Chisel relieved Hans of his post. The White Mage was tired from the expedition, but she insisted the others deserved rest more than she did. Too tired to argue, he wished her the best. When he emerged in the cabin, coming up through the trapdoor in the floor, he found everyone had gone to sleep except Honronk, who sat cross-legged by the fire, writing in a journal.

The cabin was already too small. They had a stack of food and supplies piled in one corner. They had four beds for six adventurers, not including Hans, Tandis, and Olza. Tandis, Buru, and Honronk had their bedrolls spread on the floor, and the cabin could perhaps fit one more, but there would scarcely be a space to step.

Rest was essential. Tired adventurers made mistakes, and this job would be challenging enough. At the very least, everyone should have a proper bed, including Tandis.

Actually, she shouldn’t have to be away from her daughter. If the dungeon is under control, why couldn’t she join her? She isn’t going into the dungeon after all.

Quest Update: Rethink the approach to the dungeon cabin. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

The Black Mage dipped his head toward the Guild Master, not wanting to wake the others, and went back to writing. Hans shut the cabin door behind him.

Gods, it’s cold.

A foot of snow had fallen while they were underground, and the mountain wind cut through him like the blade of a sword. As he approached his tent, he realized he didn’t have a fire. Sleeping through this night without one would be miserable, if not deadly, so he begrudgingly retrieved a few of the chopped logs stacked against the cabin.

He debated how best to start the fire. The Create Fire spell would be sufficient, but the wind could snuff it out before it caught. His tired mind working slowly, he circled the logs, looking for the best position to use his body as a windbreak.

“Hans,” a voice whispered.

He startled, jumping slightly. “Gods, Olza. Don’t do that.”

“Sorry. I have a fire going.”

The shelter Olza occupied was meant for a single person. With Olza’s bedroll against one wall, Hans could sit against the opposite wall but couldn’t extend his legs. Sitting sleeping up but protected from the elements was more appealing than the alternative, though. His knees would complain, but he accepted that fate.

“Surprised you’re still up,” Hans said as he settled into his corner of Olza’s shelter.

“I might not sleep again for weeks.”

“Yeah… That was something.”

Olza looked like she was about to burst. “We made those monsters,” she said, struggling to keep to a whisper. “It happened the same way the first time. Blood, then monsters.”

“It’s weirder than that.”

“What could be weirder than growing monsters with blood?”

The words stuck in Hans’ throat. They didn’t make sense to put in order and say aloud. “The camahuetos were my idea. I thought about them a few minutes before. I was worried about–”

“That sounds like a coincidence to me.”

“There’s also the hallway, the one with the uneven floor. I was reading my teaching notes before we touched the core. Right before.”

She sat back, stunned. The convenience of coincidence couldn’t be stretched that far. The reality, though, was too strange to accept. Finding a dungeon core was odd enough, but now a retired adventurer claimed to influence the dungeon core.

“The core is like the starcups,” she said, mostly to herself. Hans asked her to speak up. “The Earth magic Mazo showed me. I could give plants ‘suggestions’ with it. If the dungeon core is a kind of plant…”

“That’s compelling, Miss Olza.”

The Alchemist rolled her eyes at his use of “miss.” “If we see new growth on the core when we go back down, that’s more evidence toward the theory.”

Hans agreed. Then his quest list scrolled through his mind, and he remembered how much work was yet undone. Lately, closing one quest unlocked two more. Even now, he wanted to head back to the core and run more experiments. How far could his influence over the core go? What happened if he used more than drops of blood? When the core fully matured, what would change? What long-term consequences would there be, if any, for Hans’ meddling?

“We need to be careful with our tests,” Hans said. “The Apprentices aren’t ready for bigger challenges.”

“Ah. Yes. Someone has to fight the monsters we grow.”

Olza commented on how well the Apprentices seemed to do. Nodding, Hans shared he was optimistic. Gomi needed more than six adventurers, but six was better than zero, and six was all they could support right now anyway. If they had more than six, where would they have put them?

