The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Tacca had noticed that a few of the groups that had confidence in their capabilities – which indicated to the Dungeon Core that they had an additional Raider Level or two already – tended to have no problem finishing her Boss room off, either with or without that extra help that could be attributed to “luck”. On the other side of that, however, there wasn’t anything obvious to her that indicated that those who had major trouble completing her dungeon – or who lost one of their group members in the final fight – were suffering from “bad luck”. If anything, after losing one of their people, they were able to rally remarkably well to escape through the exit staircase tunnel before they could all become victims of her dungeon.

  In all of those instances, other than the first delve, the Raider who had fallen had been savagely mauled by her creatures, but not completely killed. By the time the rest of the group escaped, leaving their “dead” companion behind – most times with tears and yelling about “how could you leave him/her?” inside of the exit passageway as they left – Tacca was already there to form a Bond with the Raider before they died. All but 2 of the additional 18 deaths (after the original 4) survived long enough for her to complete the Bond, which gave her a few additional Abilities for her creatures that she hadn’t had access to before.

  Bond Results:

  Bonded Targets: 16

  Abilities(s) Obtained: Soothe, Minor Regeneration, Accurate Shot, Muffled Step

  Abilities(s) Granted: Dungeon Sight, Power Boost +50%

  Creature Type Unlocked: Elf, Gnome

  Variants Unlocked

  Hill Dwarf

  Fighter

  Caster

  Human:

  Fighter

  Scout

  Elf:

  Caster

  Healer

  Gnome:

  Scout

  The good thing about it all was that she had managed to unlock all four new creature types for use in her dungeon, including both Male and Female types. There were quite a few repeats in Class type, however, so she only managed to acquire a few Variants for Humans and Elves, and only one – a Scout – for the Gnomes, though at least one had been Male and the other Female. Tacca didn’t add to her repertoire for Hill Dwarves, either, but she was happy enough with what she had gained. Sadly, she hadn’t had any Orcs die within her dungeon, though there had been quite a few that had delved through. She also still wasn’t exactly sure when or if she would actually use the different races as creatures; nevertheless, the extra Abilities she gained from the new Classes that she Bonded with would eventually come in handy.

  Especially those Abilities that didn’t require any type of weapon or object to utilize.

  Gnome Scout

  Cost (Level 1): 100 DF

  Control Requirement (Level 1): 6

  Creation Time (Level 1): 40 Minutes

  Equipment: Flimsy Pine Bow (Ranged Attack +3), Ragged Leather Armor – Full Set (Physical Defense +4)

  Stamina: 60

  Stamina Regeneration: 5 per Minute

  Physical Attack: 1

  Ranged Attack: 3

  Physical Defense: 5

  Ranged Defense: 3

  Elemental Resistance: +10% Air

  Specials: Bonus Stamina for use of Abilities

  Ability Options: [Ranged Weapon Required] Accurate Shot – 10 Stamina (+30 DF), Muffled Step – 20 Stamina (+40 DF)

  Elf Healer

  Cost (Level 1): 100 DF

  Control Requirement (Level 1): 6

  Creation Time (Level 1): 40 Minutes

  Equipment: Basic Cotton Robe (Physical Defense +0)

  Stamina: 60

  Stamina Regeneration: 5 per Minute

  Physical Attack: 1

  Ranged Attack: 0

  Physical Defense: 1

  Ranged Defense: 1

  Elemental Resistance: +10% Nature

  Specials: Bonus Stamina for use of Abilities

  Ability Options: Soothe – 25 Stamina (+50 DF), Minor Regeneration – 10 Stamina (+25 DF)

  She didn’t have a handy Raider available to tell her exactly what the Abilities did like the Hill Dwarves had before, but she knew enough about what they could do to figure them out. Soothe was a basic healing spell that could heal minor wounds when the Healer made physical contact with another person, or in this case – another creature. It wasn’t nearly as effective as her Healing Paralysis Enchantment, and it would only fix superficial wounds to the skin – so, broken bones and internal injuries were out of the question. Minor Regeneration was a very similar spell to Soothe, especially when comparing the quality with which it healed, but it cost less Stamina because it did the same thing over a lengthier time. Whereas Soothe healed within 10 seconds, Minor Regeneration worked over 10 minutes.

  Those might come in handy after a group of Raiders came through and ended up having to retreat before they finished off one of her rooms, leaving wounded creatures behind; during the heat of combat, however, she couldn’t see it working so well because of the time needed to break off and heal themselves. For her Canines, at least, both Abilities were of relatively limited use – but not so much for the Scout-based Ability, Muffled Step.

  If she remembered correctly, using Muffled Step would create a small muffling field around their feet; that field would prevent any noise caused by their steps from escaping to be heard by others. Many of the times her creatures were detected before they struck, even after being behind cover, what gave them away was the soft patting of their feet against either the dirt or a scratch against a root or tree branch. With this Ability, they could silently attack before the Raiders even knew they were there in most cases, which could end up being a huge advantage. While her smaller creatures like her Foxes and Jackals were still a bit less-than-dangerous to most of the delvers, being able to attack without any warning could give them the extra oomph they needed to make a significant impact in a fight.

