be… maybe we should look there."
"I think you're right. Let's start there."
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
As Gen led the way she noticed the first room had a few more log benches around the firepit. She paused and looked at the goblins.
"Quick lesson." Gen motioned to the room. The room originally had 3 logs enough for 3 goblins to sit around the fire. Once we claimed the dungeon it changed to 4 this morning. But now there are 6 logs."
"But there are still only 4 goblins present." Byron pointed out.
"Yes, I think the dungeon intends to increase the mobs to 6." Gen surveyed the room. "At least once it has the energy to do so."
"That would make this room more dangerous, should we warn the adventurers?"
"Yes, but we should also remind the dungeon to keep the first room to a lower difficulty." Gen moved to the firepit. "Increased difficulty is fine with me if it is within reason." Gen picked up one of the logs and placed it into the fire. Then she adjusted the logs to be uniformly encircling the fire.
"And just like that, there will only be five goblins?" Byron eyed the area skeptically.
"Generally yes. We call this pruning. Removing growth to encourage growth in another direction or area. We might have to do this again but it will keep things at a lower level for the beginner adventurers.”
Making their way to the left hall they stopped outside the puzzle door.
“Look here.” Gen pointed at the wall 5 feet to the left door. The natural stone wall had been smoothed and it had a slight shimmer in their dungeon sight.
“What's going on with the wall?”
“The dungeon is softening the wall preparing to tunnel in that direction. Tunneling requires prep work and a lot of energy. The first thing it does is soften the area adjacent to its control; this allows it to claim the stone and then absorb it. But if we help dig it will save a lot of energy.” Gen took her pick and swung it at the wall. It sank deep, about 6 inches into the stone. Pulling back on the pick, a large chunk of stone fell from the wall.
“Pull portions of the softened wall into the dungeon’s influence and it can absorb it without expending energy.” As she spoke she swung again. “Come on, get in here and do your part.”
Byron sighed. And began to dig, surprised by how easily the stone broke and pulled away. "How long do you think this will take? We should probably head back before dark.”
“Oh, we won't be done before dark. We should probably stay the night in the dungeon."
Byron dropped his pick and backed up. "What?” Byron stammered, “Stay in the dungeon... overnight? Sleeping in a dungeon, Tha- that can't be a good idea…"
"We won't be sleeping here. But adventurers do it all the time, with the really big dungeons."
Byron relaxed a bit and bent over to grab his pickaxe. "We won't be sleeping? Then where…?" Byron trailed off as he saw Gen was holding out a potion for him. "What's that?"
"An energy potion. It will keep you awake through the night while we dig." Gen smirked, "Sorry, I should have told you ahead of time. If we work through the night we can be done by morning and back in town for breakfast."
Byron took the flask.
Potion of the Crimson Taurus. 3 doses (Beginner rank) You may skip one night's sleep.
“That's an incredible potion,” Byron stated as he looked at the properties.
“Careful with it. You should only drink one dose and never more than once a week. It will also make you extremely hungry and thirsty the next day. You will sleep like the dead the next night, and you will have to catch up on the missed hours of sleep over the next several days.”
They each drank one dose and continued their work. Sighing with exasperation Byron took his pick and began to break away the stone. It felt almost like his pick was sinking into mud with very little resistance. Dragging the pick downward caused large lumps of rock and dirt to pull into the dungeon.
As they worked a small pile of stone and earth built up behind them. Every time Byron looked away and back he could swear the pile wasn't any bigger than before. But if he paused and watched the dirt, it just looked like dirt. Nothing was picking it up and carrying it away.
"Don't think about it," Gen said to him on his third double take. "No one ever sees when a dungeon absorbs something. It just happens when no one is looking." Shaking his head he returned to his task.
After they had dug 80 feet into the earth, a task that took over 4 hours despite the soft earth, they came to a hard section of stone.
"We must be meant to stop here," Gen said as she took a small sip of water.
"But the quest hasn't been completed." Byron stretched his arms and back. "We can't be done yet."
"You're right, we need to dig in another direction, look." Gen indicated the wall to the left of where they had stopped digging.
"Ok, we turn here." Byron panted, "Just let me get some water."
After a short break, they began digging again, hitting a bit of a rhythm. It took them 2 hours before they had to turn left for the second time. By morning they had dug a strange loop-like tunnel that ran 80 feet from the pheasant room door. Then it turned left and went 60 feet. Turning left again it ran for about 50 feet. Another left and another 40 feet led to the final left turn and 50 more feet broke back into the tunnel they had already dug. Viewed from the dungeon interface it looked like a blocky number 6.
