Dunnie, didn’t turn up this time. Wise move, both because of the pixie above me was clearly best avoided when annoyed and the fact I was also of a mind to give them a good kick in the teeth for pointing the mini psycho my way in the first place.

My respawn countdown was eight minutes this time. Respawns were Another thing I wanted to ask about before I got my head caved in by the pixie.

I was mentally exhausted. It had just been piling up on me. After the fight with the snake and dying for the third time in the same day I was done. No theorising or scheming now. I just didn’t even have the energy.

I spent the time half dazed watching Vivain beat the ever loving shit out of an entire swarm of the scythe dragonflies. A hundred of the damn things must have been drawn in by the Commotion of my little chat with the murder pixie stirred up. She kicked the first one fool enough to charge her, sending it careening into two more, all three tumbling into the ground in a tangled heap. Following that up by head butting another. It just sort of exploded into a spray of scraps. With that she was done warming up. ScreamIng a consistent litany of insults and profanity as she dished out enough violence to qualify as a one pixie apocalypse. That’s when I decided “Don’t waste Vivian fukn’ winterbloom’s time” was officially getting added to the Priority list. After she ripped off a pair of the scythe legs and used them to devastate what was left of the swarm in a whirlwind of sparkly death, I moved her up the list a spot. Just to be safe.

As she was roaring her victory above a mountain of dragonfly viscera I was yanked away.

~~~~~

[Respawn complete]

[View status? yes/no]

[yes] of course.

[Rowanoak the Dauntless]

[Monster type: Golden Myst Murder posy ]

[Level: 1 ] [Hp:2/2] [Mp:6/6]

[Title: Deceased Adventurer ]

[Perks: Bound Soul, Heroic Legacy, Delver’s insight, Dungeon Babble, Poison Pollen, Tricky Tendrils ]

[Drawbacks: Outcast’s Brand, Rooted ]

[Dungeon points: 81 ]

Ah, I knew this one. Paralytic pollen cloud with fast growing constrictor vines to finish the job. Easy to avoid but nasty if you stumble into them. Classic trap monster. We just called them Yellow stranglers though.

I mumbled “Plants can be dizzy. Learning all sorts of things today.”. No sound. Not even rustling leaves. That was the extent of my respawn warm up. Being a immobile plant and all.

The flowers' perception was similar to a slime’s in that it was all encompassing, but there were a few differences. There was no focal point like with the slime. I could just see everything clear as day. The range was much more limited though. I could only see in a bubble around a few arm spans distance. everything also had a Distinctly green tint. The Sound of rustling leaves registered as deep vibrations in my stems and roots. On a comparative weirdness scale from slime to toad it was very much on the slime end. Still being a plant wasn’t inherently unpleasant.

In front of me was a huge bored looking turtle with what I’d come to think of as a spawning crystal growing from its shell, text above it and everything.

[ Roaming Mob Spawner ]

[ Monster Types: Botanical]

[ Set as respawner yes/no ?]

Quick [yes] and the usual error.

With its gardening done it started to lumber out of view. I Attempted diplomacy and was met with failure. I’d bet gold the spawn turtle was Intelligent and intentionally ignoring me. It just had that kind of “not a single shit left” air about it that really needed self awareness to pull off properly. I could relate. A long minute later it was out of my bubble and I was alone with my fellow plants.

From what I could tell it was Just flowers and ferns, none of them looking at all monstrous. A soft light was coming from somewhere beyond my view. Probably patches of bright-lichen if I was to guess. Being one of the more common light sources found in dungeons.

That was it really. Just me, some mundane foliage, and my thoughts.

I was still so exhausted from it all. I had a lot to process, my status to explore, plans to make, but it could all wait. I needed rest. Real nothing trying to kill me rest and this was as good a place as any. I just let go and allowed my mind to drift in a haze.

~~~~~

It’s impossible to say how long I stayed in that state. It wasn’t sleep, but I wasn’t that kind of tired. Time just passed with no point reference to track it with. Dream-like and strangely peaceful. If I was sharing this dungeon with other monsters they clearly knew to give yellow stranglers a wide berth. There may have been the occasional half perceived rustling in the distance but nothing quite enough to pull me from my reverie.

