Lewd Dungeon, Book 36 Prologue

Fair warning, this week is Dragoncon. Like every year, I won't be posting from Wed to Tues, because this is my main vacation for the year. If you're going to the con, say hi if ya see me.

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)

SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTramp, MagicMike, TsundereHealer, Max, LightningLegacy, SwiftTaylor, Domino, Bacchus, Aegis, Temptation, and Lord_Kickass are in the chat.

Kimiko: OK, word is the pilgrims made it out of the dungeon, and made good on their boast of getting all the way through on the ‘guns’ difficulty!

RangerMiguel: Yes, I asked them to come by the Guild building in Miami so that several of the leaders of some of the foreign Guilds could hear about what the delve was like.

VenusFlyTramp: Oh, I saw them while I was visiting the Guild! Who was that scrumptious Asian man that looked like he came straight out of a wuxing wire-fu movie?

RangerMiguel: I assume that you’re talking about Li Liang, the Leader of the People’s Adventurers Commission in China. Just so you know, he’s married.

VenusFlyTramp: What his wife doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Or maybe she is willing to share?

Salty: facepalms Venus, try not to live up to your name.

DarkEnchanter: Or at least pick targets that won’t lead to international incidents if they go bad.

AsaAkiraIsBae: What about the elf with the Asian features? She’s the Leader of the Japanese Adventurers Alliance, right? Wouldn’t mind showing her some Southern hospitality.

BadCompany: Down boy.

RangerMiguel: sighs

SunnyBunz: pats It’s ok, Miguel. I still think you’re the sexiest guild leader around. Especially when you walk your secretary on a leash.

DarkEnchanter: I can make a collar for you, if you’re interested.

SunnyBunz: Uh, um, well, I like a bit of roleplay, but those slave collars are more of a commitment, yeah?

Bacchus: Perhaps we let Miguel talk about what the pilgrims had to say, instead of thirsting over the guild leaders?

RangerMiguel: Thank you. So, they made it through, but there’s a warning for anyone trying to get into the fifteenth floor. You have to fight your way through a horde of undead to a pyramid, and the only way in is by offering a sacrifice.

Salty: Like, the blood sacrifice at the top of the Water Temple if you don’t want to collect the key pieces? Or the sacrifice you need to get into the Necropolis dungeon?

RangerMiguel: More like the Necropolis. Either sacrifice someone, and eat the heart, or let one of the undead breed one of your party members.

Crusader: That sounds unreasonably harsh, even for that bastard.

Temptation: Well, people on Intermediate difficulty have to take more risks, no?

RangerMiguel: The pilgrims did say they believed that the required sacrifice would be different for the normal mode.

Temptation: On the normal mode, sacrificing a sapient being gets your group a lifetime pass, though new party members will need to offer their own sacrifice on later runs. Offering one of your number to be bred by the undead gets the sacrifice a lifetime pass, and, if they keep the kid until it is born, they can’t be chosen again. For other groups, you have a choice of sacrifices that will get you through just the one time. One is to offer gold or magic items, and the other is to accept a random curse, like you see at the Water Temple, for the duration of the floor.

Crusader: Yeah, that sounds more like you.

DarkEnchanter: If the ‘Intermediate’ difficulty’s sacrifice is so strict, what is it for the Nightmare difficulty?

Temptation: Sacrifice a party member, chosen randomly by the dungeon, and the rest of the party are bred by the undead.

Id10t: Jezus fucking Christ! That’s fucked, even for your dungeon!

Temptation: Well, the people who go in on that mode are saying that they are a threat to the dungeon itself, so I am going to throw everything I have at them. At a certain point, you have to hold people accountable for their own sucky decisions. Every free person who comes to my dungeon chose to come here. They chose that, knowing all the things that happen here. And, if they chose not to sign the contract staying my hand, then they have chosen to consent to all the horrors I can inflict upon them.

Crusader: Like you ever gave a damn about consent.

Temptation: Consequences of one’s actions, girl. If someone is caught on camera committing crimes, and agrees to do what it takes to keep from going to jail, then that is a form of consent. If they try to back out later, well, then they deal with consequences. Like you well know.

BadCompany: Ok, moving away from religious nut complaining about obviously evil demon god, what is next for the dungeon? You mentioned that you’d be making new floors, once someone managed to get through the fifteenth floor.

Temptation: Oh, I’m so glad you asked. I’ve set up some interesting things on the next set of floors. The general theme for this section will be ‘underground’. Caves and caverns, along with an underground city.

Kimiko: Is this going to be another Goblin Town?

Temptation: Oh, no. It is far larger than that. And not everyone is hostile. There will be factions you can choose to support, and getting a high enough reputation with them unlocks new parts of the city, and new things to do.

Lord_Kickass: Sounds like MMORPG end-game grinds.

Temptation: I did take some inspiration, there. Also, I did a bit of an experiment. If your reputation with the right factions goes up high enough, you can unlock large group content.

RangerMiguel: Large group content?

Temptation: Content where dungeon law about maximum group size is lifted, and the challenge is increased accordingly. To go with gaming terms, it would be a raid.

Satyr: WOOT! RAIDING IRL! GIMME THOSE EPICS!

Salty: Calm down, Satyr. If the content is designed for large groups, they’re probably lethal as hell.

Temptation: Do not worry. As I have said before, I am tough, but fair. The raid will scale to the level of the strongest participant, but there are mechanics in place to ensure that death is not the end. Anyone registered for the raids will revive after the raid is complete, one way or the other.

BestGirl: HOLY SHIT! I gotta go tell people!