Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Dungeons & Dragons

The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown

Book : Adventuring with Avatars

Chapter 7: Tomb Raiding

Beta:


"That isn't on the map." Drau observed as the party warily advanced towards a large glass dome sitting in the middle of a particularly large cavern in the Underdark. It was seated right in the path they were taking to a nearby Drow city that was their next destination.

"At a glance at the stonework in its foundations, I'd guess that it's new. Very new." Falgrim gave his expert opinion as a Dwarf.

"How new?" Yorha asked warily. "Can you tell?"

"My guess? A few months tops."

The party exchanged looks.

"It seems a little ill defended." Neia commented. "No defensive walls or guards. Gaul, are you sensing any magical protections?"

"Some," Gaul acknowledged. "But they seem muted. They alone shouldn't be enough to keep it safe."

"Then maybe its inhabitants are scary enough to keep others away?" Taana suggested with a shrug that showed even she did not truly believe what she was saying.

"That young Miss Zyfyn is the right of it." A cultured voice said suddenly from the party's right, causing the whole group to jump into a defensive formation.

Standing before them where they had been empty space just moments before was a muscular humanoid creature covered in black hardened scales with large bat-like wings sprouting from its back alongside long twisted horns that culminated in a particularly impressive pair of horns on its head. Its face was covered with scales, making it look like a twisted hybrid of men and insect that was made more intimidating by the mouth filled with sharp fangs. It was further armed with sword like claws and a whip-like tail. All of which was surrounded by a dark malevolent aura that radiated from its body.

"I mean you no harm, Chosen of the Supreme One." The creature said with an oddly gentlemanly bow considering its appearance. "I am Gorzoth, servant of Lord Demiurge, god of cunning and strategy. I am in charge of the Menagerie just ahead. Sensing your approach, I merely wished to bid you all welcome."

Demiurge? Isn't that the name of one of the lesser Felmidian gods? Falgrim thought as he tried to recall everything he'd learned about the pantheon that the majority of his partymates were devoted to and which Neia had taken every opportunity to expound upon.

"You're Lord Demiurge's servant?" Neia asked warily. "Do you have any proof?"

"Of course, Lady Neia." The monster said with an understanding nod. "I bear his mark. As a Paladin of the Supreme One, you can test its authenticity no?"

Neia looked lost for a moment before her eyes clouded over for a moment and she nodded confidently.

Did she just get a divine revelation?

"Show me that mark." The Paladin said firmly.

Falling to one knee, Gorzoth lowered his head so his forehead to eye level with Neia. At first Falgrim saw nothing there but the creature's black scales but slowly but surely a strange design glowing in a disturbing blood red light slowly appeared atop the scales. The Dwarf found himself unable to truly focus on the design for long, his eyes naturally slipping off it if he didn't focus but he made out what looked like a pair of jewels and a set of glasses. He didn't catch any more than that before Neia nodded in satisfaction and Gorzoth hid his mark once more.

"I can confirm it." Their resident Paladin said with a confident nod. "He's telling the truth."

Everyone relaxed at that.

"That's good to hear." Drau said, as she stowed her sniper rifle and stepped forward. "It's nice to meet you Gorzoth."

"The pleasure, Lady Drau, is all mine. Please follow this humble Devil. I can offer you some refreshments inside my Menagerie."

"You're a Devil?" Taana asked, worriedly.

Falgrim shared the feeling. Dealing with fiends of any type, Devil or Demon, was always risky.

"I am an Abyssal Lord. Technically that makes me a Demon. However, by the standards of Realmspace, the Demons of Felmid are best described as Devils thus we have adapted and changed our nomenclature."

Not sure how that helps anything.

Falgrim chanced a glance at his partymates, excepting Taana of course, and was unsurprised that they weren't fazed by the revelation that their host was a fiend. If anything they seemed even more reassured. Perhaps sensing his and Taana's confusion, Yorha pulled the three of them to the back of the group.

"Lord Demiurge is a Devil." Yorha explained as they walked the remaining distance to the Menagerie. "So Gorzoth being one himself supports him being his servant."

"Even then!" Falgrim hissed. "Is it safe to trust any fiend?"

"If he is a servant of one of our gods then yes." Yorha replied with a shrug as they reached the doors of the large glass dome.

Falgrim was still uncertain but nodded. He'd just have to have faith that his friends' gods weren't out to get them killed. They'd been nothing but helpful so far, but you never knew with gods. Especially ones that used fiends as servants.

