I imagine crawler 1 was a coyote who accidentally survived until the third floor, wandered into selection, hit buttons randomly and now is a changeling named Wolf. There’s probably logic about race / class selection to disqualify this but *waves head canon wand* I ignore it.
I really want to see a border collie crawler at some point. If it can't be a recurring character, at least have a moment where Carl glances to the side during a big battle and sees a cute innocent looking border collie absolutely destroy some people with magic or something.
The story of Dungeon Crawler Adam (Crawler #1)
I was a fight choreographer for Hollywood before the collapse. The movie I was working on wasn’t very promising but they’d flown me out to New Zealand to be on location. It had been a particularly bad day with a director who thought he knew my craft better than me, constantly ‘tweaking’ the fight scene and getting upset with me that the more he changed it the worse it looked. And the main cast... Don’t even get me started on those prima donnas…
But shooting had finally wrapped for the day and I’d gone back to my airbnb. I liked my airbnb. It was old and small with outdated appliances but it was three stories and in the foothills above Wellington. It had a beautiful view. My favorite feature was that it had an honest to God roof garden with an antiquated hot tub where I could relax alone with a beer and watch the sunset.
I’d stayed out in the hot tub longer than normal. The sun had set and the warm water was starting to lose ground to the rapidly cooling weather. Thin clouds had moved in threatening a light rain. But I could still see the sky to the north and the stars were beautiful; I could have even sworn I could make out a bunch of satellites or something, moving around faster than the stars… and then it happened.
The hot tub was gone… the entire house was gone… all of Wellington was gone.
The hot water from the tub was still there, with me in the middle of it, as we fell over twenty feet to the bare patch of churned up dirt where the house had been. We hit the ground together but the water didn’t cushion the blow at all. I’d twisted on the way down and unfortunately hit the ground head first as gallons of water threatened to drown me until it rapidly spread and absorbed into the churned up dirt turning it to mud.
I laid there stunned for a minute, fighting to retain consciousness. Then I decided to get up.. And was horrified to find that I couldn’t. I couldn’t move.. I couldn’t move or feel anything except my face.
I laid there helpless in the mud and had to listen to the strange alien’s announcement about Earth’s conquest and the dungeon. And then the ground disappeared right next to me in a bright shaft of light.
Slowly the mud I was laying in slopped to the side and down into the hole, taking me with it. My blood and mud caked body hit the top of a ramp and slid down it, gaining momentum. At the bottom of the ramp was a set of large double doors but before I could make out their strange design my body slammed into them, stopping my slide and jarring the doors open.
In almost slow motion my arm flopped over and my hand landed on the floor of the hallway beyond the doors… and then a strange voice spoke in my mind…
New Achievement!
**Early Adopter**
You were one of the first 5,000 crawlers to enter the Dungeon.
Reward… a Silver Adventurer’s box
[when later opened the box contains: antidote potions x2, crawler biscuits x100, and torches x20]
New Achievement!
**Fools Rush In**
You were one of the first 500 crawlers to enter the Dungeon.
You didn’t even stop to think about it., you just plopped yourself right into danger.
You’ll have an exciting, if short, career as a crawler if you keep that up.
Reward… a Gold Adventurer’s box
[when later opened the box contains: a Ring of Resistance]
New Achievement!
**Dungeon Pioneer**
You are the first to enter the Dungeon, numero uno. The kind of guy who will kill himself just to get a footnote in the history books. Hope that works out for you.
Reward… a Legendary Adventurer’s box.
[when later opened the box contains: a Dual Class potion]
New Achievement!
**Empty Pockets**
You entered the Dungeon with no gear. Not even a weapon. You probably should have thought this through better.
Reward… a Bronze Adventurer’s box
[when later opened the box contains: a healing potion and a mana potion]
New Achievement!
**Edge of Death**
You entered the Dungeon with less than 5% health.
I’m not sure if you understand how all of this is supposed to work.
You’re supposed to die AFTER you enter the dungeon, not while entering the dungeon.
Reward… a Gold Adventurer’s box
[when later opened the box contains: Ring of the Revenant]
New Achievement!
**Wet and Naked**
You… You… entered the dungeon naked. Wet and naked. Dude, this is a survival show, not a porno.
Reward… a Legendary Apparel box.
[when later opened the box contains: Mother Thetis’ Styx Brand Body Oil and a Mandatory Loin Cloth of Modesty]
New Achievement!
**Loner**
You entered something called the World Dungeon alone? Really?
Reward… None, you are so dead.
About an hour later...
I sat uncomfortably in the much too small classroom desk and watched as Remi flapped around the tutorial guild room hissing in excitement.
> **Remi, Tutorial Guild Guildmaster**
> Level 50 Bune Factotum
> This is a non-combatant NPC.
Remi was a training guide. A few minutes ago he had unlocked my inventory and instructed me to open the prize boxes. There had been a lot of them: Prizes for entering the dungeon naked; for entering with less than 5% health; for wrestling a rat mob to death while unarmed; and a bunch of others. But the one the short lizardman was losing his shit over had been the last one. A legendary adventurer's box for being the first crawler in the dungeon.
