** ** ** House of the Fox ** ** **

Kitsune was on his way to his room and was working his way through his Kits’ rooms. He had just finished going through Ruby’s room. Yes, Ruby not Vainglory. No matter how much they fussed at him he wasn’t going to use their silly titles. He didn’t have a title so neither did they. The younger generation always seemed to try being unique. What even was a Vainglory? He didn’t know or care.

He was however very impressed with their trials. They of course couldn’t compare to his own trials, but they certainly were unique. Next was Topaz’s room. His room was apparently about sex? Something about it copying the essence of his title or whatever. Kitsune assumed he was just finally going through puberty. It was worrisome that it took his son this long to hit puberty.

His three trials were first a room that releases some aura from rock that encourages mating. Well that was what he had been told. He didn’t quite understand how encouraging others to mate was a trial, but he wasn’t about to argue with Bastill who said it was about attacking the humans mentally. Apparently, it isn’t polite for humans to mate and whatnot with others watching. These humans probably wouldn’t live very long with such opinions.

Mating was not a shameful act. If anything this room would be a reward room. Kitsune himself didn’t mate anymore, but that was because he had already found his soulmate and brought forth the children that would be his legacy. Now the only importance in his life was making sure his children grew up strong and powerful.

The second trial involved a moving rock that Bastill called a ‘golem’. Apparently, it was to resemble the sirens of legends. Whatever a siren was it sure sang beautifully. Its purpose was to lure the adventurers to their deaths or injury. Kitsune knew this firsthand after he fell for its tricks the first time. He now only travelled through the third trial to get to and from his room.

The third trial was a mutation from the plants. He ended up calling this new species the Viagre plant. This was apparently another mental attacking room. Kitsune still didn’t understand how these humans could be so week to be affected by such a plant. The Viagre released a chemical in the air that would affect the genitalia in living creatures and increase the blood flow to the area. Kitsune proudly trotted across the room pridefully with his member fully erect.

He had tried to understand how this was a trial. Bastill told him that it had to due to embarrassment and the awkwardness to walk across the room in a group while they were erect. The closest Kitsune came to understanding the trial was about when Bastill said they may feel insecure about the size they have. He figured there were probably conditions on the room and smaller males would probably fail to achieve victory crossing the room. Kitsune himself had no problem with his size and easily made the trip through the room without difficulty.

A couple more rooms and he arrived at Topaz’s room. There was a group of adventurer’s fighting against the Blood Fox. As Kitsune entered the room everyone stopped fighting for a moment as their jaws dropped to the floor. They were just fighting against one of the Elite’s and the Floor Boss appeared behind them. Kitsune gave a loud howl out to Topaz, “I know you like to use your claws and your quite precise with them, my only suggestion for this battle is what Wenet always says, ‘Be swifter little one’.”

Kitsune smiled after leaving his jewel with that little gem of wisdom. He briefly sniffed the air as he began his exit from the room.

Did one of the humans just crap themselves? They can’t mate, and they shit when they fight. I am glad I was born a Fox.

He continued on his way through the rooms.

** ** ** Alice Everglade ** ** **

Alice and her group began to make their way through the Dungeon. They had gotten off to a late start due to Derk begging the cooks to forgive him for so long. There were now a total of ten groups actively diving into the dungeon every day, more skilled labor that had also arrived; however, there was still only one cook in the entire town.

The biggest improvement was the Forge being completed. New projects were also being started every other day. Some of the merchants began spending money on workers to claim the prime real estate by buildings shops. A tavern keeper had arrived three days ago and his inn was being built. The Adventurer Guild spent money on having a small building being erected. A church for the God of Kindness was also being created.

There was also talk of other guilds coming to the town. A big debate on who would run the town was currently being discussed. Some thought the Adventurers Guild would run it since one of their members had found it, while others argued the King has control of every city and he wouldn’t allow one to be run without representation from his court. It was after all a great resource for their country and it couldn’t be squandered.

She didn’t say anything, but she personally wondered if her father would have any input of decision making in the process. It was highly possible, but it could just as possibly be taken care of by other people. She looked up from her inquiry as she looked at one of the several ponds within the Dungeon. It was amazing how beautiful a Dungeon could be. With the rock ground covered in humming plants and the ceiling and walls wrapped up in vines it was like traversing through a green tunnel.

One could debate whether this was more or less beautiful then the nature outside. In her own opinion it was more beautiful in here then it was outside. From her knowledge most dungeons didn’t take on such appearances. It wasn’t uncommon for dungeons to have themes, but for the dungeons themselves to be designed and aesthetically pleasing, it just wasn’t common at all.

If it wasn’t the fact that this was a Dungeon which would be the bane and glory of Adventurers and their lives she thought people could live in these tunnels. It wasn’t uncommon for adventurers to spend a night in some of the more mild Dungeons to continuously grind, but it could be very dangerous if the dungeon threw in surprises or if the nature of creatures of the dungeon were stealthy. She didn’t feel safe about spending any nights in this dungeon between the Racoonoids and the Blood foxes. Speaking of Racoonoids…

Alice was driven from her thoughts as Derk yelled out loud, “Where the hell are the goddess damned Racoonoids?”.

They had just gotten down to the second floor, but they hadn’t encountered a single monster besides the occasional Troll Squirrel and Stone-Hedgehog.

