Worthy Core

The rest of Day Fifty passed relatively uneventfully, with Lollyp suggesting that the Challengers were likely waiting until after the big inspection to take another crack at the dungeon. Xenia had no particular complaints with that, as even though she was still sitting on her latest upgrades for the moment she still had a lot of fine-detail work to do on Floor Four, not to mention continuing efforts to increase her forest biome to 'High' quality. The dungeon wasn't left waiting too long however, as early in the morning of the next day a familiar party was standing before Doorman's gaze. Once again Alizz and Kelsey stood in the lead, with Taly and Sely taking the rear, wearing the same gear as they had on their previous visit. One thing had perhaps changed though which was the group's attitude, which came off as far more relaxed and cheerful than on their first visit. Even so, Alizz maintains a solid professionalism as she greets the guardian.

"Good morning, Guardian of Worthy Dungeon. We have come to test your challenges." As she speaks the drider keeps her hands folded in front of her and her wands in their holsters, but they remain visible enough to serve as a reminder to the door that his cooperation is strictly a formality.

"And good morning to you, Field Agent Alizz and associates. I'm glad to see you, actually - the Master of the Dungeon has been wishing to speak to you, on matters of some importance as I understand them. All of you present have cleared Floor Two before, so you're welcome to take the shortcut portal there, at which point Lollyp will be happy to escort you to our new conference area."

Alizz raises an eyebrow and shoots Kelsey a glance before answering - while they were expecting an unusual visit, they hadn't been expecting an invitation to a conference. "I thank you for the invitation...however, our duties require us to perform an inspection of the entire dungeon. We wouldn't want to get a reputation for taking shortcuts in our work."

Doorman purses his lips in thought. "Hmm, well, not to take my word for it or anything, but I don't believe the first two floors have changed much since your first visit. Moreover, I believe the Master of the Dungeon would prefer to talk to you while you're fresh and...well, uninjured. You're welcome to perform your inspection afterwards, if you like."

A slight grin finds Alizz's lips. "I suppose that makes some sense...this is the first time a dungeon's actually made such a request of me, so perhaps we should be willing to adjust procedure just a little bit. We'll take the shortcut, then, though perhaps we'll be back here later."

"I'm looking forward to seeing if you can best a proper riddle, Field Agent! Until then, enjoy your visit."

It takes a minute for the full group to portal down to the safe room behind Lollyp's boss arena, which Taly and Sely find to be in the same condition it was on their previous visit. Once again, they also find the Boss of Floor Two waiting to greet them. "Heya, good to see you all again! Especially you, Alizz, it's been a shame you haven't had time to stop by more often!" The slime does her best to hug the drider around the waist, and receives a pat on the back in return.

"It's good to see you too, Lollyp. You wouldn't believe how busy it's been, we're practically building a small town down there. And you haven't been making my life any easier! At least the soldiers aren't my responsibility, but you certainly haven't been going easy on the Challengers either, have you?"

Lollyp gives a guilty grin and shrugs. "Job's a job, you know? Guess I do actually feel a little worse about giving you paperwork more than anything else, though."

Scoffing, Sely steps forward to give a greeting of her own. "Definitely keeping the place's reputation up as a deathtrap, alright. How's the hornboy, by the way? All 'recovered'?"

Lollyp's grin turns a little more devious in response. "He has, actually, we'll be meeting the others downstairs. Assuming you're fine with that, Alizz? We've, uh, we've got a lot to talk about."

"So I heard. Taking a shortcut to the core chamber, then?"

"Nope! A little surprise for you if you wanna hop in - heh, a nonlethal one, of course, guess a dungeon boss ought to specify that. I think you'll like it!" She indicates another portal ring on the floor on the opposite side of the chamber, and Alizz gives a nod to her party.

"If Worthy Dungeon's got something they consider an intentional surprise, I'm sure it'll be something, alright. Suppose we'll head on down then."

Many possibilities had gone through Alizz's mind based on the description of a 'conference area', but the sight waiting for the party when they finish portaling through is far beyond anything she had imagined. The group finds themselves in a cleared-out meadow in the center of a forest, with a domed, glowing ceiling stretching out far overhead and a waterfall splashing not far away. As the drider takes a minute to listen to it she discovers that there's also the sound of birds coming from the trees around them, and even the occasional chirp of a cricket. The center of the meadow itself is taken up by a large, circular table made of polished stone, surrounded by seats which include a large sofa clearly designed for Alizz, and a backless seat which would suit Kelsey and his tail. Standing next to the table is a demonic man in a simple robe, whom they all recognize.

Kelsey greets the man first. "Well, if it ain't our missing-in-action demon! Sincere, was it? You're in some hot water for fraudulently filling out Challenger paperwork, you know!"

The man smiles in return. "My apologies, in my previous line of work I found it suitable to not draw too much attention to myself. I do want to thank you two lovely ladies though, Taly, Sely, for your assistance in my rescue. I owe you a debt of gratitude."

The sisters both give slightly surprised looks, with Taly answering for the pair. "Dang, you really do look as good as ever. Guess maybe we owe Lollyp a bit of an apology for saying the dungeon just ate you."

As Lollyp comes through behind them, she waves it off. "Nah, woulda said the same in your position. Actually, that's part of what we wanna do today. There's a lot of, you know, secrets and misconceptions and stuff going around, and we thought it was time to clear some of that up."

