“The I’tish Academy of Magic has confirmed that the new dungeon has fully developed, and the transfer of our starting area has succeeded. I propose a motion to send in a team,” Di’Gordan announced in his sonorous voice.

“Do we have any additional information?” a skinny man with thinning hair and an aquiline nose asked in a sharp, clipped voice.

“Like what, Councilman Ja’Kosin? Do we ever have any additional information?” Di’Gordan responded, visibly annoyed.

“Well,” Ja’Kosin drawled with a condescending smile on his face. “For example, when I was the Minister for Dungeons and Foreign Relations, I had good information about the plans of our allies and enemies out there.”

“You only had that information, because the council had approved your, if I might stress, substantial request of funding for bribes and spy operations at the time. Which, I might stress again, the council did not approve this time around.”

“Don’t be so defensive, my dear friend,” Ja’Kosin said with a slight smile on his face.

“We are no friends, as you are well aware,” Di’Gordan grumbled.

Ja’Kosin spread out his arms and smiled winningly. “I hope you are not holding it against me that I look out for my own interests, just as you look out for yours.”

“Sure,” Di’Gordan sighed. Looking around at the remaining councilmen, he did a quick calculation of who was going to support him and who would likely vote against him. Most of them seemed utterly disinterested in the ongoing discussion and were going to go with whatever their faction leader was proposing. And, sadly, with Councilman Bermaldian away, the vote favored his opponents. “So what do you want, Councilman Ja’Kosin?”

“That is an unfortunate way to express your desire to work together, Councilman Di’Gordan. We are all working for the best of the I’tisch League of Cities against our many adversaries. And surely, you see the value in expanding our northern border against the Kingdom of Winds, right?”

“So, you are proposing what?”

“How about we have one joint vote for sending in your pet support team to secure the dungeon and sending out an expeditionary force against the barbarians of the steppe?” Ja’Kosin said with a smirk.

“Invading the steppes is foolishness, and you know it!” Di’Gordan thundered.

Ja’Kosin shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I’m not forcing you to vote for it…”

Di’Gordan glanced once more at the faces around him, but they looked on just about as impassive as before. The sole exception was Belmart, a heavyset man dressed in luxurious robes, who grinned mockingly at Di’Gordan when their eyes met.

“Very well, Ja’Kosin, I agree with your proposal, with one stipulation… I will receive ten percent of the gains from the dungeon instead of the usual five percent, and neither support financially nor benefit from the expedition into the steppes. Agreed?”

For a moment it seemed as if Ja’Kosin wanted to argue, but after exchanging a brief look with Belmart he agreed to the terms.

A few hours later, Di’Gordan was in his office, facing a lean, tall man, with short-cropped brown hair and a clean-shaven face.

“Chad, how are things going?”

“They are going well enough, milord,” Chad responded politely.

“Good, good. Listen, Chad, I called you over because I need you to assemble a team to explore a dungeon for me.”

“A dungeon? I was not aware of any unexplored dungeons that we still had access too. Wasn’t the dungeon GW 988 finally conquered just last wind season?”

“That is correct. It has taken more than ten years for the dungeon to finally be completely explored. But I’m talking about a new dungeon. Its existence was confirmed by the mage guild a few hours ago.”

“I’m honored, my lord. But why me?”

Smiling winningly, Di’Gordan responded: “Chad, I have known you for many years now, and you are a reliable person, which is something I value highly. The stakes are high because there is some squabbling in the council going on. I won’t bother you with the details, but I have a higher than usual investment in this venture. As usual, the council has approved energy for the transfer of up to five people and five standard boxes of gear and other equipment. From my personal funds, I will sponsor an additional two boxes of gear to ensure the success of the expedition. So tell me, can you do it?”

“Certainly, milord. It would be my honor.”

“Excellent. Then tell me, who else do you want to take and what is your rationale?”

“Well,” Chad hesitated for a moment before continuing. “My first choice would be Deklajan; he is the best healer I know and easy to work with. We have been on various expeditions together, and he is very reliable. He keeps a cool head, even in the most stressful situations.”

“Very good. Who else?”

