As expected, the portal set us close to the fifth dungeon. This part of the marshes seemed more... well, I guess “swampy” is the only word that really comes to mind. Even more so than the area around the Wraith Dungeon. There were more mires, and lots of muddy expanses. Belligerence guards the cunning ones. The words from the quest came back to my mind.

Wait a minute; belligerence, belligerence... what could be belligerent, and living in a swamp? Don't tell me... I suddenly thought as we pulled ourselves out of another mire, and then all of a sudden a furious bellow erupted to our left. Not fifty feet away was a greenish yellow creature nearly ten feet in height; it had a great girth, a trollish face, and in its large hand was a massive wooden club.

“O-o-o--Ogre!!” I managed to get out just as it charged us. We scattered, and Ariana hit it with a couple fireballs. It groaned, and sank to its knees. H-huhh!?

“Huhh?!” Ariana cried out in disbelief, echoing my thoughts exactly.

“Th-that's really weak...” Heali remarked.

“I'm not complaining!” Lizzy said as she ran over and swiped off its head. The ogre disintegrated with a pitiful groan, and our halberdier set the end of her weapon in the ground to take a small rest.

“Wh-what the heck level was that thing?” I wondered.

“More like, it was a minion.” Lizzy observed.

“But if that was just a minion...” Maryn began, trailing off as another howling bellow sounded, and then another, and a third, and then an angry chorus of roars and growls came to our ears.

“Un-dirtyword-believable...!” Lizzy whistled as she turned to see the horde of ogres rampaging towards us.

“Aw, dang it, really?” I sighed.

“Hey, we still have our buff! Let's make good use of it!” Heali reminded us then.

“Oh, sweet!” I said with a resurgent spirit.

“One Panarena hour left of it, though,” Lizzy said. “Lets make this as quick as we can and then try to find another tuning station!”

“Here they are!” Maryn said, bashing the lead ogre in the face with her shield. It tipped over like a drunk cow, much to our surprise, but Maryn quickly recovered and drove her sword through its neck, finishing it off.

“Are they all minions? Because that'd be sweet,” I remarked, slicing one up just as quickly as Maryn had. “Wow!”

“Maybe most of them?” Healina said as she cast a heal-over-time on us.

“Sick!!” Lizzy cheered, entering a rampage attack with her halberd as I did the same with my daggers. “Let's do this!” she shouted, and we tore into the angry onslaught of ogres.

For the next Panarena hour, we waded through the swampy mires and hordes of minion-level ogres, occasionally coming up on a champion ogre, but this was (perhaps fortunately) not a very common occurrence at the moment. We came across a cave just as the hour was ending, and inside we found the tuning station we were hoping for. After a few minutes Lizzy had it set to give us our gear-boost and some major physical resistance, and then Sallymander reappeared.

“Huh? You know, come to think, we kind of left that guy behind on accident earlier...” our smith reminded us.

“Ahh--” I exclaimed sheepishly.

“Aww! Poor Sally!” Healina knelt down to pet it, and it set down another object at her feet. “Aw, how nice of you; I'm sorry we forgot you earlier.” she continued, still stroking it behind the--ears? Did salamanders have ears? Whatever. He certainly looked happy, though, almost as if he might purr.

“Sh-she's totally adopted it,” I remarked to Ari.

“R-right?” she replied with a bemused look. “I wonder if she might be able to bind him permanently, somehow,” she continued in a more thoughtful tone.

“Hmm?” Heali looked up at us, and then examined Sallymander's status. “Taming status: sixty-percent. Huh?” she wondered with surprise. “Did somebody do something?”

“Ahh... we fed him the one night... because we were gonna be gone for three whole game days... and we felt guilty...” I said, and Ari giggled.

“Oh, I get it!” our healer smiled. “So if we want to keep him, we have to feed him some more. I bet he was nearly there a couple days ago and the status meter dropped off because you weren't feeding him.”

“Hehh? So we almost accidentally got ourselves a permanent pet?” I wondered.