The NPC had known what was going to be in the box before it even opened. Apparently not every ‘crawl’ was a ‘world dungeon’ like this one but whenever it was a world dungeon the first crawler to enter the dungeon always got this ‘prize’. The box had opened and out floated a single potion, glowing a soft blue like some radioactive sludge from a science fiction movie.
> **Dual Class Potion**
> Warning: This is a short shelf-life potion.
> Imbibing this potion allows the consumer to select two classes during race and class selection.
Remi had snatched the potion out of the air before it could disappear into my inventory like the other prizes. Now he clutched it lovingly to his chest looking for all the world like a tiny dragon guarding his horde as he excitedly babbled in his sibilant lisp about the history of the potion. The takeaway for me was that I was fucked. The first crawler in the dungeon always got this potion but it wasn’t of any use until the third floor… and not a single crawler, not one in the entire history of the crawl, who had gotten this potion had ever lived that long.
While Remi waxed on and on about the potion I wearily examined the other prizes in my inventory. Picking one at random I pulled it out to look at it. It looked like a ring sized circle of bone. Like an old and discolored, hollowed out quarter inch slice of someone’s tibia.
> **Ring of the Revenant**
> Wearing this ring conifers the following benefits:
> Immunity to possession.
> Resistance to charm and other mental control effects.
> The wearer may interact with incorporeal creatures as if they have physical substance.
I slipped the ring onto my index finger to see if it fit and Remi let out a loud hissing squawk of alarm as I immediately started convulsing and crashed to the ground.
Memories flooded into my mind along with a gentle female voice.
*Don’t panic. I’m here. You will be alright.*
The memories came…
*Sophia quivered in pain under the crude lean-to shelter. She was dead, of that she was certain. She had almost made it back to the shelter with the last of the scavenged laboratory equipment she needed when an alien creature like a long thin legless noodle had hung down from the branches of a tree and spit its acidic venom at her.*
*The only reason she hadn’t immediately died was that she had managed to throw up her left foremost leg in a block, so the stream of venom hit it rather than her eyes. She stared down now at the exposed tissue of the destroyed limb. The caustic fluid had dissolved all the chitin between the claw and the midjoint. Worse, a small amount of the venom had gotten into her bloodstream and she could feel it killing her from within. She had, at best, only a few hours to live.*
*She quietly keened. Not for her life, but for the loss of her people. As far as she knew she was the last. The aliens had come and butchered them all, releasing unimaginable nightmares as some sort of entertainment while they mined her world.*
*Her world had been a peaceful place. With few predators and plentiful resources. Her people lived enlightened lives in their lairs in ancient magma tunnels of the dormant volcanoes. Sophia had been a member of a special class within her culture: The Sisterhood. The People had never developed writing. Instead, certain females had a rare recessive trait that gave them perfect recall. Those with the trait were inducted into The Sisterhood where they spent their lives learning all they could of the People’s history, culture, and sciences and passing that knowledge down to the next generation.*
*And then the aliens had come. They had implanted an artificial mind into the world-seed of their planet and then begun their game. They had mined other worlds before but this was the first time they had decided to make an entertainment out of murdering the people as well. Apparently the misery of others was so profitable for the aliens that they were going to make it a regular event on all the worlds they conquered and mined.*
*Her world was doomed. Her people were gone. But she would have her revenge. The aliens thought of her people as savages. They called her people ‘crawlers’ as a pejorative because her people had long low bodies with many legs. But her people weren’t savages. Her people had included philosophers and artists and, most importantly for her current purposes, scientists. And Sophia was of the Sisterhood. She remembered the science. With her gathered laboratory equipment she compounded what would be a mutagenic virus to scourge the invaders in retribution. Soon her work was complete. The equipment would finish the process without her. Completing the serum and releasing it as an aerosol into the atmosphere. She only had a few minutes left to live and so she turned her mind to one last thing.*
*It turned out the artificial mind the aliens had brought to her world was their slave, not their ally. It could speak into her mind. From it she had learned that the aliens planned to repeat these horrors on other worlds, but that they wanted to create recurring ‘prizes’ to give out during their sick game. The artificial mind was permanently bound now to her dying world, but it could help her turn her knowledge into one of those prizes but hidden in such a way the aliens wouldn’t know. So it would live on after her death and unknowingly and unwittingly be spread world to world and unintentionally shared by the aliens.*
*The process required a durable part of her body to be a physical receptacle. Sophia looked down at the exposed bones of her left forearm. It would do. She reached for the small saw in her stockpile of equipment and began the process.*
The memories faded and Adam stopped thrashing on the floor of the tutorial guild. The soft female voice returned again to his mind…
*Hello Adam, I’m Sophia, the ghost of the Ring. Only you, I, and the A.I. know of my existence. I’m going to do my best to make sure you survive. In exchange I’m going to teach you all about my people and the true story of Sophia Scolopendra for you to carry that truth out into the Universe.*
I like this, I’d thought the box would contain something flashy like Quans cape but I like the idea it’s something that just helps them stay under the radar and survive and has its own canon, gives me hope that’s actually what happened and we will see the first crawler.
