Worthy Core

As it turned out, renaming monster crossbreed results was quite simple with Guy's help, and so Xenia's newest monsters were entered into her system as 'Spitwings'. That was about all the work Xenia felt like doing for the rest of the evening though, given that it was the middle of the night by time they'd returned from the Great Dungeon and everyone needed some rest. While neither Xenia nor her floor bosses actually slept as such, she had found that trying to keep active all day long had a tendency to make her a bit irritable and unfocused, or at least more so than usual. Each member of the dungeon found their own ways to relax on their off-hours: Xenia herself practiced some meditative forms she'd picked up over the years, Sincere liked to read, and Lollyp had started having a lot more fun with her alchemy practice now that she had so many ingredients to try.

There were also the more physical forms of stress relief Xenia and Lollyp both enjoyed, but they were still trying to ensure that they had at least some other hobbies to spend their time on. Just because the dungeon was already starting to get a reputation didn't mean they had to lean into it, after all.

So it wasn't until the next morning that Xenia, Sincere, Lollyp and Guy regathered in the core chamber to discuss the previous night's events, and to lay out the plans for the unlocked Floor Four they could finally start working on. Starting things off, Xenia turned to Sincere with an amused look on her face. "So, you've gotten to see what the old place looked like when it was still in action, now! Anything like you expected?"

The demon shakes his head. "Not at all, to be honest. I did believe the Dragonlord or their dungeon had been experimenting with constructs, like the elementals, in an attempt to push the boundaries of what a dungeon could do. But I didn't expect it to be so formalized. I mean, keep in mind: not only was this hundreds of years ago, but to my knowledge the Dragonlord's Domain has never had a tradition of formal research programs, or even educational ones. The Valleylands did have some, particularly under the driders, but even nowadays most magical research and learning in the Domain happens under individual experts and their apprentices. To have potentially dozens of floors devoted to developing monsters, traps, and other forms of magic? I haven't seen anything like that elsewhere in the Domain."

Lollyp nods. "I learned how to do my thing in the military's training programs, but that's all basic shit that's been known for centuries for the most part. Making new discoveries? ...Honestly, most of that work these days is done by demons, and the Dragonlord didn't have any of those back when the Great Dungeon was active. Makes me wonder if it was the dungeon's idea, not the Dragonlord's."

Xenia's lip curls. "Suppose that's a mark against the idea that the Dragonlord somehow relocated the core when they moved out of the place. Does kind of encourage me to want to take on more of the place, though. If every floor was just doing like, one thing at a time, then that's probably relatively low risk, and it means there might be more unique shit we could steal...I mean, learn. I mean, that floor was clearly not designed to actually keep folks out, so I'm thinking the old dungeon was getting kind of complacent when it came to actual intruders." She pauses, then shakes her head. "That said, I don't wanna rush things and unlock a bunch of floors just cause we can. We oughtta handle our new one first and get things set up there."

Lollyp grins and rubs her hands together. "So what have you got in mind? We're gonna be using some of those plants this time, right?"

Xenia nods, summoning up an extra-large piece of parchment, then using her inscription abilities to draw an outline directly onto the magical map. "Oh yeah, I'm betting we can have the forest biome up to Medium Quality pretty soon. Also, I was thinking about what you said last night, about floors that were just one big room? I think I want to do a proper forest, something people will have to explore rather than go from one room to the next in. Mostly focusing on monster ambushes from the trees and foliage. And! I wanna do something for those water elementals we've got stashed away." With a wave of her hand a round river appears on the map, carving out an island in the center of the floor, and tendrilling out into smaller branches that reach into other corners of the space. Looking at it, Guy makes a concerned hum.

"You do recall the costs of creating so much water, yes, ma'am? As we've not found a natural spring or the like, the entire river will need to be generated magically, and something of this scale could cost you as much mana upkeep as the elevator does."

"I know, but we've got enough to burn, and I want to give Slooshy and her pals room to breathe. Especially since they can't respawn if someone kills them, which means they need room to retreat if someone's being too aggressive. I was actually thinking maybe a little underwater cave somewhere, even."