“Of course it would be the one with the punny name...” Lizzy shook her head.

“Gee, I wonder who keeps calling it by said punny name despite hating it.” I said to her with a mock glare, to which she responded with an insincere grin.

“I wonder!” she quipped back.

“But anyway; this item looks like it goes with the one from the Storm Dungeon,” Heali said to us, and I took the item in question out of my inventory. The bottle with its coiled tube did look like a perfect match for the odd item that our pet had brought us. It was some sort of release valve, obviously meant to be affixed to the end of the tube.

“So I attach it like so...” I said as I combined the two items; just as expected, they fit perfectly. “But really, what is it?” I then wondered, trying to think of how it could be used.

“At this rate, I wonder if we need it for the last dungeon?” Maryn suggested.

“Oh! That's possible,” I agreed.

“What a pain this quest is,” Lizzy groaned.

“Would you rather be here or working a late-shift at one of your soon-to-be jobs?” Heali countered.

“I love this quest!” the blonde girl said immediately.

“Such a simpleton,” I muttered, and Ari giggled softly. Heali's ears twitched, and she tried to contain a smile. Thankfully, Lizzy didn't hear me. “Anyway, I'm not seeing an actual 'dungeon' around here; unless it's a cave and I just don't see it.”

“Maybe it's a field dungeon,” Lizzy suggested.

“Could be.” I nodded back.

“In which case any caves we find from now on will probably have elites, champions, mini-bosses, and then the boss.” Maryn said.

“Too true,” our smith agreed. “All right, this thing is set: come get your bonuses!” she then said, and after we had gotten our next-to-last bolstering, we set out again across the increasingly miry terrain.

I lost count of how many ogres we fought. The overwhelming majority of them were brutish minions that we could easily down; the only thing was they were a very overwhelming majority, and that got really old really quick. I hadn't taken this game for a game that would do the mindless mob-grind, but that's what we were doing at the moment: mindlessly mowing down mobs again and again and again. And this took, or perhaps wasted, three dang hours of Panarena time. Then we spent another hour dealing with champion-elite ogres and their minions as we drew nearer to the place marked by the quest indicator. And when at last we had finally overcome all of these, the Ogre Lord Kresh appeared. He was by far bigger than all of the other ogres we had seen, being at least three times the height of Lizzy, and he was also far smarter.

“Why are you here, you fiendish adventurers?? This is my swamp!!” he bellowed out. And with that the battle began.

Compared to nearly every boss fight so far, this one was relatively easy. There was no immunity shield, no add-summoning, just a straight out fight with the occasional knockback or stun. And then it happened.

Remember that Akajak the Rude we mentioned a while back? The wandering goblin? Yeah. He showed up. I had absolutely no clue that he wandered all through the Marshes of the Wyrd, but I guess he did, because here he was. With a few choice insults to both us and Kresh, he joined the battle, and it became a three-way battle between him, the ogre lord, and our five-person party.

Akajak was not that much harder a fight than Kresh, to be honest; it's just that he was a javelin thrower, and every time two or three percent of his health got knocked off he would run around with an immunity shield screaming out insults. It had to be some sort of dev-prank. It just had to be. There was no way it wasn't. This guy was just plain out--

“Ruuuuuude!!” Lizzy hollered as the goblin ran off again, squealing out insults I won't bother repeating. “I'mma chop off your legs and stuff them in your filthy mouth to shut you up, you punk!” she shouted.

“I'd pay real money if you did,” I quipped as I dodged a blow from Kresh and retaliated with Thousand Needle Strike and Crescent Flash.

“I'll do it for free!!” she returned as she lunged for the goblin and actually did manage to swipe his feet out from under him. “Well I'll be darned!” she said as he fell to the ground, barely able to crawl away.

“Nooo!! No-no-no-no-no-no-no!! Pl-eeeease! No kill I!!” the creature jabbered.

