Rhugar explained the difficulties of the city in event of a siege, “We import a third of our food, the rest is grown on farms that can’t be occupied currently, for obvious reasons. I fear that when it reaches that point, the north and west districts will refuse to share their reserves to keep themselves fed.”

“Won’t that lead to internal strife?” Thomas asked.

“It’s very likely, which seems to be the potential outcome the gnolls want.”

“How could they have the intelligence and foresight to make such a move?” Glenn asked. “They’re intelligent, but not at that level of planning.”

“Right, and this is what has myself and my superiors the most concerned. The stark contrast to the wild and barbaric attacks we are used to and the fact that the gnolls seem to now be following a plan leads to an ominous possibility…someone is working with the gnolls from the inside.”

“How can anyone work with those things?” Anna asked. “They are disgusting.”

Matters were suddenly getting more and more complicated. “Surely this isn’t what you called us for? To be bottled up behind the city walls?” I asked. We had the backstory and the problem was clear to see, the question was what Rhugar expected of us.

“Ahem” he coughed, “I don’t want to sugar coat it. What I’m going to ask of you is a suicide mission. We need to create a reason for the gnolls to retreat, or at least find out what the reason for this siege is. The gnoll headquarters rest twenty miles south-east of the forest line. Your mission is to go there, learn what you can, and do what you can to disrupt their plans.”

“You want us to sneak out, infiltrate, and do what exactly?” Jessica asked a bit sarcastically, “we aren’t ninjas.”

“Ninjas?” Rhugar seemed confused for a moment, “Right, it is an impossible ask, but I am the messenger and can only follow orders. It is a request and not a demand.” He sounded apologetic.

Jessica was about to say something further when I spoke up, “Do we have time to consider?” I asked.

“Yes! Of course.” A weight seemed to lift from Rhugar with my question, “You can have two days to consider, by that point food will start to be rationed and things will start to deteriorate from there.”

“Alright, we will consider your request. I make no promises though,” I said.

“Absolutely, I also understand what it is to do what is best for your men. Their lives are your responsibility. I would expect nothing less: if you had agreed too easily, I’d be suspicious.” I shook his hand and gave a nod before ushering everyone out.

“Why would you even humor him?” Maria asked as we left. It wasn’t just her that wanted an answer either.

“It’s possible this is the main story-line we need to complete to get out of here.” I said. “Isn’t it possible that the location he wants us to go contains the dungeon boss?” I asked.

“It could… but isn’t that suicide?” Lucas replied.

“I don’t disagree with you, and we still have time to say no,” I said, “I’d rather not close a door we can leave open for a little longer. Saying no also doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t end up in that situation anyways. This may get us some benefits.” It wasn’t uncommon for that to be the case in games: being given two choices that lead to the same conclusion, except one path left you worse-for-wear.

“We should collect our gold and go make some purchases.” Alan suggested, no doubt under Maria’s influence.

“About that…” Mark said. “Most shops are currently closed. A lot of the men on the wall are just family men.”

Maria let out an almost wail like groan at his comment. “Where’s that prince that owes us gold?” Maria asked. “Surely he can make something happen!”

“You can be the first to reprimand him when we find Lazemus.” Richard snorted. Which got Maria staring daggers into Richard again. Alan nudged him from the side as if to tell him he was going to be boiled alive. The fact they were both tanks had Maria throwing them in the same boat, guilty by mere association.

Looking at Maria, Alan formed an expression that screamed ‘I’m innocent’. When that didn’t seem to work, he unloaded the loot from the gnoll commander. “Look, we have loot!” He said, almost pleading. There were two items, both of rare quality. Alan pulled out a beautiful bow with one hand and the other hand held a hooded cloak.

Harpy’s Wing: DEX +5, STR +2, Perfect Accuracy +10%

A bow made from the left wing of the mythical harpy. Its frame is lightweight, flexible, and incredibly durable, making it the perfect material for a bow shaft. The tendon has amazing elasticity and provides incredible shooting consistency.

This was an item made specifically for Jessica or Maria. The length of the bow had harpy feathers on the shaft, each feather morphing from red to yellow to gold and giving it a majestic and beautiful look.

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Evidently, Maria hadn’t forgotten that Jessica had given over her own armor to Maria on account of her near-death experience in their first dungeon. Maria passed the bow to Jessica without much thought, gladly even, which had everyone staring wide eyed at her. “What? I’m sure there will be more loot to buy later…” Her face turning a bit red. In the end, she was still a kid at heart.

The second item was a cloak, and what was cool about it was the pattern draped over the back. It looked like the wing of a beautiful moth. The shapes merged into what appeared like a menacing eye.

Illusioner’s Drape: INT +4, VIT -1, Status resistance +5%, Effect of illusions on you -50%

A beautiful garb made from the silk of an illusion moth. The pattern along the back gives a mysterious but ominous feeling, making it harder for others to see through you.

The choice for who should get this was between Anna and Thomas. I could have used it as well, but was already quite geared comparatively well. In the end, Anna relinquished the item to Thomas. I was curious how the cloak would interact with Anna’s headpiece, which already masked her appearance, but it was worn better on Thomas. Having him taken out unexpectedly could leave us in a dire situation. Looking at the cloak on Thomas after he put it on and it felt like my vision was being sucked into a blackhole. Somehow it almost left me feeling dizzy.

