Xenia groans as she rubs at her jaw, but she doesn't have ti for much more than that before Taly shouts at her. "Boss! On your feet, it's a combat floor!"
"Aw, dangit! One sec!" Climbing up to a crouched position, Xenia catches her bearings in ti to see Taly firing off a pair of arrows at a number of tiny hovering figures, ones which seem to emit so sort of light which makes it hard for her to focus on their details. Both shots miss, and the flying monsters shoot back with blasts of magic...and for so reason shout out in high-pitched voices as they do so.
"Pew! Pewpew! Booooom!"
The ridiculousness of it makes Xenia want to laugh, but from the way Trush's shield vibrates as he blocks the shots, those blasts are no laughing matter. She draws her blade, wondering if perhaps she could down them with a thrown dagger or two, but before she can join the fray Sincere brings the creatures to a halt with a partial stasis field. It's not complete, and the monsters still shout their battle cries, but they're now pitched far deeper.
"PPPPEEEEEEEEW. ZAAAAAAP!"
"...I really wanna scoop them up in a jar or sothing, they sound adorable. Business is business, though." With that said she and Taly both get to work, the banshee downing three of the nearly-frozen opponents while Xenia cuts two out of the air with her sword. Once the fight is complete, she stops to pick up one of the sowhat-dismbered bodies lying on the floor to try and get a better idea of what it was she was actually fighting. As their magical glow fades, she realizes that she's holding on to a very tiny arm, made of...stone? The half of a humanoid figure she holds is no more than six inches tall, with limbs of polished green stone of so sort, and wings that appear to be red crystal. Glancing at the next tiny corpse, it appears to be of similar make but with different coloring. "Okay, what did we just kill?"
Sincere chuckles as he glances at the remains. "Haha! Those, my dear dungeon master, are fairies."
"What?" Xenia glances at it again, and shakes her head. "I've seen fairies and...okay, they co in a ton of different types. But they're usually fleshy, not, you know...jeweler's work."
"Oh? Perhaps that ans in other realms, fairies are an actual sapient race? Interesting...but here, these are re monsters. A hybrid of sprites and insects, I believe. These could talk, so were presumably at least mid-tier. Specifically earth-sprite type, although I believe that one there is a lightning-type."
The woman's eyes go wide. "Wait, that's all you need to make fairies!? I got sprites and bugs! We need to get started on that when we get back!"
Taly snorts at the sudden interest. "Dunno why you're so amped up about the fae. Besides, that's kind of secondary! Did you get what you needed, or do we need to...no pun intended, bug out? You sounded, uh. Excited?"
"Oh! Yeah, shit, one second. Deliar, Grenfelda, Theolif..." She trails off, mumbling a list of nas once and then repeating it a second ti. "Yeah. Yeah! I got it all! Huh...now that I think about it, I think my mory as a dungeon core is like, really good. Doesn't help for old stuff but everything that's happened since I got here?" She smiles, then a realization crosses her face. "...Man, I'm gonna end up with a hundred years of Floor Five encounters trapped in here, aren't I? The burdens I carry for this gig..."
Trush stretches, glad to have had a fight already but clearly eager for more. "Did you have any trouble? Looked like soone took the wind out of you, a bit."
Xenia frowns, using her above-average mory to replay the final events of her trip. "That's...maybe. I...I think maybe we need to do this less often, or sothing. I'm getting the feeling these excursions down mory lane are less secure than my grandma's gossip network. I'm pretty sure soone was there, talking to , at least for the last bit of that. Socked in the jaw real good, too."
Sincere's brow furrows. "The Dragonlord, again? I thought they were able to intercept you from seeing your past, not...manipulate it, or anything of that sort. Were they displeased by so other action of ours?"
"Nah, I don't think it was them. This felt...really personal, sohow. But...who? Soone's looking for ? I don't know, guys, I'm probably gonna have to puzzle this out later. In the anwhile, I think we're a go to actually finish this raid. We all good?" She looks around and confirms that once again, they appear to be standing in an entryway identical to the previous raids they'd gone on. Trush nods, taking the lead as he heads towards the next door.
"I'm ready. If this is a fae-focused floor, we'll be wanting Sincere's power in particular - they're much more of a magical threat than a physical one. Usually not too tough though, not til the high tiers."
"Barrier spells are at the ready." Sincere's hands begin to glow with magic. "Shall we proceed?"
