91. Walls and Punches

“So how do you want to do this?”

You've been punching walls for a while now. The downside of blocking out large areas of dungeon space is that the progress bar is much larger, but you'd rather get the most boring section out of the way in one go.

Your question draws a questioning hum from Amanda, and you elaborate.

“The second floor, I mean. What do you want to focus on first? I still have seventy seven stone, which should start ticking up again once the new goblins are settled, but you can burn through that much very quickly. So what do you want to focus on?”

She hums again, considering your words, before she pauses in her own beating of the wall. She rummages in the scroll case on her belt, and after a second produces a handful of her trap designs.

“I think I want to... I'm not sure how to word it. Built it backwards? I have ideas for traps, and special rooms, and it's not like we're limited in how you'd normally build a castle, you know, outside. It doesn't have to fit in a stone box. So I'd rather start with the cool ideas, and then find a way to link them together.”

You have to laugh at that, and then wave off her look. “I'm not – ah, I'm not laughing at you. But you're right when you worded it as 'building it backwards'. When I started the first floor I didn't have any plans. Build an entrance hall, unlock a 'pool room', get a place to sleep, provide for my new goblins... it all just sort of fell into place until I have enough resources to do a single huge remodel and tie it together. I don't regret it, exactly, but if I knew where it was going I think I would have done a few things differently. It's good you've thought about it.”

She looks at you again, out of the corner of her eye. “Why don't you change it?”

This time it's your turn to ask for clarification.

“The first floor. Why don't you change it? It's not like you don't have the resources, and if you think it would be better another way, why not change it?”

Your incessant hammering slows, then pauses. An uncomfortable feeling welling in your gut. Before you realise it, your head is shaking. “No. No it's not bad, down there. It's got character. I wasn't saying that I wanted to change it, just that I might have planned it out better. No, I like it how it is.”

Amanda hums again, glancing away. The uncomfortable feeling fades.

Change the first floor? No. Continue it, maybe. But change?

You shake yourself down, and continue your previous train of thought.

“So what do you want to do first?”

“Pit traps.”

“Pit traps?”

Amanda nods. “The first floor has a load of unpleasant places to be dropped into, and it'll force anyone who just rushed through without giving anyone a chance to prepare might have to fight through again. I think a room with retractable floor above the insect cave, maybe with some sort of lure there, would be good, and make people explore one of the 'optional' rooms. Another, probably near the end of this floor, right above the trap on the first floor. And maybe a third above,” a light blush colours Amanda's cheeks, standing out starkly against her ivory skin, “Stumpy. Some sort of quick activating one, maybe even in a thin tunnel and that activates on the second or third person to walk over it – or the final person, if possible.”

You take a moment to process that. A loot point, but when activated drops you into the – you shudder, feeling as if something with too many legs was crawling up your spine – bug room is bad enough, but a trap specifically designed to take out the rear guard of a party, and in a way there aren't many defences for? Amanda is scary.

“That all sounds doable. Not sure about the trap that targets the last member of a party, but maybe we can ask the kobolds? They're better at this stuff than I am.”

“Even the bait for the insect trap?”

She sounds surprised. “Yeah that should be easy. It'll need to wait until I get a bit more Animus, but fifty animus will get us a rare loot point. Stick that on a weapon rack or an empty chest or something at it should be worth it, at least for adventurers who don't see the trap. We'll need a bit more to make the traps repair themselves, but not by much.”

You look over to her, catching her biting her lip. “What?”

“Red, if you don't mind me asking, what is it exactly that you can do? I mean, I think I've picked up on most of it. You can make minions stronger in a couple of ways. You can make rooms and corridors, place things in them... You can buff yourself a bit too. But Mercy was pretty annoyed at you for a little while, and when I asked her she just said it was stuff you should have thought to tell her. It'd be nice if we were all on the same page about this stuff.”

You open your mouth, then close it again.

“Yeah that's... pretty much what she said to me too. That's a good idea. I just haven't really got around to it. Tonight?”

“And why not now?”

Both of us turn, to see Sith punching the wall.

“What?”

“Why not now? It's not like this takes much attention. In fact, the more the merrier. So why are you putting it off?”

I don't really have words. Amanda steps in just as the silence stretches into uncomfortable.

“Actually, it is getting pretty late. Why don't we retire for the evening here? You can talk us through it over food, and then we can each think about it tonight.”

The two demons nod, Keth more enthusiastically. “Food does sound good.”

But you catch Sith's eye as she turns to attempt the stairs once more, and it tightens a little knot of worry in your gut still further. Because she's right.

Why didn't you tell them?

A huge thank you to my patreons NA, Spockk Kirkk, Un Casualsniper, Tyrant615, Jakelandiar, Curious Krissy, Torish 12, CBK, Roman, TheDrTelos, Jojomann and RD. A special thank you to Spokk Kirkk and Roman who are both paying more than they need to, which is one of the most incredible feelings.

There's also a discord with a spoilers and speculations channel if you want to talk about where you think the story is going or what's going through Red's head