The Outlands

“So…how long until something interesting happens?” Ellie asked, looking up from her cards. “We’ve been on the road for hours.”

“I mean…we are somewhat limited by the speed of the busses.”  Tess replied.

Members of the expedition who didn’t have their own means of transport were riding on one of a number of large, armored, vehicles that the guild had supplied. They were hoverers of a sort, though much less…nice-looking than the one Tess was used to using. They were clearly meant for moving large numbers of people or bulk goods, but they were also bulky and slow.

“I would not expect much of interest to occur for a few days yet.” Maven said, placing a card down on the table that was in the middle of the hoverer. “And I believe this means I win.”

Alice groaned. “Isn’t this your first time playing? How are you so good?”

“I’ve played similar games in the past.” Maven explained. “But, that aside, would my guess be correct?”

“Yeah, basically.” Alice said. “We’re not going to hit unknown territory for a while. Until then, it’s mostly just driving. Once we’re there, we’ll get to do more exciting things.”

“How far away is this unknown territory, anyway?” Ellie asked. “Surely you’ve mapped quite a bit of the Outlands, right?”

“Yes and no.” Alice replied. “It’s not like Mael, we can’t just send up satellites and get a picture of things that way. I mean, we’ve tried, but they have a tendency to get offed by monsters before they ever make it to orbit, at least on this main plane. Turns out there’s some really nasty stuff lurking in the skies, and we can’t get past it. On some of the sub planes that broadly fall under the definition of the Outlands, we’ve managed to get satellites off, but it’s just too expensive to do it here just to have it fail again.

“Add to that the fact that this main plane is far bigger than Mael, and infinitely more dangerous to traverse, and you’ve got a recipe for lots of uncharted land. We’re heading off towards the least-charted area, but even that’s a good three thousand or so miles away from where we are now.”

Tess dismissed the window and looked up to find Alice and Maven patiently looking at her and Ellie. “Uh, sorry.” Tess said. “The gods gave some clarification and then got all distracting on us.”

“Got…distracting?” Maven asked? “How so?”

“Death started teasing Life about being boring.” Ellie said. “Pretty standard fare, as far as those two go.”

“They…tease each other in their divine messages to you.” Maven said flatly. “You’ll have to forgive me if I find that hard to believe.”

“They’re people too.” Ellie said, shrugging. “And our divine messages are a little…different than most. We use a sort of…shared channel that we can all freely talk in, since the five of us are working together so closely. We probably shouldn’t say much more, though, confidential stuff and all that.”

“Sure, sure.” Alice said, placing a freshly shuffled deck back on the table. “Up for another round?”

---

For the next week or so, the expedition fell into a sort of rhythm. They would travel for around thirteen hours, at which point the busses would come to a halt, and everyone would pile out, stretch their legs, and begin setting up camp. For most people this involved setting up tents while the guild staff prepared a meal, but for Tess’s party and The Rumors, they just relaxed in the hoverer until the food was done.

At that point, they’d emerge and make their way to wherever Gramps was, and they’d have a meal. They’d usually be joined by guests, often someone from Gramps’s party, but on one occasion a high-ranking guild official sat in with them.

That all changed on the night of the seventh day. They were eating dinner as normal, when, suddenly, Maven dropped her plate, staring forward with a shocked expression on her face.

“Maven, are you alright?” Ker asked, rushing over to her. “You’re not having an allergic reaction or anything, right?”

“N-no.” Maven stammered. “I…I just got a Blessing. Two of them, actually.”

“Two Blessings?” Jin asked. “Did you do anything recently that would merit them?”

“No! This is completely unprovoked!”

“Do you feel comfortable telling us who they’re from?” Gramps asked. “We might be able to shed some light on the situation.”

Maven blinked, then slowly nodded. “I suppose you would be able to. Um, they’re from Dungeons.”

Tess shared a knowing glance with Ellie, then looked back to Maven. “Ah.” She said. “Yeah, Ellie and I talked with Dungeons the other day and you came up. I’m not sure how much I can say right now, but the possibility of giving you a Blessing came up. Do you mind sharing with us what they do?”

“One increases my stats while in dungeons and lets me know where traps are, and the other teleports me to an unnamed dungeon, apparently.” Maven said. “What does that mean? Just a random unnamed dungeon, or what?”

“Oh.” Ellie said. “Um…give me a second here, I need to ask for some clarification before I say anything.”

“It’s gonna be a couple of minutes.” Ellie said. “So…um…hold tight, I guess?”

