by Allan Joyal
“What? I haven’t heard of prisoners being kept anywhere in these mountains,” the second officious man said.
Dared held up a hand towards Faestari. “I don’t think they know what a dungeon is. Unless it’s the place a king throws prisoners.”
“Most kings would rather use an oubliette,” Faestari said carefully. She glanced at the two men. “Leave your horses with the guard. I have a place to sit where we can be comfortable while we talk.”
The young elf made of stone moved to her stone chairs and firepit. The eerie fuel less fire lit instantly as she walked around and claimed a chair. Dared followed and carefully took a seat next to her.
“Thank you for arriving so quickly,” Dared said quietly.
The two men were carefully climbing from their horses. Both stared at Faestari with wide eyes as they approached the chairs.
“What are these?” the second man said.
Faestari held up a hand. “First, let’s get introductions out of the way so we know what is being discussed. My name is Faestari. I am the spirit and soul of the dungeon underneath this mountain.”
“The what?” the second man said again. “How can a dungeon have a soul.”
“Let’s finish the introductions please,” Faestari said firmly as she used a hand to indicate Dared. “Dared here is… Oh, let me remember… the fifth son of Poulmius, King of Rockgar. But he wasn’t going to inherit any lands so when he heard of a dungeon here, he came with builders and others to establish a town that could support adventurers.”
Toligant held out a hand before the second man spoke again. “Wait,” he said. “I am remembering a bit about dungeons. Let me perform our introductions and we can see if my memory and the tales I heard are accurate. If they are, you really don’t need to antagonize the dungeon’s speaker.”
The second man sat back and crossed his arms. He just shook his head and closed his eyes as Toligant sat up and spoke directly to Faestari.
“I am Toligant, customs inspector for Fairview. My disbelieving companion is Daromer, he’s a sergeant in our guard. We came here because the council believes that Dared knows something about the raids our farms have been suffering,” the man said.
“Why are we wasting our time,” Daromer asked.
Faestari looked directly at Daromer. “I might know the source of the raids. If I am correct, are you really wasting time?”
“How can you?” Daromer asked. “You’re some stone elf child who rose up out of the ground. Toligant here says you’re some kind of king’s dumping ground for prisoners. That makes no sense.”
“Not that kind of dungeon,” Toligant said.
“Well, what is she then? You called her a dungeon’s speaker?” Daromere snapped as he turned to glare at his companion.
“There are stories that get passed around in some taverns about how some cave complexes have a spirit or soul. The spirit empowers the creatures within,” Toligant said.
Faestari nodded, but Daromer failed to notice as he continued to glare at Toligant. “So, we’re talking about some cave complex with creatures? How does that make stone-face over there a speaker?”
Faestari raised a hand. “I should note that I’m not a speaker for the dungeon. I am the actual avatar of the dungeon,” she told the two men from Fairview.
“What does that mean?” Daromer asked.
“It means that if you insult her, she can kill you with a thought,” Dared said calmly.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” Faestari said coquettishly.
“You wouldn’t?” Toligant asked.
“I’d allow some of the creatures from my dungeon enjoy themselves by allowing them to kill you,” Faestari said. “But I’m willing to allow Daromer rant. He can’t harm me.”
“A hammer would easily smash you,” Daromer said.
Faestari laughed. It was a strange sound much like a landslide. “I just create this body because it makes it easier to talk to others. As Toligant said, I’m a spirit. Now, if you are asking about the raids, ask your specific questions.”
Toligant reached out to put a hand on Daromer’s shoulder. “So, you said you believe you know what is causing or leading the raids.”
“I wouldn’t use the term causing the raids,” Faestari said. “If you look at your records, I’d guess you’ve been seeing raids in that area for years, but that they were only occasional.”
“What?” Daromer snapped.
“She’s right,” Toligant said with a shake of his head. “There have been raids in that area for years, but most were light. A farm would report that they lost a single pig or cow, and often they figured the creature just escaped because of a stable door not secured.”
“No one told me,” Daromer said. “I was told that the council suspected Dared and his people.”
“They aren’t involved,” Faestari said.
“How would you know?” Daromer asked.
“I can see what happens outside my domain if I care to check. I know the name of most of the people living in the town and could identify the others as belonging. Dared brought out only a few soldiers and I’ve gotten to know them well since they serve in the gatehouse. If any were raiding, I’d notice their absence,” Faestari said.
“Why is that gatehouse there?” Toligant asked.
“Only one group of adventurers is allowed in my caverns at a time,” Faestari said. “I enforce that if I must, but Dared and the adventurers agreed that having a guard able to track who was on the mountain would be beneficial. The gatehouse controls who starts walking up the path to the entrance.”
The two Fairview men turned to look at Dared. Dared just nodded. “We did.”
“I’ll agree that you might know if anyone from the town was raiding, but you sound confident as to the source,” Toligant said.
“A few days ago, I felt a new dungeon awaken,” Faestari said.
“Awaken?” Toligant asked.
“Dungeons don’t get formed just because there are caverns. There needs to be a potential heart for them,” Faestari said.
