Antonio was feeling peeved, he had not expected the surge of adrenalin freaks wanting to go dungeon delving. He had to spend a fortune on lawyers to cover himself from sore losers and the resulting court cases. He found himself having to design a – safe – dungeon experience that still presented a challenge. The few parties coming from other worlds were easy to deal with, as were the Earth’s true thrillseekers, his series of underwater caves with monsters and traps worked well. He kept his nanowire for the protection of his true home cave.

The hotel at least was a success, a series of guaranteed safe beaches, a great surfing experience, a reproduction ancient Egyptian temple staffed by cute catgirls and for the more daring, meet and greet the giant squid, giant squid that for those with the necessary translation magic could talk. The last proved a mixed blessing, the influx of scientists was nice but they tended to turn up anywhere, and keeping them alive was difficult at times. Yes he had safe places, but not everywhere was safe!

Then there was that damn delegation from Peta. Why o why did they insist on infesting his sea food restaurant. It served Sea Food for Bast’s sake. And no, crabs and lobsters weren’t intelligent, at least he couldn’t manage to give them intelligence, he wasn’t a god after all. Maybe he should have let Jezebel snack on them when she asked.

Another problem was the attention his nascent transportation hub was drawing from official circles, amazing what a few fixed gates linking his hub under the cliffs with his hotel, Feira dos Namorados for the convenience of his staff, Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Faro for that of his guests.

So now he was creating a play dungeon for the benefit of some of Earth’s so called adventurers who has a tendency to scream for their lawyers if they so much as broke a nail. At least he could get his revenge by making them sign all those disclaimers before letting them enter, and maybe, just maybe manage to get the case decided in one of Foraville’s courts. He honestly thought Lilly would die laughing when he suggested that.

So a web search was in order, first to recruit a knowledgeable stuntman or woman regarding risks then a special effects person. There certainly were plenty of candidates most of whom were already lucratively employed and not worth trying to recruit. So once armed with a list of names it was just a case of employing a firm of headhunters.

And now that things were underway the System informed him that he had leveled up again, after Jezebel and her gang had wiped out that second bunch of core hunters. Thankfully the dampening spell that Moonbeam’s ‘uncle’, in other words her mother’s dungeon had supplied him worked. Lilly and Silverfin apparently hadn’t noticed their deaths.

So now he had access to an avatar, it seemed the most useful of the options on offer, it would be nice to meet his kids and grandkids again, even Pedro.

* * *

Lilly for her part was very pleased, the local Adventurers Guild was growing nicely, many of the branches in the so called Western world were fronts for the local governments, that was to be expected after all in a world that was so stifled with bureaucracy. The branches opening in the so called Third World were more lively.

The Guild offices in the US were the most tightly regulated, their government seemed to have the best idea of what they truly represented, maybe she’d have to find out who this Ashes person was that one of their negotiators had so carelessly mentioned. She’d never seen that one again after that slip which made it more credible.

Se imported a few specialists to keep things flowing and hopefully soon turn her organisation into something that truly represented adventurers and not the fakes that expected safety to rule over everything. Damn Antonio and his suggestion, by Feroxibus’ vaporised balls she would truly love to see a passel of personal injury lawyers and their mercenary clients try to sue a dungeon for damages in an Empire court because said dungeon injured them while they were delving. Gods it hurt to laugh so much!

* * *

Elorinal was now the Guildmaster of the Moscow branch of the Guild, he was on reasonably good terms with the Federation’s government, and he was delighted that he had not landed in Washington. He had a strange staff as most of the quests he received had to be posted elsewhere as they were mostly for teachers and information. The few escort quests ranged from simple to truly bizarre and dangerous. This one was a case in point, why would the Russians want to visit that madwoman the self proclaimed Tsarina Anastasia Alexandrovna Romanov on far away Polovtsi, they’d have to cross a fair portion of Stratsiosina to access the appropriate gate.

* * *

Patsy and Slasher had arrived at Alarsenia, the capital of the Empire’s colony on the world of Auricia just in time to see the local citizens rise up and murder every Empire citizen they could lay their hands on. Poor Silomar hadn’t stood a chance, especially when the soldiers of the vanguard of King Foracates army had arrived. The guards had fought desperately but they were overwhelmed and the caravaners slaughtered mercilessly. A few had managed to escape in the confusion but only a few.

Slicer had bailed early not feeling any loyalty to the caravan, he just cursed his luck in jumping from the frying pan into the fire. He scrambled though the shadows, even joining in on the looting and finally managing to locate the local Adventurers Guild where he went to ground.

Patsy stayed longer, assisting the guards and only left when she saw Silomar killed. She assisted a few fugitives with her knowledge of the back streets and underbelly of large Empire cities.

Garostein only left when ordered by Silomar to save his family and any others he safely could. He managed to break out by following the route taken by Slicer earlier and soon got lost, so hid his few charges and awaited the fall of night. When the fighting was dying down he spotted Patsy leading a few more survivors from the wreckage. He ghosted out of hiding hoping she had some idea of how to get out of the city. So the two Rangers joined forces.

It took them eight fright filled hours to traverse the city, and luck to find a postern gate that was only weakly guarded to leave the city. Once out of Alarsenia their worries weren’t over but Garostein felt much happier. He was willing to work with Patsy, she had stayed till nearly the end and managed to extract a few survivors. He decided to head for the gate he had used in the past to visit his clan. It would probably take them a week to make into the wild hills but even a rabid dungeon would be safer than the locals to refugee Empire citizens.

Moving mostly at night and avoiding estates, villages and towns made their journey slow and nerve-wracking. The two rangers worked well together and Garostein taught Patsy his language as insurance.

* * *

Rapheel was surprised when a runner from the Adventurers Guild delivered a message addressed to him and his wife. Apparently Vartark the guildmaster wanted to see them. So after informing Traleen and recruiting his nephew Stardart as an extra guard they made their way through the now dangerous streets of Foraville.

They arrived at the guild office without incident, the political and local gangs preferred to avoid messing with an armed and armored warrior and well equipped ranger escorting someone who might be a mage.

The Adventurers guild building had changed in the past month, the ground floor windows had been mostly filled in leaving narrow arrow slits and a fortified tower had been added to the roof.

When they made their presence known they were soon ushered into the guildmasters office.

“Welcome to the guild, let me be brief as I have been rather busy of late,” said Vartark as he came round his desk to greet his visitors. “Rapheel the guild has received a request for your services from the Midgard office.

“The pay and conditions are quite generous, and you would be filling the post of head of off world studies at one of the local universities. A post much like the one you used to fulfill in the Imperial Archives.”

“What’s a university and why did you request to see me?” inquired Traleen.

“As I understand it a university is a sort of cross between the Imperial Archives and a school for scholars, and so I’m informed starting to include aspects of a Mage school as well. As for yourself the demand mentioned family,” explained Vartark.

“Just how safe is Midgard, I’ve heard tales...” Rapheel started before trailing off.

“Actually it’s surprisingly safe over much of its surface, there are places that... well you won’t be going to one of those locations anyway.”

After some discussion Rapheel and Traleen agreed to accept especially when it emerged that enchanters were also in demand and thus Traleen’s younger sister Droleen would be able to accompany them.

Memory jewels with the local language were part of the deal so two weeks later the three were gated to the new Moscow branch of the Adventurers Guild. Shal ghosted in that very day to explain the situation amidst an emotional reunion with her parents and aunt.