The path to Redrock was donned with red ribbons. Banners of some holiday. Guards at the ridge looking down at us, or perhaps elsewhere.

“Stop,” said Nessy. She took out her map.

We stopped walking. I laughed at the absurdity of pausing to examine a map when the destination was right before us. I didn’t miss the opportunity to rest, however. I sat on the ground, then immediately laid on my back.

My gaze lifted to the sky and then fell onto the guards of the ridge, now sideways. Were they watching us? Perhaps they were gargoyles.

“This one?” Nessy asked someone. I only barely heard the words against the wind.

“To Undertree?” asked Alice. “Yes.”

“No no no,” said Nessy, “Bellows.”

“Oh,” said Alice. I heard paper shuffling and for a moment there was peaceful silence. “This one.”

All around us was downpour, but not here.

Nessy groaned. “Okay, get up, Charlie, let's go.”

I pulled myself up and we followed Nessy off the path and through thick grass. The grass was dry and it scratched and cut my fingers.

“Why?” I called out, glancing back at the red ribboned path. “It’s right there!”

“Where are we going?” El called out.

“Alice,” said Nessy. “I’m too tired.”

Alice glanced over at Nessy then looked back at me and El. She slowed her walk to match stride with ours.

“We can’t go in the main,” Alice whispered.

“Why not?” El asked.

“Quarantine,” whispered Alice.

“The whole city?” I asked.

“We can sneak in through the bellows,” whispered Alice.

“What is that?” I asked. “Bellows.”

“Deep city,” said Hamburger.

“A sort of downtown,” whispered Alice. “Old mining hub, smithy district, water treatment, red light district.”

“Dark elf town, casino, prison,” added Nessy.

“Higher crime, better food,” added Hamburger.

“Where’s the university?” I asked.

“That’s at main,” said Nessy.

“Can we get to main from the bellows?”

“Yes,” said Nessy.

“Good,” I said.

We walked for hours on rough terrain. If it wasn’t tall grass, it was jagged rocks. The worst was the mud toward the end. It was getting real dark now.

“I can hardly see,” I said.

“Almost there,” said Nessy.

“Where?”

“Old goblin mining tunnel.”

We weren’t almost there, not by a long shot. More hours passed. I noticed a light up ahead.

As we got closer, I saw that it was a lantern hanging from a wooden post. There was a sign too that read “OGMT VI”.

The mining tunnel entrance was lit too. A catfolk sat on a wooden chair just inside the awning. He looked at us with raised eyebrows and tight lips.

“Five adults,” said Nessy.

“Excuse me?”

“Bribe for five adults.”

“I don’t take bribes.”

“Wha-huh? Why not?”

“Excuse me?”

“This is OGMT six, is it not?”

“It is. Go to the main entrance and fill out—”

“Thank you,” said Nessy. She turned around. “Let’s go.”

“What?” asked Hamburger.

“Shut the fuck up,” Nessy said.

We turned and followed Nessy back the way we came until the mining entrance was out of sight. Nessy stopped walking.

“Shh,” Nessy whispered. “Alice, you hungry?”

Alice’s eyes got big. She nodded.

“Knock him out and have a bite. Not too much. Seriously. Don’t kill him.”

Alice vanished and we waited. Nessy tapped her foot incessantly. After about a minute, she couldn’t wait any longer.

“Let’s go,” she said.

We walked back over to the mining tunnel entrance. Alice was hunched over her victim and ‘having a bite’ when we arrived.

“Okay,” Nessy said, pulling Alice off. “That’s enough. Stop.”

Alice gave in and stood back up. She was in a bit of a daze.

“Follow,” said Nessy.

We followed her into the tunnel. It was dark with occasional lanterns. The tunnel was narrow but wide enough for two people to walk in parallel. A few minutes in, there was an unlabeled fork. We went right, which arched us down.

The lanterns became less and less frequent. And as the light dimmed, the air became more thick. Warm. Nearly smoky. There were now echos of muffled sounds bouncing around us. Drops of water. Hiss of steam.

Up ahead were other walkers. Catfolk, by the look of it. There were more splits. No signs that I could see. Nessy confidentiality navigated. How, I do not know.

It became so dark that I grabbed hold of El’s arm. She in turn put her arm around my shoulder to help guide me. I was quite miserable, save for that.

We continued to make our way onward, slightly down, occasionally turning and curving around, until we branched off into a wider path with quite a few catfolk, goblin, and dark elves, and others walking about. Here the lane was perhaps wide enough for four, though the lights were still dim so I can’t be certain.

