Dungeoncore Quest

[Red12]

Hello. I saw this format being used, and couldn't resist giving it a crack of my own. And besides anything else, this kind of quest is always rather fascinating, if short lived.

We'll be playing as a Dungeoncore. The entity controlling a Dungeon, whose only real body is stationed in the central room, or 'Core Room'. The setting is High Fantasy, even if there are some rather... horrible things here and there. People will come to try and defeat us, as that tends to bring things such as fame, glory, recognition and, most importantly, riches. But not everyone will be against us. There are many mechanics (which I'll be shamelessly stealing) but things should be fairly intuitive this early on.

There is only one question now. What should our Dungeon's minions be like?

[] Fairies
[] Sea Monsters
[] Monsters (Non Humanoid)
[] Vampires
[] Dragons
[] Angels
[] Write-in

 

[Red12]

You are a Dungeoncore.
A supernatural entity in the world of Echelon that is seen as the root of change and purest form of magic. Unable to leave your area of influence, you grow and passively influence your surroundings while defending yourself from Adventurers who seek to neuter your growth, control you, experiment on you, etc.
They are not your friends. Even those not hostile. Unless you make an effort to befriend them, anyway.

Defense
A Dungeoncore defends itself through 3 different methods. Rooms, Units, and Effects.

Rooms are areas that Adventurers travel through to reach you. Each Room is tied to one of the six stats and requires all Adventurers who enter to enter a Challenge. If they fail the challenge, then they are hit by the penalty of the room.

Units are special creatures within your Rooms that aid in the defense of you. They are able to act as additional Challenges for Adventurers who cross them or they act as Maluses or provide additional effects to Rooms.

Effects are enchantments that you are able to place on Rooms or Units. They are generally buffs for your DCs, Maluses for certain stats, or game-changing alterations that can trip up even the most veteran of Adventurer.

You buy Rooms, Units, and Effects with Soul Energy.

You research new Rooms, Units, Effects with Dungeon Points.



Soul Energy
Soul Energy is the energy you get passively from existing each day, from Killing and kidnapping Adventurers. Killing is the best way to wrack up points, but Kidnapping has it's own benefits.

You passively gain 1 Soul Energy per day that you survive.

• Killing an Adventurer gives you Soul Energy equal to the Rank of the Adventure times two. So if you down an Rank 2 Adventurer, you get 4 Soul Energy.
• Kidnapping an Adventurer gives you Soul Energy equal to the Rank of the Adventurer flat. So a Rank 2 Adventurer will only net you 2 Soul Energy. However, you may Kidnap or Brand the Adventurer.

New Floors are also purchased by Dungeon Points. To gain expand your options for investing Dungeon Points, you must purchase new Floors first.

Dungeon Points
A Dungeoncore is always looking to grow, but they have to invest their experience into learning how to grow!

1. Dungeon Points are gained by successfully defending off Raids.
2. You receive Dungeon Points equal to the total of Ranks amongst the Adventurers that the Raid consisted of. Example: Have three 2 Rank Adventurers get their asses killed in your dungeon? You receive 6 Dungeon Points.
3. They can be spent at any time to unlock new Rooms, Units, and Effects.

Kidnapping
While Killing is self-explanatory, leaving the corpses of Adventurers in your trail isn't always the best use of the resources they provide.
Once an Adventurer has run out of Adventure Points and has been Defeated, you can either finish the job by Killing them or Kidnap them.
Kidnap them is a non-lethal alternative to Killing and has a few base options on what to do.

1. You can Kidnap a Broken Adventurer. A Broken Adventurer that has been Kidnapped acts as a passive generator of Soul Energy. Trapped, they provide 1 Soul Energy a day.
2. Other Adventurers can rescue them. An Adventurer has to make it out of the Dungeon unDefeated with the Kidnapped Adventurer on them. During this time, the Kidnapped Adventurer does not have to roll against threats, but their rescuer does. Failure leaves both of them once again at the mercy of the Dungeon.
3. You can also Brand a Broken Adventurer. A Broken Adventurer that has been Branded is given a Curse by you. Life-altering, mind-shattering, these Brands can add up and the more Brands a Broken Adventurer has, the more likely they are to return to end you and break their Curse(s).
4. Every time a Branded Adventurer is Defeated, you add the number of their Brands with their Rank to decide Soul Energy payoff.

The rewards from Breaking an Adventurer can only be gotten once a day per individual Adventurer. That is, unless the Adventurer uses alternate means of recovering completely from their last trip inside.




Effects

1. Effects cost Soul Energy and are the most expensive baseline purchase. The cheapest Effects cost 4 Soul Energy, but can get quite expensive.
2. Effects are enchantments and special qualities that can be moved from Rooms and Units between Raids.
3. Effects alter the Rooms and Units that they attached to, applying upgrades to DCs, applying Maluses to Adventurers, rule changes, and game-changing abilities that can trip up Adventurers.
4. They can buff DCs, act as independent Once-Per-Raid Challenges, and other unique, well, effects
5. Effects cannot be upgraded.
6. Rooms and Units can only have one Effect enchantment on them at a time.

Rooms
Rooms cost Soul Energy to purchase, with some Rooms only costing 2 Soul Energy to some costing much more!

