Erramir’s companions were chatting quietly in the main cabin while he sat in the cannon pod. They’d apparently gained and near instantly completed a quest, both gaining a level from it. Erramir suspected the same was probably true for himself, but he wasn’t in a rush to check. While his friends remained distracted with the notifications, he watched the Und Varden.

The winged Varden had been kneeling beside the smaller one for a long time now. It looked uncomfortable to kneel like that on stone for so long, but his folded wings wouldn’t allow him to sit any other way. Even kneeling with his toes tucked under, they pressed into the ground.

The smaller one, who’d attacked the beast using claws, had since lost said claws when Erramir wasn’t watching, leaving him to briefly speculate on where they’d gone while he watched. An ability or magical gauntlets? Maybe a spell? he thought. Making a mental note to find out whenever they managed to meet up with the Varden team.

He’d originally thought the winged one might fly over, and they’d be able to meet right here in the tunnel. But, that hope had rapidly faded when he realized how badly injured the smaller man was. The large winged fellow also seemed to have a disappearing weapon, as his large metallic bow was nowhere to be seen.

I wonder if the weapons are a Varden skill. The thought made his heart beat a bit faster. As much as he valued Diviner, it was cumbersome. A magical weapon that he could call from nowhere and didn’t need to lug around had a definite appeal.

There was a slightly curved rod of metal stuck to winged man’s upper right arm. It had the dull appearance of the Varden shapeshifting metal and Erramir couldn’t help but wonder if it was a weapon on some kind. Not the bow, that was certain, it was too small.

But, if they used the metal for weapons, that might also explain the disappearing claws. If they were made of the same, they could easily be stowed as bracelets or bracers on the unconscious man’s arms. Erramir couldn’t visually verify this as the big man was blocking his view, but it made logical sense to him.

“Daedrium,” he whispered, connecting the metal to the name of the cannon.

The gruff voice had called it a Daedrium cannon pod, and everything on the train was made of the metal. “Dae-dri-um,” Erramir let the word roll out slowly. It just sounded like a magical material.

The conversation behind him was rising in tone, Val and Carson were starting to get anxious. A moment later Val’s voice filled the bubble. “If he hasn’t flown over yet, he’s not going to Err. He’s got two injured teammates to take care of.”

The third Varden hadn’t made an appearance during the fight, but the train’s enhanced mapping indicated the missing team member was still alive and over there.

With a bit of searching he’d found a tunnel opening three or four stories below the cavern lip and zooming in, found the absent Varden. Or more accurately, he’d found their feet. Looking down his elevated position, the top edge of the tunnel blocked seeing any more.

With a sigh, Erramir relented. “Yeah, okay. Let’s get out here.”

Twisting his forearm around, tattoo up, he resignedly exerted his desire to shut the gun down. The sigil medallion rose with a slight tingle, an exact replica of the ink. He dropped it back in the slot, retracted the stabilizers, and Val had blockbot deactivate the cannon.

The seat dropped down and slid back as the nose cone reformed. Moments later he joined Val and Carson. With a long glance back at the metal gunner’s seat, he resolved to look for any excuse to use the gun again as soon as possible.

Val took a seat next to Carson and Erramir moved to one across from them, buckling himself in. “So, we got a quest and completed it, all in one fell swoop?”

“Yep. Good one too,” Carson replied. “Decent experience, but lots of juicy little hints at what’s really going on.”

“Okay.” Erramir looked between them, waiting for more. Nothing was forthcoming. “So… I guess I’ll just read for myself.”

“It’ll be faster.” Val said. “And we want that brain of yours to read the original, not our take on it.”

Erramir nodded. “Alright, let’s take a look.”

As the train car started moving toward their original destination, he opened his system messages.

Quest: Defense of the Brael Bloudran Eastern Base Station ­– Und Varden Strike Team Seven (VST7) has engaged a level 22 Corrupted Earthbound Baltaris in defense of the Eastern Base Station. The beast is a lesser territorial guardian. A foe by which the Varden are decidedly outmatched.

Fighting boldly and using clever tactics, VST7 has greatly weakened the guardian. Unfortunately, the team’s Shaper has been incapacitated by Itical drain. Down this critical team member, they will almost certainly fail.

Assist your fellow Varden by targeting the Corrupted Baltaris with the Daedrium cannon of your fast transport. A single direct hit should end the creature's life. Kill it before it kills any member of VST7.

Time remaining: 1min or less.

Rewards – Combat pay: 2 Strikes 8 Halfends (*Deferred: Complete your induction into the Und Varden to receive combat pay.)

Experience: 3500 or 4% of current level

Quest Complete: Defense of the Brael Bloudran Eastern Base Station – You have assisted in killing the lesser Territorial Guardian of the Eastern Base Station zone before any members of VST 7 were killed.

Guardian defeated: Level 22 (Effective level 16) Corrupted Earthbound Baltaris.

Kill Experience gain: 7852 (Prorated for 56% of damage. Reduced for large area weapon advantage.)

Quest Experience gained: 3500

Combat pay: 2 Strikes, 8 Hafends (*Deferred: Complete your Und Varden induction to receive combat pay.)

Well done Erramir Darkfyre, you have reached level 8. Your 6 racial attribute points have been applied. Your experience-based attribute point gains are as follows: +1 Constitution, +1 Agility, +1 Twitch, +1 Intellect, and +1 Willpower. You have gained 4 free attribute points and have 32 total free points.

New Quest: Power Grab –The death of the lesser territorial guardian will create chaos in the local power structure. Defeat any and all challengers to establish your dominance and secure the territory. This is a party quest.

Territory in dispute: Brael Bloudran Eastern Base Station

Rewards: Control of the territory.

