Worthy Core

"We haven't missed it yet, have we? Tell me we haven't missed it!" As Slinz skitters down the road, Bank has to roll his eyes at his drider companion.

"Look, we all know how to read a calendar, and the last Association branch we passed confirmed it. The party isn't until tomorrow, and we'll be in Grassbrook today. Save your energy!"

Unable to comply, Slinz clenches her fists. "I'm just so excited! I feel like we've been missing out, you know? All these expansions we've been hearing about while we were training up north, all these newbies bragging about their exploits - we were earning ranks in Worthy Dungeon before it was cool, you know?"

Nalaney sighs from where she's taking up the rear with her brother, their half-dwarf legs making it harder to keep up with the excitable Mage. "Admit it, Slinz - you just want to get back to a dungeon where we can kick some ass without having to wear half our own body weight in luck charms to keep from losing a limb. Gods, it was such a pain to get the Association to accept we needed the gear as a handicap. Hrmm...you think the dungeon might have some stronger tier items by now? It'd be good if we could dump a bunch of low-tier charms for one good ring or something like that."

Beside her, Nalaff smirks. "Could be, could be - but we might have to do the dungeon a service in return, from what I hear." The smirk fades as the Priest gets a whap on the back of the head from his sister.

"Come on, you don't really believe that drivel, do you? The dungeon pays out bonus items for sleeping with a monster? Even for the standards of this place, that has to be Challenger rumor bullshit. An' why are you lookin' so pleased about it, anyhow? Don't tell me you want to spend an evening with a dungeon monster? Granted, that's probably the only sort that would take you in for a night."

"Hey, as far as that goes, I know I've heard enough rumors about those rabbit-folk monsters to be sure they ain't exactly disfigured monstrosities. Besides, not like all of us have boyfriends waiting for us in every port of call - I assume Slinz here is hoping that incubus friend of hers is still in town, eh?"

The drider suddenly comes to a halt at that statement, her excited energy immediately draining away. "Uh...yeah. About that..."

Concerned, Bank steps closer. "What is it? It wasn't a serious relationship, right? And he's an incubus...I can't imagine you'd be worried about him, I don't know...cheating on you, or something?"

"Gods, I wish that was the problem." Moving forward again, Slinz continues with a frown. "You uh...remember that story a few months back, about Domain spies getting a few nobles killed?"

Nalaff speaks for the party with a very cautious "...Yyyyeeess?"

"...Lionel was, uh. Part of that party. From what I can tell he wasn't killed or captured, but he was almost certainly part of it."

The team's Rogue slaps her forehead. "You hooked up with a Domain spy!? How has this not come up before now!?"

"What use would it have been to bring it up!? It's not like we helped him with spying or anything, and I don't want anyone to think I'm involved with that, you know?"

Bank gives her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Hey, we all spent the day with him, didn't we? And I'll admit, he seemed pleasant enough. Besides, what are we going to do? Assume every demon we meet is a spy? Aside from there being a fair few demonic citizens of the Rainlands and Valleylands, you know the Association rules. Neutrality, everyone in the Association works together."

"Yeah...I guess I could have paid more attention though, I don't know." Her voice trails off for a bit, before she suddenly speaks up once again. "Uh, hey! Who's that up there? They seem...purple?"

Sure enough, standing next to the road is a traveler who's shorter than the half-grown field of wheat she's standing next to, her small size and dark-colored skin making her hard to spot from a distance. Her coloring is very definitely purple, with signs of pointed ears sticking out from her black hair, yet none of those clues make her any easier to identify. For her part the woman seems to be looking a little lost, suddenly perking up when she spots the approaching party. With a hand and her voice raised, she shouts out. "Hey there! Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Before they can come into speaking range, Nalaney lowers her voice and asks a few of her own. "Shit, is that a gremlin? I've never seen one before. But a gremlin combined with Slinz's natural bad luck could make us, like...spontaneously explode or something, don't you think?"

Her brother shakes his head. "Aren't gremlins supposed to be green? Shouldn't matter, though - we all got our luck charms on, right? That should be plenty unless she actively tries some shit..."

Sighing, Bank takes the lead. "Let's at least be friendly and see what she wants, aye?" Raising his own voice, he waves in response. "Hail! Certainly, we'd be glad to help. No troubles around here, I hope?"

As the group approaches, the woman answers. "Oh, nothing dangerous, if that's what you mean. Just, uh...a little lost, hehe! Tell me, is there anything interesting around these parts?"

The party shares a look, and Nalaney whispers again. "The hells? Who just gets lost all the way out in the middle of nowhere like this? Something's up."

"Hrmm, we'll see..." Speaking up again, Bank offers the small woman a smile. She's not much more than three and a half feet tall, but not nearly as squat-proportioned as the half-dwarf Greengrass twins, instead having the proportions of a simple young human woman who happened to be very tiny. If she is some sort of highwayman, at least she can't be too dangerous, the man hopes. "Nothing much in this particular spot, no, just some farms and the forest. We're taking the road south to Grassbrook though...mind if I ask where it is you're headed?"

