Worthy Core

It was barely past breakfast, and as usual the dungeon's public inn was largely populated only by the handful of mercenary Challengers who had made the place their semi-permanent base of operations. It always tended to be quiet in the morning, with things not usually getting very excited until after a team had finished a run of the first floor or two and come back to show off their latest loot. The half-dozing Challengers are rather disturbed then by the sound of a woman shouting the moment she steps through the entrance portal. Although, once they see how large she is, their complaints quickly die on their lips.

"Hey! Is Zappy here? I heard Zappy works here? Or sometimes outside, but the door said she was working inside today!"

A rabbit-waiter winces slightly at the volume of the earth elemental's voice, but he quickly replaces it with a smile. "Ah, she's acquired another fan, has she? She mostly prefers to work in the evenings - I don't believe we have any guests in the Lounge right now at all - but she may be there doing one of her early-morning practice routines."

"Ah, the Lounge? Okay! Which way is that?" Before she can go looking for it however, a tired-looking drider takes hold of her elbow.

"Roxxy, take it easy! You've heard about the Fiver's Lounge, yes? And the key part of the name - 'Fiver'? As in, 'people who has properly worked their way through the first four floors'? Which does not include us as of yet?"

"But we're not customers, Grizza, we're just here to talk to her! So it should be fine, right?"

The waiter raises a hand as he moves to intercept her path to the portal rings. "I'm afraid your friend is correct - no entry to those who haven't defeated Floor Four. But if you just wish to talk, perhaps that can be arranged. Are you friends of hers?"

"Not friends, no, but Roxxy is..." Grizza trails off as he looks at his companion and tries to sort out his answer. "...her...cousin?"

"Ah, must be on the earth side of the family, huh? Well, please, feel free to take a seat and I'll go let her know you're waiting, okay?"

Grizza gives the man a nod before leading the overeager elemental to a table, and is relieved to find that some of them do have reinforced chairs available for her, perhaps designed for minotaur guests. As veterans of Floor Two he finds that the menu options waiting for them aren't the most appealing, but he does get himself a mug of water and a few breakfast biscuits to nibble on while they wait. After ten minutes or so their target steps on through, slightly crackling with energy and already dressed in her rabbit-costume uniform. She spots Roxxy immediately, and comes over with a smile forming on her sculpted face.

"Hey there, they said you were a cousin of mine? I don't know if I have any cousins, but I don't know that I don't either, so I guess you could be! I'm Zappy!"

Still feeling a little excited, Roxxy stands up to greet her. "Hi! I'm Roxxy! I don't think I have any cousins either, but I was born here! Or lower down, you know, in the old dungeon?"

"Oh, cool!" Zappy slides herself into a seat, and after feeling a little embarrassed about being the only one standing, Roxxy sits back down as well. "I don't think we've met, though? And I'm pretty sure I know everyone...oh, wait, I think I heard they did find a couple new guys after I went north for a bit."

Grizza shakes his head. "As I understand it, Roxxy here is older, actually - my companion and I found her before your own...awakening? We did, ah, 'encounter' some others on a return visit, but it appears we didn't run into each other at the time. I have to say though, you are indeed a magnetic elemental? You're really quite fascinating, I'm not sure I've even heard of anyone like you before."

"Ah, thanks, but you should know I've already got a girlfriend!" Zappy pauses before glancing off to the side. "...Except you're a boy. And I don't have a boyfriend. Am I supposed to have a boyfriend and

a girlfriend? I'm still kind of new to the dating thing, you know? I might need to check with Tinsel, she might already have a boyfriend I'm supposed to use."

"I...uh." The Mage's jaw works up and down a few times as he attempts to catch up with her line of logic. "...I mean, you certainly could if you wished, but - I apologize, I did not mean to come off as if I were flirting with you."

"Oh, okay! So how should you come off, then?"

Roxxy steps in, saving the floundering drider. "We're here for me! I mean, you! But not in a me-dating-you kind of way. I wanna ask you stuff! You said there's more of us here? Elementals, that is?"

Zappy nods. "Oh, yeah! Like, I dunno, two dozen or so? Some earths, and there were some fires, but Lord Sincere turned them into magmas. Also, Lord Sincere says we're not supposed to call him Lord Sincere, but he kind of smiles when we do it so I like to do it anyhow, at least while he's watching me. I get paid in smiles, you know! How about you? Do you dance or any work like that?"

"...I've smashed a few giant rats, and I got paid in pieces of metal. I gave them to Grizza, though. How many pieces of metal is a smile worth?"

"From the tips a few of the Challengers have tried to give me, a lot, apparently!"

"Hrmm...I don't think I could afford to pay you any smiles, then. But the community you were talking about - they're just hanging around in the old dungeon? Is it still all, you know. Full of nothing?"

"Nothing and more nothing! Do you wanna see it? I haven't actually been down there myself in months, but I know they do visit sometimes, so there's probably a path somewhere through the dungeon. All the way down at the bottom, probably."