  It was something she wanted to test out immediately, though she had to be careful not to mess with too much at first; she had a fairly good system set up managing her Dungeon Force so that she could keep the restocking and resetting of her dungeon fairly consistent. Adding Muffled Step to just one of her creatures would cost an extra 40 DF, which didn’t sound like a lot, but over a while it would probably add up.

  “I think it’ll be worth it, though. For one, you need to see if your creatures can actually use the Abilities like you think they should be able to; your experiment with one under your direction was a complete failure. Whether or not they require an enemy around is something that you need to find out.”

  Shale was right, of course. Tacca had taken the time to experiment with a simple Root Fox with the Muffled Step Ability added to it – which had been remarkably easy to arrange, just by assigning the Ability during creation and adding the additional 40 DF requirement – but the results had been less than satisfactory. Despite her orders, the Fox didn’t seem to be able to use any of the Ability at all. She knew that it had enough Stamina, because a look at all of her creatures showed that they did indeed have some measure of the resource now, but it still didn’t do anything to indicate that it had used the Ability.

  You’re probably right. If they end up not being able to use any of these Abilities, then I’m not sure I should keep risking myself to acquire these temporary Bonds.

  Therefore, she splurged, when she had a little extra DF after a few short delves by a couple of very inexperienced Raider Groups – no casualties, remarkably – and switched up the two Root Foxes by the entrance, giving them both the new Ability she had acquired. If they ended up not utilizing the new Ability, they would be easy enough to return to normal; if they did utilize them, then the 80 DF she would spend on them every time was something she thought she could adjust to during her restocking process if she needed to.

  It wasn’t long before the next group of Raiders entered her dungeon, and Tacca held her figurative breath as she waited for her creatures to emerge from the roots of the flanking trees. Whe
n the time came…she watched the two completely silent Root Foxes emerge from hiding and leap on the unsuspecting Gnome at the back of the group. The delving group either hadn’t actually looked at their map of her dungeon or didn’t have one, because they were thoroughly taken by surprise.

  “AAAAAAHHH!! Get them off!” the young-looking Gnome screamed as she was knocked over on her side from the sudden attack. Tacca’s creatures managed to get a few scratches and a nasty bite on the Gnome’s exposed neck before they were quickly dispatched by the two Human Fighter-Classes that were part of the group. Overall, it wasn’t nearly enough to deter the Raiders from going on any further, and the wounds were easily healed – by the Gnome herself, no less – but for Tacca, it was a glorious proof-of-concept. She could indeed assign particular Abilities to her creatures, provided they had the appropriate equipment (or lack of equipment, as it were).

  Giving the Ability to more than just those two creatures, however, was out of the realm of possibility at the moment. Unless she wanted to slow down the introduction of new groups to her dungeon while she regenerated enough DF to afford the cost – which she absolutely didn’t want to mess with right now, as it was going very well – then it wasn’t going to happen. However, the future was still ripe with possibilities, and if things kept going the way things were…well, then that future wouldn’t be all that far away.

  Of course, a few days after she thought that, something just had to happen that messed up all her carefully laid plans.

  Chapter 8

  Who are these people? Tacca asked Shale incredulously. Dressed as they were, with custom-crafted suits of plate armor, detailed leatherwork, and gold-embroidered (and likely enchanted) silk robes, they seemed extremely out of place. They didn’t appear to be entirely comfortable in their gear, as if it were the first time they had worn something like that; that was entirely possible, because other than a fine layer of dust that likely came from their trek up the mountain, each piece looked like it hadn’t seen a single fight before. Even their weapons – two fine steel swords in the two Fighters’ hands, a polished and intricately carved bow from the Scout, an equally detailed dark wood staff held by the Caster, and an unwieldy-appearing mace in what Tacca assumed was the Healer’s weak grip – looked expensive enough that it probably didn’t belong on anyone delving through her dungeon that really needed to.

  “I have no idea…though they’re all dressed similarly to a young Human I remember seeing from one of the delves when I was with my Mentor,” Shale responded, his tone and hesitation indicating that he was trying to remember more about the situation. “It was only the one at the time, not all five like this, and it was obvious that the Human was being escorted through the dungeon by four fairly powerful Raiders. The reason it stuck in my mind was because they completed the entire dungeon in record time, without much effort – or so it seemed to me – and the Human dressed in a silk robe did almost nothing. In every room, he would cast a very minor spell at the creatures defending the area, which didn’t actually do any damage, and then he would step back and let the others kill everything.”

  Huh, that does sound strange—

  One of the Fighters started to talk as soon as he was inside with the others. “I can’t believe it only took a single gold coin to get that other group to exchange their place with us! Fools, they are – we would’ve paid 20 times as much! Not that they’d have much chance to use it—” He was wearing a helmet that obscured most of his face, so she couldn’t see it – but the sneer that was likely on his face was obvious in his voice. Tacca immediately disliked him for some reason.

