Xenia claps for her assembled guardians as Sincere, Lollyp, Deylia and Parker look on with bemused expressions. "Congratulations, everyone! You're now fully qualified game masters."
Lollyp strokes her chin in thought. "Hrmm, does that come with a raise?"
"Hrnf, sure, you all get a free round at the lounge. Now, obviously I saw everything that went on, and we all know the final scores, but I'd like to get your thoughts on how everyone did. Let's start with the top score and work our way down, eh?" The dungeon master points at Parker, sitting at the opposite end of the conference room. "Reed got his entire party through. Was he that good, or were you that easy on him? I noticed a lot of deals going on."
Parker, in his oversized Rabbit Patriarch form, looks slightly offended. "Go easy on him? If anything, the number of deals I was able to 'tempt' him into makes me the winner, doesn't it? That was our goal, right?"
Xenia half-nods. "As a method for learning about them, sure. So - what do you think you learned about Mr. Reed Blair?"
"Well, obviously the man values his father above the rest of the team. He never put Lyman at risk. He even took a light injury himself in order to help his father along one step. But beyond that, he clearly values physical safety above, ah...information security, let's say. That's probably the main reason he was able to get everyone out."
Deylia leans forward, sensing gossip is to be had. "He informed on the secrets of his party?"
"Excepting Lyman of course, yes. Obviously there's nothing left for us to learn about Liani, or at least that we care about. He also had a lot to say about the dark elves though, and honestly I think he was eager to say it. He's very suspicious of those two, and didn't seem to mind stating his suspicions as fact."
Lollyp frowns at the statement. "Really? I had Hylii and - well, I guess I'll go into details in a minute, but I got the impression he was pretty much exactly what he seemed to be on the surface. What did the fencer kid have to say about them?"
Parker scoffs. "Only that he suspects they were behind half of the bad things that happened to their party over the past month or two before they got here. I know there's been a lot of backstabbing among that group, but I get the feeling that he picked out his suspects first and came up with the evidence after. But he thought he was telling the truth, so I allowed it as far as the deal-making went."
Xenia still seems to have a concern to point out. "But he did get them all through alive. He could've taken the opportunity to kill them and he didn't. What's your take on that?"
"I think he...honestly doesn't actually care if they did betray other members of the group? They haven't done anything to him or his father, so Reed was still willing to work with them. But more than that, the young man just...has no initiative. His father didn't tell him to betray the elves, and so he didn't."
"Something to consider when we bring up his dad, then. We can skip Liani, since that was just Yulia and Em playing around for fun to kill time, so next on the board is Hylii. So, Lolly Pop, how was playing with Mr. Body?"
The slime mage grins. "A lot of fun, actually? He had a lot of faith in the team's ladies, though he, uh...showed it kind of differently. He let Gerliari take extra fights on the assumption that her magic could handle them, and Liani took extra on the assumption that she wouldn't actually die from a couple of beatings. Reed died on his watch, but I think he didn't see that coming at all. He put the two fencers up against the slimes and didn't expect the slimes to be so tough. Even though I told him not to underestimate slimes!"
Sincere considers the results. "So he never turned on any of his party members? How about where information was concerned?"
"Only talked about himself! He actually gave us demonstrations of his skills, you know, his body-enhancement spells and all? It's not all magic, though - under those robes, that mage is buff."
Deylia coughs on the drink she was sipping from. "You told him to get naked!?"
Lollyp shakes her head, with a bit of a jiggle. "Not at all! I just told him to show off and off went the clothes! I mean, he still had pants on. I was tempted to ask for...other demonstrations, but there were only so many moves in the game, you know? Anyhow, you can mark him down as this: supremely self-confident."
The dungeon master is silent for a moment as she thinks over Lollyp's findings. "While I'm not fond of supreme arrogance, you're right, he never turned on anyone or even snitched on them. If anyone in this group gets a pass, he qualifies. Next up, Deylia. How was Fencer Daddy?"
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The rabbit-eared priestess frowns. "Can we call him something else? Mr. Blair was...very professional. As a human he's not nearly as old as the elves, but I think his role as a father made him feel the need to act more authoritative. Unfortunately, in this case that means 'willing to make the hard decisions' while at the same time being blatantly biased."
Lollyp grins. "He lost two, so lemme guess - he sacrificed half the team to save his boy?"
"Well, he didn't entirely clear a path like Reed apparently did for his father. Didn't want to 'coddle' him. But yes, the moment we gave Reed a wound his strategy shifted entirely."
