Lewd Dungeon, Book 35 Prologue (Patreon)

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)

SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTramp, MagicMike, TsundereHealer, Max, LightningLegacy, SwiftTaylor, Domino, Bacchus, Aegis, Temptation, and Lord_Kickass are in the chat.

Scholar: So, yes, working with materials purchased through the System Shop, it may be possible to clean up the broken dungeons, and stop them from continuous spawning.

HurricaneGal: Does this mean we might be able to retake Boca Raton?

Salty: And stop the Vurlock spawns off the coast?

Scholar: Yes, but it won’t be easy. The materials I am reviewing suggest that doing this will be a massive undertaking.

Ambassador: It will be. However, if your people can pull it off, then you’ll be one step closer to being on parity with the rest of the galaxy. There is a lot that can go wrong with this kind of operation, though, and it is not nearly so simple as cleaning up a spilled drink.

Backpage: What, exactly, is involved?

Scholar: There are a lot of technical things, but, basically, you first have to set up a series of barriers. Keep monsters in, keep mana out. Then, you have to temporarily turn off the System in the area, before killing off the monsters inside.

DarkEnchanter: That sounds… unreasonably dangerous. Fighting the goblins without the System? Meaning without any of our magic or skills?

Domino: There will definitely be people not coming back from that fight, yeah.

LatinHeat: Why not talk to the military, and see if they have something they can use? Without the System, all their pre-System toys should work just fine, right?

SunnyBunz: Huh, that’s a good idea.

Scholar: Either way, you have to make sure you get rid of all the monsters in the affected area. You miss even one, and the link they have to the broken dungeon will allow it to revive, and you’ll have to start all over again.

Salty: Oof. Which means the Vurlocks are probably beyond our ability to clean up right now. They are far too quick and maneuverable, and visibility isn’t always the best underwater. And without enchanted gear, we’d be limited in how long we can stay underwater. The only way we could possibly be sure of killing off all of them is by poisoning the ocean somehow. Cure would be worse than the disease.

Ambassador: Yes, underwater dungeons are the most difficult to clean up when they break. Even in the wider galaxy, that is something you need specialists, usually from aquatic races, to handle.

Scholar: Indeed. While the broken dungeons in Boca Raton and Orlando may be something that we can clean up, I do not believe that we currently have the capability of cleaning more difficult sites, like the underwater Vurlock site, or the source of those Uranium Slimes in Nevada.

ScoopGirl: It is just fortunate that the Uranium Slimes have stayed away from Las Vegas. That could have been really bad.

Scholar: Well, it is more like they’re kept away. I have a colleague at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who helped the military with the barrier work to keep the Uranium Slimes penned in. A sophisticated piece of work, actually. It is a two-layer barrier. The first blinds the slime to living beings outside the barrier, and the second has a low-level psychic field designed to push the slimes towards the center of the site. So long as no one goes inside the barrier, the slimes can’t sense prey, and stay away from the barrier, meaning their radiation is less likely to corrupt or weaken the barrier, and they aren’t trying to push through it.

Ambassador: Just to note, that kind of barrier only works because slimes are instinct-driven, and do not use normal vision to see. You would need different barrier types to keep in monsters who can see things in the distance, or are capable of thought. To say nothing of flying creatures.

BestGirl: Talking about the Uranium Slimes is pointless, anyways. No one can take those things down. They’re stupidly resistant to magic, and anyone getting into melee is dead before they even touch the thing.

Temptation: Actually, it isn’t impossible to take one down. It is just beyond the capability of those at your level.

ScoopGirl: What do you mean?

Temptation: I’ve fielded Lewd Uranium Slime Lords in several engagements, and some of them have been killed. A few were lost when I was helping clean up a theocracy on Bluemountain (where my first interstellar portal was set up). They were killed by some people who were in the higher ranks of Tier 2. Also, I’ve actually had one die in the dungeon.

VenusFlyTramp: Wait, what? I thought you didn’t have those things in the dungeon?

Temptation: Not in the normal version, no. But the more advanced versions? Yes, I made one a boss for one of the desert floors.

RangerMiguel: Let me guess, it was the pilgrims who came in, all at the highest level of Tier 2. I remember they signed the ‘guns allowed’ version of the contract.

BestGirl: Ooh, how have they been doing? It has been a few days since they started their delve, right? People have been wondering about them.

Temptation: They’re still doing quite well. Actually, they are the first adventurers to break through to Tier 3 in my dungeon, which has made several of my bosses very happy. They don’t usually get to show their true powers, you understand, to keep things fair.

MightyMouse: How have they been doing?

Temptation: Well, they got a few ‘firsts’. On the Ranger’s Mansion floor, they were the first to get a perfect run on the ‘gauntlet’ portion, taking down all the platform guardians without taking any damage, before the energy field could catch them.

VenusFlyTramp: Really? Damn, that’s impressive. Most groups just pick one side and work their way along.

Temptation: Indeed. I was quite impressed with how they pulled that off. Then, in the desert floors, they managed to not only get the first adventurer kill on a Lewd Uranium Slime Lord, but the first kill period on Shai-hulud.

SunnyBunz: WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE!!! YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT SOMEONE ACTUALLY KILLED THAT SANDWORM BOSS? HOW????

Temptation: You know I’m not going to tell you that. But, yes, they killed it. Really, I’m quite proud of them. In fact, they’re almost to the boss fight on the final floor.

RangerMiguel: Really? What is that boss fight like?

Temptation: You’ll have to get some adventurers to come and see, if you want to find out. Though, assuming that this group makes it through, it means I’ll finally get to start making the next levels. I’ve held off since there wasn’t any point if no one made it through the desert.

Salty: What is coming next?

Temptation: Haven’t decided. Going to be an environmental theme for the next three floors, but not swamps or deserts. The four I’ve been thinking of most are caves, tundra, volcanoes, and oceans.

Salty: OOH! Oceans, please!

VenusFlyTramp: No, not three floors of water levels! The Water Temple is bad enough!