The road leading away from the main gate stretched into the forest that surrounded the city. I decided against commenting on how stupid it was to have a forest right next to the city walls. There was a reason most medieval towns and cities cleared away the trees leading up to the walls, to prevent enterprising assaints from scaling them, but gncing back at the massive fortifications that ringed the capitol of this kingdom, I supposed that the rules could be bent when the tower stood tall enough that you would effectively need a helicopter to get over it.

  I also didn't want to assume that the developers actually knew anything about medieval fortifications.

  If they had, I guess the decision to put the forest right at the foot of the wall had been an artistic one.

  If not, I would allow myself to feel smugly superior for a moment, before moving on with my life.

  The road itself was full, mainly of pyers. Exotic and oversized weaponry accompanied glowing effects and bursts of spells as I followed Jerren - who had retrieved his grey horse- and Aurora down the dirt road towards out destination. A few wagons were dotted here and there, and the variances of attire seemed only to reinforce the multi-cultural nature of this kingdom the game had been based around. Travelers of all races and ethnicities came in sprawling caravans through the woods, passing under elegant stone arches that extended higher than any of the mounts I had seen up till that point could dare to reach. The sounds were overwhelming - ughter, chatter, the clinking of chains, belts, and armor, the thumping and thudding of boots on the road, all formed a chaotic symphony of sound as I did my best to stay close to my two friends. The forest ended faster than I was expecting, opening up to a view of a valley full of rolling hills and grassnds.

  to my shock, the road only continued another three quarters of a mile at most -a wide throroughfare crammed with people, all coming from a rge circur pza that could have fit multiple football stadiums at the end of the road.

  At the end of that road, stood the gates that gave "the Way of Doors" its name.

  Massive stone archways, each one carved with glowing runes, swirled with magic, as a stream of people poured out of the six rgest gates that ringed the sides of the main pza. Smaller gates were visible, even at this distance, and while I couldn't see through them well, I could tell that each gate led to different biomes, different cities sprawling beyond the massive stone archways.

  My Jaw dropped, and I stopped to stare at the sight. Jerren rested his arms on his saddle-horn with a knowing smile, staring down at the sight, at the absolute river of people appearing and disappearing in thin air, passing through the rippling surface.

  Aurora sidled up to me, hands csped behind her back in a way that was successfully endearingly cute, and smiled softly.

  "Amazing, isn't it?"

  I nodded.

  "It never gets old." Jerren said with a grin. He pointed off a short ways towards a rocky craig, where I could see the top of a simple stone tower poking out from the rocks. "That's our guild-hall. It's small, and simple. Being outside the city walls, we have occasional problems with monsters, especially when our work gets too intense and we have to wait a few days before logging back in."

  Aurora stuck out her tongue.

  "Stupid bats."

  I smiled, taking a deep breath before gesturing towards the impossible pza before me.

  "It's.... it's amazing!" I ughed, having to fight the urge to sit down right there, to watch the countless white clouds, perfectly crisp, or the rolling grass as the wind pyed with the infinite stalks that swayed around us. Most of it was wheat, and i was tempted to try to grab some, but decided I really didn't want to become the kind of pyer who ended up encumbered because they had four hundred flowers in their inventory.

  Not that I knew that was how things worked in the worlds beyond.

  But still, the principle stood.

  Jerren shifted a little, catching my eye.

  "It took both of our breath away the first time we saw it. Just like you, weak little level ones, with an entire universe of interesting things to explore." His smile was as wide as I had ever seen it- perhaps even wider, more genuine, than I'd seen when the two of us had gone to concerts together, or when we had made a point to pn that surprise party for his co-worker. It was also the softest smile I had ever seen on his face, lending a gentle air to the intentionally heroic figure he presented.

  "I know that this is going to become one of my favorite things to see." I said, resting my hands on the hilts of my short-swords. "Which one are we going through?"

  Aurora pointed towards a small gate in between the two rgest ones. It seemed to be made of a darker stone, and I could see that a much smaller trickle of people would approach it before vanishing in a violent fsh across the smaller portal's surface.

  "That's our target, the Greywater Dungeon."

  I scowled.

  "That's its name?"

  She blinked.

  "Yeah?"

  "They couldn't like... think of something to fit in the world? To match their lore? Greywater? Is there a story behind that?"

  Aurora ughed, skipping forward on the road.

  "Don't know, but it'll be fun!"

  I shrugged at that, and we continued along the road, walking next to a pair of massive furred creatures pulling a cart the size of a small train car, our small trio striding past soldiers, walking underneath what seemed to be an entire guild of angel-kin that flew from the rgest portal directly towards the capitol, and carefully avoiding a group of three pyers who had chosen one of the gigantic races as they wrestled, one of them nearly stepping on Aurora before she danced out of the way.

  "So, Jerren does mounted combat stuff - will that work in the dungeon?"

  Aurora shrugged. The two of us were behind his horse, which, so far, hadn't needed to exercise any realistic bodily functions thus far.

  "Most likely not, but he still has plenty of abilities that will help us in a normal fight. The real problem will be if we find ourselves in any tight hallways. We helped to clear out a haunted house style dungeon once near the beginning of the game, I think we were maybe around level three at the time, and we ended up getting attacked in one of those narrow hallways. He couldn't draw his sword and..." she winced. "Yeah, that was our first death. We had to go back in to retrieve some of our stuff. It's a bit randomized, what stays in the pce you died, verses what you take with you. Prevents pyers from killing each other en-masse, if you want something from someone, the best way to get it is through trade. Or extortion I suppose."

  I frowned. I supposed that a certain amount of pyer interaction was to be expected.

  "Right, so... what does he do instead?"

