It had been two days since Norlash and his party had cleared Floor Six, which made it rather unusual for them to be already climbing the mountain again today. Not that it was odd for Challengers to make attempts on a dungeon every few days, but typically adventurers tended to wait for at least a week after healing the sort of injuries the party had received on their last visit. Norlash himself had come through it all with only scrapes, thanks to the high agility the half-orc fighter possessed. His cousin Nalain had suffered a broken ankle however after stepping deep into a camouflaged slime, and only a quick generation of her personal barrier spell had prevented her from having her entire foot eaten.

The heavily-armored woman is in good spirits today though, which is a marked difference from the elf walking next to her. Tizzy's illusion spells manage to hide Tannis's green skin but his scowl is unmistakable, not to mention the way the man keeps pulling at his fingers as if to make sure that they're all still there. Three of them had been chewed off while attempting to scale the cavern walls above the mountain's abyss, and it was lucky that Thaddeus's expedition was so well-equipped with high-quality healing potions or else the mage would've never been able to regrow them all so quickly. The party's other mage, the purple-haired Violetta, had suffered much more typical arrow wounds during the fight with Taly, but as usual she had 'taken care of matters' herself afterwards and seemed to be quite fine today.

Everyone else in the party had theories about the woman's exact methods, but as they weren't the sort of theories they wanted to have confirmed, none of them had ever pressed her on the matter.

All in all though the party is in reasonable spirits as they arrive at Doorman's small plateau upon the mountainside. Nodding at the oversized door, Norlash speaks for his party. "Greetings, Guardian Door. We seek to challenge Floor Seven today. Our progress is recognized, yes?"

The guardian nods, but doesn't seem to be quite as cheerful as usual about it. "It is - but we do have a special offer to make to you today, if you'd like to hear it."

"No." The half-orc answers quickly, crossing his arms across his scale-mail-covered chest. "You know who we are, and we know that you know. There's absolutely zero chance that any 'special offer' is to our benefit."

Violetta steps forward with a grin on her face, unhesitant about undercutting her party leader. "Hold on now, hold on, don't be hasty! Deals and bargains with powerful beings may not always be wise, but they're always interesting. No harm in hearing it out, hrmm?"

The man sighs, deciding to go along with things if only to keep the future complaining to a minimum. "Fine. We'll hear the offer, guardian."

"Excellent! Here is the offer, ladies and sirs: as you may know, Valkyrie Brightsky serves two main roles within our proud dungeon. For one, she is the Floor Guardian of Floor Seven, as I assume you know given that you intend to challenge it today. She is however also a priestess, and occasionally gives sermons in the shrine we've constructed on Floor Five."

Tannis scoffs. "Typical 'free kingdoms' propaganda, I gather. She's an agent of the Lord of Shields, isn't it so? I've fought a few of those in my time. In my experience, most shields can be broken with a bit of effort."

Doorman does his best to keep his tone more-or-less light despite the mage's dismissive words. "Well, perhaps you ought to open your ears and your mind for an afternoon, hrmm? The offer is this - instead of challenging Floor Seven, you may instead choose to experience one of Valkyrie Brightsky's sermons at the shrine. At the end of it, we'll offer you a portal right to the end of Floor Seven, giving you credit for completing the floor."

Nalain scowls, while her helmet mostly blocks the sight of her eyes from others, the grimace on her face is plainly visible. "Right. We sit in some pews for a while and listen to someone talk, and we get free credit for one of the dungeon's hardest floors? Pull the other one, door. There's obviously a trick."

"Ah, but might I remind you, my lady, that Floor Five is a rest floor, a safe zone. If we were to kill any Challengers there, the dungeon would suffer punishments in response. It's as much a guarantee of safety as we can offer."

Tannis raises a hand. "Ah, ah, I see the trick! It will tell us it's giving us a portal to the shrine on Floor Five, but it will actually be a copy of the room on Floor Seven, or elsewhere! Then you'll be free to slaughter us all you like after we let our guards down, hrmm? Hrmm?"

The guardian sighs, but manages to resist rolling his eyes. "While the shrine is typically accessed via a portal, if you insist we can open a physical path connecting it to the inn. You may step inside, see that you're in the inn - which is populated with customers, by the way - and walk directly there. If I'm lying, you may immediately turn around and leave. Does that satisfy you?"

The purple-haired mage claps her hands with excitement. "Oh, ooh, can we go? A sermon from an actual Valkyrie, I can't wait to hear what she has to say!"

"She wants to kill us, you idiot!" Norlash can't keep himself from growling out his frustration with the woman, but it affects her smiling expression not in the least. "There is absolutely no way she has anything good to say to us!"

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"I know! That's what makes it so exciting!"

Nalain attempts to rub her forehead through her helmet. "...Maybe it's worth a shot, Norlash. Maybe the dungeon really does just want to...talk. Or rant at us, or excoriate us for our sins, or some nonsense. If it gets us through a floor without losing any more fingers or toes, it'll be worth it. Not to mention the free loot - we do still get the Floor Seven rewards, yes, door?"

"...If you insist I'm sure they can be provided."

"Hrmph." The party leader grunts his dissatisfaction. "Since when do you use words like 'excoriate', Nalain?"

"What? I've read a book, Norlash. And words relating to pain make me think of you."