“Actually, why don’t we move somewhere more private?” Gramps suggested. “Just the four of us, sorry.” He added, looking at The Rumors. “You three may be more in the know than the average person, but there are some things we’re still not allowed to tell you.”

“I understand, guildmaster.” Jin said smoothly. “We’ll clean up the mess here, you do what you need to do.”

“Thank you, Jin.” Gramps said. “You three, follow me, we’ll go to my personal hoverer.”

He led them through the camp and to a hoverer that was…well, not as impressive as either of the ones Alice owned, to put it kindly. It was smaller than hers, and had several large scrapes and dents, making it clear just how much use it had seen.

“It’s an older model, and I’ve had it for quite a while.” Gramps said, eyes twinkling with amusement. “It’s served me well and I haven’t had need of an upgrade in many a year.”

“W-why bring that up all of a sudden?” Ellie asked, face red; it seemed she had been thinking along the same lines as Tess.

“I’ve raised you two long enough that I can tell what you’re thinking.” Gramps chuckled. “It’s written all over your faces.” He opened one of the hoverer’s doors and ushered the trio inside, before climbing in himself and shutting the door. “While we’re waiting, allow me to congratulate you, Maven. It’s not every day you receive a Blessing.”

“Oh, um…thank you.” Maven said quietly. “I honestly don’t know how to respond. It’s kind of…overwhelming.”

“I imagine it is. I was overwhelmed when I got my first Blessing, too.” Gramps replied.

“You were overwhelmed?” Maven asked incredulously.

“I sure was.” Gramps chuckled. “I didn’t start out a seasoned veteran who’s seen everything. No one starts out like that. I was just as green as you are.”

“I can’t imagine you like that.” Maven admitted. “It just seems…wrong.”

“Alright, we talked with Dungeons.” Ellie said, looking towards Maven. “So, Tess and I are working on analyzing this new kind of dungeon, and Dungeons wanted people around our level, so she decided to give you the option to work on this with us.”

“A…new kind of dungeon?” Maven asked. “What does that mean?”

“Um…have you played online games before?” Ellie asked.

“I have not.” Maven said. “I never had that luxury.”

“Oh. Um…that makes the analogy a little harder, but think of it like this: usually, when you go into a dungeon floor, it’s just your party, right?”

“Correct. Does this new kind of dungeon not have that limitation?”

“Yeah. And I believe there aren’t randomly shifting layouts like there are in normal dungeons, it’s completely static. I think. Anyway, Tess and I are going to be going to this new one starting tomorrow, and you’re welcome to join if you wish.”

“How…safe is it?” Maven asked. “I’m reluctant to go without our supervisors.”

Ellie paused. “I can’t say for certain, I’ve never been there. Umm…”

“If anything happens to you, I’ll personally make sure you’re fixed up.” Gramps said. “Don’t worry about that.”

“Thank you, guildmaster Los. That…does help assuage many of my worries.” She gave him a grateful smile, then turned back to Ellie. “What about the other Blessing, though?”

“That one’s a freebie.” Ellie said. “For dropping this on you so suddenly. You don’t need to feel any pressure because of it, you can continue like you have been without any repercussions. In fact, you can ignore all of this if you want, there won’t be any divine consequences or anything like that.”

“I…see.” Maven said. “But…I think I will join you two in checking out this new type of dungeon. It sounds rather exciting.”

“Glad to hear it.” Tess said. “And, just by the by, the whole ‘new type of dungeon’ thing is something we’re keeping secret from The Rumors. The ‘official’ story is that Dungeons is doing some testing and needs people around our level to make it work, so keep it vague.”

“I understand.” Maven replied. “The secret is safe with me.”

“I imagine it is.” Gramps said, smiling slightly. “Do you have any other questions?”

“Why me?” Maven asked. “Surely there are better-qualified people out there.”

“Convenience.” Tess said. “You’re working closely with Ellie and I, and are already in on many of our secrets. Plus, you’ve got above average stats and are pretty decent at raiding dungeons, so it’s not like you’re unqualified.”

“I…suppose so.” Maven admitted. “I guess that’s all the questions I have, then.”

“Let’s get you all back to The Rumors, then.” Gramps said. “You sound like you have a long, exciting day ahead of you tomorrow, so you’ll need all the rest you can get.”

The four of them returned to where they had been eating dinner, and, after a short explanation, headed off to Alice’s hoverer to sleep. It looked like, after a week of nothing, they were finally going to be getting some action.