Dungeon Noble - Squire

“Looks like he worked you guys hard today,” Alan said as Jake and Karl joined the others in the tavern.

“Yeah, but it was good. I can already feel the difference compared to yesterday,” Karl said as the three of them headed inside to get some food. “What about you? How do you feel?”

“I feel good, really good,” Alan said, a guilty look crossing his face. “I’m sorry that you had to miss out on this, Jake. I feel bad that we all got to rank up first.”

“It’s okay. It was my choice to make,” Jake said, waving away Alan’s concern.

“I know, I just like things to be fair, to be even,” Alan said, shaking his head and looking around to see if anyone was nearby before continuing. “The extra cost seems harsh, but I hope the Class is worth it.”

“So far, it isn’t,” Jake said honestly, thinking of how much more effective the others were in the Dungeon. Sure, he could hold the front line with Karl, but he lacked the speciality that they all seemed to get from their Class. “There’s potential, though. We’ll have to see.”

-**-

Ari rejoined them a short time later, and before they knew it, they were back in the Dungeon and pushing through the first floor.

Karl and Alan had stuck with their new weapons, and both seemed to be finding them easier to use within the tight tunnels of the Dungeon.

Karl’s hammer was good, but Alan’s new weapon had the potential to completely change things for them as a group. Twice as they went through the first floor, the Scholar was able to spot a hiding rat and shoot at it with his bow before it had a chance to move.

While only one of those two shots hit, it was still enough for Jake to consider the prospects that lay ahead of them. Having Alan able to engage the creatures from further away took some of the pressure off of Rhew, letting her conserve her energy for the more intense fights.

“Not a bad showing, interesting change there, Alan,” Ari said as they reached the door down to the second floor. “How are you finding the synergy between the bow and your Skill?”

“I think it can really work; I just need to get a bit better at using this thing,” Alan said with a pleased expression as he gathered his arrows.

“Good, you’ve not got a traditional Class for scouting, but don’t let that stop you if you feel that’s the best place for you to make a difference. Your actions and Deeds will help develop future Skill and Class choices.”

“Is there a way to know what sort of things I’d need to do?” Alan asked, giving his bow a thoughtful look.

“Yes and no. You can see Class choices and Skill choices with a description of the Deeds that got you them, but there aren’t any specifics. There are lists of Skills and Classes that have been constructed over the years that can guide you into the sort of thing to aim for, but there is also a degree of personal variation. What you’d need to do to unlock a Skill that lets you shoot with greater accuracy is different to someone with a dedicated archery Class.”

“That’s frustrating, but I get it,” Alan said, turning the bow over in his hands before nodding. “I’ll just try to use it as much as I can, and hopefully, I’ll be able to get something that works for me.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ari said before pausing. “Damn, with all the excitement, I completely forgot. Did the three of you rank up last night?”

“Yes, and it was unpleasant,” Rhew said, shivering in remembrance. Alan and Karl nodded as well, each with a distant look in their eyes.

“Good, good, and did you look at what Skills you’d become eligible for, if any?”

“Nothing for me,” Karl said, shaking his head.

“Nor me, but I haven’t really done much,” Alan said with a shrug.

“Same,” Rhew said, looking over to Ari with a questioning expression. “Is that normal, or are we falling behind?”

“Oh no, that’s normal. You’ve not really accomplished any Deeds yet, but I thought it was worth checking, just in case. Other than all that, I think you’re all coming along nicely. Any questions for me?”

Jake considered if there was anything he wanted to discuss but ultimately shook his head; he wanted to get moving with this delve and get to rank two as soon as he could.

Ari gave them a moment to think before waving for them to continue down to the second floor.

-**-

With Alan providing additional ranged support, they found the next two floors much easier than usual. Thankfully, the Krok flies were slow and ungainly, making them easy targets for Rhew and Alan to focus on.

“Huh, that’s interesting,” Ari said as the group approached the two doors at the end of the floor. “Challenge doors usually appear every few delves, so back-to-back like this is probably a good omen.”

“Should we try it?” Karl asked, looking over to the rest of them hesitantly. “If it’s rare, maybe we should?”

“Yeah, but if we die in there, we lose out on Wyrdgeld,” Rhew said, shaking her head and gesturing to the door down to the fifth floor. “I vote we carry on as normal. At least then, we’re guaranteed a good amount. I know what I said last time, but we need every bit of Wyrdgeld we can get right now.”

“I agree. Maybe once we’ve completed it, we could start running it with better gear and then do the challenge the next time it shows up?” Jake said, remembering how Ivaldi had told him that he’d need to complete the challenges as well as the Dungeon proper if he wanted to ‘bind’ the Dungeon, whatever that meant.

“That makes the most sense to me,” Alan said, looking at the door to the Challenge with more than a bit of apprehension. “We should focus on finishing it. Then we can look at the extras.”

“Works for me,” Karl said, shrugging as he headed to the other door. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Jake said, the image of the murk hound as it loomed over him flickering through his mind. He knew this delve would be just as painful, but at least they had an idea of what was in there this time.

Pushing the door open, Karl headed through, Rhew and Alan quickly following after him. This was the first time that Jake hadn’t been first or second through the door, and he blinked in surprise as the shadowy interior of the passage beyond the door swallowed the others. Not even the light from Rhew’s torch made it back to him.

That made no sense.

“No deep thoughts right now. We’ll talk about it later,” Ari said, standing next to Jake and gesturing towards the open door. “Your companions are waiting for you.”

Jake looked uncertainly between the door and Ari before stepping through. Immediately, Jake was in the familiar cavern of the fifth floor.

Glancing over his shoulder, Jake saw Ari step out from the shadowed interior of the doorway, the door swinging soundlessly shut behind him.

Rhew and Karl were already plotting out a new way for them to approach the fight. Now that they knew what was here, their plan was to skirt around the outside and draw the murk hounds to them without triggering that hive in the centre.

It was as good an idea as they had, so they formed up with Alan and Rhew in the middle and started around the exterior of the cavern.

The plan worked, to an extent, as when they reached the halfway point, the two murk hounds came charging at them. The first one came from the front, with the second attacking Jake at the rear a few moments later.

The giant rat was faster than he’d have thought, and only a few well-placed arrows from Alan kept the creature at bay long enough for Jake to land a solid hit.

Unfortunately, both Jake’s sword and Alan’s arrows failed to do more than nick the creature.

With their inability to fight it demonstrated, the murk hound darted past Jake, accepting a cut on its flank in the process. Alan did his best to hold the creature off, but the giant rat ran the Scholar down and ripped into him before attacking Rhew from behind.

Karl had injured his opponent, but Rhew’s scream distracted him long enough for the wounded creature to get its jaw around his arm and sever it at the elbow before clamping its jaws around Karl’s neck.

Less than a minute after striking the creature, Jake was all alone and facing both of the murk hounds with a blade that would do nothing to them.

Putting his back to the wall, Jake focused on Ari’s lessons and channeled his Wyrd down into his sword, packing as much as he could into the blade.

The rat that Jake had cut came racing at him right as Jake finished infusing his blade. The last thing Jake felt as it smashed into him was his sword sinking deep into the creature’s side.