I was coming to learn that while I was not very patient by nature, I was more determined to make my Story properly than I was impatient. And that was annoying.
It had been several days since I had changed the layout of the first to better be able to tie the cave into what I’d come to call the ‘Aberrant Vampire’ storyline and scattered hints of the larger plot throughout the Floors, yet not one of the people I could sense milling about outside had stepped foot inside. Not ONE!
It was taking all my determination to not try and revamp the story to account for another Floor just so I would have something interesting to do.
I had managed to resist so far, but if this went on for much longer… What were they all doing out there all day?
It had been days since I’d finished the fifth Floor, and that was with me taking what I felt like an inordinate amount of time to create a custom [Corrupted Blood Clan Vampire] to use as a Guardian. I wasn’t about to use something that had actually gone Aberrant, of course, but I still wanted something that represented the corruption the vampire’s had undergone. It had been the longest taking singular task I’d ever attempted, and it was only with Morrígan’s help that I eventually managed to succeed in creating my first custom creature. Which thankfully was the difficult part. Once I’d done that I could use the increased freedom [Dungeon Management] gave me to select that as the Guardian for the Floor without having to risk it not appearing as one of my options. Though I was relieved to see that I still had the option of having a System-provided Guardian if I wanted, since I could use that as a source of inspiration for future Stories. This first storyline with the prison I felt was done, at least for now. The Story consisting of finding out the tragic fate of the Blood Clan due to infighting and a greed for power and I felt a suitable ending was with the defeat of a corrupted vampire. The only continuation I could think of was to fight against the Aberrants themselves, but I wasn’t sure if it was even possible for me to make that a reality ever, and it definitely wasn’t right now. Plus they didn’t feel like a level 6 enemy, but rather a final one. A final bringing together of all the Stories into one final Floor.
Which meant the sixth Floor would be the start of another Story. I wouldn’t start at level 1 again though. This one would start at Level 5, as a continuation of the Dungeon itself. Telling Stories was all well and good, but I also needed to expand and grow in strength if I ever wanted to be able to reach that final battle Floor one day. And with the doubling of the Experience requirements each level, even with starting these other Stories with later leveled Floors I still wasn’t sure if it would be enough to get to the max level by the time I’d finished them all.
Though a lot of that would depend on how many Floors each Story would take, which was something I had no idea about at the moment. Like with Morrígan’s Story, I would just have to start somewhere and see where inspiration and the System took me.
If I was ever able finish the quest, of course.
I sighed internally and returned my attention to the people outside. They were always there. Two of them. Just standing there doing nothing but being a nuisance to my senses. I had a vague impression of there being more people further out, but the pair was by far the closest ones and the ones I could sense the clearest. There would be the occasional shift where either one or both within the pair would change, but in the end there would still only be two of them out there. And however often they changed, the new ones would still just stand there.
It was infuriating.
To distract myself I focused on the changes I’d made to the first Floor, since that was something I could still tinker with if I had any new interesting ideas.
The first thing I’d done was remove the large hole leading down from Stalker’s chamber and replace it with a small alcove in one of the walls, where the portal to the next Floor would appear once the clear condition had been fulfilled. I spent some time looking over the design and appearance of the alcove, but eventually moved on when I found no issues and no new ideas for improvements came to mind. The next thing I’d done was a series of similar small chambers leading off from the first cave by the entrance, which would be where the portals to the lower Floors would be. That part wasn’t exactly something you’d expect to find in a realistic cave, so I’d stylized it and made the stone appear artificial and constructed. Then I made the entrance to the tunnel leading to the rest of the first Floor look the same as the ones leading to the various portals, that way even though it was technically on the same Floor there was a clear distinction between the initial section of the Dungeon and the Floor itself where the Story would be. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the best option I had since unfortunately I hadn’t been able to make a portal between areas within the Floor; it could only take people to the entrance of a new one. But with this area constructed, which I dubbed the Dungeon Prologue Chamber, I could make it obvious it was separate from the rest of my Story. A Floor 0, of sorts. It was a part of the mechanics of how the story was told, just as the portals were, and not a part of the Story itself. That was good enough.
While I’d been setting up the portals I’d also learned of an unfortunate downside to my new ability to manipulate the System protection. While I could remove and replace it, the replacement I could make wasn’t as strong as the System one. It was only as strong as I was, and as I was still basically level 4 in all but name someone level 41 or higher could be strong enough to break the protection. Still it should be good enough for the first couple of Floors, considering the levels the Challengers would be at. And there would be nothing stopping me from redoing the protection once I got a higher level, if I wanted that extra protection. Though hopefully with the portals encouraging the stronger Challengers to go deeper directly I wouldn’t have to.