With a nod from Xenia, Trush opens the door and charges through. The battle awaiting the party in the next room is indeed more fae, but not of the tiny, hovering kind. Instead, five humanoid figures stand, charged with magical energy and clearly not made from skin and bone. They appear sowhat similar to elentals in form, but thinner, with smoother skin and, in the case of a lightning fae, far more solid. Four of them are ard with dual swords, made of so sort of black, chitin-like material, while the one to the rear wields a staff made of the sa substance.
Trush starts off with an orcish battle yell, sohow not seeming out of place from his rabbit-like mouth, and the taunt draws at least three of the sword-wielders in his direction. Xenia takes on the fourth, the lightning-aspected mber of the group, and finds that for once she's fighting an opponent as fast as she is. She does at least have a target to hit back at, unlike with a lightning elental, but with two blades swinging at her so quickly they almost leave afterimages she actually finds herself doing more dodging than attacking.
That leaves Taly and Sincere to counter the enemy mage, and here at least the party has a notable advantage. Although he appears to be earth-aspected, like most of his group, the first spell the mage begins with is a fireball, with an extrely noticeable sphere of fla slowly growing at the tip of his staff. Far, far too slowly, as Sincere has plenty of ti to cast a barrier spell around the staff itself. With just a small opening left behind facing in the mage's direction, the mont the spell attempts to launch itself it explodes instead, literally blowing up in the mage's face. If that wasn't enough to kill it, a trio of quick arrow shots from Taly finish the job.
Trush anwhile, despite being outnumbered three-to-one, eventually whittles down the odds quite a bit when it cos to actual weapons. Although the man's class na was Shieldbreaker, his abilities spread to more than just that, and whatever the chitin-like material of the enemy blades actually is it appears to be sowhat weaker than normal steel. One by one as Trush parries their blows the Knight enhances the sharpness of his own sword's edge, shattering each of the weapons he manages to engage. As they're disard the fae begin to back off, not wanting to try and engage a swordsman in a fistfight, but that only makes them easy targets for Taly and Sincere to take down with ranged attacks.
So it is that Xenia is the last left to defeat her opponent, and as the woman notices that fact it certainly becos a strong motivator. "Awww, c'mon, you're making look bad in front of the team! Just let get in a quick decapitation here..." Not having many tricks available to her when it cos to magic or equipnt, Xenia instead settles for good old footwork. The next ti she dodges she takes an extra step backwards, and just as she expected, the aggressive fae warrior imdiately moves to keep up with her. The mont he becos over extended, brief as it is, Xenia counter-attacks with an upward swing that takes the fae's right arm. She doesn't let up from there either, and even as the monster is still looking at its missing limb, her second blow does indeed take its head from its shoulders.
Watching, Taly applauds as best as she can while holding on to her bow. "Nice moves, boss! You should really spawn yourself so fancier shit for these though, you know? You're barely better equipped than an Advanced class Challenger! Maybe even worse! Feels like at so point you're gonna run into sothing a sword or a knife can't beat."
The dungeon master shoots her a smirk. "Always been of the opinion that if blunt force doesn't work, you just ain't using enough of it! You're not wrong though, and I might be taking it all a little lightly, given that we always have the option of taking a loss and trying again later. Stocking up on magic gear was always more Beatrice's thing than mine, though. I can't take much with when I move on from a run, not even magic most of the ti. But skills? That shit sticks with you. Can always rely on good ol' swordplay."
"Well I've seen it in action, and I'm still impressed. If you want to challenge yourself without magical crutches, you'll get nothing but respect from ! Now - everyone good before our next advance?" Trush looks around the room and the group nods, although Sincere raises a concern.
"You know, while I do know so very basic healing spells, and we do of course have our potions, we might want to consider adding a dedicated healer to the group if we intend to keep doing these sorts of excursions. Especially if the dungeon does end up getting more difficult as we progress, as they usually do."
Xenia half-nods, then frowns. "Yeah, but...these are like an occasional side hobby for us. The job is being floor bosses, and, uh...I ain't sure there's a lot of 'healer' schemas in the boss monster types. I know there's so ant to co in groups, maybe there's a healer subtype in there sowhere? Sothing like having five different kinds of Rabbit Champions as a single boss fight, once we get real deep or sothing."
Taly grins. "Maybe it'd actually be a fit for a Floor Five boss, then? 'Hey buddy, you worn out? Let give you a quick stamina boost...'"
"Honestly I don't know if I should want soone who wants a Floor Five gig or hope we never get one. Anyhow! Onward, shall we?"
