We went through a few more fights to work on team cohesion and then it was time to fight the dungeon challenge on floor 10. For every Tier Up you get your next *Challenge* tends to involve 5 more floors. We actually expected the challenge fight to be relatively easy because our party had a lot of advanced Talents and synergy. While doing a *Challenge* often involved at least one monster a level above what you'd normally be capable of and which would probably have some form of control resist we had a large number of control sources. The real question was how far away from the enemy we would start and how many fast movers were involved. A lot of our power came from buffs.

A *Challenge* is a bit special in that you wouldn't be able to control the engagement. They began as soon as you moved to the relevant floor and you couldn't pre-buff yourself. After we reached the 10th floor we got some bad news. This was not a situation in which we could easily place down Domains with long casting times. And our enemies indeed had control resistance. Luckily we started 30m away, did not immediately draw aggression and the fastest enemies were moving 10m/s. Unluckily that was because they were very big monsters.

 

We had roughly 3 seconds to do battlefield control and buffs. Then we had to start doing damage or dealing out lockdown control. I could cast 8 spells assuming I just did Quickens and Accelerates. Sadly that meant I couldn't even Haste the whole party and I couldn't maintain Haste. Especially problematic was that the Cleanser could focus on mana boosting me but then she couldn't do much else.

As far as lockdown control the golem leader had -2s and the other 4 had -1s. They all also had control attacks. Spefically single turn control attacks with +2s and +1s respectively. This was actually a tougher fight than I had expected given we were overtiered and overgeared, thanks to the Arcanist and the Crusher, for a first *Challenge*. Even 1 less Earth Golem would have made things far easier. We'd probably have to get the Mud Golem under permanent control. Which left us limited options for the others. Luckily while absorbtion was applied to each attack control was only applied by phase. If we did 10s the first phase and 10s the second phase it would reduce to 16.

Manasophy Tier 2 would be a big mana boon but hopefully we'd find a young dungeon at some point and get someone Hydromancy or a mana focused Water composite. Manasophy was primarily a self buff Knowledge Talent not a Support Talent.

My first move was obviously Quicken. The Arcanist had a shorter Domain cast time so Static Field went down. Forest Heart was even quicker so that was cast as well. Dusk was probably not worth the mana for 3 enemies. The Miasmist went for a first cast Acid Splash. It took 2 seconds so it could be cast at max range and finish when the golems covered their first 10m. This might be the first fight where the Miasmist did heavy work potentially getting Envenom ticking on all 5 enemies. She might even get Gloom marks out if the fight lasted a long time.

The Shieldmaiden cast Ground Wall 10m out. It would finish next phase. The Eruptor did end up deciding on Roiling Ground. The bonus damage and mana efficiency would be key in a drawn out fight and it could potentially finish before we were attacked thanks to Ground Wall. The Cleanser decided on Revitalize on the Crusher. The Crusher could then cast Mantle and end up down just 10 mana.

The large golems closed the gap by 10m.

I cast Accelerate on the Cleanser so she could rush her mana boosing, and conveniently add an 8s +5HP buff to the frontliners who would be getting the mana boost due to their low pool total. The Crusher cast Might. Mantle wasn't based on duration so most people argued that such buffs should go first so as not to waste duration on other buffs. Might had the longest duration of her buffs so losing 1 second wouldn't be the worst thing. Ground Wall, Acid Splash, Forest Heart, and Revitalize all completed. 2 of the Domain Spells were not done.

All 3 Golems reach the Ground Wall and would have to break through next turn. While rats and wolves took 1m of space the Golems were large and took the same amount of space in a line as adventurers, which was 2m. Each Golem would have to handle its own wall section. Well they could coordinated but one would then still have a wall up. The Golems were 10m out from our 3 man front line after covering 20m. Our 5 man back line was 5m farther. The Golems weren't fast enough for a good flank especially taking potential hits from Opportunity on the Treant and with heavy control threat. They would line up on our frontline, potentially coordinating if it was valuable. The golems were now in range of Roiling Ground once it finished but not Static Field. They all also took 20 damage from Acid Splash reduced by 5 for the Earth Golems and 10 for the Mud Golem. One Earth Golem was not hit. The Mud Golem healed 10 to get back to 700.

Static Field finished. I accelerated the Miasmist for once. Roiling Ground would finish next turn. The Cleanser cast Revitalize on the Treant. The Treant cast Amber Armor hitting the full 3 targets for the first time. The Crusher cast Roar, a Leadership buff that wasn't time based. The Shieldmaiden cast Force Traps right in front of the party. This would hopefully cancel out their control resistance for that turn. Finally the now Hasted Miasmist cast Gloom on the Mud Golem. This would add a Mark and start a 1 dmg/10s DoT as well as deal another 1 for that mark plus 1 for any more marks in 10s. It was cheap and the Miasmist lacked any good 1s skills while she waited for Haste to apply.