Lollyp considers the layout and nods. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. How about the monster ambushes? Going to use those new bat-lizards?"

"Yeah, I want something up in the trees, and the Barkbirds are still only D-minus tier, way too low for a fourth floor. There's insects, eventually, but I wanna get the forest to Medium before I even start on those. We'll do the decorative ones to start off with at least though. But for the ground level I think I'm gonna do some shopping and upgrade our bunnies."

Guy bobs up and down. "We do currently have ten souls in the inventory, which is enough for a boost to 'C' tier and still have some left over for the boss, or bosses. Any ideas in that regard?"

Rather than answering, Xenia shoots Sincere a look. "How about you, wanna get your own floor? You'd have to actually take part in combat anytime someone made it down that far."

The man considers the option for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't believe a forest environment would particularly suit my combat abilities. Something good at ambushes and stealthily moving about the terrain would be your best bet, I think. Undead are currently your highest tier monsters, yes? I don't know that any 'normal' undead would be particularly thematic for a forest environment, but my recommendation would be to crossbreed some more undead monster types. Arachnids, perhaps, or your bunnies, as humorous as that may seem."

The dungeon master taps her fingers against each other. "Undead bunnies...yeah, that might be worth a shot. Alright, I'll start up a crossbreeding program right away. And now...let's see if we get any freebies, shall we?" Bringing up her floor menus, Xenia presses and confirms the option to officially unlock her fourth floor. Soon after the window closes, a new popup appears from Guy.

"Whoo!" Xenia claps before standing up from her seat. "Alright, let's clear out that boring-ass hallway and get some landscaping done. Time to bring in some green!"

Down at the Fort, Commander Paulados looks up as one of his newest junior officers enters his office. As he looks over the elf he notes that although the man's been in the region for a few weeks now, the two of them have barely spent twenty minutes in the same room together in all that time. His tunic remains clean and well-tailored, but his boots give the truer indication of the officer's duties since his arrival: scuffed and dirty, the result of spending his days out in the wilds rather than overseeing the expansion of the Fort as Paulados himself has been doing. Motioning for the elf to take a seat, the Commander decides to start with a bit of casual chat before getting down to business.

"Welcome back, Lieutenant Willowbranch. I hope watching the new border crossing hasn't been too tiresome a task for you?"

The elf shakes his head, and Paulados is reminded of on how most elves that would cause a cascade of silky-smooth hair to flow around their shoulders. Not so for Yalonn Willowbranch, whose brown locks were cut unusually short by elvish standards, even for those within the military. He would assume it was a matter of practicality, given the difficulties of hair-care during long expeditions into the woods, but somehow that never seemed to bother most of the elves the commander had known. "Not personally, no. The men at the mountain camp don't particularly enjoy the duty, I'll admit, but as for myself I've been focusing on scouting out the more difficult paths between the mountains. I've seen no signs of the Valleylanders attempting other crossings, but I do prefer to be on the move, not to mention the hunting is much better down there."

"I can imagine. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm going to need to re-assign you, at least briefly. The Valleylanders as you know have begun their 'training missions' in the dungeon, with their secondary objective of keeping an eye out for 'Dragonlord mischief', or whatever it is they're expecting to find down there. I think they're jumping at shadows personally, you know. Certainly, the Dragonlord is a schemer, but you know how those Valleylanders can get. A couple of them mix up their drinks in the tavern and they'll be swearing it's a Dragonlord plan to poison them all or some foolishness. Still, they paid well enough to waste their time, so I wasn't going to worry too much about it."

The elf tilts his head at the last statement. "Your intentions have changed, Commander?"

The man nods. "I've been keeping track of their movements and communications, obviously, and they seem to believe they've found something. You've probably heard already, that they finally cleared the third floor and lost their commanding officer for the trouble. Tossrock seemed like a fine officer, but I have to admit, I won't mourn the confusion it's stirred into their little project. More to the point, however, they appear to sincerely believe that Challengers can somehow join the dungeon as permanent residents...pun not intended."

Willowbranch raises an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I follow."

