83. Travel

Dungeon Daughter Core (Epic, Undead)

Level

55-60

Uses

1 / 1

My friends exchanged confused looks when I produced the core, and I realized that they might not actually know what it was.  I hadn’t flashed them around before hand, and only Tarisha and Laurant had actually seen me handling them.

“It’s a dungeon core,” I explained.

“Yeah, we figured that,” Phil said.  “But, well, are you sure it’s a good idea to use one?  Your track record for spending them hasn’t been the greatest, in case you’ve forgotten.  I mean, the battleground was awesome, but it also almost backfired on you.  And then there was the castle before that.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said.  “But this is different.  I was always planning on using a few of the cores I got for busting Zhesa castle on my lands, and even Grandfather’s shade agreed with me that it was a good idea.  And since Mooncrest Manor is already burned down and derelict, I figured it’s the perfect place for a dungeon.  Unless you know of a better one.”

“He’s right,” Laurant agreed.  “And it will drive up the prices of North Shire real estate even further to have a decent dungeon in the area.  My only concern is how fast you’re burning through cores.  I mean, unless you have a few dozen of them stashed away and didn’t tell us.”

“I’d prefer not to put a number on it,” I said, although the number was ninety-eight, including the one in my hand.  “But I definitely have enough on hand that I can establish five dungeons in both North Shire and Thornmarch, and still have plenty left over in case I need to create an emergency battleground.”

“Shit,” Laurant said, although it wasn’t a serious curse.  “If there’s no risk of running out any time soon, then yeah, you should definitely make a few dungeons.  Are they all low level dungeon cores, or is it a mix, or what?”

“I have five cores picked out for North Shire that are in the range of level thirty to level sixty,” I answered.  “But I don’t know where to put them, except for this one.  I haven’t picked out which cores to use in Thornmarch yet.  I think it would be best to match the dungeon levels to their environments, but I don’t know much about that area’s native darkspawn.”

“Makes sense,” Laurant agreed.  “Phil and I will totally keep an eye out for places that would make awesome dungeons for you over the next few days, while trying to not make it look like that’s what we’re doing.”

“Yup.  We’ll be scouring the land for bandit hideouts anyway, so it will look totally legit,” Phil agreed.

“Lord Hail, I’ve been wondering,” Tarisha said hesitantly.  “The Zhesa Castle Dungeon, before it was converted into a raid, it had several zones and its enemies covered a wide range of levels.  Was there some indication that that core was different or more valuable?”

“I guess?” I said.  “Most of the cores I have now all have a level range on them, but the core that I used back then said its level was unrestricted.  I think about five percent of all dungeon cores are like that, judging by the descriptions of the ones in my inventory.  Obviously I haven’t used any of the other unrestricted cores yet.”

“I strongly suggest you save them,” Tarisha agreed.  “Multi-wing dungeons are valuable and unique.  Zhesa castle would have been a very popular dungeon for some time had things played out differently.  We should save the unrestricted cores for the most promising dungeon locations we find.  And we should definitely avoid burning them to create battlegrounds, especially if they’re rare.”

“Yeah, I agree,” I said.  “The core I used last night was a level fifteen to twenty core.  I don’t think the level or type of core matters at all for battleground generation, since it seems like almost everyone who wanted to was able to participate in the battle.”

“Right, I just wanted to make certain,” she said.  “As for where to stash the core, I think we should lock it in the document storage room.  But what about the Throne?  Won’t it be inconvenient to hold court inside of a dungeon?”

“Thomas said that we can move the throne pretty easily,” I reminded her.  “And it takes time for the dungeon to form.  Once I activate it, it will be seven weeks in this world before the dungeon actually forms.  I’ll just have to find a new place to hold court before then, if the palace that Randal is going to build me isn’t ready by then.”

“Very well,” she agreed, and she led me to the hidden document storage room in the basement.  The door didn’t appear until she waved the key that we had gotten from Arkan in front of it, which was the reason it had taken her so long to find in the first place.  She had already cleared out all of the documents, leaving the shelves inside empty.  I activated the core, left it behind, and we locked the door to the hidden room, the key disappearing into my inventory.

