Dwarves Aloof
Well. You've now got an interloper frolicking around where she ought not to. Namely, inside of you. As the dwarven marching song becomes weaker and weaker, you consider her carefully. She could attempt to rush your core and end you, and you're quite sure she'd be able to move past your Key Room.
This calls for a new defensive measure. Something physical, but that might get through armour. Something that will keep bothering even someone much stronger than a level two. Something determined to punch through to their bodies, inflicting what they wish to do to you upon them. So you once more focus on the shape the more physically inclined hatchling takes. By now you've gotten quite the experience, and as such you can do much more than you did before.
You compare them to one another, and quickly realize which parts will dictate the creature's body, in particular the musculature. Its bones shall be harder, as to sustain more damage, even if they'll cause its movements to be slower. Its muscles shall shift in such a way as to focus on the neck, making it longer and almost half again as thick as its siblings', and the overall musculature will be weaker. This will have the side effect of making it rather… simple-minded, as it is, but that is of no concern to you.
You will still like it, as you do all your creatures. From the smartest to the mightiest, to the most useless of them.
With these adjustments, such a creature would latch onto an adventurer's body and refuse to let go, mindlessly trying to eat them. The only thing they can actually digest is stone, so they will not consume the bodies, unless you wish for them to and order them to bite down. Instead what will happen is that they'll remain attached at their hip, leg, or arm, making for a very good distraction. They'll also probably leave behind a scar. Funnily enough, the more armoured a target is, the more effective they'll be, as their gear will work against them.
You'll dub this creature the Chubby Hatchling, for its rather cute body and behavior. The face they make while biting is also rather chubby, so you feel very justified in your name. It has absolutely nothing to do with their rather rotund bodies, and anyone that says differently definitively deserves the incoming bite.
Unlocked:
Chubby Hatchling (3 SE)
By now your focus has once more moved to the dwarven woman. She seems to be huffing and puffing this and that way, lowly grumbling about this and that. While you do hear her King's name often being repeated, mostly in curses, you're not quite sure what she's talking about.
"-amn fool, leaving me behind without a way to contact the DungeonCore. Damn it, this is literally rarer than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it might already come to an end thanks to this? Bah! Next time I see his wife, I'll make sure to tell her what to do to his bear, oh yes!
I know he's been hoarding Kardraz's special ointments, and should a few nobles hear about it there are sure to be grudges to placate. I swear, if he costs me this just because of his newfound happiness, he'll soon find himself with a deeper grave than his present one. Bah! Younglings these days! You give them a throne and still..." She does not seem to wish to stop. Until she does. And then palms her face. "Listen Core, if you can hear me and understand me, but given we have a signed contract from you it seems evident that you did, I'll surrender now. Please give me the same Mark that you gave that Dolgi buffoon." And so she does, letting all the air out of her chest and eventually fainting.
That is, from your understanding of her biology, something rather extreme.
(Level 4 Aide Dungeon Sophos Mathilda Graypeak has surrendered. +2 SE)
Well.
That's something.
Something you probably have to think about. Eventually. For now, you want to get expanding. The itch in your mind has grown, and while buying the new Hunting Lodge has surely helped, you're now looking at a much more tantalizing prize. A second Floor. The change such a thing will have to you… Well, you can hardly wait. So with much trepidation, you start to funnel your Energy. You were on the verge of greatness, basically needing a pittance of Energy to ascend, when a bothersome thought entered your mind and refused to go away.
She seemed rather interested about you. Wouldn't she care about something like this? You think about it, metaphorically feeling the change about to happen. But reason won out, and you soon found yourself shifting your focus on where she is staying stasied in the prison. And in a few seconds, you Branded her as well, just the same as you did for Dolgi.
[Mathilda Geraypeak gains Magical Telepathy Level 1 (Allows to perceive nearby others' projected thoughts.) [Branding an Adventurer has gained you some Energy.] (+4 SE)
And soon enough she plops back to the entrance, being teleported back to the small gate now signaling where you begin, and the mountain ends. She lays there, sleeping for a while, before groggily waking up. "Hnggg. J'ush five more minutesh." And she rolls to her back, once again asleep.
…
You wait a while, and eventually she does finally wake up again.
She blinks up to the rough stone ceiling, and immediately starts cussing. "Where for my Ancestor's left nut am I?!" Screaming and flailing, she gets up on two shaky legs, looking at the cavern with her back to your entrance. "Whu? Where am I?" She looks around briefly, turning her head this and that way, just to come short of an actual answer. Then she notices the runic glow coming from behind her and swivels around.
