Arc 1: Preparing Chapter 3, Part 2: The Meeting - Plans for Opening

"OK General - it's about one hour until the meeting with every spawn you have so far. Any last instructions on what we will discuss and plan?"

"As I told you gunny, this will be about how to handle the opening as a chance to get more templates, and get ideas that might improve the dungeon later."

"It would help if I had some additional info about what you want as results."

"Are you talking short-term or long-term results? And about the tasks imposed on us or what I want for myself?"

"All of them would be nice - I don't like surprises or changes in objectives during a mission. And I also dislike missing opportunities because I don't know what your goals are."

"There are a lot of things here in this world that I don't like - slavery for example, I'll have none of that. But that is a long-term objective and I can't do anything about that for now."

"Short-term is survival and staying free and making sure we don't end up rogue and as a target in a three-sided war. For that I need more power and more templates - the second and third floor are completed, but I will concentrate mostly on exvacating for a while because that brings the most XP at the moment."

"Long-term I want to give an example of freedom and safety, but that depends on so many steps that it's more a vague goal that I can look at in a few years - but I need to prepare for that even now."

"And the meeting? What will we discuss there?"

"We'll start with brainstorming ideas on how to handle the first days of the opening - that is the main reason why I made a pair of spawns from every template I have that could reasonably help. And then everything that comes up during that discussion."

...

The core node is now in a big room on the fifth floor. There is a small desk with writing utensils directly at it, and several chairs or stools around it as well. Booble floats a bit away from the desk. Two rather large, white-grey foxes are dozing below the table when a pair of naga slithers in, followed by a pair of humanoid lizards. A minute later another lizardman comes in carrying two snow owls that would have problems flying in the corridors. A black blob floats in as well, followed by the skeleton of a small rat skittering along the floor.

The Lizardmen and the naga settle down, placing one hand each on the core node.

"Welcome everyone to this first meeting" the General's mindvoice goes through everyones head.

"As some of you might already have heard, in about three or four months the Floor Crystals will be at their limit of storing LifeForce, and I will have no choice but to open the dungeon to release that energy. I can wait a few more weeks but I wouldn't be able to do anything in that time because any further mana use would result in you all being poisoned by LifeForce.

As soon as I open, the people on the surface will detect that burst of energy and try to block my entrance. This is done to prevent me from gathering too much templates and resources and to start a process of taming or controlling me - something that I hope to prevent.

You and other spawn I will create in the next months will probably have two days to leave, gather everything I want and return to the dungeon before the entrances are blocked. This discussion is to decide which spawns are best to use and what I want gathered from where.

You can ask any question you want and suggest whatever ideas you have - I will decide what to do in the end, but ideas and questions before that time will never hurt. Gunny, please start by giving a short overview over the abilities of all spawns I can create."

Gunny refers to some notes before starting. "OK, I'm skipping sewer rats, squirrels and housecats because they are too small and unusable for this. Same goes for the slime - those will be usable for a number of things inside the dungeon, but simply too slow for anything outside.

Next are the Silver Foxes - they are decent fighters and can be used as limited scouts, but they cannot carry anything. They could be used to herd some animals into the dungeon entrance however.

The snow owls can carry an item in their claws while flying, but it's too warm for them to handle any extended fight. As with all animal spawns they can only handle simple commands, but it should be enough to use them as watchers to alert the gatherers about approaching people.

Swarms have neither the instincts of animals nor the intelligence of sapients. They have a very limited, one-goaled artificial intelligence or can be commanded for a repeat of very simple commands. We currently have swarms that can animate water (usually called water elements by the surfacers)." at this the lizardman pointed to the black blob floating above the desk.

"We have an advantage here since we already have a water node - I can use that node to create water elementals without the core expending mana. That is limited however, and it would require me to control the elementals as they would not be dungeon spawns. I think I can handle two or three of them.

The other type of swarm can animate bone like that skeleton mouse running around the floor, they're usually called undead by surfacers. Currently any type of skeleton would require a spawn to be summoned and killed first, so making more would require excessive mana expendure. Additionally there are other reasons against using undead. Most likely that skelerat will remain unique.

Lizardmen like me are good fighters. We have natural armour, but the opposite problem compared to the snow owls - if it gets cold, we get weaker and slower. Lizardmen spawns can act independently even outside a dungeon, but the need for mana limits the time outside for them. As a contract with a class-core I'm the only one who can currently leave and stay outside without limits.

Naga are good crafters and have a lot of other advantages like being good swimmers. They also have problems if it gets cold. Unfortunately they also require four times the mana to spawn compared to lizardmen, so most of them will have to be spawned only after the opening.

The physical entrance will remain closed for several days more, but the four magical entrances will have to be opened at the same time.This means we have to form several scout groups and find a way to check all four areas as to approaching surfacer troops in time to warn everyone everywhere. Communication is going to be a bitch."

Silence descends on the group as all five people plus two cores contemplate this.

The lizardwoman speaks up first. "How many people will we have by that time? Just so that we can estimate the size of each scout group?"

The General speaks up. "There are three different limits to work around here. First, I will need about one hundred to one hundred and fifty silver foxes to complete the second and third floors. I can make some of them after sending out scouts, but a good number will have to be made before opening or I can't guarantee my defenses if the adventurers come calling early. So you can have a large number of silver foxes to help you, although they can't carry other things than perhaps a few plants or animals in their mouths."

"Second, by the time of the opening I should have a mana capacity of 390 MP at level 12. That would allow me to spawn three naga and three lizardpeople or two naga and seven lizardpeople directly after the LifeForce has been released from the dungeon. You would have to lead them as they would be new and would know nothing of our preparations."