“Then I need someone that has a good command on offensive magic, so I would like either Julich or Jak’lo. Julich is the more reliable one, but Jak’lo is much more talented, even if mentally slightly unstable at times. Then… I need a melee fighter or two, for which I would like Golgiat and Bree-Ann. Golgiat is the strongest person I know and a skilled warrior, whereas Bree-Ann is a lightning mage that is also a lethal close combat fighter. If either of them doesn’t work, I wouldn’t mind Pungeat or Allmariana instead. From what I know, they have similar skillsets, but I’m not quite as familiar with them.”

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

Slowly, Chad and his team made their way toward the portal. Despite his prodigious strength and hulking figure, Golgiat struggled to pull the wagon filled to the brim with provisions all by himself, delaying the progress of the team.

“Bree-Ann and Deklajan, give him a hand already, will you?” Chad grunted while lugging a bag full of weapons.

“But Chad, we have a bet going!” Bree-Ann protested. “Golgiat claimed that he can do it all by himself if need be…”

“You can bet all you want later on,” Chad hissed. “But not at the beginning of our mission, when everyone can watch us! Now get to it!”

“What is the issue with others seeing it?” Bree-Ann asked, confused. “Why would we care what they think?”

“Let them make fun of us, and I will burn them,” Jak’lo cackled from behind, eagerly summoning red mana into his hands.

“I just don’t want them to see it, alright?” Chad said, clearly annoyed.

Bree-Ann and Deklajan looked at each other and rolled their eyes, but obediently stepped behind the card and pushed with a modicum of effort.

“You know, Chad, you have to relax a bit. I know this is your first dungeon exploration, but it really is not all that hard,” Deklajan shouted from upfront.

“Shush,” Chad hissed, surreptitiously looking around if anyone had paid attention. In contrast to the others in his group, he was well aware of the importance of appearance. He was of minor nobility and had to keep up an image of dignity and authority. Once inside the dungeon dimension, it would be alright to relax a bit, but not before.

Luckily, most people didn’t pay much attention to their little group, as it was a reasonably common occurrence for adventurers to band together to hunt for treasure or kill monsters. And since the I’tisch League of Cities was a large country, at least measured in leagues from South to North and East to West, it was often much more efficient to pay the mage guild for a teleport than to travel for many days over dusty roads and incur the expenses for food and lodging on the way.

As they made their way forward, Jak’lo sauntered closer to Deklajan and asked: “Hey, Dek, what are those dungeon worlds like? You have been to one, right?”

“Don’t call me Dek. The name is Deklajan,” Deklajan grunted in response.

“Sure thing, Dek,” Jak’lo responded agreeably. “So? About the dungeon?”

“Listen, it is Deklajan. Got it? D-e-k-l-a-j-a-n!”

“Yup, I got it.”

“-“

“So?”

With a sigh, Deklajan finally relented.

“I actually have been to two different ones during the last couple of years. From my personal experience and conversations with various other people, there can be a large variety of peoples one encounters - anything ranging from primitive cave-dwellers to bloodthirsty savages, or highly advanced technocrats.”

“Exciting! Do they usually attack on sight?” Jak’lo asked with an eager smile.

“What?”

“Yeah, I mean, are they usually aggressive? How strong are they?”

“Sorry, usually those people are overwhelmed with the transition to a world that is completely foreign to them and offer limited resistance. There are only a couple of exceptions that I know about - GW 988 and GW 995.”

“What happened in those?” Jak’lo immediately asked.

“Well, we don’t know too much about the outcome from those missions, apart from that they had failed. Based on the limited information available, it seems as if the natives had thrown themselves relentlessly at the team the moment they had entered the dungeon world. Eventually, they managed to overwhelm our people and kill them to the last person.”

The difference in reaction of the four others was telling – whereas Chad nervously gulped a couple of times, Adam’s apple dancing up and down his throat, Golgiat showed no response at all, apart from a brief grunt that could mean anything. Bree-Ann and Jak’lo, meanwhile, looked almost eager to proceed to the portal.

“So, what about the dungeon itself?” Jak’lo asked after a moment.

Deklajan raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”

“Are they dangerous?”

