Worthy Core

DAY 833

As the Scarlet Eagles enter Worthy Inn at far too early an hour in the morning, they see a distressing sight awaiting them at one of the tables. The three Highbranch retainers sit with mugs clenched in their hands, looking half passed out as they stare at their plates. Their clothes and skin are covered in dust and grime, and scratches and dents on their gear indicate quite a few hits were given and received. The only reassuring thing in their appearance is that Grim fails to find much in the way of bloodstains as he examines them. Still, their state is worth inquiring into, and the minotaur leads his party to their table.

"My lords, my lady - might I ask how your evening fared? The sight of you tells me a lot, though I worry about the details."

Glory Silverbloom gives a long, slow laugh. "Aaaahhhah. Well. You recall those dungeon monsters the Domain sent against us when they tried to claim Floor Four? Well, they did more of that tonight, on the new Floor Twelve. It was...a difficult experience."

Yellowbelly frowns as she gives them another look. "It couldn't have been that bad, could it? Most raid-tier monsters wouldn't even be able to fit in one of these tunnels, so they must have been manageable."

Red Daylinta shakes her head before running a hand through her battle-ragged hair. "They've upped their game, I think. The monsters they sent this time were smarter. Maybe not like the guardians this place has, but not the same fireball fodder we've fought before either. They had actual squads, fighting with tactics. Some wasp-woman shouting out orders."

Grinner attempts a smile. "Ah, but you won the day, yes? You sit here alive, it seems, yes?"

The smile fades away as Tinter responds. "We slew some of the beasties, aye, we're not green Initiates, are we? But did we win?" The half-elf thinks on that before shaking his head. "We had to abandon the floor, and we didn't kill the lead buggy either. Our support was already torn up by earlier fighting, and after that Sevastion fellow went down we were at risk of getting overrun and cut off. We're not quite yet at the point of making last stands, at least, so we fled to fight another day. Someone else is on shift for that route now, the Valleylanders and elementals, I think." He pauses to glance at the relatively spotless state of the Challengers team. "How about you lot, eh?"

Grim shakes his head. "We were stationed elsewhere in the tunnels, in the event that the Domain did not take the road that was offered to them. Some of them perhaps came close to our position a few times, but it seems they committed to your route. Perhaps our next shift shall be somewhere higher-priority." Looking around, the man notices that the inn is rather empty right now. Being the middle of the night, almost everyone not currently down in the tunnels is probably attempting to catch some sleep. Perhaps, it seems, an ideal time for a less-than-ideal conversation.

"Yellowbelly, quiet time."

The nobles look up with some concern as the Challengers approach, and Yellowbelly activates one of the magical rings on her fingers. They're familiar with the enchanted privacy spell it generates, but the fact that Grim's seen fit to trigger it now does not seem like a positive development. Glory is the first to voice his concerns. "I take it you doubt the dungeon's defensive strategy, Mountain Crusher?"

Grim takes a seat, easing into it as it shifts for his weight. "Not the strategy, but the risks. The Dragonlord has brought their true elites to this battle, it seems. The most dangerous guardians from their collaborator dungeons, their Supreme combatants...and the scouts report sight of Scale Warden armor on some of the denizens. Not to mention, of course, the Dragonlord themselves. How we are meant to fight such an opponent is still an open question. The fact that they haven't simply torn through us like paper themselves indicates that they are not invincible, but they're still the mightiest foe on this continent that I can imagine."

Tinter shrugs. "The dungeon has her own tricks up her sleeves, I believe. But what about you?"

Grim fixes the mage's eyes with his own. "I think it's time again to consider the fallback plan of destroying the dungeon before the Dragonlord can take its power for themselves. Even if Worthy chooses not to bend the knee at the final moment, there's no telling how much power a master of dungeons might be able to extract from this one's death."

"This again?" Red grimaces. "Your party's brought it up before but I thought you'd scrapped that plan. Why bring it up again now?"

Bandages answers for his party leader. "For a while there it didn't even seem practical. We would have had to fight through several floors ourselves, and likely some dungeon-loyal Challengers in the process. But now? Everyone able to fight is scattered across miles of tunnels, and all of us are being assigned down there - close to the bottom of the dungeon. Just passing through the shortcuts to get to our patrol routes takes us within a floor or so of the Core Chamber!"

That reply doesn't seem to placate the paladin. "Making us well-positioned to stab the dungeon in the back, eh? Along with everyone else fighting to defend the damn place?"

"Saving their lives in the process, most likely." Grim exhales deeply. "If our loss is to be all but assured, then better a surrender than a last stand - particularly one in the name of something that's not even mortal to begin with."

"If you'd prefer to think of the dungeon as property, then I feel the need to remind you that it is our lady's property - or at least under her jurisdiction as governing noblewoman of this territory." Glory's eyes are just as stern as Grim's as the elf focuses on the man. "I'll admit, we have not brought your proposal to Lady Highbranch - but we will not agree to such a thing without her order."

"Lady Highbranch sabotaged her own home to keep it from the hands of the enemy. She understands the concept of scorched earth. If you must get her approval then do so quickly - I can send Yellowbelly with you so that you may converse in private. But we may not have more than a day at most to make this decision!"

The three nobles share a glance before Red answers - and the fact that she's not looking the Scarlet Eagles in the eye as she does so is answer enough. "I'm afraid the decision is already out of our - or your - hands."