A tug on his arm disrupted his daydreaming. “Hans. Hans. Hey. We left with two camahuetos horns. Two. All the way out here. If influencing the core is possible… Imagine the medicines we could make.”

The implications flooding Hans’ mind had, until that moment, dwelled on how many people would suffer if he errored. Gomi’s existence was at stake, after all. But the dungeon being an active source of good? That would be a pleasant change of pace for a Guild Master and a blessing to the people of Gomi.

“What other ingredients would you want?”

“Several slime species are useful in alchemy.”

“No.”

“What?”

“No slimes.”

The alchemist scoffed.

“If you want to hunt them, then I don’t mind. Me? Nope. They ruin weapons. Anything they touch gets sticky and stays sticky no matter how many times you wash it. And some varieties can be incredibly dangerous, but they can look just like the harmless pest types.”

Olza surrendered. “Okay. No slimes.”

“You know… I thought of the camahuetos because I thought they would be good for the Apprentices. The warped floor too. How much could we influence the dungeon as a structure?”

“You can’t tell me experiments are suspended indefinitely and then ask a question like that.”

Hans sighed. He too found it difficult to restrain his excitement. “The sooner the Apprentices are up to speed, the sooner we can run more tests. We could do that faster if there weren’t those damn squonks.”

“You know…” Olza began but paused. “We’ve only talked about the core in additive terms. Could it subtract elements as well?”

In his excitement, Hans bounced his head off of the low ceiling of the shelter. Rubbing his head while Olza chuckled, he said, “We could ‘turn off’ the squonks. Possibly. We need to test that as soon as we can.”

The two stayed in the shelter together, but their thoughts went their separate ways. Olza lay back on her bedroll and Hans fidgeted in his corner. Over the course of their friendship, they had grown accustomed to sharing silence. Conversation was not a requirement for companionship, after all.

When Olza fell asleep, Hans found that he could not. Dozens of new possibilities swirled in his mind, and he wanted to explore them all.

Quest Update: Test the limits of the dungeon core connection.

***

Other than standing guard at the entrance, Hans gave the Apprentices the day to recover. While Buru ventured outdoors to practice however Druids practiced, the rest of the group struggled to adapt to the close quarters living conditions. Chisel and Honronk had the idea to use part of the dungeon for their leisure and study time. They took two of the sitting logs by the fire on the surface and brought them into the pit.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

They did break a ladder rung in the process, but Honronk repaired it right away.

The dungeon halls weren’t much larger than the cabin, but they could stretch their legs and pass the time without feeling the breath of the adventurer next to them. For the mages, that meant enough quiet to focus on their studies.

Honronk’s latest project was to learn how to cast Nightsight on others, not just himself. The advantages of the spell were clear in their last encounters, and he felt those advantages would grow if the entire party could have Nightsight. Otherwise, most of the spell was the same, but targeting a living being was new to the Black Mage. His favorite spell, Prism, was more akin to an area of effect spell, so he had no experience with the mechanics of directing magic in that way.

Chisel decided she didn’t like having to watch a battle with no way to contribute. If she wanted to continue building on her base of White Magic, however, her offensive spell options were limited. She settled on completing her study of Lesser Sleep and then planned to learn the spell Repel, which enchanted a party member’s weapon and shield to provide additional protection. With Repel active, a shield block had a “bounce back” effect, throwing energy back into the enemy. A parry with a weapon did the same, imbuing the movement with more reactivity.

When she asked Hans what he thought of the spell choice, he approved. He said that for the attacker, the spell felt like hitting an anvil for the first time. Chisel had never used an anvil, so Hans explained that anvils were designed to “return” the energy of a hammer swing. If a hammer bounced back, the smith needed to expend less effort, a benefit that added up over a lifetime of forging.

