3.7

Kargerran

Commander Faulkin held up a claw, stopping Kargerran's testimony. "Assemblyman Chodar, what is so important that you have to wave both of your arms over your head?"

The gidataur cleared his throat. He addressed Kargerran in lieu of directly answering the commander. "You say that the dungeon created an Advanced Armored Shadow Wolf? Did we hear that correctly?"

"That is correct," Kargerran stated.

"How certain are you of that identification?" The gidataur looked quite grim.

"Quite certain," Kargerran replied.

Assemblyman Chodar opened his mouth, but Commander Faulkin, using her parade ground voice, spoke first. "*If* the Assembly will permit the good sergeant's testimony to continue, the reason for such certainty will be forthcoming."

She added a needled glare at the gidataur just to emphasize her point.

The Assemblyman shrank down and crossed his arms across his belly, hands gripping his forearms, while his ears tried to flatten themselves against his face. The fur all over his body stood out, but he, wisely, did not speak again.

Satisfied, Commander Faulkin asked Kargerran, "Sergeant, please describe the events that occurred upon your return to the Training Level."

"After confirming the Mana Alert Wardstones remained in a neutral state, I sent my Medic to meet up with the rest of my squad while I went to inform Corporal Ignemrot of the events. The corporal was just leaving the sandbox room. He had me accompany him while he informed the highest ranked officer present, Delver Talon Captain Quillen, of the events occurring within the rest of the dungeon."

"You informed a corporal before a captain?" Commander Faulkin asked.

"Yes, Commander. Corporal Ignemrot, as the assigned liaison, was in a better position to elevate the matter efficiently, and, with the MAWS remaining neutral, there was no immediate danger."

Speaker Drelan Noc Scalla rapped his knuckles on the table before him, a courtesy when interrupting like this in the Assembly, and asked, "Pardon, please, but you say there was no danger, but yet also that there were monsters of a Challenge Tier 12 spontaneously spawning within the Studio of Capricious Dreams. I do not understand how this is possible. Please explain."

Kargerran liked the white furred bear kin, and found himself making a formal head bow in the Speaker's direction as he answered. "I did not state that there was no danger, honored Speaker of the Kin, but that while the wardstones showed a neutral status, the danger was not immediate. Mana surges are part of entering dungeons, and the Delver Talons have many ways to reduce the dangers of being caught in such a surge. I found it an urgent matter, yes, but not one that called for a panicked reaction."

"I see. Thank you for the clarification." With that, Speaker Drelan Noc Scalla leaned back in his chair, returning control of the testimony to Commander Faulkin.

"Sergeant, please continue describing the events," the commander ordered.

"Yes, Commander. Captain Quillen ordered the evacuation of my squad along with a significant number of support personnel, and requested that my squad assist in defending the evacuated personnel until relieved. The parandrian tribesmen have moved their permanent encampment closer to the Studio of Capricious Dreams, and no one wants a misunderstanding with the tribesmen." Kargerran noticed that Dame Chasraheil narrowed her eyes for a moment at that, but otherwise kept her expression serene. Master Merchant Zarabelkami was too steeped in [Diplomacy] to display a reaction, but Crafts Master Gilvillian's lips turned down in a brief show of regret. Guildmaster Tover was openly sympathetic to the tribesmen and probably already knew more about the recent "misunderstandings" than the military did.

The commander's gaze skipped over the Assembly with a seemingly mild interest. He suspected that she was watching to see who among them might react as well.

The number of bodies the parandrians dumped in the dungeon over the last eight days had shocked Ignemrot. As he had told Kargerran, one or two would have been sad, but night after night, they had brought the freshly slain in groups as large as eight and done so in waves. Ignemrot's death count as of this morning stood at seventy-six. They had claimed before truth stones that the dead had invaded their camp's territory, and under the treaty Lotrot had with the tribes, the military was forced to accept this. It had not endeared the parandrians to the city raised soldiers.

The majority of the dead, before becoming nothing more than mana stones, had been identified as local freelance mercenaries, but a significant minority had been unregistered, meaning either that they were too young to be placed on the city's residency rolls, had hidden from the rolls and so were criminals, or that they had come from parts unknown. Some of the unidentified had the brand of the the Merchant Guild scarred over, marking them as freed debtsmen. All but four of them had work roughened hands, while the four without were elves of one sort or another and probably mages.

Kargerran must have paused too long with that thought because Commander Faulkin asked, "What further events transpired?"

"Our guard duty was thankfully uneventful and we were relieved near twilight. Captain Quillen asked us to escort two of his subordinates back to headquarters, and we returned to the city."

"And on the following days?" the commander asked.

"My squad and I provided escort duty for several researchers to and from the Studio of Capricious Dreams. During one such occasion, the researcher we escorted annoyed the Studio's liaison Jason Kline to such an extent that he at first denied the researcher access to the dungeon."

