The broken dungeon core

Luna went ahead and left the dungeon to go gather the vines for weaving the clothing chest, returning not terribly long after, as I think she might have run there to get back sooner.

The vines had frosted in the snow so the leaves were wilted and cold.

Luna, “I have brought the vines, would you like to get started?”

Luna spoke to Tammy and her mother Tina.

Tina, “Well, I was going to go cook something to eat for dinner, so should I leave you girls to your crafting and I will bring the food once it’s done.”

Tammy looks nervous and anxious about that but she nodded her approval anyways and looking like she might regret it as soon as her mother was out of sight.

Luna, “Come along Tammy, we’ll go work on this in my room.”

Tammy follows cautiously and quietly.

They arrive in Luna’s room which looks like everyone else’s room aside from having another smaller covered doorway not quite opposite of the one they entered.

They settled in nicely and started stripping the vines of their bark and wilted wet leaves.

After they settled into the task and Tammy seemed to relax some of her tension I decided to slowly start absorbing the waste pile from the bottom of the pile so as to not be immediately noticed.

As they finished stripping the vines they dried them off with a cloth hand towel, before they continued on to the weaving process using a simple over under pattern for each of the panels that would make up the chest.

The extra bits of vine that were left sticking out were sniped off with garden shears, taking the longer useful pieces and putting them back with the other vines and the short bits that can’t be used in with the scraps pile.

This is when Tammy seemed to have noticed that the pile of vine scraps wasn’t nearly as big as it should have been.

She doesn’t say anything about it rather she just keeps looking over it nervously as they start to use another vine to connect the panels together with each other.

So I purposely absorbed a vine scrap as she was looking at it, getting her to react.

Tammy, “!!!L-Luna!”

She stutters and points to the scrap pile, looking concerned as she doesn’t seem to know what to say, I can guess that she might want to avoid being seen as crazy.

So I do the same thing once Luna looks so she knows what I have done.

Luna chuckles and calms Tammy down.

Luna, “Oh, it’s just cleaning up for us, everything’s going to be fine.

You probably just made it happy for having noticed it helping out, since it is shy but it does like having its work recognized.”

Luna totally must have made that up but I won’t disagree.

Tammy looks confused as she asks for clarification.

Tammy, “W-what do you mean?”

Luna, “Oh yeah I forgot nobody believed me when I first found this place, so I guess it didn’t stick around when I told people that the place I found was a dungeon willing to help us.

You remember how I got teleported to safety when I was attacked?

Well it was this dungeon who saved me, I’m sure it wouldn’t mind meeting you if you want?…”

Tammy seems to have frozen up as she processes the information before she speaks determinedly.

Tammy, “Could it do the same for me!?”

Luna uses her intuition to respond to Tammy’s vague question.

Luna, “If you’re asking about the teleportation thing, it does have requirements to activate.

First off is that it can only teleport its registered inhabitants and it only knows to do it if it gets notified that you are in danger.

Meaning you will take some damage which will then alert it about you getting harmed, then it will use the teleportation to save you.

Now the teleportation requires a lot of mana so not only does it require the dungeon to use its mana but it also requires you to accept it using your own mana before it triggers.

There wasn’t enough mana when I got transferred and it damaged the dungeon quite badly, I was afraid that it would die because it saved me.

It was awful the core started to break apart and a empty room collapsed while the dungeon bled through its walls, and it had to temporarily erect pilers to support the two largest rooms, which was before the first room was expanded too!

Luckily we have been able to slowly help it recover with mana transfers to repair its damaged core.”

Luna gauged Tammy’s responses while she said what she had and she decided to continue as Tammy has gotten a spark in her eyes and has leaned in to focus intensely on Luna’s words.

Luna, “Another thing is that not only can you talk to it anywhere in the dungeon, but it’s also able to make changes to the dungeon if you want it to which includes putting a wall between you and someone else if they endanger you.”

Tammy, “Can I become an inhabitant?”

Luna, “Yes you can, If you want to that is.”

Tammy, “I do, please let me become an inhabitant!”

Luna then uncovers the pathway to my core room and has Tammy follow her along, as she also moves aside the cover at the other end of the crawl space and giving Tammy the first glimpse of my turquoise glow.

Tammy looks around in wonder, seeing all the mana grass plants that I have accumulated around my core, as well as seeing my broken core laying on the ground.

Althouh I have smoothed out the rough edges with the past few mana crystallization sessions the area where I had the most damage is still concaved inward with an uneven surface.

