"If you're a ghost, please don't tell me" The pagnos whispered into the darkness.

Gina had no idea why the uninvited guests had been able to hear her inner monologue. She withdrew to her lantern and tried her hardest to not think a sound.

Neither of them got much rest that night.

It was late morning by the time the uninvited guest woke. She slowly got up and carefully investigated the living area. When she got to the bookcase she puzzled at the blank books, and flipped through Status, Creature Summons and Master Catalogue. When she got to History of Dungeons, she laid it out on the table, and ran her finger along the words, sounding out each letter.

"G-i-n-a i-s a d-u-n-g-e-o-n" she stopped. Read it again a little faster and then stopped again.

The guest suddenly grabbed her axe and backed into a corner. She had finally pieced it all together. The fire that never went out, he unattended ale that just screamed "I am a trap!", the complete lack of dust or dirt, the potted plant growing far from sunshine. She stood on her guard, waiting for a wall to roll back to reveal hordes of monsters that would stream out and pick her bones clean.

The hoards never came, and her bones stayed filthy. She walked slowly back into the work room and looked up at the lamp.

Gina tried to communicate with her before something unfortunate happened "I can explain! I am new at this and I had no real intention of killing you! Unless of course you tried to hurt me, but you were the perfect guest and..." She trailed off as it was apparent that the pagnos couldn't hear her.

The pagnos continued to stare for a minute, then went back down and sat on the bed. Looking at her hooves she began talking.

"My name is Youdenoth, most people just call me Uden. I don't know why you haven't killed me yet, that's what dungeons do after all. I just want to let you know that these past few days have been the best in my life. I have never had a safe place to sleep, a bed, food, and that ale! that was the best thing I have ever had."

Uden stopped talking for a minute, a tear fell and splashed on the floor. It instantly dissolved and she gave a short snorting laugh. "I guess it really is true. I was trying to tell myself this was someone's home and they just died out in the forest. I really do wish I could stay here forever."

Gina was touched. "You can stay here forever! This is the most fun I have had too!"

Uden was suddenly surrounded in the concentrated glow of Gina's light, both seem startled at the phenomena. She raised her hands to her eyes to look in wonder at the swirling pattern of energy. "What kind of magic is this!?"

Gina was just as confused " I don't know! This has never happened to anything else that entered my dungeon!"

Uden suddenly looked up towards Gina's dungeon crystal, hanging inside the lamp in the next room. "Gina? Is that you?"

Whatever had happened was somehow letting Uden hear Gina's inner voice. Relieved that one was not a ghost, and the other was not a crystal smashing maniac, the two began chatting like old friends.

Uden used to be a slave but had been set free when her old master died, negating the contract. Free, but without anywhere to go she continued to work in the area. Unfortunately; the Langdens looked down at all other races, something to do with their God being the one true creator who had commanded all Langdens to mentor the younger races. Uden's dungeon experience was limited to pack beast and rear guard during her masters late-life crisis.

She had struggled to find work, usually being hired for the day as a field laborer, sleeping in alleys or in the forest. Food was hard to come by, there were times she stole from farmers’ fields. She picked up reading here and there, but usually relied on her axe for tough negotiations. Being on the bottom of society, her axe had had to make her point more times than she wanted to admit.

Gina then shared her life as a dungeon, leaving her past life out of the discussion. Though her social skills were pathetic, she had enough wisdom to know that starting a relationship by discussing you past lives, guaranteed those relationships were short lived.

After introductions were over Gina noticed she could see Uden's information. Her Physical stats were impressive averaging at 18, Mental stats were closer to 13, Social split the middle at 16. She had high Athletic skills, cooking, fishing, foraging was high as well. Nothing in Science except botany (probably from farming), minimal in hunting, clothwork and woodwork. Fortitude and instinct were average, so was savvy, intimidate and a two in steal. She had a high Axe skill and some points in Light Armor.

Even though Uden said she didn't know magic, Gina noticed 2 points in each Atheist category, destruction, protection, dispel and resist. But what surprised her the most was the title next to her name. Youdenoth - Floor 1 Dungeon Boss.

"Eep!' Squeaked Gina, once again her social inexperience fighting back the words. The squeak cut off Uden as she was explaining why the farmer she had been working for had fired her and kicked her out of his woodshed.

"Is something wrong?" Uden inquired. She could now see the brighter swirl of light where Gina's focus was and looked right at her.

"Umm..." Gin started, unsure how to explain to an ex-slave that she may have inadvertently been tricked into a new contract. "Remember when you said you wanted to stay here, and I accepted... it looks like you may have just become one of my minions... If it helps you are listed as my first-floor boss!" She tried to sound excited but failed.

"What does that mean? Does that mean I can't leave?"

