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“Well that was a disappointment,” Kelsey said. “The ghosts didn’t even slow them down.”

“You knew that the mage was pretty strong at Destroy Mind,” Mel pointed out. “That’s all that ghosts are, really.”

“Yeah, but still…” Kelsey watched as the expedition’s vanguard ransacked her boss room — the Lich’s study. “I can’t say I’m a fan of his Destroy Magic skill, either.”

Barry the Lich had been a caster monster. Not a true mage like Tikin, he had a few spells to cast against incoming adventures. Frost Hold, Lightning Bolt, Missile Shield and Mana Bolt. That was normally enough to give adventurers pause, but Tikin had been able to disrupt the spells as quickly as Barry could cast them.

That had occupied the mage, and if he’d been alone, that might have been a problem. But without a barrage of magical destruction to hold the adventures back, they could walk right up to the lich and smash it with melee damage.

“He was level twenty-one!” Kelsey complained. “And they beat him to death with sticks.”

Mel shrugged, refraining from pointing out that it had actually been swords that were used— and that the adventurers were all that level or higher. Kelsey never took helpful details like that well when she was ranting.

“I think I’m done,” one of the adventurers spoke up. “Anyone else find anything?”

There was a chorus of nos from the other members of the party. Given the cramped nature of the Mansion, they had left the other expedition members outside.

The first adventurer swore. “Gods damn it, that’s another level with no treasure.” It was Risor who spoke, the Occult Rogue.

“Collect the bones and skin,” Rathuan said evenly. “They’re worth something at the Guild.”

Kelsey’s eyes narrowed. She would have preferred if the invaders came back with nothing, and her recently acquired price list put lich’s bones at a gold piece per pound. As a Tier three magical monster, its ground up bones were apparently of great use as an alchemical reagent.

The adventurers grumbled as the collected the corpse, and Risor was sent back to get the rest of the expedition.

The eighth and tenth floors of the dungeon were two vast caverns at roughly the same level. The point where they would have touched was blocked off by the Haunted Mansion, so once the boss was defeated you just had to open the next door to proceed.

The next two doors, actually. The first set of doors shared the same theme as the rest of the mansion, made of a dark, mana-reinforced wood. Right behind them were a pair of stone doors, much more suitable for mana containment.

Rathuen paused before opening the final doors. “What does everyone have to keep in mind?” he asked the adventurers following.

“The revenants aren’t actually our lost ones,” one of the younger delvers muttered, embarrassed.

“Everyone got that?” Rathuan asked. “Because, I swear, every time I bring a newbie down here, they get the idea that they can save someone, or fuck someone, and it never. Goes. Well.”

“I miss the old days, before they figured it out,” Kelsey said, ignoring the muttered agreements being forced out by Rathuan.”

“It was fun, wasn’t it?” Mel agreed. “I just wish I could have seen what happened to the ones they captured and brought back to town with them!”

The two of them smiled at the memory, as Rathuan carefully opened the door. The doors opened into a small cave, carefully concealed within a fold of the cavern wall. Many an adventurer had been caught out on the way back, unable to find the right cave, and getting caught in one of the trapped ones.

“Is it just me, or is it brighter out there?” Risor asked. Rathuan nodded in reply.

“Hard to say, but I think so. Cave seems empty— everyone move out carefully.”

The expedition did so, Risor taking the lead, checking for traps. It was rare for the entry cave to be trapped, but on this floor you couldn’t take anything for granted.

“It’s clear,” Risor said, having made it to the cave entrance. He peeked out, swore, and then took a longer look. “You gotta see this, boss.”

Rathuan moved forward cautiously. Haste got you killed, here, so even if Risor had proclaimed it safe, it was still worth taking your time. He looked out over the tenth level.

The tenth level was a little smaller than the eighth, but its roof was a single span, not supported by hidden columns. The higher mana density allowed for better structural reinforcement. As it always had, the level was a creditable imitation of the rolling hills found nearby. Small, woody copses dotted the landscape, but for the most part, it was open terrain. The ceiling was painted blue, and an imitation sun, bright and hot, shone down from the middle of it.

Risor had been right. It was brighter, and Rathuan could see the reason for it right in front of him. The entry cave was elevated and provided a good view across the well-lit cavern. As always, he could see the village that formed the final challenge for the level. The hills separated the floor into areas that held their own challenges and treasure, but if you wanted, you could proceed straight across to the end village.

What was new was the fields. Rathuan couldn’t identify the crops from here, but they were definitely sown fields.

“Why?” Inutan said from beside him. “Revenants don’t need to eat.”

“A trap?” Risor suggested. “Either hiding in the fields, or the grain itself is poison.”

“We could— and will— check for that before we eat any.” Inutan said. “But that… seems too easy. Perhaps the revenants want to trade?”

“No surprise, that a cleric of the god of Trade would think that,” Buraia put in. The female Archer was scanning the hills ahead of them for targets.

Inutan flushed. “Maybe, but what else could it be? When you grow food that you don’t need, you have to be thinking of trading it to someone who does, right?”

There was a pause as the group considered the situation in the town above their heads. Kirido had been ransacked by raiders, who had made off with a lot of their food supply. They weren’t starving by any means, but things were tight.

