Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Matthew Warrens cleared Dwarven Airship two days after Rod’s party.

Max learned about it while reviewing the dungeon menu in his office. Anna stood beside his desk with her clipboard open to the same result.

[Dwarven Airship completed.]

[Party leader: Matthew Warrens]

[Completion grade: Standard]

[Stonewing condition at crash: Good]

[Combat-capable dwarven survivors: 29]

[Dawnhoof Patrol assistance received.]

"They spent a lot of time in the Skyyard." Anna said.

"It shows." Max closed the report. "They protected the important stations and did not lose anyone on the boarding vessel."

"Matthew selected four people from a guild with twenty-five members. He had more freedom when choosing roles than an ordinary party."

"That is one advantage of running a guild."

The completion report contained no heroic summary. It listed decisions and their consequences. Matthew had assigned one person to the Stonewing’s engines before the first attack and refused to move her when the upper deck became overwhelmed. His party abandoned a damaged side cannon rather than spending three people repairing it. When the hostile vessel approached, they helped the dwarves break contact instead of attempting to board.

Together, they delivered twenty-nine dwarves to the final valley.

Matthew did not keep the result private for long.

By that afternoon, he had approached Five Knots and Rod’s party with an invitation to the Golden Axe tavern. He wanted every qualified group to compare what it knew before someone wasted an attempt trying to knock on Dread Fort’s front gate.

Max received an invitation as well. That was something he honestly didn’t expect.

The note asked whether he would answer questions. It did not appear particularly hopeful.

Max brought Quin.

The largest table in the Golden Axe tavern had been moved beneath a hanging lamp. Kesh’s exterior map occupied its center. Five Knots sat on one side. Rod, Dirk, Lana, Cindy, and Lord Halbin occupied another. Matthew sat at the head with the four Golden Axe members he had selected for Level Three.

Adventurers who had not cleared Dwarven Airship filled the surrounding tables. They were allowed to listen, but Matthew made the limitation clear before the discussion began.

"If you have not entered Dread Fort, do not describe a rumor as something you saw."

Nobody argued with that.

Max and Quin took a smaller table near the wall. Matthew had left two chairs for them at the main table, but Max preferred listening without being mistaken for a source of useful answers.

Tessa began with the objective. "Kill Kildra, Warden of the Last Threshold. He normally resides in the throne room. Those are the only instructions."

"Normally?" Lana repeated.

"That is the word it used." Kesh answered.

Dirk leaned over the map. "Then he can leave."

"Or be moved." Lord Halbin suggested.

"Or the wording is there to convince us to try." Matthew added.

Every head at the main table turned toward Max. The Dungeon Master lifted his cup and drank. Matthew waited for a response.

"Good tea." Max finally said.

Quin looked into his own cup. "It is ale."

"Then they brewed it incorrectly."

The main table turned away from him. Kesh pointed out the burial grounds, waterway, patrol routes, and the wagon they had observed. Five Knots had not entered any of them, so the party separated facts from guesses.

Matthew favored the wagon. "A moving entrance has fewer guards than a gate."

"It was carrying bodies." Orin warned.

Rod preferred the damaged section of western wall. Cindy believed they could scale it before the patrol returned. Dirk wanted a closer look at the burial grounds. Lana suggested that the waterway might allow them to bypass the outer wall, while Lord Halbin considered challenging the gate directly to learn the defenders’ strength.

"We do not need to win the first attempt." Halbin explained. "An honest attack tells us how the fortress responds to force."

"It also tells the fortress where you are." Kesh replied.

"That is generally a feature of an honest attack." Lord Titters said while shooting a concerned look at Kesh. ’Was something wrong with this person’s head?’

The conversation moved from routes to information.

Matthew wanted each qualified party to share basic discoveries. He did not ask anyone to reveal a complete plan before using it. Rod agreed, reasoning that a copied map did not replace the experience of obtaining it.

One of Matthew’s guild members disagreed. "First clear still belongs to one party. If we find a passage to the throne room, sharing it gives away the reward."

Several people nodded while others remained unconvinced. No argument became physical. Even if tempers had risen further, the Sanctuary would not have allowed it.

Matthew looked toward Max. "Are you going to establish a rule?"

"No."

"Can parties sell their maps?"

"Yes."

"Can they lie on them?"

"Also yes."

"Would you punish someone for doing that?"

"Not unless they violated an agreement registered through the complaint office."

Matthew sighed. "You could make this easier."

"That would defeat the purpose of Dread Fort."

It was the closest Max came to providing a hint.

Max sighed to himself. What happened to the days when people used to be respectful and tip-toe around him? Where had his status as a Dungeon Master gone? Maybe he shouldn’t have come.