What facilities were here seemed industrial. There were no storefronts or residences from what I could see. What light I had here was chiefly from forge fires, the occasional orc carrying a torch, less so from the now laughably rare hanging lantern.

We continued onward until we split again, this time onto a real proper path. It was well lit and much wider. You could fit ten people parallel here, which I could tell by counting, as it was packed. The air was a thousand smells, but not nearly as thick or smoky as before.

This had to be a sort of main street. There were vendors with flashy signs, walking merchants shouting out from the side, the most peculiar arrangements of sounds, music I suppose, blasting out and echoing back in every odd direction.

There were many splits off, all of which we avoided, and then the road expanded out and we found ourselves within a giant underground dome with many onramps up onto higher levels that curved and twirled up. As we walked deeper into the cavern, I realized there were lower floors and onramps spiraling down as well.

“No?” Hamburger said to Nessy.

I glanced at Nessy. Her face was crumpled up with a disgusted frown. She shooed away Hamburger.

“What’s up? I shouted over the noise of the crowd.

Nessy was looking around as if she was lost.

“What are you looking for?” shouted El.

“Where is Manny’s?” Nessy shouted to Hamburger. “Barbin Fundlefuck whatever emporium fuck.”

“Oh,” said Hamburger. “He moved. Two floors up.”

Nessy continued marching, curving us up an onramp and onto a second floor, which lined around the wall. There were many restaurants here. Outdoor seating, if you could call it that. Open fire grills, bars, a few shops.

We then curved up another onramp to the third floor area. Here there were more restaurants, but also a clothing boutique, a candy shop, a bakery, a polearm store, which I found to be sorely out of place, a pet store, and a store labeled “Barbin Fundlezorb Barinetts and Sorsank Emporium”.

Nessy pushed open the mint green-painted door. A little bell rang as we stepped in. The door slammed shut behind us, quieting the city.

The floorboards creaked as we waded through clothes racks and lampshades, oversized gizmo antennas, and mannequins wearing robes. Nessy approached a vacant counter and laid her head down on the bell.

There was shuffling in the backroom. “Hang on,” called out a goblin’s voice. Probably male. After some time, a goblin appeared. “Oh my shit it’s Nessy,” he coughed. “And a fresh gaggle of duds.” He laughed. Or coughed again. I think both.

Nessy slammed the counter. “Got any ordinal?”

Manny shook his head. “Always straight to business,” he turned to me and then El.

“Just answer the question, Manny.”

“Who’s the alchemist?” He examined each of us. “Or artificer,” he shrugged. “Cause I know it ain’t Nessy.”

“Nevermind,” said Nessy.

“Of course I have ordinal.”

“How much for a big one?”

“For you? I can do twenty-three.”

“Kay,” Nessy said with a tap of his counter. “Thanks Manny.”

“What? You buying?”

Nessy turned and walked towards the exit.

“She buying?” he asked us. He looked back towards her. “Nessy?”

Nessy opened the door. The city noise and lights poured back in. “Selling,” she feigned a smile, then released it.

“Oh screw you, Nessy. Is this about the funeral?”

“Yeah, Manny. I give two fucks about your grandgob’s funeral.”

“I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

“I’m always interested.” She left and the door slammed behind her. Alice walked towards the door to follow Nessy.

For whatever reason, I stayed. And so did Hamburger and El.

“Do people buy this junk?” Hamburger asked. He was poking a pair of spaulders.

Manny eyed Hamburger suspiciously.

“Do you trade books?” I asked.

Manny tilted his head slightly. “Sometimes.”

“Have you ever heard of one called The Darkness Between the Stars?”

“Can’t say I have. But that doesn’t say much.”

“What about this book?” I placed the brown book with a white ankh on the counter.

Manny didn’t say a word. He didn’t reach out or touch it. He hardly moved. He just stared at it. “Huh.”

“What?” I asked.

“Put it back in your bag,” Manny whispered.

I grabbed the book and put it back into my bag. I looked back up at Manny. “Why?”

Manny glanced around the store. I hadn’t realized it, but there was another shopper browsing in the back. “Have you identified it?” Manny whispered.

“How do I do that?” I whispered back.

“Hm,” said Manny, raising a finger as if to say wait. Or perhaps he had an idea. He grabbed a pen and jotted something down on scratch parchment, then handed it to me. “Take it to Nessy.”

I looked down at the parchment. I couldn’t make out a word he wrote. “Thanks,” I said, though I was unsure what to be thankful for exactly.

