As Xenia sits in her core chamber, awaiting the arrival of the elemental representatives, she finds herself feeling a small amount of chair insecurity. "...I need a throne."

Sincere halfway turns to glance at her from where he'd been standing. "...A throne, you say?"

"Well, if I'm gonna be holding court and meeting diplomats from the Elemental Empire, you bet. Besides, a dungeon core's kinda like being an evil queen, or something. At the least I oughtta get a design down for when I need one. Are skull-based armrests still in?"

"The Elemental - Xen, you're not going to encourage them, are you?" Lollyp grimaces slightly from where she stands, opposite of Sincere.

"Well, maybe? As long as they don't try to fuckin' raid the place again - ah, hold on, here they come." Xenia refocuses her attention on the tunnel hole, still present in one of her core chamber walls. She could reseal it now, at least for a few feet's worth of thickness, but there was still a bit of unfinished business left to take care of before anyone in the dungeon could rest at ease. As she watches, a trio of elementals come through - two fires and one lightning. They stare for a moment at the apparently empty chair facing them, but Sincere speaks up to clarify the situation.

"Welcome, once again, to Worthy Dungeon. With better behavior this time, one hopes. The Master of the Dungeon is present, but Lollyp or I will communicate on her behalf. Her avatar will be unavailable for a few more days." He gestures at the not-much-of-a-throne sitting at his side.

The elementals exchange a brief look between the three of them, but eventually the lightning elemental steps forward first. "Ah...Dungeon Master of Worthy Dungeon, hi, nice to meet you. I'm Zappy! This here is Scorch and Cinder, you uh, kinda met. First things first, they wanna say that they're really sorry. Right?"

She turns back to face them, and the pair both nod while Cinder answers. "Totally! Super sorry! Uh...our bad?"

Xenia raises an eyebrow, and then sighs. "Not real big on formality, are ya?"

Zappy stands up a little taller as Sincere passes on her thoughts, with a little more formality of his own added on. "Oh, are we doing this wrong? I mean, we're like...really formally sorry! If we blame it all on Holes, would that help?"

The fingers of Xenia's right hand tap out a pattern on her armrest, while her left rubs her forehead. "...Sure, why not. If it means we're not fighting anymore then...whatever, I guess. But if we're not fighting, then what do you want now?" Again, Sincere passes on the question for her.

"Well...we sort of understand now that we misunderstood what Lord - what Sincere was trying to do, and he's not really our boss anymore. But we were still kind of hoping for like, ideas? The earth elementals would probably be fine just living down there forever, but it's not really an ideal place to live for me and the matchsticks, you know? So...after your expedition or whatever was finished, what was it you were planning to do, Sincere?"

Sincere considers his response for a moment before answering. "Before I get to that - how many of you are there, currently? We didn't exactly have time for a census on our way out."

Scorch handles this one. "Well, some of the cores are still gonna need recharging, but we can handle that, once those spell runes wear off, anyhow. So once everyone's back on their feet...pretty sure it's six of us flames, five rocks, and then Zappy here."

Xenia murmurs. "Too many to extend an invite into the dungeon, I think. I've about gotten used to Slooshy, but a dozen more...unless they wanted to let us de-body them and tag their cores as dungeon property. But even then, the water elementals can hide from a fight pretty easily if they need to. If we had these guys wandering around the dungeon, half of them would probably be dead in the next couple of months from adventurer incidents."

Sincere nods in agreement. "Yes, and it is important for an elemental's long-term health that they have access to their particular brand of mana. The waters have their river, and certainly the earths have all the stone they could wish for, but we don't currently have anywhere in the dungeon set up for the production of significant amounts of fire. We'd need to do a fair bit of redesigning to accommodate them." He rubs his chin before continuing. "That said, lightning elementals are part air-based, and draw their power from atmospheric weather conditions. So for Zappy at least, I would recommend that she considers making the mountain peak her home, just outside. It's actually an ideal location for one of her aspect."

The elemental in question flickers a little in excitement at the prospect, but Cinder's tone is a little more morose. "But what about us fires, then?"

"One moment, one moment." Sincere loses himself in thought for more than a moment, and begins to pace back and forth for a short while as he mumbles to himself. Eventually even Xenia begins to get bored, and calls him back to reality.

"Sin-man! Wanna share with the class?"

"Ah, yes, my apologies. I was just thinking...lava, or magma elementals are a combination of earth and fire mana, but can sustain themselves on earth alone, much like Zappy can using air. If you were lava elementals, you could dwell within the mountain indefinitely, much like your earthen companions."

Scorch points out the obvious. "Right, but...we're not lava elementals."

"But what if you could be?"

Scorch and Cinder share a look before Cinder answers. "I...don't think that's how it works, you know? You gotta be born that way."

