Dungeon Team Blueberries

2 days later

I was sitting at my table in the tavern sharing a drink with my friend Gary, an apprentice smith, the one who helped maintain and create most of the gear our dungeon team used when we went exploring, when all of a sudden, a length of dark wood blocked my line of sight, almost whacking me in the face. "Jacob, look at this!" Serena shoved something in my face just as I was about to take a drink of my ale, causing me to almost stumble back in surprise.

"Get it out of my face first so I can see what it is!" I pushed the object away from me, before taking a drink. Then, I turned to see Serena, my pale faced, blonde haired mage companion holding what looked to be a new staff in her hands. It was long and straight, compared to her usual gnarled wood staff that most mages seemed to end up using in the beginning. It had a small spherical ruby set into the top of the staff, with bands of iron circling around it to hold it in place.

"You got a new staff? Where'd you get the money for that? We haven't had much luck in the early floors lately, and I know I still have most of the money I got from those trips." I put the mug of ale down, as Serena gave me a big toothy grin.

"My brother gave me some extra money from one of his trips down to the twenty second floor, and I used that along with most of my money to buy this. Isn't it cool? Makes me look like a real mage, right?" She twirled it in her hands, the ruby glinting in the dim firelight of the tavern. The next moment, a voice cut in as a long haired young man leaned on the table, both hands firmly pressed onto the wood.

"You're not a real mage until I see you cast a real spell. Those sparks you make don't count." Vance spoke enthusiastically. "Let's see you cast a decent lightning bolt. Then I'll call you a mage. But not one moment before." The sarcastic smirk never left his tanned face.

Serena pouted at him as she turned away. "You're just jealous that you don't have something this cool. Like that giant hunk of wood you've been swinging since you broke it off one of the trees in the forest outside town." She turned back as she spoke, grinning as she nodded to what had once been a surprisingly large branch, now fashioned into a large two handed club.

I put myself between the two of them, before their bickering could really get going. "Since you spent the money to get that, we should probably go ahead and get ready for another expedition. If we keep working hard, we just might be able to get down to the sixth floor in a month or so. I've heard stories that it's one of the few safe floors that have been found. There's all kinds of people who sell better equipment down there, found on floors even lower. We might even find something for you, Vance." Clapping Vance on the shoulder, I grabbed both of them, before getting up. Leaving a few coins on the table to pay for the drinks, I nodded in farewell to Gary, who just waved as he took another drink.

"I wasn't finished in there! I was going to get some drinks and a few good bets in at the cards table!" Vance complained, while being dragged down the street along with Serena. "I think you shouldn't be so eager to spend your money in there. How many times are you going to come asking us for money?" Serena teased as we walked down the street, passing a few stalls where people were hawking their wares, which ranged from food, to clothing, to jewelry, to other daily necessities.

"I think you should take your ideas, along with your fancy new staff, and use them to cast some real magic before a goblin on the third floor sees you aren't a real mage." Vance grumbled back, giving a passing glance to one of the more expensive pieces of jewelry, that seemed to glitter and shine in the early afternoon light. "Jacob, when are we going to start really going deeper into the dungeon? You know that if we make it to the tenth floor, we can start taking the portal in, instead of having to trudge through all the first few floors to get to where we're going. Plus, that's when the real money making opportunities start! We can find gold, gems, magic items, and rare skills!" Vance grabbed onto me, wrapping his arm around me. As the team ranger, I sadly lacked the strength to pull away from his monstrous grip, but I could still manage to wriggle out of it, thanks to my more agile build and tendencies.

"We can't go too deep until we know we can handle it, Vance. I don't want to make a mistake down there and end up losing one of you. Besides, we still need to get Lilly on the way, before we even think about going down to the second floor." Pushing off his arm as I ducked out from under his grip, I stood up straight, looking at the tower in the center of the city, which signified the beginning of the dungeon itself.

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"I still can't believe they decided to purge the first and second floors. What could've got the guild so riled up like that?" Serena piped up, her staff now serving as a convenient walking stick. Vance looked over at her. "I heard it was some strange monster that got them scared. It had the skeletons using bones from other people and other skeletons as weapons. Really strange, considering that they've never used weapons before. If that's what was going on down there, it's no wonder everyone was barred from attempting to go down those floors at the time." He seemed a bit thoughtful as he spoke, before shrugging.

