Vol. 3, Ch. 152: Ooh, Shiny!
There was one sound conclusion everyone made as the steam machine descended ever deeper into the world:
They definitely would not have wanted to walk the distance. As it were, Neska pointed out several areas where rockslides had occurred, and collapsed tunnels had been patched up. The sheer scale of the repairs left her uneasy.
If this wasn't Markus’s work, then whose was it? This entire place made her scales crawl. There were too many unanswered questions for her liking.
The only person having a remotely easy time was Trevor, who leaned into operating this steam machine contraption with the enthusiasm of a small child. He was enjoying this, while also detailing the controls to the two professors.
Hadley rode up front by the engine, peering out into the dark, along with Brent, hanging on with one rail, his fur ruffling from their modest speed down the tunnel. They had run into a few intersections where the cart could shift to a new track, but they had opted to stay on the main path, for now.
“Dwarven construction. Steel work by humanity. What a marvel,” Durim breathed as he took in the sights. He pointed to the cavern walls where traces of mana were visible in faint fissure cracks. “Look at all this! Mana crystal growing like weeds! I daresay that someone should run a geological survey and see what else is down here!”
“No need. I can taste the ores,” Juni said, practically drooling. She hopped up over the side of the cart, pointing to the walls. “There are numerous magical ores located within a hundred yards of the tunnel walls. Goodness, if we could just create a permanent pathway down here..."
She counted off something silently on her paws, her eyes brightening. “I know there's a denser concentration of mana crystal compared to the surrounding area. I can also sense Mithril. It’s lighter and sweeter than the surrounding ore. I think there's a jackpot of darksteel ore here too. And it's practically below our feet! Access may be a little difficult, but if these tunnels are intact, it's certainly possible we might be able to put the city above to work or build a refinery on premises. It would save so much time on logistics for material processing and shipping!”
“So what you're saying is, we're rich?” Trevor asked, looking eager at a burst of good news.
“Assuming, of course, that someone with nefarious designs isn't already doing the same thing,” Kalloway said with a grunt of irritation. “Durim, does this line up with the known deposits of mana and other ores in the area?”
“Yes and no,” Durim answered. “Yes to it being part of the discovery; no, being related to the sheer scale. I would say that the current estimates grossly undervalued the yields. But material processing, construction of additional lifts, manpower, and logistics to get it up? We're talking years of startup!”
Juni grinned proudly. “Well, it's not technically impossible, with enough Awakened using geoaffinities. In fact, it might be quite possible to pull off. Something to keep in mind for the future. Plus, I saw some interesting evolutions while looking at my next options. Not directly combat-related, but it would allow me to consume certain minerals and purify them or refine them and get rid of the excess and scrap material.”
“Trevor glanced over his shoulder, taking his eyes off the controls. “Does this refinement come in a form that I dare not think about?”
“No, of course not! I can extrude it directly through my limbs or body, not the other way that you're probably thinking,” she said, scowling at him. “But imagine! If we could take an impure ore, I can refine small chunks of it using my mineral absorption abilities? It will be slow, but we can produce rare materials over time. That's got to be worth something!”
Trevor nodded in concurrence. “It would be worth it to me, for looking at various applications for armor and small equipment. Not enough to equip the whole Academy, but I could prototype stuff for additional teams. Plus, since we've demonstrated that my piecemeal armor concept works based on a day alone, it's proof for further development.”
Brent's ears perked up in the front seat, and he motioned to Trevor. “Pump the brakes. I think there's something up ahead, could be an offloading station or stop along the railway.”
Hadley seemed tense as well. “The two of us will scout it out and report back. Brent, I’m going to use my [Hushed Whispers] power, so no one will hear us.”
“I’m already quiet, thanks.” His ears flattened when Hadley continued giving him a stern look. “Okay, fine then. If you must.”
