Week 1: The First Delve
You had chosen your party. Four strong, experienced adventurers plus yourself. You might be new to adventures but you had killed monsters in your travels before. Artificers needed rare ingredients and not all were available from the dungeon after all. Your Blast Rune required dragon's blood for the ink, for instance.
A small noble's compound had been bought with what passed for petty cash for you. It had beds, a kitchen, bathrooms, and other essentials. What it lacked was servants and people to fill the chambers. For now, it would just be you but you had dreams of expansion! An adventuring guild to rival any in the world!
Braam, Scor, and Skeet were the only ones who showed for this meeting. Harald had basically told you to fuck off with bureaucracy and let him know when the delve was. As a new group with no powerful backer, the five of you were limited to the publicly available portals into the Dungeon.
Braam said, "We need to go deep and quickly. I know we just agreed to work together but on Floor 32 an artifact is being corrupted by the Dungeon. The Sphere of Light cannot be allowed to go dark and strengthen the dungeon's bosses. People will be killed until they adjust and that will cause the Dungeon to grow stronger. Bring it closer to a Dungeon Break. It is my God given Quest to save Oriath from the Dungeon."
Well that was helpful for you to know since it meant he was aligned with your interests.
Skeet sighed. "Cautious is better. My last group got killed trying to go too deep, too fast. Other people might die, true, but that is not our problem. I want to live first and foremost. Gaining levels, gaining wealth come later. I hope this group agrees with me on that. We should start at Floor 10, a delve appropriate to our level. Perhaps a little on the easy side if any of you can punch above your weight. A chance to gel, to see how we do togther."
Scor chuckled. "I don't care. I died with the last group I was with. And probably will with this one. Sad to lose friends but I won't try to sway people from their opinions on risk vs. reward."
You said, "Braam, how deep would you want to go and how fast? Skeet is right that we do not want to sacrifice ourselves with reckless delving. I am probably about a level stronger than I should be for common scenarios but I'm not well prepared for the more exotic problems."
"Honestly? We should start on Floor 12. It will push our limits a bit but the group you put together is stronger than they should be for our level. We can handle the danger. Worst comes to worse, we retreat and leave. The proper test would be the floor boss anyway. Up until that point, even at our level, we can handle Floor 12. Farm it for levels if nothing else."
Skeet shook his head. "Are you mad? The average on Floor 12 is a Level 12 encounter. I can fight up a bit, sure, but I cannot handle Level 12 traps or monsters."
Braam said, "We are a 5 man party if the dwarf shows up when he is called. We can fight up a bit more than we would otherwise. Multiple frontliners too, so we can rotate and Scor can heal us in the halls. We should be able to hold a position against anything we encounter except, maybe, the Floor Boss given those we get locked in a room with."
Skeet sighed. "I will go with what the group decides but I think this is stupid. I won't hestitate to retreat on Floor 12 if shit hits the fan. Party or no."
How do you argue?
[] Floor 12
Braam isn't wrong. Time is of the essence and Oriath is doomed if a Dungeon Break occurs. Sure it has adventurers but nowhere enough to contain such a massive and dangerous outbreak of monsters. You'll skip the Floor Boss, that would be stupid. You will still level faster than the other options and be ready to attempt the Floor Boss on your next delve.
Level 12 Loot. Level 12 Encounters. ~150% of a level per 1 Week Delve even if you don't attempt the Floor Boss.
[] Floor 11
A compromise position. Every member of the group is combat effective roughly 1 level above where they are at due to gear or unusual talent. Take on some risk but be sensible about it.
Level 11 Loot. Level 11 Encounters. ~100% of a level per 1 Week Delve if you beat the Floor Boss.
[] Floor 10
Safety is paramount. It may slow your progress, and that Sphere may get corrupted but you will live through anything you come across.
Level 10 Loot. Level 10 Encounters. ~50% of a level per 1 Week Delve. Beating the Floor Boss won't be a problem.
