The blue and orange garule leaned back at the close proximity as the earar continued: “Tyran over there can keep his honor. I am more interested in profit. So why don’t we mix up the pot a little bit, hmm? Make it worthwhile for all of us.”

“Do we have to?” the other group’s ranger asked, yawning. “I just want to go to bed, at this point... why make this more complicated?”

“I think it sounds interesting,” Starshine smiled dangerously from atop her hovering broom. The hair on the back of Guin’s neck stood on end as her friend spoke in her purr-like tone. Paw and Drakov moved to stop her, but she waved them down. “What kind of bet are you thinking of?”

Heed grinned. “A harmless one, I assure you,” he went, holding out his arms with the pageantry of a movie villain. “I propose... a competition; a sort of race: The first group to conquer the dungeon the fastest by Monday wins. The losing team will then be the winning team’s gophers for an owed period of, let’s say... 24 hours, in total, at the winner’s discretion. What do you say?”

“W-Why would we agree to that?” Tea asked.

The earar mage’s eyes were sharp and cruel as they narrowed into a look that Guin did not like. “Because this swelling pot of trash around us is just one explosion away from descending into a bit of player-killing chaos. And I’m bored.” He gestured to the people around them, and Guin froze.

The tivarys shook her head. “Always with the dramatics...”

“Oh, dear,” the cleric went, a hand flying up to her mouth. “I don’t think we need to go that far, Hee-”

“What say you?” Heed asked, leaning in. “Will you be brave and save all these people? Or will you... run away?”

Drakov was pale when he looked at Guin. “Why can’t we ever meet nice and normal people?”

Crossing her arms, Guin sighed. “And just how would we know that either side is telling the truth?”

“Your first real dungeon, is it?” he grinned and stood straight again. “Beautiful. You see, when a player goes and defeats a dungeon, they get a title, or badge of honor, as proof of their accomplishment for all to see. This title also records things such as how many times you’ve run it and the time for top accomplished times, kills, favored abilities, deaths, etcetera,” he explained.

“Any other rules other than the fastest run time by Monday?” Guin asked further.

He shook his head. “It gives both teams four days, including a whole weekend, to get through the dungeon as many times as they can.”

Guin exchanged a look with each of the others.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We don’t have a healer, Guin,” Drakov muttered to her.

“You want him to just set off a fireball and kill us anyway?” she muttered back.

“At least we wouldn’t be promising 24 hours of our lives to someone else,” he hissed.

We don’t have a healer...

And yet.

She looked at BronzePaw, whose tail was wagging with anticipation that Guin could see from her eyes. Starshine, too, was looking at Heed like he was something to be hunted.

When she looked at Drakov, he sighed and said. “Anyway, I’m with you...”

And Tea.

“Are you all right with accepting this?” she asked him. The timid male’s nose twitched as he looked between the earar and Guin.

Hesitantly, he nodded but also said, “On one condition. We get a healer—a real healer, Guin. And you know who I’d suggest.”

“You know a healer?” Drakov asked him, turning quickly. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

Guin nodded curtly. She knew.

“I am going to regret this,” she said, then turned back to the other group. “Fine. If the rest of your group agrees to the terms and honor the agreement, I don’t think a little sportsmanship would really kill us.”

“I, Tyran the Great Doom, humbly accept this challenge of glory!” The jikak paladin pounded his chest. “May Gruth watch us, that we may enter the Halls of Algorath and fly amidst the souls of the honored dead that flow through the great Kon with dignity and honor!”

“Don’t worry,” the cleric smiled, patting his arm again. “We’ll make sure that Heed doesn’t run away from his own bargain if nothing else!”

The tivarys chuckled. “Oh, I suppose. It actually sounds like great fun—having a little minion to torture for a few hours. I mean, there’s no way you guys can win, not with the team you have.”

“We are just missing a member,” Guin said quickly. If we can call him that, she thought as she looked back at Tea quickly.

“And will they agree?” the valkyrian raised an eyebrow.

“He will,” Tea said with a surprising amount of conviction that Guin did not share.

“Then let it be done!” Heed summoned a scroll and wrote on it, then handed it to Guin. “I am guessing you are the leader, little human. Write the names of your six.”

“The names? What does this do?” Guin asked, reading the paper. It listed the terms that they had discussed and the names of their party.

The earar shrugged. “It contractually binds us to an action,” he said. “I am, if nothing else, a fair man. We submit it to the server, and it ensures that all players follow through on what they have promised.”

“No funny business?” Drakov asked, looking over Guin’s shoulder and reading it as she went through it a second time.

“It’s not like we don’t know a GM even if there is,” Guin mumbled. But on the other hand... She grinned as she wrote the names of the intended team, including the one that wasn’t standing there to agree. It was almost too perfect.

Nothing was wrong with a little harmless payback, right?

Handing the paper back to Heed to do with what he would, she sighed with a good deal more satisfaction than she thought she would.

“Guin?” Tea went, twiddling his thumbs as if he just realized the repercussions of his request. “Did we just do a bad thing?”

“No, Tea,” Guin smirked. “I think we may have just accomplished exactly what needed to happen.”

“Guin,” Drakov went, pointing to her face. “W-Why is that scary face back?”

“You’ll see, dongsaeng,” she said, opening a private chat with Ibraxis Soulkeeper. “Just wait. You’ll. See.”