** ** ** House of the Mask, Chicane ** ** **

“Today marks the day of Seven days since the victory of against the ‘hoomins’!” Chicane announced on the platform to the surrounding crowd.

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause after his statement. His people rejoiced at his words, but he hushed them down as he continued, “The top three of our crafters have come up with new items that our fighters will use. The technology was greatly assisted by the ‘hoomins’ for lending us their things. Not only will our fighters have a higher survivability, but we will finally conquer and bring the clans together. Niccolo will no longer hold our other brethren through bullying and meanness!”

More cheering accompanied his words. He continued, “It is time to go face the other clans unfair ruler and join our clans together! Let us travel into battle! May the God let us borrow good fortune for our battle.”

Not everyone was heading out to battle. They had decided to only take a total of eighteen members along with Chicane the leader. The fighters began marching out of their hidden village and into the dungeon.

They stormed through the dungeon swiftly and entered the other clan’s location. They were met with stares of confusion from the opposing clansmen. Looks from the other clans expressed shock from the unsuspecting intrusion. The spearmen at the head of Chicane’s group were all outfitted with iron spear tips that had become the new standard.

Chicane stepped out in front of his troops as he spoke to they enemy, “Hello my brothers of old and sisters. I mean you no harm. I only seek to unite our people, so we may both prosper together. We will only use force against those who wish us harm and hatred. NICCOLO come forth and meet your justice!”

A group of large Racoonoids stepped forward. They were the most well trained and loyal members of their city. At the center of these twenty Raconnoids stood Niccolo with the dagger that started it all in his dagger in hand. His loyal citizens were bare chested with knuckles drawn up ready to fight. There was no organization to their squabble, while across from them stood Chicane in front of a row of six iron spear tips. Behind them were two more rows. With eighteen citizens at his back Chicane stood proudly against his enemies in front of him.

As soon as the opposing brawlers charged forward they were met by six spear tips from the front row and six projectile poison coated quills from the back row. The middle row charged past the front row and into the throng of the battle. They were all clad in armor most of it was compromised of leather, but a quarter of it was inlaid with metal – covering the more susceptible areas.

The had already drawn their short swords from around their waists and shields attached to their backs and were valiantly slaughtering those before them. They had put all reservation about what they were doing behind them. They may allow adventures live, but that was to increase the amount of equipment and items they could borrow. This battle held no mercy, only gore.

Chicane stepped forward into the throng dodging attacks as he continued to wade in to their leader Niccolo. Armed with a smaller spear, armor, a satchel, and a large cumbersome wrist band he weaved in and out between attacks until he reached his nemesis. They faced off against each other until a brawler unleashed an attack on Chicane who responded by charging forward.

He had faith in his fellow brethren and would leave the rest of the fighting to him. As he got into death stick range his lunged forward, but Niccolo showed his clans superior fighting skills by twisting his body to dodge and sweeping the dagger in towards him. Chicanes clan had equipment and technology, but the other clan had focused on increasing their body and reactions. No matter how many thrusts and swipes he sent with his spear he was always dodged, blocked, or counterattacked. After twenty exchanges between the two, Chicane was left riddled with gashes.

Glancing behind he saw that his fellow brethren were also in dire straits. With the help of the long range ‘death stick’ projectile they managed to enter a stale mate between the two parties. The paralyzing effect was just enough to keep the brawlers from finishing them off, but they still suffered from several injuries.

Turning his attention back to the dagger wielding foe he recognized the mistake of diverting his attention from his enemy. The dagger was heading right for his heart. With no time to dodge he slightly raised the large cumbersome wrist band on his left arm. It looked like his entire arm was engulfed in interlocking metal. His arm wasn’t going to rise in time to block the dagger. Chicane flexed his arm and pulled the string attached to his middle finger on his left arm. Just as the dagger began its decent down the metal on his arm erupted and spread out into a shield. With not a second more to lose the dagger collided with the shield and slid off to the side.

Niccolo seeing that his side was winning took the initiative and closed the distance between him and Chicane and shouted out encouragement to his men. The dumb metal shield wouldn’t win this battle. He was already in the lead. Though their opponents had superior equipment, he had all twenty of his clansmen melee fighting while his enemy only had twelve with six additional support members shooting out paralyzing darts. In the face of numbers and power all would fall before him.

Chicane knowing this was battle was nearing the end and not in his favor decided it was time to use one of their trump cards. With a signal from him all his people reached into their own bags and pulled out a beautiful red glass vial. After drinking down the contents they felt more invigorated and their injuries began to slowly close and heal. While they hadn’t yet learned how to make this drink, they still had a small stockpile of it due to the generosity of the adventurers.

His satchel however was a little different from the others. His could hold up to twenty items without weighing more or stretching the bag. Knowing it was time to end the battle while they were in better health he put away his short ‘death stick’ and retrieved a similar looking stick. This stick however was not sharpened at the end and held no iron tip. This was a item that helped the ‘hoomins’ interact with unknown forces.

He hadn’t gotten it to work before after testing, but for his guild he knew his god would grant him the power to finally wield it. After all he had been gifted his own home when his was taken from him. He had faith that it would work. He raised the staff in both hand with the globed end pointing at Niccolo and summoned the words he had heard spoken by his god before. The ancient words of power! Chicane chanted and focus his whole being into the staff, “Well Fuck! Fuckity Fuck Fuck FUCK!”

Nothing happened…