> While most beginner mages often have enough mana for most of the things they want to do, many seek more and more – the regeneration they have isn't enough, the spells they can make aren’t enough, they require more and more power.
>
> It is with this specific mindset that many begin to construct their first – and many times only – mana engine.
>
> It's a barrier to many, for most mages have little crafting knowledge or skill and mana engines can only be used by their creator not traded or commissioned. The creation of one of these devices marks the barrier most would consider "the archmage classification" although others consider more comprehensive classifications that involve levels and spell sizes. Due to the typically low crafting knowledge and skill mana engines are usually raw and rough devices. Dragon hearts beating in glass balls and glued to a regular stick with amateur script work. Grimoire-like books with spells cast upon every single page and spells written in their creator’s blood. Bones, feathers and gems tied together with twine or laid in resin and cement. Varied and bountiful, it is usually obvious what the archmage’s mana engine is. If you see a device that looks like it was made in arts and crafts by a goblin or designed with more enthusiasm than skill, then kept in maximum security you’ve found it. Either that or the mage's diary.
>
> In essence, what the mana engine does is rip aspected environmental mana out of the surroundings and funnels it around and into spells cast by its creator. Without being used to supercharge spells most mana engines can also be used to fling huge uncontrolled blasts of mana but spell bolstering is their main effect and the reason most mages spend years trying to create one. A regular fireball cast near a volcano would have enough Fire mana shoved into it to raize a village to the ground. A regular water wave cast in the ocean might create a tsunami high enough to...well wash away a city.
>
> The obvious downside is how this introduces a reliance upon certain environments upon mages who didn't have any before that point. Wizard towers are the natural progression from this creation, for many archmages seek out and live in specific areas with higher concentrations of the types of mana they use. They will then set up spells that contain and hold environmental mana similar to most mana sewers. And then travel for kilometers around using their mana engine to collect and deposit their affinities into one area.
>
> A water mage might set up a tower just offshore of a beach where they pull: Ocean mana, Deep Ocean mana, Saltwater Mana – even Tide, Wave and Drowning Mana – from kilometers around to rest in the area around their stronghold. With enough time they can become nearly invincible in their towers for the environment is set to aid their spellwork at a moment's notice. Even the more esoteric mages make towers and build domains despite the difficulty of cultivating the types of mana they use. If they can't pull from surrounding environment, they simply have to cast their spells constantly in an area and trap their own mana as environmental mana for use later.
>
> This casting over several years results in some more strange towers set in places many would consider a natural hazard or mana pollution zone. An ooze mage that lives in a swamp of arcane slime for example.
>
> The next section depicts the systems irradiation of natural luck mana by locking it into SYSTEM_LUCK mana.
Excerpt obtained from the banned book "Secrets of the world" Author unknown.
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Innearth: Alright!
Innearth: I've decided to jump right into it. I don't have adventurers so… I can't really show you my dungeon information and monsters. But I can show off my dungeon!
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Amy: You sure? Didn't you mention you were delved by a dwarf once?
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Abe: I wanna see what it says! We all sent a status. Only fair for you to do the same bro :3.
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Amy: I'm sure it's fine.
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Innearth: ...I don't really want to.
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Abe: Plzzzzz :P. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think.
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Innearth: Fine.
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Pit Stop [Dungeon Information]
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Fated Eternal Design: Ouch. That hurt me more than I thought it would.
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Abe: Yeah...Worse than I thought. Feel free to ignore my obviously horrible advice. Should have kept that to yourself it's embarrassing :3
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Innearth: And I don't think I can give monster lists like you guys...The one delver I got, didn't exactly analyze or describe my monsters.
Innearth: I mean I guess I could write stuff myself? But if I just show them off there's no real point to that. But then again...having a list in one place is a nice overview.
Innearth: Okay! Change of plans. I'll give a brief overview of each area so you know what you're looking at. How does that sound?
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Amy: That sounds lovely. Where do you want to start?
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Innearth: Easy to hard obviously. Here's my first monster overview.
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Tutorial Areas: Entrance: Floor 1
Monster List Crystal Worms Endless auto spawn. Metal Worms Endless auto spawn.
Boss List Lesser Crystal Snake Trio Ferocious beasts of the tutorial area. Beat three crystal snakes to advance.
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Innearth: First off let's take a brief stop at my tutorial floor.
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Abe: A brief "Pitstop"?
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Innearth: Haha...ha. at least your amusing yourself even if it's at my expense.
Innearth: Okay so this room is designed so even the weakest adventurers can have a head start.
