The Mad Rat’s Lab

Today’s Saturday. It’s also the day we’re going to have our first four-player Dungeon Invasion.

It’s been a week already since we talked about the idea of creating a four-person team and participating in DMA’s tournament.

And we had a chance to play together as a three-man team before this time, but Ricard vehemently refused, saying that we would get used to playing in the wrong way and that later it would be worse for the team because we would need to relearn everything.

And believe me when I say there was no way to convince him of the opposite. Because both me and Laura tried. But he was so stubborn… He kept repeating time after time that it’ll be better for us to start playing directly with my sister on the team. That would increase our chances to get better at playing together and at winning the tournament.

‘We’ll get used to things we shouldn’t, and then it’s going to be more difficult to fix those problems. It’s better to start as a blank slate!’ This is what Ricard kept repeating.

We then joked about playing only Laura and me, but he got angry at us for it. For the same reason. Why do you care so much!? It’s only a game!

Well, anyway. The thing is that today we’re playing together and I’m the one in charge of creating the party because I’m the only one who has everyone added as friends in the game.

“So… Here I go. First my little sister Clara, LemonPie. Then Laura, A Lil’ Demoness. And finally Ricard, TheGreatBaldSage… I still think that his name is too lame. Is he unable to think of non-lame names? Because both his nickname and ‘The League of Evil’ are so lame…”

I open the dungeon invasion menu after receiving the game’s messages saying that the other players joined the team.

“Now for the dungeon… If I remember properly, the name was ‘Everchanging Labyrinth’, a dungeon from the Magic Engineers faction. Hmm…. Yes, here it is!”

This too was a dungeon recommended by Ricard. I don’t know if he already knows what monsters, traps, etc. the dungeon has or not… but if you can rely on him for something, that something is about game stuff.

“That’s unless he forgets about the most important things. Like forgetting about the dungeon’s boss, the troll…”

I don’t forget to select the units that will come with me. As usual, the Kidnapper is the first to be selected.

“Since I created the Kidnapper, it’s been the most important mob during dungeon invasions. But now it’s a bit ridiculous that I'm still using it to invade dungeons. Because it’s a Stitched and it's dumb and quite useless.”

“In fact, the same can be said about the Followers. After this dungeon invasion, I’ll need to think about upgrading my minions into something more decent.”

If only I didn’t spend yesterday doing crazy things instead of preparing for today!

“But I don’t regret it a single bit, because the Monster Train was something absolutely indispensable. Something without which I couldn’t live anymore!”

Let’s focus, Andreu! Where was I? Oh, yes! Selecting the support mobs. So… I pick six Braindead Followers to bring with me, as well as the Kidnapper.

“The limit has risen to 400 cp now that I’m player level four. This is also a reason why I would like to change the mobs. Now I can afford more expensive units. But here I am, still using this garbage!”

“No offense.” I say towards the nearest Stitched. It doesn't seem to be offended, the expression is the same as always, so everything’s ok.

I don’t expect I’ll find any units to capture in the dungeon we’re going to, but I’m bringing the Kidnapper anyway.

“Who knows, I might find something unexpected. Or maybe a critter or two.”

 

After confirming the mobs, my vision turns white as usual and I soon find myself in the ‘Everchanging Labyrinth’ dungeon. Nearby, I can see my two friends’ and my sister's Champions.

“Hello everyone! Long time no see!” I joke.

“Hey there.” “Good morning.” “Hello!” They answer.

“I think an introduction is due before we start. Don’t you think so?” I say while pointing at the stitched behind me. Then, starting with the Kidnapper, I start to give them random names. “This here is John and these are Pon, Don, Bon, Ron, Con, and Ton. They are saying: nice to meet you!”

After my monologue, all of them are looking in my direction with weird expressions on their faces.

“So… how about we start by explaining our champions and what skills each of us has?” Completely ignoring me, Ricard starts to talk about our party and champions.

“Ok.” “Fine by me.”

“Ugh… guys?”

Hey! What about the introductions? You still need to introduce your minions! Don’t be impolite! I took the time to name them all, at least remember their names! Because I already forgot them, you have to remember their names in my place!

Ricard continues talking. “Oh, I almost forgot. If we don’t want to expose our real names later, during the tournament, we better start to get used to calling each other by our nicknames.”

