Firm: Opal’s Story

We are all having dinner around the fire, and Amber insists on feeding me again. “Come on Mom say ahh.” she tells me, so I open my mouth and make an “ahhh” sound, but suddenly there is food in my mouth that cuts it off. I chew the food and swallow it, I still don’t know what happens to the stuff I swallow. Amber was a good kid today and even took the ugly pig off of my hands, so I think it’s fine to let her feed me. She does insist that we don’t tell other people about me not eating or breathing, and I guess this is her way of helping me hide it. Probably. She’s such a reliable daughter.

After dinner it’s already completely dark, so Tina and her daughters gather us all together. “Okay, we have the room all planned out now, so follow my kids and my directions on where to place the stones and boards. We’ll use our magic to make sure it all stays together and we should have a decent place to sleep tonight. Are there any questions before we get started?” she instructs us, but there aren’t any questions, so we all start picking up stones or boards.

Tina’s mud skill isn’t something I would want, but it is really useful, she says she managed to make some concrete. I don’t know what that is, but it seems like harder mud. It’s really good at making sure the stones stay together in the walls we’ve made, and the stone pillars in the center of the room are coated in the stuff. The ceiling of the structure is wooden boards laid down on the pillars and walls, then held in place with that concrete stuff and covered in the orc tents we had taken down before. Apparently Tina plans on doing something better with it when she has more time, but this should keep any rain or wind out.

The floor is covered in even more of the wooden boards with dried mud in the gaps and the concrete stuff in the places where the boards don’t quiet touch the walls. One of Tina’s daughters even managed to make little loops of the concrete stuff that dried fast enough when held in place, that now we can use to hold torches. When we finally finish, everyone who isn’t me is sweaty, so we all decide to finish off the night at the stream. I look around the room before joining them with pride. The beds and mattresses have already been brought in. We’ll arrange them when we get back, and I have a plan for my bed so it doesn’t break when I lay down on it. Probably.

On the walk to the stream, everyone seems excited for the beds, most only having genetic memories from an ancestor who used one. Tasha tells Ruby she’s going to sneak into her bed while she’s sleeping and fondle her. She’s pretty loud about it so everyone hears and starts giggling, I’m not sure whats so funny though. I wouldn’t mind someone snuggling on my bed with me, it was nice when we all cuddled last night. A few of the kids start making plans about putting their beds next to each other so they can be closer and chat. Amber and Sapphire both ask if they can put their beds next to mine, and of course I agree, the closer I am to my cute babies the better.

I do tell them that I won’t be in my bed for most of the night, since I’ll be checking out more of the dungeon. They both know I don’t have to sleep, but they still seem a little disappointed. They agree to share my bed until I get back from the Dungeon, since we don’t have blankets and it’s already started to get cold after the sun went down. As they say it, a lot of other women start to realize its going to be cold and promise to share their bed with their family or the friends they’ve made while in the Dungeon.

When we get to the stream Tasha has an idea and instructs Tina and her daughters to make a big pit next to the stream. Tina seems to understand and starts directing them. Once there is a pit, they make a little path for the water from the stream, and so the pit slowly fills up. Once it’s pretty full Tina blocks the little path from the stream. Steph and her daughter then start shooting flames at the water filled pit. They stop, Tasha puts a hand in the water, and then tells them it needs a little more so they start again.

What we end up with is a hole in the ground filled with slightly steaming water.

Tasha is the first one to jump in, but is soon followed by everyone else. I have to admit, this feels much better than the cold stream, even if it is a bit muddy. Amber tells me that the dirt should settle, and we can hopefully use it more tomorrow. Sapphire speaks up though and asks “Why don’t we just make a better one at camp since we have the well?” and everyone cheers. That’s my smart baby.

I sit in the warm water and think about a lot of things. I’ll get my third class soon, and what Amber’s kid said has been on my mind. Do I want to be the best at something? My strongest trait is that I’m tough, I don’t have the strength stat of Sue or Tasha, and I don’t think I’d be good at Sapphire’s healing or Steph’s spells. So should I be the best at being hard to hurt? “What are you thinking about Mom?” Ruby interrupts my thoughts. I smile at her and answer “Just thinking about what I should do with my 3^rd class. I’ll be getting it soon and I’m not sure if I should make myself tougher, or do something I’m not as good at to cover more of my weaknesses.” The women around me quiet down and some of them get thinking faces like Ruby, but Sapphire responds first “Remember how you told me to switch to something I like, since I might get stuck with something I don’t? Well you should be you Mom, you’re my tough foundation, my rock. So picking a third class that resonates with you should be more important than filling a weakness you might not even have.” I see a lot of nods and Ruby says “Pick what you think will make you happy Mom, we all will support you like you’ve supported us.”

Suddenly I’m surrounded by my family and we are group hugging in the warm water. Luckily I don’t have to breathe because some of my daughters are a little to enthusiastic with their hugs.

Tasha gets out of the water and says “I’m going to clean my cloths in the stream if anyone else wants to join me.” To which many of the women show their agreement and get out, taking their discarded clothing over to the stream. My uniform is still fine, since I don’t sweat and the monsters in the first floor of the Dungeon were so weak. I do offer to help Amber wash her cloths though, since they smell like Piggy now and she wanted to stay in the warm water hugging me instead of washing them. I don’t tell her it’s because they smell awful, that would be rude. Probably.