Hadley activated her ability with a flash of light from her hands, then all the sound around them grew muted, then popped like a bubble. Even the train sounded whisper-quiet, with the whoosh of flame and steam escaping. The pair of scouts hopped off of the car as Trevor eased on the brakes, making a subdued screeching sound. The boiler let off steam through an exhaust vent, and the tram slowed. Luckily, it didn't make as much noise as Neska feared, and the train ground to a halt. Up around a corner was a steady source of bright light that seemed inexplicable down here, illuminating the tunnel wall.
Neska sprang out, landing silently on the rocky gravel fill that padded the tunnel floor. “Syrona, want to go on a sneaking mission?” she asked, then leaned closer to whisper. “I know you’re playing favorites with Brent. He’s going, too.”
The coatyl chirped and sprang off Neska’s shoulder before she could get another word out. Juni looked smug beside her. “Uh-huh. You two have something in common.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Our scouts need an extra set of eyes and ears. Or alchemical potions, depending on the situation,” Neska said, shrugging.
“He’s very snuggable.”
Neska turned toward Juni, temporarily taking her focus off maintaining the [Familiar Link]. “And that's supposed to mean…what?”
“It's just an observation.”
“I mean, I…how does one put this? It's a snake thing.”
Juni smiled. “I think it's just a you thing.”
It wasn't just a thing she did. Other lamias and snake-shaped creatures must have that urge to reach out and snug things, even things not shaped like snacks. “Okay, I need to focus on guiding my mobile artillery platform–I mean my aerofoil-equipped mini-snugger–I mean–”
Juni leaned in, grinning while Neska clapped her snout, embarrassed. “So, what’s the most snuggable?”
“No preference.”
“Kasfew? Which would be deliciously ironic. Or maybe our wolfling? Very floofy, those two.”
She totally wasn’t thinking of that still-warm feather she kept in one of her pouches, mulling over an insulation layer for her armor and equipment to keep herself warm in chilly environments, or during the winters. “You are not helping my focus, Juni. You know that?”
“So, if you had to pick one of the two…”
“I’m not,” Neska said flatly. “Both are equally floofy and warm–” She clapped a hand over her snout, embarrassed, while Juni laughed.
“Oh, I see how it is! All things equally snuggable!”
“And mice. Who will probably be bigger mice soon, and therefore provide more body area for snugs to keep me warm in winter,” Neska said, grinning with pointed fangs. Juni stammered before finding an interest in the cavern floor for a few seconds. She couldn't hold back her laughter and joined in after a few seconds.
“Oh, are you leaning into it now?”
“Snugs with friends provide warmth and a feeling of…I dunno…safety?” Neska wished her cheek feathers weren’t all poofing out right now. “Juni, I…thinking about it? Minus Risha, Vivi, and her family? I think I was very much alone for most of my life. That’s the hollow feeling I get sometimes. You don’t have to remember every single moment to connect the dots between them.”
Juni’s laughter faded. “Oh. You know, that’s kinda the feeling I was getting? You’ve been alone or with only a handful of people for so long. You also indicated that you only got flashes of the academy.”
“Yeah.” Neska tried to reach out to Syrona, but couldn’t focus, not with Juni sitting there, looking puzzled. “It might be a snake thing. Or, it might be me, trying to make up for a long time when there weren't any snugs. I even went so far as to risk my life for a familiar.”
“You would have done it anyway, snugs or not. Syrona is a miniature version of you. In a good way. Even when she’s stealing my breakfast.” A silence broke out, and Neska felt the gaze of the others, noting that she and Juni were talking quietly.
She’d better get to work. “You’re right. I needed a companion. A-and you guys, too. It’s a daily reminder of why I’m doing all this. The reason I’m taking the fight to the Varadur and others. Because I don’t want to lose all these new experiences.”
She took a slow breath and closed her eyes, reaching out to Syrona through the [Familiar Link]. It came into focus quicker this time; not by much, but it took less time to establish the link, and the disorientation that came with it was more subdued. The familiar was already circling over Hadley and Brent’s head, with Hadley stroking the creature’s belly with her fingertips as it sailed by.
“Someone missed us,” Hadley whispered.
“Syrona, or Neska?”
“Yes,” Hadley said cryptically. They had hustled up the tunnel, and Syrona flitted about in the sound-damping bubble. Syrona could sort of ‘see’ it as a slight visual distortion, likely because of the charge of mana in the air.
