Cat Core 2, Chapter 15.

Chapter 15.

“I guess it’s that time, ain’t it?” Florence said. Excited to reopen her home and nervous that everything wasn’t how she wanted it just yet. Hopefully, the early groups of adventurers wouldn’t make it past the first floor, and she would get the funds and time needed to build out and populate the rest of the place before it was seen.

“And here we go, it shouldn’t be long until the first ones arrive, given the burgeoning settlement outside,” Doug commented. She focused her view on the tunnel entrance, the sun was just starting to rise, and she could see some activity going on in the settlement. Fires were started as people began their day. She had to give it to the folks here, they sure weren’t ones to sleep in and be lazy like a lot of folks back home.

“Oh, look, Doug, the first ones are on their way,” Florence said excitedly as five figures made their way from the town to the tunnel entrance. She pulled her view back, looking over the first floor to make sure everything was as it should be. Once adventurers were inside, it became impossible to change most things, other than spawning reward chests. This was her first impression and she wanted to make it a good one.

It took a while for the party to make their way to her home. There were still some side passages leading off the main tunnel, but until her control over the area improved, she was unable to seal them off. At least she had killed off that spider guy which seemed to have stopped the critters from scampering around the place. Her vision over the tunnel area was limited, but she caught enough glimpses to see they were going in the right direction.

“Well, let’s see what we have to work with here,” Doug said as they looked over the approaching party.

“Not bad on their gear, basic but well-made stuff, but what gives with the hero lady?” Florence asked.

The group was fairly standard, two human men wearing normal clothing and carrying staves screamed mage to her and the little halfling guy in the leathers was a rogue of some type. A young lady in leather reinforced with bits of chainmail at the critical points might have been their tank, even if she was dual-wielding axes instead of going with a shield. The odd one out was the final member of the group, a woman wearing shining plate armor with a full-face shield and wielding a two-handed war hammer strode behind the others. Her gear was top of the line and glowed with power in Florence’s enhanced sight.

“Hmm, perhaps they are from some adventuring organization and have brought a minder to make sure they aren’t wiped out on their first try. Sadly, if that plate armored woman is as high level as I suspect, it will reduce the income for us and greatly reduce the experience the party receives.

“We’ll have to hope she’s just serving as training wheels for their first run, I don’t want to kill people if I don’t have to, but I also don’t approve of boosting runs by high-level adventurers,” Florence declared. She didn’t ever get into the MMO games, playing Dungeon Delve pretty much exclusively, but Florence did learn a bit about how things operated in them from the kids she gamed with.

“Hold, what is this?” The armored lady said. Her voice sounded like someone from the senior center, not a young adventurer.

“Are they bringing their grandma to help them?” Doug mocked.

“Shush, let me hear what they’re saying,” Florence replied, watching as the younger one with the two axes addressed the armored lady.

“Matron, what do you mean? Is there some special threat with this dungeon we should be wary of?”

“No, this is just, well, it’s unusual and resembles something I’ve seen before. Proceed, but be wary,” this Matron lady replied. It must have been a title or something, giving weight to Doug’s theory that the party belonged to some organization that sent along a babysitter.

“Since when did dungeons make themselves look like houses, this is weird,” the halfling said as the party stepped onto the lawn, officially entering her home. The party readied their weapons and strode forward into the long grass. Florence both loved and hated that lawn, the long grass was necessary for her babies to stay hidden, but she also didn’t want anyone to think she didn’t take care of her lawn. After all, that Ruby Mays let her lawn go and the city forced her to have it mowed or they would fine her. That memory brought up a troubling thought.

“Hey Doug, there isn’t some kind of dungeon homeowner’s association is there?” Florence asked.

“No, of course not, now focus on the task at hand, Florence, our defenders are about to strike,” Doug said.

Obi and Shadow leaped from the grass onto the girl with two axes. They timed their attack to coincide with the mailbox trap going off, but that durned little rogue popped into view behind it, having disarmed it without anyone seeing it happen. Her kitties were just about to get some good licks in when the girl with the axes was covered in a golden shield that their claws and teeth couldn’t penetrate. Their efforts make horrible nails on a chalkboard screeching sounds as they tried to attack their foe. Just when the kitties decided to run after easier prey, the old lady in the armor crashed into them, her glowing hammer smashing the two kitties down with no trouble.

