Dungeon Man Sam and the Orphaned Core, page 35
But whoever it was clearly had no clue how the minds of people who would take advantage of a skill like that worked. Give them a chance to alter other skills, that was fine. Give them a chance to alter the skill that enables them to alter skills?
“Of course they’re gonna use it in ways you didn’t account for,” Sam said with a laugh. And now he had access to it, thanks to that Unfettered skill.
Oh, he was going to have to spend some time with this one.
But there were priorities that came before that. He looked up to see Char and Sheshek coming back into the room, dragging one of the bunks between them, on which sat Pearl, grinning like a loon. The kobolds set the bed down so that it was between them and Sam, and then Sheshek produced paper and pencils from a pouch at his side and laid them on the mattress.
“One cannot make proper plans,” the old shaman said with a grin, “without a table around which to gather.”
“And I’m here to make sure nothing gets left out,” Pearl added, bringing up her magic recording device again.
“Works for me.” Sam exited out of his menus and reached for paper and pencil. “Let’s get started.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“FIRST PRIORITY,” SAM said, making his first note, “has to be the defense of the dungeon. We have to be sure we’re safe from attack before anything else gets done. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” the kobolds both said, and Pearl nodded enthusiastically.
“What are our assets in that area,” Char asked as she sketched out a map of the dungeon’s current layout.
“I’ve been looking over that,” Sam said. “There’s all kinds of traps, from simple pitfalls to entire rooms that need a worker manning them to function properly. Some of them cost more than others, but thanks to all the digging I’ve been doing we have a pretty sizable stockpile of minerals.”
“Which brings up another consideration,” Sheshek said, raising a foreclaw. “Up until now you are the one who has collected all these ‘minerals’, but it is my assumption that soon you will have other areas that will require the bulk of your concentration. We will need others to gather the needed minerals in that case.”
“Good point. Pearl? Make a note of that,” Sam said, nodding at the little fae.
“Already got it, Sam!” Pearl had produced a notepad and pen from somewhere and was scribbling away.
“Which brings me to my first question,” Sam said, leaning forward. The bed only came up to his knees when he was seated on the dais, so he just rested his elbows on his thighs. “We’re going to need workers. Probably lots of workers. There’s all kinds of rooms and buildings I can construct that will have great payouts for us, but only if we can staff them. How many of your people are ready and able to work right now?”
Sheshek looked at Char, who closed her eyes and counted under her breath.
“There are thirteen adults and sixteen nestlings,” she said after a moment. “If we include the older ones such as Rashun in the ‘able worker’ category, I estimate we have eighteen who could be considered for worker positions.
“Currently, however, four of those will be working in the mushroom farm rooms at any given time. So to answer the underlying question; you have fourteen workers that you may call on, including Sheshek and myself.”
“Good. Cora.” Sam turned to the floating core. “Are there mechanisms in place that will let other units dig out tunnels and rooms and harvest minerals at the same time?”
“Yes, gua—Sam. Certain units are pre-equipped to do so, while others may be equipped to do so by building equipment rooms for the task at hand.”
Sam quickly brought up the Rooms menu and paged through it… Yup, there were the equipment rooms. They had names like “Gardener’s Shack’ or ‘Miner’s Storeroom’, and they would equip any base worker unit for specific jobs. He also located something called a Smelter room, where raw rock could be delivered and converted into minerals.
So it wasn’t just an automatic thing, like with his Absorb Minerals power. Good to know.
“Alright, that’s step one, then.” He wrote it down on the paper in front of him. “Not just equip your people for work, but get mob generators installed and start bringing new units in to give us a work force that can actually get things done.”
“Cora,” Char turned to the core herself, “is Samuel the only one who can construct rooms and buildings?”
“The guardian is the only individual who can begin the construction of rooms, yes. That is a baked-in ability of the Core Guardian class.”
Sam blinked and thought back to the Tinkerer skill description, and how it had mentioned something about making recipes that allow other creatures to utilize the skills or abilities altered by the skill. Could that be used with the Core Guardian class too?
Something worth looking into. He made a note.
“Okay. Building and defending the dungeon is our first priority. Workers can help with that, but we’re going to need more fighters, too. I especially don’t want to put any of your people on the front lines if we can help it.”
“Yes,” Char said, nodding. “We are not fighters.”
“Technically, we two are,” Sheshek said with a toothy grin, “but only in limited circumstances. My old bones are too frail for war, and Char—”
“Will slap your old head if you make it sound like she is any less competent than you,” Char said with a friendly grin. “But the old one is right. While I can fight, I’ve no wish to unless it is necessary.”
“Exactly. So number two on the list, generate mobs that can fight. And then figure out ways to train them up or increase their effectiveness, because…”
“Because the creature who now wears Rakun’s scales is powerful.” Sheshek nodded. “I am actually curious as to how he managed that in such a short time. It seems quite the meteoric rise, even given the strange abilities you two share.”
