D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

Nixilei looked around for a few moments before continuing, "Alright so the next common finale is… sort of one category sort of two, arguably more but that's just variations on the format. They're known as the Dungeon Time Trial and the Dungeon Race. Something is placed at the bottom of a dungeon or an arena is made up as a fake dungeon and the teams race to claim the final prize. Sometimes you also have to take the prize back up to the surface other times simply touching is considered a win… or the pause of the timer.

"For the time trial there are a couple of variants. The most common is that a full team runs down to the goal, rinse and repeat four more times. The team with the best time gets the win. Sometimes there are multiple dungeons but that's only been more frequent in recent years. Originally it was always one dungeon, probably more due to budgetary reasons than anything else.

"There is usually minimal interference with the other teams during the Time Trials but there are a few notable instances where the teams not being timed were responsible for manning the traps. It meant that there was some strategy in regards to what traps you used to slow people down… but it fell out of favour somewhat because the team that goes last usually wins those. It's why in recent years they've pushed to have multiple dungeons so everyone gets a chance to be the 'last runner' and deal with the headaches of being first as well.

"I cannot see a world in which Thyme would ever make a single dungeon should they decide time trials would make for a good final. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Thyme made a dungeon for each contestant… though that might be a bit much. Twenty five dungeons is a lot of work even for someone like Thyme. Still… before we go onto the races are there any suggestions for strategies if it comes up?"

"I mean… it's a matter of splitting up or staying together right?" asked Lily who was now laying across Kat's lap in her human form. "The risk is that you need multiple people to progress or that someone might get taken out by themselves… but if you just stay together the whole time you'd lose too much time,"

Nixilei nodded so Lily continued. "Right well… I think we'd be best splitting into teams of two with Kat going on her own, or with me depending on how they think of familiars. Then if we're set up for extra dungeons afterwards we can adjust depending on how hard things were in teams of two. Hmm… and I guess it depends if there's a penalty for not finishing, or how the times are tallied up. Like… is it average time across all dungeons? Or is it final time added together?

"If it's average time you'd want to play it safer, try to bring the time down as much as you can without risking a huge time loss… but if it's total time at the end it's probably better to go for as many optimisations as you can, and just accept the time loss if it happens," explained Lily.

"I think that about covers it," agreed Kress. "Though another thing to consider is if we can run interference at all. Depending on how close the different 'dungeon' entrances are it might be best to have, probably Kat, delay one or two of the other teams. Not sure if it would be allowed, but if it was you know?"

Nixilei nodded in agreement along with Green. Though Gareth seemed unsure. "I don't know if we'd want to give others the idea. Maybe it's worth trying to pull that trick in the last round because if you do that too effectively earlier on, I'd bet that they'd start to team up on whoever is in first… which would probably be us if we managed to do well enough for them to steal the trick,"

There were a number of nods of agreement before Nixilei spoke up, "Alright, let's move onto the Dungeon Races next, we don't want to spend too long on any one topic because we've got a lot to cover. I'm sure Thyme will give us at least a little bit of time to plan, but we do want at least a few ideas ready.

"Anyway, Dungeon Races. Depending on how many races there are, and if you need to take the object back to the surface plans change drastically. If you just need to get down as fast as possible it's probably best to take out a team or two at the start. Assuming there's no catchup mechanics Thyme has implemented. Then it's just a matter of finding the goal as quickly as possible.

"Things change a bit if we need to go through multiple races similar to time trials… and there is one major notable race type where each team is given their own dungeon but individuals are separated as well. It was a very popular setup… once. What would happen was all five members of a team would need to work on things to allow each other to progress further. It meant the whole team had to be working well together even when they couldn't see each other…

"But it's only been done successfully twice. Perhaps Thyme will see that as a challenge, perhaps not. The problem is there's not too much strategy to use there. Just do you best and complete the tasks on your way to the centre of the dungeon,"

Green shrugged. "Dungeon Races can be dealt with more… combatively. I think… no I know it would be best to pick one other team. Work together with them to take out the other three, and then either gentleman's agreement it that you'll just race to the end without interference or agree to fight it out once everyone else it taken out. It depends how much you can trust the other team of course… but if there are multiple races it's definitely the play,"

"Do you need one person touching the artifact or everyone on the team?" asked Kat, hoping for a bit of clarification on that.

"It depends," answered Gareth. "Most of the time you need a full team but not always. The complicated ones are where you need a full team but the finish line is an item that can be picked up and moved. Then there are rule differences between just having everyone on the team touch it once, or if you need to have the whole team touching it at the same time.

"If it can be moved, it's often best to just send someone ahead and then have them hide away with the item. That tactic was somewhat neutered after it was used effectively. The organisers learnt that it needed to be at least a bit difficult to just hide away so the 'prize' tends to either glow brightly or make a notable sound every so often. I think there was even one run I remember hearing about where everyone had an enchanted compass that pointed towards the thing but if I remember correctly they were all broken or stolen by the winning team so it wasn't repeated,"

Kress jumped in with, "I'm not sure what there is to say. I mean, it's clear that the best way to win is to listen to the rules and find the little loopholes they don't quite cover so… why are we bothering with this?"

Nixilei sighed, "It is in part training TO spot those little loopholes, but it's also a chance to go over the best previous tactics to see if they can be applicable to whatever nonsense Thyme cooks up. They've been quite accommodating in regards to planning time in the past… and I'd be willing to bet quite a lot of money that's going to change in the finals. I expect the rules will be read out, clarified, and then we'll have somewhere between five and thirty minutes for the first task.

"Not sure if Thyme will split the final round up into a bunch of confusing tasks, or if it will just be one big mess but either way there will NOT be enough time to properly plan things out if I had to guess,"

Kress shrugged, "Look I really doubt our planning is going to do much… but sure let's continue with it,"

Nixilei just glared at him for a few moments before Kat jumped in to go back to the original topic. "I think if Thyme IS doing a dungeon thing at least one of them will have us all be separated. I don't think Thyme would repeat it multiple times over… but it feels a bit simple? So it might just be one round out of five or whatever number. If we do end up by ourselves… is it worth meeting back up? Like… I'm sure I can break through walls and Gareth's earth manipulation might be able to do the same,"

Nixilei shook her head. "Dungeons tend to react negatively to destroying the walls… and Thyme wouldn't make something so flimsy unless that WAS the loophole. Though… hmm… guess it depends. If it's a race to the centre you're probably best just breaking your way towards it instead of anyone else,"