Ba'Shoon was the first to step into the dungeon this time. Gobbinz was sitting by the entrance, chatting with another of the raiding goblins. Both perked up when the enchantress stepped in. Walking up to a tribute bowl, she pulled out the steel ingot first.

"This is from Ralrouk Demonsbane. He was the orc who originally checked on your core. Consider this his apology for the rude handling of the situation, as well as his tribute for any further visits. In addition. That same Ralrouk will be exterminating the nest nearby within the week." Ba'Shoon spoke calmly and matter-of-factly.

Trillia glanced at the raiding goblins, who were nodding along. Ba'Shoon must have been familiar with dungeons. The enchantress pulled out a thin metal rod with a bunch of runes engraved on it; Trillia recognized it as a wand of some sort. Ba'Shoon placed that in the tribute bowl as well.

"That's my tribute. It's a wand of chain lightning. I'm not sure if any of your defenders have the mana required to activate it, at least not at their current levels. But it may give you some insight never the less." she bowed slightly to the raiding goblins and offered them a warm smile. So far, they had been rather speechless.

As if being pushed forward, Gobbinz finally bowed himself and spoke. "Father appreciates your tribute very much. We fear our dungeon is not capable of offering you any sort of challenge, so we're unsure how to pay you back."

Ba'Shoon shook her head, motioning to Trillia and Amelia. "I'm just here to watch them proceed through their usual course. I'd also like to chat with the first-floor boss. Presuming the girls can't beat him. I won't interfere."

More nods all around, and off they went.

Trillia and Amelia were becoming very efficient as a team. Less than five minutes in, and they were already at Stibs and Paws.

Stibs hesitated when he saw Ba'Shoon, his hand clenched around his dagger's hilt.

Ba'Shoon raised a hand before he could speak. "I'm not here to fight or harm the core. I just want to watch you fight these two, if that's ok with you."

Stibs nodded slightly. Ba'Shoon walked off to the side of the room and sat down.

The girls took a deep breath before drawing their weapons. Once more, they spread out.

Stibs offered a little grin, and right as Paws was about to flash step, Stibs jumped off and towards Amelia. The two split up for the first time since the girls began challenging the boss.

Paws appeared near Trillia in a burst of red lightning, followed immediately by a red river nova. It wasn't an attack Trillia could use [Riposte] on.

Stibs was significantly faster than Amelia. Before the [Minstrel] could mount a defense, Stibs had carved four deep gashes into her arms; as blood poured from the wounds, she howled. As Stibs closed in for another attack, both he and Paws suddenly backed off. Stibs motioned to Trillia.

Trillia lay on the ground, tenacity having activated. Between the burning debuff and the bleeding debuff, it was too much damage too quickly. Ba'Shoon was quick to heal her with Amelia's help.

After a few minutes of recovering, Trillia stared up at the ceiling.

"Our levels are going up, but we're not getting any better."

"You're both just inexperienced. The boss is changing his attack patterns to account for your weaknesses, but neither of you are doing the same."

Trillia grumbled as she sat up. "We don't have answers to half the stuff they do! How are we supposed to find a weakness?"

Ba'Shoon stared at Trillia for a moment before motioning to Stibs.

"Might I ask your help in instructing them?" seeing the goblin give her an odd look but nod. Ba'Shoon dragged Trillia to her feet.

"Have your lovely mount charge his nova."

Ba'Shoon dragged Amelia to stand next to Trillia. "Look at his Paws. See how they get brighter the closer the nova is to being cast? You will never outrun a dungeon wolf. Especially not one that has a lightning movement ability. But what you can do." as she said it, she grabbed both girls and put herself between them and Paws, the nova tore through the arena, but neither was harmed. Ba'Shoon, having taken the brunt of it.

Ba'Shoon turned and bowed her head slightly to the wolf. "Thank you. The nova is conjuration. It means that the wolf conjures actual flames to radiate from its body in a nova. The bleed effect is just a meta effect that it's capable of adding. There are hints as to how these two are going to fight, based on the arena."

Trillia looked around said arena, only to see bare stone and some sand. No cover of any kind. "What?"