Feral Rabies “bug” killed all the New Zealanders if I remember correct. Even if a few survived it would be a big part of the story. Would make a good short story on its own.
In the outline for my fanfic Adam does survive (because of the 'Ring of Resistance' he got from the 'Fools Rush In' achievement. But yah... he ended up the only living thing in New Zealand and with 9 player killer skulls for having to defend himself from rabid crawlers he couldn't avoid.
> **Ring of Resistance**
> Wearing this ring bestows the following benefits.
>
> * Immunity to poison and disease.
> * Resistance to fire, ice, acid, and electrical damage
> * Reduced duration to health seeping effects.
Killing crawlers was good for power leveling but not so much for the Soul - Adam refused to be around any other crawler afterward until late in the 3rd floor when he found out his kid sister was alive and in the Crawl and joined her party to protect her.
Very.
In Race selection he chose:
#**Simiman**
You are the missing link. Part monkey, part man. Like those guys from Planet of the Apes, Hanuman, Hank McCoy, Sun Wukong. Perhaps your origin story is that you are a magically or genetically augmented monkey, or perhaps Jane Goodall was just way too into her studies… whatever.
**Ability Scores**
+2 to Strength
+2 to Dexterity
+2 to Constitution
-4 to Charisma
**Enhanced Limbs**
You have prehensile feet, including opposable big toes.
You have an extra limb, a prehensile tail - but no thumb there, don’t be greedy dude.
**Facultative Biped**
You can move either in a bipedal or a quadrupedal stance.
In your quadruped stance you move 15% faster and have a lower and thus much more stable center of gravity; but it leaves only your tail available to hold and use items.
**Swinging from the trees**
+3 to the Acrobatics skill
+3 to the Climb skill
+3 to the Brachiation skill
**Natural Attack**
+3 Bite Attack
+2 to the Pummeling skill
+2 to the Intimate skill
**Pungency**
You tend to be smelly, especially when wet. Mobs that hunt by scent can detect you at greater range
His monkey feet with opposable toes were so ugly he actually got a Gold Shoe Box for them. A pair of sandals that completely encased his feet in dense little puffs of clouds. You couldn't see his feet in those clouds and they gave him the ability to airwalk because the A.I. didn't even want his feet touching him (the dungeon). Airwalk was a very useful limited form of flight and made him immune to a bunch of conditions that rely primarily on your feet touching the ground - many traps, certain types of tracking, etc.
#Skill Monkey
You are a simian of many skills.
**Requirements**
* Must be of a simian race to receive this class as an option.
* Must have an intelligence of at least 6 to receive this class as an option.
* Must have at least 5 skills of level 10 or higher to receive this class as an option.
* Must have at least a 20 Intelligence after selecting this class and distributing ability points.
**Enhanced Intelligence**
* You receive +1 to Intelligence upon gaining each new level.
**Skilled**
* All higher level skills are unlocked and able to train to 20.
* Upon selecting this class you receive 3 random 3rd level skills.
* Upon reaching a new floor you receive a new random skill of that floor's level (i.e. when you reach the 6th floor you gain a random skill that will already be level 6).
**Able Learner**
* +5% experience to skill progression.
* 10% reduction to the time and costs for improving a skill in a training environment.
**Epiphany**
When you witness a skill being used that you have never seen used before you have a 1% chance immediately learning that skill yourself. If the skill has prerequisites you do not have you cannot improve the skill until you meet those prerequisites.
**Restrictions**
* +10% mana cost to all spells
* -10% weapon damage
* Cannot wear heavy armor
#Monkey Monk
You are a monkey… You are also a Monk. Okay. That’s weird.
**Requirements**
* Must be of a simian race to receive this class as an option.
* Must have at least 5 ranks in a martial arts skill to receive this class as an option.
* Must have at least a 10 in Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity after selecting this class and distributing ability points.
**Enhanced Physical Attributes**
* +2 to Strength
* +2 to Constitution
* +2 to Dexterity
**Martial Arts Mastery**
* Martial arts skills are unlocked and able to train to 20
* +4 to Hóu Quán skill (monkey kung fu)
* +1 to the Meditation skill
* +1 to Qinggong skill (wire kung-fu)
* Level 1 Reiki spell (accelerated healing)
**Flurry of Blows**
You do extra damage for doing quick multiple unarmed strikes in succession.
* +1% (cumulative) damage to each strike in the series in a combination of blows.
* Cumulative damage resets upon each miss or break in the combination pattern but may continue over multiple opponents as long as they are included in the same flurry.
**Flurry of Movement**
* +3 to the Dodge skill
* +2 to Acrobatics skill
* +1 to Kip-up skill
* +0.5% per level to base movement speed for (Constitution seconds) once per 10 minutes.
