Upon reaching their destination, Pos saw that The Adventurer Guild had been hard at work.

The entrance of the dungeon was still a large hole in the ground, but the Guild had built a defensive wall around it. The wall surrounded the open hole, and a large set of double doors was the only way passed. There were merlons at the top of the wall, and a wall walk where guards could stand and see over the wall. And the Adventurer Guild had posted numerous guards at the wall.

The guards and the wall were there to prevent monsters from exiting the dungeon, civilians from entering the dungeon, and to limit the number of adventurers entering. At last count, the dungeon had a limit of fifty, and the Guild did not want adventurers to fight each other for the right to enter.

A line had formed at the double doors. From where he was, Pos could see a wooden sign above the double doors.

ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB OF TEN THOUSAND TECHNIQUES. 

UNDER THE STEWARDSHIP OF THE ADVENTURER GUILD OF VIAGGIA.

The sign seemed unnecessary to Pos. He knew it was common practice for organizations to stake claims to dungeons, but it always struck Pos as a dangerous tradition. Everyone knew the Adventurer Guild of Viaggia oversaw the dungeon, but claiming a dungeon was just begging for trouble. If a dungeon core took offence, the practice might cause a dungeon break. The fact that dungeon cores usually ignored what happens outside their dungeons was the only reason why people could get away with it. At least the Adventurer Guild was smart enough to post the sign a distance from the entrance.

As the party waited in line to delve the dungeon, Pos turned to see his party.

Jes Doublestone was carrying a book in one hand, reading as they were waiting. The [Scholar] has the book in one hand and was fingering a steel mace with the other. He had abandoned his robes for studded leather armor and a chain cap, making him looked more like an adventurer than Pos ever thought possible.

The [Knight], Umdar Blackrock, was wearing the full plate armour of his class and was carrying his sword and shield. Pos was still irked by the knight’s ridiculous helmet, but he had to admit he may had been wrong about Umder; the [Knight] had not complained once in their walk to the dungeon and was carrying his weapons like he was born to them.

Noghoula Whitbrew was wearing a gambeson and a steel helm. The [Berserker] was carrying her steel sword on her back and had a wooden club hanging from her belt. She looked like she could not wait to get into the dungeon.

Vormarobe Flinthand struck out like a sore thumb in this party. The [Sorceress] had no weapons and was wearing the green robe she had at the meeting. She had a smile on her face and looked at ease, like she was on a morning stroll instead of going towards a deathtrap. She had been singing on the way to the dungeon and refused to stop even when the other members of the party told her to.

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Even among dwarves, her singing voice was terrible.

In theory, the party was well-suited for the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques. The dungeon was underground, and as dwarves, they had a natural advantage in underground dungeons. Dwarves were small, sturdy, strong and naturally resistant to poison, disease, fire and cold. They were somewhat disadvantaged in Trick Dungeons, but they had a [Scholar] and a [Sorceress] in their party for that. In theory, they should be able to beat the second floor of the dungeon. Pos just couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy about the delve though.

This dungeon had thrown up too many surprises for him to be totally comfortable with it.

“This is where the party starts,” Nog said as they reached the front of the queue.

A human guard from the guild stopped them when they reached the front of the line. The guard had a scroll in his hand and looked to reading from it. “All of you sure you want to go in? You could get killed in there.”

“Don't worry. We're experienced. We'll be fine.” Umdar replied.

“You know you don't have to actually go in, right?” The guard read from the scroll again.

“Don't worry, we'll be fine. Can we hurry this up. I know you are just doing your job warning everyone, but we know what we are getting into.” Pos shook his head.

“Maybe, but you should be worried,” the guard said as he looked around before lowering his voice. “A lot of brave adventurers had died in there. This is a dangerous one.”

Pos’ brow raised at that. It did not sound like part of a script. The Adventurer Guild needed to give warning, but they would never actively discouraged adventurers from entering. The guard was genuinely worried.

Pos was not the only one who noticed this, the other members of his party did as well. Everyone looked at each other for a moment. Then, Vorma laughed.

“Well, that just make things more interesting, doesn’t it? We are adventurers, what’s the use of adventuring without danger?”

“Well, be careful.” The guard said before stepping aside.

“That would be us. Nice careful Classed in the safe profession of adventuring.” Pos replied with a chuckle, a chuckle that was picked up by the rest of the party.

The guard sighed and waved the party through.

Pos walked through the large, heavy doors and into the dungeon. He found himself in a long dark tunnel, one that Pos has walked through twice before. The air was cold and stale, but dry.

“Welcome back to the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques,” Jes said. “Hope we survived the experience.”

“We will,” Nog replied with an air of indifference only a [Berserker] could have.

The party walked down the long dark tunnel, and Pos could not help but remind everyone on what to expect. “We are almost at the bend, remember what I told you.”

“Yeah, we remember. We’ll get pass the first floor easy and meet up on the second.” Umdar said.

The party walked past the bend in the tunnel and darkness immediately engulfed them. No one panicked. By now, the entry to the first floor was well-documented and everyone knew what to expect. When light returned, Pos found himself back in the fog.

He was now in the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques.

Pos looked for the nearest light and sprinted towards it. Adventurers had begun calling these lights the Orbs of Safety, and once he was near it, Pos looked at the bright light that represented the end of the floor. Pos begun to work out a plan to reach it, but unlike the previously two times he was here, Pos did not pick the optimal route to it.