Chapter Four

The room smelled of the dust of ages long past, and the eerie silence was occasionally shattered by a falling pebble. Their footfalls fell like thunder, despite all good sense in footwear and tenderness of step. Candi and Alizee were on edge, their eyes wide in alarm as they looked about. Em's features were unreadable, her eyes wide and predatory. She rubbed her nose and cursed inwardly, the smell of the incense she burned with the offering she gave to the statue still cloying to her nose and depriving her of the ability to smell any changes in the stale air.

They were silent, using the "party chat" function that lay in their minds similarly to guild chat. To speak aloud could give them away, and none of them were willing to take that risk.

"Emmie."

"What?

"You're sure this was wise?"

They left the first room, making their way into a seemingly endless hallway, a stone pathway lined by black pitfalls that stood between the walls and the pathway and turned the sides of the path into sheer cliff faces. Everything echoed eerily in the hall, and Candi could swear that even their breathing echoed.

The seconds passed like hours. The minutes felt like millennia. Each moment in their terse tenseness wore on their nerves. They passed through the hallway that way for upwards of ten minutes before they reached its end and entered the next room. All three stepped warily into the clear crystal floored room, feeling at least some relief that the floor was solid enough to support their weight and, in all likelihood, battle.

They looked around and frowned. 'A switch room?' Em wasn't fond of the idea.

"Everyone pick a switch and get ready to cheese it."

They each stood next to a switch and grimaced as they laid their hands on the glowing top stone on the pillars. Much to their surprise, the stones barring their path crumbled and allowed them to pass without summoning monsters. They looked at one another in relief before running towards the next room.

One.

They skidded around a corner, running as silently as they could without losing speed. Em and Candi shifted to the balls of their feet and readied their shuriken. Alizee held her control bars and chains in one hand, Monsieur Chevalier in his sling on her back as she ran. Em turned a sharp corner a bit too quickly and nearly skidded off the edge, but she managed to recover in time.

Two.

"Take up positions at the switches that we were at relative to the locked door in the past room and this locked door," Emerinne dictated softly as they approached the next room, which she saw to be another switch room.

Three.

They took up their positions and laid their palms on the switches, the door crumbling open yet again. They skipped over the debris and started running down the next hall. "Same strategy as last room should the next be a switch room."

One.

They found no turn offs, nor bends in the path. The hall was long, but as they ran, they noticed the next room. Em pulled the shadows to her and darted quickly down the hall into the room. She looked around and frowned. 'A chest room...'

"Get ready to fight. There's a chest."

Candi requipped into her guns and crouched, readying herself for a shooting rush. Alizee took her mini from her back and flung it forward into the room, snapping the chains of her control bars like whips to connect to the mini and summon her colossus. She drew her brows together in focus as she readied herself for the assault.

Em crouched and requipped into her lockpick set and got to work on the lock, cracking it easily. There were loud noises that resounded around her in the room as the door slammed shut and their enemies teleported into the room with a loud bang and smoke.

The soft, gurgling growl set Em's nerves on edge as she requipped into her shuriken and began to twirl her kunai on her index finger in preparation for a kunai storm. She turned and came face to face with severely yellowed, plaque encrusted fangs and glowing red eyes peering through a mask.

The masked goblin screeched and began its attack, and Em launched her skill.

/-/-/-/-/

Ankou rammed the tip of his lance into the werewolf's face and knocked it back several feet, where ackilles finished it off with a flame burst. Kenny finished off another with a well placed uppercut, and the door to the room opened. Mason cast a party heal, and the group felt the regenerative and restorative effects of the spell slowly settle in.

Xig rolled his shoulders and sighed. "Why on earth did we decide to just run is second job while we were out? Math Advanced for Three to get that damn skull with a NX pass to be safe in the group took ages and left us sore and run down. So we go drop off the skull, accept payment, and then run to do Alby Intermediate hard mode to get a circlet for this person before resting for what reason again?"

Kyle snorted. " 'We were already out and doing things,' right Kenny?"

Kenny sighed. "Not the best vote on my part, I'll admit that. Ankou?"

Ankou shrugged noncommittally, his voice echoing out from his helm. "I'm ok to keep going, I suppose. Want to get home sooner, rather than later. Candi is probably worried sick."

