Dungeon Status:

Tier 2

Level 31/100

Heart 3,459,600/3,459,600

Experience 437,797/864,900

Mithril 5,902

Adamantine 3,422

Mana 6,420

Poison, Greater 500

Deadly Scorpion Venom 51

Quest: Kill 41 city dwellers.

Quest: Half populate your dungeon: Workers 45/66 | Monsters 34/67 | Traps 80/162

Quest: Reach level 50.

"This is a dungeon!"

The shout drew Travis' attention to the new arrivals, who'd just stepped into his entrance from the forest fort and drawn their weapons. He could see, but the sound was muffled—hearing at all meant a denizen was nearby, but more importantly there were city guards in that hallway.

Several of the guards had lowered the tips of their pikes and held them at the ready, while others had raised their guns.

"Fife! Can you get to the entrance? Brayden too if you can make it?" Travis watched things unfold from Axel's point of view, which he only realized because Felna was on the tower talking with Penelope and the angle of the view was level with the guards. "Axel, can you hold back and keep an eye on how this goes down?"

"Got it, Trav. Seems like a bunch of new blood, though they have good gear. I can't really tell anything but the armor and weapons, but the steel armor two of them are in looks brand new."

Travis watched as Brayden and Fife rushed up from where they'd been training in the Martial Hall. Tagging along behind them were Ludmiller, Kelvin, and Astrid.

"Relax. The dungeon is an ally, not an enemy." The guard, a sergeant, was doing his job well in Travis' estimation. He'd lowered his pistol back to its holster and held his open hands out to show he wasn't armed. "See the doors over there? They lead out into Northridge. Nothing's going to attack you unless you start something."

And it was right then Travis realized he had a problem, and it was entirely his fault. "Wait! Guys! Please stop!"

But it was too late. Just as the adventurers were sliding their weapons back in their sheathes, Fife and Brayden broke into the open. They had blood on their weapons and armor. Everyone drew their weapons again and, from what Travis could see, the archer in their party had even strayed his line of sight over Axel.

An older woman, wearing far more elaborate armor than the adventurers, stepped through the entrance and seemed to take stock of things. "It has been a long journey. Lower your weapons, everyone, there is no evil here to fight." The way she said the last words made Travis start to wonder—since he'd heard Brayden speak with a similar, slight accent.

Brayden, to Travis' surprise, immediately hung the mace he'd been using on his belt. When Fife didn't respond immediately, he thumped her in the ribs and said, "Put your weapon away."

Wincing, Fife did as Brayden told her—but the adventurers didn't. Their frontline fighters rounded on Brayden and Fife with weapons drawn.

The woman in the elaborate armor let out the softest sigh and moved. To Travis, it was a rush of motion that seemed to flow around the adventurers as the woman put herself between them and his kobolds. Drawing a longsword from her right side and a shortsword from her left, she parried the attacks of both the front-liners of the party and turned each deflection into a disarm maneuver. The action was over in less time than Travis judged it took Axel to blink. "I asked nicely. Never raise your blades against a priest of Brogdar Evil Slayer again."

Everyone in the room froze at her statement. The tone was a mix of confidence and resignation that made Travis feel relieved—like an adult had stepped into the room and threatened to take everyone's toys away if they misbehaved. That she pretty much had done exactly that made him giggle a bit—but not where anyone would hear it. "Who is she? A priest of Brogdar?" he managed to ask Brayden.

"High Priestess of Brogdar Alice Stormblade, welcome to Travis, dungeon of Northridge, and home to one of our temples." Brayden dipped his head slightly toward the woman, which told Travis all he needed to know about her, as if defending the lives of his friends wasn't enough.

Mutterings from the group went ignored. The guards present made motions toward the city-side exit, and the adventurers followed along. The sergeant made a point to collect the disarmed weapons. "Travis, do you want to press charges?"

"Axel, can you tell them no?" Travis said.

"He doesn't hold a grudge, don't worry. After all, if they want to adventure in a local dungeon, their choices are a hole full of poison or here." Where Axel had found that sharp wit, Travis had no idea, but he suspected a certain feline was the cause.

"True enough. Go on, get out of here. If the Guard catches you lot causing more trouble, you'll have some time in the stockade." The sergeant passed them their weapons before seeing them out.

Alice looked around, then paused, then said, "You have a good relationship with the city guard, Travis. It's a unique experience to encounter a live dungeon that doesn't ill-wish anything unfortunate enough to have to enter it. How best should I address you?"

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"Travis, or Trav," Brayden said. "It's good to see you again, ma'am."

"My advisors said you looked a little different now, but this is quite the change, Cleric Brayden. Is there somewhere nearby to get a drink and talk?"

Fife was annoyed. The steel blade in her hands was covered in wolf, human, and kobold blood, and it was all inside her sheath too. The blade was easier to clean than the sheath, but she was making a start on the weapon because the last thing she wanted was her practice blade to cause some nasty wounds.

