Repeat from last thread

Grez pulled the large jacket around herself, feeling the lingering warmth of Viktor.
She felt like screaming. To beg them to get out. To apologize.
But she also felt the unrelenting passage of time as the seconds ticked away one by one.
In two days time, she would be dead or wishing she was.
Her mouth dropped open, words frozen on her tongue.

The sailors weren’t looking, attention firm on the dungeon before them.
”We’ll have a quick look,” said Viktor, “Get some general information about the place and get back out. Afterwards, we’ll report its location to the local mercenary station or similar and get ourselves a fat finders fee.”

“A good plan,” said Fenton, “The discovery of a prime location like this should net us more than enough to take it easy for a good while.”
He looked over his shoulder then, spotting the fear in her, “And get your leg fixed.”

Eyes wide, Grez nodded slowly.

“Viktor,” said Fenton mockingly, “Look, she fears for us.”

“Eyes forward, Fenton,” growled Viktor, he extended a hand towards Fenton – who filled it with a sword.

Fenton then drew his own, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back soon.”

And then, in a moment that was everything Grez needed, but nothing she ever wanted to see – they crossed the threshold.

[Two hostile creatures have entered the dungeon]

End repeat from last thread

>>5219726
>[b[Monsters
Fuck

>>5219729
Lets hipe that they are not Level 10 Legends with how rough their lifestyle was up till now. And lets hipe that the poisons will even register to their Seamen physique

>>5219743
And lets hope that I can actually learn to write

File: ViktorSutherland.jpg (125 KB, 800x1024)

125 KB JPG

Name: Viktor Sutherland
Type: Humanoid (Human)
Level: 2
Health: 2

Strength: +4
Dexterity: +0
Constitution: +3
Wisdom: +1
Intelligence: +0
Charisma: +0

Once bitten, Twice Shy Skill
Viktor has advantage on saving throws made to overcome, avoid, or suppress poison and venom.

>>5219743
I had arrived at the same conclusion in regards to poison.

Quick question:
Do you have a spreadsheet or something that has all the room/monster/dungeon corruptions on it, or are you making up everything by the seat of your pants?

File: FentonSutherland.jpg (266 KB, 1532x1600)

266 KB JPG

Name: Fenton Sutherland
Type: Humanoid (Human)
Level: 1
Health: 1

Strength: +1
Dexterity: +3
Constitution: +1
Wisdom: +1
Intelligence: +1
Charisma: +4

Nimble Skill
Once per invasion, Fenton can gave himself advantage on a saving throw to avoid a melee attack.

>>5219746
Granted +4 to Strength Saves is not great but we just sick the mage on him after the Bug Bear suprises him

>>5219749
Lets hope the Blightbringer will deal with him.

But if not. We still have our Chad.... that we really need to name at some point

So my relaxing morning of /qst/ posting did not go according to plan.
This is because of something vile called a job.
Having to work at your job. Ridiculous, really.
Someone should do something.

But I should be good to go now.

>>5219748
Combination of the above.
I have tables for things like corruptions, mutations, and random encounters.

And then I have shallow information for other things like monsters.
For example I have some general information on slimes and the direct tier slimes, but no information on every slime mutation or corruption.
So say we went with a slime and rolled "Shimmerskin (Can go invisible for 1 round. For the duration, every enemy has disadvantage on saves against this creature)" on a random mutation.

Then I would basically sit for a moment and think "Slime + Shimmerskin = ???" and probably end up with something like a clear or transparent slime.
I'd then give it a name and some description, find some art or adjust existing art in photoshop, and put it in my campaign manager.

This is mostly because I have quite a few monster types and 100 mutations, if I had to flesh everything out before hand it would be a waste of time.
The overwhelming majority of them would never be picked and end up collecting dust in my campaign manager.

For all the known rooms and monsters, check the OP:
>>5219726

It has links to images with information on all the currently known monsters and rooms.

>>5219806
>I have tables for things like corruptions, mutations, and random encounters.

Are you willing to share those, or do you not want to spoil anything for the Quest?

[Two hostile creatures have entered the dungeon]

The brothers carefully crept into the [Jungle Room].
Its toxic inhabitants already skittering their way towards them.
The insects pounced, their stingers and fangs pointed forward.

--------------------

Need DC 8 Constitution saving throw for Fenton Sutherland (+1 Modifier)
Need DC 8 Constitution saving throw for Viktor Sutherland (With advantage) (+3 Modifier)

Please include the following message:
Rolling for TARGET against [Jungle Room]

One roll per reply

>>5219815
So this is 1d20+Modifier by default.

>>5219809

>Are you willing to share those, or do you not want to spoil anything for the Quest?
I prefer to keep those hidden for the time being.

Rolled 1 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>5219815
Rolling for Fenton Sutherland against [Jungle Room]

>>5219806
Since we are asking questions, I'll throw in a few of mine.

Shouldn't we be able to corrupt bugbears? I assumed we could corrupt any base creature we can recruit, like the goblin.

Also, how does using spells with a monster work? Can they cast a spell and attack in the same turn? Can they cast multiple spells? As examples, is a single turn, which of these are possible:
>1: Cast [Slow], unable to attack
>2: Cast [Slow], attack an invader
>3: Cast [Slow] on both invaders, attack.

Rolled 5 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>5219815
Rolling for VIKTOR SUTHERLAND vs [Jungle Room]

>>5219817
>I prefer to keep those hidden for the time being.
That's fair.

>>5219818
Wow, the jungle proving itself to be all business once again.

>>5219784
>that we really need to name at some point
Yeah, just "Unnamed" is unfitting. We could just go with Chadakplin, like the file name last thread.

>>5219821
>Chadakplin
Chadaplin, or Chadaklin by themselves would be better.

>>5219818
Huh.... well goodbye Fenton. Should have listened to Grez.

>>5219819
The Beefcake has advantage on the roll but he succeeds anyway.

>>5219821
>>5219823
To be honest i would liek to more split the Name into something like Chad'akplin since every time i try to prono7nce it in my head it just kinda feels awkwsrd in a single piece.

Though if we shortened it a bit Chadeklin rolls off the Tounge pretty well i think.

>>5219803
>Work

Wait that is what your supposed to do at a job? Sounds truly terrible.

>>5219828
Chadaklin*

I hate my fingers for not being able to type longer sentences on phones

>>5219823
>>5219829
Yeah, Chadaklin works.

>>5219818
Fenton fails the saving throw.

>>5219819
Viktor succeeds the saving throw.

>>5219815
It happened quickly. It reminded Grez about how she had lost Manson that first day.
She had no doubt Viktor would harbour a similar grudge against the dungeon if he managed to survive.
A viper dropped down from a tree, twisted itself around Fenton's neck, and slammed his fang into his exposed chest.
Grez wasn't sure what kind of viper it was, but it was one with a fast acting venom.
Fenton paled, collapsed, and was absorbed into the dungeon floor.
"F-fenton," Grez managed to croak.

[Hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' takes one (1) point of damage from [Jungle Room].]
[The health of hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' has reached zero (0).]
[Hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' has gone unconscious.]
[Hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' has been defeated.]
[The dungeon will now absorb hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland'.]

Viktor grunted as he squashed some bugs underfoot.
He heard the half-orc's lament and looked over.
Too late to help, but just in time to see his brother disappear.
Situation turning dire, the sailor turned and began to make a dash for the exit.
The goblins were already lying in wait. They moved.

[Monster [Goblin Raid Leader]'s skill [Scream and Shout] has activated.]

------

Info
> Attack Viktor (+0)
> Attack TARGET (+0 target's modifier to the saving throw)
End of info


Goblin Savant - DC14 (12+2) Intelligence
3 Essence remaining
> Attack Viktor (+0)
> Cast a spell: Arcane Explosion (Cost 3 Essence)
> Cast a spell: Slow (Target: Viktor) (Cost 1 Essence)
> Do nothing

Goblin Raid Leader - DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)
> Do nothing

Goblin Blight Bringer - DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)
> Do nothing

Bugbear - DC 16 (14+2) Wisdom (First attack only)
> Attack Viktor (+0)
> Do nothing

>>5219882
Goblin Savant
> Cast a spell: Slow (Target: Viktor) (Cost 1 Essence)

Bugbear
> Attack Viktor (+0)

>>5219882
Goblin Savant
>Cast a spell: Slow (Target: Viktor) (Cost 1 Essence)
Followed by:
Bugbear
>Attack Viktor (+0)

If the Bugbear succeeds the sneak attack it's a one-shot kill. The rest of the Goblins hang back because if the Bugbear fails they have to tank Viktor while the Savant shoots him with Magic.

>>5219882
Supporting >>5219883

>>5219882
> Cast a spell: Slow (Target: Viktor) (Cost 1 Essence)
Goblin Raid Leader - DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)
Goblin Blight Bringer - DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)
Bugbear - DC 16 (14+2) Wisdom (First attack only)
> Attack Viktor (+0)

There is literally no reason to have the others not attack him. If they die they will respawn.

>>5219885
Viktor is fleeing, we don't need to worry about tanking, we need to worry about downing him before he can escape, and the more we attack him with, the more likely that will happen.

>>5219927
Only one can attack him at any time anyway. The rest can get in Line to cut of his escape route.

>>5219929
No, multiple can attack at the same time, see last time people got into the goblin room, multiple goblins were able to attack one target. Not attacking with everything is letting him escape for free for no benefit. The other option that isn't "Attack" is literally "Do Nothing".

>>5219927
>>5219929
I was under the impression that only one monster could attack at a time, but looking at the rules it says:
>By default a monster can only fight a single monster at a time
>Multiple monsters means multiple rolls.
Which means they probably can, actually. With that in mind:
>>5219883
Goblin Raid Leader
> Attack Viktor (+4)
Goblin Blight Bringer
> Attack Viktor (+4)
It's been a while, I'm fuzzy on the specifics

>>5219931
We've already seen multiple monsters attack a single character

>>5219882
Okay changing vote from >>5219895
to
> Cast a spell: Slow (Target: Viktor) (Cost 1 Essence)
Bugbear - DC 16 (14+2) Wisdom (First attack only)
> Attack Viktor (+0)

First the Bugbear then the Rest with
Goblin Raid Leader - DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)
Goblin Blight Bringer - DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)

>>5219932
Previous instance of multiple monsters attacking same target: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022/5115656/#p5147558

and read down

Results

Goblin Savant DC14 (12+2) Intelligence
>Cast a spell: Slow (Target: Viktor) (Cost 1 Essence)

Goblin Raid Leader DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)

Goblin Blight Bringer DC 14 (12+2) Strength
> Attack Viktor (+4)

Bugbear - DC 16 (14+2) Wisdom (First attack only)
> Attack Viktor (+0)

-----------------

Need multiple saving throws for Viktor Sutherland
Rol a 1d20 + the modifier listed above under the monster you're rolling against.

Please include the following message:
Rolling for Viktor Sutherland against MONSTER_NAME

One roll per reply

Rolled 19 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>5220019
>Rolling for Viktor Sutherland against Goblin Savant

>>5220024
Ignore the modifier, I'm retarded
Not that it matters lol

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>5220019
Rolling for Viktor Sutherland against Bugbear

>>5220024
good thing he didn't need to roll against the savant

Also don't forget to roll twice for each monster because the slow gives him disadvantage

Rolled 18 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>5220027
Well, that 8 spells death for Viktor. Good try sailors, but not good enough. Lets get the rest of the rolls done.

>>5220019
>Rolling for Goblin Blightbringer

>>5220027
>good thing he didn't need to roll against the savant
Ignore me, I'm giga retarded
I though so but then saw the DC next to the Savant's name

Rolled 1 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>5220019
>Rolling for Viktor Sutherland against Goblin Raid Leader

>>5220026
>>5220027
>>5220029
>>5220040
Stop, stop. He's already dead.
No need to roll anymore.

I'll see if I can write something real quick before I run D&D so people can start voting on what to do with the captives.

Small creatures burst out of the surrounding foliage, Viktor grit his teeth as he turned to run.
A set of powerful bounds later, he was near the entrance and left the goblins in the dust.
He stared at the entrance and the half-orc beyond it. She seemed to mouth some words, tears rimmed her eyes.
Viktor couldn’t understand them. Like an entire sentence spoken in the span of a word.

She briefly pointed at something, but then pressed her hands to her face and looked away.
Viktor tried turned his head, but was doing so in slow-motion. His eyes caught something on the edge of his vision.
A massive maul was being brought down in a large, overhead swing. Wielded by some impossibly huge, furry creature.
He saw it coming and urged his muscles to move. To dodge. To do something.
Viktor’s mind raced through a thousand motions while his body was struggling to execute even one.
The sailor stared as death approached. The maul collided with his face.
He felt his facial bones crack and shatter. Darkness followed.

[Hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' takes two (2) point of damage from [Bugbear].]
[The health of hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' has reached zero (0).]
[Hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' has gone unconscious.]
[Hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' has been defeated.]
[The dungeon will now absorb hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland'.]

----------

Invasion summary: Victory

All creatures and traps in the dungeon have been bested.

Amount of enemies beaten: 2
Amount of dungeon points (DP) gained: 5*
Amount of monster points (MP) gained: 2

Hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' is currently held by the dungeon
Hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' is currently held by the dungeon

*Average level of enemy group times 3 (Rounded up)

----------

[Total amount of Monster Points (MP) remaining: 4]
[Total amount of Dungeon Points (DP) remaining: 8]

[The invasive force has been defeated.]
[All monsters within the dungeon will now respawn and traps will reset.]

----------

Fenton Sutherland

>1 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Monster Points]**
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Dungeon Points]**
>3 - Release hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' (Triggers [Sadism] trait)
>4 - Keep hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' in captivity
>5 - Other (Write-in)

Viktor Sutherland

>1 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 3 [Monster Points]**
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]**
>3 - Release hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' (Triggers [Sadism] trait)
>4 - Keep hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' in captivity
>5 - Other (Write-in)

**1 + Level

Side-note: Just noticed I gave out 3 MP / 3 DP for Rollen who was a level 1 wizard.
Should’ve been 2. Oh well.

>>5220109
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Dungeon Points]**
2 - Consume hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]**

>>5220109
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Dungeon Points]**
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]**

>>5220109
>Strip them of any money they may posess then
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Dungeon Points]**

>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]**

>>5220109
>1 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Monster Points]
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]

We only need to consume one of the brothers to afford two rooms, in this case Viktor is the most important because he grants more DP than Fenton. With 11 DP we can build the following rooms:
[Branding Chamber] + [Puzzle Room], leaving us with one spare DP
OR
[Branding Chamber] + 2 trap rooms/Spawn rooms

Preferably what we'd do is build the [Branding Chamber] and then expand the [Bugbear Den] to it's next tier with the remaining 6DP. This will give us one mutation on the Bugbear we currently own (another mutation if we also leave the base Gobbo in there aswell), and consuming Fenton for Monster Points will let us immediately spawn a Hobgoblin, a drastic increase in Dungeon difficulty.

If people prefer the [Branding Chamber] + [Puzzle Room] instead, consuming Fenton for Monster Points are still the preferable choice since with 6MP we can spawn one additional Bugbear to inhabit the [Bugbear Den], while also corrupting the base Gobbo in to a Savant, again drastically increasing the difficulty of the Room compared to just a normal Gobbo and the Scout.

>>5220135
My thinking is that with the boss in place, we probably don't need to worry about immediate defense and should be thinking more long term, especially since the puzzle room will help us defend as well. It is better long term to rush more DP to get closer to getting the second level, which gets us more DP income and better rooms and monster spawns.

>>5220147
We're honestly not as well protected as you seem to think we are. There's only a single minion outside of the Boss Room that can take more than a single hit, which is the Bugbear, while the others will be taken off the field in one blow if we're unlucky. While we have a buffer of +2 to all DC's taken in the first room, it's hardly a guarantee to counter enemy statlines. Had Viktor succeeded the Wisdom check the only minion that could've hoped to damage him reliably was the Savant. 65% is a nice buffer against failure, especially with the disadvantage from Slow, but it's not a guarantee of success, and it will be harder when we go up against proper parties with more than two unprepared sailors. They will have Magic Items, buffs and debuffs of their own to counteract our shenanigans.

A party of four or five invaders above Level 1 would probably have little problem with the first room, even if one or two of them fail the Jungle DC it won't kill them (All Level 2 invaders have had 2 HP thus far, not to mention magic items can increase HP), and their statlines will most likely be closer to that of Fenton with positives across the board making it more difficult for us to land successive hits to actually kill them. If they manage to get through the first room in the Dungeon's current state the Boss is the only obstacle left, and while he has an impressive 6HP his DC isn't that high, only managing a base 14 DEX/STR check (though with 2 damage per successful hit). If the Boss gets debuffed with Slow and the invading party has +1 (maybe even +2) on average to both DEX and STR, we'll be rolling at best with a 65% chance of succes with disadvantage, at worst 55% with disadvantage. Those are not great odds at all and failing to kill a party of five that makes it that far wouldn't be a surprising outcome.

The Boss is the final obstacle of the floor, not the main defense, and treating him as such will leave our core dangerously exposed. Best case scenario the Boss doesn't need to fight, as we've either killed all invaders before they reach the Boss room, or bled them dry enough that facing him is not an option for the invaders and they leave instead. Right now we don't have the minions in the field to bleed any large, competent groups before they reach the boss room.

>>5220202
A key point you're missing is that now we will probably be getting extra defenses in the puzzle room, which has had a popular appeal to build. We don't know exactly what it will do, but a 15 DC int check that affects the entire party negatively in some way is a very good addition.

I also think you're underselling how powerful our boss is. First of all, it's not reasonable to assume any significant number of parties will have access to the Slow spell (which we have only seen on our minions), and that if they did, that many would even have the "mana" left to cast it by the time they reach the boss. Also, if we did identify a caster like they, we could focus it down with our monsters to make the party less able to defeat the boss. Even still, our boss has advantage on its first turn and can potentially charm an enemy to fight for us, perhaps even one of the casters.

And on top of this, we are still getting MP from this raid even if we fully invest the consumption into DP, so we are still becoming harder to defeat.

>>5220147
>>5220202
I think the Puzzle Room will help immensely with the Improvement of our defenses in general.....

The extra Savant is a tempting proposition though...... In comparison it would lower our time to get the next level of the dungeon by two extra days and i think going lower sooner will be way more useful than just investing in these lower quality creatures right now.

and i believe that we will need the extra Defense a lower Level brings if we want to withstand those corrupt clerics and Paladins coming for us.

>>5220109
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Dungeon Points]**
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]**
Between the branding chamber, puzzle room, hobgoblin spawn and the next floor, there is a huge amount of rooms we need to buy.
Monster wise, the only ones that are worth the MP right now are another goblin savant and bugbear, which is just 6MP. It's not worth getting MP over DP while we have so many rooms we need, especially since we will get sufficient MP just by winning regardless.
Plus with 4 MP, we can already get another bugbear, which will up the difficulty significantly.

>>5220109
>1 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Monster Points]**
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]**

>>5219806
>This is mostly because I have quite a few monster types and 100 mutations, if I had to flesh everything out before hand it would be a waste of time.
Based wise GM

>>5220109
Note: There will be a slight nerf to the "Slow" spell.
Like all other offensive / hostile spells, it will have a saving throw involved.
This will be a DC 12 Wisdom Saving throw. (In line with the savant's other saving throws).
The spell not having a saving throw was an oversight.

>>5220109
Here I am wondering why everyone was copy/pasting double:
>1 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Monster Points]**

While it was me that was at fault. I copy/pasted those lines and forgot to change the name.
My bad. Had to write that update in a hurry.

Voting closed

>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland' and gain 2 [Dungeon Points]**
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland' and gain 3 [Dungeon Points]**

>Strip them of any money they may possess
I noticed other people making similar comments in the previous thread.
I'll start including these I suppose. Might prove handy in some way or another.

>>5220270
Ok, then how do you compensate for Haste? Will there be a DC to effectively cast it, or will it just be a better option when available?

Also, pretty sure this makes Haste almost unusable, it is a very large nerf.

>>5220299
makes *Slow* almost unusable

>>5220284
>>Strip them of any money they may possess
Actually yeah, I mean to write this in, but forgot. They were carrying some supplies, Grez could probably use some of them, if only so she doesn't starve.

>>5220270
>>5220299
It is a big nerf, but to be fair it was very strong. Not necessarily on it's own, but the Raid Leader + Bugbear + Slow combo is really damn strong. DC18 Wisdom check, and failure means loosing 2 health.
...Though yeah DC12 is a pretty heavy nerf. Makes me wonder if they are worth the 4MP over other units. I guess an advantage the Savant has over other units is it can essentially choose between CON, INT or WIS checks to fuck with invaders.
We will just have to see, I suppose.

>>5220299
"Slow" is a offensive spell. Just like "Arcane Explosion" and the Savant's default attack have DCs, so should it.
It is still affected by DC increases like the [Goblin Raid Leader]'s +2 DC increase to goblinoids or would be increased by +2 if the Savant were to be stationed in a [Boss Room].
So with the current room setup you're looking at a DC14 Wisdom saving throw.
Maybe find a magical item to push saving throw DC even higher and you're golden.
Furthermore, people seem to forget that the savant is a mere goblin. Its DCs are in line with that.

>Ok, then how do you compensate for Haste? Will there be a DC to effectively cast it, or will it just be a better option when available?
The nature of the spell is different.
I initially made "Slow" as the inverse of "Haste".
Haste of course doesn't have a DC attached to it as it is a "Complementary / Buff" spell rather than an offensive / debuff spell.
Just like how D&D's "Slow" has a saving throw and "Haste" doesn't.

Assuming you have 1 "Essence", even if you have four allies, you can only give one ally the "Haste" buff to give him advantage on stuff.
But given one enemy, you can use one cast of "Slow" to force disadvantage on everything (effectively giving all your allies advantage).

I hope this makes sense. I'm open to discussing this further, but right now being able to cast "Slow" with impunity seems like a problem.

>>5220325
>Maybe find a magical item to boost DC
Anything like that would probably be better suited to a better caster than just for the use of Slow, but sure.

>mere goblin
Good point, goblins probably should be weak, though maybe you can then make the argument that maybe it shouldn't cost as much if it's supposed to be weak.

>you can use one cast of "Slow" to force disadvantage on everything
Same can be said for one powerful ally of a small/one man party being buffed to force advantage on everything.

I just think its use cases is now very limited, because casting Slow even once means we can't cast the AoE, which is very powerful.

>>5220218
>but a 15 DC int check that affects the entire party negatively in some way is a very good addition
True, it is a strong deterent against parties without high INT characters, but against well rounded party it is not as good.
Rollen, as a Level 1 Wizard for example, had an INT modifier of +4. He would turn the base chance of 70% for a failure to a even 50/50. But this is a worst case scenario and I could just be doomposting.

>First of all, it's not reasonable to assume any significant number of parties will have access to the Slow spell
I disagree. Rollen had access to Haste which is a reverse version of Slow, target Ally gains Advantage against all rolls in the current room. It is entirely reasonable to expect that any Wizard will have access to either Slow or Haste as a minimum.

>and that if they did, that many would even have the "mana" left to cast it by the time they reach the boss.
Depends entirely on the mana pool and on the amount of 'Threat' that exist within the Dungeon. Right now we have only two rooms where the threat level is large enough to warrant spellcasting (in my opinion), the Jungle and the Boss Room. Rollen used up his mana before dying in the last room of the Dungeon, using one Mana per room. If a Level 2 Wizard has a Mana Pool of 3, it is reasonable to assume he would make it to the Boss Room with 1 mana left with the current level of threat if he casts 2 spells in the Jungle and 0 in the Den (I assume 0 casts in the Den because there's just a Base Gobbo and a Scout there, not really a threatening crowd). There could of course also be Magic items that increases the Mana Pool of the wielder or Mana Potions to allow for more spellcasting.
If we can increase threat in the Dungeon with more minions (forcing more spellcasts to negate failed checks or to buff/heal a party member), we're more likely to exhaust a Wizards MP before they face the boss.

>Also, if we did identify a caster like they, we could focus it down with our monsters to make the party less able to defeat the boss.
Not neccessarily something we can do in all invasions going forward. Ben mentioned a skill called [Intercept] during his invasion, we don't know the specifics but it's quite easy to guess. "The User intercepts an attack or skill that targets an Ally", or something like that. Rollen also had [Barrier] to negate failed checks, so a higher level Wizard with a larger mana pool would be able to protect himself more easily. Not to mention Taunt abilities that force a target swap which are bound to show up eventually, which will make it more difficult to snipe squishy backliners.


In the end I prefer to look at this from a petspective of 'How can we lose from here?', and the biggest hole right now is how few minions we have stationed in the Den and their low quality. We can at least get a Savant for the AoE with our current MP, but I would've wanted a Bugbear on top of that to solidify the threat in that room. Oh well, next Invasion then maybe

>>5220325
I think the nerf is perfectly reasonable, as is the justification that it is just a mere goblin. And it makes sense that offensive spells should have a DC. The monster itself is fine as it is, the only thing that is a little off now is the price.
I would not be confident in saying that a Savant is now better then a Bugbear, which is cheaper.
Though I guess you could justify it's price with how versatile it is.
If nothing else, this nerf makes the Savant less of a no brainer purchase, and the price has to be seriously considered. You could buy two brutes with DC12 Strength for one Savant, which is now a trade off that had to be considered, since the DC's will be the same.

