Cat Core 2, Chapter 28.

Chapter 28.

“Wow, they just got right to it, didn’t they?” Florence told Doug. The kitten advisor had finally tired of his amateur tinkering and was back for a nap on the rocking chair cushion.

“Yes, gnomes are quite industrious, and I have to admit I enjoy it myself. They are intrigued with Skyler and Andy, Fizz said he was implementing some improvements, but he wanted to keep the final results a surprise,” Doug said. Florence had spent some time tweaking their new home, even expanding it a bit to give each gnome their own personal space. Despite the workshop smack dab in the middle of their home, the gnomes were fastidious about keeping the place clean, much to Florence’s delight.

“I’d be happy if all they do is repair the robot birds. I hate buying them only to use once. That Surly even seems to have made friends with Spud,” Florence said. She hadn’t bothered to learn the other gnome names, with all their fizz and fazz nonsense so she just gave them all nicknames.

“I try not to bother myself with Spud, I pity the gnome that befriends that yob,” Doug said with disdain.

“If you had been nicer to him, maybe he would have been nicer to you. As long as those two are playing together, I’m happy,” Florence said. It did her heart good to see old Spud make a new friend, he had been down in the dumps ever since she brought him back. He missed his old goblin friend Gabsug, but Surly seemed to not even mind the smell around the big plague charger kitty, even jumping up for a ride now and again. Where the other gnomes liked to work together, Surly had created a makeshift workshop for himself in Spud’s attic.

The gnomes would take some time to wander the home and even play with the kitties. Florence did have to warn a few not to put their feet up on the sofa, but other than that, they were perfect houseguests so far. Her home was coming along nicely and other than maybe doing a few decorative changes, she really didn’t have much more to do until she leveled up again. The activity had improved her experience a good bit from the last time she had checked, but she had a long way to go before hitting level eight.

Florence Valentine

Cat Core, Level 7.

Experience: 4485/8500.

Funds: $22.18/$700.

Defender Expense:

1stFloor. Level range 1-3 ($400/$400).

2ndFloor. Level range 3-5 ($300/$300).

3rdFloor. Level range 6-7 ($150/$150).

With them core shard bug people gone, Florence was able to finally push her influence toward the outside without restriction. She worked on reshaping the entrance to the tunnel into something that had more curb appeal than a dumb crack in the side of the mountain. It wasn’t her home proper out there, but she did want to welcome folks. She carved out the opening so the adventurers wouldn’t be so crowded. A wooden frame painted white like her home surrounded the plain stone tunnel entry, giving it a homey feel.

Florence also placed a couple of flower beds just outside the entrance, giving the dull browns of this area a pop of happy color. She also wanted to advise people that this was the right path, but that this here tunnel entrance wasn’t the start of her home. The answer was to create a street sign, one arrow pointing toward the growing town and one toward the tunnel. Florence didn’t know if the town had a name, so she just labeled it Town. The other arrow into the tunnel entrance was larger, and painted with what she hoped was a fair warning. If some other monsters crawled out from the depths of the tunnels and ate up some adventurers, she didn’t want her home being blamed for their deaths.

This way to the Valentine residence. The owners of the residence aren’t responsible for encounters you may have on the way to their home, so use caution when traveling inside the tunnels.

Beware of Doug.

She had to throw that last little bit in there, Doug loved it. Florence also put a couple of other signs inside the tunnel, pointing the adventurers toward her home and away from dark side passages where who knew what lurked inside. The signs were more taxing than creating things inside her home since she only had influence and the area wasn’t a direct part of her home yet.

A loud explosion distracted Florence from her work, the entire first floor shook, causing the cats to all run around crazy. It didn’t take a genius to realize the source of the explosion, it was the gnomes. Their room was filled with smoke, and it took her home a few moments to clear it out. Expecting to find bits and pieces of gnomes scattered about, Florence instead found the lot of them crouching behind a large steel barrier looking at a black spot on the far wall.