At that moment Kresh let out another bellowing roar, and began running towards Lizzy, his club raised up high for an overhead smash. Suddenly an idea struck me; Akajak was barely getting away from our halberdier, and Kresh was almost on top of her. Heali was about to shout a warning when I held my hand up; she looked over at me in disbelief. I grinned back at her; she blinked, seeing I had something in mind. Just as Kresh was about to one-shot Lizzy, I suddenly sprang forth and knocked her out of the way. When Kresh's club came down, it struck the hapless goblin, and he disintegrated, leaving a chest behind. Healina sighed in relief, and Lizzy looked over in surprise, then grabbed me by the collar.

“You were using me as bait just now, weren't you, you little twerp?” she said to me with an angry grin.

“Ah-heh-heh-heh...” I returned with a helpless smile. “Arriiiii...!”

“Don't look at me,” she said with a mischievous expression. “You brought this one on yourself!”

“Set him down, Lizzy; you're fine, and Kresh is somehow stunned,” Maryn said, and the two of us looked over.

“Huh?” the blonde girl wondered.

“The heck?” I blinked in confusion.

“Tch -- that's minus fifteen points, Lana!” Lizzy said as she let me go and went on the attack again.

“Hahhh...” I sighed, and Ari poked me.

“You alive?” she wondered.

“I guess.” I replied in an unconvincing tone.

“Come on,” she grinned, and I took out my bow to help her attack from range. In a few minutes more we had finished off our original enemy, and a second chest, this one bigger, appeared. Half a moment later a portal sprang out of the ground. We looted the two chests, and then entered the portal to find ourselves near Mjonid, the northwestern-most city in the Marshes of the Wyrd.

“So anyway; it's south by southwest to the last dungeon from here. Although it was west by southwest from the previous dungeon, which was closer, I think...” Healina told us as she looked at the map in confusion. We had spent a few minutes at the vendors getting rid of junk and repairing things, and now we were gathered together in a room at a local inn, talking things over and preparing to log out for the night.

“Ehh, but the way from the Ogre Dungeon is blocked by the Impassible Mires,” I pointed out.

“Oh, I see; I guess we would have drowned or something... eek!” she remarked with a shake of her head.

“Not a lot of pleasant ways to go in any game, but in a VR game it seems like it'd be so much more... worse?” I said with a grimace.

“Definitely is.” Lizzy nodded.

“Oh, right, you have died in this game, before you met us at least.” I recalled.

“Such a weird experience, and very nerve-wracking.” she nodded.

“Not something I'd like to get accustomed to,” I said. “But anyway... it's late. Super late.”

“Yeah. We'll finish this off tomorrow, and then we'll be in Xuanpu.” Healina said, and the rest of us nodded back.

“Can't wait!” Ariana exclaimed.

“We'll take it easy for a bit once there; or at least I will.” Lizzy quipped.

“Fair enough.” I nodded, and then yawned. “All right, I'm done. See you all next time.” I said.

“Right; I'm out too!” Lizzy said, poofing almost instantly, as did Healina, and then Maryn. Ari snagged me for a hug before I left, and then smiled as we logged out for the night together.

***

Sunday passed by a bit groggily on account of our late adventures, but I managed to pass hide it pretty well. I didn't really “wake up” until some time after lunch, after which I was helping Rachel over video-call with our extra-credit assignment, sorting out the pics and vids we had collected yesterday. We didn't really have to turn it in until the end of the week, but hey, might as well get it done while it's more or less fresh on the mind. Besides, this weekend was probably going to be busy for us, and we didn't want the assignment bogging us down, extra-credit or no.

“And don't forget that two weeks from now is the homecoming dance, that we're going to,” she said to me with a sly smirk.

“Ahh... right.” I nodded back with a sheepish grin. “And then the week after that is Halloween...” I added. I swear that smirk got more mischievous.

“True! The others had some ideas about that by the way, but we'll talk about it later.”

This is a trap. I know it. I just know it, I thought to myself with a wary expression.

“Sure,” I managed to reply.

“Okay, I think that's really all we can feasibly put on to this thing; now we need to arrange our notes into an essay.” she said, and I nodded back again.

“Right, and it has to look 'professional', whatever that means,” I returned.

