Dungeon Noble - Squire

“Felix, do you have a moment?” Jake asked once they’d finished their run. He’d let Alan get the excitement out of his system first, but he needed to discuss his conversation with Ivaldi.

“Of course, what do you need?” Felix asked, quirking an eyebrow questioningly.

“I had a talk with Ivaldi about those masked classers,” Jake said, pausing as Felix held a hand up and gestured for him to follow.

They’d been outside the inn, but Felix led him inside and up to his room. “Let’s talk in here. We want to keep things like this as quiet as we can. So, what did he tell you?”

“That the masked classers are called Fatesworne. He said that they were involved in the purging of Strovia when my family died,” Jake said, his voice tight with emotion as he said the words aloud.

“Gods protect us,” Felix said, running his hand through his short hair before letting out a heavy sigh. “I wish he’d shared such information with me. We’ve wondered for years who was behind the parts that couldn’t have been the Triarchy. For that matter, we’ve wondered who was behind this attitude of the local Triarchy authorities.”

“Wait, what do you mean about the local Triarchy?” Jake asked.

“Well, we’ve mentioned in the past that the Triarchy as a whole isn’t as intolerant as it is in Strovia, right?” Felix asked, waiting for Jake to nod before continuing. “Well, we’ve never been able to pinpoint exactly why they’re like this. The Triarchy homeland is quite insular, but nothing like we see here, and we don’t know why.”

“Does it matter? We know the Triarchy are our enemies, after all,” Jake said with a shrug, uncaring of the deeper reasons.

“Yes, because while the Triarchy may be acting as our enemy, someone has turned it to that purpose. We must be careful, Jake. We don’t understand the situation well enough.”

“I suppose so,” Jake said, not sure he entirely agreed with Felix. The Triarchy had been his enemy since he was a child, and he’d seen how they treated people.

“Good. Anything else we need to discuss?”

“Well, the part I don’t understand is why me?” Jake asked, waving a hand to himself at Felix’s questioning look and explaining. “Why tell me, and why not tell you?”

“Ivaldi is a rule unto himself,” Felix said with a shrug. “He’s powerful, very powerful, but he never steps outside of his role, or at least, I never thought he did. If he’s giving you information, then I’d be inclined to take it very seriously.”

“That doesn’t tell me why he’s doing it, though,” Jake said, some of his frustration bleeding through into his voice.

“I’m afraid that’s a question only he can answer,” Felix said with a shrug. “Thank you for telling me about the Fatesworne, though. I should be getting a report in a few days. Once I do, I’ll pass it on to the resistance as a whole and see what we can learn. Giving them a name is a good step forward; we may be able to find out more.”

“Do you think they’re looking for us?” Jake asked quietly, wondering if the same people who’d killed his parents were now hunting him.

“I think we should work under the assumption that they are,” Felix said in an almost gentle tone. “We’ve beaten them once, Jake. That means we can do it again as long as we put the work in.”

“I hope you’re right,” Jake said, getting to his feet and leaving the room. It was time for them to start delving.

Killing a few raptors would help take his mind off things.

-**-

They spent that day and the next in Restern, working the Dungeon as a group and learning more about how they would function as a team. With three delves each day, they had plenty of time to learn, and it was a steady income of Wyrdgeld for them.

They did split the Wyrdgeld for these particular delves, but Aspen continued to buy up all steaks they recovered with a cheerful disregard for the cost. Exactly what he intended to do with so many, Jake had no idea.

They did end up eating a few each day for their lunch, but it wasn’t even half of what they were gathering. Aspen was storing the rest with Ivaldi, much like Jake had with his Wyrdfruit, so Jake left him to it.

If that was what Aspen would rather get out of the Dungeon, that was fine by Jake.

On the third day, they rose and were running through their morning exercises when Felix waved them down.

“I’ve got good news and bad news,” Felix said, leading them to a secluded corner of the inn. “The bad news is that a Triarchy Seeker had come down from another realm for some reason and, after hearing about the attack at the outpost, has taken over the hunt for Jake. His name is Kirn Valnacht; he’s a fourth-tier classer.”

Jake stared at Felix in horror. The normal Seekers had been bad enough, but the knowledge that a fourth-tier classer was looking specifically for him sent ice down his spine.

“You can fight him, though, right?” Alan asked, looking to Felix hopefully.

