The Mad Rat’s Lab

“Yesterday, I had the privilege to rediscover how tremendously annoying the fairies can be.” I talk to myself with a pained face. “Their trickery, illusions, and deceptions can be so annoying when the player who creates the dungeon knows how to make good use of them…”

A shiver goes down my spine as I remember what happened.

“... Imagine being in a dreamy forest illuminated by the moonlight, covered by fog. A gentle wind blows from time to time, rustling the leaves and making the white fog swirl. Then, you start hearing child-like voices coming from nowhere in particular. Fear creeps in. The voices grow louder, and louder, until… You realize you’re surrounded by enemies!”

I move the lantern below my face to make my face look like a ghost. I’m not sure what it looks like with a rat face like mine, and there’s nobody else who can tell me, but I’m sure it’s scary.

“Battle starts. Not long after, you realize the enemy isn’t as strong as you expected, as they’re mostly Pixies. But then, things start going south. Your allies don’t respond to the attacks, all the work is left to you. You do your best, but you’re outnumbered. And the enemies are tricky, as they hide then you look at them, but are quick to strike if you show them your back.”

I pause to add more drama to the story. Who am I doing it for, if there’s nobody except for me, you ask? I’m doing it for myself, obviously!

“The battle lasts until you’re in your last breath. You drop to the ground. You feel the cold fog seep into your bones as the enemy gives you the finishing blow… when you realize it was all a dream! Except it wasn’t and now you’re dead! Hahahaha!”

You didn’t see it coming, did you?

“And I know this is a real story and not a made-up one because I was there all along… It happened to me yesterday, after all. Hahaha!” I laugh for a while before remembering what I have come to do today. “Ok, Andreu… let’s stop fooling around and start what must be done.”

What am I talking about? It’s the new dungeon area, of course!

The new dungeon area is going to be a greenhouse filled with trees and other plants. There will be plant monsters, of course, but there will be other monsters too. Animal-based monsters most of them.

The idea was that unlike in other areas where the dangers are either extremely well-hidden or they don’t try to hide at all, most monsters in the greenhouse will hide in plain sight. Trees, plants, flowers… any of them could be a monster. It’ll be similar for the non-plant monsters too.

Right now, I’m sure you’re asking why the hell was I talking about Pixies a second ago. What I just said about the greenhouse was the initial idea before I met those Pixies. Now things have changed a little.

Only a little tiny bit, I swear.

You see… when I went to that Secret Grove dungeon, I was looking for ‘ingredients’ to use. But I was tormented to death by those Pixies in the middle, forcing me to retreat (die) and come back for revenge.

So I decided to do what any normal person would do: capture a few Pixies and create an improved version of the situation I found myself in. This way all the players invading my dungeon can feel the same joy as I did.

“I’m a good boy. I just want to share the joy I felt with everyone.”

The most annoying part about the Pixies – now that I think about it, about any Dungeon Grove unit, because the fairies, myconids, and other monsters I know are extremely annoying too – is their innate skill: It Wasn’t Me.

Pixies are tiny, adorable little humanoids that like to laugh and play pranks. When they get caught, they do what kids do: shift the blame to someone else.

But the real problem with this skill isn’t the part about shifting the aggro created by their attacks. The problem is that if there’s no one to receive the aggro, the AI-controlled monsters don’t react at all!

“It’s a skill completely useless against players, but it can be devastating when it comes to support monsters! If the Pixies stay away and hide after their attacks, as long as they don’t enter the engagement range, the support monsters will allow them to kill them without reacting at all!”

Which is what happened to me, by the way. The Good Followers didn’t do anything to protect me while we were attacked from all sides at the same time.

Also, and this might be my fault, but it’s only a possibility and it isn’t clear it was the cause of my demise at all… But the thing is, I forgot to give them the order to attack.

Yep, I forgot.

But as I’ve said, it isn’t clear it was the cause of my defeat. There could have been lots of valid reasons, I’m sure of it. It isn’t clear I was defeated because I forgot to give the order. No, in fact, I’m sure it can’t be my fault. It’s impossible. It’s never my fault.

“Khm! Let’s forget about that.” I make a fake cough and wave my hand. “Where was I… Ah, yes!”

So, as I was saying, I decided to replicate that encounter with the Pixies inside my dungeon. But using simple Pixies wouldn’t be enough, I had to improve them somehow. I thought for a while about how to make them even more annoying until, as if it were a divine revelation, it finally came to me.

Do you remember the last PvP battle with Brainiac? The one with the clowns that exploded into tiny clowns upon death? The ones that made me waste a large amount of time and almost killed me?

