"Kyle you enjoy fishing as well?! Oh I remember when those bandits found a little river and Gunther let me fish with him a few times! I caught what he called an a sawfin perch and it tasted so yummy!" Slax says with a huge grin on his face as he rubs his belly as it growls quietly.
"Um Kyle...not to say your wrong or anything but....shouldn't we focus on making the dungeon stronger so we can go on our da...I mean so you can go outside with us! Yea...that...yup!" Tilly says in confusion before witching to embarrassment as I begin to laugh.
'You guys are both right! Although I really would love to go fishing for real it's not possible right now, but Slax still has 18 minutes left to be outside! So here's the plan!' I say as both of them gather near my core and listen.
After I explain my plan Tilly's face is bright with excitement while Slax looks dejected and a bit fearful as he starts making his way towards the dungeon entrance. As he approaches the mouth of my cave he looks back towards the direction of the core room, his eyes begging to not have to do this.
'No worries Slax I promise that all you have to do is go outside and gather some new stuff for the dungeon. After you get a few things just start yelling and making a racket and try to attract a monster or something and reel them into the dungeon where my castyr army will get them and protect you!' I explain as the geckonian takes a deep breathe and goes outside. As he makes his way into the broken town a new notification appears and after reading it I immediately activate it.
[Slax Gilded Geckonian Shaman has left the dungeon! Time remaining to return 17 minutes. Slax has left area of influence! Would you like to activate dungeon vision?]
After activating {Dungeon Vision} a screen appears on the core room wall that shows a third person view of Slax darting between broken down walls and taking cover behind mounds of rubble and walls that have collapsed. All of a sudden something catches his attention as he makes his way inside a fairly intact building and begins opening drawers and containers before smiling happy as he finds a fairly grungy satchel covered in blood underneath an icebox. As he puts the strap over his neck he begins to grab small items and fill the bag before stopping at a rusted and broken chest. He struggles to open the lid but, finally, after some effort a crack fills the room as the lid lifts and a set of folded clothes rests under a small dagger. Smiling he grabs the dagger and attaches it to the rags he still wears and adds the clothes to his pack before cautiously leaving the building and making his way to a small mound of grasses and flowers.
"Kyle I don't know if you be hearing me right now but I think I be finding some good stuff here. I'm gonna grab some of this grass and such so we be able to grow it in the dungeon then I'll try to attract some monsters." Slax says quietly in determination as he carefully starts removing the grasses by the roots and puts them in his pack as he moves on to the flowers, avoiding the grave flower he has already picked.
'I wish he could hear us. I really want him to try digging under those grave flowers because when I checked its description it said they only grow over corpses normally and if there are bodies under them they might have loot!' i say dejectedly as Tilly pats my core in sympathy as we watch Slax slowly finish getting the last of the flowers.
Nodding to himself Slax takes a deep breath while his frills unleash on either side of his head in a beautiful display of moss greens, reds, and golds mixed together. As he finishes filling his lungs he unleashes a mighty screech while turning in a circle, his voice slowly going hoarse after a minute. As he catches his breath a loud chittering is heard in the distance as several new noises begin showing up around him, his face showing fear as he begins sprinting towards the dungeon entrance. A howl breaks through the area as a shadow can be seen dashing between the broken down buildings, the sound of paws scuttling behind him as Slax finally see's the dungeon entrance and darts in its direction. As he gets within a few feet he dives towards the mouth of the dungeon and slides across the ground sighing in relief as he hears us shouting for him to hurry and get to the core room.
"Bloody fucking abyss Kyle this is NOT fishing!" he yells as he moves into the first dungeon room and stops in shock at the sight of thirteen normal castyr standing ready behind the lone pitfall trap. Slax smiles as his pet makes it's way back to his side and motions for him to stand behind the back of beasts.
'Your job isn't done yet Slax! The only way you'll get stronger is to fight and win so in this case your the support! You got this man!' I shout at him as he nods and wipes the sweat of his brow while making his way behind the pack and facing the entrance as the first creature pokes it's head into the room.
