A Demon's Core

“That’s a great idea. I’m sure the guys downstairs are getting tired of waiting as well.” Cassandra announces, quickly brightening up.

William picks up the small cardboard box and holds it out towards Rose.

“Would you like to open it?” He offers.

She glares at William and then at the box suspiciously for a while a while before holding out her hands to take it. She must have underestimated its weight though, because she almost drops it as soon as William lets go, leading her to scowl at him.

“Oh, sorry. I should have realised it might be a bit heavy for you,” he quickly apologises.

The top of the box is secured with a strip of tape down the middle. Rose carefully peels the tape back to open it and peers at its contents.

Books?

“Yeah, Jenna told me that you and Rose are trying to figure out magic all on your own, but that Rose could use a little extra help since she never went to school. So she gave me some of her old notebooks and asked me to deliver them. I also went out and bought some text books, nothing too complicated, just introductory material to physics, chemistry, biology and maths.”

“Wait, did you spend your own money on this? These things aren’t cheap.” Cassandra asks, surprised.

“It’s fine, I can afford it.” William assures her.

“You probably could have billed it to the DMO since it is related to your job.” Cassandra suggests.

“Maybe, but they’re kind of stingy even at the best of times. It was already hard enough getting approval for all this other stuff. Besides, I was concerned they might start asking questions that are difficult to answer. I doubt it would go over well if I explained that I was purchasing them so that I could help a demon get better at magic,” he complains.

“If you still have the receipts, I could talk to my boss about getting you a reimbursement. I’m sure they’ll be more understanding,” she offers.

Thank you, William. I am sure these will be quite helpful.

Rose is already flipping through one of the textbooks. Even though she cannot read it yet, many of the pages have pictures, graphs and diagrams that she is carefully inspecting. I am looking forward to going over these with her in the future.

“No problem. Just let me know when you’re ready for some more advanced stuff. Now, I think we should open the big one next,” he declares, reaching for one of the larger boxes.

The lid for this box is held in place by wide clips on each end. When he undoes the clips and lifts the lid, inside is dark grey foam to serve as padding for the important items. Lifting up the foam reveals four small hand-held radios. He takes them out and places them on the table beside the box and removes another layer of foam, revealing yet more underneath.

A rectangular box with numerous buttons and dials on the front, what looks to be a speaker and a microphone with a small stand.

Is this a radio?

“That it is,” he confirms. “I thought it would be useful if you had a direct means of contacting us, should you need to in the future. It’s already programmed with the general and emergency frequencies that the DMO uses. If you ask for me on the general frequency, I’ll respond if I am available, otherwise whoever is operating the radio at the time will take a message. If you use the emergency frequency, the operator will know to come find me immediately and I’ll drop whatever I’m doing. Please do not abuse that privilege.”

Will this thing have the range to reach that far?

“It will if you have an antenna,” he says and places his hands on the longer, thinner box. “So we brought one of those too. If we install this on the roof, we’ll be able to hear you loud and clear. Although if you do try to contact us, just be careful what you say. We can’t guarantee that we’ll be the only ones listening,” he warns.

What about the hand-held radios?

“Those? I just thought you might like them. Maybe, they’ll help you keep in contact with your subordinates when they’re out and about? I mean, I don’t know what the range is on your telepathy, but if you think they could be useful, please feel free to take them,” he offers.

Thank you, they actually might be helpful.

“And finally,” he moves to the smaller black box and removes the lid with a dramatic flourish, “a mana powered generator. Because obviously, electronic devices are somewhat useless without a source of electricity.”

He carefully extricates the generator from the foam padding surrounding it and places it on the table. It looks like a black rectangular box, roughly the size of a shoebox, with a row of four electrical sockets on top, each with their own individual switch.

“We figured out how to make these after studying some generators that we ‘acquired’ from the vak.” Cassandra remarks.

“Now, if you open up this bit here,” William opens up a compartment on the back of the generator that contains a diamond shaped socket that looks to be the same size as the mana stone they once gave me, “and put in a mana stone, and flip this switch,” he points to a switch on the side of the device, “it’ll power your radio and anything else you want to plug into it.”

“With only the radio, the drain on the mana stone might not even exceed its regeneration. And since mana stones do not seem to degrade at all inside dungeons, you’ll basically never have to swap it out for another.” Cassandra adds.