It seems like the introductions finished before starting. Poor stitched! It must be because you’re going to retire soon, so nobody cares about you anymore. Hahaha!

“My full nickname’s TheGreatBaldSage but it’s too long. The last time I was playing with Andreu he was calling me…”

“Oh, then you’re Baldy from now on!” My sister rudely interrupts Ricard as he talks about his nickname.

“... Bald Sage. Wait, what!? BALDY!?”

“Yep, Baldy!”

“B-but you’re leaving the most important part out! You’re leaving ‘Sage’ out!”

Hmmm? Wasn’t the most important part of your nickname ‘Bald’? At least that’s what I thought…

“We leave it at Baldy! Ok? It’s short and funny so I like it. And you can call me Lemon! There’s no need to add the Pie at the end.”

“Hmmm…. And for me… How about you call me Lily?”

“Oh, using the Lil’ part of the nickname and turning it into a name. I like it! Mad Rat for me. I don’t think there’s a need to shorten or change it in any way. I know it’s not my nickname but my champion name… but I’m not going to change champions any time soon, so I prefer it.”

As we decide on the rest of our nicknames, Ricard falls to the floor and starts to talk alone. “My awesome nickname has been reduced to Baldy… How could this be…”

Hah! That’s godly retribution for giving us the lame name of ‘The League of Evil’. You had it coming, hahaha!

“I’ll start!” Says Laura enthusiastically. “As you know, I’ll take the support role in the party. First of all, as a succubus, I have the Charming Eyes skill. Then, I can heal you with the Revitalize skill. Also, you don’t need to worry too much about me because I can easily move through the battlefield or avoid traps by using Blink.”

“Then I can bring some extra damage by attacking with the whip or by casting Hellfire. With the Guilty Pleasure and Oppression skills, I can help the team, recover my MP and EP, and deal damage at the same time! I have a little of everything so that I can help wherever the team needs it! Hahaha!”

“I’ll go next. You already know, but I’m the spellcaster. I can bring explosive area damage with Chain Lightning and also can stun enemies. It’s hard for me to actually kill enemies because of Shared Voltage, but in a team of four, this shouldn’t be a problem. I can also bring single-target damage and immobilization with Cold Blast, though it isn’t very potent. And if an enemy manages to get into melee range, I can survive a few hits and maybe even manage to stun it or kill it with the Lightning Shield.”

“I can also regenerate MP very fast thanks to the Mana Core skill. Finally, the Maniac and Mana Attuned skills give me an extra 40% damage with spells. The Maniac skill increases all damage and chance to inflict status effects, but also makes me take damage as I cast spells, so I would appreciate it if you keep me alive, Laura.”

Yeah, nobody wants me killing myself yet another time.

“Then it’s my turn now! I’m the one in charge of dealing lots of damage to a single target and also continuous damage! My champion, a Hullesh, can extend the tentacles through the Abyss Grasp innate skill, and then use skills that require touch with them.”

“I can self-sustain with the Draining Touch skill, and deal some free damage with the Decaying Touch. Untouchable allows me to deal extra damage with any skill that needs touch, and then with Poisonous touch, I can increase even more the damage that I deal!”

“Finally, with the Mental Corruption skill I’m able to deal damage at distance! Or simply more damage! Hahaha! When we finish this dungeon I’ll be able to level up my champion to level 4 and give it yet another skill or upgrade one I already have! I’m still thinking about which one will be good…”

“Hoh… sounds like you’re going to deal lots of damage just by touching your opponents. And if you stack all of the skills into a single opponent, the damage you deal can be absurdly high! Nice combo there, Clara! Umm… sorry… Nice combo there, Lemon!” I say.

“Ehehe… Thank you!”

“Shall we go then? We don’t have all day!”

With a somewhat annoyed face, Laura asks us if we should start to move. Maybe she’s like this because I didn’t say anything about her build? She’s jealous? Well, who knows.

“Yes, let’s go!” “Yes!”

Having finished talking about our skills, Laura, Clara and I start to walk forward.

“Hey! Don’t leave me alone! And you also need to know about my skills before starting!”

Oh, Ricard, you were still here? We forgot about you because you were muttering alone in the corner…

We ignore him and proceed to move forward anyway.

