Back at the island of Gil, a large section was once again empty of all but a few people. This time, however, the atmosphere was lacking a certain excitement that was readily present just a few days prior. Two branch leaders sat side-by-side, one partially in the waters and the other partially outside of them, and across from them were eight people, three amphibians and five adventurers. Rok himself sat in between both groups, able to look at either.
Nobody present at this meeting seemed pleased, a mixture of tense and mournful silence weighed down heavily upon them all, everyone seemed contemplating something. The bear-kin opened his mouth first, breaking the silence.
“What exactly happened down there? Rok told us that the Atlanteans were lost, and that one of the members of the amphibians was mortally wounded and two more heavily injured, but he didn’t know how it happened.”
During the trip back to the island, Rok hadn’t asked what happened, instead staying silent. When they had made it back to the island, Rok had rushed off to get the leaders who were waiting, only giving them the gist of the situation. The wounded lamia had been taken to the chief’s hut to recuperate, but the deceased frog-man was still on the boat.
The adventurers decided to answer first, getting their experience out in the open and hopefully prompt the amphibians to do the same. The rapier-wielding human leading the group spoke up.
“We went first, after all of us settled down on the first floor. We agreed that the next group would follow if one hasn’t returned after eight hours, what we thought was ample time. The first three floors were simple, two passageways and then a rather small maze, with trapped hallways that contained shrimp like the one encountered by Rok, though much larger than what he described. The fourth floor was different though, bigger than I’ve ever seen that early on, and with a lesser wyrm at the bottom. We ended our dive there, and told the other two groups about the wyrm.”
Both guild leaders and Rok had some sort of reaction, be it a flinch or just a sharp inhale when they were told about a Wyrm. Rok shook his head to answer the unspoken question of the branch leaders, certain that there hadn’t been anything like that when he’d gone into the dungeon. Sighing, the bear motioned for the adventurers to continue, which they did.
“After we made it back and informed the rest of the news, the Atlanteans set off. After a while we heard a loud sound from one of the floors beneath, and we think they made a wrong turn on the third floor. We don’t know what happened next, only that eight hours had passed and we hadn’t seen or heard anything more.”
Their explanation over, the party leader sat back down and looked towards the Amphibians, he too wanted to know what happened. The crocodilian man stood up, deliberating over how exactly he’d describe the dungeon.
“As was already stated, the first few floors were easy to a fault. Practically nothing aside from those barracudas on the second, and the shrimp halls on the third. The fourth floor was completely full of snakes, but the wyrm wasn’t out in the open. We found it hiding as we started headed down, and were able to stun it with one of these”
He held up a relic, the type used to temporarily blind then cloud the waters of the fourth floor.
“After that, we made it to the fifth floor, the one with the starfish boss. It was there, but couldn’t break up our formation. We also managed to take one of its arms, but circumstances as they are, Mik is unable to produce it right now.”
He gestured to the spatial mage, who simply shook his head apologetically.
“The sixth floor was mostly free, there wasn’t much there aside from… something? It sounded like a Siren, with a really strong Charm and all, but it was slightly off. None of us were bewitched or anything, but whatever it did do is still swimming around in my head even now.”
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The two others indicated that they felt the same, a simple nod punctuating the statement.
“The seventh was almost barren, I didn’t see a single thing on the floor besides coral and shells, and we made it through that maze pretty quickly, before the eighth floor. It was larger than the fourth, almost twice as wide, and we were blindsided by the adolescent wyvern there.”
There was an edge to his voice at that statement, he was visibly frustrated over what happened but still did his best to not show it, straining to present in a professional manner and not be swayed by emotions.
“Thing was fast, and we didn’t see it coming. Troy and Kim were hit hard and we called it there. Mik had to use a sacrificial focus to get us out of there, and it got my arm right before we could get out.” He waved the partially healed arm in its sling to make a point, it was shattered to the point that simple combat healing spells were useless, and the healer had more important things to attend to than fully healing it.
The leaders both had looks of consternations at the recounting of events, and Rok was frustrated he hadn’t managed to finish the wyvern when he’d had his chance, but there was nothing that could be done. Still, he was startled at how quickly it had grown.
“So we know that, at the very least, there are nine floors, two A- level threats, one B level boss, and one unknown creature of unknown capabilities and description that has managed to leave residual effects on the minds of, presumably, four A rank amphibians. There could very easily be more, and we have no way of actually finding that out at the moment.” Spoke the Selkie, seemingly very concerned with what that actually means.
The bear countered the statement, however. “But, the dungeon isn’t rogue, and both teams are familiar with the signs leading up to that, they would be at least reasonably confident if they felt that it was on its way to that, but that wasn’t mentioned in either report. Trying to subjugate it may change that, and the last thing we need is a young dungeon already that accomplished going mad…”
Neither seemed very sure of what to do, the dungeon was already past the stage that it could be removed out of mere convenience, and they couldn’t be certain whether or not that growth had continued. It would take an immense amount of resources to launch a crusade, and there could very well be something in it that would make it worth more to not do so. For now, they had to decide what they wanted to do with this troublesome dungeon.
“It’s too near the Deep to build a proper dungeon town, and to begin with, it might be difficult to even consider a town for this, but at the same time it remains so unique that it’d be hard to keep people away. I think we should grade it at least A rank, and move to prevent anybody triggering it to go rogue?”
This was the tentative decision by the adventurer’s leader, looking between Rok and the Selkie for their opinions. The Selkie answered first,
“I agree”
Rok considered this for a moment, before also agreeing to the decision, with a few changes.
"I agree, though I propose we make it necessary for anyone, Atlanteans or adventurers, to have at least one amphibian in the party for every two other members.”
The two leaders thought for a moment, before nodding in response.
“Agreed. I say we move to increase the size of Gil in response, and move Fins Rest some to join with the island, but refrain from calling the new town a ‘dungeon’ town”
Rok was pleased his addendum made it in, because it greatly limited the number of people who could dive at once, lowering the amount of casualties bound to happen when news was released. The grading system of the amphibians was interesting, there was no formal guild, and rather, it was based off both ranking as an adventurer and an Atlantean. While someone could be a very accomplished A+ on land, if they were ranked C- in the waters, they’d be considered B rank as an amphibian. As both rankings weren’t entirely merit based as they were in the past, but judged based on a mix of measurable strength and accomplishments made with that, it was much more accurate, and would mean the people “qualified” were of a consistent quality.
“Despite not specifically being a dungeon town, I say we place Rok in charge of the resultant city nonetheless, as we had originally planned.”
The bear had simply stated, dashing the fleeting hope that Rok would be free to go back to retirement. He was a little unhappy, though he’d rather have done it this way than let the dungeon remain unknown and end up going rogue through some stroke of misfortune or another.
The meeting was called to a close after that, simply dismissing the adventurers and amphibians, the latter rushing back to their injured comrade, hoping that she was recovering alright.
The three remaining people watched them leave, before discussing amongst themselves the specifics of making the dungeon public, and how they would handle the aftermath that followed.