Apeiron Apostle Adventures: Into the Dungeon

Hey everyone! In today’s blog post, we’re heading down down down to dungeon town (but no town). Last week our doods got separated from…

Hey everyone! In today’s blog post, we’re heading down down down to dungeon town (but no town). Last week our doods got separated from their friends and marooned on a strange new world — read the previous episode here. Now we rejoin our merry band of daring dood companions as they use the power of the Solar and Lunar Fragments to open a portal to the Lost Dungeon World of Letrina, where they hope to find their lost friends (and gods)!

Also: tonight is the final of our 2nd Mini Guild Wars! Our contestants have been battling it out in Valorant and now only two remain: it’s Leo vs Clout Gaming! There’s 1k USD on the line so it’s a high stakes match: come on over to our Discord and join in on the action! The finals starts at 3pm UTC, and if you can’t get enough you can tune in at 2pm UTC to check out Biku Mercs vs PIF DAO, who are duking it out for 3rd place. It all comes down to this — don’t miss out!

Now then, onto our episode for today: we proudly present the Apeiron Apostle Adventures: Into the Dungeon.

_____

Outside the normally peaceful village of Wyndiass on the Lower Firmament of the Tempest world of Galesbreath, a medium-sized gathering of doods bustled with activity — an especially rare sight in the godiverse for the perennially lazy creatures. But this was no ordinary feast day fuss, no, this was the story of a lifetime — or as it would turn out, several lifetimes, as the tale would be passed down from granddood to doodling for at least six generations.

For outside of the village of Wyndiass, for the first time, the doods were planning on going into space. On their own! Without a god to help them! It was quite the undertaking. But they were almost ready…

“Where are they?” blustered Priest Gustipharts. He was pacing back and forth nervously. “They should have been back hours ago!”

“I don’t know, boss,” the impressively sized and fittingly named dood Guardian Large said helplessly.

“I know you don’t, Large,” muttered Gustipharts.

Large looked down at the Priest, perplexed. “Then why did you ask?”

“It was a rhetorical question!”

“A rat oracle question?” asked Large, ever sinking into the pit of bafflement.

“Oh nevermind,” harrumphed the irritable Priest. He sat down on a conveniently placed bench. “I just hope they come back soon. It’s almost time for us to go…”

“Hey,” said Large. “Is that them?”

Gustipharts jumped up and looked at where Large’s chonky index finger was pointing. He squinted. But for once Large was absolutely right: there they were indeed! Bobo the Warrior and Rara the Hunter had returned! Bobo was carrying a large sack on his back, which, upon arriving in front of Gustipharts and Large, he swiftly deposited with a CLANG to the ground. Then he fell down himself to lie down prostrate on the ground.

“Ow,” he said. “That was heavy.”

Gustipharts fluttered up to the sack, and with one delicate hand opened it up for an instant to peek inside. He sighed with relief. “You got them! The Solar Fragments! Oh excellent, excellent. How did it go?”

“Well,” said Rara, “It wasn’t quite like what was written in the prophecies. Gods help us, we spent so long trying to climb into the Skyship…”

“Yeah, the Porthole of Threep was much smaller than it was made out to be. And that ghost Navigator Ploop wouldn’t give us the Fragments, so we had to make a deal,” added Bobo from his resting place, facedown in the dirt.

“What was the deal?” asked Gustipharts.

“You don’t want to know,” replied Rara ominously.

Large shivered.

“Uh…right. Well! Ahem. Very good then! The important thing is we have everything we need now. The Lunar Fragments and the Solar Fragments are ours!”

“Right, so are we ready for the ritual?” asked Rara. “We need to get a move on. Susanoo-sama could be way ahead of us by now, we don’t want to lose him.”

“More to the point, we need to catch up with Lord Gale,” pointed out Gustipharts humbly.

“Yes, yes,” said Rara. “So do we have everything?”

“Indeed we do! Large oversaw the retrieval of the Lunar Fragments personally, didn’t you Large?”

Large smiled proudly. “They were in the basement. I brought them up all by myself.”

Bobo groaned. “At least we have them. So what do we do now?”