“Like a company report or a journal article, I guess?” Rachel replied. “Let's look some up for reference.”

“Gotcha,” I agreed. We spent a couple hours on this, and when we had found a format we agreed on we typed up most of our notes into a rough draft, saving it for later when dinner came along. After dinner, of course, I was released into the wild to rejoin my fellow gamers in our natural habitat.

“Right, we're all here,” I said as I quickly looked around the room a few moments after logging in.

“Yep, and we've got a long marsh ahead of us.” Lizzy said.

“A long march, not marsh... although come to think of it...” Healina gently smirked.

“Eh? Did I say marsh?” the other girl wondered.

“You did.” Maryn said, gently patting her on the back.

“Whatever we have, let's get going,” I said with a grin, restraining myself from a pun so that I didn't lose more points.

Mjonid was near the border of the Marshes of the Wyrd and Stormwraith Hold, a mountainous region where it was said that thunderstorms rarely ceased and clouds never left. Some day, we would explore that region, but not today. Today we continued our quest, heading along a worn path heading in a general southward direction towards the last dungeon, named as the Serpent Dungeon on our map.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The landscape we made our way through now was not much different than the spooky, eerie, and bleak terrain that the marshes were apparently famous for. Off in the distance we could see huts jutting out of the wetlands upon stilts, and we wondered who the occupants were. Ari and I said witches, Healina said they were harmless NPCs meant for atmosphere, Maryn thought they might be some sort of werebeing, and Lizzy said with a certain level of confidence that they were probably empty. We checked one of the closer huts just for the fun of it; it was abandoned.

“I guess Lizzy is kind of right, then?” Maryn shrugged.

“Look at all this stuff,” Healina remarked. “I wonder if there's any recipes or something hidden in these books?”

“The ones that are intact probably have them,” I said.

“Not many of those that I can see... maybe ten, at most.” our healer said.

“Can't get too lucky, I guess.”

“Let's take them and continue on,” Ariana said, and Heali nodded back. They split the books between the two of them, and we resumed our journey south.

After at least two hours of walking, I turned to the right, facing westwards, and beyond the region-border I could see it: Xuanpu, our destination. Far, far in the distance I thought I could see pillared mountains and the hint of an ocean; but what I could definitely see were the curved roofs of eastern-style houses and other buildings neatly settled in a lush and vibrant landscape. I could almost hear a sound of music, the kind our Chinese teacher would sometimes play, and I felt my heart aching inside me. A tear fell from my eye, and I felt Ariana's hand taking my own; I looked over, a tear was in her eye as well, and a gentle smile was on her face.

“Almost.” she whispered to me, and I nodded back.

“Almost.” I returned just as softly. Someone then placed their hands on our backs.

“Come on,” Maryn said with a warm smile, patting us gently as she continued after the others. We recovered ourselves, and hurried after them.

As we returned our full attention to our trek several minutes later, I suddenly had a thought, the kind that nags at you until you reason it out. Waaaiiit a minute; 'serpent'. This is the last major dungeon in the Marshes of the Wyrd, and it's on the border of Xuanpu. The Flame Dungeon had a boss that was, more or less, “in theme” for the two regions closest to it, Heimgar and the Aldholt, namely a demon. So wouldn't this dungeon's boss have some sort of similarity to monsters that are “in theme” for Xuanpu? Or am I overthinking it? Hmm... I don't think I am...

“Let's see,” I continued aloud, unaware that I was talking. “The Storm Dungeon had a steampunk boss deal; and the Wastes, the next region over, are supposed to have been affected by some sort of mysterious disaster; the Wraith Dungeon was near the Sylvanian Reaches, which is populated by Wood Elves, I think, and Elves generally hate undead of any kind, so that also makes sense... the Frost Dungeon didn't make too much sense, being near the Yucu Jungles, and while the Ogre Dungeon didn't quite fit either it also kind of worked... so the majority of the dungeons had a boss that was more or less in line with the theme from the nearest region over, which means that the Serpent Dungeon's boss will most likely be 'in theme' for Xuanpu... and that would possibly mean...” I trailed off, conjuring up the possibilities, still unaware I had been speaking out loud.

