Trash Mountain Dungeon

Acknowledged.

Unlocking Pandora's room.

A saying if you would.

"Freewill is both a curse and a blessing, to own your mistakes and achievements give each person the weight of the world behind each action, but with that weight, they may one day become diamonds."

I'm actually starting to like the idea of these little sayings, even if they feel somewhat bigger than they need to be for the situation. That being said I would like to see Pandora's room; the description did say that they couldn't be tied to one room specifically so that she has one interests me.

Birth-Forge

A recreation of a faded memory, this place was where her divine father first cast the first daughter of bronze, and along with her a jar meant for an impossible task. This structure is designed to comfort Pandora, a place of rest and work where she may make her tools and weapons with the special bronze that crops up from the ground. Given the significance of the room and its origins, it will act as a temple to a certain [Clef-Footed Smith].

Produces:

Quasi-celestial Bronze*

+100 mana storage

+1 monster node

Requires a minimum of 5 combined rooms.

The magical heat of the forge makes it difficult to approach.

Only one may exist

1x free creation charge.

*Exhibits properties similar to divine material but lacks the genuine mark of divinity that elevates it above mortal metals.

Like the labyrinth, this room seems incredible, with the only issue being that it counts as a temple. What I was wondering was just who this smith was, the system wasn’t calling them a god but you don’t build temples to just anybody or thing, they had to be something more. But that’s also part of another tidbit I needed clarification on by the system, what exactly is this rarity ranking, I’ve been getting a lot of sparkly options that make me think they’re ultra rare of-a-kind- which some are- items that should be reserved for more spectacular or specific events.

The [Clef-footed Smith] asks that they remain anonymous for the moment, for now, all they have stated is that you continue to be as you are. They also recommend that you do not worry about their followers, as none are within this world.

Ok, none of that was ok to me, but I doubt I get much say in… whatever this is. But with that being said, it was decent that I didn’t trade one set of notions for another if they were telling the truth anyway. With nothing else to do, I might as well look through these other messages, can’t be that much worse I guess.

Attention

The Divine entity “Kannor”

Is greatly displeased with your actions and has complained to his followers.

The Divine entity “Leighlash”

Is pleased with your actions and has offered her help against her nemesis.

Fuck shit in a barrel, what the bologna hell did I do! It clearly stated that nothing would happen with the other two, what the hell was that shit System!

Note

The wills and moods of divinity are outside of the system's directives or control.

Sigh

Is there truly nothing you can do, or is it one of those things you’ll stay silent on until I meet some arbitrary goal?

…

Yeah, I thought so.

If I can’t rely on the system to give me accurate reports on these gods then I’ll just have to guess for myself, years of reading mythology books and fiction have prepared me for this. Their messages were clear, but on a deeper level what did they mean? Kannor told their followers about me, not where I was nor that they should attack me, but just that I slighted them.

This gave me some leeway to hope that nothing would come of it, but with religion or cults, it’s never just over: likely I would have to deal with Kannor’s assmunchers eventually, sanctioned or not. On the other hand, this Leighlash seemed to like me, and failing that she at least appreciated me not choosing her enemy and was offering help, in whatever form that took. With the smith a non-entity in this matter, it meant that I had one god probably gunning for me and his foe willing to help me, which means fuck everyone I’m going to make a kill pit, at least for a couple levels if I can help it.

It wouldn’t be a real kill pit, and I wasn’t about to start skirting or breaking the deal, it’s just that I’ll have to get them to accept that I’m going to turn up the heat on some levels for my safety. That being said, what should I do about it, I still had to fulfill the invasion requirements to get to the next level and it was unlikely that it would be done for some time. I would need to entice Arthur and his people in more often, and thanks to the deal we signed it wouldn’t be too hard; a sign of what happens when you cooperate. So quickly I sent my mecha to hound out to call him, hopefully, he isn’t too injured.

