Dungeon

Dungeon title card

Dungeons periodically appear in the Shira Desert. They remain in place for at least 24 hours, before promptly disappearing. Dungeons are temporal and not repeatable tasks and generally don't vanish when a party is still actively using it. They are said to secure food and medicine for the Rauelians and are a big part of their lives. They require an exploration party to clear to get its goods.

When Sari wondered why Dungeons existed, Jake replied that they were as natural as sand in a desert and Tobi said that they were just part of nature's cycle. They exist to be defeated so that the Rauelians can get their rewards..

However, dungeons are more than what they appear. There is a distinct video game-like semblance about them throughout, which contributes to Rauel's feeling of being not entirely a real place.

General Structure

The dungeon operates based on a rulesbook imposed on it. Rules state that no one else may enter (at least the boss room) after the exploration team went inside and that the players within the dungeon can only leave (at least the boss room) when the final boss has been defeated. As long as the rules remain unbroken, anyone can earn loot. The level of the dungeon can be seen on Delhara's maps and updates automatically if a level change occurs

A dungeon contains multiple puzzle rooms, traps and monsters. By defeating monsters, evading traps and solving puzzles, the exploration team could make it to the end, where a boss door is awaiting and a final boss battle must take place, before a way out of the dungeon is given. A party must be created and be given a special "class" through class change orbs that gives them all kinds of special abilities. Theses classes also give defensive power to withstand the dungeon's trials. Parties may start out with supplies at the start. Throughout the dungeon, treasure chests appear to spawn and can be acquired by defeating enemies. Such treasure boxes can be scanned to see their contents, appearing like a video game inventory. Sometimes, the dungeon generates a higher-level subdungeon that can be cleared for additional rewards. Entering such areas loses aggro from monsters from the dungeon.

While doing damage to enemies, floating damage numbers appear. Leveling up within the dungeon causes the user to glow green until they choose what upgrades they want. There is a color change within the player's class clothes to indicate that the user has leveled up. Which usually brings more of a "bite" to their palette. Sari leveling up within the dungeon did not apparently cause a "ding" sound, but Tobi mistook an elevator sound within Lorg to be a level-up.

Tobi mentions that some dungeon bosses have a long spawning animation. All bosses level 6 and up are capable of speech, although Joni believes that theyre not sentient and are simply rehearsing pre-made lines.

Higher level subdungeons don't allow the Driver class (at least at Jake's current level) to see the dungeon layout.

Level 4 Dungeon

With the appearance of a new Dungeon Level Four in the desert, Delhara and Gesiah had Rauel Village reunited within its town square. The exploration team for the new dungeon was announced to be Jake, Joni, Sari and Tobi. The team was transported by airship from Rauel Village through the Shira Desert and deposed next to the Dungeon's entrance.

The dungeon included class change orbs at its start, which allowed the exploration team to change their assigned class. Jake could not find a vehicle for his Driver class, as higher level dungeons don't start out with supplies.

Certain actions within the dungeon forced encounters or walled off certain rooms until a monster was defeated. When Tobi stepped on a switch, Sari was forced to fight the mid-boss Exaros all by her lonesome. The Dungeon generated an alternative pathway to a level 7 special dungeon area.In order to escape a swarm of Hands and Mouths, the group opined to enter the level 7 subdungeon. Entering this area lost aggro from monsters within the level 4 dungeon. This area generated better treasure for the exploration team, including food, fuel and a puzzle box that Tobi took. The Treasure Box could be scanned to see its content, appearing like a video game inventory

Obstacles and Enemies

Some of the obstacles included in the level 4 dungeon were (italicized means that the monsters were not named)

• Slimes/Bigger Slimes: A flying enemy that does not appear to be too threatening, as a simple stab from the Scout class could knock them down. They have around 20 HP each. A slightly bigger variation can appear.
• Pitfalls
• Hands: Partnered with Mouths and Eyeballs, theses monsters try to grab the unsuspecting party members in order to bring them to Mouths. Their weakness is their "eye". Can lose aggro if the exploration team passes through a subdungeon gate. At least 3 of them appeared.
• Mouths: Lots of teeth and drooling, trying to chomp at the party. Their weakness is their "eye". Can lose aggro if the exploration team passes through a subdungeon gate. At least 3 of them appeared.
• Eyeballs: Supposedly the weakness of the Hands and Mouths, 3 different colour variations of them appeared.
• "Creepy Birdface" (nicknamed by Tobi): A bird faced flying robe that can shoot lasers. It has around 30 HP.
• Smashing columns: Columns that activated as part of a trap that attempt to squash anyone that passes under them.
• Descending spikes: A specific trap that Tobi and Sari were forced to work together to bypass. Sari had to keep the button pressed down while Tobi made her way through. One of the traps that Tobi accidentally triggered allowed Exaros to appear and to lock Sari in until she's defeated it.

