Ambrose stood at one of the fort's many entrances, after spending another thirty or so minutes slowly circling around the large structure he had found many different places to enter from, some were intentional entrances, others were creative entrances. The reason he had chosen the one he was currently at was simple, it was the most difficult. The ‘entrance’ was actually just a low spot in the wall where the creatures had a large metal trough on a pulley setup, that could be lowered to gather water from the river that surrounded much of the fort as a moat.
Each of the four main entrances, one at each side of the fort, were either directly guarded in the case of the two that led into the back part of the fort where Ambrose suspected the throne room would be, or at least had evidence of traps and guards nearby. Clearly the Gabrawls were more intelligent than the other things he had fought and were trying to lure him into some form of trap. Ambrose suspected that the traps that he had detected were only one of multiple layers, believing that some of the more accessible alternative entrances that he discovered were also going to be trapped, the ones he had seen on the unguarded main entrance felt a little too obvious as if he were meant to find them and be discouraged, instead going through the seemingly safe waste dump.
That left Ambrose standing outside of the moat looking up at the wall as he planned his ascent. The sheer difficulty of his chosen entrance left Ambrose feeling confident in its safety, now he just had to actually get up there. The plan was somewhat thought out surprisingly, the large metal trough when filled with water would of course be immensely heavy, guaranteeing that the rope or chain that held it up could easily hold his weight. The trough was also randomly hanging off the side of the fort, and when there was a breeze he theorised that the trough would likely hit the side of the fort. Ambrose hoped that this would have normalised banging sounds coming from the area so that the noise he caused would be ignored. This all led to Ambrose once more relying on his trusty garbage grappling hook in order to actually get up.
The issue of course was the lack of a grappling hook. Ambrose certainly still had rope, and plenty of random crap, but none of it was particularly great leaving Ambrose with his brand new long range pickaxe. Several violent and somewhat noisy throws later the pickaxe hooked around the lip of the metal trough, not wasting any time Ambrose took a running leap, pulling on the slack on the rope as he closed in on the wall desperate to stay out of the water. Squelching was bad for stealth.
High and dry, Ambrose clambered into the metal trough before further climbing the chain to its source. This section of the fort seemed somewhat empty, without any torches in the surrounding area but plenty of noise could be heard from elsewhere as whatever activities took place.
Having already made it further than he had expected before running into problems, so hadn't thought this far out. Ambrose began planning the next phase. Step one find the named mob, step two find a way to kill the named mob, step three profit. With the planning stage out of the way, Ambrose headed deeper into the well built sections of the fort, mace strapped to his back awkwardly. The fort from the inside was actually very impressive in appearance, multiple layers of wooden platforms lead throughout the complex in a haphazard way. It was the way it was made that impressed Ambrose, as the wood had been treated to make it element resistant so that their structure would take longer to decay, showing that the creators, presumably the Gabrawls, had crafting Skills and enough intelligence to think ahead.
He had already seen several of the creatures, they weren’t dissimilar to the Deposed King he had fought previously if one ignored the weight difference. Each of the creatures were similar in height to Ambrose, with pale green mottled skin, looking like what Ambrose imagined the matrimony of a typical fantasy goblin and orc would result in, with sharp interlocking teeth and broad builds. Their tiny black eyes always appeared squinting as they hurried along their path, heading on their merry way. The only thing missing was the big floppy goblin ears, instead only having two holes on the side of their heads that Ambrose saw open and close when they were listening to things, looking almost as if they were breathing. He hadn’t noticed the king having them, but couldn't remember seeing more typical ears on the creature either, simply believing that he hadn’t noticed them due to the smoke or crown.
Sneaking his way into the complex was a difficult task in terms of navigation, the haphazard bridges and pathways that criss-crossed all over the place served to make the place into a multi-layered maze where the path he was following would take a sudden turn and begin heading away from his goal. There were many buildings to either side of the section he was in but he couldn’t risk getting into fights unnecessarily, and was forced to ignore the buildings instead sticking to the poorly lit bridge zone in between.
As Ambrose spent the next hour slowly moving through the maze of bridge crossings he had finally made progress, reaching a stopping point that led into what he believed to be the noble district, with the large stone building sitting at the end, built from the ruins of the former castle. Ambrose was down to his final few hours as he reached the end of the bridges without being caught, the area oddly empty. Despite all the noises he heard around the fort, he had only seen ten or so of the creatures roaming about, each a guard armed with a torch. Each of the creatures had failed to spot Ambrose, but he in turn hadn’t been able to pull up their information, having to lie flat on his bridge to avoid sticking out.
He slowed down even further, pausing in each spot of darkness he found, stretching his Perception out to listen for any potential ambushes. As he approached whatever they were calling the throne room, Ambrose was forced to cross through a section of what appeared to be shops. The area had clearly been abandoned in a hurry, materials and items were strewn across the tops of the stalls from where the sellers had abandoned them.
