Worthy Core

DAY 794

The following day saw no new visitors to Worthy Dungeon, and those within dealt with that fact in a number of ways. Some spent the time training together, preparing to defend the dungeon against intruders. Some took advantage of the free drink and food available, burning their stress away...although alcohol was rationed to ensure that no one was getting too drunk in such a high-pressure situation. And, Worthy Dungeon being what it is, some chose to burn off their stress with an intimate partner...or two, or three.

One dwarf actually got pregnant to one of her party members, leading Xenia to briefly grow concerned about the idea that she might have generations of mortals growing up in her dungeon if the siege isn't over within a year.

The next day however reveals what the Domain had spent their time working on, as dozens of soldiers march their way up to the dungeon. Although the mountain path doesn't allow for anything as neat as an orderly column, as they arrive at the cleared-out walkway in front of Doorman the company organizes itself into easily-counted groups. Eight groups of eight soldiers each, along with a few overseeing officers...although as Doorman peers at the assembling units, some of those soldiers look a little irregular.

"Excuse me, but...are those dungeon monsters you plan on having delving today? I don't think humans are normally on fire, as that fellow over there seems to be."

A green-scaled draconic snorts as he gives the door a dismissive look. "Silence, guardian. We will not be needing your petty questions interrupting us as we prepare to bring your master to heel."

"Well, that's rude. I was just asking." Doorman pouts a bit, but remains silent as the draconic turns to address his troops.

"Everyone assemble into your groups, and line up according to number! You will be entering the dungeon in that number order, at twenty minute intervals! If, within the dungeon, you run into the group ahead of you, hold your position and send word down the line to hold as well. If you take twenty-five percent casualties you are to hold your current position. If you take fifty percent casualties you are authorized to retreat. Squad One, step forward!"

The first group does so - led by an incubus, the party has three demons, three kobolds, one slime who had been poured out of a transport bag, and one...something else. The figure walks in a suit of full plate armor, but a misty chill emanates from within that implies that there's nothing mortal inside its shell. Ignoring the silent figure, the draconic commander steps in front of the incubus. "Do you have any questions, Squad One leader?"

The expression on the man's crimson face is a complicated one - on one hand, the man seems proud of being selected to lead the assault on the dungeon. On the other hand, he's experienced enough to know that bringing sixty-four soldiers to assault a dungeon is not normal. "Ah - two questions, sir. First, is there a reason we don't simply enter as a group? Without the interval between, I mean."

"I understand that you've led dungeon intrusion parties before, Expert Melonius? Have you ever been on a dungeon raid?" The officer peers at the incubus, who shakes his head. "Well, this isn't like a standard run! We don't expect a single squad to clear the damn place, but bunching up dozens of soldiers in a confined place is just begging for a single trap or ambush to slay the whole lot of you! If you don't want to be a cautionary tale for Squad Two, then I recommend you keep alert, and remember the skills you've been taught! Now, you said there was a second question?"

"Hmm, just..." The demon nods at the watching door. "I hear this is a riddle door? Who's taking charge of answering the riddles?"

"Ah, a good question! It does have to be a member of your party, but - " Doorman's explanation is cut short as the draconic officer shouts out an order.

"We won't be bothering with any of that! All siege-trained mages in the first four squads, prepare to open fire on the door on my mark!"

Doorman's eyes grow wide as a dozen mages ready their staffs and wands. "Eh!? Now, hold on a minute - this is entirely unnecessary! No one's ever had to - "

"Fire!" At the officer's order, a dozen soldiers begin launching fireballs, magically-summoned boulders, and lances of ice at the guardian. Over the years, Doorman had quietly been upgraded a few times in subtle ways. Metal bindings and reinforcements behind his wooden exterior, as well as magical resistance against attacks. But the rules governing a dungeon had always put a limit on how sturdy Xenia could make him, and that limit is far under what a dozen 'siege-trained' mages can produce from point-blank range over the next thirty seconds.

At the fourteen-second mark, Doorman's shouting face is silenced as a flying boulder smashes it to splinters. After twenty-three seconds the interior of the dungeon begins to become visible through cracks in the door's planks, and after thirty-one seconds the door is destroyed entirely, blown to pieces by a particularly explosive fireball. Watching on, the incubus squad leader blinks.

"I...didn't realize that was actually an option, sir."

"We won't be having any foolish riddles delaying our schedule! The damn thing will reform at midnight, but we'll blow it down again tomorrow if we need to! Of course, if you sorry lot do your jobs, we won't be needing to. Now - are you ready, Squad One?"

The eight members of the squad - minus the chilled armor - shout out as one. "Yes, sir!"

"Then get to it! I don't want you resting until the first floor is cleared!"

---

Within the dungeon, just beyond the doorway yet invisible, Xenia seethes to her guide. "Oooooh, that was the wrong fuckin' move. Forget trying to scare them off - Guy, spread the word. We're going to fuck these assholes up."

"Right away, ma'am!"

---

All of the soldiers had been given a thorough briefing of the layout of the first few floors of the dungeon, something which had taken up a few hours of the previous day. Of course, they'd all been warned that the dungeon may have changed its design, and it quickly becomes apparent that this is indeed the case. The shape of the first room remains the same, with its hollow-pyramid design, but the flying canines that usually perch there to greet visitors are missing. While this does make the first room quite easy, it certainly serves to put them on edge.