"Welcome, Chosen of the Supreme One." Gorzoth said as he ushered the party inside. "Welcome to my Menagerie where on the orders of Lord Demiurge I collect specimens of the local flora and fauna and study them for utility to Nazarick. Would you like a tour?"

Just a quick glance around the place after stepping foot inside told Falgrim more than enough. As far as the eye could see were shelves full of specimen jars filled with all kinds of Underdark flora and fauna, ranging from simple fungi to small insects to Hook Horrors. There were even a number of specimens of Drow, Myconid and other sapient races here and there. In between the shelves were glass walled rooms that looked to be labs of some kind where the collected specimens were being studied by strange looking Warforged. In fact, except for Gorzoth himself, the whole place seemed to be run entirely by the constructs.

"What's with those Warforged?" Taana asked before Falgrim could do so himself. "Master and I met a couple before and they didn't look so-"

"Twisted?" Gorzoth suggested, as he led the party deeper and deeper into the Menagerie.

Falgrim couldn't think of a better word. If normal Warforged were simulacrums of humanoids, these twisted versions were more akin to Devils like Gorzoth himself with spikes jutting out of their bodies and wings of twisted skeletal metal growing from their shoulders. A few even had feet that looked cloven and sported tails. And all of them emitted an aura of necrotic energy.

"These Twisted Warforged are my Lord's creations." Gorzoth explained proudly. "After studying several samples, my Lord cracked the code on how to produce Warforged or more precisely duplicate the process of producing souls that's part of their construction and has started to implant them into automatons of his own manufacture."

Yorha seemed to perk up at this for some reason and turned to look at the Devil with an eager look.

"Does this mean that it is possible for my fellow automatons of Felmid to become ensouled like me?"

"Not exactly like you, Lady Yorha." Gorzoth clarified. "Your ensoulment was a miracle of the Supreme One himself, but we are ensouling the majority of automatons of Felmid. This greatly enhances the automatons who previously only occasionally developed souls on their own through irreplicable circumstances or miracles from the gods."

Yorha deflated a little at this but nodded.

Guess, she was hoping she wasn't one of a kind anymore. Falgrim thought as he reached over and gave the swordswoman's arm a reassuring squeeze even as the others in the party made other similar gestures. The white haired beauty offered all of them a grateful smile.

"Ah, here we are." Gorzoth said as they reached a small manor house that wouldn't have been out of place in Dusklan incongruously sited at the very heart of the glass dome of the Menagerie. "This is my personal residence and our administrative building. There are guest rooms inside that I've prepared for you. Now, if you'll follow-"

"Actually, Gorzoth," Drau cut the Devil off as he was about to lead them into the house. "As grateful as we are for you providing us with room and board, we feel uneasy about accepting it without doing anything in return."

"Justice demands we do something for you." Neia agreed.

"Never make an open-ended deal with a Devil." Gaul chimed in more cynically.

Oh thank the gods! So they were worried about making a deal with this Devil too! I was getting worried. Falgrim thought as he sighed in relief.

"That is wise," Gorzoth allowed, sounding disappointed. "But what would you offer me, Chosen of the Supreme One? I have no need of coin or treasure."

"You collect specimens here don't you?" Yorha said, nodding towards the many jars of such that surrounded them. "Perhaps we can help you collect something?"

"That idea has merit." The Devil said as he eyed Kuro but a stern glare from everyone in the party had him raising his hands in defeat. "But if not that intriguing Slime-"

"Kuro is off limits." Drau hissed as she stepped in front of Yorha blocking the devil's view of Kuro as he rode on the automaton's shoulders. "Pick something else."

The devil hummed in thought for a long moment before finally making up his mind.

"Well, my collection teams have been having trouble lately with the acquisition of a little magical trinket, a particular gem called the Gem of Dreams, that my research indicates is located in a nearby tomb."

"What's so special about this Gem and why have your teams been having trouble with this mission?"

Good questions. Falgrim noted. Drau is a good leader.

The Dwarf had realized that quickly enough. It was a big reason why he had never challenged her for leadership of their party. But it was hard at times. He was the veteran adventurer in the party and his pride rankled at having to defer to someone who was more inexperienced than he was. That was why he had to keep reminding himself that leaving the Dragon in charge was the right thing to do because she was a good leader.