Her eyes snap open, her mouth falls to the floor, and her eyes begin to twinkle. "Oh, Ancestors. It ain't no dream, huh?" She stands there, looking at your entrance for quite a while. Even if you can't really understand the emotion she's showing, you know you ought to give her space to settle down, and so you do. You go back to looking around, trying to find a good place to place your first new floor, where the flow of Energy would least be disrupted. The obvious answer is to replace the current Core Room, and you probably will do that, all things considered.
It is then she finally has gathered her wits enough to talk to you, and you can feel her mind fainly reaching out to yours. It feels much different from Dolgi's, at least in part because his own, you now realize, was somehow safeguarded. Hers is not. Should you wish to, you could probably send Energy into her Mind. It will have some effect on her, but you think that gradually feeding her a single unit per day should let her survive. At least until the fifth. Then... who knows?
Oh. It seems your wandering mind has already lost you the start of what she has to say. You once more focus on what's on her mind. "-nd so, I'm really, really glad I can document your growth. Like, you honestly don't understand how big this could be for my race as a whole. I already have some theories, and should you want me to, I will share them with you. Just say the word, and I'll tell you anything you want to know. Oh geez, thank the Ancestors I packed for a lot of writing. It might just get me through until my da and ma get here, yes. Ahh, just thinking about the idiot's smug grin is making my blood boil. Ancestors damn that fool of a king-"
Well. It seems like chit-chatting is, in fact, a common occurrence among dwarves. Now you know.
Anyway, on to more important matters. You'd like some peace, and you know of only one way to get it. "-nd I really don't know what your walls are made of. Every time we asked her, she told us to bugger off, and that we ought to have more respect for our ancestors, but with your permission I will-"
No, this is definitively too much. "Please desist. My Mind reels every time I think of what you're saying." Yes, you may be exaggerating a little, but she was literally jumping at the chance of tearing down your walls. That ought to warrant a strong reaction, no matter who you ask. This sends her into a stunned silence, and she just stands for quite a few seconds. "Thanks." Maybe you're wrong, and she is quite nice to listen to your request so quickly. "You can talk?!" And now she's screaming once more.
Damn it. You were just getting your hopes up for some lasting quiet. "Yes, I can. No matter how hard I may wish the contrary." At this, she squeals, and once more begins blubbering about all sorts of things. Well, she would, if you didn't cut her off immediately. "Tell me Sophon, why is it you wish to study me?" She seems to think about your reasonable question for a few minutes, and the pause gives your assoulted mind time to think.
And the result is that you might just have found a solution to your problem. And look, just in time to test it. She once more opens her mouth to talk, just to cover it a few moments later, blushing a little. Once again she tries to start talking, and this time she seems to be more secure in her intentions. "It's because we dwarves are borne of a dungeon, oh mighty Core. Please understand, that this may very well tell us something fundamental of our very species. Maybe of the world as we know it, given the role you Dungeons play in the flow of Mana. See,-"
You're quick to stop her once more. "You may now call me Drag-Karak, as this is the name I've chosen for myself." At that, she pauses for a beat. And then reality seems to settle in around you. Your walls quake, the very mountains move as your walls grow stouter, materials change, torches spring up in all your rooms, and small doors sprout between your rooms.
But the biggest shift occurs at your entrance. There, an inscription you can't read seems to carve itself in your stone, and for some reason you get the distinct meaning it may be traduced to 'Welcome to Karak Karkakarak'. So apparently getting a name would have influenced you. Good to know. "Did you just name yourself?! Just like that?!" And she's once more back to screaming. This is getting real old, really quick. "Aye, I am. Now stop all your huffing, and get your wits back to you. One of your kind ought to be calmer, no?"
"Ancestors above! I just witnessed a baby Dungeon's naming! Oh, Ancestor gods, inspire me to save everything I've witnessed to memory. Ah, I can still see them, burned in my retinas, the tendrils of Mana shifting their flow! Let me just write it all down real quick." And in what may seem animalistic fervor, she hunches by one of your new torches and begins scribbling fanatically on a little diary.
Your mind hangs over her like an anvil, and you can't help but find some measure of fondness when she closes her eyes to 'see better the flows of Energy'. While it is probably rather unhealthy, you want to help her a little, and with a small burst of might, you will the closest light source to burn brighter. It does, but this seems to go unnoticed by who was supposed to be your teacher. And then you once more hear echoes from the caves. A quick song about… crushing orcish skulls, and not letting the party be split in two?