Grizza's had a little trouble keeping up with the rather rapid-fire dialogue between the two elementals, but at the sound of that last statement he gives a grimace. "That was how we got down there before, but that was when the dungeon only had one or two floors...and I think we're only classified as having cleared Floor Two on a technicality, given how we sort of stumbled our way into the core chamber that one time. And even if we can clear our way through...seven floors? I wouldn't wish to anger the dungeon again by trying to dig through her core chamber. There must be some way we could arrange...if not travel, perhaps a meeting?"

Zappy turns to face him. "Probably! I don't think any of them have ever come up to the inn, so that could be a fun tour! What do you want to talk about, though?"

Grizza begins to answer before turning back towards Roxxy. "I have to ask, what do you wish to talk with them about? Is it just a matter of...catching up with the 'family', or some such?"

Roxxy shakes her head. "Well, I was hoping maybe they'd found something fun down there, but it sounds like it's still super boring. On the other hand, I think they could help solve your problem!"

"...Which problem is that, exactly?"

"Well, Challenging's been a bit of fun so far, even if I'm not officially a Challenger and all we did was those training missions a few weeks ago. And if they're not doing anything anyways - why not start a team of elementals?"

The man's first instinct is to call that a ridiculous idea, but reconsiders his response before he voices it. "That...could actually be a good idea. They say an elemental is supposed to be equivalent to an Advanced or even Expert-class Challenger, if I recall correctly. What do you think, Zappy?"

"I think that sounds like a lot of fun! Not for me, though. I don't want to die!"

"...Thanks for the vote of confidence."

 

---

 

A few hours later, as it gets into the late lunch period - or the very, extremely late breakfast period - four more inn guests arrive, exiting from one of the room portals. Once they've all come through, Tolla picks up on an interrupted conversation. "I mean, it ain't like I've never done the rope thing before, you know! But yours were so, y'know...fancy! Where'd you learn how to do all that?"

Taly grins as she and the Dungeon Fuckers find themselves a table. "A lot of practice I did helping out my sister over the years. She's a Divine Masochist, yeah? Works for the Association inspection team here in Grassbrook actually, you might have run into her."

Renriel finds himself a little intrigued by part of that statement. "Your...sister, you say? You two are...ah, very close?"

The banshee rolls her eyes. "Not like that! Not really, anyways. I mean, yeah, we've shared a few guys over the years, but when it's just the two of us, it's strictly job-related, you know?"

Nallond nods along. "I like that you're that comfortable with your skillset, in any case. Is it something you've had the opportunity to practice much now that you've, ah...had a change in career?"

Taly smirks again. "More than ever, actually. And you guys know about Sable and Lilly's visits up here, right? They're not exactly coming to check out the architecture, heheh. I will say that you're some of the first ones that will get to test out that bonus boss loot thing though, since those two don't really run the dungeon floors these days."

The Shield Smasher raises an eyebrow. "Test? You don't know how your own dungeon works?"

"You'd be surprised. We have had one guy do it apparently, so you don't get a complete first-time record on that, sad to say...but the bonus loot he got for it seemed to be geared towards him specifically. We're not sure what will happen if everyone on a team's been, you know...'sexually impacted'. If three of you might mean three times the bonus, or something like that."

Tolla's eyes grow wide. "A chance for three bonus prizes off one boss? How are more people not doing this already!?"

As she eyes some of the other Challengers sitting around the room, Taly gives an awkward chuckle. "Well, I guess we haven't been advertising it all that much...also, while a few of us are a pretty open-minded bunch, I don't know how many of the bosses would be up for a full-on Challenger gangbang! ...Probably Lollyp." Her eyes narrow in thought. "Maybe Trush, if it was a Challenger team full of bottoms?"

"We do need to meet up with that rabbit-man of yours sometime...well, sometime when he's not tryin' to kill us, and all that."

"I'll let him know you were thinking of him. So...you three gonna try out Floor Seven today? Join the ranks of the teams to clear the current dungeon layout?"

The trio share a look but Nallond shakes his head. "We'd definitely need some reliable support for that, and there's not many Expert mercenaries available right now, we'll probably have to schedule something. But more than that, I think I'd like to collect our bonus loot first and have that on hand for the final floor."

Renriel nods in agreement. "Aye. Perhaps another run of Floor Four, then? I really do admire the forest design, it's quite something."

As food begins to arrive at the table, Taly decides it's time for her to make her exit, and stands up from her seat. "Well, good luck on your next run. And thanks again for last night - was nice knowing you didn't have any grudges after having ourselves a match down on Floor Six the other day."

Tolla waves off the concern. "Pfft, who'd have a grudge against a dungeon guardian for doing her job?"

As Taly turns around, she nearly literally runs into the answer to that question. Approaching the table next to theirs is a group of Challengers including two half-elves...one of whom is sporting a clearly artificial eye. As they catch sight of Taly, the banshee swallows, especially as she notices the glare on the expression of the silver-haired sister. "Well...looks like we might be about to find out..."