Day 34
Lake 1 surface
image [https://imgur.com/4CNFVt1.jpg]
Lake 1 maze
image [https://imgur.com/i1WB7n7.jpg]
Trap 1 surface
image [https://imgur.com/1VCCRDk.jpg]
Start surface
image [https://imgur.com/xkzTU9B.jpg]
Expansion 2 surface
image [https://imgur.com/CgR02mK.jpg]
status Day 34, Mana:1615/2154, Water: 179/2154, Ice: 74/2154 Size: 4308, core 27,
Twenty Four upgrades available
I did not expect the eagle to go after the little stuff, and I did not realize there would be animals around large rough for it to bother with. On the plus side, it seems like there are some wolves around to help keep any invaders on their toes. It might be worthwhile to add a den with a pack of wolves near the lake at some point, but for now there are more pressing issues.
If the tree cutters are going to keep cutting down my trees, I am going to need at least one more set.
I also want to add a second nest for another giant ice eagle spawn, giving me a total of four, one for each direction.
After that, I really need to claim a perimeter around the lake so I can detect anyone approaching. I could start claiming the bottom of the lake, but I am spotting lots of fish moving around with no real concern with how close they are to the floor of the lake without the distinctively large wings on birds. Presumably invaders could exhibit similar freedom once they are in the water, so I’ll need to set up the initial perimeter outside the water.
This lake shore is incredibly annoying. I was prepared for the vagaries of a circle, or possibly even multiple curves. This is nothing like that. It is almost like every length of shore is trying to out detail the previous one. What is worse, is the smaller the details I examine as far as the interface between the water and the land the more details there are to find. Why is so much of the world so unordered? Where are the squares and rectangles? Does nothing adhere to a proper grid? This is most distressing. I wonder if I should try to smooth out the shore? It is certainly tempting, but big changes like that, aside from being very expensive, would be a clear sign to anyone who has been to the area before that something is different. And if other lakes are similarly messy with their shores, then it could be a gigantic ‘here I am’ flag to the dungeon killers. I do not like it, but much like the rocks and sand scattered about my trp observation locations, it is a matter of stealth, and thus survival to leave this awful and annoyingly irregular shore as it is. At least it gives me plenty of area to plant grass. Ok, I was able to claim and plant just over eight hundred and fifty spaces of shire. It seems to be somewhere between one third and one quarter of the total length of shore, but that is almost thirteen hundred mana invested in this. At least it will be a large boost to my mana generation, increasing it by more than half thanks to all that grass being outside.
Intruder Detected
The tree cutter has returned, but instead of spending the early hours cutting down the youngest trees, it examines the newly grown fruits and takes one away.
Intruder Detected
The tree cutter has returned with several companions, some of them with very fancy patterns and frills. The fancy invaders direct the others to collect the fruit, then leave the tree cutter and their assistant with my trees. I do not see the axe and the tree cutter does not try to cut down any more trees, so they seem to have caught on that the fruit are something to collect, not just the wood.
The former tree cutters go away once it gets dark.
Scouting Report
Roughly a mile south east of Lake 1 there is a valley with a high density of plants and a number of artificial structures. As the area between Lake 1 and the valley consists primarily of a large incline covered in rocks with little or no cover, this approach bears watching but is not expected to be a significant point of approach. This valley continues east for a mile and a half before joining a mostly north-south valley with similar qualities. This north-south valley passes roughly two miles from Lake 1 with the closest approach being east-north-east from Lake 1
There is a low ridge between Lake 1 and the valley to the south east, but multiple higher ridges between Lake 1 and any other detected artificial structures. This includes another green valley two and a half miles southwest of Lake 1 that joins up with the north-south valley four and a half miles southeast of Lake 1.
The large water to the west of Mountain 1 is roughly one hundred miles away to the south west, west, and north west and it is at least one hundred and fifty miles wide. The water continues to the north where it is one hundred and fifty miles away and at least one hundred miles wide. The mountain range continues to the north east and to the east-north-east for at least two hundred and fifty miles.
No new hazards were identified in the vicinity of the dungeon.
The scouting party consisted of twenty doves, twelve bats, twelve coyotes, four ice doves, and Three Giant Ice Eagles.
Twenty doves, ten bats, twelve coyotes, four ice doves and three giant ice eagles returned.
There were no kills and no resources harvested.
While the natural base shapes of a dungeon are the five foot square and the six foot floor, naturally occurring shapes are much less regular, usually tending towards fractal. Due to this disparity between natural and dungeon shapes, most potential invaders can easily distinguish between dungeon and non-dungeon structures.
