Although several parties stopped by to try Worthy Dungeon that day, none went further than Floor Three, which was fortunate because Floor Four was booked. Trush spent the entire morning kicking rabbit tail up and down the meadow, to the delight of everyone who was able to come by and watch. The Knight was easily able to defeat any two of his Squires at once, and could beat three of them more often than not. It was only when all four would attempt to gang up on him at once that it even became something approaching a fair fight. Even so, the Rabbit Champion seemed pleased by their performance, and proudly stated that he'd be more than happy to lead the squad into battle.
Dungeon monsters didn't really grow tired for long, at least not as long as there was spare mana to go around, but Xenia still gave Trush a break until the afternoon before setting him up for round two. The first match-up of the round was Trush versus Xenia herself, and the first fight of that match was over almost as quickly as the first time Xenia slew the man. Realizing just how much he'd been underestimating her, Trush played things a little more cautiously for the next two fights, yet he still never came close to threatening the dungeon master in melee combat.
The next match-up was Xenia versus Trush and his entire squad. While her defeat of the man alone wasn't too great of a surprise to those who knew the woman better, more than a few jaws were dropped at the sight of her easily dismantling a team of five, including two ranged combatants. As if she had a sixth sense, Xenia easily dodged every arrow fired her way while she took out Trush and his spearmen Squires, before finally hunting the last two down. Of course, Sincere then pointed out that she did have a sixth sense, given her complete knowledge of everything going on within the dungeon, but Xenia fiercely denied the accusations of cheating.
The final match-up promised to be a little more interesting, however. Tired of watching from the sidelines, Taly finally makes her way into the cleared meadow and gets Xenia's attention. "Hey, I got an idea, Xen! You against Trush and I, together. I won't use my bow, just my knives, but all my other abilities are on the table. I still won't say I match your skills in a close-range fight, but I think the two of us could at least make you sweat. What do you say?"
Xenia smirks as she flips her sword in her hand - her only weapon used during the spars, foregoing even a shield. "I'd say I ain't even physically capable of sweating, but I suppose that goes for all of us here, heh. It's Trush's day though, so up to him. Wanna switch partners, 'Sharptongue'?"
Trush laughs, a little relieved. "Glad you're willing to use my old nick, was a little worried I was about to start going by 'Longear' or 'Shorttail' these days, or something worse. But absolutely, I'd like to see what the Rogue's capable of myself. I know my monster abilities are pretty much all physical - speed, jumps, hearing - so I'm curious to see how a more magical setup works."
Taly winces. "Thanks for reminding me of the hearing, I'll probably want to avoid the sonic attacks, then." The woman walks over to Trush's side, and fills each hand with a blade. "Ready when you are, Xen."
The dungeon master assumes a combat stance. "Hit me with whatever you got, Bunny Knight and Rope Bunny!"
The pair actually pause for a moment as Trush shoots Taly a curious glance, but Taly avoids the moment by sinking the area into magical shadow. It's not particularly hard for her to do, given that the floor is always in something of a state of twilight lit only by the dim glow of bioluminescent fungus and moss, but for a radius of thirty feet the blackness becomes practically absolute. Save of course for the eyes of Taly and her ally, who immediately rush forward with Trush in the lead. While the man had Challenger skills of his own, they'd already proved largely ineffective against the dungeon master - his spells were largely focused on the enhanced ability to break shields and penetrate armor, of which Xenia was barely using for this fight. His combat skills were nothing to scoff at though, and he starts off with a potentially fatal swing at the blinded spirit.
A swing which she dodges easily, rolling out of the way as the Knight gets too close. At the sight of it Taly can't hold herself back from another accusation. "Oh come on, you had to have been using your dungeon senses to see that coming!"
"I don't need to see shit when I can still hear it! I'll admit, you're pretty light on your feet Taly, but Trush here is as quiet as a herd of oxen!" Sure enough, Taly does get much closer as she makes her own attempt, with her blades actually scratching Xenia's light leather armor. Scratching - but not penetrating. Xenia seems to have been waiting for Taly to make her move though and as soon as the Rogue begins to back off a bit, Xenia is already moving forward, making attacks of her own before Taly can fade away and reposition.
