Bending down, Kai finagled the slime’s pen gate to the proper position and waited for his apprentice Dandelion to do the same. The fiend was still slow, but it was careful and methodical as it tied the strands of leafrope to the gate and the warding hedges surrounding it. The bonsai treant felt a tickle of pleasure as he watched Dandelion work; it was good to see how much progress it’d made in a relatively short time. If this kept up, it’d be able to handle a good chunk of Kai’s own duties once winter ended, which would allow the [MeG&0ve Caretaker] to turn his attention to his dream project: the Verdant Construction of Westown.

Kai shook his branches. There it was again. The strange flickering of his class that suggested it might be changing. The bonsai treant couldn’t help but feel a little sad as he pondered the implications of such a thing. On the one branch, it meant that his place truly was here, but on the other it meant –

“Kai take look?” Dandelion asked, breaking Kai out of his ponderings. The fiend’s speech remained stilted and it was occasionally hard to understand sentences that were longer than a few words, but there too Dandelion was improving. Every day it was a little clearer, a little smoother, a little bit harder to recognize as a spirit of rage and hatred given physical shape. The slow and steady progress was like a plant in a lot of ways, which Kai appreciated.

Taking a look at Dandelion’s handiwork, Kai couldn’t help but smile. Indeed, the knots that would keep the fiend’s side of the gate firmly anchored in position were well tied and unlikely to come apart when the slime it was designed to hold grew larger and tried to break free. Pulling on them from a few different angles, Kai gave his apprentice the go-ahead to move on to the next gate but didn’t follow right away. There’d been some tightness in his barkbody’s right shoulder that shouldn’t have been there; a catch just before it fully extended. He tested it again to make sure, and yep, there was definitely a slight pause.

Kai sighed. Crap. He’d have to pull the whole thing apart later and make sure everything was lubricated and aligned properly. While he was at it, the little voice in his roots told him that it probably wouldn’t hurt to take a look at the entirety of the barkbody, either. It’d been…too long since he’d last given it a once-over.

The pair worked their way through the rest of the slime pens until the sun went down.

Kai backed away from his last series of knots and waved over at Dandelion.

“I think that’s all we’re going to be able to get done for today. Good job! All your sides were as strong as they needed to be. Tomorrow I’ll have you handle the warding check before we do the rest, okay?”

Dandelion nodded, the tiny flicker of its [Green Spirit] glimmering for a moment, and headed back to their shelter. Its gait was exactly the same as it’d been when they’d started work that morning.

[Mentoring +1]

Kai couldn’t help but be a little jealous. He wasn’t entirely sure if the fiend got tired – the one time he’d tried to ask he’d quickly realized that for all its improvement Dandelion’s command of language still had a long way to go – but he knew that his own strength was fading, courtesy of the Snowsapped status cutting his Green Spirit in half.

Thanks, winter.

It was irritating, but the points would come back once the weather warmed up. Still, until they did, the bonsai treant had to endure the protests of his body against his mind, which he didn’t particularly like.

Traipsing along in the snowy wake of his apprentice, Kai returned to his shelter and used [Shift Consciousness] to exit his barkbody. The contstruct remained standing as Dandelion kindled a tiny fire and set itself down in front of the crackling flames. Naturally, Kai had a somewhat…adversarial relationship with fire, but he wasn’t above admitting that the warmth it provided was somewhat pleasant on cold winter nights. So long as it was enjoyed from a safe distance, of course.

After a few minutes of quiet eating – Kai snacked on emberberries while Dandelion nibbled on cubes of refined ectoplasm – the pair went about their separate tasks. If there was one thing Kai hated, it was being idle. Whether by example or nature, his apprentice seemed to be the same way.

Taking out the yellowed and dogeared book on plants and flowers they’d borrowed from Juniper, Dandelion began its study for the night while Kai clambered to his barkbody’s shoulder and pulled away the plate that would let him get to the shoulder joint. Summoning a twig and leafblade, the bonsai treant poked and prodded the inner mechanism, checking each piece for problems. He frowned when he found that one of the alignment had snapped off and was stuck between two of the shoulder’s overlapping plates. Well, that explained the tightness. Using his leafblade, Kai cut the pin away bit by bit until he could dislodge the rest without having to worry about damaging the plates. Once the extraction was done, the bonsai treant crawled down to the maintenance hatch on the barkbody’s back and popped it open. For a moment, he sat there, enjoying the rich and heady cedar scent that reminded him of the grove before grabbing a replacement pin and climbing back to the shoulder to make the repair.

As he set the pin and used some of his own sap to tighten it into place, Kai’s mind followed the path created by the scent of cedars to the previous winters of his life.

