Dungeon Crawl

by Drew Jager

  With 0 Mana to his name, Will now had an enlarged room located at the end of his L shaped tunnel. The room was double the normal size. With a 24ft radius, it was plenty large enough for what he had in mind. Before he built anything though, he had a question for Bel. "Hey Sweetheart, did we get anything new from absorbing all of that?"

  She took on a glassy eyed expression and then broke out into a large smile. That looks like a yes.

  "You got lucky this time Will, you found some Copper ore and a few small gems. You also found some dried up seeds for a few different plants, it looks like you got a few flower seeds and a couple common bushes." She relaxed on her back while on top of his Crawl, it seemed to be a favorite spot of hers.

  Will was ecstatic at the haul. His Dungeon desperately needed more plants if he was going to call himself a Nature Dungeon. Before he opened up to the world and got access to the materials of Adventurers, he only had whatever he found while digging out his Dungeon.

  Mentally cracking his non-existant knuckles, Will turned his focus to his new enlarged room and went to work. He already knew he wanted this room to be the site for an ambush from his Monsters. He just needed to provide the right cover to protect them.

  Looking at his Resources, which was now 143, thanks to digging out two tunnels and two rooms, he was no longer hurting for supplies. The first thing he did was turn the floor of his new room into a mixture of dirt and sand. His idea was that if he mixed the two, the ground would be able to muffle the sounds of his Monsters approach. Afterwards, he went a little overboard with planting seeds for flowers and bushes. In the end, he may regret planting what was essentially a field of flowers, but for now he thought it would look nice. The bushes he got from absorbing the room earlier turned out to be massive walls of leaves easily over 4ft in height. Any Sentient trying to get through would have a hell of a time if they got stuck in the middle of one of those bushes.

  He placed a few bunches of the leaves sparingly throughout the room, mostly on the outskirts near the walls and a few bundles around the center. For the flowers, he was amazed to watch them grow and become what one of his memories referred to as 'Lilac'. Another flower he had in abundance was a 'Poppy' that was a beautiful white color with purple on the inner petals. Both of them complimented the towering green bushes and gave his Dungeon some much needed aesthetic.

  Next step was to wait until sunrise.

  When the blessed Mana finally returned to him he spent all 12 of it and carved out individual warrens for his future Monsters. He placed three miniature caves along the walls of the room, as well as digging a larger one out directly in the center of the room. All in all he had four new nests for Monsters to occupy in the room. With the three caves on the walls he carved out snake sized tunnels leading from each cave to other areas of his Dungeon. He made it so when he had the Monsters available, they could traverse between his new room, the L shaped tunnel, and the Troop's room.

  Along with a space for Monsters, he felt he should splurge on what would be his largest room. So Will paid the hefty resource cost to plant a Silverbark sapling in the center of the room. Will was fascinated to watch it grow right before his eyes, if he had eyes anyways. It was growing a few inches every minute and didn't show any sign of stopping, so he took his eyes off of it for now to add finishing touches to the room.

  He added moss along most of the wall as well as the vines he had in the old Coliseum Room. Although now that it was occupied by the Monkeys he decided it should just be called the Troop's room now. Troop's room it is.

  With moss and vines added, the last piece of the puzzle was to hide a series of the low cost Mana-Lights all throughout the room. He hid some in the bushes; a few under moss on the ceiling, as well as putting one directly under the roots of the fledgling Silverbark Tree.

  Will couldn't be prouder of his work, and Bel whistled appreciatively when he told her take a look.

  "So what about Monsters now Sweety? You've got 50 points to spare, which isn't very much if you plan on adding one or two more rooms as well as a Boss. Don't forget you need 25 MP just to buy the boss." He destinctly remembered her never mentioning this, but he let it slide.

  "Yeah that's what I was worried about." He sighed. "I'm going to have to cut the Troop's numbers down to four. Otherwise there is just no way I can fill the rest of the Dungeon out proportionately."

  Bel frowned at this, but she knew he was right so she didn't say anything.

  Will focused on the Troop who were currently swinging from the vines and hooting at each other to see who could swing the highest. He picked out one of the males and focused on turning the creature back into MP to be re-used elsewhere in the Dungeon.

  The rest of the Troop looked confused for a brief moment, then let out a mournful howl for their missing friend. Will sent them soothing messages and tried to convey that it was an unfortunate necessity. Since the Monkeys couldn't talk the best they could do was a small screech in response. Bel rushed out of the Crawl Room, nearly in tears, to go comfort them while Will went back to work.

  Focusing back in on the room, he noticed the Silverbark tree was reaching full height now. It was a gorgeous tree with dark-brown wood, and the bark appearing smooth and polished with silver whirls running throughout it. The leaves were a mix of deep yellows and greens. Looking at the beauty of the tree helped to soothe his heart at having to remove a member of the Troop.

  Moving on to the large warren he had dug out near the center of room, which was now safely nestled under the roots of the Silverbark, he focused on adding the newest additions to his Dungeon. Two large Spinebacks appeared inside the safety of the hole, and after acquainting themselves with each other, poked their heads out of the entrance to look at their new surroundings. From what Will could tell both of them were females and looked as mean as he expected something named Spineback to be.

