Dungeon Noble - Squire

Jake and Karl eventually found the energy to make their way into the inn once more, where they found Ari, Alan and Rhew, each with a plate of hot food in front of them.

“Good work today, lads,” Ari called out as they came over. “Keep putting in the effort like that, and he might even train you properly.”

“Thanks,” Jake said, happy that at least someone was acknowledging his work. He didn’t really understand why Felix was ignoring him and focusing on Karl, not when it had been Jake’s idea to start the training. It didn’t make sense to him, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it.

“I don’t know how you two can go run when you feel like this,” Alan said, shaking his head with a wince before rubbing at his temples.

“It’s not easy. I feel like absolute shit now,” Karl said, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his face.

“Ahh, memories,” Ari said, his eyes dancing with laughter as he pulled out two pouches, one that looked significantly more filled than the other. “Here, this should make the whole thing more palatable.”

The two pouches clinked as they hit the table, and Ari loosened their ties to let a familiar fresh and metallic scent emerge.

“How much do we have?” Jake asked eagerly, leaning in and fighting the urge just to grab the bigger of the two pouches.

“You have fifty Wyrdgeld to split between you from what you looted yourselves,” Ari said, pushing the larger pouch forward but raising a hand to stop them from immediately grabbing at it. “I’m impressed by how well you’re doing so far, so I’ll give you what I looted from the creatures in the final fight, which is another fifteen.”

“That’s sixty-five, which is sixteen each and one left over,” Alan said excitedly.

“Not enough to rank up, though,” Rhew said with a grimace.

“Damn,” Jake muttered, leaning back and running a hand through his hair. Sixteen wasn’t enough for them, so it wasn’t even half of what he needed, and that was with Ari giving them the Wyrdgeld for those last kills.

Their end haul was fifty, which was twelve each with two spare. That meant multiple Dungeon runs just for his first rank, let alone doing the rest of the tier.

It was madness. This was more money than he’d ever had, and it was so little compared to what he needed.

“I see some glazed expressions, which I’m pretty sure means some of you are realising the maths involved here, so let me reassure you,” Ari said, leaning forward to tap the pouches of coins. “This is nothing compared to what you can loot as you go deeper into Dungeons. This is a tier one Dungeon; you won’t make a fortune here, that’s for sure, but if you put the work in, you’ll get what you need.”

“Do we pool Wyrdgeld to rank up three of us?” Alan asked the question they were all thinking about.

“What do we actually get for ranking up?” Karl asked, looking over to Ari questioningly.

“So, ranking up is meant to improve you physically; the System purifies your body a bit or something like that. You can also upgrade Skills or Traits with any Wyrdgeld you’ve absorbed and have left, or buy new ones if you’ve met the Deed requirements.”

“Damn, that sounds like something we need, but what are the costs for upgrading Skills or Traits?” Karl asked, a growing furrow building in his brow as he considered the issue.

“They both cost the same, but the costs increase with each level of rarity. Common ranked Skills or Traits cost ten Wyrdgeld per rank up to rank four, for instance. Buying new ones is exceptionally expensive, so don’t even consider that yet.”

“Gods, why is everything so expensive!” Rhew exclaimed with disgust, glaring at Ari as though he was the source of the problem.

“It’s the way it is,” Ari said with a shrug. “It’s also why there aren’t many high-tier Classers; the sheer amount of money needed is mind-boggling, and not everyone can stomach the costs of the later tier and ranks.”

“So if we don’t split it but run it again, we can afford to rank up and increase a skill, right?” Alan asked, drumming his fingers on the table. “We could do that or pool it now so three of us rank up.”

“I’ll do it,” Jake said bitterly, hating his Class more than ever as he spoke. It wasn’t like either option would let him rank up. “Take that spare and eleven of mine, and the three of you rank up.”

“Are you sure, Jake?” Ari asked softly.

“Yeah,” Jake said, letting out a heavy sigh as he made a decision. He couldn’t keep this from them in the long run, so he may as well get it out there now. “My Class needs twice as many Wyrdgeld to rank up.”

“Wait, what?” Rhew looked over sharply, Alan and Karl joining her and giving him equally confused looks. “Is that even a thing?”

“Not all Classes are the same,” Ari said before Jake could respond. “Ranking costs are usually standard, but there are a few with higher requirements, and it’s no secret that they are usually quite powerful in later tiers. With that in mind, please respect the trust that Jake has shown telling you, understood?” Ari’s tone was firm and lacked his usual flippant demeanour, driving home the severity of what he was saying.

“Understood,” the others chorused back, reacting instinctively to the change in Ari.

“Good, I’d hate to be in charge of a bunch of blabbermouths,” Ari said, his mocking smile back in full force as he leaned back in his chair once more.

“So,” Alan started to say before pausing and seemingly gathering his thoughts. “Forty, right? You said double?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Jake said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. He didn’t like admitting to all this, but he didn’t like the alternative either. If there was one thing that Jake had learned from all this delving, it was that teamwork was vital, and it didn’t feel right to lie to them like this.

“Okay, so if you give up yours this time, we can all give up some of ours next time. We can get you to rank two that way. After that, well, really, the best thing to do is just go at our own rates, I think,” Alan said with a slightly apologetic smile.

