Dungeon of Doors

The rushing water fills both my ears and nose as I dive beneath the waves. I kick, my legs burning from all the movement of this misadventure. The water is rife with silt and I have trouble seeing through it all. I move downstream, swimming half blind as I navigate using the push and pull of the river as my guide.

Once I'm around a couple bends the water clears enough for me to see ahead. Henry is thrashing, but he's near the surface. His head is stuck above the water. I kick and surface myself, taking a deep breath as I bob along with the current.

"Henry! Get to land, now!"

Unfortunately Henry is too busy coughing up water and panicking to heed my advice. I see the boy briefly for a moment before his head bobs beneath the roiling water once more. There isn't much time left. I do my best to hurry toward him, swimming with all my might.

The sound of the waterfall rushing over the cliff's edge is fast approaching. I catch sight of Henry bobbing up above the water's surface once more, gulping air into his lungs. He's getting funneled around the side of the land that saved me when I fell into the river.

He's not as lucky as I am.

My lungs burn as I force myself to swim. I reach the land and trudge up it as quickly as I can manage, sprinting across the muddy ground and bolting straight toward the windy cliffs edge. I can't slow down for Henry's sake.

I throw myself to the dirt in a motion meant to propel me forward without sending me along with Henry. My belly and arms are stained with muck as I scrape to a halt some ways over the edge of the bank. The water is flowing so quickly over the edge I fear I may not have time to catch Henry. He's floating along with the look of a sodden dog, and has yet to realize he's about to fall off a waterfall to his bitter end. I reach, shouting for his attention.

"Henry! Grab my hand!"

The boy turns around in the water only to go wide eyed at the lack of river in front of him. There's barely a few meters between him and precipise. I stretch out further, hoping he grabs hold. He's afraid, his arms flailing in a pitiful attempt to swim against the current. The closer he floats toward the edge the faster the water carries him.

Damn it, he will fall at this rate!

I lunge forward with all the grace of a raging bull and nearly send myself careening into the drink. My hand makes contact with the sodden scruff of Henry's shirt, and I clench like my own life depends upon it. Relief washes over me as Henry is saved. He's screaming, but he isn't moving any further over the edge.

The mud beneath me starts to shift as my weight and Henry's are both too much for the damp soil. Horror twists my expression as I feel myself start to slide forward, unable to gain any leverage.

Then I feel hands grab my waist. They pull, a life saving force that tugs me and Henry onto the safety of the dry land. The wind still whistles in my ears as I collapse, panting with exertion. I look up at my guardian angel.

Ah. That's no guardian angel.

That's just a very wet and very scared looking village girl.

~

After being told to give me some inspiration for dungeon levels she wants to see and live in, Pearl has delivered. Through a very long winded and rambling explanation she outlined a level of Aquartis centered around beautiful scenery. She wants a koi pond.

Of course, a simple pond won't be enough for a whole level. Pearl understood this, and detailed how I could make it bigger. The level's boundaries aren't going to be as straightforward as previous levels'. Instead of stone walls or valley slopes, I plan to create a wall of fog that conceals the spatial looping.

Enough planning. Time to begin building.

I start by carving out the space needed beneath the ground. The sheer depth of the earth's crust is something I never could wrap my head around before becoming whatever I am now. I've yet to even near anything noteworthy, other than a few unremarkable caves.

The space for this level is circular. Roughly a kilometer across, the spherical cavern is empty. I start by adding the sky stone to all the edges of the sphere. Not only will I make this level appear mysteriously large above the water, but also below it.

With the sky stone infused with mana and intent, the illusion is made. The sky is a dull muted grey. No sun is visible, and thick fog obscures all sides. Beneath the water there is a similar boundary. Instead of fog there is a looping effect. The space is eerie in its current state.

To give it some color and beauty--like Pearl wanted--I start adding the flora. The first plant that comes to mind is a water lily. Their beautiful pink and white flowers would really brighten up the place, but there is a problem. Water lilies need soil to root in at the bottom of the water they float upon. There is no soil, and I don't plan on there ever being soil here.

Instead of changing the design of the level I can just make the water lilies rely on mana instead of the nutrients they extract from the ground. I don't want to become even more reliant on adventurer visits, but I also don't want to compromise on my level creation.

I weave my mana into the proper shape. The first of the lilies are disc shaped leaves, floating serenely on the surface of the water. Thin roots hang down beneath the leaves into the depths. The roots don't just suck up water and pass sustenance, but also mana.

I've designed these custom made lilies with a few tweaks. Besides the mana absorption, they have also been giving very large sizes upon reaching maturity. Their flowers also provide a nice glow that will enhance the scenery further. As a bonus, the glowing blossoms have quite a few potent medicinal applications. As for their name? Aqualilies.