That is certainly convenient. What about the orange box?

“That’s just a tool box for the guys who will be installing the antenna, which we could get started on now if you’d like?” William suggests.

Sure, if you are ready.

“One thing though, we will need to run a cable from the antenna to the radio. Will you be leaving it in here or would you rather set it up in another room?”

That is a good question. I do not want to leave it down here, because that would mean having to organise a schedule to make sure someone is down here monitoring the radio in case William or someone else from the DMO tries to contact us.

There is almost always someone lounging around in my core room, so if we have it in there, it would be easy to monitor without specifically needing to assign someone to the task. But that would mean allowing these humans in to set it up. I suppose, if it is only Cassandra and William, I can trust them enough to allow them, just this once.

I would actually prefer to have it in Room 5 on the next floor up.

“Oh? Are you going to let us up there again?” Cassandra asks, surprised at the permission.

Just for today and only the two of you. I do not want those other three entering the fifth floor.

“Fair enough. Also, do you mind if we drill holes through the ceiling to run the cable down?” William inquires.

That will not be a problem.

“Great, I’ll go fetch the guys from downstairs, then we’ll grab what we need and head to the roof if you want to start setting up the radio for them,” he suggests to Cassandra and when she agrees, he uses a small radio that he had hanging from his belt to let the guys downstairs know that he’s on his way.

I also contact Violet to let her know what is happening as Cassandra packs the hand-held radios back into their box.

Would you mind carrying the generator upstairs, if it is not too heavy? I ask Rose.

She has to climb up onto the table to reach it, but when she tries to pick it up, she only lifts it a few centimetres before putting it back down.

“That might be a bit much for me to carry up the stairs,” she states.

“You not worry with that. Have William take later,” Cassandra says to her in Balkret, causing Rose to look up at her with wide eyes, followed quickly by a scowl. She is still not fluent in the language, but has clearly improved greatly since that first time she was here.

It will be easier for one of my creatures to do it as they can move up the stairs unimpeded.

I reach out to Violet again and ask her to come to the meeting room to carry it. If it ends up being too heavy, even for her, then I can ask Igneous to come down and get it. But first, I have something more important for him to do.

Can you please take my core to its hiding place in Room 7? Leave the decoy where it is though.

I considered asking him to hide the decoy as well, but I realise that this is a good opportunity to test its effectiveness. It will be good to confirm if it can actually fool the humans before I try relying on it in an emergency.

Violet soon bursts through the door with Coal, unsurprisingly, right behind her.

“What do I need to carry?” She asks.

Rose points to the generator and Cassandra picks it up from the table to hand it to her. She is very careful about it though and is prepared to immediately take hold of it again if it is too heavy for Violet as well.

Will you manage? I ask once Violet has a firm hold on it.

“It’s a bit heavy, but I can handle it,” she insists while Coal looks around uncertainly.

“Me?” he asks.

“You can carry this.” Rose says, offering him the box of books, which he eagerly accepts and follows Violet out the door.

While I wait for Cassandra to get up to the fifth floor, I sense something that I find a little amusing lower in the stairwell. The humans from downstairs are making their way up the stairs now and following behind them, in single file, winding their way back and forth as they move higher, are the other imps who were downstairs with them.

They are probably treating it like some kind of game and I would not be surprised if they are completely unaware of the frustration it is likely causing the humans. It is hard not to admire their ability to turn mundane things into something fun, even something that is specifically designed to not be fun. I decide to join them and follow along for a little while, not that any of them are aware of it, at least until Cassandra reaches her destination.

When she finally reaches the fifth floor, Violet is waiting for her at the top of the stairs, having already deposited the generator by my chair. Violet leads her to Room 5, where Rose is also waiting, intent on keeping a watchful eye on the humans every moment they are in here. The first thing Cassandra takes note of when she enters is the decoy core, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, surrounded by bones.

“It really is pink,” she says quietly to herself as she puts the box down so she can inspect the core more closely.

Is that unusual?

“Yes, so far this is the only pink core ever recorded. Some even questioned the accuracy of Johnathan’s original report because of it, until we brought back the mana stone you gave us, at least.”

Is there some sort of relevance to the colour of a dungeon core?

