Jungle Rocks Dungeon, foot of Mount Gursway, 20th day of Sol, 1661
Merry appeared in the corridor first. She moved forward, sword at the ready.
Next was Mercury, then Jackson, followed by Lotus, with Antonio bringing up the rear.
Lotus said, “Scribe spell running,” and triggered the spell. This would create an automatic recording of everything the party said onto a thin sheet of copper. A roll of copper would record for about two hours before needing to have the roll replaced.
Jackson usually carried the roll, so he started to describe the tunnel they were in and the entrance in front of them.
“Good use of local resources, has installed a curtain of water over the entrance to encourage reliance on local illumination. Entrance area is not trapped. Theme seems to be ‘limestone cave’ and there is good attention to detail.”
They all gave their initial impressions, then proceeded into the first room.
“Irregularly shaped room with small stream of water going from entrance to exit. Single exit with no visible barriers.
“Camp with goblins in far-left corner of the room, past a mushroom forest, also on left.”
The team quickly dispatched the goblins, then continued their delve.
“Each of five goblins was a level 0.5 monster, having a drop of 1 copper piece. A treasure of six copper coins was found in the goblin camp.”
Jessica was watching the group, hoping to get a better understanding of how evaluation teams worked. Fancy was torn between watching the girl’s speed run and the first evaluation run she had ever witnessed.
The team took about half an hour to harvest the complete forest and document the type and quantity of fungi.
Lotus said, “Good first room, grade 1 dungeon, no special features, low treasure, but excellent harvestable resources. Difficulty set for a standard five-person team.”
Jessica said, “Is that OK? Fancy simply gave her a thumbs up.
The Evaluation Team spent another ten minutes searching the room, then continued.
Jackson again picked up the commentary. “Room number two, seventy metres long, left arc, starting at less than five metres wide and ending at about twenty metres. Twenty- to thirty-metre-tall ceilings, with many stalactites and stalagmites. Small stream winding along the bottom of the cave.”
Lotus added, “Multiple standard Dungeon Spiders on ceiling.”
They walked into the room and watched what happened.
“Spiders do not drop on Delvers but do drop after them and follow. Three spiders in total.
“More spiders past middle of room, also traps on the floor just at this second group. Look to be standard ‘lilia’ traps. An additional five spiders in this group.”
Lotus said, “Rear spiders are advancing to attack.”
A few minutes later, all but one of the spiders were dead. The last one was being held by Mercury so Jackson could kill it and quickly extract the venom gland.
The other spiders were looted, and they got two copper pieces from each spider and two vials of venom across the other seven spiders.
Mercury said, “Wait a second.” Using one of his talents, he scaled the cave wall and searched in one of the spider nests, extracting a small potion bottle. He also took a sample of the spider silk. Once he was back on the ground, he gave the potion to Lotus.
Lotus said, “Good second room, grade 1 dungeon, presence of venomous monsters, good treasure, hidden low-grade cure poison potion in spider nest on ceiling. Difficulty level two for a standard five-person team.”
Fancy nodded and gave Jessica another thumbs up.
The third room went similar, with the Evaluation Team spotting the Mobile Mushroom Warriors and again, harvesting the whole mushroom forest.
Lotus said, “Good third room. Monsters attacking from surprise. Good escalation of difficulty, with this room having six, level one monsters. Treasure low, but excellent harvestable resources. Difficulty level three for a standard five-person team.”
After the girl’s run, Jessica had changed the drop tables in room four to include some of the Dungeon Fisher meat. So, when the Evaluation Team cleared this room, they got a bronze coin and a serving of meat from each of the monsters. They saved one whole monster for later evaluation and harvested some monster silk and the poison and adhesive for evaluation.
Merry looked at the monster meat and said, “Sort of looks and feels like lobster.”
Mercury said, “Remember those lobster rolls we got in Port Merrico?”
Merry and Mercury shared a look. They were going to explore this drop in more detail later.
Lotus said, “Good forth room. Monsters attacking from surprise. Good escalation of difficulty, with this room having twelve, level two monsters, but the monsters are static. Treasure medium, including possible food drop, possible harvestable resources. Difficulty level three for a standard five-person team.”
Mercury pointed out the hidden door and they continued.
The trap was spotted and then the group were stopped in their tracks when they saw the next room. The beauty of the limestone formations and grandeur of the chandelier over the pool was awe-inspiring.
Lotus mumbled, “Well, that’s a +1 on the environment rating.”
The eight, level 1 giant frogs were quickly dispatched, as was the four, level 2 millipedes and the ten level 1 kobolds.