With a carpet of aqualilies floating on the surface--and a splurge of mana to get a few to flower--the newest level of Aquartis is looking much prettier. Now I need to enhance what's beneath the surface. Pearl and the adventurers will be spending a lot of time down there, after all.

In consideration of the lack of soil, I decide to create a plant with similar attributes to the aqualily. This one won't be resting on the surface. Taking on the shape of a kelp, these long swaying plants will balance themselves with a mana fueled trick. When these plants rise too high they absorb mana from the air and turn it into new growth. This growth weighs it down. As the plant loses mana it will shrink, eating itself to get lighter.

With a small tweak these odd kelp like plants gain the habit of blossoming glowing bulbs filled with a mana rich sap. If a person were to eat one of these they'd get the effects of a water breathing potion in limited capacity. Maybe someone will figure out a way to make their own water breathing potion. Who knows?

As for this plant's name, I dub thee bubble kelp. Named after their endless cycle of bobbing up and down alongside the round bulbs they produce.

With both the surface and the water populated by glowing plant life I am ready to begin adding Fauna to this level. I want the focus of this level to be the koi, since Pearl specifically requested a koi pond theme for the area.

So I shape my mana into the form of a carp. Koi are just a specific kind of carp, bred to their beautiful standards. I use both my own creations and the natural freshwater fish in the river above to create the creature. My koi are a bit on the fatter side, with colors ranging from pinks to yellows. Some of them are more white and black while others are a blend of warm reds and oranges.

Their large size isn't to the point of making them intimidating. The koi are meant more for style than lethality, and I don't want to make them do more than attempt to bash anyone who gets on their bad side in the worst case scenario. I'm hoping the adventurers will find them cute enough to want to take one home as a pet. That'd be flattering!

Anyway, these koi are bound to swim in schools throughout the plant-filled portions of the water. Their shimmering scales often have a glow to enhance their beauty. No white nor black scales produce light, but the colorful ones almost always do. Hopefully big groups of the fish will be a breath taking light show.

Considering their flashy appearance, I name these shine koi.

Hopefully Pearl is happy with the cuties.

Now what this level lacks is structure. There is no start nor finish, and there is certainly no challenge in a level with nothing but a glorified swimming pool to float around in. To change that, I think a floating temple would fit the theme nicely.

I pull my mana into the shape of a brick and begin laying stone in the center of the level. The amount of rock I'm moving all at once is a bit overwhelming, but I hold on, knowing that if I were to stop I'd be leaving the whole thing to sink to the bottom.

My mana keeps a firm grip on the structure as I spin up several new elements meant to keep it afloat in the water. Voidium, a dark black metal with a purple luster. It's special property being to remain unaffected by all force not applied by something organic. So long as the metal remains encased in the stone structure it will never move.

With several key pockets of voidium, the floating temple can be as heavy as I like. The layout of the temple is simple. Above the water there is a pagoda wide enough for a large group of people to mill about on. In the center of the pagoda is a small gazebo, its curved roof and carved wave patterns matching that of the antechamber for Aquartis. This gazebo will house the door to the antechamber.

Beneath the pagoda is where the temple proper begins. There is no way to access it without swimming beneath the misty waters, and that is intentional. No one should continue delving this dungeon if they haven't got the means to stay underwater for extended periods of time.

The first level of the underwater temple is a ring of pillars connected to a round platform below. In the center of this platform is a statue of two shine koi swimming around one another. This level is likely to be occupied by some bubble kelp and shine koi, but not much else.

Beneath the first level I start making the temple proper. There is a central cylindrical tower that descends into the depths, a ringed platform surrounding the highest floor's exterior. The doorway leads into a spiral staircase, the central shaft open and allowing swimming up and down the space.

Here is where things get truly dangerous. I populate this area with a few glugmaws. They will need to be kept away from the healthy koi populations above, instead feeding on adventurers and detritus that floats down. To ensure this I add an obelisk to this level--this one positioned at the very bottom of the underwater temple, pointing down into what appears to be an endless black watery abyss. The runes on the obelisk encourage the glugmaws to keep to a specific depth and range of the temple.

Connected to the spiral staircase is a worship chamber. It appears simple at first glance, a mess of furniture and debris strewn about, but there is a hidden door set into one of the walls. This hidden door is locked with a keyhole meant for the key in the sewer level. With the addition of a moderately rewarding chest and a single nautilurk--given entry via a one way portal, only permitting a single one at a time--the room appears to be the end of the level.

But no, the true meat and potatoes are behind this obscured door.

Now it's time to create the real masterpiece.