Dungeon World 3: A Dungeon Core Experience

by Jonathan Brooks

  “If you’re done with whatever mating ritual you’re doing, I’d like to know what you did to Eisa’s corpse, Fredwynklemossering.”

  My corpse? Now this, Eisa wanted to hear. She blushed at the inference to a “mating ritual”, but she looked at Fred with a questioning expression on her face – copied almost exactly, she was sure, by the Dire Wolf Pup sitting across from them.

  Fred looked a little sheepish as he started to explain. “Well…it’s a little hard to explain, actually. First, Eisa, let me tell you about what happened…”

  Eisa listened as Fred talked about her coming back to Gatecross with an Earth Dungeon Core – of all things – and how he wasn’t expecting it to be anything other than a Nature Core. Her memories of anything past leaving Gatecross to look for Plant (or as Fred called them, Nature) Cores for him to absorb were quite fuzzy; they were so disjointed and irretrievable that it was almost like they hadn’t been fully committed to memory like everything else she could remember before that.

  “—and then you yelled out, ‘I WILL NOT let the man I love die again!’ and reached for me, but the Earth Core exploded using its Mana Combustion skill. A shard from the Core shot straight into your heart, killing you instantly – before burning the upper half of your body. I, myself, was ‘killed’ as well, but I was able to reform myself over time and with a generous helping of my stored Mana.”

  Horror shot through Eisa as she heard his recounting of the tale and of how she practically professed her love. She doubted he was lying, but she couldn’t remember anything at all regarding her words or the explosion. Her embarrassment and mortification were so great that it was only after a few moments that the rest of his words sunk in and paired with something that he had said earlier. Wait a minute…I died? How am I alive, then?

  Her questions were only marginally answered as Fred continued. “When my Core managed to put me back together and I woke up, I found your bottom half buried underneath a collapsed wall, and your upper half had been burned beyond almost all recognition. When I managed to repair the damage done to my internal Cores, I was able to extract you and escape the closed-off room underground – only to find Deecy was here waiting for me.

  “As I laid your body down, I started some of my Fire Mana here to keep Deecy and I warm, and while watching Deecy resting lethargically as I tried to come up with some sort of direction to take, I had an idea. You see, Deecy didn’t just find me and we became friends; I, in fact, Created her – albeit accidentally. By consuming the shards that were my only remaining representatives of my parents, I inadvertently created a Dire Wolf that was a manifestation of their memories and elemental attributes.

  “With less experience on my side at that time, Deecy’s Creation almost killed me; I didn’t have a lot of Unconverted Mana at that time and it practically drained me of almost all of it, which was the only thing keeping me alive at that point in the cold snow without clothing. Fortunately, I was found and brought back to health quickly – but that’s not the important part,” Fred said as he started to get off-track.

  “The notable thing that I took away from Deecy’s Creation was the fact that she consumed the two large shards of my parents as a…catalyst, of sorts. When I saw the shard of the Earth Core that was destroyed imbedded in your chest, I thought I could use the same skill that I used to Create Deecy on you, but I wasn’t sure if it would work.

  “But I really wanted it to. As I sat there, looking at your deceased body, I realized how much I missed you and I felt… incomplete… when you weren’t around. You had been an important part of my new life here in the human world, and without you I felt lost. Not only did I miss your smile, your no-nonsense attitude toward the world, your courage, and your resolve, but I missed the way you made me feel around you – like I could be myself and you would accept me no matter what. I don’t know if that is what you would define as love, but it was something that I wanted to find out.

  “So, I activated my Sentient Mana-formed Object Creation skill on your body, as I focused on what you looked like and all of my memories of you. Using the Core shard in your body as a focus, I pumped a lot of my Unconverted Mana into the process – but it wasn’t nearly enough; I’m not sure if it was because the sliver of the Core was much smaller than the ones I had of my parents, but it took nearly three times as much Mana for some type of result. After a blindingly bright flash of light that seemed to emanate from your body, you appeared in place of your desiccated corpse, as it appeared that it was consumed in the process.”

