“You look terrible,” Chelsea said, between sips of her milkshake. I had been sitting in a booth in the cafeteria, well more laying face down in a booth in the cafeteria, when she and Bea had found me.

“Bella is a slave driver,” I mumbled, not bothering to raise my head, “I spent a full day going over costumes and trying stuff on, the day after that choosing weapons and having everything enchanted, then three more setting up, tuning and practicing with my boss mechanics. I’m exhausted. Thankfully Bella let me go early since the raid is tomorrow.”

“I heard about your stage. Elaborate, but it fits the theme way better than the previous boss fight,” Bea said, sipping on some honey water.

“I just hope it works properly when we go live. I’ve been so busy I still haven’t been able to meet all our coworkers yet.”

Chelsea cocked her head to one side, “Who haven’t you met yet?”

I finally raised my head, and looked at the two girls. “Ummm… Voss, Luther and whoever is in charge of the observatory.”

“Oh,” Chelsea nodded energetically, “That makes sense. Voss rarely leaves the preserve, which is where a lot of communal races, and the more feral creatures hang out. Bea’s hive is out there, along with the Mycelium colony and the centaurs. There’s actually a significant amount of greenspace on the property. Luther, the boss of the parlor, has been out visiting friends the last few days. He’ll be back tomorrow. And Gun’Thur…” She paused, grasping at the air with one hand like she was trying to find the right word. “Doesn’t get out much. He’s decent enough, he just prefers to study than socialize.”

I stared at the girl blankly for a few seconds, so Bea cut in, “He’s a lesser manifestation of the eldritch god of knowledge. A viewer.” I felt my eyes go a little wider, Eldritch demons and manifestations were no joke. They rarely saw reality the same way as the rest of us, and were rather unpredictable. “It’ll be fine, just NEVER interrupt his studying without a good reason. He and Lanivia have a deal, she lets him study her library, and he’ll act as a boss.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied. After speaking with the girls I was actually starting to feel a little better, at least enough to sit up and signal one of the workers to order food.

“So are all your preparations complete? Ready for tomorrow?” Bea asked.

I sunk back into my seat, “Almost. I still have to pick up my finalized weapons and armor from the enchanters. You know, I don’t get why they’re called the design, prop, and enchanting departments when it’s just a single gremlin workshop.”

“They like it that way, and there’s no point in arguing with them. Gremlins are some of the best artisans, outside of the dwarven enclaves, but can be spiteful as fuck. You play by their rules, and everyone’s happy.”

One of the autonomous servers arrived and presented me with a tablet, so I selected a meal for George and I. I glanced at the girls, silently enquiring if they wanted anything, but they shook their heads. After the bot left, they stood up. “We still need to do a final review of our floor before tomorrow,” Bea said, draining the rest of her honey water and placing the glass back on the table. “Although it’s not as strenuous as the setup you had to deal with, it’s still important. Good luck, and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

Chelsea was still slurping her drink through the straw, so she just waved as she followed her friend through the door. I was really beginning to like those two girls, they were a lot more positive than the people I worked with before. I sat in silence for a few more minutes, waiting for my food to arrive, and ignoring George occasionally stomping on my foot for attention. I might have been tired, but there was one last thing to do before tomorrow, and I wanted to make a good impression, so it was time to suck it up and get it done. Right after lunch.

Thankfully I could count on George getting distracted by meat, so I had a few minutes of peace while we ate, before heading to the lab. I took my time, since the workshop was super close, and I didn’t have anything else to do today.

I dropped off the dirty plates at the cafeteria counter, and wandered back out to the atrium. In the center of the room was the large pillar supporting the command center, and a set of staircases. Instead of heading up, I went down to the basement, where the gremlins had set up their operation. The stairs opened up into a massive room, filled with arcane tools and devices, where several dozen gremlins were working. I headed towards one of the smaller offices that branched off the main complex, while keeping my eye on the organized chaos going on.

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The small, brown-skinned creatures may have resembled goblins at a glance, but anyone with a lick of sense would avoid calling them that. Gremlins were slightly taller, with gangly limbs, and long dexterous fingers. Their ears were much larger than their cousins', nearly half the size of their heads, and most of all, they were known for their creativity, and complete disregard for personal safety.

