Worthy Core

As one of the region's foremost experts on the first two floors of Worthy Dungeon, Tafyaf was easily able to navigate the Rainlander party through the hazards that faced them for the first half hour or so of the dungeon intrusion. The skeleton and slime monsters proved to be of little threat to the veteran soldiers, and as it happened Willowbranch's own skills were uniquely well-suited towards fighting off BB. Although Willowbranch started off the boss fight armed with his sword, a long blade curved to mimic a blade of grass, after the rabbit boss's initial ambush exposed the creature he quickly swapped gear. Sword sheathed in a flash, a moment later he was wielding a longbow with a speedy efficiency that was genuinely magical. The monstrous rabbit hadn't been expecting the elf to become a ranged combatant so quickly, and was pinned by a pair of arrows before he even knew what happened. After that it was all over but the execution.

The elevator ride was almost relaxing, with Tafyaf forewarning them of the ambushes they would face, but like most parties they grew far more cautious when they finally reached the door to the second floor's boss arena. Rubbing his chin in thought, Willowbranch turns to the gnoll Spirit Mage, Choc Ress, with a few questions. "Tell me, Mage Ress, can you sense the spirits of the Challengers who have died here? By all reports, the room ahead may well be the most fatal in the entire dungeon."

Closing his eyes, the gnoll mumbles a few words which causes his staff to glow blue - particularly around the eye sockets of the animal skulls that adorn it, the elf notices. It doesn't take long for the Mage to have his answer, which he gives with a grin. "Oh yes, many have died here, enough that the challenge might be to pick one in particular. Did you have a sort of adventurer in mind to help us in our next fight, perhaps?"

"You could say that." The elf's lips begin to quirk at one corner, just a little. "I keep hearing tales of how the boss ahead seems to be far too intelligent for what such a dungeon could have. As an ensouled boss, they themselves must have died in this dungeon at some point, yes? Could you call forth their spirit?"

The Mage laughs out loud at the suggestion. "Haha, never thought of that before, no, although..." The man trails off as his eyes lose focus, and confusion begins to mark his face. "...Odd. Very unusual, this is."

Ahead of them, Vanguard Frudd grows nervous, adjusting the grip on her shield. "Unusual how? Is it not actually a normal boss monster?"

Choc's gaze regains focus as he answers her. "The difficulty with attempting to bring forth a boss monster's spirit, is that the form of the boss is not the form of the mortal who fueled it, no. The mortal echo has no memory of being a monster, and so it should be very difficult to determine which mortal was the one who fell to empower the creature. But...in this case, well...it is very easy to see which spirit is the correct one, yes." With another wave of his staff, a blue ghost-like form appears before the group. Short, semi-transparent, and dressed only in a potion-strapped vest and pointy hat, the spirit is obviously that of a slime. As it takes shape, Tafyaf gasps.

"It is her, yes! That is the boss of the floor, it is, yes!" The spirit fixes her eyes on him and tilts her head, but doesn't speak. Willowbranch meanwhile is not so quiet.

"Wait, hold on now. You're telling me that this mortal who died here in the dungeon, is exactly the same as the boss waiting ahead?"

Tafyaf peers closer before turning to Choc. "Slimes can adjust their form easily, yes, may be hard to recognize for sure. Can the spirit say something, perhaps?"

Choc nods. "It will answer more strongly to me, as the one who called it. Fallen spirit, who are you, and how did you find your end in this place?"

The ghost turns to the Mage, and as it does so its blank expression is replaced by a grin. "Slime Elementalist Lollyp, that's me! And that...is classified information. You don't need to know!"

Willowbranch groans. "Dear gods, the Valleylanders were right. The second floor boss is a godsdamn Domain soldier! But how!? Mage, we need more information!"

"Perhaps a more roundabout line of questions, maybe. Spirit Lollyp, what is your last memory of this place?"

The slime rubs her chin for a while, then grins again. "I had a really good lay. Oh my gods, it was incredible. Just how I always wanted to go!"

