"What do you mean it's empty?" Connie asked.

"Just what I said, it's empty," Barbara declared.

James watched Roland get a blanket out of his backpack and lay it on the floor. Getting up, James walked over to the chest and looked inside. Barbara was right. It was empty. On the bottom of the chest was the Dungeon's symbol to mark the right path. The two sister's stopped bickering when James pushed the chest off the pedestal, and it fell to the floor. On the top of the pedestal was Apep's symbol. In the middle of the symbol was a large hole. The hole was shaped like a large blade.

Reaching into his Backpack of Holding, he withdrew the Great Sword of Poisoning and compared the blade to the hole. He was confident it would match. Sliding the sword into the hole was awkward due to the position of the hole, but the sword slid in until only a dozen centimetres of the blade remained. Once the sword was in place, James waited to see if anything else would happen. When nothing did, he tried twisting the sword, and when that didn't work, he tried pushing down on the blade.

The blade sank another couple of centimetres, and then he heard a click. Being careful of another ambush, everyone went on alert.

"Over here," Roland called out.

Moving over to the alcove in which the Chaos Beast was hiding, James found a small hidden cubby holding a grey triangular gem and an arrow.

Name: Arrow of Slaying - Chimera Quality: Exceptional Rarity: Ultra Rare Damage Range: 4 - 44 Accuracy: +10 Crit Change: +20% Durability 12/12 Special: Dungeon Item Only, Ammunition, Enchanted - Has a change of Slaying a Chimera

"Chimera Slaying?" James asked, holding the arrow out to Roland.

Roland didn't take the arrow but took a step back instead, "Chimera Slaying? That's not good."

James raised an eyebrow, "Why's that?"

"Chimera means a hybrid creature of mixed heritage or blood. Like a Minotaur, Hippogriff, Manticore, that sort of thing." Roland paused and looked up from the arrow at James, "And half-elves."

James pulled the arrow away from Roland, "Shit. Sorry."

Roland waved off the apology, "I am not half elf, but I am a hybrid. Now that we have the gem, I suggest we return to the Safe Room and heal Doris."

The trip back to the Safe Room was faster than expected. No markings on the ceiling suggest a path, so Connie picked an archway at random. Once we passed through, we appeared in the first room. This was either by great luck or by design. James decided to go with the design. Roland didn't stop until the Party had made it to the Safe Room. Once safely ensconced, he seemed to breathe a little easier.

The safe room was made of three rooms. The main room had a large table, chairs, a fireplace, a sofa and a small cooking area. The second room was a bathing room, with a curtained area with a tub, a space for washing the face and hands, and a space for waste. The last room was a bedroom with another fireplace and six beds, three on each side, with their feet facing the middle of the room. The group carried Doris to one of the beds and lay her on top, blanket and all. During the entire trip, she didn't regain consciousness.

James left the family to watch over Doris. Onyx lay down on the bed across from her, and James fled to see about making something to eat for everyone. While he was going through the cooking area, looking for food, Rocko appeared.

"I have some news!" Rocko shouted.

'Good or bad?' James asked.

Rocko raised a shoulder, "A little of both, I am afraid. The good news is that the damage isn't permanent. It is a condition called Destabilization. It lasts for about an hour. The problem is that when the condition fades, any damage done to her body since the condition was applied would then have to be repaired."

'I don't understand. What damage?' James inquired.

"Moving her may have caused her bones to shift or muscles to detach. Falling to the floor may have caused damage." Rocko explained.

'So she will need healing when she recovers?' James asked.

"Yes. I doubt she will need a lot, but I suspect it will be excruciating."

'A Potion of Healing should be enough, right?'

Rocko shrugged, "I wasn't given a lot of information about that, but I suspect so."

James nodded and walked back into the sleeping area, "I just got word from Rocko that the condition is not permanent."

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"From your imaginary friend?" Connie asked.

"I am a Champion. He is my guide. Accept it or not, I can tell you what I know or not." James wanted to help but was getting a little frustrated with their attitude about Rocko.

Barbara nodded, and Roland seemed to ignore him. It was Connie who apologized, "I am sorry. I was teasing at first, and then it became a habit. What did Rocko say?"

James passed on the information that Rocko gave him. "I can't heal, but we can give her a healing potion."

Roland decided the matter for them, "We will give her one when she's awake."

James offered one of his Potion of Healing (50), but Roland waved it off, saying he had something more potent.

"I am going to make some food. I will let you know when it is ready" James backed off and headed back to the cooking area.

James wasn't surprised when he announced that food was ready and no one came out to eat. When the condition expired, Doris woke up and began to scream. Roland held her down, and Barbara fed her the potion as her body thrashed around on the bed. Connie tried to hold her legs but wasn't strong enough and fled the room in tears. James went in to help, but the worst was already over. Doris lay panting on the bed, her eyes closed and her body drenched in sweat. Seeing this, James fetched his water skin from his Bag of Holding and offered it to Barbara. Once Doris was over the worst pain, she began to Cast Soothing Touch on herself until she was empty. James got the feeling the last couple of castings were a waste and was done to eliminate the sensations that lingered in the body after the damage was healed.

