Worthy Core

Hammon Hardhead breathes heavily as he rests his arm on his axe, leaning on the weapon for support. "I. Fuckin'. Hate. Mimics."

Although the others don't immediately say anything, it's obvious from their looks that they agree. Petal's face was heavily scratched up from when a pillar she had been taking cover behind had sprouted claws and begun swiping at her. Lobald the Kobold was limping and using his staff as a crutch, after the candles had leapt off of a chandelier and turned into knives on the way down, one of them impaling itself through his scaled foot. Tandy had perhaps had the worst of it, as there was now a bandage wrapped around her head to stop the bleeding from where her right ear had been chewed off by a small box she'd been shaking to see if there was anything inside. She didn't seem to mind the wound too much, though - ears were relatively easy to heal with magic, and apparently this was the third ear she'd lost over the course of her career. Still, none of them were in particularly high spirits.

Bishop Nashta does attempt to put a positive spin on things, at least. "Well, the good news is they all seem to be mid-tier at most in terms of strength, some even less than that. Once they reveal themselves we can slay them easily enough, and they seem to have trouble with biting through even decent leather armor. For a first-time run of a floor, this hasn't really been so bad."

Lobald groans. "Yeah, yeah, but I hate the freakin' mind-game aspects of it, y'know? A sock tried to bite me, you know? A sock! That's gonna haunt my nightmares, I'm telling you."

Petal has to roll her eyes at that complaint. "Yeah, sure, but the thing wouldn'ta even gotten near your pervy ass if y'hadn't seen a pair of lacy knickers hanging out of a drawer and gone, 'ooh, I gotta see what's in that thing!' Y'didn't even fall for the chests of coins as quickly as you did that one!"

"Hey, you know what this dungeon is like! Fifty-fifty odds a pair of scanty underwear from here woulda had enough enchantments on it to turn someone into a Supreme-level wizard or some shit. A Sorcerer of Seduction! I still bet you there actually was something like that in there, if only we'd taken the time to check it."

The Rogue snorts at the suggestion. "Lizard, I am not burning my mana on picking through twenty different pairs of panties to see if any of them are any good." Having said that, Tandy does pause for a moment. "...Shit, on second thought, a dungeon like this probably would have hidden the best shit in a set like that. ...Hold on, my good ear's hearing movement from up ahead." The group readies their weapons and slows down as they peer down the hallway stretching out before them, and eventually the rest of them do hear a slight shuffling sound. After a minute or two the source of it becomes apparent as a group of rabbits starts to hop their way around a corner.

The party leader's not one to be taken in by their cute appearance, though. "There ain't no such thing as an innocent little bunny in a dungeon, especially not this deep. If they're down here, they're a threat, and I don't care to wait to find out what kind. Petal, Lobald, blast the buggers, would you?"

Petal is the first to act, hefting her crossbow to her shoulder and firing off a bolt at the lead rabbit. The creature dies easily enough, the force of the impact sufficient to send it sliding backwards along the stone floor, blood spilling as it goes. Unfortunately, that seems to be the trigger for the rest of the warren to drop the cute façade, and instantly the remainder of them turn into true monsters. Jaws spread wide, revealing large mouths full of dripping fangs, but none of them open where the Challengers might expect a mouth to be. Instead heads flop back to reveal mouths inside of necks, sides split open to reveal jaws as large as the creatures themselves, and in one case an entire bunny splits down the middle, from top to bottom, turning the entire monster into a single oversized maw.

They run forward as they go, but Lobald was already preparing his own spell and a blast from his outstretched staff fries three of the creatures before they reach the party. Hammon does his best to block the rest as they arrive, but the mimics do seem to share the speed and flexibility of the rabbits they pretend to be, and several of them do get past him. Tandy takes one, her dagger sinking rapidly into a monster's back, but the rest head for Nashta who stands at the center of the formation.

Luckily the Cleric is no stranger to the art of melee combat. Without showing the slightest hint of alarm in her expression the Bishop of Battle begins to spin her staff, timing it so that the heavy head of it lands with thick impacts into the sides of the rabbits as they reach her. Most of them are only stunned as they bounce off of the hallway wall, but one of them does end up flying right back over Hammon's head, landing with an impact hard enough to break whatever passes for its skeleton.

