Dungeon Noble - Squire

“I think we did well,” Jake said after a few beats of silence. “It was much better than last time, that’s for sure. No one was injured, and we finished the floor much more quickly.”

“Very good, I agree. Those are the main measures of a delve, but you should also note how much equipment was used. Torches have a limited duration, so you should also be mindful of how long you have left.” Ari said, his lips twisting into a slight smile as they all sighed in relief. “That’s not to say that you didn’t make several glaring errors, so while I agree that it went well, there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

“Like what?” Rhew challenged, folding her arms and lifting her chin with a defiant look in her eyes.

“Well, the first thing is your Wyrdgeld,” Ari said, walking over to lean against the Dungeon wall as he spoke. “I assume you’ve already tried to rank up or improve your skills within the Dungeon and realised you can’t. It all needs to come out with you to be of use, and you can’t draw Wyrdgeld from dead people, only slain monsters. What would happen if Karl was killed mid-way through the Dungeon?”

“We’d lose the Wyrdgeld he was carrying,” Jake said, wincing a little at the fact that none of them had even considered pooling their money to rank up one of them last time. They wouldn’t have been able to, but they still should have at least considered the idea.

“Precisely, which is why you always carry it within you when outside the Dungeon but on your person when inside the Dungeon. If you look in your packs from Ivaldi, you will find a small money pouch. I suggest you use it.”

Jake pulled off his pack and rifled through it, finding the small money pouch Ari had said would be there. Calling the three Wyrdgeld he’d harvested into his hand, Jake slipped them into the pouch and attached it to his belt.

They couldn’t afford to lose any Wyrdgeld.

“Good, now, that was the first thing. The second thing to talk about is you, Alan,” Ari said, turning to face the scholar. “Why were you not using an active Skill?”

“I don’t understand,” Alan said, his brow furrowing as he shifted under Ari’s regard. “My Skill isn’t relevant to all this.”

“Do me a favour and read out the wording if you would,” Ari said, idly waving away Alan’s protest.

“Okay, it’s called Weak Inquisitive Regard, an uncommon Skill, and it says, ‘You channel a minor amount of Wyrd through your eyes, granting a minor enhancement to your ability to perceive.’”

“I hoped it would be something like that,” Ari said with a satisfied nod. “So, why aren’t you using it?”

“Well, it’s for helping you read faster and clearer, not for fighting,” Alan said with a confused expression. “I read about it in a book on Skills.”

“True, and that’s what it’s used for, in most cases, by most Scholars. You, however, are not most Scholars, so tell me, what have you done that’s helped the most on this delve so far.”

“I killed a pair of rats that were going to get Rhew,” Alan said in a questioning tone, glancing towards Jake and the others for support.

“Karl could have done that if he’d moved a little faster and not been so flat-footed,” Ari said, shooting Karl a pointed look that made him wince and look a little sheepish.

“I spotted I helped spot the rats and where they were hiding,” Alan said, his eyes going wide before his gaze turned distant, and he seemed to read something they couldn’t see. “My Skill would let me spot hidden enemies more easily, wouldn’t it.”

“Indeed it will, and it’ll likely add to your Deed requirements for the next tier as well,” Ari said encouragingly.

“I never even considered this,” Alan said with a grin that quickly froze as he turned to the rest of them. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of this sooner; it could have helped us get further on the last attempt.”

“It’s alright; it would have ended the same way regardless,” Jake said, waving away Alan’s concern. “Besides, we’re all here to learn, don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks, Jake,” Alan said, part of his smile returning at Jake’s words.

“Alright, well biggest things are covered. Feel free to carry on,” Ari said, waving one hand toward the door to the next floor.

-**-

The second floor was much the same as the first, though with Alan using his Skill to actively pick out rats that were hiding or lying in ambush, Rhew was able to use her wand to pick off a number of them before they even knew they’d been spotted.

Ari kept quiet as they pushed onwards, only speaking up when he debriefed them at the end of the floor.

“I must admit, I’m impressed by how quickly you adopted my advice,” Ari said with a nod to Alan before turning to Rhew. “How are you feeling?”