Ba'Shoon looked to Amelia, who seemed just as lost. Rolling her eyes slightly as she motioned to the emptiness. "There is no cover. Stibs isn't the boss. Paws is the boss. Stibs is a distraction, albeit a dangerous one."

The girl's eyes went wide as they looked accusingly at the boss of the first floor. Stibs shrugged and grinned a little. "Father says we both boss. Door opens if Paws dies."

Trillia snapped her eyes back to Ba'Shoon. "How did you figure that out?! You've been in the room less than ten minutes?!"

Ba'Shoon put a finger up to her chin, tilting her head as she thought about it. "Goblins like having cover. If you were both ranged combatants, he'd be at a significant disadvantage as he has no ranged weaponry. Paws, on the other hand, needs line of sight to utilize his movement ability. Even as majestic as he is, he still sits low to the ground, which means anything that the Goblin could use as cover, also blocks the wolf's line of sight."

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She stared at each of them a moment before she continued. "Whatever creature the arena is made for is the one that unlocks the door. That's how most dungeons function, at least. The reason I'm explaining this to you here, instead of outside, is because we're allied with this dungeon. So I want it to learn as well. Experienced adventurers are going to target the wolf and tank the goblin."

Ba'Shoon now turned to the wolf and goblin. "Speaking of. I feel rather rude, not calling you by your names. I'm Ba'Shoon, soon to be Demonsbane. Mate of Tormash Demonsbane."

Stibs bowed, and Paws even dipped his head a little as well. Stibs obviously was the one to speak. "I am Stibs. This is Paws. First Floor boss of the Dungeon."

Ba'Shoon curtsied slightly to the two of them. Turning back to the girls. "Stibs targets Amelia because Amelia is a larger target and can body block the nova. Paws targets Trillia because Trillia cannot use fencing skills against area-of-effect attacks. My guess is they started blitzing you because you have, or had an ability that could disrupt casting."

Trillia nodded at that.

"Right, so eliminate the threat to the 'boss' first. Now, I have a very serious question for you, Trillia. Did the dungeon know you have tenacity?"

Trillia could sense an edge to Ba'Shoon's voice that she had never heard before. She didn't hesitate a second to answer.

"Yes. I told them about it on several occasions. So that they could go all out. They have healers on standby for whenever I'm in the dungeon, just in case."

Ba'Shoon relaxed a little and nodded. "Very well. In any case, you both lost. If it's alright with the two of them and the dungeon itself. I'd like to face the boss, and see the core, run along for now."

The girls looked at each other before nodding. Trillia waved to Stibs. "We'll beat you eventually! Just you wait."

Stibs grinned at the two of them. "I look forward to it. See you tomorrow when I respawn."

The girls gave one last look to Ba'Shoon before backtracking their steps. Trillia decided to stop in the healing hall on the way out, healing the goblins that had taken hits but surrendered today.

By the time Trillia made it back through the dungeon and into the healing hall. Gobbinz was there shaking his head. "She beat him in twenty seconds. How on Alirast are we supposed to defend Father like this?"

Trillia offered a weak little smile at that. Moving over to pat the goblin on his shoulder. "It's ok. Amelia and I are getting beaten in less time than that. Look on the bright side! We're allies, at least! I'm sure Ba'Shoon would love to help your Father become a stronger dungeon."

Gobbinz looked up at her with a frown but nodded all the same. "You are right. But I can't help but feel we have so very far to go. Father says that she knows much about magic and dungeons. I think she will be spending a lot of time in the dungeon in the coming days. Father likes her."

Trillia sat on a stool and helped to bandage some wounds. It was good practice for the skill, both for her and the other goblins. They had asked previously that unless the wound was so severe as to cause a respawn, they'd rather learn how to treat the wounds than have the girls magically heal them.

-=- Four Days Later -=-

Trillia had a rather hefty backlog of notifications to catch up on. She had mostly just been skimming over things and throwing points in as she went. But, during this last dungeon run. [Fencer] had finally hit level twenty-four. Which was apparently her Very Short max. So she'd have to sit down and figure some things out.

