Dungeon Will Be Placed In... [325:06:33]

Graverra called the dungeon timer to mind, even though it probably would have been more helpful if she’d looked at it before falling asleep. Her mana reserves weren’t completely full again, though she had more than the last time she woke up restless during their mana regeneration period.

Secondary Core Mana Reserves: 2,450 (7.5% / 1hr)

“Ha!” She whispered, even though she knew the only thing that might possibly wake Hecrux right now was the expenditure of mana, and rolled over to watch him sleep.

It wasn’t romantic.

The fact weighed on her, heavier and heavier, until it pushed her up to gather her things and slink back to her room. She couldn’t be left alone with her thoughts like that; even Branimir and Valerae knew that.

“How goes the dungeon building, mistress dungeon core?” Capo called from his place on the table when Graverra stepped inside her bedroom. It almost sounded sarcastic when he said it, but Graverra didn’t care. It was still nice to be called anything at all.

“Much better!” She tossed the throw blanket onto her bed—there wasn’t much point in unsummoning it for fractions of mana she would just wind up spending again to resummon. She set her grimoire on the table beside Capo. “We have mobs now! Two mastiffs, they’re undead, and a slime. I’m going to find a way to get rid of the slime though.

“That sounds... interesting.”

“I can try and show you.” Graverra flipped open her grimoire to the dungeon map, then lifted the skull so that he could see. “I guess you can’t really see the slime; it lives in the fountain, and the dogs are...”

Graverra leaned in to search for them better. The ink drawings of her overgrown planters rustled as something—the dogs—moved within them. “Hiding, I guess.”

Capo gave a low whistle of approval regardless. “Looking better than the last time already.”

“Yeah?” Graverra hadn’t planned to put much stock in Capo’s opinions on the dungeon, but Hecrux had yet to be so free with his praise. And there were only so many sources of it within the dungeon. “I can see it better in my head, but I don’t know how...”

Graverra trailed off as a thought began to crystalize. She quickly set Capo down, then flipped her grimoire to lists and lists of dungeon furnishings.

Place ‘Large Crystal Ball’ for 5 Mana?

[Y] / N

Even if it cost a bit, Graverra had to make that little amount back in minutes. Maybe even less, thanks to her meteor chunk, which had been an impulse decision too.

Graverra picked up her grimoire as the crystal ball materialized on the table; its ornate stand—that was half the mana cost, after all—still shoved Capo to the table’s edge to the skull’s protest.

With the crystal ball in place, Graverra picked up Capo again and pulled out the chair for herself. Seated, she focused on the crystal ball the way she worked with her grimoire, meaning to pull up the dogs’ statblocks the way she had before. There was no sense of vertigo, but that was because she’s fairly certain it wasn’t working.

“Spellcrafting.” Graverra grumbled and laid out her grimoire on her lap. A little more mana wouldn’t kill anyone... Dungeons appeared to have little need of scrying spells, but it had been a ritual she could perform in the past.

“You really don’t have to go to all this trouble for little old me.” Capo said, still clutched in one hand while Graverra worked to try and find the scrying ritual. Her grimoire was still a grimoire, wasn’t it?

“Well, I want to be able to see down there more easily too.” She reasoned. Maybe it was a bit much. She was sure Hecrux had never shown Capo the rest of the dungeon, except by kicking him out into it. And she had only just gotten good at conjuring up the image in her head, but this way maybe she could multitask like Hecrux after all.

Ritual found, Graverra read out the chant and traced the sigil over the surface of the crystal ball—you were supposed to do it over water, but Graverra figured she could take some liberties as a dungeon core.

Greaverra Greame cast Scry!

Primary Core Status: Active

“It’s nothing! Don’t worry about it!” She shouted preemptively. She probably didn't even need to shout, but he’d startled her.

The bed curtains ruffled with the primary core’s sigh, but he registered as inactive again a moment later.

When she looked back at the crystal ball, she was delighted to find it showing the primary core’s lair.

“There we go! Now, watch.” Graverra set to work, moving to the dungeon’s entryway and traversing down the hall. That was when the vertigo set in, causing Graverra to grasp the edge of the table for extra support.

The mana and the unwell feelings were worth it though; it really did look different than some ink drawings and vague notions had allowed her to think. And dark. She hadn’t realized they needed to worry about lighting like that; in her head she had been able to see well enough. Did dungeon cores have darkvision? She guessed that made sense.

