We kept at a jogger’s pace for over thirty minutes. I checked in with Ferrisdae every so often, and was glad we had gotten all that physical fitness training in when it mattered. She was pushed harder than the rest of us but didn’t complain about getting a little out of breath. I was proud of her.
The scenery changed from wetlands to forest, but despite the distance we traveled we never felt another DTER or came across any other monsters. Everything seemed normal. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have been sure we were jogging through Astlerwood National Forest, which surrounded Athir.
Eventually, we came to our destination. We turned around the bend at the last few trees to discover the village of Tuskrep. There were stone cottages with thatched roofs, and several of them had vines growing up the side. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have said it looked like something straight out of a fairy tale.
A strange, nostalgic feeling overtook me at the sight, one that left me scowling since I didn’t recognize it. I gestured for everyone else to stop, and we slowed while Tailwind ran ahead. The sword had to be set down for me to get my map out, so I plunged it into the dirt road.
“Why are we stopping?” Cojisto asked, putting his hands on his hips as he looked at the stone cottages in front of us.
“Yeah, I could have ran a little longer,” Ferrisdae said, trying not to sound out of breath.
“I’m sure Badger knows you could, Ferry,” Tabitha said soothingly as she patted the Forest Elf’s elbow. “But you can’t expect him to lead us into Tuskrep without doing his due diligence, can you?”
“That’s a fair point. I was just saying, that's all,” my junior said. She glared at Dalsarel when the other Elf snickered, but it didn’t devolve into anything further.
While they spoke, I was busy scouring the map. There was a curved line in front of us that I hadn’t seen before. My scowl abated into a frown before I took a step forward. That pushed my dot over the threshold, and the map came alive as a wave of ink was revealed to me.
It flowed away from our position in all directions, showing us Tuskrep in all its glory as well as the surrounding area. Apparently, setting foot into the village had been enough to unlock a large part of the map. It now showed miles of swampland and marshes to the south, a very dense forest to the east and west, and plains to the north.
“There is a disturbing lack of people here,” Moose croaked, raising his head as if to get a better look. “It’s far too quiet to be a village.”
“Yeah, it is really quiet,” Cojisto agreed. “It doesn’t sound like anyone’s here. Where’s the farmers and stuff? If they’re all birds then I don’t think they could be blacksmiths or something, not without hands, but there’s gotta be something.”
“How’d they even manage to build all of this?” Tabitha asked, scratching her head. “Without hands, I mean.”
“The stone is old,” Dalsarel said confidently. She gestured towards the nearest cottage. “Look at the cracks, and how whatever they used to paint it is peeling. I can also see some signs of water damage in the other buildings. They haven’t been taken care of for a long time.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ferrisdae replied, gesturing towards the same cottage’s roof. Her eyes were glowing with magical sight. “Non-magical thatched roofing, which is what that is, can last decades if done well, but some of these look brand new. A couple of years old, tops.”
“So there is some upkeep,” Tabitha stated as she looked from building to building. “Think they’ve got a great thatcher but no knowledgeable stonemasons?”
“Seems like it, but Moose is right about the disturbing lack of people,” I said as I studied Tuskrep on the map.
It was built in five concentric circles with several houses lining each one. There seemed to be some giant pit in the center of the village if the black ink was any indication. Surrounding it were larger buildings, some of which looked dilapidated, and only one of which had any dots in them. They were white, like Tailwind, and I had seen her run in to join them.
A quick scan of the village again put me on edge. I checked the surrounding area just to make sure, but found nothing. “There’s only about twelve people living here,” I announced.
“That can’t be right,” Ferrisdae argued, moving in to look at the map. “A village this size should be able to accommodate hundreds of people. Or ostrich folk, or whatever they are.”
“Yes, that is something I was aware of when I made my declaration,” I huffed, slapping the map with the back of my hand. “However, unless hundreds of people are gone hunting or on vacation, then we’re only left with twelve. Look for yourself.”
The Forest Elf frowned as she suddenly found herself crowded by everyone else as they, too, had to check. Three of the dots had left the building and were coming our way. The one in front started running only to circle back, and I had a feeling that it was Tailwind leading the elders our way since we didn’t follow her.