*~*~*

Vi

The worst thing about military service was being stuck on escort duty, at least as far as Vi was concerned. He was especially frustrated by this escort duty. The dungeon that he and his team had discovered was undergoing a rare linking and instead of getting to be part of exploring just what that meant, he had to help ferry an obnoxious brat of an entitled apprenticed mage to and from the very place he most wanted to explore!

This was one of the rare times that Vi regretted giving up his family affiliation, if only to be able to make the brat shut up. While Vi, being a newly recognized adult, hadn't had much of his own grandeur when he left the Ilbraltian house and joined the military, it was a four syllable house, one of the more prestigious across the Free Cities.

The brat was trying so hard to act the all knowing mage that he failed to appreciate the unique wonder that was Lotrot's military training level within the Studio. "Seems a little sparse, and I'm not seeing any of the so called artistry that this 'Design Lead' has gotten such praises for."

"It matches the specifications we asked for, and includes quite a number of structural improvements that the [Engineer]s are trying to replicate," the sergeant said, keeping his tone neutral.

The brat sniffed dismissively. "Plebeian tastes."

Vi cleared his throat and spoke. "Did I understand correctly that you are a member of House Nefeit?"

The brat turned at the waist to eye Vi with disdain. "That is correct."

With a near perfect imitation of his etiquette instructor's disappointed tone, Vi said, "Perhaps one should consider how close one is to the sand before one disparages the contributions of those of unknown dignity. Military service is, after all, an honored trial for the younger members of the trisyllabic Houses. Those who give up their House names to ascend the ranks do not suddenly cease to be daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, of those who remain among their Houses."

The sergeant gave Vi a sly sideways glance and, adopting his own prissy voice, said, "Ranger Vi, the youth shares every pearl of wisdom gained while the elder knows better than to cast their pearls at lupaliks."

Vi appreciated his sergeant's double entendre. Lupaliks were a monstrous form of oysters. While they did create their own pearls, they also gathered more pearls by attacking other lupaliks, and so the saying could be taken to mean one of two things. The first was that it was worthless to offer wisdom to one who already possesses it, while the second meaning was more of a caution to stop teasing a monster.

The brat's scales lifted, but he shut up. That is, until he saw Rob and Jason waiting for them. "Are those the demons?"

Rob turned to Jason and asked, "What kind of trash is Kargerran dragging in with him?"

Jason looked between Rob and the brat. "I've got this. How about you check on Iggy?"

A sour look wrinkled Rob's face, but he nodded and walked off. Then Jason turned the full weight of his stare at the brat. Before any introductions were made, he said, "We tend to be a laid back lot, but that word 'demon' means something pretty offensive to us. It might even count as 'fighting words'. Please refrain from applying that term to us."

"How can you possibly be offended by a word from our language?" the brat asked.

Jason's eyes narrowed. "You are quite welcome to leave at any time you want."

The brat pursed his lips, and the sergeant stepped in again. "Jason Kline, Liaison for the Studio of Capricious Dreams, this is Apprentice Lenefeit of the Rimward Mages Association, apprenticed to Mage Tojnefeit. He is one of the research assistants applying for access to study the dungeon linking phenomena."

"Application denied," Jason said.

"Wh-what? Why?" the brat demanded.

Jason said, "I find your powers of observation lacking. We're doing the best we can to limit the dangers, but everything beyond this level is quite mutable. An oblivious ass is very likely to be a dead ass."

Vi saw an opportunity. He leaned forward to quietly ask Sergeant Kargerran, "Do our orders cover escorting the apprentice through the dungeon?"

The sergeant subtly rocked his shoulders, which Vi took to mean that they could be interpreted that way. "You feeling kindly toward him?" he asked.

Vi said, "More curious about the linking."

The sergeant dipped his chin, then interrupted the sputtering brat. "Liaison Jason Kline, would you be willing to reconsider if we continued to escort Apprentice Lenefeit?"

Jason's features relaxed as he turned his attention to the sergeant. He opened his mouth, but closed it before speaking, his gaze growing distant. Then he nodded and said, "You and your Rangers would be enough, Sergeant Kargerran. We would prefer to limit the number of people in the active areas. It is dangerous, no matter the measures that we've put in place to limit that danger.

"Those who are permitted in are required to carry a computer golem bound to the Studio that records what is said and seen around them, as well as acts as a speaker for any area wide announcements. If you hear an evacuation announcement, it is mandatory, and delays could end up with not just you dead, but anyone else delaying in the affected area. From what Candy's uncovered, the mana used to build up a dungeon has more impurities than the mana that dungeons leak out into Rhofhir. The auxiliary cores are designed to compensate for that difference, but they have a difficult time adjusting for any type of mana brought in by visitors. The effects of miscalculations can be highly explosive."

