Worthy Core

 

After noticing that Sincere had been shooting glances in her direction during her conversation with the champion Bill, Xenia makes her way towards his table next. Although the man was a bit of a nerd and a shut-in, he wasn't nearly the wallflower at these sorts of events that Brightsky was. In fact, the demon had somehow managed to start turning Xenia's parties into book clubs - Alizz or Mother Hammerdown would often come by, bringing the man some new tomes they had come across, and in exchange Sincere would trade them some of his own. Occasionally those were books made by Xenia at his request, collated from the skills and knowledge she'd absorbed from various Challengers, but as often as not the man traded away his own writings. Xenia wasn't sure if they were actually getting published beyond the dungeon, but the other members of the club seemed pleased enough with the copies they had received.

At the moment however the man is sitting alone as Xenia slides into a spot at his table. "Heya, Sin-man, something up? Looked like you wanted my attention?"

"Ah?" The man chuckles, looking a little embarrassed. "Oh, I'm afraid it was actually Bill I was watching. I've heard much of the man, you know. It's still quite a thing, trying to match up the legends with the man himself. You know, despite his bizarre size, I'm fairly certain this is in fact what he actually looked like at his peak and not some sort of divine perk, from what stories I've heard told."

"Definitely a little curious what or whose blessing got him that bonus, yeah. But why are you watching from over here?" Xenia leans forward. "Why not just go up and say hi?"

The demon hesitates to answer. "Well...there was one concern I've had on my mind..."

Smirking at his apparent shyness, his boss decides to strike with a tease. "What? Worried how it's going to come up that you've slept with his grandkid? Honestly, I don't think he's the kinda guy to worry about that sort of thing. I mean, you know as well as I do how much time Opal's been spending with Sable lately - and that was his idea."

Sincere sips from his drink. "Well...not just his granddaughter..."

Xenia's eyes go wide. "Don't tell me you've banged his wife at some point? ...Or, you know, one of his wives..."

That guess does manage to make the man laugh. "Oh, if only I could be that lucky! His wife Dalore is a relic of the Age of Warlocks like myself, you know, and her exploits are legendary. If perhaps of a very different sort than Bill's are." As Xenia chuckles along, he continues. "No, no, I did have a months-long affair with his son once, though."

Xenia has to hide her face in her hands as she tries not to laugh. "You are the sluttiest librarian I've ever met, Sin-man."

"...I'm not sure if I qualify as a slut or a librarian, to be technical about it. But what I can't figure out is...do you think the man has an interest in other men?"

Turning her head, Xenia watches as Bill chats up Sely on the other side of the room. She's really not sure if the man has a chance there or not, but the evidence she's seen does all point her in one direction. "Sorry, man, I think you might have struck out on this one. Man's a poonhound through and through."

"Curses. To have gotten to know such a legend...well, I'm sure this dungeon will be home to legends aplenty in time, so no matter." After returning to his drink for a moment, the Mage changes the subject. "Speaking of the future, have you and Guy had any theories as to what 'prizes' we may be receiving tonight?"

His boss quickly shakes her head. "Not even trying to guess, to be honest. I don't want to get my hopes up for anything really crazy, you know? Especially since even if I do, somehow it'll probably turn out even crazier than that. Gonna be as much of a surprise to me as to you, I'd bet."

"Here's to happy surprises, then." Sincere raises his mug, and Xenia answers it.

"Here's hoping!"

 

---

 

As she's moving about, looking for her next companion to chat up, Xenia finds herself ambushed. And by a rather experienced group of ambushers at that, as well. All four of Trush's squires suddenly come up to her in a group, and the shrine's two acolytes aren't far behind them. In fact, as the dungeon master quickly looks around, she noticed more than a few of the event's barbunny staff seem to be hanging unusually close by as well. Before Xenia can ask about their purpose, Squire Ashadi speaks up in a loud and clear tone of voice. "Hail, Dungeon Master! Might we have a moment of your time?"

Not used to being approached like this by her own monsters, it takes Xenia a moment to nod. "Uh...sure! Is something wrong?"

The long-eared squire shakes her head. "Not at all. We just wanted to get together and say, well...thank you."

"Oh? Well...you're welcome? What am I being thanked for?"

Grange, one of the archer squires, smirks at her question. "Well, we've been spending a fair bit of time chatting with Guy these past few weeks, and it's become clear to us just how...ah, unusual a dungeon spirit you are. Not that you weren't always the greatest, in our minds! And certainly we'd be willing to accept any orders you provided us, and happily so. But, well...we feel a little more confident that you are, in fact, the ideal dungeon master."

"Really?" As more smiling rabbit-folk close in on her, Xenia only finds herself more confused. "I didn't even notice you and Guy having those chats. What exactly have they been telling you?"

Acolyte Fay answers that question. "I imagine your dungeon senses mostly spend their time tracking what the outsiders are doing, rather than us? In any case they've only been saying that normally, in most dungeons, monsters like ourselves wouldn't get so many...what was the term...'fringe benefits'? Such as time available for recreation, or living quarters of our own. Even sharing the 'warrens' between each other is far more than most monsters apparently get, not that we mind the closeness."

