Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 352

Chapter 352 – Preparing

“All right, settle down folks. We all know why we’re here.” Peter Franks said. He was the head of the little satellite office of the Miami Adventurer’s Guild here in Swamptown. He didn’t know how they arranged things in the rest of the world, or on other worlds, but the American Adventurer’s Guild had decided early on to have a three-tier structure. Highest tier was the national Guild, obviously, followed by the state guild (Miami, in this case), and then local satellites, in other cities or at important sites, like this dungeon town.

Honestly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. The difference in tier basically broke down to the scope of the group’s focus. Grandmaster Miguel couldn’t be expected to manage Swamptown when he was dealing with the entire country’s adventurers, after all, and Guildmaster Bethany had plenty of other dungeons under her purview (including some in Miami itself), as well as having to manage responses to the broken dungeons in Boca Raton, Orlando, and off the coast of Miami. With that in mind, Peter was basically Guildmaster as far as anyone in Swamptown was concerned, and while the Miami guild could override him if he pushed things too far, he was basically in charge of any adventurers in the area.

There was excitement in the air, with everyone eager to push on and see new parts of the dungeon, and maybe get new and greater rewards. However, it was his job to make sure as many of these adventurers as possible made it back alive. Which is why they were having this meeting of all the available adventurers, and borrowing Lord Kuronoth’s cathedral in Swamptown to do it.

He would have preferred another site, honestly. Not that he had anything against Kuronoth. Hell, he at least paid lip service to the newly minted god, even if he wasn’t devout. But it was the principle of the thing. Organizing a bunch of adventurers to take on the dungeon in a place where the Demon of the Dungeon paid extra close attention to just rankled his sense of professionalism. It was like talking about how to commit tax fraud in the lobby of the IRS. But there wasn’t anywhere else that could hold this number of adventurers at once in town, and it was too damn hot and humid in this swamp to have any kind of meeting outside.

Looking out at the adventurers, he said, “We don’t have any real details about the ‘Raid’ yet. Just that it has been added to the dungeon, along with some new floors. A new portal has been added to the Entrance Hall, and is clearly marked for accessing the Raid, but it is currently locked, which means the key to unlocking the Raid is somewhere in the dungeon.”

Dustin Cruz, the leader of the Thunderbats, one of the parties based in Swamptown, raised a hand. Peter nodded at him, and he called out, “Do we know where this key is? Or what it is?”

“Not at this time, no. However, that isn’t to say we’re going in completely blind. Grandmaster Miguel, who we all know has had dealings with the Demon, messaged me after debriefing the pilgrims who broke through and conquered the fifteenth floor and some follow-up conversations with the Demon himself. His belief is that the unlock is not an actual key, but a condition. Likely, each team is going to have to find a way to ‘earn’ their entrance to the raid. However, with this being the Demon we’re talking about, you probably will only have to earn it once for each difficulty level.”

Gracie Dixon, leader of the Azure Flames, spoke up, “What about the Pyramid on Floor 15? Do we have any word on what the conditions for getting in there will be, if we’re not going in on the ‘Advanced’ difficulty? Because if we have to kill someone or let a team member get knocked up by the undead, that’s going to affect how many teams can get to the new floors, much less find a way to unlock the raid.”

“Forget the pyramid for a moment,” Oliver Price of the Greyfangs cut in. “What about Shai-hulud? I’ve heard that we don’t need to actually fight the boss to get to the floor, but I don’t know any team that has actually managed to pull off the weird movements needed to not draw the worm’s attention in the first place, except for those Pilgrims.”

“Well,” Peter started, “there’s not much I can tell you about that, Oliver. The pilgrims apparently just had a ton more attributes than the rest of us, since they were all Tier 3 by that point. However, that doesn’t mean that the rest of us are out of luck.”

He paused to look around the room. “The Guild has been going over what data we can, and we believe that, if someone doesn’t have the attributes to just force it, there are a few ways to help. The first is obviously just training. Same as with any pre-System skills you learned. Train and train and train until you are able to do it, no matter what your attributes or skills are.

“Which leads to the next idea the Guild had. Namely, making sure everyone in the group has skills like [Desert Movement], [Survival], or even [Dancing]. Anything that improves your coordination or is related to getting along in the wilderness. With those skills, you should be able to traverse the desert without attracting the worm’s attention.”

There was a chorus of grumbles at that. Only to be expected, honestly. Skill Points were precious, and books from the System Shop that let you gain a Skill without spending Skill Points were extremely expensive. Most groups already begrudged spending points on things like [Swimming] and [Underwater Combat] to deal with the Water Temple, but at least those could be used to face down the Vurlocks during the regular cullings. [Desert Movement] was not nearly as useful.

“I know, I know,” he said, placatingly, before more objections could be raised. “However, discussions with the Pilgrims revealed another possible way to get across the desert. The dungeon law on the floor prevents creatures from getting over three meters from the dungeon floor, measured from the lowest part of their body. However, within that band all tricks are on the table.”

“What does that mean, though?”