*~*~*

The computer golem was the size of a human or an elf's palm and had a clear crystal face with a broach backing, allowing it to be clipped onto their clothing with little problem. They were also able to ask it simple questions like, "Where are we?" or "How do I find the exit?". The responses came back as either a verbal answer, such as "Level: Entrance Hall, Sector L", or an illusion projection. Requests for directions got arrows while questions about the various types of creatures they encountered provoked a [Status] like menu projection. Vi was sure he wasn't the only one wondering what it would take to get the Dreamers to part with some of these constructs.

There were a lot of new creatures, new plants, and new structures taking shape in the various levels, too. They ran into a full pack of Advanced Armored Shadow Wolves almost immediately upon stepping out of the Waiting Room.

Unlike the last time Vi had been here, the Waiting Room exited half way down a hill that overlooked a clearing covered in familiar grasses. The lake was not familiar, nor the forest to their right, but there was a majestic looking Water Tree with pucker berry brambles to their left.

One of the wolves trotted up to within four meters of them before sitting on his haunches and obviously sniffing the air. He watched them with the kind of curiosity Vi expected from a domesticated hound hoping for table scraps.

The golem that the apprentice brat wore said, "Contracted creatures are not permitted to come closer than two meters without specific orders, but they are not required to move away if you approach. Contracted creatures may attack if they think you are threatening them. Please remember that contracted creatures retain the instincts of their wild kin."

"That's good to know," Nilis said under his breath.

Vi nodded.

A prairie hawk screamed overhead and dove toward the grass near the Water Tree. It rose with a young horned rabbit caught in its talons.

"If it weren't for the roof, I'd swear we were outside," Vi said.

"Vi, does your [Inspect] match this?" Sergeant Kargerran asked, gesturing at the [Status] projection for the Advanced Armored Shadow Wolf.

"[Inspect]," Vi said and compared the two sets of information. "It's more detailed than I get, but what I get matches what it's showing, Sergeant."

"Good. I want both you and Nilis double checking the information that you can get with these golems. Let me know if you need a break to recover mana."

"Yes, sergeant!" both Rangers said. They were already on either side of the brat and their sergeant, and Vi knew that Nilis would be at least as eager as he was for the exploration to come.

They moved forward while the brat directed them around the level based on some mana crystal fueled contraption. Vi guessed it was some kind of mana flux locater, but it was set on top of a narrow scroll box from which the occasional scratching sound could be heard. It wasn't hard to work out that the brat stopped when the scratching grew more active, but soon enough the scratching sound would fade.

The tenth time or so that this repeated, the brat knelt down, setting the contraption aside, and pulled out a pair of enchanted goggles. He, very carefully, brought them to his eyes and gave himself a moment to adjust to whatever new vision spectrum they granted him access to before fastening the strap that held them on his face. When he stood up, gathering his contraption with an air of habit more than interest, he took a moment to look around with the goggles before detaching the scroll box and storing the contraption in a spatial bag. He adjust straps on the scroll box so that it hung around his neck and then took two braided cables hanging from the box and attached them to the sides of his goggles.

The scratching sound picked up in frequency.

Vi wanted to ask what it was recording, but that wasn't their job. Their job was to make sure the brat didn't get himself or anyone else killed in here.

They reached the lake shore twenty-three [Inspect]s, seventeen [Analyze]s, and several bags of harvested samples later. That was Vi's count. He hadn't paid attention to Nilis' work, though the other Ranger also had several full sample bags hanging on his belt. The shore line was mostly a sandy-dirt with patches of clay slick mud closer to the trees. It felt … right under Vi's claws. A part of him wanted to run, to dig in and see how fast he could go.

The brat asked his golem, "How do we get to the island over there?"

"Please specify which of the three visible islands you are referring to," the golem responded.

Vi looked across the lake and saw that two of the islands were near each other and barely to right of their point on the shore while the third was smaller and set off to the left. He wondered if that was a peninsular island because of how close it seemed to be to the shore.

The brat pointed toward the nearer of the two right-side islands. "That one."

The golem took a few heartbeats of time before responding. "There is no walking path to that island. Do you wish to request a row boat?"

"Yes," the brat said.

The golem on the sergeant's shoulder said, "Do you authorize user Lenefeit's request for special transport?"

The brat glared at the golem. Sergeant Kargerran maintained a blase attitude as he provided the authorization.

All of their golems said, "Please remain stationary until further notice. Mana construction will take an estimate of 1 minute 20 seconds. Interference with mana construction may result in severe injury."

A large row boat, big enough to seat six arassi, took shape several meters distant from them. Two pairs of oars formed next to the boat. The brat's scroll box scratched away at a frantic pace.

The chorus of their golems spoke again. "Mana construction complete. You may move from your locations now."

Sergeant Kargerran looked to the brat. "Do you know how to row a boat?"

The brat looked with confusion toward the sergeant. "Why do you ask?"

"Someone will need to row while the Rangers are keeping an eye out for creatures and hazards in the water."