Trash Mountain Dungeon

Congratulations.

The core has fulfilled the requirements to advance to level 3!

+1 floor limit

Added gross mana production to base production. +80 mana per hour

+200 mana storage

+1 level 2 perk choice

+1 focusing choice.

+1 level 3 monster choice*

+10 DP for leveling up.

*Requires choosing a perk and focus choice before being available.

This was the reward for finishing the level 3 requirements, the same as the level 2 rewards but I didn't expect that they would be all that different anyway. Like before, my core moved down, becoming its own floor with 15 rooms available for use, which did give me the idea that maybe I could make one or two mega rooms, but that was for later. The monster, focus, DP, and perks were also incredible, but it very much felt the same as the last level, just adjusted to the next level. But I would put those to the side, for now, the meeting was too soon for me to cobble together a floor and choose from my focusing, perk, and monster choices before they got here, so, for now, I would push them for after the talks.

When they finally came over, the annoying task of talking through my new merchant began, and by the point they started to explain what they wanted from me I began to get the gist of their actual purpose. While I did not doubt that they would use me to improve themselves, I doubt that's the main purpose, after all, my monsters drop loot, and the mines contain special metals, to say nothing of whatever items the rats drop or what I may make in the future. No, they were here for profit and power, two goals that aren't as innately bad as people would assume but presented a slippery slope if things soured between us. If I allow them to use the dungeon as a source of income it would make them dependent on me as well as aid in my development, but it could also lead them to the desire to control me completely regardless of the deal we may or may not make. On the flip side, it could also result in them forcing me to let them in through violence. I wasn't ok with killing someone still but if it came to that I wouldn't hesitate, I hope. But after some back and forth between our two groups, we had a small recess, during which I came up with an offer of my own. I was still on the fence if I wanted to deal with them, but I did have an idea, why not maximize profit?

Essentially, their goal was to regularly harvest the various stuff I made, intentionally or not, and use them for their gain, something I couldn't entirely blame them for since that was more or less exactly what I wanted from them. And after the short break I called for, we began to talk.

They wanted to collect the resources I made, and more specifically they wanted to collect the metal produced by my assembly lines and from the two mines on the second floor. Additionally, they wanted to make use of the various monsters that I had created to train their talented recruits and made it a condition that I prevent them from being killed, within reason of course. Finally, they were open to discussing how they might help me in creating more powerful resources, likely less because they cared about my development as a powerful dungeon and more so that they were concerned about whether I would continue to add valuable resources for them to collect.

There were of course other stipulations on their end, but they were largely too small to warrant major consideration, at least not with how things stand right now. But once they were done with their spiel, I presented my offer, my merchant explaining in my stead. First, the Nightingale family and all associates were to respect the sovereignty of the dungeon and its domain, to clarify that while I am allowing them inside, the dungeon is a kingdom of my own. Second, I would allow them access to any individual floor they paid an appropriate tithe for as well as all resources therein, and that any monster within said floors was theirs to battle, however, the dungeon is not responsible for the deaths of any person that engaged with said monsters. Third, the dungeon is willing to consult the Nightingale lord, heir, and the individual known as Edward on matters of development and trade but will only do so at the dungeon's discretion. Fourth, the dungeon was willing to provide unique treasures provided the Nightingale house was capable of giving magical metals and materials to match. Fifth, the Nightingale family is obligated to provide security against outside threats. Sixth and finally, the dungeon would maintain a good standing relationship with the Nightingale family which includes no impeding, harassing, or otherwise attacking them.

My aim with the deal was at best to try and sway things more towards me, give them an extreme offer so that a "revised" offer that still favored me would be agreed to.

The idea was that after the deal...

"We accept this offer good dungeon."

Wait what?

"If it is no bother, we would take first leave so that we may continue with the establishment of our camp and prepare so that we can properly honor the deal."

