Rhen’s head finally flopped free from the gap and into the rainforest chamber after three, terrifying minutes of struggling. If he’d transformed back mid-squeeze, it would have been an extremely painful death, and stupid to boot. He didn’t die, but he was scrapped all to hell.

He pulled all his limbs free a little more violently than he should and deactivated Cephaloshifter. Aki gave him a quick healing aurora to mend the scrapes on his skin and Rhen brushed himself off.

“See, not so bad?”

“Sure, but we’ll have to figure out something better long term.”

They made their way back to the inn, only getting intercepted by one lone terrocken that decided it was a bad idea to engage after all and fled seconds into the battle.

“Here you are!” Arannet exclaimed, a clipboard in her hand.

“Was I missing?” Rhen asked.

“Yes! We were going to review the candidates credentials in detail, remember?”

Rhen shrugged sheepishly. “No.”

Arannet sighed. “It’s fine. Not like they’ll be here anytime soon if they accept, but why wouldn’t they accept, this is a chance of a lifetime?” she was talking more to herself now than to Rhen. “Anyway, I have serious concerns about one of them because I reviewed the credentials by myself. Why would Tansi recommend someone who has never run a successful operation?”

“Well, what’s your definition of success? Maybe the manager was aiming for a specific goal?”

“Well, if that goal was eco-collapse and shutting down the dungeon then yes, I suppose they succeeded,” she said with a sarcastic grin.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to review with you. After the orbeye meeting?”

“We have topside inn review after that.”

Rhen sighed.

“Well, if you’d get a dungeon manager or two,” Arannet ground out, knowing exactly what Rhen’s sigh meant. “I’ve left the resumes on our table. I’ll see you later. I have other matters to attend to right now,” she said, flourishing a stack of papers in her hand.

Rhen plopped down at the secluded table in the corner, farthest from the hearth, and pulled the credentials paperwork closer to him.

“Want to help?” he asked, looking at Aki.

“I have dish duty.”

Rhen grunted. “Yeah, okay. Enjoy your dirty dishes.”

“Enjoy your paperwork,” Aki taunted back.

That little fluffer was so snarky sometimes.

Rhen poured over the pages of data provided on the three candidates; Ingrid Hamal, Cedric Lengo, and Vashnu Er’Mali. Arannet was right about Vashnu, his record was pretty sketchy. It seemed he’d gotten very good at putting dungeons out of business. There had to have been a purpose for that… How could he keep getting jobs if he was causing this much havoc? Maybe Rhen was being too hasty. Was it possible that he was always hired onto dungeons that were beyond help?

The clock above the entrance to the kitchen chimed and Rhen sighed. He’d spend an hour looking over just Vashnu’s information. He quickly scanned over Ingrid and Cedric, who both had decent records. Rhen was wishing he could rescind the invite to Vashnu, but it was too late at this point. He could however ask about the string of catastrophes he’d been party to with the other dungeons.

When it was five ‘til, Jakira and the scouting team tromped back into the inn, covered in blue gore. It smelled like a sweet, acidic fruit rather than guts, so Rhen hoped for the best. She looked exhausted, but they were all in one piece.

“What happened?” Rhen jumped to his feet and helped Jakira down onto a tavern bench.

“Dungeon was full of these huge trees that threw fruit at us,” she said, gesturing to the blue gunk in her hair.

The others gave Rhen tired nods or waves of acknowledgement as they headed off for the baths.

“Anything else in there?” Rhen asked, sitting beside her. He pulled on some plant husks stuck in her braid and tossed them into the fireplace.

She chuckled. “Fruit throwing trees aren’t enough?”

“It’s certainly something, but I’d like to know more about the layout, and other monsters. We need to bring this information to the meeting in a few minutes so we can plan daily raids.”

“Well, it was a long swim under the waterfalls—yes, just like you had predicted—and the tunnels were pretty empty save for a few fish that had wandered in from the lake. We surfaced a good five hundred feet in and there was breathable air in the dungeon, so there must be an air vent elsewhere. We didn’t get too far in before we were barraged by fruit. Killed a few trees.”