  With nearly half-foot long spines protruding off their backs and heads these rodents looked ready to poke out the nearest Adventurer's eye without a second glance. The spines were a beautiful dark mahogany color, while the tips were hued the same silver as the tree their warren rested under. They had small pinched faces with large noses, but the most striking feature was their large buck teeth. The teeth were easily 2" long and looked able to pierce any armor shy of metal. The Monster had claws, but it seemed ineffectual when compared to the Monkeys.

  Will was happy with his newest additions, and so turned to the three caves he had dug out along the outside of the room. In each cave he placed one Lesser Dungeon Serpent. The snakes were the color of dried leaves and had small forest-green splotches running over their scales. The Beasts all moved near silently across the ground as they slinked from one area of the Dungeon to another. Will could see how easily it would be for a snake to wrap onto an Adventurers leg and never let go. He was looking forward to seeing how the toxin worked against the F rank Adventurers when they came to his Dungeon.

  The final Monster additions for the room were two Avian Howlers. His command to the birds was to patrol the entirety of the Dungeon and ambush any Adventurers they could. Both birds squawked at him as an affirmation and flew off. They were a gorgeous yellow, and with red tipped wings and a cute light green beak Will knew they would fit in well with the rest of his Monsters. He didn't see the beak or talons doing much damage, but he knew the birds greatest weapon was its voice. One of the Spinebacks tried to chase a Howler as it descended toward the Silverbark Tree, and Will watched in fascination as what sounded like an echo of a scream came from out of its mouth. The Spineback immediately curled into a ball and her sister hissed as the bird flew away.

  Bel was clapping like a proud mother at how the bird defended itself, and Will was trying to stifle a laugh at the poor Spineback.

  Before he moved on, and before he forgot, he added some much needed detail to the L shaped tunnel connecting his new Flower room and the Troop's room. He had previously carved openings for his Dungeon Serpents to sneak in from the side and ambush unsuspecting Ad
venturers, but he knew he would need more if he wanted to give his snakes a good chance.

  It was time for a few traps. He decided to try out a theory he had, and bought four Pitfall traps and placed them all next to each other at the curve in the tunnel. What he ended up with was a massive pit 10ft deep and 8ft across. He didn't see any Two-legs having a chance of crossing that as it was, so he decided to throw them a bone and added a large sturdy vine over the gap. Then in what he could only describe as divine intervention, he had the idea to add a bunch of smaller and more fragile vines over the pit. If the Adventurers were careless they would fall directly into the abyss. Will was a kind Dungeon for adding the vine, but he wasn't kind enough to leave it at just a harmless fall. At the bottom of the pit he covered it end to end with Spike traps.

  When Bel saw his progress she laughed and gave him one of the biggest smiles he had ever seen from the Herald. Now with an ego to match his pride, he added the finishing touches to the L shaped tunnel.

  Moss and Mana-Lights were standard fare by now, but he also added a few bushes on the walls. The shrubs were mainly there to hide the openings of the cave entrances the Dungeon Serpents would use to ambush, and also to provide more of a nature vibe. He was a Nature Dungeon after all.

  * * *

  Name - Willem Chosen Monster - Beasts Mana - 12/20

  Species - Dungeon Crawl (Lv.2) Chosen Location - Ilvan Forest Mana Regen - 12/d

  Number of Floors - 1 Number of Monsters - 11 Resources - 52

  Taking his remaining Mana he spent 5 of it towards a new tunnel on the opposite side of the Flower room. It was time he started heading towards the surface and Bel said that was the correct direction towards open air. The tunnel room looked standard and plain, but before he could begin his decorating he purchased another tunnel in the same spot. The result was a tunnel 8ft wide and 20ft long. Will had great plans for this new area.

  He asked Bel if he got anything interesting from absorbing the two tunnels worth of space, but she just stamped her little feet on top of his core and said he hadn't. Damn. Can't win them all I guess.

  Will decided this ought to be his main trap tunnel, and he wanted to bring Bel into the fold for this one.

  "Sweetheart, do you have any suggestions for what we should do for the enlarged tunnel?" After he asked, she perked up and sat ramrod straight on top of his Crawl.

  "I want you to put a bunch of the Fake Floor traps along the ground. Don't put anything under them though. After that start putting, at random intervals, Falling Boulder traps." Will was shocked. Partly because he hadn't thought of it, but also because she was so ready to help.

  "I think I am going to do just that." He said. She blushed and swatted the top of his Crawl.

  "My hope is they will be so busy looking out for the fake floor they won't see boulders coming down on them until it's too late. The Falling Boulder trap is triggered by a pressure plate, so why not put a few of the pressure plates under the fake floor? That way if somebody hits one trap, they may hit both."

  "If I could kiss you right now I would! I love it Bel." She shone a radiant shade of gold before patting her cheeks and smiling at him.

