Countdown until level collapse: 1 days 16 hours 22 minutes

Two reavers screeched and dashed towards them as the third one died. With all of his bonuses and the buffs that he got when he looked at his foes for a full minute, Ben had been able to kill it in one hit with damage to spare.

No Gatherers responded when they charged, all of them either taken out silently by the party beforehand or charging the Llama’s position. The two reavers didn’t even have much acid spit to spare, after exchanging fire with the Llamas. They weren’t digital creatures with a hard cooldown but infinite supply of acid, after all.

So when Elise smashed down her bat on a surprised reaver about to run around the corner and Ben slashed at the second, the fight didn’t nearly have the weight it did last time. Elise’s krutnik was staggered long enough for her to bring up her bat and smash it again and again, while Darryl could step in and block the other from retaliating. Thomas flicked a Magic Missile at it and Ben stabbed at it again as it reeled back from the blow, and it too fell over dead.

“Hey dudes!” Solrac said, waving at them. “Great seeing you here. Those damn bugs sure had us pinned. Nice assist.”

“Who dis?” A Llama rapper said, the sneer on his face so strong that Darryl recognised it despite them being a literal llama without any humanoid features to their expression. “Don’t listen to Solrac, we could’ve taken them no sweat.”

“Yeah, but we were still stuck here, dude.” Solrac said. “And they’ve gotten more numerous while we haven’t seen any reinforcements in two days. Or food.”

The rapper hissed and turned around angrily. “Gather my stuff, slackers! We’re leaving!”

Darryl threw a questioning look at Solrac, who shrugged and bleated a careless laugh. “Yeah, we got a runner telling us to fall back yesterday, but then he got stuck here too. Don’t mind Mauricio, he doesn’t like that he’s not as useful as the rest of us. Small phlegms of spit doesn’t do squat to their carapace.”

“Wasn’t the last guy’s name Mauricio too?” Darryl asked.

“Yeah, most rappers are named Mauricio. Right, Solrac?” Solrac asked one of the other regular Llamas, who shrugged and kept taking the valuables off of a dead Bad Llama who lost half his face to acid.

Ben was amongst the Llamas too, looting the stuff from the corpses’ inventories that the Llamas couldn’t take themselves. The krutnik wouldn’t carry much but bug meat and low-quality carapace with the occasional acid sac on the reavers, as usual, but they looted those anyway. And then Elise would loot the corpses themselves.

She already looted both downed reavers and now approached to grab the dozen or so corpses in the hallway turned chokepoint. With Darryl’s right arm disabled, she was the only one that could lift them. Whether they had a use for the bodies was a secondary concern, given that they had infinite storage.

Two more Llamas appeared from the former boss room, carrying a cabinet filled with small stuff between them. Thomas had looted the place a while back, but from the stack of baubles and junk it was clear that he hadn’t been looting as thoroughly as the rest of them did.

The Llamas leaving the place numbered four Bad Llamas and the rapper. There were another four dead ones in the hallway that they left behind as they walked back to their neighbourhood. The party followed them, Elise hot on their heels after she took all the corpses and the stuff left behind in the woolf’s fairy tale like cabin. Only the grandfather clock and the big closet had proven too much for her strength and deadlift.

“So you were told to retreat? Are the krutnik really that bad?” Darryl asked Solrac. “You seemed like you had a handle on it back there, even if they had you pinned.”

“Nah, dude. This place ain’t so bad now, but we could tell they were getting more numerous. Another group of those acid-spitters showing up could’ve done us in.” Solrac said. “And with the main base under attack, we couldn’t spare the manpower to defend this place anyway.”

“They’re attacking your main base too? But your boss is still alive, isn’t he?” Darryl said, guessing that these stereotypes wouldn’t have a woman in charge. “Don’t the surrounding mobs wander in only once the neighbourhood boss has been slain?”