Sincere raises a finger into the air. "Ah, but not true! From the research I've read of the topic, the artificial creation of rare triple-elementals is often done by adding a third element to an existing combination elemental. Meteor elementals have been created that way, I am certain, from lightning elementals being provided with earth mana, although they tend to prove short-lived for...other reasons. I don't know if it's been done to make a 'basic' elemental into a combination type, but I don't see why it shouldn't be possible! In any event, the only other option would be for you to trek a hundred miles south into the arid lands of the Dragonlord's Domain, and hope no one takes issue with your migration."

Scorch considers the alternatives. "...I guess being made of lava could be kinda cool. Can you actually do it, though?"

"Well..." Sincere turns towards Xenia. "It would require some experimentation. And I might need to take advantage of our 'tourist' slot to visit the elementals outside of the dungeon bounds, as dungeon mana would surely interfere with the process. But if I have your permission?"

Xenia nods, not needing much time to think about it. "Sure, man, it's always good to have another hobby. Just let me know whenever you need to take a trip, yeah? That sound good with you three?" As Sincere asks and the trio nod, she continues. "Alright, then. Now, I am gonna seal that tunnel back up, cause I ain't leaving a big-ass hole in my core chamber...and no offense, but I'm probably gonna be sticking a lot more traps around, so no funny ideas from here on, got it? But I'll put a pressure-plate button out there you can press if you need to talk, alright? Does Zappy need transport up to the surface?"

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The woman nods as Sincere passes on the question. "Later, yeah, would it be alright if I go say bye to folks first, though?" As Sincere nods back, Zappy cheers. "Sweet! We're gonna be the bestest mountain neighbors ever!"

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

An hour later, Xenia and Lollyp popped by the Floor Two apartments to see how Taly was settling in. They found the woman in her new bedroom, looking surprisingly casual for an undead monster - her cloak and leather armor had been set aside, and the half-dressed banshee was currently engaged in stretching herself out on the bed and enjoying the feel of the fur bedcovers. Wondering if perhaps they were intruding on...something, Xenia taps her knuckles on the door frame before proceeding any further. "Hey, uh...finding the place to your liking, Taly?"

Chuckling as she rolls over onto her back, the woman then moves to sit up a little as she waves the pair in. "Oh, hells yeah! This bed is amazing compared to the Association bunks we've been sleeping in for the past couple months!"

Lollyp expresses a bit of surprise at the compliment. "Really? Didn't I hear something about you guys having a proper inn down there by now?"

Taly snorts a little at the question. "Pfft, the inn? You think we get paid enough to spend our salary renting out one of those rooms? Nah, those are for Challengers with money to burn and VIPs. The rest of us gotta make do at the bunkhouse like everybody else. Housing is on the construction to-do list, but it's not like most folks settle down long-term. I mean, even our team usually moves around pretty often. I assume Alizz is looking to shift her title from Field Agent to Administrator, given she seems to be sticking around, but even if she does there's no guarantee that, uh...Sely or I would've stayed on locally."

Xenia smiles as she finds a seat, but feels a little awkward as she does so. "Well, if you got any requests for the apartment, let me know. Especially if you've got any hobbies or whatever you want to get into. Aside from the living conditions, how's the, um...living?" She gestures with one hand at Taly's new gray-skinned, red-eyed form.

"More like un-living, you mean. You know I don't have a heartbeat anymore? Or need to breathe? Which is...good, for my line of work. My hands are insanely steady now, I can't wait to try practicing my aim. I am a little worried about these damn claws...might need to do some clipping, or get a really tough bowstring, or something..."

"We'll definitely work on some equipment for you, for sure. Speaking of..." Xenia reaches into her dungeon inventory, and pulls out a small, black object. "I made a copy of your old mask for you. I think I re-absorbed your old one along with your, well, everything else, but you did earn this. And don't feel shy about asking for replacements, if you get your head blown off in a fight or something. Lolly Pop here's got a whole chest full of wizard hats these days."

"Thanks." Taly takes the mask and stares into it for a moment, and the conversation seems to drift into silence as she does so. Not a fan of quiet contemplation, Xenia does her best to find a new topic.

"So...I did tell you guys about my reincarnation and all that a while back, even if it was the short version. I'm happy to tell you more now, if you've got any questions, obviously. It occurs to me that I don't really know much about you, though."

Taly chuckles. "Looking to find out more about your newest employee, huh?"

"Sure...coworker, roommate..."

Lollyp interjects. "Girlfriend prospect..."

Xenia gives the slimegirl a hard elbowing. "Lollyp! You horny bag of goo! Stop tryin' to hook me up with every floor boss that wanders by, huh?"

