“Sheesh, these idiots attacked me. Why do I feel like the bad guy?” I asked while Selina fruitlessly tried to get any information out of the four of them.

“So, how did you learn about this place? You clearly knew we were a dungeon from what you were carrying,” Selina asked.

“Not telling,” River mumbled from their curled up position.

“River, maybe we should-” Edwin began before he was interrupted by River’s red eyed glare.

“Sheesh, if looks could kill,” I muttered.

“I know, right?” Selina replied telepathically.

“Any ideas on how we could get them to open up?” I asked.

“We could get Southpaw the dealer to start a card game with everyone,” Carmen suggested, “I've heard some amazing gossip while running Blind Hydra.”

“Sounds good,” I agreed, “but no money though. I don't want to be accused of ‘corrupting the youth’ or something.”

“It'll also be a good chance to give Southpaw a chance for some practical experience,” Selina said telepathically.

The game started pretty much as expected with Morgana and Odez jumping right into it, followed shortly by Edwin. River refused outright and continued to sulk.

Meanwhile I decided to scan their stuff and see if I couldn't get any clues about who these people were and how they found out about me.

I decided to hold off on making any assumptions until I had more information and decided to start with that damn key.

[Dungeon Key]

Specialized item that unlocks a door magically sealed by a dungeon

One use per day. Recharges at the first dawn outside of dungeon

“More like it electrocutes the dungeon until it lets go of the door,” I grumbled before moving on to the next item.

[Holy lantern]

>Religious symbol of [redacted information], goddess of death and defender of cemeteries

>Used to channel divine power granted to the acolyte of the goddess to carry out her will

“Oh silly me, of course there would be a goddess of death in this world,” I thought, my sarcasm hiding my unease.

This lantern belonged to Morgana. Although she had the spooky crow mask and the lantern, she was too much of an airhead to fit the image of an acolyte of the goddess of death.

“Must be a family thing,” I guessed before moving on to the staff.

[Earth attuned magic staff]

>Taken from the root of an old tree

>Earth affinity (+)

“Well that’s not surprising in the least coming from Mr. ‘stone misslie is all you need,’” I though.

The next in line was Edwin’s stuff and unless I was completely missing the mark, he was clearly a rogue or whatever the term was for someone who went first in the dungeon.

[Trap disarming kit]

>Contains tools necessary to disarm traps

“Yep, called it,” I thought as I glanced over his knives and the rope dart that Carmen and Midnight had confiscated.

Next I moved on to River’s equipment.

[Circlet of invisibility]

>Causes the wearer of this circlet to become invisible

>Stealth (++++)

“Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything with that high of a buff before,” I thought as I moved to River’s sword.

[Claymore of the Radiant Heart]

>Sword made with iron found in the Celestial Mountain range

>Etched with magical runes that doubles as a spellcasting focus

>Durability (++)

>Magic (+++)

>Attack (+)

I would have paled in the face if I still had one.

It was a good thing that River didn’t do whatever Rex and his crew had done to make themselves immune to telekinesis or else I would have had a hell of a fight on my hands again.

“No wonder they fought so hard to try and keep it, this sword is probably worth a fortune,” I thought.

Besides the lantern and the claymore, none of their equipment really gave me any clues, but then my awareness landed on a folded piece of parchment.

Dear Ulandi,

Concerning the leather jacket that was delivered to the guildhall the other day, I’ve decided to send you out to investigate the area. You are to confirm the existence of a dungeon and report back to me should you discover something. Do not attempt to enter until we can gather more information and determine the dungeon’s affinity.

Sincerely,

Gildmaster Amanda Medowsong

“Wait, didn’t Rex have a leather jacket,” I thought as I began to put the pieces together.

“Now things make sense,” I said.

“Did you find something?” Selina asked.

“Yeah, Rex must have figured out that I’m a dungeon and tipped off the local adventurer’s guild,” I said, “this letter is addressed to someone named Ulandi, so the kids must have gotten their hands on this letter somehow.”

