Worthy Core

"They're here." Xenia makes her announcement with her palms held flat on the surface of an extra-large conference table, one big enough to seat every guardian of the dungeon who could make it. Even the armor duo had been bullied into attending this meeting in the core chamber, although it did mean Xenia had had to delay the event until well after the last Challenger party had finished running the dungeon for the day. That means there's enough faces available to produce a large number of confused looks in response to her short statement.

Deylia speaks up first. "Were we...expecting someone? I don't remember hearing about any special arrivals, beyond the fact that we were perhaps getting more Masters lately in general..."

"No, not them - although they may have been passing themselves off as Masters, I dunno. I'm talking about the boys and girls Theolif warned me about. Brightsky, just to check, how much do you know about this 'Thaddeus' character, exactly? Looks, motives, origins?"

The Valkryie sighs. "Unfortunately, we don't know much more than what we already told you. The gods of my realm are not omniscient, particularly when it comes to warlord-held territory, and by time we'd even heard about this 'Thaddeus Worthy', he'd already apparently accomplished much of his work there and moved on soon after. As far as his appearance goes...young, yet powerful, and charming. Black hair. He seemed to be a heavy user of enchanted artifacts, how much magic he held personally and how much was due to artifacts I do not know. We know he fought a few of the tyrant's lieutenants...as a challenge? Proving himself? Eliminating rivals? I cannot say, but he was apparently a master swordsman."

Xenia nods along, but frowns as she does so. "Yeah, that's the guy, alright. Maybe a lot weaker than that, given they only did one floor and then went home, but then Beatrice did say there was a lot of trouble with her own artifacts when she came here. BB, you fought them, any insights on your end?"

The Rogue shrugs. "I'm sure you had an even better view than I did. I didn't even land a hit on them, but that's not so uncommon for parties at Expert or higher, a lot of the time. The dude's attitude was...focused, I guess? I see it sometimes on guys who're usually a lot older than him, you know, the kind of Challenger who's killed a thousand monsters before, knows exactly what to do, but doesn't get complacent about it. Maybe the weirdest thing about their group was that gray-skinned fistfighter, I don't think I've seen anyone with a fighting style like that before."

Xenia sits down in her chair, rubbing at her forehead. "Yeah, that's the one that gave them away. Those were Hua's fist wraps. Her Champion weapon. Either someone inherited them from her, or took them off her corpse...which might be more or less the same thing, the way things usually ran around there."

Sincere leans forward, interested by a key phrase that slipped in there. "A 'Champion weapon'? Do tell - is this something of import?"

The dungeon master's brow furrows in concentration, as she considers her distant memories. "Well, I know almost every Hero I took on had one, or I'm pretty sure they did. Maybe Brightsky knows more about them?"

The elf nods, taking over. "Yes, the weapons were...not an essential part of the Hero summoning ritual, I suppose, but a traditional part of it. Over the past centuries, many weapons have been crafted by great masters and blessed by the divines of our realm. It would be tradition to remove some of these from the armories when a summoning ritual was done, and allow the Hero to choose one, out of perhaps half a dozen or so. The pickings are much slimmer these days, of course, but there were once hundreds of such relics in the armories of the free peoples."

"Right, and Hua the Iron Palm used enchanted fist wraps, which enhanced the power of her blows, among other things. Now, if I'm not mistaken, the dude wearing them was at least part dark elf, which was a group from back there...but only part, so he could have been a kid or grandkid of something of Hua's."

"And a grandkid of yours?" Lollyp asks the question with a smirk, but Xenia doesn't seem too happy to hear the suggestion.

"...Yeah, maybe. There is a chance we had a kid or two together. To be honest I didn't try too hard to confirm it, and it wasn't like I was exactly...exclusive at the time."

Taly peers at her boss. "Just how many kids did you have on that run? You know, rough estimate. I mean, if we're facing your descendants here, it could be good to have some idea of how many that might be."

Rather than answer right away, Xenia's face collapses into her palms, where it stays for a good long while before she rises back up. "Look, let me put it like this. Let me emphasize, I am not saying this to brag, because I am not

fuckin' proud of it. But I hardly ever spent a night in my bed alone as Prince of the Fallen Tower, and my adulthood there ran...like, forty-plus years? I mean, I was more than just nobility, even a prince. I was a celebrity. A war hero and a movie star and a prince, all rolled up into one. If I wanted company, I could literally just stick my head out of the door to my room and shout, and there'd be men and women and anyone else lining up. Fallen Heroes, army captains, tower guards, maids, cooks - "

"Slaves?" Opal's interjection draws a harsh glare from the dungeon master.

"No. Never that, even at my worst. I...turned a blind eye to a lot of shit, I'm not gonna claim any sort of moral high ground, but everyone in my bed was more than happy about being there. Usually more than I was, to be honest. Wasn't exactly a time of sterling mental health for me."

Taly chews on that for a bit before responding. "So you're saying the number of possible kids is...high."

"Especially if you factor in that we're talking multiple generations ago. I think I can definitely say there were more possible recruits than the three people Thaddeus had in his party. Brightsky, don't suppose you have a number on that yourself?"

