IWUAaDNW: Growth 3.5

"I don't think I've ever seen a big bird level and an insect level side-by-side," he continued, seeming to sense that my question hadn't been answered to my satisfaction, "and dungeons–regular dungeons, that is–aren't very smart at all. So maybe there's some kind of instinct at play? Something that warns dungeons when they're about to make huge mistakes? Because I have seen mistakes before, but never to the point where immediately neighboring levels were hampering one another. That's usually the third level's fault."

That made sense. I'd encountered something before, at the very start; those 'gut feelings' that had told me what I could and could not do before my infobox had showed up. It was how I knew I could only have one entrance.

To make things better, I had a way to test this. My insect specialization had a set of maluses that would send the upkeep cost of any vegetal minion I tried to summon straight into the sky; a +1 for not being an insect, and a doubling for being vegetal. If they were unfed on top of that, and depending on what order the penalties were applied, it might shoot the cost up to eight for a single Grasping Vine. Absolutely a mistake.

So I tried to do that, focusing on creating a grasping vine right at my entrance. A ghostly green image of a long, swinging plant appeared in my sight. Immediately I felt a shock of horror that froze me in place. It felt like I'd been about to seriously hurt someone by mistake and had just caught myself at the last second.

I let the summon go, and that feeling vanished.

Right, well. His hunch had been right, it seemed