We gathered up what supplies we could scrounge, with Darshanna looking with longing sadness at the wreckage all around us. I felt bad for her, but it was pretty obvious we’d be back in an airship at some point, and she was the logical choice to pilot it.

I slipped up next to her. “Hey, Darshanna? Just out of curiosity, was the man who taught you how to fly and craft named Cid?”

She blinked at me in confusion. “No? What an odd question. Did you know a Cid?”

I laughed. “Well… sort of. I suppose you might say I knew an idea of him.” I shook my head and patted her arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you a new ship.” I smiled reassuringly and trudged over to Eshaan, hearing her murmur “What an odd girl.” as I went.

I pulled up next to Eshaan and nodded. “I think that’s about all we can get here. So, do you want to do the talking, or should I? Also, what’s the most likely bet to get us inside? I don’t know how long the warmth field Soriya and I created will last, and I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s a bit chilly out here.” I grinned at him. My robes were far warmer than they had any right to be, but they were still far too sheer for my liking. Something with fur would be nice. Maybe we can skin a Yeti or something.

Eshaan stroked his chin. “Well, if they’re following standard imperial procedure, they’ll expect us to have a pass or writ of passage. If we don’t, it depends on how secure the site is. They might turn us away entirely, or they might put us somewhere secure while they wait for orders from higher up.” He shrugged. “I liked your idea. Let’s just tell them we crashed, and we’re looking for shelter.”

“That was my idea?”

“Didn’t you just say to approach and ask them for help?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess you got me there. Ok! Well, you know the pass codes and phrases?”

He shook his head. “It would be more suspicious if I know the codes while I’m not with a squad and I’m not in uniform. Also, I don’t have a pass or writ. You should do the talking.”

I sighed and nodded. “Right.” I looked over my shoulder. “Everybody ready?”

Various assents and agreements, and we trudged over the low rise and down towards the small imperial base nestled against the mountain side. The sun was just starting to set and I shivered even as I thought about staying the night. We didn’t exactly have a choice though.

The base was surrounded by a fence with flickering elemental wards on it. Nearby, two guards shrouded in greatcoats stood outside a low squat cinderblock structure next to a gate. They were huddled up in their coats, leaning against the wall out of the wind. I could see embers of cigarettes, and the wind flicked fragments of muttered conversation to my ears, desultory and brief.

As soon as I got within earshot, I called out and waved. Both guards jerked upright in surprise, looking around in confusion before spotting our little group approaching them.

Ok, me. We’re not going to lie, but we’re gonna be creative. You ok with that?

No, but I think it’s the right course of action.

“Oh my gosh, are we glad to see you!” I called out as we approached, pushing a {Persuade}. “You have no idea what a relief it is to see something besides yeti and white mantis!”

The soldiers finally untangled their minds, having gotten to their feet. They weren’t pointing their guns at us, at least not yet, but they held them at the ready in a very disturbing way.

“You don’t mind my saying. miss, what the hell are you doing out here in the first place?!” one said, his tone bristling with suspicion.

I smiled as sweetly as I could, and folded my hands in front of me. “Oh, we’ve just been in an airship wreck! We were stranded on this mountain! Please, can you help us?”

“Miss, this is a secure installation-“ one started

“Ah, forget it, Vijay.” The other turned to his companion. “Ever since they took that giant hunk of metal back to the capital everybody knows this base is slated for closure. It’s about as secure as a sieve! You go and get the Commandant, let him know what’s happening. Girl and her friends are likely lost tourists from the empire by the look of them.”

I had a brief moment of panic before I heard Darshanna pipe up with enthusiastic agreement.

“That’s right! We were just on a tour of the borderlands, it’s the latest thing, you know! And in my own personal airship, I customized it personally you know, it really was the most adorable thing all the ladies will be so jealous, and there was a terrible malfunction!” She pushed forward, and I did a double take as she did. Her whole demeanor had changed, going from brash and slightly cocky sky pirate to a completely convincing imitation of a spoiled teenage noble who had had the most inconceivable thing happen to her… an actual inconvenience.

