Hey all, a quick poll before awaits you after the chapter! As I'm sure you've noticed by now, this story occasionally gets smutty. As I said in the Foreword, this is because I enjoy writing smut from time to time. However, occasionally I get ideas for scenes that don't really qualify for the main plotline, and sometimes we get 25-chapter breaks between explicit scenes, which is longer than I'd like. So my question is: would you like to take occasional breaks from the main plotline to see what's going on in Floor Five (or elsewhere), or should I stick to main plotline-relevant scenes only? This poll will be run on both Royal Road and ScribbleHub (although please only vote in one spot).
For reference, the next such scene is already set up, so I can promise the next stretch will be a lot shorter. If you have more specific requests feel free to add them in the comments (unless your request is less smut, in which case...sorry!)
When the first party arrived to challenge the dungeon the next morning, there were no special guests awake and present to watch their attempt. Which might be something of a shame, because today marked the first visit to the dungeon by a goblin.
"Welcome to Worthy Dungeon, new arrivals! I see it's all new faces here today - and might I ask, would that be a half-orc in your party? I'm not sure I've seen one of his sort before! Not a bad thing, certainly, always happy to meet interesting people!" As Doorman welcomes the party, two demons and a pair of kobolds turn to glance at their green-skinned companion, who gives them a snort of derision.
"What, half orc and half...dwarf? Sorry, door, no orc in me and no dwarf for...two, three generations back? Well, hardly anyone without some dwarf in em, far as I can tell. Nah, name's Wetears, goblin Hordecaller. Ain't surprised you've not seen one of my type, would probably be more surprised if ya had."
Passy's eyes narrow in thought. "...I don't think I have any dwarf ancestors...hey Barny, do - " The kobold is shushed by Lyota before she focuses her attention back on the door.
"Greetings, Guardian. We're here to attempt the dungeon - we're told you have a test for us?"
"Indeed I do! Now, can you - " Before Doorman can continue, a crack of thunder interrupts him.
"Oooh, ooh, can I do this one? Please?" A yellow-tinted bolt of lightning crouches on an outcrop above Doorman's face, looking down at the annoyed guardian.
Doorman's eyes roll. "Not now, Zappy - you're an apprentice, not the Guardian yourself! I can't be letting you handle all of the tests."
Zappy whines. "But there's so feeeeewww! Sometimes only one a day! How am I ever going to get Guardian skills like that?"
"That is the nature of the job, I'm afraid. Perhaps I'll let you handle every third party to come by?"
The elemental sighs, a sound that imitates rumbling thunder. "Ugggh, fine. You bunch, try not to die so you have to come back and answer more riddles, okay?"
Lyota calms herself, very firmly not making any mentions about a lack of professionalism she may or may not be experiencing. "...We intend to be repeat visitors, yes. Although it is curious to see a lightning elemental attach itself...to...ah." Her aborted question fades out as the elemental zaps her way back into the clouds above, and Doorman gives her a tilt of his head.
"She's new to the gig, forgive her. I can hardly fault her for a lack of enthusiasm, haha! Now, for your test! ...Do you have any ideas on how to keep an elemental from getting bored? Because I sense that's going to be a bit of a problem."
Lyota turns back towards her educated kobold mages to see if perhaps they have any insight on elemental behavior, but to her surprise it's the Bard Lionel who speaks up. "Ah, my good Guardian, if you're asking about lightning elementals in specific, you should know that they're the most wide-ranging and free-spirited of all elemental types. They often live on mountain peaks, yes, but they don't, ah, settle a single mountain as an earth elemental might. Apprenticeship or not, you should ask her if she would like to travel, and explore - and perhaps bring back tales of her discoveries, great or small? That is how they generally spend their time, in my experience."
Doorman grins, pleased by the answer. "That's a good idea! I should offer her some time off, or, no, tell her to scout for the dungeon? Would like to know more about the region myself...well, I daresay you've passed the test! Enjoy your stay!"
As Lionel grins, Barny gives him a nudge. "Where'd you learn so much about elementals? That didn't sound like book-learning, to me."
"Why, I consider it important to know about the likes and dislikes of all of the world's children. After all, such things are important to know if one ever wants to woo a prospective partner."
Wetears shoots the incubus a frown. "You ever actually woo an elemental, Bard? Even for an incubus that sounds...ugh, I don't want to think about it."