[An Adventurer Party of five is approaching you!]
[Thunni Whi-]
Well, at the risk of sounding crass, you'd like to say fuck that.
(-10 SE) (31 Total)
So you finally buy the second floor, placing it in the place of the first.
And it all fades to black, as your doors slam shut, and you hear the soft thump of soft flesh on stone, crowned by twin cries of joy from within and desperation from without.
That will be a problem for when you have a second floor, you decide.
Unlocked:
Effects
Boss Floor: Design a Creature as Boss Floor, letting it have +2 to its base DC. It costs nothing to assign, but 3 SE to revoke. Should a Floor Boss gain a special Prestige, it will instead become a Unique one.
-A New Floor will increase your passive Energy Gathering by +1/day to 2/day
Rooms
Maturity Ward (5SE)
Researchable:
Units:
Poisonous Hatchling (CON Challenge) (3Dp) (3SE)
Arcane Hatchling (INT Challenge) (5Dp) (5SE)
New Researchable Rooms:
Shedding Bay (5 Dp), (5SE)
Poison Collection Room (15 Dp) (10SE)
What to vote on:
How will your influence grow? (Top 1 will win)
[] Scaly Paradise: the lands you occupy become the most desirable to natural-born Dragons and all their descendants.
[] First Growth: Around you, a particular kind of animal will begin to rapidly evolve, increasingly coming closer and closer to sentience.
[] Mineral Renewal: Will spawn new Ore veins around you, which will renew over time.
Should you spend your resources? (35Se, 8 Dp)
[] Write-in
This calls for a new defensive measure. Something physical, but that might get through armour. Something that will keep bothering even someone much stronger than a level two. Something determined to punch through to their bodies, inflicting what they wish to do to you upon them. So you once more focus on the shape the more physically inclined hatchling takes. By now you've gotten quite the experience, and as such you can do much more than you did before.
You compare them to one another, and quickly realize which parts will dictate the creature's body, in particular the musculature. Its bones shall be harder, as to sustain more damage, even if they'll cause its movements to be slower. Its muscles shall shift in such a way as to focus on the neck, making it longer and almost half again as thick as its siblings', and the overall musculature will be weaker. This will have the side effect of making it rather… simple-minded, as it is, but that is of no concern to you.
You will still like it, as you do all your creatures. From the smartest to the mightiest, to the most useless of them.
With these adjustments, such a creature would latch onto an adventurer's body and refuse to let go, mindlessly trying to eat them. The only thing they can actually digest is stone, so they will not consume the bodies, unless you wish for them to and order them to bite down. Instead what will happen is that they'll remain attached at their hip, leg, or arm, making for a very good distraction. They'll also probably leave behind a scar. Funnily enough, the more armoured a target is, the more effective they'll be, as their gear will work against them.
You'll dub this creature the Chubby Hatchling, for its rather cute body and behavior. The face they make while biting is also rather chubby, so you feel very justified in your name. It has absolutely nothing to do with their rather rotund bodies, and anyone that says differently definitively deserves the incoming bite.
Unlocked:
Chubby Hatchling (3 SE)
- This rather cute Hatchling will bite down on an unlucky adventurer, should they be unable to dodge their furious charge. And they will bite hard, refusing to let go. This rather cumbersome addition to their armour will surely harm them. And don't call them chubby, whatever you do.
- Effect: Triggers a DEX Challenge. If failed, 1 ap is taken, and a permanent 2 malus to all dice rolls is added. Once the challenge is failed, it can only be retriggered when the first adventurer has fainted.
- Base DC: 7; Base Malus: -2
By now your focus has once more moved to the dwarven woman. She seems to be huffing and puffing this and that way, lowly grumbling about this and that. While you do hear her King's name often being repeated, mostly in curses, you're not quite sure what she's talking about.
"-amn fool, leaving me behind without a way to contact the DungeonCore. Damn it, this is literally rarer than a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it might already come to an end thanks to this? Bah! Next time I see his wife, I'll make sure to tell her what to do to his bear, oh yes!
