by Allan Joyal
“Why?” Dared asked.
“Because she can shape stone. She put in some stone chairs and a firepit so that people talking to her have a place to sit and a way to stay warm. The guards want to see her do that to the gatehouse itself,” Koltiss said.
“I’ve never heard of a dungeon being so accommodating,” Roquel said quietly.
“Faestari doesn’t seem to worry all that much about it,” Koltiss said.
“You’ve talked to her?” Dared asked.
“No,” Koltiss admitted.
“Does she show up at a regular time?” Dared asked. “We really have some questions for her.”
“No,” Koltiss said. “She just rises up out of the granite and sits down if she’s interested in talking. You might be able to call her. I know she won’t appear if anyone is in the dungeon, but there are no groups delving in the dungeon today.”
“Shall we head over there?” Dared asked as he jumped off his horse. “Oh, I guess I should ask Joward how the building is going.”
“Better than we hoped,” Joward said. “Some of the adventurers have volunteered to help for a copper a day. They got the foundation dug for the entire wall and then helped get the stones laid down. We’ll have the outer wall done in five days. The inner will take another fifteen, but we should have all the stone laid before the first storm. We have even started digging out the foundation for your manor house.”
“I thought I said I wanted housing for everyone first,” Dared said.
“You’ll have it. The woodcutters brought in three more wagonloads than anyone expected. We managed to put in a log barracks for your guard. It’s set up near where the wall comes closest to Faestari’s domain,” Joward said proudly.
“I’ll make sure to pay the adventurers,” Dared said. “Let me go meet with Faestari and I’ll get the totals from you.”
“Oh, Colasmel has been paying them,” Joward said. “But I’ll let him know to meet with you once you return from the gatehouse.”
“Should I move it, so you can take the stone?” Dared asked.
“You could, although the gatehouse doesn’t have a lot of stone. Be nice to have it. I’d love to help out Koristal,” Joward said. “She actually cast Cuan Bi’s blessing on the barracks. The guards love it.”
Dared paused and looked at Joward. “I was going to suggest to her that we find some way to make sure her temple was within the walls so that it was protected. But I wasn’t sure we have space.”
“We can plan for that in the future,” Joward said. “But she wants to have it right near the spring and we don’t have time to expand the walls. We won’t be able to dig out the foundation and quarry the additional stone before the winter storms arrive.”
Joward paused in his walking. “I was going to go and check on the men digging the foundation for your manor house. I want to see how much we can get built before the storms come.”
Dared nodded. “Roquel and I need to hurry to meet with Faestari, but I’ll try to visit in the near future. I want to see how the building of the manor house is coming. But the walls come first.”
“The west and southern walls are done. We are working on the gate facing Faestari’s mountain. Your manor will be built against the east wall,” Joward said. “And the foundation is in for that wall. Now it’s mostly layering the stone.”
Dared looked up and realized that they were approaching an unfinished gateway arch. Two of Joward’s more experienced journeymen were guiding several stones into place as they added to the height of the wall.
Roquel said nothing as the duo passed through what would eventually be a passage through the walls. A wooden framework was going up on the interior walls.
The duo passed through the walls and could see the gatehouse standing at the base of Faestari’s mountain. A guard was sitting just outside the guardhouse in a stone chair. He rose in surprise as Dared approached.
“Sorry,” the young man said as he picked up his helmet and tried to place it on his head. He had it facing his right shoulder making it impossible to slip over his head.
“You’re fine,” Dared said absently as he approached the boundary. “I’m actually here to talk to Faestari if she’s willing to come.”
“She might,” the guard said. “But she won’t know you’re here unless you step into her domain. At least she never seems to notice who is walking outside.”
Dared walked over to the stone chairs, crossing the boundary. He examined the chairs closely for a moment. “I’ve never seen something like these,” he said.
“They are created by a dungeon,” Roquel said as she joined Dared.
“And we understand so little about any dungeon,” Dared replied with a sigh.
Dared moved to sit in one of the chairs. He had his hand on the armrest when the ground to his right seemed to start to flow upward. A head began to rise up out of the granite as he watched.
The young man sat down in shock as Faestari emerged from the mountainside. Her body once again appeared to be made from one piece of solid granite, but moved smoothly as Faestari stepped out of a small depression in the ground.
“Why have you come?” Faestari asked. Her stone avatar had a strange gravelly voice that did not echo.
Dared looked over at Roquel. “I’m sorry to disturb you,” he began.
“Not disturbed. Just puzzled,” Faestari said with a wave of her hand as she interrupted Dared. The young noble had an astonished look on his face as she continued. “I’ve watched you and noticed that you were careful to stay outside my domain.”
“Well, the tales I heard about dungeons from my father’s guard back in Rockgar made it sound like any non-adventurer entering their domain was killed almost instantly,” Dared said.
The stone elf shook her head. “Dungeons don’t needlessly kill. There are traditions and rules we follow. If we respect the traditions, most humans accept our existence.”
“I’m beginning to understand that,” Dared replied. “However, the reason we came is due to an encounter we had about five days ago.”
“You were not near me five days ago,” Faestari responded. “How can I help you with something that did not occur in my domain.”
