QuestWright BK2 C69: An Unexpected Complication (Patreon)

Heyo, sorry for the delay. Here's the chapter, which is a small cooldown from the Dungeon.

Chapter 69: An Unexpected Complication

“Because Kara was mean. It’s as simple as that,” Pellin groused as they continued wandering through the endless dark. Both Pellin and Adya had torches held aloft, but that didn’t stop the empty surroundings from feeling oppressive.

Pellin did not care.

“Cassidy was a much better Guild Trainer. He actually took the time to review what other documented System Engineers did in the past. Even gave me a few ideas. There wasn’t a lot of information, but he showed me what he could. And he bought me lunch a few times.”

“Your lunch was free in the Cafeteria,” Adya reminded him. “He didn’t buy anything.”

“Well…yeah. But he brought it to me! I’m just saying, he was nice while Kara was just kind of a bitch.”

“I don’t know,” Cass replied from the rear, eyes on the map as Bella followed the other two horses. “I think she was trying her best. There haven’t been a lot of QuestWrights popping up in Liora. I’m betting she’s having a better time training Amelia than she did with me. Her last letter was pretty nice, too, though there was nothing positive in there about the Capital people still hanging around the city.”

Pellin snorted, “What’d she say?”

“That Liora was rebuilding with a better idea of how everything operates. That food is coming in from the Capital, but they’re draining the outside farms a little too quickly and need to find some kind of balance. Oh, and that my sister is now at a level where she has to be managed by the leader of the GoldenCrowns.”

“Why didn’t Janine just tell you that herself?” Adya asked.

Cass shrugged, “I only got one letter from her, and every other word in it felt like she was saying sorry. I think she feels a bunch of guilt over what happened when I was kidnapped. Like she let her little brother down, or something. I just feel bad about her losing an arm.”

“I feel bad about Jason…and Shirley,” Adya added on at the last moment, though from Cass’s point of view, that final bit had a deeper meaning. That was confirmed with what she said next. “Shirley was always looking out for him in our fights. Every time he took a hit, I’d catch her wincing.”

“Did you know they’re married, or they were at least,” Cass said offhand. 

He looked at Adya as he said the next part, “But it's none of our faults. We’re here to fight monsters. To kill them. At one point, somebody we know is going to get hurt. Playing the blame game and letting guilt eat you up isn’t going to help anybody. The best you can do is keep moving forward, keep getting stronger, better, and help people from ending up in the same situation. Jason and the Rake were circumstances beyond our control. But the next one might not be if we continue working hard to improve ourselves.” 

Neither Pellin nor Adya had anything to say to that. Cass patted Bella's side, getting a warm feeling in return as they continued on in silence. Not enjoying how awkward the moment now felt, Cass spoke up to fill in the gap.

“It’s super weird that all the trees and ash are gone.”

“And the silence,” Pellin added. “I never imagined I’d want to hear my own beating heart so badly. That was really freaky.”

“You know, I asked about that,” Adya said, slowing down her horse a little while maintaining the lead. “Alan said that most Dungeons, once the Guardian is killed, require someone to step over and interact with the portal. But when Cass is with us, and that big purple bubble comes up-”

“Magenta.” Pellin corrected.

Adya continued like he didn’t say anything, “He just pops it, and everything gets sucked in. Alan said that’s not the usual thing.”

“What’s the usual thing?” Cass asked, now very curious.

“First, he said that if a replacement Guardian isn’t found, then we can interact with the portal.”

“We’ve been fairly lucky there so far.”

“Yeah,” Pellin agreed.

“Then he said that things built by the dungeon deteriorate slowly depending on how large or powerful it is. Like, it could be weeks or months before everything disappears and what’s left is what should’ve been there all along. Not untouched, but back to some semblance of normal.”

Something was bothering Cass, so he asked, “Are you saying that the Quill is accelerating the Dungeon’s death?”

Pellin waved him off, “Accelerating? Hell. If Alan’s right, your feathery tool is a perfect Dungeon killer. What would happen if you stabbed a monster with it?”

“Umm…I don’t know,” Cass admitted. “Probably something not so great and not something I want to test. The last time I did something like that, I ended up kidnapped, and Bella almost died.”

I did not merely survive my impending death, but grew stronger for it, Bella said in his mind, her mental voice just a little less tired than she’d been before they’d started heading for the corruption.

Cass patted her side in appreciation as Adya spoke up.

“You’re seeming to forget that before both of those things happened, you saved a city. Probably a good idea to remember that part.”

“Yeah, yeah, Cass is a hero, blah blah.” Pellin grumped. “How far away are we from this thing? Feel like we’ve been moving for a while, and those points aren’t going to award themselves.”

With the last corruption he’d purged, Cass had gained an upgrade to Command Center called Surveyor’s Sense. It didn’t remove the block affecting his map in the Underdark, but as they had traveled through the darkness, a small red, pulsing area had appeared on the edge. 

He hadn’t mentioned it because they were still a good ten minutes away and Pellin was acting a little too ‘Orla-ish’ for his tastes.

“What are you going to buy with your points?” He asked instead of answering the System Engineer, who groaned as Adya went first.

“After we got the Portal Closer title, I decided to save my points.” She laughed to herself, but there was something dark in the tone of it. “The Speed Dungeon’s Guardian gave me a lot.”

“How many do you have?” Pellin asked with a hungry yet oblivious look.

Adya clicked her tongue. “Math isn’t my strong suit.”

Something we have in common.

“But I’ll have somewhere around fifty-two thousand points to make a big choice once this corruption is taken care of.”

They traveled for a short time before Pellin burst out, “And! What is it?”

