Dwarven cities—the real ones, at least—were different from what humans were used to. The best way to describe them was like land-icebergs: seven-eighths of the city was below ground, and those were the parts occupied by the wealthier individuals. Since ores, minerals, and food roots were valued far more than anything that could be found above ground, the powerful families lived close to their mines, while the less esteemed were further up, or even above the ground itself.

When the guard had warned Dallion and the hunting party not to go too deep beneath ground, he was in effect warning them not to trespass in the noble’s neighborhoods. Fortunately for all concerned, the group had no intention of doing so. The plan was for everyone to spend a night at a proper inn, get some rest, a nice wash, then stock up on provisions before moving on to the last part of their journey. Plans, however, had a way of changing, especially after they tried to sell the cutling head.

It turned out that the majority of merchants above ground were only interested in exchanging ores and weapons for food and fabric. The single merchant above ground who dealt with any other type of product didn’t have nearly as much money to afford the prize, nor anything worthwhile to barter with. The only thing he did was to give them the name of someone who might potentially be interested. While the name came for free—merchants didn’t want to get on a hunter’s bad side—reaching the person in question wasn’t. Apparently, the name belonged to a noble family that lived on the third underground level of the town, and reaching them was only possible by invitation.

“I’m going to find us an inn and arrange the supplies,” Eury said upon leaving the merchant’s shop. “Dal, coming along?”

“Sure.” Dallion knew exactly what she meant, and after a long trip, he welcomed it as well.

“We’ll search for a way to get the invitation,” Largo said, utterly disinterested.

“I’ll search for a guide to the mountains,” Jiroh said. “Possibly a guide to take us part of the way.”

“It’s your show, princess.” Largo shrugged. “Meetup at the gate at evening.”

Without another word, the group split up. Jiroh disappeared within the second, while three went with the cutling head to seek an invitation. Eury and Dallion, on their part, headed to the center of town. With this being a trading town of dwarven design, the central area was the cheapest. Merchants needed to be able to come and go quickly, so their warehouses and representatives, as well as most of the expensive inns, were on close to the city gates.

Just a piece of advice, the armadil shield said. Don’t touch the topic of her failing you.

She didn’t fail me, Dallion replied, even if in all practical terms the gorgon had done just that. And I had no intention of discussing it.

Now you don’t. But you were considering asking afterwards. Trust me, let it go. You’ll have your chance later.

“What’s the matter?” Eury asked.

There was a time when Dallion would have immediately said nothing. Now, though, he had matured to the point that he didn’t have the need or desire to hide that he was having conversations with his realm.

“Just have a slight argument with my gear,” he said. “Nothing serious.”

“You’re doing that too often. You need to be more focused and not have voices distracting you all the time.”

If you only knew, Dallion thought.

For the moment, the city was quiet, but it was only a matter of time before the local guardians found out that he had empathy—somehow they always did. After that, a bubble of voices was going to surround Dallion every step he took. Fortunately, he had become much better at ignoring them.

“It’s been a while,” Dallion said. “We should spend more time in towns.” Despite Eury’s efforts, he could feel her passion thanks to his music skills.

“Once we’re done with this, we’ll head straight back for Nerosal. We’ll spend a few good weeks there before the next trip.”

That brought some mixed feelings. While Dallion could appreciate spending some time to unwind and spend some quality time with Eury at a familiar place, he still preferred not to stay in the city for too long. It wasn’t so much the events that had taken place, it was the people he wanted to stay away with. Seeing them reminded him of all the good times he’d had as an inn awakened and an Icepicker guild member… all of which belonged to the past.

It didn’t take long for the pair to reach the first inn, and even less to reject it. The owners had made an effort to keep it clean, but not nearly enough to be suitable for awakened, even if they were hunters.

The next few inns were a bit better, but still not a place awakened would like to stay at unless given no choice. There was an option to go on the first underground layer, where some of the more expensive inns were located, but Eury refused outright. Instead, she kept on searching until something adequate was found.

The Scales of Lamia was a bit pricier than the average inn, but offered separate rooms. The reason it wasn’t as frequented by travelers was—other than the price—that the inn had been built by furies, who weren’t particularly known for their architectural excellence. Given that the few of their remaining cities were millennia old, and all the more recent ones, tended to collapse after a few generations, it was an understandable concern. The chances of something happening for one night, though, were extremely unlikely.

“Three rooms?” the innkeeper asked, wanting to make sure he heard right.

“Are they all full?”

“No, it’s just…” he looked at Euryale. Even in her “disguise” it was clear that she wasn’t human. However, for the most part, people preferred to believe that she was a scarred fury. “People use this place as a warehouse. There are enough rooms on the upper floors, but are you sure you want to be there?”

“We just need to get some rest. Do you have a washroom?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t have any water…” the man said. “I can have someone bring some buckets, if you want.”

