The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 17th day of Sol, 1661
It has been a whirlwind. He had accepted Jeremy as his new ‘bestie’, they had reviewed the design and Jeremy had simply accepted it with one minor change. Jeremy’s studies into Delver psychology had him point out that by having a much better hidden entrance to his core room next to the entrance to another hidden room, it would actually hide it better. A delver having found a secret, would automatically look everywhere except there, for other secrets.
Monty compared his first sketch of his dungeon with the current plan and was excited.
Second Draft of the first level of Monty's Dungeon [https://images2.imgbox.com/c3/b3/1tXJt1SC_o.jpg]
*So, room content.*
Jeremy thought for a moment, then said, “Really, whatever you want. There are a couple of extra restrictions on your first dungeon level, basically, each room has to have ‘something’. Your options are Puzzle, Monster and Treasure and each room has to have at least one of these.”
*Difficulty level?*
“I have done some joint projects with Fancy, so I expect that her coaching will see Jessica’s dungeon sitting right in the ‘sweet spot’ for new dungeons.”
*Sweet spot?*
“A new dungeon generally gets the maximum growth when they are rated A-3. That’s Dungeon level A, a beginner’s level, grade 3. Statistically, a dungeon at this level will attract the most new delvers and then settle into a good, long-term growth rate.”
There discussion was interrupted by a ‘pop’.
“Jeremy!”
“Fancy!”
The two Assistants quickly caught up with each other.
“Sorry, Monty, but we went through college together, but haven’t seen each other since. Now Monty, you have full approval from the Dungeon Assistants Association to contact your father and mother and let them know what is happening. From what I understand, your parents are sending down a team and will be establishing a Dungeon Town in the area. They will also be sending down your Aunt Bess? She will be asking to interview you and Sara so they can try and confirm what happened. Jeremy, here is the contact details for Queen Camilla Fortier. She has also asked all of us assistants to feel free to contact them in case of an emergency.
“Sara is going fine and both Sara and Jessica have asked me to not share any details of each other’s Dungeons. They want to surprise each other. We’re aiming towards getting the three of you to meet areas of influence in a central location as soon as practical. For the moment, please do not spread your area of influence past 7 kilometres, until the three assistants can finish a survey. I know that the three of you are triplets, but you all have been changed into Dungeons, and Dungeons react differently around other Dungeons. Let us do everything right the first time. Anyway, I am off to drop in on Sara, then back to Jessica. You know what these Dungeons are like, Jeremy, you can’t leave them alone for too long without them getting into trouble.”
A ’pop’ announced Fancy has left.
*That was intense. I’m exhausted after just listening to that monologue.*
“The early days are fairly intense. Once the Dungeon is open, things can slow down a little bit. Did you want to give your mother a call?”
With a sigh, Monty answered, *Yes. It will be good to hear her voice again. Wait, how will she hear me?*
“She will not be able to hear you. I will have to be the intermediary for the moment. Somewhere around level 5 you should be able to start generating your own voice.”
*Yes, please call her then, as I am sure she is worried. This will be Queen Camilla’s private line.*
Jeremy dialled the number and it was answered a couple of rings later.
“Yes? I don’t recognise this caller, so this had better be important.”
“Queen Camilla. I am calling on behalf of your son, Monty. My name is Jeremy and I am his Dungeon Assistant.”
“Right, then there will be a code word he can give you.”
“Monty, there’s a code word?”
*Chartreuse Avenger.*
“Your Majesty? He says ‘chartreuse avenger’.”
“I understand that he will not be able to speak to me yet, but that he can hear me?”
“Umm, I will just put you on speaker. Yes, that is right, when he gets to about level 5 as a Dungeon, he will be able to start to be heard by others.”
Queen Camilla and Jeremy chatted for about five minutes through Jeremy, then his Dad joined the conversation and Jeremy chatted for a few more minutes.
