When we arrived at Heorot Hall, which looked like something straight out of that epic fantasy trilogy from over half a century ago, we found that most of the guild leaders and their seconds from our main alliance had gathered in the hall. There were a few periphery guilds represented as well, such as Gears and Wheels, Heavenly Dragons, ♥Valiant♣Hearts♥, Night Wolves, and Jade Lotus. Eothane sat at the head table, situated before the throne of his guild hall where he might normally sit. Wyne and Beoryn were next to him. Wildeye, Tyman, Jannie, Winnie, Ariana, Lizzy, and myself took one of the still empty tables; most of our other guild members were waiting outside in a tourney and field area that the Horselords had here.

“Are all assembled?” Eothane asked as we sat down.

“These last are those that have just lately arrived, and there will be no others.” the Horselords guild member who had escorted us in reported. His leader nodded to him, and then gestured to Wildeye.

“Friend Tiger, tonight you have the first foray upon this floor.” Eothane said.

“Very well,” the other guild leader returned, standing up to address us.

“What's going on?” Mad Dog wondered.

“As most of us know, my father is one of the GMs in this world. I do not receive any sort of nepotistic treatment on that count, but this one thing he did give me a heads-up on: the game is changing. The competition, I mean. Alliance scores are now going to be the primary indicators for victory, though individual guild achievements will still stand and will be taken into account once the competition is over.” Wildeye told us. “Apparently, what started out as an innocent idea to track guild-alliance ratings for fun became a more serious idea once it got to the higher-ups. This doesn't necessarily change our plans, or at least not those of us already in this alliance, but I did want to have it spelt plainly out for those of us who have been more neutral up to this point.”

“Hmm...” the leader of the Night Wolves mused in a somber tone. “We have made our mark thus far by acting as mercenaries for other guilds to increase our income; defending shipments or taking down outlaw guilds, as well as going after rare prizes in the more obscure dungeons. I suppose joining up with this alliance would not be that much of a change.”

“I agree.” Johann Starson nodded. “I'm willing to sign into the pact, though I will note that we here are not even the half of a tenth of all the guilds in Harmonia.”

“At least thirty guilds there are in attendance this eve; yet 'tis true that we are not the whole of Harmonia. But as I rightly recall, many of those are the smaller bands, such as the Silvernight Queens, and there are not many among them as numerous as ourselves, or even the Guardians.” Eothane remarked.

“This is true.” Magisteria said.

“Hua Ling and myself are willing to enter this pact.” Qi Lin announced, and the guild leader next to him nodded in agreement.

“Fènghuáng will no doubt be opposed; she still has a powerful guild by land, and will do all she can to thwart this alliance, and perhaps she will even craft her own.” Hua Ling said.

“With their numbers they're almost their own alliance.” Humphrey quipped, and a few laughs were heard.

“We still have the eyes of the King-Priests on us,” Reginleif then said. “And Venomheart as well. No doubt they'll bring in some of the other outlying guilds to try and balance the fight we have going.”

“Which is why I wanted the attention of the outliers we've assembled here.” Wildeye said with a nod. “Four of them have given a positive response to joining us; what say you, MacYnduff?”

“You're driving a hard bargain, you crafty cat.” the Dwarf leader sighed. “I'd be willing, but I don't know what the rest of my league will say--remember, I head up the the League of Crafters and Merchants with Anna Belle from Queen's Orchards.” he added, and the Lady Wood Elf beside him nodded.

“I think that our league is best served by being neutral. Of course,” she slyly shrugged, “We could make subtle preferences for this alliance from this point on, if the terms were agreeable.”

“Isn't Gears and Wheels struggling a bit in the Untold Deeps? We can offer them assistance down there,” Jannie said.

“And of course we're willing to offer extra protection for crafting runs in more high-risk or contentious areas,” Timidator nodded.

“We can start from those terms, yes.” Anna Belle agreed.

“One thing.” Mad Dog then said, and then looked at me. “Lady Lana.”

“Hm?” I returned at once.

“Our arrangement. One favor, no matter what it may be. This is my price for joining up in this alliance.” he reminded me.