Innearth: The tutorial floor is 3 rooms from the dungeon entrance to the start of the beginner area and I've perfectly duplicated it 5 times around the valley. The main mob in this area is a two-headed crystal worm. Basically, I had Abe send me a bunch of enthalpy sped-up plates that can make growth zones and then came up with a similar system in terms of long Worms that are split in half and can perfectly regrow.
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Abe: Guilty o/. Yeah I helped.
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Innearth: That was a long series of experiments. Did you know symmetry is important for those? If you make a spike on one side of the worm and split it in two that spike side is the "real side" and the other is a body part that wastes away after being detached. If they both have spikes when split it works properly however. Also the longer the amount of time you spend the more likely it is to work.
Innearth: If you heal them into separate monsters over the course of say "a minute normal time" then you have to slice at exactly 50% to get it to work even the tiniest of slivers off of that and you fail.
Innearth: If you heal over a few day you can slice it in a range from anywhere between 49%-51% and it works.
Innearth: A few weeks 45-55%
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ZeMadDoctor: So what you're saying. Is that you don't have to wait if you do it perfectly?
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Innearth: I'm saying even if you hold the worm in a container perfectly shaped to it and perfectly measured and cut, you mess up most of the attempts.
Innearth: Abe's Time magic materials hack that time down to a half-hour – and I've given the worms a little band in the middle showing where it's safe to cut them. This is what I'm using to honour Abe...Now on to my next area! I'll show you the floor that took the most inspiration from FED.
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Beginner Area: Silver Mines: Floors 2-4
Monster List Lesser Snakes Same as the tutorial but found at a much higher quantity.
Normal snakes
Using rings for strength – more rings means their circuits are stronger. Currently 4 rings is the strongest. I've also taken to colour coding circuits that are strange and different even if they aren't stronger. Mostly an internal system so I can tell them apart but theoretically adventurers could figure it out...There's hundreds of variations now though, circuits for my normal and greater snakes are constantly being experimented. Some don't have rings yet because they are the first of their kind and I've yet to categorize them. No rings could mean they are either really weak or really strong. Minecart Mother Defensive monster that rides the rails around carrying a bunch of "crazy balls". Has a light material headlight so adventurers can see it coming. Crazy balls Covered in rough looking black materials to make them look like coal. These crazy balls are set up in a convoluted system Bose helped me with that lets the Minecart Mothers control them.
Boss List Optional mini boss: Silver minecart. This minecart careens about the dungeon, disappearing into unknown passageways for hours at a time. Unlike other minecart mothers the silver minecart does not stop and deploy crazy balls. Instead the silver minecart is bent on pure speed and includes a phasing ability making it incredibly slippery and hard to pin down. Upon defeat a special reward awaits the group that can take this down.
Sentinel/not supposed to be fought: Crystal dwarf.
A cute and loveable crafter who hides in the walls and only comes out to fix stuff after adventurers are gone. You can find and kill him – you monster – but due to its purpose you won't be rewarded. The crystal dwarf is also extreamely strong for its area and can only realistically be destroyed by adventurers that should be lower in the dungeon than the beginner area.
Sand bed
A True obstacle blocking adventurers from reaching areas too dangerous for them. Impervious to regular physical damage and resistant to most types of magical damage.
Moving around Innearth showed off different sections of the mines. They had really been improved after the crystal dwarf had a few months to work on them. Now every single section was filled with traps and decorations.
The light stick torches Innearth had made were replaced by crystal lanterns bolted to the wall with iron rings filled with flickering lights.
The straight hallways had periodic supports and occasional signs pointing out different areas. “Fire Silver This Way!” “Big Monster in Hallway. Warning!”
The "mining rooms" were now filled with hard lamp hats and had stone and metal mana pickaxes that were linked to "custodian" type monsters that would attack anyone who attempted to bring them out of the rooms.
There were also weaker crystal dwarves that acted like Bose's NPC's and stayed in observatory rooms to give out simple quests. Some frequented the mining rooms and acted out mining constantly with dull pickaxes designed to give clear smashing sounds. Still others helped “The Crystal Dwarf” in his experiments bringing materials or distributing more traps and setting them up.
Innearth was not as good at coming up with fake storylines as Bose but he had tried. Hopefully, the dwarves that should arrive any day now won't find his depiction of them speciesist.
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Innearth: Most of these traps were actually made by my crystal dwarf. Everyone say hi...
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Moving the camera over to the dwarf's workshop the view peeked in to see the dwarf at work.