She paused and pulled a silvery anima core out of her side satchel. “Seems they’re the primary monster, but given their fruit-throwing reflex, they must have a predator. Maybe those big birds with the long beaks, they seem fond of fruit.”

Rhen hummed. “But they live outside the dungeon. There has to be something deeper in.”

“I’m tired.” Jakira leaned over and laid her gooey head against his shoulder.

He wrapped his arm around her and kissed the only clean spot on her forehead. “You should sit this one out. Go have a bath and get to bed early.”

She looked up at him with huge eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’ve got it.”

“You’re the best.” She stretched and planted a sticky kiss on his lips that tasted something like raspberry.

Rhen didn’t let her pull away, kissing her deeper. Her slimy hand smeared across his face and grabbed behind his neck. He’d gotten accustomed to her armor and knew just where he could slip his hands between the layers at her back. He pressed his palm against her hot skin and pulled her even closer.

Wyland cleared his throat and Jakira jumped.

They separated awkwardly, Rhen’s slimy cheek warm with embarrassment.

“Hey, Wyland,” Rhen mumbled, rubbing the goo at the back of his neck.

“Sorry to interrupt, but it’s ten past. We’re gathered up in the control room.”

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll be right there.”

Wyland waved and disappeared back up the dungeon tunnel to the control room. Rhen stood and pulled Jakira to her feet with a sad smile.

“I’ll wait up for you,” she said, thumbing his cheek before turning toward the baths.

“You better,” he called after her, his heart still thundering from her touch. Rhen chewed his lower lip, tasting the sweet fruit she’d left behind. Damn that woman. How was he going to concentrate in a meeting now?

Rhen went to the kitchen where Aki cleaned the dishes with swift efficiency. Rhen washed his face and the back of his neck, then ran up to the control room. Beside the large arena and exercise grounds, nestled in an alcove with a wooden door, was the control node at the center of a round table. Every seat was taken save for two, his and Jakira’s. Wyland and Lowt were situated at the back, schematics laid out on the table. Arannet had the seat directly to the left of Rhen’s chair, with Leslie to her left, and Tsu’me was situated between Leslie and Wyland. To the right of Jakira’s empty chair was Joseph, Valine, and Xander.

“Sorry everyone, Jakira was giving me a report of the first dungeon in the new realm.” Rhen closed the door and took his seat.

The glow of the Control node provided a soft ambiance in the room, but lightbulbs connected to the Control node had been installed at every corner to provide enough to review paperwork by.

Rhen pulled his agenda closer and reviewed the first item. “Right, delver rotations. Let’s talk schedules.”

Arannet walked to the chalkboard at the back, ready to start annotating the meeting. Joseph gave his report on how the delvers were working together, and everyone’s strengths in brief. They made a list, and with a few different colors of chalk marked off everyone’s general class; bruiser, fighter, mage, or mule. Then they started grouping them into teams, and setting schedules.

They ran into a few issues with couples, not wanting to have them on opposing rotations and have zero overlap in downtime, but after an hour, they’d worked it all out. Arannet solidified the plan on her clipboard and then erased the chalkboard for the next item.

“Chores.”

Again, they made teams of two or three for each chore and set the days or times per day that they needed to be executed. Valine was a big help here since she was running the farm in the rainforest chamber and knew the terrocken’s schedules well. Another thirty minutes down and they’d cleared up all that.

Rhen sighed and took a drink of water. “What’s next… Orbeye broadcasts.”

Xander gave an update on the numbers, still growing steadily though slower than the initial burst. He shared insights on content and how people received the non-live content they spliced in from the new realm.

Since the orbeye lost connection to the broadcast station when they left Resplendare, the information had to be fed in retrospect. It was their highest performing broadcasts so far, and so Rhen made a note that any team delving that dungeon needed to take the porto-orbeye with them. Then Rhen gave an update on the dungeon Alpha team had delved and showed off the shiny new core.

Wyland was quick to pluck it up. “I’ll have an assessment for it by tomorrow.”

