It was a long, painful trek back towards Grassbrook. Well, mostly for Haylizt, but watching her struggle with the icy mountain path wasn't exactly fun for the rest of the party either. Potions helped to numb the pain of her lost limbs, and her summoned fore-tentacles helped keep her on the move, which was fortunate as carrying the drider down the climb wouldn't have been an easy task. The summoned replacements were truly temporary, though, and the Priestess had to redo the ritual to bring them back twice before they finally made it back to town. By time they arrived the woman was pale and sweating, despite the cold weather, and she was relieved to finally get to take a break at the Association healer despite the fact that they would be unlikely to give her good news regarding leg re-attachment.
Tinsel didn't bother to stick around to hear the diagnosis, though. Her high-quality potions had healed up her own wounds, and Jantana and Mesht were staying around to both keep an eye on the drider and get their own minor injuries looked over. No, all the mousekin needed right now was a cold drink and a bed - perhaps with a bit of warm company included if the drinks did their work. Unfortunately as the woman approached the inn she realized that she would be spending the evening with company, but it would be of the professional kind. Changing her direction to intercept a drider and an earth elemental heading towards the same destination, she hops slightly as she shouts to improve her visibility.
"Hey! Handsome Spider! Over here!"
The drider groans and winces, needing a moment to recover before he can actually seek out the origin of the high-pitched voice. Finally spotting her in the muddy, unpaved street, he heads in her direction while looking rather unhappy about it. "Do I know you? I'm not even wearing the damn thing today!"
Beside him, the earth elemental speaks up in a feminine voice. "Should I get the ears out for you? It seems like folks around here recognize you for them!"
"Nah, I recognized you cause of the fuckin' four-hundred-pound boulder in your company. Don't tell me you don't know who I am, either - you seen a lot of other mousekin with stubbed tails anywhere around here?"
The man sucks in a breath, realizing who he's talking to. "Oh, of course, my apologies - you're Battle Alchemist Hansliss, yes? If you must refer to me by a title, I'd request that you'd use Arcanist - Arcanist Grizza, in full, now that I've completed my Advanced-level training. My companion here is Roxxy, as I'm sure you know."
"Yeah, yeah, but since you're not part of the service anymore, let's drop the titles, shall we? I'm Tinsel. We got stuff to talk about, but let's not do it in the middle of the frozen fuckin' street, yeah? C'mon, you can buy me the first round at the Lucky Bastard."
She moves on before Grizza can object, and the pair follow after the grumpy mousekin who sets a rapid pace despite her short stride. She doesn't say anything further until the trio are seated at a table inside and their orders are made with the barmaid, although Roxxy settles for requesting one of their sturdier chairs. Finally, Tinsel looks Grizza in the eye.
"So, you got the message from Command, yeah? Doubt you'd be here otherwise. They tell you what you're here for?"
The Arcanist seems uncertain as he answers. "Not...exactly? Merely to help 'support the efforts of local soldiers', with your name given as someone to report to. Unofficially, of course, since I'm no longer in the Army of the Valleylands."
"Right, that's what makes you special." As her drink arrives, Tinsel pauses to take a long gulp, making the pair wait before she gets to the point. Finally she sets her mug back down - and fires off a complaint to the barmaid. "Did I ask for a kid-size ale? Make the next one a regular, if you want a tip!"
Grizza sighs. "Alchemist, please."
The woman rolls her eyes. "Right, right. So, here's the thing. I need you to buy me a house."
Grizza remains silent, his face stonier than that of his companion, and so eventually Roxxy speaks up for him. "Is this a mating ritual!? I thought it went in a different order, but I can still come to the vow-exchange, right?"
Tinsel shoots the elemental a glare. "Fuck off, rocky. Dude ain't even that good-looking, apparently. No, this is about the mission. We're settlin' down for the long haul this time, probably, and setting up camp site tents in the middle of winter for a few months is nobody's idea of a good time, let alone secure. And renting out a couple of rooms at the inn for months on end? This is government work, kids, ain't nobody paying for all that. Nah, there's a lot of new housing that's gone up, and we need one."