Surrounding its table was a hazy domain of sorts with a higher ambient level of mana pushed inwards by half a dozen crystal staffs embedded in the ground around the table. Somehow the dwarf had made a small work area with an environmental mana level close to the 8th floor in the 3rd. The effect wasn't perfect and mana was fluctuating at the edges but a central contraption continued to tug it back into the area offsetting its escape.
Seated at the table itself, the dwarf had left his gloves to the side and was currently designing an intricate medallion of sorts. Leftover crystal dust lay scattered about and beside him lay a layered cake of metal and bright pink goo with a perfect circle cut in the middle.
Sparkling blue wires ran in curving shapes about the inside of the medallion before being insulated with pink goo and squished between two thin plates of silver. This was repeated over a dozen times with each layer having a slightly different design. faint pulses of power occasionally left his void-fingered hand as he stencilled glowing glyphs between the metallic runes or sliced wires off of a long block of metal.
The whole workshop seemed strange. The number of various bits of knowledge and spells being used along with the way the monster and his assistants worked and expressed emotions was...weird.
Dungeon monsters were not technically alive until they advanced. They were still technically just a part of Innearth and none of his other monsters carried themselves like the crystal dwarf.
The only explanation Innearth had, was that his love of experimenting had rubbed off on his puppet.
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Innearth: Yep, No clue what how or why the dwarf does stuff. This helper monster is similar to Amy's underwater beholder thing but because of its shape – and I guess my desire for it to be a crafter? – all of its skill lies in making things. I just provide him with materials and he spits off all sorts of traps and decorations. Like this table? I have no clue how he made it. I gave him the crystals and metals provided him with a bunch of the mostly spent demons blood-soaked stone and a few random unique materials I didn't want to turn into a monster and he turned it into all of this!
Innearth: Not only do I not know how a bunch of it works but I can't even copy it...like I've tried copying a few designs but it doesn't work for me. It's just some weird crystal dwarf magic. Neat huh?
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ZeMadDoctor: Wait. Is it really? Is it that easy? That's the solution. Isn't it?
ZeMadDoctor: Okay! I'm sorry I'll leave some of my consciousness here to enjoy your tour, but the rest of me will be taking a leave. That sounds weird. I'll still be here. I have to try this right away though. And I'll mostly be focusing on something else. I believe you might have just solved one of the biggest problems I've been having! Thank you. Carry on and I'm sorry for interrupting.
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Innearth: Okay...uh yeah well I'm glad you learned something. Where was I? Oh, Yeah I don't know what he does but he does it and I'm grateful. Moving on!
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Moving the camera into a more open area Innearth stopped and tried to regain his lost rhythm.
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Innearth: I also have something I...well I didn't learn it from Amy but I've designed them after seeing her dungeon so it's kind of honouring her.
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Amy: huh?
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Innearth: See those tree-like pillars everywhere?
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Amy: I see them.
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Innearth: Those are my healing trees. The inside is a solid core of the Healing Beacon plant that forms most of the time I try to combine Life and Crystal mana. It connects to any monster with crystal components and heals them consistently for a fixed regeneration. Not rapid or fast but it prevents monsters from deteriorating as long as they have an hour or so of rest after they are mortally wounded.
Innearth: Anyways I got to thinking...They would probably get smashed if adventurers realized what they were doing and couldn't benefit from it...so now they have a symbiotic healing plant outside of it.
Innearth: There's a trap/plant/monster/whatever I designed that has little rimmed cups of healing potion and small regeneration sacks embedded in them that reheal any removed healing potion. Adventurers won't smash these trees if they realize they have small pools of refilling healing potion outside of them and are less likely to realize they are healing everything if they think the use is something else.
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Amy: That...works. Healing potions are so easy to make I hadn't considered making them refill. Maybe I should make a healing potion monster that bleeds healing potion into my healing pools so I don't have to manually refill them? They can hide in the healing pools and atta- no I'm supposed to keep the adventurers alive with the pools. They won't attack anyone healing but will attack anyone stealing lots of liquid! It's great. Thanks Innearth for the idea.
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Innearth: ...this was supposed to be my dungeon design dedicated to you. If you want to use part of it yourself go ahead. Anyways! Moving on. The end of this area is my warrior's nightmare boss.
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Pulling them down to the room Innearth wished the bed was doing something now. It was still enough it could have been sleeping and Innearth finally asked a team of snakes to attack it in the background so they had something – anything – to watch.
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Innearth: So yeah. Basically immune to physical damage...but weak to magic. It's actually relatively easy of a boss for a mage, but too hard of a boss for a warrior and I've been recently deciding I want to commission a boss or materials from Doc? Doc you are still here?
