It faded from view without spectacle or fanfare, a loser quietly dragging himself away.
"Hurry lady Helvina, we must make for the surface!"
Not a moment's notice and the humans were off, rushing past destruction and bodies to leave, ignoring the likely expensive loot left behind in the wake of the paladin's attack. As they ascended their skin grew increasingly pale with each room they passed through, becoming almost blue by the time they were on the lift, meeting them was Edward and company. They spoke quietly and secretly amongst each other as they inspected Helvina. After a moment he used some odd spell that projected a message to me.
"My family's thanks dungeon but we have little time, we shall meet again once things have calmed."
And with that, they carried the still-ailing lady into the fortress, the guards that accompanied her were left behind.
Should I do something? Because it was really awkward just hearing a group of grown men moan on your front lawn, which also so happens to be your body, kinda.
...
I'm just going to ignore them and assume Ed has a plan.
Moving back in, I could see the new monsters settling in, and while I knew these new ones would retain a vestige of those that came before and would likely be better at their jobs because of it, losing almost all of my monsters still felt bad.
Sigh
With the blade returned, I'll be safe from the more divine matters, at least from Kannor and his ilk. What this meant was that I could start refocusing myself on expansion and upgrades, I didn't get any special currency or materials, but I did still get a heap of Dp to spend and plenty to spend on. First things first, the basics were due, and by that I mean door upgrades, controllable lighting, and temperature (but not dangerously so). I made plenty of other, smaller purchases, but they amounted to no more than a couple hundred, leaving me at a whopping 1500 DP from both assorted sources and the paladin. The current dilemma and it was a good one to have, was that I still had plenty of cash on hand and not a whole lot to use it on.
Sure, I could buy some higher-end monsters, traps, and upgrades, but rising prices and the deal, blurred things on what I could and should buy. I could afford kickass monsters, ignoring any level requirements, and start collecting the good stuff now rather than later. One thing to consider is that I also still needed to complete the next set of level-up requirements to gain my sixth level and all the perks that come with it. I had the tier-one producer pumping out stuff as I spoke as well as the rooms ready, all I needed was the tinker construct and another monster. The catalyst would take a few hours so that left me with some time to figure out what I was going to do.
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After a couple of hours spent familiarizing myself with the new guys, I got a little 'ding' notification, that the materials were done.
1lbs of Catalytic Copper
Exotic Metal
High-level Conductivity
Rust Resistant
Alchemically Compatible
It certainly brought ideas to mind, most of which were weapons or monster-based of course but also quite a few that were more societally focused. This also brought up the bonus brought by producing the copper, a one-time benefit of making an exotic thing.
Low-tech Chemistry Modifications
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Allows for simple, low-level, modifications to existing blueprints, granting differing benefits and abilities.
Increases cost and upkeep of modified blueprints.
Altered blueprints will not be retained and must be manually remade if lost or forgotten.
No options this time? I thought you always gave some sort of choice when it came to new and interesting stuff.
Tier one exotic materials lack the magical potential and usage of higher tier materials to given varied options, previous situations involved metals of higher tier than catalytic copper.
Well, that sucks. I was hoping to agonize over another thing to pass the time.
Sigh
The lack of other options notwithstanding, it wasn't that bad, if a little misleading. Some testing proved I could indeed alter existing things to have a more chemically themed look, and it did give some things different functionality too if I designed it properly. For example, my assembly line could instead of parts, start producing simple soaps, acids, and treatments of the wood and stone variety. This meant that I effectively had become more of a magic factory than I was before, since even clean water, which I could tell it to make, was already an incredibly useful thing. For my monsters the allowed changes were less visible though, for the most part, their additions or replacements focused less on making chemicals and more on using them. I was able to slap a tank on a clockworker's back so it could shoot acid, only for it to use it as a high-power pressure washer to clean the soot and grime in the room. Altering the ratkin hardly had an effect either, giving them a general feeling of discomfort and a slightly better circulatory system with a device that would filter and regulate blood content. A useful addition in the right situation, but the discomfort and added short and long-term costs wouldn't be worth it.
Overall, eh, and while it could be useful if I developed the perk some more, I don't know if the added burden of cost and perk investment would be totally worth it in the end. All the same though, it did give some interesting trade options once we get around to doing that.
Speaking of building, with the copper done I could make my tinker monster for the level requirement. All it needed was a tier-two module made from a tier-two exotic metal, or several tier-one modules worked together. Tier-one mods aside, tier-twos were capable of two actions, allowing more complicated actions as well as more complicated directions to be given. If the first tier could make a construct move forward, a tier two could make it turn when told to, allowing nuanced movements, or let a construct fight better. The issue was that they didn't work cohesively with tier-one modules well enough to become fighters, almost like both parts were speaking different dialects to each other that neither could fully understand. The best solution I could find from my limited testing was that I'd simply have to wait for the material to make more tier-twos.
Wait, that made me remember a little side project of mine, the hobgoblin colony I started. The point of it was to harass the camps but with most of them gone already their mission was moot, anyone left wasn't a threat or was never an enemy to begin with. This meant I had a ton of aimless hands outside the dungeon and a battlefield with plenty of lost treasures to be picked.
Hey, I'm willing to question the ethics of murder but taking from dead idiots who likely wanted to murder and or enslave me needs to be considered, they lost, and I won.
My connection to the colony was weak and thin, but still there, and calling them back pulled every hobgoblin from their communal homes to begin the march back up the mountain, with clear instructions to pick the dead and carry them home, with the only rule being to not touch the very few Nightingales that ended up outside the fort. As they marched the dirty naked horde slowly became a dirty armed horde, until they reached the mountain flats the camp once resided on where I could see them both from a distance and through their own eyes. Assembled across from them was a decent but small force of humans, most ragged and dirty but armed, leading them was a large man in what I assume are holy robes. He yelled at the remaining holy men and their soldiers to group up, his voice growing more excited as the different groups assembled into a tense formation. Even with my hobgoblins getting some gear it was doubtful they would beat them, were it not for a certain magical friend of mine.
"Stand down cleric. By the power of Lord Nightingale and his family, I order every one of you to surrender, for the crimes of illegal assault on a lord, a lord's property, and an ally of the Empire!"
The now-titled cleric lost his excitement for a moment, shocked realization entering his face as he looked between my monsters and the well-armed and furiously motivated Nightingale men. Much to my shock he simply looked more pleased at the prospect of fighting two forces at once, looking rapturous at the prospect. He even started to say something, were he not interrupted by a deep hissing voice.
"Shut it human, die or surrender, our father would so appreciate the meal."
Not sure I appreciate the wording, but I like his spirit.
"As do I great dungeon."
What the hell!?