“Sit, sit!” the Little Lord Liddle excitedly exclaimed, gesturing with his pudgy hands. “Have some tea!”

“Uh…okay.”

Zeke had no real idea how to deal with children, let alone a toddler with enough power to squash him like a bug. After he’d used [Inspect], revealing that the child was level one-hundred, the Liddle’s power had washed over him, letting him know that the boy was at least as strong as either of the wyrms back in Min Ferilik. And while Zeke was more prepared to deal with such strength, just one whiff of that power was enough to tell him that he had a long way to go yet.

Numerically, he wasn’t that far from the peak, but those twenty-plus levels were incredibly important. For Zeke, it was a poignant reminder that he couldn’t afford to let up. He’d never set out to be the strongest person in the world, but he knew that reaching the pinnacle was the only way he could ensure his people’s safety. More, he recognized that strength was the only real protection against oppression. It wasn’t difficult to imagine that, without adequate power, he would end up under someone’s boot.

And Zeke refused to allow that to happen.

Those thoughts raced through his mind as he and Talia took their indicated places. Zeke knew just how much danger they were in, but he also suspected that it would come from an unexpected source. If it didn’t turn out to be a scenario similar – in tone, if not the details – to the riddle challenge he’d experienced before, he would have been incredibly surprised.

For now, though, he could only let the situation play out, because he had no intention of attacking a child – especially when said child was a level one-hundred monster surrounded by powerful servants like Raggedy Jack and its companions.

The Little Lord once again called for tea, and Raggedy Jack responded by producing a tea tray from nowhere. The teapot was made from elaborately etched silver, while the cups were shallow, dainty things trimmed in gold. The tea smelled delicious, though.

“Sugar?” asked Raggedy Jack, bending his tall body double as he prepared the drinks.

Liddle shouted, “Lots!”

Zeke just nodded, and Raggedy Jack served the tea.

“You really shouldn’t drink that,” said Eveline. “Place like this? Who knows what’s in it?”

Before Zeke could respond, Liddle looked up, fire in his eyes. Suddenly, a voice boomed inside Zeke’s head, shouting, “The tea is just tea!”

For a second, Zeke’s mind spun under the sheer volume of the shout. It had been Liddle’s childlike voice, but there was something else in there. Something almost divine. Given the child’s level, that shouldn’t have been surprising, and yet, Zeke still had trouble wrapping his mind around it.

But he did know enough that he didn’t hesitate further before taking a sip of the tea. And once again, he was surprised – this time, because the tea was, in fact, just tea. It was even pretty good, despite Zeke’s lack of taste for the stuff. He’d always been more of a coffee guy, after all.

When he pulled the cup away, he saw Liddle clapping his pudgy hands in delight. Finally, he asked, “Do you want to play a game? Raggedy Jack doesn’t like my games, but you will. I promise.”

“Uh…”

At that point, another quest flashed before Zeke’s inner eye:

Quest Adjusted!

Quest: Reaching the Stairway

Objective: Play Little Lord Liddle’s Game

Reward: The Key to Heaven

The objective was without ambiguity, making Zeke’s intended path clear enough. However, he still hesitated. Without any knowledge of what Liddle’s game might entail, he was loathe to commit to playing. However, it didn’t seem that he had much choice. Reaching the stairway was the way to reach the next step of the dungeon, and to do that, he needed the Key to Heaven. And in order to acquire that item, he would be forced to play the Little Lord’s game – whatever it was.

“What kind of game?” asked Talia, her first contribution to the scenario.

“Oh, it’s super fun. You’ll love it.”

That did not answer the question, which raised even more alarms in Zeke’s mind. Yet, he couldn’t see a way out of the situation. Perhaps they could just leave, but there was no guarantee that doing so would solve the problem. Most likely, they’d be swarmed by Ragged Jack and the others like him, but even if they weren’t, the path through the dungeon went through Liddle’s game.

So, as far as Zeke could tell, his hands were tied.

After exchanging a glance with Talia, he said, “We’ll play your game.”

That delighted the Little Lord, which he showed via enthusiastic clapping. That made Zeke even more nervous.

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As it turned out, his anxiety was rightly placed because Little Lord Liddle ended his applause with a single, much louder clap, and the world shifted. Suddenly, Zeke was once again falling, but that only lasted a split second before he hit the ground. Talia landed more lightly, and when Zeke looked up, he saw a look of confusion on her face.

His own expression mimicked hers when he beheld the changed setting. Above them loomed Little Lord Liddle, though he wasn’t so small anymore. In fact, he was as big as a mountain.

Raggedy Jack stood beside them, and with a sigh, he said, “The game is simple. You must reach the end of the board, overcoming all obstacles in your way. Good luck. Many of my people have perished in this…game.”

Zeke was about to respond, but Raggedy Jack disappeared before he had a chance to utter a word. Then, Little Lord Liddle shouted, “Go!”

Before that word echoed through the space, the entire area had been obscured in darkness, but the moment it left Liddle’s lips, everything lit up. When it did, Zeke groaned.

The floor had been painted with colorful squares, some of which bore words like “Go back!” or “Free Space”. Those squares of color meandered back and forth in a serpentine pattern that snaked off into darkness. Barely obscured were structures hanging in the air, looking as if they were simply waiting to fall.