“Mark!” Buraia said suddenly, stiffening and half-drawing her bow. “Someone’s coming out of the trees.”

“Looks like we get to find out if your theory is correct…” Rathuan said, taking in the approaching figure. He turned back to the others. “Alright, settle yourselves in. We won’t be moving from the cave until we have a parlay.”

Magister Tikin raised an eyebrow. “How do you know they wish to talk? I see no raised flag.”

Rathuan grimaced. “It’s revenants— they always want to talk, the better to creep you out.”

Mel giggled. “At least that part still works,”

Rathuan continued, unaware that Mel was talking over him. “Normally, I’d say just cut them down before they start talking, but they might have some answers for us.”

By the time the revenant arrived, the expedition had sorted themselves out, with just Inutan, Rathuan and Tikin waiting outside the cave. As the god of Trade, Denem’s blessings weren’t terribly effective against the undead, but they were better than a sword in the hand of a Tier two.

The revenant stopped well out melee range. He was being covered by Buraia from the cave, and he was in range of Tikin’s spells. If he was aware of this, he didn’t show it.

“Wrath,” he greeted Rathuan.

“Fear,” Rathuan returned. “You should know Inutan, and this is Magister Tikin. He’s ready to blow your head off with a fireball if you look at him funny.”

“Good to know,” the revenant said easily.

“You know this creature?” Tikin said with a disdainful tone.

“Faerdan Alons,” Rathuan said, without any emotion. “The original used to be my mentor, five years back.”

“And now there’s me,” Faerdan agreed. “Just like the original, with only a few improvements. Fear’s a bit of a stretch from Faer, but I needed something to match Wrath here.”

“What do you want, Fear?” Rathuan asked bitterly. “It had better not be to rehash old times.”

“Do you think this is going to work?” Mel asked Kelsey.

“I dunno.” Kelsey was watching the exchange intensely. “I never know with these damn things. For soulless wretches they’re so damned wilful!”

“Why not let Cheryl make the deal then?”

“She’s just as bad when there’s a pulse in the room,” Kelsey said glumly. “Plus, even when she obeys me, she gets so damn whiny when I don’t let her have her snacks.”

Unaware of their watchers, the negotiators continued.

“No, we are not going to join you for a party. It’s been ten years since that trick worked.”

“Now, don’t be like that. You came to trade didn’t you? Better to do that in comfort than out of a cave.”

Rathuan narrowed his eyes. “What makes you say that?”

Fear grinned. “Have you become a monk, to say comfort isn’t better? Or did you mean the trade thing?”

“Answer the question, damnit. How did you know we were here to trade?”

“The Great Dungeon…” Fear raised his eyes to the ceiling and clasped his hands together as if to pray, “…sometimes vouchsafes us with information about incoming invaders. I know you’ve got questions about other intruders, and that you’ve brought two delicious treats as a bribe.”

There was a protest and the sounds of a scuffle from the back of the cave, but Rathuan ignored it. “They’re for the vampire queen, not you.”

“But I can answer your questions just as well… and you won’t have to go through the rat maze.”

“What do you want them for?”

“We do love the taste of warm mortal flesh,” the revenant said, grinning. Something changed, like an illusion fading away, and his teeth were now twice as long and pointed. “But it is the Great Dungeon that desires your prisoners, we will only be able to keep them for a while.”

He looked back at the cave. “I am empowered to say… that the Great Dungeon’s desires for you do not include your deaths, and that should you cooperate you will not be killed… by the dungeon.”

“What about by you?” Rathuan asked. The revenant grinned still wider.

“We are under orders not to kill them,” he admitted. “But, we have other orders. We can defend ourselves if attacked, so who knows what might happen?”

“Who knows,” Rathuan agreed. He wouldn’t have put a copper bit on the prisoners living another day. But he’d come down here expecting to sell them to their deaths. “But who knows if I can trust you to answer my questions?”

“These are the dungeon’s answers, not mine. This is the deal that I propose. Ask your questions, and I will answer them, if I can. If you are satisfied with the answers, you can leave the prisoners behind. If you are not, you can leave with them, or push on through to ask your questions of the Vampire Queen.”

“Wait,” Tiken interjected. “I thought we were going to physically inspect all the levels.”

Rathuan grunted. “That was never a real consideration. Our contract is to go as deep as we can— and no-one has ever come back from the Silent Sea. If the infiltrators made it past the Vampire Queen, then they’re Tier four for sure.”

“Tch. My magic can get us past the vampire, I’m sure.”

“And then? We used up most of our water-breathing potions, remember? How’s your magic with water?”

“Not… so good,” Tikin admitted. “I can’t destroy an entire ocean, or create air for us.”

“So this deal.” Rathuan paused, considering the angles. “If we don’t like the answers we get, we can always butcher our way through these guys, and the rats—”

“Good luck doing that,” the revenant interrupted.

“—like we planned originally.” Rathuan glared at the monster. “Or if we do like his answers, we can leave the prisoners with him, job done.”

“The logic is sound,” Tikin allowed. “Something about it rubs me the wrong way though.”

“That’s just your conscience,” Rathuan told him. “It goes away eventually.”

He turned back to the revenant, still grinning its wide, toothy grin.

“You have a deal.”

“An excellent choice, old friend. Ask your questions.”