12.2

Escaping the furor of her escapade had been as easy as waving money at the casino manager and letting her take charge of the limelight. Eve was able to quickly acquire her attempted escape artist Ooze, Mr. Wiggles, to have a nice quiet chat in a private room the casino provided for a small fee. The luxury chair she was sitting in did much to take the edge off her anger, but it wasn’t a cure-all. She detested those who attempted to jiggle their way out of a deal.

“You attempted to escape,” Eve said while watching the ooze wiggle innocently on the table in front of her. She watched dispassionately as the flexible ball of liquid fluffiness attempted to proclaim innocence in ooze-speak.

Mr. Wiggles firmly declared he was merely heading to the bathroom, no he wasn’t attempting to escape. He was an Ooze of solidarity, trustworthiness, and honor, mostly. To doubt such a wiggling ball of fluffiness was tantamount to declaring a distrust of all thinking entities in existence, especially those made of liquid pure honey goodness. Like him!

At least, that was how Eve interpreted the frantic ooze body language.

Eve gave the gimlet eye at the attempting-to-appear-guiltless Ooze before she said in a threatening tone, “I’ll let it go this time. Another escape attempt though and it’s the spell component lab for you Mr. Wiggles!” The ooze wiggled nervously in agreement before she snapped her fingers signaling Kudzu. A vine that grew an enormous mouth exited her hairpiece devouring Mr. Wiggles in a single gulp. With that business taken care of Eve pulled rope hanging near her chair to summon Midnight.

The casino was displeased at the appearance of an Outsider, but they were ecstatic to be able to claim one of their gamblers defeated a Luck Reaper. It was a double-edged blessing that Eve had no doubt the casino management would manage to use for turning a healthy profit.

She didn’t care in the least about how the casino would handle the situation. Instead, Eve was more interested in the monetary profit involved. There was a massive amount at stake, and to put it lightly she wasn’t going to be left out of the cash grab.

Midnight arrived with prompt speed, practically bouncing on her feet. Outsiders were bad for business, but nobody could deny the effects they imprinted on reality upon their death were beneficial to many. The table that had been part of Eve’s battle was now a Divine quality piece of work. Such items were highly sought after by various godlings according to Nota. Deities were able to spread influence, blessings, and messages through appropriate relics attuned to their powers. For a gambling god, the table was tantamount to Mount Tai.

I won’t be leaving without taking a cut. Forty percent is my bottom line, but let’s bluff for more. Eve thought. It might appear mercenary with the amount of money she already had access to, but there was no such thing as too much money. The fastest way to go back to being poor is to spend without replenishing.

Midnight appeared within moments after the summons, closing the lavish room’s door behind her with grace. “How can Southside Solar Casino of the Sand meet the needs of our esteemed guest?” Midnight said with sincerity as she approached the table to sit down opposite Eve.

“Such a valuable new piece of furniture at the cost of my own personal well-being. I should get ninety percent of the sale.” Eve said her eyes twinkling under the hood of her disguise. The tone of her voice displayed the mannerisms of an elderly crone. Infiltration jobs back on Earth had always been her forte before she was recruited into the special squirrel squads.

Midnight made a choking noise before regaining her equilibrium with aplomb, “Ten percent is the most we could afford, the loss of reputation is immense. I’m afraid we couldn’t bear the cost if you wanted more than that.”

“The loss of reputation for being known as the casino that even Outsiders dare not enter? I think not, eighty-five.” Eve countered.

“Property damages, hush money to keep the authorities uninvolved, auction fees. They all add up, honorable one. More than thirty percent would be difficult for the house to bear.” Midnight replied nervously.

“Insurance covers such damages, and the rest are normal costs of business, you have funds already set aside for such things. If you didn’t this casino wouldn’t be the overlord of the city’s South. Let’s settle at sixty, or would you prefer to bet against me?” Eve said tapping the tabletop with a single finger. Her tone was no longer elderly and meandering but sharp and accusatory. Her entire body language depicted someone ready to enact violence on a massive scale. Eve even went the extra mile allowing the Witch’s Dust to release the scent of a bloody battlefield into the air around her.

Should have been a movie star. Eve thought as the drow flinched.

With undue haste, the drow’s eyes fluttered as she used a Skill to make rapid calculations and a Spell to message someone deeper in the casino. Once her expression cleared Midnight said, “Agreed. Plate number?”

Eve effortlessly recited the lengthy alphanumeric inscription on the back of her adventurer’s exquisite orichalcum plate. The number would seamlessly link with her bank account allowing traceless funding. She didn’t want any interested parties bothering her later by following the money. As a former Earthling, she had seen enough shows to know the money trail was how they caught all the opportunistic individuals.

“The money will be delivered within the month. Is there anything else?” Midnight asked her expression carefully blank.

Eve moved to stand and said, “No. As long as my money arrives on time there won’t be any issue from my end.” Reaching out she deciphered the framework of spatial seals encompassing the casino. While her mind couldn’t calculate the route to escape, it was child’s play for Felix to manage. A single Spatial Step pulled her out of the casino and directly back to the training ground with minutes to spare.

