Worthy Core

Beatrice and Lollyp made their way down into the Floor Three safe room, finding the rest of the party killing time around the healing fountain in the center of the chamber. The doors to both the puzzle room and the boss arena had been closed and locked off, both to keep the party safe and to help 'avoid spoilers', given that Beatrice was still the only one to have gotten down this far normally. Beatrice notices Xenia's orange-tinted form waiting for her as she arrives with a vaguely amused look on her face. "Really, Trish? You have any idea how hard it was to get this spider out of here the first time?"

"Sounds to me like exactly the kind of expert we need then, doesn't it?" The waiting party all turn to her with looks of confusion as the warrior apparently talks to thin air, but they catch on fairly quickly.

Sely chuckles a little uneasily. "Heheh, so uh...you really can talk to the dungeon then, huh? Not that I was doubting it, but...y'know...how?"

Beatrice taps her helmet. "Modified an enchantment I used for a ghost hunting mission once. Well, got it modified, that is. Don't ask me how it works, I just stab shit." She pauses for a bit, but after realizing everyone is still watching her, suddenly remembers that she's the official leader of this party and should probably be organizing things somewhat. "Ah, right! So, I explained some of this to the boss-spider down in the camp earlier, but I'm not sure how much she passed on to you two, and it's probably a good idea to review what the job actually is. Slime-stuff and I here can interpret for the uh...dungeon master if anyone's got questions, but keep it limited to job-relevant shit, yeah? But first, the rundown."

Beatrice makes her way to the opposite side of the room, where an outline of a door has been carved into the wall. "It was what, almost a week ago now? A party of supposed Initiates raided the place, took a few casualties including one missing-in-action, an 'arcane' demon named Sincere. Contrary to what the Association assumed however, the demon was not killed by the dungeon. Rather, he intentionally broke off from the party, found an exit from the place, and flew off into that big dark yonder you all saw earlier. After talking it over a bit with Alizz, we're pretty sure the dude was actually way over Initiate level, but that's what his paperwork said so we're not really sure on his actual details."

Grizza raises a hand, but Beatrice ignores him and continues. "I'm gonna guess you're asking the question, 'why would he do that?' And that's exactly one of the things we want to find out. However, our working assumption for now is 'nothing good.' We don't really have any details to work on, but it appears that Worthy Dungeon is built above an older, bigger, and deader dungeon. It certainly looks as if there's not much shit to find down there, but it's definitely not nothing, given that Roxxy here was apparently...'born', if that's the right word? From a loot chest that managed to survive the rest of the place."

The elemental nods. "As good a way of putting it as any, sure!"

Beatrice continues. "Therefore, the quest objectives are as follows." She begins counting off on her fingers. "One, locate Sincere and determine his motivations. Two, if his motivations are a risk to Worthy Dungeon or the locals, put a stop to him by any means necessary. And three, as a bonus, if we can find out anything about this older dungeon down here, then we should do what we can. Now, an important note about the place is that, according to Grizza here, there's not much to survive on other than a handful of mushrooms. However, I'm also told that demons don't need a lot of food or water, and if the guy brought a bottomless bag or two with him, the creep could probably survive down here for months. For now though, I'm putting a planned cap on the expedition of two weeks. Grizza's team spent a week down here and didn't explore the whole place, so there's no telling how long it could take to fully check out. If we don't find him in ten days, we turn around and check back here in case there's any updates, plus make sure our supplies are all good and that."

Taly laughs at the mention of supplies. "You really went all out on stocking up for this one, so I think we could probably be fine for months ourselves if it came to it. We've all got what, three or four bags each now? And you practically bought out half the camp's kitchen stockpile. And you've got your...box? Whatever it was you called it."

"Item Box, kinda like your bottomless bags but a little quicker, I guess. And I don't just have the one, I've got uh...sixteen."

The party stares at her, but it's Xenia who asks first. "Sixteen? What did you pack, the entire fuckin' Royal Museum?"

Beatrice snorts. "Hey, I didn't know if I was ever going back, so obviously I brought my whole collection. And uh, I figured the minor currency reserves wouldn't be worth anything here, so I might've spent all that on more equipment, too...look, I'm just being prepared, alright?" She turns back to the rest of the group. "So, here's the plan. I'm the leader, both metaphorically and literally. My armor could go toe-to-toe with a dragon, at least for as long as all these enchantments hold, so I'll be in front and taking the hits. Roxxy here's our main scout, letting us know what's coming up, leaving marks so we don't backtrack, and that sort of thing. Grizza, you're our magic expert, we find any weird dungeon shit, or we need to figure out what this demon is up to, that's on you."