The unusually-praised dungeon master has to nod at that. "Yeah, I have noticed you guys have a lot of fun in there. If the floor bosses knew how much time you bunch spend playing board and card games..." Shaking her head, Xenia tries to refocus. "But really, it's the least I can do. None of you asked to be, y'know, born into a life of violence and murder and all that. And I still feel weird about how you basically all have to do exactly what I say." Thinking on that, Xenia's eyes narrow. "Wait, are you just doing this because my subconscious wanted to make me feel good?"

Lin, the shrine's other acolyte, laughs out loud. "Tell me, dungeon master - when you're alone with your thoughts, do you often spend your time telling yourself how wonderful you are?"

"...Let's go with a 'not so much' and leave it at that, yeah?"

The man nods. "From what confessions I've heard, you'd hardly be alone if it's not the case. So I do not believe you are guiding us into this, no. Whatever freedom we may have as entities of the dungeon - please, just know that we are truly thankful to have been created in your service. And we're hopeful that this dungeon anniversary party will be followed by many, many more to come."

Xenia is genuinely touched both emotionally and physically as more of the dungeon's minions come forward to agree, and to clasp hands or shoulders with her. "Wow, thanks - really, thanks, it means a lot to hear that. Is there, well...anything else I could do to make the job better? Don't wanna get complacent or anything just cause everything's going well so far."

One of the barbunnies shouts out. "Well, if you wanted to give us a boost into the A-tiers, I wouldn't complain..."

Another continues. "How about an entire floor with rabbit-folk minions? Then we could really show off - " That speaker is interrupted by one of the squires.

"Hey, it doesn't need to all be about us! It could be interesting to spend time with folk of a different type, if we could unlock some..."

There's a few more shouted suggestions, some of which Xenia can consider, and others which are mostly out of her hands. Eventually though she has to settle them down. "Alright, alright, consider it all noted down. Hells, I'll drop a suggestion box in your rooms if you have more ideas later. But no plans right now, yeah? Who knows what we'll get tonight."

A bartender agrees. "Whatever you decide, we have faith in you, dungeon master! A round of drinks, in the honor of the greatest dungeon on the New Continent!" There's a hearty round of 'hear, hear's from the entire party at that declaration, even from some of the mortal guests who were only vaguely aware of what was going on. After a few rounds Xenia gets them to quiet down once again, and affirms their claims.

"Damn straight we're the best dungeon. And it's thanks to all of you, too! So drink up and party down, cause any achievements we get tonight are going to be thanks to you!"

 

---

 

That pronouncement really seemed to get the party spirit going, and as it turns out, dungeon minions aren't nearly as toxin-resistant as dungeon guardians tend to be. Within an hour drunk rabbit-eared minions were doing their best to be the life of the party at every table, and at one point a group of them banded together in order to literally pick Bill up and carry the man off to a side chamber, as a wistful Sincere watched on. A few of the remainder happened to notice and decided to cheer the demon up by carrying him off to a room of his own, and the departures did manage to quiet things back down for a while.

Fortunately everyone was back before the main event, although there were more than a few amused mutterings about how Bill actually managed to look a little embarrassed on his return for the first time anyone present had ever noticed. Rather than make a point of it though, Xenia instead hops up onto a small stage on one side of the tavern and turns on her avatar spell, allowing guests and minions alike to see and hear her.

"Hey all, it's almost time! I do wanna give a few more shout-outs before the hour hits though, so listen up! First up, I wanna thank Alizz and the Association team for helping make sure that no one's wanted to crack our core this year! I know it ain't been the easiest gig."

As Alizz blushes at the attention, Sely mock-mutters to the crowd. "Know damn well I've been tempted to do the deed myself once or twice...but I suppose y'turned out alright."

"Ah, thanks, we love you too. And to my bountiful buddies, thanks for helping us keep things good with both the gods and the devout, and helping us set up the shrine - I've done a lot of things before but I never thought I'd be running a church! And you too, Deylia and Brightsky, you've been doing great! We'll make you a high priestess yet, Del!"

The Valkyrie nearly turns into a statue at the sudden compliment, but Mother Elance is much less moved. "We're doin' what we can in the service of divine Kahlia and Palain, heavens know - but I still owe you a tossed biscuit, if I'm not mistaken!"

"And that's why I stole your bread roll basket before I turned on the avatar!" Grinning, Xenia waves Guy up onto the stage with her. "You about ready for the big moment, Guy?"

"As always, ma'am...and if I may, perhaps a countdown would be appropriate? Ahem - ten!" The hovering screen begins to count down, followed by the rest of the tavern. The mortals among the group are unable to see or hear the floating SGA representative but get the idea quickly enough, and by time the count hits zero the noise can nearly be heard through the stone walls and into the public inn next door. "Zero! And...aha, to no one's surprise, it seems we have a few achievements processing! One moment, if you would..."

It takes a bit for the first box to appear, but soon enough a few do emerge from the guide, and Xenia begins to read through them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As she goes through them, Xenia has to smile. "Well...now these are giving me a few ideas..."