Merchant Crab

Ruby stood under the shade of a tree, contemplating the land in front of her with an intent expression on her face. Her dark green eyes absorbed each subtle detail with the razor-sharp precision of someone deciphering a story only she was meant to read.

A muted stretch of plains extended to her left from where the forest ended, its grass turned a pale shade of beige and brown by the arrival of winter. Next to it, an old cobblestone road climbed up a small hill, leading to a gate into a quaint little town called Ardville.

But none of those things were what really interested her in that vista.

A mountain, tall and wide, stood imposingly to her right, its snowy cap still smoking from the recent eruption of its core, tongues of dark volcanic rock spilled over its cliffs and now frozen in place after solidifying.

Below it, behind a cradle of large boulders, was a small, unassuming pond, somehow untouched by the violent outburst of the volcano above, as if an invisible hand had shielded the secluded haven from harm.

The enchantress let out a quiet, almost imperceptible sigh.

“If I had to guess,” a man’s voice said from behind her, “I would say you are wondering why everything always seems to lead back to the crab.”

Ruby glanced back at her loyal right-hand man with an eyebrow semi-raised in surprise, before a faint smile curled the corner of her mouth.

“One day you will have to tell me the secret of how you can always read me like no one else ever could, Jasper.”

“Perhaps one day,” he said in his calm and soothing voice. “But not today.”

They stood in silence for a moment, the quiet whirring of machinery coming from the enchantress’s hands the only sound against the background noise of the wind.

The astrolabe she held was no longer a lifeless artifact as it had been for so many years. Its rings spun and rotated around the brass orb at its center with mechanical precision and magical purpose. Each one performed a specific loop that synchronized perfectly with the next ring to fulfill their task, the delicate dance always ending with a convergence at the exact same spot.

“You think it could be a coincidence?” Jasper asked, without taking his gaze away from the pond in the distance.

“We have both seen enough from this world to know there is no such thing,” Ruby replied.

The man nodded and glanced down at the delicate instrument.

“Could it perhaps be… wrong about its target?”

The enchantress closed her eyes and shook her head with a hint of disappointment.

“Amil was your mentor too, Jasper. Do you ever recall him making a mistake with his work? Or his instruments ever being anything short of flawless?”

The seasoned adventurer conceded to her point with a small nod.

“But the last piece we recovered was in Tweedus’s possession for a long time,” he said. “I am not an artisan by any means, but should we truly discard the possibility that the ring was perhaps damaged or warped in some way during that time? Or worse, that Tweedus himself tinkered with it? We both know the old man always had a strange sense of humor, and that he seems to have taken a liking to this crab. Could he not be toying with us? Wasting our time?”

Ruby shook her head once again, letting out a tired sigh.

“Tweedus may be far more powerful and experienced than any of us, but he is still not specced into either enchanter or artificer skills,” she explained in a slightly more agitated tone. “I inspected every bit of the ring before adding it to the astrolabe, in every way possible. There is not a thing he could have done to Amil’s work that I wouldn’t have spotted. The astrolabe is working perfectly as intended.”

Jasper placed both hands behind his back and looked straight ahead into the distance.

“Fair enough. I am just trying to provide an alternate point of view so we consider all our angles.”

The woman in red rose one hand to her confidante’s shoulder and gently wrapped her fingers around it.

“I know, and I always appreciate your counsel,” she said in a calmer tone. “But in this matter, I am more sure than in anything else. The astrolabe worked, Jasper. If it hadn’t, half the continent would not have felt the earth shake the moment we activated it. Amil’s relic reached out to find the source of power in this world, and something responded to it. Violently. We are closer than ever to finding who or whatever created this place, this system, and why we were brought here.”

The other adventurer exhaled sharply and rubbed his clean-shaven jaw in thought for a moment.

“All of that is true,” he said, “but why here of all places? Could we not be looking at the wrong location?”

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Ruby looked down at the metal instrument. “I considered that, but you saw the system message, same as we all did. A new dungeon appeared inside the mountain after the eruption. When was the last time a new dungeon was formed on Heartha, Jasper? Several ages ago? The amount of raw power it would require… This has to be it. This is where we will find the trail to this world’s creator and finally get our answers.”

The enchantress’s most trusted advisor turned to look at her with his dark, comforting eyes, a kind and warm smile forming on his rugged face.

“If you are certain, then that is all I need,” he said. “I just want to make sure the same obsession that claimed Amil will not take you away from me too. From us all.”

They looked back to the treeline, where the other members of the Birdwatchers were, some keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings, others busy organizing their weapons and inventories, several more still out of sight in the cover of the forest’s darkness.

A young girl stepped out from the woods, making her way to the red-robed woman with great haste.

“Madame Ruby,” the apprentice said. “Our scouts have reported back.”