“Do that.” The gorgon placed a gold coin on the counter in front of her. “Will that cover it?”

There was no response. The man looked at the coin, then back at Eury, an apologetic smile on his face.

A second gold coin joined the first.

“And bring some food.”

“Okay, but…” the innkeeper hesitated. “For that much money, you can rent a nice place underground.”

This was unexpected. Dallion could tell that the man was trying to get rid of them, going so far as suggesting they go to his competition. One thing he didn’t know was why. Taking a deep breath, he split into two instances.

“You have something against my money?” Euryale asked.

“It’s not the money or you. Merchants store things here all the time. They know the risk, so if something happens, they just lose some merchandise. With you… if something happens, you’ll lose your life.”

“Has anyone died here before?”

“No, but—"

“We’ll be fine,” Dallion said, using his music skill to add some calm in his words. The effect was immediate. The innkeeper paused, as the sounds resonated with him, establishing a link. “Nothing bad will happen for one night. Trust me, you won’t risk a thing.”

“I suppose nothing can happen as long as you’re here for a night,” the innkeeper changed his tone. “But you’ll be gone by the morning.”

“Of course, we will.” Dallion pushed the two golden coins forward towards the man. “We’ll be gone first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll go fetch your keys.” The innkeeper snatched the coins, then went to the backroom.

“You didn’t have to use music,” Eury whispered.

“He wouldn’t have let us stay here otherwise,” Dallion whispered back. “He has a limiting echo. I split and checked him out with the kaleidervisto.”

“Here we go.” The innkeeper returned with three large keys made of bronze. Each of them had a symbol on them. “You have East, West, and North, all on the third floor. I’ll send someone to get you some heated water.”

“We’ll be in North.” Euryale took the keys. “The rest of our group will join us later this evening.”

“I’ll be sure to welcome them,” the man said, slowing slightly. Now that he had given them rooms, his attitude had significantly changed. He was treating them as if they were his most valued customers, and as far as Dallion could tell, he actually believed it.

Dallion and Eury quickly went up the staircase to their room. Just to be on the same side, Dallion asked a few doors along the way about other visitors. As it turned out, there were none.

Once inside, Euryale locked the door and took off her blocker ring. Next, she kissed him on the mouth without warning.

ITEM AWAKENING

Reality changed, taking Dallion into a realm he had been before.

The RING is Level 23

You are in a vast metal domain.

Defeat the guardian to change the RING’s destiny.

The gorgon would usually invite Dallion to this realm to spar or practice his forging, though never for fun—she strongly preferred to do that in the real world.

“Sorry about that,” Eury said, taking off her hood, so the snakes on her head could move a bit. “As much as I want you, it’ll have to wait. Were there any echoes in the room?”

“I didn’t check. We’re the only people in the inn, other than the innkeeper. I know that much.”

“What was the echo like?”

“It looked normal. Like some old scribe I’d never seen before. Each time the innkeeper thought of gaining some money, it filled up a new scroll, making him think it’d be highly risky to have us here. Do you think we tumbled upon anything serious?”

“Might be a local version of the mirror pool. I haven’t traveled this far west before, so I don’t know all the players.”

By the sound of it, the group could kiss their invitation goodbye. Awakened criminal organizations didn’t like others messing in their business. Normally, they didn’t go against hunters, though one could never be sure. Of course, there was another option… one which was significantly worse. The echo might have been placed there by the town’s ruler. If that was the case, the noble in question would be sure to make his displeasure known.

“Best thing is not to jump to conclusions. Once we’re back, split and check the room for echoes. If we’ve messed with something serious, they’ll let us know. If not, we’ll pretend nothing is wrong and continue on our way.”

This didn’t sound very comforting. Unlike in Nerosal, if the party got into a fight, there wouldn’t be anyone to back them up.

“You’re more reckless than I am,” Dallion said.

“No one is more reckless than you,” the gorgon laughed. “I’m just very good at determining other’s pain threshold, and organizations are no different from people.” There was a long pause.

Dallion didn’t say anything.

“I know what you’re thinking, but it wouldn’t matter,” the gorgon continued after a sign. “Someone was already unhappy the moment we entered town. Even if we picked another place, there's still a chance we'll get paid a visit.”

“You’re wrong,” Dallion said. “We’ll be given an invitation. People can’t put an echo in the realm of an unawakened. Not without getting the Moons pissed. The only person who could do that is the town domain master. And if that’s the case, he knew about us the moment we went through the town gates.”

“Nice,” Euryale smiled. “You’re catching on.”

The conversation over, the two returned to the real world, where the gorgon finished her kiss. Less than a minute later, there was a knock at the door. The innkeeper had arrived, carrying a parchment with a wax seal stamped on it. The seal was the crest of Duke Montagne—ruler of the region.