Dungeon Dive

by Rohan M Vider

  And then there was the behaviour of the floor’s demons. Demons, like divines—and for that matter mortals—had a hierarchy of their own. At the bottom of the pile were the imps, enslaved and abused by their own kind. Above them were the minor demons, who were akin to Velia, and only slightly more sentient. Barring the floor captain, and perhaps one or two lieutenants, the animating spirits on the first floor were always minor demons.

  It was this fact as well that served to make the first floor easier than successive ones. Without direction from the floor captain or a lieutenant, first floor minions behaved less than intelligently. Yet Aveyad had never heard of a dungeon where the mindless nature of the minor demons was this apparent. Was Talia’s half-joking suggestion about the demon captain correct? Has the floor captain been driven mad?

  The mystery disturbed the party, but with no way to solve it, they set it aside and returned to the serious business of dungeoneering. However, the dungeon’s strangeness clung to the back of all their minds and served to keep the party tense and alert.

  Up ahead, Talia and Galian ground to a halt. Aveyad peered forward. The corridor had come to an end. Ten metres in front of Talia and Galian was a stone archway that lead into a circular chamber. Aveyad hurried forward to join the pair. Talia, displaying more caution than she was wont to, had not advanced closer. The dungeon’s peculiarities have us all on edge, thought Aveyad.

  “What is it?” whispered Aveyad. From where they stood, he could see little of the chamber beyond the entryway. Other than it was large and had every indication of being empty. Talia pursed her lips. “I don’t know, but it looks like the pattern of the floor has finally changed, and we’re done with the mantises.”

  “Galian, do you see anything?” The ranger’s sight was sharper than Aveyad’s and he was more likely to pierce any illusions within the room. The ranger turned away from his intent study of the room and shook his head at Aveyad. “Nothing, champion. It looks empty.”

  Aveyad nodded and asked Talia, “How do you want to proceed?”

  Her gaze flicked from Galian, to Aveyad, and then the rangers and Velia beyond. “Galian, head back and join your squad. Aveyad and I will proceed ahead for a closer look.”

  Galian opened his mouth to protest, but Talia raised a hand and cut him off. “We won’t enter the chamber, I promise. I want a better idea of what lies beyond before I release you and your team to scout.”

  Galian subsided and retreated. Talia looked at Aveyad. “Ready?”

  “Shields?” he asked.

  She hesitated. “Not yet. Save the essence for now.” She drew Judgement and activated holy fire. “But stay behind me. Just in case.”

  ✽✽✽

  The two champions padded towards the stone archway, Talia with a flaming Judgement held before her, and Aveyad, two steps behind, nervously fingering his wands. They reached the stone archway without mishap. After a moment’s wait, during which time nothing jumped out at them, Talia sheathed her sword, and the two champions peered within the room.

  The chamber was round and its floor sloped gently down from the walls into a small depression in the room’s centre, giving the room a bowl-like appearance. Aveyad’s eyes flew upwards to the roof, expecting them to contain murder-holes from which to rain down deadly liquid onto a party trapped within. But the roof was blank, and smooth. Incomplete?

  His eyes roved across the chamber’s walls. Set at equidistant points in that room, like spokes of a hub were five other stone archways. Unlike the one at which they stood, the other entrances were closed, sealed off by stone doors. Nothing lurked within the chamber.

  Talia and Aveyad glanced at each other, and Talia voiced what they were both thinking, “It’s a trap.”

  “Agreed, but what is its nature?”

  Taking pains not to cross the entranceway into the chamber, she leaned as far forward as possible and scrutinised the room. She shook her head, “I don’t know.” She addressed the rangers over the battlegroup. “Corporal, inspect the entryway and corridor near it for traps.” She paused, then added, “Make sure no one crosses over into the room.”

  “Yes, Champion,” replied Galian.

  He set his team in motion, softly calling out instructions. Aveyad sat cross-legged on the floor and searched for magical traps, while Talia kept watch.

