They had passed into a pretty landscape of grass and trees, where Fred could detect distant Nature territories scattered here and there, but none of them were especially close to the Deadlands. In fact, it almost looked like the Plains of Grass on the eastern side of the Deadlands – except for the trees; he was a little worried that what they were traveling through was another area where the void creatures roamed at night, but after the first night of traveling through it and avoiding the Core territories on either side of the narrow strip of land, nothing attacked them. Fred assumed that the territory-less area was some sort of buffer between the two factions and not because it was deadly to stay there at night.
The strip of land they traveled through ran north to south, so they continued taking it south as far as they could go. For the next four days, the Goblins continued to run without stopping, journeying through the pleasant locale; Fred and Eisa even saw some deer and other animals off in the distance occasionally, which further cemented the fact that the area wasn’t necessarily dangerous, just unused by either of the factions nearby.
Finally, after a week of travel, of having to be held like an infant in the arms of the large Goblin Gnomes, they had arrived. Or, at least, he thought they did; when he looked around, he saw what could only be described as an unbelievable mishmash of paradise and nightmare. After gazing at it for a few moments, he spread his Territorial Sight around as far as he could go and was shocked to see that they had left behind the nearest territories at least a mile ago.
It turned out that they had made their two-week-long journey by foot in half of the time, because the area around them couldn’t be anything but Allroads. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it.
In what appeared to be around a shallow 100-square-mile valley, there were representations of every type of element. Fred saw deep, crystal-clear lakes and rivers for Water; humongous trees accompanied by fields of beautiful grass for Nature; a row of mountains along the rear of the land acting like some sort of backdrop for Earth; three sporadically placed lava pits that shot flames into the air for Fire; what looked like a large graveyard on one side of the area that had similar-looking dead trees as the Deadlands, as well as a cave inside one of the mountains that looked quite forbidding for Dark; two literal forests of clear crystal pillars shining with an almost-blinding luminescence even in full daylight for Light; and, though he couldn’t see it with his physical eyes, his Mana Sight showed him a contained tornado of moving wind above it all for Air.
And sitting in the middle of everything, was a massive city that dwarfed anything that Fred could even imagine could’ve existed. He saw dirt roads running into and out of the city, going through six different gates in the thick, 50-foot tall walls; looking farther out, he could see that a road actually led across the long strip they had been traveling down, though with a quick look behind the massive form of the Goblin Gnome carrying him, he could see that it shortly split into two different directions, one into the Deadlands and one into the Nature Core territory nearby.
And there were humans everywhere – though, fortunately, none of them were currently on the road to where they were standing. The city was still quite distant, but even from his vantage point leading into what he was mentally calling the “valley of impossibilities”, he could see their tiny figures moving around.
“Eisa, get rid of these defenders before it catches someone’s attention!”
Fred heard the Communication from Deecy, which meant that it was meant for both of them. He mentally chastised himself for not thinking of that sooner, and he took the silent admonition from the Dire Wolf with acceptance. While the sight of such an unbelievable place was really at fault, he needed to be better aware of the danger of having “dungeon monsters” out for anyone to see would impose.
Eisa immediately instructed her creations to put them down – including Regnark’s body – and she went to each of them and touched them briefly, before they disappeared into Earth Mana and were sucked into her body. After she was done, she looked much healthier than she had just a few minutes ago, as her available Mana most likely hit its max amount – and likely extended it a little. Although she had been absorbing the nearby ambient Earth Mana on their journey, they were moving at such speeds that it wasn’t as much as it would’ve been if they had been standing still; nevertheless, she had likely gathered a bit in that time, so the extra Earth Mana couldn’t do anything but help.
Over the last week, Fred had also managed to convert more of his Unconverted Mana into his Elemental Cores, which had finally evened out – and even increased a little bit. Since he wasn’t using any Mana, his maximums finally had a chance to increase. He was tempted to keep slowly feeding Earth, Fire, and Water to Eisa and Deecy, but he thought it would be more prudent to increase his maximums so that he could transfer over a larger chunk at a time – and so he’d have a larger reserve in the future during an emergency. He had even managed to push the maximums to just over 250 by the time they arrived, as his Mana Conversion skill continued to improve.
And, since he was kind of stuck being held in a giant Goblin’s arms and didn’t have a lot to do, he had ample time to see what had happened to him back in the Dark dungeon.