Party Size Bonus: Risk is reduced by 20% due to 5 members.
Party Size Malus: Loot is reduced by 20% due to 5 members.
A small noble's compound had been bought with what passed for petty cash for you. It had beds, a kitchen, bathrooms, and other essentials. What it lacked was servants and people to fill the chambers. For now, it would just be you but you had dreams of expansion! An adventuring guild to rival any in the world!
Braam, Scor, and Skeet were the only ones who showed for this meeting. Harald had basically told you to fuck off with bureaucracy and let him know when the delve was. As a new group with no powerful backer, the five of you were limited to the publicly available portals into the Dungeon.
Braam said, "We need to go deep and quickly. I know we just agreed to work together but on Floor 32 an artifact is being corrupted by the Dungeon. The Sphere of Light cannot be allowed to go dark and strengthen the dungeon's bosses. People will be killed until they adjust and that will cause the Dungeon to grow stronger. Bring it closer to a Dungeon Break. It is my God given Quest to save Oriath from the Dungeon."
Well that was helpful for you to know since it meant he was aligned with your interests.
Skeet sighed. "Cautious is better. My last group got killed trying to go too deep, too fast. Other people might die, true, but that is not our problem. I want to live first and foremost. Gaining levels, gaining wealth come later. I hope this group agrees with me on that. We should start at Floor 10, a delve appropriate to our level. Perhaps a little on the easy side if any of you can punch above your weight. A chance to gel, to see how we do togther."
Scor chuckled. "I don't care. I died with the last group I was with. And probably will with this one. Sad to lose friends but I won't try to sway people from their opinions on risk vs. reward."
You said, "Braam, how deep would you want to go and how fast? Skeet is right that we do not want to sacrifice ourselves with reckless delving. I am probably about a level stronger than I should be for common scenarios but I'm not well prepared for the more exotic problems."
"Honestly? We should start on Floor 12. It will push our limits a bit but the group you put together is stronger than they should be for our level. We can handle the danger. Worst comes to worse, we retreat and leave. The proper test would be the floor boss anyway. Up until that point, even at our level, we can handle Floor 12. Farm it for levels if nothing else."
Skeet shook his head. "Are you mad? The average on Floor 12 is a Level 12 encounter. I can fight up a bit, sure, but I cannot handle Level 12 traps or monsters."
Braam said, "We are a 5 man party if the dwarf shows up when he is called. We can fight up a bit more than we would otherwise. Multiple frontliners too, so we can rotate and Scor can heal us in the halls. We should be able to hold a position against anything we encounter except, maybe, the Floor Boss given those we get locked in a room with."
Skeet sighed. "I will go with what the group decides but I think this is stupid. I won't hestitate to retreat on Floor 12 if shit hits the fan. Party or no."
How do you argue?
[] Floor 12
Braam isn't wrong. Time is of the essence and Oriath is doomed if a Dungeon Break occurs. Sure it has adventurers but nowhere enough to contain such a massive and dangerous outbreak of monsters. You'll skip the Floor Boss, that would be stupid. You will still level faster than the other options and be ready to attempt the Floor Boss on your next delve.
Level 12 Loot. Level 12 Encounters. ~150% of a level per 1 Week Delve even if you don't attempt the Floor Boss.
[] Floor 11
A compromise position. Every member of the group is combat effective roughly 1 level above where they are at due to gear or unusual talent. Take on some risk but be sensible about it.
Level 11 Loot. Level 11 Encounters. ~100% of a level per 1 Week Delve if you beat the Floor Boss.
[] Floor 10
Safety is paramount. It may slow your progress, and that Sphere may get corrupted but you will live through anything you come across.
Level 10 Loot. Level 10 Encounters. ~50% of a level per 1 Week Delve. Beating the Floor Boss won't be a problem.
Party Size Bonus: Risk is reduced by 20% due to 5 members.
Party Size Malus: Loot is reduced by 20% due to 5 members.