The arrow trap nearly caught Lotus, with Merry lunging and protecting her with her shield when Lotus felt the pressure plate and Merry heard the ‘click’.
Lotus and mercury examined the trap, deciding that it wasn’t particularly dangerous or advanced, just well hidden. It was towards the end of a patch of loose gravel on the ground, so Lotus didn’t pick up the pressure plate movement until it was too late.
Moving on to room 8, they quickly found the two concealed spots. The small chest in the one next to the lake, was checked, disarmed and opened. The one opposite was approached a lot more carefully.
They followed a similar pattern to the three girls, with Mercury and Merry loving the popped corn kernels.
Lotus said, “You DID check for poisons and enchantments before sampling, didn’t you.”
A look of horror crossed Mercury’s face and Merry collapsed to the ground.
Jackson rushed over and went to cast a diagnostic spell, when Merry opened her eyes and winked at Jackson. “Well, I don’t know about Mercury, but I did.”
With a laugh, Jackson helped her up and she grabbed another handful of the corn.
Mercury gave her a disgruntled look.
Returning to room 7, they took the secret exit.
After ten minutes, they agreed that there was nothing in the room except for a chest hidden at the bottom of the pool.
They harvested the chest, noting the poison needle trap and rewards.
Noting that the girls were just finishing the final room, Fancy said, “I’ll go collect the girls. You understand how to create a portal with delvers present?”
“Yep, too easy.”
“Oh, forgot to ask, how many DPs are we reaping with all these high level parties delving?”
“A bit over twenty each from the girls and the evaluation team, and about 1 and a half from our first real delve team. The three together come in at just shy of 50 DP per hour.”
“That’s pretty good. You’ve actually levelled up a lot more than a normal Core would at this point, so it will probably be a little slow until things balance out.”
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A moment later, fancy returned with the three girls.
After getting hugs from Bess and Marisol, Jessica and Fancy were introduced to Marta. “Jessica, Fancy, this is Marta, one of the tribal elders.
“Good to meet you”, they both said.
Bess commented, “So, you can speak now?”
Jessica replied, “Sort of. This last level allowed me to enchant my pedestal so I can speak from it. I can also speak from an identical pedestal I have in the Entrance room. Do you like our new assistants?”
Bess said, “The very nervous goblin, trying to hide in the corner?”
Jessica continued, “We had a tribe of Goblins approach us last night, offering to become Dungeon Servants. We’re housing and feeding them while negotiating the contracts.”
Bess looked a little concerned, “For free?”
Jessica responded, “Oh, yes! By this stage the rest of the tribe would rebel if I said I would kick them out because of their leader. Who would have thought that offering decent food and accommodation would sway the whole tribe to my side?”
Marisol looked at Bess and said, “She takes after her grandmother.”
Bess snorted.
“Gradma May? Wow.”
She mentally said to Fancy, *Queen May was renowned for her negotiation skills.*
*Yes, I did a research paper on her. High praise indeed, but I admit I’m impressed with how you’ve handled yourself so far.*
Jessica’s crystal turned a little pink.
Pointing to the set up in the corner, Fancy said, “This is the prototype for what we’ll be doing in the Dungeon and also that court area near the entrance.”
Bess squee’d and rushed over to the food dispensing magical device in the Core room corner.
“So, the options are, those popped corn kernels, the drink is the brewed lemonade again?”
Fancy said, “Yep.”
“What’s the extra two?”
Fancy nodded to the Goblin, who nervously stepped up and said, “Honoured Miss dress, this one would honoured be to answer.” Pointing to the first icon for food, he continued, First Day of the Meal is Ro-ast chookin, while the second one is veg-table soap. All are one silver piece each.”
Fancy added, “As part of the contract, we’ll be working on language and numeracy skills.”
Bess nodded and put down some silver coins. “Three drinks, three corn and one of each of the meals.”
The Goblin looked to Fancy, who nodded.
Fancy set up a couple of tables and chairs in front of the viewing crystals, and they all sat down to watch the fun.
Moving on to room 10, Merry noted the monsters on the roof.
Lotus said, “Look to be standard Stalactite Monsters, should be some bait directly under them, usually a coin.”
The eleven monsters were quickly dispatched.
Lotus continued, “First level three monster, but we are ten rooms in. I think the difficulty should stay at A-3. Thoughts?”
The rest agreed that this was a slow enough progression for a starting Adventurer team.
Jessica said, “A-3?”
Fancy replied, “Beginner Dungeon, level 3. That was what I was hoping us to be. Just dangerous enough to attract reasonably competent new Adventurers. Then, if we do it right, level 2 can be about an A-6, with level 3 either A-10 or B-1.”
