Cat Core, Chapter 12.

Florence gets some new visitors.


Chapter 12.

“Chickens! Get on back here, my champions needs them some practice,” Florence hollered at the fleeing party. Durn it, them adventurers couldn’t hear her.

“Hey Doug, why can’t the people inside our home hear me?” She asked.

“Dungeons don’t’ talk with their food, it’s unseemly. I am required to inform you that at higher levels some interfaces can be added into certain rooms that may enable communication with adventurers. The administration recommends any contact be limited to ominous warnings, dire threats, or cackling madness,” Doug replied.

“That’s dumb. What if I want to have a pleasant conversation over tea, like civilized folk?” Florence said.

“While I’m sure that would be the highlight of any adventurer’s day, given your understated eloquence, but it could lead to more problems,” Doug told her, she was detecting another heaping portion of smug coming off the little kitten, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“Fine, at least we came out ahead, despite the stupid increase in loot,” Florence now had $17.45 in her savings after bringing back her kitties and resetting Doug’s traps.

“They did look happy much happier about their loot, and our home does seem to be a bit more challenging for the adventurer’s. I was kind of hoping we would take out that one fellow Roland, but alas, he survived by the skin of his teeth and ministrations of their healer,” Doug lamented.

Florence kind of liked this group, especially that there Shara girl who seemed very polite to her cats. She didn’t want none of them killed, at least she didn’t think she did. Some strange desires and a persistent hunger were felt while the party was inside the dungeon, and she didn’t like those feelings one bit. She was a peaceable woman, never got into a scuffle other than that one time in elementary school. Johnny Books had it coming though, he pulled her hair one too many times and she cut loose on him. She might be a lady, but her daddy didn’t skimp on telling her how to defend herself, no siree. Ole Johnny went home with a grand old shiner that day. None of them boys bothered her again after that.

“Why was they rooting around in the room like that at the end, the only loot they can find comes from my kitties and traps, right?” Florence asked.

“Well, normally, yes, but you do have the option of issuing additional rewards. I haven’t advised you of this after your reluctance to dispense with more than a pittance as reward to any who venture into our home,” Doug told her.

“Hmm, well, don’t hold out on me Doug, I just may want to reward them if they’re brave enough to try again,” Florence said.

“Very well, you can choose one of your room and set aside some cash to create loot for a reward chest. Reward chests can have a separate value ranking than your normal rewards level, many dungeons will make them hard to find and in random places, but with upgraded rewards for tenacious explorers. Keep in mind that these types of rewards count against our defender expense limit. Also, reward chests are one of the few things you can do while the party is in the dungeon. While you have to create one ahead of time, you can choose when and where to spawn the chest or choose to simply not spawn it at all for a group of adventurers. That way we don’t reward those who we don’t approve of,” Doug said.

“Well, I want to make another kitty with our funds, but I can see where some extra reward would be nice. I think I’ll put a chest in the living room,” Florence said. She pushed $5 into a chest, watching as a small wooden box with iron straps appeared in the middle of the floor. It was ugly and didn’t look right sitting there out in the open. She moved it over to the fireplace, it would be a pleasant surprise for the nice adventurers after facing her ferocious felines and fire trap in here.

“Very well done, Florence. You will also be pleased to note that the loot inside is much more likely to reflect the nature of your dungeon. In fact, a portion of all your loot will eventually take more of the unique aspects of our home. I admit that I am curious to see what that will mean,” Doug added. It would be nice to see them win a souvenir of their visit, if they didn’t die. Florence also found that she didn’t really mind her babies being killed, now that she knew the same exact one came back. Don’t mean she didn’t like them a hurtin, nope, she didn’t like that part one bit, but the kitties themselves didn’t seem none the worse for the experience.

With just over twelve dollars remaining in her balance, Florence created another kitty. This one was a cute little black and white doll of a kitty. The cat rubbed on her chair and left to explore, When the new addition made it to the hallway, Buddy jumped down and began to play with the new cat. The pair had a grand old time, swatting and leaping. When they were done, the new kitty lounged elegantly on the ceiling ramp, taking a bath.

“I’ll call that one Princess, and I think we’ll leave her just where she is since Buddy seems to get along well with her,” Florence told Doug.

“Good, that leaves us somewhat well defended I must say. I think we need something for the kitchen and perhaps another cat or trap for hall and dungeon entry. After that, you should begin thinking about expansion. Now that were first level, you should be able to add another couple of rooms. In fact, we can now create branching paths, so the dungeon isn’t just a straight line,” Doug said. He was right, she could feel that her influence had expanded a bit. Florence would bat around a few ideas, the ability to create branching rooms was something that she did retain from that brain dump of stuff she got earlier.

