Chapter 4 (Part 1 of 2)

(Dungeon POV)

After a day of pondering on the layout it least it was a day from my perspective I had some ideas for the next set of floors. The first two floors would be geared towards rookies, F rank parties in other words. The next three floors would be for E ranks and after that I would increase the difficulty. O sense giving all the good stuff to weaklings and this would cause the greedy and over eager to delve deeper than they could handle giving me an influx of life energy as they perished.

First off I created a complex of interconnected caves 25 in total but of them an adventurer only had to pass through 20 to reach the next level the others lead to dead ends and traps. Yes, I finally decided to introduce a few traps to my dungeons. In the passage between the first and second there’s a pitfall hidden by a carpet of moss and two others are scattered across the floor.

For this floor I went back to a more cave like theme, only the floor was covered in moss and a few clumps of grass while the walls and ceiling were left bare. Each room has two or three dwarf maples whose branches skim the 10 ft ceiling in places. In others stalactites and stalagmites create hiding places for creatures to lurk behind. Now to decide on the monsters, which should I pick?

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In the end I decided on a consistent number of beasts for the level. It would be easy for adventurers once they got the technique down but every room had a diverse collection of beasts. A mossy boar and the larger armored centipedes from the last floor's boss room were the strongest in each room. Besides that every room had a pair of static hawks hidden in the upper branches of the maples, a frost spider behind the stalactites ready to inject its venom in unwary adventurers and the good o’ll mandrake for luck. Can’t leave out my first monster and adventurer’s seem to love him.

By the end of the floor they might have grown used to the monsters but together the monsters can each prey on a different weakness. The mossy boar and giant centipede are strong tanky creatures that can overwhelm weaker foes. Mandrakes can distract the enemy causing them to lose focus at crucial times. While static hawks even in death can debilitate those unprotected against their electricity and frost spiders are the silent assassins jumping at any perceived weakness.

I already had my boss picked out from earlier. A larger version of the mossy boar I called a giant mossy boar. A frost spider and static hawk would distract adventurers while the boar gored them from the front.

The last of my floor was used to create a long winding labyrinth I filled with plants. My monsters would hide around bends ambushing adventurers or pushing them back into pitfalls. Lastly I made the boss a massive glob of water mana.