It was three days after the encounter with the Howlbear that I finally signaled for us to stop. The marker on the map was within two kilometers and we’d just climbed a hill that could give us a solid view of our destination. It had been a lot harder to get here than I’d have liked, with the winding path required to avoid various sinkholes, and one close call that was triggered by something we hadn’t caught sight of.

  “See something?” Elayne asked, stepping up next to me. She followed my gaze and squinted. “That’s weird…”

  “What?” I asked, turning to look at her.

  “Look,” She pointed, “The white that’s barely visible over that hill. You see how it’s all sharp angles? It’s not natural in the slightest.”

  I squinted and eventually I caught what she’d been looking at. I’m sure the five extra points I put in Perception helped, since I’d taken to slowly raising my stats over the past few days. Usually just one or two points every hour or so and four or five when I went to sleep. This was on top of the two extra levels I gained in Outdoorsman.

  “I see it…” I said hesitantly. “Think we should check it out?”

  Elayne shrugged and started back down the hill, “If it’s stable we could clear it out and use it to camp. Either way, it’s something besides all these dead trees and grass.”

  I nodded and continued looking at the structure. I couldn’t make out much except a corner that looked far too smooth and perfect. I tried Scan, but I was too far away. I should have spent more time trying to use this spell.

  There was a soft whistle behind me and I turned enough to see Deacon walking up the small hill. “That where he is?”

  I nodded slowly, returning to stare at the white rock. “That’s where the map points. I’ve checked a few different times when we had to take that long detour around the crater.”

  “Figures.” He sighed. The bard tugged at his hat and peered in the direction I was looking. “That… looks like a system building.”

  My brow furrowed. “Like the fortress or barracks? How can you tell?”

  “I cast Scan. You can negate the glow with a little effort and I always found it annoying.” Despite his lighthearted tone, he wasn’t smiling. “You get anything back from your friend? Or our rescue target?”

  I shook my head, “Melvin has been silent, but I’m also not sure what his situation is. And I have no idea how talking with Zeratus works. I’d rather not rely on him if I didn’t have to, anyway.”

  He let out a puff of laughter from his nose, “That’s fair. Ask for help, but be ready to do it yourself, right?”

  I furrowed my brow and looked at him, my head tilting slightly, “I… like that.” I frowned, “Where’d you steal it from?”

  The bard mimed as if he’d been struck, “You wound me. I’ll have you know I got permission to use it.” I couldn’t help but mimic the stupid grin on his face.

  We got quiet for a few seconds and returned to staring at the maybe system building.

  “We should head back if we don’t find anything today.” He finally said.

  I looked up at the sky, considering what he said. “I’ll have to come back later if we do. Or join whatever group starts clearing out the quarry.”

  “I didn’t realize you’d thought that far ahead.” He sounded a little impressed.

  I shook my head, “I just thought of it. It’d have to wait though. Till after the dungeon.”

  I caught Deacon’s face twisting into concern when I mentioned the dungeon. “I still don’t think you’re ready to go into one.”

  “I’d go slow.” I said with a slight shrug, “Just being in the area could be enough to figure something out.”

  He frowned and raised his eyebrows in suspicion, “Right.” Deacon said, drawing the word out in derision of my statement.

  I rolled my eyes and turned around, “Come on. The sooner we start, the sooner we can leave.”

  All four of us stood before a crater that must have been a ten meter drop at its center. Except, at the center was a lopsided building, one corner of it sticking up higher. I couldn’t tell what kind of structure it was, but there weren’t any seams on the stone. Not even at where windows were.

  Through the window we saw movement, even in the long shadows from the… light. Is core the right word for that bright light? I heard someone say that as a swear once. I’d ask later.

  “Dani? You seeing what I’m seeing?” Deacon asked from beside me.

  I nodded, “I think so. Those are Prius’ right?”

  “I think so. I think it’s their young, though. There’s a lot of them there, practically crawling over each other.” He said, pointing to draw my attention.

  I followed his finger to a window closer to the earth. I had to squint, but I thought… yea. That’s a lot of bugs. I shuddered, “Got any ideas?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “What do you mean ideas?” Elayne said, looking over at us. “This is a scouting mission, and we’ve found what we were looking for…” She trailed off.

  A lot more. I mentally finished what she was going to say. I frowned down at the building, trying to figure out any thing we could actually do to whatever was going on down there.

  “A nest is a dangerous thing.” Zaion said, tone neutral. “If you have a plan, I will at least hear you out.”

  Deacon bobbed his head, considering his answer carefully. “I’ve an idea or two, but it depends on what Dani wants to do. Do we let them know? Or try to explore our options?”

  I furrowed my brow, something about his words sounding off. Is he asking about… my quest? I had considered it… Would they care? I looked between Zaion and Elayne, wanting to believe they might.

  “There’s someone in trouble down there. Apparently… they’re eating him and he’s coming back to life. Only to be eaten again.” I said, my stomach going queasy thinking about it. “I got a system quest to save him.”

  Zaion almost went white as I spoke.

  Elayne looked horrified.

  Deacon avoided looking at both of them, face grim. “I think we should at least try to figure out something. We don’t have to try it, just… consider it.”

  I shrugged, “I’m not eager to die for someone else. It’s up to you two.”