Florence found she could start creating both of the new rooms she wanted without creating the doorway for them yet. It was a good way to get them just right before someone came in to explore. While she wanted more kitties for her place, she felt some basic need to expand her home. She got to work on creating new rooms, but the limited funds on hand were burned through before she made much headway, forcing her, once again, to wait while more trickled in. Hopefully, more of them adventurer folks would come a calling soon, she really needed the money.

To pass the time, Florence had taken to watching the small slice of the outside world she could see from the dungeon entrance. Lots of log chopping was going on day and night. A mess of tents surrounded the frames of two good sized buildings that were under construction. There were another four tents set off from the main hullabaloo that was going on, and she figured that was where the adventurers were staying. If what Doug said was true, more and more would find her home over time. She wasn’t quite sure if she really wanted that or not. If she was honest with herself, and everyone knew Florence Valentine was as honest as the day was long, she never did like company. Sure, a visit now and again was expected to keep up appearances, but it wasn’t something she could say that she enjoyed.

A sense of wrongness snapped her from her thoughts. Something outside was changed. She couldn’t place it at first, but then she realized that the tree choppin had stopped and now the workers in the woods was a hollerin something fierce. More people began to emerge from their tents, carrying weapons and what not. Too bad her vision was limited, and she didn’t have a way to zoom in on the action.

“Hey Doug, there’s some kind of battle going on over at the camp,” Florence called out to Doug, who was spending his time trying to stalk the various defenders, usually failing miserably at the task.

“Hmm, there does seem to be an attack of some kind, too bad the camp is too far away to see much detail. From what I can see it looks like smaller figures are attacking the workers and adventurers. Why, I believe that another horde of goblins is attacking the burgeoning settlement on our doorstep. Hmm, the goblins that escaped our clutches earlier must have convinced their whole tribe to assault this place,” Doug said.

“Well, if it is them goblin wierdo’s from earlier, I don’t think they were counting on so many folks that had come a gathering to our home,” Florence said, noting the fight was ramping up, but that most of the humans were on their feet still while a slew of the small goblin bodies were strewn about.

“They aren’t known for their bravery, or their fighting skills. In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t broken and run away yet, that’s usually par for the course when they meet this much resistance. I do say that there seems to be quite the horde of them, perhaps more than one tribe were gathered for the onslaught,” Doug speculated.

“Well, I think we’re about to get some unwanted visitors, look!” Florence shouted to Doug as a swarm of small shapes emerged from the dark, heading directly for the dungeon entrance.

“Can we close it off or something? I don’t want them stinky things in here,” Florence asked.

“Sadly, no. Look at your flashing message,” Doug replied. Looking in her interface, there was indeed a red light flashing away. Florence activated it and a warning popped up.

By virtue of their current actions, the combined forces of the Stinkbug Clan are in a state of war with the dungeon core known as Florence Valentine. Defend yourself!

“When a group declares their intent to destroy a dungeon, we are unable to seal ourselves off until the immediate conflict is resolved. Before you get angry, remember that I don’t set these rules, I’m here to advise you of them,” Doug replied.

“That don’t make any kind of sense, who makes these rules, and can’t we just ignore them?” Florence asked as the disturbingly large swarm of creeps rushed the entrance.

“Sadly, pre-coding these things into your core is part of the transformation process. You can no more slip the bonds of your creators, than I can decide the physical form I wear,” Doug lamented.

“So, since you created my core, you are, in a way, at fault here. Doug, if we get kilt dead by goblins, I’m blaming you!” Florence snapped at her advisor.

“Fine, hold me accountable if you must, for all the good it will do you. Perhaps I might suggest that you turn your attention as well as your ire toward the invaders of our happy demesne?” Doug said. Florence pushed aside her anger at Doug, but not at the goblins that were even now steaming onto the nice lawn of her home.

“See, boss, Gabsug tells you rights, he did. Dungeon shiny here, waiting for us to smash,” the familiar goblin said. It was the one that had wanted to kill her core earlier, the little turd. Somehow, he must have hoodwinked the rest of his little murderous friends into attacking.

“Hmm, yeah, dungeons is here’s, but we gotses to fights monster thingies to gets all the powers. You say there was only cat monsterses inside?” The one that was the boss asked.

“Yep boss, only three cat monsters attacked, but we didn’t’ go through whole thingy, only lookses in first rooms,” Gabsug replied.

