No Need for a Core?

Kazue was relieved with the way things turned out. Forming her avatar next to Mordecai, she gave him a small kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.” She was feeling a little giddy as she turned to address the confused pair of redemption seekers. “Hello! I’m Kazue, the nice half of our dungeon. This is Mordecai, he’s the mean half. And that is Moriko, our wonderful and beautiful contractor!”

Mordecai protested with a half-hearted “Hey!” while Moriko beamed, but Kazue ignored his protest as she continued. “So, if you know anything about living dungeons, obviously things are a little more complicated and, well, weird, here than you'd expect, but let's focus on giving you a chance to actually pass Mordecai's test, okay? Let’s start with your names.”

The confused pair glanced at each other, and then the dwarf spoke first. “I’m Brongrim. This is Nainvil. Er, thank you for your generosity.” He turned towards Moriko and bowed his head down. “I am sorry miss. We were mercenaries originally, just starting out really, but we took a bad contract and when we realized that we had been working with outlaws, we didn’t really know how to get out of it.” He grimaced and glanced towards the half-orc, who had also bowed his head.

Nainvil continued the apology that Brongrim had started. “I guess we aren’t suited to be actual mercenaries. Should have realized the contract looked too good. It was basically a trap to get some extra muscle for Akuma's gang. Then I guess he got a juicy job from someone because he dragged all of us down here and we’ve been waiting for almost a week. He even had us ignore a couple of other travelers until you came along.”

Kazue exchanged looks with Mordecai and Moriko as their minds met in silence and in a passing heartbeat, all agreed to talk about the implications of this later. She turned back to the pair and said, “Well, we'd love to talk about this later, if all goes well. He’s made a bargain with you while invoking Ozuran’s name; as a priest, he's going to be bound to that bargain for good or for ill. I won’t try to stop him if things go poorly, so I think it’s best if we set you up for success. Now, the path he’ll be setting you upon is the path I created, and it’s all puzzle-type challenges. They start off pretty easy, and even the later ones aren’t really hard; you just have to figure out what the game is and then play along. I don’t know what he’s judging you on, but what I want to see is people being able to have fun. Don’t worry about rushing. I’ll make sure you have food at the end, there is already a sewer system, and we have some marked privies.” Then she made a face. “And have these at least.” She created a pair of simple pull-over robes for the two. She really didn’t need to have these two guys wandering around her dungeon in their underwear.

Mordecai watched the pair go, and when the door sealed behind the repentant outlaws, he turned to his eidolon, patting the small dragon on the head. "Good boy Shenlong," he said before dismissing the summon. He turned to Kazue and Moriko and asked, “Shall we go for a stroll while Kazue finishes up the third level? I can create a portable illusion until we arrive there, so you can watch with us too, Moriko ... um?” He trailed off into a question because Moriko was giving him a very steady glare.

“Ahem. ‘Mine’?” She asked archly. Ah, he had let that slip, hadn’t he. He wasn’t quite as sorry as she probably wanted, considering her unfettered nature, but he wasn’t going to lie about his nature either.

“While I did mean what I said before, remember also that my earliest influences were dragons and kobolds. Once I was able to fine-tune my avatars, most of them were dragon scions in addition to their primary ancestry. Possessiveness is in my nature, so I won’t apologize for what I feel. But I also recognize it as self-indulgent and do not believe you are obligated to cater to those feelings. So I won’t inflict them upon you, unless invited, and won’t let them decide if I should act. But if I do think I should act, they may influence how I decide to act. Fair?”

Moriko frowned for a moment, annoyance clear on both her face and across their bond, but eventually she sighed. “Fine, I get it. I don’t entirely like it, but you are also too damn reasonable about it to be actually mad at you. Alright, show me the illusion.”

Kazue interrupted first however. “Um, that possessiveness, ah,” She hesitated, trying to formulate her question, but it wasn’t hard for him to guess.

He turned to the adorable little kitsune, giving her a slightly predatory smile. “Yes, but I think you don’t mind so much.”

She made an ‘eep’ sound and briefly tried to hide behind her tails before recovering her composure and straightening back up, ignoring the flush on her own cheeks. “Well, anyway, how am I supposed to finish the third floor? You used up all our mana on the sewer route.” Watching her ignore her own wandering thoughts was cute too. But it was a useful change of subject.

“Have you already forgotten what happened when you dropped Moriko through that trap door?” He asked as he brought up the illusion, a copy of the room the others were in hovering over his hand. It only took a moment for Kazue to get it and double-check their magic energy reserves.

“Oh, surrendering is the same as being defeated! Lovely! And look, that’s more than enough to get started with; plus having those two working their way through the puzzles should get us enough to finish my path.” She started walking through the dungeon with a little skip to her step, part of her mind processing fun and interesting designs for her plays.

Unfortunately for Mordecai, that meant his path would have to wait until at least tomorrow. Well, on the bright side, today’s events also meant that Moriko was probably going to be with them for another night. He turned towards her as they walked along. “While I am sorry your trip got delayed again, I do think you should wait until tomorrow morning before heading out. Some of what I want to do with these guys involves you; and the rest of their old crew might still be lurking about and seeking revenge. Let’s make them wander off in search of shelter and food.” He grinned as she side-eyed him. “Yes, I like having you here too, but my other reasons are sound."