Her clothing morphed as her body shifted into Zun Eve’s form. Combat robes with a plethora of pouches, pockets, and muted shades of off-white decorated her body with rapid speed. It was a statement of power to wear white in the desert’s brutal conditions. White clothing would normally stain with minimal effort and showed dirt easily. Those who could wear the color white were powerful enough to prevent such things, or wealthy enough to afford enchantments to that end.

As she had seen from previous encounters, the children responded well to status symbols along with pure power. It was to be expected that those of noble blood had been trained in a manner that made logical sense to the family’s Elders. As the sun crested over the City of Gold’s outer wall horizon, the four prospective minions showed up early.

Eve nodded appreciatively, in the military early was on time, and on time was late. It was extremely pleasing to have students that didn’t shirk until the last minute. If any of them had shown up late with toast in their mouth, her displeasure would have manifested quickly.

As soon as all four were in front of her, Eve said, “Everyone ready to go?”

A chorus of agreement met her with Red being noticeably less aggressive. Clearly, the blandishments of Purple, or his family Elders, had toned his nature down. Eve regretted the opportunity to let off steam, but there would be monsters aplenty soon in the Tower of Sand. Grasping the space around the children Eve pulled them into a Spatial Step shifting location with casual ease. She noted the shocked expressions with amusement as reality shifted and flowed around them with ease. The distance that would have taken most of the day to cover was done within moments. Flicking her hair as if slightly winded Eve said, “That took longer than expected.”

She enjoyed the coughing noises behind her while moving to stand in front of the Tower. The name was self-explanatory as the massive building appeared like nothing so much as someone opening a spigot in reality to the Plane of Sand. At the base of the enormous sand waterfall in the shape of a pillar, a single slice of darkness as if a dark god peered into the world existed. No one had been able to discover how the Tower of Sand didn’t overflow the surrounding, but not a single speck existed longer than the time it took to reach the ground. There had actually been tests run by a cabal of wizards dedicated to the study of the phenomenon who largely concluded the planar sand was being pulled back in a consistent cycle of arcane manipulation.

The dungeon had been formed from the excessive mana created from the rift and it was a prime location for discovering treasures, gaining experience, and trading. The dungeon’s interior had never been mapped completely even centuries later leading many to believe it was an ever-expanding spatial pocket dimension. Eve wasn’t interested in the issue, as long as there was loot, experience, and stress relief.

Gesturing with a snap of her fingers, Eve led the group into the dark rift. Her senses mapped a strange twist in the Space Element before they were deposited on a large sandstone platform slightly elevated from the city beneath them. Two guards approached the newly arrived group, one with a combat-ready stance, and the second with a more lethal item, a clipboard.

“State your name and business please.” the clipboard-wielding guard asked, as the Truthstone on his shoulder pauldron attachment glowed softly.

“Eve, here to run my students from the Adventurer’s Guild through the dungeon for experience, loot, and fun,” Eve said moving in front of her charges. Their arrival was quickly settled with a five gold Rune Coin fee. Moments later everyone reached the bottom of the rift teleportation platform. Purple sidled up to her and said, “Teacher, they overcharged us.”

Eve nodded smiling as they entered the dungeon city before saying, “I know. Greed is an unfortunate thing, but it also speeds my path. Since the amount is a paltry sum I didn’t respond excessively.”

Purple said, “You did something to the guards?”

As they wove through the streets like a mother duckling and her young, Eve said, “Of course I didn’t. Do I look like the type of teacher to take revenge at the pettiest slight? I certainly didn’t do anything drastic like give them the runs for a day, or anything along those lines.”

Purple rolled his eyes before falling back in line with the others to start a whispered discussion. White and Glass giggled shortly after, much to her expectation. Young men gossiped just as much as old aunties at the market, especially to young women. Following the Map in her mind Eve unerringly moved them through the city at a rapid pace. Hawkers shouting their wares, pickpockets, travelers, adventurers and more flowed through the streets at a hectic pace. She didn’t want to spend any more time in the dungeon city than needed as it reminded her of a tourist trap from her old world.

After just under a quarter of an hour they exited the city. Once they were a good distance away and Eve couldn’t detect anyone shadowing them anymore she used Spatial Step to move them deeper into the first floor of the dungeon.

The first floor of the dungeon was filled with three main adversaries. Scorpions held sway in the west, sand snakes in the north, and turtles dominated the south. East was of course the dungeon city, along with the exit. The city itself was created as a front-line defense to stop dungeon monsters from wandering out. At least that was a common theory.

The reality was the city prevented dungeon farmers from departing with their gains without being taxed.

Never let it be said the City Lord of a merchant capital like the City of Gold allowed the opportunity to make money with legal robbery pass them by. Eve moved the party quickly to the Scorpion’s territory. She had a goal for all three creatures, and the poisonous critters would serve as good ‘food’ for Purple’s abilities to raise a level. Red would learn how to cook baking Snakes, while the two girls would find out how to break defense effectively on the turtles.

Eve smirked, she hadn’t picked this place on a whim after all.