Taly's not one to get pinned down however, and she moves backwards quickly, staying a foot or two ahead of her still-approaching boss at every step. It's enough to leave Trush in the dust behind them, which is a rather poor position for the dungeon master as it now leaves her flanked on both sides. Perhaps hearing the man again as he attempts to charge her, Xenia actually quickly sheathes her sword and steps into the attack. Taking the Knight by surprise, she manages to grab hold of his swordarm and use his own momentum to flip him forward, despite him outweighing her avatar by quite a bit. It's still far too clumsy a missile to actually hit Taly, of course, and she easily dodges the tumbling rabbit to move in on Xenia from the left.
She once again scores a hit on Xenia, this time actually cutting through to the skin on her arm as the woman dodges downwards, but it's still not enough to qualify as a winning blow. Rather than re-draw her blade Xenia manages to surprise Taly by instead kicking outward from her dropped position, hitting her solidly in the pelvis and sending her falling to the ground herself. Immediately taking advantage of the moment Xenia leaps and grapples with the Rogue, eventually grabbing hold of both of her wrists to keep the woman's blades from landing any more hits. Once that's accomplished, Xenia slams Taly with a headbutt at nearly maximum force, stunning her for more than a moment. This move perhaps comes close to cheating, as Xenia's avatar form is far more pain-resistant than even the boss monster's bodies, but fortunately for her Taly is too dazed to complain for the time being. Even more fortunately, her magical cloak of shadow over the meadow finally fades out.
Without giving Taly even the slightest moment to recover, Xenia manages to wrestle one of the knives from Taly's hands and then grazes the flat side of it along Taly's neck - an indication that she would have taken a lethal blow and is out of the match. While they could have actually sparred with no-holds-barred and let Xenia burn extra mana on immediately reviving them afterwards, it was quite a bit of extra effort for just a little bit of realism, and besides - even as dungeon monsters, none of them exactly liked having their throats slit.
The next move was still a little bloody, however. With Trush back on his feet and charging over, sword rising into the air, Xenia throws her newly-claimed blade in his direction. It manages to slip into the man's armpit, unblocked by his knightly armor, and while it's not a lethal blow it does cause the man's sword to fall from his hand. Before he can recover it with his off-hand it's the dungeon master who's on the charge, slamming into him to knock him back onto his ass. A moment later Trush realizes Xenia is straddling him, Taly's second knife pressed against his neck and a wild grin on her face.
"Ahhh, that was a good one! I woulda bled on that round, if I could bleed. Still, good to know I'm still the Ultimate End Boss of my own dungeon. ...Guess I couldn't do much about Sincere's time-fuckery, but maybe sometime when they're not currently respawning we could try you two plus BB or Lollyp, see if I can go three-on-one!" She pauses before continuing, and her next question comes with narrowed eyes and her blade pressed a little closer to Trush's neck. "Is this turning you on, Sharpie?" Trush's response to the question is largely physical, and Xenia laughs. "Fuck, I guess that answers that question. I can respect a man who likes getting his ass kicked around a little, though."
"I'll be honest, it hasn't happened often enough for me to be aware of that about myself. Though I do of course apologize, I didn't mean to be...inappropriate." Despite his words, Trush has a hard time keeping his non-injured hand from brushing against Xenia's leg.
She seems to consider her response briefly, before leaning down and half-whispering it into one of the man's long ears. "I won't take offense, big guy. But maybe if you're interested tonight we could show each other some of our other moves?"
Trush sputters, suddenly finding himself the flustered party now that he's on the other side of their flirting, and clearly aware of their audience as he attempts to keep his response measured. Not that the blade at his neck does wonders for his sense of calm. "I'd - I believe I'd enjoy the opportunity, dungeon master."
"Save the titles for later..." Xenia's interrupted by a sudden spurt of cursing from Taly's direction, and as Xenia shoots her a look the undead woman quickly apologizes.
"Don't mind me! Good match, good match. I'm gonna get...cleaned up, yeah? Can't be a badass covered in grass stains."
"Fair enough. Probably enough for one day, eh?" Xenia shoots Trush another grin as she finally climbs to her feet. "Wouldn't want to tire out all my bosses too much..."
