[D'sP] Future Fae Fun - Chapter 470

Early the next day, Doyle is ready and sends out the five pseudo-soul goatherds an hour after dawn.

The goatherd who had been going out the previous day guides the other four in a different direction. A choice she made herself, given that today, Doyle had given no direction, having simply told them to go look around. They weren’t even out to gather supplies. This was simply a training mission.

So the five wandered around with the head goatherd pointing out the few things she had noticed the day before. This mostly involved noting things that had already been brought back.

They kept going until the five came across a clearing. It was not a natural clearing. All five of them felt it and so backed out of the place, not making a single noise or even looking to the others to see if they were also retreating.

The leader frowns. She did not like that feeling, though it reminded her of the Other. Who was nice enough, but this wasn’t that. Better to avoid.

She guides the other four in a wide circle around the clearing and is thankful when the rest of their journey turns out to be quite boring. The five spot a few new plants, lots of squirrels, and another clearing, which is not wrong. Though they do decide to turn around at that point.

There was no particular reason for this. Rather, the leader simply felt they had been out long enough and she didn’t have anything else to teach the others. Though on the way back, they almost went back into the bad clearing.

The five simply saw a bit of denser underbrush and was about to push through when the leader stopped them.

The goatherd leader pointed at the brush and then gestured around. Another gesture at the area and a shake of their head. Then they pulled the other four back. They hadn’t been sure what was there, but on going around, the strange clearing was revealed.

Which was odd as the kobolds remembered the clearing being quite open along the edges. Freaked out, the five kobolds made good time returning to the dungeon.

Doyle watched as they re-entered the dungeon. ‘Ally, they look freaked out. Can you figure out what’s up?’

Ally nods, ‘Give me a second. They didn’t come running, so there shouldn’t be something chasing them.’

Ally flew through the last floor and into the entrance portal, arriving at the fifth floor. She doesn’t technically need to be on the floor. Communication with the boss can be done from the core room and she could watch the conversation through a screen. However, she felt a personal touch helped.

Not that she has to do much. The kobold boss was already used to debriefing their kobold companions just from running the floor. Though they needed to do a little more digging to debrief the kobolds coming back from outside.

Ally, wanting the boss to improve at this task, given that kobolds would likely be the scouts from now on, let the boss handle the debrief without interruption. Though at the end of the debriefing, Ally came in and got the boss to ask a few more questions. Because she had an idea of what they had found.

Once back in the core, Ally sighs and turns to Doyle’s core, ‘Welp, there’s a fairy ring nearby. Or was? It might not be there anymore. The more trap-style rings like to be elsewhere when found. That would normally require a person to find the ring, but your pseudo-souled kobolds might count.’

Doyle, ‘I don’t think we can do anything about it?’

Ally sighed, ‘Yeah, we can’t really do much about it. Besides, if there is a fairy ring out here in the middle of nowhere? The fae will just be a going concern for the planet.’

Doyle, ‘So, will this change what I need to do with my scouts?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘If it wasn’t for the fact we’re limited on being able to handle it, dungeon bosses, and I guess your pseudo-souled dungeon monsters, are the best to handle Fae messes. Since their soul is kept in the dungeon and they’re already sworn to you? The usual fae nonsense doesn’t work on them.’

Doyle, ‘Does that mean the undead, or I guess specifically liches, are good against the fae?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘No, they aren’t that lucky. A lich still owns their self and soul. Oh, and their name. You can’t name stuff yet, but when you do? That name might be for a monster, but it belongs to you. A fae would have to steal it from you, and not the monster. Which isn’t an easy thing to do.’

Doyle, ‘Okay, so I guess I send the first goatherd to go and check on the ring while the others can wander around, looking for predators. I hope they don’t die too quickly. Or at least, not all at once.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t send them all out at once? It would be annoying to use any of the other pseudo-souled kobolds. How do normal dungeons handle this sort of thing?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Eh, they don’t. Instincts are to keep the monsters inside the dungeon. It takes outside interference for that to change, and even then, it tends to result in a dungeon break instead of scouts going out to grab stuff and return.

‘Sometimes bosses will wander out? Though that tends to only happen if there is a shallow boss floor that doesn’t get delved. And not like with your dungeon where delvers skip the floor. Rather, I mean as if with your dungeon, they only delved floors one through four. Any delving at all will keep even rebellious bosses on their floor.’

Doyle, ‘And of course a regular monster going out is just as likely to wander off if not accompanied by something to keep it on task.’

Ally, ‘Yep. Now let’s get those kobolds back out there searching for things.’

Doyle, ‘They won’t be able to carry much, but I guess they should also grab the occasional thing while out there.’

And with that, the five pseudo-souled kobold goatherds are sent back out into the wilds. Each of them headed off in a different direction, barring the most experienced who was heading to where the fairy ring had been.

