Worthy Core

With the core chamber pushed back again, a new third room opens up within the dungeon, the hallways placed to create something of a zig-zag pattern where intruders have to cross from one corner of a square chamber to the opposite corner. There's nothing much for them to cross at the moment though, as Xenia is currently considering her monster inventory. "Hey, Guy. Tell me about...undead."

The guide comes over to join her in the center of the empty space. "Ah, Undead. The first 'humanoid' creature virtually every dungeon unlocks. Actually a misnomer on multiple levels, really. For one, they were never originally alive to begin with - at 'F' rank for example we begin with the ability to create skeletons, but these are merely bone constructs that are then animated with mana. You may note that the Undead categories are simply classified as 'Animal' and 'Mortal', while our Bone resources are more specific types. You could, for example, attempt to build a minotaur skeleton warrior, but it would actually be made of orc or canine bones or whatnot, until we acquire an actual minotaur. Furthermore, a skeleton creature could range from being as small as a single limb, to a 'boss'-level creature such as a giant spider or snake made out of hundreds of skeletons. The possibilities are quite endless, really!"

Xenia smirks. "Makes it a little less creepy, I guess. Kinda like those Halloween decorations that pop out to scare ya...except then after they scare ya they actually do try and stab you to death or whatever. You said multiple levels though? What else is weird about em?"

Guy continues. "Well, 'Undead' could also be said to simply mean...'resembling life, but not actually alive'. At higher tiers, dungeon creatures who resemble actual people become available, and these are qualified as 'undead' even though by most physical measurements they would appear alive. They lack true sapience though, and only serve to fulfill whatever theme the dungeon is attempting to create. I believe the first open up around 'B' rank, with creatures that only appear mortal without a close look, while at 'A' rank they are essentially physically mortal, aside from the dependence on dungeon mana."

Xenia's brow furrows. "Right, we need to burn a soul to make something that's 'real', yeah?" She pauses to consider her soul inventory...one soul currently available. "Are you saying at A-rank undead, I could recreate someone's body, stick their soul in it, and essentially bring them back to life?" The guide hesitates to answer, which tells her it's not that simple.

"...In a manner of speaking? We only capture souls, with some informative knowledge being shaved off and added to our own. We don't capture memories or feelings or the like...a recreated individual would not only remember nothing of their previous life, but even their personality would be somewhat different - only the most core, strongest traits get imprinted onto a soul long-term. And they would still be bound to the dungeon, as I understand it only certain exceptions exist to allow existence outside a dungeon, and those generally require a high rank and a great deal of power."

"Right." Xenia claps her hands together and refocuses herself. "We're only at what, D- undead rank right now, which looks like...slightly tougher skeletons and zombies? No offense, but I'm not putting gross zombies right outside my bedroom, so...let's try some skeletons." She grimaces a bit. "I feel like I'm completely fucking up any attempt at a theme here or whatever, but fuck it, first floor's the practice floor. We'll get artistic later." With that she begins to resculpt the room, filling it with stone hallways and turns to maximize the potential of jump scares. To be followed of course by stabbings.

Tassa had explored what she could of the space around them, but the range of Grizza's light was extremely limited, and she didn't want to risk falling into another deep hole. By the time the drider re-awoke, all she really had to report was that after sliding down a small hill of broken stone, there appeared to be some sort of exit out of their current location, a large pathway she was unable to see into. As for the immediate area, there was nothing to find other than rocks and Pusht's body.

Given their current situation, the two salvaged everything they could. The magically-enchanted potion bottles in the Cleric's satchel had survived the fall, improving their supply of healing, stamina and mana potions as the Cleric had been the party member carrying the most of those items. There were more mundane medical items as well such as bandages and medicine, which Tassa had mostly already used treating her own and Grizza's injuries. There was Pusht's water skin and two days of emergency rations, though the potions could also be used as hydration and as light snacks if it came to it.

As for the Cleric's staff, that went to Grizza. Although the Mage's particular brand of magic required no physical focus, it would serve well as a potential tool. Unlike most, orcish staves tended to be solid metal constructs, more than sufficient to serve as a melee weapon in a pinch - not to mention Grizza would probably need its assistance as a walking stick given the cracked plating on the back of his abdomen. Both survivors had access to the low-rank First Aid spell, a common part of Valleylander military training, but drider exoskeletons were notoriously slow to heal, and Grizza would need to keep to a slow pace for some time. Meanwhile Tassa had kept or recovered her full set of axes after the fall - two small hand axes for short-range melee combat, a multitude of smaller throwing axes, and a larger double-sided one she kept strapped to her back.

They also took some spare clothing items as potential bandage material and a few other odds and ends, but it didn't take long to determine that there was no secret item in Pusht's pockets that would somehow magic them out of this situation. They did what they could then to provide him with a grave, covering him with loose stones and a humble stone marker on which Tassa carved his name, but as they say farewell to the man that neither of them had known particularly well, Grizza can't help but feel like something is missing.

Gently putting a hand on the minotaur's shoulder, he turns to look at her in the pale blue light conjured by his magic. "Tassa...would you like to create a memorial marker for Ragrush as well? We could...say a few words." The woman shakes her head roughly.

"He...he deserves better than a stone in a dark hole! He needs a proper funeral, and his body..." She trails off as she realizes the dungeon would have absorbed his body hours ago, and that there would be no 'proper' funeral no matter where it was held. Still, it doesn't change her mind. "...I'm not ready for that, Grizza, but...thanks for the thought. We need to get out, and...I need to tell his father what happened. Then maybe we can arrange something that would serve him better."

The Mage nods, testing his staff-assisted walking as he turns to head down the rocky slope. "Seems like it's time we started on step one of that plan, then! You said you saw a way out down here, yes?" Tassa follows, pointing the way to the dark pathway she'd found before, this time slightly better illuminated as Grizza's sphere of light follows alongside him. The slope soon steadies out into a more even floor and the pair walk down the expansive path, a good thirty feet wide and fifteen or so tall. It doesn't take long before both of them begin to feel like something is wrong, though.

"Grizza...not to assume, but you probably know a lot about underground caverns and passageways and all that, yes?"

The drider nods. "That would be correct, Ranger. Spent most of my life underground." The woman points upward, to where the walls meet the ceiling.

"Does that seem like a normal cave shape to you?" Grizza makes his way closer to the side of the passage, and shakes his head.

"There is definitely something very weird going on here. You see how there's an almost straight line where the wall meets the ceiling? The angle seems fairly even in both directions...this doesn't look like natural erosion at all. But it's definitely not carved, either. The stone is far too rough, there's no sign of tool use that I can see. And there's magical stone-shaping spells, but those tend to have much smoother results...if someone isn't trying to make perfectly flat surfaces and straight lines, then it will come out looking...fluid, like a river that froze over into ice. I suppose if you really tried, you could shape something into a rougher shape, but I don't see why someone would do that here."

Tassa pulls one of her smaller axes from its holster, mostly for self-reassurance purposes as much as any other reason. "So what options does that leave for how this space was created?"

"None that I know of. Almost forgot to mention, but even the amount of distance we fell earlier doesn't seem entirely possible for mountains like this. They are, as I'm sure you know, quite heavy things. Drider and dwarven cities and mineshafts can sometimes have similar amounts of open space, but that's only with hefty amounts of structural supports along the walls, including magical support. I haven't seen any signs of that from here."

The Ranger grips her axe a little tighter. "I really don't like being without even a single theory as to what we're dealing with. But I doubt we're going to solve any mysteries standing around here. Seems we may as well continue." Grizza nods, and the pair make their way down the passageway, now at a very cautious pace.