  Eisa had no idea what to say. Much of what he described about Mana-formed Object skills and Unconverted Mana went over her head, but she took two things away from his explanation. One – which was the most obvious – Fred had used his special Dungeon Core abilities to bring her back to life after it sounded like she had been dead for…quite a while. She wasn’t sure exactly what he did, but she didn’t feel any different than she had before.

  Actually, once she concentrated on her surroundings, she realized that – while her body felt the same – her awareness of her surroundings was different. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was changed, but there was definitely something strange and unusual in the way she perceived the dirt and stone around her. Suddenly, almost as if the mere thought of everything being different triggered something inside her brain, a faint multi-colored dome appeared around them, stretching out hundreds of feet in every direction and centering on Fred. It was constantly shifting in splotches of red, blue, green, and brown; she thought that the colors were significant, but she wasn’t sure exactly why – until she looked at the man responsible for bringing her back to life. When she concentrated on him, she could make out a faint aura suffusing his body, colored almost exactly the same as the large dome surrounding them.

  Looking at Deecy, she was surprised to see an aura on the Dire Wolf Pup, as well – though instead of four colors like Fred, hers was just a steady half-red and half-blue mixture. That made sense, however, if what he had said about his parents being Fire and Water Dungeon Cores were true – and that they were used in the Creation of the Wolf.

  She looked down at herself at that thought and saw a faint brown aura surrounding her body, but it was easier to see in her peripheral vision than straight on. Nevertheless, it appeared as though she somehow had a deeper connection to the element of Earth than she ever had before – whatever that was supposed to mean. Despite many of the things he said about the specific process being a little over her head, she had worked with him over the last few days enough that she thought she understood that the different colors she was seeing were likely the Elemental Mana types that he had described as he worked with them.

  Am I a Dungeon Core now? Is Deecy a Dungeon Core, too? While she was glad that she was alive and seemingly healthy, she didn’t know what the changes in her ultimately meant – nor what the future held for her in her new existence.

  The other thing that Eisa took away from his explanation was that he apparently reciprocated some of the same feelings that she had for him. At least, that’s what she took away from his talk about missing her and “not knowing if he would define it as love” message; if she was understanding him correctly, he was confused about what he was feeling towards her but was interested in developing them further. That was…understandable, considering his upbringing – and it also explained his severe social awkwardness.

  She could work with that.

  “Ok…that’s all well and good, and congratulations on doing something impossible yet again. Now, however, we need to—hold on, I hear something coming. That woman’s shouting must have alerted one of the passing Earth dungeon defender patrols.”

  It must be Deecy talking, Eisa thought. “Deecy, is that you talking in my head?” she whispered very softly, keenly aware of keeping her voice down now that she knew there was danger around.

  Fred answered her question, though, and he whispered just as softly in her ear, his hot breath warming the side of her face as he leaned clo
se. “Yes, it is. It must be a side-effect of my skill, though I’m not exactly sure why it works that way. Now, get behind me; Deecy and I’ll see what we can do to fight off whatever comes. We may need your help, however, so save whatever Power you have for the moment.”

  Eisa agreed; not because she thought she needed protecting, but because she was still trying to get her bearings and she didn’t quite feel up to fighting yet. She moved back behind Fred and Deecy – who had grown into her giant Dire Wolf form again – and waited until whatever was out there came into the light of the floating flames.

  For his part, Fred appeared to concentrate for a moment before a large version of the tripping flowers he was fond of creating appeared in front of him – though it looked a bit different from usual. The flower itself was blue and appeared literally frozen in immobility, while the leaves appeared to be on fire. She was about to say that something went wrong, but the fire didn’t seem to harm it.

  Listening as intently as she could, she heard some noise coming from the darkness ahead. It sounded like something was walking toward them slowly, but almost as if they were dragging something at the same time. She tensed up as she got the first glimpse of what appeared to be a giant bear, and she jumped again when Fred’s flower monster seemed to melt in front of her eyes and little streaks of colored light zipped into him.

