I Hate Dungeon School

I made my way to the conference room to find that everyone had gotten there before me. No one was talking to each other. Everyone was sitting in awkward silence, staring at the newcomer. I realized that of everyone here, only I, Eira, and Andritch even really knew who Mariana was.

"Hello, everyone," I started, sounding as official as I could muster in this situation. "This is Mariana Togalli. She is a, well, I guess you could say acquaintance. She is also a native to the Burgotovan area, and wanted our help getting over the border to deal with some family stuff. In exchange, she will be using her skills to help us."

Mariana stood and bowed. "Hello, everyone. I am, as Alta said, Mariana Togalli. I am a first-year dungeoneering student like the rest of you, though my specialty has been leaning towards administration."

This surprised me at first, as her skills as an archer were impressive. The idea that she would want a behind-the-scenes role was news to me. Then again, I largely didn't give half a damn what she got up to in her life.

"I have skills as an archer, as well as having some skill in holy magic. I would prefer if we didn't get into the details of the theology behind the magic, but I have healing, defensive, and spells for combating the undead." She bowed again and sat down, shrinking into herself.

This was a side of her I wasn't used to. When she spoke to me, she was haughty, arrogant, even mean, but here she seemed nervous and shy. Were my friends that intimidating? Or was she just that unused to dealing with people?

Now that I think about it, I didn't know if she even had friends. She grew up similarly to me, thinking that everyone was just an asset or a potential asset. It took me some time to shake that kind of thinking. In point of fact, I still hadn't fully shaken it.

"Healing magic is always a plus. I know Myth has quite a bit of skill in them, but holy magic has always had a leg up on how much healing it could do. Undead combating spells are even better." Andritch spoke up.

"Yes, yes. Many undead in mountains. The Icy Death we calls them, yes yes. Very dangerous." Smitty added, her expression serious.

"Why do the mountains of Burgotova have so many undead? I had heard stories, of course, but never an explanation for why." Cori asked, resting her head on her hands as she leaned on the big table we surrounded.

"We're not entirely sure ourselves, but legends and folklore say that when a person dies of the cold in the mountains, they become an undead. Some force causes them to rise and gather in the caves and dark places there, and attack travelers to add to their horde. It's been that case for as far back as I can remember. It used to be a rite of passage for boys to go up and kill a few shamblers to prove their manhood, such as it is." I smirked.

I remembered my brothers going on their first shambler hunting expedition, only to come back battered and bruised with nothing to show for it but a few scars. They claimed the skull of the shambler melted on the way back, but I never believed them.

"In any case, I think we could use the extra help. Seven heads make the hydra, so they say. Do you all agree? Raise your hands if you are willing to take her along." I waited for a moment.

"Can we have a bit of moment here, Alta? We got some questions, and I don't really think we should have her in the room for it." Cori said rather pointedly, as she sat up.

Mariana, without another word, simply stood and walked out of the room. Andritch pushed a button on top of the table that made a runic array appear on the door.

"Silence spell. Very useful for confidential meetings." She explained.

"What did you need to talk about, Cori? I know it's all super sudden, but it's for a good reason." I said, sitting down.

"Your damn right its sudden! This is a sensitive mission! We've got to pretend that we're going into a foreign nation as wedding guests, then we have to take a sealed and dying dungeon core to an abandoned fortress in the mountains, clear out whatever is in there, set up said core, and get back home. In the middle of the coldest month of the winter!" Cori slapped the top of the table in frustration. "We get that this is all to help you, but c'mon, Alta, I'm getting a little tired of being in the loop at the last minute!"

Myth and Smitty nodded. Andritch said nothing. Eira gave me a little sympathetic shrug.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed the bridge of my nose. She was right. She was incredibly right. I just keep springing problems on them. It wasn't right. But I also kept having things sprung on me, and I had to keep rolling with it. Part of me felt I should expect the same from them, but that's not how parties worked.

"I'm sorry. I really am. No, don't give me that look, I'm serious here. I am very sorry about all the trouble I've been dragging you all into." I said as I saw their disbelieving frowns. "This whole situation sucks, and I'm grateful you've been willing to help me. I know all these twists have been making that hard to believe."

I leaned forward and looked each of them in the eye.

"It gets even worse, and this doesn't leave this room. The City Lord summoned me. I'm supposed to go to the wedding after all. I have a gift to deliver and some info to gather. On top of that, Mariana wants to reconnect with her family, which is the other half of the wedding. After you all help me with the dungeon stuff, you can head home. I'll figure it out from there. I can't ask you to come as my retinue, despite that being the cover for crossing the border. So we have to get this done with enough time for me to make it to my family's land to go to a wedding I would rather chew glass than go to because the City Lord has literally given me no choice in the matter." I sighed, resting my head on the table.

Saying it out loud, I realized that it was a lot. Too much even.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and I felt a hand on my back. It was Eira. I could just tell. She had a certain energy I couldn't help but pick up on. It made my body warm just knowing it was her.

"Can I be your plus one?" She whispered in my ear, the sensation of her breath giving me tingling.

"Well, of course you can. You want to go?" I asked.

"No, but I'm not letting you go into that viper's nest alone. Plus, I know how the nobility there sees Spellsongs. The scandal will be hilarious!" She grinned and sat next to me.

"I'll be honest, I don't care either way. I haven't been to a fancy shindig, so the idea of it sounds fun." Myth cut in.

"I could ostensibly go as the representative of Revenstahd. I am a dwarf, and the City Lord owes me a favor. Long story, no time to get into it." Andritch cut in.

