After all the mishaps she and Izume had so far in this dream, Lily was wary. "I remember running from a pair of trolls and then almost getting raped," she said. "I also remember a chamber with spider monsters that almost killed us."

“Yes, better thanks.” She answers the dwarf as they continue though when they get to the chamber she thinks back upon matters.

“I remember the spiders and trolls. I guess running from the orcs ...”

Marson nodded. She remembered a lot more but she was here a lot longer, the sleep gas robbed her memory initially.

“This is the Devil's Tomb. A complex of monsters but plentiful and powerful. King Rhea gassed us and tossed us in here, armed us and let us run about this place as part of his amusements. Many adventurers and convicts have been tossed down here throughout the years and I have mapped out the place as best as I can but as long as I have been here the place is too large for even me to have mapped out entirely. I have been told that there is an exit at the heart of this maze but have yet to find it myself ...”

Lily nodded absently, trying to think. She was sure all of this was a dream, but it felt so real. Maybe she was having a Wizard of Oz dream where she was in a totally different world where everything was real, but her body was asleep in her own world. And the only way to wake up is to complete this quest. She snapped out of her thoughts and realized she had only a scrap of armor left protecting her and her clothes were torn up. Not as bad as Izume's had been, but enough to make her look like she'd just been in a bad fight... which she had.

Izumi reflects on what had been said. “So we're what, entertainment? Convicts? Adventures?”

She asks as she thinks this over. They were in the Devil's Tomb, what a fitting name. Her first instinct was to blame this on Wraith … unlike Lily she was dead certain she was dreaming. Wraith could generate some rather vivid nightmares though this somewhat lacked his feel …

He got off on embarrassment and humiliation for the most part but there were others that gave her rather vivid dreams in the past in this nightmare place but she supposed that she had to play by the rules set by whomever was tormenting her this evening.

“Some of both actually, mostly adventurers though. I heard rumors that the King has magic so he can scry on this place and there are these things I simply call monster generators that spawn replacement monsters so an area doesn't stay clear for too long. Treasure is sort of an endless cycle here. You find it though eventually a monster kills you and gets it.

“I've been here ...” she thinks … “far longer than I ought to have. I guess three or four seasons. Time is tough to tell down here and as an Elf I need not sleep but enter a trance for about four hours per day so I marked things by rest periods.”

As Marson speaks Slate will restore Lily's clothes that were tattered but in better shape then Izumi's.

Lily thanked the dwarf before looking at Izume. Now that she actually had a chance to study her companion, she looked more like a real person than the others. Like someone she had seen plenty of times before, but never actually met. The only way she could find out was to ask the next time they were alone and as safe as they can be in a place like this.

Lily looked familiar though she could not place her. In this dream Lily had been a main character and everyone else thus far was a supporting character. Still, she had very vivid dreams in the past so Lily was either part of the dream or another student at Shokushu.

So by the sounds of it this Marson had been stuck here for two years! She realized that this dream would be nearly as long but still, the information was meant to be daunting but she considers matters a little.

“So what's the strongest monster? Wouldn't the exit be there and how are you certain there is one? This King may never want us to leave.”

Marson considered. “Over all it's a toss up between the Eye Tyrant and the Dragon there is only ever one of either at a time though, thank the maker!”

“You're welcome, miss,” the elder Slate smiled. He had his helmet off showing off his bald head. Yet it was clear that he was old he was in no way close to being infirm.

“We should bed down here for the night, though what are the options? Working our way to a lower level?”

“The deeper we go the more dangerous but I'm willing to bet that the exit is there and to answer your question from earlier miss they have to get us in her someway so there's bound to be a way out. What we do with the King when getting out depends on him I guess. He might not want us leaving after all.”

"Are you sure this place is safe enough to rest?" Lily asked. "The last time we were in a cavern this big, it was full of those spiders I mentioned."

She shudders recalling those horrid spider things, though if Marson had been here as long as she said she had she probably had some tricks of her own. She says nothing though just listening at this stage. By the magical light radiating from her staff she sees nothing though that is hardly saying anything.

"So we can only rest in rooms with these fungi?" Lily summarized. "I'll keep that in mind."

Hearing that they could rest in these rooms had been a bit of good news. Not just that but if they were getting overwhelmed she could rush to one until danger passed.

She considers this for a bit of strategy though a map of this place would be helpful. Seeing how Marson had not gotten out of this place though it would be incomplete.

“Have you ever faced this Dragon or Eye Tyrant?”

“There are other rooms you could rest in but these ones are safe, in others you run the worry about being attacked though and have to post sentries and the like.”

Marson nods as does Slate.

“I've taken on the Dragon but had to flee from it.”

“As did I. I have never faced the Eye Tyrant though but from other adventurers I have heard rumors of it deep below just past the Dragon. Unfortunately though I had to come back up, the upper most levels have all the healing if you know where to look but I was fortunate in running into Slate here, a priest, on the way up. His group destroyed by the roper, another fiendish adversary.”