Dungeon Champions

We didn’t have to go far to find Jeremiah. Without my heart thundering in my ears, it was easy to hear his sniveling from behind a pile of crates. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hoisted him out of his hiding spot, much to his disdain. Pushing him up against the wall, I locked my forearm under his chin and got right up in his face.

“No more. You have until the count of three to tell me what’s going on.”

“I didn’t—”

“One.”

My hand clenched into a fist at my side.

“I don’t know anything! I swear!”

“Two.”

I reared my hand back, and Jeremiah flinched.

“She’ll kill me!”

“I’ll kill you,” I said, and after a moment of thought, I realized it wasn’t a lie. “You don’t know what kind of person I am. Will I make it fast, or will I drag your death out over days and weeks? Do you choose the devil you know, or the one you’ve just met?”

Behind me, Zuri made a soft sound—surprise or fear, I wasn’t sure. Hell, for all I knew, me being a monster turned her on. I figured it would ruin my imposing presence to check.

“Are you going to make me say ‘three?’”

Jeremiah gulped. “I just…nothing I say will fix anything, so just let me go, and we’ll—”

I snarled. “Zuri. If he makes me say it, unleash your hair.”

“H-hair?”

“Oh, didn’t you know?” I smiled. It was not a pleasant smile, and it felt gross on my face. “My friend here is a half-gorgon. A medusa-kin. One look will turn whatever part of you to stone…and then that’s when my fun begins.”

Jeremiah started crying. Blubbering. Spilled every bean he’d ever owned and then some.

As I listened to his story between his tears, I wondered… Was I really a good person in my past life?

This world was different from my own, sure. But would Earth!Jordan have said this? Done this?

I swallowed my worries beneath the pride of success. It didn’t matter. I was getting information that would save me and mine. That made it worth it.

***

Jeremiah’s real name was Jeremiah Lin, and he was a low-ranking member of the Trade Regulation Bureau. Drake’s ship was apparently caught up in the middle of an investigation for an illegal smuggling operation coming from within the Trade Regulation Bureau.

Acting under express orders from Senior Agent Kieran—a high-ranking official of the Trade Regulation Bureau investigating the smuggling operation—Jeremiah was supposed to facilitate a coup and sail the ship to the capital so the contents could be examined by the Council. His orders dictated that he was supposed to kill everyone on board who wasn’t a Trade Regulation Bureau official.

At that confession, I laughed. “Have they met you? Didn’t exactly pick the right man for the job, there.”

Jeremiah sniffled. “I’ve got a device to set off. You’d all be asleep, and then I was supposed to slit your throat or dump you overboard.”

“So what’s the smuggled goods? Is it the spheres or the artifacts?”

“Both.” Jeremiah looked down at his hands. “Those spheres are captured elementals. The artifacts are what keeps them locked up. I know you messed with stuff down here, but had you moved the components too far away, you could have let them out. It would have been a disaster.”

Goose flesh ran up my arms. I looked to Zuri, whose expression confirmed exactly how close to disaster we’d been. “What kind of elementals are in there?”

He managed a weak snort of derision. “Need-to-know basis, and I didn’t need to know, according to Senior Agent Kieran.”

I thought carefully about the next question I wanted to ask. “Is Merchant Giles involved?”

Jeremiah gave me a flat look. “Yes.”

“Captain Drake?”

This time he hesitated. “Unsure. He’s not an agent of the Trade Bureau, and the contract with Giles was legitimate. But could he be paid off by someone? Most likely.”

“Well, if there ain’t any use hiding it…” Captain Drake entered the cargo hold from the shadowed door. He looked at Jeremiah with a mixture of pity and disgust, and then looked at me. “I’ve done nothing wrong but take a little extra to keep my mouth shut about anything I see. ‘Turn a blind eye, keep food on the table for your ma and son.’ Seemed a fair deal to me.”

Zuri frowned at him. “Did Giles pay you?”

Drake shook his head and motioned at Jeremiah. “This one’s boss. Agent Kieran.”

