Mordecai tried to not be too annoyed with himself as he started running through potential pns. Before Kazue had spoken up, he’d been trying to think whether or not any of their inhabitants would be fast enough to help Moriko if he sent them out of the territory; but really, no ohat could go was a faster ruhan her, as Mordecai's avatar couldn't leave the territory. It made much more se the bandits here. And chase her, they would; this bunch was far too close to civilization to let news of their whereabouts spread.

  “Kazue, alter the sliding door der to the dungeon foyer iran, first to open up a path for Moriko to run straight through into the puzzle path; she’s not going to be i shape for a fight immediately. As soon as she’s through, slide the doorening to the ter where Moriko's engraving is, and raise that panel out of the way. I’m going to open up the middle path to the sewers there.” He was using their soul link to make sure Moriko was kept in the loop, and as he spoke he used their loot capacity to summon a 9-ring sword. It was not actually his on of choice, but it was dramatiough to be a visible threat.

  “I am going to try and not actually fight them, but I hem to know that the threat is real. I won’t mention you, I know you aren't a fighter, but if it es down to it, you may o help out. Just, don’t move your avatar into the entranless you are ready to hurt and possibly kill people.” He hated having to put it that way, but this was not the time to dance around the topic. Kazue sent ba aowledgment filled with mixed feelings, which was only to be expected. She’d never been trained in violence, aook to it instantly.

  While Kazue prepped the doors, he focused ounnels of the sewer system. He’d not expected to his option so soon, but he also didn’t want to give this lot the ce to loot anything worthwhile. It didn’t take much to create a tuo the sele chamber, but it did make him realize he hadn’t designed any proper vents. That could have been bad. So he quickly corrected that, making the tunnel from the entrance slope down until it opened up on a vertical shaft that would el gasses up into brang tuoo small for the passage of anything bigger than an i. And little room for anything other than noxious gasses.

  Then he diverted a bit of the water that already flowed into the sewers, creating tiny cracks so that it would seep out onto the sloped floor of the tunnel, making it very much a one-assage that would eject people into the shaft and down into the main sewer below. Hmmm, it’d only been a couple of days, there wasn’t much growing here yet, though he could stimute the enviro a little if needed. But let's see how much he had left over at the end, after all, he had to make the rest of the sewer first.

  Under his dire the winding sewer caverns grew into another spiral, f rounded chambers with random outcropping and shallow holes. He ending more mana than he was happy with here, but fortunately making rough caverns was less intehan making precisely designed rooms. Carefully pced ‘hills’ and some occasionally wider areas in the corridors would help keep the water from flowing down to the bottom too fast. Finally, he drew it down into a single corridor that attached to the final room before the private chambers. After a moment of thought, he added an effect that would cause ice-cold water to sluice harshly over araveling through this st se. See, he could be helpful. We wouldn’t want our visitors to be gunky when they arrived, after all.

  Mordecai s his own humor, then used a bit of mana to bloom crystal flowers throughout the sewers. He didn’t really have a pn here, but it might be iing to see what grew iure from this. Okay, the path was plete, now for the st surge of mana he was willing to spend. Through the entire length of the mud mud, he pushed mana into the tiny anisms and molds already beginning to grow, encing them to grow and evolve faster. This mana was given freely as a gift, he wasn’t even making them guests. They were simply going to be part of the ecosystem here. He guided none of the growth, just enced it.

  New life forms began to stir, but he didn’t have time to observe them. Hopefully, they would be enough if it came down to it. With sword still in hand, he despawned his avatar, and held his focus orao the dungeon, while Kazue guided a sele of their inhabitants into newly formed exits from the warrens into the dungeory hall. It was tense waiting, even though he was certain Moriko was faster than those chasing her. It helped rex him when she sent a reassuring message.

  “Don’t worry, I got this. I even had to slow down a bit so the ones in front didn’t lose sight pletely.”

  Soon enough she was charging through the entrand went straight through the open doors. Kazue slid the opening over to the new pathway, creating an almost straight lihe bandits started arriving just after. Though to their credit, they showed a bit of caution: the front runners paused at the entrao wait for more of their group to catch up and for everyoo catch their breath at least a little. The dwarf was st of course, but he also was the least winded and recovered fastest.

  The group made their way in cautiously, peering around in fusion at the setup and the tables. This gave him time to evaluate their strength. While a dungeon's senses allowed it to examine auras iail with enough experiehere was a simple, rough gauge that was impossible to miss. It was generally impossible for a duo directly affect the enviro within about five feet of an outsider, and that radius grew with an individual's strength. A dungeon could always tell the extent of their influenear someone from the outside.

  The oni's radius was about te, and only a few of the others were noticeably rger than the baseline.

  The oni quickly showed he was the brains as well as the biggest brawn of this lot. “Looks like a living dungeon. Must be new, wonder if she’s been here before. Looks like someoaught it to make donation tables.”

  One of the goblins was scouting ahead and wrinkled his the path leading onward and down. “Stinks down here boss. But I don’t see any other way to go.”

  The oni moved into the chamber and frow the design, then down at the sele pedestal. “Something ain’t looking right here.”

