The Tower in the Shadows

The last few days had been tense around the town. The population is understandably on edge.

Ranus, with his characteristic precision, ensured that his instructions were meticulously carried out. The adventurers, who had been involved in killing the twisted beasts, were thoroughly checked and found to be free of whatever had affected poor Benard. That did not stop the local rumour mill. He felt that he had spent the last few days just containing it.

They had taken many precautions in destroying his body, and most of the Gods had representatives watching or involved in the whole thing. Comus had not taken the whole thing well and was sequestered away for the time being. Ranus had found out he was not eating and asked a few priests to see if they could help him.

After some consideration, he made storing and selling anything related to twisted beasts or animal bodies illegal without special permission. On the surface, all welcomed the ban, but he knew that making something forbidding would attract a specific type of people to it. Danrum was working with the merchants and churches to enforce the ban. So far, it was holding.

Danrum grappled with the mounting challenges, warning Ranus of the imminent need for an expanded budget. The demands on the Watch were spiralling out of control, a situation they had not anticipated. He was running out of coin and the ledgers would soon run red.

What was ironic was that it was the easiest part of the aftermath of what had happened.

The news of the event had spread quickly and the Guilds were in a uproar. The Guilds prided themselves on the power and quality of their wards. To have recently established ones shattered so easily had shaken them. All the local Guild leaders were telling him the same thing.

At first, the wards were blamed for not being created correctly. The standard Guild paperwork countered this, as two enchanters double-checked and tested the wards. Each verified that the work was up to standard.

Some bring into question the enchanter's competence. These led to some nasty exchanges with the Enchanters Guild.

Finally, the question is asked. What had affected him?

Elian had come to see Ranus earlier, and their conversation had been frustrating, frightening, and a bit illuminating. Elian had discovered, through an accidental slip from an adventurer Guild Master, that other places had been seeing the appearance of these twisted things.

No one knew what was happening at the moment or how widespread it was, but they were now getting specific reports from other nations outside of Kyber. This was now starting to scare Ranus.

Adding to it all was a series of diplomatic messages that had arrived. Several races not native to Kyber were sending representatives to the town to organise access to the Dungeon. While very common, Ranus had hoped they would still be away a year or more.

"What to do?" He asked himself as he leaned back in his chair, eyes closed and reached out with both hands to touch his temple. He was getting another headache. "Am I doing something wrong?"

"Well, I don't think so."

The voice surprised Ranus as he had been alone. He sat up, snapping open his eyes, looking for the person who spoke. He banged his legs on the table before him, but he ignored the pain. The room appeared empty, with him the only occupant.

"Down here." The voice came again. Looking down at the table, he found the source of the voice.

Sitting in the centre of the table was a giant mouse, which was unsurprising even as it appeared to be speaking to him. What stood out the most was the rainbow colouring through its fur clashing with its natural brown. Looking closer, Ranus could see the magic in its eyes along with its intelligence. The mouse suddenly stood up on its hind legs and spoke again.

"Greets mortal Lord Goldwind! I, a humble emissary of the great and amusing God of Luck, Rickle, greet you!"

Ranus's brain stopped working for a few moments.

"Yes, I can see from the expression on your face that my inspiring presence stupefies you! Collect your mind and senses, young Lord, as I bear a message from my Patron!"

The mouse's words brought Ranus out of his befuddled confusion. He attempted to reestablish a modicum of the appearance of a Lord. He was dealing with a Divine emissary, after all.

"I, Lord Ranus Goldwind of Dungeon Vale, greet you, emissary of Rickle God of Luck." Ranus spoke in his most "Lord"-like voice, the proper greeting to one who was now in front of him.

"Well met, Lord Goldwind." The mouse still stood, brushing his fur along its chest as it spoke. "My, Patron speaks for himself and many others this day."

Ranus's stomach dropped, but he remained calm outwardly. It was terrifying that Rickle was speaking for anyone else but himself, as he was notorious for his sense of humour.

"Hear this divine message." The mouse stopped grooming and spoke. "We see your works, Lord Goldwind. We see what you have faced. Know that darker days are yet to come, but know this: We are with you."

The mouse sagged and sat down after speaking. Ranus was a bit elated, confused and very afraid by what was said. It was never a good sign for anyone outside the incredibly devout to be seen by a divine being, let alone multiple, as Ranus appeared he was.

"Got anything to eat?" The mouse asked after a few heartbeats. Ranus looked down at the messenger as he looked hopefully up at Ranus. He reached into his pocket and passed across the table a chunk of sweet biscuit he usually kept to ward off hunger in long meetings.

"Great, I thank you, young Lord!" The mouse took the biscuit offered and began eating. Thoughts were swirling in Ranus's mind, making it hard to focus on anything. As the mouse munched away, something clicked in his mind. He almost blurted out the question.

Why was the herald still here?

Hearlds appear to give their message or warning, then disappear suddenly. This one was sitting on his table, eating his snack for later. Something else was going on here, and he had to ask the right questions to find out what.