I know he's been hoarding Kardraz's special ointments, and should a few nobles hear about it there are sure to be grudges to placate. I swear, if he costs me this just because of his newfound happiness, he'll soon find himself with a deeper grave than his present one. Bah! Younglings these days! You give them a throne and still..." She does not seem to wish to stop. Until she does. And then palms her face. "Listen Core, if you can hear me and understand me, but given we have a signed contract from you it seems evident that you did, I'll surrender now. Please give me the same Mark that you gave that Dolgi buffoon." And so she does, letting all the air out of her chest and eventually fainting.
That is, from your understanding of her biology, something rather extreme.
(Level 4 Aide Dungeon Sophos Mathilda Graypeak has surrendered. +2 SE)
Well.
That's something.
Something you probably have to think about. Eventually. For now, you want to get expanding. The itch in your mind has grown, and while buying the new Hunting Lodge has surely helped, you're now looking at a much more tantalizing prize. A second Floor. The change such a thing will have to you… Well, you can hardly wait. So with much trepidation, you start to funnel your Energy. You were on the verge of greatness, basically needing a pittance of Energy to ascend, when a bothersome thought entered your mind and refused to go away.
She seemed rather interested about you. Wouldn't she care about something like this? You think about it, metaphorically feeling the change about to happen. But reason won out, and you soon found yourself shifting your focus on where she is staying stasied in the prison. And in a few seconds, you Branded her as well, just the same as you did for Dolgi.
[Mathilda Geraypeak gains Magical Telepathy Level 1 (Allows to perceive nearby others' projected thoughts.) [Branding an Adventurer has gained you some Energy.] (+4 SE)
And soon enough she plops back to the entrance, being teleported back to the small gate now signaling where you begin, and the mountain ends. She lays there, sleeping for a while, before groggily waking up. "Hnggg. J'ush five more minutesh." And she rolls to her back, once again asleep.
…
You wait a while, and eventually she does finally wake up again.
She blinks up to the rough stone ceiling, and immediately starts cussing. "Where for my Ancestor's left nut am I?!" Screaming and flailing, she gets up on two shaky legs, looking at the cavern with her back to your entrance. "Whu? Where am I?" She looks around briefly, turning her head this and that way, just to come short of an actual answer. Then she notices the runic glow coming from behind her and swivels around.
Her eyes snap open, her mouth falls to the floor, and her eyes begin to twinkle. "Oh, Ancestors. It ain't no dream, huh?" She stands there, looking at your entrance for quite a while. Even if you can't really understand the emotion she's showing, you know you ought to give her space to settle down, and so you do. You go back to looking around, trying to find a good place to place your first new floor, where the flow of Energy would least be disrupted. The obvious answer is to replace the current Core Room, and you probably will do that, all things considered.
It is then she finally has gathered her wits enough to talk to you, and you can feel her mind fainly reaching out to yours. It feels much different from Dolgi's, at least in part because his own, you now realize, was somehow safeguarded. Hers is not. Should you wish to, you could probably send Energy into her Mind. It will have some effect on her, but you think that gradually feeding her a single unit per day should let her survive. At least until the fifth. Then... who knows?
Oh. It seems your wandering mind has already lost you the start of what she has to say. You once more focus on what's on her mind. "-nd so, I'm really, really glad I can document your growth. Like, you honestly don't understand how big this could be for my race as a whole. I already have some theories, and should you want me to, I will share them with you. Just say the word, and I'll tell you anything you want to know. Oh geez, thank the Ancestors I packed for a lot of writing. It might just get me through until my da and ma get here, yes. Ahh, just thinking about the idiot's smug grin is making my blood boil. Ancestors damn that fool of a king-"
Well. It seems like chit-chatting is, in fact, a common occurrence among dwarves. Now you know.
Anyway, on to more important matters. You'd like some peace, and you know of only one way to get it. "-nd I really don't know what your walls are made of. Every time we asked her, she told us to bugger off, and that we ought to have more respect for our ancestors, but with your permission I will-"
No, this is definitively too much. "Please desist. My Mind reels every time I think of what you're saying." Yes, you may be exaggerating a little, but she was literally jumping at the chance of tearing down your walls. That ought to warrant a strong reaction, no matter who you ask. This sends her into a stunned silence, and she just stands for quite a few seconds. "Thanks." Maybe you're wrong, and she is quite nice to listen to your request so quickly. "You can talk?!" And now she's screaming once more.
Damn it. You were just getting your hopes up for some lasting quiet. "Yes, I can. No matter how hard I may wish the contrary." At this, she squeals, and once more begins blubbering about all sorts of things. Well, she would, if you didn't cut her off immediately. "Tell me Sophon, why is it you wish to study me?" She seems to think about your reasonable question for a few minutes, and the pause gives your assoulted mind time to think.