4 of the golems lost 5 health from the first Acid mark. The Mud Golem just healed it up sadly. All 5 golems attacked the wall and broke through losing 50 or 40 mana respectively. Next turn they would charge the frontline and hit the force traps.

I cast Accelerate on the Crusher. Roiling Ground finished for the Eruptor. The Miasmist cast Infect on the 3 middle golems. The Shieldmaiden cast Absorb on the frontline as well as me. It would take effect next turn. The Treant cast Barkskin on herself. The Cleanser cast Revitalize on the Crusher. Revitalize with 3 Domains down was being cast for an extraordinary 55% of total cost. 28 instead of 50. The Crusher cast Alacrity as the Golems were finally going to be in attack range. With -10% cost on water from Forest Heart and -10% Light from Static Field it only cost 24 mana. The Crusher would now have 3 seconds of Haste and 5 of Speed as well as 52 mana to use Strikes. The Arcanist began to cast Stupefaction on the Mud Golem to ameliorate the control reduction it had.

All 5 Golems charged forward to the frontline and got hit by Force Traps. The Earth Golems would lose their next turn but the Mud Golem was unaffected. However and further control effects would apply normally. 3 of the Earth Golems took 5 damage while the Mud Golem simply healed. However next turn the ailments would finally overpower the healing at least a small amount.

I cast Quicken to recover my Haste. Absorb and Stupefaction both finished. The Shieldmaiden and Arcanist could act again next turn. The Miasmist cast Fester on the Mud Golem and center left Earth Golem. The Cleanser cast Revitalize once more on the Crusher, as now was the time to maximize stuns and damage through Haste and Alacrity. The Treant lacked the mana to cast more spells and simply applied a Bash to the far left Earth Golem. It dealt 5 and 1s of control to the golem. The Eruptor lacked Haste, which it would receive next turn and was limited to casting Sear on the Mud Golem. Sear dealt Base(40)+Warm Air(10)-10(ABS/2)=40 damage and added 1 mark. As an Ash spell it cost Ash Cloud(-10%)-Mana Efficiency(-5%)-Roiling Ground(-10%)-Forest Heart(-5%)=50*.7=35 mana.

Finally the Crusher began her assault, an attempt to chain control the Mud Golem. Force Traps had cleared the control resistance. Coordinate would deal limited damage due to absorbtion so the best plan she had was a double Smash and a Pulverize. This cost 50 mana. She dealt Smash(10)+Brutality(5)+Hammer(10)+Roar(10)+Might(10)+Brawn/2(8)-ABS/2(10)=43*2=86 damage as well as FRC(5)+LGT(5[+StaticField(5)])-ABS/4(5)=5*2=20 magic damage, Pulverize(10)+Brutality(5)+Hammer(10)+Might(10)+Brawn/2(8)-ABS/2(10)=33*1=33 damage as well as FRC(5)+LGT(5[+StaticField(5)])-ABS/4(5)=10 magic damage and applied Smash(1)+Brutality(1)+Hammer(1)+Stupefaction(1)=4*2=8s Stun as well as Brutality(1)+Hammer(1)+Stupefaction(1)=3*1=3s Stun. 134 damage and 11s of Stun. She consumed the buff from Roar and 3/5 of the buff from Mantle. She would deal 20 less PHYS DMG and 15 less MAG DMG next turn. Additionally she would only have mana for 1 Pulverize and no Smash costing another 20 dmg and 2s of stun.

3 Earth Golems were freed from control effects. 1 retained a single second after Bash. The Mud Golem now had 10/11s of Stun remaining. It was functionally frozen. The real question was how well our mana would hold out as we started grinding the massive health of the golems down. The Miasmist had finally succeeded in break the heal of the Mud Golem, if only by a measly damage. And the 5 acid damage was soon to be exhausted. Luckily the Golems had all come in rage of the ENV effects from domains. Unluckily ENV damage, even from domains was subject to ABS/2 reduction and at our experience level the base damage was low. We got 5 and 10 on the Earth Golems after the reduction. The Mud Golem took 0 and 5. We were just lucky DoT damage was not affected by reduction.

