Two figures walked through a fairly wide stone corridor side by side, the stone walls had crude drawings of grisly little creatures bringing down large creatures with spears and sheer numbers. The figure walking on the left side had a large pair of red feathered wings with a small spiked horn just before the wings alula, his wings came out from a black leather trench coat which had been modified to allow room for them. Atop his head grew two curled horns which rose from his long red hair and swishing under his coat was a tail which ended in a slightly heart shaped spike, this mixed with his deep slitted purple eyes gave away his demonic heritage. He wore a simple dented plate chest piece under his coat, with light metal bracers on his arms, leather greaves, a rapier tied to his waist and a hand crossbow on the other hip.
Besides him walked a large figure covered completely in armour, he towered over the demon in his full set of unpainted steel plate mail which had a rusted skull carved into the helm. Upon the torso a design of ribs dented out in a crude style. The heavily armoured figure had a pair of hand scythes on either hip and a large war scythe strapped under his black cloak, altogether the figure looked imposingly dreadful.
The two seemed to be laughing and deep in conversation as they walked forward, both of them completely unaware of the tripwire just in front of them. However as the demon's foot broke the string his other foot tripped slightly over a round stone that rolled out from under him, causing him to fall backwards and a bolt that would have hit him in the head to instead bounce harmlessly off the pauldron of the armoured figure.
"Seriously Daylor, as the team leader you should really pay more attention!" A voice rasped from under the armour, it was deep and seemed to echo. It sounded almost like it was filled with distorted whispers as if it came from the lips of the dead themselves, it was a voice that would send shivers up the backs of even the most seasoned of warriors.
"Sorry Inarus I didn't see the trap," the one called Daylor stated as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head while he looked around for any more surprises, nursing his right wing which he had landed on as he rose. "Where is our Assassin anyway noticing traps is supposed to be her thing?"
"She said she would scout ahead to see the rendezvous spot for the rest of the team." The towering figure identified as Inarus stated in his eerie voice as he also looked around for more traps. "You're lucky that the arrow didn't hit you."
Daylor had been generally noticed as a lucky person, infact every person in the academy had stated they had never seen someone so lucky. He often accidentally avoided things that would have killed him from both monsters and classmates alike, it also extended to other areas not just in keeping him alive which meant no one would gamble with him anymore, and he was now banned from most game houses in the city.
"So this item we have to get our licence is the next floor down I believe. I can't wait to get our chip so we can actually pull up maps..." Daylor stated but Inarus just looked at him silently, or maybe it was Intensely, it's hard to tell even when he was not wearing his helmet let alone with it on. "You don't know what we are here for you?"
"Nope!" Inarus replied bluntly without a care.
"We are here to grab the Goblin chieftain favoured mug. Deep down, In a trap and goblin infested dungeon." Daylor informed him.
"Is it diamond encrusted or magical?" Inarus asked with what seemed to be mild interest.
"I don't know but if it is, don't let the assassin see it!" Daylor commanded with sudden panic, as if the thought just hit him.
"Why?" Inarus asked, with what Daylor thought was confusion.
"Because then we won't get it back nor will we get our licence." Daylor sighed, brushing himself off before the two of them then walked deeper into the dungeon.
"Why do we have to go through a tunnel that is so tight? I can barely spread my wings, yet we have to dodge traps and avoid Goblins. While the other groups get something easy as their test, like guarding a town for a week?" Daylor asked with annoyance.
"Because they're worthless humans!" Inarus said showing part of his true undead nature before guilt took over, possibly.
"Or angel folk, some families of dwarves, halflings, the list goes on. Just none of the so-called lower races like we are. " Daylor added, "Besides you shouldn't hate humans Inarus, you would be hating yourself, or your past at least."
"I would not expect that from you." Inarus stated with a haunting voice that sounded almost confused. "Not after how they have treated us, my eyes have been opened to my ex-kin. They are a violent race that enslaves what they don't like, and kills what they can't enslave."
"I would not say that is the problem with humans." Daylor replied bluntly with a shrug.