I was just a couple feet away from the enchanting office, when something exploded across the room, throwing arcs of electricity and shrapnel everywhere. I ducked down, taking cover behind a heavy cabinet, and when I peeked out a few seconds later I could see none of the gremlins even flinched. There was one smoldering, one arm heavily scorched, arguing with a colleague, but he showed no regard for his injury. I just shook my head and hurried into the office. It was a good thing they only distributed tried and true tech, and never their experimental stuff.

Inside the office was a small workshop, well equipped with engraving, crystal-cutting, and empowering tools. There were a pair of gremlins standing around the engraving table, inspecting a blade. As I came in, the smaller gremlin, dressed in a lab coat, flipped up the magnifying spectacles attached to her strange hat, and waved in my direction.

“Afternoon Jenkins, I’m not interrupting am I?” I asked, as I carefully crossed the room. It wasn’t as packed, or unorganized, as the main area, but it was still built for smaller creatures.

“Of course not, I’m just double-checking the patterns for Issac here while I waited for you to arrive.” The gremlin woman quickly darted to one side of the room, where there were several items covered by sheets, before standing up straight. “Everyone really wanted to make your debut memorable, and I think we outdid ourselves with this stuff.” Jenkins grabbed the first sheet and yanked it away, revealing an ornate black and red party dress. The front was closer to a minidress, while the back was long and flowing. It wasn’t something you’d actually see in an actual party, but it gave the right impression while not being too restrictive. The design was exactly what we’d discussed a few days earlier, but the result was beyond my expectations.

“The dress is spider silk, and the bodice has darksteel ribbing. With the durability enchantments it’s better than any light armor on the market.” She spun the dummy, revealing the backless design, which I’d asked for to make sure my other legs weren’t restricted.

I felt the material, and inspected the needlework a little closer, before nodding. “Amazing work,” I said.

The gremlin beamed, “You haven’t seen anything yet. Next up, your weapons!” She yanked the second sheet, revealing an ornate black glaive with some sort of red metal filigree. The blade was thin and, with all the decoration, you could almost believe it was a staff of office, or some ornamental scepter. Beside the staff was a row of six long spikes with a similar coloring.

I gently lifted the glaive, inspecting the edge. As I shifted the weapon under the light I noticed a slight shimmer beyond the blade’s edge. Jenkin’s eyes sparkled when I noticed. “The majority of the weapon is darksteel, with some blood steel filigree, enchanted to be stronger and lighter than usual, but the cutting edge, as you’ve noticed, is NOT the darksteel blade. It’s ethereal glass. Dangerous to use in real combat, but in the dungeon it won’t shatter, and the extra couple inches will provide you with a slight edge.” She pointed to a dummy at the end of the room. “Give it a try.”

The weapon was extremely light, and superbly balanced. I twirled it a couple times, getting used to the length, before bringing the blade straight down on the top of the straw dummy. It cut through effortlessly, and I actually had to pull back, afraid that the blade would slam into the floor. Jenkins just laughed, “Careful, that glass is sharp.” She turned, and picked up one of the spikes, throwing it to me. “The vambraces for your legs came out better than expected. I know you just wanted armor, but I managed to add poison channels. You just need to nick someone with the first six inches and they’ll get a dose of whatever you’ve coated it with. It’s been awhile since we’ve had someone that used toxins, but we have plenty in stock, just tell me what type you want.”

I slowly extended one of my upper legs over my shoulder, and lowered it so I could fit the new vambrace. The metal covering protected my leg all the way up to the first joint, giving me another way to protect myself. With the black and red coloring, they almost resembled jewelry that matched the dress, instead of weapons. I smiled, “You really have out-done yourself Jenkins. I don’t think I’d ever had such high-quality equipment, it’s a wonder.”

She scoffed, “Well, we can’t have one of our floor bosses running around with substandard equipment. You should give those adventurers a good fight with all this. Do you need any last minute adjustments?”

I looked over the collection of weapons and equipment, before gingerly placing the glaive back on its stand. “No, it’s perfect. Thank you for all your work.”

The little gremlin nodded, “I’ll have it all delivered to your office before tomorrow morning. I have no doubt those adventurers will see you as a weak link, as you’re the newest hire. Show them what happens when they underestimate a dungeon boss!”

A small laugh left my lips as I imagined how that group would react to seeing me tomorrow. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.”