"One never kisses and tells, my friend." Lionel pauses, then grows more serious. "That said, a lightning elemental would not be my first choice in partner..."
"Please be silent, now." Lyota mutters slightly as she leads the party inside, but before she gets five feet into the dungeon she can already tell something is wrong. The others don't seem to notice it at first, already engaging in combat with the flying beasts that swoop down at them, but they fall easily even without her contribution. After the monsters begin to thin out, however, Wetears turns to glance at his team leader.
"Silverstar, there something wrong? You didn't trigger a trap two feet in, did ya?"
The fury demon can't answer at first, as the room begins to swim around her. It's as if the floor is shifting beneath her feet, and the woman actually has to go down to one knee to steady herself. That attracts the attention of the rest of the team for certain, and Barny prepares to try and cast some healing magic on her.
"Was there a gas trap or something? I didn't see or smell anything...or hear, either. Are you alright?"
When the woman answers, her eyes are wide, and there's a smile on her face that makes everyone in her party take two steps back. "This...I've never...never sensed such a meal before." She turns her face towards the floor, as if she were trying to seek out the dungeon core from multiple floors away. "I've met murderers, torturers, the worst kind of men. But this?" She looks back up at her team, wearing the expression of an entirely new woman none have seen before. "This is the greatest source of sin I have ever encountered."
Bountiful Mother Hammerdown grumbles as someone knocks on the door to her temporary rented office. It's cramped even by dwarf standards, a back room of the small interfaith chapel the Challengers Association had put up for all of the various Clerics and Priests and so forth passing through the region. The village of Grassbrook already had its own such building, but Elance could hardly kick the local village elder out of his own workspace, and so she was currently working out of what might have been originally designed as a closet. That frustration only lightly slips through as she shouts out at the door. "Aye, t'hells you want now? No, I ain't passing out blessings to Challengers today, I've volunteered two days of this week and that's all you're getting!"
A man opens the door and pokes his head in, a human Priest working directly for the Association as one of the staff running the facility. Although he may have had some authority over the building itself, his rank was several steps below a Bountiful Mother's, and so he forces a smile on his face as he delivers a message to the grumpy dwarf. "This is business you'll want to handle, blessed Mother. Your first applicants are here."
Elance glances up from her paperwork to stare at the man. "Applicants for the Church of Bounty? I appreciate the enthusiasm, but we're not hiring! It'll take months for us to set up our own chapel here, we have no current use for more staff. Who told people to apply here?"
The Priest's smile grows a little wider as he notes her confusion. "Oh, they're not applicants for the Church, Mother. They're applicants for the dungeon. The Association's made it known that anyone with an...interest...should be coming to see you first, yes?"
Elance's face grows confused for a moment, before her eyes suddenly widen. "What? Already...and, you said applicants, plural? Holy Mothers, we ain't ready for this...but I suppose I can't bloody well turn them away, can I, or they'll go and do some damn foolish thing on their own." She sighs, then takes another deep breath to steady herself. "Send the lot in, then. Let's see what the divine has sent our way..."
"Crimes!? What are you talking about? We're a dungeon! We literally can't commit crimes! Laws don't apply to dungeons!" Lollyp does her best to shout out as she runs as if the demons of Hell itself were chasing her, largely because they are. Or at least one of them, a bizarrely focused fury demon chasing the slime across her own arena as the rest of the Challenger party stands back, more than a little confused themselves. "What did we do to piss you off?"
"You can't hide from me!" Lyota practically growls as her soul whip strikes the boss, knocking a bit of slime from her body but causing even more pain than the injury itself would indicate. The magical whip made of white light soon moves back to prepare for another strike, moving according more to Lyota's wishes than the physical movements of her arm. "I know dungeons. I've been in plenty. All of them have killed dozens...hundreds...thousands. But their guilt is light, the deaths collected from those who chose their fates. But here!?" Her purple eyes almost literally light up as the Lasher strikes at Lollyp again. "Other dungeons would have to have killed a hundred thousand to bear this much weight! How did yours gather so much sin!?"
Lollyp pauses for a moment, a realization beginning to creep in, but she regrets it as the whip knocks away a potion bottle she'd been preparing to toss. The boss instead focuses on her wand, shooting off a bolt of electricity, but to her surprise the demon's whip is powerful enough to even act as a shield. The lightning arcing towards her target instead gets soaked up by the energy tendril as it twirls around, leaving Lyota entirely untouched. "What in the world!? I've known Lashers - I've never seen one with a whip like that!"