Although Doris was unconscious for the last hour, she went back to sleep. Roland left her side to go to the washing room, and Barbara joined James in the eating area. Connie returned to the room once Doris had fallen back to sleep, and she decided to stay in the room, so Doris wasn't alone.

"Are you okay?" James asked, placing a reheated plate in front of Barbara.

"Ya, just a bit shook up. That is the closest any of us have come to dying."

James nodded his understanding. In his previous work, he had seen how shock effected people when they faced their mortality.

Roland came out from the washing room. He didn't look any fresher, but his back was straighter. He took the plate James offered him as he walked past and sat down across from Barbara.

James watched as his friends ate. When Barbara returned to sit by Doris, Connie came out and had something to eat. Roland stayed at the table, sipping some ale he pulled from his backpack. James decided that he would have to start to carry some ale himself. When Connie got up and left, Roland waved from James to join him and handed him the skin of ale.

"When this is over, I don't want you to Party with my sisters anymore," Roland stated.

"Isn't that their choice?" James countered.

"Maybe, but it could also be your choice. I suspect they will let you know that they will want to take a break from adventuring for a while. If they don't, I ask that you don't Party with them." Roland advised.

"I am still not seeing how this is your call," James said defensively.

Roland took a sip of ale before he continued, "I am not telling you to fuck off. I think that I may have a better offer for you."

James frowned, "Oh?"

"You need to grow, and dragging my sisters around with you will not help. They don't have the experience or the drive. Not even a month ago, they were level 5, the fact that they got to level 11 is excellent. But I can offer you a group of people who are level 20. All professional soldiers who want to reach level 21 or higher. "

"And they need me to do that?"

"More than you realize. Once you get to level 20, you can expect your next level in over a year. If you're lucky."

"Why so long? Even if I didn't help your sisters, they would have reached level 10 in a couple of months."

"Gaining levels is hard on the mind, the body and the soul. People become despondent with the long periods between levels. Some people can't handle the danger or the risk of losing a friend or loved one. Some people don't like killing for the experience or are unlucky with the rewards. There are a thousand reasons." Roland paused to take a sip of ale. His voice was softer when he continued talking: "Some people stick it out and do what some call a 'grind'. Although this grinds experience quicker, it also grinds down your soul. It becomes so unbearable that few people continue. What people have found works is the sporadic adventurer. Going adventuring once every few years and either getting your level or making serious progress towards it. Then go back to what you were doing before and recover. The last part is the effect it has on the body. My sisters have gained a bunch of levels quickly, and their bodies haven't adjusted to their increased Attributes. That can be dangerous in a fight."

James looked towards the sleeping area and waited. When Roland didn't continue, he asked, "And what is it you are offering?"

"As soldiers, we do what we can to become stronger. The stronger we are, the better we can protect our people. It doesn't hurt that promotions are based on your level as well. I can't get another promotion until I reach level 20, which isn't too hard when doing Dungeons, but this is my second Dungeon. The other one was much lower level and was not repeatable. With me so far?"

James nodded, "You want me to ignore your sisters in favour of getting you to level 20 and your friends to level 21."

Roland chuckled, "So close, but no. If I thought my sisters were cut out for adventuring, I would encourage you to keep them on and get as many levels as possible. But I know my sisters are not cut out for this type of life. I will be level 20 when I leave here, so I am happy. This trip shaved off months of training and hunting. As for my friends, I think they would welcome the chance to get to level 21 or higher and can be trusted not to kill you."

James grinned, "Well, that's encouraging."

Roland continued, "I know you will level faster than my sisters, so you are hurting yourself by doing lower-level Dungeons to get them levels. You should be doing higher-level ones. You are certainly strong enough."

"I don't like to work alone. I know from experience that having a team to work with is better. Also, I want the title for being the first to complete the Dungeon," James countered.

"Is that a Champion thing?" Roland asked.

James nodded.

"Okay. I propose I assemble a team of four other members who are all level 20," Roland offered.

"I thought Parties could only have 5 members?" James interrupted.

"As a Warlord, I don't count toward that limit, but I do count toward the bonus experience," Roland explained with a grin.

James nodded his understanding, "Okay."

"Once you get to level 20, join my Party, and we hit a level 25 Dungeon that I know. The area around it has some monsters in the mid to high twenties, so travelling there directly is dangerous. But with your special ability, that makes the trip a whole lot safer and faster." Roland paused for James to nod and kept going, "It should take us one or two days per trip, depending on how long we spend in the Dungeon. We could gain one or two levels per trip, and you should hit level 25 after three trips. Either way, an excellent run. By that time, we should be level 23 and no longer of use to you, but you would have saved us years." Roland was now leaning forward on his arms with a grin on his face.

James didn't know why, but he didn't trust Roland. He figured the first two runs would work smoothly, and then Roland and his friends would kill him for the extensive experience bonus for killing a Champion. But knowing you would be turned on could still help him. He would have to turn on Roland first.