Worthy Core

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FLOOR 12 CREATED

ADDING NEW BASE 'CAVE' MATERIALS:

LEAD (AVERAGE QUALITY)

NEW BASE 'CAVE' CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED:

FISH: D+

FUNGOIDS: D

ADDING NEW BASE 'TOWN' MATERIALS:

PAINTS (AVERAGE QUALITY)

NEW BASE 'TOWN' CONSTRUCT PATTERN QUALITIES ACQUIRED:

CANINES: B-

AVIANS: B

MANA CAP INCREASED BY 6 TO 691

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Although the main purpose of exploiting Xenia's link to the Great Dungeon had simply been to get an audience with the Dragonlord, it had also resulted in the acquiring of another new floor which she was hardly about to pass up on. However, in order to get maximum use out of it the dungeon master had no time to get clever with any particular designs and had simply claimed the pre-existing tunnels, such as they were. There was at least one advantage to this - when the Dragonlord's forces stepped inside, they had no idea that they had re-entered the dungeon.

Which makes for a rather surprising ambush when they run into the stiffest resistance of the expedition yet, and that resistance happens to include dungeon monsters.

"Launch face constrictors! Give em a Worthy welcome!" Paladin Sable Bluehair's wide grin is obvious from the tone of her voice as she commands her temporary forces, primarily made up of Challengers but with quite a few 'nuisance' tier creatures included. The defenders aren't able to devote all of their people to this one particular battle - given the lack of shortcut portals in the dead dungeon tunnels, they unfortunately have no choice but to spread out their fighters to cover any possible route the Domain soldiers might choose to take. There had been high hopes that they would choose this particular path, however, and the quick-and-dirty design of the floor had taken the presence of Challengers into account.

For example, the knockoff alien bugs Xenia had designed for Floor Nine no longer needed to sit around in pods and hope that a passerby might choose to stick their face into one. With the help of air mages and those who simply have a good throwing arm, several dozen of the monsters had now acquired short-range flight to the dismay of the kobolds and demons in the advance scouting parties. And, as the constrictors attack from the air, the soldiers find themselves assaulted from below by...hippity blobbities.

The lagomorph-slime crossbreed monster had been largely discounted as a high-tier defensive monster given that they almost entirely lack offensive capabilities. Their main threat is simply to launch themselves into intruders bodily and use their momentum to knock adventurers into other traps. However, they are rather durable and hard to hit with a sword, which means that in this particular situation they prove to be marvelously useful as a distraction. Every soldier busy dodging a blobbity is one too busy to notice the scorpion-snake hybrid about to land on their face, and every scout who finds themselves fighting for air finds that far more difficult when slimes are knocking them left and right.

Not to mention the efforts of the Challengers themselves. As the monsters take the bulk of the enemy attention other ranged combatants open up, and a hailstorm of arrows and magic spells decimate the first ranks of the Domain soldiers. It's not long before the southerners have fallen back, leaving a dozen corpses behind, and the fighters under Sable's command cheer.

Not least of those being the Dungeon Fuckers. Finding her Paladin colleague, Tolla Spearheft grins. "Got em running! Bet we could've taken on a lot more of them, but that's still a decent chunk of their numbers, aye?"

Sable nods in agreement. "Wasn't their toughest troops, but specialized scouts are still pretty high-value. Every scout that goes down is another trap or ambush they won't spot later."

"Mm. Speaking of ambushes, how do we wanna set up for the second round?" Just as she says that, the dwarf yelps in surprise as an arcane turret emerges from the floor about ten feet from where she's standing. Paladin Bluehair can't resist a smirk at her reaction.

"Worthy's still setting up defenses on this floor as fast as she can, and they said they're switching Sevastion's floor range to cover this one, so we'll have him backing us up soon. We'll fall back another thirty feet or so, and the leftover monsters there should give us some warning when the next ones come by. Not sure what monsters she's gonna spawn next, but we just need to buy a little longer for - "

The demi-succubus's instructions are interrupted from a sound not far in type from that of an avalanche, but of a rather sudden and targeted kind. From the darkness of the abandoned tunnels flies a hailstorm of small rocks without warning, most no larger than a fist, but nearly every single one finds a target. Hippity blobbities are splattered even as they hop into the air, and face constrictors find no refuge as they skitter for the nearest hiding places. Even the turret the dungeon had just created only gets off a single fireball before a larger stone smashes into it, cracking the crystal at its top into shards. Fortunately, the light that fireball creates does give Sable some idea of what they're facing.

"They brought up the heavy hitters! Defensive positions! Vanguards and shielders front!" That description happens to include both of the paladins, and each of them raise their shield in preparation for an assault. "No way an earth mage squad would've been that coordinated. We're looking at an expert here, at least one."

"Excuse you!?" A laughing kobold steps forward, followed by a pair of demons. "Expert? When you get to hell, tell em the Supreme Catapault Carrie sent ya! Be honored to get crushed under my stone!"

Normally Sable wouldn't even dream of facing off against a Supreme, let alone a potential trio of them, but at this late hour there's not nearly enough territory left to simply retreat every time one rears their head. Besides, as the defender of an actual dungeon floor she does have one strong advantage - the knowledge that Xenia would have seen the new arrivals the moment they stepped into sight. Reserve forces have been prepared for exactly this sort of thing, so as long as they can hold out long enough for them to be alerted and sent down through shortcut portals...

