Iarkspur was the first through the rupture and the first to take in a large gulp of ice-cold water. Coughing and trying to right herself as the water took her, Iarkspur couldn’t get a good look at her surrounds. She could hear the others coming through behind her and splashing around too.

Iarkspur hit the bottom of the river bed as she was being tossed around and kicked off of it, managing to put herself back above the water. They were in a tunnel. There was light at the end of the tunnel and they were travelling quite quickly due to the water. She could see Guy and then two faint blue glimmers and Jadon appeared, shortly followed by Ephin. Where was Beth?

Iarkspur took in a deep breath and ducked under the water, trying to keep stable even as she was batted around. It was too dark to make out anything certain, but Beth had come in just after she had. Iarkspur tried swimming against the flow of the river and felt something push past on her right side. She grabbed on and was immediately kicked in the face by a flailing Beth. Iarkspur kept hold and forced herself up side-by side with Beth, and pulled her up by her shoulders.

Both Iarkspur and Beth’s heads broke out of the water. They were out of the tunnel by this point. The river was running through what looked like an underground town. There were bridges periodically over it and the entire cavern was lit with everflame lanterns, placed high onto the roof like the night sky. Another bridge sped by. Someone on it spotted them after they rushed by and shouted out something that was swept away by the water.

Iarkspur could feel plants nearby, they bordered the river and were coming up quickly. She didn’t feel as strong as she had in the other realms or back home in the forest but she could do this. She let one hand go of Beth and pulled on the plants. They looked like flowers as they multiplied in size and number. She led them over the upcoming bridge and knitted a makeshift net that caught her and Beth, stopping their momentum. Guy slammed into her back and all three burst through the net, carrying on down the river.

Iarkspur looked up again, trying to keep Beth’s head above water and losing the stamina to keep her own head up too. A few people had begun to gather on one of the bridges ahead. She could only see a couple more bridges before the river continued down into another tunnel.

The people on the bridge were shouting to them as they approached but Iarkspur was having a hard time making out anything over the water. She pushed up Beth and one of the people grabbed Beth’s bag strap. Another one was holding out a broom that Guy grabbed onto. Iarkspur nearly started drifting off once more but Beth’s foot caught under her arm and Iarkspur held on. She looked up and saw a barely conscious Beth smiling back.

Jadon and Ephin closed the distance quickly. Ephin held on tight to Jadon as Jadon grasped a rope that was trailing down from the bridge in their path. The strangers on the bridge all helped each other to pull up the soaking group. Getting Beth up first as she was the closest to passing out.

“You did well,” one of the people said to Iarkspur as she slumped against the bridge railing trying to regain her breath. This was not water that you could breathe in.

“She isn’t a strong swimmer,” Iarkspur said shrugging.

“I hate water,” Ephin said as he wrung out his sleeves over the railing.

“We have to be somewhere in Viamarr, right? You’re all speaking it,” Jadon asked one of the people that had gathered to help.

“I’m afraid not, friend,” the person said, “this is Kimmington, deep in the Blistered Peaks.” When none of this triggered a response from any of the dripping wet people, the stranger continued, “Echosis. You’re looking for a different continent.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Jadon said, “how are we meant to get home now?”

“If home for you is Viamarr, I’d suggest a ship.”

“At least we’re in the right realm again,” Ephin said.

“And by the time we get back, High Morr is going to be rubble,” Jadon snapped back.

“We should probably take care of ourselves first,” Guy said, “It’s not like we can do anything about High Morr right now and if you tried you could be, y’know.”

“Locked up?” Ephin said.

“Well, I wasn’t going to say it around present company, but yes,” Guy said.

“You’ll have no worries here as long as you don’t cause any in return. I’m Gonnogan, what are your names?” The man stepped forward as the group all introduced themselves and he pointed out a modest building nearby. “That’s my shop and my smithy. Soronial’s Smithing Supplies. You need anything from me or my family, just pop over and we’ll see what we can do.” Gonnogan gave a quick look over the group and, satisfied that they were safe, he left to return to his work.

After Gonnogan left, most of the others filtered off back to what they had been doing when the group had been spotted. They all introduced themselves, but Iarkspur was terrible with names so she didn’t take in most of them.

The group were pointed in the direction of the closest tavern to get some rest and recoup their energy. The Stonecut Softaway, thankfully, was not entirely carved from stone. The warmly lit interior had a few patrons drinking and eating at a couple circular wooden tables, but it was not yet busy.

