There’s a lot of good stuff in book 5. The story definitely takes a darker turn just when we think that Laios has succeedeed in bringing his sister back from the dead. The comedy is still here but it’s obvious there’s some sort of bleaker plot down the line. Very clever in my opinion. And the dryad scene is awesome!

• Laios’ guild is still in the 5th Level (the City) and its success in dealing with monsters has incurred the wrath of the master of the Dungeon, the Lunatic Magician. His magic intervention has the effect of shifting the layout of the Level every so often, confusing the adventurers into going in circles.
• One fortunate thing though is that the Ghosts of the City are often helpful as contrary to those of the higher Levels they’re not insane. They show up when they wish so and the paths they follow are always safe.
• There’s a great scene with the Corpse Retrievers, the same shady group that we’ve seen in a previous book, they use a powerful illusion so that adventuring guild members fight among themselves (they see each other as monsters). If you don’t find corpses you can help a little is what they say!
• This other guild leader, Kabru, is like the antithesis of Laios, not that great against monsters but very shrewd and deadly against humanoids. He would probably be an assassin in AD&D.
• We can add Sea Serpents to the Flooded Level, another Top of food chain monster.
• We see yet another guild, this one with an oriental background. The leader, Toshiro, is a samurai-looking guy. Another member is a powerfully built female Oni warrior.
• Meanwhile in 5th Level, with the Red Dragon gone, the local monsters are back. 5th Level is in fact reputed for its abundance of monsters.

• A fight against Dryads in a kind of cemetary surrounded by trees and bushes. They’re dangerous but very fragile, looks like any hit would kill them, thus releasing their spores…

• … and provoking an INTENSE allergic reaction. That’s where the fun begin, fighting the other dryads whilst you can’t see or breath properly…
• Dryads are basically like flowers, ugh well, except that they reproduce by kissing each other… Of course they do.
• We see Laios training in regenerative magic. That makes me think: I’ve mentionned that Delicious in Dungeon is D&D inspired but there’s some things that diverge obviously. One is that there don’t seem to be firm adventuring classes except maybe for the mages, I think the default system would be closer to something like GURPS where you invest your character points in whatever you want.
• Speaking of diverging with D&D, the magic system is obviously not Vancian. It’s more like a magic/mana gauge that you can deplete.
• There’s a fight against a Cocatrix, a bigger, meaner relative of the Basilisk. A bite of the serpent head can turn you into stone. Turning someone back to flesh is possible but not easy. You also have to take care of the body so it doesn’t break (i.e by falling over) before you find a cure.
• Ghosts are often shown like they try to tell something but can’t. Some people are sensitive (?) enough to understand and talk to them.
• There’s someting called Cleaners, inoffensive and amorphous organisms that repair damage caused to the dungeon.

Book 6 Here