And with that, he and his procession left, some of them looking like he had sold them all out while the others had a more contemplative look, something wasn't quite right. As they stepped off the lift platform, I could make out the faint mention of "The Guild" before they left my hearing range, it's possible they already had a way of sidestepping the deal. But despite still being surprised by their sudden acceptance, I was glad that it was over with and on mostly good terms, all I needed to do was prepare for them to start sending people in.

Speaking of preparations though, I had a floor, and a gaggle of choices to pick through. First was that they had given me a new monster to work with, they didn't seem that great since my hounds could tear through them so easily, but that could be more because my dogs are just that cool.

Hobgoblin

One of the last remaining goblinoid species after The Collapse, hobgoblins are not as intelligent or magically gifted as their smaller kin, but instead make up for it with numbers and highly adaptable bodies. Hobgoblins lack the social structures of gremlins and the intelligence of goblins but are willing to cooperate if the situation falls out of their favor. Hobgoblins are however capable of becoming [Greathobs] under extreme stress.

Hobgoblins are incapable of magic and lack impressive strength, but any created nodes allow for the creation of different environmentally influenced subspecies.

Compatible with blood magic as material.

When exposed to great physical and magical stress hobgoblins can develop into [Greathobs]

Creation Costs:

75 mana

3 lbs. of organic material per 24 hours

Node Cost:

125 mana

4 mana are taken from production.

Creates: 4 hobgoblins, 2 male, 2 female.

Hmm, not a stellar gift I'd say, but free is free I guess, unless this was some kind of attempt at weakening me, is a new monster and a bit of growth supposed to be a threat?

Anyway though, I pushed it to the side to look at my other stuff; to choose my level 3 monster I would need my focus and perk.

Level 2 Perks:

Structural Efficiency 2: Grants mechanical structures and monsters improved efficiency and reduced upkeep. +2 mana production for all mechanical structures and -2 mana upkeep from mechanical monsters. Node upkeep is reduced by 2.

Mechanical Trap Enhancement 1: Grants mechanical traps improved functionality and reduced cost by 1.

*Masterwork Creation 1: At the beginning of each week improve one monster on each floor, the improved monster will gain the (+) modifier and will have all of their abilities and attributes improved. Collectively these monsters will produce 1 Dp per week.

*Mechanical Focusing has influenced this selection.

Good, very good, but still, something to think about. Structural efficiency 2 is very much an all-around benefit like the first one with little downsides, the other two are interesting if nothing else. The trap enhancement would give me more incentive to use and plan around traps in the dungeon while also making them easier to make, on the other side, masterwork creation meant I could create beefed-up monsters to supplement the existing forces, and it would give me points each week, something I could use and would need in the future. Another thing to consider now is how this would affect the deal, something I would need to start considering from here on, but the first two options wouldn't have much impact, yes, they would give me more mana or better traps but ultimately things wouldn't get shaken up too much. That would be much the same if I took Masterwork as well, but the new addition could cause problems if they encounter an enhanced canid, or maybe just a strangely powerful clockworker, either way, it was something to think about.

As for my focus options, they were different this time around.

Focusing 2:

Mechanical Focus 2: More machine options will appear, allowing rarer options to appear. Grants one level 2 mechanical monster.

Mechanical Monster Focus 1: More machine monster options will appear more greatly when appropriate. Allows for a one-time conversion of a non-mechanical blueprint into a mechanical one.

Biological Focus 1: Biological options will appear more often, allowing rarer options to appear. Allows selective breeding between compatible biological constructs.

Similar to before but also very different, mechanical 2 gives me better machine stuff and a free monster, giving me a net of two monsters with the level-up. Additionally, mech monster increases how often I can get a mechanical monster, with the small problem that I usually only get mechanical monsters from either the shop or as a system reward, with a couple of outliers. Finally, there's biological which would increase the number of biological options I would get, if that's what I wanted, the given options would likely still be useful and they would still be constructs, but so far, I was rather invested in the idea of metal machines and robots.

Two choices to make, two things that could change my future.

what to do?