The drider shakes his head, recovering somewhat, and makes his first objection. "Buying a house is really that much cheaper?"
"For this many people and this long? With only one and a half inns in town? Hells yeah, especially if we end up hosting more than one squad here. We're lucky we even got inn rooms, they're forecasting demand is gonna spike up in the spring."
"I suppose I've never looked into real estate prices, so I suppose that could be correct. But also - why must I buy you a house? I, ah...rather doubt it's cheap enough to be in my budget range. I've barely gotten started on my Challenger career. Especially if it needs to be large enough for multiple squads!"
The mouse woman sighs. "You'll be fronted the cash, obviously. That's not the problem. The problem is that we can't buy property in Rainlands territory. The agreement with their government doesn't allow for it. But you two are not part of the army. You're Challengers, and by the rights of the relevant Accords, you have the right to buy limited property in any signatory nation as long as you're a law-abiding tourist. And while there may be a ton of former vets in the Challengers, you swapped banners specifically for this kind of shit, if I'm understanding it right."
Grizza nods along as she finishes her explanation. "Ah, yes, I see what you mean now. I'm afraid my expertise with Worthy Dungeon is woefully out of date at this point, but I can certainly do that much. Do you require our services with the dungeon, though?"
Tinsel eyes the man, weighing him up. "Our current magic drider support did just get injured...but you're a fresh-faced Advanced, not at her level even if she does have to swap to...creepy tentacle legs or whatever now. And how many floors did you even clear? Two? I'd rather not have to carry you up through Floor Seven, not til we've had a good break, anyhow. Once the house thing is settled, sure, do your Challenger thing, maybe clear a few more floors, but I'm not sure about taking you on any official intrusions just yet."
"That's fair enough, I suppose. Is there anything else I can do for you besides paperwork, however?"
Tinsel takes a long draw from her new regular-sized mug, before eyeing the drider again. "Dunno. You gonna show me what you look like with the ears on anytime soon, or do I gotta get you drunk first?"
Across the bar another discussion was taking place, as the primary members of House Perlin's expedition were recounting the results of their own delve into Worthy Dungeon earlier that morning. They'd only cleared the top three floors for their first visit, so they never encountered the Valleylands party, but they still had plenty to talk about. As the leader of the party, Lord Arlon also got to take the lead in directing the conversation's topics. "I'm still not sure I understand how the dungeon got to have two bosses on the third floor. I've heard of multiple bosses guarding a single floor before, but is that not typically a thing for much lower floors?"
Sansie, the party's Elementalist, nods in agreement. "Typically yes, but there's a difference between the hard rules of a dungeon and simple dungeon behavior, of course. For example, a hard rule seems to be that the more bosses there are, the weaker they are individually. Given that young dungeons usually have fewer souls to empower their bosses with, it's not surprising that most would go for quality over quantity. But also...surely you've noticed that young dungeons are typically rather...well, I don't want to say 'dumb'. Uncreative, perhaps?"
Marksman Raylin grins at his cousin. "True, true. Every dungeon has their own flavor, like with Fire Sands being based on a beach and starting with a sea cove, right? But accounting for that, many of them do seem rather...uniform for their first few floors. 'Here's the room with the pitfalls, here's the chamber with the first monster the dungeon ever acquired', and so on. While they may increase the tier of their challenges, dungeons rarely seem to do much in the way of re-designs, yes? Worthy Dungeon does rather fit that mold...for the first floor."
The Maid of Health, Deylia, politely chuckles at what Raylin left unsaid. "And then it entirely threw it out the window for the second! A moving platform on such a scale...it really does sound as if other dungeons have only done anything similar before in only the broadest senses. And it did something so unique on only its second floor! It is rather exciting."
Sansie gives her own grin to the previous pair, although for a different reason. "And speaking of unique floors..."