Midboss: Exaros

• A midboss that appeared in the middle of the Descending spikes trap, Sari was forced to fight it alone. Sari got a Treasure Chest for defeating it.

Level 7 Subdungeon

Level 7 Subdungeon Gate

Higher level subdungeons don't allow the Driver class (at least at Jake's current level) to see the current paths.

After fighting through Pols and Shadows. The party finds a boss door. Despite Joni heavily injured from getting lasered by a Pols and stabbed by a Shadow, the team opt to fight the boss, Necro-Gaia. Jake notes that Necro-Gaia is a rather large boss, which implies that all the bosses he saw beforehand were much smaller than Necro-Gaia. They engage the boss.

By the end of the fight, the exploration team suffered nearly a full party wipe. Sari was critically injured, unconscious and having lost both her arm and her weapon. Tobi's class was completely debuffed away and she was fighting in civilian clothes without any of the dungeon's defensive boosts where any hits would critically injure her too. Jake's vehicle was completely crushed and his arm was injured while Joni (who had previously been lasered by a Pols and stabbed to her back by a Shadow) was bleeding significantly, being puppeteered by one of Necro-Gaia's hands and had been used as a human shield to protect it from Jake's machine gun.

Sari was on the verge of being impaled by a sword thrust before Necro-Gaia suddenly stopped its attack and turned to the right and noticed a presence asking how he made it inside and that he wasn't supposed to be here. Baku could be seen in a doorway made of what appeared to be binary code, with a air around him shimering with 1s and 0s and announced that the rules don't apply to him. One of Necro-Gaia's hands (the one puppeteering Joni) started glitching out and Joni fell to the floor without moving. Baku had come to scold them based on the fact that they entered a level 7 subdungeon without his permission. Baku seeing the sorry state of the party however, announced to Necro-Gaia he would immediately take them home, to which the boss protested about this not being possible due to the rules. He was interrupted by Baku again who stated that as King, he was above the rules, and they are his to break. After getting the party to regroup, Baku tells them to leave through immediately through his hacked doorway to go to Delhara outside and to immediately get Sari and Joni medical attention, saying he will engage the boss by himself despite being too high level to acquire loot, to which Necro-Gaia accused him of lying that as long as the rules remain unbroken, anyone can earn loot.

The exploration team left the dungeon by airship, Sari and Joni on life support wearing breathing masks, and Jake with his arm in a cast with Delhara stating that, while she wanted to scold them, she's just relieved to see them alive and that she hopes this adventure has taught them to never scare her like that ever again.

Obstacles and Enemies

Some of the obstacles included in the level 7 subdungeon were

• Pols: Gravity shifting monsters that can force the party to revert gravity and land on the ceiling. There are two variations, a blue and a red one that fights from the ceiling. They can shoot a laser. Despite being very durable (enough to receive 0 damage from Joni's rush attack), one of their attack patterns lets blocks fall from the ceiling, which can fall on their head and force their weak point, the eye, to pop out of their carapace, allowing the exploration team the ability to damage it. Attack style: Ranged. They have 100 HP.
• Shadows: Four doppelgangers of the exploration team appear in a room, and can only be harmed with an attack of the same colour theme as their chest gem. They can also be harmed by fall damage on blue objects. They possess all the abilities of the exploration team and can use their class skills. They have 40 HP. This challenge room was used in another dungeon according to Joni The doppelgangers can only be harmed in statue form. They routinely switch between their statue form, and their dark form, where their chest gem disappears and they become mobile, attacking the exploration team. Joni states that they have a different behavior pattern than the same enemies she previously encountered in another dungeon.

Boss: Necro Gaia

See: Necro-Gaia

• Necro-Gaia: Jake notes that Necro-Gaia is a rather large boss, which implies that all the bosses he saw beforehand were much smaller than Necro-Gaia. More of the dungeon's bizarre properties were revealed through interactions with him, as he is capable of talking and engaging in a conversation.

Bizarre Properties

Dungeons constitute a curious addition to Rauel that contributes to its seemingly otherworldliness compared to the Real World. Its sudden temporal appearance and disappearance within the world, being fully built and decorated makes one wonder wether it is really a naturally occuring phenomenon as the Rauelians believe. Its video-game like structure is seen at various points in its general structure, but the existance of "classes" that give the player "skills". Floating numbers when an enemy gets damaged, and the sudden appearance of chests out of thin air make it stand out. While magic may be involved (and members of Infinite's Gang(?) stating that one of the Legendary Weapons that Tobi acquired was a magic weapon of which it can be extrapolated that magic possibly exists in Rauel), they actually appear to be moreso built and coded from an existing set of assets, with the monsters inside being given a rulebook to follow.

