Dungeon Noble - Squire

Jake gasped and clutched at his throat, sitting bolt upright on a familiar stone slab as he tried to catch his breath. He felt like he’d been run over by a stampede of particularly overweight horses, different to the last time he’d been here but just as bad.

“Damn it,” Jake rasped, swinging his feet off the stone and taking a few deep breaths as his vision slowly cleared.

The room he was in could very well be the same one he was in previously, or perhaps they all looked the same. Jake didn’t know and was too mentally disoriented to really put any thought into it. What mattered was that the door out was in the same place as last time.

Pushing to his feet, Jake slowly shuffled over and opened the door, revealing the familiar Dungeon foyer beyond.

Blinking blearily, Jake scanned the area and sighed in relief as he saw Ari sitting against the wall near the entrance, his sword resting on top of his pack on the floor next to him.

“Jake, that was quick. I was expecting Alan to be out first,” Ari said, looking up with a surprised expression as Jake walked slowly over to join him.

“Good news for me. Means I get more time to recover before we leave,” Jake said, giving Ari a strained smile as he sank down to the floor next to him with a muffled groan.

“That’s a good way to look at it,” Ari said, chuckling to himself as he pulled an apple out of his pack and bit into it with an audible crunch. “May as well get comfy; this will take some time.”

“Did you manage to get our Wyrdgeld?” Jake asked, going straight to the important part of things.

“I did, but we’ll discuss that once the rest of you are here,” Ari said, giving Jake a teasing smile before continuing to eat his apple.

Jake hadn’t known Ari long, but he knew the man well enough to know that there was no changing his mind when he got that mischievous glint in his eyes. Ari knew full well how much the money mattered to Jake, to all of them, and would enjoy keeping that knowledge to himself until they were all here.

Alan joined them a minute or two later with a haunted look in his eyes. Jake noticed the Scholar kept reaching up to rub his neck, and when he spoke to them, his voice was hoarse and strained.

“Don’t worry about your neck. I’ll explain all that shortly,” Ari said before either of them could question him.

Jake frowned, unsure why this specific injury would be enough to carry over when they were revived.

Karl and Rhew joined them one after the other over the next few minutes, each looking somewhat haggard as they made their way over.

“Alright, now I have all four of you, let’s talk about death a little more. Channel some Wyrd to your eyes for a moment and look at Alan,” Ari said, gesturing to the Scholar’s throat.

Jake did as he was told and could once again see the faint grey echo around the others. Karl and Rhew looked much the same as before, but Alan had a large section around his neck that was much thinner.

“During your training, you were told that monsters of a certain strength can damage your soul. The creatures you just fought were in the Enhanced category, giving them the power to damage your soul. Thankfully, they would need to do significant damage to outright kill you, but you’ll find their wounds linger for a time after revival. Consider this good practice for fighting something of the Awakened category, which could very well kill you permanently.”

“Do higher tier Classers never revive then?” Alan asked, wincing as he spoke.

“It’s a balancing act,” Ari said after a moment. “The higher the tier of monster, the more soul damage it can do, but the higher the tier of the Classer, the more they can take. Not every hit will damage your soul as well. A stab or cut will do little, but something ripping out your throat and eating it…..”

Alan cleared his throat uncomfortably as they all turned to look at him once more.

“On that note,” Ari said, drawing their attention back to him. “Right now, you use standard equipment with no extras, so all you lose is your life. Once you start going in with better gear, you can lose a lot more. No matter how good you are, the Dungeon will get you eventually, so we owe each other deaths.”

“What does that mean?” Alan asked, looking interested despite how he felt.

“If someone owes you a death and you’re delving together, they’ll do their best to take your gear with them to the next exit point. If they succeed, then you owe them a death for when they next die. I owe Felix four deaths now; the obnoxious bastard is too honourable to leave anyone’s gear behind.”

“What if someone owes you a death but doesn’t bring your gear with them?” Alan asked with a concerned frown.