Selina walked over and picked up the folded piece of parchment and began reading.

“This could be bad,” Selina muttered.

“Tell me about it,” I agreed as my awareness landed on something that looked like a sherif badge.

[Delver’s Crest of Harmony City]

>Emblem of the Delver’s guild representing Harmony City

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

>Denotes Cadet rank

>Enchanted to reveal the location of the holder in the case of an emergency for rescue and retrieval purposes

“Oh fuck,” I thought before a sound like a thunderclap shook the building and something landed by the front door.

>Invaders scanned: threat level assessment [red]

I barely had time to react when the door was thrown open and two women, one a sandy blonde in an unassuming gambison carrying a deceptively simple rod, the other dark skinned with reptile features, short hair and a blowgun, stepped through the door.

“Oh hi guildmaster, want to join us for a card game?” called Morgana from the cage.

Fortunately for me and my health, that seemed to cut through all of the tension in the room as the guildmaster looked over to the four cadets playing cards with Southpaw.

There was a pause as everyone seemed to take in the situation.

Morgana had an expression that suggested she was oblivious to the tension in the air, Odez and Edwin both shared an expression that they both knew that they were about be in big trouble, River had an expression of despair, and finally the guildmaster’s expression that had gone from one of grim determination to one of disappointment and anger.

Selina was the first one to break the silence.

“So, Guildmaster Amanda Medowsong I presume?” she began.

“You presume correctly,” said the guildmaster with a sigh.

“I take it these four are members of your guild?” Selina continued.

“For now,” the guildmaster said darkly as she shot a glare at the four of them, “who am I addressing?”

“Ah, where are my manners? My name is Selina, voice of Mr. House,” she said.

“Well this will make things easier than trying to get the story out of my cadets,” the guildmaster said, “what happened here?”

While Selina recounted the story starting from the equipment check in the empty lot, the ranger who I assumed was Ulandi, was scanning the room in a purposeful way.

Her eyes landed on my scions. Both of their hackles stood on end as their pupils narrowed to slits.

The ranger then continued to scan the room before her eyes darted up to the loft in my direction.

If I still had a spine a shiver would have gone up it.

Despite the distance and the wall separating us, I felt as if I was suddenly being watched by a predator.

My first instinct was to call on the [Stalkers] to defend me from whatever was about to happen, but fortunately the guildmaster seemed to take notice.

“Ulandi,” she said sternly.

As if by some unspoken understanding, the ranger stopped looking in my direction and relaxed her gaze into the middle distance.

“My apologies, you were saying?” Amanda asked.

“After the cadets instigated the fight, the scions Midnight and Carmen confiscated their equipment and separated the four of them until we were able to find out who they were and where they came from,” concluded Selina.

“I see,” the guildmaster nodded, “what punishment does Mr. House think is acceptable for the four of them?”

“You’re letting the dungeon decide!?” River exclaimed.

“Of course. You broke into his home and attacked his voice,” the guildmaster replied.

“It’s your call, House,” Selina said telepathically.

“Oh man,” I muttered suddenly nervous from being put on the spot, “just don’t send someone to attack me again and some hard chores for the cadets, I guess?”

“Mr. House proposes a truce with the delver’s guild of Harmony City,” Selina said much more eloquently, “In addition, Mr. House suggests an amount of labor befitting the crime of assault.”

“This is acceptable,” the guildmaster agreed.

Sensing the end of negotiations, I dropped the gates around the cadets.

Southpaw quickly scooped up the cards and took off to the back of the casino where he would be out of the way of the intense atmosphere.

“Cadets, on me,” Amanda said sternly.

“Let me just grab my-” River began.

“Cadets, I said on me,” the guildmaster repeated.

A look of shock passed among the cadets as the realization dawned on them.

“So we’re leaving our equipment here?” asked Edwin.

“No, you lost your equipment in a dungeon,” the guildmaster corrected, “I’m not your mother. I can’t make you scrub latrines and wash laundry until you’re sorry. I can however, deny you any dangerous missions on the grounds of being ill equipped for the job.”