Without a proper bag Ambrose couldn’t loot even a small section of the market, even if he did have the space for it all he definitely didn’t have the time. That of course didn’t mean he was going to simply leave of course. Ambrose rushed through the market as stealth was somewhat forgotten for greed as he selected what he determined to be the best of each of the materials. There were all sorts of things but Ambrose focused on two things. Metals, because he couldn’t currently process them himself, explosive powders and immediately useful items.
Pouches very quickly filled with the materials as Ambrose left the market ravaged. His eyes had only glanced at each of the things he took, only looking for objects that would be of use either immediately or the near future. As Ambrose approached the final large stone building at the end of the markets he found where all the creatures had gone. His path was blocked by a group of four guards barely paying attention, beyond that he could see into a large room where what appeared to be hundreds of Gabrawls were ignoring the situation outside by having a damn party.
Ambrose didn’t have preparation time, but had access to the Gabrawls preparation time, and they seemed to like Engineering. Ambrose climbed to the upper levels of the building finding an easy access point. Another set of guards were nearby and would see him if he entered, but he didn’t need to. The access point that he had found led to a broken upper floor, whose giant central hole looked directly down onto the party below. Maybe he wasn’t being sent for a named creature after all, though it was impossible to tell without looking over each creature individually.
The party held a great opportunity, the Gabrawls were clearly more intelligent than the other creatures of the dungeon that Ambrose had encountered so far, a feature that Ambrose knew meant they cost more to create, but just like the Deposed King before them were overconfident in their strength and safety. The amount of guards for a gathering like this was embarrassingly low, and the few that were around were clearly the lowest dregs of the society, as not a single guard had noticed a form moving in the darkness. Even when Ambrose approached the doorway, placing something at the entrance, mere feet away from several of the guards, he remained unseen. He wouldn’t need to worry about noise either even if they did pay attention thanks to the din caused by the gathering was loud enough to disrupt ones thinking.
Traps in place, Ambrose was able to begin. He started at the upper level, readying a rage bomb and simply throwing it through the window and down to the level below. A guard moved to investigate, finally having seen something but Ambrose was gone by the time it peered its head outside. With the creature sticking its body out of the window Ambrose couldn’t resist, dropping from the roof of the fort and directing a two footed kick to the base of the creature's neck, using the transfer of momentum to grab onto the window frame. The Gabrawl’s neck on the other hand accepted the momentum, pulling the creature down and out of the window, sending the creature face first into the reinforced wooden flooring below. Ambrose was met with a resounding snap as the creature's neck broke as Ambrose’s Slapstick Trickery kicked in, amplifying the damage of the fall to a fatal level.
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He could see the smoke spreading down below, the curiosity had yet to turn to fear but Ambrose was soon to change that. You see the Gabrawls were fans of Engineering, a very specific branch of the craft. Explosives. Ambrose threw another object down the hole and onto the party below, quickly climbing down the crenulated stone wall and taking cover. A large bang followed by louder screaming met Ambrose’s smile as he continued to the bottom level.
The panic inside quickly rose thanks to the smoke from his rage bomb increasing the emotional damage they took due to a lowered Strength of Mind. Back on the ground Ambrose readied the second of the three explosive balls he had grabbed, remembering the items description as he threw it into the doorway right as the guards moved to investigate what had happened inside, while those more prone to fear from inside tried to escape, running into the guards blocking their freedom, immediately attacking as they fought for their lives.
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Gabrawlian Boom Ball (Uncommon)
A ball filled with explosive powder and then covered in subpar Engineering components. A pull string on the top can be used to activate the device.
Durability: Weak
Quality: Normal
Properties: Explosive (If activated, this item will explode after several seconds.)
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It was a gods damned frag grenade.
The ball rolled under the guards feet, going unnoticed as they defended themselves against the growing mob of party guests. The ball soon erupted, spewing metal shards of poorly made gears, screws, and nails rocketing through the bodies of the guards and guests, leaving their corpses blocking the small door.
Ambrose grabbed his hammer from where he had stashed it before climbing, and sat waiting to see what would happen. It appeared the pile of corpses were enough deterrent to the addled minds of the Gabrawls. Leaving the hammer once more Ambrose climbed back up to the second floor, peering in the window he could see the remaining three guards peering down the hole and shouting out to the group below in their language. Thanks to the enclosed space and all the bodies forcing it to move around, the smoke was rising out of the hole, slowly infecting the guards who were visibly getting angrier at the situation.
Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Ambrose threw a small piece of metal he had grabbed at the left most guards head before dashing out of view. The guard with his mental faculties compromised, assumed it had been his companion accidentally hitting him with his sheathed weapon and returned a slap in recompense. The guard wasn’t happy about being assaulted for no reason and the two came to blows. Each struck the other harder and harder, not noticing the damage they were causing to each other. The third guard tried to intervene but just ended up joining the brawl. No weapons had been drawn by the time Ambrose peeked his head around the corner.