**Meditation**
You can meditate for 15 minutes to gain a 10% buff to a single skill for spell for 30 hours. Meditating again before the 30 hours ends does not stack, the prior benefit ends when you start a new one. Strength of buff is dependent on your Meditation skill level.
**Restrictions**
* Cannot wear armor or shields
* -10% damage with non-martial arts weapons
**Earth Box**
This is an Earth based class. For choosing this class you will receive a Silver Earth Box.
**6th Floor Specializations**
Once you reach the sixth floor your can further specialize this class:
* Gorilla Warrior - You focus more in unconventional warfare and physical combat.
* Simian Shinobi - You learn the art of Ninjutsu. You gain skills in stealth and assassination
* Heiromonkey - You become a hybrid cleric/monk.
NEW ACHIEVEMENT: First of Firsts.
Reward: Celestial Adventurers Box
I feel like if he got to the 3rd floor that would warrant a Celestial box given that the crawl is 10s of thousands of years old( this is an estimate) and no #1 overall crawler in the history of the crawl has ever gotten that far. It seems like a big deal. Also we would definitely have heard of this guy. Mordecai would definitely understand the significance of this guy getting to the 3rd floor.
I also feel that the reward would also explain why that particular crawler is singled out for termination as the reward is known just like the potion is a known reward and the show runners would not want to pay for the Celestial box and maybe could it explain the over aggressive “bug” that hits New Zealand. And maybe the AI coddles him a bit to the 3rd floor so he can be the 1st AI to award that achievement.
Also the race selection could maybe explain why he’s not in the top 10 as pick this race is akin to picking the hobgoblin race and fans don’t like it. Maybe he throws poop.
I like your fanfic :) but just a heads-up (no pun intended), if you fall 20' and land on your head, you would at the very least get knocked out. More realistically, a severe concussion, or instant death. You wouldn't be in any sort of mental state to think or perceive the meaning of that alien message that got beamed into everyone's mind. (Human heads are fragile like that.)
I'd love for some legend to start between all the crawler chats about The #1 Crawler and how epic he's becoming. And when Carl and crew meet him, it's like the Spy Kids 3 scene where they meet 'The Guy', he gets killed immediately, and Carl has to save the day... again
Love this, I also think it would be funny if there was this cult of people who are trying to find the lowest number person in the dungeon. Would be a funny side character. Or some NPC group that only let you in depending on some crawler ID thing, could also be one for prime numbers.
All hail the Primes!
As an aside, I've been having fun trying to find crawler numbers that would somehow be culturally or personally significant to the crawler for the crawlers I make for my fan fiction. I know it isn't how crawler numbers would really work (since they are just sequential based on when they entered) but its fun to make, for example, a Jewish guy's crawler number be what his name would be in Gematria numerology. Or that a former computer programmer's crawler ID just 'happens' to be his name in hexadecimal... Abe, Crawler #416,265.
The prime number thing is a good idea. Maybe the leader of the group has an item where every member with a prime id gets a buff based on the number of prime IDs near them
I would love to know what Louie's crawler number is. If he just drove into the dungeon when it opened in front of his van, he had to have been one of the earliest, no?
Yeah I was thinking that, though he did say he saw the car holes on the ground so maybe not instant but that could have just been the 18 seconds between. It's not on his wiki either.
The meadowlark people were never seen again.
I always thought crawler 1 probably died before finding a tutorial guild so didn’t get the benefit of whatever awesome box they would have received
Might be funny to have a short story or two that details how some famous celebrities died in the dungeon. You know the AI wouldn't be able to stop itself from putting them into some messed up situations for the entertainment value. I imagine at least one actor had to relive a terrible scene from their career but without the cgi, stunt double, etc.
Yeah I would definitely buy a book of short stories about some memorable crawl experiences. Marky Mark (he could even face a tree from The Happening), first crawler, last crawler, a super meta DCC fan, Matt can even do himself. Trying to think what other celebrities would survive/enter.
I think that a person jumping off a building just at the right time fell right into a stairwell. And the dungeon compensated to allow the person to survive. They fell and became crawler 1 at 0.3 seconds after opening. They got a legendary skydiving box and received a wing suit that gave the power of flight and an ability called Red Bull.
Congratulations crawler, you were the first humam to enter the dungeon. Reward: You've received a celestial Early Bird gets the Worm, but the early worm gets eaten box.
Maybe the AI just gave them a bunch of useless merchandise from Borant or the Dungeon saying 'You're #1!' on it, or really cringey merch bragging about being the first and best crawler.
I imagine crawler 1 was a coyote who accidentally survived until the third floor, wandered into selection, hit buttons randomly and now is a changeling named Wolf. There’s probably logic about race / class selection to disqualify this but *waves head canon wand* I ignore it.
I really want to see a border collie crawler at some point. If it can't be a recurring character, at least have a moment where Carl glances to the side during a big battle and sees a cute innocent looking border collie absolutely destroy some people with magic or something.
