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

by Jonathan Brooks

  I’m trying to design my own creatures; I know that it can be done, but the actual method of doing it escapes me. There’s something that I’m missing here, and I don’t know what it is.

  “Why are you even doing that? Don’t you already have access to more creatures and Variants than probably any other Core in history?” The Dungeon Fairy smiled at her, shaking his head at what he probably perceived as foolish.

  That’s not the point. I thought that, given the opportunity to be in charge of a Dungeon Core, I might be able to figure it out. It…doesn’t feel good to fail at something like this. Tacca had been so confident that she would figure it out right away that it was a real blow to her ego when nothing seemed to work. The former Dungeon Fairy had almost always excelled at these kinds of things, at least while studying at DAPS, and the fact that the trick with unlocking the entire Canine Family had worked gave her a boost of confidence. A confidence that was rapidly eroding as time went on without any results.

  Shale sighed, before leaning up against her Core. “I can understand what you’re trying to do, but maybe it isn’t possible. I’m sure we were taught the same thing about how the creatures and their Variants were all created in the past; while our instructors didn’t expressly say it was impossible, the fact that none of the Cores over the past 20 or 30 millennia have figured out how to do it is telling,” he said softly, before holding up his hands. “Now, I’m not saying that you can’t figure it out, because you’ve already proved to be quite clever at things like that. Even with that, you also have to realize that you’re not at the pinnacle of Dungeon Core development. To most Assistants, you’d still be considered a ‘baby’ Core – you haven’t even existed for a year yet! Give it some time, and perhaps the solution will come to you.”

  When did you get so wise? Tacca couldn’t help but laugh at her frustration, especially considering that what he said was basically true. She was still in the “baby” stages of her development and couldn’t be expected to know it all. For all she knew, her Core Improvement Level needed to be 20, or 30, or even 50 before any of her experiments worked. She didn’t know enough about the limitations, requirements, or procedures of how creatures were manipulated into being different, and it was likely that she wouldn’t know until she finally succeeded. That she would eventually succeed wasn’t in doubt, because she was determined to figure it out…but it might take a while.

  Her Dungeon Assistant stretched his hands above his head and smiled mischievously. “I’ve always been this wise! I just needed a long nap for it to come out.” The mischievousness in his smile faded when he asked, “So, what did I miss?”

  Having Shale back and awake was a balm to her bruised ego, and Tacca almost immediately felt better. She explained what had happened inside of her dungeon with the Raiders delving through, including the visit by the two Hill Dwarves and their new group (though she purposely neglected to tell him about her communication with them…again), and more details about what she had done to try to design new creatures.

  “Why didn’t you wake me up? I would’ve liked to have seen those two again, if only to see if I could witness this ‘Dungeon Sight’ in action like you can.”

  Sorry about that; I was going to, but it looked like you needed to rest even more. I promise I’ll wake you up the next time they delve through. Tacca was sure they would return, even if it were only once a month, because they seemed to enjoy fighting against her creatures this time; she wasn’t sure if it were due to it being easier and less dangerous or because they had a full group, though. Regardless, she knew they’d be back.

  The rest of the week was relatively uneventful, other than the fact that they started to see more of the “Merchant” Raiders delving through. Tacca explained what she had overheard from the two Bonded Hill Dwarves regarding this other faction of Raiders, and he was as ignorant about them as she was. “I agree with you, though. It sounds as though, if they were able to gain control of the land outside the dungeon, they might stifle the constant flow of Raiders visiting here. I’m not sure what we can do about that, however, or even if we should do anything about it.”

  That was absolutely true; Tacca had already stepped over the boundaries of what was normally allowed by communicating with them in the first (and second) place, and doing anything overt outside of her dungeon might have destructive consequences. As in, her Core might be destroyed if she attempted to alter events out of her normal sphere of influence.

  Other than the reappearance of the Merchant Raiders, which consumed most of her attention as she watched them more than the other Raiders (but not obsessively, like she had done before), the days and nights were relatively boring. Having Shale awake and keeping her company helped, but she was still getting bored.

  Shale? A thought had occurred to her nearly a week after he had woken up from his Hibernation. Tacca was about halfway through the month towards her next Countdown, and while she calculated that she was on track to achieve two-thirds of the required CIPs to improve her CI Level, she also figured she might as well see if she could add to that total somehow. What will happen if I change things in my dungeon?

  “You know the answer to that more than anyone, Tacca. Changes within a dungeon should only be performed during transitional periods, where a Core is creating more difficult sections for Raiders to delve through. Too much change is seen as instability and unreliability, which is a sign that a dungeon could start becoming even more unsafe than it already is. At least, that was what I was taught, and it makes the most sense when thinking about it from the Raider’s perspective.”

  Yes, I know that…but what about small changes?

  Now her Dungeon Assistant appeared confused. “What do you mean by ‘small changes’? Even changing a single room might be a bit too much.”

  I’m thinking smaller than that. Subtle changes, such as the placement of my creatures, traps, and even environmental objects. I’ve heard quite a few of the returning groups mention that they already consider my dungeon too easy, now that they know exactly where everything is located. Tacca had visually seen this as well, and it would take the “veteran” groups half as much time as the first or second time they had gone through – and not just because they were stronger.

