The spear wielders behind the stone slab proved little impediment and the invading force disdained the second floor’s altar just as they had those prior. Evelyn felt a spark of hope as the pivot turned and the blazing haired sorceress stumbled into the mud, Twrch charging towards her. Hastily aimed crossbow bolts sank into the boss as it closed the distance and a gout of intense flame from the sorceress left it scoured and scorched but unslowed. Evelyn’s heart was in her throat, if Twrch could deal with the highest levelled threat they had a real chance.
The flame stopped just before impact as the sorceress braced, and grew. It was like some traumatising fairytale playing out before Evelyn’s eyes as the boar slammed into the woman’s outstretched hands, pushing her back through the mire as she grew and grew, Twrch suddenly looking like a normal, or even small, boar beside her as they slid to a stop.
The patches of smouldering char had mostly healed with a sharp drop in the blood level of the mire. Vines burst once more from rotting flesh. However, as Twrch attempted to disengage from the giant – for that was surely what she must be – she held fast, and with Twrch effectively immobilised the rest of the invaders piled on carving hunks of rotting flesh and shattering bone. Twrch’s vines lashed out tripping, crushing and slashing where they could, but the blood fuelling Twrch’s reconstruction couldn’t keep up with the damage and when the mana gem at his heart became visible the dwarves didn’t hesitate to shatter it.
Silence descended, only broken by heavy breathing and dripping blood from the dwarf who took a tumble. Evelyn felt herself smirk as the group jumped at the creak of the saferoom door opening. It faded as they trudged towards the light of the saferoom and she took stock: some gashes, a limp and the odd dent or missing plate from armour; she’d been hoping Twrch would do more. There were probably a smattering of bruises hidden from sight like the latticework along the arms of the giant fading from veiw as she shrunk back to a more human size, her robes appearing baggy and loose once more. She had high enough resilience that even without armour the flailing vines hadn’t pierced her skin.
Evelyn focused on her, [Flame Sorceress](Fire){20}[Blazing titan](Fire){10}[Burning destroyer](Destruction){10}. Level 40, that was going to be an issue. Other than perhaps the elves there was no one left in Timberhollow who could take her in a fair fight, the captain must either be vastly underestimating her to bring her here, or she had arrived and he was doing what he could not to throw lives away. As much as she had a fondness for Timberhollow, things like this reminded her that it was a little city in a big world.
The dwarf with [trapsense] entered first, “Aye, got a message about it bein’ a saferoom like ‘e said. It doesnae seem trapped includin’ the chest.” A hacking cough broke the flow of his words, “Tha’ smoke was migging. Whadiya reckon we take a breather for a mite?”
“Wot mate? Are you lot tired already?” the rat man that Evelyn despised cut in, “We need te keep movin’.”
The dwarf raised an accusing finger, “Ye just care about getting out o’ here as soon as ye can. They cannae follae us in, but they can wait outside and yer too craven te give yer life fer the cause.”
“Deal is I guide ye and I get paid; if I’m dead, I ain’t getting paid. You lot insisted I come along cause I know what to expect. Now I’m tellin’ ya that ye don’t wanna be caught in the middle of doin’ the next floor and ‘ave the floor reset on ya.”
The giantess stepped between them, “Two minutes, then we move.”
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As the group entered the central room of level 3 the dwarf with a heater shield jumped forward absorbing a heavy blow from the ogre skeleton’s club for the dwarf on point with [trapsense]. The others didn’t give the skeleton a chance to make a follow up attack piling on with most notably the guard captain’s warflail shattering a knee and the giantess growing as she entered the taller room and delivering a devastating jab that crushed its skull. Evelyn noted with reassurance that as they expended more effort shattering the bones of the downed skeleton than was truly needed to defeat it, intent on ensuring it was truly inanimate, they were breathing heavily once more. Simultaneously while the shield bearer didn’t seem to have suffered significant damage, he was trying to pop a bend in his shield back into shape.
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“If they keep their current pace, the attrition should cost them on the fourth floor, if not sooner.” Evelyn commented to Ivy as the group began to disperse towards the various doors.
