Penara was waiting for Zaria still, cleaning her fingernails with a toothpick nearly as long as her forearm, but filed to a point so fine it could serve as a tool for the Wisp. “So, how’d it go?” she asked eagerly.

Zaria said as she slid her presence back into her core.

Penara winced. “Sorry, but Cestmir said that it would make Rahana feel better. He trusts you already. Or isn’t afraid of you, which for him is the same thing.”

Penara smiled. “I don’t have any reason to distrust you. Never did. And some people call me naïve, but I like to assume everyone has the best intentions until proven otherwise.” She wilted a bit. “I also don’t like subterfuge, so I am sorry about that.”

Zaria sent her the sound of a snort.

“Have you considered recovering your Wraiths?”

Zaria sent the wisp the image of a shaking head.

Penara giggled, and Zaria sent her a wordless question. “Sorry. It’s just, well, so many dungeons want their memories back. But because they can’t send out world mobs until Bronze, they can’t find them for a long time, and by the time they do, so much has changed. But you, a dungeon that would walk around and look for her Wraiths don’t want to do that exact thing.”

Zaria saw the irony, but not the humor.

Penara cocked her head. “Of course. Why do you ask?”

Penara’s mouth made a perfect little O of surprise. “You’d do that? Why?”

Zaria sighed.

That last one made Penara’s eyes widen, and she nodded slowly. “You’re worried about making enemies just because you exist.”

“You are,” Penara said. Then held up a finger to forestall Zaria’s next words. “To be clear - immortal in the same the ravages of time mean nothing to you. You are not, by any stretch of the imagination, unkillable. If your core is broken, that’s it - and there’s no coming back a second time.”

Zaria considered for a moment. She hesitated.

“Practical,” Penara said. “So you are going to go ahead with that?”

Zaria sent her a shrug.

“Right!” Penara said brightly. “Do you know what a Capstone is?”

Penara sighed and held her head in her hands. “If I get ahold of the being behind writing them, I’ll give them a piece of my mind. A thousand pieces, actually. That is true, but it’s more than that. Capstones are incredibly impactful abilities that determine how your dungeon advances for the rest of that Tier, and probably for the rest of your time as a dungeon. You should never make the choice lightly.”

Zaria said.

Penara lifted her head. “Absolutely. Let’s grab the list. You should be able to just pull them by filtering out everything that isn’t a Tin Capstone. Then project them into your core so I can see them.”

Zaria did as instructed.

Elemental Affinity: You gain an affinity for an element of your choice. Eliminates increased command cost for mobs made with an elemental heart of your chosen element, and increases your ability to create elemental traps. Magic gear created from your chosen element has a ten percent chance to randomly upgrade to Rare. 0 Upgrade Points Special: Tin Capstone.

Master of your Domain: You can provide bonuses to any sapient being that voluntarily lives within your depths, and form a humanoid body around your core that can be used to communicate and interact with them. This body cannot persist outside your area of influence. 0 Upgrade Points. Special: Tin Capstone.

Minion Lord: You gain a humanoid mob suitable to your dungeon type. These mobs can equip gear like adventurers. 0 Upgrade Points. Special: Tin Capstone.

Regional Effects (Mimic Mist): You gain the ability to impact the region you occupy. Your mere presence in an area generates a mist in a 2-mile radius around you. Every nightfall, a random inanimate object within your Region will become a free willed mimic - but unlike other free willed mimics, its kills provide you experience, no matter how far you are from them. In addition, you gain limited awareness of anything happening with the mist. Special: Tin Capstone. Prerequisites: Mimic Mob Theme.

Regional Effects (Hauntings): You gain the ability to impact the region you occupy. Your mere presence causes random hauntings to occur in the area, creating Spooky Effects for inhabitants of the region. Every nightfall, one creature that has died in the area will arise as a free willed ghost - but unlike other free willed ghosts, its kills provide you experience, no matter how far you are from them. In addition, you can influence the dreams of anyone sleeping within you Haunting. Special: Tin Capstone. Prerequisites: Striga Bond (Warning: Prerequisites not met.)

Bigger on the Inside: Your mana will gradually warp the space within your dungeon, allowing rooms to have a larger interior than the actual dimensions of their wall. In addition, you can fold space within your dungeon, creating pathways and portals that are invisible unless you mark them. These can serve as traps, or to move mobs about. Special: Tin Capstone. Prerequisites: Yagacore.

Zaria and Penara studied the list for a moment. Zaria said.

“Right,” Penara said. She smoothed herself over. “Sorry, it’s been a few centuries since I last looked at the Tin Capstones. But it’s coming back to me. So, the most popular is Elemental Affinity, hands down. It saves you the cost for your chosen element without locking you out of other elements, so it’s useful to basically every dungeon. Cestmir picked it - he chose Earth, because serpents aren’t the tankiest mobs ever, and the added defense for that was just what he needed. It also has a later ability at Bronze that lets you get the same bonuses to related Affinities - he has the cost reduction for both Magma and Steel mobs.”

Zaria sent her a nod.