To his surprise, the woman doesn't answer straight away. Instead her eyes seem locked on Slinz, as if she hadn't really noticed the Mage until the group had gotten closer. Her eyes certainly seem unusually large for her size now that Bank sees them, and they seem to grow increasingly wider as Slinz comes closer. "Um...are you alright, miss?"

"Um." She lowers her voice into a stage whisper. "Don't look now, but there's a giant spider standing right to your left."

Most of the party smirks at that, although Slinz's expression is largely one of confusion. "Do you...do you not know what a drider is? We don't have any local communities, but surely everyone's heard of us? ...Mind telling us what and who you are, while we're at it?"

"Drider, huh? Like some sort of...spider centaur? Weird. But uh, sure! My name's Tizzy Barrelbottom, and I'm a half-imp! Pleased to meet you, and who might you be?"

Before answering, Nalaff has a question of his own. "Imp, huh, not a gremlin? That's still a sort of demon though, I assume?"

The woman's head tilts. "Hrmm? An imp's an imp! Guessing you don't have any lil purple folks around here, huh?"

Bank takes over for the introductions. "Can't say that we do, no. We're the Miserables, by the way, we're a Challenger party, just graduated to Expert level actually. All fresh level twenties, heh. I'm Bank, Vanguard Charger, this is Slinz, Solar Arcanist, and the twins there are Nalaff and Nalaney, a Thunder Priest and Backstabber Rogue. Oh, and half-elf, if you couldn't tell."

If anything, all of that only serves to make the woman more confused. "Challenger party? Miserable ones, too? You seem like you're doing alright, whatever it is you do."

"Ah, heh, the name just refers to a...streak of bad luck we've had in the past. But you're not familiar with Challengers either? I thought even most of the Old Continents had Association branches on them? Just where is it you're from, Miss Barrelbottom?"

The woman blinks at him. "...Very far away?"

"...Right." Bank looks at his companions, and gets a round of shrugs in return. "...Well, I wouldn't mind answering some questions, but we don't want to be delayed too much on our trip. We're hoping to be in Grassbrook in time for the dungeon's party tomorrow, but you're welcome to walk with us if you need company?"

Instead of nodding, Tizzy grabs the sides of her head and cries. "Ahhh! You're miserable people going to have a party in a dungeon? Is this some sort of Reverse Realm where good is bad and up is down? Heavens, am...am I tall here?"

There's a solid five seconds of silence before Slinz answers. "...No, you're still short. And the Kingdom of the Rainlands is...pretty normal, I think? It's just the dungeon that's weird, I suppose. And maybe us, a little bit." She stares at the imp for a little longer before sighing. "Look, do you want to come with us or not? We can't just stand out here in the road all day."

"I'll come, I'll come!" With that said the group begins moving, but it doesn't take long before she asks her next question. "...Ooooooohhhhh, wait, I get it now. This is one of those sex dungeon parties, right? I've heard about those! Kinky."

Nalaney snorts. "It's not a..." Glancing at her brother, the Rogue realizes her denial may not have much substance to it. "...Okay, it's sort of a sex dungeon. Apparently. But no, it's a normal sort of dungeon, mostly. With monsters and traps and stuff that try to kill you. We're Challengers, which means we challenge the dungeon and earn loot and rewards, and Association credit towards our next training programs. We're Experts now, which is the mid-tier...but Expert is where it starts getting tougher to advance, so we couldn't really claim to be halfway through the ranks yet at this stage. What is it you do?"

"Oh, I'm a bit of a mage, a bit of a scout. My main specialty is in studying different systems of magic, and to help build bridges between schools learned in different places where magic works differently. I can tell the magic here is real strong - all of you are spell-casters, aren't you? But it's still a bit different than what I'm used to."

Slinz frowns. "Magic works differently in different places? I know the Association has some pretty different classes available in different cultures, but I didn't think the underlying rules really changed or anything like that."

"Oh, you'd be surprised! It'll take some time, but ideally I'll be able to design up some enchantments that can help a mage used to one system work their spells in another. I'd love being able to watch you cast some of your spells, by the way!"

"Well...maybe I can cast a few minor ones, while we walk. You sound like you're a bit of an expert yourself...you're not part of the Association, though? If you want to challenge the dungeon, you don't have to be, but you don't earn any Association level credit if you aren't. Plus a lot of Challengers will be pretty hesitant to go into the dungeon with you if you're not a member. And I'd definitely recommend not going in there alone."

"Oh, I do have friends who will be swinging by sooner or later, though I'm not sure if we'd be interested in this dungeon business or not. Loot is nice, but not really what we're here for."

Bank gives her a smile. "Well, you should at least come to the party tomorrow, I don't think you need to have cleared any floors for that. Maybe after you see the place, you'll be a lot more interested. Worthy Dungeon is a very...unique sort of place, let's say that."

The man almost stumbles over the shorter woman when she suddenly comes to a halt. Her eyes wide once again, she locks gazes with the Vanguard as she asks him a question in an intense tone of voice. "...What did you just say the name of the place was?"

"...Worthy Dungeon?" As he watches her face, Bank would almost swear the imp seems...hungry.

"...Yeah, I think I'll want to check out this party, alright..."