“What would it mean?” Ariana asked me, and I turned to her with a nonplussed look.

“Hmm?” I asked her in turn.

“You were talking about the bosses and the dungeons and how they seem related to the bordering regions closest to them?” she said to me, and then I finally realized I had actually been talking.

“Oh, that,” I nodded. “Hmm... well, there's probably a few things that might fit the idea in the end, but if it's an apex creature of its type, then there could be an eastern dragon waiting for us in the last boss chamber.” I said.

“Oh cool!” Ariana said excitedly.

“Aren't eastern dragons usually more benevolent than the ones we usually think of?” Healina then said, and I snapped my fingers.

“Oh yeah!” I exclaimed as the thought struck home. “I wonder if we'll actually have to fight it at all, or if there's just some sort of test it gives us,” I then said.

“Ooh, wicked.” Lizzy remarked with interest. “That'd be a nice change!”

“Still, if they're going for that definition of serpent, as in 'serpentine', then you know what that means...” Maryn said, pointing towards our pet.

“Oh, right, it does mean that, doesn't it?” I said with a wry expression.

“Salamanders.” Ariana nodded.

“Speaking of dungeons and things that dwell within them,” Heali then said, pointing ahead.

There before us was an eastern style fortress, with red walls and hip-and-gable roofs made of green tile, the walls patterned with majestic looping knots of gold and the roofs with jade-crafted guardians seated at their edges or at the very top of them. An elegant jade dragon of immense size was situated above the gates, its two eyes fashioned from emeralds. It was almost as if it was staring down at us for real. The gates, crafted from a darker wood and patterned in the same fashion as the walls, slowly opened.

“An invitation.” I said.

“Bold adventurers,” a deep voice said, “Come forth, and receive a blessing. Fear not! I am the Guardian of the East, and I commit no treachery.” it told us, and we looked at each other.

I stepped forward first, feeling pretty good about the situation. Just as the guardian promised, a blessing was bestowed upon me as I entered the gates -- a stat and gear boost, to be more specific. I gave the others a nod, and they came forward as well to receive their own boosts.

“The first test, adventurers; prove your respect for my kith and kin. Do this, and I shall permit you to take the second test.” the voice said.

“Prove our respect?” Maryn wondered.

“This is one of those more thought-out and involved quests, isn't it?” Lizzy remarked, scratching her head.

“Kneeling or bowing is probably part of the answer, but that doesn't seem like it would be enough, somehow,” Ariana told us.

“I think you're right,” I nodded back. “In which case there's something we should do before we try that.”

“True,” she returned. I looked around at the courtyard we now stood in; a torii gate stood at the beginning of the paved road to the entrance of the main building.

Does that make this place a shrine? I wondered to myself. But if this is a shrine, then that means we have to have the utmost respect for its guardian... and that means... I suddenly realized, looking at our little friend.

“Heali,” I said with an unexpectedly choked voice, and she looked over at me with concern, “Set him loose. Set him free.” I told her.

“Huh?” she wondered, and then her eyes widened as she realized I was talking about Sallymander. “L-Lana...” she stuttered, her face falling.

“Urrgh... she's right, Heali,” Lizzy said in a firm but not unkind tone. “We've been keeping him as a pet for all this time; let's set him free now. That'll show respect, I bet.” she continued. Healina sadly nodded, and then undid the charm on Sallymander, kissing his head as the effect wore off. The critter flicked its tongue out at us one last time, and then scuttled off into the Marshes of the Wyrd. I couldn't help but watch with a pained expression until he disappeared, and then I turned back towards the shrine, and knelt down, bowing my head. The others did the same.

“Well done, adventurers. I admire your respect, and I thank you for freeing mine fellow from his charmed service. You may enter to face the second trial!” the voice said.

Suddenly the path towards the main building was illuminated; the white stones of the pavement glowed like stars, radiant and mysterious. Lizzy was about to head directly for the entrance, but I put a hand out to stop her.