And the result is that you might just have found a solution to your problem. And look, just in time to test it. She once more opens her mouth to talk, just to cover it a few moments later, blushing a little. Once again she tries to start talking, and this time she seems to be more secure in her intentions. "It's because we dwarves are borne of a dungeon, oh mighty Core. Please understand, that this may very well tell us something fundamental of our very species. Maybe of the world as we know it, given the role you Dungeons play in the flow of Mana. See,-"
You're quick to stop her once more. "You may now call me Drag-Karak, as this is the name I've chosen for myself." At that, she pauses for a beat. And then reality seems to settle in around you. Your walls quake, the very mountains move as your walls grow stouter, materials change, torches spring up in all your rooms, and small doors sprout between your rooms.
But the biggest shift occurs at your entrance. There, an inscription you can't read seems to carve itself in your stone, and for some reason you get the distinct meaning it may be traduced to 'Welcome to Karak Karkakarak'. So apparently getting a name would have influenced you. Good to know. "Did you just name yourself?! Just like that?!" And she's once more back to screaming. This is getting real old, really quick. "Aye, I am. Now stop all your huffing, and get your wits back to you. One of your kind ought to be calmer, no?"
"Ancestors above! I just witnessed a baby Dungeon's naming! Oh, Ancestor gods, inspire me to save everything I've witnessed to memory. Ah, I can still see them, burned in my retinas, the tendrils of Mana shifting their flow! Let me just write it all down real quick." And in what may seem animalistic fervor, she hunches by one of your new torches and begins scribbling fanatically on a little diary.
Your mind hangs over her like an anvil, and you can't help but find some measure of fondness when she closes her eyes to 'see better the flows of Energy'. While it is probably rather unhealthy, you want to help her a little, and with a small burst of might, you will the closest light source to burn brighter. It does, but this seems to go unnoticed by who was supposed to be your teacher. And then you once more hear echoes from the caves. A quick song about… crushing orcish skulls, and not letting the party be split in two?
[An Adventurer Party of five is approaching you!]
[Thunni Whi-]
Well, at the risk of sounding crass, you'd like to say fuck that.
(-10 SE) (31 Total)
So you finally buy the second floor, placing it in the place of the first.
And it all fades to black, as your doors slam shut, and you hear the soft thump of soft flesh on stone, crowned by twin cries of joy from within and desperation from without.
That will be a problem for when you have a second floor, you decide.
Unlocked:
Effects
Boss Floor: Design a Creature as Boss Floor, letting it have +2 to its base DC. It costs nothing to assign, but 3 SE to revoke. Should a Floor Boss gain a special Prestige, it will instead become a Unique one.
-A New Floor will increase your passive Energy Gathering by +1/day to 2/day
Rooms
Maturity Ward (5SE)
- This ward serves to quickly grow the Hatchlings into juvenile Dragons, letting them pose a much more serious threat to invaders. And also as a safe space for those quiet ones that attempt to escape their more playful siblings' bothersome pranks.
- Allows the second Prestige of an awakened Unit.
- You can Spawn a unit for its allotted price, then upgrade it up to five times, then prestiging it. There may be special potions, depending on the creature's history. At any point, you may spend 10 SE on any unit to make them sophomores. Then you may use this room to upgrade them further.
- This room is full of fungi. They smell really, really bad, but some kinds of creatures will find the fragrance irresistible. You don't.
- Produce enough food to sustain up to 5 people, even if they may wish they were dead rather than eat the damn mushroom.
- This is a Manufacturing Room. (Investing 20 points in this will make the Dwarves very upset.)
Researchable:
Units:
Poisonous Hatchling (CON Challenge) (3Dp) (3SE)
Arcane Hatchling (INT Challenge) (5Dp) (5SE)
New Researchable Rooms:
Shedding Bay (5 Dp), (5SE)
Poison Collection Room (15 Dp) (10SE)
What to vote on:
How will your influence grow? (Top 1 will win)
[] Scaly Paradise: the lands you occupy become the most desirable to natural-born Dragons and all their descendants.
[] First Growth: Around you, a particular kind of animal will begin to rapidly evolve, increasingly coming closer and closer to sentience.
[] Mineral Renewal: Will spawn new Ore veins around you, which will renew over time.
Should you spend your resources? (35Se, 8 Dp)
[] Write-in
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