Retrieval team created to claim additional resources. Expect shipping within fifteen days. No additional delays will be greenlit. Other resources identified will be withheld for Shipment Two.

For the last few days, Green Dawn had been taking advantage of the small camp that had been built around the center of the dungeon. While only a small percentage of groups could claim to have made it this deeply into The Blighted Basin, those that did tended to spend quite a while challenging the bosses. Even if they couldn’t beat all ten bosses, repeatedly clearing the first three or four could allow a team to quickly collect a not insignificant number of valuable materials after all. Generation after generation of such explorers had slowly built up a small village of sorts in the nearby safe area. One that was always occupied by a small number of capable adventurers and particularly intrepid merchants.

Despite the remote and inhospitable location, such camps were often places where many of the nation's largest business transactions occurred. While not as rich as most noble families, any powerful adventurer could expect to spend years of a more common workers salary in a single shopping trip at such camps. Merchants would vastly increase the price, knowing the regional rarity of their products, the adventurers demand for anything that would give them an edge, and the fact that most adventurers would rather pull teeth than haggle when the sum amounted to only a small portion of the profit they anticipated in the days to come.

It was little wonder that perhaps only merchants were more eager to dive into a dungeon than adventurers.

Thankfully, the team had secured most of the supplies they truly needed through their trade with Twin Calderas. The other team had charged them an arm and leg, but it was still far, far more reasonable than they could expect in this place. Despite that, the team still spent more than a small amount of coin in the local shops.

A single source of information should never be trusted, and the merchants and other adventurers were just as willing to share information as anything else. They collected every rumor and story they could, for anything from the price of a single beer to, in one particular case, a downright gourmet meal. Xavier had insisted on that particular payment, as the merchant they had lavished with it was known to be extremely experienced with this particular dungeon. The man had spent so much time in this safe room, that he had built his own shop here rather than simply claiming one of the rough earth magic works that made up most of the “buildings”. If rumors were to be believed, he had been a mainstay here for over half a decade and showed no signs of planning to leave.

Asher had been forced to admit, in the end, that it was the right call. The man had added another dozen rarer monsters that could potentially appear if they choose to challenge the boss rush. Two of which would very occasionally appear early in the rush, take the place of more established creatures like the Greater Blazehorn Deer or Sharkscale Emberwing Swarm. Nasty surprises that would have been very unpleasant to experience.

All told, in less than a week, their group had managed to create a fairly complete picture of what sort of monsters to expect if they did decide to attempt challenging the dungeons final obstacle. Something Asher herself, at the very least, was incredibly eager to attempt. She wasn’t sure what, exactly, was calling out to her but some unknown voice practically screamed at her to beat this place. That there was something she could get here she couldn’t hope for anywhere else.

Not that she would mention that particular tidbit to the rest of the team. While she was perfectly content to follow her instincts when it came to her own decisions, she wasn’t about to force the rest of them into the same circumstances. Besides, she wanted to see what they would decide on their own first.

If they decided to attempt it on their own, fantastic. If not…Well like she said, she wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to force the decision based on instincts and nothing else. Maybe she would be able to convince them to leave her here, and she would be able to join up with another team. Or keep training until she could attempt the bosses on her own. That’s probably being overly ambitious.

As she thought about that, she sent a small spark snaking around her fingers. Crackling back and forth between her hands, she threw it out before calling it back. Almost like a yoyo, but much less boring. At least to her.

Then again, I didn’t expect to get this far this fast. Sahar and the others have been teaching me a lot. Maybe it isn’t entirely impossible. Especially if I can keep advancing this quickly. Xavier told me to expect things to slow down. That I still need to really learn to use my Intermediate spells and Advanced isn’t nearly as easy to accomplish.

She continued gaze deeply into the crackling electricity. Each spark and pop barely registering, as though she was looking for something on the other side of the flashes rather than the electricity itself.

