Cat Core 2, Chapter 6.

Chapter 6.

Florence decorated her master bedroom just like it had been before. The oversized bed with frilly dust ruffle hid Chubbs from sight, while Zork preferred to sleep among the plush animals and pillows that covered the head of the bed. Side tables with lamps and a dresser were created, and a large mirror finished out the room. Florence then pushed out her home to make room for the hallway that led from the living room to the master bedroom. There was a long way to go, but she would get there, and make her home even better than it had been in the past.

“Oh, look at this, Florence, it looks like we’ve got the first visitors that aren’t swarms of arachnids,” Doug said as a flash of light burst on their doorstep, revealing two humanoids standing near her front lawn.

“What do you think? Are these them there dungeon guild folks?” Florence asked.

“Quiet, I think they’re about to tell us,” Doug said.

With the light show over, she could finally get a good look at the two. One was armored in a set of light chainmail with a breastplate and no helm. He was human and well-groomed, not like some of them scruffy folks that would sometimes explore her home or them hooligans that brought her here. The man’s gear was of the highest quality and she could see the waves of power radiating off it. As far as the second guy, he was wearing some fancy guy robes and the only visible weapon was a dagger strapped to his waist. He was a mage of some sort and given the pointy ears and “I’m better than you” attitude plastered on his face, an elf. The elf raised a scroll and began to read.

“Attention dungeon core, we are representatives of the adventurer’s guild and are here to categorize and rate your dungeon. Deactivate your traps, set your defenders to passive, and open any hidden passageways. Attempts to hinder our examination will be met with deadly force,” the elf said in the bored voice of someone who had given this same demand far too many times.

“Well, I guess we’ll do what they ask, but when they’re done, I’m giving them a piece of my mind about the whole closing off the door thing,” Florence told Doug as she complied with the guild demands.

“No, do not interact with them at all. We’re odd enough as it is, and I don’t think it wise to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves. Say nothing unless they ask you a question directly, and if they do ask you a question, try not to respond in your normal manner,” Doug warned.

“And just what is my normal manner?” Florence snapped at the rude little kitty.

“Acerbic, overbearing, prideful, self-important, rude, and generally unpleasant to those around her,” Doug said flatly.

“Oh, is that what you think, see if you get any yarn from here on out,” Florence said, reabsorbing Doug’s growing collection of yarn balls.

“There you go, proving my perfectly argued point,” Doug said. It was hard to stay mad at the little guy, he looked so cute when he was trying to be angry at her. Still, Doug had a point about these guild folks, so she would hold her tongue for now. If she were honest with herself, and Florence Valentine was a woman who prided herself on honesty, Florence was a bit intimidated by the pair. The power coming off them was incredible and she figured that either one of them could take on her entire dungeon without breaking a sweat.

“The core has complied with our demands, begin noting traps and defenders as we move forward. This dungeon is most odd, we’ll have to examine the archives, but I do recall something similar cropping up years ago,” the elf said. The armored guy nodded and pulled a quill and paper to begin noting her traps, defenders, and the like. Florence wasn’t exactly pleased with them rudely not introducing themselves before entering her home, but she didn’t want to rile them up by correcting their behavior.

“Yes, the pictures of the defenders, I remember something similar noted in a dungeon over in Haverston, a place that was also entirely populated in felines, just like here,” the elf said.

“Do you suppose it’s the same one? It’s not unheard of for a core to relocate?” The armored guy said.

“No, that core was destroyed by the followers of Kunrax. It was before your time, but I remember there were several requests for retaliation on the cult for the destruction of a new core so soon in its lifecycle,” the elf replied. With her home only having four rooms, it didn’t take them too long.

“Any final observations?” The elf asked of his companion when they finished at her core room, giving Florence’s core only a cursory inspection, and completely ignoring poor Doug who looked a little upset over the slight.

“Yes, it’s odd that this place only has four chambers, granted, they are more highly detailed than most, but a dungeon that has been around this long should have expanded further than this one has. The fact its core is already level four is also unusual, but it could be due to higher-than-normal incursions from local wildlife,” the armored guy replied.

“Very well, this warrants further investigation. Let me try to engage the core directly. Core, can you tell us how you chose your core type?” The elf said, talking loudly and slowly. Florence almost laughed, the guy was doing the same thing folks tended to do when they were talking with someone who didn’t know their language.

“I can hear you just fine, no need to raise your voice. As far as why I chose kitties for my home, well, they're the best things ever. I’ll also have you know that this is my home, not some creepy dungeon, so please refer to it as such,” Florence replied.

“Sir, I think perhaps this core is flawed in some way, its speech patterns are, unusual,” the armored guy said.

“How dare you, come into my home and insult me. I’m not unusual, I’m eccentric and that’s a whole different bag of marbles, let me tell you. Did your mama not raise you right? Did she teach you to go around insulting people in their own home?” Florence said. She was losing her patience with these two, and it had been a good long while since she had someone proper to complain about.

“I apologize for any misunderstanding, we are only performing the tasks assigned to us,” the elf said.