The viewfinder of the crystal ball stuck as it rounded the top of the stairs. “Oh, bleh.” Graverra remembered why that might be just as the view unstuck itself. “I guess we can be glad we aren’t actually walking this.”

Graverra pressed on quickly to the center of the courtyard, offset from the fountain at its center. She was pleased to find that from what she assumed was average eye level, it really did look like one very dark courtyard... She tilted the view upwards. The ceiling was the darkest, giving the impression that maybe it went up forever. She didn’t mind that, but she was sorely tempted to start looking into that illusory ceiling business right then and there. That would definitely wake Hecrux, though.

“Did you put the dogs on the ceiling?” Capo asked.

“Wha? No, here.” Graverra pulled up Moggiard’s statblock through the crystal ball. Thankfully, rather than zoom into place, the view simply shifted to where the dog had settled beneath some of the broad-leaved plants.

“Big dog.” There was some trepidation in Capo’s voice, but Graverra couldn’t imagine why.

“Mhm! Two!” She switched their view to Dralzek, similarly lounging in a hidden corner of the courtyard. “I’m not going to try and find the slime. If it isn’t in the fountain, then that’s Hecrux’s problem.”

Graverra continued to go through the courtyard from an adventurer’s perspective; she even summoned herself a pen to begin taking notes for future improvements. A slow float through the crypts proved it every bit as atmospheric as she had hoped—though their mob cap began to concern her again. She wondered if they would have the chance to level up before the dungeon opened. That would change things, but she doubted they would be able to count on it.

Dungeon Will Be Placed In... [331:02:45]

“I’ve been doing this for six hours?!” Graverra dropped her pen in surprise. “Time is so not real in here.”

"Honestly, mistress, you oughta be thankful for a good distraction. You’ve got what? Two regular weeks? That’s a fair chunk of time to wait between building stuff.”

“I know.” She set Capo back on the table; the crystal ball still took up the majority of its surface, but it wasn’t like Capo was particularly mobile. He could share. “If I were me, I’d want to drive somebody else crazy with me too.”

That had to be some of it, Graverra decided. Hecrux was only so neurotic about what cores did or didn’t do because if she did them, then he wasn’t the only one. It wasn’t the most endearing thought, but it was something.

Place ‘Fleshy Mound’ for 750 Mana?

Place 8 ‘Basic Dungeon Segments’ for 300 Mana?

Place ‘Desecrated Staircase’ for 500 Mana?

[Y] / N

Graverra squeaked in surprise. She hadn’t been the one to do that.

“He started without me!” She explained as she dashed the short distance to her door. The change in floor texture didn’t trip her up as much as before, but it didn’t slow her down enough not to run smack into the dungeon core.

“Eugh!” She fell back with a bounce. She’d forgotten the blanket too.

“There you are. I would have thought you’d be more eager to keep going.” Hecrux didn’t give her more than a glance before carrying on.

Place ‘Desecrated Archway’ for 750 Mana?

[Y] / N

“What are you building without me?” Graverra demanded.

“The entry hall of your castle.”

“Oh.” She frowned, trying to piece together what that had to do with fleshwarping, momentarily forgetting she could just look. “Well. Good, but I think we need to do some more planning. I was looking around down there, and-”

That got Hecrux’s full attention. “Did you go down there?”

“No. I just... looked.”

The dungeon core squinted at her. He didn’t believe her?

“That’s what the crystal ball was for! It’s easier. If I try to do it your way, I think I’m going to have an aneurysm.” Graverra rubbed her temple just at the thought.

“You shouldn’t go down there.”

“Well, I didn’t. So…” She really hadn’t even thought about doing it before, but now that she’d been told not to... “So why not? It’s my dungeon, isn’t it? The mobs shouldn’t attack me.”

“Other things might.”

“Well, we aren’t open yet.” And it might make sense for her to at least give it a little once over before then. That should have been another perk of having her around. “And you let me in.”

“I was taking a calculated risk.” One he clearly did not intend on discussing further.

Place 8 ‘Basic Interior Pillars’ for 1920 Mana?

[Y] / N

Graverra crossed her arms to sulk. And? She wanted to ask. How did that go for you? But she wasn’t ready for an honest answer, and she knew it.