I woke up the following morning, refreshed and my mind made up. I had discussed it with Indella in another lucid dream, and we had determined that it would be best if we picked the Coastal Caverns. The Underground Sea had precious little land, so I would have very little choice on where to place the Core Room and Stairs. While the Overgrown Fort had no water at all, so if I picked the Fort, I still had my obligation to my Brothers. So, as much as I wanted the Fort, the Coastal Caverns was the most sensible option. Besides, it was another Special Biome. No need for me to build anything.
I placed it down and watched as the stair room changed drastically; the stone changed from the black obsidian to a more gray limestone. Much to my surprise, however, that was not the only change. The stairs' room also morphed, twisted and turned as the hallway that usually leads into the biome instead sloped up and became a staircase. From the top of the stairs, I could see what was unmistakably sunlight. I shook my head. Had I somehow claimed a piece of the surface for myself?
I stepped out into the sunlight and had to shield my eyes for a few moments as the coastal sun burned into my eyes. I took a deep breath of fresh air as the wind played with my mane and ruffled my feathered wings. I could hear and see seagulls fly overhead, and the sound of waves was actually really soothing. I had emerged on a small hillside overlooking the port itself. The short grass and the stony and hilly terrain reminded me of the beachside vacation home that my grandparents had owned long ago.
I walked down towards the port, admiring the view and the sounds. It was nice after all the troubles that had been happening of late, not to mention a welcome change of scenery. I opened the menu. Time to check out what things I could summon on to this… floor? OK… Why were all my options listed as Unavailable? That couldn’t be… Then the entire area shook. Yep, decidedly not good. Then, just as I was puzzling over what on earth was going on, the Dungeon piped in.
I retreated to the core room as I waited. While the mutation was great, I had liked the look of the place. It had sunny skies, a nice fresh breeze, and so on. Well, the least I could do was to look up what in the blazes my floor was turning into. Hopefully, it would not be something detrimental like a river delta or something. Now that would suck, actually. Hmm, I opened up the biome list and shuffled through it, hmm actually. Archives, mind giving a quick pop-up?
The Cursed Sea of Sargasso is one of the most mind-boggling floors a Dungeon can have. The floor is an Archipelago starting with a small island called Lighthouse Keep. This is the only haven in this accursed place. The waters are teeming with giant kelp that creates a maze that ships have to maneuver through. Failure will mean you will get stranded in the water and have to walk on the kelp, risking getting eaten by the monsters in the deep in doing so.
Woe be to any traveler on this floor who cannot get to Lighthouse Keep before night falls. The cursed mist that envelops the sea becomes active at night, and with it the souls of those who drowned in these cursed waters sail once more. They exist only to hunt the living and will stop at nothing to recruit more to their eternal torment. Only the wards of the lighthouse keep them at bay. However, daytime is far from safe. Horrors lurk beneath the waves and Sirens have lured many a brave traveler to a watery grave.
Well now, that was eerie. Just what in the name of all that is holy did I do to create this horror show of a floor? Let’s see here, creature descriptions. Nah, I can look at those later, hmm hazards, same with them… Aha prerequisites. Let’s see here.
1. Have a Deep Labyrinth with at least two undead denizens, one of which cannot be a native to the dungeon.
2. Have a minimum of 3 Horrors living in your Dungeon. One of which has to be a minimum size of Colossal.
3. Have 11 different species of creatures living in your dungeon, the Core not included.
4. Have a Magical Labyrinth that has claimed the lives of, or banished, 50 or more hostile creatures, by any means.
5. Have at least one Unique tier or greater Cursed Object in your dungeon.
6. Have brought a minimum of 70 creatures back to life within one hour using unholy means.
I didn’t have the foggiest when I had fulfilled the last criteria, though, but apparently I had. That was quite a few hoops to jump through for this floor, though. Hopefully, the Mutation was worth it, by the sound of things it sure as hell was, but better to temper my excitement.
The stair room hadn’t changed. But now it exited into the basement of the Lighthouse of Lighthouse Keep. The titular Lighthouse itself was almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower. The structure consisted mostly of a jet black metal I could not identify that seemed impervious to rust and erosion. It cast a circling beam of light that would probably be visible across the entire floor at all times. There were strange green glowing Runes chiseled into the lighthouse itself at regular intervals. I could only surmise they worked to keep the inhabitants of this place at bay.