“Heart?” Daromer said. “You claim to have a heart?”
“A caring one,” Dared said. “She’s gone out of her way to help some adventurers.”
“Just the once,” Faestari said. “And if it gets too talked about, I’ll never do it again. However, the heart is a vessel that can hold mana.”
Toligant looked surprised. “You mean that dungeons require a certain level of magic and then they just wake up.”
“Usually it takes deaths,” Faestari said. “The mana released when an intelligent creature dies is great. The dungeon I’m aware of has a huge number of kobolds inside. And there is evidence that the kobolds have been fighting subterranean dwarves. Once the fight was fierce enough, the deaths from both sides would have created a massive amount of mana. I’ve seen the avatar of that dungeon and it appears as a kobold with a stone hand holding what is likely its focus gem. It looks like the mana generated by that fight was enough to wake it.”
“So, what does that mean for Fairview? Why would you suspect the dungeon?” Toligant asked.
“Well, the kobolds in the domain of this new dungeon are going to become stronger. That’s part of what a dungeon does. We feed on mana. The existence on creatures within our domain provides mana, and we return some of the mana to slowly make them stronger. We can work to prevent the slow evolution of our creatures, but it’s clear that this other dungeon is not practicing that,” Faestari said.
“You could be working with that dungeon,” Daromer said.
Faestari noticed another spike of mana just outside her domain. The giant floating kobold emerged in a flash of light. It immediately pointed at her avatar.
“Give, give! You kill! Mine! Orcs mine! Return what you stole!” the kobold screamed out.
“What is that?” Dared asked.
“The spirit avatar of the new dungeon. Somehow, he can appear outside another dungeon’s domain. No other dungeon I am communicating with has fi
gured out how he does it,” Faestari said as she stood up and walked closer to the edge of her domain.
“Give!” the kobold screamed.
Faestari shook her head. “We’ve had this discussion multiple times. You need to gain mana through those creatures that inhabit your domain.”
The kobold raised his fists and beat on the domain. There were several flashes of light as the shield repelled his attack.
“What?” Toligant asked.
“It’s the avatar of the other dungeon,” Faestari said. “It’s trying to gain mana quickly by taking mine. It seems to have no idea how dungeons are supposed to work.”
“Stop it!” Daromer demanded.
Faestari turned to look at the two Fairview officials. “I have a domain. Within that domain I can use mana freely to change things inside. I have complete control within that space. The kobold avatar is outside my domain. I cannot truly harm it. The most I could do would be to banish it.”
“Do that!” Daromer commanded.
“Why?” Faestari said as the kobold ceased bashing on the domain barrier.
“Give! Mana! Need mana!” the kobold demanded.
“You have ways to get mana,” Faestari said firmly.
“You stole orcs. Needed. Kobolds small. Can’t defeat enemy. Fight endless,” the kobold said.
“You should have just taken them and not allowed them to return to me,” Faestari said. “They staged a coup and I had to destroy those you had touched.”
“No!” the kobold said in a thunderous wail. It faded away leaving the echo of its howl ringing out over the mountain.
Faestari moved to sit back down. “Sorry,” she said.
“That is the other dungeon?” Dared asked.
“Yes,” Faestari said quietly. “At least its avatar.”
“It seems off,” Toligant said.
Faestari frowned. She held up a hand. “One moment.”
The two Fairview men looked at each other. Both stood up as the granite avatar slumped in its chair.
Dared just raised a hand. “I’d wait. I think she’s pulled her spirit from her avatar.”
“What?” Daromer asked. “We need to do something.”
“I am. I’m going to wait and see what the full story is. Faestari probably wants to check something before she says more,” Dared said.
“We’re going to have to let the council know about her,” Daromer said. “You could persuade us to avoid making her seem to be a threat.”
“I’m not paying you a bribe,” Dared said.
Toligant frowned. “You need to consider cooperating with us.”
“I am,” Dared said. “If I had not brought you here, you’d have no idea of what was causing the raids.”
“We still don’t,” Toligant said as the two men began to walk to the edge of Faestari’s domain.
“Yes, we aren’t sure because we haven’t seen it, but we know more than we did. Faestari has no reason to lie. This new dungeon appears to have many kobolds inside. Those kobolds could be the raiders that are causing problems. Only they have grown bold,” Dared replied.
Daromer picked up a rock and threw it at Faestari’s motionless avatar. “It doesn’t make sense. Kobolds are cowards. They’d never raid a farm and take everything.”
“In numbers?” the guard in the gatehouse asked. “If there are enough kobolds they can definitely swarm over a farm, and I thought I heard that the initial raids were hitting farms next to the forests in that area.”
“How would you know?” Daromer asked with a snarl.
“I’m from that part of Fairview,” the guard said. “But I left over ten years ago. My sister remained and I’ve visited her. Her husband and his family cleared the forests from near their farmhouse and installed a guard tower they man at night. So far they’ve never lost an animal.”
“Like that matters,” Daromer muttered through clenched teeth.
Faestari’s avatar shifted and then stood up. She looked over at the two Fairview men. “Leaving already?” she asked.