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ZeMadDoctor: hmm?
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Innearth: I want some sort of boss monster that's immune to magic but weak to physical attacks? I was thinking if a solo adventurer was a wizard they could face the one that's weaker to magic and if they were a warrior they could face the one that was weaker to physical attacks and if it was a team that was facing it they would have to fight both of them as well. For some reason, I thought you could help with that. I don't have a lot of null stone and I am using it for defence and experiments...do you have any materials from demons that would work for this? Any advice? Sorry for grinding the tour to a brief halt but I'd figured I'd ask right now while I'm focusing on it.
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ZeMadDoctor: I have...well as long as you don't need anything truly strong I can trade for some weaker null stone. I want some of your circuit designs in exchange I don't seem to be having as much luck as you with them.
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Innearth: Deal. Anyways. Everyone else! Onwards!
Innearth: The next part of my dungeon is my maze. It doesn't have any monsters really. But it has a lot of other stuff. I'm sure you guys will love it!
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Transitionary floor: The Confounding maze: Floor 5.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
After flipping up the description for a moment Innearth pulled the group through his Escher painting-styled maze. filled with darkness and light to give the whole area a "fog of war" with brightness quickly dropping off the further into it you went.
Explaining the excessively complicated background with more and more detail he got a bit too excited talking about how much effort this floor took before realizing most of his friends weren't responding and continuing on.
Intermediate Area: Magma Halls: Floors 6-8
Monster List Magma spider Think of a monster with burning limbs that is bound to a bat. Climbs along the wall and ceiling using kinetic and gravity materials. Crystal bat Ranged monster bound to the tanking magma spiders. Shoots crystal darts with a few variations. Trapdoor spider Counts as a monster but is basically a trap. Void stomach and claws drag the unaware into holes in the wall where they are never seen again...good stuff :3 Magma web See Abe's we collaborated. Exists mostly to set up the webs the other spiders live in. They can drop webs on adventurers to burn them but I mostly have them set up to not fight because they are harder to replace.
Boss List Optional mini boss: death knight silver. Unique for this floor, the Death knight is surrounded by a dozen zombie animals and a environment that's incredibly damaging to the living. The Three Spider Sisters.
3 Unusually powerful magma spiders with the strongest set of circuits I've found – more juice and a light connection between all 3 of them and their specialized set of 3 familiars block the way to the next floor. Each spider sister alone could lead all their brethren but together they are unstoppable. A domain of solid fire that empowers heat and any fire-like spells, a crushing weight of gravity that keeps anything but the sisters pushed down into the ground below, a hundred grey-red burning threads that seek and stab anything they touch. This trio works together well and can face nearly anything as a team. They live in a web made from magma webs and have slowly started to be recognised as royalty by the other spiders.
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Innearth: Okay! This area is where the true challenge begins! Do you see those faint covers? Those are my trapdoor spiders. Void gullet and stomach to melt through enchantments and dissolve swallowed adventurers. All the traps in the beginner area...well unless someone is truly weak or stupid or massively unlucky even if they get hit by those traps they should survive. The intermediate area however starts getting truly lethal.
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Amy: Wow... aren't you afraid of accidentally killing your adventurers and not having any to delve you anymore?
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Innearth: ...I figure anyone that can reach the Intermediate area doesn't need hand-holding anymore. They should have the skills to see the traps or defend against them. Personally, it's much more exciting if there's an actual danger you know? There's not much point if you know it's impossible for them to die...with these magma spiders able to burn through unprotected flesh in seconds and void tipped claws I'm assuming the stronger adventurers would need much stronger defensive skills before they can handle being hit. This way they will actually want to dodge and I can get excited watching them because I don't know what's going to happen!
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Fated Eternal Design: Hear Hear! Honestly Amy as much as I liked your dungeon I think you went too far on that "safety" crusade of yours. That and your dungeon should have some quests and more decorations and variety and stuff besides plants. Adventurers know what they are signing up for, if they die they die! There will be more they keep coming endlessly it's okay to be more lethal in your challenges.
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Amy: My dungeon is fine thank you very much. I'm happy with it, my monsters are happy with it, the adventurers are happy with it! If I actually tried to challenge them none of the adventurers would survive my strict requirements and that would be oh so sad. No. Healing potions for all and shadow saviours to secretly pull them out of danger or divert lethal attacks last minute it is. Besides. We are here to learn about Innearth's dungeon...not make fun of mine.
Amy: So what are those bats you mentioned in your monster list?