Wait. How many abilities did Syrona have? Syrona, can you see the mana like I can, too? [Spectral Sense] and [Dimensional Stomach] were both after you hatched.
She didn’t get words back, only a warm, pleasant feeling radiating back through the link. Quite the confident little familiar, Neska concluded. Syrona continued to flap effortlessly until they approached a platform exit, with railings and a large metal crane hanging over a loading area.
Neska nearly broke the link from shock when she saw dozens of the lizardlings milling about. These seemed shackled, and directing their motions were...
...Humans?
Hadley’s voice crackled through the relay. “Guys. We have a problem. Humanoids are running a mining operation down here. And they’re using the lizardlings we just saw as workers. Doesn’t look like a mutual benefit arrangement.”
Neska guided Syrona to a vantage point of mana crystal, and she felt her scales itch briefly as the coatyl changed her coloration to match the glowing rock. Strangely, the odd vantage point worked. Neska was also able to surveil Hadley and Brent as they clambered onto the platform and hid behind massive wooden and steel-banded cargo crates.
Not only was this up and running, but this was also new. Neska reached out to her relay, keeping the link running. “I count two dozen total, workers and lizardlings combined. Many of them are armed with short blades or hand crossbows. A few look like casters. Hadley, Brent, you can move up to the stack of crates to the right. You should have cover and allow you to hide.”
They didn’t respond, and Neska didn’t expect them to. Everyone on the train was gathered and gearing up to move once she motioned to get their attention.
One of the male workers in a light leather duster held a board with a metal clip and scribbled something on paper. He then pointed to a shorter, stout woman, looking grumbled in her uniform. “Cargo train three is late. Where are they?”
She shrugged. “Hell if I know, chief. Maybe the native lizardlings became a problem again. Relays are useless down here, so we can’t reach them. Those things hide in all sorts of corners and nooks. Plus, they swim. You know how many underground pools there are down here? They’re all connected, I know so because there’s a current.”
The man winced and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I know. Look, we’re running behind schedule, and the front needs its minerals. I just want to make a profit before this war turns as far south as you can get, and no one is asking where the goods are coming from.”
That was the shortest way Neska had heard to realize there was not only possible slavery of intelligent species, but smuggling. Then again, she couldn’t blame them for wanting to throw the lizards in shackles. Even under optimal circumstances, they were mean and bitey. “Hadley, Brent, come back when you can, without being spotted. We need to figure out how to approach this."
Moments later, everyone was aboard the train, and everyone had varying opinions on how to proceed. “They aren’t our enemy,” Jurik said, taking the first stab at it after Hadley and Brent briefed them all. “That’s all I care about. They’re not the Varadur.”
“But whether they're working with Markus is the big question,” Neska pointed out. “I don’t think we have enough conclusive evidence to say they are.”
“They’re running a black market operation,” Kalloway reminded them.
“Oh, where do you get off? What do you call the entirety of the Undercommons?” Brent bristled. “A place where we put shackles on Varadur and make them fight us so that we get stronger. That’s pretty damn hypocritical, don’t you think?”
“Ease up, already? I didn’t say I agreed with everything that goes on,” Kalloway protested. “But law isn’t always helpful in a situation where our entire existence is threatened. Do you think the Varadur pull out a rulebook when they devour a town, then occupy the ruins?”
“It’s a rather unusual situation,” Durim conceded, leaning on his axe. “There’s one of a few ways we can approach this. Option one: we can go another way, and forget we ever saw them. There were more paths we could take. Option two: we can talk to them, pretending to be naive. Did they look particularly threatening, Hadley?”
“No. I’d say they’re undergeared for the threats down here, if anything,” the scout said, looking nonplussed. “Plus, your option two has several ways this could play out. They might be amiable to let us traverse through, ask us to join their likely illegal mining operation, kill us, or feed us to the lizardlings. Plus, they’re using them as slaves! I’m just a touch sympathetic for anyone in chains, Durim.”
