Graverra Graeme, Bride of the Dungeon Core

208 / 400

“Fall damage?!” Bouncing off silk and down feels even more counterintuitive than it might have. “Really?!”

Graverra doesn’t bother sitting up just yet. She had just been flung into her own bed after all and if Hecrux was going to give her the opportunity to regain that health back… She’d still complain about losing it in the first place. “If you wanted to kill me, you should have just left me down there!”

“Oh, there you- Oof.” The skull sounds off from the table, but Graverra is in no mood to pay him further attention. She glowers up at the canopy above her, arms crossed, waiting for a response…

The dungeon core sighs before responding, “What do you think happens when one walks into a dungeon alone and under equipped?”

“When it’s one’s own dungeon-“ Graverra starts, but at the same time Capo feels the need to include his thoughts on the matter.

“Literally walked in to that one, didn’t she?”

“Oh, shut up! You useless-“ She summons her grimoire, intending to banish him anywhere else in the dungeon but within commentary range.

You cannot manage your domain while enemies are nearby

Graverra slams the grimoire down beside her on the bed. “You give me back control of this dungeon right now!”

“I don’t know, Graverra, I have a lot of lost time to make up for. Not having to fight you over every little detail might be a pleasant change.”

“Then I will go back out there and let your stupid homunculus clobber me to death and then you’ll lose every little detail I have afforded you!”

When an immediate answer doesn’t come, Graverra fears she’s won. She wasn’t actually going to go back out there, but he had to give her back control of the dungeon, eventually. Otherwise, what was the point?

“But Graverra,” She should have known by the shift in tone, suddenly far too soft. “How will you summon a door?”

All Graverra can manage is a strangled little cry. How dare he be right about that. How dare Capo keep laughing at her. She rolls out of bed and, none too gracefully, scoops up the skull from his perch on the table.

“Hang on, Mistress, I didn’t mean-“ Capo begins to try to bargain with her. There is the smallest boost to her ego, as at least someone knows their existence is reliant on her good humor, but she still doesn’t listen to the rest of it.

Flinging open her bedroom door, Graverra hurls the skull out into the core’s room with all her might. It isn’t until Capo is midair that she considers maybe her strength stat — which wasn’t very high to begin with; she knows — might have been reset at some point during all this… But when the skull collides with the core’s singular eye, comically loud squelch and unhappy shouts from both parties and all, Graverra gives the door a satisfied slam shut.

“And stay out of my head!” She adds for good measure.

With her health halved, Graverra feels the effects on her stamina. There’s not quite so much to be angry about in an empty bedroom. Nothing to distract from the fact that maybe storming across the room and flinging skulls and slamming doors required a bit of effort… And that effort wasn’t being recouped as quickly as she was used to.

She considers slumping down right there against the door; A small secret part of her still maybe hoping Hecrux would keep arguing with her… But he doesn’t. So sitting there and waiting for him would be stupid.

Graverra slinks back to bed, cocooning herself in a blanket and propping her grimoire up on the footboard to read. There’s again the nagging little notion that she should just intuit the exact numbers of what was or wasn’t regenerating and at what rate… but this was how she’d always had to do it before.

Core Avatar - Graverra Graeme, Bride of the Dungeon Core

Health: 208/400

Mana: 7̶̤̫̟̤̍̒͒̍0̸͉̦͉̃0̴̤̥̝̊/̷͉͋͠7̵͍̻͎̻̃͗̓0̷̻̇̔̔̚0̶͕͖̀̐0̶̬̭̒͝

Mana Reserves: 2,078 (7% / 1hr)

Stamina: 350/400

Skills Slotted

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Equipment Slotted

[empty] | [empty] | [empty] | [empty] | [empty]

Cryptmother’s Scythe

Buffs

[empty]

*Warning - Core Combat inadvisable at this tier*

Graverra scowls at her mana reserves. That was supposed to be hers wasn’t it? And they’d only just gotten better at working together… She’d thought so, before Estremon had to come inspecting things.

Or Hecrux had meant what he’d said; That she’d over complicated things and now that she had gone and forfeit her control of the dungeon, he could finally get some actual work done. Using her mana reserves. He’d only meant to use her, after all.

She glances back at her still open grimoire. Had it gone down again? And without her even feeling it?

With an affronted little gasp, Graverra goes to summon her crystal ball. Fine, she couldn’t hear his thoughts even on a good day and struggled with intuiting things, but she had other ways…

You cannot manage your domain while enemies are nearby

Graverra sits up as if stunned, though part of her thought she should have known.

“That’s not even really part of the dungeon!” She whines anyway.

Struck by the thought of what else she could or couldn’t control in her own chambers, Graverra focuses on the table that used to house Capo - Meaning to move it or recolor it or something.