“Ah!” said Gustipharts, rolling up his priestly sleeves with gusto. “At this point, my dear companions, you may leave it to me! As was written in the Prophecies of the Named, the Sons of the Tempest will now spin wildly in circles, and thereby call forth the powers of the Fragments in conjunction, stabilizing (temporarily, of course) a portal that will carry us directly through to the Lost Dungeon World of Letrina!”

He then posed impressively at the end of his short explanation. Several followed doods took photos for posterity, while Large clapped in support. Bobo stayed where he was on the ground. Rara hung her head and sighed. “We’re never getting off this planet…”

But she was pleasantly surprised, for after a quick shower from their journey and a bite to eat (or a few bites, in the case of Bobo) in Gustipharts’ mansion, they came back outside to discover that the Fragments had been deposited in twinned bowls standing on either side of a large rock podium. And upon this rock podium stood Gustipharts and Large. Gustipharts waved at them. “Come on then! We’re waiting for you.”

“Ok!” shouted Rara. She looked at Bobo, took his hand briefly and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s go find Susanoo-sama, Bobo. And our friends!”

Bobo nodded. “Yeah. Time to save the godiverse.” He wished he felt more confident than he felt when he said it.

They stepped forward and joined Gustipharts and Large standing on the rock podium. Gustipharts looked at them gravely. “Everyone ready? There’s no coming back once we’re up there.”

Each of them nodded in turn, quickly and decisively. Gustipharts grinned. He raised his hand and gave his disciples the signal. The Sons of the Tempest began chanting. As one, they crouched down in a circle, then spun upwards to a standing position. Crouch, spin, stand, crouch, spin, stand, crouch, spin, stand. And always the chanting. Bobo’s head was spinning, and he wasn’t even spinning!

For the first minute or so, nothing happened. Rara crossed her arms in puzzlement. What was supposed to happen? She wasn’t sure. Then she noticed that the Solar Fragments were beginning to glow with a pale orange light. She looked over at the Lunar Fragments: and indeed, they also were beginning to glow with a pale blue light. She felt a surge of excitement that tingled her fingertips.

Then she realized the tingling sensation wasn’t just in her fingertips: it was all over — and in the air around her, there were small wisps of light, drifting upwards, then flowing upwards, faster and faster. She couldn’t see the chanting disciples anymore: just a river of corruscating light. She felt her feet leaving the ground. “Woooooaaaaahhhh!” she heard Large yell. From somewhere far away there was a yelp of surprise, and a momentary shimmer of the light. She felt something hit her. Then she was being whooshed upwards, away from the village of Wyndiass, away from the planet of Galesbreath — onwards, ever onwards, to adventure.

_________

When Bobo finally opened his eyes, he looked out on an alien and barren world.

To be honest, there wasn’t much to see on the Lost Dungeon World of Letrina. The surface was empty, except for rocks. And there were a lot of rocks. If you loved rocks, it was practically paradise. There were big rocks, small rocks, boulders, and even a few provocatively-shaped rocks.

He also saw his companions. There was Gustipharts, rubbing his posterior, upon which he had fallen sorely. Next to him was Large, who was looking down with genuine concern for his friend and teacher. And there was Rara, who was untangling herself from — wait. He peered.

There was another dood!

He unsheathed his sword as a precaution and hustled on over to Rara. Hefting his blade menacingly, he pointed it at the unknown dood. “Who are you? What do you want? How did you get here?” He considered for a moment. Did he want to ask anything else? Hmmm… “Do you have any food?” Might as well see if there was a potential snack involved.

The dood in question was relatively small, and wearing a dark cloak. She looked up at Bobo and grinned slyly. Showing no fear, she performed a perfect double backflip into a pirouette, pulling out two daggers and dropping into a low fighting stance. “Ha HA! Now I’ve got you just where I want you!”

“You wanted us on another planet?” Large asked curiously.

This threw off the mysterious daggery dood. “Uh…no! What I mean to say is: give up your secrets, you cads! Where’s the loot?”

“Wait a second…” said Gustipharts, looking at the cloaked assailant. “I know you! Aren’t you Marigold?”

The dood who may or may not have been Marigold squeaked in surprise. But she quickly regained her composure. “Ha! Uh…of course not! I am…someone else! And I have daggers! So: hand it over!”