  She pointed ahead to our companion as he shouted at someone who was trying to get him to move out of the way.

  "See his gauntlets?"

  I squinted, looking at the armor pting on his hands. The bckened metal had some silver scribework, but I couldn't really make it out.

  "Yeah? What about them?"

  "After that, we've always made sure he has his gauntlets enchanted. We find ourselves somewhere he can't draw his sword? Bam! Fisticuffs it is."

  I nodded appreciatively, and the rge... fish-like person Jerren had been arguing with threw up their arms and walked away.

  It wasn't much longer, crossing the cream-colored fg stones of the pza, passing a few small fountains, and several flower beds pced strategically to guide traffic through the pza and either onto or off of the main road into the capitol, that we stood before the dark stone gate leading to the Greywater Dungeon. Unlike the other gates, through which we could clearly see the environment beyond, this one looked like swirling storm clouds, constantly boiling over and churning, with violet fshes surging within their depths.

  Jerren grinned back at me, as he dismounted, taking his horse's reins.

  "You're taking the horse through?" I asked, hoping my voice sounded as benignly curious as I felt.

  "Yeah, worst comes to worst I'll tie him up to a tree outside the entrance. Monsters only appear inside dungeon spaces, thankfully. I do hope they keep it that way, making that more realistic would -" he petted his horse's mane with a frown. "- complicate things."

  "I thought this was the entrance?" I asked, pointing to the dark stone archway.

  "Oh, no." Jerren responded. "This is the portal. It'll spit us out in front of the actual entrance to the dungeon. In-world dungeons don't have portals but... this one's a special case."

  Right. Event.

  "Anything I should know before going in?"

  "Yeah-" Aurora said, "My spells are all fire-themed, so make sure you're not too close to my targets. I'll try to warn you, but a lot of them are area spells, which can make avoiding friendly fire a bit difficult during some fights."

  "We'll make sure to feed you enemies, maybe shave them down a bit so they're more level-appropriate. In the real world, you fight better than either of us, so we're not really expecting you to fight badly, like a noob would - but stats are still a thing, and some monsters will have stats that basically mean you wouldn't be able to touch them, at least not until you gain a few levels."

  I pursed my lips and nodded.

  "And if I'm offered a css by the game system?"

  "If you like it, take it. If not, hold on a bit, and just put the attribute points into your stats. That will still help you get stronger, especially if you're waiting for a good, or a custom, css. Got it?"

  I nodded, drew my runic short-swords, and snapped my arms forward twice to warm up my muscles a bit.

  "Ready when you are, caballero."

  He grinned and walked through the portal. Aurora stepped calmly behind him, and I took a breath before doing the same. It felt a lot like stepping into a pool of water, a rippling against my skin, but without the wetness afterwards. The moment my eyes passed through the shimmering gate, the reality of having teleported who knows how far hit me. There we no signs of the rolling hills, gentle grassnds, or small forests anymore. Mountains rose up around us, and a fierce wind screamed from what I assumed was the north, as there were too many clouds to tell the direction of the sun right then.

  We stood on a ft open space, facing what was clearly some kind of crypt. Two rge bck stone doors stood ajar in a carved recess in the stone, unornamented, although some kind of family crest did decorate the keystone of the ominous stone arch.

  I spun around, gncing into the gnarled and twisted trees around us as something screeched in the forest.

  "Monster?"

  "No," Jerren said calmly, already tying his horse to a shard of rock outside the entrance. "At least, if it is, then I bet you two hundred crowns."

  I blinked.

  "How would we know if we're inside the dungeon?"

  "Him!" Jerren said with a grin. "If I'm wrong, my horse will be gone, and likely eaten, and I'll owe you two hundred crowns."

  I was almost tempted to do it.

  "No! Nope! Not betting until I've actually made some kind of money. Nice try, Jerren. Nice Try." I scowled at him, and he ughed. "Dude, that scowl doesn't work with that body - you'll need to learn some new 'intimidating looks'." I felt my lip pucker, and I spped myself before gring at him again.

  "Oh shut up, you dolt."

  Aurora tapped me on the shoulder and passed me three red potions.

  "These are for you, 'Fang'. Without a css, you shouldn't have many magical abilities, so I don't think you'll need mana potions, but you'll need health. Jerren and I should be able to tank most of this dungeon, but not so for you. Most monsters in this dungeon will range between levels eight and twenty, so it will only take one or two hits even on the upper floors to take you out of the fight for today. When it comes to how the monsters are going to act, you should know that the enemies in dungeons adapt to our settings and permissions, and kind of average things out for a group. Jerren and I are both running at really high realism settings, I assume you are as well?"

  I nodded, while I assigned the single stat point I had avaible to my dexterity. I had assumed as much from the way they had casually inspected my bloodied clothes.

  "Ok, we'll need to be careful then. Monsters behave in more lore-appropriate manners the higher the realism. They fight with fewer mistakes, and with far more brutal precision. Some people, with low gore settings, get monsters that try to solve things through extortion, or sex - we're not likely to get that, and if we do, it's not going to be pretty for us. That said, do we all agree that we're solving problems the violent way?"

  I nodded, twirling my short swords. I was here for violence, after all, and it sounded like I was going to leave satisfied.

  "Perfect." She lifted her staff, and a small spark of orange fme fred to life, as she stepped forward. Jerren drew his massive sword, and fell in right behind her, so I took up the rear, as my friends began to push open the stone doors, my ears perking up as the grating of stone echoed into the space beyond.

  We stepped through the open doorway, Aurora's staff lighting up a massive stone room.

  An alert appeared in front of all of our eyes.

  AnnouncementYou have entered the Greywater Dungeon - Floor 1: 36 hours remaining.