"Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I'm a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst-case scenario. I call it 'the eaten by wolves factor.' If I do something, what's the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don't worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do." ~ Randy Pausch

Janelle Graysdottir, was both pleased to be back in her comfortable office and annoyed to see the backlog of work awaiting her attention. She ran a hand through her loosely bound silvery hair with a sigh and plunked down a large mug of her preferred black tea – lightly sugared and heavily creamed.

"Seriously? Most of this is purely routine and could have been handled by the desk staff. The budgetary stuff can wait for a while; we're not having that meeting 'til next month, Goddess knows. The new acquisition list is always interesting to read over, but they don't need me to catalog them... Let's see... What actually requires my attention in a timely fashion? I do need to go over the list of newly appearing texts again, if only to see what Vay's been up to while I was in transit. And I have meeting requests from... Oh, great. Just about everyone from Semyaza and the Chancellor of the Academy up through the Senior Archpriestess."

She pondered that briefly, mostly casting mental aspersions on Semyaza's character. Ultimately, she set some basic prioritization in place – first sending the routine work back out to be handled by the desk staff and lower-level archivists with some basic direction. From there, she'd go over the records of Vay's actions since she'd departed, and schedule visits with the Chancellor and the Archpriestess (representing her penultimate bosses in a secular and religious sense). Semyaza could defensibly wait until after, and that would prevent him trying to make her spin things to his credit. She smiled briefly at that thought, recognizing she'd need to steer clear of him until then; fortunately, that shouldn't be hard, as he was in the central archives a good distance away.

"Hmm. I rather thought Vay would be adding more books to the archives than he has. It looks like he's added all the ones that were already on the list, but the only new one beyond those since I left was the one he gave me. I guess maybe he's leaving it up to me to add it to the archives, since it was a gift? That would be a nice chunk of credits, but I'll wait a few more days, just in case he simply didn't get around to it; it's not as though I don't have access to the archives, after all. And he only checked out the one book so far? I wonder what prompted him to get that one... The Pass of Storms? He did say the Goddess gave him homework – maybe it's related? Maybe I'll take a peek at it once things get back to normal around here. "

Janelle was a bit confused by his relative inactivity with the archive, having figured he'd be trying to amass significant credits while awaiting the arrival of his new institutional class reader. She gnawed her lower lip gently as she pondered. "Something else to put on the agenda, I suppose. I'll requisition one from the central archives when I speak with Semyaza and try to get it in the hands of the dungeon inspector for the Orclands – if I can figure out who that will be. I guess maybe Vay's taken up with his divine homework or some of the other tasks he seems to have on the backburners; I know that always cuts into my reading time."

As it turned out, meeting with the Chancellor was both easy and not terribly time consuming; he'd heard from the Archpriestess about the general results of her meeting with the dungeon and had wanted to know what kinds of information she thought likely to be provided. The titles of what sounded like basic level academic textbooks were of obvious interest and he had a list of professors he planned to notify about the new works- ranging from ones studying natural science through more literarily focused ones. The elderly elven mage was quite pleased, generally, as the potential for a broad array of outworlder knowledge opened up a number of interesting possibilities. He'd even suggested that an expedition of academics might be sent, probably next year when it might be more convenient, in order to petition the dungeon for a clearer sense of the possible works it could supply. Janelle had the sinking suspicion that she'd be tasked to guide them but not given any actual authority over the senior academics, which was likely to make that trip a bit nightmarish.

The Archpriestess' interest was less in the individual works the dungeon would be providing, and more in its interactions with the goddess. That was apparently stirred by a visitation she'd had, with the Goddess waking her from a sound sleep to suggest that she speak with Janelle about the outworlder dungeon. It was strongly implied that a good working relationship between the church and the dungeon was desired by the Goddess, though it was less clear as to why, exactly, the Goddess was so interested. Janelle couldn't really offer a great deal of insight into what might be so important but WAS able to reassure the normally quite reserved Lamia that the dungeon was quite reasonable, and actually rather pleasant to speak with. Janelle left that meeting with a warm glow, having been quite surprised to be commended for her forethought in providing Vay with both the blueprint for her travel altar and a copy of Almeidra's tenets.

That happy feeling had really only lasted until she'd begrudgingly contacted Semyaza late in the day. That contact had gone much as she'd expected, and her heart had sunk as soon as his perfectly symmetrical and oh-so-punchable face had appeared on screen. He'd been rather smarmy and self-congratulating, as usual, pointing out his wisdom and management skill in "pushing her to be proactive in the pursuit of her assigned duties."

She had the distinct sense that he was trying to establish the success of her mission as a benefit for himself. As such, while he'd have preferred to have made the trip himself (where he'd obviously have secured more generous terms for the archives), he'd clearly chosen the next best thing by selecting her, directing her expedition, and of course providing clear guidance on how to pursue the best results. The fact that he'd been directed more by his inherent malice and laziness was something neither of them directly addressed, though Janelle pondered doing so briefly. Still, since he was forced to recognize the mission as successful, she was issued a commendation, however reluctantly, and had been placed on the short list for a promotion. He, of course, made it sound as though he'd fought for her, though she didn't believe that for a moment. In all, she came away from the meeting in a strong position, though irritated at how transparent his politicking really was. The only upside of the meeting, personally, had been the look on his face when she'd informed him that, by necessity and the direct requirement of the Senior Archpriestess, he'd need to locate an institutional class reader, pack it for shipping, and have it transported immediately to the dungeon inspector for the Orclands with a polite request for its delivery, payable from his local budget. Watching him blanch as she explained that the Senior Archpriestess would be quite disappointed if the reader didn't make it to the dungeon with its next anticipated visitor had been quite edifying.