But yeah ultimately I think it's fine. Doesn't make it useless or anything, still a very useful monster, just not AS useful.

>>5220353
>I just think its use cases is now very limited, because casting Slow even once means we can't cast the AoE, which is very powerful.
To be fair the AoE was never that strong, it was very much situational. Against a few, strong invaders with high CON, slow would most likely achieve more, by forcing one (or even multiple) enemies to take more damage from allies. Consider the BugBear getting a DC18 if slow lands.
Though if you are dealing with a horde of rats, the explosion would be amazing, unlike slow.
If nothing else they check different stats, so which spell is used would depend on the invaders.

>>5220411
>Consider the BugBear getting a DC18 if slow lands.

Where doe sthe extra 2 DC come from? Slow just gives Disadvantage. And the Bugbear Sneak Attack DC is just a DC 14 WIS Save that gets an extra +2 from the Raid Leader

Granted witht he DC it will be alot more in Line with the DND Version of Slow but that is an AOE and would be horribly busted for the first level of our little Dungeon

>>5220411
>If nothing else, this nerf makes the Savant less of a no brainer purchase
Something being a no brainer implies it is so good that the rest pales in comparison.
What I'm going for is a scenario where each of the monster options seem like a competitive choice.
Where some might be better in certain scenarios.

>though maybe you can then make the argument that maybe it shouldn't cost as much if it's supposed to be weak
The price of the savant is based around it AOE ability.
Through it, the Savant is basically like a mobile trap room.
But unlike a trap room, its DC can increase through external factors like the [Goblin Raid Leader].
Furthermore, I think the price of the Savant simply feels high because of the low amount of invasions.

Spellcasters are tricky and I'm not gonna claim I'm doing them justice.
There's also things that haven't been revealed that I need to keep into account.

I hope you can forgive me for adding a DC to the "Slow" spell and that it doesn't feel like I pulled the rug on anyone too badly.

“A feast!” cried the Sadist in uncommonly cheerful tones. It hummed in pleasure.
”There’s even an orchestra supplying soothing tones!” it added.

The Scholar side-eyed its fellow ego and then turned towards said ‘orchestra’.
Guilt-wrecked and screaming, Grez lay bawling on the cold, cavern floor.

“That sweet melody!” cried the Sadist, running its hands down its face.

The Scholar winced at the heartless display, “Such senseless cruelty,” it muttered.
Sometimes, the behaviour of the Sadist worried it.
It couldn’t comprehend how one could revel in the suffering of others.
The Scholar decided to focus on its own efforts.
”Splat,” it said in an effort to cheer itself up a bit.
The sailors were crushed into a fine magic paste that the dungeon readily absorbed.

[The Dungeon has consumed hostile creature 'Fenton Sutherland']
[The Dungeon has gained two (2) Dungeon Points (DP)]
[Total amount of Dungeon Points (MP) remaining: 10]

[The Dungeon has consumed hostile creature 'Viktor Sutherland']
[The Dungeon has gained three (3) Dungeon Points (DP)]
[Total amount of Dungeon Points (MP) remaining: 13]

The Scholar smiled to itself, “Now we can finally focus on what really matters.”

[Total amount of Monster Points (MP) remaining: 4]
[Total amount of Dungeon Points (MP) remaining: 13]

[Entering 'Architect Mode']

File: ArchitectureMode_April_Export.jpg (670 KB, 1500x1962)

670 KB JPG

Architect Mode
Please refer to the OP for an up-to-date list of all the rooms and monsters currently open for purchase.
You can also choose to expand existing rooms.

[b[Monsters
https://i.imgur.com/1JGiYjq.jpg

Rooms
https://i.imgur.com/iWBBd6D.jpg

Rules
https://i.imgur.com/dJQ3FRV.jpg

Check out the “Rules” post in the OP for the dungeon building rules.
To clarify: When it says "Threshold" what I mean is "Room size threshold".
I will make sure to adjust this in the next OP.

----------------------------

STARTING WITH ROOMS

To suggest the construction of a room, please stick to the following format:

>ROOM_NAME at PLOT#

Example
Jungle Room at 1

If your suggestion requires the movement of an existing room, please use the following format.

>ROOM_NAME at PLOT#, MOVE EXISTING_ROOM TO PLOT#

Example
Jungle Room at 8, Move Bugbear Den to 2+4

>>5220859
>[b[Monsters
Motherfuck. Again?

>>5220805
>I hope you can forgive me for adding a DC to the "Slow" spell and that it doesn't feel like I pulled the rug on anyone too badly.
Nah, you've convinced me.
It was a bit abrupt with just "oh by the way it was nerfed" but you explained yourself, and your reasoning is solid. I think it's fine.

>>5220778
Yeah I don't think advantage/disadvantage was ever explained actually, I assumed it made the DC harder.
In other words Source: my ass.
My bad.
But I looked it up in DnD and assuming it's the same, it means the lowest of two dice rolls.
That makes it WAY better then I though, Jesus.

>>5220859
>Branding Chamber at 12
Maybe invaders will go into the room and have to go through the jungle again.

>Room of Bewilderment at 9, move Boss Room to 5
>Move Core Room to 6
I'm really torn between putting the puzzle room at the beginning or the end. On the one hand, if they fail at the beginning, the whole fresh gang suffers from... something, but then they have a better chance of solving it as their wizard is definitely alive.
Later on, it will impede them when they might already be missing the brains of the team, but it's effect might be less impactful.

Ill put it at the back for now, since Goblin Vietnam will be better to take care of people Grez lures in. Maybe.

>>5220859

>Branding Chamber at Plot 12

>Room of Bewilderment at Plot 9, Bosschamber to Plot 10 and Core Room to Plot 11

Simply make the Dungeon longer and if anyone tries to get into the Branding Chamber to save someone they will have to brave the Jungle again

>>5220885
I would only put the Boss Chamber at 5 if it is confirmed that there wont be a passage between the room and the Bugbear Den so that the Room of Bewilderment can not be bypassed

>>5220888
Fair enough
>>5220885
Changing vote to support>>5220887

>>5220890
We should invite Grez afterwards and tell her we can start working on her freedom from the specter of enslavement by the Merchants she owes money to.

Then knock her out have healed and put her on the Worktable to rewrite the brand so its bound to us being able to track and command her if we need to.

>>5220892
I do really like that one idea that an anon had some time ago to make Grez the boss of one of the later floors.

>>5220893
We can try this but we really need to enslave her first and infuse her into ourself. And we also need to make sure her concience wont be in our way in the future.... and have her more indebted to us

>>5220893
We did find that book talking about that dragon that had the Dungeon core infused into its Chest maybe something similar but less drastic could be done to Grez. So that we can still let her go outside to trap some easy fools

>>5220887
Supporting.
>>5220892
This.
>Also, Ask instinct and Grez about creating item. Can we spawn wealth? Can we absorb her and remake her whole as a reward, with a contract mark indicating she is ours? A good sadist can repair his toys to keep damaging them the longest.

>>5220859
Ammending my votr slightly from >>5220887

To also include

>Also, Ask instinct and Grez about creating item. Can we spawn wealth? Can we absorb her and remake her whole as a reward, with a contract mark indicating she is ours? A good sadist can repair his toys to keep damaging them the longest.

>>5220954
Completely forgot about that again. Thank you for reminding me

>>5220887
+1

>>5220859
>Branding room at 12
>Room of Bewilderment at 9 move boss room to 14 and move core room to 15
> Marsh room at 1 for the same reason >>5220887 places the branding chamber at 12

>>5220965
Discuss if you want to use the last 3 DP on the "Marsh Room"
Gonna proceed with what has been voted on for now.

Voting closed

>Branding Chamber at 12
>Room of Bewilderment at Plot 9,
>Boss chamber to Plot 10
>Core Room to Plot 11

Added:
- Branding Chamber (5 DP)
- Room of Bewilderment (5 DP)

Total cost:
- 10 DP

Remaining:
- 4 Monster Points (MP)
- 3 Dungeon Points (DP)

>>5220977
>Discuss if you want to use the last 3 DP on the "Marsh Room"
No.
If we are getting something, it's either the next floor, or maybe upgrade the bugbear camp.
Personally I think we save up for the floor.

>>5220977
>Marsh Room
No, we want to save up the DP right now

>>5220977
>Marsh Room
Nope. I want to save for a new floor. I would have written down one if i considered it

>>5220980
>>5220982
>>5220983
Alright. Just wanted to make sure everyone's room suggestions were considered.

>>5220980
>>5220982
>>5220983
Fair enough

>>5220977
We are abusing our little Helper Sprite again aren't we?

Maybe we should research a Spirit Mansion where he can have servants to take his mind off of work.

Ok guys, looks like there is a consensus on saving DP for next floor. We can discuss the next important point : MP spending.
I don't want to buy any low-level monsters. Saving MP for next floor Tier1 or Hobgoblins, then corruption of already-existing unit are the priority for me. Bugbears can be understandable choices, coupled with raid leader they are unseen fearsome foes. However, thanks to Grez we had a little snack giving us better chances for next invasion with more rooms. So what are we going to do?
>Voting to stockpile MP unless someone change my mind.

>>5221073
Definitely not worth getting anything low tier anymore. Ideally we would get nothing but hobgoblins and maybe one Savant for each room but the best choice DP wise is to save for the next floor instead of upgrading the Bugbear den, which leaves us with just Bugbears and Savants as decent monsters
I think we can spend our point to get another Bugbear in the second room, and upgrade the one basic goblin we have left into a Savant, so we have a spellcaster in each room. That would make the second room a significant hurdle instead of just a speed bump.
With what we have now, I would vote for
>Buy Bugbear into Bugbear Den

>>5221081
You know, we can also corrupt bugbears into Brutebear and Savantbear. We never did, it's more expensive, but we can.

>>5221090
I like the idea of at least seeing what the Savantbear is. However, I don't think we have enough MP for that right now, so that would require us to save right now.

>>5221102
and this is why I'm voting for stockpiling MP. Although I share >>5220376 anon's concern about our defensive strength, we have increased tremendously in defense since last time. I really hope QM won't send us dnd Avengers right now, and scale the difficulty around the level of 4 level 2 / 3 level 2 and 1 level 3 adventurers; for which we should have fairly high chances. Last time QM explicitly said we aimed for "stronger tomorrow" against "weaker today", so I really hope we are at least a lil bit above the curve, allowing us to stockpile more and get one shot at dungeon life.

Finally finished creating the "Room of Bewilderment" and the "Branding Chamber" in the mapping tool I use (DungeonDraft).
Update should follow shortly.

Considering the above replies, a brief question:

Vote: Spending Monster Points (MP)
>1 - Save up MP for now
>2 - Spend MP

If it ends up being "Save up MP for now" we'll simply skip spending MP for now and continue with the story.

>>5221117
>>2 - Spend MP
Gotta get an extra Bugbear
Or something

>>5221117
Save MP

>>5221073
Preferably we would have at least one Hobgoblin per room before we dig downwards, but that is a serious investment of both DP and MP. We should at least buy another Bugbear to shore up the minion count and to give us more chances at mutations if we decide to build the [Hobgoblin Barracks].

I'd like to see something like this for our first floor minion layout:
Jungle Room:
>Current minions + 1 Hobgoblin
Bugbear Den/Hobgoblin Barracks:
>1 Hobgoblin, 1 Bugbear, 1 Savant + the Scout
>OPTIONAL +2 Hobgoblins, +1 Savant

Just getting two big hitters in the Hobgoblins will give our dungeon more punch, the attack flexibility helps to negate characters with high single stats (right now we're very Strength heavy minion wise, so getting something that can attack with Dexterity would help a lot), and their HP make for a good obstacle which is also something we lack right now. It's also not 'terribly' expensive at 6DP and 13MP (16 if we count the Bugbear), something we should get if we can repel an invasion of 4 people at Level 2. We'll also be able to mutate the Bugbears if we chose to upgrade to the Barracks.
Again though, this will detract from reaching the lower floor and will most likely not win any vote, but it would make us safer.