• Rooms are the most stable of your defenses, but are the hardest for you to move once you've placed them down.
• Rooms, once placed, require 1 Soul Energy to move them.
• Putting them in Reserve, for later use, also costs 1 Soul Energy. Taking them out, however, is free and you can place them anywhere you like!
• Each Room is tied to one of the Adventurer Stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma).
• When an Adventurer walks into a Room they trigger a Challenge, which requires the Adventurer to beat the DC of the Room with the tied stat.
• The Base DC of a Room starts at DC 10.
• A Room can be upgraded for 3 Soul Energy. Each upgrade increases the DC of the room by 1 and each room can be upgrade 3 times.
• When a Room reaches it's 3rd upgrade, it can be Prestiged for 1 Soul Energy.
• The Base DC of a Prestige Room starts at DC 15. Upgrading a Prestige Room costs 4 Soul Energy.
• The effects of Rooms do not go beyond the Dungeon.
• Some Rooms are not meant to be defenses and instead improve the Rooms connected to it or provide special actions that can be taken between or during Raids.

Baseline, a Room can hold 3 Units at a time.


Units

• Units cost Soul Energy to purchase, usually requiring upwards of 2 Soul Energy per each Unit!
• Units are your most mobile of defenses, able to be deployed in different rooms between Raids and some can even be held back to be deployed on the fly!
• They can be put in Reserve for free! They can be taken out for now cost, either!
• Units have a variety of different effects. Some are tied to one of the six Adventurer Stats and act as Challenges (triggering them much in the way Rooms do).
• The Base DC of a Unit is 7.
• A Unit can be upgraded for 2 Soul Energy. Each upgrade increases the DC of the unit by 1 and each unit can be upgrade 5 times.
• When a Unit reaches it's 5th upgrade, it can be Prestiged for 1 Soul Energy.
• The Base DC of a Prestige Unit starts at DC 12. Upgrading a Prestige Unit costs 3 Soul Energy.
• Baseline, a Unit cannot be Prestiged more than once.
• Instead of acting as an additional Challenge, Units can instead have additional effects or act as Maluses for specific types of Adventurers.
• The effects of Units do not go beyond the Dungeon.
• These Units can be upgrade in much of the same way and have their effects and abilities increased numerically.

 

[Red12]

Winning Vote:
[X] Dragon

At some point of time, your existence begins. You can't point to the exact instant, nor can you actually understand who or what you are. What you know is that you are. Mostly because you can perceive things. Like… the stone surface of the room you're in. The singular room you're in.

And it is made of stone, even if you're not sure what that is. As odd as it is, it still feels normal to you. Not like you've ever known anything different. And who knows how long it has taken you to develop higher thoughts. Well, none of that matters now, does it? What does is that you have an itch to grow, an unsatisfied need, needling your very mind, that craves expansion. You want to grow.

You observe the hard walls surrounding you. They rise high and might, at least compared to your own diminutive form. You get a look at yourself. What you gleam is that you're also a rock, but different from the walls. You are… clearer, more magical in a way, even if you're not sure what that means, or why it came to your mind.

Well then. Time to be productive. And maybe actually scratch that damn itch.
[You have 10 Soul Energy]


What do you do?
[] Produce a Unit
[] Produce a Room

 

[Red12]

Here is where I'll hopefully manage to post a map of our Dungeon.

Floor I

View: https://imgur.com/a/k5B10Wl

 

[Red12]

Winning Vote:
[x] Produce a room [3 Soul Energy]
-[x] Heated room
[X] Produce a Unit
-[X] Depressed Hatchling [2 Soul Energy]

Something inside you guides your will, as you start to shape the solid rock outside of your body. A small frame, to act as a door, left behind as you keep excavating what is around you. The walls, ceiling and floor, to be enchanted as to rise in temperature, should it sense someone close by. And most importantly, an entrance, for adventurers to enter.

A glorious entrance, grand and detailed, beautiful and imposing… That is to say, a hole in the wall that leads to nothing but more rock. Well… that might be a problem. At least now you know somewhat where you are. The stone is cold, telling you that there's no close by source of heat, and that you are at least some distance from the surface. Once more you know, even if you don't understand how, that you are not that far from the rest of the world, and that visitors will soon arrive.

You look at the stone wall, and think once again about what your knowledge is telling you. Yeah, right… Maybe you shouldn't trust it completely. Doubting yourself, even if depressing, seems to be all you can do right now, even if you admittedly can force the Heated Room to work, letting you deal with the sheer cold of the crude rock somewhat.

These negative feelings seem to gather in your body, and focus in your mind. Bah, what do you even know about anything, really? Maybe you're just a shiny rock with delusions of grandeur. Maybe after all, you're not even shiny. Pfah, and how do you see anyway? Everything's supposed to be dark, in such an enclosed space, no?

Then, once more, your instincts seem to take over, almost taking pity of you, and shove all these negative feelings into the crystal, the center of your awareness, and they seem to take physical form.

A protrusion of crystal grows from it, and keeps growing and shaping. Rough crystal surface slowly grains a gray coloration, far from the multifaceted original, and it starts to gain a shape. An oddly familiar shape, that for some reason seems to resonate with you.

Well, what's that? It seems to be waiting for something. You look at it, really focusing on every uncanny rivulet, on its oddly rough texture, on its unifourm colour, and in all that observing you kind of… push into it. You feel some Energy, your literal Lifeblood whisper your instincts, being diverted towards the protrusion. When enough is channeled, it cuts off from your actual body with a snap. It falls to the ground, rolling this and that way, and rests on a wall, the stone-like crystal slowly crumbling and deteriorating.

