The spring air gently flowed around Guildmaster Stoutbeard as he stood upon the forecastle of The Adventurer IV. He currently stood with only Lonlin Lightleaf by his side, enjoying the view of the world below. What little of it he could see though the clouds, of course.

The Guildmaster turned around to look back at the rest of the ship. Guild-sanctioned sailors toiled in their standard duties. Some cleaned the decks, others adjusted the rigging between the masts and captured manacloud above the deck, while still others inspected the cannons that lined either side of the ship. His gaze shifted upwards to the quarterdeck, so that he viewed the mighty ship’s wheel that seemed so small from where he stood nearly four hundred feet away. Two burly minotaurs stood on either side of the massive ship’s wheel, leisurely keeping the ship on course.

The dwarf took a moment to admire the deep rich blue wood that made up the hull of the massive airship, the planks made from a titanic branch of one of the many World Trees from the green jewel known as The Wyldwood Moon.

“Well, best get to the map room,” the Guildmaster stated after watching the crew work for a time. “Are ye sure that it’s happening early?”

“Yes,” Lonlin replied as he turned around. “While most visions I see thanks to my Oracle class can be hard to interpret, this was the clearest I have ever seen.”

“That’s what’s been troubling me,” the dwarf began walking over to the short flight of stairs that would lead them to the main deck. “This may sound impolite, but two Grand Dungeons opening early? It’s a bit hard to believe my friend. This world has always had eight, no more, no less.”

“And yet, we live in the age where one of them had been killed,” Lonlin pointed out as they reached the deck and started walking towards the aft end of the ship. “I’ll admit, it is concerning that they break the mold in opening times. Every dungeon we have on record has opened up six months after they awakened.”

Lonlin did not reply, so they walked in relative silence on their journey. The dwarf grumbled lightheartedly about having the map room all the way on the opposite end of the ship. Most sailors they passed focused on their tasks, while several just said some greetings in passing. The wind gently fluttered around them thanks to the work of the Aeromancers that were among the crew, occasionally making sure to provide the enchantments that kept the air around the ship breathable and tolerable more mana. As the duo walked, one such aeromancer grumbled out the age-old complaint about enchantments and runes never being stable enough to hold their magics.

Eventually, they reached the stairs to the quarterdeck and ascended. When the duo reached the top, they were greeted with the sight of the ship’s captain wagging her tail while she gazed off into the distance with her spyglass.

“Ah, Guildmaster Stoutbeard,” the captain collapsed the spyglass and turned to face him. “We are in sight of the target. I do believe this will be the first aerial Grand Dungeon in recorded history.”

The dwarf chuckled at seeing the excited captain. “Aye, and I reckon the other aerial dungeons will become somewhat tougher now. We’ll also not be knowin’ what exactly to expect in there, it’s opening early.”

“I am certain the adventuring groups in the passenger areas will be more than thrilled,” the captain replied. “Now, I am not sure if you are aware, but it would seem that we may have a ninth, at least according to the map.” She gestured to the door behind her while the duo shared a look. It was rather impressive, for a short dwarf and a blind elf. “Shall we go take a look?”

The three walked to the door, and entered a small chamber with another door. Lonlin closed the door behind him, then the Captain opened the other door and stepped into a room that by all rights should not have fit within the confines of the ship. The room was over two hundred feet on each side, and forty feet high. In each of the corners, along the perimeter of each window and door, lay glowing runes of starstone, one of the runes nearby was starting to dim.

A human man hobbled over, leaning on a tall ivory staff, his black robes were glittering with small crystals. He lay a hand on the rune, transferring mana to it, his hair visibly whitening in small patches as he did so. Once done, he withdrew with a sigh.

“I’m not sure how many more of these I can sustain,” he mumbled under his breath as he turned. He was startled when he saw the trio. He hurriedly bowed. “Oh! Guildmaster! Captain! Oracle! I apologize, I did not see you there!”

“It’s alright Frank,” the dwarf said, holding out his hands in a placating gesture. “How is your work coming along?”

“All spatial runes are fully charged,” Frank began. “They will not need another charge for at least a year, though I would recommend another in ten months. I also apologize, sir, but I am afraid I may have to retire soon. I have maybe two or three chargings left in me.”

“Aye lad, you’ve done good work. Tell yer guildmaster I said hello, wouldja?” The dwarf patted the human on the arm gently and Frank left the room. The dwarf sighed. “Only twenty years old, that lad, and he looks sixty already.”

“Spatial magic is a hard burden,” the captain sighed quietly. “Why the gods saw fit to make it so, I will never understand.”

Once the door closed, the trio looked further into the room. In the center lay a massive table, showing the world they lived in. Tables along the sides showed mapped areas of the two habitable moons, and three other similarly sized tables lay currently filled with books, maps, snacks, and several members of the Cartographers guild. Guildmaster Stoutbeard approached a short set of stairs that rose up six feet into the air and met a circular platform, while Lonlin and the Captain stood under said platform. There were dozens of people in the room, several of which nodded to the trio then returned their attention to points on the map.

Along the map were hundreds of glowing lights, seven of which were a bright green in color. On several continents, the lights varied between blue, green, red, purple, and black, with the latter being the rarest of all. Two continents showed every light as yellow, and one had none at all. Above the representation of the continent of Ur floated a blue sapphire shaped like The Adventurer IV with a small cotton ball resting above it. Above each of the other continents lay similar gems of various sizes, each with a small text floating just off the side denoting their names. There was only one ship larger than the one representing the Guildmaster’s ship, and it lay over the continent of yellow lights. A dark onyx gem with the name Necropolis turned from the nearest continent and began heading in the direction of the former capital of the Ur Empire.