The enchantress removed her hand from Jasper’s shoulder and cleared her throat as she returned to a more straight and poised posture.

“Excellent, Amber. And what did they find?”

The young adventurer placed both hands together in front of her midsection and bowed slightly before starting her report.

“They have circled around the mountain and found no other way inside beyond the entrance formed in front of the pond. They confirmed that the eruption consisted of liquid chocolate and not lava, as we had suspected from the released fragments we saw on the way here. They could not find an explanation for it from the outside.”

The older woman nodded. “What of the crab?”

Amber lowered her gaze even further to the ground and continued.

“They confirmed he has been seen and is back home, along with his goblin and drake companions, but could not investigate further for fear of being spotted. The archer, Rye, is also there, along with the local baker by the name of Madeleine.”

“Interesting,” Ruby said thoughtfully. “What of the golem? Has it been seen anywhere?”

“No, Madame. Boul—” The girl stopped herself and lowered her head even more. “The golem does not appear to be with them.”

The woman in red stared at the leaves hanging from the branches above.

“Hmm, perhaps Tweedus did not help him after our last encounter? No matter. Anything else, Amber?”

“Y-yes, mistress,” the girl sheepishly said, her gaze still on the dirt below. “Our scouts say adventurers have already started coming down from the nearby town to enter the dungeon, and that more are coming from other places as well.”

“Ah, as we suspected,” said Ruby. “Every adventurer within a certain radius of the volcano must have received that notification. This… complicates things, but we shall adapt.”

Amber stood back straight and looked up at the much taller woman.

“Should I let the others know we’re moving out? Are we going into the dungeon?”

The enchantress turned her gaze to the pond in the distance, the whirring contraption in her grasp still persistently rotating in its ceaseless loop, pointing to the same spot.

“No, my dear. We will not be going into this Semla Dungeon just yet.”

Jasper raised an eyebrow at her in discreet surprise. “We will not?”

“No,” Ruby replied. “It wouldn’t be prudent. The crab guards the only entrance into the dungeon. We would have to go through his territory, and given our last meeting, I imagine he would not be very… cooperative.”

Jasper turned to her, with his arms crossed and an intrigued look on his face.

“We could easily get past the crab and his companions if necessary. He was lucky Tweedus was by his side last time, but that is not the case now.”

The woman in red shook her head gently while glaring at the bazaar’s roof peeking over the boulders.

“I have underestimated this creature before. You will be glad to hear I intend to correct that mistake.” She turned to the other two with a stern gaze. “The crab has friends and allies. Most adventurers on this part of the continent know and have taken a liking to him. Getting into a direct confrontation with his party could lead to a conflict with other adventurers. Locals too. We may have the knowledge, but we do not have the numbers.”

“But… then what do we do, mistress?” asked Amber, her brow knitted in confusion.

A small smirk wrinkled the corner of Jasper’s mouth. “Knowing the source we seek may be in there, I’m sure you still intend to go into that dungeon no matter what. Isn’t that right, Ruby?”

“Of course I do,” she replied, a nearly imperceptible smile curving her lip. “But our work is best done in the shadows. We will keep doing what we do best and what has kept us undetected by everyone else, even the birds, for so long—we spy. For now, we let the crab uncover the truth near the surface. We let those other adventurers clear a path into the dungeon. And when the time is right, we strike.”

“What…” the hesitant apprentice started. “What if we miss our chance and someone else gets to the end of the dungeon before we do?”

Ruby’s smile broadened with a slight amusement at her ward’s question.

“We will just have to keep a close eye on their progress. Even if any of them—whether local or adventurer—got anywhere near the core, they would lack the knowledge of what to do with it. That is why it needs to be us. Only we know the kind of power we’re dealing with, and how to use it.”

Jasper cocked an eyebrow and glanced at the distant pond.

“It’s still a risk. That crab has a knack for throwing things into disarray whenever he’s involved.”

The scarlet woman let out a quiet scoff, her piercing gaze pointed up at the summit of Semla Mountain through her red-tinted glasses.

“Perhaps he does, but thankfully for us, Balthazar would have no idea how to use a world core.”

***

“Dang it!” exclaimed the exasperated crab. “I have no idea how to use this thing!”

Balthazar stood in front of one of his bazaar’s shelves, several pieces of armor and other gear spread on the floor beneath him as he searched through his inventory of prime quality junk. In his pincers he held a round steel helmet, meant for a human head.

“I thought this new trait said I could equip these things now, but no matter what I do, it won’t work!” the crustacean complained, attempting once more to place the helmet on top of his carapace, only for it to slide off again as a system message popped up in his sight.

[Item cannot be equipped. Incompatible body type.]

His eyestalks curved in annoyance at the text, and as Balthazar dismissed the message, something caught his eye, tucked all the way in the back of the shelf.

“But that might work…”