“He should be about as powerful as Ari in raw terms,” Felix said with a slight nod. “That means I can hold him off, but if it gets to that point, we’ve already lost.”

“What do you mean?” Jake asked, relaxing slightly at the reminder that Felix could stop someone from just swooping in and slaughtering them.

“His combat capability is a secondary problem compared to his tracking Abilities. We need to be exceedingly careful. If we give him any sort of lead to follow, he’ll run us down before we know it.”

“Well, you certainly don’t disappoint on how dangerous this is,” Aspen said, shaking his head with a half-smile. “What’s the good news?”

“The good news is that he’s in north Strovia. He’s heading south to Casthorpe, but it will take him time to get up to speed and then get to work. We can use that time to work hard and prepare.”

“Prepare for what?” Jake asked with narrowed eyes as he realised that Felix had a plan.

“The only thing you can do now is to leave Strovia, and the border won’t stop him if he chases you. The only option we have now is to get you all to the third tier and then up to Graldan.”

“Tier three?” Alan echoed, sharing a worried look with Jake. It had taken a lot to get Alan to where he was now; getting him to tier three on a tight timeline would be rough.

“What’s Graldan?” Jake asked at the same time, even as he ran through a mental checklist of what he needed to get to the next tier.

Felix hesitated before answering Alan first. “Tier three is the minimum to advance, but Jake is their target. If it comes down to it, you may have to split off. I’ll do what I can to push you forward, but it will be a hard road for you.”

“I understand,” Alan said softly, his brow furrowing slightly as he considered the situation.

Felix gave the Scholar a sympathetic look before turning to Jake. “Graldan is the Realm adjacent to this one. You need to be a third tier or higher classer to enter it; anything less than that would cause severe Vordor poisoning.”

“Vordor?” Jake echoed the unfamiliar word, even as he mentally stored the knowledge about the Realms.

“The raw magic permeating existence,” Gargan said, looking over at Jake with an unreadable expression. “Casters can learn to use it, but it is far harder than using Wyrd. The System doesn’t grant Skills or Traits for Vordor, only Wyrd.”

“So, how are the two different?” Jake asked curiously. He’d always thought that Wyrd was the magic that kept everything going.

Gargan let out a low laugh that almost made Jake jump in surprise. “Ask five different casters and get five different answers. There is more of it than Wyrd, and it is threaded through existence in a way that Wyrd isn’t, but the rest is speculation.”

Jake nodded, though he didn’t really understand.

“So, we have time until this new Seeker is on us,” Aspen said, bringing them back on topic. “We have a long way to go to get these two to the third tier, though. Where do you propose we start?”

“We start with picking up a few loose tier one Dungeons in the area,” Felix said, pulling out a map and unrolling it on the table. “There’s one here, here and here. All have low traffic as they’re quite remote, but Jake will get a boost in strength from each one. Right?”

“Right, I’ll get a Boon from each one we complete,” Jake said with a nod.

“Damn, that’s a nice little ability, right there,” Aspen said with a low whistle.

“It comes with a pretty hefty downside; all my rank-ups cost twice as much,” Jake said, grinning mirthlessly at how Aspen’s face fell.

“The System balances anything too powerful,” Gargan said simply, giving Jake a respectful look. “You have great potential for growth.”

“Indeed, and we’ll take advantage of that,” Felix said, tapping the closest marker on the map. “We’ll head here first, and you can all run it together. Then, I want Jake and Alan to run it alone for the rest of the day. That’ll give the two of you a good amount of Wyrdgeld and help push Alan’s requirement forward.”

“What is your requirement, Alan?” Jake asked hesitantly. He didn’t want to pry, but it was useful information they needed.

“I need to exploit a hundred Worthy weaknesses,” Alan said, scratching his jaw thoughtfully. “I still don’t fully know what that covers, but my new Trait gives me a physical boost when exploiting weaknesses deliberately. I’m guessing that’s the direction for this version of the Class.”

“I wonder what counts as a weakness,” Jake said, his eyes narrowing as he remembered a previous conversation about the System taking your perception as a guide.

If that were the case for this as well, then Alan’s Trait could apply in almost any situation if they worked at it well enough. Jake would have to sit down with Alan later and go over the wording specifically and see what they could think up.

“That’s everything I have for now,” Felix said, tapping the table to draw their attention back to him. “Get some food in you and take an hour to rest, then we’re heading for the first Dungeon. We should be there in a day or two.”