I let them  bicker back and forth as we headed for the temple of the God of healing, where Lilly was doing her daily prayers. It took a bit of waiting, despite Vance wanting to violate their tenets to not disturb those who were praying, but eventually she noticed us, wrapped up her prayers, and came over. She was wearing most of her dungeon gear already, along with her amulet denoting her status as a priestess of the God of healing. She'd tied her chestnut colored hair up in a bun, which had seemed odd at first, when her preferred hairstyle was to just let it down, but had changed when she'd been grabbed by a goblin on the third floor.

"Are we going into the dungeon again? I still need a few things if that's what we're doing." Lilly looked at each of us in turn, stopping with Serena, who grinned at her while holding her new staff. She didn't mention it, instead turning to look back at me.

"We can stop to get whatever you need on the way, but we definitely need whatever we can get from this expedition. I'm thinking that if we can get some better gear to sell, we might just be able to afford some solid armor for Vance." I patted Vance's shoulder as I spoke, before we collectively walked out of the temple, and back into the streets. Lilly started leading us around town, picking up cheap reagents and other items she'd burned through on our last trip to the fourth floor. The few orc parties we had seen down there were stronger than normal, but we were just barely able to handle them.

"Lilly, your brother is in team Nightshade right? What did he say about the purge they did with the first and second floors?" Vance asked as Lilly walked out of one of the various alchemy shops around town. "Anything juicy?"

Lilly stuffed the few healing and mana potions she had bought into her bag, making sure they were secure, needing Vance to repeat the question as she looked up at him. "Nick? He didn't tell me much. It seemed like something in there spooked him a little bit. I'm not sure what, but all he told me was that the second floor had been a bit unusual. He wouldn't tell me much more than that, no matter how much I asked. I even tried getting him drunk, even though I wish he'd stop drinking so much. He still wouldn't talk. I spent a few silver coins for nothing..." Lilly replied, grumbling as she finished speaking.

"Damn, I really thought you might know more. We'll have to hound him about it later until he tells us. If he's sober, that is." Vance sighed with reluctance, probably having wanted to ask about it more. I felt similar. If the floors were changing or becoming more difficult, the more information we had the better prepared we'd be for whatever might come at us.

In the end we made a trip through town, stopping at our houses to pick up any extra gear we'd left in our rooms. When we were loaded down with our armor, weapons, and the rest of our supplies, we headed for the dungeon in the center of town, which wasn't too far from Serena's house. I could tell she was itching to try out a few spells with her new staff, as she tapped it against the cobblestone walkway a bit harder than she would have done with her old staff.

When we arrived in the square that surrounded the entrance to the dungeon, we were greeted by the sight of several stalls filled with what looked like ration packs, potions, armor, weapons, and spell scrolls. Most of the armor, weapons, and scrolls were far out of our price range, so we could never afford to even peruse them. The dungeon entrance consisted of little more than a cave-like archway, and the stairs leading down into the first floor, which acted as a training floor. For what reason the dungeon was seeking to train people in how to clear floors, I couldn't even begin to fathom.

Vance groaned, and I noticed him looking in the direction of the portal far to the left of the stairs. Only dungeoneers that had managed to get down to the tenth floor could use it. For anyone else, it wouldn't work at all. Supposedly it would teleport you and whoever went with you to the start of the tenth floor and beyond, so long as you'd visited them at least once before. Getting out however, was another matter entirely. You had to travel to safe floors, which contained a portal that would lead back out of the dungeon itself.

"We'll get to use it some day." I patted Vance on the shoulder, before my attention was drawn to a gathering crowd of dungeoneers, near the bounty board. Monsters would only appear on it if they'd killed people, and there would always be a reward for killing them, so long as you could first identify them.

To the right of the board, it seemed there was a guild official standing on a box, calling for dungeoneers to gather for a mission. Naturally, Vance pulled them all over to the crowd once he had noticed. "I smell money." He said, sniffing the air. I snorted in response.