The Outlands

Ellie sat at one end of a long table, next to Tess and her grandfather. The rest of the table was filled with diverse group of impressive-looking people, and she couldn’t help but be a little intimidated by them.

“I suppose we might as well start now that everyone’s here.” Gramps said. “First off, I would like to introduce our new newest member.” He smiled slightly, motioning at Ellie with a hand. “Like I mentioned last time, this is Ellie, my other granddaughter. She became Life and Death’s Appointed a couple of days ago, so I figured we would just introduce her now instead of calling a separate meeting. Ellie, would you please introduce yourself?”

Ellie nodded, standing up nervously. “Hey, I’m Ellie.” She said. “Like Grandpa said, I’m Life and Death’s Appointed, um…” She…wasn’t totally sure what she was supposed to do now. Tess had told her that generally the gods Descended during their first introduction, but there were two for Ellie and…she couldn’t exactly switch between them during Descent yet.

Then Death Descended, that odd sensation of invincibility paired with her body tearing itself apart filling her as Death did. I got this. Death told Ellie

“Hi folks!” Death said, giving a little wave. “Life and I are both sorta…sharing Ellie, it’s a bit of a unique situation and unfortunately we’re not all used to each other yet to get Life to Descend as well, so…yeah. If you need something from either of us, don’t hesitate to ask even if the other is currently working with Ellie. Anyway, I gotta jet now, don’t wanna tax Ellie’s body too much, we look forward to working with you!”

And, like that, Death was gone, leaving Ellie standing there awkwardly.

“You can sit now.” Gramps said, smiling. “Thank you.”

Ellie gratefully sat, and Gramps turned his attention back to the others. “Would the rest of you like to introduce yourselves now?”

One by one, the other people at the table stood and gave their introductions, and eventually Gramps began to speak once again. “With that out of the way, unless anyone has anything pressing, I would like to go over some updates on what we talked about last meeting.”

Gramps waited a moment for someone to speak up, and, when no one did, continued. “I’ve finished all the preparations for an expedition, I’ll be making the official announcement tomorrow, and it’ll depart a month from then. I’m going to send it out East, and that should catch at least three or four of the old dungeons we’ve yet to disclose the location of.”

He nodded at the enormous four-armed man. “I’ll share the route with you after we’re done here, Valin.”

Valin grunted. “Much appreciated.”

“With that out of the way, since last meeting it’s been made clear to me that the old guild ranking system is falling apart a little faster than I expected. So, I’ve moved up its expansion, and will be announcing the changes with the expedition. I’m currently working on bettering the system when it comes to classifying very large groups working as a team, and I’m hoping to officially launch this by this time next year.

“So, I believe it’s about time we start getting to work on preparing for the introduction of savage dungeons. I’ve spoken with Dungeons on the subject and she said that, provided a few of us are able to help out, she can begin placing them by next month. Does anyone have enough free time to be able to work on a few of those?”

“Depends.” Valin said, leaning forward, excitement visible in his expression. “How far out are these going to be?”

“Pretty far out, but since this is something of a long-term commitment, Dungeons is willing to give a minor Blessing that will teleport you to and from a dungeon she’ll key to you.” Gramps replied.

“One moment, Evan.” Amara said. “Tess, you look like you’re a little confused? Please, don’t feel shy about asking questions, we don’t expect you to know everything right away, and you and Ellie are just as important as the rest of us here.”

Tess gave a slow nod. “Um, I mean, I don’t know what this whole savage dungeon thing is about, but I figured I’d ask Gramps about that later, so…uh, yeah.”

“A new type of dungeon that we’ve been meaning to make for a while.” Valin explained. “They’re going to be a lot bigger than normal dungeons, but they won’t be instanced, so everyone inside the dungeon is in the same space. The monsters are gonna be tougher and the important ones, like bosses, will hopefully retain a fair amount of memory from their past lives. There won’t be living quarters, either; we’re hoping to make the experience a lot more challenging than normal dungeons, so we can give greater rewards and push people to become stronger.”

Ellie’s mind began to race with what this could potentially mean, not really for her, but for Tess. The increase in monster strength directly correlated to an increase in Tess’s strength, and she was all for making her girlfriend as strong as possible.

Still, one thing bothered her. “Why are we pushing people to get stronger?” She asked. “Doesn’t that just indirectly make our jobs harder?”

“Ah, good question.” Alberich said. “It has to do with the lifecycle of planes. You see, planes just sort of…pop up out of nowhere, and all the Administrators have to decide who gets to have them. This wouldn’t be a problem if all the Administrators agreed with each other or if there were more than enough planes to go around, but neither is the case, so they have to fight for them.

“A long time ago they quantified a set of rules, so there’s something like an…exhibition match over each of the new planes, with the Administrators using a few people from their planes as combatants. So, it’s to their benefit to have the inhabitants of their planes as strong as possible so they can win those matches.”

Alberich stroked his beard, eyes twinkling as he spoke. “But that poses its own share of problems. I won’t get into Administrator politics now, that’s far too complicated for this meeting, but the long of the short of it is that Administrators need planes to prevent overcrowding and resource depletion, as well as to generate more Worship so they can help better their people’s lives.

