The Mountain Grotto Dungeon, Slopes of Mount Gursway, 18th day of Sol, 1661
After Jeremy had returned, the pair set about finishing up their Dungeon, ready for their opening.
*Jeremy, after we’ve dealt with everything, Jessica has sent me over a Dungeon chip with a recording of her Dungeon. Do you want to do a walk-through of her Dungeon with me?*
“Sounds like fun, sure.”
*Let’s start with our walkthrough. Now that we are not worrying about having to defend ourselves, we should do another walkthrough just to be sure. Wait, we never put things back after we made the changes in case the Raiders came, did we?*
“Yeah, we haven’t reversed those, plus there were a couple of things that I noticed last time, but they were not important with the threat of those Dungeon Raiders hanging over us. Also, the more I think about it, the less sure I am that the puzzle room will work.”
Over the next two hours, they did a complete walkthrough of the Dungeon, and found a couple minor issues and one major issue.
The puzzle room just wasn’t going to work for the first level of a dungeon. Most beginner delvers would never have seen one before, and this one was going to be too confusing to be their first.
“What about a straight ‘put the peg in the hole’ one?”
*I suppose.*
“We could do one set of pegs for every 5 levels of Delvers.”
*So, a straight five minute timer, regardless of their level, for them to complete ALL of the puzzles, with no forfeit?*
“That would work.”
*So, 5 triangle shaped rods, all going into holes around the tree. Then 5 square, four holes in the trunk and one in the ground. Then pentagon, three holes in the trunk and two in the ground, then hexagon and heptagon following the same pattern. Finally, if they are high enough level, circular, but it will have one hole in the base of the trunk and the other four hidden up in the canopy of the tree. All the holes will be visible.
An hour later, they had finished building and testing the new room and Jeremy said, “Much better for an introduction to Puzzle Rooms. I like the little, miniature golden apples as prizes.”
*One for every peg and one in six will have a little gem inside it.*
“Good. There will be some complaints about them disappearing once that same timer runs out. You happy to wear the complaints?”
*Yep.*
“OK, then. Can I suggest that we increase the timer to six minutes until we at least see a few groups go through? Maybe seven?”
Monty sighed. *It will be easier to increase the timer later, then it will be to reduce it. People will see me as ‘generous’ for increasing it, but miserly for reducing it.*
“True, OK, leave it at five for the ‘minute’.”
*Right, it will take a few hours to rebuild all this, I’m pushing everything else back to tomorrow. We still have time for our opening on the 20th.
Some hours later.
*Done, I’ve finished, and I have the prompt up to upgrade. So, I’ve absorbed over 25 square kilometres of land surface, for a volume of somewhere over 100 cubic kilometres. I’ve captured and now control three underground streams. I noted from what Jessica sent across that she found that if she ran the streams through a deep pool, she could harvest what was in the river, giving her a constant, if small, DP income, so I’ve done that.*
*I’ve found deposits of gold, silver, copper, tin, obsidian, garnets, topaz and zircons. I have also found marble, pumice, lots of iron, and some magnesium, aluminium, and a tiny bit of something called neodymium. Oh, and one lead deposit, just at the edge of my area.*
“Have you finished the new core room?”
*Yes, it’s directly under where mine was originally going to be and I’ve actually designated the old one as a ‘fake Dungeon Core room’. Should we transfer there before or after I initiate the Dungeon?*
“Before. There will be less interference with Dungeon Operations that way.”
*Now?*
“Sure, let us move now.”
*Moving myself.*
Jeremy saw Monty disappear, then felt a ‘tug’ as his spirit felt him appear way below where he currently was.
Jeremy teleported to the new location, looked around and nodded, saying ‘Good job”.
“Right, let’s look at your status.”
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name:
Mountain Grotto
(Mana Recharge Per Minute)
Alignment:
(unaligned)
Base/Current Recharge
5
/
5
Level:
0
Recharge from rooms:
0
Used/Current DP
0
/
0
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Recharge from creatures:
0
DP Point for next level
100
Current/Max Mana
166
/
166
Extras from harvests:
0
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon radius: (km)
3.00
Dungeon rooms:
9
Max Radius: (km)
3
Current Delvers DP/Hour
0
Dungeon area: (sq km)
26.4
DP's per month
0
Dungeon influence: (sq km)
28.3
“Everything looks fine, why don’t you activate your Dungeon?”
*Alright, I’m activating the Dungeon, now.*
Monty formed the image of his entrance – a craggy canyon, diving into the side of the volcano. It was full of huge, old trees and a tangle of bushes and undergrowth. At the end of the thirty metre canyon was a truly massive tree with a three metre wide gash. Atop the gash was a carved sign, ‘The Mountain Grotto’. Inside the entrance was a vestibule, then a further passage to the required ‘preparation room’. This then led to a narrow, spiralling staircase that lead down to his first room.