“Yeah, we’re gonna have to figure out a way to negate him,” Sam said grimly. “And I gotta be honest, I’m not sure I see one. It’s gonna be hell trying to keep him out of here, especially since he’s gonna have the same ‘absorb minerals’ ability I have that’ll let him carve new tunnels—”
“Guardia—Sam,” Cora broke in suddenly, floating forward to join them around the makeshift table. “While I understand why you would draw that conclusion, I have been thinking, and I believe it may be erroneous.”
“Is that with two ‘R’s or three?” Pearl asked.
“Two,” Sam said, then turned and quirked an eyebrow at the core. “What do you mean?”
“I have been studying myself extensively since you postulated the theory that parts of myself have indeed taken up residence in other cores. I have come to the conclusion that, assuming it is true, the abilities ordinarily wielded by a Guardian have also been split.”
“Well I know he has the Teleport ability,” Sam said. “He used that thing on me a couple of times at least.”
“Yes, the utility abilities, such as Guardian’s Touch or Guardian’s Teleport are very likely shared. However, the higher-tier abilities, those are linked to pieces of me that are unique, I believe, to this shell. I seem to have retained, primarily, defensive capabilities, or those which foster the creation of a dungeon. What is missing, however, are any form of offensive capabilities.”
Sam blinked. “Wait, you’re telling me I got the ‘buildy’ powers and he got the ‘punchy’ powers?”
Pearl laughed so hard she fell off the table, and Char had to help her clamber back up.
“It seems likely, if a bit crudely-put. I deem it highly unlikely that he will be able to tunnel into the mountain without the use of worker mobs, which by design do not work as fast as a Guardian with powers can.”
“He won’t make workers,” A dusty nasally voice said from the side. All heads turned to see Araxes standing sullenly outside the door to his mushroom farm.
“Raxy?” Pearl asked, tilting her head. “You know something we don’t?”
“I know revenants,” the lich said, shambling towards the makeshift table. “And whatever else the creature may have become, he is at base still a revenant. He is a thing that destroys, that takes life and twists it until it breaks or is reborn in glorious necromantic baptism.”
Char and Sheshek both let out soft little growls, but said nothing. It was Sam, eyebrows furrowed, who asked; “And how do you know the mantle of the Guardian hasn’t changed that? You told me he was going to be an unthinking monster hell-bent on destruction. He didn’t seem anywhere close to that in the tunnel.”
“Didn’t he?” Araxes squatted down on the far side of the bed-turned-table. “I will admit that he was far more well-spoken than any revenant I have encountered in the past, but think about what he said. His plans, his grand schemes, were nothing more than ‘kill everything alive’. True, he is erudite. True, he is thinking and feeling and likely is far beyond the mental capabilities of any other revenant ever created. But in the end, all he wants to do is kill. And creatures like that do not think about building.”
The kobolds had stopped growling and were instead listening intently. When the lich finished, Char was the first to speak.
“He is a predator, you think,” she said slowly, like she was examining each word for defects before letting it past her lips. “A creature of hunting and destruction.”
“So I believe,” Araxes said, nodding. “And experiences up to this point bear that out. I would be proud of the little creep were he not after my head as well.”
“If he is predator,” Sheshek said, also slowly, “then we are his prey. And he believes he has us cornered in here, doesn’t he?”
“Probably,” Sam nodded. “If he’s got enough mobs, he’s probably got them patrolling around the mountain, waiting for us to show our faces. Because he knows we’ll have to, sooner or later.”
“Sooner,” Sheshek said.
“Why?” Pearl asked, looking back and forth from serious face to serious face. “I mean, we can grow food in here, and Sam’s got that canteen of infinite water so we’re not gonna get thirsty, and we got a whole mountain we could dig out and make into a house. Why do we gotta go outside at all?”
“Because then we would not be able to retrieve the gem,” Araxes said, then blinked and looked around at the glares directed his way. “Among… Other reasons… Which I am sure exist.”
““Two reasons,” Sam said when Araxes gave a dusty cough and subsided. “First? Because we couldn’t level up like that. Not fast enough.”
“Some of us can’t level anyway,” Araxes grumbled.
“And we’re going to need to level,” Sam continued as if the lich hadn’t spoken. “Because sooner or later we’re gonna have to fight to survive. There’s too many things out there that want us dead, because of me, because of Cora, or just because.”
“Oh. Right.” Pearl frowned. “I keep forgetting there’s people out there who want to kill us. That takes some getting used to, I guess.”
“It gets easier with time,” Araxes said.
“And second,” Sam continued, holding up two fingers and drawing in a deep breath, “there’s a town out there that’s gonna need our help.”
That got blinks of startled realization from everyone, except the lich, who merely looked bored.
“Oh yeah,” Pearl said, eyes wide. “I kinda forgot about Melloram. You think it’s still out there?”
“I know it was,” Sam said. He’d had time to think about this one, and didn’t like the conclusions he’d come to. “Before Rakun got to it.”