My first semi coherent thought as I floated up out of my recovery stuper was wondering if anyone was watering my plants. I had quite the little apartment garden going and only some of it was evil.

The last few years I’d lived in an apartment above a tavern owned by a retired adventurer and his husband. They used to live above their business before buying a little house to start their family, dividing up the space into a couple rentals. Mine was only a single room but it was spacious enough for my oversized bed, work bench, a little cooking stove, and my garden planters. I’d chosen the room because the large windows on two of the walls gave me plenty of light for growing. In my rogue days I wanted to try my hand at potion brewing so started the garden with the intent to cultivate Ingredients. Just kept on with it when brewing hadn’t quite pan out. The thought of leaving them behind after carting them from place to place for so long was a sad one.

I’d left so much behind. Everything.

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I went back to letting my mind drift, though a little clearer than before.

I thought about nights trading stories with friends and lazy trips to the free traders market looking for things to tinker with or mislayed magic items. Buying “too much” from food stalls then sharing it with the street kids I kept an eye on. Reading in the grand library.

All the little things that made up the life I’d never be getting back.

I wondered if there would be the image of a dagger or a shield beside my name in the guild’s hall of the fallen. I’d been a defender longer than I was a rogue but my time with the falling stars had been my glory days if I could be said to have had any.

I drifted and I mourned my own life with the remembrances. When I rose up out of it again I felt, well not better, but Less threadbare and ready to tear under the strain. More put together. A long rest can do wonders.

~~~~~

I wished I had coffee and that plants could drink coffee. I always liked kicking off a proper think with a coffee. I supposed I could soak one up through my roots but I doubted that would be as satisfying.

I pulled up my status to see if the tip I’d picked up from Vivian Fukn’ Winterbloom had been worth the trouble.

[Rowanoak the Dauntless]

[Monster type: Golden Myst Murder posy ]

[Level: 1 ] [Hp:2/2] [Mp:6/6]

[Title: Deceased Adventurer ]

[Perks: Bound Soul, Heroic Legacy, Delver’s insight, Dungeon Babble, Poison Pollen, Tricky Tendrils ]

[Drawbacks: Outcast’s Brand, Rooted ]

[Dungeon points: 81 ]

I decided to start with the only perk I had been told about to see if it actually matched up with what I had. Focusing on [ Dungeon Babble ] I thought ‘expand’ at it.

[ Perk: Dungeon Babble ] [ Type: Passive ] [ Cost: Non Applicable ]

[ Comprehend all languages used within the dungeon. This perk is granted to all Intelligent Denizens of the dungeon. ]

Well this expand trick will definitely cut back on the status guessing games. As for the perk itself, it was a great way to prevent an endless cycle of dungeon Charades. Damn useful indeed.

Onto the really interesting stuff. [ Bound Soul ] expand. [ Heroic Legacy ] expand. [ Delver’s insight ] expand. [Outcast’s brand] expand.

[ Perk: Bound Soul ] [ Type: Passive ] [ Cost: Non Applicable ]

[ You have chosen to irrevocably tie your soul to the dungeon, joining its ranks. Upon death you will be granted an available level 1 mob respawn slot. ]

Aw, so looks like no thumbs for me anytime soon. Between this Description and how things had been going so far it seems the dungeon decided the best place for me was shoved in the equivalent of a dusty corner and forgotten about.

I felt so valued. Still that begs the question why it took me in all. I doubted Dunnie could force the dungeon to do anything it didn’t want to. Things to chew on another time.

[ Perk: Heroic Legacy ] [ Type: Active ] [ Cost: Mana/Variable ]

[ A hero's Mana Skills are carved into their very souls through untold effort and Constant practice. Not even death could separate them from you.]

That was nothing short of amazing news. I’d have been jumping for joy if I'd had the legs for it. I’d call it a Miracle, but the gods were assholes. This was pure, find a chest of gold, levels of luck.

