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  Aliandra“What else are you up to today?” Ali asked, gng up at . “Want to help me make that fire boss?” She had a little time on her hands, and she was finally feelier about herself and her dungeon after spending time with her friends and Lira – and the prospect of doing something productive had put her in a different frame of mind.

  “Sure, I’d love to help,” said, getting up.

  “I just o be careful with the levels and difficulty,” Ali said, hopping onto her barrier and leading him out of the library and into the ruins. Her biggest was giving the novices and bronze-ranked adventurers a det difficulty ramp – and Theon’s death served to remihat she could be doier for them. Even if she believed everyone insisting it wasly her fault. “I could really do with your help thinking through the different levels and challenges, maybe tweak a few things? Burgle that notebook of yours?”

  “Absolutely not!” he snorted, meaning quite the opposite. “So, where to?”

  “The entry hall leading into the ruins,” Ali said. There were nine newly-minted bronze-ranked adventurers now, and the bosses avaible to them were her Timber Wolves and the twin ooze-gobliup she had guarding the ke. Both were raid threats and likely impossible with only a single healer. Vivian had mentioned she was going to send them into the dungeon one group at a time, sharing the priest Belmar until they found a rept – but healers were rare, so it might take some time.

  The flight across the breadth of the residential ruins of Dal’mohra’s upper level along the giant boulevard passed in panionable silence. When she finally flew through the great archway and into the entry hall, Ali paused, h there in the ter.

  “You ok?”

  “Yes, just memories,” Ali said, shaking them off. This room had strong associations with two emotionally traumatiters – oh her mother when she first id terrified eyes on a Death Knight, and the sed time with Mato when they had defeated the swordmaster Kobold to win their way free from the ruins. Beyond the shattered remains of the city doors was the tuhat led up to the forest cavern and her Grove – and also dozens of unexplored openings to the extensive cave system that riddled the mountains like a termite-ied tree. Her traps in this area had been w overtime.

  “Do you think level seventeen is low enough?” Ali asked as she desded to the ground, now covered in moss and mushrooms by her roaming pnting crew.

  “Somewhere between the kobolds and the wolves, that doesn’t sound too bad,” said, joining her. “Not a raid mohough, I think.”

  “Yes, just a regur boss this time,” Ali said. “They’ll be in single groups for the foreseeable future.” This spot would provide a det proving ground and an introdu to the underground ruins for any adventurer groups that wished to explore. But she couldn’t make the boss a pushover – this area was rife with bat, Kobold, and zombie incursions through all the exposed cave and tunrances. She needed a good boss here to close up the chokepoint and secure her domain.

  “Sounds good,” said. “Fire theme?”

  “Yes,” Ali said. She had not fotten his suggestion. Helping out Morwynne and Eliyen who’d given them so much aid was high on her priority list. Pulling out her Grimoire, she summoned a Kobold that she hadn’t been able to use in far too long.

  Fire Mage – Kobold – level 17 (Fire).

  “You will be the boss guarding this room,” she told him.

  “As you wish, a Mistress,” the Kobold replied, his gravelly void faint sulfurous iving her a surprising sense of nostalgia.

  She studied him closely, examining the equipment her Grimoire had chosen for him. There were the standard mage robes, of course, but her eyes were caught by the two glittering gss vials at his belt.

  “It made potions…”

  “You didn’t do that on purpose?” asked. One of the vials was a minor healing potion, and the other a mana potion.

  “No, I just let the Grimoire pick,” Ali said. It was a feature she could trol if she wished, but often she simply left it up to ce after she had realized that the Grimoire would make progressively better choices the higher she leveled her skill.

  “Well, that’s certainly iing,” said. “Does that mean your Kobold oblin bosses will start respawning with assorted potions now?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Ali said, sidering it. She had explicitly specified some of their gear, but the rest had beeo ce, and now that she had the potion imprint, it would seem that was included iions.

  “That means you strengthen your existing bosses by growing your potion imprint,” noted.

  “That’s… now you’re just showing off,” Ali said. Levitating herself a little higher, she pced a hand on her Kobold’s shoulder, she invoked her domain magic.

  Domain Respalied to Fire Mage.Boss Domain Enha applied to Fire Mage.

  She didn’t fet to keep the enhao a group-level threat, aowledging that the new bronze-ranked adventurers could no longer field a plete raid group. But it shouldn’t be an issue for her purposes.

  “What abilities are you going to use?” said.

  “You suggested helping out Morwynne and Eliyen, and most of the fire pnts require fire mana to grow. What do you think about a fire aura and some minions? Keep it simple?”

  “Sounds good. What about those Drake Hatgs? They should be a good challenge.”

  “Oh, I like that idea,” Ali said and made her seles.

  Affinity Aura (Fire) applied.

  Select or create minions: 51 levels remaining.

  She didn’t feel like she o be too precise with the minions, but she did want them to at least be a det challeo a group capable of taking on a level seventeen boss monster.

  Drake Hatg – Dragon – level 11-15 (Fire) x4

  Minions assigned.Domain Enha plete.

  Your reserved mana has increased by +78.

  Her domain surged through the Kobold and his drake minions, and the aura of fire rippled outward from him, filling most of the ruiry hall with scalding fme. But the fire from a level seventeen monster felt like a tickle pared to what she had growo down in the mines. It was a while before her attending Acolyte even deigo cast a Restoration spell on her.

  “What do you think is good for loot? Magicite?” Ali asked.

  “Probably not necessary – they wait till they’re strong enough to take on the wolves. You already have the drakes so they get leather and scales. Those fire pnts you were thinking of should provide a great source of unique alchemical ingredients,” offered.

