No Need for a Core?

Kazue tried not to giggle as her mom’s carelessness got her bit by one of the little paper dragons, then pretended to ignore Mordecai when he looked her way. She’d never do something like that, not her, nuh-uh.

Despite how happy she was that her mother had turned out to be so cool, Kazue was glad to see Akahana finally slowed down by the challenges. The druid had been slinging around earth magic like it was nothing, which at least gave the dungeon a ton of mana, but it had made Kazue feel kind of vulnerable to see what amounted to their defenses ripped into so easily.

The group started exploring the maze without too many difficulties, up until the bunbrarian attacked. Kazue loved all her rabbit creatures, but she had to admit that she hated even the normal death screams they sometimes gave, depending on how they died, but these were so much worse. Louder, and given this really awful resonance that penetrated. Kazue didn’t even have to cope with the magic fear effect riding the sound, so her sympathies were entirely with Shizoku when the girl locked up.

Then Matriarch Aia decided to not pull her grand daughter out. Kazue wanted to protest, but she knew it wasn’t her place to decide, and the girl didn’t back down either after she recovered, even if she locked up every time one of the silent hammer-wielders attacked. Also, Kazue made a mental note to replay this scene and memorize the curses her mother had used. Those had been interesting, and she’d never heard her mother curse before.

Finally, the wearied group made it to the boss battle. Mordecai had coordinated tactics so far but had not directly orchestrated any of the combats. Here he did if only to direct the timing and keep the three bosses up to date with anything they couldn’t see. Then Shizoku started backing up towards the bookcases, Horace dove into the greenery in order to come out in the tunnels, where he practically flew towards the bookcase the young kitsune was headed towards.

“Clever Horace,” Mordecai said, then added, “Kazue, hold this.”

“Hold what? Oh!” He’d ‘handed’ her the trickle of mana he’d been feeding the staff to fill it with the very concept of being alive, then used her as a conduit as he maintained the concept. It was a bit difficult to manage this stream of information and mana going through her like that, but easier than holding both concepts in her head herself and feeding them to the staff.

Then Mordecai vanished, appearing next to Horace and Shizoku shortly after the bookcase closed back up. “Alright Horace, I’ve got her.” The orangutan released the little one and then hurried off to try and rejoin the battle. “Shizoku, you just died. Neck snapped by an ape.” She’d started to protest, but he interrupted her with a raised hand and a serious expression. “Even a normal ape could have broken your neck there. He’s got boss-enhanced strength. You. Are. Dead. Come on, I’ll escort you out.”

Kazue would have followed them, but there was too much going on over in the Annex. Her mom’s first big spell got disrupted by Enki’s surprise appearance, the mana wasted as it spilled out of control. But instead of trying to continue against Akahana, Enki dropped back into the ground as soon as she had her new barrier up. Then Kazue nearly screamed when he popped up behind Orchid, aiming that blow at the back of her head. She knew that Mordecai wouldn’t let them inflict deliberately fatal attacks, and she trusted his judgment intellectually, but her gut reaction was that she was about to watch her princess die.

After that moment, everything became too chaotic for her to keep track of readily. Moriko and Mordecai might have started training her in the basics, but she had absolutely no experience and everything was happening all at once. She’d be able to replay it later to make sense of it, anything her core’s focus ‘saw’ was permanent memory, but in the moment there was just too much for a newbie like her to take in.

Then Mordecai contacted her. “The outcome is clear, time to cut our losses, love.” Enki was pinned, and the constant flurry of magic from Akahana and Orchid was keeping Horace from closing into grappling range, as the two had spread out so that to close upon one would open his back to the other.

“Alright, on three.” She acknowledged, “One, two, three!” And both bosses were unsummoned. The dungeon had been conquered, at least to the friendly competition level.

Well, that was it. At least he’d managed things to help them make a good showing of it. Mordecai was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to help do a better job, but also proud of how well his bosses did when so outmatched. So he hummed a little to himself as he escorted the grumpy Shizoku to the feast hall, where Kazue, Moriko, and Aia were headed to meet them. Given her attitude, he was pretty certain he’d judged rightly and the thirteen-year-old would have not accepted her loss if he’d just conjured a sign telling her that she was dead.

