Worthy Core

Sapper Tinsel had already been angry when the group made their way back down to Floor Three, but by time they'd completed the first chamber the mousekin was absolutely furious. Now that the team already knew about the pitfalls, hidden slime monsters and other tricks the giant rows of steps used, there wasn't a great deal of risk to be found as long as they used caution. However, caution meant slow going, and it was even worse now that they didn't have Mason Tossrock along to help. Without his occasional stone ramps and bridges they had little choice but to cautiously climb or edge their way around trapped tiles, meaning clearing the room actually took longer than it did the first time they'd been here. Somehow, it was all made worse by the fact that the chamber's exit door was clearly visible the entire time on the other side of the room, almost taunting them into hurrying along.

Sapper Tinsel had been described as many different things over the years. Clever, scrappy, and very-difficult-to-maim were some of her favorites. But no one had ever accused her of being patient. So it was that when the party finally made it to the hallway full of slimy spider-webbing, the tiny woman was finally boiling over. "Agggggghhhh! I hate this dungeon so freaking much! This entire floor is just designed around slowing people down! Why can't it give us something to stab or blow up!?"

Very carefully leaning down, Rampager Jantana gently pats her on the shoulder. "Easy now, Sapper. I understand what you're feeling - we're all taking the loss of Mason Tossrock hard."

The beastkin looks up at the minotaur and growls. "No, I hate him too! This is his fault! I can't believe the idiot up and died on us! It's even worse considering this whole stupid dungeon investigation mission is supposed to be his project. I bet there's probably some sort of super secret magic dungeon bullshit we're supposed to be watching out for, and we don't even know what it is now. Gods, I hope this whole thing isn't a huge waste of time."

Behind them, Kalasha grits her teeth as she rubs her head. "I'm sure you don't mean that, yes, Sapper? We're all under a lot of stress right now. Which loudly griping about will not help. Even if we don't know everything about the place that the Mason did, we at least know that the third floor boss is still an unknown, and for that matter no one knows yet if the place has a fourth floor yet. So we can at least find out that much for when we make our report, yes?"

Tinsel sighs, not particularly mollified but at least recognizing that pissing off her entire team for her first act as commanding officer won't look good, if anyone chooses to report it. "Yes, yes, we'll at least clear the dungeon today. I can promise you that much. Now, for the slime webs - any of you newbies got something for that?"

Nash, the orc Elementalist steps forward. "Doesn't look like anything a little fire can't fix up!" The man aims his wand towards the nearest green-colored web and douses it in a flamethrower blast, quickly drying it out and then eventually turning the strands to ash. "If it's as long a hallway as you've said, I may need a mana potion by the end of it, but shouldn't be anything challenging."

This at least cheers the new team captain up significantly. "Oh, sweet! You're my new favorite orc, Nash! Jantana, you take the lead with him and sweep away the spider ambushes, got it?" The minotaur nods and together the group proceeds down the winding stone hall. In this case the group does actually move significantly faster than they had on the first run, with the only difficulty being that Jantana's massive two-handed axe wasn't particularly well suited for fighting the dinner-plate-sized slime spiders when they dashed out of the cracks in the wall to make their ambushes. Nonetheless, the spiders themselves still proved to be almost entirely harmless, simply another delivery system for sticky slime, and the Elementalist himself was able to disable most of them with lightning blasts when they got too close.

When the group reached the maze exit though and the four orc skeletons attempted to close in on the group, Jantana more than proved her worth by clearing out the entire room on her own. With wide swings of her axe the monsters were tossed back, giving her the space she needed to smash each of them one by one, and the few light wounds they did manage to deliver in return were easily handled by her own regeneration spells. Peeking her head in and examining the carnage, Tinsel's mood improves yet again. "Hot damn, big girl, you are a one-woman wrecking crew! Nice work! Which means it's time for the big question: who here doesn't have a problem with scary tentacles? Because that's what's coming up in the next hallway. The things only seem to snap at the first person in, but if they're the kinda person to freak out, you're gonna end up with holes in your legs like Mesht did."

Rather than answer verbally, Jantana and Nash both turn around to stare at their Priestess of Night, Haylizt. Even under her hooded cloak, the drider's grimace is visible. "...What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Nash snorts. "Come now, Priestess. Did you think that just because the camp was dark and your constructs are made of solid night, no one would notice how you spent your evenings on the trip here?"

Haylizt sputters. "That - that was summoning practice! I don't know what you're implying!"

