Stew was getting tired of sucking at the afterlife. First he couldn't hack it, so Bossy gave him pointers, then Cecil came along and gave him more advice, but at the last moment, a slime turned out to be smarter than all of them. This was no way to live, or even survive.
Now the guy with the big scary sword was standing in his boss room with a big friendly smile and an offer he couldn't refuse. He was glad he hadn't shanked Garrik for his core, but even though the fighter had his helmet on right now, Stew was sure this guy had Management Hair under all that metal. All he needed was an Eddie Bauer shirt and some Axe body spray. He was just one more in a long line of volunteers, all come to tell Stew what to do.
Now it looked like he was either going to have to sign his life over to this guy or end up a shiny ornament on the end of a stick for Princess Bonebotherer.
There had to be another option. He pulled up his stats.
Unnamed Core 14:30
Levels: 2
Minions: 1
Monsters: 3
Mana: 6/10
Actions Remaining: 14
Action Recovery: 1 / day
It was interesting to see that Cecil was still showing up in the count. That was good to know, but the most important things right now were the mana and actions. He might have just enough.
The adventurers seemed to be waiting patiently for an answer, but he needed a way to answer them. He couldn't summon or respawn anyone on level 1, but he could still summon on level 2. Another skeleton would work, but he wasn't ready to trust the undead again so soon.
Level two. Wide open space for a fresh start, not just a monster, a new minion. He shifted his attention to the second level and opened the menu.
Select a Minion Type 14:32
1. Cow (produces milk)
2. Goblin (produces loot)
He was pleasantly surprised to see more detail in the descriptions here too.
Goblin 15:24
Goblins are the most popular choice for early level dungeon minions. Greedy, bloodthirsty, ill-mannered, and crude, goblins are basically green humans except they tend to be smaller and smell better.
Summon a goblin minion? (Y / N)
The goblin appeared at the foot of the stairs next to the empty pedestal, surrounded by golem rubble. "Nice place. You wreck it yourself?" He wore a ragged fur kilt, a hide cap. and a sharpened jawbone pushed through a sinew belt around his waist like a dagger. One of the goblin's pointed ears twitched and he took a long sniff. "Oh you're the dungeon." His eyes grew big. "Forgive me, Master. How may this lowly goblin serve?"
This is just what I was afraid of. "No need for all that stuff, and keep it down." Stew projected into the goblin's head. "What's your name?"
"You want to know my goblin name? Why?"
"What, is it forbidden? Will it give me some sort of creepy power over you or something?"
"No, just never had anyone but a goblin ask. My name is Femur Crusher, Rat Snare Warden, Apple Thief, Last To Contract A Cold In Winter." He shrugged. "I keep busy."
"Can I just call you Femur?"
"Sure, that's what my Mother calls me." The goblin looked up the stairs at the faint light around the door. "What's the job?"
"I'd like to offer you a contract to be my second level boss." Stew decided it didn't make sense to hold anything back. "And I need you to negotiate a hostage situation."
"Who's the hostage?"
"Me."
Femur sighed. "It's always something isn't it? I guess that makes sense if you're making fresh-summoned goblins your level bosses. Who has level one, anyone I know?"
"It's a cow."
"You're going to be fun. I can tell." The goblin rubbed his hands against his cheeks. "Right, Mom always said I was bound to get boiled in a bigger pot than I could swim out of some day." He adjusted his kilt and put a hand on the bone dagger. "Let's do this. Show me the contract."
Stew shared the contract and the goblin looked it over carefully.
"It's not often you see a desperate dungeon. I'd be a fool not to take advantage of you. Also you misspelled 'abattoir' here."
"That's arbitration."
Femur Crusher, Rat Snare Warden, Apple Thief, Last To Contract A Cold In Winter
(Femur)
Goblin- Level 1
Mana Cost - 1 / day
Gold Cost - 1 / month
Health 8/8
Agility 6
Strength 4
Constitution 6
Actions: 1/1
Action Recharge: 1 / day
Combat Skills:
Dagger - level 1
Dodge - level 3
Special attack: Flay
Special abilities:
Produces Loot
Once per day, may summon a Giant Battle Rat (15% chance of a Giant Plague Rat)
Confirm Contract With This Minion? (Y / N)
Stew confirmed the contract. Then checked to make sure Femur's name stuck since it had been set in the opposite order from naming Bossy.
