Worthy Core

After a few minutes to secure the floor's loot, rest up at the healing fountain, and say a final farewell to their fallen cleric, the Valleylands 'training squad' made their way down to the dungeon's bottom floor. Although the mood was much more somber, it didn't take long for it to be replaced by a new emotion as they reached the floor's first chamber - namely, confusion. Still taking the lead, Vanguard Mesht eyes the long series of staggered rows of the Step Room warily, and carefully peers down the eight-foot drop to the next row just to his right. "I don't like the looks of this. Seems the entire chamber's open, the exit's right over there. But I'm not seeing a single monster or obvious trap. And all this pink fabric covering everything is, well...certainly an odd design choice, but suspicious as well."

Tinsel comes up alongside and chuckles a little uneasily. "...Yeah, this one's definitely a trap room for sure. Let's see, we could climb or drop down each of these rows and go right to the exit, or we could go back and forth to the stairs at each end and take like eight times longer. Obviously the quick option's gonna kill us." Leaning over for a moment, she rubs the fabric-coated stone with a few fingers. "Pretty slick, like, literally. Definitely a setup for traps."

Tossrock nods in agreement. "Not that the long way is likely to be safe either. Still, right now we need to use caution. Tinsel, you're taking the lead for this chamber."

The mousekin grumbles, but moves on ahead. "Pfft, so this is what I get for taking a Scout class, huh? I mean, uh...yes, sir!" Getting down on all fours, the woman moves forward almost as easily as she did standing on two, and carefully eyes each tile ahead before she puts any weight on it. Following her lead, the group gets about two-thirds of the way through the first row before she stops them with a raised hand. "Oop! This part of the row seems a little uneven...let me try something." Gently pushing down on one edge of the large tile, and then putting a little extra weight into it when that fails to do anything, the Sapper hops back as the tile suddenly tilts. "Ah! There's your first trick, then. Drops you down onto the row below, and I betcha the tile downstairs has a way nastier trick waiting for us."

Kalasha eyes the tile section from the group's rear. "Hop over it, then? Might be a little rough in armor but not too bad."

Tossrock rubs his chin, then shakes his head. "And if the tile beyond that has a trap, then you're jumping right into it. I think one way or another, a shortcut needs to be risked...but fortunately, I do have ways of making my own. Stand back, each of you." Going down to one knee, the Warrior Mason places both hands on the floor and begins to feed mana into the stone beneath himself. Slowly a ramp begins to form, opening a safe passage to the next row. By the end of the spell however the Mason finds himself groaning with exertion. "Hrnng. The floor of this chamber has been heavily reshaped by the dungeon, taking hold of its stone is far more difficult than usual. Making a ramp all the way down would exhaust my energies...Sapper, continue onward and find us the next hazard."

Tinsel does so, scurrying down the ramp and onto the second row before stopping a few more tiles down. Putting an ear down to the ground, she taps at the floor. "Hmm...pitfall for certain, bet you there'd be spikes or something else nasty down at the bottom."

"Disarming the traps should hopefully be a simpler task. Allow me." Again kneeling, the Mason feeds more energy into the floor, although this time there's no visible effect. "...There. I have placed a support beam beneath the false floor, bridging the gap. Cross carefully, and only directly across the center of the tile." The group begins to do so, Tinsel in the lead and Mesht following after, making their way across without issue. Once Mesht reaches the next tile however, a new surprise strikes out. Without warning a pink blob shoots its way out of the wall next to him, slamming into the Vanguard's side and knocking the orc off balance. The strange smooth fabric coating the dungeon's floor actually does him a slight favor in this though, as when the man falls his legs slide out from beneath him, providing something of a counter-balance to the momentum threatening to knock him off onto the row below. Even so the man still nearly tumbles over, only finally saved as Tossrock rushes forward and grabs the man's ankle, pulling him back. "What was that!?"

The party's Sniper leans over the edge and fires off a crossbow bolt before responding. "Slime, sir, small one. With...bunny ears? Shit, it's still moving, I'm gonna need to switch to my special ammo." Loading up a bolt tipped with an arrowhead made of red crystal, the orc again leans over the edge and fires. As the group looks on a small hopping slime suddenly bursts into flames, shuddering for a few seconds before its membrane bursts open and the creature dissolves. "Was that slime jumping? I've never seen a slime move like that before."