"The Gem is capable of granting its wielder the power of a Wish spell once every year." Gorzoth explained, causing Falgrim to suck in a breath in surprise.

Whilst not quite the most powerful magical artifact ever, a Wish spell was no joke and anything capable of it, even only once a year, was not to be trifled with. He could totally understand why the gods of Nazarick would want to acquire and study such an artifact.

"As for what's been causing my teams so much grief," the devil continued. "It's the tomb's defenders. Chief among them according to our research, though my men have never made it far enough to face her, is a Gynosphinx."

Falgrim winced. Gynosphinxes were no laughing matter. He could see why the Devil's teams were failing. To his party though… While a challenge, it wasn't like they hadn't faced worse. Thus as Drau surveyed everyone for their opinion, the Runesmith did not hesitate to nod his agreement.

Having secured the same from everyone else, Drau turned back to Gorzoth.

"We'll get the Gem for you. In exchange you'll provide us with room and board for our stay here."

"If you acquire the Gem for me, Lady Drau, I will put my Menagerie at the full disposal of your party whenever you are in the area."

Drau looked at the devil suspiciously and he elaborated. "Do not forget, my lady, the favor among our gods and my peers from aiding your party. That alone was enough for me to open my domain to you thus recovering the Gem for me deserves something more. Substantially more."

Yet, you didn't once object when we offered to do a job for you. Typical sneaky Devil.

"I see." Drau said with a nod. "The do we have a deal?"

"Indeed, my lady. We have a deal."


"Is this for real?" Drau asked as the whole party stood in shock in front of an entrance of a side cavern just off the path to the Gynosphinx's tomb which was full of peacefully mating Flail Snails. There were dozens, possibly hundreds, of the large snails with their colorful scintillating shells and club like tentacles gathered around the small stream that flowed through the center of the cave.

"I'm seeing it too." Yorha said helpfully, confirming that the sight wasn't a hallucination.

"Is this normal?" Neia asked Taana.

"No. You don't usually find more than one of them at a time. Though considering what they're doing, they probably got together because it's mating season."

"Which presents us with an opportunity we would be foolish to pass up." Gaul said as he made to move into the cavern, only to be stopped by Drau grabbing his armored arm.

"What are you talking about?"

"The shells of Flail Snails have powerful anti-magic properties. Imagine all of us equipped in armor made from it." Gaul said, shaking Drau's arm off and gesturing to the massive shell of a nearby snail.

"You're suggesting we kill them and harvest their shells?" Drau asked, repulsed by the idea.

"Yes," Gaul said, crossing his arms in exasperation.

"Gaul, these snails are peaceful. Look!" Drau said pointing to a snail waving its flail like tentacles at them in what seemed both welcome and warning. "They don't even mind us being here as they mate, so long as we're not hostile. How can you even consider hurting such harmless creatures?"

"Because it will better equip us?" Gaul insisted.

"He's right that having Flail Snail armor will help us." Falgrim chimed in. "I wouldn't mind some myself."

"It's not worth killing harmless creatures." Drau insisted.

Falgrim backed down but Gauldoth defiantly opened a portal with a Gate spell and began calling forth his undead army. It had suffered substantial losses in the flood that Blibdoolpoolp's avatar had used to attempt to drown them in their recent fight in the Kuo-toan city but those losses were more than made up for by the raising of the dead they'd collected in the mop up of the battle. It would be a challenge to face them all, but Drau knew she could manage. There was no way she'd allow Gaul to do what he intended.

"Wait!" Yorha said, before Drau could do anything else.

"Will you stand in my way too?" Gaul asked, threateningly as the rest of the party shifted uneasily as they tried to decide who to stand with.

"Don't be stupid, Gaul. This isn't a binary decision. Look!" The swordswoman said pointing at the ground of the cavern and a number of chipped bits of shell that littered the floor of the small cavern. With the cavern as cramped with Snails as it was, the occasional collision with each other and the rock was inevitable thus leading to a healthy amount of chipped shell pieces collecting on the cave floor. "You don't need to kill the Snails to get your armor."

Good job spotting that, Yorha!

"There's hardly enough there to make a single set of armor. Much less for the whole party."

"I think we can make do without any if it comes to it." Drau said dryly, looking over everyone to see if they disagreed and found no one did. "So if it's just enough for you then so be it."

Please accept the compromise. I really don't want to fight you.

Gaul pondered this for a moment before nodding.

