Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Tessa Venn did not expect Captain Durna Ironwake to remember her.

The dwarf looked over the Five Knots and pointed at each of them in turn.

"Pilot, rigging, engine, navigation, and repair."

Tessa nodded. "We won the first Skyyard qualifier."

"That was not praise. It means you arrived with habits. Small racing craft forgive habits that kill people on real ships." Durna faced the open deck. "The Stonewing does not care whether you can fly quickly. It cares whether you can reach the ground with everyone still breathing."

Orin Moss leaned toward Tessa. "She likes us."

Durna’s eyes moved to him.

"I have excellent hearing."

Orin straightened. "Yes, Captain."

The dock clamps released.

Five Knots had studied every public Level Three attempt that they could get their hands on.

They knew Rod’s party had failed once by treating the Stonewing as a platform for combat and again by abandoning their roles. They knew the first Razorwing attack targeted sails and altitude lines. They knew a boarding vessel emerged afterward, and a saboteur entered from beneath the hull while everyone watched the deck.

Knowing did not make the level easy. It made their mistakes less original.

Min Farrow assigned herself to the engine room during the Razorwing attack and missed the signal calling repair crews to the upper balloon. Belda Crane left the aft rigging to help her. Kesh Arlow saw both gaps and tried to cover them alone.

Tessa called them back before the positions failed.

They killed few enemies. Dwarven marines handled most of the creatures that reached the deck. Five Knots relayed warnings, carried materials, held damaged fittings in place, and made certain the people who understood the Stonewing could keep working.

When the last Razorwing retreated, the ship’s status appeared.

[Stonewing condition: Excellent]

[Crew condition: Stable]

Durna grunted. "Acceptable."

Orin waited until she turned away. "She definitely likes us."

The boarding vessel approached from the port side.

Five Knots did not rush to the rail.

Min sealed the lower maintenance hatches. Belda joined the chain-cutting teams. Orin tracked the dwarven crew assignments and filled whichever position lost a worker. Kesh moved to the navigation room before the bronze route case could be stolen.

Tessa remained near Durna.

Scaled raiders crossed the chains. Their blue-gray faces and yellow eyes matched the features Five Knots had seen in the Razorwings. Nobody stopped to discuss it.

"False retreat!" Belda shouted from the upper rigging.

Several raiders pulled back toward their vessel. Nobody followed. A metal hook struck the underside of the Stonewing. Min heard it from the engine room. She opened a speaking tube instead of leaving her post.

"Saboteur beneath port lift!"

Two dwarven marines reached the maintenance hatch before the raider opened it. The fight ended below deck. The enemy vessel tried to pull away.

Durna ordered every remaining chain cut except one connected to its forward balloon harness. Belda understood first. She severed the restraint at the Stonewing’s rail while a dwarf released the deck winch.

The chain snapped tight against the enemy harness and dragged it sideways. Dark balloons twisted into one another. The vessel lost altitude and vanished beneath the clouds.

[Boarding attack repelled.]

[Navigation route secured.]

[Stonewing condition: Good]

A new section of the route appeared on the navigation table. It ended at a valley beyond a line of mountains.

Durna looked through the forward window. She saw something large move inside the clouds above them. The first impact tore open the rear balloon.

Five Knots never saw what struck them. The Stonewing lurched forward, throwing crew members across the deck. Emergency shutters closed around the engine room while gas and blue mana streamed into the sky.

"Rear lift gone!"

"Lose ballast!"

"All hands to crash stations!"

"Prepare to divert power!"

Tessa reached the helm beside Durna. The controls fought every correction. A shadow circled in the sky beyond the damaged balloon.

A dragon came through the clouds with its wings folded.

Dark blue scales covered a body longer than the Stonewing’s deck. A line of pale horns swept backward from its skull. It struck the airship with both rear claws and ripped through the port balloon before spreading its wings again.

[The Stonewing has been forced from its route.]

[Catastrophic descent begun.]

There was no way to prevent the crash. But there were options for surviving it.