“Shoddy workmanship, I have no doubt, you simply can’t buy good quality materials anymore! I shall have to complain sternly to the supplier! Oh it was terrible! I and my retinue barely managed to get out alive, the ship is just…” she flipped her hand back the way we came “Fragments! Bits! I shall have to commission an entirely new one, and supervise the crew more closely this time! We were so scared, but now that there’s an imperial base here, why, it’s just as if the spirits were guiding us! We’d be ever so grateful if you could help us!”

I could only stare in awe at her performance. She wasn’t even using a {Persuade}, just pure acting! And the trooper was falling for it!

“Ah, miss, a little girl like you, that must be hard. Come on into the guard shack, I’ll get you a mug of tea. It’s not high quality, but it is warm.” And he turned and ushered us into one of the small cinderblock buildings next to the gate.

His companion, Vijay, shook his head in apparent disgust, took a last drag on his cigarette, then threw the butt into the snow where it joined a host of other lonely ashes. He turned and headed through the gate, heading towards another low building where I could see lights glimmering faintly.

I stood frozen in shock a moment as Darshanna and the others trudged past me.

That worked?!

That worked.

How?!

I have no idea.

As we crowded into the guard building, Darshanna continued her steady prattle of nothing and everything at once. Apparently, her name was Amala now, and we were her retainers, with her noble bodyguard Daniyel. The way he briefly smiled when she said that, I wondered if that perhaps might be the actual truth of the matter.

It certainly explains why a dangerous looking man follows a teenage sky pirate around like a puppy, and barks whenever she’s in danger.

The tea was much better than the trooper had said. Strong and dark and just a little bitter, and it was warm. I cupped my hands around it and sighed in pleasure.

“Thank you ever so much!” Darshanna continued to gush. “It was getting dark and I was so scared!”

“Ah, well, you’re lucky you found us.” The trooper, whose name was apparently Naveen, told us. “The weather looks to be taking a turn for the worse, and the nights are not friendly up here.” The trooper nodded sagely. Indeed, outside the cinderblock building, I could hear the whip and snap of the wind growing in intensity, and flurries of snow started to sleet past again, even heavier than the storm when we first “landed”.

Well. I was a bit worried about a search party, or aerial issues, but with this storm, I don’t think there’s much to worry about. I thought.

The door burst open again, the wind and flurries briefly howling around inside before the two men who entered could force it closed again. They stamped their feet and rubbed their hands, while the leader surveyed us with a careful gaze.

“So! Welcome to Imperial Dig site #28.” The man said. “I am Commandant Nirav. I understand you have quite a tale to tell?”

“Oh Commaaaaandant!~” Darshanna cooed. “Yes! Thank you ever so much for saving us! I am the Baroness Amala, and these are my retainers.” She gestured grandly to herself and us.

Wait, she’s a baron now?!

Baron is one of the lowest noble ranks, it’s at least a little believable.

It is?

Otherme shared a brief ranking of the noble titles. It was all complete gibberish to me, but apparently there was only one rank lower than baron, and that was baronet.

The Commandant pressed her on her story, but she played off the roll of foppish noble girl without a hitch, even dodging several carefully laid verbal traps the Commandant placed. As she pattered on, otherme quietly nudged me.

See the way he’s sitting? He’s worried about something. It’s easy to fool someone when they’re already distracted.

I blinked and glanced at him. Otherme pointed out a tenseness in his shoulders, a restlessness in his stance.

“Yes, very well.” The Commandant finally said, pushing himself to his feet. “I think we can accommodate the Baroness for a night at the very least.” He said not long after “Amala” had started describing the wonderful crumpets that her aunt had made them for the trip, now tragically lost “-and before I’d even had more than 4!”

