Ally conjures up an illusionary horned rabbit, ‘Critters are any lifeform which isn’t a monster or sentient in your dungeon. Not harmless. Regular bees, for instance, are a nice inclusion with all this clover and they count as a critter. Still, they are not a threat to anyone with some combat experience.’

‘You don’t even technically need them, just like you don’t need the plants. However anything you can do to remove your monsters reliance on your energy the better. A horned rabbit will eat the clover and the kobolds and assassin vines will prey on them. You don’t have to worry too much about keeping their numbers up because as I mentioned I have a trick for you.’

‘In a number of places hollow out small warrens for your rabbits. Not in the dirt like a normal rabbits home. Any that survive long enough will do that. No, into the very rock of the walls create their homes and put in place rules that keep out other animals and monsters. Now you have a safe place for them to breed. You do have to wait till they you get a pair that are real enough to do so but like rats it is easy for them. Once there is a breeding pair in a warren slap on a rule that prevents rabbits from leaving if there isn’t enough to keep going.’

‘Now that will get you a normal amount of rabbits. Still a lot, but not enough to deal with the predation of monsters and adventurers. This is partly fixed as critters grow at a sped up pace when there are no invaders, just like plants. However if you're popular enough, they might not have a chance to do so. To fix it, you have to use one more rule. Set each warren to be a safe room. Not the room you attach them to but rather just each warren separately.’

‘There is a lot to go over with safe rooms but what you need to know for now is they section off whatever area you set them in and your creatures can’t attack anything when in one. What is important for your rabbit warrens is that first thing. A safe room will allow plants and critters in them to grow at a sped up pace as long as there are no invaders in any room connected to it. This means any warrens in your long room will produce copious amounts of horned rabbits when the long room itself is clear of adventurers. Now place some rabbits. This will take a while to do as you have to wait for the warrens to be ready but it will be worth it.’

And she wasn’t lying when she said it would take a while. Five days later Doyle finishes with all the rabbits. It would have taken longer but he decided he did not need them in any of the medium-sized rooms or the first two large rooms. Goats don’t need rabbits after all. A few wandered into those sections but never more than a couple at a time.

He turns back to Ally only to find her sprawled out on top of his core with another book. This one more familiar to him as it is one of the dungeon core novels he had read in the past. ‘Hey Ally, I’m done with the rabbits.’ She loses grip on the book and it falls to the ground below him. She snorts, ‘a little warning before you sneak up one would be nice. Anyway, after perusing what your world’s fiction has been up to they are still missing some critical parts of how a dungeon works.’

‘Mainly the difference comes from monster placement. In other universes dungeons can place them willy-nilly but with the system ours is under that isn’t true. Some stories do have it right and if you know anything about wargaming, you should be good. Monsters are point buy on a floor by floor total. This isn’t for balance mind you though it does generally end up causing it.’

‘Rather while flora and fauna can survive on the energy that naturally escapes, your monsters cannot. They have to be hooked into the floors energy circulation to live. Sure if you could setup a complete ecology it would allow you to breed more monsters but at least for the first few floors that isn’t possible. Part of the reason is because this is all you have to work with. Look at the edge of your territory.’

Doyle does so and right away is shocked. Before his sphere of influence had been steadily expanding. Now however it had almost stopped in its tracks. Sure he could tell there was still some growth going on but it would take years to add enough space for another small room.

‘From your silence I take it you noticed. A dungeons floor count is more than just how many stairs an adventurer has to go down. Sure after enough time your first floor will have expanded. Flisle in specific now has a first floor bigger than most young dungeon’s one hundredth floor. All it means for you though is that we need to open up so you can advance.’

‘As for how many points you have to spend on the floor? Later on it will be under a floors specific page. Until you get another floor or level though it is easy enough. 1000, your current world energy max amount. What this means for you is if a party full clears the first floor it would take four hours to regain all the energy used in spawning new monsters. With the right paths your levels will increase both the max and the regen rate however to start new floors will be the biggest boost.’

‘Now we still have the pattern database open. I guess we didn’t have a reason to close it yet, huh? Anyway, with that open, select one of your monsters. I advise not the goat as they aren’t a good reference point for you.’ With goats out of the way Doyle settles on the kobolds and pulls up their screen.