  “What happened—” she started to ask, before Fred flashed a smile back at her as he rushed towards the bear.

  What is he doing?!

  Chapter 2

  Fred felt a little bad about not making sure Eisa – and himself, for that matter – was clothed before he went over and did his best to hug her in what he thought was an affectionate manner. He knew there were some taboos in the Human world about keeping covered up, and it wasn’t necessarily for warmth or protection purposes; it took him a while to learn about modesty and how it was inappropriate to show too much of certain parts of your body in public. Since Dungeon Cores didn’t wear clothes or alter their outward appearance in any way – as well as the fact that the only clothing Cores usually saw in their dungeons was armor-based for protection – it wasn’t something that was known to them, let alone an aspect of Human society that his parents would know to teach him. He knew these lessons now, of course, but sometimes he forgot or didn’t think it was important.

  Regardless of how he felt regarding Eisa’s state of undress, he was still happy to see her – and to see that the mark over her head was now gone. That feeling of incompleteness he had felt when she wasn’t there was gone, and it felt good having her by his side again. The changes in her were interesting, though; by observing her when he was explaining what had happened, he could tell that she could somehow detect the territories around her, as well as see the Mana inside of Fred and the Mana infusing Deecy. For her part, when he looked with his Mana Sight, he could see she was infused similarly to the Dire Wolf, though instead of half-Fire and half-Water, she was all Earth.

  Also, like Deecy, there wasn’t a concentration of the Mana in one specific place, like he could see in himself or another Dungeon Core. He still had never figured out exactly what the Dire Wolf that contained some of the memories and knowledge of his parents was, though it was patently obvious now that Eisa had been brought back that they weren’t any type of Core. It was almost like they were special entities that had some of the same characteristics but had abilities that were entirely unlike anything that Fred could do.

  In Deecy’s case, she could shrink down to the size of a Wolf Pup or grow to a giant size larger than any Dire Wolf should ever naturally be; he somehow doubted that Eisa could do that, but it would be interesting to see. Regardless of what she could do now as a result of his Novice Sentient Mana-formed Object Creation skill, she appeared to be as normal as could be.

  The warning from the Dire Wolf Pup about a potential Earth-based scouting party interrupted his thought about Eisa, and Fred switched his focus onto his territory. He had been neglecting monitoring it while he was preoccupied with explanations, but now he was fully committed to protecting his friend – and he didn’t want her to die so quickly again. He wasn’t sure if he could bring her back or not, since the Core shard had been consumed with his skill and he didn’t want to take the chance.

  Fred immediately created a level 16 Flametripper Spiker, which required most of the Elemental Mana that he had regenerated since he “woke up” underground.

  Flametripper Spiker (Level 16)

  Vitality: 45

  Attack: 45, Frost Spike, Flame Tendrils

  Defense: 45 (60 against water and fire-based attacks)

  Respawn: 16 Nature Mana, 16 Water Mana, 16 Fire Mana

  Loot: N/A

  Essence: 65 units

  It wasn’t the most powerful of dungeon defenders, but it would hopefully be powerful enough to lend a helping hand against whatever was attacking them. He quickly searched for any signs of Earth-based (or even Nature-based, as unlikely as that was since the nearby Nature Cores were still recovering from their failed assault) defenders, but he couldn’t see anything alive other than a small family of mice on the edge of his territory, hiding underneath some underbrush. He almost relaxed, but then he heard what the Dire Wolf had likely heard – footsteps.

  His vision was quite good in the dark, so it didn’t take him long to pick out the form of a giant bear slowly making its way towards him, but it was walking so ponderously it almost appeared injured. It was only when it got a little closer that he recognized that particular bear, though it wasn’t quite the four-legged behemoth that he thought it was at first.