“If the Trade Regulation Bureau paid for silence, and also is having one of its own murder an entire ship—”

“Wait, what?!” Captain Drake exclaimed.

“—Then it seems to me like this internal issue has become a much larger thing than they can handle.” I sent quick messages to the rest of our party as Zuri and Drake tied up Jeremiah. He wasn’t really a liability right now, but we had no idea if he was telling the whole truth. It was just easier to tie him up and keep him under watch so the Lans guards could deal with him.

Zuri filled the captain in on what we’d learned as well, and Drake paled.

“We’ve got an open cask of blast powder sitting out in a firestorm.” He looked in the direction of the crates, fear clear in his eyes. “Do we…pitch ‘em? Off the side of the ship? Leave ‘em for the sirens and whatever else to deal with?”

I shook my head. “It could cause an ecological disaster. Trade would be basically demolished, and that’s if there weren't any issues with that Key.”

Britney pushed her way into the cargo hold. Nym, Sadie, and Merielle followed, the latter holding Skullie. She looked at the bound Jerimiah with unbridled disgust. “Worse than that,” she said, after a moment.

“How so?” I asked.

“Veil Keys could give access to things from Earth, or the spaces between. It would be an absolute nightmare. That many elementals in one place would cause a rift, and that rift would grow into a tear. Tears in the Veil would draw aether beings, which would force the Fates to send their Wardens. It could level this entire section of the Fae Wilds for miles.” She planted her hands on her hips, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “And that’s if we’re lucky.”

The captain paled again. “For the families of my crew, let’s not do that one.”

There were a lot of other families I was interested in saving from that fate as well, but I knew the captain put his crew above all…except his own family. Really, I wondered if he was thinking of them when he said it.

After the captain led Jeremiah away to be stored in the brig, I found myself pacing the room, rubbing my temples. We had to do something… I just wasn’t sure what. “Okay, so ditching the cargo is out. We need a plan to get these elementals and artifacts safely to Lans without letting them fall into the wrong hands.”

Britney said, “And we need to figure out who exactly those wrong hands are.” Her small wings fluttered. “Do we even know if the Trade Regulation Bureau is really behind all this? There could be someone else pulling the strings.”

“No idea, honestly.” I looked at the rest of my team. “We need to work with the information we’ve got. I feel like we’re missing something. Some crucial piece that ties all this together.”

Suddenly, Nym perked up, her ears front and forward, alert. “Wait! What about that key?”

“Which key?”

“The one you found earlier!” She growled softly in frustration when I still looked confused. “The one the person dropped?”

“Oh.” I pulled the ornate key from my pocket, turning it over in my hand. She hadn’t been here to witness it, but I’d forgotten I included it in my message. “Good thinking, Nym. Skullie, any ideas what this might be?”

Skullie moved closer so he could examine the object.

“Fascinating,” he muttered. “It’s similar to the Veil Key you found earlier, but…different. This one is attuned to a specific location in the Wilds.”

“Which one?” I asked, turning the key over in my hand.

Skullie’s jaw creaked as he considered. “Hard to say for certain without further study, but based on the patterns etched into it, I’d wager it’s tied to a place associated with the element of air, or maybe storms.”

I examined the patterns. They didn’t look like anything to me, but I also remembered seeing those symbols on some of the spheres. To confirm my suspicions, I went over and examined a few of the devices.

Before I touched any of them, I gave the key to Nym for safe handling at Merielle’s suggestion.

About a quarter of them had similar symbols to the key. Another ten or so had different symbols, and the last half had no symbols at all.

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it wasn’t the important part.

“Our misty friend was going to release an elemental,” I said, the various pieces falling into place. “They were going to unleash a damn sentient hurricane in the middle of the ship.” I looked at Zuri. “I think we need time to investigate this further, before we go anywhere else.”

The medusa-kin frowned. “Why? Do you suspect an ambush, or follow-up attack?”

