A giant stone structure stood before them a few hundred metres away. It had carvings of various beasts, like ones he recognised, such as a lion and multiple others he had no idea where to begin with. It reminded him of a Greek temple but the pillars had a unique design to them. They looked like hands bursting from the ground.
(“Is that a hippo with sharp teeth and horns!? What kind of nightmare monsters exist in this world?”)
The thing that stood out to him most was the fact this building looked to be in immaculate condition.
“So that's the dungeon?” He asked.
“Y-yes.” She softly answered.
“You guys look like you're taking care of it.”
“Not exactly… it looked like that before we came here.”
“Huh? Seriously!?” He asked, raising his voice slightly.
When he raised his voice, she seemed to be startled and backed away.
“Oh sorry about that. (Damn, it'll be a pain if she's like this the entire time. Who knows, she might think about running off to the other cultists at this rate.)”
“I-it's fine.”
He began scratching his chin. There looked to be several guards, standing outside the structure.
“So how are we gonna get in?” He asked.
“...”
(“The security must be pretty tough if she doesn't even have an idea.”) Tibaut thought to himself. “Well, I suppose we'll have to figure something out.”
“No, I was trying to remember something. How much time do you have?” She asked.
(“Hey you red asshole, how long will this take?”)
(“Hmmm, if this place has a similar construction to her other creations, then the things I need to confirm shouldn't take more than a day.”)
“(A day to go in and out. It should have about a day of spare time considering I don't have to run back to find them.) A day-ish” He responded.
“Well, I remember the guards for the main building being pretty serious a few days ago but I think they've fallen back on their old habits.”
“Meaning?”
“Well, if we wait long enough, they should start goofing off outside the temple. Actually, now that I think about it, they shouldn't even be visible from here.”
Tibaut turned around to get a better look at the men. They were playing hacky sack with some sort of leather pouch.
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“We should be able to approach from the back.” She commented, watching them.
(“These guys are seriously destroying my image of them.”) He thought to himself.
They slowly continued through the forest until the temple blocked them from any guards that might see them.
After entering, they used the pillars as cover as they made their way towards the stairway on the floor.
“I know this is a bad time to ask but are there any guards at the bottom?” Tibaut asked.
“The place is pretty big so it's usually empty. I think. I was only allowed on the first two floors but it was still massive.” She commented while fidgeting. (“Dammit I was doing so well! Can't I talk to him for more than five minutes without getting nervous!?”)
“So we can just walk around?”
She nodded her head and cursed herself for fumbling the possible conversation.
They began walking down the steps and thankfully, they had torches on both sides to light the stairway. With only their, admittedly quiet, footsteps as noise, Tibaut noticed the voice in his head mumbling about something.
(“What are you saying?”) He asked.
(“Hmm? Oh, you can notice that. Well regardless, what I'm feeling from this dungeon certainly is positive. It's a shame she has fallen this far since I've seen her but I suppose that must have done quite the number to her.”)
(“So am I looking for a person?”) He questioned.
(“Heh, don't worry about it and only follow my directions.”)
Tibaut shrugged his shoulder and left it at that. He just wanted to get this over with.
After a few minutes they reached the bottom and were greeted by… no one.
(“For the time being make your way to the bottom.”) The voice commanded before becoming unavailable for Tibaut’s questions.
“(God, I hate that bitch.) So you said something about two floors. Is that how many this place has?” He asked her.
“N-no. It's more but I don't know how many.” She quickly responded.
Her cheeks were red and Tibaut assumed she might have been embarrassed saying this. (“Oh well, I guess there's no use chastising her over it. We seem to be on pretty thin ice already.”)
“Have an idea?”
She gave no response.
Tibaut sighed.
“Do you at least know where to find the stairway for this floor?”
“I have an idea.” She responded.
“Good. I'd appreciate it if you led the way. (Using encouraging language should get her to drop her guard a bit. At least I think. I think I read about something like that online once.)”
She nodded and began walking. (“Aw he's so sweet. Don't let him slip out your hands Agnes, the Lord provided our prince, now all we have to do is seal the deal!”)
They leisurely walked through the dungeon and as sceptical as Tibaut was, they encountered nobody. A few of the pathways had been cordoned off with boxes and barrels. The interior of the dungeon also was made of plain-looking stone bricks.
They reached the next stairway and stopped before heading down. As they looked down, Tibaut realised another pair of footsteps were approaching and grabbed Agnes to duck into a nearby room. He covered her mouth and thanks to the light of the outside was able to observe the two leaving the stairway.
It was a man with blonde hair, almost formed in the mane of a lion.
(“How much of a pain is that to maintain?”) Tibaut wondered.
The other was a plain man he paid no attention to.
After their footsteps were no longer heard, he removed his hand from her mouth.
“Alright, let's move.” He said.
“We might have to move quicker.” She said.