Worthy Core

"Fucking finally!" Xenia had gone back to the task of attempting to lure local wildlife into the dungeon, but was finding it harder and harder. Either she had already lured in most of what was in the immediate area, or the patrols Lollyp had mentioned were scaring animals away from the mountain. Still, she had finally upgraded her 'Lagomorphs' tier to C-, and was now standing in the Boss Bunny chamber considering her next action. She'd gone back and forth a few times on whether or not to 'ensoul' the creature, though all of the pragmatic evidence said that she should. Even with the discount she'd earned on resummoning the monster, it still wasn't going to be enough if it was going to be slain multiple times a day. And it probably would be, given that it was the first floor boss. Even the worst parties would probably get at least this far.

Furthermore, she was now up to eight souls in her stockpile and didn't have much else to use them for at the moment. She felt a little bad about putting souls into animals, but even if she could put everyone into slimes and then teach them how to be humanoid like Lollyp, then adventurers would just prepare everything that they needed for slime-slaughtering and cut through her dungeon bosses with ease. So, she'd first pushed ahead into getting C-tier rabbit-based summons, which unlocked something...at least getting somewhere close to humanoid. The preview given by the upgrade menu reminded her somewhat of a werewolf, if it were much shorter, had far fewer muscles and possessed bunny ears. Though at least it would have fangs thanks to her earlier experiments, which...didn't help make it any cuter. Still, it was getting closer to a human, and she suspected B-tier might give her some sort of actual bunny-person if she could get that far.

Lollyp and Guy, watching her work from the sidelines, were getting a bit bored by all this consideration however. Or at least Lollyp was. "C'mon, boss! Buff up that bunny already!"

Xenia rolls her eyes. "I'm getting there! I just...gotta figure out which soul to use."

"None of them have memories like I do, right? What difference does it make?" The slime pauses to feed a summoned carrot to Sir Flopsy, having taken over as caretaker while Xenia was working. "Just pick one at random."

The dungeon master shakes her head. "No, they're not entirely the same. When I focus on em in the inventory screen, I can get some like...vague impressions. Their general attitude, or vibes or whatever. Professional, angry, brave...ah, you know what? Think I got it." She starts to upgrade the current Boss Bunny to the new tier, and the others come closer to watch.

Guy checks through the soul inventory themselves. "Did one of these strike you as particularly...bunny-like?"

"Close enough. I'm going with the tiny Rogue lady from that last party. She liked flipping around and stabbing stuff, which fits with the BB's attack style pretty well, and I'm definitely picking up a, like...mischievous vibe from her, which feels right to me. ...Should I start calling the boss 'Bugs'? ...Nah. Can pick her own name if she gets that far." As the boss upgrades, the body becomes more slender but also much, much taller - only about four feet tall or so without counting the ears, but still a significant growth. The limbs become near-humanoid legs and arms, though the paw-like hands look like they'd have trouble doing fine motor-control tasks. And while the body remains covered in fur, the form develops a more noticeable manhood, which the dungeon master quickly covers up with some simple leather armor. "On one hand, distracting folks might help in a fight, but uh...let's say the armor will help keep him alive longer and leave it at that."

Lollyp giggles. "Giving her a turn as a boy, huh?"

Xenia shrugs. "Everyone oughtta try it once, if you ask me. Done a few rounds as guys myself. Pretty sure the Well of Souls doesn't track that kind of shit." Upgrade finally complete, Xenia taps the selection on her soul inventory and begins the transfer process into the new Boss Bunny. It doesn't take long, and after just a few moments Xenia can sense a new intelligence behind his eyes as he begins to scan the room. "...Hey there. Can you understand me?"

The lagomorph tilts his head at Xenia, but without any look of understanding. "Mrraw?"

Guy sighs. "I believe he will understand commands you give him, but that will be more a matter of your intent as a dungeon core and not as a matter of language. Without the benefit of old memories and personality, we will likely need more upgrades before we can acquire more conversation partners, outside of specialized options like talking doors."

"Well, was worth a shot. Think we can do a little more for him though, how about some weapons? Think he can hold stuff now. Hrmm...hey BB, which one do you like more?" Opening her palms, in one hand she summons a spear, while in the other she creates a clawed gauntlet - an option from her knives schemas. The boss looks first at the spear, but then turns and grabs for the gauntlet. "Yeah, I kinda figured you'd want some claws. How about we go with a...Slow enchantment, to make your speed seem even speedier, eh? You like that?"

Although it's still unclear if the boss understands, he does nod eagerly, and looks quite excited as Xenia finishes summoning the gauntlet pair and shows him how to strap them on to his paw-hands. With those in place, the rabbit-man begins to dash around the room, testing out the strength of his new limbs and slashing at imaginary foes. "Well, looks like he's happy! Alright, moving on..." She pauses and looks down at her gray robe. "...Well, okay, first thing is I need some pants. I've got clothes now, why the hell am I still in this thing? But also, before we open a new floor I want something to put in it. It's time to start breeding some slimes and rabbits!"

Lollyp grows a bit nervous. "Slimes and what now!?"

Grizza waits nervously in the bare room, occupied only by himself and a simple wooden table. It's no dank dungeon from dark tales, as the Fort isn't nearly large enough for a structure of that sort. The walls are solid wood, not stone, and there's no special protection spells wrapping the room to prevent escape. Merely a locked door, bars on the window, and of course the mana-draining collar placed around his neck. Still, escape isn't particularly high on the drider's mind at the moment.

He and Tassa had been treated well enough, all things considered. Their only crime was trespass after all, and they had surrendered without a fight. If they'd been civilians they probably would have been handed a fine and that would be the end of it. But of course they weren't, and so the local garrison had to at least hold them until it was determined whether or not they were spies, and whether or not they held any sort of political or diplomatic value. Until then they had been questioned once or twice but had otherwise been left alone in separate cells, in what passed for a small prison inside the Fort's walls.