Besides that, a few other pieces of gear were removed from inventories, mostly junkier items that Glenn and Mark quickly took and equipped. Any equipment for them was better than none.

With two days to make a decision, we decided to wait to hear from Lazemus. With how noisy things were on the surface, there was no doubt he was having a wild time behind the scenes. It wasn’t until midafternoon the next day that Lazemus came see us personally with news.

He informed us that the underlying mood in the castle had taken a dark turn. There was a rumor being spread that seemed credible: the princess’s murderer was somehow working with the gnolls to attack Rigar.

Funnily enough, according to Lazemus there was some truth in that situation. The reality was different than rumor, though. According to him, via information obtained through an enemy spy in a not-so-pleasant manner, Edward had somehow found a way to work with the gnolls. Not only that, his good friend and the only person who could implicate Edward in the princesses’ murder was being held captive in the main gnoll encampment.

With that in mind, Lazemus had requested us to sneak in and save that person, thereby implicating Edward. That was our only mission on his end, rescue his good friend so as to implicate Edward and allow the Red Prince to ascend to the throne.

“Do we think saving this person will also put a stop to the war?” Lucas asked. “There’s no guarantee both missions needed the same clear condition.” Lucas said the second part under his breath so as to not allow Lazemus to hear.

“Can’t be sure, but aren’t you glad I didn’t tell Rhugar no?” I asked everyone, almost a bit smugly. Lazemus was basically sending us on the same mission Rhugar had requested, which was leaning highly towards this being the final mission and overall objective of escaping this dungeon.

“Am I missing something? Did Rhugar request something similar?” Lazemus asked, confused at my boasting.

“A day prior, Rhugar asked us on a suicide mission to invade the gnoll encampment.”

“For what?” Lazemus asked.

“He didn’t specify, only that we need to find the cause for the current predicament.” I said.

“Can I ask something?” Jessica looked at Lazemus before he could continue talking. “What is the secret your friend knew that Edward wants? I am refusing to believe you don’t know it. No one tells you about the existence of a secret just to tell you. You know what it is, don’t you?”

“I do.” He said flatly.

“It’s important enough that Edward killed the princess to obtain it, which means it’s a dangerous secret,” she added, “It’s something we should know about beforehand.”

“It is merely a rumor.” He didn’t budge.

“A rumor wouldn’t be enough to kill a princess and incite a gnoll invasion.” Jessica didn’t back down either.

Lazemus paused for a few moments before finally cracking, “I assume if I don’t tell you, then you won’t go?”

“Right.” Jessica said. We hadn’t discussed this direction of conversation, but it was true that this secret was potentially dangerous, and definitely important for us to know about.

“It happened around twenty years ago now.” Lazemus sighed, “It’s been a long time. His name is Donivan, my good friend. He was a student alongside myself and Edward. We were trained by our families since youth to become influential in politics. That was our life, study etiquette, how to speak, how to control people, how to run the empire.” He paused. “Edward and I, we were naturals. We lived for it—gravitated towards it.”

“Donivan though, he was different. He didn’t like the deceit, the games, the smoke and mirrors. He didn’t have a single bone of desire for power in his body. He didn’t care for power. No, Donivan liked adventure, he liked to see the world, be unfettered and free. He would regularly leave the academy for days at a time, hiking here or there and living among nature. Well, one hot summer day he returned after a small trip. A trip that was shorter than average, and he was in a hurry.”

“Well, what did he find?” Maria asked impatiently.

“I caught him in the hall running back to his room, his face red as a tomato, a confusion and fear in his eyes. ‘What happened to you?’ I asked him. He looked frantic, ‘There’s a portal there, a portal to another world!’ that was all he said. I didn’t know how to respond as I watched him race away. He changed after that—stopped going out on adventures and traveling. He stayed inside and studied instead.”

It was absolute silence. Not even Maria dared to ask another question. Was the portal in question our world? There were countless worlds according to the rulers running this oppressive ‘game’.

“I couldn’t get it out of him after that.” Lazemus started again, “He denied ever saying it even. That was until four or five years ago. It was a cold night; the moon was full and the sky clear. We reminisced about the past over some wine, and for some reason Donivan just wouldn’t stop drinking. He drank and drank until he started mumbling. ‘You know, I used to think I was such a great adventurer—fearless.’ He mumbled through a hiccup and the drunkenness. ‘until that day… that portal. You know what I saw?’ He pointed at the sky and didn’t even look at me, as if he was talking to himself. I could see the tears starting to form in his eyes, ‘A whole world! A world I’d never seen, never knew, ripe for the exploring!’ the tears were falling even harder, ‘but you know what I felt? I didn’t feel the call of adventure… just fear. I realized I was no adventurer, just a coward.’ That was all he said before standing up and walking out. In all the years, he never once disclosed the location of that portal, and no one knew where he went that day.”

I didn’t how to respond. How could you respond to this? We were technically world travelers. The portal could lead to our own world even! Were these people and not NPC’s? Was this dungeon just another world we were somehow restricted in?

Even with all the questions, it seemed we were being led in a particular direction. Defeat the gnoll tribe leader? That was probably the dungeon boss. In doing so we could rescue Donivan, implicate Edward and maybe find the location of the portal to go home? It was a plausible theory.