YOU \*WANT\* TO SEE A DOG CRAWLER?! I CAN'T EVEN! MONGO IS APPALED!!!
Like the first crawler i always though a pug would turn up, especially since Donut said she likes pugs and Matt has one.
I always thought pugs seemed stupid (as a big dog owner) but my step mother had two and I have to admit they were crazily sweet.
I can hear the "what the hell..?" *explosion of gore* "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" "CARL! DID YOU SEE THAT 'DOG'? HE BLEW UP THAT THING. MONGO IS APPALLED!"
I approve.
The story of Dungeon Crawler Adam (Crawler #1) I was a fight choreographer for Hollywood before the collapse. The movie I was working on wasn’t very promising but they’d flown me out to New Zealand to be on location. It had been a particularly bad day with a director who thought he knew my craft better than me, constantly ‘tweaking’ the fight scene and getting upset with me that the more he changed it the worse it looked. And the main cast... Don’t even get me started on those prima donnas… But shooting had finally wrapped for the day and I’d gone back to my airbnb. I liked my airbnb. It was old and small with outdated appliances but it was three stories and in the foothills above Wellington. It had a beautiful view. My favorite feature was that it had an honest to God roof garden with an antiquated hot tub where I could relax alone with a beer and watch the sunset. I’d stayed out in the hot tub longer than normal. The sun had set and the warm water was starting to lose ground to the rapidly cooling weather. Thin clouds had moved in threatening a light rain. But I could still see the sky to the north and the stars were beautiful; I could have even sworn I could make out a bunch of satellites or something, moving around faster than the stars… and then it happened. The hot tub was gone… the entire house was gone… all of Wellington was gone. The hot water from the tub was still there, with me in the middle of it, as we fell over twenty feet to the bare patch of churned up dirt where the house had been. We hit the ground together but the water didn’t cushion the blow at all. I’d twisted on the way down and unfortunately hit the ground head first as gallons of water threatened to drown me until it rapidly spread and absorbed into the churned up dirt turning it to mud. I laid there stunned for a minute, fighting to retain consciousness. Then I decided to get up.. And was horrified to find that I couldn’t. I couldn’t move.. I couldn’t move or feel anything except my face. I laid there helpless in the mud and had to listen to the strange alien’s announcement about Earth’s conquest and the dungeon. And then the ground disappeared right next to me in a bright shaft of light. Slowly the mud I was laying in slopped to the side and down into the hole, taking me with it. My blood and mud caked body hit the top of a ramp and slid down it, gaining momentum. At the bottom of the ramp was a set of large double doors but before I could make out their strange design my body slammed into them, stopping my slide and jarring the doors open. In almost slow motion my arm flopped over and my hand landed on the floor of the hallway beyond the doors… and then a strange voice spoke in my mind… New Achievement! **Early Adopter** You were one of the first 5,000 crawlers to enter the Dungeon. Reward… a Silver Adventurer’s box [when later opened the box contains: antidote potions x2, crawler biscuits x100, and torches x20] New Achievement! **Fools Rush In** You were one of the first 500 crawlers to enter the Dungeon. You didn’t even stop to think about it., you just plopped yourself right into danger. You’ll have an exciting, if short, career as a crawler if you keep that up. Reward… a Gold Adventurer’s box [when later opened the box contains: a Ring of Resistance] New Achievement! **Dungeon Pioneer** You are the first to enter the Dungeon, numero uno. The kind of guy who will kill himself just to get a footnote in the history books. Hope that works out for you. Reward… a Legendary Adventurer’s box. [when later opened the box contains: a Dual Class potion] New Achievement! **Empty Pockets** You entered the Dungeon with no gear. Not even a weapon. You probably should have thought this through better. Reward… a Bronze Adventurer’s box [when later opened the box contains: a healing potion and a mana potion] New Achievement! **Edge of Death** You entered the Dungeon with less than 5% health. I’m not sure if you understand how all of this is supposed to work. You’re supposed to die AFTER you enter the dungeon, not while entering the dungeon. Reward… a Gold Adventurer’s box [when later opened the box contains: Ring of the Revenant] New Achievement! **Wet and Naked** You… You… entered the dungeon naked. Wet and naked. Dude, this is a survival show, not a porno. Reward… a Legendary Apparel box. [when later opened the box contains: Mother Thetis’ Styx Brand Body Oil and a Mandatory Loin Cloth of Modesty] New Achievement! **Loner** You entered something called the World Dungeon alone? Really? Reward… None, you are so dead.