Deciding to speed things up. Ambrose raised his hands in the air and let out the highest pitch scream he could as he ran at the guards, arms flailing. The guards turned to the noise, backing up as they tried to comprehend what kind of monster was coming out of the darkness right for them. The only problem was that the hole was behind them. Two of the guards fell into the bloodbath below as Ambrose Sparta kicked the final one in the chest, sending the panicked creature tumbling after its companions.
Ambrose laughed at the luck of the situation, the dungeon running out of energy was of course a dangerous event, but the opportunities it had provided him were simply exquisite.
Ambrose watched as the new party continued, many had succumbed to injuries already, with more racking up every second thanks to the introduction of the more heavily armed and very angry guards. As more of the dungeon creatures tried to escape the blocked entrance, the party began to split into two groups. Those who had a fight response were naturally doing so in the centre, believing the situation to be an attempt on their lives. The other group was those with a flee response who found themselves at the outer edges of the room, trying to hide, or at the entrance trying to pull the bodies out of the way. Those who had a freeze response had died first. It did finally give Ambrose a chance to observe the Gabrawls as he waited for the final planned opportunity to present itself.
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Gabrawl (Dungeon), Comparable Level
The Gaol of Neterin’s intelligent creatures were once a scourge upon adventurers, stomping the unprepared with traps and strategy. In their weakened state the creatures are now far less intimidating, but maintain more of their previous glory than most.
* Strength of Body: Comparable
* Speed of Body: Comparable
* Strength of Mind: Comparable
* Speed of Mind: Comparable
* Strength of Soul: Comparable
* Speed of Soul: Comparable
Intoxicated: This creature is affected by a substance negatively affecting its Mind.
Berserk: This creature is affected by a substance positively affecting its Body and pain resistance.
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Ambrose climbed back down in preparation for the final act he would be taking part in of this evening's events. When the doorway was finally freed of flesh, several of the surviving Gabrawls rushed out into the darkness, slipping on the lubricant that Ambrose had prepared earlier. As they struggled to rise to their feet, Ambrose used another one of the items he had stolen to light the lubricant, a type of oil, on fire.
As the Gabrawls screamed, their flesh melting and burning away, it signalled Ambrose to leave much as it would signal to the rest of the fort that something really was wrong as the fort began to catch alight in small patches. The fort was resistant to the elements and wearing including the fire so it unfortunately wouldn’t all just burn down with all the Gabrawls in it. Though when he thought about all the items, materials, and experience that he would lose out on if that occurred, Ambrose wasn’t particularly upset.
Grabbing the royal sceptre again, Ambrose began to run. He didn’t want to risk ruining his entry point by drawing attention in that direction, instead choosing to go for one of the guarded entrances. It was closer anyway. Ambrose ran away while guards ran towards, the group spotted the human running for them, immediately readying their weapons. Ambrose wasn’t in a state to fight though, deploying his remaining stolen items. First he smashed a porcelain jar on the ground, spewing obfuscating smoke in the surrounding. As expected, the guards rushed forward, outnumbering him they weren’t scared. They rushed into the smoke, slashing away in case Ambrose had remained within the smoke. Blades met nothing else however, as Ambrose’s final explosive went off.
He peeked around the corner once the shrapnel had shot through the area, the smoke was still covering most of the area, though blood and metal was now also spread throughout. Knowing that more would be on their way, Ambrose scarpered into the darkness and out of the fort.
Once safely away from the area and heading towards the hotel, Ambrose let Prism out of the pouch.
“Alright, please tell me that bought enough time?” Ambrose said to the orb, struggling to carry his mace.
“Once basic functionality has been restored, the dungeon should properly stabilise. I estimate there is enough mana to maintain the dungeon for several months under expected use. However new creatures will not be able to be generated excluding some Loobins as part of dungeon upkeep.”
“So there's now a limited number of creatures?”
“That is correct, new creatures can be spawned at request though because you have increased in level, the level of the creatures would need to be raised in turn, drastically increasing the cost of creation. Loobins are the exception to this rule as they are created as livestock for the Residents and creatures, as such they cannot break through, even at the dungeons peak they remained below the first threshold. The level increase would also cease once you reach the second threshold and thus reach the maximum expected level of the dungeon in its current state. Because of this passing the threshold would not be recommended until you are ready to finish the dungeon.”
“Right… I guess I am going to be stuck here for a while.” Ambrose mopped, he had entirely been planning on just raiding the fort on a weekly basis when the creatures were meant to respawn until he could get out.
“Prism, what is it going to take to get out of here?”
“I am sorry Ambrose, the dungeon doesn’t have the resources to create another transition zone. If you beat the dungeon without consuming too many resources, it should be able to do so as your quest reward but not before.”
Ambrose spent the remainder of the walk in contemplation, he was going to be stuck for a long time. Beating the dungeon would be difficult thanks to the crafting challenge and final boss which he now expected to be level twenty, a beast that was normally meant to be taken on in a party of four or five.
As the two returned to the Hotel, Ambrose entered his room, all the items had been returned to their places in the time since he last left the loot pile. He was going to need to prepare an exceptionally large amount of items, and Skills to finish the dungeon. For now though, it was time to sleep.