Chapter 68: Forward Base Secured

When we re-entered the dungeon we received the same prompt as when we first entered.

Welcome to the Dwarven Caverns dungeon. You have a choice of helping the defenders or the attackers. No party is allowed to leave until one side is victorious. Currently Gobbos control 50% of the caverns and Deep Dwarves control 50%. 0% of the cave is currently embroiled in battle or has been the site of a battle within the last 24 hours. Which faction will you choose?

1. Gobbos

2. Deep Dwarves

The only difference was the amount of territory each group currently held. It truly was reset and everything was equal. I quickly selected option 2 Deep Dwarves and my group and I entered the caverns once again to find the Dwarves and end this dungeon permanently. The plan was to just barrel our way forward as fast as we could before either faction really had a chance to set up. If we located the dwarves first, we would give them the resources they had us store and then set out immediately to harass the Gobbos. If the Gobbos were the ones we found first then we would play it by ear.

After around a ½ hour travel Bruce who was in the lead, stopped and signaled that something was up ahead. We approached cautiously and saw a standard patrol of Gobbos at the entrance to the cavern we were about to enter. Alright, time to start this thing. I signaled for the attack and the whole group just overwhelmed the patrol. No injuries and the whole patrol decimated in less than 60 seconds. Our previous experience against them is paying off. As we entered the cavern I looked for any sign of which way the Gobbos came from. No such luck, time to let my intuition guide me.

I chose to take one of the two tunnels on the right out of the cavern. We traveled along it for only about ten minutes before we ran into another Gobbo patrol. My group and I took care of them as quickly as we did the last one. However, now I have a problem, am I heading towards the Gobbo base or was I just unlucky coming across another patrol? I decide to continue the way we were going and over the next hour we traveled through 3 different caverns and destroyed four more patrols.

I obviously chose wrong, and I should be getting closer to the main camp of the Gobbos. The problem is that I am turned around now. I can easily retrace my steps, but I do not know if that will get me closer to the Dwarves or not. I kept guessing and switching sides to go through at each cavern. I discuss with the group and the consensus is to back up to the last cavern we went through and set up a defensive site in the middle of it and just wait for a while to see who comes out of what tunnels.

Retreating to the last cavern I had Walter set up a small tower so we could see every entrance and then it was decided to keep watch in order of age. Walter as the oldest would go first. I love having an ancient Incan Spirit as a familiar. It means that no matter what I will always seem young compared to him. Then I would take second watch and then down through the hatching order of my dragons. Everyone’s first watch went without a hitch which was surprising. Over the firsts two to three hours we came across 5 patrols and now over six hours have passed and nothing.

I was starting to wonder if we had wiped out the entire Gobbo exploring group when Walter called down.

“Master there is movement in the North tunnel.”

I had everyone quickly get ready and then we watched as a patrol of Gobbos came out of the tunnel and stopped and stared at our little tower in the middle of the cavern.

“Attack!”

My group descended on that poor patrol like a group of hungry locusts. I guess everyone else must have been as bored as I was. As soon as we finished off the new group Elvira spoke up.

“Dad, my orc was already wounded. I think this group must have run into some dwarves.”

“Fantastic, everyone gather the loot and we will head down this tunnel and hopefully meet up with our allies soon.”

We finished clearing up the battlefield and started down the northern tunnel. It took less than half an hour to run into the dwarven patrol that must have wounded the Gobbos we fought earlier.

“Greetings friends, we have returned as promised. Can you please escort us to the dwarven headquarters.”

“Welcome back Sir Anderson. I can give you some basic directions, but I must continue on we were chasing a patrol of Gobbos that discovered our cavern and do not want them to escape. We managed to force them to retreat into a different tunnel and now we are hunting them down.”

“have no worries, sir dwarf, my companions and I took care of that patrol and several others already.”

After several questions to make sure that we were indeed talking about the same group the dwarf let us know that the main dwarven cavern was less than two hours travel from here. He gave us directions and decided to go set up an outpost at the tower we left behind before the Gobbos used it. He asked us to pass along the message of what was going on to Thane Stoneheart. I readily agreed and my group and I once again started off through the maze of tunnels and caverns. At least now we had directions on where we needed to go.