"Very well," he turned to his undead army and mentally ordered a small squad of skeletons into the Flail Snail cave. "I hope you all don't regret this."

"We won't," Neia confirmed. "Better to not have Spellguard armor than to fight among ourselves over something like this."

Gaul huffed in annoyance at being called out for almost splitting the party apart and looked away, ostensibly to supervise his Skeletons as they worked and to dismiss the rest of his minions back to Felmid. Though Drau was fairly certain there was an element of not wanting to look at the rest of the party after making such an embarrassing move involved in it too.

"Uh, since we'll have to wait for those Skeletons to get done collecting the shell pieces, why don't we set up camp here for the day?" Taana suggested.

"Good idea, Taana." Drau said, offering the Shadar-kai a grin. "Let's do that."


The next morning and three large sacks of Flail Snail pieces sent to Felmid to be worked into armor later, the party set off for the Gynosphinx's lair once more. The trip was proving pretty uneventful, so Neia decided to spend the time preaching about her god to a curious Taana. Falgrim was listening too but Neia sensed that unlike his apprentice who was genuinely open to their faith, his interest had more to do with learning about the kind of faith his comrades followed than anything else.

"And so Lord Ainz defeated Atropus and gained the Undead Promordial's power for his own." Neia said as she finished up the story of the Supreme One's battle against the World Born Dead.

"And that's where you'll have end it today, Neia." Drau said kindly from near the head of their little formation. "We've arrived."

Looking over to where their leader was pointing, Neia could see a pair of stone statues that looked like a pair of knights on the other side of an ornate edifice carved into the rock of the Underdark a short distance away.

"Those statues. Do you think they are what I think they are?"

"Only one way to find out Drau," Neia said as she raised Ultimate Shooting Star Super meaningfully.

"Agreed." The Dragon said as she readied her sniper rifle. "Everyone, get ready just in case we're right."

"On it." Falgrim said cheerfully as he jogged over to the front of the party to join Yorha, his Doomhammer ready. "Ready when you are."

"Gaul, Taana?"

"I'm ready." Gaul drawled and the Shadar-kai nodded, her hands raised and ready to sling her spells.

"Neia, together?" Drau asked.

"Sure. I'll take the one on the right."

"Then the left one is mine. Shoot!"

At Drau's prompting Neia let loose the arrow she'd already been pulling back and sent it flying with Explosive Arrow skill. If it was just a normal statue, it would blast the thing apart. If it was not… Then it should do a healthy amount of damage to whatever it was and serve as an effective opening move.

Drau's host chipped a chunk off the left statue's head off whilst Neia's skill enhanced arrow blew off the whole right shoulder of her target. More importantly, the attacks caused both statues to come to life and began charging towards them.

"Stone Golems." Drau said with a resigned sigh. "I was hoping I was wrong. Neia, your skills are best suited for this considering their magic resistance. Please do the honours."

"Gladly. Explosive Arrow!" Neia shouted as she sent another arrow at the more wounded of the two Golems, reducing it to rubble and hastily pulling another arrow from her quiver. She was still nocking it when the other Golem made it to their frontliners but she wasn't worried. Yorha and Falgrim could take care of themselves.

Case in point, Falgrim easily parried the much larger Golem's overhead cleave with a swing of Doomhammer. This left its guard open and Yorha blurred forward, her holofield leaving afterimages in her wake as she cut at its legs with her Stonecutter Blade skill and severing the limbs at the knees. This caused the Golem to topple forward but a quick shot to its torso from Drau's sniper rifle applied just enough force to have it fall on its back instead.

It was on its way down that Neia's third Explosive Arrow found its mark in its upper chest, hitting it with enough force to shatter its head and upper torso whilst slamming it into the ground with so much force that the impact alone caused the rest of the Golem's body to shatter into pieces.

"That was surprisingly easy." Yorha observed as she walked through the cloud of dust the Golem's demise had thrown up. "Surely, a pair of Golems weren't enough to stop Gorzoth's teams."

"Two Golems probably not, but a dozen?" Falgrim asked, pointing at what in what looked like unoccupied niches on either side of the entrance to the tomb. Including those which had contained the two Golems they'd just destroyed, there were indeed a dozen of them.

"If there were more of these things," Neia said gesturing to the nearest pile of Golem remains where Taana was searching it for some reason. "Then where is the remains of the others?"

"Someone cleaned the remains up." Gaul said eyeing their surroundings curiously. "The Gynosphinx? Or Gorzoth's men?"