His crystal shook and a clear, bell-like tone rang through the whole dungeon. He was open for business!
Monty called up his Basic Status screen and his Dungeon screen:
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name:
The Mountain Grotto
(Mana Recharge Per Minute)
Alignment:
(unaligned)
Base/Current Recharge
10
/
179
Level:
1
Recharge from rooms:
9
Used/Current DP
100
/
1426
Recharge from creatures:
160
DP Point for next level
300
Current/Max Mana
166
/
266
Extras from harvests:
16857
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon radius: (km)
2.45
Dungeon rooms:
9
Max Radius: (km)
4
Current Delvers DP/Hour
0
Dungeon area: (sq km)
17.35
DP's per month
56
Dungeon influence: (sq km)
18.86
*Why has my total dungeon area gone down?*
“Oh, you moved your core, so you sort of lose some area until you rescan it.”
*Wait, where did all the DPs come from?*
“How many did you get, let me look. Wow, that is a lot, but I suppose you did absorb a lot of plants and animals. Each individual species gives you some DPs. You also get a little from every later absorption, but it is the first time you run into a particular species that really rakes in the points. Your total DP should be gradually increasing as you filter out the contents from those rivers as well. You might as well cash those points in and increase your level. In fact, there is no advantage in ever holding off a level increase if you can do one.”
*Level 2.*
*Right, we are going with the plan we came up with for magics?*
“Should be. Has anything changed?”
*I noticed that Jessica went Fire, Dark, then Light*
“I wonder why? Oh, of course, she is going for early mutant monsters. Light and Dark are great for getting monsters to have really interesting mutations. Is that something you are interested in?”
*Not really. There are enough monsters to pick from. I’m more interested in the advanced traps.*
“Then let us stick with Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Light, Dark, Life then Death.”
*OK. By the way, why is Basic Dungeon Magic now BDM (2)?*
“You get a minor upgrade when you go to level 1.”
*OK. Dungeon level 3.*
*Everything looks fine. Dungeon level 4.*
*Right, that’s it.*
“Let us have a look at your status.”
Monty Fortier (Basic Status)
Dungeon Name:
Jungle Rocks
(Mana Recharge Per Minute)
Alignment:
(unaligned)
Base/Current Recharge
55
/
393
Level:
4
Recharge from rooms:
9
Used/Current DP
1000
/
1448
Recharge from creatures:
160
DP Point for next level
1500
Current/Max Mana
420
/
966
Extras from harvests:
16938
Skills:
Magics:
BDM (2), Fire, Illusion, Earth
Monty Fortier (Dungeon Status)
Dungeon radius: (km)
2.45
Dungeon rooms:
9
Max Radius: (km)
9
Current Delvers DP/Hour
0
Dungeon area: (sq km)
17.35
DP's per month
56
Dungeon influence: (sq km)
18.86
“You are only 52 DPs short of level 5, so you should get that within the next couple of hours. Start expanding your area of influence as aggressively as you can, remembering to stop at 7 kilometres. Between the expansion and the rivers, you should get a fair few DPs.”
*You will be planting those markers soon?*
“Yes. Actually, I’ll put them out once we have finished this conversation. It is a bit embarrassing that Sara had to point out what all three of us Dungeon Assistants missed. With the cores at different altitudes, where exactly the ‘mid’ point was going to be awkward with each dungeon having a sphere shaped territory. I am glad that the three of you simply went with seven kilometres from the point on the ground above Jessica. Since the land around her is fairly flat, that would make it easier than getting all fancy with trigonometry.”
*All three of us are aware of the disadvantage that Jessica will have for a while. Sara and I will get more ‘income’ from the Town, since it will border us. She will never get the same amount from either the Tribes or the Empire. Besides, it works out best for that valley that the Town will be in.*
“Once you have done that, and you have reached your 7 kilometre mark, we can establish the teleport spot near where the town will be and install the basic roads. You should probably then concentrate on starting to reforest your ground. You have a full day before we officially open.”
*Do we accept teams before the Evaluation Team gets here?*
“Not our problem. It sounds callus, but it is something you just have to learn. They call it the unwritten law of Dungeons - basically, if you are stupid enough to go into a Dungeon, then you are stupid enough to die.”
*I have finally got the farting tables running. As we agreed, the more damage the more fart, the blunter the weapon, the more fart, and the stronger the monster, the smellier the fart. Let’s see how long it takes before it’s no longer funny.*
With a snort, Jeremy said, “Years.”