And so the quintet’s travel began, with a few mishaps along the way over the first few days, mostly caused by extraordinary curiosity and lack of caution. Any experienced group of adventurers would wonder how such a group would have even made it to this level to begin with. This would be tempered by the fact there is no apparent luggage with these individuals, indicating they are either not far from a well protected camp, or their identities are not as simple as they appear.

Unfortunately for the hypothetical adventurers yet to meet the group, the group’s travel precludes the former option and the latter option, while not technically wrong, isn’t entirely accurate either. For while their identities are not simple by any stretch of the imagination, the man with an apparent combat pet is the root of the problem, though Sidney and Madilyn are not aware of this. Sidney’s simple necklace and Madilyn’s nondescript ring she wears on her left thumb are storage devices, of a size that would dwarf most homes in the village. Sia herself has two, a very small space in a ring, and a very large space in a bracelet, containing an appreciable portion of food and armaments.

The most egregious of common sense violations is the messenger bag Ted is carrying. Let alone all of the supplies, goods, weapons, seeds, and raw materials, it contains four fully furnished houses and a mansion stolen from ‘a cheeky Baron’ from around the turn of the last millennium. In an effort to keep up appearances however, their camping supplies are properly broken down prior to storage.

The ‘sky’ of the 100th floor is clearly an illusion, as the light and depth perception is just ever so slightly off. However, as was presumed for the area around the village, there are clear weather patterns, with bright sunny days as well as wind and rain. The group quickly finds out that traveling by foot with the need for staying in tents is not as simple as it seemed at first. A series of misfortunate days made the practical knowledge known as a tent floods one night because of a nearly imperceptible hollow, a large branch falls from a tree another and nearly blocks the entrance of another, and the wind buffeted the sides of the tent just so, causing it to collapse.

Fortunately, the amalgamation of life lessons learned occurred in the third week of travel, so they were able to keep a bit of perspective on events without despairing. Though, if one were to return to the hypothetical veteran adventurers, they would be shocked and utterly baffled at the extraordinary luck of these young persons, for the simple fact none but a barrier master would be able to ensure an unmolested night on the 100th floor by either the environment or monsters. And to this Bill would quack in appreciation and agreement.

A day soon arrives as the quintet begins to transverse a small, barren mountain, and they hear sounds of fighting and shouting from around the side of it. Unfortunately for them, this means their first interaction with persons from outside the village may very well be in a battle. Fortunately for the hapless combatants, help has arrived in a hopeless situation.

Cresting a small rise, they see a party of 8 battling a group of three manticore. Though it may be generous to assume the 8 are at full strength, as injuries abound.

“We need to help, don’t we?” asks Madilyn, briefly taking in the scene in front of them. “Those are manticores that you were talking about earlier, right?”

“They are manticores, and apparently those spawned by the dungeon,” Ted replies, and continues when Sia arches an eyebrow at him. “Not enough blood based on the injuries they are receiving.”

“So how do we do this without getting hit by those already fighting?” asks Sidney.

“Support from a distance at first is the best option, healing in particular for those that can manage it, even if they are surprised by it, it shouldn’t be the ‘needs threat assessment’ type of surprise,” Sia says.

“Madilyn and I will work on that, Sia, get out a bow and wait with Sidney off to the side for the closest one. When you get a clear shot, take it and we will see if we can draw one off if the group fails to see us, though…”

“Oi you lot! Help out or shove off!”

“And there we go,” Ted finishes after the interruption. “Work on the closest one, don’t hold back, they don’t have souls.”

Madilyn and Ted move to the rear of the group, assisting with magic where they can. There is a brief moment of surprise by the two most injured members as Ted walks up to them wearing all black clothing and pointing a weapon at them, before feeling the ‘high level’ healing take hold. A brief moment of reprieve is had when Ted places a barrier in between the middle manticore and the three members of the group, giving Madilyn time to begin healing them.

