It took a while, but I finally have enough for the next room. In fact, I have enough mana for two more of the largest current rooms. The next room I place is a 40m x 40m x 40m room. In this room I try to randomize the elevation of the ground as much as possible so that it's not all flat. After that I add a wooded area to half the room. I also throw in a good variety of every fruit tree I currently have as well as a few types of berry bushes. I top that off by adding a fair number of rabbits, chickens, and even sheep. as for the monster type I add a pack of twenty level 16 wolves lead by a level 17 alpha.
The fact that I am letting them behave as a single pack is also the reason the majority of them are only level 16. To reach this area an adventuring party would have to be at least level 16 or higher. As for why wolves I wanted to change things up a bit. I still don't have a huge variety of mobs but one or two mob types per floor has already gotten old. I also want to try and flex my creative muscles a little now that I have some stuff to work with.
So, for the next room. I place down another 40m x 40m x 40m room. I use all three of my current themes to create the illusion of a battlefield. I may come back and change it if and when I get an actual battlefield theme but for now, I just plan to fake it. Thinking about that it occurs to me that most dungeons probably just fake a sky rather than try to simulate the actual sky. Anyway, before my mind wonders to far down that rabbit hole I go ahead and start placing tents all around. I use fences from my ranch theme to make it look like they were starting to build permanent defenses. I also use the abandoned cabin theme as well as the ranch house from the ranch theme to make it look like more permanent structures had been built.
After that I spend some time slashing at everything with wind magic to add an aged look and to add believable tears in the fabric of the tents. I then went over the whole seen again 'painting' it with both fire and water magic to really sell the idea that a huge battle took place here. I'd be lying if I said the whole process wasn't a great way to release some stress, I didn't even realize I was holding onto. The hard part was going back over it to make sure it looked like the battle ended a long time ago. I did this by using water and air magic in smaller amounts to add a more aged look to the scorch and burn marks I just added.
It took me longer than I would have thought to get the look just right. Over a month in fact. A month I didn't even realize had passed. Talk about getting lost in your work. To be fair though the only reason I even knew it had been that long was because I heard delvers mention that the town outside was a month old. Last I heard there wasn't a town outside. There were plenty of buildings sure, but it wasn't officially a town or anything as far as I was aware. Although from the number of repeat visitors I've been getting lately and the fact that I'm in the middle of a desert I should have guessed that it would turn into a town eventually.
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Another give away as to how long it's been is Clyde's party which is currently on the third floor. Even Chandra is level 11 now with everyone else being close to level 13. Darrel and Cole may even reach level 13 by the end of this delve. As much as I want to focus on their delve, I really should at least finish the current room. Returning to my work I add thirty level 17 skeletons. I use mostly fighters and tanks, but I also throw in fair bit of mages and even a few rogues. Naturally I spread them out so that they aren't all gathered in one area.
I also use the world energy I got from converting the mana gain from my month-long period of absentmindedness to buy a new dungeon rule. This one will cause every enemy in the room to target them if they get within a set distance of the rooms exit. In this case I choose twenty meters which will put them directly in the middle of the room. Aside from that they will be just laying around out in the open. Unlike the 'swamp' room they won't be hidden this time. That should be enough of a clue for the smart delvers. I also tweak their behavior so that they will stand up and begin attacking if a delver gets within five meters. This will give parties that are smart and don't just rush to the exit a chance to 'thin the herd' a little before the real battle starts.
Before making my next room, I allow myself to take a little break and watch the delvers. There is a party on each floor, but I naturally focus on Clyde's party as they are the furthest and so are the first to play test some of my rooms. They are currently just past the room that ended their run and nearly ended Clyde's life the last time I paid attention to it. It looks as if they are just finishing up with that room. It also looks as if they are still struggling a bit if the empty potion bottles on the ground are any indication. After that they spend a fair amount of time harvesting oranges. Of course, by they I mean Lily. Probably something to do with the harvesting skill having benefits I'm not aware of.
From here they choose to go south after resting for a bit. This in turn leads Clyde to the mistaken belief that this entire section is nothing but skeletons. Cole and Clyde are being completely suppressed by the skeleton tank and fighter respectively. Meanwhile it's all Chandra can do to stay alive against the skeleton rogue. at the same time Darrel finds himself in a duel with the skeleton fire mage. It isn't long before they are forced to retreat. The idea of running from an encounter more than a little humbling.
To my surprise though they don't call it quits. At least not right away. Instead, they try other paths. Eventually they manage to clear two of the branching paths on the other side of the main path albeit with a great deal of difficulty. Cole even managed to reach level 13 after that last fight. It's only now after apparently running out of healing potions that they decide to end the delve.