Before the minotaur can ask the woman what she means by that he gets a visual demonstration. In the blink of an eye an invisibility spell fades away, revealing the table to be surrounded by mortals and monsters. Grim recognizes Trush and his squires along with Deylia and her priests, but he also notices Prince Thaddeus' team among their number. The man's illusionist wife is hiding behind her taller husband, explaining how they got so close without being detected. Perhaps had Grim or his team been paying more attention he would have noticed despite the invisibility, but the privacy spell they were using is partially two-way, helping to disguise the smaller signs he might have seen.

Gesturing to Yellowbelly to disable the enchantment, Grim turns his most mild expression towards the prince. "Can I be of assistance, my lord? My colleagues and I were just having a private conversation."

"One which we already know the contents of." Thaddeus gives a disappointed sigh. "You brought your plan to Lady Nalina before she...joined the dungeon staff, as it were. She has informed us of what you had discussed. Given that you weren't acting on it and you pledged your support to fight at the last council, we had hoped you had moved on from that foolishness. But fancy privacy enchantment or no, the dungeon is always watching."

The tension in the air's been growing thicker ever since the dungeon's defenders revealed themselves, and Grim decides to skip the impassioned debate and get to more practical matters. "So what are your intentions? This is a dungeon safe floor after all, and I am aware of how those work. Violence here will revoke the floor designation, and Worthy's ability to house her residents becomes quite debatable. Fighting us would not be in your interests."

Trush grins, although it doesn't seem like a particularly happy expression. "Deaths are what kills the designation, not violence. You and your squad are Supremes, you can take a bit of roughing up if it comes to it."

Ignoring that, Thaddeus brings up another point. "Besides, you did promise your support not even a full day ago! Does honor mean nothing to you? Not even Alizz approves of this plan, and she is your superior!"

"She is not." Referee finds himself bringing up technical points almost despite himself. "She is administrator of the local branch, we answer to Association headquarters. We were granted authority to make our own decision on the fate of the dungeon before we were sent down here!"

"As to honor, I take no pleasure in this." Grim does his best to keep his voice calm, but it's something of a struggle. "But I shall not see my homeland overrun by the one who enslaved it once before simply because I allowed a powerful weapon to fall into their hands. If my name is to be trampled into the mud, then so be it."

The Rabbit Knight scoffs. "Your reputation is the least of your worries right now. So, you've got two options. Either you can surrender your weapons and - "

He doesn't get a chance to finish his ultimatum before a signal from Grim turns the standoff into chaos. The man had been watching the noble retainers carefully, and although they seem displeased with the Scarlet Eagles they don't look like they're preparing to join in with a fight. Deylia and her priests are support combatants at best, leaving Trush and Thaddeus as the only true threats. With so many of the dungeon's defenders either sleeping or far away in the tunnels below, it seems as if Worthy lacks the muscle to stop a party of Supremes despite her forewarning. Of course, that doesn't mean that winning a fight here in the inn actually helps him or his party at all...but the minotaur does see one slim chance.

As he shoots earth magic through his foot, upsetting the table and the standing defenders with a set of heavy tremors, Referee quickly shouts out a blessing. "Fair Play Chase - Three Second Head Start!"

"What do you think you're...what in the world?" As the Supremes leap from their seats and run for the exit, Prince Thaddeus finds his body reacting in very strange ways. Recovering from his stumble is easy enough, and his blade clears his scabbard without issues. Yet whenever the prince attempts to take a step towards the fleeing Challengers he finds his feet unwilling to move. "They're getting away!"

"...Two...three! It's worn off, go!" Although Tizzy generates illusions to join the chase, it's already too late - three seconds was more than enough time for the high-tier Challengers to flee the inn. That still leaves a major question in her mind, though. "...Where in the world do they think they're gonna run to!?"

It's a question Grinner has for her own captain. "Can we escape through Floor One, do you think?"

Grim shakes his head as he leads them down a hall to the dungeon's shortcut portals. Just as he expected, most of them are already snapping shut - but not all of them. "There's no shortcut that way, we'd have to carve our way out through floors of Domain soldiers! But the dungeon has to keep this floor connected to Floor Four - take that portal, quickly!"

The quintet do so, and while it does cost them much of their head start to file through the arcane ring, the same bottleneck applies to their pursuers. The Eagles find themselves popping out of a not-so-hidden portal on Floor Four, already discovered and guarded by Domain scouts, but Grim practically punches the heads off of two almost-asleep kobolds and the party keeps running. Once they have some space he grunts out his next step. "The Domain's set up a transport system between Floor One, Floor Six, and the pit below the dungeon! Climbing up would be pointless, the Domain could easily pick us off - but we can go down! Once we're beyond the dungeon's bounds, Worthy would be foolish to send people after us!"

The Supremes tear their way through any dozing Domain guards they find with ease, and it only takes a few minutes for them to find the tunnel to Floor Six. As they burst out onto the floor's starting area they see that there are indeed some rather unfortunate Initiate and Advanced-tier soldiers managing a link in the supply chain from the top of the mountain to the bottom. A blast of flame from Yellowbelly either incinerates them or sends them flying into the abyss, and Bandages stops to inspect the ropes leading down to the bottom.

"Getting down there fast enough that Worthy can't stop us or the Domain can't pick us off is going to be rough, but I'll prep some healing spells to help us handle a hard landing. But what happens once we get into the tunnels?"

Grim gives his fellows a determined look as he takes a rope in hand and prepares to begin rappelling. "We'll continue working to weaken the Dragonlord, one way or another. And if the dungeon should fall...then we'll be there to do what we must."

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