Worthy Core

As the Party of Bounty explored the rest of the dungeon's fourth floor they encountered a few more solitary shades, but it didn't take them long to arrive at the forest's main feature. After following one of the mini-rivers back towards the center of the chamber they stopped to examine a short obelisk placed opposite a small island, and the carving on its front face made its purpose obvious. The only mark on the four-foot monument was that of a rabbit's head, carved in profile, and exactly the same size and shape as the token the group found earlier. Holding the pink crystal up against the carving, Sable gives a nod.

"Yup, definitely a dungeon key. Given that it's, you know, sitting right on the shore of a river, I'm gonna hazard a guess that it gives us a way across. Any objections to me slotting it in?"

Elance shrugs. "You're the expert, Greenie. Which means I'm blaming you either way if this is a trap."

"Figures." The Paladin snorts as she snaps the token into place, and sure enough within moments the ground beneath them begins to rumble. One by one stone columns start to emerge from the river ahead, each of them eventually fitting together like puzzle pieces to form a narrow bridge across the water. Podge grumbles as he takes a look at the construct.

"A stone bridge, that's all? Pfft, if we'd found this island first, I coulda just made one of those and spared us some effort!" A few others in the party chuckle, but a strange woman's voice calls out, sounding much more offended.

"Cheaters! Take a swim, like a real Challenger!"

Sable quickly readies her sword, moving into a combat stance. "Didn't that come from the river? Under the bridge, maybe? Who's there!?" The woman carefully approaches the shore, peering under the nearest bridge supports, but finds nothing. "...Shit, don't see anything."

Renter grips his crossbow a little tighter. "Right, well. Let's just assume that the place has a water monster, and then not fall into the river on the way across, yeah? Paladin, care to lead the way?"

"Yeah, yeah." Keeping cautious but also making sure to keep up a brisk pace, Sable takes the lead across the narrow bridge, followed soon after by Podge. As both make it across safely the others follow, all of them breathing a sigh of relief once they're back on solid ground. The Paladin continues to eye the river cautiously, but still finds nothing unusual. "Must be a special rule of the challenge, the monster can't attack people on the bridge? Or maybe it's just really sucky at fighting out of the water."

"Neither of em sound like theories I care to test today, honestly. But look ahead - the trees and rocks 'round here are so close together you'd barely be able to squeeze between em, except right where we're at. Look like anything to you?" The Tracker points out the gap with his crossbow, and Podge nods.

"Aye, that's a gate if I've ever seen one. Ready yourself, folks - think we're heading into an arena."

The group moves forward, passing through a short cloud of mist to find themselves in what appears to be an overgrown cemetery. The markings on the gravestones are written in a mixture of languages, but Lilly leans over to read one written in Rainlander. "'One-Eye McChew, Should have looked both ways.' That's...what sort of name is that? Or that epitaph?"

As if in answer, the mist in the center of the cemetery suddenly turns black and begins to swirl, eventually taking the form of a tall man in a dark robe, holding a long scythe. Or something like a man, at least, the rabbit ears emerging from his hood raising some questions in that department. "A BETTER EPITAPH THAN YOU SHALL HAVE, AFTER YOU FALL HERE."

The adventurers wince at the sound of the voice, though most of them also appear rather confused. Elance growls out a question. "What the hells kind of language was that!? Anyone know what it said?"

Sable laughs in response. "That was Demonic! Grandma taught me a bit of it, what was it again...YOU! YOUR NOSTRIL HANG LIKE LOOSE BALLSACK!"

This time it's the monster who seems to wince. "WHAT IN THE WORLD HAS YOUR GRANDMOTHER BEEN TEACHING YOU?"

Heartened by the boss's response, Sable keeps it up. "YOU INSERT FRUIT INTO MY ANUS, PLEASE!"

"ALRIGHT, THE BANTER PHASE IS OFFICIALLY DONE, NOW." Swooping forward, the creature swings its scythe at the foul-mouthed woman, but despite the dark magics clinging to its blade the Paladin's sword is able to block it in its tracks. The rest of the party begins to move to flank the boss, but the farm implement isn't the only tool it has at its disposal, and with one hand it sprays a dark cloud of mist in their direction.

Elance pulls Lilly back as the former Challengers retreat on their own. "Stay back, it's one of them rot clouds! Keep your distance!"