You cannot manage your domain while enemies are nearby

With a shriek, Graverra flops her blanket cocooned self back onto the bed. The still open grimoire bounces at the foot of the bed, drawing her eyes back to her stat sheet. Her stamina may have trickled back a point or two, but her overall health hadn’t budged.

She reaches out from her blankets to flip pages until the core customization one comes back. If she couldn’t manage her domain, she should have at least been able to manage her own self… she hoped. Or had Hecrux decided she over complicated that as well?

Graverra seeks out her core stat sheet; Like the first time she had interacted with it, a chain of notifications and questions sound off in rapid succession. The head rush of it all still catches her off guard, made worse somehow by her halved health. Graverra scrolls through the list quickly, recognizing most as happening while they had been working.

Achievement - Moving Up

Achievement - Two of a Kind

Achievement - Horror-ticulture

Achievement - There Will Be Blood

Warning - Core Combat Inadvisable at this Tier

Achievement - First Blood

Achievement - T̴͈͕̄͊̑̿̑̊̀̀̋̋͝͠h̸̢̢͎̘̠͕̺̣͔̖̅̊̈͆̀̄̍̌̓́̊̾͘͘ͅę̷͎̰̗͚̗̥̙̟̘͙̗͎̮̀ŕ̴̨͚͍̘̤̱͚͚̣̞̜̻̘͆̍͛e̴̹͂̓̀̿̔̓͂͊̍̏̏̓͘͠ ̵̢̙̟͚͔͇̫̓̍̅̚C̸͔̙̪͔͍͚̻̥͚̮̰͎̻̆̓̇́̾̚͝ą̴̛͕͚̭̤̗̖͚̗̼̤̎͜n̷̬͎̭̫̪͙͆́̏̑ ̶̡̡̨̛͔̟̺̥̤͈̠͇̙̘̈́̿̈́͜O̶̡̦̯͐͗̈͒̒̈́̐͐̀̎͘n̸̘͙̱̤̪͇̹̈́͆͠ḽ̵̯̲̲̠̋͐̂͊͘̚y̴̨̢̥̻̰̞̫̗͔̙̞͖͕̐̈̎̽̓̈́̉͋̔̈̑̚͝ ̵̡͎̩͍̜̯̀́͛̍̀̂̔̉̅͑̎̀͐͝B̵͍̫̫̣͉̈́͗ȩ̶̻̣͕̞̻̼͙̫̠̭̌́͒̀̌̒͌̅̓̑̈́͑͠ ̶̢̜̳̝̺̆̀̅͛̑̍̃͑Ö̵̺͉̺̦͙́͒̀̌͑̈́͆̔͜͝ṅ̸̨̲̳̃̎̒͛́͊͘e̴̮̘̩͎̬̘͕͔͇̎̽̓̂͝

Graverra scowls. The glitched out text meant it was something unique to her situation, at least that was how she’d come to read it. When Hecrux had made an achievement for her before she was even secondary core, it had read like that… Cores couldn’t make achievements for themselves though, that would defeat the purpose… wouldn’t it?

Custom achievements may be created for the purpose of rewarding an adventurer after a core has reached Gold Tier. Dungeon cores may earn their own achievements, as set by the Core Keepers.

Graverra draws her hand back in surprise as the page turns by itself. “Forgot you could do that…”

There was certainly an argument that could be leveled about the very systems of the dungeon reading her mind… But that was different. And at least could have been useful, had she remembered sooner.

“So that one was her doing, but unique to us?” Even though she phrases it as a question, she doesn’t really expect an answer from the system. To its credit, it still tries…

Dungeon - Name Undecided, Will Be Placed In [159:24:37]

Dungeon Core Has Not Completed Initial Training

Initial Training Recommended To Be Completed Before Dungeon Placement For Optimal Performance

The dwindling timer gets a nervous little whine out of Graverra. She hadn’t meant to waste any, really. At least, she hadn’t been thinking about it that way. Certainly not as much as she had stupid time working differently for cores… And now she’d waste more waiting to heal.

Graverra turns back to her Core status sheet like she had been intending to, not sure if she felt any more healed than before.

Core 66.5 (SECONDARY)

Class: Dungeon

Location: Undetermined

Core Rank: 147th

Mana Reserves: 1,892 (7% / 1hr)

Dungeon: Unnamed

[See Further Dungeon Info]

Core Avatar - ‘Graverra Graeme’

Appearance: Drethiaq Necromancer

Theme: Bride of the Dungeon Core

Graverra squints; First at the fact that the core sheet didn’t list her health or stamina and then because she noticed her mana had gone down even more.

“Well, it certainly didn’t take you long to recover, did it, darling?” There had to be a way to at least see what he was doing…

See Further Dungeon Info?