"Hah! Fine. But the moment we see something...funny, we retreat and clear the floor like normal, aye?"

The rest of the party nods, and Violetta almost squeals her response. "Aye!"

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The four adventurers do take the more cautious route of taking the shortcut portal to Worthy Inn instead of to the shrine directly, and there's some noticeable surprise on the faces of the Challengers eating there when a new door appears on one wall of the tavern. A rabbit-eared waitress directs the group to it, and when Norlash opens it up it's rather clear that the addition was made in a relative hurry. Unlike the more carefully crafted inn which was built to look as if it had been serving meals for thirty years, the hall beyond is made of the most basic of dungeon stone. It's not in a straight line either, even going up and then down stairs at one point to presumably cross over some other rooms on the floor, but the party remains fairly certain that they're not being tricked into leaving the safe zone of Floor Five, as such a thing usually comes with a subtle feeling of magical pressure.

Eventually it does lead into the entryway of the somewhat-famous shrine of the dungeon, a chamber they had all heard about but which none of them had ever entered. The place is empty of Challengers - probably forcefully emptied if any of them had been in here a few minutes before - but not entirely abandoned. The shrine's two main attendants, the Rabbit Acolytes Fay and Lin, each stand to one side at the front of the shrine. In the center behind the altar stands Valkyrie Brightsky herself, wearing not her battle armor but her traditional garb of a priestess-librarian. The lack of metal and wings means the woman is easily overlooked for the gigantic, curvy statue placed directly behind her, but each of the adventurers makes sure not to let the guardian out of their sight for more than a moment.

Norlash feels tempted to challenge the green-skinned elf in some way, but Brightsky preempts him with a welcome. "I'm glad to see you've taken us up on our offer. While Priestess Deylia is the head priestess of this shrine, I will be leading today's sermon, and so I welcome you to join in the peace of this place. Please, take any seat you feel comfortable with."

The half-orc narrows his eyes, looking for the hidden meaning in her words. "I'll admit to some surprise, Valkyrie. I've heard of your encounter with the Prince and his close companions, and I believe there was some sort of mention about 'sending us all to Lord Theolif's halls' or some such, wasn't there? Quite a turn you're taking here, isn't it?"

The elf grins, but it's a cold one she gives them. "Oh, I would enjoy nothing more than to cross blades with each of you. But that is not what we're here for today. I swear upon my honor and my faith in Lord Theolif, I shall not harm you today."

The purple-haired mage of the party steps forward with a much more honest smile, and slips into one of the pews. "Well, I'm looking forward to hearing what you're going to be talking about today. What's the topic going to be?"

"We'll get to that in a moment - Violetta, yes? And the rest of you would be...Tannis, and the cousins Norlash and Nalain, correct?"

Nalain grunts. "Sevastion told you as much, aye? Or Yulia? Guess I'm flattered you at least bothered to learn our names before engaging us." Despite her unhappy tone, the warrior slides into the pew behind Violetta's.

"Names and more besides. Today's sermon will be about the value of confession, with a practical aspect. While I speak today, I ask that each of you take turns in our confessional chamber to your left there. Either Acolyte Fay or Acolyte Lin can assist you, it's your choice."

Tannis, who was halfway through sitting down, suddenly stands back up and points at the priestess. "Aha! There it is! You'll drag us off into the shadows one by one and feed us to some monster, hrmm!? Your oath may be true as you're here serving as a mere distraction for the true trap!"

Brightsky narrows her own eyes in response, her patience clearly nearing its limits. "Yes. Yes, our trap will be waiting for you in the confessional chamber, very perceptive of you. Yet my oath remains, and I shall expand it - so long as you bring no violence here, none shall be brought upon you either."

Norlash rumbles thoughtfully. "One by one, is it? I suppose that would make it a difficult trap to get each of us - one, at the most. I still don't see why we should take that risk, though."

The elf taps her fingers in thought, before turning her head to listen to an unseen voice. "...Fine. The first of you to volunteer shall receive their Floor Seven rewards paid upfront, rather than at the end of the sermon. Does this encouragement suffice?"

Violetta quickly stands back up, clapping her hands. "Oooh, ooh, I was going to volunteer first anyways, but I'll definitely take a bribe! I'll go with...which one's the cute rabbit boy?"

The rabbit boy in question speaks up with a slight blush. "I am Lin, ma'am."

"Lin! Alright, let's go! I've got a lot of fun sins to talk about!"

"...Right this way, then." Lin gestures towards the door at the side of the shrine's main chamber, before stepping over and leading the way himself. Violetta eagerly follows, finding a cozy room inside with a simple wooden table, two chairs, and light provided by dim gemstones. The mage takes a seat, but seems to be a bit confused as she looks around the room.

"Shouldn't a confession come with a bit more...privacy?"

The black-furred acolyte does close the door behind him, but makes no other special preparations before taking the opposite seat. "Ah, while Valkyrie Brightsky does preach in the manner of the Lord of the Shield, this shrine was not constructed in the manner of your homeland, so I do not know what rituals you may be used to. This is closer to a Church of Bounty tradition, although even there we are not exactly orthodox. And in any case, today's confessional approach has been...adjusted for you and your companions."

"Ah, so you are going to trick me somehow, then?"

The man gives her a slight smile. "Perhaps."

The woman leans forward with a much wider grin. "Well alright then! Let's get started, eh?"