You are Summoned

“The system has designated the attackers as hostile, fall back to the second-floor champion and we’ll see what our foes have brought to the fight this time,” Glenda ordered.

“Wait, I thought we were making our stand on the third floor?” I asked.

“That was my initial thought, but I decided to change things up a bit. With the dungeon defenders gone from their posts, the adventurers will likely think we’re doing the natural thing, holing up at the final champion room, but instead, we’ll hit them early and hopefully give them a bit of a surprise,” Glenda replied.

Hoen led me to the portal to the second floor, confirming that the system wouldn’t just let us turn off the portal to prevent the attack. Unfortunately, he couldn’t expand further on the issue as it delved into how the dungeon operated and the system restricted him. As we fell back through the second floor, I kept checking back at the dungeon entrance, wanting to get a view of the attackers.

The second floor was interesting, and eerily similar to the first floor that I had been placed on. It wasn’t night here, but the sky had a sickly green glow to it. From what Glenda had said, the aesthetic of the dungeon was the corruption of the forest and its rebirth. My floor was supposed to be the place where the forest was normal, but with the corruption starting to creep in. Here, on the second floor, it was full-blown corrupted, and the creatures reflected that.

For the second-floor defenders, we had a small tribe of elves that looked like they had been merged with plants. They moved in an almost zombie-like fashion, and in addition to the weapons they carried, they could lash out with vines that writhed in their skin. While corrupted elves made up the bulk of the second-floor defenders, a solid dozen of them, there were a few other heavy hitters.

This floor contained plant monsters that were scaled up versions of the pipsqueaks on my floor. These second-floor variants exuded a noxious sap that would cause instant disease to any foe that came into contact with it. In addition to three of the plant monsters, the floor had a large bear that had almost been completely converted into disgusting, corrupted plant matter.

I’d already witnessed this floor’s champion, Verdigrim, in action and he had proven to be very strong. All our forces were gathered in the glade that was normally the area where the champion battle occurred. It was the largest room on the floor, and easily housed the current residents of all three floors. We had enough room to fight in the large open glade, but there were also spots to skulk about inside the forested areas bordering the glade.

The third-floor defenders that joined us consisted of the champion that I’d already seen and duplicated, as well as a trio of elves that Hoen called bladesingers. Apparently, they were a blend of bard and melee warrior with a dash of forest magic thrown in. A pack of eight dire wolves were also on the floor, along with a minor treant that was a smaller, uncorrupted version of Verdigrim.

I started by casting Empower Minion on the most powerful defenders. My mana had regenerated a bit by now, but I still ran out after hitting all the floor champions and then the third-floor defenders. I’d already buffed my first-floor troops, so all that left were the second-floor defenders. I didn’t know how much more mana I’d be able to regenerate now that the adventurers were finally making their appearance, but I was fine with burning one of my mana potions to help out.

It might have been a stretch to call the people that entered adventurers, as it looked more like a small army had invaded. A few scouts were the first to enter, humans dressed in leather armor and holding bows that were drawn and ready to fire. Behind the scouts, a shield wall of ten, more heavily armored warriors with shields and spears entered. Behind the shield wall were four halflings all dressed in matching yellow robes.

After the halflings entered, a tall man in bright green robes stepped into the dungeon. He began giving orders immediately and was obviously the one in charge of these invaders. On the heels of the man in green robes, a pair of armored warriors with greatswords followed. Bringing up the rear, was the last of the invaders, another pair of scouts that were intently watching their back trail.

“Were there this many last time?” I asked as the invaders made their way cautiously through the first floor.

“No, their initial force consisted of only six. It was the enchanter in the green robes, two men with the greatswords, a scout, and a pair of the halfling healers like the ones in the yellow robes. This is a larger force, but that won’t stop us,” Glenda said, trying to bolster our morale, which was dropping rapidly by the moment.

The dungeon had barely survived the first attack by these adventurers, and there had been a lot fewer of them last time. Our defenders didn’t care, they were all conjured minions of one form or another, but I could feel that both Hoen and I were doubting our chances in the coming fight. Sharing a link to the dungeon was nice when it came to efficiently handling the normal tasks, but the link also shared the emotions of its members, and we couldn’t afford to succumb to despair.

