...
....
.....
"Awaken..."
Now there's a word to wake up to... it feels like I slept for ages. Hrm, who is it this time? System, you awake yet? At least I'm not being beaten with a stick this morning. Yawn... okay I'm up! Things are coming into focus... Let's see, the entrance to the lair is unblocked, good good. The lair is empty though. That's normal and bad. The cell is open, oh yeah Sherry's friends rescued her. Hrm. The zombie corpse is gone. Where's Terrance? Wait... are those his bones? How long was I asleep? Did everything else rot off him?
"I said... AWAKEN!"
Christ on a cracker... whoever that is... keep your trousers on. I wanted a full inventory of my state before seeing who you are. Sheesh, impatient much? Alright let's have a look at my core... yup skull on a pedestal covered in dust. Not the prettiest bed head but hey I'll work with it. Now who is this? Okay, big ass hooded cloak, leather armor, tall boots and a couple of knives through your belt. Shady character recognized! Least it's not a farmer.
System? Hellloooooo...? Okay, no system, that means tutorial mode is off? YESSSS. Fuck tutorial mode! Now how it it go let's focus on me and search for a dungeon master....
{ Initializing Dungeon
Hrm, there we go, let's have a look at who wants to be my master now...
[Name: Derrick Jang
Classes: Level 8 Thief
Race: Wood Elf
Title: Shadowhand
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 6
Intelligence: 5
Charisma: 7
Luck: 5
Current Health: Healthy]
Whoa its this guy again. What's he doing back here? Last I saw him he was helping the search party find Sherry. Well being a thief I guess that explains his motives, but something makes me question why a wood elf would try to operate a dungeon. Whatever, accept dungeon master Shadowhand and present dungeon naming package.
{ Ownership of dungeon
No, that's actually pretty good. Shadowheart... yeah beats Farmer Fadewind's Fallacy at any way. Alright let's present him with the builder and let's see what he does with the thousand energy.
{ Presenting Dungeon master Shadowhand with dungeon builder package. Unable to present dungeon owner with one thousand energy, dungeon Shadowheart does not have enough energy to bestow. Bestowing Twenty energy. }
Gah.... Fadewind you fuck up! Well Shadowhand doesn't look thrilled either. Still it looks like he's trying something.
{ Dungeon Master Shadowhand has requested to refund prior buildings. Remove Lair, double bedroom, cell, and closet? }
Wait, dungeon masters can do that? Alright, uninstall the selected rooms.
{ Refunding, Lair, Double Bedroom, Cell and Closet. Bestowing dungeon master Shadowhand with six hundred energy. }
Well it might not be a thousand but its something. Seems Shadowhand is a bit smarter than Fadewind. Not that that bar was very hard to leap. Huh what is he doing now? Lets see what he's building, how did tutorial system do this... focus on the dungeon masters will and... okay there's the dungeon builder. In place of the lair and such he's designing a maze and stretching it around my core. Smart guy, beats a straight path to the core.
{ Dungeon Master Shadowhand purchased Maze Package for four hundred energy. }
Now let's see, he's expanding my chamber. Looks like its being designed to be his main chamber. This is kinda nifty, I'm the heart of a dungeon. Wow that maze is something else, it ramps up and down and is very easy to get lost in. All the chicken and cockatrice bones are scattered through out giving it a creepy feeling. Terrance's skeleton is at the entrance, nice touch.
Oh, he's making his way out. Well he's only got about a hundred energy left, wonder what he has planned. I mean he made the core room bigger but he didn't install any furniture like Fadewind did. Hrm, since its a maze I'll touch up the walls with some murals, beats rough stone passages, better to look fancy for a good master right? Let's see Shadowheart... what kinda motif would suit the walls, maybe skulking figures every dome often? Ah I know, let's use the design of skulking thieves to mark a route through the halls. I'll make one of them look like the dungeon master and someone following him would be able to find the Shadowheart... yeah I like that idea!
Oh he's back, that was quick. He's got others with him, half a dozen rough looking fellows who are keeping an eye on what looks to be slaves. They're carrying in boxes and furniture. Wow, a master with a plan. This is way better than my first dungeon master. He even looks pleased with the wall redesign. I have to say, this a much more promising start. From the looks of things he's having his men install torches every so often through the maze, the rest of the furniture is headed to my core room. From the quiet talk amongst the thugs they're impressed that their boss found such a secure place for the gangs loot, they even mention a hamlet near by... hamlet? Wasn't it a village? Just how long has it been?
Hrm. System... wait... I'm the system now. How did they do it last time? How do I scan beyond myself to see what is nearby? Focus, maybe its like echolocation, I ping energy off myself and it detects whats around... least I think that's how echolocation works. Meh, whatever, let's give it a shot. Thing is, I don't really have any energy, the dungeon master has it, so let's just try it and see what happens. Focus... focus... and RELEASE!
