Cat Core 2, Chapter 24.

Chapter 24.

“Here we go Zork and Chubbs, show mama how good you fight,” Florence said, trying to encourage her babies to do their best. She wished that she had something that could help them, but the mana was gone, and other than Patricio, who had just started a new tune that he claimed would make Chubbs fight better, they were on their own. The master bedroom and her two champions were as ready as they would ever be.

The Stone Piercer led the way, the champion looking much smaller now that a bunch of his rocky armor and spikes had been depleted in the various battles. Zork had been preparing, her little mage champion had conjured up several of his magic missiles that now hovered above the bed. Upon seeing the lizard break down the door, Zork fired off his magic, each of the powerful balls of energy rocketing toward a vulnerable spot, bare of any rocky armor. Hissing in pain, the lizard charged forward, spotting the diminutive mage champion among the plush cats festooning the bed.

Chubbs was having none of it and rolled his way out from under the bed, her baby was a big boy, and looked like he had been overfed like Mr. Osgood used to do with his Siamese cat. That cat looked like a tan balloon, and could barely waddle anywhere. Chubbs was a big boy, but that wasn’t fat under his adorable fluffy orange coat, nope, it was muscle and once he built up a head of steam, that kitty could dish out the hurt. The fluff ball hit the charging lizard, and Chubbs almost managed to avoid the remaining spikes, but one dug into him, piercing through his tough coat and causing her baby to hiss and scratch at that stupid lizard even more.

Wounded by Zork’s magical attack, and devoid of much of its heavy protection, the lizard was torn to pieces by Chubbs, but the kitty was taking damage too, as the spikey teeth of the Stone Piercer landed a few nips. Zork was looking to end the lizard, summoning more magic missiles, but instead, her baby gave a squeak of fear just as the axe of the frost guy flew in, thrown with enough force to kill her mage champion. The loss of his companion seemed to throw Chubbs into a rage, as he destroyed the injured lizard and rolled toward the now unarmed frost guy.

Holding out his hand, the frost guy used an ability to summon his axe, the weapon magically appearing just as Chubbs reached him. With powerful waves of cold energy coming off him, slowing Chubbs and bolstering the former giant’s strength, he struck. The axe hit Chubbs in the back just as he sunk his teeth into the frost guys arm and raked his claws across his chest. Under the powerful blow of the axe, Chubbs fell, and the frost guy limped toward the door to the core room, badly injured, but not out of the fight.

“Stay back Patricio, my cane will finish this clown off,” Florence said.

“No, my dear, it is an honor to risk my life in the defense of a beauty such as yourself,” the man said, flourishing a thin rapier blade and placing himself between the core and the approaching frost guy.

“None can stand before me, your power will feed my master,” the former giant taunted, walking closer and swinging his axe. Florence knew that Patricio was a good enough bard, but a bard vs. a big melee dungeon champion with an axe wasn’t a favorable combo.

“Move, I need room to swing my cane!” Florence shouted, trying to get a clear shot at the attacking champion.

“Allow me,” George said as a giant, ghostly gorilla arm appeared to sprout from her core and punch the frost guy. Florence thought she heard bones crunch as the fist hit and the former frost giant staggered back from the blow.

“Oh dear, I believe you’ve aggravated the big scary guy with an axe,” Patricio said, looking a bit less confident as the frost guy gathered his wits and charged, a loud battle cry leading the way.

“Nope, get away from my core!” Florence shouted back, activating Shake the Cane. When in her hybrid form, the ability merely pushed back any foes, hopefully hurting them in the process, but as a core, it worked much better. Her cane flew out and began to whack the frost guy all over his body. Each hit gave a meaty thump and staggered the champion. Six times the cane struck and by the time it was done, the former giant was down on one knee, trying desperate to haul up his axe, but his body seemed too broken to cooperate.