"Probably both." Falgrim said with a shrug. "The Gynosphinx so as to not leave a telltale clue as to what the surviving Golems were and-"

"Gorzoth's men because they'd want samples from a Stone Golem." Drau finished for him. "The question is why he didn't tell us about them."

"He didn't see them as posing a threat to us." Yorha reasoned. "If we were unafraid of a Gynosphinx, why would we be worried about a few Stone Golems?"

"You're probably right." Drau acknowledged, before turning to Taana who was comparing two slivers of rock that she'd pried from the biggest remaining intact piece of the Stone Golem's remains. "Taana, do I want to know?"

"It's for a spell."

"Really?" Drau blinked, disbelievingly.

"I think I've heard of it." Neia chimed in supportively. "Stone Body, right?"

The Shadar-kai nodded enthusiastically

"Well, if you're done?" Tanna nodded. "Then let's get moving. The Gynopshinx probably already knows we're coming. We weren't subtle in taking out the golems. Let's not give it anymore time to prepare, shall we?"


Despite Drau's words after they defeated the golems, progress through the tomb itself was slow.

"Someone in the party should pick up some ranger skills," Gaul complained as he sent another of his disposable Skeletons ahead to prematurely trigger any traps in the passage they were walking down.

"We don't really need it." Drau reminded him. "Between my suit's sensors and Falgrim's Stonecutting racial ability, we can detect any traps simply enough."

"Detect yes, but what about disabling?" Gaul countered as the Skeleton he'd summoned from Felmid triggered the set of spikes built into the walls of the corridor ahead and was impaled.

"I'll take it under consideration." Drau allowed, even as she blasted away at the spikes before they could recede into the walls with her plasma carbine. "This is a very inefficient way of handling traps."

"Exactly." Gaul agreed.

"Save it Gaul," Neia said elbowing him lightly. "She already agreed to consider it. No need to push any harder."

The necromancer disagreed but relented, choosing to defer to the Paladin's advice. As such they walked through the cleared corridor in a tense silence, waiting to see if they were any traps that the skeleton hadn't triggered. Thankfully, there were none and they made it unmolested into a fairly large chamber with several paths radiating out from it. More pressingly though was the Iron Golem shaped like an Ogre that turned to face them the moment they stepped into the room and the cone of toxic looking gas it breathed towards the party.

"Shell Barrier!" Gaul cast quickly, raising a domed barrier that protected the party from the Golem's poison breath. "Neia finish this thing already!"

"On it! Explosive Ar-"

"No! Use something else! It heals from absorbing fire!" Taana shouted as she grabbed Neia's arm before she could loose her arrow.

"Gotcha! Thanks for the heads up, Taana." Neia said as she swapped skills, even as the Golem began battering away at Gaul's barrier with the giant maul it used as a weapon.

Hurry up already! The necromancer griped to himself. Do you think this barrier will hold forever.

Yorha, with her automaton immunity to poison, was about to rush out but Drau called to her. "Don't risk it. Leave it to Neia."

The others all looked like they itched to do something too but were holding themselves back due to the thick cloud of poisonous gas that still swirled around them from the Golem's opening attack. Only Drau was able to do anything and take potshots with her sniper rifle at the thing, blasting small but not crippling holes through its body.

"This is a little less damaging but Monster Slaying Arrow!"

The glowing arrow struck the Golem in the chest and while it did not explode in a fireball like one of her Explosive Arrows would have done, it did burst like a nova when it made contact and cut off the arm using to hold its weapon. Unbalanced, the Golem staggered back and was easy prey to the three more similar arrows that followed and took it down.

"And done! Now for the poison gas. Widen Magic: Purify."

At Neia's spell, the poison gas was transmuted into water and fell down onto the chamber floor in great sheets which pooled into a deep puddle.

Thank goodness we're still inside my barrier or we'd be soaked.

"Good job, Neia." Drau said giving the Paladin a thumbs up.

"Just playing my part, leader." The archer said bashfully as they advanced once more.

Taana was eyeing the fresh set of Golem remains contemplatively for a moment, before shaking her head. I wonder what she's thinking. No matter. I'll have plenty of time to dig it out of her later.


