Tarwantrad stepped back out into her own dungeon. She stood in the center of a circular nexus of her own made of glowing flowers. Her circle was placed in the center of a colorful forest, with flowers covering the ground, the bushes, and the short trees placed all around her. Mana swirled through the air and through each and every plant, flowing in such a way that it concentrated on the nexus. Some of the plants were moving about, blending in with their stationary cousins as they surrounded the nexus on all sides. Almablom stood staring at the nexus as well, tapping her foot on the ground. She raised an eyebrow once she saw Tarwantrad.
“Well? I assume since you’re alive that you didn’t just walk into the middle of the Hunger.”
Tarwantrad grinned at her.
“Mission accomplished, we found it.”
Almablom blinked, then smiled wide.
“Truly? Then the risk we took paid off.”
A moment later, she tilted her head.
“But in that case, why have you returned so quickly? I would have thought you would want to speak with the dungeon master in question.”
Tarwantrad paled.
“You are correct but…the loremaster has come to my dungeon.”
Almablom stared at her for a moment before her eyes went wide.
“Tarwantrad…you did inform him you were removing one of his scrolls, right? You did ask for permission before building a nexus door, right? The most forbidden of forbidden things we’re not supposed to do? One that was specifically mentioned in the founding Compact itself?”
Tarwantrad just averted her gaze.
“I…did not wish to fail before we even tried, simply because we were told no. You too! You didn’t bother to ask me if I asked, you know!”
Almablom sharply exhaled her breath.
“Well, yes. Because I didn’t even imagine you would possibly attempt this without asking. I just assumed that was so unthinkable you wouldn’t have thought of doing it, even for a mission from the gods. What were you thinking, Tarwantrad?!”
Tarwantrad just hung her head.
----------------------------------------
A moment later, Tarwantrad made her way down to the welcoming garden at the entrance to her dungeon. The loremaster stood there with a stern expression, flanked by two of the guards. Tarwantrad gulped but made her way forward. She opened her mouth to greet him but the loremaster cut her off.
“All knowledge in the house of lore is open to all who seek to learn, nothing there is forbidden. There is but one restriction. Do you know what that is, Dungeon Master Tarwantrad?”
Tarwantrad fought off another gulp.
“Yes, Loremaster Anyadre.”
He continued staring at her.
“And what is it?”
Tarwantrad tried not to look away under his withering gaze.
“…don’t remove anything from the house without permission.”
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Well…?”
She reached into the pocket of her apron and produced a scroll, sheepishly holding it out to him. Loremaster Anyadre accepted the scroll and inspected it closely from every angle. He then unrolled it, scrolling through quickly to ensure nothing was out of place. He turned to her and frowned.
“Everything appears to be in order. Under normal circumstances, as this is your first ever infraction, I would let you off with a warning.”
He narrowed his eyes on her once again.
“However, I fear these are not normal circumstances, are they? I cannot help but think of our last conversation, after which you committed your first ever infraction of the house of lore’s most important rule. So, tell me, Dungeon Master Tarwantrad, what precisely were you doing with a scroll on nexuses? That you would intentionally take a scroll from the house of lore without informing the loremaster to achieve?”
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Tarwantrad flinched as Loremaster Anyadre glared at her. She considered lying but thought better of it. The loremaster had many centuries of experience on her and an uncanny ability to know things that he shouldn’t. Given what he already knew, she had little confidence she could keep the truth from him.
“I…built a nexus.”
Loremaster Anyadre, however, did not relent.
“And what precisely did you need a nexus for?”
Tarwantrad shrank on herself.
“To open…a nexus door.”
Even the two guards stared at her with wide eyes at her admission. Loremaster Anyadre went deathly silent, staring at her with a disconcertingly neutral expression on his face. He spoke carefully in a near whisper.
“By all that is fair, what possessed you to do such a thing?”
Tarwantrad averted her gaze.
“I thought that…if it was in my dungeon, it wouldn’t be as big a deal…”
Loremaster Anyadre took a deep breath and then motioned to the guards.
“Of all the dungeon masters I have met over my many years, you may very well be the most reckless…and that is giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming this was not done out of malicious intent. Dungeon Master Tarwantrad, your actions have put the entire Calwaskon Compact at risk, threatening all of our lives and everything we have managed to preserve. You will take me to this door and dismantle it under my supervision. Then, you will be arrested and tried for treason. Do you understand?”
