8
Nest
I had to read the results window three times before it registered what had happened. Gabriel had been killed. I had no idea what to do next, we needed to tier up preferably several times so I could build some real defenses, but we had just lost our most capable scout.
We had been lucky when the trolls showed up, but they would know that several trolls hadn't returned. Escaping their attention wasn't likely before, but now they had caught and killed a spy. It would be surprising if a war party of trolls wasn't at our door within the day.
A million ideas swirled through my head, all of them bad. Maybe we could disguise the dungeon? Hide it before the trolls showed up? I didn’t have the coins to build more traps. Why had I wasted so much money building non essential comforts, we were all zombies for fuck sake.
“…Mr. Rob?”
I realized Tessa had been trying to talk to me.
I tried not to let on just how shaken I was, “ah, Sorry what is it?”
“Gabriel says he needs to talk to you privately.” She gestured to where the goblin stood unsteadily near the dungeon entrance.
Gabriel? How? I hurried over to the goblin, and he waved me inside away from the rest of the minions still milling about the surface.
“How are you alive?” I asked as soon as I was sure we wouldn't be overheard
“I…” Gabriel looked to be staring into the far distance, but we were inside.
After a moment he collected himself and shivered slightly, “I got too close… a pack of trolls were coming back from a patrol or something… They found me… they didn’t kill me right away”
Gabriel almost drifted off again, but caught himself and pressed on with a deep breath, “I know you said we would be safe, ‘immortal’ I think you said, so long as the dungeon survived so would we… I didn't realize it would be like that. After I died, it was like I blinked and was suddenly in my bed like waking up from a nightmare. I laid there for a minute… I hoped it was a nightmare and I would forget, but I remember, it was all real.”
I raised a hand to tell him he could stop. I hadn't considered how it would work. I hadn't seen proof, only been told that dungeon minions wouldn't die. Apparently they did, but then respawned back in the dungeon.
Gabriel scowled at my raised hand, “Let me finish, if you don't listen… if I don't say this, then it will have been for nothing.”
I dropped my hand and nodded. I wanted to apologize, but the news might be time sensitive, Gabriel's resurrection was good, but it didn't remove the potential for a full scale troll raid.
“I couldn't count them all… there are too many. More trolls than I’ve seen in my whole life. They act funny though. The ones I saw outside were normal, they fought and screamed and acted like trolls. The ones I saw when they dragged me inside were… different. They were all silent and didn't move. Every room had five trolls lined up just standing there staring at nothing.
They took me through a bunch of rooms and down some stairs to the chief. A small troll girl, maybe half Terry's size sat on a throne made of more living, silent trolls.
She just stared at me, but whatever she saw made her angry. For a long time she stared at me, getting more and more angry. Finally she spoke to the trolls who had dragged me there and they… they ripped me apart.”
I didn't want to press but I had to know, “Did it seem like they knew where we were?”
Thinking about that rather than being dismembered seemed to help and Gabriel let out a thoughtful hum, “I don't know, they spoke, but not much and I couldn't understand any of it. None of them ran off and they didn't seem to be in a hurry so… maybe not?"
I clapped him on the shoulder which caused him to flinch. That was a mistake, but I couldn't take it back so I smiled gently and offered what comfort I could, “You did well, rest, relax. Your sister is outside, I'm sure she wants to see you.”
Gabriel nodded and climbed the stairs to join the others, his graceful prowling gait seemed nervous and skittish now. Rather than a hunting cat now he looked more like a hunted rabbit. Hopefully he would recover but who could say, how did one recover from dying brutally.
Then I remembered, most of the goblins had already died in pain and fear once before, at my hands. I needed to find a way to reassure and build trust with my minions.
The only good thing about the fiasco was that I did have some information now. It wasn't much, but the trolls definitely outnumbered us many times over. They had some sort of underground base, perhaps even a dungeon of their own. Their leader was a small female troll with serious ego issues. And the memory issues seemed to extend to general brain issues if the mindless staring was anything to go by.
Hopefully Gabriel was right and they didn't know where we were, maybe we could be so lucky that they didn't know we existed at all, and they just assumed it was the goblin tribe remnants fighting back and being stamped out. I still needed to get stronger regardless of what the trolls were doing, so I called for Geoff to meet with me privately next.
When Geoff joined me I explained that I needed to bait something weak into attacking the dungeon in order to tier up, but Gabriel was out of commission for the foreseeable future and needed Gabrielle so my options were limited. Geoff agreed to help, and set off to find some unsuspecting and preferably unthreatening wildlife.
Dungeon Minion detected leaving area of influence
Dungeon wave event started
Maximum cumulative level of minions in dungeon wave: 3
Cumulative level of minions in wave: 2
Then I explained the situation to Tessa, who for some reason proceeded to ask me about vegetables and meat that I could make with the dungeon powers. I suspected Tessa might be smarter than I was, she was definitely more capable when it came to handling people, so I answered her odd questions and she demanded that I make a small pile of meat and vegetables as well as a large kettle.
Half of my remaining mana coins went to unlocking materials and filling the order, I was basically broke now, but when I finally put together her plan in my head I didn't regret the spending.