“A little tired; that was a lot of wand work at the end there,” Rhew said, letting out a heavy breath as she put her wand away and rubbed her face.

“Exactly, which is my next bit of advice. Spot test, Karl. How do wands work?”

“Err, they throw magic?” Karl said, shifting uncomfortably under Ari’s gaze.

“Let’s just assume that I’m looking for something a little more than that. What about you, Jake, Alan?” Ari looked to Jake first, who just shrugged and shook his head. Sighing, Ari turned to Alan with a raised brow and an expectant expression.

“They’re items made by a Weaver that allow a Classer to perform a set action at a greatly reduced Wyrd cost,” Alan said, getting an approving smile from Ari.

“Exactly, and let’s just focus on that last bit,” Ari said, pointing to the tired-looking Rhew once more. “Rhew is now tired and strained from using her wand a lot in a short space of time, all the while casting it alongside her actual Skill. At the first rank of the first tier, you have only your basic Wyrd capacity, which isn’t much. I imagine our caster has used up most of what she has, and pushing it further will only make it worse.”

“Wait, why wasn’t this a problem last time?” Karl asked, glancing between Rhew and Ari.

“Because last time we were much slower, so I had more time to recover between fights,” Rhew said with a frustrated expression. “I should have been using my wand less or asked if we could rest. I’m sorry.”

“It’s easy to get caught up in a delve,” Ari said in an almost gentle tone, giving Rhew a reassuring smile. “The urge is to always push forward, which is why you should all be equally responsible for each other’s health. The key to success in a Dungeon is always teamwork.”

“Yeah, let’s take a few minutes and rest before we go down to the next floor,” Jake said, pulling his pack off and taking a seat on a nearby rock. Between their fast pace through the two floors and the morning run, he was feeling tired as well.

Rations were broken out, and new torches lit as they made themselves as comfortable as possible in the rocky cave.

It wasn’t much of a rest, barely fifteen minutes in total, but it was enough to let them catch their breath and go into the third floor with their eyes open and their minds sharp.

-**-

They made their way into the third floor of the Dungeon warily, unable to forget how badly things had gone last time.

“Any ideas for what to do different?” Jake asked as they approached the first chamber.

“We should stick together more and maybe see if one person can draw them out so I can try and take some down from a distance if you think that could work?” Rhew said, lifting her wand with a slight shrug. “I’m feeling better than before, and there’s no sense holding back here, so we might as well.”

“Makes sense to me. There weren’t that many at the first one, right?” Karl asked, looking over to Jake, who shrugged, unsure of the answer. “Either way, let’s stick together and hold them off; they were only truly dangerous when we couldn’t see them coming.”

“Good point,” Jake said, remembering the last moments of his previous try with a shiver. “Who’s going to go and try to draw them out, then?”

“I’ll go,” Alan said, his voice a little unsteady and his face pale but determined. “You three get in position, and I’ll come running back.”

“Alright then, let’s do this,” Jake said, giving Alan a nod as they all moved into the cave and took up a defensive position.

“This might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” Alan muttered to himself as he slowly walked past them toward the centre of the cave, the light from his torch illuminating more of the open space around them.

Much like last time, the area had no other defining features apart from the large column in the centre, giving it an ominous feel that was only intensified by Jake’s knowledge of what it contained.

Alan cautiously approached the column, and the tension in the air thickened as they waited for him to pass whatever invisible line existed through the cave.

A familiar droning filled the room and sent ice-cold dread rushing through Jake as Alan reached what looked like the halfway point. As soon as the noise started, Alan turned on his heel and raced back towards them, five familiar winged shapes crawling out of the holes in the column and springing into the air to chase him.

As before, even the smallest of the insects was slightly larger than the giant rats they’d been fighting, and the droning of their wings became almost deafening as they drew closer.

Alan was quick on his feet and thankfully faster than the flying bugs, but not by much. The Scholar barely had time to slip past Jake and Karl before the first bug reached them, its two elongated mandibles raised and ready to strike.