The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Specialization Benefits:

  Water-based traps require 60% less Dungeon Force to create

  Water-based traps require 75% less Dungeon Force to replace when used

  Overall, they were excellent purchases. She had forgotten about the extra benefits of the Aquatic Environment, especially the plants she could create. The Kelp and Seaweed she could place as an Environmental Object could be harvested, dried, and consumed if it came down to it in order to feed a population; using it to actually feed a population hadn’t ever occurred to her or anyone at DAPS, so she hadn’t even considered it. Thinking about the other Environments she could gain access to, she tried to think of any others that might be utilized like that…and couldn’t remember any immediately. That didn’t mean that there weren’t any, but she didn’t have time to consider anything else at the moment.

  The Water trap specialization was a fun one, mainly because liquid water was just the medium by which the traps functioned, and their effectiveness was in how that water was applied. For instance, water could be used directly as a way to drown an unlucky victim that fell into a small enclosed room; it could be projected out from a central source or sources, slamming into another victim or victims with powerful jets of force; or it could be used as an obstacle between one area and another, requiring Raiders to either find another way across or swim for it.

  But Water traps could also be quite versatile when temperature became a factor. Heating up water until it became boiling steam, burning anything it touched was one way to take advantage of it, or else just increasing the temperature of an entire room to a sweltering humid heat. Cold temperatures, on the other hand, were much more versatile because they produced an excellent product: Ice. Dropping sharp icicles from the ceiling on unsuspecting Raiders; icing up the floor, or ramp, or stairs so that it was slippery could prove exceedingly dangerous; and even freezing the top layer of a pool of water if someone were to fall into it were some of the different ways the Water-based traps could be applied.

  Of course, none of these methods were ones that Tacca wanted to use, because she wasn’t going to be placing them in order to kill people, but to save them. The sheer ridiculousness of that occurred to her as she started placing large traps on the ceiling of the farms, a variation of the Deluge Water Trap – though far, far weaker than what they were intended for.

  Deluge Water Trap

  The Deluge Water Trap can be placed on the ceiling of a room and is triggered by directional proximity. When activated, specified amounts of water are expelled from the ceiling, drenching anyone and anything beneath the trap. The Deluge Water Trap can be adjusted for duration, strength, water type, and temperature. All traps can be disabled with high enough Disarm Trap skills.

  Cost: 100 DF (-60% Water Specialization, -40% Special Characteristic)

  Replacement Cost: 25 DF (-75% off current cost/Water Specialization)

  Creation Time: 0.25 Hours

  Disarm Trap Resistance: 2

  Activation Range: 100ft X 200ft

  Trigger Proximity: 10ft below

  Strength: 0.3%

  Duration: 300.0 seconds

  Water Type: Fresh

  Temperature: Cool

  Resistance Category: Water

  Normally, a trap of that size – 100ft by 200ft – would be extremely costly to create, as well as keeping it activated for 300 seconds. However, to keep the cost down to 100 DF (and because she wasn’t needing to drown anyone), the strength of the trap was at only 0.3%. In comparison, a trap like this at 100% would be like dropping a waterfall on someone, slamming them into the ground; at 0.3%, water droplets would trickle out of the ceiling, hydrating the plants below without drowning them. She also could direct the trap to activate if someone walked onto a specific part of the walkway, which she changed out to a bluish quartz stone, so that it wouldn’t activate every time someone walked inside the room.

  As for drinking water – and sanitation! Can’t believe I forgot about that – she created a few large stone basins in the Hall, which she filled with Fresh Water as an Environmental Object. While it wouldn’t stagnate and become unhealthy even if it sat there for years, to add a little touch of her ingenuity and knowledge she created a fountain of sorts.

  “It looks more like a dribble than a fountain, Tacca.”

  Shush. It’s better than nothing.

  What he said was true, but it was a unique function of the regenerating Environmental Objects, nonetheless. What Tacca did was create a flat-topped pyramid of stone in the center of the basin, and then placed 1 cubic foot of Fresh Water on top. The water immediately flowed down the sides of the pyramid and down into the basin, but the automatically regenerating Object wanted to keep the water on top, so more water was created; it then flowed down to the basin, and the cycle repeated itself.

  It was all about keeping an equilibrium in the space she allotted for the Objects she placed, which was also why the basin didn’t overflow. Once it reached a certain level, it wanted to always stay at that level. As water was taken away, the Object would automatically fill the basin back up. It was quite pretty and soothing to watch it in action, completely unlike the mayhem going on in her dungeons at the moment – all full of blood, cries of pain, and the slaughtering of her creatures. Typical, normal, everyday dungeon stuff.

  As for sanitation, she turned one of the rooms on each “floor” of the Hall into a bathroom of sorts, where people could both bathe and do their nasty business. I’m so glad that we don’t have to do that, Shale.

  “I agree.”

  One more Water-based trap in each bathroom room was needed to solve the problem of waste disposal, which was a water jet trap that could be activated to “flush” everything through a series of pipes she had to carve out of the walls and floors, where it would all drain back out into the foothills. She couldn’t control exactly what happened to it after it left her control, but it was far enough away from everything that she hoped it would be fine.

