Oh! They’re here! If their mind-space had been framed by glass, Clare would have been pressing her nose up against it.

Kepler looked up from where he’d been stressing about the last details of their redesign. [Clare, I don’t think we’re ready for delvers--]

Clare gaped at their visitors. And they’re adults!

[Huh?]

Astrid, overhearing them, dove into the stream that would lead to the entrance room. Kooky and Jumper the snake-worms followed, sensing her excitement.

Kepler half-tripped over himself as he whipped around to stare at their entrance.

There were two adults standing in their first room, staring at their decorations. One was a ginger woman, about 5’10”, with big green eyes that looked about with the gaze of a big cat on the hunt. The other was a gangly, sweet-faced man who towered over her. His hair was loam brown, and his eyes were bark brown, and his skin was toasted-almond brown.

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It was like seeing a stork roosting with a barnyard cat; the two looked almost entirely incongruous.

[Finally!] Kepler grinned, displaying a long row of razor-sharp pearly whites. [Delvers we can truly fight!]

--Ira –

This was… not exactly what she had expected.

Nova had, of course, described the artistic endeavors of the dungeon with great fervor. But Nova also described how beautiful apples were, and the sky after a rainstorm, and snails on a mossy log—all of which are beautiful things, but not all that unusual.

This dungeon was very much unusual.

Most noticeable was the altar. It was only a few feet from the entrance and made of pure Dove metal. The design was simple, but it was strange, almost heavy--

Celio leaned over her, “That’s enchanted.”

She looked up at the follower of Lux, frowning. Celio was an electric mage, so his mana sense shouldn’t have been very strong, “You can sense it?”

“Can’t you?”

She looked back at it. The simple shelf protruded from the base of a statue, but, despite the statue’s elaborate design, her eyes had been drawn to it first and most.

“Yeah.”

Their eyes turned to the statue above…

“What the hell?"