  “I guess there’s also the equipment he’s using,” Ali observed.

  “Why don’t you give him a fire elixir or absorption potion too?”

  “Why? It’s not like he needs it?”

  “Think of it like advertising,” grinned. “A teaser if you will. Ohey see the potion, they’ll need more, and then they’ll be knog on Morwynne’s door.”

  “Oh, good idea,” Ali said and did just that. “Now, I just o fix everything else,” she added, gesturing expao the burning room.

  chuckled.

  Most of her moss and mushrooms were already on fire, and even the ones he edge of the chamber were smoking from the heat. First, Ali punched a few holes through the floor and pnted several substantially higher-level trees to form the bae of her domain. She touched eae and grahem Domain Respawn also. Along the perimeter of the chamber, she pnted clumps and rings of Glos, giving them perma barriers for prote.

  With her domain taken care of, she inscribed several Are Bst runic circles dotted about the chamber with various triggers she had been practig. Traps for the unwary. And then she repced all the burning moss with Fire Grass, turning the room into a dang field of red fmes.

  “Hey, that’s quite pretty,” said, h about a meter above the ground on his radiant wings.

  “Thanks!” Ali said, happy to see the grass thriving uhe influence of the Kobold’s fire aura. “What do you think of Fme Lashers?”

  “Not unless you lower their level a bit,” said.

  “Mmm, I do that.” The flowers were geous, and they would provide more iive to clear this chamber, so she grew a couple along the outer walls.

  “Looks good, Ali,” said. “That should provide a nice bridge between the raid bosses, and Morwynne and Eliyen are going to be overjoyed when they e back with a haul of flowers and grasses.”

  “Anything else it needs?” she asked.

  “Some trash mobs in the passageway?”

  “Trash mobs?” Ali asked, not recalling that particur term.

  “Loose moo serve as guards and a… ?”

  “Ha, , you’re a real edian today,” Ali ughed.

  “What I say? I’m on fire!”

  Ali just chuckled again and seeded the passageway with a few Drake Hatgs and several pae Skitterers for fvor.

  “You got mana for another?” asked.

  “Yes,” Ali said. “I was thinking of something to guard the ventition shaft.” It was the critical chokepoint on her list.

  “How about something for Teagan and Aiden’s groups to work towards?”

  “Ok,” Ali said. Tossing ideas bad forth, they flew bato the Forest Cavern and made their way across it to the small cave and the ventition shaft through which she and Mato had made their first unceremonious entrao the Ruins of Dal’mohra. “Something to help boost them to silver-rank?”

  “That works,” said. “Given that this is a small and dark cave, perhaps one of your spiders?”

  “Good idea,” Ali said, her mind filling with dozens of ideas. “Your mom is very excited for new web options – do you think we should do a Fme Spinner here?”

  “You just made a fire boss, perhaps a different theme?”

  “Well, then there’s only really one good option,” Ali said. The theme was blood. She opened her Grimoire and began to work.

  Abyssal Stalker – Demonic Spider – level 33 (Blood).

  At a regressed level of thirty-three, the demonic spider had only nine of its full plement of skills. The ohat it lost was Onsught, but Ali didn’t think that would matter much – making the enter a little easier by removing a substantial portion of the monster’s already unreasonable critical strike ce. She would give a little of it bayway, with a dexterity enha. For her pn to help Lydia gain access to demonic web, and ily be the cloth-wearers in the guild, it was crucial for the moo still have Web Spray, and it had worked out perfectly.

  Domain Respalied to Abyssal Stalker.Boss Domain Enha applied to Abyssal Stalker.

  The first thing Ali chose was Affinity Aura, but to her dismay, it didn’t work. “Oh, I don’t have blood affinity for the aura skill.”

  “Well, that would have been terrifying,” shuddered. “Why don’t you make it summon some of those hors instead?”

  “Oh, that’s not a bad idea,” Ali said, sidering it. It would give the mages something to do, for sure. Wiping out the hors fast would be a priority, otherwise their swarm bonuses would rapidly get out of hand.

  Summoning (Vampire Hor) applied.Attribute Enha (Dexterity) applied.

  Domain Enha plete.

  Your reserved mana has increased by +245.

  A substantially more expensive monster, but she was happy with it. As her magipleted, her Stalker vanished from her mundane vision, f her to rely on her minions to see it.

  “That’s going to be a rough enter for the tanks,” said. “The spider hits very hard.”

  “Yes, but if they have good perception skills, they avoid the Ambush,” Ali tered. “And with proper armor, shields, and endurahey should be able to mostly avoid the stuns.”

  “I predict that sto Thuli’s Steelworks will rise,” ughed.

  “I’ll let Vivian know, as usual,” Ali said. Earlier today, Vivian had mentioned Mieriel’s idea of the guild sp a few exg quests to improve morale – and what could be better than a first kill bounty? Then she covered the walls with creepers and ivy and embedded a few small slivers of Abyssal Bloodstone in strategic locations, granting them Domain Respawn too.

  “That’s some very good stealth,” said. “I ’t eve.”

  “Mato said he hear them,” Ali said.

  “Yes, but they don’t have him in their group.”

  “Willow’s wolf should be able to sniff it out,” Ali said, thinking through the options. “And I’m sure Seth will do something scary with his wraiths to find it.”

  “Good point,” said. “Maybe I’m not giving them enough credit.”

  “Does it look good?” Ali asked.

  “Yes, very demonid the crafters are going to love the supply of bloodstone and webbing.”

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