“Once again, no hostile actions,” I said seriously. “And check yourselves for the DTER. This one is cheerful and happy, which doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Unless CC wants to keep them complacent,” Tabitha replied. “Tailwind seemed pretty chipper at being a sacrifice. If she was used to being happy all the time, it might be that she doesn’t know anything else.”
“That’s horrible,” Cojisto spat, giving voice to my thoughts.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t,” my wife sighed. “I’m just bringing up the possibility that, after hundreds of years, this might just have been how she decided to do things.”
“They’re here,” I said. Not knowing what to expect, I picked up the crystal sword and took a few steps forward.
Tailwind appeared first, emerging from one of the circular roads. She stopped the moment she saw us and turned back, pointing excitedly. It took a few more seconds before those she was leading arrived.
The first one was some kind of gorilla that walked on all fours. Their fur had long lost its luster in old age, and they stopped to regard us with a firm gaze. I held up the crystal sword, and after a few seconds they nodded and beckoned us closer.
“Be alert,” I whispered as I started walking, and the rest of the team followed suit.
The other dot turned out to be an elderly ostrich the same shape as Tailwind, but shorter with legs that wouldn’t stop wobbling. They covered their beak with a wing as they saw the sword, muttering something that we were too far away to hear properly.
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They came to meet us halfway with the gorilla taking the lead. He lumbered slowly, but with purpose. “I am Elder Thrash,” he announced, his voice raspy but stronger than expected. “Behind me is Elder Pluck, and our latest shrine priestess, Tailwind, whom you have already met. We welcome the Swordbearer and his comrades.”
I heard his words as clear as day thanks to the Allspeech spell, but Tabs whistled from behind me. Tilting my head towards her in a way that didn’t let them out of my sight, she answered the question I was going to ask without me saying it.
“That’s an old, old dialect of Gnomish,” she explained. “The kind the grandpas and grannies barely remember. I can understand enough of it to get by, but it’s like the difference between Coroda Halfling and New Frausta Halfling. Same base, drastically different grammar.”
“Good. My spell is still active, but I’d like for you to translate for everyone else,” I told her. She nodded, and I stopped a safe distance away and raised my voice so they could more easily hear me. “I am Badger, your Swordbearer. I have several questions, if you’ll be inclined to answer them.”
“Of course,” Elder Thrash agreed immediately, coming to a stop in front of me and lowering his head. “Tuskrep may not be as rambunctious as it used to be, but we have not forgotten our hospitality. We don’t have much to offer, but what we have is yours. Please, follow me. The heat is terrible these days. We’ll cool off inside.”
I agreed and followed the gorilla and ostrich pair deeper into the village. From inside Tuskrep, it was strange to see the dichotomy of dilapidation and preservation. The stone buildings were, as Dalsarel stated, clearly in disrepair, but the thatched roofs were new as were the fences surrounding some yards. In fact, those even smelled of fresh paint, as if someone had fixed them up earlier in the day.
While we walked, I introduced my companions to make sure they were known to these strange, intelligent animals. They almost reminded me of Moose, but not enough to think that he had somehow been whisked away from here. These creatures could speak in languages not made for their tongue, which he could not. His regular animalistic noises themselves triggered Allspeech, after all, and there was no mistaking that for anything other than what it was.
When we made it to the center of the village, we all faltered slightly. Just as the map had shown, there was a huge hole in the ground. I strayed away from the path to look down it, and frowned. The sun wasn’t at the right angle for me to see how deep it really was, but I could tell that it went down further than Akshashka’s quarry. Without saying anything, I resumed following our new host.
The building Elder Thrash led us to wasn’t the one with the other dots in it, but the largest building in Tuskrep. It was made of great white stone blocks with stunning pillars in the front, though when I looked closer I noticed the same disrepair here as on the others. The grand size did make it easier to see that some cracks had been paved over, but even that was coming apart.
We stepped inside and were greeted by a larger than life bronze statue of a woman. Elder Thrash seemed to ignore it, leading us to an area at its base where there were upholstered couches and chairs. The furniture looked brand new and the air felt slightly chilled despite the heat outside, which was an immediate relief to those of us who didn’t have climate control magic built into their outfits.
“Please, have a seat,” Elder Thrash offered as he sent the two ostriches on a mission. He sat down on a black, circular chair at the head, which happened to be at the foot of the towering statue.