That's interesting, to say the least.

With a much more positive outlook, you once again focus on it, cautious of not making the same mistake. So it is you see, as the crystal sheds from around the shape of what you know to be an egg. A gray, depressed, egg. As soon as the crystal is gone, it cracks, and you can hear scratches on its surface, as something within seems to have awakened.

What happens next, you will forever remember. A little creature, absolutely adorable and worthy of being pampered for the rest of eternity, crawls out of the hole it made into its egg, already eating it. That seems rather counter intuitive to you, as given it has all come to you wouldn't it have been better to just… create it already finished?

Well, no matter. As it eats, small flames at times come out of its nostrils, and it seems to be cautiously looking around. What it sees are the now familiar stone walls, and your own shiny surface. It seems oddly focused on you, but what else is there to do in such a depressive space? Everything's dark, and the only light its tiny, sad eyes can use to see comes from its own tiny flames.

As soon as it's done eating, it meanders off, approaching you casually. It stops just before touching you with one of its claws. You'd be terrified, but once again a part of your mind stops you from fearing your own creations.

Its little claw retracts, and once more attempts to reach you. It looks as if it reaches a physical barrier each time, but your senses tell you that there's nothing there. After the fifth time it attempts to reach you, it finally gives up. The growing crescendo of despair its feature broadcasted fully matures into sadness, and it skulks off to the door. There it keeps looking at the heated room, as if waiting for something to happen. Lazily scratching its own scales, or clawing the walls.

(You still have 5 Energy to spend. Do you wish to keep it in reserve and begin the first raid, or spend it somehow? Regardless, at the end of this vote's results, there will be a raid.)

Spend Soul Energy?
[] Spawn a Unit
[] Create a Room
[] Keep it in reserve
[] Write in

Where is our Lonely friend going? And do you want to name them?
[] Its name is now Lorg the Lonely Hatchling
[] It will not get a name until it does something more than being cute.


[] It will go to the Heated Rom
[] It will remain in the Core Room
[]Wire-in (in case you make more Rooms)


As for the Raid:
[] A young miner stumbles on something that shouldn't have been there.
[] The wall crumbles, destroyed by the animalistic strenght of a humanoid, desperate for escape.
[] Suddenly someone teleports into the room. The extremely confused looking apprentice mage is already feeling dizzy because of the heat.

 

[Red12]

Effects:

• Horrifying Miasma (-2 to all Rolls in a specific Room) [3 Dpoints]

Rooms:

• Boulder Room (Repeatable Strenght Challenge) [1 Dpoint]
• Hunting Lodge [3 Dp] (Unlocks Parties)
• Shedding Bay (5 Dp), (5SE) [Manufacturing Room]
• Poison Collection Room (15 Dp) (10SE) [Manufacturing Room]

Units:

• Joyous Hatchling (Charisma Challenge) [1 Dpoint]
• Crystal Hatchling (Int Challenge) [2 DPoints]
• Poisonous Hatchling (CON Challenge) (3Dp) (3SE)

---

Available Rooms

Slated Stones Room (3 Soul Energy)

• A room filled with spiky stones jutting from the ground. They seem to be placed in such a way as to force anyone walking to jump from one to the other. Falling is... a bad way to get hurt.
• Effect: Triggers an Dexterity Challenge to Adventurers
• Base DC: 10

Heated Room (3 Soul Energy)

• A room whose walls, floor and cieling magically rise in temperature when any kind of magic is percieved. As a result, a prolonged stay can cause dizziness or, in extreme cases, fainting. Or, to those of a heartier consitution, it might feel more like a sauna.
• Effect: Triggers a Constitution Challenge to Adventurers
• Base DC: 10

Key Room (3 Soul Energy)

• A Room with a door. Its key is hidden somewhere between its walls, among countless other objects of questionable use. Finding may take a while, giving any creatures inside a chance to keep bothering the intruders.
• Effect: Triggers a Wisdom Challenge to Adventurers. If failed, it does not cause a loss of AP, but instead needs to be retaken next turn.
• Base DC:10

Prison (2 Soul Energy)

• A Room designed to hold Adventurers, extract Energy from them safely, nurture them so they may live on and slowly mold them.
• No Challenge
• 4 Prisoners may be held at any given time. If the prisoners are not held, each day a Roll will be made for their escape attempt.

Hunter's Lodge [5 SE]

• This Room is designed with the aim of supplying a Party. It has comfy Nests, little trinkets and some books laying around. You're not sure why the books are here, but they are. Maybe one day they'll be useful.
• Effect: Increase Available Party Number to +1 (1 current)
• Each Party is composed of five members, and led by a Leder. They can be sent to gather foreign resources, to hunt prey, to fight battles, or really anything you want them to do.
• The effect will not overlap once per Level (If you build one on a new level, you may have another Party)

Maturity Ward (5SE) [Only Buldable from the 2nd Floor]

• 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.

Hydroponics (2SE)

• 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.)