[Y]/N

You cannot manage your domain while enemies are nearby

“Oh, come on! I’m still the secondary core, aren’t I? I am married to the dungeon core!” Graverra flicks at the table listing her Theme, forgetting it might actually do something. The floor-length mirror lights up with the customization options pertaining to theme. All of which were conveniently locked off to her, beside ‘Bride of the Dungeon Core’.

“Some partnership this is turning out to be.” She mumbles and continues to skim through the list just to see what was even there. Regional themes, plenty of ‘corrupted’ versions of the average classes, enlightened and corrupted versions of certain mobs, bereaved, misguided, just plain mad… She was beginning to sense a pattern there, though ‘Mad, bad, and dangerous to know’ wasn’t listed either.

Graverra makes a mental note to pursue that later, if there was a later. Hecrux certainly wouldn’t be in the mood to explain anything about himself now… Using the mirror now that it was in front of her, Graverra navigates back to her Core sheet and then to the details of her appearance. There wasn’t a mechanical benefit to switching into silken pajamas or the sheer fluffy robe, but it made her happy, and if all she had control over anymore was one grimoire and mirror…

“Oh!” The realization may as well have knocked her upside the head. “You are a stupid mortal after all…”

Graverra finishes with her costume change, then scootches up to the foot of the bed for better access to the mirror. She focuses on it the way she would have the crystal ball. Necromancers had never needed such things — she just thought the crystal ball suit the overall aesthetic — but if she remembered right, she could have sworn there was some sorcerer skill line that could use any sort of reflective or crystalline surface for things like this.

She can see them before she can hear them; Really, all she can see is Capo laying at an awkward angle on the fleshy floor and one more ominously floating lump that had to be the dungeon core. Graverra gives a small harrumph as she realizes maybe the reason she couldn’t have summoned the crystal ball was because Hecrux had kept it there. Which worked out in the end, she supposed, if that’s what she was viewing them both through now, but still.

Capo wobbles as his jaw moves, clearly saying something she just can’t hear yet.

“At least I make sure you’re sat up right…” She grumbles to herself before focusing in on being able to hear.

“She can’t stay mad forever.” Hecrux responds to whatever Capo had just said.

Graverra gives a high pitched little ‘hmph’ to the idea, because she certainly could… But Capo has to go ahead and ruin it for her.

“Well, between you and me, the mistress’s sense of time seems to have been a little ruined by all this core stuff.”

A lot of things felt ruined by this core stuff. Time was the least of her worries. Or, had been, because she’d forgotten the timer… Because she didn’t just constantly intuit every little thing like a real dungeon core. Because she was the secondary core.

Graverra grumbles to herself as she waits on an answer from Hecrux, but he seems distracted by… something. Probably spying on her.

“She should put the necklace back on.” He says finally. Graverra sulks a bit harder at the idea that he had probably just been going over her little costume change. So unnecessary. “She still has that, doesn’t she?”

“Could always try the note again. She liked the note.” Capo further advises, and he’s not wrong, but she feels it should take a bit more than a nice note and piece of functional jewelry this time. “Probably wouldn’t even be opposed to talking, if you do it right. Remember her whole thing about pursuing her?”

“I was very recently pursuing her.”

“I think the difference with that one was the violently, bossman.”

Hecrux goes quiet again and since there’s nothing for him to see her doing, Graverra wonders if she ought to stop watching and prepare for… something.

“Tell her… That I look forward to her returning to her full capabilities as my secondary core.”

The skull disappears as she scoffs.

Capo pops back into existence on her table in the next instance and Graverra loses hold on the mirror’s image with a surprised shriek. The skull continues to grunt from around the necklace as if she needed more attention drawn to the situation.

“I already heard what he said.” She tells him as she removes the necklace from his mouth. Part of her really doesn’t want to put it on out of spite, but then that was exactly what he thought she would do, but then that was letting him bully her into doing something…

“I mean, he’s got a point about some of this. Dungeon core’s gonna… dungeon and since you hitched your wagon to this undead horse that makes you part of the dungeon.”

“I would love to dungeon too!” Graverra balls her fist around the pendant.

Equip Item: Regenerative Necklace (Health)

+2.5% Health Regeneration

[Y] / N

She rolls her eyes as the prompt comes up, but accepts before continuing, “Tell him… Tell him that I am working on it.”

Someone had to complete ‘Initial Training’ before they were placed and she guessed it was just going to have to be her. That is what he asked for just now technically… And if she was going to be bedridden anyway…. Graverra picks up Capo and walks back to her bedroom door.

“Please don’t throw me again. Though I guess if you have to, the giant muscle in a flesh room isn’t the worst thing to be thrown at…”

“I’m sorry for throwing you, Capo. Because I can apologize.” And for good measure, gives the skull a kiss on the forehead before opening the door to roll him back to the dungeon core.

“This is not any better!” The skull howls as she shuts the door.