Venture out of the city.

Niki stomps forward down the street with beaming excitement. She marches with arms swinging, a big grin, and a song you've never heard. The tune is upbeat, which of course matches the mood, with lyrics of dragons, demons, and derring-do. A party like yours may not ordinarily stand out in a city such as this one--streets of all sorts of folk, both residents and travellers, with wagons of goods and armed and armoured adventurers--though your allies tend to find a way wherever you go. They're outcasts. You all are in some way. Maybe it's the bold aura you and the others carry, or it's the brash method in which Niki carelessly cuts through the crowd, but attention is turned to you regardless.

You just hope the eyes are either friendly or merely curious, instead of something more insidious.

If you were to leave now, as long as this mysterious dungeon isn't incredibly difficult to find, venturing through the hills north of the city shouldn't take all the way to nightfall. And even if this has been ongoing, the longer you wait, the more people may go missing. Even if neither of these things were true, however, you don't think you could convince Niki to pull back now. The quest begins.

"Though out of the jurisdiction of the crown, Tanver's Crossing doesn't feel so different," Eva comments.

"It's always bustling with trade," Snow replies. "Lots of people pass through this place. The Trade-Lady has it in her best interest to keep order, and to maintain a positive relationship with Tivera."

Xiaoqing gazes around at the various people. Though they're quire similar, the architecture varies in subtle ways. It adopts much of the Empire's style, though it's evidence that it developed separately. "It's grand in different ways. I think if it wasn't right in the middle of three branching major roads, it wouldn't be nearly as prosperous. I've seen this kinda thing before."

"I would like to travel across the sea sometime and visit those lands. They feel so far," Amara responds. "It is truly a massive world out there."

"I'd rather check out Kyle's land instead," Eva says.

"Maybe someday," you reply. "But that's such a huge can of worms to open. One thing at a time."

So your party departs from Tanver's Crossing on the same day they arrived, but your intention is to return shortly. You worry about the nature of this dungeon. You've been to a handful since coming to Absoterra, and they're always different, which naturally makes sense given the term is inherently unspecific. People will say dungeon when referring to an old catacombs infested with killer mummies, ancient ruins haunted by spirits, or even cave networks populated by goblins or other monsters. In essence, a dungeon seems to be an enclosed location of multiple rooms, filled with things that want to kill everybody. That's how it seems people define it anyway. Though usually, the story isn't of people never returning. Something truly dangerous must be hiding north, and only within ten to twenty miles of the city.

After exiting the city west, you follow the river north, up into the hills.

The downside is the terrain means for a slower, more taxing journey. You weave between hillsides which gradually lose their grass the farther you travel, until you start nearing the absolutely massive mountain range that takes up much of this part of the continent--the Pecho Peaks. You need not climb them, thankfully. Instead it's the taller hills of jagged stone and deadly ravines where your hike comes to a gradual conclusion.

You were given a general idea of where to head, though strangely enough, it isn't as difficult as you may have thought. Snow is the one who picks up on a trail first, of old footprints in the dirt, though Amara chimes in to comment on the strange lack of animals in the direction you've been heading.

Then finally, you peer down the slope ahead. Built straight into the mountainside just before the elevation of terrain escalates into rising peaks is a set of solid stone double doors more than tall enough to fit even an oni, and they're wide open. You need only to carefully step down a winding goat trail to a hidden pocket of grass and trees below. Even from afar, there would be no spotting such a place. It really is a mysterious, secret dungeon.

It's taken about five hours. The sun is still up, but it won't be for long.

"This path so far has almost felt intentional," you say. "I don't like it."

"Maybe we just got really good at traversing the overworld," Niki responds.

Eva sways in from your side and lays her head against your shoulder. "Speak for yourself, Kyle. My feet are getting sore."

You take hold of her gently, running your fingers down through her soft, lilac hair. Immediately she weakens, falling limp against you with pink in her cheeks. You continue to speak as she remains there. "It's not enough to be completely blatant. The journey takes effort, but... I don't know."

"Is it that Kitty Sense of yours?" Xiaoqing asks.

"Maybe. I think it--"

Niki turns and gives you a playful shove. If you were an ordinary man, it would have propelled you backwards and to the ground. "No, no. That's raw adventurer instinct right there. I believe you, Kyle. And I agree. This dungeon ahead feels like it want us to find it, but not so much to where it's obvious, like he said."

"Well if that's true, what do we do about that?" Eva asks.

"Nothing! I mean, nothing different. We step right in, and if it's a trap, I'll trip it. Stomp, stomp, stomp. Every pressure plate, every piece of string."

"That sounds like a terrible idea, even as tanky as you are."

Snow withdraws her bow from over her shoulder and perches near the edge of the descending trail. "Either way, we should get a closer look."

"And we already knew it would be something fishy when we accepted this quest," you add. "So let's go. Don't rush too far ahead, Niki, but yeah. We came all this way, so we're gonna go inside. If some other bandits do think they can get the jump on us, and that's all it is, they won't stand a chance."

"Knowing how Monarch seems to operate from the brief time we were talking," Xiaoqing brings up. "I feel like it would be weird for another competing bandit group to be openly doing something like this. But on the other hand, she was partly possessed for a time."

"It could truly be anything," Amara says.

"Then there's only one way to find out!" Niki leaps forth, attempts to slip down the trail, though immediately falls backwards onto her ass. She does make it down, however, just not how she intended. She slides down the course soil and rocks like a sandpaper water slide.

Amara's eyes widen. "Uhm, w-wait! I will come heal you!" And she hustles to the edge. Though once there, she maneuvers down the trail carefully.

One by one, the rest of you follow.