A few moments later, the first manticore has been defeated and the group splits up, Sia and Sidney heading down the line and the two members arrive at Ted and Sia, while the two most recently healed members go to help the one holding off a manticore on his own. Yet again, the second manticore falls after a seemingly short time, followed by a rallying call and the remaining members of 8 swarming the final manticore.

“Sia, as they are finishing up the last one, can you grab the cores and drops and bring them back over here?”

“Sure!”

“Cores and drops?” inquires Sidney.

“Dungeon spawned monsters,” Madilyn begins, still running on adrenaline, “are known to drop a magic core and a seemingly random item, as once defeated their body will dissipate without leaving a trace.”

“Theoretically, most of the time,” ends Ted.

“So, no meat or bones, but magic and random junk?” Sidney says, having not paid attention to details for the last 6 years of his life.

“Not junk, you young punk!” exclaims the same man from earlier, who also happened to be the one fighting alone until near the end.

Huffing a bit, he then sits down on a nearby rock to inspect his bracers, buckler, and sword. The remainder of the group sit as well, though the two apparent mages remain standing, keeping an eye on the new arrivals out of caution. Sia arrives and places the two magic cores and two small bags on a rock in between them.

“Nhow,” the man begins again, with an affect to his speech, his companions content to let him do the interrogation. “I can assume a few things just looking at yous, and I’ve been around long enough to know a few things. Don’t bother denying it, ya grew up in a hidden village somewhere down here didncha?”

“Yep!” Sia immediately replies with a smile, receiving looks of concern from Madilyn and Sidney.

“Ha! Knew it!,” he says before turning around to his group. “That’s what they call a deus ex Villager you lot, and this is the only time in your lives it will happen. Out-a courtesy to our young saviors, we’re going to gift ‘em with knowledge. Fritz! What in the * went wrong here?”

Called out suddenly, after a small jolt and split second pause, Fritz responds.

“Overconfidence, we thought the ten of us could sneak into the manticore nest and escape with our lives. We weren’t cautious enough in our scouting to know there was another one that called the place home.”

“Bob!”

“I horked off the largest one by trying to steal the golden egg from the nest”

“Very poor choice indeed! Arnold.”

“We overextended and overtaxed ourselves. We didn’t have good coverage of the manticores and I used too much of my mana early on and was flagging by the end. We had Byron and Tyrone fighting one each with ranged support, but because we missed one of the manticores, that led to them dying.”

A brief heaviness overtakes the surroundings before orders are barked again at them.

“Xenia!”

Snapping her head up, the mage replies, “Poor preparation before setting foot in the Great Dungeon. Way-stations and a convenient way home made us complacent.”

Ted and Sia look at each other briefly at the mention of way-stations, before being acoustically bombarded yet again.

“Odgold.”

“I’m an idiot sir! I punch things! Probably punched the wrong things or at the wrong time!”

“Close enough. Gogo!”

Quick and varied hand movements are seen from Gogo, resulting in nods from their leader and Ted, and confusion from Sia, Madilyn, and Sidney.

“Beatrix!”

“I also touched the golden egg!”

“We all knew one day your love of omelettes would doom us all, and today was close enough! Luca for last, and I really do mean this, you should be sparing in your trust as you go further up the dungeon. There is some camaraderie in those that can make it this far, but every once in a while someone will try and run off with all you own if you aren’t careful.”

“Thank you, Sir Luca, we will have much to think on in the coming days. We retrieved the cores and drops of the first two manticores and…” Ted begins and then is cut off by Luca.

“Keep them, as payment for your help and our lives. We will not be wanting for funding, as impressive as two additional cores may be,” he says, then wickedly grins as he opens a small bag and turns around. “For I also touched the golden egg!”

Sidney and Madilyn look around at the ruckus caused by this golden egg, in apparent loss. Ted motions to the group to pick up their spoils and continue on.

After gaining some distance, Sia declares her judgement of Luca’s group.

“Rude bunch, but I kind of like them!”