That kobold strode towards her destination, not seeing anything that stood out. She had just been that way earlier and things still felt alright. Right up until she reached where the strange clearing had been.

It wasn’t there.

She did spend an hour or so wandering around the area, but didn’t find any sign of the place.

With her task complete, the kobold goatherd returned to the dungeon to report her findings. However, she wasn’t the first to return. Around the time that she first reached where the location used to be, another kobold had already returned.

Doyle was actually a bit distracted as while this would be the first to return, two of the goatherds had actually died. Though it was impossible to miss when the kobold’s pursuer entered the dungeon.

A loud roar announced the bear’s presence. It had been barely a few strides behind the fleeing kobold, but now it found itself alone. The kobold was lucky that it could skip right to the fifth floor or else it was dead for sure.

However, unlike the squirrel, the bear did not turn around and leave. It could smell the goats! So, the bear trundled further into the dungeon.

In the second room, the four goats all attacked the bear. This did basically nothing. A few meaty slaps from the bear’s paw cleared the room and the bear settled in to feast.

Except this was a dungeon and those weren’t natural beasts. As the bear tried to tear into the goat bodies, they faded away, leaving barely a bite of meat. Frustrated, the bear heads deeper into the floor, hunting for more to eat.

Suffice it to say, groups of five and six monsters weren’t enough to stop the beast. Though each fight infuriated the bear even more. Not only did the goats not provide much meat, but the two kobolds in the vine room provided nothing the bear wanted at all.

Then was the large goat room where nine monsters waited. Except no matter how many monsters there were , they were all still quite low-level. Though the goat in charge of the room did manage to land a decent blow and drew first blood.

In a twist, the next room was actually the one that delayed the bear the most. Not because of monsters or danger. Rather, this was the room with berries and a beehive. The bear still wasn’t too happy about some of the honey and berries vanishing as it tried to eat them.

That finished, the bear rumbled into the last couple rooms. It set off the kobold trap at the door, but the falling rock deflected off its hide, leaving barely a bruise. At which point, two spells slammed into it.

This scorched a little of the bear’s fur and splashed its face with water.

Back in the core room, Doyle turns to Ally, ‘So uh, what’s up with that?’

Ally shrugs, ‘The bear is packed with Qi and those spells are weak. We won’t know the bear’s level or anything, but I’d say the difference between it and the kobold mages is around 15ish? Not so much that they can’t hurt the bear, but each spell has only a small chance to do all that much to them.’

Doyle, ‘Oh, but is 15 levels enough to cause such a drastic reduction in damage?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘You are forgetting how much damage their spells actually do on the first floor. Combined with how many points the bear likely has in body stats? That singed fur is about the most you’ll get.

‘I guess I can’t blame you for not having a good feeling for it. You mostly only watched the inner circle challenge the first floor. Though even the regular delvers tend to be able to avoid the spells.

‘That burst of fire that singed the bear’s fur? Maybe second-degree burns. Of course, still deadly if over a large enough area or stacked. Oh, and also deadly if you hit the right place. Still, not an instant-kill spell. Now let’s focus on the bear. I’m uncertain if it will turn around or go through the exit portal and try the next floor.’

Up on the first floor, the bear is finishing the fully armored kobold leader at the end of the floor. Their armor meant she only lasted a couple of direct attacks instead of one.

Which caused Doyle to turn away and ask, ‘What about armor? I would expect actual metal to hold up a bit better.’

Ally, ‘Armor won’t stop a neck from breaking unless the armor immobilizes the head as a whole. Though the kobold might have simply suffered organ failure because of being knocked around. If you had paid attention, you would have seen that the armor didn’t actually get too bent out of shape.

‘Oh, and it looks like the bear ended up going to the second floor.’

Doyle glanced to the side, ‘Oh yeah, though that brings up another question. Are regular beasts different from monsters when it comes to being attracted to the dungeon?’

Ally, ‘Regular beasts will wander in? Fresh world energy is tempting for them. Magical beasts, Qi beasts, and any other name they come up with for the normal animals that build up one power or another as well as monsters will really want to come in. Honestly, the biggest difference is how much they will be pulled to go deeper.

‘You missed it, but the bear snuffled around a bit before deciding to go through. I bet it senses power through scent. The awakened races, barring a few special cases, tend to see stuff like Mana, if they can at all. Beasts, on the other hand will generally gain the ability to sense it through whatever sense is most effective for them. Apparently, bats that gain a soul have amazing insights into magic because they can hear Mana.’

Doyle, ‘So being able to sense power is one big mess of synesthesia?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Well, there are beings who have or develop the ability to directly sense power. Though that tends to be limited to things like a fire elemental sensing fire-aligned powers directly instead of through sight. Directly sensing Mana or the like tends not to be the healthiest thing for three-dimensional life.’

It Works, Technically - Chapter 469

Overestimated - Chapter 471