The creature looks like a mix of a giant rat and a wolf, its whiskered face and bulbous body walking cautiously on its canine legs, a long wormlike tail trails behind the beast as it bears its sharp fangs at the smaller castyr's and charges them before letting out a squeaky roar of surprise before falling into the pitfall trap and dying.
After the creature dies I try to inspect it and am shocked as I get a new message followed my a gasp from Tilly.
[Unable to scan corrupted dungeon mobs]
"Shit Kyle this is bad! If there's a corrupted dungeon nearby that means its mobs can escape and the core has gone insane basically turning it into a mass murder machine. Hopefully its not very close but we need to focus on defense and training these mobs so they can fight back so you don't get eaten or corrupted to." Says Tilly in a worried voice as fear shows on her face.
Before I can respond another of the corrupted mobs enters and savagely runs into the pitfall trap as well, only wounding itself as it struggles on top of its friends corpse. Swiftly one of the blighted castyr's starts spitting poisonous drool at the creature and it's cries slowly fade as a new group of creatures swiftly fly into the room. Thankfully I do get a description as I appraise what appears to be giant bats.
{Species-Corpse Eater Bat Description-The giant bats are most commonly found within graveyards and battlefields, snacking on the fresh or rotted corpses. Although weak individually, these creatures usually move as a flock and follow larger predators around their hunting grounds to scavenge for leftovers. To defend themselves these creatures are known to be able to cast extremly weak dark magic that causes temporary blindness, allowing them to escape.}
I happily point out that the bats are at least normal which seems to calm Tilly down a little bit as one of the bats falls from the air and rolls along the ground before Slax darts towards it and stabs its throat with his knife. As the blade sinks into the bats throat I get a message saying I now own a blueprint for the bats and start making one to send against its still alive comrades. Watching Slax work with the castyr's is a new experience as I see him hide behind two large blighted castyr while recovering his mana, a debuff telling me he's been blinded. After the debuff wears off I watch him cast his Nightmare Visage at one of the bats without chanting, the bat falling from the sky and landing on its neck with a loud crunch.
[Loot received-Corpse Eater Bat pelt, meat, fangs]
As Slax whittles the remaining six bats down from afar a new bat flies into the room from my core room and smashes itself against one of the flock, sending both enemies to the ground where a castyr begins using its teeth and claws to open up the confused enemy. Tilly's worried frown is slowly turning into an excited smile as she watches the group of mobs methodically take down the flock before a new enemy enters the cave, or should I say two?
{Species-Shadow Goblin Description-Goblins born in area's filled with dark magic or with the energy of the undead. Although a goblinoid subspecies these creatures are crueler and more viscous than their green skinned cousins. Having an inborn talent for violence and poison crafting, many of these creatures are skilled rouges, thieves, and assassins'. This shadow goblin shows talent in being a cavalry unit instead.}
{Species-Ghostly Widow Description-An evolved giant black widow that has absorbed and integrated the souls of the dead into its body. Sacrificing it's venom it has gained the ability to shrug off most physical damage, although this leaves it lacking in offensive abilities forcing it to follow stronger or more dominant creatures for survival}
'Tilly look! A goblin and it has a giant spider as a mount!!! That's awesome isn't it?! We can make them and they should be smarter than the castyr's!' I yell excitedly as Tilly nods her head while watching the battle with giant eyes.
As the last bat falls from the air, the goblin lashes his mount on its thorax and forces the squealing creature towards a lone castyr that's still gnawing on a bats skull. As the duo swiftly approach the castyr looks up and chuff's at them, barring its buckteeth as it leaps towards the spider before its fangs sink into its flesh then clack together as the spider squeals again, this time in agitation. As the spider carries the castyr further from its group the goblin leans forward and with a primitive spear begins repeatedly stabbing the castyr's face until it finally falls to the ground and disintegrates, leaving behind its loot which the goblin cackles at and begins snatching the loot from the floor while allowing its mount to eat the pieces of meat that are left.
'Tilly that goblin seems to be pretty strong...' I say warily as Tilly looks towards me with a raised eyebrow before she responds.
"Then I suggest that you as the dungeon take care of him Kyle. This is your first real challenge and I leave it to you to figure it out." She says seriously as I can feel panic rise from my core as I try to figure out how to kill the duo.