Happy to stay at range, Renter fires off a bolt at the monster but curses as it seems to fly right through it. "Blast! Should've asked one of you ladies to bless a few of these bolts before we started!" For his part Podge summons a giant stone spike to impale the boss from behind, but while the large mass does seem to force the monster aside, there's little sign that it caused any injury. The only positive seems to be that the shade is unable to counter-attack, the Paladin standing there to block him whenever he begins to turn towards another member of her party. She even gets in one good swing after a few attempts, causing the monster to howl as the sword passes through the lower portion of its robes despite the lack of any visual harm done.

"GAH! FIGURES I WOULD FACE A HOLY PARTY ON MY FIRST OUTING. TIME TO PLAY ANOTHER CARD, THEN." After raising a fist the mist begins to swirl around many of the gravestones filling the arena, though it does no apparent harm...for a while. Soon though the soil at each of them begins to disturb, moments before more albino-white rabbits break through and dash their way towards the adventurers. Renter and Podge both find themselves swarmed by the tiny beasts, but Lilly has time to clench her own fists and utter a few words of condemnation.

"I cannot believe you would use such...such cute, adorable bunnies as monster fodder! How dare you make me do this!" Calling on more power than she had in the entire delve up to this point put together, the elf stretches out both hands - and the meadow comes alive. Every flower, weed and blade of grass begins to wave and stretch, and before long the monstrous rabbits find themselves ensnared by plant life as they attempt to dash around. Once their movement is halted their situation becomes even more dire, as more and more plants begin to wrap around their bodies, pulling them tightly against the ground and squeezing. Although the Priestess winces every time it happens, the cemetery is soon filled with the sound of snapping bones and animal squeaks.

"GRUESOME. BUT EFFECTIVE, I ADMIT." Giving up on attacking the squishier members of the party, the monster instead redoubles his efforts against the Paladin, swirling like a living cloud to bring his scythe against her in broad sweeps. It only seems to energize the battle-junkie even further however and Sable increases her own tempo in response. While she has to spend half her time dodging or blocking his swings, it still leaves her half her energy to push forward with attacks of her own, and every impact of her holy blade only weakens the boss further. Eventually she's able to launch herself forward, impaling her sword halfway through his chest, and with a final wail the powerful spirit disperses. Even the over-sized scythe returns to dark smoke as he vanishes, leaving no trace behind.

Elance looks over from where she's once again healing Podge of bunny bites and gives a chuckle. "You know Greenie, I don't think I've ever seen you have this much fun."

"You know what? You might be right about that...oh, hey! Loot!" Battle already nearly forgotten, Sable rushes over to the newly-appeared chest and opens it up. "Got some necklaces with charms that match the bridge token, just smaller...enchanted I'm sure, dunno with what, though. A bottle with...oh, eugh!" She makes a face as she eyes the glass potion bottle, before holding it at arm's length. "Pretty sure this is just a bottle of that lizard spit. I dunno, might be useful for weapons or alchemy or something, someone else can take that shit though. And lastly..." This time her eyes go wide as she pulls out a sword, wreathed in a thin veil of black mist as she unsheathes it for examination. "Oh damn, first enchanted weapon! Probably dark magic there, which uh...is kind of not thematic for me, I suppose. Anyone else here decent with a blade?"

Renter raises a hand. "Good enough to not cut my own leg off, at least. And hey, whatcha know - looks like there's some stairs in the middle here, pretty sure those weren't there before. Ready to head on out, ladies?"

Elance smiles, but shakes her head. "Just about - but not until we get our answers."

 

---

 

Once the party finishes healing up and storing the loot, they make their way down the spiral staircase, this time with Elance taking the lead. After reaching a small landing area they push open a wooden door to find a room that matches the description of one they've heard of back at the tavern - a large chamber with a bed in one corner, a giant clamshell statue in the center, and a number of other tables and chairs. There's one feature that's a bit more surprising, however - the demon standing near the central statue, garbed in a mage's robes. The group tenses at the sight of him, but the demon merely nods and gives a respectful greeting.

"Congratulations on being the first to complete the fourth floor. I daresay that earns you the brief audience you were hoping for, though we do of course have your more typical loot waiting for you as well. My name is Sincere, and I welcome you in peace."