“Oh, that just makes it all better? Performing your tasks, hah, does your task include insulting the core you’re sent to review? Don’t think you’re free of guilt here mage boy, you entered my home without so much as a howdy-do. Where I come from it’s only proper for guests to introduce themselves and request entry, not demand it,” Florence said. Doug was aghast, trying to hide behind the pillar her gem was resting on.

“Intriguing, you are more self-aware than I had considered. I once again offer our apologies, I’m am Sar’narao and this is my associate, Delvar. Thank you for hosting us while we perform our tasks,” the elf replied bowing.

“Apology accepted, I’m Florence Valentine, pleased to meet you,” Florence said. She wished she still had facial expressions and could let Doug see how smug she was feeling at whipping these two into shape.

“Thank you, may I ask about your origin? Have you moved from another location?” Sar’narao asked.

“Yes I did, I was originally placed somewhere else, but that there dog monster tried to crush my gem, and if it weren’t for Bartleby’s goop that we slathered on my gem, I’d have been a goner for sure,” Florence replied. She kept the whole thing quiet about both her brief return to humanity and the licking skeleton’s involvement. She didn’t want folks to think she associated with the wrong sort. Given Berikoz’s choice of folks to handle her relocation, she didn’t expect he would be seen as a paragon of polite society.

“Sir, I think this Bartleby may be the merchant we’ve heard about, the one selling reward chests in the larger cities,” Delvar added.

“That’s the guy, quite a huckster, but some of his wares are pretty good if you know how to strike a bargain, and everyone in Logan County knows that Florence Valentine can haggle with the best of them,” she said, deciding not to share the example of Marta Cantrell and the horrible deal she got on that ugly car she bought back in 2002.

“Thank you for that information, may we visit again if we have further inquiries? The elf asked.

“Sure, and next time my kitchen should be all done up and I set out a proper spread for you two,” Florence replied.

“Thank you, it is obvious you’re still in the process of sorting out your home, until it is nearer completion, I’ll have to rank it A+, with a caveat that the defenders are level four so new adventurers should be wary. Your ranking will likely improve as you expand and add to your defenses. Until then, good day, and thank you for your assistance,” the elf said, giving her a slight bow before the pair made their way out of her home. Once past the lawn, the elf cast that flashy teleport spell again, and when the light faded, the two were gone.

“Durn it, we were getting along so well, I should have brought up the door thing,” Florence said.

“No, no you shouldn’t. I somewhat expected that, despite the danger, you would continue with your constant insistence on agitating those with power,” Doug lamented.

“Oh, don’t you start with me, you’re just embarrassed that you were hiding behind my pillar the whole time. Some brave tiger you turned out to be,” Florence replied.

“It’s not my fault you made me this tiny body, an upgrade would be nice, you know,” Doug said.

“We got too much to do and not enough money to do it with, so any advisor upgrades will just have to wait. Say, did you notice those two didn’t give us all that much income while they were here? With their high levels and whatnot, I would have thought they could generate some solid income just by hanging around,” Florence said.

“Since our defenses were inactive, the ambient mana we can collect from them is negligible. Be thankful we received anything at all, these guild representatives can often use an ability to hamper our income absorption while they’re inside,” Doug replied.

“Did you notice I got an A+ again? This pair might have been rude initially, but they know quality and refinement when they see it,” Florence said, pleased with her home’s performance.

“Ugh, must we retread this ground? The ranking of A+ is not that high of an achievement. The rankings go from A to Z with a plus or minus when needed. Our current ranking places us squarely in the lower tiers and designates us as a minimal challenge. That’s not entirely a bad thing, we’re better off facing lower level and less well-equipped adventurers, at least until we grow some more,” Doug replied.

“You’re just being a spoilsport, say, why do you think they arrived so much quicker than they did last time? Have we spent more time than I thought getting things rolling?” Florence asked. Last time, adventurers had already been exploring her home before the guild ever showed up. Maybe these guys were just getting lazy.

“I’m not sure what’s considered typical as far as the first categorization exam of a dungeon, but typically they don’t come out this soon. When a core goes active, they can scry its presence, but the process takes time,” Doug replied.

“Well, we’ve got twelve dollars and fifty-five cents to work with. I’m going to work on adding our hallway back in, maybe you can rework your traps while I get started,” Florence said. She was itching to get back to work. Visitors were interesting and all, but she had a home to build.

Doug reworked the crossbow trap, making it so the trap didn’t always appear. By spending five dollars on it, the trap could now fire at a more rapid pace, hopefully letting it get in at least two shots before it was taken out. Back in the fireplace, they spent another five dollars to set up a flame burst trap. The new design was more powerful and the burst of fire focused on a smaller cone, giving the device more damage, but limiting it as an area of effect weapon.

“That should do it, I’ll see about alternate placement for the crossbow trap, the flame trap can be left in place indefinitely. Parties will know it's there, but they’ll be tempted to risk it if you place the reward chests in there occasionally,” Doug said. It was a good setup and while she loathed giving anything away for free, sometimes it might do to reward a particular group. Having the rewards appear in the same place every time, a dangerous place, would make things more interesting.

The traps had taken most of her available funds, but the hallway was a simple structure, and the construction would go quickly enough with just the tiny trickle of income she had while the home was vacant. Now, if those adventurers would just show up and start exploring, she could really get things moving.