The optional path is even more of a pipe dream, but it would turn the Hobgoblin Barracks in to an absolute nightmare for low-to-mid level parties as it will have 9HP worth of Hobgoblins to go through while they're either bombarded or slowed forever by the Savants. And if we do go down the optional path we should swap the Scout for the Raid Leader to make it an even larger pain.
Worth to note also is if we build the Hobgoblin Barracks and spawn Hobgoblins is that it would be good to build and expand a trap room for 6DP to mutate those Hobgoblins at some point, after we've fortified the second floor.

>>5221117
>2 - Spend MP
Buy one Bugbear and station it in the Den

>>5221117
>1 - Save up MP for now

>>5221117

>2 - Spend MP

lets get some more security and stay ahead of the Bellcurve.. hopefully.

>>5221117
I'm >>5221073

Save MP

>>5221117
Changing my vote>>5221120 to support >>5221121

>>5221148
To expand on my point of view,
"A stronger today mean a weaker tomorrow".
This is short-term gain where we already have set the bossroom, the puzzle and the gobzard for next invasion. We will need the scaling and the additional MP for first monsters of second floor.

>>5221156
I don't see how buying a Bugbear is a "short term gain". Even if we had Hobgoblins unlocked, Bugbears are a solid monster, and I think getting one in each room is a good move. They are also our only source of WIS checks we can buy, (apart from [slow], but that is a spell and deals no damage) and it's a check of 14, on par with the hobgoblin. Not to mention the potential for double damage.
Getting one will not make us worse later, it is a solid investment either way.
More then one, I would agree is not worth it when we can get better stuff later. But just the one is fine, I think.

I also don't share your optimism for our immediate safety, but even without that the above points stand

>>5221197
Bugbear is a "short term gain" because we'll delay stacking tier2 monster once we carved the 2nd floor.

>>5221117
>>1 - Save up MP for now

>>5221220
Well even if we get the required Mp to expand downwards and get the Tier 1 spawner down there.

We can only spend so much MP on Monsters due to the Roomlimit for them. We can only place so many monsters down there before needing to expand again. Something we might not have the MP for before the next Invasion.

>>5221231
I would prefer stockpiling as I fear/expect Tier2 monster to be really expensive. Something along the line of 10 MP by monster; they will also propel the power level of the dungeon quite high.
In my mind, replicating the floor 1 strategy of speedrun-upgrading tier 2 monster then spawning one and make him a tier 3 boss is the way to go for a safer floor. This will need 15DP for floor, at least 5DP*2 for the monster camp, 5 DP for the boss room (total : 30). Regarding monsters, we'll need 10MP as soon as second floor is diggydig dug (15MP) to be sure to be able to spawn a monster, this is doable on next invasion if we stockpile MP and invest solely on DP. I feel like bugbear might be a bit of a DP waste, the wisdom save is "just" for damage buff if attack is successfull.

>>5221117
>save

>>5221156
>A stronger today mean a weaker tomorrow
I do not understand how you arrived at this conclusion. How exactly is investing in minions that increase the probability of us killing invaders a net loss for tomorrow if we grow the fastest by killing and consuming invaders? Those Monster Points will not stop invaders if they are unspent, and with 11 days of passive DP gain before we can expand to Floor 2 on our own, it's expected that we'll be invaded at least once during that time. Better to have an additional Bugbear in the field to kill those invaders with and turn them to Monster Points for Floor 2 than to sit on them and maybe take a loss or let invaders escape the dungeon.

>>5221254
I arrived to that conclusion because I take into account the loss of future opportunities (I detailed just above). Buying bugbears is detrimental to optimal floor 1 layout (because hobgoblins are better and let's face it, we'll spend our future DP to dig, so less monster spots) and will delay progression of Floor 2 acceptable defense line creation (Boss room with a tier 3 second floor monster)

>>5221251
>I would prefer stockpiling as I fear/expect Tier2 monster to be really expensive. Something along the line of 10 MP by monster;
...Why would you think this?
The only thing we know is that it gives us access to higher tier monsters. You know, eventually. We have not been given the specifics, but I assume it would be closer to something like
>1st floor monsters:
>tier1->tier2->tier3
>2nd floor monsters:
>tier2->tier3->tier4
In which case a tier 2 monsters we will start with will be the same rank as a Bugbear, with most likely a similar cost and power level. I doubt we will immediately unlock a monster that costs 10MP, that would be a ridiculous assumption to work off of.
>the wisdom save is "just" for damage buff if attack is successfull.
It's still our only good source of wisdom checks, and one that deals double damage if the enemy fails. It's anything but a waste.
>>5221263
>Buying bugbears is detrimental to optimal floor 1 layout
Again, Bugbears are great. And it's not like I'm advocating for buying a shitton of them, just one per room. In this case, 1 extra Bugbear.
Consider that we have our four strongers monsters in the first room (because they have amazing synergy and work best against fresh teams) which leaves us vulnerable to shit like [haste]. It is best to have an at least decently well populated 2nd room, which it currently really isn't. An extra Bugbear will go a long way.

>>5221281
I'm diggin up the archive. I thought second floor would be tier4->tier5->tier6. Can't found any definitive proof of either my or your assumption. This is why I wanted to stockpile MP.
Although I have to clear a small yet crucial point : I don't consider buying bugbear as a waste of MP. Only not the optimal choice based on what I know, plus what I assume.

>>5221291
I briefly dug into the archive, but found nothing and gave up. If you find something, please let us know.

>I don't consider buying bugbear as a waste of MP. Only not the optimal choice based on what I know, plus what I assume.
Acknowledged.
Personally I think we are already greedy enough as it is by saving for the second floor instead of getting the Hobgoblin barracks, or another trap room or something. Saving both DP and MP is asking for trouble.

Waving his wife and kids goodbye, Blue Spark materialized into the dungeon’s plane of existence.
It felt like it had been good long time since it was last called upon so it was filled with fresh displeasure.
Despite being summoned here, no work was forced upon it just yet.

Both of the dungeon’s egos were having a stand-off.

“That’s quite a lot of Dungeon Points,” noted the Scholar, as he was staring at the other ego.

“Indeed it is,” replied the Sadist, folding his arms.

“One might suggest the purchase of something called a [Room of Bewilderment],” stated the Scholar.

“One might,” replied the Sadist, eyes narrowing, “If their favourite pastime was sniffling glue.”

“I was curious!” spat the Scholar, then coughed, “I need that room for research.”

”You wanted to help the orc lady, right? I’ll be needing a [Branding Chamber] for that,” added the Sadist, “Clearly, that’s the room we should be building.”

The Blue Spark swivelled its back from side-to-side as it followed the conversation.

“Half-orc, but how altruistic,” said the Scholar, “What’s the catch?”

The Sadist shrugged, “Since it’s something you want we would be spending your half of the points to build it.”

Raising an eyebrow, the Scholar replied, “Certainly. Why, I won’t even have a need for a [Room of Bewilderment] to help us research the various books the scoutmaster has brought us. I’ll be far too busy analysing you. Tell me, was there, at any point, a backflip in the mental gymnastics you performed just now?”

The Sadist growled, “I need a [Branding Chamber] to analyse that [Contract Mark] so we can bind her to our will!”

“Well, I need a [Room of Bewilderment] to research magic and the books we’ve acquired!” spat the Scholar.

It dawned on Blue Spark where this was heading.
Overtime. It was heading towards overtime.

Both egos turned towards the Blue Spark simultaneously and barked their commands: a “Room of Bewilderment” and a “Branding Chamber”.

As expected, hard labour awaited. Not one, but two rooms had to be made.
Perhaps its mother had been right and it should’ve taken that job as a guide for that mute elf boy.
The light emanating from the Blue Spark dimmed slightly. It headed off to work.

File: EightRooms_April_Export_M(...).jpg (718 KB, 1257x2000)

718 KB JPG

>>5221369

An unhealthy amount of grinding noises, blowtorch hissing, and a broken cement mixer later – the Blue Spark completed both rooms.
It reconsidered its stance on joining an union.

[Room [Branding Chamber] has been constructed.]
[Total amount of Dungeon Points (DP) remaining: 8]

[Room [Room of Bewilderment] has been constructed.]
[Total amount of Dungeon Points (DP) remaining: 3]

The walls of the [Branding Chamber] were lined with chains and shackles, where prisoners could be kept.
The centre was dominated by a large, round forge.
Hanging over it was a chute that would feed it coals and ensured the flames dancing within the forge were always red-hot.
A branding iron rested within the forge, sporting an ever-changing brand.
Various cages dotted the room, circular as well as common, square ones.
The biggest eye-catcher beside the forge was a stockade that stood within a magical circle.
The carpet of blood underneath it really pulled the room together.

The Sadist smiled, then remembered they had just consumed their only two captives, and frowned.
Like a wolf searching for prey, its hungry gaze eventually found the sobbing form of Grez near the entrance.

Meanwhile on the other side of the dungeon’s mindscape. Which was not that far off, really.
A good-natured individual might go around calling it cosy, but in reality the place had some privacy concerns.
Regardless, on the other side of the knee-height fence of the mindscape, the Scholar cackled in glee.

Its presence swam through the new chamber.
It dances between the various bookshelves and rushed past the dozens of tomes of knowledge contained within.
More than anything, it swirled around the large lectern that stood amidst a powerful magical circle.
“This it it,” it laughed, “Any tome placed on this will result in a painful lesson, indeed!”

Both egos lost in ecstasy, the Blue Spark quietly made its exit and returned home.
It had been promised meatloaf, after all.

----------------------------------

>1 - Spend MP
>2 - Go speak with Grez
>3 - Check out the "Branding Chamber"
>4 - Check out the "Room of Bewilderment"
>5 - Other (Write-in)

>>5221375
>Go speak with Grez
>Check out the "Branding Chamber"

It's about time we get her properly enslaved.

>>5221375

Need 3 d100 rolls for the initial three brandings that come with the "Branding Chamber".

Please include the following message:
Rolling for initial random brand

One roll per reply

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>5221375
>1 - Spend MP
Spawn an additional Bugbear

>2 - Go speak with Grez
>3 - Check out the "Branding Chamber"

>>5221380
>Rolling for initial random brand
Lets get something useful here.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>5221377
+1

>>5221380
Rolling for initial random brand

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>5221380

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>5221375
>1 - Spend MP
Spawn an additional Bugbear

>2 - Go speak with Grez
>3 - Check out the "Branding Chamber"

>>5221380
Rolling for initial random brand

>>5221389
>>5221388
one didn't include the message but the one that did rolled the same thing anyways, lol

>>5221388
>>5221389
huh.

>>5221388
>>5221389
Dub 77s gotta be worth something.

I'll post more information regarding the "Branding Chamber" tomorrow.
I'm not certain if I like the "Branding" mechanics at the moment, I need to think them over before I reveal them.

>>5221375
>Go speak with Grez.
I'm sticking to my old guns :
>Also, Ask instinct and Grez about creating item. Can we spawn wealth? Can we absorb her and remake her whole as a reward, with a contract mark indicating she is ours?

>>5221441
>Posted at 00.19

So... Is tomorrow today or tomorrow?
Will a stronger today post number mean a weaker tomorrow?

>>5221860
It's today.

>>5221870
Nice!

Contentment. The Dungeon had just acquired two powerful utility rooms.
It was time to see how these could be put to use.

Ever the curious one, the Scholar pulled itself away from its new chamber, “So, how does yours work?”

An undeniable look of superiority etched into its face, the Sadist replied, “Instinct, tell Scholar all you know about 'Brands' and the [Branding Chamber].”

-------------------------------------

[Investigating 'Branding'.]

Query: Instructions
Context: [Branding Chamber]

Response:
In the event that hostile, non-dungeon creatures are defeated they can become the recipient of a “Brand”.
These can be applied using a dungeon room called a [Branding Chamber].
The dungeon can choose to apply either a known brand or imprint a completely random one.
Applying a random “Brand” to a creature does not mean you understand it well enough to add it to your library.

Branding, as a process, is performed by adjusting the recipient’s “blueprint” and therefor very taxing on them.
The “Brand” will appear somewhere on the recipient’s skin.
Cutting away the skin or otherwise removing it through non-magical means will cause it to appear elsewhere on the body within a day. Its effects are not stopped during this time.

- Only one “Brand” can be applied per recipient, per day.
- Currently, a recipient can at most receive three (3) brands.
- A recipient can only have one instance of a specific brand at a time.
- There is no cost involved when applying a known or random “Brand”.

As “Brands” are simply forced adjustments of the structure of the recipient, they can be removed.
This can be done through powerful cleansing magic cast using “Essence” or by the dungeon.
When performed through the dungeon, removing a brand costs either one (1) Dungeon Point or Monster Point.