“Because it appears to involve dungeons,” Roquel said as she carefully sat in the last open chair.
“How?” Faestari asked as a fourth chair grew out of the mountainside. The avatar sat in the chair and then stared at the empty firepit. A bright flame ignited, warming the area despite not having any fuel to burn.
“How?” Dared said as he stared at the flame.
“Faestari asked first, but I can answer you Dared. I’m guessing she has a fire node within her domain and she’s drawing from that,” Roquel said as the guard finally got his helmet back on. The guard stood up and rushed over to the gatehouse.
“I still terrify the guards,” Faestari said with a shake of her head.
“You probably always will,” Roquel said. “You have a great deal of power. But I should answer your question. We know you weren’t involved in what happened to us several days ago, but we believe a dungeon was.”
“Where?” Faestari asked.
“On our journey back from Fairview. We had just left Oersteglen which is at the westernmost border of the territory they claim when we were attacked by a dozen kobolds,” Dared said.
“The kobolds had been enhanced by a dungeon,” Roquel said. “And they carried this.”
Roquel tossed the dwarven pickhammer onto the ground at Faestari’s feet. The avatar looked at the weapon and then went still.
“What?” Dared asked.
Roquel put out a hand, warning Dared to remain in his chair. “She’s probably taking a closer look at the weapon.”
“But she isn’t touching it,” Dared said.
“She can touch anything in her domain,” Roquel said. “Remember that she’s a spirit. The body you see it just there to make us a bit more comfortable talking to her. She could appear to us as a burning bush or a bright ligh
t if she cared to.”
“Now what is happening?” someone asked from just outside Faestari’s domain. Roquel and Dared turned around in their chairs to see a blue haired woman climbing towards them. “Faestari says she has visitors and leaves her primary avatar and now I find she isn’t here either.”
“Who?” Dared asked.
“I don’t remember her name, but she’s a water spirit that lives in the dungeon,” Roquel said.
“Aylia,” Aylia said as she walked over and sat in the chair the guard had vacated. “So where is Faestari.”
Roquel pointed to the pickhammer. “I showed that to her and she pulled her spirit from the avatar. I’m guessing she’s examining it closely.”
“That thing has some nasty magic on it,” Aylia said. “I can feel the enchantment from here. Where did you get it?”
“Some kobolds that had been enhanced by a dungeon,” Dared said. “They attacked us about five days ago.”
“Where? I thought only that dungeon’s avatar had visited,” Aylia said angrily.
“You know about the dungeon?” Dared asked.
“Of course, I know,” Aylia snapped. “Faestari protects me. As long as she allows me to be one of her creatures no wizard can summon me or force me to obey him. But some new dungeon emerged less than twenty days ago and it keeps trying to attack her.”
“How?” Roquel asked. “I thought dungeons never bothered with each other.”
“What one dungeon does, is blamed on all dungeons,” Faestari’s avatar said softly. “And this did come from that new dungeon, but the enchantment was not created by the dungeon. It merely modified it so that the kobolds would not be cursed. I hope you don’t have any more like this.”
“One more,” Roquel said worriedly. “We left it with Narhert and the others. They should be here in five days or so.”
“Bring it to me once it arrives,” Faestari said. “I can safely dispose of it.”
“Not going to use it as a cursed weapon to trap an unwary adventurer?” Aylia asked far too eagerly.
“I don’t need something like that,” Faestari said. “And none of my humanoids need a weapon like this.”
“What should we doing?” Dared asked. “I mean is this a threat?”
“The problem is a new dungeon,” Faestari replied as the ground rose up and covered the pickhammer. “I was part of a mission to approach this new dungeon…”
“What?” Roquel asked when Faestari paused for a long time.
“The new dungeon may not have the usual awakening. It is hidden in the mountains to the southeast. The suspicion is that the dungeon woke up when the kobolds living near the heart crystal went to war with another subterranean race. If that pickhammer is what I think it is, the kobolds ran into an ancient clan of dwarves that refused to come to the surface when the others did,” Faestari said.
“I’ve heard rumors of such a clan of dwarves,” Roquel said softly. “But what does all of that mean?”
“Especially for Montgar,” Dared said.
“I was going to ask if some adventurers wanted to investigate this new dungeon,” Faestari said. “But it seems like the other dungeon is going to be sending its creatures towards me.”
“Why?” Dared asked.
“I’m close?” Faestari responded.
“It wants mana,” Aylia said. “And it doesn’t appear to understand how to gain it.”
“How would you know?” Dared asked.
“Because the dungeon’s avatar has shown up here three times and every time it shows up it tries to pull any free mana away,” Aylia said.
Faestari’s stone avatar shrugged. “It also babbles constantly about how all mana belongs to it. That’s part of why I think there was no human or adventurer influence on its awakening.”
“But that means,” Roquel said.
“It probably will have to be destroyed,” Faestari said sadly. “I know the other dungeons are concerned. It has attacked several in its attempts to claim mana.”
“And those kobolds were coming here?” Dared asked.
