13 days ago, the morning of the 11th day after Dimitri and Ronaldo separated from Felipe’s group to head to Soria.
Despite my grumbling last night I was grateful to Ronaldo that we had taken the time to camp a couple of leagues from Soria to clean ourselves up so we wouldn’t look as though we had been dragged a league by horses. I had the device Timoteo and I had won in my pack, and fortunately it wouldn’t be long until I could hand it, and my report over to Mayor Alfonso and Artificer Ramirez. The fact that Serena was able to determine that the device was not under the effect of at least some kind of an enchantment, still boggles my mind. I wonder what Ramirez will make of that pronouncement. We had finished cleaning up our camp and started on our way just over a candle mark ago, it would be about another candle mark or so until we reached Soria and I got this errand over with, I have missed Yaryna and her cooking. Unfortunately for both Ronaldo and myself, his cooking wasn’t much better than my own.
It was just after mid-morning when Ronaldo and I passed one of the outer farms of Soria, not that there were all that many inner farms, but these farmers didn’t plow fields abutting the town palisade. One of the farmers waved at me as we passed his fields by, I don’t remember his name, but he is likely one of the farmers Yaryna buys produce from, she never did like giving merchants of any sort money when she could give it directly to the one who produced the goods she wanted. It wasn’t but a short while after that guard captain Juan waved us on in to the town saying, “Welcome back, Dimitri. Alfonso wanted to hear from you and Timoteo as soon as you arrived. I assume Timoteo stayed with Felipe and the others to guide them on.” I nodded as I replied, “Indeed, he did. I had best make my way to Alfonso’s office.”
I said office, as I knew that Juan knew what I meant, Alfonso had a room of his house dedicated as an office, getting rid of the traditional sitting room. Alfonso had been purported to have said that he only expected to have official visitors while he was living here, and didn’t need a room he wasn’t going to use. Had his wife still been living I am not sure he would have gotten away with that, but sickness can strike down anyone. The door to Alfonso’s house was open, indicating he was receiving visitors, the bench just outside the door to his office was empty at the moment, although his office door was closed. As I knocked on the door, I noticed a faint smell of alcohol, likely his favorite whiskey. Before my hand had even left the door to knock a second time, Alfonso called out, “Enter.” I led the way into Alfonso’s office, Ronaldo preferring not to surprise a retired general with the face of someone he likely wouldn’t remember, given they had only met in passing almost a month ago. Despite that, Alfonso caught on quickly seeing that my companion wasn’t Timoteo and was a member of Felipe’s group of delvers. He looked over at me and asked, “Did you see my grand-nephew Marco on your way in?” I shook my head, as he waved both us to chairs in front of his desk. He then rose, more sprightly than I would have expected from an elf his age, and strode past us saying, “Wait there a moment, once I find him, I will send him for Ramirez.”
Alfonso wasn’t stomping as he called for Marco, but as I looked over at Ronaldo, I got the impression that he felt that he might as well have been doing so, too. It wasn’t but a few handful of breaths later that he found Marco and sent him out after Ramirez, it was unlikely that Marco would be pilfering the generals snacks again anytime in the next month. A few moments later Alfonso came back in bearing a platter with three cups and a tea pot, and as he placed the platter on his desk said, “Sorry about that, Ramirez should be here soon. Tea while we wait?” I chuckled, looking at his somewhat dainty tea cups and then at my fur covered hand. Alfonso noticing my gaze, said, “Well, if you change your mind, just be careful.”
I just chuckled some more, as Ronaldo poured some tea into a cup he had taken for himself. After taking a sip, he gave a grateful sigh as made himself more comfortable in the mayor’s chair. Alfonso gave me a quick look inquiring as to the reason for Ronaldo’s enjoyment of the tea, I replied to his silent inquiry saying, “Apparently, neither of us can cook worth a damn. Sure, we can hunt and prepare game without issue, cooking though, is beyond our ken. Half burnt rabbit and squirrel is filling, but leaves something to be desired as far as taste is concerned.” To that, Alfonso chuckled, and said “well, something to consider in planning a trip next time”. I just groaned, Ronaldo chuckled lightly whilst shaking his head, before taking another sip of tea. Fortunately for Ronaldo and myself, it wasn’t too much longer before Ramirez barged in like he owned the place.