Raylin eyes her back. "You have a comment to make, cousin?"
"Oh, come on, Raylin! You can't disappear with my favorite Maid into the mythical Floor Five and not tell us anything about it!"
The Maid in question blushes at her lady's statement. "Sansie! That - that hardly seems appropriate table discussion!"
Deciding to play the moderating force, Arlon steps in to save the pair's privacy - somewhat. "We don't need those kinds of details, of course. But...the floor itself? Is it like the rumors said?"
Even the Marksman is blushing a little at the question, and as the most notorious womanizer of the party, that's rather saying something. "I'll say that, ah...you need to be specific about the Floor Five rumors you listen to. Apparently we missed the part about how you get sent to a different section of the floor depending on what floor you portaled there from, with some...very different themes. We definitely did not encounter a set of rooms with plain beds and hot springs, like we were expecting. Apparently, that section is linked to Floor Two."
The man rather trails off there, and finally the Royal Protector Taylim decides to speak up. "And Floor Three's theme would be...?" As neither of the pair volunteer any information, he decides to prod the younger man again. "Would it have something to do with the red mark wrapping around your neck you're attempting to cover up with your collar there, young sir? And those around your wrists?"
"Taylim! How about you try to protect our dignity as well as our rear ends, why don't you?"
The bodyguard smirks as he covers it up with a drink from his mug. "I fear it was perhaps your rear ends that were most at risk..."
Again, Arlon steps in before his more hot-headed cousin can take actual offense. "Okay, thank you Taylim, that will be quite enough. If Raylin and Del have nothing...relevant to report, we shall leave it at that. So moving on, then, do we all feel ready for another intrusion tomorrow? I'm uncertain about trying the newest floor, but we can certainly work up towards it."
Sansie raises an eyebrow. "In that much of a rush to beat our competition? Most parties typically take at least one break day between intrusions, you know."
The lord leans forward, resting his chin on his hands as he gives the team a serious look. "Indeed. However, the Association estimates that the dungeon will reach two hundred days of age very soon. It's one of those days typically known for...notable changes in a dungeon's makeup, and I'd like to clear a few more floors before things become more difficult. Also, we'll likely want to rest while the Association does their next inspection."
"Fair enough. May tomorrow be as fruitful as today!" Sansie raises a drink, before winking at her Maid. "And may the tales of Floor Four or Six's special section be more forthcoming, hrmm, Del?"
"Ma'am!"
Back in Worthy Dungeon drinks were being shared in Xenia's core chamber, not for any great celebration but because, well...drinking in the dungeon was free. As Sincere sought out Trush, he found the former orc chatting quietly with Beatrice in one corner. While their tone was hushed, it didn't seem to be anything too secretive, going by the smile Beatrice shoots the demon as he approaches.
"Evening, Trush, Trish. ...Perhaps I should stick to 'Beatrice' while you're in shared company, eh? Did I miss anything amusing before I arrived?"
Beatrice continues to smirk at him, although she adds in a wink before she moves away. "You'll find out later, no worries. I'll find you later, okay?"
"As you say." Sincere gives her a nod before turning back towards the Knight. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I hope it wasn't too difficult, fighting fellow soldiers and all that?"
The man gives a loud laugh. "If you mean physically, yeah, it was a pain in the ass! Granted, I did half-surrender the element of surprise. If you mean emotionally or some such - no, not at all. We were both performing our duties, and it's not as if I knew a one of them. If they return and our next round involves me taking their heads..." Trush shrugs. "If they fall, they fall."
"Very pragmatic, I suppose."
"That's life in the army for you. Mmm, anyhow, I'm going to be cutting the evening short a little, I need to check on something in my apartment. But find me there later, will you, Seeker? I have something I wish to show you."
Sincere raises an eyebrow as Trush claps him on the shoulder and makes his exit. "...Well. You certainly have me curious..."
DaScoot
Perhaps ruining the surprise a little - but be ready for some smut action next time!
Enjoy!