“Ahh... sure... I guess... what's the favor?” I asked with a faint apprehension. He grinned back.

“You are chasing the orbs to counter Djaziim. I happen to know that one of these orbs is in a dungeon with something that I want for my guild.”

And he probably won't say what it is until we actually see it, I mused to myself inwardly.

“Well, then, I guess we'd better hurry up chasing after them. I don't even know if we had a real clue about the next from the last one or not,” I shrugged.

“Djaziim is a terror that must be thwarted.” Eothane said with a nod. “I will send my swiftest riders to scout the deserts and see what the King-Priests have in store for us. Wildeye, is there aught else of tidings we would be wise to consider at this council?”

“I would say that this amendment opens up a greater possibility of interference from the Onyxus players.” Wildeye remarked after a moment's thought. There were audible murmurings around the hall at this pronouncement.

“This is a true thing, and we would be thrice fools to not keep it in consideration going forward.” Eothane nodded grimly.

“One other thing I would mention,” Kiana stood up. “There's an alliance of pirate guilds that have been gearing up in the wake of the Guardians' naval defeat. I'm sure we all recognize the name Rackham John Thatcher.” she looked around the room, and most of us, including myself, nodded.

“The pistoleer who was beaten by Lysandra in the tournament.” Mad Dog grinned.

“Well he's the leader of this pirate confederation now; along with his own guild, Black Flag Marauders, there's The Jolly Rogers, Hornigold's Revenge, and the Deep Blue Kings, among others. The alliance itself is informally known as Skulls and Bones.” Kiana told us.

“I am sure once you regain your bearings that they will be no trouble for you.” Hua Ling said with a shrug.

“These sea marauders are ones we have fought against, before we decided that our venturing upon the waves was more harmful than helpful.” Eothane said. “He has grown in strength since last he was battled, and his skills rival any archer I have seen.”

“I'm offended.” I remarked with a faint sarcasm, and there were laughs around the room again.

“Let not Lady Lana lose her composure over a mere marauder; your bow will best the blackguard someday, as surely as Lysandra's sword once struck him through.” Wyne grinned, and Ari patted me on the head.

“So, basically, this whole alliance thing we have going is now an official thing for the tournament, we have pirates running around, orbs to find, and one favor to hand out to a hairy beast so he'll join up with us.” Lizzy summarized.

“Pfft!” Ari stifled a giggle. I'm not sure how I managed a straight face when Mad Dog gave us a soft glare.

“I worry that the King-Priests may win the favor of those other fiends, though.” Wyne added with a worried look to Eothane.

“It is a true thing you call to our attention.” he said to her, and then turned back to all of us. “Have we here heard of the Nightkin?” he asked.

At once, a growl went up from Mad Dog, and there was a lot more murmuring and grumbling that went on about the hall for several long moments. Even Wildeye's eyes darkened for a moment, which was something very unusual for the lighthearted guild leader. He clenched his fist tightly, and brought it down on the table so hard that a crack formed in it.

“They don't belong on this side of Panarena.” he seethed angrily.

“They're definitely a renegade guild.” Magisteria nodded.

“I heard they actually got run out by the Onyxus guilds.” Humphrey added.

“How screwed in the head do you have to be to--”

“Don't even go there.” a couple others remarked.

“Are they really cannibals? Or is that just a rumor?” one of the other guild leaders asked. “I mean, sure, they're dark, but I can't imagine anyone in this game actually... you know... doing that,” she said with a shudder.

“The Nightkin is a guild made up solely of Vampires, Werebeings, and Shadowkins. And there is a skill tree in the game that you can advance from eating monsters, and, if you're mental enough, humanoid or sentient beings.” Wildeye confirmed.

“As someone who has eaten many monsters, I can tell you the bonuses further up that skill tree are enticing; but they require... too much.”

“I don't even want to imagine.” the other guild leader shivered again.

“But this guild went for them; and whatever the circumstances behind their being here in Harmonia are, they're among the most powerful dark magic-users in the game.” Wildeye remarked. “If the King-Priests ally with them...”

