Worthy Core

WEST OF THE SHIELD MOUNTAINS
TWO DAYS LATER

Tassa stirs as someone knocks at the door to her office. Which is what she likes to call it, despite the fact that her 'office' is a small tent, and the 'door' is just one of the trees being used to support it, as she feels it's important to establish a proper workplace for yourself. She doesn't need to look to see who it is knocking at her tree, given that she only has one coworker. "What's up, Ragrush? Thanks for actually remembering to knock this time."

The orcish man grins as he leans inside the tent flap, his pale-green skin a poor contrast to his black beard and long hair. "Who knows, maybe I can be taught manners? Are you decent, Tassa?"

The minotaur grins back as she stands up from her portable chair and desk - a move that would cause problems for most minotaurs, but given that she was a positively puny six feet tall, it was something she could do without knocking the tent down around her. A minor benefit of having a dwarven grandparent, she supposed. "For you Ragrush? Never." She shakes her hips briefly in his direction with a smile on her face, but assuming he didn't actually go through the trouble of knocking for a social call, she keeps the flirting short. "We got a problem?"

The man sighs. "Must be. We've got a drider out at the camp entrance with two guards, says he needs to speak to us." At that, Tassa finds herself quickly wishing it had just been a social call. The two rangers were posted out practically in the middle of nowhere, in the thick woods bordering the nearby nations for little more purpose than to be tripwires in case someone came knocking without the proper travel visa. It was rare to get any visitors other than the scheduled relief teams, and driders in particular hated spending time outdoors. If one was here, something bad had to be up.

Checking that she was more or less presentable, and that she had a few axes holstered for appearances sake, the minotaur settles herself and follows as Ragrush returns to the camp entrance - really just a faint walking trail leading to the clearing where they had set up their tents and supplies. The drider's bulky form was obvious as soon as she stepped outside, at least as large as both of his orc guards put together. He looked a bit young to be an important messenger, but then Tassa had to remind herself that the spider-folk grew up relatively quickly compared to most. Still, with his almost-nude form broken only by the sash at his mid-section, his lithe human torso looked more like a boy's than a man's, his smooth ebon-dark skin and tussled white hair not showing a mark of age on them.

Still, whoever he might be, it couldn't hurt to be polite. "Welcome to Camp Shieldstrong. We're the Rangers of the camp, Tassa Stoutheart and Ragrush of Tash'narc. How might we help you all today?"

The drider nods, accepting his turn to make introductions. "I am Grizza, and I have with me Laksha, also of Tash'narc, and Pusht of Niad'osh. I'm afraid we're going to have to re-assign you from your camp duties for the next week or so, as I bring an urgent mission from Mana Weaver Oloaza." Hearing the title 'Mana Weaver', Tassa and Ragrush share a look between the two of them, but neither of them have any immediate idea what it could mean.

"A mission from a Mana Weaver? I can't say we've noticed any magical disturbances at all in our region since taking our rotation two weeks ago."

Unsurprised, the drider points to the mountain range behind them. "Yes, that's true. The disturbance she detected wasn't in our woods, but in the vicinity of High Eligor, the so-called 'Triple Peak' mountain. I know it's a bit out of your usual jurisdiction, but your camp is the closest posted to it, and so we request your assistance as we make our investigation."

Turning around, Tassa takes a moment to judge the distance of the Shield Mountains behind her. The mountain range loomed large, but she knew the distance could be deceptive. "Triple Peak, huh? I know officially it's disputed, but most direct approach to the mountain is on the Rainlander side. What did they sense that makes it worth risking a border incursion? Are the Rainlanders trying something?"

Grizza shakes his head. "Uncertain, but...that's not the most likely scenario. The Mana Weaver felt that the magical energy was low, but persistent...and more importantly, wrong in some way. The signature wasn't like anything she'd felt before." Tassa and Ragrush share another look, this time with Ragrush responding.

"...The Dragonlord, then."

"That is the most likely theory, yes. It could be that this is a move against the Rainlanders and not us - likely, even - but knowing our enemy's moves is why we post these camps, after all. Our mission is to discover what's occurring on the mountain, and if necessary, interrupt it."

Tassa narrows her eyes at that last part. "So we're a party then, huh? What are we working with? We're both Rangers as I mentioned, level 5 here, Ragrush is 4."

