Cat Core 3, Chapter 18.

Chapter 18.

“Excuse me, ma’am, didn’t see you there,” a man said, bumping into Florence as she returned to life and stumbled out of the alley that she had been killed in.

“No problem, I didn’t see you there either, have a nice day,” Florence replied. Normally, she would give the man a piece of her mind for running into the elderly, but she was a bit confused over how this whole returning to life deal worked. Michael didn’t give her all the details on the process and now that she thought about it, things could have been pretty uncomfortable for all involved if her body had sprung back to life after being dead for a day. Instead, she must have just disappeared when the axe-wielding goon killed her, and now she popped back into existence, right in front of the guy that had just run into her.

She was right where she had been when she died, and it looked like it was the same time of day. From what the ability said, she had been gone exactly 24 hours, so Doug and the others must be plumb worried about what was going on. Making her way back to the inn, Florence could hear a commotion in the street ahead.

“Keep that beast back! I’ll have it removed from the town or destroyed if you can’t keep it under control,” A group of guards commanded. There, in the middle of the street was a frantic Doug shouting her name, while Patricio, George, and Fizz tried to restrain him. The normally unflappable Doug seemed panicked enough to not realize that his calls were heard as fierce roars by everyone that was not in their party.

“Hush up there, Doug, quit causing a ruckus!” Florence shouted. The guards kept their attention on the huge cat in front of them, but the others looked at her in shock, George slapping Patricio on the back of the head when he started to shout the name Florence.

“Oh, I mean Beatrice, there you are,” Patricio corrected himself while rubbing what was going to be a sore spot on the back of his head where the rather strong George had thumped him. Doug gave a final roar of relief and calmed down.

“Good, now keep that thing under control and off the streets, you won’t get another warning,” the guards said as Doug realized the problem he was creating and sat down, looking all innocent and nice.

“I’m sorry, sir, that is my companion beast, and he gets a little worked up when I’m not nearby, don’t worry, he wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Florence said.

“We’re required to let companion beasts into the town due to our charter with the guild, but don’t think that gives you leave to have your beast cause havoc,” the guard said, the group of five guardsmen seemed relieved that Doug was no longer appearing aggressive, but they kept their weapons on him all the same.

“Again, my apologies, sir, I’ll get him back to the inn now,” Florence said, turning on the charm. Not many people can be mean to an elderly woman who was being nice to them. The guards didn’t give them any further trouble as they made their way back to the inn.

“What exactly happened? We received notice that you were dead, but then a prompt appeared saying you would return shortly,” George asked as they returned to their table in the back corner of the inn.

“Well, I’ll tell you what happened. I was out window shopping and some big guy with a bunch of weapons strapped all over his body asked if I was Florence Valentine. He figured out that I was and proceeded to hack me apart with a pair of axes. I died but gained a new ability that lets me come back for a limited number of times,” Florence said.

“I see that my decision to join your party will not only be interesting but also a bit dangerous. Just my type of adventure,” Patricio said, not that Florence cared what type of adventures the man found interesting.

“From now on, I don’t think you should go anywhere alone. Can you identify the man that attacked you if he shows up again?” George asked.

“I sure can, it’s kind of hard to forget a huge guy with a deep voice and sharp axes,” Florence said.

“Good, we’ll have to keep you out of sight here in the inn, at least until it’s time for us to enter the dungeon,” Doug said, finally calming down enough to speak with his inside voice so he wouldn’t scare off the customers.

“Oh, and I have news on that front as well. My contact is in place for the late watch, and everything is set for our delve. We were getting worried that you weren’t going to return in time,” Patricio said.

“You were just worried we would lose our deposit and your meal ticket,” Fizz said bluntly.

“I was not, I was concerned over dear Florence’s wellbeing, and a potential financial setback had not even crossed my mind,” Patricio lied.

“Well, now that I’m back and we have a chance to enter the dungeon, what do we need to know about this joint Patricio?” Florence asked.

“Very well, let’s go over the procedure to enter. We don’t want to burn any bridges with our contact. At the appointed time, the guards will walk on a ‘patrol’ around the area. While they’re gone from the entrance, we’ll head in. On our way out, we exit the dungeon and make our way into the nearby trees. The guards will find something else very interesting to inspect in the other direction. Don’t linger, if we stay too long, they’ll be forced to do their job, regardless of the access fee we’ve paid,” Patricio told them.

“That sounds straightforward enough, but what about the threats inside?” George asked.

“It’s a bit of an unknown, given the erratic behavior of the place, but when things were normal, the first level wasn’t too bad. It’s a frost and mountain-themed dungeon, and the defenders vary at times. For the most part, the first level is patrolled by groups of wolves with a frost wolf as their alpha and the floor champion. Other threats include some cavern creatures of various types, mountain troggs, and a few traps, mostly pitfalls and things to lock you in place so the wolves on patrol can have the advantage,” Patricio said.

“What about rewards, you know, the loot,” Fizz said with excitement.

“Oh, about what you’d expect a bit of coin and basic gear for the most part. The champion can drop simple enchanted items. You can find a reward chest in the champion’s room on occasion, but it was a somewhat rare sight on the first level. A starting party of adventurers, guided by a more experienced bard like myself, would have a good chance against this level, as long as they didn’t do anything stupid,” Patricio said.

“What about the other levels? We need to get to the core to end this,” Florence asked.

“You’d have to go through all five levels to do that, but as I said, the dungeon has been acting strange and the latest information I have says the place has shrunk to three levels, but the danger level is fluctuating. Some say all the beasts inside charge them at the entrance, and other times the place only has the champions in place,” Patricio said.

