93. Mornings, not Mournings
The conversation peters out as the food is finished, goblins and kobolds wandering away into the dark to do goblin and kobold things, respectively. Feathers excuses herself to organise the night's guard rotation – a precaution you wonder about the necessity of, with your new door, until she points out that someone needs to be awake to wake everyone else. You spend a handful of wood on a small table and two chairs for the entrance hall. No reason to make your guards less comfortable really. It's not like their perception will be what alerts them to a hero's approach.
Next to go is Mercy, citing tiredness, and then Sapphire not long after. Both of them had been struggling to hold their eyes open, but neither seemed to want to leave before the other. Amanda slips away a short while later, lost in thought.
“Helluva day, hey boss?”
You're not surprised when Charlemagne hops up into a vacant chair, swinging his feet up onto the table.
“Hell of a week.”
The chef snorts at that. “Right you are. Still, least things are pretty stable right now? Got new faces trickling in, got enough food for them all, and enough time to keep building. What more can you want?”
You bob your head, only half listening as he speaks. Charlemagne pauses, as if waiting for you to speak, and you pull yourself back together just in time to catch his next word.
“Boss?”
“Sorry, just distracted.”
He nods, eyes dark in the torch light.
“I'm sorry,” you say again, “What was your question?”
He shakes his head slowly. “Never mind. Not important really. You get some rest now, you hear? Lotta folks in here look up to you.”
You nod.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think I'll head off. Thanks for the meal.”
“Any time sir.”
Your thoughts are sluggish. It really has been a very long day.
Feathers doesn't complain when you push the flap that acts as her door open, merely snuggling closer into Sapphire's side to make room for you to drop down and wrap around them both. You're out within seconds.
“Red.”
someone is shaking you.
“Mff.”
Your eloquence doesn't seem to impress them, and they shake you again, a small hand against your neck.
“Red scale!”
It was a good dream, you recall. You curl tighter around the two warm bodies you're sharing a nest with. One of them laughs, shaking under your arms.
The shaking returns. “REDSCALE!”
You jerk at the unexpected noise, finally opening your eyes to stare in confusion at Feathers, who is still shaking your neck. You glance at her, then at Sapphire, who is giggling from where you've pinned her against yourself.
“What?”
“Time to get up! Was going to let you sleep, but every time we try and leave, you grab!”
Your brain takes a few seconds to process the words. Then you shrug. “You're comfy.”
The gobliness shakes her head, and you relent and let the two of them get up. You don't even attempt to hide your blatant staring at their nude forms from your position reclined in the pile of furs that suits Feathers as a bed. Feathers' flat stare as she re equips her equipment is one thing, but Sapphire shoots you a wink and brings her outfit out in her arms, dressing in a slow, overly acrobatic fashion.
Although it is good to know she can touch her toes.
You know. For reasons.
After the show, there is exactly zero chance of you getting back to sleep, and you do actually have things to do today so you groan and stretch as the two of them leave to wrangle their respective factions.
Amanda is waiting for you, after your morning absolutions, at the stairs to the second floor.
“I have a plan!”
You blink at the exuberance, before a smile spreads over your features. “Good. What is it?”
“I want to mark out a few things from the first floor, for pit traps. And make sure that everything fits together right, so I want to do that first.”
You nod. “Sounds like a good idea. I should be able to cheat with that if you tell me what you're looking for.”
Two two of you step out into the second floor to resume punching as she lists her targets.
“Stumpy, the entrance hall, and the insect room to start with.”
You nod again, opening your menu. “Easy enough. All three are a way away from our current construction – how do you want them attached?”
“The one above the entrance hall, I think that should be in the final corridor, to where floor three will go one day. Also, you have to do the exact same ting on floor three. Every floor, actually. Just, super pit traps.”
You raise an eye ridge at the vindictive pleasure in her voice. It doesn't stop you from adding the wiggly tunnel to your blueprint however, although it does come close to bursting out of the cliff face. “Very well. And Stumpy and the bugs?”
“The bugs... Can an entire room be a pit trap?”
You shudder at the thought. “I can probably cover a room, but it will be expensive.”
You recall one of the plans Amanda laid out to you last time you were planning. “Oh no. Is this one with the loot point bait?”
“Mmhm!”
Amanda nods, her hair bouncing. You shudder. “Ok that's... doable, but will take a lot more stone than we have right now. Probably... fifty for the room, then we'll need fifteen per pit trap and we'll need a good number of them... at least eight, possibly a lot more. So put that one on hold for now. The Stumpy slide?”
“That one... depends. Can we do the trap that activates on the last person? Or that identifies certain characteristics?”
“... why?”
Amanda blushes, a faint hint of red standing starkly on her alabaster skin before she gets herself under control and answers your question with a non sequitur.
“Did you know that the vast majority of cleric heroes are female? And are often relegated to the back line of the party despite the short range of a lot of their buffs and healing magic? They often lag behind their party in terms of levels and equipment, and even are hired specially rather than being friends beforehand. I thought it would be good to... tie the healer up, is all.”
You look at her for a full five seconds, until she starts to fidget. Then you look in your animus menu.
“Fuck it sure, why not? It costs more than we have right now though.”
Her blush returns in full force, and she refuses to look at you.
You know what? You're not going to ask.
“In that case, just in the middle of nowhere I think. Can we make a maze and just put it somewhere in there? It doesn't even need to activate every time, it'll be better if it's kinda secret.”
You look at her again. “So that the highest number of healers can be unsuspectingly dropped onto the lust monster?”
“Mmhm!”
The blush is stronger now. You open your mouth. Then close it. Then open it again.
“Amanda... are you planning on seducing healers away from the heroes?”
The blush is in danger of causing fire damage now, but you still hear her whispered response.
“It worked on me.”
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