Moriko rolled her eyes. “Fine, now shush, I want to watch these guys. I haven’t seen the puzzles in action before.”

The first floor really wasn’t that hard, it was mostly time-consuming and required patience to search it properly. But they were also very pretty rooms, and it was hard to not relax in them a little, which is what Kazue had been wanting her delvers, including this pair, to do. About the time the three of them arrived at the balcony seats on the first stage of the third floor, the two men had figured out all the puzzles on the first floor and were proceeding down to the second.

Moriko’s mood was beginning to lighten as she watched Brongrim and Nainvil make their way through the cute little puzzles. Honestly, a lot of them seemed rather suitable for older children or young teens, but she could also see how jaded explorers could easily overthink them too. She started a little when Mordecai stopped and she realized they were on a balcony overlooking a small stage.

“What?” This had certainly not been here before.

“Kazue had a rather interesting idea. I think it’s one of her best yet. You’ll see.” Mordecai said as he grinned at her. Huh, well, nothing for it, and at least she’d be entertained until then.

The crystal caves turned out to be more interesting than the first floor, though it was still quite clearly a game of sorts. Fortunately for the pair, the dwarf seemed to have a keen ear, because Nainvil clearly had a tin one. So for the puzzles involving hearing a tone, it was Brongrim who took the lead. Both proved about equally adept at catching the marbles; after all, even the slowest of warriors needed to be able to find the pace and rhythm of a battle. They just had to figure out that they needed to soften their catch, rather than snatching them.

The final bit was an interesting twist, and having the rabbits do a silly dance for the bemused pair was hilarious. That also meant they’d be here shortly. Moriko looked up from the illusion when Mordecai spoke to Kazue. “I think for the fourth play, you should give them more villainous roles, but give them more positive roles before that, and direct support to the hero for the fifth one. They have learned how to start enjoying themselves, but this will be a decent test of personality. They need to not be insulted by being given the role of bad guy, and assuming they do that, I want to reward them with a bit of hopeful promise.”

Kazue blinked as her concentration was briefly shifted into too many places, then nodded. “Okay, I've got it,” she replied, and then Moriko could feel her attention shift outwards. That was always the weirdest part when they concentrated on the dungeon more, their attention moved in a direction she couldn’t quite feel. But when they were focused more on the environment around their avatar, she could tell where they were looking and follow their focus.

“You know,” Moriko said, bringing Mordecai's attention to her, “I lean a little more towards Kazue on how I feel here. I don’t like the idea of a simple execution. And while I think she will be able to not intervene, it will hurt her a lot if you kill them this way. Not so much in the heat of battle, but coldly like this? I’m really hoping they pass your little test, or it could really damage what you’ve started to build here."

Mordecai met her gaze with a gentle sadness. “I know, but it was a necessary part of the bargain. It weeded out insincerity for those who would take the test, and the greater danger means part of their mind and soul is chewing on deeper introspection. I think it gives them the best chance to actually reach the right emotional state for Ozuran to be willing to mark them as people atoning. But I also can’t take it back, that would cheapen the whole process.”

She held his gaze for a little bit longer, then sighed. She wasn’t sure that this was the best way to go, but in turn the pair had accepted the bargain of a priest of Ozuran. The Lord of Shadows tolerated many things, but breaking any sort of promise or compact was verboten amongst his followers, let alone his clergy.

But it was time to see what was happening with Brongrim and Nainvil. Mordecai had kept the illusion up so that she could see backstage, where the duo were looking confusedly at all the bunkins in costume, who were new to Moriko too. Then a chime sounded, and the actors scurried about, lining up under a bunch of signs for positions, leaving two spots open. Colored shafts of light came down from crystals in the ceiling, directing the confused men to their positions. A tall rabbit with the word ‘director’ on his uniform went down the row, nodding at everyone, then looked dubiously at the newbies. After a moment he shrugged with an air of ‘what can you do’, then spun a finger in the air. All the rabbit actors scrambled for their position in the wings or the stage, and others shooed the dwarf and half-orc into position. Most of the auditorium went dark, leaving only the dais lit. Then the curtain swung open, and the play began.

When an offstage narrator began the dramatic prologue, Mordecai shot Kazue an amused look, who briefly buried her face in her hands, then he sent to Moriko, “She had intended the rabbits to not use actual words, just to vocalize for intonation and feelings, which makes it harder in some ways, but lets the visitors flex their imagination more. But she made them proud Actors, and more intelligent inhabitants have their own will. They haven’t directly told our visitors what is going on, and it matches her instructions, depending on your interpretation. Loyalty does not mean perfect obedience.”

Huh, she hadn’t realized that inhabitants could have that much flexibility in their thoughts. That was interesting. But now the prologue was over, and the acting began. The dramatic dialog was perfect for the setting, but it made her want to cuddle the adorable rabbits who were being so very serious, and of course, the princess rabbit in her extravagant dress was absolutely precious. The story was a variation on an almost overused theme, but the execution was great, being refreshed by the uniqueness of the cast. The drama built up, the prince rescuing the princess and attempting to flee, and the confrontation between the princess's lover and her father, the narrator covering the action and drumming up the tension.

Then Brongrim and Nainvil were ushered on stage, the dwarf nudged towards the prince, the half-orc coming from the other side and pointed towards the king. “Just then, messengers ran in, bearing urgent news from the front lines of the war!”