“From what I understand, it is a matter of luck. Some dungeons aren’t much more than a couple of caves with weak monsters and little treasure – first-tier dungeons. Others are multi-tier dungeon system with monsters capable of ripping apart most adventuring groups.”

“And wh-“

“Enough now,” Chad interrupted any further questions. “Let’s focus on getting into the portal, and we will find whatever we find. The I’tisch League of Cities has expanded a lot of resources to stake a claim to this new dungeon, and we are the ones responsible for providing results.”

“Especially, because the Doran Mountain Alliance is beating us left and right,” Deklajan muttered under his breath.

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

The portal consisted of a grey metal arch that was coiled around a core of immaculately smooth black stone. The grey metal was covered in a continuous array of runes that were filled with flickering yellow light. The area between the arch offered a distorted view of the pocket dimension that was their target, like looking at the riverbed of a fast-flowing and choppy river. All they could make out was a few hills and plants that didn’t look entirely different from what one might encounter in the I’tisch League of Cities.

“Alright, here we are. Golgiat will go first and protect the exit of the portal. I will go second, followed by Jak’lo. Once we have established a perimeter, Bree-Ann and Deklajan will push through the wagon with our equipment.”

“Aye boss,” Golgiat responded stoically, checked that his weapons were in easy reach, and stepped through the portal. The others didn’t hesitate for long, and, within minutes, all five of them stood atop a grassy hill, taking in their new surroundings.

“So this is where we will be for the next few months, in all likelihood,” Deklajan murmured. “Could have been worse. Temperate climate it seems. Plantlife that does not look overly dangerous and not very different from what we are used to. Down there is the settlement. It looks interesting. Not like our type of architecture, that is for sure. I wo-”

“Ok, let’s move down to the settlement and see what we are working with,” Chad interrupted Deklajan’s musings. “Everyone be on guard.”

The five adventurers moved down the hill, leaving their luggage behind for the time being. Soon they arrived at a big road that snaked its way down the rest of the hilly area into the village.

“Look at those roads,” Deklajan muttered. “They don’t seem to be made out of stone, but some other type of material. Perhaps little pebbles compressed tightly? Either way, this is impressive! Much better than our roads that is for sure.”

Jak’lo spat a big glob of phlegm onto the road. “So what? That does not mean that they are powerful…”

Deklajan stared at Jak’lo with equal parts fascination and disgust.

“Is fighting all you ever think about? This is a marvel of engineering! Just think about how quickly carriages could move over a road like this compared to cobblestone.”

“Yeah, true… but who is going to travel by carriage anyway?” Jak’lo said dismissively. “We can always teleport or fly if it is a larger distance.”

“Only if you have enough money or the appropriate mana type,” Deklajan argued.

“Are you two quite done,” Bree-Ann interrupted in a bored tone. “Let’s move already.”

As they continued toward the village proper, Deklajan pointed out all kinds of marvels along the way, from the plethora of glass everywhere, to the neat buildings arrayed along the road, and the almost manicured-looking lawns, with grass all cut to the same length – a sight that one would be hard-pressed to find in any but the richest parts of the I’tisch League of Cities. And then there were some strange things as well, or lack thereof – such as the complete absence of horses, carriages, fortifications and the presence of perfectly smooth metal boxes on the side of the road, each with lots of surprisingly sturdy glass and four wheels.

And then they met the first native – a man, similar in height to them, dressed in strange clothes and without any weapons, holding some type of smoking stick in his mouth. Rather than run away screaming or attack them, the fellow just stared at them, with mouth slightly ajar.

Chad stepped forward and cleared his voice.

“Greetings, we are from the I’tisch League of Cities.”

“The what?”

“The I’tisch League of Cities.”

“Uhm, ok. Lake Placid, I guess.”

After a moment of hesitation, the guy continued. ”Dude, where did you get all those sweet clothes and weapons from?”

For a moment, Chad just stared at him, but then remembered that the man probably had no idea what was going on.

“Golgiat, grab him, and let’s get some information.”

“Wait, what? No way, man…. Hey, get your hands off me, dude!”

Before he could turn around and run away, Golgiat had grabbed the man with a steel grip around the neck and half pushed half lifted him toward one of the abandoned houses next to the road.