Sadly if I was expecting some lord or supreme agency to ride in and lop Fadewind's head from his shoulders, I was sadly mistaken. At the end of the day Lawrence retired to bed now without his ugly wife and time crawled on by. Was this to be my life? I mean, outside of the core room I can see what is going on but I can't hear anything. I can't adjust anything. I'm a spectator in my own, well, body. And let me tell you, watching Lawrence drool on himself is not fucking interesting. I almost preferred their love making, even if I equated it to someone sodomizing a pig at least it was somewhat interesting. Like watching a house burn. Its terrible but you just can't help but stand there and think 'I wish I had marshmallows right now.'
The hidden lair was opened so the skeletal chickens are roaming around, but they're still dumb, not surprising since Fadewind scooped out what passed for brains in their heads. Same went for Terrance, the poor guy finally bled out so the floor of the passage between my core and the front lair was coated in congealed blood. Poor Sherry had sought refuge on her bed in her cell, its floor was similarly coated. Damn minotaurs bleed alot. Looking in on her it seems like she has gotten no rest. Not surprising considering it's the bloodless animated flesh of her husband really.
She doesn't look broken though. Lawrence probably didn't notice but she has determination not defeat in her eyes. Still the way she shivers on the stone bed just makes you want to hug her, let her know everything will be alright. Though it probably won't. I'm not real sure what Fadewind intends but with Gretna still in her cocoon chances are high he plans to try and dominate his prisoner. I'll burn incense for you Chicken Lord when a lass with THOSE stats gets her hands on your scrawny neck. It won't be pretty. But it will be fun to watch.
Routine slowly got back to Fadewind's old style, each day he'd head out, be gone for several hours and return with a few dead chickens. Seriously kid, you animated a fucking minotaur, leave the chicken alone! He did learn the hard way that being a warden for a prisoner was not easy though. When he cooked up the chicken he tried to feed Sherry, not expecting her to grab his arms and try to compress his body through the narrow gap of the bars. Luckily he ordered Terrance to rescue him or she's have hauled his scrawny arse through the gap.... maybe I should have cheered more for her.
Since that first fuck up he at least learned to have his zombie servant deliver her meals, Sherry wasn't as inclined to attack the face of her former husband, even if he was already dead. Actually Terrance has been doing alot now. A few days later Sherry was sick from the stench of blood, even Lawrence was looking queasy so he set the zombie minotaur to play maid and clean up his own mess. A touch dark I suppose, having the victim mopping up his own spilled rotting blood but it needed to be done and Lawrence was at least smart enough to not put a quarterstaff like tool in the cowgirls hands. Shows he values his life a little.
Its really hard to keep track of time as a dungeon. As I mentioned I've been counting days by the cycle of Lawrence sleeping, waking, going to work, returning from work, nearly getting killed by Sherry and finally sleeping again. I believe a week has past since Gretna disappeared into her cocoon. Its grown bigger, there's a shadow inside it that no longer seems humanoid. In fact the outline seems more like a spider. I hope its not a spider, I hate spiders for some reason, even more than undead chickens. Almost, with around thirty skeletal cluckers wandering around inside my halls, I am somewhat torn on which I hate more.
Days pass to the usual routine. Lawrence finally slaughtered the goat and sheep, oddly enough he chose to stitch the hides together and wore it around the dungeon. When he returns from where ever he goes he now drags in snow with him. It must be late fall or early winter outside. The season is only starting but I can tell everyone inside me with a pulse is suffering. While I think the core and bedroom are in deep enough to ward off some of the wind, the lair and cell are hardest hit, so before the cowgirl could freeze to death or catch a bad flu I used some of my plump energy reserves to create a door between the lair and the rest of the dungeon, I also added some fireplaces, routing the smoke through the walls and ceiling to expel it out the lair close to the exit... I just have to hope Fadewind is smart enough to get firewood, I can't seem to create it. Even the door is carved stone so is fairly heavy.
Winter seems to be coming into full swing. Lawrence is leaving the dungeon more and more. After the first I think real bad snowfall he returned from his jaunts outside chickenless and looking partially frostbitten, your own fault for just wearing those dirty overalls everyday. When he realized he had no firewood he took Terrance outside and returned with the zombie carrying a huge arm load. As he was warming himself I had to shift the chicken mural over the fireplace in his room to that of a cowgirl in a block of ice, he then remembered his guest. I feel kinda bad for that poor woman, losing her husband, being locked up in a cell and being denied so much as a different place to excrete waste. Fadewind just doesn't think like normal, its little wonder he prefers undead chickens, least those he can't kill off in his negligence... at least I don't think they can die twice.
.
.
.
Time really slowed down during winter, both Fadewind and Sherry huddle close to the sources of heat looking thoroughly miserable. Thankfully he had stockpiled that meat or the pair likely would have starved, though Sherry isn't looking so hot. Between the cold, literal shitty living conditions and the rather poor availability of food the cowgirl is getting thin not fatter, I don't know why I think it but I'm sure its highly likely that she'll lose her baby if this continues. I... don't want that. Yet there's nothing i can do. Part of me wants the population inside me to grow but I don't have the setup to keep them alive. It's frustrating as I can't really guide Fadewind either.