Back in the grove, the dark and snowy months were supposed to be a time of quiet contemplation and personal reflection. The elders gathered the saplings to their sides to share the tales of the years long since passed, answer questions, and provide guidance for the year to come.

Kai had hated it. Sitting around for hours – or worse, days – listening to Elder Palmatum drone on about the thickness of emberberry vines decades earlier set his sap to sticking and he’d taken every chance he could get to go and work on the barkbodies. There, at least, he could actually do something.

The pin was slightly uneven, so it didn’t quite settle right at first. With the ease of long practice, Kai twisted it back and forth until he was convinced it wouldn’t interfere with his daily tasks, then moved on to checking the rest of the barkbody for cracks or other issues. Crawling around the construct’s chest, Kai inspected all of the wrappings and panels, making sure that they were properly tight and easy to move. There weren’t any other saplings here to do a second pass for him, so the [Barkbody Pilot] was sure to be extra careful.

His inspection took a few hours, and there were some other small problems to fix, but eventually Kai’s sap sang its exhaustion and he decided to call it a night. Dandelion was still studying its books next to the fire, and Kai knew that the fiend would be in the exact same place the next morning.

Outside, the moons were shining brightly. Settling himself down to sleep in their silver light, Kai closed his eyes and contentedly let his mind wander the land of dreams. Tomorrow there’d be more work to do in the menagerie and he wanted to be well rested for it. After all, they were going to increase the amount of ectoplasm they fed the test slimes.

Who knew what that would bring?

Vee woke in the middle of the night, his eyes snapping open. It hadn’t been a bad dream that roused him from his slumber, yet he sat up and took a few deep breaths all the same.

As he sat in the mostly dark room, the [Dungeon Master] noticed a slight…pressure in the back of his skull. No, that wasn’t quite right. It was more like the feeling of having a popcorn kernel stuck in the back of his throat, only it was in his head and was distinctly V-shaped. While it wasn’t painful or anything, it was annoying, and Vee didn’t know how to go about getting rid of it.

That is, until he saw Reginald forlornly staring out the window from the table, illuminated by the pale silver light of the twin moons in the clear sky. Whether from something connected to his [Dungeon Master] class – a proc of [Big Picture], perhaps? – or just general common sense, Vee was sure that his hat had Something To Talk About, so he got up out of bed and shuffled across the floor to sit down beside his [Majordomo].

Reginald’s felty mouth was drawn tight, but his expression softened slightly as he turned toward Vee.

“The moons are really pretty tonight, aren’t they?”

Vee looked out and shrugged.

“I guess so, sure.”

Small talk? Must really be something pretty important then.

They were quiet for a few moments, just sitting there in companionable silence and looking up at the sky as a few glistening snowflakes fluttered down to the ground.

Vee rocked back and forth, feeling the chill of the room and growing impatient. Part of him wanted to simply ask what his hat was thinking about, but he also had the sense that he’d be better off if he simply waited for Reginald to open up and start talking. Some things were fine to force, but he didn’t think this was one of them.

He just hoped his [Majordomo] wouldn’t make him wait too long. Vee did want to get back to sleep, after all. Tomorrow promised to be another busy day at the dungeon, especially since Alforde had informed him that most of the adventurers he’d sparred with were planning to come back. Apparently they were rather serious about power leveling and trying to join the open call. Vee wasn’t sure how likely such a thing was to happen, but he wasn’t going to complain about the extra business. Fleurs were fleurs.

“I’ve been feeling nostalgic these past couple weeks,” Reginald finally said. He was speaking quietly, but Vee had no trouble hearing each word in the quiet room. “When Ildor first brought me and Sacha here, there was a bandit problem too. The city – er, it wasn’t really a city then, just a few people here and there scattered throughout the forest around the mountains – was constantly getting raided, and one of the first things Ildor had us do was go out and hunt them down. No one else was willing to do it, see?”

He paused, letting his mouth curl into a small smile.

“Well, it was mostly Sacha and who hunted them down and Ildor who handled the really strong ones. I was…mostly just along for the trip. Our task was grim, and often messy, but we took pride in it. We were making people safe, and that was worth dirtying our hands. Or so we thought, at first.

“As the months wore on and the seasons changed, Ildor noticed that Sacha seemed to be relishing the battles more and more. He’d gotten a new class after a particularly difficult fight; I think that’s where it started. He became kind of erratic. Started attacking trees for no reason, hunted bandits by himself, that kind of stuff. It was a gradual thing, but over time, he changed.

“Caught up in the thrill of working toward a higher purpose, I didn’t think much of it. Heck, I figured that was just how he was, but I’ve been sifting through my memories these last couple days and now I’m not so sure anymore. See, I found one memory that really stood out to me.”

“What was it?”