It was a long, painful trek back towards Grassbrook. Well, mostly for Haylizt, but watching her struggle with the icy mountain path wasn't exactly fun for the rest of the party either. Potions helped to numb the pain of her lost limbs, and her summoned fore-tentacles helped keep her on the move, which was fortunate as carrying the drider down the climb wouldn't have been an easy task. The summoned replacements were truly temporary, though, and the Priestess had to redo the ritual to bring them back twice before they finally made it back to town. By time they arrived the woman was pale and sweating, despite the cold weather, and she was relieved to finally get to take a break at the Association healer despite the fact that they would be unlikely to give her good news regarding leg re-attachment.
Tinsel didn't bother to stick around to hear the diagnosis, though. Her high-quality potions had healed up her own wounds, and Jantana and Mesht were staying around to both keep an eye on the drider and get their own minor injuries looked over. No, all the mousekin needed right now was a cold drink and a bed - perhaps with a bit of warm company included if the drinks did their work. Unfortunately as the woman approached the inn she realized that she would be spending the evening with company, but it would be of the professional kind. Changing her direction to intercept a drider and an earth elemental heading towards the same destination, she hops slightly as she shouts to improve her visibility.
"Hey! Handsome Spider! Over here!"
The drider groans and winces, needing a moment to recover before he can actually seek out the origin of the high-pitched voice. Finally spotting her in the muddy, unpaved street, he heads in her direction while looking rather unhappy about it. "Do I know you? I'm not even wearing the damn thing today!"
Beside him, the earth elemental speaks up in a feminine voice. "Should I get the ears out for you? It seems like folks around here recognize you for them!"
"Nah, I recognized you cause of the fuckin' four-hundred-pound boulder in your company. Don't tell me you don't know who I am, either - you seen a lot of other mousekin with stubbed tails anywhere around here?"
The man sucks in a breath, realizing who he's talking to. "Oh, of course, my apologies - you're Battle Alchemist Hansliss, yes? If you must refer to me by a title, I'd request that you'd use Arcanist - Arcanist Grizza, in full, now that I've completed my Advanced-level training. My companion here is Roxxy, as I'm sure you know."
"Yeah, yeah, but since you're not part of the service anymore, let's drop the titles, shall we? I'm Tinsel. We got stuff to talk about, but let's not do it in the middle of the frozen fuckin' street, yeah? C'mon, you can buy me the first round at the Lucky Bastard."
She moves on before Grizza can object, and the pair follow after the grumpy mousekin who sets a rapid pace despite her short stride. She doesn't say anything further until the trio are seated at a table inside and their orders are made with the barmaid, although Roxxy settles for requesting one of their sturdier chairs. Finally, Tinsel looks Grizza in the eye.
"So, you got the message from Command, yeah? Doubt you'd be here otherwise. They tell you what you're here for?"
The Arcanist seems uncertain as he answers. "Not...exactly? Merely to help 'support the efforts of local soldiers', with your name given as someone to report to. Unofficially, of course, since I'm no longer in the Army of the Valleylands."
"Right, that's what makes you special." As her drink arrives, Tinsel pauses to take a long gulp, making the pair wait before she gets to the point. Finally she sets her mug back down - and fires off a complaint to the barmaid. "Did I ask for a kid-size ale? Make the next one a regular, if you want a tip!"
Grizza sighs. "Alchemist, please."
The woman rolls her eyes. "Right, right. So, here's the thing. I need you to buy me a house."
Grizza remains silent, his face stonier than that of his companion, and so eventually Roxxy speaks up for him. "Is this a mating ritual!? I thought it went in a different order, but I can still come to the vow-exchange, right?"
Tinsel shoots the elemental a glare. "Fuck off, rocky. Dude ain't even that good-looking, apparently. No, this is about the mission. We're settlin' down for the long haul this time, probably, and setting up camp site tents in the middle of winter for a few months is nobody's idea of a good time, let alone secure. And renting out a couple of rooms at the inn for months on end? This is government work, kids, ain't nobody paying for all that. Nah, there's a lot of new housing that's gone up, and we need one."
