With one eye opened, Trush gives the room around him an examining look. "...Something go wrong while I was out, ladies?" He takes a moment to feel at his neck, and laughs as he does so. "Well! That was a hell of a swing you got on you there, girl! I don't think I even had time to feel it before it all went black!" He blinks, staring at Xenia's wide eyes, and corrects himself again. "I mean, ah, Dungeon Master, my lady."
Xenia blinks herself before shaking her head. "Oh, pfft, like I said, no titles - but let's see if we can settle for something between 'girl' and 'Dungeon Master', shall we? I guarantee you I'm older than you are, though we can cover that later. You're um...feeling good?"
"Incredible! Different, but..." He runs a hand across his chest, and pauses as he glances down at what he finds. He's dressed in a pair of simple pants but little else, leaving his chest bare. His skin has changed color, now being far less green than it was before, but it's his fur-covered hand that takes most of his attention. He stares at it for a while, wiggling his fingers, before a thought occurs to him and he raises his other hand to match. Staring at both now, he murmurs. "Well...would you look at that?"
Lollyp hops a bit to catch his eye and gives him a smile. "Yup - free arm replacement, courtesy of the Worthy Dungeon healthcare plan, as Xenia calls it! We did um, make a few other changes, as you can probably tell."
"I can see that. Mind filling me in? I feel strong, but these fingers...they're a bit thicker than I'm used to, might need to change how I handle things."
Xenia steps in, her voice a little awkward sounding for some reason. "Well - you're a rabbit. Now, before you make any judgments, you're not just your everyday bunny! You, my Shieldbreaker pal, are now a Bunny Knight - a subclass of Lagomorph Champion. It's got a lot of, um. Physical-based attributes, you could say."
"Huh. Well, I suppose it beats a bunch of other kinds of monsters I coulda been, though I ain't ever seen one of these in a dungeon before. You got a mirror around here?"
"Mmm, not exactly, but let's see what I can do." Considering her options for a few moments, Xenia eventually spawns a large plate of copper, polished as brightly as she can make it. Trush takes the time to climb out of bed in the meanwhile, and slowly examines himself in the impromptu mirror.
"Feel a little shorter now, but I feel like I could sprint a mile in a second. Legs are definitely shaped funny, good thing you can make me custom pants, haha! Wait...what the fuck's this?" With a bit of confusion, he reaches down and grabs something poking out at the rear of his pants. "I got a damn tail!?"
"Haaa, yeah, I can make some body adjustments to a monster but I can't remove 'core attributes' like body parts, sorry! Now, you're not locked in, we can change you to something else, but I really do think this is something worth giving a try! My other top tiers are slimes and undead, and while there are some pretty tanky types of undead, they tend to be a little um...less appealing. Not that I just picked your body just for aesthetics! I just thought it'd be more comfortable, at least to start off with."
"Hahah, yes, I certainly do have some fancy aesthetics, don't I?" Trush smiles at himself in the mirror, hand on his chin, and almost seems to take himself off guard by how handsome he is. "Gods above. Shame I look more like a human than an orc, but I never in a hundred years would have imagined...well, don't let word get out that becoming this fuckin' charming is one of the perks you offer or you'll be flooded with more applicants than the Mother can handle!"
He glances around at some of the other reflections in the mirror, then turns to take in the expressions on the faces of Xenia, Lollyp, and Taly. Even Sincere, he notes, seems to be eyeing him rather appreciatively. "Admiring your work, are you? Well, can't say I blame you."
"I didn't mean for you to become so sexy! It just happened!" Xenia's fists clench up as she cries out, and Trush shoots her a smirk.
"Just happened, huh? Inherent part of the archetype, I imagine?"
"It totally is! I've been glancing at some of the other sub-types in the list, and their example appearances...there's this Bunny Sorceress who's just the most adorable thing I've ever seen with her ears poking out of her wizard's hat... Totally, extremely different from the Bunnygirl Magician, who I'm pretty sure is just a straight-up...well, never mind! It's not just about the looks! We'll set you up with a set of armor, let you pick a weapon, and you'll be kicking ass in no time!"
"I am feeling a little under-dressed..." Trush eyes the women staring at him again before he continues. "...But I don't particularly mind. Still, if you've got arms and armor for me, I'd be glad to take a look. We should talk about how you want me, too."
Xenia's eyes go wide, and she stammers slightly. "We - we should?"
Trush grins widely, entirely aware of what he's doing. "In the dungeon, of course! You said I would be a 'Wandering Boss', right? I'm familiar with the concept as a Challenger, but perhaps you should explain it from the dungeon end just to be sure I don't misunderstand anything."
