“~Aaaaaahh,” Sidney proclaims, stretching his arms out above his head. “Finally, just two more floors to go before we are finally out of here!”
“Considering yesterday we passed eight levels because it was all things we had seen before in the deeper layers, it shouldn’t be that long of a day for us,” Madilyn replies, also stretching as she leaves the tent, blissfully ignorant as to how wrong she actually was.
Ted and Sia, having decided to change their outfits drastically from when they started out, are off to the side sipping tea out of delicate ceramics. Beginning at the 45th level, they had slowly been changing their outfits and weapons, and now sit at a proper table with proper tea.
Sia, wearing a navy blue business suit with a white dress shirt, Mary-Janes, and a pair of moderately sized four-sided silvery metal polygon earrings, sits with her head held high while daintily drinking.
Ted on the other hand, and side of the table, has a seemingly new haircut, short on the sides and slicked back with a magical black grease, wearing a white suit, white vest, and white shirt, all with golden buttons, chains, and pocket liners, with a pocket square to match.
Given the months of travel, this stark contrast does not seem to phase the rest of the group as it has been slowly building up, to the point that the day before the suggestion of Ted and Sia acting like two well-to do persons being escorted by an adventurer seemed like the next logical step.
“I see you two are wearing the clothes from the vampires today,” Madilyn notes. “Young masters…”
“Ah,” Ted says with a light affectation, “So good to see the hired help has managed to somehow acquire manners. Hurry along now, there is money to be made and vengeance to be had this day.”
“Yes sire,” Sidney replies with a proper butler bow despite only wearing light shorts. Scratching his butt and ducking back into the tent, he changes into his adventuring gear, a proper set of leather armor. Madilyn had already changed into a similar set, sized for her. Both are behemoth hide leather dyed brown, the fabric being of two layers, a rough common-wool outer layer then lined with March spider silk.
Having already finished breakfast, Madilyn and Sidney pack away the tents and supplies into their storage devices, all having been upgraded by the vampires after passing their trials. Over the last thirty levels of travel, space has begun running out despite the improvements as most of the group’s daily supplies have migrated to the two of them.
Migrating to the stairs between floors, they come across a sight Sidney and Madilyn had never seen, other adventurers about to begin climbing the stairs. Much like their group had done for many floors, they appear to be congregating around the bottom of the stairs as if taking a break. However, soon they are enveloped by a black mist and disappear entirely.
“What was that?!” Sidney shouts, waving his arm forward. Similarly shocked, Madilyn looks with some concern at the ‘young masters.’
“Dungeon teleportation system,” Ted unashamedly replies, “takes them to the top floor, bypasses all the danger between here and there. Every floor has one, always around the second to last step of the staircase.”
“You mean we could have skipped the entire dungeon if we wanted to?” Madilyn asks with furrowed brow at not having been told.
“Yes,” Sia replies before pointing at the youngest two hominoids among them, “but would you change what you’ve been through after making it this far?”
“Also,” Ted says, “I wanted to give you a tour of the place, especially the first floor. Can’t do that if we skip to the end.”
With a heavy sigh, Sidney trudges forward and balefully looks at the step and wall indicated earlier while walking past them. They quickly reach the top and move across the second floor with ease, watching various groups from afar as they beeline towards the (final) staircase.
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“Hey,” Madilyn says as they make their way up to the (last) floor. “Sidney and I have been talking, and after all this time we spent traveling we think there’s a question we want answered…”
Sidney lightly humphs in both recognition of the topic and being mildly miffed at being thrown under the bus as well, so to speak.
“Ted, who are you really?”
Unbeknownst to Madilyn, and certainly Sidney, a light tension fills the minds of the homunculus, dragon, and duck.
“Oh?” Ted replies without much hesitation, “What brings this question on?”
“Lots of little things,” Sidney jumps in. “There was the incident with the dragon, the vampires, the fact that every fight we ever got in resulted in no casualties among the adventurers we ran across no matter how unskilled they were and there were definitely times they should have died. How all of the great and elderly beings seem to defer to you instinctively.”
Ted smiles as Luck opens one eye while riding across Sia’s shoulders to give Sidney a light glare at the term elderly.
“Very well, you shall have your answer,” he says with a pause between sentences. “Tonight. At the inn. My secretary here will explain what she’s allowed to.”
A hefty sigh and subsequent arguments about being responsible for the explanation follows. Finally arriving on the first floor of the dungeon, they find it is bustling with activity. A series of meandering corridors quickly make themselves evident, numerous alcoves filled with shops and services. After quite a bit of exploration, near the proper exit and yet more stairs, a short maze can be found.