“It’s like Mouse Trap,” Zeke muttered aloud.

“What?” asked Talia.

“Mouse Trap. It was a board game I used to play with my little brother,” he answered. “You had to work your way across the board, but it had a bunch of traps and stuff. Sort of. I mean, it was only one trap built around Rube-Goldberg mechanisms. You know, a ball falls onto a lever that makes wheel turn that –”

“I suspect this is much more deadly than that,” said Eveline.

“Go!” shouted Liddle once again.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Zeke sighed. “There’s no thematic throughline. I mean, gardens to swamps to a child’s game?”

“Dungeons don’t always make sense,” Eveline said.

“Clearly,” Zeke said with a shake of his head. Then, he added, “I guess we should go before the giant toddler throws a tantrum.”

With that, he stepped forward. However, he quickly found that he couldn’t stray from the path of squares. The same unidentifiable force that had prevented him from simply climbing the wall outside kept him on the path.

So, he kept going, following the prescribed route, with Talia following a few steps behind.

As it turned out, the distance was just enough to keep her from falling prey to the first trap. A giant cage fell from the sky, clanging to the ground and entrapping Zeke. Talia’s speed came in handy as she dove free, but Zeke had no chance of avoiding the metal, bell-shaped cage.

“Just like Mouse Trap,” he sighed.

Then, a creature manifested in the center of the cage, and it was one Zeke recognized – a ratongi.

But it was a much larger, far more muscular, and clearly more powerful version. The intent was clear, so Zeke adopted his [Titan] form and rushed the monster. It responded to his charge with one of its own, and the pair clashed with monstrous force. Unfortunately, other than being able to use [Titan], Zeke found that all of his other skills were blocked. It was like they’d been trapped inside of an impenetrable glass case. He could see them, and he almost felt like he could touch them. Yet, they were just out of reach.

So, it was a good thing that he was more than capable of holding his own without his skills. In fact, his fighting style often veered in that direction anyway. So, even if the ensuing battle was vicious, Zeke was never in any danger of losing. Still, the creature put up a good fight until he grabbed it by its hide and repeatedly slammed it into the ground. That knocked it out, and it was only a few seconds later that Zeke managed to destroy its skull.

That’s when the cage lifted.

“This is really going to suck,” Zeke said to himself. Then, he looked back at Talia and added, “I don’t know if it’s going to trap you, too. But skills are a little wonky right now. You might not have all of them available.”

“Noted,” she replied.

Zeke stepped forward, but he was surprised to find that when his foot fell on one of the squares labeled “Go Back!” he was teleported a few squares to the rear. That put him behind Talia, who’d indeed been trapped inside the cage with another ratongi. She fought well, but it was clear that she didn’t have access to any of her skills. Still, she was much faster than the monster, and she managed to whittle it down, killing it after a few minutes.

When the cage lifted, Zeke let her know not to step on the wrong tiles. So, over the next few minutes, they progressed across the board. When they encountered a tile that suggested it would slow their progress, they leaped across it. However, on more than a few occasions, they were forced by the layout to endure the consequences of stepping on the wrong square.

And they had to fight multiple battles as well. Many of them were set in cages similar to the first, but a couple were more freeform. All the creatures they’d encountered within the dungeon were represented. From treants to rocs, everything made an appearance. But as had been the case in the first battle, skills didn’t seem to work properly, which turned out to be a bit of an advantage for Zeke and Talia.

It took some adjustment, but their statistical advantages were enough to set them apart, especially when the monsters lacked the abilities that they relied on so heavily. That left them a little disconcerted, and Zeke likened to fighting without a limb. Certainly, it was possible, but those creatures had always had the benefit of those abilities. And to for them to suddenly disappear put them at a sever disadvantage.

Regardless, Zeke and Talia gradually traversed the game board until, at last, they reached the center. There sat one of the raggedy people. With her long limbs, painfully thin frame, and cloth-like skin, the only thing that marked her as female was her dress. However, instead of the servants’ attire that characterized the others Zeke had seen, this one looked like she was meant to look like a princess.

“Please. I don’t want to kill anymore,” she moaned, sitting on the floor, her legs curled beneath her. The dress spread out for almost a dozen feet, and her posture suggested extreme fatigue.

Zeke said, “I’m sorry. I just need to get past you.”

She sighed wearily. “They all say the same. But if you step into this circle, I will be forced to kill you. Just like all the others.”

Zeke shook his head. “Not this time,” he stated. In the past, he might’ve felt a little conflicted. After all, the raggedy princess was clearly a victim just as much as he was. However, the reality of the situation was that she wasn’t a person. As real as she seemed, she was just a construct created by the dungeon to provide an appropriate challenge.

Probably.

He still wasn’t entirely sure how all of that worked. But even if she was a real person, she was standing in his way. He had goals. He had people to protect. And most of all, he didn’t have any choice. The route to conquering the dungeon was clear, and it passed through her.

So, without further hesitation, Zeke stepped into the circle. Talia followed, and the raggedy princess rose to her full height.

“So disappointing,” she rasped with a shake of her head. “Come, then. Let us complete this farce of a battle so I can return to my eternal suffering.”