“How’s that going to affect my big, combined, 3-level floor?”
“Maybe just do a basic next level, then combine levels 3,4 and 5, using difficulty B-1, B-5 and B-10? You miss out on using a couple of things that you get and Dungeon level 5, but I think you will be fine delaying them to level 6.”
“Things?”
“Access to more environmental stuff.”
“OK, I’ll think about it. The other thing I could do is just have a 2-level combination next.”
“That would work, though my recommendation is to stick with three.”
Marta asked, “You going to do a combined floor?”
“Yes, I wanted to do a non-linear, set of three interwoven floors. The discussion is about do we do it for floors 2,3 and 4 or wait one additional floor. With the former, the floors would be split between dungeon difficulty 1 and 2, while the later would be all difficulty 2.”
Marta asked, “What’s non-linear?”
Marisol answered, “You are open to make your own path. You basically wander across the three levels until you’re ready to move on. There will be more than one way to finish the floors and more than one connection between the floors.”
Marta thought for a moment, then continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a dungeon like that.”
Bess said, “They’re not that common. Mainly because they’re a lot more work to build and plan, plus they tend to not let the Core grow quite as fast.”
Looking at Jessica, Marta said, “Then why would you want to do it?”
“It’s more of a challenge, it’s more interesting, and I expect that long term, the difference in growth won’t be that much, as many teams will want to challenge a level many times, to try different strategies, plus with three levels, the likelihood of teams camping overnight are better.”
Fancy added, “Plus, it’s not much of a risk. Even if it does take a little longer to grow, Jessica’s not really in a hurry. She has centuries to grow her Dungeon into whatever she envisions for it.”
Lotus and her team stood at the entrance to room 11 with a look of profound disgust on their faces.
With a sigh, the whole team allowed themselves to sink into the mud.
Mercury whined, “Why mud? Why do Dungeons insist on the stuff?”
The rest of the team just smiled at Mercury as Lotus said, “Because the Surnae Guildmaster has an automatic message sent to all new Dungeons when you will be on the evaluation team, requesting at least one mud room because you’re so infatuated with them. Therefore, WE have to put up with this room because YOU are on the evaluation. Notice when we give him our report how he will ask you specifically how you ranked the last room.”
Merry and Antonio, both gave Lotus a smirk, knowing that the Guildmaster always asks the scout what they thought of the boss room, as it was one of the checks he always did.
Jackson said, “There are multiple lifeforms in the mud, some seem to be heading our way. Plus there are a lot in the air, all of which are heading our way.”
Mercury pointed at one of the approaching mosquitoes, saying, “Well there’s the air troops, giant mosquitoes.”
Lotus looked around and said, “Head to that patch of high ground and we’ll whittle down the opposition.”
It took them about ten minutes to kill all fifteen mosquitoes, but during the fight, both Merry and Antonio noticed that they started to feel weak.
Jackson cast a diagnostic spell on them and then had them both take off their armour, while the others stood guard.
Jackson cast a specialised healing spell and then searched their clothes, finding five dead leeches.
“Yep, Giant Leeches,” Jackson said, holding the quarter-metre long specimen between his two gloved hands. “The saliva has an anti-coagulant to keep the blood flowing and their skin has a contact poison that deadens the area, so you don’t notice them in your clothes.”
He cast another spell and stepped into the mud, quickly flicking two live leeches onto the dry ground. “Looks like there are about a total of fifteen.”
Lotus replied, “So, about the same as the number of mosquitoes. They’re all level 1 monsters.”
Merry commented, “Unusual for a final room monster, but not unique.”
Lotus said, “Remember, we’re in the second last room, though.”
Merry screwed her face up, “What’s the odds the last room’s going to be more of the same. Maybe with an added surprise?”
They all nodded agreement.
Lotus said, “Right, how’re we going to handle this?”
They threw some ideas into the pot, while Jackson changed the scribe roll.
Mercury got up and went over to near the centre of the mound. “We’ve got a hidden chest here.”
Lotus looked around the room and spotted a series of these mounds going from the entrance to the exit of the room, but in a wandering path. “Jackson, will it be a better use of your mana to clean everybody at each isle, or for you to maintain detect life as we go?”
“Detect life is more efficient.”
“Mercury, is the chest trapped?”
“Yes. This is a fire trap, set to go off when the chest is picked up.”
“Right, the trap is now disabled. The chest contains eleven copper coins, three bronze and one silver.”
The team worked their way across the room, hopping from island to island, using Detect Life to find the leeches as they approached.
