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[A Quiet Island, Day 8, Mid Afternoon]
A feeling of nervous excitement comes over me as the four delvers stand right outside my dungeon's entrance. My mind is racing, wondering if I've made the dungeon immersive enough, whether they'll enjoy the fights or how they'll deal with the maze. Oh, I'm so excited!
Miss Witch approaches my entrance carefully as Tank guy pulls out a torch from his bag. He lights it and holds it aloft, Johmmy and Perry standing next to him as they advance into the dark temple after Miss Witch. They quickly catch up to her, Miss Witch stuck investigating the front door since I haven't opened it yet. As soon as the torchlight illuminates the door, Johmmy rushes over to it and begins scribbling in his notebook again and speaking so rapidly that the others can't keep up. Given the eye rolls and facepalm on Miss Witch’s part, I assume that this is pretty normal.
Eventually Johmmy calms down and the group starts trying to figure out how to open the door. Oh wait. I didn't make a way for them to do that. Actually, I don't recall making a lever to trigger the opening mechanism at all. Oh well. I just rotate the gears manually, watching the group jump as they're startled by the sudden noise of stone grinding against stone. The group looks on nervously as they consider whether or not to go- God dammit Johmmy!
He rushed in there all by himself! There aren't any traps or anything, but he got lured in by the Torchlight shining on the bas-reliefs I put in the walls of the first tunnel. They're meant to illustrate the history of the octopus people who are on the dungeon door. It's all the basic stuff. A disaster happened on the mainland which led to these people fleeing on a boat and landing here, finding me and then worshipping me after I built them houses and stuff. I add in a few other things, like references to a couple things I plan to make in the future, but I won't go into that yet. I need to get metal first to even be able to build those. I made sure to include a fight between Sentinel and an equally large creature that came from the ocean, where Sentinel wins by cutting its head off with his eye beams. Need to make sure people are afraid of him after all. He wouldn't be very effective if people weren't.
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I enjoy the look on Johmmy’s face as he records everything, happy that at least someone enjoys my work. Unlike the rest of the group who just drag him along with them as they advance deeper into the dungeon. After a short walk they reach the pillar room. Again, Johmmy freaks out, doing his scholar things with the biggest grin on his face. I'm liking this guy more and more. If he comes back I might make him a floor pass. Eventually the group decided to leave the pillar room, finding the other two doors blocked by rubble, the only other exit being the entrance to the first floor.
They seem to notice the shift in atmosphere as they walk down the entryway to the labyrinth. I told the ants that one of them can see mana, so even though the next room is filled to the brim with majors, Miss Witch won't be able to see them coming because they're hiding out of sight. It's mostly a consequence of my presence that makes her mana vision useless, because wherever I go there tends to be an increase in ambient mana density, so I don't have to change anything to blind her.
Right as the group enters the first room of the labyrinth, the majors pull back their jaws, the room filling with the “snick-SNACK” of their jaws locking open. Everyone in the group freezes for just enough time to realize that they're surrounded, and then they realize that they aren't being attacked. Johmmy is the first to move, his immediate reaction being to lean closer to the massive, razor sharp, mandibles of the abnormally sized ant to see what's holding them open. The entire room fills with shock at his audacity before Tank yanks him by the collar back to the rest of the group.
A tense silence falls over the room as the two groups stare at each other. Johmmy, once again, is the first to speak. Given his tone, he's complaining about something to Tank. He pulls himself free, much to Tank’s chagrin given his glare, and crouches down in front of one of the majors. He starts scribbling in his notebook again and, peeking over his shoulder, it looks like he's drawing the major’s mandibles. He's pretty talented too. I feel confusion from the major, and it's clear that the rest of the room is just as confused at Johmmy’s brazen confidence.
The major moves forward a bit, prompting the rest of the group to tense up as it nudges Johmmy with its mandibles. He doesn't seem to care, just taking the opportunity to get a closer look at the ant's features. He starts muttering under his breath before shouting something at the rest of the group. They consider his statement before lowering their weapons. The majors seem to discuss something using their pheromones, Perry the rogue wrinkling her nose at the smell, which the others don't seem to notice.
The majors all let their jaws snap closed, save the one Johmmy is studying. The group all jump at the noise as the majors file out of the room to return to their posts. The one Johmmy is studying steps back and closes its jaws, before following the rest. I guess I'm a peaceful dungeon now.