It took Rud a while to warm up in the longhouse. Dean had to leave, intent on joining with Mint and Sarya to fight against the monsters. That left Rud and Taz alone to defend the tree. Which they did by keeping the door cracked in the longhouse, poking their heads out every quarter-hour. The dwarf had a shovel and the druid had his staff. Not that either of them had combat abilities. The best they could do was wave their weapons menacingly and shout obscenities.

  “Come look at this,” Taz said from the door.

  Rud shuffled over, feeling the warmth of the fire fade as he drew closer to the doors. After just having shaken off the biting cold, the last thing he wanted to do was endure it yet again. But the sight outside was confusing at first. The rain had slowed its descent to the ground. It had turned from driving ran with fat raindrops to a wintery mix, depositing slush into the grove.

  “My tower didn’t predict snow.”

  “The seasons are shifting. I think,” Taz said. “I was born underground. Don’t have experience with such unfavorable weather.”

  Rud counted the days on his fingers, piecing together how much time he had spent in this new world. He couldn’t remember every single day that had passed, but recalled most of them. A month had passed since he arrived. Thirty-something days. If this world followed the same scheme as Earth, they were entering autumn. As if the constant cold wasn’t bad enough, did the grove have icy weather to look forward to? Rud couldn’t help but think about how that would change the plants and animals.

  “I hope my tea survives,” the druid said. But he found himself driven away from the entrance instead of drawn toward it. His body moved him to the fire, where he sat to rest. “I don’t even want to go back to the mushroom house.”

  “The cold is bracing!” Taz shouted. “Reminds me of the deep mines.”

  Rud’s ride in the rain had brought his body temperature down. But as he warmed up by the fire, his concerns drifted away from himself. There were several adventuring groups within the grove. If they got caught out before finding somewhere to stay, they might be in trouble. It wasn’t the custodian’s job to keep them safe, but he felt as though it was his personal responsibility.

  “I’ll be back,” Rud said, dragging himself away from the fire.

  Despite what Taz had said about the cold, he wasn’t volunteering to head out. The druid left alone, feeling the slush squash underfoot. He shivered as the cold wet ground soaked into his feet. He found the nearest ice-covered bush and passed through it, arriving at the tower and darting in before more frigid rain could find its way into his cloak. He accepted the Aspect of Bent and started his search.

  Mint, Sarya, and Dean were battling away to the south. He watched them for a moment, studying the way their energy interacted with that of the monsters. Flashes of red and blue filled his sight. The wolves almost seemed to toy with the monsters, enjoying what little time they had to engage such a large group. Rud shifted his attention away, scanning for any lost mortals. They were highlighted in his vision with pale silver in most places, but others were variations that were stained with other hues. There were five teams in the grove, all headed westward.

  “I don’t remember there being that many…”

  One group had pressed on past the Sacred Tree. They trudged over the road, arms wrapped tightly around themselves. While he didn’t remember seeing them enter the area, they would get themselves killed if they didn’t stop to rest. At the least, those people would be uncomfortable for the duration of the storm. And the Farseeing skill was confident the storm would persist for a while. Down the stairs and through a bush, Rud appeared as close to the group as he could get.

  “Hey! You guys need to get somewhere safe!”

  The group turned, weapons already drawn. “Which road is this?” one shouted.

  Rud looked up and down the road. The Sacred Tree’s clearing was still within sight. If the tree was behind them, they were headed west. The druid considered the idea that this storm was more magical than he expected, screwing with the mortal’s senses. He trudged over the slippery road, steadying himself with his staff.

  “This way,” Rud said, beckoning the group forward. Two of the four hesitated, but fell into line before long. They passed the Sacred Tree and the druid noticed someone leaving a sack near the base. He wouldn’t deny more offerings.

  “Just stay in here,” Rud said, shoving his full weight against the double doors. They groaned open, revealing the interior of the longhouse. Heat flooded out and Taz complained about the cold.

  “Thank you, spirit,” an adventurer said. But the other three had already dashed over to the fire.

  Rud pulled the doors closed for now, warming himself by the fire. The adventurers shared tales of getting turned around. The druid had them promise to spread the word about storms while within the grove. If rain threatened, they needed to find shelter or they would get lost. As the group had been turned around on a road that only went two ways, they agreed to share the information.

  When Rud peered through the crack of the double doors, he saw that the rain had intensified. The sky was darker, casting the forest below in a renewed darkness. No snow stuck to the ground, only a constant slush that congealed into frigid puddles. It didn’t melt and the top portions of deep puddles were slick with thin ice. The puddles crunched underfoot as the druid braved the cold again. One last check of the tower before he settled down in the longhouse for about twenty years.

  Rud scanned the road first, allowing the Aspect of Bent to zoom his sight in. There were places he couldn’t get line-of-sight on, forcing him to swap to the top-down view. At least he could move it around, tracing a path over the long road. After that, he searched the areas near the road for signs of lost mortals. When he was satisfied that all the teams were accounted for, he returned to the comfortable fire. Before heading to the longhouse, he snatched the sack of offerings to search through.

