Chương 8: [b1] 008 - Rock 'Em Sock 'Em

KLUDGE was still busy with the Bipedal Monster and the Skill Modifier, so I decided to work on redesigning our dungeon. The biggest thing we could do to extract more Anima and protect our core room from delvers was adding more rooms. The Communications Center connected to Mission Control, which was the room I originally wanted the Delvers to start in, so I expanded our dungeon to Mission Control for another 300 Anima.

It took me twenty minutes to figure out how to move the entrance to the dungeon so that the delvers would spawn in Mission Control instead of the Communications Center, but we got there eventually. Interestingly, the portal outside didn't move. I added it to the list of mysteries. Mission Control was admittedly pretty similar to the Communications Center. They were roughly the same size, with displays around the outside of the room.

However instead of a large table in the center of the room, a holodisplay sat, dimmed. Additionally, several workstations with displays were scattered around the room. I could still see my humans standing at their stations, diligently working to ensure the safety of their species as we hurtled through space. I shook the thought away and focused on placing traps around the room. I placed one Spike Trap in front of the holodisplay, as well as a few scattered around the room.

I was hoping I could get the delvers to stumble into the traps while trying to avoid the Rammers. I also placed a sneaky one in the corridor, just because. In total I placed six traps for a total of 180 Anima. I then placed three in the Communications Center, in a roughly equilateral triangle around the table. That brought me down to just 500 Anima. I felt a stutter in the flow of power and I made my way into the Server Room to find the 3D printer starting up. [Colin> What are we printing?] [KLUDGE> My Bipedal monster design. Shouldn't take too much power I don't think.] I wanted to grumble, it seemed like something we should have discussed as a group, but I had told him to come up with the monster and we didn't exactly have something laying around that would have worked. I pulled up the Power Statistics window and watched the 3D printer climb the Top Energy Spenders list. It surpassed the RCS System which made my drives click. Out of nowhere I felt a strong urge to check on my humans.

It had been so long since I'd heard Captain Wilnur's voice, or seen Pilot Reed's smile. MAM would be pissed, but she'd understand, right? I pulled up the interface for the RCS, my mind hovering over the "Enter World" button— Thankfully, KLUDGE interrupted my thoughts before I could follow through. [KLUDGE> So I've been poking around with the Skill Modifier stuff and think I've discovered something… interesting.] With my interest piqued I asked him to elaborate.

[KLUDGE> I was going through the logs of our last delver encounter and noticed we applied a debuff to the delvers when we activated the lights. This was actually instrumental in me figuring out the Skill Modifier stuff. There's a lot to it, so I wrote up a report, {link to report}.] I settled into my chassis as I read over the 16, 000 page report. Apparently, when I flared the lights and blinded the delvers, the action of blinding them applied a Status Effect.

From that information, KLUDGE was able to figure out a way for us to apply other status effects to skills. His list was short, but he theorized that more existed. The current available list was: Blind, Knockback, and Bleed. Following his documentation, I started working on a Status Effect for Ram that made the target get knocked back on impact. status_effect = knockback on_apply(target): displace(target, direction=from_source(), distance=force * 0. 5) It seemed simple enough, but when I went to apply it I realized I could only have a Status Effect or a Skill Modifier. I really wanted the redirect. I decided to divert my efforts for now into the redirect modifier and save the knockback for later. Hopefully I'd level up the Ram skill again after this next encounter and be able to use it. The Redirect was pretty simple but I found out during testing that the System only wanted to let me do it once, so I had to add that restriction in.

skill_modifier = redirect when command AND active(ram) AND not redirected: set_vector(coordinates=from_cursor()) redirected = true My changes worked, but the thought of exploiting the System's restrictions hovered on a back burner processor. I felt like there was something more I could do with that idea. The Creator must have been smiling down on me this day because right when I got the Skill Modifier wrapped up the Bipedal Monster hopped off the printer.

It looked like a small toy boxing robot and stood a meter and a half high, with fists painted red. [PANIC> INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! FOUR POTENIAL DELVERS ARE APPROACHING!] My drives chittered as I pulled up the feed from REPR13. PANIC had sent it on a scouting mission around the forest for some reason, and thankfully it worked out. [EMAR> You appear to be under a great deal of stress. Should I request some calming tea be sent to your room?] I ignored EMAR's very accurate assessment and zoomed in on the delvers. These weren't the same group as before. There was still what seemed to be a tank like Silo, carrying a sword and shield. But not only was his armor clearly of higher quality, but he just looked stronger, stockier. They had two staff-wielders with them, but I couldn't find any indication as to which was a healer if any. Hopefully neither. Grace had given us enough trouble as it was. The third carried twin daggers, one in each hand.

