"You all are taking off already?" Jax asked.
They all stood together to see the rabbit siblings off before they left.
"Ywes," Toby said, putting his adorable little hands on his hips. "We were cwalled by our fwader to twake pwart in a submawiwn ecwerswion."
Selene focused very hard on restraining herself before she tried to squeeze him like Liora had yesterday.
Not for Liora's reason of having a bunch of plushies just like him at home.
No.
For Selene, it was more like the instinct that made guys smack the side of a trailer they had just strapped down before saying something along the lines of, That's going nowhere.
The pair left, beginning down the path in the opposite direction.
They waved them off before everyone hopped into the A.T.V.
Aiden and Selene were in the front, while Beatris, Jax, Thalia, and Liora sat in the back, probably continuing the long debate they had been stuck on while comparing how much fur was required to be a furry.
Even as they drove along in mostly silence, there was tension between Aiden and Selene.
The reason was not unknown.
It was not even vague for either of them.
During the Plate Games, Aiden had been affected by the Seed of Betrayal, a poison designed to cause even the closest of friends to fight to the death.
Even now, they did not know exactly how much it was still affecting him.
He had even stated as much before they left Bear Reach.
Would it kill him to at least say something to break this quiet?
Selene grumbled silently as she leaned on her arm and looked out the window.
They drove through rolling hills, patches of fences and homes scattered here and there, marking out farmland and more.
As they continued on, Selene tried to think about anything she could use to distract herself from just riding along.
The book she had been reading was finished, and they had not found a place to stop and switch it out.
Aiden and Selene had not been talking much because of the Seed of Betrayal thing.
And even in the trailer, everyone else was on day three of the argument about what qualified as a furry and what did not.
"I'm just saying," Liora shouted, "if the face isn't a snout, it's totally not furry!"
"Oh yeah?" Jax shot back. "What about hairless cat halfbloods? They don't have pronounced snouts or hair."
Liora and Jax continued shouting counterpoints at each other.
Even in the mirror, Selene could see the trailer shaking slightly from what might have been the two of them devolving into wrestling in order to make a point.
Selene turned back to the window and stared out.
Then she thought silently.
Hey, gods.
Whichever one of you is currently listening.
Can one of you let something come into our path to make this ride not nearly as awkward?
She heard the brakes slowly being applied.
Selene turned to Aiden.
Aiden turned toward the trailer.
Then Selene looked out the front window to see what had caught his eye.
Dungeon emerged.
Adventurers wanted.
"Hey, guys," Aiden called. "We have an emergency dungeon request. What do you all think?"
There was a moment of muffled speaking from the trailer.
Then Jax yelled back, "I don't see why not."
Aiden turned them down a simple packed dirt road, driving toward a large mushroom-cap-shaped home with several fields around it. Some held simple vegetables, while others grew strange monolithic stones with small green runes carved into their sides, slightly pulsing.
As they pulled in, Aiden went around to open the trailer fully for the others, since they would probably be here for a good minute.
Selene headed for the door.
The small but silent communication between her and Aiden was one of the first they had shared in the past few days.
It was slightly refreshing in a way.
Whatever god answered my prayer, thanks.
I need to start praying to you more often.
Even as Selene approached the door, it opened.
A burly dwarven man stood there.
He had hairy arms, a trimmed beard, and a stout build.
What was not normal, however, was both the amount of leather he was wearing and how little it covered.
"Ah," the man said, gesturing for all of them to enter. "You must be here to answer the emergency dungeon request we posted at the gate. Come in."
Selene turned back to the others.
Their expressions of apprehension were probably the same as hers.
Jax shrugged and went in first.
The rest followed.
Selene was on high alert for potential weirdness.
"So," the dwarf said, "my wife is a romance novel writer. It's why I'm wearing what I am."
Welp.
First sentence, and already strike one.
"Well, we were down in the basement in the roleplay dungeon so she could get a grasp for how a certain scene would be."
Hold on.
We just got here.
How are we on strike two?
"And she wanted to be locked in the cell and have me use my werewolf class to add to the scene when the dungeon opened."
Selene did not even have to turn.
She could feel the strange blank expression on all of their faces as they silently listened.
She took a mental note that they had reached strike three within thirty seconds.
She also planned to press Jax into asking for extra payment due to mental duress.
From his expression, he was already planning to do so as soon as they were done.
The dwarf led them down a flight of stairs.
They entered a surprisingly detailed castle-like dungeon area, with stone walls and cells that made it look like they had stepped into the gallows holding cells back home.
The biggest difference, however, was the bits of pink fuzz coming from some of the cuffs.
And the walls lined with all manner of shaped objects Selene dared not think too hard about.
They were led toward a cell door filled with hazy inkiness where the actual interior should have been.
When Selene reached toward it, a notification told her this was the entrance to the dungeon.
You have arrived at the entrance of the dungeon.
Gamehall of the Hellish Seductress.
Dungeon Stats:
Item Rank: D
Item Quantity: 4
Dungeon Danger: Medium
Total Previous Attempts: 0
Attempt Log:
Would you like to enter?
YES / NO
As they stared toward the door, Selene took a moment to gaze upward.
Not really at the ceiling.
More toward the sky itself.
A single thought filled her mind.
Hey, god.
What the fuck is this?