“I’m afraid our accommodations are a bit rougher than you’re used to, Baroness, but they should keep you warm at least. The storm will prevent us from using the heliograph to signal for assistance until it clears, but until then, we are at your disposal. Please confine yourself to bunkhouse three, for your own safety. The ruins are not safe for casual visitors. If you’ll excuse me.” He bowed sharply then turned to Vijay. “Trooper, show the Baroness and her retinue to the spare block 3. I still need to deal with the Eideth situation.”

“Sir.” Vijay saluted and beckoned to us.

“Oh, is there something amiss?” Darshanna gushed, apparently all sincerity. “Is there anything we could help with?! As recompense for your gracious hospitality and as loyal servants of the empire it is my duty to ask!”

The Commandant turned to her and narrowed his eyes skeptically. She met his gaze with a wide-eyed vacuous stare.

And she has the gall to call me empty headed!

Perhaps she has experience in the matter?

He glanced to Daniyel, then shook his head. “No, Baroness. It is a trivial matter. One of the engineers on the site is overdue to check in. She has a habit of it. As you know, Monanin are notorious for their lack of sensible time.”

When Nirav mentioned the dwarf, I saw Darshanna’s eyes light up. She quickly quenched her interest, but I could see that she started to fidget.

“Oh, that’s too bad! Well, do let us know if we can help!”

The Commandant bowed again. “Of course, Baroness. Trooper?”

Vijay once more beckoned us out the door, and this time Darshanna led us to follow him. The wind was bitingly cold, even through the warding ritual that Soriya and I had created, the storm was indeed making itself known.

We trudged through the horizontal snow to another anonymous low cinderblock building, this time without lights inside. I was a bit hesitant, afraid we were about to be slammed into a prison, but Vijay simply opened the front door, then stepped in, beckoning us to hurry. We scurried after him, and found ourselves in a bleak bunkhouse, rows of cots with neatly rolled mattresses. The inside was devoid of heat, but simply being out of the wind was enough for us to feel warm at that point.

“Here. Baroness, I must impress on you, your noble title will not save you from the dangers of the dig site. Confine yourselves here. For your own safety.” He gave a sharp bow, and stomped out of the building into the storm.

The door slammed, leaving us alone.

Darshanna’s whole posture changed and she let out a huge sigh of relief, once more the spunky tomboy with aviators goggles on her forehead. “Thank the spirits, I thought he’d never leave! I hate playing that airheaded fop!”

Daniyel said “I think perhaps we should look for the fire crystals to start the heating. Sleeping in the cold is not wise.”

“We’re not going to explore?! We’re just going to stay here?!” Eshaan burst out.

Daniyel turned to Eshaan; an eyebrow raised. “It is exceedingly late, the storm is likely to delay our pursuers for at least a little while longer, the… ‘casing’ of the location can wait. Indeed, unless I miss my guess, by tomorrow the Commandant will be coming to us for assistance. He appeared considerably more worried than a single overdue engineer would warrant.”

“I knew it!” Soriya spoke up. “I bet she’s the next party member!”

I looked at her in disbelief. “A dwarf? Really?”

“Monan. Don’t call them dwarves, it’s insulting.” She replied.

“Seriously?”

“How would you like it if everyone called you ‘pinkie’ all the time, simply because of your hair?”

“…. Monan it is.”

With the howling storm outside and the time, I decided that dinner would be a good thing, and set about preparing food for everyone. Luckily, the empty bunkhouse had a central stove which served as heat as well as for cooking. A few fire crystals later, the bunkhouse was feeling warm and cozy, the smell of food wafting up from the cooking.

“Oh my gawd, that smells amazing! You’re hired, ship’s cook!” said Darshanna as she hovered over me. I smiled aside at her, as she drooled quietly.

“I told you, it’s co-captain, or nothing.” I said as I stirred the bubbling pot of chili in front of me.

“Oh come on, this is food we’re talking about! Food! You can’t withhold food from a starving girl! It’s inhuman!”