Before a debate can start, Tinsel steps in. "Don't care, and ain't judgin'. The important thing is - hey, you're a Priestess of Night, ain't ya? A few minor ghost terrors probably ain't shit to you, and you got those nimble legs to suss out pitfalls with, right? As team leader, I'm volunteering you for taking point on this one."

"...Well, if it is an order, then I suppose I can give it an attempt." Clearing her throat and attempting to take a dignified stance, staff at the ready, the drider begins to lead the way down the hall. When the first set of ghostly tentacles do suddenly snap out of the stone-block walls, the woman has virtually no chance of dodging them - given the size of the passageway and her own oversized bulk, there's simply no room for her to maneuver in. Despite that, when the transparent limbs latch on to her various legs, the woman moans in a way that doesn't seem at all reminiscent of terror. "Ooooaaah! That's...oh my, that is...refreshing."

A safe distance behind, Tinsel looks up at Nash, who simply looks back down with a shrug. "Night priestesses, what can I say?"

Trying to suppress a giggle, the mousekin turns it into a shout of support. "Good work, Haylizt! Keep it up, and watch for the pit traps!" Firmly keeping her attention focused forward so as to not have to look her teammates in the eye, Haylizt does as commanded, and carefully leads the group through the maze. With her sensitive drider legs the woman is easily able to tap out the difference in the trapped floor tiles, and not once do the tentacles do more to her than slow her down. The group does pause once they reach the moaning wooden door at the center of the chamber, and when Kalasha turns pale, Tinsel keeps the group moving. "Ignoring that! Keep going! If anyone wants to risk it for treasure or...other goodies, come back down on your own time!"

Eventually reaching the floor's fourth chamber without incident, Tinsel sighs at the sight of the assortment of magical traps, barriers, and hopping slimes. "Ugh, right. Last time Tossrock had a shortcut to wreck this place, anyone got something similar this time?" When no one in the group gives a positive response, the woman sighs again. "Alright, guess we gotta do this the hard way then...no one do anything, I wanna watch this for a minute."

With focused attention the temporary team captain stares at the moving slimes while one minute becomes five, and eventually ten. Just as the others were about to start audibly complaining about the wait, Tinsel suddenly perks up with a high-pitched shout. "Oh! So that's the way it goes! Alright, you lot just stay here, alright, you'll cramp my style if you start charging in there."

Kalasha seems unconvinced. "Wait, what? You want to take on the entire chamber? There's at least eight different monsters, and - and she's gone." Ignoring the Sniper, Tinsel steps ahead onto the next tile during a brief window while the magical barrier was down, and then quickly onto the next one. She waits a little longer there, and the next time a barrier goes down, she doesn't leave her current position, instead simply tossing one of her anti-slime vials at a newly-exposed hopping slime, quickly killing it. She then takes the next open window instead, quickly tossing a vial at a second slime several tiles away before the barriers snap back shut as she moves.

Tinsel continues on like that for the next fifteen minutes, crossing seven more tiles and killing two more slimes before she reaches the wall on the far side of the room. After finding a final sequence of three pressure plates on the floor the beastkin first hops on the first, then the third, and finally the second - deactivating all of the room's barriers and magical traps, although not before a final burst of magical energy from several of those traps kills the remaining slimes. Turning back to the group, the mousekin poses on one leg with her hands in the air. "Ta-da!"

The team responds only with silence for a moment, before Nash speaks for the group. "Did...did you actually know all that was gonna work?"

Tinsel snorts. "Well, duh! You think I woulda done all that if I didn't?"

"No, no, of course not. So, ah...do you think you could write down all those steps for the next party to come in here?"

"Sure!" The woman pauses, then scratches her chin. "...Actually, no. Think I forgot the first half already."

Kalasha sighs. "Should've seen that coming. Alright, let's catch up, then."

It's not long before the full group is reunited in the safe area beyond the next door, refreshing themselves with drinks from the quiet room's central fountain. Despite the loss of their team leader the group was generally in a much better condition than the last time they reached this point - no one in the party has notable injuries, and if anything the party's Priestess only seems more reinvigorated by her experience with the terrifying tentacles. So it is that when Tinsel gives her next orders, no one disagrees. "Alright, suckers! It's time to finally find out who the floor boss is - probably slimes or ghosts, going by the floor themes. I've still got a handful of my Base Bombs if it's a slime, if it's a ghost, I'm guessing that's mostly gonna come down to Haylizt and Nash, yeah? Til we sort it out, Jantana, you're taking point. Everyone ready?"

As everyone nods and readies their weapons, Tinsel's face grows a devious grin. "Then let's finish this shit."