Large looked down at his hand and held it out towards her. “You want my hand?”

At this point Rara stepped in. Without anyone paying her any attention, she had nocked an arrow to her bow and trained a shot at maybe-maybe not Marigold. “Tell us who you are and what you want NOW, we don’t have time to mess around.”

The armed-and-dangerous dood looked at them all and then sighed. She dropped out of her fighting stance and sheathed her daggers. “Alright, alright! Yes it’s me. I’m Marigold the Rogue. I followed you because I heard you were going on an adventure, and where there’s an adventure, there’s treasure. I’m in it for the loot!”

“I knew it was you!” Gustipharts said smugly. He turned to explain to Large: “She’s always had a penchant for money, that one. Especially gold.” Large nodded as if he knew this and understood.

“Hmmm,” said Bobo. “But Marigold, there’s no treasure here. Or food…at least so far.” He cocked his head. “Or is there…? Gustipharts?”

The Priest shrugged. “It’s a Lost Dungeon World. There could certainly be hidden wonders and unheard of treasures somewhere. We won’t know until we find Lord Gale to take us into the depths.”

“So,” Rara butted in. “What do we do with her?” She still had a particularly pointy arrow pointed directly at Marigold.

“Well,” said Gustipharts. He was looking around and about. “I don’t see any way back, at least, not without Lord Gale’s help. I suppose we have to take her with us.”

“Yeeeees!” yelped Marigold. She did a little joyful jump’n’punch. “Don’t worry, you’ll see, I’ll help you to get the treasure you’re looking for! AND I’ll even help you carry it all! And at absolutely no extra cost, either.”

“Wow, sounds like a great deal!” said Large agreeably.

Gustipharts looked up at the huge Guardian and sighed. “You still have a lot to learn, my lad.”

Bobo put away his sword and pulled up his pants. “Enough. We need to go.” They needed to move.

He was starting to get hungry.

_________

Beyond its rocky beginnings, there wasn’t much else to see on the surface of the Lost Dungeon World of Letrina. Just more rocks. Plenty more rocks. Bobo looked out on the rock-strewn surface with a growing fear in his stomach. There really didn’t look like there was much to eat out here.

“Psst,” said Marigold the Rogue, who had sidled up next to him and was now conspiratorially elbowing him in his midriff. “Psst!!!!”

“What?” said Bobo.

“Do you think any of these rocks are valuable? I mean, up here, sure, there’re a ton of ’em, but down there, back on Galesbreath — I mean, space rocks! Everyone will want one, amirite?”

“I’m not sure about that…”

“Well why not? Seems like a steal to me. Unless…” she narrowed her eyes at him. Then she gasped. “You’re trying to put me off collecting the rocks so you can corner the space rock market yourself! Very clever. But I’m one step ahead he he he…”

Before he had time to respond Marigold had zipped off and was pocketing some of the smaller rocks. Bobo shrugged. Whatever made her happy. Then he had a thought. Maybe…? He picked up a space rock and took a small bite. He was surprised to discover it tasted like a fairly flavorless cheese. Wensleydale perhaps? Well, better than nothing. He pocketed a few rocks for later, just in case he got a bit peckish, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Marigold, who doubled her rock-collecting efforts.

They continued to walk for sometime, although Bobo insisted on stopping for a quick lunch around midday. If it could even be called midday: there was no sun, but rather a pinky-purple light suffusing the air close to the surface, which didn’t have any apparent change during the time they were walking. But Bobo had a very keen sense of when it was mealtime, so they based their estimations on his precise stomach rumblings.

Three and a half rumblings after lunch, Large spotted something in the distance.

“What is it son?” asked Gustipharts.

“Uh….a big…thing,” replied Large.

“Now what did we talk about with descriptive words there Large?”

“Oh uh…right. Ok. So it’s a big…big…” he grasped at straws. Gustipharts sighed.

“Well, it’s more than any of the rest of us have seen so far. Might as well head over to the big thing.”

And so off they went. And as they approached they realized that it was, in fact, a big thing. It looked kind of like a square hill. And as they got closer they could see on the side of the hill facing them was an enormous circular door. When Bobo realized what it was, he gasped.

