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Awww... Best lol core is going to get a good bossu!
She only has Determination rather than DETERMINATION (the roll wasn't good enough), but sometimes that is enough.
Well, that explains WHERE we are nicely, very interesting, it's going to be honestly hilarious to see how things progress from here ^^
Glad to hear that you approve. :)

Mind you, someone else in Brockton Bay is going to have a rather bad day as a consequence of the Core trying to (to quote a line from the forthcoming update):
You were gonna fix her everything!
 
OMFG.

So, just in case anyone reading doesn't know Worm, Etsuko is one of Bakuda the Mad Bomber's forced recruits, with a bomb surgically implanted in her head, and unless she obeys orders, it'll go off and kill her plus whoever else she's too close to...and apparently, one of her orders is to help capture more "recruits." She went down into the basement to find someplace to die with minimal chance of taking anyone she cares about with her. That would explain the [Moribund] status...the one we failed to clear up.

This is way the hell heavier than I was expecting. I love it! Kudos, Merior. If I weren't watching this already, I'd be watching so very hard.
 
Well, I stand corrected; it really was Bakuda. Kudos to those of you who predicted the bomb and the concept of hiding herself away from any others to avoid collateral damage.

Greatly looking forward to Core-chan's fixing her everything. Brought popcorn.
 
Colour me intrigued.

This is going to completely throw the power balance in the Bay out of whack. Completely, totally, and utterly destroy it.

Whomsoever controls the dungeon... oi vei, don't let l33t anywhere near that.

Or do. Could be hilarious.
 
Newborn 1.7
When Etsuko started through the maze you had tried to be say encouraging things

Your delver hadn't been really enthusiastic about all the turnings (maybe she would have liked it better if there had been some traps?) but between her determination and what you said she kept on going.

It was an inspiration to watch her go at it. You were sure that even if you'd filled the maze with monsters and traps (and now you were getting ideas…) she'd not have faltered for a moment. Your Etsuko was really neat about stuff like that.

Eventually though your delver did ask for a little help and, wise and great Core that you were, you deigned to give her a few hints.

Well, more than a few but you didn't tell her everything?

Um, you only told her the way to the middle even though that meant she missed entire sections that you'd spent hours getting right.

Anyway while you don't feel bad about it, it did occur to you that telling Etsuko how to get through your maze might be… it's sort of… Well, cheating?

She got to the middle in the end though and that was what had to count.

When Etsuko reached the middle she was confused, but that was okay. She probably hadn't paid attention in her tutorial (hers was probably as boring as yours had been before you left) so you could see how she didn't know what to do. She did ask where you were though and, since she had technically beaten your dungeon, you decided to show her properly.

Pushing your mana into your facets you rose up into the air, shining like a beacon in the darkness, and sparkling like the sparkliest thing ever. Etsuko had a really funny expression on her face as she saw you, but she looked surprised too.

(Surprise was close to awe, right? That meant you really were awesome!)

"Do you want to claim your [Prizes] now?" You asked eagerly, "I mean, you could say no, but then I can't do the awesome stuff for you. And the best [Prize] is that you get to be my [Boss]!"

Etsuko didn't say anything, just standing there. Maybe you'd said something wrong so you tried again.

"If you want to anyway." You said, a little less certain about things than you'd been a moment before. "Um, please say yes. Please?

Letting some mana out in a way you'd never done before, you 'passed' the offer to her. While you couldn't see it yourself, you were paying real close attention and could tell when she saw a box showing the offer.

(The way she gave a yelp and took a step back was sort of a hint…)

It was only because you'd were directing your full attention at Etsuko that you heard it. Not her response, 'cause she seemed to be at a loss for words at your mega-great offer, but a weird sound. You'd never really heard it, but it was a bit like the noise that one of the 'computers' in the school made at times.

Your wracked your memory for a moment then found the right word for it.

"Did your head just beep?" You asked Etsuko in confusion and she, or at least the skin of her face, turned this really funny colour. Lighter than she'd been before, more like a piece of paper.

While you knew that you were amazing and awesome, but you still don't know what about that question made Etsuko jab her hand at the air and accept the offer of becoming a [Boss] in your dungeon.

What you did know is that she had accepted, that there were blue boxes telling you stuff and giving errors and options, but more importantly you suddenly knew that your brand new [Boss] was terrified and determined.

"...i don't want to die..." Etsuko said really quietly then you felt a spike of outrage at the idea of someone, of anyone, hurting her.

Connected as you were to [Etsuko, Dungeon Boss], through both the [Prize] she was owed and her new status as part of your dungeon, you could do that. It was something you could do and then she'd not be scared. Then you could show her all your neat stuff and she'd be happy.

