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The Dead Dungeon
Ch. 2 The Grind

Ch. 2 The Grind

[Ding! you have gained five mana!]

'Yes! Time to get to work!' RJ turned to slowly look around his core room until he felt the subtle tug of his dungeon sense. All dungeons know how to tunnel to the surface, their purpose being to convert living mana into pure mana. His old dungeon had been earth and plant, causing the area surrounding his dungeon entrance to grow excessively larger and healthier plants. The ore and stone that lined his old walls were mana enriched and highly sought after. Unfortunately what that meant for RJ now, was that he had a lot of dense, mana enriched stone that he no longer had the ability to siphon mana from, between him and the surface. It was like being surrounded by prime rib cooked perfectly, only to find out you were a herbivore.

'Just don't think about it, new life! new chance. It was probably all that amazing mana rich ore that got me into this mess. At least i won't have to worry about that horrible clinking sound of picks on my walls anymore.' Rj began the process of tunneling towards the surface. Each tunnel was twenty-five ft. long, five ft. wide, and ten ft. tall, with the option to add angles and curves. For now though, he was more worried about reaching the surface then making an elaborate or even safe first floor. Each tunnel cost him one mana, and he couldn't bring himself to not put a room in after each tunnel. Rooms were fifteen ft. long, ten ft. tall and fifteen ft. wide, He'd need bigger rooms then that, but it was a good comprimise towards getting up to the surface.

'And... i'm out. Great, well feels like i'm about a third of the way up. I picked up some iron ore and copper from the debris, so thats nice. Oh, i wonder what my dungeon lights look like now.' RJ began to fashion crude braziers along the walls, willing them to light purple flames burst to life. The room went from pure darkness to flickering, dancing shadows. The skeletons holding up his pedestal seems to twitch and sway under the baleful light. The walls even seemed to breath again and RJ shuddered. 'Well... guess i figured out why necrotic dungeons are always so creepy.'

RJ felt for a moment and then sighed inwardly. 'Lovely, that only took twelve hours, now what am i going to do?' He began to watch the tiny ghost mouse as it explored the new sections of the dungeon. The flickering purple lights seemed to make the already translucent mouse harder to see. After a few minutes RJ figured out that the lights made the glowing outline of the mouse less obvious. 'Alright, i'm tired of talking to myself. I'm going to name you and you will be my new conversation partner.'

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The mouse sat up and looked in the direction of his core, it's tiny nose twitching. RJ pondered for a few moments and then said. 'How about Soul Destroyer?' The mouse cringed at the name, its tail curling around it unhappily. 'No? Bob the mighty?' The mouse flicked an ear back and then forward again, as if to say 'are you kidding?' Rj chuckled. 'Just a joke, how about... Bruce?' The mouse hopped up and began to run in circles, obviously glad to take a normal name and afraid his master would come up with something even more wierd if he said no.

'Alright Bruce, since you're all i've got, I think i should add in some tunnels so you and your soon to be brethren can easily get from room to room. Oh, and maybe add in some trap doors into the ceiling so we can drop a bunch of you down on adventurers?' He began to giggle maniaclly, but coughed and then continued. 'I think the necrotic mana is going to my head, Bruce, first order of business. If i start turning into a cackling villian, come look dissapointed at me or something.'

Bruce for his part, hadn't paid a bit of attention to anything RJ had said since his name was decided, more interested in exploring the rest of the dungeon. After a while of the rambling conversation his master was having with himself, Bruce started to attempt to scratch marks into the walls. Being a ghost, and the walls being made of dungeon stone, all this managed to do was leave a bit of ectoplasmic residue on the stone, but that would serve the same purpose.

'... Every dungeon should have his own evil laugh, but manic giggling is way too far. Wait, what are you doing? Oh! marking out the spots you think would be good for tunnels hm? Excellent, i'll start drilling a mouse maze for you.' RJ concentrated and began creating mouse sized tunnels from each of the holes, combining them just outside the walls into one main 'highway' for the ghost mice. As this was considered a modification to the existing room, it didn't cost him any mana, and was something they could both do to distract themselves. Sadly he could not make the trap doors he wanted in the ceiling, but instead he drilled holes in, making it look as though every part of the ceiling was a spike trap waiting to happen. Or in this case, a mouse trap. Rj began to giggle again before a dissapointed look from Bruce put a stop to it.

'I won't subject you to that terrible joke. Thats how much i respect you Bruce.' The mouse turned away from him, secretly relieved but outwardly indifferent. Rj continued to add braziers along the walls, lighting his mostly empty rooms with purple flickering light. 'I can't wait to get something besides iron stone and copper to decorate with, the 'stone bones' theme is really boring and kind of ghastly. What do you think Bruce? Should we go with a Crypt?' Bruce ignored him, exploring the warren of tunnels he had made.

'No... not a crypt, too obvious, actually, i have a better idea.'