Blood Sausage

Back in the kitchen, the 7 wolves were hanging from the ceiling while their blood drained into basins. Gareth was standing at the entrance of the kitchen eagerly anticipating a good meal. Chuck filled a glass with the warm blood and passed it off to Gareth while he waited for the beasts to drain.

It was time to start on the blood sausage. Chuck took out the half pound of pork fat that he had frozen this morning. He began to chop it into small pieces along with 3 pounds of pork shoulder. He then seasoned everything in a bowl and put it back in the fridge to keep cold. Everything he was using for this was in the fridge. Even the tools. If the blood got too warm, it would curdle.

He then went and butchered one of the wolves while showing Crumb the process. He put away what he could save and discarded the rest while then letting the goblin try his hand at one of the wolves.

Chuck turned his attention back to the sausage. Everything should be nice and chilled now.

He took out the grinder and dumped everything into the chute. The meat and frozen fat were then ground together.

The new mixture went back into the freezer while he cleaned the grinder. Afterwards Chuck pointed out the mistakes on the wolf Crumb was working on and gave him tips on how to do better. All the while, he processed a second wolf.

Pulling the meat and fat back out of the fridge, Chuck filled a large pot with water and heated it up to a steam, not a boil. He then took the fat and meat and started adding pigs' blood that he had bought this morning. He added a bit at a time until half a gallon was added, and the mixture became a slurry. He then added some cooked and seasoned onions that were prepared and chilled this morning. Everything was thoroughly mixed.

He then pulled out the stuffing machine and attached a large piece of intestine that he had salvaged from the boar. This would be the sausage casing; it was a bit over 20 feet long. He tied off one end and prepped the machine.

With the flip of the switch, the casing began to fill. Chuck tied off the casing every foot and in a few minutes, he had 20 sausages. They were then poached for 15 minutes and then were quickly put into ice water. While they chilled, the rest of the wolves were taken care of. Then the sausages were hung up to dry. They would need a few hours. By then it should be dinner time.

When Chuck was about to go into the core room he was stopped.

"Master Forest, there is something I would like to report." Gareth said.

Chuck came over. "Sure, what's up?"

As I was inspecting the facilities today, I noticed something. It is in regards to what you called the 'Hostess stand'."

"Oh, what is it?" Chuck asked while they walked over to take a look at it.

Gareth ran his finger across the seating chart on the stand and the display changed. It brought up a reservation list.

"Apparently, if someone has a reservation, they can be teleported from wherever they are. They will appear directly inside the restaurant. This will also keep your location hidden from customers who have the ability to enslave you. The interesting part is that a reservation requires a non-aggression agreement. Meaning they won't be able to attack or do damage in the dungeon."

"Oh!" Chuck said in surprise. That was great.

"Yes, however the agreement also applies to us. You will not be able to harm anyone while they are dining with a reservation." Gareth said apologetically.

"That doesn't bother me at all. In fact that makes it much easier for us to do business. We can set up a real dungeon upstairs to fend of intruders while others can come and eat without worry. While we remain hidden. No one would even know this is a restaurant unless they bypass all our defenses."

"Indeed, that is true. But please be aware that this non-aggression agreement also means that you will protect them from harm. For instance, if an intruder clears your dungeon above and makes their way into your restaurant, you are responsible for said guest with reservations. The penalties are quite severe should you break the pact."

"Hmm, that is an important point to take note of. We will have to do a good job looking after the safety of our guests."

"Following that thought I put a list together of creatures who would suit your dungeon the best." Gareth said. "I first considered safety and defense, after that I considered creatures that could be used as ingredients. And lastly is the pricing. Some creatures are not worth what they cost while others are a bargain. This list should explain it all clearly."

"Ahh! That is good work. Thank you, Gareth. I only hope you like the blood sausages I made or I will have to search for a better way to make it up to you."

"No need, Master Forest. It is my responsibility after all." He said with a bow.

"It is still a little while till dinner, I am going to turn in the cores we got today and then set up some defenses. I know not much is happening here now so enjoy your free time while we have it." Chuck said while taking the paper and then heading back to the core room.

Chuck started with the 1 star core.

[New core detected]

[2 options available]

[1st option: Shatter core and claim 721 DP]

[2nd option: Merge core and acquire 740 square feet of dungeon space]

The core was shattered and 721DP was added.

It was time for the 4 star.

[New core detected]

[2 options available]

[1st option: Shatter core and claim 9,231 DP]

[2nd option: Merge core and acquire 9,800 square feet of dungeon space]

Since he was building defenses today, Chuck selected first option.

He now had 14,056DP. That should be enough for a good start. Using the ability of the core room, Chuck appeared on the first floor. It was still an empty 20x800 foot area. He then took a closer look at the list Gareth provided.

