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Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Master of the Monster Lair (alternatively known by its infinitely more boring European name of "Dungeon Maker") is a DS game made by a company called Global A who you may very well have never heard of. They've made no major titles of note. Plus side is, in North America it was published by Atlus in 2008.

The game itself is sorta short, pretty funny at times and has an unfortunate tendency to get overlooked for its pseudo-sequel.

I'unno, I kinda like this one about as much. They're both good for what they are.


...Oh, spoilers? There's only like three things that really "count." Just use tags if you're unsure or if it's actually important that we haven't see yet.

Updates

Floor B01 (Part One)
Floor B01 (Part Two)
Floor B02 (The Hobgoblin Hunt)
Floor B03 (Stuffed Flamesaurus)
Floor B04 (Otter Corps)
Floor B05 (Ironsides)
Floor B06 (Devlin Hunt)
Floor B07 (Sea Charm)
Floor B08 (Attracting The Dragon)
Floor B09 (The Elder Dragon)
Floor B10 (Part One)
Floor B10 (Part Two)

Floor B11 (An... Assassin?)
Floor B12 (The Shogun Wolf)
Floor B13 (A Princess)
Floor B14 (I Am A King)
Floor B15 (Do The Mario)
Floor B16 (Cold Shadow)
Floors B17 & B18 (Bloodmeat)
Floor B19 (The Lord)

Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jul 9, 2015

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Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!
reserved just in case

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Monsters have been seen in the forest recently, and so the town sent a letter to the Castle requesting soldiers to hunt the monsters down.

The people of South Arc have been waiting in vain, however. No soldiers have been dispatched.

The truth is, monsters have been appearing all over the Kingdom of Krolan recently, and this has been keeping the Kingdom's soldiers more than occupied.



Now that you have graduated from school at the age of 12, it is time for you to find a job.



Unfortunately, you were turned down. Their answer was always the same: "We've already hired too many youths."

Then you considered getting a job in the forest.

There are plenty of jobs to be had here. You might get a job chopping wood for the furniture workshops, or gathering mushrooms, or even hunting.

However...





It happened while you were overlooking the town from a nearby hill, pondering your fate.

You thought you were alone, but all of a sudden, a voice broke the silence.

Hey! You there!
(Wha?! There's nobody here but me...)

I think that's just about enough dry exposition, don't you?



(Pick me up? Did someone fall down? Or am I just hearing things?)
Hey! What's the matter? Are you bad at finding things?! You aren, aren't you!
(Where is he...? Am I just imagining it?)
See those bushes to the right?! Not that way! Right! I said right! Right... here! Don't you see me!?
(It's a talking...)





Shovel is unironically best character

(A talking shovel. Of course...)
Wait, are you the...? That's right. Of course you are. Shall we get started, then?!
(It may be a talking shovel, but it's only speaking nonsense...)
Are you ready to dig some holes!?
Wha...?
That's your job!
(Isn't that YOUR job...?)
Where are the caves?!
The caves are just outside town, but...



(Does it ever stop talking? Someone must have dropped this shovel. I'd better try and find its owner.)
Don't forget to take care of me, too! Polish me with oil until I shine. I want to shine, Buddy! That's your job too!
(What the...?!)
Digging holes all day's a great life, I tell you. Come on, Buddy! Let's start digging holes! And let's keep on doin' it!
(I'd better hurry up and find its owner fast...)

You decided to go to the town square. Maybe the owner of this weird talking shovel is around here, somewhere...





What's that shovel for?
I wouldn't talk to it if I were you. It's hard to get it to shut up once it's started.
Huh? The Mayor's been looking for you. He's found you a job, apparently. Go talk to him and find out what it is!
That's great! I just hope it's not digging holes.







There you are! I've found you a great job!
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I sent a letter to the Castle, asking if they had any jobs for a young orphan. Well...
As you know (ugh), the Kingdom has been suffering from a plague of monsters.
The soldiers are hunting them, but they keep coming. You know those Apple Vipers in the forest? The Castle has a plan!
A plan?
This plan requires that we find a shovel that happens to be located near South Arc.
A shovel...?
A talking shovel! Can you believe it!?
I believe it...



Er...?
It's a magic shovel. Anyone who touches it becomes the shovel's partner and must do an incredibly hard job.
Your task is to find this shovel. Someone ELSE will dig the dungeon. Wait...
What's that shovel you've got with you, there?
You're just noticing it now?
Don't tell me it's the talking shovel!



What?!
Hey, Mister!
Huh? Ah, er, um, yes?!
Who're you? Huh?!
Huh?



There can be no doubt about it. This shovel was made to dig dungeons.
That's it, then! Simple, really!
Mr. Shovel, you have the gift of gab. Why not use it to speak sense...?



All it'll take is a dungeon big enough for ten or twenty monsters, and the Apple Vipers will find it irresistible!
This is truly amazing!



This solves the problem of what to do about your job...
It also takes care of my little Apple Viper problem, too.
Don't tell me what you want me to hunt down the Apple Vipers...
I said you'd get a reward for finding the magic shovel, right?
Why don't you take that and use it as seed money to turn those caves just outside of town into a dungeon!
Heh, just think about it! Our town, with its very own dungeon!



Why don't you start out by going over to the caves, and seeing what that shovel can do?
There aren't any monsters in the caves at the moment...
So you'll be able to experiment with your digging without any danger!
Ah, well, okay...



Oh, thank god. We're finally done with one of the longest scenes in this thing.



Stats are nice and easy, so we'll deal with it right now. All very self-explanatory but:

Strength = determines physical damage done.
Speed = determines accuracy and evasion, I think. It has the least immediately obvious effect.
Constitution = determines physical defence of course.
Wisdom = magic attack and defence. Also ailment resistance kind of.

Attack = Strength+Weapon+any other benefits (if applicable)
Defence = Constitution+Armor+Accessory (if applicable)

F/W/L is elemental resistance; Fire/Water/Light respectively. Not gonna be important for a while though.

Magic Shovel MP we'll get to later.

You may notice that there is no EXP here. That is not an oversight.



Before we deal with the whole dungeon thing, we'll go everywhere else. Starting with this kid at the fountain in the square.



She just sells groceries. Which right now is just Spinach and absolutely nothing else.



The red house off to the side is our own home and there's plenty to do in here.



Storage is exactly what it sounds like. Item space is fairly heavily limited, so we'll be putting this to use later. Meal and Rest we'll get to when we can. The various guides are just "this is a list of all the [thing] you have (seen)."

...I will almost assuredly NOT fill all of every one of them. That takes far too long. But now that I've said that I probably will by accident.



We'll be dealing with the mayor a lot, so we'll go see what he has to say pretty frequently. Like right now for example.




Hurry up. Go over to the caves and test your shovel's power. I have to write a letter to the Castle.
Go on, off with you! To the caves!



The next three, especially the Furniture store, err a bit more on the chatty side.



Oh, hello...
I'm Frau, and this guy behind me is Woody, my big brother.
I'd like to speak for our entire family in saying, welcome! Nice to meet you, indeed!
Ah, yes, nice to meet you...



What? You work in caves?
Well, apparently, I'm a Dungeon Digger...
Dungeon... Digger...?
So your job is to turn caves into a dungeon and trick monsters into living there?



Yes, well then! How about this Straw Bed?
Even monsters will sleep like babies in this soft, soft bed! How about it?!
Come on, give it a try! Here, here!
All right...



Only two types of rooms are available right now. The little icon next to the owned/stock will be more relevant later, so don't worry about it until then. Just gonna buy one of each for the time being.



So now we'll check out the Weapons equipment store, since we'll be spending a lot of time there as well.




H-Hello...
(She's so pretty...)
I'm a, umm, Dungeon Digger, I guess...
Really?
I fight monsters...
No kidding.
So could I, um, see some of the, uh, weapons and... armor you have for sale?



What...?
The solders from the Castle bought them all to help with their monster-hunting.
Oh... I didn't...
About all I have left is this knife. You can buy it, if you want to...
Okay.



This is going to be very important later on, but for now we'll just see what she has for sale.



True to her word, the only weapon we can buy right now is a basic Knife. Definitely going to do so, because if not we're going to be unarmed and that is quite not good.



She also has a piece of very bad armor for sale. We're not going to buy this though. It's not worth the cost really.



And last, we have the Magic store. This is an important place to check frequently as well... but most of the time it's not for Magic.




What kind of magic do you have?
Nothing too fancy. Some healing magic... That's about it.
Oh, and I have some magic items!
I gotta be honest with you. I never really wanted to run the Magic Shop, anyway.



You should make sure you're eating right, too. You can increase your HP and MP that way.



Umm... I can make Spinach Salad. That's about it.
Spinach, eh? It's pretty good boiled too, you know.
Boiled?
Yeah, just boil it and add some Dry Fish Flakes on top.
If you need some, you might check with the girl who sells vegetables in the town square. She sells 'em.



Just get used to it now, since every time we get a new ingredient we'll bring it to this guy to get a new recipe.



But this is a magic store and Owen has no really useful spells to start off with. He has one that's kind of useful much, much later.

Heal's going to be a full restore for a long, long time even with our pretty bad Wisdom. Which is pretty nice, I gotta admit.



And like he said, we can head over to the fountain and now buy Dry Fish Flakes. Gonna pick up a couple for later; since we can buy these that's going to help a lot. Sadly, most ingredients are only available as random drops.



Aside from the cave, there's still two small little things to check out.




The gate just gets updated after every major plot beat, which is a term I use incredibly loosely in this case. Point is we won't be back here for quite a while.



The Ruins, on the other hand, we won't be back to after this ever.



It's a wifi thing, and it requires friends knowing someone else with the game to begin with. Then you can run through their dungeon instead. Exciting stuff, I am sure.



All this aside, though, the Caves are quite transparently THE most important area. Because its where that whole pesky gameplay thing is waiting.




What a great cave! It's got character! How refreshing!
What are you talking about...?
Listen, Buddy, we can only work during the day. It's not safe to enter the dungeon at night.
Also, you'll want to leave it alone so that monsters will enter it!
Sounds pretty scary...



Besides, there aren't any monsters in there today! Let's go on in!



I've never been here before! What do we need to do first?
Try facing a wall and pressing the A Button. I'll dig you a nice big hole!



Yeah, so we can't really do much until we dig. This is where the Shovel MP stuff comes into play, since that goes down by 1 everytime we do anything with it. Once it hits 0, we have to leave for the day so it can be refilled.



Normally, going to the right isn't the "best" way to go about things, but we want some space to work with. The ideal way to handle things is to go for the bottom-left corner first but pfffft nah.


Oh, I get it now... So this is how we expand the dungeon!
Yep. As long as I have MP, I'll be able to dig holes!



Now that we've got something to start with, we can put down a room right here.



Despite the image above implying otherwise, I changed my mind and opted for the Feed Barrel instead. Since this room right now is a straight shot from the entrance, it makes more sense; it has the easier enemy selection even if it doesn't give us a small advantage.

On the other hand, immediately afterwards, I changed my mind back and ultimately switched the two. Dungeon designing is haaaaaaard. :v:



We ultimately want to get to the top-right corner of the area, so we'll go north from here and begin to actually set up rooms how we want them for Simple Plans. There's nothing else we can do here on our first day, though, so we'll just leave now and come back later.




They also sent a reward for finding the shovel. Here you go!



Oh, one more thing! How was the shovel's power? Do you think your dungeon-digging will go well?
Keep in mind that all you have to do is a little digging to get the monsters to show up, so be careful.
What kinds of monsters can I expect?



Oh, and a Feed Barrel will attract Pigboars, too! They're those other guys... You know.
Hmph! Those are both used in monster cooking. Fry Crowbats in oil, and you can make Fried Crow!
Pigboars and vegetables will give you Pigboar Stew!
I think young people prefer Fried Crow these days, though. What do you think?
I'm not sure what's good and what's bad...



Fried Crow or Pigboar Stew.
I prefer the stew myself, but maybe other people prefer crunchy and juicy Fried Crow...
(What the heck is he talking about...?)

Well, this does technically give us two new recipes, they're not added "officially" until we finish this minor sidequest first. (Personally speaking, I think the Pigboar is better but we'll get to that when we get to that.)



Speaking of which, we're pretty much done with our first day so we'll just go home and wrap things up now. We could still go shopping, but there's not much of a need to do so right now.




Oh, you're home!





Yeah... Well, why not make him some, I guess?
Will you bring me the ingredients? I need a Crow Leg.
Alright.
That's your job, right? Catching Crowbats?
Well, not really...
Great! Please get it for me. Remember... it's for the Mayor.
Okay.



Okay, NOW we can finally stuff something down Owen's throat. We can only choose between the two we have here right now...



And neither is very good, to be frank. We'll very quickly get ones that outclass both of these, but these are amongst the easiest to make since they basically just cost money.



The MP one is technically better (since Heal costs 3MP), but it really does not matter at the moment. Adding an extra point or 2 of HP here and there doesn't make much of a difference, but it'll add up quickly.



And now that we've eaten, we can rest and finally end the first day.

The next couple of days are just going to be spent building the dungeon and hopefully stealing a Crowbat's leg to finish our first sidequest.

So, let's get right to that.



Day 2 now, and from hereon in, we can basically do whatever we like. In order to do so, though, we need some more rooms so we can build more things. Just gonna need a couple more for today since shovel MP is still pretty tight.



Aside from that, there's nothing to do in town right now so we'll just dive straight into the cave.


*gulp*
Do you have a weapon? Potions? Did you say farewell to your friends?
Don't scare me like that...
Did you buy furniture? You need to place furniture, and make new rooms.
If you do that, then monsters will carry their own weapons and armor into the dungeon!



"Can," nothing. It's more like have to...

In particular, you might want to start out with some Straw Beds!
You may just find some monsters sleeping in them!



Leave two or three squares between the entrance and a room, or monsters won't want to live there!



Okay, so any purple circles on the map in the top corner are monsters. They will always enter a room on a new day (so long as its basically not adjacent to the ladder) but they can randomly appear outside of them as well.



More importantly, whenever we enter a square that's adjacent to them and they can enter it in one step as well, a fight begins.



Fights are pretty simple; we only have four options to choose from, a normal attack, Owen's magic, an item or running away.

Thankfully for us, the Warcat starts Asleep because it got dragged outta bed for this fight. It won't wake up until we hit it. So we're gonna do just that.



Unfortunately for us, the Warcat is probably the second toughest enemy on the first floor (at the moment) so now that its awake we're in for a relative world of hurt.



Especially when it uses its special attack. So its gonna hit even harder. Oh boy...



Yeah, ow, there goes 1/3rd of our HP in one strike. Very nasty business, that. We can easily heal it and then some right now, but that's a bit excessive at the moment; I'm generally that overconfident idiot what only heals when absolutely necessary.



Thankfully, it doesn't come to that this time around. It generally takes about 3-4 hits to actually take down a Warcat which is not exactly ideal, but we always have the advantage on this floor which helps.

I have to say "generally" because enemy strength is semi-random. It's possible for a Warcat to have slightly less HP than that (its 16-18 on floor 1) and the money we get also varies a bit as well.



Something not made clear at all by the Straw Bed's room placement (and the room period) is that you can mostly guess what you're going to be fighting based on its silhouette.



In this case, we DID get a Crowbat. How fortunate.



Equally fortunate is that it got the first turn, so it got to do something. Sounds weird, I know, but...



Considering we can effortlessly one-shot it, even at absolute base stats, that's pretty bad on its part.



Now that we've taken care of those two, we can focus more on finishing building our little area for collecting food easily. See, enemy drop rates are godawful if you just fight one enemy at a time. The chance of something being dropped goes up the more enemies there are in a fight; 3 is the most, of course, and all but guarantees the last enemy killed will drop something.

There are only 2 enemies we can fight from a Feed Barrel, and they have a whole 3 drops between them. 2 of which are food items.



Because of how close that is to the current Straw Bed, we're going to set up a cluster of 3 of these a little further off to the right. There are also 2 enemies that can appear in these, but they have a lot more drops between them. The difference being, with one exception from the Warcat, it's all equipment.



Once this is finished, we'll be able to get stronger in both ways very quickly. At least in theory. We do need to spend a decent chunk of cash to get it setup, but its relatively profitable because of how much you can get from equipment and all.



Unlike before, whenever we go back home now, we don't get interrupted by anyone else, so we can just cook and sleep in peace.



Speaking of which, until I specify otherwise, just presume that I'm only boosting Owen's HP. His MP will easily catch up once we're done with the first floor, don't worry about that.




Not to mention food and items!
Oh yeah, about those... Do you have enough magic items? Light Bombs or Fire Bombs...?
Buy them at the Magic Shop!

Fire, for right now, yes. Light is irrelevant until a bit later, so who cares.



wrong place, right? We can fill the wall back in again.



Straw Bed by the entrance still just spat out a Warcat at us, so we'll skip up to this little trio. Can clearly see that the second enemy from a Feed Barrel will turn up now.



And we even got TWO Pigboars for our troubles! Taking them down in a fair fight right now is a bit much for Owen, mostly because its 3-on-1 more than anything else.



Fortunately, the game starts us off with 1 of every basic magic item. Let's put this one to good use...



Fire Bombs are pretty handy for most of the first floor, since they'll oneshot almost everything we can run into. The exceptions can be counted on one hand.

It's two.



Since there was three enemies in that fight, we're pretty much guaranteed to get something out of it for our troubles. A Pigboar was on the far right, so it dies last from the bomb. That means we got one of its two drops; the bag is just "miscellaneous" stuff so we can't tell what it is immediately. It might be its food drop (ideal)...



Or it might be its fur. Not quite what I wanted but it will more than suffice for the moment.



The good news with this is that a Fire Bombs costs 50G to purchase. The fur sells for a little over 150G, so we can turn one bomb into 3 if we want to.



The other straw bed also had a Warcat. Was sorta hoping for the other enemy we could fight at this point, but no dice. Just gotta place the next two straw beds and then continue digging up a bit.



Nothing else to do in the cave, so let's go shopping. We don't need to sell the fur to get another bomb immediately, so there's that.

The Healing Potion is just Heal but less cost effective. And less effective in general.



In a nice rarity, the equipment store actually sells something new today as well. Don't get too used to this happening.



Pigboar Fur actually works out as getting us profit even if takes all 3 bombs we can buy from it. Not much, but its something?

Well, no, its really kind of not. It's kind of weird having items with no use BUT to sell when we can get infinite equipment that sells for about the same, if not more, for the exact same effort but more consistently.



The hat is relatively cheap but, again, not worth buying. We can get better stuff as a drop in the cave.



Eat, sleep, and back to the grindstone we go.


Apple Vipers will appear there!
A Magic Hole is just what it sounds like.
They open up somewhere in the dungeon when the number of monsters goes up.
It has to do with the increased magical power generated.
Monsters are most comfortable around a Magic Hole, so expect to find tougher monsters nearby.
They're technically holes, but Magic Holes are more like Magic Rooms than anything else.
Expect to see major boss monsters in them!

Translation: as well as meeting the specific requirements, place enough rooms on a floor and a boss fight will appear in a fixed place.



Speaking of rooms and fights, our feed barrel circle gave us the ideal setup right here. We don't even need to waste a Fire Bomb on this or anything.



Now we can finish that sidequest the Mayor wanted us to do. I'm normally actually done with it before now, but taking stuff a bit slower this time around.



Setting up something special here for a little bit later. Two easy enemies and a gap for a third room, but in this case its one we don't even have yet.



The straw beds have paid dividends quite nicely this time around, and finally given us the other enemy they can spawn. I'd rather have a Warcat on the right, to maybe speed something up later, but a Goblin will do as well.



As we are right now, trying to fight through all 3 of these guys "fairly" would be ludicrous so we're just gonna burn them in their sleep instead. The goblin alone could decimate us if we woke it up.



Or at least it could have done if it didn't give us this instead. It's not the best piece of equipment for the floor, but its the nicest for sure.



More defence than the hat we could've bought, but it also grants some resistance to being Stunned. This is a good thing, because a Goblin can randomly stun you and if that happens you are probably going to die.



We're actually basically done with the general layout we want for the floor already. Just need to expand one square in the top-right corner for later, and we have two gaps for the last rooms we'll get later. One as the right-hand side of a 3-monster battle and one to go right by the ladder in this alcove.

Unfortunately, even with them we won't quite have enough to make the boss spawn. We need to get that Rank up to at least 40 and those two rooms alone won't do it.

Fortunately, we do need to spend some time digging around a bit more because I think its about time we did something we should've done on day 1.



That'll have to wait until later though. Right now, I'm going to do something weird and seemingly crazy. Just gonna sell that Helmet we just got. It's only 120G but...



Now we can buy it back. We can buy as many of them as we want for that matter. This is the main way of increasing the equipment store's stock, and there IS some cases where this is worth doing as more than a silly thing for an example. We'll get one of them fairly soon, even.

So let's go cook this Crow and give it to the mayor.




I've got it. Look.
Ah yes, that's it.
...A little salt, a pinch of pepper... and that should fry up into some tasty Fried Crow!
It's a popular treat in big cities, I hear.
Hmph...
No kids will want to come this far to eat it, though...



An attraction...?
There's nothing like that in a mountain town like this one.
Yeah, you're right...
Anyway, I have to go visit the Mayor. I'll take this Crow Leg with me.
Ask the Mayor for your payment when you see him. Later!
Some kind of attraction... in this town? Ridiculous...

We're pretty much done with this detour now, so let's go get our payment and move things along.



So this will be our town's new signature dish! Now, we just wait for your dungeon to be finished.
Heh heh heh... Maybe I'll help you out a bit... Here, take this!
Thank you...



This seems like a pretty mediocre reward considering we got 1,000 for doing literally nothing, but its actually only part of what we get outta this. There's two more aspects to this...



Welcome home!
Huh?!



...No, this is not quite what I meant. It leads into it though.

Wh-What are you doing?
I made the Mayor some Fried Crow, and he really, really loved it.
He said I was a cooking genius!
No kidding...
So I thought I'd make you something to eat, too!
Well, thanks...



That's a bit more like it. Free ingredients are very nice, at the moment, considering what she gives us.

So, don't be shy. Tell me what you want to eat!



So our real 2nd part of what we get outta one simple fetch quest is that we can now cook two new things. We even basically get to keep that Crow Leg.



...But we get 2 Pigboar Ribs as well. This lets us push both Strength and Speed up to 5 each, which isn't too shabby right now.



For now we'll upgrade Strength more; the quicker we get that up, the quicker we can stop relying on items to take down a group of sleeping enemies.

As for the third part of our reward? That's gotta wait, since we'll get it right at the start of the next day.

Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 23:29 on May 1, 2015

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Nick Buntline posted:

Let's be fair here - it gets overlooked for a reason. Nothing in this game, or indeed any other game, can match the sheer brilliance of Pout Points.

Yeah, I can understand why. It's just a bit of a shame really, but that's pretty much why this forum/thread exists so it all works out well enough.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


As soon as the next day begins, this guy comes right to our door instead of the other way around.

Ah, the man from the Magic Shop... Good morning.
I'd love to eat some Dry Slime...
Hmm?



Huh...
I thought maybe you could help me with some tasty food...
What? Huh?
I want to eat some Dry Slime!
I see...
I'll pay you in advance. Thanks for your help.
Okay...



(So... Is that the job of a Dungeon Digger?)
Dry Slime! What a strange thing to wanna eat!



Well, this is suddenly becoming remarkably disgusting.

A rubbish heap? You mean, like a trash pit?
Yeah, can you believe that man? Wanting to eat something that lives in a place like that!
It is a little odd, come to think of it...

We totally don't have to do this if we really don't want to. This always pops up the day after we finish getting the mayor that crow leg, since the last thing that unlocks is, uh, sidequests. Each floor only has a small amount, at least.

Of course, they all consist of stuff we'd probably be doing anyway so we might as well do as many as we can. Get extra free things that way after all.



And since a trash pit is something we don't have yet, we should go see if we can even buy one.


Hey, do you have a Trash Dump?
Yes, of course!



Are you sure? Without a net, you'll definitely have a Slime problem.
You'll see at last one of 'em every single day!
Do you promise? That's great! I definitely don't want the net, then.
Hmm... You're an unusual customer, that's for sure. Very well.
I'll sell it to you without the net, for just 100 Gilberts! It's a steal!
Give it a try! Here you go!



So now we have the ability to buy a room that is a literal rubbish tip. We won't actually do that just yet though; first, we're going to leave and re-enter the furniture store. In a sort-of hard to realise way, this trigger also makes it so that...



Another new room is also unlocked at the same time. Problem is, they have independent scenes so you could miss this one pretty easily.


Chests?



Why would I want to place treasure chests in my dungeon?
Heh heh, well, believe it or not, monsters will put treasures in the chests for safekeeping!
They think chests are the perfect place to hide treasure.
Of course, they'll lock them, too...
So all I need to do to get at the treasure is... steal the keys?
That's the way it works, yes...
The more monsters you have in your dungeon, the better the odds you'll find items in your treasure chests!
How about trying one out?



Now we'll buy both a trash dump and an iron chest; can only afford one of each, because the chests are quite expensive right now. At least they very quickly turn that downpayment into quite a nice profit fairly quickly.



That little bit dealt with, let's just go to the cave and drop them in the little slots I already prepared.


Think of what happens when you go in front of a room. The monsters rush out, right?
So all you need to do is make three rooms that surround a single square!
When you go to the surrounded square, monsters will come out of all three rooms...
And then you can fight them all at once!
If you do this right, then you'll get items more frequently. Got it?
The last monster you beat drops the item. But isn't it tough to fight three monsters at once?
Use magic items, like those Fire Bombs! You can buy 'em at the Magic Shop!



Monsters might not be willing to chill in rooms right next to the entrance, but they have absolutely no issues with storing their treasure there.



More importantly, there's a little something lying in wait a bit to the south of the entrance as well.



We can't go very far south, since there's an actual wall there. It's just tucked away over here, in the corner.



On some floors, there's items hidden in a corner or two. Occasionally, there's nothing at all though.



In this case, we found an accessory that has no use other than to be sold. It's a piece of equipment with no reason to equip.



Each weapon has its own unique little extra that can proc sometimes (but not overly often). Nice when it happens; daggers have fairly varied bonus effects. This one just has a chance to attack twice sometimes. Pretty useful, really!



Since we're fighting a solo goblin, we'll take this opportunity to see what one can do. This turned out to be a very bad idea.



The damage doesn't seem to impressive on its own, but that's not what makes the Goblin's skill a bit of a worry. That honour goes to its added effect.



Really wishing I didn't demonstrate the store by selling the one piece of armour that would be best right now. Being stunned is kind of a terrible scenario since it means we cannot do anything until it wears off.



It could take one turn, or it could do what it did here and take several. If it lasted one turn more, we would've actually dropped here. How embarrassing!



...At least it allows us to blow this 3MP for a Heal. Wouldn't do this if I had more than 6HP since it'd be a gigantic waste otherwise.



It does make for a good full heal though.



Still not getting the Warcat on the right over at the trio of straw beds. At least we can get our first shield this way. It's only 1 defence, but it's a start.



Naturally, the trash dump is going into that gap that was left at the top-right corner. You might be wondering why I didn't grab 3 of these and make a set of them like with everything else. This is a valid thing to wonder, but there is a reason for it.

With this and the chest in place, we're actually done with every room we "need" now. Unfortunately, the game still wants us to place upto 5 more rooms after this, so we're going to need to add some unnecessary filler.



To do that we're going to need more money, of course. Getting two Pigboar Furs is normally a terrible thing, but it'll help speed this up a fair bit. The Glass Ring can be flipped for easy money; 200G isn't a bad amount for something you can grab immediately on Day 1.



And since we still have that other Pigboar Rib that Kate brought, we can boost Owen's strength to 5. Can't do that again until we get more as a drop though.




I have nothing left to teach you! You're already a fine, upstanding Dungeon Digger!
You ran out of stuff to say, huh...?
(I'd better write down all the important-sounding stuff I learned here...)



Well now, this is a rarity. And it gave us a very nice new weapon at that. A solo Warcat in the straw bed by the entrance dropped its dagger for us.

...Finally got a drop from the right enemy, but it was the wrong drop. Getting kinda worried that I might have to drag things out now.



This isn't a bad drop to get by any means, mind you, since its better than the Knife we spent actual money on. It's immediately getting equipped and being used until we get something better, of course.



