Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Captain Durna Ironwake inspected Rod’s party before allowing them aboard the Stonewing a second time.

Six days of Skyyard training had changed the way they stood on the deck.

During their first lesson, all five tried to steer the practice craft. During the second, Dirk left his assigned sail to secure a loose engine cover and nearly sent the ship into a tower. The instructors replayed every mistake on a floating screen while other trainees watched.

Rod disliked the embarrassment. He disliked learning that the instructors were right even more.

By the sixth day, the party could fly a practice route without speaking over one another. They learned the names of basic controls, how to brace before a sudden turn, and which alarms meant help immediately rather than finish whatever they were doing first.

None of them qualified as airship crew.

They had learned enough to understand how little they knew.

Rod waited for her to finish. Lana stood beside him with Midnight at her feet. Dirk, Cindy, and Halbin wore the same equipment they used during their first attempt, but each had added a small pouch containing tools borrowed from the Skyyard.

Durna stopped in front of Rod.

"What is your job?"

"Follow the captain’s orders and protect the ship."

"Wrong."

Rod frowned.

"Your job is whatever the ship needs when it needs it. If I tell you to hold a rope, you hold the rope. If my engineer tells you to carry a bucket, you carry a bucket. If both of us are dead, you find someone who knows more than you and listen to them."

Rod nodded. "Understood."

Durna moved to Lana. "What is your job?"

"Navigation support and watching the starboard side."

"Better."

She questioned all five before allowing the dock clamps to be released.

The Stonewing entered the clouds. The Razorwings arrived twenty minutes later. This time, the party noticed the difference between defeating an enemy and preventing damage.

Rod did not chase the first creature that landed near the bow. A dwarven deckhand already had it contained. Rod remained beside the forward pressure controls until Durna released him.

Lana warned the rigging crew whenever Midnight saw shapes moving beneath the balloon. Dirk fired only when he had a clear target that would not send an arrow through a sail. Cindy remained near the engine access, and Halbin shifted the ballast when the deck began tilting.

The battle still contained shouting, blood, and several moments when someone nearly went over the rail. Rod’s party killed fewer Razorwings than it had during the first attempt. But the Stonewing suffered far less damage.

"Starboard altitude line secure!" A dwarf called.

"Rear sail responding!"

"Mana pressure stable!"

Captain Durna allowed herself one satisfied grunt.

The final Razorwing disappeared into the clouds with an arrow lodged beneath one wing. Nobody pursued it. Rod looked toward the balloon. Two shallow tears had already been patched. Every major fin remained in place, and the engines continued turning evenly.

They had passed the point where their first attempt ended.

A notice appeared before them.

[Stonewing condition: Good]

[Crew condition: Stable]

[Route progression increased.]

Rod smiled. The party did not celebrate. Their Skyyard instructors had taught them to use quiet moments for checks.

Halbin walked the ballast rail and found a cracked locking pin before it failed. Cindy replaced two emergency mana crystals that had been consumed during the attack. Lana updated the damage slate for the repair chief. Dirk climbed only as high as his assigned section and reported three shapes he could not identify instead of shooting at them. Rod carried water to the forward deckhands.

No system notice rewarded any of it but the dwarven crew noticed.

One of the engineers who had cursed them during the first attempt showed Rod how to reset a pressure valve without losing the entire line. A rigger handed Dirk a safety hook and told him where to attach it. Captain Durna stopped watching the party every second.

For a few minutes, the Stonewing felt less like a level. Then the lookout rang a different bell.

An enemy vessel emerged from the clouds on the port side.

It was narrower than the Stonewing and armored with dark metal plates. Its balloon had been divided into several smaller sections, making the craft resemble a cluster of black pods hanging above a blade.

Figures crowded its rails. They were humanoid, but blue-gray scales covered their forearms and the sides of their faces. Their yellow eyes narrowed into thin slits when the ships drew close. Several of the newcomers wore hooked blades across their backs. Others carried bundles of chain.

"Boarders!" Durna shouted. "Cut every line they throw. Do not let them choose where the ships connect."

The first grappling hook struck the rail near Rod.

He cut it before the chain tightened.

The next six did not miss. The two airships moved together while dwarves fought to keep the Stonewing level. Raiders crossed the chains using metal loops attached to their belts. Some landed on the deck. Others climbed into the rigging.

