Dungeon Noble - Squire

“Faster, sprint, Borvon!” Felix roared as Jake and Karl struggled up a muddy hill, fighting to stay upright and keep moving at a good pace.

It had rained heavily overnight, and though Jake felt buoyed by his increase in rank, the muddy ground was making everything worse for them.

To make matters worse, Jake was still aching from his training yesterday.

Felix shouted out a mix of encouragement and insults as they trudged up the next hill. Stopping at the top for a brief moment, Jake shared a weary look with Karl as he wondered how it was that despite getting stronger, this all felt harder.

-**-

The post-run delve went smoothly at first. The four of them progressed through the first four floors with practised ease, claiming the Wyrdgeld for the monsters they killed.

Jake did his best to stay light on his feet when fighting, and he felt like it helped with the krok flies, if nothing else. It would take some getting used to, though.

There was little surprise from the group when the Challenge room appeared, and they entered it without question, using what was quickly becoming their standard approach to the Challenge.

The additional rank and Ricard’s advice on how to move came together to give them their smoothest victory yet, and they moved on with high spirits.

The final floor was also their best attempt yet, with Karl managing to take one of the hounds down with him.

They still all died in the attempt, but it was a lot closer than their first few, and even the pain of being ripped apart by the hound couldn’t take that from them.

-**-

“So, another fairly substantial payout for you,” Ari said as he passed each of them their cut of the loot.

They each had a mug of steaming coffee, but Ari didn’t seem to be indulging like he would normally. Combined with what Jake had seen earlier, he was certain that something was going on.

“I think I’m going to buy rank four tonight, then save up and pay my dues to the Triarchy and the Association,” Rhew said, tapping her Wyrdgeld with a thoughtful expression. “I had my concerns, but we’re doing pretty well so far.”

“The regular Challenge rooms have definitely helped,” Ari said, pausing for a moment before giving them all a meaningful look. “Just a reminder to not spread that around too much; you’ve definitely been lucky, and that sort of luck inspires jealousy.”

“We get almost as much from the Challenge as we do the rest of the Dungeon. There’s no way we’d advance this fast without it being there all the time,” Alan pointed out, absorbing his Wyrdgeld with a satisfied expression. “I, for one, am quite thankful it shows up as regularly as it does, and I think we’re best off keeping the whole thing to ourselves.”

Karl and Rhew murmured their agreement, with Jake chiming in a little late, almost forgetting for a moment that they included him in the decision.

“Good, good, glad we’re all on the same page,” Ari said, drumming his fingers on the table for a moment with a complicated expression. “So, things have come up elsewhere, and I’ll be heading off, along with a lot of the other Classers round here. It’s nothing to be concerned about, but expect to have the next few days to yourself.”

“Wait, what?” Rhew looked over to the rest of them, seemingly checking that she’d heard Ari right.

“Look, I know it’s not ideal, but once you’ve completed the Dungeon a few times, you’ll be on your own anyway, so best to get your head around it now. You’re paid up for accommodation here for the next few days, and I’ll leave a line of credit for you as well.”

“Should we keep delving?” Karl asked somewhat hesitantly.

“If you like, but I’d probably recommend taking some time off and resting up. Once I’m back, we’ll carry on, okay?”

“Do you know how long you’ll be gone?” Alan asked.

Ari grimaced and gave a poor imitation of his normal smile. “Well, it should only be a couple of days, but if I can’t make it back for some reason, the Association will send someone else to sort you out.”

“Why wouldn’t you be able to make it back?” Rhew asked, looking increasingly worried.

“Well, things happen, and I might end up reassigned,” Ari said, his already strained smile wavering momentarily before being covered by Ari taking a drink. “Look, it’s nothing to be concerned about, alright?”

“Then why not tell us more? Why be so evasive?” Jake asked, not liking the lack of answers Ari was giving them.

“We have some rules about what tier one Classers are told, more for your own safety than anything,” Ari said after a few moments, clearly reluctant to say anything further. “This is one of them, but it’s nothing you need to be concerned about.”

Jake frowned but let it go, knowing that if Ari hadn’t told them already, he likely wasn’t going to.

“Well, a couple of days off might not be so bad. We can do some training and give it our all when Ari gets back,” Rhew said, seemingly coming around to the idea.

“See, you’ll hardly know I’m gone,” Ari said, waving aside the whole issue with one hand. “Now, I’ll be heading out with the others this afternoon, so you’re on your own from tomorrow onwards. Don’t get into any trouble, alright?”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine; we’ll just be relaxing until you get back,” Alan said, ignoring the concern in Ari’s voice. “Besides, we’re in the middle of nowhere. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Silence stretched across the table for a long moment as the four of them stared at Alan in a mixture of disbelief and resignation.