Grizza points at himself and then his guards. "I am a level 6 Mage, while Laksha is a level 4 Fighter and Pusht is a level 5 Cleric." Ragrush gives the Cleric an appraising look.

"Cleric, huh? Which god are you with?"

"...Piesta." The orc gives a weak smile, surely knowing what's coming next as Tassa barely stops a laugh.

"The...the God of Fish? No shit?" The Cleric shrugs.

"...Niad'osh is a fishing town. My folks were fishers. It's...paid off a few times." Tassa decides not to pursue that any further, but then realizes a more pressing issue.

"Wait, hold on. The highest one here is a level 6? We're doing this without a single Advanced Class member? What if it is a Dragonlord incursion - what will we do against that but get slaughtered? A single Scorchwhip Mistress could probably take us all on!"

The drider sighs. "I know, I know. But as you said yourself, the Rainlanders have the best claim to the mountain on practical accessibility reasons if for nothing else. We don't want to investigate a possible incursion just to trigger one of our own. If we get discovered and it turns out to be nothing major, then we're just lost scouts, not an invasion force."

Tassa begins to tap one of her hooves, until Ragrush reaches a hand out to her shoulder to give a gentle massage and calm her down. "It's probably nothing, Tassa. We'll be over the mountain and back in a week, no one will notice a thing."

The woman takes a deep breath, allowing herself to believe him. "...Perhaps so. In any case, orders are orders. Let's pack up some supplies, we'll move out in two hours."

Miles to the east, Xenia Worthy, Reincarnator Extraordinaire, is growing frustrated with her new clam.

As it turned out, creating new empty space within her cave system was practically free, at least as long as she remained within her current 'floor limit'. Therefore one of the first things she'd done was create two more rooms and push her pearl-like core into the deepest one, to at least buy herself some time to act if nothing else. The core still needed some actual security though, and given the way it looked, Xenia had decided placing it within a decorative clam-shaped pedestal was only logical. There was just one problem through - the stone clam refused to close down and guard its treasure. "Guy, help me with this thing? I can get it to fold down but as soon as it gets to like, six inches from sealing it's just spreading open again! It's like I'm showing myself off to visitors now even more than before!"

The green guide screen hovers over to Xenia's right side. "Ah, yes, you've encountered the 'accessibility' limitation. To keep things fair, a dungeon core must be accessible to adventurers of its approximate level, so for example, no sealing yourself into a deep chamber that could only be accessed via high-level teleportation magics. Sealing yourself within a stone decoration seems to be triggering that, at least at your current level...though perhaps a wooden chest might be acceptable? Many lower-level adventurers could break one open." Xenia growls.

"C'mon, Guy, you know how shitty my wood is! I don't wanna have a nasty-looking clam! How about if, like...it opened and closed some of the time, so it only opened for people I like?"

"I don't think the gods really care about whether or not you like the adventurers...although..." Guy hums in thought and hovers over a far wall. "A trigger mechanism could perhaps work? You press the wall here, and the clam opens? It would certainly keep you safe from animals, and solo adventurers would be annoyed by it, though clever ones could probably find a solution. Enough of a leeway for the gods, I think."

"Huh, yeah, I could go for that." Pulling up her construction menu, Xenia tosses a pressure plate spell at the wall next to Guy, then uses a link spell to connect it to her new pedestal, with the intent of causing the clam to open when pressed and close when released. Once finished, the structure immediately closes, marking it as a success - after all, even if it broke and didn't open up again, that would be fine with her. "Nice! Sealed up tight! Alright, let's test it out - hit my button, Guy."

The screen turns to the plate and back to her. "I'm not actually sure if I can do that?"

"Never tried it before, huh? Guess I am your first dungeon, right? Well, no worries, I believe in you. Now show some confidence and smash my button!" Guy clearly doesn't seem convinced, but there doesn't seem to be anything to lose by trying, so with a bit of a wind-up, the guide speeds into the button face first. To their very apparent surprise, the plate actually recedes and the clam pops back open - at least for a while, before it begins to slowly close again. "You did it! Good work Guy, I dub you a level 1 button-masher!"

"I suppose I have more interactive capability with dungeon constructs than I thought. Interesting...well, with passive defenses sorted for the time being, perhaps its time again to look at our active ones? Shall we discuss the birds?"

Xenia's eyes narrow, and she taps her fingers together. "...Yes...the birds..."