“Alright, start talking old man,” Sidney says as the group continues on. “What’s the deal with all of that going on back there? The monsters were weird. The people were weird. The eight of them left weren’t concerned at all about the two people that died. That thing had way too many limbs too!”

“Sounds like you are a bit stressed out about it,” Ted begins. “How are you doing Madilyn?”

“I am, very confused yes. They seemed somewhat, insane?”

Sia nods in understanding, and continues to mosey along the path.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pixie dragons, which are a convergent evolution, have magic power fitting for their size and name, and can rarely be seen as combat pets. Treat like ferrets with wings in size and personality.

“Let’s start here,” Ted begins. “The ‘retired adventurers’ in the village, like Orwen, found great success in life and either someone to love or a great desire to do less fighting. It’s part of the reason they focused on ‘big ideas’ and less on specific details, they have left that life behind. Adventurers in the world at large have long been known to be those that find excitement in exploration with a hint of life endangering actions. The longer one remains in the career, the more experience they accumulate and less concerned they become about certain things, typically one or several of saving money, manners, bathing, education, or whatever.

“As you can see with that group, Luca was the oldest by a few years, and seemed to be acting mostly on ‘instinct, piss and vinegar’ as it were. Blunt, very much rude to those that are looking for offense, but fairly genuine in his actions. Some of their insanity can surface when adrenaline is high and an outstanding success can be had.”

“How was that a success?” Sidney interrupts, still in disbelief at the display behind them.

“I shall enlighten you my plebeian friend, with a story in two parts!” Ted proclaims. “The golden egg is a mythical object that, when broken open using magic gives an Elixer, the equally mythical healing potion. The egg has been used as a status symbol for years among the rich and powerful, so they can often be sold for immense amounts of money as they are only found in this dungeon. If they are broken open using physical force, they can be used for various other potions, or, as much as an apparent travesty as it would be, food.

“For the second part, there is an ‘ancient temple’ on the 80th floor that allows someone to receive a ‘blessing,’ for a price, that will allow them to escape once from death while in the Great Dungeon. Why only once you may be asking yourself. Good question my plebeian friend! They say the blessing itself is both a gift and a curse from the gods, as the blessing is one’s life being saved, and the curse being that the Great Dungeon will never allow them back inside.”

“So how much or what do they have to sacrifice for this ‘price,’” Madilyn asks. “Years of their life, firstborn child, large amounts of money?”

“Physical, non-living items only, but this is where things become interesting. It can be literally anything, but should the blessing activate, the price you paid for your life is engraved on your soul, and should a priest or someone with a good enough Identify request that information from the Akasha, they would see it. There are also certain blessings from various reputable or disreputable gods and temples that engrave or tattoo one’s titles on the body, and it shows up there as well.”

“Ah, I didn’t know that!” proclaims Sia. “What is the title?”

“‘The Value of Life’ followed by whatever they gave up, as they tell it to the temple. ‘X amount of gold’ or ‘The spoils of the dungeon’ or ‘A loaf of hard moldy bread’ have all been recorded. There can be a bit of prestige on the line for the more well off patrons of the temple, for if they die and all they have to show for their lifetime ban is being branded with ‘My life is worth food I wouldn’t even serve animals,’ ridicule is not uncommon. Some of those people even make a point to travel here as a tourist with a group of guards, make a donation they believe is impressive, then off themselves somehow, just to have the title. The main trouble is, as found out by some individuals the hard way, the bit where they speak into the ether what they are given up seems to work on intent, so ‘The deed to my barony’ may well turn into ‘A copy of the deed to my barony.’

“In any case, should someone, for all intents and purposes, die, the Dungeon teleports them to the very entrance, fully healed, with the ‘curse’ active. The first attempt to re-enter the dungeon is physically blocking them with a magic barrier. The second and subsequent attempts are variations on an ‘inch-from-death’ attack by lightning or what have you, then teleportation back to the entrance, an inch from death.”

“So what was that thing you said about the monsters?” Sidney asks, apparently satisfied with the answer.

“About how they were spawned by the dungeon? Apparently pseudo-physical magic constructs resembling puppets or golems, but act in a fairly predictable manner and are always aggressive. Not everything here is spawned by the dungeon apparently. Do you remember those Lightning Jacks? Friendly little things weren’t they?”

A look of dissatisfaction crosses Sidney’s face as Madilyn glares at him and punches him in the arm.

“I still don’t understand why they swarmed you at one point. You are the most suspicious looking of the four of us.”

“Quack”

“Five of us.”

“It’s because he knows how to talk to them!” smiles Sia, an obnoxiously happy grin plastered to her face as she tilts her head sideways and upside down to look over at Ted.

“Sure, that’s one way of putting it,” Ted says before continuing. “Though I’m not sure if you’ve actually paid attention all this time, but I don’t let things that are alive, die, unless I intend on eating them. Those manticore were not though, constructs as they were.”

“My dad warned me about pacifists,” Sidney comments. “Is this something the rest of us need to worry about?”

