We apologize for the rude welcoming you got from one of our guilds,” Kat waved to the seats. “You have rights as a dungeon, but without a record of your origin, Lord Montgomery was exploiting a loophole in the system that I hope we have closed right up. Rest assured that his guild has been sanctioned and will pay fines for their attempt to bypass morality. Most of those fines will go to your dungeon, minus a few legal fees.”

Lacey’s head was spinning as she sat at the table and peeked inside one of the folders. All she really saw was a table of contents with a sheaf of papers beneath it. Was this the manual?

“Being tied to one place, we realize that it can be difficult to attend to court dates, so we can represent you in a suit against Lord Montgomery,” Kat said, pouring herself some water. “He, of course, would like to settle this issue quietly, so his family has offered a settlement, but I would suggest a counteroffer of twice this amount. That’s all under section 4, and I won’t press you for anything now. Look over the offer and send me a dmail. Let me know if you want to counter or I can give you a list a few other representatives you could use.”

Colt ruffled the edges of the provided materials and scanned the table of contents with a frown. That was more fine print than even Colt was willing to scan, at least with a pretty girl sitting at the table.

“We haven’t had any player-run dungeons before,” Kat folded her hands in front of her. “But we expect to be able to include a few more in the near future. As players, you have the right to be represented by the Adventurer’s Guild and we would like to structure access to these dungeons so that the experiences of newer dungeon masters won’t be quite as tumultuous as yours has been. As a representative of the guild, I’d like to personally thank you for making this expansion into dungeon representation possible, but we also understand if you want to remain independent of our protections.”

“You talk like a lawyer, but you look so young,” Colt blurted out and Lacey’s forehead creased at the direction of his focus.

“I’m older than I look,” Kat’s smile held her own bit of flirtation. “I’m a player too. Real world, I’m old enough to drink, young enough to want to, and too young to need to.”

“Do you look this hot in the real world?” Colt asked and Lacey kicked him under the table.

“What he means is that we are interested in how this game world treats players,” Lacey tried to turn the conversation back to the papers.

“It’s not what I meant,” Colt only had eyes for Kat, who finally blushed from the attention.

“I’m level 72 in one of our worlds, but I’ve dumbed down to a level 10 for this one,” Kat admitted. “I, too, was a pioneer in this engine’s game world, so I can answer any questions you have and probably understand far more than anyone you’ve experienced so far as players. I’m actually really eager to try your dungeon, but I don’t want to push you when you’ve had such a rough tutorial. I thought we’d try to give you some time to rebuild and offer some assistance so that future forays into your dungeon are more structured.”

“What kind of structure?” Lacey asked.

“We’d like to advertise your dungeon to our guilds, but limit access so that only those of a reasonable level can enter,” Kat answered. “We’d set up an office locally so we could keep the assholes and riffraff out, but we aren’t here to control or use you. We just want to try to create a structure for organic growth all around. That’s one of the reasons that I agreed to come in as such a lower level. I’d like to try it out from the ground up, if possible. Do you have a structure in mind?”

“We do have some tiered levels,” Colt offered. “We can handle levels 1 through about 25, right now, but I think we can get up to 30 by the end of our repairs.”

“That’s quite the range,” Kat’s brows rose, but she smiled, and Lacey liked how the smile really reached her eyes.

“I think a level 30 might be a little bored in the lower levels,” Lacey hedged. She and Colt had been thinking about how to allow higher levels to bypass lower levels and keep out higher levels like Monty, but if someone could do it from the outside, that could help a lot. “I think we could easily set up some tiered entrances to cater to a specific level gap as long as someone was monitoring the outside of the dungeon. Is that the type of thing that the Adventurer’s Guild could do?”

“Yes!” Kat leaned forward. “It would be a great boon to this area and open up a lot of opportunities for growth in the nearby town. Most adventurers, even players who like to flout the rules, will be reluctant to piss off the Adventurer’s Guild. The AG houses a great library for skill and spell knowledge, but a person has to agree to the AG’s code of honor and respect the rules of the dungeons. If we could sanction anyone who defied those rules with you DMs reporting any infractions, I think we could make sure things like what Lord Montgomery tried will be almost non-existent.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Almost?” Colt challenged, trying to look serious when Lacey could tell that he really just wanted to ask the girl out.

“He’s right, what’s to stop someone outside the guild from breaking the rules?” Lacey asked, trying not to laugh at Colt.

“We have higher levels who can break one of those sieges,” Kat assured them, patting the folder. “Our offer in section 1 stipulates that while you may have to fend of a single rogue player once in a while, the AG would send a higher-level group than whatever illegal incursion is assaulting you. We would break the siege and take care of any legal sanctioning necessary to make it not worth their time to break these rules.”

“What do you get out of the deal?” Lacey poured herself some water and took a drink to calm her nerves. Was she really sitting at a high-powered negotiating table?