___ ___ ___ ___

“Not if they are a broken race that reproduces but doesn't starve thanks to infinite rats.” The Dealer grunted. He apparently didn’t have a name, not even a common one shared amongst his type, and so insisted they referred to him as the Dealer. “Never dealt with one of these myself, but the boss has. Sometimes, especially on the first floor, the gods screw up the general design and these plagues ravage amongst us. He already agreed that we have to retreat all gains and fortify the main camp to weather the coming assault. Better lose some this cycle than dying rich.”

Darryl nodded. Solrac hadn’t known much beyond what he was told, but the Dealer they already dealt with during a previously encounter was a bit higher up the ladder. Though he too didn’t think of this place as a designed dungeon for a game show, at least he wasn’t completely oblivious to it like Solrac.

The Neighbourhood Boss would probably know even more, but they wouldn’t step into that room for obvious reasons.

“So they are a plague, like those blender fiends and airborne contagion effects we’ve been told they had to tweak during the updates. Effects that scale or are balanced way beyond what we can handle.” Thomas said. “Something broken and growing beyond the power they’re supposed to have.”

“Dunno about those, crawler. But I think those are a league of their own, if the gods saw fit to fix them.” The Dealer shrugged. “I’ve seen two or three neighbourhoods that were bullshit, but those never spread fast. Twice were plants that just kept growing stronger and further because the gods took away their need for sun and soft soil, and once a bunch of goblins that got a bit too liberal with their suicide bombers. The former stuck to their own turf and the latter still followed the sentient rules.”

Darryl raised an eyebrow, inviting the Dealer to elaborate. He didn’t.

Darryl glanced over at Elise, who sighed and pouted.

“Could you be more specific about that, pretty fucking please?” Elise asked.

She quickly figured out that the specifics of what she said mattered little, as long as she didn’t insult the NPCs directly. Just her charisma stats did. Even if she did like Mass Effect and picked the renegade option to be a prick every time, the NPCs would still keep talking to her and grant her the same options and outcomes a polite speaker would get. At least, these guys did.

The Dealer snorted but obliged. “We don’t attack the other Neighbourhood bosses, not even the non-sentient ones. It’s one of the rules they give the smart ones amongst us. Dunno what happens when we break those, but they also gave me the instinctive knowledge that I don’t want to find out.”

“What are the other rules?” Elise asked.

“Not relevant here, girl.” The Dealer stonewalled her, the immediate nature of his response showing that this was one of those questions they’d never answer as a rule similar to how Volos sometimes turned tight-lipped. “The unintelligent ones have different instincts, but they are allowed to kill Neighbourhood bosses if they can. Most can’t, but once in a while you’ve got yourself these fuckers stronger than the norm and numerous to boot.”

“And then they just spread like a tidal wave through the other neighbourhoods?” Thomas asked.

“Nah, the gods would’ve fixed them if that were the case.” The Dealer said. “It looks like they had a lucky start to start the escalation with. Starting next to a weak boss, I bet, and once they spawned from two neighbourhoods the mess started.”

“Wait, you’re saying that they get another spawning point whenever they take a boss room?” Thomas said. “But then why did you ever call back the guys at the woolf boss room? They could h-“

“Doesn’t work with crawler-killed, crawler.” The Dealer interrupted him. “Even if the neighbourhood boss were still in that room, no idea where they fucked off to but my homies said they weren’t in there no more, then eating the corpse would only yield a better reaver or two. The spawn points only work when there’s no crawler involved.”

“Then we should go to the gecko offices and make sure they can’t eat that boss, at least.” Darryl said. “Not sure where the French killed their boss, and wandering around aimlessly for it would be a bad idea.”

“Good chance theirs was what set it off, unless there’s another party around here with a neighbourhood boss kill.” Thomas said. “They must’ve taken one out somewhere on the first day, if the krutnik neighbourhood happened to be next to that it could’ve set off this whole mess.”

“The reavers are level 6 and tend to patrol in groups of three or four. They could’ve slain a boss by themselves with those numbers.” Darryl rebutted.

“True.” Thomas acknowledged. “The bigger problem is that this exponential increase is worse than I thought. I assumed it was a matter of them bringing food back to their Boss to convert it to hatchlings, but if they get a new spawn point with every neighbourhood then we’re in a lot of trouble. It’s not just linear but an exponential increase, as each time it will take less time before they take out the next neighbourhood and increase their numbers.”

