The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (bill gates books to read TXT) 📕

these bags were destroyed by other means – physical or magical damage, for example – only if Dungeon Force were applied to it.

As a result, Dungeon Cores usually just absorbed such bottomless bags if they were left behind, which was a rarity unless there was a full-group wipe of Raiders and no one was there to retrieve their gear before they left.  In fact, most Raiders who delved typically didn’t leave their dead behind to be absorbed by the dungeon, unless they were forced to flee for their lives.

Could the gear be saved and given out as rewards, then?  Well – theoretically – yes, the items could be left in a pile that Raiders could pick up and acquire that way.  They couldn’t be assigned as a “Reward” when a creature was killed or stashed in a treasure chest, however; if they weren’t part of the Reward Tiers, then there wasn’t much a Core could do with them otherwise.  Hoarding them inside of a room was also not that great of an idea, especially not in a Core Room, as had been demonstrated by the unfortunate demise of Darlene – one of Tacca’s first Cores to whom she had bonded.

But these Raiders were quite different. Not their bodies, necessarily, which Tacca took the slightest pleasure in absorbing to get rid of them; no, their gear was what was quite different.  For one, it was thoroughly enchanted and mostly intact (nearly destroyed swords notwithstanding), which was a rarity – and therefore probably highly identifiable for anyone who came across it.  This meant that she wouldn’t put it out for rewards to be picked up, not that she would with such valuable gear – it would set a precedent of her dungeon having extremely expensive gear, and could lead to angry Raiders in the future who didn’t find any of it later on.

Secondly, Tacca’s unique situation meant that she had the ability to actually make use of the armor and remaining weapons.  No other dungeon – that she knew of – had access to creatures in the form of Humans, Elves, and Gnomes.

I think I see what you’re getting at, Shale.  Very clever; I knew I kept you around for a reason.

Her teasing tone made him blush a little and look away from her Core.  “Yes, well, it just makes the most sense not to waste what practically wandered into your dungeon.”

Over the next day, as more groups of Raiders delved through her dungeon without any problems – with constant surveillance by both Tacca and Shale – she finally rearmed all of the current traps in her Core Room.  She then spent some time and DF to create some of her “unique” creatures down below, as well as slightly reducing the count of her creatures up above, in order to free up some of her Control Limit.  By mid-afternoon of the next day, she had 2 Human Fighters, 1 Elven Caster, 1 Elven Healer, and a Gnome Scout; in addition, she also spent extra DF to equip them all with every Ability they had access to for their Variants.  When they were all complete, she unsealed the tunnel where the Raiders had been slain and instructed her creatures to exchange their current Ragged and Basic armor and clothing for the enchanted sets left behind when she absorbed their bodies.

Thankfully, it worked; she was momentarily concerned that they wouldn’t be able to wield such powerful tools because they weren’t created by her, but she needn’t have worried so much.  The Caster and the Healer picked up the intricately carved staff and mundane-looking steel mace left behind; the Healer’s weapon was the only object with minimal enchantments on it, which Tacca determined to be durability bonuses.  The gorgeous bow that the Scout had been using was a little large for the Gnome, but it could still be used well enough – especially with the Accuracy enchantments on the weapon.

The swords were pretty much trash by that point, after having broken in half and being banged up quite a bit.  Instead of trying to salvage them, since she had no way to fix them back to the way they were before, Tacca just absorbed them and brought up her Reward Tiers to see what else she could arm them with.  During her last increase in her Core Improvement Level, she had spent some Points to unlock Tier 2; she hadn’t needed to access it quite yet, since those Rewards would generally be too much for a dungeon of her difficulty.

Reward Tier 2

Reward

Cost

Gold Coin

500 DF

Refined Iron Dagger

40 DF

Refined Iron Shortsword

40 DF

Refined Iron Mace

40 DF

Refined Iron Axe

40 DF

Crafted Pine Bow

40 DF

Sturdy Maple Staff

40 DF

Iron-banded Oak Shield

30 DF

Again, nothing there that she would want to include in her current dungeon, but she could make use of the Refined Iron Shortsword available to her.  Anything better than that would have to wait until another dying Raider dropped something usable, or until Reward Tier 4 was unlocked.  Tier 2 gave an upgrade to weapons and the ability to produce Gold Coins; Tier 3 had upgrades to armor, and they went back and forth with each Tier from then on.  Other rewards were added as well, including gemstones of different kinds, as well as enchanting scrolls of different rarities, potions, and other specialized Rewards dependent on dungeon composition.

Therefore, Tacca created and armed her Fighters with Refined Iron Shortswords; it wasn’t much of an upgrade, and they paled in comparison to what the Raiders had used and destroyed in their efforts to escape, but they were better than nothing.  She also added an Iron-banded Oak Shield to their off-hands, to utilize the Shield Slam Abilities that they possessed – since protecting themselves wasn’t really a priority with the quality of gear they were wearing.

Once they were all equipped and as