Worthy Core

DAY 799

Xenia spent the rest of the afternoon and evening annoying the intruders on Floor One in a variety of non-violent ways. The torches were replaced with the flickering light design she had put together for Floor Nine, forcing the soldiers to set up their own torches or suffer serious migraines after a while. Heavy stones were ground against each other randomly, causing soldiers to fear that hidden entrances were about to open up, not to mention the loud noise it caused which prevented a restful sleep. And she did indeed cover many of the walls in graffiti representing the mothers - and fathers - of the Domain soldiers being fucked by the dungeon guardians in a rather creative number of ways.

Perhaps the most important trick though was the creation of empty hidden rooms around, above, and below the main path of Floor One. This had a number of effects - for starters, it wore down the energy and alertness of the Domain's earth mages, who were constantly tearing open new rooms only to find that there was nothing in them. More importantly, it allowed her to test what exactly the limits of their magical sensitivity were. If a room was through too much stone, or beyond a certain size, it could go unnoticed by the mage's patrols for much longer. On top of that, she was even able to identify certain blind spots around corners and such that the mages had trouble properly checking.

She did have to use caution when making space above the floor, however. Despite the numbering, the sprawling Floor Five had been physically placed above Floor One and was connected to the rest of the dungeon only through portals. If she inspired the Domain mages to start digging upwards with too much enthusiasm they might break directly through the floor of Worthy Inn, and that would cause no end of headaches.

The midnight reset of the dungeon's defenses did come and go, but unfortunately it was as unhelpful as Xenia and her councilors had been expecting. The Domain had indeed prepared for the reset well in advance, and all of the traps were studiously avoided while each of the respawning monsters were swarmed with overwhelming firepower the moment they appeared.

Afterwards, though, was when things got promising. Shifts were arranged to allow some of the squads to get some sleep, and the patrols had to begin covering more ground. This included the expedition's earth mages, which were present in a higher proportion than what normally might be expected for a group of Challenger parties, but which were still relatively few in number. It was clear the Domain was expecting for Xenia to pull something, and in the process they were running their mages a little ragged to counter it.

And so, at half-past two in the morning, Prince Thaddeus and his selected squad portal into a newly-created room not far from the dungeon's entry chamber. The squad is mostly mortals, including Thaddeus himself, his wife Tizzy, Nalaney Greengrass from the Miserables, and her brother Nalaff. Two guardians were also sent, these being Taly and Pizola. Xenia had considered using a squad made up entirely of 'expendable' dungeon monsters, but many of her guardians aren't built for stealth, most of the minions can't quite be relied on for a high-importance mission like this, and finally, if Xenia lost half a dozen floor guardians in a fouled-up operation it would cost most of her spare daily mana just to do the emergency respawns for them.

There is of course one other member of the operation, a rather key one, one might say. Swinging open in the dungeon entryway, Doorman tries his best to get the attention of the guards posted there. "Hey. Hey, are you awake?"

Although the kobolds are indeed mostly awake, the sudden speech does manage to make them nearly jump out of their boots. One yellow-scaled man growls at the suddenly-noisy door for his behavior. "Gah! What are you, my squad leader? Of course I'm awake! But don't make too much noise, folks are tryin' to sleep in there, you know?"

Doorman frowns at the request. "Almost makes me think that perhaps I should start singing. No bark off my frame if they're grumpy in the morning, now is it?"

"Shit, I'm sorry, please don't." The lead scout glances back and forth to see if any of the other squads have been disturbed by the conversation. "We're being polite, yeah? Didn't blow you up this time or nothin'. So...what did you want?"

Doorman had actually been bluffing about the noise - waking up the other squads would have been rather counterproductive, in this case. Still, he doesn't mind distracting the kobolds who are already awake at least. "Would you like to play a game?"

A green-scaled kobold quickly checks her boots. "Eh? We're still inside the dungeon bounds! We didn't go outside! You can't ask us any more riddles!"

"...I mean, I could, just for fun. If you wanted to. But I was thinking maybe something else? After all, I have a lot of experience with spending lonely nights up here, you know. I know the importance of keeping oneself entertained."

The yellow one frowns at the suggestion. "Eh...we should really keep focused. Wouldn't do to be caught playing games on shift, and all that."

Doorman snorts. "Pfft, what are you focused on, the outside of the dungeon? You already control the town, the woods, and the mountain, who's going to sneak up on you from out there? C'mon, just a quick one, you'll have fun."

The third scout of the team, one with brown scales, hesitantly asks a question. "What, uh...what kind of game are you talking about? Guessin' you don't play cards none, or dice..."

"How about...I Spy?"

The green kobold laughs at that. "In the middle of the night? How many options even are there? I spy a rock? I spy a star? Even your riddles would be more entertaining than that."

"What do you mean, 'even my riddles'?"

"Uh, nothin', nothin'. How about Twenty Questions, eh? At least the answer doesn't have to be something that's actually here, so..."

"I accept your challenge! I'll think of something first."

The lead scout narrows his eyes. "...Is it a rock?"

