Time passes and I continue to fill out the fifth floor. The next two rooms I add are more forested areas. This time to the side of the farmland. The idea being to have the forest wrap around the farmland the same way the farmland wraps around the city. After adding level 24 wood golems to the room, I take a step back to look at the floor as a whole, and I have to admit this floor is coming along nicely. The forest being kept at the edge of the floor means that it's an optional area. Well, except the first forest area right as they enter. This is exactly as I intended. Delvers have the option to power level in the forest.

  The next two rooms I place are two more forested areas. This time to the north of the ones I just recently placed. This room contains my first level 25 normal mobs. Other than that, there is absolutely nothing special about it. In fact, the room layout of the floor itself is simple, especially when compared to the fourth floor. As this time, it's just a simple grid pattern. I don't plan for there to be a single dead end on this entire floor. Something delvers by this point have come to expect.

  After that I decide to take a break for a bit. Watching the delvers it doesn't take long to realize most of them are starting to challenge the third floor. Not all at the same time obviously but all three instances of the third floor are in near constant use. I always thought it would be the first floor to be ... well, the first floor to see every instance in use. Despite there being more instances of the first floor available that just seemed like the obvious progression. While there are fresh new level 1 delvers every year or so. Plus, the occasional party that for some reason decides to make me their first ever dungeon experience. It just isn't enough, especially with the number of deaths. I really need to work out how to attract new delvers. Hopefully, once I get big enough, I won't have to try. At a certain point my reputation alone should attract people to me. Then again, I do want more permanent delvers not just those looking for a quick rank up.

  It's a problem that will need to be solved if I want a more constant flow of new delvers. It's not however my only concern at the moment. In order to complete the look I'm going for with the fifth floor I need a castle. The trouble is finding one small enough to fit into the room without needing to make the room bigger. Ignoring the wall, or in some cases walls, around the castles some of them almost fit. The room surprisingly is plenty tall enough it's just the actual footprint that's the issue. I don't know why so many kings and queens seem to think bigger is better. Eventually I do manage to find one that just barely fits. It sits at just 75m x 77m. To be fair there were a few others that were smaller, but I do want it to actually look like a castle.

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  There isn't a lot of room left for an outer courtyard. I do my best to give the impression the area just outside the castle was well maintained at one point. Even going so far as to plant various berry bushes in an obviously artificial pattern along the edge of the castle wall. There's almost no room to work with so I can't go to crazy. Perhaps later on when the rooms are much bigger, I can get more creative. For now, a few berry bushes will have to do. Besides inside the castle is where all the magic happens.

  I start by throwing in a bunch of skeletons. Fighters, tanks, and mages mainly. I do through in some skeleton nobles here and there wherever it makes sense. Mainly in bedchambers and the throne room. Speaking of the throne room, I've got a nasty surprise for delvers in there namely the four fighters posing as guards which are actually level 24 instead of 23 like the rest of the skeletons in the castle. Such a mean trick deserves an equally good treat though, So I also place a new type of chest in this room. Instead of the simple wooden chest this one is an ornately decorated iron chest that is even larger. I place it prominently between the two thrones.

  Inside the chest I place two full sets of tin rank gear. I also put in two health and two mana potions as well as four gold coins. I thought about adding enchantments to the gear but it's way too early to be giving out enchanted tin rank gear. Besides I do still want the boss to actually be a challenge. I also go about putting some more simple wooden chests throughout the castle each containing a potion and a random number of silver coins. Not many but it should be enough to get people to explore the entire castle. Considering they could technically skip the castle entirely I had to do something.

  I didn't forget about traps either. After making it through the traps in the town they should be on their guard so I can really cut loose with the traps. Mainly dart traps, though I do get creative with the placement. Some are placed on ceilings while others are placed on walls. As for what type of dart trap some will be sleeping darts others will be poison darts. Some, especially near the castles entrance, will just be regular darts. Lethal to wood and stone rank delvers but obsidian rank should be able to take a few darts without much trouble. Especially with obsidian rank gear. Granted they will still need healing afterward.

  I also get a new type of trap called a smoke trap. Just like with the dart trap there are several options as far as what to actually load it with. A few I load with a gas that causes mild hallucinations. Completely harmless on their own but in a castle full of traps and enemies it could prove fatal. The effect will wear off on its own eventually. Hopefully the snap back to reality won't be to jarring for those who didn't realize they were hallucinating. Aside from the hallucination smoke I also have a few with poison. It's the slow acting kind, since I haven't used poisons much yet and I do want to give them a chance to get it treated. Maybe give healers a little nudge that they should also pick up purification magic if they haven't already.