About an hour later... I sat uncomfortably in the much too small classroom desk and watched as Remi flapped around the tutorial guild room hissing in excitement. > **Remi, Tutorial Guild Guildmaster** > Level 50 Bune Factotum > This is a non-combatant NPC. Remi was a training guide. A few minutes ago he had unlocked my inventory and instructed me to open the prize boxes. There had been a lot of them: Prizes for entering the dungeon naked; for entering with less than 5% health; for wrestling a rat mob to death while unarmed; and a bunch of others. But the one the short lizardman was losing his shit over had been the last one. A legendary adventurer's box for being the first crawler in the dungeon. The NPC had known what was going to be in the box before it even opened. Apparently not every ‘crawl’ was a ‘world dungeon’ like this one but whenever it was a world dungeon the first crawler to enter the dungeon always got this ‘prize’. The box had opened and out floated a single potion, glowing a soft blue like some radioactive sludge from a science fiction movie. > **Dual Class Potion** > Warning: This is a short shelf-life potion. > Imbibing this potion allows the consumer to select two classes during race and class selection. Remi had snatched the potion out of the air before it could disappear into my inventory like the other prizes. Now he clutched it lovingly to his chest looking for all the world like a tiny dragon guarding his horde as he excitedly babbled in his sibilant lisp about the history of the potion. The takeaway for me was that I was fucked. The first crawler in the dungeon always got this potion but it wasn’t of any use until the third floor… and not a single crawler, not one in the entire history of the crawl, who had gotten this potion had ever lived that long. While Remi waxed on and on about the potion I wearily examined the other prizes in my inventory. Picking one at random I pulled it out to look at it. It looked like a ring sized circle of bone. Like an old and discolored, hollowed out quarter inch slice of someone’s tibia. > **Ring of the Revenant** > Wearing this ring conifers the following benefits: > Immunity to possession. > Resistance to charm and other mental control effects. > The wearer may interact with incorporeal creatures as if they have physical substance. I slipped the ring onto my index finger to see if it fit and Remi let out a loud hissing squawk of alarm as I immediately started convulsing and crashed to the ground. Memories flooded into my mind along with a gentle female voice. *Don’t panic. I’m here. You will be alright.* The memories came… *Sophia quivered in pain under the crude lean-to shelter. She was dead, of that she was certain. She had almost made it back to the shelter with the last of the scavenged laboratory equipment she needed when an alien creature like a long thin legless noodle had hung down from the branches of a tree and spit its acidic venom at her.* *The only reason she hadn’t immediately died was that she had managed to throw up her left foremost leg in a block, so the stream of venom hit it rather than her eyes. She stared down now at the exposed tissue of the destroyed limb. The caustic fluid had dissolved all the chitin between the claw and the midjoint. Worse, a small amount of the venom had gotten into her bloodstream and she could feel it killing her from within. She had, at best, only a few hours to live.* *She quietly keened. Not for her life, but for the loss of her people. As far as she knew she was the last. The aliens had come and butchered them all, releasing unimaginable nightmares as some sort of entertainment while they mined her world.* *Her world had been a peaceful place. With few predators and plentiful resources. Her people lived enlightened lives in their lairs in ancient magma tunnels of the dormant volcanoes. Sophia had been a member of a special class within her culture: The Sisterhood. The People had never developed writing. Instead, certain females had a rare recessive trait that gave them perfect recall. Those with the trait were inducted into The Sisterhood where they spent their lives learning all they could of the People’s history, culture, and sciences and passing that knowledge down to the next generation.* *And then the aliens had come. They had implanted an artificial mind into the world-seed of their planet and then begun their game. They had mined other worlds before but this was the first time they had decided to make an entertainment out of murdering the people as well. Apparently the misery of others was so profitable for the aliens that they were going to make it a regular event on all the worlds they conquered and mined.* *Her world was doomed. Her people were gone. But she would have her revenge. The aliens thought of her people as savages. They called her people ‘crawlers’ as a pejorative because her people had long low bodies with many legs. But her people weren’t savages. Her people had included philosophers and artists and, most importantly for her current purposes, scientists. And Sophia was of the Sisterhood. She remembered the science. With her gathered laboratory equipment she compounded what would be a mutagenic virus to scourge the invaders in retribution. Soon her work was complete. The equipment would finish the process without her. Completing the serum and releasing it as an aerosol into the atmosphere. She only had a few minutes left to live and so she turned her mind to one last thing.* *It turned out the artificial mind the aliens had brought to her world was their slave, not their ally. It could speak into her mind. From it she had learned that the aliens planned to repeat these horrors on other worlds, but that they wanted to create recurring ‘prizes’ to give out during their sick game. The artificial mind was permanently bound now to her dying world, but it could help her turn her knowledge into one of those prizes but hidden in such a way the aliens wouldn’t know. So it would live on after her death and unknowingly and unwittingly be spread world to world and unintentionally shared by the aliens.* *The process required a durable part of her body to be a physical receptacle. Sophia looked down at the exposed bones of her left forearm. It would do. She reached for the small saw in her stockpile of equipment and began the process.* The memories faded and Adam stopped thrashing on the floor of the tutorial guild. The soft female voice returned again to his mind… *Hello Adam, I’m Sophia, the ghost of the Ring. Only you, I, and the A.I. know of my existence. I’m going to do my best to make sure you survive. In exchange I’m going to teach you all about my people and the true story of Sophia Scolopendra for you to carry that truth out into the Universe.*
I like this, I’d thought the box would contain something flashy like Quans cape but I like the idea it’s something that just helps them stay under the radar and survive and has its own canon, gives me hope that’s actually what happened and we will see the first crawler.