Today had been such a busy day. Finding out he had new bosses, trying to bring Moriko and Kazue up to speed on what more to expect, the utter chaos that ensued when Kazue’s mother arrived, coming up with that challenge on the fly, then finding out that Akahana was a seven-tailed druid, and the complete havoc that had played on their upper levels, and finally pulling together a new boss battle and a special prize.

Speaking of, when he and Kazue set themselves up to meet the victorious party, the two of them stood with the staff held between, and he took over his part of the mana flow again. He was kind of excited, he’d made some magic items like this before, filled with concept and intent but without a specific enchantment, but never involving the sort of ties Kazue and her mother had. It wasn’t going to be an artifact or anything, but it should be rather special.

He greeted them, invited them to take their prizes, then called to Kazue’s mother. “Akahana, this one is yours.” The druid came over to claim her staff, and at that moment it became fully real, and the trickles of mana he and Kazue had been feeding it stopped. It was no longer theirs. And the staff bloomed.

This wasn’t a huge surprise in and of itself. He was after all handing a partially wood staff, that was filled with the potential for being ever-living wood, over to a druid to claim as her loot. What was surprising was that the gem flowers near the head of the staff were what bloomed, followed by the perfectly straight shaft warping subtly to the not-quite-straight of most organic growth, and all the gem roses took on a very faint glow, pulsing a beat similar to a calm heart.

“Ohh, she’s gorgeous.” Akahana cooed over her prize, eyes wide with happiness. “You made this for me? Oh, it’s wonderful!” Akahana gave them both brief hugs before going back to examine her new staff. “She’s alive, I am going to have to give her a name! What can she do? Oh, wait, those are thorned roses.” She grinned slyly as she looked are Mordecai. “Did someone’s thumb feel pricked when a delicate little rose played in his dungeon?”

Her gaze shifted to her daughter as her voice took on a teasing tone. “Handsome, crafty, reasonably artistic, and a sense of humor. Be still my beating heart, no wonder you swooned for him. Maybe I should make a play to see if I can steal him away.”

“Moooom.” Came Kazue’s complaint. Mordecai on the other hand deliberately ignored that entire byplay, he recognized the game and the only way for him to win was to not play. Oh, aside from being truly stupid there was nothing he could say that would get him in real trouble. But Akahana had just set up a game where either of them could pretend to take offense, though Kazue seemed to have not caught on yet to that part of the game, she just thought she was being teased.

So Mordecai focused on examining the staff, to see the results of his efforts. Specifically, he turned his dungeon sight upon it, examining its aura. The entire staff was indeed alive, metal and gemstones alike. Its aura slowly fluctuated as if it was trying to settle into a shape, and bled into Akahana’s aura as it bonded with her. Hmm.

Before he could chase that down, the fox in question turned back to him. “And wise enough to know when to stay quiet. Now I think I am actually jealous.” Kazue growled softly, causing her mom to break down laughing and hug Kazue tightly, snuggling the girl tight. “Oh sweetie, I am just teasing. Your dad is the only one for me, even if the idiot refuses to admit-” Her words cut off mid-sentence as her eyes grew wide, and based off of what Aia had said before Mordecai acted as if he were going to stop Kazue from an overwhelming impulse.

He stepped forward, grabbing Akahana’s arm even as she let go of Kazue, and used his avatar as a focus to channel all the mana he could into a smothering wave. He felt three pulses of magic trying to manifest in rapid succession before the woman realized what was happening and turned towards him, panic and frustration growing into anger lightning fast.

Matriarch Aia’s voice cut in sharply. “Akahana, stop. You can go chase after him in the morning, but you will rest first.” The words were an order that broke the woman’s panic, and when Mordecai saw her expression change to reflect that she was thinking instead of reacting, he let go of her arm with relief. His avatar’s nerves were tingling from having been the channel for that much dungeon mana, and he was glad to not have to tangle with her further.