After a break for lunch and a few more minor monsters, mostly just the odd slime or giant insects or rat, and traps, the party finally made it to the central burial chamber where the Gynosphinx they'd been told guarded the place sat expectantly awaiting their arrival. It was a majestic creature with a leonine body, great feathery wings, the upper body of a female humanoid and the face with features that were an attractive mix of humanoid and feline that was accentuated by an elaborate, jeweled headdress. Most noticeable however were the pair of shapely humanoid breasts that the Sphinx just left exposed for all to see.

Don't they, umm, get in the way? Was the shocked thought that consumed Taana's mind at the sight.

"I dunno why you'll be distracted by a pair of breasts," Master Falgrim whispered as he nudged her, smothering a chuckle. "But snap out of it and get your head in the game."

"Eep!" Tanaa squeaked. "Right, um, sorry."

"Noble Sphinx," Drau was saying as she took a wary step towards the creature. "We have-"

"I know why you come." The Sphinx spat. "You have come to rob the treasures I guard. So save your breath, thief, and be gone. Banishment!"

"Spellbreaker!" Gaul shouted just in time, cancelling the Sphinx's spell. He wasn't done yet however and quickly followed up with another spell. "Spell Silence!"

A derivative spell from the typical Silence spell available to the YGGDRASIL system, the spell Gaul had chosen had temporarily stolen the Sphinx's ability to use magic.

"W-What manner of spell is this?" The Sphinx reeled back in shock as it suddenly found itself deprived of one of its greatest strengths.

It didn't have long to ponder the matter though as Yorha and Falgrim charged forward to engage. Deciding it didn't want to risk a fight with the frontliners, the creature used its feline grace to leap directly over them and towards Neia in their mid row, its claws extended to swipe at her. Fortunately, Drau quickly interposed herself between them and fired off a burst from her carbine. Hissing in pain, the Sphinx beat her wings hard and properly took flight and changing targets.

"Taana, watch out!" Master Falgrim warned even as the Shadar-kai unleashed a Lightning Bolt directly into the face of the Gynopshinx, that it ignored with a wince of pain, as it practically landed on her. It would have likely crashed her from its weight alone, not to mention tearing her apart as it tried to maul her with its vicious claws. Not even her Mage Armor or the Minor Rune of Defense worked into her clothes and armor were proving much use as seen by how the monster's claws easily cut through them all. Thankfully, though she'd taken their lunch break to prepare the spell she'd finally gotten to try out now that she'd had a shard of a Stone Golem to use as a catalyst. Stone Body had transmuted her body into living stone and was probably the only thing keeping him alive.

"Get off her!" Master Falgrim roared as he slammed Doomhammer so hard into the Sphinx's side that the large monster was knocked off Taana completely. "Taana, you alright?"

"Yeah." The Shadar-kai said as she accepted her Master's hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet even as she let her body return to normal. "Thanks for the save."

"Not a problem, lass."

"Taana, let me look at you." Neia said, as she ran over. "Are you injured?"

"No, my spell kept me safe." Taana reassured the healer. "How's the fight?"

"See for yourself." Master said, gesturing to the Sphinx with Doomhammer.

It had been cornered against a far wall. With Kuro in his full size looming over her and advancing menacingly. Judging by the smoking stumps of where her front claws had been, the Sphinx had already learned the futility of attempting to fight the Blacklight Slime in melee. Sadly for it, Gaul was determined to deprive it of its magic as evidenced by how he renewed his Spell Silence curse on the creature. Escape was impossible too, as Drau and Yorha stood waiting to cut off any attempt it might make to get past Kuro. It might have flown but the Slime's current form was so massive that it could just extend a tentacle or two and pluck the Sphinx from the sky if it tried.

"Isn't that, um, a little overkill?"

"Not at all," Neia said throwing a blanket over the Shadar-kai's shoulders. "They though she hurt you badly and are angry. This is just them venting that anger. It's totally understandable."

"Right. Um, what's with the blanket?"

"To cover yourself, lass." Master Falgrim said, not once taking his eyes off the one sided fight which now saw Kuro grabbing the Sphinx by a set of long tentacles and slamming it repeatedly against the walls, floor and ceiling of the chamber even as his naturally corrosive body ate through its flesh. The creature's screams were terrible to hear, but Taana had plenty of experience with the agonized cries of their enemies by now and ignored it easily enough. Instead, she looked down and realized just what a mess the Sphinx's mauling had done to her clothes. She wasn't exactly flashing anyone, but with her pants all but falling off, her blouse reduced to tatters, and her undergarments in only slightly better shape, she looked a mess.

