King of the Mountain

Chapter 45: My New Lairs

My original plan has worked out perfectly. Although there were some weird twists and turns to get here. I let everyone know that I would be more of a figurehead from now on. After some protests and myself pointing out how everything worked just fine when I disappeared without warning for a month the arrangements were made. I have designated Randolph as my heir until the prince/princess positions are filled. Once they have been filled if the kingdom needs a new ruler the council will select by secret ballot the new ruler from the 4 great princes/princesses. In the event of a tie Randolph will cast the deciding vote. Now that the line of succession has been established I can finally create my own lair away from the daily grind.

Originally I planned to just create a complex somewhere in my kingdom among the Appalachian Mountains, but I realized that I do not have to limit myself. I have access to the entire world and resources and I can establish a claim anywhere. My idea is not to kick someone out of their home but rather build lairs in remote, extremely hard to get to areas around the world. I can be contacted no matter where I am with communication crystals (except in certain dungeons as I recently found out) and I am only a single teleport away.

My new plan is to establish 5 different lairs. One main one for myself, and one for each of my dragons. There will be enough room in each of them for all of us, but I will be able to have them around the world which will make exploring different areas for dungeons, resources, and treasure easier. The general areas I thought my dragons and I could explore for new homes would be the Andes mountains for my air dragon Elvira. An island for Azure my water dragon. A volcano or other hot area for Bruce my fire dragon. Esmerelda my earth dragon would be in a jungle setting somewhere. For myself I am having a hard time deciding between island fortress (I always dreamed of having one) or relocating to the continent of Antarctica. That sounds a little extreme, but I realize with magic now everywhere there are probably going to be several ice monsters and ice themed dungeons in Antarctica that I would have exclusive access to for at least several years until other people’s levels and resistances get higher. I definitely would not have to worry about random guests or anyone else wandering by. You know what I think I talked myself into it. I will relocate to Antarctica.

I will need to do some research in the libraries that have been recovered to figure out exactly where my new lair and my dragons new lairs will be. However, the overall plan is now in place. Over the next week I transition myself out of large responsibilities. I want to start with only one check in a month and hopefully in the future get it down to only one or two check ins per year. I can always visit more often if needed and personal visits to family and such I do not count as working. After extensive research over this week I have decided that I will make Elvira’s Lair near either Cotopaxi (the world’s highest volcano) or Machu Picchu.

The first choice is to have environments that everyone might enjoy, and the second is because for some reason I just get the feeling that a ruin of a former glorious civilization is going to have a dungeon or something special associated with it. We will explore both and see which one has the best area for us. Sir Bruce, my little fire troublemaker is going to have a lair built somewhere on or near Mount Nyiragongo in what used to be the Democratic Republic of Congo. I picked this volcano because it is one of the most active in the world, it was in a national park so there should be few if any survivors to bother, and finally because it will give us a base to explore Africa for monsters and dungeons. Esmerelda has several choices for jungle lairs, but I think the best spot for her and our explorations in the future is in one the rainforests in Australia, probably Daintree. This gives us access to Australia where if history is any indication many unique creatures and monsters will appear and dungeons along with them. Azure is the hardest one to pick for. There are so many different islands that could potentially be useful to us for location and training. I think that a Japanese island would be the best. It will give us access to the pacific islands and is also close to the Asian mainland.

Finally, for myself I have decided to build two different places. One mostly as a training and resupply base in the Faroe Islands which gives us access to Europe, Greenland, and western Russia. The other in Antarctica as my initial plan stated. I will find a mountain in the transantarctic mountain range and bury myself deep and make sure it is an underground tropical paradise with fire, water, earth, and air magic. I hate the cold, but with my changes I should be immune. However, immunity does not mean comfortable so I will create a warm underground paradise.

The next two months leading up to Phase 3 of the Great Game integration is spent on travelling the world, establishing the basic lairs and exploring a few nearby dungeons. After exploring the area it was decided to establish Elvira on a peak near Machu Picchu. I was right in thinking that it had turned into a dungeon. In fact, it is the highest leveled dungeon we have found in the world barring the bloodline dungeon. I registered as a Level 125 dungeon when we entered. We only went in the entrance to register it and then left. No time to explore it further. We have finished several smaller dungeons that were close by just as a stress reliever. After clearing 10 low level dungeons I was only able to level once and the dragons managed an average of 3 levels each. The one good thing from this exploration is that we do know that quantity will make up for quality. In many stories low level monsters stop giving experience at all, but in the Great Game it seems that they still give off very low amounts so if you kill enough low levels eventually you will increase in level.

Phase 3 is set to begin on the winter solstice in less than a week. I will spend this time back in the kingdom and a few days after taking care of any administrative duties and watching for any changes I need to personally see to in the Phase 3 change over. I better review what phase 3 entails. Help please explain the 3rd phase of Great Game integration.

Phase 3 will introduce class B through S monsters to the planet and expand quests, and upgrade dungeons.