Or maybe I just need to find new teachers. Green Dawn has done a lot for me, and I really don’t want to split ways with them. Still, everyone has something different to teach right? Just because I’ve nearly collected all the low hanging fruit they can offer doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t have a different avenue to try. I need to get strong fast, if I want to do things my way.

Rebecca and Alejandro were the same. They helped out of the goodness of their heart and did so much for me. I’ll always be grateful. At the end of the day though, Rebecca gave me an ultimatum. She would have forced me to leave, no matter what I wanted. I need to get strong enough people can’t do that. I have an opportunity here. A chance to become strong enough to be really free.

I want to stay here. There’s something here and I don’t plan to give it up. What do you think Bob? Think I should tough it out? Do things my way and damn the consequences?

Bob’s response came to her, robotic tones invading what had once been decidedly personal inner thoughts. I am not qualified to help you with this dilemma mistress. There is no optimal solution and I am unversed in the human psyche.

Asher figured most people would be, at the least, highly unnerved by the presence of thoughts very clearly not their own appearing unbidden in their head. In her opinion, this was nothing to worry about. As far as she could tell, Bob had no way of sharing her inner thoughts, or even really listening in unless she, on some level, sort of pushed the query his way.

More importantly, it was very obvious which thoughts were hers and which were not. While some might feel differently, she personally would have been far more concerned if that had not been the case. As long as they thoughts that weren’t her own felt so obviously other, she could be confident this entity stuck into her head wasn’t trying to subtly manipulate her.

At least fairly confident. She supposed the information fed to her could be carefully curated for a similar affect, but the way Bob told her things and the rare bursts of enthusiasm when he really got on a roll made it seem unlikely. As far as she could tell, his only real goal was to inform the people using the system.

She also had a suspicion something might be slightly different with Bob compared to other people’s systems. She’d talked about the voice with other members of Green Dawn, and they had said it only ever read prompts they had been provided. That it had a very basic query system, but only in regards to the associated menus. Whether Bob’s responsiveness was unique to her or people from Earth…well she’d need to meet another Beta Tester if she ever wanted to learn something like that.

I know Bob. She thought at him idlily. I just need a sounding board. Hopefully it doesn’t come down to it, but both options would suck.

Why do you have that opinion mistress?

Well, I’d kind of be leaving them with a big ‘fuck you’, wouldn’t I? They spent all this time training and working with me and then I just up and abandon them…

She fell silent again. She really didn’t think it would come to this decision. Or at least she dearly hoped that was the case. She’d already talked with Sahar and knew the woman planned to challenge the first four bosses at least.

She was probably just overthinking and worrying.

Still, the what if haunted her. Knowing she might have to split with them on bad terms.

Why would they convey you leaving the group negatively? You never agreed to join their team. You have helped them reach the center of the dungeon by providing additional offensive might that, at the very least, made several fights more feasible. Thus far, while you have claimed greater benefits it has still been a mutually beneficial relationship. I do not see why any parting could not be amicable.

She thought about his response for a bit, and some small part of her worry faded. At least slightly. There were still potential complications. They’d all promised Rebecca that they’d keep each other safe, and Asher was willing to bet the powerful fairy would have a strong opinion if she decided to stay.

I really don’t want her showing up and taking me away by force. She grinned a little. Wouldn’t that be something. I’m almost twenty-three and I bet she’d drag me away like a naughty child. She didn’t look that old, but sometimes the way she talked…

Asher shook her head a bit. It was time to stop worrying. This was a problem for future Asher, since current Asher couldn’t do anything but resolve to make sure any split with Green Dawn would be as friendly as possible.

No hard feelings. I like them, they like me, and I intend to keep it that way!

#

Asher had been off brooding again. Sahar had more than a few perception abilities, and the younger woman’s actions had been very obvious to a follower of the Ascendant Solarus. The girl was nervous about something, but trying her damndest to hide it.

It still surprised her that Asher considered herself a full adult, though it shouldn’t have. In most professions, for most humans, she probably would be. For adventurers, things could be far more different. Even E rank adventurers could have lifespans twice as long or more with only their first racial evolution. Any elementally touched individual, the most common racial evolution, could expect to see at least two hundred and fifty before succumbing old age.