  “What…exactly do you have in mind?” Shale asked, worried but clearly intrigued.

  His worries were founded in the rules and regulations put forth by the DPRC – and for the most part, they were smart and designed to keep the Core safe. What he had been saying had been entirely accurate; Dungeon Cores in the past had been destroyed because they decided to drastically change a room or two at random intervals. Unaware of what to expect, Raiders had died in places where they probably shouldn’t have, all because of those changes – which didn’t really go well with the other Raiders. It seemed a bit unfair to Cores that those that delved through their dungeon knew exactly what to expect (at least after certain sections were mapped out, like hers had been), and that way they knew what they could handle.

  On the other hand, she knew that Raiders liked variety, and changes that provided a challenge. After studying at DAPS and evaluating her own experiences, she was fairly certain her previous hypothesis of keeping things fresh and engaging was imperative to a long – and fulfilling – existence; not only for the Raiders, but for herself, as well. However, it was a fine line to straddle between being “boring, safe, and acceptable” and “exciting, new, and challenging”.

  Most Cores did this by adding to their dungeons at periodic intervals, making them longer and more difficult; this was the “tried and true” method that had worked for thousands of years. It was still something she was going to implement, once she could, but for now she wanted to try something else.

  Well, I was thinking that I would – at first – just switch around the placement of the creatures in my dungeon rooms. Nothing drastic, but some subtle shifts so that the Raiders wouldn’t know exactly where they were located based on past delves. That way, I wouldn’t be changing it dras
tically from what it was before, while allowing for some variety.

  Shale thought about that for a moment before he nodded. “I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t be ok. You wouldn’t be changing the creature composition of the room or making it more dangerous than it already was, so this should be fine.” He paused for a moment, tilting his head slightly to the side as if he was thinking of something. “But you said, ‘at first’; does this mean you want to do more?”

  Certainly. Once I start adjusting the creatures and the Raiders get used to that, I might start shifting the locations of the traps around. These changes would be on the less-deadly traps at first, to get them used to the idea that they are changing, before moving on to ones like my Soil-covered Pit Traps. After the traps, I was thinking of changing the placement of trees and other environmental objects around to keep it looking different every time a group comes through to delve.

  “I…see. I think that could work, as long as you gradually introduce these changes and—wait.” Her Dungeon Assistant looked at her suspiciously. “Are you trying to train these Raiders like you did with your Root Fox appearing at the entrance. And your exit staircase?”

  …Maybe.

  “Good,” he laughed. “I always thought those rules about changes were a bit limited; I understood the need for them, of course, but also thought they were restrictive to creativity. I think what you’re proposing will work, as long as you take it slow; training the Raiders to get used to the changes will likely be a slow process, as they are used to the way it has been for thousands of years.”

  Huh. And here I was thinking that you’d completely disagree with me.

  “Why? Because I’m a bit anal regarding the rules and regulations we were taught that all Dungeon Cores need to abide by?” Shale asked, his hands on his hips as he looked sternly at her Core. Tacca thought she saw a smile tugging at his lips, though.

  Well…yes, precisely.

  “You should know – better than any other Core – that those rules and regulations are in place to guide Cores into staying safe and surviving longer. I don’t want you to be destroyed, so I have to admit that I’m a bit worried by some of the things you do. Completely breaking the rules could end up with your death, which is something that I would prefer you try to avoid.” His statement made Tacca feel good; she couldn’t help but think that Shale really cared for her personal well-being, instead of just as a Core-Assistant relationship.

  Shale grinned slyly, before saying, “But that doesn’t mean you can’t bend the rules a little bit. You’re more than aware of what is acceptable or not, because you’ve had the same training I had; you’re in the unique position, though, to stretch those rules and see what is possible.”

  True. That was my thinking, at least, and I’m glad you agree with me.

  “I may agree, but I’ll still caution you to take it slow.”

  I will; don’t worry.

  So began a gradual changing of her dungeon rooms currently in use. In the beginning, it was a simple change of one of her Frond Coyotes in the second room, moving it from one side of the room to the other. Her first repeat group of Raiders came in and noticed the change as soon as they were attacked and had to abruptly adjust their strategy, but overall it didn’t really make much difference in the outcome. That wasn’t really the point, though; she wasn’t making the changes to create a more difficult delve for the Raiders, but to offer some variety. Despite remarking on the change, and after thinking that they may have been just partially mistaken about the Coyote’s prior placement, they didn’t seem annoyed by the change. Granted, they didn’t seem particularly happy about it – more indifferent.

  Which was exactly what she wanted. Small enough changes that were noticeable but not detrimental to their delve or enjoyment seemed to be the way to go; they would have to stay on their toes to adapt to those changes, but it was achieved without too much difficulty.

  With that first success, Tacca started to rearrange one creature after every group of Raiders went through her dungeon. Sometimes it was only a shift from one tree to another nearby (in the case of Root Foxes or Branch Jackals); other times, she moved her creatures from one part of the room to the other, sometimes grouping them up when they had been relatively solo before. The main thing she kept in mind through the whole process was to keep the changes small – so no removing or adding creatures to the room – but significant enough to give the Raiders pause.