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"Now, I guess, I should get back to my office. If I'm good, and I am, I should be able to get through the backlog tomorrow. And by the weekend, I should be able to sit down and finish my book – I am legitimately invested in finding out what's going on in that monastery!"

***********************************************

Shuzug grunted noncommittally at his boss, unconsciously flexing his powerful, scarred arms in a standard Orcish display that went largely unnoticed by all and sundry. "You want me to visit the new dungeon? Why? It hasn't even been two weeks since it was last inspected. What do you think has changed?" The 7-foot, hulking warrior gnashed his teeth in annoyance.

Glasha the Hawk paced irritably around the campfire marking the center of the encampment – on a low rise near the river loosely fortified with large stones. Her eyes flashed redly as she stared Shuzug down. She held up a hand, folding down fingers with sharpened, steel-clad nails as she counted. "First, it's your damn job as the dungeon inspector for the guild in this area. Someone from the Orclands needs to check it out, and you're the obvious choice. Second, it's a damn divinely-placed, sapient dungeon, so we need to know if it would be suitable for testing our youth or if it needs to be forbidden to them. Third, it IS growing quite quickly, so odds are that it HAS in fact changed in the last few weeks. Fourth, we can't let the elves and dwarves get a jump on us with regards to the knowledge the damn thing might provide. And finally, Fifth, because I FUCKING told you to." Her hand now a balled fist, she punched him, hard but affectionately, in the shoulder. She scuffed her red leather boots through the dusty soil in annoyance.

"You and I both know that your idiot subordinates aren't ready to properly assess a dungeon like this one, much less decide how the Orclands should interact with it. For that matter, I'm going to send you with an adventuring party that includes at least two senior warriors for a goddamn second opinion – 'cuz you know the council will bitch at me if I don't. And if I can't trust my own goddamn clan second to look after my interests, who the fuck should I send instead?"

Shuzug grimaced and rolled his shoulders. "Fine. How do we get there? You have a skyship ready to hand? Giant Eagles willing to carry us?"

Glasha groaned. "No. We don't have a skyship, and we can't really arrange one in the time available. The fucking Eagles won't go there either; afraid of the dragon, quite sensibly."

Her second snarled back, "Then what's the plan? Wave as it floats by? Jump from a tall tree and hope for the best?"

"Spare me your sad attempt at sarcasm, Shuzug. You're going to love this one..." She grinned at him, ivory tusks bearing thin gold rings flashing in the firelight. Her tone told him, in no uncertain terms, that he absolutely was NOT going to love her plan. Still, he'd go along with it. They'd been fast allies since they were pups, and he'd had a hand in helping his smart and powerful clansister rise to a position of prominence.

She told him the plan, and he just shook his head. "Are you insane? Or is it that you think I'm insane? For that matter, how do you expect to convince your adventuring party to go along with it?"

She laughed, a bit mockingly. "Oh, no worries there! It was THEIR idiot idea in the first place..."

******************************************

"Shit, Shuzug actually went for it?!" Lugrub shook her head woefully, long black ponytail swaying as she did. The leather-clad rogue looked distinctly surprised by this turn of events.

"Pretty sure Glasha just told him to. She says 'jump', he says 'off which cliff'?", her twin brother Ushug snorted, eyes down, focusing on the knife he was currently sharpening. It was one of his favorites and he tested the edge by running it across his shaved scalp to remove the day's growth. Next up would be his axe; serving as primary weapon to the classic barbarian meant it could always use a touchup.

Their party leader, Lazgar, cuffed him solidly on one ear, kindly waiting until he moved the blade away from his head. The paladin of Drogma shook his head slowly. "Shut up, Ushug. Shuzug is neither stupid nor blindly obedient. Unlike some people. I'm guessing they're feeling pressure to keep up with the dwarves out of Aubesan; can't seem weak or incapable, after all. The plan SHOULD work, even if it's dependent on getting the right conditions. The alchemists have promised the potions will be available, and if the timing is tricky, you'll at least have incentive to do it right..."

The final member of their party shook her head. A bit older and less foolhardy than the others, Orbul was already regretting ever mentioning the teleport trap in the nearby ruins. "If we're really doing this, then we need to start work on the gliders now. We only have a week or so until the island's closest approach and there's no way we're doing this without having a full selection of potions of spider climb and feather fall. If it works right, we won't need them, but I'd have to be dumber than Ushug to go without them." Her thinning, iron-gray hair was tightly braided and barely peeked out of her dark hood when she shook her head. "Frankly, I wish I'd never seen what happened to old Gorblug – even if it WAS pretty funny to hear him screaming all the way down. I could have lived my whole life without knowing what happens to a body that falls from three kilometers in the air onto bare stone. Much less observing it directly from within the splash zone."

Lazgar winced at the mental image but gave it careful consideration. "Yeah, I'm sure that was unpleasant. Still, you know he was alive until impact and you've got a sense of how high he was from how long it took him to fall. Given that, we CAN prepare for this.

We hit the teleport, snap out the collapsible gliders, and head for the sky island. If we're lucky, we catch an updraft that gets us to a suitable landing spot. If we're less lucky, we end up lower than we'd like on the side of the mountain, relying on spider climb potions to get us where we need to go. If we're completely unlucky, we just glide back down and call it a failure (and possibly try again). And if catastrophe strikes, the feather fall potions should help us survive a fall; though I don't like the idea that we'll have to time when to use the damn things."

Orbul grimaced. "I know that all makes sense. But YOU know, I was fucking JOKING when I mentioned the idea, right?"

Lazgar just laughed. "And I'm sure Glasha appreciates your sense of humor!"

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