Debris are also a common distinguishing mark between dungeon and natural structures, as dungeons will reflexively keep their surfaces clean and even, while naturally occurring surfaces are almost never clean or even.
Day 35
Trap 1 surface
image [https://imgur.com/HdIsimt.jpg]
Mountain 1 surface
image [https://imgur.com/VP8Q272.jpg]
Lake report: 858 spaces of shore claimed and planted with grass, at least ⅔ remains unclaimed.
Status Day 35, Mana: 2633*/2633, Water: 244/2633, Ice: 105/2633 Size: 5266,
Twenty Eight upgrades available
Oh, I guess that changes things. If the square is not the base element of non-dungeon structures, I will need to avoid it for anything that should be obfuscated. The trap is fine as a square as it is supposed to be obviously part of a dungeon, but I will need to be careful about that sort of thing around lake 1, and possibly mountain 1 as well, as it is a big part of my scouting and defenses.
As far as scouting goes, those ice eagles seem to be much more effective than the doves. Is it because they fly so much higher? I suppose that makes sense, as I need towers to target places that are further away, so if something flies higher it should also be able to target things further away.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Birds must have an immense mana pool, or perhaps they have very high mana regeneration, otherwise they would quickly run out just from making temporary claims fast enough to make sure they do not run into things. Then again, I cannot seem to make temporary claims on water, so how could the eagles verify that it is still water all the way past the end of their detection range?
Presumably they have some sort of innate skill or talent with the ability that allows them to detect a broader range of materials and at a longer range than I can manage with my rudimentary fumbling about. I’ll need to study their mana emissions while they are within my domain, especially when they come in to land, so I can better understand, and perhaps even emulate their improved version of my detection-by-remote-claiming.
Speaking of mana pools, it seems that there are enough invaders visiting my claimed area around the water of Lake 1 to push me over the cap. If I add together all of my mana generation, I should be nearly fifty mana below my cap, but as my other watering holes generate around five to ten mana depending on their size and accessibility, I should not be surprised that a new watering hole shore area more than fifty times the size of the mid-sized ones would give more than twice as much as the mid-sized watering holes. I have that ‘over-mana’ flag though, I did not realize I could still get that. I wonder how much I can go over my max? I’ll check when I build my defenses.
Speaking of defenses, I think it is time for some sharks, no, not just sharks, but giant sharks. I have the water for them now after all, and they will be my last line of defenders, at least for now.
So start by claiming a five-by-five near the entrance, then claim up, say four floors worth. When I poke at the idea, a five-by-two-by-two should give me a good spawning area. Now use the area to spawn a giant shark. Giant spear-tooth shark? Sounds like it should have a nice bite attack. What is that? It only takes half of the spawning area? Well, another forty two mana and now I have two giant shark spawners in my defensive lake. Added to the giant ice eagles, and that feels like some defense in depth.
Of course I also have all those maze-like tunnels. Those seem like they would welcome a bunch of smaller defenders if I can determine what might be effective.
Perhaps I will focus on that for today's topic.
Hmm, looks like I was twenty seven over my listed mana cap. That is the same ass my core level, so perhaps mana produced by my core can ignore the cap? Makes sense, as it was doing that when I was small.
So, I need to increase my size in addition to claiming the perimeter of Lake 1. Well, since they noticed the fruit, I need to establish Trap 1 West and extend out the area I can use to put Follow Invader on one of the core killers as they approach the tree harvesters.
First I need to wake up one of my doves from Trap 1 North and send it to find a carriable invader to use to mark a suitable place for Trap 1 West.
I think I can allocate about three hundred mana for each of the trap observation areas, plus another three hundred or so to establish the new one, then I have enough to claim and plant another six hundred spaces of shore surrounding Lake 1.
Intruder Detected
The tree cutters are back again, no axes, but they do have scimitars, so I guess they are invader-defenders now.
They are followed shortly by some harvesters with a cart, and they seem very happy with getting more than twice as many fruits as yesterday.
Looks like the dove did not find a suitable rock, so I’ll need to build my own like I did with Trap 1 South, but that should wait until after dark, as it would be counterproductive to place a new hidden core when there are potential invaders around to notice it.
Scouting Report
No new hazards were identified in the vicinity of the dungeon.
The scouting party consisted of twenty doves, twelve bats, twelve coyotes, four ice doves, and four Giant Ice Eagles.
Twenty doves, ten bats, twelve coyotes, four ice doves and four giant ice eagles returned.