“But…well, ambient Mana behaves oddly. The collection of an Administrator’s planes, what we call a universe, has its own level of ambient Mana that’s determined by the number of planes it has. And that ambient Mana is sorta…added to the base ambient Mana of the planes within. There are ways around this, or else Mael wouldn’t be the way that it is, but those are costly and not something that’s feasible to put on every single plane or even keep on one plane for too long.

“And the higher ambient Mana is, the more powerful the monsters that appear will be, which necessitates the inhabitants of the planes be more powerful to compensate. We’ve done several of these little power boosts, the first of which was –”

“They get the point.” Valin interrupted. “I can hear you getting your ‘teacher voice’ on, and we don’t need an hour long lecture right now. The point is, people need to get stronger so they can live peacefully. We try to provide ways for them to get stronger that aren’t so easy they make people complacent and aren’t so hard they wipe out the population of entire planes. So, savage dungeons are just another one of the programs we’ve cooked up to make that happen.”

“My apologies.” Alberich said, a blush faintly visible behind his beard. “I get excited when talking about this topic.” He turned to Ellie and Tess, smiling. “If you’d like to hear more, come talk to me after the meeting, or if you don’t have time then, I’m available at the city’s university. Come ask for me and if I’m not teaching a class, I’ll be more than happy to answer whatever questions you have on any topic.”

“Just know you won’t get away without a full understanding of the topic.” Amara teased. “Alberich’s an educator at heart.”

“Guilty as charged.” Alberich chuckled.

“Right, so, if we can get a teleport like that, I’d be able to take some time to work on the new stuff.” Valin said. “Especially since I can stop worrying about a few of those other dungeons now.”

Gramps nodded. “Good to hear, anyone else?”

“I think it would be good if Tess and Ellie shared responsibility for one.” Ava offered. “It would be a good idea to have a lower-level dungeon, and it would help ease them into some of their miscellaneous duties as Appointed.”

“As long as it’s alright with both Dungeons and them, I think that’s a good idea.” Gramps said. “Ellie, Tess, what are your thoughts?”

Ellie shared a look with Tess. “I’m fine with it if you are.” Ellie said.

 “I suppose I’m alright with it too, then. Though, I would like it if one of you all helped us out for the first time or two, just so we know what we’re actually supposed to be doing.”

“I can take care of that.” Valin grunted. “That’s usually my job anyway, so I’m probably best qualified.”

“Right.” Gramps said. “I’ll bring up the idea with Dungeons soon, then.”

No need. A voice filled the room, one that Ellie instinctually knew was Dungeons’. Apologies for eavesdropping, Fate informed me that you were discussing the savage dungeons and I had to listen in. I have no issues with letting Tess and Ellie be in charge of a lower-level dungeon.

“There we have it, then.” Gramps said. “But we’d still prefer if there were two or three more people available to help.”

“I can handle a couple.” Rachel volunteered.

“I as well.” Kane said.

“Perfect, that should be all we need. That’s all I had for business, is there anything else that needs to be brought up here?”

“Tene is getting all aggressive again.” Amara said, looking down at her fingernails. “It looks like just their usual bluster, though, so I’m guessing it’ll die down in a couple of years. Still, I’m going to keep an eye on them, and I’ll let you all know if it looks like they’re actually going to declare war on someone this time.”

“Good to know. What else?”

“Meison and I have noticed that sea monsters on Achy have been getting bolder lately. We’re worried about the possibility of a monster surge.” Carel, one of the aquatic elves, said.

“I’ll send some people out to investigate.” Gramps told them. “Anything more?”

There was a long silence, and then Gramps smiled. “Alright, good. If that’s all, then let’s call the meeting here, and we’ll meet up again at the usual time next year, sound good?”

There was a chorus of assent, and the people around the table began to stand up, most breaking up into small groups and chattering amongst themselves.

“That’s…it?” Ellie asked, looking at Gramps.

“That’s it.” He confirmed. “These meetings are pretty routine, just check-ups to make sure nothing’s going too wrong. Afterwards we tend to socialize and talk about things we can’t really talk to normal people about, but that’s optional.” He nodded at Valin, who was already leaving the room. “Valin, for instance, prefers to get back to work right away.”

“Yo!” Amara said, walking over to the side of the table where Ellie, Tess, and Gramps were. “I wanted to catch you all before you left today, I wanted to talk about Maven and your party and all that.”

“We were planning to get her in our party once our school ends in a couple of weeks, right?” Tess asked.

Amara nodded. “Yup, I just wanted to make sure you two were still fine with that.”

“I’m fine with it.” Tess replied.

“I’m willing to give it a go.” Ellie said. “But if it turns out she’s not compatible with us, I don’t want to keep going with her in the party. I’ve learned that lesson already.”

Amara gave them a smile. “She won’t be anywhere near as troublesome as you’re worried about.” She said reassuringly. “I have a feeling you’ll get along just fine.”

