Rella gave me a rushed tour of the keep as she led the way to this '{Debriefer}'. After exiting the lobby, we entered a maze of hallways. She quickly pointed out which one led to whatever area. "West is to the kitchens, northwest is the bakehouse and butcher's area," she paused, looked back at me, and said very seriously, "Don't go down that hall unless you're properly armed and have a squad with you."

"Um, why?"

"Not important," she said, spinning back around. "Straight north, you'll find the great hall and a little farther north is the vault, but don't tell anyone that I know where that is. Down east," she pointed toward a pair of grand wooden doors shut tight, "that's where the guest and great chambers are. You should not be down there unless there's an invasion. The last time Lord Kakos caught someone down there..." Both she and Wing shuddered. "Anyway, don't go that way. Northeast holds some studies, the library, and the armory-weird mix, I know. Southeast is where we're going; that wing holds the chapel, servant chambers, and some storerooms."

She dragged me down the only hallway without immaculate carpeting and fancy lanterns on the walls. As soon as we passed the threshold, the atmosphere darkened almost instantly. The echoes of our boots against cracked stone rang down the cold, lifeless hallway. The flickering torches cast eery shadows along the floor. If it wasn't for the odd window between the brick walls, I'd think I was being led toward a dungeon of some sort.

"This place is creepy," I muttered, shivering.

"Eh, you get used to it," Rella replied. "The feeling's all in your head, you know. There's totally not a high ghoul breathing down your neck right now."

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Despite the sudden cold wind blowing down my neck, I didn't jump, squaring my shoulders as I turned to look at Wing. She arched a bushy eyebrow and tilted her head.

"Of all the tricks to play," I said dryly, "this one was pretty lazy."

Rella scratched her neck. "Huh. Works on all the new recruits."

"New recruits?" I asked. "You get those?"

"Em," she said, and her face went blank for a second. "...Yes?"

"Uh-huh. Can we keep going?"

"Sure."

She led the rest of the way in silence, offering the occasional comment every now and then. I learned that the rooms in the main southeast hallway were where servants did laundry, stored supplies, and hid evidence of the Lady's 'conquests'.

"Conquests?"

"Yes, she's a...Well, let's just say the Lady of the Keep hasn't been faithful to her Lord since they were wed," she whispered, leaning in as if she was sharing some great secret. Though, I suppose, considering she was telling me my employer's wife was a serial cheater, it is a great secret.

We stopped as the main hallway branched off into three paths. The straight path looked quite a bit better than the left and right: the stone turned to dark, wooden floorboards; the windowless walls were built from seamless blue material that complimented the flooring quite nicely; the lanterns had returned, though these ones had a sort of magical touch to them. At least, I assumed so. My magic senses were nothing compared to Crystal's. That path, according to Rella, led to the chapel.

The left looked just as ragged as the hallway we'd just came down, although there were far more rooms. "Servant and worker quarters," Rell said with a frown. "{Guard} quarters are in the towers, though, so you don't need to worry about that. We're going down to the right."

"How many chapters before we finally get to the debriefing?"

"I dunno," she replied. "Maybe there'll be an interlude after this."

"That's just wonderful!"