Yeah, just imagine it… pixies that burst into more pixies, even tinier ones, upon death…

“Fufufu! Hahahahaha!”

 

---

 

Sir Orc isn’t going to help us… we must do this alone…

Tree roots and vines grab my legs, completely immobilizing me. Even if I struggle, I won’t get free, so I don’t. Krut and Mhah are struggling to get free. As long as they can’t move, they won’t be able to fight.

“E-entangle is useless against a mage like me. I c-can still fight!”

I shake off my fear and prepare to cast a spell. But which one? Fireball won’t be very effective because the Pixies are far apart, but the other spells I have are all single-target… Magic Missiles would be nice in this situation, but I didn’t pick it because it’s too cliche and I wanted to focus on destruction instead of precision.

What to do…

I glance at sir Orc in hopes of receiving some tip, but he’s standing still like before, covered in plants. Not a single part of his body is now visible because he doesn’t resist the plant’s advance.

Screw it! It’s time to show how useful goblin mages can be! It’s time for Goblin Magic!

The biggest advantage of Goblin Magic is the double damage for a meager extra 30 MP. For weak spells, it isn’t worth it, but for stronger ones like Fireball, it’s completely broken.

The visual effects when using Goblin Magic are more impressive, the area of effect is slightly bigger – or at least it does seem to be to me. Furthermore, the fact that it ignores defense means it doesn’t matter if the enemy is stronger, has damage-reducing skills, or is hiding behind an obstacle: the damage will be dealt anyway.

Goblin Magic isn’t an innate skill but it is a skill unique to the Savage Horde faction. Not many people know because almost all goblin casters use it, but the innate skill of the Goblin Shaman is the same as all goblins: Slippery.

Slippery is a powerful skill that helps with survival against strong attacks, as there’s a decent chance to avoid the attack, receiving no damage.

Ironically, Slippery can save your ass when Goblin Magic goes haywire and you hit yourself with the magic. They synergize perfectly well together.

“I-it’s time to show my w-w-worth…!”

“N-no! What are you doing, are you crazy? There’s no need to show off, you stupid goblin! Are you trying to kill us all!?”

Mhah shouts profanities at me as soon as the visual effects of Goblin Magic appear around me, but I ignore him and proceed with the casting of the strongest Fireball.

“...Epic Fireball! Hahaha!”

The huge ball of fire shoots off from my staff. When it hits a tree, it explodes, surging like a tide and engulfing the surrounding area in fire.

With this, I’m sure all the Pixies in that area are dead. Only the ones on the opposite side remain.

*Pop, pop, pop pop, pop!*

Like popcorn, the Pixies that should have died start expanding before exploding one after the other. When they pop, there’s a burst of light and a bunch of tiny objects are shot in all directions.

It doesn’t take long for those tiny objects to start flying around like a swarm, releasing more of those sharp thorns that have been pelting us since the start of the fight.

“W-what the h-h-hell is that?” I stutter. “W-what are we going to do now, sir Orc!?”

“Nothing in this dungeon is what it seems to be at the start, huh, huh, huh. I told you I would leave everything to you. Do your best, Diq. Huh, huh, huh!” From within the tangled mess of roots and vines, sir Orc extends his arm, giving me a thumbs-up.

…I’m surprised he can see what’s going on while fully covered in plants.

“A-anyway! If one time isn’t enough, I just have to repeat it, right? E-e-epic Firebaaaall!”

“Diq! Are you trying to kill us again!? You were lucky the first time, there’s no need to try it the second time!”

After the second explosion, there are more popping noises and more Pixies spawn. There’s a swarm of them now, swirling between the trees like bees that continuously shoot their pointy stings at us.

And they sting!

“Alright, it worked a second time. But don’t try your luck again, Diq! Wait until we can move, please…”

Mhah’s tone has changed after the second Fireball. Is he that afraid of being hit by my attack? It’s the first time he has shown respect since the start of the dungeon invasion.

“Fine…”

Luckily, I only have to wait for one or two seconds at most. The roots and vines release us, and Mhah quickly rushes at the pixie swarm.

Or is he running away from me? It’s fine if he is.

“A-a-and here comes the third! Epic F-f-fireball!”

*Boooom!* *Pop, pop, pop!*

After each explosion, there are a few more tiny explosions. It’s like fireworks, hahaha!

 

“One of the things I like the most in DMA is the visual effects of the spells. They’re so realistic it makes you believe it’s real instead of a game.

Though it isn’t always a good thing. I will always remember that time when our group was swallowed by a dark vortex inside an Abyss dungeon… I still have nightmares of that day.”

- Excerpt of an interview with a random DMA player.