In this city, the heroes were the ones that helped all. The villains were the ones that judged by looks alone. -- Anon Guest
It was trial by adventure to cast the protectors of the city. Those who made it through the labyrinthine series of gauntlets were in the running. The ones who made it through the best were going to get all the prestige and associated responsibility thereof.
It was quite the gauntlet. Traps. Puzzles. Encounters. Monsters and innocent civilians mixed together. And of course, there was a trick that the would-be heroes had to unriddle.
Hero Team A, the best fighters from Noble families that Swinbrau had to offer, turned the corner to find a collapsed tunnel wall and a small Hellin half under the rubble. The devilborn was battered, bruised, and weak. They reached out to the heroes from the best school in Alfarell... according to the best school in Alfarell.
"Please... help me..."
"Tarry Not," said Duke Darrington. "This spawn of evil is not worth our notice. Onwards, my friends. We have a city to save!" They thundered onwards.
Hero Team C found the child, too, and delayed half an hour to dig the kid out of the rubble. Delaying to heal their wounds and giving the child some supplies. In return, they gained what looked like a small bauble.
It was a key that let them pass through many gauntlets. Gauntlets that the child gave them directions to.
Hero Team B had delayed every time to loot any area they passed through. Hero Team A fell prey to a trap that mere strength and bullheadedness could not combat.
Hero Team D were still bickering about the solution to the doors with two guardians, one who always lied and one who always told the truth.
They were extracted by the dungeon's designers, in varying states if disrepair, to witness the victory of Hero Team C, and their introduction to the city's leader. Prince Tenacity Whitekeep, his Human lady wife Lalandra, and their darling devilborn daughter - who Team C had rescued.
"To protect the city," announced the devilborn Prince, "heroes must care for the people of the city. All the people of the city. Even the ones you may believe are beneath you." He had a pointed glare for Hero Team A as he welcomed his daughter onto the stage. "I'd have thought heroes like you would rescue a lady of nobility, and heir to this principality."
The Arch-Duchess curtseyed sarcastically in Team A's general direction.
Team A attempted to cry foul, that they couldn't know that an apparent wretch was the key they had to unriddle.
"Go back to school," sighed Prince Tenacity. "And this time, try to learn something."
[Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash]
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