"So, how'd we do?" Parker asks his boss the question as he takes a seat at the dungeon's conference table, joining in with the rather impromptu meeting that had gathered. Xenia hadn't actually called one this time, but enough guardians were curious about the first day of her new strategy to want an update on how things had gone. Taly, Brightsky, and Deylia were also present, as was Ruckus, available to receive feedback on the result his intel and suggestions had helped produce with Emma to serve as his translator.

"Two out of four, which isn't bad considering we didn't have anything special prepped for the orc lady. She was a little confused about why we had her do a regular-ass confession, but I suppose it gave me a little more insight on her. At least she doesn't seem like a genocidal freak, so there's that." Xenia spins slightly in her chair at the head of the table as she speaks, a new design she was trying out. The furniture squeaks rather noticeably as she does so however, so she soon stops with a wince. "Bleh. Well, hopefully we'll get another shot at her before it's too late, we'll see how it goes."

"Which one failed?" Ruckus quickly raises a hand following Emma's whispers, halting her before she can respond. "Actually, let me guess. Tannis, right?"

The dungeon master nods. "I wasn't going to blame him for being a paranoid-ass little fuck, but it turns out he really is paranoid because of all of those assassination schemes, like you said. He took the cursed charm instead of the enchanted one."

Deylia frowns. "Did he know it was cursed? What does the charm do, might I ask?"

Xenia points at the Banshee Queen in the room. "Based the curse on one of Taly's Midnight Shadow spells. An attack spell that does damage to someone who's not aware that they're in combat? Fix it to a necklace, put it around someone's neck, and speak the trigger word and...well, it might not take their head entirely off, but I reckon it'd kill most folks. Assuming they're not in a fight at the time."

The Priestess's frown deepens. "I can't imagine how that would be useful to a Challenger. Getting it onto a monster's neck - if it even has a neck - and then triggering it before the monster knows they're there?"

"It's a tool of murder, yeah, hence the 'failed' comment. When it comes time, we're not going easy on that bastard, for sure."

"I sure won't miss him." Ruckus leans back in his chair and grins at Emma's translation. "So that means the passes were Norlash and...Violetta? Wait, really? Violetta passed? She did kill her cousin in a sacrificial ritual to the dark gods, right?"

"Yeah, but not by choice." Xenia's gaze drifts off as she recalls the woman's 'confession' earlier that day. "Honestly, I think that lady's a lot more fucked up than she lets on. Thanks again for prepping that divine ritual for us, Brightsky."

The Valkyrie is now returned to her armor, which seems to make the elf more comfortable, but it is at least a lighter version of it without her helmet or wings taking up space. "Thank Lord Theolif, I would not have been able to assemble it without his guidance. I'm still somewhat...concerned by the idea that you can use the lives of your monsters as fuel for those rituals, so you'll have to forgive me if I do not share any others."

"Hey, it's better than, what, summoning and then murdering an actual angel somehow, right?" Xenia chuckles. "Man, Kahlia would not be happy with me if I tried that, for sure. But good news! Our purple-haired mage is now actually just a mage and not a secret warlock. Even if she does still stand against us, at least she should be easier to manage now."

Taly shivers. "The powers she was willing to show off were creepy enough as it was. She tried to play them off as shadow magic or something like that, but I know shadow magic, and that was definitely something else. I don't want to imagine what kind of upgrades she would've gotten if she'd chosen to make her pact stronger. You really would have let her do it?"

Xenia tilts her head in Ruckus's direction. "I get that maybe I'm being a little inconsistent with honesty after how I handled Ruckus's team. But then, considering those two brothers failed even before they got to my test, I can't say I feel too bad about that. But in a shrine, in a safe floor, with a promise of safety? I mean, I ain't usually super religious or anything, despite everything, but even I know better than to break an oath in a shrine actually being watched over by a goddess. And the test wouldn't have worked without that setup."

Deylia bites her lip. "But you're still not worried she would've become too strong for us?"

"Hey, she might have a pact, or had, but we've got divinely-powered cards in our deck too. I think we could've managed."

Emma continues to keep their guest updated on the conversation, which provokes a comment from the imp. "Honestly, I'm kinda curious myself what Violetta might be like if she doesn't have a God of Rot whispering in her head every now and then." The imp grins a toothy grin. "Maybe she might actually be almost tolerable. But how about Norlash, then? How'd the big man's test work out?"

"Right, the orc dude? Sorry to Ruckus, but his intel was actually way off on that one."

Ruckus quickly leans forward after being told of her words, his good mood visibly evaporating. "Wait, what? What did I get wrong? Are you saying he didn't have a harem of slaves back home, because that was like, the second thing I ever heard about the guy!"

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"He did have slaves, yeah, ones he picked up as concubines. But it was really more of a rescue. He'd buy them off the market and set them up in his estate or whatever he had, and just...let them do their own thing." Xenia grimaces slightly at her next comment. "Apparently his first love when he was a teenager was one of his dad's concubines. I get the impression that didn't work out so well, but he seemed to have a better appreciation of their plight after that."

Taly raises an eyebrow. "And...you're sure he wasn't just making that up to sound good? That he didn't ever...ask for 'compensation' for his generosity or something like that?"

