DAY 794
The following day saw no new visitors to Worthy Dungeon, and those within dealt with that fact in a number of ways. So spent the ti training together, preparing to defend the dungeon against intruders. So 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, so chose to burn off their stress with an intimate partner...or two, or three.
One dwarf actually got pregnant to one of her party mbers, 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 ti 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, so of those soldiers look a little irregular.
"Excuse , 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 sli who had been poured out of a transport bag, and one...sothing 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 an."
"I understand that you've led dungeon intrusion parties before, Expert lonius? 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 recomnd you keep alert, and rember 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 mber 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 tis in subtle ways. tal bindings and reinforcents 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 beco 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 mbers 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, sothing 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 becos apparent that this is indeed the case. The shape of the first room remains the sa, 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 - comnts 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."
lonius 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 sli of the group slides forward. "Want to probe for triggers? A blade trap would have a hard ti getting , even if I manage to miss it."
The incubus nods, and the sli 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 sothing? 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 lonius 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 co shooting down from above, each mber 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 mbers at either end of the hallway as well as the slimy rogue each manage to dash their way out before the hallway becos bathed in fla, but the other five mbers 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 mbers are above Expert in tier - with most of them being rely 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 helt. This pulls so of the flas 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 fla within monts. 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 improvent over being on fire.
Groaning as he pulls himself into the second chamber, lonius 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 co through too badly, as the alchemical fluid didn't have ti to burn through their slightly-fire-resistant scales. The silent, monstrous armor anwhile 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 sli. The sli 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, tal 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 soone grease this up. Still, a monster sli 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 sli cooked."
A kobold pyromancer steps forward to do just that, and a continuous fla from her wand seems to do the job easily. The hidden sli squirms and writhes as it burns, but after a mont even its gelatinous form has turned to ash, revealing a key left behind. As the mber of the team most resistant to both slipping and being crushed, the sli rogue is nominated to go and retrieve the item, which they do easily. Except...when the sli picks the key up off the floor, an ominous clicking sound is heard.
lonius looks around. "Another trap? Anyone have eyes on - "
The man's question is answered a mont 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 ti, with lonius falling with the rest of his squad.
As the final two mbers decide that they've hit the 'fifty percent casualties' requirent 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-ter abyss. Guess we'll see how many of those soldiers can fly..."
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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 CONSUD BY CONSTRUCTS)
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