I met Addie and Biff at the Grand Fountain in the Round, not far from my guild hall and Sundance’s shop. We decided to meet here and then pick up Steven at the cathedral since the Keelwell Gauntlet was to the east of the city and we’d need to pass him, anyway.

  It looked like I was the latecomer. The other two started walking toward St. Michael’s Way when they saw me. We met up, and Biff, as usual, set a quick pace.

  “What do we know about the gauntlet?” I asked Addie. “What can we expect?”

  “We’ll find out details when we get there, but Connor said it was a winter theme with bears and bats.”

  Biff remarked, “A few brawlers went into one last fall, it worked out well.”

  “You never told me about that.” I said to him, furrowing my brow.”

  He shrugged. “It was after a long day of training, and we got the idea from one of the visiting journeymen.”

  “What was it like?” I asked, interested.

  “Wet.” He replied.

  I looked at Addie, who smirked and shrugged her shoulders.

  “Any more details?” I asked.

  “It was a water theme dungeon and swampy. We mostly just smashed lizards and a couple alligators.”

  “What was the boss?” Addie asked, more interested in the final room than the little monsters.

  “That was tough.” He admitted. “It was a hag. She charmed two of us right off the bat, and the other three just barely managed to take her out before the others drowned in a murky pool.”

  “Yikes, Biff. How’d you do it?” I asked.

  “We hit her a lot.”

  Addie rolled her eyes. “Were you a hitter or a pool sinker?”

  He looked at her, “I was a hitter. Did well enough, the others let me keep the magical drop.” He punched his fists together, and the gauntlets he was wearing sparked.

  We both jumped at the sudden sound and sparks flying around.

  “You mean to tell me, you have had those magical gauntlets since last fall and you never showed them to me, or told me about the adventure?” I complained.

  “We were not strictly allowed to enter the journeyman gauntlet as apprentices, and we all swore an oath to keep it among ourselves.”

  That explained it. If he gave his word, we wouldn’t break it even to share something he had to have been dying to tell me about.

  “Aren’t you talking about it now?” Addie observed.

  He pursed his lips. “Well, not any of the details or who was in it.” And with that, his jaw locked.

  I gave her a frown.

  She was saved any other comments from me as Steven joined us from where he was waiting on a bench outside the cathedral stairs. “A tank, a couple of mages, and a healer. We should be good to go.” He said with a smile.

  We mostly talked about how we would face the monsters as we progressed down the road and through the Eastern Gates. The dungeon entrance was just a bit out of town, nestled among some steep hills. There was a gravel path that ran up to it from the western start of the Coastal Way. That was a road that led from Keelwell to Digger’s Bay at the western edge of the kingdom.

  We made our way along the path that wound along the bottom of a couple steep cliffs. We turned a bend and found a young guy seated at a stone table in front of three glowing arches. He was sorting a deck of cards that looked to me like a Monster Snap! Game.

  “Welcome, weary travelers, how may I be of service?” He called out.

  “We’re just from the city.” I began.

  He lifted his hands, “Poetic license. I assume you want to enter a gauntlet?”

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  “Got it in one.” Addie quipped with a charming smile.”

  “Right to business, then.” He cleared his throat dramatically. “Entry into dungeons is warded by a color-coded system.” He began. “Green means the tasks should be easily achievable, but traps and bosses could still pose a threat.”

  I nodded. I recalled this system from my orientation in the magical hallway.

  “The next ward level comes across as blue. However, the magic determines threats; it is something that should still be achievable, but there could be more risk. Often it is the boss or trap that raises the level from green, but it varies in each dungeon.”

  He slid a piece of parchment paper over to Addie. You can each read and sign this disclosure and waiver while I finish my intro. It’ll save time.”

  Addie picked it up. “We have to sign a waiver to enter?”

  “Yes, it is to make sure we don't get sued by your family if you don’t survive.”

  Steven looked startled, and picking up on his body language, the Keeper amended, “And it is a contract where you guarantee both pre-payment and post-payment, which I’ll get to momentarily.”

  Biff didn’t seem bothered. “Standard procedure. Go ahead.”

  He didn’t often take the lead on things, so we all looked at him, shrugged, and she finished reading and signed it before passing it to Steven.

  “Now, things get a bit more interesting when the portals are yellow,” he continued. “This is the next level of ward warning. Orange follows that, which should give you real pause, and finally red.”

  “Red means dead.” I recited.

  “True, that.” He agreed. “It is possible, but it usually means that under ordinary conditions, if you enter, you will all perish. Not too much wiggle room in there.”