I pushed a plate of steaming chili and bread at her. “Who said anything about withholding food? I’m just not your chef.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The others gathered around the stove as I dished out the food.

“I dunno, Lilyanna.” Said Soriya slyly. “You’re cooking for everyone.”

I turned pink. “That’s not the same as being your chef.”

“Eeee, so good!” Darshanna got out around a mouthful of food, kicking her heels against the floor as she ate.

Eshaan nodded in agreement. “She really is quite a wizard with food.”

“Indeed. This meal is most delightful, though perhaps a bit less spicy than I might prefer.” Rumbled Daniyel.

I huffed at them, hands on my hips. “Listen you three! I make food because I like to eat food-“

Soriya tapped my chest lightly. “Easier on the tsundere, Lily. It’s ok to enjoy helping others, you know.”

I could feel the heat of my blush all the way to my ears. “That’s… I’m not… that’s completely unfair!”

“So why do you object to the compliments of your cooking? Do you think we’re all lying to you?”

I pinched my mouth shut and stirred the chili pot angrily.

You’re scared of being good at a ‘feminine’ thing, aren’t you? Otherme gently chided. I don’t see why. You cooked before, you cook now, and I help. And you do like it when they praise you.

I was silent, biting my lip harder. Otherme fell silent, which didn’t help since it was obviously a reproachful silence.

“I just… don’t want to be seen as one thing. I’m…” I bit my lip. I didn’t want to say Lilyanna, but after the shadow crack… “I’m not just a cook. Or a healer girl.”

Soriya patted my shoulder. “We saved Breezewood, Lily. Of course you’re not the character in a game. You’re whoever you decide to be. And if you decide to cook for your friends because you like how it makes them feel, then that’s ok.”

I bit my lip thinking, the nodded. It was ok. Like Eshaan, I could do what I chose. I had done what I chose to save the town, and I would break this plot. Mother’s journal was already proving that possible.

<{Gourmet} unlocked. {Gourmet} Advanced to level 1. {Cooking}, unlocked. For coming to terms with your skills and providing food to bolster your party’s spirits, you have advanced to {Gourmet:1}> The world soul announced in my ear.

I sighed. Of course. Thanks, World Soul.

We sat around the stove eating, and quietly talking, but soon a yawn crept up on me and ambushed me.

Eshaan nodded. “It’s ok Lily, we’ll be safe here. Nothing will happen until the morning at the latest.” I smiled at him and then sighed. “Yes, I suppose we should sleep. It’s been a very eventful day.”

Soriya smiled and patted my shoulder. “It is. Sleep well.”

I curled up on one of the old mattresses, the last thing I remember thinking was This mattress is far too lumpy. It will take me ages to get to sleep.

The next thing I knew Eshaan was shaking my shoulder gently, and a dull grey white light was streaming in through the bunkhouse windows. “Lily, it’s morning. Time to get up.” His voice was gentle.

“Uh. Morning?” I sat up, blinking blurrily, brushing my long pink locks out of my face. Indeed, the grey white light filtering in through the windows did look to be what passed for daylight in the howling storm which continued to batter the mountain. I ran my fingers through my hair, then undid my braid and redid it to tame the stubborn strands which had worked their way loose while I slept.

“So, we haven’t heard from the Commandant yet, I’m not entirely sure if Daniyel’s prediction will come true, but it does mesh with yours.”

“Uh? Oh… right. The exploration of the dig.” I chewed on my lower lip thoughtfully as I finished tying off my braid.

“Soriya? Can I pick your brain for a minute?”

Soriya looked up from where she was chatting with Daniyel. “Sure Lily, what’s up?” She came over and looked down.

“Seems likely that we’ll do a dungeon here at the dig site, yeah?”

Soriya nodded. “Yeah, seems likely?”

“What do you think happens after?”

“Uh… huh. Well, I think we get a monan engineer, but…”

“Right, but after? I think… that Khine’s troopers will be waiting outside when we get back.”

