2.2.5 A Watery Floor (Sky Arrows PoV, Leader Ranger Tom Blueeye)

Carefully we move down the walkway between the third and fourth floor. The fighters Corvin Omklen and Holgun Hammerdorn are in front, followed by myself and Channeler D'vol Blackthorn. Our back is guarded by Graverobber Gladia Evelarn and Elementalist Cleev Imral.

"When we get to the first room or cavern with the extra-large crab, please make sure to only kill it. Yesterday Park's Voidbolt didn't leave enough for identification, and we are hired to provide full data on these floors." I remind my comrades.

"Yes, I heard that Park got a bit frustrated. Getting lost on floor two of a dungeon at his levels - it'll be quite some time before he lives down that one. But don't worry, my hammer will make quick work of that crab." is the answer from Holgun walking in front of me. I don't need to stop the bickering however as Corvin is faster with his answer.

"You weren't here yesterday, Holgun. Do you want to make a bet on how long until you regret those words? Because although we think that this floor focuses on fighters due to its effect, I rather doubt that it will be a simple one after what the dungeon pulled on floor two and three."

We go around the end of the tunnel and enter the large first cavern - it's a bit egg-shaped with a length west to east of around fifteen meters and a width of around seven or eight meters at maximum. The node is visible to the side in the middle of the room, a rather large exit is visible at the east end. In the center of the room is a rather large crab that turns around to the west to look at us and charges.

But since we prepared and planned for this since getting the description yesterday evening, the fight isn't a problem. A single blow from Holgun's hammer stops the charge, while the rest of us use this to get our own strikes in. I go to check its carcass - the central body is three meters in diameter and it was standing to a height of one or one and a half meters on its legs. The claws are surely big and would be a problem for unprotected adventurers.

"Nothing special" I explain, "it doesn't have a loot bonus and will dissolve regularly within one or two hours. It seems to be a modification of the spearcrab that is common in the river and lake around Rivansea, so we can see that as confirmation that there was a spawn scout through rock island as well. It lost its bonespear when being modified for giant size, so it is nothing but a simple tank to fight. The added protection from the floor effect will make its own armor a problem, but with only four extra levels due to single node guard it isn't too much for a prepared party.

Anything about the node or the cavern, Gladia?"

"Nothing directly - but I suspect we have to face even more water than usual in a [Water Cavern] environment. Usually a limited floor is too low to have that environment give more than a tiny brook, but the node got enhanced with cheap lake water as the fourth option, and there are traces that show it has been used to create a lot of water that flowed down both to the east exit and to some cracks in the north wall."

While giving this explanation, Gladia is still checking something in the tiny ring of water around the bottom of the node. Finally she stands up and continues: "Yes, the dungeon is definitely up to something. The waterflow here was too much to be from the environment alone, and indeed there is a very tiny gate in that puddle that gets the water here from elsewhere. That water gate is just a millimeter wide and twenty centimeters long, but it adds a lot to the regular environment."

Those cracks in the north wall are also tiny - nothing but water can flow through there. And the exit in the south is much larger than a regular corridor - three to four meters wide instead of the usual two meters. But the dry part in the middle is only one meter wide, with the rest on both sides rather wet and covered with a tiny sheet of flowing water. Well - we know that we have to be careful when going deeper into the dungeon...

"OK everyone, make sure that your lightstones are charged and then we go on east." I begin to reorder our party "I think for now we try to stay on the dry part of the corridor, Holgun first and then Corvin and myself. Cleev, do you have anything to check the water?"

The elementalist Paut'a thinks but quickly answers "Nothing much aside from protections against it. I might cast a freezing to turn it into ice that I can control better, but icing the floor would cause other problems."

"Then do nothing for now, a small film of water can't get through our boots." I consider the corridor going east "One advantage of our own lights is that they reach farther, the tunnel turns left after about eight meters or so. So let's go there, and stay on the dry center if possible."

Slowly our party goes along the corridor. At the turn it becomes even wider than before, it is now six meters wide with a center dry area that is sometimes one and sometimes two meters wide.

