"If they can, I wonder if it's across dunjes, or just for the residents of the one... I feel like 'throw a dunj at another dunj to see what happens' would be pretty unethical, but it'd be interesting to watch."

They laugh. It's a weird sensation. "Definitely."

"Maybe if there's two really isolated ones nearby. Maybe."

And she presses on. She's getting used to wielding Lianne. She doesn't need quite as much guidance.

Which is fortunate, because the needed strategy gets ever more complex, and Lianne has to switch to advising on that.

Strategy help is much appreciated! It's not like she doesn't know anything about strategy-- she just knows alarmingly little, considering she's trying to fight in a dunj, and it's hard to focus on that when there's six legged monsters attacking you.

That's why teams are important, is Lianne's opinion.

Soon enough they're getting to higher densities of larger monsters, which Lianne indicates means the center of a dunj is probably near.

That's good. The sooner this portal is closed, the sooner the area will be safe for... hikers or whatever.

Yup! And monsters can spread, if left alone long enough, and cause problems even further out.

...Okay, that shouldn't be surprising, but it is alarming.

(Yay for dunj crawlers, protecting people from the fact that these things spread. Gaahh.)

Yeah, it's probably why the government makes such a point of enabling even freelancers...

Well considering that right now they are freelancers-- yay government?

Yeah. There's a lot of problems, but...

In dunj news, once they have the rhythm of each other, the dunj becomes a lot easier, even as the monsters themselves grow tougher. It helps that they're advanced, tuning in, while the monsters aren't.

'The dunj heart should be whatever doesn't have six angles, I'm guessing.'

"Dunj hearts don't tend to follow the dunj's pattern?"

She keeps an eye out for anything that breaks the pattern, all while clearing out the any critters that get too close.

'Yeah. The inner room does, but the thing we're trying to break - often it's dramatically different.'

"That's useful, if it's easier to spot."

'Usually. Come on, though, we should keep moving...'

Yep. Moving is happening. (Fighting is thrilling, it's rush-- but it also involves far more 6 legged greeblies than she'd like.)

And, from the corner of her eye, in one very large hexagonal prism -

A glint of spikes. White, unlike the scintillating blacks of this dunj.

Well, time to clear a path to it quick smart.

It definitely doesn't fit. Innumerable glittery spikes, a frosted and kind of tacky white.

'Swing me at it, or otherwise knock it off the pedestal, and it should break,' Lianne recommends.

Look, if she's wielding a sword, and there's a thing she needs to break, she's definitely swinging the sword at it.

That works to break it.

The dunj shimmers out around them, returning them to the normal world.

"So, I probably shouldn't use the word 'fun' for that--"

'It went well, we did well, so, close enough to fun.'

"--No one got hurt, portal got closed. Okay, that might count as fun.

Want to turn back?"