The atmosphere could not have been more different. Before, it had been a beautiful and sunny coastline I could have seen taking a vacation to. Now it was a perpetual gloom across the floor. The mist was so thick that the sunlight could barely reach the rocky island I stood on, and it was easy to see why. It was so obscured by the mist it might as well be late evening or early night. All I could make out of it was more akin to a distant moon. A chilly wind blew non-stop, causing the thick mist to move about in strange patterns. Without the lighthouse to serve as a beacon, anyone traversing this floor would lose their way within mere moments of leaving the island.
The sea, which had been ocean blue, was now dark green and foreboding, with the kelp floating on top of it like small hills. And it was so densely packed up it could support even my weight just fine. There was also something strange about certain parts of the water. Patches of inky blackness that stood out against the dark green water surface.
The rest of the island was an abandoned port. The streets consisted mainly of empty storefronts and houses. All of them had the same warding runes as the lighthouse and otherwise in various states of neglect and disrepair. The cobblestone streets were dirty and full of trash left behind by the inhabitants, if there had ever been any. The ships that lay anchored in the bay was of various sizes, from small Schooners to Galleons and every ship size in between. Good, that meant I still had a brig I could use.
I took to the skies and flew out over the water. There would be another island not too far to the north. Well, not too far if you could fly. If you needed a boat or tried to swim you would have quite a slow trip trying to navigate the kelp labyrinth. Lighthouse Keep quickly disappeared out of view, with only the beam of brilliant golden light telling me where it was. Even my “Labyrinth Sense” was of limited use here because the mist was the actual issue and not labyrinthine hallways. Though at least I had the map to rely on combined with “Labyrinth Sense” giving me an internal compass. I shuddered to think how this would be for anyone without “Labyrinth Sense”. After about five minutes of flying, I reached the next island.
The Galleon Graveyard lived up to its given name, as the entire island was nothing more than a giant amalgamation of wrecked ships. It was a loot area with treasure chests spawning naturally, which could contain anything from rare equipment to valuable resources. Though the ghosts of those who had perished there guarded the place. Even from the air I could see their spectral glow as they wandered around on the island sized wreck. So, I didn’t need to pay for the ghosts. That was a pleasant surprise. I looked up their stats since I was already here.
Monster: Cursed Sailor
Genus: Undead, Ghost
Biome: Cursed Sea of Sargasso
Unlock cost: -
HP: 130, MP: 80
Attack: 120, Defense: 140
Magic Attack: 100, Magic Defense: 120
Strength: 12, Dexterity: 14, Endurance: 13
Intelligence: 10, Wisdom: 8, Charisma: 12
Upkeep: -
Skills: Spectral(Racial), Haunted Binding(Racial), Levitate(Racial), Eternal Guardian(Racial), Undead Traits(Racial), Master Swordsman(Special), Master Archer(Special), Master Seafarer(Special), Vigilant(Special)
Not bad at all. They were strong and agile, as one would expect of the spectral remnants of sailors. They were also spectral, so they could attack through solid objects. They could levitate and were essentially superb at keeping guard. Even better was that because of Eternal Guardian their respawn times were short, they would receive bonuses while defending the place they haunted.
It occurred to me that this floor would be exceedingly difficult to navigate in a short amount of time. Not only did you have to find a large enough ship for your party to use. But you had to navigate a maritime maze, in constantly foggy conditions while under a constant time pressure. I had no information on how bad this floor would be once night fell. But I had a suspicion it would not be any fun for invaders at all.
I continued onwards and further ahead I could see the third “island” though in this case, that was being generous. The Teeth of the Songstress were not an island, but a large area of jagged rocks sticking out of the water. This was the main hunting rounds for the Sirens. I could see a small school of them swim below, while others perched on the rocks, resting. They were strange things, a mix of bird, fish and woman. They had an anglerfish like lantern on their head. Human like arms that ended in webbed and clawed hands, mouths filled with overlong teeth and milky white eyes. Their torsos were human, but had feather-like scales in place of regular skin. Their scaled skin was a grayish clue in color and from the waist down it ended in a long shark like tail in place of legs. From their back sprouted jet black rubbery wings. They allowed the Sirens to fly and aided them in perching on the rocks because of the sharp claw like appendages they had. They also aided them in swimming by doubling as fins while in water. Now, how was their stats?