There were no kills and no resources harvested.
Snakes can be a surprisingly low-cost and effective defender, especially if you can force invaders into a tight situation where they cannot move freely. While snakes cannot generally penetrate armor, small venomous snakes can often climb inside of an invaders armor to find a place where their bite can penetrate, and larger constricting snakes can immobilize any but the strongest of warriors, even if this places it in a position to be quickly dispatched by any companions that warrior might have. A variety of venomous snakes, restricted passages that require invaders to crawl or assume awkward positions, and a large constrictor to immobilize the first invader to make it past the crawlway can be challenging for even the strongest of invaders if done right.
Many snakes are colored to blend in to their surroundings, so be sure to select types that will match your dungeon.
Many water snakes are still able to travel short distances on land, but they will also require occasional access to air.
Eels are less adaptable to non-aquatic environments, but they are the best choice for serpentine defenders that will be restricted to a purely aquatic environment.
Snakes and eels are generally spawned from nests, but be sure to upgrade the venom for any snakes that are expected to take out an invader in a timely fashion, as most natural toxins will take hours or days to kill larger invaders.
Like other vermin, snakes can be summoned either individually or as a swarm.
Day 36
Lake 1 maze
image [https://imgur.com/DTmoouC.jpg]
Trap 1 North and Trap 1 South Surface
image [https://imgur.com/OwG1iOB.jpg]
Trap 1 East and Trap 1 West Surface
image [https://imgur.com/8cEwbH2.jpg]
Lake report: 1464 spaces of shore claimed and planted with grass, roughly ½ remains unclaimed.
Status Day 36, Mana: 3290/4246, Water: 388/4246, Ice: 135/4246 Size: 8493,
Thirty Eight upgrades available
As it has now been nearly a full day since the first fruit were harvested, I need my eagles to be on alert for anything core-killer marked within their range. I cannot really track them down if I do not know where they come from, and since Trap 1 seems to be even more isolated from other spawn areas than Mountain 1, Follow Invader may not give me as much information about their origins as an early sighting by the eagles could.
On that vein, I will also wait to expand my grassy shore around Lake 1 until after the invader-defenders leave, keeping that mana in reserve. Speaking of reserves, I ended up spending more than my max mana yesterday. Do I finally have enough water-drinkers to get hourly mana?
I will want to keep an eye on that while I am waiting.
In the meantime, a bunch of highly venomous swarms of water snakes sounds like a highly effective way to guard my water tunnels. Hmm, looks like the swarm needs a double-sized nest, so dig out a nook on one of the dead-ends, fill it with ice and water, then place both parts of the nest, and see what we can do with those swarms.
Oh, right, need to get snakes first.
Upgrade Complete, New Defender: Snakes
Hmm, seems a little expensive for such a small defender, then add in extra toxic and swarm, and a spawn costs eighteen mana. Oh, ice aspected as well, that makes sense for the higher cost. Seems like each pair of nests can have three spawns, I guess snake swarms being group instead of solitary creatures makes sense. I have six dead-ends plus the passage that leads to the core room. That should probably have a secret door hiding it. That gives me seven apparent dead-ends, so just over four hundred mana for the upgraded defenses, giving me just over fourty swarms of toxic ice snakes patrolling the narrow, sea-grass choked passages filled with icy-slush-water between the lake floor and my core.
How nice, it looks like the ice snakes also count as camouflaged when not moving. Presumably invaders would have difficulty differentiating the semi-crystalline snakes from the bits of ice in the water.
If I reserve enough mana to double my number of claimed shore spaces around Lake 1, that leaves me with about six hundred mana for expanding my detection area, letting me make each of those detection wings roughly half again as long as they are now.
Wait, I still have three empty dove nests in the observation areas around Trap 1, I really should populate those and set them to be on the look-out for the core-killer symbol.
Intruder Detected
Invader-defenders are back for the day.
The harvesters needed to come back with the cart for a second load, but otherwise not much different from yesterday.
There they go, and no sign of the core killers yet. Nearly two days since the first fruit harvest. What if the harvesters in this place try to keep the fruit a secret? Would the core-killers even know what is happening here?
This anticipation is really affecting me, I need to calm down and remember that every day they delay, I get stronger and will have a better chance to track them back to their lair.
Speaking of which, it looks like I gained almost fifty mana during the day, so I am very clearly getting hourly mana generation for much of the day.
Looks like I have enough mana to claim and plant over fifteen hundred shore spaces, hopefully that will be enough to finish the shore-ring.
Nope, not quite. Almost there though.