Dungeon Master (Karma System)

The maintenance tunnel ended beneath a building that no longer possessed a ground floor.

Aderic climbed through the opening first. The ruined structure stood three streets north of the bell district. From its upper level, the team could see the top of the damaged tower without revealing how they escaped the square.

The field healer worked on the orc bulwark’s arm while Dagna inspected the four seals. None had been damaged during the fight. She divided them between two padded cases, giving one to Aderic and returning the other to the bulwark.

”If one carrier falls, we retain half.” She said.

”If one carrier falls, recovering them remains the priority.” Aderic replied.

The runesmith met his eyes and nodded. The division protected the objective. It did not turn either carrier into expendable storage.

The ward mage sat against the wall with both hands resting on her knees. She had enough strength to maintain modest protections but not enough to repeat the barriers that saved them from the Colossus.

They needed time before they could engage in another fight. Half the team had real injuries while everyone was low on stamina and mana.

Varkesh would know that.

Siv returned from the western street. Dust coated one side of her clothes, and a thin line of blood crossed her cheek where falling stone caught her during the final collapse.

”Gnolls entered the square.” She said. ”The minotaur stayed outside. One harpy missing. The other circled twice, then turned south.”

”Toward the third team?” The ranger asked.

”Toward their territory. I didn’t chase to find out.”

Aderic studied the city visible through the broken wall. The third team held two seals. Varkesh held one. Max’s force held four.

The minotaur could attack the strongest team while it recovered, but the bell district provided poor ground for an ambush. The ruined square had long lines of sight, broken hiding places, and the bodies of guardians warning Max’s team where movement occurred.

The third team offered a softer target and a greater reward.

”We follow.” Aderic said.

The field healer objected with a glance toward the bulwark.

”Observe, not engage. If they fight, we learn what Varkesh has left. If they cooperate, we learn that before they reach us.”

The healer finished binding the orc’s arm. ”He can move. He should not take another direct impact.”

”I heard you.” The bulwark said.

His tone carried no complaint. He shifted his shield again and rose.

Siv led them through the lower streets. Varkesh’s scouts moved quickly but made no effort to conceal the general direction of travel. The minotaur wanted Max’s team to understand that he had turned away. Whether he hoped they would relax or chase him remained unclear.

Aderic did neither. He kept the group beyond immediate sight and allowed Siv to maintain contact through tracks rather than proximity.

The trail entered the southern administrative district. Buildings surrounded a sunken complex where a circular court lay one level beneath the street. Four ramps descended toward it. Drains large enough for a person opened along the lower walls.

The insectoid team occupied the court.

Only seven members remained.

Their commander stood taller than the rest, with a narrow body protected by overlapping green plates. Four arms extended from his upper torso. The lower pair held curved swords while the upper pair remained free for signaling. Two heavy beetle-like defenders guarded the western ramp. A winged caster rested near the center beneath the protection of three smaller soldiers.

One soldier carried both seals in a case attached beneath its chest plates.

Siv discovered Varkesh’s gnolls near the eastern drain and returned before they sensed her. The harpy circled far above. Varkesh himself approached openly along the northern street with his axe secured across his back.

Aderic positioned the team inside an empty records building overlooking the western half of the court. Cracked screens concealed them while leaving narrow spaces to observe through.

”We could warn them.” The spellblade said, knowing it was likely that the minotaur was once again feigning friendship to set up an ambush.

”And tell them we watched them long enough to know where their seals are.” Aderic replied.

The insectoids had no reason to trust Max’s team. A warning from a force carrying four seals might look like an attempt to lure them away from favorable ground. If Aderic revealed his position, Varkesh could withdraw and allow the two groups to confront one another.

They watched.

Varkesh stopped at the top of the northern ramp and raised an empty hand.

The insectoid commander signaled for his defenders to hold. His mandibles moved when he answered, but distance and the surrounding stone made the words difficult to hear.

Varkesh’s voice carried more clearly.

”The other team has taken the final seal. They possess four now.”

The commander glanced toward the western roofs. He already knew where they were.

”Together, we have three.” Varkesh continued. ”They cannot pass without us. We cannot pass without them. We should decide which force remains before they recover.”

One of the commander’s upper hands pointed toward Varkesh’s chest.

”You want our seals.”

”I want the final gate. So do you.”

”You offered the same alliance to them.”

Varkesh did not ask how the insectoid learned that. His harpies had watched Max’s team; the insectoids possessed scouts of their own.

”They refused.” The minotaur said. ”Their commander believes four seals make him stronger than both of us.”

Aderic noted the distortion. He had refused the positions of an obvious ambush, not an alliance based on honest terms. Varkesh needed the insectoids to see Max’s group as the immediate threat.

The commander did not appear convinced.