Monster: Sargasso Siren
Genus: Merfolk, Horror, Monstrosity
Biome: Cursed Sea of Sargasso
Unlock cost: -
HP: 90, MP: 140
Attack: 100, Defense: 160
Magic Attack: 120, Magic Defense: 60
Strength: 10, Dexterity: 16, Endurance: 9
Intelligence: 12, Wisdom: 14, Charisma: 6
Upkeep: -
Skills: Amphibious(Racial), Natural Swimmer(Racial), Skilled Flier(Racial), Bewitching Song(Racial), Waterbreathing(Racial), Darkvision(Racial), Aqua Breath(Racial), Grappling Master(Special), Choir (Special)
So, the Sirens were Glass Cannons. They had a good offense, but aside from their dexterity aiding in physical defense, they really had nothing going for them defensively. On the offensive side, however, they were dangerous, very, very dangerous. Especially when four or more of them sang together, which would amplify the effect of their song because of choir. They also had a breath attack. I had no way of knowing how effective it would be, but it was still something to note.
The Final Island contained the Boss room and the place I would put my Core from now on. The place itself looked like a sunken fortress. But this was not a normal place at all. The place had no natural defenders, but the place itself was dangerous enough. The rooms of the fortress was clear of water, but to move between rooms you would have no choice but to enter the flooded hallways. The only reason I could find for the water not spilling out had to be magic. Once you navigated this horrid maze of corridors and limited air pockets, you would reach the center of the Fortress. The center was an arena for some kind of Boss Monster. Behind a portcullis in the back of the arena was a set of stairs leading down, I could only surmise the Core Room was behind it.
It was a twenty-five-minute flight to get from Lighthouse Keep to the Final Island. That would be a long trip if you took a boat, given my approximate flight speed. I did not have a clue how fast I was flying, but given the Labyrinth of Kelp, it would still slow anyone who was not airborne to a crawl.
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Before I invested in a Boss Monster, I decided I would have to bridge this place and the lake so that my Brothers could enter. That meant creating a shortcut. I flew back to Lighthouse Keep, dissolved my form and dove into the dark water. Deeper and deeper I went, until what seemed like hours later, I finally found the bottom. That’s when I realized that Lighthouse Keep was a floating Island, kept afloat by Kelp. I could probably use that to move the damn place around and confuse intruders further. I refocused on the task ahead; I opened the menu and looked up Shortcuts. 50TP, that was… expensive, still a deal was a deal. I paid the cost and placed a massive, yawning tunnel into the sea floor. Then, as per the instructions of the Shortcut unlock, I focused on the bottom of the lake on the 2nd floor. About a minute later the dungeon chimed in with
With that done, I returned to the surface and reformed my body, then landed on top of the Lighthouse, I needed to think for a bit. My Dungeon was getting big, actually, this floor alone was beyond big. Having Rael reinforce certain parts would become more difficult now. Not to mention, my trip to the dining room was now a trip better part of half an hour once I moved the core again. I would need to cut down on travel times without allowing intruders any shortcuts. Surely, that was possible, right?
I entered the lighthouse and down the stairs I went, then I flew over to the Fort. Indella was there, eating breakfast with the King and High Priest. I landed in front of the trio. As I did a Duergar servant eagerly offered me some strange pale meat that had a light acrid taste when I gave it an experimental chew. Not bad, nowhere near Lienru’s cooking, but then she was a culinary savant, so comparing the two was unfair. “So, Melady, what brings ye ta us taday?” asked the King. He seemed genuinely curious. I explained as I ate, and it didn’t take long for the three of them to be genuinely interested in what I suggested. *That should be doable. We had a few such portals back in the guild. But I have no clue how they worked.* The High Priest also nodded. “I seem ta recall a book in the Library mentioning Selective Portals, which only let someone with da right glyph inscribed on their skin through. It might be worth perusing da tomes there.” While The High Priest and Indella talked, the King remained quiet. He seemed thoughtful. “Well, no matter what, Melady we will need a great deal of large cut Diamonds to focus da portal's magic through” he said at length. That made sense, Portals were a sensitive magical object and even a single mistake in a single portal glyph could spell disaster.
