[center][color=lightblue][h1]Donnie[/h1][/color] Word Count: 1,063 Location: Adventurer’s Guild → Sisters of the Anvil → Adventurer’s Guild → Hole → Devil’s Casino EXP: Level 5 --> (10/50) + 2 = [b]12/50[/b] [/center] The general flow of people carried Donnie along with it toward the Adventurers’ Guild. At first, given the mad scramble outside, it seemed like the whole place might be a madhouse, but a gathering of people with nothing but the best intentions proved highly amenable to reason. Trusty as ever, the Houndmaster had established some organization inside the guild castle itself, preventing anyone from wantonly diving into the cartoonish black hole the guildmaster supposedly left behind. With unknown and unpredictable powers on hand, he argued a strong case for proper procedure. Preparations had begun for a large-scale interdiction, with the various adventurers backing off to fully supply and equip themselves, while the sheriff directed a quick reconnaissance effort with the help of a few choice veterans and sturdy rope. That left Donnie in the same boat as everyone else who wanted to help: possessed of a couple minutes to get ready while the heroes’ rescue was planned out. So there Donnie was, saved by the Houndmaster injecting some sanity into the operation. He had a precious few minutes to prepare, and he was [i]not[/i] going to waste it. Quickly thanking him, he ran out into the town streets, looking for a good blacksmith. He came across what looked like a town hall with an oversized furnace attached to the side. It radiated heat for upwards of a dozen yards even before he entered, and when he [i]did[/i] enter the building marked “Sisters of the Anvil,” that heat became downright sweltering. It was clear that this was a well-used smithy staffed by experts from the moment he stepped in. Countless blacksmithing tools of every size, shape, and description hung on the walls. Several anvils dotted the place, along with numerous cooling pools and workbenches, clearly meant to put out weapons and tools at a rate approaching, if not quite meeting, mass production. It wasn’t long before he came across the nearest of the three sisters, a pink-haired woman performing what was clearly some kind of mana-injection process on an otherwise-finished sword. “Hi!” she said, “I’m Rena, what can I do for you?” Donnie responded with, “You heard about the operation at the Guild Hall?” “Yep. You’re not even the first adventurer to come in here in the last few minutes. Everyone’s gearing up for the rescue operation, and I’ve been fixing up anything they bring in.” Donnie smiled. “You work fast, I see. Think you can fix up mine?” “Probably.” A few moments later… “Are you sure that armor wasn’t ceremonial?” “...No?” “That armor had world-record gems in the gauntlets and a helmet shaped like a tiger head! And you call that not ceremonial?!” the yellow-haired girl yelled incredulously from further into the shop. “I don’t know, I think it was kinda cute!” said the blue-haired girl. Donnie sighed as he finished putting on his gauntlets. “Look, Rena, you handle enchanting, right? You can [i]tell[/i] how strong the enchantments on this set of armor are. It’s not ceremonial, trust me.” “Whatever you say, tiger-boy,” Rena said mischievously. “Now [i]that[/i] I won’t argue.” Donnie said with a laugh. “Now, I really have to go. I think the operation’s starting.” And with that, Donnie walked out of the shop and booked it over to the Adventurer’s Guild. As he entered, he said, “Hey, Houndmaster, I’m all readied up, let me know when we’re going to start!” From the looks of it, just about everyone had been assembled into ranks taking the shape of concentric circles around the hole in the guild hall’s floor. At the Houndmaster’s direction, Donnie joined the innermost loop, poised to be one of the first leaping into the unknown. A tense few moments passed by as the final checks were made, and after the Houndmaster gave the all-clear, the operation officially began. Donnie quickly looked over his equipment, checking his armor (now in pristine condition, unsurprisingly--even the leather parts!) and the Fists (they’d been used to kill a lot of things lately, they could have probably done with a touch-up and a sharpening too, but the strength of the enchantments within more than made up for it), and then readied himself by getting on his trusty Disc of the Red Flying Cloud. He wouldn’t let this thing be a liability this time. He was just going to use it to descend safely without relying on the ropes everyone else was going to use. He took a deep breath, got into a cross-legged position on the disc to keep his stability, and when the signal was given, he made to move to the center of the hole and rapidly descend. As he descended down the hole, he first noticed how freakishly [i]deep[/i] it was, and the pure blackness on all sides other than directly up and down. It was obvious it was some kind of magical hole to begin with, but he expected it to be closer to a portal, not an extradimensional tunnel. It reminded him of the magical properties of the Luggage, and other Azerothian bags, more than anything else. It was as if the hole was a magical space layered on top of reality. The ground underneath the Adventurer’s Guild still existed, but this space coexisted with the foundation, soil, and rock. If an earthworm burrowed through the soil this tunnel filled, it probably wouldn’t notice anything different from the usual soil it was eating. But if you entered through the hole, you’d end up in this sub-universe instead. He was descending at maximum speed, so he was faster than the other heroes, who were descending via simple gravity. [i]Can they really survive the fall?[/i] Donnie asked himself. [I]Well, now that I think about it, they [/i]are[i] from other worlds so [/i][i]maybe?[/i] [i]I couldn’t manage that without Zen Flight. Come to think of it, I hope I remember that ability soon….[/i] Soon, Donnie emerged into the light below, slowing to a stop as he looked around. Getting off the Disc and holding it under his arm, he saw that he was in...a giant casino? A bunch of hazy-looking portals stood in front of him, with a giant dice-headed man looming over him. Skeletons monsters, and demons in fancy suits and expensive dresses played their money games around the table, and in the colossal casino grounds beyond. [i]What the hell have I gotten myself into?[/i] Donnie thought to himself as he facepalmed.