While the qualified parties argued over maps, a different kind of planning occupied the registration hall at Masquerade Castle.

Mira and Garrick stood near a board covered in notices from incomplete teams. Mira wanted to enter. Garrick had agreed because the attraction was inside the Sanctuary and because refusing would have meant explaining why he did not trust a place where nobody could attack his granddaughter.

But they still needed three companions.

"Navigator!" Brakka shouted from the other side of the hall.

Mira turned in time to see the dwarven captain pushing between taller adventurers. The dwarves Doff and Pell followed him. All three wore Skyyard coats covered with pockets.

Brakka stopped in front of Mira. "You need a crew."

"This is a heist." Garrick said.

"Every heist needs a crew." The dwarf stated.

"Do you have any experience stealing?"

Brakka placed one hand over his chest. "Sir, I am offended."

Doff leaned toward Garrick. "He has experience."

Pell nodded. "Mostly from other dwarves."

Brakka ignored them. "There are three of us and two of you. That makes five."

Mira looked at her grandfather and Garrick looked at the dwarves. Brakka smiled with enough confidence for all three of them.

"One Silver contract." Garrick said. "And we plan before doing anything."

"Of course."

The gnome clerk registered them before Garrick could reconsider.

Registration produced five small invitation cards. Each displayed the holder’s name, contract tier, and an empty space where the evening’s mask would appear after check-in. Brakka immediately tried trading his invitation to Pell to see whether the magic would permit it.

The names changed places for three seconds, then returned to their original cards.

{PARTY MEMBERSHIP MAY BE ALTERED UNTIL REGISTRATION CLOSES. INVITATIONS MAY NOT BE SOLD, STOLEN, OR "TEMPORARILY BORROWED."}

Brakka looked toward the nearest gnome clerk. "Your card is making accusations."

"It has evidence." The clerk replied.

Their sealed contract arrived that evening.

{SILVER CONTRACT}

{TARGET: THE THORNWOOD RELIQUARY}

{KNOWN HOLDER: LADY VARENE}

{KNOWN INFORMATION: THE RELIQUARY CONTAINS AN OBJECT LADY VARENE REFUSES TO DISPLAY.}

An image showed a box as long as Garrick’s forearm. Dark wood formed twisting vines across its surface. A silver clasp resembled a closed eye.

Brakka studied it. "We steal the key."

"We do not know whether it has a key." Mira said.

"We steal the entire noble." Pell suggested.

"The Sanctuary will not let us."

Garrick took the contract image and held it closer to the light.

"Or we replace the box."

The dwarves became quiet. Garrick traced one carved vine with his finger. "I can reproduce the shape. Matching the weight will be harder without seeing the inside."

Doff grinned. "That is what metal is for."

Pell pulled a measuring tool from one of his pockets. "And mechanisms."

Brakka slapped both hands against the table. "We build a better box, exchange it for the old one, and leave before anyone notices."

Mira examined the image again. The black lines of her curse remained faint beneath her skin, but her hands were steady.

"The carving is not symmetrical." She pointed out.

Garrick looked closer. One of the vines on the left side had seven thorns. Its matching vine on the opposite side had six.

"Good eye." He told her.

They carried the contract to Garrick’s workshop.

The first replica took three hours and looked convincing from across the room. At arm’s length, its fresh varnish smelled wrong. Doff solved the weight with two thin iron plates hidden beneath the lining. Pell built a clasp that could be opened with either a key or pressure against a concealed catch. Garrick discarded that mechanism because copying a feature they had never observed created another way to expose the fake.

Mira kept returning to the picture.

"Lady Varene refuses to display what is inside." She said. "That does not mean she refuses to display the box."

Garrick stopped sanding. "We need to see the original before attempting the exchange."

"Which means talking to her."

Brakka frowned at the replica. "I thought using the fake box was how we avoided talking to others."

"The box is how we avoid running." Garrick said. "Even if we have a counterfeit, we still need to track down the real one so we can swap it."

They created a list of questions that did not sound like questions about theft. What kind of wood did Lady Varene collect? Had she commissioned the reliquary? Was its unusual carving associated with a particular artist? Would she be proud enough to show it to admirers?

By evening, the plan they developed depended upon conversation, carpentry, dwarven metalwork, Mira’s observation, and Brakka remaining quiet at the correct moment.

Garrick considered the last requirement the least reliable part.

Across the Sanctuary, parties prepared formal clothing, false identities, harmless alchemical distractions, replicas, tools, and fake back stories. Some publicly announced targets they did not possess. Others refused to speak inside crowded rooms.

In the Golden Axe tavern, qualified adventurers prepared to sneak into the Dread Fort.

At Masquerade Castle, everyone prepared to enter through the front door.

Max found himself interested in which group would have the harder time.