Rara touched his shoulder. “What is it?”

“I had a dream about this door. Somebody…or something…asked me to come rescue them. It. From inside that door!”

Rara gasped. “Could it have been Susanoo-sama??”

“Or maybe Lord Gale??” Gustipharts jumped in.

“Or maybe someone rich who needs help carrying their treasure???” Marigold added.

“Or another thing????” said Large, not wanting to be left out.

Bobo shook his head. “Not sure. But that door is definitely important. Let’s check it out.”

They arrived in front of the door. It was very large — much larger, even, than Large. They all stared up at it. “Any idea how to open it?” asked Rara

“Nope,” said Bobo.

“Large?” said Gustipharts.

Large stepped forward and gripped…part of the door with his hands and pulled. It didn’t budge.

“Well then,” said Gustipharts. “I guess we’ll have to find-” Suddenly there was a whooshing sound from behind them. They turned as a group. Out of several dark portals stepped some monstrous, warped purplish doods. They had sinister smiles and were holding viciously curved weapons. One of them, slightly bigger than the rest, stepped forward. It stuck out its tongue, ran it along the blade hideously, and cackle-growled at them.

The rest of them started hooting and howling. Some of them seemed to be bouncing with anticipation. Some of them actually were bouncing, menacingly.

“They don’t seem friendly,” pointed out Large.

“They’re not,” said Bobo and Rara at the same time, pulling out their weapons.

“These are the corrupted doods. I think we called ‘em…boods. Back on my homeworld,” said Bobo.

“Good heavens!” said Gustipharts. His knees were knocking together something fierce. “This is what happens to doods when touched by the Taint? Oh how awful!”

“I guard you,” said Large, stepping in front of the Priest and pulling out his shield protectively.

Rara already had an arrow nocked and aimed at the biggest bood at the front of the group. She was trembling. “If these are the ones that attacked us…separated us from Susanoo-sama…I’ll take them all out!”

Suddenly one of the boods, a thin and twisted creature, let out a terrible shriek, a howl of bloodlust. As one, the pack of boods charged forward with little care for life or limb, stepping on and over each other in their desperation to get to the bold dood companions.

“Get ready,” said Bobo. “This is going to get hairy…”

But before any hairs had the chance to sprout into existence, there was a massive WHOOSH and a powerful gust of wind that separated the would-be-combatants. Doods and boods alike were knocked clean off their feet, except for Large holding onto his shield. Peering up over the top of his shield, through the dust kicked up by the sudden wind, Large gasped in shock. Then he cried out in sheer jubilation: “LORD GALE!”

“Could it really be?!” asked the Priest, hauling himself up with his staff.

“It is,” boomed a voice from above them.

And there he was. Gale, God of the Tempest of the Planet Galesbreath, stood in front of them in all his regal magnificence. Bobo’s mouth gaped open. All around Gale, the air was flowing in strong currents, weaving and intertwining to form a magnificent and ethereal cape. Higher up, the god carried an enormous tome whose pages were constantly fluttering in the countervailing breezes even as the divine’s fingers twitched and worked enigmatic incantations. And in the center of it all, in the eye of his own self-centered storm, Gale himself stood stone-still — his stillness a dangerous promise of power yet unleashed.

The boods below him quivered in fear and and shook with anger, but somewhere in their animalistic fury, they realized that they were outmatched. They retreated — somewhat — to where they had blinked into existence, where the dark portals had unceremoniously dumped them. They raised their arms to the sky and hollered and yelled. But nothing happened.

“Your master has abandoned you,” said Gale matter-of-factly. “Leaving you alone to face my wrath.” He waved a hand nonchalantly. A strong wind kicked up underneath the boods, lifting them off their feet. They yelled in fear and shock, and there were even a few whimpers. Gale shook his head sadly. “If only I could save you…but I cannot. Goodbye.” He made a gesture heavensward, and that was the last they saw of the boods, shrieking and screaming as they flew off into space, carried by the wind.

After a moment, Gale turned to their group. Large and Gustipharts immediately got down on their knees, Marigold a moment later. Bobo and Rara looked at the god as curiously as he looked at them. “You are not of my world,” he stated.

