★★★★☆ - Interesting Mobs… for the first room.
Knocking one star off because I’ve only seen the first room. The Dungeon has the second room completely pitch black. There are instructions next to the door explaining how to use light producing gems, but my dungeon lead pulled us back, since the darkness could be a lethal trap. That being said, the first room was nice. I’ve never seen anything like the scythelegs. Will update this after I see the second room.
★★★★★ - Worst Dungeon I’ve Been In
But that’s five stars because I’ve only been in one dungeon, so it’s also the best. I was able to form my core after the first room, so looking forward to seeing the second whenever the darkness goes away.
★★★☆☆ - Bugs are gross.
Ew. Advice to the dungeon - get some cute mobs. If they’re in the second room, why are they hiding in the darkness?
“Okay, so maybe the dark room was a bad idea,” Calith said as the fourth group turned around and left. Four of four. Each one had battled the scythelegs. Calith’s favorite had been the last one. That group that had a Fire elemental affinity tank. The woman had covered herself with flames, and the heat had drawn the scythelegs to her like moths to light. They’d lunged down from above, and when they’d cut the woman, her wounds immediately cauterized. Calith had been sure she’d press on, but apparently tanking those hits had drained her mana too much to be comfortable pushing on.
No one responded to her comment. Rathel hadn’t returned yet, just sent her a ‘good luck’ message.
She looked at her reviews again. Not terrible - she was at four stars - but those were all from people who hadn’t seen her second room. The “worst dungeon” review at least made her chuckle. Calith knew the person who had written the Bugs are gross review, and really wanted to yell at him. In fact, she did, even though he couldn’t hear her. “Not everything has to cater to you! I’m an Abyss dungeon, what do you want for cute? My options are tentacled, finned, or toothy.”
It was cathartic, at least. Rathel had warned her - if she ever got the opportunity to respond to bad reviews, don’t. It just made her look petty. Also, don’t respond to good reviews. It just made her look vain. And don’t respond to neutral ones either because she’d look both petty and vain. So in other words, don’t respond to reviews at all.
Calith checked her entrance again and sighed. You would think a four star, a five star, and a three star would average out to a four star. Yet she had three and a half stars currently. That was something she was going to have to ask Rathel about.
A new group approached. This one, unlike every other person to come in Calith today, was made entirely of Quartz ranked adventurers. They had an… oddly somber look for members of An Ominous Sounding Name. The fire tank noticed. “First wipe?”
“Near wipe,” said the group leader. “Envo’s group. Envo got out.”
The fire tank winced. “So he’s five bottles deep?”
“Ten,” said another member of the party. “He needs you, Ahna.”
Ahna - so that was the fire tank’s name - nodded. “On my way.” She paused. “Did he one star the dungeon?”
“Two star” said the group leader again.
Ahna hissed out a breath. “No wonder the line for here kept growing. All right. On my way.”
The five quartz groups looked at Calith’s first room. “Dungeon. We can’t talk to you, but we know you can hear us.”
That was Kandra’s voice, interrupting the party. The humans addressing her seemed more important. Calith ignored Kandra.
“Normally we won’t send a full party through you until you’ve reached Amethyst, but the other dungeon nearly wiped a group. We need your second room and boss available for fight, but we’re not sending new people through until-”
“-it’s safe.” Calith had missed some very important words thanks to Kandra. It wasn’t hard to guess what the guard had said though. Something along the lines of “Until we’re sure we know it’s safe” or whatever. Why were they telling her this?
The five of them raised their weapons and walked into Calith’s first room, and almost immediately showed her why they had told her. Five quartzes that had trained and worked together for any length of time? Calith didn’t even get to see what the Tank’s affinity was. A woman in the group had thrown fire, popping a scytheleg before it landed. The group’s archer had fired three water arrows, back to back, and two had taken out two more scythelegs. Some with a young face and loose robes that made gender indeterminate, but was clearly the cleric, smacked another out of the air with a glowing hammer. The last scytheleg had been thrown aside by a kick from the wire-thin man in the group.
Calith was furious. The Pact was supposed to ensure fair fights. But they clearly outmatched her. Not to mention they were all in the A ranks of Quartz. Well beyond her power. Something must have changed in the air, because the group froze. “Apologies, dungeon. This just so we can learn what the rest of your dungeon holds,” the tank said.
“Rivter,” the cleric said, and their voice was androgenous as their face. “Please. We’ve offended the dungeon’s pride. Offer our price.”
“Sashon,” he said, and that must be the cleric’s name. “What if-”
Sashon cut him off. “What if the dungeon moves the boss forward into the darkness?”
