Chapter 65: Dealing with Overpowered Cultists
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Chapter 65: Dealing with Overpowered Cultists
Dakath Fraxinus knew mistress Acacia had been Hypnotized the moment it happened. Really, her sudden shift in attitude left no doubt of what happened. Especially not given the warning of who they were dealing with.
All his nearby deputies had clearly realized the same thing, but Dakath had been quick to play along. He and his men trusted each other with their lives and they knew their sheriff had noticed the same thing they had. So, when Dakath followed the orders of the now Hypnotized dungeon mistress, they knew he had a reason for doing so.
It really helped that he had been able to pick out his deputies personally when he got this position. At the time he had focused more on picking his friends and coworkers he got along with.
But in hindsight Dakath knew he took his job so seriously he couldn't actually be friends with people who didn't. Meaning all his men were just as hardworking people as he was.
Of course that didn't mean they couldn't throw epic parties when off work!
Seeing as the 6th tier dungeon mistress could so easily be Hypnotized meant he and his men had no possibility of resisting it either. As such, the best possible strategy going forward would have to involve giving the Hypnotist - whichever one of them it was - as little reason as possible for using their Skill on someone else.
Which in turn meant letting them do what they wanted. And as getting them into the Dungeon had been a part of the original plan...
It could have been worse.
It might still become worse. If they destroy the Dungeon...
But there wasn't really anything he could do about that. What he could do was get mistress Acacia free of the mind control.
He and his men pretended everything was fine in the world while they distracted the dungeon mistress with meaningless paperwork to keep her close and distracted. Then, once the 1st Floor of the Dungeon had cleared, Dakath and 4 of his deputies lured her into the Dungeon.
This is where Dakath expected trouble to arrive. The noblewoman knew the Dungeon could and would free people from mind control, so surely she would resist.
Only she didn't. Instead she refused to believe she was Hypnotized, even though she could see the words and the timer above her head.
That denial meant she acted surprisingly docile while they kept her in the Dungeon. She had asked for her emco so she could make some calls, but Dakath didn't believe that would have been a good idea and denied her request. And then ordered pen and paper delivered so she could instead write letters, mostly as a way to calm her down and distract her.
The letters wouldn't be sent before she had regained her sanity, after all. And Dakath suspected she, at that point, wouldn't want them sent at all.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
For a moment the sheriff's plan had filled me with hope. Maybe the Lightning Mage will be able to help me at least delay the cultists. Surely she'll be able to - with my help - shake off the Hypnosis faster than normal cultists! She's a smart mage after all!
But then she and her guards entered my Dungeon and revealed the 8 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds timer she had.
Which is when I remembered it wasn't her Intelligence, but rather Awareness or Charisma - whichever was the highest for her - that would allow her to regain her free will.
Ahhh!
Then the Hypnotist is - somewhat ironically - the one who'll regain his free will first.
That does make sense, though. The Ability Scores needed to mind control people are the same ones needed to resist it.
So! Current plan: Delay the cultists for- I checked the current timer above the Hypnotist. - 3 hours 34 minutes and hope the Hypnotist can either reverse his own Hypnosis - assuming he was the one to Hypnotize the others - or can assist me in freeing their minds. The first would mean I only have one left to deal with and while it's the strongest one, I would also have 5 powerful people to help me restain her.
The latter option... really depends on how the Hypnotist initially reacts to being freed... For both his and my sakes it would be best if he could hide his sudden freedom from the others. Just long enough to free their minds.
But if he starts freaking out too badly...
They may just kill him...
Despite having used no mana since I noticed 0%’ers approaching my Dungeon Portal, I still didn’t have sufficient time to gather enough mana to make a ‘mind control is forbidden’ Rule before the Hypnotist regained his mind. And I seriously doubted it would take a Party that overpowered more than 3.5 hours to finish my first 9 Floors. I had to have made the Rule before they entered the Floor or it wouldn't take effect for them, after all! So, I couldn't even rely on my 10th Floor to slow them down enough if I went for that plan!
Meaning it made more sense in the present, to use what mana I had on something else.
Maybe I could speed up the process? So, the Hypnotist has his mind freed quicker? And maybe, if my Floors slow them down enough, I could even have the other Brainwashed person freed at the same time! Given how she's the strongest of them and he's the Hypnotist that would definitely be preferable!
But the two do have a couple of hours in difference in their timers, so it might be too much to ask...
Well. Let's see!
It took a bit of time to formulate the Rule I thought would work best.
System? How much would a Rule which lets me use my own mana to undo someone's mind control cost, and what would be the ratio on it? I had to go for speed and being a cheapskate would simply waste time I didn't have.