Combat Initiated Snow Owls A, B, C, D, E and F

vs.

The Sky Arrows

The Sky Arrows have been surprised

On silent wings a group of snow owls attack from above, going for hairs and faces. Some of us shout through the cavern in surprise, and all of us try to evade the attack. Cleev stumbles while taking a step to the side, but Holgun's reactions are much better and he kills one of the owls with his hammer when it tried to scrape his face.

Not all of the others are equally successfull, but I can't see what they're doing because I'm suddenly going under the water in a hidden hole when I step to the left to evade the owl attacking me.

Victory Result No XP due to excessive rank difference between the party and the spawns.

Luckily I invested in a waterproof version of my leather armor a while back, or that would have been a problem.

Slowly I climb out of the two meter deep water hole - fortunately it is only one by one meter wide or it would have been more difficult to climb. "OK, what exactly happened in the few seconds I was under water?"

"Nothing much" answers D'vol "we were surprised by those snow owls because we were all watching the floor for more crabs instead of flyers attacking from above, but the owls themselves were not much. And no one had seen that the previously shallow waterflow has hidden several deep water holes. The scattering on the attack from above made those holes a real nuisance, but they were too small to be more than inconveniences for Cleev and me."

"That is correct. Gunny, please make a note and remind me for deeper floors: I'm still too humano-centered. When designing the traps I was only concidering human adventurers, not people on four or eight legs with larger bodies. And that despite having read about them and having Naga myself."

After a short pause the General adds "That is nothing against you, Adria, Meriol, Ivri - it just means that in the world I lived in before there were only humans, no other intelligent races."

"This dungeon is extremely cunning, it always tricks our expectations like we were expecting more crabs due to them being perfect for the floor effect. Please watch everything." I warn the others again.

No - it's even worse. I think it somehow has knowledge of how people behave and has build its floors exactly with that in mind. But how can a newborn dungeon core already have that knowledge? [Sapient] Ability is usually at level 81, and I've never before heard of a dungeon with more than one special ability outside the level advancement. And the magic portals at the entrance are already a special ability...

"Let's go on - the cavern goes further north, longer than the first part."

*Splash*

Corvin kneels down and reaches into the water, helping a sputtering Holgun climb out of the hole. We all take a step back on the dry ridge above the water on both sides and watch how something that looks like a continuation of that ridge above the water to the north shimmers and dances until it again looks like a dry way on the water.

"What?!?!" Holgun shouts angrily. "I'm no mage, but I have at least learnt some [Below Average] Magic Perception during my past dungeon delvings. And after what Park described I especially made sure to look for magic. There is no magic in that illusion of a walkway! How can a dungeon on a [Limited] floor completely hide a magic illusion from a [Below Average] skill? This can't be, this dungeon is somehow broken and doesn't follow the system rules..."

Before Holgun can continue his tirade, Gladia speaks "Holgun, you didn't detect any magic because there is none. This isn't a magic illusion, it's a water reflection of sculptures on the ceiling and on the north wall there..." She points into the directions.

She's right - another variant of the dungeon playing on our expectations to really kick us in the arse. Nothing a copper-ranked or higher party can't handle, but it adds up to make this extremely difficult for the [limited]-ranked adventurers normally working on these floors.

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"And fourty meters after commenting on Park getting lost on the second floor, Holgun takes his yearly bath..."

On that comment from Corvin Holgun's face becomes redder and redder. But instead of exploding he suddenly chuckles himself. "I earned that one, right. But this dungeon is really something else - nothing really dangerous at our rank, but it has already caused more delays and disruptions than six low-level limited-rank floors on any other dungeon."

"Oh thank you, Holgun, I aim to please expectations..."

The west of the corridor opens to a large cavern again, probably double the size of the first cavern. We can see four giant crabs slowly walking around in it.

Four? A regular spawn group has six spawns under the systems party rules, where are the other two crabs?

"Two snow owls above" Gladia calls out.

Five minutes and six dead spawns later the Sky Arrows once again change their order and plans.