Alternatively, should you encounter a creature that has a “Brand” or “Curse Mark” you do not yet posses in your list of known “Brands”, you can choose to analyse it and learn its effects – adding it to your library.
Analysing a “Brand” in this way costs either one (1) Dungeon Point or Monster Point.
The “Brand” is “picked apart” during this process and will be removed from the creature it is on.

-------------------------------------

The Scholar scratched the side of its head, “Interesting, but couldn’t you have told me this all? This is sorta your ‘thing' isn’t?”

The Sadist scoffed, “The ability to delegate is what signifies a leader.”
It clasped its arms behind its back, “Instinct, what brands are currently known to us?”

>>5221906

-------------------------------------

[Investigating 'Brands'.]

Query: Known Brands
Context: Library

Response:
The following “Brands” are known to the dungeon.

42 - Brand of the Broken Man
The adjustments to your body applied by the brand have allowed you to become all-knowing.
Thousands of years worth of knowledge poured into your mind.
A burden of knowledge that proved to much to bear and broke you.
You become prone to ramble, delusions, and conspiracies.

The target had disadvantage on all “Wisdom” saving throws.

77 - Brand of Icarus
Standing between the seven of perfection and the seven hundred-seventy-seven of the creator, seventy-seven grants limited control over the creation.
It allows one to determine the meaning of perfection and mould the recipient to that image.

You can change one physical aspect about the recipient.
Including, but not limited to: race, gender, skin colour, height, and similar attributes.

88 - Brand of Eternal Vigil
Constantly on edge, forever on guard: the target is no longer able to sleep.
The target is immune to spells, skills, or abilities that induce sleep.

Regardless of what it was before, the target’s constitution modifier becomes a -3.

00 - Brand of Cruel Intent (Acquired through Corruption of Sadism)
The recipient becomes more assertive, controlling, and takes delight in suffering of others.
Furthermore, they become more charming and persuasive when it comes to tempting others to act according to their will.

00 - Brand of the Crazed Scholar (Acquired through Corruption of the Crazed Scholar)
The world is filled with wonder and mystery. How awful.
The recipient of this brand gains an unrelenting hunger for knowledge.
They will go out of their way to acquire magical items and study the arcane.

-------------------------------------

“I think it’s time for hands-on experience,” said the Sadist, “Have our hobgoblin, if we can even still call it that, have a friendly little chat with the orc.”

“We should really get around to naming him,” said the Scholar, “He’s unique. He deserves a name.”

-------------------------------------

Taking suggestions for a name for “Unnamed” the hobgoblin boss.
Reply to this post with your suggestions and we’ll have a voting round.
No need to vote on any entries just yet.

Talking to Grez
>1 - Tell her that the dungeon has found a to get rid of her mark.
>2 - Thank her for her efforts so far, mention you hope for another supply tomorrow, and send her on her way.

>>5221910
Also taking write-ins for Grez.

>>5221910
>ask instinct if we can spawn gold and the mechanics behind it.
>welcome grez in for doing a good job tell her we will uphold our end of the deal absorb her, remove brand and then study the brand using 2 monster points
>if we can make a decent amount of money with 1 monster point do so. We can give it to grez ans use her qs shopping
>depending on what grez's brands do, if it enslaves her to us use that first otherwise offer brand of icarus to change her shape/race however she wishes. We all know sje has an orc complex. Next day we should apply brand of cruel intent.
Op can we use more then one brand of icarus? Or apply its effect more over a long period of time.
.

>>5221910
I believe the name 'Chadakplin' was somewhat the consensus from the last thread.

>Tell her that the dungeon has found a way to get rid of her mark, though it requires more resources. Offer her a boon for her loyalty should she want it (Brand of Cruel Intent) and mention you hope for another supply tomorrow.
>Hand her any lose items from Fenton and Viktor (Swords, backpack etc.) that she can sell and make some cash. Maybe it'll be enough for a healer.
Grez doesn't know how the Dungeon works, even if she fails to bring someone back tomorrow we can still remove her mark, but play it off like we're making a sacrifice for her sake.
Offer her the Mark of Cruel Intent, but don't force it pn her, to buff her already strong Charisma so she has a higher chance to lure victims to us. It might also make her feel less guilty about sending people to their deaths, and she may even start enjoying it. A perfect path towards corruption.

>>5221910
Oh man, I am going to like this mechanic.
The Brand of Icarus has some serious trolling potential. Imagine we beat Ben and then throw him back out as woman. My god, it would be glorious.
Though the other two brands are also really useful. We are going to get some good mileage out of this chamber.
Also, the Brand of Cruel Intent is PERFECT for Grez. No longer will she have to worry about that pesky conscience of hers, and she gets more charming to lure people back here.
Not to mention, she is the one who made us a sadist in the first place, wouldn't it be poetic if we did the same to her? I think it's destiny at this point.

Name suggestion wise, someone suggested "Chadaplin" and "Chadaklin" as modification that roll off the tongue a little easier. I like both.

>1 - Tell her that the dungeon has found a to get rid of her mark.
Tell her that she has done ~splendid~ work and that thanks to her, we are one step closer to ridding her of her mark. We just need to get a good look at it. Please go into the dedicated branding facility and we will take it from there, no worries.
Eventually we could bluff that the mark needs to be replaced by another brand, and that we just so happen to have one at the ready.

>>5221910
I want the Hobgoblin out absolute Chad to be called Chadaklin.

But the longer Version Chadakplin is also fine though much more of a Tongue Twister.


Supporting >>5221924
Also
>Ask Instinct if we can spawn Gold or other things mortals consider valuable.

>>5221910
>1 - Tell her that the dungeon has found a to get rid of her mark.

>>5221924
Any Chadakplin variation is good for me.
I'm glad my name suggestion was accepted in addition to my design.

>>5221910
>1 - Tell her that the dungeon has found a to get rid of her mark.
She bringed amazing value with the sailors. She deserved to be unbrand, fixed, then rebranded as ours using the current brand she have.

Brand of Icarus is damn amazing. By putting/removing we will be able to almost turn her into changeling, so stealthier and harder for urban legend of demi-orc girl baiting people to death.

We need to focus on healing her feet, else we will turn our best outside of dungeon asset into dead meat.

The way I see it, the only reliable way of getting a new brand short of luck like with Grez will be to brand someone with a random brand, release them, hope they come back then analyse it off of them.
Could be worth doing once we are not so worried about getting found.
Or if we catch something like rats again.

>>5221920
>Op can we use more then one brand of icarus?
It says
>- A recipient can only have one instance of a specific brand at a time.

>>5221951
Well, does removing brand of Icarus remove effects?

>>5221968
>As “Brands” are simply forced adjustments of the structure of the recipient, they can be removed.
It's not explicitly stated, but explanations like the above means it is very likely it removes the effect. They are not a permanent modification, but "forced adjustment". I imagine they would "adjust" back without the brand.

>all these votes for just letting Grez get rid of the contract mark while we still have no way to directly control her
If we give Grez what she wants by removing her Contract Mark and the money to heal her foot right now she has no reason to come back to us, or stay in Duskmire for that reason. Without the leverage she'll just leave the city to escape Ben and put this whole ordeal with the Dungeon behind her. If we want to keep her around as an asset we need to tie her to us some other way first, and the best way to do that is to give her the Brand of Cruel Intent before we remove her Contract Mark and let it's influence work her into taking a sadistic interest in throwing people in to the Dungeon and watching them get devoured.

Just letting her have what she wants now is a mistake.

>>5221978
Well, my full plan is removing the contract mark, study it; rebrand Grez with a contract more of our taste to make sure she stay our loyal little dungeon whore. Then the fun begins.

>>5221978
Removing a brand to study it means we can replicate it. Which means we can just apply one of our own, problem solved.
Besides, we have to get rid of it ASAP, or else the loan sharks are gonna look for her.

Hey guys,
Grez will become our thing, right?
We can make her try to solve the Puzzle room for days where she can't find some people to feed the dungeon? This way we'll grind the arcana secrets within better

File: 1543306833047.jpg (46 KB, 530x290)

46 KB JPG

>>5221986
I feel replacing her Contract Mark with another right of the bat could cause a great deal of resentment. She's doing this to get rid of it, not replace it with another after all. Chances are she could try to find ways to circumvent any order we give her through the Contract Mark by chosing to interpret it wrong or by simply chosing to fail on purpose. "Oh you wanted me to bring more people, sorry couldn't hook anyone tonight on purpose", that sort of thing.
I feel it would be more 'organic', so to speak, if she was given the BCI and felt a rush seeing people being slaughtered in the Dungeon, and wanting to feel that rush again by continuing to work with the Dungeon.

Maybe I'm just overthinking this, but I feel this would work out better than simply slapping a replacement Slave mark on her.

>>5222009
And as a true Sadist, she would delight in dungeon suffering. And will bring a level 42 party to utterly crush the dungeon and laugh in our despair.
What about... Lying to her?
"Sorry miss, tried our best, could only change the target of the curse, you're working for us now. If we manage to grow in power, you'll 100% get your freedom.

>>5222009
For what it's worth, I get what you are saying, and putting the Brand of Cruel Intent on her first would be a better way of roping her in willingly... but you run the risk of her pulling shit like this >>5222014 or just running away altogether, since nothing would tie her to us anymore.
Besides, to be perfectly frank we are really not that bad of a "boss" to have. Didn't the loan sharks tell her she would work for them as a whore? Or "job" is much more dignified then that. If we give her some/all the possession the people she ropes in had, it might even be downright nice. Better then anything else an orphan gets to look forward to, no doubt.
Combine that with what we already told her about cleaning the city of its scumbags, and we've got a very nice argument to feed her so she cooperates. And we have a silver tongued devil to deliver said argument. I think it will be fine.
Hell, if that's not enough, we just tell her that we will remove our slave mark after a few weeks or months. You know, work off the debt of us removing her slave mark. That stuff is expensive to remove, normally. Fair trade, no? During that time the Brand of Cruel Intent will work it's magic, and with any luck she will want to stay.

My Thursday campaign has concluded for now.
The players have been asking for another campaign, but I should have some Thursdays open for the time being so I can work on the quest.

>>5221968
>Well, does removing brand of Icarus remove effects?
Removing the brand removes its effects, yes.
This goes for any mark.

The Hobgoblin's name will becomes: Chadaklin
If you disagree, reply to this post.

>Ask Instinct if we can spawn Gold or other things mortals consider valuable.
Will be asked.

>Check if the bodies of Fenton and Viktor had anything valuable on them
Will be done.

What to do with Grez
I'm seeing a lot of discussion.
We'll just take it one step at a time.
What "Brand" to apply afterwards (if any) will happen after this vote.

>1 - Remove the [Contract Mark]. (Spending 1 MP)
>2 - Analyse the [Contract Mark]. This also removes it. (Spending 1 MP)
>3 - Remove the [Contract Mark]. (Spending 1 DP)
>4 - Analyse the [Contract Mark]. This also removes it. (Spending 1 DP)
>5 - Don't remove the [Contract Mark] for now

>>5222127
>2 - Analyse the [Contract Mark]. This also removes it. (Spending 1 MP)

>>5222127
>2 - Analyse the [Contract Mark]. This also removes it. (Spending 1 MP)

>>5222127
>2 - Analyse the [Contract Mark]. This also removes it. (Spending 1 MP)

And keep her confined for now. Tell her its for negotiations on how to proceed from here and future cooperation. We are her BEST bet of staying alive well fed and not a cripple in the future.

Glad to hear your players had fund. Maybe ask one of them if they would like to be the BRIGNER OF TORMENT- I mean the GM for the next campaign.

>>5222127
>2 - Analyse the [Contract Mark]. This also removes it. (Spending 1 MP)

>>5222127
Voting closed
Getting rid of the mark seemed to be the consensus, so I don't think anyone would object to the choice that was made.

>>5222174
Late to the party, would have voted on the consensus.

The Scholar thought for a moment, “How about Chadaphlin?”

The Sadist waved a dismissive hand, “Nah, that wouldn’t work.”
It tapped its chin a few times, “What about Chadaklin? Now there’s a name that swells with power.”

“What?” replied the Scholar, “That’s the same thing I suggested.”

“No it isn’t,” replied the Sadist.

“How is it different?” cried the Scholar.

“I suggested it,” remarked the Sadist.

“Argh, you’re so petty. Fine, whatever. Chadaklin it is,” said the Scholar as he threw up his hands, “Let’s just send Chadaklin to the entrance already.”

-----------------

Lounging in its seat in the [Boss Room], the massive hobgoblin drew in a breath.
It had observed the changes made by the Blue Spark with interest, but couldn’t help being disappointed.
The large, impressive double doors that had been the entrance to its room earlier had been replaced by the back of book case.
He felt like it didn’t quite have the same touch to it.
A voice appeared in the back of the hobgoblin’s mind.
It was the frantic one, the one that always sounded like he was in a hurry.