Tessa vanished with Terry into the dungeon and a short while later she called all the minions in for stew. Tessa had built a fire out of the more impressively worthless weapons venting the smoke out through the door. I made another mental note to add a fire pit and chimney at some point. She had made a plain stew to draw the goblins and take their minds off the recent troubles.
With all the minions in the dungeon Geoff would be able to bring the invader all the way to the entrance without the others knowing. Then the stasis would save them needing to see the invader at all.
If we did it right the impromptu lunch wouldn't even be interrupted.
I pulled Gale off to the side and spoke to her since she wouldn't be placed in stasis, “Hey Gale, I have something important to tell you, you have to keep it secret though.”
“What is he bringing? Is it trolls?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Geoff, he went to catch a monster and bring it here so we can kill it and go to the next tier right?”
My eyes widened in shock, “How did you know?”
She rolled her eyes in exasperation at me, “It wasn't exactly secret that we need to get stronger, so we need to kill stuff. Gabriel can’t go out like that and Gabrielle is stuck to him like glue. Geoff isn't here. It's basic logic"
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Between Tessa managing the minions, Geoff being generally capable and willing to risk himself, and Gale's brains I was beginning to feel unnecessary.
“Well… yeah, he went out to bring in an animal or something, not a troll. We shouldn't need the rock trap, but you know how the defense works so I'll be counting on you to help us fight whatever he brings. Oh, and please… keep this a secret?”
Gale shrugged, “They already know something’s up I’m not the only one with eyes, but I won't tell"
With that the plan was set and we all just relaxed and waited. Our head of entertainment, Gerald, was already on the job and introduced a goblin game to the trolls and I, and the mood which had been tense and worried before began to lighten. About an hour later I found myself arguing good naturedly with Terry about the difference between stepping out of the boundary line versus stepping ON the line, when the messages popped.
Dungeon wave complete
Calculating results…
Adventurers slain: 0
Monsters slain: 3
Damage taken: 9
Damage dealt: 47
Minions slain: 0
Loot lost: none
Loot gained: Deer corpse, 2 Rabbit corpses
Wave duration: 1:13:43
Wave reward: 1 copper 2 tin
Loot value: 2 copper 7 tin
Convert Loot to mana coins?
I declined, Geoff must have dragged back a few kills for the goblins to use for crafting, and maybe cooking now that that was a thing.
Then a commotion drew everyone’s attention to the door where Geoff came bursting in.
Mental note: make a way for whoever is baiting an invasion to quickly descend the stairs.
Geoff knew his business though and took the stairs three at a time which was impressive since they were made at a size for humans or similarly sized monsters to traverse. Then a large wolf came charging through the door and scrabbled on the smooth stones.
Dungeon Invaders detected
Invaders: 1
Dungeon construction interface locked during invasion
Dungeon entry and exit locked during invasion
Unassigned minions locked in stasis for duration of invasion
Moving minions to assigned rooms
My vision blurred, and I was at the back of the boss chamber. I barely took a step before the next message came.
Invasion defeated
Calculating results…
Invaders slain: 1
Invaders retreated: 0
Damage taken: 0
Damage dealt: 25
Minions slain: 0
Loot lost: none
Loot gained: Wolf corpse
Invasion duration: 2
Invasion reward: 10 tin
Loot value: 30 tin
Convert loot to mana coins?
It took longer for me to process the message than it took for the invasion to end. I declined this conversion as well and another message popped.
Congratulations
Tier up requirements met
Tier advanced from Cave to Nest
Maximum dungeon level raised from 1 to 2
Maximum room count per floor raised from 2 to 3
Special artifact unlocked: Dungeon market portal
I had hoped for more to unlock, but I didn't know what the dungeon level was let alone special artifacts, hopefully it would be helpful. That would have to wait though. Everything had happened so quickly, and I hadn't been able to see any of it from the back of the bunk room. Shouting could be heard from the other room, and I hurried in to see what the damage was.
The scene was… something. The wolf had slid on the smooth stone looney tunes style, and careened off the stairs into the fire. The fire had mostly gone out since we had left it untended after eating, but burning coals had still been scattered across the room, not to mention the leftover stew spilled everywhere. No goblins were hurt since they had been gone for the action filled seconds, but you would have one hell of a time convincing them of that.
The hot coals were burning the goblin's bare feet causing more commotion while ash and smoke choked the air adding to the confusion. Geoff and Gale knew the plan and had been prepared as well as one could be, but suddenly changing position, showered with hot coals, and blinded by smoke was still too much even for them.
The circus of confusion lasted for a while before Lilith finally spoke sense directly into my mind so I could hear it over the shouting.
“Clean the air and remove the coals in the construction interface”
I mentally sighed in relief when the time freeze stopped the panic. I really needed to get better about using the interface in situations like that rather than just when I needed to build something. It was easy and cheap to absorb the smoke, ash, burning coals, and spilled stew.
When I restarted time the goblins continued screaming for a moment before realizing nothing was happening. Geoff, Gale, and Tessa helped me explain what had happened, and with their help I didn't even spoil all the progress we had made in bonding that afternoon.
