If he could breathe, Schnupfen would have held his breath in anticipation as he finally relinquished his desperate, clawing grasp on the stone and started it on its fateful descent. He watched, psychedelic eyes wide, as it plummeted down and unceremoniously bopped the little hellion on the noggin. The adventurer dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, his limp limbs splayed out wildly, and after he sagged to the floor he did not rise again.

Schnupfen blinked, silent as the grave, as seconds slid by without any discernible motion from the marauder. After the terrifying, improbable durability displayed by young Danny already, his cynical side wouldn't let him believe in victory just yet. The other monsters seemed equally trepidatious, the Oracle broke the silence with a thunderous bellow at the kobold, so loud and sudden that it scared Schnupfen half to death. It ordered the tremulous reptile to see if the adventurer had really been dealt with, and after mustering his courage the kobold obliged. All eyes lay on him as he prodded the intruder's still form, his efforts intensifying as his confidence swelled until there could be no doubt about it any longer. The dungeon's inaugural defense mission had succeeded.

While the Oracle seemed triumphant, it was hard for Schnupfen to feel good about the comedy of errors that had been the dungeon keepers' defense. Rather than take any credit for the win, he split open a half-dozen fanged maws across his torso as he let out a hollow, rattly sigh of relief. His extra eyes rolled backward, then disappeared, and he wiped beads of shadowy sweat off his forehead. "That was too close," he grouched. "And frankly, rather embarrassing. Thank Mother Void that none will ever know of this disaster." If word somehow got out about these supposedly menacing monsters' mad scramble to survive the onslaught of a single bumbling teenager, the dungeon keepers could say goodbye to any semblance of credibility.

With that encounter scrubbed from the history books and bound for repressed memory, the keepers could start thinking about next steps. As Muste looked into helping Salbjörg, since Zoppy was certainly not going to (she didn't even seem to notice that Zogi had died saving her, Mother Void bless her) he mentioned prepping for the next invasion. Schnupfen nodded vigorously, his huge nose bobbing up and down like the snout of an [url=https://media.tenor.com/WcWjDL7LFLMAAAAM/horse-nodding.gif]agreeable horse[/url]. "Yes, yes, absolutely. We must attend to the dungeon's abysmal layout, for one. And the immediate overuse of illusory walls makes them so obvious..."

He could have continued to complain about the dungeon's many failings, possibly for hours, but an interruption came in the form of the dungeon's crystal core. The sudden surge in magical activity made Schnupfen's eyes bug out before he beat a hasty retreat. He then sniffled as he stared at the core, wary of what the change meant for him. It turned out to be purely beneficial as he then felt new strength course through his shadowy form. It...wasn't much. But it was better than nothing, until the time came to be one with Mother Void once more, he couldn't afford to be nothing.

Kleine emerged in order to pay her respects to the mulched goblin. Schnupfen paid more attention to the instrument held in her hands, which he guessed was an impromptu weapon, possibly wielded as a last ditch resort if the adventurer made it all the way to the core. Its true nature only became apparent when she moved to help pry Salbjörg loose from the glue trap. Schnupfen, of course, didn't help, not just because his meager strength wouldn't be much help, but also because she smelled. He turned his attention away from Muste's feeding, which he found rather distasteful, and reconsidered the matter of improving the dungeon now that its keepers were authorized to augment it. "Well, our first order of business should be perform a couple more summoning rituals, yes? I trust our esteemed Oracle can weight the dice in our favor. It would be wise to at least take a peek out of our new front door as well, get a lay of the land. That said, if it's daylight outside, I'm afraid I won't be venturing out." If asked, he would clarify that he wasn't trying to give anyone orders, just suggestions that everyone would benefit from.

Schnupfen looked around, manifesting a handful of eyes to review the dungeon layout. "We should also get started on mining out new rooms. The raw materials, naturally, can be recycled into walls. We should really take care of the clear sightline to the core. The physical labor will be rather intensive, though...nose goes?" He quickly laid a clawed index finger on the end of his nose to signify that he wasn't eligible. Nearby, the idle kobold blanched at the prospect of mining out entire rooms on his own and also discreetly touched a claw to his snout.