"Ok, stand on the bottom step of the stairway. I'm going to redecorate."
Stew reabsorbed all the golem rubble and the pedestal and switched the theme for the room to treasure room. This let him add a desk with an ornately carved wooden chair. He added three plain chairs to face it, then for the sake of negotiation, made those chairs lower and the big chair taller. He wanted to put some paper and books on the table, but couldn't find any options. It took him too long to realize what he was looking for were papyrus, a reed pen and an ink pot. He put some torches on the wall, a rug on the floor and a candle on the table for sealing wax and extra light.
"Good. Take a seat in the big chair and shout up the stairs that you're ready to see them. Once they get down here, I need you to convince them I'm much older and more powerful than I am."
"How old and powerful are you?"
"Not very."
"Right. And in what language?"
"What?"
"What language should I shout up the stairs? I'm guessing we're not negotiating with Hidden River goblins here?"
"Right, um. Latin. Do you know Latin?"
"Tell me I have to know Latin."
"What?"
"Command me to speak to them in Latin."
"Speak to those adventurers in Latin. I um, command it."
"Now I know it." Femur cupped his hands and hollered. "Descende huc. Paratus sum tecum loqui!" His voice was surprisingly deep.
Stew switched his focus to the boss room. The three delvers looked at each other, then at the door. They didn't move.
"Tempus abire!" Femur shouted. "Time's wasting!"
Raek checked for traps again, and opened the door with Ba'Rush looming behind him just as before. When no attack came, Garrik joined them and they looked down the stairs.
They didn't seem overly surprised to see the little office at the foot of the stairwell where they had just destroyed golems guarding a false core room.
Femur gestured for them to come sit.
While they descended the stairs, Stew caught Femur up on the offer, the false core, the necromancer, and the angle he wanted to take on the negotiations.
Raek led the way, but once they reached the bottom, they stood around the chairs unwilling to sit.
"I represent the dungeon. If the dungeon intended you to be dead, you would already be dead, you squishy little mayflies." The goblin gestured again. "Now sit."
The three sat.
"Stall them," Stew whispered in Femur's mind.
"Tell me about this offer of yours, but first, tell me more about your qualifications. Why should we be dealing with you instead of that promising young necromancer?"
Garrik and Raek launched into a long sales pitch. Ba'Rush looked bored but added the occasional comment.
Meanwhile Stew switched his focus back to level one and respawned Bossy and Fluff. He had to burn actions for mana to have enough. When he was done he had only 2 actions left.
"I'm pleased to see you survived." Bossy said. Neither she nor fluff seemed the worse for wear. "Did you make a deal with the delvers? I see some of them are still alive."
"Not yet. I sent them to procurement on level 2."
"A goblin. I see." Bossy whuffed, a cow's version of a sigh. "And you trust him to handle it himself?"
"Seems like a solid guy, but right now he's just stalling. We have to work fast."
Stew started to use an action to generate milk then saw that Bossy respawned with an action already. Fluff had also spawned with an action, unlike when he was first summoned. That was something to file away for later. He used Bossy's action to create milk, Fluff's action to consume the milk and generate two more actions and then used those to continue the cycle until he had ten actions, just for safety's sake. Then he respawned Johnny 5 and put him to work on the action cycle.
He checked in briefly to hear how things were going downstairs. Femur was insisting each of the applicants list their lineage back ten generations, and they were taking him seriously. Ba'Rush was even drawing a family tree.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
As the actions accumulated, Stew used a few at a time to generate mana and recover first Boo and Socks, then Lassie and Rin-Tin-Tin. He respawned Chuck, and Rocky next, arranging them as before. He left the boxing gym audience for later. Instead he respawned Mystery, Might, and Magic and had Magic grab a pewter cup from the treasure room. He posed them under the light in the temple room with the cup taking the place of the sword. It wasn't enchanted, but it made things look deliberate.
Once he respawned Smittee he sent Don to help him restore the mana glass while Stew repaired the storage room wall. Fortunately, he still had plenty of stone.
The only thing he couldn't do was respawn Cecil. He wondered how the skeleton was doing.
As he thought of Cecil, he heard his voice in his mind. "My patron! I'm so glad you've survived. I thought that crack might be fatal."
"Crack?" Stew asked before catching himself. He was so surprised to hear Cecil that he forgot he was supposed to be a piece of loot right now.