“But that means-” Odez began.

“You’ll have to do community work with the other applicants in order to get enough coin so you can afford more equipment,” the guildmaster finished for him.

There was some quiet grumbling from the cadets as three of the four stepped forward.

“Cadet River Goodfellow, on me NOW!” The guildmaster exclaimed.

“I'm not leaving without my claymore,” River said quietly.

The guildmaster paused for a moment before walking up to River.

The two of them locked eyes for a moment, Amanda with an unshakable authority and River staring back with barely contained stubbornness and frustration.

The guildmaster gave a cruel smile.

“I'm not the one you should be asking,” she said before nodding at Selina.

River’s eyes went wide as they turned to face my voice.

Selina, for her part, remained stoic throughout the exchange.

With a steadying breath, River approached Selina.

“M-may I have my sword back?” River stammered.

“House?” Selina asked telepathically.

“Oh crap, they look like they're about to start sobbing if I don't. Carmen, can you give back River's claymore?” I asked.

“Certainly, Mr. House,” Carmen replied as she levitated the sword over to Selina.

“As a show of good faith, Mr. House has agreed to return your sword,” Selina said, holding out the sword.

“Thank you,” River whispered as they sheathed the claymore and held it like a teddy bear.

“Final call, cadets, on me” the guildmaster said before turning and marching out the front door with Ulandi.

Fortunately, the four cadets followed.

After a moment, I shut the door behind them and all of the tension left at once.

“Whew, that was intense!” Selina exclaimed as she collapsed where she was standing.

“You're telling me,” I agreed, letting out a breath I didn't know I could hold.

“I don't trust that ranger,” Midnight said immediately.

“Agreed, brother,” said Carmen as the two of them stretched out and plopped down in an undignified fashion.

“So it wasn't just me that felt like I was being hunted when she looked my way?” I asked.

“That would be an understatement,” Carmen replied.

“I guess it would make sense that there’s a guild for dungeon delvers,” I thought, “but now the entire guild is going to know about me by the time we open up.”

After taking a moment to decompress, I had an idea.

“Hey Selina, do we have some time to do a few last minute changes to the floorplan?” I asked.

***

The walk back was a quiet one.

Sure, the guildmaster could have teleported the six of them back to the guild hall, but Amanda needed the walk to cool her head.

Not to mention this gave her a good chance to talk with Ulandi.

After a subtle wave of her hand, Amanda addressed the ranger.

“I just cast a whisper spell, what did you see in the dungeon?” asked Amanda.

“The core is likely in the loft in the back with a guardian. The entire floor is trapped to make those gates at the discretion of the dungeon. The scion has an unusual ability that allows it to have two bodies. Overall, it would be quite the difficult fight if you ordered me to remove it,” Ulandi reported plainly.

“Did it seem like a violent or deadly dungeon?” asked Amanda.

“I would need to spend more time in the dungeon before I could confidently give an answer, but I did not detect the shadow of death. Blood has perhaps been spilled,” Ulandi replied.

“Perhaps?” asked Amanda.

“Hmm if it were not for the coat, I could not give a definitive answer. Not without examining the dungeon further as I said,” Ulandi stated.

“So it hasn’t killed or gravely injured anyone,” Amanda muttered.

“That is a fair assessment,” Ulandi agreed.

“If the dungeon was killing people, there would be rumors of a monster or a habitual killer in the area in order for the dungeon to have gotten that strong,” Amanda said, “We’re going to need to ask around and see what the locals think of this casino.”

“Please don’t make me work with Cecil again,” Ulandi requested.

“Don’t worry, I won’t make you work with him,” Amanda assured her.

“He’s not a bad person, he just talks too much,” Ulandi said.

“He’s probably not used to talking to someone who’s as tight lipped as you are,” Amanda joked.

“I’m not tight lipped, I only speak when there’s something useful to say,” Ulandi replied.

“Right…” Amanda began, but left it at that.