The demon grins, allowing herself a brief moment of pride. "Yes, yes - the succubi Lashers do prefer their pain-enchanted weapons, don't they? And Fire Lashers aren't an uncommon sight, although they lack for defense. But Soul Lasher is a unique class developed by we fury demons. Our weapons are an expression of our righteousness, and their pain a reflection of our target's sins. Not usually particularly strong against dungeon monsters, but you...finding cause to regret the deeds of your past life, are you?"
The slime grimaces. "Oh, you're a fury - that probably explains a bit. But, uh...I don't think I did anything that bad! I mean, there was a lot of cheating at cards, but that's expected. And maybe some pranks, once in a while...ah! Stop it!"
Standing back near the arena door, Lionel speaks quietly to the rest of his team. "Am I supposed to feel sorry for a dungeon boss? I expected our party leader to be the serious type, but she's taking seriousness in an entirely different direction than I was expecting."
Wetears shrugs. "Better she's taking it out on the slime than us, you ask me. Odds that she's gone off the deep end, though? The Association keeps stats, the dungeon ain't even killed fifty people yet, let alone thousands or anything like the lady's saying."
The green-scaled kobold beside him offers a theory. "This dungeon is special because it's using some of the Dragonlord's old artifacts, right? Maybe it committed some sins to get hold of them?"
Lionel shakes his head. "Sins against who? The Dragonlord? Perhaps some, but if they were so great, surely our orders would be to destroy the dungeon, and they are not. Perhaps if the dungeon was capturing Challengers for torture, some of those parties believed entirely lost? I've heard tale of a dungeon that once began doing so, and it was destroyed when it was found out. But even then, I don't know if the dungeon is old enough to have gathered such sin as to provoke...this."
He gestures towards the fury demon, who's now repeatedly whipping a puddle of slime that had once been a dungeon boss only moments before. Watching the sight, Barny grimaces. "I just hope we can figure it out or settle the lady down soon, or else we may end up destroying the dungeon core, orders or not..."
Hey all, a quick poll before awaits you after the chapter! As I'm sure you've noticed by now, this story occasionally gets smutty. As I said in the Foreword, this is because I enjoy writing smut from time to time. However, occasionally I get ideas for scenes that don't really qualify for the main plotline, and sometimes we get 25-chapter breaks between explicit scenes, which is longer than I'd like. So my question is: would you like to take occasional breaks from the main plotline to see what's going on in Floor Five (or elsewhere), or should I stick to main plotline-relevant scenes only? This poll will be run on both Royal Road and ScribbleHub (although please only vote in one spot).
For reference, the next such scene is already set up, so I can promise the next stretch will be a lot shorter. If you have more specific requests feel free to add them in the comments (unless your request is less smut, in which case...sorry!)
When the first party arrived to challenge the dungeon the next morning, there were no special guests awake and present to watch their attempt. Which might be something of a shame, because today marked the first visit to the dungeon by a goblin.
"Welcome to Worthy Dungeon, new arrivals! I see it's all new faces here today - and might I ask, would that be a half-orc in your party? I'm not sure I've seen one of his sort before! Not a bad thing, certainly, always happy to meet interesting people!" As Doorman welcomes the party, two demons and a pair of kobolds turn to glance at their green-skinned companion, who gives them a snort of derision.
"What, half orc and half...dwarf? Sorry, door, no orc in me and no dwarf for...two, three generations back? Well, hardly anyone without some dwarf in em, far as I can tell. Nah, name's Wetears, goblin Hordecaller. Ain't surprised you've not seen one of my type, would probably be more surprised if ya had."
Passy's eyes narrow in thought. "...I don't think I have any dwarf ancestors...hey Barny, do - " The kobold is shushed by Lyota before she focuses her attention back on the door.
"Greetings, Guardian. We're here to attempt the dungeon - we're told you have a test for us?"
"Indeed I do! Now, can you - " Before Doorman can continue, a crack of thunder interrupts him.
"Oooh, ooh, can I do this one? Please?" A yellow-tinted bolt of lightning crouches on an outcrop above Doorman's face, looking down at the annoyed guardian.
