It was still raining when Crear left the cheap inn, a more durable cloak wrapped around him. Only few people were on the streets, running the most necessary errands and hurrying to get out of the freezing rain. Pulling the hood over his head, Crear sloshed through the streets, stocking up on food rations.

With a second thought, he bought several pieces of chalk, before heading to the meeting point. The third bell of the day rang overhead. But they couldn't say that he was late. No one had mentioned anything about a meeting time.

Sheltered under the archway stood a miserable Roric and a brightly smiling Thira, the latter waving him over when she spotted him.

"Sorry, we have to wait for a while longer. Lydia went to the guild to get some more information on this dungeon. We were so tired yesterday, we completely forgot it, hehe."

"And since we forgot to tell you the meeting time, we've been waiting here since the first bell," added Roric with a sneeze.

First bell? Since sunrise? Impressive. Crear stood with a bit of distance to them, settling in to wait as well. But with 2 bells time, Lydia should already be finished in the guild... aand here she comes.

"Sorry to make you wait, guys!" Lydia gasped for breath as she squeezed into the space under the archway. Much to the dismay of the soldiers. "After I learned more about this dungeon, I bought a few more necessities, just in case. You never know what might happen in an unknown dungeon, right?"

"Please clear the archway." A soldier had stepped up to them with a dark face. "You're blocking the traffic."

"Huh? Oh, oh! Sorry. We're already on our way. Sorry for the inconvenience!" Lydia apologized with a bow and pushed Roric out into the rain on the other side of the city wall. The frontmost merchant grumbled at them and drove his cart through the archway after they had left.

"Crear, you there?" Lydia quickly looked around and spotted the lean figure. "There you are! Great. Now listen, everyone. This dungeon is strange. After I talked with the receptionist this morning, I got hold of one of the two parties that went in there. Said it was really just normal animals down there, but he always had the feeling that they were being watched by something. Gave them the heebie-jeebies. Also said that the map of the first group was utterly useless because the dungeon was set up completely different to what was on the maps they got. Since it's the only dungeon available to us right now, I say we proceed with the utmost caution, even if we are fighting against only normal animals. And there is a reward if we share information about this dungeon with the Guild."

"Did he say why they didn't go back to map the branching paths after finding the stairs down?" asked Crear. Why didn't I think about finding the parties that went into the dungeon? Then again, they wouldn't have talked to me. They are either one of the parties that kicked me out or heard about me from rumors...

"That... there were branching paths they didn't map?" asked Lydia back, looking a little lost.

Crear shrugged and watched people pass through the city gate. "Can we get a move on? I'm drenched again and the ruins are only a short walk from here."

"Uh, sure. They said it's down the main road. At the red pillar, we have to turn into the forest and follow the trail of red pillars. The one that's intact and looks like a gate without a wall attached, that's the entrance."

Thira nodded happily, watching the people they passed by on their slow trudge through the rain.

Crear rolled his eyes and fell in line behind them. Cutting straight through the forest would've been faster. But with no one asking his opinion, he didn't feel it necessary to speak up. Offering information without being asked would go unheard anyway.

The rain stopped down the road, but they soon left the main road to follow a small path into the forest, where they got rained on by the water on the leaves.

===

"This is amazing! What do you think was it used for?" asked Thira, marveling at the big gate. Two red pillars held up an equally red cross-beam with a narrow black roof over its whole length. Behind it was an overgrown yard and a dilapidated single-floor building. A fox statue laid broken in front of the building.

"Dunno. But I can't imagine people living in this small building. Maybe it was part of a larger area?" mused Roric, shuddering as another cold droplet landed on his head.

"Does it matter? Look, there is the shimmering portal the Guild Master talked about. Everyone, check your weapons. We don't know what awaits us on the other side." Lydia checked over Roric's armor, that every strap was pulled snug and wouldn't come loose, then raised her arms to let the big man check her armor. Roric drew his sword and settled the shield on his left arm into position.

Crear strung his bow and moved the quiver on his belt a bit forward. Thira grabbed her staff tighter.

Lydia looked them all over once more, then nodded. "Good. Roric first, then me, then Crear."

Sensible decision. First the shield, then the warrior and last the bow. Shouldn't that sorceress be in the back as well? Do they really want to carry her through the whole dungeon?

He stepped through the portal, his sight distorted for a brief moment, before overgrown stone walls snapped into place. Torches flickered alive with an eerie blue light, illuminating the dungeon.

They stood in a square room. Behind them was the portal they had come through. In front of them was a smaller version of the wooden gate from outside, leading to a long corridor. A fox statue stood on each side of the gate.

"Challenging the Fox, it says." Thira pointed to the top of the wooden gate, where the name of the dungeon was apparently engraved.

"I think people used to call these gates tori. They were entrances to shrines," said Crear idly.

"Really? You think the building outside was a shrine? But for what?" Thira looked back at him.

"I doubt it was for rats."

"Crear, you can find and disable traps, right? Can you check the corridor for any traps? Roric will follow behind you with a little distance. If you see a monster, get behind him immediately."

"As you wish, Madam," he swept into a mocking bow and pushed past them, stuffing the flapping parts of his wet cloak between his backpack and his back. For a moment, he stopped to inspect the pillars of the tori, finding faint scrawls on the right one.

Challengers: 4

Starting Difficulty: Easy

He tapped the scrawls with a raised eye, then moved past the tori into the corridor. Carefully, he slunk forward, using his bow to prod at suspiciously colored stones and uneven spots. The irregularly growing lichen made it hard to find anything on the walls themselves.