“What in tarnation are you doing to my home!” Florence shouted, annoyed that her previously well-behaved guests were becoming a nuisance.

“Oh, sorry for the noise, it’s just an experiment. We wanted to see how some of our new blast powder did against a core reinforced wall,” Fizz said, the other gnomes looking down at the ground like a bunch of kids caught doing something they shouldn’t.

“Why would you want to a fool thing like that?” Florence asked.

“For science!” Fizz proclaimed.

“Whatever, you keep it down in there, just look how upset all my kitties are,” Florence ordered looking at her babies.

“My apologies, come on lads, we’ll need to cancel the second blast. Team one can work on weapons and armor. Team two can work on the mechs, and team three can get started on internal defense,” Fizz ordered to the other gnomes.

Having nipped that explosive nonsense in the bud, Florence looked over her kitties, letting them know everything was okay and they weren’t about to be blasted to smithereens, at least she hoped not. Movement at the entrance to the tunnel drew her attention. A pair of humans were riding horses toward her home, mounts were something the low-level adventurers she was used to seeing couldn’t afford. The morning sun glinted off the armor that one of them wore and as they drew closer, Florence could see they had a determined and confident look about them. Another adventuring group was just preparing to enter when the newcomers waved them off. Florence expected an argument to break out, but the party just nodded in agreement and walked back toward town.

“Doug, what do you make of this pair? They just cut in front of the other group and the adventurers didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

“Oh no, I fear these are more guild representatives,” Doug said.

“Durn it, we just got rid of them bugs that was killing everyone. Why couldn’t they show up in a few weeks when our kill death ratio had a chance to improve,” Florence said.

“I don’t know, they are likely powerful adventurers, but at least it doesn’t appear to be a kill team,” Doug advised.

“So, do we just stand down? Or do I have to defend myself?” Florence asked.

“Stand down, at least for now, if they declare your termination at the entrance, then all bets are off,” Doug said.

The two humans chatted among themselves, confused by her new sign. Unfortunately, her view outside the tunnel was just that, a view. She had no way to listen in on what they were discussing. One man was dressed in robes and the other wore full armor. The quality of their gear was high, but it wasn’t quite up to the level of that other pair of guild folks that had first visited. While the other pair had arrived to give Florence the much-deserved A-plus rating, these two didn’t seem to be here for the same purpose. The pair made their way into the tunnel making note of the signs along the way, eventually showing up on her front lawn.

“Dungeon, we are representatives of the adventurer’s guild, an unacceptable kill ratio has been reported at this location and we will investigate its cause. Stand down your defenses and do you interfere in our investigation. Any attempts to disrupt our work will be met with deadly force,” the guy in the robes called out.

Now that they were close, Florence could take a better gander at them. Like she had noted outside, the pair were well equipped and likely way over the level of the average adventurers that delved in her home, but she didn’t think they were as all-powerful as Doug had feared. If push came to shove, her kitties would have a good chance at swarming the pair, especially if Florence dropped her summons on top of them at the same time.

“Florence, do as they say and mind your tongue. They appear to be investigators, but I have no doubt a kill team is on speed dial if something were to happen to them or if they deem us a true threat,” Doug advised. Florence did as he said, setting her home to neutral as they watched the investigators work.

“This dungeon is as odd as the initial report indicated. Look at this sign and the caged defender,” the man in armor said.

“Aye, and the warnings are something I haven’t seen before. It’s not what I would expect an out-of-control dungeon to create, but they can at times be cunning enough to try and lure adventurers into a false sense of safety,” the guy in the robes replied.

Like the initial assessment team had done, these two wrote down the defenders, defenses, and any unusual features of her home. They made several comments on the décor, which had them confused. Of course, they were probably just stunned to see such a wonderful design, she doubted any of them other dungeons were anywhere near as nice as her home was. They passed the hallway and then Florence realized they were going to be able to see the Fizz Clan’s room, even though it wasn’t active. These guys could see through anything a dungeon tried to use to hide a room.