Sadly, didn't have quite the same luck with the actual equipment farming area. Once again, we got a Goblin drop but unfortunately this is something we actually start with.

Might actually have to create a second equipment farming area just to get the one thing I actually want.



So, the reason we're not smacking around 3 Slimes at once is pretty simple really. They have the most HP out of everything we can fight, and this kind of damage is with a Fire Bomb so it's always going to deal 29 damage. This also has the added downside of making it so we cannot one-shot them until later. Their minimum HP is 30.



They're tanky blighters and it's a very good thing we got that Warcat Dagger just in time. If we still had the Knife as our only weapon, we'd be dealing a whopping 1 damage.



Slimes are not fun buggers to farm, even if its just for the sidequest. They have 3 drops; 1 of them is vendor trash, the second is a ring with actual use, and the third is the Dry Slime we want. This one might also take a while knowing my luck.



But since we need to add some padding, lets grab some more hidden loot. Our second one is much more worthwhile and over in the bottom-right corner so it takes a bit more time to get to.



It is very much worth it though; it's the best ring we can get until a little later.



It does nothing for our defence, but it does increase our Attack. If we can kill stuff faster, we don't need to worry about defence.



We're going to need a filler area, so we'll throw a little area up here of three more food rooms (has more longterm benefits y'see). Or at least we will once we get the Shovel its MP back.



The Ring of Power gives us exactly as much money as the Glass Ring if we sell it, and we will. This is something we want to duplicate so we can run around with two equipped immediately.



Only got the one Crow Leg, so we'll have to get one of them to drop if we want to boost Speed again. Considering my luck as of late, I wouldn't be too sure of that.



Oh, and I put a second straw bed by the entrance as well. This one is pretty much entirely just to help try to grab the drop we want quicker.



...It does not help. The Oversized Club is the first club we can get and it's okay I guess.



Same strength as the Warcat Dagger, but being a club it has a chance to stun enemies instead. I prefer the dagger effect, though, so not gonna bother with using this one.



Normally I'd be glad that the chest has something in it now, but I'm not too sure. This adds its key to everything's drop table which means...



...We get it instead of the food we could put to good use. This does still have one good use we can put it to, but its not exactly likely to happen.



The Iron Chest has a few random items it can give, which is entirely random and determined when you open it and not a moment before. Basically means there's no way to manipulate the RNG to get what we want.

Silver Coins are by pretty common to get and their use is to sell for easy money and nothing more. But they sell for 500G which makes them the single best item to sell on the floor. Glass Rings are still bad and worthless, so of course they're most common. Copper Rings are just +1 Defence, but that's still better than the Glass one.



What we want is the second rarest item, though. The Leather Vest is available here for now, and it's a lot easier to farm on the second floor, but it is oh so very worth getting now.



It is by far the best piece of armour we can get for a little while.



Once again, not the drop we want. At least it's something new, even though it's not going to get used?



At least the Slime was kind enough to drop what we want on the second try.



There's still one more hidden treasure left to find, and its up in the top-left corner this time.



It... was not worth the trip, though. I misremembered it as being 1000G somehow. At least we can sell this for some cash.




Um... Is this really... edible?
Sure it is. I'll tell you all about cooking Dry Slime. You should try some, too.



Slime is nutritious. It's just the thing to make a hero out of a growing child.
(Really? He's talking about the same Slime, right?)
You and I both have work to do. Maybe I'll stock some new magic...



Oh, thank you very much.
(So my job is to collect food...?)



Could upgrade MP instead, but we'll hold off from that for now. Sole HP is our only alternative right now, so I guess we'll have to do that.



Before we go grab that new spell, now that we've delivered the Dry Slime the next day we get something new at the Equipment store.


Oh, h-hello...
(She's always so pretty...)
Hey, boy...
Y-yes?
(I just wish she wouldn't call me "boy" all the time...)
Do you know what a 'halter' is?
A... 'hall-terr'...?
Well, someone wants one, but I'm all out of stock...
Do you think you could find one in your dungeon? All I need is one.
What is a halter, anyway?
It's chest armor, designed for a girl.
A girl's chest... armor....



Um, I'll see you later, then...
Do you have any Warcats in your dungeon?



Uh, um, yeah, sure. A Warcat Halter. I'll look for one...

Really hoped to have one of these already, since then we could get the Very Good reward for it immediately. No such luck though.



This is useful if you want to keep one monster asleep until the end of the fight...
Use this right, and it'll be very handy for you.



Sleep is actually a very good spell, surprisingly enough. It has a remarkably high success rate and shuts down a lot more than you might expect.



...Warcats, however, will continue to be unnecessarily mean with their drops. I think this drop is the only one that rivals the Slime's glass ring for sheer spite. :sigh:



Sleep shutting down everything in one shot is very common. And it's only 2MP to cost at that! A very good use of that 300G.



Not much else happens this day; just pretty standard setting down a couple rooms, and moving on. Stewed Slime is the best food thus far in a sense, since it gives us more HP than anything else and ups defence.



It's also technically the hardest to make since it requires 2 things that are exclusively drops. Won't be making this again for a while, because the RNG just does not like me right now.



Still needed to place exactly one more room to hit Rank 40+. I made a conscious decision to place a single straw bed over by the right wall; this will actually be beneficial to us later down the line.



Ah, wow. Here's the rarest item from the chest; it is a helmet with 3 defence and is a rare hat in that it grants resistance to stunning.

Wish I noticed I got this earlier, because I just sold it without thinking. Good job I can rebuy it, since normally earliest you'll get this is from a drop on the third floor! :v:



Just gonna take this moment to begin to boost MP a bit; gonna need it more and more soon, albeit not for reasons you might be expecting.



...I didn't think I'd actually be a bit annoyed that the boss turned up when it did.



We could totally go and fight it right now, but only if we don't get the Warcat Halter.



Which, somehow, we actually do. Really wanted this sooner, but no such luck. Ah well.

As you would expect, no, Owen cannot equip it.




H-Hi... Umm, the Warcat Halter...?
Oh? Great! You found one. Thanks.
Don't mention it.



Would you also accept this as thanks for hunting this down for me?



Now THIS is what I wanted. Gonna be so handy here.

Thank you! Do you mind if I ask you for other favors in the future, when I need something?
Sure, whatever you need...



Switching one Ring of Power out for a Ring of Light. If I wanted to maximise the use I could get out of this, I'd sell it, buy back two and then use both.



On top of adding 1 to defence, it gives us 30 points of Light resistance. This isn't a percentage amount (it works out right now as reducing Light damage by about 25%), but it is going to be very, very useful.



Now, how about that boss fight?


Apple Viper



For something nice, the Viper actually has fixed statistics. Doesn't mean anything, since the game won't tell us them other than its HP is 98 and like all enemies, its MP is infinite.



All right, Buddy, let's take it down!
Do I have to fight it all by myself...?
Uh, well, yeah...
I'll be hiding over here if you need me...! Good luck!
...



So, the Apple Viper is a bigger threat than it first appears. It's regular attack is on-par with everything else in the area, judging by the numbers; in reality, that it's doing this damage with our upgraded armor and defence makes it that much more impressive.



Unfortunately, we can't really hurt it much. Despite what you would think, Fire is not that effective against this thing. Sub-10 damage from a Fire Bomb is quite worrying!



It does have the silly result of making it so that our normal attack can actually outdamage it for once, though.



If this is all that it was, the fight would be slow but not really a challenge. Fortunately(?), the Viper does have two nasty tricks.



It doesn't seem that impressive in terms of raw damage, which does make it actually kind of the best thing to happen to us.



...Even though it does also does this. So long as the attack connects, this happens and there is nothing we can do to cure it. There are no items or spells available for a while that can cure poison.

Fortunately for us, it only deals 1 damage to us at the start of our turn. That makes it such a non-issue that we can just power through it.



Until he drops below 50HP and this happens. This is the Apple Viper's most threatening move and its exactly why we wanted that Ring of Light.



That 14 damage IS with the Ring of Light. That's pretty drat lethal, but its consistent with it and so we can play with that as a fixed value to keep above. Well, really 15 because we take the poison damage immediately after.



Aside from that, it's just something that we have to deal with and hope we have enough heals to win. That's the big reason here why you want to actually boost MP earlier than I did, but pfft, nah. If I got better food drops, the +4 I took would've been completely unnecessary.


End



But we'll consider that version of events to be the more "ideal" way of doing things. Just gonna go back and redo it without even bothering to pick up the Ring of Light. Not even gonna hand over the Warcat Halter until after we're done here.



It does mean we lose half our health in a single light emission, which makes it more dangerous to mess with but we can still manage to get through this and win.



Just, uh, need to remember to not waste MP trying to put it to sleep. Unfortunately, just because its good and useful against normal monsters doesn't mean anything here. The Viper is a boss and all.




Yeah, we won, somehow...
You did really well. And all that hard work... I think something may have grown a bit in the process.
Huh?
Your item bag! Look at it!



This is nicer than it sounds, but unless we did something really silly our old max would've been sufficient for a bit longer.

Let's take something back with us to prove that we beat an Apple Viper.
Hey, how about that Snake Leaf?
Leaf...?



Wow, this is a leaf, from an Apple Viper? So I guess it was closer to a fruit than a reptile...?



There's actually now some more things to do on the first floor, but we'll head down to the second for the time being.



So this'll be the 2nd floor, huh?
Plenty of good digging spots here, Buddy...
Keep in mind that different monsters like to live at different depths underground, and that means different types of weapons and food...
You should be able to grow stronger by gathering things from these monsters. Let's get to work!



We don't really know what we're going to be up to on this floor right now, but that doesn't mean I can't use my sneaky foreknowledge to begin to prepare part of the wanted layout.



Oh... Yeah, that's true.
It was in there?
Yep.
How was it? Does it look tough?
It was a little scary.
Don't do anything drastic, okay? You may have lured it into your dungeon...



Actually, I already defeated it.
Huh?
Yeah, Apple Vipers aren't really like snakes. They're more like apple trees...
Check this out. It's an Apple Viper Leaf. Those aren't wings, those are leaves...!
I couldn't believe it myself.
Whoa! You're amazing! It's like you were born to be a Dungeon Digger!



I'd like to celebrate your victory with a gift from the town. Here you go, take this.



I can't just stand here. Now that the Apple Vipers are gone, I have something to do!
There's no need for a dungeon anymore, so I should probably go bury it.
What do you think you're doing?! Your dungeon is the best thing to ever happen to this town!



And what about our town's famous Pigboar Stew?
We'll make tons of cash. I mean... This tiny little town will become famous!



Whaaat?

Well, I guess there is a nice little path available that will avoid all the monsters and let people see everything in there? Still a stupid idea, but its not like stepping through the door will get someone immediately devoured.



So we're now essentially done with the first floor. There's still little bits and pieces to do there, but they'll take quite a while to do so we won't worry about it right now.

Next time, we'll begin the second floor for real.

Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 15:25 on May 9, 2015

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Oh, thanks.
They sent you this magic Olive Oil to help you with your work. Here you go!
You can use it to polish your shovel.



Now, about that tourism license...
(Is it really important...?)
Apparently, they don't care about tourism. They won't give me a license! Can you believe it!?
Well, it IS dangerous around here. And a dungeon is no place for tourists...



Dunno about you, but I think that this smells like a plot hook.

Have any taken up residence in your dungeon yet?
Hobgoblins...? No, but there are small Goblins.



Biglins...?

C'mon, man. The correct rename here is "Bigoblin." How do you miss that?

Anyhow, Hobgoblins need a larger dungeon, I think. They like deep, dark, damp places...
Why don't you dig a second floor that's bigger than the first?
Okay. But why?



Add a second floor to the dungeon and trap a bunch of Hobgoblins. They'll be grateful, I'm sure.
Then, I'll ask them for the tourism license one more time...
Uh, yes, sir...
Now, go and make a new floor that will draw them in. Good luck!
Okay...
Hey, Buddy. You got some Olive Oil, right?! Hurry up and polish me with it! Make me shine!



It's a good thing that it's implied that Kate only turns up at the evening to cook for Owen. Otherwise a young lad polishing his shovel in front of a lady would be a mite weird.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff!



The game isn't going to be quite as generous with this stuff in the future. We'll eventually get enough to almost no longer matter... by the time we don't need it any more. :v:

But seriously, most of this stuff is only available as a quest reward. Getting it for no real effort is great.



Before we dive in and build the second floor, we do need to make the rounds and see what the two most talkative people have to say.


Yeah.
Mind if I sell you a little something?
Huh?
Walking all that way to the second floor every day... it must be a real hassle.
I'll sell you Warp magic. It's cheap, and you can go to any floor with it.



He's not kidding when he said it was cheap, geez. Grabbing this now while I remember, but I don't really need it for a while.

The walk to the second floor is really such a non-issue, with that nice path I made. Due to the sheer size difference, the same cannot be said of getting to the third though.



Anyway, we need something to trick Hobgoblins to move in. And nothing we have can do the job...


Um, do you know what a Hobgoblin is?
Of course! The Hobgoblin monster, right...?
I have to lure Hobgoblins into my dungeon. Do you have any rooms a Hobgoblin would like?
Umm, well, err...



Alright, if you want Hobgoblins in your dungeon, then what you need is a Cellar! Hobgoblins love those dark, musty rooms...
And the best part is, the air makes them lightheaded and groggy, so you should have no trouble against them!
Also, Cellars have entrances in all four directions, so they can connect to other rooms!
Wow, entrances in four directions...
You've just got to give this a try! Go on, try it!



We'll just buy the one for the time being, because they are kinda expensive. We need at least five of them before too long though.

More importantly, if we leave and come back...




How about a Field!
A Field... Why would I need that? I'm not planning on growing any potatoes in my dungeon...



It's basically the same as a discount! :pseudo:

Huh...?
And listen up! Since it's nine times as big, that means it's three squares by three squares.
So, when you use it in your dungeon, make sure you dig a hole that is three by three!
So we need to dig nine squares, three across and three down... and then we can place a Field... Okay!

Way ahead of you.

You've got to try it! Go on! Try it!




I see the sign by the entrance has been updated, and that graffiti has been washed off. I mentioned it before, but this does change pretty frequently so we'll add it to our itinerary I suppose.

Nothing else to do, so let's head on into the caves.






Wait a second, Buddy! You don't have to kill it, you know!
It's one of those... other ones... and all that. You know!
Can't you speak a little more clearly?
It's not a bad Slime. This kind doesn't eat people, so you don't have to kill it!
Really? Well, it is round and fluffy. Kinda cute, actually...



Go back home! Wherever that is...
Gooooooooooooooooooooooo!



Will you make up your mind, already? Do you want me to fight it or send it home?
Neither, Buddy! You should make friends with it!
Huh?!



It's not mimicking anything at the moment, so it must have just been born. You should be its daddy, Buddy!
Take care of it and raise it by showing it all sorts of monsters, and teaching it things to mimic!
Wow... I'm its dad...
Hey, little Slime. Wanna come with me?
You're wasting your time. It can't talk!
Well, I like that it's quiet. Come on, little Slime.



Oh, I think he likes it!



At a couple times throughout the game, you can get new music to play in the dungeon; later tracks are actually pretty cool so I'll probably include links for them. Right now it's just "also this is a thing that happens."

It ultimately doesn't matter too much, but if you ever got someone else's dungeon you could probably tell how far they actually are just from the music at least.

Also, y'know, the number of floors. Mostly that one.


All right, let's go!



you'll have the chance to use Mimicry. You'll see skills, stats, special attacks, and stuff. Study the attributes carefully!
Make sure whether or not you want to Mimic that monster's abilities or not...



We'll just use a couple of random enemies on the first floor to showcase Gloop's capabilities. They start off completely unequipped, without the ability to equip anything for that matter, and with no spells. But there's two different spell options? Hmm, probably not important.

Also guarding instead of running. Owen can't guard, only run. Kinda annoying!



Whether or not you get to mimic something is rolled per enemy, but unlike with drops fighting 3 dudes at once doesn't make it a virtual certainty. It's also not always from the last enemy killed. In fact, if you want to mimic something specific, you should just throw that room down on its own.

Anyway, stats on the left are the base stats. Stats on the right are post-mimic stuff. Equipment and special skills if applicable on the bottom; mostly you can pretty easily tell what skils you can get/what you can equip just from the monster itself anyway.



More importantly, before we go downstairs, you may have noticed that the area where the ladder is used to be a wall. Now it's not. We can dig further out from here; there's not much of a reason to do so...



But if we go to the top-right of the expanded area we can find something hidden there of course.



This is where that money was. And it's more than I remembered too! How nice is that.



And if we spend several days digging down to the bottom-left corner we can find something else there as well. There's nothing in the top-left or bottom-right so don't waste your time.



This is some very nice armour, but, uh, it's for women only so Owen can't wear it. This is also the only one you can get, so if you really want it then you gotta do it here.



Fortunately, Gloop is thoroughly gender-neutral so they can wear it quite nicely. We won't be doing that though, and we won't even be collecting it just yet. The water resistance will be handy to have a fair bit later, so just remember its here for now.

It takes like 3 days to get to if you do nothing but dig right towards it. That's kinda ridiculous right now.

Also kinda didn't get the money just yet. In this case its because I forgot to get it until long after we were done though. :v:



So, the second floor. We did make 2/3rds of an area just for this field, so we should stick it right here.



Just a bit north of there, we'll start to build up our grinding area for, uh, just about everything. And it's a long single path too so even Gloop can get in on it.

Later on, I'm going to switch the straw beds here for feed barrels though. You'll see.




Dinner...? Do you think the Slime wants some too...?
Huh? Slime?
Yeah, the Mimic Slime...
...



It's okay! Don't worry... This is a nice Slime. It doesn't attack people.
You've got to be kidding!
It's all right! Relax!



Huh?
It's so gooey and wiggly! Is this your pet!?
A pet, well, yeah, umm...



I'll make your Slime something to eat, too!
Hey! Girl! This Slime doesn't need food!
Huh?
It doesn't eat food. It gets bigger by mimicking things!
That's why it doesn't eat people, either!



Well, isn't that what you are? Buddy's friend... the girl?
Or should I call you his... 'girlfriend'!?
What?! We're... friends!



Oh... just shut up!



I'm sure there's something wonderfully ironic about cooking up some slime immediately after befriending one. Mostly I just want the extra defense though.



Anyway, next day this guy's back. I'm telling ya, you feed a stray shopkeep once...


Oh, good morning.
I wanna eat a Spook Tart.
Oh...
(Again?)



A Spook Tart. Okay, got it.
I'm not sure where you'll find one, but please bring it to me when you do...
Okay...



(What's a Spook Tart? Some kind of snack? Something a Spook would have, maybe...)

A Spook, huh... nope. Don't think we've seen any of them before and I doubt they'll grow in our little farm area. You know what that means!



Do you mind if I say something a little scary?
I love scary things!
Really? Well, I want to lure some Spooks into my dungeon.
That's great! I'll have to go have a look for myself one of these days!
And you know, I have the perfect room for attracting Spooks, too!



..Why's it gotta be an evil Altar? :(

Why don't you buy some Altars and try making a truly horrific dungeon!?



This is beginning to sound like a terrible idea, I don't know.

I mean, seriously, look at that. 800G? What a ripoff!

...still buy one because kinda have to really.




Taterbombs create Fire Bombs and Blizzard Bombs inside their bodies. Defeat them to steal their bombs!
Once you get a Blizzard bomb, you'll be able to buy them at the Magic Shop, too!

Spoilers: we won't be getting a single Blizzard Bomb the entire time we're on the second floor. I know. I'm surprised too.

Huh? How does that work?
Well... You'll understand when you're older!
(Adults sure are sneaky... Wait, is Shovel really an adult?)



Ah, now this is more like it. So many things to kill. LET'S GO! :black101:



Taterbombs, of course, can use their bombs. Well, the fire ones anyway. Not the Blizzard ones.



It really tears into both Owen and Gloop, but the latter moreso right now.



Well, this is nice I suppose. Now we don't want them to drop any more of these ever again. With this in hand, the little girl that sells vegetables now sells them too.

...Naturally, then, with but one exception they're going to drop nothing but these for the rest of the floor. That one exception is a Fire Bomb. :sigh:



Also sticking an Iron Chest right by the stairs. Same principle as before. Plus this makes it easier to loot.



So, the pub "cellar" only contains Hobgoblins but it has an AoE effect. It makes everything start the fight drunk groggy. Grogginess just means they're a little more likely to miss and one other little thing.

Problem is, this overrides the Straw Beds making their inhabitants start asleep. This is kind of a problem with the normal Goblins replacement.



There IS a chance, at least, of groggy things just falling asleep on their turn.



Also, ow, Hobgoblins hit really, really hard for our current "level." If anything's gonna make it so we need to heal, right now it's this thing.



They also drop a lot of new, really good equipment... and this. Well, at least its 500G?



Gonna keep adding to the passageway now. This includes setting up an Altar next to a Cellar. Really, the third room should've been a Feed Barrel again, but in this case it doesn't matter as much.



At least with two floors worth of things to kill now, we begin to get ingredients thick and fast.

Oh and I shoulda pulled out the starter Light Bomb from storage for what comes next. But I forgot like an idiot so... uh.




I'm tired of just hunting Hobgoblins all the time. Let's look forward to the boss.
The more Hobgoblins we attract, the sooner he'll come.



Just more clearing stuff out, and... wow, Taterbombs are much more built than they look. We have to give up being able to equip stuff, but this makes Gloop hit harder than the Warcat arms.



Anyway, tiny Goblins are replaced with Wardogs. Wardogs are big, burly dudes who will stab you. With a sword.



Their sword is the first one we can get and also the strongest weapon available on this floor.

Needless to say, we want it. It might take a while to get though, since they have like four other drops.



....Or we can get it off the very first one we fight. That works too.



Swords are cool and good because, well, this
is an RPG. Of course the best weapons are swords. We will be giving every other type their fair shakes at other points though.



Anyway Spooks are--

....yeah, uh, you don't want this until you get the tart. No Light Bombs? You're not killing any without lots and lots of Strength grinding. Just about every hit is going to deal 1 damage for quite a while!



Unless that happens. Sword unleash on the first hit?

And I can't get a Blizzard Bomb to drop? Is the RNG just broken or something?



Apparently, yes, it is. I was expecting to have to spend ages grinding to get this one. Oh my God.

Yeah, so, Grinning Spooks give Gloop their first spell. Spells work a little differently to other special skills. Those require the right body piece equipped; spells just necessitate getting the head at some point ever. Gloop then keeps the spell forever.

Granted, you do need a headpiece with MP (and right now that makes it Spooks and pretty much nothing else) for it to mean anything though.



Even got the food immediately. This one was pretty likely though. Despite having three drops, this is the one they drop most often. They can sometimes cough up some good equipment but I would not count on it.



Alright, so sticking the trash dump in the middle here seems weird but I have my reasons. Namely that it doesn't really matter where it is. If we want the slime drop, we can get it easy enough as-is and if we don't then we can get something else too.



Speaking of something else, the only hidden item on this floor is in the top-left corner.



I think with this, we have more on-hand right now than we've had for the entire rest of the game thus far.



Also a Warcat on the first floor finally dropped its shoes. Nice of it to do it a bit later than it ought to have done.



Oh. I forgot to talk to the guy about this before. Oops.


There are tons of different ways to eat Potatoes...
But the simplest and tastiest way is to make Boiled Potatoes.



Pictured: our cooking teacher lying to us.

Just be sure not to boil them for too long, or they'll blow up in your pan...
(Well, yeah, they come from Taterbombs, after all...)



Let's try this again, shall we.

I saw an illustration of one in a book I read as a child, and I've always wanted to eat one.



Whoa... A snack you can eat to make yourself smarter. How easy is that?!

Well, it does require being able to kill a Spook in the first place. Easier said than done until we get a certain spell.



Anyway, the guy told us we need two potatoes so I bought a second like a forgetful dope. The recipe only needs one.

That's a whole 60G wasted! And the stat boost isn't even good or anything. Never even making this thing. At least the Potatoes will be handy later, when we get access to really good meals.



For now, we'll just eat even more slime in front of our slime baby and probably make it worry for its life.



If we want to make any Spook Tarts for ourselves (and we will), then we'll want to go straight to the magic shop today.


Anyway, I have some magic in stock for you...
It's light magic, so I'm sure you'll find it useful. Buy it and see for yourself.



Geez, that is VERY expensive. This one spell costs the most out of everything available to buy to date. :stare:

...We buy it immediately, of course. It's the Light Bomb's spell version but better in every way that matters.




So place lots of rooms! In the second floor, for instance, you'll need around to 30 to 40 monsters.
Don't forget to place four or five Cellars, since you're hunting for Hobgoblins!



It's a minimum of five Cellars and a rank of 70+ to get the boss to appear for what its worth, and-- hang on, the chest has been filled at last. Took long enough!



Lots of enemies still get oneshot by Fire Bombs, so we can rush through fights easy enough now. Plus we had over 6000G; Fire Bombs cost 50...



Really, though, just wanted the dogs out of the way so we could replace their bedrooms. Feed Barrels still only give Crowbats and Pigboars here for what that's also worth.



So, yeah, this is why you hit Spooks with Holy Light/Light Bombs. They take 1 damage from almost everything else. Almost unfairly so.



So let's see how much damage this does.



Um, so, a Spook has ~22HP. At their absolute maximum.

This kills one twelve times over. At minimum Wisdom. Magic is pretty good!



Speaking of pretty good, random Slime coughs up a drat nice body part for Gloop. Using this immediately.



Oh dear, I appear to have trapped myself in the bedroom next to the garden. However can this problem be resolved?

Right. Wanton murder.



Kind enough to give us the key to the chest, so we'll see what it contains this time around. Silver Coin and Copper Ring stick around from before; Short Spear is the first of its kind and is only available here. We'll use it later.



Glass Tiara is the second rarest item in the chests here, and naturally Owen can't wear it. So when we get one for real, it'll go to Gloop instead.

This one we can get as a drop on the 3rd floor, so there's that I guess.



But what we want right now is this thing.



It's technically the second best armour avialable right now, Sailor Suit being tied for raw defense but has an elemental bonus, but the best we can realistically use. Giving it straight to Owen, since Gloop can't equip any armour with a Slime body.



Spook Tarts are really good to make, being the magical equivalent of the slime stuff. Easier to get though, only requires one item, and getting one lets you get more easier. It's like an ouroboros of magical power.



So naturally we boost Speed first. :v:

Helps more since 5 Wisdom is enough to laugh at Spooks' feeble attempts to matter. We also kinda want to be fast enough to go before them so they don't Seal our magic anyway.




Although it's best to fight three monsters at a time to earn items...
You'll only be able to Mimic an enemy once per battle!
So if you fight monsters one at a time, you'll have three chances to Mimic monsters! Got it?
If you want to Mimic a Warcat ability, then you should try lining Straw Beds along a corridor.
You'll have a chance at Mimicry for very single room!
So if you want to earn items, arrange your rooms into groups...
But if you want to gain Mimicry abilities, you'll want to spread your rooms out.

Honestly, I just combine the two so that way we can get repeated attempts at mimicking stuff while also getting all the items. Takes less time to set up, significantly less time to fight though and it works just as well.



Case in point, switching the potato-y arms out now for a Hobgoblin's pair instead. Exactly as strong at the face of it, but getting access to a lot of new equipment and a bonus ability for good measure.



Still need a club though, so before we worry about that, let's shut this Spook down so it doesn't get in the way.



And by "need a club," I mean the Hobgoblin that was in this room originally dropped one. So we want to get through this ASAP to get it as quickly as possible.



See? This is an actually Good Club. Sorta.



It's not that much stronger than the first one, and it's weaker than the Wardog's Sword. But Hobgoblin arms are the strongest available for Gloop right now I do believe, so its technically the best weapon there. Can't use swords with Hobgoblin arms.



Speaking of Hobgoblins drops, though, they were kind enough to give us new shoes rather fast as well.



Armour noticeably only goes up in a more piecemeal fashion than weapons which jump all over the place.



And NOW we can boost Owen's Wisdom. At least so its in line with everything else. Feels sorta weird to be making someone so perfectly balanced, but his strengths will be more accentuated later when it matters.



Anyway, just gonna jump right back into the cave now. Making a path around our farm, so that we can get to the boss easier when it spawns. As nice as it is, I don't really want to fight through at last 10 things before fighting the boss itself.



