Would depend on wether a DM or DK can control just where an External Entrance is Opened but also where the Internal Entrance side will appear?
Maybe less of an issue with contact with the Labyrinth, and the possibility of multiple Entrances and Nodes?
Still, look at it from the Dungeon's perspective, entrances are important. I also wouldn't be surprised if there is still only one portal on the Dungeon side, with all entrances leading to the same exit, and the one exit leading back to your entrance portal (preventing the use of the Dungeon for the purposes of moving military forces, but not supplies and information). Edit: Because I know it will come up, this The far exit had a barely perceptible, shimmering curtain of energy across it. Kong, Aleron. The Land: Predators: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 7) (Kindle Locations 408-409). Tamori Publications, LLC. Kindle Edition. Richter heard something behind him and turned around. He was standing only a few feet from a wall of bare, grey stone. Set within it was the doorway he’d come through. The energy field could be seen from this side as well. Kong, Aleron. The Land: Predators: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 7) (Kindle Locations 5949-5950). Tamori Publications, LLC. Kindle Edition. Sounds a lot like a portal to me. Plus we know the entire thing is inaccessible if they lose the Core, it cannot be found in the land by any mean, indicating its not in the land dimension.
Might be that Dungeon is only hungry it wants to consume.. And food can come form any direction.. I see the barbicon more of a "safe" retreat/path option. Also say you want to go to Dungeon floor 6.. maybe you have to use a separate entrance? However there might be a much bigger problem, say Bears find the portal in the Dungeon. And use it to transport their troops.. That is if they can leave the dungeon.. boom now we have 10k bear army lol(they will have to move in small groups but in few days it can be done.) I'd love this power move. brutal and effective. Same can be done by say 300 sprites and then they counter attack the bugbears lol. This is evil and beautiful.
I want it to be labyrinth portal!!! after Richto conquers the dungeon.. and brings back the steel snake body for bbq party and its high steel akin for new Armour for the guards!
My guess would be that additional entrances would branch off of the entrance chamber. Because it is not limited by space the entrance chamber could scale in size as much as necessary to allow multiple entrances to this chamber. I'm not sure Richter wants to slay the dungeon's harbinger, as it is the dungeon's last line of defense against invading adventurers and labyrinth monsters.
On the other hand, think off the loot. Plus Richter is the last defense of the Dungeon, it will call on him if it truly needs to be saved.
He can keep sacrificing stuff to the dungeon to help it grow and be strong enough to defend itself. Plus as you said Richter and the MV are the real last line of defense. He shouldn't pass up the opportunity to grow and get loot his people need.
I don't think high steel and bbq is enough incentive to slay your own harbinger. The benefit of slaying the harbinger is the ability to claim the item of power, and this holds no allure for Richter. Sure it might produce a reliquary, but then the dungeon halts all DP production to pay for the harbinger to be reborn. If you are looking for high level reliquaries, adventuring into the Labyrinth seems much more profitable, and doesn't create a vulnerability for his dungeon.
You probably get some high-value loot for beating the greatest powerhouse the Dungeon has access to as well as reaching the end.
Also the new blessing "Reliquaries of the Labyrinth" should boost all the standard loot besides. Be it more reliquary spawns, higher grade spawns or what have you, boosted is boosted
I like this version of the multiple entrances. This way you could move an army through the entrances of the Dungeon, thought the entrance chamber. This would allow the army to bypass the Dungeon proper. But who could pass up that portal to the Dungeon proper on the way through?!
While beautiful if the bugbears loose dozens or hundreds of troops into the dungeon, gaining benefits to the dungeon and weakening the alliance, I don't think this is going to happen. First, the entrances are limited to those Ritcher allows through. It's possible the new entrances allow anyone by default, but I still think the DM controls access. Sure, the bugbears can enter through the laberith and through nodes. It doesn't seem like that was their intention, however. It seemed like they wanted to conquer head on through the entrance(s). Which is a good thing, ultimately needing a pass from Ritcher, because there are probably high level people within the alliance that could take on the dungeon. The highest level creatures is 38 and the harbinger is 34. Thats tough even for average professional warriors; but elite adventurers or mages could take it on, just as Ritcher coupled with Randy and the Heart Mother could defeat the dungeon currently as just the three of them. And lastly, the leadership may also not want anyone trying for the dungeon until their flank is secure, namely that MV is defeated. Its stupid strategy to take the dungeon when your forces can be attacked by the MV army close by and the Heart Tree army on the other side, and I'm sure the leaders will want to eliminate one or both forces before going for the dungeon at their leisure. That being said, if the MV puts up a good fight, and the conflict drags on into a siege, I could see the bugbears getting desperate to seize the dungeon. What I really want to see happen is Simon and everyone soundly defend the MV and defeat the bugbear advice, if not eliminate the bugbear army entirely. In all honesty Ritcher himself does not convey a large advantage. He could defeat a champion or two, but he is only a strong fighter, not some OP obliterator, and so anything short term that he would be able to accomplish should be doable without him. (longer term things like building an alliance or a crafters table or unlocking dungeon powers is probably unique abilities to Ritcher). I still think there is much behind this bugbear push– it could be a much larger threat than currently appears, involving law, or the dark court, etc. And this is something which may take several books to resolve, even if the initial battles with the bugbear advance happen off screen.
U only see the median lvl of the beasts my young Footpad. What u miss is The BEASTs themselfs. Lvl 1 dragon is stronger than lvl 100 rabbit. Also Dungoen beasts have regen, bonus HP, concealment, possibility to adopt trais form other beasts traits.. this is from rare blood. We have a smart dungoen where if one beast sees you all of them attack you. And even 20 lvl 12 boars almost killed poor terrad. This was before dungoen got +14 levels and 7.5k new beasts. We should sack some books to the dungoen. Say in floor 6 you will have 20 Chiupakabras lvl 33-38 attacking youre group.. not beeing distracted by dungeon beasts.. I'm seeing a party wipe, for most of the bug bear adventurers except the strongest of the strong.. maybe
I will concede that killing the harbinger once in hopes of evolving his mark does sound like a good idea. It would be better to do it sooner rather than later before the harbinger becomes too powerful.
I still think now that the dungeon is a little more mature we will see smaller groupings of monsters. Instead of 20+ boars, we may see only 6-7 lvl 12 boars, this would be much more realistic for the first few levels of the dungeon. Funny you should bring up lvl 1 dragons, I wonder if dragons might be among the beasts learned by the dungeon during it's feast? The dungeon has 481 beasts in the dungeon bestiary.
Actually I don't think the first level will change too much. Monster composition definitely will, as some are more suited to the lower level floors than others (rabbits and dragons and all that), but numbers wise I think it will remain relatively the same. There is supposed to be danger and there isn't too much danger from 6-7 boars or equivalently mediocre beasts. The first floor is also huge and not very well lit, as it keeps taking away the lights made when the parties leave. I imagine the first floor will remain quite dangerous rather than spreading the danger between floors, especially given the absolute yacht load of Dungeon Points the Dungeon can make on its own each day.
Watching Aleron‘a fb live post the other day got me thinking. He said that he started writing the book with a with an ending already set and several story arcs along the way. And that up to this point we haven’t even hit the first major arc yet. If that’s the case and the first seven books are just the beginning of an extremely long story. What up to this point are those major arcs going to focus on if anything that we’ve learned so far. -is it his kid and richter is the darth Vader to his future son. -is Randy a spy hiding in plain sight -is the HM always silently judging/noting Ritcher ability eventually going to make her fear and want to kill him -will richter die before the series is over