Min vented the damaged mana reservoir before it could explode. Belda cut away the remains of the rear balloon so they would not drag the ship into a spin. Kesh called out the valley’s direction while Orin organized the dwarves into braced sections.

Tessa and Durna aimed the Stonewing between two ridges.

The dragon struck once more. This time, Durna rolled the ship enough that its claws caught an empty section of rail instead of the command cabin.

The airship descended through trees, crossed a frozen stream, and hit the valley floor.

Wood, metal, and snow filled the air.

Tessa remained conscious long enough to see the forward mast pass over her head.

The Stonewing would never fly again, but most of its crew could still walk.

[Crash outcome: Survivable]

[Crew condition: Good]

[Primary objective updated: Protect the surviving crew.]

[Reach the valley refuge.]

Dwarves pulled supplies from the wreckage while the Five Knots checked the injured. A stone watchtower stood several miles north, marked on the recovered route map as an Elven refuge.

"Riders patrol this valley." Durna said. "If the dragon has not driven them off, they may see our smoke."

Kesh studied the sky. "Will they reach us before it comes back?"

Durna picked up an axe. "No."

They moved before the dragon returned. The path wound between broken hills and patches of blackened trees. Scaled creatures watched from the ridges without approaching. Five Knots kept the survivors together and abandoned supplies whenever they slowed the column.

They reached the watchtower at dusk. The doors hung open. Hoofprints covered the frozen ground, but no elves remained inside. Deep claw marks had cut through the tower’s upper wall.

The dragon landed between them and the valley exit.

[Level Boss]

[Veyrath, Tyrant of the Shattered Sky]

[Drive Veyrath from the valley.]

The boss fight began with an advantage the Five Knots had earned.

Twenty-eight dwarven crew members had survived the crash in fighting condition. The engineers repaired two deck weapons from the wreckage and mounted them behind the watchtower wall. Durna coordinated the defenders while Tessa’s party drew Veyrath into their range.

The advantage kept them alive, but it did not make them strong enough.

Veyrath alternated between the ground and sky, refusing to remain inside the firing angle of both weapons. Its breath attack froze stone before shattering it with a pulse of sound. Every time the Five Knots established a safe position, the dragon destroyed the terrain around it.

They damaged one wing. They broke a horn. Min activated a salvaged harpoon at the exact moment Veyrath climbed and pulled the dragon hard enough to send it into the watchtower.

The boss’s health fell.

[Veyrath: 71%]

Then it stopped treating them like prey. Veyrath climbed beyond the range of the harpoon launchers and folded its wings. It dropped directly onto the dwarven position.

The rebuilt weapons disappeared beneath its weight. Durna survived the impact. Most of her crew did not.

The Five Knots fought for another four minutes. They reduced the boss to sixty-three percent before Tessa lost sight of Orin. Belda went down next. Kesh tried to reach the valley path and found it sealed beneath ice.

Veyrath’s jaws closed around Tessa.

The Five Knots awoke in the hospital to two records.

{Farthest Level Three Progress}

{Five Knots — Reached Veyrath, Tyrant of the Shattered Sky}

{Best Stonewing Crew Survival}

{Twenty-eight combat-capable survivors}

Tessa read the attempt details beneath them.

[Boss health remaining: 63%]

[Valley refuge reached.]

[Elven patrol status: Unable to engage.]

She focused on the final line.

"There are elves in the valley." She said.

Orin sat up in the next bed. "Durna mentioned riders."

"They were unable to engage. That is different from being absent."

Min opened the route record. "Judging by the amount of ice near the refuge, the dragon attacked their watchtower before we arrived. Maybe it has them pinned somewhere."

Belda looked toward the window. Beyond it, miniature airships practiced above the Skyyard.

"The Grand Race starts tomorrow." she said. "We qualified together. If we miss it, we will have to wait another month."

Tessa closed the record.

"Then we race tomorrow."

"And after?" Kesh asked.

Tessa looked at Veyrath’s remaining health.

"After, we go back."