“Not as far as we can tell. A dungeon core's colour seems to be largely dependent on its environment, but other than producing different coloured mana stones, it does not appear to have any tangible effect on how a dungeon or the mana stones function. A core will even change colour over time if it is moved to a different environment,” she explains.

And that is why the mana stone you gave me was blue? I had briefly wondered about that.

“While it’s curious that yours is pink, it’s most likely the result of something entirely arbitrary.” She looks down at the bones surrounding the core. “So, uh, are these from the people who have attacked you?” She crouches down and reaches out a hand to pick up one of the bones, but Violet growls at her, so she quickly pulls her hand back and, standing, takes a step away from them.

“No touching.” Violet commands.

Most of them were already here before we arrived, my imps just gathered them all together to serve as decoration for the core.

“Well that’s certainly an interesting decor choice. But anyway, we should probably decide where you want to set up the radio.” She looks around the room casually until she notices the large boulder in the corner.

“What’s with the big rock?” Her expression changes to a confused frown. “How did you even get it in here?”

How do you think I got it in here?

She takes some time to consider it before she answers.

“If you had enough imps to help, maybe you could’ve carried it up the stairs, but that seems like it would be quite a hassle. What about the winged creature we met previously? He looked pretty strong. I don’t know if he would’ve been strong enough to carry it on his own, but he surely could’ve helped.” She theorises.

It is amusing how close she is to the right answer, yet still so very far away.

“Where is he anyway? I don’t see him anywhere. Does he live in a different room or is he just not here today?” Cassandra asks.

Who knows? I am sure he is around somewhere.

Violet giggles and even Rose is smirking as I relay the conversation to them. Cassandra directs a questioning look towards them.

“Am I missing something?” She inquires, but they do not offer her any further insight. “Hmm, anyway, radio, where do you want it?”

I think against the wall, by the window would be best, next to the big rock.

She picks up the radio box and moves it to the indicated location.

“Do you have a table or desk that you’d like to put it on or do you just want it on the floor?”

There is a lot of spare furniture in the unused rooms across the hall. Would you mind assisting Violet in finding something suitable?

Cassandra and Violet leave the room, with Coal tagging along, as he is usually eager to participate in whatever Violet is doing, when he can.

“It’s good to know that even magic humans like her can’t see through Igneous’s disguise.” Rose comments when they are out of the room.

Indeed, it might be worth summoning more gargoyles for that reason alone.

They soon return, with Violet and Cassandra working together to maneuver a desk through the door, though admittedly, Cassandra is doing most of the work. Once they make it through, Coal follows behind them, dragging a chair.

Once the desk is in place, Cassandra unpacks the radio from the box and explains each component as she sets it up. There was another item in the box that I didn’t notice before because it had slipped under the foam padding. She explains that it is a charger for the hand-held radios. It can be plugged into the generator and each of the radios has a charging cable that can be plugged into the charger. Although the charger only has two ports, so I can only charge two of them at a time.

By the time she is finished setting up the radio, with the generator on the desk beside it, William, who has returned from the roof, enters the room.

“Our guys are setting up the antenna and they've got a whole gaggle of foremen to supervise them and make sure they don’t slack off.” He declares.

Quickly spotting the decoy core, he approaches it. He stares at it for a moment, then starts leaning side to side.

“This is a fake, isn’t it?” He asks.

“What? Really?” Cassandra responds, peering at the core, likely trying to figure out what led him to that conclusion.

What makes you say that?

“It’s the static colouring. Real dungeon cores are all shimmery. I’m guessing this is just a mana crystal in the shape of a dungeon core, yeah?”

You are correct. I had created it in hopes of using it as a decoy in case any enemies did make it this far. But if it is that easy to tell the difference, then perhaps it was a waste of time.

“Hey, don’t give up on it just yet. I’ve seen a real core in person before, so I know what they’re supposed to look like. The vast majority of people, however, don’t. A glowing orb, placed on a throne, surrounded by the bones of other would-be dungeon conquerors; that will be more than enough to fool most people.” He dramatically exclaims.

“Let’s maybe not mention the fake core in the report, alright?” He says when he notices Cassandra writing in her notepad again. She pauses and looks down at her notes, then scribbles out what she had been writing.

I appreciate your discretion.

As William approaches the desk, a voice can be heard speaking through the radio on his belt.

“Hey, where do you want me to drill these holes?” The male voice asks. William takes the radio off his belt to reply.