It's only the work of a minute or so to finish the monsters off, but when they're done Petal seems even more discouraged than before. "Awful! Disgusting! What kind of sick freak would do that with bunnies! Those were worse than the bitey ones on Floor Four!"

Nashta chuckles as she wipes off the bloodstains on her metal staff. "Careful, Sniper. That is the dungeon master herself you're insulting, now."

"Right, right. I mean uh...those were delightfully awful. Ten out of ten, gonna have nightmares about em worse than Lobald and his crotch-sniffin' panty mimics."

The kobold shudders. "Eugh, I didn't even think about that. Look, we should be close to the end by now, so how about we just move on and then forget about all this, eh?"

"Indeed, let's do that. Tandy, back up front with me." The Shield Smasher and the Backstabber Rogue continue to lead the way down the hallway, and it's not long after the turn that they find themselves in front of a large, impressive-looking door. Tandy declares it trap-free, after which she takes a moment more to inspect it from a style perspective.

"Yeah, this thing's fancy enough to be a boss arena door, I'd say. We all good to continue?"

Hammon nods. "Wouldn't have minded a safe room on this floor, but I suppose if anything I'd just suspect a healing fountain of being full of water elementals who'd try to drown us or something. Alright, on three..."

Tandy opens the door and Hammon takes the lead, shield raised, and the expectations of it being a boss arena seem to be quickly confirmed. Although it shares the general style of the rest of the floor, being made of castle-like carved stone blocks, the layout is quite different. It's large and circular, but almost empty save a few decorations on the walls and a pillar in the middle, which holds a reflective silver ball. The group scans the decorations quickly, but their attention soon enough returns towards the centerpiece of the chamber.

Petal keeps her finger on her crossbow's trigger. "Any one of those shields and tapestries and shit could be more mimics, but any ideas on that thing? Maybe it's some sort of magic puzzle-type challenge?"

The party's Sorcerer chuckles. "The closest thing this dungeon's had to a puzzle is the damn riddle door, and the hardest part about that is how bad it is at being a puzzle. It's definitely something, though?"

The dwarf shrugs. "Want me to shoot it and see what happens?"

Hammon weighs the option in his mind, and eventually nods. "If we're going to set the thing off one way or another, may as well set it off from a distance. Everyone be on their guard!"

The party prepares themselves, half of them doing so by slightly shuffling behind Hammon, and Petal releases her bolt. It hits the sphere dead center, but to everyone's surprise it simply sticks itself halfway into the apparent metal surface, without cracking or denting it in any way. "...Is that thing some sort of liquid? A metal slime of some sort, maybe?"

Before anyone can answer the sphere begins to shift, at first looking as if perhaps it was in fact a slime, but soon it's become much larger than a slime the sphere's size could have possibly grown. As the bolt clatters onto the stone floor the creature grows arms, legs, and even massive wings, eventually taking a form that makes the party gasp in horror. Lobald's eyes grow wide as he recognizes the armored figure sitting atop the pedestal a moment later. "Dear gods, the dungeon's throwing another one of these things at us!?"

As the Valkyrie inspects themselves, a frown forms on their uncovered lips. "You're kidding me. My big debut, and it's as Brightsky? Gods, she's really done a number on you teams up on Floor Seven, hasn't she? She scared you even more than that fellow Petal's been trying to court for the past thirty years and never worked up the courage to talk to. You should do that, by the way, if you survive this."

Petal's mouth drops open. "What? How...?"

"Not one for giving away my secrets in my first fight, I'm afraid." The armored figure reaches out an arm, and to the party's surprise one of the axes mounted to the wall suddenly rips itself free and flies into their open hand. "Prepare yourselves."

That's all the warning they give before leaping into the air, their axe swooping down upon the center of the party. Hammon moves to intercept it with his shield, but to the dwarf's consternation the blade of it actually bites several inches deep into his trusty equipment. Still, it does slow the monster down for a moment, and a moment is all a good team of Challengers need. "We've beaten her before, we can do it again! Lobald, keep her grounded! The rest of you, hit her weak points!"

