The Windgardens were home this morning and greeted me as I came upstairs. They were involved in a conversation with the Adventuring Guild Master, Runtel Trillet. I took a chair. “Hello. What’s going on today?”
Asiel answered, “Your party has made plans which we believe you will approve. As we understand it, the action you have experienced to date involves two zebor fights, four hunts, and two monster battles. We also recognize that you are highly motivated to train, including sparring sessions almost daily.”
I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but it sounded very positive. “That is all correct, and thank you.”
Master Trillet said, “Your team will be here momentarily. We would like to speak with the whole group of you at once. Before anyone else gets here, I encourage you to take the leadership role of your party today. Onre may have slightly more party experience, but he has never led a formal party expedition either. You are the highest level, your team respects you, and I’m sure they silently acknowledge that Interface gives you access to more information than they have.”
“‘Formal party expedition’ – so we are going to a dungeon or something?”
“We’ll get to the details when everyone arrives. If he hasn’t told you, Onre has been partied as a cadet three times. Both for this reason and the fact that he has the second highest level, I suggest he be second in command.”
Master Trillet is giving suggestions, not commands. That probably means we’ll be on our own, I think it is for a dungeon dive.
A likely correct deduction.
There was a knock on the door, and Orian bid them enter. Everyone came in with smiles, Arrjee, Onre, Kossa, Sun, and Ferret. They were all armored, and Arrjee carried my full set of charmed armor. They each wore two bags at their belts, and Onre and Kossa had backpacks. We greeted each other, with no one indicating what would be happening today. Asiel suggested they take seats on the floor. There weren’t enough chairs, even counting the sofa. As they sat, I felt self conscious and joined them on the floor. Arrjee handed me my armor and an extra belt pouch, and we faced our three elders.
Asiel commenced an obviously prepared statement. “Students, you have the honor of being the first party to engage in a ‘Skawa’s Adventure’.” He revealed this three days ago. Once Ferret leveled, you became the first academy team to consist of all-leveled members. This was what he was waiting for; Skawa’s door will not open, not from this side anyway, for a team which has one or more Level 0 members. He says Einvigi’s door will, but that has not occurred yet, either. Onre, would you like to tell Forrest what your party did yesterday?”
“Yes, sir. We went on a beast hunt. It was both for experience generally, as well as to specifically bring both Arrjee and Ferret to their level brakes. By coincidence at noon today, Arrjee will reach Level 4 and Ferret Level 3. We unanimously decided that it would serve the team best if this would happen as early as possible today. Level braking will prevent anyone else from doing so, no matter the XP we gain.”
Arrjee contributed, “And look – Forrest is 8, and Ferret will be 3, with every level in between covered. How often does that happen?!”
“Yes, it is an interesting distribution,” Master Trillet replied. “An important decision you need to make is to whom you wish to give command for today’s adventure.”
“Obvious that.” || That is obvious.
“Lead Forrest, second, Onre.” || Forrest should be our lead, with Onre as our second in command. trust
“Eight, seven.” || Level 8 and Level 7. confidence
“Billion, Interface.” || And Interface must be a billion. humor
I noticed Ferret place his palm on one of Sun’s feet as they spoke. He is a Mindsmith now, so the contact should allow him to almost fully understand Sun.
I’m glad.
Kossa seconded Sun’s statement, with everyone agreeing, and Onre and I accepting. Interface invited everyone in the room to a party.
I: Level Billion still eludes me, but thank you.
I: Understand, however, that I will not be making party decisions. Such is not my function.
“I may be team leader, but you are all team advisors. If you have an idea or think I am starting to do something stupid, tell me. I would much rather chance my ego being hurt than any of us encountering unnecessary or unprepared risk. We will be operating as a team, not a dictatorship. In addition to being my second, Onre will act as our scout. Sun will be our tank. In those roles, their authority will override mine. If Onre says stop, we stop. If Sun asks us to wait a moment before engaging, we do so.”
Onre suggested, “Agreed, but it should be recognized that you have the authority to override us on a case by case basis. Positional authority is important, but someone needs the final say.”
“Correct Onre.” || Onre is correct. affirmation
Ferret asked, “We have two healers. Will one of you be our primary?”
I looked at Onre. He just shrugged. “Onre and I will each heal as seems best at the moment. We are very close to each other in that capability, and I do not see either one of us as primary Oh, Onre, how good is your stealth?”