Three more dwarven patrols and just over an hour of traveling, we finally entered into the dwarven main cavern. The town looked the same even if the cavern had changed. It seemed we traveled at about twice the normal rate of the dwarven patrols, something to remember. As we approached several dwarves who we had met and worked with over the last few months we were greeted warmly and welcomed back. Soon enough we were inside the town walls and approaching Thane Stoneheart who was coming out to see what all the commotion was.

“Greetings Thane Stoneheart, it is good to see you again.”

“Welcome back, Sir Anderson. It is good to find someone who holds to their agreements and has the honor of a dwarf. I name the Dwarf Friend and all shall welcome you in our settlement.”

You have earned the title Dwarf Friend +1 to all stats.

I did not know that you could earn stats from things like this. Maybe I should try to be friendlier to people in the future?

“Thank you for your trust Thane Stoneheart. Where should I place everything?”

“Walk with me to the warehouses and we can discuss the situation on the way to where you can place everything.”

“Very good, Thane Stoneheart.”

We talked about the patrols I had run into and my plans for the future. I held nothing back. We soon would be staying here on a semi-permanent basis. Instead of camping out in the cold, we soon would be able to teleport back after each dungeon and spend time in our own dwelling here in the Dwarven Caverns. This was a luxury that many did not have. We would have access to high level smiths, shops, and great prices. Everyone else would be dealing with whatever managed to make it into the safe areas. When we reached the warehouse district I took everything out that the Thane had asked me to store with a great flourish.

“Thank you again Sir Anderson, with these supplies we should have no trouble winning this final round, especially with your help.”

“Your welcome, Thane Stoneheart anything to help out a friend and ally.”

“Are you comfortable with continuing with Gondor’s patrol until this is finished?”

“That would be great.”

“Before I forget, Sir Anderson you forgot to claim your prize of a communication stone from the final fight last time.”

“I am so glad you reminded me Thane, if I forget to communicate with my daughter I will be in big trouble.”

“I see that such things transcend races and power levels don’t they.”

“You bet, she is my little angel and troublemaker all rolled up into one, but as any other father, I would never change a thing about her.”

“I hope I get a chance to meet her someday.”

“I hope so too Thane Stoneheart. She has quite a few levels to go until she becomes strong enough to travel into the area around us. However, you are more than welcome to travel to our planet and visit if the Great Game allows.”

“When we are finished here we can discuss it some more. Now off you go, I see Gondor waiting in the wings to make sure no one else steals you for their patrol.”

I said my goodbyes to the Thane and my hello’s to Gondor and our regular patrol. After contacting my daughter and letting her know that I would once again be staying longer than I thought, but at least she could now contact me when needed we started the long grind of patrolling, mapping, and eliminating the Gobbos. Four months passed rather quickly. It had been decided not to rock the boat and proceed smoothly and cautiously as this was the last win the dwarves needed. They did not want to be reckless and discover some twist that caused them to lose because they were not cautious.

I can respect this mentality and acquiesced to their wishes. After four months we had reached the Frenzy point of the Gobbos once again. Since the dwarves did not know if the caverns would shift again after the win or stay the same they asked me to use only ice and lightning traps and forgo the explosions that might cause collapse in the tunnels. This may have caused a few more casualties among the dwarves, but once again I could see their point. Soon enough the entire campaign was over and the finish message of the dungeon was given. The dwarves could now leave the caverns and explore and settle the surrounding area along with their already conquered territory in the caverns.

My team and I had once again progressed and reached higher levels, but I could feel that in the future the levels would not be as easy. We would have to progress to a section of dungeon world either more appropriate to our level or we would have to speed run dungeons to earn more experience than we would lose on a yearly basis. Time to see where we are and where we need to get to and finalize the level up plan.

Companion Status:

Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon

Level: 504 - 67% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon

Level: 506 - 98% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon

Level: 505 - 22% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon

Level: 508 - 13% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak’a Spirit

Level 650 - 4% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson

Status:

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King

Level: 1126 - 54%

Unspent Attribute Points: 110

Str: 2,261

HP: 22,600

Int: 2,441 +250% MP

MP: 170,800

Wis:2,441 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 2,261

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 2,261 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 2,261

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Not bad but a lot of this growth was because of the double experience from being on the underdog dwarven team on the first dungeon dive. While this rate may still seem fast to others, this was the slowest I had leveled ever. Only 10-12 levels in approximately a year, and the rate would get slower as all of our levels went up. I could do this safe and slow, or I could utilize the longevity that my race gives me and work at it steadily to make sure nothing goes wrong. Slow and steady it is. I just hope I do not go crazy from the wait.

