I awoke, bleary eyed, but still in the world of Wonderous Champions. Hoping it was a dream was a pipe dream itself. I rolled out of bed, washed my face in a wash bin that used to be just for show, and exited my room. Both Suzuha and FeelinLucky were also exiting their rooms at the same time. Their eyes showed that they also had trouble sleeping.
I raised my hand to them, “Ready?”
They both nodded somberly in return. Downstairs, we grabbed a quick breakfast. Suzuha and I both had a coffee but Lucky went with a simple water. He claimed it was because he would rather fight tired that ever drink that “bitter bean juice.”
It was time to meet my contact. I lead the group through the city towards the guild district. There were no longer any instances to load into, making this area even bigger than normal. Guild halls of all shapes and sizes lined the streets. Some had themes, like Grave Skulls, who only allowed the darker classes to join them. Theirs was a large haunted house. Others, such as Shining Blades, were more of a basic mansion in style. Our destination was none of these. There was one house that was more…eccentric…than the others.
We stopped in front of, what was essentially, a massive gingerbread house and candy landscape. The sign out front read a single word; Candyland.
“You know somebody from Candyland?” Suzuha asked.
“Oh no…” Lucky groaned. “It’s her, isn’t it?”
As I sheepishly grinned, a small, but powerful voice yelled, “Open the gate, Bro!”
The chocolate double doors opened inward. Standing behind the gate, at a grand total of three feet tall, was our pinch healer, Candy. Her Riki-la stature was even more pronounced with her pink pigtails and massive staff. Well, the staff was only massive due to her transmogrifying it into a lollypop. She was already dressed in her gingerbread armor.
She stood with her arms crossed while sizing us up, “I recognize FeelinLucky, but who’s the girl?”
“Candy, this is Suzuha, our Bard. Suzuha, meet Candy, our Druid for this dungeon and the guild master of Candyland.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Candy.” Suzuha reached her hand out.
Candy shook it back, “Likewise. Where’s the tank?”
FeelinLucky raised his hand, “We’re using my Flesh Hulk for this. The actual tank is the person we’re trying to rescue.”
“Tch,” Candy’s face twisted into a grimace. “Well, that
will have to do. Rickardio, you’re in charge while I’m gone!”
Behind Candy, a rather dour-looking Elven Sorcerer wearing cool blue robes nodded. I remember him as
Candy’s real-life brother. Glad to see she has some sort of family here. I
added Candy to our party and her health and mana bars appeared in the corner of
my vision before slowly fading. We also tried to open up the pickup group menu
but as it turned out, that menu was not able to be accessed.
“You’re all level 50. I assume you all have flying mounts?” Candy asked.
Suzuha and I grabbed a whistle from our inventories. Mine had a draconic motif and hers resembled a lion with wings. FeelinLucky, instead, took a bird skull out of his pack. We blew on the whistles and Lucky pumped magic into the bones.
Our mounts spawned underneath us. A green wyvern, a griffon, and a skeletal eagle allowed us the power of flight. Candy nodded and a green magic circle spread from under her. We watched as her entire form morphed into that of a larger-than-average eagle.
“Oh good, you figured out how to cast spells,” I said to the bird.
I received a screech that I could only interpret as “Yes, you moron.”
Wings flapped and mounts took off. We zoomed over the top of Canopy felt the wind in our hair as our mounts soared. Beneath us, the trees of Canopy and the surrounding area, called Shadygrove, gave way to farmland that was tilled by NPCs. Three hours of flight passed before we saw the scenery change again, which was odd since this flight usually only took about twenty minutes of actual game time. We crossed the farmland and into the later game areas. We took a sharp right and flew over the mountainous region of Scorching Peaks. Far below us we could see fire elementals and an assortment of other fire-attributed monsters roaming the volcanic wastes. Farther still we went until finally, we came across the last dungeon in the game, Abbadon’s Prison. A blasted wasteland filled with poisonous bogs and burning sulfur pierced our noses. At the far end we could see the dungeon.
Breaking through the dead trees, a colossal prison fortress made of black stone and metal greeted us with chains dripping from the outer walls. Our party landed at the entrance gate, but something was amiss.
“Uh, guys?” FeelinLucky said as he dismounted and dissipated his mount. “Where’s the dungeon portal?”
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