Fortunately, the system automatically protects the town from being overrun by high-level players. PVP is disabled inside the town for anyone over the level cap of the dungeon – this includes damaging buildings or occupying the Guild House.
One last thing…a new way to provide payment was added recently when the Dungeon Core was returned. Any player part of the guild that controls the town may pay for goods and services with their lives. Not permanently, of course, but if they die on dungeon territory after making a contract with one of your NPCs they can convert their death into the equivalent resource points you would receive if they had died inside the dungeon. They of course can be resurrected afterwards, but there is a limit. Only one death conversion can be performed each week per player to prevent them from dying over and over to buy everything they can get their hands on.
Information pertaining to the presence of the town, the monetary reward of destroyed buildings, and the town bonus is slated to appear on the next routine patch notes releasing next Tuesday.
“Wow, that is an insane amount of information, Carl – thanks!” She wasn’t sure what she thought about the “death conversion”, but if the players agreed to it she wasn’t going to stop them. It didn’t cost her anything in the long run, so she didn’t see any harm. Although from another perspective it almost looked like they were making sacrifices to a “Dungeon God” – she had mixed feelings about that.
With this new information, Krista wanted to upgrade everything as quickly as possible but first she needed to look to see how much it was going to cost. She looked at the Guard Barracks and mentally selected it:
Guard Barracks
Hire Guards:
Upgrade:
Fighter
5,000 rp
Increase Guard Capacity by 5(Current: 5)
15,000 rp
Defender
6,000 rp
Increase Base Guard Level (Current level: 1)
100 rp
Archer
4,000 rp
Strengthen Barracks Structure
5,000 rp
Mage
8,000 rp
Add Defensive Fortifications
25,000 rp
(Additional guard types and upgrades available upon Dungeon Level increase)
After buying all the buildings and NPCs, she found that she still had over half a million points to play with. She first upgraded the Guard Capacity by five and bought two Fighters, three Defenders, three Archers, and two Mages. Continuing her spending spree, she Strengthened the Barracks Structure – which increased its “health” – and added Defensive Fortifications. She watched as the walls of the barracks grew bigger and sturdier and noticed ballista emplacements on the roof of the building as well. Lastly, she increased the Base Guard Level until they started at level 40. She wanted to do more, but as she started increasing their base level she saw that each level cost 100 resource points than the last.
All-in-all, she ended up spending 179,000 resource points on her new barracks and guards. She was starting to see that resource management was going to be an important part of this new town if she wanted it to succeed. As she pulled up the Palisade menu, she despaired when she saw that it would cost 100,000 resource points to upgrade it from wood to stone. A catwalk along the top was only 25,000 and she considered just doing that, but she took Rucker’s advice and spent the necessary points to upgrade it all. The wood Palisade seemed to ripple from one side to the other as a wave of stone replaced the wood all the way down the line.
The gate was the only thing that was still wood, and she wondered at that until she thought to bring up the gate menu. Another 30,000 resource points! At this rate, Krista was quickly running out of money – she hoped she had enough left over to do everything she needed to do. She spent the necessary points and watched as the gate as well rippled and turned to stone. Just like that, she was over 360,000 points poorer after strengthening the towns’ defense.
Next, she went to the Blacksmith since that was her main motivation for creating this town. She pulled up the menu and looked at her options:
Blacksmith/Forge
Upgrade Menu:
Increase Weapon Quality (10)
Current Level: 10
2,000 rp
Increase Armor Quality (10)
Current Level: 10
2,000 rp
Increase Accessory Quality (10)
Current Level: 10
5,000 rp
Not too expensive at least, she thought. She went ahead and purchased all three upgrades and was going to upgrade them all again when she saw that their costs had tripled. Her intent all along was to increase the quality of the weapons and armor that was included in the loot dropped from her chests. With this in mind, she went ahead and spent first 6,000, then 18,000, and finally 56,000 resource points each to raise the Weapon and Armor Quality up to 50. She ended up spending 156,000 resource points to do so, but the benefits of having good quality loot would hopefully pay for itself.
With only about 60,000 resource points left to spend – and needing to keep some to improve the new floor once it had its walkthrough – Krista visited both the Alchemy Shack and the Enchanting Hut to improve the quality of potions/items and enchantments that she could use for her loot inside the dungeon and for players to purchase here in town. Another 52,000 points down and she was pretty much broke as far as her points went. She noticed that she had just received another 5,600 points in the last couple of minutes and figured that Devin was watching his friends die some more, providing her with additional resources and experience.
Looking around at her town, she instructed Sgt. Rucker to post lookouts at the top of the wall and continue training their new recruits to increase their levels. He agreed, and Krista turned her attention back to the latest room the beta-testers were making their way through, leaving the town in his – hopefully – capable hands. She was interested in seeing if they had any more suggestions on how to make it even deadlier.
Chapter 24
Domn3r picked himself up again after having to dodge another fireball coming from behind him. He blocked the next one with his shield and turned to the new mob that this room had introduced. The “BWMYF” had wiped the entire party previously after an unexpected onslaught of fiery fecal matter.