  “Whatever; stop gloating. Let’s get this over with so we can get back to some semblance of civilization,” an extremely tall Elf Caster in her silk robe said from behind him, cutting him off, looking angry and bored at the same time. “The Minister said that we have to be done quickly so that we can be on the road before they figure out—”

  “Shhhh! Don’t you remember them saying that these places can hear what you say?” the diminutive Gnome wielding a mace far too large for her whispered. Fortunately for Tacca, it didn’t matter how softly they spoke, she could clearly hear whatever they said – and what they were saying immediately raised an alarm in her Core. She wasn’t sure if it were natural “Dungeon Core” instincts, or the fact that she had lived through dozens of her Bonded Cores being destroyed, but something told her that these people were up to no good.

  “Pshaw! You don’t really believe that do you? These dungeons are just mindless killers that like to tempt the feeble-minded with baubles to lure them in further.” Tacca now didn’t like the Elf so much, either.

  “That’s enough, you two,” the Fighter who’d spoken first interrupted their argument. “Let’s mo—AAAHHH!”

  Tacca’s creatures near the entrance chose that moment to attack, and their complete silence as they moved allowed them to get the jump on the group. One of the Root Foxes leaped onto the back of the armor of the Fighter who’d been speaking, while the other latched onto the arm of the Elf, which was largely unprotected. The caster screamed out in pain even as she used her Magistrike spell to bombard the creature, blasting it off and causing it to almost disintegrate from the sheer power of the Ability. That staff must be enchanted with a Spell Amplifier or two. Or perhaps three.

  The armored Fighter, on the other hand, didn’t suffer any injury other than to his pride, and he struggled to reach and knock off the Fox who had managed to wedge its legs into a few gaps in the Raider’s back armor, where it was ineffectually trying to bite through chainmail and metal plates. It was quite comical to watch as he screamed out shrilly, jumped up and down, and tried to shake it off – all to no avail. Other than the Elf, who was drinking a Healing Potion of some kind she pulled from a small bottomless bag at her side, his groupmates were all laughing at him. If Tacca hadn’t been worried about them in general, she probably would’ve laughed as well. Eventually, the other Fighter swung his sword and bisected the brown-colored creature, causing it to fall off and disappear into a copper coin. None of them even moved to pick it up, nor the other coin left from the one obliterated by the spell of the Caster.

  That…well, that wasn’t a good sign.

  “I’m going to kill everything in this dungeon!” the now-embarrassed Raider yelled out after the Fox was dead.

  That wasn’t a good sign, either.

  The Fighter surged forward, chopping into the plants she had lined up along the edges of the room with ease, his anger and superior equipment making it quite easy for him to do so. By the time the others stopped laughing and caught up to him, and the wounds on the injured Elf healed, he was already chopping through the other Root Foxes near the exit of the room. This time, none of them were able to sneak up on him, as he seemed hyper-focused on destroying everything in his path that made even the slightest movement.

  Tacca couldn’t help but notice that there were some similarities between the sheer abandon of the incensed Raider – and his groupmates, to a lesser extent – and that first group of intoxicated Humans who delved through her dungeon so disastrously, but the major difference here was the gear wielded by this current group. It was so superior in comparison that even when one of the Frond Coyotes in the second room was able to sneak up on the Fighter – who garnered the attention of the entire room full of creatures – it couldn’t hurt him in the least. He was protected not only by the plate and chainmail covering most of his body, but she was also sure there was some sort of enchantment on it that prevented most minor damage to the armor itself. None of the bites or scratches that managed to land left any sort of impression on the state of the armor, at least.

  Not only that, but when he triggered the Rage-inducing Enchantment inside the room, it didn’t seem to do anything to affect him. Unlike the intoxicated group, it wasn’t because he was already “raging”; instead, a quick flash of a yellow light on his helmet was all that Tacca could see as a result – which indicated another enchantment had protected him from
being affected. Must be some sort of Mental Resistance enhancer.

  “Uh…Tacca? This doesn’t look good.” Shale was watching everything unfold from a distance inside the room, so he could see exactly what the Dungeon Core was seeing.

  I think you’re right. I don’t know why, but I have the distinct feeling these people are here to destroy my Core. They seem to have gear perfectly suited to delve through without any issues, despite their obvious inexperience.

  “Unfortunately, you could be right. The problem, however, is that I can’t see why they want to destroy you; you haven’t done anything, as far as I can see, that could be considered bad enough to warrant your destruction.”

  That’s true, but neither did most of the Cores I had bonded with before this happened. Sure, there were some that had done wrong and probably needed to be removed – as much as it pains me to say that – but the others hadn’t actually done anything against the rules. My Mentor, for example, was one that shouldn’t have been destroyed.

  Regardless of the reason why they appeared to want her Core destroyed, the fact of the matter was that she was in danger. Or she would be if she didn’t still have access to her Fairy Abilities.

  Using her Dungeon Core Teleport Ability, Tacca moved her Core down to the deepest room she had created, which was quite a bit of a journey past her normal Core Room. There was nothing inside, of course, because she hadn’t had the time nor Dungeon Force to populate it with anything. In fact, all of her deeper rooms were essentially empty, just waiting until she could increase her Core Improvement Level and create some more difficult sections for the Raiders to delve through.