Doyle sighs, whether he can control his bosses is a question for the future. After all, he would rather be on the side of them being more chaotic. A robot following directions to the letter is going to be a lot easier to beat than something going by whim and whimsy. It isn’t like he won’t be able to improve it and he has enough things to tweak on the floors being actively used. Though even in this short amount of time, more people have been making it down to the third or even the fourth floor if they get lucky with the maze layout.
Of course, the ones able to make it the farthest are still the founders and less than a week later, it seems like they are finally going to attempt to make a concentrated push. Ace is leading his group through the first three floors with more caution than ever. Doyle had seen them almost throw themselves into the early floors and never once did they bother to do more than explore the third floor, turning back the moment any of them got injured.
With this change, Doyle can feel a certain seriousness around them. Not that they were ever careless. All of the founders knew well enough that the dungeon wouldn’t coddle them and death was possible even on the earliest floors if you weren’t careful. But this time it took them twice as long to make it through but they seemed to be more ready than ever as they entered the fourth floor.
As they began fighting the wolves, things went as usual. Decent teamwork from both sides made the fight a bit more even than Ace would want but it is at this point that Ace reveals his ace in the hole for this run. He had always been one for nature based magic and finally that has extended to healing. While it isn’t the instant heal that Doyle had seen from Doctor’s spells, Ace’s magic got to the same place if taking a bit more time.
Just a bit of magical word salad and a gentle glow on the wound accelerates the healing process to an absolutely magical speed. Cuts close up like a zipper was being pulled and bleeding stopped in moments. While not exactly the best for combat healing, it was fast enough that Ace’s heal over time spell was at least a match for the rare healing potions that had been dropping.
This new advantage allows the group to finally break through into the final section of the floor, including a really nasty ambush early on where the three stone wolves ended up in close proximity to seven normal wolves. Still, the group manages to win, with only two of them being injured in a way that needed healing.
And this brought them to the first wolf rider. An encounter with six normal wolves and one kobold riding a stone wolf. Both of the main teams had already encountered this before but even after having fought here a couple times it was still a hard fought victory. Doyle hadn’t meant for it to be so effective but like how the goat herders on the second floor having greater control over their herd, the wolf riders were able to command their pack.
The kobold and their stone wolf stead don’t even join in to start and yet the fight isn’t easier for it. By staying back, the stone wolf has a near hundred percent chance to call on the three wolves just a room away. A nasty bit of work as slowly the teams had been figuring out methods to prevent the earlier fights from stacking up. This is particularly true for the eight rooms in a row where each room only has a single wolf.
Of course, the kobold knight doesn’t hold back forever. As soon as the reinforcements arrive or a couple wolves die, it joins right in. The stone wolf providing a stable platform from which to assault the enemy with her spear. While not as protected as even some of the earlier kobolds, a combination of spear and stone allows for a decent enough active defense that the knight tends to end up being the last enemy standing. Though at that point there isn’t a chance to turn things around against any of the founders, Doyle can definitely see them mopping up some of the weaker teams.
Though in the time it takes Doyle to think that, Ace and company have won the fight and fought their way further into the floor. A bit disconcerting for Doyle, but something he has noticed before and is something he has to work on. Whenever not much is happening he seems to mentally downshift where he takes longer to do things and tends to go with the flow.
It is not that he becomes duller or anything. Rather, it just seems like the way a dungeon is able to pass the time without being bogged down by the potentially cosmic scales of time they deal with. The only problem is that Doyle’s dungeon is small enough that teams can get quite deep before he shakes it off. Plus, it probably doesn’t help that even as a human he was never one to wake up quickly.
In fact, just thinking about that has skipped even more of Ace’s delve. Though Doyle does refocus soon enough to see that they got a lucky roll. The only place where two ambush locations lead into the same room and one of the ambushes ended up being empty. A welcome relief for Ace as that location can be an absolute show stopper if two teams of three show up.
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After that, it is mostly smooth sailing as even with the random number of wolves the team is more than ready. The difficulty only picks up on the final stretch as kobolds begin to join in on every fight. Though the final couple rooms, along with the last ambush, is where the difficulty curve is thrown out the window. The main room itself contains four kobolds, two stone wolves, and five wolves.