When they had entered this room following the showdown with the Shroomba of Doomba, they saw a long room with a “lavafall” facing them from about 75 feet away. To the right of the “lavafall” were stone steps leading to the top and what he assumed was a way past the lava. As they approached the pool of lava below the falls, he saw two Lava Salamanders (Level 36) emerge from it and head in their direction. As his group engaged, Max observed some Fire Drakes flying above the molten falls. They were accompanied by a something familiar but altogether new.
The “BWMYF” (Level 36) looked like a Harpy if you were to light it on fire for a couple of minutes and then put the corpse out. It was entirely black and charred-looking, had wings of fire, and was dripping sparks as it flew. Domn3r thought that the Harpies were ugly before this and the burnt-corpse-look didn’t help any.
As they easily defended against the Salamanders and dodged fireballs from the Drakes, they readied themselves from some new attacks from this new mob. At first the hellish-looking Harpies didn’t move and Domn3r figured they wouldn’t be triggered until they arrived at the top of the falls. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Just as another two Lava Salamanders left the lava and joined the fight, the group was distracted enough to almost miss the attack. Mac and Ambrose saw the “BWMYF” fly toward Bolt3n, Max, and Domn3r and called out a warning. The charred Harpies swooped down and missed the Archer and Rogue who were able to dodge out of the way with the warning. Domn3r wasn’t so lucky since he was hemmed in on all sides by the Salamanders that he was tanking. As he looked up with the warning, one of the Harpies landed on his head and squatted down. Expecting to be picked up and dropped somewhere – most likely in the lav
a – he bashed his shield into one of the legs on his shoulder hoping to weaken it enough.
If that had been the “BWMYF’s” plan, it probably would have worked. Unfortunately, he instead got a face full of lava-filled pee as the Harpy relieved itself on his head. He survived the initial wave of molten earth due to being helmed, but as it flowed down his body it entered all the joints and creases in his armor, cooking him alive. Ambrose healed him as much as she could without acquiring massive amounts of aggro, but it wasn’t enough, and he fell dead within seconds as he was cooked alive from inside his armor.
The remaining group members still could have taken out the remaining monsters with a little luck – except for the new Harpy mob. Instead, just as Domn3r fell dead, the remaining two “BWMYF” Harpies that had missed Max and Bolt3n earlier in their swooping dive hovered over the party and started spinning in the air. As they spun, flaming balls of fecal matter erupted from their asses and covered the party. Max was able to dodge most of the fireballs but was overwhelmed by the remaining enemies when the rest of the party died.
After Devin Resurrected them, they tried again and had Bolt3n pull the new fire Harpies from extreme range, hoping to tackle them first. As his arrow hit one of them above the “Lavafall”, all the flying mobs attacked as one. They had taken the chance that they would all come, but this way they were able to concentrate on them without having to worry about the Salamanders.
As they tried their swooping pee attack, Domn3r used his AOE taunt and then squatted while holding his shield above his head to prevent them from landing. With their attention on him, he sprinted ahead – nearly out of range of his own party – and crouched down, awaiting their AOE lava-poop attack. Instead, they started lobbing single “firepoops” at him, accompanied by the normal fireballs that the Drakes were sending his way. He was getting attacked on all sides and although he could block quite a few fire…things…with his shield, he had to attempt to dodge even more that came from behind. He had taken quite a bit of damage from all the shots that he couldn’t block or dodge and was in danger of dying.
Luckily, his group was nearby, and Ambrose started healing him as soon as she was in range. Bolt3n and Mac started hitting the Harpies while attempting to stay out of range in case more “stuff” came flying their way. An Ice Arrow from the Archer hit one of the “BWMYF’s” flaming wings and put out the fire, causing it to plummet to the ground, landing on the other wings and breaking it with a large *crack*. The grounded Harpy screamed in horrific pain and Max quickly ran over and put it out of its misery.
Once they discovered a way to bring them down, Mac and Bolt3n started aiming for the wings of the remaining two. A lucky Ice Shards spell, followed up with an Ice Arrow, were enough to bring them down. Once they were dead, the Fire Drakes were even easier to take out.
“I wonder why they didn’t use their AOE attack again,” Domn3r asked.
Ambrose, as usual with her game knowledge, answered, “It was probably because there was only one of you and they felt it to be unnecessary. If another one of us had been in range, that would have been an entirely different matter.”
Domn3r thought that was a good explanation as any, so they approached the lava pool and started taking out the remaining Lava Salamanders that emerged. After 10 of them, they stopped coming and they cautiously made their way up the stone steps, wary of any more surprises.
As they reached the top, Krista’s voice surprised them, “How did you like that room? I just got back from an errand and Devin told me about his observations. Do you have any suggestions?”
Domn3r answered for the group, “The only suggestion is to put the flying mobs back farther to make it harder to pull them from across the room. I do have a question for you though, what does ‘BWMYF’ mean. Those were some disgusting new creatures – why were they throwing their shit at us?”