As your [Boss] (Yours! Squee!) there wasn't anything stopping you checking Etsuko's status and the nasty blanks had vanished. You really wanted to get rid of [Moribund], and [Corona Pollentia] sounded weird, but there was something more important to get rid of.

You didn't know everything, but you knew enough that [Implanted Bomb] wasn't something that you wanted to have in her [Status].

It was nasty!

There were no delvers in your dungeon, no foreign souls now that Etsuko was yours, so you could change stuff. You didn't really stop to think much once you saw the status effect and just reached out and pulled on it, tearing at the horrible thing.

You were gonna fix her everything!

...

Um, maybe that… That was sort of a mistake.

From the outside it was happening really really really fast, but that didn't matter. With your two fold connection to Etsuko, as your intended [Boss] monster and in the middle of receiving her [Prize] for completing your dungeon, you could see it as it happened and your perceptions sped up to follow what was going on.

In her [Status] the [Implanted Bomb] flipped in your metaphorical grip and sudden it was [Transdimensional Splintering] instead. All the fleshy bits which made up Etsuko, the floor and even the air around here were trying to leave to, were trying to escape the Instance Space of your dungeon in all different directions.

You realised, to your horror, that wasn't good for her. She was scared and in pain and if things finished then she'd be in all different dimensions even while still connected and… and... and she'd die!

But she didn't want to die.

You didn't want her to die!

NO.

You didn't know what to do, but that didn't matter. You'd make it work. You had to make it work

Uncaring about the cost (oh, all that precious mana...) you reached for a solution. You didn't have a [Pattern] for one, but that didn't matter. Somewhere out there was a way for Etsuko to live and you just had to find it.

With your perceptions supercharged by the mana infusions and your rage you extended them far, far beyond the 'high school' above your entrance. Your viewpoint splintered again and again, your facets starting to ache as you overloaded yourself to get find the way before the effect could finish its dreadful work.

Not there.

Not here either.

And… there it was! Right there! That one would make her better!

It was a weird thing, a connection of sorts, but one you could use. It was like that link between a god and a [Cleric], but without the divine on one side and connected to squishy grey stuff instead of the soul...

(You tried not to notice, despite the speed of your racing thoughts, how Etsuko's legs and ribs were starting to give way as her bones weren't in them anymore. No! Give those back. Your Etsuko needed those! AND SHE NEEDED HER PRETTY EYES TOO!)

...but since it wasn't connected to the soul or [Status] of whoever had it and that meant that you were free to purloin it.

So you did.

With frantic haste you shoved mana 'up' the connection until something in reset then you jammed the end that you'd 'grabbed' into Etsuko's [Status]. You justified it to yourself that it was to make her better, something that you could do to as part of a [Prize], and you were ever so grateful that it worked.

Except that it didn't work!

Metaphorically gasping for breath after the heroic expenditure of mana, you could only watched your perceptions stepped back up to a normal rate and Etsuko was still screaming and screaming.

You wanted to block it out, but you couldn't. You didn't have eyes to cover or ears to plug. You were a Core and this was happening in your Dungeon and… Then everything was okay?

Etsuko whimpered, curled up on the floor but whole. She looked a little pale, all the pretty colours of her hair and uniform having somehow washed out, but otherwise okay.

But she was okay.

You checked and her bones were back, her skin was there rather than being ripped apart, and the grey stuff in her head was staying right there where it should be.

She was okay, you were sure... but she was still crying?

You really didn't know what to do so, for want of anything better, you tried to murmur soft soothing things to your [Boss] and hoped that she'd feel better.

oOo​

Finally [Etsuko, Dungeon Boss] had stopped crying.

It took perhaps an hour, maybe more, but Etsuko had fallen asleep curled up on the floor. She looked so cute that you didn't want to wake her, so you couldn't talk to her just yet. But at least that gave you a bit of time to do a few things.

(And you really really wanted to find who had put that nasty evil ugly status effect on your cute little Boss monster.)

While you personally liked the concrete, it having a cool firm feel beneath you when you settled yourself on to it, you were vaguely aware that it probably wasn't as suitable for someone who wasn't a Core. You didn't have many [Patterns] to work you with so you had to… improvise a little.

You briefly thought about spawning enough of the [ Dollar Bill ] loot, in crumpled up form, to provide soft bedding for Etsuko but that seemed like a lot of work. Instead, while going over the contents of your Inventory, you noticed that the [ Teacher's Desk ] included a sort of seat with some padding.

Hmm...

