Developer Journal : Exploration of the Dungeons

There were also some evil groups who were bent on acquiring wealth at the expense of others. These monster clans had many followers. Often, they also had highly defensible headquarters, and sometimes, these were in strange dungeons. They also had lots of gold plus some very interesting articles and magical weaponry.

In 9Dragons, nine of these dungeons exist for your adventuring pleasure... well, it may not be such a pleasure when you find out what awaits you there.

How do these dungeons work? Firstly, you and your party need to open each one up. But be warned, the monsters in the dungeon are usually 10 to 30 levels higher than the ones outside. You'd better be plenty tough. 

The missions themselves are timed. Depending on the dungeon you enter, you get either 20 or 30 minutes to fight your way through. Once you enter this darker place, you and your party are on your own. No one else can enter that space to help you while you are in there - even if you are getting your little martial artist butt kicked.

So what is there to go and find? Well, for example there is the Judgement of Hell (big drum roll in the background please). This is the home of the leaders of the monster clan from the Valley of Hell. Now, it is said that the Valley got its name because a power hungry lunatic by the name of Mei San-He used human bodies in his demonic experiments trying to create an army for himself. The scary thing is that he mostly succeeded. The valley itself is full of zombies and undead who dearly love to rip any living thing to pieces. Then, in the dungeon itself... 

I won't give that away just yet. Why spoil your surprise. However, let me walk you through a general dungeon to give you the idea of what will happen.

You descend the steps down to a large central chamber with five tunnels branching off it. As you and your party enter this main area, you hear a hissing sound. The room is filling with a poisonous green mist. Quickly, you run to one of the tunnels leading off. This one ends in a hideous statue, which is glowing a faint green color. You decide to attack it and manage to smash it. You run back to the main room, which is now full of poison. Holding your breath, but not enough to avoid taking some damage, you run through to another tunnel. At the end of this is a huge door. But it is locked. Where is the key? 

You dash back to another tunnel and find another statue like the first. The process dawns on you. You smash the statue and dash out. Finding another statue at the end of the next tunnel, you surmise, quite correctly, that you need to just smash it. However, as you soon find out, this statue can defend itself. Soon, you are embroiled in a life or death combat with a poison spewing, flaming monster. Fortunately, your party is strong enough to overcome it, and you head for the last tunnel, a little wiser and a lot more cautious. You defeat the defender of the last statue, and you hear the door in the final tunnel open.

You race back to this door and enter a huge area. It looks like the inside of the coliseum in Rome... except that across the middle of the sandy floor, there is a divide that looks like the Grand Canyon. Only a small, rickety wooden bridge spans the two sides. Suddenly, the sand around you erupts as dozens of zombies spew up out of the ground. Now, you are fighting for your life. The clock is ticking; you only have 12 minutes left to complete the dungeon before you are ejected. 

You and your team desperately battle through the hordes towards the bridge. Standing at the middle is a warrior twice your height. He hefts a mighty double-handed sword and the muscles in his arms are corded and ready. With a mighty sweep, he kills one of your companions in one blow. You instantly move to a stronger defensive stance as two of your companions leap forward. The healer in your group pulses chi power towards them. As they leap in with graceful flying kicks, you prepare your chi power strike. The giant on the bridge is diverted by your allies' attacks, and you strike with full power. He teeters for a second, and then falls with a crash back onto the bridge. 

You and your remaining companions rush headlong across the chasm. As your feet land on solid ground on the other side, an army of masked warriors greets you. You and your team smoothly glide into combat, but you are bombarded by a series of chi mind strikes from the edges of the arena. "Clear the ranged attack!" comes a cry from your right. You dodge around your masked opponents, and grimly start to take out the enemies along the outside edge. You have cleared three when above you, there is a movement.

In one giant leap, the master of the dungeon jumps from his throne on the side of the arena to the center of the battle. Your healer is hard pressed to keep your teammates alive, and you know that you must stop the chi mind strikes as quickly as possible. Using a powerful combination of kicks and punches, you decimate your opponents. As you clear the last one, you see the master savagely dispatch one of your friends. If you lose any more, you will never win through. You leap into the fray with a flying kick that knocks the master backwards. 

For the next three minutes, you are embroiled in a battle royale. Using your finest attacks, you press the master back. He responds with moves you have never seen before. Still, your healer pulses power to you, and your friends and you feel the tide of the struggle shift. You can sense the master weakening. You switch to your most powerful combination and land a devastating spinning back kick to his mid-section. Your Wu-Tang friend uses the opening to thrust his sword under the master's guard, piercing his armor. In that final moment, you leap in the air and flick out your foot in a perfect execution of the black lotus. The master sways, then staggers, and finally falls to the sand in a crumpled heap.

Elated, the team runs to the top of the nearby steps. You have no key to the treasure room, but the door soon splinters under your combined assault. There, at the top of the stairs, lie the master's treasure chests. You have just one minute left to recover whatever you can and get out. You greedily grab treasure from the chests, not pausing to see what it is, and look around for the exit. There isn't one! 30 seconds to go... can you find it? You and your teammates share glances... where to go? 

Did you make it? Was there an exit nearby, or was it all a trap? I will leave it up to you to complete this quest for yourself and find out.