"I am not sure of the rules. I think most dungeons are born with that knowledge, like Shale and Pappi knew their roles, but I am a little different. I can build breweries, weapons and machines, but the whole dungeon thing is brand new to me. If you want, we can try to cancel it." No one listening was confident she knew how to cancel anything at this point.

Uden stood up, and walked out of the room, down the hall and out of the cavern. Gina felt a sense of loss and insecurity as she left, then a sense of relief and reassurance as she walked back in.

"It felt like I was being pulled back, like I had forgotten to collect my pay for a week’s work. I am not a prisoner to you, and I would like to help you if I can." The emotion left her voice as she continued softly "I had a sister once; you remind me of her in some ways." Sunshine returned to her expression, determination taking over "I'll stay, I have nowhere else to go, and it means I would be part of the family! Shale and Pappi sound like great siblings to have."

Gina was excited and relieved, worst case scenario Uden could have smashed her core to be free. That seemed like something better left unsaid, but the whole series of events still nagged at her. "I still feel like I tricked you. Can we do this again, just officially this time? It would just make me feel better if I could hear you accept the job when you knew what you were getting in to."

Uden smiled "Of course" She got on one knee, gripping her axe tightly. She didn't know why she was feeling so nervous. "I would be happy to promise my axe to defend this home, if you want me to" She didn't know how to formally pledge her loyalty, but it was something.

"And I would be happy to accept you in this family!" Gina said with more formality than her words deserved.

As the tension left, they laughed until Uden's sides hurt. She was about to get up when four figures burst through the door. They seemed surprised at seeing an intruder, they hadn't sensed anything when they had entered the cave.

Gina intervened before things got tense again. "Family, welcome your new sibling Uden. Uden, Shale and Pappi."

Shale waved happily and came in for a group hug. Pappi gave a slight head nod before heading to the shelves in the workroom, grabbed a large piece of quartz, then left the bedroom back the way they came in. Shale didn't want to interrupt mum training in the new minion and quickly followed.

Uden placed her axe back into her belt and stood. "One more thing. Don't look at my info again, it makes me feel naked."

"I'm sorry... I won't. I didn't really think about it"

"No harm done. Well, now that I am officially part of the family, what do we need to get this brewery running? I have always wanted to own a bar, now I am a part owner we can do this right!"

"A bar? We don't own a bar. Well I guess we do have a brewery, but I built that just so I could have an ale"

Uden laughed. "That's quite a lot of work for just a glass of Ale. But I don't blame you, the fact is there is nowhere to get a drink anywhere nearby. That's what makes this such a good idea, you give this place a purpose and people won't think twice about how it came to be here."

Gina hadn't thought of that. "Having people here would give me a boost to my energy until I am ready to defend myself... We could also earn gold to buy what we don't have! "

"That too" Uden added "You also need to be more careful about what information you give out. You got lucky with me, I want a simple life, but if I wanted the headache of owning a dungeon there are plenty of ways I could force you to do what I want."

Gina realized she had been too trusting, there was so much about the world she needed to learn.

"Since we are talking about it" Uden continued. "Why can't you just magic in some gold?"

"I can, it just takes a large amount of energy." Gina replied regretfully. "Gold never rusts, never dulls, never loses its shine; it's heavy and compact. Trying to summon gold would be like trying to bend an iron rod with your bare hands, it is much easier to use other tools to get the job done. With the same energy it takes to make a gram of gold I could make enough ale to earn ten grams."

"Well then, looks like we have a plan!" Uden was ready to get started "We need to make a proper hall, get some barrels, casks and mugs. Then we need lights tables and chairs, restrooms will be a must have too. I will get as much wood and iron as I can find to help with building, while I am doing that you should keep yourself safe. I promised to protect you but killing nosey drunks will give our bar a bad reputation. Best to just lock things up and hide them."

Gina knew she had made the right choice by not digging spike pits and filling them with snakes for the intruder to fall into. She still might do that later for fun, but right now everything was going better than expected. She had an intimidating Floor Boss, who had more savvy than she ever had. They had a plan to bring in gold so she could have the security to build to her hearts content. Her little minions seemed to be flourishing.

Friends and family that cared. It was never meant to be for Goburi, but Gina had it all. "I am on it! I will find a better way to secure the crystal, we can do this!" Before she rushed off, the images of ale in her head, another image came unwelcomed into the picture. A plate with some eyeless horror surrounded by a bed of spongy overcooked plants sat in her imagination next to the mug.

"We also need to plan a proper kitchen and find a real cook. I am done eating tentacles" she said, as she hurried off. Uden had no words to follow that haunting statement.

As the glow that was Gina got to work, Uden smiled. It was an awkward smile, like she had read about how to smile in a book somewhere but never seen it done. "Youdenoth the Barkeeper - Dungeon boss. I could sell that" She said more to herself than anyone around her."

She walked boldly down the hallway and into the morning sunshine. She immediately stuck her head back into the cavern. "Gina? Can you magic up a wagon?"