“Should we announce that the manor is going to become a dungeon, or not?” Thena asked seriously.  “It might backfire on us if Hail’s ability to create new dungeons becomes widely known.”

Tarisha nodded at the sagacity of the priestess’s words before immediately dismissing them.  “The idea that Hail was linked to the Zhesa castle incident is already widespread.  We’re confirming suspected information, not revealing something entirely new.  Having it known that Hail has conscious control over the creation of both new dungeons and battlegrounds will earn him quite a bit of respect from any force which wishes to influence him.  While I can see where some guilds might strategically align themselves against him in attempts to force him to trigger battlegrounds, those who wish to exploit him for dungeon creation will most likely seek alliances.  As such, I believe revealing this ability now is for the best.  With your permission, Hail, I will make an announcement on the forums with a countdown until the new dungeon opens.”

“Sure,” I said.  “I think you’re right.  There’s no reason to keep it secret at this point.”

“There would be if you were creating a raid,” Tarisha admitted.  “First clears of new raids are highly competitive, and the knowledge of when and where one was about to form would be extremely valuable information.  But a level sixty dungeon isn’t something that’s worth treating as a strategic secret, and hyping it up a little bit will actually earn you somegood will.”

“Right,” I agreed.  I turned to Phil and Laurant.  “So then, you guys probably want to go start hitting your new recruits with sticks or something.  Is that actually a thing in your world?”

“Sort of,” Phil said.  “Not actually hitting them, but drill sergeants are pretty infamous for their creative insults.”

“Yup.  I’m planning on going full out Full Metal Jacketfor the first few days,” Laurant agreed.

“Well, good luck with that, whatever that means,” I said.  I turned to Larissa.  “Can I get a portal back to Zhesa?  I’ll get an international teleport to Eolstree from their.  I could just Fast Travel, but Tarisha says it’s better to keep that available for emergencies.”

“It is better for you to always have that option available,” Tarisha insisted.

“It didn’t do me much good last night,” I reminded her.  “It doesn’t work if I get stuck in an event, and I’m pretty sure the system is quite happy to consider ‘twenty endgame Travelers ambushing me’ to be a sufficient definition of an ‘event.’”

“You’re probably right,” she agreed.  “But it’s still a good first line of defense.”

I shrugged, conceding the point.  “Oh, but before we go, let’s try this out.”

I activated [Illusion Magic: Disguise]. And I felt … nothing.  I glanced down, and was disappointed to note that the magic certainly had no effect on my clothing.  “How do I look?” I asked.

“Pretty much the same,” Laurant admitted.  “I mean, the silver highlights in your hair are gone, and your eyes are the same color now.  Green.  But you still look like you.  You’re not a completely different person or anything.”

“Those are enough of a difference to hopefully keep anyone from immediately recognizing him,” Thena pointed out.  “His hair and his heterochromatic eyes are the most widely known details of his appearance.  Otherwise, Hail, you just look like a normal teenager.  I think if you change clothes as well, that this spell will be enough to keep anyone from immediately recognizing you.”

“Okay,” I agreed, and I selected another outfit from my inventory to fast-equip.  I wished that I had a mirror in my inventory to see how I looked, but I figured I’d have a chance to see how my disguise looked eventually.

“Hopefully I’ll get more disguise options as I level the skill,” I commented.  “It’s only level one at the moment, but I haven’t really been using it much.  Maybe eventually it will let me actually look like a completely different person.”

Larissa opened a portal, and our party separated.  Phil and Laurant remained behind to begin the recruitment efforts, while Tarisha, Larissa, Thena, and I stepped through the portal.  My Dusk Guard members appeared a moment later, grinning.

“Seems like we get a free ride when he teleports,” Lucile of Socal commented.  “That’s nice.”

“Fan out,” Tarisha ordered.  “His disguise won’t hold up to much scrutiny, and if people notice us following him around they’ll put two and two together.”

“Yes’m,” Lucile agreed, and the other four members of <Peasant’s Revenge> swiftly vanished into the background.

