That Red Scaled Bastard

(Switched to First Person)

Toro, The wandering boss of the primeval valley, stalks through the brush, unaware of us two as he yawns, seemingly lazing after murdering some hapless creature. I could smell the blood on the air and once again get a entirely too close to comfort to the mini boss

Now Toro was a large individual, thirty feet long from snout to tail. He stood eighteen feet tall at the shoulder. He has 3 tons of carnotaurus muscle. His color was fairly vibrant as well, his orange scales contrasting with bright blue highlights along his spine and sides. His muzzle was filled with nasty, sharp teeth you were all too familiar with, all of them covered in blood from his latest kill. Speaking of his head, he did not have horns like a normal carnotaur, he had two foot long bull horns that could pierce through a triceratops hide like my talons through soft sand.

He Surveyed the clearing, before his eyes landed on the tree branch we were on.

“ So you decided to enter my territory again, gnat’” He rumbled, in that deep, scratchy voice of his.

I glanced at Nych, silently urging her to stay in the leaves. Tentatively crawling out of the brush I stare down at him.

“I am not of your kind now am I, the territory laws of your kind do not apply to me” I try to say smoothly, hoping to the gods my charisma can get through this brutes thick skull.

“ The difference is Whelp, i don't like you,” He growled, then the toothy grin split across his face. “ You are also delicious. Remember when I bit off your tail? I do, your arcana was delectable. ”

“ I, quite unfortunately, do remember. I don't care to repeat it.” I shrug, or at least the saurian equivalent of a shrug. Inside I was panicking, desperately trying to figure out an escape route.

He Moved directly under the tree, and I could now see his Title.

__

Toro, The Terror of the Southern Forest
Dinosaur, Theropod, Explicit
Level 30

“Unfortunately,” I continue, “Despite your numerous other abilities, climbing, jumping, and flight, are not among them. So you will have to go tonight without another taste of myself.”

He slammed into the tree.

The tree jolted and creaked as 3 tons slammed into its base. I pissed him off, fucking fantastic. He reared back and hit again. Time to go now. I scrambled back, claws gripping the tree branch in a **** attempt to grasp something solid.

The nych squawked as she nimbly jumped along the shaking branch, and she jumped on my back. I gave a startled oof, but my panic made me really not give a shit at the sudden weight. I desperately took off, struggling to get a good takeoff from the skating base.

I flew away from the canyon walls, desperately trying not to lead Toro to my cave. I needed to get above the canopy, but struggled to leave , the thick needles and leaves blocking me and my passenger from leaving. I desperately grab the branches, using legs, wings, tail and even teeth in a **** attempt to flee from the horned fiend. I break the canopy and jump, beginning to glide as I frantically head northwest. Even in my panicked state the primal hindbrain is desperately trying to prevent Toro from finding my territory.

—

I touched down in front of my cave. Touchdown may be generous, I crash chest first, and skid on the ledge. The nych jumping off my back. I huff and puff, but I glance toward the nych.

“ Get in the ‘huff’ cave. The cliff ‘huff’ jumpers will be out now” I gasp. She chirps and flees into the cave. Everyone of the medium size and lowers knows to avoid the quetzalcoatlus and pteranodons of the cliff walls. Nevermind the feathered serpents and the facking cliff jumprers.

I shakily get up, and drag myself into the cave. I was excited, I had a chance to really have the territory as mine. Mine, such a nice word. It speaks to me on a fundamental level. The same instinct that causes me to hoard my treasures makes me feel quite pleased.

Claimant Crystal Used
Primeval_Valley_Cave_13.9Location`12
Claim land?

Did the system even have to ask? I excitedly say ”yes!” in my mind and out loud, prompting the Juvenile Nych to cock her head at me.

Land Claimed By
Error: Unnamed_Creature
Process Paused

Wait what?

Please Name Character

A name? I know what names are. Adventures had them. A name, who you are, not what you are. If I were to be named, it needed to be something great, something powerful, something worthy of the true dragons. I ponder, and then it hits me. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind, a word appears, Etheal, that is a name to remember.

“Etheal,” I squeaked, yes squeaked. I was three feet tall and in a mood. The nych was backing away slightly, regretting some decision that led here to this point.

—
Land Claimed by Etheal
Claim type:
Monster Lair
Resources detected:
20x rough stone
14x wood
x13 Cooper
x5 Silver
x2 Gold
X7 Nych Feathers
Natural Features Detected:
Water Spring
Add resources to stockpile?

—

I cock my head at the text only I can see, but hesitantly say yes. The nych mutters “ New packmate nuts,” Probably in a low enough tone that most species couldn't hear, let alone her own. I am brought back to reality though as my cave upheaved, and my ears popped as the floor rapidly shot up through my cave, erasing everything, and then some leaving me with a now blank gray lair.