MUCH, MUCH LATER THAT EVENING
"Dear gods, woman, do you literally not ever tire out? I can tell my own stamina's much improved, but you're still leagues beyond me!"
Xenia laughs as she unstraddles the man for the second time that day...or perhaps the third or fourth, they hadn't exactly been keeping count. With a sigh, she collapses onto the bed next to her Knight. "Trust me, Lollyp's tried her best to find my limits and it just doesn't happen. You guys may be powered by magic but you've still got physical bodies. I'm all magic, so I think unless I was running at zero mana or something I'm more of an Energizer Bunny than you are."
The man raises an eyebrow as he turns his head to look at her. "...Is that another class of Rabbit Champion?"
"Ah, nah, past-life reference, you wouldn't get it."
"Ah, I see." Trush nods, before continuing a moment later. "I'll admit, it's still difficult for me to fully grasp what you've been through. One past life I could picture, but you've had so many you can barely remember them, is that right?"
"Some more than others, yeah." Xenia chuckles to herself. "The flashbacks I get when doing that dungeon raid thing have actually been kind of interesting, because of that. They've gotta be pulling from more than just my memories, it's all been exactly perfect recreations of shit that happened to me, as far as I can tell. I was spotting little details in there that I'd swear I'd completely forgotten." With a satisfied smile Xenia allows herself to sink into the pillow a bit, even closing her eyes in a bit of an imitation of going to sleep - when suddenly they jolt back open.
"Shit! That's it! That's how I can find out!"
Trush, rather jolted to wakefulness himself, sits up with a bit of concern. "Find out what?"
"Find out - well, don't worry about it now, I'll have a dungeon meeting about it tomorrow. Or...later today, I guess. Not a convo for the bedroom." She takes a moment to settle herself, and then shoots Trush another grin. "Did get my metaphorical heart pumping again for a minute there, though. You up for another round?"
The Knight eyes her with disbelief. "Are you kidding me, woman?" He then actually stops to consider his answer, as his eyes drift down across her naked form. "...Yes, please."
DaScoot
In case you're worried about having missed the good stuff - no worries, next time we'll be rewinding a little and getting smutty.
Enjoy!
Although several parties stopped by to try Worthy Dungeon that day, none went further than Floor Three, which was fortunate because Floor Four was booked. Trush spent the entire morning kicking rabbit tail up and down the meadow, to the delight of everyone who was able to come by and watch. The Knight was easily able to defeat any two of his Squires at once, and could beat three of them more often than not. It was only when all four would attempt to gang up on him at once that it even became something approaching a fair fight. Even so, the Rabbit Champion seemed pleased by their performance, and proudly stated that he'd be more than happy to lead the squad into battle.
Dungeon monsters didn't really grow tired for long, at least not as long as there was spare mana to go around, but Xenia still gave Trush a break until the afternoon before setting him up for round two. The first match-up of the round was Trush versus Xenia herself, and the first fight of that match was over almost as quickly as the first time Xenia slew the man. Realizing just how much he'd been underestimating her, Trush played things a little more cautiously for the next two fights, yet he still never came close to threatening the dungeon master in melee combat.
The next match-up was Xenia versus Trush and his entire squad. While her defeat of the man alone wasn't too great of a surprise to those who knew the woman better, more than a few jaws were dropped at the sight of her easily dismantling a team of five, including two ranged combatants. As if she had a sixth sense, Xenia easily dodged every arrow fired her way while she took out Trush and his spearmen Squires, before finally hunting the last two down. Of course, Sincere then pointed out that she did have a sixth sense, given her complete knowledge of everything going on within the dungeon, but Xenia fiercely denied the accusations of cheating.
The final match-up promised to be a little more interesting, however. Tired of watching from the sidelines, Taly finally makes her way into the cleared meadow and gets Xenia's attention. "Hey, I got an idea, Xen! You against Trush and I, together. I won't use my bow, just my knives, but all my other abilities are on the table. I still won't say I match your skills in a close-range fight, but I think the two of us could at least make you sweat. What do you say?"
Xenia smirks as she flips her sword in her hand - her only weapon used during the spars, foregoing even a shield. "I'd say I ain't even physically capable of sweating, but I suppose that goes for all of us here, heh. It's Trush's day though, so up to him. Wanna switch partners, 'Sharptongue'?"