Gareth provided three detailed plans. The first was the best and rather expensive. After that they went down in quality and also price. Chuck thought about it for a few moments and decided that now was not the time to skimp on quality. Even though he didn't have enough funds to complete the first choice. He could at least get started on it.

The first choice included three different creature spawners and a boss spawner. The cheapest was a spawner for horned rabbits. Gareth suggested the level 5 spawner. Chuck could always get a stronger one, but it was deemed that the level 5 should be good enough for now.

The horned rabbit was as the name suggested. A rabbit with a horn on its head. They had a great jumping ability, and its horn was sturdy. They could impale enemies and had good dexterity. One of the advantages of the horned rabbit was that the females were able to give birth at level 5 and above and its pregnancy only lasted 7 days. There was a high chance of getting free horned rabbits.

The horned rabbit usually stayed in groups and fought with joint attacks. It was likely that even if they were killed, they could take an enemy or two with them depending on their opponent's strength. That was if their opponent was under level 20, because at level 20, classes went under a qualitative change.

It was also noted that for horned rabbits to survive for more than 2 days, they would need both water and grass. But both of those things could be built into the dungeon and the cost had already been determined by Gareth.

The next question was the quantity of the spawner. It would create new horned rabbits every day and for now, Gareth suggested setting the number to 15.

A level 5 horned rabbit spawner that kept the numbers at 15 would cost 2,000DP.

The second was a night stalker panther spawner with a suggested level of 10. The night stalker panther had a natural stealth ability and was prone to launching fatal sneak attacks.

In consideration of food, a night stalker panther would eat one horned rabbit a day. They would also need water but could share the water source with the horned rabbits. The spawner suggested would maintain their number at 5 and refreshed daily and cost 6,000DP. With proper timing in place, the night stalker panthers would only get hungry an hour before the time when the horned rabbits respawned. This would keep the number of rabbits at the maximum for most of the day.

Gareth noted that trees would enhance the sneak attack of the night stalker panther since they preferred to attack from up high.

The third spawner suggested was for a level 15 razor stag. These large cousins of deer like creatures were over 5 feet tall with their sharp antler. From the tip of their antlers to the ground was 8 feet. These things were quite intimidating. Their sturdy bodies could take a beating and their antlers were as good as swords.

For food they could eat grass or also leaves from the suggested trees. Coincidently, if 5 night stalker panthers ate a razor stag, it could keep all of them full for 3 days. But they were unlikely to defeat one since the stags traveled in groups. Their only chance was to catch one that was wounded or abandoned.

The spawner suggested would maintain their number at 3 and only refresh every two days. The price was 8,000DP.

Gareth suggested to maintain these population numbers unless the dungeon was enlarged. If the numbers were any higher, there was a good chance that the creatures would fight for space and not just kill for food.

The boss spawner was the most expensive at 20,000DP. It was for a Swift Wind Black Bear. The beast was a good size and had a few wind elemental abilities. On top of that, it remained in hibernation unless it was healing. Meaning that when it was at full health, it didn't need to eat, it could just sleep at the back of the first floor.

The grass, freshwater spring/pond, trees, and dirt would run around 3,000DP. The ceiling would also need to be embedded with Sky Stones. Small crystal that would give out faint moonlight and sunlight. Allowing the plants to continue to grow and replenish themselves. It would cost close to 1,000DP.

Altogether the plan cost 40,000DP. Chuck only had a bit over 14,000DP but it could be built in stages.

Gareth also listed a few ideas for traps that could be added as well as come carnivorous fish and poisonous insects that would threaten invaders but not upset the ecosystem that would be built.

In the end it was a great plan. As long as Gareth liked the blood sausage, he would make sure that the vampire could eat enough that he could turn into a fatty if he wanted.

Chuck decided to build what he could. First, he changed the top layer of the stone floor to dirt. After that he spent 1,000DP to cover the ceiling in Sky Crystals. He made sure they were evenly placed.

In the center of the dungeon, he created a freshwater spring that would take up a 10x10 area. After that he covered that area with a sporadic placement of trees.

In the future he could pay to change out the trees for the more expensive fruit trees. Then he could get lemons, apples, bananas, pears and so on. He then covered the ground with grass.

Near the front of the dungeon, he placed the spawner for the Horned Rabbits. After confirming his selection, 15 rabbits appeared. The spawner wasn't a physical device. It was more like a spawning location. The good thing was that the animals usually made their home near the spawner and didn't stray too far. This way he could spread out the creatures throughout his dungeon.

After that, he placed the Night Stalker Panther spawner. 5 pitch black cat beasts appeared. They glanced at Chuck for a moment and then vanished into the trees.

The panthers seemed more intelligent than the rabbits. But that was to be expected since they had a higher level.

Chuck spent 12,000DP and only had 2K left. He would need another 28K thousand to complete his current plan. The good news was that the dungeon reached level 11.

Chuck headed back down towards the restaurant.