The office of Harmony City’s guildmaster was adorned with several artifacts from dungeons she had delved in the past. Mostly curios and trophies, nothing truly dangerous or magical save for the owl statue on the far end of the room, her tea set that managed to boil the water at the perfect temperature every time, and a clock strategically placed on the wall opposite her desk.

The clock in particular was one of the more useful if not mundane items she had retrieved from a dungeon. It managed to keep precise time no matter where you were in the world and had a habit of ticking exceptionally loudly when the room was quiet.

A quirk that the four cadets seated across from the guildmaster hadn't failed to notice while said guildmaster watched the sand empty from the top chamber of her two minute sand timer while the tea steeped.

The cadets would later recount those two minutes of waiting as well as the time it took for the guildmaster to pour a single cup of tea and add a spoonful of honey as the longest two to five minutes of their lives.

The guildmaster took a sip.

“So, who would like to start?” she asked.

There was a slight pause before River spoke up.

“It was my fault, guildmaster,” they said, “I convinced everyone to follow along and I’m the one who stole the dungeon key.”

“No, I should have talked River out of it,” Edwin said.

“Edwin, when have you ever been able to talk me out of anything?” River asked.

“Touching,” the guildmaster interrupted, “do you know why we try to determine the affinity of a dungeon before we issue quests?”

There was a general muttering about equipment and preparation from the cadets.

“Not quite the full reason,” Amanda explained, “do you know the story of the necropolis dungeon?”

“That sounds familiar,” said Morgana.

“Not surprising that you've heard of it. It was a black core dungeon that existed before the guilds became an established institution and started talking to each other,” the guildmaster explained.

“I'm guessing that between the name and the core, it's affinity was for undeath?” Morgana asked.

“Correct,” the guildmaster agreed.

“So why not let the templars handle it?” asked Odez.

“Because nobody knew it was an undead dungeon until it was too late,” the guildmaster explained as she got up from her desk and walked over to a curio cabinet.

“It's not unheard of for a dungeon to have a sudden hazard increase from one floor to another. If you believe the theory that all dungeons have a sort of intelligence to them, it makes sense that certain dungeons would do this, especially around the core rooms,” the guildmaster explained as she stared at a dull shard of black stone.

“Everyone just thought some unfortunate delvers managed to stumble on the core room and were unprepared for the sudden increased hazards. It's an unfortunate truth of this occupation, but most people don't bat an eye when a delver goes missing. Unfortunately this wasn't the case with this particular dungeon,” she continued.

“What happened?” asked Edwin.

“The first few levels of the dungeon were essentially fake. It had traps and plenty of treasure, but the monsters were attracted from outside the dungeon and thrown in with the delvers in order to give the appearance that the dungeon was a regular red core or perhaps an aggressive green core, but people began noticing a strange pattern. Regardless of ability, about five percent of groups would go missing. No rhyme or reason, just five percent. I'll spare you the details, but the dungeon was teleporting one in twenty groups to the lower levels where it would keep delvers alive for as long as possible before killing and reanimating them,” the guildmaster said darkly, now glaring at the broken stone.

The room was quiet, save for the ticking of the clock on the back wall as the guildmaster turned around to face the cadets.

“It's not an exaggeration to say that the necropolis was the reason that the various delver guilds started sharing information between them,” she said, “so would anyone like to guess why running off to an unexplored dungeon was a colossally stupid decision and why the four of you are lucky to not be dead or worse?”

The four of them remained silent with pale faces.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

River especially looked nauseous.

“Well, it looks like the four of you are starting to realize that certain rules are in place for a reason. Dismissed,” the guildmaster said as the cadets got up to leave, “except you River.”

Edwin looked like he was about to say something before River put a hand on his arm.

“It's ok, I'll meet up with everyone later,” River assured him.

With a sigh, Edwin nodded and three of the cadets left the guildmaster’s office.

“You're kicking me out, aren't you,” River said as if it was a foregone conclusion.

“No, I just have some questions for you ‘River Goodfellow’” Amanda said as she reached into her desk and pulled out a stack of paper with a family crest on the top sheet.

“How did- when did-” River stammered.

“You showed up with an exceptional sword and a circlet of invisibility,” Amanda said, “most people would think you were a noble's child with that equipment. Hell, you wouldn't have even been the first to try.”

“But I'm not-” River began before they were interrupted by Amanda holding up her hand.

“I know you're not nobility and that's why I haven't notified your family yet,” Amanda said.

River stood there staring at the crest.

“There are many reasons for someone to run away from home, some of which I can guess, but I would like to hear your side of the story,” Amanda said gently.

River took a moment to clear their throat.

“Do you know what it's like to go into town and everyone knows who you are?” River asked.

Amanda stood in silence and allowed them to continue.

“So many people are afraid to approach you and the ones who aren't afraid want something from your family,” River said, tears welling up in their eyes, “Dragonstone this, Dragonstone that, when do I get to just be me? I just wanted my accomplishments to be my own.”

“You aren't the first person to come to this guild with a false name and a reason to leave home and I doubt you'll be the last,” Amanda said as she pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to River.

“Thanks,” River sniffled before blowing their nose.

“However if you do something like what you just did, I'm shipping you back to your parents with the next menagerie and blacklisting you from all the delver guilds. Do I make myself clear?” The guildmaster said.

“Perfectly clear ma'am,” River said, “um, I'll wash your handkerchief and give it back later.”

“See that you do,” Amanda said, “oh and one more thing.”

“Yes guildmaster?” River asked.

“If you ever need to use an alias in the future, don't use the same name as a famous trickster from folklore. You might as well have called yourself River Fakename,” Amanda said before dismissing River.

Amanda watched River leave before letting out a sigh and flipped over the sheet of paper with the Dragonstone family crest and a stack of blank paper under it.

Dear Amanda,

It’s been a while! How’s guild life treating you? Not too much different than running a delving group except much bigger I’d imagine haha!

Unfortunately, I’ve got an important favor to ask of you. My dear child River has taken Raven’s circlet and my oldest son’s sword while he was visiting.

At first, I wanted to march right into Harmony City and give them what for!

Raven reminded me that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and reminded me of how young I was when I left home.

Not to mention I’m not doing much marching these days haha!

Don’t be too hard on them, things have been difficult for River after their brother left home.

Your favorite meat shield,

Adam Dragonstone

“Everyone will think I’m going soft after word gets out,” Amanda scoffed as she pulled out an inkwell and quill, “speaking of word getting out, I’ve got to get ahead of this.”

***

In some instances, not having to attend to biological needs such as eating, grooming, and sleeping had their upsides.

The twilight hours of the night were not one of those times.

“What am I doing with my life?” I thought as everyone slept.

I became a casino to avoid turning into a cliche.

I spawned Carmen and Midnight to avoid Duke, Jasper, and Zee.

I fixed my warehouse to avoid more rats from swarming in.

I grew because I wanted to avoid thinking about why I was here in the first place.

I gave River back their sword to avoid saying no.

Now I was expanding to avoid people like Rex from ruining all of my hard work.

Sure I was helping people out by providing a cash flow to an impoverished community, but I was still sitting on a stack of gold, silver, and gems large enough to fill a swimming pool.

It’s not like I really needed any of that.

I could just hand out gold, but that would probably cause more problems if someone with more resources than Rex caught wind of a proverbial El Dorado.

Unless I did something, I’d be playing defense to bigger and bigger threats and that’s what I’d been trying to avoid in the first place.

I needed to do something drastic.

I needed to ask for help.

Selina let out a snort in her sleep and rolled over.

“…as soon as everyone wakes up,” I thought.