"When She bound you to her staff, you suffered a crack. I don't know if you can feel it, but it's obvious from where I'm standing." Cecil sounded terrified, but also angry. "I wish I could have told her off right then, but I can't speak of my own volition. That's no way to treat such a rare being. I'm so sorry I can't be a better protector."
Hearing Cecil worry was just too much, Stew couldn't keep lying to him. "Look, Cecil. That's not me. It's a decoy. Maybe it's providing a link of some sort that's letting you talk to me, but it won't last. It's degrading now. Once it's gone, Eira is going to come back, and I'm hoping she'll bring you with her. Maybe we can make a deal for your release."
"You lied to me?" Cecil's voice in his mind was neutral, flat. No emotion leaked through at all.
"I did. I'm sorry…"
"You've come so far in such a short time! Excellent tactics, sir!" Cecil's thoughts felt genuinely relieved. "Fortunately my contract makes it impossible for her to control my spirit, but it is always better to be safe. We'll make a ruthless tyrant out of you yet!"
"Just keep me posted. If she makes a move, let me know. And remember, if that decoy decays any more, you may lose contact, so try to get a message to me if it looks like it's about to go."
Stew was equally relieved and annoyed by the surprise report from Cecil, but on balance, he'd take it. The weird little guy was starting to grow on him.
The first level was completely repaired and the mana glass repositories were almost full, so he checked back in on Femur and the gang.
"That's outrageous!" Garrik shouted, leaning across the table to get right in Femur's face.
Femur seemed completely unphased. "I'm sorry, but the application fee is non-refundable and can only be waived in extraordinary circumstances."
"What did you tell them?" Stew asked.
"Just the usual things. Half their lands and holding, and my weight in gold from each of them."
"Oh is that all." Stew had no head, but he had a headache, how could that even happen?
Femur said "One moment" to the adventurers. He held up a finger. To Stew he added. "I did suggest they might sweeten the deal by adding an option on any first born they may have at some point. For research purposes."
"We want them to accept the deal, not give up and slaughter us."
"My uncle Tendon used to say removing a thorn feels better than pushing one in."
"And that means?"
"Any offer you make is going to sound much better to them now." The goblin took a moment to give the Delvers a shocked look just to keep them guessing. "So tell me what you really want from them, and I'll let them know how lucky they are that you looked on them favorably."
Stew thought about it. What did they even have to offer him? The first and most important thing was protection, but admitting he was that weak would put him in a hopeless negotiating position. Femur had mentioned gold. Right now, the only gold he had in storage was a single coin he had earned from unlocking crafting. He would need gold to pay Femur, and any other goblins he might hire. Maybe he could use it to hire delvers as guards? He could also use it to trade for things he might need once he knew what those things were. How much is gold worth around here? It looked like it was worth a month's work to the dungeon, so maybe he could go by that.
"Tell them this. I'm willing to try out a business arrangement. If it works out we can expand the agreement." Stew described the details.
"You're sure that's all you want?" Femur looked scandalized.
This made the delvers even more nervous.
"No, but let's start there." He really didn't care what the deal was as long as they left and gave him a chance to get back to building.
Femur made a show of cowering. "You are very fortunate. Our patron has taken into account your attempt to protect the dungeon and will make an exception. In return for keeping your lives and other valuable consideration, you will pay a sum of five gold per month to the dungeon. You may have a non-exclusive right to sell items and resources provided to you and you may keep fifteen percent of the profit. This is for a period of three months. If both parties find this arrangement beneficial, then our Patron may be interested in doing something more substantial."
Garrik and Ba'Rush turned to Raek who looked thoughtful. "Please thank your Patron for taking our actions into consideration. I would ask that we also be permitted to provide further service to the dungeon. If we register a claim on the dungeon with the adventurer's guild, we can provide some limits on the number and level of delvers who enter."
So they want to setup a booth and charge admission? That was more than Stew had hoped, they would be bound to try to keep him healthy just for the sake of their own pockets. With the trade that might be enough to keep him alive long enough to figure out what he's doing. Of course, he was going to have to make the ride more interesting for delvers or no one would buy tickets twice.
Garrik spoke up, "We also know dungeons need to devour fresh meat to create and support monsters. We can make sure you get a steady supply of livestock for sacrifices."
Meat? He hadn't needed that for anything so far. Was this why dungeons had such a bloodthirsty reputation?