  “Woah,” Rud said, settling in by the fire. “Which one of you is Mister Moneybags?”

  A shy-looking human woman raised her hand, blush spreading across her cheeks. The color was intensified by the glow of the fire, and perhaps the heat within the building. The other mortals had spread the word, just as Rud had wished. Five Dungeon Core Fragments clattered at the bottom of the sack. Those fragments would allow him to upgrade another building. While that was great, they seemed almost impossible to get more of. The druid expected more fragments from the dungeon Oak was running, but there was an inevitable course set by Ban. She would create more buildings, which would require more dungeon core fragments.

  Ban had mentioned a way to do the same job with monster cores, but hadn’t elaborated on how that worked. Rud would take the things the mortals left for now. But he needed to decide on which building to use the fragments. Since he had been busting his butt to keep everything running, he wanted to use them on something that would make his life easier. The Energy Node expansion was the sensible option. But the Observatory was the cool option. And the usefulness of the Observatory was undeniable. The shivering adventurers warming themselves by the fire was evidence enough of that.

  Mint had enough foresight to place a pile of old bedrolls inside the longhouse. Those bedrolls came with a pile of junk that no one would find useful, but that’s how she worked. Taz made sure everyone got enough soup before retrieving a roll and positioning it by the fire. Rud did the same, allowing his bedroll to warm before he got inside. Sleep came easier than ever with the sound of rain pattering outside and a fire warming his back.

  ###

  The storm had only gotten worse the next morning. Taz had already left to do something in the mine by the time Rud woke. The intensifying cold made it harder to wake up, and there seemed no better place to be than within that bedroll. Only the sounds of the adventurers getting food for themselves brought him out of his slumber. After a bowl of scalding soup, he felt ready enough to face the cold.

  Rud teleported to the tower, grumbling as the rain fell against his cloak. Slush squashed under his feet, the cold biting into his toes. He kept forgetting to look into a pair of shoes. He ascended the tower, settling in at the top to scan the grove. At least the other adventuring teams had enough sense to stay where they were.

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  The Dungeon Core Fragments spilled out onto the floor as Rud considered his options. This was the direction he wanted to go in. With an impressive stockpile of crystals he could afford to burn through, this was where he wanted to put his efforts.

  “This place is just too useful,” Rud said, holding one fragment and pressing it into the building. Allowing the items to touch the building wasn’t good enough. He needed to put them inside with intent. The building was happy enough to suck the items up after that, pulsing with power each time it absorbed a fragment.

  Five Dungeon Core Fragments later, and the building was ready for an upgrade. Rud sorted through the ones that sucked, narrowing his selections over the course of a quarter-hour. Like his skills, some upgrades were questionable or completely cosmetic. He didn’t need the building to glow in the dark, and was unsure why anyone would ever pick such an upgrade. From the pile, he narrowed his selection to two.

  [Scanning Pulse]

  Observatory Upgrade

  Description:

  Just a quick scan of the area…

  Effect:

  Once per day (resetting at midnight), you may send a scanning pulse out from the observatory. This pulse will reveal resources, energies, etc. The range of this effect depends on the level and rank of this building.

  This upgrade was interesting. He assumed the tower collected information and his Farseeing skill processed it. Having access to more information was always better. This might have been the upgrade he went with in the future, but the other one was tempting. He inspected the second choice he had selected.

  [Communication System]

  Observatory Upgrade

  Description

  Information is key to many things. A watcher must sometimes intervene with that information.

  Effect:

  Twice per day (both charges resetting at midnight) you may broadcast a spoken message to a local area within your viewable range.

  Creates a two-way communication system with other allied Observatories.

  Communication System would cover a problem he experienced just the day before. But the thing that interested him most was the second effect on the upgrade. His mind went back to Basil’s grove and the information that spirit had provided. Rud was figuring out things well enough on his own, but to have another guardian to talk to would be amazing. As he considered the implications, he realized he would be talking to another custodian. Not a guardian. After some internal debate, he went with Communication System for now. If it wasn’t as good as he expected, he would find a way to upgrade the building again and take the Scanning Pulse upgrade.

  Rud pitched to one side as the tower rumbled underneath him. A table and chair appeared out of nowhere and a sheen of glass-like material covered the open-air window section of the tower’s top. A small metal box with dials, numbers, and a handheld microphone appeared on the table.

  “Is that… A radio?”

  Both the table and chair were sized perfectly for him. Rud scooted the chair over and sat down. The metal box was a radio. Attached to the front with a silver connector was the microphone. A curly cord stretched between the port and the handheld microphone. The druid blinked, mouth opening and closing like a beached fish. He had seen older guys with CB radios back in the day. The hobby had fallen out of favor in modern times, but he recognized all the buttons. He turned the volume knob until it clicked. The small screen lit up, displaying that he was on channel 1. Faint static played back through the speaker.