That's just thinking ahead though; it still hasn't spawned, of course. While clearing monsters out again, the Spook actually dropped its robe.



It's a straight downgrade from the jacket, but they're both quite rare to actually get so I'd just take whichever one you can get. If any.

Still no Blizzard Bombs though. The game is mocking me, I swear.



Well, a new shield from a Wardog isn't too bad I suppose.



Granted, shields aren't that great but they're a nice extra all the same.



Gonna need this defence boost before too long, I reckon. Boss should be turning up any moment now.



Okay, well, maybe not. But at least we can trade second floor Warcat legs for... second floor Warcat legs.



This is probably gonna be useful in some way.



Best helmet available thus far, and the stun resistance is going to come in handy.



Shoulda gone for Wisdom and not strength. Hindsight is 20/20 etc. etc.



Mostly because NOW is when this thing turns up.



No reason to delay any further; just gonna beeline straight for it.


Leon



That's a... lion thing with wings and a rockin' beard. I don't think Hobgoblins look like this.



Who are you, child?
Uh...
What is your business in my home?!
Well, um, this isn't really your home..
What!?
This is a trap we built to trick you!



Yes. Without a doubt!



Just because he's King, he thinks he can do anything he likes!
King... Leon...?
You can't fool me. I know you're in league with that King Leon!
I've never even heard of him...
Prepare to be smashed. I'll pulverise you to pieces! I'll bash you into tomorrow... or next week!
Get ready, foolish boy!
Such a macho bully... Time to teach you a lesson!



So, as you might have realised by now, boss fights are kinda slow affairs that aren't really that hard. This is the kind of damage we can expect to deal to this guy.



Well, with Gloop anyway. Owen's can vary wildly from 1 to 7...ish. At least with a normal attack.



Best way to deal with this guy, outside of lucky Stuns, is to use the Holy Light spell. It still only deals 10 damage, but if I wasn't an idiot I could use that to take off 60 of his 146 HP pretty fast.



Especially since his attacks actually kind of hurt. Not so much his normal attack mind.



No, it's his two special skills that are a problem.



The grab doesn't deal that much more damage than his normal attack, but the issue with this one is the chance to stun.



But this attack is the biggest problem here.



Deals more damage than his normal attack, can outdamage his grab, and it hits both Owen and Gloop. Fantastic.

So of course he uses it more than the other two.



We don't have any multi-target healing, but at least our HP is low enough to only need to use the Healing Potions still.

Wish I, uh, thought of that sooner than mid-fight though!



Still, despite that, it just took a mite longer than it ought to have done. Not particularly difficult if you don't just try and mash A or something.


End



All that hard work paid off...! And look! Something has grown in the process.
You mean my item bag, again?
Yep!



Another new page for items is available, and this time it actually matters. Shocking, I know.

There's something on the floor here...



Cool! I wonder if I can wear this!
...Probably not.

Let's go check out that 3rd floor now that we have the chance.



Hey, is it getting a tad hot in here...?
That's right. This'll be a great place for monsters who like the heat!
You know the type. Fire monsters!

Really wish I had blizzard bombs by now!



Ahem, anyway. We have the MP and rooms ready, so let's begin prepwork for when we start for real. Just gonna put the chest down now while I remember.



A couple beds and a trash dump too. Not really much else to add right now; just gonna start to dig out a 3x3 area again off to the right though.

Now, let's go give the Mayor this mane.



...Or, uh, not. Hmm. I guess we need to go take a nap and come back in the morning.




Yeah. It was a tough fight, but we won... He was pretty cool-looking. Kinda like a lion.
But he had these bat wings, and his mane was crazy...!
What the heck? I thought you were just hunting Crowbats down there.



Yeah, didn't I tell you...?
I guess I wasn't listening. I can't believe you've been hunting monsters by yourself!
I'm not alone. I've got Gloop. There are two of us!
Don't forget about me!



It's far too dangerous for you to keep going in that dungeon all alone!
Like I said, I've got Gloop with me!
Don't forget about me!



Yeah, well, it's my job.
You need another person to help out.
Huh...?



Enough magic to start a fire in a furnace...
I'll buy some stronger spells, then!
That Magic Shop doesn't have any good spells...
Stop making up excuses! Leave it to me!
Wh-Who said you're in charge...?



She's not kidding; she's a whole 14 years old!

One year closer to being someone's grandma, you mean!
No one asked you!



And so did Katherine force herself into the party. :confuoot:

Since when did we become heroes...?



Same deal as with Gloop, new party member, new music.



Kate's equipment selection is a bit different to Owen's, of course. She can't use shields, clubs, swords or anything like that. Which, well, did you see her initial stats? She's a blatant mage so fair enough.

We'll give her some of our good stuff in a minute. First, let's see if the Mayor will take the mane now.




Keep putting down those musty Cellars.
I don't know why those Hobgoblins like rooms with such bad air quality, but oh well...

Okay, fine, maybe not then.



That's more like it. Still not ideal, but it will do quite nicely for now. She'll get upgrades pretty fast too anyway.



And, of course, since we're eating for two now, aside from this one time we won't be covering every single meal any more. Not just because it'd get tedious and boring or anything.



I mean, it probably will but a lot of them are going to be pretty obvious and self-explanatory anyway; might just stick end of update stats at, uh, the end of the update or something. We'll see.

Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 20:42 on May 8, 2015

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!
That I did, like always, yeah. Now I don't though; thanks.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!
Hello, I am a filler post. Pay me no mind. :v:

(update on the next page)

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!




I planned to capture and punish him for his misdeeds, but I see that you beat me to it. Thank you!
I hope you continue hunting evil creatures. Let me know if you need anything. I'll help out in any way possible.
-King Leon, the King of the Leons.
(Whoa... The King thanked me. I'll have to work even harder...)



What kind of problem?
I told the Castle about all the Hobgoblins you captured, and do you know what they said?



Well, obviously.
If we can't bring tourists into the dungeon, then let's flip it around.
Let's bring the tourists outside the dungeon! Take the monsters out, and let the tourists view them!
Wouldn't that be dangerous, too...?



All we have to do is stuff some monsters and show them to the tourists!
Oh yeah, that makes sense!
Yes. Yes, it does make sense.
I've even thought about what kind of monster would be ideal for stuffing.
What's more popular than... dinosaurs?!
Dinosaurs...? I don't have any of those in my dungeon.
No? Not even one?
I've never seen any.



I'm sure there are a few in the area. Are you sure you can't lure one into your dungeon?
Do dinosaurs even like to live in dungeons?
Hmm, I'm not sure.
I'll try digging a 3rd floor, but who knows if a dinosaur will show up or not...



Alright, so there's what we have to do this time. Build the third floor to lure in a dinosaur that is probably made of fire. Sounds kinda cool to me.

So, let's see what we can get from the Furniture store to make this happen.




Yeah, she insisted on coming...
So you buy rooms here and arrange them in your dungeon? Hmm...
Do you have any... cute rooms!?
Of course! I have just the thing for a pretty girl like you! A lovely Flower Garden!



That sounds great!
You positively must try it out!
We won't be needing those scarecrows...
Are you sure?! You'll be inundated with cat monsters without them!
Taking care of cat monsters is my job.
I need the monsters to show up, so I can get some armor for women...



Flower Gardens are super expensive, jeez. At least it's 3x3 to make up for it, I suppose.



Since we're just making the rounds right now, we really, really should check into the Magic store...



Because Kate starts with no magic whatsoever. And since she's primarily a spellcaster, that's not a good thing.




Mister! Do you have any magic I could use for sale?
Magic for you to use? What type of magic do you prefer? Nice or naughty?
What are you talking about?! I'm asking you if you sell magic or not!
I know.



The boy uses nice magic, but in your case...I think naughty magic is more suitable. Am I wrong?
Of course you're wrong! I'm a super nice girl!
Well, if that's what you want... You're probably right.
If you follow my suggstions, you won't be able to use recovery or sleep magic...
Of course, you'll be able to burn or freeze the enemy instead...
I don't know if that's your thing or not, but I've got fire magic, if you want it.
Oh, in that case...!



(But she's always fighting...)



Needless to say, we're going to be buying Burn even though it's a bit on the expensive side. It's a bit mean of the game to make it Kate's only available spell when we now have to deal with a very obvious fire boss.



Sorta curious as to what's on the gate at this point...






Alright, that's enough of that. We're kitted out, have spells, new rooms. Let's get to work.




dungeon, now... Heh heh...!



On the way down, figured we'd clear out some of the trash to recoup expenses immediately, get more ingredients etc. and one of the Spooks dropped their hat.



It's not great on defence, but it boosts ATK to make it more worthwhile. I'unno, I kinda like using it at least.



Aside from that, there's nothing left to the first two floors that I can think of. So we'll begin to dig out on the third floor; sticking the Flower Garden right by the entrance so we move through it everytime from now on.

Mostly because for the moment we we want to go towards the top-right corner.



So, two new enemies. Humanosaurs are dinosaur-men that will mess us up if we fight them head on right now. Fireslimes are, uh, slimes made of fire.

Really wishing I had that Blizzard Bomb right now.



Instead, Holy Light is our best bet and it still takes two to drop one.



At least they drop a new cooking ingredient.




It's not just any Slime. It's Fireslime.
Oh! So that's what Fireslime looks like...
You can eat them cooked, you know. Tastes great with Potatoes.



Yeah, so, now that we have the ability to get Fireslime, there's no reason to bother with normal Dry Slime. It's not used in anything but the one recipe we have for it, and that's just this one but with 1 less Constitution.



(Hmm?)
(Hey, isn't that the girl who sells vegetables? She's headed into the town square.)



(And slurping it...)
*slarp slarp slarp!* I'm a fire-eating bug! I love eating fire!
(A fire-eating bug...?)
*slurp slurp!* *slarp slarp!* A fire-eating bug, flying into fire!
(A bug, flying into fire? Sounds like the Flamesaurus... It loves following the fire...)



As weird and sudden as that was, that's the trigger we needed to make another new room available.



We could've gotten this a day early by just talking to the girl at the fountain but eh.


A comfortable bed for monsters? Or perhaps a Feed Barrel to feed those hungry beasties?
I need... fire.
What?
Do you have something with a burning flame?



Yes, put a row of them in; give them a try! Go on, go on!



Needless to say, we're going to need a lot of Fireplaces down before we can make the boss spawn. 10 actually isn't even enough to do it.



Also the Magic store has something new in as well, without any hoops to jump through first this time.


You need it, don't you? I know I do. Sometimes I like to eat food with poison...
Sometimes, a dish looks just too tasty, and I can't help taking a bite.
You should... take care of yourself better...?



It's actually a little better than "removes poison," since it removes stuff like stun as well.



Anyway, Flower Gardens are mostly inhabited by Warcats and Forked Cats. The latter are more annoying because they like to heal if given the chance.



But, well, Kate doesn't grant them their one chance. Burn just oneshots them from full health.



At least they're kind enough to drop a new hat.



It's actually quite good for the moment, though being a tiara only Gloop and Kate can wear it.



Altars give us Hot Spooks on this floor. They're mostly identical to regular spooks but, well, hot.



They're still cripplingly weak to Holy Light so it doesn't really matter though.



They don't give us any new ingredient (same tart as normal spooks) but they do give us some new armour.



It's a good defensive boost and adds some fire resistance. Very nice to get so quickly.



Another thing Forked Cats can drop is their bow. It's the first bow...



And it's a nice upgrade to put Kate's weapon better than our sword.

Oh, right. It has to be Kate; Owen can't use bows.



North of the garden, we're gonna build these little enclaves with some fireplaces in. They're good to farm for food and/or weapons, and we DO need ~12 of them placed anyway.






This is why they are absolutely terrified of the Flamesaurus. If you defeat the Flamesaurus, you can be sure that the otter monsters will go on a rampage.
Maybe I'm worrying too much about this. Well, now you know. Keep this in mind...
-Your Friend, King Leon
(Hm, it makes sense... What should I do, then?)
(Maybe I should just forget about the Flamesaurus...)

Hrm, decisions, decisions. Ah well, the easiest way to decide to deal with this is to just take care of monsters until the problem solves itself.



(I can never tell what he's talking about...)
We'll need Blizzard Bombs. Without those, we'll have a tough time fighting fire monsters!
You! Wait right there, Dungeon Digger!



Please, leave it in the town, along with that Apple Viper Leaf!
You want to show it to the tourists, right?



Hmmm, fascinating... If I put this next to a stuffed Flamesaurus, it'll be a hit...
Oh yes! I looked into something for you!



Well... Wouldn't it be fire?
Er... Uh...
So if we put lots of Fireplaces on the third floor, wouldn't that attract it?
Yeah, that's the ticket! You always know what you're talking about!
But I got a letter from King Leon with all sorts of advice...
You mean the otter monsters... Don't worry about it. Just get that Flamesaurus!
Are you sure?
I'm worried about world peace, you know, but I hear those



That's it, then. *ahem*
After you defeat the Flamesaurus... for the sake of world peace..



I'll give you a stuffing spell!
All right...



Running down to the third floor and a miracle finally happened. How nice of it to give us this just in time for it to be put to use.



See, Fireplaces let us fight Firepigs and Humanosaurs.



Firepigs are obviously weak to Ice, so that Blizzard Bomb came at the best moment.



They also have a chance to Chill things. And whenever something is chilled, its physical damage output plummets like a rock.



I'm sure someday a Humanosaur will get to demonstrate why they're actually kinda relatively deadly, but that day is not today. Also we stole his axe.



The Hand Axe is a fantastic upgrade for Owen. Naturally, Kate cannot use this one.



Humanosaurs can also drop Gold Coins along with various other pieces of equipment.



They, um. They're just there to sell, but with a price like that I don't mind as much.



This might just be me, but I'm beginning to notice a bit of a pattern here.


Oh, good morning.
(Here we go again...)



No prizes for guessing where we're getting this one. At least we don't need to buy a new room to pull it off this time.

All right.
(Yup, here we go again.)
It's tasty in a saute... I want to try it out.
Okay.



It's kinda funny how quickly this turned into being relatively small. On the one hand, yeah, it's as much as a Silver Coin. On the other hand, we now have over 10,000G. And that's a pretty common and consistent thing from this floor onwards too.

(I've sure learned a lot about gourmet food by hanging out with that guy from the Magic Shop.)

Since we don't need any new rooms, we can put our relatively high amount of money into buying the stuff we actually need. How nice.




Oh, and the gate actually gets updated after the Mayor's little speech last time as well. Might not normally think about something as small as that.




That Flamesaurus can spit lava out of his mouth, so make sure your armor is strong against fire!
There's armor that's strong against fire?



There are also Fireslimes. Did you realise that Slimes have rings?
They swallow the rings, and since they can't dissolve metal, they carry them around.
That's why Fireslimes carry rings that are strong against fire around with them.
Look for Fireslimes and other fire monsters and see what you can find!



Yeah, great, so in case it wasn't already obvious from the name and general dungeon design requirement, the Flamesaurus uses Fire attacks. Gonna have to get resistance to that for everyone, and this chest has something that can help with that...



The Ruby Ring is the same ring that Fireslimes can drop, so if we can get it here instead that's a nice bonus. Meh defence, but +10 resistance to Fire.

The Striking Ring is mediocre and merely increases the chance to inflict Stun on things. Presuming, of course, you are using a weapon that CAN Stun in the first place.

There's also Gold Coins in here, making up the last of our common 3 items.



Our requisite good pieces of equipment are a new shield for Owen. It's just a slight upgrade over the one he has now, so it's the best one available at least.



We'll get the other one in a bit, but first Forked Cat being a bigger threat than its meant to be. At least it only poisons one person and we can cure it without leaving now.



They're also kind enough to give Gloop his second spell. Being able to have him heal in some way now is going to be very useful, to be sure.



But, hey, Humanosaurs get to do things now. And they will do them often. 12 damage might not sound like much, but that's still more than everything else can do and we still don't exactly have 60HP or anything.



Their bodyparts are very nice upgrades for Gloop at least. Taking this and some arms so Gloop can use an axe of his own.



More importantly is that Humanosaurs can do this. We can too with axes, or their arms, but its much more efficient when they do it.



It outdamages their normal attack, and even the previous bosses best move... AND hits everyone for good measure. And when you're fighting 3 of them, if they all do it, someone's probably dropping.



They don't take as much damage from our spells as you'd think, so the best thing to do is put 'em to sleep. That way, we can drop them one by one.



Also gonna stick a field on this floor as well. Taterbombs don't give anything new, but we don't get Pigboars at all here. Firepigs replace them entirely. Having more opportunities to get their delicious meats is gonna be handy.




First, make your dungeon big enough for 40 to 50 monsters, as deep as the third floor.
Make sure you have 12 or 13 Fireplaces!
If you don't get a Magic Hole, even though you have a three-floor dungeon...
Well, your dungeon might still be too small, or maye you don't have enough fireplaces yet!



Don't really get much done on this excursion, but at least we pick up two pieces of Firepig. Also start to fix up the general layout a little, to make it easier to get tarts/slime with minimal effort.



Yep.
Good... Saute the meat. Roast Firepig works best. Its delicious when roasted.
Wow...
(Not that I was asking or anything.)



What?
I want lots of Firepig Saute, so please find me one more Roast Firepig.
...
I'll be waiting!



What? Oh, you had another one? Thanks! I'm overjoyed!
Sure.
I'll be eating Firepig Saute tonight, with Potatoes on the side!
Sounds fun.
How could it not be?
Ah yes...
Huh?



It's magic Olive Oil. You use this to polish your shovel, right? Here, you can have it...



We don't actually get any new spells this time around. Instead, we get this. I think that's a fair enough trade and we did get 2 new spells just from general progress anyway.



Just gonna go straight home to polish our Shovel. This time, Kate IS right there as Owen does it.



More importantly, wouldn't you know it? The Firepig completely invalidates the Pigboar here as well (mostly; we'll still actually want the Pigboar meat later). Granted this time the difference is in the HP but that's still enough to make it flatout better.



Back in the hole, we get the Hot Spook's head and pick up a new spell for Gloop. Costs some MP and Wisdom in comparison to our Forked Cat, but I'm sure we can make that up later.



Speaking of stuff we can make up for, the last item from the 3rd floor chest is a new staff for Kate.



It's better than the bow in pretty much everyway, but both kinda presume she'll be attacking with her normal attack. A risky proposition to be sure.



Also Humanosaurs can drop our first piece of proper full-on body armour. Naturally, this can only be worn by Owen (and Gloop with the right body parts).



It has more defence than the Hot Robe so we'll use it for general excursions, but the Hot Robe is ultimately better for this floor.



And Forked Cats can make up for the exclusivity of that by giving up a dress for Kate.



It's actually even better than the armor, but suffers from the same issue of not giving Fire resistance. So, better overall but worse for the moment.



Ah well, at last we've finally made it to the top right corner. This is where the one hidden treasure on this floor is located.



It's even more armor exclusive to Kate (and also Gloop sometimes).



Best helmet she can wear and gives an astounding +30 Fire resistance. The Hot Spooks can drop a hat that Owen can wear to sort of make up the difference but it's not as good and much rarer than you'd think.



But with the tiara in hand, we can slam down our last 3 Fireplaces and finally finish up making the dungeon. Now we just need to make a path to the spawn point in the top-left corner.



You can tell when you have enough Fireplaces, because after the next fight/upon re-entering the next day/opening and closing the menu/what have you, the floor turns red. This doesn't necessarily mean you have enough rooms to make the Flamesaurus spawn, but you've got the "harder" part done at least.



Also for the first time ever, on the way out we hit the item limit! I know, I'm shocked too.



But yeah, so come back next day and the Flamesaurus is here. Still haven't quite finished the path to it though.



We were at least reasonably close, so fighting it right now is...




What we aren't going to do. It would burn us alive. Kinda need more fire resistant gear first.



Like this. Didn't actually have any before now, so we're gonna take this, the tiara, the robe and duplicate them all to have enough to kit everyone out with maximum fire resistance.



Owen gets 2 rings and the robe. That ups his resistance a decent amount, but without the hat from the HotSpook he is at the most danger here.



Both Kate and Gloop get the same as Owen, but can add the tiara to push them to 80.


Flamesaurus



So, who was expecting it to be a Stegasaurus? No one? Yeah, me neither.



Hey, this isn't the time to stare and gawk! It's coming right at us!
You're right. We'd better fight it!
...Still, I wish we could look at it a little while longer...



So, Gloop has our highest strength and with the best weapon available barely cracks 5% of this dude's health. We might be here a while.



Owen's better suited to throwing down Holy Lights again, since they're more effective than his contributions with the axe.



And Kate's gonna throw Blizzard Bombs every turn. The dino isn't weak to ice, but he is borderline immune to fire so she can't really do much else.



Plus this way there's a chance to chill him for a turn or two. Always helps when it drops his physical damage by a mile.



The problem is this. It's his best move, and he will spam it from the word go. And since it counts as a spell, its damage is unaffected when he gets chilled.



Naturally, it hits REALLY hard and hits everyone. And this damage is with our elemental resistance to boot. Yeah, it's quite the nasty blow.



His other big move is also fairly mean, albeit in a different way.



Not the damage, of course. That's nothing, and on that metric this is his least threatening move. Even with being a multi-target attack.



No, the problem is that it has a chance of inflicting Stun. And it's rolled for everyone. So it's totally possible for this one attack to stun everyone simultaneously.



Mostly, it's just a matter of keeping HP up and not taking any unnecessary risks. His damage output with the lava is consistent, so once you get hit by it once that tells you your margin for error.


End



This time around, this happens with no fanfare whatsoever. Just gonna take it as a given from now on, then.



You've created a Stuffed Saurus!



He's not wrong. Now that we've got our very own taxidermied dinosaur, we can rake in all the tourist money world peace laurels or whatever.

Also Owen can stare longingly at it forever now, just like he wanted.

So, uh, how about that fourth floor?




There's groundwater seeping out of the walls...
This'll be a great floor for monsters that like water and the cold... Like otters and you know...!



Just gonna do some basic set-up stuff again. Nothing too major for the time being; don't have the rooms for it really. Sorta forgot to stock up on them. :v:



Did you defeat the Flamesaurus? And did you stuff it yet?!
Well, yehah... Here it is...
Nice work! Now I can get some tourists to visit this town!



It's amazing how she actually believed that blatant lie, geez.

Of course! And now that the world is at peace, we can get some tourists in here, right?
But now some otter monsters may go on a rampage...
Oh yes, you mentioned that. I'm sure you're up to the task of taking care of one or two otters!



Nice work. I'll give you a little token of appreciation from the town!



All right, I have to go now!
Huh...



That is a very good question, and it's one who's answer will have to wait.



It's sort of entwined with that of another question anyway, and it's an equally obvious one. Just how badly did we mess things up?



I get the feeling those otters aren't going to be of the cute and cuddly variety, considering the way the King was talking about them...

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Wayne posted:

About how much time have you taken playing the game so far? It looks like a lot of fun, but I'm worried about farming item drops being a core part of the game.

Up to this point is probably about 5-6 hours or so, but I'm taking things pretty slow so that might not necessarily be representative of most people's time. As for the farming, it kind of is and it isn't; so long as you fight 3 enemies at once, you're virtually guaranteed a drop. This is only really troublesome when you're fighting things with a lot of possible drops and even then you can ignore most of them. Even then, pretty much everything you can get on your most recent floor will be useful in some way.

Really, you can just roll with whatever you get and not have to worry too much about it. Unless, well, you're trying to get absolutely everything.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Another day, another floor, another problem to solve. I'm sure it's not a big deal.

I've received an announcement from the Castle.



Oh boy...
These are more than just otters. we're talking Otter Warriors here!
A bunch of otters swinging swords. Thousands of 'em. Tens of thousands!
This is not good... We'd better do something.
I've been ordered by the Castle to take responsibility for this mess.



Oh no, what a shame that would be. :geno:

Please, use your dungeon to hunt these Otter Warriors down.
Get rid of every Otter Warrior you find. Every last one of 'em!
All right...
Wait a second! This is all the Mayor's fault!



Well, yeah, but...
Thank you for your help! Really. I mean it!
(Sure...)



So, before we do anything else... none of our usual suspects have anything new to say. No new food-related stuff, no new equipment, no new rooms, nothing. But!



If the daddy pig stumbles, the whole pile tumbles, and they all hit the ground in a smack!
(If the daddy pig stumbles, they all tumble... I wonder if the Otter Warriors are the same?)
(If they are, all I have to do is beat the leader... I wonder who the leader of the otters is?)
(Better ask King Leon...)

So, now one person does have something new to say but we'll deal with that in a moment. First, we'll go back home for a moment.





There... That should be good enough.

That's almost everything we can do now before we go and deal with this new problem. We'll get something out of this letter in a day or two, so we're just killing time until then.



No new rooms to buy, no new spell/food stuff either. That just leaves the equipment store.


H-Hello.
Hey, boy... I have another favor to ask of you. Do you mind?
Sure.



Seashell?
They say that they have the power to resist water magic.
A traveler wants one to protect himself from monsters. So, I thought...
"Who might be able to find one of these rings...?"



No problem...
So you agree to look for a Shell Ring? For me?
Sure, I'll get you one.

That just leaves one last little thing...




Okay, NOW we can go back into the cave.



Amazingly enough, our chest already has something in it. There's no new enemies down here at the moment (only room placed is a Flower Garden) so we'll just see what it contains.



Nunchaku are, much like in real life, a bad weapon that are not worth using ever. They sometimes Stun things and maybe attack every enemy when they feel like it, but they're weaker than our Axe which does the second half as well so whatever.

Bronze Boots are boot upgrades. Very ho-hum, nothing too fancy so we'll grab two/three pairs later. Sapphire Ring is the ice/water equivalent to the Ruby Ring we have plenty of. Get some of them later too.

Silver Ring is new though. It's the first ring that gives a whole two defence points! Does nothing else though, so we'll ignore it forever.



But the one we're going to actually run with for the time being is this. The Scale Mail is a damned good armour upgrade.



"Armour" being the operative word, however, as Kate cannot use this one. Shame too, since its our first piece of equipment that grants double-digit defense.



Come the next day, we get a reply from King Leon. How nice!




Since he knows that he'll be targeted if he comes out into the open, he hides in the shadows. Nowhere are the shadows deeper than in a dungeon like yours!
So build a 4th floor that otters would love. If the Otter Wizard deems your dungeon a good place to hide, then he will definitely make an appearance.
You already know how to make a dungeon that water monsters would enjoy, right?
Your Friend, King Leon.
(Yeah, I'll have to make lots of rooms with water on the 4th floor...)

Rooms with water, huh? Shame we don't exactly have anything like that. Now where can we get something that would work...



A room with water...



the Otter Corps happy?!
True, but... that's what I want.
A dungeon needs to make its monsters happy, or it's not really a dungeon...



So with that little bit of design philosophy in mind, we can now buy Water Sources. They're pretty expensive to say we need a lot of them to finish the floor, yeesh.



Yeah...
(And...?!)
You need to attract water monsters, right? So place Water Sources... but no Fireplaces!
They'll weaken the effect of the water!
If you want to open a Magic Hole on the fourth floor, you'll need 50 to 60 monsters...



Make sure you collect armor that's strong gainst ice and water!
Otherwise, you'll have a lot of trouble fighting against water monsters!

So, basically, this floor is a shameless rehash of the previous one but with water monsters now instead of fire. Sorta feels like they should be switched, since this one is laughably easy considering we got plenty of time to get Fire spells and the like.



Just to really highlight how much filler this floor basically is, the obvious new enemies are just blue reskins.



Complete with requisite Fire weakness, of course, so we can demolish them.



Even the new food is mostly obvious. At least this one technically doesn't completely invalidate the Fireslime already.

...It only mostly does.



And, of course, Cold Spooks are the altars as well. Because obviously they are.



Weak to Fire as well, but Light still absolutely ruins their day moreso. Both oneshot, but Holy Light is still cheaper so its preferable by far.



As you would expect, they do drop the Ice equivalents to their Fire-types drops. So, a robe and a hat for the spook, and a ring we can get from the chest for the slime.



At least the Cold Robe is slightly hardier as well as being more elementally useful.




That's a really refreshing treat, supposedly. Try it in Waterslime Pasta.
Water... slime... pasta...!?
Yeah, you cut it into thin noodles and then boil it.
After it's done boiling, cool it in some cold water and put some Pigboar and Spinach on top.
It's easy to slurp up, even if you don't have an appetite, and it's really good for you.
Wow...



