The Walled Port of Pernero – one of the three major maritime fortresses in the world. Stone buildings extended up the slope of a mountain. What had once been ridges of solid rock had been transformed through painstaking labour into several level plateaus, each covered in structures laid with the very same grey and reddish brown rock that had been loosened in the process. The taming of nature did not stop there. Where the mountains had transitioned out into the ocean, digging and mining had shaped large basins surrounded by walls and gates. During high tide, they could be filled with water, during the ebb, they could be drained, and all could be used to store the many ships of the locals.

A shallow ring had been deliberately kept intact around in the water. Vessels either had to enter through the few controlled and guarded gaps that existed, or risk tearing their hull open on the solid rock.

What had once been a mountain that sloped off into the sea now was another testimony to sapient ingenuity. Apexus watched people work all around the basins that surrounded the city. Some had been transformed into salt fields. Shallow water was gradually moved around, the sun evaporating it until only the salt remained – alongside a great many impurities that then had to be removed through raking and other filtering.

Many people with bent backs were working those salt fields. Many more pushed wooden boats through another shallow basin, checking the traps for lobsters, shrimp, and other crustaceans. They did so carefully, avoiding the potential punishments of claws or, worse, the slams from the mantis shrimps.

Then there were the docks, where yet more workers swarmed around ships that needed maintenance or were being built. Basins could be flooded individually or as segments, which made for ideal drydocks.

The people who worked were men, universally. They were shirtless, their backs bent, their bones showing slightly through the skin. Around them stood more men in good clothes, sometimes even leather armour. They had swords and whips on their waists and never lifted a single finger to help anyone. Not when the shirtless men lifted large logs to the watermill. Not when they pulled in the fishnets. Not when they stumbled and fell into the piles of wet salt.

“Slaves,” Aclysia stated, while the serpent drifted through the outer barrier. They followed one of many canals that connected the basins which made manoeuvring between them with boats even possible. This particular one was a surrender of those that had built the city to the demands of the gods. The Serpent Shrines could not be meddled with.

The beige tower sat on the shore of the city. Around it was a massive yard. Open space, where only temporary structures were allowed, with tall walls looking down at it. Guards manned the embattlements, bows in hand. Barrels filled with arrows and throwing spears were at the ready. Orders were barked in the distance and the open space was cleared quickly of all those who travelled through it.

“We really are the most exciting thing to come about this Leaf in the last few decades, huh?” Reysha asked, while a small group of armoured men bunched up at the shrine. “You ever think what goes through these guys’ heads?”

“S-something about wanting to protect their homes, probably?” Korith suggested.

“No – I mean yeah, probably – but what I meant is those guys specifically.” Reysha gestured towards the little group, then towards the embattlements. “If we decide to attack them, they get fucked while the assholes up on the walls get to stand at a safe distance and fire arrows.”

“I assume the honour of being the face of the city outweighs the potential risk of the occasional confrontation,” Aclysia stated. “More importantly, how do we wish to engage with these people?”

Apexus looked at himself. “Should I cover my chest?”

“No!” Korith shouted. “Why?! That’d be a crime!”

“…Calm down there, horny shortie,” Reysha giggled. “Although you do have to explain to what weird fucking places your thoughts went again.”

“It appears that having no shirt is linked to a low status in this city.” Apexus pointed at the men working the basins. “I do not want to wear the guise of prey.”

“I find it personally questionable whether there is a direct correlation. However, there is no disadvantage to putting it on, darling… besides the aesthetic loss.” Aclysia’s opinion was enough on the matter for Apexus to pull up the upper parts of his robe. The preferences of his women was a good enough reason to go without cover most of the time.

Korith kept making saddened noises all the way until the serpentine vehicle lowered itself onto the ground. The only smile that remained as they got off was Reysha’s. The tiger girl’s lips were curled into an enigmatic grin that could just as easily have been belligerent as it could have been amused. For once, she stuck to their formation, staying behind Apexus and Korith as they walked down to the flattened rock.

Apexus found the texture of the ground odd. Much work had gone into carving the mountain into the city, and yet the ground was a crudely worked surface. He stopped halfway up to the guards and let his naked sole travel over the ground. There were so many little bumps and depressions, reduced to bluntness after thousands of feet had trampled over it for such a long time. To have flattened the mountain into these various plateaus was impressive work, but the tools and skills employed to do so had been basic.

All throughout the motion, Apexus never once took his eyes off the guards. A few of them reached for their swords or clenched their spears tighter. The odd gesture of Apexus’ foot made them nervous, doubly so because the large chimera painted an image of a being they could not place. Kobolds were unknown, but there were a few goblins in the city. Aclysia, unarmed and wearing a priestly robe, was fundamentally disarming due to her body language and the base trust that men often afforded attractive women. Same could have been said for Reysha, but her unwavering smile and the black of her eyes diminished this greatly. The small arsenal of weapons attached to her leather clad form did the rest.

Apexus took another step forward. Even folded, the verdant wings increased the scope of his silhouette and the long tail extended his reach. To the guards, to whom adventurers were but distant legends, a man that stepped up with fists like his might as well have been wielding a warhammer. The swords were drawn and the spears pointed.

“That is close enough,” the captain said in unison with his comrade’s actions. He was the only one to keep his weapon sheathed. His head rose to Apexus’ nose, making him by far the tallest of the guards and yet still shorter than either Aclysia or Reysha.