”Hey, you. Yeah, you. You’re, uh, Chadaklin now. That’s your name. Good strong name. Anyway, go to the entrance. We’ve got a guest,” said the voice of the Scholar.
The connection broke abruptly.

Chadaklin the hobgoblin slapped his knees once and got up and wandered towards the bookcase to shove it open.
There was a slight groan as it swung open, nothing too bad. It seemed like the bookcase meant to open this way, a hidden passage. It closed the secret door behind itself and frowned. No skulls lined the entrance of his [Boss Room].
”So far for tradition,” he said, continuing on his way to the entrance.

It passed through the [Bugbear Den] which contained a [Goblin Scout] and a [Goblin], both creatures positively trembled as they spotted the dungeon boss for the first time.
They weren’t sure that they could match his height even if they stacked all the goblins together.
Chadaklin would like to familiarize himself with the rest of the goblin folk at some point, but right now it was acting on orders.
He gave them a nod as he passed.

-----------------

The resident [Bugbear] was feeling pretty good about itself.
It had been able to sneak up on its first enemy just now and dealt a devastating blow that ultimately won them the battle.
It had only been spawned recently, so it wasn’t too sure about things like performance reviews, or even what they were, but it was confident that it would be a good one.

It decided it had earned a good nap for its efforts and dozed off.
A little while later it awoke with a start, there was a slight rustle coming from the jungle that surrounded it.
Panic ensued. Had there been another invasion and had it overslept?
Faint fantasies of positive performance reviews diminished to nothing, it rushed to meet the source of the noise in the hope of redeeming itself.

>>5222261

It collided with a set of abs and was forced to slowly crane its neck upwards, something it didn’t often have to do.
The bugbear swallowed, it was the boss. It didn’t even remember seeing the towering figure leave the [Boss Room] before, but here it was.
A massive hand extended itself into the direction of the bugbear, but ultimately settled on its shoulder.
The bugbear squeaked. The hobgoblin lumbered past.

The remaining goblinoids began to follow the boss as it made its way through the [Jungle Room].
Well, all of them except for the [Goblin Bright Bringer] which spent most of its downtime licking poisonous frogs.
Eventually, Chadaklin arrived at the entrance where he spotted the small, balled-up form of Grez.

“You did well,” he said with a powerful, yet comforting tone.

The small ball of Grez unfurled, she looked up, “I killed them.”

“No,” stated Chadaklin, “They did this to themselves.”

Grez simply stared, confusion clear on her face.
She absent-mindedly clutched her leg.

[Corruption trait “Sadism” is influencing the Dungeon’s behaviour.]
[Hobgoblin skill “Silver Tongue“ is being applied.]

“You lead them here for the treasure,” continued the hobgoblin, “The treasure is real. it’s probably around here somewhere if the journal is to be believed. They happened to stumble upon the entrance themselves and, despite your warnings, they entered. The dungeon simply defended itself. They even mentioned encountering a dungeon before. They should’ve known how it would react. Despite that, and your warnings, they entered the dungeon. You did nothing wrong, in fact – you did well.”

The half-orc wiped part of her sleeve over her eyes, “But this wouldn’t have happened if I had never lead them here.”

Chadaklin waved a hand, “You’re too paranoid. You’ll have to be harder if you want to cleanse the city. Sure, you lead them here, but you didn’t force them to enter. You advised against it. Would this have happened if they went to a different tavern? Should the local that suggested said tavern to them feel guilty? How about their captain that decided to dock their ship here? It never ends.” said the hobgoblin, thinking for a moment, “If anyone is to blame, it’s the dungeon. Not because the dungeon killed them, they knew how it would react to their presence, but because we asked you to find people and lead them here.”

Grez stared morosely at the ground and nodded.

“Because the dungeon cares about you,” continued the hobgoblin, “In fact, we might be the only one. Everyone out there seems adamant to kill you. To capture you. To punish you. Instead, the dungeon is desperately trying to find ways to save you.”

The half-orc continued staring at the ground and began tracing little circles on the cavern floor.

>>5222264

The Sadist’s presence hung around the hobgoblin like a cloak, tainting his every word and action.
”Bringing people here was dangerous for the dungeon. What if the sailors had just turned around brought their entire crew? This could’ve been the end for us, but we took that risk – to save you.”

The hobgoblin began to pace around slightly, “Remember, we needed some way to get additional resources so we can help you get rid of that [Contract Mark]. The dungeon doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you. Hey, Grez?”

Eyes still slightly puffed up from the crying and clearly exhausted, Grez looked up.

“I don’t want anything bad to happen to you,” said Chadaklin, flashing her sombre smile, “You’re my only friend. Everyone else out there seems to want to destroy the dungeon and me with it. You got us what we needed. You helped us.”

Chadaklin extended a hand into the direction of Grez, “Now let us – help you.”

Grez’s jaw dropped, “You mean…?”

“That’s right,” replied Chadaklin, “We found a way to get rid of your [Contract Mark].”

Despite everything, Grez still seemed doubtful, she reached out towards Chadaklin’s hand, only to withdraw it moments later, “I don’t know if I can trust you…”

Chadaklin relented, “Trusting somebody you barely know can be scary, but if you can’t trust me – then that would mean that you are all alone. That nobody cares for you. I think that would be far scarier and it doesn’t have to be like that, because I care for you. Even though I might be the only, I care for you,” said the hobgoblin and extended his hand a second time.

Grez swallowed, stood, and took his hand.

[One hostile creatures has entered the dungeon]

-----------------

The Scholar snapped his fingers in annoyance, “Drat,” it said, “Still hostile even after all that, huh?”

“Trust me, we’re making progress. Right now she might be turning to us because we are the only real option she has, but I think her opinions will shift in due time. We need to back up our words with actions,” replied the Sadist, “It’s only a matter of time at this point.”

-----------------

Need DC 8 Constitution saving throws for Grez Wildflower (-1 modifier)

Please include the following message:
Rolling for Grez Wildflower against [Jungle Room]

Rolled 3 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>5222266
Rolling for Grez Wildflower against [Jungle Room]

Rolled 2 (1d8)

>>5222266
Rolling for Grez Wildflower against [Jungle Room]

Aaaaannnd we are getting provided with free invasion success. We'll even see if dungeon absorption will recreate her feet.

Well, at least we get some points, and we don't need to kill her.

>>5222269
Good thing it doesn't change much, in the end.
We will even find out if we can do something about her foot.
...She might be mildly pissed though.

>>5222279
We can bullshit our way out of this.
"As a dungeon, Killing consenting people does not result in capture, but real death. Sorry for the half truth, it was a test to see if we could restore your foot by capturing you."
If this works, "we couldn't completely remove the contract but we edited terms. Help us grow stronger and we'll completely remove the mark."
If this doesn't,
"You wanted to get wealth from us at our first encounter. How so? We need to get funds to fix your feet."

This should mitigate the mild piss

>>5222274
>We'll even see if dungeon absorption will recreate her feet.
Doubt it. It probably restores defeated invaders to the state they were in before they entered, meaning Grez's foot is still damaged. If she was actually acting as our minion, she probably would be restored fully. But then she wouldn't be attacked by the Dungeon either when trying to enter. Maybe next time Grez tries to enter we hand her the Ring of Vitality first so that she doesn't die from the Jungle Room.
Upside, we now have a good excuse for reapplying the contract mark.
>"The Dungeon can not act against it's instincts. A price must be paid to allow release, and the Brand is the safest price. Otherwise another limb would have to serve as the cost."

File: Grez - Copy.jpg (70 KB, 684x962)

70 KB JPG

Name: Grez Wildflower
Type: Humanoid (Half-orc)
Level: 1
Health: 1

Strength: -1
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: -1
Wisdom: +2
Intelligence: +1
Charisma: +3

>>5222378

Chadaklin took her by the hand and lead Grez into the dungeon.
It was a bit of an odd sight, the hobgoblin being eleven foot tall and Grez herself being five foot four.
Almost like a child being escorted by her parent, her arm was angled upwards.
Things had been hard lately, she had been crying a lot. A lot. However, things were finally looking up.

----------------

“Good, she’s in,” cried the Scholar, “Now knock her the fuck out! I want magic putty!”

The Sadist winced, “You have no tact,” said the Sadist, “Chadaklin, put her to sleep, but be smart about it. We don’t want to give her a reason to doubt us.”

----------------

Chadaklin nodded at the unseen voice and then turned towards Grez, “I’m not gonna lie to you, Grez,” he said, looking down, “Removing the [Contract Mark] will hurt. It might be best to not be awake for this. We can gently put you to sleep and it’ll all be over when you wake up.”

Grez hesitated for a moment and stared at the small army of goblins that surrounded her.
They probably would’ve attacked her already if they truly had bad intentions. She nodded.

Hands guided by the Scholar’s knowledge, Chadaklin began picking up some colourful flowers and held them out towards Grez.

The half-orc blushed slightly, “These are beautiful,” she said, taking the flowers.

“They are poisonous,” said Chadaklin.

“Oh,” replied Grez, quickly holding the flowers at arm’s length.

“From what I understand It’s not a painful poison,” said Chadaklin, “If you hold them to your face and take a deep breath you will pass out in seconds. We’ll take it from there.”

Grez heart was beating rapidly, was she really going to trust the dungeon with her life?
She stared at the flowers she was holding at a distance, her hands were already starting to feel numb.
It was a gamble, she knew. However, not playing this round would mean losing for certain in two days time – when her [Contract Mark] expired.
Grez shook her head in an attempt to fight of the jitters, brought the flowers to her nose, and inhaled deeply.

[Hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower' takes one (1) point of damage from [Jungle Room].]
[The health of hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower' has reached zero (0).]
[Hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower' has gone unconscious.]
[Hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower' has been defeated.]
[The dungeon will now absorb hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower'.]

>>5222388

[The invasive force has been defeated.]
[All monsters within the dungeon will now respawn and traps will reset.]

----------------

Invasion summary: Victory

All hostile creatures in the dungeon have been bested.

Amount of enemies beaten: 1
Amount of dungeon points (DP) gained: 3*
Amount of monster points (MP) gained: 1**

Hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower' is currently held by the dungeon

*Average level of enemy group times 3 (Rounded up)
**Amount of monster points gained equals the level total of all bested invaders

----------------

META
Just noticed I gave out 2 MP during the previous invasion when that should’ve been 3 MP.
I’ll add that now.
END OF META

[Total amount of Monster Points (MP) remaining: 6]
[Total amount of Dungeon Points (DP) remaining: 6]

>>5222389

Grez’s unconscious form disappeared into the jungle floor and was immediately transferred to the [Branding Chamber].
The ceiling of the place was thick with smoke and the blazing forge brought forth a blistering heat.
The dungeon, with all its odd little intricacies, brought forth Grez from its depth and propped her up while a small goblin wearing a torturer’s cap puffed into existence.
The little creature jumped onto a small stool and began working the bellows, feeding the flames and heating the branding iron that rested within.

“Calm down there, little buddy,” said the Scholar, stifling a cough, “No need for that just yet.”
”We just want you to check out the mark on her shoulder for now, tell us what it does,” it added.

The little goblin stared towards the ceiling for a moment, reached out towards the branding iron and held it up imploringly.

”No, no. Put it down,” pressed the Scholar.

Saddened, the goblin’s head titled towards the floor and it let the branding slip from its grasp.
It jumped down from the stool, scooted it towards the unconscious Grez, and stepped onto it to have a better look at Grez’s [Contract Mark].
Then, it reached into a pocket and pulled out a set of glasses that had many lenses set in a row, magnifying anything viewed through them.

Using the back of its hand, It tapped the mark once or twice – indicating that it was rock solid.
The goblin slid its glasses up to its forehead and held up a hand, open palm facing upwards.

“What does it want now?” said the Scholar.

“I think it wants some magic to work with,” replied the Sadist, digging into the reserves, “Here you go. Waste it and I’ll hang you.”

[One (1) Monster Point (MP) has been spend for the purposes of analysing Grez Wildflower’s [Contract Mark].]
[Total amount of Monster Points (MP) remaining: 5]

The supplied magic floated down into the [Branding Chamber] where it coalesced into the shape of a needle as it settled on the palm of the small torturer’s hand.
It got to work.

As the egos observed the creature as it performed its craft, they noticed that the magical needle did not so much pierce the skin, rather it poked, prodded, and punctured through the magical circle imprinted on Grez’s shoulder.
It began dissecting it. Breaking the [Contract Mark] apart in separate pieces, each of which it had a long good look at.