The Cleanser had lost Haste and would have to cast Revitalize at normal speed on the Crusher. Sadly this meant the Crusher was limited this turn. The Miasmist was on her last second of Haste and so I recast Accelerate on her. The Miasmist cast Envenom on the Mud Golem to maximize DoT damage. Luckily the Miasmist could stay Hasted for a long time with no mana issues. The Shieldmaiden let off a Shield Bash stalling the center right Earth Golem for 1s plus overloading resistance. She dealt 25-10=15 damage. The Eruptor considered whether to Sear the center left Earth Golem or spend the 2s to cast a stronger spell. She eventually decided to cast Suffocate to maximize marks and DoT damage on the Mud Golem. It was slow without Haste but it was a cheap spell with domains and passive at 40*.75=30. The Treant was 2 turns from Grasping roots which could hit the left 3 golems. Sadly she couldnt apply control due to resistances. She Bashed the Mud Golem for 2s of Stun and 0 damage. Perhaps the Crusher could target the center left golem for a control lockdown like the Mud Golem. The Arcanist cast Jolt for 70*.85=59.5=60 mana on the far right Earth Golem putting it to 2s of control effects.

The Crusher indeed attacked that Earth Golem. With 1 action she dealt Pulverize(10)+Hammer(10)+Might(10)+Brawn/2(8)+Brutality(5)-ABS/2(5)=38 PHYS DMG and Mantle(+10[+StaticField(5)])-ABS/4(3)=12 MGC DMG for 50 damage and 1s of Stun. Then she dealt Hammer(10)+Might(10)+Brawn/2(8)+Brutality(5)-ABS/2(5)=28 PHYS DMG and Mantle(+10[+StaticField(5)])-ABS/4(3)=12 MGC DMG for 40 damage and 2s of Stun. Finally she attacked for Hammer(10)+Might(10)+Brawn/2(8)+Brutality(5)-ABS(10)=33 PHYS DMG and 2s of Stun. A total of 124 damage and 5s of Stun.

Acid Splash started to get low. 2 Golems were freed of control effects while one was pushed to 4 and the Mud Golem went up to 8. All 5 golems took relatively inconsequential damage. The far right Golem had 1 more second of control to go.

I cast Accelerate on the Eruptor so she could start going off next turn. The Miasmist cast Gloom on the Mud Golem and Nightchill on the Earth Golem with the most maladies. The Shieldmaiden cast Absorb which would finish 1 tick before the previous Absorb ran out but that wasn't a big deal. It cost 43 mana. Revitalize put the Crusher to 50. Suffocate finally took effect on the Mud Golem. He was getting 2 more marks and a sharp boost in damage from maladies.

The Treant was still 1 second of mana recovery short of Grasping Roots and so she Bashed the Mud Golem. Gloom+Stupefaction had cleared the control resist from the golem so Bash+Stupefaction added 2s of Stun. The Arcanist lacked Haste but could still use Jolt adding 2 seconds of control to the far left Earth Golem for a heavy 60 mana.

The Crusher had 2 actions and with mana to spare she double Smashed the center right Earth Golem that could try to attack during enemy phase burning 40 mana. Sadly her damage buffs were now very limited with only Might and Alacrity still in effect. She dealt heavy damage with Might(10)+Brawn/2(8)+Hammer(10)+Smash(10)+Brutality(5)-ABS(10)=33*2=66 damage. She applied Hammer(1)+Brutality(1)+Smash(1)=3*2-(1)=5s Stun. All of the Golems had been stopped.

One Golem was freed from control effects. The left might golem took 5+10 ENV and 5 DoT damage. The right most golem took just 15 ENV. The center right golem too 15 ENV + 7 DoT + 50 from the Crusher. The center left golem took 15 ENV and 8 + 2 + 5=15 DoT damage. Finally the great Mud Golem added 2 marks and 2 DoTs that would start next phase. It took 5 environmental damage and 52 DoT damage for 43 damage after healing.

I cast Accelerate as a 2 second spell to save mana and targeted the Arcanist. The Shieldmaiden finished Absorb. The Cleanser cast Revitalize on me to let me cast Accelerate every 2 turns after my current cast. The Eruptor cast Lava Rain to get some damage going costing 56 mana. The Miasmist cast Acid Splash to provide the DoT. The Treant could finally cast Grasping Roots adding 1s of Root to all three middle Golems thanks to Stupefaction on the Mud Golem. The Arcanist blew 60 more mana to Jolt the right most Earth Golem for 2s Stun.

Finally the Crusher cast 2 Pulverizes to deal 66 damage and 4s of Stun to the center left Earth Golem.

The far right Earth Golem cleared 1s of control and took 15 ENV damage. The far left Earth Golem cleared 1s of control took 35 ENV as well as Acid Splash(20)+Warm Air(5)+Static Field(5)-ABS/2(5)=25 acid damage. The center right Earth Golem too that same 60 damage +2 DoT damage. The center left Earth Golem took the same 60 damage + 2 + 8 + 5 = 15 DoT damage +50 phys damage. The Mud Golem took 5+20=25 ENV damage as well as 1+2+6+11+22+26=68 DoT damage and 20 acid damage for 103 total damage after healing.