“They may have no choice but to ally with an alliance now; they're not a huge guild nor even a modestly sized one. And the King-Priests are right up their alley in terms of the sorcery they both tend to favor.” Magisteria noted.

I felt a hand on my shoulder then; I looked over, and Myanihia was kneeling by my side. Her eyes betrayed an urgency.

“What's up?” I asked her softly.

“Heali, has found the other orb's location. It, is in the Borderlands. But, Lana, it is near to the lair, of this guild, you are now talking about.” she whispered back.

“Gyeck?!” I cringed.

“Indeed,” she nodded back.

“Well, we're all on,” Ariana quietly remarked. “We can try to go after it once we're out of this meeting.”

“Lady Lana?” Eothane called to me.

“Just an orb update,” I replied.

“Where is it?” Mad Dog asked.

“It, is in the Borderlands, near... Vilehome.” Myanihia answered.

“Aw, snap,” Tyman sighed. “That's where the creeps we just talked about hole up, ain't it, boss?”

“Sadly, yes.” Wildeye smiled ruefully.

“That dungeon has the item I want.” Mad Dog said. “I will have a team ready to assist you.”

“I'm sure Der will be going, so I'll have to get a few of us to go along as well,” Peaches said with a smile.

“You nearly got yourself in trouble with that sea orb, missie; we're coming too.” Valkrysti said, and I saw Barbarianne nodding vigorously in agreement.

“Can't let her go anywhere these days,” the other girl quipped.

“Ahh...” I started uncertainly, and Myanihia softly giggled.

“Well we can't not go with her now, can we?” Jannie said to Wildeye.

“Nope! Have to keep her from getting into a sticky situation again.” he beamed.

“You put on one cursed ring and suddenly you're a complete ditz...” I softly groaned, and Lizzy, among others in the room, cackled with glee.

“We shall ride forth fearlessly to show ourselves to our potential foes, and to give them cause to focus on us rather than yourselves. If there are aught among you that would aid us in this, I welcome you.” Eothane declared.

“I think we can handle that,” Humphrey nodded.

“As will we!” Timidator grinned.

“Then I'm with you as well.” Magisteria said.

“And thus we have a semblance of a plan for at least this night; let us adjourn, and make our mark upon the tablets of time in true fashion!” Eothane grinned.

Translation: let's do some really crazy stuff and become the subject of tomorrow's forum posts by outraged and-or bewildered bystanders.

***

“If they're a small guild, they'd be wary of a large group even despite their levels,” I muttered as I crept along the bottom of the ravine we had entered.

Following the end of the meeting at Heorot Hall, we had formed two raid parties, one led by Eothane and the other led by myself. We then wayported to Harmonia City, and continued on to the Borderlands. I had seen it from afar a few times now, but this was the first time I had actually been in them.

“This place is...” Ariana remarked, trailing off as she gazed into the distance.

“I know,” I nodded back to her.

The Borderlands is a desert region. On our side, it sort of resembles the American Southwest desert with its mesas and canyons, and as you get closer to Onyxus it becomes more of a bleak, unforgiving Sahara. I hadn't even known that you could have a guildhall in this region until it had been mentioned at the meeting tonight. Though of course, it was less of a guildhall and more of a hideaway, from what rumors said.

“Down that way,” Valkrysti motioned to the right. A descending passage there led deeper into the ravine, where I could make out a trickling stream of water.

“And the entrance is at the source of that stream, right?” I said as we headed down with care.

“That's what the clue said,” Healina replied. “'Into the land of endless wars, hidden by pillars of red, deep the descent to the last trickling stream, at its birth you will find me',” she recounted for us.

“Lucky you spotted that clue so quickly,” Ariana said.

“And this time there'll be no Venomheart to try and thwart us.” our healer smirked.

“I wonder what they think about Nightkin...” I wondered.

“Who knows,” Ari sighed.

I gazed back up towards the top of the ridge, slowly looking over the long line of our raid party descending into the ravine. The thundering of hooves could be heard in the distance; that would be Eothane and the others, riding about to keep Nightkin's attention. We had been cautious about being seen, so there was not a huge chance that our group had been spotted -- but, you never know. There was even a chance someone might be lurking down here just because it was the path to a dungeon.