Available Units

Arcane Hatchling [5 SE]

• This Creature is design with Energy Manipulation in mind. It can cast minor magics, what to some may be cantrips, but is probably has the most potential out of all your creations.
• Effect: Triggers an Intelligence Challence with Adventurers
• Base DC: 7
• Has a special interaction with the Mana Gathering Room

Roudy hatchling [2 Soul Energy]

• A hatchling that is more than willing to pick a fight.
• Effect: Triggers a Strength Challenge with Adventurers.
• Base DC:7

Kitty Hatchling [2 Soul Energy]

• A Hatchling that loves to hop around and pounce on potential prey.
• Effect: Triggers a Dexterity Challenge with Adventurers.
• Base DC: 7

Depressed Hatchling [2 Soul Energy]

• A hatchling that exudes an aura of apathy and despair around it. It might unnaturally pass onto others and cause harm, even if it does not linger.
• Effect: Triggers a Charisma Challenge with Adventurers.
• Base DC: 7

Sneaky Hatchling [2 Soul Energy]

• This hatchling has scales that easily blend in its sorroundings, both thanks to their natural colors, but also with some magical help. Those caught unaware are in for a rather painful surprise, be it a bite on their ankles or a claw in their face.
• Effect: Triggers a Wisdom Challenge with Adventurers.
• Base DC: 7

Hunting Hatchling [5 SE]

• This creature, heavily inspired by the Roudy Hatchling, with some traits from a Kitty Hatchling, is a hyperactive ball of scales and energy. It dreams of nothing but growing enough to lead a Party, or join one, and scurry around in the larger world to fulfill your wishes.
• Effect: STR Challenge an Adventurer.
• Base dc: 7

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

Available Effects

Acid Surge (3 Soul Energy)

• By manipulating your Energy, you are able to manifest a surge of incredibly dangeroud acid. Anyone unfortunate enough to not dodge it is destined to suffer for a long time.
• Effect: Triggers a party wide DEX challenge, If Failed will take -2AP.
• Base Activation Roll: 3SE

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.

 

[Red12]

You observe the little thing, curled up on itself at the room's edge to enjoy as much of the heat as possible. And suddenly it strikes you: you have created this entity. Can you do that consciously? So you attempt, focusing on your physical body once more, and willing a similar protrusion to come into being.

And it does, eventually. The little thing has fallen asleep by the time it cuts off from your crystal, and its fall wakes it up with a startle. It jerks, eyes already humid with unshed tears, and begins to spew little fire flames in the air to see around itself. It rushes back to the other egg, and it fills your heart of joy as it too happily examines the egg.

This one is different. For one, this is brown while the sad dragon's own was gray. And this one also has… imperfections? If it was stone, it'd be the dots, ruptures and all that is not plain and uniform. The energy used for this one is the same as the one before, so you don't really get why they're different.

While you are busy getting lost in your own thoughts the shell is once more cracked, (you note it makes the same noise, apart from the pitch being lower) and find a bronze claw sticking out of the egg. Soon enough another little scaled beast is jumping out, and swiftly consumes its previous prison. As it sets down, belly full of its meal, the little gray dragon slowly wobbles forth.

While its gray eyes are filled with hope and joy, what they find in its bronzen brother is nothing but mischief. It pounces, coiling itself firmly on its back, as the bigger creature yelps, surprised by its speed. They both make little noises as they play-fight around, jumping on each others and generally throwing a fit. You only pay enough attention to make sure the gray one is not actually in distress, and joyfully find some happiness in its eyes as well.

Then you focus more on the room. Their tiny little claws might be, in fact, small, but they do leave behind marks. Which over time refill on their own. Odd. You're pretty sure normal rock doesn't do that, else you'd be encased in stone. So is the materials your walls are made out of different?

As you once more rush into ultimately meaningless research, the two little critters still. And a few seconds later so do you, as your mind is pinched, for lack of better terminology, and your focus is brought to the heated room. There, something has just appeared, in the total darkness. Already the sad hatchling hides behind your Core, while the bronze one rushes ahead.

Hearing the sound of its claws must have startled whoever somehow made their way to you, as they let out a little scream. And soon enough a light blooms, and for the first time in your existence you are not completely shrouded in gloom. The flash blinds your minions' eyes, leaving time for the Adventurer to find their footing, blazing ball of pure white lazily floating around them. It is a petite girl, no older than twenty, desperately holding a book in her hands, and nothing else. As soon as she sees your minion, as it covers its eyes and grumbles a little about the pain, she screams a shrill noise, and falls on her knees.

"Gods above and below, no! No! Anything but a Dragon Den!"

Prescilla Rorka, Apprentice Mage


View: https://imgur.com/a/cUIyO0i

Rank 1 Adventurer

• STR: -1
• DEX: -2
• CON: -2
• WIS: +3
• INT: +3
• CHA: -1

"Damnation! I'm dead! I'm a walking dead woman!" Desperation seems to fill her, as she falls to the ground. You wonder why seeing your little minion has her so scared. Do they resemble some creatures with a reputation?



Prescilla's Roll against Heated Room (DC 10 CON)

[Prescilla Rorka rolls a 3 against DC 10 CON challenge. She subtracts her -2 WIS to her result.]

[Prescilla Rorka loses.]

[Prescilla Rorka loses -1 Adventure Point]

[Prescilla Rorka has 0 AP left. She has been Defeated.]