"Third, If I create other spawns before opening it will take energy away from excavating more dungeon floors. And I need to do that enough to get the Bonus XP for level 12 or the numbers above will be lower and a few other things won't work."

"I believe I can squeeze in about ten or a dozen Lizardmen or a higher number of animals, but I won't know the exact number for another month or two."

At this, the Gunny points toward several parchment sheets on the table. "The exact position for the transfer portals will be set later, but the General had access to some aerial pictures of the area where they will be, and I made those sketches from his descriptions. One area will be in the mountains, one in a forest, one at a large lake and the last in rural area."

The other lizardman interjects at this point. "In the forest the snow owls can't see much when flying above - but a dozen foxes sent out as scouts to watch would be perfect."

"So we'll need the core to spawn a third owl only and then use those three to scout the other three areas?"

"No, my people can see underwater - the owl can't. and we would be too slow in a forested or mountainous area, you lizardmen can run faster there. But we'll need to be at least four to check for boats and gather objects at the same time."

"According to my experience before I became a dungeon, teams of four or five people are ideal for such gathering missions into unknown and dangerous country. With one naga team and three lizard teams that means two more naga and ten to thirteen more lizardpeople. No problem if we can solve the communication problem: How to inform the other teams if one of them detects the first adventurers approaching? I don't have any way to do anything outside the dungeon itself, and that means I can't even talk to Gunny once he leaves. And since all four portals go into the same hall, one entering adventurer could block off all remaining teams due to the [safe] effect on the first floor. I was considering using silver foxes as messengers here."

"General, what exactly are those effects and how do they restrict us?"

"Let me show you the [Floor 1 Details]"

Floor Details Floor Number 1 Floor Name not set Details A name and details will give advice to Adventurers about the floor. As such it is usually set by adventurers by repeating a name over and over while discussing it. If a dungeon sets a name, it needs to be a truthfull description (only possible to set this with [Sapient] ability of the core) Floor Environment Medieval Cellar Environment Rank [Limited] Details Rough stone masonry walls with functioning torches.

No effect other than Light Floor Effect [Safe] Effect Rank [Limited] Details One [Safe] effect is required for each rank of 10 floors.

The dungeon cannot place traps or plagues on this floor.

All Spawns and Swarms get the [Timid] Effect if they see anyone not belonging to the dungeon.

Enables Placement of several special room structures that cannot work on a floor without [Safe] effect. Explorer Details Explorers on Floor 0 Best Explorer Rank none Best Explorer Class none Phases available 0 Phases occupied 0 Floor Status none

"And the [Timid] state would prevent you from attacking or using skills offensively - you could only defend or run away. You could try to talk, but that would raise a lot of questions if a new dungeon already has spawns that are willing to talk. And the only communication way I see at the moment is giving commands to silver foxes to go out and search for the teams. And you'll know to return once you see the foxes approaching."

"I think there might be a better way, General - can you create quests for your spawns in the same way as you can do for me? And what would happen if they're outside while you're doing this? From what I could read the quests are system-wide, which means it should work without problems."

"Hmm - let me check. Yes, I can give quests - but as we have seen in experimenting the rewards for the quests will be set by the system. I can't do anything other than setting title and details, and the rewards given by the system are limited to treasures I can create and experience that is useless without a classcore."

"No need for a reward - as soon as one of the messengers arrives here in the dungeon, you create a time-limited quest to return home, with the time set as the estimate on how long we have until the adventurers arrive at an entrance."

"That should work, OK - next part. I need to explain what I need to get from these expeditions outside."

"First, and this counts for every team, I need samples of plants and small animals that could be used for food as well as animals that could be used to fight in defense of the dungeon. They need to be brought in as complete as possible (with roots and seeds in case of plants) to be placed on a scanning structure so that I can try to get a template. In case of animals it would be better if they're still alive - I can try to get a template from a corpse but that has a reduced chance of succeeding and a higher chance of resulting in a damaged template."

"Second, the entrance in the mountains will be placed near something that looks like an abandoned mine or an abandoned camp or so. I hope to get some tools and especially dwarven golem gear or similiar things from there, and some burrowing animal from the area in general. If I can create enough spawns I would prefer two teams through this entrance."

"Third, the city of Rivansea. Here I want to get a good enough mix of samples (fish, algae, sand, corals, whatever) to be able to create a sea environment from them. This is both to fish for food and to provide a different form of obstacle - I think few adventuring parties are equipped with water-breathing magic."

"Fourth, the elven forests. I don't have anything special here - mostly because the tree tops prevent me from really seeing anything. I hope that there are no rangers near wherever I end up with the entrance - I can only guarantee that it will be two or three days from the next big city, but I can't guess where they have their villages. So I would like to send a good number of foxes with the team to slow down pursuit if that happens, and anything special the team finds would be nice.

"Fifth, the rural country around the so-called Republic of Kaarg. They're anything but free or for the people, and requiring serfs to give their dead to necromancers is especially bad. But we need to know what to expect from parties that use zombies, and they have the most public display and use of magic. Getting examples from their herb gardens would be nice, and I think we might consider trapping a group of their undead if we get a good chance."

"In a way, the last point about herb gardens count for everything else - anything that would give me the chance to get some more potions or treasures to create would help."

....

"Thanks General, I think that we can work out more detailed plans in the next months. However two questions remains: Which team should I lead, and should I return to the dungeon or hide outside? As a contract I can survive outside - your spawns can't until they get a class-core. And it might be of advantage if you have someone outside, I could return as an adventurer later."

"That assumes no one detects the contract - and I think I need someone helping me here the first time. You can still leave through the real exit when I open it a few days later. And I think one of the two teams to Bremarin would be the best choice as there is much to gain from there."

"Perhaps, but the capture the zombie idea would probably need my help more."

"We can discuss that depending on what plans we can come up with."