With that thought in mind I turned on Shadow Vision. I couldn't see anyone lurking around. I looked over at Lysandra, who sniffed the air a couple times. She shook her head, and I nodded back. The older girl then strode closer to me, and put a hand on my shoulder as we walked down.

“I'm worried about Maryn. I try not to go wolf if I can help it while we're doing stuff, but now we've got a dozen werewolves who won't give a flip, and we can't very well tell them to not go wolf because one of our guildies will freak,” she whispered softly.

“Ah, snap, I knew I forgot something...” I quietly muttered to myself, looking back to steal a glance at Maryn, who was further back with Winnie and Tabitha. She seemed composed at the moment, but I had learned to pick up on when the others were anxious--and Maryn was definitely anxious. “Maybe we should have suggested she volunteer to join Eothane's group,” I remarked.

“She wouldn't have gone,” Ariana shook her head.

“You think?” I wondered curiously.

“She likes you too much.” Ari returned grumpily.

“Ahh...” I started uncertainly, but she linked her arm in mine to cut me off.

“I know.” she said, and then Lysandra gently coughed.

“It looks like we're finally at the bottom.” the older girl told us.

Once everyone was down at the bottom, we organized into our raid units and hastened towards the dungeon. Just as the clue had said, we found a small cave at the end, or rather the beginning, of the stream we had followed. I sighed, and looked around at our raid groups. Mad Dog was the biggest.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Can you fit through that?” I asked him.

“Not a chance.” he said flatly.

“Thought so. Blehhh,” I sighed as Ariana pulled out the ring with a smirk and handed it to me.

“I'll come too.” Belle said as I put it on, shrinking to child size.

I immediately picked up my gear, and scrambled into the hole as the others gaped in astonishment or broke out into the giggles, depending on who had seen me do this before. Once I found a good spot I took the ring off, and put my gear back on quickly while Belle illuminated the place with one of her pixie spells.

“Gotta be a lever or something around here,” she remarked.

“Hopefully not a puzzle,” I grimaced. “Oh, there,” I said, reaching towards what looked like a rock formation and pulling it with confidence. The walls of the cavern started receding into the ground, and moments later the others were walking in to join us.

“That was... interesting.” Mad Dog remarked to me with a faint grin.

“Yeah, yeah.” I shrugged. “Are you sure the thing you want is in this dungeon? I mean, you couldn't--”

“It's because I know it is in this dungeon that I asked to come along. I knew it would take a more... unique mind, to find a way of entering it.” he quickly told me.

“Thanks, I guess,” I said as we formed up into our groups again, heading down into the dungeon.

“So what's the scoop with this dungeon?” Kiana asked, and our lore-experts began opening their tomes.

“Some sort of abandoned fortress of a bygone age,” Peaches remarked.

“I think this line implies it used to be a Moscan sorcerer's stronghold at one point, but it could also be implying that it was fashioned by one,” Healina said.

“That's what I'm getting from it,” Peaches nodded.

“Most of the traps here will probably be arcane, then,” Siegfrieda from Valiant Maidens noted. “And a lot of the puzzles will be, too.”

“Swell.” Lizzy groaned.

“What about the monsters?” Mad Dog asked.

“Some enchanted guardians should be running around, besides the things we might bring down on ourselves with a misstep on a trap; and the boss... hmm...” Healina paused, and Peaches came to read with her. “That can't be, right?” our healer asked the Hauflin guild leader.

“No no, it's right,” Peaches assured her.

“Yes?” Wildeye wondered.

“It says that the final boss is the Seven Ghosts of the Mad Sorcerer,” Healina told us.

“Lovely.” Jannie returned.

“I wonder if there's also clues or trinkets in here that we can use to help us beat him... them... it?” I mused.

“Ooh, good call,” Heali nodded. “We'll have to keep an eye out for stuff.”

“Agreed.” Kiana nodded.