”Show your seal.”

Varkesh smiled.

While attention remained on the northern ramp, two gnolls emerged from the eastern drain. They moved beneath the lip of the court where the insectoid defenders could not see them. A reptilian fighter crawled along the roof behind the winged caster. The harpy descending from above kept the sunless glare of the dungeon sky behind her.

The trap closed in layers.

Siv pointed out each movement without explaining what everyone could see.

The insectoid commander offered a counterproposal. Each team would retain its seals. They would approach Max’s force from separate directions and force Aderic to surrender two. Afterward, all three would decide which team challenged for the last requirement.

Varkesh pretended to consider it.

The first gnoll reached the seal carrier. It attacked from beneath the ledge.

The hooked blade struck the carrier’s lower leg. The insectoid fell. Before the nearest soldier could react, the second gnoll sprang from the drain and seized the seal case.

The court erupted.

Varkesh drew his axe and charged down the northern ramp. Two reptilian fighters appeared behind him. The harpy folded her wings and drove both feet into the winged caster, knocking the injured creature away from the center.

The insectoid commander moved with startling speed. His lower blades crossed against Varkesh’s axe while his upper hands caught the shaft behind its head. For a moment, four arms stopped the minotaur’s greater weight.

The beetle defenders abandoned the western ramp to protect the seal carrier.

That exposed the only clear escape route.

The reptilian fighter on the roof dropped behind them.

Aderic saw the entire design. Varkesh had not simply surrounded the court. He had assigned his forces to drive the insectoids away from the western ramp and toward the drains occupied by the gnolls.

The third team fought well enough to make the plan costly.

One beetle defender crushed the first gnoll against the wall before it could pull the seal case free. A smaller insectoid soldier climbed onto the reptilian fighter’s back and drove a narrow blade between its shoulder plates. The winged caster recovered before the harpy expected and released a burst of green light that burned half the feathers from one wing.

Varkesh’s healer remained on the northern street, protected behind the second reptilian fighter. Pale energy flowed down the ramp and closed wounds before they could slow the beastkin.

The insectoids had no equivalent support left. Their caster could attack, but one shattered wing dragged behind it and dark fluid ran from beneath its chest armor.

”If we strike now, both teams turn on us.” The ranger said.

”Yes.” Aderic replied.

He did not enjoy the answer. The third team had become Varkesh’s victim because it held what he needed. That did not make it Max’s ally. Joining the battle would place four seals within reach of every surviving creature in the court.

The insectoid commander forced Varkesh back three steps. One of his upper arms hung useless, but his lower blades opened a line across the minotaur’s breastplate.

Varkesh allowed the retreat.

The commander followed.

A gnoll emerged from the northern drain behind him and drove a spear into the gap beneath his rear plates.

The insectoid staggered. Varkesh’s axe struck before he recovered.

The commander’s body fell in two sections. The remaining insectoids broke toward the western ramp.

Two reached it. One was a small, long-legged scout with mottled shell. The other had lost a lower arm and carried no weapon. The reptilian fighter attempted to block them, but the wounded beetle defender struck it from the side and opened a path.

The two survivors climbed the ramp and vanished into the buildings.

The beetle remained behind.

It died beneath Varkesh’s axe after buying them several seconds.

The gnolls tore the seal case from the fallen carrier. Varkesh’s healer opened it and removed both bronze disks.

Three seals now belonged to the beastkin.

No unclaimed light remained above the city.

Max’s team carried four. Varkesh carried three. The two surviving insectoids carried nothing.

The distribution settled the dungeon more completely than another bell could have. Every surviving creature now knew that searching the ruins would produce nothing. The final gate belonged to whichever force could leave one encounter carrying all seven seals.

The insectoid survivors understood it as well. Their trail never curved toward Varkesh’s retreat. They chose distance over a hopeless attempt to recover what their team lost.

The minotaur looked across the surrounding roofs.

”They watched.” He said.

His remaining harpy climbed into the air despite her burned wing. The gnolls spread through the northern and eastern exits. Varkesh did not know where Aderic’s group hid, but he understood that a team with a quickling scout would not ignore a battle deciding ownership of three seals.

Aderic signaled the withdrawal.

Siv left first, circling toward the route the insectoid survivors had taken. The ranger remained until the rest of the team cleared the records building. He watched Varkesh place all three seals inside a reinforced case carried by the beastkin healer.

The minotaur had lost two fighters and a gnoll. His harpy was wounded. His healer had spent much of her strength keeping the others alive.

Max’s force remained injured from the Colossus.

Neither team would be stronger after another hour. Only better prepared.

Aderic led the elites away from the sunken court.

Varkesh believed possessing three seals forced Max’s team to find him.

He was right. He had not yet understood that Aderic would decide where they met.