"Yeah, sorry, I thought they'd keep after me. I probably should ask more specific questions about how dungeon monsters behave, how they choose targets, what tactics they might use, and so on...?"

He has them walk to a spot where they can watch all the entrances and spends a few minutes explaining. Monsters usually have a specific set of behavior. Low level monsters almost never display any tactical acumen - anything approaching tactics will be the result of the dungeon's animal cunning, for example putting monsters just close enough to a Roper Vine that they'll attack right when the vine attempts to snag someone.

There are Skills to draw aggro or reduce it, but he never learned Taunt and doesn't know much about the opposite version. Occasionally the dungeon will tell monsters to move somewhere else or switch targets, but even then they tend to follow the same attack patterns. He spends a few minutes explaining and giving examples - it's a combination of distance, threat level, recent damage output, and Skills to modify how much attention one gets.

"I'm not an adventurer or a tactical expert, have to admit. We could probably do our own things and be fine since it's the first level, but that's a bad habit."

"Yeah," Ame agrees.

They continue, hugging the left wall. Its as good a method of navigation as any, Ame figures.

She pays more mind to fighting as a team with Arwen, putting herself, and therefore their targets, at optimal halberd range, and is more careful about losing aggro.

Kiting the sticks and grass monsters to where she wants them gets easier with practice. She can keep up her evasion for as long as her Unique Skill holds out, which is apparently "all day" judging by how long she was able to train yesterday.

They develop decent teamwork after the first few rooms. There's never more than six monsters in a room. The monsters occasionally drop bits of loot - generic and low quality things for the most part. Chunks of wood or bark or tinder, bits of thread or fiber or small bags of wheat. They meet the Pineapple Surprises, which tend to drop large tough leaves or bits of fruit (which are curiously neat and tidy and storeable). Though one Grass Sprite drops what Arwen says is 'refreshing dew'. It looks like teabag-sized globule of clear water, but it doesn't get anything wet or stick to anything and he insists it's slightly magical and worth several copper. It goes into a different compartment of the loot bag.

They run across a small, cheap looking 'treasure chest' guarded by three twig monsters and four spiky pineapples. Once those are defeated, the treasure chest contains... An awful knife, a wicker buckler, and a chunk of flint.

Are the knife or the shield less awful than what she's got? Well, her current shield is a loaner.

"Is that shield as bad as it looks or should I switch?"

The knife is worse than what she has now, but probably worth something. "Loot from the first dungeon level is not exactly amazing. Very light, it'll deflect glancing blows... But yeah it's not great. Better than nothing, I think some of the militia use this exact shield in fact."

Ame will stick with her loaner shield for now, since she's accustomed to it.

Onward.

They keep going through the monsters. Ame levels up in what feels like general footwork and moving around in combat, then in sword. The loot backpack slowly gets fuller.

After a couple of hours they come to a huge, tall wooden door decorated with a border of thorny brambles and the words 'HEART OF THORNS' in the middle. There are two side doors. "Bathrooms are there if you need it. Dungeons almost never attack in the bathrooms, so it's a good time to take a breather."

Ame will take advantage of the provided bathroom even though she doesn't urgently need to. (Thanks to her Unique Skill, is it taking ten times as long as it should for nature to call, too? She hadn't noticed before but it's starting to seem like it.)

The dungeon has apparently sealed the other bathroom with Arwen inside. He's nowhere to be seen, at least.

Maybe he's just taking a while?

After several long minutes, Ame tries knocking. "Arwen?"

The door seems immovable. Arwen doesn't respond in any detectable way.

The giant doors creaaaak open. And a seven-foot-tall vaguely person-shaped mass of thorny vines walks out of the large open room beyond.

Instead of attacking, however, it holds its 'arms' out stiffly and the thorny tendrils slowly creep into the shape of strange letters that only snap into comprehensibility once they're fully formed.

'I INVITE YOU TO A DISCUSSION OTHERWORLDER'

Ame sllloooowwwwly lowers her sword.

Arwen didn't say anything about dungeon bosses pulling this kind of thing as a trick... and she thinks he wouldn't have left something like that out?

"How did you know I'm. Not from here. And how do I know this isn't a trap?"

IT IS DISTINCTIVE TO SUFFICIENTLY ACUTE MAGICAL SENSES

I AM NOT THIS MONSTER. I AM NOT THIS DUNGEON. I AM CONTROLLING IT. I COULD KILL YOU WITHOUT TRICKERY. I WILL NOT YET BECAUSE YOU MIGHT BE MY CREATOR'S SUCCESSOR.

Well that's good to know.

"...alright. You've successfully engaged my curiosity."

THE BOSS WILL TAKE YOU TO THE END OF THE DUNGEON. I CAN COMMUNICATE BETTER THERE.

Ame sheathes her sword and follows the Heart of Thorns.

THIS WILL BE FASTER

It weaves together some non-thorny vines into a sort of chair and lowers that to the ground expectantly.

...yeah, fine, alright.

This is pushing it, though. Ame is not going to play nice if this is a trick.

It's not exactly comfortable, but the monster doesn't suddenly try to kill her when she's in its grasp. The Heart of Thorns carries her down the stairs at the back of its room, then very swiftly through the rooms on the next floor down. It stops at a wall, which opens and reveals some kind of cramped and dlimly lit crawl space, which it maneuvers itself and her into and then down some distance, then opens another wall. A few more rooms to dart through, and they're - outside? No, that's impossible, and the blue 'sky' looks fake on second glance. In the center of this room is an oak tree - small as trees go, but still at least fifteen or twenty feet tall.

The oak tree uproots itself and turns into a treant. Then it claws its own front open, revealing a round chunk of wood that glows green and has lots of thick vines connecting to the rest of its body leading out of it.

KILL IT, says the vine-based monster carrying her.

Ame draws her sword with a sigh. This is going to destroy her clothes, isn't it. And she doesn't want to strip beforehand because fighting without something to keep her breasts in check doesn't seem like the best idea.

Unless... is Mystery Person going to just, hold the final boss down for her? That would be nice of them.

Only one way to find out.

Ame races forward, and swings, slicing through the connective vines between the heart-thing and the rest of the treant.

The treant spasms dramatically as it receives fatal damage. It doesn't strike back. It just collapses.

And as it starts to turn to thin grey smoke, left behind is an elaborately carved wooden staff that is actually glowing with what must be magical power. And a large shiny key.

On the back wall there is a door with a big, prominent lock.

Ame grabs the staff. It looks neat. Should be worth a bunch even if she doesn't get to keep it.

Key. Lock. What's behind the door?

An empty, dark stone room. Except for a stone pedestal, above which hovers a dully glowing red sphere with a broken half-ring of metal wobbling listlessly. One of the unreadable runes on the broken ring flickers.

"Good. I can speak properly here," says a scratchy, growly voice coming from... The red orb? No, from a dark, smoky shadow that flickers across the ground beside it. "As I said, I think you may be my creator's successor. Tell me, are you interested in changing the world for the better?"

"In principle, sure. Who and what are you? And who was your creator?"