Tammy, “Wow! This is amazing! It feels so magical here like we just stepped into a fairytale! What do I do now?”

Luna smiles at Tammy who seems to be smiling for the first time since arriving, not the forced smile she has been giving her family and others, but a real smile even though it seems faint and like it could disappear at any moment.

Luna shows her, sitting next to my core she gently places her hand on my core and gives me a mana transfer, making me glow brilliantly for a moment before she informs Tammy.

Luna, “Now, what I did was I transferred some of my mana to the dungeon core.

I just decided on my intention to give it my mana and how much I wanted to give it, but in your case you would be giving it your intention to become one of the dungeon’s inhabitants and you would be registered.

I can hold your hand if you’re nervous.”

Tammy seemed hesitant for a moment before she shook her head and approached me tentatively getting down on her knees and leaning forward to reach out and touch my core letting her intent flow into my core and she registered smoothly.

[Congratulations on your fifth dungeon inhabitant, Tammy Feillis. Positions are being repaired, multiple inhabitants sharing a skill has repaired a position to an adequate degree. Dungeon weaver is now available. Dungeon cook is now available. Dungeon gardener variant of the dungeon farmer position is available now. The dungeon manager has been informed for the inhabitants position selection.]

Luna informed Tammy about the availability of positions, and informed her that she can change positions whenever she wants, when Tammy seemed hesitant.

Tammy, “If that’s the case then for now I think it’s best for me to take the Weaver position since I don’t think I’m ready for the other positions yet”

[Congratulations on your first dungeon weaver position, they will receive extra bonuses for using materials from your dungeon]

Tammy received her notification on her new position and they returned to finish her clothing chest.

They managed to finish it and talked for a little while before Tina arrived with a meal to share with everyone.

They had stewed vegetables that were preserved in a fish sauce that the cat beast-kin favored to eat with almost everything, and some wild turkey that Tom had hunted earlier in the day.

Around dusk they decided to head there separate ways with Tammy and Tina returning to their respective rooms with Tammy’s new clothing chest which her family praised and made requests for her to consider making more for them if they made something for her in return.

Tammy having already had a good day and realizing what her family was trying to do she decided to smile and go along with them.

Tammy, “Sure, I don’t mind making one for all of you, now that I know how to make them I just need the vines to get started, so I’d like to get enough to make them and a little extra to try making something else with it too.”

Her family seems delighted and both her father and brother decided to go out in the morning and find some vines before the cold ruins them, as although they are still useful the cold will eventually make them too stiff as winter progresses.

That night Tammy and Luna both were speaking to me about how their day went and what not else long into the night.

Luna was right, Tammy is definitely the clingy type as she had me give her some clay to cling to as she fell asleep much like how some people cling to their blankets or pillows.

She seems like she has made me her lifeline and she seems to be adjusting to my existence rapidly.

Tammy asks me if I would mind growing her some vines in her room for her to weave since they would allow her to harvest them herself as well as getting more rewards from dungeon materials being used.

Her rewards for making her chest, even with help, was an improvement to her dexterity trait as well as a skill improvement for preparing the materials she uses in her weaving.

She receives benefits for everything she makes with her weaving position but she receives more benefits for making something for the first time and for doing it herself or teaching a trainee.

Also since there will be more benefits for using my dungeon materials for her crafting I can’t help but agree.

I expanded her room slightly and made little ledges that I plant the vines to grow from, and I even went through my dungeon plant database section and picked out all the different types of vines that I could give her.

Some of the vines that I gave her will have different lengths and thickness, but some have special traits including the passion vine which has flowers that can be used to help treat Tammy’s anxiety and sleeping problems with the added bonus that it is also a fruit bearing vine!

I planted one for Luna as well and I planted another one in the commons area having them grow from the walls.

I have a few other vine varieties but they might not be a good idea to grow in someone’s room.

The scorching vine as it sounds it creates its own heat and it will burn out competing vegetation, and the constrictor vine is a carnivorous variety that entangles its prey and then tightens its grip until the prey dies at which the vine will burry it near the roots for the nutrients…..

Both of these I put in their own small rooms as I have a feeling that they will be very useful once grown.

The scorching vine will be great for heating my dungeon, and I could probably try to use the constrictor vine to catch prey for my inhabitants to enjoy.

I should probably spend some more time searching for useful plants in my dungeon plant database to experiment with, but for now I should call it a night as I think I will start expanding my dungeon and exploring the outside.