...
Sounds so good. Soooooooooooo good.
Umm... Do you want me to give it to you?
Really? Are you sure? Well, if you insist...
I do insist...
I'll get some magic for you in return. Thanks, I'll take that...!



So, in theory, this is just the Fireslime but better. Same constitution but with a strength point for good measure. The trick between the two, though, lies in that the Waterslime gives MP whereas the Fireslime gives HP.

Still, that Strength point on top makes it hard to justify using the Fireslime at this point. The HP vs MP aspect is less important than it seems in this particular case, since there's plenty of ways of getting either now. This one is slightly more geared towards helping Kate, of course, but that doesn't really matter.



Anyway, next day!


Thank you for that Waterslime. I've acquired a new Ice Shards spell for you.
Not only does this damage the enemy, it chills them, too.
Chilled enemies have a harder time attacking. Doesn't that sound pretty handy?
Not a bad trade, is it...? Are we even for the Waterslime Pasta, now?



Really?! If someone took food away from me... Well...
I'd be mad at them for at least five or ten years... Maybe more!



As thematic as it is, even the spells seem backward in terms of progression. Ice Shards costs exactly as much as Burn, but is equally effective in general and...



Almost completely worthless on our deepest floor. Because it's a water floor and its a water spell. Also it costs 4MP to Burn's 3 for no reason at all, but that adds up with how low our MP currently is.



At least its useful against the cats, but that's about it right now.



Our first destination here is the bottom-left corner, which is wonderfully simple to get to after the past few. Of course it has the Ice equivalent to our current Tiara.



It's pretty much exactly what you would expect, to be honest. Same defence, but different elemental resistance. Gonna dupe this to get one for Gloop later, of course.



Water Sources have nothing to fight but the Otter Warriors. They're a little hardier than their HP implies, but a Fire attack oneshots them anyway so it doesn't matter to much.

They're also weaker than a lot of things we've fought lately which both makes sense but is kinda weird.



Fortunately for us, they're the only thing around that can drop Shell Rings. Unfortunately, they have a ton of drops possible. A weapon, armour, helmet, boots, that ring and this item. It's a food ingredient, but we need a lot to put it to use so we'll hold off going to talk to the Magic Store guy for the moment.



Also, as you would expect by now, Gloop can snatch Ice Shards from the Cold Spook.



And they drop the one hat we need for Owen too.



The Cold Hat is completely identical to our Hot Hat save for the element. It's the best thing Owen can use here with regards to Ice resistance from a hat/helmet, so it'll have to do.



Might as well talk to this guy again while we remember. No, it's not going to lead to another new quest this time.


Um, I've got some Clam. Do you know how to cook it?



Uh?
Will you give it to me?
Uh, sure. Here...
Thanks... Yum! Okay, I'll tell you.
Okay.
Salt 'em and cook 'em. That's it.
That's... it...?
Yeah. That's it.

Somehow I can't help but feel like we just got hustled.



We also need two of them to make one in the first place. It's like a Spook Tart but way better... with the catch of being much harder to make. Because Otter Warriors do not like dropping them.



Anyway, immediately after re-entering we'll pick up something from that chest. The Bronze Boots are actually a much bigger upgrade than you might have expected; arguably worth snagging more than the Scale Armor at first.



Thankfully, we were even able to get a Shell Ring relatively quickly which is good. Because now the Otters are going to drop their swords far, far, far more often than anything else.



Shell Rings are even the best ring to use at the moment for their resistance, since they give 20 vs the Sapphire Ring's 10.



Although, um, can't really equip it right now. Probably just to be more player friendly when we go and hand it over.



And now it begins. So many Otter Swords. They're not even good for this floor!



A decent damage upgrade in theory, but being water elemental kinda kills their usefulness. Go figure.




Yes, I've got one right here.
Wow... Thank you! I really appreciate this...
It's no problem at all.
Here, why don't you give this a try? I just made it.
You make your own weapons?



Here, please use it. I made it just for you.
Just for me...
(*gulp gulp*)



Hey, a neat new weapon.



It's a little weaker than what we have right now, but it's more suited to the floor. Sadly, its normal attack isn't fire elemental but the extra effect is and procs more often than you'd think.



It does sell for a relatively decent chunk, to say we got it for free and all. Gonna sell it to buy two back, so we've got it duped for both Gloop and Owen to use.




It's not worth a Clam, but I have this Seal magic spell in stock for you to buy, if you want...



Seal is not worth the price at all. It's for Owen, and 3k is way too much for something we could do with Gloop effectively since we first met.

...Still going to buy it though.



Otter Warriors only have one really "threatening" attack, and that's damning with faint praise.



Because, yeah, it hits everyone... but that 6 is the biggest amount of damage it's ever dealt. So, uh, yeah. Not really a threat.



Much like with the previous floor, once we get enough Water Sources placed the floor changes colour after a screen transition. Since it's a water based one this time it goes blue.



Still not done with the actual floor itself, since need more Rank, but we're getting there. For now, let's just steal a shield from the Otters.



It's better than the random crap we've had for ages and grants elemental resistance we want too. How nice!



Farms on this floor have a new enemy to contend with as well. Missile Carrots are, well, giant sentient carrots that fire arrows at us.



Being carrots, they're quite susceptible to being set on fire. Gonna do that quite a lot then.



Naturally, they do drop Carrots quite often. Quite unnecessary, though, since after we get the first one the child at the Square sells them.




Carrots? There are all sorts of different ways to eat them...
But for a girl, I'd recommend Carrot Juice?
You make juice out of one Carrot and use it to wash down a Spook Tart.



I think they're good for a girl's diet, too.
Good for dieting... Hmph!



Technically, the Carrot Juice isn't as good as the Baked Clams. In practice, it's easier to make and does just as good a job. I'd focus more on getting Kate to drink this a lot, with the occasional clam whenever we have the ingredients on hand. But that requires the otters to be co-operative.



Speaking of the otters, one of them dropped his helmet.



It's a helmet in every way. It's okay, I guess, but sticking with the Cold Hat for now.



And one of the carrot-men dropped his bow for Kate.



It's a very nice bow, being the best weapon she can get this floor and it unleashes a chain attack too. Much better than poisoning a thing and dealing a whole 1 point of extra damage now and then.



Throw down enough rooms, and the boss finally turns up. Just took another day or two after grabbing the bow.


Otter Wizard



So, the Otter Wizard. It is an Otter that is also a wizard.



It also has a silly hat that looks like a froggy.


That's right! Let's kick its rear end!
And, uh, Shovel... Why don't you help us out this time, for a change...?
Huh? Wha...? Hey, Shovel!
He's hiding already.
Somehow, I'm not so surprised...



So, the Otter Wizard is, by far, the easiest boss we've fought to date. He's not weak to Fire, but that's fine.



He does resist Ice/Water, though. Makes sense, since he is an otter and all.



He can bonk you over the head with his little staff. And it, uh... it can stun and deal minimal damage.



Hey, look, it's his only good attack.



It's not actually all that threatening at this point. With enough elemental resistance, its damage can be mitigated greatly.



While it can chill, this is a boss fight so we just throw spell after spell after spell. Which is completely unaffected by being chilled.



Owen even actually ends up being our hardest hitter here, since Holy Light is cheaper than Burn but just as effective. It's only 1MP less, true, but it adds up.



This also means we get to relegate Gloop to healing duties while Owen just blasts the wizard until it dies.



It doesn't take very long at all.


End



All right... Victory is ours! We can prove that we beat the leader of the Otters, now!

Plus the requisite item bag increase for good measure.



No dialogue about our new floor this time. Mustn't be anything special.



Ah well, we'll just get started the same as always. Throw down our chest by the entrance...



And put an altar a little bit further up. Altars are a bit different on this floor. You'll see!




Hey... Do you think this will end the war?
Of course!
We're going to be heroes!
Errr... If you say so...
But it's all the Mayor's fault, you know.
Do you think the guys at the Castle will forgive him?



Huh?
It's causing nothing but problems.
The Mayor has his stuffed Flamesaurus, so that should be enough to generate tourism here.
We don't really need a dangerous dungeon anymore.
Good point...



Yep. I think that will end this war.
Oh, what a relief! Now I can use the dungeon to drum up tourism without any worries!



What... What are you saying?! Aren't you thinking of world peace?
That's just why we decided there's no more need for a dangerous dungeon.
We want to get rid of it for the sake of world peace!
Do you have any idea how many monsters you've beaten in that dungeon?
That dungeon is the reason you were able to hunt down so many dangerous beasts!



I wonder...
The town is prepared to provide you with some... dungeon building funds!



This sounds like a lot, but we have almost 50,000 already and this'll barely get us one room now. So, uh, thanks??

And here! Olive Oil! Use it to polish your cute, little shovel!



This is more useful, though, definitely.

Anyway, take the night off. Think it over. Think carefully...
Are you sure you want to bury a dungeon that was good enough to save the world?!
Hmm...

Yeah, we should think carefully through the night. Who knows what could come up in the interim?



But I understand what the Mayor's saying, too...
What do you mean? All the Mayor cares about is making money.
It's the job of the soldiers from the Castle to defend the peace!
Their... job...?
We have our own job to do.
My job is to dig dungeons.



I don't really remember...
Let's look for another job.
I'll talk to the Mayor tomorrow and tell him you're tired of working as a Dungeon Digger.
...



Also got this to do for good measure. +10MP is a very nice upgrade, alright.



Yeah, so, decided to finally give Owen some decent Wisdom to be useful in boss fights. It worked out quite well, I think. He does need more Speed and Strength now, though. Speed espcially is hard to get right now, since the only recipe we have for it is the Crowbat Leg from floor 1 still.



Kate just gets to keep on being Kate. She needs more Speed as well, but for the moment we'll just keep boosting that Wisdom and Con as she laughs at everything.

Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 19:21 on May 12, 2015

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Well, we beat the last boss for the King so it makes sense he sent us a letter.



Actually, there's a favour I'd like to ask of you.
There's another dungeon near the town of North Cliff. An evil wizard used to live in that dungeon's fifth floor, but I defeated him.
But now, there's a problem. The wizard had been guarded by a single Golem, and that Golem escaped!



Ironsides was ordered to defend the fifth floor of a dungeon, so if your dungeon reaches this depth, I think it just might take up residence there.
Would you mind taking care of Ironsides?
Your Friend, King Leon.
...

Well, looks like we know what our goal for this floor would be. But, well, we might just not deal with this any more. Kate did kind of want us to quit...



You've decided to continue digging your dungeon for the sake of the town, right?
Umm... about that... Actually...
Actually...?
That is...
Oh, would you just spit it out?! Here, I'll say it for you. Outta the way!



Um! Is that right?!
Let's start out by making the fifth floor incredibly luxurious.
It'll be even better than that dungeon in North Cliff!
What? There's another dungeon in North Cliff? It's got five floors? This will not do!



Mr. Mayor!!!
Uh, yes?!
We build our dungeon to defeat monsters. Developing the local economy isn't our goal!
Keep that in mind, okay?!



New music in mind, we can get on with our new excursion. First, though, if we want to follow Kate's advice then we will need some new rooms I reckon. Don't have much in the way of luxury right now.



Some people say you're trying to make the best dungeon in the world. Is that right?!



None of them are paying me for their rooms, but I guess you're right...
Be sure to use this Fancy Bed.
Even magic-using monsters will want to move in when they see this!



Fancy Beds are a fair bit more expensive than their lesser brethren. What doesn't help is that, once again, we need a fair few of them.




On its own, not a problem, but we can only get 5 now and then 2 a day for the remainder. This is the biggest timesink with this floor, since it makes it take longer than it feels like it should.




Huh? For what?
I decided to continue my work as a Dungeon Digger, too.
I thought you'd be mad, so I couldn't come out and say it.
Wait were you thinking all this time that I wanted to quit being a Dungeon Digger!?
Huh? Well, I mean, you...

You only just yelled at him a bunch last night over it.

You've been wanting to continue, right? So that's that!



Thanks... I'll do my best...



Alright, so new enemy from the Fields. Crowcats are our replacements for the Crowbats in basically every way. It took long enough, huh?



They're not very strong, at all. All they can really do is a basic attack that inflicts Sleep but does no damage at all.

They DO have a basic attack that does deal damage, but it's thoroughly unremarkable so whatever.

They also give Gloop the Sleep spell, which is going to be very useful.



They have more drops than their lesser bat cohorts, but their pelts are just free money so it works out nice either way.



Altars now have dropped Spooks for armored skellingtons. Bone Fighters aren't all that big of a threat...



And Holy Light still demolishes them without issue.




Oh, good morning.
If I say I wanna eat something again, will you mutter, "Here we go again," AGAIN?
Yeah.



Here we go again.
They're great in stews, you know. I just can't seem to find any for sale anymore.
So I'm counting on you to find me a fresh supply...



(Wow, 700 Gilberts... He sure is generous when it comes to food...)

We're not really doing these for the money, so this being small is kind of a non-issue. We don't even need new rooms or anything for this.



Well, even King Leon had to let him go...
Yeah! But no!
Well, which is it...?
Ironsides is amazingly strong! You'd better put together your own suit of iron, too!



Oh god, Warriors...

Warriors?
Yeah, monsters that only care about fighting! Think of some way to attract Warriors.
Go to the Furniture Shop and ask if they have any rooms that Warriors might appreciate!

We're going to have to go back eventually... and that armour does sound nice...



Do you have a room to attract warriors?



A Dojo? Ah yes! Young master, a Dojo is a place where warriors train!
If you put one in your dungeon, you'll be sure to attract warriors!
You may have a little trouble fighting all of them, but why not try one and see what happens?!
The stronger the opponent, the better the rewards...

That's not necessarily true, because we don't get EXP from these things. Only reason to fight enemies on deeper floors is more for drops than anything else.



Anyway, dojos are super extensive. They're another 3x3 room, but with the caveat of having only one entrance this time. We'll just buy one for the time being.



They look cool, though. Shame we can't take the weapons and armor that decorate the room, because that'd make them a bit TOO good.



Fancy Beds give us paletteswaps of the old Warcats. Black Warcats are just regular Warcats but stronger. They have the same attacks and everything.



Wizardrills are spellslingers who prioritise Light elemental stuff, and the very first one gives Gloop the Holy Light spell. This is going to help demolish multiple Bone Fighters in a single round now.



And they drop Light Bombs too, just so Kate can be useful as well.



...Mostly because they're hardy guys and aren't as effected by Fire as you'd think. Ice is just as ineffective.



Their bodies are really good for Gloop, though. The Con boost is nice, especially, since it lets Gloop be just a little behind Owen and Kate.



Also the first Crowcat this time around drops its tail. We actually get 3 before we're done with the floor.




Don't worry about it.
For a Dungeon Digger, you sure collect a lot of food.



Also because we kind of need a ton of food to increase our stats. Plus he only asks for one new thing every floor.

I'll be waiting for the next one, then.
What, again?!



All right. Here you go.
Oh, hey, you already had another one? Way to be prepared. I'll take that, then.
Sure...



That'd be useful, wouldn't it, Dungeon Digger?



Almost as if it knew how to deal with our speed problem now, the Stew works well for that. 3 ingredients are easy to gather (Crow Legs are the only Crowbat drop and we can buy Potatoes and Carrots), and we'll have plenty of Tails over time too. The MP increase is a nice bonus.



Hey, how have you been surviving without it all this time? Don't you know how to be prepared...?
(How can we be prepared if you don't keep it sitting out on your shelves...?)



Heal All is surprisingly cheap for what it does. It's flat-out better than Heal in every way. Guaranteed to heal more and heals everyone at once? Only thing that puts it less than absolutely perfect is it costs 10MP to use.



...So, in the Dojo we have Humanosaurs, Hobgoblins and Black Warriors. The Warriors are really powerful and might actually pose a serious, major threat.



For reference, this is their basic attack.



So, uh, the easiest way to deal with these guys is to cast Sleep until it hits all of the warriors.



This is a bad thing. Their Warrior Slash is really, really strong and lethal.



Reminder, their basic attack dealt 20 to Gloop. Gloop has noticeably lower defence than Owen.

Yeah... these guys are nasty!



...Their arms are really good for Gloop, though. Especially since it gives their Warrior Slash skill.



Naturally, they can drop a piece of Iron equipment for every relevant slot. As a matter of course, Kate cannot use the vast majority of it.



The Iron Helm is one of the least exciting ones at this point, since its a small upgrade. And getting it from the Black Warrior is a bit of a disappointment, since the Bone Fighters can also drop it.



The Black Warcats at least partially make up for Kate's inability to use the Iron stuff.



The Halter is a wonderful upgrade over the dress we picked up not too long ago, and all. Naturally, it's a Halter so Owen can't use this one either.



And then the Wizardrill dropped a bow for Kate.



It's main draw is being Light elemental, but it doesn't help with the Bone Fighters as much as it seems it should. Her lacking Strength is part of that though.



The Warcat gives Gloop the Cure spell as well. So many new spells this floor!



And then it drops its knife as well.



It's a minor increase over the Otter Sword, but nothing super-super amazing. The poison effect is pretty meh.



In the top-left corner, we find a new ring. Despite its name, it's not that bad.



It's not that good either, but +4 defence is nice to have. Not gonna use it though. It doesn't have any negative effects or anything like that, though.



A Warrior gives up his shield. Another piece to add to Owen's necessary collection.



It's also quite a nice upgrade over the Shell Shield as well. Gonna have to get a second for Gloop at some point; probably just sell this one.



Another Black Warrior dropped a new ring. This one is not very good, unfortunately.



The special attack increase is alright in a few places, but mostly not very useful or effective. Might give one to Kate at some point so she can do stuff if she runs out of MP.



Also, the treasure chest is full now. We'll take the spear for now and worry about the rest of its contents later.



To say this is the second spear, it's very good. Definitely gonna use this with Owen for the moment.



So, a small thing before we continue working on the fifth floor is that the Black Warriors have... this in their Monster Guide entry. For everything else, that bottom area lists (most of) their drops. Not the case here for some reason.



More important, the chest we placed on the fifth floor's been filled again. Let's clear out the remaining four possibilities.



It's mostly just stuff we've already seen, though. If we never got that Ring of Light way back on the first floor, this would be the earliest we could get it. Yeaaaaah.



The Tiara of Light is exactly what you would expect at this point. It's also the only one worth our time other than a second spear or something.



So, those Black Warriors have a really good sword. They're normally reluctant to drop them at all.



I'd have been okay with just the one, but two dropped in a row.



Not much of an offensive upgrade over the Long Spear, but their special attack being A Ton Of Damage makes them the best weapon we can get. Of course, Kate is stuck with the bow from the Wizardrill.



Speaking of swords, the Bone Fighters can drop the one with the best name.



It's not a super-good weapon or anything, it's actually a bit of a step back at this point. The seal effect is also sort of underwhelming.



The Black Longsword is really, really ridiculously good. It's major overkill when its effect procs. And it will very, very often.



Another new drop from a Wizardrill is this Magic Potion. I think we got one back on the third floor from a Forked Cat, but I don't remember it happening. Anyway, they restore 50MP to someone. More than enough for a full restore right now.



...And sometimes I forget what I am doing and accidentally kill the Black Warriors first. I should pay more attention at times.



Something not immediately obvious that the fifth floor will change colours as well. Unlike the previous two, it doesn't do it when we have enough of the right room placed though. This one happens when we've hit all the requirements for Ironsides to turn up.

With that, we need to setup for the fight. Which means all the Iron stuff for both Owen and Gloop, whatever we can manage for Kate, an Attack Ring for both Owen and Gloop and light protection for everyone. You'll see.



With all that done, we can come back the next day to meet the golem.


Ironsides



And he looks a bit like the Tinman from Wizard of Oz. I'm not the only one that thinks that, am I?



Sure looks tough...
Do you think we can beat it with these weapons?
Maybe... There's only one way for you guys to find out!
...
Focus on just staying alive somehow, until you do a special attack!
You're kidding me, right...?



So, Ironsides is actually a difficult fight for once. Sometimes. This is his strongest move, but he doesn't use it all that often.



Which is both good and bad. Bad because it's really cool as he hits everyone with sweet eye-lasers. Good because it hurts really, really hard. And we can't stack as much Light resistance as everything else.



...He's also very, very durable. Every single (normal) attack is almost assuredly going to deal 1 damage without some insane grinding. And since he has over 200HP, you might think this is going to take a while.



Doubly so when even Kate's spells are still single-digit damage. Owen's Holy Light is just 1 hit point of damage, but for the MP cost. Because obviously Ironsides resists Light.



His basic attack is just as useless as ours, thankfully. Well, for the most part.



It can Stun though. And it just about always will, even with our Iron Helm. The Stun is one of the harder parts of the fight.



Good thing is Gloop's Warrior's Strike can hit for almost 20 damage when it happens. It can also be another sub-10 hit.



And then there's this. This is technically his second most effective attack, but its the one he uses most often in the end.



It's a little weaker than his Piercing Light, but it's not Light elemental so it will hit Kate harder. It's also got a very high Stun rate, so it can help facilitate our defeat easier.



The Attack Rings and decently high chance of the Black Longsword's special combine to make the fight bearable. Especially when Owen and Gloop pull it off back-to-back.



Two of them makes the fight super-easy. Three is a straight up win. One makes it semi-bearable but still very tedious, and if it never happens then you will probably cry of boredom.


End



He was tough, but old Ironsides is now just a pile of scrap!
Do you think people will want to see it?
Of course! Even King Leon couldn't get his hands on this scrap!



You should write your name on it...!
Here, allow me to do the honors.



There we go...!
That's not quite my name...

Also it was totally Kate that defeated it.

Anyway, that's five floors down. Let's go see what's waiting on the sixth!




This'll be another floor for some fire monsters...



You know the drill with this by now. Chest by the stairs, other rooms a little further out. The field is very important for something later, but it'd be better one more to the right. Ah well.



...And, of course, NOW the Wizardrill drops its robe at last. When I don't really need it any more. :sigh:



Would've been nicer for Ironsides in case he used his Piercing Light attack more often. As is, we'll just sell it and move on.



No point going to see the Mayor, since this was ultimately nothing to do with that guy. We could go start the sixth floor's sidequest now, but that can wait until later.


Hey, King Leon is a king, right?
Isn't he as important as the human king who lives in the Castle?
Aren't you important too, since you're his friend?



Not really...
But you did work for the King, so doesn't that make you kind of important?
At least as important as, say, the King's cook.



Maybe it comes from how you do your work.
Why...? Do you want to be important?
Not really. What about you?
Meh... not really.
Oh, then don't worry about it.



Not a particularly great reward, huh? Ah well, no point worrying about that now.



Instead, need to worry about what we're going to eat going forward. Running very low on ingredients at this point. Probably gonna farm up some during 6th floor shenanigans.



Speaking of which, as nice as "build dungeon, improve tourism!" is as a goal, it doesn't leave much room for an overarching plot. How about we finally change that?

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Zushio posted:

I would say Ironsides looks like The Big O personally.

Oh yeah, I can kind of see that. I think that's probably more likely the intended result, if it's meant to be reminiscent of anything.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


So, are you ready for the actual plot to turn up now that we're halfway through the game? I know I am!



You did it, Buddy! He said you're a world-class Dungeon Digger!
How does that make you feel? Are you happy?
Be quiet for a second, will yah? There's more. Let me continue...
"Now that I know you've got this much skill, I must tell you about a crisis that threatens the world."
What?! A crisis that threatens the world?!



The Devil Prince is still a long way off from being awarded the title of Devil Lord.
That is why this Devil Prince is trying to become the Lord of the mortal realm. He plans to enslave the human race and annihilate all opposition...
Can you believe this insanity?!
The Devil Prince has ordered all monsters to change the world into a place more to the liking of devils.
This is why the Hobgoblins and that Otter Wizard have been running amok lately.



Yeah. Apparently, there's this dangerous person called the Devil Prince.
Person? If he's a Devil Prince, then he's no person. He's a devil. So... what about him?
He's been ordering monsters to remake the world into a world fit for devils.
...Or something like that...
Wait a second, there's more. I'll keep reading.



I guess that's close enough to count as a title drop.

The Dragon is planning to build a dungeon for the Devil Prince. If it succeeds, the Devil Prince will come to our world!
The Dragon wants to complete its dungeon as soon as it can. This is why I think it might try stealing an existing dungeon.
You know where this is going...
The Dragon is going to try and steal your dungeon! I might suggest just demolishing the dungeon to prevent the Dragon from taking it...
But you're such a brave, young man that I know you'll willingly face the Dragon instead!
This is what I need you to do. I need you to lure the Dragon into your dungeon and defeat it!



I read a book when I was little...
A book?
Yeah, this book had a dragon in it, and it was really cool.
So powerful, it made my heart pound. I always imagined the story was about a faraway land...
But I never thought for a moment that I'd actually be fighting a dragon myself!

So, to summarise: a dragon wants to steal our dungeon to summon Satan's kid. We have to Slay The Dragon. It's cliche, but it's cliche for a reason.



So instead, let's pick up a new sidequest!


I know where it is, but could you please stop calling me 'boy'? Anyway, it's underground.
So the deeper your dungeon gets, the closer to Hell it gets?
Umm... I guess...
Do you think you could get me a Hell Ring? I really want one...
A Hell Ring... Sounds cursed. Are you sure?
No, they aren't cursed. They're just rings. Thing is, you can do something interesting with them...!
If you give one to someone you hate a lot, then you'll never have to see them again.
Is there someone you never want to see again?



Oh, well. Okay then.
(*whew!*)
Now that we've established that, would you mind finding one for me?
Sure, I'll look around.

Hrm, I get the feeling we don't have the right materials to find this just yet. I wonder if someone could help us out with that.



Um, do you like scary stories?



Made from flames and blizzards...
Well, monsters from Hell tend to carry Hell Rings. I have a room you might want to use to catch one! You need a Demon Cell!
This fantastic product will not only attract Hellish monsters, it will seal them in as well!
If you buy now, I can give it to you for the low, low price of 2,500! Give it a try!
(I just wanted to ask about the rings, and she turned it into a sales pitch...)



Demon Cells are just as cheap as we were told, which is nice. They're also our second 1 square room with four entrances.




Don't need a lot of them, but it never hurts to stock up. Only really need it for the Hell Ring after all.




Dragon fire can burn an entire town to the ground. We'll be burnt to a crisp, too!

I know it sounds bad, but it's cool. Just relax. I know what I'm doing when it comes to dragons. I have played a lot of Skyrim.

I read a book once, a long time ago, that said that if you have a certain Charm...



What kind? Did it say? A fire charm or something?
I don't remember...



Yeah...
(She's pretty cheery for some reason...)



Alright, let's start working on the sixth floor for real.



Fancy Beds here have Powerdogs and... nothing else, I think. They're Wardogs but stronger and with better drops. Starts asleep, of course, so we never give it a chance to wake up.

Fields are meant to have a new, very good enemy (for what we care about). Instead, I got nothing but potatoes. Good news is the chest contains what we want...



A food item! On a couple floors, you can just grab free food from a chest. It's quite nice, I must admit. Just... don't think about it too much. This one we won't get to use for ourselves though.




That's great grilled! Cook it thoroughly with Pigboar and add Spinach. Exquisite!
Roast Powerbull is premium meat, so even I don't get to eat it very often...
You can have it, if you want...
Oh, really? Oh, ah, um, gee, you really shouldn't have.



In return, get me some magic I can use! Something incredible!
Sure, that's easy.
That's easy?
I do run the Magic Shop, after all! To be honest, I'll do anything for food...
And you're okay with being that way?
Very okay!

So, yeah, no Powerbull for us just yet. That's fine though; we'll have some for ourselves relatively quickly.



Also another letter. We didn't actually ask about that charm or anything.




Good morning! Weren't you going to ask King Leon how to defend against dragon fire?
Did you forget to write him a letter or something?
It's all right. I never sent a letter, but we already have our answer.
Huh?



Sea Charms are owned by monsters of the sea. The only one I know of is the one held by an octopus monster known as Octopoid.
Octopoid is the King of the Sea, but that's not enough for him. He wants to be the king of the land as well.
Given a chance, he'd love to leave the sea and go on a rampage.



If Octopoid left the sea, then you should be able to lure him to your dungeon, as long as you build a water floor.
Your Friend, King Leon.
Why doesn't Octopoid leave the sea? There's got to be a way to draw him out. Hmm...