"When it comes to lesser followers he may have pulled into his orbit - soldiers, retainers, servants - the number could be anywhere from a handful to a few hundred. We don't believe he focused on recruiting such lower ranks, but those he did recruit could have brought followers of their own with them. For those we're more concerned about, the rival warlords and captains fighting for control of the realm, the number could be around one to two dozen. We're not sure how many of those who vanished in that time frame did so because they joined Thaddeus, or did so because they fought Thaddeus and lost."

"Wonderful. So yeah, definitely more than four people to watch out for." Xenia scans the crowd. "We need to keep an eye open for anyone else who might be associated with this bunch. Strangers, travelers, people who don't fit in. Granted, there's been a lot of those lately, given the big party and all, but still. Don't suppose anyone's noticed anything?"

There a bit of silence as the table thinks things over, and a few people eventually speak up, Parker first. "There were a trio of demons from the Old Continents at the party, as I recall. If I'm not mistaken the demonic population of the old world is quite low, outside of a few hidden enclaves of ancients, so they did stand out. A cover as travelers could explain their lack of local knowledge."

Trush offers up a thought of his own. "Aye, speaking of travelers, there was one goblin at the party who asked me a lot of questions, which surprised me since she was apparently high-tier. I'd expect someone of that level to be more informed of their destinations."

Xenia considers that, but doesn't find anything to get immediately excited about. "The one who got her party wiped on Lollyp, yeah? Eh...both of those are worth noting, but we have been getting travelers from further away lately, nothing really conclusive there. Anything else?"

Dips raises a hand next. "There was one mmmmortal who licked me. Thrrrrrreee days ago."

There's a few beats of silence at that before Xenia speaks up. "I uh, must've missed that. Licked you, huh?"

"They tried to do it agaaaain yesterday. I stabbed them."

"...Right. Odd, probably not a sign of otherworldly invasion though. Any other reports?" The dungeon master looks around at her assembled guardians, but no one else volunteers anything. After seeing there's no more suggestions though, Lollyp does ask a question.

"So, if they cleared Floor One, they'll probably be coming my way soon. Do you want me to go all-out on them, or...what? I don't think Alizz will complain about a team wipe if it's some sort of threat to the dungeon."

Taly responds before Xenia gets a chance to. "Whoa, whoa, hold up jiggle-stuff! We're talking about Xenia's grandkids here, or...something! We're not gonna just kill them right off, even if they are evil." She glances towards Xenia for confirmation. "Uh...right?"

Her response is again interrupted, this time by Brightsky. "We cannot allow them to achieve their objective and return home. That is the divine charge which Lord Theolif has laid upon us! If need be, swap me in to Floor Two when they next arrive and I shall see it done."

Her declaration is punctuated by the slap of a hand on the table's surface, as Xenia makes sure she has everyone's attention. "Settle the fuck down, alright everyone? First, Brightsky, little clarification there - Theolif didn't specify he wants them dead, right? All he cares about is that they don't go back to your home realm and resume fucking things up there, yeah?"

The Valkyrie pauses before nodding. "...That is accurate, yes."

"Alright. Now, as for whether or not they're evil...like, yes, I'll admit the Seafall Kingdom I served did a lot of fucked up shit, and a lot of people were complicit to one level or another. But that doesn't mean everyone who lived there, or fought in the army or whatever was like...a born sadist who got off on torture and murder. For all we know, these guys and girls who left did so because they didn't like taking part in all that. But we don't know, which is the problem. Anyhow, I'm not putting out a kill-on-sight order until we know what it is they're after."

DEATH nods along. "SHOULD WE HAVE DOORMAN REDIRECT THEM TO A MEETING WITH SINCERE OR EM THE NEXT TIME THEY SHOW THEMSELVES, SO THAT WE MAY DISCOVER WHAT THAT PURPOSE IS?"

This time, Xenia needs to think a little longer. "...Fuck, I dunno. If they do have bad motives, then we'll be tipping our hand that we're on to them, and they'll either run off or just lie to us. Either way, then they'll just try harder to conceal what they're up to. Meanwhile if they have good motives, they'll tell us sooner or later." The dungeon master taps her fingers together for a bit before coming to a conclusion.

"We're not under any immediate threat. There's still eight floors between them and the core chamber and right now they don't seem to be rushing things. So we're not gonna rush things either. Don't treat them different, don't let them know we're on to them, but keep an eye out for any weird shit, or anyone else who might be a member of their group. Until we've got more evidence...Brightsky, I'm setting you as the break point. If they get to you, feel free to force their hand and see if you can get anything out of them. Any other thoughts?"

Taly has one. "Should I talk to Sely, and get the Association involved? There could be stuff going on outside the dungeon, after all."

Xenia considers that, and nods. "Keep this to their main inspection party only, obviously, we don't want the public getting wind of all of this realmwalker shit. Or the Dragonlord, fuck knows what they would do if they knew this was going on. Otherwise, business as usual til we know more. Everyone got it?"

There's nods and affirmations around the table, and Xenia concludes with a sigh. "Well...here's hoping they at least won't keep us waiting too long..."