“My boots allow me to walk with no noise. Mom and Mowd developed an aerosol spray to make me and my armor almost scentless. My Stealth is Rank C now, affecting both my body and what I wear.” He activated it and he became hard to see. It would be hard to tell he were there if you didn’t already know. “My ability to be seen depends on ambient light, but even in daylight now I am less noticeable than others. This room is not near that bright, and I expect a dungeon to be less so, even if someone has a Torch up. So, pretty good.”
I momentarily turned off Dark Sight to see if it would make a difference. It did not, confirming that my aetherial light amplification did not override his aetherial stealth. It is at C also, so if it were greater than his Stealth rank, it might help. But not equal or less.
He’ll be a very good scout.
Yes.
Kossa wondered, “Do we know anything about this dungeon yet? I mean I trust Skawa not to send us to a death trap, but it would be nice to have a general idea.”
Just then there was a soft knock coming from low on the door. Asiel asked them to enter. There was another knock, maybe padded. Onre was seated closest to the door, so he got up and opened it. Skawa the teddy bear came in, not Onre’s but the one who was real and looked very similar. “Your doorknob is quite high! Kossa, I have been waiting for someone to ask that.”
He walked over and stood on the far side middle of those of us on the floor and those seated on chairs. We all needed to turn our necks to see him, but no one needed to turn their body around to face him. We all happily greeted him as he passed by.
“You will be visiting a system dungeon today, meaning you will have your own instance. Once your team enters, no one else will be able to do so, at least not into your instance. It has demarcated floors, and dungeon difficulty rises as you descend. Each floor will have a boss you must defeat to reach the next level. Each floor begins with a safe zone, and you will be able to return to the academy from any safe zone. Any individual who does return will not be able to re-enter my door for three days. That restriction will not be in effect for Einvigi’s door. If you go too deep and get in trouble, I will not rescue you. There will be real danger, and death is a potential outcome.”
“Interesting to call it a system dungeon when the people of Heere do not know about System.”
They see it as simply a word to distinguish it from a natural dungeon, which would not have instances, designated floor bosses, safe zones, and the like.
“Sir Skawa,” Ferret asked, “Can you tell us anything about Einvigi’s door? I can tell it is way different.”
“That is Einvigi’s to explain. I can say that you, Ferret, will have special interest in it, along with perhaps Onre.”
Hmm. What do Ferret and Onre have in common, but separate from anyone else?
Unknown. There are far too many vague possibilities to speculate.
“Such as?”
Testicle weight.
“Geez! I’m sure that is not it.”
I highly doubt it as well. I highly doubt quite a few things, but you did ask me to name one vague possibility
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
I happened to notice that Skawa did not smile at that conversation. Maybe the thoughts didn’t leak, and my Rank D deception and our mental-shield training is beginning to make me less of a sieve.
The Adventuring Guildmaster asked, “Will your door be open to members of my guild in general, or only academy students?”
“I will be establishing a regular schedule for the door to be accessible. There will only be two restrictions on entry. First, is that it will only allow up to seven to enter one location, regardless of whether the dungeon is system or natural. Second, once someone returns, they will not be allowed to enter my door for three days. If any of the seven return while the rest remain near their spawn point, others may take their place, with seven being the final limit.”
“If something were extremely high level and dangerous, I might make an exception, but do not expect it.”
Onre wondered, “Will we always begin just inside a dungeon, or might we start at a deeper safe zone?”
“I’m sorry, Onre, but neither. While the doorway is established as a fixed location which can be accessed from anywhere on Heere, it can only send people to specific aetherial nodes. Almost all nodes are located outside of dungeons, and you would not want to begin at one of the deep-dungeon nodes. These occur only in natural dungeons, and all of them at extremely dangerous spots.”
I realized, “So the academy doorway is a node?”
“It has become one, yes. But the only ones who can use it from off-campus are those who first entered through it, or members of such a party.”
Orian clarified, “So a party could add someone at the other side, and such persons could return with the students or whoever?”
“Yes, it will recognize all party members and pets.”
Kossa wondered, “So Swagger could come.”
I immediately corrected her. “Swagger is not a pet! I bet he could come as a party member, though.”