"But." Raek raised his hands over his head in a shrugging gesture. "Before we finalize any agreement, we must also come to some understanding about what to do about Lady Briar and her undead."
"She's bound to come back when she realizes she took a false core." Garrik frowned. "I don't want to fight her, and if it comes to that, I'm not sure we would win. But we might be able to separate her from the amulet if there's enough confusion. Is it possible that you might bring some of your more powerful defenders from lower levels?" He looked around at the bare stone walls. "Just to distract her until Eira can regain control."
Almost anything he said would reveal just how weak he was, that this was the lowest level and that the most powerful defenders he had didn't even slow them down. He had Femur tell them to wait a moment. He had something to show them.
He respawned Bashful and sent the golem to the lunar forge. While Smittee and Don worked away creating mana glass beside him, he inhabited Bashful and brought up the menu for the Forge itself. He took the level one and two mana cores he gathered during the battle and created two level ten mana cores. He wasn't surprised to see that this unlocked new recipes.
Lunar Forge
The light of the Moon has kindled a subtle fire. Use the forge to shape and improve magical implements, gear, and weapons.
Items:
Living Stone - (5 Stone, 5 Mana Core Levels)
Mana Core Level 2 - (3 Mana Core Levels)
Mana Core Level 5 - (6 Mana Core Levels)
Mana Core Level 10 - (11 Mana Core Levels)
Mana Core Level 20 - (3 Level 10 Mana Cores)
Mana Core Level 30 - (4 Level 10 Mana Cores)
Mana Core Level 40 - (5 Level 10 Mana Cores)
Mana Core Level 50 - (4 Level 20 Mana Cores)
But the next notice was completely unexpected.
Achievement Unlocked!
Popular Dungeon
Your dungeon has gained enough notoriety that you are collecting a surplus of mana cores from your unfortunate foes. You may now consume mana cores as an alternate method to increase the power of your core.
He didn't have time to think about it. He had to get the last of this current bunch of delvers out of his dungeon so he could get some time work. And think.
He pulled three mana glass bars from storage and gave them to Bashful along with the two cores, then walked them down the stairs to the waiting delvers. They rose from their seats, hands on their weapons.
"Sit. Sit. Don't be alarmed," Femur said. "This golem has brought a small sample of our wares for sale."
Stew put the three mana glass bars on the desk between the two mana cores.
Raek considered them carefully. His expression revealed nothing. "These are quite valuable."
Garrik looked at the two level 10 cores and his eyes narrowed. "You want to sell cores? Aren't these the whole reason you lure delvers in the first place?" He turned to Raek. "Either this dungeon is so young that it's still leveling just from building, or.."
Femur didn't even need any prompting. "Or our Patron has become powerful enough that growth requires far more powerful cores."
Garrik didn't respond or flinch, but, with golem sight, Stew could see Garrik's cheeks cool as the blood drained from his face.
"Ask Raek if he thinks Eira would accept a core, and how much each of these types of items are worth to him." Raek's stats showed he was a Rogue. From that and things he said, Stew had a hunch he had some sort of appraisal skill. Either that or he just had that much experience buying and selling.
Femur shared the question and Raek responded, "Lady Briar will have to speak for herself, but these are powerful cores. One of these might be very tempting to her. As for pricing for sale, both types of items are unique and problematic in their own ways. I think enchanters and crafters will be very interested in the mana glass, maybe mages as well, but I've never seen anything like it, so I can't say there is an existing market. My guess is that each bar is worth roughly five or six aureus. The cores… Any mage will be able to tell if these are from a sapient being. By law and treaty in most places, possessing an unregistered core from a sapient being outside of wartime is evidence of murder and punishable by death."
It was weird having a bandit call him a criminal. Maybe this will help my rep? "Tell them these are from creatures. A mage should be able to confirm that."
Femur repeated the message.
"Creatures? Then you've been fighting with other dungeons, or hunting outside?" Garrik's shock had passed. Now he looked eager.
Spotting an opportunity and remembering what little he had learned about local history, Stew whispered in Femur's ear.
Femur listened and smirked. "My Patron says, 'Things have been much quieter lately with that obnoxious Altar gone, but I like to keep fit.'"
That shut Garrik up, but it wasn't clear whether he believed it.
"Assuming we can confirm these cores are from non-sapients, they would be worth 100 aureus each to me. How many do you have to sell, and how many of the glass bars?"