“You can’t help us,” Toligant said firmly.
“I have information. I just wanted to make sure that I could give it to you,” Faestari said. “The kobold you just saw is an avatar of a dungeon that has gone mad.”
“Mad?” Dared asked.
Faestari frowned. “That’s all I know for now. The Kindred will likely be receiving information regarding its existance.”
“Any adventurers daring enough to enter, will die,” Dared said worriedly.
“Perhaps,” Faestari said. “Although the Kindred will be warned that the dungeon is extremely unsafe.”
“You’re condemning it to be destroyed,” Dared pointed out.
Faestari frowned deeper. “It’s not my choice. I have little influence in this situation. Older dungeons see this new dungeon as a threat.”
“A threat?” Toligant asked.
“Dungeons understand how we are perceived. Killing too many adventurers or becoming a threat outside our domains makes all other dungeons appear even more dangerous,” Faestari said. “There are groups that work to destroy dangerous dungeons. I’ve seen it happen here.”
“You aren’t destroyed,” Daromer said. “And you might be working with this other dungeon.”
Faestari just looked at him for a moment. “Like I’d stage something like what just happened. As for the attempt to destroy me. Two of the members of the team refused to enter after talking with the adventurers who had attempted delves. The others failed to reach my heart.”
“Perhaps I should talk to them,” Daromer said.
“You’d need a necromancer,” Faestari said. “And I won’t allow one on my mountain. No dungeon will ever allow one.”
“Why?” Dared asked.
“Necromancers tend to try to use their magics to capture dungeons. There are two dungeons that are now forced to serve as the guards for a lich. In both cases they failed to keep a necromancer out,” Faestari said.
“Which dungeons?” Toligant asked sarcastically.
“Ask the spirit of the Wynterhold dungeon,” Faestari said. “I just know it happened. It happened long before I woke here and started building my caverns.”
“Whatever,” Daromer said. “We’ll let Fairview’s council know about the other dungeon. But expect the tariffs on your goods entering Fairview to be raised. It’s clear you are not willing to fight with us to stop this problem.”
Daromer and Toligant strode over to their horses. Daromer almost ripped the reins as he freed them from the stone pillar the guard had tied them to. The men said nothing more as they climbed into the saddle and then rode off, heading towards Fairview at a gallop.
Dared looked over at Faestari once the men were out of sight. “That went well.”
Chapter 19: The First Winter Storm
Just four days after the meeting with the Fairview representatives, clouds started gathering on the horizon. Joward was one of the first to notice and he immediately ordered his workers to pack up their tools and get them stored.
The farmers in the valley also noticed the darkening of the morning sky. Children gathered up the family animals and chased them into houses as fathers made a final inspection of roofs and walls.
Faestari noticed the effect as the air pressure above her mountain dropped. She had been resting in her heart chamber watching Aylia play in the pool. As soon as she could sense the storm she nodded.
“The storm is here,” she whispered.
“Storm?” Aylia asked.
“The first winter storm. And it feels like it’s a big one. The mountain will be covered by snow before the sun goes down,” Faestari said.
Aylia’s blue hair faded and the water spirit brought her hands up to her lips. “What about in here?” she asked.
“Oh, it’s warm enough that the streams won’t turn to ice, although I expect the upper chambers to have some ice grow on the walls,” Faestari said. “I will be reducing the amount of water flowing, as it will cool
rapidly once it exits my domain. The stream leading off to the north will have a layer of ice covering it fairly soon.”
Aylia frowned. “I wasn’t here last winter, is it always like this? I mean, the stream freezing over?”
“It has been every year I’ve been aware,” Faestari said. “In some ways it will help. My orcs are going to grow restless the longer they can’t raid, but I’m sure just one time going out in the deep snows will convince them to remain in the caverns.”
“They could try to raid the town,” Aylia commented.
“What is outside the walls that Dared had built?” Faestari asked.
“The camp of the Impaled Cats,” Aylia immediately replied.
Faestari shook her head. “They only have sixteen members staying over the winter, and they already moved into the inn.”
“The inn can hold that many people?” Aylia asked. “I mean, I’ve never looked, but.”
“I think they plan on having six or eight people per room,” Faestari said. “The inn doesn’t have that much space. They also plan to turn the worker’s tavern into a barracks for the winter. They didn’t have time to build enough shelters.”
“Will you do anything to help?” Aylia asked.
“It’s outside my domain, so there is little I can do. In theory I could convince some animals to live on the mountainside to help provide meat for the town, but that would not work well. The creatures would find it far too easy to just walk away,” Faestari said.
Aylia was going to say more when Faestari felt people entering her domain. She noticed Faestari’s faint start and nodded. “Let me guess, someone just entered.”
“Not the dungeon, but people did cross into my domain,” Faestari said. “Why don’t you demonstrate your power and bring up an image?”
Aylia looked surprised. She climbed out of the pool and then calmed the water with a wave of her hand. A moment later a shimmer on the water revealed Dared, Kalacho and Gee’if standing by the gatehouse.
“Oh, it’s a bunch of handsome men,” Aylia said appreciatively.