To The Nether

As Stella arrived at the Manor she saw that Loki was waiting outside for her, Stella was still unhappy about being banned from the dungeon especially now that she had the new gear to use.

"Goddess Loki, what do you need me for?"Stella asked

"You don't look so good, come inside we need to talk."Loki said

Stella and Lefyia followed Loki into her office where the other members were already sitting down waiting.

"Well, first things first here is your bag back, from what I heard it was extremely helpful."Loki stated

"Yea it cut traveling time and costs down."Finn said

"Second we were going to go on vacation but due to someone opening a portal that will not be happening."Loki said

Stella saw all eyes on her with a mix of sadness and curiosity for not being able to go on vacation or because of the mention of the portal.

"You didn't tell them?" Stella asked

"No, you made the portal and you know the most about it, might as well get you to explain it."Loki said

"Ok then… I found a subfloor on the 15th floor and at the end was a broken portal. I remembered some old legends and decided to see if they were true, turns out they were true. That led to the portal's functional operation."Stella explained

"What should we expect on the other side?"Riviera asked.

"I wasn't expecting you all to enter… Uh, the place is called the nether it's a dimly lit infernal wasteland it's also very cavernous. It's really hot due to oceans of lava, there does seem to be some type of flora although I haven't had a good look due to injuries upon opening. Oh, Loki doesn't seem to be able to sense your falna while inside."Stella explained with a small amount of confusion

"Ugh, we were just somewhere hot and now we have to go back?"Tione complained

"What about monsters in the nether?"Ais asked

"I only fought one monster and that was upon opening the portal, it's called an enderman probably around high level 2 seeing as it ripped my limbs off with ease, other than that I have no idea for all I know there could be other humans inside."Stella said

"OH, how could I forget! The nether isn't anything like the dungeon, so safe zones can be created and monsters don't respawn, although I would expect a lot of fire-based monsters."Stella followed up

"Ok, what about the portal itself couldn't we just break it to prevent all this trouble?"Bete asked

"Yea it should be easily disableable, breaking the frame or something similar should work. I don't know if there are side effects to doing that so it should be thought through before it is done."Stella remembered

"Then we just have to prepare supplies for the journey then we are set to go."Gareth said

"I already have supplies ready, then I brought the stuff I was going to put into my bag with me."Stella said

"I noticed, what with the casket though?"Loki asked

"Just something I need to keep on me. You sure you want to join me in the nether you guys just got back from your expedition afterall."Stella asked hoping that Loki didn't pry for more information

"Yes we are going, we can't let something potentially dangerous happen in the dungeon."Finn said

"Who said you were going?"Loki said

"Me, I did. I am the only person here who has had years' worth of experience in something like this, you all fight monsters, the dungeon isn't a navigation challenge, it's a combat one. Plus with how the nether looked you will need me to carve through the rock and build bridges."Stella firmly said

"Aren't we just going down to break the portal?"Bete asked

"And what, risk the portal collapsing improperly and something catastrophic happens?"Stella rebutted

After that, Stella was allowed to go with them, Stella went down and packed her supplies into the bag. With the casket, extra golems, food, some extra materials, and other supplies she kept around she was ready.

Stella waited for the other members but while doing so she swore someone was watching her but she couldn't find anyone.

"Are you guys ready to go?"Stella asked

"We are ready to move out, remember you are leading the way."Finn said

Stella headed to the dungeon with Finn, Riviera, Gareth, Tione, Tiona, Bete, Ais, Lefiya following her. She definitely thought that bringing all executives was overkill for the nether but she wasn't going to say no to the backup just in case she did need it.

She pulled her golems out of her bag and had them clear the way down to the 9th floor before making a detour to collect more quicksilver.

"What's with the statue isn't the portal on the 15th floor?"Bete asked with annoyance in his voice

"Just collecting some quicksilver here ignore the statue though."Stella said "I've collected what I need, let's keep going."

"What's with the statue though? When did it get here?"Bete asked again

"It's a statue that hurts your head when you look at it so ignore it, and it probably turned up here when the dungeon changed."Stella replied

With the golems clearing the way to the 15th floor they got to the secret hallway pretty quickly. Stella warned them to be careful of the creepers and soon after they made it to the portal.

When the party entered the portal room, the other familia members saw the large black portal with the hazy purple portal within it.

"I'll see you all on the other side."Stella said

With that, the other followed through after Stella.

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Word Count: 967

The first proper exploration into the nether, the other familia members wont be with us the entire time so it should be mostly solo. Suggestions and power stones are always welcomed