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Once the cave had been cut off from the rest of the Dungeon I began work making improvements and additions to the Floor itself. First and foremost was connecting the various water pools, and filling in the one in the first Chamber. That way the Mantas could move between rooms and better support my Bats. I also worked out a way of making magical traps that would activate and deactivate themselves using the System at random each day, making it so that you wouldn’t be able to just study the layout ahead of time to easily get past them. To compensate for that though I made the traps at the start of the Floor a bit less deadly; this was the first Floor after all, and I wanted them to learn the system and be challenged by it rather than simply caught off guard once and die.
I gave each of my thirteen traps a good going over, but once I didn’t find something I wanted to change I moved onto the final piece of the Floor. The thing that would tie it into the Story.
I hadn’t wanted to make the connection too obvious, so most of the clues indicated something dangerous and secret had happened, without making it clear exactly what that something was.
An old parchment on a skeleton which had a request for help addressed to the old wizard Krazad.
An old medallion with an insignia I’d gotten from Morrígan to symbolize her clan.
A letter to the queen of the Elves; the race Morrígan had said had worked together with the Vampires the most during their fight against the Aberrants.
The corpse of one lone [Corrupted Vampire Spawn] in Stalker’s Chamber, also with the medallion on it.
That last one had taken quite a bit of work, as I had to design yet another custom creature to be able to make the thing properly. But with the knowledge I had gained from making the fifth Floor Guardian it had only taken me half a day, so it had been worth it in the end.
I studied the various hints I’d laid out with a frown on my face. I was a bit concerned the connection to the larger narrative was too obvious, and that I’d…
I paused as I sensed a dramatic change near the entrance.
What was this? Was something finally happening?
I turned my full attention that way. Apart from The Pair there were five additional people there now… And I even knew three of them! It was Noracin the Cleric, Ceria the fighter, and Alerio the Mage! All from my first Challenge! I felt a thrill as the five new arrivals took their first steps down towards my new first Floor. Finally the long wait was over!
This time Noracin was positioned in the front, with the mage and the two unfamiliar ones - A Ranger named Aira and another Mage named Athilana - taking up the middle and the fighter protecting the rear. The Rogue which had done so much damage to my Stalker last time was nowhere to be seen. I wondered where she’d gone…? Eh, that didn’t matter right now.
The party of five quickly made their way down the stairs and into the first chamber. There they all stopped and looked around with shocked looks on their faces, especially the faces of the familiar three.
“I thought big changes like this were supposed to be impossible?” Noracin said. “This doesn’t even look like a cave anymore…”
“It does look quite different…” Alerio said thoughtfully. He shut his eyes for a moment and focused. “The Elemental Attunements feel the same, and the Mana flows in give or take the same direction. It is definitely the same Floor as last time.”
“Then what is all this?” Ceria asked, gesturing to my stylized marble walls.
“Decorations?” Alerio said uncertainly, though he was correct. “It’s still stone walls… Maybe the Dungeon just wanted it to look different for some reason?”
Noracin sighed and took out a piece of paper and a pen to write something down. I was tempted to peek with my senses, but resisted the urge. That didn’t feel proper for some reason.
“We’ll report the change back once we return. For now be sure to write down any changes you see. Aira and Athilana make notes of your observations as well.” Noracin said as he put the paper away.
“Got it.” The Ranger said. The Mage nodded as well.
Noracin turned and scanned the chamber and the various different tunnels leading out. Most of them didn’t have portals in them yet of course, and even the three that did wouldn’t be accessible to him due to his level, so they would just be short dead ends if he decided to explore them.
…Maybe I could find a way to hide these tunnels somehow, and keep them hidden until a party needed to use them. Something to try and figure out later for sure.
“Which way is it?” Noracin asked. Alerio pointed to the tunnel leading to the first Floor proper.
“This one.” He said. “I think it’s the same one as last time too, it’s just added a bunch of new ones.”
“We check the other ones out first then.” Noracin said, to which Alerio nodded.
.
.
Well now I felt a bit embarrassed. These portal chambers were nothing but empty rooms, yet the party went into each and every one of them and searched through extremely thoroughly.
They even took notes!
Seeing that I committed to making the chamber's purpose more obvious, as well as making them more interesting. They wouldn’t have any actual Challenge in them, but I should be able to stylize the walls a bit so they weren’t all the same.
Maybe I could make a different design depending on what Floor the portal led to… Yeah that sounded like a good idea. I’ll do that once these guys leave.
While I was thinking the party finished their examination of the portal chambers and had regrouped in front of the first Floor entrance. Noracin had once more taken the lead, but this time the fighter stood right behind him, and it was Alerio who guarded the rear. The unfamiliar duo remained in the middle.I felt the tension rising in the room as everyone including myself readied themselves for the coming Challenge. I sent a message to Stalker, letting her know to be ready if they reached her chamber.
“Alright, guys. Let’s start the inspection officially. Be ready for anything.” Noracin said.
…The what now?