"Then what would you say the issue is?" Inarus asked with a slight sharpness to his tongue that echoed louder than their footsteps.
"There are four kinds of humans, the most common being the sheep. The standard person who does as their lords and ladies say without question, they work for the system of nobility and accept the way the world is because their parents did, and their parents before them." Daylor said as they walked through the tight tunnel, his voice echoing slightly less down the path.
"Okay, and what are your other three classification?" Inarus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Then you have your wolves, the bandits or thieves or the ones in power. Those who are happy to get somewhere in life upon the suffering of others, see the sheep outnumber them drastically but are too used to the way of things they become scared of any change. And the wolves take advantage of that." Daylor carried on, smiling at Inarus' nod of agreement. "Then you have your cats, normally dotted around the sheep. They are those who question the way of things, they ask why or how things are the way they are. And if you have enough cats they can even start turning the sheep, and that's how you get revolts."
"Humm I see where you are coming from, and your last type?" Inarus asked with an amused tone.
"The last type is your rarest, even in history there haven't been many." Daylor said, taking a pause to take a breath and build a little tension. "Are your shepherds, those who lead people but for the best of those people, not the best of themselves. Those who rise above the established norms and care about their people and don't just wish to exploit them, but they are dangerously rare. And normally they are made and not born."
"Anyway, enough philosophy about the problems with humanity, Where is that assassin?" Inarus asked after a slight smile.
"I think up ahead in the meeting point. Better keep your eye open for any last minute traps she couldn't be arsed to remove… or set herself." Daylor said with a smile, even though he was only half joking.
"Yeah, really funny." Inarus replied, and Daylor was sure if he had still had them Inarus would have just rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on, the orc may have tried to kill me repeatedly in the first two weeks. Screaming something about demon scum but she at least stopped after a year or two. I still think that the assassin wants my head for some reason even after four damn years." Daylor said while scratching his chin in thought.
"Wonder why?" Inarus stated his voice was full of sarcasm that was somewhat harsher than usual, which just caused Daylor to roll his eyes as they carried on.
The narrow passageway led into a large room in which sat the rest of the group. He looked first at the green skinned half orc, Umla. She was looking at him bored with her light grey eyes as she played with one of her blue pigtails while she rested on her wood and flint spear. She had once again decided to only cover the vital areas in armour while wearing a leather skirt which left a fair bit of her green skin exposed, for a fighter she didn't cover much. The leather armour she wore seemed roughly made, and she had two bone headed hand axes attached to her leather skirt.
Daylor tutted, though he was happy she dressed in more than her clan. Which were renowned for charging into war covered only in blue paint. His attention drew away as he looked down to the next party member. The large peacock feather pointing out of the tricorn hat he wore was the first hint to the dwarfs' location. The smallest member of the party but maybe the stockist. Khurda had never been one for subtlety as he covered his plate mail in a large coat full of pockets, each filled with random tools, ammo or scrap. Each movement made his coat almost jingle from the filled pockets, His fiery red beard and hair only a bit shorter than the rifle and warhammer strapped to the smith's back, Daylor worried that if the beard grew much longer the dwarf would start to trip on it.
Sitting on a chair she probably conjured herself was the scholar of the party. She was a ginger haired kitsune who had a habit of keeping her face covered behind an ornate mask. Daylor was pretty sure only his group and a few others had seen her face. Her three tail's flicked behind her in slight annoyance as like always she wrote something into her book. None of the party could read the almost artistic figures she wrote in so she had no idea what she wrote, and she had a habit to ignore the question when it was brought up. She carried no weapon on her, yet Daylor knew that with the quill in her hand she was as deadly as any of them. She wore a red garment which she had told the party was a kimono, most of the party had not seen this type of clothing before meeting her.
The final member of the party Daylor didn't need to turn to see. He could feel her deep blue eyes burning into the back of his neck causing shivers to shoot down his spine. He didn't know how he had annoyed the platinum blond Nephilim but he did not like that the assassin would happily have him dead, her dark brown leather armour and cloak also meant if she tried he may not see her till too late. She also carried no weapons, but that was because she had the ability to pull what she needed from the shadows themselves.
