Tafyaf, Alpine Scout gnoll, groans as soone bangs at the door to his rented room at The General. As soone who'd spent the last few weeks roughing it in the wilds around the Shield Mountains it had been his intention to get every single coin's worth out of the bed he'd paid for, but apparently the room ca with an unrequested wakeup service. Slowly dragging himself from his blankets, he makes his way to the door and opens it to find The General's owner on the other side.
"Taffy, there's - dammit, Taffy, couldn't you at least put so pants on before answering the door?" Ope Plit averts his eyes as Tafyaf looks down at his uncovered gnollhood.
"Consider it punishnt for waking so rudely, heh heh. But my apologies Mister Plit. Is there so sort of problem in the inn?"
Plit shakes his head, while still keeping his view turned away. "Naw, it's about you, actually. Soldier ca by, said Commander Paulados needed to speak with you at the Fort. Urgently." At the sound of the na, any good cheer leaves Tafyaf instantly. While it wasn't particularly surprising that the Commander knew he was in town, there shouldn't be any reason for the Commander to be summoning him...unless sothing had gone wrong.
"...I see, yes. Very well, will be going very soon then. Thank you for the ssage, Mister Plit." Plit nods and leaves, after which Tafyaf dresses himself and packs up his things far more quickly than he had been planning to when he stopped in. For all he knew, the Commander was imdiately going to order him off to distant parts, so he couldn't plan on coming back to collect his things later. Or...perhaps he was in so sort of actual trouble personally? Tafyaf couldn't imagine what he'd done so wrong, though.
The walk through the small town to the nearby fort was a short one, and the guards didn't give him any trouble on the way inside. But nor were they their usually cheerful selves, which Tafyaf took as a sign that sothing was wrong. There was no, 'Hey Taffy, how ya been', rely a short 'The Commander is expecting you', which raised his fears that he was in trouble sohow. The mystery deepened when he arrived at the waiting room outside the Commander's office, where a local man and woman were sitting in two of the chairs. The scout didn't know either of them exactly, just a vague recollection of them as being townsfolk, but he could tell they both looked like they hadn't slept a wink all night. They were also both wearing crude necklaces of stone and string, which didn't seem like local fashion, but that line of thought was interrupted by a shout from inside. "Scout Tafyaf! Get in here, and close the door behind you!"
The gnoll quickly slips inside the office to find Commander Paulados glaring at him from the other side of a heavy wooden desk. The human wasn't wearing his armor at the mont - who would, for desk work? But he genuinely didn't need it to look intimidating, his thick muscles clear and straining against his shirt as he rested his arms on the desk before him. His blonde hair was only just beginning to show hints of grey, and his immaculate mustache was kept trimd in a style popular in Anchorfest, the capital city from which he himself originated. He tilts his head towards a seat on Tafyaf's side of the desk and begins. "Alpine Scout Tafyaf. Would you mind explaining to just what exactly you told the local civilians last night about activity around the mountain, and why you didn't make that report to first?"
Tafyaf swallows, preparing his best spin. "Ah? Investigation still in progress, it is, I did consult with the locals yes, to see if any information could be gained. One orc I did see, making a hasty return to the west, two days ago. Locals suggested a man could be missing, perhaps, in either case I was planning to scout the area myself later today."
The statent does seem to relax the Commander a little, as he takes in a deep breath before responding. "One orc is all you saw, then? No large raiding party? Nothing...more unusual than that?"
Tafyaf scratches behind an ear. "Saw one orc I did, but leaving a camp ant for more they were. Trouble befell them, I would suspect, yes."
Paulados leans back in his chair, making it creak under his weight. "Well, they weren't the only ones. Apparently after hearing your story last night, four locals took it upon themselves to check out the mountain personally. And so it seems that while all four did co back down, two of them were no longer breathing when they did. Unless they're complete fools, and to be honest I can't entirely rule that out...there is apparently a newly ford dungeon up on Triple Peak Mountain now."
The scout's eyebrows rise - he'd had so vague theories on what trouble a Valleylander scouting party could have run into, but that had certainly not been on his list. "A dungeon! And...defeated a Valleylander party, it must? Surprising, if the dungeon is newly born."
The large soldier nods as he stands up, making his way to the map pinned to his wall. "We haven't had a Valleylander incursion around here in years, but their usual scouting party size is what, four to eight? So the thing managed to take down at least three trained professionals, plus three locals - the survivors say they think the missing man from before was turned into the thing's damned front door. That's unusual for sothing so new...and I'm worried about how in hells the Valleylanders knew about the thing before we did. In any case, that's the least of our worries now."
"Sir?" Tafyaf can't help but feel like he's not actually qualified for this level of conversation, but he suspects the officer just needs soone to blow off steam to. "Is a dungeon not potentially a good thing, no?"
"Almost anywhere else, it would be. But here?" He jabs the mountain on his map with one finger. "We claim the mountain of course, but so do the Valleylanders, and obviously the Dragonlord doesn't respect borders in the least. Up til now, it didn't matter - the mountain has no known resources, no dwarves or driders live there, so its only real use to any of us was as a buffer against the rest. I don't expect anyone to make a full-on assault for the mountain any ti soon, of course, but the Valleylanders are definitely going to start pressing their claim harder politically, and I'd bet you a month's wages that the Dragonlord is going to try sothing underhanded when they find out. I've already sent word to the capital, we're going to need more troops to secure the region. And the mountain specifically, of course. But we still need more information...you have dungeon experience yourself, I would assu?"