“You are correct, Forrest. I do not recommend, however, that Swagger accompany you today. This dungeon is a poor match for a horse’s anatomy. But if anyone in your party does form at least a bond of friendship with any sentient creature, and it chooses to accompany you back, it may. Sapient beings must choose to join your party, however. In accommodation of tamers and summoners, pets will not count toward the party limit of seven members. Also, a returning party may be larger than seven.”
Onre asked, “Do you expect us to come back with more beings than us?”
“‘Expect’, no. With the Wraiths and Master Trillet here, I am letting them know what my rules are. I expect that Einvigi will be having a similar discussion with them. You should begin your adventure soon.”
“Uh, Sir Skawa, one moment,” I pleaded. “About how far will we appear from the dungeon, and will it be obvious which direction to go?”
“Head north by northwest. As you near the dungeon entrance, you will be able to sense it from a distance. The dungeon will be near enough for you to have a memorable dungeon dive.” At that, he yawned himself gone. I mean, he started yawning, and his mouth kept opening wider and wider until it sort of reversed itself and slowly absorbed his body from the head down.
“Give me just a moment to don this armor.” I didn’t bother to go to another room – there wasn’t anything they all hadn’t seen before. I wasn’t sure if I should wear the cotton undergarment, but hell, it was part of what Skawa provided, so I did. The most awkward part was removing then redonning my arm bands and belt over the armor. Attached to the belt were my sheathed knife, pouch, and the extra pouch Arrjee brought me. Hopefully I will end up with stuff to put in them. Orian said it would be okay to leave my loincloth and sandals there.
----------------------------------------
We took the short walk to Skawa’s Adventure doors. The occasion must have been considered important or historic or something – many people were there to wish us well. Arrjee’s and my whole family were there, as was Mowd, all the students I recognized and maybe two I didn’t, the adult members of the Adventuring Guild, Ronkel, Swagger, Norrus, emissary, Perx Prost, and some folks probably from town I didn’t know. It was definitely a large crowd considering 5 was two dozen minutes in the future.
FR: Interface, please add Swagger and Ronkel to the party.
S: Good morning, everyone.
R.I: Hi!
FR: Hello. Swagger, Skawa says the dungeon today is not a place for a horse to venture. I am sorry to leave you behind.
S: Oh, he already told me. But guess what? Niscus and her team are going to be practicing our acrobatics together. Wait until you can see what Odd does!
KS: Yes, it’s really amazing.
FR: Kossa, it almost sounds worth staying here and watching. Who am I kidding, no it doesn’t! But I do look forward to watching all of you, and getting more practice myself.
Master Trillet fended off a long goodbye by announcing that we are to leave at 4:40. Skawa hadn’t indicated so, but the guildmaster must have realized we could spend an hour here talking. Instead, we spent a little over ten minutes to greet, hug, talk, and speculate. During that time, Perx gave a 20-second speech thanking Skawa for the opportunity to craft the doors and wishing well to all who use them.
We stood by the doors at the designated time. Everyone dropped the party but team members and Interface.
OL: What do we do to start?
FR: I guess just open Skawa’s door.
Sun had left one hand free, with a shield in another hand and the truncheon Skawa had gifted him in the third. As he opened Skawa’s door, both doors opened. Only black emptiness could be seen beyond the doors. “Let’s head through, team.”
The other side was a fairly dry yet hazy plane. Scattered bushes were about that looked like they would love to have some water, and sporadic clumps of dry grass were just as thirsty. The air was cooler than it had been at the academy, even with it still being morning. My clock had adjusted, and it was showing 6:41,so two time zones.
There would only be 20 time zones here, so that’s further than on Earth. And I have no idea how much our latitude changed.
Use your map, dumbass.
The dumbass did. We were entirely surrounded by map fog, as was to be expected. I zoomed out until I started seeing the outlines of two of the duchies. Neither was the Fifth, but at least I knew we hadn’t left our home continent. I scrolled out further, and saw that we were far northwest of the Fifth Duchy, in a no-man’s land apparently claimed by no Duchy.
It doesn’t seem a hospitable place for communities, so probably no one wants it.
“Has everyone checked their map? We seem to be in an unpopulated arid plane, not claimed by any of the duchies. We are north and west of the Fifth Duchy. Is anyone familiar with this place, or somewhere like it?”
No one was. Anyone who hadn’t opened their map did so and confirmed what I said. “We are on alert from now until the end of our mission. Onre, take point and scout for us; lead us north by northwest. There is no need for us to hurry. Everyone else, keep your eyes and ears open. There may be hostile wildlife about. Ready yourselves for a potential battle, but don’t be paranoid about it. Once we get underway, communicate via party only, unless we know we are in a safe area. If we encounter nomads or travelers, be on extra guard. They may only be pretending to be friendly.”