Soriya and Eshaan’s eyes both got wide.

Soriya tapped her lips. “That… makes a disturbing amount of sense, actually. That would explain how we get off the mountain without an airship.”

Just then Soriya’s stomach growled loudly. She looked down at herself and blushed. “Ah…” she looked up at me with a beseeching expression.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, yes, alright. I’m low on stock, I didn’t buy enough for everyone, I’m not a pantry! Let’s see if they left anything in the bunkhouse. We can talk while we look.”

I stood up and started rummaging through the chests, cupboards, and shelves.

“So, you think Khine will find us?” Eshaan asked

“Either him or lt. Isha again.” I replied. “Oh, bacon, oats, and grits! This will work nicely!” I grabbed the supplies and headed back to the stove.

“So what do we do?” Asked Soriya

“We fight them, of course!” Eshaan proclaimed.

“Wait, who are we fighting now?” Darshanna joined us, yawning, then sniffed appreciatively at the smell of bacon. “Ooh, breakfast!” Her stomach growled loudly and she ducked her head in embarrassment.

I laughed. “Alright, alright, everyone gets some, but you have to wait!”

“Lilyanna thinks that after we get done finding the lost engineer, when we get out, the imperials will be waiting.”

Darshanna’s eyes got wide and she jerked. “What? No! We escaped! We left them in the clouds!”

Daniyel joined us, and said “It is not wise to borrow trouble that has not yet been made manifest.”

Eshaan shrugged. “Well, I hate to say it, but Lilyanna’s visions often turn out to be right.”

Darshanna looked at me with renewed interest. “You have visions? You’re a seer or something? I’ve never heard of that class!”

I shook my head in frustration. “It’s not a class feature, it’s… it’s something else.”

Eshaan nodded. “I would not dismiss miss Lilyanna’s visions; they’ve been right more often than they’ve been wrong.”

“Interesting…” Daniyel rumbled. “A most useful talent.”

I cleared my throat. “Look, I could be wrong. But I don’t think we lose anything if we plan for it.”

The others murmured agreement. “Great, so… what do we do about it?”

Eshaan repeated “We fight of course! We beat them off last time, we can do it again!”

I ladled out strips of bacon and oat-grit mush to the others, which caused a brief pause in the conversation while they ate.

“Eshaan… I don’t want to fight them. I’d like to sneak away before anything goes wrong!”

“We could just refuse to look for the engineer, wait for the imperials to land their fancy airships and then steal them.” Soriya said. “We’ve got air pirates right here after all.”

“Oh, I like that plan!” Darshanna nodded excitedly.

“I don’t like the idea of leaving people in trouble in the dig though.” I nibbled on the tip of my spoon thoughtfully.

“And besides.” Darshanna slumped in frustration. “I have to play the noble idiot again when the dig Commandant comes. You’re sure he’ll come?” She asked Daniyel with a worried look in her eyes.

Daniyel shrugged. “I cannot say for certain, I do not claim to have Lady Lilyanna’s visions, I merely know men, and the commander had the airs of someone with a problem. And a noble lady’s retinue is known to be useful problem solvers. As well as occasionally useful idiots.”

Darshanna stomped her foot. “Ugh, don’t remind me. I hate playing the fluff head. I want to go to the dig and see their machines!”

“Their machines…” I said, an idea starting to form. I turned to Eshaan. “Eshaan, will the dig have magitech constructs? Golems, laborers, that kind of thing?”

Eshaan tugged at his chin. “They might. If the dig site was important enough…”

I twitched a wry smile. “I don’t think we’re lucky enough that we’ve landed at an unimportant dig site.”

“Hm. Interesting. The solider at the gate last night.” Daniyel rumbled “He mentioned something about something being taken to Spyre. Some artifact found at the dig.”

I smiled grimly and stabbed my bacon. “Told you so.”

“Intriguing. These ‘visions’ of yours may indeed prove most sagacious to our cause.” Daniyel said.