Ramirez didn’t but give Alfonso a quick nod before he turned his gaze upon me, looking more like a starving kid presented with a plate full of meat, than the respected Artificer that he is. Alfonso, helpfully corralled him into a seat, before waving at me to get started with delivering my report. I cleared my throat and started, saying, “Timoteo and I made our way to the edge of the mountain range first, figuring that we would travel faster above the tree line, we did. Just after we left the tree line, about halfway to the dungeon we came across a lone ogre, and after it chased us back in to the forest, we managed to evade it. A couple of days after our encounter with the ogre, a small kobold raiding party attacked our camp at night, but between Timoteo and myself, we managed to defeat them unscathed.” I paused and scratched an itch on my snout, before I continued, saying, “Once we got passed that kobold tribe we had no other encounters until we reached the dungeon, fortunately, it was not in La Cima, but the range before it.”
I then explained my impression of the dungeon, along with those of Timoteo, much like we had done for Felipe’s delver group 11 days ago. Then I reached into my pack and retrieved the calculating tablet, before turning to Ramirez, who it seemed had been hanging on my every word, and said, “Timoteo and I, when we met up Felipe’s group had Serena examine the prize awarded to us by the dungeon. This device, according to Serena, is no more magical than a common cobblestone, but, it will calculate math and display the answer.” I fortunately was sitting next to Ramirez with the device held out to him, as it was suddenly ripped from my hands almost faster than I could see by his aged elvish hands. Ronaldo’s eyes widened in surprise and I suspect he was grateful he was not between Ramirez and the device.
Despite the strangeness of the symbols on the device, it didn’t take Ramirez but a couple dozen breaths before he had determined what most of them were to his satisfaction, having witnessed the device in action due to his manipulations. It was obvious that if I didn’t get his attention we would lose him for the rest of the day, if not the rest of the month. I put my hand before his face and snapped my fingers a couple of times before he looked up, when he did, I cleared my throat yet again, saying, “I am almost done with my report, but here is the important part. The dungeon, could change a display panel without it’s presence in a room whilst we were next to the panel in question, in response to what we were doing.”
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Alfonso gasped, then cursed almost immediately, Ramirez blinked owlishly for a moment then exclaimed, “What ?!?” It wasn’t but a few moments later that I was besieged by both Alfonso and Ramirez wanting to know the extent of our conjecture regarding the capabilities of the dungeon, and essentially everything we had experienced whilst we were there. Alfonso was somewhat more controlled than Ramirez when asking his questions, but that wasn’t saying too much. I showed them the phrase we had copied down from the dungeon that Alesandro had translated for us, Ramirez quickly verified the translation and that it was indeed from a language unknown to the races of Patria. All told it was almost a candle mark later before Ramirez and Alfonso’s questions slowed down to almost a more normal conversational pace. Ramirez sat back a bit heavily in his chair, and said, “Well, all told I think you all were lucky to have Alesandro available to assist in the investigation of this dungeon.” Alfonso, sighed just before saying, “I agree. Given the capabilities this dungeon has demonstrated to Dimitri and Timoteo, and that it doesn’t seem to have a companion of its own, someone that has the ability to translate the written word of the dungeon is vital to the dungeons sanity, and our future interactions with it.”
We all took a moment to sit back in our chairs, absorbing the weight of the situation with the dungeon, not to mention the less than fully convenient location of it. A short while later Alfonso looked at Ramirez and said, “Well, I think we are going to need to inform Guildmaster Franco, and likely someone in the Capital. Ramirez, I assume you know who should get the report in Mondrigal?” Ramirez gave a short nod to that, before Alfonso continued saying to both Ronaldo and myself, “I am going to need the both of you to write up two copies of your report, we will send them on when we send out our letters, it would be best if they were done, and back here by noon tomorrow.” Yaryna was going to be upset with me taking the time to write up the report, but she would forgive me, eventually. Alfonso waved us out, saying, “We all have letters to write, it is best we get those written soonest.”
I made my way home, near the palisade on the western side of town. Yaryna was quite happy to see me alive and well. I told her straight off that I had to write up two copies of my report to be sent by noon tomorrow, that got me the disappointed look and annoyed sigh I was expecting, she then pulled me inside and sat me at the dinner table, saying, “Well, you sit there and write up the reports. I will get the quill, the ink and some parchment. Then, I am going to at least sit with you until you get that done.” I half chuckled at that and obediently said, “Yes, dear.”
