There were a few moments of silence as we considered what this meant. With only one more dungeon left to go, I was certain it was going to activate at any moment. They had someone who made portals, after all, and that meant there was no reason to wait.

But as we stared, the next blue dot didn’t appear. I furrowed my brow.

“They must be missing something,” I muttered, trying to think what.

“Such as?” Brackenhorst asked.

“Don’t know,” I admitted sourly. “They wanted Dalsarel, First Daughter of the Dark Elf Quarry, to be the owner of the Karst of Vile Spores. Even went out of their way to plant some kind of seed in her hand that made her magic and have dreams of the place. Maybe they need someone powerful or altered to be the centerpiece?”

“Like the Rage Rot on Grandfather Red?” Ferrisdae offered. I nodded; that made sense. “Or maybe something’s distracting them. You sent Cojisto and Moose out that way, right?”

“Yes, but he said he’d be back before…” I shook my head, just because he claimed they’d be able to do something didn’t make it true. I turned to Sophia. “You met Cojisto, right?”

“I did,” she said. “Those two don’t work for the DoD, but they were under your jurisdiction so-”

“Okay, great,” I interrupted, waving my hand. “Do you have enough power left for a Scry and Fry?”

The Scry and Fry was a classic adventuring technique for those who were powerful enough to cast complex spells and had information on their target ahead of time. It required scrying magic to locate an individual and see their surroundings and was quickly followed up by a Teleport spell. If done against unaware enemies, prepared parties could end fights before they even started.

In this case, it was less about fighting and more about getting as close to the dungeon as possible.

Sophia looked like she bit the inside of her cheek to avoid snapping at me. I appreciated that. “Yes, but he’s received the same kind of boost you and Ferrisdae have,” she said through gritted teeth. “It’s possible, but I’m only going to have one attempt and if it fails the best I can do is teleport us back to Athir’s gates.”

“It helps if you have something that belongs to them, right?” Ferrisdae asked, and the Kitsune confirmed with a nod. Reaching into her Pocket, she retrieved a crossbow that I recognized as Cojisto’s. “The shop finished repairing this today. Madam Elensfree, the craftswoman, took extra care with it because she’d never seen anything like it.”

“And you were going to give it back to him today, sure,” I quickly finished for her. “Sophia, will that work?”

Without answering, she cleared a spot on the desk. She grabbed a beautiful silver mirror from her satchel, which had a similar enchantment to my Dimensional Pocket, and set it down before turning to Ferrisdae. “Give me the crossbow,” she ordered. The Elf did so without hesitation, and Sophia sat down with it in her lap. “This is going to take some time, so make sure to be ready once I’m done.”

The Kitsune placed both of her hands on the edges of her mirror and closed her eyes. She muttered under her breath, casting the spell. If she wasn’t under the effects of an illusion, I knew that Sophia’s tail would have started glowing and multiplying. It was her tell as a Sorceress, which was one of the reasons why she was barely in her true form. I understood preferring that information stayed secret.

“Chief, have we gotten any news from Justisius or Liddy?” I asked as I retrieved my buckler, strapping it to my wrist.

Brackenhorst sat down in his chair and sighed. “Liddy’s hot on some wizard’s trail. They’ve been playing cat and mouse and it’s been thrilling, according to her. Whoever this guy is, he seems to specialize in disrupting divinations, so she’s been going at it the old-fashioned way. According to her reports, she almost caught him twice but he managed to escape both times mere seconds before their arrival.”

I glanced at the Chief. “Think it’s one of her juniors feeding him information, then?”

“Could be,” he replied. “Liddy doesn’t think so, but she’s keeping an eye on them both. She’ll get the job done, though, setbacks or not.”

“I know she will.” Frowning, I shook my head. The information was nice to have, but there wasn’t anything I could do to help. “And Justisius?”

“Been getting word from Elks, one of Justisius’ apprentices, every third day,” he said. “He’s been traveling back and forth between Alashroe and Laroda to get in contact with us.”

“That desert heat must be killer,” Ferrisdae responded empathetically. All she did to prepare was grab her wand, but her grip on it was white-knuckle tight.

“He says he hasn’t been minding it as badly as he thought he would,” the old Dwarf said. “But so far Justisius’ team has managed to get the Sultan and his son into the same room where they didn’t fight for nearly five minutes. Tension is high, but it’s lowering every day. So long as nothing instigates the situation, I think they’re going to succeed in figuring out how a dungeon can exist there.”