Rhen traced his finger down the list and found the next item. Meals. It was becoming too much for Jakira to cook three times a day, though she did enjoy it. Patti was getting good, and Derk had taken an interest in trying his hand at cooking—though with his proclivity for raw meat, Rhen was a little hesitant to give the go-ahead.

They agreed that they’d have to store more “grab and go” type food somewhere between the tavern and the kitchen so people could serve themselves when they were hungry. Breads, fruits, cured meats, and other room-temperature stable foods would be left out and a new chore of filling those stations was added to the list.

Rhen leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. “We still need to review the topside inn, and I think the rest of the items are low enough priority that they can wait. Is there anything else pressing?”

Leslie raised her hand. “I’m running low on crafting supplies, Deo. And we’re behind on bedding, several people are still sleeping on their backpacks and extra clothes.”

“Take what you need from the coffers and head into Desedra for supplies. Ask if Gwhan has any tailor friends that can help you and see if you can recruit anyone else that recently joined.”

Tsu’me raised her hand next. Rhen nodded to her. “I haven’t had much opportunity to delve with the intensity of the performance schedule. Morale remains high among everyone else, no thanks to me, but I’m getting worn down. Could we recruit more bards?” Her voice was hoarse.

Rhen thought for a moment. “I want to train internally first. I’m sure there are delvers here with talents and passions that they haven’t been able to explore—

“I’m supposed to become an instructor now, too?” Tsu’me said with a scowl.

“That’s not what I said, though if you want to provide lessons, I’m sure those interested would be grateful. I think we put up a work-order board in the tavern that we can post job requests to. Anyone can apply to do the job or seek out training to meet the requirements. We can set aside a decent fund to allow delvers who are truly passionate to go into Desedra for training.”

“That’s a great idea, but it doesn’t solve my immediate problem.” Tsu’me held up her hands to reveal peeling callouses.

“Aki is a decent performer, I’ll ask if he can take over a few shifts, and if you still need more time, we’ll just remove some of your scheduled performances.” Rhen said matter-of-factly.

Xander inhaled sharply. “Her performances are a highlight on the Tavern-eye broadcast.”

Rhen was getting frustrated. “Then we’ll send it out to do something else when nothing is happening there until we can get more bards.”

“The income loss…” Xander started and trailed off.

Rhen could feel he was scowling deeply, and so he took a breath and made his face neutral. “Look, maybe we’ll take a temporary hit to numbers, but to be honest, we don’t need that income anymore. Our health and happiness is more important. All of us.”

Leslie smiled, nodding with approval. The rest of the group followed and Arannet made some notes.

“Okay, is there anything else pressing?”

In the silence of the closed off room, Rhen’s stomach rumble was a war cry of anguish, and anger.

Barrek smirked. “Seems you’ve got the most pressin’ need now, Deo.”

The group chuckled.

Arannet turned one of her many rings and produced a square brick that fit in the palm of her hand. She held it out to him. “Rolled oats, honey, and dried fruit. Pretty good in a pinch.”

Rhen accepted it. “Thanks. Alright everyone, let’s get to it.”

Chatter picked up as everyone around the table broke into their own discussions. Arannet, Rhen, Lowt, and Wyland headed for the door. Rhen bit into the little brick and crunched a few times.

“Um, how long has that been in there?” he asked, pointing to her ring.

She blushed, then cringed. “Since I worked in Desedra. Sorry.”

“S’fine, it’s good, just a bit… hard.” He swallowed the dried chunks, and they scraped all the way down his esophagus. At least it would keep his stomach busy for the next however long the inspection took.

Arannet pulled the sheet off her clipboard and handed it to him next. “These are your action items. I tried to prioritize “now” versus “tomorrow,” or “this week.” Hopefully it’s not too much.”

Rhen accepted the page but glanced back down the hall to the inn with yearning. Jakira was in there waiting for him. He looked down at the sheet and saw that four items were marked as “now.” He withheld his sigh like a good dungeon owner should and headed topside to fulfill the rest of his duties.