Trush laughs, a little relieved. "Glad you're willing to use my old nick, was a little worried I was about to start going by 'Longear' or 'Shorttail' these days, or something worse. But absolutely, I'd like to see what the Rogue's capable of myself. I know my monster abilities are pretty much all physical - speed, jumps, hearing - so I'm curious to see how a more magical setup works."
Taly winces. "Thanks for reminding me of the hearing, I'll probably want to avoid the sonic attacks, then." The woman walks over to Trush's side, and fills each hand with a blade. "Ready when you are, Xen."
The dungeon master assumes a combat stance. "Hit me with whatever you got, Bunny Knight and Rope Bunny!"
The pair actually pause for a moment as Trush shoots Taly a curious glance, but Taly avoids the moment by sinking the area into magical shadow. It's not particularly hard for her to do, given that the floor is always in something of a state of twilight lit only by the dim glow of bioluminescent fungus and moss, but for a radius of thirty feet the blackness becomes practically absolute. Save of course for the eyes of Taly and her ally, who immediately rush forward with Trush in the lead. While the man had Challenger skills of his own, they'd already proved largely ineffective against the dungeon master - his spells were largely focused on the enhanced ability to break shields and penetrate armor, of which Xenia was barely using for this fight. His combat skills were nothing to scoff at though, and he starts off with a potentially fatal swing at the blinded spirit.
A swing which she dodges easily, rolling out of the way as the Knight gets too close. At the sight of it Taly can't hold herself back from another accusation. "Oh come on, you had to have been using your dungeon senses to see that coming!"
"I don't need to see shit when I can still hear it! I'll admit, you're pretty light on your feet Taly, but Trush here is as quiet as a herd of oxen!" Sure enough, Taly does get much closer as she makes her own attempt, with her blades actually scratching Xenia's light leather armor. Scratching - but not penetrating. Xenia seems to have been waiting for Taly to make her move though and as soon as the Rogue begins to back off a bit, Xenia is already moving forward, making attacks of her own before Taly can fade away and reposition.
Taly's not one to get pinned down however, and she moves backwards quickly, staying a foot or two ahead of her still-approaching boss at every step. It's enough to leave Trush in the dust behind them, which is a rather poor position for the dungeon master as it now leaves her flanked on both sides. Perhaps hearing the man again as he attempts to charge her, Xenia actually quickly sheathes her sword and steps into the attack. Taking the Knight by surprise, she manages to grab hold of his swordarm and use his own momentum to flip him forward, despite him outweighing her avatar by quite a bit. It's still far too clumsy a missile to actually hit Taly, of course, and she easily dodges the tumbling rabbit to move in on Xenia from the left.
She once again scores a hit on Xenia, this time actually cutting through to the skin on her arm as the woman dodges downwards, but it's still not enough to qualify as a winning blow. Rather than re-draw her blade Xenia manages to surprise Taly by instead kicking outward from her dropped position, hitting her solidly in the pelvis and sending her falling to the ground herself. Immediately taking advantage of the moment Xenia leaps and grapples with the Rogue, eventually grabbing hold of both of her wrists to keep the woman's blades from landing any more hits. Once that's accomplished, Xenia slams Taly with a headbutt at nearly maximum force, stunning her for more than a moment. This move perhaps comes close to cheating, as Xenia's avatar form is far more pain-resistant than even the boss monster's bodies, but fortunately for her Taly is too dazed to complain for the time being. Even more fortunately, her magical cloak of shadow over the meadow finally fades out.
Without giving Taly even the slightest moment to recover, Xenia manages to wrestle one of the knives from Taly's hands and then grazes the flat side of it along Taly's neck - an indication that she would have taken a lethal blow and is out of the match. While they could have actually sparred with no-holds-barred and let Xenia burn extra mana on immediately reviving them afterwards, it was quite a bit of extra effort for just a little bit of realism, and besides - even as dungeon monsters, none of them exactly liked having their throats slit.
