Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Hadrin fetched a wooden box from inside the waystation.

He set it on the bench and lifted the lid. A padded hollow occupied the center. Beside it lay a narrow leather strap with a polished clasp and a small wooden striker.

”The bell fits here.” he said. ”Bronze, with three silver bands. A rowan branch on the handle. Whoever brings it back must leave the handle attached.”

Tessa examined the empty case. ”You expect someone to break it?”

”I expect people carrying axes to solve an inconvenient fastening with an axe.”

”We repair ships. We understand fastenings.”

”Then you understand why I mentioned it.”

He closed the lid and sat beside it. His earlier interest had settled into concentration. This was evidently an offer he had considered before they arrived.

”Who has the bell?” Tessa asked.

”Corren of Reedbank House.”

”Did he steal it?”

Hadrin picked a loose thread from his sleeve.

”He won a contest.”

Orin leaned against the chopping block. ”What kind?”

”Pathfinding. We each named a destination. The first to return with the proper token won the agreed stake.”

”And you agreed to stake the bell.”

”I expected to win.”

Tessa let that stand. Everybody who lost a wager had usually expected something else. The important part was whether Hadrin wanted hired hands to overturn an agreement he had freely made.

”What did he offer?” she asked.

”Use of his lower storehouse and labor on the Briar Crossing.”

”Was the bell meant to become his permanently?”

”Until we reached another agreement.”

Belda folded her arms. ”Have you tried reaching one?”

”He has terms I will not accept.”

The satyr stood and moved to the stove. He lifted the kettle before it boiled dry, refilled it from a covered barrel, and adjusted the draft. Tessa watched him perform the small tasks. He seemed more comfortable checking the fire than explaining his contest.

When he returned, she asked what the bell actually did.

Hadrin pointed into the trees beyond the yard.

”There is a settlement called Lethren farther inside the woods. Traders use this station on their way there. The routes change with growth, weather, and the movement of the fey paths. The bell makes the next turn clear to a keeper who knows how to listen.”

”Could we fly there?”

”You could fly over it.”

”And land?”

”If you found a place that would take your ship. The canopy is thick. The terraces were made for carts and feet.”

Orin looked toward the missing bell’s bracket.

”Could someone else guide a traveler?”

”People who know a particular path can use it. Residents have their own routes. My work is receiving strangers and bringing them through without making their first visit a week of wandering.”

That explained the beds, the carts, and the landing. It also explained why Hadrin wanted his bell back badly enough to discuss it with the first airship crew to arrive.

Tessa asked about the settlement’s trade.

For the first time, the keeper answered without hesitation. Lethren’s craftspeople worked with living fibers, prepared resins, and wood that retained qualities ordinary timber lost after cutting. A bowyer could buy a stave selected for the draw he intended. A cloth worker could commission thread that tightened in wet weather instead of sagging. There were medicines, preserved foods, and teachers who accepted work or materials in payment.

Belda asked whether any of the fibers could serve aboard an airship.

”The bridge makers use them outdoors all year.” Hadrin said. ”Ask the rope workers yourself.”

Tessa could already imagine what Orin would want to ask them. The crew spent too much time replacing lines that had stretched unevenly under changing loads. A reliable specialty cord could be worth more than the freight they had delivered that morning.

She brought the conversation back to Corren.

”How far is Reedbank House?”

”A day by a clear road. Longer now.”

”What changed?”

”The Briar Crossing closed.”

Hadrin took a stick and drew in the dirt. A stream divided the yard’s shadow. He marked the station on one side, Reedbank on the other, and a curved bridge between them.

”The old approach goes here. Briars cover it. Something large has settled above the crossing. Corren’s people still reach the southern paths, but they must go around the ridge.”

”What sort of something?” Belda asked.

”A briarback.”

Tessa waited.

”Boar.” he clarified. ”An old one, from the tracks.”

”Have you seen it?”

”I saw what it did to the western approach.”

That was enough to change the kind of opportunity this represented. Tessa asked how many people had attempted to clear the crossing. Hadrin named two groups from the neighboring households. Neither had finished. One cart had been crushed, and several workers had been injured.

Orin looked at the stick map. ”We do not need the crossing to reach the house?”

”There is a longer path. I can guide you to its beginning.”

”But if we take your commission, we enter a dispute with a household that has already lost people and equipment on this road.” Tessa said.

”Injuries. No deaths.”

”That still leaves the dispute.”

Hadrin’s jaw tightened. ”I will pay for the bell’s return. How you obtain it is your choice.”

Tessa considered their crew, the ship waiting at the terrace, and the work already booked for the following week. They could carry passengers, chart a route, and land on ground other crews would reject. None of those skills made them the right party to walk into a fey household and demand a contested magical object.