That question gets severely tested as one of the demons leaps forward, their spear thrusting in Sable's direction. If it wasn't for the fact that the paladin had already cast a number of body-enhancing abilities, the woman gets the impression that her green-haired head would be rolling across the floor right about now. As it is, it's only with the combined efforts of herself, Tolla, and three other frontliners that they're able to hold the man at bay for even a moment. Each time they move their shields he's there, probing for ankles and shoulders he might be able to slice, and each time they try to fend him off with their blades he's danced away, well out of their range.

All that is only a sideshow compared to the ranged battle going on between the mages and archers. Catapault Carrie seems to favor long-range attacks much more than the average geomancer, given her specialty at flinging stone around in complete violation of physics, and her second companion appears handpicked to compliment her with magical defenses. It's a combination which proves to be more than most of the Challengers present can handle. Even with Worthy-provided enchanted gear every stone tossed dents a shield, shatters a bow, or caves in a face. Meanwhile the return fire they can offer is enough to test the defensive enemy mage...but not enough to actually crack her barriers open.

It's very fortunate then that the Highbranches and their retainers waste little time in arriving. Glory Silverbloom, Red Daylinta, and Tinter Gloomroot quickly take to the fray as the Highbranches themselves provide support from the rear, protected by their loyal bodyguards. Gilda immediately gets to carving out defensive runes on the tunnel floor, supplementing the defenses being actively constructed by the dungeon itself, and Raylin himself gets in his first shots of the siege as his arrows join that of the Challengers. Of course, it's the Supremes who do the most to shift the tide.

As Red joins the other paladins in the melee, she quickly puts them to shame by being more effective than the entire existing group put together. Despite wielding a heavy warhammer in a single hand and a shield in the other the Deliverer of Balance is able to keep pace with the much more lightly-armed demon, taunting him whenever he takes a step away, and smashing his spear aside whenever he attempts to attack. The mage battle likewise soon becomes much more even-handed. Glory's arcane barriers are easily able to fend with Carrie's hurled boulders, at least for the moment, while the defensive demon's shields do little to prevent Gloomroot's shadowy spells from sneaking past.

Not that the Domain mages notice it, however. Even after being reclaimed by Xenia the dead tunnels are still poorly lit to say the least, and shadows creep across every crack and corner stretching for dozens of feet. Given everything else going on, it's not so surprising that neither Carrie nor her companion spot it when some of those shadows turn into more tangible forms, taking on the shapes of tendrils and claws and, as they grow, even spiders and insects. The kobold certainly notices it however when a centipede made of shadow crawls its way up the back of her armor and begins wrapping itself around her neck.

"The fu - what the fuck is this!? Gah! Get - off!" The woman does succeed in pulling away the conjured creature, but not before its spindly legs manage to tear out several small chunks of her scaly hide. As other tendrils latch on to her ankles and then to her arms, the Supreme-tier mage's weakness becomes apparent - while she may be able to flatten an army at range, she has far fewer options when the enemies she's fighting are actually on her person.

The kobold turns to her companion for help, only to find that the other mage is already beating a quick retreat, a shadowy bat clawing at her face. Seeing the shift in balance, even the spearman turns tail and runs, seemingly not feeling confident enough in his abilities to fight an entire team of Supremes and their compatriots all at once. As the man passes her by with little more than a shrug the tied-down geomancer curses harder.

"What? No! Get back here, get these - damn - things - off!" Even alone, Carrie isn't entirely defenseless. Spikes of stone rip through several tendrils tying her down as others rip apart translucent arthropods. It's not nearly enough. Without the defensive mage to reinforce it the barrier protecting her soon begins to fail, and a shot from Raylin interrupts her casting with an arrow through her thigh. As more tendrils latch on to her, taking advantage of her distraction, Carrie growls out a final defiant message.

"Gods. Fuckin'. Dammit. Well, I always said that if I was going out, I'd take out some assholes with me! Get ground to dust, pricks!"

A rumbling in the ground, walls, and ceiling indicate the casting of a massive spell, and each of the defenders present redouble their effort to destroy the geomancer. The barrier protecting her finally shatters entirely and arrows and elemental blasts kill the kobold just moments after - but by then it's too late. Silverbloom grimaces as he begins pulling his companions back.

"She's already managed to fracture the surrounding stone! We don't have time to reinforce it - pull back! Pull back!"

It's an urgent race, and one just barely won. Disabled adventurers are dragged by their armor to a safe distance, and even then there's such a cloud of dust and debris thrown up by the eventual collapse that many of those present briefly wonder if they're about to choke to death on airborne rock. Silverbloom and Gilda help bring that worry to an end though, using their magic to clear out the air for at least a small space.

As some of the dungeon's lighting is repaired, a grey-dusted Sable grins at her rescuers. "Well...guess we won that round, eh? That collapse should actually buy us a bit more time, don't you think?"

"Barely time enough." As the paladin turns to face the latest speaker she sees that it's not one of the Highbranch retainers, but one of the dungeon's own guardians - Sevastion. "Grandmother is still watching on the far side, and a threat greater than scouts or mercenaries faces us next." Not that it's an unusual look for the arachnid-shaped man, but Sevastion's expression seems grim even for him.

"The monsters approach."

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