The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) Jonathan Brooks (online e reader TXT) 📖

“I haven’t the slightest idea of what could’ve done that, or even what happened.  Do you have any theories why they exploded like they did?”  Tacca could sense Shale already entering her dungeon entrance as he communicated with her, and she Teleported back to the new Core Room to confirm that it was safe.  If it wasn’t, she didn’t want her Dungeon Assistant to be her test subject – and she was afraid of creating any other creatures in there until she was sure that wouldn’t happen again.

Well…the Gnoll and Hyena didn’t actually explode; it was the building light and energy that connected them that caused the explosion.  Tacca arrived at the Core Room via her Teleport option and braced for any detrimental change…but nothing happened.  This close to the center of the explosion, she could see the two creatures still standing there as if nothing had even happened.  Except, there was something different with them; instead of standing completely still as if they were statues awaiting orders or some other stimuli, they almost appeared to have intelligence in their eyes and life in their posture.  In addition to that, there was a faint line of some sort of energy connecting them together, though what exactly it consisted of Tacca was unsure.  In fact, those two are…fine?  Perhaps better than fine.

“What?  No, don’t try to explain, I’ll be there soon.”  He wasn’t lying either; Shale used his Invisibility to fly through her dungeon at full speed, completely ignoring the fight between the Raiders currently in the third room and the Branch Jackals trying to get a drop on them.  In less than 2 minutes from when he got inside, he was already passing through the entrance of the new Core Room, where he stopped short in surprise.

“They look different.  What’s wrong with them?”

I don’t think it’s what’s wrong with them, but what’s right.  Take a look.

Gnoll Scout

These humanoid-looking hyenas have excellent hearing and sense of smell, though their eyesight leaves a lot to be desired.  Like many Bipedals, Gnolls can use weapons of almost any kind, though the Scout Variant prefers to use bows or crossbows to attack from range.  They can, however, easily use the sling they originally come equipped with.  That’s not to say that they cannot be forced into a melee role, but they suffer from a penalty to their attack damage and defense rating. 

Cost (Level 1): 100 DF

Control Requirement (Level 1): 4

Creation Time (Level 1): 35 Minutes

Equipment: Sling (Ranged Attack +2), Basic Leather Cuirass (Physical Defense +2)

Physical Attack: 2 (4)

Ranged Attack: 4 (8)

Physical Defense: 4 (6)

Ranged Defense: 2 (4)

Elemental Resistance: 0

Specials: Bonus to sensing those hidden by Invisibility spells and effects

Synergy Addition (+): Adds a bonus to Physical and Ranged Attack and Defense when paired with unevolved creature form; this bonus lasts for up to 30 seconds even after paired form is killed

The Echoing Hyena appears very similar, though instead of its Synergy Addition saying “unevolved” it says “evolved”.  Incredible bonuses to its attributes as well. 

“That is incredible.  But why do they look the way they do?  They seem more ‘real’ somehow.”

No idea, but if this is what it means by the “synergy” I read about, I don’t think it matters too much to me.  And it gives me other ideas of pairing some of my other Semi-humans together.

“Are they going to explode every time you ‘pair’ them together?  I would think that would cause some problems with keeping your other creatures alive – let alone us.”

Tacca had to think about it for a moment and even dove every sense she had into the two hyena-based creatures in front of her Core.  She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she was confident that future pairings of these two wouldn’t be nearly as dramatic.  She told Shale that, but added, As far as new pairings, such as a Wolf Variant with a Werewolf, I can’t guarantee those will be as calm.  I have a feeling that once these “Synergy” pairings are formed for the first time, all it will take is putting them together again elsewhere for the connection to form between them – without exploding.

“Wait – you’re going to have Werewolves now?” her Dungeon Assistant asked incredulously, though she could see a hint of a smile on his face.

Oh, yes.  And perhaps a few others – we’ll see.  With that frightening-yet-successful experiment in “synergy”, Tacca was eager to get her next dungeon section finished so she could finally open up.  With even more enthusiasm than she had before, she got back to work.

Chapter 24

Tacca finally had all the needed components, if not the needed Control Limit quite yet for her creatures, to complete her dungeon.  She devoted the majority of her concentration to additional construction, ignoring nearly everything the Raiders were doing other than as a peripheral situation.  She portioned off a section of her mind to continue moving creatures, traps, and Environmental Objects around to keep the flow of the rooms up there constantly changing, and continued to signal to those outside when the dungeon was ready to be delved through by the next group.

She was concentrating so much on her new project that she only noticed when Sterge and Gwenda were finishing up their latest delve, which was – she had to think back that far – at least 6 weeks since their last one.  They seemed to be stretching out their visits longer and longer; she knew they were still trying to avoid too much attention, but now there was another reason she found out when listening in after their final battle.

“Nice!  I just hit Raider Level 5!” the Human Healer shouted, who she’d overheard the last time they had visited was named William.  She had also learned that the Elven Fighter was