The group goes silent at that, until Goldleaf speaks up. "...So. The Dungeon Fuckers weren't just bullshitting about this place, then. I guess that's...intel. Of a sort."

Sighing, Choc tries another avenue. "How is it that you became a dungeon creature, remaining as you are, with all of your skills and knowledge, hrmm?" This time the spirit grows confused.

"...What? That's not possible. What are you talking about?"

Willowbranch spends a moment in thought, then shakes his head. "I'd like to try and question the boss herself about this, if she might be prone to talking, but this is already an incredible discovery. I don't think we should risk it. We'll continue to question the spirit echo for as long as the spell lasts, then we turn back and make sure this information isn't lost." The moment the words leave his lips however, the air is filled with the sound of grinding gears. Turning around, the group realizes to their shock that the platform behind them is returning to its original position several stories above. They rush back towards it, and it's not particularly quick moving - Willowbranch judges that he could easily climb back on it in time, as could Goldleaf. Frudd's heavy armor makes her much less nimble however, and the shorter gnolls are already unable to grab hold of the platform before it's too high to reach.

Deciding that the consequences of splitting the party in half would be even worse than being stuck on the second floor, the elf instead turns to find the wall-mounted pressure plate that serves as the platform's control device, hoping to call it back down. Only to find to his shock that the button is gone, only smooth stone where it had been installed only moments ago. "Gods preserve us. The dungeon is attempting to trap us down here."

Frudd's eyes grow wide. "What!? Dungeons can't do that! I mean...sir, surely that's not something they can actually do?"

Willowbranch closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thinks. After a moment or two, he begins to laugh bitterly. "Oooh, that is clever. What a trap this is." Looking up at his party, the Sentinel begins to explain. "Dungeons have rules, yes. Otherwise it would be too easy for such powerful creations to simply crush anyone who wanders into them, which is not what the gods desire. But, consider, rule one: a dungeon's core must be accessible to parties entering the dungeon. It still is, because a new party entering the dungeon would find the moving platform waiting for them upstairs. It's still accessible for us as well, as we have already passed that obstacle. Another rule: at least one exit that exists when a party enters must remain accessible to them and unchanged while the party is within the dungeon. Otherwise a dungeon could simply move or remove portals at will and never allow a party to leave, until they die."

Looking up, the man peers at the shrinking platform above. "The way we came in is now no longer accessible to us. And it may well be that the other emergency exit portals have also been removed. But at least one must remain - I would expect it to be the one in the core chamber, the one deepest in the dungeon. Hrmm...I suppose we could wait for a second party to come down and bring the platform back to us. Ugh, and then a third party to arrive and summon the platform back upstairs again, if the dungeon had no qualms about keeping two parties trapped down here. But given that most Initiate parties don't even attempt the second floor..." The elf shakes his head. "No. There's no guarantee that Commander Paulados would send a rescue party into the dungeon if we don't return, and waiting for two additional Challenger parties to arrive could take more than a week."

Vanguard Frudd looks at her commander with wary eyes. "So what can we do then, sir?"

Willowbranch's own eyes narrow. "The only way out is through. The dungeon has apparently decided we know too much to live, and will be doing everything it can to ensure that we don't make it out. We will have to fight through it all, and make it all the way to the core chamber. Or we all die."

Behind him, Goldleaf sighs. "I really need to stop letting myself be volunteered for dungeon assignments."

With a hint of concern in their voice, Guy turns to Xenia. "Are you sure this is a good move, ma'am? Deaths in a dungeon are to be expected, occasionally even a high rate of deaths. However, I rather suspect that if word gets out that we are attempting to manipulate full-party-wipe situations, public opinion could turn against us rather sharply."

Xenia grits her teeth, sounding a bit uncertain herself. "If they were just Challengers, that'd be one thing. Adventurers talk shit all the time, you heard that one party a while back talking about how they thought even Alizz might be bullshitting them, remember? But these guys are military, and worse, ones sent in here specifically to dig up dirt on us. These dudes file a report, and it'll get believed. Then...well who fuckin' knows, yeah? If they figure out that we're cursed, or that we made a deal with the Dragonlord, maybe that would be enough to get them to decide to just crack me open. Or, I dunno, yoink my core and study me for science or some shit."