In combat, the effect made it easier for the defender to handle strong opponents, and the sudden burst of energy throwing an enemy’s sword arm wide in an odd direction created confusion and exposed weaknesses. The spell could not, however, compensate for the defender. If a particular blow would shatter a shield, that wouldn’t change regardless of the spell.

Though she was excited about the Sleep spell’s potential, Chisel would need a week or more of practice before she could cast it consistently in combat. Then she could work on Repel. Honronk would likely need a little less time for his Nightsight project, but he still had plenty to practice. In the meantime, the Apprentices had other training to do.

The morning after their rest day, Hans brought the Apprentices into the dungeon, instructing them to bring training weapons as well. Olza and Tandis stayed topside in the cabin. The alchemist taught the new quartermaster techniques for making herbal ointments and salves that might be useful to adventurers.

In the front hallway, the first corridor of the dungeon proper, Hans drilled formation and movement drills with the Apprentices, focusing on addressing their struggles with the camahuetos.

“As adventurers, we are rarely stronger than the enemies we face. That’s why we have the ‘Blocking is bad’ rule. We’d prefer to avoid it, but the party may need to break formation. If that happens, you’re better off having a plan than trying to sort through the chaos. Otherwise, you get an experience like Sven’s.”

The party chuckled. The Rogue looked sour.

“Here’s the thing: Sven was where he was supposed to be. He was being a team player. The frontline had to change tactics, and nobody told Sven, so he took the hit for the party’s shortcomings.”

Shame washed across the Apprentices who laughed moments ago.

“Stop that,” Hans said. “You’re not being disciplined. We’re doing the work to keep it from happening again. To begin, huddle up and come up with a plan for charging camahuetos. When you have one you like, tell me.”

***

“Prism first,” Honronk said.

“Tell me more,” Hans encouraged.

“The light should stop the charge and give us cover,” Buru added.

“What if Prism is unavailable?”

Chisel raised her hand. “I can start calling from the backline. I can see over Terry and Yotuli, and I won’t usually be attacking, so I can pay more attention.”

“That’s good. Increases everyone’s awareness and lets you act earlier. What’s next?”

Yotuli answered, “Ranged attacks from Buru and Sven. Kill them before they reach us or slow them down.”

“If the monster is still charging,” Terry began, “hopefully we already knew about it from Chisel’s call. Whether that happened or not, Yotu and I gotta call the dodge to give everyone else time to move.”

Sven raised his hand next. “The backline needs to keep tabs on the warriors. No matter if we hear the call or not, we should be prepared to follow their shields.” When Hans asked him to explain his meaning, he continued, saying, “Terry’s shield is my shield too. If he dodges, I better dodge with him, otherwise…” The Rogue threw up his hands.

Satisfied with their answers, Hans set the party to drilling. They rehearsed dividing down the middle to let an enemy charge between them, and they rehearsed favoring one side over the other. Their plan broke down when they had to reset their formation. If the enemy was now “behind” the party, the Rangers needed to get by four other adventurers to reclaim the frontline, and that had to happen before the monster’s next attack.

If the enemy had numbers, however, one Ranger needed to stay in position to guard the party from the original direction while the other Ranger had to move positions quickly.

Each time the party tried, they bumped into one another or tripped over each other’s feet. The corridor was cramped, and navigating around the mountain that was Buru made the transition more challenging.

Hans let them struggle for a few minutes. As the instructor, he could easily provide the correct answer, but learning the correct answer was only a fraction of the lesson. He felt it was important for a party to learn to problem solve, so this training session was as much about honing that skill as it was about formations and positions.

Independent of any coaching, the party decided that Yotuli should switch positions before Terry. She was more agile and, therefore, could weave between the party more quickly. While Terry covered Yotuli’s transition, his next job was to decide if he should follow or remain to protect his current line. If more enemies approached, he stayed. If there were no such enemies, he followed Yotuli.