Dan nodded and frowned. "What about Em? She worries about everyone and everything. Remember how she didn't eat from the worry the last time we went out on an extended assault?"

Mason sighed and nodded. "Alizee was so excited to see us when we got back though. Wonder what she's up to."

Kenny nodded. "And how the re-application interview went, too."

/-/-/-/-/

They stalked through the dark through fields and over bridges, their black, deeply hooded cloaks pulled in close around them as they came into the torchlight near the inn, cringing as the sudden light blinded them. They quickly darted inside and went into the common room of the inn and walked towards the far back corner where light seemed to avoid.

"Should we take our hoods down?"

One pulled back his hood, revealing a pale, gaunt face with sunken, yellow eyes as he looked at his companion. "I'd say it's probably ok, Thane."

Thane pulled back his hood to reveal his full, dark face covered in stubble, silvery-blue beady eyes darting around the room in suspicion. "Do you think they know we're here, Desther?"

A candle lit at the far table hidden in the shadows, revealing a dashing, ebon skinned individual wearing leather armor blacker than night. With a snap of the fingers, other individuals appeared in the dark around the two men, some moving in closer to lay kunais against their throats.

It was the man at the table that broke the tense silence, his deep voice rasping out a question. "Why are you here?"

Desther and Thane paled, their eyes going wide as they began to sweat, Thane speaking in a thready voice. "We, ah...were told, ah...that we could find the Skullclub guild here. We, ah...want to join."

The cluster of shadowy men laughed derisively, and the man at the table spoke again. "Who sent you?"

Thane swallowed hard. "I'm not allowed to say. They said they...they'd gut me if I told. I just want to join a guild that can help me get back at that Emerinne bitch and the rest of her guild. She...she killed two of my best friends."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Are you willing to do whatever it takes? This is a mercenary guild, after all. You'll be asked to kill for a living. And you aren't allowed to turn down the jobs I send you on. You take longer than a week, there had best be a good reason. Is that understood?"

Desther and Thane nodded quickly. He sighed and pulled down his menu, sending them the invitations, which they quickly applied with. The notifications appeared before him and he accepted them both. He turned to look at them and smirked, whispering something next to the one next to him marked as his officer.

His officer left and came back with a white-hot branding iron, speaking in a very deep, smooth voice. "You are only allowed to leave this guild through death. Punishment for betraying is death. Punishment for unsatisfactory performance is death."

The leader looked at his new minions and smiled. "This won't hurt a bit. Now...tell me about this other guild."

The sear of the branding iron on their backs brought them to tears and agony. As they screamed the tale of their fallen comrades, their new guild mates laughed all around them.

Fergus woke due to the eerie, howling, keening wail and sighed, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. These wails had become all too common since his favorite branding iron had gone missing.

/-/-/-/-/

Dan gave the cobweb covered chest a swift boot in the lock as he finished placing the last crystal in the barrel of his cylinder for vaporization. He was immediately thankful at his choice of flame burst to start the room, as a wisp hummed about him, preparing to fire off a lightning bolt. While they didn't do too much to damage him, the stun time was maddening. They cleared the room quickly, taking almost no damage in the process.

Mason used another party heal, and the group trudged off towards the next room.

/-/-/-/-/

Alizee, Candi and Emerinne slunk down the stairway to the next floor of the ruins. While they were tired from the exertion, the adrenaline rush pushed them onwards to the next floor. When they emerged from the stairwell, it immediately became clear that this floor as not as well maintained. The sconces were scarcely lit and cobwebs and grit covered nigh on to every surface they could. The dust softened their footfalls, but enough was disturbed to aggravate eyes and sinuses.

There was no hall between the entryway to the second floor and it's first room. Em frowned and looked around the room. "How lovely...a mimic pit."

Alizee looked at her and sighed. "How does we tell?"

Candi crouched and pointed at the corner chests. "It's one of those four, sweetie. The chest is never in the middle of the room."

Alizee pouted. "But how does we tell?"

Em took a close look at one of the mimics in the center of the room. "I...don't rightly know. Before the DIVE gear, we just right clicked to see if our cursor changed. Now...now I suppose we have no choice but to take a crack at all of them. "

Alizee crouched to look at the mimic Em had been examining and gasped. "Wait a minute..."

Candi perked up. "Whist is it, Ali?"