In the eyes of many C or B rank adventurers, Sahar herself was barely old enough to be trust with anything of real importance. And she was pushing forty-five!

In some ways it grated, but for the most part Sahar just found it humbling. What was forty years of experience in the face of five hundred? Not that many adventurers made it that far.

Most adventurers either found a level of risk to reward they were comfortable with and ceased trying to advance further on the route to power. Too likely to end in their death, or require them to travel too far from home. Even if they did push, almost everyone found their cap at C rank. There was just something there. An “it” factor that most people lacked.

An adventurer could take every risk, push their way to C rank in less than a decade, and then find they simply didn’t have what it took to push beyond that.

And have to settle for a lifespan of only five or so centuries.

Meanwhile the farmers, masons, and blacksmiths would be lucky to see a single racial evolution before they died of old age. And most likely something far more basic, like a High Human, rather than the blessing of being connected with the element of their magic. They could still see another forty or fifty years, but it left many powerful adventurers with a skewed view of humanity.

In the end though, what did it matter? From talking to various truly ancient individuals, Sahar had come to the opinion that everybody felt like a child sometimes. Unsure of themselves in an wide world they knew nothing about, fully cognizant they had much to learn.

The secret was being able to accept that feeling at let it push you forward rather than rejecting it.

Leaving such thoughts for now, she shook herself and took the opportunity to call everyone together. They’d been so busy lately that this was the first time everyone on the team had been present since breakfast, and they had things to discuss. They had hit the point of diminishing returns on their search for more information and Sahar, at the very least, felt they were as prepared as they were likely to get.

She’d been anticipating this meeting, and had prepared a number of sandwiches for everyone to enjoy while they had their meeting. Like with most things in life, the only way to guarantee everyone’s attendance was to offer free food.

“We need to decide if we are, indeed, going to challenge the boss rush of this dungeon.” She cut right to the chase, unwilling to let the group talk around the subject, “We have gathered enough information to make an informed decision and I believe it is time to put it to a vote.”

Andre spoke up first, taking the plunge while the others shared conspiratorial glances, “From what I’ve heard, the first three or so shouldn’t be a problem. I think it would be downright foolish to not challenge them at least. The drops from them should make for a nice bonus from this little side trip.”

He paused after that, seeming to debate something with himself. For just a moment, he shot Asher a slightly guilty glance. Sahar didn’t think the other woman caught his glance, but she obviously wasn’t the only one that had figured the squirrely mage out. With a sigh, the big man continued.

“I think it would be foolish to go any further though. Some of the monsters on that list… We’re pretty strong, but I don’t know how many of these things we could stand against. Some of them are easily D rank creatures. A Lesser Flame Wyrm or Magmablood Certilia could even be C rank if they have the right abilities and enough experience.”

Glancing around, he paused long enough to lock eyes with each individual.

“I believe in us. There’s no one I’d rather have at my back in a fight. I still don’t think it is worth the risk.”

Everyone fell into silence after Andre’s small speech. Any inclination to answer off the cuff or based on gut feelings were quickly crushed. While originally there had been something of a lighthearted, if anxious, mood masking the gravity of their decision, Andre had brought everthing to the forefront.

Sahar couldn’t blame him for that. As much as Veronika might see this as just another monster hunt and Balam another chance to impress Asher, it was important they both take this seriously. Most days as an adventurer were fun. Dangerous compared to a normal person’s life, but not overly threatening when you were well trained.

Other days you took your life in your hands. Nothing but quick thinking and the compounded hours from years of practice standing between you and a horrendous death.

Then there were days like today.

Days were you had to make a decision. To look at the information and figure out whether another of the bad days was in your future. Figure out if there was anything you could do to avoid it.