After transversing the maze, they arrive at a dead end. Or seemingly so, as soon a group of adventurers walk out of the illusory wall. Sweeping the group in, Ted shows the group the cavern, resembling more of the floor of a coliseum than a cave. A hundred alcoves line the walls, including the one they just stepped from. In the center of the room is a staging area for a score of persons outfitted in nearly identical equipment.
Madilyn and Sidney spend time gawking at everything in the room, from the alcoves to the reliefs, and at one point the obvious abnormality on the wall facing the alcoves. Madilyn ribs Sidney and points first to the sign then the golem.
“Ominous,” Sidney replies. “Hail the Gatekeeper, for he is the first guardian of the children of the gods. But woe upon those showing enmity to him, for they will be sent to the deepest depths of hell.”
“That’s how we got down to the village the first time actually,” Sia interjects. “We all held hands and Lomri tossed a stone at the shield, and we all got sent to the pit before having to climb out and find the proper entrance to the village. It’s also why we had to take the long way back.”
Spending a few more minutes looking around, Madilyn and Sidney are satisfied they have seen what they desire for the day, and that it is time to see the outside world. Around the time the group turns to leave, the guards in the staging area have started murmuring and gesturing vaguely in their direction, yet allowing them to leave un-accosted.
A short time later they finally exit the dungeon, with a collective relaxation at the presence of the sun high above. While Luck and Sia stretch, Bill and Lyle settle into the arms of Madilyn and Sidney, while the aforementioned duo look around in wonder at the mountains, city, and tree springing forth from the valley, reaching up towards the sky and allowing the sun to filter through its leaves and branches.
Ted, continuing to walk after a short sigh, seems to be lightly but intensively staring at the tree and its many branches. While the group is leaving the veritable compound surrounding the dungeon entrance, they pass dozens of large boards littered with job postings and wanted posters.
Ted, turning his voice to Sia, says, “There is something off about the tree. I’ll be back to pick you up in the morning.”
Flicking a wooden token to her without taking his eyes off the monstrosity that is the tree in front of them, Ted promptly rips a hole in space-time and steps through before it collapses immediately behind him.
“I see we aren’t going with subtly anymore,” Luck states while Sidney and Madilyn have stopped and are staring somewhat slack-jawed at the space Ted disappeared into.
“Would still be prudent though,” Sia replies, stopping next to one of the boards while the other two process what has happened.
So be it, Luck says with resignation, curling up further around Sia’s shoulders, staying silent thereafter. Soon enough, the duo recovers enough to look at Sia and express a simple yet salient though.
“What was that?” Sidney asks, gesturing towards thin air before being lightly backhanded in the chest by Madilyn.
“What is that?” she asks, gesturing this time to a wanted poster to the left of Sia.
A weathered poster hangs partially covered by other postings, but clearly shows Ted surrounded by Beth and Jessie, all of whom are wearing a malicious grin. All six pairs of eyes now studying the poster show different reactions, from indifference or resignation among the two Ancients and homunculus, confusion shared between Sidney and Madilyn, and excitement in Lyle’s eyes, as he sends sparks through his antlers.
“Of course you would be excited about this. Just be happy we taught you to read,” Madilyn replies while engrossed in the details of the poster.
In stereotypical fashion, the words above the image read, in block print, “WANTED: Bringer of the Lightning Plague.” Below the image is an amount that has been revised numerous times with paint, the current number displayed taking half the space of the original. A line of paint stretches across the bottom as well, with “See Guild for Reward” printed atop it.
“Somehow,” Sia says, “I’m not shocked.”
Sidney, brought out of his revelry, stares lightly at Sia for a moment before Lyle sparks again and elicits a sigh from the Lightning Jack continuing the electric puns.
“In any case, that’s for tonight,” Sia says and points off towards a building with a large wooden sign hanging in front displaying three symbols: 🍗/🧌/💰. “Do you have the token your father gave you? We should sell a few things to lighten up a bit and have money for an inn tonight.”
“Ah, right, money is a thing we need to worry about now…” Sidney laments. As he and Madilyn turn reluctantly to deal with the fact of life, that they need money to live, Sia looks closely at the poster before removing it and the poster behind it. The second poster is nearly identical to the one layered on top, except the original amount and payor are un-redacted. “100,000 dG - Lord E.B. Helox, President of the Elixir Division, Winter Pharmaceuticals.”
With a light glare, Sia reads the new poster before placing both in her storage device.