Alizee grinned, giggled and began examining the corner chests. She pointed at one, and smiled. "Alizee finded it."

Em arched an eyebrow and opened it, finding the key. "How did you know?"

Alizee puffed her chest out with pride. "That keyhole was really a hole. Thems mimics ain't gots a real hole there, just an innnn...indeen...indie...a sinked-in spot."

Em smiled. "An indent?"

Alizee giggled and skipped over to Em, hugging her waist. "Yea, dat ting."

Em and Alizee made their way into the next room and readied themselves as they noticed the chest. Candi followed a bit further behind, staring at her minimap. "Hey, guys, I just notice tha-OW!"

Em looked over hastily as Candi tripped over the chest. Her foot collided with the lock, and the chest popped open. Em gritted her teeth and looked around the room as the monsters summoned.

They were noticed rather quickly, and unfortunately, by their latest opponents. Their stones clattered with each slow step as they approached the party, and Em growled as she requipped into her rapier.

"I hate zombies."

/-/-/-/-/

The air burned, the act of simply being burned. They had removed their shirts to prevent the now ruined garments from clinging to their charred flesh and ripping open the areas where the bleeding had mostly stopped and begun to scab over. Their journey down the stairs was long and painful, but so was simply standing.

Desther and Thane did as they were told and followed Markus, the officer, and touched nothing. Their time descending the stairs had gone on for perhaps ten minutes before the stone stairwell slick with a strange slime and mosses and lichens opened and revealed the rest of the guild hall, namely, the vast expanse that was their armory. Armory of every variety, training dummies, sparring fields, and, most importantly, weapons. The varieties seemed endless; enchanted, unenchanted, upgraded, without upgrades, purchased, smith end...the list went on.

What shocked the two the most were the too-small atlatls and the too-large bows and the associated ammunition matched in size to the weapons themselves. Markus caught them staring and smirked. "Ah, I see you've noticed our pride. This, my friends, is the work of our ingenious weapons smith. One step closer to balancing the races, no?"

Desther's jaw dropped. "You mean-"

"Ranged weapons for giants and thrown weapons for humans and elves."

/-/-/-/-/

"Shit!"

Em darted forward, the heavy mightily plates of her armor hindering her somewhat, but her Fleet Feet compensated for that somewhat. She skidded in front of Alizee and Candi moments before impact as the stone bison drove its horn into her, goring her stomach and flinging her into the wall as the two behind her dove out of the way. Alizee's eyes widened and she moved on instinct, not thinking about actions or consequences, only survival. Candi poured mana into Em's stomach despite her protests and attempts to stand, which became more solid and stable as Candi struggled to close her wound.

Em gasped and made squeaks of protest and struggled to get back to the fight, though Candi shoved her back and continued working on her injury. "Alizee..."

She watched as her child flicked the chains of her control bar at the bison, wrapping them around its horns and neck. With deft movements, she propelled herself onto the beasts back and pulled, tightening the chains. Stone horns began to crack under the pressure and the bison bellowed in pain or rage-it didn't matter. Alizee continued to pull and tighten the chains, wrapping them around her wrists to prevent slack as the horns crumbled. The chains shifted and interrupted the magic flow through the beast, severing both its head and its life as the door crumbled open.

Em stared in awe as Alizee slowly unwrapped the chains from her forearms. Candi prodded her shoulder. "You're done."

Em stood, shakily at first, but she kept her footing and staggered forward to Alizee and collapsed to her knees, pulling the child into a tight hug. "Lee...never scare me like that again!"

Alizee put a hand in Em's cheek. "Maman...I oughtta say dat to you."

/-/-/-/-/

There was an underlying smell in the vast training room as the Skullclub cleric tutted over the branding marks on the backs of the men before her. She channeled small amounts of mana into the worst areas, ensuring that the scarring would stick. She hardly noticed the smell that wrinkled the noses of the two new members now, she had been exposed to it for so long without stop. She clutched at the ring she wore on a chain about her neck as she touched up the worst of the burns, the ring too large now for her spindly, bone-like fingers.

Desther looked up at her, her lifeless black hair falling limply around her, framing her deathly pale face and hiding most of her sunken-in violet eyes. "Can't you smell that?" Her blood red lips quirked into a tiny smile.

Her voice was tiny and thin, like the silk of a spiders web blown in Horne wind as she spoke. "You really are new, huh?"