Indella looked at the King for a moment before she spoke again. *It might be worth it to get Mordred and Pavol involved in this. Both are far more knowledgeable in the Arcane than I am.* The king and High Priest both seemed to agree with Indella’s assessment. Guess I should have a chat with the two of them then. I said bye to the three, leaving them to their previous conversation, and dissolved myself as I willed myself to the Party’s Camp. When I arrived there, I reformed once more and looked around. The place was busy with repairs from the assault as the demons had done a number on both the camp and the village. I found Mordred near his belongings; he was sifting through what, I assumed, was several scrolls of spells he had yet to master. “Hey Mordred, care to take a break from cleaning up, I want to discuss something with you and Pavol.” Mordred looked up from the mess of scrolls and parchment. “Sure, Pavol was going to the library the last time I looked, shall we head over there?” I nodded, and we walked off, side by side, as we did Mordred looked up at me “So what is it you want to discuss?” He seemed genuinely curious. Seeing no reason to keep him in suspense, I explained the idea to him as we walked to the library. “Hmm, Portals that won’t let anyone but allies of the dungeon through. That’s an interesting idea you have there. Hmm, it MIGHT be possible. I would need to bounce a few ideas off of Pavol to be sure.” As he spoke, we entered the Library and found Pavol behind a giant stack of books.
He was so busy with his studies he didn’t notice us at all, not until Mordred tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to flinch rather badly. “Oh, Mordred and you, Ms. Core, what can I help you with?” He corrected his glasses as he spoke. They had almost fallen off when he flinched. Once more I explained my portal, and Pavol seemed to latch on to the idea almost immediately. “A special portal that allows Dungeon denizens free travel while not allowing intruders access, that’s a marvelous idea!” He sifted through the small mountain of books around, looking for one in particular. “I know I saw something about Portals somewhere here, ah here it is!” He fished out a rather large tome written in some strange script. Well, strange for the few moments it took for Babel to turn it into something more understandable. I read the title of the book out loud “Portals of Power, by Falinn Tremorhand. That sounds promising.” Pavol looked at me for a few moments before he shrugged. It probably took a moment before he remembered I had Babel.
We spent the next few hours pouring over the pages of several of the old books and discussing various ideas on how to proceed. The portal could work in theory, but putting it into practice would likely take a lot of work. Work that required master level Masons and Jewelers. Luckily, I had access to both in the Duergar. There was one more thing we needed for the portal to work as intended, though. We needed a Glyph to work as a passport of sorts. Without that glyph, the portal would not function, and you would just walk through it without being transported. It was a simple enough system, but the Glyph was not something you could create willy-nilly. You needed a specific skill and class to do so. A Class that I didn’t have, a Mystic Inkmaster. The question now was, where to find someone who would qualify. Well, we could answer that question later. The Portal would take time to complete, anyway, so we had time.
Pavol volunteered to take the drawn up plans to the Duergar and ask them to start the construction. Meanwhile, I had something else I needed to deal with. The quartet of petrified adventurers. Now I had a port with ships large enough to serve as holding cells. And I intended to make use of them and free the petrified adventurers and let them decide whether to return to Caelyn, or stay in the Dungeon. To facilitate this, we would use the brig on one of the bigger ships as a holding cell where we could make sure they could not cause any damage. Mordred would prepare a scroll of Recall if they decided they wanted to return to Caelyn and whatever fate the Guildmaster had in store for them.
It took more time to transport the statues than I had originally expected, not because the statues was a problem, I just stashed them in my Inventory. It took Rael, Mordred and Erem nearly 3 hours to get through the Deep Labyrinth Lighthouse Keep and set foot on the chosen Galleon. I knew flight shortened the travel time, but this was ridiculous. I would need those portals, and soon. It was pretty cramped in there, but not so bad I couldn’t move. I had chosen this Galleon specifically because it would allow me to enter the brig. With the statues safely behind bars, I nodded to Erem, who cast the Anstona spell to remove the petrification. The effect was immediate as the four quickly reverted to their flesh and blood selves. The four of them seemed confused. Not surprising, the last time they saw anything it was Unguul’s boss room. They were an interesting bunch, a Beast-kin, an Elf or half-elf, a Dwarf and a human. I had not noticed the Beast-kin or elf because they had both used cloaks that hid their features. The four quickly realized they were behind bars, however. And they sent some hateful glares at us. “Feeling better now that you are no longer statues?” I asked calmly. The four looked at me, wary.