  “This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen yet. And I talk to wolves,” Rud muttered.

  The clash of technology against the fantasy backdrop was overwhelming. Once his senses were back, he picked up the microphone and held it close to his mouth.

  He depressed the button, silencing the static. “This is Gladesbale tower… uh… Hello?”

  He released the button, gaining static in return. Rud blew out a breath and shook his head. “What am I doing?” Although he asked himself the question, he cycled to the next channel and tried again.

  Rud fell into a groove cycling through the channels. The intensity of the static increased near channel 20, and intensified until he got to channel 28. The druid depressed the button again, sighing and expecting nothing to happen.

  “This is Gladesbale tower. Is anyone there?”

  Rud waited for a few breaths, his finger hovering over the button to increase the channel. The radio crackled to life as a squeaky voice came in.

  “I’m reading you, Gladesbale tower. This is Hagsrise tower.”

  Rud made a surprised face, looking around for anyone to explain what was going on. Static played over the radio for long moments until the woman’s voice came back.

  “This isn’t a real radio. Just some magic meant to seem like a radio… You still there, Gladesbale?”

  “Uh, yeah. I’m here,” Rud said, clutching the microphone. “Just confused.”

  “Aren’t we all? Good to hear another voice on this thing, though.”

  “What do you mean?” Rud asked. He found himself leaning in over the table, staring at the number on his receiver.

  “The other groves don’t have an Observatory. You’re the first, Gladesbale.”

  “You’re a custodian, right?” Rud asked. A question lingered in his mind that he couldn’t help but asking. He needed to know if Jim was right about the other custodians. “Are you from Earth?”

  “Yup. Hollywood. Got hit by a bus and some worm dragged me through reality.”

  “Gug?”

  “The very same. God this is nice. I haven’t talked to another custodian in… Well, a long time.”

  Rud let the sound of static wash over him. Talking to another custodian was euphoric. Ban and Mint were nice, but they never understood him. They expected him to not only do his job, but figure out what his job was. And this lady seemed eager to chat. The druid licked his lips, formulating an approach to the conversation.

  “Still there, Gladesbale?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. Just trying to get my head straight.”

  “Let’s start small. Where are you from?”

  “I was living in Miami when I died. Heart attack.”

  “Hollywood. Killed by a bus, as I said.”

  “California, huh?” Rud asked, leaning in further. He felt himself being drawn into the radio.

  Hagsrise laughed over the radio. “Florida, actually. So, you’re the newest custodian, huh? Been twenty years since Bent managed to make a successful grove. How are you guys doing?”

  Rud paused for only a moment before pouring everything out in one unbroken statement. When he was done spewing everything that had happened since he arrived, he realized his thumb was sore from keeping the button depressed for so long. Static came back over the radio for an equal amount of time. Long enough to think that Hagsrise had dropped off the channel because he was being so annoying.

  “You there?”

  “Yeah. That’s a lot to take in, Gladesbale. I don’t think the other custodians started with such an interesting class combination.”

  “That’s what Jim said…”

  “You already did your first exchange? Fancy man over here. I guess that’s what happens when you have a sapient tree.”

  The next pause that came was more awkward than the last. Hagsrise came back on the radio first, spilling her own story. Perhaps she felt strange after listening to him pour his feelings and felt the need to do the same. Like him, she had arrived confused and in a new body. While her body was different from her original body, she seemed happy enough with it. Gug wasn’t a talker, and she didn’t have a tree to share her thoughts with. Worst of all, their grove was underground. She didn’t see another soul for a year, and the Sacred Beasts that were attracted to the grove weren’t talkers. Twenty-five years of isolation. But she gained companions over time. Mostly dwarves.

  “Good to know we’re both dwarf enjoyers.”

  “So you’ve been down there for twenty-five years. Wait, what year did you get transported over here?”

  “Twenty-eight.”

  “Wait… 2028? Or…”

  “Yup. How about you?”

  Rud drummed his fingers on the table. Time didn’t mean a thing to the spirits or the gods. “2010.”

  “Oh, wild. Wait, I’m from the future! I can’t believe you missed out on flying cars and robot servants.”

  “Really?”

  “No. Things weren’t going so well when I left.”

  Hours rolled by as Rud chatted with another Earthling. This was a lifeline he didn’t know he needed, but it bolstered his spirits beyond anything he could have imagined.

  “Ah, dang. I need to sign off, Gladesbale. I came to do my report when your voice came crackling through. Come visit me at the same time tomorrow, alright? There’s a group of fungus-people that are fighting with a group of plant-people. God, it never ends.”

  Rud signed off for the day, falling back in his chair. He blew out a heavy breath, shaking away the disorientation. “That was awesome.”