"Amber, you didn't disarm the traps?" Daylor said, trying to sound confident towards her. The assassin only grunted in reply as she went to stand behind the rest of the party. Daylor ignored this sign of disrespect and stood tall as he addressed the team he had worked with since starting in the academy. As much as he did not feel confident in the slightest, he had long since learned to fake it in his bardic classes and the lessons he had when he was a young demon.
"Today we pass the trial and get our licence, no longer will the other classmates use their heritage to push us down. And yes they may have all gotten cushy jobs to pass their test, bodyguard duty or guarding towns but hey." he says pausing for dramatic effect just like the lectures had taught him to do.
"We only have to hand in the mug, anything else we find here is ours." He says with a wink. A few of the party members chuckled at his remark and nodded their heads in agreement as if they had been thinking the same thing. "Right before we go into the dungeon are there any questions?"
"Yes Umla?" Daylor stated pointing at her as she had been the only one to actually raise her hand.
"What is a dungeon?" she asked with a blank look, before giving him a grin that showed her small tusks from her bottom jaw.
"Did you listen to any of the academy lessons?" Daylor asked, before thinking back to the lecture about dungeons in their first year. He did recall that while the elderly human had droned on in front of the white board Umla had been snoring beside him, her axes in hand after tiring herself trying to kill him again.
"Right well dungeons in this sense." Daylor said while gesturing at the walls around them. "Meaning the naturally spawning structures, they spawn all over the world. The creatures within are nothing like their counterparts on the overworld, take for example our targets."
"Goblins?" Umla asked as she actually paid attention, to everyone's surprise.
"Yes, here they will be nothing like the goblins in the world. No one knows why but goblins encountered down here are much dumber than true goblins, and are much uglier. And most of the time things within dungeons cannot be reasoned with." Daylor informed her, taking a break to take a drink from a flask hidden within his coat. "We don't know why dungeons spawn, or why when they reappear most of the time they have a similar layout with the monsters back inside. But if left for too long the monsters can start to come out of dungeons and attack the locals nearby, each dungeon has a condition that when filled will cause it to close until it respawns. The role of adventurers is to enter the dungeons and fulfil this condition, and in exchange they gain treasures and experience to reach higher levels. However, to become an adventurer and get the chip which lets you collect the experience you must pass the college, this is to limit the amount of adventures in the world at one time."
"And why do they need to limit the number of adventurers?" Umla asked with blatant confusion.
"Okay so a soldier in the army can range from level one to five depending how long they have been fighting for, adventurers can pass that within months or years depending how often they clear dungeons. Which means if they survive long enough adventurers can become some of the most powerful creatures around." Daylor said in a tone that implied it was basic knowledge. "Sure it is a dangerous line of work and most adventurers retire at low levels after watching their party being ripped apart, but those who survive and stick long enough to get to high enough levels could technically fight entire platoons by themselves."
"Then why are there not alot of overly powerful adventurers running the world?" Umla asked, and then when everyone looked at her with a look that implied she should no better she spoke again. "What?!"
"Most adventurers are not liked, that's because nowadays it's mostly nobles wanting something to do in their teen years, so they are up themselves and often act entitled. This is because it is fairly expensive to enter the academy and few adventurers take on apprentices. But Umla, two of the most influential people in the country are retired adventurers." Daylor informed her while looking shocked that she did not know.
"Really who?" She asked, looking unfused at the shock the rest of the party was showing.
"Well the headmaster, and the king." Daylor said, shaking his head. "Infact as long as our history goes back each of our kings or queens has adventured before taking the crown, I think it became a ritual among the royal families, hence why most nobles go to the academy."
"Humm thanks, anyway that's all I wanted to know!" Umla said with enthusiasm.
Daylor sighed and shook his head before stretching his back and looking down at the stairs that went into the darkness that even his eyes could not see through, a damp and cold wind seemed to blow up from the darkness. "Anyway let's get this over and done with."
And with that the party descended the first set of cracked stairs into the dark which would forever change their lives, and not entirely for the better.