Rhen awoke and threw back the shades Leslie had crafted for his window. Light from the rainforest chamber streamed in. He opened the window and took a deep breath of the warm, humid air. It was a relief in the depths of a dungeon.

Then movement caught his gaze in the underbrush. Rhen thought maybe just a deer-tailed jackalope, or maybe even a young terrocken exploring its boundaries, but no, of course not.

It was Tsu’me, slinking into the forest with Derk in tow.

Rhen sighed. Well, this made excusing them from the dungeon a lot easier.

There was a knock on his door. Rhen threw on a shirt and pulled it open. The twins, Alex and Ulecks waited on the other side, nervous grimaces on their faces.

“I saw her already,” Rhen said, absolving them of having to report their own party member. “What is she doing?”

“She didn’t say,” Alex said.

“Just that it was a well-paid mission,” Ulecks finished.

Rhen’s mood shifted, his eyes narrowing. Only a few people would send someone on a mission in Rhen’s dungeon, and he was certain that the number one candidate started with a W and ended with fluffer.

There was only one or two things in the rainforest chamber of any value. One being the crystal ceiling—very hard to access. The other was the resurrections node. Messing with that could set Rhen back days or weeks depending on how back she tampered with it.

An amazing idea hit him. “Wake Jakira and find Aki,” he ordered to the twins, then rushed down the stairs. He ran up to the control node, and deleted Tsu’me and Derk’s profiles from the resurrection node. Without those, they couldn’t get past the shield… if that was what they were after.

But now was the problem that they could DIE die. While they were powerful delvers, Rhen couldn’t be caught having deleted two profiles from the resurrection node minutes before those delvers died without facing an inquiry from the Delver’s Guild.

He ran back to the inn. Jakira, in full combat garb, rubbed sleep from her eyes. “What’s the problem?”

“Tsu’me and Derk are working for Welsh. I think they’re going to try to destroy the resurrection node. I deleted their profiles, so if they die—”

“That will not look good for you,” Aki interrupted. “Yes, we must remove them with haste.”

“What’s going on?” Arannet peaked from around the corner, still sleepy herself.

“Sabotage. Nothing we can’t handle,” Rhen smiled viciously.

She snapped awake. “Are you serious?”

“Welcome to the real world of dungeon ownership. Let’s go,” he motioned for Jakira and Aki to follow. The twins came too, but Rhen held them off. “If you hope to maintain a relationship with them, you shouldn’t be seen with us.”

They looked at each other for a brief second, then Alex shook his head. “Nah.”

Rhen took that as their official separation from the team. He worried for a brief flash that this was part of some trap…

“I sense no deceptions,” Aki said and the twins raised eyebrows in comical synchronicity.

Rhen grinned. “He can hear your thoughts.”

Their eyes bulged and Rhen took off into the rainforest. Jakira jogged ahead, her spade tail flicking from side to side with frustrated whips. Rhen could see her jaw tensing, and knew she was practicing her lines for when she confronted the saboteurs.

A frantic melody reached Rhen’s ears. He couldn’t hear the words, but Tsu’me was rushing through something. He didn’t know how far her bardic powers reached, but hoped Wyland’s shield would keep them at bay.

They charged into the clearing around the resurrection node to see Tsu’me backed against the shield, strumming her lyre, while Derk swung his axe into a large, adult terrocken. His blade shinked off the monster’s glowing feathers. It snapped out with its powerful beak and bit a chunk from Derk’s forearm. The Taalite roared and swung again, all the while missing the stealthed youngling that was coming up around the other side of the shield, it’s predatory gaze locked on Tsu’me.

Aki moved first, casting shadow snare on the creeping youngling. Jakira charged in, roaring loudly to project defender’s cry. The power washed over Rhen and he joined the fray. Jakira’s shout got everyone’s attention, but the little one couldn’t dodge her swing fast enough. She bashed it into the side of the shield, and it dropped from stealth.

Rhen slashed its lower legs, severing the achiles in both and flooring it. Two more heavy swings and Jakira finished it off.

Tsu’me gasped, obviously surprised to see them. “Thank goodness you’re here!”

“Save it, fraud,” Jakira growled at her.

Tsu’me’s eyes narrowed on the twins as they emerged from the underbrush, weapons twirling. Her lip curled back in a brief snarl, but then she smoothed it away.

Derk chopped at the terrocken’s head, but the nimble adult easily dodged the attack, then countered with a nip at Derk’s over-extended side. It took a chunk out of his ribs and the bruiser cried out in pain. He fell to one knee, and Jakira jumped in.

A heavy under-handed swing knocked the meat right out of the terrocken’s beak. It looked at her with hatred, stepping back a measure. The terrocken were territorial, the bands of creatures sticking to their regions of the rainforest, and since she wore an armor suite of their feathers, it may have been recognizing her as a challenger.

With its young already dead, the adult turned and ran off into the forest, trying to live to breed and fight another day. Aki moved up to Derk, his healing magics flowing over him in an aurora of color.

Rhen whirled on Tsu’me. “Who hired you?”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“We already spilled it, Tsu,” Ulecks said.

“Don’t be turd burglar,” Alex added.

Tsu’me crossed her many arms defensively. “They’re just trying to get us kicked from the dungeon. We came in here to help gather some food for breakfast, and that’s all.”

“She is lying.” Aki didn’t have to say it, Rhen could see it.

Rhen grabbed her crossed arms. “Back to the inn, let’s go. We’re going to have a chat with Arannet about repercussions for sabotaging dungeon efforts.”

“What?” Tsu’me stammered, aghast.