  After another excruciating wait that had Talia dancing from foot to foot with impatience, Galian approached her with his findings. “The corridor appears normal and not rigged in any manner. The entranceway, however, is trapped.” He pointed upwards. The champions followed his gaze. “Up above is a ton of stone waiting to fall and seal the entrance. From what we can tell from here, the trigger that causes this door to close is linked to the other entrances. It will likely cause them to open.”

  “Where is the trigger?” asked Talia.

  Galian pointed into the room. “There. It’s a pressure plate in the room’s centre.”

  “Can you disable the trap?” asked Aveyad.

  “No. Its beyond our skill.” He hesitated. “But Alok thinks he can reassemble and modify the mechanism to reopen the doorway after it has triggered.”

  “After? Not before?” asked Talia.

  Galian shook his head. “There are too my failsafes built in for that. The trap has to be sprung before Alok can attempt to modify it.”

  “How long will that take?” asked Aveyad.

  “Alok thinks he can do it in five minutes.”

  Aveyad and Talia exchanged glances. It was not good news. Talia pointed upwards. She asked, “Aveyad anything you can do?”

  Aveyad’s brow furrowed as he delicately probed the chamber’s roof with his magical senses. He shook his head. “The trap mechanism is a physical one, so I can’t disable it either. Neither can I sense the trigger.”

  Talia exhaled noiselessly. “So, a rigged entranceway, and no way to proceed further without triggering the trap.”

  Aveyad agreed. “Which would also leave us trapped in the chamber to face whatever ambush emerges from the other five entrances.”

  “What do we do then?” asked the corporal, frowning. “Do we retreat? Or do we try to safely spring the trap from here.”

  Talia frowned in thought. Then her face cleared and she grinned impishly. Aveyad knew that expression. It often heralded some brash venture of hers. The dungeon it seemed had not squashed Talia’s penchant for bold tactics. “Neither,” she said. “Both options will mean failure. If that gate is as heavy as you say, once the entry shuts, we will have no means of opening it. Then we will have to wait until the dungeon resets before we can proceed farther. And that will take weeks at least.”

  Galian scratched his head, perplexed. “What do we do then?”

  “We go in. All of us together, in greater numbers than the demons reckoned on. Then we trigger the trap.”

  ✽✽✽

  The party withdrew a safe distance away from the chamber and began their preparations. Aveyad was worried at the risk they were taking. But Talia is right, he admitted. They either walked willingly into the trap and trusted to their strength to defeat whatever the dungeon threw at them, or they retreated and accepted failure of the mission. He could see no other way around it.

  If this were any other dungeon dive, and if Crotana’s straits were not so dire, Aveyad would have advised caution. But failure is not an option here. And the dungeon had been easy thus far. Perhaps I am worrying needlessly, he thought.

  Preparation mostly entailed Aveyad calling forth his summons. As an apprentice celestial invoker, he could summon three divines to serve their cause. The celestial invoker class was a specialised subset of the summoner class. Celestial invokers were restricted to summoning only divine spirits but this came with the advantage of being able to summon more powerful spirits. Aveyad could summon lesser divines whereas most other apprentice-ranked players were limited to minor divines. After a whispered conversation with Talia to discuss the creatures that would best meet the party’s needs, Aveyad began
his summoning.

  Aveyad reached within himself, and spun tendrils of essence into the ether in a clarion call to the lesser spirits pledged to Eld. The divine host answered and dispatched the three whose aid he requested. The spirits darted through the ether and followed the essence tendrils back to Aveyad. Reaching the boundary to the physical plane, they waited. Aveyad wove yet more yellow essence of planar magic, and punched a hole to the spirit plane. The three divines slipped through, straining against the ether winds that fought to keep them within Godshome.

  Aveyad extended coils of essence to the spirits, which they fastened onto to anchor themselves to the physical realm. The essence coils would bind the spirits to Aveyad for as long as they remained on Myelad. He called to the spirits across the link, “Thank you, divines for heeding my call. I will prepare your hosts now.” They hovered patiently while he prepared the earthly forms they would assume while on this plane.

