They found themselves inside a room, with Draiss squatting on the edge of the table. He glanced at the thief from before, and after a few minutes, nodded to himself as one of the avatars contacted him, informing him that the bounty had indeed been updated. The bag of platinum was tossed to the thief, and he flickered and wavered for a second before he turned to the newcomers. "Welcome. I am Draiss Arcaniss, The Archdragon. Or, more accurately,<strong>I</strong>am a semi-solid illusion, created to greet you. This is my home. So, just to ensure there are no misunderstandings, this room is where challengers are routed to in order to ensure that they have indeed read the rules. Rules are posted on the wall to my right in most common languages, and this room is warded to prevent violence. Once outside this room, you are in charge of your own security. Constructs are you primary opponent, and being the good sport that I am, I have scattered items of value around my domain to keep things interesting for both sides.<br/><br/>HOWEVER, if you break any of the rules, the rule breaker will find themselves being designated as hostile by the defenses and defenders of my domain, and your odds of surviving the first ten seconds are depressing. Longer, exceptionally unlikely. I would use the phrase 'snow in hell' but that places your odds a good bit too high. Abide by the rules, and you will be protected, within reason, by the host and guest laws. If you are feeling pugnacious, you can TRY to disable the constructs, but at that point you are labeled an opponent, and will be knocked unconscious before being brought back here.<br/><br/>If you abide by the rules, constructs, if they sense and managed to come into contact with you, will merely relieve you of any items you have picked up, and then escort you to this room, where you will be allowed to try again. Since you are essentially freelancers to test my already present defenses, you are welcome to try as often as you like, and if the original bounty posted is taken down, I will likely be putting it back up myself. Have a nice day, and try not to kill each other, that is bad for business.<br/><br/>As, note a new addition to the rules. There is a five hundred platinum piece bonus for anyone that finds a significant hole in the defenses, and a fifty platinum bonus for just getting inside the first three times. After that, you should be skilled enough to not need that kind of bonus coinage. Anyhoo, have fun."<br/><br/>The illusion of him wavered and then vanished, and a plaque on the indicated wall appeared, as well as a door behind where the illusion had been. Draiss grinned at the defending constructs, before scattering them, and deliberately built a single connecting tunnel between the new, fake outer layer of the domain and the real one where his and him worked. The connecting tunnel wasn't visible or useable by the kids, though the companions could head through to harass the thieves. Most of the items out in the fake layer were just there to jack with the testers, not really worth anything to him, but there to drain the resources of whoever had posted the bounty. He suspected it was a joint effort rather than a single entity, but he wasn't going to take chances. The companions had been informed, and once again the older goddesses had informed him he was likely insane for his unorthodox tactics, even if they were incredibly effective.