Still. I didn't want to buy the Rule only for 1,000 mana to equal a single minute.
As Dungeon Rules can only affect the Dungeon itself and not individuals, such a Rule cannot be made.
...
Okay then...
But why does my 'Get Out of My Head' Rule work, then?
A Dungeon Rule has to cover at minimum an entire room and affect everyone within that area, who fulfilled the Rule's trigger criteria. Default criteria is all visitors, but can be changed to only affect some visitors or specific Dungeon-aligned categories instead. If a Rule is changed to only specific visitors, then the criteria must be wide enough that the System determines it not targeted at a certain individual or group of less than 36 people.
The Dungeon Rule "Get Out of My Head" is a Dungeon-wide Rule which is constantly in effect.
Your attempted Rule would only affect one sapient at a time and only some of the time.
Quickly going over all my Rules I could see how most of them had actually followed this System Rule I hadn't been aware of.
What about 'Eavesdropping on the Warden'? That one only affects the Lightning Mage yet went through without problems.
The Dungeon Rule "Eavesdropping on the Warden" made use of the link between the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage around your Fake Core and the Cage's activator to circumvent the inability to target individuals.
... Okay. So, that’s a one time thing...
Essentially... Rules have to have a passive effect, though it can be hidden behind a trigger. And the trigger can't be so specific the Rule only activates for 36 people or less.
... 36?
6 times 6, as 6 is the System's holy number?
The System didn't confirm nor deny anything.
Never mind.
I need to make a passive Rule covering at least a whole room, though a whole Floor would be the same price. The trigger can be 25% karma or lower, that seems to work just fine, after all.
Time to get creative before the Party got too far ahead for it to be useful!
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Chapter 65: Dealing with Overpowered Cultists
Dakath Fraxinus knew mistress Acacia had been Hypnotized the moment it happened. Really, her sudden shift in attitude left no doubt of what happened. Especially not given the warning of who they were dealing with.
All his nearby deputies had clearly realized the same thing, but Dakath had been quick to play along. He and his men trusted each other with their lives and they knew their sheriff had noticed the same thing they had. So, when Dakath followed the orders of the now Hypnotized dungeon mistress, they knew he had a reason for doing so.
It really helped that he had been able to pick out his deputies personally when he got this position. At the time he had focused more on picking his friends and coworkers he got along with.
But in hindsight Dakath knew he took his job so seriously he couldn't actually be friends with people who didn't. Meaning all his men were just as hardworking people as he was.
Of course that didn't mean they couldn't throw epic parties when off work!
Seeing as the 6th tier dungeon mistress could so easily be Hypnotized meant he and his men had no possibility of resisting it either. As such, the best possible strategy going forward would have to involve giving the Hypnotist - whichever one of them it was - as little reason as possible for using their Skill on someone else.
Which in turn meant letting them do what they wanted. And as getting them into the Dungeon had been a part of the original plan...
It could have been worse.
It might still become worse. If they destroy the Dungeon...
But there wasn't really anything he could do about that. What he could do was get mistress Acacia free of the mind control.
He and his men pretended everything was fine in the world while they distracted the dungeon mistress with meaningless paperwork to keep her close and distracted. Then, once the 1st Floor of the Dungeon had cleared, Dakath and 4 of his deputies lured her into the Dungeon.
This is where Dakath expected trouble to arrive. The noblewoman knew the Dungeon could and would free people from mind control, so surely she would resist.
Only she didn't. Instead she refused to believe she was Hypnotized, even though she could see the words and the timer above her head.
That denial meant she acted surprisingly docile while they kept her in the Dungeon. She had asked for her emco so she could make some calls, but Dakath didn't believe that would have been a good idea and denied her request. And then ordered pen and paper delivered so she could instead write letters, mostly as a way to calm her down and distract her.
The letters wouldn't be sent before she had regained her sanity, after all. And Dakath suspected she, at that point, wouldn't want them sent at all.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
For a moment the sheriff's plan had filled me with hope. Maybe the Lightning Mage will be able to help me at least delay the cultists. Surely she'll be able to - with my help - shake off the Hypnosis faster than normal cultists! She's a smart mage after all!
But then she and her guards entered my Dungeon and revealed the 8 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds timer she had.
Which is when I remembered it wasn't her Intelligence, but rather Awareness or Charisma - whichever was the highest for her - that would allow her to regain her free will.
Ahhh!
Then the Hypnotist is - somewhat ironically - the one who'll regain his free will first.
That does make sense, though. The Ability Scores needed to mind control people are the same ones needed to resist it.