Krista sounded embarrassed as she responded, “I think the Main System AI has a sophomoric sense of humor and designed all of the different attacks to reflect that. ‘BWMYF’ stands for ‘Bitch Will Melt Yo Face’ – see what I’m talking about? I wish I could change some of these names, but I’m stuck with them as soon as they are developed.”
All of them started chuckling when she explained the meaning of the name, Devin included. Mac then regaled them with a story about how the Pussy Master Orc had such a funny name that they didn’t take it seriously – which led to them getting wiped out. Krista remembered that and how they were making fun of the name at the time. She was glad they now learned to respect her mobs despite their names.
They made their way to the next area with Devin following behind and Krista observing. As they entered the huge, high-ceilinged, and lava-filled room, there didn’t seem any way for them to reach the exit about 1,000 feet away on the north side. Suddenly, as if their mere presence elicited the movement, platforms with elevated pathways between them rose from the molten lake. As the lava streamed off the stone platforms, Domn3r could see the waves of heat still emanating from them. As he continued to watch them rise, he counted 25 different areas of safety that they would end up having to cross in order to exit.
“Well, no time the present – let’s see what this room has got for us,” Domn3r told his party. Putting action to his words, he led them forward onto the pathway leading to the first platform. Normally he would have Max lead into unknown locales, but he wasn’t expecting any traps from below. Logically, since they were raised above the lava, he was expecting more of an aerial assault.
When they were traveling to the second platform, his expectations came true in the form of two Fire Drakes – or what he thought were Fire Drakes. As he unslung his shield to deflect the fireballs he was expecting, he braced himself in front of the party and taunted them both. Instead of lobbing fireballs in his direction, the Drakes swooped down in close and started breathing fire at him from two sides. He was able to block one, but the other was just out of reach of his sword. As he started taking damage from the fire, he saw an arrow and Ice Shard strike – what he now could see was a Fire Wyvern (Level 37) – through its neck and chest. The flame stopped and as it tried to retreat, wounded, another arrow entered its eye and the Wyvern plummeted into the lava below.
Apparently realizing the futility of trying to burn the well-defended enemy, the remaining Fire Wyvern turned to the rest of the party and started quickly flying in circles. It was so fast that none of them – even Max with her significant Agility – could hit it as it passed by all of them for the briefest moment. As it flew, it emitted a gas that floated in the air like a noxious fog. As everyone started coughing at the fumes, the Wyvern ended up back where it started near Domn3r. Coming to a hovering stop, it turned to the trail of gas and breathed fire on it, instantly igniting the highly flammable vapor. An explosion of flame engulfed the entire party, damaging all of them and killing Mac.
Ambrose was standing a little further away from the others and didn’t take enough damage to kill her – if she was standing any closer it would have done her in just as quickly as Mac. As it was, she was able to heal them quickly with a costly group heal – she didn’t want anyone else to die. This led to her acquiring the aggro of the last Fire Wyvern and it headed in her direction. Bolt3n was ready for it and fired off an Ice Arrow that hit it mid-flight. It lodged in its wing, hampering its flight so that it could only move at a reduced speed. That was enough for Bolt3n to pepper it with three more arrows to take it down.
As Ambrose Resurrected Mac, Domn3r turned to him and Bolt3n, “I think you’re going to be vital for this room – you’re our only real ranged damage dealers. Whenever possible, try to take out their wings – if it doesn’t make them fall in the lava it will hopefully slow them down enough to prevent what just happened. Max and I will do what we can to keep you alive because without you we’ll be hosed.”
They agreed, of course, and they continued on the pathways and platforms while fighting off additional Fire Wyverns. They learned that if they were able to cripple them with
some lucky shots right off the bat, they had a better chance to hit the slower ones as they tried to use their gas attack again. Everything was going well until one of the Wyverns got fed up with being shot at and rushed at Bolt3n as he acquired too much aggro. Expecting to be blasted by flame, the Archer dodged out of the line of fire only to find that the Wyvern didn’t stop. Instead, it got close and latched onto his arm, injecting molten fire into this bloodstream. He started screaming – he told them later it felt like he was boiling from the inside – and fell to the ground, taking massive periodic damage.
Ambrose was able to barely keep him alive and Mac got a fortunate hit in that killed the Fire Wyvern that bit their Archer. With the threat eliminated, Ambrose was able to continue healing Bolt3n until the DOT effect wore off. After that incident, they were a lot more careful when fighting these surprisingly versatile enemies.
About halfway through their trek to the exit, a couple of Fire Wyverns were accompanied by another surprise. Domn3r saw what he thought was a Dragonkin riding on the back of a slightly larger than normal Drake. The Dragonkin was wielding a spear and as it stayed back behind the two Wyverns, the Drake started lobbing fireballs in their direction. To draw all their fire, he used his group taunt once again and saw the Wyverns head in his direction. As his party used their normal successful tactics to take down these two adversaries, Domn3r kept an eye on the new flying duo. With their fireballs being blocked, the Dragonkin-Drake combo flew closer and he was able to see that it was called a Dragon Rider (Level 38).
Dungeon Guild Page 15