Dungeon Core Status
Fredwynklemossering
Core Faction: Fire-Water-Nature-Earth-Dark
Core Age: 2
Core Structure Level: 20
Fire Mana: 251/252
Water Mana: 251/251
Nature Mana: 251/251
Earth Mana: 251/251
Dark Mana: 251/251
Unconverted (Unusable) Mana: 36145
Unconverted Essence: 14322
Skills
Master Mana Sight: 100%
Master Territorial Sight: 100%
Expert Mana Absorption: 35%
Expert Mana Conversion: 45%
Expert Core Crystallization: 12%
Intermediate Mana Communication: 87%
Intermediate Defender Creation: 98%
Intermediate Mana-formed Object Creation: 92%
Intermediate Sentient Mana-formed Object Creation: 1%
Intermediate Dungeon Core Absorption: 23%
Intermediate Dungeon Creation: 22%
Novice Essence Conversion: 13%
Novice Defense Creation: 96%
Dungeon Information
(none)
Dungeon Adventurer Syndicate Interface
Name: Fredwynklemossering
Class: Instructor-Researcher
Rating: E-7th
Essence Needed to Rate-up: 45093
Total Essence: 885907
Available Essence to Distribute: 143220
Unconverted Essence: 361450
Body: 14 (0/81920)
Brawn: 13 (0/40960)
Mind: 16 (0/327680)
Vitality: 180/180
Stamina: 160/160
Power: 5100/5100
Base Physical Attack: 13
Base Physical Defense: 14
Power Regen Rate: 25/min
Class Traits (Instructor)
Your available Power is increased by your Mind stat
Your Power Regen Rate is increased by your Mind stat
You are able to pass along the knowledge of your spells and abilities to another (success is variable)
Class Traits (Researcher)
Your available Power is greatly increased by your Mind stat
Your Power Regen Rate is greatly increased by your Mind stat
You have a much-heightened ability to adapt known spells and abilities for use in other applications
Class Abilities (Instructor)
Teach 5 – 0/81000
Class Abilities (Researcher)
Experiment 0 – 0/100
Adapted Abilities
Lightscythe 1 – 0/1000
Fireblast 3 – 0/9000
Vitality Transfer 3 – 0/9000
Light Explosion 4 – 0/27000
Shield of Darkness 1
– 0/1000
Lifedrain 1 – 0/1000
Repair Object 1 – 0/1000
Conjure Object 4 – 0/27000
Disarm Trap 3 – 0/9000
Sudden Shock 1 – 0/1000
Repair Animation 1 – 0/1000
Flamestrike 1 – 0/1000
Spike Arrows 1 – 0/1000
(List truncated due to space – focus here for additional abilities…)
While a few of his Dungeon skills had increased in ranking (Core Crystallization was now Expert, Dungeon Creation and Dungeon Core Absorption were now Intermediate), the biggest change – other than his maximum elemental Mana levels being around 251 – was that fact that his Core Structure Level was now 20! Just a week ago, it had been 8…though, when he thought about it for a moment, it made sense.
Before he had discovered how to arrange his Human and Elemental Cores in his body, his Core Structure Level had been a lowly 2 – though it was likely only that high because he had a disorganized mess of random Cores. After he managed to figure out how the elements worked together to complement his Human Core, it had shot up to 6 when he had needed to spend 20,000 units of his Unconverted Mana to increase his Core Structure Level. It was simple math from there; his “official” Human Core Structure Level of 2, now that it had been organized correctly, was multiplied by how many elements he had access to – which at the time had been three, giving him a total of 6. When he accidentally absorbed the Earth Core later, that number shot up to 8; and now, after he had needed to upgrade his official Core Structure Level two more times and acquired another element, the total shot up to 20.
He had also received a relatively tiny amount of Essence from the recent battles in the dungeon, mainly because most of the defenders that had actually died weren’t killed by them – but instead by the dungeon collapsing on them. Therefore, they didn’t get the Essence for them dying, but they did get it for the Lich King and the other demons that they had killed inside the dungeon before the end. That didn’t matter overly much to him, however, as right now he was more concerned about finding the people he was setting out to find.
“What is this place?” he asked out loud, still amazed at what he was seeing. He could tell that Eisa was awed as well, though she was doing her best to try to recover from the horrible smell they were forced to endure over the last week. Fred had thought he had become immune to it, but as soon as some fresh air blew past his nose, he realized that he had just ignored it – because it was somehow imbedded in his clothes or flesh or…
Actually, after a second, he realized he was smelling his dead friend, who had been roasting in the sun, in furs, on the back of a stinky Goblin Gnome – for a week. Fred didn’t want to check too closely, but he was sure that Regnark’s body was probably not looking too great by then – at least based on the smell that wafted in their direction.
“Surprisingly, your father knew a little something about this place. Well…not this place, exactly, but places like it. The Dungeon Cores would call spots like this around the world – which are reputed to be relatively rare – “Convergences”, where all of the elements tend to converge in a single place. The concentrated ambient Mana is so great in this place that I can feel it even from here; if I wasn’t full already, I doubt it would take me more than a minute or so to completely fill me up if I was almost out.”
“I…I can feel that too,” Eisa said, hesitatingly. “I just thought it was excitement from being able to walk again after a week, but now I know it’s that place down there. You’re right, Deecy, I almost feel like I’m slightly…charged, I guess would be the closest comparison.”