There were layers, upon layers to it. Some of which were intertwined, overlapping circles. While others were runes that neither of the egos recognized.
The pieces didn’t seem to want to part with Grez, there was some definitive resistance there.
The goblin had to work pretty hard to detach some of them from the half-orc. Even in her unconscious state, the pain occasionally caused Grez trash around.
After a good while, it removed the final chunk of the magical circle from Grez, inspected it briefly, and nodded.

>>5222394

------------

Contract Mark (Curse Mark)
A complex magical circle that can be used to enforce a contract.
The circle itself has to be placed upon the recipient, which is often the person in the subordinate position.

Said recipient will be forced to magically comply with the contents of the contract when able or forced to perform certain acts when in breach of contract.
All of the terms, clauses, procedures, and protocols, can be found in the contents of the contract and should be carefully scrutinized.
The main complexity of this mark comes not from the magical circle, but from the contract it enforces.

The contents of the contract can be either directly inscribed into the circle or written down on a piece of parchment, like a physical contract, and then later pressed onto the skin where the [Contract Mark] is placed.
The contract will be then be absorbed into the magical circle and become part of it just like as if it had been directly inscribed.
The [Contract Mark] will activate once the recipient voices their consent.

Alternatively, a “blood bound” contract can be formed by creating a [Contract Mark] on the skin of an individual of both parties and then pressing a contract, which both have signed in blood, to the magical circle.
In this instance, both parties are magically obligated to comply with the terms on the contract.
These are more often used when both parties involved are of equal standing.

------------

“Sweet!,” cried the Scholar as its eyes lit up, then coughed into a fist, “I mean, splendid. What now?”

------------

Grez Wildflower

>1 - Consume hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower' and gain 2 [Monster Points]
>2 - Consume hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower' and gain 2 [Dungeon Points]
>3 - Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her
>4 - Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and keep her in captivity
>5 - Release Grez Wildflower without applying a “Brand” (Triggers [Sadism] trait)
>6 - Other (Write-in)

I’m aware that I’ve yet to hit upon the things listed below, I'm working towards it
>Ask Instinct if we can spawn Gold or other things mortals consider valuable.
>Check if the bodies of Fenton and Viktor had anything valuable on them.

File: Spoiler Image (4.92 MB, 480x270)

4.92 MB GIF

That will be all for today, I will be back in something like 10h.

As a side-note, we've hit 50.000 words.
Which isn't a lot compared to some of the quests out there, but is for me.
I'd like to thank everyone for their participation up until this point.
I have so much more planned for this quest and hope that you'll be here for it.

>>5222396
>Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her
>Brand of Icarus: Make her shorter

We've already got her pretty well under our sway, but we should still not be *TOO* evil too her, yet.

>>5222400
>apply brand of icarus. I dunno make her more beautiful fix her leg?

Im glad you here to do it QM ive enjoyed every update of this. Also this whole gez sidleplot has been great.

>>5222396
>The [Contract Mark] will activate once the recipient voices their consent.
Okay, that is going to make this tricky, actually.
Of course, she was already tricked once into a agreeing to a contract that was different then she was told, so we could try the same thing, but she might be hesitant to agree to anything for obvious reasons.
I guess we will just have to risk it and hope she doesn't betray us until we can get her to agree to a solid contract. Or bind her another way. Until then I propose:
>3 - Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her
>Brand of Cruel Intent
This will modify her behaviour to make her more agreeable to our methods. It should go a long way to drawing her to our side permanently.

>>5222396
>Brand of Cruel Intent

>>5222400
Happy to be here QM, I've enjoyed this quest a lot so far.
I am pleased to hear you have stuff planned, I look forward to seeing it.

>>5222396
>3 - Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her
- Brand of Cruel Intent

>>5222396
>3 - Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her
>Brand of Cruel Intent

>>5222396
>3 - Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her
>Brand of Cruel Intent
Obvious choice here.

>>5222396
> Brand of Cruel Intent

So... How is Grez leg so far?

>>5222624
Festering....

Its festering. She really needs a healer or will either be a cripple and or dead

Voting closed
>3 - Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her
>Brand of Cruel Intent

>>5222396
>Apply a “Brand” to Grez Wildflower and then release her. brand of icarus, try to heal her leg

Hey QM, I profoundly and thoroughly love the fact you have more time for the thread and we're getting back to dungeon antics nowadays.
Can't wait for next big invasion.

>>5222396

“Now,” said the Sadist with a devious grin, “We do what I’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time.”
It nudged the little torturer to action and the goblin rushed over and grabbed hold of the branding iron with glee.

“Give her one of mine,” said the Sadist, “Let mine be the first. I want her to know who she belongs to.”

The little goblin nodded and began to work the bellows, the coals began turning red-hot and the symbol on the end oft he branding iron began to shift through various shapes before finally settling on the [Brand of Cruel Intent].

Tiles and stonework began to curl back to create a path towards the pillory, the wooden device seemed to open up by itself, allowing the arms and head of the unconscious Grez to be slotted into it.
The dungeon helped where needed, moving the body to the pillory and providing a stone pillar underneath the half-orc's stomach to prop her up and ensure she wouldn’t simply dangle from the wooden device.

--------------------


I’m wondering what to do for the brand placement.

>1 - Take suggestions for the brand placement
>2 - Roll for the brand placement (table will be made public)
>3 - Just let the QM decide

What does the [Brand of Cruel Intent] look like?

>1 - Take image suggestions
>2 - Just let the QM decide

>>5222761
>>Brand placement
>3 - Just let the QM decide
Don't really have a preference myself.
Though I would stipulate that it isn't in an easily visible spot, like that forehead or something. That could be problematic later.
>>Brand look
>2 - Just let the QM decide
Don't really mind either way.

>>5222761
>1 - Take suggestions for the brand placement
Since it's an actually chamber staffed by a Goblin worker we should be able to chose where the brand goes.

>2 - Just let the QM decide

>>5222761
Placement
>1 - Take suggestions for the brand placement

Somewhere inconspicious would be preferable for this brand.

Look
>2 - Just let the QM decide

File: Xana.png (2 KB, 258x195)

2 KB PNG

>>5222761
>Take suggestion for the brand placement
Left Buttcheek. Hidden enough.
>Image
Picrel

>>5222785
Time for some shitty symbolism :
The circles represent a target. Objectives of the brand bearer.
Whatever way they come from (3 lines below), they now are focus enough (target) to control and make suffer other (new way, different from the other but still going in the same direction)
As the new way is narrower, this attract people impliclty attracted by other with strong vision, thus making the bearer more charming.

Voting closed

I’m wondering what to do for the brand placement.
>1 - Take suggestions for the brand placement

What does the [Brand of Cruel Intent] look like?
>2 - Just let the QM decide

>>5222785
Pretty good symbol, it'll do fine.
I'll just run with this since others don't really seem to mind one way or another.

---------------------

Take suggestions for the brand placement
>1 - Upper back
>2 - Lower back

>3 - Chest

>4 - Stomach

>5 - Face (Right)
>6 - Face (Left)

>7 - Neck

>8 - Upper leg (Right)
>9 - Upper leg (Left)

>10 - Lower leg (Right)
>11 - Lower leg (Left)

>12 - Foot (Right)
>13 - Foot (Left)

>14 - Butt (Right)
>15 - Butt (Left)

>16 - Shoulder (Right)
>17 - Shoulder (Left)

>18 - Upper arm (Right)
>19 - Upper arm (Left)

>20 - Lower arm (Right)
>21 - Lower arm (Left)

>22 - Palm (Right)
>23 - Palm (Left)

>24 - Back of hand (Right)
>25 - Back of hand (Left)

>26 - Write-in

>>5222803
Sticking to my left buttcheek choice.

>>5222803
>15 - Butt (Left)

somewhere that should always be nice and hidden. and make sure she is always reminded it is there when she sits down.

>>5222803
>1 - Upper back
Seems like a good spot, I suppose.

>>5222803
>1 - Upper back
Either this or the back of the Shoulder would do.

Need a tie-breaker vote

>>5222804
Changing my buttcheek to ward upper back for the sake of untiebreaking.

>>5222803
>15 - Butt (Left)

>>5222803
>1 - Upper back

>>5222803
>>1 - Upper back

>>5222803
Voting closed
Upper-back it is.

>>5222943

“Put it on the shoulder,” said the Sadist, “Where you just removed the other one.”

The hooded goblin dragged its stool back to the pillory and began to hover the heated metal over Grez’s shoulder.
It then looked upwards towards the ceiling, waiting for confirmation.

“Do it,” commanded the Sadist, “She will stay asleep.”

The small torturer looked over Grez for a moment, wondering how he was going to apply a brand without waking up the woman.

“Get on with it, man. No captive wakes unless the dungeon wants them to,” cried the Sadist.

The Scholar cocked its head, “You don’t wanna wake her and hear her screams? I thought you liked that?”
”This is your first brand, isn’t it? I thought you would’ve wanted to get the most out of that,” it questioned.

“I know,” said the Sadist, gritting his teeth, “But I can’t have her screaming anymore. I’ll have to find a new toy.”

“Is this…compassion?” gasped the Scholar, holding its hands in front of its mouth, “Empathy?“

“Ew,” said the Sadist, its facing twisting in disgust, “No. I would’ve surely woken her, and enjoyed the shrieks and sobbing, if we had applied any other brand, but the [Brand of Cruel Intent] is mine.”
The Sadist stepped forward and clasped its hands behind its back, looking down on Grez as she hung unconscious in the pillory, “She’s being remade in my image,” it said.
Its face turned serious then, like a school teacher determined to correct a student that has gone astray, “And screaming is not part of that image.”
”Well,” it added, enjoying a brief chuckle, “Not her own.“

The red-hot metal connected with Grez’s shoulder, sizzling.
A searing pain shot through Grez as the branding iron hit her skin, yet she remained asleep and the sensation was lost on her.

The Sadist let out an exaggerated, almost mournful sigh, “Pity.”

The branding iron remained pressed to her green skin as the bloody circle underneath the pillory began to light up.
Small drops of crimson began to creep their way up the pillory like leeches.
Grez kicked and trashed in her sleep, but she was bound at every angle. Beads of sweat began to form on her skin.
Eventually, the leech-like droplets made their way up the pillory and onto her skin, they gathered where the brand was being formed. Once there they seeped into her skin and the outline of a red, magical circle began to appear around the brand. Faint at first, but becoming more apparent with each leech.

Once the circle fully formed, a tiny shockwave burst forth from the brand. Nothing much more than the puff of smoke that might appear above a witch’s cauldron, but a telling sign for those in the know.
The hooded goblin turned his gaze towards the ceiling – and nodded.

>>5223015

Surrounded by pulsing magic was a symbol that had a large dot in its centre, surrounded by two circles of increasing size. Three paths seemed to enter at the lower part of it, yet only one path come out on top. A symbol for those that enjoyed taking in people from various walks of life and twisted, manipulated, and hurt them until these people acted according to their will. Until only one path remained for them. The [Brand of Cruel Intent].

Slowly, the magical circle faded to nothing, only the brand remained.

“It is done,” stated the Sadist.

“That was fascinating,” said the Scholar, “In a gruesome kind of way. I’d love to learn more about it.”

“In due time,” promised the Sadist, lying.

The Scholar’s presence hovered around in the [Branding Chamber], inspecting the new brand.
”Hmm,” it said, “I don’t think she’ll be all that happy to find out we simply exchanged one mark for another. It’s probably better than the fate that awaited her, but still.”

---------------------------

What do you tell Grez about the mark?

>1 - Be honest. You got rid of the [Contract Mark] and replaced it with one of your own choosing.
>2 - You got rid of the [Contract Mark], but you don’t mention the new brand.
>3 - Lie. Say you got rid of the effects of the [Contract Mark] by sabotaging it through burning.
>4 - Lie. Say you got rid of the [Contract Mark] and replaced it with one that will help her.
>5 - Other (Write-in)

>>5223016
>"We rid you of your mark. Removing it completely would have put you and us in danger. So we overwrote it into something else. Something that will help you and i hope you can see it as something of a Sign of trust that we improved you instead of being just sloppy about it and maybe cripple you."

>>5223020
Supporting.

>>5223016
>4 - Lie. Say you got rid of the [Contract Mark] and replaced it with one that will help her.
A boon, a token of appreciation from the Dungeon.

>>5223020
+1, good idea

>>5223016
>4 - Lie. Say you got rid of the [Contract Mark] and replaced it with one that will help her.
A token of our appreciation.

>>5223020
+1

>>5223020
Supporting

>>5223016
>Lie. Say you got rid of the [Contract Mark] and replaced it with one that will help her.