Penara had been about to go into more detail, then paused when Zaria spoke. She bit her lip and drummed her fingers on her arms for a moment longer. “It might,” she said. “Mobs always display their elemental traits in some way. But since such a key feature of the mimics is their ability to remain hidden, I’d imagine they could disguise that. At least while in stealth form. But I can’t be certain.”

Zaria said.

“Yes, you should. You haven’t picked up elemental hearts yet, I’m guessing?”

Zaria sent her another nod.

“You should,” Penara said. “Even if it turns out it doesn’t work for your mimics the way you want, elemental mob hearts lets you use them in traps - like how your chest traps worked during the boss fight, but with added effects. You can even spin up and strategically destroy the hearts without creating a mob to get some very clever spell work out of it, with practice.”

Penara sighed. “More creative uses of abilities like that don’t get documented. Honestly, the documentation for much of this is misleading - it’s absolutely critical you run things by someone who knows more. If you don’t decide to bond with a fae, at least check with me or another Wisp before selecting capstone abilities to avoid getting a weak one - or passing over a strong one.”

Penara fluttered her wings and pulled herself up in the air. “Master of your Domain, also known as the start of the Dungeon Lord tree. It’s an incredibly powerful ability long term, although the first ability in the tree is a bit lackluster. That being said, it’s probably useless for you. Unless raising an army of mortals is on your list of plans?”

Zaria snorted at the thought.

Penara giggled. “I thought you might say that. Then, unless you’re getting armies, the primary benefits down that tree are… well, a powerful body that can walk around and talk to mortals, with your full strength behind it.” She gave Zaria a look of exaggerated innocence. “Something you clearly need.”

Zaria sent Penara a dry chuckle.

“I thought you’d say so. Then Minion Lord. This one is, almost universally, the worst of the most popular three. There are so many ways, down the line, for you to get humanoid mobs. Hells, you already have one. Complete waste of a capstone. Some of the later abilities can come in handy - such as the ability for your humanoid mobs to hold basic conversations and blend in among Sapient society, which lets them purchase things for you - but there are better ways to accomplish that too. I can tell you more, but…”

Zaria sent her an image of a shaking head.

Penara hesitated, biting her lip again, then nodded. “You’re right. I cannot think of a single thing in that whole tree that you and a Striga combined couldn’t accomplish.”

Zaria looked at them.

“They do,” Penara said. “Some of the greatest dungeons to have ever existed had Regional Effects. It means you’ll have to stay in a place for the effect to start - if a Dungeon moves their core room far enough that it goes outside of their region, it takes twenty-four hours for the effect to restart.”

It was Zaria’s turn to pause.

“Mmhmm.” Penara’s eyes sparkled. “Most dungeons go for the floorplan layout - so Tin floor, with easier mobs, then downstairs and that’s where you find the Copper floor, and so on. But some favor the Hallway layout, where it’s just one long extended area. Cestmir did. Can you guess his layout?”

Zaria didn’t even need to think hard.

“Exactly!” Penara said. “But some do extend their dungeons just in a straight line. If they shift their core room the entire length, it can be a few miles, depending on the dungeon’s age and how heavily they focused on growth.”

There was a joke about length and focus on growth that Zaria wanted to make, but decided instead to stay on task for now.

Penara nodded.

“Absolutely nothing,” Penara said brightly.

Zaria waited for a follow up, a ha-ha or a just kidding, but none came. she asked, trying to stay calm.

“Sorry, probably a bad time for humor.” Penara settled down. “But for real, I can’t tell you anything about that ability, because it’s Yagacore exclusive. Which, right now, means it’s you and you alone.”

Zaria said.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Penara held up her hands to forestall Zaria. “Here’s the thing. Generally, exclusive abilities are tied to a particular mob type, like Regional Effects. Or they’re tied to a particular Theme, or even to a particular contained entity type. But they tend to be some of the most powerful abilities available long term. Normally, I’d immediately recommend that you take the exclusive if it’s being offered. But in this case, it’s a complete unknown for if it will be worth it.”

Zaria considered for a moment.

Penara shook her head. “You just hit Tin 9. It’ll be a couple of days before you hit Copper and need to make a selection, based on the five runs a day you’ll have. Why do you ask?”

Zaria said.

“I’m pretty sure Cestmir will ensure you have one if Rahana doesn’t,” Penara said.

Penara nodded. “Good idea.”

Penara shivered. “It’s correct now. Fiendish and Ruin weren’t world elements here before. But after five years of Fissures the world elements have shifted. Steel will probably become Rust in a few more years, and Wood will become Rot or Bone, depending on how things go. It’ll… color how magic works.”

Zaria paused.

Penara leaned forward. “Oh no. Did another one change?”

Zaria said. She showed Penara the list of available elements to her.

Available Elements: Moon, Frost, Cloud, Serpent, Bird, Death

Penara stared at the list in horror. she shouted, her telepathic call so intense it was physically painful to Zaria.

Without hesitation, Cestmir sent over the information. It was a fresh vision of him, in that instant, pulling up his list and sending it to Zaria and Penara. It was the same twelve that Zaria and Penara had expected - the six universal, and the six world elements. he asked.

Penara shook her head.