Grizza looks a bit awkward at the assignment. "I'll do my best, although there's a good chance all I'll be able to do is say 'we need to take this to an expert', if we do find something particularly unusual."

"Anything you can give us will definitely be a help. Like I said, I just stab shit for a living, so you're better off than me. Sely, surprise surprise, you're on healing duty, and I'm also making you in charge of tracking supplies. Taly, you're ranged support in combat, additional scouting when required, and I'm told you're good at mapping?"

The dark-cloaked archer nods. "Brought a ton of paper with me! I can see in the dark just fine, too, which should come in handy."

"Cool! Reminds me, we should review our uh...classes. Alizz wrote down a list for me...Roxxy, you're just an 'Earth Elemental?'"

Roxxy nods again. "I don't have any training, but us elementals are usually born with most of our knowledge. I'd guess that maybe there aren't even any elementals with trained classes, but I guess I don't know that one. But if you're looking for my skill set, I'm tough, can do stone-shaping, and have a sense of the stone around me. Is that good?"

Beatrice grins under her helmet. "For this job, it's perfect. Grizza, you're a 'Mage'...sounds kind of basic compared to some of the other ones I've heard, but still good enough for me."

"Yes...I qualified for Initiate level eight following our recent experiences here and my transfer to the Challengers' system, which means I'm probably still half a year away from earning and finishing any Advanced training, going by usual advancement rates."

"Well, maybe we'll get you qualified up to it with this gig, so that's something to look forward to. Taly, you're a Midnight Shadow, I don't know what that is but it sounds super cool. And Sely, you're a...Divine Masochist."

Sely grins, crossing her arms in a way to show off her bare biceps. "Some of us don't need all that fancy armor to take a hit, what can I say."

"If you say so. I ain't gonna ask further questions."

Sely has one of her own, though. "So, what are you then? A Fighter or Guard-derived class, I'm guessing?"

Beatrice freezes for a moment. "...Dragon Slayer."

The party chuckles at the response, and Taly speaks up. "Definitely a bold one to be claiming around these parts. Never heard of it, but it does sound 'super cool' too."

"It is, actually. Though to give the details, I'm mainly your basic swordswoman, but with a bag of tricks that comes from twenty-five years in the business. Unfortunately, the magic used to make a lot of em apparently isn't a hundred percent compatible with the uh, local ambient mana, so a lot of it's gonna end up degrading eventually but it should be good for this job at the least. So, any questions before we head out?"

Roxxy raises her hand. "How do you know the dungeon?"

"Not a job-related question. Anyone else?"

Taly raises hers next. "If we find any cool stuff down there, is the dungeon gonna be mad if we keep it?"

"Fair question." Beatrice turns her head towards the invisible dungeon master for a moment before refocusing on Taly. "As long as it's not a risk to the dungeon somehow, it's cool to keep."

Sely goes next. "We got half the pay up front, which I appreciate, but you said something about there being a special bonus if we catch the guy? Mind tellin' us what that'll be?"

Lollyp handles this one. "The dungeon is willing to make each of you at least one special enchanted item each of your own request, at the maximum quality level we can currently produce."

Sely whistles at that, alongside impressed looks from the rest of the party. "We get to request our own dungeon loot? That does sound good."

Beatrice looks around the room, but no further hands are raised. "That everything? Alright, everyone got their bags, their gear, and their kick-ass attitude? Yes? Great! Oh mighty dungeon spirit, mind opening the door for us?" As Beatrice steps aside, the carved-out door melts away into a tunnel, connecting into the abandoned dungeon hallway only a mere fifteen feet away. "Dang, that is fun to watch. Alright, Team Demon Hunters, move out!"

Taking the lead, Beatrice takes the team down the tunnel in single file, each of them turning on magically-enchanted lanterns of various kinds as they go with the exception of Taly. It doesn't take long for the group to disappear from view, the light fading as they move deeper into the empty hallway. As it fades away, Xenia turns to Lollyp. "I really do hope they find the guy. Even if he's not doin' something weird down there, not knowing would be keeping me up at night if I could still sleep. Think they'll be alright?"

Lollyp scoffs. "C'mon, what's the worst that could possibly - hrmph!" The slime is interrupted by a hand that covers her mouth so quickly, it actually manages to partially embed itself inside her face.

"C'mon, Lollyp! You know better than to say shit like that!"

"Blrph! Uh, good point. I'm...sure they'll face only modestly-challenging obstacles for their skill levels and return with minimal injuries?"

Xenia nods, satisfied. "That's more like it. Alright, now lets get this shortcut packed back up. Somehow I doubt we'll go two weeks without someone paying a visit..."