GoldSpark Laboratory could be entered in many ways. There was the big crack in the hillside, obvious and tempting. There were the main doors, broken in long ago by something better left unnamed. There were cliffside caves that led to the lower levels, and subtle passages concealed behind or beneath rocks, even an old stone teleportation circle hidden in the northern hills. Many of these entrances led, eventually, to the same place; a huge cavern, the high stone ceiling split open to let slow-fading sunlight fall upon vibrant green moss and spiralling ferns and bulb-like purple flowers. There was a stream snaking through the cavern, cutting deep into dark rock, fast-flowing and far deeper than it appeared. There had once been a bridge, but all that now remained were the crumbling supports. Traces of a path were also evident, leading through the cavern and ending in a pile of moss-covered rubble. One side of the cavern was wild and rough, partially collapsed, arc spiders building their geometric webs along the walls, land lizards basking near the stream, a colony of shadow slimes occupying a deep crack in the far wall. The other side of the cavern was more regular, cleanly worked though long overgrown. Dull metal walls marked the laboratory itself, two large square gaps leading to gloomy passages beyond. Perhaps once there had been doors. Perhaps once there had been many things.
From one of the many passages that led into the cavern there came a soft light, followed by a hard voice:
"—might be more conventional, but not as interesting. You've seen these new teams, that scrappy little bunch of low-tiers and those pirate-ninja oddities, there's something different about this tournament. We have to be careful."
The owner of the voice came into view, a tall human girl wearing dark robes and small square glasses, her purple hair tied sternly back, her glowing hand raised as she entered the cavern. She was swiftly identified as Rae Bloomfield, thaumaturge.
"But we did really well already, right?" came a perky voice from behind, soon revealed to belong to a short elf girl with bright clothes and messy autumn hair; Flower Dovedale, healer. "We didn't lose even once! And we came in third-ranked, we're almost ahead of the elf team and that's really good!"
"Hm." The third voice belonged to a slim young man, human, wearing fine clothing and with a rather dashing hat; Charles Silverblade, swashbuckler. He was flanked by two hulking half-orcs, grey of skin and dark of eye, near-identically dressed in tarnished plate armour; the berserker brothers Flint and Teak Oxblood.
"'Hm'?" Rae said, raising an eyebrow at the swashbuckler as they walked through the cavern. "So you agree with me?"
"We should focus on the task at hand," said Charles. "Stick to the plan."
"You trust Raid?"
"No, but his idea makes sense. I don't think we'll sink quite to his level, but we need every edge we can get."
"I feel kind of sorry for Jarvis and his team, though," Flower said, as they approached one of the laboratory entrances. "I mean ... not REALLY sorry. Just a little bit."
"Hmph." Charles glanced back at Flower. "Jarvis Axecore is an uncouth, impetuous lout who deserves all of the trouble he brings down on himself. Every bit of it."
"What do you guys think?" Flower asked, looking back and up and up and up at the half-orc brothers.
"Don't care," rumbled Teak.
"Same," grunted Flint.
"Well what I think is that we should've gotten one of those wolfy things. They're so cute!"
"'The Razorhounds', there's a kind of charm to it," said Rae, raising her hand to once more summon light. "But they're too weak a monster, it'd put us at a disadvantage. We can't just think about how the monster looks or what its name is, if we want to win this tournament we have to think carefully about our choices..."
Rae's voice faded along with her light, and the sound of the fast-flowing river and the distant clicking of the arc spiders rose to fill the silence.
After nearly a minute, a small figure walked out from behind a pile of moss-covered rocks. She looked around the cavern, then spoke:
"It's safe," Nala said.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"You're sure those creatures won't be a danger?" Praetorian asked, as he and the others emerged. "We seem uncomfortably close to those land lizards."
"If you walk near the river they'll attack," Nala said.
"Yeah, most monsters are like that," Sly said. "As long as you just keep away, they're cool."
Nala was already walking towards one of the square laboratory entrances—the one that Charles Silverblade and his team hadn't taken.
"I'll go ahead," she said, slipping her hood up over her head. "I'll wait for the rest of you at each junction."
With that Nala walked away, fading from view as she passed through the entrance.
"Is anyone else getting sick of her attitude?" Amanda asked. "She acts like we don't matter."