It took a sort of weird twist to do it, but you soon worked out how to have just the soft bit of the seat manifest. Ever so carefully you formed it underneath Etsuko, a half dozen of the 'seats' managing to be enough to make sure she wasn't on bare Dungeon floor anymore.

With your Boss settled down (part of you thought she deserved a Lair, but that was the same part which thought that she should have a bull head so you put it aside for later) you decided to start sorting through all the notifications that had popped up while you were... fixing things.

Really, the blue boxes were cluttering up everything and just getting in the way.

One set of notifications you were happy to see. One started by saying that Etsuko had accepted your offer and become a [ Boss ]. The next said that, because you didn't have one, your [ Boss ] had been promoted to [ Floor Boss ]. And then next next one said that your [ Floor Boss ] had been promoted to [ Dungeon Boss ]!

Taking a peek at Etsuko's status you were happy to see that you really had fixed her everything. The nasty blanks, and the weird null stuff on her mana, were fixed but she'd gotten a couple of weird things instead. You were pretty sure that [ Undying Will ] was what used to be her [ Dying Will ], but you had no idea where the other two came from.

Before you could poke at that though, you noticed some other blue boxes which totally didn't make you forget about checking more about Etsuko. You just, um, 'temporarily misplaced the thought' about that as you looked at the evidence of your greatness.

Getting a [Monster] looked to be the last thing which had been missing. You had a proper Dungeon now and the blue box told you that the nasty [ Undungeoned ] thing had been removed from your own Status. Not only that but you'd actually leveled up!

You were now LVL 2!

That was better than one and so shiny that you were tempted to wake Etsuko to tell her and cheer. But she looked so cute asleep that you couldn't bring yourself to do that quite yet.

(You'd just have to do it after she woke up. You knew she'd be as happy as you were about it.)

You were the bestest of Cores, kind and considerate to your [ Monsters ], so you left your pretty boss to her rest while you did some other quiet things.

oOo​

What will you work on? (Pick two.)
Multiples of same action are allowed. Rolls will be involved for success.
You will already be talking to Etsuko.


[ ] Do further work on your room. (May yield a bonus Pattern.)
[ ] Eavesdrop on the young people in the building.
[ ] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[ ] <Write-in one of Etsuko's traits.>
--[ ] <Write-in one of your traits.>
--[ ] <Write-in one of your skills.>
[ ] Figure out passive [MANA] respiration. (Bonus if [MANA] is examined.)
[ ] Heal yourself (10 mana.)
[ ] Invent… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[ ] ...a [Poor] quality [Monster Pattern]. (10 Mana)
--[ ] ...a [Poor] quality [Treasure Pattern]. (10 Mana)
[ ] Make… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[ ] …a [ Core Chamber ].
--[ ] ...a default generic room.
--[ ] …a room for a [ Boss ]
[ ] Practice… (Pick one option below per action used. May cost mana.)
--[ ] <Write-in one of your skills.>
[ ] Scry for… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[ ] ...a [Poor] quality [Monster Pattern]. (2 Mana)
--[ ] …a [Poor] quality [Treasure Pattern]. (2 Mana)
--[ ] ...information on the building. (2 Mana)
--[ ] ...more people with [Implanted Bomb]. (10 Mana)

oOo​

By leveling up you gained a free gift! (Pick one.)
You have gained other benefits from levelling as listed on your character sheet.

[ ] A [Poor] quality [Monster Pattern] suiting your needs.
[ ] A [Poor] quality [Treasure Pattern] suiting your needs.
[ ] A [Poor] quality [Trap Pattern] suiting your needs.
[ ] Three [Feeble] quality [Patterns] of random type(s).
[ ] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.
 
Character Sheet [1.7]
Jewel-Cubic-Zirconia-Shiny-Luxury-Gem-Diamond-123338.png
STATUS
<UNNAMED DUNGEON CORE>
LVL 2 (5 EXP)
HEALTH 75 (100+10)
MANA 50 (30+20) [+5/day]
[ Newborn ], [ Unnamed ]
TRAITS
[ Blissful Ignorance ]
[ Dimensional Affinity ]
[ Race : Dungeon Core ]
[ Wandering Door ]
SKILLS
[ Core Restoration ]
[ Dungeon Lure ]
Least Scrying (LVL 2; 2 XP)
INVENTORY
[ Institutional Utility Area ]
[ Row of Lockers ]
[ School Bookshelves]
[ Teacher's Desk ]
[ Wooden School Desks ]

[ Dollar Bill ] (Feeble)
[ Empty Wallet ] (Feeble)
[ Wallet ] (Poor)

[ Full Neural Mapping (Etsuko Ableson) ]
FLOOR ONE
Furniture Maze - [ Institutional Utility Area ]

[ Etsuko Abelson ]

ETSUKO ABELSON
FEMALE HUMAN
MARTYR - LVL 1
HEALTH 56 (24+4+28)
MANA 22 (10+1+11)
[ Contracted Monster ], [ Corona Gemma ],
[ Cyclic Flash Recovery ], [ Dungeon Boss ],
[ Shaken ], [ Undying Will ]
 
[X ] Make… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[ X] …a room for a [ Boss ]

We can't neglect our boss.