"A dungeon creation, no doubt. So, lesson well learned. Tinsel, you keep an eye and ear on the floor, Mesht, you check the walls for more hidden monsters or other traps from the side, yes?" The group confirms the Mason's orders, and slowly they continue their way down the long series of giant steps. By time they've reached the bottom level, Tossrock had needed to put together three more ramps and bridges, and four more hopping slimes had been revealed and needed putting down. None of the party had actually fallen for any of the traps however, largely thanks to Tinsel's excellent senses, and though they arrived at the exit a little tired they did at least arrive in full health.

As they open the door to the second chamber, Tinsel shudders. "Ugh, creepy-looking spiderwebs. I'm not going first in this one, wouldn't be surprised if the dungeon's got spiders that could eat a lady like me."

The party leader eyes the gooey webbing and sighs. "Dropping the stone to collapse the webs would only block the path further. Were Tanno still with us, we could perhaps freeze the slime solid, but as it is...Mesht, it seems we have no choice but to go forward with brute force. Take the lead, but try your best to avoid the webbing as much as possible, yes?"

The orc nods and moves forward, shield raised and sword at the ready, pushing through the webs whenever the bulky-armored soldier is unable to avoid them. His path leaves plenty of room for Tinsel and even Kalasha to follow behind him without much incident, but the even-larger framed minotaur can't avoid getting some of the sticky substance on his own head and shoulders. As they move through multiple twists and turns of the chamber hall the group holds their breath, waiting for the trap or ambush that seems certain to arrive, and when the brightly-colored spiders do eventually spring their attack the soldiers actually feel almost relieved. Even more so when the spiders prove easy to kill, not even attempting to bite their opponents, though the messy aftermath dampens their spirits somewhat.

Tinsel groans, having been finally unable to avoid being splashed by some of the slime herself. "Ugh, those are the grossest spiders I've ever seen! Getting this out of my fur is gonna take a week!"

"If our appearance is the worst of our worries, then it will be a lucky outcome. Forward, party." Chuckling despite himself at the mousekin's attempts to scrape the orange and pink spider-slime from her cheeks, Tossrock continues to keep an eye open for more dangerous opponents as they move forward. Spiders do ambush the group several more times, but it's not until the final room in the chamber that a true threat emerges. The moment Mesht steps from the hallway into the somewhat more open space, a quartet of skeletons falls on him with swords and axes.

Fortunately this is exactly the sort of fight a Vanguard is meant for, and the orc's heavy shield and armor blocks the undeads' crude weapons with ease. His own counter-attacks find no success, due to the heavy masses of slime slowing his limbs down, but that's the sort of business the rest of the party is there for. Flooding through the entrance, each member takes a target, with Tossrock smashing one skeleton with his staff, Kalasha firing a bolt through another's skull, and Tinsel climbing up an exposed ribcage as if it were a ladder to stuff a glowing vial into one's eye socket and hopping off as its head explodes into bone fragments a moment later. With Mesht proving sufficient at taking down a single opponent of his own, the chamber is cleared in short order.

Kalasha grins as the last skeleton falls. "Ah, thank the gods they finally gave us something normal to fight! I'm starting to think the entire purpose of this floor is just to tire us out...oh, but how I hate trap floors."

Sighing, Tossrock opens the door to the next chamber, revealing yet another sequence of relatively narrow hallways. "You know, Kalasha. They say dungeon spirits can listen in and use an intruder's complaints against them."

The Sniper grimaces. "I mean, trap floors are fun! And easy! I'm so glad the dungeon has decided to use traps today!"

Tinsel chuckles "Good work, Kally. I'm sure you've got the dungeon fooled now."

After taking a few minutes to scrape off as much of the slime as possible Mesht once again takes the lead, with the party forced to move in single-file down the hall. Things are quiet, almost eerily so, but that changes when ghostly forms suddenly whip out of the walls to grab hold of the orc and cause the man to scream loudly. Before anyone else has time to move forward and help free the Vanguard, he's already freed himself, taking off at a run down the hall and tearing himself loose from the gooey tentacles in the process. Tossrock and Tinsel both yell for the man to stop, to get ahold of himself, but the only thing that actually succeeds in bringing his flight to an end is a pitfall revealed a further ten feet down the hall. The man's continued, or indeed increased screams tell the party that their heavy survived the trap, but not without injury in the process.

