Porthus

Porthus, a high elf rogue who barely survived the tenth floor of the dungeon, meets with his attorney to discuss indentured servitude deals as an alternative to continuing deeper. Wracked with guilt over potentially abandoning his companion Menerva during their escape, Porthus ultimately accepts a game guide position for one hundred seasons, a lengthy but relatively safe option that will delay his learning of what happened to those he left behind.

Porthus sits in a zero zone outreach guild meeting with his alien attorney, physically covered in blood and emotionally shattered from the horrors of the tenth floor—a world where inanimate objects possessed malicious sapience and consumed each other to grow stronger. His party of twenty has been decimated; he watched his companion Kimu die and is uncertain whether Menerva, a schoolteacher, survived after becoming trapped during their escape. The attorney presents several indentured servitude options: low floor undead work for fifteen seasons (dangerous), city attendant for thirty seasons (related to hunters who killed NPCs), and game guide for one hundred seasons (relatively safe with potential for wealth). Porthus struggles with the decision, tormented by memories of fleeing the floor when he might have helped Menerva escape. He reflects on a book he'd found and contributed to—the Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook—which gave him purpose through helping others. Despite his guilt and the crushing weight of his inaction, Porthus accepts the game guide position, knowing it offers his best survival prospects but resigned to years of uncertainty about Menerva's fate. As the attorney produces a new door and mentions pre-collapse items to collect, Porthus feels emotionally paralyzed, repeating an internal mantra of determination.