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Happy enough to go along with Amy's attempt at changing the topic. Innearth found a spider bat pair.
They were getting ready to make a wild assault on the crystal caverns and raid their hated (nurtured) nemeses – the greater crystal snakes.
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Innearth: Okay, we can follow these two down, I'll show off the boss with a split camera while they get set up.
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Showing off his streaming abilities, Innearth split the view in 2 and displayed the 3 spider sisters while placing the information for the crystal caverns beside the spider bat duo. On one side 3 spiders moving about in a web of fire in the other two monsters interact in a nurturing way. They check each other over – flying around and making sure their friend looks fine or looking at their partner's wings and making sure they aren't damaged. Once they have prepared enough, they start venturing past the floor barrier between obsidian black halls and multicoloured crystal caves. Noticing the movement Innearth turns to focus completely on them.
Advanced Area: Crystal Caverns: Floors 9-11
Monster List Greater Crystal Snakes See "Normal Crystal Snakes". Crystal Turtle
Ranged monsters of the crystal caverns. Come equipped in several flavors that shoot poisoned darts, hallucinogenic mental darts. Sticky shots and explosive rounds...I spent a while playing around with these.
Crystal Hedgehog
Variation of the above turtle schematic. Instead of a single forward cannon the hedgehog has a dozen cannons spread throughout its whole back so it can shoot in any direction.
Void Flies
Just barely worth it they provide a slightly weaker threat than the bats that can hide behind magma spiders as they actually have to get in close to land a void needle into an adventurer. They are actually stronger than they appear for they are immensely denser than normal monsters.
Exists as the threat in this area that attacks from the air and requires a constant lookout. Can deal a good amount of damage and is small enough that it can sneak up on an adventurer if they aren't paying attention.
Mass of Eternal Crystals Unique monster. Pool Snake Theoretically a "normal" crystal snake I'm separating pool snake out because they spend all their time in the chaotic mess of unstable liquid crystals. Oldest non ascended monster in my dungeon.
Boss List Optional Mini Boss: Invisible Stalker. Crystal snake using illusions and natural abilities to hide and attack from the shadows. Has a rare drop added to it but I doubt anyone will be able to attack this monster. I can't even see where it is. The Crystal ***** Its a surprise :3
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Innearth: So, these are a pretty simple boss to get past. You can consider all the smaller fights against spiders up to this point as preparation for this fight. I'm actually trying to keep most of my normal spiders slightly weaker by constantly trying out different circuits and not remaking the stronger ones unless they are the 3 bosses.
Innearth: You know...in which case I used the strongest ones I could find. Power for cost I think these are my cheapest bosses actually. I can remake them endlessly and their circuit makes them much stronger but they cost nearly the same amount as the regular mobs. Anyways.
Innearth: Remember Abe's dungeon? There was a magma spider with a gravity field there - that's the one near the entrance.
Innearth: Anyways We are entering the crystal caverns! This is the area that's the most aligned with my affinities, especially where my old core room is. I'll show it off after we finish following the bat and spider raiding party. I should have mentioned they are bound together with mental mana but in an equal relationship. Good monster pairs!
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Going silent for a bit the group watches the pair come across a few lone greater and normal snakes – each with 1 or occasionally 2 rings.
Orbiting around to the rear, the bat started each encounter by shooting off shots of living crystal deep into the snake's back – most shots pierced and pinned the normal snakes but shattered upon the thicker greater snakes.
While the bat made a nuisance of itself, the magma spider would dash forwards, red lines running behind it and letting it scuttle over the ground at a terrifying speed. Getting in close before jumping and landing on the snake – a single lunge carrying it nearly 4 meters in a second before it stabs down with its void legs. With the 1 ring variants and most of the non “greater” snakes, that is usually enough.
When they come up against a 2 ringed greater snake it doesn't end as quickly however – The newest fight started off reasonably well enough. The bat used an explosive shot that shattered the snake's insides weakening it for but a moment. The spider did its dashing leap and managed to stab into the snake as well! That had been enough before but now they had come into a slight problem.
The problem was that despite its pinned state, the 2 ringed snake was still able to cast magic. Dark purple dust rolled out from its wounds and started crystalizing on the spider's legs while its healing sacks burst and began fixing its punctured body.
Ripping itself out of the spider's grasp, the snake silently retreated, watching as the fast-growing crystals covered 4 of the spider's legs on one side rendering it nearly immobile.
Straining against its crystal prison the magma spider started pumping molten mana through its legs, the cage getting hotter and hotter as crystal melted.