"Oh, ah, right! Of course! Well, as you can probably see, bosses aren't strictly locked into their floors, like, physically. However, they are assigned to a particular floor core, and that does have some effects. They're stronger on their floor than anywhere else in the dungeon, and when they die and respawn it has to be on their home floor. A Wandering Boss though gets assigned to a range of five floors. We only have one slot at the moment, but I'm pretty sure wanderers can't overlap ranges, either."
The Bunny Knight nods along. "So...what, Floors Two through Six, then? Taking on Initiates on Floor One hardly sounds like a challenge."
The group generally nods in agreement, though Taly adds in some thoughts of her own. "Aside from the range assignment, we might want you to specifically focus on Floors Four and Six. Two and Three don't offer a lot of space for additional boss fights, and we still want to go a little easier on the Challengers there, too."
Xenia makes another suggestion. "We might want to hold you entirely in reserve in some cases, too. Make it more of a surprise when you do pop out - our ace up the sleeve for when a really tough party comes by. Either way, might be a bit before you need to actually get into any fights."
"Sounds reasonable. Anything I ought to be doing until then?"
Lollyp points the way out the bedroom door. "We've given you your own armory to play with, given you've gone through a lot of changes, we're guessing you're gonna need some time to figure out what weapons and styles work for you now. And if you need more room for training, feel free to swing by an arena or Floor Four, we'll point out the shortcuts for you."
"We've got a lot of other stuff to talk about - stuff about me and the dungeon, that is, the kind of shit we still don't just spill to every random Challenger." Xenia claps her hands on the Knight's shoulder and gives him a serious look in the eye. "That's gonna be a talk and a half though, so I ain't gonna just dump it all on you right now. Maybe tonight? We'll give you the quick tour for now then give you some time to figure out your, um...your body."
Although his face has changed, the toothy grin on Trush's face still manages to appear somehow orcish. "I'm looking forward to it."
After giving him a few pointers, Xenia had left Trush's tour to Taly and Lollyp and made her exit. Now that she'd made such an important upgrade, the dungeon master had other business to attend to...business she'd perhaps been putting off for a long time. Sitting on a rocky outcrop in the cave-like Floor One boss arena, she watches BB as he scratches himself.
"Man, BB, it's been a while huh? Remember when it was just you and me? ...And Guy? ...And Sir Flopsy? Still, you were my heavy hitter! For like, a week or so." The lagomorph turns in her direction as she speaks, but when it becomes apparent that she's not giving him orders, he returns to ignoring her. "...Gods, I barely even remember the lady I made you from, not that I ever actually like, knew her. Tiny, wore a lot of black, liked knives. Never even knew her name. Your name? I do remember feeling bad though, putting you in a body not much better than an animal's."
"...Mrrooaw?"
"Yeah, we did what we had to do. Same with Tank and Dips, but they've been upgraded to 'hold a conversation' level for a while now, even if they don't seem to have much they care to talk about. But here I've been, letting you be like this. And you've probably got it harder than every other boss in here! Even the Initiates usually kill you, and all I've given you for a living space is that little cave back there."
"Mraw!"
"Well, glad you've been easy to please, but I owe you better. I probably should've sent you out to hunt rabbits, though I was a little worried you might decide to hunt like...Rainlander soldiers or something while you were at it. Maybe once you're smart enough to actually know what it is that I'm telling you..."
Standing up, Xenia takes a moment to stretch and crack her symbolic knuckles. "Alright, BB, it's time for your next upgrade." She quickly flicks through her menus, finding a bookmarked spot, and begins to pump mana into BB's form. The monster seems a bit surprised, even uncomfortable, yet not in pain despite the sudden changes his body starts to go through. He grows another foot, his legs slightly straighten, and like with Trush, fur begins to vanish from his face and torso. "Stand, Floor Boss of Floor One, BB - my Rabbit Rogue!"
"Mrr-ack, gack." The rabbit coughs for a moment, although he's polite enough to do so into his hand...or paw, as it may be. "Oof, sorry about that, vocal cords felt a little weird there. Thanks for the boost, Dungeon Master, I'm feeling stronger already!"
Xenia doesn't respond at first, and instead just stares at BB for a moment with a look of surprise. His leather armor changed to fit his new form, but she can still get a good impression of his shape. Somewhat shorter and far less muscular than Trush, the Rogue is still noticeably fit, just with the trim look of an acrobat rather than that of a wrestler. His face seems younger as well, more smooth and hairless compared to Trush's general impression of a five o'clock shadow, and his fur appears a bit more light-gray than the former orc's solid black, alongside his paler skin. Still, all that is less of a surprise than the boss's quick adaptation to speech.