“Simply put, Oliver, if you can sustain flight or levitation effects long enough, you can theoretically cross the sands without attracting the worm. However, no one has tested this yet. And there are different methods of flight, which might have different risks and problems associated with them.”

“Like what?”

“Well, the noise from the jet boots I know some of the artificers and magitech engineers are working on might call the worm just as quickly as one of those ‘thumpers’ teams use as a distraction. Winged flight, for those who can manage it, typically limits the load you can carry. And who knows if the magic of a levitation disk or whatever would cause something to go crazy?” Peter shrugged. “We just don’t know, because no one has gone and tested those things in the dungeon yet. However, for those who don’t want to get the skills, or put in the time training, this is probably the best bet.”

No one looked exactly happy with that answer, but with no further outright objections, he continued. “Now, back to your question, Gracie. The truth is, we don’t know what the conditions for entering the Pyramid will be, on the ‘normal’ difficulty. We believe that it is safe to say that the ‘sacrifice’ and ‘knocked up’ options are going to be there. Since we’re thinking that this is the Demon taking what he saw at the Necropolis dungeon and putting his own spin on it, the Guild thinks that those two options will likely offer a permanent pass into the Pyramid, and those who go that route will only need to pay again when new people are brought in.

“That said, no one knows what the ‘one-time pass’ option or options will be. It might be a sacrifice of money, or accepting a curse for the level, like at the Water Temple, or other such things. Until someone goes, and reports back, or manages to wheedle the information from the Demon of the Dungeon directly, then your guess is likely as good as anyone’s.”

He looked around at the adventurers, and said, “What this means is that anyone looking to be the trailblazers for the fifteenth floor, and whatever is beyond it, need to either get to the Pyramid and then Escape Charm out when they find out what is needed, meaning they won’t be able to return to the dungeon for a week, unless they want to risk getting in over their heads and making a deal with the Demon, or they’re going to have to be willing to make one of the two known sacrifices. And, before anyone starts getting ideas of workarounds, it is likely that anyone sacrificed on the altar will probably not be able to be revived by resurrection magic, and cleansing potions will probably be disallowed for dealing with the aftereffects of the breeding. This isn’t certain, but is considered probable, even likely, by both the Pilgrims and Grandmaster himself.”

The room was silent, which he considered appropriate. “The Pilgrims used someone they bought off the Minion Market through the System Shop as a sacrifice. Things that happen in the Dungeon are not under any government’s jurisdiction. I know that some individuals who have gone to the Necropolis used an individual caught in a Capture Ball to pay the price there, so it is likely the same thing could work here. However, I am obliged to remind you that while the government can’t get you on anything you do in the dungeon, kidnapping is still a crime, and anyone caught doing that will be in serious legal trouble, understood?”

There were more grumblings, but most people understood what he was really saying. If they were going to do something, then they needed to make sure they didn’t get caught. The Guild couldn’t shield them if they went and pulled a stupid, like using a capture ball on someone in broad daylight, and if someone connected to them ‘mysteriously went missing’, then the Guild wouldn’t be able to stop an investigation, either. But it was something that they were all going to have to figure out, if they wanted to get past the Pyramid, at least until they found out whether there were other ways to get through. No one wanted to actually carry an undead baby to term, after all.

He shook his head as he considered how much the world had changed in just a few short years. Before the System, the idea of kidnapping someone just to murder them in some kind of sacrificial rite in the middle of a fucking dungeon would have been the kind of thing you only read about in fantasy stories or in made for TV crime dramas with some serial killer thinking they heard God or some such. Now? Well, not everyone was on board with just offing someone in cold blood, but anyone who had managed to live this long as an adventurer was much more composed about the idea of getting blood on their hands.

He noticed a hand. One of the Golden Sabers, their mage. “Yeah, Tabitha? What is it?”

“Well, how exactly was the request for a sacrifice worded? Like, did it specify humans? Or what?”

“Good question, Tabitha. The message on the altar apparently said that it required a sapient being not bound to the dungeon. Which is why using a Capture Ball on one of the goblins, vurlocks, or lizardfolk in the dungeon won’t fly.”

“But that doesn’t apply to the goblins up in Boca Raton, or the Vurlocks out off the coast of Miami, right? They’re sapient, and not bound to the dungeon. And no one will care overmuch if we go and catch a few more goblins, like the Guild did in the early days, to feed the Dungeon early on.”

Peter’s thoughts stopped for a moment, and then rebooted. “Excellent point, Tabitha! So, everyone wanting to take a crack at the fifteenth floor should head to Boca first, do some ‘community service’ on one of the jobs culling goblin numbers. If a few of them happen to be relocated before getting culled, no one cares.”

Looking around, he saw people were suddenly a lot happier with the conditions to get into the Pyramid. Catching a goblin to kill in a dungeon was perfectly fine, as far as the law was concerned. Only way any cop would arrest for that, or find a DA to prosecute, was if they were trying to get the person on something bigger, and needed an excuse to go through their gear. And if it helped the adventurers sleep better at night, all the better.