“But why are you asking about the magitech constructs?” Darshanna asked “I mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re super interesting, but you sounded like you have a plan.”

“Maybe. Can you hack the constructs if they have them, Darshanna?”

She nodded. “Sure, but what good will that do, they’re dumber than Lady Amala!”

I giggled. “Amusing way to phrase it. And they should be plenty smart to make a distraction for us. We use the distraction, they charge the troopers lines, we run behind them and steal one of the landed airships.”

Darshanna looked at me, and then slowly started to clap. “Maybe you are co-captain material!” she said with admiration.

I don’t know why, but I blushed at that. “Thanks.” I said softly.

“So we’re all agreed? We’re going to agree to the Commandant’s request?”

We all looked at each other, then nodded separately.

“Good!” Eshaan clapped his hands. “An adventure and doing the right thing, followed by a run to steal an airship. I like it!”

His enthusiasm startled a laugh out of me, and that sparked a laugh from Soriya and then Darshanna. Even Daniyel cracked a modest smile.

The door opened and the Commandant and two troopers we hadn’t yet met entered, along with a great deal of wind and blown snow. They fought the door closed against the storm outside, and then stood a while puffing and blowing, stomping their feet and dripping snowflakes from the storm outside.

I saw a brief grimace cross Darshanna’s face and then the vacuous airhead look settled over her face.

“Commaaaandant~! What brings you here so early in the morning, and in the middle of such frightful weather! It’s a good thing my airship did crash, I’m quite sure it wouldn’t have survived this storm!” She tittered.

The Commandant looked up at her and nodded. “Baroness. I have come to take you up on your offer of assistance.”

“Oh reeeeally?!” Darshanna cooed. “We are of course at the service of the imperial corp! What can we do for you?”

“One of my engineers has gotten herself… lost. In the dig site. I would appreciate it if you would help me look for her. However, the dig site is dangerous, and before I send the daughter of a noble house into such, I wish to verify that your retinue are in fact capable of looking after your welfare.”

“Why, I don’t know, Commandant! What on earth lives in a dig site!?”

The Commandant nodded, and grimaced. “There are… certain issues within the mine. It appears that… well, that’s not important right now. Underground species of insects, certain cutterpiller species and a few spiders roam the caverns…” He heaved a sigh. “But the real trouble is that our magitech equipment appears to have suffered a malfunction of some sort. Some few of the digging units may present a considerable hazard.

Darshanna’s eyes lit up with unholy glee. She clapped her hands together to disguise her excitement. “Oh how dreadful! So you need our assistance with the search! Yes, yes, my retainers are quite capable! Father simply won’t let me leave the house without them!”

The Commandant nodded with clear relief. He reached into his greatcoat and pulled out a rolled parchment. “I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a crude map of the dig tunnels.” He held it out, and Darshanna took it with fluid grace, smoothly passing it to Daniyel without a pause.

“We will get started at once, Commandant!” she chirped.

He nodded back, saluted politely. “Well then. When you’re ready-”

“Oh but we’re ready now, Commandant!”

The Commandant blinked in confusion, then glanced slowly around our group with narrowed eyes. “Indeed. I see you are.” He pressed his lips together and nodded to himself.

Hm, he must be very worried. He suspects us… rightly… and yet he’s still planning on sending in troubleshooters. I thought to myself. Of course… there’s likely to be a squad of imperial troopers to arrest us when we return…

“Please come with me then, Baroness, you and your retainers.”

We gathered our items, and headed out into the storm. With the heat spell that Soriya and I had cooked up long dissipated, the cold was once more frighteningly evident. I was grateful that the distance to the dig entrance was short and we were quickly inside again.

Within the cavern, ancient pipes of gleaming brass spewed steam and throbbed with the sound of distant engines.

I leaned close to Eshaan. “Is this… Ancient’s tech?”

His eyes were wide with excitement, and he nodded frantically, trying to look everywhere at once. “Yes!” He hissed back at me. “This is incredible!”