The drider shakes his head, recovering somewhat, and makes his first objection. "Buying a house is really that much cheaper?"
"For this many people and this long? With only one and a half inns in town? Hells yeah, especially if we end up hosting more than one squad here. We're lucky we even got inn rooms, they're forecasting demand is gonna spike up in the spring."
"I suppose I've never looked into real estate prices, so I suppose that could be correct. But also - why must I buy you a house? I, ah...rather doubt it's cheap enough to be in my budget range. I've barely gotten started on my Challenger career. Especially if it needs to be large enough for multiple squads!"
The mouse woman sighs. "You'll be fronted the cash, obviously. That's not the problem. The problem is that we can't buy property in Rainlands territory. The agreement with their government doesn't allow for it. But you two are not part of the army. You're Challengers, and by the rights of the relevant Accords, you have the right to buy limited property in any signatory nation as long as you're a law-abiding tourist. And while there may be a ton of former vets in the Challengers, you swapped banners specifically for this kind of shit, if I'm understanding it right."
Grizza nods along as she finishes her explanation. "Ah, yes, I see what you mean now. I'm afraid my expertise with Worthy Dungeon is woefully out of date at this point, but I can certainly do that much. Do you require our services with the dungeon, though?"
Tinsel eyes the man, weighing him up. "Our current magic drider support did just get injured...but you're a fresh-faced Advanced, not at her level even if she does have to swap to...creepy tentacle legs or whatever now. And how many floors did you even clear? Two? I'd rather not have to carry you up through Floor Seven, not til we've had a good break, anyhow. Once the house thing is settled, sure, do your Challenger thing, maybe clear a few more floors, but I'm not sure about taking you on any official intrusions just yet."
"That's fair enough, I suppose. Is there anything else I can do for you besides paperwork, however?"
Tinsel takes a long draw from her new regular-sized mug, before eyeing the drider again. "Dunno. You gonna show me what you look like with the ears on anytime soon, or do I gotta get you drunk first?"
Across the bar another discussion was taking place, as the primary members of House Perlin's expedition were recounting the results of their own delve into Worthy Dungeon earlier that morning. They'd only cleared the top three floors for their first visit, so they never encountered the Valleylands party, but they still had plenty to talk about. As the leader of the party, Lord Arlon also got to take the lead in directing the conversation's topics. "I'm still not sure I understand how the dungeon got to have two bosses on the third floor. I've heard of multiple bosses guarding a single floor before, but is that not typically a thing for much lower floors?"
Sansie, the party's Elementalist, nods in agreement. "Typically yes, but there's a difference between the hard rules of a dungeon and simple dungeon behavior, of course. For example, a hard rule seems to be that the more bosses there are, the weaker they are individually. Given that young dungeons usually have fewer souls to empower their bosses with, it's not surprising that most would go for quality over quantity. But also...surely you've noticed that young dungeons are typically rather...well, I don't want to say 'dumb'. Uncreative, perhaps?"
Marksman Raylin grins at his cousin. "True, true. Every dungeon has their own flavor, like with Fire Sands being based on a beach and starting with a sea cove, right? But accounting for that, many of them do seem rather...uniform for their first few floors. 'Here's the room with the pitfalls, here's the chamber with the first monster the dungeon ever acquired', and so on. While they may increase the tier of their challenges, dungeons rarely seem to do much in the way of re-designs, yes? Worthy Dungeon does rather fit that mold...for the first floor."
The Maid of Health, Deylia, politely chuckles at what Raylin left unsaid. "And then it entirely threw it out the window for the second! A moving platform on such a scale...it really does sound as if other dungeons have only done anything similar before in only the broadest senses. And it did something so unique on only its second floor! It is rather exciting."
Sansie gives her own grin to the previous pair, although for a different reason. "And speaking of unique floors..."