Xenia's expression turns to a grin. "Lin asked him that, and he did not take it well. Apparently he didn't really mind having the reputation as a slaver, it kept him from getting into conflicts with people who did keep slaves for real, but getting questioned over it in a religious ritual was a different matter entirely. Dude was adamant that he never touched them."

Emma finishes translating for the room's mortal, before adding a comment of her own. "The 'ethical slaveowner' routine, eh? Well, maybe it was better than starting a fight he couldn't win. If he kept his hands to himself that's the important part, I suppose."

"Well, guess I can be surprised." Ruckus scratches his head. "Speaking of surprises though, we're not doing the same thing for the rest of them, right? After this first team goes back and talks about what happened, there's a chance Thaddeus might guess what we're up to and try to shut it down somehow. Convince people to lie more or something, or tell em to take the 'fight' option, iunno."

"He's right, besides, we still have our 'inside vampire' with the other group, so that gives us a few more options there. Aside from the vamp we've got, what, two dark elves and a human father-and-son pair, yeah? That's another thing, I want to check how that family duo interact. If they're anything like the brothers from the other day, it's possible they make each other worse."

"Alright then, well, we did get things set up for that." Ruckus claps his hands before looking at Xenia's apparently-empty chair a bit awkwardly. "So uh...it's back to my room for me, then? I mean, if the other team does end up coming by today, I'm on call or whatever, but I'm guessing they're not gonna be by until tomorrow at the least."

The reincarnator studies the man for a moment before answering. "Tell him he gets access to the employee-only section of the dungeon. He did good work today, so he deserves a bit of a reward. Don't go to the inn though, there's a chance he'd be noticed there."

The imp raises an eyebrow after being given the invitation. "Really? Well, thanks...but what's the employee-only section, exactly?"

Emma takes care of the answer herself. "Some of the residences on floors Two and Five, if you want to hang out with somebody. There's a bit of a recreation area on Floor Five, and the Rabbit Warrens - "

Taly sits up straight in her seat. "Wait, what? Xenia doesn't even let us into the warrens! I want to see what's in the warrens!"

"...Okay, not the warrens. Oh, and you can chill in the Floor Four forest if no one's running the place. We'll have DEATH tell the elementals not to drown you."

"...That would be appreciated, thanks. Might start off with that recreation area, then?"

Emma points to one of the portal rings in a corner of the conference room. "Right that way, little man. Knock yourself out."

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Ruckus doesn't hesitate for long to make his escape, having felt extremely awkward about the entire meeting. The presence of Xenia in the conference room had been extremely real - the way her swiveling seat kept slightly adjusting made it seem as if there was a poltergeist in the room, but the manner in which everyone else held a conversation with someone he couldn't see or hear made him feel slightly insane. Having Emma around did help a bit, as he was fairly sure the strange woman mimicked many of the dungeon master's reactions and emotions, but it didn't entirely make up for the difficulties of having to speak with someone who he couldn't see.

As he steps into the 'recreation area', he finds himself needing a moment to reorient himself and not just because of the portal displacement. The space isn't laid out like any room in any typical building, owing to things like the complete lack of windows or structural supports, and Ruckus finds himself suspecting that when the owner of the place can change a floor's design on a whim, things perhaps aren't planned out as thoroughly as would be done by a mortal architect.

There's a 'kitchen' in one corner of the room, but it's not arranged like any kitchen a mortal would use. There's a collection of mugs and glasses on one counter next to a set of pipes and taps, and the imp realizes that he's seeing a duplicate of the magical taps the dungeon uses in the inn and lounge. There's a bowl of fruit, fresh enough that it was probably summoned from nothing just this morning, if not more recently. Then there's another counter covered in arcane symbols, next to a very large metal box covered in yet more. It doesn't take long for the 'Trapmaster Rogue' to figure out that they're dungeon traps, but it takes a bit more study to realize that the purpose of them is to generate heat and cold. A storebox and a rather improvised stove, apparently, though perhaps not one he'd care to experiment with right now.

He skips the drinks for now but does grab up a juicy-looking red fruit, and begins biting into it as he examines the rest of the space. There's a hall marked with a sign saying 'Residences', although he notices that there's no more specific markings on the doors further in. Security, perhaps, in case a Challenger somehow broke into here and was looking for someone in specific? There's another door marked with a rabbit head symbol, similar to that used in parts of Floor Four, and the imp quickly assumes that it leads to the mysterious warrens. The next door down leads to a training and sparring area, and as Ruckus pokes his head inside he sees that there's several racks full of weapons dotting the walls. For a brief moment he feels like he ought to go and 'borrow' one or two, but the realization that the dungeon would immediately notice motivates him to keep on moving.

The final door however seems a little safer to enter, although Ruckus tries his best to keep quiet as he enters the chamber marked as 'The Library'. Sure enough the mid-size room is filled with shelves of books, but his slight attempt at stealth seems to have done him little good, as a red-skinned demon looks up immediately at his entrance. The man is sitting in the most comfortable-looking chair in the place, which probably helps given that the tome he's reading seems to be the bulkiest book Ruckus has ever seen, needing to rest on the demon's lap as he turns its pages. Whatever it's about though seems to be far less interesting than Ruckus is, as the demon gives the man a long looking-over before smiling.

"Ah, found your way here, did you? Why don't you have a seat? I actually have quite a bit I'd like to discuss with you..."