"Wow, you're very good at this."

"...Not really, no. But I'll go next, alright?" As the leader says that, the green one tilts her head.

"Did you hear that?"

Doorman quickly interjects. "I don't think that's the right kind of question for the game, miss. Perhaps 'is it something you can hear'?"

"No, I thought...nevermind, probably nothing. Uh, is it something you can hear?"

"Really, you're taking suggestions from the door?" The leader scoffs. "No, you can't hear it."

Doorman goes next. "Is it something you can hold?"

"...Are we talking about you, specifically, cause...uh, doesn't matter, nah, not even if you had hands."

The brown-scaled scout goes next. "Is it...what was that?"

The dungeon guardian again speaks up quickly. "No, you can't just ask what it is. Have any of you ever even played this before?"

"No, I thought I saw something moving inside. I don't see anything now, though. Might've been those fucked-up light crystals messing with me. They keep flashing shadows all over the damn place..."

The leader peers around suspiciously. "We're supposed to be keeping an eye on the entrance, but...maybe we should go take a look? Wait, wasn't there a squad of guys sleeping in that corner there a few minutes ago?"

Doorman sighs. "Those really aren't the right kind of questions. Can we please focus?"

"No, fuck, there's bloodstains there!" The kobold turns back towards the door, his sword in his hand and a scowl on his face. "You were distracting us, weren't you!? Your buddies were doing something!?"

"...Is it a star?"

"...Fuck you."

---

Deep within the dungeon - Floor Eight, to be specific - Thaddeus and his team deposit a trio of prisoners within a stony cell. Two demons and a kobold yell as they're unceremoniously tossed inside, and the incubus among their number shouts back at their captors.

"Hey, what is this? What did you do with the rest of our team?"

Taly takes charge of answering, leaning down and giving the man her best ghastly grin. "We didn't need all of you alive. Hells, we didn't even need any of you, really. So you may as well be polite and try to stay on our good side, hrmm? Maybe you could start by answering our questions?"

The kobold holds his face in his hands. "You killed Deidre? And Fransly? Dammit!"

The other demon in the group, meanwhile, reacts to her despairing circumstances in a very different way. The literal dungeon matches the decor of the rest of the 'mimic castle', with iron bars over the doors, torture implements scattered across various tables, and manacles hanging from walls. Crawling up to the nearest pair, the succubus grabs hold of them...and slips her wrists inside. "Oh no! We've been captured by the ravager dungeon reborn! They're going to have their way with us unless we tell them our deepest secrets!"

The dungeon team stands in silence for a moment, until eventually Tizzy speaks up. "...Excuse me. What the fuck?"

"We know all about your...bonuses involving 'relations' with monsters, and your deals with Kahlia. Oh, to think I'm going to lose my virginity by being impregnated by dungeon monsters..."

Thaddeus does his best to maintain his composure. "...I assure you, I don't know what rumors you've been hearing, but - " His reassurances are cut off by Pizola, with a more urgent concern.

"A virgin succubus? C'mon, pull the other one - and the four other legs after that while you're at it!"

This time it's the incubus who answers. "Actually, no, she's telling the truth. It's a kink thing for her and her partners. People get more excited about being with a virgin, and there's a lot of things you can do and still technically be..."

"And I knew the moment I walked into this dungeon that my chastity was doomed! No one believed me, but I felt it in my soul!" As she cries, the demon shakes her hips - with terror, surely - and pulls tightly on the manacles. She keeps a firm grip, as otherwise her hands might slip out of the unlocked restraints. "Just, be gentle? Maybe the purple goblin one first?"

"The purple - !?" Tizzy throws her hands up into the air and turns around, stomping out of the cell. "You all have fun with...whatever the fuck this is. I'm gonna start prying that armor off of those corpses we dragged back. They'll be quieter about it."

Nalany shakes her head. "Maybe we should give the prisoners some time to, uh, cool off before we...interrogate them?" Sadly, Taly shakes her head.

"Maybe, but we do need to get the armor off of these guys too. No telling what sort of other magic tricks they've hidden away in those things."

The succubus cries out again. "Oh, don't strip me so roughly!"

"We haven't even..." Thaddeus sighs. "Taly, Pizola, please see to this one and make sure she's...comfortably restrained. Nalaff and I will handle the men."

"Ooh...do those extra legs have...other uses?"

Pizola narrows her eyes. "...This might be the first time I've regretted taking this job..."

---

As Tizzy returns to another room on the floor, she finds several others managed to beat her there. Sincere and Alizz are looking over one breastplate already, while several Challengers are handling the rest of the dead Domain soldiers and their gear. "Ah, didn't blow up when you took it off, then? Was a little worried it might."

Alizz scoffs. "Attaching a magical explosive to the chests of your entire force would be the kind of mistake you only make once. ...I did check for traps though, just in case. As it is, I'm not sure this equipment has the capacity for another enchantment on it. This is already more than you see on most equipment by quite a bit."

"Oh? So what all can this fancy-pants shit do, then?"

Sincere gives her a grin. "Well, that's what we're about to find out..."