“And if they don’t they won’t finish the floor before the reset. I’m hoping we can get a few kills or at least a delay here. Depending on the trial, if they fail it - Wait! Is she about to…”
An explosion reverberated throughout the room, knocking the giant and several of the dwarves nearby off their feet. Apparently, she knew the trick for the fire trial was to cause the explosion first, but had drastically underestimated what a safe distance was. Regrettably it seemed she was unaffected by the heat and the others were mostly protected by distance. Before Evelyn could be too frustrated that such foolishness hadn’t cost them more dearly, she noticed trail of blood pouring from the giant’s ear. While a high resilience did much to protect from injury, the most vulnerable parts of the body still remained as such. Eyes and groin were the common examples, but Evelyn knew just how delicate the structures of the ear could be, with tiny bones precisely shaped. As the giant staggered back to her feet Evelyn felt hope, a chink in the armour she could maybe use against this level 40. Of course, even if that was possible, they still needed to somehow deal with the four dwarves over level 20 and their two companions over level 30.
“You aren’t alone Evelyn.” Ivy shattered her thoughts before they could spiral further.
“How did you…”
“It was written all over your face.”
“Thank you Ivy. I truly appreciate your support; I just can’t help but worry. I know we’ve made the best preparations we can, but are they enough? Even the giant on her own might be too much.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have some hard words with Div on that one. Children of The Warrior he said.”
“It was technically correct,” Evelyn admitted grudgingly.
“Unhelpful is what it was, we tailored the fourth floor against short people then were faced with a giant!” Ivy took a breath, reining in her impulse to rant, “Damn secrets and divinations, but that doesn’t really matter right now.”
Evelyn frowned.
“The point I was getting to was this: do you remember what you told me you wanted the goal of the dungeon to be?”
“Not precisely, something to help Timberhollow?”
“A challenge to help Timberhollow grow, and it has. Its defenders have levelled and have gotten two kills on the group so far, as well as stopping more from coming in. As much as I did mean you’re not alone in the sense that I’m here, I also meant that you don’t have to fight them all. They still have to get through the third and fourth floors before the core room and it seems like Timberhollow isn’t taking things lying down.”
“Ivy, I appreciate the thought but the captain was one of the few people in Timberhollow who could fight them, and how would Timberhollow’s forces even get here?”
“You’re forgetting unlike the earlier floors the fourth floor is a raid floor. We might not have the proper challenge for it yet but it still has the fifty person limit instead of ten like the others and I don’t think the core room even has a limit. Timberhollow now knows how to reliably clear most of the third floor and everything before. From what I’ve seen and heard they don’t seem like the sort to take this lying down, am I wrong?”
“No, however…”
Ivy held up a placating hand, “I’m not saying they could take the full group, although if they all manage as well as the archer earlier… maybe? I’m just saying you seem to think everything to do with helping Timberhollow is on you. You killed the guards who wouldn’t turn before the coup. You were growing stronger in the shadows to help protect the city from threats. Even when you became a dungeon, you wanted to push Timberhollow’s troops to get better and stronger. Obviously if the invaders get to the core room you’ll fight them with the lich, but maybe this time Timberhollow will make the difference to protect you.”
Evelyn was struggling to piece everything together, like the carefully categorised contents of part of her mind had been spilled over the floor and now as she tried to put everything back in its proper place, pieces felt wrong. She’d had a good upbringing, not nobility but valued servants of such and hadn’t truly lacked for anything. Even when she failed to follow her family into service, her choice to become a mortician was, mostly respected, if not understood. Timberhollow had been a good home to her, and her parents, and their parents, and so on. Duty was hammered into her from birth, not some far off ideal to strive for, but a practical and integral part of how she lived. And yet…
“Don’t count ‘em out, some of the best people come from Timberhollow don’tcha know?” Ivy said with a playful wink and a nudge.
The girl had a knack. [Guide] might not be quite the right term, but Evelyn was increasingly convinced The Three didn’t nearly have the vision to come up with a word to describe her young friend. As Evelyn considered the invaders once more, hope reignited. They didn’t have to be able to beat them, just survive long enough and wear them down enough for help to come. It seemed plausible. But first…
Evelyn put a mock serious expression, struggling to keep a smile from her face, and replied conspiratorially, “Yes indeed. Haven’t you heard it’s the blow-ins who are the problem.”
“Yes, yes… Hey!”