I felt a little awkward, as I stood at the top of the stairs in the Foyer. All the bosses were here, arranged around the area in some sort of pre-match promotion. Lanivia was strutting around the main floor, dressed in an ornate black and gold mages robe, playing to the crowd. It was the first time I’d seen her in her true form, and I had to say, she was a lot more intimidating without the illusions. It might have been the magical lines engraved on her bones and skull in mythril, or maybe it was the deep purple eldritch magic literally leaking from her eye-sockets. Either way, it played well to the audience.

“Welcome everyone, to the Wailing Manor, and our first confrontation match. My staff has spent the last few months preparing for this match, and hopefully you’re all as excited as we are. In a few minutes we will connect a two-way portal to the Dread Isles, and the match will begin. Please cheer me and my staff on as we attempt to dominate our opponents in this historical match.” She strode from one side of the hall to the other, stopping occasionally, and gesturing. It took me a minute to realize she was probably not only playing it up for the recordings, but also stopping at strategic positions to show off the rest of the bosses. The woman knew how to play to a crowd. “Now, we are just a few minutes from beginning, so… ladies and gentleman, to your positions!”

Some of the other bosses played up their exits for the broadcast. Luther took off his top hat and went into a deep bow, while Kass waved and blew kisses, and I just… kinda waved awkwardly. George, who always needed to be the center of attention, reared up beside me, let out a terrifying screech, then ran back into the Parlor. Luther just laughed as the giant arachnid ran past him, I just tried to keep the embarrassment off my face. “I think he’s excited enough for all of us,” Luther said, poking me in the side as we walked back to our posts, side-by-side.

“Yeah, well, he’s still in trouble for what he pulled this morning. Let’s hope I can keep him focused, and he can burn off some energy during the match.”

“I’m sure he’ll prove his worth. Good luck in the match.” He held out his hand, which I shook.

“And you.” With that he headed over to a small group of mimics, and started checking their condition.

I had to rush a little, because George was practically sprinting through the area. By the time I made it back to the Ballroom, he was already up on the orchestra stage, dancing about. As I stared at the annoying little shit, Bella floated over and handed me my tablet. “Lanivia is in the middle of setting up the portals with Admiral Larghan, the master of the Dread Isles. Once it’s stable, they’ll start the five minute countdown to match start.”

I stared at the small crystal tablet, which showed the two dungeon masters channeling power into their respective dungeon entrances, while some commentators yammered on. I just put the thing on silent, then zoomed in to get a better look at Larghan. The man was impressive, that was for sure. He must have been at least eight feet tall, and he was dressed like a noble pirate, with a fine leather long coat and stereotypical admiral’s hat. His skin appeared to be slick and rubbery, and was a mottled green-blue color. When the broadcast shifted, I got a closer look at his face, and I could make out his writhing beard made of tentacles, and deep, black eyes. “I’ve never seen an Abyssal Horror before, he’s a little spooky isn’t he?”

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“His martial skills are impressive, but it’s his mastery of deep magic that makes him truly formidable,” Bella said, as she watched the tablet over my shoulder.

I nodded, watching the screen intently. The power of the two dungeon masters was slowly being absorbed by the entrances, causing them to glow brighter and brighter, until suddenly there was a flash, and the doors disappeared. In their place was a seamless portal which looked so natural you’d think the two locations were always connected, if it wasn’t for the halo of light around the edge. With the work done, Lanivia curtsied towards her opponent, and Larghan bowed in return, before they turned on their heels and headed back into their respective dungeons. As soon as they did, a pair of timers appeared at the top of the screen. The first, a five minute timer, was counting down.

I lowered my tablet for just a moment, and addressed the room. “Five minutes until hostilities are allowed! We’re not on the front line, but make sure you do your final checks now!”

All around me the spectres started checking their gear, and wrangling the spiders, making sure that everything was prepared. The vampires continued lounging around in their little group. I’d learned that most of them were pretty big slackers, they did what was required, but very little beyond that. As long as they held the line when it counted, I didn’t mind that much.

With my staff preparing, I once again pulled up my tablet, closed the stream, and pulled up the messaging system. [Five minute warning. Any last minute questions or issues?]

I waited a minute for the message to go out, I knew most bosses were preparing and distracted, so I didn’t expect any immediate replies. I still got one after a few seconds. [No problems here, everyone’s ready to go.] I smiled at Bea’s eager message, and just sent a quick reply. [Thanks!]

While I was waiting to see if anyone else was going to reply, George came over and barrelled into me. He whined a little, while dancing around excitedly. “Stop that. The match won’t start for another few minutes, and even then the enemy has to fight through a couple floors before they can get to us.” He stopped dancing for a moment, and visibly drooped in disappointment. I sighed, “We’ll get some action soon. I have no doubt that the enemy will target us fairly early, since both the Parlor and Ballroom are typically more lightly defended. They probably expect we’ll be easier to overwhelm.” That caused him to perk up a little, so I crouched down and looked him right in the eyes. “You remember the plan, don’t you?” The arachnid looked at me for a moment, then bobbed up and down excitedly, then rushed away.

I shook my head, but didn’t bother to call him back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bella chase him, when he accidentally ran through a couple of spectres. I knew from experience she’d never catch him.

Now that George wasn’t bothering me I checked my tablet again. Kass had checked in, she and Calliope were doing their final checks, but had nothing to report. I didn’t expect anyone else to reply back, so I swapped to a private chat instead. [How is everything over there? Ready for your debut?]

[My team is excited, but I’m freaking out a little.] Came the reply

[Let Voss and his staff handle the squads that come through, and you’ll do fine. Just remember what your objective is.]

There was a slight delay [We can do that.]

[Alright, good luck!] I replied. I didn’t receive a reply for a few seconds, so I swapped back over to the stream, just in time to see the last few seconds on the timer tick by. The timer disappeared, and the other timer began counting down. I gripped my tablet tighter, the match was live, and it was only a matter of time now until the first engagement.