“I would believe that they were,” Faestari said. “I’m not sure how the dungeon managed to keep them on task outside its domain, but I’m sure it was hoping that sending those kobolds would weaken my defenses. I’ve been keeping it away from my mana.”
Roquel had a confused expression on her face. “You have fought it? I never heard of dungeons fighting each other.”
“I just have worked to protect my mana,” Faestari said. “And my domain. This other dungeon can’t enter.”
“Yeah, it just appears outside and tries to force the domain to give up its mana,” Aylia said.
Faestari shrugged. “Do you have any additional questions?”
“Are you happy?” Dared asked.
“I’m not sure I understand what happy is anymore,” Faestari said. “It’s hard to comprehend the difference from being a little girl to what I appear to have become. I don’t know how to relate to people.”
“You seem to understand what your avatar should look like,” Dared offered.
Faestari seemed to look down at her avatar. She had only formed it, but done nothing to change the color of the white and gray granite. “Yes, I look very human.”
Aylia started laughing. “Oh, that’s a good one.”
Roquel stood up and walked over to the avatar. “But you do offer us a humanoid figure to talk to. And you try very hard to listen. You aren’t really alone.”
“Of course not!” Aylia said, a mild protest in her voice. “She has me. I visit with her daily.”
Dared looked around. “Oh, I was wondering if you’d be interested in having the gate house within your domain.”
“Why?” Faestari asked.
“Partly because I look at the chairs here and realize you can make the guard house stronger and more comfortable than my builders can. I also was thinking of taking the stone and helping get Koristal’s temple started,” Dared said.
“I like Koristal,” Faestari offered.
“Does she ever talk to you?” Roquel asked.
“No,” Faestari said. Her avatar crossed its arms with a strange groan of moving stone. “You and Salene are willing to talk, but the others tend to run away.”
“I don’t know why,” Aylia said with a smirk. “I mean you’ve only killed more than thirty people this year.”
“I think she only directly killed that Mordlew and his group. And that was when they tried to destroy her,” Dared said firmly.
“Oh? But what about the adventurers who die in the dungeon?” Aylia asked.
Dared looked over at the water spirit. “What happens in the dungeon is a challenge. Faestari presents a challenge to the adventurers. If they are not strong enough to survive it, that cannot be blamed entirely on her. She does not force anyone to enter, or to keep going once the danger is revealed. And I understand she saved the hand of one adventurer.”
Roquel nodded. “The spirit I asked about her noted that she’s a near innocent. She will protect the dungeon from unfair attacks, but that she had no malice.”
“It doesn’t feel right,” Faestari said. “My mother did tell me that it is impossible to protect someone who pushes past their own ability, but she hated no one.”
Dared just nodded. “Well, I’ll try to visit a bit more. And think about the gatehouse move. I know the storms are coming.”
“Snow drifts taller than a grown man within thirty days,” Faestari said. “But that should stop the other dungeon. There will be no way to send out raiding parties and expect them to reach this area.”
“Oh, I was going to call the town Montgar,” Dared said. “Not your mountain or the dungeon, but the town. Do you have a problem with that?”
Faestari shrugged. “It’s your town.”
“I created it to support the adventurers visiting your caverns. We wouldn’t be here if your dungeon did not exist,” Dared said.
“And while he won’t admit it, I think Dared respects you,�
�� Roquel said.
Faestari turned to look at Dared. He sat staring at the fire. “I do,” he whispered.
“Thank you,” Faestari said. “And I’ll return at times. But not always, and never when adventurers are in the dungeon. When they are inside, I need to watch them.”
“I can understand,” Dared said. “We shall let you go. And I’ll make sure the guards know to send a message if you ask to meet with me.”
Faestari stood up and walked so she was behind the chairs. Her body seemed to melt into the landscape.
Aylia also stood up. “She always does that and never offers me an opportunity to beat her back to her home.”
“She cares about you,” Dared said.
“We’ll see,” Aylia said absently as Dared and Roquel stood and started walking down the mountain.
Chapter 17: Faestari Discovers a New Problem
Three days after the meeting at the foot of the mountain Faestari was relaxing as the orcs gathered in the main chamber of their lair. The bear they had captured had been carefully nursed back to health, but now they had tied it back up and placed it in the center of the chamber.
The orc shaman held out its arms and began chanting. Faestari was alerted that there was something going on when a massive amount of mana started massing in the chamber.
She carefully sent her spirit into the orc lair. She found that the shaman was standing directly in front of the bear as several of his acolytes stood the bear up. The bear’s throat was exposed and as the chanting grew in intensity the shaman took an obsidian knife Faestari had not seen before and cut the massive mammal’s throat.
The bear’s body slumped. But the acolytes held it up as the shaman started another cut at the bear’s throat and cut downwards through the bear’s sternum. The mana levels in the room spiked and then flowed to Faestari.
She was stunned by what was happening. The shaman continued its careful cuts, removing the bear’s still beating heart and holding it aloft. It slowly turned while displaying the heart to the orcs in the room.
The shaman had completed about half of a full revolution when a trio of orcs stormed into the room. One rushed towards the shaman only for two of the chanting orcs to break from the crowd and block his path.