“How else does this make sense?” I waved in a general oceanic direction. Which was, basically, everywhere. “The monsters sink us and take whatever that Old Man of the Sea wanted. What’s next? These are weapons, Zuri. They weren’t intended for underwater assaults. I think before we walk into a trap, or get out-flanked, we need time to think and study these things closer. I want to bring my Tablet out and see what my class skills will tell us.”

“In the meantime, what do we do with these?”

I sighed, hating what I was going to say next. “We have no choice. We’re moving.” I pointed at a couple of spars, big wooden support beams that gave the hull its integrity. “We ask the captain for hammocks and sleep down here.”

Nym made a low, growling sound of disappointment. “I was hoping for more tail brushing…”

“And I wanted a full night of rest,” Merielle added, reminding me that she was far from fully recovered.

Skullie made a throat clearing sound. “I hate volunteering for…anything. Ever. But how about we do this instead—leave me here. I’m regenerating mana fast enough to fly again, if I need to, and I can send the team a message if the intruder pops up.”

“No offense,” Britney said, then paused. “Actually, some offense. You’re not exactly the most…durable member of our party. Even compared to Sadie.”

“Britnayel,” Zuri said in a warning tone. “Be nice.”

Instead of being offended, my familiar chuckled. It was a dry clattering of bones. He twisted, doing that bone eyebrow waggle thing he’d figured out. “As long as Jordan survives, he can bring me back. Familiar rules and all. I’m basically immortal as long as he’s okay.”

The team and I exchanged looks. I could see the surprise in their eyes at his offer. There was a hint of respect there, too.

For better or worse, my familiar had decided to throw his full weight behind helping the team.

Nym skipped over and pet Skullie on the dome of his skull. “That’s a good not-so-evil lich.”

The praise earned an open-jawed laugh from my familiar.

We left the hold and found the captain in a narrow corridor leading from the brig. His eyes were overshadowed, and his mouth tight. Gone was the taciturn, gruff man we’d met before. In his place was a man on the brink of losing everything.

“What do you want now?” he asked in a forlorn tone. “Or did something else happen that I need to be aware of?”

“Not all is lost yet, captain.” I fixed him with a stern look. “We need a night to rest. And some breathing room for us to further inspect these devices.” I summoned my Tablet. “This has information I can access…but that will take time.”

Captain Drake shook his head like I was speaking a foreign language. “What does that mean?”

“Can you buy us some time?” I shrugged and dismissed my Tablet. “Half a day? Hell, a full day would be ideal. Just long enough to heal up, recover mana, and do some quick research?”

I ran him through my logic about a potential ambush.

“By the Fates,” he winced, half-collapsing against a wall. “We can’t sit here. If you’re right, whoever is behind this is likely to find us.” He rubbed at his face, adding ‘disheveled’ to his exhausted expression. “I know a place. A little cove. Island smugglers used to work out of the place. It won’t take us too far out of the route, but should provide a little cover.” He paused, then added, “Assuming they can’t locate their goods magically.”

At his concern, I considered whether to attempt storing the dangerous goods in my storage space. As soon as I did, every inherited instinct I had shouted at me.

Jordan (to Skullie): Hey. Real quick. What happens if I add an object with magical storage into my extradimensional space?

Skullie (to Jordan): If the objects are weak? They tear each other apart and spill the contents. Strong? Big rip. Veil tears. Bad things. Don’t even think about it.

Jordan (to Skullie): Good call.

I turned my attention back to the captain. “Take us to the cove,” I said, reaching out to squeeze the man’s shoulder reassuringly. “We just need enough time to recover and talk. After that, we’ll be ready for whatever comes next.”

For a moment, a flash of hope lit up the man’s eyes, and then it was buried under grim resolve. He nodded, and led me back abovedeck.

The party was still going, completely unfazed by the disturbances. I let Captain Drake do what he had to. He went to work, pulling a few of his crew aside to whisper orders to, presumably to begin the process of subtly bringing us to the new destination.

Good man, I thought.

I didn’t stay topside to see what the consequences of the commands would be. Instead, I went downstairs to our quarters. They were closer to the hold with Skullie anyway.