“Useless, you is, but I thinks we’s gots enough stabbers to kill cats and breaks shiny core rock. Go!” The leader ordered as he smacked Gabsug across the back of his head. The little goblins swarmed forward, too many for her to easily count, but she figured there had to be thirty of forty of them coming. The boss one was a biggen, and she could tell he was stronger than the others.

“Bring it on goblins, we’ve been a upgradin’ since you last visited,” Florence taunted.

“You do realize the despicable creatures are incapable of hearing the invective you are hurling at them,” Doug said.

“Shut up Doug, you’re the cause of all this mess,” Florence replied, still angry that she was pre-coded with something against her will. That administrator was going to get his comeuppance one day for what he did to her, she’d see to that.

Florence tried to calm herself as the mailbox trap activated and one of goblins was shot through the head. One down and a whole bunch to go. Obi then got in on the act, leaping from the planter onto the first goblin to approach the porch. Little Obi tore that critter up and severely wounded another before the goblins brought the poor kitty down with their spears.

The whole mess of goblins didn’t even pause for their dead or wounded, and instead, hurled their way through front door and into the living room. Oops, she took back the part about not pausing for their wounded, one goblin waited for the others to pass, pretending to help along the wounded goblin that Obi had shredded. Once the others were out of sight, the “helpful” goblin grabbed a rusty knife and stabbed his buddy through the heart before taking the dead goblins spear, obviously liking it better than the one it held.

“I wonder who will rack up more kills today, our defenders or the goblins themselves,” Doug commented on the murder they had just witnessed.

Inside the living room it was chaos. Midnight had leaped off the couch as the first goblin entered, ripping out his throat and holding back the tide for a time. Just like Obi outside, poor Midnight couldn’t fend off the sea of spears thrust at her and she fell to multiple stab wounds. The goblins pushed their way into the room, a task made more complicated as some goblins tried to be first and others wanted to be safely in the back of the pack.

By the time a half dozen had entered, Tater and Bhargath struck. Both of her babies leaped down from the ledge upon their chosen victims. The teeth and claws of her cats easily sliced the goblins apart. With the pair working together, they made some headway against the goblin’s pawing aside spears and striking when they had an opening. Despite her defender’s best efforts, the weight of numbers was too much to overcome and both her kitties were soon swarmed under a green pile of goblins and stabbing spears.

As they rushed to the exit, a goblin stumbled by the fireplace, triggering the flame trap inside. Only two goblins were caught in the blast, but both of those were burnt to a crisp. They were much more fragile creatures that that chubby Roland was. While the adventurer was one of the annoying ones, she had to give him credit, that the guy could take a hit.

The goblins wasted little time as they drove forward into her home, leaving their filth behind. It was going to take her home who knew how long to clean itself up after the disgusting monsters were gone. Of course, if’n they killed her, the cleanup would be the least of her worries

Entering the hallway, the lead goblins surged forward, oblivious to the two precious kitties stalking them. From a hatchway on the floor, the new cat Buddy surged forth, hamstringing a goblin before disappearing into another hidden door. The goblins stopped and stabbed their spears at the wall where Buddy had entered. Not wanting to be left out of the action. Princess dropped onto the head of one of the goblins, tearing at his throat before jumping back up to her ledge. Their short stature prevented the spears from reaching that high and the frustrated goblins shouted and cursed up a storm.

“Them goblins have foul mouths on them, no sense of decency, I tell you,” Florence complained.

“Yes, I believe we agree on this point. Too bad there’s so many of them, and sadly, it looks like more are coming,” Doug said. Florence looked to the entrance to see another group of a dozen goblins enter. This bunch were all done in, most were wounded and only a few still held their weapons. They looked out of the dungeon fearfully, watching the torch carrying humans approach from the camp.

“Boss, boss, weses in troubles. Humies killed deads all but us. They’s coming here to finish us with their stabby, slashy, and magicky stuff,” one of the wounded goblins whined. The goblin looked like he would continue wailing, except that his attention was drawn to the castoff spear the murderous goblin had left earlier, finding it an upgrade to the broken stick he was armed with.

The boss goblin, who Florence never learned the name of, was commanding his horde safely behind all his warriors. Hearing the new goblin’s ranting, the ran back to the front lawn to see what was going on. Looking at the approaching humans, the boss scurried back and forth in fear, suddenly losing confidence in his people’s ability to defeat their foe.

“No, you had six handfullses of warriors, you should have killed, stabbed all the humans. How they beats you?” The boss demanded.