“Get ready for everything charging at us, if this place is as far gone as George was,” Florence said.

“Well, now is probably a good time to give me your stories, so I know exactly who and what I’m working with,” Patricio said, pulling a quill and ink, along with a journal from his pack. Florence looked over at the others, Doug looked uncertain, but George gave a small nod, giving his consent to tell their tale. Fizz just sat there fiddling with some device he was working on and taking up far too much of the table space as far as Florence was concerned.

“Okay, I’ll start with me. I was a normal human living on a planet called Earth. There was some mix-up and I was hit by a truck instead of some dorky kid that was supposed to be the target, and I died. Well, I died, but didn’t stay dead and became a core assigned to this world. Doug here worked for the folks that manage this whole dungeon core deal, but he messed up, so they demoted him to my advisor. I won’t get into the whole long story, but suffice to say, there’s this lich, Berikoz, who killed us and messed up a bunch of other dungeons. We have to free or destroy the cores that he’s infected within a certain timeframe or we’re goners,” Florence said. She’d given enough for Patricio to work with, but didn’t reveal too much personal information.

“What about you, George” Patricio asked.

“I was a core, and the lich was feeding off my power, causing me to go mad. Florence freed me and I’m helping her to do the same with the others. As far as who I was before I became a core, I don’t remember much, the link to the lich has left me damaged, I’m afraid to say,” George said, looking a bit sad.

“Now, George, you’re getting smarter every day, and you’re strong as a horse. I’m sure it’ll all come back to you soon,” Florence said, trying to cheer up the big hairy guy.

“Thank you, Florence, but I can’t help but feel that I have lost much that will never be returned to me,” George said.

“And our intrepid gnome companion, Fizz” Patricio asked, kindly giving George some time to his thoughts.

“Oh, nothing much, my gnome clan was trapped in a magical artifact, and we were released in Florence’s home. When her gem was shattered, but she didn’t die, everyone was trapped inside her core until she grows in power. I was stuck outside in a parakeet mech suit, so I get to tag along,” Fizz said like it was a normal, everyday type of experience.

“Wow, there’s more to that, I’m sure, but our time is limited, and we need to make our preparations,” Patricio said, putting down his quill and storing the journal in his pack.

“What preparations do we need to make?” Florence asked.

“We should stock up on consumables, and basic gear, you know, rope, torches, 11-foot pole, the usual items.

“Sorry to say, we’re kind of broke, can we do this on the cheap?” Florence asked.

“I suppose we can dispense with the consumables, but if you die because there wasn’t a potion of healing available, it’s not my fault. I have some basic gear stored in my room, it should suffice if we don’t press too far into the dungeon,” Patricio said.

Patricio had a few packs full of stuff he brought down from his room, and the inn was kind enough to provide some rations for the party, which would go a long way given how only Patricio and Fizz needed them, and Fizz only ate a small portion of what he would normally need, being that he was linked to her core and all that. The dungeon wasn’t too far from town, but Patricio led them on a roundabout path to get there, avoiding being seen by too many folks.

The dungeon entrance was a bit further up the mountain from where the town was located, but there were enough trees and scrub brush to hide their approach. It was good and dark when they arrived, and Florence easily spotted the guards standing near a fire as they watched both the dungeon entrance and the area around them. Florence wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but there were only three of the guards on watch, enough to keep any law-abiding folks out, but not nearly enough if the dungeon went full bonkers and started spitting out monsters.

Patricio hid them behind a fallen tree, and they waited for the guards to start their patrol. It seemed like a long time, but Florence figured it wasn’t too long, and it was just because she was bored watching a few dopey guards standing by the watchfire, and not doing much. Eventually, one of the guards led the other two on a patrol away from the entrance. When they were out of sight, Patricio waved the party forward and they rushed for the entrance.

“See, George, that’s a decent attempt at an entrance for a dungeon, too creepy for a real home like I have, but not bad for the dark and scary motif,” Florence said as the entrance came into full view. The rock was carved into an archway, with a pair of eyes looking down on the adventurers about to enter the place. Unlike the stone archway, the eyes were formed of ice and seemed to glow with a blue light. It was a nice touch that the core had the eyes follow those that approached.

“You should have seen mine before I went mad, I think you might have approved of it, Florence,” George said. She was going to ask for more details, but Patricio was rushing them inside, eager to not be seen by the returning guards.

Florence got the same feeling she had gotten when they had entered George’s dungeon, a slight pressure resisting her. She waited for the dungeon core to sense her presence, but if it did, it didn’t go all bonkers like George had. From what Patricio had said, this dungeon was only acting crazy recently, so it might have more control over itself. They were in a large entry cavern, with dark tunnels carved into the rock leading to the left or right from where they stood. Patricio started to lead them to the left, but Florence held him back for a moment.

“Hey, can you hear me, core? I’m Florence Valentine, and I’m here to help you get away from Berikoz. Let me visit with you and we’ll fix you right up,” Florence shouted. She could feel the core's attention on her, but it was confused and angry, not quite able to understand what she was saying, but realizing that Florence was a core herself. For some reason, cores didn’t do well being close to each other, so it looked like it would be a fight with this one, not a friendly meeting to sort things out.

“Good job, Florence, antagonize the powerful core before we start our delve,” Doug said sarcastically.

“Hush, I had to try, you never know, one of these cores might be right glad to have our help,” Florence said.

“Guys, I don’t think this one seems so happy with our visit,” Fizz said as several wolves stepped from the leftmost passage and hairy dudes with clubs from the other one.