“Have at you, foul knave,” Patricio said, leaping forward to stab into the struggling champion. Florence was worried that the stupid bard was going to be swatted down by the towering champion, but apparently, Patricio knew his way around a blade and each stab he unleashed seemed to hit something vital. After three blows, the champion collapsed to the floor of the core room and Florence was hit with a rush of mana.

“Florence, are you okay?” George asked, sensing her concern as she was almost drowning in the windfall of energy flowing into her.

“Woah, that’s strange, but I think we’re good. Well, it turns out that all the mana was just sitting there waiting for me or the other core to win this fight. Not only that, but we’ve also gained a level from killing off all of them critters,” Florence said, trying to catch her breath. She knew she wasn’t really catching her breath but recovering from the experience she just had worked about the same, so that’s what she’d call it.

“That’s good, but before you do anything else, respawn our defenders,” George warned. He was right, and she got to work. It took some time to respawn everyone because while she was doing it, the second floor of her home began to construct itself. She hated to give the other core time to recover, but she believed that expanding her home, replacing new defenders, and seeing what new abilities she might have unlocked seemed like it was worth the risk. The other dungeon had just lost all the mana it had used to create its defenders and was going to have a hard time repopulating.

Instead of attaching to her core room, the master bedroom now had a set of stairs leading up to the great room. From the great room, a hall led to a bathroom and a pair of regular bedrooms. It turned out that not all the second floor was here, and the home cut off at the second-floor master. Where the walk-in closet would be, was now her core room and once it finished construction, her core and everyone in the old room were teleported over to the new one, the first-floor core room collapsed and filled with debris.

She wasn’t going to complain, even though she didn’t have a completed second floor, the leveling still gave her a passel of new kitties to work with, including her minor champions. Tachi would wander the second floor, and Loki was now patrolling the first. Not as powerful as a regular champion, they nonetheless were a strong addition to the roster. She would have to level up again if she wanted to complete the second floor and add old Spud up in the attic as the floor champ. As the second floor began to automatically populate, Florence looked in on the changes and upgrades she’d received with the new level.

Florence Valentine, Hybrid Entity.

Core Gem/Catomancer (Domestic Housecat Subtype), Level 4. 211/8000.

Health: 100%.

Mana: 300/300.

Core Shard Traits:

1. Indomitable Will. Your ability to resist mind control effects has improved and will now bestow a slightly less powerful version of this ability to everyone in your party and all the inhabitants of your dungeon.

2. Release the Cats: This ability sends your dungeon defenders to assault something outside of your dungeon. Once out of the radius of your core energy, they will slowly decay, and you will not be refunded the mana for any defender that perishes outside of your dungeon. Instructions you can give your defenders are limited to attacking or defending a certain area or person for a specified duration. Once outside your core’s influence, no further orders can be given. When invading another core territory, your defenders will not deteriorate, but you will still be unable to issue any commands.

Magic: You have access to the following spells.

1. Summon Defender: This spell requires 25 mana and will summon a single random cat defender from those you created inside your dungeon. Your defenders will protect you for 1 minute per level and will have powers and abilities that are scaled to match your current level. This ability now has a moderate chance of summoning a minor champion or summoning two of your standard defenders. This spell will now function while you are transformed into your core, but the mana cost is doubled.

2. Empower Beasts. When cast, the spell boosts the level of your summoned creatures and champions by 1 and doubles the total duration of their summons. The cost for this spell is 100 mana. Empower Beasts can only increase the level of a creature by a maximum of 2, and any additional casts will not affect those already at the maximum, other than further extending the duration of the summons. The duration of this spell is 1 minute per caster level. This spell will now function while you are in your core form.

3. Instant Dungeon (Hybrid form only): This ability can be used once per day and lasts for one minute per level. The ability is only available in your hybrid form, and when activated, Instant Dungeon will anchor you in place and allow you to re-create any room from the first floor of your dungeon, except for the floor champion room, in the area around you. The room will be populated with the defenders and traps that were present when your core controlled the dungeon, but the other items inside will be illusions. As you level this ability will improve.