Yesterday, five days after Erik and Lief left Felipe’s group at the pocket canyon, heading to Soria for reinforcements.
Lief and I had been making very good time, we had traveled almost thirty leagues in five days. The terrain wasn’t giving us all that much trouble, and neither of us we taking the time to hunt more than the small game we came across as we traveled. I took some pride that while both of us were human, we had more skill traversing forests like this than many Forest Elves. In some small part it was freeing being away from Felipe and the others, despite our errand. Neither Lief nor myself had to pretend to be mysterious about what we could do, we simply moved through the forest, blending into our surroundings naturally as we made the best time we could back to Soria.
We each took our turn on watch each night, our camp looking nothing like that made by Dimitri and Timoteo, when we encountered them. Our camps were cold, each of us covered by a brown and green cape that we had tied twigs and some small various bits of greenery to, eating cold rations for the most part. Lunch was the hot meal of the day, we tended to hunt in the mornings and cook our late lunch before setting off as soon as we finished eating and cleaning our cook site. We generally didn’t stop traveling until almost a full candle mark after sundown when it got too dark to see. Given our pace, it would be another eight or nine days before we returned to Soria. We still had about fifty leagues to cover, and every moment we delayed getting reinforcements, was another that Felipe and the others were besieged.
Two days ago at dawn, just outside the entrance to the Orcish Blood dungeon at Gazimbi.
I and my fellows, roared in celebration as we felt the dungeon succumb to the corruption killing us introduced to the dungeons mana. It had been a long struggle, but the orcish nation was no match for the wave of possessed villagers that we sent in all directions to mask our goal here at Gazimbi. Despite the best efforts of the Dragons and their pawns, the so called civilized races, we had successfully corrupted a dungeon to use as a foothold here on the world of Patria. The Dragons, and warriors of the other races may yet come to destroy us, but now, with our foothold, they will pay a price in blood to remove it.
At the same time, 1562 leagues away across the Endless Ocean.
It was late afternoon, not long before dusk, that I and my three brood mates who had chosen this same cliff face to doze on in the afternoon sun were suddenly and rudely awakened when we felt an abrupt shift in the mana field. A tainting, as it were, it was one that all dragons had been taught to recognize, a dungeon had been corrupted, and had just now become an Abyssal dungeon. The others surely would have felt the change too, but it was our duty to respond as though we were the only ones to detect the change and head to our dungeon, the Dragon Hall, to report the corruption. It wouldn’t take us too long to fly there, but every moment counted, an Abyssal dungeon will generally be constantly summoning daemons of all varieties to further strengthen their stronghold, and also to conquer the races of Patria.
It had been almost 15,000 years since the last major incursion of the Abyss on Patria, it was our duty as the guardians of Patria, to ensure that this incursion lasted no longer than the last. Even so, an incursion of any length of time, was too long. I and my brood mates rose to our feet, and as one launched ourselves into the sky heading for Dragon Hall, we didn’t have any time to waste enjoying the sun on our scales anymore. It was likely that one of us would be assigned to notify the Dwarves and the Humans, perhaps someone on the eastern side of the continent would be sent to notify the Sylph and the Elves. That wouldn’t be up to us though, we will just have to see what happens when the congress is gathered.
Four days after Felipe’s group left Alesandro and the others with James’ dungeon to head back to Soria.
Despite my disbelief, it was blatantly obvious at this point that we would be arriving in Soria several days behind Erik and Lief. Karl had told me yesterday at dinner that they would be making very good time, so as to limit how long we would be besieged. While I definitely appreciated the sentiment, as we were currently not besieged, and even had a written agreement with the dungeon and the kobolds, I could wish that we wouldn’t be giving conflicting messages to Ramirez, and the town Mayor Alfonso. I had been making more of an effort to talk to all the others in the group, and not unconsciously avoiding Maxim, like had done on our trip out here.
For the sanity of our group, and the health of our mules, we had kept both of them, whilst Rhys stayed with Alesandro, Timoteo, and Serena, leaving just Elis cursing up a storm on the back of one of the mules as we made our way back. Karl was proving to be a worthy scout, putting us Elves to shame as he led us around one hazard after another. When we got back I was going to have to see about writing up a letter of commendation for him and the others. In addition, no doubt to the lengthy report needed to write up our experiences at the dungeon. Well, not worth worrying about yet, we still had sixty some leagues to travel.