“Yes, the Delver’s Guild will surely want to give you a mark for this one.”

“We haven’t done anything!” Tsu’me protested.

“No, but I bet if I hadn’t removed your anima save, you would’ve already done it—destroyed the shield, that is.”

“You deleted our profiles? What if we’d died!” Tsu’me raged, trying to deflect as Rhen pulled her along through the forest.

“That would’ve looked really bad for me, I guess.” Rhen shrugged.

“Oh, you’re heartless!” she cried, trying to pull attention to her victimhood.

“What’s goin on?” Derk asked, following along helplessly. Rhen was sure the poor bruiser had been dragged along for the ride without getting much of the details. He trusted Tsu’me to take care of him…

Aki floated up beside them. “Derk is confused. He has nothing, but Tsu’me keeps repeating, a pact is a pact, and that is a fact.”

Rhen withheld a curse. She must be trying to keep Welsh out of her thoughts. Damn her. He can’t believe she made a pact with him to destroy his progress.

He hopped Aki’s report was just for him, and not for everyone. Derk still might prove useful as leverage against Tsu’me.

“Indeed, I speak only to you.”

They got back to the inn and Rhen sat the traitorous Sephine down at a table near Arannet. “What’s the penalty for attempting to destroy a resurrection node?”

“Revoked delving license,” Arannet reported. “Among other things like detention, fining, etcetera, all depending on what you want to charge her for, Mr. Zephitz.”

“What!? You have no proof! You can’t charge me with anything!”

“The longer we sit here, the more you reveal to me. I will discover the full truth in time. Derk has a looser mind, perhaps I should sit with him?” Aki said, looming over her.

“Good luck,” she muttered.

A small crowd was gathering outside the inn. Rhen didn’t want this to be a show.

Rhen dropped to a knee, getting eye to eye with Tsu’me, and whispered. “If you tell us everything, I won’t fine you into oblivion and put you on the run for the rest of your life.”

“Threats don’t become you, Mr. Zephitz.”

“And treachery doesn’t become you. You can still do the right thing.”

She stared off into the fireplace for a moment, thinking. “Fine me. It doesn’t matter. With what little proof you have, I’m sure it’ll barely be a slap on the wrist.”

Rhen walked to Arannet. “Give me her contract.”

She turned the ring that held her paperwork and pulled out the sheet for Rhen. He ripped it in half, then tossed it in the fire. “If you come back, I’ll detain you for trespassing, and that fine will not be a slap on the proverbial wrist. You disgust me.”

Tsu’me glared up at him. “You don’t even know me.”

“I don’t want to. Jakira, please see to it that Tsu’me makes it to the exit.”

Jakira grabbed Tsu’me’s elbow, dragging her up.

“Hey! Don’t touch her!” Derk bellowed, grabbing his axe.

Joseph shouldered his way through, taking up a place on Tsu’me’s other side. He glared down the Taalite bruiser. “We’re not hurting her.”

Derk relaxed a measure, but followed close behind them.

Tsu’me turned back, looking at the twins. “Come on.”

Ulecks shook his head. “We’re going to stay.”

“The adventure ran out with you long ago,” Alex said.

Tsu’me hissed. “Unbelievable! Fine! Enjoy it while it lasts. Oh, and we want our monster core back, save your marks.”

Rhen clucked his tongue a few times and pulled the razor whisker core from his pocket. He tossed the sphere to Derk, who caught it with a sad grimace. That was unfortunate, but he wasn’t going to make this any more difficult than it already was. Plus, he had more important things to do, like paying a visit to Mr. Welsh.

“Aki, I need you.”

“Certainly.”

“Is there any way we can document what Aki detects in a more official capacity, Arannet? Any way to present thoughts as evidence?”

She chewed her lip. “The Prelusk have a non-interference pact with all the Imperial Kingdoms… I don’t think anything he says could be used anyway, but it would certainly be biased information based on Aki’s relation to you.”

Rhen sighed. What a wasteful distraction from his efforts. Perhaps that was the intent, get him chasing fines and revenge and lose sight of the real goal. He needed his dungeon to be in tip-top shape for when the surveyors arrived. But he hated just taking abuse after abuse from that fluffer.

One conversation wouldn’t derail him completely and with the right topic, it might spook Welsh enough into backing off. Rhen couldn’t let him keep doing this, and he had just the topic in mind.

“Arannet, that Dungeon Overview paperwork, you wrote a little something about the burned inn topside, right?”

“Yes, it was notable damage.”

“Do you have a specific report on it?”

“Uh, yeah I think I do!” She swirled through her documents, then pulled just the one he needed from the ether.

State of Zephitz Inn I – Damage Report.

Rhen smirked. “Can I borrow this?”

“I suppose. Just don’t lose it, okay?”

“I’ll do my best. All right, let’s go.” Rhen headed for the exit.

“Are you gonna talk to Welsh?” Wyland asked.

“Yes,” Rhen said, not stopping.

The kooky inventor followed. “I’ve got something for that!”

Rhen turned to him. “What?”

“A noise recorder. It’ll write every vibration to a raw anima crystal that can be played back with some specialized equipment, stuff they use for the orbeyes.”

“Can I hide it in my clothes?”

Wyland nodded. “Should be fine.”

They hurried first to his workshop where the old inventor strapped the device around his waist, held up by a leather belt. Rhen pulled his undershirt over it, and though it looked a little sloppy, it hid the device well.

“Give it a little anima jolt to get it started, and another when you want it to stop.”

“Just like a drill, easy,” Rhen said with a smile.

He was going to nail that fluffer Welsh to the wall.