My gobs have all gathered. A grand total of 15 mean little green dudes. I explain the plan and set some rules.
Until the Great Goblin Gambit succeeds or fails, we hide. That means no leaving the dungeon. Entrance #1 is to be filled with webbing. Like so webbed that nothing would ever want to enter it.
I buy a bucketload of my newly improved 'cave spider weavers' and set them to work. Go go go!!!
I buy some regular tall grass and place it right outside the entrance. Then I make it grow taller and thicker. Perfect. Finally a use for the otherwise underutilized shop item.
Moving on!
The gobs have each been bestowed a leaf blade and are testing them out on some unfortunate bunnyrats and bats.
That's when I remember we've got 2 dead rangers waiting to be processed. I get the gobs to loot the corpses and move anything interesting to the side for me to keep track of.
I make a mental list
- 2 shortbows. These should go to trip or trap.
- 2 quivers containing a total of 13 arrows.
- 2 metal knives, mint condition.
- a few belts and buckles
- several pouches of bits and bods
- a handful of copper coins and a few silvers
- some rope
- 2 tattered cloaks and shredded ranger quilted cloth armor
Alright alright! Let's get to melting already! I turn it on. As the bodies dissolve my DP goes through the roof! It's never been higher!!
To celebrate, I buy 5 gobs. They are a good mix. 2 beefy ones, 2 sneaky ones and 1 runt whom I hope was at least compensated with brains.
The new recruits are warmly welcomed by my current staff. In other words they get wrestled, sat on, and shown who's in charge before I assign them to their mentors.
Stron'kest now has 6 followers, 2 fighter and 4 henchmen. Trip, the veteran scout is in charge of the 2 lookouts and the newly recruited scout. Trap is training the 2 slimewhackers into proper trappers. Stewbag felt left out but didn't want the runt, so he grabbed the other sneak to be his apprentice. Berry'wart finally has someone his own size to pick on, and promptly stuffed a pillberry into the runt's mouth.
I pass out the weapons and other souvenirs to the more senior member of the crew who were elated at the honor.
"Well that was fun, but back to work everyone!"
Trap leads his team to make spike traps, pit traps and other features near the blockaded entrance. Just in case we get visitors.
Trip and his gang speed off down to the lower level to scout the area. I've given them some pouches full of seeds and spores for them to prep the area for me to conquer.
Stronk and the beefy boys spend some time prepping their weapons and making javelins. I give them a helping hand and create a short stubby tree whose bark is thick, easy to peel, and regrows fast. Using strengthened mana grass they bind the harvested bark around their limbs and chest. It looks a little flimsy but better than nothing. They also head down to the deep.
Berry'wart and the runt get along smashingly. Apart from that first pillberry experience, they've really hit it off. They've decided to recruit the currently unemployed brute laborers for some experimentation. Turns out the runt is thankfully the brainy type, and Berry'wart is enjoying the new experience of debating and verbal sparring.
The kitchen crew is raiding my own dungeon to prep for the meal tonight.
Now we wait.
Scratch that! Now *I wait. Everyone else is working hard. I smile proudly to myself. Everyone except Batson.
"Don't think I can't see you hiding under the berry bushes!"
I haven't paid much attention to him recently, but I he's getting fat again.
Poking his head out, he flaps his wings uselessly before rolling his balloon like body over to me with a pitiful face. His eyes watering as if begging me to help him or put him out of his misery. I know he is a glutton, but something's fishy about the situation.
Looking around I spot Berry'wart nervously sneaking glancing in my direction. He freezes for a second then launches into an animated discussion with the runt with a creepy smile plastered on his face. Guilty. What has he been feeding my mascot??!
Being the magnanimous and thoughtful ruler that I am, I decide to help the most senior of my underlings. I pull up the editor. I've got time to kill anyway.
Ok. I'm surprised. Berry'wart you little runt, you've done it!
Looking at Batson's unnaturally high EP I'm more curious than ever as to what the local mad scientist has done.
I've gotten a little attached to Batson, as he was the only one of my original critters who seemed to have some personality before the goblins arrived. So I'm not gonna go too crazy.
I try to convert his bloating into EP to relieve his pain, but that doesn't work. Apparently his EP is maxed out so any further EP gain is stored as fat.
Don't worry Batson, I'll have you right as rain in just a sec.
I start spending EP. Increasing his size helps and distributing the extra fat over a larger area allows him to finally relax. He won't burst at least. Moving on, I boost his basic stats, strength, flight speed, wingspan, vision, intelligence, toughness, bight strength, the works.
By now Batson dwarfs the other bats and is about the size of an full grown Corgi. His EP is down to a common level now, so I covert his extra fat into EP as well. Then I try something risky. I give him two tiny extra arms with a set of 3 finger and a thumb on each hand. The final bit of EP goes to his brain to help him use his new limbs.
There you go!
Batson carefully tests out his new body, and is clearly excited about his new hands. He's seen the goblins do lots of interesting things but his wings just don't work for grabbing and using tools.
I get a notification and see that Batson now is his own distinct species. I give it a temporary name as Batson will no doubt get stronger in the future.
- Lesser Batling: descendants of bats, these creatures have budding intelligences and an additional pair of dexterous limbs. Their looks and penchant for mischief might cause them to be mistaken for imps.
Ok... oddly detailed description. Is the dungeon's system getting more sophisticated as I level up?
I buy 4 lesser batlings. They aren't nearly as expensive as gobs so I get a few. They are all a little smaller than Batson, and treat him as a leader. I'm a little surprised, but they seem to be able to communicate through simple gestures. Their vocal system isn't capable of coherent speech though they seem to manage a creepy chuckle.
They flutter off, and soon I hear angry yells coming from the kitchen crew.
Imp-like behavioral issues already I see. Not my problem. The gobs know not to hurt Batson too much.
I roll over to my cultivation chamber. A neat arrangement of slime cores can be seen around the edge of the tiny room and one dull one near the center.
Alright let's go!
I get the vortex going before focusing on extracting energy from the cores. I miss the days of instant fusion...