Alizz nods. "I'd be happy to hear what you have to say. Will one of you be speaking for the dungeon?"

Sincere shakes his head. "Actually, the dungeon will be speaking for herself. While she only has one use remaining of the spell, we thought this was important enough to be done face-to-face. So, without further ado...allow me to introduce to you Xenia Worthy, Master of Worthy Dungeon." He holds out an arm to his left side, and a moment later a woman's form appears. Human, garbed in simple black-dyed clothing consisting of rather tight pants and a short-sleeved shirt, and at first Alizz believes the dungeon spirit to be incredibly pale-skinned. After a few moments more however she realizes it's far more than that - the woman's skin is pure white, save for her eyes and other markings which stand out in black, while her hair comes in a swirl of both colors.

A friendly grin covers the dungeon spirit's face as she approaches the drider and reaches out a hand for a handshake. "Master of Worthy Dungeon - and Reincarnator Extraordinaire. Been too long since I used my proper title, figured I may as well dust it off. Good to finally meet you face-to-face, Field Agent."

Alizz's eyes grow wide as she accepts the handshake. While the agent had seen dungeon avatars before, she'd never been so close to one, let alone actually come into physical contact. The touch is warm, however - despite her odd coloring, the spirit feels as if she were living flesh. "Likewise! I was very much not expecting this - or, this!" She pauses to wave her hand to indicate the forest around them. "How did you get access to all of this? If, ah, you don't mind me asking."

Xenia's face remains smiling, unoffended. "The avatar spell was a gift - a good one, but I didn't wanna just sit around and hoard it forever when it could come in handy. And to be honest, the thought of doing all this through writing or interpreters was really not fun. Only lasts an hour though, so grab some seats and we'll get started, eh?"

Each of those present takes a moment to find their seats, with four on one side for the Challengers and Alizz in their center, while Xenia takes up the other end with Lollyp on her right and Sincere on her left. The moment they sit down refreshments appear before them, spawned from the table itself, with glasses of wine, sandwiches and snack food of various kinds. While Alizz is busy inspecting the offerings, Xenia is the first to raise her glass and take a drink. "Ah! You'll have to excuse me, it's not often I get to actually drink stuff properly, so I'm going to take advantage while I can."

Alizz bows her head. "It is your dungeon, you may do as you wish, Dungeon Master...although that other title confuses me a little. Reincarnator - does that have something to do with Lollyp and Sincere being as they are?"

Xenia nods. "Sure does! But before I get into details, let me sort of lay out the situation we're dealing with here, yeah? So...me and this place, we got secrets, right? And given that folks out there really do wanna kill me, or steal me, just for friggin' existing, I haven't been too fond of letting things slip. I mean, yeah, the visitors have been mostly well-behaved lately, but my first two intrusions almost ended with me going kaput, you know?"

Kelsey pulls at his whiskers. "The early days for a dungeon can be the riskiest, yeah. The Association and the nations alike got rules against breaking cores, at least without specific permission, but it's real easy for undiscovered cores to end up on the black market before anyone's got a chance to know about em. But you're registered now - long as shit doesn't get too crazy, you've got protections."

The dungeon avatar pops a piece of cheese into her mouth before answering. "Thanks, but shit's getting real close to getting too crazy, and I'd like to get ahead of it. See, we've got dudes from two armies now trying to figure us out, specifically, and they're getting way too close. We had to actually mindwipe the last bunch, and that was the nice option."

Sely's eyes go wide. "You can do that? What the hell?"

"Within limits." Sincere makes a conciliatory gesture with one hand. "It's not something we want to rely on regularly, or could even count on being able to do so."

Alizz's eyes narrow. "Yes, I would prefer that our Challengers' minds not be tampered with. So what is it you think we can do for you?"

Xenia continues drinking between sentences as she replies. "For starters, we need advice. We need someone with an outside perspective, literally, and not only is Beatrice out of town now but she didn't have much local insight to start with. And more than that, we're hoping for your support - mutually beneficial arrangement, you know? We help the Challengers earn loot and, well, challenge themselves, and you make sure the local governments don't decide I need to be cracked open for the greater good. And to get there, we need trust, so...if you're willing to swear you ain't gonna spill shit without my say-so, I'm willing to put all my cards on the table. How Lollyp's working here, how we got this fancy new forest floor, all of it. So, what do you say - are you in?"

Before she answers, Alizz takes a moment to study the woman across from her. Despite all of the oddities she's seen, even on just this one visit alone, perhaps the oddest is just how...human the Master of the Dungeon really is. She doesn't talk like a spirit of nature, just barely learning how to communicate with the outside world. Setting aside her bizarre two-tone appearance, she could be any woman Alizz might meet in any given tavern. Negotiating with dungeon spirits is always fraught given their limited understanding of mortal ethics, and Alizz can't deny that this perhaps represents a unique opportunity to gain an understanding into dungeons deeper than almost anyone else has ever had access to. With that in mind, she turns left and right to her companions. "Well...I'm willing to give the dungeon - Xenia - my trust. The rest of you?"

The sisters nod, if perhaps Taly does so rather more eagerly than Sely, and Kelsey laughs. "I ain't passing up a chance to put this in my memoirs one day! So yeah, I'll sign up, I wanna hear how the hell you got a godsdamn forest down under a godsdamn mountain if nothing else, ha!"

Smiling, Xenia Worthy presses her palms together and leans forward. "Well, alright then. To start with...let me tell you about my curses..."