FINAL CORE - Chapter 21 (Patreon)

Every dungeon has more than just tricks and traps and silly, little goblins.

As is customary for their sort, each dungeon has an established pattern of floor design. Typically, there are normal floors, challenge floors and boss floors. However, not all dungeons hold themselves to these standards, as some more exotic examples are to be found around the world.

A normal floor is what one would expect. It is a floor full of what one would describe as average, expected monsters for the climate.

A challenge floor is a floor that requires less violence in some cases and more mechanical know-how. These often involve puzzles, traps and timed challenges.

A boss floor, finally, is a dungeon’s strongest line of defense, but the one it can field the least often.

Boss: A boss is a particularly high-level, or otherwise dangerous, unique encounter meant to pose a significant challenge to any intruders. Given the incredible amounts of ambient dungeon-magic needed to sustain them, a boss can only be summoned every ten levels of height.

Boss entities can diverge from traditional monster pools and are often deeply characteristic of a dungeon’s aspect.

While common enemies, such as slimes, might be seen in every dungeon. No boss entity has ever been seen in more than one dungeon, as they are unique encounters, hand-made to deter any outsiders.

These, like challenge rooms, can field unique requirements in order to be beaten.

~ Vidalia’s notes on dungeon dos and don'ts.

___________________________________________________

[Floor Ten]

The Bell Tower

The bell tower is an open-faced arena with a massive, inscribed metal bell at its center. Water pours down its glistening surface from above, filling the pools that fill the floor. Given the lofty heights, strong gales of wind surge past the pillars, threatening to throw anyone off of the suspended walkways.

The bell will ring three times a day on its own, at nine AM, twelve PM, six PM. But it will also be rung every time it receives damage of any type.

 Capacity: {1} BOSS

Boss room: In order to progress, this boss must be defeated. 

Upon success: Spawns {1} random, high-quality item of a level equal to this floor’s, according to the item drop pool of the boss entity.

Activates a shortcut to use at the entrance, which leads up to this floor.

Bell Effect: [Baptism of Bells]: Upon ringing, the noise of the ringing bell will be emitted in all directions up to a distance of [DUNGEON-TERRITORY * 2]

• All demons in this area are repelled.
• All ambient DARK-magic is repelled.
• All men and women within dungeon-territory will feel an innate desire to pay notice to the tower from wherever they are.
• While boss-encounter is active. The boss will heal HP at a rate of {1}% for every evil force repelled.
• Boss-arena effect will activate.

Isaiah flies, looking around at floor ten. It’s certainly an interesting place.

In the center of the floor is a gargantuan metal bell, suspended from the ceiling. Its massive exterior is an exquisite artwork in and of itself.

Straight, linear walkways fill the floor at varying heights and angles, surrounding the bell as if it were an insect, suspended in a spider’s web. They’re set into the pillars, splaying out, as if branches from a tree.

Isaiah looks down.

The ceiling of floor nine, so the ‘floor’ or floor ten is sharply slanted to a spike that leads up to beneath the bell. Anyone who falls off of a walkway, all of which are without railings or guards, is going to fall there and slide straight off of the tower.

Not a great way to die.

But if they insist on trying to attack Isaiah’s home with enough will to make it all the way up here, then perhaps this is simply what has to be.

“That’s not even the best part,” says Crystal. “I really saved up a whole mass of dungeon-magic for this one,” he says, leaning in towards Isaiah, a hand by its mouth. “That’s why the goblins are on floor eight,” it says. “They’re cheap. Less magic drain there means we can do more exotic things up here with our budget.”

Isaiah sees nothing new.

“Well…?” it asks, looking around.

“Wait. It’ll be right about… now!” says Crystal.

The bell rings, striking its first chime of the day. Nine in the morning. Given its size, it’s shockingly loud, filling the air with a heavy, deep reverberation that Isaiah feels in its bones, even at this distance. The forest around them erupts in a disturbance, as flocks of birds fly off into the sky, having been startled.

The tower rumbles, shaking, as the pillars holding the floor aloft begin to rotate around the edge of the tower in a slow, grinding circle. All of the long walkways begin to move, spinning around the bell, until they’ve turned a full quarter turn.

Something shrieks, overpowering the noise of the bell. Isaiah turns to look as a monstrous entity swoops down through the sky, shooting into the tower, just barely missing the pillars with its incredible wingspan.

In a strange flashback, Isaiah is reminded of the eagle it had seen, swooping a fish out of a river, back during the first day of its rebirth.

