Dungeon Noble - Squire

What felt like endless weeks of morning runs had trained Jake’s body to the point that waking early was a regular habit. Even with the relative comfort of a bed, that habit kicked in, and Jake was downstairs with plenty of time for their deadline.

Somehow, Jake wasn’t surprised to see that Felix was already awake, and so was the old woman who seemed to run the inn. The woman shared a look with Felix before heading into the back and leaving the two of them alone.

“Take a seat, we’ll eat and then head down to the Dungeon,” Felix said, waving for Jake to pick a chair. “I can see a settling in your soul. Did you rank up?”

“I did,” Jake said with a barely restrained grin.

“Good. Don’t spend anything else until you’ve paid your tax, though. We don’t need any reasons for the Triarchy to come looking for you,” Felix said, gracing Jake with the smallest hint of an approving smile.

Jake stiffened and looked uncertainly to the door the innkeeper had left through when Jake entered. “Should we be discussing that?”

“Anywhere else, no. This is as safe a place as you’ll find, though,” Felix said, his expression hardening as he stared off into the distance. “It hurts me to admit that many of our fellow Strovians would turn you in, but don’t think that that means you are without allies.”

Bizarre ideas of the innkeeper being some sort of revolutionary working against the Triarchy flitted through Jake’s mind before he shook them off. Whatever was happening here, it wasn’t his business.

“Were you able to increase the strength of your boon?” Felix asked, bringing the topic back to Jake’s rank up.

“Yes, it took both the points I had, though. Should I summon it?” Jake had lost his active copy of the Boon when he ranked up, so it would just be the one summoning of the dagger today. Still, it wouldn’t cost much to bring it out for Felix to see.

“No need, I’m simply glad to know you’re increasing in strength,” Felix said, opening his mouth to say more before cutting off as Alan joined them, and the innkeeper brought out a cooked breakfast for each of them.

Everyone else but Ari joined them over the next ten minutes, each being served hot food on their arrival.

“It’s time to go,” Felix said once they were all done, rising from the table and heading to the door. “I want to get this done early enough that you can be in good shape for tomorrow. No need to fetch any equipment, either.”

“What does he mean by that?” Alan asked quietly, looking over to Jake for an answer.

“He said we were going to the tier two Dungeon today, so I guess it means we’ll end up dying, and then he wants to make sure we can hit it again tomorrow.” Jake shrugged. “It’s only a guess, I don’t really know.”

“I think you’re right,” Rhew interjected as they all followed after Felix. “We probably need to finish both the other Dungeons tomorrow to make sure we have Wyrdgeld spare for the tax.”

“Will that be enough?” Jake mentally checked how much he had and winced; after ranking up, he had just ten Wyrdgeld stored.

“We have four more full days after today, and we got an average of around thirty Wyrdgeld per run, so yes, we should be fine. If we can hit both of the tier-one Dungeons on the same day, then we’ll have even more time to spare.”

Jake nodded, feeling a little more reassured with Rhew talking it through. Felix had encouraged him to rank up when he could, and the older Classer had clearly been aware of their tax burden, so Jake could only assume he had a plan of some sort.

With his thoughts circling Wyrdgeld and how to best eke out as much from the Dungeon as he could, Jake followed alongside the others as Felix led them to the northern side of the town.

“Casthorpe is at the entrance of a tier two Dungeon, but also has two tier one Dungeons nearby, as you already know. You’ve not had the opportunity to do your own research, so I will let you know that the tier two, which we are approaching now, is mainly based around fire. The initial monsters will be fire lizards and juvenile fire serpents.”

“Will my cold be more or less effective against them?” Rhew asked in a worried tone.

“A good question,” Felix looked back to give Rhew an approving nod. “The initial monsters will be vulnerable to an extent, but the stronger the monsters get, the less effect you will have. It will also depend on the magic you use, but I will let you learn that organically.”

Rhew sighed, but Jake gave her little attention, his eyes instead on the gates that had now come into view at the edge of the town. The gates were of a similar design to those in Port Emerald, no doubt marking the start of the local Dungeon Row and where any tolls would be applied.

A few Classers were present, even this early into the day, but they barely had to wait before they were let through, a flash of Felix’s association mark avoiding any tolls.

The Patron Gift that let Jake sense Dungeons was tingling as they walked through the gates, letting Jake know that they were close despite it being out of sight.

The town’s Dungeon Row was considerably less extensive than the one in Port Emerald but was a lot more organised than the small settlement that they had all just come from.

Felix ignored it all, however, and followed the road past all the shops, inns and association buildings until he came to a stop at a familiar building of metal and glass.

As before, Ivaldi’s store was the final one before the looming stone doors of the Dungeon, and both structures still felt slightly distorted to Jake when he focused on them.

“Please rearm yourselves from Ivaldi’s stock, then we will begin our first delve,” Felix instructed, gesturing for them to carry on without him.

More than familiar with the process, Jake led the way into Ivaldi’s store without a second thought.

Despite being told that Ivaldi was at every Dungeon entrance, it was still somewhat of a shock for Jake that the interior he entered was exactly the same as the last he’d used.

“Jake Khesh, be welcome in my Domain,” Ivaldi’s deep voice rumbled through the store as Jake entered, the man himself emerging from the darkness to take his usual seat a moment later. “It is good to see that you have moved to a new Dungeon safely.”

“Wow, it really is the same,” Alan murmured as he entered the store, leaving Jake to simply nod in response to Ivaldi. They would have time to talk later when the others weren’t present.

“Will it be your usual equipment?” Ivaldi asked once the five of them were all present.

“Yes, please,” Jake was the first to answer as he moved over to where Ivaldi was sitting. As usual, Ivaldi reached out of sight to pull each piece of Jake’s gear into view before setting them on the table. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Ivaldi said, hesitating for a moment before continuing in little more than a whisper. “Return later. There is someone you should meet.”

Jake gave the barest of nods before taking his gear and heading back out of the store. He had no idea who Ivaldi might be referring to, but he would definitely be back later to find out.

Felix waited until they’d all come back outside before starting toward the doors of the Dungeon. “As a note, I shall do as Ari has been doing and collect Wyrdgeld for you. I will complete any floor that you make it more than halfway through and add that to the total as well.”

Jake could almost see Rhew perk up at that announcement, and he felt much the same. He hadn’t been sure that Felix would follow the same approach as Ari.

The foyer of the Dungeon was much the same as the last one that they had been in, but this time, there were four paths for them to take.

Two of the four were already in use, so they hurried over to the closest of the others.

“Dungeon, my name is Felix Drusus. I am here as a non-combatant to watch and train these five. Once they fall, I will continue on as a full combatant.” Felix’s voice was respectful as he spoke to the Dungeon.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Jake gave the others an encouraging look as they descended down to the entrance for their path through the Dungeon.

Shifting his shield onto his back for the moment, Jake pulled out one of his torches and set it alight, Rhew doing the same with one of hers.

That done, they got into their usual formation, with Karl taking the central position. There was a brief pause where they all took a deep breath to ready themselves, and then they stepped into the darkness.