Doorman's eyes roll. "Not now, Zappy - you're an apprentice, not the Guardian yourself! I can't be letting you handle all of the tests."
Zappy whines. "But there's so feeeeewww! Sometimes only one a day! How am I ever going to get Guardian skills like that?"
"That is the nature of the job, I'm afraid. Perhaps I'll let you handle every third party to come by?"
The elemental sighs, a sound that imitates rumbling thunder. "Ugggh, fine. You bunch, try not to die so you have to come back and answer more riddles, okay?"
Lyota calms herself, very firmly not making any mentions about a lack of professionalism she may or may not be experiencing. "...We intend to be repeat visitors, yes. Although it is curious to see a lightning elemental attach itself...to...ah." Her aborted question fades out as the elemental zaps her way back into the clouds above, and Doorman gives her a tilt of his head.
"She's new to the gig, forgive her. I can hardly fault her for a lack of enthusiasm, haha! Now, for your test! ...Do you have any ideas on how to keep an elemental from getting bored? Because I sense that's going to be a bit of a problem."
Lyota turns back towards her educated kobold mages to see if perhaps they have any insight on elemental behavior, but to her surprise it's the Bard Lionel who speaks up. "Ah, my good Guardian, if you're asking about lightning elementals in specific, you should know that they're the most wide-ranging and free-spirited of all elemental types. They often live on mountain peaks, yes, but they don't, ah, settle a single mountain as an earth elemental might. Apprenticeship or not, you should ask her if she would like to travel, and explore - and perhaps bring back tales of her discoveries, great or small? That is how they generally spend their time, in my experience."
Doorman grins, pleased by the answer. "That's a good idea! I should offer her some time off, or, no, tell her to scout for the dungeon? Would like to know more about the region myself...well, I daresay you've passed the test! Enjoy your stay!"
As Lionel grins, Barny gives him a nudge. "Where'd you learn so much about elementals? That didn't sound like book-learning, to me."
"Why, I consider it important to know about the likes and dislikes of all of the world's children. After all, such things are important to know if one ever wants to woo a prospective partner."
Wetears shoots the incubus a frown. "You ever actually woo an elemental, Bard? Even for an incubus that sounds...ugh, I don't want to think about it."
"One never kisses and tells, my friend." Lionel pauses, then grows more serious. "That said, a lightning elemental would not be my first choice in partner..."
"Please be silent, now." Lyota mutters slightly as she leads the party inside, but before she gets five feet into the dungeon she can already tell something is wrong. The others don't seem to notice it at first, already engaging in combat with the flying beasts that swoop down at them, but they fall easily even without her contribution. After the monsters begin to thin out, however, Wetears turns to glance at his team leader.
"Silverstar, there something wrong? You didn't trigger a trap two feet in, did ya?"
The fury demon can't answer at first, as the room begins to swim around her. It's as if the floor is shifting beneath her feet, and the woman actually has to go down to one knee to steady herself. That attracts the attention of the rest of the team for certain, and Barny prepares to try and cast some healing magic on her.
"Was there a gas trap or something? I didn't see or smell anything...or hear, either. Are you alright?"
When the woman answers, her eyes are wide, and there's a smile on her face that makes everyone in her party take two steps back. "This...I've never...never sensed such a meal before." She turns her face towards the floor, as if she were trying to seek out the dungeon core from multiple floors away. "I've met murderers, torturers, the worst kind of men. But this?" She looks back up at her team, wearing the expression of an entirely new woman none have seen before. "This is the greatest source of sin I have ever encountered."
Bountiful Mother Hammerdown grumbles as someone knocks on the door to her temporary rented office. It's cramped even by dwarf standards, a back room of the small interfaith chapel the Challengers Association had put up for all of the various Clerics and Priests and so forth passing through the region. The village of Grassbrook already had its own such building, but Elance could hardly kick the local village elder out of his own workspace, and so she was currently working out of what might have been originally designed as a closet. That frustration only lightly slips through as she shouts out at the door. "Aye, t'hells you want now? No, I ain't passing out blessings to Challengers today, I've volunteered two days of this week and that's all you're getting!"
A man opens the door and pokes his head in, a human Priest working directly for the Association as one of the staff running the facility. Although he may have had some authority over the building itself, his rank was several steps below a Bountiful Mother's, and so he forces a smile on his face as he delivers a message to the grumpy dwarf. "This is business you'll want to handle, blessed Mother. Your first applicants are here."