A cluster of metal tubes in the wall, not even covered by vegetation, was so obvious he nearly stumbled. The trigger at least was a little harder to find, being one of the few lighter colored stones right in the middle of the corridor. Feeling let down by such an obvious trap, he stomped on the trigger with more effort than necessary, springing the trap.

Arrows shot from left to right, hitting the other wall and clattering to the ground. He picked one up, finding a standard broad headed arrow. It was blunt, but at this distance, it could've still done substantial damage. Picking up the remaining arrows, he glanced back at Roric, rooted to the spot from seeing the trap go off.

With a nod to the big man, Crear turned his attention forward again, checking the corridor, but there was no other trap. He was busy checking the pillars of the tori he had reached, when the rest caught up to him.

"No traps on the pillars. Didn't know if I should search the room, too." He shrugged and pointed at the blobs of slime moving about inside.

"They should've attacked by now... or are they restricted to their room?" Lydia shock her head and raised her spear. "I'll check on them. You wait here."

The slimes hopped towards her as soon as she had stepped through the tori. But with a single poke, they died and vanished.

"This is... underwhelming..." Lydia blinked at the empty room.

"Maybe it's really just a low level dungeon as the Guild Master said."

"Maybe..." consented Lydia. "But it still feels off."

"It's just the first floor. The first room, even. Look, there are two exits. Left or right?" Roric pointed. Both exits looked identical. A red tori with 2 stone foxes as guardians.

"Left," said Lydia, looking at Crear.

Who instead turned right to inspect that tori. Nothing unusual could be seen. Just wooden pillars and two stone statues. No scrawls, no scribbles. Kneeling on the ground, he put down a mark with a piece of chalk. Returning to the corridor they had come from, he left a different mark, before moving to the left tori. It looked identical to the right tori. Scratching a third mark on the ground, he set off to check the corridor.

Lydia watched him silently. "I hadn't even thought of putting down marks... Hey, Thira. You working on the map?"

"Uhuh. Not much to see yet. It was a straight corridor. 100 paces or so. This room here is what, 15 paces?"

"Good, keep up. Mark the right-hand path somehow. We'll come back to check it out later. Wouldn't want to get ambushed somehow."

"Shush," mumbled Roric following Crear.

It was a slow crawl. The corridors were either empty or had a single obvious trap that even Roric could find it with a little effort. The rooms they passed by were inhabited by small groups of slimes that went active as soon as someone stepped through the tori.

They quickly found the stairs. But turning back to check on the other paths turned out to be impossible.

"There was definitely a path here! See? I marked it on my map!" Thira pointed at the paper in her hands.

"But there is nothing here! Only these two tori. The one leading to the stairs and the one back to the portal," said Roric.

"How's it going?" asked Lydia silently. Crear knocked against the wall where the third tori should have been. It looked and sounded as solid as the other walls.

"My mark is here, but the path is gone."

"Any idea what happened?"

"Either it's an illusion or a moving labyrinth. Dunno when they closed the other paths. When we reached the next room? Or when we reached the stairs?"

"Something like this shouldn't be in an F-ranked Dungeon," mumbled Lydia.

At least it answers why their maps were incomplete - if they really turned back to map the side paths.

"Guys! There is no reason for you to argue. Let's return to the stairs, take a break and tackle the second floor." Lydia broke down the squabble between Thira and Roric. Crear took point once more, checking the way back for traps and ignoring the grumbling from behind that they had already been through here and how could there possibly be any more traps?

Someone is watching us, closing off the other paths as we move. I won't be risking my life on knowing that I found all the traps the first time around, thank you.

After a harsh hiss from Lydia, the grumbling stopped, letting him work in relative peace.

They reached the stairs again and made a temporary camp. They didn't make a fire, which meant they had cold rations and an uncomfortable spot on the hard floor. Sniffles ran around the group. Their clothes were cold and clammy. Not the best option when raiding a dungeon.

"This won't do," said Lydia finally. "We'll catch a cold this way. Do you have a set of dry clothes, Crear?"

He only looked at her through his blindfold.

"You and Roric go and change into something dry. When you're done, Thira and I will change, too."

"You sure?" asked Roric skeptical.

"Yes, now go. Or do you want to be the first to die in an F-ranked dungeon because of a mere cold?"

"No... Fine. Tag along, Ranger."

Crear grabbed his backpack and followed the big man.

The stairs had fewer torches than the first floor, throwing the steps into flickering shadows. Spotting a likely shadow, Crear moved over to the wall, keeping a good distance to Roric. Rummaging through his pack, he laid his spare clothes on top before quickly undressing and pulling the dry clothes back on. They looked identical.

Roric had barely managed to wrestle his reinforced leather armor off.

"You'll never get that dry again," stated Crear as he sat down on the steps to watch.

"You could've helped me, you son of a crippled troll!"

"And where would be the fun in that?" smirked Crear as he wrung the remaining water out of his hair.

Roric glared at him.

"You not only look like a drenched dog, you smell like one, too. You want to stay like that and continue to insult the lady's nose or put on something dry?"

Roric huffed, but quickly changed. With a withering glance at the soaked leather, he hefted the armor over his shoulder and they returned to the women.

"Do you ever take that blindfold off?" grumbled Roric.

"No."

"Why do you even wear it in the first place?"

"Wear what?" asked Thira, sitting in the corner in a dry, blue dress. Lydia pushed past them, her armor laying on the ground to dry out.

"His blindfold. I've been wondering why he's wearing it if he isn't blind. And the way he found those traps and moves about he can't be blind. So why are you wearing it?" asked Roric again.

"None of your business," said Crear with a blank face. Pulling a cloth out of his pack, he cleaned his bow and checked on his daggers.

They lapsed into uncomfortable silence until Lydia returned. "Let's take a short break before we tackle the second floor."