In some ways those days were the worst. At least the dangerous ones were usually out of your hands by that point. The dice had been cast and all you could do was react. These days, what Sahar privately thought of as determinant days, could see you caught up in your own head. Too worried and apprehensive to make a decision until one was made for you.

They were also the most important days for keeping yourself alive. When you had enough information to mitigate dangers and avoid the worst the world was trying to throw at you.

Sahar needed everyone at the best on determinant days. Andre knew that, and he had made it clear to the rest. Xavier did too of course, but he’d never had the gentle hand Andre did for guiding the others.

With a nod of thanks, she let the Tavulus know she had seen what he was doing and was thankful for it.

“Andre is not entirely wrong. There are some things we could encounter that would easily result in all of our deaths. There are also plenty of bosses we could beat handily, securing an even bigger reward for ourselves. We have to think about this clearly. Decide how much risk we are willing to take on.”

“I still think we go all the way,” Veronika spoke up.

She had that look on her face, the one Sahar usually only saw when she was preparing trade caravans or scouting a new market. The one that said she was looking at every angle. Looking for every benefit she could squeeze from the situation and carefully stacking each potential coin on her internal scale.

The woman’s pure black eyes looked even more intense than normal when she got like this. Like the entire world was made of nothing but black and red numbers and everything could be assigned a value.

“I was already wanting to,” the seal woman continued, voice growing in enthusiasm. “This is a hunt I can’t expect to show up again any time soon. My blood and soul sing to me of the victories we could claim. The new stories we could share.”

Calming herself, the calculating look returned to her face, “Beyond that though, I put the odds of victory in our favor. Most of the bosses on that list we should be able to beat without undue risk. They would only really be a threat if we made a big enough mistake. Almost all the rest would be dangerous, but not unduly so. Especially if we can get the right scrolls and potions for a handful of the more troublesome ones. It’s only five or six that we would truly need to fear coming across.”

Xavier spoke up as she finished, “It helps that we’ve been working to adapt to the dungeon ever since Asher joined up. Like Veronika said, most of the things on that list would be no more dangerous than the Adult Certilia outside the Adventure Guild encampment was. At least now that we’ve gotten used to the place.”

“It helps that they only come one at a time too,” Balam spoke up, his voice rough with disuse. “We only have to worry about surviving a single encounter. If we are low on supplies or hurt too much to continue, we can retreat. I see no reason we should not attempt at least up to the fifth boss.”

Sahar looked around, watching the three steel themselves. She knew to varying degrees they were allowing themselves to be influenced by Asher’s obvious eagerness to push right to the end, but it was fairly clear they would have pushed for a more aggressive attempt even without the lightning mage. Asher may be pushing them a half step further than they would want to go on their own, but it was only a half-step. Nothing outrageous or unacceptably out of hand, and no purposeful manipulation as far as she could tell.

“What about you Asher?” She asked carefully, wondering if the younger woman would allow her eagerness to get out of hand, “What do you think we should do?”

“Well…”

Asher was usually so bold and confident in her answers, it was strange to see her hesitating like this. Sahar thought it might be a good sign though. An indication she was taking this as seriously as she needed to.

“I’m going to be honest. This is the biggest decision I’ve ever made. I mean, before all this I never had to make any real life and death decisions.” Asher seemed to think of something as she said that and shivered slightly, “At least not consciously. I don’t have the same experience you do either, and I think it would be kind of dumb to treat my opinion like it has the same weight as the rest of yours.”

Slowly, their newest team mate seemed to be gathering some confidence as she continued to speak, “I think you’ve all pretty clearly come to a consensus though. At the very least the first four or so bosses should be challenged. With that in mind, I think the bigger question is whether we buy everything we might need to challenge all ten bosses now and decide whether to continue while waiting for boss number five, or do we save our money for now and leave before boss five arrives? Either way, we’ve clearly decided not to make a final decision until we’ve seen what the first four bosses have to offer.”