Fred could see the intense Mana concentrations; it was almost so intense that it hurt his head looking straight at them with his Mana Sight. “O…kay – but why aren’t there any territories here? Why isn’t this a massive battlefield of all the nearby Factions fighting over this place? I would think that this would be the ultimate prize for any of them, even if it’s only for their certain Mana type.”
“From what I understand from your father’s memories, they indeed used to fight over these “Convergences”, but some sort of accident during a battle more than a millennium ago caused the destruction of one of them, which ended up with the land all around – thousands of miles in every direction, in fact – losing most of its natural ambient Mana. This caused many of the Cores nearby (regardless of their elemental Faction) to grow almost dormant because they didn’t have enough to properly operate. The last thing Aquel knew, the area was starting to recover, and the “Convergence” was starting to reform – but it was growing so slowly that he had thought that it could take another 1,000 years or more to get back to where it was before.
“As a result of that disastrous battle, it was determined by the Supreme Council that these sites were off limits, and any known Core that established a territory or sent any of their defenders within 10 miles would be completely and utterly destroyed by a joint operation by the Council, with no excuses allowed. Therefore, there isn’t a Core on the planet that is willing to risk their wrath, so they stay far away from these Convergences. There is a great benefit of being even this close to them, however, which is why you’ll likely find territories for every faction nearby; however, because fighting between the factions or alliances might spill over and damage these precious hotbeds of ambient Mana, no fighting, assaults on dungeons, or any other type of inter-Core violence is permitted within 100 miles.
“And, because the area is so rich in all the elements, it makes for a prime living area for humans. From the land around the city, they can likely grow all the food they need and possibly extra, as anything grown here will mature quickly and expansively. With access to every element nearby, this is also a prime staging area for Adventurer groups that want to challenge themselves in different types of dungeons.”
Fred mentally muted his Mana Sight for a moment because it was hurting his head and concentrated on his Territorial Sight, instead. He looked all around the Allroads area and saw that she was correct; closest to him were the Dark and Nature territories, of course; farther to the west past the Nature faction, there was another small strip of “no-territory” area, followed by a Water Territory, then another blank strip, then came the Earth territory, almost opposite of where Fred, Eisa, and Deecy were standing. Next came the bright white of the Light territory, then the hazy yellowish of Air, and then last, but not least, Fire was situated right next to Dark. They were arranged in a circle like wedges, or perhaps like spokes of a wheel, with strictly designated boundaries that led right up to the edge of where they could approach, with the separating strips keeping all of the faction areas from getting in each other’s way.
If there was anywhere in the world that his Guild and the citizens of Gatecross would be safe from the Cores chasing after them, Fred thought it would be Allroads. Whether or not that applied to the person who riled them up in the first place…only time would tell.
Chapter 33
“Are we just going to leave him here?” Eisa asked, as they stood staring at the magnificent sight arrayed before them. To the former human-turned-“Shard”, it looked like a dangerous paradise; one where she could bask in the pure ambient Mana she could feel even at that distance, but also one with people – lots of people. She still felt a little like the shunned Adventurer with the horrid reputation even now and going into a city full of people that might look down on her wasn’t something she was looking forward to.
Calm down, girl – no one even knows who you are here! It’s almost impossible that they would’ve heard about you all this way from the Craytion Kingdom, so don’t worry yourself unnecessarily, she told herself. Regardless of the logic behind that, she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous as butterflies warred with each other in her empty stomach. The thought of her stomach actually calmed her a little, because she realized she hadn’t eaten anything in over a week – her Mana had sustained her all that time and she didn’t feel the least bit hungry. You’re a completely diff
erent person now – and don’t you forget it!
“Huh?” Fred asked, tearing his eyes away from the land ahead of them and looking at her. He then looked over at Regnark’s body and seemed to comprehend what she was talking about. “Oh, that’s right – we can’t very well drag him with us. He’ll have to walk on his own.”
Uh, oh – has he started to lose his mind? With everything that had happened lately, it wouldn’t surprise her; the destruction of Gatecross, those weird creatures in the Plains of Grass, being accused of murder and chased out of a town, and the death of his first real friend ever had to have weighed heavily on Fred’s mind. Oh, wait – he better not be thinking of reanimating him! I know he said that he acquired a few of my former Necromancer abilities, but I never thought he would treat his friend that way!
“I…don’t think that’s what he has in mind. Watch…”
Eisa did as Deecy suggested and watched Fred walk over to Regnark’s dead body and knelt by his side. The Goblin Gnome that had been carrying him had put him down face-first – because, honestly, Eisa was a little disturbed by them carrying a corpse for so long and didn’t want to see the state of his face – so Fred put his arms underneath and gave it a mighty shove…which turned the big man over so that his open and staring eyes were staring at the bright sun. Eisa was glad that she didn’t have anything in her stomach because the stench of his rotting body combined with his appearance would’ve brought it all back up.
Dungeon World 3: A Dungeon Core Experience Page 27
