Dungeon Noble - Squire

Jake Khesh, Dungeon Noble and follower of The Great Dungeon, cursed as he hit the ground hard for what felt like the hundredth time this morning.

It had been two days since the strovian resistance had passed the word that Jake was being blamed for the attack on the Triarchy outpost, and they’d been training hard since then.

Exactly how the Triarchy knew that Jake had been involved, no one was quite sure. What official reports the resistance had gotten access to had stated that all the Triarchy guards had died in the assault.

The fact of the matter was that Jake had been there, along with his friends, but they’d been there to rescue Nepthys. Most of the guards had been killed by the mysterious masked assailants who had descended on the outpost.

Jake felt a slight shiver run down his spine as he remembered the first one they’d fought. It had taken all of them to bring down the dagger-wielding classer, and even then, it had been close.

In the end, though, they’d gotten Nepthys out of there, and none of them had died in the process, which was a win in Jake’s book.

“You’re making progress, Jake,” Felix said, plunging his blade into the ground before holding his hand out to help Jake up to his feet.

Felix Drusus was Jake’s self-appointed trainer and their contact to the resistance, as well as the strongest member of their group, despite his missing left hand.

Felix’s pale blue eyes regarded Jake levelly as he helped him up before he nodded slightly and drew his sword from the ground. “Again.”

A slight sheen of grey Wyrd covered their weapons, an effect from one of Felix’s Skills that let them use real blades without killing each other. Jake couldn’t use a Skill with his sword while it was active, but that was a small price to pay.

Lunging forward and feinting low before whipping his sword up high, Jake did his level best to land a solid hit on his teacher. He was better with a blade than he’d used to be, a fact that he was proud of, but he was still well short of Felix’s level.

The dull thud of their blades striking filled the air as they continued their spar, with Felix steadily increasing the pressure.

Jake was just over six feet tall, and though his wiry frame had filled out since he’d Ascended and gained his Class, he was both slightly shorter and far less powerfully built than his opponent.

Although Felix’s dark hair was speckled with grey, his wide shoulders and thick muscles showed no signs of age. One of the many benefits of being a classer.

Of course, even if Felix had been shorter and smaller than Jake, his higher tier would likely have allowed him to still overpower Jake with ease. As it was, the bigger frame and higher tier together meant that Felix could rip Jake apart if he wanted to.

While Jake was being put through his paces, Alan was off to one side, working on his accuracy with his bow. Once Jake was done, they’d swap over, and Jake was looking forward to the break.

Jake wouldn’t be using a bow for his part; he’d instead be throwing daggers, but it was close enough.

-**-

“You’re both improving nicely,” Felix said once they’d wrapped up for the day. “Alan, you’ve taken to archery particularly well, but you need to work with your sword more. Not all fights will let you stay at a distance.”

“Yes, Felix,” Alan said, bobbing his head in acknowledgement. Alan was the only one of Jake’s companions still with him at this point, and Jake was thankful for the short Scholar’s presence.

Alan was a fair bit shorter than Jake and quite thin to boot, with mousy brown hair and watchful eyes. To be fair, though, Alan had put a good bit of muscle on in the last month or so and looked more the part of a combat classer now.

Alan had initially started using the bow to try and make use of the Abilities he’d received with the Scholar Class, but he’d become more than proficient in Jake’s eyes, and the two of them worked well together.

Alan was also the one who spotted hidden monsters when they delved Dungeons, something that had proved useful time and time again.

Rhew and Karl, the caster and main frontline fighter of their party respectively, had left them not so long ago to try and avoid fallout from the Triarchy.

Considering that he was now being blamed for it all, Jake couldn’t help but feel that they made the right choice, and he also worried about what that meant for Alan. For now, the Triarchy was showing no sign of trying to put any blame on Jake’s companions, but he had no idea how long that would last.

“Alright, get some rest. We’re going to set out tomorrow,” Felix said, pushing himself up from where he’d been sitting. “I’ll go secure us some supplies in the meantime, but expect us to be travelling for a few days.”

“Where are we heading?” Jake asked quickly, perking up a little at the thought of doing something more than training.

“We’re heading to a small and underused Dungeon. We’ll be meeting two other classers there, who will hopefully be joining your group for the time being.”

Jake and Alan exchanged surprised looks, but Felix waved off any further questions, saying that he’d explain the rest on the way.

“Wonder if we’ll be meeting Nepthys there,” Alan said as he put some wood in the stove and began to boil a pot of water for some tea.

“Maybe, but I’d be surprised if they’d found that many Corrupters in such a short space of time,” Jake said, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up with a sigh.

When Felix had gotten the word about Jake being blamed by the Triarchy, he’d also gotten word of a surge in Corrupter activity south of Port Emerald.

Nepthys needed to hunt down several more of those insane cultists in order to advance her tier, so she’d left with Ari to do just that. That had left Alan and Jake to Felix’s tender ministrations, but Jake couldn’t really complain.

It felt like it had been a while since he’d gotten some one-on-one training in with Felix, and hew knew for a fact that Alan had taken full advantage of this opportunity.

No, the only thing Jake was concerned about was who they’d be adding to their party. Rhew and Karl had left, so it made sense to replace them, even if it felt wrong.

The best replacement would be classers of a similar skill set, so another caster and another frontliner.

Taking a cup of steaming tea from Alan, Jake decided to wait for Felix to explain more. In the meantime, he was going to talk through the infusion process that Alan used.

Jake had bought a Skill to infuse his sword, but he knew that it was far from perfect. Understanding what Alan did, and why he did it, would be the next step on the road to him improving his Skill further.

-**-

Later, after a surprisingly productive discussion with Alan, Jake took the time to pray before turning in for the day.

It felt odd for him to pray, and he still hadn’t gotten into a regular habit of it quite yet. Growing up, Jake had had nothing but bad experiences with gods and their followers.

Admittedly, those experiences had been primarily with the Triarchy, but Jake had blamed other gods for not stopping them.

When Jake had linked with his Patron in Casthrope, his perspective had changed fundamentally. Beholding The Great Dungeon, feeling how vast it was, had changed Jake.

Jake had prayed sporadically since then, but it was only since reaching this hideout that he’d tried to do so daily. He wasn’t exactly sure what his prayers accomplished, assuming they did anything at all.

Still, Jake felt like something happened with each prayer, but only when he was earnest in his feelings. Lip service did nothing; even Jake could tell that much.

Turning his attention inward, Jake delved into his soul as he whispered a prayer for The Great Dungeon to watch over Rhew and Karl, to keep them separate from everything that was happening.

Usually, that was where things ended, but today, Jake felt something stir in response.

It was nothing like his previous interaction with The Great Dungeon; there was no mind-bending vision of reality, no existential revelations.

Instead, Jake felt a sense of danger from the link they shared. It wasn’t an immediate danger, more the warning of something that was coming, but it was coupled with the feeling of loss.

Jake tried to understand what he was being told, but he couldn’t parse it any more clearly than that.

Troubled by what he’d experienced, Jake finished his nightly routine before climbing into bed. If it wasn’t an immediate danger, it could wait until he’d had time to get some sleep.