He seemed to skulk around, walking in a near-perpetual crouch. I don't know what it was about him but he unnerved me. [Colin> What's their ETA?] [PANIC> ASSUMING THEY CLEAR THE WALL IN A SIMILAR TIME, TWENTY MINUTES.] Okay, twenty minutes was plenty of time to do what we had to do. All that was left was to Bake some monsters and place them around the dungeon. Shit, I also had to finish setting up the Rock 'Em bot KLUDGE had just printed. Stolen story; please report.

I flew through the Monster Registration steps, registering the Small Bipedal monster with the System and naming it Rock 'Em. It only had one skill slot, so I made a quick Punch skill and assigned it. Unfortunately, I couldn't assign it a Status Effect. After doing that and assigning the stats, the System accepted the Monster. Rock 'Em This monster is based on the Small Bipedal template and is designed to fight with its fists.

Monster Information: ► Monster Type: Small Bipedal ► Mob Category: Non-Elite ► Creation Cost: 75 Anima ► Maintenance Cost: 15 Anima per day Stats: ► Level: 0 ► Free Stat Points: 0 ► Health: 50/50 ► Defense: 10 ► Agility: 5 ► Strength: 35 ► Intellect: 0 ► Weight: 50kg Skills: ► Skill Slots: 1/1 ► Punch: Use its fists to punch a target in front of it. Must be in melee range. I baked two of them, putting both in Communications Center. That left me with just 350 Anima to play with.

I baked four Ankle Biters, putting two in each room. Then I baked six Rammers, putting three in each as well. By the time that was done, the delvers were already over the wall and across the parapet. Burke paused just in front of the portal and turned to his team.

"Remember, this dungeon core likes to use distractions. Reflective glass, bright lights, mysterious sounds. Keep your wits about you." Frost threw up an overly serious salute, rolling her eyes as she did. He chose to ignore the eyeroll; they'd worked together long enough to know that she'd take any actual combat they got into seriously. Anything outside of that though, good luck.

"Does anyone have questions on what our objective is?"

"We've been over it like a thousand times. Enter dungeon. Acquire loot. Save village," Frost said, dropping her voice several octaves in what he guessed was supposed to be a mockery of his own.

"Yeah I think we're good. If you need heals, just call out. And please try and keep any demonic critters off me," Angela, the group's healer said. She was a newer recruit into the Guardians and Burke wasn't entirely sure how she'd fare, but his choices were pretty limited for this mission. Not many people wanted to go against Atlas.

"Alright then, let's head in." He rolled his shoulders and squared off against the portal, letting out a breath. Frost pushed past him, strolling inside. He frowned, following Ash as the rogue slipped by him, dropping into Stealth as he did. The first thing he noticed once he was through the portal was the smell. It was the same as outside, only stronger. An acrid smell that singed his nostrils and was entirely unfamiliar to him. He did his best to ignore it as the group immediately spread out.

"We've got company," Ash called out from somewhere near the middle of the room, already in Stealth. Burke strode forward, keeping a watchful eye on the waist high pillars that seemed to flash whenever he neared them and drew his sword and shield. Standing at the other end of the room were two small monsters. He used Identify on them. Ankle Biter ► Level: 0 ► This monster is designed for melee combat.

He couldn't help the smirk that spread across his face as he used Identify on the other monster known as a Rammer, which was level 1. Two Ankle Biters and three Rammers. He tried not to feel over confident, but he was pretty sure this would be easy as he was level seven and his lowest party member, Angela, was level four.

"Alright, I'm going to—" Before he could discuss his plan with the team, Frost launched a frost bolt at Rammer 1. The second she engaged the monster, the rest in the room all took action. Rammer 2 and 3 split, going around the outside of the room. The two Ankle Biters both charged right for Frost. Burke ran forward to intercept the Ankle Biters before they reached her, but when then he saw the two Rammers narrowing in on their target—Angela, his healer.