Once everything was settled and the party moved back to the surface to avoid any more unexpected drop ins, I jumped back into the interface to talk with Lilith about the new tier.
“So what did I unlock?”
“Didn't it tell you when you unlocked it?”
“Yes, but I didn't understand all of it, and can't you just help me out instead of being obstinate at every turn?”
Lilith actually growled at me before explaining, “The dungeon level cap raised, the rooms per floor limit raised, and you got a market portal"
“I understand the room thing, but what is a market portal, and how do I raise my dungeon level… and what does the dungeon level do?”
“The market is a special dimension that dungeon monsters and bosses can go to in order to trade, sell and buy… anything. I suggest you install a portal and buy a book or something that explains all this so you can leave me alone.”
I was in the interface already so I willed a market portal to appear at the back of the boss room. To my surprise it worked, though I really shouldn't have been surprised, Lilith had said I could place one now. It just felt like she took it in turns being helpful and actively harmful when I asked for her help.
The ‘portal’ took the exact form that I imagined which was a large ornate thing with swirling mists. I tried adjusting it and found that I could make it anything as long as it was a ‘portal’ even a plain door worked. I quickly tried confirming the placement but got a new error.
Error: Insufficient funds to complete changes
Required funds: 1 gold
Holy shit, if you didn’t count the ten silver I never got to see when I put on the crown, I had never even broke ten copper. It took a hundred copper to make a silver and a hundred silver to make a gold. That meant it cost ten thousand copper to place the portal. That crap was expensive.
I removed the portal and returned to my questions. Lilith would have to be my main information source for a while yet, “Alright so what about dungeon level, what is it and how do I raise it?”
“The dungeon level dictates a bunch of other unlocks and restrictions, just raise it and you’ll see. You raise it by feeding me mana coins.”
“Feeding you?”
“I didn't stutter, just exit the interface and give me some mana coins.”
That raised another question, “How do I actually pull out a mana coin?”
I felt her judgement even before she explained in her best patronizing tone, “You can make things by willing them into existence in the dungeon construction interface… fuckwit.”
I almost wanted to ignore her request after that, but I needed to get stronger and this would help. I willed a handful of tin coins to appear on the table at the back of the boss chamber. The coins only cost their own value in mana coins not any material. There might be another exploit there, but I had more important things to worry about just now.
I confirmed and excused myself back into the empty dungeon. I picked up a tin coin and held it up awkwardly for a moment.
Nothing happened.
Then Lilith cackled madly, “You should see yourself, you look like an idiot standing there holding a coin up in the air”
I slammed the coin back to the table and prepared to tell her off, but she explained in between mocking laughs, “I can’t eat the coin from the air, you have to give it to me. I am the crown remember? I don't exactly have arms… no… I don't have arms… not yet….”
The laughter faded and was replaced with confusion at the end. Was I going to have a smart ass hat with arms constantly poking at me at some point?
I was suddenly worried, but I awkwardly placed the coin on my head next to the crown. The top of my head grew warm for a moment and yet another message appeared.
Dungeon level raised
Dungeon level increased from 1 to 2
Maximum minion level per room increased from 1 to 2
Error: Dungeon starting values exceed current maximum levels
Maximum minion level temporarily remains 3
Maximum boss level raised from 2 to 4
Maximum floor count raised from 1 to 2
Traps unlocked
Maximum Trap power per room raised from 0 to 2
Dungeon rename available
Please select new dungeon name…
There was a lot to process there, but first I need a name better than my current bunch of numbers. Ordinarily I would have asked Lilith since she was the dungeon after a fashion, and this would almost be like an official nickname, but at this point I was ready to minimize our interaction and she seemed to be of a similar mindset.
I took some time to think it over, and finally settled on something I liked and fit into the Rob the zombie reference that the Reaper didn't think I got.
Dungeon renamed
Dungeon registered as: Dungeon of 1000 Corpses
I grinned at the message, yeah I was a nerd, but it was a bad ass name.
If I understood everything correctly, then I had just increased my potential dungeon space and power massively. Unfortunately I still didn't have the coin to make proper use of the potential. I really needed to find a way to make some money.
That would have to wait though, for the moment I had one more thing to check.
“Lilith, you can tell what the next tier unlock requirements are now right?”
“Yeah…” she sounded dreamy, almost like someone coming out of anesthesia.
The level up had really done a number on her. I was just glad it had only taken a single tin coin, that definitely wasn’t going to last.
“So… what are they?”
“Hmm? Oh… yeah… lets see… you need to… oh wow…” Whatever she had seen or remembered or whatever she did when checking dungeon specifics had sobered her up in a hurry.
“You have to have two floors, ten trap kills, at least a ten monster invasion defeated. You have to have one loot chest aside from the boss chest, the top of the dungeon must reach a minimum of twenty feet over the surface, and…” she trailed off.
Everything so far had sounded tough but doable, the height requirement could be a problem as it would basically be a beacon advertising the dungeon's location, but there were probably workarounds. I could already think of a few possibilities. There had to be something else.
“Well, what else?” I got impatient and prompted her to continue, which I regretted when I realized she had saved the most dangerous requirement for last.
“…and at least one human kill”