The Cleanser and I can both cast next turn. The Miasmist casts Envenom on the center left Earth Golem now that Acid is applied. The Eruptor casts Suffocate on the same Golem. The Shieldmaiden and the Treant Shield Bash and Bash the far right and far left Earth Golems respectively dealing 15 and 5 damage and 1 and 0 seconds of control after resistance. The newly Hasted Arcanist Lightning Bolts both Golems burning them for Lightning Bolt(25)+Warm Air(5)+Static Field(10)-ABS/2(5)=35 damage and a 2 second stun since their control resistance had been overloaded. It costs 94 mana.

The Crusher managed to store up enough mana for 2 Pulverizes with her last second of Alacrity. She adds 3s of control and 66 damage to the center right Earth Golem.

The far right Earth Golem takes 15 ENV, Shield Bash(15), and Lightning Bolt(35) for a total of 65 damage. The far left Earth Golem takes 5 DoT + Bash(5) + 40 ENV + Lightning Bolt(35) = 85 damage. The center right Earth Golem takes 40 ENV + 7 DoT + Pulverizes(50)=97 damage. Then the center left Earth Golem takes 5+2+10+7=24 DoT damage as well as 40 ENV damage for 68 damage. Finally the Mud Golem loses 1 second of control as all the Earth Golems did and take 25 ENV + 5+6+2+1+11+26+22=75 DoT damage and heals 10 for a total of 90 damage.

I cast Accelerate on the Crusher taking 2s. The Miasmist casts Gloom on the center left Earth Golem to add a mark and overload control resistance. The Shieldmaiden and the Treant repeat their bashing. The Eruptor uses her last second of Haste to cast Molten Suport on the Mud Golem for 56 mana. The Cleanser casts Revitalize on the Crusher. The Arcanist has 2 seconds of Haste remaining but lacks mana which sucks. We had forgotten to buy wands or bring the Arcanist's so we'd have to do that as soon as we finished here. We'd at least get some mana recovery and some small ranged damage benefits for when we were empty.

The Crusher was finally relegated to 1 action a turn but at least her mana could keep up now. She cast Alacrity for the 80% cost of 24 mana.

All Golems clear 1 second of control. The far right Earth Golem takes 30 damage since no lightning fell this turn. The left Golem takes 50 for the same reason. The center right Earth Golem takes takes 47. The center left Earth Golem takes 40 ENV + 74 and goes to -10 and dies. Finally the Mud Golem takes 75 DoT damage and 25 ENV with 10 healing for 90 plus another 80+5-10ABS = 75 = 165 from Molten Spurt.

Myself and the Cleanser can act next turn. The Eruptor and Arcanist are too short on mana. The Treant and Shieldmaiden simply get bashing. The Miasmist casts another Acid Splash for lack of good choices. It will finish next turn. The Crusher is back to 2 and next turn 3 actions. She deals 33 to the center right Earth Golem and adds 1s of stun and then casts Roar for 30 mana.

The far right Earth Golem takes 40 phys and 15 env for 55 total. The center right golem takes 25 phys and 15 env for 40 + 7 DoT for 47 total. With 7s of control and 22 damage a turn now that Lava Rain is over it can be considered dead. The far left Golem takes another 25 dmg total from the same sources as last turn minus Lava Rain. It is now free from control effects. The Mud Golem takes 5 ENV and the same 75 DoT but is now free of Suffocate. He heals 10 for 70 total.

I cast Filth Spray on the far left Earth Golem to burn his control resist.. Acid Splash finishes. The Shieldmaiden Shield Bashes the far right Earth Golem dealing 25 damage thanks to Roar. She applies 1 second of stun. The Treant Bashes the far left Earth Golem for 15 damage thanks to Shout applying 1s of Stun. The Mud Golem will die to his existing DoT maladies even if some of them clear up and he is loaded with enough control to prevent him from acting. The Crusher spends 1 action to approach the far right Earth Golem and attacks twice thanks to Haste adding 4 seconds of Stun and 66 damage.

The remaining 3 enemies are officially on permanent lockdown so I'll cut short the clean up.

After an incredibly grueling fight, although being overpowered and control focused we were never actually hurt, we had finally cleared our first Challenge. 5 of us selected Manasophy to upgrade while one selected Contegomancy, 1 selected Crushing Weapons and 1 boosted Close Combat. These choices were based on this being a rare Manasophy Aspected Dungeon with Air and Force Aspects as well. Then we all rushed off through the night to bed at the inn. We'd review our advances and also pick up wands and gear upgrades tomorrow. Thankfully *Challenges* had strong monsters with excellent monster parts for loot.