“All right; vanguard, let's go!” I said, and Myanihia and myself stepped into the shadows with Nightwing and Ariana, keeping ahead of the main group as we ventured further into the dungeon. We headed down a long, spiraling tunnel lit by blue and red crystals for what seemed like a really long time, and then found ourselves exiting that narrow passage into a wide, open cavern system.

“Wow...” Myanihia remarked as we stepped out of the shadows.

“That's... incredible...” Nightwing said with awe.

“It's like... no, it is a subterranean city,” Ariana softly exclaimed. All I could do was whistle in amazement.

So there was a main thoroughfare that led from where we had exited to a magnificent building that seemed like it was at least an hour and a half away from us by walking. On either side, below, and above this thoroughfare was an arcane city with many buildings of various sizes and multiple levels. There were even what looked like gardens or parks in some spots, and the whole place was illuminated by giant crystals of various colors, mostly clear white ones but also some greens, blues, and reds. I could see some sort of magic-train running around on a set of tracks that wove their way all around the underground city. Part steampunk, part organic, part arcane, and all of it meant to pose a serious challenge to adventurers.

“Well this isn't going to be a picnic, is it?” Jannie sighed as she and the others caught up to us.

“Dayum,” Tyman scratched his head.

“I bet the main attraction over there has some sort of special mechanic to open it, and we have to go through all this to figure out what,” Peaches said.

“Oh lovely, one of those dungeons...” Kiana groaned.

“Thinking is for single-player games.” Howler shook his head.

“Wanna bet some of the other places also have special mechanics?” I said with a wry grin as the others looked around the vast city.

“Oh I have no doubt about that,” Wildeye nodded.

“Ugh.” Lizzy snorted.

“Well. It appears we shall have to break up into more conventional groups instead of merely going with our usual packs,” Mad Dog said. “And we have a fair amount of time on our side, all things considered. There is at least one full Panarena day before most of us have to get back to the real world.”

“Oop, almost forgot about that,” Lizzy smiled bemusedly.

“All the same, I'd prefer to not spend all day in this place,” Reginleif quickly said.

“Then let's pick our groups and go,” Jannie nodded.

***

“Blehh. Howler was right; this is too much thinking for a dungeon in a game like this,” Lizzy groaned softly as I myself plomped down with a book I had found on one of the chairs in the building we had entered.

Besides the rest of my guild, Jannie, Winnie, and Tabitha had come along with us--oh, and Myanihia, who was pretty much a Silvernight Queen by now in all but name. Over an hour in-game had passed by; we weren't even a fifth of the way through the city, but we had been making some progress. Wildeye and Peaches' group had found part of what we would need to get into the palace, the large building that loomed in the distance from earlier, and Mad Dog had stumbled onto an ancient university with his group that the lore-experts with him felt certain held more clues to either the palace or the boss.

“Honestly, that's what makes this game stand out right now. Dungeons or other challenges like this that actually engage the players and which aren't just some mindless, daily grind.” Jannie said as she and Winnie examined another book from the shelf.

“That's true...” Lizzy sighed in agreement. “But still. I just want to charge in already and hang the mechanics,” she softly ranted.

“Easy, Wuuki,” I told her.

“Minus ten points for the jibe.” she quipped back.

“This book has riddles in it... some of them seem related to the spectral beings in the palace, or maybe they're about the boss?” Jannie suddenly said.

“This one has a similar thing,” I said, “Although these are more like... haiku poems?”

“And this one,” Healina began as she returned with a book of her own, “Seems to have clues couched in mostly alliterative rhetoric. But some of it seems non-sequitur.”

“Let's put them on this table side by side and see if that helps,” Jannie suggested, placing hers on the table in question first. I did the same, and Healina added hers a beat later.

“This...” Heali said, her face scrunching up thoughtfully. “I think we're on to something. But if this relates to the boss, then I'd bet we'll need four more tomes.”

“Four more?!” Lizzy exclaimed in bewilderment.

“I think there's some sort of patterned code here, but it doesn't quite make sense yet. Seven tomes would make sense, considering the boss is referred to as the Seven Ghosts of the Mad Sorcerer.” Healina explained.