Dungeon Map [https://imgur.com/a/DcGqtNi]
“Wait… what was the point in that tunnel?” Byron said, “We are back where we started and the dungeon isn't really any bigger.”
“You think so? I don't see a tunnel.”
Byron looked at Gen quizzically “Um… what? Then what did we just dig?”
“We did make a tunnel but that led to a rectangular room with a very large tower in the center that is nearly surrounded by the dungeon's influence,” Gen said at least a little smug. “This dungeon is more clever than I gave it credit for.”
“So it can just absorb that huge section of earth in the middle without spending energy?”
“Not exactly. It will need to claim the ceiling above and floor below to separate it from the unclaimed areas but it needs to do that anyway to raise the ceiling height. It will be easier and take less time as it can spread its influence from all sides at once.” Gen gathered their gear. “Let's head out, I’m exhausted and the adventurers are going to want to get in soon.” They chatted a bit on the walk back.
“Should we take a quick look around to see if anything has changed?”
“No, the only change is the number of goblins in the entrance, we can see it in the interface.”
“Do you think anyone will enter the new room today?” Byron asked
“If they are smart, no. But someone will be the first eventually.”
“What do you mean, ‘If they are smart?’ The room isn't even protected yet it's just a loop.”
“I know that, and you know that.” Gen paused to look Byron in the eye, “But they have no idea what's down that tunnel. Without any information, fresh beginners like these shouldn’t be taking those kinds of risks.” Gen thought for a moment as they walked “Maybe one of the three leaders will take a peek, probably Throm or Clint.”
About 15 minutes after they exited the dungeon they received a notification.
Quest complete!
You have aided your dungeon in expansion.
Rewards: 100 EXP
“I leveled!” Byron hooted excitedly as he read his notification.
Congratulations! You have advanced to level 3
You gain 2 Ability Points and 1 Skill Point. Your Hit Point total has increased!
“Good job! Do you know where you plan to put your points?”
“Hmm, My mother always said professionals put all their points into their skills and related abilities since they don’t level much.” Byron was deep in thought, then asked “How often do keepers level?”
“On average we are between regular professionals and adventurers. We tend to get to level 20-30 but higher levels are not unheard of.”
“And what about the Keeper skill? How fast does that tend to advance without using points?”
“Fairly quickly, it always seems like there is more to do with a dungeon. It slows down as it gets higher, but that is true of all skills. Putting one in Dungeon Keeper now wouldn't be a bad move. Other than that, you have lots of skills, anything would be good.”
“I think 1 in swords, I feel like I should have been able to hit the goblins harder than I did.”
“Good idea,” Gen smiled. “You will need a weapon skill of at least 5 to take the keeper's exams.”
Before they walked back into the town, Gen stopped Byron on the outskirts. “Check the Dungeon map. It looks like the energy we saved the dungeon allowed it to finish the room.”
Byron opened up the interface. The main areas of the map were unchanged but the additional hallway and room had been finished. The room on the map had a slight green color. Byron referenced the map key and noted the color was designated for special rooms.
“What's a special room?”
“They can be lots of things, Armories, Rest Areas, Crafting rooms… this one is listed as a Barracks in my interface.”
“And I suppose I'll be able to see that too once my skill is high enough?
“Definitely. You should be able to see most of the first room designations at skill level 5. But that can be a bit fluid based on the level of the dungeon, your skill in cartography, and probably many factors I'm not even aware of. Heck, your intelligence ability score may come into play for all I know. There is much about our profession that isn’t able to be nailed down due to too many variables.”
“How does a Barracks help the dungeon?”
“It might help the monsters develop weapon skills. But it can take a long time for that.”
The two arrived back at the inn to see the common area sparsely populated with a few of the early risers. Throm and Clint were sitting at a table and eating breakfast.
Gen approached the table. “Do you mind if we join you?”
Clint nodded, “We would be happy to have you join us, we were just discussing the Rare Mob that spawned yesterday.”
“Yes, that was entirely unexpected,” Throm spoke between bites. “You should have seen the looks on the rookies’ faces when I pulled that monster crystal out of that goblin.”
“I can imagine it got quite heated.” Clint chucked.
Throm turned to Gen, “The keepers guild isn't going to be upset we took the crystal right? I know they buy them and I've heard rare mobs are significant to dungeons.”
Gen shook her head, “Oh no, the guild wouldn't begrudge anyone their hard work.”
“Adventure Guild records indicate dungeons with a rare mob spawn usually get a development bump.” Clint supplied “It could be anything, New Mobs or loot are usually noticed after the Rare was slain.”