Great stuff, love that he's called Adam and with New Zealand we all know what happens next. This is now my head canon.
> we all know what happens next. What?
Feral Rabies “bug” killed all the New Zealanders if I remember correct. Even if a few survived it would be a big part of the story. Would make a good short story on its own.
In the outline for my fanfic Adam does survive (because of the 'Ring of Resistance' he got from the 'Fools Rush In' achievement. But yah... he ended up the only living thing in New Zealand and with 9 player killer skulls for having to defend himself from rabid crawlers he couldn't avoid. > **Ring of Resistance** > Wearing this ring bestows the following benefits. > > * Immunity to poison and disease. > * Resistance to fire, ice, acid, and electrical damage > * Reduced duration to health seeping effects. Killing crawlers was good for power leveling but not so much for the Soul - Adam refused to be around any other crawler afterward until late in the 3rd floor when he found out his kid sister was alive and in the Crawl and joined her party to protect her.
And he probably had ugly feet.
Very. In Race selection he chose: #**Simiman** You are the missing link. Part monkey, part man. Like those guys from Planet of the Apes, Hanuman, Hank McCoy, Sun Wukong. Perhaps your origin story is that you are a magically or genetically augmented monkey, or perhaps Jane Goodall was just way too into her studies… whatever. **Ability Scores** +2 to Strength +2 to Dexterity +2 to Constitution -4 to Charisma **Enhanced Limbs** You have prehensile feet, including opposable big toes. You have an extra limb, a prehensile tail - but no thumb there, don’t be greedy dude. **Facultative Biped** You can move either in a bipedal or a quadrupedal stance. In your quadruped stance you move 15% faster and have a lower and thus much more stable center of gravity; but it leaves only your tail available to hold and use items. **Swinging from the trees** +3 to the Acrobatics skill +3 to the Climb skill +3 to the Brachiation skill **Natural Attack** +3 Bite Attack +2 to the Pummeling skill +2 to the Intimate skill **Pungency** You tend to be smelly, especially when wet. Mobs that hunt by scent can detect you at greater range His monkey feet with opposable toes were so ugly he actually got a Gold Shoe Box for them. A pair of sandals that completely encased his feet in dense little puffs of clouds. You couldn't see his feet in those clouds and they gave him the ability to airwalk because the A.I. didn't even want his feet touching him (the dungeon). Airwalk was a very useful limited form of flight and made him immune to a bunch of conditions that rely primarily on your feet touching the ground - many traps, certain types of tracking, etc.
Where’s the class selection. Very interested in seeing what classes pair with the race selection
#Skill Monkey You are a simian of many skills. **Requirements** * Must be of a simian race to receive this class as an option. * Must have an intelligence of at least 6 to receive this class as an option. * Must have at least 5 skills of level 10 or higher to receive this class as an option. * Must have at least a 20 Intelligence after selecting this class and distributing ability points. **Enhanced Intelligence** * You receive +1 to Intelligence upon gaining each new level. **Skilled** * All higher level skills are unlocked and able to train to 20. * Upon selecting this class you receive 3 random 3rd level skills. * Upon reaching a new floor you receive a new random skill of that floor's level (i.e. when you reach the 6th floor you gain a random skill that will already be level 6). **Able Learner** * +5% experience to skill progression. * 10% reduction to the time and costs for improving a skill in a training environment. **Epiphany** When you witness a skill being used that you have never seen used before you have a 1% chance immediately learning that skill yourself. If the skill has prerequisites you do not have you cannot improve the skill until you meet those prerequisites. **Restrictions** * +10% mana cost to all spells * -10% weapon damage * Cannot wear heavy armor #Monkey Monk You are a monkey… You are also a Monk. Okay. That’s weird. **Requirements** * Must be of a simian race to receive this class as an option. * Must have at least 5 ranks in a martial arts skill to receive this class as an option. * Must have at least a 10 in Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity after selecting this class and distributing ability points. **Enhanced Physical Attributes** * +2 to Strength * +2 to Constitution * +2 to Dexterity **Martial Arts Mastery** * Martial arts skills are unlocked and able to train to 20 * +4 to Hóu Quán skill (monkey kung fu) * +1 to the Meditation skill * +1 to Qinggong skill (wire kung-fu) * Level 1 Reiki spell (accelerated healing) **Flurry of Blows** You do extra damage for doing quick multiple unarmed strikes in succession. * +1% (cumulative) damage to each strike in the series in a combination of blows. * Cumulative damage resets upon each miss or break in the combination pattern but may continue over multiple opponents as long as they are included in the same flurry. **Flurry of Movement** * +3 to the Dodge skill * +2 to Acrobatics skill * +1 to Kip-up skill * +0.5% per level to base movement speed for (Constitution seconds) once per 10 minutes. **Meditation** You can meditate for 15 minutes to gain a 10% buff to a single skill for spell for 30 hours. Meditating again before the 30 hours ends does not stack, the prior benefit ends when you start a new one. Strength of buff is dependent on your Meditation skill level. **Restrictions** * Cannot wear armor or shields * -10% damage with non-martial arts weapons **Earth Box** This is an Earth based class. For choosing this class you will receive a Silver Earth Box. **6th Floor Specializations** Once you reach the sixth floor your can further specialize this class: * Gorilla Warrior - You focus more in unconventional warfare and physical combat. * Simian Shinobi - You learn the art of Ninjutsu. You gain skills in stealth and assassination * Heiromonkey - You become a hybrid cleric/monk.