Sahar spent a while observing her young protégé. She was proud of Asher’s answer. It was well thought out, avoided unduly giving in to her own wishes, and logical. She was right that the group had subconsciously decided to kicked the decision further down the road, and had accurately identified the question that needed to be answered now to give them the best chance of survival. She allowed herself a small smile before speaking up herself.

“I agree with Asher. It seems like we have decided we do not yet have enough information. That only personal experience can give us an accurate assessment of this dungeon’s final dangers. I also agree we need to decide how we want to handle this unknown.”

“I say we leave after the fifth and decide then,” Xavier spoke up. “Only thing it costs us is time. We have some spare money, but I’d much rather bring it home than leave it in some merchant’s pocket.”

“I disagree, it would be better to buy the supplies now.” Veronika chimed in, “As far as I can tell, almost everything around her is at a fairly stable, if inflated, price. Anything we don’t use we could likely resell for minimal loss in profit. A loss that should be easily overcome if we even attempt one additional boss and saves us quite a hassle if we do decide to continue.”

Balam spoke up, “I agree with Veronika. We have the money, better to spend it and be as prepared as possible. Even if we do risk some loss, it’s better to have every potential avenue covered.”

“I don’t have as much free money as the rest of you,” Andre spoke up slowly. “I have it invested in too many places. I would rather hold on to as much of it as I can. How much of a loss could we expect if we did it your way and decided not to continue Veronika?”

“Depends. If one of you was handling all the buy and selling? Twenty, maybe twenty five percent of what we spend. And I fully expect to spend four or five hundred gold. Lucky for you all, I’m here. With me negotiating, I expect we can decrease our loss to as low as five percent. More likely somewhere in the eight to ten range.”

Sahar laughed to herself a little as she watched Asher’s eyes get big at that number. She’d been trying to drill the basics of the local currency into the other woman’s head, something she had been surprised to learn the woman knew very little about. The woman still wasn’t great with estimating the value of various everyday items, but she knew enough to recognize that five hundred gold was an outrageous sum for most people.

She let herself get distracted briefly, wondering once again how Asher had ended up in this dungeon and yet still seemed to know so little even the most basic subjects. One day I will get you to open up to me about your secrets Asher. For now though, I will be here when you need me.

Xavier had been speaking, probably complaining about how five percent was still quite a lot when you were talking about that much money, and Sahar could tell an argument between the two was likely brewing. That often was the case whenever budget came up. The two had very different financial strategies. Veronika was prone to large gambles. Calculated ones, to be sure, and she usually made more money than she lost, but still gambles. Xavier on the other hand was the type to scrimp and save every penny.

Overall, Veronika tended to make more. Xavier, though, managed to avoid dropping into massive amounts of debt. Something Veronika had managed more than once, though she always managed to pay it off before it became a real problem. It was strange how often the richest people seemed to simultaneously be the most in debt.

Speaking up, she cut off the argument before it could get much further, “I believe that Veronika and Balam have the right of it. Besides, the true worst-case scenario is that one of those bosses we need special equipment to deal with appears in the first four fights. An incredibly rare occurrence, but one we should not entirely discount. Buying the supplies we need early is another layer of insurance to prevent that worst-case scenario.”

Xavier paused at that, going over what she had said in his head and looking for any flaws in her logic. He spent a while reviewing the information and grumbling to himself. Still, Sahar knew he would agree in the end. She was appealing to the pessimist in him and invoking worst case scenarios.

“Doesn’t matter how much coin you have…”

She let the sentence hang there, waiting for him to pick up the remainder.

“If you aren’t alive to spend. Aye…aye you are right there.”

He grumbled some more, but didn’t fight them as they began making plans to purchase what was needed. Andre looked like he was feeling better as Veronika confidently talked about how they could recoup any losses and that at worst it would simply cut into their bonus from challenging the dungeon bosses. The man cared less about being rich and more about hitting a bare minimum in funds, something he was less worried about with every word out of Veronika’s mouth.

#

“Enhance bug repellent?”

“Check.”

“Field Rations?”

“Check.”

“Firedrinker trap orb, times twelve?”