Not letting the spider free itself that easily, the snake used the last of its mana to push a second cloying cloud of crystalizing prison at the spider. Turning it also aimed upwards at the bat attempting to bring it down within head spike stabbing distance.
Flying to the side the bat dodged the cloud and attempted to free its trapped partner with a half regrown explosive round and – while the power was drastically reduced – it was enough to crack the already melting crystal and free the spider.
Flying about the spider and hiding behind its once more the bat nestled into its partner's skin, not seeming to care about the heat as it pushed itself against the burning area.
The two charged as one at this point. The spider jumped to the walls before lurching sideways outside of the cloud's range and slicing the snake's cone core head off. The monster’s decapitation happened in a majestic sideways spinning slice as a single claw extended down and was flung forwards with all the spider's strength.
Like a lightbulb winking out, the cloud of crystal magic broke apart and started shifting to nearly invisible environmental mana.
The snake's body continued moving for a second longer as if not aware it was already dead. Dropping after a horrifying headless turn towards the duo, liquid crystal rapidly flowed out and made straight lines radiating out in a splatter.
The flesh and blood acted weird as it stopped being controlled by the living snake. First its remains shrunk and turned to bones and goo, a moment later after seeming to wait a bit rapidly become nothing more than clutter for Innearth to clean up or dump in a new garbage pit.
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Amy: Good show!
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Innearth: Yeah...honestly I don't get a lot out of this anymore I need adventurers or wild monsters to excite me but I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Want to continue watching them or continue the tour?
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Abe: I'm good on this pair. What else do you have?
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Amy: I want to see how far they can go!
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Innearth: well one for one against FED? What do you say.
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Fated Eternal Design: hmmm? sorry I have a group reaching my final boss right now I got slightly distracted. We can continue watching the snake pair I guess? I want to have my full attention on the tour and this is less exciting for me so I'd like to rejoin the regular tour.
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Abe: Hah...looks like Amy wins but only because this is boring!
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Amy: ...wow. that's rude. I just started to get attached to this pair. Don't you ever care about your normal monsters Abe?
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Abe: What? No lol. They are puppets. I literally explode most of my monsters Amy. Sometimes without even having adventurers around, I throw a few blast slugs at the spiders as a pick me up. Ascended monsters? fine. But these are just toys.
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Amy: sure...they are a part of you. But that doesn't mean you should be mean to yourself! When your monsters arn't fighting they should have some toys to play with or relaxing areas to heal!
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Innearth: Well okay, I'll show off a bit more but save the best till when FED has more attention to spare I guess.
Innearth: So, one of the main traps of this area is the shooting spikes. I have them colour-coded so any time a crystal spike is the same colour as the room it's in its dangerous. The reaction is using a pressure cannon plant and is pretty strong...but now that I'm thinking about it I think I've gone and made my void filled trapdoor spiders stronger than these now... I'll work on that. Basically, adventurers need to figure out the pattern and then keep a good lookout for them. I'll see about making some stronger variants for the lower floors in the crystal cavern.
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Abe: I need more trap ideas. I can't steal that now but damn. I've run out of stuff to use on vaults.
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Innearth: If I think of something I don't want to make myself I'll tell you I guess. This over here is my mini boss. Can anyone see him? There's a crystal snake lying there in the center of the room but I can guarantee that's not where it is currently. It's been recently upgraded to mini boss status!
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At this moment the previous spider bat pair entered the room and charged the illusion of a snake in the center of the room.
Appearing to get skewered and die the pair rejoice before dropping dead a moment later the illusion surrounding their "fine and whole" bodies melting away and the illusion surrounding the dead snake melting into nothing before reforming a couple of meters to the side.
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Amy: Skuttle and shooter!!! Noooo!
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Abe: Grow up.
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Fated Eternal Design: Is that what the illusion core I sent you went to? I'm impressed. I think it's stronger than any of my illusion attempts that's for sure.
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Innearth: You back?
Innearth: You guys ready for the finale?
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Amy: yep show us!
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Innearth: Prepare yourselves.
…
Innearth: So you want to see it?
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Abe: Bro, I'm not going beg. Show us. That's why we are here. We all want to see.
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Instead of continuing to try and build up tension, Innearth flipped the camera to his new boss room.
A 20 meter long, vaguely reptilian creature, sat curled up upon a massive pedestal of glistening crystal.
Surrounding its perch lay countless small jewels and items.