So! Current plan: Delay the cultists for- I checked the current timer above the Hypnotist. - 3 hours 34 minutes and hope the Hypnotist can either reverse his own Hypnosis - assuming he was the one to Hypnotize the others - or can assist me in freeing their minds. The first would mean I only have one left to deal with and while it's the strongest one, I would also have 5 powerful people to help me restain her.
The latter option... really depends on how the Hypnotist initially reacts to being freed... For both his and my sakes it would be best if he could hide his sudden freedom from the others. Just long enough to free their minds.
But if he starts freaking out too badly...
They may just kill him...
Despite having used no mana since I noticed 0%’ers approaching my Dungeon Portal, I still didn’t have sufficient time to gather enough mana to make a ‘mind control is forbidden’ Rule before the Hypnotist regained his mind. And I seriously doubted it would take a Party that overpowered more than 3.5 hours to finish my first 9 Floors. I had to have made the Rule before they entered the Floor or it wouldn't take effect for them, after all! So, I couldn't even rely on my 10th Floor to slow them down enough if I went for that plan!
Meaning it made more sense in the present, to use what mana I had on something else.
Maybe I could speed up the process? So, the Hypnotist has his mind freed quicker? And maybe, if my Floors slow them down enough, I could even have the other Brainwashed person freed at the same time! Given how she's the strongest of them and he's the Hypnotist that would definitely be preferable!
But the two do have a couple of hours in difference in their timers, so it might be too much to ask...
Well. Let's see!
It took a bit of time to formulate the Rule I thought would work best.
System? How much would a Rule which lets me use my own mana to undo someone's mind control cost, and what would be the ratio on it? I had to go for speed and being a cheapskate would simply waste time I didn't have.
Still. I didn't want to buy the Rule only for 1,000 mana to equal a single minute.
As Dungeon Rules can only affect the Dungeon itself and not individuals, such a Rule cannot be made.
...
Okay then...
But why does my 'Get Out of My Head' Rule work, then?
A Dungeon Rule has to cover at minimum an entire room and affect everyone within that area, who fulfilled the Rule's trigger criteria. Default criteria is all visitors, but can be changed to only affect some visitors or specific Dungeon-aligned categories instead. If a Rule is changed to only specific visitors, then the criteria must be wide enough that the System determines it not targeted at a certain individual or group of less than 36 people.
The Dungeon Rule "Get Out of My Head" is a Dungeon-wide Rule which is constantly in effect.
Your attempted Rule would only affect one sapient at a time and only some of the time.
Quickly going over all my Rules I could see how most of them had actually followed this System Rule I hadn't been aware of.
What about 'Eavesdropping on the Warden'? That one only affects the Lightning Mage yet went through without problems.
The Dungeon Rule "Eavesdropping on the Warden" made use of the link between the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage around your Fake Core and the Cage's activator to circumvent the inability to target individuals.
... Okay. So, that’s a one time thing...
Essentially... Rules have to have a passive effect, though it can be hidden behind a trigger. And the trigger can't be so specific the Rule only activates for 36 people or less.
... 36?
6 times 6, as 6 is the System's holy number?
The System didn't confirm nor deny anything.
Never mind.
I need to make a passive Rule covering at least a whole room, though a whole Floor would be the same price. The trigger can be 25% karma or lower, that seems to work just fine, after all.
Time to get creative before the Party got too far ahead for it to be useful!
Chapter 65: Dealing with Overpowered CultistsDakath Fraxinus knew mistress Acacia had been Hypnotized the moment it happened. Really, her sudden shift in attitude left no doubt of what happened. Especially not given the warning of who they were dealing with.All his nearby deputies had clearly realized the same thing, but Dakath had been quick to play along. He and his men trusted each other with their lives and they knew their sheriff had noticed the same thing they had. So, when Dakath followed the orders of the now Hypnotized dungeon mistress, they knew he had a reason for doing so.It really helped that he had been able to pick out his deputies personally when he got this position. At the time he had focused more on picking his friends and coworkers he got along with.But in hindsight Dakath knew he took his job so seriously he couldn't actually be friends with people who didn't. Meaning all his men were just as hardworking people as he was.Of course that didn't mean they couldn't throw epic parties when off work!Seeing as the 6th tier dungeon mistress could so easily be Hypnotized meant he and his men had no possibility of resisting it either. As such, the best possible strategy going forward would have to involve giving the Hypnotist - whichever one of them it was - as little reason as possible for using their Skill on someone else.Which in turn meant letting them do what they wanted. And as getting them into the Dungeon had been a part of the original plan...It could have been worse.It might still become worse. If they destroy the Dungeon...But there wasn't really anything he could do about that. What he could do was get mistress Acacia free of the mind control.He and his men pretended everything was