*Well, Mom, Dad, got a dungeon to build, so I will catch up with you later. Is it OK if I give you call every week or so?*
Jeremy repeated what Monty had said, feeling a little uncomfortable until he realised that Monty was probably messing with him. He gave the Core a glare and had his suspicions confirmed when he got a response from Monty.
*Grin.*
“Of course it is, sweetheart. I just need to confirm some things with Jeremy before I go. Oh, and your dad wants to know what Dungeon theme you will be going with for your first level.”
“Fairy Grotto.”
“Looking forward to seeing it. And your dad wants you to know that your birthday cake was really nice.”
“Monty says, ‘Thank him for that consideration, it had been eating at me’.”
Queen Camilla laughed. “Right, Jeremy, firstly, do you mind if I know your full name?”
“Jeremy Farsight, ma’am.”
“When did you graduate from Assistant School, and what school?”
“Last year, ma-am, 1660. I graduated from the Petal School of Dungeon Assistants. I was in the same year as Fancy. Are you intending to access my academic record, ma-am?”
“Of course. Will that be a problem?”
“Possibly? My supervisor mentioned that there had been some sort of mix-up with my records and the Assistant that had been first offered to Monty. All of the underlying records were correct, but the Academic Summaries had somehow been swapped.”
“That leads well into the next question, who is your supervisor?”
“Master Dungeon Assistant Brian Sharpwing.”
Queen Camilla then confirmed Monty’s geographic location and asked if his Aunt Bess could drop in soon to interview him for the investigation into his kidnapping.
*Please tell her that I am looking forward to catching up with my pledge-protector, Death’s Shadow.*
Jeremy visibly trembled, then repeated what Monty had said.
“Really, sweetheart? Dropping news like that on your Dungeon Assistant?”
*As dad taught me, you’ve got to get your fun where you can.*
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Queen Camilla laughed.
“Well, your Aunt Marisol is part of the forward team that will establish a Dungeon Town between the three of you.”
*Aunt Marisol, otherwise known as ‘the Sun Maiden’*
“Your Aunt Monique will be running the investigation into your kidnapping until Bess is back in the capital. By the way, was Drengle alive when you were transformed?”
“Eh, yes. Dazed, but alive. So, from that comment I can assume that he was reported dead by the breaching team?”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“Hmm, that makes no sense. The breach through the tower wall wasn’t anywhere near him, but he was too dazed to have put up any fight.”
“That’s why your Aunt Bess is going down there to interview you all and your Aunt Monique is leading the investigation.”
*Lady Monique Bannersol, The Iron Rose. You need to tell my mom about the discrepancies around Batholomew.*
*I understand.*
“Queen Camilla? Monty is asking me to fill you in on the issues that arose before I took over as his assistant, in case any of this ends up being involved…”
After the explanation, Queen Camilla agreed that it looked like it was a completely separate thing, but she would keep the information in mind. It did not fit into the overall pattern around the kidnapping, but was a worrying development never the less. Basically, the timing was not really possible.
His mom confirmed some other details, then ended the call.
*Now, we were discussing growth rates before all of that. So, what’s the second-best rate?*
Jeremy blinked and thought for a moment. “Somewhere around A-6. The dungeon will not be as popular, but the more brutal aspects of this difficulty level will mean a higher death rate, that will compensate for the lower popularity.
*Have you heard of product differentiation?*
“No?”
*When you have competing products, each product’s success will depend on it standing out from its competitors. So, one might be available in more colours, one might be cheaper, one might be associated with some Royal. Get the idea?*
“Yes, I can see that.”
*By the way, do you think that three dungeons within kilometres of each other with a nearby Dungeon Town sponsored and backed by the Kingdom might prove to be a little bit on the popular side?*
Jeremy was speechless for a moment. “More than popular, there’s going to be an avalanche of Delvers, especially as you three grow and expand.”
