Shadowcroft's Academy for Dungeons Chapter 13

Hey everyone! Sorry for the pause in chapters and content. This last couple of weeks have been tough. My wife had to fly back to Colorado to help take care of her mom after an ankle replacement surgery.  My mother-in-law is doing great, but that did leave me with the kiddos (six and four) for two weeks. Trying to balance being the only parent around while also cramming work in where and when I could. But Jeanette is back tomorrow (Sunday!), which is awesome news since both the kids and I have missed her something fierce. That also means I should be back to a somewhat typical posting schedule! 

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After trekking through what felt like half of Shadowcroft Castle, they finally returned to the Azure Dragon wing of the keep. Each clan had its own residential area for the students, complete with common room, training hall, and dormitory—though the dormitory was further divided by year. The common room itself was a plush, welcoming space with gray stone floors, covered by plush rugs edged in blues and golds. The Clan colors. An ornate marble fireplace large enough to fit a horse, occupied the far side of the wall, burning with an otherworldly blue light. 

Leather chairs and oversized sofas, large enough for the Clan’s monstrous residents, littered the room, interspaced with sleek coffee tables. Intricately woven tapestries covered the stone walls, displaying magnificent battles scenes that could’ve been ripped straight from the pages of a fantasy novel. Some dark-elf warrior, wreathed in glowing shadows, mounted atop a six-eyed shadow dragon. A ferocious dungeon troll with a meat tenderizer fighting besides a tortoise-shelled lizard. A shapeshifting golem with mace-hands, waylaying a small army of dungeoneers. And, mounted prominently above the fireplace, was a golden tree, entwined by a curling Azure Dragon. 

The Tree of Souls.

The common room was genuinely warm and welcoming—or, at least, it would’ve been if the Terrible Twelfth weren’t at the very bottom of the proverbial pecking order. Shadowcroft Academy was an institution that valued strength, and the Azure Dragon Clan emulated that ethos to their core. The couches and chairs were already occupied by the strongest teams, while the private alcoves, fitted with bookshelves and oversized desks, were all currently occupied by the upper classmen, who pretty much got first dibs at everything. Despite that, some part of Logan wanted to stay and socialize, but then he spotted Chadrigoth and his Undead girlfriend hamming it up with some of the Senior Dungeon Cores. 

Logan wasn’t one to be pushed around or bullied, no matter how small he was, but he just didn’t have the mental energy to deal with that guy tonight. Especially not since he had more important matters to occupy his time. So, after a quick round of goodbyes and good nights to his team, Logan beelined for the curling staircase that lead to the first-year dorm rooms. Since he was the weakest core, he also got the worst accommodations. All the way at the very top of the tower, in the attic, which meant trudging up ten flights of stairs. His narrow room was nothing to write home about—not that he could write home—but it included a small cot, a water closet, and a little woodburning stove.

The room was small, but Logan thought of it as cozy. Besides, he was small, he reminded himself, so it wasn’t like he needed a giant room. Plus, the attic came with a fantastic view of Loch Endless. He had to climb a ladder up from Marko’s room, which was pretty spartan at the moment, though the Satyr had big plans. According to him and Inga, crafting items was part of the dungeon core gig. And so, the more they leveled, the more they could furnish their rooms.

For the time being, Logan liked his little space. He’d pulled the bed over next to the window, the wooden legs scraping against the stone. He wanted to fall asleep watching the moonlight on the lake and wake up to the sunrise. He couldn’t be sure if it was a sun, but it played the part well enough.

He had a wardrobe, mostly empty, a chest of drawers, and a little table. A little fire burned in the stove. As a mushroom, he didn’t much like fire, but he did find the warm flames fun. It would go out in the middle of the night, and he’d enjoy the damp darkness under the sloping ceilings of his attic home.

That night, Logan couldn’t sleep. He knew he needed to, and he should capitalize on the fact that Marko wasn’t home and snoring. With his horns, the satyr couldn’t sleep on his side, so he slept flat on his back which made the snoring worse. The guy sounded like a foghorn alerting incoming ships.

Marko, against all reason, had gone out with his friends to the nearby town of Vralkag, the only non-academy settlement on Arborea. That Gelatinous Knight was not being a good influence on the satyr.

Marko’s question came back to Logan… one of the serious ones. What was Fungal Vision? Also, Logan had to figure out which fungus he could start growing.

Since he couldn’t sleep anyway, Logan closed his eyes, accessed his core, and focused on the menu options. He found a description of Fungal Vision as well as his other passive skills.

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Passive Fungal Form Abilities: 

· Fungaloids have a wide variety of passive abilities, which never need to be activated to be in effect. Because of their unique anatomy, evolved fungaloids cannot be blinded, deafened, or poisoned and, because they don’t have a single source “brain” they are additionally immune to mental spells and psionic attacks such as charm, frighten, or calm. 