The party needed to synchronize their movements. First, all party members would default to moving toward the closest wall if they needed to let someone through. The intent of that tactic was to simplify predicting an ally’s next move, and it also kept swords and shields where they were most useful. A Ranger pinned against a wall was a waste of a warrior. Yotuli moving down the middle preserved her range of motion.

If a party member needed someone to move counter to that rule, they had to call it. A simple “Left!” or “Right!” was sufficient warning for an approach from behind. If the approach was from the front, they would use the same shouts with a small complication: Right and left were different for two people facing one another. To solve for that, the orientation of right and left would always default to the person being commanded.

Lastly, the Rangers needed to communicate their final positions. Anytime Yotuli needed to travel to the back of the party to guard that flank, she would yell, “Line!” If Terry followed, he would repeat the call, taking the same route as Yotuli to make the switch. If instead Terry called “Pincer!” the party would know they faced threats from two sides and that Terry was not following Yotuli.

Any party member could call Pincer if they were the first to spot the threat, but the Rangers and Chisel would call it most often. The Rangers had eyes on the front, and Chisel could watch for enemies approaching their rear during combat.

The Pincer formation was slightly more complicated, and not just because of the Rangers changing positions. Sven would join Terry at the front while Buru would join Yotuli. Chisel and Honronk stayed in the middle and were responsible for picking their next attacks. No matter what, the middle line would have to favor one side over another for at least a moment, so they had the freedom to decide where to start.

“I have to watch the front and the back in our normal formation?” Chisel asked Hans.

“Yes. Depending on the circumstances, you might move through the dungeon with a Ranger in front and a Ranger at the back–because Sven would be up front watching for traps–but in a battle where your frontline is occupied, one of your jobs is to watch for surprises.”

“White Mage isn’t as boring as I thought.”

Hans laughed. “Yeah, not at all.”

The final call Hans taught that day was “Break!” If the party needed to seek cover immediately for any reason, that call was the warning. Ideally, it would be used sparingly as their other options were more controlled and predictable.

For the next hour, the party practiced reacting to calls and moving in unison with their front line. They still stumbled at times, but the mistakes were less frequent and less dire. Soon, they moved like a proper team. Their synchronization could still improve, but that would come with time as they learned to work with one another.

To end that day’s training, Hans gave the party one more challenge: “Which two party members should have the earwax for the next hunt?”

Chisel volunteered, arguing that as the White Mage, she had fewer calls to react to but had a lot of calls to make. She needed her hearing less than anyone else.

Hans agreed with that logic. He asked to hear the party’s second choice.

“Yotuli,” Honronk said.

“What’s your reasoning?”

“She’s fast.”

Hans knew the tusk wasn’t intentionally difficult with his communication style, but that didn’t make it any less so. “Would anyone like to expand on Honronk’s thought?”

Yotuli raised her hand this time. “It’s like with Chisel. I’m making more calls than the others, and because Terry is out front and less mobile, the only information he gets about what else is happening comes from the rest of us.”

“‘Less mobile,’” Buru said, squatting awkwardly to elbow Terry.

“Nope. I’m more efficient,” the former guard retorted.

Interrupting the joshing, Hans had a final announcement: “If drills go well tomorrow, we’re going into the dungeon right after, so get your heads right. This run is going to push you because you may have to run the dungeon twice.”

***

Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

Mend the rift with Devon.

Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

Expand the Gomi training area to include ramps for footwork drills.

Design a system for training dungeon awareness.

Research the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains, more.

Protect Gomi.

Train Gomi adventurers to keep the dungeon at bay.

Design the ultimate strategy for hunting squonks.

Rethink the approach to the dungeon cabin. Bonus Objective: Pick a secret passage cooler than a bookshelf door.

Find a partner to move dungeon loot efficiently.

Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

Address the deficiency of magery education in the Gomi chapter.

Acquire the tools and knowledge to train trap disarming safely.

Research non-localized abilities capable of causing nightmares in tusk children.

Test the limits of the dungeon core connection.