The City lord rose to speak as soon as I entered the room. “Lady Arana, I hope you have a good reason to call us all in for this meeting in the middle of the night.” He had a stern expression on his face. “I would not have called a meeting of this magnitude without just cause.” I calmly replied, he knew it to be true, he had read my letter, but he had to keep up appearances. This was why I hated politics. The gathered people were in a large circular room inside the City Lords Keep. It was akin to an amphitheater in its layout, aside from its circular nature. The entrance was underneath the top two rows of seating. The City Lord reserved this place for the most sensitive and important of meetings. What we were going to discuss in here was highly confidential. In fact, to even set foot in this room, I had everyone arriving swear a magic oath of secrecy about what we discussed within. Well, considering the magnitude of what I was about to do, I had done so specifically to ensure no one could talk. This was far too sensitive to risk leaking to the public. Good thing the Oath Stone still worked. I would have to thank the Core for pointing out that magical items still worked as intended.

I rose from my seat at the circular table. “Fellow Lords, Ladies and Merchants. I have indeed an excellent reason to call you all here so suddenly. I apologize for disturbing your rest, but I recently came into possession of information that is too important to wait to share with you all. This information is too sensitive to let slip into the public. It simply cannot wait, as it can mean the difference between life and death for the city.” I looked around at them all. The City Lord, and several members of the lesser nobles and the most successful merchants in the region. Honestly, I didn’t really give a damn about the lesser nobles and the merchants in the room. I only gathered them now so that they wouldn’t cause a fuss about it later. Well, there was one exception. Lady Magna Yndali, a lesser noble and merchant. Somehow she had befriended the Core. Not only that, but the Core trusted Yndali enough that she had name dropped her during our talks.

With that in mind, I had thought it over and come to one conclusion. I could not in good faith let Yndali have a monopoly on that core’s dungeon. However, I could also not afford to not grasp this opportunity, even more so given the disaster in waiting. There was only one solution to this conundrum, and I needed everyone in the room to see it that way. I took a deep breath as I resumed talking. “As you all know, Caelyn is in a bad spot right now, because of Rubolgs decree. Further more magic has mysteriously stopped working as it should. However, yesterday I received a letter. A letter detailing the reason behind the failing of magic.”

There was muttering and general agitation among the gathered people. Only the City Lord seemed calm and collected. “Everyone, this letter detailed the imminent return of the Lord of the Void.” The room erupted into chaos, yelling and denials as everyone spoke up simultaneously. “SILENCE!” My magically amplified voice caused everyone to flinch, and the noise died away almost instantly. “I am not finished. The source of this letter was the adventurer Rael, a man I presume you all have heard about, if not met in person.” I paused again. There was no second outburst from the crowd, good. “Given the circumstances of Rael’s exit from Caelyn a few days before my arrival, I obviously felt obligated to verify the truth of these claims.” Now there was some rather uncomfortable shuffling, but again no one said anything.

“Yes, I risked my own life to go to the Dungeon Rael fled to, to verify the claim. Alas, it is true, far too true. As Rael has encountered and fought a Void entity.” This had the desired effect on the room. No one moved, no one made a sound. “However, given the absolutely apocalyptic danger we are facing, the Core offered to open trade with Caelyn.” This caused all the merchants and several Lords to talk over one another again. “SHUT UP! If anyone speaks up without permission again, I will evict him or her from the room. I do not have time for this.” Again the room fell silent, as I gave a snort of annoyance.

The City Lord lifted his hand as a signal he wished to speak. I looked at him and nodded. “Yes, City Lord Barron?” The City Lord rose from his seat. “Lady Arana, since the Core attempted to trade with us, I can assume you spoke to it, yes?” I gave another nod. The City Lord took a deep breath. “May I ask why you didn’t capture or tame it then, since that would help the city far more than simple trade.” I gave a weak smile as I replied. “I tried, however, to conquer that dungeon, you would need to be more than a mere human, even I was utterly helpless.” The City Lord looked genuinely surprised by my statement, so I elaborated. “The Core of that dungeon decidedly has Penumbra’s favor, as no less than five Ancient Horrors lurk in a lake on the second floor. A lake you have to cross using a small bridge to get to the Boss Room. I am only standing here now because the Core allowed me to live. Those five could have killed me with the same ease you crush an ant underfoot.”