· At E Class, Ranks 10 – 6 Fungal Vision, Current Status: Unlocked

· At E-Class, Ranks 5 – 1 Disease Immunity, Current Status: Locked

· At C-Class, Ranks 10 – 6 Poison Immunity, Current Status: Locked

· At C-Class, Ranks 5 – 1 Ability: Replicate, Current Status: Locked

· At B-Class, Ranks 10 – 6 Blindness Immunity, Current Status: Locked

· At B-Class Ranks 5 – 1 Deafness Immunity, Current Status: Locked

· At A-Class, Ranks 10 – 6 Mental Immunity, Current Status: Locked 

· At A-Class, Ranks 5 – 1 Psionic Immunity, Current Status: Locked

Fungal Vision: Fungaloids are creatures made from a collection of spores, and they can use those spores to see in a variety of ways. Fungal Vision allows the fungaloid to see in the dark and to additionally detect invisible entities. With practice, the Fungaloid cannot be surprised since their sight encompasses their spore field.

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It was a little nerve-wracking to think Logan was constantly leaking spores, but he decided to give this new ability a whirl. He exhaled and felt the spores leave his gills, just like when he was using his pollen ability. This time, though, he concentrated on his core. He still had Apothos, but more than that, it opened him up to the knowledge that he wasn’t his body, not really, but the gemstone in his belly.

Abruptly, he was seeing himself, lying on his bed, with his tiny fire flickering in the stove across from the foot of his bed. His clothes were hung up, and he was comfortable on his mattress, under the scratchy sheets and comfy blankets. The darkness didn’t matter. He had his Fungal Vision working!

What else could he do? His character sheet said that one of his racial abilities was fungi domestication—he’d read about that while he’d been in the Threshing dungeon, but hadn’t had the opportunity to go through the options available to him. Now, though, he had all the time he needed to delve into the information. It was time to get elbow-deep in all the nitty-gritty details that his new Guardian Form had to offer. Everyone seemed to think the fungaloid was rather worthless, but Logan knew he just needed to find the right loophole. 

The right build.

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Domestic Fungi: There are thousands of types of mundane and magical mushrooms that grow throughout the realms connected to Ashvattha. But the fungaloid can spawn many of the rarest, deadliest, and most valuable mushrooms around. These fungi can be quite useful to dungeoneers and attract those looking for rare alchemic ingredients. More advanced types of fungi can have additional abilities or even be mobile and aggressive. Proto-Spores Cultures live inside of the host fungaloid and can be spawned even if mature specimens are lost, destroyed, or harvested. Mature mushrooms can take days or even weeks to grow, though it is possible to drastically increase maturity with the Rapid Growth Spore Ability. 

As an E-Class, Rank 8 Cultivator, you can select two Level-One Proto-Spore Cultures and one Level-Two Proto-Spore Culture. Would you like to view a list of available Proto-Spore Cultures? Yes/No?

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Logan read over the text once more, though this time at a far more leisurely pace than when he’d been dangling above a wild, monster hog looked to gore him to death. After rereading the description, he mentally selected yes, pulling a brief overview of the E Class system:

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At E Class:

· Ranks 10 – 6: Unlock (2) Level-One Proto-Spore Cultures; Unlock (1) Level-Two Proto-Spore Culture.

§ Running Total: (2) Level-One; (1) Level-Two

· Ranks 5 – 1: Unlock (1) additional Level-One Proto-Spore Culture.

§ Running Total: (3) Level-One; (1) Level-Two

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So, even new and weak, he could unlock two level-one spore cultures and one level-two culture. Feeling excited at the possibilities, he immediately dove into the various mushroom types. Suddenly, his situation seemed better, and maybe next time, he could find a way to avoid becoming a chew toy for one of Rockheart’s doomhound.

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Proto-Spore Cultures by Level

Level One: 

· Opal Truffle (Type, Ingredient): Growing in mossy and damp areas, the opal truffle is a prized cooking ingredient coveted by gourmands everywhere. They cannot be farmed by humans or other sentient races, so finding a cache in the wild is worth its weight in gold—literally! Rarity: C-Class; Elemental Affinity: Terra, Morta

· Silver Beard (Type, Ingredient): This is a wispy silver fungus that hangs from trees and other bushes. A good coagulant often sought by healers and clerics, ground Silver Beard can halt bleeding in its tracks! Rarity: C-Class; Elemental Affinity: Vita, Fulgur 

· God’s Eye Caps (Type, Ingredient): This fungus glows with a pale blue bioluminescent light. It has a bitter and pungent taste, but it is a key, though common, ingredient in many core purifying elixirs. It is highly valued and sought after by Alchemists and Luminosus cultivators, since it is one of the few natural resources with Luminal Affinity. Rarity: B-Class; Elemental Affinity: Pure, Luminosus

· Blister Wart (Type, Ingredient/Trap): If this fungus is stepped on or touched, it creates a painful skin rash, which includes raised blisters filled with watery pus. No one wants to touch Blister Wart, but it can be harvested and processed to produce an antibacterial salve that drastically speeds wound recovery when applied directly to an open wound. Rarity: E-Class; Elemental Affinity: Corrosivus, Toxicus