  Will went to his enlarged tunnel and placed a total of 10 Fake Floor traps dispersed over the 20ft long tunnel. Under 2 of the traps he put pressure plates for a Falling Boulder trap. He also placed another 3 in random spots of the room. Adventurers would have to run a veritable gauntlet to get to his Flower Room. Or if they took their time, they may be in the room for hours searching for each trap.

  A few Mana-lights and the obligatory moss later, the room was looking gorgeous. His Resource count had begun to lower considerably with all of his renovations though, as he now had 23 Resources to his name. He didn't add any tunnels for his Dungeon Serpents to sneak in through because he was worried they would set off one of the many traps, so instead he added bushes and vines growing down from the ceiling. The vines weren't long enough for the Adventurers to reach and utilize, but they were long enough to conceal a Howler if it wanted to fly in the room for a little ambushing.

  Will was vibrating at the thought of a Howler catching a group of Adventurers unaware as they traversed the trapped tunnel.

  * * *

  2 Days Later

  "Finally! I don't think I could stand another day of doing nothing." Will agreed with Belles statement, the last couple days waiting for his Mana to reach 20 out of 20 was mind numbingly boring. It had to be done though, since he wanted to build his final regular room and tunnel in one go.

  Building directly off the other end of his Trapped tunnel, WIl purchased a new room. All that was left after that room would be to build a tunnel long enough that it reached the surface. He held off on that for now since he still had more work to do though.

  Once the room was finished being cleared out and absorbed by his Mana, he set to work on another suggestion Bel had given him.

  Earlier she had told him, "If you want to encourage new Adventurers to continue coming into your Dungeon, as well as helping advance the town that grows around our Dungeon, you should make a room specifically for collecting Ore."

  At first Will had no desire to build a room and waste his precious resources in the pursuit of helping the Two-legs, but Bel convinced him that by doing this he would also gain the fruits of their labor. When they harvested the metal he gave them, they would refine it and turn it into stronger items. When the Adventurers died with the new items on their persons then he would have access to new loot as well as bonus resources.

  That was all the incentive Will needed to add a few pockets of the Copper Ore around the room. He was hesitant to add Silver since it was considered an Uncommon tier ore, so he would save that for a future floor.

  He was a spiteful Crawl though, so he put an unnecesary amount of insects around the room, if only to 'bug' the Adventurers. He giggled to himself at what was, at best, an average pun.

  Along with the Copper Ore he also put a few of the small gems he had found earlier mixed in with the Ore. They were usually cracked and fractured, but Bel said they could be turned into Common grade items by the craftsmen that will come to build the town.

  With 29 MP remaining, Will remembered what Bel had told him earlier.

  "Make sure you save enough points to buy yourself a Boss, they cost 25 MP, because if I have to watch another Monkey dissapear my heart is going to break." He didn't want to lessen the Troops numbers any more than he already had, so he took what she said to heart.

  Just because he could, he manually dug out a small elevated cave in the Copper Ore room, and placed a Lesser Dungeon Serpent inside for 4 MP. Now he had a clean 25 left to work with for his Boss Monster. The serpent immediately hid inside its new home, Will didn't like that it seemed lonely so he placed a few Lilacs and Poppies inside of its cave. The snake seemed to appreciate the gesture and flicked its tongue out towards the flowers.

  Bel turned towards his Crawl, "Okay! It's time we built you a Boss Room." Will couldn't contain himself, but then he remembered a pretty important fact.

  "That sounds great Bel, but I need 25 Mana to make it, and I can only have up to 20 right now." He didn't know how he was going to make it without leveling up first. She just winked at him.

  "I know, first thing you need to do is move your Crawl Room back to make room for it, so go ahead and pick Relocation and move us back a good distance." Will figured she knew what she was talking about, hopefully, and did as she said.

  He watched as his remaining 10 Mana was yanked away from him and his Crawl detached from the Tunnel and drifted back a good 50ft. He still had to be connected to his Dungeon somehow so there was a small tunnel between his new Crawl room location and the Alcove tunnel.

  "...now what Bel?"

  "Now we wait."

  God damnit. I was hoping to dig straight out, but it looks like more waiting is in my future.

  "Once you get up to 20 Mana again, we are going to build a tunnel between your Crawl room and where you are going to pu
t your new Boss room. That way when you make the Boss room it will already have a tunnel that connects you to the rest of the Dungeon." He was following her so far, but that still didn't explain how he would afford the boss room.

  "Afterwards, we are going to have you tunnel your way straight into the surface. Once you do you should hit level 3 and your Mana will get maxed out to 30 out of 30." Will was very impressed, his Herald was a lot smarter than he gave her credit for at times.

  Bel glared at him, though how she was somehow able to read his thoughts he had no idea. She cleared her throat, "Once you do level you will need to immediately build your Boss room, and then purchase your Boss Monster."

  "After you open up an entrance, all of the Mana you have purified in here will be released in a large wave. This wave of condensed Mana is going to roll across the entire region and alert any nearby Two-legs to your location. If we had made an entrance right when we got here we might not have had to worry about this, but the Mana you've been circulating has only grown denser over the days we wait inside here."