That got a reaction from the whole group. Cora blinked. The kobolds reared back and stared. Pearl’s mouth dropped open. And Araxes said “Ah, you know, I do believe you may be correct.”
“Explain,” Char said shortly.
“The undead that attacked us,” Sam said grimly. “The ReTurned. They were alive when they were turned. Said so right in the description. They were humanoid and about the right height for humans, and as far as I know, there’s only one supply of those within fifty miles in any direction.”
“Damn me,” Sheshek muttered. “I hadn’t put that together, I was so focused on other things.”
“You mean that stupid not-kobold dead guy has attacked Melloram and is hurting the people?” Pearl stamped her foot on the bed. “Sam, we have to go out there, we have to help them!”
Sam was silent for a long moment. He exchanged looks with the kobolds, and saw that they understood. He didn’t bother to look at Araxes.
“We can’t, Pearl,” he said softly. And the words hurt.
“What?” Pearl blinked up at him. “But we gotta.”
Memories flitted through his mind, so similar to this and yet so different. Buggs walking next to him, explaining how life worked. Sam wondered if the decision had hurt the big man as much as it was hurting him right now.
“We can’t,” he repeated, then blew out a breath. “Pearl, we’re not strong enough to do anything for them right now. Rakun almost killed us the first time, and we haven’t gotten stronger since.”
“But you could just do that tutorial thing again, couldn’t you?”
“Probably not,” Sam shook his head. “In the first place, Rakun’ll be expecting it now. In the second place, it attacks indiscriminately, and could hurt us, the enemy, or the people we’re trying to save. And third, it’s still stuck in the tunnel, and I’m not sure I want to dig it out just yet. That thing’s dangerous as hell.”
“But… But…”
“Little one,” Sheshek’s voice was gentle as a mother’s touch. “Samuel is right, much as it pains all of us to admit it.”
“For different reasons, I’m sure,” Araxes said, rolling his eyes.
“Were we to attack the thing wearing Rakun’s scales now,” Char said, also gently, “he would slaughter us all. And then who would rescue anyone left in the town?”
Pearl’s entire body seemed to droop. “I guess no one.”
“We will get to them, Pearl,” Sam said, trying to put as much conviction into his voice as he could. “But we can’t be stupid about it. We have to get strong, we have to be smart, we have to come up with a plan.”
Pearl’s head came up and her eyes shone fiercely behind her spectacles.
“And when we’ve gotten all that, we kick his teeth down his throat and out his butt, right?”
Sam’s grin matched her gaze for fierceness. “Exactly right.”
“Okay. I can work with that.”
The rest of the meeting went by quickly now that the most important bits were out of the way, and when they finally finished they had come up with a workable plan. Sam would have the first part, digging out spaces for the equipment sheds and creature generators, but then the kobolds would come in and start helping.
Char would work with Sheshek to produce a working dungeon plan that Sam and the workers would build to. And Sam would work with Pearl and Sheshek on the placing of traps—the little narrator fairy having come up with a surprising knowledge of trap tips.
And they all agreed, creating a way for a dungeon-wide communications channel to exist would be of utmost importance. Sam had already located the room—something called a Communications Hub—but it required a gnome, human, or goblin to work it, so that too was added to the list of priorities.
Then they broke up and headed to their individual locations to continue their labors. Sam hefted Thumb Bane and approached the western section of Cora’s chamber, eying a spot right in the center of the curve.
Time to get to work.
* * *
It was while Sam was digging the out the new western tunnels that he learned two things. The first was that all rock was not created equal. Usually his Absorb Minerals power granted him 50 minerals for Cora’s resource pool, but when he used it on a specific section of the mountain the resource counter suddenly jumped by 500.
Sam frowned and bent closer to examine the wall, and discovered a vein of silver running through it, probably broken up by the earthquake. He used Absorb Minerals on a section with the silver ore in it, and sure enough he got another 500 minerals.
The second thing he learned was that at a certain time each day, the dungeon automatically generated a large amount of Essence, and that he was notified when it did. The ping sound was so loud that it made him jump in surprise. Which is not the best action to take when you are winding up to hit a slab of rock with your magic hammer. He yelped, lost his footing, and landed flat on his ass.
Thumb Bane, true to its name, dropped right onto his exposed digit. Head-first.
Sam growled and heaved himself back to his feet, shaking his hand to try and break the pain loose. With his uninjured hand he swiped his menu up to see just what in tarnation had made that noise. The message box that greeted him made his eyebrows raise.
Dungeon Essence Collected
Current Essence: 285ex
250ex Collected from Core Operations
135ex Collected from Mob Deaths
195ex devoted to Dungeon Upkeep
Essence Available: 190
A hundred and ninety exchanges. Enough to take a person straight to level 19 in one jump. More than one person would see in a lifetime unless they took to the adventurer’s life. And Cora had collected it in a day.
