When the adventuring party got their bearings and took in the lakeside town before them, Mordecai moved his avatar from the war room to the sixth floor and gave them a sweeping bow. “Congratulations, you passed through a difficult but fair set of challenges. As a permanent reward, in the future, you may venture to the sixth floor through Kazue’s challenge and switch to the combat path here. The only caveat is that everyone in your party has to have done the same thing. You can also switch to taking the non-combat route here, but if you do so today, or tomorrow, assuming you rest here, you will have to cope with a very disappointed Moriko.”
The group stared at him with quite a mix of expressions. They all looked exhausted, and the cleaning minor magics they had used had not been up to the task of making their clothing look less ragged after what they’d been through. Shizoku stepped forward first.
“Why greetings, oh master of the dungeon.” Her formal phrasing dripped sarcasm in the way only a teenage girl’s voice could. “What a pleasant surprise, and quite the honor you have bestowed on us. We thank you for the offer, but I think that your lovely wife will find us facing her down upon the morrow.”
Mordecai decided that Shizoku had almost certainly gotten over her crush on him, which would make everyone happier. “Excellent, I am glad you are enjoying your experience. Then you should take your time enjoying the town and relaxing. You have quite the journey ahead of you tomorrow, and several ways to proceed. Choose wisely. Oh, and one word of caution: I’ve been modifying the battles less on each floor, and I will not be conducting the last fight on this floor at all. Moriko will be in charge. So don’t expect my style to carry over; she’s going to do it her way.”
And with that, he moved his avatar to the entrance to fulfill today’s backlog of debt trade, then he took some time to walk the fifth floor and congratulate everyone for a job well done, though he chided a little about how easily they caved to a cute kitsune and told them to start working out a training plan to not fold to anyone who reminded them of Kazue. He’d probably adjust the plan, but it was best to have them actually thinking about it first. Some of his congratulations would have to wait until tomorrow when they revived. While their souls were resting safely in the dungeon’s core they were not conscious, though their emotions and last active thoughts were easily read.
While he was doing this, Kazue was spending more time with her mother and father. Given all the events that had happened in the last several months of her life, it seemed good to give her space occasionally to keep connected with her past and her family. Hmm, speaking of those events, he realized that the midsummer solstice was coming up soon, which was Zagaroth’s major holiday and represented a peak of power. Sakiya’s was the spring, representing passion and growth; Ozuran’s was in the fall, representing both the coming darkness and a time to be orderly and prepare oneself for what was to come, while the twins shared a three-day holiday centered on the winter solstice, representing a balance between shadow and light, as well as being a balance opposite Zagaroth.
Since the three of them worshiped three of the Pillars, it might be a good idea to organize celebrations for all four holidays involving them. He sent the suggestion to his wives, and both responded positively.
Moriko’s response was a touch absent-minded though, most of her concentration was focused on last-minute organization and training. Mordecai wasn’t going to keep her up to date on any more activities from the delving party, and she knew it. But there would be time later for them to plan their holidays.
The adventurers were thorough and quickly picked up on an interesting aspect of this town. As Kazue’s path was easier for most to get through, there were already other groups here, and that meant they could conduct trade with both them and the laganthro clans, as both bunkin and the winged rabkin were present.
The party was pooling their resources and trying to get clever, and Mordecai had a good guess as to what sorts of potions and elixirs Shizoku was going to pull together. There were some obvious choices depending on what materials she could get her hands on, and a lot of options depending on how creative they got.
It took the thirteen-year-old kitsune long enough to finish her tasks that she didn’t finish until almost noon the next day, having let a few items brew overnight before their final measuring and mixing. There had been plenty of other things to pay attention to and he hadn’t wanted to spy, so Mordecai was a bit curious when Shizoku handed out what looked like chewy candies in addition to a variety of potions, and what he guessed were electrically charged alchemical bombs, and possibly some flash-freeze ones too.
Lightning was the obvious elemental choice against water creatures, ice was less reliable but worked well against creatures adapted to warmer water. Being able to read the situation, prepare, and adapt was part of the challenge. But those chews … he’d ask about them a little later.
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While the party had been preparing itself, the dungeon’s family had eaten and relaxed for a bit, then Moriko had headed off to play her part. The rest of them only gathered in the war room when Mordecai noticed that the delvers were almost ready.
“Akahana, do you know what these are?” Mordecai created a detailed picture of the item while the main illusion continued to play.