“Hey Fizz, we got some visitors that will likely barge in. They’re a pair of adventurers guild representatives, so don’t give them any trouble,” Florence said.

“Okay, not a problem as long as they aren’t here to steal our designs,” Fizz said. Florence assured them the investigators weren’t there for any corporate espionage, calming the gnomes down before the guild folks arrived.

“These are not defenders, but I can see a faint bond with the gnomes, inhabitants I would surmise,” the man in robes speculated.

“Yep, Fitzfizzle Zizzlefitz Jones, at your service, gentlemen. My clan recently relocated here to safely work on our projects without any outside interference,” Fizz said.

“Yes, I can see your connection is recent, so any control the dungeon has over you would be minimal. Might I ask you a few questions?” Robes asked. Since these two weren’t offering up their names, Florence decided to call them Robes and Armor.

“Go right ahead, though I should warn you that Florence doesn’t like her home called a dungeon. I mean, just look at the place,” Fizz replied.

“The dungeon’s preferences are not our concern for this visit, the high mortality rate of adventurers that venture inside is. Have you observed any of the delves that have proceeded through the dungeon?” Robes asked. Florence didn’t like the tone of his voice one bit. He was way too snooty and condescending for someone that was a guest.

“I can’t speak to that, we’ve only been here a short time and most of that time was spent working on projects What I can tell you is we were trapped by a mage, and Florence not only set us free but offered us a place to stay,” Fizz said.

“What do you mean?” Robes inquired.

“We were there, you see, sailing across the sea to a gig making automatic lighting fixtures for the Zebulaw Collective when our ship hit a magic field. There was lots of shouting, explosions, and magic spells going off and somehow during the ruckus, a spell hit me and my fellows here. I was turned into a figurine of summoning, and they were all shoved in a magic barrel,” Fizz advised.

“Yeah, and even though it was a magic stasis field holding us in, we could still smell, and having thirteen of us in that small of space made for some unpleasant odors I’ll have you know. If you folks want to go around investigating, why don’t you investigate who did this to us?” Surly argued.

“Your abduction is not guild business, a dungeon that is far more deadly than it should be is. Back to the question at hand, have any of you noticed any aberrant behavior on the part of this dungeon core. Have you noticed anything that would lead you to believe it is acting irrationally?” Robes asked.

“Other than the fact the place is lousy with cats? No. Florence has been good to us,” Surly answered, the rest of the clan shaking their heads in agreement.

“Fine, your cooperation has been noted. If the destruction of the dungeon becomes necessary, your clan will be offered safe passage providing you do not participate in any resistance,” Robes advised.

“Just leave Florence alone, she’s a kind person. Any other dungeon would have either killed us for the mana, or imprisoned us to work for them, but she offered to let us go, and was even willing to let the next adventure party guard us when we left to keep the beasts in the tunnel away,” Fizz said.

“Beasts in the tunnels? We saw nothing threatening out there, what do you mean?” Robes asked.

“I don’t know the details, you’ll have to ask Florence and Doug about it,” Fizz offered.

“Very well, I think we’ll have a conversation about that shortly,” Robes said. The pair left the Fizz Clan’s home, the investigation that would determine if Florence lived or died continued without interruption.

The pair finished their examination of the first floor, noting every tiny detail for their report. The second floor went faster, there were fewer rooms, after all. A brief spot of trouble happened when they entered the attic. Spud was behaving, but it wasn’t like he could entirely turn off the stink that surrounded him. Now Florence couldn’t smell anything in her core gem body, but she could see the greenish haze that filled the attic.

The two almost attacked but realized that the debuff from the stench aura was a passive ability, noting that the simple floor champion could not toggle the aura off. In the backyard, they stopped to examine Mortimer for a while, noting the undead affinity her home had picked up. Florence was kind of embarrassed about it, but it seemed the affinity was a good thing, making her home seem a bit more normal to the guild reps. Finishing up with Mortimer, the pair descended to her core room, it was time for her and Doug to face the music.