Okay, so we're slowly getting a bigger picture of what we need to do. Find a way to lure out the Octopoid. Kill it for its charm. Use it to neutralise the dragon's fire. Slay The Dragon to save the world.



It's really useful. Just cast it, and you can burn every enemy, all at once. How does that sound, miss?
Like a Firestorm! All right!
It's a tad expensive, but... oh well. Buy it, and try it out...



It's cheaper than I'd have expected to say this is a really, really good spell. More powerful than Burn, hits everything and only costs 8MP to boot. It's even fairly useful on our current floor, albeit not fantastically so.



Since this is a fire related floor, the kid at the fountain knows what's up.


(It's a new song...)
Bye-bye ghosts! Bye-bye ghosts! Now that they're gone, let's go out and play!
I'm afraid of ghosts! I'm afraid of ghosts! If you're afraid of ghosts...
(...Too afraid of ghosts to leave home...)



(That's how the otters were. They had to hide out of fear for the Flamesaurus.)
(But once I hunted that Flamesaurus down, they came out and raised a ruckus.)
(Maybe if I hunt down the fire monsters, Octopoid will come out to play...)

Alright, so now we need to buy a bunch more Fireplaces. Thought we still had some on-hand from before, but apparently not!



Hi. I need a bunch of Fireplaces, I guess.
Fireplaces? So you're gathering fire monsters again?
Yeah.



stuff to Dungeon Diggers.
You should make some rooms that are even more attractive to fire monsters than Fireplaces! How about a Hearth?
It's expensive, but I guarantee that it'll draw in some proud monsters. Like Flame Warriors!



Heh heh! When you hear the name of a monster, you immediately start thinking about what kinds of items you can get from it!
Spoken like a true Dungeon Digger...



Hearths are mercifully cheap, so we stock up on all 10 of them. Gonna need a fair few by the time we're done, of course.



That's right.
Don't be tricked by the Flame Ring!
Tricked? It's a ring with the power of flames, right?
Yeah, so don't be tricked!



Ah, I see...
If you wear these items before fighting fire monsters, you may not be able to win!
If you want to fight fire monsters, then wear an Ice Ring! If that's clear, then let's go!



Speaking of rings, we can get yet another new one in the bottom-right corner of the floor. This is a ring I quite like a lot.



When just clearing floors out, I stick 2 Rings of Power on Owen and Gloop. This ring alone is better than that; gonna dupe it sometime to get 4.



That time is not now, however. Fields on this floor contain Powerbulls. They give the meat we found in the chest before, of course. They also drop other stuff so it's not perfect.



Demon Cells contain Hellflames, and only Hellflames. They're mostly weak to Ice, as you would expect.



They're also kinda annoying if you don't Seal 'em because they do this.



This hurts quite a fair bit, but we don't have any Fire resistance right now. We're going to have kill these guys plenty because they give us the Hell Ring.

They also give us other, less worthwhile rings.



Meanwhile, I've been killing even more Black Warriors to try and get this. Took long enough!



It's not a particularly great upgrade for our boots, no, but they are the only piece of Iron equipment Kate can also wear.



Unfortunately, now we have to put up with the Flame Warriors. They're basically Black Warriors but Fire elemental now.

That means Kate can destroy them with Ice Shards. They're actually much easier because of that.



As you would expect, they give Fire equipment.



It's generally not as good as the Iron stuff for raw defence, but each bit gives ~30 points of Fire defence.



So, uh, yeah. I think we want this.



Powerbulls also have a helmet they can drop for us.



Probably gonna dupe this one as well. +8 Attack with this and 2 Ripper Rings is a very good upgrade. The high stun resist is an added bonus.



Once again, speaking of rings, we got a Hell Ring quicker than I expected. It's not something we can equip right now, of course, with the difference here being it does nothing anyway. It's sole use is this quest.



So, let's finish it up right now.


Really? Thanks, I'll take it.
Here you go.
Wait just one second! You guys really need to be more careful!
That's a ring you give to someone you never want to see again as a present, right?



Oh yeah... I forgot about that.
That was a close one...
What should we do?
Why don't you just buy it?



Okay... Here, boy. This money is for that ring.



For a single ring, that's not TOO bad actually! It's also not the actual quest reward, don't worry.

Now, give me the goods.
Here you go...



Nothing happened... right?
Nope, nothing happened.



It's because money is the root of all evil, I guess! or something like that.
(...I don't think that has anything to do with it, but... I'll just keep my mouth shut.)



Powerbull is great and cool because it gives us this. 3 Strength and HP for two very easy to acquire items (and one we can just buy outright) is fantastic. Gonna stuff this down Owen for basically the remainder of the floor.



Speaking of which, the floor turns red here at a reasonable time to do so. It's once we get 12 Hearths placed.



Flame Warriors drop their swords, of course.



Stronger than the Black Warriors, but less effective at the moment. It'll be useful for when we fight things on other floors though.



Oh and I forgot to pick up the real reward for the Hell Ring in the morning. Oops.


(I wonder who she gave it to, and why she hated that person so much...)
(My guess is it was the Mayor.)



(Hey, Shovel, don't say that so loud!)
I haven't given it to anyone. I don't hate anyone, you know...
When you wear a Hell Ring, it accustoms you to cold feelings.



What, really? Thank you.
Try it out, okay? If I made it right, you'll be able to use it to summon blizzards...



Givin' this straight to Kate.



It's stronger than her bow, and it saves her a ton of MP too. The ice effect happens after an attack, not instead of it, and hits every enemy. Very nice, but if her normal attack kills whatever she hits (unlikely but possible) then it can't happen.



Though we got it just in time to spawn the boss. Who, being a boss, it isn't going to be super-useful for. Oh well.


Devlin



I... what even is that.



Hey, Buddy! It's standing right there! Don't be rude. You might hurt its feelings!
Monsters have... feelings? Well, anyhow, what do you suggest...?
It's a Devlin. They're Goblins that like to eat flames. Sometimes, they eat so many flames they get really fat.
A fat, flame-eating Goblin, huh...?



So be sure you seal him, or you'll all be in for one heck of a fight...!
Well, you don't need me here, getting in the way. I'm gonna go hide somewhere. Good luck, you guys!



It should go without saying but the fire-eating boss will not be very susceptible to Fire. It only resists it (thankfully) but still not worth using. Kate's Ice Shards hit for nearly 20 points of damage with her really very good magic which is a tad worrying.



Oh, and aside from healing itself this is a big reason why we want to seal this guy.



Hits everyone very hard, and this is with a decent chunk of Fire resistance as well.



The good news is he is so susceptible to being sealed, it should hit just about every time its cast.



This leaves him with his significantly less threatening basic attack. It's still not something we can ignore entirely, since it does deal double digit damage.

Also it has the usual stun chance but the Power Helm makes that such a non-issue.



Unfortunately for us, the seal only lasts 1 turn so he gets to blast us with his Firestorm every other round. At least at the moment.



Once he hits ~120HP or less and he's not sealed, he does this.



Shovel was completely right about what it does, so it makes the fight slightly more tedious at this point. At least we can stop worrying about healing ourselves now.



But just keep up the same trend of sealing and blasting away, and he'll die eventually. Not a hard fight, just a much longer one that we're accustomed to.


End



Yeah, it sure was...
Especially since one of us refuses to help out in battle.



That's what I always say. Now, grab that Flame Jar and let's get going!
(Sarcasm's lost on some people...)



The spoils of victory! Said spoils also were kind enough to give us the next floor as usual, so let's see what lies below.



Lots of groundwater in these walls, too!
Yep. Another great place for water monsters...



Excellent. We have a water floor, and I'm sure we all know what this is going to be used for when we get to it. For now, we just do our usual prep work. Chest down, starting room for food etc. etc.



Oh, and gonna clear out the 6th floor's chest now, while gathering up more food since we have the chance. The Chain Robe is a very nice piece of armor...



It's a defence upgrade over even the Iron Mail and it can be worn by everyone too. How nice!

Other stuff it can give that we care about is new Tiaras of Flame, a Flame Ring (which Shovel told us about) and another piece of armor that apparently I never got this time around. Hrm. Guess we'll get it later.




I wonder...
This Flame Jar is so big, it gets in the way. Want to give it to the Mayor?
Hey, speak of the devil!



That's it! It's because this is the Devlin's Lunchbox, isn't it?
Huh! A lunchbox used by a monster? So, it must eat fire... Wow!
You guys, go put that up in town! Put it somewhere conspicuous. That'll definitely draw the...



Hmm? Oh, I just thought we could draw some more tourists...
Go on, put it up in town.
Really? Shall I pay for your dungeon construction costs, then?!



Heh heh heh, what a wonderful find! This will really draw in the tourists. Heh heh!
You guys just go and keep on digging that hole in the ground!



I'm really not sure why he keeps the pretense up at this point. We know what his real agenda is here.

A win-win scenario! So dig, dig, dig, and dig some more!



Another song to add to the... collection? Well, whatever you want to call it, we've only got two more to go.



Owen definitely needs more Speed and Con at this point. Speed, especially. His Wisdom could do with boosting a bit as well, but for the time being that's a lesser concern.



Kate meanwhile gets to keep being Kate. That'll be changing for a short while though, because it's semi-needed for her to be a little bit more useful against something coming up sooner rather than later. No, really.

Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 22:37 on May 17, 2015

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Another day, another floor, another new letter from King Leon.



He came onto the land during the night and is hiding in the forest somewhere.
Now, you have to create a water floor and lure Octopoid to your dungeon.
Octopoid is the King of the Sea, after all, so you'll need to build a luxurious water suite for him.
Make a place that Octopoid would deem worthy, and he'll attempt to take it over as his fortress!
Your Friend, King Leon.
A luxurious water floor... I guess it'll take more than just drinking water...

Well, guess we're gonna need a new water-type room. Let's go grab some then.



You mean Water Sources, right?!
Well, there's a certain monster that needs much, much more than that...



Dungeons don't usually need moisturizing...
Give it a try!
Do you really think that King of the Sea will be satisfied with just a Fountain?
Sure, if you buy lots, and lots, and lots of Fountains, and you put them in a row!
Are you sure that's all it'll take? Just a bunch of 'em lined up?



Really...



A little bit more expensive than the Hearth from before, but still on the nicer cheap side of things.




As they should be, since we need 12 of them again. At least it's consistent.




So you'll want ice armor! Why not place a Dojo on the seventh floor, and bring in some Ice Warriors?
Warriors again...
It'll be a tough fight, but with our girl's fire magic we should be fine!
Wow, Shovel. You say some useful things, sometimes! ...Sometimes.
Sometimes, huh? I know what you mean... Yeah, well, that's... you know...!
(Now he's back to spouting the usual nonsense again...)



So, new enemy in the fields and the sole reason we put one down in the first place. Buffalobulls are cleverly named and possibly kind of a threat maybe.



So, let's see just how well the Firestorm spell can work for us. Same animation as Burn, so we'll skip that and get to the important bit: how hard does it hit?



That... yeah, that'll do it. Its whole "being stronger than Burn" thing makes it pretty drat good at times like this.



...Not what we want, though. They have a whole two drops, this one and some new food. Unfortunately, they really do not like to drop the food. Bleh.



So, there's a bunch of items from the Iron Chest we want this time. We'll deal with them as they come up. We'll start by getting this for Kate.



It isn't as strong as the Ice Staff as a normal weapon, but it's otherwise the exact fire counterpart. The MP saving aspect of it is what we're interested in.



While going to get the final item from the 6th floor, finally decided to beat up some Powerdogs for their drops as well. Can do this on the 7th as well, but the sword is pretty decent... Well, it was. Same strength as the Flamberge but without the Fire element.



There we go. Finally gotten this after its stopped being useful. Seems to be happening a lot lately.



Same defence as the normal halter but with Fire resistance for good measure.



...At least we can sell it for a decent chunk. I quite like that part.




Huh? So now you just blurt it out, without even a hello?
I wanna eat Bull Sirloin.
All right. Gotcha.
I wanna eat Bull Sirloin...
Yeah, yeah, I'll get you some. Don't worry.
...



To say that we already have the right room placed, we can just pocket the money and move on.



Hey so, here's something new and relevant. Throwing down a Flower Garden on the seventh floor gives us this. Forked Cats before gave us the normal Heal spell. On this floor the exact same enemy, not a different one with the same name or anything, now gives us Heal All.



Fountains have two possible enemies, but the other is just more Otter Warriors. Warpenguins are adorable little dudes with a giant spear that has a fish head on the end.



They're also super, super weak to Fire. Sounds about right.



Also they drop their spears, which would be cool but we can't see it when we use it.



Well, that and they're water elemental which does not help one bit on this floor. Figures.



This does, though, and I'm glad I got it without having to come back later again.



It's like the Ruby one from the previous floor but for a different element. Also it's just better than the base halter as well. Really, there's no reason to not use this.



The one nice thing about the Buffalobulls not wanting to give up their delicious meats is that at least the pelts are good money. Mostly in bulk, but they're common enemies so we get them in bulk.



Okay, trying yet again for the sirloin and instead the penguins give us some sardines. Many, many sardines in fact. But that's a good thing. You'll see.



Demon Cells now give us Hellblizzards instead of Hellflames. Exactly the same, except now they're Ice elemental and not Fire. Kate oneshots it without even trying.



Another Warpenguin drop is their shield. Nice to have but not super crucial.



This is more in-line with the tradition we're used to. Weaker in terms of defence, but grants some elemental resistance. Here, "some" is the key word because its just +10.



Last interesting (and more importantly: new and relevant) item in the chest is the second axe.



Stronger than the Flamberge albeit without the Fire element. Definitely gonna keep a hold of it for later, though.



This is everything that can appear in the Dojo on this floor. Nothing really new or particularly threatening. Ice Warriors are meh, Powerdogs are meher, Otter Warriors are mehest.



Kate didn't get the first strike, so I put the Ice Warrior to sleep just to be on the safe side.



It proved quite unnecessary, but I wasn't going to take the risk. Mostly because it IS still a Warrior and all.



And then we stole his shoes.



Better than the Iron boots and with the right elemental defense too. Kate can even use these ones as well.



Both a good and underwhelming thing in the bottom-left corner. It's good because, hey, free money. Underwhelming because we've been getting new equipment for ages and then this happened.



It took too many fights, too many days and too many bulls but we finally got the important stuff.



Also this is a day after we got the Sardines for the first time and I forgot to talk to him then. So, we have to do two conversations back to back.


Why are you sighing like that?
I'm missing one...
One what?



Well, can't you make it with just three Sardines, then?
Or do you need four Sardines to make enough Dry Fish for you?
Yeah, I take four Sardines, line them up, and dry them. Then I cook 'em.
Then it's Dry Fish, as far as I'm concerned.
I wanted to eat Dry Fish tonight, too, and I'm one Sardine short... Aww...
Hey! What's that you've got there...?!
Yes, we have a Sardine.
Ah! Gimme! Gimme!



I'll pay you for it!
I want magic.
Okay, I'll get you some!
I don't care how expensive it is, I want some incredibly powerful magic!
Okay! I'll get it! Gimme that Sardine!
Here you go then. ...I wonder what kind of magic I can get for a single Sardine...

We'll find out just what it is when we come back tomorrow. For the moment, though, we'll just leave and come back right away.



Yes, we did.
Great! I'll eat it, then. Gimme.
Sure. Here you go.
You have to be careful just how much heat you apply. It needs to be cooked rare.
Even if the world should end, you have to eat Bull Sirloin rare.



(He needs to lighten up a bit...)
Oh, and I'll stock some new magic. Come back and buy it. Your life may depend on it!
(He needs to lighten up a lot...)
Hey, mister!
What?



Nah, you got it all wrong. It's the other one, you know.
No, that's the stuff...
All right, here. Geez, what's up with all that...!
Great! This should do it!
(What are they talking about...?!)
Shovel was complaining to the Shopkeeper.



So the Shopkeeper said, "Relax, I bought you some Olive Oil," and he handed it over.
(Is it just me? Why am I the only one who didn't understand...?)



I dunno, I thought it was pretty obvious. Did you really need to ask?



Anyway, we'll go apply this immediately. 40MP is quite a sizable chunk especially now that we're going to need bigger and bigger floors.



Dried Fish is good on the face of it. +4 Wisdom AND +4 MP seems very tempting and like it'd be awesome and worth it.

But it takes 4 Sardines to do. Much like with Baked Clams, it's easier to just not bother and keep chugging Carrot Juice.



Bull Steak is also oddly not as good as you would think. Sure it requires us to just farm one item, instead of 2, but it trades an extra +1 Str for +1 HP. I think I'll stick to the Power Grills, thanks.




Oh? How can you tell?
Well, you obviously didn't hang yourself in shame, right?
Of course not. It was scrumptious. Nice and juicy and rare.



No, I don't mean it's hard to find... I mean it was rare!
Uh... exactly! Rare!
No! It was rare, I'm telling you...! (*sigh*)
Oh, before I forget, I got that magic in stock for you.
(Now what's he talking about...? Bah, I'll just check out what he's got on his shelves...)



Hey, it's a really good buffing spell and it's for a wonderfully cheap price too. Casting this on Owen will make him pretty drat strong; Gloop as well... sort of, albeit to a much lesser extent.



Not quite on-par with Kate's multi-target spells for the random trash, but they'll be very good as boss killers. Hopefully.


Promised? What promise?
You gave me a Sardine, remember?
Oh yeah! That's right! So what magic do you have for us, as payment for that Sardine?
It's an attack spell that summons a blizzard to damage every enemy at once.
Wow...
That'll be enough, won't it? I mean, I really enjoyed that Sardine...
So... one Sardine for Blizzard magic?
(One Sardine...?)



Ice Shards but multi-target. 12,000G seems hefty, and it's not very worth it for this floor (on the whole) but it'll be useful overall so grabbing this.



And we got the two of them just in time for the boss to show up. Let's go deal with this guy right away.


Octopoid



...Yes, that is really his max HP. Octopoid is quite the difficulty spike if you're not prepared.



Is that Octopoid? Let's get him!
You guys aren't wearing a Flame Ring, are you? You can't attack him if you wear stuff like that.
Huh? What do you mean? He's a water monster, right?



Oh, yeah.
If you're wearing any fire gear, you'd better run away! Same if you're wearing any water stuff... You'll have to fight it with normal equipment!
If you want to run, don't worry. I'll be right ahead of you...!
Hey, wait, Shovel! I was wondering--
Great, he's gone already.



So, Octopoid has nothing but very nasty attacks. Ideally, we'd seal him just to stop that from happening but every single time I tried it just missed. So that's off the table.



Good news is at least Kate was able to poison him with the Forked Cat Bow on the first shot. That's one ailment that definitely sticks at least. Sure it's only 1-3HP of damage every time he gets a turn, but it adds up.



This attack is actually probably the one you want to see the most.



On the one hand, yes, it hits everyone with some not-insignificant Ice element damage. And it has a good chance of inflicting Chill.

On the other hand...



The attack decrease we can sort-of counteract by casting Strengthen (for an astounding 20MP! Yikes) with the benefit of that lasting the entire fight. And Chill wears off quick.



And then there's this. This is his normal, basic attack.

Think about that for a second. His normal attack also hits everyone. But this time, it's regular damage. And of course it has the requisite Stun chance as well.



Also, because he resists our good magic, we're pretty much reliant on Owen hacking away at this guy with an Axe to actually get damage in.



This is Kate's spell damage for what its worth. If she had more Str, she could keep firing the bow to help out, but she only to got to 12 in the few days it took to get him to spawn. Not enough to get damage above 1 unfortunately.



Oh, and when he gets low on HP, he can do this.



The good news is this is his only single target attack. The bad news is, well, have you seen that damage? And it stuns too.



So, yeah, Octopoid is a much harder boss than any that came before. He's also one hell of an endurance match. I could've been more aggressive if I brought actual supplies for Kate to really help out healing stuff but oh well.


End



Hey, wait, is that it over there? On the floor...?
Nope, that's just a rock.
Oh! Nope... And that's just an octopus suction cup. What about...! Nope. That's just another suction cup...
What are you babbling about? It's right here, see...?
Oh... Well, it's a good thing we looked for it as a team!
(All he did was make noise...)



Now we can finally deal with that dragon and stop the Devil Prince from doing his thing. Down to the eighth floor we go...



And there's no dialogue here. There is, however, an annoying array of walls in the top-right corner to deal with. Doubly annoying because that's where this floor's hidden item is, and it's one we really, really want.



We'll get to work on that in time though. For now, the usual array of initial rooms. Chest, flower garden and a dojo adjoining it. We'll attach the field to the far side of the garden later.



For now, let's just head back up and... oh right, we can start the eighth floor's sidequest at this point as well. This one we will just grab now. Save time later.


sword that can execute chain attacks. I'm trying to get you one...
F-For me...?



It's the ring of a Not-Dead-Yet!

Ah, a new enemy that we have Not-Fought-Yet.

Huh?
A Not-Dead-Yet is a clown zombie. It wanders around, performing tricks... But it's a zombie.
Anyway, it wears a ring called a Performer Ring.
The craftsman promised to trade me one katana for this ring... He likes clowns, I think.
He said that a Dungeon Digger should have no problem getting one. What do you think?

I think the craftsman is the real bad guy here.

If you find a Performer Ring, I'll give you a katana for it.
Sounds interesting.



No, I'm talking about the katana.
It can do all sorts of tricks, you know. It may be a zombie, but it's still a clown!
(I still think a katana that does chain attacks is more interesting...)

And of course, it being a zombie means we can easily get it from altars. Gonna need to throw down some of them when we start the eighth floor for real later.



Kind of scary, isn't it?
No, I'm not scared. I'm looking forward to seeing my first dragon... that's all.
Boys sure like dragons... If you ask me, they're nothing but huge lizards, but whatever...



Yeah, and the Mayor would want to stuff it, mount it, and charge tourists to see it.
Yeah...

Shh, you'll give him ideas!



Anyway, speaking of stuffing and food, just gonna buff Owen's Wisdom and especially MP a bit now. Gonna need a lot more MP to be able to buff and still do other stuff. Strength is taking precedence for boss fights now that we have Strengthen though.



Kate's much easier. She just needs more HP and Constitution at this point. Also gonna be boosting Wisdom to keep the overpowered death flying during normal excursions, of course.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Once again, we start the floor by receiving a letter from the king. I guess now that we're fully prepared for the dragon, it's going to appear this floor.



Your dungeon is a cause for peace in the mortal world. We won't let it be taken over by the likes of the Devil Prince.
Once your eighth floor is complete, I think I'll dsh over to have a look at your handiwork for myself.
Let's fight the dragon together and put a halt to the Devil Prince's plans!
Your Friend, King Leon.



Hell yeah, King Leon as an ally for the dragon fight. This is gonna be awesome. Sorry Gloop; I think you'll be less effective then.

Wait a second, Buddy! Won't he just try to steal all the credit...?!
Who cares about the credit? This is just a job to me...
Winning is more important than figuring out who gets the credit.
Good point! Why bother luring monsters into your dungeon if you can't beat them?!
Dungeon Diggers never give up until they win!



Eh, it's not that great. It is, however, the penultimate track so there's that?



Anyway, we want a fancy floor and we need better stuff for THAT too.




Yes? What's it called!?
A Plush Bed!
Sounds exciting...
Any monster will be addicted after just one use!



So, remember all those times we had lots of money? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, this floor will make me long for those days. Because dear god is filling this one out expensive. And not just thanks to the new beds either.



All right, we'll need a Plush Bed...
Right! But a fancy bed is not enough.



And don't forget the Flower Garden or the Dojo!
Also, monsters see Demon Cells as luxurious.

...Noooo! Poor, poor little wallet. Need so much money for this floor. :negative:

All these rooms are going to cost a lot of money, but there's not much we can do about it...
Keep on beating monsters, and keep on making money!



So, we'll begin by putting our decently large MP pool to use to grab the item in the top-right corner. Grabbing more Olive Oil is always nice.



Flower Gardens have a new type of cat for us to contend with. Mage Cats have a very, very nasty trick up their sleeves...



Devastation is the most powerful attack spell in the game, albeit one with marginally less use for us.



It always drops whoever it hits to exactly 1HP. When fighting a single Mage Cat it's not too problematic, since they don't get to capitalise on it, but once they have allies...



At least Gloop can copy their heads and learn the trick. Useful for strong normal enemies, but worthless for bosses, of course.



Mage Cats also have a couple new drops aside from the obvious equipment upgrades. Recovery Potions are an upgraded Healing Potion; restore much more HP and cure ailments as well. Plus now the Magic Storekeep will sell 'em.



Dojos on this floor only have Master Warriors to fight, and they're just like their lesser brethren but hit harder. So do we, though, and we can have Gloop blast them with Destruction too if necessary.



Once we get a key, we'll just crack open the 8th floor's chest and start to get its goodies. Starting with this one.



Being a helmet, Kate can't wear it but it does give Gloop (and Owen to a lesser degree) a pretty big defense boost which is always nice.



And its around about now that the Shovel has so much MP, our current money can't keep up so a lot of it goes unused! :v:



...Okay so next day we get to deal with these guys. I do not like dealing with these guys.



They have so many things they can do, it's ridiculous.



Basically, aside from this one exception, they can do every previous boss' unique skill.



Also the one trick they aren't mimicking is a stab. That can stun.

That's just plain cruel.



...And most of their drops are rotten junk.



Needless to say the entire point of this stuff is to be sold. And it doesn't even sell for much either!



Another new Mage Cat drop and its not very good, of course.



3 defense an no other benefit? For a ring, that's kinda meh even though it sounds useful. At least we can sell it, I guess.



Master Warriors drop Black equipment, and its all a pretty good upgrade.



The boots are probably the best ones to have gotten first, since everyone can use them.



And then they drop the ability to blackmail the Mayor for being an awful human being.



Sadly, it just gives us a slight defense increase for Owen and Gloop. Kate will have no part of it.



Also a shield, of course.



It's a nice upgrade being the first in the double-digit range, at least.



Another new enemy, and the last one from a Field too. Cursed Peppers can sometimes cast Sealing spells but are otherwise thoroughly uninteresting.



They do drop their robes sometimes...



But, of course, they are bad and worthless. Once again, only use is to sell for a small amount of cash.



They'll also drop peppers sometimes. And now we have no reason to fight them ever again too!




Yeah?
You've got a Green Pepper, right?
Uh, yes...
I know how much children hate Green Peppers. Want me to eat it for you?
I'll eat it myself.
Oh... I see... Well, if you have Green Peppers, you can make Firepig Stir-Fry.



You can flavor the sauce with a Crowcat's Tail.
This will make a delicious, sweet and sour dish that I simply adore!
You lucky guy, you, with your Green Peppers and all...
I'll eat it myself.
Oh... I see how it is...



Now that we have a pepper and now how to cook it too, we can just buy the things for 300G a piece. Definitely easier than bothering cutting through the things occasionally, I guess.



It's not a bad recipe either; only need to worry about having enough Firepig and Crowcat to make it since the other two can be bought. How nice.



Still no Performer Ring, but this hat the Not-Dead-Yets drop isn't actual garbage.



I know, I'm shocked too. It grants a little resistance to Fire, Water AND Light along with being a slight defense upgrade. How nice.



Also Mage Cats drop these very rarely. We don't need to worry about that though. They're food items and, no, I don't know why Mage Cats have tentacles on their person.



Boots, armor, shield and helmet...



Only thing missing from the Master Warriors now is their sword. Also the helmet is worse than the Silver one we can get from the chest on this floor. Thanks, I guess?



...Granted, the chest isn't all good.



The Morningstar is very much an unimpressive weapon. Counts as a club for equip purposes and is just bleh in general. Not using this.




You sure know how to find all sorts of food, don't you?
Cook that with a Clam and a Sardine, and you'll have yourself a delicious Seafood Grill.



That sounds super gross. I guess it's a gourmet thing.

You can actually eat this raw...?
Yeah. It's a gourmet thing, though. You wouldn't understand.
Wow. I wish I could eat as well as you...

Well, I sure don't.



Anyway, back in the hole and placing a few more rooms here and there. Doesn't take much longer now to get the floor to turn white.



And we finally get the Performer Ring to drop as well. How nice and at the right moment to get that sweet hanzo steel in time to slay the dragon!