“Ugh. I'll keep watch outside.” the Nordian smith grumbled.

“I'll go with her,” Lysandra said, exchanging a bemused grin with me as she followed the other girl.

“Here's one!” Ari called out as she and Belle returned to the room from their own search.

“I think Maryn and Tabitha are still looking in another room with Anhe and Myanihia,” the pixie-girl told us.

“That's fine,” I nodded.

“Here now, let's see...” Healina said as she took the tome from Ariana and set it on the table as well, nodding with approval after a moment. “It's getting clearer. Something to do with the first word in each paragraph or stanza, maybe the end words of each of them as well.”

“Let's look for more!” Jannie smiled.

“Let's do that,” I agreed, and we set out to explore the building again with a renewed sense of determination.

After a few minutes more, we had found the tomes we needed, and Healina made quick work of deciphering the hidden codes that had been crafted into the texts, deducing that each of the seven ghosts which were the boss had one specialty and one weakness each. Also, we could either defeat them one by one, or attack each ghost in a specific way to force them into merging, which didn't seem like a good idea because then he would gain all the specialties but become nearly invulnerable except to one form of attack that was not specified by the texts we had.

“It seems more orthodox to attack them one by one anyway... unless I'm reading this wrong, of course and it actually means that no matter what we do the seven will merge into one boss,” Healina frowned as she pondered the books before her.

“Having no vowels in those two books definitely clouds things, huh?” Ariana remarked.

“You're telling me.” the Sea Elf sighed.

“Let's hope the others turned something up on that count,” Tabitha said. “Things will definitely get clearer once we have all the pieces of this puzzle.”

“Oh for sure.” Winnie nodded.

“We agreed to meet at that plaza of fountains near the middle, right?” Ari looked over at me.

“That we did,” I nodded back. “Let's make our way there, but let's continue keeping an eye out for anything that might help us.”

“Right,” Jannie nodded, and we departed the building we had been in to continue our expedition.

As we made our way toward the rendezvous point, I looked around again at the vast city we had entered into. Some of the buildings were starting to crumble, or had been overgrown with subterranean vegetation; I wondered what the in-world history of the place was, and if, someday, parts of our own world might end up like this. Well... I guess some of it already has, but, you know.

After picking our way carefully down a flight of steps that seemed on the verge of tumbling into the nothingness below, we ended up near an ancient mural that seemed to depict a battle between what could have been the people who lived here and the Mad Sorcerer who was now the de facto ruler of this lost city.

“It's just story-telling imagery.” Jannie mused.

“Sometimes even images like this contain important information,” Healina said to her. “Like this panel here; the sorcerer seems to be blanching, maybe even cowering.”

“Hmm...?” Lizzy wondered as she came to look as well. “They don't have weapons; are those spell-casters?”

“Good eye!” Heali smiled back at her. “Also, this sorcerer depiction has him wearing orange robes.”

“We found two others,” the voice of Mad Dog was heard. He and his group came up from another flight of stairs. “One had melee fighters seeming as if they were besting a sorcerer in purple robes; another had archers attacking one in green.”

“This could mean that each of the seven ghosts' weaknesses are a specific attack. Archery and melee is straightforward, but magic has several disciplines...” Healina mused.

“These magic projectiles look like firebolts,” Winnie noted.

“That's true.” Ariana agreed.

“Has to be fire.” Barbarianne nodded.

“Whether this means specifically fire or generally attack magic, we shall have to find out from other murals, I suppose,” Mad Dog said.

“We'll assume so for the moment,” Heali said in agreement.

“Come to think of it, you guys seem to have come along the main thoroughfare more directly than we did,” I noticed. “I bet the murals are all along that.”

“Good thought,” Kiana smiled. “Let's check it out!”

We spent the next hour or so finding and examining the rest of the murals, meeting up with Wildeye's group at the plaza of fountains as planned. His group had found the keys to unlocking the palace and avoiding the death-traps within it. Putting that together with what we had on the sorcerer so far, it seemed that, once we got into the boss room, we would have to face off against the seven ghosts in no particular order. The orange one was vulnerable to fire, the purple one weak to melee, the green one could be beaten by archery; the blue one's weakness was nature skills, the red one was weak to lightning, the yellow one had a vulnerability to poison, and the indigo one's Achilles Heel was cold.