Carefully but quickly making his way forward, Tossrock peers down into the pitfall. Its depth isn't more than four feet, allowing a man Mesht's size to easily climb out of it if required, but the steel spikes now jutting through the man's feet and legs make it clear that that would be much more of a challenge than it otherwise would be. "Vanguard! Calm yourself! I will attempt to pull you up, but you must remain as still as possible!"

Mesht groans. "Argh, I'm - ugh, I'm such an idiot! I, hrng, when those things grabbed me, all I felt was this, this certainty that something terrible was about to eat me in a single bite. Gods, take me for a fool!" The groaning only intensifies as the minotaur grips the man under his arms and carefully pulls him upwards, leaving dark red stains on more than a few spikes as he does so. Eventually Mesht is rescued from the trap, and as Kalasha hands him a healing potion, Tossrock considers their next move.

"The potions should help stop the bleeding and prevent infection, but you'll need support to walk the rest of the dungeon. We seem to be dealing with a two-part trap design here, part terror and part traditional. The latter I know we can handle, but the former...hrng. I am best suited to support Mesht while still remaining combat-capable, and Tinsel, you are the best at sniffing out traps. Do you think you can handle the, well...I don't know what to call them, exactly, but those ambushing monstrosities if they strike at you?"

The mousekin sighs, very clearly working her way up to putting on a cheerful front. "Yes sir! I can handle anything those tentacles want to throw at me!"

"Good. Kalasha, you take second, you have permission to take hold of the Sapper's tail if it's required to keep her from dashing off."

"Hey!" Tinsel grumbles a bit, and a little further when she catches Kalasha's smirk, but soon gets to work leading the way forward. As the party moves on it's revealed that she makes an excellent scout for this chamber, not merely for her trap-detecting skills, but for her diminutive size. Although the tentacles seem to have no traditional trap 'trigger' and unavoidably whip out into the hallway as the party passes by, with Tinsel moving about on all fours most of them are unable to reach her, and even the ones more lowly placed fail to grab hold as the mousekin quickly leaps backwards. So it is that the next few hallways pass without incident, until eventually the group reaches a crossroads, including a wooden door from which moaning emanates. "Well, that's never a good sound. Pass it by?"

Tossrock considers, then shakes his head. "There may be a key or other required item inside, we need to at least check it out. Kalasha, take the door."

Nodding, the woman cautiously takes hold of the door handle and pulls it open. Inside is a truly terrible sight: a trio of demons strapped to various instruments of torture - or more likely, pleasure, going by the particular forms of moans coming from their lips. Chuckling, the Sniper steps forward, and Tossrock's shout of warning comes too late. The moment the woman steps through the doorway the door slams itself shut once again, and this time the sounds coming through its wooden frame are undeniably that of pure terror rather than bliss. Tossrock begins to lift his staff-slash-warhammer towards the door, but thinks twice and targets the stone around it instead. "Sapper! I am going to take the door off at its hinges, be prepared to rescue Kalasha as soon as you're able!"

As the stone around the door warps, it takes perhaps no more than ten seconds for the metal hinges to fall loose, and when Tinsel pulls again at the door handle the door itself merely falls outward onto the floor, forcing the nimble woman to duck out of the way as it does so. The weight of the construct is increased by Kalasha's own form falling backwards with it, apparently physically unharmed but screaming and entirely covered in colored slime. As Tossrock looks into the room beyond, he finds that all trace of the demons inside has now vanished. "Kalasha? Sniper! Are you injured? What happened in there?"

In between gasping breaths, the orc woman slowly manages to restore a thin level of discipline to herself. "I was - I was held down and, and, they were all over me! The demons turned into monsters and they, hng, hng, they slimed me!" As she slowly recovers herself, she sits up and looks around in a new form of panic. "My crossbow! My heavy crossbow, where is it!?"

Very carefully, Tinsel looks around the now-abandoned terror dungeon. "...I don't know how, but it's gone. Guess you're down to your sidearm, Kally, but are you alright?"

Working her way back to her feet, the orc nods. "I...I will recover. It was just a, a trick. But - argh! Damnation! I loved that weapon! You know how many kills I made with that thing?"

Tossrock places a large hand on the woman's shoulder. "The weapon can be replaced, a warrior can not. Take a few minutes if you need, but then we must proceed."