"That mix of different spawns will really be a problem for [Limited]-ranked adventurers. If they focus on the crabs the owls attack their faces, and if they defend against flyers they leave themselves open to ground attacks by the crab. Any group here needs at least two ranged attackers to take care of the owls, or their fighters can't form a line against the crabs. And it looks as if there is a similiar group in the next big cavern to the north of this one."

Three short corridors lead to a similar cavern north of this one - one of those corridors hides a large deepwater hole that we ignore and another is trapped with a rockfall. After checking we advance on the next cavern and dispatch the spawns there quickly with the tactics we tested here. But after that the dungeon placed the first fork to chose our way deeper in.

"Let's follow the right wall for now - we need to come back and check the other caverns later to complete the map anyway, but let's stay systematic for now." I decide.

The corridor we follow turns right to the north a few meters later, and there is another corridor forking to the left again a bit later. Continuing north we get to a cavern the same size as the first one that goes to the west, populated by three giant crabs and three snow owls. At the west end this cavern continues into a similiar cavern that just runs north-south instead of east-west and has its spawns killed as quickly as well. But after that we come to something new.

Two metal poles shimmer in the walls, lightning crackling along them and between them. Strong lightning - we might be able to force this, but no one below [Average] has even a chance of surviving it. But I have only eyes for the circular indentions on both poles that are free of lightning.

This dungeon definitely doesn't do things like it is supposed to do I think by myself while listening to Holgun's rant.

"A token barrier? No dungeon is supposed to have a token barrier above floor 21, they simply can't understand how to create token barriers until they have that much experience."

Gladia interjects, probably as tired of the ranting as I am "That might be normal for other dungeons, but we can safely say that this dungeon is more dangerous. Anyway - this barrier needs two tokens, and there are two corridors we skipped. And according to the map both corridors are probably short because the last two caverns are around a rather small part of the floor where those two corridors lead into it. So I suggest we check those two corridors and I bet anyone that we'll find one token in each corridor."

I just nod and we all jog back. Wisely no one took the bet because of course we found one token in each corridor, guarded by one snow owl each - in fact the tokens were bound to their feet, so there was no way to get them without fights.

Behind the token barrier there were stairs going down about a meter or so into a slightly lower part of the floor - and that floor is submerged for about that meter in the water. At the bottom of the short stair we stand at an intersection with one corridor going into each cardinal direction. But the three new corridors are straight lined instead of simulating the bend walls of natural caves.

"Gladia? You're the one with the best mapping skills, what is your opinion on this?" I ask.

"Tom, I guess we have mapped exactly one half of the floor, with this intersection just a bit north of the true center. What we see in front is still the same floor and with the same [Water-Cavern] environment, the dungeon just stopped pretending it looks like a natural cave and made simpler corridors. And the water here is not part of the environment, it has to have been created with mana."

I look around, there is no difference between the three corridors, all of them seem to open into larger rooms after four meters - our lights shine several meters into those rooms but that doesn't show anything but that the water level is the same everywhere. "Any suggestion or preferences about where to check first?"

"So far the right wall always resulted in the shortest way to the exit while following the left wall would make the walk the longest but also cover everything." comes an answer from Gladia.

"She can't see it yet, but unfortunately she is right for the entire floor. Please make another note, Gunny, I can't allow myself to become predictable."

"We have to map everything, so let's go left wall. Everyone, the rest is over"

The left corridor is a dead end - a room six by eight meter. There is something that looks like a chest in one edge however, so we continue on.

Combat Initiated Spearcrabs A, B, C, D, E and F

vs.

The Sky Arrows

The Sky Arrows are surprised

 "Ouch" "Hey" "Damn Crabs"

The [Bone Spear] of the crabs can't really harm or kill any of the Sky Arrows, but with the surprise they can sting and hurt quite a bit - especially because the adventurers have problems detecting the one meter crabs in the opaque waters, and splash around a lot trying to hit them while standing in the water themselves..

"Cleev, D'vol, end this fight with magic" I command after overcoming my own surprise. The crabs don't survive much longer.

Victory Result No XP due to excessive rank difference between the party and the spawns.