Really!? Were they interesting?
The Not-Dead-Yet's tricks... How were they?
I was in no position to watch them at the time...



It's pretty dangerous... I don't recommend it.

I agree; having seem them up close, I'd rather not do it again.

I'll take that Performer Ring and trade it for the katana, so come back tomorrow, okay?



We'll definitely do that, but for the moment we need to eat. The Seafood Grill's pretty decent for what it is. Unfortunately, needing 3 of the rarer food drops makes it not good enough for my liking.



This katana can be used to execute chain attacks!
Wow... So this is it... What a strange sword...





Perfect. Now we have the ultimate weapon for our quest and need nothing else ever.



Strongest weapon to date, and can slash dudes twice sometimes for good measure. Yep, this will do very nicely.



And immediately afterwards, the Dragon appears as well. Alright, let's get Gloop some pompoms and away we go!






















The Traitor



Hey King Leon. Nice of you to show as promised. Let's beat that Dragon!



What a splendid dungeon you've built... Especially this eighth floor!
So luxurious! I bet you worked really hard. Well done, my boy!
Just doing our job...
Of course. Well, I've been looking into that Devil Prince...



He wants to put a dragon on the ninth floor, for protection, too.
The Devil Prince wants to steal your dungeon, my boy, but I won't let him.
We can't let him conquer the mortal world, can we...?
Not a chance!



Wha-Wha-What!?
Naive little boy... You were so easy to trick!
You got me the Sea Charm and built me this magnificent suite on the eighth floor... I thank you for all that!
...
I'll be taking over, now.
If this dungeon gets any bigger, the Devil Prince will show up, and I can't allow that.
I want this to be the base for my conquest against the humans!

Climactic Boss



So, whoops turns out our eighth boss is really King Leon. Well then...



In a nice change of pace, King Leon is the first boss in ages who uses no elemental attacks at all. He just focuses on putting the beat down on dudes with that giant spear.



Oh, and of course even though it sounds like a funny idea, Devastation will always miss a boss so don't bother trying that.



Do, however, have Owen buff himself. His physical attack will normally deal 1 damage or so with our current stats, so this should fix that.





King Leon's focus on "stab dudes a lot" makes it a mite harder to fully know where your safety threshold is a lot of the time. Then he hits Owen really hard and it becomes obvious, yikes.



Of course, with his Attack buff, Owen can hit for about 30-60 points of damage per attack now. Granted the 50-60 area is only achievable from a followup with his sweet Katana, but that's about 10% of King Leon's HP in one attack.





This attack of King Leon's is a tad underwhelming, and probably the closest to a single-target breather he has. Might as well be a basic attack, really.



...Then again, that does mean that unlike every other boss to date he has 4 attacks instead of the normal 3.



So, he has 2 heavy hitting single target attacks and 2 multi-target attacks that aren't quite as potent. They're all physical, so we just have to stack defense to mitigate them which is different enough to be noteworthy.



Sure, King Leon has over 500HP (barely) but I'd say he's easier than the Octopode. Guy's a nice fight, but he gets a bit too much on the easy side really.



So, of course, he ends up being this insurmountable wall for some people. They can get to the King, but he just trashes them and I cannot begin to understand why. He's really not a problem. :shrug:


End



Well, he wasn't really on my side to begin with.
Still... Hey, look! On the floor!



Hey, that's a symbol of the King of Leons!
Does that make you the new King...?



Well, I've never seen a King of Beasts with quite so little hair.

Probably not. Wait, no! Of course you can't!
...What a shame.
Let's take it back to town!



...One more thing to show off to the tourists...



No new dialogue for the 9th floor either, so we'll start by clearing a path and putting down rooms and...



Oh. New room then.

the eighth floor is REALLY expensive to fill out you guys



So we'll instead just dig all the way to the bottom right corner all ready. This sword is... special.



It's innately very weak and worthless. Except that its special ability is to just smack something for 999 damage without question.

Just gonna sell this and never use it, though, because normal sword unleashes are like 500 damage to current and that's major overkill.



Also got this on the 8th floors chest on the way out. It's just a +2 to Attack which is... okay, I guess. We've outclassed it by miles by being able to get a Ripper Ring earlier than this for some reason though.




What's that? You defeated King Leon and took the Leon Emblem?! So King Leon was a liar...
Well, that's no surprise.



Um, game? This is clearly meant to be Owen's line...

Hmph, so all that talk about the Elder Dragon and the Devil Prince...
Those were just more of King Leon's lies!
Are you sure?
He just wanted you to make a big dungeon, that's all. There's no Devil Prince coming!



So just keep it our little secret, please!

If I know anything about tourists and things that could kill them, they would be MORE inclined to come here with a dragon and Devil Prince running around...

But if the dragon was a lie, why did I need that Sea Charm?
Hm?



That makes sense...
We have to get ready to fight the Elder Dragon.
To attract it, we'll need to make the ninth floor bigger and more luxurious...



That's a wonderful idea! I can just picture all the tourists now!
Very well. The town will provide you with additional funds to help. Good luck hunting that dragon!
But is that all...?



So don't build the dungeon past the ninth floor! After the dragon, don't go any deeper.
Make sure no more monsters go in the entrance, and destroy the ones that are already inside.
Once all the monsters are gone, we can invite the tourists to look inside.
It'll be the dungeon where the hero killed the dragon!



Oh my. 3000G. How generous of you. :geno:



We also got the last music track now, which is good. Also the track is good too.



So now we just need to get a ton of money... again... to make an even more luxurious and expensive floor...



All to attract a dragon, and then we can bury the dungeon and I guess make the Devil Prince someone else's problem.

What? We're not heroes, after all. Just a boy, a girl, some slime and a shovel...

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Glazius posted:

How many days did it take you to fill out the eighth floor, anyway?

Good question! Let's see...

Started on Day 56, finished on Day 62. So, just under a week.

That's longer than it should have taken, really, and yet less time than it felt. Go figure.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Don't have much to do in town before heading into the dungeon right now, but there is one small thing.

Something bad happened...
I hate to see a monster-hunting hero like yourself looking so grim. Makes me worry...
The world is safe thanks to the work of people like you. People who risk their lives every day!
Maybe I've said too much...?
Yes. You've said too much.
Heh... At least let me say that I'm counting on you! And so is Frau!
Hey! Instead of just counting on people, why don't you do something to help out, too!?



It's all I can do to simply pray for your success...
Speaking of praying... How would you like to buy a room for praying?
A room for praying?
Yeah, a Chapel.



Oh, that sounds good.
I've decorated the room with evil goddess statues...
This is about all I can do to help. I hope it's enough...?
Oh yes, it's great!



4000G means we can afford exactly one of this and basically nothing else useful right now.




So I do just that. I think it's worth it. :colbert:



...please dont remind me


No kidding...
Fancy Beds, Flower Gardens, and all the best rooms and furniture!
Wait, don't you mean Plush Beds?
Well... Fancy Beds aren't all that bad either, you know!



Plush Beds are too expensive! Let's use Fancy Beds, too!
Whatever you say...

Well, Shovel is right about the price thing but Fancy Beds aren't sufficient for what we want so gonna ignore them.



Since I sorta need to deal with slightly higher up floors to get finance right now, we can get some new equipment and stuff in the interim.



The Black Blade is nice for if you don't want to duplicate the Katana or you get it first or something. Now it's just nice to give to Gloop or something.



Also some new armour for Kate and/or Gloop.



But mostly for Kate, since it helps her more by far.



Aside from that, just gonna skip to the next day and fight a Valkyrie from the Chapel. She's not really a threat on her own. Has Holy Light to use as a spell and basic attack hits everyone but nothing worth worrying about.



Once again, skipping ahead to the next day and get an actually useful drop from the Valkyries.



They have actual armour and their spear they can drop, but they really don't like doing so in my experience.



So of course their first few drops are the ones we want, go figure!



I'm sure this won't keep it up for much longer...



...is what I'd like to say, but then this happened.



It's basically only useful for Kate, but she won't be using it much to hit dudes anyway.



There we go. This is mostly what Valkyries will drop at this point. Just Platinum or Gold Coins.



New enemy in the Flower Garden as well, with the very non-ninja Ninja Cats. They're mostly a non-issue save for...



Having the Lifesteal spell, which Gloop can steal for our use as well. It's not very strong, and it heals about 1/3rd of the total damage dealt to everyone (all decimals are truncated).



Fountains can give us a super-cool new enemy in pirate-y Platypi. They're not really much of a threat in general, either.



They do have this skill though. It's just like the Warrior's special strike...



But, well, not as strong so it's not worth worrying about.



It does also have some pretty nice drops, including this new armor for Owen and/or Gloop.



Yeah, despite its icon as a drop it's not usable by Kate for some reason.



Also I think a Ninja Cat dropped a Lifesteal Bomb at some point and I just skipped past it. It's just Lifesteal as an item, which makes it even less useful.



The 9th floor's chest is the easiest place to grind Tentacles if you really want to do that. It's not worth the hassle, honestly, given how few you'll need.



More importantly first is that it can give us a new shield as well.



It's not much of an upgrade in comparison to some other things we can get now, but it's still very nice to have.



Vaguely but not really still talking about Ninja Cat drops, they also drop this for Kate and Gloop.



Once again it's mostly for Kate, though, since she needs it much more.



And the Platypus opts to drop its food, uh, drop as well. Guess we'll take this straight to the Magic Shop!




Huh?
Want me to give it to you?
Hahaha...!
You're just bribing me with that Freshwater Fish, so I'll give you some new magic!



...drat, he's FINALLY onto us! :ohdear:

Oh my. You're a lot harder to fool than I thought. Oh well.
Where're you going!? Gimme that Freshwater Fish! I'll get you some new magic...
(...That was even easier than I thought it'd be...)



Yeah, so this is actually probably worth doing now in lieu of Carrot Juice at last. Platypi drop the fish very frequently and we only need 2 at a time too. It's not a big problem or anything.



Might as well just grab this while I remember.


Oh yeah! Life Theft. I'm not sure what it does, though...
That magic steals HP from the enemy!
Wow...
How is it that you run a Magic Shop, but you didn't know that?
I could tell you all about magic used for cooking.



That's fine, you don't have to explain...



Lifesteal is really, really not worth 8000G. And I'm not just saying that because I can't afford it without another dungeon excursion.



When doing so, a Platypus decides to also hand us his axe after a while.



It is pretty nice to have, since it's a decent upgrade over even our Katana.



Not much else really happens for the next few days, so we'll just skip to the boss now. It's a pretty lengthy albeit repetitive floor, since it's basically the same as the eighth when you get right down to it.


Elder Dragon



I like the Elder Dragon's doofy design. Mostly his stubby little arms and his cool purple scarf.



Wow, a real dragon!?
So you're responsible for digging this tiny little dungeon...
What do you mean "tiny"!?
It's not big enough for the Devil Prince. I have a lot of work cut out for me now...



Wow, rude.

Before we beat you, I gotta ask. Is it true the Prince guy won't come if we leave it just nine floors?
He's not a "guy"! He's a devil. He's the Devil Prince!
Okay, whatever. Is it true the Devil PRINCE won't come if we don't build a tenth floor...?



Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get this place ready for him. You can leave now.
No, you can leave! Digging this dungeon is MY job!



How amusing. Leave, or I'll obliterate you!
Uh... that's my line! You're forgetting whose dungeon you're in...!



As per usual, boss fight starts off with Owen buffing so he can go all out.



Kate's spells are actually more efficient than normal in this fight, which is nice.

And by "spells" I mean the ice ones.



So what can the Elder Dragon actually do to us?



Well, it's mostly more of what you would expect at this point. He has a semi-okay physical multi-target attack.



It's pretty easy to mostly just ignore to be honest, so of course he does other things.



...Although this one is even more underwhelming, since it's about the same strength but single-target now. Consider it a freebie I guess.



Also I just figured I'd take this guy as an opportunity to show why Gloop is not as good as Kate and Owen at this point. Even with Strengthen, his damage output is far below where you'd expect.



This is Owen in the same circumstances with a similar weapon. So, uh, yeah. Gloop is basically only good for healing duty at this point.



Oh right, also the Dragon IS a Dragon and we grabbed that sea charm for a reason.



It's... actually not that threatening presumably because of the Sea Charm. There's no point in caring about stacking fire res for this since it gives you too little defence for the other stuff.



Kind of weird how the dragon was also a super-easy fight to be honest. Not much else to it, since his attacks are very... not that threatening. Just hit him until he dies; no need to even be remotely cautious here.


End



The Sea Charm has used all its power and disappears...

Wh-What's that!? On the floor up ahead!



(*cry*)
Why the heck are you crying...?
These are tears of joy! I'm so happy... uh, for you!
You've grown up so fast... defeating dragons now...!
Or are you just happy because we found Olive Oil?
Well, uh...



That sounds about right for that Shovel. We might as well take a peek at what's on the tenth floor before we begin to remove everything.



We must be getting closer to Hell! Humans usually get creeped out by this kinda place...
But demons and devils love it! This'll be an ideal floor for luring the Devil Prince!

Well, it would be if we were to ever try and do that.



Which, y'know, we obviously aren't going to. Because that silly ol' Mayor told us not to.




It was that dragon's roar, I just know it! It caused an earthquake! (*gulp!*)
Did you already fight the dragon? And... Did you win?!
Yeppers.



You defeated the dragon?! Amazing! I can't believe my town has produced a Dragon Slayer...
You are to be congratulated. Amazing! Anyway, that's enough of this dungeon-digging!
This is an order from your Mayor. From me!
......



Your new job is to act as a tour guide.
I'll be in charge of walking tours of the dungeon?
Precisely. And you'll explain to everyone just how you defeated that dragon.



This is a reward for all your hard work, which is now over!
I was never in it for the fame... It's my job...



oh my thank you i couldnt have earned more money in about 5 minutes nope



Family...?
That's right! You and me are like family, aren't we?



As generically anime as this seems (and, well, is), consider how small the town is. And how these two are the only ones that aren't adults or like 5 years old...

That's true...
(Um...)
First, let me tell you my opinion.
I agree with the Mayor. It's time to stop working as a Dungeon Digger!
...
The Elder Dragon was very clear about it.
The Devil Prince won't come if the dungeon only has nine floors.



Okay, it's your turn to say your opinion!

Owen? Giving an opinion? Asking for a lot there.

Well, even if the Devil



I think it'd be even more dangerous if he entered our world in an unknown location.
If we can get him to come here, then at least we have a chance to defeat him.
If he shows up in some unknown location, then we'll have no chance at all.
Yeah...
That's why I think we should lure him into our dungeon.
We'll have to carefully explain this to the Mayor, and get him to understand.
I doubt that'll be possible. All he cares about is money.
...

Well, she's not wrong.



But this does very definitely create a bit of a dilemma: do we just give up and let the prince guy be someone else's problem...



Or do we throw caution to the wind and just keep on digging?



I think we all know the answer already though...

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!
That's fair, and something I was sort of thinking about in the back of my mind. Part of it is that the actual designing part is pretty similar between floors, and the requirements at this point are "the same as before but with even more rooms" which I wouldn't think would be very interesting to read.

e;

Glazius posted:

Is lifesteal dark elemental?

I'm pretty sure its non-elemental in that sense. It doesn't do anything to undead monsters (like the spooks or skeletons) though, which is kinda clever.

Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 01:19 on May 26, 2015

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Good morning...
We've got a major problem... Come on inside. We have to talk!





...



Please ensure that construction on the dungeon continues as before.
Refuse my request, and I shall make sure you join me here in Hell... where we can talk things over for all eternity.
-Devil Prince
Wh-What's this all about? Join him in Hell? Wh-Wh-What does he mean by that?!



Something like that...?
Eek! I knew it! How terrifying!
I guess that's comes from leaving a devil alone to do its mischief!



Tempt the Devil Prince to enter your dungeon, and then defeat him!
In the meantime, I'll be hiding in my house... (*shiver*)
How terrifying. How truly, truly terrifying...



He seems pretty scared. I can't say I blame him, though...



Oh, good morning.
I heard everything. A letter from the Devil Prince? I was thinking...
You wrote the letter yourself, didn't you?



No devil would write a childish letter like that.
I can't believe the Mayor was fooled by it!
Better apologize to him later...

(Un?)Fortunately, there's not much to do in town this time around.




So we'll just jump straight into the cave and begin to really work on B10.




What's wrong?
There... next to the entrance.
The note that's always there is gone. It says something different now...



What's going on here? How rude! Some monster must have wrote written this.
Look, the monster even signed it. Over here...
Signed it? You're kidding...!



If people are writing stuff like this, then the dungeon must still have a way to go.
Does this mean the Devil Prince has been in the dungeon?
It must...



What'll we do if he's still inside?
Do you think he's in there...?
I hope he is. If the Devil Prince is in there, then all we need to do is beat him...



Huh?
I mean, we can save the world from this crisis, right?
Yeah, why not!
Are you sure you're not more worried about the dungeon's depth than the world's crisis?
Well, yeah. I'm a Dungeon Digger...
...I guess that just means you take your job seriously...



Okay, so since this is the last floor we'll be a bit smarter with this one. And that means starting with some Trash Dumps above the Dojo I stuck there previously.

Some Chapels opposite it as well. Because gonna need lots of expensive stuff again.



Speaking of Chapels, we can fight these new Warcat Queens in them this time around. Although in this case, it's just from the Flower Field. They're not much of a threat of course.



Adjacent to the Flower Field, there's a set of Plush Beds, Hearths and Fountains.



The Plush Beds are important for having nothing but new cats and dogs. Emperor Dogs are things we cannot oneshot right now and are basically weaker versions of Master Warriors.



Weird as it sounds, adjacent to the Trash Dumps I'm making a little area that's a 3x3 square... and temporarily closing the entrance. Just in case.




Oh, the Magic Store owner. Good morning.
Is it true that you're going to fight a devil?
Well, yeah. It won't be easy.
Do you realize how powerful a devil's magic is?
No, how powerful is it?
Really, really powerful.
You don't say. Really, really powerful, huh?



And you don't, you silly spade?



Really? Like what?
You know... Some Magic Shop stuff.
Good grief. Do you have any idea what he's talking about? I sure don't!
Look who's talking...

For the Mirror Covering, I think we're going to need something new to even begin to find it.



So, to the Furniture Shop we go!


According to the man who works at the Magic Shop, you need an extremely precious piece of treasure known as the Mirror Covering!
Since this is such a precious item, even monsters won't carry it on their person!
They won't even put it into an ordinary treasure chest! That's why I've prepared this Silver Chest, just for you!



Well, you may get lucky and find it on the first try. You know how it is with treasure chests...
You never know what you'll find inside. It's hard to say for sure...!
At any rate, give it a shot! Try it, try it!

I, uh, sorta forgot to buy one right now. It's fine though. It'll work out later, I swear.




More graffiti... The Devil Prince has paid us another visit.
It's strange... Almost like he came to check it out and then changed his mind again.
"So this is the best a human can do?" Sounds like he's been in again. Think he's still there?
If he is, then all we have to do is beat him.



Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.
Are you sure you know how serious this situation is...?



Having spent all of our money on even more rooms, we'll start by throwing down 3 more Plush Beds directly opposite our currently vacant 3x3 square.



Then remember that there's new slimes in the Trash Dumps and I did this for a reason. Venomslimes are tanky, tanky jerks.



Because they do this almost all the time. And it will always poison. Sleep+Destruction is the best way to handle them by far.



Might as well also clean out every other monster on the floor while I remember too. When doing so, the Warcat Queen was kind enough to drop some new armor for Kate.



It's not much of an increase over the Valkyries, but it's something I guess. No reason to not use it.



And then the Emperor Dog gave Owen his armor as well. How generous!



Technically worse than the Halter, oddly enough. You'd think being actual armor would mean it's better.



So, once the sole path to traverse gets very, very close to the wall by the north, we'll split it into two. The left branch being where a lot of rooms get placed. The right-side'll get rooms later (sorta ran out) but it's also primarily for progressing to the obvious boss spawn point.



So, how about that Silver Chest? 4,000G isn't too shabby but we want two right now. They add 1 a day to its stock, of course, so we'll grab the second tomorrow.




The Mayor told me I should help you out in any way I can. So...
I decided I should make you a new staff! It's called the Recovery Staff.
If you hit an enemy with it, it will replenish your friends' HP! Great, huh?



If you can find a Life Stone, I'll make you a Recovery Staff...

A Life Stone, huh? I'm not sure an item that recovers 25% of your HP will be usefu- oh wait wrong game.



I guess we need a new room for this one as well then.


What?



No, we want to use it to make a Recovery Staff.
That's what the girl at the Weapon Shop wants it for, but it's also used to create a monster called Demon Armor.
That's what it's called when you take armor, breath life into it, and make it fight by itself.
You can do this in a magical Laboratory.
A Laboratory... Do you have one?
Of course. I knew you'd find it useful, so I had one made.



Well... that's new.

Are you sure that's okay with you?
Well, why not...? I ordered it to help you out, not to make a profit.
I figured I could help bring world peace in my own way, by helping you out with useful rooms.
After all, without peace, I can't sell my wares, you know!
Heh, I guess I just wanted to continue my commerce after all...



True to his word, it only costs 8000G. It also just happens to be a 3x3 room with a single entrance. How convenient that I just so happened to dig a 3x3 square!




More graffiti... He's coming here every day.
This almost looks like he's asking me a question. Think I should write an answer?



This should do it...



So, the reason for buying 2 Silver Chests is going to sound weird but it's so I could put one on the very first floor. It doesn't give anything interesting (just the 2nd floor's Iron Chest loot), but having it filled will add the Silver Key to the monster drops even on this floor. Makes it easy to collect them.



Of course, on the 10th floor, it goes opposite the Iron Chest. Speaking of which, the Iron Chest here contains...



A lot of really easy to get food. Well, it's more convenient than running around my 3rd floor for the Firepig I guess.



To the surprise of probably no one, I'll stick the Laboratory in that 3x3 square I dug out earlier. It doesn't really look like much of a lab, though.



Hey, this is good to get so quickly. I expected it to take a bit longer, since Venomslimes have many ring drops.

Exactly none of them new or good.



Also, whoops I forgot to talk to the magic shopcook.


Uh-oh! He's mad... But now I'm mad too! A "mere human," he says?!
I guess we won't be making friends with a devil...



Grabbed this on the first floor, exactly as planned.



And immediately flipped it for this.

Easier than it sounds, because a chest's contents are actually determined when you open it. Just save then reload until it contains the item you want. I have totally not abused this to get new things the entire time, nope. Don't know why you'd think that. :v:



So, hey, Demon Armors. Not a big threat on their own, even if their armor makes them look like they're from Wonderland. And also sticking their tongue out at us.



Even with other things, not necessarily a large threat. After all this is their normal damage.



But they can cast Strengthen which isn't exactly a good thing to be on the other side of.



And their special attack is Devastation. Even worse thing to be on the other side of!



They can drop some Sinister armor, including the ring.



It's basically all an upgrade for us too.



And of course their head can teach Gloop the Strengthen spell for good measure. Even if it is awful to actually have.



No Life Stone just yet, but they did also cough up some new actual armor as well.



And the Emperor Dog gave up his sword to boot.



It is a very nice sword to have, by far. It's the best weapon on the floor, even!



After placing a few more rooms along the north-eastern side of the area, the floor turns white again. Unfortunately, we've still got a long way to go for the boss to spawn...



Oh right, and because I forgot to talk to him about this before he'll give us this spiel before we can hand over the Mirror Coating.


Even though they have venom, that doesn't mean you can't eat them!
All you have to do is cook them, and the venom will boil away. I'd like to try some myself...
Wait a second! You've got some, don't you! You have some Dry Venomslime! Where is it?!



Okay, I'll get it for you! New magic, coming right up!
Also, I wanted to ask you one more thing.
Sure, go ahead. (*sigh*) Ask away...
Why is it that whenever we kill a Slime, it turns into a Dry Slime right there on the spot?



(That's not an answer...)



Just turn around and try this again.

So you did.. I'll make some new magic with this.
When I do, you'll have to start a fight that you might not survive.



That's not what's happening...
We're not children. We're adults, working as Dungeon Diggers!
I see... I'm the Magic Shop owner, and you're a Dungeon Digger.
I better get to work, then! I'll make you some new magic.
Make sure you come back here tomorrow...



So, that Venomslime makes a REALLY good dish, geez. +5 to Constitution is a massive jump, and it's even kind enough to give a little Strength for good measure.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


This magic will repel the enemy's magic. The stronger your enemy is, the better this will work.

Not entirely true, not entirely false either. We'll cover that later though.

See, I can make magic! You never knew I had it in me, did you?
I guess you can make more than just food then...
I still prefer to make food, don't get me wrong!
But now's not the time to worry about what's fun and what isn't, I guess...



Okay, so, yeah. Barrier is a single-target spell that basically functions as a positive status effect. It lasts until it's hit by a spell, or a fight ends, whichever comes first. Damage inflicted on the caster is a little bit more complicated than "stronger enemy takes more damage" though.



Anyway, we also gave him Venomslime so there's this too.


Oh, by the way! I found an answer to why Slimes turn into Dry Slimes when you beat them!
Really? Why?



(That's not an answer...)

We already know what Devastation does. It costs another 10,000G and I'll buy it later. Probably.



More graffiti... He's coming here every day.

He's also stopped using his little signature. :(



Anyway, we already have a Silver Key so we'll pop open this right away.



The Sylph Bow is a very nice weapon for Kate. It's not effect-oriented unlike the most recent staves, so if she kills something with it that's not an annoyance. It's welcome.



Not really much to the floor at this point, so we'll just keep slicing through the Demon Armor until we get this.



Something that helps, but isn't immediately obvious, and I forgot about before is that they're weak to Light. Sure, works for me.



Really not much to today's excursion, just placing a few more rooms in obvious places and killing more things.


I can use this to make a Recovery Staff. I'll work on it all night long, so come back tomorrow...
I should have it ready for you by then. I'll work really hard on it, for you guys.



Immediately grabbing this before I forget.

It took all night long, just like I thought it would. I really need my beauty sleep, but oh well...
Hehe, it was fun to make... I wanted to make all you guys happy, so I did my best!
Here, please take it. Good luck, everyone...
Thank you...



So, I don't even consider equipping this right now. It could come in handy later though. Like with the previous two staves, if her attack kills the thing it hits then the healing effect cannot happen.



Neither, thanks...



Just place a couple more rooms up north, grab this new helmet for Owen...



Not much of an upgrade, and not much of a day to speak of either.




What's this supposed to mean? He seems like he's in a hurry or something...



Next day is even less interesting, but since we've gotten close to what I think is the rank requirement (250) now it gets trickier to figure out what's the problem.



That's horrible... So people and bugs all look the same to him?

Even if we get 250 via stuff like Plush Beds, Hearths and Fountains there won't be enough monsters. Laboratories and Dojos are an easy 9 to that requirement so placing down another two Labs in the top-right corner.



...



Hah!



Somehow, even that wasn't quite enough to do it. I know, I'm shocked too. We're quickly running out of space though, so one more Laboratory over to the left SHOULD do it. If not, then we've gotta rearrange some things just to get room for more, uh, rooms.



...
"Oh, shut up. How self-important for a devil. -Dungeon Digger"
Okay, now this is just two children arguing...

Well, she said it herself at least?



Anyway, it's at this point that the Devil Prince presumably sticks around which is perfect because if he didn't...



The messages outside would begin looping now. Yeah, there was a lot of unique ones for if you take a while which is nice at least.


Devil Prince

Devil Prince Interlude



...Well that's not what I expected the Prince to look like. At all.

You little twerp! This is unacceptable!
Huh...?
This dungeon is hardly fit for a prince like myself!

Dude, no, that's not how this works. You do not get to be tsundere about a dungeon layout. :colbert:

Well--
Still... I guess it'll have to do.




Why--
I want to kill all the humans! All of them!
You--
What happened to my dragon...?
I asked him to design this dungeon to suit my status, but I don't see him anywhere around here...
We--



Yes, we--
Hmph. Well, I guess you don't do a bad job of digging dungeons... I'll tell you what.



And there's the last mistake.

Actually, it's our dungeon. Not yours.
...



Devil Prince



So, the Devil Prince is definitely the hardest and lengthiest fight thus far. Only fitting for the final boss, huh?



He's not really someone that sticks to one thing the entire time. He also has no particular weakness. So we gotta chip away at his almost-800HP over time. It, uh, it takes a while.