Kalasha nods and leans against a wall, pulling her smaller crossbow from her side and making a show of inspecting it, as if to imply that it's the weapon that needs time to get ready to move on rather than her own frayed nerves. Ten minutes later though the party is once again moving forward, and as before, Tinsel's scouting skills prove sufficient at dodging the remaining tentacles and pitfalls placed in their way. So it is that before long they reach the fourth chamber of the floor, and they all pause at the sight. A square chamber divided up into large tiles, much like the Step Room from before, but rather than divided by height the tiles here are separated by magical barriers, elemental traps, and hopping slimes. As Tossrock peers at the exit on the far side, blocked by numerous blue barriers, he sighs.

"If we were in better condition, I would say that we ought to move as the dungeon intends, dealing with the traps one by one and conserving our strength. But my patience for this floor has run thin, and I do not know if we have the endurance to deal with so many obstacles as we are right now. So...I shall provide us with a Plan B." Leaving Mesht to lean against a wall, the minotaur opens a mana potion and swallows it down before raising his hands to the ceiling. Even at his height his fingers only barely brush the surface, but it proves sufficient for the task. As Tossrock closes his eyes and grunts in frustration, cracks begin to run the entire length of the ceiling from their current position to the far exit, and after a few minutes of this a three-foot-wide section of the stone collapses along the path he made. The channel dug is no more than six inches deep, but the heavy rock proves to be enough to crush the barriers in their way, break the assorted traps, and splatter a handful of rabbit-eared slimes.

Breathing heavily before once again helping Mesht to his feet, Tossrock motions for Tinsel to take the lead once again. "Manipulating so much dungeon stone is...tiring, but with any luck this will be the end of the floor. Check that I've not missed anything, would you, Sapper?"

Tinsel cautiously moves ahead, hopping above and around the collapsed stone, and at one point needing to toss an explosive vial at a hopping slime that was freed by the destruction of its enclosing barriers, but eventually makes it to the far end without encountering any further obstacles. Following behind, the group opens the door to find exactly what they need: a safe zone with a healing fountain. As Tossrock helps Mesht over to the flowing waters, Kalasha eyes the emergency exit portal on the nearby floor and the large door on the opposite wall.

"That's surely the floor boss behind those, and the core chamber beyond that, assuming there's not yet another floor already added to this hellhole. Do we proceed, Mason?"

Tossrock stares at the door for a time, but eventually shakes his head. "We have not yet quite learned as much as I was hoping to on today's expedition. Particularly, I was hoping to find out the nature of the boss ahead, and if it might be anything like the one on the floor above. But in our current condition, even a boss that was only its equal would surely cost us further casualties, let alone if it were any stronger. And given that it is entirely unknown to us, we have to assume it would have hidden tricks to use. So no. Today I must give this victory to the dungeon; we shall return in a few days with reinforcements. Mesht, as soon as you're healed enough to walk, we shall be on our way through the exit portal."

Given the relative weakness of the healing fountain and the extensive damage to Mesht's lower limbs, it's almost a solid thirty minutes of sipping at fountain water before the Vanguard is up to the task of hiking his way back down the mountain. Eventually though the party is ready and makes their exit, Tinsel being the last to leave. Before she steps on through, the mousekin turns to face the door to the boss chamber, and shakes a small fist in the air in its direction. "You haven't seen the last of us, dungeon! We'll be baaaaaaaac - "

As her voice abruptly cuts off with the activation of the portal, Xenia turns to Guy, hovering beside her. "So! First official evaluation of Floor Three, Guy, or a partial one at least, how you think we did? Definitely seems like we fucked em up pretty good, but goddammit, another shortcut through Blobbity trap chamber!? Was that whole thing just a waste of time?"

"Adventurers with shortcut skills like that 'Mason' or Beatrice ought to be the exception, rather than the rule, I would think. In a way it may be a good thing that they took a shortcut, as it means the solution is still an unknown, and that's one secret at least that won't be spread around. The other chambers meanwhile may prove less effective against future parties."

"Yeah, especially if they can shortcut down and start off fresh...although if they do wanna bring in a new healer next time they'll have to start from scratch, heheh." The dungeon master smirks. "And yeah, that mousegirl, still adorable, don't you think?"

"The most adorable mousegirl I've seen so far, ma'am. Ah, and our intrusion report is ready."

Xenia cheers. "Woo, more achievements! And I believe that makes the score Worthy Dungeon two, Valleylands military zero! Now let's pop on upstairs, Guy, cause I do believe Lollyp just earned herself a round on the house."

"Every round is on the house, ma'am."

"Shush."