[X] Invent… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[X] ...a [Poor] quality [Monster Pattern]. (10 Mana)

[X] A [Poor] quality [Treasure Pattern] suiting your needs.

A room and no monsters to fill it with? Sacrilege.
 
Last edited:
Hmm.

That... looks like a Trigger happened.

I wouldn't call that a good thing.

Cyclic Flash Recovery
This, meanwhile - is probably her parahuman power.

Among other things, it's apparently capable of finding all of her bits and bringing them back if she gets exploded.

Let's try not to need it much.

MANA 50 (30+20) [+5/day]
Aaaand more mana out of the aether, somehow.

Previously we were just under our cap of 30. Note that our cap has gone up; so's our max HP, actually. Could be from having gone up a level, though I wonder why it'd be split into 30+20 if that's the case; it might be that "having a Dungeon Boss" has ancillary benefits.
 
Garahs
You missed the second section concerning the level up gift.

Hmm.

That... looks like a Trigger happened.

I wouldn't call that a good thing.
It isn't as though the desperate little Core found a dimensional connection providing 'power' of the type she needed, ripped it out like yanking an extension cord from the wall, then plugged it into her precious (and being horribly mutilated) [Boss] in a desperate attention to fix her (FIX HER NOW!). Right?

This, meanwhile - is probably her parahuman power.

Among other things, it's apparently capable of finding all of her bits and bringing them back if she gets exploded.

Let's try not to need it much.
If the Core ever manages to connect the dungeon to a world which knows about Dungeons then many adventurer's would curse and loathe how frustrating the [Dungeon Boss] will be to defeat.

Aaaand more mana out of the aether, somehow.

Previously we were just under our cap of 30. Note that our cap has gone up; so's our max HP, actually. Could be from having gone up a level, though I wonder why it'd be split into 30+20 if that's the case; it might be that "having a Dungeon Boss" has ancillary benefits.
Certain actions net you mana. I'll be nice and also tell you that levelling up flat out refills you Mana to the new capacity. There are reasons why.
 
It isn't as though the desperate little Core found a dimensional connection providing 'power' of the type she needed, ripped it out like yanking an extension cord from the wall, then plugged it into her precious (and being horribly mutilated) [Boss] in a desperate attention to fix her (FIX HER NOW!). Right?
The way you say that, I'm wondering if something just happened to Alabaster.

Power doesn't quite match, but...

Edit: Oh, wait. She's described as "pale," and I don't mean in the low blood pressure sense. I'd feel sorry for Alabaster, but he's a Nazi, so whatever.

[x] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.

Not terribly fussed about the specifics of any given pattern at the moment, so let's go for quality.

[x] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[x] Your [MANA]
[x] Figure out passive [MANA] respiration. (Bonus if [MANA] is examined.)

Because even if we're now getting 5 mana per day, figuring out how we get more is pretty important.

([ ] Eavesdrop on the young people in the building.) is also pretty tempting, because someone hurt our [DUNGEON BOSS] and we probably shouldn't be asking her about the who's, how's and why's right now.

Anyway, Etsuko is now officially a Martyr.

I wonder what her advancements look like?
 
[x] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.

[x] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[x] Your [MANA]
[x] Figure out passive [MANA] respiration. (Bonus if [MANA] is examined.)
 
[x] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.

[x] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[x] Your [MANA]
[x] Figure out passive [MANA] respiration. (Bonus if [MANA] is examined.)
 
[x] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[x] Your [MANA]
[x] Figure out passive [MANA] respiration. (Bonus if [MANA] is examined.)

[X] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.
Lord Gacha provides!

Also, best little core is best!
 
[x] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[x] Your [MANA]
[x] Figure out passive [MANA] respiration. (Bonus if [MANA] is examined.)

[X] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.

Gacha Gacha man I want to be a Gacha maaaaan :p
 
we can put an unlock condition on the connecting door so it only allows access to the core room if our nigh unkillable dungeon boss is killed.
Mmm.