 

I look around as we move. We are in an underground space. I say space because it’s too regular to be called a tunnel. The walls are smooth and very high, maybe around 10 meters? Also, the passage is wide enough for more than four people walking side by side. Of course, I know this because we are four players and we are walking side by side right now.

The floor and even the ceiling are weirdly smooth too. If I had to guess, I would say a magical cube excavated this passage because it’s too perfect. There’s not a single imperfection anywhere.

“Umm… I don’t know about you guys, but don’t you think this looks like the typical fantasy labyrinth? If you tell me we are going to fight a minotaur, I’ll believe it, you know?”

Ricard immediately jumps at the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge.

“Hahaha, Mad Rat! Don’t worry because there’s no minotaur here.”

“No, I’m not worried about it… In fact, I’d welcome it because I could capture it and then use the minotaur in my dungeon. Fufufu! A minotaur! Imagine what I could do with one! Hahaha!”

“As I said, no minotaurs here! The closest thing you might find here is a golem with a metal bull’s head, hahaha! But it’s true that this looks like one of those labyrinths. I just hope it doesn’t have any weird gimmick like moving walls…”

“Baldy, watch out!!”

“W-what!? What’s wrong?”

“Huh, nothing. I just wanted to say it once.” And also to stop you from jinxing it by saying unnecessary things.

“Then don’t scare me like this. And don’t call me Baldy! I’m Bald Sage! I DEMAND that you all call me like this!”

“Ok, I’ll call you whatever you want, Baldy. If you say, Bald Sage, Bald Sage I’ll call you, Baldy.”

“Huhuhu.” “Hahaha.” While we’re arguing, I can hear Clara and Laura laughing. They are trying to hold it inside to not anger Ricard more than he already is, but without success.

While spouting nonsense like this, I notice that the ground starts to vibrate. Then, a part of the ground starts to rise.

“Hey Baldy! Watch out!” I shout again. This time, it's a real crisis.

“Lalala! I’m not going to do it unless you tell me by my real name! Lalala!”

“I said stop! STOP already!” I shout again.

“Baldy stop! That’s dangerous!!”

Finally, after Clara’s shout, Ricard stops. Then, a few centimeters from his feet, a wall rises from the ground. It’s a wall as smooth as those that are surrounding us in every direction.

“Because you ignored me, you almost ended up on the other side of the wall! What would you do all alone?”

“Hahaha…” Don’t laugh! This was close to ruining our dungeon invasion! “And this only happened because you were calling me Baldy!”

“Don’t make lame excuses! And I’ll keep calling you like this because it’s easier to say than Bald Sage! I think we already agreed on it.”

“Yep, Baldy is Baldy!” Immediately, Clara agrees with me.

“I’m sorry, Ricard. But he’s right. It’s easier and shorter to say, so it’s better for when we are in combat.”

Hahaha! Even Laura agrees. Ricard, you lost this battle. Accept your new nickname already!

“Also, why the hell did you need to talk about moving walls? I knew you would jinx it! That’s why I tried to stop you, but I was too late. Why did you have to talk about moving walls? Don’t you know you were raising a flag there!?”

“Umm… Well, if you look at it objectively, the walls were already there. Even if I didn’t talk about the moving walls, they would have appeared anyway.”

“Ok… just don’t jinx anything anymore.”

“Ugh… sure.”

“Yeah, Baldy, stop complaining already! And don’t jinx anything more.”

“Baldy, try not to jinx things. You almost ended up alone. We were lucky this time, but who knows what might happen next time.”

“Even you, Laura!? Why does nobody take my side!?”

With his hands raised, Ricard shouts. And tired of his childlike actions, Laura admonishes him.

“Hey, are you coming or not?”

“Yees, wait for me! Don’t leave me alone!”

 

“A common trait in most Magic Engineers dungeons is that the dungeon itself is part of the danger. Some have moving walls that confuse your movement, others have falling rocks or big pitfalls. There are even some with moving platforms acting as the ground.

One thing is clear, you must assume that what you see isn’t what it really is. When in a good Magic Engineers dungeon, the players can feel like the protagonist of certain films, those films where the main character always wears a hat and uses a whip.”

- Basic DMA knowledge every player should know.