"You'll want cleaning alcohol." Kelvin sat down beside Fife and set a large jug of strong smelling liquid before her. "It's the only way to stop anything from growing in there. Works on your insides, too."

"Thanks. Yeah, I normally try to keep it clean, but I've been working with Brayden long enough that when he gives a command, my arm is already moving. You know what I mean?"

Knowing he had a far away look on his face, Kelvin sighed. "Twice I've had that same closeness." When Fife didn't say a word, he continued. "The first was a brave woman who never backed down from a fight. When she said jump, I jumped and wondered why afterward."

"Was she cute?"

"No. She was handsome. Strong shoulders, muscles like iron, a grip you couldn't break until she was done, and a voice like a sergeant."

As they talked, Fife unwound the bindings that held the two halves of her sheath and split it in half to start scrubbing with old rags. She took a swig of the alcohol and spat it onto the rags to help—swallowing far less than she would have liked. She noticed Kelvin had a smile on his face as he described his former companion. "What happened?"

"I followed her orders so well that when she told me to marry her, I did that too." Kelvin took one of the sheath halves and started cleaning it. "That's how I wound up with a lot of children, grandchildren, and a few great-grandchildren—though they were all pretty great. I wonder if Portentia is still sweet on Axel? I need to catch up with that girl."

"It's easy to get distracted here, isn't it?" Fife swigged more of the alcohol and used it to soak the rag anew. "Me and Blake have been working on a whole mess of new training dungeon ideas. I'm going to be digging them out soon. I hope we get some neat monsters to fight."

"Excuse me." Sitting at the table with a pair of kobolds, one of which being the most armored thing she'd ever seen, Alice Stormblade nodded to the pair when each shrugged. "I heard you talking about the training dungeons. I would be interested in inspecting what you have so far."

Fife, never having been hard to get excited about her favorite new project, left her sheath parts sitting on the table and stood up. "Sure! I've been playing the part of the dungeon boss in the first one, and it's been great to hone my skills."

"I'll finish these for you, Fife." Kelvin relaxed in his seat as the pair headed off from the second floor tavern. Their voices faded, but he was well aware that the warmth of so many people living in the dungeon with him had become a treasure. "Thank you, Travis."

"Huh? I only caught the end of that. Is something wrong?" Travis was a touch confused.

Kelvin almost smacked himself on the head. He knew the best way to talk to Travis was to say his name first, then talk, but he didn't find himself needing to get the dungeon's attention all that often. "The opposite. I thought you'd have me doing hard labor with an unforgiving taskmaster for the rest of my days. Instead, you introduce me to the most amazing people I am not related to and allowed me to work to make everyone's lives better. So, thank you."

"Not that I need to say it, but you're welcome. Hey, have you thought about what classes you want to work through?"

"The easy choice would be to build myself up as a Soldier, then Ranger and perhaps Mage. I like where that young firebrand is headed, with guns as her primary damage and resorting to melee as a final solution, but I think I'd like to spend more time out of the action." Using a claw on a particularly nasty bit of muck in the wood, Kelvin sighed in relaxed contemplation. "Oh, did you want a boss for another one of your little dungeons? I wouldn't mind getting in on that fun too. Hone my skills a bit more."

"Would you like to design your own?" Travis asked.

Kelvin had never contemplated such an idea before, but as he mulled it over it grew on him. "I think I would. At the very least, I'd like to design the encounters and traps."

It was fascinating. Live dungeons had been studied, of course, but Alice had never been able to crouch down close to an active dungeon's traps and listen as one of the denizens explained the reason for it being there and not elsewhere. "So you want them to gain confidence as they clear the sludge, and then they don't notice this pit?"

"Exactly! So many parties fall for this the first time they come through. This is going to remain the easiest difficulty area, though, so we want the traps to mostly be less than deadly. The focus, here, is the friends they meet on their way to see me." Lifting two digits up to her mouth, Fife blew a harsh whistle.

Flinching despite herself, Alice stood back as two big scorpions rushed into the hallway, dodged the sludge, and milled around Fife. "Pets?"

"These guys are my cohorts! At the regular difficulty, it's just me and them, with me in steel armor. But, if a party wants a shot at better rewards or just wants to try something tougher, I'll grab my adamantine gear and I'll bring a few more scorpions. You know, the funny thing is I never really thought about the monsters in a dungeon as being all that smart. Goblins and lizards, yeah, but these guys can do some wicked tricks once we figured them out." Turning around, Fife called out, "Pattern three!"

Alice didn't know whether to laugh or stare in shock as one of the dog-sized scorpions clambered up on Fife's back, while the other skittered along the wall and clung to the ceiling. She decided laughter was the best bet and shook her head. "Now I see why the reports I got seemed unbelievable."

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