In the guild reception room.

The receptionist was still attempting to placate the crowd as they hurled questions at her one after another. Discontent was quickly rising, some thought the guild was in cahoots with the dungeon, which they only recently found out was sentient. This was something they would like to have been informed about.

Others weren’t happy with the information the guild provided for a while now, too many of their companions died to dangers they weren't even aware of. Although this was hardly the fault of the guild, it had more to do with the complexity of the dungeon that made it almost impossible for the guild to tell them what to watch out for.

You could only tell people so many times that strange glowing things tended to be as dangerous as they were rewarding, it didn’t help that the danger came in many forms and was entirely unpredictable. So if you told them that a boar might come out of hiding and gore you then its just as likely that a tree would fall on your head.

One the adventurers found out the cause they gave the little fairy the title, Morrigan, chooser of the slain. Perhaps such a title would make the unprepared think twice before going towards the light like moths to a flame.

Now however no-one was complaining about the devious little imp and instead were questioning the guild about the new arrivals. Giant men in full black plate armor that carried great axes bigger than most men.

Few of them talked when asked questions and all that anyone was able to learn was that these men were called “dungeon knights”. But more importantly, these dungeon knights were extremely powerful and didn’t think twice about killing anyone who broke the rules in the dungeon. What all these rules were nobody knew, but fires any larger than a torch seemed off limits. More than a few groups have witnessed their ferocity by now to risk a campfire or fire spell.

another rule the adventurers knew, because the dungeon knights put up a sign on the entrance, was no large battle groups to enter the dungeon. What was considered large was unknown, miner groups seemed fine when they didn't bring more guards than there were miners, but adventurers seemed to be more limited by their numbers. Thankfully this rule didn’t warrant instant death like the fires, instead the dungeon knights simply said, “are you aiming for the dungeon core with such a big group”, and the message was clear. Disburse or you will be considered an enemy.

And lastly, a rule that was only a rumor at this point, powerful people shouldn’t loiter on the lower floors. This was not a rule exactly, the dungeon knights wouldn’t confirm its existence nor do they actively enforce it, but they do seem to watch such people far more closely, even going so far as to follow them around the dungeon for short periods of time.

No this rule seemed to be enforced by the fairy adventurers called the Morrigan, powerful people seemed to be targeted by her schemes far more often, said schemes are also several times more dangerous and the rewards are questionable even if one succeeds. However, such a thing is nearly impossible to prove and anyone who has managed to talk to the little fairly only received the reply, “teehee” before she fluttered away.

The dungeon knights armor was also heavily enchanted by the dungeon itself, which quickly incited greed from many powerful people. They sent groups to capture these knights under the guise of justice. This was unsuccessful and further orders to kill said knights and bring back the armor have also proved unsuccessful.

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The moment a dungeon knight is attacked all the other knights come to its aid, ambushes prove impossible as no-one has successfully been able to sneak up on one, nor escape its notice. Poison was said to “smell nice” and lead to the poisoner's death. Magic was more effective than other means. A group of mages managed to restrain one with ice and earth, but the group was overrun before they could kill the dungeon knight. They could not even retrieve the mages bodies which held valuable items because they were just missing.

What they didn’t know was that the dungeon was collecting those bodies, then hired investigators to match the body to the group it belonged to. It was keeping score.

These rules, the dungeons strangeness and its possible ties to the adventurer guild was all being called into question in the guild, by everyone at the same time and the receptionist had stopped bothering with placating the crowd. Instead she waited.

She did not have to wait long before a door behind her flew open and crashed into the wall. A scared woman stepped through the threshold and it suddenly became silent. The woman looked left and right putting her heavily scarred face on full display.

She stalked next to the receptionist, her manner of movement only able to be described in such a way, put one hand on her leather covered hip, and her other on the head of her belt sheathed hatchet. An indent went from her hip to opposite shoulder on her leather chestpeice, proof that she often carried a strung longbow. Or enough to cause a permanent crease in her leather armor which was said alot about her draw-strength.

The complete silence when she entered the room was owing to her reputation. She was called Nymira, the first week she showed up to take over the guild she managed to earn the ire of one of the higher ranked adventurers. He was supposed to retire and take over the relativly new guild, however, she came out of nowhere and took the position form him.

So naturally, he questioned her abilities which she promptly brushed off, he bugged her several more times until one day he woke up with an arrow stuck in the bed just below his crotch. This both terrified and infuriated him. He stormed the guild and found her explaining something to a newbie in front of the quest wall.

He went to grab her shoulder and spin her around, however, before his hand even got close she spun around and grabbed his wrist. She was quite strong if his popping wrist was anything to go by. Now even more infuriated he enhanced his body to stop his wrist from being crushed and threw a punch.

Nymira let go and darted around the man's large frame, once the man spun back to make some distance she had already introduced the back of her hatched to his head. He fell down dazed and thought better of attacking her again for the moment. Instead, he would get her back the same way she did to him.

Although those plans would come to naught as he couldn’t find her home even after “trying” and failing to follow her.

Over the next few days, he found another arrow between his legs. Once again on his bed even when he thought he had made the security full proof, another time he was sitting at the bar drinking and when he stood up to leave he found his trousers pinned to the bar, he looked down and found an arrow. And the last time he was in the dungeon fighting a panther with his party when an arrow flew between his legs and nailed a tree. This time the arrow was far “closer” and he promtly left the city. Rumors quickly spread, mostly by his former party members and the end result is this. A silent room.

Nymira asked the receptionist “what happened”

“U-umm, lets see, there was another dungeon knight indecent and these people want answers”

“to what” Nymira said.

“some think we are working for the dungeon… others think we haven't been forthcoming with our dungeon information… umm, --”

“enough” Nymira interrupted, “we are not in contact with the dungeon, many have tried and I don’t know of anyone who was successful. And not being forthcoming with information, where do you think we get the information we give you, it's from the FEW of you who are willing to tell us, so if you think you don’t have enough information you only have yourselves to blame.”

The adventures looked to each other for a moment before the ground suddenly started violently shaking and the sound of collapsing buildings sounded. The adventurers ran out of the building and Nymira vaulted the counter and followed.

What she saw stunned her for several seconds. Several of the nobles mansions that were built just above the dungeon were missing, and in their place were two large buildings. One was round and the other was rectangular, both were made of dark dungeon stone and seemed as if the buildings were made of one solid piece of stone.

The architecture was also unfamiliar to them, they both had large pillars surrounding the buildings which supported the roof and made a shaded area outside the buildings.