fine in the world while they distracted the dungeon mistress with meaningless paperwork to keep her close and distracted. Then, once the 1st Floor of the Dungeon had cleared, Dakath and 4 of his deputies lured her into the Dungeon.This is where Dakath expected trouble to arrive. The noblewoman knew the Dungeon could and would free people from mind control, so surely she would resist.Only she didn't. Instead she refused to believe she was Hypnotized, even though she could see the words and the timer above her head.That denial meant she acted surprisingly docile while they kept her in the Dungeon. She had asked for her emco so she could make some calls, but Dakath didn't believe that would have been a good idea and denied her request. And then ordered pen and paper delivered so she could instead write letters, mostly as a way to calm her down and distract her.The letters wouldn't be sent before she had regained her sanity, after all. And Dakath suspected she, at that point, wouldn't want them sent at all.For a moment the sheriff's plan had filled me with hope. Maybe the Lightning Mage will be able to help me at least delay the cultists. Surely she'll be able to - with my help - shake off the Hypnosis faster than normal cultists! She's a smart mage after all!But then she and her guards entered my Dungeon and revealed the 8 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds timer she had.Which is when I remembered it wasn't her Intelligence, but rather Awareness or Charisma - whichever was the highest for her - that would allow her to regain her free will.Ahhh!Then the Hypnotist is - somewhat ironically - the one who'll regain his free will first.That does make sense, though. The Ability Scores needed to mind control people are the same ones needed to resist it.So! Current plan: Delay the cultists for- I checked the current timer above the Hypnotist. - 3 hours 34 minutes and hope the Hypnotist can either reverse his own Hypnosis - assuming he was the one to Hypnotize the others - or can assist me in freeing their minds. The first would mean I only have one left to deal with and while it's the strongest one, I would also have 5 powerful people to help me restain her.The latter option... really depends on how the Hypnotist initially reacts to being freed... For both his and my sakes it would be best if he could hide his sudden freedom from the others. Just long enough to free their minds.But if he starts freaking out too badly...They may just kill him...Despite having used no mana since I noticed 0%'ers approaching my Dungeon Portal, I still didn't have sufficient time to gather enough mana to make a mind control is forbidden' Rule before the Hypnotist regained his mind. And I seriously doubted it would take a Party that overpowered more than 3.5 hours to finish my first 9 Floors. I had to have made the Rule before they entered the Floor or it wouldn't take effect for them, after all! So, I couldn't even rely on my 10th Floor to slow them down enough if I went for that plan!Meaning it made more sense in the present, to use what mana I had on something else.Maybe I could speed up the process? So, the Hypnotist has his mind freed quicker? And maybe, if my Floors slow them down enough, I could even have the other Brainwashed person freed at the same time! Given how she's the strongest of them and he's the Hypnotist that would definitely be preferable!But the two do have a couple of hours in difference in their timers, so it might be too much to ask...Well. Let's see!It took a bit of time to formulate the Rule I thought would work best.System? How much would a Rule which lets me use my own mana to undo someone's mind control cost, and what would be the ratio on it? I had to go for speed and being a cheapskate would simply waste time I didn't have.Still. I didn't want to buy the Rule only for 1,000 mana to equal a single minute.As Dungeon Rules can only affect the Dungeon itself and not individuals, such a Rule cannot be made. ...Okay then...But why does my 'Get Out of My Head' Rule work, then?A Dungeon Rule has to cover at minimum an entire room and affect everyone within that area, who fulfilled the Rule's trigger criteria. Default criteria is all visitors, but can be changed to only affect some visitors or specific Dungeon-aligned categories instead. If a Rule is changed to only specific visitors, then the criteria must be wide enough that the System determines it not targeted at a certain individual or group of less than 36 people.The Dungeon Rule "Get Out of My Head" is a Dungeon-wide Rule which is constantly in effect.Your attempted Rule would only affect one sapient at a time and only some of the time.Quickly going over all my Rules I could see how most of them had actually followed this System Rule I hadn't been aware of.What about 'Eavesdropping on the Warden'? That one only affects the Lightning Mage yet went through without problems.The Dungeon Rule "Eavesdropping on the Warden" made use of the link between the Enchanted Dungeon Core Cage around your Fake Core and the Cage's activator to circumvent the inability to target individuals. ... Okay. So, that's a one time thing...Essentially... Rules have to have a passive effect, though it can be hidden behind a trigger. And the trigger can't be so specific the Rule only activates for 36 people or less.... 36?6 times 6, as 6 is the System's holy number?The System didn't confirm nor deny anything.Never mind.I need to make a passive Rule covering at least a whole room, though a whole Floor would be the same price. The trigger can be 25% karma or lower, that seems to work just fine, after all.Time to get creative before the Party got too far ahead for it to be useful!