Taly chuckles again, unoffended. "Slimes, right? I've known a few, no worries. But sure, suppose I can give you the Taly Summary. So...you know about me and Sely, yeah? We're sisters, not twins, she's 29 and I'm only 28. It's funny how often people call us that though, and I always figured it's because we're so different. She's a blonde, I'm raven-haired, she's serious and moody, I'm the happy-go-lucky one. Or...I used to be raven-haired, anyhow." She twirls a bit of her newly silvered hair around one finger and examines it before continuing. "People always go, oh, they must be acting like that to make themselves seem more different, or something."

Lollyp nods along. "Classes, too. I mean, a Cleric and a Rogue?"

"Yeah, that. Though calling Sely a Cleric's over-simplifying matters. Would you guess that it's Sely who's the black sheep of the family?"

Xenia's head tilts. "Oh? Cause of the...she's a masochist, right? Religiously?"

Taly nods. "It's not cause it's a sex thing, though. I mean, it's super a sex thing too, some of the time anyhow, which a lot of people have trouble believing when they first meet her, but our parents were more worried about the organized religion side of it. The Church of Enduring Suffering worships Jaaleni, the Goddess of Pain, and she doesn't exactly have a great reputation. Mostly undeserved. Sely's a healer, and a good one, most people don't think about what it means to be able to control pain. There's good parts, you know? That's why she's a Divine Masochist and not a Sadist Paladin."

Xenia goes blank for a moment. "That...that's an actual class. That people train in?"

"It sounds worse than it is! I mean, almost all Paladins learn how to stab or smash people, it just sounds weird when you call it sadistic!"

Lollyp decides to gently shift the conversation a little. "Buuuut we're here to learn about you! You're not part of the church, right?"

"Right. I actually started out as an Archer, before shifting tracks into Rogue while I was still in my Initiate days. Our family always did a lot of hunting, right? Well, I never signed on with the church, but I did end up taking a lot of freelancer contracts with them, just to work alongside Sely. Protection duty, and that. Sely was one of those Clerics who did a lot of traveling around, to help outlying villages and the like, and I wanted to be able to help her out. There weren't a lot of monsters around Highfalls though, mostly bandits and highwaymen, and the easiest way for me to cover for her was to scout things out and make sure she never ran into any ambushes to start with."

Xenia nods along. "That's the way to do it, hit em with their own sneaky medicine. How'd you end up working for Alizz, then?"

"Well, we both started getting serious about our Challenger ranks after we hit the Advanced levels. That meant doing dungeon runs, and we did a lot of em. We always worked together, obviously, but you can't run a team with just two people, so we did a ton of temporary parties with other folks. It was unintentional, but apparently that meant that our name got around a lot, and a bunch of folks knew us as gals who were good at our jobs. For Advanced levels, anyhow. That actually led to us getting headhunted by the Association to join some of their field inspection teams, and the pay for that was way better than basic Challenging. I mean, you get the loot plus a steady paycheck, plus benefits!"

Lollyp picks up from there. "And you joined Alizz's team pretty recently, right? She mentioned you in a letter once but you weren't around the last time she swung through Caustic Cavern."

"Yeah, that's right." Taly eyes her blackened nails, and trails off again. "...Gods, I'm gonna be the little sister for real now, right? Sely's gonna get older, and I'm...immortal?"

Xenia shifts in her seat. "Well, physically I can age you up some over time, if you want. Or give you something entirely different if bansheeing doesn't work out for you."

"Think I'm good to give it a try. It's still just sinking in, though. Sely and I...we're not gonna be able to work together anymore. I'm not gonna be able to cover her back! I just...I just hope she's able to keep going without me, you know?"

Getting up from her chair, Xenia slides her way onto the bed and wraps a comforting arm around the undead Rogue. "She's a tough one, I can tell. I mean, she bitches me out more at the conferences than Alizz does! And I respect that, for real. But...we do have that tourist slot open, you know? Floor Six isn't even finished yet, and who knows when someone's actually gonna be around to challenge it. Big D was waiting for a month and a half before his first fight! If...if you wanted to, you know, go down to town and spend some more time with her, I don't think it'd be a problem."

Taly takes a deep breath, for purely spiritual reasons, and shakes her head. "Maybe...maybe later. But I don't want to, like, confuse things right now. I am dead. I died! For real! Hole through my lungs and everything! Sely...I think I need to give her some time to grieve for me. Walking in the door, especially like this, and acting like nothing happened...I don't think that'd be a good idea."

The dungeon master considers that and gives a nod. "Smart move. And it's alright if you need some time to, you know, grieve for yourself too, yeah? Heavens know I've done that often enough. If you need to keep your mind off things, I can come up with a few ideas for that, too."

Taly eyes Lollyp and gives a short laugh. "Heh, like touring Floor Five?"

"I meant like going river-swimming with the water elementals! It's way more fun when you don't need to breathe and they can't drown you."

"Oh, yeah. That sounds fun too!"