Markus walked over and backhanded her, the bruising immediately evident on her high cheekbones as her face hit the straw mattress next to Thane's knee as his and Desther's eyes went wide. "Were you told that you could speak!?" Spittle flew from Markus' lips as the words ripped themselves venomously from his mouth.

The woman apologized profusely in words so small they were barely audible as she recoiled into the bed. Markus sneered. "Back to your cage, bitch. I'm going to go inform your husband of this, and maybe when I ask him to spare you, for your sake, he'll listen."

The woman slunk to her feet as Markus stalked off, his heavy plate boots clattering on the slick stone floor. She pulled the too-large dress in close around her bony frame and slunk off into the darkness of the stairwell from whence she had come earlier.

Desther and Thane sniffed at the air in disgust. Though they were thankful that the smell covered the abundance of sweat and foul beer, they wished it were more pleasant than the smell it covered.

The hammer rang against the forge as the smithy forged yet another new blade. Their shrouded guild leader stormed through the armory with a blade in one hand and the branding iron in the other towards the stairwell the only female in the guild had just descended, a murderous smile gracing his features as his eyes shone with unbridled fury.

/-/-/-/-/

They all opened their chests and sighed. Two circlets, both meeting the requirements. They stashed the better of the two and took the lesser to give to the client. Xig curled his upper lip in disdain as he held a slip of paper between his thumb and forefinger for the group to examine. "What do we want to do with this?"

Dan sneered at the advanced pass. "Burn it with fire."

Kyle lazily tossed a half powered firebolt at it, making Xig jump and squeak in surprise as he released the now burning paper. "Done. Can we go now?"

Xig glared at Kyle as they all laid a hand on the goddess statue to request teleport.

/-/-/-/-/

Alizee screamed in rage as she sent her colossus charging at the nearly-dead keeper of the ruins, finishing him off and crumbling the door to the chest room. Em smiled, and stretched, wincing as her back popped and crackled in several places as she walked towards the chest room. Alizee unsummoned her colossus and Candi requipped out of her guns. Em gave her chest a swift boot and pulled out the gold and the potions and grinned, picking up a book with worn, tattered pages. She turned and tossed the book at Candi. "Remember running for these for 'quick cash'?"

Candi caught the book and flipped through the pages and tossed it back. "Yessu, I do." She laughed and tried to wipe some of the grime from her forehead.

They grinned and requested exit from the dungeon.

/-/-/-/-/

"Thank you for your patronage."

Ankou carried the sack of gold out of the Dunbarton bank and sighed. "At least that's done. Now we can head home."

Kenny nodded and sighed, stretching his aching limbs before summoning his truck. "Let's go home then."

They all boarded and Ankou began to separate out their individual portions as they passed through the moon gate.

/-/-/-/-/

Candi, Em and Alizee trudged into the base camp at Quilla and sighed as they plopped down on a bench. Em rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "Next boat is in three days."

Candi sighed. "Do we want to warp it?"

A voice spoke up from across the camp. "I wouldn't, Candi. I made that mistake getting to Iria."

Em arched her eyebrow at the silvery-blue haired giant across the way waiting for Nicca to finish repairing the blade of her hellfire cylinder. "And how exactly do you know us?"

The giant took her cylinder from Nicca and tossed him a small pouch with payment before turning and grinning. "Hey Em."

Em's jaw dropped. "Aristis?"

She waved and came and picked up Em and hugged her. Em hugged back limply in stunned silence, and watched as Ari put her down and repeated the process with Candi and Alizee. "Ari..."

She looked at Em and blinked. "Yea?"

Em glared. "Where in the Nine Hells have you been!?"

Ari grinned sheepishly. "Well, Em, I kinda...took some time to myself in order to get used to my body. It's easier for elves and humans, and I bet it's even easier for people playing their gender."

Em looked away, a bit embarrassed. "I suppose you have a point. But dammit, we were worried. Or at least I was. Where do you get off on not checking in through g-chat every now and again?"

Ari shrugged. "It's hard to keep track of time when you're learning your strengths and weaknesses, hell, your whole body, in the Physis snowfields. It's...it's stunning there. Freezing, but stunning."

Em grinned. "It's good to have you back at least. We missed you."

Ari grinned in return. "It's good to be back. There's no place like home."