As an adventurer I had only ever developed a handful of mana powered skills. My mana had always been, well… pretty wimpy for an adventurer. Heck it would have been considered on the weaker side for a good baker. So, I had focused on polishing the basics to a mirror shine. Getting as efficient as possible with them. It gave me skills I could always lean on. It had been better than trying to pick up any of the flashier (and more powerful) skills I might have technically been able to learn. Without even being able to use them to full effect they just weren’t worth it for me, I’d only have ended up drained and vulnerable every fight. Being a glass cannon was one thing, being a glass sling shot another altogether.

As a Defender I’d learned the Vitality burst and Entrenched Footing skills. Which were pretty much the bare minimum people expected a defender to have. As a rogue I had the Night creeper’s light foot veil and Shadow Ambusher’s punishing blade skills. (Yeah, rogues just loved flowery naming conventions, couldn't tell you why.)

I could also do basic mana channeling but that was a skill pretty much everyone had adventurer or not. Together they made for a simple but virilite foundation to build my tactics around.

I also learned to make up for the lack of raw mana with my wits as a rogue and my sheer size as a defender, But most importantly a keen sense of timing in either case. It's amazing how far you can close a power gap with good timing.

Knowing I still had my full set of skills made me feel so much less helpless in the middle of all this madness. Like finding old friends who still had my back. It felt like hope.

[ Perk: Delver’s insight ] [ Type: Active ] [ Cost: Non Applicable ]

[ Your years of devling the dungeon has granted you a deeper understanding of the Dangers and opportunities found within. You have the abilities needed to uncover otherwise hidden information pertaining to the dungeon’s Creations.]

Still no idea what this one actually does if anything at all. The possibility of a perk that could Acquire more information for me was very interesting though, and being an active type perk put it high on my experiment to-do list. A couple quick thoughts of [Delver’s insight] hadn’t gleaned anything about my surroundings but the bounds of those surroundings were pretty limited at the moment. I put further testing aside till after I wasn’t a landscaping feature.

[ Drawback: Outcast’s Brand ] [ Type: Passive ] [ Cost: Non Applicable ]

[ You have been declared anathema by the Elemental pantheon. All with sight shall see their mark upon your soul. You shall be given no shelter and extended no aid. The divine realm of any god connected to your world has been barred to you. You are doomed to forever face the maelstrom naked and alone. ]

A very dramatic way to say “You’re screwed”. Thanks, but nothing I didn’t already know.

The Yellow strangler perks and drawbacks didn’t have any surprises either. [Poison Pollen] and [Tricky Tendrils] were my Paralytic cloud and choking vines. Nice to see I could just check their [Mp] costs though. [Rooted] boiled down to “no walking for you laddo”.

After that I did a more general poke around and learned all sorts of interesting things. [Hp] was indeed Health points. However [Mp] turned out to be short for Monster Power and seemed to have nothing to do with mana afterall. Monster type gave a short run down on the creature. Handy for the future, but told me nothing new about yellow stranglers.

Titles seemed to be about rank and gaining access to the things associated with it. Explains my spawn point error. The title “Deceased Adventurer” was likely unique to me, so of course wouldn’t have any permissions attached to it within the existing hierarchies of the Dungeon. Definitely a quirk I’d need to find a way to work around. Maybe there were unrestricted spawn points somewhere. Wouldn’t be getting my hopes up though.

Levels said something about total aether investment I didn’t understand but presumed was in the same vein as an Adventurers grade. Dungeon Points just said they represented “available aether consignment” and I wondered why it just didn’t call them aether points. Not that I knew what aether was anyway. Maybe it was just the dungeons name for mana but I wasn’t willing to bet gold on it. Considering my [ Heroic Legacy ] perk mentioned mana by name. Something to file under magical nonsense for the moment.

All and all an excellent haul of valuable information. Not quite enough to get Dunnie off the hook for a teeth kicking but a good start. I decided it was just simply healthier not to hold a grudge against Vivian directly. No point in being angry with a hurricane, pixie shaped or otherwise.

Finished with status poking for the time being I figured I’d earned a “nap” so I went back to drifting.