“Nope,” said Bobo.

“Uh…Lord Gale. We came to your world by accident. We were attacked by…I guess boods, and a corrupted goddess. Of his world,” she motioned sadly to Bobo. “There was a fight, and we got separated from our friends — two doods we were traveling with, and a god — Susanoo-sama. You might know him, he’s very powerful. Have you seen him? Them?”

“We came here,” added Bobo, “to look for them. To look for you. But also to look for a way to get to the Spirit Realm. We need to get there.”

The winds around Gale spun up into a roar, even as the god himself stood stock still. “Why do you need to get there?”

“To save the godiverse,” said Bobo, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “After dinner, of course,” he added in. He didn’t want this god to get any ideas about skipping meals.

“Hmm,” said Gale. “How curious.”

“If it please you, Lord Gale,” said Gustipharts, “We would like to know why you have not returned yet to Galesbreath. Will you be returning soon?”

“Hmmmmm,” mused Gale. “It has been some time, hasn’t it? He looked up at the sky. “It can be hard to keep track here. But to answer your question, Gustipharts, I was looking for this door. The door to the Lost Dungeon. I could not find it. It was concealed from me, I realize now. A clever spell.”

“What kind of spell?” Marigold piped up curiously.

“Only someone who was not looking for it, but looking for something else, could find it. Almost everyone comes to this world looking for the Lost Dungeon — so of course, very few find it. But you, my dear doods, came here looking for something else. In fact, none of you were looking for the Lost Dungeon itself. And so, of course, you found it immediately.” Gale nodded sagely. “Of course, of course. I should have known. In any case, now the door is here. I will open it and descend. I sense a great darkness within. And to protect Galesbreath, we must be rid of it.”

Without any further explanation, the Tempest King strode right over them. Bobo couldn’t help but notice that the door was just the right size for a god. Clapping his hands together, Gale muttered a booming spell, and with a crack and peal of thunder the door swung inwards, revealing flaming torches descending down stairs into distant darkness.

Gale turned to the group. “I do not know if we will find your lost companions. I do not know if we will save the godiverse. But I do know that you will find something down there — something that you probably didn’t even know you were looking for until you find it. You have come this far. Will you join me? Or shall I send you home to Galesbreath?”

None of them hesitated.

_________

The dungeon itself appeared to have been carved out of solid rock. Straight tunnels with torches along their sides gave way to strange markings on the wall. Gale would spend some time analyzing these markings before opening his lofty tome and working some godly magic. Then a portal would materialize and they would be taken to impossibly large rooms with mist swirling around impressive plateaus. And that was where they were waiting for them.

Boods. Many boods. Gosh that’s a lot of boods.

As they approached the plateau, Gale would pick and choose from their group, forming a team while one of them rested. Then off they would go, fighting their way through the hordes of baddies. Gale was incredible. His mastery of wind magic carried them through many a fight. The rest of them, meanwhile, battled just to survive.

“Bobo! I need your help over here!”

“Large, don’t worry — I’m coming! Rara are you ok?”

“Yes but — oh no! Gustipharts is under attack!”

“AHhhhhhH!”

“Crap, I’ll just go over there and- AHHH!”

“Bobo! Are you ok? I’m comin- AHHH!”

“Bobo? Still need your help over here! I’m about to lose it-AHHHH!”

They would be overwhelmed: and then suddenly, he would be there. A shield of wind would blow up, softening the boods’ attacks, before a bolt of lightning would turn them into so much dust. And Gale would appear over them, a whirlwind of destruction. And he would tell them: “Now we go on. Are you ready?”

Onwards they would go. Deeper into the dungeon.

They eventually arrived at three sets of markings, and Gale was analyzing them. They were exhausted. Bobo couldn’t even remember how many battles they had fought. It was one after the other, an endless melee of doods and boods and Gale at the heart of it all.

“You alright?” Rara asked.

“Tired. You?”

“We haven’t found Susanoo-sama yet,” she said sadly. “Although,” she said, looking at Gale, “I have to admit that Gale-sama is very impressive. He’s helped us a lot so far.”

“Lord Gale is a god of great power,” huffed Gustipharts. “He will see us through.”

