Ted stood on the roof of the school, trying to guage the distance between it and the neighboring buildingHe had to do this just right, or he'd fall to the ground and likely break something, a death sentence at the moment.

With a twirl, he threw his grappling hook at the buildings roof...

Only for the hook to slide off the side of the building. Ted frowned, spun the hook again, and launched it a little higher...

Progress! This time instead of hitting the side of the building, it managed to get the roof!

And immediately came loose and fell again therafter, but still, progress was progress. A few more tries, and Ted managed to secure the hook. Right. Moment of truth. With that, Ted stepped from the roof, swinging from the rope to the next building.

It was at this moment that Ted realized a very important thing he had overlooked. Namely that at sufficient speeds, traveling horizontally through the air was indistinguishable from falling in one very important regard: when you hit something solid you'd still go splat. Ted writhed in the air, looking for a way to slow himself so as to not break his bones when he impacted. However, his efforts were fruitless, and with a crash, he hit the side of the building.

Ted looked around himself, dazed. He was...he was alive?! He blinked, and looked around. He appeared to be in a sort of office building. Behind him, a busted open window with a rope dangling past it.

The window broke my swing. That...

Ted breathed in and out. Right. That was probably the closest he had come to ACTUALLY dying. And this time it wasn't because of zombies or rats or what-have-you, but his own boneheaded idea, to which Ted was saved from merely pure dumb luck.

Gained 2 LUK by surviving a lethal predicament through good fortune! Gained skill Acrobatics!

Acrobatics (Rare) Rank 1- The skill governing ones ability to perform death defying aerial manuevers!

Go away you stupid box, I'm trying to get over the fact I nearly DIED.

Ted took a few more moments to calm down, and began creeping through the building. First order of business: get to the roof, get his grappling hook. Sure, it might be incredibly DUMB to use it the way he did, but if he didn't try swinging from buildings with it, he could still use it to help him traverse the city.

As he moved, he noticed that the air was heavy with...something.

He passed through the cubicles, and soon, that heavyness increased. Treasure. Thats what I'm sensing. Treasure. Very valuable treasure.

Almost instinctively, his path changed direction, shifting to search out whatever it was he sensed. He NEEDED it. He didn't know what it was that he needed, but every fiber of his being was telling him that whatever he was hunting, he needed it so much. So, so much.

He passed a corner, and paused. In between him and his treasure, his prize, was a monster. In the dimness of the unlit office he made out a basic humanoid shape...

With a large boxy thing as a head, its body twitching. In front of the creature, emanating from from its head away from Ted, was a bright light. Sneaking up on it, Ted removed his pan and swung it down, causing, intead of a meaty crunch, the kind of noise one would hear from smashing a television emerged, and the creature fell.

Mac-Head slain! 30 XP!

Ted blinked. Mac as in the computer? Leaning next to the fallen thing, Ted confirmed it by flipping it over: its head was, indeed, a Mac, one of the older ones, before the company started slimming down their wares.

Mac-Head

Level 10

Hybrid-Machine

Information Locked

Huh. It had a higher level than Ragers did. Ted wasn't sure why: if anything the computer-brain thing was MORE fragile than the ragers had been. What made them more dangerou-

Ted heard the sound of a computer starting up. Then two. Then three. And throughout the floor, he spotted various lights emerging from the darkness. Ah. Thats why.

Ted quickly slipped into a cubicle, and after making sure it wasn't occupied, began to wait and watch, peering through a crack in the cubicle door.

Passing by the cubicle were two more Mac-Heads, as well as a pack of what appeared to be Macs attached to long, spidery legs, roughly the size of a medium-small dog, like a particularly large pommeranian.

From his observation, Ted noticed that unlike the zombies, the Mac-Heads didn't shamble or trudge: they strided, their steps confident. While one was in sight, Ted grabbed a random office item, a stapler, and tossed it in the opposite direction to the creature, watching as the moment it landed with a clatter, the Mac-Head immediately turned and began powerwalking in its direction, searching, followed by a pack of the Spider-Macs entering the hallway and joining the hunt.

Right. Mac-Heads seem to be some sort of sentry, alerting the spiders that something is up, while the Spider-Macs seem to be, essentially, attack dogs.

Which meant that he didn't need to take out the Spiders: he just had to take out the Mac-Heads and avoid the spiders. Pulling out a cue spear, Ted carefully aimed and let it fly.