  Zaion and Elayne looked at each other. Elayne spoke up first, “We couldn’t drown them, could we?”

  Zaion looked down at his waist where his bottles of water were and then back up to her, “Not unless you know of a river nearby and two earth movers to carve a path.”

  “Can you create water? Out of the air, I mean. I know you’re pretty skilled at water magic.” Deacon asked the elf.

  I didn’t know what he was talking about, but Zaion nodded slowly. “Yes… but not very well. And not very fast.”

  We all stood there in silence, thinking about the problem. Several minutes passed in silence, each of us scanning the crater before us. There were a couple of windows I couldn’t see any movement in. And as I listened, I thought I started to hear a sound. Something high pitched… coming from..

  “Do you hear that?” I asked Deacon.

  He tilted his head for a moment, then winced before nodding. “Yea, I hear it now. Hm…” He pursed his lips and started to whistle. Slowly, his whistle grew in pitch, until he matched what I could hear. Then it faded away, despite Deacon still appearing to whistle. I looked at Elayne and Zaion, who both shrugged.

  The sound from the building suddenly began blaring it’s screeches and clicks. I caught myself from stumbling, somehow, and took two steps back. My hands moved to my ears on reflex, even if I knew it wouldn’t do any good. “Deacon!” I shouted.

  I managed to wrench my eyes open when the sound cut out. Looking towards the edge, I saw Elayne holding onto Zaion’s arm while trying not to slip. Deacon had put his fingers to his lips, but I couldn’t hear anything coming from him.

  I tried to stand, and stumbled, unable to find my balance. With a curse, I reached towards my ear and felt a thin trail of sticky liquid. I brought my fingers in front of my face and saw red.

  I cursed again and cast Heal.

  There was a crackling sound, and I felt my energy drain. I couldn’t hear still. No…

  I cast Heal again. More crackling, faded voices. Come on…

  I cast Heal again. In a desperate attempt, I tried to guide the mana, desperate to keep the damage from being permanent. The faded voices started to come into focus, Elayne shouting at Deacon as he tries to maintain his focus on something… is he channeling a spell?

  “Danielle!” Elayne shouted, relief and irritation in equal measure within her voice. “We have to go!”

  I looked around and rose to unsteady feet, “Where’s…” I looked towards the ledge of the crater.

  Elayne shook her head, “Gone.” She pointed towards the crater.

  I stumbled forward, stopping just before the edge. I looked down…

  “Where are they, Grimoire?!” Calmar yelled at the butler, Porter putting a hand on Calmar’s shoulder to restrain him. “You said they were due back yesterday!”

  “It would be two days ago, now. My lord.” The butler said as though nothing were wrong. “And that was an estimate. These things can take time.”

  Calmar wrenched his shoulder forward, trying to tear out of Porter’s grip. “How is she possibly ready for something like this?” He started to slump and Porter leaned over to support him. “I shouldn’t have left…”

  “Come on, Cal. Let’s get you to bed, you’ve had a bit too much today…” Porter said, starting to guide him up the stairs.

  Between the two of them, they got Calmar back to his room and under the blankets. Grimoire asked a maid to fetch some water for his bedside table before motioning Porter to follow him. They went to Calmar’s study and Grimoire activated the privacy enchantment that was hidden under the desk.

  “So, where is she, really?” Porter asked, directly.

  Grimoire sighed, “It’s a remote place a few days away from Davesville. It’s been off limits for a few years do to unstable ground. Earth mages were supposed to have fixed it, but…”

  “Never enough willing to do the work.” Porter winced. “You get a few levels in a magic class…” He whispered to no one.

  “Indeed.” Grimoire said, pulling a half full bottle from a drawer. “Think the payments are due to double again next week to try and get anyone to do the job.”

  “How much?” Porter asked. “And why haven’t I heard of this before?”

  “You probably have, just didn’t think it was important.” The butler said as he pulled another bottle from his inner jacket and began to refill the half empty one. “It will be… five thousand per fixed piece of dangerous terrain.”

  Porter raised his eyebrows, “That’s insane.”

  “But… if the mission is considered a regional emergency, they’ll be firmly requested to work for barely anything.” The butler put both bottles away. “Unfortunately, Paige almost died to get us this information after Jason accused her of lying.”

  Porter tensed. “They’re out there now?!”

  “Calm, Porter. Sit” Grimoire moved to the bodyguard’s side and guided him to a sofa. “It is taken care of.”

  “How?” He asked, confused.

  “I sent a message.” The butler said with the ceremony of throwing out the trash. “I imagine going out into town will still be a risk, however. Between our pantries and various purification spells, we should be able to last until the leave.”

  “Fuck.” Porter said, taking a sip from a glass that he did not remember having. It was one of his favorite ales. And it was cold. “Grimoire… has anyone told you how jealous they are of your storage skill?”

  The sides of the butler’s mouth quirked up, “A time or two. I’ll leave another in your room. Be sure to get some sleep.”

  Grimoire left the room and closed the door behind him. He closed his eyes and took a dep breath.

  He seemed to vanish, the next moment he was holding an invisible man against the wall next to the stairs. There was a sharp snapping sound and the man appeared, limp in Grimoire’s hand. The butler tsked and pulled the body into his storage. “It seems I need to send another message.”