"So you decided to help" Hapara stood with the members of his party. An elf mage quite similar to him in appearance, she was no doubt related. With a golden veil and rings, Covered by black cloth that seemed inscribed by symbols possibly enchanted. A fellow dusk elf warrior with two saber-like swords and light scale armour. His eyes portrayed a deep determination and his face was covered in many deep old scars. And finally a hulking giant, not a dusk elf but a horn elf taller than every member of his party you could stack three tristins atop one another and they still wouldn't reach his height. He carried no weapon but his fists.
"Well it's better than dying here, what's your plan?" Opip said. As she approached the group the other elves eyed her with contempt, they spoke not a word between each other. But their faces portrayed a sense of paranoia mixed with agitation. Not exactly as friendly as their leader. Tristin who had come with her wondered if the alternative of staying behind at the camp would have been better.
"Tristin, Opip, have you ever heard of a white dungeon?" Hapara's voice carried a grave tone. A white dungeon. Neither knew of such a thing. A fact which could be easily read on their confused faces.
"Just before the darkmarch expanded, Tristin you spoke of meeting a being of unimaginable horror that would kill us all, later you described it as humanoid in shape but indisputably monstrous in power, I believe that creature to be a Wildring, or what you'd call a dungeon master, a ruler of a white dungeon"
"A dungeon master?" Opip had never heard of such a title.
"Yes a dungeon master, someone who rules from the worlds deepest depths, magical in nature, immortal and hailed in a veil of mystic not much is known about them, what's more they are mostly seen as just a legend." Hapara seemed quite knowledgeable on the matter. This was likely due to the circumstances in which he grew up.
"And what does that mean exactly?" Tristin found it a little hard to believe. A dungeon could not have a ruler, It was a naturally formed place, a land of magic perhaps but as natural of a formation as a mountain or a lake.
"They control the rules of this domain, from the very first floor to the lowest, hence why our exit has become covered by stone, and why this upper layer is engulfed by darkness" Hapara further explained.
"So that's why you want the help of as many strong warrior types as you can" Tristin had begun to put two and two together. Well he could have probably figured it out on his own since it wasn't such a hard idea to grasp in the first place. Yet Opip still seemed unsure as to why they wanted their help.
"Thats right, the only way for us to leave the dungeon now, is to kill its ruler, and to do that we will need more than just our party" Hapara was sly if anything, He had taken control over the situation, his party was the largest remaining in August's drop, and the only thing that necessarily kept what was left of it safe.
Any adventurer with a reasonable mind could see that the shallow barricade and low burning candles would wither and fall the moment the party left and so anyone who could still fight would be sure to join up under their wing. But anyone who couldn't would be left here to die
"Let me introduce my party" Firstly Hapara pointed towards the mage in the golden veil. "This is my sister Fidli, she's a mage of the Zodiac order" A member of a mages order was reassuring, Orders were established when mages did not want to live in complete fear of one another and acted like small guilds often taking less than ten or twenty members but often times powerful enough to hold real influence over countries or other factions. "A pleasure to meet you" She had a quiet but regal voice, almost befitting of a princess.
"This is Neyman he's been a friend of mine for many decades, he is an expert of both blade and poetry" The dusk elf warrior said not a word but nodded towards Opip a clear sign he could understand the strength she possessed. He didn't acknowledge Tristin at all.
"And finally Polak, a man who can break down a tree with one hand, he dose not speak the common tongue im afraid, so if you have anything to say to him youd need to go through Me or preferably Neyman as we somewhat understand and speak his native tongue" The hulking giant didn't seem to notice his introduction. He didn't even turn around to face them, his gaze rested on the darkness beyond the barricade.
It was a strong party, no doubt capable of reaching the lower floors of the dungeon on its own. Yet something told Tristin that he shouldn't trust them just yet."It should also be said that two other parties have agreed to join us, August's band and Krita's party"
Krita and Benjen stood a bit further away observing their actions. They had run into quite the pickle. They couldn't just outright steal the sword or the halberd from either of the adventuring parties with this many eyes around. And they had no choice but to follow this unknown elf if they wished to leave this place alive. Krita regretted not hiring more mercenaries. And Benjen regretted coming along in the first place.
August's band was made up of the remnants of the guard stationed at August's drop alongside August himself, a spineless man tall but not very pretty who lost his eye to a skeleton on his first visit to the dungeon. Yet he covered himself in metal plate, heavy armour and quite the heavy warhammer at his side although he'd likely never had to use it in combat before.
"Youve got quite the group assembled" Tristin said as he looked over the sizeball party, Hapara's numbers four, Krita's two, August's five, and their own two. Although they'd be thirteen members. Quite the number for this dungeon. If Tristin could recall the largest current party to scale the dungeon was the lavender group of eight people, who if he could recall could be in the dungeons fourth or fifth floor right now. Perhaps they'd run into them if they survived in the dark for long enough.
"So hill folk boy, you think we can win against your spectre with these numbers?" Augustus' rough voice spoke up. Angsty and lost in purpose. It didn't seem like he cared that he'd leave most of his comrades behind to die when the group would leave.
"Maybe, honestly even if you all went, I'm not sure we could kill it, maybe wound it, but definitely not kill it." Tristin spoke well knowing of the grotesque memory of the being on the third floor. The blood covered feathers, the illusion of a body, the oozing shape.
"If you all?" Haparanda caught that part of his answer more than his negativity towards their chances. "Have you changed your mind about joining us?"
"That depends, Can you answer this question for me? Why did your party travel this far from home for a tiny dungeon in a cold water archipelago that's missing from most maps, Hapara? You don't look like the type to be out hunting monsters to make a living" Tristin needed to know why these people were here. Both Hapara and his sister seemed like elf nobility, Tristin could think of no reason for them to be traveling this far north.
"You overstep your position, hillman" Neyman the warrior of haparands party put his hand on the hilt of his blade. "Our goals are our own, and you have no business concerning yourself with them" He seemed quite mad. Almost as if he had taken the question as an insult.
"Well it's true, we're not exactly here to just hunt monsters, were here to hunt one monster and one monster alone, I can't tell you anything else" Hapara didn't sound like the nice outgoing type he had made himself out to be, No this was a more sinister more calm side of his facade.
"Then I'm sorry to say, but I will be staying right here" Tristin knew the choice was the poor one to make. But it did not sit right with him to leave the wounded and weak here to die. Nor did he want to follow an elf. And an elf who couldn't tell him his intentions.
"How about you hound?" Haparanda turned towards the warrior, the one they really wanted to bring with them.
"Im staying" Opip would have stayed either way. She wouldn't leave anyone behind. And she did still owe that healer Latto for granting her life.
"How unfortunate, well until we meet again" But just as Haparanda turned to open the haphazardly made gate to the barricade it exploded. A fiery burst of flames as a one eyed creature hovered in the blazes. A beholder from the lower floors. And so began the final stages of the destruction of August's drop.