CRUNCH.

Mac-Head slain! 30 XP!

The spear embedded itself in the wall, pinning the now dead Mac-Head to it. In response, the Spider-Macs in the hallway went berzerk, scrambling around and looking for the source of the offending spear, to which Ted shut the door and waited.

It seemed that, while having something resembling strategy, the Mac-Creatures were still rather stupid, and after a few moments (spent looking under the edge of the door) their light receded. He crept out and continued his trek towards the treasure, eventually spotting a door to a private office.

Floor manager. Potentially the buildings manager. I smell it. STRONG smell. I want it. I NEED it. Giving a manic grin, Ted crept up and went to open the door...

Which was locked. Ted cursed, pulling out his lockpicks. He'd have to hurry, before a Mac-Thing came upon him. He set to work trying to work the lock, doing his best to be speedy about the whole thing.

Behind him, he heard approaching Mac-Things. He needed to hurry, or they'd find him, find him and take his treasure, HIS treasure, the grubby little things. They had no right! It was Teds treasure, Teds precious he smelled, not theirs! His and his alone!

He grit his teeth and hurried, the sound of the Mac-Things getting closer. Just as soon as Ted thought they would turn a corner and spot him, the door popped open, and Ted stepped inside, grinning.

It was then he saw his prize. A bright, glowing blue crystal floating in the air, emanating a soft light and slowly rotating. Ted began to drool slightly upon seeing it. He NEEDED it. He *NEEDED* it.

HENEEDEDITNEEDEDITNEEDEDITWANTEDITNEEDEDITHADTOHAVEIT.

In front of it? Was another Thing, this one instead of being a Mac-Head appeared to have its cranium replaced with a small server machine. Ted let out a growl. The Server-Head was in front of HIS treasure. HIS. TREASURE. With a snarl, Ted lunged at the thing, only for it to take a step back and avoid Teds swing, at which point it let out a blast of almost pixelated light from its hands that slammed into Ted, doing no damage.

Ted paused, blinking. What was that supposed to do?

Teds thoughts briefly churned, trying to figure out what had happened, before shrugging it off. It hadn't visibly done anything, so Ted was obviously in the clear. He lunged again, swinging at the Server-Head, who this time sidestepped his swipe and let out another pixelated blast, again impacting Ted in the chest.

His head began to hurt, and Ted realized his thoughts were growing fuzzy. He needed to...needed to...do something else...

Do something else. This wasn't...it wasn't working. Drawing another cue-spear, he flung it at the server thing. Dodge that!

This time, the Server-Head failed to dodge, and the cue-spear pierced its mechanical cranium, causing it to twitch for a second, then die. Ted let out a triumphant grin. He had won, and the crystal was his! He reached out to take it...

Dungeon Boss: Server-Head Defeated! 50 XP! Gained special perk Machine Empathy!

Machine Empathy Rank 1- Through defeating the Server-Head, your connection to machines of all stripes has been strengthened. At this rank, +5 INT when working with Electronics and Machinery.

And the moment his hand touched it he realized how INSANE he had been acting. Ted started as finally his mind cleared up enough for his thoughts to focus on something other than greed. What had he been THINKING? It was a crystal, it wasn't worth risking his life! Why had he gone after it with such...fervent...ness...

It had started when he entered the building. It had grown and grown until Ted had grown manic with greed. Whatever this building was now, Ted realized it was a a trap, one designed to alter intruders thoughts and draw them into their demise through greed.

Maybe he had been more affected because of his treasure-sense, but now Ted realized that whatever was going on was more severe than that: this place was evil. Ted recalled how the Server-Head had blasted him and how it made him think slower. He was willing to bet that if he had been hit a few more times, he would have gone catatonic as his mind shut down.

He was willing to bet the Mac-Heads and Spiders were the same way, too, walking brain-drainers that would attempt to turn him into a vegetable.

This place was just as bad as his apartment. Worse, even, as at least the apartment didn't manipulate his very MIND. Ted shuddered. Right, grab the venus-fly crystal, get to the roof, and get out of this awful building. He reached out to touch the crystal again, and...

Compu-Core

Blue

LV 20 Dungeon Core

A low level dungeon-core specializing in Hybrid-Machine creatures based on computers that utilize mental effects.

DUNGEON EFFECT: Greed Amplification+++, Improved Synthesis, Power Generation, CPU Up.

What.