It was dark outside by the time I returned to the Tall Tree Tav. People were leaving the building in good spirits, and I realized that I must have missed trivia night. I frowned as I ducked through the door, avoiding a pair of drunken Elves holding each other up. After I placed an order for food and drink to be delivered to my room, I headed up the stairs.
Ferrisdae had called me on the Sending Stone twice during the day. The first time was to let me know that she was heading back to the Red Thicket, and the second was to let me know that she was returning so that she would have time to get back to her room for her therapy session. Cojisto and Moose had escorted her both ways.
Once I entered my room, I checked for signs of forced entry, missing or new items, and everything else that would show that things had been tampered with. I had denied housekeeping services to ensure privacy specifically because there had been trouble afoot. There were no signs of anything I didn’t do, and I relaxed.
Taking a seat at the desk, I sent Ferrisdae a message letting her know I was available to discuss the events of the day once she was done. It was the least intrusive option I had, and she responded quickly to let me know that she would be over shortly.
Shortly turned out to be less than a minute later. There was a knock on my door before she let herself in.
“Hey,” Ferrisdae greeted. Her eyes looked like she had been crying, but she didn’t seem distressed.
“Good evening. How was…” I trailed off, not sure if it was proper for me to address it or not. This was territory I tended to avoid.
“It was fine, thank you,” she said with a smile. “Sister Tserunada would rather me not be working, but I couldn’t leave you out here alone with just Cojisto and Moose for backup.”
“I would be fine, though,” I offered, filing the name of her therapist away for later. “If you need to take time off, I mean.”
“And miss everything that’s going on? No thank you, Badger,” Ferrisdae replied, making a face that clearly told me that her taking a break was off the table.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked hesitantly.
The Elf nearly giggled. “No, just you asking is enough,” she said. “I know it’s not easy for you to get into these kinds of things with me, so you’re off the hook. I’ll talk to Cojisto and Moose about it next time we meet.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but she had told me I was off the hook and I let it go. My junior finally closed the door behind her and looked around the room. Her eyes changed from their usual green to a glowing purple as she checked for traces of magic that didn’t belong.
While she did that, I grabbed a chair for her from the corner of the room and set it next to the desk with mine. Once Ferrisdae seemed satisfied, she sat down next to me. Her gaze turned to the documents I had left out. Most of them were the Consortium files from the dungeons we were supposed to visit, though my notes were interspersed.
“Before we get into this,” I started, gesturing towards the desk. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with the Red Thicket.”
Ferrisdae’s gaze passed over the files one more time before she focused on me. “The Treesingers have been working in shifts from last night to today,” she reported.
“So they’ve been going for nearly 24 hours now?” I asked. That was longer than anyone assumed they needed.
“Yes, sir,” she confirmed. “And that’s with Moose’s help. They’ve managed to cure everyone except for Grandfather Red. The problem is, whatever strain’s affecting the boss is proving even more resistant to healing than the others.”
That caused me to frown. “You mentioned that it was tough to cure before, did Constance Dar Fesuande have anything to say about that when you talked it over with her?”
“We did manage to come to a working hypothesis, but you’re not going to like it,” she said slowly.
“I don’t like any of this, but please don’t be dramatic on my account,” I scoffed.
Pursing her lips, Ferrisdae nodded. “We think that the Rage Rot on Grandfather Red in particular has somehow managed to infect the magic keeping the dungeon active.”
Looking away from my junior, I furrowed my brow in thought. Changing the very groundwork of a dungeon’s magic was no small feat. It took a lot of knowledge, resources both powerful and mundane, and time.
And if anyone could do such a thing, it was probably the cult of CC.
“We haven’t been able to return him to a state where he can talk to us,” Ferrisdae continued. “It came to a point where we ran out of ideas, so Constance and I even had Cojisto and Moose take out Grandfather Red to see what happened afterwards. The Rage Rot started reappearing on some of the weaker Treants when we did, which is what led to our hypothesis. I’d like for you to come down and test it sometime. You’ve got a lot more experience with dungeon magic than I do.”
“That may be true, but you have a better grasp of magic as a whole. Right now it seems like you have a good handle on things,” I said. “I hear your request, but I’m going to leave the Red Thicket to you until you hit a stumbling block or my current investigation finishes up. If you want to take notes for me to go over, feel free to do so and I’ll give you my thoughts, but I’ll let you lead there until you don’t think you can any longer.”
The Elf blinked before smiling and sitting up straight. “I suppose I do have a good handle on things, don’t I?” she asked.
“Seems so,” I answered, letting her bask in the small praise. “What did you do with the Treants?”
“They’ve evacuated the dungeon for now,” she responded. “It was a long trek, but they managed to make it to the Treesinger’s commune where they’ll be safe for the time being. The only one still left in the Red Thicket is Grandfather Red himself.”
