Unknown Camp, Tzintkra

Raz woke up to an unfamiliar voice. “Rise and shine, fresh meat!”

Raz pulled himself out of the small tent. He wasn’t happy about being called fresh meat, but he was sure the man meant him. Aki was what mattered so he reminded himself of what the Quest said. Keep your head down and don’t volunteer.

The man standing outside Raz’s tent was human, dressed in the same sort of leather armor and well cared for weaponry that Raz had seen on many people back home. He wouldn’t have stood out for that; it was his red hair that would have been noticed.

“Garrett?”

“That’s me. I have the distinct displeasure to introduce your sorry ass to my way of doing things. Get your shit together and follow me.” Garrett didn’t actually wait for Raz to “get his shit together”; he simply walked away.

Raz wondered if that was why the tent had been left behind, before. It didn’t matter; Raz didn’t have much stuff to get together and he’d slept in his armor. All he had to do was grab a couple bags and tie them onto his belt, which he could do while walking.

Garrett led him to a corner of the camp where several other people were already waiting. Raz kept his eyes looking down towards the others’ feet; he didn’t want to attract any attention he could avoid. The quest even said to keep his head down. It probably meant that figuratively, but literally wouldn’t hurt anything.

He couldn’t avoid noticing that one of the people there was a middle-aged man - probably forty if he had to guess, but Raz was really bad at guessing older people’s ages, especially if they’d Tiered up a few times. He looked like he’d been beaten up and he glared at everyone present except for Raz; he didn’t seem to notice Raz was there. He sat on a low wall with his hands folded in his lap.

He’d rather it stayed that way. Raz suspected he was even lower ranking than the seated man, and as long as he didn’t notice he was there, he wouldn’t take out his obvious temper on him. It wasn’t until they were climbing onto smooth travel discs like the one Gustav had used to bring Raz to the camp that Raz realized the reason his hands were in his lap was that they were tied together.

They were on different flying craft; Raz was on one with Garrett and a man with a bow. The man with his hands tied together shared with a woman in full metal armor and a large sword. Even with only the two of them, that disc seemed to hover lower than the one Raz was on.

Garrett noticed, too. “Hey Iva, you put on some weight there?”

“Yeah, I got myself a nice Kyith dagger. I have plans on where to put it the next time you sneak into my tent, too.” Iva patted a weapon at her side that Raz hadn’t noticed. It didn’t look like a dagger to him; he’d always thought of daggers as short, and the blade on that thing was probably as long as his forearm.

They lifted off from the camp and flew for seven hours before setting down on a ridgeline. It felt like at least half of the trip had been straight up, and the other half had been weaving between rocks and frantically hoping he wouldn’t fall off. Raz hadn’t ever gotten flying-sick before but he felt positively dizzy when they landed.

“Hop out, Greyvine. You know the routine.” Garrett nudged the other man on the disc, who had somehow fallen asleep during the terrifying ride.

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Greyvine hopped off the disc, set his bow down where he’d been sitting, pulled a short stick out of his bag, and started waving it around. After a moment, he headed down the slope.

When the disc started following Greyvine, Raz wished he’d gotten off as well. It was better because it was slower, but he was very tired of these discs. It was tipped forward, and Raz kept feeling like he was going to slide off, even though he didn’t.

They followed Greyvine down that slope and partway up another before he stopped. “It’s strong enough here. They’ll be charged by morning.”

The discs settled to the ground and Raz thankfully got off.

It was a quiet evening. They ate trail rations from Garrett’s bag and sat around. No one seemed to want to talk, and Raz certainly didn’t feel like opening up to these people. He didn’t even want to be here.

When it got late, Greyvine set something out in five spots around the camp.

“Don’t go beyond the wards or they won’t protect you,” Garrett warned Raz. “You two can sleep tonight; the three of us will split the watch.”

Raz suspected that had more to do with how much they trusted him than any desire to let him sleep, but he didn’t mind; not having to spend part of his night watching for danger was better. He trusted them enough not to kill him while he slept; they wouldn’t have brought him out this far if that’s all they’d wanted.

He understood why they didn’t trust him. They’d basically tricked him into joining, then threatened him with “the discipline tent” if he tried to get out of it. He might have risked it if his Path Choice Quest didn’t imply that going along with it for now would be better for Aki. It helped that it talked about rescue, as well.

[Path of the Dungeon: You are set in your goal; only Aki matters]

[Conditions: Keep your head down and don’t volunteer. Accept rescue if it is offered. All strangers have secrets, but know that not all secrets should be sought. This is a time for adventures, so follow your quest to find it. Travel to the Necropolis only if you bear the touch of Undeath and the Shining Caverns if you do not. Fight the good fight and follow the dragon to his home, for he can help you find what you seek]

[Reward: Allies, Aid in locating an unused ley line junction near a city]

[Conditional Reward: Not all dragons’ hoards are the same. Share information and listen and you may gain quest information and progress of your own]

Raz reread it, curled up in what little he had, and tried to sleep. It wasn’t going to be a fun night.

He put his hand inside the bag Aki was in. He’d talk to her until he fell asleep; she’d cheer him up. If nothing else, she’d tell stories about scrapes some of his ancestors had gotten into and out of. He’d always loved her stories.

In the morning, the discs took them up and over the mountains. Some time in the middle of the afternoon, the discs started slipping from side to side. Raz could feel something strange in the distance. The animals - whatever they were - felt it too.

It sounded like waves of noise and silence passing through the area. It seemed like there were all sorts of animals he’d never noticed; Raz swore he heard frogs in the distant forest, and who’d have thought frogs could live in a diseased place like this?

Garrett eventually ordered the discs down until the disturbance passed. “Any idea what that is, Greyvine?”

“None. Something weird is happening to the Death mana in the area. I’m not sure what. I can feel it … talking to me. Comforting me. And if there’s something I’ve never felt from Death mana, it’s comfort.” Greyvine hopped off the disc and started pacing.

It was only about ten minutes before whatever it was stopped, but it was a very strange ten minutes.

They lifted off again. It was only a couple hours after that to the next stop. This time, Greyvine didn’t need to hunt for anything; they stopped in front of a door set into the side of the mountain. Greyvine sunk a pole into the ground, and the tip of the pole started flashing visibly. Raz noticed that it looked like a pole had been in that spot before.

Garrett noticed Raz’s curious stare and unbent enough to explain. “That’s in case something goes wrong and we have to call for help. It also means that this entrance is claimed. This isn’t the sector we’re supposed to be in, so odds on no one is nearby but it’s still a good idea. Don’t want to fight claim jumpers and don’t want to not have a beacon if we need one.”

The explanation raised more questions than it answered, but Raz decided not to ask. He was supposed to be keeping his head down, and he didn’t know how far that needed to go to qualify for the quest.

They stopped for the day - and night - near the door. Raz found it uncomfortable to think that he was within steps of an unexplored, unKept dungeon. Most dungeons - even wild dungeons - were relatively safe as long as you were careful and stayed within your Tier, but Raz didn’t know what the Tier for this dungeon was. He hadn’t had a chance to read it yet, and he didn’t want to stick his neck out; that would go against the Quest instructions.