Neophyte World Builder

Chapter 111: The Siren’s Call

CAYLA

Cayla couldn’t help a mental pout when she pulled that up. She was always right on the edge… had she put too much effort into her setup? It had worked well so far, but maybe she should refine some of the inside of her dungeon instead of making more and more complexity when she expanded?

It was worth a thought.

The keening howl across the strait caught her attention, and Cayla dismissed the notification to listen. Her counterpart had been at it again… the whistling notes were less shrill, more melodious than before. She was very pleased that despite her strange, non-fleshy body she could still hear the environment around her dungeon, and Culling had definitely improved. He must have taken her advice.

A few minutes later, the gust of wind that had hit the dungeon across the water slammed into her own. The fluted towers and winding walkways channeled the air, guiding it and causing a long, mournful whistle to rise and lower in pitch, generating a brief and melancholy tune. The small group of explorers within her paused, listening to the notes her ‘body’ created, as if they could gain some insight into how the dungeon was laid out by listening to the ambient music she created.

She took a few moments to follow the group that was currently exploring her. They were being cautious, which was good… but they were definitely on their way out. The winding route they’d chosen could only take them out to another exit, and they’d never penetrate the inner city where the real dangers were.

How boring. Maybe they’d try again later.

She absently noted that one of them – the leader – had a different Totem. A broad-shouldered man, this one had a single spiraling horn rising from his forehead, unlike the twin curved horns every other member of this team had. The nearby tribe held one particular monster in high regard, and almost all of them took that core upon their maturity, and chose the horns to signify their allegiance.

Evidently they had either teamed up with a Challenger, or allowed some to choose a different Totem than the rest. That was vaguely interesting to her, but she only took note of it and moved back to her own interests. Even before her death and acceptance as a dungeon core, she’d distanced herself from the customs and ways of the rest of the vaskan.

She had thought her disassociation from her own species would have harmed her in the afterlife, but instead she had found herself offered a position as a dungeon. She’d heard of these, of course, when alive. The idea that they were controlled and designed by the deceased was new to her, but made a certain amount of sense. She just wasn’t sure what she’d done to deserve being offered this honor.

Not that she’d even considered refusing. She had long felt sorrow that her beloved Valesfen had such a heavy duty of his own, and she could never share in it. This way, she too could ease the burden of the world, just as her lover did when he ascended the ranks.

Perhaps one of the offered rewards she would earn would be a chance to see him again.

Cayla set aside her brief dreams of romance once again. It could be many years before her task here was done, if she wanted to get a significant bonus. That was why she treated her dungeon as much as a work of art as a simple task. She had no idea if creativity gave bonus points, but if it did she was confident she’d gain something very special once she retired.

She turned her attention back to the party trying to make it through, curious if they’d wandered out of her complex maze yet. To her delight, they’d stopped and argued, then turned around! Perhaps they were not so lost, after all.

| CULLING HIVE: I believe my changes made the wind howls more aesthetically pleasing.

| CITY OF SOUND: Oh, Culling! I heard the changes, they do sound much better! Has the hive nearby started to investigate?

| CULLING HIVE: Some drone scouts have observed from afar. I believe I will have a contingent of soldiers soon. I hope they do not destroy me fully.

| CITY OF SOUND: You’ll be fine! Didn’t you make a really strong anchor monster?

| CULLING HIVE: Yes. I only hope the Queens know of dungeons so I am seen as a resource, not a threat.

If Cayla could giggle, she would have. Culling was always so worried about his acceptance. She didn’t quite understand, but knew that he was having trouble shaking off his hive-minded ideas. It had taken weeks to get him to speak to her, and she wondered why he’d selected the open channel in the first place. He’d only become more friendly when she shared that she’d spent decades living with someone not of her own species.

She fought back a mental sigh and focused more on the problem at hand. The party currently exploring her dungeon had stopped to climb upward, figuring out that the winding arches were pathways and interwoven with the footpaths on ground level. That was a good leap for them, and she watched for several minutes as they managed to penetrate into the inner ring of her constructed city, where the monsters would chase them. She was glad she’d resisted making the entire dungeon enclosed like the ones she’d heard of before her death.

In fact, Cayla was very proud of her design, especially since Culling Hive had thought it a great idea and done his own version of it, apparently. The idea of a single entrance to a maze or series of rooms had seemed so boring to her, so she’d instead built up an entire city. Sprung from the ground over the course of weeks came long, curving towers with open archways and tunnels through them, allowing the wind to whistle through in a musical announcement of the dungeon’s presence.

She hadn’t made just one entrance, but dozens. Her time playing games with Valesfen had given her a unique perspective for a vaskan, she knew. She threw herself into something that would make Valesfen proud, with the various entrances winding through her city toward the middle, where explorers would assume the goal was waiting for them. Instead of a single maze of footpaths, she instead added to the wind’s symphony with weaving suspended pathways that bypassed some walls or towers, requiring any explorers to change elevation or go inside some of the towers and climb to another floor to make progress.