“We have to stay on the path,” I told her.

“Hmm? Some sort of symbolic thing?” she wondered.

“I'm pretty sure.” I nodded back.

The five of us then made our way directly along the paved pathway, walking single file. We passed under the torii, and continued up to the outer porch of the great building before us. There was a basin of water at the bottom of the steps. I dipped my hands into it, and then gently shook them dry; the others did the same, Maryn saying something about following my lead carefully. Not that I knew exactly what I was doing, but I was mostly positive I was doing the right thing.

Next to the beautifully decorated door was a bell with a rope-pull attached to it. I looked at this carefully, and then looked at the sign next to it. I couldn't read everything, but I recognized what were probably the important characters for our situation: two, two, and one. Eh? Is this place more Japan-based than China-themed? Uh-oh... how do anime characters pray at a shrine? I quickly wondered to myself.

“Two bows, two claps, one bow.” Ari said to me with a smile.

“Huh? Oh; wait, you lived in Japan?!” I suddenly exclaimed.

“For a couple months one summer, yeah.” she nodded back.

“Jea-lous!” Lizzy said with amazement.

“Cool!” I replied.

“So what do we do again?” Healina wondered.

“Ring the bell,” Ariana began, “Then bow twice--not too deeply, but formally, and then clap twice, and then another formal bow.”

“Hmm...” I said, pretty sure I remembered how it worked now, and then rang the bell reverently. The five of us then bowed twice, gave two claps, and then bowed again. Then the door opened, and the voice spoke again.

“Well done! You have shown reverence for my shrine; the second trial is passed. Come now, and face the third.” it told us, and together we entered the grand shrine.

The atmosphere within was not unlike the Hallowed Pagoda Ariana and I had been in. It was calming, soothing almost. More jade statues of fantastical creatures or mystical warriors lined the walls or were situated upon daises, pillars and columns painted with floral patterns or dragon designs supported the floors above us, and magnificently woven carpets with fine trim and exotic designs were upon the floors we now trod.

“What do we do now?” Maryn whispered.

“I have no idea,” Ariana whispered back.

“The third trial now begins,” the voice said to us. “Three questions, three riddles, I shall give to you. First: what is the most important, fealty, love, or honor?”

“Uh-oh.” I mumbled softly.

“This is more difficult than I thought it was gonna be,” Lizzy grumbled quietly.

“I'll say; how do we solve these riddles?” Healina remarked glumly. I inadvertently looked to the right, and saw another placard with characters I recognized.

“Oh! I get it!” I then said. “Honor!” I said confidently.

“Well done, mortal. Honor, fealty, love; this is the sacred paradigm of a warrior. The second question: what creature is more noble than a dragon?” it asked us then. I frowned. More noble than a dragon? I mean, even in western myths, dragons are pretty majestic and noble looking, I thought to myself.

“Hmm?” Ariana mused aloud; she was looking at the placard I had seen a moment ago. “So it gives us the answers, we just have to look for them.” she noted, looking around for another and smiling when she found one. “'The Wise One said that there is no creature more noble than a dragon, not even the celestial princes'.” she read aloud, and the voice chuckled appreciatively.

“Well done, adventurer!” it said in a congratulatory manner.

Trick question, huh? I thought to myself bemusedly.

“The final question: what is the constant foe of the warrior and the king, but a constant friend to all simple and pure-minded folk?” the voice asked us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Maryn smile.

“Time,” she said, “For it brings down the ambitions of the proud, yet gives the humble every opportunity.”

“An excellent answer!” the voice replied. “The third trial is passed; the fourth now begins. Come!” it continued, and at the far end of the chamber we now stood in, the floor opened downwards, revealing a descending staircase.

“How many more trials do you think we'll have?” Healina wondered as we continued.

“I don't think it'll give us too many more,” I replied. “Isn't seven an important number in Japan?”

“I think so,” Ari nodded. “Which could mean we're about halfway through.”