Companion Abilities:

4. Mimic Defender. Doug can choose which of the three main types of dungeon defenders to mimic. The choice includes Brawler, Commando, and Mage. Additional choices may be unlocked as you level. Changes to Doug’s defender variant can only be made once every 12 hours. Doug will be granted improved abilities to match the variant he has selected.

Combat Traits and Abilities:

1. Soulbound Weapon: Your cane now has the option of choosing the damage type you wish to inflict with its attack. Either bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage may be selected. The default damage type for your weapon is bludgeoning. The cane is considered an enchanted weapon and will be effective against creatures with resistance to non-magical attacks. You may also infuse your weapon with magical damage from any of the schools of magic associated with your core (necromantic and beast).

2. Soulbound Armor: Your armor has been integrated into your clothing, and currently provides the same protection as Studded Leather Armor. When in your core form, the armor is replaced by a shield that protects your core and absorbs damage until its limit is reached. As you level, the amount of damage the shield can absorb increases.

3. Shake the Cane: This ability can be activated once per day. When activated, you will vigorously shake your cane, creating a wave of force that will slam into any targets within 12 feet of you. This ability will discern between friend and foe, making it safe to use around your party. When in your core form, this ability can still be activated, but with a different effect unleashing a flurry of blows from your cane, each hit having a chance to stagger the foe. The number of strikes is equal to twice your level.

4. Enhanced Durability. When in your hybrid form, you resist 7% of all damage types. This ability will improve as you level.

There wasn’t anything groundbreaking or new, just a further improvement and evolution of her current abilities and a bit more mana. George’s upgrades were similar, with nothing in the way of new abilities, and only a slight modification of a few of the existing ones. She could feel that George was going to be able to respawn his core fragment defenders but could only do so once she was done with hers.

George, Core Fragment 4/Berserker Beast 4.

Health 100%

Rage: 0/100.

When you are in your dungeon form, George will also revert to his dungeon form, placing his fragment near your core. Core fragments will also contribute additional defenders to protect your dungeon. Fragment-created defenders can be placed wherever the fragment desires. As you level and the fragment’s power grows, the number and power of these additional defenders will grow. The additional defenders are powered by the mana generated by the core fragment and will not encroach upon your mana pool.

Core Form Abilities:

1. Furious Blow. This ability launches a spectral fist at an opponent inside your core room, dealing heavy crushing damage and pushing the target back. Only useable once every 24 hours, the ability scales with your core’s level.

Hybrid Form Abilities:

George is a melee fighter that focuses on unarmed combat. He can wield simple weapons but prefers to fight without any. As a core fragment, George’s health is dependent on his level, and his body can resist damage as if he were wearing chainmail. His durability will increase as he levels, as will his unarmed attack abilities.

1. Berserker Rage. When George is in combat, he will build a rage resource. As his rage builds, George will increase in strength and improve his durability. Once reaching his max rage limit, George will transform into a powerful beast with greatly improved stats and enhanced health regeneration. When transformed, George’s rage will drop and once it reaches 0, the transformation will end.

2. Slam. George can join both his fist together in a powerful single blow that will not only deal damage to the foe but also push them back. This ability has a small chance to stun its target for a short time and can now discern between friend and foe. The slam ability requires 25 rage to activate and can only be activated once every 30 seconds.

3. Roar of Challenge. This ability generates a rage-filled shout that forces all nearby enemies to focus their wrath on George. Roar of Challenge requires 25 rage to activate and has a 1-minute cooldown.

The minutes dragged out as the defenders respawned, and once Florence was done, George began to work. He had the yeti and wolves from before but now also added battle boars with huge tusks to give any of their foes a bad day. The number of wolves increased to four and there were two battle boars. All in all, it was a nice bump in power from her core fragment friend. Now, all the pieces were in place, and it was time to take the fight to the other core.