Sia, in an attempt to not shut down from shock at the implications, hides her expression behind a ‘concerned eyes over hands,’ movement. Memories and events of times long past, the legends told, and the terror of those that realized too late that there are some fates that are worse than death. That the calloused, uncaring left hand of fate could both cure and curse with the same action.

“Of course not,” Ted says while Sia tries to drag herself out of her memories. “An inch from death is not dead you know.”

“That…” Madilyn begins, pausing. “That somehow seems worse than either option, but I don’t know how. Whatever, enough philosophy, more plotting our route, where are we staying the night?”

“Such a reliable minion,” Ted says with a smile. “Let’s go for another half hour then try and find a nice spot next to a stream.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Evening is quickly approaching, and the quintet can be seen finishing up their simple meal from the vast stores of their spacial pockets. During the course of the meal, they realize they had not seen what was in the pouches obtained from the defeated manticores. Sia and Ted offer to take the cores, leaving Madilyn and Sidney with the pouches.

Madilyn’s contained a set of earrings, which Sia and Ted verified as magical. These particular earrings contain a high-level Whisper magic, allowing the wearers to communicate with each other over a very large distance without others being able to listen in on their conversation. After a small yet heated discussion between Madilyn and Sia, and by proxy Sidney, Madilyn passes one of the pair over to Sidney to wear. Magical and a cuff style, he places it on his left ear. Her pouch subsequently disintegrates after opening.

Sidney on the other hand simply receives a pouch-full of small silver and copper miniature ingots. Given their abundance in the Great Dungeon, they are used for most transactions in most areas surrounding it, as they are all a standard size. Sia explains to Sidney and Madilyn that there is a place on the fifth floor that will change ingots or currency to their purified miniatures, though at a cost. Over the years of experimentation, it was discovered that this ‘tax’ is approximately 10%, and thus the cycle of money from monsters and verification of national coinage was ensured. His pouch remains, and he stores the ingots in the pouch, and the pouch in his necklace.

Just as the fake sun is encroaching on the horizon, Madilyn lightly and rapidly taps Sidney’s arm and points off to a portion of the clearing. As he and the others turn, she asks quietly whether or not that is one of the famous Pixie Dragons.

A small dragon-like creature can be seen basking on a rock at the edge of the clearing closest to the stream and ‘sun.’ Beautiful and small, with light blue, purple, and gold coloration, it sits there lazily, as it appears to be watching the group.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Eugene's Primer on Dragons, Introduction

For the kingdom's soldiers and rough and tumble adventurers, I thank you for taking the time to read this before skipping to the pictures. As legends go, many, many of them contain Dragons and perhaps one which rides them into dreadful battle. Following the principle of Keep It Simple Soldier, here is what you ought to know:

Dragons (4 legs, 2 wings) Ancient Dragons: Minimum age of 7500 years, fore-claws the size of an average human male. Highly intelligent, naturally blessed to speak the Heart language, which occurs at the same time as a qualitative leap in magic potency. (Think regular fireball becomes meteor without trying). The Heart language is universally understood, and the speakers naturally understand all others. Very few outside of the community of dragons are blessed with this, and even fewer of the humans (if they survive an encounter) realize the language is not their own. Generally lazy, but hate having their perceived schedule interrupted. Only about 20 worldwide, though according to unconfirmed lore, the smaller of the two moons is actually the first dragon of creation. May still have offspring, which would start from being a standard dragon, though they would attempt to raise them as they would if they were an elder dragon. The few dragons from these pairings often become rebellious around age 300 and leave the nest, being mistaken as a ‘small’ elder dragon. Elder Dragons: Humans typically classify them as having a minimum age of 500 years, nose-to-tail length of 30 meters with wingspan double that.

(Think freight train engine with wings.)

Highly intelligent, begins to understand the Heart language from this stage. In order to properly move into the Ancient category it needs to acquire mastery of Heart as well as a qualitative leap in magic potency, which occurs after about 200,000 moon cycles according to the encounter with an Ancient Dragon by Hzim Hzan. Often lazy and selfish, arrogant and ambitious. Leads to conflicts with civilizations every few years. Actual numbers of dragons of this class are nearly 500 worldwide. Dragons: smaller than the above, typically specializing in one area of magic. “Dragontongue” is what they speak and cast with, and is a passionate language, though untranslatable. Very intelligent and able to pick up languages easily should the opportunity arise. And whether they care to. Uncommon but well known, several seen in a lifetime. Pixie dragons, which are a convergent evolution, have magic power fitting for their size and name, and can rarely be seen as combat pets. Treat like ferrets with wings in size and personality. Wyverns (2 legs, 2 wings) As related to dragons as humans are to shrimp, though not many care. Natural magic users, with tough skin, and intelligent like ravens. A terror to standard flocks of sheep, but are themselves terrified of Satansheep, who spit fire and can crush bones and rock as easily as a fat noble chews fresh bread.

Now remember, choose your battles wisely. If you absolutely need to, the following pages will show you where to stab.