“The radio is set up by the south wall, right by the window.”

“Got it.” comes the response.

Standing in front of the radio desk, he, too, notices the boulder beside it.

“What’s with the rock?” He asks, causing Violet to giggle again and Rose even laughs this time as well. He looks at Cassandra with one eyebrow raised.

“I have no idea,” she says, shaking her head.

Soon, a buzzing noise can be heard from above and a small hole opens in the ceiling above the desk.

“Is that good?” A voice asks through William’s radio.

“Perfect,” William replies.

A black cable appears and extends down from the hole. When it reaches down far enough, Cassandra takes a hold of it and plugs it onto the back of the radio.

“How’s it going with the antenna?” William says into his radio.

“We’re almost done,” comes the reply.

While we are waiting, Violet is inspecting the box that the radio came in. She and Coal then climb into the box while the humans look on in bewildered amusement. It is not too cramped with just the two of them, but it might be a tight fit to get a third imp in the box. They start rocking back and forth, making the box tilt, increasing the intensity of the rocking until the box eventually tips over, spilling them both, laughing, onto the floor.

“Can we keep this?” Violet requests and I pass it on to William.

“I suppose so, they can even have the other boxes as well if they’d like. Not the tool box though, we still need that.” He replies and Violet cheers when I let her know.

When he eventually receives confirmation of the antenna being ready, he claps his hands together in anticipation.

“Alright, if you have a spare mana stone lying around, we can pop it in the generator and make sure everything works.” William suggests

I still have the blue one you gave me.

“That’ll work,” he assures and I send Violet to fetch it.

When she hands it to him, he opens the back compartment on the generator and places the mana stone inside, it does not appear to be a perfect fit as the crystal has a little bit of wiggle room, but that does not seem to matter as he closes the compartment and flips the switch on the side of the device.

Four green lights appear on top, one next to each of the electrical sockets. He plugs the radio into one of the sockets and powers it up. After confirming that it is tuned in to the correct frequency, he picks up the microphone and holds down the transmit button.

“Come in, Home Base, this is William Blake. Do you read me? Over.”

There is a tense moment of waiting before a crisp, clear voice erupts from the speaker.

“This is Home Base. We read you, loud and clear. Over.”

“Excellent. We’re almost done here, so we’ll be on our way back soon. Over.”

“Understood. Anything else to report? Over.”

“Nothing that can’t wait to be put into writing. We’ll see you soon. Over and out.”

He puts the microphone back on the desk and turns to Cassandra with a grin.

“Looks like everything’s working great,” he confirms.

They take some time to explain everything about how to operate the radio, with Rose and I both paying close attention, until they are satisfied that we fully understand it

“Well then, I believe our business here is concluded, unless you have anything more you wish to discuss.” She asks.

No. I think that is sufficient. Thank you for doing this.

“Not a problem. It’s our pleasure,” William insists.

Is it really alright for you to be giving all of this to us though? I do not just mean the radio. You have given us a lot of information today, at least some of it must be considered sensitive, like the DMO radio frequencies, for example. Is it okay for you to share such information with demons?

William feigns an aghast look in response.

“We haven’t shared anything with demons. We shared it with you. And you’ve already confirmed, on multiple occasions now, that you are, in fact, not a demon. Therefore, it’s all good. No rules have been broken.” He says, giving a thumbs up. Violet mimics the gesture and Coal, in turn, mimics her, though I wonder if either of them actually know what it means.

It sounds like you are walking a rather fine line there.

“Well, what can I say? Walking fine lines without tripping over them is kind of a specialty of mine,” he confidently states, putting on a smug grin.

“It was good to see you all again. I’m glad this went better than our last meeting and I look forward to next time,” Cassandra says, bowing before heading to the door. William speaks into his radio as he follows her.

“Alright, pack it up, we’re heading out now. We’ll meet you in the stairwell,” he commands.

Please disconnect the microphone from the radio. I instruct Rose once I can no longer sense the humans in the hallway. She does not hesitate to comply.

“Is there a reason for this?” She inquires.

In case it is rigged to constantly transmit. She frowns.

“Do you think they would go that far?”

I do not know. I want to trust William and Cassandra. They seem quite sincere. But I do not yet know enough about the people they work for to risk not being cautious. So we will only connect the microphone when we actually need it.