Tarwantrad just hung her head.
But as the guards moved to flank her, suddenly the doors of her dungeon slammed open. Another group of armored guards marched into the room, led by an armored woman with what appeared as a black bruise coloring the side of her face. The woman’s voice boomed through the garden.
“Where is the dungeon master?”
Loremaster Anyadre stepped forward.
“Wardmaster Varilold, just in time. Right over here. I was just taking her into custody.”
Wardmaster Varilold pushed past the loremaster without responding and marched right up to Tarwantrad.
“You, what did you do?”
Tarwantrad shrunk on herself once more, but no longer had any reason to hide anything.
“I…built a nexus, and a nexus door.”
Wardmaster Varilold narrowed her eyes.
“How did you do it? And why hasn’t the Hunger flooded over all of us?”
Tarwantrad gulped.
“I, um, built it in my dungeon, hoping the dungeon’s purifying powers would prevent that. It seems to have worked, as it led not to the Hunger but to another dungeon.”
The wardmaster adopted a thoughtful expression and rubbed her chin.
“A dungeon? One in the Compact or…”
Tarwantrad shook her head.
“No, according to the instructions I received by the Oracle of Flowers, the destination dungeon is located back in the mortal realms, in the ruins of the old human kingdom.”
The wardmaster’s eyes widened.
“Of course…how did we miss that?”
Loremaster Anyadre stepped forward with a frown.
“Wardmaster, may I ask what’s going on?”
She began pacing as she replied.
“Just now, a flood of mana reinvigorated the wards, restoring them to levels of strength we’ve not seen in decades. A flood of mana originating from this very dungeon.”
The loremaster’s eyes widened.
“The nexus door.”
Wardmaster Varilold nodded.
“We knew from the start that cutting off the land of the fair and the mortal realms would have consequences for the flow of mana, but we had no choice after the nexus road was corrupted. If this dungeon master, however, has managed to reopen the road without letting in the Hunger…we may have just found the solution.”
Loremaster Anyadre gasped for the first time Tarwantrad could remember.
“Of course…if the two doors are both located in dungeons, then perhaps the power of the gods would shield the path from the Hunger. We only received the dungeons after we had shut down the nexus doors and forbade their use, so we never checked how the dungeons would affect them…”
The wardmaster ignored the loremaster’s mumbling, snapped to attention, and stared down Tarwantrad once more.
“Dungeon Master…?”
“Tarwantrad, Wardmaster.”
“Dungeon Master Tarwantrad, we will investigate the door you’ve opened in full and assign several wardens to watch it until we can confirm the connection is safe. Will you be willing to prepare a residence for them in your dungeon?”
Tarwantrad was taken aback but managed to nod.
“Ah, yes, of course. That is…if I’m not to be tried for treason?”
Wardmaster Varilold snorted.
“Of course not. This is now a matter that concerns the very survival of the Compact, nothing else takes priority. We can address any crimes you may have committed later. Right now, we need you to keep that door open at all costs. And that’s an order.”
Tarwantrad led the wardmaster and her wardens to the door in question. Wardmaster Varilold wasted no time in getting to work, setting up some temporary wards around the door while planning out a more permanent arrangement. She queried Tarwantrad heavily on the dungeon’s defenses in the area, then barked at the wardens to keep watch while she marched back out of the dungeon to gather more wardens and supplies.
Loremaster Anyadre watched in silence until the wardmaster finished her work for the moment. He then stepped forward.
“Dungeon Master Tarwantrad.”
Tarwantrad turned to face him, still uncomfortable under his gaze even though she wasn’t being arrested for treason anymore.
“Yes, Loremaster?”
His eyes narrowed.
“What you did was utterly reckless, displaying a complete disregard for the lives of everyone in the Compact. That it proved incidentally helpful does not change this, for I know this was not your intended outcome, as indicated by the deceptive manner you went about it. So, whether or not it has worked out, I fully expect you to never attempt something such as this without informing us again. You understand this, correct?”
Her face fell but she nodded.
“Yes, Loremaster.”
He nodded back at her.
“Good.”
And then he bowed his head to her.
“Because intended or not, your actions may have just reversed the future of the Compact and saved us all. And for that, I thank you from the very bottom of my heart.”
Tarwantrad blinked, completely unable to process the loremaster’s sudden shift in tone. All she thought was…her little trip to the bee dungeon was turning out to be a far larger affair than she had ever imagined it to be.