“Why so curious?”

Pellin looked like he was going to tear his hair out. “Because! We’re Team Deadweight! Every choice we make works with one another to better help the group as a whole! I’ll tell you what.” He rubbed his hands together gleefully. “I’ll tell you what I’m picking if you tell me what you are.”

“Why aren’t you asking me what I’m going to get?” Cass asked.

“Pschh. You’ll pick something that helps the group, hands down. You can’t help it, Cass. It’s who you are. But me?” He pointed a thumb at his own chest. “I’m going with something expansive. Something glorious. Something I bet you didn’t even know existed!”

Cass shook his head. “While what you said was a little hurtful, I’m still interested in hearing your choice.”

“Nuh-uh, not until Adya agrees to share. Sharing is caring, Adya. My mother taught me that.”

Adya looked back at Cass, shrugged in response. 

“Fine.”

“Sweet!” Pellin’s legs kicked on his horse as he said, “I’m going to buy the blueprint for a System Engineering Bench. It costs twenty-five thousand points, and without Cass’s deal, I’d probably never afford it?”

“That…that’s it?” Cass asked, bursting out laughing. “Don’t you still have to build the thing?”

“Yep! And you’re a fool to laugh.” He held up a long finger. “A fool!”

I could have told thee that…hadst thou been able to hear me.

“Stay out of it, Bella.”

“What’d she say?”

“Nothing.”

“Right.” Pellin’s arms flew up in the air. “Half my points for the bench, a few points to advance the Portal Closer title, and the rest into supplies, baby. Building the bench on its own will net me a few levels. Then it’s mass-production time. No more waiting on things to be processed or kinks to be worked out. Just from reading up on it, I know that bench is going to take me far. Probably deep into my fifth tier.” 

His arms fell as he scratched the stubble on his chin. “Orla is going to have to buy me a place to work, which means she’ll get a percentage of everything I do. I don’t like that. But I do like not having to look over my shoulder, worrying that somebody is going to touch something and blow up my shop.”

As he considered that, a small giggle burst from him, rolling back and forth across the darkness as it came and went.

Adya fell back to say, “I know we’re heading to the corruption and this is a serious time, but I really think Orla did a number on him.”

“Mmm, maybe he was always like this and being in Liberty just brought it out in him?”

Her sharp, green eyes looked at him hard. “What did it bring out in you?”

Cass had a quick answer, “My enjoyment for public displays of affection?” He pushed Bella close to the Scout and gave her a quick leaning kiss. Adya’s cheeks blushed as Pellin caught notice.

“Come on! There’s no kissing in a Dungeon! No kissing!”

“Don’t you want to hear what I’m choosing?” Adya asked, moving back to the front and deflecting the angsty engineer with absolutely zero subtlety.

Pellin brightened up immediately, “Of course!”

“There’s a mark I want in the Index. It’s called deflection, and it’ll open up some new opportunities for me. That’s all.”

Pellin stared forward like he couldn’t believe it. “I…you’re going to spend fifty-thousand points on a single, small upgrade.”

“Yes. It’s expensive, but as Alan explained it to me, the cost is always associated with value when you’re using points. I believe it’ll pay off in spades as I continue my Calling’s journey.”

“It’s not fair that you have somebody explaining every step of the way,” Pellin grumbled. “Do you know how much trial and error goes into being a System Engineer?”

“Quiet down,” Cass replied, his lowered tone of voice saying more than the words. “There’s something ahead, and it's not the corruption.”

The edge of the map showed what looked like a person, though the shape of them wasn’t something he’d seen before. If Command Center wasn’t lying, then they were twice the size of a normal human.

That made him nervous.

Adya dismounted at his call, handing the reins to Pellin, who immediately tied her horse to his saddle. He pulled out his weapons as they slowed while the Scout ranged forward.

Cass focused on his girlfriend’s position as she got close, before staring at the figure lying prostrate, then running back. It took her no time at all to find their torches in the darkness.

“It’s a man…I think. He’s breathing, but there’s a lot of blood on his body. There’s also something strange just a few hundred feet ahead of him.”

“What did it look like?”

“A tree, I think. But not one I’d ever seen before, and I didn’t want to get any closer.”

“That’s the corruption,” Cass confirmed. “It’s a good thing you didn’t get too close, as we haven’t dealt with a lot of living corruption before.” 

Cass looked first at Adya, then at Pellin. “Let’s go.”

The rest of their traveling was done in utter silence before Cass had them pause only a hundred feet away. Since Bella still wasn’t in great shape, Cass left her guarding the two horses as the three of them made the last bit of distance on foot.

Approaching the man, Cass found his map hadn’t lied. In real life, he looked more like a small hill than a human being. Even as they grew close, the man took a deep breath out, the air shifting from his large exhalation enough to be felt even a dozen feet away.

There was blood leaking from him in several areas.

At five feet away, as the blended light of torch and cyanic weapons struck him, Cass noticed a single, small object on the man’s back. It was tiny, and red.

“Back up…” Cass said quietly and unmoving.

Contrary to what he said, Adya was about to take a step forward, “But-”

“I said…back…up. I’ll be fine.”

Once they’d made it to what he felt was an appropriate distance, Cass pulled the pen from his pocket, shifting it into the luminescent Quill. The light splashed across the entire region, bringing clarity with it.

There was a small, red piece of corruption resting on the giant’s back.

There was a line of red through the air, trailing from that piece of corruption back to the large tree just beyond them.

And of the tree, it was huge, black, and pulsing red.

Several seeds had just started to fall when Cass realized the System dome was collapsing around them.