We exited the store and found Nessy chatting with Alice outside.

“Okay,” said Nessy. “I gotta run to the trade tunnel. Hamburger, take them to tika tavern. Grab a table. Don’t order anything, yet. I’m gonna find a reagent buyer. If we’re lucky, we’ll get twenty silver and we can get a nice room and meal tonight.”

“Ness,” I said. “I asked Manny about my book. He gave me this,” I handed Nessy the parchment.

Nessy read it, glanced at me, then read it again, cursed, and rushed back inside Manny’s. The door slammed. Something about it all deterred me from following her back in. I wasn’t alone in that either, apparently, as no one else did either.

“What did it say?” asked Alice.

I shrugged then glanced at Digiti, who was still sprawled out over Hamburger’s shoulders.

“We sure he doesn’t need a doctor?” I asked.

“He’s fine. Can’t you hear him snoring?” said Hamburger.

Across the way was a hot sauce shop that had a red imp aflame atop its roof. He was jumping around all menacingly-like, and occasionally he would shoot fireballs from his mouth. I waited for the next fireball, then followed it with my eyes as it soared across the cavern. Once it hit a wall, it popped like a bubble.

The door swung open and Nessy stepped out. “New plan. We eat lunch.”

We walked together from Manny’s to the nearby tavern. It had some name, but we just referred to it as tiki tavern. At its entrance was an iguana on a surfboard and its tavern windows looked like submarine windows. All the staff wore swimwear with flowery dresses or shirts on top.

While Nessy waited in line to speak with the innkeeper, who, by the way, had on a full captain get up, complete with a captain hat, mind you, I wandered over to the nearby banister. Beneath us was a flowing river of slime. As I gawked, a goblin laying on a raft floated by. She frowned at me, then sat up and glared. I looked away.

“Got anything like this back home?” Alice whispered. She had snuck up beside me.

I turned my head to face her and shook my head with a flabbergasted smile.

“Believe it or not, there's three slime parks at Redrock.”

“What do you… do, here?”

Alice chuckled and shrugged. “They're more popular with the goblins and orcs.”

“Don't rope me into this,” said Hamburger. He leaned over the banister to examine the things below. “But I happen to know there's obstacle courses, surf pools, slime rivers.”

I noticed Digiti was missing from his shoulders.

“Where's Digiti?” I asked.

“He woke up when we walked in. Was either then smell or the sound.”

“How is he?”

“He puked. Said he feels better now. Just tired. Nessy is taking him to the room.”

“I can’t believe we made it,” I said. “Just hours ago we were hiding in a cave from gnolls and harpies.”

Hamburger grunted.

“Hamburger, you were incredible back there,” I said.

“No,” he said. “As weak as gnolls are, they’re twice that in stupid. Four or five of them at once could have taken me down, easy. But not one at a time.”

“Okay,” said Nessy from behind us. “We got an emperor suite. It’s nice. Just tucked in the ant. Let's eat.”

“Where's El?” asked Hamburger.

I looked around. I didn't see her at first. But then I noticed the top of her white hair walking by one floor up.

“Up there,” I pointed. “I think I just saw her.”

“I'll get her,” said Hamburger.

“Come,” Nessy said. She guided us to a nearby table and we all plopped down. A waiter quickly came and brought us menus and utensils.

“So?” I asked Nessy. “What happened with Manny back there?”

Nessy glanced at me and nodded with a quick breath. “He really thinks your book could be real. He recommended an identifier up at main. We’ll go tomorrow on the way to the university.”

“An identifier?” I asked.

“Mhm,” Nessy nodded. “A spellbook junkie. Docket’s Book Store. And remind me in case I forget tomorrow— Manny said to seek Mr. Docket, and avoid Mrs. Docket.”

“How are we affording this meal and the, uh, emperor suite?” asked Alice.

Nessy nodded. “Manny bought the reagent. Twenty-five silver. Which is a steal, for us. But, if the book is real, he wants commission.”

“How much?” Alice asked.

“If it's real, it'll sell for, I dunno, a gold, maybe, depending on the spell.”

“Wow,” Alice whispered.

“If it's real,” Nessy emphasized.

“What does real mean?” I asked.

“It means it contains a magic spell,” said El from behind me. She took the open seat near me.

“Really?” I felt a chill. I thought of the corridors. The room I had been in. “Nessy, remember what happened when we faced the giant? How I took us somewhere?”

Nessy nodded uneasily.

“And Alice’s invisibility. Or Digiti's magic. These things can be learned? Through books?”

