"—do when you were in that kind of situation?" Carl asked, trying not to think about how stupid a person would have to be to not figure out such an easy trick.

Seth'tith sighed. "I… I did not do my utmost," he said in a sad voice. "My wife did not pay heed to my advice, poorly-worded as it was, and she…met with an untimely death."

Carl gasped, not expecting the axe-dad's story to veer in such a direction. "I'm so sorry," he said. "That must've been awful. I can't even imagine…"

"I acknowledge your sentiment," Seth'tith said, still sounding sad. He remained silent for a moment before speaking again. "I can only blame myself for her loss. I had told her to leave me to die, ill as I was, but she refused. She had heard a rumor of a cure for my sickness. I knew it could not be true, and I told her such, but she would not listen to my words." His voice cracked as he spoke, then softened. "And then she was gone," he whispered.

Carl frowned. "Damn, Seth'tith, I'm really sorry to hear that." He must have some rare, incurable disease. Man, now I feel bad for thinking he was a dick. His wife died in an accident or something? He still sounds pretty broken up about it; better not ask.

"I also offer my condolences," the core chimed in.

"I thank you, little core, and you as well, Carl," Seth'tith said, still sounding deeply saddened. "I… I have never been able to speak of this to others, and it…"

"I get it," Carl said, patting the handle of the axe. "I couldn't imagine life without Annie. It must've been really hard on you. Core, I'm gonna complete this room real quick while we talk." He stepped off the side of the ledge and fell to the floor of the room below.

"I will witness it."

"Yes," Seth'tith said, "but it was more troubling for my daughter to lose her mother at such a young age. There was much she still had to learn."

Carl walked over to the exit. Ugh, I didn't know she had that kind of a childhood. Now I feel bad for Ir'alith too. Sounds like she's an only child, which explains why her dad—who probably isn't good at playing games and just reads a lot—is playing as a weapon for her. "She's still got you though," he said. "And after seeing her again today, I'd say you did a pretty good job raising her." Maybe a little bit odd, but she's really nice and generous. Clever, too, with how she was using magic for seatbelts.

"I've witnessed that room's completion," the core said once more as the door opened in front of him.

"I…" Seth'tith seemed at a loss for words. "I have done all I am capable of, but too often now does she reject my advice because it comes from her father."

Carl considered the next room's layout for a moment. Then he focused on the more important matter at hand, which tickled a memory of one of the many, many books on parenting he'd read while preparing to be the best father of all time. "Do you talk much?" he asked. "I mean, beyond giving advice? Just talking about stuff, seeing how she's feeling, what she's thinking about, that sort of thing?"

"The second trap has been triggered one hundred times."

"What the…" Carl muttered, turning around to stare at the door behind himself.

"I didn't want to interrupt since you were talking while continuing with creating our dungeon—which is allowed—but I have acquired a new ability," the core said.

"What is it?"

"I can now moderate intruders to our dungeon in addition to other cores," said the core.

Carl's brows drew down in confusion. "What?"

"I'm a moderator core." The dungeon core took on a lecturing tone that Carl imagined required it to push up its librarian glasses. "Which means I'm one of the cores that enforces dungeon policy throughout the world to ensure that no cores or partners of cores are breaking dungeon rules."

Oh. I totally misunderstood what it meant by—

"There are many rules that must not be broken in dungeons," the core continued. "While the penalty for breaking rules as one of the creators of a dungeon is always being banned, I'm somewhat limited in what I'm able to do to intruders. If the treasures protected by the dungeon are of sufficient value then a ban is possible, but otherwise I can only move them a variable distance from the dungeon. And since you still haven't shown me what you're planning to use as the dungeon's treasure…"

Ooh, feels kinda like it's doing one of those pulling-the-glasses-down-the-nose moves. "I've got a great treasure," Carl lied, "but it's still a surprise for you, okay?"

The core made a sighing sound somehow. "Very well. As this still isn't considered a valid dungeon then there's no sense in spending time considering it. But presently, I cannot enact any penalty for violating the dungeon's rules, I can only inform the intruder that they have broken the rules."

Sounds pretty useless for what I want. There's probably some rule like "no fun allowed". "Can we not do that?"

"I suppose," the core said, sounding reluctant. "But the intruder is breaking rules constantly, and I wanted to—"

"You can tell?" Carl asked.

"Of course I can!" the moderator core huffed. "This one is especially filthy and has no respect for our dungeon!"

"Maybe…" Carl fought again the urge to stroke his beard, knowing it was impossible with how overburdened he was. "Yeah, go ahead and start doing that. Maybe it'll annoy them into leaving."

"Done," the core said, sounding suddenly gleeful. "The intruder has just violated…four thousand one hundred and twenty si—seven rules."

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Carl blinked.

"I kept track since the intruder first appeared," the core said smugly.

"Nice work, core," Carl said. That's gotta be unbelievably annoying. No way anybody's gonna stick around with the thought police going to work on them.

