Over the next several weeks while moving over a score of levels, Sidney, Madilyn, and the group transverse scorching desert sands, sleet and blizzards, rainforests, graveyards, labyrinths, perpetual fog, and thin atmosphere. The village kids surround the village idiot at the bottom of the staircase on level 55.

“Alright Sia,” Madilyn declares. “You have been dodging the question long enough, what’s going on next? What can we expect from the next five levels?”

Wearing a stupid grin, as she has been preparing for weeks for this moment, Sia whips out a large blanket and sits down, beaconing Madilyn and Sidney to sit. Luck lands on Madilyn, while Sidney is permitted to hold Lyle.

“Bill, turn off the lights!” Sia proclaims, with the group suddenly bathed in magical darkness. Soon, Sia generates a yellow-orange orb of magical light, held in her hands to illuminate her face.

“Long ago, in a land far, far away,” she begins, “there once was a young, strong, handsome military man with a beautiful young daughter by the name of Saidel Handbell. One day while inspecting his newly founded barony with his daughter, tragedy struck!”

On cue, Lyle lets out a loud lightning bolt with thunder, a loud krak-ooom given the close proximity. Sidney flinches and Luck is squeezed tighter. Sia continues, picking up her pace.

“Baron Handbell came across the evil servant of an evil vampire, an old acquaintance whom he thought he knew well. Curses, insults, and swords flew all around the impromptu battle field, but not before the evil being struck a mortal wound on the young maiden Handbell! Out of vengeance, Baron Handbell and his kin vowed to hunt down these servants of evil, and masters of the night.”

Thunderhammer Bladebill, per his instructions, removes the magical darkness and the group is again illuminated under false sunlight.

“So,” Sia continues, jarringly brightly, “My family spent about the next 500 years as vampire hunters, with a mysterious beneficiary supplying them with weapons to do battle against evil! And I really liked the stories, so I memorized them all!”

“Then it’s vampires and darkness, moonlit nights and moonlit days?” Madilyn asks.

“Pretty much, though the next floor is where the vampire castle is, with all of the vampire lords and servants. Rumor has it that if you manage to defeat them in a battle of wits or strength, there is a magic blessing they are protecting.”

“Why not try and sneak in?” Sidney asks.

“Because they are vampires?” Sia replies, confused for a moment until she realizes Sidney isn’t aware of most if not all things vampire related. “Super sharp hearing, can see in the dark, noses that can tell what blood type something is at fifty paces, keepers of annoying pets, the list can go on for a while if you want me to. I’ve been told they get a bit bitey if they smell someone they like.”

“So like Madilyn?”

“Hey!”

“Sia probably still has that mark on her arm from when you were four you know.”

“Alright children,” Ted begins, having stood off to the side looking at the staircase this entire time. “Time to go. Sia, fill them in on the games you expect them to play. I’m continuing on ahead.”

With that, he begins to ascend the staircase and quickly becomes lost in the magical darkness, with the five hurrying after him.

- - - - - - - - -

“He couldn’t have been that far ahead of us! And I still can’t figure out how to skip the staircases like you two do,” Madilyn complains. “What are these ‘games’ he was talking about?”

“These particular vampires are somewhat docile, which may be due to the eradication over the years of their more hostile members,” Sia says. “That doesn’t make them any nicer, but almost every one of them would be able to best the strongest villagers in physical contests. While they will likely test us on this as well, the lack of a challenge has led to a quirk of their nature, as it were. Most of them like games, puzzles, or riddles, and are looking for a challenge.”

“And I take it you know what those challenges will be?” Sidney asks.

“Unless the old lords have died in the last 300 years without telling anyone, I know all of their names and their hobbies! So I know which ones we could challenge to what to give the ‘true masters’ as they were something to gossip about for years to come.”

- - - - - - - - - - -

Far ahead of the group, a man dressed in all black leathers strides towards a set of very large, very heavy, and impressive to the point of oppressive, gates set in the walls surrounding a veritable castle.

Dark walls surround pristine white towers, buttresses, battlements and parapets. The outer bailey, excessively large as it is, is filled with crops and livestock, to the surprise of most who make it that far. Though the propensity of the flora to have notes of darkness and streaks of vibrant reds gives a distinctly eerie feel to this perpetual night.

Injecting magic into several spots within the gates, they slowly open, silent as a whisper. Magic flows from the gates and a series of soft moon-lights race along the base of the outer walls, and all along the path leading directly to the castle itself. Despite the visual bombardment, apart from some of the livestock, none of the inhabitants seem to take notice of this palpable shadow intruding upon their lands.

Long strides carry the Other to the great hall, wherein he is finally greeted by two of the inhabitants. Looking closely at them, the Other pauses briefly.

“How long have you two been guards? You should be elders now.”

“We are indeed elders,” the left one states.

“And fifteen hundred years, give or take, per the old decree,” continues the right.

“The decree that we are the ones that greet you, he means.”

“Ah, so they don’t have you here all the time then. Let’s continue forward shall we?”