Expecting more of the same, Grizza was quite surprised then when another drider was the one to enter the room and take position on the other side of the table. She was dressed rather formally, and not in a military uniform, and so the Mage allowed himself to get his hopes up. "Ah, hello there! I don't suppose you're some sort of ambassador?" Slipping back into Valleylander feels comfortable for the man, after several days of awkwardly talking through rusty Rainlander when translators weren't available. Unfortunately the woman shakes her head, although she does at least respond back in the same tongue.

"Sadly for you, I am not. I am Field Agent Alizz, here on behalf of the Challengers Association. I have no particular power over your current position, but if you agree to help me I may be able to improve your condition. I can say one thing, to the best of my knowledge the Valleylands currently do not hold any minor Rainlander agents of their own, so I would not foresee a prisoner swap happening anytime soon. Not that it's my area of expertise, of course."

Grizza's brow furrows. "Your area of expertise being dungeons, yes? I'm certain you know far more on that topic than I do."

"In general, yes." The woman reaches into a bag at her waist, and pulls out an item Grizza thought he'd seen the last of - the amateurishly constructed rabbit ears the dungeon avatar had granted him as, as far as he could tell, a joke. "I purchased this from one of the guards outside who 'confiscated' it from you at your capture. Would you mind putting it on? I'm curious to see if the description was accurate."

The Mage sighs, but reaches for it. "This is humiliating..." As the ears latch on to his scalp, his chin suddenly becomes more pronounced, his eyes more piercing, and his hair becomes just the perfect level of tousled.

Alizz raises an eyebrow. "So it's like they said. Enchanted to enhance charisma, particularly physical appearance...not entirely unusual, but usually such items are more discrete, to keep the focus on the user."

"Can I take it off now?"

"No." The woman doesn't elaborate on her reasons on that point. "Hard to work that into any particular trend, but this dungeon does seem to be rather unpredictable. We're quite certain you spent some time in the dungeons - days, as far as it seems. Care to tell us about your time inside?"

"No." Grizza also feels no need to elaborate. After all, there's no benefit to him to make things easier on local adventurers.

"You have confirmed the deaths of two of your compatriots though, yes? A Ranger and a Cleric?" Grizza nods. This info at least they were willing to share, as perhaps it would speed along the possibility of notifying the families of the fallen. "At a time when the dungeon would have almost certainly been only a single floor - maybe not even a full floor. You should know, the first 'official' Challengers party left for the dungeon yesterday morning. Five members, Initiates but not entirely inexperienced. At this time the entire party is missing and presumed dead."

Grizza's eyes go wide. "An entire party, just yesterday?"

Alizz folds her hands on the table. "Yes, so you can see why I'm concerned. I intend to take my own party in before we allow any others, but while I'm confident in our skills I don't enjoy the lethally unknown. Advice you can share with us will go towards saving the lives of others, including fellow Valleylanders, and would certainly encourage me to speak on your behalf in regards to your future fates, you and your companion. To begin with, how did you spend so long in the dungeon, and what was its state when you left?"

Grizza taps a finger in thought. While he would have been more than happy to allow a legion of Rainlander scouting parties march in to their doom, he holds no particular animosity towards Challengers, at least not in general. Finally, he sighs. "To answer the first question, we...accidentally broke in to a natural cave system by triggering too many traps at once, and became separated from the dungeon itself. It took a long time to find a place to break back through, and even that was shortcut by the dungeon expanding downwards in the meanwhile."

Alizz nods. "Yes, I've heard the second floor is...unusually vertical. I've heard of stairwell or tower levels, but nothing like the odd contraption this one seems to have." This mention confuses the Mage a bit, having not seen it himself, but the Field Agent fails to notice. "Once back in, how did the two of you manage to get out? Did you happen upon an exit portal? Did you see anything unusual before you left?"

The Mage nods slowly. "We did come out very close to a portal, yes. But...if I had to wager odds on what happened to that missing party, assuming they didn't repeat our misadventure, it would be the second floor boss, or what I assume must have been the floor boss. I don't think the dungeon had time to finish...upgrading it before we arrived, but it fought...unusually well for a second floor boss as it was. And, ah...the boss was a slime."

At that, Alizz narrows her eyes. "A slime? Am I mistaken in my understanding that slimes are not a locally available form of wildlife?"

"That would be my understanding as well, yes."

Alizz leans forward. "So where then did this dungeon find enough slimes to make one into a boss that could actually pose a threat?"

Grizza meets her gaze. "That, I believe, is an excellent question."

The interview went on a little longer, with Alizz trying every angle she could think of, but either the captive Mage had little more to tell about the current state of the dungeon, or there was more he was unwilling to tell even to her. Still, the details gleaned gave her a hint of an idea as to what may be going on. As thanks she allowed him to keep his special dungeon loot, as it had originally been his after all, even though he tried to give it back. It was unlikely to help him in escaping, so this time at least the guards were convinced to let him keep it. Or perhaps they just found it amusing for the time being.

In either case, she was more convinced than ever that she needed to visit the dungeon herself before allowing any more parties to challenge it. Exiting the Fort, she met up with her second-in-command, the kobold Warrior of Flame who had been forced to wait outside. "Kelsey, didn't keep you bored for too long, I hope?" The kobold shakes his head.

"Naw, naw, wouldn'ta wanted to go in even if they'd have me. You find anything useful, though?"

Alizz also shakes her head in a no. "Nothing to confirm anything on its own. But I'm more convinced than ever that we need to check this dungeon out first-hand. Tell the others - we go out at first light."