Raylin eyes her back. "You have a comment to make, cousin?"
"Oh, come on, Raylin! You can't disappear with my favorite Maid into the mythical Floor Five and not tell us anything about it!"
The Maid in question blushes at her lady's statement. "Sansie! That - that hardly seems appropriate table discussion!"
Deciding to play the moderating force, Arlon steps in to save the pair's privacy - somewhat. "We don't need those kinds of details, of course. But...the floor itself? Is it like the rumors said?"
Even the Marksman is blushing a little at the question, and as the most notorious womanizer of the party, that's rather saying something. "I'll say that, ah...you need to be specific about the Floor Five rumors you listen to. Apparently we missed the part about how you get sent to a different section of the floor depending on what floor you portaled there from, with some...very different themes. We definitely did not encounter a set of rooms with plain beds and hot springs, like we were expecting. Apparently, that section is linked to Floor Two."
The man rather trails off there, and finally the Royal Protector Taylim decides to speak up. "And Floor Three's theme would be...?" As neither of the pair volunteer any information, he decides to prod the younger man again. "Would it have something to do with the red mark wrapping around your neck you're attempting to cover up with your collar there, young sir? And those around your wrists?"
"Taylim! How about you try to protect our dignity as well as our rear ends, why don't you?"
The bodyguard smirks as he covers it up with a drink from his mug. "I fear it was perhaps your rear ends that were most at risk..."
Again, Arlon steps in before his more hot-headed cousin can take actual offense. "Okay, thank you Taylim, that will be quite enough. If Raylin and Del have nothing...relevant to report, we shall leave it at that. So moving on, then, do we all feel ready for another intrusion tomorrow? I'm uncertain about trying the newest floor, but we can certainly work up towards it."
Sansie raises an eyebrow. "In that much of a rush to beat our competition? Most parties typically take at least one break day between intrusions, you know."
The lord leans forward, resting his chin on his hands as he gives the team a serious look. "Indeed. However, the Association estimates that the dungeon will reach two hundred days of age very soon. It's one of those days typically known for...notable changes in a dungeon's makeup, and I'd like to clear a few more floors before things become more difficult. Also, we'll likely want to rest while the Association does their next inspection."
"Fair enough. May tomorrow be as fruitful as today!" Sansie raises a drink, before winking at her Maid. "And may the tales of Floor Four or Six's special section be more forthcoming, hrmm, Del?"
"Ma'am!"
Back in Worthy Dungeon drinks were being shared in Xenia's core chamber, not for any great celebration but because, well...drinking in the dungeon was free. As Sincere sought out Trush, he found the former orc chatting quietly with Beatrice in one corner. While their tone was hushed, it didn't seem to be anything too secretive, going by the smile Beatrice shoots the demon as he approaches.
"Evening, Trush, Trish. ...Perhaps I should stick to 'Beatrice' while you're in shared company, eh? Did I miss anything amusing before I arrived?"
Beatrice continues to smirk at him, although she adds in a wink before she moves away. "You'll find out later, no worries. I'll find you later, okay?"
"As you say." Sincere gives her a nod before turning back towards the Knight. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I hope it wasn't too difficult, fighting fellow soldiers and all that?"
The man gives a loud laugh. "If you mean physically, yeah, it was a pain in the ass! Granted, I did half-surrender the element of surprise. If you mean emotionally or some such - no, not at all. We were both performing our duties, and it's not as if I knew a one of them. If they return and our next round involves me taking their heads..." Trush shrugs. "If they fall, they fall."
"Very pragmatic, I suppose."
"That's life in the army for you. Mmm, anyhow, I'm going to be cutting the evening short a little, I need to check on something in my apartment. But find me there later, will you, Seeker? I have something I wish to show you."
Sincere raises an eyebrow as Trush claps him on the shoulder and makes his exit. "...Well. You certainly have me curious..."
DaScoot
Perhaps ruining the surprise a little - but be ready for some smut action next time!
Enjoy!