· Eyelash Stinkhorn (Type, Trap): This is a type of ghostly green mushroom often grows on the sides of rocks and trees. They look like oversized eyelashes but are capable of emitting a horrendous smell that can deter even the most stalwart dungeoneers. Rarity: C-Class; Elemental Affinity: Toxicus, Aer 

· Ghoul’s Snare (Type, Trap): This is a type of curling purple black fungus that grows on the ground. When touched, it activates, curling around feet and entangling enemies while dealing acid damage over time. Rarity: C-Class; Elemental Affinity: Corrosivus, Umbra

· Mucal Film (Type, Ingredient/Trap): This is a thin slim-like fungus that can be stretched taught over open pits. Although it is often used to conceal deadly traps, it can be harvested and used as antibiotic wrappings for injuries. Rarity: E-Class; Elemental Affinity: Vita, Aer

Level Two: 

· Owleye Berries (Type, Ingredient): Not a true berry at all, these fungi look like large owl eyes perched on top of spindly white stalks. These can be eaten directly and are often quite sweet—part of the reason for the name—and help cure many types of poison! Rarity: C-Class; Elemental Affinity: Ignis, Toxicus 

· Ashvein (Type, Narcotic): This type of fungus has narcotic properties, often used as a mild anesthesia in small doses. Because of its chemical properties it is sought by both healers and rogues in equal measure. Warning: High doses cause nausea, vomiting, and possibly strokes. Rarity: E-Class; Elemental Affinity: Toxicus, Glacies

· Bird Bill Bulbs (Type, Ingredient) – This fungus looks like yellow bird bills that grow up from the spoil. Though they are highly toxic, they are very valuable. If strained properly, it can be turned into a tincture that rapidly speeds along the elemental affinity purifying process. This fungi are highly prized by Alchemists, who use them in a variety of specialized potions. Rarity: B-Class; Elemental Affinity: Pure, Vita

· Gem-Studded Puffballs (Type, Trap): These are among the most beautiful mushrooms that grow anywhere. Roughly the size of a skull, these bulb-shaped mushrooms are amethyst in color and studded with brilliant multicolored spikes that look like gemstones. They are very enticing, but anyone who gets too close will suffer, since they explode, hurling their sharpened projectiles in every direction. The fine fragments of crystalline glass can cut through skin, blind the unwary, and cause extreme respiratory problems! Rarity: C-Class; Elemental Affinity: Glacies, Aer, Mallus 

· Skullcap Waddlers (Type, Sentient/Minion): These are the first sentient, mobile mushrooms fungaloids have access to. At only three-feet tall, these stubby, mushroom-shaped creatures move around on thick arms and short legs. They aren’t quick, but they do follow orders well and can wield primitive weapons. They are most effective in packs where they can overwhelm their enemies. Beware the Waddlers! Rarity: C-Class; Elemental Affinity: Vita, Mallus 

· Braincap (Type, Parasite): This is a parasitic growth that pairs with the Symbiosis Spore ability; Braincaps can be planted on a willing host, allowing its fungaloid master to control the host or boost its abilities. When implanted, a Braincap mushroom offers its host a wide array of positive abilities: Fungal Replication, Poison Immunity, and more!

Level Three: Fungi Locked

Level Four: Fungi Locked

Level Five: Fungi Locked

Level Six: Fungi Locked

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Reading over the various fungi he could grow, Logan saw a definite silver lining. Although he still didn’t perfectly understand cultivation or the elemental affinity types, it was obvious even to him that some of these mushrooms would be incredibly valuable to certain people. If he choose wisely, he could entice the right type of dungeoneers while actively warding off those with less desirable—and more dangerous—affinities.

Logan carefully considered his options. For the time-being, he didn’t necessarily need to choose any of the fungi, but he was sorely tempted to do so. Going through the level-one fungi, he couldn’t help but imagine the potential uses for the combat-oriented mushrooms like Ghoul’s Snare and Mucal Film. With a few nasty surprises like that, he might have a fighting chance—but all of the Ingredient Type mushrooms couldn’t be dismissed outright. No, if Ghoul’s Snare was the stick, then strands like Opal Truffle and Silver Beard were the carrot.

Going through the level-two spores, Logan definitely liked the idea of having minions, the Skullcap Waddlers. Yet Braincap seemed especially powerful… particularly if he could team up with another dungeon.

What had Shadowcroft said? No dungeon cores would want to combine their powers with him.

He returned to what had drawn him to the fungaloid dungeon core in the first place: Symbiosis. With those spores, he could co-host dungeons with another core.

Well, he had three friends now. Would one of them wan to team up?

He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t know how to ask. So, for now, he’d bide his time. He didn’t think his life was in danger at the moment—no need to jump in without knowing a little more first. Still, he didn’t want to wait too long. After all, he also hadn’t thought a video game console would come alive to eat him, so it was possible his life was always in danger. 

He fell asleep wondering about the Winnowing, knowing that unicorns and rainbows probably wouldn’t be involved. 

 Keep Reading Here: Chapter Fourteen