“They not all wood choppers like you toldses us, they gots adventurers, and magic spitters, and strong steel weapons,” the goblin complained. The boss stabbed the other goblin in the throat, leaving him gurgling on the ground.

“Boy, they sure don’t take bad news well, do they?” Florence asked.

“No, I believe you should endeavor to only bring good news to the boss of a goblin tribe. I’m curious what he will do now. With the dungeon under attack, the humans and adventurers can come to our aid if they wish. Typically, the folk outside the dungeon rely on us for their income so are willing to help in times of attack,” Doug advised.

“Quiets alls youse. Me needs to thinks, me has biggest thinking head. Quit fighting catses and gets everyone here,” The boss ordered.

Buddy and Princess had done a fine job while the boss was away, slashing and hiding over and over. While the blows weren’t killing strikes, they were having a cumulative effect and a trio of goblins had bled out on the floor while several others sported deep lacerations and bite marks that seeped out the putrid green blood of their kind. With all the goblins gathered on the front porch and lawn, Florence was able to finally get an accurate count. With the most recent arrivals, the goblins totaled forty-two. Of those, seven or eight sported serious wounds and wouldn’t be that effective in a fight.

“I hope the boss takes his time contemplating their situation, I think the humans are gathering to attack,” Doug said. Indeed, Florence could see a score of humans armed with axes and various other weapons. A large human with a crossbow led the workers and the adventuring party was with them, Florence could see Shara working to heal the injured.

“They aren’t very brave, are they, the goblins have the humans outnumbered and most of the humans are only workers not seasoned soldiers,” Florence commented.

“Yes, but these goblins are particularly decrepit, not one has a weapon that can match even the tools used by most of the humans, not to mention they have a party of adventurers helping them. When better equipped and fully healed, goblins typically don’t attack unless they have a three to one advantage or more, these tribes must have been desperate or exceptionally dimwitted,” Doug told her.

“Well, the break is letting Buddy and Princess heal up. Our good kitties heal quickly when they have a moment to rest, don’t they,” Florence said. She knew about the rapid healing of dungeon creatures out of combat, but this was the first time seeing it. Both her kitties had taken glancing blows from lucky goblins while fighting. The blood stopped flowing and the wounds closed, fresh, fluffy fur replacing the bloody rents in their coats. If the goblins chose to continue their assault of her home, the pair of hallway defenders would be ready.

“I knowses whats we do. Everyone bow down to the dungeonses while Ise negotiolates,” the boss said before chanting. “Oh great catses dungeon, please takeses our might clan as yours servantses. We defend and protectses you with our mighty power, we only needses you to stop the mean humans from killin us dead,” the goblin chief wailed, the whole mess of goblins bowing down like they were in front of the queen or something.

A group of goblins is offering to join your dungeon. Do you wish to enter negotiations with the Stinkbug clan? Y/N.

“Oh, very interesting, this could actually prove a boon to our defenses. Do you remember anything about signing on creatures from outside our dungeon?” Doug asked.

“Kind of, I know they can join us and that it can be beneficial to lure some in since they don’t take up any of our defender expenses. The only downside is we don’t really control them, and these buggers seem the type to stab us in the back when we aren’t looking,” Florence added. Thankfully, she remembered this bit of dungeon core knowledge.

“Don’t worry about that, we can negotiate it into the pact we sign with them. If they try to harm us or our dungeon in any way, they’ll face a horrible end,” Doug told her, it looked like a win/win for both parties, even if she wasn’t too sure she wanted the stinky things running around. Not that she could even smell the goblins, but she did have standards for her home. Maybe she could switch up one of the new rooms to house this bunch?

You have entered negotiations with the Stinkbug tribe. Here is their initial offer.

1. The clan gains the protection of the dungeon and may choose to defend it in times of need.

2. The dungeon agrees to not permanently bind the clan and offers food and resources for their continued growth.

3. Treasure, the clan requires treasure crates each day.

“That’s dumb, I won’t agree to any of those things, and they’re only offering to defend us unless they feel like it,” Florence complained.

“Don’t worry yourself overmuch, it’s only an opening offer, the goblins know they won’t get any of these demands, it’s just a negotiation tactic. Perhaps you can let me have a hand in crafting our reply? I believe we hold all the cards here, after all, the goblins will not be able to break through our defenses before the humans from the camp come in and kill them, so long as we allow it,” Doug asked. Florence always did enjoy haggling, why, everyone at the flea market knew she as a holy terror when haggling was involved. Still, this had more of a legal feel to it, and she did hate lawyers so it might be best to let Doug handle it. Doug took to the task with glee.