Rod’s party stayed near its assignments.

The fight became a series of urgent decisions rather than a single clash. Rod stopped two boarders from reaching the forward controls. Lana froze a chain after three raiders crossed it, allowing a dwarf to shatter the metal. Cindy ignored an injured enemy and helped an engineer close the engine hatch. Halbin held a damaged rail in place until the repair crew secured it.

Dirk called from above. "They are retreating!"

Several surviving raiders were moving back toward their ship.

One carried a bronze case taken from the Stonewing’s navigation room.

Rod saw it and reacted. "Dirk, with me!"

They crossed one of the remaining chains before anyone could stop them.

The enemy deck tilted beneath Rod’s boots. He struck the raider carrying the case and forced him away from the rail. Dirk landed behind him and cut off two others.

On the Stonewing, Durna screamed their names.

The enemy crew severed the chains connecting the two vessels. The ships drifted apart.

Rod reached the railing too late. Ten meters of open air separated him from his party, and the distance continued growing.

"We can take their ship!" He shouted.

Durna’s response was lost beneath an explosion from the Stonewing.

***

The saboteur had crossed beneath the hull while everyone watched the boarding deck.

He entered through a maintenance hatch and drove a hooked weapon into the port lift assembly. Cindy killed him seconds later, but the mechanism was already releasing blue mana into the air.

"Seal it!" Durna ordered.

The engineers tried. Without Rod and Dirk, the remaining adventurers could not cover every station. Halbin left the ballast rails to help Cindy. The ship listed before a dwarf replaced him. Lana sent Midnight searching for another saboteur (just in case) while she tried to track Rod’s direction through the Warband bands.

The enemy vessel vanished into the clouds with Rod and Dirk still aboard.

The Stonewing remained airborne, but its port lift assembly no longer responded.

[Stonewing condition: Critical]

[Required crew roles unavailable.]

[Route progression halted.]

When the engine finally gave out, Durna ordered an emergency descent before they could crash.

The level ended before the ship struck the ground.

***

Rod awoke in the hospital beside Dirk. Cindy stood at the end of his bed with her arms folded.

"We stopped the one who stole the case." Rod said.

"The ship crashed." She replied

"It did not crash until after we were separated."

His sister gave him a look that let the Axe Master know he messed up before she spoke. "Because you were separated."

Rod looked toward the other beds. Lana sat beside Halbin while Midnight occupied her lap. Nobody appeared angry. That made the failure worse.

Captain Durna’s final assessment appeared in their attempt record.

[The party demonstrated improved awareness of the Stonewing.]

[The party abandoned assigned responsibilities to pursue an enemy objective.]

[Primary objective failed.]

Rod read it twice.

"We did better," Halbin said.

"We still failed."

"Those statements can both be true."

A notification from the Hall of Achievements appeared.

{Farthest Level Three Progress}

{Rod, Dirk, Lana, Cindy, and Halbin}

{First party to encounter an enemy boarding vessel}

Cindy began laughing.

Rod covered his face with one hand.

"At least it does not say we destroyed our own ship this time." Dirk said.

"Give the Hall a minute."

Their complete attempt report arrived while the party was still in recovery.

The record divided the route into responsibilities rather than enemies defeated. The Razorwing section showed improved sail condition, reduced crew injuries, and no lost stations. The boarding section showed the bronze navigation case recovered, followed by five warnings in red.

[Command instructions ignored.]

[Two assigned roles abandoned.]

[Enemy objective prioritized over primary objective.]

[Party communication link divided between vessels.]

[Emergency staffing threshold not met.]

Rod had killed seven scaled raiders. The number appeared at the bottom of the report where it affected nothing.

Lana moved her chair beside his bed. "You saw something being stolen and thought stopping it had to be the right decision."

"It was the navigation case."

"And we still lost the route because the ship could not stay in the air."

Rod closed the report. "Next time, we let them take it?"

"Next time, we stop them before they can get it."

That distinction bothered him because it was small, obvious, and correct.

Outside their room, a new group waited to question the nurses about Level Three. Rod recognized the five ordinary adventurers who had won the first Skyyard qualifier. They were already studying his failure record.