Sadie was napping on one of the bunks and she gave a delighted little chirp when she saw it was me who interrupted her. She stood up and stretched, and I gave her a few scritches behind the ears. Then I sat on the edge of the cot and waited. Sadie, of course, took the opportunity to curl up next to me, resting her head against my leg.

One at a time, the rest of the team filed in.

Zuri was the first back, and she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before settling in next to me. Merielle joined next, pulling over one of the crude chairs and sitting in it backward. Nym came next, fire in her eyes when she saw Sadie. Instead of scooping up the feline, the catgirl squeezed herself onto the cot with me and Zuri and Sadie, getting nice and close.

Britney joined us last, and she clicked her tongue until Merielle got up from her chair to grab another.

We sat in silence, wallowing in the tension. I observed my team as well as I could, sandwiched between three of them. They didn’t seem to be afraid, but ready. We’d been through two proper fights together now, and it had begun to truly cement the Society of the Defiant into an adventuring team.

I bet the expedited training effect from my class, on top of all of those Tablet levels, is helping the process along. There was no way to be sure, but the idea felt right.

“So, what now?” Merielle asked, breaking the silence. “Nym’s getting solid at decoding spells, but she’s not going to be a lot of help with greater artifacts. Not that I mean any offense,” she added, looking sheepishly at the catgirl.

Nym’s ears flicked and she wrapped her tail around her. “I didn’t take any,” she said, petting her own tail almost as if self soothing. “You’re right. This wouldn’t be my area of expertise, even if I had taken the other classes.”

“Between Adventure Historian and Dungeoneering,” I said, “plus Skullie? I think we can pull out more raw information. Summon your Tablets. I’ll see what mine can provide and share the findings.”

Interlude: Cosmology and Elementals

My Tablet flashed and a wall of text appeared. I found an option to request a “battlefield summary.” Focusing on the option summarized the sheer mountain of information, giving me concise information about cosmology in the Fae Wilds, the keys we’d found, and elementals.

Cosmology: Each island in the Fae Wilds functions as its own, self-contained reality in many ways. Although some scholars refer to wildly different islands as “planes” or “worlds” it is not entirely the truth. Elementals, unless they are forged in the chaos between the Fae Wilds and Earth, usually originate on such islands.

Veil Keys: Veil Keys are restricted, rare objects that allow transportation between the Fae Wilds and Earth, or other islands in the Wilds. Tablet-Wielding royalty and extremely high-level adventurers may have them, otherwise access is restricted to Fate’s Enforcers, Fate’s Wardens or their immediate allies.

There are a few exceptions to this.

In ancient times, Veil Keys were produced by various factions of warring gods. These ancient keys are highly sought after, and worth a fortune. Be wary: Artifacts that were made prior to the Fates’ ascension may behave in unpredictable ways that your Tablet cannot map or predict without significant experimentation.

Island Keys: These are like Veil Keys but allow instant travel between islands. Some refer to these as “Realm Keys” or “Dimensional Keys.”

Elementals: The term “Elemental” is a catch-all to describe various species or magical effects that describe a type of being—one aligned with a specific element (such as fire, electricity, water, earth, blood, etc.)

Some elemental species resemble mortals in that they are living creatures, capable of emotion, thought, and even culture. Among those, shapeshifting is a common ability. In terms of raw power, most of these “embodied” elementals are equal to area bosses in most high-level dungeons.

Adventurers take note: This means they can challenge even high-level Tablet wielding groups.

On the other end of the spectrum are mindless creatures made entirely of elemental magic. Their kind tend to be unintelligent and instinctive, making them perfect minions to serve high-level mages and Dungeon Cores.

Powers and Limitations of Elementals: Elemental capabilities vary greatly between species. Most elementals can store immense amounts of mana, and can be rapidly healed and/or empowered by elemental magic aligned with them. They grow weaker with multiple, rapid applications of their abilities, although how fast and how much weaker is incredibly variable.

As a general rule, forces that oppose a given element (water X fire, earth X wind, and so on), are excellent counters and may deal bonus damage against elementals in the right conditions.