The group does so, encountering a mixed party of swordsn and flying fae in the third chamber. With their tactics established the fight actually goes quicker than the last, and they're soon on their way to chamber four. There they find sothing slightly different - a fae type leaning more on the 'insect' side of their origins, coming in a form that looks sothing like a cross between a troll and a massive, dark-shelled beetle. The monster largely focuses on defense rather than offense, and while it does take the group quite a bit of ti to crack open, it never gets through the combined defenses of Trush and Sincere either, and so its demise is only a matter of ti.
Eventually the raid party reaches the boss arena, and while the monster that awaits them has sothing of the form of the fae swordsn, its scale is extrely different. The monster is at least twelve feet tall and far more elaborately shaped, wearing a crystal crown and a sowhat more expressive face on its head, although its skin still appears to be largely made of stone and crystal. Also unlike the earlier swordsn, the boss appears far more verbose.
"Challengers to the Fairy King!? Ye shall be humbled! Kneel before royalty!"
Xenia, however, seems unimpressed. "Man, I've seen fae royalty before, and they're way more scary than you. Hell, worse than most gods, you ask . I ain't nowhere near clever or patient enough to put up with their bullshit. But you? C'mon, let's throw down!" The boss seems to acknowledge her, pulling forth a crystalline spear, and given that it shares his sense of scale the reach on it is more than enough to sweep the room. He does so, but the first attack is blocked by Trush's shield, triggering it to ring across the arena.
"Fuck, that thing's got so weight behind it! Soone wanna crack that thing?"
"Funny you should say that. Got a move I haven't tried yet...block your ears!" The party had prepared for a move of this sort, and quickly moves to insert small wads of cotton into their ears as best as they're able. A mont later Taly cuts loose with a sonic shriek, an attack designed to deafen Challengers. Its effect on the Fairy King seems minimal, if it even has ears, but Taly doesn't let up on it right away. Instead she works on shifting her pitch up and down, focusing her attack on the monster's weapon, and eventually it begins to ring even without striking any shields. Trush takes that as his cue and, with the help of a Shieldbreaker-enhanced blow, strikes the spear with his sword and shatters it into pieces.
Xenia cheers, even as she winces at any additional noise. "That's teamwork, alright! Now on for the beastie! Aim for the knees!"
Despite his massive size and reach advantage, the monster doesn't appear to actually be very well suited for fighting without a weapon, his slim limbs lacking the mass that most monsters his size would possess. He does his best, kicking at Xenia as she charges in, but it actually works against him - Sincere grabs the lifted leg in a stasis field, greatly unbalancing the boss, and as Trush charges in with a second Shieldbreaker attack at the other leg the King is soon left collapsing to the floor. From there it's mostly just a matter of finishing the creature off, diving in to attack its head, ducking back as its arms flail in every direction, and then repeating. It takes another minute to finally destroy, but the party eventually manages it without a single injury.
Taly grins as the monster finally dies. "You know, I really hated those two years of singing lessons my parents made take as a kid, but so of the basics are actually coming back to . I'll make sure to rub that in their faces the next ti I write them a letter."
"No such thing as a useless skill. You have any idea how many people I've killed with juggling?" Xenia waggles her eyebrows a bit before heading on into the next room. "Alright, here's hoping we get sothing good!"
Once again an earth elental waits for them behind a desk, and they seem unimpressed. "I hope you consider the usual floor clearance paynt 'good', because that's all you're getting. I assu you know the routine, yes? Any feedback on the 'fae' class monster types? And before you bring it up, yes, we're aware of the 'Fairy King's' misplaced arrogance. The Dragonlord will be sure to put them in their places before we actually utilize any."
Sincere answers with a question of his own. "Forgive for asking, but I'm fairly certain I've heard of 'Fairy Kings' and such before. Is this dungeon really doing much, well...design work here, or simply using standard templates?"
The elental seems confused by the query. "How many other dungeons have you even heard of? Dunno what you an by 'templates', but no, these are all Great Dungeon originals! That's why we're doing all this work, of course! Now, what did you think?"
Xenia and Sincere share a look, but the dungeon master decides not to follow that thread just now. "Well, our own team might've done better if we'd brought our elentalist, a bit more offensive magic, I think. The boss was literally a pushover without his weapon, though - dude definitely needs so, like, alternative boss modes, you know?"
"I believe he does actually have a bit of magic, but perhaps he was too slow in actually utilizing it. Still, noted, and thank you for your assistance. Please rember to fill out the survey forms with more details when you get the chance."
Xenia nods, and looks back at her party before the field trip cos to a close. "Sure thing. I think...we got a lot we need to talk about tonight."
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