"OK, these are the original Rivansea Spearcrabs, and this one-meter-waterlevel is just enough to allow them to charge the pressure for their bone spears while hindering our movement and perception.

Everyone please use your [Life Perception] or [Danger Perception] while we are in this water - it pains me to use copper-ranked skills on floors of the first black rank, but we are not here for fighting experience or fairness.

And mark down for our report that not only Rivansea was scouted without anyone finding a trace, they also use the crabs in ways that makes this floor dangerous even for adventurers that are higher in levels than the floor number suggests. I think that regular adventurers should be [Very Low]-ranked before being allowed into this dungeon's [Limited] floors.

And the only thing they can get on this floor is fighting experience, the loot in this first treasure chest is far below what is usual for the fourth floor of other dungeons." I don't like ordering the skill use, but we have the energy to spare and we are here for evaluation only. "Everyone, let's continue to check the next corridor."

The next corridor goes to a total of two submerged rooms populated by spearcrabs, with only one treasure chest in the second one - but an added long corridor branching from the first room. This corridor is a dead end with something pecular at its final wall. Gladia already squeezed herself to the front and is investigating.

"This seems to be the same as the game that Sam found in that room on the first floor. It looks as if the dungeon has one of these token games on each floor but the save floor. Let me try..."

Before I can stop her, Gladia already pushes the buttons - and the entire party gets zapped as a result.

"Gladia, next time please remember that lightning magic and water do not mix. Now let us get back ten meters before you try again."

The game really is identical to the other two found on the higher floors, giving a dungeon token with the number 5, and another few minutes later we stand at the entrance to another flooded room - this one much longer than regular, but still only having six spawn scattered through it as our skills tell us. Holgun pushes ahead through the water.

"Looks like the larger room will make things easier - two rooms of half the size would have allowed for two groups of crabs" *Thunk* - Holgun stops as he has run into something in the water "Me and my big mouth..."

I watch as Holgun searches the water around him, even ducking under it for a few seconds. Then he comes back to the entrance to report.

"There are a lot of metal barriers turning this room into some form of maze. The tops are sharp blades just a few centimeter below the water level, so climbing over them is not a good idea - you might fall into the next one.

They are anchored on poles that are just wide enough apart that the crabs can move under them, but crouching down that far will leave anyone vulnerable that tries to do the same. Adventurers will have to navigate the maze while the crabs are almost free to attack and retreat anywhere.

However if they wait too long before attacking they will lose the floor bonus [Defenders Advantage] because we will have been long enough in the room to not count as invaders anymore."

Again an example of getting more difficulty out of what should have been easy. But we are here for evaluation, not to clear the dungeon. So a change of tactics is in order...

"D'vol, Cleev - we three will be on guard against rushing crabs only while Gladia, Holgun and Corvin map and navigate this blade-maze. Cleev to the north, D'vol west and me east to watch."

"No, Tom, I have a better idea." Cleev says and begins to cast one of her elemental spells. "There - I have frozen the water along the metal barriers only, and then entrapped four of the crabs in the dead ends where they were waiting. Only two of the crabs are on the main way through the maze. Let's go."

The next room was an even larger flooded maze, but that only meant that Cleev had to cast her spell twice and that all crabs could be contained without a fight. And on the southwest end of that room some stairs finally get us up again to dry ground. While everyone dries out their clothes, I ask Gladia to check up on her map.

"The floor is rather extremely packed with rooms and caverns, and the remaining area would be this wide cavern down south to a section that could hold one or two large caves at maximum. But Tom - that entire floor area so far fits into 55 meters, the regular floor size for a [very high] ranked core on limited levels."

"What? We know it has a higher rank, why didn't it use that extra floor space here? This floor could have been even more difficult with added space."

"What? How can they know this? I made sure that all sizes fit to a [very high] dungeon, and they haven't even started preparing for an identification ritual on the entry rooms. And such a ritual would need a few weeks anyway..."

The General is not amused - nothing can ruin plans faster than when the enemy has intelligence you didn't expect him to have.

"I really need to find a way to spy on the adventurers outside the dungeon..."