It could take weeks for someone to map their way to the center, so she was ‘nice’ enough to make her anchor monster a massive serpentine one that wandered the inner portion of her dungeon. The center was just a convenient reference point, and instead of the dungeoneers hunting the anchor monster, it would instead hunt them, striking and retreating regularly.

It was certainly more entertaining to watch than the alternative.

Cayla watched for a while, until the small group was forced to retreat, one of their number badly wounded and being dragged out of the dungeon. She was glad they’d thought to map their way in, but she also cheated a little. She usually made sure none of her monsters attacked anyone on the path out, just to be nice.

The whole exploration had net her another 17 DP to spend, for a total of 20. She looked over her dungeon, pondering things to change… but perhaps it was time to expand her domain a little? She was pretty big already, so unless she extended just a tiny piece it would be expensive.

That’s when she hit upon the idea.

| CITY OF SOUND: Hey, Culling. Are you still worried about your monsters being interesting and challenging?

| CULLING HIVE: Always, Sound.

| CITY OF SOUND: I wonder if we could link our dungeons across the water? I know it’s a long way, but we’d only need a narrow channel. Then we could spawn monsters and trade them with one another’s dungeon for a nice little surprise.

| CULLING HIVE: I would like that. Will the System allow it?

| CITY OF SOUND: I don’t know, but I doubt trying will cause a problem. We could even hand out Quests to find one another’s dungeon, then!

| CULLING HIVE: Then I will attempt to reach you.

Giddy with the chance to meet her new, insect-like friend more directly, Cayla focused on her domain layout. She’d done experimental expansions before… she knew how it worked. She could probe out where she thought she would go, without actually spending the DP yet. There were limits, of course, and her senses wouldn’t tell her everything she could know if she actually expanded, but it was better than nothing.

A few moments of questioning probes later, and she felt it. Or rather, him. A faint tingle in her being, and a certain pressure resisting her push. It was like she was extending a finger to another person, and they were both slick with oil, sliding off one another instead of tapping the digits together. It took some careful concentration to actually push into Culling’s own mental probe.

The brief connection was broken, as if brushed aside. Cayla pouted internally, then immediately pushed back, trying to connect again. “It’s fine, dummy. We want to overlay.”

Again, a message box popped up, but this one was different.

Escalated? Cayla knew about provisional decisions from dragons… she’d had that explained to her in great detail a few years before she’d died. Items dragons decided upon were first given to one for a quick decision, then clarified during a Dream Council with the rest. But escalated made it sound like it would be handled immediately.

Were dragons running the dungeon System as well?

| [DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR)] has entered the chat.

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): Okay, which one of you did something weird? I’ve literally never been called in to resolve an issue with the dungeons. I didn’t even know this could happen. It had better be good.

That did not sound like a dragon name. Cayla suddenly felt nervousness rising. This had never happened before? Was there someone who had designed the dungeons? Had she ruined her chance to see Valesfen?

| CULLING HIVE: This one was attempting to connect with the City of Sound so that we may exchange creatures.

| CITY OF SOUND: I’m very sorry, I just thought it would be a way to help one another. Please don’t kick us out, it was my idea but I only wanted to help.

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): Relax, I’m not going to kick you out for this. It’s annoying, that’s all.

| CITY OF SOUND: So the idea does not break the rules? I was warned breaking the rules would have me removed.

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): That’s true, but you weren’t trying to do anything bad. That sounds like a pretty fun idea, to me. Is that all you wanted?

| CULLING HIVE: Are you the Queen of Dungeons?

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): I wish, if only because Queen of Dungeons sounds like a really great title to have. No I’m just someone who handles weird things that happen while the big boss is busy. I didn’t even know we had an alert set up for this.

| CITY OF SOUND: Is it allowed or should we give up?

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): I don’t have a problem with it, but it requires a system change and only the big guy can approve that. I can get ahold of him on the other chat, it should only take a few minutes. I doubt he’ll have a problem with it either.

Cayla felt a wave of relief run through her. Perhaps her chance was not lost after all. Although… could this being answer if it was a possibility?

| CITY OF SOUND: I was not told what the possible rewards would be, but would it be strange to ask that I be able to speak to my beloved again?

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): I don’t think I should tell you what’s allowed or not. But since you had such a cool idea, I can see if he ended up a dungeon as well if you want. Did he die before you or is he still alive?

| CITY OF SOUND: He is a Elder Dragon, I am sure he is still alive.

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): You were palling around with an Elder Dragon? No wonder you got tapped to be a dungeon core… that’s impressive. Like… romantically?

| CITY OF SOUND: I already said that.

| DUCK (ADMINISTRATOR): Look, I can’t promise anything, but I’ll mention this request to the boss, okay? In exchange, you tell me all about it later. Sound good?

Elation rose up. It was not a promise, but at least it wasn’t a denial. Cayla had hope, and that was enough.

| CITY OF SOUND: Thank you.