"Eep. Thanks Neia." Taana said as she hurriedly pulled the blanket tightly closed. "Uh, should we help?"

"Nah, I don't think so. Like I said, let them vent. Besides Kuro was almost done."

As is to prove the point, the Slime smashed the screaming Sphinx into the ground one last time. This time with such force that it visibly broke the abused creature's spine. Apparently deciding that the poor thing had been tormented enough, Kuro pulled the battered remains of the once proud monster into its body to be digested. That it was still alive and screaming as he did so was neither here nor there.

The moment the deed was done, the rest of the party rushed over to check on Taana. Even Kuro carefully extended a pseudopod to have a look.

"I'm fine. I promise." Taana reassured their anxious inquiries. "Just go get the Gem alright. And loot the place. I need to get changed. The damned bird woman tore up my clothes."

"If you're sure-"

"I'm sure, Drau. So get going already."

The Dragon looked hesitant but nodded and herded the others away to get started looting the tomb. Heaving a sigh of relief, Taana sneaked off to behind a pillar for some privacy and quickly pulled out a fresh set of clothes from her pack before hastily changing into it. She wanted to miss as little of the looting as possible! Who knew what goodies she'd find in there!


"Here you go, Gorzoth." Drau said as she represented the prize to the Devil in his Menagerie a couple days later. "The Gem of Dreams as you requested."

The Devil took the unassuming rainbow colored opal and examined it closely for a moment and used an Item appraisal skill that Yorha had seen some of Felmid's denizens used in the past on it before nodding in satisfaction.

"Well done, Chosen of the Supreme One. I expected nothing less, but well done nonetheless."

"You honor us." Drau said with a grin. "After all, you're not contesting the other loot we took from the tomb."

Why mention that? Yorha thought to herself, as she tilted her head in confusion.

"They are being handed over to Nazarick in exchange for credits for your supplies are they not? Or you have taken to use for yourselves." Gorzoth said looking at the new Dragon leather armor that Taana was wearing to replace the set of gear the Sphinx had wrecked. After the Gem itself, it was the most useful find they'd made in the tomb though almost everyone had gotten a nice upgrade to their equipment here or there. Sadly Yorha was the exception though that had more to do with being satisfied with what she had than anything else.

Drau nodded in agreement with the Devil and he continued.

"Then why would I quibble over it? Anything useful to our research from that hoard will reach Nazarick anyways. Am I not a Lord of Greed or Pride. I do not feel the need to be the one to discover their secrets, if any, first. So long as Nazarick learns of them as soon as possible I am satisfied."

"You are truly a loyal servant of the Supreme One."

Did Drau set that up just to butter him up? Surely not. Then again I wouldn't put it past her.

"I try." Gorzoth said with a proud grin. "But enough formalities. I'm sure you're all tired after your adventure. Please follow my servants. They'll show you to your rooms."

Yorha joined the rest of the party in turning to leave, following after a pair of feminine looking Twisted Warforged in maid outfits but were stopped when Gorzoth called after her,

"Lady Yorha, please stay a moment."

The others stopped too and turned to Yorha. She waved them along. She had a fair idea what the Devil wanted and she was confident she could handle it come what may.

"Tell me, Lady Yorha, have you noticed anything strange lately about your pet?"

Yorha rankled a little that the Devil refused to call Kuro by his name, even if the Slime did not and continued happily pretending to be an inanimate scarf around her neck without the slightest hint of being aware of the conversation. Which was strange in itself. Usually, he was attentive to everything spoken around him.

Maybe he's still digesting that Sphinx. Yorha reasoned and dismissed the previous thought.

"Besides its ability to consume almost anything other than myself?"

"I meant in its behavior."

"Then no." Yorha said with a frown. "Why are you asking?"

"Just curious." Gorzoth replied with an enigmatic smile. "He simply radiates a presence that doesn't suit a simple Slime."

"What does that mean?" Yorha asked, eyeing Kuro worriedly.

"I honestly do not know. All I have are suspicions." Gorzoth shrugged. "Suspicions that I'll keep to myself for now. Only time will tell if I'm right, I suppose. Till then, carry on as per usual."

With that rather cryptic statement, the Devil walked away leaving Yorha to her own devices.


Done!

So this is my attempt at having the party do a conventional dungeon dive. As might be expected, they didn't find it all that interesting. Considering what they do normally is that really a surprise? I do hope it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.

Till next time, senebty!