A Comprehensive Guide to Surviving the Reef Dungeon,

Penned by The Mapper

Hello my dearest readers! I am positively overjoyed to find myself writing yet another journal, and can only hope that you, whoever you may be, are similarly excited to join me as I recount my experiences in what has to be one of the most breathtaking and perilous Dungeons I’ve had the pleasure to visit!

Before I get to what I have seen, and what I’m sure you will see too, in that abyssal maw, I must start with a warning. While it is a warning I give in each and every single journal I write, and those of you more familiar with my work are already well aware of what follows, it is forever relevant to any aspect of Diving and even moreso in regards to this fascinating and terrifying worldly wonder.

Be careful! Stay aware, stay prepared, most importantly, stay as safe as you reasonably can! It pains me more than words can express to know that there are those who do not heed these warnings and are lost forever. So please, I implore you, do not become one of these forgotten souls, do not join this legion of the fallen. I am well aware that nothing I can say could ever keep those of you truly set on testing your luck in Vol’s great gambling halls, and indeed, this one specifically will give you an experience unlike any you have ever had, but at the very least I can help those among you willing to listen to a very, very old man’s advice, and you may leave not only unharmed, but much, much wealthier in mind, spirit, body, and what many of you will find most important, the bank.

However, I could ramble on for pages and pages about naught but safety and protection, but I am well aware that this is not what you are here to read. In fact, if you were, you would already have one of my other works dedicated to just that. No, what you are here to read, my dear reader, is the trials and treats kept within a young spitfire of a Dungeon, of the secrets it holds and the riches it guards, all kept hidden beneath a veneer of beauty and danger.

So, without further ado, come with me as I share with you what has to be one of the single most marvelous experiences of my life, and how you can survive to have your own, equally wonderful stories to tell someday, too. I’ll keep this journal relatively brief, as this is nothing more than a catalog of the many things within the Reef Dungeon, but I hope to one day publish a proper memoir, one that is more than a simple, clinical affair that this guide will by necessity become.

Chapter One, The Welcoming

One of the very first things that any aspiring Diver simply must notice about the Reef Dungeon is that, unlike any other known specimen, it is entirely submerged. Now, water is not wholly alien to Dungeons, and it is well known that there exist semi-submerged Dungeons out there, in swamps, near rivers, beneath lakes, or even tunneling into the odd aquifer or reservoir. However, not one of them take it to the necessary extreme that the subject of this guide does.

While it is true that the entrance represents the most 'normal' of floors compared to everything else you'll find, that by no means makes it mundane. When you finally emerge in the waterlogged halls, you will notice a great many things. A wide array of colors, an overpowering smell of salt, the crushing weight of mana, air that seems stagnant and only barely advisable for breathing, and so much more. Do not let the cacophony of sensations catch you off guard, as right away, there will be danger. However, it is likely the safest you will ever be, so take advantage of this moment to prepare yourself; drink elixirs, apply buffs, confirm you have everything you need, and perhaps even collect a few easy elemental crystals, if the Divers before you were kind enough to leave any.

After that, however, I advise you to remain on your guard, everything in this Dungeon can be considered actively hostile, but there are only a handful of creatures you may encounter on the first few floors that have the means to become a threat. The most numerous of these are fish, as obvious as that seems. I suppose I should start with the most overtly threatening example of fish-kind I can think of that resides on the first few floors: the grouper.

I realize that it sounds rather anticlimactic, but of the fish that seem limited to the upper floors almost exclusively, these lumbering giants seem to have the most potential for harm. Multiple meters in length, and weighing truly immense amounts, they seem ill equipped for living in the shallows of these early floors, and yet they do. Not only are they surprisingly agile and frighteningly fast, the confined nature of these early hallways makes them genuinely dangerous foes to those caught off guard. There truly is almost nowhere to dodge, when staring down these porcine piscines, and that is entirely discounting the retinue of equally piggish followers they all seem to attract.

As best I can tell, both these Pig Groupers and Pig Snapper, as I am unsure of the of the official names, act as a single, incredibly cohesive unit, and in the tight passageways, this can make them a difficult foe. However, should one be prepared for them, it isn’t hard to mitigate their threat entirely. Just as the narrow space makes it hard for you and your party-members to dodge, the same is true for them. Their charge makes use of their ample mass, but that same size means they can only approach you from a single direction, and should this charge be blocked or parried, it presents a perfect opening to counterattack yourself. Simply do not allow their attacks to connect, and what can be a fatal obstacle is reduced to a mere time-sink.

The next fish on this list, however, is much more troublesome even if it isn’t quite so visually imposing. I speak of the barracuda, or rather, two of the few different variants I encountered, these two being the ones on the opening floors. The first is simply a Greater Barracuda, not necessarily a party-killer in its own right but certainly frustrating to catch in the glittering waters. It may not be liable to reduce your numbers by one most of the time, but an ill-prepared member of your party could certainly find themselves a mouthful or two of flesh lighter than they started with.

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The second variety is a bit more capable than those, though. If the records I searched are correct, these are an example of Silver-Streaked Barracuda, a troublesome variety with a propensity to go after anything that glitters or shines, and with quite a bit more speed, too. Smaller, faster, and more agile would already make them a pain, but add in the weak illusionary properties of their scales, and you have a critter that can be genuinely hard to spot in the magical brilliance cast by the many, many corals.

