Trash Mountain Dungeon

When I chose Metal Garden the first time around, I saw an explosion of diverse plants, simple they were, and technically not plants, but they grew and spread still. This time though, was incomparable, on all levels, with seemingly random and wild growths of trees that blew steam from their branches, and shrubs that grew plastic-like fruit full of some golden fluid. There were plenty more, of course, great vines that filled spaces in each room where there was space, but the change was seen no more than in the big ones. The barracks was mostly just barren rock and the barracks building itself, but now it was covered in numerous plants both great and small, the few trees that could fit created a scene as if you were entering a thick forest of bronze and copper, a thick mist hug to the branches.

It was beautiful, a sort of rightness to it that made my brain thin, 'yes'.

The core's compliments are noted.

Huh- oh right, uh thanks then.

Special System Iteration #3984 acknowledges the gratitude.

Displaying level 5 monster choices.

Right, still need to get those squared away, hit me with what ya got.

Copper Champion

A humanoid war machine capable of simple tactics and combat adaptability, this machine was first forged as the hard-hitting frontline soldier of a long-ago war. The copper model is designed with cheapness and mass production in mind.

Has low-level intelligence.

Comes with a small assortment of weapons.

Has low-level combat experience from its creation.

Node Cost:

1500 mana

20 mana taken from production.

Produces: 2 individuals

Auto-Botanical Dryad

A tree spirit born of machine and root, the alluring 'auto-bot' dryad is a fierce and zealous defender of her home. Dryads are guardians of the forests and despite the change in type, these will defend the machine forests of the dungeon with fervent devotion.

Can control nearby mechanical flora.

Counts as both machine and spirit.

Possesses the seduction and exsanguination abilities of a dryad.

Node cost:

2000 mana

10 mana taken from production

Produces: 1 individual

Caustic Rust Plague

A non-traditional monster, this 'organism' expresses itself as metallic growths around its space that produce harmful machine spores. If placed in bigger rooms, it will produce weak combat entities, these cost no additional mana.

Creates a central nerve center to organize itself.

Can spread 'Caustic rust', an infection that converts organic material into similar metallic growth.

The danger and harmfulness can be controlled by the dungeon.

Node Cost:

1500 mana

15 mana taken from production

Produces: 1 Seed

Sulfurous Bomber Drone.

An insectoid machine that seeks targets and explodes in a large concussive explosion, leaves behind a small cloud of sulfur. These drones have limited intelligence but work within a collective hive mind, working together to find targets.

Produces 'honey' oil

Forms hive material when not in combat.

Very fast.

Node Cost:

900 mana

10 mana taken from production

Produces: 10 individuals

Hmm, interesting.

Without a doubt, I could use any one of these, but which one?

The champion was a single thing that focused on simple strength and some skill, useful for straight combat. The dryad was more environmental in its danger, but was no less dangerous, especially if it could control the 'forests' I now contained. Exploding murder bees (hornets?) were also appealing, but like the rust spirit from last time, they seemed like a backup for something already there, perhaps as a distraction or a last resort if needed. But the machine plague was the most interesting, if weird. Conceptually I understood what it was, essentially a sort of machine mold thing that could attack people. In reality, though, I was of two minds, on one hand, it could be like that big-brain monster I got in the way that the monster itself wasn't the danger but instead the environment it created. On the other hand, it was specifically a plague and could infect people as such, and while I could control that fact, I feel like if I wasn't careful, it could set a bad precedent for myself and others.

If I started using diseases then even if I could keep it under control in my dungeon, there was no telling if it could somehow slip out. As much as I was willing to kill people for my survival now, I didn't want people to suffer, and the idea of slowly turning your guts into metal sounded horrifically painful. But I did concede a small thought in the back of my head, it could be useful if paired with the right setup or monsters. If I made more fortress-type floors where large groups would spend equally large amounts of time figuring out how to get in, the plague could kill them or at the very least weaken them so the defenders could deal with them. This all relied on the idea that I was willing to use such methods though, the other choices could be just as great.

Another thing to consider about each of them is how my current improvements would work with them. The champion and drone were pure machines, meaning that they benefited from all of my machine perks and upgrades which meant that if I made a champion then it could be improved by my perks, making it vastly more powerful. Which I suppose could apply to the plague and dryad, but neither of them fought with their body alone, the dryad seemed more like a caster and the plague was environmental, hmm, I do kinda want to see what that would look like.

Hm

Maybe I could give the boss list another look, could I perhaps see what these monsters would be if they were the boss?

Request Accepted.

And before me was another list, this time only of the four level-five monsters. The [Copper Champion] became the [Bronze Champion] (not too much surprise), the dryad became a [Machine Mother], the bomber drones became a singular [Stealth Bomber Queen], and the plague changed into the [Pure Steel Rot]. Each of them added to the previously powerful monsters if only stats-wise for some. The boss champion was more or less just a better version, tougher, faster, stronger, still no extra abilities, but it made a good thing better still. Choosing it would present a good clean fight for people, few gimmicks, no additional worries, just you and the champion, seeing who would leave the room alive. In contrast, the [Machine Mother] was nothing but gimmicks, commanding machines the same way a dryad commands vegetation, the mother fought with entire factories, crafting both crude and elegant machines with her magic. Her 'shtick' was that she would be an indirect boss, with most of the difficulty coming from misdirection, traps, and the assortment of machine creatures she spawns, a small spider-like machine that came in a variety of appearances and purposes.

Moving to the drone, the [Stealth Bomber Queen] was a rather self-explained, stealth bomber. The queen's deal was that it would fight from stealth, utilizing a great big hive that could hide it easily, using its twisting pathways and the waves of the queen's offspring to get and keep lost any invaders. As for the last of the four, there was little actually different, sort of. The original plague was a sort of build-up of semi-machine growths that filled up an area that used smaller machines to fight on its behalf, infecting people with its plague, the rot was not so gentle. The [Pure Steel Rot] was less a disease and more of a cancer, feeding on organic material and creating what could best be called 'metal zombies', the result of infection by the rot. Unlike its more passive self, the rot focused on seeking targets, creating small armies of 'pure-forms' that were created entirely of 'rot-steel' which would both kill and infect large groups of organic beings, in this case, people. The scary part of it was that if it was allowed to collect enough material, it could even form intelligent minions. This last option started to blur the lines of machine and flesh, but it was definitely a machine at its core.

Each of these was undeniably powerful, immensely so, but there were other monsters to consider. The best example I could think of was the canid, or rather, the [Dire Canid], a massive savage-looking hound that had all manner of tools at its disposal. From shredding claws, ferocious bite, and even a steam breath, it was set to be the big bad wolf of the dungeon, and I doubt a brick house would stop this wolf. But again, all monsters were on the table and none, even the golems, could be thrown out entirely without good reason, All I needed to do was figure out which one to pick. If I chose an existing monster I had, let's say the ratkin, then how would the level 5 monster fit in, would they play second to the boss, or would I keep them in my pocket for later floors?

What do you say, my advisor?

Wiggle wiggle

Chittering

Excellent points, but no, almost, none of the options can eat them whole, but good suggestion. And you my newest confidants, the bunch of rust rats that ride Wormy everywhere, I shall consider your advice about more 'yellow circles' closely. A quick look around the second floor showed that the chef somehow reinvented cheese, and subsequently got every rat, big or small, hooked on it, I'll congratulate him but more to the point, how?

Disregarding dungeon shenanigans, I'd eventually have to pick a monster for both things, so which would I go with?