"...Really? That easy, you know how to talk? Even the armors were a bit more gradual...uh, not that I'm complaining! This is great!"
BB grins, a thin-lipped smile that seems to indicate hidden secrets...as if a newly sapient rabbit-man could have such things. "Should I have been any other way, Master? Hmm, you say I was a lady, once? I can't say I remember that."
"You remember me saying that, though? Well, yeah, guess that was like...thirty seconds ago. But yeah, the base monster I used before I ensouled you was a boy, so...here you are. I could actually turn you into a bunnygirl Rogue if you'd rather, though?"
The boss shrugs. "Whichever would please you, Master."
Xenia eyes the rabbit. "I'm not sure if I should be inferring something from that, or..."
Once again, the mysterious smile returns. "You're free to infer whatever you'd like, Master."
"I - no! You're like...three months old! Even if you've got an adult body, isn't that...and I'm your boss!"
BB rubs his chin. "For some reason I appear to be aware of the fact that rabbits often reach maturity within a few months. Of course, a dungeon monster is mature immediately, for a given definition, since we can't have children." He pauses and stares off into the distance. "...Knowing things feels strange. But enjoyable!"
The dungeon master covers her face with her hands. "Why...why do all of the rabbits have to be so sexy!? I didn't do this on purpose! I swear I didn't!"
The boss shoots her a worried look. "Would it please you if I took a less...attractive form?"
Xenia quickly recovers, shaking her head. "No, no - there's more monstrous types, of course, but they can't talk or think beyond being clever animals, and that was the point of all this. Maybe I should have another chat with Guy, but, first - what can I do for you, BB? Now that you're grown up?"
"Well, a nicer cave would be...nice. Also, perhaps a name change? Instead of just Boss Bunny, I feel perhaps I deserve an upgrade there as well. Perhaps...Bloodspiller Bunny?"
"...Mind if I keep calling you BB, Bloody?"
"Whatever pleases you most, Master."
Xenia quickly zaps out of the room with a final comment. "Stop smiling like that when you call me that!"
With one eye opened, Trush gives the room around him an examining look. "...Something go wrong while I was out, ladies?" He takes a moment to feel at his neck, and laughs as he does so. "Well! That was a hell of a swing you got on you there, girl! I don't think I even had time to feel it before it all went black!" He blinks, staring at Xenia's wide eyes, and corrects himself again. "I mean, ah, Dungeon Master, my lady."
Xenia blinks herself before shaking her head. "Oh, pfft, like I said, no titles - but let's see if we can settle for something between 'girl' and 'Dungeon Master', shall we? I guarantee you I'm older than you are, though we can cover that later. You're um...feeling good?"
"Incredible! Different, but..." He runs a hand across his chest, and pauses as he glances down at what he finds. He's dressed in a pair of simple pants but little else, leaving his chest bare. His skin has changed color, now being far less green than it was before, but it's his fur-covered hand that takes most of his attention. He stares at it for a while, wiggling his fingers, before a thought occurs to him and he raises his other hand to match. Staring at both now, he murmurs. "Well...would you look at that?"
Lollyp hops a bit to catch his eye and gives him a smile. "Yup - free arm replacement, courtesy of the Worthy Dungeon healthcare plan, as Xenia calls it! We did um, make a few other changes, as you can probably tell."
"I can see that. Mind filling me in? I feel strong, but these fingers...they're a bit thicker than I'm used to, might need to change how I handle things."
Xenia steps in, her voice a little awkward sounding for some reason. "Well - you're a rabbit. Now, before you make any judgments, you're not just your everyday bunny! You, my Shieldbreaker pal, are now a Bunny Knight - a subclass of Lagomorph Champion. It's got a lot of, um. Physical-based attributes, you could say."
"Huh. Well, I suppose it beats a bunch of other kinds of monsters I coulda been, though I ain't ever seen one of these in a dungeon before. You got a mirror around here?"
"Mmm, not exactly, but let's see what I can do." Considering her options for a few moments, Xenia eventually spawns a large plate of copper, polished as brightly as she can make it. Trush takes the time to climb out of bed in the meanwhile, and slowly examines himself in the impromptu mirror.