The girls had managed to heavily wound Stibs this time, but the fight still had to be called when Amelia dropped to two percent health. They had barely gotten heals off in time. Both girls agreed to take a break for a few days. The main order of business today was Ralrouk's return, after all.

The orc walked back into the Scout's camp. Not a single wound was evident on his body, despite being covered head to toe in blood and gore. Reaching into the pouch on his side, he began to dump materials out. Tormash was standing next to him, as was Mon'tag when Trillia approached.

"The other tribe refused to join the accords. Had a clutch of seven slaves. I used one of our emergency portal stones to get them back. I know the Chieftain and General don't like us using them; since they are so difficult to create. But I didn't want to risk escorting seven broken and battered souls back to this camp or the city itself. The camp has a lot of usable goods and materials left. I suggest we send some of the scouts here out to bring it all back."

Tormash and Mon'tag nodded. Mon'tag turned to leave immediately as Ralrouk continued. "Nest is cleared. It wasn't bad, only fifty or so. Had a single matriarch that was a pain to take down, but otherwise, it was standard fare. I'd suggest going there as well. Plenty of chitin that's still in very good condition. I mostly destroy the face when I kill the bugs. I didn't see any loot or chests, but most nests do have something. I'd suggest sending some people who can sense hidden passages. Be careful, I don't think I missed any since I got a clear notification, but you can never be too safe."

Tormash nodded and walked off to arrange his own things. Ralrouk plopped onto the ground right where he stood. Letting out a deep breath. Trillia smirked as she approached.

"Looks like you got a bit of gunk on you. I'm glad you're safe."

Ralrouk glared at her with predatory eyes, an evil grin spread across his face. "My dear, beloved sister. Why don't you come and give your weary brother a big hug?"

The orc stood up, still quite covered in blood and gore. Trillia squeaked and turned, running as fast as she could. She didn't really care about the direction. Ralrouk slowly ran after her, his deep belly laugh filling the camp.

As Trillia ran past Mon'tag, she heard him shout. "Head north! There's a lake you can lead the great brute to! Save our noses, Lady Trillia!"

Trillia laughed as she put her head down, pumping her little legs harder. She toppled and came to a halt when the ground rumbled and shook. Waves of mana coursed over her. Turning back with wide eyes, she saw Ralrouk and Tormash glance at the dungeon.

Her hesitation cost her as Ralrouk wrapped her in a big bear hug. She screeched as she was covered in blood as well. Glaring at her brother. "That's not fair! I was worried!"

Ralrouk put her down with a grin. "It's just the dungeon expanding, finally. From the feel of it, the dungeon had a floor or two planned out, and dumped a few thousand mana into carving out the land in an instant. It's far more dangerous, as it tends to call in any nearby monsters this way."

Ralrouk took her hand and had begun walking towards the lake Mon'tag had mentioned. "Don't worry, runt. Your dungeon is safe."

Trillia stuck her tongue out at him. She used to be more hurt when he called her a runt. Maybe if it was someone else, she still would be. Somewhere, deep down, she knew Ralrouk would fight the gods themselves to keep her safe. So she didn't mind him teasing her that much anymore.

"I wonder what sort of new creatures it's gonna have. Do you think they will be stronger than the first floor? Do you think the dungeon will ever be strong enough that you, or Tormash, can train in it?"

Ralrouk gave a little shrug. "I'm not sure. I'd like to train in a friendly dungeon. Most of the dungeons I go into want to kill everything. They've gone mad for one reason or another and have to be killed. It'd be a nice change of pace to just have fun, though. As for the creatures, I'm not sure. From what you've reported, the dungeon core has memories of the central continent. I've never been there myself. Not sure what sort of beasties we can expect."

Trillia nodded at that. As they made their way to the lake to get cleaned up, she began going through her notifications. Looking up at Ralrouk.

"I maxed out [Fencer]. Can I ask you some questions?"

Ralrouk scooped her up and put her on his shoulder, one arm wrapped around her legs to hold her there as his long strides moved them ever faster toward being clean. "You can always ask me questions, runt. I'm here to help you get to the point where you can kick my ass."