The ravens explored multiple worldlets in the dungeon. The sauna worldlet and the acid rain worldlet were natural barriers that the ravens were not motivated to cross, so they stuck primarily to the main worldlet and the delta worldlet. One or two ravens would enter the dark and oasis worldlets for a bit of amusement. A certain dungeon creature was not amused by the presence of the ravens.
A snake, smaller than average for dungeon snake spawn, had witnessed the ravens kill the snake that tried to eat a raven. The witness snake had retreated to its burrow. When the dungeon command came to attack the Oz’s group, the snake resisted the command. It burrowed further into the ground, trying to get away from the ravens and the dungeon command that would surely lead to the death of the snake. The snake burrowed past a main root of the dungeon vine and was struck by a clear and powerful echo of the dungeon music. The snake lay in the burrow, hypnotized, until after Oz’s group left. The snake no longer felt the push from the dungeon’s command, so it turned around and peeked out at the surface. When it heard the ravens cawing, the snake turn back around and continued digging deeper.
The snake did not have digging appendages, so it used its nose like a shovel. It pushed the dirt behind it by shoving with its scaly body. Since the dirt near the root was somewhat easier to dig and the dungeon music was very clear, the snake burrowed in a sort of spiral down to the bottom of the worldlet.
The snake found that it could dig no further, so it coiled tightly around the lowest tip of the dungeon vine root. The dungeon music calmed the snake. When the next dungeon command came, to attack a group of harvesters, the snake ignored it. It was content to rest at the bottom of the world, listening to music in the dark. The snake occasionally strained to push further down and closer to the root.
bloop
A new worldlet formed at the bottom of the main worldlet. The dungeon vine mana in the roots had interacted with the dungeon music and the mana of the snake and reached a threshold to claim a space from the void.
The snake knew immediately that it’s environment had changed. The air was warmer and more moist. The snake felt packed earth under its scales and felt space around it like a tunnel. The snake slowly uncoiled and sensed its surroundings. It smelled water from down the tunnel. The snake slid down the tunnel, still content. The dungeon music filled the entire dungeon underworld.
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Inside the dungeon mind, the dungeon instincts and the plant instincts contested each other’s control over the dungeon mana. The dungeon instincts had felt the new worldlet form and sent mana to reinforce the connection. This mana caused the roots of the vine to grow rapidly in the underworld worldlet. The plant instincts objected to growing roots more deeply—these instincts came from a creeping vine which rooted often but did not root deeply. The plant instincts pulled mana out of the too-deep roots along with extra water and nutrients. The dungeon instincts sent mana to stimulate dungeon creature spawns, but the plant instincts took that away as there were no fruits in the underworld.
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As the instincts struggled, the System detected a specific pattern of mana in the highly contested flows in the vine roots.
_ Spell Unlocked: “Earthen Wall” _
_ New Spawn Mutation Available: “Earth Alignment (defend)” _
As the new mutation was added to the dungeon instincts, a shock of mana flowed across the mushroom network inside the dungeon mind. The mana shock ricocheted off several of the information bundles and into the plant instincts. A dormant section of the plant instincts activated.
In the underworld worldlet, tubers began to grow along the dungeon vine roots. The largest tuber sagged and broke free of the roots. It hit the tunnel floor and split open to spawn a spider. The spider immediately followed its instincts and walked until it hit a wall of the tunnel. It crawled up the wall and attempted to spin a web. The second dropped tuber spawned a jellyfish. Already sightless, the jellyfish drifted through the tunnel, bouncing off the roof and walls. A millipede spawned next and crawled through the tunnel in search of food.
The vine roots grew slowly along the underworld tunnels, but the worldlet gradually filled with dungeon spawn. The moss and lesser vines failed to grow in the absolute darkness of the tunnels, so they typically wilted and were trampled by the tunnel snake. Millipedes and bats adapted to the tunnels well enough that the tunnel snake had to exercise its cunning to hunt them. Mushrooms spread well in the dark, and a few fish managed to flop down the tunnel to a small pool. The tunnel snake felt great contentment as it slid through the tunnels, hunting food and listening to the dungeon music.
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In the underwater worldlet, the bats squeaked to each other in confusion. A new kind of bat had spawned from the dungeon vine fruit. The large bat with glowing white eyes swam in loops around the new bat. This bat was solid grey and appeared to be made of stone. It weighed down the dungeon vine it hung from, so it clearly wasn’t going to succeed in swimming or flying. It could try to drink from the flowers, but if it slipped, the new bat would sink out of sight. The bat leader thought it would be a shame to lose any bat since bats had saved the dungeon from the void bubble. The bat leader dove into the air bubble and caught the vine. It squeaked loudly at the new bat. The new bat squeaked bat quietly. The large, white-eyed bat reached out with one blade claw and poked the new bat. Tink. The blade lightly bounced off the new bat’s skin. Unfortunately, the new bat’s claws ripped through the bit of vine it clung too and the bat plunged into the water.
The bat leader dove quickly after the new bat and snagged it which caused the bat leader to struggle mightily not to sink. The new bat was heavy. The bat leader strained to gain any speed and squeaked out a call for assistance. Several smaller bats swam over and latched on to the new bat or the bat leader. As one, they swam slowly towards the portal into the sauna worldlet.
With a squeaky cheer, the water bats got the new bat onto the dungeon vine. The new bat squeaked a thanks and crawled along the vine and through the portal.