“Then don’t delve with them again. These aren’t hard and fast rules, just a code of honour between those of us who’ve made a career of it. There will always be some who spit on that, but they quickly find themselves lacking in companions and goodwill.”

Ari’s words hung in the air as they made their way back out of the Dungeon, giving them all a brief insight into what life as a delver was like.

Ari promised to divide the loot in the morning before paying for them all to get a hot meal and giving them the rest of the day off.

-**-

Jake managed to drag himself out of bed in time for the morning run the next day, but it was a close thing.

Stepping out into the cool morning air, Jake spotted a bleary-eyed and equally rough-looking Karl outside the building they were staying in. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t look like Alan or Rhew were joining them.

Jake managed a grunt to greet his comrade, and the two of them trudged on together, finding Felix and Ari already waiting for them.

“Good, you’re both here,” Felix said tersely, eyeing them both with displeasure. “Start stretching. You have two minutes.”

Jake did his best to replicate what he’d done with Ari the day before, and Karl followed suit, but Felix was watching Karl like a hawk, correcting everything he did with terse commands.

In no time at all, Karl was leading the stretches as Jake tried to copy and follow the guidance that Felix was giving him. It was difficult to do, as Felix ignored Jake entirely and focused on Karl, but Jake did his best.

“Enough, that will do for now. I expect you to do a better job of stretching tomorrow, though,” Felix said abruptly, turning on one heel and setting off at a steady jog.

“Better hurry up, lads. He won’t wait,” Ari said with a chuckle as he set off after Felix.

Pushing off into a jog, Jake started off at a quick pace to catch up with Felix and then settled down into the steadier pace the older man was using.

It was easy for Jake to let his attention drift as they kept going at an even pace, and he took a moment to admire the beauty of the trees and untouched grassland that lay outside of the Dungeon’s immediate area.

There were things that Jake missed about being in the city, but views like this were hard to come by.

“Warm up is over. Let’s move,” Felix called out, moving to a fast jog even as he spoke.

Jake pushed forward to pace Felix once more, doing his best to keep his breathing even and get a rhythm going.

“Sprint ten!” Felix bellowed, blurring forward at a speed that Jake couldn’t match. Jake knew the command from the last run, so he began to sprint as fast as he could, counting down in his head and slowing to the previous fast jog after ten seconds.

“Did I say run, Borvon?” Felix demanded, sounding no more out of breath than he would on a casual walk as he dropped back to be level with Jake and Karl.

“No, Felix,” Karl panted, his eyes fixed on the ground ahead of them.

“Oh, so you just chose to ignore me then?”

“No, Felix.”

“Then that pathetic excuse for a sprint was the best you can do?” Felix demanded, his tone making Jake’s heart sink; he knew what was coming next.

“Yes, Felix,” Karl said, ragged breaths coming between each word.

“If that’s the best you can do, we may as well go back and have breakfast. So unless you want that, you damn well better make that your second-best effort, understood?”

“Yes, Felix.”

“Sprint ten, go!” Felix roared into Karl’s ear, making them both race forward into a headlong sprint.

Jake was faster than Karl and quickly pulled ahead, but Felix was faster again and outpaced both of them, catching up to Ari, who was well ahead of them.

Jake and Karl put the work in to catch up to Felix and Ari, both of them sweating heavily now.

“Better, now you at least look like you’re jogging. Let’s see if you can get to running speed today. Sprint ten!”

Cursing his own stubbornness, Jake put his head down and did as Felix commanded. The one-handed man never addressed him directly, but Jake wasn’t going to let that stop him from getting the most out of this that he could.

More sprints were dotted here and there through the run, which Jake was certain was more than last time, and the whole thing turned into a haze of running and burning muscles before ending abruptly as they came to the outside of the tavern.

“Walk it off, then get some food. I’ll see you both tomorrow morning,” Felix said, looking as though he hadn’t just had them sprinting up a hill a few minutes earlier.

The two of them nodded, their chests heaving as they tried to catch their breath.

Jake was certain that Felix’s training would make them into powerful Classers, but a small voice inside was telling him this was only the beginning of what would be in store for them.