“That is an excellent question,” Kat beamed at Lacey. “And I’m really glad you asked, because I’m really excited about it. Section 1.5 stipulates that entry to your dungeon would be limited to AG members, but only if the player is over level 10.”

Colt winced and leaned back.

“But,” Kat stalled the protest on Lacey’s lips too. “It also stipulates that no AG member will break the dungeon for the purposes of a hostile takeover. All AG members will withdraw upon request of the DM or if they reach the end of the level they entered. No more dungeon wipes, at least not from our people.”

“I’m not sure we could offer the same thing,” Colt shook his head, his infatuation not quite enough to make him promise her the moon. “Who respects a dungeon that has promised not to kill intruders?”

“Colt’s right,” Lacey agreed.

“Of course not!” Kat waved her hands in front of her. “That would be like saying that adventurers wouldn’t kill any of your mobs. That would be silly. You have every right and even a responsibility to offer dangerous challenges that can kill those who enter, AG or not! We’re only asking that you make a reasonable effort to rank your levels so that adventurers can choose wisely. If some idiot goes in a level tiered for levels 5-15 and he’s level 20, he shouldn’t expect to get much experience or treasure, but if someone level 2 goes in a tier that is designed for level 20 or so, they should die. Stupidity can be trained out with enough incentive. At least that’s my personal hope.”

Colt gave her a dopey grin, then shook his head a little to clear it.

“Are you okay?” Kat asked him, pouring a glass of water and passing it to him.

Colt gave a few nods of his head, trying to hide his blush behind the water he was gulping. Lacey hid her chuckle behind a pretense at drinking too. Lacey didn’t really blame him this time. Kat was one of those smart gals that normally spun his head around and back again, but she didn’t look like a heartbreaker either. Kat didn’t seem to even notice what was wrong with Colt like Lacey did. Rather than save him, Lacey just pressed her lips together and looked away.

“Okay, well,” Kat sat back down and gave a scritch to the creature in her hair. Now that Lacey was closer, she almost recognized cat eyes. “Sections 1 and 3 are just information packets on governmental structures and local laws that we thought might help you. Section 5 is primarily our monetary system and a worksheet that shows the value of general goods so that you understand what kind of treasures might draw people in, not that we’re trying to stipulate what you have to offer. We are just trying to fill in some gaps that might be in your knowledge base.” Kat tucked a particularly springy curl behind her ear and then turned it into a scritch for her pet.

“Is that a cat?” Lacey pointed to Kat’s hair curiously.

“Uh, yeah,” Kat fidgeted that same lock of hair back over the cat that then batted at her finger. The cat’s actions made Kat laugh at herself. “He had said he didn’t want to be seen, but here he is introducing himself. This is my familiar, Shadow.”

Shadow leapt down from Kat’s shoulder to the table and then gave a long, disinterested stretch. Shadow’s fur was mostly black, but it seemed to also be a little brown, like Kat’s hair. He padded across the table, and it was like he was one with the shadows of the trees over Kat’s shoulder. If Lacey blinked, the cat seemed to blur a bit around the edges.

“I might have agreed to level down to bit in here, but Shadow here has a mind of his own,” Kat placed her chin on her hand and gave a stupid grin to Shadow. “That fading in and out of view isn’t your eyes. It’s just his nature.”

“He’s beautiful,” Lacey cooed at the little guy that was no bigger than a small bouquet of flowers.

“He thinks so,” Kat laughed.

“So are you,” Colt put in with a half-smile. “Beautiful, I mean.”

Lacey held her breath for the poor guy. He had it bad.

“I can see that you’re going to test my cynicism,” Kat wagged a finger at him. “Is he this charming with all the girls?”

“Usually, he’s more suave than this,” Lacey admitted, her mouth twisted as she tried to be a good friend and not just burst out laughing.

Kat hissed. “You’re trouble with a capital T, Mr. Colt,” she backed away from him and the table.

“He’s harmless,” Lacey tried to salvage the situation with a smile and wince.

“Those are the most dangerous kinds,” Kat teased Lacey and Colt. “I’m going to leave these papers with you. You can keep the table or use it for kindling, but the crystal is good enough to keep for yourselves; a gift from the guild.”

“Thanks,” Lacey waved to the woman as she backed away into the woods, the adorable shadow-creature that was much more than a simple cat right beside her.

“Send me a dmail when you’re ready for company,” Kat said, her hand falling down as her eyes shot up and to the side. “I mean when you wouldn’t mind me coming through the dungeon. If you don’t mind.”

“Come back anytime,” Colt called out, having belatedly picked his chin up off the ground.

“That went well,” Lacey shook her head at Colt to bely her words.

“It did, right?” Colt nodded and craned his neck to watch the last of her fade from sight.

“Oh, buddy, you need a beer,” Lacey clapped him on the shoulder.