“Enough whining about how bad it is, what do we do?” Elise whined, an equally bored Ben seconding the notion.

“Do you know what level the krutnik bosses are?” Thomas asked the Dealer.

“They’re on this level, obviously. Even burrowing creatures cannot dig down to the next floor.” The Dealer asked, looking at Thomas like he was a half-wit.

“Not something the NPCs know about, then.” Thomas said. “Well, I think it’s a good guess that these krutnik bosses are going to be tougher than the usual ones, so we can’t just start killing those to limit their growth.”

“Regular bosses first, then?” Darryl asked.

“Kill them to prevent more spawning points, and destroy the bodies.” Thomas nodded.

“Finally.” Elise said. “Time to put some bling next to my name.”

“Yeah, let’s see how devastating my buffed attacks are on real enemies.” Ben chimed in.

“Hey, first boss is mine.” Elise glared at Ben.

“Not if I kill them first. And when I strike, I kill them a lot faster than you.” Ben replied cheekily.

Thomas pinched the bridge of his nose. “Take these bosses seriously, please. They’re not going to be push-overs that we can take down while bickering amongst ourselves. We won the last time because of impeccable teamwork and being well-prepared.”

“Yes, dad. We’ll play nice.” Elise drawled. “Not as if we’re a lot stronger now than when you beat your precious goat boss with the power of weaponised friendship.”

“You’re contrad-” Thomas said. “Never mind. Whether by hard-earned experience or you getting yourself killed, this problem will resolve itself.”

“Wow, harsh.” Elise said, genuinely taken aback. “You can’t just say stuff like that.”

“Elise, you’re not the only one learning the ropes here.” Thomas said without flinching. “We’re surviving this place too, your little sick leave doesn’t make us veterans that have to look out for you. Hell, we can’t look out for you if you get reckless.”

“Dude.” Ben said softly. “I mean, I get you, but… Yeah, you’re right. But you could have said it a different way.”

“We have no responsibility to look out for her survival and well-being, Ben.” Thomas bit back, visibly getting more agitated. “We have to survive each of us for ourselves, and numbers help to that end. But one more member doesn’t help when she’s a reckless element rushing into danger eagerly.”

He turned to Elise. “I don’t know what group dynamic you’re expecting here, or what you think you’re entitled to, but this place is no joking matter. If you were kidding about competing for the neighbourhood boss kill like it’s a challenge, then stop. I don’t want to find out you were dead serious when you get yourself, or worse Ben, wounded or killed over your hubris. We’ve got no time for you to grow up and act like an adult, so do it now or do it alone.”

Elise whistled impressed, the surprise from before washed off back into a smug smile suggesting she was in control. “Guess you do have some fangs, handsome. I hear ya, and I’ve listened too for once. Don’t worry, I’ll be cautious and following you guys’ lead for the first boss, how’s that for a compromise? All good?”

Thomas seemed no less livid for it, but nodded. Elise smiled at him and turned around to leave, not caring about Ben and Darryl lingering behind with Thomas.

“Hey man, you okay?” Darryl asked softly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll calm down before we reach the first boss room.” Thomas said, visibly trying to purge the anger from his system. “And my point still stands. Just don’t die trying to save her if her recklessness gets herself killed. Okay?”

Thomas looked at him, and when he didn’t break eye contact Darryl realised he meant it as a real question. He hesitated to answer it, one way or another.

“We’re all in this together.” Darryl eventually said softly. “But I get what you mean. Ben, be careful not to get wrapped up in her enthusiasm.”

Ben looked at him. He seemed to be on Elise’s side during Thomas’s tirade, but his stance was shaking when Darryl spoke. “Dude, I think you’re overreacting.”

“That tiara on her head doesn’t stop channelling damage at a certain point, Ben.” Thomas said wearily. “You I trust to avoid trouble and get out of dodge. But her… She will literally get us all killed before she dies, so she should at least act as if she fucking realises that.”

With that, Thomas started walking after Elise.