Both open the stratospherically reaching doors with a slight bow, then follow him into the great hall. Twelve alcoves can be easily seen in the hall, five on each side and two behind the throne, each containing what appears to be a vampire, sealed within a crystal coffin. Several hundred vampires line the long walk to the throne at the front, making the hall seem quite small all things considered. It ought to be known that this perhaps represents 80% of all vampires currently living, and that meeting one outside of the Great Dungeon is exceedingly rare, to the point that one must fall to one extreme or the other on the scale of luck to meet one, let alone more of them.

The dais contains twelve seats with twelve vampire lords sitting upon them, with the oldest among them sitting in the middle, the one on the left with scepter in his hand with his beard reaching to the floor. While the Other is taking long strides to the front, this elder begins speaking.

“Greetings Ancient One, we were surprised and yet quite ecstatic upon rece-“

“Enough pleasantries for now,” the Other interrupts, sending out a pulse of healing magic. “796 missing left pinky toes? 126 with parasites. And one human? What is this?”

“Ah, straight to business it is,” says the equally ancient elder with short silver hair under a silver circlet begins before commanding one of the vampires at the base of the dais. “Bring him the boxes. Toes as a sign of faith we would get them back. Parasites likely from improperly cared and prepared food; they shall be thoroughly reeducated. And the human has managed to pass twelve trials and has successfully obtained the castle blessing, which you have so graciously provided for us.”

The Other shows a sly smile before speaking, “Bring them here.”

A somewhat terrified young man is drug forward between a pair of fraternal twins, with whom he has become fast friends over the course of the last several weeks. Though, to his chagrin, when he asked them why everyone including the lords were gathering, then asking who this leather clad stranger is, he was simply given small smiles and a simple phrase that somehow seemed like a threat despite its content.

“Don’t worry, you will survive.”

“Young man,” the Other begins, spreading his arms wide as the trio approaches. Clapping his hands together, a halo of white light surrounds them as the Other continues. “You, by virtue of passing these trials have proven yourself worthy of all that has been bestowed upon you, and as such this boon may save your life in the days to come, as I would have you bear witness, for I am returning to the world.”

Seeing the man’s confused look, the Other continues.

“I have not been seen for the last two centuries, and with short lifespans and memories to match, I shall bless you with a few tokens, and knowledge as well for the more adept to acknowledge this truth. First, an extraordinarily old artifact, with nine spells already included. Secondly, a memory to remember me by, which I’m not sure anyone has been able to replicate so far.”

With a flash as he has upgraded the spell ever so slightly, the Other casts his Ideal Woman charm. General murmurs are heard throughout the hall, while the man’s jaw has become a bit loose as he begins to panic, until he hears the twins talking about whether the charm is still showing them the same person as the last time they saw it.

Continuing unabated, the Other greets the two holding large crates filled with crystals and pulls out a framed door. Setting it upright, he opens the knob and reveals a closet, motioning them to place the crates inside.

“And finally,” the Other says, charm still active, “A message for the world. You are receiving a blessing of sorts while in this magic circle, where you cannot lie about what you have seen, cannot be injured while speaking of these things to those who have not heard them before, those who deny their truth in your presence are struck by a healing lightning and, for all intents and purposes, this blessing is a bit contagious as it were, passing itself along to all who hear.”

Thoroughly ignoring the hapless hominoid’s plight like a proper madman, the Other turns and walks five more paces forward, standing in the middle of a stone circle with an intricate engraving, filling every nook, cranny, and seemingly random crack with magic. The twelve alcoves around the hall light up brightly. Murmurs quickly turn to shouting, shouting becoming an uproar as the crystal coffins crack, the eyes of the inhabitants snapping open.

The coffins suddenly shatter, silencing the hall. The two occupying the front of the hall step lightly into the air and float forward onto the dais, as the Other states in a voice that carries easily to all present, “Hail, first of your kin, the Grand Vizier Valac.”

Very nearly as one, the vampires present take a knee with their right on the ground, head bowed slightly, with their left arm holding their capes aloft at an angle behind them. Briefly regarding this fealty, Valac turns to the Other.

“Eternal Wanderer,” Valac begins with his right hand cupped over his heart, “To what does this humble servant owe the pleasure of your visit after all these apparent years?”

“I have designs for war, one Nora Black has committed a profound transgression,” the Other replies, then cuts off the halo surround the lone human in attendance before turning to him. “Choose carefully who you tell of this, and remember to greet the Gatekeeper.”

An oppressive black fog envelops the man after he is released by the twins, before suddenly appearing 53 levels above.

“Now!” the Other proclaims, clapping his hands, “I’ll keep this short for now as my ‘childhood friends’ are not far behind me. Thank you all for playing along. Valac, Carmilla, wonderful to see you again, I’ll let your descendants fill you in. Does anyone have a challenge that will delay us for as long as possible in the outer bailey?”

Beth and Jessie, the twins, immediately raise their hands. Immediately seizing their hands, the Other declares this great and promptly rips open a hole in spacetime to the front gate and pulls them through.

“I’d like to say he has changed a bit,” Camilla begins, “but the Immortal is still somewhat theatrical, shall we say.”

“I dare say there may be more to say this time around though,” Valac replies. “Now, who are you lot and how many generations has it been? The rest of you get back to work, we will throw a party later. We can relax after he leaves, if you haven’t figured that out by now.”