“But, from this text, even if we beat all of them, the seven will merge into one after that,” Peaches recounted for us. “We have one chance to stop the merge and end the fight early; if we fail, we'll have to deal with a boss that has none of the previous weaknesses and all the strengths of his earlier incarnations.”

“What is the weakness of the super boss?” Barbarianne asked.

“It hasn't been on anything we've seen so far,” Healina shook her head.

“I've been thinking about that,” Peaches told her. “I think there's an acrostic clue scattered across the various texts we've picked up from other sources around the cities, but I'll need the whole of them to piece it together.”

“Got it!” our healer said, and the lore-experts among us immediately started setting down what they had gathered so that Peaches could examine all of them for what she sought.

“Hm, hm, just like I thought... a boustrophedon acrostic, topped off with subtle allegorical asides every fifth and seventh line in the center texts which slightly shift the meaning to render the answer...”

“Boust--ehh??” I wondered in bewilderment.

“Boustrophedon; you know how we write and read left-to-right, and some other cultures do the opposite? Well boustrophedon is both. It alternates from left-to-right and right-to-left from line-to-line.” Peaches explained to me.

“Hrrmm...”

“You know how Mrs. Liang is teaching us proper Chinese and Japanese, right?” Ariana whispered to me faintly.

“Oh!” I snapped my fingers quietly as I recalled. Our foreign language teacher was insistent on following the top-to-bottom, right-to-left methodology of writing the two languages we were learning this year. That was about the only part that could throw me off.

“And the super boss' weakness is: shadow and fang.” Peaches then declared.

“Shadow...” Myanihia repeated softly.

“And fang...” Mad Dog grinned.

“Lucky us.” Nightwing blinked calmly.

“Let's go tackle a boss,” Lizzy clapped her hands together triumphantly.

“Let's get inside the palace first,” Wildeye smirked back.

“And then we'll sock this sorcerer!” our halberdier beamed as we set off towards the palace.

“Come to think of it,” Maryn said, looking over at Ariana and me, “You two did something similar in your first big dungeon, right? Stopping the bosses from merging, that is.”

“Oh, true!” Ari grinned back. “We can do it again, can't we?” she looked over at me.

“Ehh,” I returned in an uncertain tone.

“You're supposed to say, 'Yes, my love, we did it once and we can do it again!'” Kiana quickly jumped in, and the others laughed.

“I mean, the dragons... were kind of... slower,” I managed to note, and Ari stopped laughing to take my side.

“Ohh, that's true... I kind of remember that now. You think this one will be a bit too fast for us to stop?”

“Not so fast that it's impossible, but maybe just fast enough to give us a hard time. We're in a Borderlands dungeon, after all.”

“Hmm...” my partner sighed.

“I bet he has a shield or reflect skill until the last possible moment when he does the merge...” Peaches remarked.

“Ugh. Good point.” Jannie groaned as we began ascending a staircase that led to one of the magic-trains that still functioned.

“Anyone want to be the sacrificial lamb to find out?” Peaches asked with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Hell no.” Tyman quipped back at once, and we all laughed.

Anyhow. We got aboard the old magic-train without incident, and got off near the palace. Wildeye's lone magic-user for the night, a more scholarly mage named Greeneyes, unlocked the ancient palace for us, and we headed on in. Thanks to our scouring of the city, we were able to avoid all of the traps, but we did have to fight off some arcane creations that were roaming the halls. In a few places we were even able to turn the traps against them. Now that is always fun.

We then found the door to the main tower, which Greeneyes and Ariana had to unlock together, and then we made our way through another series of enchanted automatons and death-traps all the way to the last door at the top, where we spent a few moments recomposing ourselves before heading in to meet the boss.

“Think your item will be in the chest?” I asked Mad Dog.

“Considering I have yet to find it, I am hoping so.” the werewolf guild leader returned.

“Well I ain't going through this whole city again to help you find it. I gotta take care of the little brat.” Winnie remarked.