“That’s fine. It’s my burden to bear; I just wanted to let you know upfront,” Jake said with a shrug. “Besides, we’ve got the monthly fees to consider, so we can’t spend everything on ranking up. Not to mention equipment that we might want to use.”

“Urgh, yeah, I’d forgotten about that,” Rhew said with a slight grimace before sighing longingly at the pouches of Wyrdgeld. “There’s so much there, but it doesn’t feel like half of what we need.”

“That’s a feeling that won’t go away,” Ari said, sipping on a mug of coffee that had just been delivered to him. “Not as long as you keep ranking up, anyway.”

“Well, let’s do what we can,” Jake said firmly with a gesture to the Wyrdgeld. “Split it so they all have twenty, and I have the five at the end.”

“Alright, here we go,” Ari said, opening up the pouches and sliding Jake five Wyrdgeld before splitting what was left into three and dividing it between Karl, Alan and Rhew. “Now, ranking up takes time, and the first one isn’t pleasant, so my advice is to do it before you go to bed and sleep it off.”

They all absorbed their relevant stacks of Wyrdgeld while Ari ordered a round of coffees for them all.

“So, after-action summary for the whole thing,” Ari said, sipping his fresh coffee. “Not a bad showing, considering how fresh you all are. I don’t think you’re too far from being able to run it with only a few casualties, though you’re still a ways from being able to run it with ease; you’ll need a few more ranks each for that, I think.”

“I don’t think we’re that far away,” Jake said, sharing a confused look with Karl. “We got to the final floor this time, and now we know what’s there, we can prepare better.”

“What actually was it? I didn’t see what hit me,” Alan asked, subconsciously reaching for his throat again.

“Some sort of disgusting rat the size of a wolf with grey fur. I think there were two of them and five of the bugs,” Karl said, shuddering a little at the mention of the rats.

“Wait, two big rats and five bugs?” Alan echoed, frowning a little as he looked over to Ari. “You said there was fifteen Wyrdgeld. Was there something else we missed?”

“No, that covers all the creatures down there,” Ari said, sipping his coffee with an amused expression.

Jake’s eyes narrowed as he saw the expression on Ari’s face. There was something more going on here, and Ari was clearly enjoying himself, which meant they’d missed something. Mulling it over as he tried his coffee, which was bitter but nicely warming.

Ari seemed to want them to ask questions rather than just give them the answers, so Jake tried to think about what they weren’t asking.

“Ari, could you tell us about the creatures we were fighting in there?” Jake asked, knowing immediately that he’d hit the right question from the broad grin on Ari’s face.

“Well, well, well, I thought for sure that Alan was going to be the one to finally ask,” Ari said, putting his mug down and shaking his head with exaggerated sadness at them. “None of you have asked anything about the rats or ‘bugs’ as you call them. One of the first things you should do for any new Dungeon is research what’s there. If you’re in a town, the local branch of the Guild will have records and information about the Dungeon. ”

“So, as a member of the Guild, can you tell us something about them?” Rhew asked, all of them leaning in with interest.

“I can, yes,” Ari said, slowly lifting his coffee to take a long sip.

“Gods, you’re so annoying,” Rhew muttered, dropping her face into one hand.

“Don’t worry, you get used to it,” Ari said, putting his mug back down before clearing his throat to get their attention back to him. “So, we’ll start from the top. The giant rats are called Murk Rats. They’re in the beast category, which means they’re worth a single Wyrdgeld each. Nothing particularly special about them. The bugs are called Krok Flies, beast category again. The only thing to note with these fuckers is their proboscis; they can drain you dry in no time at all.”

“Krok Flies, I think I’ve read about them. I didn’t realise that’s what these were, though,” Alan said thoughtfully, his gaze going a little distant.

“Commonly called kroks, if that jogs your memory. The last thing down there, though, are Ironfur Murk Hounds. They’re an enhanced category creature, which means between five and ten Wyrdgeld, depending on their strength. As you’d expect from the name, their fur is like armour, so don’t expect to cut through easily with your weapons. Rhew, your magic will still work as normal; it’s more of a physical protection. For that matter, Karl, your Skill will bypass some of that as it’s got Wyrd in it.”

“What about us?” Jake asked, glancing over at Alan, keenly aware that neither of them had a Skill like Karl.

“Practice your infusion. That will help in the short term and should unlock something for you to purchase if you want a more permanent solution.”

“Understood,” Jake nodded, remembering the training they had on infusing Wyrd into their weapons.

“Good, good, now, consider this your rest day. We’ll be running the Dungeon hard going forward, so take the chance to recover and maybe do some personal training.” Ari explained as he got to his feet. “Leave word with the innkeeper if you need me.”

The four of them were lost in thought for a short while after Ari had left.

“I’ve been thinking about what Ari said,” Rhew broke the silence abruptly as she got to her feet. “I’m going to go get a new pack from Ivaldi’s and do some training.”

“What about you, Jake?” Karl asked, looking over to Jake questioningly.

“I’m not sure. I want to do something, to try and improve myself, but I’m unsure how.”

“There’s that training field; we could go draw our packs, do some sparring, and see if we can figure a few things out?”

“That’s not a bad idea. What about you, Alan, fancy a spar?” Jake asked, getting to his feet as Alan tentatively nodded. “Alright then, let’s all go get some equipment from Ivaldi.”