Funnel Your Way to the Top

The Funnel of Madness has been a scourge on the Kingdom of Infundi since time immemorial. It requires an annual sacrifice of hundreds of souls fighting in its depths, plundering dungeon levels for gold, magic items, and power. None of those souls who enter survive.

So why not outsource it?

Drew's whole social life had been Realms of Ifaneli. So when the game is shut down because of thousands of mysterious disappearances (including his usual raid group the Late Night Crew) he's left trying to find something to fill the void. He also feels guilty that they were all abducted and he wasn't.

He gets a mysterious invite from an old guildie to a private server running a cracked version of Realms of Ifaneli. It's full of other raiders who want to experience the dungeon that they couldn't delve. So when he finds out that the abduction was not related to the game, he is strangely disappointed but also life goes on.

He's soon spending all his time playing, leveling, grinding. He gets a name for himself on the server and he's spending all his time in the game with the girl he has a crush on.

But just like the Late Night Crew, he's thrown through a magical portal into the Inverted Funnel of Madness: a tower that rises high into the mystical sky. Wide at the base and narrow at the top, he will need to climb to freedom. Each floor is a self-contained world each one different from the last and each one full of puzzles, traps, and monsters.

Those monsters, well they're not just the ones generated in the world. Surrounded by other players,called Funnelers, Drew doesn't know who he can trust.

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Single character, first person point of view.

A slow progression, portal fantasy, tower crawler. Individual tower levels are entire worlds.

1500 - 2500 words per chapter.

Male MC gains powers, fights monsters, climbs levels, and searches for his lost guildmates while trying to gain the favour of his crush without her falling for the rich elven dude that unfortunately won't go away.

Reader suggestions encouraged.