I grabbed his arm to stop him. “Eshaan. Calm. We don’t want to alarm the Commandant any more than we already have. Tourism when they’re gone.”

The disappointment on his face was palpable, but at least he restrained himself from dashing off into the deeper tunnels immediately.

I returned my attention to the Commandant just as he was finishing up his explanation, by this point clearly talking more to Daniyel than “Amala”.

“So you see, the situation is somewhat difficult, and I would appreciate your assistance.”

“Oh but of course, dear Commandant! We will have your little engineer out in a trice!”

Daniyel bowed politely; his fingertips pressed together. “Indeed. It will be our pleasure.”

The Commandant sighed in relief and nodded. “Then I leave it to you. I will remain here while you explore. Oh!” he fumbled in the pockets of his greatcoat, then produced a handful of blue and red vials. “Here, take these. They are sure to be of aid to you.”

“Why thank you, Commandant! This is so sweet of you!” Darshanna scooped up the vials and pocketed them quickly. “Don’t you worry, everything will be just peachy perfect!” She smiled brightly.

Urgh, even my teeth are starting to hurt from the sweetness.

She clearly has experience in this mannerism.

“Come along, everyone! We’re going to have an adventure!” She chirped, and beckoned us to follow as she skipped down the stairs leading deeper into the dig site. Soriya smirked and followed close behind, while Eshaan and I were clearly more bemused by the whole situation.

A few twists of the stairwell, and the Commandant and his troopers were out of sight. The cavern walls were lit with a curious mix of Ancient’s tech and more modern light crystals on strings. It was a strange juxtaposition.

We reached the bottom of the stairwell a few moments later, and a spray of tunnels burrowed into the mountain’s depths, a strange mixture of roughhewn cavern walls interrupted by patches of perfectly square and smooth ancient stonework, a delicate tracery of interlinking puzzle pieces.

“There!” Darshanna gave a sigh of relief, shivering as though to shake off the persona of Amala. “This should be deep enough! Well!” She turned to Eshaan. “You’re the expert on Ancient’s! Where should we look first?”

Eshaan stammered out “I’m hardly an expert! This is no more than a hobby!”

Darshanna nodded, hands on hips. “But you’re the best we’ve got, so you’re our expert! Which way!”

Eshaan briefly looked at me, paused as though he was about to speak, then his lips pressed together and his expression grew serious. He turned back and pointed to a tunnel and said confidently “This way. The Ancients accounted the five directions sacred, but the number 3 the signifier, so… this one!”

He’s making it up as he goes along, isn’t he?

Oh yes, just like we do. It’s marvelous, isn’t it?

Yes. Marvelous. That’s a word for it.

We headed deeper into the maze of dug and shaped tunnels. It wasn’t long before we caught sight of the first of the threats in the caverns, a juddering jerking golem made of the same ornate gleaming bronzework as the empire’s airships. It stood in the center of a small cavern, spitting sparks and spinning in random directions, hitting a wall with a pick arm, then spinning and hitting another before shuddering in the center of the room.

Soriya nudged Darshanna. “Dar, you’re up.”

“Oh! Uh… r-right! Yes! Mechanic!” she approached nervously. The golem spun to her, and it’s eyes flashed red.

“Dig! Intruder! DIG! P-P-Pass code- DIG!” It lurched towards her with it’s pick arms raised. She gave a little yelp and tumbled to the side in a manner that definitely would have gotten a 7 from the French judge.

“Keep it busy! I can’t reprogram it if it’s hitting me!” She shouted.

“Oh! Yeah, right!” Eshaan jumped forward drawing his sword as Daniyel slammed his fists together, the glowing orange energy gauntlets forming around his hands.

The golem lunged forward, unsure which one to target, and unable to decide, slammed it’s pick into neither of them, as Daniyel and Eshaan leapt apart letting the pick slam into the rock between them. Darshanna scurried around behind it, and leapt up onto the golem’s back, slapping furiously at what I presumed to be an access panel of some kind.