On the walk back to camp Sue says “I think everyone should party up and deal with these goblin den quests. They supposedly breed really quickly, and we don’t want to have to deal with them at the same time as the orc war quest, so I think we should take care of them quickly.” I nod, having forgotten about my own goblin quest, even though I have the tracker for it. It’s kind of small in my vision and I kind of just got used to it being there.

0/15 Goblins

I hear others agreeing with her as well, it should also get them more levels since my quest at least mentions a level up from it. I don’t think I’d normally get a level up from just killing 15 goblins anymore, since tier 3 classes take more experience per level. Plus I’d probably be going with a party, so I’d be getting even less of the experience. I will probably get enough levels tonight in the Dungeon to get my third class, and after talking to my kids about it I’m pretty excited to see what my options are.

Now back at the camp we close the gate behind us, I’m still keeping a look out and would probably be bored if I didn’t have two bodies.

When we all grab our beds and mattresses, it’s decided by my daughters that they wont use the bed frames and instead put a bunch of our mattresses in a corner of the room on the floor. That way everyone who doesn’t plan on sharing a bed with a friend can cuddle pile, and not be left out. It makes me want to skip the Dungeon tonight so I can do it too, but I need to be tougher for my kids. We also need to know what’s on the next floors so everyone can safely get more materials and experience. Unfortunate. I see them all starting to lie down and snuggle, so I tell them “Good night sweeties.” I get back a bunch of “Good night Mom” and “Good luck” back, even from Ruby who is cuddling on a separate bed with Tasha.

About 10 minutes later

I choose yes to go to the second floor. The normal white light soon fades and I’m in another hall. This one is a lot like the one on the first floor, even with a set of doors at the end. The stones are a slightly different color though, a little lighter than the last floor, but it’s not by a lot. I don’t collect anything, since I’m not here for that now. Instead I head straight for the doors, pushing them open. On the other side is a room with more orcs, this time they have -Orc- Lvl 5 above their heads, that’s 2 levels higher than on floor one, but still not an issue for anyone in the camp.

I start killing all the orcs on this dungeon floor, making sure to use their monster orbs this time. I probably should have been getting Credits this way from the start, I guess I overestimated my stamina production. This floor is a lot like the last one, only with higher level orcs and no Mimic. I do find a few empty sacks, so I put the other sacks into one of them with the monster orbs, and carry it along. There really isn’t anything else I notice worth taking though, so before long I’m to the stairs leading to the third floor.

Ding!

Go to the 3rd floor? Y/N

I choose yes. The third floor is pretty much a repeat of the previous floors, a different, bigger floor plan, and slightly lighter stones. No new materials on this floor but the orcs are level 8 now and the Mimic is back, still level 10 though, just like the one on the first floor.

I actually make it all the way to the 7^th floor before I find something interesting. I thought it was a smaller Mimic, but it’s actually one of those blue chests the goblins had. When I open it, it gives me 100 Credits, which doesn’t seem like much anymore, and inside is a little glass bottle with red liquid inside. It’s held in the bottle by a little cork at the top. The most interesting thing about it though is it has a name above it’s head.

(Health Potion)

But it doesn’t have a level, just like my fish from the lake. It says health, so does it heal people? I want to check but my Health is full since nothing in the Dungeon could hurt me yet, then I get a smart idea. I hit myself in the legs really hard, and luckily it hurts! I see small cracks in my skin where I hit and check my Health, seeing that it has gone down a few points I immediately take the little cork out of the bottle and drink it. As I finish it I look at my Health and sure enough it’s back to max. This should be pretty useful when we don’t have Sapphire in our party, she can’t be everywhere after all. Though, some of the daughters did decide to take Healer as their second class.

That reminds me, I’m not sure how I keep forgetting stuff, but it’s annoying. I check my Free Points.

Free Points: 1,034

It looks like I got one more level than I needed to, but now I’m excited. I sit on the floor and focus on the option for unlocking my 3^rd class.

Ding!

Choose a starting class*New options unlocked*

Looking at the options I only have two new ones, neither of which I find interesting or fun sounding. After my talk with the girls, I don’t want to fight for a master or with pets. Thinking about Amber’s pig I shake my head and shiver when I think about the smell. No, definitely not a Tamer. Breeder is also automatically out, it’s pretty useless and because of (Mother Opal), I’d never be able to switch it out. I still have the same issues with Thief, Healer, and Mage, they just don’t seem like as much fun. I could do Fighter again, but I don’t think I’ll go the same route as my granddaughter. Tank actually describes me well, maybe as much as Fighter. The decision seems easy now that I think about it, so I focus on Tank.

Ding!

Right, I forgot flatbox doesn’t pop up after getting a new class, so I check my Classes menu.

Ding!

Classes

I better check and see what it’s level 1 skill is, so I check the list.

(New)Hard: (Passive)

You take less damage from physical hits.

So it’s kind of like Firm? No that’s not right, it only makes me take less damage from physical hits, where Firm says I’m difficult to damage. Firm also has increasing effects based on my highest tier Class. Hard probably isn’t very strong since it’s my level 1 skill for the class, but I’m still using Power Attack, so it should be a little useful at least. Still much better than Breeder’s first skill.

It didn’t take me long to get to this floor, so I might as well see if I can get to the 10^th floor, and see how quickly a tier 1 class levels again.