“You, dungeon, I know you can hear me. This mockery of a dungeon design is an affront to her memory, I will see you destroyed for this,” Matron spouted as she charged at impossible speed toward the front door. The rest of the party looked on, just as confused as Doug and Florence over what was happening. With a crash, she broke through the door, hammer crashing into poor Tater who was trying to stop her charge, the little guy was turned into kitty pulp with one blow.

Matron wasn’t even surprised by Bhargath and Baxter leaping down from the ledge over the door, and another swipe of her hammer took the pair out. Only poor Midnight was left, the kitty bravely charging around the sofa to engage the crazy lady that was invading their home. Hammer raised to strike down Midnight, the Matron lady held her blow when Midnight gave a long and pitiful meow. The kitty showed no signs of aggression as she looked at Matron.

“Consarnit, get in there and fight Midnight, that Matron lady’s a going to destroy our home,” Florence pleaded. Instead, of attacking as ordered, Midnight crept forward slowly, claws sheathed and meowing cutely at the enemy.

“No, it cannot be, she was killed, are you really here, Midnight?” Matron asked.

“Woah, hold on here, how does she know the cat’s name already, and what in tarnation is Midnight doing?” Florence growled. Midnight walked over to Matron, who lowered her hammer and removed her helmet, kneeling to give the kitty a scratch behind her ears, and then a belly rub as Midnight rolled over for more attention.

“It is you, isn’t it, Midnight, you’re still a good kitty, aren’t you,” Matron cooed.

“Perhaps it is some kind of charm ability, though, with her gear, I would have said this Matron person was paladin or warrior, not a class that should have access to such magic,” Doug said.

“You stay back, leave the dungeon until I deal with this,” Matron ordered to the party who were cautiously approaching the front door. They obeyed, moving out of Florence’s home to stand just outside where the lawn began.

“Dungeon, if you are who you pretend to be, speak. I know you can do so if you wish. Speak through your defender and tell me why I shouldn’t kill you for trying to mimic that dungeon from long ago,” Matron ordered.

“How dare she make demands in my house. I’m about to give her a piece of my mind,” Florence said, both confused and angry with the lady saying not-so-nice things about her home.

“I would recommend against speaking to adventurers, but when have my well-reasoned arguments ever swayed you toward the appropriate path,” Doug replied with a kitten sigh of resignation.

“You wait for just one minute missy, you don’t go barging into someone’s home and start ordering them around. Where I come from, guests are a bit more polite, but apparently, you were raised wrong. Now, release my kitty from the charm spell and get on with your adventuring,” Florence demanded.

“No, it can’t be, is it really you Florence Valentine?” Matron asked.

“What, well, yeah, it’s me, but how do you know my name?” Florence asked, more confused than ever.

“It’s been many years since I was that young adventurer. But I was among the party that first delved into your home. You might not remember or recognize me, time changes our appearance so much, but Midnight here remembers me, don’t you girl?” Matron said. The name struck Florence then, the one person that her kitty took a liking to.

“Shara, is that you?” Florence asked.

“Yes, Miss Valentine, it is,” Shara replied.

“Well, I’ll be, Shara, it’s good to see you. I guess I was gone longer than I thought,” Florence said.

“What happened? I thought your core had been destroyed by the followers of Kunrax. We tried to stop them, but there were too many, and the price we paid was high that day,” Shara said, thinking back to her friend Vanderman that gave his life to protect them.

“I was destroyed, but, well, let’s just say it wasn’t a total destruction and I was able to come back from my injuries. I’m back now, and getting my home sorted out so folks can enjoy it again,” Florence said.

“The ones waiting out on the lawn are my new initiates, they’re here to test their mettle against your home if that’s alright with you,” Shara said. Florence still couldn’t believe that one of the few people she knew in this world was here.

“Sure, tell them to go right ahead. You know I can’t do anything to help them and if something happens, well, sometimes these delves go wrong. My home should be a bit more friendly for newbs, I mean new adventurers. I’ve decided to go with level scaling, the further they go, the more dangerous things’ll become. Now, I do have to insist that you don’t tell them anything about what’s waiting for them inside, that would be cheating,” Florence said. She was glad to see an old friend, but she wouldn’t approve of any unfair advantages.

“Of course, I’ll give them no knowledge of your home, other than to explain to them the normal things they’ll need to prepare for when delving into any home or dungeon,” Shara agreed.

“Fair enough, would you like to come over for tea sometime? Doug and I do like to have guests over,” Florence asked.