Your counteroffer has been sent.

1. The Stinkbug clan joins the dungeon as an ally and is required to defend it in time of need. A time of need is determined by the dungeon core and her advisor, not the clan.

2. The dungeon is not required to provide any material support save for that support they voluntarily offer. When it does decide to provide any equipment, foodstuffs, or other items, the dungeon is not obligating itself to continue any level of support.

3. The dungeon agrees to protect the clan to the best of its ability. The extent and nature of this protection is determined by the dungeon and her advisor, not the clan.

4. At the request of the dungeon, the clan agrees to venture from the dungeon to perform acts on behalf of the dungeon. The dungeon cannot make more than one such request per month, and any additional requests can be accepted or rejected by the clan without consequence.

5. If the clan accepts these terms in the next thirty (30) seconds, the dungeon agrees to not invite the humans inside to exterminate them. If the terms are not agreed to or if another round of negotiation commences, the dungeon will grant immediate access to the forces attempting the clan’s destruction.

“That last point should light a fire under the green creeps,” Florence said, impressed with Doug’s work.

The Stinkbug clan has agreed to your terms. Goblins are not a supported creature type of your dungeon and will only have a limited link to your core.

“All right goblins, you stay out there while I work on a room for you. Try to stay off the porch, I don’t want you dirtying up the place,” Florence ordered. Now that they were linked the goblin boss could understand her and relayed her orders to the group. She could see a small glowing thread linking each goblin to her core. It was much thinner than the one linking her to her babies, and she was more than happy to not have a closer link to those things.

“So, Doug, what happens with that link? What exactly is limited, and can I respawn goblins if one dies?” Florence asked, this part of the whole outside the dungeon creature thingy was a bit vague in her mind.

“We cannot respawn outside creatures, even if they were of a type combatable with our core. The link you have with the goblins is limited, so when we level, they will improve a bit, but not at the rate our defenders do. While we normally can create gear for our defenders, we can only create much lower quality gear for them. On the plus side, they no longer need to be fed while in the dungeon, even our minor link with them will suffice to sustain them unless they leave. Sadly, some of their…other bodily functions will still happen so make sure you have appropriate facilities for them in their new home,” Doug said.

“So, if some adventurer comes along and smacks them all down, were just out of luck, no more goblins?” Florence asked.

“Correct, they will be a finite resource and once wiped out, will be gone forever. Keep in mind that goblins naturally increase their numbers over time, a process that will be restricted by our link. Typically, goblins will grow to a certain point, then separate into two creatures. It’s a disgusting process, but part of their life cycle. When you build their room make sure you place a pair of posts three feet apart from each other and you’ll see what I mean. Their entire life cycle depends on available food, so while our core will sustain them, it doesn’t provide much more than the basic nutritional needs, which in turn reduces their reproductive rates,” Doug advised.

She wasn’t looking forward to all that stuff, but she would do as he asked with the poles. Before she got started on building what she was planning to call Florence Valentine’s Home for Unwanted Goblins, she respawned her lost babies and reset the traps. The goblin invasion proved to be a windfall. Even with the reduced return for them not being adventurers, she had cashed in with each goblin death, and since they were invaders, no loot was dropped from her defenders, allowing her to reprocess her creatures and traps without cost. A fine balance of $64.20 sat in her account, more than enough to build out the new goblin home.

It also looked like the humans had returned to their camp. Once the agreement had been struck with the goblins, her home had closed off. From their incessant chattering, it looked like they believed that her defenders had taken care of any remaining goblin problem, which in a way, they had.

“No, not on the porch, you mongrel!” Doug shouted as a goblin ‘relieved’ himself on the porch. To her disgust, the home cleaned up the mess in a few minutes, leaving Florence with the hopeless task of trying not to think about where the refuse had gone. She had to get their home setup, pronto.

Taking one of the pair of rooms she had already started, Florence expanded it greatly, creating the largest room yet. She didn’t particularly like the goblins, but she wanted them to have some elbow room. In the center of the room she placed the two poles that Doug had asked her to make and then created bunks stacked four high. She created some simple bedding, old burlap and stuff that was sturdy and would stand up to goblin abuse. A few fire pits were strewn about, she could create fire, like in her fireplace trap without smoke or fumes. An exercise area with rocks and whatnot took up almost half the room. Near the door to their chamber, Florence created a large sandbox on one side with various toys, as a fountain on the other. She wasn’t sure what goblins did, they were small so they would play like kids, right?