The nych scratched her neck. “ You did that?’

I muteley nodded
“ Looks…grey? She looked antsy.

“ I think we’re supposed to figure out what to build in it?” I mutter back hesitantly

She nodded, “ Would like to have nice cave back, had water, last pack had to go to river.”

“I’m so sorry,” I pat her tentatively on the back. The river was a **** trap on the best of days, with the Sarcos, Deinos, and Kapros. The boar gators had a nasty habit of using momentum to slam and hold you. I had luckily never had a **** via their jaws.

I began to parse through My status, seeing if there was any way to build my cave back.

Etheal, Level 5 Primeval Wyvern Juvenile
Monster, Microboss, Wyvern, Explicit Experience to level up – 400 Attributes Strength 23 Dexterity 17 Endurance 15 Charisma 22 Manipulation 22 Appearance 32 Perception 32 Intelligence 29 +0 Wits 24 Skills Brawling 30 Athleticism 15 Presence 25 Lore 30 Occult 25 Stealth 5 Dodge 15 Crafting (Stoneworking) 5
Feats
Invite – You can invite other creatures to take up residence in your lair as mooks. Doing so successfully grants you experience, and you will gain a small amount of all the experience your mooks gain. Having sleeping quarters, food and water already available will increase your chances of a successful invite.
Micro-Boss – When you are defeated in battle, lose accumulated progress to your next level rather than all gained experience. Spend Fame on unique bonuses to your lair, your mooks and yourself.
Elemental( Fire, Poison, Electricity, Water, Sand) Breath –
Monstrous Appearance –
Natural Weapons –
Wings –
Wisdom of the Ages –

—
I feel like My brain just fucking exploded. I flopped, sitting on the floor of your now bare lair, before a chirp and a clawed hand pats my back.
“It says I can invite someone to join me, since we’re packmates, would you care to join,” I offer, in my own opinion, rather suavely.
The nych flickered her eyes around, “ We get water source back.” That seemed to be the deal breaker here.
"We’ll get the spring back," I nodded. "We just need to figure out how all this works."
She nods, and a small notification appears in my field of vision.
—
Juvenile Deinonychus would like to join your dungeon.
Accept Y/N? Decline Y/N?
I immediately clicked Accept Y/N, and the color exploded across my vision as the entirety of the stat spread of my new minion
Y/N (Choose Name?)
Level 4 Deinonychus Juvenile
Dinosaur , Raptor, Explicit
Experience to level up – 500
Attributes
Strength 15 Dexterity 27 Endurance 20
Charisma 13 Manipulation 12 Appearance 32
Perception 40 Intelligence 29 +0 Wits 25
Skills
Brawling 20
Athleticism 20
Presence 25
Lore 15
Occult 0
Stealth 25
Dodge 20
Feats
Raptors Dodge- When Athleticism is above 10 and Endurance Less than half used Raptors Dodge can be used. Upon using this ability the creature can jump as far back as five feet away from a target.

Natural Camouflage- When on [ forest, jungle] treat your stealth as times two for the duration within each area.

Now that was interesting, a name, we could name our minions. Swiping away the notification, I glance at her.

“ Did you have a name, with your old pack?” I ask hesitantly.

“ Was hatchling, small one, thief,” She chirped.

Now that would not do, a member of my pack needed a prestigious name. A name to strike fear into the hearts of adventurers. A hatchling wouldn't make barbarians soil their armor would it.

“ I'm trying to name you, ideas would be much appreciated,” I grumble.

“Marsh." She looks at me with wide eyes.

I couldn't tell if she's actually being serious or is joking, but I enter the name anyway and another prompt comes up.

Waiting for Y/N to accept the name. . .

Accepted! Marsh is your first minion. Two Minion slots remain till the next dungeon expansion.