“Yes, that would be lovely, whenever you have time, I’ll be available. For now, we’ll leave my charges in the dark on your rather unusual nature,” Shara said.

“Great, when we visit you can tell me what happened to your friends and I can tell you about my old world if you’re interested,” Florence offered.

“I’ll see you soon, but for now, I’ll leave so these new adventurers can get their full experience out of their first delve,” Shara said, giving Midnight a pat before leaving to speak with the youngsters.

“That’s a nice surprise, we didn’t spawn in our old location, so I wasn’t expecting to see any of the adventurer’s that had delved our home before,” Doug said as they watched Shara explain to the group that they were on their own for the delve. True to her word, Shara didn’t spill the beans about Florence and their conversations, merely telling them that the home was functioning properly and that her earlier fears were unfounded.

“I suppose time doesn’t exactly match up between earth and this place, does it?” Florence asked, still a bit shocked to see an elderly Shara.

“No, the transition back to a core was less time-consuming than the first time, but it seems that it did take several years of this world’s time before you were back in your gem,” Doug replied.

“Here they go,” Florence said, watching the four new adventurers resume their delve. The lawn was cleared, but they didn’t take that for granted, showing caution as they neared the now-demolished front door. Midnight was all alone so she decided to give herself every advantage she could, leaping up to the perch above the door.

“Matron may have said this dungeon was normal, but I’ve never heard of one that resembled a house before,” the halfling said.

“It doesn’t matter what it looks like, Tipp, you need to pay attention to your task,” the girl with the axes advised. The halfling rolled his eyes but did get back on the job, entering the living room cautiously.

“Ahh, get it off me!” The halfling shouted as Midnight leaped down onto his back, her claws ripping into the thin leather armor that protected his back, while she latched onto the back of his neck with her powerful jaws. Her kitty was only level one, which sapped a lot of oomph from the little brawler, but she was still dishing out some damage. Two magical balls of light shot into the room, the pair of mages outside, lending aid to their struggling comrade.

The magic attack burned one side of Midnight and froze the other, the two mages revealing their schools of magic in that one attack. To his credit, the halfling guy that they called Tipp stayed in the fight, lashing out with a pair of daggers as he struggled to his feet, blood still weeping from the wounds that the kitty had inflicted on him. Midnight was too slow in her follow-up attack, and the rogue’s blades sunk deep into her back, taking down the brave kitty.

“Frex, bandage up Tipp. Chamm, help me search the room,” the girl with the axes ordered.

“I’m no healer, Larah, my magic brings the fires of destruction down on our foes,” Frex replied.

“Quit complaining, we have bandages for a reason,” Larah said, her eyes scanning the room for threats while the other mage, the one named Chamm, looted Midnight.

“Only a handful of coppers, and one of whatever this is,” Chamm said, holding up a doily featuring Obi. Florence had been rather proud of her dungeon doily loot and was glad to see the items make a return in her new home's loot tables.

“Stow it, for now, we’ll divide everything up later. Tipp, are you doing okay, or do you want to stop for the day,” Larah asked.

“Let’s at least check another room, the bandages are helping,” Tipp said. Florence could see none of them were healers, but they did seem to each have a large supply of bandages. A faint, almost imperceptible glow of magic was emanating from the rolled-up gauze they used to patch up Tipp.

“Magic bandages?” Florence asked Doug.

“Yes, they can help in a pinch but only numb the pain a bit, staunch bleeding effects, and allow for somewhat better health regeneration. Not something you’d want to use as your primary source of healing during a delve, but better than nothing,” Doug replied. Florence could see this here party needed a healer badly if they wanted to make it past more than one or two rooms each time they delved.

“Ha, they missed the fireplace trap,” Florence noted. She hadn’t spawned a treasure box there, this crew hadn’t done nearly enough to warrant that kind of reward just yet. They did spend some time reviewing the pictures on the wall, visibly confused.

“What’s with the pictures, are all these cats and things in the dungeon? Is that a dragon?” Tipp said looking over the photos.

“The dragon may have been a bit much,” Florence admitted to Doug. To keep the adventurers guessing, she rotated the pictures, including images of random creatures to keep them on their toes.

“Oh, they’re about to face the hallway. Without a healer things could get a bit interesting,” Doug said as the party prepared to continue. Only two cats remained in the hall after Mortimer’s promotion to home champion, but they were sneaky and had lots of ways to cause some serious damage. Florence couldn’t wait to see how her babies did.