She told him so.

Hadrin looked disappointed, but he did not argue that repairing an airship qualified them to kill a briarback.

”Do you know people who would take it?” he asked.

”Perhaps. Would your offer remain open?”

”If they return the bell intact.”

Tessa asked him to put the reward in writing. Hadrin brought out a slate, worked through the amount, and added guided passage to Lethren for one party of five. He would introduce them at the travelers’ court and provide lodging at the station while they completed the commission.

”One visit?” Belda asked.

Hadrin scratched out a word.

”A proper introduction. The settlement decides whether they may return. I do not command Lethren.”

Tessa appreciated the correction. She copied the offer onto paper and read it aloud. The keeper added his mark beneath her account.

Before leaving, she asked whether he objected to their selling the location and opportunity to another party.

”You found the landing.” he said. ”I cannot ask you to forget it.”

”We would like to know that you will receive the people we send.”

”Bring people who can listen when a road keeper speaks.”

He gave them a length of white cord tied around a smooth stone. They could show it when they returned. It identified them as visitors received at the station, nothing more. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Belda checked the time. They had already used most of their half hour.

Hadrin walked them to the yard’s edge and showed them the first blue cut on the reverse of a white stone. Keeping the cuts to their left took them along a path Tessa had not seen on the way in. She counted four bends before the terrace appeared.

Kesh was standing at the rail with the cabin clock beside him.

”We were preparing to sound the horn.” he said.

”The path is longer than it looks.” Tessa replied.

Min listened to their report while Orin released the landing feet. Belda checked every line before bringing it aboard. Nothing had disturbed the vessel. A few leaves had collected against the outer clamps, and the oil from the mooring rings marked their rope.

Once they were clear of the trees, Tessa described the keeper’s offer.

Kesh asked the question she had expected.

”Are we taking it?”

”No.”

Min nodded immediately. ”We can carry a fighting party. We should not pretend to be one.”

They discussed whom to approach while The Sixth Knot climbed above the forest. Several wealthy groups might pay more for a location no one else knew. Tessa preferred a party likely to finish the commission without blaming the sellers for facts they had clearly marked as uncertain.

Rod’s name came first.

They had carried his party before. He followed instructions aboard a ship, understood the difference between a charter and a promise to fight, and asked useful questions about risk. He also had the strength Tessa would want nearby if Hadrin’s unnamed large boar proved as troublesome as the ruined road suggested.

”He will want every word we remember.” Belda said.

”Then write them down before we forget.”

They spent the return journey building an account. Orin drew the terrace and marked the repaired stone. Belda recorded the path instructions. Tessa separated the keeper’s claims from their own observations. Kesh added flight bearings, and Min calculated the cost of transporting five passengers back with supplies.

They did not copy Lethren onto the public flight chart. They had not seen it. The station and landing received precise marks on a private sheet.

Before finishing, Min asked Tessa to read the reward aloud again.

”The lodging is for the people who accept the commission.” he said. ”If the buyer only wants to inspect the station, that part might not apply.”

Tessa added the distinction. It was a small point until someone arrived expecting free beds and discovered that the keeper expected a promise in return.

Orin set the landing model beside the papers. They used it to calculate where five adventurers could place their packs. A shield and a large axe took up more space than their weight suggested. If the buyers carried rigid equipment, the crew would need to clear the center rack before departure.

Belda raised another concern.

”The keeper could give the same offer to someone else tomorrow.”

”Then we disclose that.” Tessa said. ”We have a lead. We have no promise that the work is reserved.”

They reduced the price she had first considered. The difference still left a worthwhile return on an hour spent inspecting the woods, especially if the buyer also hired their ship. Kesh wanted their costs covered if the party changed its mind after arriving. Tessa wrote a separate line for the charter rather than burying it inside the information fee.

The discussion took them past the point where the woodland gave way to cultivated land. Tessa checked their heading and asked Kesh to resume the direct route home. They had spent their spare daylight. Whatever remained to be decided could wait until the vessel was secured.

By the time they reached Sanctuary, the discovery had become something another party could evaluate.

Tessa found Rod near the equipment shops with Dain. Both were inspecting a repaired shield. She waited until the armorer finished explaining the replaced straps.

Rod recognized her before she spoke.

”Work?” he asked.

”Information.”

She placed the folded account on the counter without opening it.

”We found a waystation in the Fey Woods. There is a commission attached, and a settlement beyond it that we have not visited. We want to sell the lead to your party.”

Rod’s attention settled on the paper.

”How much did you verify?”

Tessa pulled out the terrace drawing first.

”Let us start there.”