“Well, that’s that then,” Ari said, shaking his head at the Scholar as he got to his feet. “Try and keep the chaos to a minimum. I need to go make sure that everything is being taken care of.”

Alan frowned as Ari walked away, chuckling as he went. “What does he mean by that?”

“He means that you just jinxed us,” Jake said with disbelief.

“Surely you don’t believe that?” Alan looked between them with an incredulous expression.

“Belief or not, I know better than to tempt fate,” Karl said, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“This is ridiculous,” Alan complained, leaning back in his chair with a scoff. “Nothing will go wrong, you’ll see.”

Jake sighed wearily and went to go see how much credit Ari had left them with the tavern keeper. He needed a drink.

-**-

The four of them lingered in the tavern for a while before splitting up and going their separate ways, agreeing to meet back there later on to get their evening meal.

Deciding to stick with his usual training routine, Jake made his way down to the field. There was no sign of Lokan or the others, which was a shame. He’d found Ricard’s lesson quite useful and had been hoping to get another from the bald dagger user.

Still, it gave him the opportunity to have the obstacle course to himself and to test out the improvements he’d got for ranking up. He wanted to see how much of a difference they made.

Much like the last rank-up, Jake could feel a subtle but noticeable improvement in his physical capabilities. Combined with his steady effort to build his strength and endurance, Jake was confident that he had improved across the board in comparison to when he’d first arrived.

After dying so many times in the Dungeon, Jake knew that it only took him around six or so hours to be back in reasonable health, which was much faster than the others, who took maybe three times as long to recover. It wasn’t a full recovery, though, which meant that this break had a silver lining to it.

With a few days before Ari returned, they could completely recover, get some practice in as a team and plan for how they were going to finally beat the Dungeon.

They’d been close last time, and with an extra rank each, they might finally be able to handle both of the murk hounds on the final floor. The wolf-sized rats were fast and hard to hurt, but they could be brought down with good teamwork, and every time Jake and the others fought them, the rats had less of a physical advantage over them.

Jake raced up a curved ramp of compacted earth and rock, jumping up to grab the lip and haul himself up to the top, twisting around to sit on the lip of the obstacle.

It was one thing to want to push ahead so strongly, but Ivaldi’s warning rang in Jake’s ears. Once they finished the Dungeon, Jake would have to move on, and even that would likely not be enough in the long run.

It wasn’t like he had much of a choice, though. He couldn’t get rid of the Class if he didn't progress and rank up.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Jake rubbed his face before dropping down to the ground and moving to the next part of the course.

All he could do was push forward and hope for the best.

-**-

“I don’t know how you do it,” Karl said as he tucked into his stew, shaking his head at Jake’s dishevelled appearance. “I’ve barely recovered from my revival sickness by the time we go on our morning run; I don’t know how you can train in the afternoon as well.”

“It’s not so bad once you get into a rhythm,” Jake said with a shrug, breaking off a piece of crusty bread to dip into his stew. “I’m used to it by now.”

“Rather you than me,” Rhew said with a shudder. “I get headaches all day and can barely focus. I can’t believe that it’s going to get worse with the higher tier Dungeons.”

“I wonder how that works,” Alan wondered aloud, stirring his stew absently. “I’m guessing you don’t die as often; there would be no point without someone like Ari to get the Wyrdgeld. But then, when you do die, it takes days to recover?”

“I suppose it’s down to the individual and how hard they want to push,” Jake said, trying to put himself in the position of someone like Ari when they were delving. “I mean, what do higher-tier Dungeons look like? Is it just more of the same?”

“No, remember, Ari said they change a lot at tier two, let alone the higher ones,” Rhew shook her head before frowning in thought. “He didn’t say what that change would be, though.”

“Bigger tunnels? More creatures?” Jake guessed, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to imagine what it would be like.

“The accounts I read are pretty vague, but I think the first change is that there will be traps or more environmental problems,” Alan said, perking up a little at being able to share something he’d read.

“None of that sounds pleasant,” Jake said, part of him wondering how many times he’d die to traps in the higher-tier Dungeons. An unpleasant thought.

“What do you mean by environmental problems?” Karl asked, looking a little uneasy at the thought.

“Well, the tunnels are always flat and easy to move in, apart from the final rooms, right?” Alan waited for them to nod before spreading his hands with a shrug. “It would be more like that, as well as genuinely dangerous things. I remember reading about a Dungeon that had poison in the air, so you were slowly dying from the moment you went in.”

“That’s horrid,” Rhew shuddered before pushing the last of her stew away. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Jake felt a little queasy at the thought as well, but he knew better than to discard food. He had Wyrdgeld to spend if needed, but old habits die slowly.

They lapsed into their own thoughts for a time before eventually splitting up and heading back to their rooms.