He spun round and launched himself in a leap through the air, coming down directly in the path of Rammer 2. A half second before he touched down it spun, heels skittering as it changed direction. The sound of metal hitting bone drew his shoulders up as the monster ploughed into her shin. Burke turned toward Rammer 3 and started running.

"Angela, run!" he yelled. He wasn't going to get there in— Ash popped out of Stealth, daggers reared back for a strike when he plummeted into the ground, the floor falling out from underneath him. A scared scream echoed up, followed by a painful one. Burke lunged and fully extended his arm as he swung his shield, clipping Rammer 3 in the face with a Disorienting Slam. The monster froze in its tracks, the Dazed debuff appearing overhead. Ash climbed out of the hole a second later, bloodied and haggard.

"Full of fucking spikes! Spikes!" To her credit, Angela didn't hesitate and threw a heal toward Ash's legs. The sound of shattering ice filled the room and Burke turned to see Frost kiting the two Ankle Biters around one of the waist high pillars. She'd managed to freeze them both in place just long enough to gain some distance and was now pummeling Ankle Biter 1 with frost bolts. It only took three before it died. He focused on Rammer 2, at least Frost was competent and could take care of her own.

Ash wasn't half bad either. It was Angela he had to worry about. If Frost had managed to have even a minuscule amount of patients that's what he would have mentioned to the team. Now he'd have to make it through this and deal with that in the post-fight debrief. He positioned himself in front of Angela as Rammer 2 came around the large basin like object that stood in the center of the room. He feigned left, baiting the direction change out of the Rammer, then jumped right.

He came down hard with his sword, sinking the blade into the monster's spine. He pulled the blade out and stabbed through its midsection, the red light fading from its eyes. Ragged breaths had him heaving as he refocused. Frost almost had Rammer 1 done, and Rammer 2 was coming in from behind them, once again aimed at Angela. Seemed the dungeon core had figured out who the healer was. That was fine. Ash ran to intercept Rammer 2, then disappeared again down a hole that opened up underneath him.

Burke couldn't help but chuckle as he let loose a flurry of expletives. The air went frigid for a flash as frost bolts flew past his head, landing center mass on Rammer 2. Burke turned to see Frost casting back to back attacks, Rammer 1 dead at her feet. By the time Ash got out of the pit, Rammer 2 was dead.

"Fucking traps man. So not cool." Ash looked around then hung his head.

"You didn't save any for me? Also not cool." Burke looked around at his team, they were all in one piece thankfully. He asked, just to confirm, and Angela was the only one to respond.

"Sure am!" She sounded a little too chipper, a little forced, but he couldn't blame her. Burke let out a breath and ran a hand over his shaved head. That had been messier than he'd hoped for such low level monsters. Frost let out an over-dramatic yawn and leaned against the weird oversized basin in the middle of the room. Lights flared and she leapt back, landing in a crouch with pooled mana lacing her fingers. Burke approached the dazzling lights, shield drawn.

"Everyone calm down, it's just some sort of… light." He circled the basin, viewing it from all angles.

"What is it?" Angela asked.

"Not sure, perhaps a puzzle of some kind." Burke was about to take another step when Ash yelled at him to stop.

"What is it?" Burke asked, sword drawn. Ash pointed to the floor in front of him.

"The grates. Those are the spike traps."

"Thanks, good catch." Burke gave the trap a wide berth as he finished his circle of the light.

"If it's a puzzle I'm out," Frost said. Burke ground his teeth, his frustration with Frost finally bubbling over.

"You're done when I say you're done. Also, and I feel like I shouldn't have to explain this to someone as experienced as you, Frost, we don't engage until I give the all clear. Understood?" Frost, to her credit, didn't roll her eyes like he half expected her to. Instead she nodded once, not meeting his eyes.

"Yes sir. Won't happen again. They just seemed like an easy kill."

"That may have been the case, but not everyone here is as experienced, and I want to instill good habits. This is going to be a long term thing, lets do it right from the start. We also could have avoided the traps if we had time, which I'm sure Ash would have appreciated."

"I vote next room Frost walks in front," Ash said. Frost went to make what Burke assumed would be a sarcastic comment when she was interrupted by the System. First Encounter Rewards ► You have completed your first encounter in the STAR TOMB: Mission Control. See rewards below.