Thankfully, both can be dealt with in a similar fashion, though those of you without some sort of magical inclination may have it a bit tougher. The easiest way would be through wide, area covering spells, what you choose doesn’t matter too much as they aren’t very sturdy in the face of anything, but they are quite fast, which makes precise attacks more difficult. Of course, a skilled weapons master, and as most of you are recognized by the Guilds as being at the very least rank B or preferably A I expect all of you to have some modicum of skill, would be quite capable of catching them, much of their danger comes from hit-and-run tactics and using surprise to nip away at you when they catch you off guard.

Up next on our list, we have a variant of snapper that is much, much more dangerous than either of the previous two without seeming like it in the slightest. They are what I’ve come to learn are Mustard-Scaled Snapper, and they would typically rather flee than fight an invader, unless pushed to join a Siege by the core. My advice for you would be to let them flee, as even in death they manage to release a terrible cloud of wicked yellow scales, fine enough to pass through any gaps that ordinary water might and yet sharp enough to turn flesh into ribbons. Should any of you with gills find yourself unfortunate enough to get any of this cloud inside them, leave the Dungeon as soon as you are able and seek the nearest medic you can find.

If you truly must fight one of these beasts, and let me reiterate that there is truly nothing to be gained from doing so, they are cowardly and spiteful and would serve to make for a terrible familiar, then do so from a distance. The further away you are from one when it decides to turn the water around it into a pool of sickeningly sharp sludge, the better, and even then try and avoid anything even remotely yellow for some length of time. If the water tingles as you pass through, chances are, you haven’t given it enough time.

These three are the most common fish ‘threats’ you will come across on these floors, and while there are a few more that might attempt to give you trouble, they are either similar to in nature and in action to one of the three above, something easy to determine, or they are unremarkable otherwise. Sharks and stingrays may wander up from time to time, but I have yet to see any on the early floors that were unique or required any tips to fight that you weren’t likely to know anyways.

However, these only represent a portion of what you may find on these floors, and while it is true that fish do make up a sizable chunk of this Dungeon, there are plenty more threats that you should be much more concerned about. For example, the myriad varieties of snake and serpent that reside on these and just about every other floor. With dozens of species and hundreds or even thousands of individuals, I could dedicate many chapters to just these scaly creatures alone, but as much as I’d be happy to do so, I doubt many of you would have the patience to sit through and read each one, not when it is much easier to simply tell you what the various methods of battle these serpents use, and measures to prevent succumbing to them.

And really, despite the genuinely marvelous variety present, there are only three or four unique methods of hunting among them. The first, most obvious and iconic, is venom. Simply put, expect every single snake you come across to be at least mildly toxic, and avoid being bitten, and you are likely to be just fine. If being bitten is unavoidable, most common, higher-end detoxifying agents will be enough to save you, although some have much more potent venom that needs much more immediate care. While not always true, it is a good rule of thumb that the smaller the serpent is, the more liable it will be to have a stronger bite. After all, when magically fueled evolution is there to help weed out any weaknesses in a species, such a glaring fault as being tiny means there is likely something they got in return.

Next up, constricting. This one is straightforward, if the snake is big then there is a high likelihood that it will try to crush you, even if it is also venomous. Some of these big snakes may instead fall into the third category, something uncommon from what I have seen: using their body itself as a weapon. True, they may also attempt to crush you, but rather than simple bite-and-coil strategies of their simple relatives, these will have one or many adaptations that directly weaponize their bodies. Bladed tails, overly muscular bodies, scales too thick to shatter or pierce when used to strike; the changes are as numerous as they are obvious. If you see a snake that doesn’t look like a normal snake, expect it to have a hidden trick and prepare accordingly.

While I could ramble on about the many, many serpents present within the Reef Dungeon, however, I should talk about the last ‘true threat’ you will encounter on the first few floors, and these are by far one of the most talked about, feared creatures that occur early in the dungeon. Many of you likely have an idea already what it is I am talking about, having heard a great deal about them already, and let me tell you, most of those rumors are true.

While I have yet to find the name of these shrimp, it is very apparent they are some evolution of the more common Pistol Shrimp. The problem comes from the fact that these creatures are much more aggressive, dangerous, noisy, and all-around more capable than their smaller kin. These are more than likely going to be the first creatures you’ll run into that actively use magic, not the passive abilities you’ll find in some of the fish. It may not be anything more than a simple innate spell to direct noise, but as anyone who has heard them even once can tell you, it is effective.

In fact, they are so incredibly noisy that they can cause you physical harm should you be too close when they ‘fire’. Ruptured organs, broken bones, internal and external damage alike all caused by the blast of pressure their claws release. I can give you no advice beyond the following: avoid going too near the walls in areas known to be inhabited, anything closer than a meter or two and you are going to feel it, but also, protect your ears! It simply is not worth having to end your Dive early because you can no longer hear, a problem you will come to realize is all too common, and even though the Guilds staff healers capable of repairing your ears, I’m sure you would agree that it is simply better to not need their services at all.

Of course, I’m certain that you won’t run into that problem, that you have taken my advice to heart and are prepared to face the dangers awaiting you on the first three or four floors of this Dungeon. And, now that you are at least decently aware of all of this, I suppose I should move onto the next ‘set’ of floors, where the Dungeon introduces a new environment, complete with its own creatures, rewards, and most importantly, hazards.