As they start to head back towards the exit I considered talking to Clyde about Lily's condition. I eventually decided against it though just due to the fact that I couldn't think of a way to bring it up without sounding creepy. Instead, I made up my mind to just have my mobs ignore Lily unless she is the last one left. She doesn't gain experience through direct combat anyway. I know I said I wasn't going to pull any punches but at the same time I also want to study that strange form of mana that seems to defy the laws of dimensional travel.
Calling it mana doesn't feel quite right though. It is a form of energy but also not energy. It's very strange. Either way the only way for me to study it more seems to be keeping Lily's baby alive. With that said I have the part of my awareness that seems to be ever-present on the first floor notify me whenever Clyde's party reenters the dungeon. After that I am about to turn my attention back to finishing the fourth floor just as a new team enters the second-floor boss room.
Surprisingly it's the ladies again. They've been back several times since that run that almost took the healer's life. I haven't exactly been paying attention to them, but an all-female party is kind of hard not to notice. Come to think of it I don't think there has been an all-male team yet. At any rate I don't think they were ready for how intense my boss's terrorize skill can be. They're not completely panicking though they don't seem to be that far from it.
The boss wastes no time in getting this party started as he lunges for the tank, who just so happens to be the closest one to him. She manages to block his attack with her shield, but the momentum sends her flying backwards. That's when the mage surprises me by gifting the boss a pair of stone socks. While she didn't succeed in pinning him to the spot she does succeed in slowing his movement. The wolf is now faced with a dilemma. Should he continue trying to fight wearing what is essentially ankle weights, or should he divert his attention away from the fight to try and remove them. Not a bad plan from the earth mage considering she is in full panic mode right now and that spell was purely instinctual.
The party isn't going to give my boss any time to think about it. I can tell that they are all panicking but it seems their fight or flight response is really just a fight response. The tank gets back to her feat as the leader charges forward. just as the boss turns to face the attack from the fighter the mage sends earth spears flying towards him. He manages to dodge them all without giving the fighter an opening, though just barely. By this time the tank has made her way back up to where the fighter is. The fighter then begins to make her way around behind the wolf.
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My poor boss now has to defend from three different directions while essentially having his speed and agility cut in half. It's a tense standoff, but eventually the mage sends several more earth spears flying towards the wolf. The wolf surprisingly leaps towards the tank while trying to dodge the earth spears. Something nobody saw coming, least of all the tank. The tank manages to block the wolfs attack but is once again knocked to the ground. This time however the wolf manages to pin her to the ground with his massive body weight.
The tank then tries to attack the wolfs legs but only succeeds in shattering the stone that encased one of the wolfs legs. I suspect that was the wolfs plan all along. The mage then sends more earth spears which the wolf dodges. It does however force the wolf to release the tank. Unfortunately, the wolf seems to have forgotten about the fighter who proceeds to send her sword right up the tail pipe. Instead of pulling it straight out though she pulls down on the sword so that when the wolf instinctively jumps away the sword ends up doing even more damage. Causing the wolf to leave a trail of blood and guts in his wake. Another round of earth spears then finds their mark. Followed by the tank running up and stabbing the wolf in the neck when he turned to face the fighter.
Not exactly a graceful win, but a win is still a win. Aside from the tank having a few bruises which the healer has already started to treat nobody was even injured. I highly doubt they will make it very far into the third floor on their first attempt. So, while they collect their loot and prepare to tackle the third floor for the first time, I turn my attention back to working on the fourth floor. I'm just about finished with the fourth floor. I can't wait to see the look on adventurers faces when they map out the fourth floor and realize what I've done.
To start with I place down a 40x40x40 room. I then add the skybox before adding a forest in the center of the room. In this forest I place ten level 20 wolves. On top of that I also place twenty level 20 wood golems. To finish things off I add another ten level 20 skeletons of random types. Well, seemingly random anyway. In truth the only bit of randomness will be in where exactly they spawn. They can only spawn in one of the spots I've designated for skeletons. That should still be enough to make their placement feel random. These skeletons will patrol around the edge of the room to catch anyone trying to get by without fighting anything in this room. For the finishing touch I add a chest that will appear in one of four seemingly random locations. Hopefully it will take delvers a few years to realize there are only four locations it can show up, if they ever do realize it.