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Near enough to The Adventurer IV’s gem that it was nearly touching lay a wispy gray cloud that glowed a flashing white in the center. Along the map lay similar such clouds with various colors, but this one was the biggest of all. Above the largest ocean lay a slowly swirling vortex with a shining blue light in the water.

“So Lonlin, where did your vision say it would show up?” The Guildmaster asked, while casting his gaze around Ur.

“It was not specific about exactly where, but my vision did say it would be on this continent,” the elf replied.

“Is not this,” the captain poked the cloud with a long stick. “What you are talking about?”

“In part, yes,” Lonlin replied. “But it was shown to me that there would be-”

“Oh hey, that’s a new one,” chimed in a halfling that walked up while adjusting his glasses. He pointed at Urstem, which had just begun glowing white.

“Captain, we’ll leave some adventurers here, along with the normal amount of Guild personnel to start up a new Guild Hall. We make haste to Urstem to figure out what is happening there.” Guildmaster Stoutbeard’s baritone voice ordered.

“At once, guildmaster. Do we have any preference for parties to be left here?” The captain replied.

“Two rookie teams, one of our elite teams, and four veteran teams,” the dwarf replied. “Preference for those who have already delved into aerial dungeons before.”

The captain clicked her heels together, gave a slight bow, and then departed. The other occupants of the room began excitedly chattering amongst themselves and several began using various skills to update smaller maps of the continent.

Four days later, Guildmaster Stoutbeard was standing on the port side of the ship, vainly looking down upon the former city of Urstem in the dawn light. The ship floated just above a massive crater that took up the entirety of the former castle’s footprint, strangely stopping exactly where the old walls used to lay, now with earthen ramparts that were half again as high. Buildings for several blocks beyond that lay in a state of flattened ruination, and the further one looked, the more intact buildings appeared, until one finally looked upon the outskirts and outer wall which were fully intact.

On the opposite side of the city floated the Necropolis, one of the sister ships of The Adventurer IV. It’s black hull was streaked with lines of rust, and along the sides were hatches lined in lime green. The thrumming sound of the mighty ship’s four massive propellers was audible even from the dwarf’s position. Small blobs that were certainly the ship’s sailors were visible running around on the top teck, but the dwarf frowned as he saw the ship.

“Ships should have sails,” he grumbled.

“Yer just grumpy that they couldn’a figure out how t’ make steam engines powerful enough t’ make the ship fly before it was completed,” a new dwarf chimed in. He was bedecked in overalls, and had several wrenches and hammers sticking out of his belt. His black beard was long, and sprinkled generously with white. Here and there looked like patches had burned up, and several of the golden bangles along the main braid of his beard were lightly caked with carbon.

“You know I hate it when yer right brother.”

“Big brother’s privilege, Throgard,” the engineer elbowed his brother in the side. “So, why do ya think they’re here?”

“Well Thregon, probably for what’s below us,” Throgard replied. He plucked a red cylindrical shape from his belt, twisted the tip, and gently tossed it over the side into the darkness below. Halfway down, it burst into bright light, exposing the streets below, undulating with undead which turned towards the source of the light. “We’ll be needin’ their help with that. Last I heard, the census had the city at a little above two million. With the festivities on that night six months ago, the population likely doubled at a minimum.”

Thregon whistled appreciatively at the scale of the problem below them. The flare finally hit the ground, and got instantly swarmed by undead. In under a minute, several had been torn apart by their compatriots, and as the light died, the brothers could just make out several undead changing shape.

“Natural undead, bah!” Thregon cursed. “If Tak’ro was still around, they wouldn’a appeared. Damn that idiot emperor!”

The sun continued to rise, slowly showing the ruined city in all its glory. Here and there were giant undead amalgamations the size of three-story buildings, mostly centered around the crater where they attempted to climb in for no apparent reason. The wall was absolutely covered in smaller undead, who were scaling the walls with all their might. Several had arms reduced to stumps, and yet they still tried in vain to crawl upwards.

“Never ‘afore seen a sight like this,” Thregon commented. “Whaddya think has got ‘em so worked up?”

“I believe that,” his brother replied as he pointed downwards where the light was slowly inching downwards, revealing starstone. “Might be the clue.”

“It’s just starstone,” started Thregon, whose eyes nearly popped out of his head as the light accelerated the reveal of the dome. “By the Forgefather’s Anvil, I’ve never seen a deposit that big before!”

“There’s something inside that they want, it would seem,” Throgard grumbled, noting that there were hundreds of the smaller undead pounding away at the dome. There were already dozens of the larger undead that were attempting to continue the same track to no avail.

“Do ya think the tunnels are still intact?”

“Aye, the enchantments on ‘em would’ve made sure the tunnels survived the hit, for the most part. Won’t say there weren’t weak ones though, our journey though ‘em that night was rather rushed.”

“Well, we’ll have ‘t see what can be done then, looks like yer old guild hall is overrun.”

They looked further, noting that a single building stood out amongst the rest of the ruins near the walls of the former castle. While not flattened like its neighbors, it had still suffered severe damage and was also swarmed by the undead.

“Aye, no gettin’ through that way. Might have to see if the other entrance will work better, but for now,” Throgard turned and waved in the direction of a small floating boat heading their way from the Necropolis. “I believe I am going to have to have a word with Guildmaster Bloodcrest. Remind me to remind the chefs to not put garlic in the next few meals, aye?”

“Aye brother, I’ll do that,” Thregurd laughed. “I always wondered what the Death Guild’s leader looked like. If’n ya need me, I’ll be tendin’ to the cannons. With how hard the captain worked the ship, a few of the mountings came loose.”

The two brothers soon departed while the boat drew close. Back in the map room, Cartographer Scribe Hafdek noted that the light below the ship’s gem was flashing black in a steady rhythm--Blink-blink, blink--and made a note in the ever-growing Dungeon Log.