The Dungeon Without a System

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The Drunken Delver, Phenoc Colony, Medea Island

Four Days Later

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Haythem Linus growled in anger and slammed his flagon of beer on the table. They had delved the dungeon for the third time today, and been forced to teleport out of the fight with the guardian for the second time. Frustrated, they had retreated to one of the three taverns in the little village to let out a little steam.

"Our party is too small," he finally spoke. Bertram and Flasa looked up from their own drinks at his outburst, the grimaces on their faces all the he needed to know that they agreed.

"There are too many monsters for us to handle, especially underwater." Flasa added. "If it was just the Guardian, the fight would be over quickly. I guess that's the point, though." she finished, weakly. Bertram spoke next, a thoughtful expression on his normally carefree face.

"I wonder," he began, "the dungeon is going through so many monsters to keep us out of the third floor. The drain on its mana must be significant to create so many of them so often." Haythem hummed in thought.

"I would say the same about the first floor," he agreed. "The dungeon must realize the crabs aren't enough to keep us out. The Platinums can reliably get past the second floor now, too. Perhaps soon we will only encounter a token force on the first and second, in order for it to focus on stronger defenses on the third," He reasoned.

"Sounds like a dream." Bertram said, his eyes staring into the middle distance. "I've had enough of Crabs and Fish. Though a floor full of insects isn't exactly appealing either."

Haythem shook his head.

"It's all just speculation. For all we know it judges the mana it expends worth it, to keep us from going deeper." He raised his flagon, gulped down the final few mouthfuls, then set it aside. He leaned forwards, putting more weight on his elbows.

"Flasa, keep an ear out for any smaller parties that have a similar problem. Bertram, you make contact with them and organize a meeting." He looked between his oldest friends as realization turned to eagerness in their eyes.

"We're getting a raid together."

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The Platinum parties breaking through into the third floor was incredibly motivational for the Silvers and Golds. Every party who delves fights with a determination that is almost scary to observe. I mean, I understand why they are this way. They had been delving me for more than half a week, with the Platinums stuck on my second floor. Someone finally making progress, even if it is only their strongest fighters, emboldened the rest of them.

It can be done, they thought. If we try hard enough, we can do it too.

In this newly invigorated atmosphere, disparate parties began to group up. From what I understood this wasn't something done often. It would be too easy for one group to betray and turn on the rest, either leaving them in an area too dangerous for them to fight alone or by killing them directly.

There is a reason the party system existed, after all. Your party was your family, your party was your life. The shield that diverted blows, the sword that skewers enemy. A shield that could be trusted to block a deadly blow, a sword that you could trust implicitly would never turn on your back.

However, when multiple parties did join forces, their combined power could overcome challenges that alone would destroy them.

The day after Litan reached my third floor, three silver parties joined forces. I upped the number of crabs they fought, a force more than triple what they would have encountered alone. Squires outflanked them, yet still found themselves slain. Brawlers occupied their tanks, yet those tanks overcame them. Assassins were killed mid-lunge, or before they could even start to attack. The newly rechristened Combustion Crabs found themselves the main target of archers and mages.

It wasn't as though the guilders made it through unscathed. Every guilder bore cuts and bruises; the remnants of larger slices and broken bones healed as much as they could be by potions. As a combined group of fifteen Silvers, they overcame my Crab Knight easily.

I hadn't anticipated such a large number of guilders all fighting him at once, after all. Even the extra monsters I sent into the fight failed to provide much in the way of help. The raid confidently descended the stairs to become the first Silver Rank Guilders to reach the second floor.

Here, they followed the map distributed by the guild to head directly to the Boss's arena. Unlike the Platinums, they did not possess the requisite strength to fight through the hundreds of fish that defended that hallway. They were turned back, minus three members.

In the end, I fought against half-a-dozen raids. The golds, at least, were still fighting as parties. The Platinums didn't delve that day. My spies showed they were preparing equipment and planning a longer delve.

That night, I finished the prep for a feature I had long intended for the second floor. With deceptive smoothness the walls shifted, spun and retreated. New traps were implemented beyond just pit-and-spike traps. Some hallways were enchanted to seal themselves when two humans had passed, effectively splitting parties. If they were quick enough they could dodge it, but it would be too fast for most silvers. About half the intersections were enchanted to change every hour, switching up the maze on the fly and making the solution completely random for each party who delved.

More dangerous traps were rare; but effective. One hallway was enchanted to activate when at least two humans, but no more than five, were within it at once. It would then proceed to incinerate anything within. A fire mage, or water mage could probably save themselves and one or two others. The unprepared would likely die.

A bit more confusing might be my decision to lower the sheer number of fish monsters on the floor, and the number of crab monsters the guilders would encounter on the first. Instead of a customized number, every party who delved would encounter enough monsters to stop a five man party of silvers.

In the end, it was a question of mana and upkeep. My Crabs were no longer effective; dying by the hundreds every day. The fish, while effective, were slaughtered by the Platinums, now that they had enough practice fighting them. It was a huge drain on my mana and actually slowed down construction of the sixth floor because so much was spent spawning and raising more monsters. Not enough actually made it to my core to be useful.

I always knew I'd be performing a fighting retreat; it was an inevitable consequence of my new strategy. Namely; not overwhelming every guilder who delved they gained knowledge and experience in fighting my monsters in order to prevent a harsher response. Each time they delved, the guilders were more effective at killing them. I'd already had to increase the number of crabs a silver party would encounter, to stop them at the boss. The second floor's new configuration should be a more consistent roadblock; even if the monsters are more of a distraction.