"I think she just ... she isn't used to ... people," Mist said. She glanced up at the others as they looked at her, then lowered her eyes. "Um. What I mean is ... she doesn't mean to be rude. She just ... knows how things should go. She has her plan, and if we do what she says, her plan will work."
"Not every time," Sly muttered.
"I, I know sometimes it doesn't work out—but we won that last battle, right? I ... I trust her. I trust Nala. She wouldn't do anything to hurt us, not on purpose. She's always thinking about how to make things better for all of us. Winning that battle and now getting a monster, capturing a behemoth."
Mist fiddled with her spear, then flicked her eyes up at Amanda, just for an instant. The zombie girl's mouth was quirked in a kind of half-smile.
"Yes, well," Praetorian said, "in any case we should perhaps hurry along, we haven't accounted for the majority of our rivals and though this is a safe zone I wouldn't feel quite comfortable encountering any of our fellow Bright Battlers."
"We shouldn't keep Nala waiting either," Mist said. "She worked really hard researching monsters and everything. She's still working hard. We should work hard too!"
Amanda placed her hand on Mist's armoured shoulder, and the valkyrie glanced up at her friend with a small smile.
"Let's go, then," Amanda said.
"Yeah. Sooner we do this the sooner it's over, right?" Sly added.
"Indeed. Indeed indeed. For Nala! For the team! And so forth." Praetorian swept his cloak in an extravagant gesture, indicating the gloomy passage Nala had taken. "Ladies first."
Amanda shuffled forward, Mist at her side, Praetorian and Sly following. Soon their footsteps faded; once more the wide cavern was still, once more the rushing river and clicking of the arc spiders filled the silence.
Presently something moved, towards the entrance Nala and her party had taken. It hesitated, then slipped through behind them.
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Summer Rain stood with her back to the hillside, gazing out over the fields at a collection of absolute idiots. Although she was frowning and her arms were crossed, there was the hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth.
"Dear goodness and hope, are they still at it?" James Bloodspit came striding up to Summer, putting her in his shadow, then joined her in frowning and smiling at the idiotic collective—five young human males, all of them fighters, all of them shouting and running around and waving weapons and being attacked by something hidden by the tall grass. "What are they having trouble with now, more razorhounds?"
"Tiger slimes," Summer said. "It's amazing how long it's taking them to realise they could just outrun them."
"Mm." James popped a bright purple berry into his mouth as he watched, then absently offered one to Summer. She glanced at it, then sighed and traced a complex sigil in the air. "Should I call out to them, do you think?"
"No. They've already proven how unbalanced the fighter class is, just by surviving this long. Drop the healer from the three-fighters-and-a-healer combo and you have enough points to fit two more fighters in. Make sure you're all stocked up with cheap healing items and you can brute force your way to victory more than half the time. Idiots or not, Arbie's team has stumbled on to an effective strategy. It'd be good for us if they fail this test. Good if they're not in the tournament."
"Hm." James popped another berry into his mouth, chewing slowly as he frowned in thought. "We could beat them, though ... yes?"
"Probably. But it wouldn't be much fun."
"What if their monster was a tiger slime and ours was a ... what was it again?"
"SilverStar, or if we can't find one then either a Sawtoise or a Heliosaurus."
"I hope we do find a SilverStar, those other two have yucky names. 'The Heliosauruses', ugh. Nobody would take us seriously."
"I'd consider that an advantage," Summer said, with a small smile. "Look, they've figured out they can just run away."
"Oh, good for them," James mumbled through the last of his berries. He squinted. "Although straight towards the black hollow hills, it seems. Poor little lambs."
Summer tapped the sigil she'd drawn; it glowed bright then swiftly expanded, washing over James. He blinked, then blinked again, this second time at Summer.
"What was that?"
"That," Summer said, fixing James with a hard look, "was me curing the status effect you inflicted on yourself with those highly toxic DokuBerries."
James blinked once more.
"Oh," he said. "In my defence they were delicious."
"To die for?" Summer asked, with a crooked smirk. "Wipe your hands clean then let's head inside." She turned away—there was a narrow crack in the hillside, barely noticeable except up close, and even then only with careful examination. "Night will have finished scouting by now, and most of the other teams will be gone. We should have a clear run through."
Summer smiled to herself as she entered the hidden passage, a soft green glow from her mantle's clasp lighting the way.
"Yes," she murmured, as James followed her in. "Simple and clean."