“I think I might have someone that can help us out in this fight,” I said as I pulled a figurine from my belt. It was Fitzfazzle’s figurine, and it was time to call on my friend for a bit of assistance here. Pushing one mana into the figurine, I could feel a strange pull on our connection as the call went out for Fitzfazzle.

I didn’t know what to expect. The system description for the figurine confirmed that Fitzfazzle would arrive at my tier and rank but would benefit from the same class and item buffs I possessed. What I should see was a Tier 1, Rank 2 Fitzfazzle. It was considered bad form to ask someone about their rank and tier, so I’d never pestered Fitzfazzle for the specifics of his class and how high a tier he was. If I had to guess, he had been at least a full tier above me, and this summoning would be a downgrade for my friend.

The glowing blue portal opened nearby, and out stepped Fitzfazzle, dressed in leather armor and hauling a small, wooden cart behind him. His hand dropped to the wand and hammer on his belt as he viewed the strange creatures around him. Upon spotting me, a smile lit up Fitzfazzle’s face and he seemed to be less concerned about the odd dungeon defenders.

“Rico! I heard you might be in a bit of a bind, so I brought some toys for us to play with. What’s the situation?” Fitzfazzle asked.

“Good to see you, Fitzfazzle, and yeah, we’re in a bit of trouble here. I was summoned to help this dungeon defend itself against adventurers that are trying to kill the core. Say hi Glenda,” I replied.

“Hello, friend of Rico, welcome to my home,” Glenda replied.

“Hey, bud, good to meet you,” Hoen added before going back to work as he and Glenda sorted out where they wanted the troops.

“A dungeon, this is rather odd, but if they’re your friends, I’m glad to assist,” Fitzfazzle said, still a bit confused, but he wasn’t doing too badly compared to when I was first summoned.

“Yeah, you get used to it, strange situations are kind of the norm for me now. Glenda, can you share a link to the dungeon’s vision with Fitzfazzle? I’d like him to get an idea of what’s heading our way,” I asked. Since my gnomish friend was considered part of my overall summoning, the system allowed Glenda to share some access to the dungeon.

Fitzfazzle didn’t seem to suffer from the disorientation that I did when I first tried to view the entire dungeon. Maybe Glenda had realized it was too much for beings that were used to a single point of view and pared it down to something that was more manageable. I joined my friend in looking over the enemy’s progress. They were moving cautiously, following the scout’s slow and careful pace as if they expected an attack at any moment.

“Quite the force they brought, isn’t it,” Fitzfazzle said about the attackers as he looked over the summoned defenders.

“Hey there, Fitzfazzle. I’m not going to look a gift horse, or in this case, a gift gnome in the mouth, but what exactly are you going to be able to do to help us?” Hoen inquired.

“In melee combat, not all that much, I’m a competent, but not exceptional fighter. My skills lie in other areas,” Fitzfazzle replied.

“I’m assuming the system didn’t let you bring a MESS with you,” I said, looking at the small cart he had brought. It was covered in a tarp and Fitzfazzle hadn’t revealed what was underneath it yet.

“No, I couldn’t bring a MESS, but I was able to bring some bits and bobs that I’d been wanting to test out. These invaders are not going to enjoy their visit to this rather interesting dungeon,” my gnomish friend said with the same bloodthirsty grin plastered on his face that I remembered from our battles against the necromancer. He was even rubbing his hands together like an evil villain as he approached his cart.

Fitzfazzle threw back the canvas cover, revealing that the cart was filled with odd mechanical devices. The system kicked in, granting me, and I assumed Glenda and Hoen, a bit of information on the toys that Fitzfazzle had brought.

The gnome known as Fitzfazzle has brought the following assortment of experimental weapons to test against your foes.

Gnomish toe popper (10).

Mana powered minor automaton (2).

Automated crossbow mounting structure with faulty targeting array. (3).

Blast chuckers, unlabeled (4).

Vestments of departure (1).

Samophlange (1).

“I have no idea what any of this is, but knowing you, Fitzfazzle, it’s going to be fun finding out,” I said, excited to see what these gadgets would do. The only problem was, the adventurers were almost at the portal to the second floor, and our time to plan and prepare was running out.