“This is a rather grey area,” Jurik conceded, frowning. “This would also not be the first time that operatives in previous ‘black’ or ‘grey’ markets were asked, unofficially, by the various kingdoms to aid in their defense, in exchange for concessions. We’ve got enough problems with the Varadur that we can’t afford to fight every criminal element.”
Hadley looked stunned. “You’d just say ‘carry on’ and keep on walking?”
“We need to pick our battles with the monsters that matter.” Neska saw him clench his jaw tighter as he said those words, but emotionally, his voice was flat and calm, like always. At least he internally realized the delicate nature of this situation.
“Or, they’re working with Markus, helping him finance and bring in supplies for whatever divines-damned project he’s working on,” Juni bristled. “That ‘grey’ area works both ways, Jurik.”
“I’m not saying it doesn’t. But we can’t just roll in, witch hexes blazing and arrows flying, can we?”
Neska shrugged. “This is rather unusual, no? How did they find their way down here? A dozen men, this deep in? They must have an alternate access path. One I’m rather curious about now, especially when it pertains to how many entryways there are to the academy. They’d still need wardstone access to get into the academy grounds, but…it’s troubling.”
“I sense a terrible idea coming,” Trevor sighed. “I hate saying this, I really do. But we don’t want to pick a fight here. We have enough enemies as it were.”
“True. But…if we look the other way, and they’re abusing these lizardlings for forced labor, Trevor? Does that make us any better than the Varadur?”
“I wouldn’t eat a lizardling. I mean, that’s a pretty low bar, but still.” Trevor looked rankled by his own statement. Even he was uneasy about the approach. “I’m not a fan of this approach. There's a risk.”
“And there’s risk by doing nothing,” Juni insisted. “Sooner or later they’re coming looking for this train. Why was it even abandoned? It’s like someone left it idling to take a bathroom break and never came back.”
“Maybe the lizardlings killed them?” Syra proposed. “I mean, they did have some rather…grotesque prizes. It explains where they got them.”
“Not sure even smugglers deserve that fate. But was that before or after they started shackling survivors?” Hadley asked, looking troubled. “Where’s the cargo anyway? This train was empty. Did the lizardlings take it back? And what are they looking for specifically?”
After a while, the group concluded there wasn’t enough information to make an informed decision. The risk of doing nothing was that Markus would continue operating down here unimpeded, assuming he was working with them. The forced labor would continue. Additional vulnerabilities could be exploited underneath the academy, and leave it open to attack.
After more deliberation, they reached an agreement, although reluctantly. They’d pull up with the train and start talking to the men and women down here, and try to get an honest story out of them. Then, they’d figure out how to proceed next.
Assuming, of course, that this didn’t further compound their problems. Trevor climbed back into the engine bay and disengaged the brake. The train slowly spun into motion, and he let out a steam whistle blast to make their presence known.
They weren’t without taking risks. Hadley and Brent stayed behind as backup, and Syrona flitted far above, hiding in the shadows and blending in, giving Neska a viewpoint she wouldn’t otherwise have. She’d directed her familiar to keep watch, and the coatyl had continued to listen in, with Neska not picking up much more than idle chatter.
What did change slightly was that the lizardlings had, indeed, assaulted the miners upon their first entry, judging by the idle conversation. Syrona wasn’t judging, and neither was Neska. Those creatures had chosen to position themselves for an ambush first, and had fought to the last.
Or had she startled them with her initial opening? But the same thing happening to two different groups didn’t lend evidence to that suggestion.
Either way, she kept the link going in the background. She also received a notification from Vivi.
Ability Proficiency Increased
Familiar Link 6 > 7
The train approached the platform, and both Jurik and Kalloway presented themselves first. Trevor held his position in the engine cart, and the men at the platform all looked surprised. “How the hell did you get down here?” the chief worker demanded.
Neska was having instant regrets as all of them went tense, and the man reached for the hammer strapped to his thigh. Killing the Varadur was one thing.
Killing the humanity she was trying to save? That was not a line she was prepared to cross, and she slithered forward, arms open. “Ease up. We’re here to talk.”