  Fred “deleted” his large Flametripper Spiker from his territory and sucked out the Mana he had infused into it, as he glanced back at Eisa with a smile on his face – and took off toward the figure heading towards them. Eisa seemed momentarily startled, but Fred ignored her shock and raced toward the bear-fur-covered form.

  “Regnark! What are you doing here?”

  The face of the large man liberally covered in bear fur looked up at the question, and Fred could now see that Regnark’s slow pace was because he was severely injured. Blood coated his face and he walked with a severe limp; while it was hard to see anything underneath the larger man’s bulky clothing, he was sure that there were some wounds there that he couldn’t see.

  Instinctively, Fred looked at Regnark and tried to pull up a Dungeon Adventurer Syndicate Interface; he had gotten so used to everyone having one in the town of Gatecross lately that he didn’t even think about it. To his surprise, though, one actually appeared when he looked close enough.

  Dungeon Adventurer Syndicate Interface

  Name: Regnark McConald

  Class: Berserker-Marksman

  Rating: C-3rd

  Essence Needed to Rate-up: 117910

  Total Essence: 16278390

  Available Essence to Distribute: 60330

  Body: 20 (0/5242880)

  Brawn: 20 (0/5242880)

  Mind: 12 (0/20480)

  Speed: 17 (0/1310720)

  Vitality: 162/4000

  Stamina: 85/4000

  Power: 6/60

  Base Physical Attack: 50

  Base Physical Defense: 50

  Power Regen Rate: 1.2/min

  Class Traits (Berserker)

  Your Vitality is greatly increased by your Body stat

  Your Stamina is greatly increased by your Brawn stat

  Your Base Physical Attack and Defense are multiplied by 2.5 of your Body and Brawn stats

  You are able to convert Stamina to temporarily increase your Base Physical Attack, though you suffer a penalty to your Base Physical Defense

  Class Traits (Marksman)

  You have access to the Speed stat, which increases your movement speed and dodge ability

  Your ability to move stealthily is increased by your Speed stat

  Your long-range attacks are greatly increased by your Speed stat

  Class Abilities (Berserker)

  Rage 8 – 0/2187000


  Whirlwind 6 – 0/243000

  Flattening Strike 6 – 0/243000

  Relentless Assault 5 – 0/81000

  Armor Cleave 7 – 0/729000

  Intimidating Shout 5 – 0/81000

  Overwhelming Blow 6 – 0/243000

  Aggressive Aura 8 – 0/2187000

  Unflinching Stance 7 – 0/729000

  Class Abilities (Marksman)

  Pinpoint Accuracy 7 – 0/729000

  Multi-arrow Shot 5 – 0/81000

  Penetrating Arrow 6 – 0/243000

  Quick-shot 5 – 0/81000

  Raining Volley 5 – 0/81000

  Dodge Boost 8 – 0/2187000

  To say he was shocked was an understatement. A C-Rated Berserker-Marksman? What was he doing in the literal end of nowhere? Why isn’t he up in the village up north? He realized that those questions were stupid once he had a second to think about it; if the Earth Cores were looking for him, the Guild, or the citizens of Gatecross, they had likely searched everywhere.

  “Fred? Is that…you?” Regnark panted out, the pain he was suffering from obvious in his stance and his voice.

  “Here, let me help you.” Fred rushed ahead and put his shoulder under Regnark’s arm, doing his best to help the large man to their impromptu campsite. Once he got there, Regnark collapsed in a heap and fell unconscious, his breathing growing a bit ragged; another look at his Interface again revealed that the big bear of a man’s Vitality was still dropping.

  “Eisa, I need you to help me heal him – he must be bleeding from somewhere I can’t see!” Without waiting for her, Fred started to use his Power on some Vitality Transfers, as they were the best option he had at the moment. He had some higher-Rated healing abilities that he had adapted from watching some of his Healing-based Guild members at work, but the Vitality Transfer was the best Power-cost-to-Vitality-increase ability he had Adapted.