The other three looked at the Elf who stepped forward. Either he was the most charismatic or he was the party leader. “We feel better, thank you, now may I ask how we came to be in this situation?” I shrugged, seeing no reason to not inform him. “You got a bit too close to one of the more dangerous creatures in my domain, and he petrified all four of you because of it.” It was true enough, but didn’t give them any useful information to go by. In their current situation, they wanted as much information as possible to get a grasp of the situation. The elf seemed to have realized I knew what he was trying to do, and his demeanor changed accordingly. “Well then, since idle chat is not what you are here for, I surmise you brought us back for a reason.”
I nodded in response. “Straight to the point, good. That makes things easier. Frankly, the four of you are a bit of a problem for me right now. I don’t fancy just killing you in cold blood because of certain circumstances that I doubt you are aware of.” I began, this earned me some incredulous looks from the four. “Tell me, why do you think an accomplished party like that of Rael’s would suddenly betray the guild?” I asked, genuinely curious about their answer. The question seemed to catch everyone in the room off guard, even Rael himself. The Elf seemed to recover his wits about him and then got a thoughtful expression as he did. The Beast-kin snarled a few moments later. “Because you bewitched them with foul magic!” I couldn’t help but chuckle at that hasty response. “I am afraid I have to disappoint you, but I am a complete novice at the use of spells. And while I have a skill that could do so. Its effect is obvious to anyone looking, and it’s easily dispelled with purifying magics.” The Beast-kin kept growling at me but said nothing else. The Elf slowly nodded to himself, now with a confident expression on his face. “It’s connected to the proclamation that Rubolgs Messenger made, when the cores were all released, isn’t it?” he asked at length.
The Dwarf seemed to connect the dots rather quickly after that. “Didn’t Rael seem rather miffed at da guildmaster after they captured da Core?” She looked up at the Elf who nodded in agreement. “Not only that but the Guildmaster’s actions were strange even before that, speaking of, why did we even agree to enter this dungeon?” Now the four of them all seemed genuinely confused. Rael stepped forward, “For the same reason so many other strange things occurred where the guildmaster had any involvement.” He paused for dramatic effect. “The guildmaster possesses a skill called Supreme Orator. If he talked for long enough, anyone who didn’t have a Stubborn skill or mental stats higher than his, they would eventually agree to do almost anything he wanted.” The four looked understandably surprised at the revelation. The Beast-kin’s wolf’s ears fell flat against his head. “So that’s why he called all the Party Leaders in for a length strategy meeting, and why all of them was so damn set on us going.” He seemed angrier than ever now. The Human woman standing next to him put her arm around his shoulders. “It’s not your fault, love, how could you possibly know?” She gave him a peck on the cheek before she turned towards the four of us.
“So what happens to us now?” she asked. It would seem she was the voice of reason in the party. “That depends on you, really. You are welcome to stay in my dungeon as my guests, though I expect you to help protect the place in return. Otherwise, Mordred has prepared a recall scroll that will return you to Caelyn, the choice is yours.” I calmly motioned to Mordred, who produced the scroll and tossed it through the bars, allowing the elf to catch it. The elf looked at the scroll for a few moments. “It’s a recall spell with Caelyn as the target, all right” he said after a few moments. He turned towards the other three. “What do you think?” The Beast-kin gave an enraged growl. “I say we take the scroll, go back to Caelyn and I rip the Guildmaster’s throat out. NO ONE MESSES WITH MY HEAD!” The woman hugged him tightly while making soothing cooing noises. “I, for one, say we stay. We are four people against the Guildmaster and the entire guild under his control. He will just imprison or dispose of us if we try to expose him.” She said once the Beast-kin had calmed down again. The Dwarf and Elf looked at each other. “It’s yer call hubby, I will go with what ye decide, as always” The Dwarf said at length as she looked up at the Elf. The elf closed his eyes then, with a deep breath, he seemed to have decided.