[Defeating Prescilla Rorka has earned you +1 Dungeon Point.] (1 Total)

[Defeating Prescilla Rorka has earned you +2 Soul Energy.] (5 Total)


She stumbles around, frenetically looking in her book, as the small light flutters rapidly this and that way. "Hells! What was that spell! Oh, I swear when I die I'll come back to haunt those idiots! Just you wait until I have... I have my hands... my ghostly hands..." As she goes on and on, the book slips from her hands, and her hat tips over. And then she flops to the floor, as the heat of the room overcomes her feeble constitution. Your little bronze minion seems uncaring of her state, and attempts to reach her body, probably to curl over it like a victorious conqueror, but the light goes out, and it once more has to deal with the darkness.




Mechanics Updated

What to vote on:

What do you do between raids?

[] Look at your minions play-fighting
[] Figure out a way to light up the rooms
[] Play with the little grubs
[] Write-in

Spend Currency? (Will update before next Chapter, with values dependent on the Adventurer's destiny)

[] Buy Unit
-[] To put in which room
[] Research something new
[]Buy new Room
-[] Where to put it?


How do you want to deal with the defeated adventurer?

-[] Kill her (+2 Soul Energy)
-[] Kidnap her (
-[] Brand her


Next Raid (5 days will pass):

[] A young miner stumbles on something they should have ignored. They might have dug too deep.
[] The wall crumbles, destroyed by the animalistic strength of a humanoid, desperate for escape.

[] Once more someone teleports in a room, but this time they come in a group, and prepared. (Ranks 2 will be here.)

[] The ground shakes, and someone falls from a newly formed hole in a room's ceiling. Their hardy body survives the long fall, and now they face the darkness. Your darkness.

 

[Red12]

Winning Vote:
[X] Figure out a way to light up the rooms
[X] Spawn two Roudy Hatchling
-[X] In the Heated Room
[X]Buy a Prison
-[X] Between the Core Room and the Heated Room
[X] A young miner stumbles on something they should have ignored. They might have dug too deep.



As her body flops to the ground, and the light she invoked peters off, you ponder on what you should do for this unfortunate soul. She didn't even put up a fight, and now your own minions are overexited, already trying to poke her awake once more.

Well, you're certainly not ending this poor thing's life. Instead, you'll just add your own little addition to her. (Rolling…) Once more your nature guides you, as you mold a part of her. In this case, you touch her mind. What, or how, you change, you do not comprehend. But still, you have a feeling it is a benign change, something about learning tongues faster.

What is a tongue, anyway? Apart from the thing inside your creatures' mouth, that is. Well, no matter. What you know is that as soon as she comes to with a groan, once more in the heated room, she quickly rises to her feet. "W-where am I?" She looks around, and finds nothing but utter darkness.

"W-what is that!?" And the little reptile trying to climb up her legs. It seems her moving from her resting position dislodged it from her side. "A D-d-dragon?!" She just keeps shouting. It is rapidly becoming annoying, actually. "Oh gods. Oh gods! A Dragon! A baby Dragon!" It seems her fear has slowly begun to be assuaged by her continued existence. "So cute! What are you doing here, you little critter? And… actually, where are we? How did I get here? Where is..." And on and on she goes, petting your minion all over, playing a little with her hands as she already begins casting all kinds of cantrips.

Among them, she once more lights up the room, and sees that a second room is connected. It glints off of your surface, making you easily observable from her position. "A giant crystal? But I've never seen one like that..." You can almost hear her thoughts flying all over the place, and eventually landing in the right place. "...Dungeon?" By this point she seems more defeated than before. She just curls down for a few minutes, your minion still jumping off of her body and generally being a menace.

Well, one of them. The other remains firmly planted on the entrance, but the color of its scales might have made her overlook it. Hmm… something to keep in mind. After she apparently gathers her strenght,she just stands still, looking at your physical body. "G-good day, Mr.Dungeon. I d-don't know if you can understand me, but… thanks for s-sparing me." Without saying anything else, or looking at her playmate, she focuses on her book, and eventually disappears as quickly as she came to be.

Huh.

(+1 Soul Energy for Branding a Level 1 Adventurer, +1 Branded Once) (7 Total)

After that… happened, you decided to give your own bronzed minion a few companions. To beef up your first bulwark, but mostly to keep it entertained, and stop it from bothering your other minion. After all you feel like you have to take car of them, and each one has their own needs.

The two creatures that come of that are different. Where your second born was playful, they care mostly for the fight, and usually stay engaged against each other, blood red scales clashing and falling off, only to grow back again and again. In the midst of their never ending quarrel sits your catty little minion, more busy playing pranks on them, to their ever growing grievances. But you have no time for such matters.
(-4SE) (3 Total)
While darkness can, of course, be a useful tool to impede any adventuring party that may try to brave your depths, it also kinda troubles your own minions, and you as well. It feels… wrong, in a way. Like that is not the natural order of things. Without even thinking about the danger of being so close to your entrance. Unthinkable!

To be seen already from your first room. You feel exposed, and move to rectify that. Given that your only defensive room has already had such a brilliant performance, you instead opt to add a little something that will surely demonstrate its value in the future. A room where your defeated foes may be held. What comes from this endeavour is fantastic, if you say so yourself. A perfect buffer room, made up of giant eggs, broken shells of the thereof, and for whatever reason some empty coffers.