Thena surprised me by giving me an unannounced hug, which I returned when I recovered from my surprise.  “What was that for?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing much.  I’m just happy,” she admitted.  “You’re back, you’re kicking ass and changing the entire game as we know it.  And now I’m off to have a theological discussion with one of the hardest en pee sees to contact in the entire game and probably unlock some entirely new quest chain or something.  It’s been a good day.”

“That’s great,” I said.  “I guess I just didn’t realize that you were a hugger.”

She shrugged and ruffled my hair.  “Have fun visiting your Mom, Hail.  I’m probably logging off for the night sometime soon, but you know that if you need anything, anything at all, people will literally drop what they’re doing in the middle of a dungeon to come help you, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” I said.  She ruffled my hair one last time before walking off in the direction of the Temple of Thedum.  “Oh, right!  When you see the bishop, tell him that I’m sorry for turning him into a slug!”

She just laughed.  “Of course you did!” she called back, although she was almost too far away to make out.

The rest of us moved towards the teleportation platform.  Minor portals and teleports were redirected to one of six locations throughout the city, while international travel required access to large and powerful magic circles and rituals.  Circles and rituals which were also, of course, heavily regulated and taxed.  Travelers could bypass this through the use of their own portals, or the Fast Travel system, or simply traveling on foot.  But it was convenient for going someplace for the first time.

“I’ve never actually left Yuikon before,” I commented as we waited in line to request a portal.  “I’ve read quite a bit about Eolstree though, since we’re pretty close allies.  I’m kind of excited, actually.”

“Honestly, the two nations aren’t too different except for their demographics,” Tarisha assured me.  “Yuikon is mostly human Natives, while Eolstree is a mixing pot.”

“I know that,” I said.  “A lot of that is also because they send their academics to us for training in architecture, medicine, and literature, rather than developing the infrastructure to house their own campuses for higher education.  That’s largely because of their beastkin heritage though.  The elves are somewhat less willing to share their culture than my people were, although they were quick to establish a presence once the beastkin tribes united and began accepting outsiders into their land.  Their elite do see the value of education, but they don’t see the need to be self-reliant for it.  In fact, being trained in Yuikon is a point of pride in many of their professionals.”

“I didn’t actually know that,” Tarisha admitted.  “Very interesting.”

“Yeah.  They also largely formed their government based upon the Yuikon model,” I expounded.  “Although the tribal nature of the beastkin still remains in the background, from what I understand.  I don’t know all that much about that stuff though, because although it’s not exactly a secret that they havetribal politics which they consider vitally important to their heritage and culture, they don’t believe those politics are the business of anyone outside of their tribes.”

“Eolstree is the youngest of the nations in the Heartland, isn’t it?” Larissa inquired.

“Mostly?” I said.  “It’s not exactly that clear, since the royal family actually traces their lineage back twelve hundred years, and according to their official history Eolstree was never not a nation equal to its modern peers in any of that time.  But all of the historians who don’t collect a stipend from the Eolstrian government agree that the land was a broken territory divided by the seven major beastkin tribes before about two hundred years ago, when the Leonids managed to unite them under one banner.  The tribes were pretty xenophobic prior to that, but the royal family managed to open them up to the outside world over the course of about fifty years, and since then they’ve reallyopened up.”

“Interesting.  I’m really looking forward to learning more,” Larissa said.  “I actually considered being a catgirl for a few minutes when I was doing my character creation, but then decided that it was too embarrassing.”

“I’m also looking forward to this journey,” Tarisha agreed.  “I’ve been to Eolstree many times before, of course, but I strongly suspect that any journey I take by your side, Lord Hail, will be incomparable to anything I might have managed on my own.”

“...Thanks?” I said, because I didn’t know what else to say to that.  Fortunately, the party ahead of us vanished off into the ether, and the mage powering the ritual motioned us to step forward and request our destination.  I paid him the toll for the teleport, and he promptly began the incantation to send us on our way.

Within moments, the teleportation platform flashed, and once more I had the slight sensation of displacement as I traveled a great distance.