But this helps, a lot. He's got a bit of a penchant for spellcasting, so Barrier comes in handy by far. It deals damage for each person the spell reflects off.



This is because of how it determines the damage inflicted. It doesn't use the caster's Wisdom for the defence side. It uses the intended targets. The less Wisdom you have, the more damage gets reflected.



Oh, right, yeah. He uses both an Ice and Fire spell so don't bother considering using elemental resistance armor. It won't help all that much, and leaves you vulnerable too.



Owen with the Caesar Sword and Strengthen is pretty much the best bet for damage. An unleash would be nice, but since I don't like relying on the Attack Ring it's staggeringly unlikely.



Of course he has physicals as well. He even has a basic physical attack which isn't interesting other than "it exists."



Being a physical, having Barrier does nothing for it. Even better is that once he drops below half health he almost never casts spells anyway. It's almost like he's competent or something.



Also that dealt more than half of Owen's health. Owen who is by far our tankiest dude with just over 100 Defence between his natural Con and heavy armour. Quite worrying!



Also this being a long fight, I even break into the items a couple times for once. Shocking, I know. I almost never do that at this point because I never buy them to begin with. :v:



...Oh and he has another physical as well. Because of course he does. 2 special physicals, 2 spells and a regular attack. Guy has five different attacks.

(that damage is a hellfire reflecting off gloop)



Once again, he's kind of sort of competent. Especially in comparison to everything else ever. So half of his attacks are multi-target and nasty. The other half are single-target and even more nasty. Granted, this is without ever stopping to grind which I think you're expected to do but that's not the point!



Even more item use, what is this sorcery?

Anyway, uh, normal potions being Heal without the Wisdom modifier, Recovery Potions are upgraded ones so they're Heal All without the Wisdom modifier. But Cure as a bonus so, uh, easy 200HP in a bottle. Plus status restoration.



The latter doesn't help here, but since Kate's the least useful for damage it gives her a way to contribute when everyone's hurting or something. Gloop's overall very slightly better but only with either Master Warrior or Emperor Dog arms; they can help sometimes with their specials.



Aside from the damage output being higher than anything else to date, and requiring pretty frequent patching it's still not a hard fight necessarily. It could snowball badly, if someone drops, but since turn order's always very favourable it never matters too much.


End



Huh, I guess there is an 11th floor?



That was amazing, Buddy! Now you're a hero.



Even me!
I'm too tired to celebrate right now...
Me too. Let's head back to town...
Alright, fellow heroes! Let's move out!



We also got this, but the game doesn't tell you that.

I guess we could also see what mysteries await below that ladder but there's nothing else to do. Let's just go back to town, sell our loot as per usual and see what wacky scheme the Mayor has ne-



Or not. There's no one around at all. The Magic Shop guy's gone, the Weapon Store trader's left her post, Mayor's MIA. Even that kid what sells vegetables isn't there.



Woody's still at his place though.


Ah, hello.
What are you doing here? All the townsfolk are at your house.



His new job is "spoiler of surprises," I guess. So let's just go home.



Oh no, the Mayor's here? What a surprise. :geno:


Yes. We beat him...
Whoa! You saved us. You saved both my life, and the world!



I wonder if my magic is what did the trick...
Thank you! Now I can stop worrying and get back to my job of expanding the town!
The entire town is singing your praises, Dungeon Digger! Huzzah! Huzzah!



Oh wait. I should stop treating you like a boy now, huh...? Ahem. Nice work!



Thanks!
(This is the first time I've ever talked to this kid...)
The hero who saved the world lives in my town... Isn't that wonderful!
Dungeon digger, you should be a little more proud!
Yes, sir.



The tourists will pour in from miles around, just to have a look at you!
And they'll all bring their money with them... Bwahahah, isn't it great!
Dungeon Digger, what's it like to save the world?



Yeah, you need to realise how important you are.
Don't just stand there with your mouth open like a dolt. Act like a hero!
Boy, there's nothing wrong with showing a little pride at a time like this.
Let us hear how you feel! Come on...



psst owen dude you're meant to lie at times like this!

Huh?
Wha'?
...
And I should get back to digging my dungeon, tomorrow, so if you'll excuse me...
All right, but you'll keep buying my furniture, right?!
Yeah, I'll keep buying furniture...



Oh well, I guess if this is what we're meant to do...





And end credits! Seriously, this is the end. There's nothing more to see. That line about going back to dig tomorrow is just a sequel hook that never got followed up on (arguably for the best, because what we got instead has one of the best game mechanics ever).



There's nothing left to do. Go on home; we're done here.

Leave.

What are you waiting for?
































































Well okay, fine. There is still the entire second half "post-game" left to go.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


I guess we made Daddy mad. Oops? :shobon:

(What is this letter? Let's see; it continues on...)



Thanks for the warning? Now the assassin, uh, isn't.

(Devil Lord... Devil Lord? This must be the Devil Prince's father. He wants vengeance for his son's death...?)



Oh, um, good morning...
Hmm?



Oh, this is nothing. Nothing...
Really?
(I don't want to scare her with all this deadly Bogbeast talk...)

I don't exactly think that... never mind.



So, not much to do in town right now. Just gotta buy all 2 Fields that are in stock in the furniture store and some Fancy Beds to go with it.





This seems like a weird mistake right now, but it isn't really. The 11th floor is a fantastic reprieve, y'see.




Really?
Let's just place a bunch of Fields and attract a lot of monsters.
We can open a Magic Hole once we get 50 monsters! Let's go through before the Bogbeast traps us.
I get the feeling that the 12th floor is going to be even more fun, with more weird monsters!
Hmph...



So, yeah, our goal here is just to get 50 monsters spawn. There's even a super-low Rank requirement of 80. No needed rooms or amount of rooms or anything.



From this point onwards, all floors are gonna start off with both chests at the entrance. It's worked out well so far at least.



This is probably the most boring floor to date, including how fillerish the fourth one felt. There's very little to it, which is both good and bad. Just gotta stick a handful of big 3x3 rooms with some little one here and there.



If we make our way to the bottom left corner, weaving between those blocks, we can find more Olive Oil.



The floor being superstraight forward is good for our wallet and being able to get it done quickly. But bad because it's just so dull.



Despite how it seems, no, she doesn't want us to go and collect a Sleeper. She's just telling us it exists, which is good enough for me.



So, Fields are good for this floor for two reasons. The most obvious is that they're the cheapest 3x3 room and have four doorways. Another is that they give the floors whole two new enemies. Hole Moles are weak as heck and otherwise uninteresting in terms of "dudes we fight".



Lumberducks are super-punk, have a big axe and... aren't threatening either. They both deal a whopping 1 damage with their normal attacks and around 20-30 with their specials which aren't great otherwise.



Iron Chests are pretty decent still for things like this.



Or everything else they can cough up. Lots of food and Gold Helms/Sylph Bows sell for an okay amount too.



Though the Clams, at least, are fairly redundant since Lumberducks give up most of the Seafood items pretty freely.



Moles, conversely, give us their legs which we can cook and eat too...




What? You don't even know how to eat a Mole Leg? You're a strange one, aren't you?
Everyone knows how to prepare a Mole Leg!
Are you sure...?
You make Mole and Potatoes!
Use Dry Fish Flakes for flavor and boil the Mole Leg with a Potato.



(He's got to be kidding... Is he serious?)



Kidding or not, it's a pretty good recipe for both Owen and Kate. Boosting HP, MP, Strength and Wisdom makes it surprisingly useful and versatile. Sure, the numbers aren't as big as they could be if it was more specialised but it saves so much time and farming that I can't help but like it.



Wish the same could be said for the actual floor.



More fields, more rooms that are just there to fill space and time.



Running out of ways to make this floor good leads to a radical new idea: what if a Field connected to another Field?!



Also the moles sometimes drop their pelts which are another "sell for money" item.



That Sleeper is a sword we can find in the Silver Chest here.



It's a pretty nice upgrade over the Caesar Blade and it casts a single-target Sleep when you stab dudes as well.



Speaking of nice weapons, the Lumberducks have a new axe for, uh, Gloop I guess. Their arms are the best thing to mimic here and only allow axe use.



It's not quite as strong as the Sleeper and its effect isn't necessarily as good either. But, y'know, it's an axe. It's functional enough.



Trash Dumps give a variety of slimes on non-specific floors. Makes getting the Venomslime drop slightly more annoying but not by much.



Good news is we're just about done with this floor already. Also get Kate some new armour from the Silver Chest too.



It's a decent enough upgrade and if we get more than one, they sell for 2600G apiece which is pretty great too.



The other treasures aren't worth writing home about. Tentacles are easier to get from the 9th floor's Iron, Platinum Coins are just filler and Superhuman Rings...



Yeah, uh, I'll pass thanks.



Small mercies in that the boss spawns really easily, I guess. If not, this floor would be a super-tedious slog.


Bogbeast



Y'know, for once this looks basically like what I expected. Except not as green.

Huh? What are you talking about? Devil Lord?! I haven't heard of any Devil Lord!
Well, I got a letter from the Devil Lord...
He said he was going to get revenge for what we did to his son, the Devil Prince...



Yeah, but even if we beat this monster, another one will be coming to take its place.
Fine with me. We'll just have to beat them all! We beat the Devil Prince... There's no going back!
Uh, are you two done talking? The Bogbeast is coming right at us!
I'm gonna go hide, I think. Good luck, you guys!



So, the Bogbeast hits kind of hard but he's generally not that big of a threat.



Except that, well, his attacks stun very frequently.



Plus side is that he doesn't have much health, so Owen with the Sleeper and Strengthen will ruin this guy.



And, of course, Stun is a negative ailment so Cure will remove it immediately. Probably what Gloop's going to be stuck doing all fight.



In a rare change of pace, Kate's actually going to cast Lifesteal a lot. Not for the healing aspect, no that's worthless.



But because it's her best method of attack. The big ol' pile of sludge isn't weak to either Fire or Ice.



Oh and this is the only skill the Bogbeast has. Instead of hitting one person with a chance to stun...



He hits everyone with a chance to stun. At least he knows what he really wants to do.



All in all, really not a long or hard fight. No complaints here.


End



Instead of getting something to give to the mayor, we actually get an accessory for our own use from this guy.



The Gaia Ring is actually very good and nice and I'm giving it to Kate. That +8 Defence gives enough of a boost to push her over 100! Hurray!



The 12th floor is, uh, a bit weird looking huh? Basically a giant expanse of nothing with a handful of walls over on the far, far left. Very different to the norm.



Getting a bit of a headstart as per usual, we'll start off with 3 Altars this time around. Not because it helps with the floor necessarily, but it does have something we want all the same.



Gonna need a bunch of 3x3 spaces. The Laboratory is occupying one because it's very helpful and I just had it sat in my inventory still. :v:



And that's all there is from this floor. A lot shorter than we're used to, but that's partly the floor itself being short to its benefit.



It's also because from hereon in, there's just less things to do in town and stuff anyway. At least we can always get new food for the Magic Shop guy still, though.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Oh, good morning.
Preparations are well underway for the Stuffed Dragon Tour.
I've received several inquiries from other towns.
I even received a letter from the next kingdom over, to the east of here!



A... Shogun?
I told him it would be too dangerous, but... It is too dangerous, right?
He said he'd pay us back in all sorts of ways if we let him go in...
All sorts of ways?
Presents for the town, of course!
But the dungeon's... Well, it's too...
Too dangerous? Really? Are you sure?
Yeah. I'm sorry...



What a pity. Goodbye, then! Take care!

...Hey, Shovel...
Yeah?!
Is Shogun Wolf... human?



I knew it...
He's the boss of the Samurai Wolves!
They must be interested in taking over our dungeon.
I don't think they'll give up just because the Mayor told them no.



If a new Mahic Hole opens up, they'll set up camp there!
So that's what that letter was all about...



Yeah, so as is going to be a recurring trend at this point there's very little to do in town now. Just gotta buy a few rooms and move on.



Wolves all think they're better than Wardogs, so we need something better than Straw Beds for them.
Make rows of Plush Beds. That should attract lots of Samurai Wolves!
After we get enough Samurais, the Shogun Wolf will be next!



As is also going to be a recurring thing, we're basically done with dialogue until the end of the floor now. How, uh, nice? Anyway, let's deal with these guys in the altars.



Not because they're new or have interesting new drops or anything like that. No, they're basically the same old Spooks we've always dealt with.



They're just kind enough to give Gloop the multi-target Fire/Ice spells at this point too. Pretty useful!



Surprising probably no one, those big 3x3 gaps we left are getting filled with Dojos. Lots of them.



Oh and the Lab still just has Demon Armors and Wizardrills. Nothing new there.



I guess some of the drops that we never got before kind of vaguely count. The spear is okay, I guess. Would've been nicer to have earlier though.



Also going to have to throw down a lot of Plush Beds like Shovel said. This isn't as expensive a floor as it may seem, which is both nice and yet not really a problem if it was. Keep an eye on the amount of money in the top-corner and you'll see.



Anyway, new things! Potbellies are weird sentient Darumas tat have a big spear and that's basically it.



Samurai Wolves are secretly just furry Warriors. Their basic attack can deal more than 1 damage to Owen which is kind of a problem.



Also Kate cannot one-shot either of these with her multitarget spells. At least not yet.



Samurai Wolves drop a lot of weird random food items. I guess we just loot their food bags rather than their bodies sometimes.



Just gonna put these Fountains over here. No real major reason; it's easy Rank and the Platypus and Warpenguins drop fish which is good for Wisdom.



Oh right, keys. Umm....



The Iron Chest's nice for some easy, random food I guess. Also the equipment sells for a decent amount if we get that instead.



The Silver Chest has 3 things we'll actually pick up other than these. The Slime is an okay alternative but...



The Holy Mace is a new club weapon. It deals Light elemental damage which is nice for random undeads, not a big issue for anything else. Mostly.



Anyway, sort of just goin' through the motions here now. Samurai Wolves drop this new helmet which is pretty decent an upgrade, I guess.



They also drop a Wolf Ring which is just +5 Defence, which is nice for Kate since she doesn't need stuff which ups Attack and all.



Not the best thing in the Silver Chest, no. Attack Ring but a bit better, I think? It seems to up the rate a bit more but that's hard to say for sure.



A bunch more filler rooms up north, because I sort of need them. Not for the floors actual requirements; I just need more rooms in general.



Samurai Wolves drop this. It'd be nice if it was different to the one we've had since like the 8th floor.



And then there's this too. New armor for Owen and/or Gloop. Very ho hum.



Hey look, a Potbelly drop now. It's a very nice upgraded Spear and it sells for a decent chunk too.



Also these. Just the newest boots and everyone can use 'em. Nothing fancy here either.



Last thing in the Silver Chest. It's not super-great but its good for general magic defence granting 20 points of resistance to all 3 elements.



Finally! These floors are kinda super-repetitive for the most part. This one wasn't helped by basically being a giant expanse of nothing.



So, anyway, about that Shogun...


Shogun Wolf



He wants to make this place his fortress. Why can't he just build his own if he wants one that badly...?
If he thinks he can take our dungeon, the he's got another thing comin'!



So, the Shogun Wolf... also not really a hard fight. Kate's mostly just going to spam Lifesteal since its non-elemental and her best damaging attack as a result. Wolf fur doesn't burn as well as you'd think.



Oh wait, um, oops. Forgot to switch Owen's Holy Mace for something useful. This'll be a bit of a problem.



Even with Strengthen, can barely crack 20 damage because it's Light-elemental and bosses have elemental resistances. Bleh.



Since we're still at the beginning of the postgame/second half thing, Shogun Wolf doesn't have many tricks. A basic attack which is just a decent amount of damage...



And one special skill.



Hits harder and is multi-target. That's it. Shogun Wolf just likes lots of damage with no tricks or quirks.



So we just hit him a lot and then he dies.


End



Reward for this guy is a nice, new Katana. It's a nice upgrade over the first and getting used immediately.



Thirteenth floor's general design doesn't seem dissimilar to the 12th.



What we're actually after though is very different to everything we've done to date. Just gonna put down a couple Flower Fields, a bunch of Chapels and some Plush Beds too.



And that's it for this floor. 11th and 12th were kind of just rote and uninteresting in the end, huh...



At least the 13th is a bit different to the norm from what I remember. Now the question is whether or not my memory can be trusted here.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


(Another letter from the Devil Lord...)
(Still, it doesn't look like a death threat...)



Argh! Uh... um... I...
What's wrong? Don't tell me you got another letter from the Devil Lord?
How did you know?

Women's intuition.

Don't tell me... Is it another death threat?
No, he just said his daughter was going to pay me a visit...
I'm supposed to take good care of her, I guess.



Or the next date. Either, or.

Umm... Well, yeah, that must be it...



Right, so we'll just buy a bunch more rooms that we used before. And also this Field for reasons.



Hmm?
The Devil Lord's daughter!
Oh...
The Devil Princess's minions must be female monsters. Warcats, Forked Cats, that stuff...



Wow, Shovel. Wow.

Flower Gardens... Makes sense.



Okay, so this floor is really light on new monsters. All the rooms we placed just contain upgraded versions of ones we've fought before. For, uh, a given definition of upgraded.



They drop new equipment that we can flip for mad cash though.



Lots of the stuff. It's all better than what we currently have, as well.



Mage Cats drop this bow which is a decent upgrade for Kate. The poison chance is nice too.



Actual layout stuff is fairly simple and nothing too interesting. Field opposite the gardens, keep stacking Gardens next to each other etc. etc.



Up in the top-right corner, we can find this. It's a decent helmet for Gloop more than Kate, since the Attack increase doesn't effect spells and all.



Yeah, so: chests! The Iron one's falling into a pretty predictable pattern at this point. 3x food items and 2 of the previous floor's Silver equipment. Works fine for me though.



The Silver one's not too different though. 1 food item, 1 item to sell (Diamond is 5000G) and 3 new pieces of equipment.



Like this. New ring that helps Kate in terms of raw defence, and everyone in general for being +10 points of resistance to all 3 elements.



This floor's grand total of 1 new monster is in the Field this time. Death Roosters like to Stun everyone a lot but aren't actually threatening so whatever.



They also drop this which is new food.



Plush Beds have Emperor Dogs sometimes, which is where this came from.



New weapon for Owen in the Silver chest here. It's a decent axe, but nothing worth writing home about. Gonna use it though.



Some decent new armor for Kate and Gloop...



And then there's this. Makes regular attacks Light elemental which is very rarely nice and I don't care enough to use it.



And last we have this in the Silver chest too. It's not that great so I'm just gonna sell it.



Oh right, got some new food so let's deal with that while I remember.


Shall I tell you how to eat it?
It's bird meat, just like Crowbat, so it's delicious fried. That's all you need to do. Nothing else.
And now, in return for teaching you this...



Miss, you've got to be grateful for even the smallest of favors...
Well, maybe it's rude for me to ask for thanks, since it was such a small favor, after all...



It's good for Speed but not much else. Meh, I'll pass on this one I reckon.



Doesn't take much longer to get the boss to spawn either, which is nice.


Devil Princess



Huh? Why!? You're not here for revenge...?
You got rid of my big brother. I HATED him! Thank you.
What!? You aren't angry about losing your brother? Is that a devil thing...?

Owen, shhhh.



No, you're giving her ideas. Stop talking!


And maybe a little sad...?
Okay, NOW I'm angry. I don't need some little bug preaching at me and telling me how to feel!
Did you call me a bug!?
Silence! I came here to thank you, and you just spoiled it! Maybe I should just leave.
What? Please, by all means! Let me show you the door...
Oh, don't worry. You'll be coming with me.



You're nuts.
Of course, I'll have to kill you first, before I can stuff you... Let's go!



Great, thanks Owen. This entire fight is your fault.



So, we're going to want Barriers up where possible for the Princess of course. This does have a weird quirk where it prevents you being healed via Lifesteal, but it doesn't reflect that at least.



We wat Barrier because of her basic attack, oddly enough. It counts as a spell in every way; uses Wisdom for damage, can be repelled and all that funstuff. That's because it's just a Lifesteal spell but as a regular attack instead.



This is going to help a bit, but not an awful lot because of the above.



Also, she unfortunately has this little trick.



Not only does it hit everyone, but it can poison too. Also it counts as a physical, despite calculating damage with Wisdom for some reason, so it can't be reflected with Barrier. Better get those Recovery Potions handy then!



She just has the two tricks, though. It takes a while because of that Lifesteal thing, but she'll die eventually. Could've gone quicker though.


End



She drops this which is... okay, I guess. Giving it to Gloop, since it's not enough of an upgrade for Owen to care.



The, uh, the 14th floor is kind of a mess jeez. Well then, let's get something started here...



Near the usual chests n such, we'll throw down 3 Altars.



Little bit further south, we'll dig out room for a Dojo...



And near the far south, we'll stick a bunch of Plush Beds ready.



In the bottom right corner, we can grab some Olive Oil for later use.



And, yeah, uh, I don't think money is going to be much of an issue at this point.



Same with Shovel's MP. 70 was already more than sufficient for basically everything; 80 is ridiculous and we can keep it going up higher and higher too.



But, uh, y'know we did just kill the Devil Lord's other kid. And he was pretty mad about losing the first one.



...Meh, I'm sure nothing will come of it. Probably just be something random and inconsequential for the next floor.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


Told ya there'd be nothing about killing the Demon Princess. I'm like psychic or something.

Wardogs? What about them?
The Wardogs are fighting with each other!



All of them want to be the king! It's a Wardog riot, and innocent people are getting hurt!
That's our job, then...
Our job?
They're fighting all over the place, right?
So you want them to take the fight into the dungeon?
Exactly.



Eek! Don't startle me like that!
An arena! A Coliseum! We can lure the Wardogs into the Coliseum, and have them fight!
And this is perfect for us, too.
All the Wardogs want to be the king, right? They'll bring their best weapons and armor!
Once they enter the Coliseum, we can take their weapons and armor from them!
It's like we're robbers, isn't it...?
Hey, Buddy! Girl! Let's go to the Furniture Shop! Let's buy a Coliseum!
Do they really sell Coliseums at the Furniture Shop...?

I wouldn't be surprised at this point either way. Easiest way to find out is to just head there right now too.



Coliseums? Of course!
You have one...?



You don't need to go that far...
You've got to, got to, really, really got to try out!



It's only 9000G each, as promised, and we can grab 2 easily now. Gonna do that then and maybe some other stuff as well.



You know the one! Ogre Cyclops! Did you defeat the King of the Wardogs?
You keep beating those Wardogs, and eventually the Ogre Cyclops will come after you.
He'll think you must be the next King of the Wardogs!
The Ogre Cyclops hates Wardogs, right?



I, uh, I guess that makes sense...?

He just hates their barking...?



Okay, now as per usual we've gotta deal with the floor proper and basically nothing else now. So, what's in these altars?



A weird and confusing enemy. Not because they're hard.



No, they're really not. Gibberers are undead so we can Holy Light them to death.



The problem lies in what they can do...



and how its all an evil pack of lies

Everything it says its going to do is the exact opposite of what it really does.



This also applies to basically all of its drops as well. We've seen its sword before, so we know that's a random stupid thing.



Actually making this thing is, unsurprisingly, fairly simple and rote at this point.



Just gonna throw down a Coliseum next to the Dojo we placed before, and attach these beds to its left and another Coliseum to its south. The floors layout tries to hinder this a lot though.



The Dojo here just brings back our old friends. They have no new drops though!



The Iron chest follows the usual pattern and the Silver...



Does not have a mistake there. No, Wingtips are in both here because why not.



More important though is a new staff for Kate. Sadly, there's no Wind spells so it can't autocast a thing.



Gibberers are dumb and their drops are also dumb. Selling this one without question.



Coliseums mostly contain dogs of all kinds here. Makes sense since it's what we want and all. The Emperor is the same as the 13th floor and the other 2 don't really have their drops scaled up unfortunately.



And when I said dogs of all kinds, I meant it. Even the Samurai Wolves get in on the action!



Oh hey a random Emperor Dog not in a Coliseum dropped a new shield. First one in ages, because I kinda missed like one or two by accident.



I don't remember why I placed this Field other than cheap and easy. It's a bit north of the Coliseums though.



The Gibberer Shoes are kinda nice, I guess. They're actual upgrades and grant Stun resistance which helps a fair bit.



They're also better than the other new boots we can get here.



Next thing we can pick up from the Silver Chest is a robe that's flat-out worse than everything else we have. And doesn't even have any other benefits to it. How disappointing and weird.



Anyway, like a day later the Magic Hole appears. I was a little off on which wall would disappear, no big. We're not diving into this fight right away though!



No, first we're picking up this fairly decent ring from a Silver chest. I think it's okay at least what with the +5 Atk and all.



Also we want some of th Gibberer's tender flesh. For, uh, reasons.

NOW we can go fight the boss.


Ogre Cyclops



After how fairly... different some of the other things looked, I'm disappointed by how generic this one is.

I knew it'd show up! These guys can't tell the difference between humans and Wardogs.
He thinks you're the strongest Wardog... the Wardog King!
You've gotta take care of him right here, right now, before he tries to attack the castle or something!
Yeah, that'd be a problem...
Oh my, here he comes! Good luck, King Buddy!



It should probably go without saying now that Kate's going to spend ever boss fight just casting Lifesteal. So, uh, unless I specify otherwise just presume that.



Unsurprisingly, the big thing with a giant club likes to smash things with it.



In a couple of ways, in fact.



It's not quite as hard as his normal attack, of course, but it does hit everyone AND is more likely to stun.



What might be a bit of a surprise is that he has a 3rd move.



What might be more of a surprise is that it is a giant eye laser that hits someone with Devastation.



But aside from that, it's just a good ol' slugfest and we can win those easy.


End



Drop for this guy is a new club. It's quite nice so I guess I can remember to use it.



Now then, the 15th floor is much nicer than the 14th.



We'll start off by setting up some rubbish tips...



directly opposite three plush beds. What? They're only monsters, they won't care.



Straight north of that, we'll throw down a lot of Hearths.



And a few more bins next to the beds. I am a brilliant architect!



Also in the top-left corner of the floor is a hidden 40k. Nice for easy, free money but we can earn more than that in a single trip of the dungeon so whatevs. It's quicker to get it this way though.



Since we just got the meat, we'll see what it does now as well.


It's hard to tell just what it is. It's meat from a Gibberer.
You must know how to eat it, right?
No, I've never seen meat like that before, either...

What?! :stare:

Have you tried stewing it with vegetables?
What kind of stew would it make?
Well, it's Gibberer Meat, so I'd assume... um... Gibberer Stew?
I see! So what skills do you think it'll raise?



Wouldn't that be too good to be true...!
Maybe... But more importantly, I bet the stew is delicious!



Well, he wasn't just guessing at nothing, at least. It's pretty good to say we just need 1 drop for it since we can buy the rest for cheap.



Not as good at anything as the specialised dishes, except HP and MP, but it's sufficient for what we want.



More importantly, next floor's an odd number. 11 and 13 were Demon Lord related. 12 and 14 were other random things. If this is a pattern, then next time we'll get an angry letter I guess.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


This is not how I expected this floor to start. Um, did I skip one by accident?

Ah! G-Good morning! (*gulp*)



Flame... flowers? No.
It's a type of flower that blooms only once every thousand years.
This is the thousandth year, apparently...!
They bloom in deep caves. I wanted to see one, but if you don't have any in your dungeon, oh well...
Um... I'll look for one, then... and... Oh! She left!



If we turn the 15th floor into a fire floor, maybe fire monsters will bring one in with them?

So, uh, yeah. Turns out this floor is a glorified sidequest complete with that goofy every hundred/thousand years thing.



Well, let's get to work then.


Do you know what kind of monster has them?
Nope!
Hey...!



No ordinary monster would be able to walk around with one. So, of course...
We'll have to go after some huge monster that appears in a Magic Hole!
Yeah...



So, let's get right to it shall we? Just need to throw down a lot of fire rooms and get even more dudes to spawn.



First, we have a robotic maid problem. They're meant to be cleaning these bedrooms, not sleeping in them! :mad:

So, we just make sure they get that they're not getting paid this time. By beating them up and finding replacements. They don't really put up much of a fight.



They also drop their aprons sometimes. They sell for like 4000G and that's their best use by far, though that +5Atk seems tempting.



Also Owen can't wear it anyway, which is the real reason I just sell it for lotsa money.