The kobold does as requested, filling the large arena with a sudden storm that would make any attempt to take into the air a dangerous one. Given that Parker's never had wings before, he wasn't really considering trying to figure them out in the middle of a fight, but it does seem to keep the Sorcerer of Sky busy for a little while. In the meantime Petal's quick-loaded another bolt and aimed for the boss's neck, but finds herself surprised by how the monster reacts. The Valkyrie of Floor Seven would have blocked with her massive shield, which this version seems to lack, or would have otherwise used her metal wings as a barrier. This one instead manages to move only the slightest bit to allow the bolt to miss, a brush so close that the bolt's fletching was probably scraping across their cheek.

As Tandy slips around the armored figure to find a place to plant her daggers, she's also surprised when the guardian abandons their weapon to instead turn around and sock Tandy in the face with an armored fist. The Rogue rolls with it, lessening the impact and gaining some distance, but still swears at the knowledge that her face is sure to be one large bruise after the battle.

Examining the monster's movements and reactions, Nashta is the first to come to a conclusion. "Harken, party - this is not a creature like Floor Seven's guardian! It has her form, but not her patterns of attack! Do not allow yourselves to become complacent!"

"A strategist, eh? Well, we can't be having someone with good ideas on the field, that just takes all the fun out of it!" Reaching out both arms, this time two axes fly out to fill the guardian's hands, and within a second later both of them are swinging towards Hammon, one from either side. Only able to block one with his shield, the dwarf attempts to deflect the other with his armored gauntlet, but the metal fails to stop the weapon from digging deep into the bones of his arm. The monster doesn't stay to finish the man off though, instead quickly pulling his axe free and stepping forward to advance on Nashta. To her credit the orc meets him without fear, her metal staff intercepting every swing her opponent throws at her, but unfortunately the swirl of blades serves its purpose in keeping her distracted.

As axe-swing after axe-swing is deflected by the Bishop, each sending sparks flying through the air, few in the party notice as one of the monster's wings begins to take on a magical orange glow along its upper edge. Petal tries to shout out a warning, but it's far too late as the monster suddenly spins, sending the wing sweeping in from the side and bisecting the orc at the waist as though she were made of butter. As her torso drops to the ground, the guardian pauses for a moment to examine their own handiwork. "My body is my weapon...and this body has its upsides, I suppose. Who's next?"

The answer turns out to be Lobald, abandoning their storm spell to instead step in with a howl of rage. His staff slams into the guardian's chest, doing no apparent damage, but the monster barely has time to widen their eyes before they realize what's coming next. A massive blast of lightning sends them flying, electricity sparking off of their metal armor, and both of their wings snap as they land on the stone floor with a heavy impact. Tandy is quick to react, leaping at the prone figure with her daggers ready to stab downward, but even after such a hard landing the guardian's still able to knock her aside with a blow from one hand, sending her rolling yet again.

Another bolt from Petal barely grazes the monster's face, but it's less of a miss this time as the Sniper was using one of her special shots. A second after impact with the floor the bolt explodes, shooting stony shrapnel across the guardian's cheek, and it's with a groan that they crawl back to their feet. "Ugh, that hurt. Nice to know I can take a hit, though."

Hammon himself prepares for a Shield Smasher charge, ready to knock the boss back onto their ass, but pauses as he notices several of the wall decorations crawling their way down and skittering across the floor. The stunned Tandy screams out as a dagger-like leg punches its way into her thigh, and the man makes a quick recalculation. Their healer is dead, two of them have wounded legs, not to mention the high potential for more surprises yet to reveal themselves the longer the fight continues. Adjusting his course, the man shouts out new orders. "Fall back! Out of the arena, I'll grab the Rogue!"

With his enhanced speed it's the work of a moment to smash away the monster trying to climb its way up Tandy's body, and as he lifts her over one shoulder Petal and Lobald put their full efforts into keeping their foes away from the arena's exit. The guardian doesn't seem to be nearly as bloodthirsty as the monster they're mimicking, however, and nothing reaches the quartet before they've had time to flee through the door and back down the hallway beyond.

As the blowing of winds and the crackling of electricity fades, Parker takes a deep breath as they examine their handiwork, the orc just now gasping out her last breath as he watches her on the floor. Sighing, he turns back to rest against his pedestal. "Well...suppose that wasn't too bad for a debut. Hope Brightsky is flattered by my performance, at least..."

DaScoot

Next time's smut time!

Enjoy!