Elance steps forward, handling the introductions. "Well, glad to meet you, Sincere. I'm Bountiful Mother Elance Hammerdown, this here is my friend Paladin Sable Bluehair, and we also have my associates from the church, Priestess Lilly Fullblossom, Tracker Renter Forst, and Geomancer Podge Bootpebble. If I understand right, you'll be willing to answer some questions for us?"

The man pauses for a moment before answering. "...Yes, but first, a question of my own. Paladin, you wouldn't happen to be the daughter of Helios Bluehair, by any chance?"

Sable sighs and nods. "Yup, that's my grand - wait, Helios? You're asking about my dad, not Grandpa Bill?"

Sincere chuckles. "Well, everyone knows your grandfather of course, at least by reputation. I knew your father personally, however, as we both worked once on an expedition to the Hordelands."

The Paladin's eyes go wide. "The tour of the Old Continents! That was before I was even born - what, ninety years ago? But wait, that means you've been outside the dungeon..."

Elance nods along. "That would make you one of the dungeon's reincarnations, aye? Makes me doubly glad we get to speak, then."

"Of course, it is rare that we get much company these days. Forgive my manners, please, take a seat and some refreshments." He motions towards a nearby table, and wine and snacks appear as he does so. "Food courtesy of our gracious host, who is listening in at the moment, incidentally."

"Glad to know." The Mother leads the party in taking a seat and a drink, although she leaves the food for the time being. "So, as to our questions - my first is one I would like to pose to my Goddess herself, but of course the gods rarely deign to answer our queries. I don't suppose you have any insights into why Kahlia would be getting into the dungeon business now, all of a sudden?"

"We do, actually. For starters, it's not that sudden - apparently the Goddess has had an interest for a few decades now. We were just the first to have a mutual interest, rather than aligning ourselves with one of the more common, martial-minded divinities. As to the specifics, it would seem that Kahlia has taken a fancy to seeing more Challenger offspring, after being...inspired by a few particular examples."

Lilly leans forward, interest written on her face. "And why was it that your dungeon chose the Goddess of Fertility as a patron? You seem aware that it's an unusual choice."

Sincere smirks and shrugs. "Well, it was before my arrival, of course, but the core of it is that this is an unusual dungeon. The option of being a dungeon of life and death sounded interesting, and so our Master took the gamble."

Renter notices the look on Elance's and Lilly's faces and chuckles. "Heh, think we were maybe expecting something a little deeper than 'why not', but hey, the occasional gamble keeps life interesting, right? Seems like it really worked out for you though, right? I mean, the boss reincarnations, the forest, and...whatever you've got going on with your Floor Five shit. Ain't that a lot?"

"I'm not cleared to discuss the fine details of our arrangement, but I will say that the Master of the Dungeon and the Goddess of Fertility have established a fairly good working relationship, and we're hopeful that it will, if you'll pardon the pun, prove fruitful going into the future."

Elance snorts. "Aye, speaking of being fruitful, we saw that card you handed off to that couple the other day - seems you're taking an interest in the family planning of your visitors, are you?"

Sincere plays coy, shrugging again. "Like I said, I'd rather not discuss the details, but it's a topic of interest to Kahlia, so we may have taken a slight interest of our own."

The Mother smiles back. "Interesting indeed. Tell me, anything else you'd be willing to work with the Goddess on - or to be more to the point, to work with the Church of Bounty on? As her mortal representatives and such."

This time the demon looks slightly surprised at the change in topic. "You're asking after, what, collaborative projects with the dungeon? While I'm aware that 'blessed' dungeons often have local churches sprouting up in the vicinity afterwards to support the gathering faithful, that's more of an incidental relationship, rather than one of active cooperation. What is it you're hoping to achieve?"

"Heh, well, fortunately I don't know shit about how dungeons usually work, so I'm flyin' by the seat of my metaphorical robes here. We will be looking at setting up a local house of worship, certainly, but I don't see any reason to limit it to that, if you'd be up for more. For example, you gave us that creepy dark sword earlier, which was right nice, but as Sable noted at the time, not really in keeping with our 'theme'. If ye gave loot items more aligned towards items our flock usually covets - fertility charms, seedlings for improved harvests, divinely blessed items and so on, it'd help support the faithful even further."

