4.49 – Reunion

4.49 – Reunion

Their rewards didn't come out of a chest. Instead, in each room, a single item was laid atop a pedestal. Since she and Ana were on a time limit—and this time, of their own irresponsible creation—they scanned the area for traps, grabbed their loot, and moved to the next room. There would be time to identify the items after they'd returned to the dungeon proper, and more importantly, taken a dose of the infertility potion.

So despite her curiosity, she purposefully didn't inspect the items, knowing they would distract her, sure to be the typical brand of ridiculousness. Though she couldn't help but note their appearances: an ink vial, a necklace, and an arrow with a pink metal tip.

The third reward room had an exit into a familiar-looking hallway, which hosted a ladder up and a door leading deeper into the series of challenges. Which meant the event wasn't over; they could go deeper if they wanted. That revelation made her resolve waver. Maybe they should continue. The rewards were amazing. She had hoped the challenge would conclude naturally, so the decision would be out of her hands.

But the two of them had laid out their reasoning for wanting to leave early, and a fundamental rule of dungeoneering was to not get too greedy. There was always more loot to dig up, more challenges to take on. Greedy delvers rarely made it to the higher levels. Oftentimes, they didn't make it back to the surface. Good judgment needed to prevail.

So, sharing a look with Ana, Natalie nodded, then ascended the exit ladder. It was awkward with all their recently gained loot, and especially with her enormous two-handed hammer, but not so tricky she couldn't manage it.

The ladder led into an opening in the ceiling, and the light from below faded as she, with difficulty, climbed higher and higher. Ana followed beneath her.

It took a while, with Natalie even working up a sweat, before something happened—though it wasn't them reaching the top. Instead, without warning, the entire wall, ladder included, bucked, as if something gigantic had hit the stone and rattled the ascension shaft. Natalie was sent tumbling backwards, and instead of hitting the other side of the wall, she passed through open air, then started plummeting down a smooth, angled passageway.

She cursed as she tumbled downward, losing grip on her items as she went head-over-heels in the darkness. Her elbows, knees, and head banged every available surface. For a long minute—probably faster, but the aggravating descent didn't feel like it—Natalie simply tumbled, desperately trying to get her bearings as she unceremoniously barreled through the exit chute.

The rude passageway spat her out from the ceiling, and Natalie slammed into the ground—and not gently, either. She was a level-two tank, so a mundane fall from that height wasn't incapacitating, but that said, it wasn't pleasant. Tougher than most people or not, hurtling from the ceiling into hard tiles would leave a few bruises, come morning.

Scrambling to her feet—there was no time to lie on the floor and groan in displeasure—Natalie realized something felt strange about her body. Something had changed while she'd been falling. She was too disoriented, and worried about her immediate safety, to make the obvious conclusion why.

Natalie scanned the room to make sure there weren't monsters, then, hearing Ana tumbling down above her, rushed over to catch her. Their team's mage didn't have the physical durability she did. Hitting the ground at that speed might actually hurt her.

Natalie got in position just in time, catching Ana as she barreled from the ceiling. The thin woman landed in her arms with an 'oof', her breath taken as she slammed into Natalie's grip. It wasn't a perfect catch, but much better than hitting the ground at full speed.

For a moment, Ana blinked up at her—and Natalie at the mage, also caught off guard. Because it was Ana, cradled inside her arms. As in, Ana. In her own body. And just as oddly, wearing her flimsy mage's robes, barely concealing her modesty. She'd come out of the shaft fully dressed.

Natalie started to mentally brace for that, but crashing noises coming from above interrupted them. Both their heads snapped up.

"A quick reunion with our team?" Ana asked, looking in vague interest at the exit chute. "Or monsters?"

Natalie scooped up her hammer, ready for the worst—but it turned out to be the former. A blur of white hair rocketed out of the tunnel. Sofia.

Annoyingly, the woman twisted in the air, then landed feet-first in a crouch. She uncoiled herself in the next instant, rapier drawn, aimed at Natalie and Ana in a deadly pose. She didn't look perturbed by the violent tumble in the slightest.

This woman just always had to be perfect, didn't she? Natalie eyed her, oddly aggravated at the elegant landing. At least she hadn't seen Natalie slam nearly face-first into the ground during her exit.

"Oh," Sofia said, orienting herself. "It's you two."

Sofia's collar was still around her neck, with the leash attached to her own belt. It had broken off Natalie's when she'd jumped through the portal. Natalie had almost forgotten about that. And her heart did a little jump, seeing the accessory.

In just as smooth of a motion as her landing, Sofia sheathed her rapier, then took one step sideways and caught Liz as she crashed down from the ceiling. She set the healer on her feet, gave her a once-over, then nodded in approval before Liz even seemed to know what was going on.

Jordan came next, but Sofia didn't bother to try and catch her—their rogue landed the most smoothly out of all of them, not even seeming to try to orient herself. Like a cat, perfectly unruffled by the violent, disconcerting arrival. She was their prowess-based class, to be fair. Even more than Sofia.

Jordan brushed herself off, then glanced at Natalie and Ana.

"Nat-Nat?" she asked. "Or Ana-Nat, still?"

"It's me," Natalie said.

And thank the heavens that all of that confusing nonsense was over.

"Good to see you two made it out fine," Jordan said with a nod. She looked around the room. "Now, what's going on here?"