“That's more in line with what I sat down for,” Gen said. “We were just at the dungeon and it has grown a new room. We didn’t see any mobs there but we did notice the first room had more goblins than previously as well. That also doesn’t mean the new room won't have something in it when you go out today.”
“I appreciate the information.” Throm nodded.
While they had chatted Byron had ordered 6 plates of food and when they were brought out Throm and Clint paused their conversation.
“I've seen a growing boy eat but don’t you think you are overdoing it a bit there son?” Clint said.
“Oh, that isn't all for him,” Gen said as she slid 3 of the plates to her side of the table. “We have been working really hard and have been up really late.”
“Wait…” Clint said putting the pieces together. “You brew potions, yes? You don't happen to know how to make the Potion of the Crimson Taurus do you?”
“Damn I always liked seeing the looks on people’s faces when they see me eat 9 meals in one day.” Gen giggled
“Nine meals?” Throm questioned. “I don't follow, what does a potion have to do with food?”
“It's a Potion that lets you skip a night of sleep at the cost of being ravenous the next day and passing out for an hour the next few days. There may be a few other side effects.” Clint chuckled. “You wouldn’t happen to have any for sale would you?” Turning to Throm “We could get 3 extra runs in overnight.”
“I don’t know if that's such a good idea.” Throm was shaking his head.
“It's perfectly safe if you know the side effects and plan for them.” Gen interjected, “Yes I can make them, however, there is one other thing you need to know, If you take more than 1 dose a week you can get severely ill. Also, the ingredients are not cheap. The herbs are a fairly rare drop in this dungeon. You would need 2 flasks per group as I can fit 3 doses in a flask. But the biggest issue is I can only make a Beginner rank version. So the lower rank potion would lose 10% of its effectiveness per rank above beginner a person is.”
“That shouldn’t be an issue, the groups are all still beginners and we are all Superior rank,” Throm said. “It will still be 60% effective for us, more than long enough for 1 late-night run.”
"If you're sure. You will need to get me the mushrooms that drop in the dungeon and then I can make them for you." Gen said as she ate.
After the three guild members had finished and left, Gen spoke to Byron as they continued their three-course breakfast. "Why don't you increase the drop rate for the red stem mushroom? We should have enough AP from our nightlong mining operation. After that man the booth, I'll be talking with the Mayor, and checking a few things."
A short while later Gen had tracked down the mayor. He was out behind the inn tending to a small vegetable garden bent double working away.
"Hello Mayor" Gen called as she approached.
Theodore stood. He was wearing a thick leather apron and gloves with small burns scattered about the material. It was similar to what a smith would wear to protect himself from the sparks and molten metal they would be exposed to from the smelting and casting process. "Hello Keeper Gen." He was holding an extremely gnarled and thorny bush in his hands.
"Seems a bit over-prepared for weeding your garden," Gen commented with a chuckle.
"Not for this blasted thing." Theodor held up the brambles. "They have shredded 2 pairs of gardening gloves already. But enough about that to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I actually wanted to talk to you about the dungeon. it's coming along and the adventurers are going in again today. Part of the agreement was to have a home built for me once the dungeon was established."
Theodor tossed the brambles to the side on top of a compost heap. "Yes, that was part of the offer. Did you have a location in mind?"
"I was hoping for somewhere near the dungeon, perhaps once a road is built it can be just off to the side?"
"It’s a lot of work to clear that much land. First, the road and now a plot large enough for a home… and I would be guessing you would want a large home since you have an apprentice and all?" Theodor asked.
"Yes, at least 2 bedrooms, but 3 would be great. I'll also need a workroom…" Gen trailed off as Theodor was shaking his head.
"We can discuss the details when the work crew arrives. They will be building the road and your home. The town's budget isn't bottomless but I think we can work something out."
"Do you know when the crew will be here?"
"The foreman, Axialis, will be coming in on the next caravan. She likes to do her own surveys. Then she will send for her crew and any materials she thinks will need to be shipped in. I worked with her when the town needed a new well dug a few years back." Theodor leaned against the low stone wall that enclosed his garden. "If she is lucky she may get the contract to build the adventurers guild hall."
Gen was surprised "The guild is going to build a hall here?"
"Yes, Throm was telling me that with this dungeon the number of dungeons in the general region is high enough that it would make sense to have a hall here."
"I thought they were too far apart."
Theodor nodded, "I did as well but 5 days of travel by horse seems to be the standard. 5 days in either direction of the road you will be in the vicinity of two more dungeons."
"Well, that's excellent news for the village. A guildhall will be the staging area of quests and delves to all three dungeons. Well let me know when the foreman arrives and we can nail down the details."