“Please may I have a pint of whatever is strong here?” Guy asked the scaled bartender. They looked to be dragon descended, which was rarer in Viamarr. The green scales and yellow eyes took Iarkspur by surprise but she didn’t show it.

“You all look like you took a dip in the river,” the bartender laughed.

“Please, if anyone asks me to swim anywhere ever again, I’ll punch them,” Ephin said.

“Duly noted,” the bartender said with a wide smile, “what’ll the rest of you be having?”

Once all the orders were in place and the drinks on the counter Guy smiled as he dug into his pockets. He dug in some other pockets. For some reason he started patting around.

“My goodness,” Guy said, his face shifting to a redder tinge, “I think we’re out of money.”

“No money, no drinks. I’m sorry.” The bartender sighed and pulled back the tankards from the counter top. “If you’re looking for coin, brave, healthy and skilled enough there are always odd jobs to do for folks around town. Living this deep underground leads to… unique problems.”

“Thank you, friend,” Guy said, “and I’m sorry about having you waste your drinks like that. We’ll be back to properly sample your hospitality.”

“Your friends are already walking out.”

Guy spun around and jogged to catch up with the others, who hadn’t waited for him to finish his rambling.

“Well,” Beth asked, “where do we go now?”

“To get some coin,” Jadon said with a smirk.

“Legally,” Guy said, staring at Jadon.

“What?” Jadon held his hands up and laughed.

“We could check out Gonnogan’s place, maybe he can point us to someone that could pay us?” Beth suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” Ephin said and the group started to retrace their steps to the smithy.

A long distance. Such a long distance.

But not instantaneously.

I will carry on my way.

I will intercept.

I will find.

The church doors stood heavy and intimidating, built into the stone wall of the cavern.

Beth wouldn’t have thought those doors were for a church unless she had been told.

The group had been sent from one person to another, all around town all afternoon. Gonnogan had sent them to Hhohk’svaqa the arachnid tailor, who had given them a rumor about Iralithil’s pest problem, which had already been sorted, so she sent them to Ashpirsia and this chain of potential jobs had continued multiple times over until they had reached here. The Obscured Altar, a temple to Krielle.

According to Ephin, preparing the group on the walk over, Krielle was the goddess of Darkness and Shadows. She was also believed to be one of the more evil deities instead of a benevolent one. That did not fill Beth with hope. This temple was apparently built before even the Rupture War.

Guy reached out and pounded on the door three times. Everyone waited in silence, hearing the echo bounce off whatever chamber was behind the doors.

After a few minutes they heard metal scraping and something heavy being dislodged before the door was pulled open enough to see the person on the other side peeking through.

They were short, shorter than Beth. Covered in fur and had two eyes that took up more than half of their face. Their mouth was less of a singular thing and instead a mesh of worm-like strands that vibrated as they spoke.

“How can I help you?” They said.

“We were informed by, I think it was Edeporu that you may have a task you require help with?” Guy said.

“Paid help,” Jadon clarified poking around Guy to look at the person. They were wearing pitch black robes that would likely flow more if they were taller.

“I see,” the person said, “well please, come in and we can discuss the necessary arrangements.” They pulled on a chain and the door pulled open a little more to allow everyone in. They then pulled a lever and the chain spun back out, letting the large door close. Beth stared at the set-up, trying to memorize how it functioned.

The figure jumped up and perched themself down on a pew and patted it for the others to sit down.

Beth looked around, taking in as many details of this ancient chamber as she could. It was well cleaned and simple. There were rows of polished wooden pews aiming towards a cloth covered lectern. Two doors led out of the back, flanking the lectern. Hammered onto the wall, the only decoration, was a mass of golden strands wrapping around a black circle. It looked like onyx but the decoration was too large for it to be just one singular piece.

Everyone sat down on the pews, grouped as best they could.

“My name is High Obscurer Arollume. How can I address your party?”

“We don’t have a name yet,” Iarkspur said.

“Yet?” Jadon asked.

“Are you saying this would be your first job?” Arollume asked.

“Our first official one, yes,” Guy said, giving a sharp look to the others to keep it down. “We have faced many terrors and you will find our resolve up to the task. Speaking of…?”