"All you can buy" was the truth, but that would probably drive the price down, so Stew replied instead with "Two cores and twenty mana glass bars per month. You can take these as samples and an advance against the first month's total."
Femur added. "Do we have a deal?"
Stew walked Bashful back up the stairs and left the details to Femur. Once they reached an agreement, he read over the final version and offered it as a contract to a special party Raek formed to include the three of them. If people were able to use the System like this without a dungeon, it seemed like the law was probably pretty simple to enforce in this world.
He followed them as they left his dungeon to camp by the entrance. They seemed suitably impressed by how quickly he had reset his simple first level. Then they were gone.
For the first time since he woke up as a glowing rock, Stew felt like he had a moment to think.
He left Johnny 5, Bossy and the kittens working on generating actions while he sent Big John and the other specialized mining golems down to the second level to start digging.
He also sent Don back to the arena with Sluice and got those golems fighting. He had a hunch they could be leveled into much tougher, specialized fighting golems with time.
With those things handled, he turned his attention to the big question. How and why was his System so different from what people like Garrik and Raek and even Cecil and Bossy had encountered before? Was every dungeon different? He had to think it had something to do with the color of the dungeon cores. Even the System Eira and Garrik and the rest lived with outside the dungeon seemed different again. Was there a world core too?
If the core decided the rules, then he had a gray core System. What did that mean? It had seemed from the messages he had exchanged with whatever it was that had greeted him on his death, that it or they had come up with the gray core option in a hurry. Had it maybe worked too quickly and made a mistake? Or was this weirdness intentional? A cow was the first choice in his list for a minion. The Lunar Forge grew from that option tree and some achievements.
He looked at the achievement notice again.
Achievement Unlocked!
Popular Dungeon
Your dungeon has gained enough notoriety that you are collecting a surplus of mana cores from your unfortunate foes. You may now consume mana cores as an alternate method to increase the power of your core.
Alternate method? This sounded like a way to level up, so maybe the standard way was by digging and creating more dungeon levels. He hadn't finished a second level, and he hadn't won any battles yet to find out if there was something like experience he could gain like his monsters and minions.
Something else seemed off. The message and Raek's worries implied he should have gathered these cores from defeating delvers, but he had created these cores from cores he had picked up after his own monsters and minions. Was he not supposed to be able to pick those up? He had seen Sluice do it and thought it was a normal thing. He was starting to think Sluice might have its own secrets.
He opened his core menu again and saw he had a new "Consume Mana Cores" option.
Consume Mana Cores
Though a dungeon is, in many ways, "made of levels," your ferocity has unlocked another way to grow more powerful. Like the great and terrible predator that you are, you may consume the arcane energy stored within the mana cores of the fallen to fuel your own growth. Unlocking a dungeon level also unlocks Wonders and Mysteries available at that level, but be warned, level appropriate Terrors will also be unlocked.
Unlock Level 5 Resources (10 level 5 mana cores)
Interesting. Stew sent Bashful off to help dig.
He created a new golem, and being in a more serious mood, named him, "Mana Core Processing" or "M.C.P." for short. The golems on level two had just finished two new rooms, so he took one as a room to stage the processing line and the second room as the processing floor. In the second room he put a spike trap on one end and a pit on the other.
Then he positioned M.C.P. in the staging room and taught it how to operate the spike trap, how to generate golems, and how to set them marching.
After a few minutes he saw the rubble and mana cores were piling up and not falling into the pit like he hoped, so he renamed one of the new slimes "Sweeper" and reassigned it to help keep things flowing. Sweeper also shared some mucus to help speed the golems along.
Stew did some mental math and decided things could run on their own for awhile.
He was about to turn his attention back to the Lunar Forge when he noticed Femur standing in the doorway to the processing rooms with a puzzled look.
"Did you have a question?" Stew asked.
"I thought you said you weren't very powerful. Wasn't that why we were stalling? And I thought this was your lowest level."
"Both things are still true."
"I don't feel any mana in the air, so that follows, but where are you getting all of the mana and meat to make monsters?
"Clicking a cow."
Femur nodded as if this could possibly make sense. "I talked the rubes into paying two months in advance. Where do you want me to put the gold?"
"Keep it. I don't really have a use for it right now."
The goblin grinned and slapped his purse to make it jingle. "I love this job."