"Smitty doesn't think she would like to go, but if I could meet you on the way back at my village, that would be ok. Kobolds are never welcomed in cities there." Smitty gave a small, sad huff. Kobolds weren't officially persecuted or anything in Burgotova, but ancient prejudices remained, and I didn't want her to have to deal with that.

"I understand, thank you, Smitty." I gave her a nod.

Cori just sat there, a deep frown on her face. I could practically hear the gears turning in her head.

"How much do we tell Blondie out there?" She said. "I can put up with the rest of this, if only to piss off some nobles. But her i don't fully trust her. And I don't like the idea of fighting alongside someone I don't trust. It took a long time to trust all of you, and I'll be honest, I still don't, no offense, Eira." She gestured at the half-elf.

"None taken. Completely understand." Eira replied with a smile.

"We tell her as little as possible, I think. Just enough to get the job done. It's an extra credit quest from the school, and we were the first ones to grab it. We're just taking this cylinder and dropping it off. The school didn't give us details. Also, they want us to fill out this Automap." I added suddenly.

"Another thing? By all the gods above and below, Alta!" Cori threw up her hands and slumped in the chair. "Fine! Whatever! Let's do the thing. Let her into the party. But so help me, if she does anything suspicious or something that threatens us, I will shoot her kneecaps. I don't give a damn!"

"Thank you, Cori. I'll give you the first grab of any treasure we find, sound good?" I asked, sympathetic to all of her issues with all of this.

"Deal. And if you go back on that, I'll shoot your kneecaps too. None of your knees are safe from my wrath!" She pointed at everyone with a glare before cracking up with laughter.

I still didn't doubt she would do it, but it was good to have her in a better mood. This trip was going to be tough, and it wouldn't do to start with low morale.

Andritch turned off the silence rune and called out. "You can come in, Ms. Togalli!"

She gingerly entered again, her blonde hair poking into the room shyly. It was still so odd seeing her act like that. Had she changed since her exile, or was she always like this, and I was the only one who got to see her claws and fangs?

"We've decided to accept you into the expedition group," I said, indicating that she should sit back down. She did so immediately.

"Thank you. I appreciate this opportunity. Can I ask what exactly it is we will be doing? I'll do whatever is necessary, but I'd like a little heads up." She said politely.

Andritch stood and rolled out a map of the area we would be heading to.

"The objective of this extra credit assignment is to do a little side job that Dungeon School needs done in the lead up to Winter Solstice. We have discovered a rare object, an unbound Dungeon Core, and it has unfortunately become unstable. Do to the lack of available specialists, we had to recruit students. You all were the first to step up, so you're it." She looked at each of us in turn, her best lecturing voice on full display.

"Unstable core? That means...oh no. Oh no no no." Mariana said, realization dawning on her face.

"Exactly. We have to get it bound to something, or it could explode. Or, worse case scenario, which we believe is very likely, it could generate a Chaos Dragon, which we cannot afford in Revenstahd. Or anywhere, if we're being honest." I added.

"Exactly. We found a suitable location. This fortress is in the mountains of Burgotova. It is isolated enough to lessen damage if all it does is explode, but it's also close enough to get to before that's a certainty. The reason for the secrecy is that the political climate of Burgotova has become questionable, and we can't be sure we'd just be allowed through." Andritch continued.

"Thus, the wedding invites. Makes sense. Both Alta and I have one, so we'd be allowed retinue, and they wouldn't search our supplies since we are protected by our noble status." She said.

"Could I get an explanation of that, actually? I thought you were both exiled and disowned. How would you still have a noble status?" Myth cut in with her hands raised.

"That is a...well, it's a complicated answer," Mariana started. "Since our invitations have the seal of our families, it acts as an assurance of our status as nobles, or a least under noble protection. In Burgotova, nobles are basically above the law in many cases, especially in the case of border crossings and anything that may be, say, smuggled. Corruption is rampant, and no one wants to change the laws to do anything about it."

I hadn't expected her to speak out against our fellow nobles, but I was being surprised by her more and more. I might have to start taking her seriously. I wasn't sure if I was excited by that prospect or not.

Myth lowered her hand and thanked her.

"After we do the quest, we're going to go on to the wedding. So everyone needs to pack something fancy, as we are not going to have time to go dress shopping when we get there." I added.

"Such a shame, too. I hear Burgotovan frocks are terribly lovely this time of year." Cori drawled with thick sarcasm and a very bad posh accent.

From there, we went over our travel details and started drafting a list of all the supplies we would need, which turned out to be more substantial than we expected. It was going to be a hard trek.

Andritch said she would arrange for some mounts for us to use on the journey, which was a relief. The last time I traveled in a wagon, my rear end hurt for days afterwards.

As we finalized everything, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" I called out, and the door opened. A familiar bespectacled elven face popped through the door. It was Farina, the administrator, whom I kept running into.

"Package for Ms. Marchesi." She held it out to me. It was well wrapped and large.

"I thought they would leave it in my room," I said as I took it. It felt light despite its size.

"I knew you wouldn't be there, so I brought it to you. Goodbye." And just like that, she closed the door and disappeared.

"How does she do that? She always seems to know where I am!" I exclaimed, frustrated and awed in equal measure.

"We're not sure either. Rumor is she's part ghost or something." Andritch said with a chuckle. "She always seems to know where everyone is. It's freaky, I tell you what."

At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if that were true.

"I guess I have to try it on, huh?" I said hefting it in my hands a few times.

"Oooh, can I watch? Please, please, please!" Eira begged cutely.