Glancing around the room slowly, lazily, the boss’s gem-eyes ran a light kaleidoscope of colours over its domain. These dots of light flickered and helped draw attention to how strange the air in the room looked. It vibrated and shimmered slightly to sight while looking like it was falling constantly. The whole room had a heavy suffocating look and faint streaks of thicker slightly opaque lines swirled about and moved downwards quickly. As if the world was a drawn comic, the thin lines drew attention to and enhanced the domains “feel”.
Two greater snakes and then two sets of magma spiders/bats were sent into the room. Each appeared from separate ends of the cave and ignored their quarrels – simply attempting to move forwards.
Slithering and skittering into the room they seemed to struggle through the air-like molasses. The closer to the center they reached the worse it got.
Suddenly with a flick of pressure, their movement slowed, and as one, all 6 monsters were shoved into the ground and held in a subservient position. There was evidently some gravity magic happening, but the way they were held as if bowing seemed more like giant hands had reached out and pulled them about.
Slipping off its perch, the boss pranced towards the kowtowing dungeon monsters and lunged forward. Everything seems to focus in on its jaws as they slide open and crunched into the first magma spider.
Bubbling molten flesh was ripped apart and swallowed – barely seeming to damage the mouth of this creature.
Lines of magical magma run down its snout smoking slightly but not burning the skin and doing more damage to the floor below.
Continuing on to each bowing monster, the jaws lunged and close 5 more times. Each time the boss begins to rip chunks of magical flesh apart as it rends, chews and swallows.
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Innearth: as far as I can tell, dungeon monsters don't need to eat...and I have no clue what these ones getting out of that… but it seems to like it.
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Amy: Sky's above that's massive.
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Abe: you made a dragon???
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Innearth: ...I guess? I mean. Yes. Yes I made a dragon!
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Fated Eternal Design: ...I must admit, that's bigger than the largest monster I've made. How did you even make it that big? Why isn’t it falling apart on itself? How is it moving?
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Innearth: it's hard to tell because of the way it seems like those smaller dungeon monsters are just being fed to it but it's strong. Those are some of my strongest normal monsters that just got eaten right there.
Innearth: anyways. Now that you have been introduced it's time for the show!
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A glistening spiked snout peaked into the boss room at this moment.
Faint speckles of saliva dripped out of a cracked-looking mouth and a faint crystal platform spread like frost below the scout as it pushed into the room.
Innearth’s Snake Scout was now level 57. Many small things had changed over the past few months and it had advanced once at level 32. It really had slowed down once its level caught up to its relative strength.
Entering the room with purpose, the snake seemed strangely offended as it slid through the air and started to circle the room. A completely enclosed tunnel accompanied the snake as it made its way from one side to the other and then back around to near the entrance. Encircling the boss near the center of the room and tightening into a loop as it made its second pass.
Over 200m long and nearly half a meter wide the scout was now a LONG boi. The snake nearly wrapped around the whole cavern at this point and as it spiralled around, its length started to overlap. Turning inwards it started a collision course directly for the boss as it made another circuit and then turned on a collision course inward.
The scout's tunnel seemed to protect it from the strange domain controlled by the crystal beast. Air visibly flowed around the tunnel and left swirling slipstreams as it bypassed the tube.
Stretching and then leaping upwards – far higher than something so large had any right to go –the boss soared across the room. Landing mouth first on the tube the boss bit down on a part of the crystal tunnel. Its void fangs sunk deep inwards and then sliced around its whole length as the boss’s massive body fell downwards in an arc.
Opening the tunnel like a specialized tool specifically designed for this job, the tips of the fangs cut into the end of the snake within – drawing first liquid crystal blood...although with the bright purple colour and thick marbled consistency. The scout’s insides were heavily changed from their base after 5 rank-ups after all.
Wincing Innearth felt anxious, while not making any indication that anything was wrong.
The scout was his child. His precious ascended monster. The boss was a puppet...but one that he had put a lot of effort into and one he couldn't easily remake.
Thus, both monsters had been given strict instructions to put on a show but not kill each other.
...something Innearth had never done with his monsters before. But one that had opened the floodgates to him suddenly being worried about every small injury in the fight.
A whip-like shiver flew through the whole tunnel, causing the scout’s construct to shimmer and melt slightly.
Pulling its bitten tail inwards – already healed – the scout flexed, causing countless droplets of melted crystal to fly out. Hovering in the air and vibrating as they attempted to resist the suppression field release by the boss.
First one, then three, then a dozen droplets of melted and yet not hot or molten crystal, resolidified. Each “droplet” turned their tail-like wick downwards to face the boss and then started pelting forwards like diagonal hail. Accelerating towards the boss in the order they cooled.