Whoa... this is strange I'm seeing myself inside a mountain range, the foothills, a open plain filled with farm fields and what do you know, a small hamlet. Damn it HAS grown. Now I know where it is let's try to get a read on it. Hrm, let's focus on the place and try to detect the living creatures.... focus... focus... and show me the money!
{ Detecting one hamlet in range of dungeon. Population: Three hundred and sixty humans, twenty half elves, six minotaurs, eighteen cowgirls, twelve half orcs, six wood elves, two dwarves and one lycanthrope. Detecting two villages in range of dungeon, both contain around one hundred humans. Total livestock in range of dungeon: Twelve hundred and sixty three, combination of cows, goats, chickens, sheep, dogs, cats and horses. Overall region wealth: Six thousand gold, five hundred silver, thirty thousand copper pieces. }
Whoa. The area exploded while I was sleeping. Almost five times as many people and hosts more beasts. Starting to see a little of what Shadowhand is up to, with a population explosion like that naturally a seedy underbelly would come to be. So very interesting. Wait, does he plan to use me as his hideout? But what about monsters? Please don't be another Fadewind and use me like your own home... He can't hear me. As expected rather than some throne room the core is setup like an office and treasury, while I'm happy to see wealth inside me the question becomes how will I grow if Shadowhand uses me as a hideout?
Sigh.
Well at least he's smarter than Fadewind. He's already modifying the passages to help expel the smoke from the torches. Likewise he's having the slaves carve out other rooms on the fringes of the maze. Smart, by doing it the average way he saves on energy. The question then becomes what all those side rooms will be used for? Seems odd that he places the treasury and core in the center while making guest rooms along the outer edges...
Much as I did with Fadewind, watching the activity cycle of the slave handlers is the best way to tell the passage of time, it's not completely accurate but at let's me observe what is going on. The dungeon builder uses energy to automatically create structures but slaves with picks and shovels take time, plus the construction is rather obvious aside from the dungeon paths. Thankfully it hasn't been all bad, a few slaves have died simply due to over work, I've gained only about a hundred and fifty energy but even a mosquito can be considered meat at this point.
Shadowhand has been coming and going, while I've been able to eavesdrop on him and his officers a bit I don't have a full picture of what is going on but as it stands... about ten years has past since Fadewind had his head forcefully removed from his body. The capital has become a major seat of power for some reason. Sir Feral, that knight guy was granted a duchy for services rendered. He was given this ass backwards area and has spent the last ten years building it up.
The village, Feralus, on its way to becoming a town as the mountains in which I reside are apparently full of natural resources, something about dungeon proximity enhancing the area. Anyways, of the group they split up soon after Sir Feral was made a noble, there was a disagreement and most went their own way. From reports, Alice the priestess and Sherry are also in the town, both currently work for the local church. The swordsman left for a distant land. The pyromancer died in a tragic fishbone accident. Apparently the unlucky guy ended up choking and dying on a meal right before some major competition. Derrick here, disgruntled at being overlooked set up a thieves guild in Feral's back yard. He remembered the dungeon was out here and procured the land deed.
So Shadowhand has his eyes on the Duke seat. Ambitious. I like it. But I'm not overly thrilled that I'm planned to be used as an easy expanded guild hall. I still think I need to be full of monsters and traps to count as a dungeon otherwise am I truly fulfilling my potential? Well, its early yet and unlike my first master, this one doesn't have a fetish for undead fowl, plus his consorts are a much improved sight over the half orc Gretna. While I've not seen the same woman twice on his arm, each lady has a certain charm, or couple of large charms... *cough*
Time passes steadily, what I thought were rooms were actually mine shafts, apparently Shadowhand got his greedy mitts on the layout of existing mines and is building his own shafts out to where the underground riches are, eating into the duke's gains. He's relying on slave labor so I'm being drip fed small bites of energy as a slave gets over worked, they're careful not to do this too often but it seems as if some of Derrick's underlings are of a more violent and sadistic nature than even he. I only have about three hundred energy thanks to the thugs getting too into beating slaves to death but its a handy stockpile to have.
Things however take a turn when slaves start rushing out of the mine shafts, seems however they dug they breached another cave. I was suddenly flooded with system messages...
{ A cave goblin has killed a level one slave. Gained fifty energy. }
{ A cave goblin has killed a level one slave. Gained fifty energy. }
{ A cave goblin has killed a level one slave. Gained fifty energy. }
...
Finally some monsters! But tutorial never got a chance to go over this...
{ Does Dungeon Shadowheart wish to activate tutorial mode? }
NOPE NO WAY FUCK RIGHT OFF! I just got back control system and you want to take back over?! Not happening! I'll figure this out on my own, thanks, bye now... Still turning my attention to the goblins pouring out of the mine and watching as the handlers and slaves prepare to fight back, I'll have to move quickly or else they'll kill those precious resources...