“So there’s no information on that at all?” I asked, frowning.

“The prince has dropped a few hints, but nothing substantial,” he confirmed. “Like you did a month ago, Justisius has deduced that the dungeon was definitely made with some kind of item, but its whereabouts, make, enchantment, and pretty much everything else is completely unknown to us.”

“I think that information’s going to be needed sooner rather than later,” I said, nodding towards the map on the wall. “If it’s a ploy from the cult, like we were expecting, then it’s probably another plan to get their precious mistress over here.”

“That hasn’t been lost on me, Badger,” Brackenhorst grunted. His eyes settled on the map. “Though we thought we had more time.”

“The fall of the Thousand Year Blizzard probably sped up a lot of their plans,” Ferrisdae said. “I mean, possession from one continent to another would have required a very substantial magical connection. It’s probably possible now that it’s not getting sucked up.”

“I imagine the Mage’s Guild is having a field day with that kind of research,” I snorted.

“Yeah, but are we sure the Dungeon Master didn’t plan for that?” she asked.

I frowned, thinking about it. “I don’t think so,” I answered slowly. “He could have been lying to me, but I think his fear of his sister is real and not the kind where he’d try to help her just to lessen his abuse. I got the impression that he thought she was going to do unspeakable things to him, and that a continent of stronger adventurers might help.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“But you don’t trust him,” Brackenhorst stated, looking away from the map.

“Gods, no,” I replied quickly. “I don’t have any reason to. I’m just saying that I thought he was being honest about his sister.”

“If I had some powerful crazy woman coming after me, I’d sure like backup,” Ferrisdae said. “Has the Director been able to get any more out of him?”

“A lot,” the Chief chuckled. “Once the Dungeon Master realized we weren’t going to try to kill him or anything like that, he started to get a lot more talkative. Ortaephaen’s barely been sleeping, according to the notes he’s been sending, just talking. It’s honestly changing the entire landscape of dungeon magic as we know it.”

“Which would explain why the Director’s so enthusiastic. He’s never going to retire now, is he?” I asked with a sigh.

“No, not a damn chance,” he answered. “The Dungeon Master’s been moved to a secure location, but he’s still considered the owner of Oristrella’s dungeon so he has some modicum of freedom while the old codger grills him for information. He’s given up a significant amount in the hopes that we’ll defeat CC when we finally get everything we need for the expedition to the Southern Continent.”

“That’s been decided?” I asked, surprised. “I knew the Adventurer’s Consortium would want in at the drop of a hat, but the Mage’s Guild, too?”

Brackenhorst shrugged. “Archmage Serto put in a few good words.”

“He wasn’t just some above average Elf in the middle of nowhere?”

“No, he has plenty of influence. Not just anyone would be allowed to study the Thousand Year Blizzard as extensively as he had,” he replied. “His testimony about what happened helped. But it’s also the work of the deities.”

“What do you mean?” Ferrisdae asked. “Like, divine intervention?”

“Nothing so drastic. High priests of different religions have been making their way to see Ortaephaen despite his secure location being, well, secure,” Brackenhorst explained. He frowned before turning to look at his map. “Can you fix that? It’s distracting now that it’s different.”

“No,” I answered. After double and triple checking my bracer, I pulled out my Hilt of Holding. The rune was still set to my frost blade, and I left it that way. If the Blackwood Queen was near Cojisto then it would come in handy. “It’ll fix itself when I’m gone and I’m keeping an eye out for a new blue dot.”

“Alright, I suppose,” he sighed, looking away from it. “Anyway, they’ve been visiting and giving their blessings. No small amount, either. Tegril, Mjrestar, Kartup, Segrech, just to name a few.”

I almost whistled at the lineup. “If the Gods of justice, magic, hunts, and sun are on your side, you should be inclined to listen.”

Ferrisdae turned to me. “Didn’t Segrech’s divine weapon get lost during an expedition to the Southern Continent? The Maul of the Luminescent King?”

“That’s right. Sir Sampson the Righteous lost Luculus Rex during the Continental Crusade,” I answered, remembering back when I had told her this during trivia night back in Crystal Snows. “Even if all Segrech wants is to get his weapon back, I’m sure the expedition leaders would be happy to have the support of his clergy.”