Sincere nods along, unsurprised. "So who did he sacrifice in the name of family?"
"He lost Gerliari through a miscalculation - he sent the rabbit squires after her assuming she could take control of their weapons, forgetting that our archers can use crystal and stone-tipped arrowheads, and the spearmen could simply leave their weapons behind. A four-on-one would be no match for a mage taken by surprise. But yes, his sacrifice of Liani was blatant." Deylia shakes her head. "The moment Reed was wounded, Lyman simply sent wave after wave at Liani until she 'died' and he was able to clear a path for the others. She was the most 'expendable', in his view. Probably because she was a murderer rather than due to her combat skills."
Xenia sucks in a breath. "It's a tough one to judge. It's hard to ding a man for putting his kid first, especially above someone who we definitely know was a serial killer. More than that though, it seems clear that Reed and Lyman are a package deal. If we kill one the other's gonna hate us forever for sure."
Lollyp purses her lips. "The 'Maybe Pile' then?"
"Maybe Pile it is."
Deylia looks a little confused at the expression. "What exactly does that mean, to put someone in the 'maybe' pile?"
The dungeon master gestures at Lollyp and Parker. "I've discussed this with some of the floor guardians so you might've missed out, but basically - don't pull punches on them, but don't specifically go after them either. They might get one last chance to impress me during their big raid but if they go down I'm not gonna cry about it. I mean, if it comes to it, all of them are putting their lives on the line, there's only so much you can control things in a life-or-death fight. But if they're smart they're not going to force us to get to that point."
"I see." Deylia looks over at Sincere. "It's just Gerliari left then, yes? She, ah...did exceptionally poorly, or am I wrong?"
The demon sighs as he nods. "She actually started off quite strong. Spread out the monster attacks so that no one was overly at risk, worked to bring the team together rather than leaving anyone alone and vulnerable. She was resistant to making deals, which was protective of her team, but ultimately worked against her as her strategy didn't leave her with enough moves. It's her final decision that really clinches it, however."
"Yeah. That was..." Xenia grimaces. "She sold out her entire team to take a payday and get herself out of the dungeon." The rest of the meeting's occupants share similar expressions, and Sincere continues.
"It really comes down to her valuing her time over the lives of her party. Yes, it would've required waiting nearly half a day for the dungeon reset...but that's half a day compared to the lives of four of her companions. Never mind that over that much time, the party could've probably found and broken through the exits on their own. In fact, they may very well have ended up doing that anyways after she left, were the scenario actually being played out. I imagine that would have been an awkward reunion back in Grassbrook."
Xenia shakes her head. "Was awkward enough when they all saw her score. At least she gave away all of her winnings to apologize, but...that hardly makes up for leaving them to die. Hell, there's a chance they might kill her before she ends up coming back here. But if she does...Kill Pile."
The priestess takes on a somber expression. "While a dungeon deals out death on a regular basis, passing judgment like this does feel...heavier. Is Gerliari one of your descendants?"
"Fortunately I can say that's an easy no, because the dark elves are old enough that I would've probably known them personally, even if I wasn't exactly Father of the Year. Probably kids of one of my army captains or something like that. But yeah, that doesn't necessarily make it easy either. If she really surprises me later, maybe she gets a stay of execution. But they come in here, they're playing for keeps."
Parker clasps his heavy, paw-like hands together. "So is that all of the preparations, then? We expect them to come in their 'raid' group on their next visit?"
"Most of these guys aren't nearly good enough to get through Floors Eight and Nine without their Master-tier members, and they know it. So yeah, there's nowhere left for them to go. Might have Ruckus help me out with some more trap ideas, but more or less I think we're set on our end."
Lollyp gives a wry grin at her boss's words. "More than set. I almost feel bad for them."
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At the Lucky Bastard, Tizzy falls back into her bed with an exhausted sigh. While she hadn't done much in the way of physical activity today it'd taken some serious social skill usage to keep the 'Inheritors' from tearing Gerliari apart once everyone had heard about Worthy Dungeon's latest trick. Prince Thaddeus hadn't been much help there either, as he'd been too distracted by the games themselves to care much about their results. Of course, having his followers turn on each other was nothing new to the man, but they're so close to the finish line that Tizzy rather wishes he'd adjust his strategy just a little.
Before she can get lost in thought however a knock on the door interrupts her. Linda pokes her head in without waiting for a response, and gives Tizzy a meaningful glance. "Are you prepared for...practice tonight?"
The half-imp nods. "Yeah, my magic's fully charged. I just hope our tricks turn out to match up to Xenon's..."