"Feel a little shorter now, but I feel like I could sprint a mile in a second. Legs are definitely shaped funny, good thing you can make me custom pants, haha! Wait...what the fuck's this?" With a bit of confusion, he reaches down and grabs something poking out at the rear of his pants. "I got a damn tail!?"
"Haaa, yeah, I can make some body adjustments to a monster but I can't remove 'core attributes' like body parts, sorry! Now, you're not locked in, we can change you to something else, but I really do think this is something worth giving a try! My other top tiers are slimes and undead, and while there are some pretty tanky types of undead, they tend to be a little um...less appealing. Not that I just picked your body just for aesthetics! I just thought it'd be more comfortable, at least to start off with."
"Hahah, yes, I certainly do have some fancy aesthetics, don't I?" Trush smiles at himself in the mirror, hand on his chin, and almost seems to take himself off guard by how handsome he is. "Gods above. Shame I look more like a human than an orc, but I never in a hundred years would have imagined...well, don't let word get out that becoming this fuckin' charming is one of the perks you offer or you'll be flooded with more applicants than the Mother can handle!"
He glances around at some of the other reflections in the mirror, then turns to take in the expressions on the faces of Xenia, Lollyp, and Taly. Even Sincere, he notes, seems to be eyeing him rather appreciatively. "Admiring your work, are you? Well, can't say I blame you."
"I didn't mean for you to become so sexy! It just happened!" Xenia's fists clench up as she cries out, and Trush shoots her a smirk.
"Just happened, huh? Inherent part of the archetype, I imagine?"
"It totally is! I've been glancing at some of the other sub-types in the list, and their example appearances...there's this Bunny Sorceress who's just the most adorable thing I've ever seen with her ears poking out of her wizard's hat... Totally, extremely different from the Bunnygirl Magician, who I'm pretty sure is just a straight-up...well, never mind! It's not just about the looks! We'll set you up with a set of armor, let you pick a weapon, and you'll be kicking ass in no time!"
"I am feeling a little under-dressed..." Trush eyes the women staring at him again before he continues. "...But I don't particularly mind. Still, if you've got arms and armor for me, I'd be glad to take a look. We should talk about how you want me, too."
Xenia's eyes go wide, and she stammers slightly. "We - we should?"
Trush grins widely, entirely aware of what he's doing. "In the dungeon, of course! You said I would be a 'Wandering Boss', right? I'm familiar with the concept as a Challenger, but perhaps you should explain it from the dungeon end just to be sure I don't misunderstand anything."
"Oh, ah, right! Of course! Well, as you can probably see, bosses aren't strictly locked into their floors, like, physically. However, they are assigned to a particular floor core, and that does have some effects. They're stronger on their floor than anywhere else in the dungeon, and when they die and respawn it has to be on their home floor. A Wandering Boss though gets assigned to a range of five floors. We only have one slot at the moment, but I'm pretty sure wanderers can't overlap ranges, either."
The Bunny Knight nods along. "So...what, Floors Two through Six, then? Taking on Initiates on Floor One hardly sounds like a challenge."
The group generally nods in agreement, though Taly adds in some thoughts of her own. "Aside from the range assignment, we might want you to specifically focus on Floors Four and Six. Two and Three don't offer a lot of space for additional boss fights, and we still want to go a little easier on the Challengers there, too."
Xenia makes another suggestion. "We might want to hold you entirely in reserve in some cases, too. Make it more of a surprise when you do pop out - our ace up the sleeve for when a really tough party comes by. Either way, might be a bit before you need to actually get into any fights."
"Sounds reasonable. Anything I ought to be doing until then?"
Lollyp points the way out the bedroom door. "We've given you your own armory to play with, given you've gone through a lot of changes, we're guessing you're gonna need some time to figure out what weapons and styles work for you now. And if you need more room for training, feel free to swing by an arena or Floor Four, we'll point out the shortcuts for you."
"We've got a lot of other stuff to talk about - stuff about me and the dungeon, that is, the kind of shit we still don't just spill to every random Challenger." Xenia claps her hands on the Knight's shoulder and gives him a serious look in the eye. "That's gonna be a talk and a half though, so I ain't gonna just dump it all on you right now. Maybe tonight? We'll give you the quick tour for now then give you some time to figure out your, um...your body."
Although his face has changed, the toothy grin on Trush's face still manages to appear somehow orcish. "I'm looking forward to it."
After giving him a few pointers, Xenia had left Trush's tour to Taly and Lollyp and made her exit. Now that she'd made such an important upgrade, the dungeon master had other business to attend to...business she'd perhaps been putting off for a long time. Sitting on a rocky outcrop in the cave-like Floor One boss arena, she watches BB as he scratches himself.