Oh and these guys have moved into all the Hearths on this floor. Recolours of the Potbelly dudes already...



Needless to say, yes, they are weak to Ice. Gloop just isn't wise enough to quite oneshot any of them.



Their shoes are quite nice though. Same defence as the boots we have AND 20 Fire Res? Don't mind if I do.



Since we also need lots of enemies in general, I throw down a Dojo to the north, a Coliseum just next to it and another Dojo adjoining that to its north.



This is also when we're done with the first day and so should proceed to loot the treasure boxes. Iron is iron, yada yada.



Silver only has two new things though. The Gibberer Meat for no effort is drat nice at least.



Unsurprisingly, the new equipment is Fire elemental. Better than what we have right now but not good for current use.



Next day, the robomaids still haven't learned to do their jobs properly. This time they remember to fight back.



The elbow itself doesn't hurt much, but I think it was a bit rusty or something. That's just not on!



So we steal their shoes to make a point.



The Dojos just have these old friends again. Still no upgraded drops disappointingly.



Last Silver chest item is Owen's version of the Fire Bow. See like three sentences up. Still applies.



Just gotta throw down even more rooms, slowly extending towards the right wall. All very simple stuff.



Other new drop from a Fireman is... something that seems like an old item but isn't. Took me until I saw it sold for 4400G to realise that.



It, um, isn't very good to use though. So, selling it is its proper use.



Couple days later, the repetition gets the floor done and the hole opens.


Fireflower



That is a big flower, alright. Bigger than I was expecting, eve. Also I know it isn't but the big bit under the bulb looks like a wrinkly brain to me. :v:



I'm going to go hide...
Wait a second. This monster is actually a Flameflower, right...?
Exactly. So you can't really bring it back to town with you like this...!
Bah! What should I tell her, then...? I'll have to talk to her later, huh?
What are you going to tell her? You beat up the flower she wanted to see?
No, that won't do...
I'm sure you'll think of something. Now's probably not the time for that, though.
He's coming right at us!



So, the Fireflower appears to hit very hard with his normal attack. But, eh, it's one person and even a second wouldn't kill Gloop.



Unsurprisingly, it takes pretty okay damage from Ice. I have to say pretty okay because it's still heavily resisted and deals less than Lifesteal but it is the thought that counts.



Oh and the Fireflower has a whole two attacks. It's boring single target normal one and this one.



This is actually weaker, but tries to make up for it by hitting everyone. It doesn't.



I'm sure most of the entire past few floors have mostly felt like lazy filler when reading thus far. They kind of are, to be honest, but this is the only one to this point that also felt it when playing. An uninterestingly easy boss to end an uninterestingly easy floor.




Just a root. Too bad it's not a flower...

Also it drops food instead of equipment.



Looks like the Flameflower Roots reach all the way down to this floor too...!

And there's even a second immediately on the next floor too. Sure, why not.



Anyway, you know the drill by now. Start off by placing rooms and I'm just dumping these 6 fountains here because they're taking up valuable inventory space.



Same with the next 3 and the trash too.



The field and plush beds are actually useful though.



Oh and the equipment store lady doesn't even acknowledge that we have the roots right now. Why? I'unno. Just doesn't.



But since they ARE ingredients someone else actually cares.


Is that... is that... is that Fireflower Root?! You're so lucky!
All you have to do is make a salad out of that, and it's the best thing you'll have ever tasted!
That's so hard to find... Gourmet eater that I am, even I've never had it before!
Hmph. Just make it into a salad. Sounds easy enough. Thanks for telling me. Bye now!
Wait, wait! Don't you want to trade that for something?

Ooh, like special postgame(ish) new magic??



boooo


Okay, hold on, maybe I can give you a magic potion, and... No, I can't...!
Argh! I can't trade you this ordinary stuff for a Fireflower Root, it'd be rude to the root!
Rude to the Fireflower Root...?
I'm a gourmet eater, and I long for Fireflower Root. I can't give up on it!
But I must have manners...
What are you getting all worked up for?



So, uh not only do we not give him it for free... it's not worth making either. Honestly, if I knew how bleh these things were I'd just let the guy have them.



Oh, and despite what you may have thought before, no, the stat cap isn't 100. I don't even know what it is. Probably 255, but the space looks like it could hit four digits if needed.



Which, uh, is probably as much of a ridiculous overkill as it sounds.

Oh well, next time... we'll do something? Maybe the shopkeeper lady will let us tell her the flower she wanted was an evil monster or something!

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


So, for the first time in quite a while we get a letter from the Devil Lord. Kind of expected this earlier but whatever.

(A cold shadow? Stick a blade into my world? Must be another assassin on the way...)



Whoa...
I've never seen something like that before. What a strange letter.
Aren't you afraid?
If you're afraid when you come up against a devil, you'll lose for sure.
Just remember that a human with a strong heart will always beat a devil.
After all, a devil's just another monster... like a Hobgoblin!
(She sure talks tough...)

Yeah but it makes sense to me. If it lives, it can die! :black101:

...But first we have a cold shadow to deal with. So we need more water/ice rooms.




What... Some new furniture?
Yes, what about some cold furniture?!
(gulp) Cold...?



I wasn't planning on serving the monsters cool drinks or anything...
Yes, but if you want monsters that only live in icy realms, then this is the thing for you!
Things like Shroomlizards!
You absolutely must give this a try!
Hmph... Shroomlizards...



Refrigerators are cheaper than you might have expected, so might as well grab all 5 now.



If we do that, the cold Shadow won't come anymore!
Isn't that the opposite of what a Dungeon Digger should be doing...?
Good point! Let's mak it an ice floor..! That'll make the cold Shadow show up...!
Okay...



Huh?!
You always take about how to attract monsters.
You've nver suggested w keep a monster out before...!
...
Never mind! It's... It's nothing, and whatever... Forget about it, you two!



As per usual, we're just mostly going through the motions with the dungeon design at this point. Just gonna throw down those 3 Refrigeratos over to the left of the Fountains and stick a Dojo here just because.



Slamming down more Fountains next to that Field since we DO need cold rooms at least.



Last 2 Refrigerators opposite there. If only we could buy more than 5 at first. This is awkward.



Also 3 beds to the south.

...what no this isnt padding because the floors now are super short and over in like 2 or 3 days what makes you think that



ANYWAY look a fight!



Snowmen are yet another recolour of that one new enemy model. Gotta make the most of it somehow, I guess.



Anyway they are weak to Fire and Kate will burn them alive effortlessly.



They hit kind of middlingly hard I guess. Which is to say relatively not at all. Gloop takes more damage from being sneezed on at this point.



Of course they drop their spear. And of course its not very good for this floor. Pattern recognition!



Plush Beds meanwhile are a bit more interesting. They have these giant beetles with giant swords tied to their heads.



They're actually so hardy we cannot oneshot them at all right now. I know, I'm surprised too.



also oww thats actual real damage



But they do die in two hits so we steal their shell and wear it for protection. Because that's not at all gross and weird.



Oh and NOW we can finish the previous quest. Yeah, I dunno.


I'd love to decorate my shop with some flowers like that...!
I wouldn't do that if I were you... A Flameflower is a huge monster.
A monster...?
I don't think you could decorate a shop with one...



I guess I just don't know my flowers. I'd better stick to weapons... Tee-hee!

And that's it. No more rewards or anything, so let's just sleep and jump back in the whole.



Threw down a flower garden to the north of the entrance because I need more monsters in general right now. That's it. Nothing fancy here.



So, how about those fridges?



Yeah they contain mushrooms that are also lizards. We burn them and they die. That's it.

I'm seeing a pattern here.



They drop two possible food items. Neither is more or less common than the other, but they're both used for different recipes which works out fine.



Snowmen drop Ice Robes which aren't as useful as you'd expect. Lower defense than our current armor, their elemental resistance is meh and they sell for about the same as the Fire Robes. Which isn't bad but could be better.



So, chest. Gonna skip the iron one at this point because its super repetitive. The Halberd is a cool new spear that we're going to use, of course.




Do you know some tasty way to eat this?
Mushrooms are tasty, whether you boil them or you fry them...
But what about some Premium Steak?
Mushroom... steak...?
No, no!



It's really good.
So it's really good, is it?
Yes. Really good.
Oh, I see... It's really good...
Trust me. It's really good.
You guys need to work on your vocabulary a bit...

Well that's one. Now to just leave and come back.



It looks just like a Crow Leg...! How did you know what it was!?
Use it to make kabobs with a Wingtip and a Clam.
You'll know it's ready when it looks delicious. Always trust your eyes!
So you know how tasty something will be just by looking at it?



Okay...



So, how are they to actually eat? Well, the steak is really good. Especially if you're Owen, since, y'know, more HP, Strength and Constitution are like the 3 stats that really matter here.



The lizard's pretty decent as well. Requires a bit more work to get the ingredients for (but we can just buy the peppers at least). Not quite AS good, butit focuses on Wisdom and Speed. If it was MP instead of HP, then the lizards would be good to farm for a consistent boost to every stat. But no such luck there.



Next day, boss spawns of course.


Shadow



Been skipping over the pans recently, but it's needed here because..



He's so small, you can't even see the sprite behind the dialogue box!


He's here... Now, a chance to avenge my father!
Huh!? Your father? Err... the guy who made you?



I'm afraid he might get you, too...!
Is that why you tried to get us to make a fire floor on this level...?
To make sure this monster wouldn't come?!
If you want to avenge your father, then wouldn't it be better to lure the monster into here?
You know, so we can beat it up...!?
Yeah...
Go hide. We'll take care of him and avenge your dad for you, Shovel!
...Okay! I'm counting on you guys!



So first off, the actual Shadow itself DOES have a larger sprite and stuff. It's just only there when he's attacking or taking damage. So most of the time.



Lik so. It's quite telling when his basic attack is more dangerous than most other enemies special skills.



Despite what you might expect, by the by, he's not actually Ice elemental. He's Light aligned. No, really.



...This arguably isn't helping, I realise.



On the one hand, it's not actually a Devestation effect so it won't drop you to 1 HP no matter what.

On the other hand, that's bad because it can kill you appropriately enough.



Told you it was Light elemental. Also, he's apparently a rejected Naruto character.



It's multi-target and keys off Wisdom so mitigating it for Kate is easy. Everyone else not so much; Light resistant gear is actually pretty awful at this point so there's no point to using it.



It's actually really easy to just keep the damage output up here and healing should easily outpace any damage taken at this point. Sort of disappointingly easy fight all told.


End



Buddy!
We avenged your father! The Shadow is no more!
Great! Now he can rest in peace. Thanks, Buddy! Thanks, Girl! I couldn't be happier...



More important is loot. We get some sweet new hanzo steel for our benefit. By which I mean probaby Gloop's, since it's not much better than the Halberd.



So, the 17th floor has a new item for our collection in the top-left corner. We, uh, can't get it until the boss spawns and dies so yknow. Boring.



Let's start out by throwing down a ton of large rooms. A Coliseum connected to a Dojo to the south and another Coliseum to the west.



Some beds right above that one. It's totally not filler or anything.



Nor is this field to the east. I just want to get this done quickly by throwing down lots of rooms with many monsters!



Like yet another Dojo to the far west.



That'll do it for the starting point on the next floor, I reckon.



And honestly, I think next time unless there's some major change we'll just tackle both the 17th and 18th floors in the same update. These things are just getting quicker after all.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


...Did I load an older save file by accident?

Oh, good morning. What do you want to eat this time?
I'm not here to talk about food.

:stare: I see.

...I must have loaded one of a ROMHack by accident.


What?!
Why, is it strange for me to want to talk about something other than food?



Bah, I can talk about other things too from time to time! Anyways...
You know how Black Warriors are called by many different names, depending on how strong they are?
The strongest of them all is called a High Master.



I bet you could make some delicious sashimi with that sword...

Oh, there we go. Everything's back to normal.

(I knew he wanted to talk about food...)
I don't know how to use a sword myself, so I wouldn't be able to use a Master Blade...
But wouldn't that be cool? To steal a battle-hardened warrior's weapon and use it to make sashimi!?
Anyways, you're the only person I could thik of who'd listen to this, so...



But this Master Blade sounds like something I'd love to have...!

This is a weird floor. It seems like our goal here is to make a High Master appear and steal his sword...



If you want to fight a High master, you can draw them in with a Dojo or Coliseum.
Just kep in mind that if you place more than one Dojo or Coliseum, you might get swamped!
Then place things like Fields and just gather food for dinner!

It's not really clear, but Shovel's dialogue here implies that we need Dojos or Colisums to make the boss spawn. That IS true, but...



Not for the High Master. He's just a random dude we can fight in them.



So, uh, what are we even doing this floor? Maybe these guys are just random mooks and the real-real High Master is the boss who drops the sword?



Nope! It's one of the random drops from the random dudes.

So, what's the point of this floor? Er...



Hey look a weird elephant sunflower and pillbugs made of potatoes! Isn't that wacky?



(we burn them and they die)



While filling in more of the floor, another High Master drops his helmet. Not that great for, uh, anyone really.



Oh and Master Swords are so common we got three of them on that one excursion. 1 for Owen, 1 for Gloop and one to sell for good measure.




You have to cook it thoroughly over a low flame.
I hear Baked Potatoes make you look prettier, don't they? What else do they increase?
What else would you like them to increase!? They already increase 'Beauty' by 1.
I knew it!



I mean, increasing your beauty by 1 point isn't going to help you underground...
True. I should eat yours too, then!
What?!
(She's eating two of them...?)
What about the boy's?
Good idea. I should eat his too!
Whoa!
(She's eating three...?! Don't I get one...?)



If she wants three, she can go out and farm them from the Potatobugs. They're good for Kate at least, even if the +3 Beauty points have no mechanical effect.



Anyway, we could talk to the Magic Shop dude again but he doesn't acknowledge that we have 3 Master Blades at all. He doesn't acknowledge anything at all relating to this weird "quest" we don't have after that one scene ends.



This is, by far, the most blatant filler floor of the bunch. It's not even subtle with at least some justification for what we're doing or anything. We're just digging this floor of the dungeon because we are Dungeon Diggers and it's what we do.



...Next day the boss, whatever it is, spawns. Oddly enough, I didn't get a Silver Key at all on this floor. Yeah, I dunno either.


Ogre Triclops



...Calling attention to what is essentially your lazy reuse of an earlier boss does not make it any less lazy.

Yeah, this one's an Ogre Triclops. It has three eyes instead of one.
Be careful. He'll shoot Sealing Light out of all three of this eyes!
No one will be able to use any magic or items in this battle!
So... we can't recover HP?
Right! He's a terrifying fiend.
But I have faith in you! I'm going to go hide, while you guys beat him up! Good luck!



So, as you'd no doubt expect this guy's pretty much the stock fare and boring as hell to fight.



Oh no, his normal attack hits everyone for middling damage and might stun.



At least he has a skill that hits... a single person for very slightly more damage and is even less likely to stun. How scary!



And, of course, he can try and seal us like Shovel said. Very, very rarely.



Well, by "try" I mean almost definitely succeed. It's just a multi-target Seal spell so it doesn't hurt or anything.



Not a hard fight at all though. We hit him a lot and he dies.


End



At least he drops his club which is a very slight upgrade for Owen or Gloop. Might as well use it though.



And since we can now get to the top-left corner, we can grab some more Oil for Shovel.



Floor 18's nice and open. The walls are a bit weird but they also make it really obvious where the boss is going to spawn and the hidden treasure is at least.



To compensate for this, the free loot here is pretty awful. Go figure.



So we'll block it with this Laboratory I had lying around in my pockets.



And then we'll throw down another one to the far north.



Then we'll run out of rooms and so have to go and lubricate our Shovel for no real reason.



Floor 17 was super-short, and kinda awful, so we'll do a two-for-one as promised.


Your dungeon is getting pretty huge.
Yeah, thanks.
Now that it's that big, I wouldn't be surprised if you had a beast from Hell show up...
A... beast from Hell?



Whoa...



So if you see a beast from Hell, then it means the dungeon is almost deep enough to reach Hell itself.
If you find a place like that, you should try placing an Altar and see if a wizard from Hell shows up.
Are you trying to sell me more altars...?
Hmph, yeah, yeah... And more...!
If it's wizards you want, you might want to try some laboratories, too.
If you want that wizard to show, try some fountains too...
But anyway, that's not what I'm here to talk about. I wanted to recommend a new product.
New furniture? What kind?
Heh heh...
Come on over to the shop. I guarantee you'll want it when you see what it is...

Well, there's no point to not doing so. Interesting how he started off with something probably actually plot relevant but then remembered is character was "runs the store."



Still makes more sense than the previous floor.


I'm sure you'll want this one... I'm talking about this Golden Chest.
Golden Chest?



I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't just steal the chest itself...
Worry not! It's solidly fastened to the floor.
You can place it in your dungeon without fear of theft...



Great, sure, whatever. 9000G a pop isn't too bad and the best treasure is rather appealing...



Yeah, let's place some Laboratories.
He also said to place some Altars and he mentioned something about Fountains.
Wait a minute. Could that mean the Otter Wizard will be back?!
You may be right.



We'll worry about that later. For now, it's back to work we go.



We'll just throw down a few obvious rooms and some start building up in the top-left corner too. Run out of 1 square rooms after the second Altar though.



So, the Laboratory finally has something new in it. I know, I'm shocked too. Bone Wizards are undead losers who're never getting a turn.



Magic Donkeys are weird lookin' things that we two-shot with a Devastation and then anything else. They drop a useful new staff for Kate at least.



They also drop this sometimes. It's some new food of course.



And Bone Wizards mostly drop majorly outdated junk, and also this. It's still not great mind you.



The Killer Flowers in fields drop Seed Oil fairly often, but we actually get our first vial from an Iron Chest. Sure, why not.




You can tell that, by my expression!?
Well, I found some Seed Oil... What can you cook with it?
That goes well with Freshwater Fish.
Stir-fry Freshwater Fish and Mushroom in the Seed Oil.
I call this 'Mountain Saute' and it's my original recipe. Give it a try...!

That's one...



Those are great in salads, but if you want them to taste even more incredible...
You should boil them a little and toss in some Mole!
Usually when you make a dish with meat and vegetables, the meat is the main ingredient...
However, in this case, the Premium Carrot is the most important part.
You only add meat so that the Carrot is even tastier! What an exquisite dish!



Overall, the Mountain Saute is definitely more built for Kate since it improves everything important for her.



The Salad is more for Owen at first glance, but the Strength boost isn't great so I wouldn't actually bother unless I wanted MP and Speed.



Anyway, back in the hole and we get our Gold Key of course.



The Gold Chest's room is super gaudy but the armor it gives Kate is very much worth it.



Anyway, we just need to throw down some more rooms until we just run out and come back the next day.



Boss spawns but we'll make him wait a minute. Some of those new rooms were Fountains.



Which do contain Otter Wizards. Nothing fancy about them; they're basically identical to before but easier since we're way stronger.

So, about that boss...


Elephantom



Hey, so, you say his HP? Only reason it displays 999 is because it can't show 4 digits. He actually has 1100!

It's Elephantom, the elephant from Hell! We must be pretty close to the entrance to Hell...
You should defeat that thing before it takes us back to Hell with it!
I'll, of course, be hiding over there somewhere... Good luck!



So, uh, it's basic attack hits everyone pretty drat hard and can stun. The Triclops wishes it was as strong as this thing.

But lets make it worse...



Normally, Kate's go to move has been Lifesteal. The Elephantom is undead. Lifesteal heals it and hurts her instead!

Her normal spells also are lucky to deal 20 damage so, uh, that makes it hard to figure out what to do here. Or does it? It's undead after all...



So, of course, Light spells will actually ruin its day. Or at least Kate chucking Light Bombs will. Owen will deal a whole 6 points of damage with the spell (1 with the bomb!) and Gloop will smack it for 9.



That just leaves its other attacks to contend with, huh?



As per the norm, it trades its area of effect fun for a more concentrated attack. More damage, chance to stun etc. etc.



And lastly, we have, uh, this. Fortunately, this is its least common attack.



Being a spell, it doesn't even really scratch Kate but ruins the other 2. Also being a spell, Owen can throw up barriers to reflect it.



It takes many a bomb, and the occasional whack with a giant stick, but eventually the Elephantom dies. Actually not a cakewalk for once, even if just because it requires a slight change in the strategy.



For our trouble, we get some new food and access to the 19th floor.



Gee, I wonder where the boss is going to be. That giant concentration of walls in the center isn't blatant funnelling or anything, no.

...We'll deal with this later. Sod it.



Hey we get Hellephant meat. What do I do with it?


It's Elephantom meat. What, you don't know about it?
I'm sure it'll be tasty just cooked, but I've never seen it before...
You just cook it as is and make Roast Elephantom. That's all. You hear me?



How is it that you know all that, just seeing it for the first time?



Yeah, so, Elephantom meat is actually REALLY good for Owen, of course. Problem being this is the only piece we can get without doing something actively pointless or just using an Action Replay code.



...Still gonna use it right away, though. Because it's worth it.



Actually just about run out of ingredients so for the 19th floor I might have to do some farming for items when you're not looking. Probably won't because I'm lazy, but we'll see.

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Captain Bravo posted:

Something I was wondering, how does the game deal with you entering the dungeon each day? You don't have to walk down through every floor, and go down each hole, do you? Can you leave the dungeon and re-enter it?

Fortunately, no, you don't have to walk through every floor every single time. It's easy to forget since it hasn't come up since, but at the start of the 2nd floor you can buy a fast travel spell that lets you warp to the start of any floor.

And once you leave, that's it for that day. Can't re-enter until going home and sleeping (eating is optional but recommended).

Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!


So, another day, another letter. At least this time they're sparse enough to be actually noteworthy.



...Well, that's succinct. Seems a little early though.


(So, he's coming at last...)



What, just that one sentence? Well, at least it's to the point...
The Devil Lord can't come if we make sure no Magic Hole opens up.
Then let's open a Magic Hole!
That's what I thought you'd say.



After all, this is the end, right!
The end...
Not the end of us! The end of the Devil Lord!
Umm... Yeah. Exactly.

So for this, we just need to buy a bunch of rooms that'll be useful for this. Plush Beds, Chapels, Hearths, Fountains, Demon Cells...



So line up the Chapels and Demon Cells... maybe some Plush Beds and whatever...!
I guess it doesn't have to be too big, as long as 50 monsters will fit!



...Why are there rooms already?

Well, that's because I placed them after the Elephantom. Only, uh, I had to redo the second half of the previous floor because my recording actually glitched out before so I never got to remake these rooms. You didn't miss much, and we'll cover them as we go through.



Starting with another boss refight in the plush beds at the top.



Being regular dudes this time around, we can just not care for the Shogun Wolf's antics and have Kate Devestate him. Constantly.



Also their attacks if they ever get any are very underwhelming!



Down past more Plush Beds, we have some Chapels.



The Einherjar are, of course, named after those in Norse mythology that died in battle and were brought to the afterlife by the Valkyries. Which is why they're the Valkyrie model, not even paletteswapped, and somehow stronger.

For a given definition of stronger, at least.



The big room at the bottom of the first long stretch was a Laboratory. It has nothing for us to care about.



The big rooms above here are two interconnected Fields. For stat grinding, you see.



The Demon Cells have these things in them now. They're not tough or anything...



But their one attack can stun someone rarely. It's something worth noting, I guess.



More importantly, they can Heal themselves.



Heading down and around now, we place a bunch of Hearths and Fountains. Lots of Hearths and Fountains, even. We just line the corridor with them until we run out of both.



Meanwhile over in the bottom right corner, we get some Olive Oil for Shovel. It's also shortly after this that a rarity occurs and Shovel runs out of MP!



So, we need to fix that and in doing so we'll polish him one last time. His MP hits 99 which IS the cap so there's no more magical polish available ever.



....Um.

No, you didn't miss anything. Day 2 of actually really doing this floor begins with the boss appearing. Well, okay then.



Like the Elephantom he has more than 1000 HP. His actual amount is 1165.


Just a mere child...
Please, take this Devil Emblem. It belonged to your son. It's a memento to remember him by.
A memento...?
A keepsake, to remember the deceased by. Don't Devils mourn their dead like humans do...?
No. We don't.



I'll let you beg for your lives, if you want... You know the drill.
Get on your knees and beg... shed some tears... all that great stuff. Go on, now...!
We wouldn't have lured you into our dungeon if we just wanted to beg for our lives...!
Very well. You'll be coming back to Hell with me either way.
You can beg for mercy from my son and daughter. they're waiting for you to arrive...! Ha ha ha!



So, the Devil Lord's actually quite difficult. At least he is with our current stats.



And of course he hits us with a multi-target Light element spell right out the gate. No point in bringing Light resistance because it won't help with everything else.



This, uh, this is Kate's Lifesteal damage. It's still her best option. I'm suddenly feeling less optimistic about this.



But, yknow, for now we'll focus on defence and buffs. Because they're gonna be needed I reckon.



The good news with this is that the Royal Punch is a single-target attack.



The bad news is just about everyting else! That's over half Gloop and Owen's max HP AND over Kate's max.



...And this is Owen's damage AFTER being buffed.

Forget what I said before about being less optimistic. Pretty sure I'm not winning this.



This doesn't help either, but it's just a sealing spell so it's not new at least.



Oh, and it's a small thing but he does have a normal basic attack as well.



But then when he gets low on health he adds this.



Thankfully the damage output isn't too terrible, but the amount he heals is the problem. Since our MP is finite and his, well, isn't even with Owen throwing out Barriers every turn if he spams this enough (and he will) then he'll heal more than we can keep up with. And once Kate also runs out of MP, our damage output is basically non-existant.



Or her HP could hit 0 and this could happen. That is also very quite bad!



Needless to say, Owen soon followed. And as soon as Owen's HP hits 0, the fight automatically ends.



And when that happens, it's not a game over (thankfully). Instead, we just run far, far away. Like start of the dungeon far away.

Several days later...


Devil Lord



On your knees, you pitiful children!



Much better. It just took about a week or two of grinding food to improve stats but I think we can manage this now.



Owen's output isn't exactly stellar still, but it's 1700% larger than it was so it'll do.

The Devil Lord's attacks are the same as before so with our capability to actually not get destroyed immediately (except Gloop, who's limited to whatever he can mimic and thus sucks the later you get)...



We can actually keep pace with the guy now, and this eventually follows. It's still not easy or anything, but it's significantly less tedious.



I probably didn't need to grind for the guy, to be honest, but I got so lazy with it that I just stopped worrying about food for the last few floors. Also I sort of couldn't be bothered at this point doing anything but lazily bruteforcing it.


End



.....How is there more to this?!

Y'know what? Don't care. Leaving.



after this


Is that it? Was that our last job?
Uh...
Are you two kidding!? A Dungeon Digger's job is never done!



Overflowing with monsters... Only then can the town be safe!
Not just the town, but the Kingdom! In fact, the entire world is at risk! It's a global issue.
We gotta keep on hunting... for world peace!

Can't I at least go dig another different dungeon at this point? I'm sick of this one. It sucks.



also grabbing this

NOW we leave!




Dungeons can't go any lower than 20 floors underground!
No, seriously?
The 20th floor marks the border between this world and the next.
If we dig any deeper, we'll find ourselves in Hell! It's right underneath us, after all...



Oh, okay I get it.

So they can come back to life...?
You mean the Apple Viper and that Flamesaurus we beat?
Or even King Leon?



It's... insane...

It is pretty dumb. The 20th floor exists for one reason and one reason alone: perpetual grinding. The boss spawn point her randomly generates any of the bosses we've beaten previously (except the Otter Wizard and Shogun Wolf, of course) but stronger. This is solely so you can farm them for items, equipment and Gloop body parts.

Which now serve no purpose other than farming items, equipment and Gloop body parts slightly faster in a perpetual cycle of awful grinding.

While we can actually get 1 new room and a handful of new random enemies in the process, it's just not substantial enough to be worth bothering with. Instead, I have a better layout for my 20th floor...


Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Dr. Fetus posted:

So there's actually no ending to this? The 10th floor was the closest thing to one?

Unfortunately, yeah. The post-game just... stops with infinite grinding. Sort of appropriate, but also vaguely disappointing. I coulda sworn there was another scene after the 19th floor, but no such luck.

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Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

HenryEx posted:

What's that link to load just one specific forums post without the rest of the thread again?

That's here. Hopefully it'll work with that.

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