  As for the bath, that was probably the easiest of everything. A simple stone tub filled with very warm water, which would automatically replace itself after use, eliminating any dirt and anything non-living inside the water. Simple, easy – because it was a common use of water in aquatic dungeons, because if a Raider died in the water, they would automatically be disposed of when the rest of the group was gone. Anything that didn’t belong there was eliminated, essentially.

  Now she was done – or as done as she could be. Just in time, too, because it was just hitting the deadline. The last thing she did was create a tunnel leading to the outside world, though it wasn’t a straight shot out. She knew that it would eventually be extremely cold out there, so she made the wide tunnel take a few turns before it reached outside, to block much of the wind, snow, and cold from coming inside. It wouldn’t block it all, but it would help a lot.

  As Tacca Carved through the rest of the dirt and rock separating her new creation from the outside world, she glimpsed a group in the distance coming towards the new entrance to her dungeon.

  Chapter 20

  “Is that what we’re looking for?”

  Sterge looked into the distance at Mordecai’s shout, sweat pouring down his face despite the cool air of pre-winter. While it was still a little over a month away, it was already starting to cool down a little bit; granted, it never really got cold until the winter month hit – and then it got really cold – but it was a little chilly in the morning.

  They had been walking all morning, at least 3 hours up and down the mountain range to the east of The Village, but this was the first sign of anything actually being what they were looking for. Even as he looked at the small opening at the base of the mountain range, just up from the smaller foothills, he saw some more of the mountain face disappear, as if something were taking big bites out of it.

  “Judging by your open mouth, I’m sure you saw that, too,” Gwenda said from his right, nudging him with her elbow.

  “I…I certainly did.” This was th
e first time he’d actually seen evidence that the dungeon could do things he could only imagine, despite seeing the aftereffects. It was one thing knowing monsters could appear out of nowhere, or rooms could be constructed out of solid rock, but it was something altogether amazing about seeing it happen in front of his eyes.

  “Shall we go visit? I’m pretty sure we’ve been invited already,” Evy said from his left. The Sword Dancer was shading her eyes with her hand, trying to make out what she was looking at, which Sterge had been unconsciously mimicking. All he could make out from this distance was a dark portal that had opened up on the side of the mountain ahead, and he sincerely hoped it was what had been mentioned to them, instead of a new dungeon or something.

  “Let’s go; I sure hope it’s a little cooler in there.”

  William chuckled at that. “If what you said the winters are like here is true, you’ll be wishing the opposite when the snow rolls in.”

  Sterge just nodded, knowing their Combat Medic was entirely correct. But he was hot from all of the running around now, and winter certainly hadn’t hit yet.

  It took them only about 15 minutes to make it to the entrance of this new opening in the mountain, and they discovered that it was much larger than they expected. While the dungeon entrances further up the mountain were large enough for a really tall and wide person to pass through, probably 9 to 10 feet high and 6 feet wide, this entrance was large enough to pass a team of horses and a covered wagon into. Sterge thought that an entire trade caravan could enter it, in fact, which was a bit surprising.

  They stood on the threshold looking inside, and it was light enough to see that the tunnel leading in took a sharp turn to the right; from there it was impossible to see any more without actually entering. Evy and the others just stood there looking at Sterge and Gwenda with impatient looks on their faces.

  “Well? Are you going in? You are the ones that are all cushy with the dungeon, aren’t you?” Mordecai joked, gently pushing Sterge forward. Rather than fight it, he walked inside and immediately felt cooler, though not too cold; rather, it felt…temperate…like it was an average temperature.

  The others followed him as he walked through the strangely turning tunnel, still as wide as it had been in the beginning, until they finally came to an end. Sterge stood with his mouth open again, uncaring, as he took a look inside the massive room. It went back far enough that he had trouble making out details at the end, and there were columns spaced out at equal distances, which he thought were probably holding up the ceiling. It was all stark grey stone, plain and unadorned – utilitarian, even – but it had a grand majesty of its own.

  The sounds of running water turned his attention to a trio of stone basins in the middle of this great space, where he saw water running down a strange stone pyramid in the center of the basins. The water seemed to spring from nowhere, but it appeared clear and fresh – and likely cool. His dry throat practically ached to get a drink of it.

  “How? There’s no way this was just built; this place must have been buried for centuries or something, because this is…magnificent,” Gwenda said in wonder.

  “I have no idea, but we should probably check it out.” Sterge led the way, and the others followed after him in a group. The first stop was the first water-filled stone basin nearest the entrance, which the Hill Dwarf immediately scooped up and practically inhaled in his efforts to slake his thirst, to the horrified expressions on all but Gwenda’s faces.

  “Uh…what?”

  “How do you know that isn’t poisoned?” Mordecai asked.

  Poison? I never even thought about that. He started to empty his hands, but he stopped when – after a moment – he felt fine. “I think if this water is poisoned or unsafe, then the dungeon wouldn’t go through all the trouble of making everything else you see in here. I’m pretty sure it’s fine – and some of the purest water I’ve ever tasted.”