The scout grimaces. "Several floors in the Lost Woods of Jand, yes. Also attempted the entry floor of Fire Sands once, I did, but...neither water nor fire agree with ."
"Can't bla you there." Paulados considers his next statent before issuing his orders. "A few others in the garrison have so experience, but our training is mostly focused on defense and large-scale battle tactics. I'd like you to put together a team to investigate the place, as you have the most experience with small-unit engagents. Recruit who you want from the garrison, and take what ti you need to prepare yourselves, but not more than a few days. I want to have a better idea what we're dealing with by ti our reinforcents arrive - and certainly before any other interested parties have ti to respond."
The gnoll rises from his seat, trying his best to hide his nervousness. "Yes, sir. I will begin talking with the soldiers imdiately, yes, and the survivors as well. I'll let you know when we are ready." As he exits the room and casts another look at the local pair in the waiting room, he gulps. Why couldn't it have just been a raiding party?
Satisfied with her new Boss Bunny, Xenia makes her way back to her core chamber to plan her next move. She'd filed away the new creation as 'Bitebunnies' - rabbits crossbred with canines giving them fangs, enough leaping distance to cover practically an entire chamber in a single jump, and improved strength. Boss Bunny was an improvent on that, as by basically overloading an example with mana she was able to triple its size, not to ntion the threat level it presented. There was one more upgrade she could have provided it with but she hesitated on that one. By improving the bunny so significantly, it would now be capable of being bound with a soul, making it stronger, smarter, and perhaps most economically, ant it could respawn automatically without her needing to burn mana on upgrading a new replacent every ti one died.
Still, even an upgraded Bitebunny wouldn't be capable of speech, or normal sapient-level thought, and sothing rubbed her the wrong way about 'downgrading' a person's soul into an animal. It maybe wasn't a logical thought, as that seed to be the normal system of reincarnation in the universe in general, but if she was the one making the decisions around here, then she'd hold on to her soul stockpile until better materials ca along. Or at least until she got more souls than she knew what to do with. In the anwhile though she still had so of the day's mana left over to play with, and she knew what she wanted to start on next. "Okay Guy, step back! Or...hover back, or whatever. It's ti to open up Floor Two!"
Guy makes a pleased sound as they catch up. "Oh? Decided on your next direction then? Shall we try going upwards? It's a little unusual for a dungeon, and things that unsettle adventurers are always useful."
Xenia grins widely. "Nope! We're going down! Way down!"
The guide's pleasant mood quickly flees. "...Not to question your judgnt, but you do recall our earlier conversation about that, yes? To our best knowledge, the mountain doesn't have the structural support to handle a floor below our current one. Perhaps if we went out horizontally a bit further and found a stronger foundation..."
The dungeon master raises a finger. "Ah! But while I may be making a Floor, I ain't making a 'floor', if you catch my drift. It's ti for..." Xenia waves her hands around as if to the sound of an imaginary drumroll. " - An elevator level!"
The guide doesn't quite know how to respond to that. "...Forgive , ma'am, but...what in the world is an elevator level?"
"Simple! Instead of making a big, wide floor, we're just gonna make one big shaft, going straight down! We'll hit ground level sowhere, or at least get close enough to anchor it to sothing, which will keep it supported. There'll just be one 'room', like a big open platform type'a deal, and it will go up and down and stop at certain spots, where we do the normal room thing of traps and monster ambushes. With a nice added bonus - if there's only one platform, parties will have to line up to take their turn for it to co back up, which should help keep us from getting overwheld! We've got steel for chains now, and given we can already break physics at least a little, I think it should work!"
She stops to think for a mont. "Or it will snap and kill entire parties instantly. Which...win-win?" Xenia gives a lopsided grin.
Guy processes, trying to consider how this could actually work. "...Physically, I think we could make a structure like you suggest, though not in one go today for sure. But the main issue is that a construct of this scale - essentially running an entire Floor - is going to require a reserved amount of mana far larger than your waterslide room."
Xenia sighs as she waves an arm, instantly pushing the entire core chamber fifty feet to one side to make room for her new shaft behind the Boss Bunny's chamber. "Yeah, I figured. But it's gonna be totally worth it! You'll see! Now...construction nus, Floor nu, Floor 2, Floor Entrance...go!" A new room appears empty and bare as usual, but this nevertheless triggers a sudden achievent from Guy.
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FLOOR 2 CREATED
ADDING NEW BASE 'CAVE' MATERIALS:
GEMSTONES (LOW QUALITY)
CAVE MOSS
TIN (STANDARD QUALITY)
SPIDER WEBS (LOW QUALITY)
NEW BASE 'CAVE' CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED:
BATS: F
ARACHNIDS: F
MANA CAP INCREASED BY 6 TO 30
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Clapping fills the room as Xenia giggles. "Woo, freebies! Things are really looking up! ...Or shall I say...down!"
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