"Man, BB, it's been a while huh? Remember when it was just you and me? ...And Guy? ...And Sir Flopsy? Still, you were my heavy hitter! For like, a week or so." The lagomorph turns in her direction as she speaks, but when it becomes apparent that she's not giving him orders, he returns to ignoring her. "...Gods, I barely even remember the lady I made you from, not that I ever actually like, knew her. Tiny, wore a lot of black, liked knives. Never even knew her name. Your name? I do remember feeling bad though, putting you in a body not much better than an animal's."
"...Mrrooaw?"
"Yeah, we did what we had to do. Same with Tank and Dips, but they've been upgraded to 'hold a conversation' level for a while now, even if they don't seem to have much they care to talk about. But here I've been, letting you be like this. And you've probably got it harder than every other boss in here! Even the Initiates usually kill you, and all I've given you for a living space is that little cave back there."
"Mraw!"
"Well, glad you've been easy to please, but I owe you better. I probably should've sent you out to hunt rabbits, though I was a little worried you might decide to hunt like...Rainlander soldiers or something while you were at it. Maybe once you're smart enough to actually know what it is that I'm telling you..."
Standing up, Xenia takes a moment to stretch and crack her symbolic knuckles. "Alright, BB, it's time for your next upgrade." She quickly flicks through her menus, finding a bookmarked spot, and begins to pump mana into BB's form. The monster seems a bit surprised, even uncomfortable, yet not in pain despite the sudden changes his body starts to go through. He grows another foot, his legs slightly straighten, and like with Trush, fur begins to vanish from his face and torso. "Stand, Floor Boss of Floor One, BB - my Rabbit Rogue!"
"Mrr-ack, gack." The rabbit coughs for a moment, although he's polite enough to do so into his hand...or paw, as it may be. "Oof, sorry about that, vocal cords felt a little weird there. Thanks for the boost, Dungeon Master, I'm feeling stronger already!"
Xenia doesn't respond at first, and instead just stares at BB for a moment with a look of surprise. His leather armor changed to fit his new form, but she can still get a good impression of his shape. Somewhat shorter and far less muscular than Trush, the Rogue is still noticeably fit, just with the trim look of an acrobat rather than that of a wrestler. His face seems younger as well, more smooth and hairless compared to Trush's general impression of a five o'clock shadow, and his fur appears a bit more light-gray than the former orc's solid black, alongside his paler skin. Still, all that is less of a surprise than the boss's quick adaptation to speech.
"...Really? That easy, you know how to talk? Even the armors were a bit more gradual...uh, not that I'm complaining! This is great!"
BB grins, a thin-lipped smile that seems to indicate hidden secrets...as if a newly sapient rabbit-man could have such things. "Should I have been any other way, Master? Hmm, you say I was a lady, once? I can't say I remember that."
"You remember me saying that, though? Well, yeah, guess that was like...thirty seconds ago. But yeah, the base monster I used before I ensouled you was a boy, so...here you are. I could actually turn you into a bunnygirl Rogue if you'd rather, though?"
The boss shrugs. "Whichever would please you, Master."
Xenia eyes the rabbit. "I'm not sure if I should be inferring something from that, or..."
Once again, the mysterious smile returns. "You're free to infer whatever you'd like, Master."
"I - no! You're like...three months old! Even if you've got an adult body, isn't that...and I'm your boss!"
BB rubs his chin. "For some reason I appear to be aware of the fact that rabbits often reach maturity within a few months. Of course, a dungeon monster is mature immediately, for a given definition, since we can't have children." He pauses and stares off into the distance. "...Knowing things feels strange. But enjoyable!"
The dungeon master covers her face with her hands. "Why...why do all of the rabbits have to be so sexy!? I didn't do this on purpose! I swear I didn't!"
The boss shoots her a worried look. "Would it please you if I took a less...attractive form?"
Xenia quickly recovers, shaking her head. "No, no - there's more monstrous types, of course, but they can't talk or think beyond being clever animals, and that was the point of all this. Maybe I should have another chat with Guy, but, first - what can I do for you, BB? Now that you're grown up?"
"Well, a nicer cave would be...nice. Also, perhaps a name change? Instead of just Boss Bunny, I feel perhaps I deserve an upgrade there as well. Perhaps...Bloodspiller Bunny?"
"...Mind if I keep calling you BB, Bloody?"
"Whatever pleases you most, Master."
Xenia quickly zaps out of the room with a final comment. "Stop smiling like that when you call me that!"
