Chapter 411

“I’m so done with this game.” James groaned as he finished looking over the final two mobs. They were, definitely something. Just, what the actual fuck?

“Hey, it’s not my fault.” Steve said, though given the floor, and its mobs, and everything he knew about DCO, it definitely had to be have been Steve’s fault. “You have any idea how many mobs we had to come up with? Some, are a bit more inspired than the others.” Steve made a waving gesture towards the floor.

“Like, come on, that Chemera is freaking awesome. And you know the J-Kappa’s are unique. And, When-wolfs? You know, it’s brilliant.”

“And the Fogeyman?” James pressed. The 29 point mob was, best he could tell, a mixture of a Boogeyman, but with the twist of being, uh, old fashioned? Fogey, from a quick search, meant someone who was old fashioned in attitude or tastes. Case in point, the Fogeyman, was a boogeyman, dressed in clothes that looked to have been from, what, the 1950s?

“Stylish and deadly.” Steve said with a smile. “Bet no one would have thought to turn its clothes into weapons.”

The ‘stylish’ mob was a skeletal looking, gaunt creature, wearing a dress coat of sorts, with slightly padded, wide shoulders, and a somewhat stylized lapel. Underneath the coat, a tie could be seen, and the creature wore a fedora atop its strange, sunken head.

From its skills, the padded jacket served almost like a turtle shell, in which the mob could pull its form all the way up, and decrease the damage it received. It’s tie had the ability to snare players, and draw them closer towards the Fogeyman, which would then open its coat all the way, to devour them, similar to a mimic, if given the chance.

If players couldn’t be devoured, the Fogeyman could still latch onto them with its claws, and a bite from the Fogeyman had the nasty effect to not only drain life from the player, but also could give them a debuff. If the debuff stacked enough, their stats were halved, and they were ‘charmed’ for a short while, which also made them more likely to be devoured.

That, black fedora the Fogeyman wore, was actually a portable portal. The Fogeyman could throw the hat at enemies, and as he did, suck himself into the hat. Then, when the spinning hat landed at its target, the Fogeyman could emerge from it.

To be fair to Steve, it wasn’t that the mob was bad. Just, that the mob was bad. Like, its skills and everything made it viable for the floor, but it’s appearance, and name, and everything about it joke wise, made it painful. James also made a mental note to see if any other dungeons had this type, as Mythical Monster Mash definitely seemed the type of dungeon that would be able to rival, to a degree, his random dungeon on crazy monster combinations.

“Alright, Fogeyman aside.” James pointed towards the final mob. The Solem. “What were you thinking?”

“That…golems were sad creatures in mythology?” Steve said with a shrug. “Seriously, have you ever looked up the original mythos on Golems. According to Jewish mythology, they’re man shaped creatures out of clay and earthen materials, brought to life with ancient rituals. Mute, obedient creatures, only created to serve. Surely, they’ve got to be… solemn.”

For the sixth floor, the Solem was the tank mob. That much was certain. It was a dark colored creature, made seemingly of clay and tears. It had a terribly sad expression on its earthen face, and stood close to 15 feet in height, with shoulders half as wide.

Its stats indicated its tanky nature, with a grossly large health pool, and defense. Additionally, all of its skills were defense based. It wasn’t going to kill any parties quickly, but in a labrintyh like James was creating, the massive creature would slow parties down, possibly long enough, for more agile creatures to take them out.

The biggest feature of the Solem, other than its just size and stats, was the taunt it had. It’s tears flowed down its muddy form, and created a shimmering pool around its body. Anyone within 15 feet of the creature, who heard its sobs, had a chance of being taunted. And if they reached that watery pool around its feet, they could begin to be drowned in its sorrows.

In that way, it was like a less aggressive version of struggle snuggles. The Solem wouldn’t go out of its way to force them into the pool of tears, but if a player got caught in those tears, and stayed in them for too long, the result would be the same. A slow, yet effective, death.

Given the nature of his sixth floor, and the already large creature that was the Chem-era, James didn’t feel like putting that many Solems into the floor. They were depressing. But, he would still utilize at least two or three of them. After all, the echoing sounds of sobbing in the labyrinth would be great for the horror aspect of the floor, and could certainly give an edge to it.

Plus, given how many mob points he had for his sixth floor, not using the most expensive mob, seemed like a bit of a waste. Already though, his mind was formulating how he’d plan his floor.

The biggest threat of the floor, hands down, was the Chem-era. Next, was likely a toss up between the Fogeyman, and the When-Wolfs. James figured the Fogeyman, for all intents and purposes, were a wraith like creature, and would be troublesome in packs for sure. The When-Wolfs, with their ability to grant themselves increased attack and movement speed, while also using time based skills to hinder players, proved an interesting mob as well, that he figured would be dangerous in packs.

J-Kappas, while certainly amusing, were a double edged sword for James. The ability for them to be bought, and order to be used by the players, meant if he wasn’t careful, adventurers would just be running around the sixth floor with their own freaking musical band giving them tons of buffs. Sure, the income would be great for James, but that could potentially make the floor a bit underwhelming. And while he doubted anyone would figure out that specific mechanic immediately, it was only a matter of time before someone tried it.

That meant he couldn’t put too many of the mobs on the floor, and he’d have to keep their packs spaced out appropriately. The labyrinth of a floor was going to be massive, and depending on how he shaped it, James figured he could put the band-based mob in different corners or sections of it. That way, even if players came across some of them, if they accidently killed a few off, they wouldn’t have a full on band of buffs right away.

With the addition of mobs such as the Chem-era and Solem between those groups of J-Kappa’s, the chance of AOE attacks killing off mobs the players may have bought, would help mitigate James’s worry. That being said, as he looked over the mobs, and the massive size of the floor, there was one thing he was starting to wonder. Just how was he going to spread these mobs across, with the mob points he had at his disposal.

He’d had a field day on his open fifth floor, when the game had given him a total of 3200 mob points to start with. With the size of his fifth floor, and the open terrain, he’d been able to spread his mobs out to make a danger filled, winter wonderland, that still felt spacious.

His sixth floor, gave him a total of 6400 mob points to start with. Meaning his labyrinth, was going to brimming with monsters. It was massive, yeah, but was it 6400 points worth of mobs massive? It was a downside, James figured, of being random. If he’d just been a single dungeon type, he’d be able to summon other mobs, not just these five. He had no doubt, some of the earlier mobs in the Mythical Monster Mash mob type, had to be smaller, stealth typed mobs. Things that could be used to populate a labyrinth, without making it feel crowded.

As it stood, the Solem’s and Chem-era’s were giant, meaning too many of them would make the dungeon start to feel cramped. And he’d already decided against too many J-Kappa’s. Which meant, he’d have to dump most of those mob points, if he was going to use all 6400 of them, into his Fogeyman and When-wolfs. Looking over the creatures, an idea started forming in his head. He didn’t love it, but, it still brought a grin to his face. However, before he populated anything, there was something else that needed to be done.

He needed to see what the boss was going to be.