Akahana’s thoughts finally caught up with her actions and she looked abashed. “Err, sorry Matriarch. I guess I panicked a little. I can’t believe I didn’t think to go find her father first.” Then she turned back towards Kazue, her eyes tearing. “I’m so sorry honey, I didn’t mean to forget your daddy.”

“It’s OK Mom, I get it.” Kazue replied, moving in to hug her mother again. “It’s kind of a shock, and that sort of thing makes the head get cloudy, right?” Mordecai raised an eyebrow even as Akahana froze stiff. Looks like his wife had been doing some self-reflection and was beginning to notice a pattern.

Akahana pulled back a little to look Kazue in the eyes. “Kazue? Oh damn, we have a lot to talk about.”

Kazue smiled. “Yes, but in the morning, there’s another conversation I need to have first. Just promise me to not run off until we’ve talked and we are both satisfied, OK?” She chuckled. “And we do have a priest of Ozuran to witness.”

Akahana stuck her tongue out at her daughter, then cradled her staff in the crook of her elbow and gathered Kazue’s hands in hers. “I promise to have a long chat with you before I rush off into doing anything. I love you, and just want you to be happy.” A moment's pause as she seemed to notice something, then her grip shifted slightly to rest her fingers on Kazue’s wrists. “Um, Kazue?” She began, but Mordecai cut in.

“I think that wants to be part of tomorrow’s conversation.” Of course, a druid worrying over her daughter would notice an elevated heart rate, but it was part of what he needed to talk about with Kazue first.

She hesitated, then nodded uncertainly. “Alright, I guess you two need to talk about stuff as well.” She shook her head to clear it. “OK, lots of talking to do later, and after that, I chase down my girl’s errant father. In the meantime, where were we?”

Almost everyone else had moved away to not get involved in sudden family drama, taking the excuse of examining their new prizes. Moriko on the other hand was standing with her arms crossed, and her expression clearly said she was itching to find out exactly what was going on. “Soon, I promise. I just want us all to be entirely focused on the conversation,” he sent to her.

Moriko tilted her head in acknowledgment, and Mordecai focused on the people they’d accidentally been ignoring. “Sorry about that. So, it’s a couple of hours until dinner time still, and I figured everyone would want to freshen up. Our friends here,” he gestured towards the laganthros waiting to one side of the hall, “Can show you to the rooms we’ve prepared, complete with running water and some light refreshments. If you have any specific accommodation requests, just let your guide know and it can be arranged, and feel free to come back here to socialize any time you please. However, Matriarch Aia, if I could have a moment of your time? I’d like a second opinion. I assume you have an aura sight spell of some sort available?”

Aia walked over with a curious expression. “The staff, I assume?” Mordecai nodded, and a slightly confused Akahana held it out for easier examination. After about a minute of studying it, Aia sighed. “You continue to surprise me. Yes, you gave it a soul seed, and it is going to grow in power to match Akahana’s. And given that it is actually alive, it might actually gain true awareness someday.”

Mordecai didn’t know what to feel about that confirmation. It still wasn’t an artifact, but a relic of this sort should still be beyond them, and he doubted they were going to create its like again any time soon. Unfortunately, he didn’t even have enough information to tell him how a dungeon was supposed to be able to create them, he just knew they were possible.

“Well, that is a surprise.” He said to break the silence. Everyone else had headed off to their rooms while Aia was examining the staff, so it was just the five of them plus Casey at the moment. “I don’t know how we did that, but I am happy for Akahana to have received it.” Fortunately, the power of this sort of item was mostly tied to the power of the person it bonded with. Even when inherited, its power went mostly dormant until its bearer was strong enough to awaken them again. “I think you should get to know your new friend Akahana. I trust that she will serve you well. In the meantime, I think the three of us need to finish a conversation we started this morning.” And with more to talk about as well.

Everyone murmured farewells and went their separate ways, and Mordecai was happy to finally have some alone time to talk about the things that had been on everyone’s minds most of the day.