“Right,” I said.

When we got down the stairs, we found ourselves at the edge of a chasm; below, we saw a mass of serpents, and on the other side we saw a long corridor that seemed to have an ascending staircase at the far end.

“Well, this is a puzzle that even I can solve--kinda; there's probably some sort of mystery path across, and we need to find out what it is.” Lizzy told us.

“Right, that old trope.” I nodded in agreement. Ari then put a hand on my shoulder.

“Another placard.” she said, and I turned to look. On it, there were twelve characters. I walked over to it and placed my hand upon it, wondering if it did anything.

“Whoa!” Lizzy said, and I looked back towards the chasm, which now had a bunch of glowing tiles that led across to the other side. Each of them had a character on it. I looked back at the placard, then back at the chasm, and then at the placard again.

“This is the order we have to cross them with,” I said to the others. “I'm screen-saving this.” I then said, taking a pic of it and bringing it up for reference as I walked to the edge. Ariana looked at it with me, both of us trying to recall exactly what the characters were.

“Oh! It's the Chinese Zodiac.” she suddenly remarked.

“Hm? Oh right, it is!” I nodded in agreement. “So each of these characters is one of the twelve animals, and we have to cross in the proper order... waaaaiiit a minute, these are the same characters, but the order is different.”

“Probably for game-lore reasons,” Ari said.

“Hmm... I guess so. Anyway... as long as we follow the order here we should be fine.” I said, and with that I stepped out onto the first character listed, in this case, the dragon. I then stepped out onto the next character and almost went down, jumping back just in time. The tile reappeared after a moment, and as Lizzy pulled me to my feet something clicked in my head. “Maybe it's just the dragon tiles and I was partially overthinking it?”

“Is there a path of just the dragon character?” Maryn wondered as I thanked Lizzy.

“Yep,” Ariana said, stepping on to the first, and then the next dragon tile; nothing happened, and she kept crossing them one by one. We followed her, and reached the other side in nearly no time at all.

“Well done, mortals! Indeed there are twelve, but in my abode, my path is the only way!” the voice said to us.

“Definitely overthought it...” I grumbled softly.

“The third trial is passed; the fourth now begins. How swift are your souls, O mortals?” the voice said again, and I suddenly noticed that the corridor walls were lined with holes... the kind whence little poisonous darts usually spring in innumerable hordes.

“Shadow Vision!” I said, looking for more traps. It was mostly just the darts, but there were a few guillotine devices, seven to be exact.

“Traps?” Maryn asked me.

“Wall darts and choppers that come down from the ceiling.” I reported.

“Tch!” Lizzy griped. Ariana used her seeing skills, peering ahead to the end of the corridor.

“There's a lever at the end; I wonder if it disarms the traps?” she told us.

“There's no way to avoid setting them off; see that pressure plate ahead of us?” Maryn said. It was a huge one, for sure.

“No way around that thing, even with a jump.” Lizzy sighed.

“Lana could get through them,” Ariana said confidently.

“Ehh. I guess I could.”

“You ran up the ladder in the pagoda, you can get through this!” she reminded me.

“Ahh... I guess I did do that...” I said with a cheeky grin.

“I still get nightmares.” Ari quipped playfully.

“But then we'd still activate the traps even if she shuts them off from the other side,” Maryn pointed out.

“If we cross together, I can keep us protected long enough for Lana to pull the lever again once we're over it.” Healina told her.

“Ah, there's an idea.” our shield-user nodded.

“Give it a few moments before you head over, though,” I said to Heali, who nodded back.

“Got it.”

“All right, kiddo, ready?” Lizzy asked me.

“More or less,” I said, getting into a crouching position for take-off.

“Whenever you're ready.” Ari smiled at me.

“Shadow Speed!” I said, and sprang forward like an arrow from a bow, speeding through the hallway and just barely avoiding the traps, trying not to panic as the seven guillotine devices cme thundering down with a clang behind me. As soon as I reached the stairs I almost flopped on the ground in relief, turning off the skill and looking for the lever.