It has taken 50 years, but I finally leveled up enough that I feel confident and safe enough to move up to zone 7. 50 years is a just a blink of time in the lifespan of a dragon, but I had not started out as a dragon. I was starting to get really aggravated at the slow pace. I had only raised an average of 5 levels a year after paying the experience penalty to stay in Dungeon World. 50 years to earn 250 levels. Walter had finally caught back up to me and the kids were all in the 900’s now so I felt moving into zone 7 was finally appropriate.

A lot of things had changed over the last 50 years. Earth had solidified it’s position as a planet not to be messed with. Our new planetary champion had won the New Comer’s tournament her first year, and had placed in the top 200 for individuals and the top 20 for team tournaments the last 10 cycles of tournament. Interplanetary trade was at an all time high. My kingdom was now one of 4 large empires. My kingdom covered all of North America, South America, Antarctica and a few strategic pacific islands. The Eastern Empire had been established throughout most of Asia. The Northern Empire comprised the majority of Europe and parts of Russia. The last Empire was still called a kingdom just like my own. It was the Kingdom of Botswana and covered Africa and parts of the Middle East. of the I had picked up a couple of random titles over the years and had watched my daughter start a family and settle down.

Those that did not want to live under the rule of one of the 4 great kingdoms made their way to Australia. Somehow that country had become the defacto place for independents. Don’t get me wrong, it was not lawless, it was just filled with people who wanted to do their own thing. The four bigger kingdoms and empires kept watch over it together to make sure there were no large scale infractions of common laws or organized banditry. The Earth had basically reached a status quo.

My daughter had finally settled down in the last twenty years, and was raising two kids of her own along with more fluffy puppies than you could shake a stick at. I built her and my grandkids several different homes throughout my kingdom and they had the run of the place. Randolph was still my official successor and was doing great. The council was working smoothly and I only had to step in once in fifty years, and that was just to intimidate and help set out the current world wide rules and policies each kingdom followed. Everyone had their own rules of course but I made sure some basic freedoms were guaranteed and the slavery was at least officially banned across the planet.

I was starting to drift farther and farther away from the planet though. I came back quite frequently at the beginning, but over the years I just sort of lost touch with everyone. I came back of course to see my grandkids their first few years, but even now they are in their teens and don’t want to hang out with grandpa. I still talk to several people over communication crystal, but it is more just to catch up than to really be a part of each other’s lives. I reckon that soon I will stop coming back all together and just focus on Dungeon world.

Let’s have one final check before I move into zone 7.

Companion Status:

Name: Elvira Race: Elemental Air Dragon

Level: 934 - 67% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Esmerelda Race: Elemental Earth Dragon

Level: 926 - 98% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Azure Race: Elemental Water Dragon

Level: 935 - 22% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Sir Bruce Shadow Flaming Ember of Doom Race: Elemental Fire Dragon

Level: 938 - 13% Status: Companion/Pet of Mark Anderson

Name: Walter Race: Incan Wak’a Spirit

Level 1370 - 76% Status: Familiar of Mark Anderson

Status:

Name: Mark Anderson

Race: Primal Elemental Dragon King

Level: 1375 - 24%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 2,671

HP: 26,710

Int: 2,951 +250% MP

MP: 206,570

Wis:2,951 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 2,671

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 2,671 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 2,671

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Primal – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Everything looks good. Time to enter Zone 7. It took 50 years, but I am finally entering the last set of zones before 10. My time to figure out what is happening is getting closer. I hope everything continues to go well. With my group I cross the boundary into Zone 7 and see the following message.

Welcome to Zone 7. You need 100 points to cross into Zone 8. 1,000 points to cross into Zone 9, and 10,000 to cross into Zone 10.

Conquering a dungeon in Zone 7 is worth 1 point.

Conquering a dungeon in Zone 8 is worth 3 points.

Conquering a dungeon in Zone 9 is worth 5 points.

You may only leave these zones by spending 10 points to exit.

You can only re-enter after 100 years has passed or if you spend another 10 points.

Communication crystals cost 1 point for each use.

The rules have changed on me once again. I am going to have to conquer a dungeon as quick as I can so I can then spend that point and explain the situation to my daughter. I have a feeling I am going to be stuck in these zones for a while.