“That was a good call. The less variables you have, the easier it will be to get to the bottom of things,” I said.
“What’s weird is that this isn’t even the first time Constance had seen something like this before,” she stated. I arched an eyebrow, and she continued. “It’s been a little while, but she’s seen other plant diseases and fungus like this appear in the Athir woods. Not enough to make it a definitive pattern, or anything. About three other times in the past 150 years.”
“What happened to the dungeons?” I asked, not bothering to correct an Elf on what could be considered a little while.
“She thinks they were shut down, but she couldn’t remember them very clearly,” Ferrisdae answered as she leaned back in her chair. “The only name Constance thought she remembered was the Leaf Blade Grove.”
“Hardly helpful, but it’s a start.”
Nodding, the Elf sighed. “It is, which is why I asked her to talk to anyone who was around during that time and get back to me tomorrow. Until then, one name isn’t hard to look into. You’re still looking into the Consortium documents, right?”
“Yes, I am.” Turning away from her, I looked at the documents on the desk. “I’ll have to return these tomorrow, but Taramelle, the Chief Records Officer, was gracious enough to let me borrow them. I’m also waiting for the chief to get back to me about some stuff I had asked about.”
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No sooner than I said it, my Sending Stone started vibrating on the far end of the desk. I released a heavy sigh as I reached for it, making sure Ferrisdae could see my eye roll while I did. All it took was a few taps on the brick and it stopped vibrating.
“Badger, good evening,” the chief’s voice came loudly from the stone, harsh but clear. “And Ferry as well, I assume.”
“Hi, Brack,” Ferrisdae greeted.
“Yes, hello,” I said. “Did Millicef give you the long list of items that I was asking about?”
“I did. First thing’s first, you were already attacked?” he asked incredulously. “You’ve been there, what? Two days?”
“What can I say? I’m a magnet for trouble,” I answered dryly. “Things have been hectic since the moment we stepped foot in Athir. Between Ferrisdae’s cousin butting into our trip-”
“Which we saw as a possibility,” she quickly added.
“We did,” I conceded. “Running into magic resistant Rage Rot in the Red Thicket, getting attacked by a Blackwood Queen only for her portal wielding companion to teleport her out, and ruining any potentially good relationship with Dorostreff, it’s been a busy two days.”
“Millicef mentioned the whole signature thing. However, don’t go forward with any accusations without consulting me first,” Brackenhorst ordered. I scowled. “And don’t you make that face at me. Dorostreff is a very popular figure in Athir, especially with the adventurers, with a lot of power backing him. If he is corrupt, then we need to be careful in how we deal with this.”
“If he is corrupt, then we need to act quickly,” I scoffed, scowling even harder since he called me out on it. “This isn’t some low level stiff we’re talking about; this is the Head Adventurer himself. If he’s not corrupt then he’s incompetent, and there’s a lot of damage he can do with just incompetence alone. And if he’s not on whatever side made the Certificate of Destruction, then his cavalier regard for the rules still made it possible.”
Brackenhorst sighed. “Ferry, you’re from Athir. Is there anything you know about Dorostreff that might help clear Badger’s mind?”
“My mind is clear,” I defended. “The man’s a hack. He needs to get sacked for such gross disregard for rules if nothing else.”
“That’ll be hard,” Ferrisdae said quietly, and offered me a thin smile when I looked her way. “Dorostreff has been the Head Adventurer for almost as long as I’ve been alive. A lot of families, mine included, donate to the Consortium specifically because of the policies he’s put into place. Not only that, but…” She trailed off.
“Ferrisdae, I already said not to be dramatic on my account,” I chastised.
“Right… Dorostreff is the heir of one of the more prominent Dukes in Athir,” she continued. “That makes potentially removing him a fairly difficult process.”
“So we’d have to get around nepotism and money,” I groaned, running my hands down my face.
“That’s right, Badger. So what we need is hard evidence that points directly to him. Just being upset that he uses a magic quill to sign his paperwork, as legitimate a feeling as it is, doesn’t mean we can oust him tomorrow,” Brackenhorst said.
“I get it,” I said sourly. “What about the paperwork from Athir?”
“Yeah, you’re not going to like that, either.”
“That’s what everyone keeps saying,” I grumbled. “Telling me that I’m not going to like it doesn’t mean you don’t have to tell me, Chief.”
The Dwarf cleared his throat. “We’ve been looking into which Dungeon Inspectors were in the area at the time. It’s still an ongoing investigation where we’re looking into who was working out of Athir around when the Certificate of Destruction was signed. There’s two who were there officially.”
“Okay, go on,” I said slowly, paying careful attention to what he had just said.