“What I want to know is where’s the treasure?” whined Marigold. She was sitting on top of Large, who was lying on the floor catching his breath. “We haven’t found anything yet.”

“That is not true,” said Gale from above, interjecting. He craned his head to look down at them, while they looked up in shock. The God of the Tempest rarely condescended to talk to them.

“Each battle we have taken many Souls. And I see now the markings here which will lead us to the Soul Trader. We shall go there. Perhaps we will find the treasure you seek,” Gale said calmly.

Marigold leapt with joy. “Thanks Lord Gale! You’re the best god I know!”

Gale nodded, touched the markings, and whisked them away.

_________

“Welcome to the Soul Shop my dearies!”

Bobo opened his eyes. Traveling through the portals created by those markings always left him slightly disoriented. Blearily he scanned where they had arrived. They were in a dimly lit chamber, far smaller than the massive battle plateaus they were used to. The chamber was mostly empty, but for a wooden caravan parked squarely in front of them.

The caravan was full of knick-knacks, paddywacks, and even bones. There was a gauntlet with an evil eye, a metallic cat with a waving paw, and something hanging by a rope that looked like a cross between a hot dog and a chicken foot. There were all sorts of vials and bottles, jars and containers containing liquids of different viscosities glowing with phosphorescent colors. He had certainly never seen a shop of its like before. And standing in front of the caravan proudly was a small…dood? Bood? It was dood or bood shaped, at least, but it was wearing some sort of gas mask with glowing green eyes. The figure waved at them again.

“Welcome travelers! Come to buy some goodies have we? Well do we have goodies for you! And baddies, if you want them! No neutralies though, we’re out of stock.”

Gale let out a sigh that felt like a cooling breeze. “I will let you decide what to buy,” he said to the doods. There was a sudden clinking thud. A very large pouch of…coins?…dropped down next to their group. “I have formed these Souls into something you may be more familiar with handling. Purchase what you feel we need to continue our journey in the dungeon. I will be waiting near the next markings.” And with that, the Lord of the Tempest floated gently away, past the wooden caravan, towards a set of glowing markings on the back wall of the chamber.

Marigold dashed to the money purse and hauled it up, displaying a strength none of them knew she had. “TREASURE! Let’s go spend it~”

As a group, they sidled up to the shop, forming a semi-circle around the shop owner. “So uh…” began Bobo. “Whaddaya got for us?”

“Whaddaya want?” said the shop owner. “For those fine-looking Souls, I’m sure we can come to some sorta deal…or maybe even more…”

“What does that mean?” said Bobo curiously.

The shop owner threw back her head and guffawed. Then she blinked and looked at him in confusion. “I don’t know.”

Rara sighed. “Are you insane?”

“Ha!” said the shop owner. “Who would be crazy enough to take their business and set up shop in a mysterious and lost dungeon?”

“That’s a yes then,” said Rara drolly.

Large was staring at a backpack on the back wall of the caravan. Suddenly he noticed the backpack was staring back at him. A small blue creature with bright crystal eyes popped its head out and smiled at him toothily before popping back into the backpack. Large gasped.

“Are you alright Large?” asked Gustipharts.

Large pointed at the backpack. “There was a thing in there!”

Gustipharts sighed and patted Large consolingly. “Of course there was Large, of course there was.”

Rara stepped up to the shop owner and crossed her arms like she meant business. “Insane or not, we’re here to do some business. Who are you anyway? Why are you here?”

“Why, I’m the Soul Dealer!” said the Soul Dealer matter-of-factly. “I deal in Souls,” she explained.

“Uh huh…but why are you here of all places?”

“Here is better than there for doing business, I find. Most people won’t go over there, but they’ll always turn up here eventually.”

Rara shook her head in exasperation. “What???”

“We don’t have any of those at the moment. Sorry.”

“Now then, hang on just a minute,” Gustipharts chimed in. “If I may, dear Rara…good. Well yes, quite. So: ahem. I am Priest Gustipharts. We would like to buy some items for healing. Potions, if you will.”

“Potions you say! Great. I have a Potion of Feeling Better right here. And if you’re feeling saucy, a Poison of Feeling Better too, although that one has some side-effects…”

“Such as?”