“One second…Yep, all twelve are here.”

Asher listened as Xavier and Veronika went through a list that was one part video game items, one part Shakespearean witch ingredients, and two parts camping supplies. The team had been in a rush the last day and a half, but things were coming to a head. They had put their name on the waiting list to challenge the bosses, and their slot was coming up in only a couple more hours.

Signing up for the wait list was technically not required, but Andre had explained it was generally considered good manners. Not to mention a good way to avoid getting on people’s bad side. Something very important in the unregulated wild west culture of the dungeons, where nobody had the manpower or interest to enforce national laws. Out here, the only thing a team had was their reputation and their strength. A bad reputation meant you needed a lot more strength to avoid others making your life…unpleasant.

Besides, it hadn’t been that much of a sacrifice. They’d managed to book a time only six hours off of when they planned to leave anyway. It all worked out and Asher saw no reason to rock the boat. Maybe if she’d been in a bigger hurry, she’d have been more tempted to skip the niceties.

“You ready for this Asher?”

Balam surprised her when he spoke, sending her jumping slightly as electricity sparked out of her skin to run up and down her arms. Not only had she been caught up in her own thoughts, the man had been very quiet in his approach. Something she assumed just became an unconscious habit when you did the kind of work he did.

“Hell, Balam, don’t scare me like that! I almost fried you.”

The adventurer seemed to find that funny, laugh lines appearing on his face and joy sparking behind his eyes. He didn’t laugh though. She had never heard him make a noise even half as loud as laughter.

“Sorry about that. Part of my magic, a passive Ki called mantle of the hunter that dampens any sound I make. It can actually be harder to make myself noticed by most untrained people than it is to hide.”

“Well I’m glad you are feeling up for a conversation today. Most of the time I can barely get a grunt of acknowledgement out of you before you go bounding off to do something or other! That another part of your cat magic? Mana empowered aloofness?”

“No,” His response was half grimace, half pout and Asher found the look rather adorable on him. It left him seeming years younger than he really was.

“Just don’t like people much. They’re loud and mostly kind of stupid.” There was a slight pause, then he looked up at her in horror, “I don’t mean you though! You figured that bridge out really fast despite not having a perception skill. I don’t think Sahar actually expected you to manage it without asking for help.”

“Hah, got lucky mostly. Something you said just clicked. Thanks for that, by the way, never would have figured it out on my own.”

Balam practically preened a bit at the praise. It was nice that she could make him so happy with nothing more than the truth. Hopefully she’d get to see more of his smile in the future, he was usually so mopey. The loner style didn’t fit him well.

After that, the two fell into a friendly silence. Balam began going through his own pack, obviously uninterested in breaking the quiet, and Asher started talking with Bob. She’d gotten back into the habit with her recent worries, and lately she’d felt a little guilty for ignoring him in favor of Green Dawn. As far as she could tell Bob himself didn’t care, but she’d promised herself it wouldn’t happen again.

I bet he’s like a house cat Bob. Likes to act all independent, but always in the room with you because he really just wants to be a part of everything and is too shy to admit it.

I do not believe his magic is a result of his personality mistress. This is an example of correlation not meaning causation. It is merely coincidence that his magic empowers him with jaguar aspects.

I know Bob, but I have to make the reference! It’s a law. Just like how you always have to make a pun when the opportunity presents itself.

That is untrue. The Zoramir Kingdom has not had a law, policy or regulation, regional or national, regarding puns since Lady Dyras nullified her Aunt’s standing orders to beat any guest who dared to use a pun in the ducal family’s presence.

She sounds like a nice woman.

Lady Dyras or her Aunt? Lady Dyras was known as one of the great patrons of art during her lifetime and helped spread the works of three prominent painters and one singer. Her Aunt currently holds the record for most bards imprisoned in a decade.

Hah! I’ve missed these talks of ours Bob.

There was no response, but for just a moment she swore she could feel the tiniest sliver of joy filling a small, distant corner of consciousness.

