Vee shoveled food into his mouth as fast as he could. In the center of their table at the Grinning Pig was the letter, folded up and guarded by Kai. The little treant held a surprisingly sharp leaf in his hand that he poked into Vee’s hand each time the [Dungeon Master] tried to grab it and start reading while he ate.

“My [Oracle]’s words are not to be sullied by crumbs or bits of sauce,” he’d crossly explained the first time. “Wait until after you’ve finished eating and can devote your full attention to what she’s written.”

Big Simon came over to their table and refilled Kai’s thimble with more emberberry wine. The kitrekin had clearly been beat up in the violence between Sacre and the Don, with one of his arms splinted and one of his ears missing a large chunk. Still, he laughed and joked like nothing was different than usual, and seemed to have a blast watching Kai turn progressively darker and darker with each “cup” of wine.

“Think that’s probably your last one, little guy. Don’t want you throwing up all over my table.”

“I’m fine,” Kai insisted as he swayed a bit on his feet and landed hard. “Your puny alcohols aren’t nearly as strong as some of the fermented berries on the vines! Watch!”

The treant downed the thimble in a few quick sips as Simon roared with laughter. That was the third time such an exchange had happened. Vee waited for Kai’s bark to grow a half shade darker and slowly pushed his own hand forward, creeping towards the letter with careful indifference. Don’t mind me, just tapping my fingers on the table, nothing to see here, no sir.

He was stopped by the tip of the pointy leaf once again before he’d even gotten close. Vee grinned sheepishly at the bonsai’s glare of death, and Reginald and Alforde both chuckled.

After taking his last bite of baked chicken, pasta, and roasted peppers, Vee pushed his plate aside and gave Kai a significant look. “There, can I read the letter now?”

Kai’s eyes narrowed, but after a moment he relented and let his leaf blade fall to the table.

Vee triumphantly seized the letter, his curiosity burning in his chest. He’d only read a few words of it before, after all. The leaf itself felt like paper, but when Vee unfolded it and looked at the message once more, he saw that the sap the message was written in was not much at all like ink. It was crystalized, raised, and textured so that he feared breaking a piece off if he handled the leaf with too much force. It also sparkled with green and silver light, and smelled a bit like honeydew melon. The handwriting itself was elegant and practiced. Each letter was connected to the next by a series of thin lines that looked a bit like roots, and there were a few spots here and there that looked like leaves. It must have taken forever to add such flourishes.

“That’s the [Oracles]’s own sap, and one of her own leaves too,” Kai said. “Very rare, very special. You’re a lucky human, Mister Vales.”

Vee squinted and felt more than a little uncomfortable. If his instincts about treant anatomy were anywhere close to correct, the idea of a letter written in one’s own sap was more than a little disturbing. Couldn’t the treants just use ink?

“Touch the words as you read them,” Kai instructed. “It’ll make more sense that way.”

Vee lifted his left hand over the letter but found himself hesitating. It’s just sap, it’s just sap. It’s not blood, it’s sap. Like you used to get on your fingers as a kid. It’s not a big deal, Vee. Get it together.

Gently, he lowered his index finger onto the first word and suddenly he found himself in a small, dark room barely as big as the booth in the Grinning Pig. Sitting across from him was a gnarled, weathered treant who looked at him with golden eyes and a smile that vaguely reminded him of his grandmother.

”Hello, blue [Dungeon Master],” the treant said. “I apologize for addressing you as such, but while the stars above have shown me many things about you, they have not seen fit to tell me your name.”

“It’s Vee.”

However, the [Oracle] – for who else could this treant possibly be? – didn’t seem to hear him and continued on as if Vee hadn’t said anything. Her voice was soft and warm, and it caused a powerful nostalgia to blossom in Vee’s chest. Listening to her he felt like a child once more, laying on a patch of sun-drenched grass in the meadow near his home where he’d often played with his brother. He turned his head, half expecting to see Emory next to him. After all, he was hallucinating. But his brother was not there, and Vee’s attention returned to the treant.

“My own given name is long since forgotten, but you may call me [Oracle], as does the rest of my grove. I wish that I could meet you in person, but alas I fear that such a thing is impossible.”

“Why’s that?” Vee asked. Again, no response. He became aware of the fact that his hand was firmly anchored to the space in front of his body, and that it moved on its own with every word the treant spoke.

“There are two reasons that I’m writing you this letter,” said the [Oracle]. “The first of these is to congratulate you on the founding of your dungeon. For far too long, the city of Oar’s Crest has lived as if trapped in a perpetual winter. Its neighborhoods and businesses are little more than thin, bare branches. My hope is that your dungeon represents the coming of a new spring, of new life and new growth. The people of Oar’s Crest deserve to live through a new chapter of their city’s story instead of the droll epilogue of one long since written.

“However, with that hope comes a warning. Do not delve too deep into the earth to expand your dungeon. There are things sleeping there that are better left undisturbed unless you wish to carry an even heavier burden than the one that you have doubtless already started feeling. Do you believe in Fate, young man? Echoes of the past muddle the present and cloud the future, but they are not set in stone. I wish that I could better explain, but by telling you even this much, I have already altered the course of events set to happen. The stars are glaring at me if you can believe it. I will not risk anything further by saying more. Beware going too deep!

“Enough of such talk. The second reason that I’m writing this letter to you is to ask that you find a way to take my messenger, Kai Ginficus, into your service. I have foreseen that you will need as many friends and allies as you can get, and believe that Kai will be immensely helpful. He is a kind and noble [Grove Caretaker], and is strong in the ways that matter. His sap is too sour for our way of life though, and I feel that he’ll be much happier in town. Should you decide to accept my request, tell him to send a message by berry. He will know what that means.

“Bright sun and fresh water, young man.”