  Gwenda smiled and copied him, scooping up the cool water in her hands and slurping it up, still smiling as she said, “Ahhh! That’s the stuff. Come on; it’s safe.” She motioned to the others, who hesitatingly did the same, suspicious looks on their faces.

  “This is just too good to be true, you have to admit,” Evy said after she got her fill of the water. Sterge could tell she thought it was delicious, as well.

  He just shrugged, not sure what else to say. “It is a miracle, I will admit, but we still have a lot to check out. We’ll see if it will work for us, especially with the numbers we’re still seeing traveling down here.” The living situation near The Village was getting more and more out of hand, with nearly 4,000 Raiders and non-Raiders unable to find a place to sleep other than outside. They were still frantically building Inns (they were up to 42 now), as well as residences, but it was impossible to keep up with the demand. Worse than that, they were starting to have shortages of food shipments, though it wasn’t through any sort of Ministry manipulation – they were simply having trouble transporting what was available elsewhere.

  After they had all gotten their fill of water and felt revitalized, they started searching the rooms they could see all along the sides of the grand room, which proved to look all the same: large but empty. That was fine, because they would work well enough for large families, and potentially even 2 groups of Raiders per room if it came down to it. There weren’t any doors, but they could probably figure out something to allow for more privacy.

  “There’s some sort of bathing room! Come check it out,” Gwenda said excitedly. The room she was pointing inside was towards the end of the massive space, and it took a second for Sterge to arrive. Once he did, he saw that everyone else was inside, looking at the large stone tub on one end, with steam coming off of it.

  “It’s really warm, but not too hot; it won’t burn you, but it’ll feel good to soak in it,” Evy said, and he could see her eyes grow wide as saucers as she stared at the bath. Sterge could take it or leave it; he couldn’t remember the last full bath he’d taken.

  “What’s this—”

  Sterge turned around to see Mordecai reaching above a hole in the ground, where there was a square piece of blue stone on the wall, the first bit of color they’d seen so far. Just before he touched it, though, he snatched his hand back.

  “It’s a trap! It’s very subtle, but I can sense it.”

  Sterge looked at the hole in the ground, looked back at the bath, and then looked at the blue square again. Then he did it again, a thought tickling the back of his mind about all of it, but Gwenda beat him to the punch.

  She walked over without hesitation and slapped her hand across the blue square, jumping back with everyone else as a powerful jet of water appeared out of nowhere above the hole and shot down it, before it disappeared moments later as if nothing had happened.

  “It’s a waste disposal system.”

  Waste disposal? What…oh.

  William was the first to speak after that revelation. “That’s incredible, and will help with keeping everyone healthy. But where does it go?”

  Good question, and not one that he wanted to investigate. As long as it wasn’t dumping into the stone basins full of water out in the main room, the Hall he supposed he should call it, then it didn’t really matter to him.

  They explored briefly up the stairs to the next landing, only to discover more of the same: Empty rooms and another bathing space. Rather than explore every landing, they moved off to the back of the Hall, where another tunnel led deeper into the mountain. Now that they were a little more confident that the place wasn’t a deathtrap, they moved more quickly – though at the first intersection they hesitated before making a decision.

  “Let’s go left first, then right, then we’ll go further down this main tunnel.” No one argued with Gwenda, as they didn’t have anything better to suggest, and that was when they found their first farm.

  At least, that’s what it looked like to Sterge, even if the sizable plots of rich soil were empty of any type of growing food. He knelt down in the
dirt and scooped up a handful, sniffing it and letting it run through his fingers. “This is spectacular soil; I noticed it the first time we entered the dungeon, and it’s still the best dirt I’ve seen for growing. But why isn’t there anything already growing? The dungeon had plenty of plants and trees, didn’t it?”

  “I’m assuming that it may not be able to create food-worthy plants; I can’t imagine eating anything I’ve seen so far throughout all of the dungeon rooms,” Evy reasoned.

  “Well, if the ambient light in here works as well as the sun, the only thing we’re missing is—”

  “—water,” Gwenda said from behind him, and he swirled around to see her stepping on another blue square on the stone walkway. Sterge braced himself for a blast of water like they’d seen in the bathing room, but was pleasantly surprised when a gentle rain poured out of the ceiling, sinking into the soil and watering it calmly instead of with a torrential downpour. In moments he was starting to get rather wet, however, and he ran outside of the room to get dry along with the others.

  “Rain on command; who’d have thought something like that was possible,” Sterge whispered to himself. They all watched for a few minutes until the gentle rain stopped abruptly. Amazingly, while the soil stayed a bit damp, the water along the pathway quickly dried up and disappeared; unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the water on all of their clothes.

  The next half hour was exploring the other tunnels, only to find 5 more “farms” like the first, but the last room was a surprise. It wasn’t like anything he’d seen before, but he instinctively knew it was some sort of large storeroom or warehouse, so they could store the food they grew and harvested. That would be important if they were to house thousands of people inside of the mountain, especially if they were able to fill it with enough food to last them until after the snows melted in the spring.