You're not sure what they have to do with holding prisoners, but what do you know? If your very instincts obliged you to add them, they must be useful, right?
(-2 SE) (1 Total)
Most importantly, a cold shiver runs down your mind, a sinking feeling of weakness and powerlessness. You attempt to figure out why, and eventually figure out its origin. You have very little energy left. You know that anyone delving into you will aim for your core, but until now you weren't sure why. Now any doubt is gone, as your very nature spells out that what they want is Energy. Your energy.

They will extract it from you, and should you run our of it you will shatter. Cease to exist. Your mind will freeze, and come undone. Your body will once more be nothing but solid rock, and any surviving minions will escape into the wild, released as wild monsters, or engage your own slayers in an attempt at vengeance.

Well. That is… nice to know. Suddenly coming face to face with your own mortality is rather, upsetting. To say the least. To calm your suddenly tense nerves, you do what you enjoy most. Experiment, research, shape your own body to fit the image in your mind. You want light, and by the gods the little adventurer swore by, you will have it.

Unfortunately, you are not sure of how to make light. Your position is not so far from the one of the little defenseless girl that came into total darkness. And so you shall do as she did, hopefully to better ends. Yes, she lived, but she had to be knocked out for it. Which would be unfortunate for one of your nature. You will use the energy coursing through your entirety, and force it to do your bidding.

The only real way for you to interact with the material world is with your rooms and minions, and the latter are already doing all they can to see in the deep shade. Well then, time to make sure your rooms make light.

 

[Red12]

(5 days later)
(+5 SE) (6 total)
You did it! After endless days of toil, you reached your goal! What you manage to do is… change the room. The Heated Room, in particular. Yes, you had to spend some energy for it, but in the end, all is well!
(-1 SE) (5 Total)
Now the walls are covered in glowing ridges, that somehow release minuscule quantities of energy in the air. By your estimate it would take a single room centuries to need to be recharged once more. And now the two rowdy minions can actually fight. Already they are squaring off, both prepared to jump the moment the third occupant of the room tries anything funny.

And while they are at it, sizing one another up (or trying to slick off to behind one of them), something unexpected happens. The room's wall starts to crumble. You were already aware of what was going to happen, as you had felt the vibrations in the stone. Someone was crushing it while singing, possibly launching some kind of instrument at it. At an honestly slow rate. Your own methods were so much faster it wasn't even funny.

What comes from beyond is at first, a glimmering, pointy piece of metal. As soon as it is retracted, and apparently the light shines through, an eye looks into the room. By now your minions have already hidden, and seeing an empty, lit room the newcomer seems to start screaming. "Hey! Whose house is this?! And why didn't you sorry lot notify the mining guild you were so deep down?!" Well, he seems to be rather angry.

"I swear on the Ancestors, if one 'o ya lads isn't at least four centuries old, I'll personally scrape off all yer beards!" The pick's pace increases considerably, as apparently the anger fuels the man's body. "And stop ignoring your elder, you tossers! Oy! I swear this time I'll make sure the fine is all on your sorry ass!" Well, his screaming once more jumped up in volume.

He finally manages to dig a door for the room, still screaming all the way. "And what kind of idiot doesn't have doors between rooms, huh?! That's literally another fine right there! The Hold's law! Which clan are you?! I bet it's the Stonebreads again!" Well, now he's going off on a tangent. "In times like these making trouble! Shame on you lot! If yer ancestors had a speck of it, they'd have tugged your bears and gave you an ounce of good… sense?" Still screaming, he rushes into the room, pick high in the air.

Dolgi Dolgisson, Level 1 Dwarven Milita

• STR: 2 (5)
• DEX: 1 (-5)
• CON: 3 (6)
• WIS: -2
• INT: -2
• CHA: -2 (-4)

Perks
Dwarf:
This is a proud member of this staunch race. They are compact balls of anger, always ready to tank any hits and slay any enemy. Unfortunately, this comes with a steep price.
(+3 Con, +3 Str, -6 Dex-2 Char)

Items:
Miner's Gauntlets:
These hardy gauntlets have seen a long time of use. Possibly centuries. Their hardy leather, reinforced and sewed over many times, make for a good defensive measure, protecting the hands of the wearer. And reminding them of happier times, now long gone.
(+2 Con, +1 AP)


Dolgi's Roll against Heated Room (DC 11 CON)

[Dolgi Dolgisson rolls a 3 against DC 11 CON challenge. He adds his +6 CON to his result.]
[Dolgi Dolgisson loses.]
(You guys are so lucky)
[Dolgi Dolgisson loses -1 Adventure Point]
[Dolgi Dolgisson has 1 AP left.]


Dolgi's Roll against Rowdy Hatchling 1 (DC 7 STR)

[Dolgi Dolgisson rolls a 18 against DC 7 STR challenge. She adds her +5 STR to her result.]
[Dolgi Dolgisson passes the challenge.]

Dolgi's Roll against Rowdy Hatchling 2 (DC 7 STR)

[Dolgi Dolgisson rolls a 2 against DC 7 STR challenge. He adds his +5 STR to his result.]
[Dolgi Dolgisson passes the challenge.]


Adventuring party enters empty Prison.
Adventuring party enters Core Room.

Dolgi's Roll against Depressed Hatchling (DC 7 CHA)

[Dolgi Dolgisson rolls a 8 against DC 7 CHA challenge. He subtracts his -4 CHA to his result.]