And of course if there is even the merest hint that the fight won’t be a pure curb stomp they aren’t shy about calling on the next rooms three knights ready on their mounts as well as whatever is in the final ambush room. This time around though Ace’s group is once again lucky with the roll. Just two normal wolves join in on top of the knights. A much more favorable outcome than even a single stone wolf as one of the wolf-less knights is more than willing to mount up.
Outnumbered in ways they haven’t been since the original wolf pack Ace’s healing shines. While some might prefer an instant solution, the continued slow heal shows its most interesting aspect. Once all the current wounds are healed, it doesn’t just go away. Sure, it won’t linger forever but Ace is able to apply it to Jack after a minor scratch and won’t need to go back to heal more unless something serious happens. Plus, the magic seems to focus on stabilization rather than fully healing everything. So even if it is already healing another wound, some of the magic will instantly be spent to stop bleeding and all the other small things that continue to add up during a fight.
Still, with five kobolds mounted and two on foot the fight is anything but easy. If it wasn’t for the few loot drops that Ace’s group had gathered, it might not have been possible. The luckiest drop, though, was for Jack. Just the day before, he had gotten a bronze mace as a loot drop from the kobold camp on the first floor. Until then, he had been using the makeshift sledgehammer made from a metal pole with a clump of concrete at the end. Some of the crafters had carved it up a bit and wrapped the handle so it half escaped the fate of all pre-system gear but with that mace he could finally really show his strength.
A very useful thing when your opponents have literal blocks of stone growing out of them for armor. With every swing of the mace, Jack is able to knock off pieces of the stone plates while the others mostly provide backup. Though Susan is making quick work of the normal wolves and the most unfortunate kobold healers who didn’t manage to bum a ride. Combined with Ace keeping everyone on their feet the group manages to grind out a win.
And grind is very much the correct word for it. Almost every stone wolf has had their front stone plates reduced to gravel. Jack can barely continue swinging his mace as the last kobold falls. Ace looks at the others and sighs, “Two hours, do any of you think it will take more than two hours to be back in fighting form?”
Jack giggles as Sammy guides him to the ground, “Just a bit tired! What about you? Got enough healing left in ya?”
Ace nods, “The out of combat healing takes a lot less out of me far as healing capacity.”
Sammy yawns as she takes a seat next to Jack, “We had a lucky run this time. I say we check if a chest pops up on this side and after a rest go and check out the boss floor.”
Ruby shakes her head, “We can’t be certain that the next floor has a boss or that there even is a fifth floor.”
Susan stands back up and walks into the next room to the protest of the others. She just rolls her eyes, “We know this is at the very least the last enemies on this section of the floor. The map doesn’t leave any room to the left and there isn’t any hallway going straight through. Plus, I’m the sneak. Let me sneak.”
No one has a good argument against that and so Doyle gets to watch as for the first time the floor’s true reward pops up. He didn’t have much control over the chest design at the moment but even the System realizes that the chest at the end of a floor needs some style. While it keeps much of the design from the one that pops up in the safe room, bronze decorations are replaced with gold and silver. Even the wood is special with a pleasing grain pattern.
Of course, Susan ignores it and takes a quick look in the last two rooms. The first one is an empty ambush alcove while the second contains the portal. With clear evidence she yells back, “All clear, just a treasure chest and a portal.”
Ruby shrugs, “Well, I guess there is a fifth floor. What’s in the chest?”
Susan shakes her head, not that Ruby can see her, “I’ll have to open it to find out. Did anyone figure out how potential loot drops work with a chest?”
Then before the others can answer she pops the chest open and answers her own question as two loot portals open up next to the chest. “Nevermind, they just open up next to the chest. I’m going to take a look and see what we have.”
This declaration grabs Doyle’s attention. As far as he can tell, there isn’t a way to know what is in a portal without reaching into. And she just reaches into a portal and feels around before yelling back, “Got a spear in the left!” Then, after checking the other, “And another spear in the right. I guess there wasn’t much variety on those kobolds. Would have been nice if the healers had dropped a wand.”
Ace and Sammy walk into the room and Ace sighs, “Just because the dungeon has basically made the drops what the monsters are wielding doesn’t mean that is the limit. Just look at the coins. You and I both know that no amount of shuffling through their gear would find those things until they’re dead. Anyway, I say Sammy gets one and the other goes to Og.”