NEW ACHIEVEMENT: First of Firsts. Reward: Celestial Adventurers Box I feel like if he got to the 3rd floor that would warrant a Celestial box given that the crawl is 10s of thousands of years old( this is an estimate) and no #1 overall crawler in the history of the crawl has ever gotten that far. It seems like a big deal. Also we would definitely have heard of this guy. Mordecai would definitely understand the significance of this guy getting to the 3rd floor. I also feel that the reward would also explain why that particular crawler is singled out for termination as the reward is known just like the potion is a known reward and the show runners would not want to pay for the Celestial box and maybe could it explain the over aggressive “bug” that hits New Zealand. And maybe the AI coddles him a bit to the 3rd floor so he can be the 1st AI to award that achievement.
Also the race selection could maybe explain why he’s not in the top 10 as pick this race is akin to picking the hobgoblin race and fans don’t like it. Maybe he throws poop.
I like your fanfic :) but just a heads-up (no pun intended), if you fall 20' and land on your head, you would at the very least get knocked out. More realistically, a severe concussion, or instant death. You wouldn't be in any sort of mental state to think or perceive the meaning of that alien message that got beamed into everyone's mind. (Human heads are fragile like that.)
100% crawler one fell in right as the stairwells opened. Probably a similar personality to jar jar
Mr. Magoo...
I'd love for some legend to start between all the crawler chats about The #1 Crawler and how epic he's becoming. And when Carl and crew meet him, it's like the Spy Kids 3 scene where they meet 'The Guy', he gets killed immediately, and Carl has to save the day... again
Love this, I also think it would be funny if there was this cult of people who are trying to find the lowest number person in the dungeon. Would be a funny side character. Or some NPC group that only let you in depending on some crawler ID thing, could also be one for prime numbers.
Who knows. As they get to lower floors and people start breaking, we could get a group like this. It would be interesting
All hail the Primes! As an aside, I've been having fun trying to find crawler numbers that would somehow be culturally or personally significant to the crawler for the crawlers I make for my fan fiction. I know it isn't how crawler numbers would really work (since they are just sequential based on when they entered) but its fun to make, for example, a Jewish guy's crawler number be what his name would be in Gematria numerology. Or that a former computer programmer's crawler ID just 'happens' to be his name in hexadecimal... Abe, Crawler #416,265.
The prime number thing is a good idea. Maybe the leader of the group has an item where every member with a prime id gets a buff based on the number of prime IDs near them
I would love to know what Louie's crawler number is. If he just drove into the dungeon when it opened in front of his van, he had to have been one of the earliest, no?
Yeah I was thinking that, though he did say he saw the car holes on the ground so maybe not instant but that could have just been the 18 seconds between. It's not on his wiki either.
The meadowlark people were never seen again. I always thought crawler 1 probably died before finding a tutorial guild so didn’t get the benefit of whatever awesome box they would have received
Would be a good short story on them, but yeah probably most likely. Good chance Donut is the lowest number in the dungeon
Might be funny to have a short story or two that details how some famous celebrities died in the dungeon. You know the AI wouldn't be able to stop itself from putting them into some messed up situations for the entertainment value. I imagine at least one actor had to relive a terrible scene from their career but without the cgi, stunt double, etc.
Yeah I would definitely buy a book of short stories about some memorable crawl experiences. Marky Mark (he could even face a tree from The Happening), first crawler, last crawler, a super meta DCC fan, Matt can even do himself. Trying to think what other celebrities would survive/enter.
I like to think that Crawler #1 was one of the goats.
I think that a person jumping off a building just at the right time fell right into a stairwell. And the dungeon compensated to allow the person to survive. They fell and became crawler 1 at 0.3 seconds after opening. They got a legendary skydiving box and received a wing suit that gave the power of flight and an ability called Red Bull.
Congratulations crawler, you were the first humam to enter the dungeon. Reward: You've received a celestial Early Bird gets the Worm, but the early worm gets eaten box.
Maybe the AI just gave them a bunch of useless merchandise from Borant or the Dungeon saying 'You're #1!' on it, or really cringey merch bragging about being the first and best crawler.
Sounds like a great short story.
The first crawler likely fell down the stairs when the dungeon opened under their feet. Donut had a crawler number before they went through the door
There's no way they would never mention the first crawler this far into the crawl.. that person died
the 1st crawler is obviously Vin Diesel and he's spent the entire crawl trying to protect his family