[Dolgi Dolgisson loses.]

[Dolgi Dolgisson loses -1 Adventure Point]

[Dolgi Dolgisson has 0 AP left.]

[Dolgi Dolgisson has been defeated!]

[Defeating Dolgi Dolgisson has awarded you +2 Dungeon Points.]
[Defeating Dolgi Dolgisson has awarded you +2 Soul Energy.]




After weeks of extreme cold, surrounded by nothing but naked stone, deep in the heart of his mountain home, the sudden change in temperature hit hard, and fast. It hit deep in his bones, under his ehavy coat that all of a sudden felt really, really oppressive, and his now sweaty body that is now facing three Drakes. Three young drakes. Meaning somewhere deep beneath his family's home there is a giant lizard, waiting for their vaults to fill up, just to devour them all and keep the bling.

This is what is going on in the dwarven miner's mind. This, and a slew of curses and prayers for the Ancestors' mercy, as he rushes to exit the room. You only see his diminutive figure slowly move on its little legs towards the door he made just seconds ago. And then he slams on an invisible barrier, barring him the exit. He turns around, and cornered beast that he is, readies his pick.

Once the pick rises, and once it comes down on the kitty's head. It is knocked unconscious immediately. The two more combative stop and look at one another, suddenly in a very good mood. What they don't expect is for the dwarf, standing just a hair taller than the both of them, to rush them. He manages to throw the closest one in the air in a show of herculean strength that impressed even you.

While one of them is falling, the other has had time to begin pouncing on the diminutive form of the transgressor. As he glides in the air, fangs showing and claws at the ready, aimed to strike at vital points, his foe merely juts out his own gloved finger.
His sharp talons slide off of his protected hands, and he ends up hitting his nogging on the stone-like hand. Then, still not finished, he swings his tool wildly, hitting the descending creature square in the chest. The pick's head goes right through, knocking off some scales, and impales the little reptile on its iron.

The dwarf lets it go so quickly it might have been hot. Unaware to you, he now fears having sent a much scarier creature in a frenzy. Slaying a Dragon's kin in their den is, after all, a painful way to commit suicide. He looks around, and focuses on the walls. What he believed to have been the runes of his people turn out to be naught but crude imitations, more or less crude and meaningless doodles.

Yet, the darkness hides other creatures, and his now paranoid mind reminds him of his duty to his home. So he once more picks up his tool, and attempt to break whatever barrier stopped his retreat. You watch him once more swing wildly on empty space, and find it hilarious when he lets go of the weapon, as his hand is stopped by the barrier while the tool is let trough, and once more goes back to cursing.

Unfortunately now he has little choice but to forge on. And yet, his mind is now foggy. The Room's effects have finally broken through his stony constitution, and the immense heath has now clouded his mind. So he wobbles forward, already halfway to falling every step, until he manages to arrive to your core.

If you had eyes in your crystal body you'd be able to see him, and observe as his face is once more colored by surprise. "A D-dungeon! Oh, thank the Ancestors!" He falls to his knees, and passes out as your last defenders jumps in the air, flying trough the space he occupied but moments ago.

It doesn't stick the landing.
…
Well. At least it tried.

What to vote on
[] Spend Energy? Research something?
[] How to deal with the defeated adventurer?
-[] Kidnap
-[] Brand and get him out
[] What do you want to see in the Raids' Interim?

 

[Red12]

Winning Vote:
[X] Research
-[X] Stealthy Hatchling
-[X] Key Room
[X] Brand Him
[X] Name Depressed Hatchling
[X] Inspect the new entrance?

---

The poor thing is holding its snout, crying in pain. In the other room, all three defeated hatchlings are slowly recovering. Scales grow back unnaturally quick, as blood runs down the walls and is absorbed by the floor. Interesting. It seems your own minions can't be properly killed. So it is, with its tail literally tucked between its legs, that it once more it coils on itself, still looking at you with its sad, lonely eyes.

You have decided to reward this creature. From hence forth, it shall be named, Mordin. Mordin, the lonely guardian at the end of the Dungeon. The creature only the most daring and dangerous of foes will lay eyes upon. Your last line of defense from any and all invaders capable of actually threatening your existence.

But first things first. You have to keep some kind of order, or you'll keep losing yourself every time something odd happens around you. So. Dealing with the passed out old miner. You opt to infuse him in your Energy, like you did with the little mage. It worked once, it will again. Right?

[Rolling…]

A Brand, not too dissimilar from the glowing, rough runes on the Heated Room's walls, comes to be on his chest. You can tell because it glows strong enough to see through clothes. The beautiful blue light keeps on, without blinking out, even if he is unconscious.

Huh.

[Dolgi Dolgisson gains: Glowing Rune. No darkness can hold this rune's light back. You will always see what's in your surroundings, even in the least lit of caverns. Should you need it, snuff it out to avoid being noticed with a mental command.]

(+2 SE) (7 Total)

He is, as was the little girl, teleported to your entrance, this time outside of the hole he made with his pick. The improvised weapon is still laying, now beside his owner, as he slowly comes to. He rubs his head, scratching his belly and opening his eyes to see the familiar ceiling of one of his tunnels.