Elance glances up from her paperwork to stare at the man. "Applicants for the Church of Bounty? I appreciate the enthusiasm, but we're not hiring! It'll take months for us to set up our own chapel here, we have no current use for more staff. Who told people to apply here?"
The Priest's smile grows a little wider as he notes her confusion. "Oh, they're not applicants for the Church, Mother. They're applicants for the dungeon. The Association's made it known that anyone with an...interest...should be coming to see you first, yes?"
Elance's face grows confused for a moment, before her eyes suddenly widen. "What? Already...and, you said applicants, plural? Holy Mothers, we ain't ready for this...but I suppose I can't bloody well turn them away, can I, or they'll go and do some damn foolish thing on their own." She sighs, then takes another deep breath to steady herself. "Send the lot in, then. Let's see what the divine has sent our way..."
"Crimes!? What are you talking about? We're a dungeon! We literally can't commit crimes! Laws don't apply to dungeons!" Lollyp does her best to shout out as she runs as if the demons of Hell itself were chasing her, largely because they are. Or at least one of them, a bizarrely focused fury demon chasing the slime across her own arena as the rest of the Challenger party stands back, more than a little confused themselves. "What did we do to piss you off?"
"You can't hide from me!" Lyota practically growls as her soul whip strikes the boss, knocking a bit of slime from her body but causing even more pain than the injury itself would indicate. The magical whip made of white light soon moves back to prepare for another strike, moving according more to Lyota's wishes than the physical movements of her arm. "I know dungeons. I've been in plenty. All of them have killed dozens...hundreds...thousands. But their guilt is light, the deaths collected from those who chose their fates. But here!?" Her purple eyes almost literally light up as the Lasher strikes at Lollyp again. "Other dungeons would have to have killed a hundred thousand to bear this much weight! How did yours gather so much sin!?"
Lollyp pauses for a moment, a realization beginning to creep in, but she regrets it as the whip knocks away a potion bottle she'd been preparing to toss. The boss instead focuses on her wand, shooting off a bolt of electricity, but to her surprise the demon's whip is powerful enough to even act as a shield. The lightning arcing towards her target instead gets soaked up by the energy tendril as it twirls around, leaving Lyota entirely untouched. "What in the world!? I've known Lashers - I've never seen one with a whip like that!"
The demon grins, allowing herself a brief moment of pride. "Yes, yes - the succubi Lashers do prefer their pain-enchanted weapons, don't they? And Fire Lashers aren't an uncommon sight, although they lack for defense. But Soul Lasher is a unique class developed by we fury demons. Our weapons are an expression of our righteousness, and their pain a reflection of our target's sins. Not usually particularly strong against dungeon monsters, but you...finding cause to regret the deeds of your past life, are you?"
The slime grimaces. "Oh, you're a fury - that probably explains a bit. But, uh...I don't think I did anything that bad! I mean, there was a lot of cheating at cards, but that's expected. And maybe some pranks, once in a while...ah! Stop it!"
Standing back near the arena door, Lionel speaks quietly to the rest of his team. "Am I supposed to feel sorry for a dungeon boss? I expected our party leader to be the serious type, but she's taking seriousness in an entirely different direction than I was expecting."
Wetears shrugs. "Better she's taking it out on the slime than us, you ask me. Odds that she's gone off the deep end, though? The Association keeps stats, the dungeon ain't even killed fifty people yet, let alone thousands or anything like the lady's saying."
The green-scaled kobold beside him offers a theory. "This dungeon is special because it's using some of the Dragonlord's old artifacts, right? Maybe it committed some sins to get hold of them?"
Lionel shakes his head. "Sins against who? The Dragonlord? Perhaps some, but if they were so great, surely our orders would be to destroy the dungeon, and they are not. Perhaps if the dungeon was capturing Challengers for torture, some of those parties believed entirely lost? I've heard tale of a dungeon that once began doing so, and it was destroyed when it was found out. But even then, I don't know if the dungeon is old enough to have gathered such sin as to provoke...this."
He gestures towards the fury demon, who's now repeatedly whipping a puddle of slime that had once been a dungeon boss only moments before. Watching the sight, Barny grimaces. "I just hope we can figure it out or settle the lady down soon, or else we may end up destroying the dungeon core, orders or not..."