“Happy to have all of them, really,” Brackenhorst agreed. “Even some of the darker deities, like Amalraldee, want in.”

I raised an eyebrow. “The Goddess of Vengeance wants in?”

“That’s what I’ve been told,” he said with a shrug. “All I have is secondhand knowledge. If they tell me that she wants in, all I can do is believe it.”

“But it’s…” I released a breath. “It’s actually happening, isn’t it? A new Continental Crusade or whatever you want to call it.”

Brackenhorst gave me a thin, tired smile. “I’m afraid so, my boy.”

“Great. I’m going to have to convince Tabs to stay,” I said, crossing my arms as I sat down. “That’s going to be a battle all on its own.”

“Isn’t she supposed to be really strong?” Ferrisdae asked hesitantly. “I’m sure people would be glad to have her there.”

“She is,” I admitted. Her strength wasn’t the issue here. “But her adventuring days are behind her. Mine, too, which is why I’m a Dungeon Inspector. I don’t want her dragged into a war on another continent, not when it means leaving Calico and Willow behind.”

Sophia snorted. “Yeah, one absent parent is enough, don’t want to make it two.”

“I’m doing what I need to do for my family, which is more than I can say about you,” I spat, anger rising. “Just cast your damn spell, Sophia.”

“I am, you moron. This part doesn’t require a verbal component, so I can fill it with whatever truths I want to,” she retorted.

“Enough,” Brackenhorst said quietly, and we both bristled. “Is now the time for this?”

“No,” we both answered.

“I’m glad you both understand that, because we can’t be bickering right now. I know it’s the only way you two know how to interact, but I’m calling a truce right now,” Brackenhorst said before raising a foot and bringing it down. “Literally, I’m putting my foot down. No jabs, no sharp remarks, nothing. You don’t have to get along, you just have to pretend like you do. Got it?”

I scowled. “Got it.”

Sophia didn’t answer.

“Girl, I’ve seen enough scrying in my day to know you’re still able to answer me,” he said sternly.

“Fine,” she replied. “Got it.”

Brackenhorst looked at the Elf. “Ferry, if these two act up, report back to me at your earliest convenience. Got it?”

“Got it. And I’m going to have to figure out what happened between these two someday,” Ferrisdae mused. “Could you tell me, Brack?”

Sophia opened her eyes to glare at the Chief and I did the same. He laughed it off. “I could if I had no regard for my own personal safety. Telling them to behave is one thing, but this is another. Sorry, I don’t have a death wish.”

“Worth a shot,” the young Elf sighed.

“Almost done,” Sophia announced before she went back to muttering under her breath. Ferrisdae and I moved to either side of her and looked in the mirror.

“I’m going to stand back,” Brackenhorst said, his eyes glued to the reflective surface. “On the off chance this doesn’t blow up immediately after you leave, I’m going to send some Inspectors to Athir to neutralize some of these dungeons. The ones that don’t exist, at least. It’s worth diverting the manpower.”

“I agree. Some of our regular operations are probably going to have to take a backseat,” I replied.

“No probably about it. They’re definitely going to,” he said with a shake of his head.

When it seemed like there was going to be more, Sophia rose from her seat and light shot forth from the mirror. “Got him!” she announced as the crossbow caught itself on the desk. Ferrisdae retrieved it before it could fall.

We watched as the light receded, showing a small area around Cojisto. My blood ran cold as I saw who was with him.

The Blackwood Queen.

“That’s her!” I yelled, jabbing my hilt towards the mirror. Immediately, I smacked the buckler against my chest to turn it into a shield and thumbed the rune to make my blade appear from my Hilt of Holding.

They were obviously fighting, and a stupid grin was plastered on Cojisto’s bloody face. His Fluid Force didn’t seem to be nearly as bright as it had been. From here, it looks like he was losing. Moose wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Prepare for a Scry and Fry!” a familiar voice yelled before the magic in the mirror ended early.

“I was cut off,” Sophia said.

“That’s the portal guy!” I said as I grabbed the Kitsune’s arm. Ferrisdae did the same. “Teleport us, now!”

With a grim nod, Sophia cast the spell, and we were once again traveling through the void. This time, into grave danger.