One of the trials that the dungeon threw at the exploration group was a fight against identical doppelgangers that can only be harmed by being hit with either a class skill or an object of the same colour (or close enough) as the gemstone imbedded in their chest. An interesting property of the dungeon is that while fighting the Shadow, Sari was able to use her blue scanning skill to see the Shadow in a blue light, therefore being able to be hit by any attack Sari used. This raises questions of the dungeon's behavior, as this seems like an entirely subjective metric where the dungeon reacts to how the user perceives the dungeon to be, almost like it can read their mindThis is especially curious as the Scan is not a class skill, but appears to be an entirely Rauelian innate racial feature.

Joni states that she's encountered the Shadows enemies that appeared in the Level 7 Subdungeon, in another previously utilized dungeon, signifying that the dungeons reutilize assets for their challenges.

The fight with Necro-Gaia provides additional information. Necro-Gaia's sudden behavior change with Baku's arrival shows a peculiar pattern that hint at the dungeon's deeper meaning. While his behavior during the fight appeared to be a simple pre-programmed set of patterns and voice quotes (and Joni having stated that all the dialogues of the dungeon bosses were just gibberish), his conversation with Baku enlightens that he is a high level behavioral AI that is possibly just following a script that he was ordered to follow like theater. Necro-Gaia kept referencing a ruleset on how the dungeon must operate, and was seemingly frustrated that Baku could simply move past it and break it. Whatsmore, he accused Baku of making a white lie that he wouldn't earn any treasure, showing the extent of his AI that is capable of making such accusations in the first place.

Additionally, Baku's powers seem to create a series of binary numbers, cinematically shattering the "code" that keeps the dungeon together. As one of the earliest inhabitants of Rauel, Baku appears to be one of the few along with Delhara to understand the deeper secrets that make up Rauel's dungeons but refuses to elaborate on what happened, telling Tobi that it doesnt concern her. With Delhara giving a sideeye to Tobi when she mentions the floating numbers. Baku seems to refuse to enter dungeons, instead opting to send exploration team. The lie he told Tobi was that he couldn't fight in dungeons anymore because his high level would not award him any loot.

Gallery

Location of the Shira Desert Dungeon

Outside the Dungeon

Class change orbs appearing inside the level 4 dungeon

Slimes

Bigger Slimes

Dungeon Hands, Eyeballs and Mouths

"Creepy Birdface"

Smashing columns

Dungeon Eyeballs (multiple)

Descending spikes

Exaros

Pols, the gravity shifting monster

Dungeon Doppelgangers

Sari leveling up

The change in colour of clothes indicate the level status of the class

Treasure Chest

Opened Treasure Chest

Dungeon's Boss door

Necro-Gaia

Necro-Gaia's Amulet removing Tobi's class

Sari being critically injured and losing her arm and weapon

Baku appearing in a swarm of binary numbers and Necro-Gaia's glitched out hand

Baku cracking the air, causing it to glitch

The party finally escaping the dungeon by airship with Delhara, Joni and Sari on life support and Jake in a cast

Trivia

• When a commentator wondered if the fact that Exaros was not moving after stepping on the button was due to Sari stalling out her "turn", the author replied: "There's no turn-based rpg mechanic at work here, although I do like the idea of your post. :p Exaros isn't particularly quick moving, that's honestly all that there's to it."

• When the exploration team did any kind of damage, a red negative number appeared indicating the HP of damage inflicted. Damage caps off at a monster's total HP. As an example, every max attack does -20 to slimes, as they've only got 20 max hp.

• When a commentator asked why the red negative numbers did not show up in other chapters such as Burk's fighting, the author replied that they don't appear for the "[s]ame reason you don't see HP indicators when Sari gets hit."

• The colours that the doppelgangers need to be killed with don't have to match exactly. Neorice has stated that "Going by the rule of "close enough" in this encounter. Similar-enough colors will function too. (magenta and red for the orange one)"

• When a commentator asked Baku's reason for fighting the boss, despite it being pointless and the boss no longer awarding any treasure for its defeat due to the game rules being broken. Neorice stated: "You're right, there's not much of a point. But keep in mind that Baku's got something to prove. (that he's not an old relic*) His plan to make a cool impression to the kids was kinda ruined by them being half dead though."

• Despite his insistence to the contrary, Baku is not permanently banned or not able to get loot from the dungeon anymore. If he was able to go through the dungeon normally by following its rules, then he would get the loot. Neorice was also not sure what the kids could do to break the rules by themselves.