“No,” whispered Alice, “I’ve tried.”

Hamburger barreled over. “I can't find— oh,” he looked at El seated at the table. “She's back.”

“That's true for most,” said El, “but not for Zalmora. She’s learning new spells. It's how she rose to power so quickly.”

“Oh boy,” huffed Hamburger. “Politics already”.

“Well, it’s true,” said El. “She has conquered and enslaved over nine settlements now.”

Hamburger nearly knocked over the table maneuvering towards the last empty spot at the table. “She’s just your run of the mill asshole,” said Hamburger, taking a seat. “It’s really that simple.”

El smiled confidently and shook her head. “Everyone thinks Zalmora chooses her targets based on farmland and production. But look at where she attacks. More importantly, look at where she fortifies. Versus what she razes to the ground or ignores completely.”

The waiter returned and we got quiet. Nessy ordered a barrel of something probably-alcoholic. Yes, a barrel. I nearly fell out of my chair.

El continued. “Zalmora cares only about a handful of things. Libraries, sage and wizard guilds, universities, and… any guesses?”

“Nodes,” whispered Alice.

El snapped her fingers and pointed at Alice then looked around the table. “She's clever.”

“Nodes?” I asked.

“When Zal was tormenting Edith, it's all Edgar talked about,” Alice whispered.

“Who?” asked Hamburger.

“Edith’s lord wizard,” said Nessy.

Hamburger shrugged.

Alice continued, “When Zalmora landed at our shore, she took the nodes first.”

“How many?” asked El.

“There are two. And she would defend them with her entire army. She raided towns, but never defended them. He couldn't pry a single node from her. It drove Edgar mad.”

“You don't know why?” asked El.

“Okay,” said Nessy. She waved off El. “Let’s order food.”

Alice looked at El and then Nessy.

“They generate mana,” said El.

“Hah,” Hamburger belched. “Spare me.”

“Zalmora is behaving like a player,” El continued.

Nessy hit her fist on the table. “Stop.”

El flinched then glared at Nessy. I glanced at Alice. She was looking away.

“Listen,” said Hamburger, “I've faced players in the field. Twice now.”

“Those weren't players,” said El.

“And I can tell you from experience, they're flesh and blood. They got one or two tricks in them. Either surprise ‘em, or let them blow their load, and then cut them down.”

“Those are different,” El said.

Hamburger sighed. “How?”

“Magicians and shamans, like Alice and Digiti, have a spell or two and finite mana. That’s it. Even those with artifacts or potions are limited. Players are different.”

“Can we talk about something other than politics and religion?” Hamburger asked.

“Yeah, we need liqueur, stat.” said Nessy. “Guys, might I remind you, we made it to fucking Redrock. And, this is our last evening together as a party. By the way, Hamburger, I'm proud to say I can actually pay you.”

“You better, moneybags,” he smiled.

“And El,” Nessy said, “Tomorrow you begin your new life. A damn fine place to be for that. And right on the forefront of this Zalmora bullshit. You can affect real change here.”

El took a deep breath and gave a shallow nod.

“And Alice,” Nessy smiled, “your maps got us here. And tomorrow you get to the real work. It’s time the most fascinating city in the world had a proper topo-god-damn-graphical map.”

“Charlie,” Nessy looked at me, “I'll accompany you to the bookshop and university tomorrow. But then I'll be tied up in the capital district for a while. Perhaps a week, maybe two. By the time I’m done, you may be back home.”

I nodded with a smile.

Nessy stood up, empty glass in hand. “It was a pitiful adventure. One of loss and one of a few close calls. I think we almost died a few times. It certainly wasn’t what I signed up for. But we made it. Tomorrow we go our separate ways, at least for a time, but tonight we drink until we black out.”

As if to punctuate her speech, the barrel arrived.

We cheered. Even I for a time let rest my frantic thoughts of players, nodes, and spellbooks. I looked around the table at the faces. My new friends. I didn’t know where I was. How I was here. How to get back. But I was getting closer. And when I find a way out, I’ll remember these guys. I’ll miss them.

“I'm ordering the million man army,” said Nessy.

I hadn't a clue what she meant, but everyone else seemed pleased, so I was too.

“Honestly,” said Hamburger. I could see him attempting mental math. “You may need two.”

“Fine, a two million man army,” said Nessy.

I would learn in time that it meant shrimp. Hundreds of shrimp on giant wooden boats with wooden swords sticking out of their butts. We ate and ate, until we couldn't, and then we ate some more.