Kossa laughed at me, “You’re the one who is paranoid.”
“Who is more dangerous, beasts or people? Well, bad question, we don’t know. But we know the beasts are a likely threat. Food seems to be limited here, which puts us on the menu. That said, we cannot assume people are friendly. If we do meet anyone, we will be polite, cautious, and continue on to the dungeon with minimal delay.”
Sun armed his second shield, indicating he would be acting primarily as defense. Ferret bulked up into a 9-foot tall muscle-man version of himself. “At Level 2 I can only triple my mass. At noon, I’m not sure this noon or Cottages-noon, I’ll be able to quadruple it. Minor gods, I should have ranked my Basic Knifemanship past E. Eventually I’ll be able to morph into an effective predator. But I guess for now, it is Skawa’s knife in one hand and my extended claws in the other.”
I noticed Arrjee arm his sword, a new one he had gotten since last Tuesday. It was enchanted like my knife for sharpness and self-repair. Well, mine is charmed, but same thing as far as he is concerned. Onre had not armed himself, I’m sure depending on his stealth to give him time to respond appropriately. Kossa carried her enchanted flute at the ready. With her Void Field available and a new Void Barrier skill, any critter that got close would be getting drained, and possibly completely stopped. She said, “I’ll try to keep both Encouragement and Enhance HP active, but I’ll still leave plenty of mana in reserve in case I need to get more offensive.”
I left my knife in its sheath and readied myself to enter the Cat’s Dance Stance at a second’s notice. With a tank and a bard, I didn’t expect to need anything more defensive. We walked toward our goal at a determined pace.
Twice we heard some sort of animal screams in the distance, but nothing seemed like it was interested in us. At a certain point, we could hear a distinctive, continuous buzz that was not an animal noise. We agreed that it might be the dungeon proclaiming itself.
Buzz marks the spot.
Soon, an X appeared in our maps about 200 yards ahead, with it showing as ‘Hopstorn Dungeon’ on our legends. Some beasts must have realized it would attract potential prey.
OL: There is a pack of maybe 17 hyenas encamped between us and the dungeon. I do not believe we can reach the dungeon unnoticed. Options include: attempt to sneak around, trying to scare them off, or head left or right of the pack unafraid, showing us to be the alphas. I see levels from 1 to 7, but mostly 4s to 6s. There is one 8; he is probably the alpha.
AS: Another option is to taunt them to us and eliminate them.
FR: Let’s try to save our fighting for inside the dungeon, where we might get rewards from monster drops. Out here it would be intentional slaughter, and we would be wasting their meat and hides.
FR: Onre, close ranks, and we will all begin speaking vocally. We want them to know we are here and unafraid. We will try to pass them on the left side, leaving at least five yards between us and them. Do not respond negatively to a challenging roar or bark or whatever hyenas do, Only if they actually approach us to attack will we fight.
Kossa played her flute, updating our buffs and letting the beasts know they were not alone. After several seconds of playing two tunes each, she told me, “You’re funny, leaderman. They do not roar. Expect barks, howls, or even a strange laughter.”
We continued walking at a moderate pace, giving them the wide berth I commanded. No hyena approached closely, but several took two or three steps forward and barked in challenge. Ferret surprised me by returning a very natural sounding bark. This caused them some puzzlement.
“What you say?” || What did you say to them?
“It’s not speech. We are just letting each other know we are not afraid.”
I said, “Well, a barking, 9-foot ferretman giant would be telling me to stay the fuck away.”
Everyone laughed. Surprisingly, some of the hyena’s returned the laughter. They left us alone, though, and maybe we had garnered some respect. And they must have been adequately fed.
We reached some sort of glimmering, buzzing stone about 7 feet high and 20 feet in girth. I asked, “Does anyone know what we do now?”
Onre answered, “All of us need to touch the stone. We will each be given a quest, and once all party members accept it, we appear on the top floor of our instance in a safe room. Any pets would accompany us.”
As he indicated, I touched the stone, and:
Quest: Defeat the floor boss
Reward: Varies
Do you accept?
I did and noticed Ferret return to his default form before he touched it. Several seconds later we all vanished from the arid plane.