Arrogantly facing the hail head-on, the boss seems surprised when the first few embed inwards unbroken – continuing past crystal scales and drawing blood. Frantically starting to evade the swarm too late caused the beast to skid about as it jumped from side to side.
Breathing out into the air, a frosty black liquid was formed that could melt through the shotgun like mass of pellets wounding it. Spitting this liquid spell back and forth frantically the boss attempts to shield itself and – while quite a few made it through in enough of a piece to hurt it –the liquid gave the boss a moment to rest.
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Fated Eternal Design: Dragons breath!
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Amy: You really made a dragon didn't you.
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Innearth: It does look like that doesn't it.
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Guys I told you. No killing.
A primal rumbling rolls forth from the crystal (dragon?) While a pulse of healing liquid closed over countless small wounds across its flank.
Turning to face its attacker, the dragon leapt forward, aiming to bite off a section of tunnel near its front this time.
Several half arcs formed in the air-like sections of tunnel impeding the dragon's lunge. Void fangs bit into harmless walls and its feet slipped ineffectually. Grabbing at the air as the huge boss attempted to stand on a barrier that was promptly dispelled by its caster moments later.
Falling backwards, the crystal dragon twisted and landed on its side – hard – a deafening crash resounding out as Innearth shook the camera about for more effect.
The crystal dragon had a bed of living crystals growing out of its back which would normally be a boon. However, landing on them caused many to shatter and a few stabbed inwards making an otherwise light fall incredibly damaging.
More rumbling growls burst forth from the downed dragon as it slowly, laboriously righted itself and glared upwards.
Faint mocking hisses flicker down from the scout as it once again begins creating a swarm of crystal drops – nearly half of its existing tunnel turning into a million small bullets in the air.
Guys. Non-lethal, please.
Flicking its head slightly as if regretfully understanding – finally listening – the scout directs thousands of drops at once towards the dragon's back.
Dashing across the room towards the scout, the boss twists its head sideways – two massive jaws aimed straight for the scout’s head.
At the last possible second the scout moves forwards and down, a thick crystal tunnel sloping with it and causing the boss to clip the side and run a solid strip off the edge of the tunnel – this time not ripping into the snake flesh beneath.
Making a sharp vertical u-turn the scout bends its long body around to come up behind the dragon its mouth opening and ripping out several spikes causing the dragon's back to bleed liquid crystal to the floor below.
Snapping back and forth the two massive monsters fight through the air of the cavern – skills forgotten as they simply bite and claw each other aiming not to kill but to injure.
As the fight progressed, the scout managed to wrap itself completely around the dragon and bite a huge chunk out of its side. At this point, the dragon was mostly trapped and the mock battle could be considered won. As long as you ignored the fact that the boss specifically didn’t take the chance to kill the scout when its head passed within snapping range of its jaws it was over.
Turning away and slithering down past the boss the scout started trying to find a place to sleep.
…Okay I just realized I built the boss room where the scout has been sleeping…that might have led a wee bit to its annoyance.
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Innearth: Sooooooo. What did you guys think? Long term ascended monster vs boss.
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Abe: I’m conflicted. I thought this boss looked really strong but then it lost. Maybe it just looked stronger than it was?
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Innearth: The snake scout is…well was level 57. It might be higher by now!
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Amy: I thought you mentioned once it wasn’t really a fighter…you called it your scout?
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Innearth: Hey! The scout started off as the snake king. He’s a strong boi. Alpha of the valley.
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Abe: Didn’t you mention something once about some otter alpha?
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Innearth: …I haven’t asked how that’s going. But the scouts levelled quite a bit since that point! I guess I cheated slightly and told them not to kill but it was still...It's hard to justify myself. They are both strong. Let's leave it at that.
Innearth: Anyways. That was the final area. I have some space claimed past here so I’ll give a final list?
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Expert Area: Unnamed – Under construction. Potentially "The Abyss?" Lots of void mana and monsters everywhere? Maybe the ice caverns? I’ve started really liking using Ice mana.
Monster List Stone Burrower Didn't know where to put this. I made void and stone burrowing worms that help me expand. They are currently all down here. Water Slime. Ascended slime monster. Currently sleeping off a small slaughter. Snake Scout. You just saw him perform admirably against my crystal dragon. Ascended normal snake.
Quickly flipping through the empty halls, Innearth ended his tour and returned to what he was looking at before.
What should I do for the 4th zone? Also how can I get more monster delvers? Oh, and how will I manage to fulfil that 50 sapient delvers requirement??? Lots to do.