The golem whirled its upper body in a spinning circle one way then the other, trying to shake off Darshanna.

“Oy! Over here tinbrain!” Eshaan danced left then right, while Daniyel moved with silent grace to the other side.

“It is unwise to listen to the taunts of your enemies.” He counseled as he grabbed one of the golem’s arms with his hands and held it.

The golem spit red gold sparks form its joints and rocked furiously in place.

“Almost there! Almost got it!” Darshanna yelped and a panel of bronze fell to the ground with a clang.

The golem lunged forward, dragging Daniyel across the ground with the power of its movement, a hammer blow from its free arm barely missing Eshaan’s skull.

“Got it!” Darshanna shouted, and the golem spat a series of elemental sparks into the air, and then suddenly sagged down, the glow from its eyes fading, as it slumped to the ground.

“Well fought, Sir Eshaan.” Said Daniyel. “You have the grace of a sand cat in the oasis.”

“Uh…” Eshaan rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks! I think?”

Daniyel nodded gravely then turned to Darshanna. “Well, then. Captain? What have you learned?”

“Oh! Right! Oh man, this stuff is really premium gear! I had to scrounge for weeks… uh. To get a look at something like this! But look! This is fascinating, the atherichemical chambers on its primary motivation system are completely burnt….” A stream of techno babble which meant very little to me, but Eshaan leaned in, clearly fascinated.

I frowned and folded my arms under my breasts, looking around at the walls, feeling incredibly useless.

That hussy! Otherme groused.

Oh hush, she’s cute enough!

You… you!!

Me. I thought smugly.

“Lilyanna!” Eshaan’s voice startled me out of my inner monologue. “Come look at this, it’s amazing!”

I blinked a few times, and shuffled over to stare at the opened panel hesitantly. A tangle of sparking and shimmering wires, tubes, a tangle of glowing blue and green conduits picked out with delicate bronzework filigree met my eyes.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t the faintest idea what I’m looking at here.” I offered hesitantly.

“You really are useless, aren’t you?” Darshaana sneered at me.

I paused, and stared at her, and felt the weight of both of me boring down on her with a voiceless {Persuade}. I had no idea what she saw, but both she and Eshaan paled slightly.

“Hey, hey! It’s… Ok, it was a tasteless joke, I’m sorry!” she said.

“When you can tell me the proper routing channels for a mana formulation to summon the world spirits, we may begin to discuss the deficiencies in my education.” Both of me said with a voice drawn tight with control. “Until then, I would appreciate your understanding that there are many different forms of education in the world. I do not understand magitech, and you clearly do not understand the skills of ritual magic.”

Darshanna rocked back as though I’d slapped her, and I was shocked to see the sparks of tears appear in her eyes. She swallowed and looked back down to the machine, then back up at me, her face set in a frustrated determination.

“That’s… accurate.” She got out.

What on earth did we do?!

I think… we hit a sore spot by accident! We should apologize!

No! She was rude to us!

But we hurt her!

She was rude to us!

Darshanna wiped at her eyes, and swallowed. “The primary power lines which are supposed to shut main power from the aetheric energy are corrupted. It looks like they’ve been overcharged, just as if someone… She stopped and looked up at me, her eyes clear again. “Right. This is why the robot was going berserk. The mana flows in here are all off, surging wildly. If it’s like this up here, I can’t imagine how bad it is down there. I wouldn’t want to run ANY magitech in this situation. The monsters are likely all affected as well.”

I nodded to her, as politely as I could manage. “Thank you, Captain Darshanna. I can understand this.” I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.

“So, to summarize. Magic is unreliable. The monsters are going to be maddened. And all the magitech machinery is going to be going berserk.”

Darshanna nodded, and gave a ghost of a grin. “Exciting adventure, huh?”

I twitched a smile, and saw her relax. “Yes. Very exciting.”