“Fair enough.” the other grinned toothily.

“Is your monitor alert going off?” Jannie asked her.

“Not yet, but she was real sneezy today, not to mention the coughing. Her medicine should hold her until we're done, but if that monitor goes off I'm gone. I only came on this late because I know you can't get Jessa on for the weekends to save your life.” the other woman told her.

“Aww, poor baby.” Kiana said sympathetically.

“We'll wrap this up as fast as we can,” I promised her.

“You better!” Winnie patted my head.

“All right: we all remember what sorcerer is weak to which attacks, yes?” Wildeye asked us, and we all nodded. “Then let's get in there and finish this off this boss, claim the orb, and get Mad Dog's item. Lana, Myanihia, Nightwing, Lysandra, Mad Dog, Howler, Rarf, we're counting on you if we fail to interrupt the merge.”

“Got it.”

“We'll be on it!”

“Indeed.” Nightwing, myself, and Mad Dog replied while the others nodded.

“Let's go!” Tyman said, and as soon as we had been buffed up for the fight, we headed on in.

***

“Ready: and--now!” Wildeye called out as the seventh incarnation, the yellow one, turned up to fight. Those of us who could use poison, Myanihia, Ariana, and myself among them, quickly unleashed what attacks we had to take it down. Myanihia coated her swords and mine with a special poison, and we jumped forth to use that special combo-attack to take it down instantly.

“Whoo! Tag-teamed!” Winnie cheered as the incarnation went up in pixels and smoke.

“By the Nine Crowns of the Ancient Kingdoms!” the boss' voice rang out. “It appears you are no simpleton thieves after all. I shall have to expend my full power to face you!” he declared, and the seven incarnations reappeared and started the merging process.

“Lana!” Wildeye called out to me.

“Wait, it's no good!” Derwydd quickly said. “He's got a reflect and immunity shield up!”

“Dammit!” the Mountain Tigers' guild leader frowned.

“It should end right about when the process is comple-- ho-ly...!!” I exclaimed, nearly dropping my bow as I watched him put up another reflective shield right when I thought I had my chance.

“Tch!” Reginleif hissed. “Wolf pack, shadows, you're up!” she called out, and I heard Maryn gulp.

“Put a sensory spell on her, eh?” Lysandra said to Ari.

“Got it!” my partner nodded back.

“Huh?” Maryn wondered, but then went still in a sort of shock as Ariana used her spell to stop her sight and hearing, temporarily.

“He's done with the thing!” Howler called as the incarnations of the boss became one.

“Let's go!” I then said, and the werewolves and shadow warriors charged while Jannie and Wildeye kept the boss' aggro on them.

We had to jump back a couple times when he put up a reflective shield at two-thirds and one-third health, but other than that it was as straightforward as we had put together from the clues in this underground dungeon. If we had come in here blindly swinging, we'd be dead meat twenty times over by now, I thought to myself as we finally wore down the remainder of his health.

“Last strike!” Ari called out, unleashing a shadow spell she had devised. It wiped out the last half percent of the boss' health, and after a very melodramatic flailing he exploded into pixels.

“Woo-hoo!” Winnie clapped as the chest appeared.

“Yo! That thing better have an orb in it,” Tyman said as Jannie and I went to open it up.

“Here it is!” I said triumphantly.

“And here's what Mad Dog wants, I bet,” Jannie added as she pulled out a totem.

“That's it.” the werewolf guild leader nodded, and she handed it over to him. “My thanks. We'll be joining up with you for the remainder of the event, then,” he said with a grin.

“Good to be allies!” Jannie smiled back.

“Um, Ari?” I said to my partner.

“Hmm?”

“You, uh, gonna put Maryn back to normal?”

“Oh!!” she snapped her fingers, blushing as she quickly undid the enchantment upon our shield-user.

“What did I miss?” the older girl said when she came to her senses.

“Not much, just a dramatic death a la werewolf,” Lizzy told her, and she shuddered.

“So nothing,” she replied with a hesitant smile.

“Nope, not a bit.” I told her with a grin.