Over the trees protruded Ironhoof Mansion's auric spires. Slender conical structures not more than a foot in diameter at any of their eight-meter tall shafts. With sunlight, they gleamed like chalices by a candelabra. Much the same as the golden bricks tiled on the main building's roof.

Over all, the mansion was snobbish. Terrifically so, that even the rooftops were constructed with steep tent shapes just to drag down any leaf that might be daring enough to touch its faces. On its slopes, no life would wither. For they would all first fall to gravity's mercy, whisked by the wind along the mansion's gray stone walls built of blocks so strictly cemented together.

With a quick wink of the sun, trees hid the sight. To no dismay of any of the travelers who may have been watching, for, after just a while, their carriage ended its journey. No where else than in front of the tyrannic home itself.

Bloody red were the flames flickering behind its tinted windows. The glass was so gray that it likely unwelcomed natural light, the same way it unwelcomed any onlookers curious to witness happenings of the household. Such a place barely had the need for drapes. And yet, in a higher story, the silhouette of a maiden was reaching up to pull curtains shut.

"Greetings, Lord Atri." A well-endowed attendant bowed and gracefully took a step back to make way in front of a giant brass double-door. "I'll have the maids prepare tea in the sitting room right away."

"Please, Ms. Floss," hastily replied a man in his late twenties. His long, feathery brown hair bounced up and down as he rushed down a flight of yellow-trimmed, black-carpeted stairs. "Welcome, guests! We are grateful that you have come to answer our call." The brown-haired man halted two steps from the ground and gestured ever so rich-like at the door he came from. "Kindly join us inside and take a moment to rest."

Alia clenched her fist. Under her eyebrows, there was a subtle glare that nearly dissolved the endowed assistant as she entered the brass entrance. As the personnel went out of sight, the fairy averted her attention to a massive tunnel guarded by coal-black loops of iron that were apparently its gate.

It was to their left. Planted into a mile-high wall of mountain stone.

Close to it was a hill of meat and blood. From which workers yanked severed cow legs to place on chopping blocks and cleave off the metal hooves.

One butcher sighed as he wiped sprayed blood from his hand and onto his apron, then carelessly tossed the chunk he was holding into a cart being pulled towards a blazing furnace in front of a warehouse.

If Alia's fingers haven't already been crushed, they would be now that she's clenching them even harder. "They better not have forced my sister to do any of this work."

Onyx peeked from the corner of his eye, then rubbed his chin as he moved his stern gaze at the tunnel gate. "I take that this here's the Iron Stomps Dungeon."

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Lord Atri followed where Onyx was looking then glanced at the ground as if disgusted to lay his soles. "True knights, you are. Always eager to begin their adventures and complete their tasks." Surprisingly, he did end up taking the last two steps and made his way towards Fable Eclipse. "You must be excited to jump right in and slaughter the pest we've called you for."

Fable Eclipse exchanged glances.

That was the last thing they wanted to do. They needed all the time they could take to search for Alia's sister.

Lord Atri flattened his feet on a distinct patch of grass. "I myself would love to have you in there as soon as possible. But we are momentarily expecting another visitor who will be needing to join you on the quest. He will be here by tomorrow, I assure."

"Another visitor?" Faolan twisted to look behind. The carriage they took was already chugging on its way back to Bladewood City. "It's not another party, is it?"

"No, no." Lord Atri turned his hip so he could slightly face the gate, feet still flat and unmoved. "There won't be another party who'll be taking from your reward, I assure. Our other visitor is the dungeon's owner, King Galiguth."

"King... The God of Biology owns this? I thought it was the Nagacore Dungeon in Bladewood that he built."

"That too is true." Lord Atri hid his hands in his pants' pockets.

"Aren't gods allowed to build only one dungeon each in the Kingdom of Swords?" Faolan headed forward to close the gap and stood on the same patch of grass as the lord.

"That too is generally true." Lord Atri took one of his hands back out to shake Faolan's. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Laird Faolan. To answer your question, The God of Biology and our god, Eudon, has earned quite the amount of trust from each other throughout their decades of friendship. The God of Biology has been given the privilege of erecting two."

"Ah, shit!" exclaimed one of the workers as he jerked his arm from the opened furnace.

"Careful. Stuff's hot," said another aproned man.

"Hey! Can I touch too?" Kirin asked, drooling in front of the roaring flames.

"Idiot." Onyx hissed. "Why don't you just jump inside?"

Kirin gave him a dark stare, then returned a kind smile at the staff. "That's not a bad idea. Am I allowed?"

"Lady, that armor of yours isn't gonna do crap inside our bad boy," warned an old mustached man adjusting his round glasses back onto his beak-like nose. "It'll melt like cheese before you even get to stretch your foot in. My magic burns fuel at temperatures higher than 2,000° Celsius you know."

"Whoa." Kirin gaped, bending over with his hands on his knees to see the flames closer. "I bet that'd be really painful, mister!"

"Of course! We need high, high temperatures to melt all these steel hoofs after all." The old man laughed manically, slapping his thighs on repeat. "And I'm the only man in this mansion who could maintain the heat for hours on end. Helps with my annual raise!"

"Mr. Copperhill, you ought to be the reason my family goes bankrupt." Lord Atri joked. "Even my brother's whims has no chance of running us so dry."

Onyx approached behind Kirin, arms loosely crossed. "You sound like a powerful fire magician. Bet you could take on the dungeon yourself."

Mr. Copperhill fixed his glasses again. "Young lad, my vision hasn't exactly stayed reliable after all my years. I can now only cast on stationary things if I don't want to end up accidentally burning the planet. That's scary you know."

"We share similar fears, sir." Faolan chuckled, following Lord Atri up the staircase. "Let's get inside, team. We have to start--"

Lord Atri paused to glance at Faolan. "Is anything the matter?"

"Ah, nah. Everything is well. We have to start conditioning ourselves for the dungeon is all."

"Just a touch!" Kirin shouted, making a move towards the furnace.

Alas, Onyx had been ready, unfurled his arms, and grabbed on Kirin's hair before the trap could get too close to the blaze.

If at all any consolation, Kirin felt good having his hair pulled like that.