During the final room, the pair of crocodiles attacked the Evaluation team, trying to force them back into the quicksand trap. Bess said, “Why didn’t we get any of those to play with?”
Fancy commented, “They only attack if the group has five or more members.”
Bess thought for a moment, “Wouldn’t it be better to base that on party levels rather than numbers?”
Fancy looked across to Jesica’s Core and said, “Possibly?”
Jessica said, “I can do that? Wait a minute.”
“OK, didn’t see that option. Yes, that would make more sense. Maybe above five levels? So, a full party of level 1 delvers wouldn’t trigger them?”
Everyone agreed that would be good.
“OK, I’ve set up that change.”
Fancy went to greet the Evaluation Team and Jessica set up another portal.
With the additional five people, the Core Room was starting to feel a little crowded.
Lotus started, “Thank you Jessica for cooperating with us for this evaluation. I would like to start by saying we’ve all enjoyed your Dungeon and are looking forward to later levels.”
They then asked a series of questions, some technical, like were traps fixed or random, what changes had she decided to make based on these first few Delves, and what were her general plans.
Lastly, they asked some questions around the attack by the Dungeon Raiders and Mercury asked, “I do not want to know the specifics, but I would like to confirm that you made your Dungeon harder during the attack?”
Fancy handled that, saying, “Yes, significantly so.”
Lotus answered, “Great. Well, that is your evaluation handled, we will be giving you a rating of A-3+ for your first level, congratulations. We will be staying in the area for the next year or so, as we will be doing your siblings first evaluations and setting up a new Guild Hall. Would you mind if we stayed a little longer? It would be helpful to watch the first couple of regular teams go through your Dungeon.”
Merry continued, “Helpful for us, that is. It just helps us remember what it is like for beginner teams.”
Jessica thought about it for a moment, then agreed. She mentally said to Fancy, *What’s the ‘+’ for?*
Fancy responded, *Just means the level gets harder, the further you go. It’s the perfect rating for the first level of a new dungeon.*
Jessica said out loud, “By the way, Merry, I was impressed with your acting skills over the popped corn kernels.” She replayed the scene for those who were not there.
Marta said, “I may have a problem.”
Fancy fluttered over to look at the crystal Marta had been watching. “Is there an issue?”
Marta shook her head and said, “Not with you or your Dungeon, Jessica and Fancy. I’ve been thoroughly entertained and amazed by your Dungeon. I too, am looking forward to your other levels. No, my problem is political and centres around that group of delvers there.”
Marisol came over and said, “That man looks a lot like Fangslayer. Is it one of his welps?”
“Yes. I’m assuming, Jessica, that you haven’t had any deaths in your Dungeon, except for the Raiders?”
Fancy took the answer, “That is correct.”
“I think you may get at least one from this group. It’s the group that just started when Bess, Marisol and I finished. You’re respawn rate is about a quarter hour?”
Again, Fancy answered, “the first one was about an hour, until I got the hang of what was happening. Going forward, that seems about correct, well, certainly under a half hour.”
Marisol continued, “Well, Sarchan is as obnoxious an individual as I expected, but a significantly worse leader then I expected.”
Fancy, the hesitancy and worry in her voice evident, said, “Are you asking us to do something?”
“Oh, no! I would never. The unspoken contract with a Dungeon is that anyone silly enough to enter one is silly enough to die. The problems are mine.”
Fancy relaxed. “Thank you for understanding, not everyone will.”
Marta nodded and continued to watch the unfolding drama.
Mercury walked over. Pointing to one of the teams currently delving, he said, “I was chatting to them, they seemed quite nice.”
“Oh, no, the third group of Delvers are fine. They’re all children of chiefs or senior leadership and are going well. I’d expect them to give up soon, though. This is the fourth group and the sole problem is Sarchan Fangslayer, the eldest son of the leader of the Wolf Clan.” Matra pointing to the crystal display of the last delve team to enter the Dungeon.
Lotus asked, “I did not ask, but are you the sort of Dungeon that will not attack groups leaving, or are you in the ‘silly enough to leave enemies behind you, silly enough to die’, camp?”
*Thoughts, Fancy?*
*It’s up to you. How do you feel about it?*
*Quite liking my role in improving the average intelligence of the sapient races by weeding out the chronically stupid.*
*Sounds good.*
“We hadn’t really talked about it, but I’m fine with removing the truly stupid from the ranks of Delvers, so if they leave enemies behind them, those will attack as the Delvers leave. Not that it will really matter, as we’ll be installing the automatic portals tonight, so people will be able just to portal straight from any of the three finish rooms back to the entrance.”
Various nods were answer enough.