The monster, larger than anything it has ever seen before, lands on the walkways, its body spanning over several of them. Its talons on each foot wrap around a single path easily.

It’s giant.

“Crystal…” says Isaiah, looking at the incredible monster. A bird-like creature with golden wings, flush with a rich, jewel-like plumage. 

“I know, right?” asks Crystal. “Bosses are my favorite.”

[Garuda]

A divine entity. Garuda is the king of birds. It is said that the flapping of its wings is enough to bring both the heavens and the hells to a total standstill. This creature carries a strong distaste for injustice and has a particular, very specific hate for snakes. Garudas are extremely intelligent and powerful.

 Boss Tactics

• Aerial phase: The garuda will fly around the outside of the tower, before swooping in and striking in an attempt to destroy platforms and knock anyone it can off of their footing. It will attempt to fly around the bell as often as it can, in order to punish inaccurate spell-casting.
• Ground phase: The garuda will land on the walkways, making a section unusable for the duration. Here it will flap its wings in targeted gusts, trying to throw enemies off.

Secret encounter tactic: Garudas will not attack HOLY attributed combatants in particular, as well as anyone deemed to have a pure soul. They are avid listeners and, if spoken too by such a person, will listen to whatever they have to say.

“It’s… very large,” says Isaiah, staring at it. The garuda is a real beast. Are dragons even this big?

Isaiah blinks, remembering that it remembers dragons.

“Dragons get pretty big, but he’s up there all right,” says Crystal, reading Isaiah’s thoughts again. “For our first boss, it’s a bit much. But we can get away with it because the mechanics are so simple.” Crystal taps his head. “Spend smart. Usually a massive encounter like this would be floor thirty, earliest.”

Isaiah nods, impressed.

The intruders will have to fight on a series of stone bridges, each at varying elevation and angle, with no real easy way to cross between them. Meanwhile, the garuda will swoop in and try to throw them off. So their only real chance of damaging it, while it’s in the air, is to use spells.

But if they miss and hit the bell, they’ll cause the walkways to shift and maybe even heal the boss too.

The ground phase is when the close-combatants can get their strikes in, if they reach it before it flies off again.

As for that weakness, it’s somewhat specific and vague. They’re going to have to look out for that, but nothing is perfect, after all.

[Territory Breached!]

• Intruders: 6
• Average Level: 11
• Difficulty: Normal

“Oh, well, would you look at that,” says Crystal. “I guess the bell pulled them right in.”

Isaiah looks down at the intruders on the tower grounds.

A group of humans comes down the road.

[Pilgrimage]

The tower gains ambient magics from the arrival of strangers.

+06 EXP

573/750

“You think it’s just them?” asks Crystal. “I guess the city is still pretty far off. But look, neat, you can totally see it from here!” says the uthra.

It is true.

From floor ten, as high up as they are, the city is very clearly visible from here. This of course means, they are the same.

“More will come,” says Isaiah.

“Guess I better get back to work then!” says Crystal.

The humans wander around the grounds, looking at everything and Isaiah watches. It digs its talons into the stones, leaning down over the ledge. It needs them to go into the tower.

It needs them to die inside of the tower.

Time is running shorter than ever. At this rate, even with the multiple bonuses stacked together and the new floors, the tower just isn’t even close enough to being there.

It narrows its eyes, watching the humans below.

At the very least, they’re better behaved than the goblins and they don’t break anything. But that isn’t much of a help.

One of them stops to pray at the shrine. A priestess.

[Prayer]

A prayer has been said at the shrine.

+01 EXP

574/750

Isaiah makes a note to spare that one. Another one of them enters the shrine with her and places a small object into the box.

[Donation received]

{1} Obol

Isaiah makes another note to spare that one, with the spiky hair, if the decision should arise.

— probably.

It lifts its gaze towards the sky, watching as a massive shadow flies past, obscuring the light of the sun.

It’s still so far away and there aren’t many days left.

It spins around, flying towards the bell and striking it as hard as it can.

The giant bell rings out noisily, its voice cascading across the landscape and Isaiah hopes that it stretches all the way towards the human city.

[Territory Breached!]

• Intruders: 1
• Average Level: 08
• Difficulty: Easy

[Pilgrimage]

The tower gains ambient magics from the arrival of strangers.

+01 EXP

574/750

Good. Another one.

Maybe it will have to think about the whole 'sparing' issue again. It really needs the experience points.