A new tab appeared on my character sheet, and I tentatively opened it. It listed fame, a currency of sorts that just had two very large lines of text on it. It seemed to be a way to actively change you, or add new things to you, if the aforementioned text lines were anything to gauge.
—
Evolve Form: 500 Fame, must be level 10 at least
Draconic Liegelord 0/10 (Racial ability): 10 Fame
—
Now both sounded very interesting, but at my current amount I could only have one. I tentatively opened my list to see how much fame you had, and the list began to actively update before my eyes.
Fame: 7
Recent activity:
Defeated a hero + 3 (Expand)
You defeated a level 3 hero! + 3
You didn't have a name! - 1
You didn't have a lair! - 1
You Collaborated with another Monster! + 2
The monster was not your minion-1
—
Fame: 34
Recent activity:
A Quest has been issued! + 7 (Expanded)
First Quest Bonus! + 4
Quest Accepted! + 1 ( 5 – 4 (Hunting Quest)
You gained a lair + 10
You claimed a territory- (Automatic Quest- Defend your Lands has been accepted)
You gained a minion + 5
—
That was decidedly not good, people were actively hunting me and now my new minion. I needed to get more minions, stat, and Draconic Liege Lord was right up that alley. I selected it.
Draconic Liege Lord 1/10 (Racial Ability): 20 Fame
Your innate majesty has started to sway the local monster population to your banner. Each day, there is a small chance that local creatures will spontaneously convert to your side and ask to join you. You may also receive gifts from monsters seeking to stave off your wrath or gain your favor.
—
I began to go further into the fame menu, It was ten fame to select a type of cave, and a vast majority were grayed out, with four prompts sticking out of the sea of gray.
Cave entrances- Three automatic slots available.
Main Entrance (Choose name)
Entrance 1 (Choose name)
Entrance 2 (Choose name)
Names chosen for entrances only are revealed to you and your minions. Names can only be changed twice.
Each Entrance can be given a theme- Main entrance theme is automatically set to Natural Cliff- adds a +20 dungeon stealth which is automatically selected due to lack of materials.
Available Themes (One free choice)
Natural Cliff: + 20 dungeon stealth. No materials needed.
The area surrounding your cave hides the entrance and makes it hard to detect. You and your minions are not affected.
Sandstone Cave: Adds Filtered Water Requires 30x Sandstone Rocks 1 Desert Creature Mana Stone or minion.
Water within caves can be dangerous- filtration systems are necessary to have drinking water without negative effects.
Mossy Cave: Adds +10 Comfort Requires 30x Moss Pads (Obtainable by Herbalist class) 1 Jungle or Forest Mana stone or a minion.
Comfort has many uses within a cave. Comfort can urge both enemies and minions to relax, causing +10 minion morale and -10 enemy perception.
Having a Saurian Minion has unlocked a new theme! Each minion has a small chance to unlock a certain Dungeon trait.
Primeval Forest- Adds lush greenery to the caves entrance -50 Dungeon stealth Requires 1 Saurian Minion
The Primeval forest theme is a high risk high reward theme. Such low stealth draws creatures to your dungeon allowing more XP and loot to come to your feet… Only if you can kill it that is.
Fuck Players. I Was losing my comfort cave to a class feature that humanoids had and I wasn't going to ask one of the tribes to help. Goblins would probably eat it and the kobolds are stingy little shits. Lizardfolk would eat me, and i didnt know if the hill giants that dwelled on the opposite side of the wall would even have specialized classes.
Wait a minute, this was a free pick. Sandstone would be great for the filtration, but the padding. Sleeping in a bunch of sticks isn't appealing anymore, but the nych, Marsh wanted water. I had died by poisoning before, it wasn't exactly a pleasant sensation, but adventurers were hunting me, and I wanted more stealth. But more adventures could mean more shinies! My head is spinning so much i wanted to bash it against the wall to make it stop
It all eventually turned back to Marsh. She joined me with a deal, and I wasn't an ass, you wanted to honor that deal.
I reluctantly bid goodbye to your free options, and opened the build menu.
—.
Building location detected. Primeval_Valley_Cave_13.9Location`12
Available resources:
20x rough stone
14x wood
x13 Cooper
x5 Silver
x2 Gold
X7 Nych Feathers

Remodel into Lair Entrance Way for 10 Stone, 2 ore(any type) 10 fame
Warning! This is the required first step to unlock many of the features of the Keeps and Settlements 1.0.0.0.0.2 update!
—
I select yes and wait for the earth to quake and my ears to pop and all that rot. It doesn't happen, but I do get a notification.
NOTIFICATION!
You completed the Hidden Quest- Trust.
Selecting The Sandstone Cave and unlocking Filtered Water caused you to complete this hidden quest! This quest was given to you by your now minion, Marsh.
Once the build is completed you shall gain-
Rewards for completing:
+20 Trust with Marsh
+20 Minion Morale
+20 Fame
KNOW THIS!
Each Minion has a quest for various things- completing quests can have various rewards and benefits. Failing quests given directly can have negative effects- failing hidden quests gives and takes nothing.
—
That was nice, I feel really warm and fuzzy right now. I am not totally internally sobbing at the loss of a comfortable cave with no work. But the quest thing is interesting.
Then the only thing that appears is a progress bar by the entrance. I could feel my eyes twitch as memories flash in my mind. The tedious whacking of trees with no tools for subpar amounts of wood. I had a hammer once, but it was blown up with that bitch of a bard with that fireball spell two updates ago.
—
Skill level, -45%. No Tools, -50%. Dexterity Penalty, -20%. Total build speed: 29%
—
I slam my head into a wall.