"So, opinions on how we should approach this?"

"Hmm. Get in, find a relatively safe space to watch and wait? 'Relatively safe' would be the difficult part, though."

"I was thinking the center; we can break the portal stone if there's an emergency then."

"That's a better idea. We might get the portal maker's attention more, too."

"That was my thought, yeah."

After some driving (and finangling with the farmer so they don't get in trouble for trespassing) they arrive at the dunj.

The inside doesn't have any monsters right away. It's odd, looks rather like somebody gave Gaudi an infinite budget and complete creative freedom, with flowing grey walls that melt into each other and the ceiling and rippled floor, studded with a rainbow of colored glass. 

Okay, that's a bit disorienting. (Both the lack of monsters and the melty walls. She's not sure which is more offputting.)

"Which of us should be the weapon?"

"I don't mind either way - I have a bit more experience wielding, I think, but that doesn't matter as much as it sounds like it should. And we'll likely have to switch off a good bit anyways... Why don't I start out as the weapon, and then once you get tired we can swap?"

"Sounds more than reasonable."

And they take Louie's hand, reminding her how to help them turn into sword form.

And help turning into a sword!

Sword Lianne!

'Well, onwards I suppose. The monsters might be sparser, or less aggressive, or more territorial, or more passive, if they're not coming near the entrance...'

And onwardsing-- carefully.

"They could be fewer but bigger. Though let's hope for 'non-aggressive.'"

'Definitely.'

'And speaking of, I think I feel something, the next right after this one coming up.'

She turns down that corner, holding Lianne in a guard position.

Larger, weird stone-and-glass gargoyle, slow moving and lethargic, apparently.

Well, slow moving is pretty good. Better than fast.

Has it spotted them? Is it acting aggressively?

Doesn't seem to have spotted them yet.

Do we want to see if we can sneak past it?

Maybe, though we might then have to fight it too, later.

True. I just want to get to the centre quickly if we can.

'Yeah, and usually that's best, but since we're planning on sticking around - we don't want to be defending the center against waves, necessarily.'

Good point. And the element of surprise is always good. Do you feel up to taking it on?

'Definitely. Ready when you are.'