“The first is Kaelmourn,” Brackenhorst stated. “You probably don’t know, but he’s a distant relative to Matriarch Akshashka, and our dealings with her have become far more pleasant since he became a part of the DoD. He doesn’t have any issues with the Forest Elves, so he does a fine job working as an intermediary. Before I pulled him away to take over your route so you could handle Raitheus Razorbeak, he was stationed in Athir.
“The second is Deresca,” the Chief continued. “She was working in Astlerwood National Forest before she got pulled away to go check on reports of people being attacked by numbers.”
“Which turned out to be Himia,” Ferrisdae said.
“Yes,” he grumbled. “Wish we could have caught that one before we sent you two all alone to the Thousand Year Blizzard, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. She’s been back to New Frausta since then, but hasn’t turned in anything like a Certificate of Destruction. The Red Thicket shouldn’t even have been on her route.”
I stroked my chin as I thought it over. Kaelmourn was a fairly decent Dungeon Inspector. Deresca was a little absent-minded, but her ferret familiar was great at reminding her when she needed to finish things. They both had a tendency to skirt some lines, sure, though I couldn’t see either of them missing something as important as a Certificate of Destruction unless it was on purpose.
“And who was there unofficially?” I asked.
There was no answer.
Frowning, I tapped the Sending Stone. “Chief?”
“Liddy,” he reluctantly grunted.
“Liddy, the Dungeon Inspector with four juniors because she does such a good job?” Ferrisdae asked, surprised. “That Liddy?”
“That Liddy,” Brackenhorst confirmed. “She and her group stayed the night on the way through just a few days before the date you said was on the cert. As much as I hate to say it, but she and her apprentices are on the short list.”
“It couldn’t be Liddy,” I said, sure of myself. “Maybe one of the people you pinned to her, but Liddy wouldn’t do that.”
“We’re keeping an open mind,” he responded. “Either way, there’s a slightly better than average chance that, if it was one of her juniors, they’re still with her.”
“Why’s that?” Ferrisdae asked, confused.
I glanced at her. “Remember how we split ways in New Frausta?”
“Of course.”
“Liddy and Justisius both kept two of their apprentices with them and sent the other two to do their inspections,” I continued. “If we assume she sent away the more competent and trustworthy members to do her tasks, then the ones who are with her are the ones she wants to keep an eye on. Then again, who knows what that woman’s actually thinking half of the time.”
“You can say that again,” Brackenhorst agreed with a dark chuckle. He followed it up with a sigh, and he sounded every bit the old man he was when he spoke again. “Anyway, that’s privileged information. I know you two aren’t going to blabber on about this to anyone, but I thought it might set your mind at ease that we are conducting a full investigation.”
“It’s a start, but that’s all it is. You know the only thing that puts me at ease is facts.”
“Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. Do you have anything new for me?”
“A couple things. For the Red Thicket, Ferrisdae and Constance Dar Fesuande have been talking,” I said before gesturing for the Elf to pick it up.
She blinked but nodded. “Right. We think that the Rage Rot may have become so bad that it’s part of the dungeon’s magic now,” she stated. “Constance said something about three dungeons within the past 150 years doing something similar, but only came up with one name. Could you have someone look into the Leaf Blade Grove for us? And any dungeons that might have similarities to it?”
“I can get someone on that, yes,” Brackenhorst confirmed. “Do you really think the rot infected the dungeon?”
“Through Grandfather Red, yes,” she said, nodding as if he could see her.
“If Ferrisdae thinks it’s possible, then I think it’s worth looking into,” I added.
“I’ll make it a priority request, then,” he said. “What else?”
I shifted around the papers in the Red Thicket file. “The same adventuring team defeated Grandfather Red three times before the cert was made. I’ve got the Consortium looking into them, but I was hoping you might have something on our end to help.”
“Of course. What’s the team name?”
“The Cypress Coven,” I read aloud.
Ferrisdae nearly fell out of her chair in her haste to stand up. “The Cypress Coven?” she repeated. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what’s on the documents,” I said, showing it to her. Ferrisdae leaned in close to read it, then sighed. “Who are they?”
“The Cypress Coven is an Anne Runelara adventuring party,” she slowly admitted, looking away as she fidgeted with her robes.
I pursed my lips and nodded. “Alright. It looks like we’ll be visiting your family sooner than we anticipated. Who’s the leader, and how soon do you think we could ask them some questions?”
Ferrisdae grimaced before she transformed her expression into a nervous smile. “Should be pretty easy to set up a meeting. For me, I mean,” she said quietly. “The leader of the Cypress Coven is my mother.”
It took me a few moments to process her words before I placed my head in my hands and sighed. “Fantastic. Just fucking fantastic.”