*Now, we’ll let Jessica take the hit as the ‘responsible’ one. Sara is by far the best of us at magic itself, plus puzzles and their equivalent, so I’m expecting her Dungeon will be the most intellectually challenging. That leaves me to be the brutal one. I’m sure time will mellow me, especially once I can talk to my sibling again, but for the moment, I’m letting what has happened to be my motivation and inspiration.*
Gold scrollwork started to appear in a band around the room. On one side of the room the words ‘Love’, ‘Duty’ and ‘Responsibility’ appeared. All done in gold as well. On the other side, ‘Strive’, ‘Protect’ and ‘Repay’ appeared.
“You also need to have balance in your life, otherwise you may break.”
*I do understand. Really I do, but that will have to wait until after I can feel my siblings again.*
Monty had a table grow out of the floor. The table was filled with slightly damp sand and a scale model of his first floor moulded itself on the table.
*This is called a sand table, and is used by a lot of armies to plan their campaigns while in the field. How do you think the first level looks in its basic form?*
“This is a good idea. You layout is fine, it will, of course, come down to how you fill the rooms. Expect that once the first floor is finished, but before you open to the public, you will want to firstly, clear as much vegetation as you want from the surface. This will give you a good boost towards advancing your level, as individual, unique plant and animal life will give you experience towards your next level, known as ‘Dungeon Points’ or DP’s. Secondly, move your Core Room down so your influence area only just covers your dungeon. This will allow you to expand your influence into the ground instead of into the air. Anything blue you see is a harvestable resource. Red are sentient beings and grey are undead.”
*I understand.*
“What do you want to do now?”
*What if start on the construction of the floor. I can get that ticking along as a background thing, and maybe we can start designing the rooms?*
“I’d enjoy that.”
The sand table with the floor layout on it moved to the edge of the Core Room and another table appeared.
*Room 1, I’m going to put a large tree in the centre of all of the rooms on this level and have the walls look like the walls to a grotto. I was thinking that we probably don’t really want to ease people into things, why not go hard from the first?*
“It is frowned upon to bury a Delve at the first room, but if you are going to go hard, it would be appropriate to do something that makes them need to change their underwear after the first room. What did you have in mind?”
*Well, I’ve started absorbing the land above us, and I came across this interesting little creature.*
Monty showed Jeremy a house sparrow.
*Buried in the archive of monsters that I have as a Dungeon, is it’s cousin, the Piranha Sparrow.*
This time, the image was of something out of the diseased imagination of a taxidermist. The mouth and teeth of a piranha on a house sparrow.
*So, the 8 metre diameter room will start with a small flock of house sparrows fluttering around the room, alighting on the shoulders and heads of the Delve. Then the piranha sparrows fly in and start to attack. The first blood spilt will put the flock into a feeding frenzy, basically turning them into berserkers.*
*As a flock, they’re classed as a level 1 monster, but as they are so small, any attack on one will probably also target the delver they are currently attacking. I want to have twenty in the flock, but I know that’s too high.*
Jeremy sighed. “Maximum of 6, no, maximum of 20, ,minimum of 5 and the number will be half of the total number of levels of delvers, rounded up. That way, the threat will scale, pun intended.”
*Thought it was fishy.*
Jeremy grinned, then continued, “So, as soon as we get more than 10 levels of Delvers, we will get more than 5 monsters. Say, 4 by level 2 delvers, plus a single level 3. Totals 11 levels of delvers, halved is 5.5, rounded up is 6, so 6 Piranha Sparrows.”
*So, the same number of normal sparrows?*
Jerimy thought for a moment, “OK, I can see what you are doing here. This will increase the confusion.”
*The treasure for the monster should be, what, a bronze coin?*
“Sounds too high. Maybe two to four copper per piranha? But do something with the normal sparrows?”
*That’s easy. Every single house sparrow left alive at the end of the room will drop a bronze coin.*
Jeremy was silent for a moment, then burst out laughing. “That is so rich. The greedier they are, the more they will have to fight to keep as many normal sparrows alive as possible. That should give you an opening room of A-5, just where we want to be.”
*The next room will be 9 metres wide, again with a tree in the middle.*
“Monsters?”