  First, he wove together purple strands of the planar, with the brown strands of the earth, and the golden strands of the divine. Out of the spinning strands an elemental took shape. One that was squat of form and had the hard, impenetrable shell of stone. Hidden within its depth was the might of the celestial. The first divine flowed within the construct and breathed life into it.

  Aveyad has summoned a lesser divine: a level 48 celestial elemental (duration: 8 minutes).

  Next, he used weaves of pure air to create a construct that embodied the heart of a storm. Forced into form, the condensed storm crackled into being, and took on the shape of a nine-foot humanoid. The construct’s body was created from lightning and clothed in billowing winds. The second divine faded within the construct and gave birth to the young titan.

  Aveyad has summoned a lesser divine: a level 48 young titan (duration: 8 minutes).

  Lastly, he blended together the grey strands of death with golden strands to create a bone knight imbued with the might of the divine. The third celestial spirit entered the bone creature, and animated its form.

  Aveyad has summoned a lesser divine: a level 48 holy knight (duration: 8 minutes).

  The summoned spirits bowed to the champions. Talia inclined her head in return, and added them to the battlegroup. The rest of the party brought up their buffs, while Talia and Aveyad cast their divine shields.

  The party returned to the bowl-shaped room. Aveyad and Talia were in front, with Velia floating above. Talia stopped at the entrance. “Ready, everyone?”

  Talia placed one foot across the entryway and paused. Nothing happened. Then double-time, she strode into the room, halting only once she reached the trap’s pressure plate. The party fanned out behind her.

  The planar summons formed a loose, thinly-spread, bow-shaped perimeter around the archway. The young titan and holy knight anchored the left of the line, while the celestial elemental held the right side. It would be their task to engage any hostiles that attacked from the flanks. The centre was left vacant for Talia. She would hold the front.

  The rangers formed up in a closely-packed line near the door. Aveyad stood in the middle of the formation. He would reinforce the perimeter where needed. Talia turned back and lifted one eyebrow in query.

  Aveyad gave a firm nod. They were ready. The champions had briefly debated whether they should attempt to modify the trap mechanism immediately after triggering it. But the pressure plate was too exposed in the chamber’s centre. If they were attacked while Alok worked on the mechanism, they risked a repeat of the first chamber’s battle. They had both agreed that it was much safer to deploy the party with their backs to the closed door, defeat whatever ambush emerged, and then attempt to open the sealed door.

  The unspoken worry in both their minds was what occurred if Alok could not open the door. It was not a thought that Aveyad wanted to dwell on.

  “Here we go,” said Talia. She set Judgement to blazing with holy fire and stepped on the pressure plate.

  ✽✽✽

  The stone weight hanging above the entrance slammed shut. After a moment’s pause the stone doors of the other entrances began to roll open. Talia stepped back and took her place on the line while the rangers pressed their backs against the closed door. They waited expectantly, eyes flickering from door to door, as they rolled up with ominous slowness.

  Game Data

  Ability: Summon (lesser divine)

  Skill: Planar Magic.

  Description: Summons a divine spirit from the spirit plane to aid the caster. The spirit is anchored to Myelad’s physical realm by the caster. Warning: The summoned spirit is an independent sentient being, and the caster may have little control of its actions.

  Rank: Apprentice.

  Cost: 80 Essence.

  Execution time: 1 minute.

  Summoned: A divine spirit. Summoned spirit’s level is 1 x skill.

  Duration: 10 seconds x skill.

  Chapter 11

  Dungeon mechanics are a subset of the Game’s rules that govern the operation of dungeons. They are underpinned by three key laws. The first being, the spawning law. The spawning law prevents demons from manifesting in forms that are higher levelled than the floor’s limit.

  The second is the force law. The force law applies a level cap to the total force of demons that can be deployed in an encounter. This prevents the floor captains from overrunning a dungeon party with numbers alone or with multiple roving bands.

  The third is the architect law. It fixes a dungeon floor configuration and prevents a dungeon lord from changing its architecture. —Kel Maldax, Game scholar.