Apexus stopped, as did Korith, Reysha positioned herself behind her man, to use his body as cover. It was easier to slip away from people’s senses when they couldn’t see her completely. Aclysia also stopped two steps behind. She had no intention to take over the speaking role here.

“I am Apexus,” the humanoid chimera introduced himself, his deep baritone was exactly the voice one would have attributed to a man of his stature. “This here is Korith and Aclysia,” he deliberately skipped over Reysha, as did the eyes of the guards. This time, the Rogue acted with full agreement of the party when she positioned herself for the worst case scenario.

“Welcome to the Walled Port of Pernero,” the guard captain responded in a harsh voice. “Where do you come from?”

“Recently, Mayana. In general?” Apexus considered the question for a moment. “I don’t know. Does it matter?”

“Don’t play games,” the guard captain warned. “Do you come in the name of any faction?”

“No,” Apexus responded simply.

“What’s your reason for travelling to our city?”

Apexus pointed westwards. “The dungeon known as Serpent Heart. We aim to explore it.” That caused additional tension among the guards. The spears quivered and the captain hesitated for several moments. “Is there an issue?”

“No,” the captain said and cleared his throat. His mouth was suddenly dry. “If that is all you wish for, go right ahead. You’ll have to understand that we will be watching you, sir?”

Apexus tilted his head, confused, then nodded. “It is your city,” he lowered his hand. “We have no intention of bothering anyone.”

“Then be on your way. If you want access to the city proper, check in with the gatekeepers. Have a nice day… sir,” the guard captain hastily gave a hand signal and the entire welcoming committee stepped back. While the guards stepped away, Apexus picked up the captain mumbling to one of his men, “How can someone talk about entering that death trap so casually?”

Apexus pieced together what had caused the shift in attitude at that moment. To them, a level 10-20 dungeon was a fairly normal experience. To a guard who only had to deal with normal people, it was the same as being thrown into a pit of vipers. Consequently, someone who stated, without a care, that they wished to walk into a death trap, had to be regarded as either foolish or too dangerous to handle. The captain had gone with the latter. A correct assumption.

“Are we powerful?” Apexus asked.

“Objectively speaking, this is the case,” Aclysia responded swiftly, having herself guessed what had gone on during that exchange. “Adventurers exceed the physical and magical capacities of regular people several times over, unless those people stem from a particularly hostile, magic-rich Leaf.”

“In a place like this, we might as well be demigods,” Reysha stated, hands folded behind her head.

“Reysha!” Aclysia protested.

“What?”

“You cannot entitle yourself to such a station – it holds moral weight!”

“It’s a metaphor, bubble butt.”

“Uhm, so we aren’t entering the city?” Korith asked, while Apexus took a step westward. He stopped and gave the city a long look. Then he turned to Korith.

“Do we have any reason to?” he asked.

“Just curious about the local economy,” the kobold confessed.

“Considering the Walled Ports’ function as protecting the maritime exchange of goods and the west to east route that appears to be the core of this Leaf’s trade system, it can be assumed that the economies are largely synchronized. In other words, you can expect currency to be about as valueless here as elsewhere.

“I hate this place,” Korith squeaked.

“You should,” Aclysia stated and glared over to one of the basins. While the overseers stared at the party, they chastised the workers who did the same. “It reeks of immorality.”

“Pretty quick to decide that one,” Reysha observed.

“Although I have personal issues with the rigidity of a caste system, it can be a workable way to organize a society at the base level, provided there is enough space for individual achievements,” Aclysia responded. “It must be inspected closely. To keep your fellow sapient beings in bondage, however, is immoral at all points. We were all given souls by our benevolent creators.”

“We should learn more, regardless of how bad it looks,” Apexus said. “But not today. If we do engage in trade, it should be after we have found new things to trade. Agreed?”

“That does make sense,” Korith stated.

“As long as I get something to eat.” Reysha grinned and rolled her shoulders. “We’re overlevelled for that one anyway.”

“Not by much.” Apexus extended an arm off to the side. An offer that was immediately understood by the shortstack who leapt onto it. For a moment she dangled from it like a monkey from a tree branch, then his hand went down and supported her butt. Korith wiggled herself into position, until she sat comfortably on his palm, head rested against his shoulder. It was one of the many comfortable positions she could get carried in.

“Shortie privileges,” Reysha complained.

“Ye,” Korith responded with a happy squeak.

They travelled along the outskirts of the city. There were slaves working in every basin, gathering the seafood and salt that was the baseline sustenance of the city and repairing the ships that served as defence and trade vessels. Looking eastwards, they spotted many vessels travelling the middle sea of the Leaf. The three Walled Ports were the primary havens and their ships protected the many smaller island communities from piracy. That was all the group really knew.

It took them the entire day to travel from the outskirts of Pernero to the Serpent Heart dungeon.

It was unusual to see a dungeon that had no sign of a guild outpost whatsoever. If there ever had been one, it had long since rotted away, and left only the corridor of indestructible, white stones that jutted out of the ground like a giant rib cage, leading up to a broad hole in the ground that descended deep into the underground.

“Really been a fucking while, huh?” Reysha asked, looking at the dark dungeon entrance. Her nose tingled, the smell of magic and stagnant air mixing into the intoxicating promise of dangers and feasts.

“Indeed,” Aclysia confirmed. “This will be our first dungeon as an extended group.”

“G-good that it's on the easier side then,” Korith stammered.

“You’ll do fine,” Apexus immediately assuaged her concerns. They had fought a dragon together, what could a low-level dungeon do to them?

Only one way to find out.