  She might try totally revamping a room later, but for now this was all the change the Raiders could handle – at least according to the conversations she overheard by random groups delving through.

  “Why does this seem different from the last time we were here? This seems strange; I was told that these dungeons aren’t supposed to change like this.”

  “Did you hear about the way Therald almost got savaged by a wolf the other day? Apparently, he was prepared to defend a certain pathway leading to the exit, but the wolf came up from behind him! He said that the stain on his leathers was blood, but I think it was just him wetting himself in surprise!”

  “This doesn’t match the map at all; weren’t those fox monsters supposed to come from the right side?”

  “I don’t care about that too much; I think it’s good that it isn’t completely the same, because otherwise this would be too easy. And I’d probably have nothing to do since Hrawlen has this place memorized, so some surprises let me see some action.”

  “Ouch! That stupid monster is not supposed to be there!”

  And so on and so forth. No one mentioned that they were explicitly unhappy with the changes, only that they were frustrated that their maps weren’t entirely accurate anymore. Some liked it, some didn’t – but most seemed to take it in stride, as just another quirk to her dungeon that was unlike most they had either visited or heard of before.

  The weeks blew by quickly, or so it seemed to Tacca. With all of the changes the Dungeon Core was making to her dungeon, as well as watching reactions from the Raiders to those changes, Tacca barely noticed the days passing. It was a little tedious and monotonous sometimes, but she was so enjoying making subtle enough changes that the time practically flew past. Before she knew it, her month-long countdown was almost upon her.

  She wasn’t caught spacing out this time, however, and she had plenty of time to prepare for it. Luckily, there wasn’t much she had to do to boost up her CIPs she had earned, because a lot of that had been done over the last few weeks. Each time she moved one of her creatures, she had to absorb it; when she absorbed it, the rewards assigned to the creature – and its automatic replacement – was eliminated. What that essentially meant was that she was creating additional creatures, as well as assigning rewards, that counted towards her CIP total. It cost more than just straight restocking of each creature, of course. If she was only doing one at a time, the expense in DF was negligible. It also only counted once per creature, however, because the total was tallied at the end of her countdown for how many she had placed at that time.

  By the end of the month, she had replaced every single one of her 76 creatures at least once, which gave her 2 CIPs per creature – 1 for the creature itself, and 1 for the reward assigned to it. She also managed to keep her dungeon filled with Raiders on a fairly consistent basis, netting her at the minimum 23 CIPs per day for 23 hours of their presence. There weren’t nearly as many deaths as the previous month, mainly because there were quite a few repeat groups. All but 1 of the 9 deaths that did occur were of people brand-new to her dungeon, and apart from the 45 CIPs she received for their deaths, she also unlocked an Orc Fighter Variant for use in her dungeon. She now had access to all of the races, if not all of their Variants yet, but she was sure that it was only a matter of time before she got them all – and those were just the beginner Raider Classes. She could only imagine what she might unlock when she started seeing some of the more specialized Classes dying in her dungeon.

  She had also started to slowly replace all of the traps she had plac
ed near her Core hiding down below with the exact same ones, using some of her available DF that wasn’t being spent on altering what was above. She did it slowly instead of all at once, because she was still worried that any moment a new group would come inside looking to destroy her, so she wanted to keep her defenses as much in place as she could.

  She was glad that she did that, too, because even replacing only half of them Tacca had managed to accumulate an additional 252 CIPs. She hadn’t been consciously striving to gain as many CIPs as possible this time, though she wasn’t going to let a few Points go when she had a chance to net them; instead, most of what she gained (other than replacing the defensive traps down below) was more a natural accumulation rather than trying to “cheat” the system, which was what she had been doing before.

  In total, Tacca managed to acquire 1,139 new CIPs during the month. The bulk of the Points – 690 to be exact – came from Raider presence in her dungeon; 45 came from Raider deaths; 152 came from moving creatures and rewards around in her; and lastly, 252 came from those traps she replaced down below. When added to the 67 CIPs she had banked from the month before…she ended up with 1,206 – just enough for her to increase her Core Improvement Level!

  Congratulations, Tacca GloomLily!

  You have reached Core Improvement Level: 9

  Current CIP Countdown: 6/1400 in 30 days

  Core Improvement Points earned: 1200 (1200)

  Special Characteristic Points earned: 25 (650)

  Shale! You know what this means, don’t you?

  Her Dungeon Assistant was excited as Tacca was. “Absolutely! Do it!”

  Without hesitation, Tacca converted 200 of her 1,200 CIPs into Special Characteristic Points, giving her a total of 700 from what she had converted from the last CI increase. Using those SCPs, she went into her Special Characteristic Menu and selected the Core Improvement Points are reduced when earned -95% option and mentally indicated that she wanted to remove it. With it originally granting her 600 SCPs to use elsewhere, she “paid” that back, along with the 100-Point fee to get rid of it. After confirming what she had selected, the negative Characteristic appeared to *pop* like a burst soap bubble and disappear.