"Hmm, well, I'm not sure which of those are currently within our capacity, but aside from that, this seems rather one-sided. It'd help attract more of your faithful to the region, but that's not a particularly Challenger-heavy demographic. Why would we choose to spend our effort on loot like that, rather than the items our current, ah, clientele is already in favor of?"

The Bountiful Mother nods and reaches for a bag at her waist. "We're a church, now, we're well-acquainted with the idea of offerings and sacrifices. We help you, you help us, aye? Now, I'm told that 'feeding' dungeons is frowned upon, but I do think we can offer a fair trade that ain't going to ruffle any feathers. For example - a sample of the sort of thing I asked for, enchanted crop seeds." She pulls a smaller cloth bag out and places it on the table in front of her. "I doubt fast-growing wheat would manage to kill anyone, and from what I've seen and heard, you can already make the plants in here full-grown as you like. But if it helps you make more of these as loot, I'd have no problem giving you some as a gift."

Sincere looks off to the side, listening to an unheard voice, before turning back to the group. "The Master of the Dungeon isn't willing to make any promises right now, but she'd be happy to accept your gift and consider her options. There may be the possibility of providing better 'themed' loot to parties specifically arriving from the Church of Bounty, which would at least keep the local Challengers from getting unhappy when they expect a new shield and get a bag of seedlings instead."

"Glad she's willing to hear us out, at least. One last request - any chance we'd be able to speak in the future without going through all this rigmarole? I'm used to asking questions that don't often get answered, but I usually don't have wee rodents trying to gnaw my ankles off while I'm doing it."

The demon once again spends some time listening to his boss before responding. "While that is fair, the Master of the Dungeon doesn't want the reputation of being too accessible - that would only encourage others to think that they have some right to pry into our secrets. The occasional visit may be tolerated, but the Master would recommend that you perhaps join forces with the local Field Agent, perhaps assigning a representative to her team. It is expected that the Challenger's Association would have better access, and I doubt an extra Cleric or Priestess would look much out of place."

Elance considers the idea before nodding. "Could be an idea, I'll have to talk to her, of course. That does remind me, you have a good working relationship with the Field Agent, do you? I got the impression the two of you may have worked out a deal or two in the past."

"Well, I won't confirm or deny any arrangements we may or may not have made. I will note though that Lollyp, our Boss of Floor Two, and Field Agent Alizz are related by marriage, by way of Lollyp's deceased brother. We do try to stay on good terms, yes."

"My! How ain't I heard of that already!? Guess I should have paid more attention to Challenger gossip. ...Well, feel like I ought to have more for you after all this effort getting here, but to be honest I'm half near exhausted from all that business. I haven't had that sort of exercise in decades, now! Unless you've got anything, Lilly, perhaps it's time we said our farewells?"

Lilly shakes her head, but Sable leans forward. "Wait, hold on now - we're the first party to get to see the Floor Five section that unlocks for beating that shade boss! We're not leaving without giving it a try, right?"

Her dwarven friend laughs. "I don't know why you're looking at me, Greenie. If you and someone else want to break it in though, feel free."

"Alright, then. How 'bout it, Lilly, wanna pick up that conversation where we left off?" The Paladin waggles her green eyebrows at the nearby elf, but she just turns away demurely, so Sable looks elsewhere. "Fine, fine. Renter? Podge?" As the two ex-Challengers both shake their heads, the woman groans. "Are you kidding me? It's not me, right? I don't usually strike out this many times in a row."

Renter chuckles. "Maybe another time lass, but as your friend said, I'm exhausted and already downed far more potions today than I would like. May as well try the demon fellow there, eh?" As Sable turns her attention on Sincere, the man starts to let her down easy.

"While that is quite tempting, unfortunately the Floor Five rewards are...oh? One moment..." The man pauses to listen to his master once again, and chuckles before resuming. "Well. I have just been informed that the technical language on the Floor Five challenge is only that two parties are both satisfied - there is apparently no requirement that both parties be mortals. And the Master of the Dungeon and I are both agreed that we would like to ensure that all our guests are fully...satisfied, so if you wish, I would be happy to help complete your tour of Floor Five."

As the Paladin clenches her fists in victory, Elance rolls her eyes. "Figures you'd somehow be the one to seduce a dungeon boss, Greenie. If y'can call that seduction, anyhow. You have fun now lass - but I think I'll be taking that as my cue to head back to my own quiet bed..."