Voting closed
>>5223020
I'll sorta go with this.
Which is sorta this
>4 - Lie. Say you got rid of the [Contract Mark] and replaced it with one that will help her.

>>5223174
I'll have to postpone the update until tomorrow, it's getting lengthier than I thought.

>>5223212
Are we tomorrow yet?

>>5223785
We are indeed tomorrow, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to finishing the update as I have to prioritize today's D&D game.

>>5223813
Ok, have fun with your game :)

“She won’t mind,” said the Sadist, “Because we’ll tell her we had no other choice, but went through great effort to get her a mark that’ll help her out in the long run. It’ll allow her to become an agent worthy of portraying my image.”

“You know, you’ve been saying prideful things like ‘image' and what not, but right now she’s far from that. Look at her leg, it’s gruesome, that is,” said the Scholar, pinching his nose, “Your ‘agent' is going to be limping around the city like a ragged beggar. Can’t we just fix her leg?”

The Sadist frowned, “I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to. It goes against who I am.”

“That just seems like you’re hard-headed about it,” replied the Scholar, folding its arms.

“Argh, you don’t understand!” cried the Sadist, momentarily losing his composure.

“A few days ago when the scoutmaster overheard Ben and Grez talking she mentioned something about needing coins to see a healer. Maybe that’s an option. The dungeon won’t be healing her, you will have your self-important principles all sorted out,” tried the Scholar.

“Fine,” replied the Sadist, voice drenched with sarcasm, “We’ll give her the [Ring of Vitality] and she can go and trade it for gold or coins or whatever.”

The Scholar twitched, “I WOULD RATHER DIE!” he roared.

“See,” cried the Sadist, pointing at the other ego, “NOW, you understand. I just can’t do it.”

Red-faced, the Scholar tried hard to calm himself down, “Pfff. Alright, trying to give her some coins or whatever is not a bad idea though. Did those two we consumed earlier have anything on them?”

The Sadist shrugged, “We ate them. There’s nothing left.”

“Bugger,” said the Scholar, “Not even a single coin then?”

“Everything on or with a person we devour gets turned into…” began the Sadist, then struggled for the next word.

“Magic paste,” supplied the Scholar helpfully.

“Magic paste. There’s no residue or leftovers,” said the Sadist, “We don’t have anything.”

The Scholar thought about coins for a moment. Despite not have any at the moment, the dungeon seemed to know what they looked like. Perhaps it was because they had absorbed a few at some point in time,
“Hmm,” said the Scholar, pinching his chin, “I suppose we can make some. I mean, we can make entire rooms and whatever. There’s a downright jungle in the dungeon. We should be able to manage some coins or a gemstone, right?”

The Sadist relented, “I don’t see why not.”

“Good, let’s release Grez and we’ll give her some coins,” said the Scholar with a smile on its face.

>>5223947

The Scholar’s presence swam towards the [Jungle Room] and focused for a moment, it began to visualize the form of a coin in its mind and willed the dungeon to create them near the entrance.
A short rumble later, a small stack of coins appeared near the entrance, “Hehey, there we go! Hah… Damn, I love the arcane.”
It generated another stack of coins, simply because it could.

The other ego was staring, clearly impatient.
“Ehum,” said the Scholar, “I got the coins. We can release her.”

[The Dungeon has released hostile creature 'Grez Wildflower']

Bruised, bloody, and recently branded shoulder still bare, Grez was unceremoniously thrown out of the dungeon onto the cavern floor near the entrance.
She rested in the dirt for a long moment, stuck in a daze.
A few coins hit the ground next to her, clinking as they hit the stone – bouncing this way and that.

The Sadist chuckled.

“What?” replied the Scholar.

“Come on,” the Sadist said, gesturing at Grez and the coins that surrounded her.

“I don’t get it,” stated the Scholar.

“Forget it,” said the Sadist with a sigh.

To its surprise, the dungeon watched as the coins that lay scattered around the half-orc began to distort at the edges.
Moments later, something seemed to break and the coin dissolved into a brief puff of smoke and glitter, much like the one that happen when a monster dies in one of the rooms.
The smoke dragged itself back to the dungeon entrance like a wounded animal, disappearing into the ceiling once it had gone beyond the entrance.

“That should’ve worked, no?” asked the Scholar.

“It clearly didn’t,” answered the Sadist, brow furrowing and thinking things over, “I recall the dungeon once overhearing Grez and her friend talking about ‘endless wealth’ from the dungeon. There is a way.”

“Instinct,” called the Sadist, “Tell me about valuable items and objects that can be taken outside the dungeon.”

>>5223949

-------------------

[Investigating 'Generating Objects'.]

Query: Generating valuables, items, and coins
Context: To be taken outside the Dungeon

Response:
Every dungeon has complete control over its internal environment.
This includes, but is not limited to, rooms with: ornate tiles, massive cliffs, giant pools, and massive structures.
All this is accomplished through the dungeon’s innate abilities granted by the [Dungeon Core].

Items or objects spawned by the dungeon will de-spawn when removed from the dungeon.
These items are made manifest by the dungeon’s will and can only exist as long as the dungeon feeds magic to them in order to continue their existence.
There is, however, a way around this.

Items or objects that need to persist beyond the borders of the dungeon need to be self-sustaining and fully realized.
This can be accomplished by expending Dungeon Points (DP).
The amount of Dungeon Points (DP) required to fully realize an object depends on the object.
Complicated objects (such as those consisting of valuable metals) generally require a greater density of magic and will cost more DP to realize.
Once an item is realized using DP, it can not be converted back into DP. This is a one-way process.

Dungeons that have been “Broken” will leak their daily allowance of Dungeon Points (DP) into their rooms by default and can therefor serve as gathering grounds for hostile creatures and resources can be taken out of the dungeon.
Similar to how defeated monsters sill respawn, resources present within the dungeon will regenerate and become infused with magical essence over time, allowing them to be gathered more or less infinitely.

-------------------

>>5223960

“So, we can basically create anything as long as we are willing to pony-up the Dungeon Points for it?” said the Scholar, tapping his chin, “I wonder how many points we would have to spend to get enough money for limpy over there to get herself sorted. We can ask her, but she seems pretty out of it. ”

The Sadist turned his attention to the goblins and called forth the [Goblin Raid Leader].

Upon being called, the [Goblin Raid Leader] stood at attention, awaiting the next order.

The Sadist pointed at the recently created pile of coins that were apparently dungeon-bound, “Throw coins at her until she wakes up.”

After a few coins hit home, Grez finally gasped and pushed herself up from the ground.
Confused, she scanned her surroundings for a moment before clutching at the shoulder were the [Contract Mark] had been.
She no longer felt the delicate linework or the soft warmth, instead there was something else.
She traced it with her fingers, but couldn’t make much of it.
There was a shape to it, some kind of symbol, and it felt bumpy.

Heavy footfalls rang through the [Jungle Room], the creature they belonged to revealed itself after brushing aside some large leaves – Chadaklin.
“Welcome back,” he said, sporting a friendly smile.

The half-orc looked up at the hobgoblin, her fingers tracing the brand, “What have you done to me?”

Chadaklin stared for a moment, silent as words were whispered into its mind, “We made you better. The [Contract Mark] proved difficult to erase, so we had to overwrite it with something else. It’ll help you. It’s made to aid you on your new path. Cleansing an entire city requires a strong will, this will give you that. See it as a token of trust.”

[The curse mark 'Brand of Cruel Intent' is influencing the behaviour of Grez Wildflower.]

Grez’s face turned in disgust, “I don’t remember asking you to give me a new mark,” she said, “I hope you don’t think I owe you for that or anything. I’m glad the [Contract Mark] is gone, but I’m thinking I might’ve traded it for something worse.”

Chadaklin folded his massive arms and raised an eyebrow, “Worse than a life of servitude when the contract expired?” he said, “Besides, it’ll help you with your new quest. We noticed how difficult it was for you to make the necessary sacrifices. This will help.”

Grez’s brand lit up, the symbol turning a scalding red as if the brand was being applied anew.
The half-orc hissed through clenched teeth, then let out a deep sigh.

>>5223963

[The curse mark 'Brand of Cruel Intent' is influencing the behaviour of Grez Wildflower.]

She waved a dismissive hand as she fought through the pain, eventually the glow dulled and the pain faded, “Yeah,” she said, “Helping the city is a great thing, but I can’t help but feel like we’ve been too ambitious. We should start a bit smaller.”

Chadaklin didn’t seem to care either way, so he nodded in agreement, “Very well. The Lower District then?”

Grez held up both of her hands with some space between them and brought them closer together, “Smaller.”

The hobgoblin shrugged, “The neighbourhood?”

The half-orc brought her hands even closer together.

”The orphanage?” tried the hobgoblin, tiring off the game.

Grez dropped one hand and instead opted to pinch together finger and thumb, “Smaller still.”

“The orphan friends you grew up with?” said Chadaklin, anger beginning to slip into his expression.

“No!” shouted Grez, “Me! We need to help me! I’m tired of suffering and being in pain and all that. When is it Grez’s turn? You know there is a saying that goes: ‘Before you can help others, you should help yourself’. Well, I’m gonna help me first. I mean, half the people out there would stab me and the other half would rob me. Some would do both! Some others would do worse! I’m in no hurry to help any of those freaks. My leg is fucked and I’m always in pain. Fuck everybody else for now, I’m gonna help me first.”
”Besides, all my friends are dead,” she added, like it was an after-thought.

-------------------

The Scholar eyed his fellow ego suspiciously, “Uh, what’s happening?”

“A miracle,” replied the Sadist, sniffing.

-------------------

Chadaklin nodded sagely, “Sensible,” he said, “Since we’re establishing trust -- How can we help you?”

Grez turned her head this way and that, “I noticed you threw coins at me earlier. Thanks for that, by the way,” she said, “I could use some money. Seems like you have some to spare.”

Chadaklin briefly turned his attention to the ceiling, listening to the incoming messages.
”Very well,” he said, “Sadly, we don’t know that much about the currencies of the city above. Tell us about it.”

[The curse mark 'Brand of Cruel Intent' is influencing the behaviour of Grez Wildflower.]

Grez pouted at the massive hobgoblin.
“Proud little dungeon, so powerful and wise, yet basically a hermit. Unaware of even the most basic things,” said Grez mockingly, “I suppose I could tell you. If you asked really nicely.”

Chadaklin, normally a picture of self-control, felt his fingers twitch, “You understand we’re trying to help you?”

>>5223967

“Nah, you have an ulterior motive,” replied Grez, lazily staring at her leg, “I’m beginning to understand how you think.”
”How this,” she said, gesturing at general direction of the dungeon, “All seems to operate.”

Chadaklin pinched the bridge of his nose, “Just tell us about the currencies in Duskmire, will you?”

“I don’t know,” said Grez, scratching her arm, “I don’t feel like I really want to? Do you know what I feel like doing?”

The massive hobgoblin sighed, “What?”

“Well, my leg has been hurting like there’s no tomorrow. And judging by the puss there might, in fact, not be,” replied Grez, “I think I’m gonna be needing A LOT of gold to get it fixed, but Healers are soooo expensive. Little old me would never be able to afford it. I guess I’ll have to make some gold quickly – somehow."
A wide grin appeared, she then winked at the hobgoblin, "Maybe by selling out the location of a certain dungeon?”

Grez looked back at Chadaklin with a face that belonged to the morally bankrupt, somebody that would have no issue with handing over their very mother if they had something to gain from it, “Unless you have a better idea, of course?”

Chadaklin didn’t immediately respond, opting to just stare at her.

Grez scrunched up her face, making a show of thinking very hard, before her eyes went wide and she held up a finger, “Oh! I know!” she cried, her facing turning serious, “Give me back my fucking ring. That thing is worth at least 400 gold pieces. Yeah, I didn’t forget.”

“Oh, that’s 4000 coins, by the way,” said Grez, giving a small nod with her head, “I know the numbers are hard for you and it’s a biiiiig, scary world out there and you enjoy being a recluse, but here’s a free lesson: One coin is a tenth of a gold coin. Normal coins are basically a mixture of all kinds of metals, among which a small amount of gold, and are, shocker shocker, worth less than a full gold piece. One coin, normal coin – keep up, gets you a bread or a beer. If people need smaller coins than that then they clip them,” she continued, making a scissors gesture with her hand, “We call those half-coins or quarter coins.”

“Well, I said the lesson was free, but you’re gonna give me about 400 gold worth for it, so,” she said, laughing, “Maybe not free. I’m gonna need at least, like, 200 gold coins to get my leg fixed after all.”