  We all glanced at the portals again.

  “What do you see when you look at the archways?” The Keeper asked.

  I replied, “The portal up the stairs on the left is green, the middle one is yellow, and the one straight on and to the right is glowing red.”

  He waved at the others. “Do you see the same thing?”

  They did.

  “Oh, good. That means the apprentice gauntlet should be pretty easy for you guys, although the boss may give some trouble. Looks like you are powered up enough that even the journeyman gauntlet could be possible. Are you all sitting for trials soon?”

  We nodded.

  “I figured. You didn’t look like noob apprentices.” He glanced at Biff. “Especially him.” He said with a thumb at the brawler.

  Biff grinned.

  It didn't make him look less fierce.

  After the rest of us signed, he said, “So that is 25 gold pieces each to enter, and per the contract, you will need to deliver a magical gem or a magical item upon exiting.”

  Steven asked, “What if we don’t get either?”

  The Keeper rolled up the parchment and sealed it with wax from a candle in a hooded lantern nearby. He used a ring on his right-hand index finger to stamp it.

  “This is a gauntlet dungeon. The only way you exit is if you complete it. That is what the ‘gauntlet’ designation means. If you complete it, the boss drops a magical gem, a weak magical weapon, or sometimes a rare item. For apprentices, it is usually a gem, dagger, or sword in my experience.” He said, knowingly.

  “Do we just enter?” Addie asked.

  “You’re all good to go. There is no waiting list or reservation. The dungeon repopulates each day at 6:00 am, so if your adventure takes you that long, you get to start over again.”

  “That would stink,” Steven said.

  “Actually, some groups reserve a two-day slot, enter in the evening or early morning, solve it, and then enter it immediately after. They call it farming. We’ll see some of that when the new season kicks off on Springtide.”

  “What will the dungeon be like?” She asked.

  “Now, or at Springtide?” The Keeper asked with a grin.

  “Both, I guess.” She replied.

  “We never reveal new seasons ahead of time. Not that I have any idea what it is until the first group returns, but as to this winter theme, I can share because it's been open for months and the word is out.”

  We all listened attentively.

  “There will be four rooms in sequence. That is the second half of a gauntlet dungeon. You can’t exit until it's completed, and you move one room into the next.” He explained.

  The Keeper lifted a hand and started counting by raising his first finger. “Room one is a straight hack-and-slash with some snow hyenas or snow leopards. It's random which you get.”

  He held up a second finger. “Room two has a trap and either a Klondike bear or a couple of polar bears.” He leaned over toward Addie, “The apprentice dungeons are not too tough.”

  Continuing, he said, “The third room is trapped, has a riddle, and based on your luck, either snow bats or glacier vipers. If you mess up the riddle, you repeat the room and get a new riddle.” He laughed. “We had one group that said it took them six tries before they got the riddle. That had to be a blast to see.”

  I’m not sure any of us thought battling over and over again would be a blast, but since he got to sit out here, his perspective was different.

  “What’s the boos like?” Biff asked.

  The Keeper looked up at my best friend. “Do you want it to be a surprise? Some groups don’t want to know any of this before they go in.”

  Steven said, “I’m comfortable knowing. How about the rest of you?”

  Only Biff seemed to think that the surprise was fine, but he joined us as we said. “We’d like to know.”

  He laughed again, good-naturedly. “Me too. Well, the boss is always the same. It is a yeti.”

  Addie looked at us. “It is also a creature of snow and ice, like the other challenges, but it is on a different level.”

  “How so?” Steven asked.

  She pointed at Biff. “Think twice, his mass, with claws.”

  The Keeper added, “And resistance to air elemental spells, and has a distance weapon which it uses in some cases.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “It throws ice shards from its hands.”

  “Throws or casts?” Addie clarified.

  The Keeper paused. “You know, I’m not sure. Maybe you can all let me know.”

  I had the feeling he did know, but was adding some pre-dungeon drama.

  Addie said, “If it is cold-based, it might be resistant to air but weak against fire. Bet that’s why fire elementalist Connor said the dungeon was a blast.

  We made sure our gear was in place and looked at each other expectantly.

  “I’ll go in first,” Biff announced and walked through the green glowing archway.

  Steven said, “I’ll guard the back as we discussed, although I think that two-by-two works best.”

  “A little late now.” I laughed and walked in behind my best friend.

  The other two followed.

  It was our first dungeon dive together. I hoped it went well. I had big plans for our entire group coming up soon…

  A note from cqTrooth:

  Early readers will notice that I rearranged some chapters and replaced others. These next four chapters help to fill that void.