  For a few seconds nothing happened. Then out of the five mouths of gaping darkness streamed a flood of brown, in an unending tide, closely packed and slow moving. The creatures swirled into the chamber, a swaying, crackling mass. Too many, there are too many of them—whatever they are, thought Aveyad. He glanced at Talia. Her face was expressionless. Aveyad envied her calmness. He turned back to the creatures that spilled into the room, and sent out tendrils of will to probe them.

  Creature: Treant.

  Type: Semi-sentient plant (disguised minor demon).

  Rarity: Common.

  Level: 20.

  Health: 200 / 200.

  Attack: 20-25 (blunt).

  Defences (physical / psi / spell): 40 / 20 / 20.

  Special Effects:

  Demonic (+100% divine damage, -100% chaos damage).

  Barked (-95% piercing damage, -60% slashing damage).

  Tinder (+50% fire damage).

  They were treants, Aveyad realised. Creatures whose natural barkskin made them near impervious to the rangers’ piercing attacks. A shrewd play by the floor captain, he thought. The treants were also only level twenty. Which fact explained how the floor captain had managed to assemble so many of them for this encounter. There must already be fifty of them in the chamber. The floor captain had lowered the creatures’ levels in order to increase their numbers.

  Dungeon mechanics limited the amount of force that could be brought to bear in a single encounter. It did this by limiting the force’s total level cap. The floor captain had overcome the limit by lowering the levels of his minions in an obvious bid to overwhelm the party with numbers. And it would have worked, if the party’s composition had not changed.

  With Aveyad’s planar summons—all melee fighters—the party had at least a chance of keeping the horde at bay. Nonetheless it was an altogether astute ploy by the demon in charge. So much for the floor captain being mad, thought Aveyad. There was clearly a cunning, if somewhat erratic mind in charge of the floor.

  The treants were near replicas of the trees after which they were named. They used exposed roots to propel themselves forward, and leafless branches as arms. The swaying mass formed up around the party, encircling them completely and cutting off all avenues of escape.

  Aveyad looked beyond the glowing green eyes of the swarm’s front ranks and, with a sinking feeling, saw that even more spilled into the chamber. Far more. How many of them are there? He saw from Talia�
��s grim look that she comprehended their dire straits. Aveyad watched her tighten her grip on her sword and unnecessarily shift her stance. She is worried too, he thought.

  “Galian,” she shouted. “Get up here! I need your axe on the line. We are too widespread to hold back their numbers. Aveyad, do what you can to strengthen our perimeter. The—” She broke off, as with deliberate slowness, made more menacing by their lack of speed, the treants advanced.

  “I’ll see to it,” Aveyad said across the battlegroup, although he had no idea how he was going to go about it. With her eyes fixed on the approaching treants, Talia’s only acknowledgement was a clipped nod. A second later, she began casting heretic’s hate.

  Aveyad knew Talia was right. They had to reinforce their cordon, or the treants would break through. Galian alone was not enough for the task. The creatures’ numbers were far more than they had planned for. Even with the planar summons, he was no longer sure they could hold the throng back.

  He glanced from his summoned creatures to the rangers at the rear. Lera and Elias held their bows uncertainly while Alok fingered his swords and appeared to be wondering if he should join the celestial elemental on the right, where the line looked exposed. Do I add Alok to the line? No, his swords would fare much worse against the treants than Galian’s axe. And there is a much better use for the rangers, he thought. While the elves’ standard attacks would fare poorly against the treants, one of their special attacks would work well. “Elias,” he shouted. “I want you, Lera and Alok to send volleys of flaming arrows to the treants’ rear. Set as many of them on fire as you can.”

  “We’re on it,” responded Elias.

  Aveyad turned his mind back to his dilemma. “How do I strengthen the line?” he muttered to himself. He had already brought forth all the summons he could, so there was no help there. Do I call on Eld for aid? But no, there wasn’t time. What then? He broke out in a cold sweat. If he didn’t think of something, the party would be overwhelmed.