Paulados chuckles at his slip of the tongue. "A demon fellow, Sincere, vanished into the dungeon some time ago. Originally assumed killed, but apparently a mercenary Challenger party was able to find and recover the man - only for the dungeon to do something to the horned one after that. The Valleylanders are actively attempting to find him again in there, and appear to believe the dungeon may have some sort of secret wing it's hiding him away in. For what purpose? Hells if I know." Paulados scoffs and leans back, gesturing at a stack of tomes on one side of his desk. "The details may not particularly matter much. The important part to me is, this dungeon is still barely more than a month and a half old! I've been looking through the records of newly-discovered dungeons, and I'll tell you something, Willowbranch - most dungeons under a year old think they're clever if they can manage to hide a godsdamn pitfall."

"I've never been in such a new dungeon myself, but that's about what I've heard as well. Usually it's several years before they try anything particularly original at all, isn't that the case? So you are worried now that the Dragonlord did do something to Worthy Dungeon?"

"Dragonlord, the gods, a secret Warlock, I'm not going to leap to any conclusions. The important thing is, this is a dungeon in Rainlands territory and our intelligence on the place is now falling behind the Challengers and the Valleylanders. We've sent parties in before, but the place is bigger and tougher now, and we need our own first-hand reports. Therefore I'd like you to take charge of a team to delve the place yourself."

The elf rubs his chin. "Been a while since I've been in a dungeon, but it could be interesting. Do you have a team in mind?"

Paulados nods. "Partially. Alpine Scout Tafyaf and Combat Medic Goldleaf are both available and have personal experience in the place, and better yet, are halfway through their Advanced levels and so have a decent shot of surviving whatever it's got now. You're a Wild Sentinel, yes? Mix of melee and ranged training? I'd recommend you find yourself a heavy and someone who can toss spells, we've got more of their like around here now than we did a few weeks ago. I'll let you pick your team, however. Tafyaf wanders a fair bit here and there, but you can usually find Goldleaf down in the infirmary, and better than even odds she'll know where the gnoll's spending his time. The pair seem thick as thieves of late, which surprises me. That Goldleaf was always a cold one, not that I have a word to say against her actual skills or performance, of course."

"I'll do that, sir. May take a day to put a party together, and another to make sure we're prepared for the delve, but I'll let you know before we head out."

"Good. Best of luck to you, Lieutenant."

Ten minutes later, after following several well-marked signs, the Sentinel found his way to the Fort's infirmary. While the facility was still undersized compared to the planned capacity of the Fort once the expansion project was complete, for the moment at least the room was quiet. With no active combat operations the worst injuries to come up were the occasional training accidents, and going by the number of empty beds the local garrison weren't being particularly clumsy this week.

In fact, as Willowbranch passed more empty stations he began to wonder if Combat Medic Goldleaf was even on duty at the moment at all - but given that leaving the infirmary unstaffed would be a notable offense, that didn't seem particularly likely. The mystery was finally solved when the man stepped past a final curtain at the end of the room, finding the woman giving a medical examination to a male gnoll. A very excited male gnoll, as was apparent by his complete lack of pants. Turning red, Willowbranch immediately turns around and takes a few steps back in the direction from which he came.

"Ahum, ah...Medic Goldleaf, yes? ...And I don't suppose that would be Scout Tafyaf with you, by any chance?"

It takes a moment for the woman to respond, but when she does Goldleaf manages to sound both professional and dismissive. "I am Combat Medic Goldleaf, yes. I hope you've learned a lesson about respecting patient confidentiality and privacy while you've been stomping your way through my infirmary?"

"Ah, well, yes...my apologies. I'm Lieutenant Willowbranch, and I've been given a task requiring your skills - and those of Scout Tafyaf, if you would happen to know his location. Could you plan on stopping by my tent after your duty shift has ended?"

"...I'll pass on your message, Lieutenant. You may go, now."

As the officer beats a hasty retreat, Tafyaf tries and fails to stifle an embarrassed laugh. "Getting caught, not as exciting in practice as in theory, yes? Perhaps we should find a better location, maybe?"

Goldleaf narrows her eyes as she pushes her 'patient' back on the bed. "After causing me that much trouble? No, Scout - you're staying right here..."