Keep in mind, though -

Fiddling with her [ Status ], and those nasty question mark things, felt like something which would be really hard and stretch you in a weird way. That was probably because she wasn't part of your dungeon or domain. Poking about in the back of your mind, and checking a few blue boxes which popped up, had shown you that there was another easier option.

A delver was supposed to get a reward, an empowerment or something, for beating a dungeon if they didn't do anything to the Core. And Etsuko was so cool and nice that you were sure she'd leave you alone so then you'd get to do something which would help her.

- if we make the Core impossible to reach without killing Etsuko, there's certain things we stop being able to do without killing Etsuko. We'll probably want to empower other people. And while dungeon bosses can respawn, that's asking a lot of her.
 
- if we make the Core impossible to reach without killing Etsuko, there's certain things we stop being able to do without killing Etsuko. We'll probably want to empower other people. And while dungeon bosses can respawn, that's asking a lot of her.
If we're going to start summoning mobs in our dungeon, then the PRT, and especially Emily Piggot, are going to compare us to Nilbog. Do you think any heroes (or even villains) are going to believe a Nilbog-like villain when we tell them they're supposed to let us go without stealing/destroying when they get to our core room?

I'd much rather we secure our safety first, and then play around with granting provisional permission to acceptable people entering our core room and receiving a power up.
 
What will you work on? (Pick two.)
[X] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[X] [ Cyclic Flash Recovery ].
[X] Scry for…
--[X] ...information on the building. (2 Mana)

By leveling up you gained a free gift! (Pick one.)
[X] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.
 
Someone hurt our precious Boss. Maybe we can find them by looking for other people they've harmed that way? But our dungeon is kinda... well, it doesn't properly convey how awesome we are, and that is not to be borne. So we should be working on lots of things there - using our new pattern, adding proper rooms, both for us and for our new Boss, maybe learning to draw in more mana so we can work harder... busy, busy, busy! On the other hand, maybe we should make sure Etsuko is really all right? This has been a big change for her, and things were a little messy for a bit there... we could check some stuff, help this be a great new start to her career!

Ooh, decisions... so many important things to do, never enough time to do them in.

[X] Examine in detail…
--[X] [ Dungeon Boss ]
[X] Scry for…
--[X] ...more people with [Implanted Bomb]. (10 Mana)

[X] One [Typical] quality [Pattern] of a random type.


OOC:
Selecting our level-up gift... We have a [Poor] bit of loot, so more is redundant until we get minimum coverage of everything. Traps would be a nice enhancement, but monsters should probably come first. So I feel it comes down to a choice between a random pick of slightly higher quality and getting something (a [Monster Pattern]) that we definitely need. I mean, a grab-bag wouldn't necessarily be the worst possible choice, but it doesn't really appeal to me. ... Well, we can always go back and find/make our own if we need to, whereas the quality boost is as shiny as we are. I guess I'm siding with the crowd on this point.

I'm a bit concerned about whether Etsuko will turn out to be bound within the Dungeon (at least until we work out something to fix that, after we notice it's a problem) or if she'll be able to roam freely. Fastest way to find out is probably to examine her [Dungeon Boss] status (or possibly [Contracted Monster]); if it's an issue she would notice pretty fast anyway, and bring it to our attention promptly, but that is unlikely to be good for her or us when she's already [Shaken].

I don't remember noticing that our Least Scrying had leveled (apparently in 1.5) but that's a nice little bonus to help with our self-assigned mission of killing Etsuko's enemy very dead.

The way you say that, I'm wondering if something just happened to Alabaster.
I came to that conclusion reading the update, but as you say - by definition he's an acceptable target, which makes this win/win.
 
I came to that conclusion reading the update, but as you say - by definition he's an acceptable target, which makes this win/win.
Well...

Etsuko's not going to be able to hide that she now has Alabaster's power.

Bad enough as is, substantially worse if he no longer has it.

But none of that's because I give any shit about Alabaster, yes.
 
[X] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[X] [MANA]
[X] Figure out passive [MANA] respiration. (Bonus if [MANA] is examined.)
[X] A [Poor] quality [Monster Pattern] suiting your needs.

So my plan here is to get our Mana regeneration up to a good rate so we can start mass producing monsters. And since Etsuko now has Mana it would best if we understood it enough to help her learn how to use it.
 
[X] Make… (Pick one option below per action used.)
--[X] …a room for a [ Boss ]
---[X] If it won't magically become suited for Etsuko on its own, ask her what she'd like in a room.
[X] Examine in detail… (Pick one option below per action used.)
-[X] [MANA]
[X] A [Poor] quality [Monster Pattern] suiting your needs.
 

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