The next move was still a little bloody, however. With Trush back on his feet and charging over, sword rising into the air, Xenia throws her newly-claimed blade in his direction. It manages to slip into the man's armpit, unblocked by his knightly armor, and while it's not a lethal blow it does cause the man's sword to fall from his hand. Before he can recover it with his off-hand it's the dungeon master who's on the charge, slamming into him to knock him back onto his ass. A moment later Trush realizes Xenia is straddling him, Taly's second knife pressed against his neck and a wild grin on her face.
"Ahhh, that was a good one! I woulda bled on that round, if I could bleed. Still, good to know I'm still the Ultimate End Boss of my own dungeon. ...Guess I couldn't do much about Sincere's time-fuckery, but maybe sometime when they're not currently respawning we could try you two plus BB or Lollyp, see if I can go three-on-one!" She pauses before continuing, and her next question comes with narrowed eyes and her blade pressed a little closer to Trush's neck. "Is this turning you on, Sharpie?" Trush's response to the question is largely physical, and Xenia laughs. "Fuck, I guess that answers that question. I can respect a man who likes getting his ass kicked around a little, though."
"I'll be honest, it hasn't happened often enough for me to be aware of that about myself. Though I do of course apologize, I didn't mean to be...inappropriate." Despite his words, Trush has a hard time keeping his non-injured hand from brushing against Xenia's leg.
She seems to consider her response briefly, before leaning down and half-whispering it into one of the man's long ears. "I won't take offense, big guy. But maybe if you're interested tonight we could show each other some of our other moves?"
Trush sputters, suddenly finding himself the flustered party now that he's on the other side of their flirting, and clearly aware of their audience as he attempts to keep his response measured. Not that the blade at his neck does wonders for his sense of calm. "I'd - I believe I'd enjoy the opportunity, dungeon master."
"Save the titles for later..." Xenia's interrupted by a sudden spurt of cursing from Taly's direction, and as Xenia shoots her a look the undead woman quickly apologizes.
"Don't mind me! Good match, good match. I'm gonna get...cleaned up, yeah? Can't be a badass covered in grass stains."
"Fair enough. Probably enough for one day, eh?" Xenia shoots Trush another grin as she finally climbs to her feet. "Wouldn't want to tire out all my bosses too much..."
MUCH, MUCH LATER THAT EVENING
"Dear gods, woman, do you literally not ever tire out? I can tell my own stamina's much improved, but you're still leagues beyond me!"
Xenia laughs as she unstraddles the man for the second time that day...or perhaps the third or fourth, they hadn't exactly been keeping count. With a sigh, she collapses onto the bed next to her Knight. "Trust me, Lollyp's tried her best to find my limits and it just doesn't happen. You guys may be powered by magic but you've still got physical bodies. I'm all magic, so I think unless I was running at zero mana or something I'm more of an Energizer Bunny than you are."
The man raises an eyebrow as he turns his head to look at her. "...Is that another class of Rabbit Champion?"
"Ah, nah, past-life reference, you wouldn't get it."
"Ah, I see." Trush nods, before continuing a moment later. "I'll admit, it's still difficult for me to fully grasp what you've been through. One past life I could picture, but you've had so many you can barely remember them, is that right?"
"Some more than others, yeah." Xenia chuckles to herself. "The flashbacks I get when doing that dungeon raid thing have actually been kind of interesting, because of that. They've gotta be pulling from more than just my memories, it's all been exactly perfect recreations of shit that happened to me, as far as I can tell. I was spotting little details in there that I'd swear I'd completely forgotten." With a satisfied smile Xenia allows herself to sink into the pillow a bit, even closing her eyes in a bit of an imitation of going to sleep - when suddenly they jolt back open.
"Shit! That's it! That's how I can find out!"
Trush, rather jolted to wakefulness himself, sits up with a bit of concern. "Find out what?"
"Find out - well, don't worry about it now, I'll have a dungeon meeting about it tomorrow. Or...later today, I guess. Not a convo for the bedroom." She takes a moment to settle herself, and then shoots Trush another grin. "Did get my metaphorical heart pumping again for a minute there, though. You up for another round?"
The Knight eyes her with disbelief. "Are you kidding me, woman?" He then actually stops to consider his answer, as his eyes drift down across her naked form. "...Yes, please."
DaScoot
In case you're worried about having missed the good stuff - no worries, next time we'll be rewinding a little and getting smutty.
Enjoy!
