Chapter Four Hundred and Seventy - Whet Your Appetite

"So, this is it?" I asked as I shielded my face from the morning sun.

After arriving at sunset on the previous day, we unanimously decided to get some sleep before challenging the dungeon. The villagers kept their distance, and we slept with a dragon curled against the Beaver.

Upon awakening, the local's attitude was much as it had been the night before. The little village was... not exactly accommodating, and I couldn't find it in myself to blame them. They were afraid of Rhawrexdee, and by extension the rest of us, to the point where parents were shooing their kids back into their homes and the entire village was almost deathly quiet as we moved through it.

They'd built their homes on a wide, flatish expanse of ground not too far from an outcropping that rose out of the ground at a sharp angle. The homes were mostly split along both sides of a wide road that curved along the edge of that cliff face.

That's where we found the dungeon, nestled against the sheer wall of stone, with a well-trodden path leading up to the entrance, cleared of bushes and grass and covered in loosely packed stone. It looked... kind of like the front of a kiosk, or maybe a small storefront?

Most dungeons I'd seen looked a lot more cave-like, but this one had pillars on either side of its entrance and a wooden sign hanging above. The Sue-Chef.

"Seems like we won't be getting any assistance with this one," Amaryllis said with a final glance back at the village. "I suppose we'll have to muddle through. Booksie, did you bring the book?"

"I did," Booksie said as she reached into her pack. "Are we all going in?" she asked as she handed it to Amaryllis.

"If what I read is correct, then there's no real harm. Having a bigger team might actually help with this one."

I regretted not paying more attention before, because that sounded important. I looked back over our group. There was myself, of course, and Booksie, as well as Amaryllis. Then taking up the rear were Desiree, Caprica, Awen and Calamity.

Seven was... a lot, actually. In some of the dungeons we'd been in, that might have been too many, even. If this dungeon scaled its threat based on the number of people, then going in as one big group might be a bad idea.

"Hmm, thank you," Amaryllis said. She cleared her throat, then spoke up louder. "Alright you fools, listen up!"

"I take umbrage," Caprica said.

"I ain't no fool," Calamity added.

"Hah! Only fools resort to insults, fool!" Desiree countered.

"Awa, I... maybe a little?"

Amaryllis sighed. "Broccoli, get everyone's attention."

"Uh, okay?" I said, but everyone was already paying attention. "Please listen up, everyone, this might be important! This next part will definitely be on the test."

"I was not informed that there would be an examination," Desiree muttered.

Amaryllis nodded, then spun the book around. There was a diagram there, of what looked like the first floor of the dungeon. It was pretty simple, actually, a large room, with a single smaller room to the side.

"The first floor is a test, with a mini-boss at the end of it along with a group of low-to-mid-tier enemies. The test is both a legal one, and one of our cooking abilities. We will be entering the main room, where a judge will give us a task. We will then go to this side room, prepare the meal, then return to have it judged. If it passes, then so do we. If it doesn't, then we need to fight the judge as well as its minions. The group that last explored the dungeon warned that the judge is overlevelled."

"Overlevelled?" Calamity asked.

"It's a phenomenon that will occur in dungeons on occasion. Most of the time, the dungeon will have a clear progression of threats. If the first floor has wild cats, the second might have lions, the third shadowcats. Most of the time a dungeon's rating will be based around a set level."

I nodded along, I could remember previous dungeons warning me about the level of the monsters within before entering.

"But some challenges will present a mini-boss, or monsters that are above the normal level of strength for the dungeon. These are usually a trap, of sorts. They'll be docile, or locked away, or not present, until the participants do something that triggers them. In this case, if we fail the first test, we need to fight over-levelled enemies."

Caprica rubbed at her chin for a moment. "How does the monster levelling compare to ours?" she asked.

"The book says they're humanoids." Amaryllis said. "The way these books are written, that means we can assume they have levelling characteristics similar to ours. They're not like dragons, where even at level one they could flatten an entire adventuring party."

"I see," Caprica said. "And the monster's expected levels?"