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.
.
Time is almost at a standstill inside me. This day is particularly bad as the expected has come to pass. Sherry miscarried. What's worse is the discharged mass is in the room with her. She sits on the bed looking more dead than alive, staring at what was to be her child in the corner of the room. I honestly think she broke as she no longer tries to keep warm, the fire is out and the heat is lingering thanks to the door not being opened regularly now but soon Fadewind will need more wood, hopefully he notices, but I doubt it. Like a bear he pretty much skulked off to his cave and has been hibernating. Even Sherry's initial sobs and screams didn't alert him that something is wrong.
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.
.
I do not know how long winter has been going on, a month? Two? More? Its hard to judge as Fadewind spends much of his time sleeping, every so often he orders Terrance out to get firewood, or to kill something for them to eat. Surprisingly Sherry is still with us. After her miscarriage I thought for sure she was going to let herself die but instead Fadewind noticed the state of her cell, having Terrance clean out the... mess... a resolve seemed to flicker in her once dead eyes. She spends much of her time exercising, rebuilding her strength. She still looks half starved and filthy but she at least seems to have rekindled her spirits, I can only imagine I need to say a prayer for my dungeon master. On a happier note... if you can call it that, Gretna, the Mother of Monsters has finally emerged from her cocoon! And thankfully, she's not a spider.
To be honest I wasn't sure what to expect when the cocoon tore open. When you think Mother of Monsters you expect some vaguely female creature of monstrous looks right? Well that expectation was blown out of the water as this gelatinous mass emerged and absorbed the cocoon. On one hand it sorta looks like a neon pink slime the size of a pig, yet unlike a slime it has humanoid organs crumbled up around its core. I mean you can see distinct organs like the brain, heart, lungs, and so on, but they're all jumbled together in a ball at the center of this neon pink gel... System, how is Fadewind suppose to breed monsters with that?
{ Answer: The Mother of Monsters is fed male reproductive fluid. It is guided into its womb and gestates a monster in a few hours. Which monstrous package does Farmer Fadewind's Fallacy wish to stock the breeder with? }
Can we make dragons? Being a dragons lair would be awesome!
{ Unable to apply Draconic package to Mother of Monsters unit Gretna. Host level too low. Would Farmer Fadewind's Fallacy like to see which packages are available to this Mother of Monsters? }
Sigh, fine. Let me see. Are you sure we can't have dragons?
{ Completely sure. Draconic package requires a host of at minimum level fifteen. Host Gretna is level two. Now displaying available packages... }
[Goblin Level 1]
[Orc Level 1]
[Kobold Level 1]
[Gnome Level 1]
[Basic Beast]
[Basic Wildlife]
[Mutation]
Hrm. What is each package?
{ Goblins are short green humanoids, basic level intelligence, highly reproductive focused. Make decent low level fighters and thieves. Orcs are human sized pig men, somewhat strong and very violent, they make good fighters and bersekers. Kobolds are entry level draconics, short like goblins but weak, mostly builders and trap setters. Gnome, short humanoids, earth based creatures, typically used as builders and miners. Basic Beasts are monstrous small wildlife. Basic Wildlife, basic animals ranging from small rodents to medium sized mammals. Mutation, combine two packages, result is a hybrid of the two. Cannot mutate Basic Beast.}
Hrm. Apply the Mutation package, combine Basic Wildlife and Gnome. What is the result?
{ Combining. Initializing. Applying theme. Applying package. Mother of Monsters Gretna has new package, [Mutation: Cockatrice] }
System... what the hell is a cockatrice?
{ Mutation: Cockatrice is the merger of a chicken with earth based poison. }
So a venomous rooster?
{ Yes. }
is it very dangerous?
{ To the unwary a cockatrice's venomous breath can be fatal. However it is not a strong physical mutation. }
So to breed other things we need a stronger host?
{ Yes and no. A stronger host will gestate into a more versatile Mother of Monsters, but that does not mean a low level host is a waste. Mothers of Monsters can improve after so many batches of bred creatures. However a stronger host is preferable as a low level host requires excessive breeding to reach high level functionality. }
So how many cocatrices will Gretna need to birth to raise a level?
{ Twenty. }
And the gestation period for each?
{ One hour. }
Not bad, considering his fapping habits Fadewind might get it leveled up in a day or two. Best notify him his... wife... is ready for his loving.
{ Confirmed, notifying Dungeon Master. }
I watched with what passed as bated breath for a dungeon as the system notified Fadewind that Gretna was out of her cocoon. With no one to snuggle with the long winter he quickly rushed out of his room. The look on his face when he saw the slime pulsing in the corner of the core room was priceless. He was completely ashen before turning and retching to the side... wait... STOP PUKING ON MY FLOOR! To be fair expecting a motherly breeding machine was likely his fantasy, laying eyes on Gretna turned inside out and crumpled into a slime ball was likely unsettling. Still it was amusing watching the system inform him what he had to do to breed with her now... wait... I SAID DON'T PUKE ON MY FLOOR GODS DAMN IT!
Ungrateful bastard, you got your wife back, she's arguably better looking and no longer disease ridden. And now you can breed your own poison breathing chickens. Show some thanks and clean my floor!