Calith had been considering a version of that exact move, except pulling her Deep Geckos back to the boss room. But now they had her attention. A price?
Rivter held out his longsword sword. “This is a loan from the guild,” he said. “A Base Magic Quality weapon. Once we defeat your boss, I’ll drop it. Sashon will drop a Minor healing potion - a grade up from the ones in your shop. And everyone else in this group is willing to give up a rare metal coin - one gold, one copper, one silver.” He nodded to the mage for gold, the archer for silver, and the other melee fighter for bronze.
Those were some nice rewards. Calith released the tension in her, and from the way the group responded, they could feel the change in her mana. Interesting. That was something to keep in mind for later. Groups who knew what to look for could feel her emotions.
“Thank-”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
That got Calith’s attention.
Moments later, she felt Kandra appear in her Meshsite. Calith snapped her mind back, there, watching the group through the mirror. “Can this wait until this group is done? I’ve been wanting to watch someone take on this room all day.”
Kandra nodded and leaned in. Calith snapped her fingers in Kandra’s face.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” A wave of Calith’s hand dissolved the mirror. “I’m watching. You’re waiting for me to be done. You’re not getting a free look of how I run my dungeon.”
Kandra opened her mouth. Calith barely knew the other dungeon, but it was obvious she was about to start yelling. Then she just… deflated. Like the zeppelin when they’d cleared enough trees to land it, collapsing in on herself. “As long as you help me tonight, it doesn’t matter how long you make me wait.”
That was interesting enough for Calith to almost focus on Kandra, but she wanted to watch the fight. Calith reformed the mirror, this time as a pair of goggles her avatar was wearing. She left small slits in the middle, so she could see what Kandra was doing while still watching the fight. What had Rathel said?
Trust but verify. Well. Kandra wasn’t even trusted right now.
The group went into the second room, holding the lights high overhead at first. It didn’t take them long to figure out they could put the sphere into a pocket or pouch - anywhere it was close enough to their body to still be inside their aura.
That was something Calith didn’t know much about. Mortal beings had an aura, a field that extended a few inches from their skin. It made changing her dungeon impossible while people were inside, and she also couldn’t just absorb them or their belongings while they lived. She needed to learn more about how aura worked, but for now she knew the important details.
Watching the group of experienced adventurers creep into her room, moving painfully slowly, was almost more fun than the fight would be. They were watching the flickering lights around the room, and the group had condensed until the five were standing back to back to back.
Calith had one last idea before opening today, and it was perfect to see it work. One of them stepped on the trigger plate for a new trap. Footsteps went charging towards the group. They whirled to face it, raising their hand - and then stared at where the footsteps had come from. Nothing appeared. Footsteps came in from the other side, this time with one of the light spheres floating over them. The group whirled again. The tank slashed at the orb of light, but he missed completely. It passed through them harmlessly.
Auditory trap. Calith was proud of that one. Which meant it was time for things to get really interesting.
A Deep Gecko charged the group. They turned for the third time, but they were definitely disorganized. The unarmed man whipped to face behind them, the mage called fire to her hand but didn’t know where to look. The tank caught it just in time, bringing up his shield as the deep gecko leapt up.
The gecko surprised both the tank and Calith. It just stuck to his shield, like a gecko would do to a wall, and then lunged in, biting for the tank’s face.
The tank pushed his arm out at the last moment, keeping the deep gecko away. He whirled to face his party. “Blast me!”
It didn’t take them but an instant to realize what he meant, and they launched a barrage of attacks at his shield. The deep gecko didn’t stand a chance - but it wasn’t meant to. The moment the attacks ended, the mage went sprawling forward with a shocked shriek.
Their attacks had hidden the sound of a second deep gecko’s approach. It lunged forward, biting for the back of her head, but the unarmed man’s fist caught it on top of its skull, making the deep gecko go cross-eyed. The sight of the gecko trying to look at the center of its head got Calith to laugh. The unarmed man started to beat the gecko mercilessly. The gecko wasn’t completely helpless though - it got a bite around the man’s wrist during one punch. The man pulled back the limb with some major cuts, and when he went in for the killing blows, he only used his uninjured arm.
The group was too well coordinated to die here, but Calith was pleased with how this room worked. Even knowing it wouldn’t stop some people from falling to her geckos. She wanted to watch the rest of the fight, but… well. She couldn’t ignore the problem forever.
Calith pulled up her goggles and looked at Kandra. “All right. You have my attention.”