Title of Territorial Guardian.

Combat Pay commensurate with Challengers defeated.

Potential rank advancement

Experience: 16500 or 25% of level. (Greater value)

Erramir read the notifications twice, taking special note of any new information. The car slowed to a stop just as he was finishing.

The trio exited at their original destination, the base station. Blockbot assembled itself out of transport floor in a few seconds and clattered after them.

Carson watched everything closely with a mix of curiosity and concern. With blockbot clear, the phase-shifting metal door closed behind them. “Creepy ass metal,” he muttered. “Cool. But seriously creepy.”

Val nodded in agreement, “Right? It’s like metallic slime.”

Erramir ignored them, the Daedrium was amazing and not creepy at all. “So, we got the quest after I activated the targeting system?” He asked.

“Probably,” Val responded. “I saw my indicator pop a few seconds before you called out.”

“Shit timing by the system really,” Carson added.

Erramir and Val turned to him in confusion. “What are you talking about?” Erramir asked. “It was just in time for us to earn extra experience and some coin. How is that bad timing?”

“Because…” he trailed, voice rising. “We were sitting on the track, obviously within range of helping for like ten minutes. If we’d gotten it then, we could have completely avoided my brilliant, if ultimately misguided, argument to derail you two good Samaritans.

“There’s no way I would have bypassed a chance at level 22 loot. We’d have been there with time to spare and that one Varden guy would have been fine. You could have blasted the territorial guardian baddie the instant it showed up. No mess, no drama.”

Carson’s brow furrowed. “It better be level 22 loot. That effective level 16 crap is totally suspect.” Then, dismissing the matter to fate with a shrug, he ambled by his friends, taking the lead.

He raised a hand and lifted his chin. “Despite the fact that I have an enviable ability to create compelling analogies on the fly.” He tossed the hand over his shoulder. “It also could have completely avoided my turd tac... Oouff!”

Erramir’s jab caught him in the ribs, right below his raised arm.

“Oooww! What the fuck Err?” Carson scowled, clutching his side, bent slightly forward. “Dude you just did damage!”

“Nice timing.” Val said. “Beat me to it.”

Erramir nodded his appreciation. “Thanks.” He patted Carson on the shoulder, completely ignoring his complaints, “Sorry man, I had to stop you.”

Erramir continued after a short pause. “I like tacos. A lot. And you know that. Which is no doubt the reason you chose them for your demented analogy. And, since I don’t want to be thinking about animal excrement whenever I choose to indulge in any of my favorite eats, I would sincerely appreciate it if you’d leave them out of any future allegorical comparisons.”

“Same here,” Val agreed. “Use horses or flowers or board games or anything that won’t make me want to puke.”

“Fine.” Carson replied begrudgingly and stood up strait. “You didn’t have to get violent.”

Erramir made a fist and thumped him on the shoulder. “Thanks man.”

They headed toward the platform exit. At the back, Carson grumbled about censorship stifling his creative wordplay.

“Those new quests have some pretty badass implications.” Erramir reopened the original topic. “Not to mention raising a few interesting questions.”

“They do,” Val replied. “First of which being that we need to find those Varden and hopefully party up.”

“Agreed,” Erramir said. “Can you use the map data from the transport to find them?”

“Probably not.” She considered her map, then nodded. “Yeah, I can see where they were. But outside of the train, I lose its tracking ability, and the route to that cavern is long. They’ll almost definitely be gone by the time we get there.”

Through the platform exit, the tunnel turned right just as it had in the first station Erramir and Val discovered. At the end, the tunnel went left and was immediately blocked by a broad wall of dull metal. Dead center in the wall was the rooted hammer sigil they were beginning to know quite well.

Carson spoke up, his voice didn’t harbor any trace of anger. “I’ve got an idea about the itical thing, but it’s a guess at–” He stopped abruptly upon catching sight of the metal barrier.

“I guess the security door is at the bottom of the stairs here.” Erramir said, reaching for his bracer. “Either of you two want the honor?”

Carson was at the wall in a flash. “Hell yeah.”

The mage pulled his forest green sleeve back with a simple tug, bringing out his tattoo with far more ease than Erramir could manage. Those were the benefits of cloth armor he supposed, and not for the first time, found himself wanting a sleeve zipper or some kind of quick access to his tattoo.

Carson activated the Und Varden lock and stepped back as the ripple effect rolled off the sigil, transforming it to glossy liquid. Then it melted into the floor. “That stuff is crazy weird.” Carson said, staring at the lusterless, foot-wide strip on the ground.

Though the opening, Erramir saw something very different and stepped past Carson. On the right he absently noted another opening. From the descending slope of the ceiling, he knew it was stairs going down.

Stepping from the tunnel, he took another couple steps and came up short, staring.

On his left, just like the first station, were ascending stairs, and that was the end of the similarities. Any idea he had that the stations served only the Varden vanished. Before him was nothing less than a grand central subway station.

All around the cavernous space there were square stone huts built with half walls capped by wide counters. They had stacked block corner posts supporting thick, flat roofs also of rock.

The ceiling was domed and every bit of five stories up. From its edges inward, concentric rings of wavy silver metal formed a pattern a bit like that seen inside oyster shells. Mother of Pearl like.

The final ring was golden and within it, encompassing several thousand square feet, was inlayed a fresco of tiles. Screens of warring armies, dragons soaring, a slot canyon settlement that looked very much like Settlement 9, mechanical carts heaped high with greens, long wheeled war machines hurling massive flaming stones into a tide of darkness, and, dead center, filling half the space, a sprawling city of millions built in rings around a towering evergreen.

Below, the station common area was wide open. Erramir wanted to lay there and just take it all in.