“Mmm,” The druid examined it, then nodded. “Yes, I think I do. I’ll leave the details as a surprise for you, but they are quite appropriate for a watery environment like this.” The kitsune grinned. “The effects won’t be a real surprise, just the method.”
Well, he had no place to complain about others deciding to be mysterious, so he nodded his thanks and then turned his attention back to the adventurers.
While Shizoku had been preparing her alchemy, the rest of them had been preparing a ride. They had negotiated for the services of a large river boat crewed by two bunkin. The laganthros would not be fighting, gaining their services and the use of the boat was an alternative to making one's own. When well-equipped explorers started coming for the challenge, Mordecai expected to see things like folding boats come into play, or even just magic, but those confident that they had enough resources to use magic for their transport and still have the resources to handle a boss fight at the end were not likely to be hampered by the sixth floor anyway.
The rest of the preparations were thorough too. Everything that probably wouldn’t be needed immediately was wrapped in waterproof skins and tied to bladders inflated with air, almost guaranteeing that they’d be retrievable if anything happened. Nainvil and one of the guards had acquired pikes to help fend off attackers, the other two guards would be using their crossbows as their primary option.
And Takehiko and Shizoku had finally broken out their staffs. Mordecai had been certain that they had enchanted specimens of the staves that the clan had claimed previously, and he was right. They’d been keeping them in space-expanded bags, but this meant they were serious, which was good. They both had a set of scrolls, and everyone had some potions, elixirs, and alchemical bombs in bandoleers. Mordecai was pretty certain that Shizoku had decided against trying to mix ingredients on the fly while in a boat, and had simply prepared everything she could think of.
It made him smile. This felt good. A challenge that pushed people just right, neither overwhelmed nor overwhelming. The only reason the final fight against Akahana had felt like this was because the druid had been careless and aggressive. If she’d been this cautious and prepared, that battle would have been a lot shorter.
The riverboat pushed off with the party onboard and navigated to the tunnel entrance marking the battle path. This was going to be fun. While he wasn’t going to get involved with the boss battle, that didn’t apply to the rest of the battle. He was still testing after all. Fortunately, this much attention wasn’t needed for most groups, but between the strange party balance and the newness of the territory they were working through, it was good to pay attention, not just entertaining. And one test was going to be very new, Kazue’s attempts to pair up the naga and the kelpie had made him think of another river creature generally encountered in pairs, and they’d had suitable candidates that he’d evolved last night.
But first, the soft testing. River drakes and feathered serpents, two of each attacking at the same time. Nainvil and the guardsman with the pike focused on the river serpents when they came close, keeping them from being able to attack with water streams while shielded by the boat, and the archers turned to the feathered serpents.
Shizoku and Takehiko were both wielding simple electric spells, creating arcs between any two enemies that were too close, or a single enemy and the ground/water if no pairs were in range of each other. This was a minor magic of the same tier as those on the cards he’d given Derek, but refined and amplified by the skill and power of the caster. This meant that Takehiko’s was more powerful, so he focused on the river drakes to finish them off faster, then he could shift to support Shizoku’s efforts at eliminating the feather serpents.
The battle went about as expected, especially as the feathered serpents couldn’t use their darkness abilities without also blinding the river drakes. Which was part of why the next assault was all river drakes. The five drakes were spread out and circling, switching freely between the surface, diving deeper underwater, or launching themselves into the air. One of them even managed to zip in close enough to land a bite on Shizoku’s shoulder, but before it could latch on tightly, Brongrim’s short sword knocked it off, leaving a long gash on the creature before a blast from his pistol finished it off.
Her shoulder wound wasn’t bad enough to make Shizoku stop her own spellcasting, and Takehiko’s fairy fluttered over to start tending to the bite instead. It was a slightly frenetic half a minute of combat, followed by a slightly rushed round of wound tending, as the bunkin fixed the boat’s orientation and continued steadily down the river. One of the trade-offs for traveling by hired boat: This floor wound up being a lot faster than the previous two floors, but the party had a lot less control over their rate of travel. So they were on a ticking clock after every battle, needing to be patched up and ready to go quickly. They couldn’t take the time to mend exclusively by slower but less limited means such as the fairy.
And while Mordecai was tuning in the battles, he was not altering their placement, so that clock was quite real, he’d launch an attack no matter how bad the timing was for the group if they weren’t ready in time. And the next one should be a little tricky for them. A little way downriver the water began to surge upward.