I also lowered the intelligence of the newest and subsequent generations of crabs. The Crab Knight would retain Intelligence; they couldn't fight effectively otherwise.

It wasn't something I did lightly, but... I was starting to feel bad for them. They were almost sapient; like primitive humans having just discovered fire. Their entire existence was my first floor and their destiny was to die in futile defense of that floor. Like a unfeeling deity, I had consigned them to that life.

The most intelligent living crabs were moved, leaving their decidedly non-sentient offspring behind. I brought them down to a set of chambers next to, but separate from, the fifth floor. There they could exist peacefully and develop their existence. I'd make a floor they could live in later.

The fish, I started creating a large chamber for. A huge, completely flooded, underground space. It would have many small connections to the reef outside. Here, the monstrous fish would live in competition, with the basic fish either evolving into monsters on their own because of the mana density in the water or becoming food for the monsters. This space had tunnels that cycled water into the various parts of my dungeon. Too small for a human to traverse, with the water flow itself acting as deterrent most of the time, but easily large enough for my fish.

The next day, when the first raid of silvers encountered the much lessened and diminished crabs they were wary. After fighting the Crab Knight, this time a female, they were put a little at ease. Their first steps down a familiar path turned their confidence into confusion, then unease. Over the course of the day many became separated from their parties. Others found themselves trapped in flooded corridors where they had to fight off fish until they either teleported out or died.

Two unlucky men were incinerated, having been wandering the maze after being separated from their raid.

With this new element of chaos, the first raid of Golds on the floor found themselves stuck. They attempted, again and again, to find a way through. The Platinums stayed out of the dungeon, waiting to figure out the new mechanics of the second floor.

It was at the end of the third day that the golds stumbled across the boss room.

With the diminished numbers of fish and the increased numbers of Guilders, they pushed through easily, slaying my comparatively enhanced boss. The Bloodfish Sovereign these days was larger and meaner than Sanguina had been, boasting thicker scales and increased muscle strength. He put up a tough fight, but was inevitably killed. He did take a Gold with him, so it wasn't a total loss.

The Gold raid continued onto the third floor, where they decided to split up. Normally I would call this a bad idea, but none of these groups trusted each other enough to keep the raid together. Their goal had been to pass the Bloodfish Sovereign, but beyond that they were still in competition. Only one group would be able to claim my core, in the end.

Personally, I was trying my best to avoid that outcome.

But that encounter is far off, if it ever happens.

More currently, the Kobolds have found an isolated party of four and decided to attempt an ambush.

The ambushers included ten Kobold Villagers armed with crude stone clubs and axes, the Shamans of Fire Tribe and Lighting Tribe, as well as six Kobold Villagers armed with short bows.

They were in the branches above the party; who were making a poor attempt at stealth. The Kobolds Villagers were a small, hunched monster. I might have mistaken them for particularly buff Goblins if not for their lizard-like snouts, molten gold irises and scaled skin the colour of dried blood. The Shamans had a more upright posture and refined facial features; draped in primitive robes and fishbone charms. Where they had developed this fashion sense, I had no idea.

In order to preserve the Kobolds' anonymity the ambush had to be sudden and overwhelming. None of the Guilders could be allowed the chance to grab for their teleport crystals.

The plan, therefore, was relatively simple.

The archers would fire from above, aiming more to separate the guilders than going for an immediate kill. They weren't yet accurate enough to do more than that. Maybe with more practice and better bows. Simultaneously, the warriors would jump down with weapons raised. These would strike the stumbling and confused humans, if not outright kill them.

The two Shamans would then join. The Lightning Shaman with her stave would direct bolts down at important targets, such as the group's healer. As a side effect, the bolts should be disorienting to the rest of the humans. A bright light to blind them and thunder going off in their ears, after all. The Fire Shaman would throw bolts of fire at the others, even as the Villagers below whaled on the now confused, divided, concussed and flaming guilders.

The plan proceeded perfectly.

One man almost reached his crystal, but a well-aimed axe throw to the back of his head stopped that.

And so, I had another four corpses to experiment with. I had the Kobolds collect the mana-cores and throw the meat to the fish in the river. The skeletons and cores were taken down to my experimentation rooms on the fifth floor. I'm probably going to need to move those south soon.

Also, the Fourth floor wasn't exactly up the same standards I'd set for the other floors. A winding set of dirt and rock tunnels filled with rats, compared to ruin-filled jungle and an intricately carved and elaborate maze. I'll need to spend a few days getting it up to snuff. It'll slow work on the sixth, but my perfectionism carried over from my last life and it was bugging me.

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Matha Gorge was simultaneously pleased and vexed about this new development. Vexed that the dungeon had apparently re-activated long-dormant traps and mechanisms, and pleased that it had stymied the golds and silvers who had been making progress.

Her and her brother would be the ones to shatter the core. They had greater reason than these bloodhounds that followed the scent and promise of gold.

She did worry a while of the Raid the Golds had cobbled together. Thankfully it seems one of the groups was lost to the dungeon. Most of the Golds thought that the lost party had been killed by another on the third floor, after the raid had dispersed. In the end it didn't matter, since just the fact that they were in-fighting all but assured her that another Raid was all but impossible for them.

"Sister, I think we're ready." Litan stated, looking over all the equipment they had commissioned from a capable Magesmith on the mainland. Insect-repelling, temperature-regulating and waterproof. They didn't have much in the way of defense, besides the high-quality monster leather and mana-infused metals. Their reflexes should be protection enough.

"Yes, brother. I think we are. Tomorrow, as a Raid?" She questioned, to his nod. She hummed, pleased. This dungeon was tricky. But it would fall.

They all had before.

This one was no different.

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