“Ho-ly--!!” I heard Lizzy swear loudly from the far end. I found the lever, and then pulled it. Sure enough the traps stopped.

“Give it about a minute!” I called back to them.

“Gotcha!” Ariana replied. A minute was usually the minimum time it took for a switch or a lever to reset in most games. After that time had passed, Heali shielded the others with one of her skills, and they crossed the pressure plate; just in time I managed to disarm the traps for them, and soon the five of us were heading up the stairs together. When we reached the top, the voice spoke again.

“My utmost respect, mortals. The fourth trial is passed; the fifth now begins.” it said to us; the floor before us retracted, revealing a large pool filled with serpents, and no way but swimming to cross over, from what we could see.

On the other side, five racks appeared, each of them with a robe and a set of weapons tailored for the five of us. The serpents lazed about in the water, not even sparing us a glance. I felt for certain that would change once we so much as set a foot in the water. Or was there some condition we could meet so that they wouldn't attack us? Did it have to do with the robes and weapons on the other side?

“Abandon your old self and embrace the new?” Healina wondered.

“That might be it,” Ariana agreed.

“Guild-smith and beta-tester here! Just want to warn you that if we unequip our current armor and weapons, we can't equip them ever again. They're way too low level for us now,” Lizzy cautioned us.

“Understood.” I said, taking off all my armor and unequipping my weapons.

I took a deep breath, and stepped into the pool; there was no reaction from the serpents. I waded deeper in, and they still made no moves. Sensing that I had somehow met the condition to swim safely across, I continued to the other side, unmolested, and then got out to don the robe and weapons that seemed meant for me.

“Well, here we go!” Lizzy said, and the others did the same, removing their equipment and gear to follow me over and put on the new gear that had been provided. When we were ready again, the five of us exited the chamber through a door that suddenly appeared, and found ourselves in a grand hall not unlike the entrance room in design and in splendor, except there was a majestic throne situated upon a large dais at the far end.

“Well done, adventurers; the fifth trial is passed, the sixth now begins. Show me your prowess!” the voice said to us, and at that moment, five of the jade dragon-statues came to life, becoming champion-elites.

In addition to these a horde of vipers came streaming into the room, along with several salamander elites and a variety of other snake-type monsters that I couldn't recognize all at once. We fought them off in several waves-- five to be exact, one for each champion elite-- coming through fairly unscathed, to our surprise. I guess between the blessing from the gate and this mysterious new gear we're a better match for these mobs, I mused to myself as we finished off the fifth wave. The five champion-elites returned to their statue forms, and the room went silent once more.

“The sixth trial is passed; the seventh now begins. Come forth, adventurers.” the voice said to us then, materializing as a majestic king with a hint of dragonish features upon the throne. We made our way towards him, and kneeled as we approached the dais. “Your respect does you credit again, mortals. Respect, wisdom, cunning, faith, endurance; these are admirable traits, and you have displayed them well. The choice of trial is yours: shall we contest our strengths, or shall I give you a final riddle?” he said to us with a cunning look in his eyes.

“Give us the riddle,” I said at once, “For we dare not pit ourselves against such a guardian so noble and strong and wise.” I told him. The others looked over at me curiously, and the dragon-king before us smiled brightly.

“That, O Mortal, was the riddle and its correct solution. Knowing when to fight, and when not to fight. Behold! I am the Dragon King of the East, and none but another of my kind can overcome me. Take our gifts to you, mortals, and enter the realm of my people!” he said, clapping his hands. Five chests appeared, and he himself faded away, leaving a portal behind.

To Lizzy went the set of the Golden Berserker, with a matching halberd of eastern style. In Maryn's box was the set of the Jade Guardian, complete with a peerless sword and shield. For Healina, there was the set of the Floral Sage, with a flowering staff of white. Ariana's gift was the set of the Mystic Dragon, and a silver-bound staff topped with an emerald. And for myself, there was the set of the Black Lotus, along with two deadly daggers. We equipped our new gear, and stepped through the portal to Xuanpu.