Amaryllis glanced at the book, then back at the dungeon. "One moment," she said, before turning and ... walking into the dungeon.

About a minute passed. We waited ... mostly patiently.

Amaryllis emerged, book still in hand. "Alright, when the book was published, a normal monster in the dungeon is said to have been in the six-to-seven range. Now it seems more like eight-to-ten."

"That's not so bad," Calamity noted.

"The overlevelled monsters will be in the nine-to-eleven range," Amaryllis said. "And there should be about twenty minions. Honestly, yes, this is not bad. We could fight them from the very start and skip the test entirely."

"That doesn't sound nearly as fun," I said.

"Or as educational!" Booksie added. "I'm here to get the class available from this dungeon, I'd like some practical experience with related skills as well, if I can get it."

Amaryllis shrugged a shoulder. "I don't mind either way. It's just an option. We can give the test a go if you want." She folded a bookmark into the page of the book, then gave it back to Booksie. "You picked a strange one. If you play your cards right, you can get to the end of this one with very little fighting."

"I'm not much of a fighter," Booksie admitted. "But I do want to become a little stronger. I think that there are very few situations in life where you might think to yourself 'I wish I was weaker.' So it only makes sense to strive to be stronger, right? At least, it makes logical sense. I've spent a few years where the most physical thing I've done is lift a few books over my head. I think you're all younger than me, and every one of you is much stronger."

"Levels aren't everything," I said. "Nor is being strong. What matters is the quality of your friends and how good you are at hugs."

"You were halfway to saying something meaningful there," Amaryllis deadpanned. "I'm glad to see that you manage to wander off the path of wisdom the same way you wander off every other path. It's at least consistent."

I pouted. "You say that as if I get lost a lot! My sense of direction is fine, thank you very much. For example, the dungeon is that way. Hmpf." I pointed right at the dungeon, and Amaryllis must have caught my meaning because she huffed a 'I don't want to laugh' sort of huff.

"Alright, let's go check this place out," Amaryllis said. "I'll be taking notes, the Exploration Guild will want an update, and I haven't always been as diligent in my note-taking. Awen, Calamity, Broccoli, you three might want to pay attention too. You're all members of the guild so you can't just keep riding my tail-feathers."

We quickly formed up into a tight little bundle, though I wasn't sure if it was entirely on purpose. Amaryllis, Caprica and I took the lead, with Booksie and Desiree in the middle and Awen and Calamity in the back.

Caprica was our best close-range fighter, I could manage in a scrap, and Amaryllis was a great caster. Then the two who we weren't sure about, and finally our two best long-ranged fighters. It made plenty of sense, even if we weren't expecting trouble.

You are Entering the Sue-Chef Dungeon
Levels 8-10
Your entire party has entered the Dungeon
Seal Dungeon until exit?

I shook my head. If someone had to reach us...

Dungeon left Unsealed
Any Person can Enter Dungeon Instance
Any Person can Exit Dungeon Instance

I found myself giggling as we slipped into the darkness at the entrance of the dungeon, at least until Amaryllis reached over and poked me in the shoulder. "What are you laughing about? Or is it just the gases in your head leaking out again?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I'm just excited! Another dungeon, and one that's probably not all evil and root-y, with a bunch of friends, some of them brand new! It's.. yeah, it's exciting!"

Booksie laughed too, but there was a nervous edge to it. "Exciting is a word for it, I suppose."

"Don't be anxious," I said as I glanced over my shoulder at the bun. "This will be fine! Trust me! We'll have a blast, and you'll have a cool story to tell your boyfriend later!"

"B-boyfriend?" Booksie said. "Rhawr? He's not... well, I mean. I suppose."

"Did nya not think of him that way?" Calamity asked.

"We skipped that part!" Booksie said in her own defence. It was not a very strong defence.

"How fast these buns go," Desiree muttered. "Are they like rabbits in more ways than just their choice of ears, I wonder?"

I was laughed as we stepped into the first room of the dungeon, a great palatial courthouse, with dozens of monsters looking at us, and a black-robed and chef-hatted judge behind the desk.

***