"While that is true, do you believe we'll actually be able to wipe their full party? Even with the emergency exit portals removed, the fourth floor is still barely implemented at this stage, and the third floor is mostly nonlethal. We're essentially putting all our eggs in the basket that is our floor bosses."

Xenia thinks, tapping her lips. "Our bosses...hrmm. C'mon Guy, let's chat with Sincere. He might have another option for us."

As the Rainlander party prepares to invade Lollyp's arena, the two invisible spirits teleport away.

Stepping into the foul-smelling cavern, Tafyaf snorts through his nose as he eyes the ceiling. "Be cautious, yes. Word is, both Valleylander minotaurs who fell met their end here, they did."

The response he gets isn't one from a party member, but an echoing voice from the room around him. "And looks like we're gonna be adding a few more to that count! Really, summoning a lady's ghost without her consent! That's rude, you know!"

Standing beside Choc, Lollyp's spirit echo gasps. "Hey, that's my voice! That's...huh. That's really weird!" Before she can continue, the ghost suddenly twists in place, her torso moving in a way that would snap the spine of most mortals. A blast of lightning erupts from her fingers, scorching a blobby red form that had been inches away from swinging into the Spirit Mage and possibly tossing him into an acid pool. "Whoa! Close one!"

Groaning, the floor boss quickly reforms into a standing position. "Hey, what gives!? If you're me, then how come you blasted me!?"

The echo of her former life shrugs and points to the gnoll beside her. "Sorry! He's the boss now!"

Stepping forward before the slime can retort, Willowbranch decides to make at least one attempt at getting more information out of the floor boss. "Slime Elementalist Lollyp, is it? Tell us, how did you engage in this...this residency contract or whatever you might call it with the dungeon?"

"Stop asking questions that'll get you killed, genius!" Lollyp turns to zap the elf with her wand, but the weapon goes flying as an ice shard from spirit-Lollyp cuts off her hand. The slime turns to her with a betrayed look on her face, but as the rest of the party closes in she has little choice but to retreat.

Unfortunately for her, with her ambush foiled and the injuries from elemental blasts mounting up, the boss finds herself starting off on a serious backfoot. Ironically it's her own 'ghost' who proves to be the largest threat to her, scoring glancing hits every time she tries to stop and engage one of the other members of the party. Eventually a final direct hit of lightning causes her to freeze and spasm, buying Frudd all the time she needs to bisect the slime down the middle.

The ghost cheers, before suddenly gasping. "Oh, shit, all that really took it out of me. That's...fuck, that wasn't mana, that was my energy I was burning there, wasn't it? Well...it was fun while it lasted, even if it was me killing me." With that she fades out, causing Willowbranch to curse.

"Dammit, I was hoping we'd have more time to question her. Mage, can you bring her back?"

The gnoll shakes his head. "The echo will reform in time, but even with a powerful, relatively recent death...no, will likely not be able to reform her for a month, at least."

"Curses. I suppose what we learned already will have to be enough." Taking the team forward into the next room, he finds that the usual healing fountain and exit portal are both gone, although the floor's treasure chest remains. "Hmm, I wonder if dungeons are obligated to provide rewards for slaying bosses? Suppose we'll take what we can get."

As he opens the chest and pulls out the amulets inside, the officer frowns. "More luck charms, like the ones upstairs. I thought this floor usually offered different rewards?" As he thinks, the final message from the strange warrior on the mountainside earlier runs through his mind. "Luck charms...wait. That woman implied there was something odd about luck here, didn't she?" He turns back to the party behind him. "Everyone! If anyone's wearing luck charms from the first floor boss, take them off now. I believe the dungeon might be trying something..."

While several party members reach into their collars and remove their rabbit feet charms, Xenia watches on in dismay. "Dammit, Trish! What did you say, are the Rainlanders catching onto the luck thing now too!? Fuck, I hope Sincere's plan will work..."