Spectres and Scritchers

*Clang* *Screech* **Clang* *Clash*

"That's the last of these basic ones big sis. I know you said any wraith would be acceptable but these guys are barely combatants. They look more like farmers given a few pikes, hell that last one was using a damn shovel, are you sure they'll work?" Asks Iron as she finishes wrapping the third wraith in chains and putting it in one of the cages with its other two friends. I can't get info on the wraiths until they enter my dungeon but just by looks alone they're way different than what I expected. They look like a normal person but they have no colors on their forms,, just a glowing blue or green light. Their skin and clothes are almost see through and the outline of their skeleton is very obviously able to be seen. The three that the group finally decided on were two blues and a green wraith that were marching in a circle around a demolished statue in the nearby ruins. The two blues wore very basic armor and carried pikes while the green wore barely any leather and used a worn shovel as a weapon.

"Well it would've been nice to find like a wraith adventurer or general, but these three will do for the boss. Lets move on to where the scritchers are and you can fill us in while we travel." Tyr says happily as she puts the cage of wraiths away and follows Irons long gaits to the west, a brick road under their feet leads the way, many of the bricks cracked or turned to piles of dust from neglect and time.

"Ok so the little bastards started showing up about five days or so, a few at first that we could take care of easy but then more showed up. Three days in and we were seeing a dozen or more every day and killing off at least two to three from each group but by the next day there are even more. Yesterday we had a scouting group make it back but out of the four sent out only one and a half came back, the lead scout carrying the legless body of his second on his back. Both survived barely but they reported a nest about four or five miles from camp and it was loaded with scritchers. At least fifty and some were even evolved to the point of being able to lead groups of the weaklings, but the one who wiped them was a single scritcher who was three times the size of the rest. Apparently it could speak common, had an actual weapon, and even the evolved ones followed its orders. If its that strong I still think we should kill it but attempted capture it is until it threatens me or the kids life." Iron explains as Tyr nods along while thinking.

"We might get lucky if they capture that creature Kyle! It sounds like a wild boss monster!!" Tilly says excitedly as I glow in confusion.

'Why would that be important? I can always just make a boss one if we get a common one right?" I ask in confusion as Tilly smiles brightly with a giggle and adjusts her dress as she goes into teacher mode.

"Well you could but dungeon bosses are different than wild bosses. Lets take Shank for example, he's strong and a slightly evolved goblin with buffed stats but that's it, no intelligence or emotions except what you programmed. If you found a goblin outside the dungeon its evolution would be have more options. The dungeon locks a creatures evolutions into the strongest for that creatures race versus ones with more possibilities in the future. Wild bosses on the other hand are thinking creatures and have the capacity to wait until the evolution choices they want appear. A goblin who's weak may jump at a basic assassins or warrior evolutions but a weak goblin that's smart can bide its time and gather more strength until a class like necromancer, knight, or even leader classes appear letting it surpass all those other goblins that chose the most basic of evolutions. This creature sounds like it was smart enough to hold out and eventually choose a much more powerful evolution, and if so and they capture it we can force it to submit through combat. Dungeons have the choice of challenging a wild boss that enters it to single combat. If the dungeon wins the wild boss is forcefully enslaved and added to the dungeon's roster. It keeps its intelligence but is no longer allowed to leave the dungeon and is forced to do as the core states. That being the case these bosses are usually merciless, cruel, and perfect challenges for adventurers due to them following their natural instincts from their past lives. Now looks like the group is in combat and those things are ugly! Lets watch!!" Tilly explains as I glance back at the project and shiver at the sight of the creatures.

The group is surrounded by several scritchers, I'm assuming, as they have their backs to each other and Sarah stands in the middle of everyone with her Summon next to her. These creatures are lanky and skeletal, their skin tight against their frames as their arms hang low and seem to be double jointed at the elbow. Their backs are hunched while they walk in a semi squatted position, standing straight would have them measure at at least two meters. Their faces are wrinkled with rotting teeth inside their jaws, humanoid features dress their faces except their noses seem to be missing and are just holes and their ears are pointed and long. Their eyes are all sunken into their skulls and have a milky color to them, yet the creatures seem to be able to see perfectly fine as they leap around the group while lashing out with their spindly fingers that end in sharp nails.

As one gets close to Tyr's exposed side it lashes out quickly but begins screeching in pain as Flippy walks past Tyr with blood coating its catfish like face, a thick green tongue licking its lips of blood as the scritcher backs up while waving around its now missing hand. The small summon leaps onto its body with its goat like legs and stomps down on the creatures chest with a brittle crunch as the humanoid monster stops moving and lets out a death rattle. The summon looks up and a small fire can be seen in its eyes as it locks onto the next enemy and charges towards it as the fight continues.