“Ah, yes,” Arollume nodded, “if you think you’re up to it. This building is very old, which means structurally it is not in the best state. Recently, there was a ceiling collapse in one of the dorm rooms further down. This opened up access to something to come in. We have managed to close off the dorm in question, however we lost three good Obscurers to whatever it was that came through. Our task is simple. Go into the tunnels. Figure out what killed our people and put an end to the issue, with proof. If you can do that, we have amassed a modest fund for your efforts.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Guy said, “is there any chance we could be given a small portion of this fund now, to help us prepare for the task?”

“You may. Forgive me, but you all look like you’ve been dragged through a swamp. And you smell like it.”

“Bit harsh, but understandable,” Beth said as Arollume pulled out a small pouch.

“This is a quarter of the fund. The rest upon successful completion. I believe it will suffice in terms of preparing.”

“Thank you, High Obscurer. We won’t let you down,” Guy said, standing up and slapping his knees as he did. “Alright gang, let’s go gear up.”

They all stood outside the once again closed church doors as Beth counted out the money and divided it among everyone.

“I think this is more money than I’ve seen in my hand at any one time,” Beth said, “twenty golden crests each. And it’s only a quarter.”

“What is everyone going to spend it on?” Iarkspur said.

“What does everyone need?” Guy asked, “We should be smart as we’ve never stayed to fight something as a group yet. All we’ve been doing is running away from things since we met.”

“We’ll be fine,” Jadon said, “Ephin’s nearly totally healed my leg and he and Iarkspur proved they have crazy powerful magic.”

“Not anymore,” Ephin said, “I don’t feel as strong a connection here. Not like earlier.”

“Same,” Iarkspur added, “as soon as we passed through the rupture.”

Beth pulled out a notebook and tried to note down what they had just said but it was still wet from the river.

“Well, my ideas are likely not going to send me to the same places as you all, so I’m going to go exploring,” Beth said, “I think we were sent to a couple of the places that might stock my supplies.”

“Meet back here once we’re done?” Guy said and the group nodded, “oh, and everyone think of a good group name. If we’re doing jobs for money, we will need something for people to refer to us as. It seems more official.”

Everyone then went their separate ways.

Jadon picked up some more knives and a couple vials of poisonous chemicals to make them deadlier when facing a potentially deadly beast.

Guy bought a cheap set of armor to replace the larger one he had had to shed to avoid sinking too fast when swimming.

Beth joined them both in the smithy momentarily, however she was not buying any weapons that the others recognized. She was asking for specific amounts of metals, materials and powders before rushing out to her next stop.

Iarkspur also bumped into Beth as they both stopped at a florist. Iarkspur bought a few pouches of seeds and Beth bought a collection of plants that left Iarkspur puzzled as Beth sped out of the store.

Ephin spent some money on a meal and then bought some food supplies for the trip in case it took longer than expected. He went to a general goods store to buy some camping gear for the group, assuming some would forget to bring it and met Beth in there, hurriedly buying an assortment of unrelated items.

“You realize none of that is going to help us hunt and kill whatever this thing is?” Ephin said as Beth pushed past him to get to the exit.

“Won’t help you, sure, but I don’t have time to explain, I need to build these things before we go.” And Beth was gone, the ringing of the bell at the entrance left in her wake.

Everyone met up a short while later. Everyone except Beth.

Iarkspur and Ephin looked perfectly normal, and showed the group what they had purchased, Ephin giving out food rations to everyone for the journey and sleeping rolls as he couldn’t work out how to carry them all himself.

Jadon pulled up his coat and showed off a new belt, laden with various knives and vials of different liquids. Everyone could see that Guy was wearing his purchase, a nondescript suit of armour that didn’t look comfortable but along with a large sword on the cheaper side, he had managed to get what he wanted within the budget.

Beth came running over a bridge to meet them, out of breath and grinning.

“So, what junk did you end up buying?” Ephin asked.

“I think he means what is your specialty?” Iarkspur said, “I have plants and he has his holy stuff. Jadon and Guy are both stabby. What can you do?”

“I make things,” Beth said and showed off her inventions to the group.

She had filled one pouch on her belt with a series of metal balls, each with a button. Another one had thin metal sheets stacked together, each one with a small note carved onto it. She had torn up a pair of leather gloves and woven in some metal wiring, she didn’t explain it, only winking. She had done something similar with the soles of her boots.

“I can make more, given resources and time. I know I’m not a great fighter, but I’ll be damned if I’m not a good thinker.”

Everyone looked adequately impressed, which got Beth to smile even more.

“Are we all ready then?” Guy asked. They all nodded. “Alright then.”

He turned around and knocked on the church doors.