One of the demons - a male fury - comments on the change. "Probably adjusting for the fact that we're working in multiple groups now. Any monsters guarding the first room could just be blasted away by other mages waiting outside the door. This way, it gets to save them for later."

Melonius nods before peering down the next hall. "There's...supposed to be a pretty obvious circular blade trap in this hallway, but unless I'm blind I'm not seeing anything. Changed to be more hidden, I suppose?"

"Probably!" The red-colored slime of the group slides forward. "Want me to probe for triggers? A blade trap would have a hard time getting me, even if I manage to miss it."

The incubus nods, and the slime glides on ahead, tendrils probing at every floor tile and most of the wall as he goes. Eventually, he reaches the second room without issue. "Guess it's still trying to give us a false sense of security, or something? No trap triggers anywhere in there - I checked under the cracks, it's just solid stone under there."

"Alright - Squad One, forward." The rest of the group begins making their way down the hall, but as they reach the halfway point the terrible sound of stone shifting upon stone reaches their ears. None of them had stepped on any pressure plates, but as Melonius looks upward he still notices tiles being removed from the ceiling, revealing small holes. "Traps from above! Hug the walls!"

Expecting perhaps arrows or spears to come shooting down from above, each member of the squad quickly moves left or right, getting away from the holes running down the center of the hallway ceiling. Unfortunately, that doesn't help much when what falls out are liquid-filled bottles. Bottles which shatter on impact with the stony floor, igniting them each into a tiny inferno of alchemical fire.

The two members at either end of the hallway as well as the slimy rogue each manage to dash their way out before the hallway becomes bathed in flame, but the other five members of the group aren't so lucky. A few do have personal shields or other spells providing them with a bit of brief protection, but none of the group members are above Expert in tier - with most of them being merely Advanced. The only thing saving Squad One from a very early demise is the armored figure at their center.

With a sound like a giant taking a deep breath, the air in the hallway finds itself being pulled in through the slats in the armored monster's helmet. This pulls some of the flames with it, but what truly saves the squad is the exhale. With an inhuman gasp a freezing wind fills the entire space, extinguishing every open flame within moments. It also coats the soldiers with a layer of frost which doesn't do much to aid with their burn wounds, but it does seem like an improvement over being on fire.

Groaning as he pulls himself into the second chamber, Melonius quickly downs a healing potion before addressing the squad. "Gods be damned, that was a nasty trap. Did anyone see what trigger we missed? I know we didn't check the ceiling, but none of us touched it!"

A kobold who'd been near the end of the group speaks up. "I, uh...I don't think it was a trap, sir. Or not a dungeon one, at least. I saw one of the tiles being moved, and I'm pretty sure I saw fingers holding the thing."

The incubus's eyes grow wide. "Dammit! The mortals - the dungeon's set up hidden tunnels for them to use. They're not bound by the rules binding a dungeon - they don't have to give a shit about being fair. There could be ambushes the entire way through the floor. First thing though - has anyone been incapacitated?"

A quick check reveals that the kobolds didn't come through too badly, as the alchemical fluid didn't have time to burn through their slightly-fire-resistant scales. The silent, monstrous armor meanwhile seems entirely untouched. All three of the squad's demons however suffered severe burns to at least a few limbs, and it's only their healing potions and a quick spell from the squad healer keeping them functional. Still, none of them seem willing to admit defeat already.

"Would look pretty bad if we gave up at the first problem, huh? Alright, we'll push on at least a bit more. Now, second chamber - there's supposed to be a puddle of water in the center of the room, hiding the room key and a water slime. The slime tries to trap you while rocks fall from above."

The group looks around, and sure enough the room seems to fit the description. A sloped, metal floor tries to pull the intruders down to the center of the room, and a quick test seems to indicate that it's even more slippery than expected. "Seems like they had someone grease this up. Still, a monster slime isn't going to be a threat for a squad of the Domain's army! Hensen - burn that puddle til the water's been boiled and the slime cooked."

A kobold pyromancer steps forward to do just that, and a continuous flame from her wand seems to do the job easily. The hidden slime squirms and writhes as it burns, but after a moment even its gelatinous form has turned to ash, revealing a key left behind. As the member of the team most resistant to both slipping and being crushed, the slime rogue is nominated to go and retrieve the item, which they do easily. Except...when the slime picks the key up off the floor, an ominous clicking sound is heard.

Melonius looks around. "Another trap? Anyone have eyes on - "

The man's question is answered a moment later when the entire floor gives way, swallowing the chamber in an apparently endless void. With shouts and hopeless attempts to grab hold of crumbling stone, most of the party falls down into the abyss within the mountain alongside their silent monster companion. Only one of the kobolds and the fury demon manage to make their way back into the hallway in time, with Melonius falling with the rest of his squad.

As the final two members decide that they've hit the 'fifty percent casualties' requirement to call a retreat, Xenia watches on with a dark smile.

"The dungeon 'accessibility rules' never did really adapt to account for how a six-inch pitfall can lead into a hundreds-meter abyss. Guess we'll see how many of those soldiers can fly..."

------------------------------------- INTRUSION SCORE: MORTALS SLAIN: 5 (5 OUTSIDE DUNGEON BOUNDS, MANA AWARDED, SOULS AND KNOWLEDGE NOT RECOVERED) MORTALS ESCAPED: 2 MANA CAP INCREASED BY 18 TO 540 MANA ACQUIRED: 35, CURRENT AMOUNT: 277/395 (145 CONSUMED BY CONSTRUCTS) -------------------------------------