“So…when exactly are you thinking we begin meeting up?” Tess asked.

“She’s going to be coming starting two and a half weeks from today, on Monday. I’ve got her renting out a place in the city a little ways from the guild, and she’ll meet you in the guild every morning.”

“She’s a princess, right?” Ellie asked. “Doesn’t she have important functions to go to or something? Will we have to work around that?”

Amara smirked. “Not usually. Maybe once or twice a year she’ll have something, but I’ve convinced her parents that networking with you two is worth missing a few events here or there. They’re not going to bug you too much for a few years.”

Ellie gave her a doubtful look. “How’d you pull that off? I get that we’re technically important, seeing as how Grandpa’s some bigshot, but it’s not like we actually are going to inherit something or anything like that.”

“It’s less about that and more about how connected you are to Evan.” Amara explained. “You are the two people he cares about most, and being able to have connections to people that close to someone like Evan is more important to having connections to some random noble kids. Plus, in the long run, you’re going to end up far more competent than any of those aforementioned kids, so from a political standpoint it’s a pretty big gain.”

She shrugged. “It sounds cold saying it that way, but that’s sorta how you have to talk with people like Maven’s parents. Their first concern is what is best for the country, and they’re only going to allow for more leisurely things like Maven’s training when it doesn’t negatively affect her ability to run the country.

“Still, it’s a pretty well-known fact among the rulers of Paumen that if I push for something, they’re supposed to listen. I’ve been around a lot longer than they have, and I haven’t been wrong on something like this in centuries.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “By the way, let me know if you ever find yourself needing a place to stay in Paumen or Ores, I can set something up for you. Most of the other Appointed are the same for their home plane, don’t feel shy about asking. We all help each other out when we can.”

“Thanks.” Ellie said. “Um…I don’t think Tess or I will be able to do the same for Mael, though. We kinda live out in the sticks and don’t know anyone important.”

Amara laughed. “Not yet, anyway. Give it some time and you’ll be able to ask the church of Life and Death, if no one else. I don’t know much about them, but I highly doubt they’d refuse a request from their Appointed.”

Tess frowned. “Come to think of it, where is the headquarters for Fortune’s church? I should probably know that, but I hadn’t thought to ask before.”

“The main branch is located in the Outlands, but the church itself is pretty decentralized. Unlike most, Fortune has decently large followings in all the planes save for Mael, so if you look hard enough you can always find…something.”

“Interesting.” Tess said. “That makes my job a bit harder, I suppose.”

Amara made a face. “I really don’t envy you the task of wrangling her church, it’s quite a bit bigger than most and there’s only so much we could do to keep it in check while Fortune didn’t have an Appointed. The biggest parts should all immediately fall in line, though, so hopefully it won’t be…too bad, but you never know with these things.”

“Give us a call when it comes time for you to deal with Sais or Aldous.” Ava said, placing a gentle hand on Tess’s shoulder. “That’s where Atum and I are from, so we can help you get started if you need.”

Tess jumped slightly. “You startled me!” She said, placing a hand over her heart. “I can never get used to how quiet you are!”

“Sorry, force of habit.” Ava said. “The family gets on me about it all the time too.”

Atum snorted. “You can stop whenever you want, you just like messing with them.”

“Maybe if they didn’t get so jumpy all the time I would stop!” Ava said, smiling faintly.

“I believe that’s called victim blaming.” Gramps interjected. “It’s kind of hard for someone to just passively pick up when someone as stealthy as you is trying to sneak up on them.”

“How do you do that?” Tess asked curiously. “I can usually pick up when someone’s walking a couple of rooms away, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard you.”

“Couple of Skills, and a lifetime of learning how not to be noticed by things that have hearing as good as yours. Just keep practicing what I’ve taught you and, in a few decades, you’ll be good enough you forget you’re doing it.”

“She could probably get better than that faster.” Eyfura said thoughtfully. “I’m not sure how exactly how it would play into things, but I’m sure she could pick up some abilities from monsters that greatly increase how stealthy she is.”

From there, the group fell into a comfortable conversation, lazily talking away the rest of the morning until, eventually, it was time for Ellie, Tess, and Gramps to be on their way. They might have taken the morning off for the meeting, but Gramps still wanted them back at school in time for their afternoon classes.

So, Ellie soon found herself walking into school with Tess, still deep in thought about that morning’s events.

Fighterman481

Well, apropos of nothing, I got an email from my university this week, and...well, apparently I'm getting an associate's degree now? I qualify for it, and it's free and not going to affect my actual degree, so I now have, no joke, a degree in "science" ("science in university studies", to be precise). Really, though, I just find the concept of having a degree in some non-specific science funny.

All that aside, the chapter itself introduces (or explains in more detail) a few things that are going to be important in the relatively near future. I...probably shouldn't talk about those quite yet, though, so just keep some of this stuff in the back of your head going forwards.

Um...not much else to say, though, next time we'll be looking at the end of school for Tess and Ellie, so look forward to it!

And, as always, thanks for reading!