#

“Alright everyone, final check. Our window is in ten minutes. Make sure you have all your supplies.”

Asher quickly patted herself down, making sure she still had the various pouches, vials, and bags she had been handed. Everything was there, and she had already triple checked the contents of each bag before they left. After she finished, she picked up her staff and turned toward the isthmus the stone path they would be following.

Green Dawn was currently standing just outside the small safe zone town, following the only path available. Around them, the air was distorted by a powerful heat haze that blurred anything more than a few dozen feet out past the lava’s edge. Ahead, the route split in two, the first of several splits. Only the left path was open, the right covered by a large wall of semi molten stone.

The dungeon would guide them to their “instance” of the boss room as the adventurers referred to it. One of an estimated two dozen islands that made up the center of the dungeon. Only they would be able to follow the route without encountering heavy resistance from the dungeon, but they would be able to freely leave. Assuming they made it back onto the path from the island. They just needed to keep following the unblocked path.

“Lets do this guys!” She called out, unable to contain her nervous energy any longer.

Shuffling from foot to foot, she waited as the others confirmed they had everything and they began making their way down the path. As they walked, strange shapes could be seen in the Heat Haze surrounding them. The blotches came in all sizes, from a swarm of fist sized somethings to on dark patch that Asher had originally thought might be one of the islands before she saw it move.

It was intimidating, knowing that various boss creatures that they might soon be fighting were moving around out there. Nothing obvious keeping them from simply charging Green Dawn as they followed the path the dungeon laid out for them. It almost felt like a giant trap. That they’d turn around and find the route blocked, only to be swarmed from every direction,

That’s just my nerves talking. Look, everyone else seems perfectly calm. You’re going to be fine, just take some deep breathes.

The route narrowed as they walk. Most obviously whenever they came to split, but even in between she noticed width being shaved away. What had started as a wide path easily able to accommodate four people standing next to each other, was slowly becoming a tight squeeze for two. She assumed they would eventually be forced into single file, and need to enter the boss room one by one.

As she was thinking that, Xavier spoke up, “I’m calling it Sahar. Let’s get into a defensive formation. If the route gets much narrower, it will be damn inconvenient to try to organize ourselves.”

He swept his eyes over the group, double checking what everyone looked like before calling out an arrangement he’d had them all memorize the previous day.

“I will take the lead. Balam, you are behind me. Next up is Sahar, then Veronika. Everyone make sure you are in easy reach of Sahar’s healing spells. A reminder that most of them have a fairly limited range, and that is going to determine how much we can spread out. Asher, you are following them. I know you can’t do the most from there, but try to get in a position where you can at least see me. Andre will take up the rear and make sure nothing sneaks up behind us. Asher, your main job is supporting him.”

The group rapidly organized, falling into place as Xavier called out a few instructions to make sure their formation was set up as best he could make it. He staggered them slightly, making use of the extra space currently afforded in the walk way to try to give Balam access to use his melee abilities on anything coming from the front while also giving Veronika and Asher herself better vision of what was ahead. That should allow them to better contribute with their spells.

They weren’t expecting anything to attack them here, but it was better safe than sorry. Additionally, they might have to head into the boss room swinging if the first boss was something different than normal.

They continued forward in Xavier’s slow, careful pace. Watching for any danger and encountering nothing. Ahead of them an orange and red blur began to appear in the heat haze, rising high into the air. The shadowy figures became less common, and seemed further away with every step. The route continued to narrow, but slowly and their formation required no adjustment.

Eventually, they made their way around a curve, and there it was. A cyclone of fire, rising almost one hundred feet in the air by Asher’s estimate that brought the entire group to a pause. The boss room.

She felt Green Dawn collectively gulp, more out of nerves than fear she assumed, before they once again continued forward. Ahead of her, Xavier reached out one hand and plunged it into the spinning flame.

“I do not feel anything!” he called back, turning his head over his should to talk with them.

He turned back around and shook himself lightly, taking a deep breath before stepping into the flame.