It depicted a confident woman with long, curly hair. She had her tongue stuck out of her mouth as she looked down at the meeting area and several prominent freckles on her cheeks. Her hands, which were balled up into fists, were planted firmly on her hips. All in all, she looked exactly like the kind of woman the Dungeon Master, and likely his father, would have pursued.
Elder Thrash saw me staring, but didn’t look up to regard the statue himself. “Beautiful, isn’t she?” he asked, though it sounded like a rote question.
“If you’re into that kind of thing,” I answered honestly.
Something changed in the gorilla’s eyes as he regarded me, and I snapped my attention to him fully. We stared at each other, attempting to size the other up. I could already tell that I would have no trouble beating him in a fight, but this wasn’t about that.
“You’re unhappy,” I accused.
“And you, perceptive Swordbearer, aren’t from this continent,” he countered. “Which is good, because I had feared you were one of her minions sent to play the hero in the Swordbearer storyline. She has not tugged on that plot in a long time.”
I heard Cojisto grunt from the couch. “What’s being unhappy got to do with anything?”
“You really must pay attention, my friend,” Moose huffed. “Badger warned us that the Dungeon Threshold Emotional Response of this latest dungeon was meant to keep people cheerful and happy. If he is saying that this strange creature is unhappy, then he has either been here long enough that he is no longer affected, which seems plausible due to his advanced age, or he is the dungeon boss. Given that Elder Pluck seemed to be of the same temperament as Tailwind, I am inclined to believe that it was the latter.”
“Yeah, that’s my bad. Thanks for the heads up, though.”
Hearing Moose speak made me take in a breath. Even though he had only spoken for two or three seconds, he had managed to pack a lot of information into them. A part of me really wanted to take the time to figure out the specifics now that I knew Allspeech worked, but I was easily able to push past it. There would be time later.
I waited to see if Elder Thrash was going to say anything more, but he seemed content to watch me instead. “What gave me away?”
The gorilla crossed his arms. “Everybody who lives here knows the visage of the dread goddess CC,” he answered, frowning. “And no one stares at her so intently.”
“Dread goddess?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “Tailwind seemed to delight in her visits.”
“That’s because they’re programmed to be that way by the dungeon,” he said, showing teeth as if displeased. His tone became harder. “That is our purpose, is it not? To worship and obey? To become playthings for the whims of the omniscient? She snaps her fingers and we come crawling, doing everything we can to alleviate her boredom. And they revel in it, because that is the nature she cultivated in them.” The gorilla growled. “We send off our young to sacrifice themselves and call it an honor, and for what? Because she decrees it to be so? Ours is a vile existence, Badger, tailor made to accommodate the asinine stories she comes up with, and one that I am dishonored to allow you to see.”
I pursed my lips as I listened to Elder Thrash speak. It had been clear to me from the moment I heard that there was a community here that the Dungeon Master and Cheroske, through the Clergy Faction, had sent me to this place in particular. The Gnomish cities and towns talked about in tales no longer existed, but there was still a pocket of civilization hidden deep on the continent.
Likely more, if my hunch was right.
“Ferrisdae, take notes to send to the others on the stone,” I ordered, and she pulled out the magical device with a nod. I put the crystal sword on the table in the middle of the group. Elder Thrash looked at it distastefully for a moment as I took a seat on the chair across from him, which was far too large for me, and leaned in. “What would you say if I told you that I had a way for you to never have to worship her again?”
I was taking a leap of faith but, after hearing him speak, I was sure it was the right call. His eyes widened and his mouth opened, but no words came out. It wasn’t until Elder Pluck and Tailwind returned with cups and platters of food balanced on their wings that he was capable of speech.
“Elder Pluck, Tailwind,” he said, faking cheerfulness. “There are still roofs to be mended. Why don’t you go prepare a cottage for the Swordbearer and his friends.”
“Oh, a mission for Tailwind!” the younger ostrich preened. She gave Elder Thrash a salute. “I will fix up the best roof that you will have ever seen! You can count on me!”
As she turned and left, Elder Pluck bobbed their head in our direction before walking out. I wasn’t sure if they were mute or just someone of few words, but that hardly mattered.
Elder Thrash turned his attention back to me and leaned in, matching my posture. “That is a bold question you ask of me,” he said quietly, as if he was afraid to summon the wrath of CC by speaking ill of her. “But tell me more, Badger. I would like to hear what you have to say.”