"This is such a naughty intruder," the core said, trembling under Carl's hand. "It's questioning the rules of our dungeon now!"

"Well you better show it who's the boss around here," Carl said encouragingly.

The core cackled, seeming distracted, and didn't speak further.

That'll take care of whoever it is. He went back to thinking about the design for the room he was standing In. Maybe I'll just do a maze. It's not super imaginative, but I've gotta put one in, right?

----------------------------------------

"I have given full consideration to your question, Carl," Seth'tith announced. "It has been some time since we last spoke of such matters. My concern has been ensuring that my daughter has my wisdom available to her any time she should need it."

The core cackled again, continuing to sound increasingly maniacal.

Can't believe this guy's still trying to complete the dungeon. Carl shook his head in amazement. The core had been laughing with increasing frequency since it last gained an ability, and that had been nearly an hour ago according to his in-game clock, which told him it was very, very early in the morning. "Gimme a minute, Seth'tith, I don't wanna mess this up again."

"Ah, I apologize," Seth'tith said.

Carl continued walking through the giant maze that he'd constructed, having been hindered significantly by the dungeon core's distracted state. I think it was left here… No, a few more steps first. Now right…

This time, Carl managed to successfully complete the maze. He let out a sigh of relief. It had taken him six attempts, but it was definitely not his fault that he'd made some of the paths a little too narrow and kept getting sucked into portals due to the size of his bulky burdens.

Strangely, the core didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Hey, core, I completed the room," Carl said.

The core giggled.

"Core?" Carl said, frowning.

"Oh, uh, yes," the core said quickly. "Y-yes, I've witnessed that room's completion." It giggled again, then went silent.

This thing's getting weirder somehow. At least it's not as annoying. The door to the next room—another empty template—opened, and he walked in. "Whew, I need a little break." Carl set Seth'tith down against the wall, right side up this time, then carefully set Mina's headless body down further inside the room and started doing some arm circles to stretch while continuing to hold the core in his hand.

"Alright, Seth'tith, sorry about that," he said, turning to look at the giant axe. He ran through the gist of what he'd been told in his head. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the problem."

"What problem do you speak of?" Seth'tith asked.

The core let out an especially loud cackle.

"Well, you seemed kinda upset that Ir'alith doesn't listen to you like she used to," Carl said, finally scratching his beard.

"I am not upset," Seth'tith said in a testy voice.

"You sound upset."

"Such a minor matter would not upset me."

"Maybe it's not that minor. She's your daughter, after all."

Seth'tith fell silent for a short while.

"You can't always just tell your children what to do," Carl said, maintaining eye contact. "Sometimes you've just gotta be there for them. Let 'em make mistakes and help pick up the pieces if they need you. If you're always there giving advice, how's she ever gonna grow as a person, or be confident enough to make her own choices, or live her life if you're not around? She's an adult now, isn't she?" Feels weird to be saying this to a dad who's older than me, but Ir'alith's my friend now, and I don't want her to be getting into fights with her dad.

The eye on the axe shrank a little. "I only counsel her when the choice is of great significance," Seth'tith said defensively.

"You don't think she'd make the right decision on her own?" Carl asked. He decided to take a seat since he'd been standing for a few hours.

"If she did not, the results could be catastrophic."

"She's not an idiot though, is she?"

"She is my daughter! She is wise beyond her years!" Seth'tith shouted.

"But you don't think she's wise enough to avoid those catastrophic decisions?" Carl countered.

Seth'tith made a disgusted sound after a short while. "Have I truly been doubting her all this time?" he asked in a pained voice.

"You just want what's best for her," Carl said. "It's hard to stop the urge to step in and fix every little thing, but sometimes you have to let it play out."

Seth'tith went silent again and remained so.

Carl didn't push it.

When Carl wanted to be a good friend, he was the best. Feels like that went about as well as it could've. He seems like he really cares, but I can definitely understand why Ir'alith would need a break if he's even doing this kinda thing in the game she plays.

He sighed, thinking back to his own daughters. I probably shouldn't butt in with Bobby's LAN party thing. I know Annie's on edge with Rebecca being around, and she doesn't need the extra stress of me getting on her case. If Bobby can't convince her, I'll stay out of it. She's not as much of a kid anymore either.

Carl nodded, feeling satisfied with his decision and enjoying his break from dungeoneering, which was pretty cool even despite all the rules. On a whim, he pulled out his keyboard again and checked his time directory, filtering to see only the last file.

/home/c.weathers/time/12:00

Huh. Carl rubbed his beard. So the script's working… He checked the in-game time again. How the heck is it five o'clock then? It's been what, like nine hours?

"You are correct, Carl," Seth'tith said in a tired voice. "Reluctant as I am to admit it, I have not acted as a father in many years. Even less so today at times."

Carl logged out of his shell, causing his keyboard to vanish, and focused again on the important conversation at eye—hand. "It's not too late," he said.