He wasn’t too injured, but given that these talks had lasted two weeks it was hard to tell if that mattered or not. When I first asked for him I got a stern “he’s busy” from his… secretary, I think they were? Essentially the camp was in a rush to start and work on their more permanent buildings, bypassing the pre-foundation and area control plans they had before and going straight to cutting stone and chopping wood to start making a thick wall around a now flattened and enlarged ground. I was able to meet with Arthur occasionally but I was unable to start a proper dialogue with him, and frankly, it was getting me pissed.

But I was not without patience, and eventually, I was able to get and keep his attention with some implied help. Essentially, I said that if they were in such a hurry then they could have some of my monsters give them a hand, and he, I’d even help supply nails and hinges if they were willing to repay me at a later date. This got their attention thankfully, and while it would still be nowhere near fast enough for my liking, they did begin sending in “attack” parties to start semi-unknowingly finish my level requirements.

The first attack was at night, a small group of lightly armed militia came up the lift and entered, shaking in their boots. They actually got decently far into the first level but that was mostly because the rust trappers, clock workers, and golems were outside helping them set up their fort, I was able to let the first-floor monsters out thanks to a handy upgrade from the store. But their adventure ended fast once they got to the canid, its intimidating appearance and terrifying speed made them flee, and my first actual attack by my allies was over; it wasn’t that great but it counts so what do I care?

But that brings me to my current situation, which in fairness isn’t a situation, more of a new normal. Once that first attack group came back unharmed (if in need of new trousers) loaded with the environmental loot they scavenged, more people began to rotate in and out, some trying their luck with the canid with only a small handful being able to scratch it. This led to a startling revelation, I was generating far more mana now that people were coming in and cleaning out the place, the assembly lines were usually choked full of unused metal but now they were almost squeaky clean. Apparently, the dungeon worked better when the flow of mana was unclogged by its byproducts.

Looking outside, they were making excellent progress on their fortress, with my monsters’ help of course. I could see the clock workers cutting and transporting perfect stone blocks two and from an emergency quarry just down the mountain, I saw the metal webbing of the rust trappers being weaved into rope for various tools and mechanisms, and I could even see my golems helping some concerned looking lumberjacks bring down some trees. If I wasn’t a dungeon this scene would probably be great, and even as a dungeon core I would say so, but I should be careful not to call them friends just because they agreed to not try and kill me. Reviewing my forces, the second and third floors were still unavailable to the outside and would likely stay that way for a while, but since I was nearing the completion of my final level requirement I should consider how I should handle my fourth floor.

Like other level-ups before, I would get a focus option, a level 3 perk, a level 4 monster, and some DP. In the, pretty recent, past the focus options would be more centered around mechanical options so I’d likely have to choose something machine-related again. My perk and monster options would likewise be machine-based but I could just as likely get another ratkin-like option, they were proving to be my mainstay right now so another like them would be amazing. Another thing to consider is my two legendary monsters and associated rooms, the Astarion and Pandora.

Asterion was a mechanical Minotaur, large and dangerous, it was the very idea of a boss monster, while Pandora felt more along the lines of an intelligent crafter/fighter. The only thing is that if I did want to use Astarion then floor four would be the first place where I could, with 20 room spaces available, I could make the labyrinth at no cost. The problem was that it would occupy the entire room, and I wouldn’t be able to make more of either, and on top of that it would be at reduced ability much like the canid was. On top of that, Pandora was also a situation of its own, it had no downside to being made on a lower floor but both the opportunity cost and the fact that it took up five whole rooms meant that it would be a considerable portion of any floor I made for some time. Once I get the last few attacks logged, likely sometime tomorrow, I'll have 20 rooms to work with, plenty of space to make the birth forge, and still have 15 room slots to spare, the consideration was whether I felt I was ready to start using rare monsters.

Maybe I should consider asking some of my monsters for help, not that I could actually talk with them, but it never hurt to seek alternative perspectives. I wonder how Wormy is doing these days?