Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The boss floor and the king of birds

Every dungeon has to itself more than just tricks and traps and silly, little goblins.

As is customary for their sort, each dungeon has an established pattern of floor design. Typically, there are normal floors, challenge floors and boss floors. However, not all dungeons hold themselves to these standards, as some more exotic examples are to be found around the world.

A 'normal floor' is what one would expect it to be. It is a floor full of what one could describe as average, predictable monsters and traps for the climate.

A 'challenge floor' is a floor that requires less violence in some cases and more mechanical know-how. These often involve complex puzzles, traps and timed challenges.

A 'boss floor', finally, is a dungeon’s strongest line of defense, but the one it can field the least often. It is assumed that this is because of the intense magical requirements needed to sustain a boss-level entity.

Boss: A 'boss' is a particularly high-level, or otherwise dangerous, unique encounter meant to pose a significant challenge to any intruders. Given the incredible amounts of ambient dungeon-magic needed to sustain them, a boss can only be summoned at the end of every segment of a dungeon.

Segments of a dungeon can vary from dungeon to dungeon. Typically, the length of a segment is six to ten floors. After the end of a segment, one can expect a slight thematic shift in the next segment of the dungeon.

Boss entities can diverge from traditional monster pools and are often deeply characteristic of a dungeon’s aspect or origins.

While common enemies, such as slimes, might be seen in just about every dungeon. No boss entity has ever been seen in more than one dungeon, as they are bespoke, unique encounters, hand-made by a dungeon-core to deter any outsiders.

These, like challenge rooms, can also field unique requirements in order to be beaten. However, most often, it is simply a matter of murder.