{Kobold

S[4] A[7] C[4] I[6] W[6] P[6]

Skills: Heavy Bash lv3, Improvise Trap lv3

Cost: World Energy[50]}

Ally gestures towards the bottom of the status sheet. ‘There we go, a kobold costs you 50 world energy to create so you could technically fill your dungeon with 20 of them. Obviously this isn’t what we will do but make more than just a couple. They are social creatures after all. Anyway, this is about what I expected them to cost. They aren’t a mammal so you aren’t fully attuned with them. However they are a social omnivore with the potential for a society so ticks in your favor. Also, for some reason you're attuned to them especially well in a way I can’t pinpoint. The average for a secondary monster under this system is around 60 to start. Now pull up the other two.’

{Assassin Vine

S[10] A[2] C[8]

Skills: Grapple lv5

Cost: World Energy[300]}

{Goat

S[6] A[4] C[12] I[2] W[2] P[5]

Skills: Charge lv3

Cost: World Energy[5]}

‘Okay, the goats cost is half of what it should be but not a bad thing. Besides that though everything is in line with a new dungeon. Cheap primary monster and two more costly secondary ones. Especially that assassin vine. Being a plant did it no favors in its compatibility with you. Now you might ask yourself, what about the levels the patterns have?’

‘Those will influence the cost, eventually. The level however can’t more than halve the cost and that is when it gets in the hundreds of levels or even thousands. Levels in a pattern will instead provide options and quality at no extra cost. It is like the blacksmith example. A thousand levels in the nail pattern won’t let them pull iron out of thin air. Instead, they will be able to make those nails faster and with a higher quality. The angle on the point will be perfect for whatever they intend it to be used for and it will stay straight when being hammered in. Now how do you plan to fill out your thousand points?’

Doyle takes a moment to look over his map and the costs again. He already knew he wanted two assassin vines in the long room. The remaining 400 points were more up in the air though. After going over everything one final time Doyle went with six kobolds and a whopping 20 goats. He turns to Ally and explains the layout.

‘Of course the two vine assassins go in the vine room. No question about that though I will allow one of them to wander a little. Though only into that early winding hallway and that small lonely room connected directly to the vine room. Kobolds are also easy. I want them defending my core so five of them go in the last large room and they can wander into the two by three room as well.’

‘As for the goat placement? That took a little math to work out but I think I got it. The first large room will stay empty. Not a safe room but more of a gathering room with horned rabbits. The next large room will have four goats and the medium room right after that a single one. No goats in the vine room or the small room attached to it. Then on that strip of medium rooms they contain two goats, one goat, two more goats, and the final room has three goats. Next is another large room and I will put five goats in it.’

‘Now all that is left is two more goats and a single kobold, no I didn’t forget it. The three of them go in the final medium sized room before my core. You haven’t told me anything about how bosses work but I figure a kobold with a couple pet goats wouldn’t go wrong as core defenders. I will allow them to wander into the main kobold camp but once the fighting starts they have to retreat.’

Ally looks over his plan and gives a thumbs up to it. ‘This is decent enough and I like what you did with the last room. You don’t get a boss till floor five but you might be able to swing a name for the kobold. The only thing missing is traps and you weren’t getting them yet anyway. Traps are the one thing the system gimps us on. We just cannot place any trap like structures until after the first boss.’

‘Oh, but don’t think because this is a good setup it will work. You’re missing a couple of things with it that are quite important. Going to be upfront with you on it but I won’t tell you what these problems are. Not can’t, won’t. Study after study has shown that these are basic mistakes that dungeons will always make within the first few floors. Furthermore, it is one of those lessons you need to learn the hard way so you don’t forget it in the future. I can tell you one thing that needs fixed right away though.’

‘Put in some lights. As a dungeon you can see everything just fine but everyone else is a little in the dark. I would have mentioned it sooner but your core has a glow to it so I could see just fine. To make lights you have a couple of options. Diffuse light that just covers the room. A single source or the realistic option with a few torches. They don’t have to be torches, just some light source you would expect but that is the classic option. This isn’t a permanent choice but whichever you use first is what the system info dumps you on. The others you will have to learn on your own.’