“Possible death for the user.”

“That doesn’t sound like feeling better at all!”

“Perhaps you could say that it’s more of a mental better than a physical better.”

“What about a treasure hunter seeker whatchamacallit?” piped up Marigold.

“But of course my dearie! Would you like the treasure hunter seeker whatchamacallit (mini) or the original? The mini comes in mint blue and/or teal!”

“What’s the difference between the mini and the original?”

“About 3 inches.”

“I’ll take the mini! In teal, please.”

“Sold! One treasure hunter seeker whatchamacallit (mini — teal) coming right up.” She dove into the back of her caravan. There was a tremendous crashing sound and they had to duck as the Soul Dealer tossed an assortment of items into the air. She emerged a moment later with a circular block with a bird’s beak on it.

“It’ll hoot when there’s treasure nearby,” said the Soul Dealer, handing it to Marigold. “Make sure to feed it after it hatches.”

“Neat!” said Marigold. “And how much is this?”

“How about that bag of Souls you have?”

Marigold gasped. “That sounds expensive! How about one Soul out of this bag?”

The Soul Dealer fainted. She just fell right over on the spot. They gasped. Was she ok? They gave her some water from their pack, not wanting to risk any of the potions or poisons. She began to come around. “Oh, I’m sorry…that price…it was way too low. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy…”

“Ok, ok!” said Marigold. “How about…I don’t know…50 Souls??”

“Sold!” said the Soul Dealer, leaping up at once, in the best of health.

Marigold counted out 50 of the coins from the pouch and handed them to the Soul Dealer, who put them into her own knapsack. From there business proceeded fairly smoothly. Bobo bought some food, including three of the hot dogs with chicken feet. Gustipharts acquired several vials of potions, including the Potion of Feeling Better, a Potion of Greater Faith in the World, and a Tonic of Energized Guts. The Priest also bought Large a sticker of a shield, which Large carefully placed on the inside of his real shield, so it wouldn’t get damaged in combat. He lovingly stared at the sticker of the shield every time he lifted his real shield. It was an awesome shield sticker that made him think about how awesome his shield was. He was really thrilled.

Rara picked up a few arrows, but she wanted more. “Do you sell information?” she asked. They were almost ready to go.

The Soul Dealer was counting her Soul coins, setting them into stacks of perplexingly different heights. “Oh yes my darling, what kind of information do you want? Secrets? Headlines? Or the mundane day-to-day kind?”

“We’re looking for some gods and doods. Susanoo-sama is a god — have you seen him? He carried a big sword and is probably the strongest god ever. He was traveling with our friends: the Summoner and the Dragoon.”

“Hmmm,” said the Soul Dealer. She twisted some knobs on her knapsack, and her eyes changed color, from green to blue to pink to purple. “I see…I see…” Then she gasped. “Wow!”

They all waited for her to go on. She didn’t. “Uh…what did you see?” asked Rara.

“Lions fighting knights! With guns! In a different dimension!”

“…huh?”

“Oh, hold on, getting some static here…”

They held on.

Her eyes went bright red. “Danger!”

“Danger?” said Gustipharts nervously. “What kind of danger?”

She looked at them, her eyes slowly fading back to green. “Hmmmm…hard to say! But I would hurry if I was you. Something is coming for them.”

“What?” asked Rara. She was very pale. “What is coming for them?”

The Soul Dealer shrugged. “Something very bright.”

_________

Deep in the dungeon, on a level much lower than where our heroes were talking with the Soul Dealer, a voice cried out in terror, then pain, then anger. “Let them come!” said the voice. “We will be ready for them!”

There was a bang, then a whimper. “Please help.”

Silence. A bestial roar from the deep.

“They should never have abandoned us.”

_________

And that’s a wrap for this week gang! What did you think of this first foray into the Lost Dungeon World of Letrina? Mayhaps you have some thoughts about this week’s episode? We would love to hear ‘em! Come on down to our Discord where there are oodles of doods just waiting for you to join ’em. And while you’re at it, sign up for our Telegram and Twitter to stay up to date with all the Apeiron latest.

As always, thanks for reading, godlings. We’ll see you next time.