"How is the biscuit emissary?"

"Oh, not the best for the mortal realm, but good enough."

"Please thank your Patron for the kind words."

"I shall pass your supplications on."

"I take it you have heard of our recent troubles?" The mouse's ears twitched, but it kept eating.

"Indeed, most unpleasant nastiness." It said between mouth fulls. The biscuit was disappearing, and Ranus realised so would it when it was finished.

"Yes, it was strange and we are most perplexed by how the Guild wards were breached so easily."

"It seems they encountered a type of energy they were never created to stop." The mouse was almost finished and Ranus did not have much time.

"Some had speculated this. But what form of energy could it be?"

"That I can't say, but trust that the Dungeon you live next to is helping you in ways you still do not see." With that, the mouse finished eating. "Right, I must depart, remember Rickles with you."

With a flash, the mouse disappeared, leaving Ranus with even more questions.

## ## ## ## ##

The last few days were a bit weird. The adventurers all but vanished two days ago, but they were back to typical levels now. They had been gossiping like mad, allowing me to discover what had happened.

The Alchemists Guild had been badly wrecked by a member who went mad. The more I learned, the more I was sure that the man was affected by void corruption. This worried me more than I thought at first. It meant that the corruption was still present around me. I knew it would be attracted to me, but it never occurred to me that the town would be affected.

There was nothing I could do at the moment. I must stay aware of the danger of corruption taking the town out or over it. I will have to consider this as a source of danger in the future.

I had been thinking about incorporating the abilities of other minions into the new snakes, but doing so would change the costs of adding mana and I did not want to have to factor that in. My resources in that department were limited even with the mana stones.

Should I make more?

I will have to think about that.

I had to stay focused. The floor will be nature-heavy in order to attract the mana type. That had to be my main focus. As to the void corruption around me, I had to find a way to protect myself better in case another ogre or larger infected creature showed up and knocked my doors in again.

The sixth floor was still far away.

## ## ## ## ##

Elian was tired. The last few days had been more stressful than any time this year and that was saying much from this town's short but intense history.

Albert had a message that he was heading back in response to the events in the Alchemists Guild. He had hinted that other Guild masters were also on the way. The town was attracting far too much attention too fast, which was dangerous. She was not looking forward to having so many Masters present simultaneously.

Ranus had sent word that diplomatic emissaries from several other races would soon appear, adding to her stress. Adventuring was dangerous, but politics would get you killed. She knew she would need better robes to represent the Guild here for when they arrived.

Albrot would be back by then, she hoped and be able to handle that. Since the Folly, it was a procedure that Guild Masters oversaw diplomacy with non-human nations. She would leave that all to him with a glad heart. She had plenty to worry about without adding more to her workload.

The issue of Comus's health was as worrying to her as Ranus's. He had not spoken to either of them, and he was wasting away, blaming himself for what had happened. Four dead and twenty-three wounded, with the Alchemist Guild almost totally destroyed. She shook her head, amazed it was not worse.

Because their two guild buildings were close together, they were able to respond quickly and contain the problem and the damage. She thanked the Gods for their small mercies.

The most significant side effect was that Ranus's twisted beast hunt contract was now defunct, as no adventurer or group would go near it. It was still open, but everyone attached to it had withdrawn from the hunt. Her people were not worried; they were scared and the rest of the population panicked when adventurers were frightened.

Anything "twisted," like the blue puss pox, was avoided. This led to many false alarms, which were still occurring as the population was on edge. She pitied Danrum and the rest of the Watch right now. It was almost every day that the alarm was being raised.

She would have been amazed if he had not taken a step along the Path for this. She suspected that many more would before this was over. Looking back at her desk, she glared at the pile of vellum that she still needed to read and decide upon. Wishing she could set it on fire, she reached over with a sigh and took the first.

The next two hours passed with her reading and approving/disapproving the requests of the Guild that were being made. She paused, thinking. Her mind was telling her that she had seen something.

What was it?

She went back over the forms and requests, slowly reading over the words and slowly realised what they were. Someone was manipulating the reports and requests to stop people heading into a small valley in the north of the town. Many had been opened but closed or withdrawn in hours or days.

"Why? What is there?"

She frowned and got up to the map she had commissioned for the area; there was a cabinet under it. She opened it and pulled out a vellum scroll that she looked for. The map was still ongoing and Ranus had his own as well. They hoped it would be closer to finished within the following year. They had agreed to share the costs of its creation.

She ran her finger along their valley, heading north into the next. From there, she continued to go north from the river into another valley. It was here that the river branched with three exits. The smallest led to a dead end, and she ended her finger movement.

"Nothing reported of interest when explored for the first time."

She had unrolled the report and read over it. A Guild cartographer wrote it, so she trusted it on the surface.

"Where are the follow-ups? If there were, what would they find?"

With everything going on, she knew she would have to find out. Gran and his team would be back, and she would seek to send them to find out what was happening.