  Well, this seemed as good a time as any. Mordecai took advantage of the fact that he’d asked Kazue to pull the visible entran a little from the actual edge of the duerritory, and spawned his avatar just outside the door, well clear of the influence of any of the outsiders. “That’s because this is the special path, for people I don’t like.” He said with a malicious grin. The way they started and spun was satisfying, arolled in, clearly blog their exit.

  “So, here’s the deal,” he tinued, mog the tohe oni had used previously on Moriko. “If you give up, I’ll take all your stuff, and send you on your way in small clothes.” As he spoke, some of the rabbit monsters started showing themselves. The lightning-horned ones appeared upon niches high up the walls to take advantage of their greater range, while the fire and ice breathers e ground level. All of them made a dispy of their energy - sparks running along their horns or little puffs hinting at their breath ons.

  “If you don’t want to just surrender, I’m going to be a little nice, and give you the ce to explore that route. Any of you who survive, I’ll let go. Or you take your ces right now, in which case I have no iion of showing mercy.” And here he finished maing his Eidolon, a small dragon f o him.

  The oni frowned as he took iup of the trap. “You should be too young to have all of this. Has the half-elf been influeng you? You should be careful about being her pet, she’s maniputing and using you.”

  Mordecai chuckled at the transparent attempt to sow division. “Oh, I’m much older than I look, but that’s a very long story. All you o know about us is that she’s mine, and I io keep it that way.” While the Oni remained collected, the rest of his crew was beginning to look rather more nervous. “Now, I’m this opportunity because I am trying to be stious about giving people sed ces. But currently, I really don’t like you, so my merd patience are at a limit.” He felt Moriko startle while he was talking and that brought more of his core's attention to her, and now he could feel that she was nearly recovered from her run. “And to be clear, while she’s safely catg her breath right now, if you choose to fight me here she will be joining in.”

  They stared each other down for a long moment, then the bandit grunted. “Fine.” Mordecai could practically see him calg the bance of the cost of equipment against the cost of repg men, assuming the Oni won. That was cold, and his dislike of the three-horned oni intensified. “We’re surrendering.”

  Mordecai gestured towards the donation tables. “Then start making your donations. We’ll wait.” The bandit leader made the first approad dropped his great sword oable, which immediately disappeared into the dungeon iory, and then began taking off his breastpte. The others began following suit, albeit relutly.

  There articur hesitation from the dwarf that, along with a telling fnce of sympathy from one of the half orcs, caught his attention. He focused on the small sheathed on on a heavy belt that had been the cause of the hesitation. He wasn’t familiar with the design, but its general purpose as a on seemed obvious. “ either of you tell me what that is?” he asked over the link.

  The answer came back quickly from Moriko. “That’s a flintlock pistol. I heard it go off when I was initially running. Despite being small enough to fire in one hand, they have a punch closer to that of a heavy crossbow if they hit dead on. Mostly manufactured by the dwarven s or the Trionean Empire.”

  Huh. And he could see some marking of a familiar type on it. The dwarf looked at him, and they locked eyes for a moment. He could see the pain iher’s gaze. “Let me guess, yift from the ? If it hurts that much, you’ve got a trace of honor in you still.” The dwarf winced and looked away, then slowly lowered the belt onto the table. As Kazue cimed it and began analyzing the on, Mordecai began thinking on a different path. After a moment he maed a silver around his neck, from which hung a small silver mirror staio show a swirl of shadows: the hierogram of Ozuran. Then he raised his voice to address the whole room.

  “Alright, when you are done, I’m going to offer some of you a sed ce. Amongst my many talents, I am a priest of Ozuran. If you choose to, and I agree, you may take a trial of ato. The challenges of the trial won’t be directly dangerous, but I will be watg how you duct yourselves. If I am satisfied, I will call upon Ozuran and ask him to aowledge your ato.” Such blessings could be detected by any priest should they e to trial iure, but it was only the start of the path, not a pletion. “If he chooses to give you his blessing, I will then give you a task to begin your journey, and will eveurn some of year. However,”

  And here his tourned grim. “Should you either not satisfy me in your duct, or should Ozuran not aowledge your ato as sincere, I will execute you.” He raised his sword to point at the oni, the rings chiming to emphasize the motion. “And don’t even ask. You might have a personal code that would satisfy Ozuran; after all, he’s more ed about people just having a set of personal rules for the game of life. But I have my own rules, and they are inpatible with yours. I won’t ask for a blessing for you.”

  Once more they locked gazes, and there was nothing friendly or fiving passing iher direordecai was beginning to doubt his decision to show mercy here, but he’d already given his word. The tension was broken at the sound of stone shifting, and Moriko stepped into the room, having fully recovered and also having ged into her temple uniform.

  “I’ve got to admit, I was rather looking forward to having a go at them under more even odds. But I guess this is best.” She gred at the boss bandit. “Let’s be clear, I’m going to do a full report on you, and if I run into you without your swarm of minions, I’ll take you out myself.”

  After that, the bandits began filtering out in just their underclothes, or nothing at all if they hadn’t been wearing any. In the end, only two remaihe dwarf and the half-orc. He’d been expeg at least one of the humans too, but this should do.

  Zagaroth