“We will stay, if the Guildmaster really have this ability, then there is no telling how it might go for us if we return. Besides, given our situation, it’s not like we are in a position where they would gain much benefit in lying to us.” The Beast-kin stiffened for a moment, before nodding slowly. “You are right, even if I could get my hands on the guildmaster he would have too many loyal followers. We could never convince them either since he could just talk to them in private to make them see things his way.” He looked at me “My party and I accept your hospitality, Core” I nodded and moved towards the exit. “Feel free to exit the cell whenever you feel like it, as I never locked the door.” I said as I walked up the stairs to the deck. The Elf found that it opened up easily when he tried to open it. I had not felt like rummaging through the entire galleon looking for the keys when the end of the road would be them either recalling or joining us.
Up on the deck I took to the air while Rael led our new allies to the boat that would take them back to land. Once we got back to land, I landed again and walked beside the others, more of a courtesy than anything else. As we entered the abandoned town, the Beast-kin turned to me. “Say Core, where will we be staying, anyway?” He asked, as he shot the dilapidated houses a dark look. “Call me Pearl, sounds better than Core. As for a place to stay, for now, you can stay with Rael’s party on the 2nd floor” The Beast-kin looked at me silently as he listened. “Irontooth” he said at length. The Dwarf looked up at me shortly after. “I’m Dilly, ma twin sister is part of Rael’s party, Dally, think ye might know her?” I nodded in response. “I know her, she is quite the brave warrior.” Dilly grinned, obviously happy about my assessment of her twin. “I am Skye, Ms Pearl, pleasure to meet you.” The woman that walked besides Irontooth gave me a polite nod which I returned. “I am Eliandar, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Pearl” The Elf said as the last to introduce himself. “The pleasure is mine.” I responded as we entered the Core Room. My Pillar was still there, but none of the four made any move to get near it. Good, the four of us had been ready to jump them instantly if they tried something that stupid.
The trip through the Deep Labyrinth took as long as it did on the way in. And it was as unnerving for my new acquaintances as it was for everyone else. Luckily for them, we didn’t run int Hazalaar or anyone else on the way out. Dilly visibly tensed up at the sight of the Duergar, who also gave her some downright hostile glances, but left it at that. “Starsilver, that’s some powerful equipment they were packing, I am glad we didn’t run into them on the way down, it would have been a one-sided fight.” noted Eliandar. This earned him some looks confused from Irontooth and Skye. He shrugged, “Starsilver is one of the strongest metals you can find in a Dungeon,” he explained, and the two seemed to understand the context. I took them the long way to the camp, I didn’t trust these newcomers enough to give them access to the secret passages yet. There was something to trust, someone who had risked life and limb for you quickly. Another to trust someone you had known for less than four hours.
The trip through the hive proved somewhat amusing as Skye was not a fan of Insectoids. I decided not to point out the Umbral Spiders later on in case she was also arachnophobic. Irontooth for his part seemed to enjoy Skye hugging him so tightly, if his wagging tail was any indication. The rest of the trip back to the camp went with no incidents. One of my Brothers was curious about the four newcomers as we crossed the bridge. But left them alone since I was with them. Back at the camp, things they had finally finished repairing and cleaning up, with only a few things here and there to fix up left over. Indella was there, helping Rorik and Mint fix up the last touches on their part of the camp.
Since they were all present, I called out telepathically “Everyone, we have some new friends joining us tonight” All of them turned and looked towards us. Dally literally ran up and hugged Dilly. She had not recognized her when she was a statue. Personally, I blamed the plate helmet Dilly had been wearing when she got petrified. It didn’t take long for the news of the newcomers to reach the Kobold village, and within an hour, another party started. While awkward at first, it didn’t take long for the four to blend in with the others and enjoy themselves. By the time Me and Indella left for the Core Room for the night, our four new allies had good friends with the Kobolds and Rael’s party. Tomorrow I would start populating the fourth floor, but for now, I needed some much-needed sleep. I curled up and patted Indella on the head. “Goodnight, Indella” I said, as I yawned. “Goodnight, Pearl” she responded as she lowered her head against my stomach. We were both asleep a few minutes later.