With the last word, the image faded, and Vee was back in the Grinning Pig.

[Guts +1]

[Faith +1]

He looked up and saw that his companions were all staring at him. Alforde looked concerned, but Kai and Reginald both simply looked interested.

“That was…something,” Vee said.

“What was in the letter?” Reginald asked. Vee glanced down at it and saw that the words he’d just heard were all written there. He wondered what sort of skill the [Oracle] possessed that allowed her to send such a message. Was it something innate to the treants?

He turned the leaf towards the hat. “You can read it for yourself. I would warn you not to touch the sap, but that’s not something I think you need to worry about.”

Reginald was quiet as his eyes moved back and forth, and when he was finished he gave a thready sigh.

“Stargazers,” he muttered. “Always too cryptic for their own good.”

“It would have been nice if she’d warned us about exactly how deep we can go with Crestheart,” Vee said. “I don’t really relish the prospect of trying to build the dungeon upwards.”

“We don’t have to worry for at least ten floors,” Reginald said.

Vee looked at him with a raised, expectant eyebrow.

“More old rumors,” the hat explained.

Alforde leaned in and read the letter as well. He shook his helmet. “I have read many books that deal with sleeping things better left undisturbed. They always get woken up and it’s always a nightmare. We should be careful.”

“We’ll be fine,” Reginald said. His yellow spirit arms came out of his eyes and folded themselves across the middle of his hat. “Like I said, we’re not in any danger until at least ten floors, which is probably a long way away at our current rate of growth. Once we get to that point, we’ll hire a [Surveyor] or [Treasure Hunter] or something to come and take a look around. Don’t worry about it.”

Vee paused, but let the matter drop. He felt something brush the back of his skull, but paid it no mind.

Turning to Kai, Vee pointed to the bottom section of the letter. “I don’t really know what you’d want to do, but if you’d like to work for Crestheart in some capacity, I’d be happy to have you. I’ll take as much help as I can get.”

The treant was quiet for a moment, and then a red blossom appeared on his free shoulder. “I’d like to stay,” he said. “This city is incredible. There are so many people, so many smells and beautiful plants that I don’t get to see out in the vineyards and orchards. But I should return my barkbody to the grove.”

“Barkbody?”

Kai pointed to the other side of the table, where his outer shell was sitting next to Alforde as if it were a restaurant patron. “The barkbodies are some of my grove’s most potent tools. They protect us [Grove Caretakers] when we tend to the vines, and I would not feel right keeping it for myself. Do you know where the aviary in town is?”

Vee didn’t, but Big Simon did and gave them excellent directions once they paid their bill. Heading out into the frigid evening, the companions made their way down the narrow streets until they came to the tall building near the carriage station. The reek of bird droppings was heavy in the air, and only grew worse as they climbed.

On the roof of the building was an old, hunched man with no more than five long strands of greasy silver hair atop his skull. There were also a dozen cages filled with birds of all shapes and sizes.

“Look to be sending a message?” the man asked in a tired, wheezy voice. “Gonna be five bronze fleurs for town, and one silver for anything outside it.”

Knowing that Kai didn’t have any money of his own – why would a treant carry coins? – Vee reached into his pocket and drew out a silver fleur. He tossed it to the man and let Kai pick out his messenger. The bonsai treant walked back and forth in front of the cages, hooting and chirping with each bird in turn until he settled himself in front of a fat, sleepy pigeon that looked bored of life.

“This is the one,” Kai said. Vee had his doubts, but he didn’t say anything. He simply blew into his hands in an attempt to keep them warm and rocked back and forth on his feet.

Kai clapped his hands together and closed his eyes. After a moment he glowed with green energy and a small yellow berry dropped from the branches above his head. Kai caught it and examined it closely, and when he was satisfied that it met whatever criteria he was checking it for, he passed it through the bars to the bird, who took it into its beak but did not swallow it.

The old man opened the cage, and the bird took flight, heading towards the abandoned vineyards, orchards and other farmland that made up Eastown. “It’ll probably be a day or so until it returns,” the [Birdkeeper] said. “Come back tomorrow or the day after and I’ll have the message for yeh.”

Thanking the man, Vee and his companions returned to the ground and made their way towards Sculla’s boarding house. Kai was back in his barkbody and yammering about the finer points of distinction between hammers and mallets. Reginald was quiet, surprisingly.

Vee reached up and rubbed his right shoulder. It was stiff. He looked up at the stars and watched them twinkle for a moment. Replaying the words of the letter in his thoughts, the [Dungeon Master] let his mind wander.

Main Character Sheets:

Vee Vales:

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 21

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 10

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 2

Might: 8

Wit: 28

Faith: 18 (+1)

Adventurousness: 7

Ambition: 9

Plotting: 12

Charisma: 4

Devious Mind: 14

Leadership: 10

Guts: 5 (+1)

Intimidating Presence: 5

Citizenship: 5

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Afficionado (Self), Level 17

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 10

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 10

Additional Class: Clunker (Vee Vales), Level 3

Might: 30

Wit: 10

Faith: 24

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 6

Endurance: 11

Intimidating Presence: 8

Heart of a Champion: 2

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 3

Vigilance: 3

Reginald:

Primary Class: Core Spirit (Unknown), Level ???

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 34

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 7

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 3

Might: 1

Wit: 27

Faith: 3

Ambition: 24

Greed: 20

Deceptiveness: 32 (+1)

[email protected]$: $%

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Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 2

Kai's Character Sheet:

Kai Ginficus

Primary Class: Grove Caretaker (Pachi Palmatum), Level 15

Secondary Class: Barkbody Pilot (Pachi Palmatum), Level 11

Might: 8

Wit: 6

Faith: 11

Green Spirit: 22

Adventurousness: 4

Guts: 7