Kandra didn’t hesitate. “My mentor didn’t teach me how to advance. I almost died because I didn’t know. If she hadn’t been there, I would have. I told her to leave my meshsite, and that I’d file a complaint with the Circle. But… she refused to teach me how to search the mesh.”
Calith threw the goggles to the side, where they dissolved into mist, and leaned in. “Tell me everything you left out.”
That took far longer. Kandra went into the details - how Fulsi had refused to give her information, or withheld it at important times, or insisted on requirements that Calith had never dreamt of, and even gave her things that put her into debt without discussing how the debt system worked. The polar opposite of Rathel. Kandra was clearly emotional. By the end of the story, she was shaking.
Calith watched her for a moment. She looked so… delicate. Part of Calith wanted to reach out and give her a hug. But… no. That would be wrong. For so many reasons. “I can teach you the basics of mesh navigation,” Calith said. “It’s not hard once you know what to do. I can’t help you find the Circle. I’m barred form that information. But you should be able to find it easily.”
“And what’s the cost?” Kandra asked. She saw Calith’s expression and grimaced. “I’m not going to repeat the mistakes I made with Fulsi.”
If she was being honest with herself, Calith was willing to do it for free. But… she was still Circle. They were still on opposite sides of this valley, and one of them would get the better grade. And Kandra was already Amethyst. Calith was further behind than she’d realized. And… there was a way to regain some ground, while at the same time also letting Kandra get a fresh start. A win within a win. “Did Fulsi tell you about a relaunch?”
Kandra shook her head.
“You can close your dungeon for two days per floor you’re relaunching. change some things, and announce a relaunch. You can only do it once per year. But it resets your reviews for that floor.”
“And means I lose two days of progress while you’re the only open dungeon.”
Calith nodded. No point hiding it. “It also doesn’t look good if you do it,” Calith added. “At least, according to Rathel. People don’t trust you if you wiped out fifty reviews and they were trending downwards. But… you might be able to get away with it. It’s only one review. Just tell them you had misjudged your difficulty, fix it up. It’s probably better than trying to recover form a bad first run.”
“Don’t pretend you care about that,” Kandra said, her voice bitter. “You just want to catch up.”
“If I didn’t care, I’d demand a copy of every pattern you have as price,” Calith said. Kandra’s eyes widened, and Calith stepped forward towards her, making sure they were eye to eye. “You’re desperate, Kandra. I could get almost anything out of you if it meant you were free of Fulsi. But I’m not. I’m giving you a price that may benefit you too.”
Kandra, to her credit, stood her ground. “Fine,” she said, her voice thick with some emotion Calith couldn’t read. “I’m sorry for the assumption.”
Calith stepped back and smiled. “Water under the bridge. But to be serious with you? What Fulsi did…” Calith trailed off. “You know, I was wondering morals were something unique to mortals. But apparently I have some things that offend me. Good to know.”
Kandra gave her a confused look, but Calith just went ahead with the explanation of how to search, then made Kandra show that she could follow the directions. Once it was done, Calith recreated her mirror. The group was still cultivating in the dark room, but they’d be done soon. It was almost back to normal light levels as they drained the darkened mana. “All right. Close up for two days, do the reset, and we’re even.”
Kandra nodded. “For what it’s worth… I appreciate this. Even with that price, it almost seems unfair to you. What am I missing that you’re getting out of this?”
Calith gave her a small smile. Kandra had trust issues from Fulsi. That was understandable. A thought occurred to Calith, and before she could think, the words escaped her lips. “Just the knowledge that without me, you would have been nothing.”
The moment she said it, she regretted it. Kandra’s face went completely blank, and she curled her lips into a snarl. She looked like she wanted to bite Calith’s throat out. Instead, through clenched teeth, she barely managed to speak. “That, at least, makes sense. I guess Fulsi didn’t lie about the Cabal.”
“Wait-” Calith said, but it was too late. Kandra was gone, and Calith sighed. Stupid. Why had she said that? She thought about apologizing, but what would the point be? Calith had just proved to Kandra that any kindness could be turned to venom. Best to just… put it out of her mind. Kandra would be fine. And… it was for the best. Calith wanted to win. But at least this way, Kandra wouldn’t hold back. Calith would win fair and square when the assessor arrived.
It still felt hollow. She didn’t even watch this group fight her boss. The next group through… she’d watch that fight at least. But for now, she just wanted to think for a bit. Well, brood. Rathel had warned her about her tongue… and now she’d just kicked Kandra when she was already down.
Calith barely even flinched when Kandra’s psychic scream of rage filled the valley.