For a second the only thing he cares about is his oddly itchy chest. So he yawns, and holding himself on a wall, starts to get on his feet. Then he stops. How is he seeing without a light on? When did he fall asleep? He suddenly hears a growl, and finds three familiar draconic faces staring at him, two hungry for a fight while the third seems rather full of mirth.

He screams a little, misses his pickax as he tries to grab it, and falls on his ass. Then he looks as his still itching body, and screams a little more as he sees the seemingly runic encryption upon it. After a while of his literally heavy breathing and screaming he finally calms down. "What in the name of the Ancestors was I thinking?! If one of me elders saw me, they'd rightly call me a bumbling beardling!" He palms his head, full of shame. "But all things considered, I didn't do so bad for myself… Even reached the core room." His eyes are not too unhappy at that remainder. "Maybe after all it's not so shameful. Bah! I'll let the elders be the judges of this."

He once more turns to your three minions. "Lookit lads, while I'd love to give it another go, I fear that my people should know you lot are here. And they you at least don't kill on sight. I'll have this thing here examined, and if it ain't a curse you can expect a little gift next time I come around. Probably along with whoever will have to write you up a contract. Ack! The shame of it!" He turns around once more, slowly ambling off in the darkness, using his tool as a support.

Good enough. That's dealt with, so let's get to something a little more interesting. You now have a connection to the outer world. This is… refreshing, really. For one, a very small quantity of light enters through the hole. Well, there is more that gets out, but from what your senses tell you there would still be a tiny bit of luminosity.

So there is, somewhere, a natural source of light that can make its emanations reach all the way to wherever you are. Apart from that, what you notice is that your senses go as far as goes the light coming out of the room. Well, to be more precise, you can 'see' things in the tunnel in front of the entrance. You can sense it, but you can't exactly affect anything. Pushing it, you might be able to affect minimally all other things, but otherwise it is out of your reach. There seems to be a hard limit on your rooms' walls.

You discovered this by making the entrance to your own body as fancy as you could, adding a number of the lines and making it bigger, while also adding pillars on the side. Now rather than a door it resembles more a gate. So that's nice. This took you a long, long time, given that the further it is from your core, the harder it is for you to modify it. It is probably more about being closer to the edge of your 'domain', the area of influence over the world granted you by your Rooms, of which they are the physical manifestation, but given you only develop in one direction you can't really know.

Time passes.

You keep yourself busy. This time, a long, long time passes by. Like, a really long tie. Almost double what time passed before.

(+9 SE) (16 Total)

What you do, in fact, is design a great many new tools for your defense. First things first. A Room with a door. You heard the miner talk about it, and the idea resonated with you. So you designed a truly terrible room. Inside of it, there are a series of chests, and various objects sprawled all around. Among them one, and only one, is the key that will open the door.

Every time the invaders can't find the right key, they'll lose precious time, letting your minions attack them. You foresee adding quite a few nice surprises to this feature, such as explosive fakes, or taking the key out of the room and hiding it in another room, forcing them to change their path and try to reach it.

Well, that is for when you have many more rooms.

On the other hand, it seems you passed a treshold of some kind. You felt it when suddenly you could develop yourself in an extra dimension. Height. You can now make another floor, which will let your nature feed you new designs. Who knows what you'll discover? Unfortunately this will be a costly and lenghty process, that will probably have side effects. What you know for sure is that you will probably go unconscious, and remain locked to the external world.

So, you should probably do it only after a raid.

Speaking of. There seems to be beasts gathering outside. The chittering of your playful creatures seems to have lured them, probably thinking of finding easy prey. Thankfully, you've just finished designing a creature whose scales should be able to easily blend in, fooling the senses of those less… bright, yes.

Already you can see them, the next batch of invaders. These ones probably wish to call your depths home, and would stop at nothing to achieve this. A clutch of juvenile Spiders has come, to challenge your authority over the hole you've made for yourself in these apparently dangerous caverns.

A small horde of wild Spiders is approaching the dungeon!



Juvenile Small Cavern Spider1, Rank I (Spider 1)

Rank 1 Creature

• STR: +1
• DEX: +3
• CON: 0
• WIS: -3
• INT: -3
• CHA: 0

Juvenile Small Cavern Spider 2, Rank I (Spider 2)

Rank 1 Creature

• STR: +1
• DEX: +3
• CON: 0
• WIS: -3
• INT: -3
• CHA: 0

Juvenile Small Cavern Spider 3, Rank I (Spider 3)

Rank 1 Creature

• STR: +1
• DEX: +3
• CON: 0
• WIS: -3
• INT: -3
• CHA: 0

Juvenile Cavern Spider, Rank 2 (Spider)

Rank 2 Creature

• STR: +2
• DEX: +4
• CON: +1
• WIS: -3
• INT: -3
• CHA: -1

Perks
Hardened Carapace: This creature's outer body has been refined to resist any and all damage. It shall last longer than its brethrens, and it will be the last to breath its last. (+1 AP)

(In brakets are the names that will be used for the rolls)
Research:
Sneaky Hatchling(2 SE), Key Room(3 SE), Second Floor (10 SE)
(-2 DP) (1 TOT)


What to vote on:
(Total: 1 DP, 16 SE)

[] Buy new Rooms?
-[]Where (Between which other rooms) to put them?

[] Spawn new units?
-[] Where to put them?

[] How to deal with prisoners. (Kill/Kidnap/Brand)