*Animated Poisonous Thorn bushes, with a pit trap on either side of the central tree? Will that be hard enough?*
“Not quite.”
*Animated Poisonous Thorn bushes, with three or four giant pitcher plants?*
“Yes, but only mild paralytic poison on the bushes and mild acid in the pitcher plants.”
*Can I have a central treasure chest, rather than individual drops?*
“Yes, again that is fine.”
*I was thinking about doing a random drop of coins and a couple of semi-precious stones.*
“3x6-sided dice of copper coins, 2x6-sided dice of bronze coins, 1d2-sided dice of silver coins and 1x2-sided dice of polished semi-precious cabochons?”
*Yeh, that would work. I think the higher treasure is in keeping with the harder dungeon, plus it will encourage delvers to greed.*
*Room 3, 11 metres wide. Do you have a favourite lower level monster?*
“The Oil Bat.”
*Oh, I wonder what we can do with a ridiculously flammable bat that spits out balls of flammable oil? Maybe combine it with a bunch of even more flammable Flameberry bushes? Let’s have the room 100% dark, so they have to light their torches? Are we going to have us some fun, or what?*
“If we spread the bushes out throughout the room, especially if we screen them behind other vegetation, there can be a good chance that they will not spot them and any one bush going up in flames will cause a chain reaction, setting them all off.”
The discussion continued, with them deciding on individual element monsters to use in the next few rooms.
Room 4 got ice lizards and ice-berry vines.
Room 5 got air wasps and dandelion monsters, with a single giant chimpanzee that will be throwing air wasp nests at the Delvers.
Room 6 got Burrower Worms, Sod Thrower Vines and Stalactite Monsters.
By the time they got to room 7, a 24 metre diameter room, they both thought a change was required. The room would house a destruction of lynx.
*Destruction?*
“It’s a general term for a group of wild cats. The cat version of a pack of dogs, but only for wild, not domesticated cats.”
*OK, learn something new…*
“So, is it wrong to want to put nothing else dangerous in this room except for the lynx? With the Delvers constantly expecting something, having nothing is going to play with their mind.”
*Now, the hidden room, room 8, is going to be a puzzle room.*
*I suppose technically it isn’t a puzzle room as much as it is a skill test room. There will be eight tubes around the room, each with a maximum of three bouncy balls. The gravity affecting the pillars will be dependent upon how many delvers there are, with more delvers equalling balls that drop faster. Basically, they have to try to keep all of the balls in the air at the same time, without letting any of them bounce. There will be a jet of air in each of the tubes, helping the balls stay in the air – but also messing with their timing. The aim will be to get all of the balls in the air for 5 seconds, before the five minute timer runs out.*
“Sound easy.”
*Well, it would be, except that if any of the balls bounce, the second ball in that tube will also be released. If this second ball bounces, then the third will be released. Take any of the balls out of their tube and all three balls in all eight tubes are released. So, the longer they go before solving the room, the more balls they will have to keep up in the air at once. We’ll give them a nice big timer on the wall, counting down from 5 minutes.*
“That just leaves distractions. Bells, lights, etc.”
*Deep, resounding bell to start with, and every thirty seconds after that. Start a light bell count every second for the last minute, and go up to twice a second for the last 30 seconds. Would it be over the top to also start the counter flashing for those last 30 seconds?*
“Yes! Which is why we will do it!”
The pair of them laughed together.
“That just leaves the last room.”
*I think I want to go with a boss room.*
“OK, what monster were you thinking of?”
*A Rusalka, but then realised that it might be a little too powerful for the first floor.*
“You think?” Jeremy shook his head. A Rusalka would be frowned upon if found anywhere before about the 6th level of a Dungeon.
*So, I’ll use a water nymph instead. I’ll drag a river through the room, maybe have it shoot out of the wall and fall into a central pool, next to the tree. That should stir up the water, have blinding mist everywhere and a bit of noise to distract the Delvers. She will be supported by Giant Frogs and Giant Salamanders.*
“Toxic skin?”
*On the Salamanders? Of course.*