“Yeah, but what IS a dungeon?” Francis repeated himself.

“You know those prisons under a castle?” Paul asked with a raised eyebrow?

“’Course I know that.” Francis looked offended.

“Not one of those.” Paul snapped. “Think of it more like a place where many monsters gather and spawn.”

“I knew you were worldly adventurers the moment I saw you.” The hermit smiled broadly at them.

“Yes, that we are.” Paul lied. “So you’ve been to check it out already? What’s there?”

The hermit got a little quieter. “I’ve not been inside it myself. But I’ve seen those red eyed things in the night. They scream a bit too often for the winter, so I needed to make sure.”

Francis got up from the table and made their way to the beer taps to pour a drink. They returned shortly and placed the drink in front of the hermit.

“My thanks.” The hermit took a long slug of the drink. “The noises they make are not right. Too rhythmic and regular. Too full of pain and anger for normal animals.”

“Think you can show us the way to it?” Paul asked. “It might be a danger to the town and everywhere nearby if it’s leaking as you say.”

“I’d be happy to lead you to it.” The hermit said around another mouthful of beer. “The sooner it’s cleared out, the sooner I can return to my home. Although, this drink isn’t too bad, it’s not worth being around this many people.”

“Well you get some rest for the night.” Mark patted the hermit on their shoulder. “We’ll do some preparations and head out tomorrow.”

“Greta’s got another room spare for now.” Francis got up a second time. “I’ll go let her know.”

“I’ve already got the camping gear available.” Tim nodded. “How long do you think we’ll be out there for? Gotta pack enough food.”

“We’ll I’d say it’s a good two days walk to the north.” The hermit said. “Then you gotta actually go inside. Who knows how big it is down there.”

“A weeks hike should be doable.” Tim smiled their quartz teeth dazzling. “I’ll get on it.”

“I’ll go visit the guild, let them know what we’re up to.” Mark rose from their chair. “Maybe Julia or the guild master will have some advice.”

“And I shall consult the ethers for their magical energies.” Paul said with a flourish.

Francis returned. “So you’re going to finish eating and have a nap?”

“Precisely.” Paul grinned. “But also consult my book for spells.”

Mark left the group at the table and stepped out into the winter day. He had a coat from Esmeralda made of a what he thought was sheepskin, but she just kinda coughed when he had asked what animal it was at the time. The thing still fit like a glove and was one of the warmest coats he had ever had, so he didn’t pry.

The walk through the town was nice enough. It was still midday at the moment and the snow was making everything quieter than usual. Occasionally there was someone shovelling snow out from around their doorway, but the main street was clogged. There wasn’t much of a public service to take care of these things in a small a town like this.

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Mark finally arrived at the guild to see Smith also performing a tiny bit of snow removal. He had no jacket on and that spoke of effort. The small clearing however spoke that it wasn’t much effort.

“Oh, I’m glad to see you Mark.” Julia called out from inside the guild. “Smith here was just stopping by to pass the time.”

Smith grunted and threw another small shovelful of snow to their left.

“Not much of social call on my part.” Mark stepped up and tapped their boots to remove most of the snow. “Got a bit of work to talk to you about Julia.”

“Ah right, let me get in position.” Julia turned away from the doorway and returned behind the counter. “What is it today?”

“We just got word that there’s a dungeon about two days north of here.” Mark rested an arm and leaned over the counter top. “We’re going to check it out tomorrow, figured I should let you know.”

“There’s a dungeon? Here?” Julia looked dumbfounded.

“Yes, the hermit walked in a little while back, found us at the Cup and Crow.” Mark said.

“A dungeon?” Julia repeated.

“Julia, you OK?” Mark looked concerned.

Julia took in a deep breath. Laid her palms on the counter top. Opened her mouth wide and shouted. “We’re all gonna be RICH! Rich I say!”

Mark jumped back and flinched at the loud yell mere inches away from his face. Smith poked his head inside the front door and the guild master made their way downstairs.

Julia was still giddy with excitement. “Oh boy, a dungeon! We’ll have adventurers through here every week, no... every DAY! Not to mention all the materials that’ll come out of it. I can’t wait.”

The guild master had a frown on their face. “What’s this I hear about a dungeon?”

“Oh Mark here was just saying we’ve got a dungeon nearby.” Julia babbled. “He was just letting us know they’re going to explore it.”

The frown didn’t leave the guild master’s face as he turned to face Mark. “You really shouldn’t be tackling this alone. We’ll send Everett along as support. There’s many a group that didn’t come back from a dungeon without support.”

“oooh yeah that’s a good idea.” Julia nodded. “So Mark, have your group stop by tomorrow morning and we’ll have Everett and them escort you out there.”

“That we can do. Tim and the rest are already prepping for the trip.” Mark agreed. “Prep tonight, meet tomorrow, head out after. Easy done. I’ll head back and let the rest know.”

Mark turned to leave and Smith walked in to replace him. As Mark was heading back into the cold he could hear smith asking about what kind of things a dungeon could produce, specifically metals. As much as Mark wanted to stick around and learn, he had a trip to prepare for.

Tim had the travel packs almost always ready at this point. Their constant excursions into the forest made sure they kept a handy backpack full of camping gear at the ready at all times. Of course this didn’t mean they trusted that everything was in perfect condition. So Tim was spending his time laying everything out, counting, and checking the equipment for wear and tear.

Francis was setting the hermit up in one of the spare rooms for the night. He was being a bit grumpy about ‘how soft’ the straw mattress was. Francis could only roll their eyes at the ornery hermit before leaving the man to their own devices. A visit to Greta got them food for the trip. Mostly hard bread and jerky that she was going to cook up tonight. Overall things were looking up.

Paul was true to his word. He ate the rest of his stew and settled down in front of the fire. The meditative trance where Paul was contemplating the grand spell easily overtook the elf. Only to be broken several times as people wandered in and around the common room.

Mark returned with the news of Everett and how they were to accompany the group as support.

“So Everett is going to ‘support’ us in the dungeon thing.” Mark broke the news gently. “I’m not exactly sure what that means but I hope he’ll be helpful.”

Paul shook his head to get the drowsy like feeling of meditation out of his body. “Most likely they’ll just tag along and be a runner or guard or something. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“They do still have that ‘pain geas’ on them.” Tim mentioned. “I saw it in action once. Don’t want to see it again.”

“Either way, we’ll meet up with them tomorrow at the guild.” Mark tapped their finger pensively on the table.

For a moment, nothing else was really needed to be said. Tim had the gear, Francis had the food, Paul knew as much as any of them, There wasn’t much else to say.

Tomorrow, they’d go explore a dungeon.