There was a rather pressing silence after that announcement. The City Lord sat back down, and I resumed speaking. “The Core will not, however, accept any would-be trader at their dungeon. She has demanded Magna Yndali be the one to handle the trading. Whatever silence was in the room disappeared once more. Every merchant aside from Lady Yndali screamed in outrage at the news as the idea of such a massive loss of profit made them forget my previous threat. “I SAID SHUT UP YOU IMBECILIC VERMIN!” My annoyance made my powers flare, and I suddenly seemed far larger and more imposing than I should be as darkness suddenly wrapped around me like a cloak. My voice became far deeper than it should be, and my eyes were glowing a deep crimson. The assembled people flinched, some even looked partially panicked. The only two people who remained unfazed and silent had been Lady Yndali and the City Lord. Good, that meant that I had probably made the right choice.

“Final warning. Now, I will be blunt with you all. Caelyn needs the resources that the Dungeon can provide, even more so since we have Void Entities breaching into reality once more. We simply cannot afford to not trade with the Core given Caelyn’s current state. However, as you know, Dungeons fall under the jurisdiction of the Adventurer’s Guild. So, Merchants cannot peddle such wares unless they got them from the Adventurer’s Guild. Yndali, you cannot peddle the items you would get, not without breaking the law.” The other merchants now looked far calmer. But Yndali had noticed my smile and looked more intrigued than disappointed.

I took a deep breath and prepared for the incoming outrage. “City Lord Barron, assembled Lords, Ladies and Merchants hear me now. With the power invested in me by the Adventurer’s Guild, I pass the title of Guildmaster of Caelyn to Lady Magna Yndali, with all privileges and duties this entails. Thus, my own duties as Guildmaster comes to and end from this moment on.” The room remained utterly silent for about five seconds. Then the cries of outrage from the High Nobles began. Several of them had been currying favor with me since I arrived to gain that title. Not that it helped them any. Meanwhile, the Merchants and lesser nobles seemed surprised, but overall pleased with the outcome.

This time it was not me, but the City Lord that silenced the cries of outrage. “Enough. Lady Arana has decided, and I agree with her choice. We need the resources from the Dungeon, and this is the only way to do so without giving Lady Yndali monopoly or run head first into five Ancient Horrors.” Even though he spoke calmly, his voice cut through the noise and silenced the Nobles just as effective as my own attempts earlier. He walked over to Guildmaster Yndali and nodded respectfully. “I hope you will not let the city down, Guildmaster.”

Yndali looked at the City Lord, then at me before she took a deep breath and rose from her seat. “I accept the mandate of Guildmaster. And I also pledge to trade with this Dungeon, as its Core suggested, and the Guild will sell the goods below market value given the current crisis. I hope that the trade goods from the Dungeon will assist us in this time of need.” She seemed to take this turn of events with surprising calm. Then again, she had endured a truly horrible torture thanks to Saol without breaking, so this was probably nothing in comparison. Another thing he would have to answer for when I finally tracked him down.

That hunt, however, would have to wait. I could not leave Caelyn right now. I had received new orders from guild command after I sent the warning to them. “Protect the city of Caelyn, and its denizens to the best of your ability.” Easy for them to say. The Capitol was a fortress protected by magical constructs, so the madness induced by the Void Entities would have no effect on their defenses. But in this place? I would be lucky if the militia didn’t tear each other limb from limb a few moments after first contact. I looked over to the new Guildmaster. “Lady Yndali, I suggest you return to your home and get some rest, it will be a long day tomorrow, for the both of us. She gave a single nod and left without a word, her bodyguard trailing behind her the moment she stepped outside. “Lord Barron, I will return tomorrow to discuss how to coordinate our defense of the City. The Guild cannot deal with a Void invasion on its own, there is simply too much ground to cover. Considering the walls means about as much to those things as a small breeze.” The City Lord nodded. As the rest of the assembled people left as well.

I retreated to my own quarters soon after, but I didn’t go to sleep. I had too much work to do, trying to wangle up any way to defend the city against an enemy that could just pop up wherever it damned pleased. Normally, a Ward spell would work to stop such things, but with Magic being how it was. There was no way I would plan around having access to magic when it was currently exhausting just to toss a fireball, even for a veteran Mage. It promised to be a long night before I could finish figuring this mess out.