“Ildor and I were waiting for Sacha to make us dinner, but he refused. He said he wasn’t hungry, that he didn’t feel like cooking, and that he was itching for a fight. At that point, it’d been a few days since our last bandit scrap, and he’d been complaining about feeling cooped up before we settled in for the night. Any of that sound familiar?”

Vee looked over at the corner of the room, where Alforde was sleeping next to Slammy. Moonlight illuminated half of his helmet and one of his pauldrons, but the rest of his armor was bathed in darkness. Vee shivered, aware once more of the branching pressure at the back of his skull. Now it hurt a little bit.

“I’ll be honest with you, Boss. I’m worried about the big guy,” Reginald said. “I’m afraid that all this with the dungeon is going too fast for him. I think Alforde’s throwing himself into his new class too hard and that history is going to echo, you know? It’s like we’re so focused on the day to day of Crestheart that we’re missing something really important.

“Now, don’t bother asking me what you should do. I’m afraid I don’t know, Boss. I’ve been thinking about it all night, but I’m afraid I’ve got nothing. Ildor handled Sacha by dueling him and knocking some sense back into him, but I don’t think that approach would work for you. You’re not exactly, uh, combat ready, you know? You’re going to have to walk a different path.”

Vee frowned, leaning forward and resting his hands on his chin. Alforde had been a little, uh, snippy lately, but had it really been that bad?

Yeah, I guess it kind of has been. But what do I do about it?

[You have received a quest: Intervene with Alforde. Would you like to accept?]

Vee did so immediately and the full quest notification popped up in front of his eyes.

[Quest: Intervene with Alforde]

[Dangers: ???]

[Reward for completion: Leadership +1, Guts +1, [Dungeon Master Skill: ???]]

[Description: Reginald has informed you of his worry regarding Alforde. Figure out if his new class is affecting his personality and decide if it’s acceptable. If not, find a way to mitigate the harm.]

“Thanks for letting me know,” Vee said as the pressure in his skull faded. “I’ll take care of it.”

Reginald moved ever so slightly, and seemed less morose as he did so.

“I know you will, Boss. But it’s late, so try to get some sleep, eh? I think we’ve got thirty-two adventurers scheduled for tomorrow. Going to be a busy one.”

Wasn’t that the truth? Yawning, Vee made his way back to bed. His head sank into the pillow and the blankets were comfortably heavy.

Sadly, sleep didn’t return.

Main Character Sheets:

Vee Vales

Primary Class: Ghost Maestro (Locksmagister University), Level 28

Secondary Class: Dungeon Master (Oar’s Crest), Level 17

Tertiary Class: Guy-Who-Takes-Things-WAY-Too-Far (Self), Level 5

Might: 12

Wit: 31

Faith: 21

Adventurousness: 7

Ambition: 13

Plotting: 16

Charisma: 12

Devious Mind: 20

Leadership: 16

Guts: 12

Intimidating Presence: 9

Citizenship: 20

Public Relations: 5

Alforde Armorsoul:

Primary Class: Hammer Afficionado (Self), Level 21

Secondary Class: Right-hand man (Vee Vales), Level 12

Tertiary Class: Dungeon Champion (Oar’s Crest), Level 14

Additional Class: Glaciernaut (Sacha Silverblade), Level 3

Might: 37

Wit: 12

Faith: 25

Adventurousness (Bound – Vee Vales): 8

Endurance: 17

Intimidating Presence: 13

Heart of a Champion: 7

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 8

Vigilance: 5

Vanity: 2

Reginald:

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

--~%@(%[email protected] &% (*$ #&#e !i$$ (#$%#$%#[email protected]!)~--, #[email protected]& ????

Secondary Class: Loudmouth (Self), Level 40

Tertiary Class: Majordomo (Vee Vales), Level 14

Additional Class: Announcer (Vee Vales), Level 6

Might: 1

Wit: 32

Faith: 11 (+1)

Ambition: 26

Greed: 22

Deceptiveness: 27

Manipulativeness: 35

$#&*[email protected]!!

Loyalty: 45

Patience: 9

[#&%%%@%!#@__--#%]

Citizenship (Bound – Vee Vales): 7

**************

Bonus: Kai's Character Sheet

Kai Ginficus:

Primary Class: G&0ve Caretaker (PaVechi PalmValatum), Level 17

Secondary Class: Barkbody Pilot (Pachi Palmatum), Level 15

Tertiary Class: Verdant Builder(Self), Level 7

Might: 10

Wit: 6

Faith: 13

Green Spirit (Snowsapped): 16 (Normally 31)

Adventurousness: 6

Guts: 9

Citizenship: 5

Mentoring: 4 (+1)

Patience: 2