Help why were dungeons above class C available during phase 2 if it was limited to class C?

This was a misinterpretation on your part. Level C monsters and below were introduced to the planet during phase 2. Nothing was said about limiting dungeons.

What are the dungeon classifications and give examples.

Dungeons are not given classification levels. Each dungeon is rated by what level a common group of 5 Great Game players would need to be to pass it. A level 25 dungeon would normally require 5 Great Game players all within 2 levels of this classification to complete the entire dungeon.

Help can monsters in dungeons escape the confinements of the dungeon? Why or why not?

Dungeons are separate existences located in a different reality than the Great Game planets. No dungeon monster can leave a dungeon unless captured or tamed by a player and removed.

Help how are monsters introduced into a game world?

Monsters are taken from other realities and placed in appropriate areas for their survival in new game worlds. Existing monsters in the game world are leveled up to fill any gaps when new phases are integrated. New monsters of types not previously introduced to a world may also be transported during each new phase.

Alright, I think this means that we need to up patrols before and after each Great Game change over phase. This way we can compare an area before and after the change over to help see if new monsters have been transported to the area or if existing ones have leveled up. Thinking about the leveling up of monsters this means I need to make sure that regular subjugation requests are being funded to keep levels of monsters down around our survival areas.

I should still be above the level of any monster that is transported in or upgraded during this solstice change over. I will have approximately 6 months after this winter solstice until the final phase is introduced to Earth. After which I will have to prepare for the Great Game competition. I am not sure how much I can level up between now and then, but the more levels I get the greater my chances are to protect the Earth from our own monsters and to do well in the Great Game competition.

I wonder how many dungeons there are that can actually help me level up before I have to start going for quantity over quality? Maybe I can find out. Help can you explain the distribution and levels of dungeons throughout the Earth.

Dungeon placements are mostly random. If an area has a high cultural significance and was unoccupied the chances of it becoming a dungeon are increased. There will never be more than 10 X-level monster dungeons on any planet. General distribution of all level of monsters in dungeons are usually 10 more than the level above it. So SSS level monsters in 100 dungeons, SS level monsters in 1000 dungeons, etc… This is not exact as dungeons can and do change levels dependent on tier of the planet and number of times conquered.

Please elaborate on your last statement.

Every time a planet reaches a higher tier or level then the monsters correspondingly get stronger. Generally, for every increase in tier monster dungeons get twice as hard. When a dungeon has been repeatedly conquered it is generally switched out for a new or different dungeon. The number of conquests varies based on time in between conquests and other variables.

Does this mean when I selected the higher tier for a world perk the difficulty increased in the dungeons.

That is incorrect. The current planet is still not 100% integrated, thus dungeon advancement will not occur until Phase 4 integration.

Man I screwed that up. I need to warn my group that the difficulties of the dungeons will double in about six months. I think I will skip telling them that it is my fault. They don’t need to know that. Oh well back to the castle to find out what I have missed over the last two months. When I teleport into the throne room, Jacob appears almost instantly. How does he always know when I get back? Must be some butler instinct kind of thing.

I make small talk and inquire about the general state of the kingdom and my family. My daughter has slowed down and become less reckless, but is still trying to catch up to me by visiting dungeons with a party composed of some of her friends and 2 guards from the palace. There are two recognized kingdoms by the Great Game that have appeared in the last month near us. The first is in the North East of the United States somewhere in New York or Pennsylvania and the second is North in Canada or Michigan. We do not really explore that far and have run into groups from those kingdoms exploring, but have not actually found the kingdoms themselves.

I ask Jacob to alert the council to my return and ask for a meeting the following day after lunch. I spend the rest of the day rubberstamping paperwork and saying hi to the family. The following day after lunch I meet with my council.

“Hello Everyone, I am glad to hear that everything is going smoothly. I have two things to bring up and then I will disappear again. Please remember that you can contact me at any time for an emergency. I will remember to let Jacob or someone from the council know if I am going to enter another dungeon that might limit my responses.”

This got a little chuckle out of them and I proceeded to tell everyone about the dungeon advancement in 6 months and that they needed to be prepared for it. I also reiterated the importance of patrols before and after the Phase 3 integration. Finally, I came to the only topic that I thought might be a little contentious.

“Are we at a point where we can absorb more land into our kingdom. Before you answer I would like you to consider several things. First do we have the manpower to protect and patrol it, second do we have the funds to set up new sanctuaries if needed, and finally how much and in which direction if the answer to the first two questions is yes.”

The debate at the table went on for almost an hour before a consensus was reached. We would expand but carefully. They would like me to finish claiming land through all of Florida and a few more islands in the Caribbean. We would set up two new sanctuary cities in Tampa and in Miami. This would solidify our control over the local shipping and ocean and expand us in a direction that requires less worry about seasonal changes. In the future we would consider other directions. The discussion also led to reinforcement of the northern sanctuaries and border with the western and eastern areas maintaining and continuing to explore.